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
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
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
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.
parte of the heauens shal sende East and West wyndes foorth And eke the moysting Sotherne wynde shall blow out of the North. And new agréement shal be made Etheocles and Polinices Oedipus his sons king of Thebes in brothers smooke againe Which earst in blasing slames of fyre olde rancor rent in twayne ¶ After the deathe of Oedipus Kinge of Thebes his two sonnes Etheocles Polinices dyd striue whether of them shold succede their father in the Kyngedome vntyll theire agréement was made of this condition that they shoulde rule by course one yeare the one the nexte yeare the other Etheocles raigned syrst But when his yeare was expired hee would not geue place to his brother Polinices therefore by the help of Adrastus his father in law king of the Argiues gathered an Army came to Thebes and fought with his brother in which infortunate battel bothe parties were almost slaine so that yet thereof remayneth a Prouerbe Adrastia nemesis And the two brothers fyghting hand to hande were slayne and being put in one Fyre to be burned the flame parted in twaine so that their malyce séemed not to be ended by Death The spring with Autume shal be one with Winter Sommers guyse And in one Countrey shall the Sun at once bothe set and ryse Ere I will concord haue with thée sithe thou did'st breake the band And set these weapons cleane a syde that I haue tane in hand Then that my grefe by any space may euer ended be Or tyme and hower may asswage my hatred toward thée This peace shal be betwyxt vs styll as long as lyfe shall last Betwyxt the Wolse and sely shepe that commonly hath past My fyrst battayles I mynde to wage Iambus is the rayliÌ„g verse deuised by Archylocus in style as I begone Although lyke wars in style not lyke are wonted to be done And as the pleased soldiars speare that dothe fearse Veles hyght Doth fyrst styck fast in sandy grounde as cunning taught him ryght So I with sharp and poynted dart yet wyll not shoute at thée Ne shal my speare forthwith confound thy hated head of mée ¶ Velites were a kynde of lyght harneshed Soldiars who vsed great speares for practise they wold tosse them before the skyrmish if néede were euen then also vse them against the enimy And in this booke ne name nor déede of thée I mynde to sayne And what thou art a lyttle while I geue the leaue to fayne But if as now hereafter thou do styll Iambus good And fytte for me shall weapons geue sprent with Lycambus blood Lycambus promised to geue his daughter Niobole in mariage to the Poet Archilocus but afterward being bestly â—â—ued with hir beawry wold not performe his promise With which iniury Archilocus moued so sharply inuayed agaynst them bothe that for shame they hanged them selues Neither lyued he long after for by the friends of Lycambes hée hym selfe was also slayne But now as earst Calimachus dyd enmy Ibis cursse By that same meanes both thée thine I earnestly do cursse ¶ The latine word that I haue translated to cursse is deuouere whiche rather signifieth to vow In the olde tyme among the Inchanters there were two kyndes therof in greatest honor By the one whereof the gods defenders of any citie as euery citie had some were called out by the victorious enimy least hée should séeme to cary the Gods captiue The other whereby either cities countryes or men were vowed to the wrath of the Gods for others healthe As Decii father and sonne Codrus Athenian king Sceuola in the tents of Porsena a thousand other And as he dyd so I my verse wyll wrap in stories blynde Although my selfe am neuer wont to imitate this kynde His trade obscure I folowing gainste Ibys wyll inuay My customes olde and iudgement to the whyle wyll cast away And for bicause yet what thou arte to them that aske the same I tell it not thou also shalt tyll then haue Ibys name And as my verses shal be stufte with some obscurytie So let the course of all thy lyfe be fyll'd with myserye Of him that luckyest is to gesse the same be done to thée One day wherein thow tokest lyfe and fyrst of Ianuarye ¶ Among the olde Romaines ther wer two tymes wherin it was most diligeÌ„tly obserued that no vnlucky word shold be vttered The one priuat which was eche mans byrth daye to him selfe The other publyck which was the firste of Ianuary for all On either of these they badde an opinion that what soeuer was sayd good or bad it should come to passe The gods that rule both sea and land Here beginnethe Ouyd hys curses by inuocatioÌ„ of all the whole rable of the Gods The Poles are two North South and better kyngedomes guyde In equall power with Iupiter betwene the Poles so wyde ¶ The Gods of the sea are Neptunus Castor Pollux and a great sort else of whome bicause Textor in his Officine hath written at large I wyll omyt to speake The Gods of heauen in greatest honor who also drynk of the swéete wyne Nector are Iupiter Mars Liber Apollo Mercury Vulcan Aeolus c. The Goddesses Iuno Mynerua Diana Vesta Ceres Venus Vide Textorem in capite de Diis Tomo secundo Oh hitherto I pray you all be prest t' apply your mynde And graunt that these my hearty hestes Tellus the earth had a Godhed therefore shee was called vppon in making truces Homer Plinius So had Ether also the Ayre The Sun and Stars also not withoute sacrifyces appointed to them Nox the night was deified had hir ministers Fumanus Vmbre desired waight may fynde And thou thy selfe oh Tellus fayre thou Sea with all thy waues And Ayer highest of the rest graunt what my prayers craues And eke you Starres and Phebus to with beames compassed bright Thou Moone also who neuer do'st as ere shew forth thy light Thou Night who by thy darknes art of many honoured And eke you Dames who with thrée hands doe spinne the certain thred ¶ There be thrée Ladies of desteny daughters of Demogorgon and according to Tully of Herebus and Nox Clotho Lachesis Atropos who haue al mens lyues wounde as it were on a distaffe ready to be sponne Clotho caryeth the distaffe Lachesis draweth out the thréed and Atropos breaketh it of and then the lyfe of hym that is on their Spindels of necessitie must ende Thou Riuer to that thorow hell with fearefull noyse do'st run By whom who so doth make a vowe the same must néedes be done ¶ Victoria daughter of Acheron and Stix Styx a Floode in Hell which did Iupiter very good seruice in the warres that hee had againste the Gyants obtayned of Iupiter that all the Gods should sweare by hir mother and if any that had so sworne had falsifyed his othe VVhy the Gods doe sweare by Styx the Floode in Hell that he might not drinke of the swéete wyne
