they gâ—eedily leap and strain themselves and so are taken so do ambitious men that aim at honour too high for their reach and too great for their merit For a heart over-grown with this râ—nk poyson neither admits the beams of grace to mollifie the hardness nor the bounds of nature to restrain the swelling but is unnaturally carried on to wrong those of his own bloud 2 Unchast love doth justly turn to revenging hate Thee and thy best things in t ' a bone-fire send 310. Sardanapalus so his life did end Sardanapalus the last King of Assyria was so effeminate that he blushed not to spin with Harlots in a womans habit being conquered in battell he fled to his Palace where he made a fire and therein burnt himself and all that he had 1 Venery is the mother of Misery 2 When the head is weak the body cannot be strong Like King like People 3 Sardanapalus lived basely died nobly but Furor est ne moriare mori It is a desperate madness to avoid death by killing my self 4 Many as Balaam would gladly die the death of the righteous but live not the life of the righteous Qualis vita finis ita Those that live ill seldome die well A good life seldome meets a bad death Let whirle-wind sands thee suffocate as those That Hammons Temple to pluck down arose Cambyses King of the Medes sent an army to demolish the temple of Jupiter Hammon but all the souldiers were destroyed by stormes and sands 1 Jupiter Hammon may be the same with Ham Sandys Met. son of Noah who was the original of Idolatry he on his helmet wore the carved head of a Ram. Or Hamon may be the Sun from Hamah which in Hebrew signifieth heat and because the year begins in March when the Sun enters into Aries he is painted with Rams horns 2 If so fearful judgments fell upon those that sought to destroy the temple of a false God how will those be plagued that demolish the temples of the true God Nay what may they expect that pluck down the Living temples of the holy Ghost their own bodies and souls by riot Hot ashes thee consume as them who thus Died by the fraud of second Darius Ochus who was also called Darius secundus feasted all those that had assisted him in his faction in a room wherein was a trap-door under which were hot ashes the guests being drunk the trap was opened and they all fell into the ashes and were smothered 1 The treason is loved not the Traytor When complices have acted their part and the design is accomplished they smell like a close stool in the nostrils of the projector 2 Sweet meat hath sowre sauce Feast-makers do oftentimes invite their guests to trap them in their words sometimes to undermine their lively-hood perhaps their lives 315. As upon Olive-bearing Sycions King Let cold and hunger death upon thee bring Neocles King of Sycion a city in Laconia abounding with Olive trees for cruelty exaction and oppression was deposed and not long after died with cold and hunger 1 Golden was that Symbol of the prudent Emperour A good shepherd will rather fleece then fley his sheep By the first he will have wooll every year by the other but once Silly was the plot of that covetous woman that in hope of a great treasure killed her hen that laid her every day a golden egge 2 Milk-purse Lawyers so Erasmus termes them are far more tolerable then Cut-purse tyrants 3 Pharisaical oppressors seldome miss their just reward alive after death their souls are feigned to enter into Asses so to be crushed with such burdens as they laid on others As Acarnides that in Bulls-hide lay Be thou so brought unto thy Lord a prey Hermias son of Acarnus taken captive by Memnon was sewed in the hide of a new-slain Bullock and fed under his table till vermin killed him 1 A noble conquest may be too much blemished by ignoble deportment toward the conquered 2 The All-seeing Eye not blind Fortune giveth the victory the Lord of Hosts the All-able hand is stronger then Reason or Means Hodiè mihi cras tibi To day mine to morrow thine Do therefore to others as thou wouldst be done to Renowned Caesar wept on the dead body of Pompey It is inhumane sarcasmically to insult over a captive as a Cat over a Mouse Advancement shews the man the higher the Ape climbs the more she shews her naked parts Or as Pheraeus be thou stabb'd in bed 320. Whom with a sword his new wife murdered Alexander Pheraeus loved his wife Thebe very well yet before he would go in unto her he commanded some of his guard to search if any weapon were in the chamber fearing she would slay him Afterwards suspecting him of Adultery she killed him 1 Jealousie is the daughter of extreme love and mother of extreme hate 2 A wife is an earthly heaven or hell 3 Fear of death is worse then death it self 4 More danger is in an home-bred conspirator then a forreign enemy Injury from a bosome-friend strikes deeper then from any other That stab from Brutus cut Caesar to the heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what thou my son Let those thou thinkest faithful by a wound As to Alebas false to thee be found Alebas King of Larissa ruled with much cruelty and for his