to féele in place he had not bée They hem him in on euerie side and in the shape of Stagge With gréedie téeth and griping pawes their Lord in péeces dragge So fierce was cruell Phoebes wrath it could not be alayde Till of his fault by bitter death the raunsome he had payde Much muttring was vpoÌ„ this fact Some thought there was exteÌ„ded A great deale more extremitie than neded Some commended Dianas doing saying that it was but worthely For safegarde of hir womanhod Eche partie did applie Good reasons to defende their case Alone the wife of Ioue Of lyking or misliking it not all so greatly stroue As secretly reioyst in heart that such a plague was light On Cadmus linage turning all the malice and the spight Conceyued earst against the wench that Ioue had set fro Tyre Upon the kinred of the wench and for to fierce hir ire Another thing cleane ouerthwart there commeth in the nicke The Ladie Semell great with childe by Ioue as then was quicke Hereat she gan to freat and fume and for to ease hir heart Which else would burst she fell in hande with scolding out hir part And what a goodyeare haue I woon by scolding erst she sed It is that arrant queane hir selfe against whose wicked hed I must assay to giue assault and if as men me call I be that Iuno who in heauen beare greatest swing of all If in my hande I worthie bée to holde the royall Mace And if I be the Quéene of heauen and soueraigne of this place Or wife and sister vnto Ioue his sister well I know But as for wife that name is vayne I serue but for a show To couer other priuie skapes I will confound that Whore Now with a mischiefe is she bagd and beareth out before Hir open shame to all the world and shortly hopes to bée The mother of a sonne by Ioue the which hath hapt to mée Not passing once in all my time so sore she doth presume Upon hir beautie But I trowe hir hope shall soone consume For neuer let me counted be for Saturns daughter more If by hir owne deare darling Ioue on whome she trustes so sore I sende hir not to Styxes streame This ended vp she rose And couered in golden cloud to Semelles house she goes And ere she sent away the cloud she takes an olde wyues shape With hoarie haire and riueled skinne with slow and crooked gate As though she had the Palsey had hir féeble limmes did shake And eke she foltred in the mouth as often as she spake She séemde olde Beldame Beroe of Epidaure to bée This Ladie Semelles Nourse as right as though it had béene shée So when that after mickle talke of purpose ministred Ioues name was vpned by and by she gaue a sigh and sed I wish with all my heart that Ioue bée cause to thée of this But daughter deare I dreade the worst I feare it be amisse For manie Uarlets vnder name of Gods to serue their lust Haue into vndefiled beddes themselues full often thrust And though it bene the mightie Ioue yet doth not that suffize Onlesse he also make the same apparant to our eyes And if it be euen verie hée I say it doth behoue He proue it by some open signe and token of his loue And therefore pray him for to graunt that looke in what degrée What order fashion sort and state he vse to companie With mightie Iuno in the same in euerie poynt and cace To all intents and purposes he thée likewise embrace And that he also bring with him his bright thréeforked Mace With such instructions Iuno had enformed Cadmus Néece And she poore sielie simple soule immediately on this Requested Ioue to graunt a boone the which she did not name Aske what thou wilt swéete heart quoth he thou shalt not misse the same And for to make thée sure hereof the grisely Stygian Lake Which is the feare and God of Gods beare witnesse for thy sake She ioying in hir owne mischaunce not hauing any powre To rule hir selfe but making spéede to hast hir fatall howre In which she through hir Louers helpe should worke hir owne decay Sayd Such as Iuno findeth you when you and she doe play The games of Venus such I pray thée shew thy selfe to mée In euerie case The God would faine haue stopt hir mouth But shée Had made such hast that out it was Which made him sigh full sore For neyther she could then vnwish the thing she wisht before Nor he reuoke his solemne oth Wherefore with sorie heart And heauâ—e countnance by and by to Heauen he doth depart And makes to follow after him with looke full grim and â—toure The flakie clouds all grisâ—y blacke as when they threat a shoure To which he added mixt with winde a fierce and flashing flame With drie and dreadfull thunderclaps and lightning to the same Of deadly vnauoyded dynt And yet as much as may He goes about his vehement force and fiercenesse to allay He doth not arme him with the fire with which he did remoue The Giant with the hundreth handes Typhoëus from aboue It was too cruell and too sore to vse against his Loue. The Cyclops made an other kinde of lightning farre more light Wherein they put much lesse of fire lesse fiercenesse lesser might It