first inhabited and peopled in the hundred and eight yeare after the generall floud After this his returne into Armenia having there rested himselfe some one and twentie yeares hee began to invent the foundations of great citties and to establish kingdomes and siegnories throughout the world so that in the hundred and two and thirtieth year after the deluge he first erected and appointed the monarchie of the Babylonians of which the first king was called Nembroth Noes cousin and about the thirteenth yeare of the raigne of this Nembroth hee instituted and established for the king of the Gaules one other of his kinsmen called Samothes surnamed Dis the fourth sonne of Iaphet a man very wise and well governed Samothes therefore accordingly tooke his leave of the Patriarke Noe his grandmother Titea of his father Iaphet and of his mother Noegla and the rest of his kindred and set forward toward his kingdome and governement with all expedition possible carying along with him diverse sorts of cattell poultrey and other things necessarie for the maintaining and conservation of mankind which kind of things were all the riches treasures that men desired to possesse in those daies and thus with all his traine familie and followers hee taketh shipping in the sea called Marc major and in the end by the favorable assistance of prosperous winds he arrived within the confines of Gaule which was some seven thirtie yeares after his first being there with his grandfather Noe and about eightscore and foure yeares after the deluge by which it may bee understood That this Samothes the fourth sonne of Iaphet was little lesse than seven score yeares of age when he now last visited the countrey Samothes therfore now entred into his own kingdome with his wife children and followers and also his horses kine and other things necessarie began to settle himselfe therein and to give out edicts and breefe commaunds what he would have done and performed in this his countrey which was done in the yeare after the floud above written and about two thousand fourescore and thirteene yeares before the incarnation of our Lord Iesus Christ The countrey was very much peopled by this time and great encreases of all other things there were found upon his now comming for it was now seven and thirty yeares past since Noe left people there first to inhabit and multiplie which in such a time grew to great abundance of all things whatsoever His welcome and entertainement was wonderous gladly accepted of those people and men of the countrey who acknowledged him as their Lord their Patriarke their cheefe and their Saturne which names in those daies were given as titles only of honor excellence and dignitie as Zenophon in his Aequivocals also sayth Saturni dicuntur familiarium nobilium regum qui urbes condiderunt Primogeniti eorum vocantur Ioves Iunones vero Nepotes eorum Hercules fortissimi cetera It may now very well bee imagined that those people having so long time lived without a governour king or particular commaunder must of necessitie bee very rude uncivile obstinat and barbarous living onely according to the lawes of Nature and following their owne wils desires and concupiscence Yet notwithstanding Samothes by faire and gentle demeanures mild cariages so woon their hearts unto him that they became easily reclaimed and brought to be docible and obedient to what precepts or commaunds were imposed upon them and upon this hee devised lawes and ordinances for domesticke conversation which he caused to bee made plaine unto the people who at the first something wondered at so straunge alterations having so many yeares together lived without any cheefe or any lawes to curbe or bridle their naturall fantasies and disordinat affections And these lawes were made in the fourth yeare of the raigne of Ninus the third king of Babylon at what time also Tuyscon the Gyant his uncle king of Almaigne and Tuball king of Spaine did the like instructing their people very industriously in the rules of Philosophie Physicke and Astronomie which they themselves had learned of their grandfather Noe and their father Iaphet And if it bee here demaunded what kind of writings they then used Berosas doth answere that they were certaine Phoenician characters letters which also were used in Armenia which were very like unto those which Cadmus long time after brought from Phoenicia into Greece and therefore Iulius Caesar in his sixt booke of Commentaries sayth That the Gaules did use in those times Greeke letters for their manner of writing but undoubtedly those characters were found long time before they were ever knowne in Greece as Zenophon and many other authors confidently doe affirme Samothes surnamed Dis living thus in all tranquilitie and peaceable securitie among his people ceased not dayly to possesse their hearts with strong opinions of the worth and value of learning for it is written that hee was the wisest and most learned prince in the world in those times as Berosus also alloweth when he thus sayth Samothes qui Dis vocatur Celtas colonias fundavit nec erat quis etate illa isto sapientior ac propterea Samothes dictus est Among other his rules of Philosophie and learning one was beeing the cheefest hee taught the people That the soules of men were immortall which before they hardly beleeved as men dwelling in the shade of ignorance and invelloped with darke mists of errour After he had thus established lawes and ordinances for the good governement of his country and all his people enjoying peaceably the fruits of quietnesse after the end of seven and fortie yeares he rendered up unto Nature that debt which could not be any longer kept backe and detained and left his eldest sonne called Magus inherit or unto his kingdome and governement which was in the one and fiftieth yeare of the raigne of Nynus the third king of Babylon and when his father Samothes had commaunded that countrey sevenscore five yeares being at his death about three hundred yeares of age or much thereabout This