daughter Achimene vnto him Stenobea hearing hereof hanged hirselfe Bellerophon after thys hauing a minde to sée what was in heauen because he had Pegasus the winged horse that was Perseus his before ingendred of the bloode of Medusa kyld by the said Perseus he flew a great height from whence lokyng downe he was so afrayd that he fell downe and brake his necke but his Horse flewe into Heauen and was placed amonge the Starres this the Poets fayne Reade his true history in Strabo And mayst sée as Amintors sonne who trembling gropt his way With nothing els saue with his staffe without the light of day ¶ Phenix Phenix Amintors sonne his grandfather was called Ceraphus his greate grandfather Ormecius lay wyth his fathers Concubine and being therof accused by his stepmother he fledde to Peleus Achilles father whose companyon he was always after He was Achilles master and went with him to Troy but in the ende desirous to go into his country Phocis coulde not sée his people because he was blinde That some say he was made blynde by his sonnes seeing they allege no cause why séemeth not verye like to be true Nor mayst beholde no more then he whose daughter did him guide Whose wickednes his father and his mother both hath tryed ¶ He meaneth Oedipus Oedipus his petigree whose vnhappy stocke because it playeth a great part in thys Pageant it shall not be muche amysse if we fetche hys Petigrée somewhat farre we wyll therefore firste beginne with Iupiter who begotte Helene Hellene Belus Belus Abas Abas Agenor Agenor Europa Cilix Bassus Cadmus Cadmus Polidorus Polidorus Labdacus Labdacus Laius Laius Oedipus of Iocasta Lains desirous to know what children he shold haueen quired of the Oracle of Apollo by whō he was certified the he shold haue a sonne which shoulde put him to death He commaunded therefore that all his men chyldren should be slayne Oedipus was borne and hauing put thorough his feete two withies was hanged on a trée Polybia where he was found by Polybia a woman who brought him vp to mans state But beinge greeued that he knew not his parents determined to go to Delphos to enquire of them whether at that tyme went Laius also to knowe what was become of his sonne They met together in Phocis Laius slayne and stryuing for the way Laius was slayne by Oedipus After thys hee ouercame the monster Sphinx and attempted the kingdome of Thebes maryed the quéene by whome he had two sonnes and two daughters Etheocles Polinices Antigone and Ismena thus Diodo Seneca sayth that Phorbas a shepeherde found him hanging by the féete and gaue him to Merope king Polibus wife king of Corinth of whom because they wanted heirs he was brought vp as their own child but knowīg after by the Oracle that he should kyll his father supposinge them to be his true parents fled from them thinking by that meanes to auoyde his desteny and comming to Thebes kylled his owne father hunting in a forest and maryed his mother vnwittingly but when he knewe hereof which thing he did by the means of the plague that hapned to the Citie of Thebes he would haue slayne himselfe but his men would not suffer him then woulde he haue caste himselfe headlong from a rocke but his daughter Antigone who alway wayted vpon him wold not permit him so to doe When therfore by no meanes he could ende hys wretched life he scratched out his ewn eyes Sen. Diodorns siculus writeth hereof farre otherwise And that thou mayst be such as he who iudg'd the ioconde strife Who after in Apollos arte was famous during life ¶ Tyresias a Theban Tyresias sonne of Chyron and Othoriclo was elected a Iudge betwene Iupiter Iuno to determine whether the man or woman was more enclyned to lasciuiousnes or most prone to accomplish the lustes of the fleshe He gaue sentence of Iupiters syde and concluded that women were the wantoner Wherefore Iuno moued to anger put out hys eyes but Iupiter comforted hys calamitie and made him a Soothsayer He foreshewed the takinge of Thebes and when the Citie was ouerthrowen he was ledde captyue amonge the rest and drinkynge of the water of the fountayne Tilphusa in hys Iourney dyed Daphnae alias Sibilla His daughter Daphne after called Sibilla was wise in that arte and wrote many answeres It is called Apollos arte for that he is the God of those that foreshew things to come And that thou mayst be such as he who did commaunde a Doue To conduct safe the goodly shippe Phenix had thrée sonnes Cilix Phineus Phyneus and Doriclus Phyneus had two sonnes by Cleopatra Orithus and Crambes He put out theyr eyes for that they were accused of certaine mysdedes by theyr stepmother in reuengement whereof Iupiter made him blynde sent the Byrdes called Harpiae to molest him Harpiae But when he had receaued hostede ayded the Argonants They were driuen from hym by two young men Zethus and Calais the sonnes of Boreas the Northwynde and Orithia which could flye and were also of the felowship of the Argonants They were chased to the Ilandes then called Plote Strophades insulae after Strophades bicause the young men returned from the chase being admonished by Irys that they should chase Iupiters dogges no further For which benefyt Phyneus gaue councell to the Argonants that they shold folow the Doue that Pallas wold send thē lest they ronne on the rocks called Saxa cyanea otherwise Simplegades But that Phyneus gaue them the Doue béesyde Apollonius Rhodius none wryteth Or he who lackt his eyes with which he naughtly gould hath kende Whome to hir sonne a sacryfyce the Mother greu'd dyd sende Polymnestor Polymnestor king of Tracia maryed Ilione daughter of Priamus and Hecuba To him when the warres of the Grekes and Troians began Polidorus was sent Polidorus Pryams yongest sonne and with him a great summe of Goulde there to be kept tyll the ende of the warres whome while Troy remayned in good estate Polymnestor kept honorably But so soone as the fortune of Pryam and the Troyans decaied he killed his Clyent for to enioy hys money and cast him into the Sea whose body after the destruction of Troy was founde on the shore by Hecuba Hecuba who desembling the death of hir sonne sent for Polymnestor perswading him that she wold deliuer him an other great summe for the norishment of hir chyld He beleuyng hir came into hir chamber where of hir and hir maydens his eyes were pulled out Or as Th'etnean shepeherd was to whome was prophesied By Telemus Eurimous sonne what after should betyde ¶ Polyphemus was sonne of Neptune by Thoosa Poliphemus he kepte shepe about the hyll Etna in Cicilia after he had eaten sixe of Vlisses men returninge from Troy being dronken with wine had his eye put out by Vlisses The whole maner hereof is described at large in the ninth boke of