safety chose a guard of valiant men who at length slew the King 1 The strongest and safest guard for a Prince next to a good conscience is the free and faithful love of loyal subjects 2 Divine justice so abominates a cruel King that he maketh the best defence wherein he trusted to become most offensive to him and the spils of the staff on which he leaned to run into his hands 3 Man was made to be as a God to man but he becomes a Wolfe a Devil so was Judas to his Lord and Master Pernicies homini quae pessima solus homo alter As Milo that did Pisa long torment Alive into the sea be headlong sent Milo King of Pisa shewed himself most unmerciful in exactions wherefore the people rebelling tied a stone about his neck and drowned him 1 It is a more Princely thing to enrich then to be rich 2 Free subjects are like smooth streams running in their ancient channel if any dam or obstacle stop them from enjoying their wonted liberties and immunities they swell the higher at last they break down carry away and drown all the opposing matter 325. As Adimantus the Philesian King So Jove his thunder-bolts upon thee fling Adimantus King of Philesia scorning to offer sacrifice to Jupiter but braging that he was mightier then he was struck with a thunder-bolt 1 For a man to make comparison with another man is odious with God impious and damnable Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods Give him the honour due unto his name Omne sub regno graviore regnum The highest earthly
to death and was brought to hell whither her husband went to redeem her by his Musick by which he drew tears and consent from Pluto and Proserpina provided that he looked not behind him to behold her before they had past the confines of Styx but he could not forbear so lost her again 1 This Fable invites us to moderation in our desires lest we lose what we affect by too much affecting Hell may seem but meer perturbations of Orpheus mind for the death of his beloved which was pacified by the harmony of reason when looking back that is recalling her to his remembrance he falls into a desperate relapse and seems to lose her a second time 2 Justice that is Euridice and a Prince that is Orpheus should be married together If this be stung to death by the Serpent of war the prince by the melodious harmony of peace should revive it Orpheus in love ventur'd to hell to redeem his wife Some christians will rather wish their Wives in hell then strive to keep much less to fetch them thence 3 The soul of man like Euridice delighting her self among the flowers of pleasure was stung by that old Serpent the Devil and delivered from the nethermost hell by the true Orpheus Jesus Christ Or like Hypsiphiles boy or who by force And point of sword did pierce the wooden horse 1. Hypsiphile Queen of Lemnos being condemned for saving her father when all the men of the Isle were slain fled to Nemea where Lycurgus made her Nurse of his son Opheltes or Achimorus who being left by her in a Medow was kill'd by a Serpent for which she was sentenced to die but was preserved by the Argives 1 Note here the unconstancy of worldly honour To day a Queen to morrow a Nurse to day as rich as Croesus to morrow as poor as Irus Crowns and Scepters are slippery things 2 See how Providence protects and prolongs the life of those that like Hypsiphile do honour and preserve their parents 3 Lycurgus sons name was not onely Opheltes because he was killed by a Serpent but Archimorus from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beginning and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 death because he died an infant Death loves green fruit as well as ripe yea green hath lately tasted sweeter then any other for more Infants died this year by small pox then in any one of this last age 2. Laocoon son of Priamus King of Troy was Priest to Apollo he with the point of a spear or a sword pierced the Trojan horse for which the Gods were offended and sent Serpents to kill him as a despiser of the gift of Pallas 1 The Evangelical Prophet Esaias was son of Amos who as the best writers do conceive was brother to King Azariah In those times then it seemeth that Laocoon the son of a King and the best of men thought not themselves too good to be Priests but in Jeroboams time and later dayes the worst of men are made Priests and Priests are made the worst of men 2 As sacred things should not be touched with unwashed hands so State matters should admit no vulgar handling In business of War the Church-mans onely weapon should be prayer he must not lift up his hand to reforme or his voice to reprove much less take up a sword as Laocoon 3 Seditious Preachers against the Politick and scandalous inveighers against the state Ecclesiastical have brought distraction to the State and destruction to themselves Dal. Aph. A Minister should not intrude into the office or place of a Souldier or Mechanick nor they into his Ne sutor ultra crepidam No safer then Elpenor climb a ladder Let strength of wine make thee so mad or madder Elpenor one of Ulysses