Samothes was of that esteeme in those dayes and so generally reverenced and loved for his vertues through all that countrey that the Gaulois or Frenchmen even unto the time of Iulius Caesar boasted and gloried of nothing so much as that they were descended and issued from him so highly was he possest of the peoples hearts in the greatest opinion of truest love the which thing also Iulius Caesar in the sixt booke of his Commentaries more copiously remembreth In his time also the sects of Philosophie first tooke their beginning and originall in Europe and were called Samothees which were men studied and expert in all letters humane and divine contrarie to the opinion of many who write that Greece was the first mother and bringer forth of arts and sciences But Diogenes Laertius in the beginning of his booke entituled The lives of the Philosophers contradicteth those suppositions saying Philosophiam à Barbaris initia sumpsisse complures
battell utterly subdue them which victorie was atchieved hard by the river Oris in Arabia and in the same place where Osyris himselfe slew the mightie Gyant and tyrant Antheus The world being thus delivered of the perverse generation of Cham Isis remained a peacefull and secure governesse and queene over Aegypt which shee compassed as well by her owne pollicies and devises as by the valour and hardie prowesse of her children of which the cheefest and most valiant was called Hercules of Lybia of whome now withdrawing my pen for a while to speake further of Isis I will more amply entreat Hercules therefore the most valourous and courageous young prince after hee had by this meanes revenged the death of his father Osyris upon his uncle Typhon and the rest of his associates began now to have a feeling of this owne power and vigour and undertaketh many most tedious voyages to scour all places of the world from the tyrannie and oppression of such inhumane and impious tyrants and first he passed through the province of Phoenicia where he slew the tyrant Busyris the sonne of him whom Osyris before had slaine From thence he went into Phrygia where Troy afterward was built and there overcame the young tyrant Tipheus and he gave the governement of that country to his own son Athus which he begat of a ladie called Omphale as hereafter shall bee declared Likewise he vanquisht the Gyant Mylinus the younger king of the Island of Candia and from thence hee came into Affrica since called Barbaria of which hee named most part of it Lybia after his owne name which before was called Phutea and there in memory of his conquests hee erected a columne and stately pinacle From hence passing through the streights of Gibraltar hee arrived in Spaine where upon his first landing hee fought bodie to bodie against the three Gerions which were brothers and joint commaunders and kings of Spaine those also hee overcame and slew and created his sonne Hispalus king and ruler of that countrey which was now the ninth king thereof and of whom the citie Hispalis now called Sivile in Spaine tooke her name and was so called After this Hercules determined to make a journey into Italie there also to purchase further fame and reputation by suppressing the tyrannie of those that there then lived according to their owne will power and mightinesse In this his jorney towards Italie by land he passeth through the kingdome called Regnum Celticum then called also Gaule and at this day is knowne and nominated by the name of Fraunce of the antiquitie of which countrey before wee come to speake of his arrivall in Italie having so fit occasion we will in this place something remember First therefore we must find out and know in what time and in what age this famous Hercules of Lybia passed through the countrey in this his journey for so much as it is not written of any certainetie or by any authenticke author That hee ever journeied through this kingdome before although some doe hold That hee went that way into Spaine with his father Iupiter surnamed Iustus in the reigne of Lucus the eight king of Gaule as hath been before somewhat commemorated and this matter may bee easily and evidently discovered by comparing the times wherein Hispalus was established and made king of Spain with those succeeding of which Johannes Annius Iohannes Annius of Viterbe a most excellent writer diligent Hystoriographer in his Chronicles of Spaine sayth That the same Hispalus was crowned and invested in the kingdome of Spaine by his father Hercules in the six and thirtieth yeare of Baleus the second of that name the eleventh king of Babylonia which was after the floud five hundred fourescore and ten years before the foundation of Troy two hundred threescore and one and before the incarnation of Christ a thousand seven hundred and seven and twenty for Hercules was born presently after the death of Ninus the third king of Babylon from whose death unto the six and thirtieth yeare of Baleus the eleventh king were just two hundred fourescore and ten yeares so that by this meanes it may clearely bee perceived in what time and in what age this Lybian Hercules so arrived in Gaule being presently after the coronation of his sonne Hispalus in Spaine At this very time therefore of his comming into Gaule which wee will now hereafter call Fraunce reigned and governed in that countrey as their king and commander one called by the name of Iupiter Celtes the sonne of king Lucus whom before we a little touched who exceeded all others in riches in those dayes and was marvellous wealthie in sheepe in cattell and in pasturage which were all the goods and possessions that princes in those times abounded in in that countrey for then silver or gold was not there known jewels and rare stones were disesteemed no tributes were paied no taxes or impositions laid upon the subjects all things without deceit art or any villanous invention of mans braine were peaceably enjoyed And to confirme this their ignorance of silver and such mettals Diodorus Siculus thus sayth That the sheepheards of this