a Harpe And ofte she looked from the walles and at length séeinge Minos wholy armed being taken with hys bewty and not knowing howe to compasse his loue determyned to cutte of the haire of hyr Fathers head wheruppon the destenies o◠hyr countrey did depende and profer it to Minos which she dyd and opened the gates vnto him But he detestynge hir vyle and vnnaturall facte when he had taken the Citie would not suffer hyr to enter into his shyppe Wherefore she was turned into a Larke and was continually pursued of hir Father who also was turned not lōg before into a hawke called by his owne name Nisus Ouid in the eyghte booke of hys Metamorphosis sayeth that he was tourned into an Osprey Or she who by hir cruell déede reprochfull made the place Where ouer hir fathers body slayne she draue hir cart apace ¶ Tullia Tullia daughter of Seruius Tullus séemed to beare but lyttle good wyll to hir father for when hée was slayne by hyr husbande Tarquinus Superbus she made such hast to enter into his possessions the she draue hir wagon ouer his body not yet buryed whereof the place was called Sceleratus It is hard by the syde of Cyprus Or that thou mayst be slayne as were the lusty youthes too bowlde Whose heads were sette on Pisa gates that all might them behoulde ¶ Oenomaus sonne of Mars and Aegina Oenomaus daughter of Asopus some cal his mother Harpina Hippodamia hee had but one daughter called Hippodamia This kinge on a tyme enquyringe of the Oracle what tyme hée shold dye receaued answer that he shold lyue vntyl he affyanced his daughter to any man For which cause he determyned to keape his daughter in perpetual virginitie But for all that hée proclaymed that who soeuer coulde ouer runne him with horses should haue his daughter and kingedome But he that was ouercommed should dye Thyrtene woers were slayne Pelops At lengthe came Pelops son of Tantalus to Pisa with whose bewty the maidē Hippodamia takē promysed to Myrtolus the son of Mercury and Phaetusa Mirtolus who draue hir Fathers chariot that if Pelops myght bee victor he should lye with hir the fyrst night Myrtolus glad of hir promise made hys maisters arultrée of wax which in the way with heat of the whéeles dyd melt and breake by meanes whereof Pelops wan the pryce and Oenomaus thinkinge that the ende of hys life was come kyld him selfe Myrtolus crauing of Hippodamia the performaunce of his promise was by Pelops cast into the sea that after hys name was called Mare Myrtolum The race that the woers ranne was from Pisa to the altar of Neptune in Istmus of Corynthe Before the course Oenomaus race Oenomaus sacryficed a Ram to Iupiter the woers charyot drawen with fewer horses went béefore whome Oenomaus hauing fynyshed his sacryfice folowed and if he ouertoke him he wold with a speare runne him thorough The heads of those that were slayne were wherby they sholde be afraid to take on them the like enterpryses To this story do belonge the two staues that folow Or he which iuster was who with his blood bedewd the ground Besprinkled erst with blood that came from wretched woers wounde Or as the carter that betrayd the Tyrant bloody wight Who gaue newe names vnto the sea that nowe Mirtonum hight Or those that sought in vayne to haue the mayden swifte as winde Till she by gathering Apples thrée was somewhat lefte behinde ¶ Atalanta daughter of Sceneus Atalanta asking the Oracle what successe she shold haue in mariage receaued answere that aliue she should lose hirselfe wherfore she halowed hirselfe to Diana and lyued in the solitary woodes But because hir bewty was surpassing least she should séeme to dispyse the good will of hir suters ordeyned that she wold be his wife that could out runne hir but he that attempted the course and was lefte behind should lose his lyfe Many were slayne and whyle they were putting to death Hyppomenes Hippomenes sonne of Megareus there present blamed much their rashnes in bying a wif so deare tyll at lēgth espying hir bewty after hir face was vncouered he was as much entangled in hir loue as the rest Wherefore determyning eyther desperately to dye or els ioyfully to winne vndertoke to runne with hir sauinge first made his humble prayers vnto Venus who gaue him three Golden Apples that grew in Damascus in Ciprus which he throwing aside came first to the race ende and thus by the benefite of Venus he gayned his loue But after through his greate ioye forgettinge to geue her thankes for hir curtesy moued her heauy displeasure towarde him so that on a time as he passed through a groue which Echion had dedicated to Sibela mother of the Gods he was by motion of Venus so sharpe sette that euen there he muste néedes haue to doe with his wife With which Sibela offended turned hym into a Lyon and hir into a Lyones and for that cause Lions be sacred vnto the mother of the Gods Or as the men that went into the combrouse house with payne Wherin the monster strange was kept whence non could come agayne ¶ Androgeus Androgeus sonne of Minos and Pasiphae surmounting al men in the games at Athens fel into familior aquaintance with the sonnes of Pallas Egeus fearing lest by the help of Minos the said sennes of Pallas shoulde dyspossesse hym of hys kingdome layde an embushment about Inoe in the land of Athens wher he slew Androgeus wyth them as he wente to sporte himself of Thebes In reuengement wherof Minds made war to them and cursed them with famine and mortalitie both which thinges hapned vnto them The Grekes destrous to be ryd of these plagues asked counsel of the Oracle what was best to be done who commaunded them to goe to Aeacus that he mighte doe sacryfice on their behalfe which they did by meanes whereof all the cities of Grece sauing Athens alone were deliuered The Athenians therfore againe constrayned to consult the Oracle were commanded to let Minos take what vengance he would for the death of his sonne He therfore charged them to send him euery yeare seuen men children and seuen maydes to be deuoured of the monster Minotaurus which thing they did vntill the time that Theseus by means of Ariadne slew him this mōster was included in the cōberouse Laberinthe which Dedalus made in Crete The first that deuised this kinde of building was Peresucus kinge of Egipte In it were so many dores and wayes that whosoeuer entered therinto could neuer come out again That which Dedal made in Crete wherof we spake before hadde scante the hundreth parte of the difficulties of that Peresucus deuised Or as the bodyes twelue were cast into the flaming fire Which was Achilles angry worke enrag'd almost forire ¶ After Hector had kylled Patroclus Achilles his fréend Patroclus Achilles made a vow that he wold neuer eate nor drinke