hight in Heauen the seconde Mace Ioue armes himselfe with this And enters into Cadmus house where Semelles chamber is She being mortall was too weake and féeble to withstande Such troublous tumultes of the Heauens and therefore out of hande Was burned in hir Louers armes But yet he tooke away His infant from the mothers wombe vnperfect as it lay And if a man may credit it did in his thigh it sowe Where byding out the mothers tyme it did to ripenesse growe And when the time of birth was come his Aunt the Ladie Ine Did nourse him for a while by stealth and kept him trym and fine The Nymphes of Nysa afterwarde did in their bowres him hide And brought him vp with Milke till tyme he might abrode be spyde Now while these things were done on earth and that by fatal doome The twice borne Bacchus had a tyme to mannes estate to come They say that Ioue disposde to myrth as he and Iuno sate A drinking Nectar after meate in sport and pleasant rate Did fall a ieasting with his wife and saide a greater pleasure In Venus games ye women haue than men beyonde all measure She answerde no. To trie the truth they both of them agrée The wise Tyresias in this case indifferent Iudge to bée Who both the man and womans ioyes by tryall vnderstood For finding once two mightie Snakes engendring in a Wood He strake them ouerthwart the backs by meanes whereof beholde As straunge a thing to be of truth as euer yet was tolde He being made a woman straight seuen winter liued so The eight he finding them againe did say vnto them tho And if to strike ye haue
the which he closely helde Betwéene his elbowe and his side and through the common fielde Went plodding lyke some good plaine soule that had some flocke to féede And as he went he pyped still vpon an Oten Réede Qâ—éene Iunos Heirdman farre in loue with this straunge melodie Bespake him thus Good fellow mine I pray thée heartely Come sitte downe by me on this hill for better féede I knowe Thou shalt not finde in all these fieldes and as the thing doth showe It is a coole and shadowie plot for shéepeheirds verie â—itte Downe by his elbow by and by did Atlas nephew sit And for to passe the tyme withall for séeming ouerlong He helde him talke of this and that and now and than among He playd vpon his merrie Pipe to cause his watching eyes To fall a sléepe Poore Argus did the best he could deuise To ouercome the pleasant nappes and though that some did sléepe Yet of his eyes the greater part he made their watch to kéepe â–ª And after other talke he askt for lately was it founde Who was the founder of that Pype that did so swéetely sounde Then sayde the God there dwelt sometime a Nymph of noble fame Among the hilles of Arcadie that Syrinx had to name Of all the Nymphes of Nonacris and Fairie farre and néere In beautie and in parsonage thys Ladie had no péere Full often had she giuen the slippe both to the Satyrs quicke And other Gods that dwell in Woods and in the Forrests thicke Or in the fruitfull fieldes abrode It was hir whole desire To follow chaste Dianas guise in Maydenhead and attire Whome she did counterfaite so nighe that such as did hir sée Might at a blush haue taken hir Diana for to bée But that the Nymph did in hir hande a bowe of Eornell holde Whereas Diana euermore did beare a bowe of golde And yet she did deceyue folke so Upon a certaine day God Pan with garland on his heade of Pinetrée sawe hir stray From Mount Lyceus all alone and thus to hir did say Unto a Gods request O Nymph voucesafe thou to agrée That doth desire thy wedded spouse and husband for to bée There was yet more behinde to tell as how that Syrinx fled Through waylesse woods and gaue no eare to that that Pan had sed Untill she to the gentle streame of sandie Ladon came Where for bicause it was so déepe she could not passe the same She piteously to chaunge hir shape the water Nymphes besought And how when Pan betwéene his armes to catch y â— Nymph had thought In steade of hir he caught the Réedes newe growne vpon the brooke And as he sighed with his breath the Réedes he softly shooke Which made a still and mourning noyse with straungnesse of the which And swéetenesse of the féeble sounde the God delighted mich Saide certesse Syrinx for thy sake it is my full intent To make my comfort of these Réedes wherein thou doest lament And how that there of sundrie Réedes with war together knit He made the Pipe which of hir name the Gréekes call Syrinx yet But as Cyllemus would haue tolde this tale he cast his sight On Argus and beholde his eyes had bid him all good night There was not one that did not sléepe and fast he gan to nodde Immediately he ceast his talke and with his charmed rodde So stroked all his heauie eyes that earnestly they slept Then with his Woodknife by and by he lightly to him sâ—ept And lent him such a perlous blowe where as the shoulders grue Unto the necke that straight his heade quite from the bodie flue Then tombling downe the