king Iupiter Celtes attending their flockes on the top of those mountaines which devide the kingdome of Fraunce from that of Spaine called Pyrenci espied on the suddain on the one side of the furthermost hils certaine liquid moisture to run downe in hastie streames into the vallies below and at the higher part of that mountaine certaine flames of fire in most furious manner to shew themselves in so much that very hard rockes and stonie substances on that mountaine were dissolved and were melted with the extremitie of the heat and riscaldation of those fires which also ceased not but continued in that strange maner many moneths together The silly and simple understanding of these sheepeheards by no meanes assumed any apprehension of this so straunge working of nature but entertained it as a matter exceeding their capacitie and reach of judgement and therefore passed it over with the lesser woonder in that they acknowledged in themselves so deepe an imperfection and want of knowledge But it so fortuned That certaine merchants of Phoenicia travelling along those coasts and perceiving that that mettal must needs be good which so distilled and tumbled downe from the tops of those mountains being as many old writers alleadge the mettall of silver began to feele the dispositions of those all ignorant sheepeheards and to come to some composition and friendly tearmes for exchaunge of some wares they had with that mettall which those hils in that plentie so affourded and yeelded forth The poore sheepeheards as I told you before not capable of the true value thereof for matters of very little worth which those merchants then had exchaunged the one for the other without any suspect of disadvantage or ill bargaine on their sides and therupon the Phoenicians laded and fraughted their ships then abiding in a port or haven not farre
a great troupe and companie of followers friends he embarked for the cost of Phrygia to see the greatnesse of Dardanus and the beautie and excellencie of his new built citie Dardania After some tedious and troublesome travels in this voyage at the last hee arrived at his wished and desired place where with all manner of ceremonie he was joyfully entertained by Dardanus whose reciprocall and mutuall love grew in the end to bee such as hee resolved and there set downe his rest for ever to remaine and not to returne againe into Italie but sent word thether of his purposes and commaunding them to create and establish Turrhenus in his absence king and sole ruler over all that countrey In few yeares Dardanus began to grow unto great mightinesse riches and power who had also a neighbour prince of mightie puissance wealthie and fortunate whose name was Teâ—â—rus whereupon many writers call the Phrygians also Teucri and this Teucrus was the sonne of Scamander and Idea and had also himselfe a very beautifull and faire daughter which hee maried shortly after unto Dardanus and was called Batea of whome Dardanus begot a sonne called Eâ—icthonius who succeeded after him and was inheritour unto the kingdome of Phrygia This Ericthonius in processe of time arose up unto a wonderfull greatnesse and large possessions who as many writers do affirme was accounted to bee one of the richest kings in those daies in that part of the world who as it is also said had at the least three thousand horses of his owne continually feeding in his pastures And this Ericthonius had also a sonne whom he named Tros whome after his death hee left as successour and inheritour unto him and of whose name afterwards the Dardanians were called Trojans This Tros very much obliged and beautified the cittie also of Dardania 〈…〉 which long time after it retained 〈…〉 had three sonnes which were Ilus Assaracus 〈…〉 hee brought up in the knowledge 〈…〉 warlicke sciences unto which kind of studie as it is written hee himselfe also was much addicted and had many yeares together maintained hostile warres with the king of Crete called Iupiter the fourth of that name there in which warres his sonne Ganimedes was taken prisoner even by the hands of Iupiter himselfe who for that in his ensigne and colours he gave an Eagle being his armes it should seeme the Poets for that cause have devised and feigne 〈…〉 as hee was on hunting was snatcht up from the 〈◊〉 unto heaven by Iupiter 〈…〉 Eagle find that hee is now taken for one of the twelve signes of the Zodiake called Aquarius Some other authors also write that one Tantalus king of high Phrygia and of Paphlagonia a most miserable covetous and auaricious prince had laid certaine snaâ—es and privie meanes to entrap this Ganimedes and to take him prisoner as hee used to sport himselfe in hunting thinking by that devise to get a mightie raunsome of his father Tros for the redeeming and enfranchising of his imprisoned and captivated sonne and that this Tantalus sent him to one Iupiter of the Isle of Crete for to safegard him and to have halfe the raunsome which should bee paied for his redeliverie and freedome And for such like causes belike the Poets also doe invent and say that Tantalus is plagued and tormented in hell standing up to the chin in water and apples hanging downe unto his lips and yet can neither drinke nor tast the one or the other and it is also more credibly written that he died most miserably and in great extremitie His sonne Pelops also banished and exiled his owne naturall countrey fled into Greece and there maried a wonderfull rich wife and great ladie by which meanes hee got unto himselfe and obtained the commaund of a whole countrey which he called after his own name Peloponnesus which is now the countrey of Mauritania and subject unto the Empire of the Turke And of this Pelops issued and came the two famous captaines Agamemnon and Menelaus Tros thus having lost his sonne on this fashion studied upon revenge and in the meane times comforted himselfe with his two other sonnes Ilus and Assaracus And this Ilus called Troy after that Ilion who begat a sonne named Laomedon the father of the renowmed