to the woers that they might kill his lorde was verye cruelly mangled by Vlisses and Telemachus and after slayne Firste he had his nose and eares cutte of then hys priuye members pluckt away lastly his hands féete cut away He kept Vlisses gotes Or as the lusty wrastler whom Hercules did kyll Who when he fell a wondrous thing then was he victor still ¶ Antheus sonne of the Earth Antheus king of Lixa in Libia where the Orchardes of Thesperides were fayned to be was a noble wrastler He killed many for when hys feete touched the grounde he was made stronger of his mother Whych thinge when Hercules perceaued that wrastled wyth hym he toke him in hys armes from grounde and helde hym so harde that he dyed therewith He had a wife named Vigenna and a daughter called Tingenna which was forced by Hercules of whom was begotteÌ„ Siphax who in the honor of his mother builded a Citie and called it by hir name Tingenna where hys graundfather was buryed Whose Sepulcre when Sertorius commaunded to be broken vppe in it was found a body 70. cubites long Plutarch Or those who by the boystrous handes of Antheus lost their breath Of Anthe us is said Or those whom Lemnos women did put vnto cruell death ¶ The women of Lemnos for despising the sacrifices of Venus Lemniace mulicres by hir wrath became verye lothsome so that they and a ranke and â—otish odour wherefore they were lothed of their husbandes who for that purpose went into Thracia to gette them newe wiues But in their returne their old wiues conspired against them and kylled them wyth all their Concubins saue Hipsiphile who saued hir Father Thoas as is sayde before And that their sonnes might not reuenge the death of their Fathers they killed them also So that they left none of the male kind aliue in their countrey As he that after longe drouth did yll sacred rightes deuise Who to get rayne was made himselfe a bloody sacrifice ¶ Thrasillus but Ouid in his first boke of the Art of loue Thrasil ê° calleth him Thrasius when Egipt had wanted rayne .ix. yeres came to Busiris and tolde him that if he would haue rayne he must do sacrifyce to the Goddes with men Busiri therfore began with him and continued that cuscome vntill Hercules time who sacrifised the tyrant himselfe and thereby obtayned rayne Or as Antheus brother hath with proper blood be bled the altars as was right syth he likewise had others shed ¶ Pigmalion vsed to sacrifice men Pigmaliö and was himselfe so serued he was brother to Antheus But it shal be better as I thinke to reade for Antheus Anceus and vnderstande this place of Busiris Busiris Anceus Astipalea whom Hercules slew as is sayd for Anceus and Busiris were Neptuns sons by Astipalea As he that fedde his terrible horse with flesh of many kild In stede of grasse or hay that growes abrode amid the fielde Diomedes fed his horse with mans flesh Diomedes and was at length himselfe cast to them by Hercules As is afore rehearsed Or those two who at diuers times by one to death were done I meane the Centaure Nessus and Dissimanus hys sonne ¶ Nessus promysed to cary Deianira Hercules wyfe ouer the fludde Euenus on hys shoulders also Hercules after But hauing caryed hir fyrst he wold not fetch him afterwarde but ment to haue rauished hir and was therefore slayne by Hercules with an arrow The tale is well knowne of all men To leaue the tale of Dissimanus Iphiclus his sonne Dissimanus that pleaseth Domitius Calderinus whose neck Hercules brake froÌ„ the top of a tower at Terynthus bicause he came to fetche againe the horses of hys brother Euritus that Hercules had driuen awoy Or Ormenus that denied his daughter Astidamia to Hercules was therefore slayne by him We will reade for Dissimanus Diximanus Dixmianus This Dixmianus had three daughters Theronice Teriphone Deianira Theronice was maryed to Ctatus and Teriphone to Euritus which both were Actors sonnes whem Hercules kild about Cleonae as they weÌ„t to Istmus to sport them selues Cteatus of hys wyfe gate Amphimacus Euritus of his Thalpis Deianira his yongest daughter was deflowred by Hercules who promysed at a day to returne and mary hir in the meane time came Eurition sonne of Ixion and a Clovvde asked to haue hir in mariage Hir father for feare grauÌ„ted his good wyll and ordeyned the maryage to be against the tyme that Hercules appointed to returne At the day prefixed Hercules came and kylled Eurition and maryed his wyfe and of this man meaneth Ouide who was brother to Nessus Or as thy neuew Neptune whome surrendryng vp his ghost Dyd Nymphe Coronis sonne behould from out his proper coste ¶ If we read Neptune Hippolite we must vnderstande this of Hyppolitus whome Theseus sonne of Neptune and Ethra begat of Hippolite the Amazone Of whome we spake tofore But if we reade Saturne as in myne opinion it is better then must we vnderstande it of Periphaltes Periphaltes Vulcanus sonne and neuew of Saturne This Saturne begat Iuno Iuno bare Vulcane Vulcane begat Periphaltes He was a famous théef called by an other name Corinetus Corinetus Epidaurus slaiÌ„ by Theseus not far from Epidaurus wher As Sinis Sciron and with them Poliphemons sonne to And he whose body was halfe man and halfe a Bull also ¶ Sinis a famous théefe Synis who tyed such men as he ouercame to the tops of trées bended together downward and after let them vp againe and so killed them He was slain by Theseus vpon whose daughter Perigone the same Theseus begot Menalippus Sciron a famous théefe Scyron kept the Grekish seys and to suche as hee ouercame as hée satte on the toppe of a hyghe rocke he profered meate with his foote whome when they toke it he spurned downe the rocke Some think that this was the father of Peleus Thelamon He was slayne by Theseus cast hedloÌ„g down the same rock from whence he had cast many other He haunted the places néere vnto Megara ¶ Poliphemon and his sonne Procustes were also flayn by Theseus Poliphemon procustes This Procustes vsed such as he caught thus He had a bed in the which he wold lay all strauÌ„gers and if they were to short he would with a rack draw them out vnto the iust length therof and if they were too long then would he cut of the ouerplus He haunted not far from Athens at a place called Cordulus ¶ The disformed Minotaurus was slayn likewise by Theseus as is said afore Minotaurus But here it shall not be much amisse to tell how it chanced that Pasiphae Minos wife bare such a child Minos was accustomed to sacrifice euery yere a bul to Neptune The fairest of al pleased Pasiphae so wel that she craued of hir husband so much why Pasiphae loued a bull the he saued