headlong hill his bloudie coarse he sent That all the way by which he rolde was stayned and besprent There liste thou Argus vnder foote with all thy hundreth lights And all the light is cleane extinct that was within those sights One endelesse night thy hundred eyes hath nowe bereft for aye Yet would not Iuno suffer so hir Heirdmans eyes decay But in hir painted Peacocks tayle and feathers did them set Where they remayne lyke precious stones and glaring eyes as yet She tooke his death in great dispight and as hir rage did moue Determinde for to wréeke hir wrath vpon hir husbandes Loue. Forthwith she cast before hir eyes right straunge and vgly sightes Compelling hir to thinke she sawe some Fiendes or wicked sprightes And in hir heart such secret prickes and piercing stings she gaue hir As though the worlde from place to place with restlesse sorrow draue hir Thou Nylus wert assignd to stay hir paynes and trauelles past To which as soone as Iö came with much a doe at last With wearie knockles on thy brim she knéeled sadly downe And stretching foorth hir faire long necke and christall horned crowne Such kinde of countnaunce as she had she lifted to the skie And there with sighing sobbes and teares and lowing doolefully Did séeme to make hir mone to Ioue desiring him to make Some ende of those hir troublous stormes endured for his sake He tooke his wife about the necke and swéetely kissing prayde That Iös penance yet at length might by hir graunt be stayde Thou shalt not néede to feare quoth he that euer she shall grieue thée From this day forth And in this case the better to beleue mée The Stygian waters of my wordes vnparciall witnesse béenâ— Assoone as Iuno was appeasde immediately was séene That Iö tooke hir natiue shape in which she first was borne And eke became the selfe same thing the which she was beforne For by and by she cast away hir rough and hairie hyde In stéede whereof a soft smouth skinne with tender fleshe did byde Hir hornes sank down hir eies and mouth were brought in lesser roome Hir handes hir shoulders and hir armes in place againe did come Hir clouen Clées to fingers fiue againe reduced were On which the nayles lyke pollisht Gemmes did shine full bright clere In fine no likenesse of a Cow saue whitenesse did remaine So pure and perfect as no snowe was able it to staine She vaunst hir selfe vpon hir féete which then was brought to two And though she gladly would haue spoke yet durst she not so do Without good héede for feare she should haue lowed like a Cow And therefore softly with hir selfe she gan to practise how Distinctly to pronounce hir wordes that intermitted were Now as a Goddesse is she had in honour euerie where Among the folke that dwell by Nyle yâ—lad in linnen wéede Of her in tyme came Epaphus begotten of the séede of myghtie Ioue This noble ympe nowe ioyntly with his mother Through all the Cities of that lande haue temples tone with toother There was his match in heart and yeares the lustie Phaëton A stalworth stripling strong and stout the golden Phoebus sonne Whome making proude and stately vauntes of his so noble race And vnto him in that respect in nothing giuing place The sonne of Iö coulde not beare but sayde vnto him
brest who no such matter dréedes With wicked weapon he did pierce As Toxey doubting stood What way to take desiring both t'aduenge his brothers blood And fearing to be murthered as his brother was before Meleager to dispatch all doubts of musing any more Did heate his sword for companie in bloud of him againe Before Plexippus blud was cold that did thereon remaine Althaea going toward Church with presents for to yild Due thankes and worship to the Gods that for hir sonne had kild The Boare beheld hir brothers brought home dead and by and by She beate hir brest and filde the towne with shrieking piteously And shifting all hir rich aray did put on mourning wéede But when she vnderstoode what man was doer of the déede She left all mourning and from teares to vengeance did procéede There was a certaine firebrand which when Oenies wife did lie In childebed of Meleager she chaunced to espie The Destnies putting in the fire and in the putting in She heard them speake these words as they his fatall thréede did spin O lately borne like time we giue to thée and to this brand And when they so had spoken they deparâ—ed out of hand Immediatly the mother caught the blazing bough away And quenched it This bough she kept full charely many a day And in the kéeping of the same she kept hir sonne aliue But now intending of his life him clearly to depriue She brought it forth and causing all the coales and shiuers to Be layëd by she like a foe did kindle fire thereto Fowre times she was about to cast the firebrand in the flame Fowre times she pulled backe hir hand from doing of the same As mother and as sister both she stroue what way to go The diuers names drew diuersly hir stomacke to and fro Hir