mates being drunk with wine in the house of the Enchantress Circe climb'd a ladder and broke his neck 1 Circe turned many of Ulysses followers into swine by making them drink of her charmed cup and moving her rod over them wherein perhaps the Devil Aped Moses rod with which he wrought such wonders Circe is so called from mixture because the mixture of the Elements is necessary to generation Sandys She turned men into several sorts of beasts because corruption of the one begets a form far different from it self Ulysses could not lose his shape who being fortified with immortal power of wisdome was not subject to mutation The body composed of the four Elements is like Ulysses mates obnoxious to change by diseases and corruption the Soul like Ulysses can by no assault of nature be converted into a beast so highly participating of Reason Drunkenness breaks the neck of a mans estate sometimes of his body as here of Elpenor But a man bewitched to a whore shall be brought to a morsel of bread and so go down to the chamber of death by famine if he comes not sooner to his ladder end 485. Do thou like each fool-hardy Dryops fall Whom rash Theodomas to war did call Theodomas denieth Hylas son of Hercules provision of victuals Hercules killeth some of his Oxen Theodomas raiseth an army against him Hercules conquers him and the people called the Dryopes that came to aid him 1 It is good sleeping they say in a whole skin A man being near drowning in a river sinks himself and the party that comes to help him if he once catch hold 2 The Pelican to save her young ones from the fire which the shepherds make to catch them seeks to blow it out with her wings and so burns her self I had rather bewail the fire of dissention afar off then stir in the coles lest I fire my own wings B. Hall before I quench that In Church-division I will not meddle more then by prayers to God and intreaties to men seeking my own safety and the peace of the Church in freedom of my thought and silence of my tongue 3 That foolish churlish Nabal 1 Sam. 25. like Theodomas denying David some provision endangered himself and his whole family Or in thy den some valiant man thee slay As Cacus whom stoll'n oxen did bewray Cacus a mighty Giant son of Vulcan depopulated part of Italy that lies about mount Aventine with his robberies he is said to vomit fire in that he burnt the corn on the ground and enviously destroyed what he could not reap He while Hercules slept took away the best of his oxen and drew them into his cave by the tailes that no impression might be seen of any feet going thither but they were discovered by their bellowing So Hercules with his club killed Cacus 1 The she Bear retires backward into her den that she might not be traced by the hunter A cunning thief to avoid suspâ—cion turns the shooes of his stollen horse backward Such is the Delphick language of ambiguous Turn-coats 2 Cacus by interpretation is Evil which lurkes in Caves because never secure when Hercules or virtue vindicates his own by the destruction of the other although with hypocrisie and
Tamar 2 Sam. 13. 2 God will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children of them that hate him yet not unless the children hate him as their fathers did Why then should unmerciful murdering man punish a guiltless infant for the guilty parents sin As Aeolus did the child of his daughter Canace If thou hast daughter may she prove to thee As Pelope Myrrha and Nyctimene 1. Pelope daughter of Thyestes lay with her own father the child by them begotten as soon as it was born was cast into the woods to be devoured of beasts a shepherd finds it and doth nurse it with Goats milk whence he is called Aegysthus 1 Lot cannot so properly be said to lie with his own daughters as they with him for he knew not when they lay down or when they rose up Neither can his drunkenness mitigate but aggravate the sin When bloud toucheth bloud in this kind it is abominable out of kind From such bloud-guiltiness and bloud-thirstiness good Lord deliver us 2. Myrrha daughter of Cynaras King of Cipria by the means of the old witch her nurse lay with her own father being drunk the child begot was Adonis the father discovering his daughter furiously pursued her she fled to Arabia there fearing to die and not desirous to live she is turned into a tree of her own name 1 Bodin observeth that there is an hundred women Witches for one man Witch as more easily seduced by the Devil in regard of their Melancholy and Envy Non audet Stygius Pluto tentare quod audet Effraenis Monachus plenaque fraudis anus Not Stygian Pluto ever durst pursue What a bold Monk or cozening Hag durst do 2 Where Bacchus is Porter Venus seldome fails of entrance Prodigal cups besot the understanding drunkenness confounds the Memory and so bemists the eye that things appear not the same as they are 3. Nyctimene daughter of Nycteus by the help of her Nurse enjoyed her fathers bed after she living in woods was turned by Pallas into an Owle 1 Ugly was the shape of Nyctâ—mene being now an Owl