him Wherfore Neptune displeased made Pasiphae to cast hir loue on him by the means of Dedalus enioyed hym brought forth a sonne that from the sholders downward was like a bul but vpward like a man Ouid .viii. Meta. Or he who men fast tied to boughs from ground did cast on hye Of this sea or of that thou mayst the surging waues espye Pitocamptes dwelte in the straightes of Istmus betwene the two Seas PitiocaÌ„ptes Ionium and Aegium He was a théefe and such as hee toke he tyed to the boughes of Pine trées and so tore them in péeces He was kylled also by Theseus in lyke sorte as he had kylled others Or that which on Cercions corps dame Ceres did beholde to light when as she saw him slayne by Theseus the bolde On thée for thy desarts my wrath and anger iust doth craue And sure I trust than those thou shall no smaller mischeues haue ¶ Ceres hated Cercion for two causes Cercion one was for that he kylled hir daughter Alope because Neptune had a chylde named Hippothoon by hir in whose Citie she was well receiued when she soughte hir daughter Proserpina An other for that he troubled the whole countrey about hir Citie Eleusis wyth hys notable robberies and murthers She was therfore very glad when she sawe him slayne by Theseus That such as Achimenides forsakte on Sicill shore Thou mayst be when he did espye The Troyan fléete tofore Achimenides sonne of Adamastus Achimenides Vlisses companion at Troy was lefte by him in Poliphemus denne in Scicilia vntill he was deliuered by Aeneas about thre moneths after as Virgil in the thirde boke of his Aeneidos declareth at large Like Irus els with double name that such thy state may be Or those that hold the bridge the which shall greater be by thée ¶ Irus called first Armeus after Irus Irus bicause of his singuler craft in begging was stayne by Vlisses in likenes of a begger at his owne house in Ithaca Homer in the of his Odisses The latter two verses séeme to allude to the condicion of beggers who coÌ„monly sitte to beg their almes on brydges because moste resorte passeth that way The more be of them the lesse shal each mans part come to He wisheth Ibis to be a begger in company wyth a greate sorte that his part of the almes may be very small And that dame Ceres sonne may be belou'd of thee in vayne So that he ofte required may thy prayers styll dysdayne ¶ Some vnderstande thys of Tryptolemus Triptolemus a yong man both bewtiful and honest ofte allured with many promyses to doe yll but he would not they read for prayers riches But I think he meaneth it of Flutus Plutus Ceres sonne wheme lasius beget in Trypolis a Citie of Crete that made all ryche which came to hym And thys is the reason why I thinke tâ—â—s He wyshed beggery vnto him before alwaye to continew and if he happened to come to Plutus who made all men rich yet he wisheth the to hym onely he would change his nature and graunt him nothing And as the sand by ebbes and fluds of waters comand gene Comparatum Is washt away from vnder foote that hard is set thereon So graunt the Gods that all thy goods I knew not what they are May fall away euen through thy hands and thou be left but bare And lyke hir syre that could hir selfe to sundry shapes transpose Though belly full with hunger pyn'd that thou thy lyfe mayst lose ¶ Erysychthon sonne of Triopa Erysychthon kinge of Thessalia despysed the gods the more to anger theÌ„ he cut down an Oke which was fyftene yardes about whereinto a Nymphe was transformed This Oke was sacred to Ceres Vnder the same all the Nymphes of the woods were accustomed to dysport theÌ„ selues For which iniurye Ceres sent one of the Nymphes to Hunger to request hir that she would reuenge that despyte on Erysychthon which she dyd set hym on such a hunger that all the meat in his kingedome was to lyttle for him he soulde all that he had and last of all his daughter Metra wyfe of Autolicus who had bestowed hir maydenhead on Neptune She petying hir Fathers case desyred Neptunes help in recoÌ„peÌ„ce of hir curtysy in tymes paste shewed vnto him he gaue hir power to change hir selfe into all maner of lykenesses She would therfore be sould for any kynde of thinge and therwith sedde hir Father tyll all hir wyles were spent and euery man knewe hir well and no man would buy hir Hir father therfore voyde of all succor eat his own flesh and so at length miserably tormented died Ouid in the eight boke of hys Metamor That of mans flesh thou think no scorn to féede amid thy rage In which point onely thou shalt be the Tideus of our age Tideus king Oeneus sonne Tideus some saye of Mars and Althea other els of Mars and Eribea in the Theban warre was deadly wounded by one Menalippus whose hed he desired greatly to haue Which when Canapeus or as some affirme Amphiaraus had brought it him he ready to yeld his life eate the braynes therof Which thing Pallas espying who came to make hym immortall feared with the cruell déede would not performe hir promise But for all that he fulfylled hys cruell minde and desired of Pallas that immortalitie for his sonne Diomedes whych he could not get himselfe That thou mayst doe some facte wherewith the horses of the Sunne Abashed with contrary course from West to East may runne Pelops Tantalus sonne Pelops had foure sâ—nes had by Hippodamia iii. soÌ„nes Plisthenes Atreus Thiestes and Chrisippus by an other woman whoÌ„ he loued aboue the rest therfore when he died he made him his heire whom Atreus Thiestes slew Plisthenes dyed left .ii. sonnes Agamemnon Menelaus whom Atreus brought vp and they were called therfore Atrides So that there were but they two left they continuall enemies Mercury enemy to al Pelops stock for the death of his sonne Mirtilus as is saide before putte a Ram with a golden fléece into Atreus flocke A Ram with a goulden flâ—se therewith to set theÌ„ together by the eares thynking that by one meanes or other Thiestes would haue the same and it came so to passe in déede For Aerope Atreus wife conueyed the same into Thiestes flocke for she loued him better then hir husbande and had by him diuers children Atreus missinge his Ram was much offended by violence thought to haue him again but by meanes of fréends a fained agrement was made betwene them Atreus had his brother to supper Against his comming he kyld all the children that he had by his wyfe and made him great chéere with some partes of them sodden some baked and some rosted Which offence sodetestable Phebus espying turned his horses and neuer after would loke vpon him And that thou mayst attempt to make