face waxt often pale for feare of mischiefe to ensue And often red about the eies through heate of ire she grew One while hir looke resembled one that threatned cruelnesse Another while ye would haue thought she minded pitiousnesse And though the cruell burning of hir heart did drie hir teares Yet burst out some And as a Boate which tide contrarie beares Against the winde féeles double force and is compeld to yéelde To both So Thesties daughter now vnable for to wéelde Hir doubtfull passions diuersly is caried of and on And chaungeably she waxes calme and stormes againe anon But better sister ginneth she than mother for to be And to thintent hir brothers ghostes with bloud to honor she In meaning to be one way kinde doth worke another way Against kinde When the plagie fire waxt strong she thus did say Let this same fire my bowels burne And as in cursed hands The fatall wood she holding at the Hellish Altar stands She said ye triple Goddesses of wreake ye Hâ—lhounds thrée Beholde ye all this furious fact and sacrifice of mee I wreake and do against all right with death must death be payde On mischiefe mischiefe must be heapt on corse must corse be laide Confounded let this wicked house with heaped sorrowes bée Shall Oenie ioy his happy sonne in honor for to sée And Thestie mourne bereft of his Nay better yet it were That eche with other companie in mourning you should beare Ye brothers Ghostes and soules new dead I wish no more but you To féele the solemne obsequies which I prepare as now And that mine offring you accept which dearly I haue bought The yssue of my wretched wombe Alas alas what thought I for to doe O brothers I besech you beare with me I am his mother so to doe my hands vnable be His trespasse I confesse deserues the stopping of his breath But yet I doe not like that I be Author of his death And shall he then with life and limme and honor to scape frée And vaunting in his good successe the King of Calidon bée And you deare soules 〈◊〉 raked vp but in a little dust I will not surely suffer it But let the villaine trust That he shall die and draw with him to ruine and decay His Kingdome Countrie and his Sire that doth vpon him stay Why where is now the mothers heart and pitie that should raigne In Parents and the ten Monthes paines that once I did sustaine O would to God thou burned had a babie in this brand And that I had not tane it out and quencht it with my hand That all this while thou liued hast my goodnesse is the cause And now most iustly vnto death thine owne desert thée drawes Receiue the guerâ—on of thy déede and render thou agen Thy twice giuen life by bearing first and secondarly when I caught this firebrand from the flame or else come deale with me As with my brothers and with them let me entumbed be I would and cannot What then shall I stand to in this case One while my brothers corses seeme to prease before my face With liuely Image of their deaths Another while my minde Doth yéelde to pitie and the name of mother doth me blinde Noâ— wo is me To let you haue the vpper hand is sinne But neâ—ethelesse the vpper hand O brothers doe you win â–ª Condâ—cioâ—ly that when that I to comfort you withall Haue wrought this feate my selfe to you resort in person shall This sed she turnde away hir face and with a trembling hand Did cast the deathfull brand amid the burning fire The brand Did eyther sigh or séeme to sigh in burning in the flame Which sorie and vnwilling was to fasten on the same Meleager being absent and not knowing ought at all Was burned with this flame and felt his bowels to appall With secret fire He bare out long the paine with courage stout But yet it grieued him to die so cowardly without The shedding of his bloud He thought Anceus for to be A happie man that dide of wound With sighing called he Upon his aged father and his sisters and his brother And lastly on his wife to and by chaunce vpon his mother His paine encreased with the fire and fell therewith againe And at the selfe same instant quight extinguisht were both twaine And as the ashes soft and hore by leysure ouergrew The glowing coales so leysurely his spirit from him drew The drouped stately Calydon Both yong and olde did mourne The Lords and Commons did lament and maried wiues with torne And tattred haire did crie alas His father did beray His horie head and face with dust and on the earth flat lay Lamenting that he liued had to sée that wofull day For now his mothers giltie hand had for that cursed crime Done execution on hir selfe by sword before hir time If God to me a hundred mouthes with sounding tongues should send And reason able to conceyue and therevnto should lend Me all the grace of eloquence that ere the Muses had I could not shew the wo wherewith his sisters were bestad Unmindfull of their high estate their naked brests they smit Untill they made