Priamus and of Assaracus issued and came Anchises Aeneas father And the before written Tros ruled commaunded there in great power and puissance for the space of threescore yeares or neare thereabouts Archilochus as Archilochus in his booke of Times alloadgeth Laomedon the sonne of king Ilus as is beforesaid after the death of his father tooke upon him the rule and government of Troy in the two hundred and two and twentieth yeare after the first foundation therof by Dardanus and hee had five sonnes and two daughters which were these Priamus Titonus Lampus Clytion and Letaon and of these Homer in his Iliads maketh further mention his daughters were Antigone and Hesione Homer The Greeke Poets who indeed for the most part are full of such like fables doe say that the two gods Neptune and Apollo for a certaine summe of money promised them by him went with him about the circuit of the citie and there erected wonderfull strong and most huge high wals round about the same the which wals afterwards finished accordingly and no money received nor to bee got Apollo in great rage and anger infected the citie with a deadly and generall pestilence and Neptune in token of his wrath and displeasure also sent a monster of the sea among them unto which they must every day give and throw a young child or els that they all should perish and bee devoured by the ravenous maw and hunger thereof and that in the end it happened upon the daughter of Laomedon called Hesione to be given unto this marine beast which say they was rescued and releeved by great fortune by Hercules of Greece which came that way and who afterwards slew that monster and in gratification therof the ladie Hesione the daughter of Laomedon was promised unto him not long after in marriage but yet not married unto him by reason of the unwillingnesse afterward howsoever it fell out of her father for the breach of which promise Hercules afterwards slew Laomedon in open battell and spoyled and ruinated such his glorious citie And for that Thelamon his consort had that day behaved himselfe very valiantly in fight hee bestowed the young ladie Hesione upon him as his concubine and slave who carried her away with him into the countrey of Solamina whereof he was then king and ruler But it is most certaine that for the most part all those Greeke writers have erred infinitely and have delivered many most unlikely hystories for this Hercules as hath been before spoken was a notable and a famous pyrate and hee slew Laomedon by trecherie and surprised Troy on a suddaine and unawares and also hee was a common ravisher of maidens as of Hesione Medea and others as
several parts being the Spring Summer Autumn and Winter Macrobius as Macrobius in his Saturnals also remembreth saying Ianus apud nos in quatuor partes spectat ut demonstrateius simulachrum èphaleris advectū Afterwards the Phenicians pourtraied him foorth in the forme of a Dragon biting her taile to shew thereby the roundnesse and the beginning and ending of the yeare In honour of him also at this day the first moneth of the yeare is called after his owne name Ianuarius Servius as Servius in his Aeneidos affirmeth The ancients likewise have shaped him forth with two keyes in his hand to shew thereby that he was the invent or of gates and dores as also of the locking of them and making them fast to the end that the holy temples and sacred places should not bee polluted with the impious abuse of theeves and uncivile persons and to avoid adulteries and other such like sinnes then raigning and of his name since have all dores and gates been called Ianuae In many other sorts and formes have the auncients defigured the image of this Noe Ianus as Propertius and many others have written who in the fourth booke of his Elegies thus speaketh Quid mirare meas tot in uno corpore formas Accipe Vertumni signa paterna dei Tuscus ego Tuscis orior c. And undoubtedly there hath not beene read of any that lived so uprightly and justly as this Patriarke Noe neither that ever any had such honours reverence and godlike adoration done unto him both in his life time and after his death who also was among those people in those daies called God neither is it to bee wondered that in those elder times there were so many gods held worshipped among the auncients for so much as it is to bee understood That in those daies all those princes rulers and governors that had lived vertuously justly and godly and had commaunded their people with mildnesse equitie and uprightnesse were entearmed gods and that also without performing any idolatrous adoration or reverence unto them as Metasthenes an auncient author and hystorian of Persia affirmeth where hee thus saith Ante Nynum ducentis quadragintà novem annis regnatum fuit sub tribus dijs regibus quorum qui primus universo imperavit orbi fuit Ogyges qui prefuit inundationi terrarū c. Cathon also another very auncient writer thus speaketh Italia complura a dijs ducibus sortita fuit nomina à Iano Ianicula quem quidem Enotrium dictum existimant quia invenit uvum far And for these and such like reasons Moyses and other godly Patriarkes were called gods not that they were so in essence but onely in participation as in the seventh chapter of Exodus it is written Ego te dedi deum Pharaoni and in the the three and twenty chapter Dijs non detrahes principem populi tui ne maledicas Further also the Prophet David thus sayth Principes populorum congregati sunt cum deo Abraham quoniam dij fortes terrae vehementer elevati sunt These things are thus so amply and at large exposed to the end that the reader of this Treatise should not so much marvell or wonder when mention is made in this booke of gods and goddesses which in those daies were so much observed and reverenced Ovid. Ovid rehearsing the words of this Noe Ianus and shewing that in his death the golden age ceased thus sayth Tunc ego regnabam patiens cum terra deorum Esset humanis numina mixta locis Nondum iustitiam facinus mortale fugarat Vltima de superis illa reliquit humum