Licaons filthy feaste And séeke againe for to beguile great Iupiter thy guest ¶ Licaon Archadian king Licaon receiuing Iupiter into his Palace curteously vnder pretence of good chéere kyld one of the Ambassadors of Molossus and made meat of the same meaninge also that if Iupiter perceyued it not for there was a talke that he was a god to kil him in like sort But Iupiter much offended with his cruelty thynking that simple death was to small a punishment for this so great an offence turned him into a Wolfe Ouid i. Metamor And that some man may proue the gods by making meate of thée So that thou Tantalus his sonne or Terus his mayst be ¶ Tantalus bidding Iupiter and the other Gods to a banket kild his sonne Pelops Tantalus to see whether they knewe it or not All the Gods abstayned onely Ceres eate vp a whole shoulder which the Gods after the ende of the feast casting their heades together restored but not of flesh for in the place therof thei made him a sholder of Iuory Pelops eburneus wherof he was caled Eburneus Pelops ¶ Terus kinge of Thracia Terus sonne of Mars and Caucasea helpynge afflicted prynces about him amonge other he ayded Pandion kinge of Athens greatly ouercharged with his neighbours and in recompence of his trauel toke to wife Progne his daughter caryed hir into his kingdome After she had bene there aboute a fiue yeres she desired to sée hir sister Philomela greatly and requested of hir husband that he would go to Athens fetch hir Which he did and in the way home ward forced hir and lefte hir among his shepecotes that he might the oftner and safelyer resorte vnto her And to the intente she shoulde not bewray hym he plucked oute hir tongue but she not contente wyth hys dealyng wrote with hir blood the whole mynde of hir vsage sent it to hir sister Progne vnto whom Terens had tolde beefore that she was dead Which thinge moued hir greatly so that she fayned a sacryfice to Bacchus went to the place wher hir sister was and brought hir home to hir palace kyld hir sonne Itis made meat of him caused hir husbād to eat of it and after cast the head into his bosome Wherwith he half enraged tooke his sword in hand wold haue slayne them both but the mercy of the Gods prou ded a remedy for Terens was turned into a Lapwynge Progne into a Swalow Phelomela into a nyghtingale And Itis into a Phesant Ouide vi of Metamor And that one may so straw thy lyms about the sieldes ryght plaine As those were of the chyld which dyd his fathers course retayne ¶ Medea flying from hir father Oeta Medea Absirtus caryed hir brother Absyrtus with hir folowing Iason into Grece whom she helped in takinge the goulden Fléese from hir father for which Iasō was sent by his vncle Peleas Wherewith Oeta moued prepared a nauy and folowed the Argonants whereof Iason was Captaine and pursued thē so neare that Medea to stay his course kylled hir brother Absyrtus and strawed his members abrode that hys griefe myght the more increase she dyd styck his head vppon a pole Which Oeta espyed he bestowed so much tyme in gathering the pieces of his slayne son together that Iason and his mates had cōuenient time to escape Ouid in that third booke de Tristi declareth thys story at large That in Perillus brasen worke thou Bulls mayst imitate With bullyke sounde in euery poynt agréeing vnto that ¶ Perillus Perillus. thinking to please the cruel tyrant of Agrygentum Phaleres made a Bull of brasse wherin whosoeuer were cast a small fyre made vnder the same wold make a noyse lyke a bull bringing the same vnto him craued a reward for his paines As Ouid in the fourth of his Trist sayth Phaleris intendinge indéede to try that workmanshippe commanded hym forthwith to be tormented in the same And as the cruell Phalrise thy tongue cut out before Included in the Paphian worke ryght lyke a bull mayst rore ¶ Phaleris Phaleris after he had tormented many in Perillus Bull and exercysed much cruelty by the space of syxten yeares ouer the Agrygentines was taken by hys subiectes and hauing his tonge cut out was caste into the same The Poet calleth it Paphian worke bicause the brasse whereof it was made came from Paphos a citie in Cyprus from whence the best brasse accustomably came And whyle thou wouldst retourne from age and yeares more youthful see As was Admetus father in lawe thou mayst deceaued bée ¶ Medea hauinge made Aeson Aeson Iason hys father yonge againe and Bacchus nurses also Peleas was intreated by the daughters of Peleas who was brother to Aeson and great enimie to to his neuew Iason that she wold make their father yong againe also She doubted much at the fyrst and made the matter very dainty notwithstandinge glad that so good occasion was profered to be reuenged of hir husbādes enimie at length with much adoe graūted in assurance their request And the better to perswade them that she coulde doe it she kylled an olde Ram and with hir medecines made him a lamb agayn Herewith they wer fully persuaded that she was able to doe this so that they promysed hir many gyftes if she wold make their father yonge again They agreed of hir rewarde and she bad them kyll him and caste his members cut in small péeces into a caldren of hote water whereto saue Alceste they all agreed dyd the same But when Medea hadde done that she came for shee wente to the toppe of a tower fayning that she had a sacryfice to doe and with hir dragons was caried in the aire and gaue Iason a token of his vncles death who to establysh his kingdome the better gaue hys daughter Euadne to Eueus sonne of Cephalus Amphimone to Andremon Leontheus brother and Alcesta to Admetus thus thus was Pelias Admetus father in law Ouid. vii Meta. And as the gentleman that thou in filthy pitte mayst fall Yet so that of thy déede there may remayne no name at all ¶ In the midst of the citie of Rome happened to be a great cleft in the earth Curtius and the soothsayers made answere that Stulio Manius a God craued a valiant man to be giuen him if he had not one that the city shold shortly be destroyed Curtius to deliuer the city from so great danger all armed vppon a goodly courser with his sword drawen in his hand with a ful galloppe rode into the same which immediatly closed vp and the place euer after was called Curtius Lake And God graunt that thou maist be slain as those of serpents growen Whose téeth in acceptable fieldes by Cadmus handes were sowen After Iupiter had stollen Europa Agenor Cadmus hir father Agenor king of Phenicia sent Cadmus to séeke his sister on this condicion that either he should bring hir