folke that had the powre too take Straunge shape for once and all their lyues continewed in the same And othersum too sundrie shapes haue power themselues to frame As thou O Protevv dwelling in the sea that cléepes the land For now a yoonker now a boare anon a Lyon and Streyght way thou didst become a Snake and by and by a Bull That people were afrayd of thée too sée thy horned skull And oftentymes thou séemde a stone and now and then a trée And counterfetting water shéere thou seemedst ott to bée A Riuer and another whyle contrarie therevntoo Thou wart a fyre No lesse power than also thus too doo Had Erisicthons daughter whom Avvtolychus tooke too wyfe Her father was a person that despysed all his lyfe The powre of Gods and neuer did vouchsauf them sacrifyse He also is reported too haue heawen in wicked wyse The groue of Ceres and to fell her holy woods which ay Had vndiminisht and vnhackt continewed to that day There stood in it a warrie Oke which was a wood alone Uppon it round hung fillets crownes and tables many one The vowes of such as had obteynd theyr hearts desyre Full oft The Woodnymphes vnderneath this trée did fetch theyr frisks aloft And oftentymes with hand in hand they daunced in a round About the Trunk whose bignesse was of timber good and sound Full fiftéene fadom All the trées within the wood besyde Were vntoo this as wéedes to them so farre it did them hyde Yit could not this moue Triops sonne his axe therefro too hold But bade his seruants cut it downe And when he did behold Them stunting at his hest he snatcht an axe with furious mood From one of them and wickedly sayd thus Although thys wood Not only were the derling of the Goddesse but also The Goddesse euen herself yet would I make it ere I go Too kisse the clowers with her top that pranks with braunches so This spoken as he sweakt his axe asyde to fetch his blow The manast Oke did quake and sygh the Acornes that did grow Thereon toogither with the leaues too wex full pale began And shrinking in for feare the boughes and braunches looked wan Assone as that his cursed hand had wounded once the trée The blood came spinning from the carf as freshly as yee see It issue from a Bullocks necke whose throte is newly cut Before the Altar when his flesh to sacrifyse is put They were amazed eueryâ—hone And one among them all Too let the wicked act durst from the trée his hatchet call The lewd Thessalian facing him sayd Take thou héere too thée The guerdon of thy godlynesse and turning from the trée He chopped of the fellowes head Which done he went agen And heawed on the Oke streight from amid the trée as then There issued such a sound as this Within this trée dwell I A Nymph too Ceres very déere who now before I dye In comfort of my death doo giue thée warning thou shalt bye Thy dooing déere within a whyle he goeth wilfully Still thorough with his wickednesse vntill at length the Oke Pulld partly by the force of ropes and cut with axis stroke Did fall and with his weyght bare downe of vnder wood great store The Woodnymphes with the losses of the woods and theyrs ryght sore Amazed gathered on a knot and all in mourning wéede Went sad too Ceres praying her too wreake that wicked déede Of Erisicthons Ceres was content it should bee so And with the mouing of her head in nodding too and fro Shée shooke the féeldes which laden were with frutefull Haruest tho And therewithall a punishment most piteous shée procéedes Too put in practyse were it not that his most heynous deedes No pitie did deserue too haue at any bodies hand With helpelesse hungar him too pyne in purpose shée did stand â–ª And forasmuch as shée herselfe and famin myght not méete For fate forbiddeth famin too abyde within the leete Where plentie is shée thus bespake a fayrie of the hill There lyeth in the vtmost bounds of Tartarie the chill A Dréerie place a wretched soyle a barreine plot no grayne No frute no trée is growing there but there dooth ay remayne Unwéeldsome cold with trembling feare and palenesse white as clowt And foodlesse famin Will thou her immediatly withowt Delay too shed herself intoo the stomacke of the wretch And let no plentie staunch her force but let her working stretch Aboue the powre of mée And least the longnesse of the way May make thée wearie take thou héere my charyot take I say My draggons for to beare thée through the aire In saying so She gaue hir them The Nymph mounts vp and flying thence as the Alyghts in Scythy land and vp the cragged top of hye Mount Caucasus did cause hir Snakes with much a doe too stye Where séeking long for famin shée the gaptoothd elfe did spye Amid a barreine stony féeld a ramping vp the grasse With ougly nayles and chanking it Her face pale colourd was Hir heare was harsh and shirle her eyes were sunken in her head Her lyppes were hore with filth her tâ—â—th were fuâ—d and rusty read Her skinne was starched and so shéere a man myght well espye The verie bowels in her bulk how euery one did lye And eke aboue her courbed loynes her