Proque meta populum sive vt pudor ille regebat Nullus erat iustis reddere iura labor Nil mihi cum bello postes pacem que tuebar c. And as Noe was among these auncients thus honored and adored and temples and altars consecrated unto him so also was Titea his wife held in great reverence worship and holy esteeme who was called also Vesta Aretia Terra Regina sacrorum magna Cybeles Materque deorum atque Vestalium Princeps sive Abbatissa as Berosus and other writers affirme Having thus touched the death of this good Patriarke Noe it shall not bee now impertinent something to remember and speake of the wicked and abhominable life of his degenerate sonne Cham which although of it selfe it be worthlesse of any recapitulation or recitall yet to descend to the lineall genealogie of the Lybian Hercules the Great it cannot bee well omitted from which Hercules Dardanus the first founder and erecter of Troy descended and came It hath been alreadie specified how Noe deviding the universall earth unto his children and how Cham abounding in all vices and detestable courses notwithstanding was not deprived of his portion but had his right of inheritance justly allotted unto him which was the third part of the world and particularly Affrica to the hether part of Aegypt for which countries he was commaunded by his father to depart with his wife Noegla and five and thirtie rulers which is as much to say as the cheefes of familie of his bloud and house as also with all their children and issue which was accordingly performed and presently he established himselfe as king and Saturne of Aegypt where he erected and built a citie called Chem-Myn and among them also he himselfe was called Pan and Silvanus which people likewise so engendred and issued of that familie to honour and worship him the more and to shew their love unto him lived in all impious and ungracious manner perpetrating most odious and soule-damning villanies affirming publickly That men ought lawfully to have the companie of their owne mothers sisters and daughters in all lusts and concupiscence of the flesh and other many most inhumane and shamefull acts not to be recited And to shew that they gloried and bosted in the wickednesse of such their king and ruler they entearmed him by the name of Cham Esenuus which signifieth their infamous god Pan. And thus he ruled in Egipt long time even unto the six and fiftith yeare of the raigne of Iupiter Belus the second king of Babylon in the which yeare he began to travell and came into Italie which was then called Kytim to his brother Comerus Gallus the first king of that countrey after whose death C ham presently usurped and undertooke that mightie governement who in stead of vertuous instructions and godly laws in which all other princes round about him his kinsmen commaunding Germanie Spaine and France had instructed and taught their people cleane contrarie infected the youth of Italie with all manner of impieties incivilitie and corruptible vices persuading them beeing of themselves well addicted to usurie robberie murder poysonings and the studie of the Magicke art who by reason of his owne great skill therein was surnamed Zoroastes and was the first inventor and practiser of that vild and diabolicall learning of the use of which hee composed and
auctores asserunt constat enim apud Persas claruisse Magos apud Babilonios Assirios floruisse Caldeos apud Celtas Gallos Druidas qui Samothei dicuntur Magus the eldest sonne of the Patriarke and Saturne Samothes surnamed Dis began now to take upon him the rule and commaund of this his countrey so left unto him by rightfull succession from his father in the three hundred yeare after the floud after the nativitie of the Patriarke Abraham eight yeares and before the birth of Christ two thousand and seventeene yeares This Magus was a prince of great wisedome learning and judgement and also a great builder as the interpretation of his name delivereth us for this word Magus in the Scythian toung signifieth a builder or erecter and in the Persian language a Philosopher or a wise man And Berosus in his booke of Time thus sayth of him Nini LI. anno apud Celtas regnavit Samothis filius Magus à quo oppida plurima posita sunt in ea regione by which it may be gathered that hee was the first that ever in that country caused any villages cities townes or houses to bee built and erected for before that time men lived altogether in the fields under the umbrages of trees and covertures of some pleasant groves Iohannes Annius di Viterba in his Commentaries upon Berosus sayth That this word Magus signifieth in that tongue which first was used in that countrey of Gaule as much as a pallace house or mansion which opinion challengeth unto it selfe the stronger probabilitie for that with Ptolomie in his Cosmographie you shall find that most of the most auncient townes in that country ended with this word Magus as in Aquitaine Noviomagus in the province of Lyons Neomagus in Gallia Belgica Rhotomagus which is now the citie of Roan in Normandie there is also Berbetomagus Vindomagus and many others whose names doe end in this word Magus as also Nimegham in Guelderland was called likewise Noviomagus By all these instances it is made apparent that this Magus the sonne of Samothes Magus king of Fraunce the first that ever built townes in that country and caused them to be inhabited was the first that reduced gathered together the people of that countrey into villages townes and boroughs And further either of his life or the certaine time or continuance of his raigne and governement it hath not been by any allowed author or ancient writer capitulated After Magus succeeded one of his sons called Sarron Sarron king of Fraunce the first foūder of Vniversities the third king of Fraunce who excelled in the studie of letters and governed his people with great mildnes clemencie and uprightnesse and he was the first that erected universities or publicke schooles of learning and of him also came a sect of Philosophers called