againe or els neuer returne again himselfe Cadmus after long séeking and smal finding for feare of his father durst not come in to his owne countrey but went to aske counsell of Apollo what was beste for him to doe of whom he was commanded to folow a yong oxe that neuer was yoked that had the signe of half a Moone on one of his sides and to builde a citie where he firste lay downe which he did and called the cuntry Boetia and his city Thebes But on a time sending his men for water and marueyling that they returned not agayne going to séeke them himselfe and finding them all slayne by a great Dragon that belonged to Mars so that there was no moe lefte aliue but himselfe alone he was greatly gréeued But for al that he set on the serpent and kylled hym to whom after came Pallas his good maistres and bad him sow the téeth of it in the grounde whereof arose sodainly armed men that sodainly flew one an other so that if Pallas had not cōmaunded Echion Ideus Cromius The inhabitants of Thebes Pelorus and Hiperenor to cease because Thebes should be inhabited they had all ben destroyed by mutuall woundes Or that thy lucke may be as yll as neuew to Pentheus Or as Medusas brother els I meane Archilochus ¶ Pentheus begat Odasus Pentheus Menetius Odasus Menetius Menetius Creon and Iocasta whych was maried to Laius of whom in Oedipus you may reade more before Creon begat Hemon and Menetius of whom in this place Ouid speaketh He killed him selfe for to deliuer his countrey from a pestilence that Mars sent for the killing of his Dragon by Cadmus Read Seneca his tragedy This stock of Oedipus his and Achilles with Tantalus were very infortunate Who was Medusas brother if Ouid meane one of the thrée systers called Gorgones for my parte I neuer read Archilochus excepte Archilochus had any sister of that name How he was slayne reade in Licambes in the beginning Or though wherwith though it were one did a birde remayne Which doth with casting water wash short hir body toward rayne ¶ Coronis daughter of Coroneus Coronis when Minerua had geuen Erichthonius shut in a basket to be kept to hir selfe Pandrasos Persa and Aglanros daughters of Cecrops with charge that they should not loke into the same and they contrary to hir commaundement had loked there in and found a dragon Coronis bewrayed the same and told it abrode wherfore Minerua banished hir from hir company Who after walking by the sea side was espyed by Neptune who would haue rauyshed hir but she by no meanes would be perswaded to leaue hir virginitie Wherfore when she was at poynt to be forced she was by Minerna turned into a Crowe Ouid. ii Metamor That thou maist haue as many wounds as by report had he To whom when sacrifice is done no knife may present be ¶ Osiris Osiris whom the Egiptians do worshyp for a God was slayne by his brother Tiphon and cutte into péeces and for that cause in his sacryfice it is not lawfull to haue a knife Or that with fury rapt thou mayst thy priuie members launce As those whom mother Sibele makes to foote the Phrigian daunce All Cibeles priestes were gelded Cibeles Prestes coribantes Atis. moued with a diuine fury in their sacrifices daunced They were gelded because at the first she louing Atis very well being a bewtiful yonge man he not willing to do hir pleasure cut of his Demisaris He would faine haue ben gone into his country again from whence she had caryed him against his will but she meaning to stay him still with hir sente one of hir Lions to feare him wherewith in deede he abashed ran into the woode and euer after was one of hir priestes till he was turned into a Pine trée Hitherto doth belong the nexte stafe that particularly speaketh of Atis. That thou of man as Atis did ne man nor mayd mayst stand And that thou mayest learne to play on Timbrelles with thy hand Cibels priestes beside that they daunced they played also on instruments And that thou mayst be turnd into the beastes of mother great As she that lost and he that did the price with running gette How Cibel the mother of the Gods turned Hippomenes Atalanta into Lions you heard before Hippomenes and Atalanta And that Limone not alone such punishment may beare Let horses with their raging téeth thy flesh in péeces teare How Hippomenes vsed his daughter Limone taken in adultry I told you afore And as the king of Cassandrea which art as fierce as he God graunt that woūded in the ground thou buried mayst be Cassandrus that raygned in Cassandrea Cassādrus a part of Macedonia for his cruelty of his subiectes was ouercouered with ashes and so dyed Another of that name who succeded hym was also for his tiranny buried quicke Or els that slayne into the seas some may thée hedlong throw As were the noble Perseus and Telephus also Erectheus begat Cecrops Cecrops Metion Metion Canace a daughter Canace bare Abas Abas gotte Colchodon Colchodon Elpenor Acrisius Danae Perseus Elpenor Acrisius who begat Danae This Acrisius hearing of the oracle that his daughters sonne shoulde dispossesse him of his kingdome would graunt hir in mariage to none but included hir in a tower of brasse so the no man myght come to hir but Iupiter turned hymselfe into a shower of Golde and came in by the Loouer of the castell and got of hyr Perseus Whych thynge when Acrisius knew he toke him with his mother and put them into a tun and caste them into the Sea But they shortly after were brought by water to Polidectes kinge of the Isle Seriphon who married Danae brought vp Perseus well but after sente him to many dangers But I néede not in this place tell how he had of Mercury his slippers Pegasus and a helmet a crooked sworde of Adamant of Saturne and a shielde of Pallas nor how he ouercame the thre sisters daughters of Porcus Euriale Stheno Medusa which had all but one eye thei were called Gorgones The story is at large described in the fourth fifte bokes of Cuids Metamor The story of Telephus in the beginning is set forth at large Telephus And that by Phebus altars thou a sacrifice mayst be As was him selfe king Theodotus by cruell enimie ¶ Theodotus king of the Bactrians Theodotus was sacryficed by Arsace king of Persia to Apollo after he was ouercomed in battel And that Abdera may one yeare thée vow withouten fayle And that thus vow'd thou mayst be hyt with stones more thick then hayle ¶ The people of Abdera Abdera which is a citie of Thracia dyd vowe a man for the common wealth of all at the beginning of euery yeare and the man that was thus vowed was stoned to death That Ioue with his thrée edged boult may hyt thée in his yre As he dyd