withered hippes were séene In stead of belly was a space where belly should haue béene Her brest did hang so sagging downe as that a man would wéene That scarcely to her ridgebone had hir ribbes béene fastened well Her leannesse made her ioynts bolne big and knéepannes for too swell And with exceeding mighty knubs her héeles behynd boynd out Now when the Nymph behild this elfe a farre she was in dout Too come too néere her shée declarde her Ladies message And In that same little whyle although the Nymph aloof did stand And though shée were but newly come yit séemed shée too féele The force of famin Whervppon shée turning backe her whéele Did reyne her dragons vp aloft who streyght with courage frée Conueyd her into Thessaly Although that famin bée Ay contrarye too Ceres woork yit did shée then agrée Too doo her will and glyding through the Ayre supported by The wynd she found th appoynted house and entring by and by The caytifs chamber where he slept it was in tyme of nyght Shée hugged him betwéene her armes there snortâ—ng bolt vpryght And breathing her into him blew vppon his face and brest That hungar in his emptie veynes myght woorke as hée did rest And when she had accomplished her charge shee then forsooke The frutefull Clymates of the world and home ageine betooke Herself vntoo her frutelesse féeldes and former dwelling place The gentle sléepe did all this whyle with fethers soft embrace The wretched Erisicthons corse Who dreaming streight of meate Did stirre his hungry iawes in vayne as though he had too eate And chanking tooth on tooth a pace he gryndes them in his head And occupies his
too her naked skin the which was like too myne Or rather if that thou wert made a woman like too thyne He was amazde And holding vp his hands too heauen he sayth Forgiue mée you with whom I found such fault euen now In fayth I did not know the wager that yée ran for As hée prayseth The beawty of her in him selfe the fyre of loue he rayseth And through an enuy fearing least shée should a way be woonne He wisht that nere a one of them so swift as shée might roonne And wherfore ê™ hée put not I myself in preace too trye The fortune of this wager God himself continually Dooth help the bold and hardye sort now whyle Hippomenes Debates theis things within himselfe and other like to these The Damzell ronnes as if her feete were wings And though that shée Did fly as swift as arrow from a Turkye bowe yit hée More woondred at her beawtye than at swiftnesse of her pace Her ronning greatly did augment her beawtye and her grace The wynd ay whisking from her féete the labells of her socks Uppon her back as whyght as snowe did tosse her golden locks And eeke thembroydred garters that were tyde beneathe her ham A rednesse mixt with whyght vppon her tender bodye cam As when a scarlet curtaine streynd ageinst a playstred wall Dooth cast like shadowe making it seeme ruddye therwithall Now whyle the straunger noted this the race was fully ronne And Atalant as shee that had the wager cléerely wonne Was crowned with a garlond braue The vanquisht sighing sore Did lose theyr lyues according too agréement made before Howbéeit nought at all dismayd with theis mennes lucklesse cace He stepped foorth and looking full vppon the maydens face Sayd wherfore doost thou séeke renowne in vanquisshing of such As were but dastards cope with mée If fortune bée so much My fréend too giue mee victorie thou néedest not hold scorne Too yéeld too such a noble man as I am I am borne The sonne of noble Megaree Onchestyes sonne and hée Was sonne to Neptune Thus am I great graundchyld by degrée In ryght descent of him that rules the waters Neyther doo I out of kynd degenerate from vertue méete thertoo Or if my fortune bée so hard as vanquisht for too bée Thou shalt obteine a famous name by ouercomming mée In saying thus Atlanta cast a gentle looke on him And dowting whither shée rather had too lose the day or win Sayd thus What God an enmy to the beawtyfull is bent Too bring this person to his end and therfore hath him sent Too seeke a wyfe with hazard of his lyfe If I should bée Myselfe the iudge in this behalfe there is not sure in mée That dooth deserue so déerely too bée earned neyther dooth His beawty mooue my hart at all yit is it such in sooth As well might mooue mée But bycause as yit a chyld he is His person mooues mée not so much as dooth his age Iwis Béesydes that manhod is in him and mynd vnfrayd of death Béesydes that of the watrye race from Neptune as he seth He is the fowrth béesydes that he dooth loue mée and dooth make So great accompt too win mée too his wyfe that for my sake He is contented for too dye if fortune bée so sore Ageinst him too denye him mée Thou straunger hence therfore Away I say now whyle thou mayst and shonne my bloody bed My mariage cruell is and craues the losing of thy hed There is no wench but that would such a husband gladly catch And shée that