Sarronides as Diodorus Siculus in his sixt booke of Antiquities affirmeth thus saying Sunt apud Celtas Theologi ac Philosophi quos vocant Sarronidas qui precipue ab eis coluntur nam moris est apud illos nullum absque Philosopho sacrificium facere c. For in those daies Philosophers and men of learning were regarded with great reverence zeale and gracious respect and nothing there of any import was concluded or agreed upon without their privities consent or aduise therein Vnto the kingdome of Fraunce after Sarron came Drijus Sarrons eldest sonne unto whom Berosus ascribeth this title Apud Celtas Drijus peritiae plenus Hee began to raigne foure hundred and tenne yeares after the generall deluge which was about two hundred five fiftie yeares after the first foundation and inhabitation of the kingdome of Fraunce Hee was deepely seene in principles of Philosophie very skilfull in many other sciences And it is very credibly delivered by many very grave and learned writers that he built the cittie of Dreux in Normandie and that of his name came the sect of Philosophers which were called Druydes which were wondrous learned Divines Augurers Magicians and Sacrificers but such their oblations and sacrifices in these their dayes of blindnesse were performed with such inhumane and ungodly fashions with the effusion and shedding of human bloud in that lamentable and cruell manner as is too straunge to be reported which unnaturall and impious custome was abolished and cleane put downe by the first Romane Emperours Augustus and Divus Claudius as Suetonius Tranquilius Iulius Caesar and Plinie more directly have particularized the same After the death of this king Drijus his sonne called Bardus raigned in his place was the fift king of France This Bardus was the first deviser and inventor of rimes songs and Musicke of whome the Poets and Rhethoricians first tooke their sect which were called also Bardes Bardus king of Fraunce first invētor of Poetrie as Diodorus Siculus in his sixt booke more at large remembreth And these Poets and singers were held in that reverenced regard in those times among those people that if upon the instant encounter of the battels of the enemies on both parts these Poets had stept and put themselves in betweene both the armies they had for that present time recalled their furious intendments and beene mollified with the pleasant persuasive tongues of these eloquent Rhethoricians and sweet-singing Poets as Berosus in one place sayth to the same purpose Etiam apud agrestiores barbaros ira cedit sapientiae Mars reveretur musas The debt due unto Nature being fully satisfied by this king Bardus for no quillit or evacuation whatsoever may avoid it his eldest sonne called Longho was called upon to undertake that which his father had left hereditarie unto him of whome no extraordinarie memorable thing is left by fame unto the sonnes of time nor any authoritie of any great antiquarie possesseth us with his worthinesse vertues or perfections it is only supposed that before his death he built the citie of Langres which we call in Latin Civitas Lingonensis And hee had a sonne called Bardus the younger which was the seventh king of Fraunce and began to commaund some three hundred and one and fortie yeares after the foundation and enpeopling of this countrey of Fraunce And it is very probable That of these two kings Longho and Bardus the first originall and beginning of the people called Lombards took their being and name for they are entearmed in Latine Longobardi which nation although at the first they were extracted and descended out of Almaign now called Germanie yet they bare domination and rule for the space of two hundred yeares and more in Italie even untill the time of king Charlemaine who absolutely deprived them of all commaund power and authoritie in that countrey round about The eight king of Fraunce was Lucus the sonne of Bardus the younger of whom it is written as Ptolomy and others doe affirme the people called Luces or Lucenses since inhabiting about the cittie of Paris tooke their name and originall Of him also writers have beene very sparing to
speake of more than that hee begat a son called Iupiter Celtes the ninth king of Fraunce and father to the faire and beautious gyantesse Galathea whom before wee so largely spoke of and remembred And it is by computation and due reckoning found that since the first Saturn and king of Fraunce called Samothes surnamed Dis unto the raign of Iupiter Celtes were about four hundred years And now having thus lineally drawne the succession of every king of this countrey since the first inhabitation thereof untill this Iupiter Celtes and so consequently unto his sonne in law Hercules of Lybia now the tenth king of Fraunce we will proceed with him now employed about his affaires in Italie and with his issue and posteritie as it is delivered by authours of great worth learning and authoritie It hath been before somewhat touched how Hercules passing through those mountainous places of the countrey of Savoy at length arrived in Italie where having a puissant armie hee presently fell to wars with the Gyants called Lestrigones most bloudie cruell and oppressive tyrants and the murderers or consenting aidants unto the death of his father Osyris surnamed Iupiter Iustus With these powerfull commaunders in that countrey he entertained many fights and found them very resolute prepared to endure the uttermost of his mightinesse and strength yet in the end after a ten yeares wars he victoriously triumphed over them and utterly razed out all their issue and posteritie whatsoever and the place wherein his last battell against these Gyants was fought in retaineth still his old name and is yet called The valley of the Gyants which is hard adjoyning unto the cittie called Tuscanella in Tuscania These civile intestine broiles being thus valiantly and successefully appeased Hercules remained a quiet and peaceable possessor of all the countrey of Italie wherein he raigned and continued