Hyppomenes sonne and Dosythoes syre ¶ Hippomenes father of Limone for the cruelty he shewed to hir was dispossessed of his kingdome as I sayde before Which thing his sonne Prester tooke very heuely Prester rayled vpon the gods shamefully was therefore slayne by a thunderboult of Iupiter So was Atrax bicause hée bewrayed of Iupiter with his daughter Dosithoe Dosithoe As Autonoes sister and he whose aunt dame Maia is And he that rashly wisht the horse and guided them amisse Semele sister of Autonoe Semele as in the petigrée of Cadmus may appeare was well beloued of Iupiter which thing wheÌ„ Iuno espyed she came to hir in the lykenes of an olde woman bad hir aske of Iupiter that he wold come to hir as he did to Iuno Which thing obtayned came to hir in his maiesty armed with thunder and lightning But she poore wench for fear vntimely brought forthe hir sonne Bacchus Bacchus died But Iupiter toke the childe and sowed him in his thigh vntill the ful time of birth came By this meanes Bacchus was twise borne Ops sister of Maia had by Sisiphus a son named Porphirio Porphirio who following his fathers impiety was slayn of Iupiter with a thonderbolt Phaeton sonne of Phebus Climene Phaeton rod in his fathers chariot gaue light to the earth a péece of a day but being not able to guide the horses right burned almost both Heauen earth and had don much more mischiefe if Iupiter of his pitie had not with a thonderbolt striken him out of the chariot and so out of heauen he fel into the riuer Eridamus Ouid .ii. Meta. As Eolus his wicked sonne and he that did procede of that same blood that Arctos came which waters wantes in dede Salmoneus Eolus his sonne Salmone counterfeytyng Iupiters thonder in earth was by a thonderbolt slayne of him Menius Licaons son brother of Calisto Menius which was after a stirre in heauen called Arctos seing his fathers house on fier his father himself turned into a wolfe reuiled Iupiter and was therfore by hym slayne with a thonderbolt And as Macedon with hir mate Macedon was burnt in flaming fire So pray I that thou mayst be slayne by Ioues reuenging ire Macedon a quene of Macedonia with hir husband for impietie were burned with Iupiters lightning That thou mayst be a pray to them for whom it is a crime To come to Delos sith they kilde Thrasus before his time Thrasus a yong man Thrasus welbeloued of Diana on a day as he came to do sacrifice to hir early was by the dogges that garded hir temple torne in péeces Wherefore she requested hir brother Apollo to send a plague among them which ceased not vntil al the dogs of the Iland were kild Or those that kyld him which hath chast Diana naked seene Or those by whom yong Linus hath in péeces toren bene Acteon son of Aristeus Autonoe Acteon weary with long chase of wilde beasts came into a valey of Gargaphia ther at a fayre fountain to coole himselfe but as yll fortune was Diana wyth hir mates were come thether before to bath themselues who so sone as she saw ActeoÌ„ come thether lest he shoulde bewray what he had séene turned him into a Harte and so he became a pray to his owne dogs Psamate daughter of Crotopus Linus had a son by Apollo called Linus Linus WhoÌ„ as he came from playing out of the fieldes the dogs of his grandfather Crotopus fare in péeces Wherwith Apollo was so sore displeased Penaâ—a monster that he sent amonster called Pena to plague the people of the countrey Which monster would pull the infants from their mothers brests and deuower them before their faces This monster was after slaine by Corebus Corebus That serpents may thée hite as yll as erst Euridice The daughter of Oeagrus olde and fayre Calliope Orpheus sonne of Oeagrus Caliope the Muse maried Euridice Euridice who walkig with the maidens about the fields hapned to treade on a serpent which by misaduenture did so sting hir that she dyed therof Ouid .x. Metamor Or as they did Hipsiphiles boy or him that durst with pricke of percing speare the holow horse of woode suspected strike Hipsiphile for sparing hir father Thoas Hipsiphile was sore persecuted of the women of Lemnos wherfore she fled to Licurgus king of Grece and was nurse to his child named Opheltes Opheltes alias Arâ—hemorus or otherwyse called Archemorus about the tyme that Thebes was besieged For when the Grekes by meanes of a great drought could haue no water for that all the fountains sauing Langia Langia were dried vp they could not find that They craued of hir that she would shew them to the same which thinge she promised and the better to doe it she set hir childe out of hir armes which before she returned was flayne by a serpent Laocoon Laocoon Neptunes priest suspecting the horse that the Grekes set before Troy to be full of crafte perswaded the Troyans to sette the same on fyre But false Sinon with his fayned oration had so bewytched theyr wyttes that they would not be ruled by him He therefore wyth a speare ran against the same with suche force that the harnes of the Grekish captayns as saith Aeneas in Virgil resounded againe therefore was with his .ii. sonnes slain by serpents in the wrath of Pallas And that thou mayst no wiselyer clime the sleppes of ladders hie Than Elpenor Elpenor and strength of wyne mayst beare as erst did he ¶ Elpenor one of Vlisses companions ful of good wine at Circes house was disposed to clyme but he fell from the ladder brake his necke Homer .x. Odiss That thou mayst dye as did they all that any helpe did bringe Vnto Thiodamas in fight who was their cruell kinge Hercules with Deianira his wife left his fathers in lawes Oeneus house because Condillus Condillus or as some cal him Ciathus his butler powred foule water into his handes and he therfore gaue him a blow on the eare After his departure wyth hys sonne Hilus he came to the flood Euenus wher he flew Nessus as is saide before Nessus Euenus Driopes Thiodamas After this he came to the Driopes whose king at that time was Thiodamas vnto whom he sente hys sonne Hilus to craue some meate for the childe was very hungry but the king would giue him none Hercules therefore much dyspleased by force toke some of the kinges oxen and made therof meate for himselfe and hys company Wherfore Thiodamas willing to reuenge this iniury came with a band of his people assaulted Hercules hys companyons so sore that Hercules was faine to arme his wife desire hir ayde was himself sore wouÌ„ded in the brest but at the last he got the victory slewe the kinge After the victory he brought the Driopes