wyse were myght desyre too méete with such a match But why now after heading of so many doo I care For thée Looke thou too that For sith so many men as are Alreadye put too slawghter can not warne thée too béeware But that thou wilt bée wéerye of thy lyfe dye doo not spare And shall he perrish then bycause he sought to liue with mee And for his loue vnwoorthely with death rewarded bée All men of such a victory will speake too foule a shame But all the world can testifye that I am not too blame Would God thou wouldst desist Or else bycause thou are so mad I would too God a litle more thy féete of swiftnesse had Ah what a maydens countenance is in this chyldish face Ah foolish boy Hippomenes how wretched is thy cace I would thou neuer hadst mée séene Thou woorthy art of lyfe And if so bée I happy were and that too bée a wyfe The cruell destnyes had not mée forbidden sure thou art The onely wyght with whom I would bée matcht with all my hart This spoken shée yit rawe and but new striken with the dart Of Cupid béeing ignorant did loue and knew it nat Anon her father and the folk assembled willed that They should begin theyr woonted race Then Neptunes issue prayd With carefull hart and voyce too mée and thus dâ—uoutly sayd O Venus fauour myne attempt and send mée downe thyne ayd Too compasse my desyred loue which thou hast on mée layd His prayer movd mée I confesse and long I not delayd Before I helpt him Now there is a certaine féeld the which The Cyprian folk call Damasene most fertile and most rich Of all the Cyprian féelds the same was consecrate too mée In auncient tyme and of my Church the glebland woont too bée Amid this féeld with golden leaues there growes a goodly trée The crackling boughes whereof are all of yellow gold I came And gathered golden Apples thrée and bearing thence the same Within my hand immediatly too Hippomen I gat Inuisible too all wyghts else saue him and taught him what Too doo with them The Trumpets blew and girding forward both Set foorth and on the houering dust with nimble féete eche goth A man would think they able were vppon the Sea too go And neuer wet theyr féete and on the ayles of corne also That still is growing in the féeld and neuer downe them tread The man tooke courage at the showt and woordes of them that sed Now now is tyme Hippomenes too ply it hye a pace Enforce thyself with all thy strength lag not in any cace Thou shalt obteine It is a thing ryght dowtfull whither hée At theis well willing woordes of theyrs reioysed more or shée O Lord how often when shée might outstrippe him did shée stay And gazed long vppon his face right loth too go her way A wéerye breath proceeded from theyr parched lippes and farre They had too ronne Then Neptunes imp her swiftnesse too disbarre Trolld downe a toneside of the way an Apple of the thrée Amazde therat and couetous of the goodly Apple shée Did step asyde and snatched vp the rolling frute of gold With that Hippomenes coted her The folke that did behold Made noyse with clapping of theyr hands She recompenst her slothe And losse of â–ª tyme with footemanshippe and streight ageine outgothe Hippomenes leauing him behind and béeing stayd agen With taking vp the second shée him ouertooke And
toother Aiax better stayëd doo And féerce Evvrypyle and the sonne of hault Andremon too No lesse myght éeke Idominey and éeke Meriones His countryman and Menelay For euery one of these Are valeant men of hand and not inferior vntoo thée In martiall feates And yit they are contented rulde too bée By myne aduyce Thou hast a hand that serueth well in fyght Thou hast a wit that stands in néede of my direction ryght Thy force is witlesse I haue care of that that may ensew Thou well canst fyght the king dooth choose the tymes for fyghting dew By myne aduyce Thou only with thy body canst auayle But I with bodye and with mynd too profite doo not fayle And looke how much the mayster dooth excell the gally slaue Or looke how much preheminence the Capteine ought too haue Aboue his souldyer euen so much excell I also thée A wit farre passing strength of hand inclosed is in mée In wit rests chéefly all my force My Lordes I pray bestowe This gift on him who ay hath béene your watchman as yée knowe And for my tenne yéeres cark and care endured for your sake Full recompence for my deserts with this same honour make Our labour draweth too an end all lets are now by mée Dispatched And by bringing Troy in cace too taken bée I haue already taken it Now by the hope that yée Conceyue within a whyle of Troy the ruine for too sée And by the Goddes of whom a late our emnyes I bereft And as by wisedome too bée doone yit any thing is left If any bold auentrous déede or any perlous thing That asketh hazard both of lyfe and limb too passe too bring Or if yée think of Troiane fates there yit dooth ought remayne Remember mée or if from mee this armour you restrayne Bestowe it on this same With that he