for the space of twenty yeares much about the time that his father Osyris his grandfather Cham and his great grandfather Noe had there commaunded in which time hee bestowed many gracious and commodious good turnes upon the people of that countrey and built and erected many gallant and famous cities although the most part of them bee at this day by the all consuming tyrannie of Time ruinated spoiled and decayed He also at this time caused the Island of Sardinia to be peopled frequented and inhabited which untill that time lay wast depopulate and barbarous and in this place hee appointed a ruler called Iolaus to commaund as under him that countrey and those people so committed unto him Hee likewise caused through most part of Italie especially in the moorish wettest places thereof many ditches and trenches to bee cast up that thereby the palludious meres and standing lakes might find passages to emptie their flouds and that the fields and bastures by that meanes might be preserved drie and be made more fit for agriculture tillage and other necessarie encreases for the generall profit and good of all the whole countrey thereabouts and of him the river Arnus taketh name for Hercules was also surnamed Musarnus and he lived for the most part of the time that he spent in that countrey in a cittie called Fesula in Tuscania which citie even at this day though not in that glory as heretofore giveth the armes of Hercules Italie being thus freed from the servitude wherein it lived of those ungodly and uncivile Gyants and beeing now brought to a generall quietnesse ease and prosperous estate Hercules determined with himselfe to send for both of his eldest sonnes to establish the one in the principalitie of Italie the other in the kingdome of France and hee to take his journey once againe into Spaine to which countrey hee was much addicted there to live privately and to spend the rest of his yeares to come in peace pleasantnesse and in all content Whereupon hee dispatched messengers to his wife Galathea then remaining in Fraunce as hath been before spoken of to send him presently his sonne Galatheus being now of mans estate and very able to beare armes Other messengers were dispatched into Scythia now called Tartaria there to seek out his eldest sonne Tuscus then remaining with the queene Araxa queene of Scythia inhabiting those countries which lie upon the floud Tanais and by the moores and water-lakes called Meotides Vpon the commandement of king Hercules Galathea his wife presently sent unto him his son Galatheus into Italie accompanied with the greatest men of Fraunce who was very joyously welcommed unto his father with great feasts and signes of gladnesse for he was now growne up unto a gallant big proportion of bodie and comely feature and was also of a very gentle and gracious disposition mild in his demeanures and yet majesticall and of a spirit-promising aspect throughout all his countenance Not long after him arrived his elder brother Tuscus from Tartaria who also was of a mightie corpulencie and extraordinarie large stature whom indeed Hercules had begot in the very prime of his youth and vigorous lustinesse Vpon the meeting of these two a great court or assembly of great lords and princes was held in all pompe glorie and magnificence where in the presence of all the noble Lords and Barons of diverse countries and governments as of Aegypt Lybia now called Affrica Spaine Fraunce Italie and Tartaria with great solemnities rites and ceremonies Tuscus was created and established the sole king Saturne and commaunder of all the countrey of Italie and hee was there invested in the dignitie of Ceritus that is as much to say as Iupiter crowned or Patriarke of Tuscania the yonger brother Galatheus aged about six and thirtie yeares or thereabouts was preferred also at that time unto the rule and governement of the kingdome of Fraunce All which ceremonies were performed with great triumph state and royaltie and kept in the citie of Viterba in the yeare after the universall inundation of the world six hundred and five and twentie before the foundation of Troy ninescore and one yeares and before the incarnation of Christ a thousand six hundred fortie eight These things thus solemnely consummated and Hercules voluntarily dispossessing himselfe of these two such imperiall crowns After he had delivered some instructions principles of good government to these new erected kings Tuscus and Galatheus after a generall conge of them all he took his journey towards Spaine to the great discontent and greese of all the cheefe Barons and also of the Plebeians throughout all the countrey of Italie but beeing now arrived in Spaine he found his son Hâ—spalus which hee himselfe had before established in that kingdome to be dead who had reigned onely seventeene yeares and that after him succeeded his nephew Hispanus the seventeenth king of Spaine and the first of that name who called the country after his owne name Hispania which name it ever since hath retained for before that time it was called Hâ—beria This Hispanus raigned afterwards some two and thirtie yeares