shewed with his hand Mineruas fatall image which hard by in syght did stand The Lords were moued with his woordes then appéered playne The force that is in eloquence The lerned man did gayne The armour of the valeant He that did so oft susteine Alone both fyre and swoord and Ioue and Hector could not byde One brunt of wrath And whom no force could vanquish ere that tyde Now only anguish ouercommes He drawes his swoord and sayes Well this is myne yit Untoo this no clayme Vlysses layes This must I vse ageinst myself this blade that heretoofore Hath bathed béene in Troiane blood must now his mayster gorâ— That none may Aiax ouercome saue Aiax With that woord Intoo his brest not wounded erst he thrust his deathfull swoord His hand too pull it out ageine vnable was The blood Did spout it out Anon the ground bestayned where he stood Did breede the pretye purple flowre vppon a clowre of gréene Which of the wound of Hyacinth had erst engendred beene The selfsame letters eeke that for the chyld were written than Were now againe amid the flowre new written for the man The former tyme complaynt the last a name did represent Vlysses hauing wonne the pryse within a whyle was sent Too Thoants and Hypsiphiles realme the land defamde of old For murthering all the men therin by women ouer bold At length attayning land and lucke according too his mynd Too carry Hercles arrowes backe he set his sayles too wynd Which when he with the lord of them among the Gréekes had brought And of the cruell warre at length the vtmost feate had wrought At once both Troy and Priam fell And Priams wretched wife Lost after all her womans shape and barked all her lyfe In forreine countrye In the place that bringeth too a streight The long spred sea of Hellespont did Ilion burne in height The kindled fyre with blazing flame continewed vnalayd And Priam with his aged blood Ioues Altar had berayd And Phebus préestesse casting vp her handes too heauen on hye Was dragd and haled by the heare The Grayes most spyghtfully As eche of them had prisoners tane in méede of victorye Did drawe the Troiane wyues away whoo lingring whyle they mought Among the burning temples of theyr Goddes did hang about Theyr sacred shrynes and images Astyanax downe was cast From that same turret from the which his moother in tyme past Had shewed him his father stand oft fyghting too defend Himself and that same famous realme of Troy that did descend From many noble auncetors And now the northerne wynd With prosperous blasts too get them thence did put y â— Greekes in mynd The shipmen went aboord and hoyst vp sayles and made fro thence A déew déere Troy the women cryde wée haled are from hence And therwithall they kist the ground and left yit smoking still Theyr natiue houses Last of all tooke shippe ageinst her will Quéene Hecub who a piteous cace too see was found amid The tumbes in which her sonnes were layd And there as Hecub did Embrace theyr chists and kisse theyr bones Vlysses voyd of care Did pull her thence Yit raught shée vp and in her boosom bare Away a crum of Hectors dust and left on Hectors graue Her hory heares and teares which for poore offrings shée him gaue Ageinst the place where Ilion was there is another land Manured by the Biston men In this same Realme did stand King Polemnestors palace riche too whom king Priam sent His little infant Polydore too foster too th entent He might bée out of daunger from the warres wherin he ment Ryght wysely had he not with him great riches sent a bayt Too stirre a wicked couetous mynd too treason and deceyt For when the state of Troy decayd the wicked king of Thrace Did cut his nurâ—echylds weazant and as though the sinfull cace Toogither with the body could haue quyght béene put away He threw him also in the sea It happened by the way That Agamemnon was compeld with all his fléete too stay Uppon the coast of Thrace vntill the sea were wexen calme And till the hideous stormes did cease and furious wynds were falne Héere rysing gastly from the ground which farre about him brake Achilles with a threatning looke did like resemblance make As when at Agamemnon he his wrongfull swoord did shake And sayd Unmyndfull part yée hence of mée O Gréekes and must My merits thanklesse thus with mée be buryed in the dust Nay doo not so But too th entent my death dew honour haue Let Polyxene in sacrifyse bée slayne vppon my graue Thus much he sayd and shortly his companions dooing as By vision of his cruell ghost commaundment giuen them was Did fetch her from her mothers lappe whom at that tyme well néere In that most great aduersitie alonly shée did chéere The haultye and vnhappye mayd and rather too bée thought A man than woman too the tumb with cruell hands was brought Too make a cursed sacrifyse Whoo mynding constantly Her honour when shée standing at the Altar prest too dye Perceyvd the sauage ceremonies in making ready and The cruell Neöptolemus with naked swoord