and agreement the more Tuscus freely bestowed and gave unto his brother Galatheus the great Island of Sicilia as then appertaining belonging unto the crowne and kingdome of Italie and which was then altogether desolate and disinhabited the race and generation of Cham Noes son the first commander therof being now extinct and perished Vnto this Island Galatheus made a journey carying with him great numbers and abundance of people and all things necessary for the in peopling and inhabiting thereof which people and nation he afterwards and from thence forth called after his owne name Galath-enes and erected and built also a very great citie there calling it by the name of Cenegalatha of which citie likewise Plinie in his fourth booke of Naturall hystorie doth there entreat and mention And it was held in those daies to be the greatest and cheefest honour that might bee to authorise and license any to build and erect any citie and to call it after his owne name for the denominating of which no man neither could give any leave or authoritie but those which were established in place and office of Coritus that is the Patriarke Iupiter or cheefe king and commander of that country as Tuscus then was being the sole king and ruler over all Italie and all those territories adjoyning thereunto And this grace and favour Galatheus tooke in great thankefulnesse and all kind acceptance endevouring by all means possible to be found gratefull for so high a favor received After all matters were well setled and orderly disposed in this new erected governement of Sicilia Galatheus returned backe againe into his countrey of Fraunce where with all signs and apparent tokens of a long wished welcome hee was joyfully received of his people in all the provinces round about where we must now leave him for a while to speak of his brother Tuscus and of his affaires and negotiations in his governement and charge This Tuscus as is before declared was the sole and absolute King Patriarke and Iupiter of all the dominions of Italie of whose name also a cheefe province of that kingdome then tooke her name and was called Tuscania and by the favourable good will of the tyrant Time who is wont to blot out all reliques and tokens of antiquitie it yet retaineth the same in which particular countrey hee for the most part made his continuall abode residence which before that time was called Etruria The diverse and severall names of Italie before that Ianicula and the people thereof Ianigenes which is as much to say as the issue of Ianus it was also called Oenotria Hesperia Apenina and many others according to the greatnesse or will of any such cheefe or famous king so commaunding and ruling over it Dionysius Halicarnasaeus writeth That the countrey Hetruria taken oftentimes for the whole and entire kingdome of Italie was also called Comera of Comerus Iaphets son and it had to name also Razenua It was also called Taurina and Saturnia Thuscia and Thussa and at this day Italia as hereafter shall be declared Berosus further sayth That at the first peopling and inhabiting thereof it was called Vmbria of the people Vmbri which heretofore we have somewhat touched as also Pelasgia of the people Pelasgi taken also sometimes for the inhabitants of a countrey in Greece Besides all these it was also knowne by the name of Tarrhenia as many authors of great and approved knowledge in matters of antiquitie have more amply delivered which opinion also should be more easily entertained if wee will but diligently marke the diverse and severall names given attributed unto other countries after the same fashion and manner for first concerning the people of Fraunce The old names of the people of Fraunce they were first of all called Samothei of Samothes their king then Celti then Galatij after that Belgae of their king and Patriarke Beligius after that Galli and since that Francigenae or Franci The names in like manner of the people of Germanie varied and differed very often and severally The names of the people of Germanie For the first name that ever that people received were Tuyscones of Tuyscon one of Noes sonnes the first that ever was king and ruler over that country After that they were called Gambrivij then Ingheones after that Isteones Suevi and Vandali then also Thetanes Theutontes Vindelici Vandalisci after that Alemanni and last of all of the Romanes as some hold they were generally entearmed Germani So that by these it is plainly shown how almost all countries and nations have at diverse times been diversly and differingly called by the occasion of which many writers that have not indeed seriously and laboriously lookt into fragments of old and authentike fathers for the derivations and first originals of cities and countries have beene infected with some disease or other of ignorance and errour by reason of which daungerous sickenesse first creeping though not perceived into the heads of men learned and of authoritie it hath prooved universally mortall to all those that have not invoked the aid of that good Physician Industrie throughout all the world wheresoever And so now againe wee will returne to the place from whence we last of all set forth which was from the matters and particulars which we handled of king Tuscus sole ruler and commaunder of all the countrey of Italy of whose actions or memorable atcheevements there is little read in any authors onely it is writ that hee first invented the order and dignitie of the Palladian knighthood and instituted large priviledges and allowances for the maintainance of that new found ceremonie And of any matter else which might challenge unto it selfe worth and extraordinarie commends done and performed by him few or no hystorians have written onely hee left after him his son Altheus inheritor rightfull successor to his government and kingdome Altheus then the son of Tuscus began to take upon him the rule and commaund of Italie presently after the death of his deceased father which was the fourth yeare after the death of his grandfather Hercules in Spaine who as you have heard left inheritour unto him Hesperus the brother of Atlas for the governement of that countrey which Hesperus had not there long reigned but hee was expulsed and driven out of his countrey by violent and oppressive meanes by his brother Atlas the gyant surnamed Italus so that now hee was enforced to forsake the countrey and to flie into Italie in one part of which hee afterward commaunded and called it after his own name Hesperia which name it long time afterwards retained After this Atlas Italus not contented sufficiently with the principalitie and dominion of Spaine as overambitiously thoughted came also into Italie and overswayed by his mightinesse and power al the country round about and created and established himselfe king ruler therof and called all the countrey generally after his owne name Italia by which it is at this day called