but more ugly her crime of filthy incest She is wondered at like a prodigie in nature driven from the society of others ashamed of her self and stalking in the dark when virtue though unfortunate shuns not the light being a reward and praise to it self 2 The Crow and the Owle express two deadly enemies the Crow breaking the eggs of the Owl by day Mr Sandys Met. and the Owl the eggs of the Crow by night The Owl is the hieroglyphick of death and the Crow of long life The Owl was sacred to Minerva and therefore Homer cals her Glaucopis either for her gray eyes for that coloured eye hath acutest sight or from her faculty of watching and musing the mind in silent night being more recollected and vigorous or because the Athenians had many Owls or that they stamped their Coyn with that figure And no more faithful to her fathers hair 360. Then Pterela's or Nisus daughters were 1. Clitvetho whom Servius calleth Polidice knowing all her fathers secrets being much taken with the beauty of Amphitrio an enemy in hope to obtain his love cut off her father Pterela King of Thebes his golden hair which as long as he kept Neptune promised he should never be conquered This hair she gave Amphitrio who afterward killed her father and rejected her 1 Dionysius that would not trust his daughters to cut his hair but taught them to singe it off with burning shells of Wall-nuts was more prudent then Pterela or Sampson that discovered to his concubine the lock wherein his strength did lie 2 Affection breaketh the strongest tie of relation as we find in Polidice Omnia vincit amor 3 Let not thine enemy know one of thy secrets let thy friend know some let not thy child no not thy wife know all Hezechias disclosing his treasure lost it Isa 39. 2. Scylla daughter of Nysus King of Megara cut off her fathers purple hair and gave it Minos then besieging Megara whose destiny lay in that hair and so betrayed her father and city 1 Vespasians head without hair did more handsomly become a Crown then Absalons hair without a head 2 Torteâ—ing is that kingdome whose fate depends like Damocles sword upon an hair Unless the supreme head of the Mystical body do govern the politick the power of an arme of flesh is not worth an hair 3 Happy are true believers for the very hairs of their head be numbred Though we are but as small hairs no principalities nor power of earth or hell can pluck away or separate us from Christ our head Or she whose bloudy act defam'd the place That rid in charet o're her fathers face Tullia daughter of Servius the sixth King of the Romans wife to Tarquinius Superbus to congratulate her husband being new made King commanded her Coach to be driven over her dead fathers face then killed by Tarquin 1 Ambition tramples Natural and Civil Fathers under foot making such opportunities a stirrop to mount into a throne swimming through Aceldama to a Crown But such puffed bladders when they are swollen to the fullest one prick will empty them of all their windy honour Perish like those young men whose dismal fate Was limbs and head to hang on Pisa 's gate Oenomaus King of Pisa ordained that whosoever conquered him Nat. Com. by running with horses in a Charet should marry his daughter Hippodamia and that the conquered should die Thirteen were overcome and put to death and for terrour were hanged on the gate of Pisa At last Pelops won the race by the help of Myrtilus the Coachman who for a bribe omitted to put the pin into the Axle-tree so the King fell to the ground and his daughter and the kingdome fell to Pelops 1 Our life is a race our Antagonists worldly pleasures and carnal affections which are like furious horses 2 Thirteen are conquered onely one doth conquer Many are called few chosen and few there be that shall be saved he that conquers shall gaine the glory of victory and the crown of glory So run therefore that ye may obtain But the race is not to him that runneth call for the help of God he will weaken your adversary and make you more then conquerours 365. Or he that coloured with his own that land Which with the poor woers bloud he first had stain'd That cruel Oenomaus Natal Com. after he had hanged up the heads of so many at last broke his own neck 1 The pitcher that comes too often to the water in the end is cracked Neque enim lex justior ulla est Quà m necis artifices arte perire suâ Nor any juster law find I Then death-inventors by their art to die So Oenomaus by his own invention was destroyed 2 Fate can and will effect its end without any assistance against all resistance yet commonly it worketh not alone Dallington Aph. but is attended with second and
fraudulent mists he endeavours to conceal himself Who brought with Lernian poison di'd the gift 430. And di'd with 's bloud the Euboean sea and clift Licas servant unto Hercules brought his master a garment dipped in the poysonous bloud of Nessus for which cause Hercules being inraged threw him down a clift into the Euboean sea where he was turned into a rock 1 This rock lying against the Caenean Promontory resembles a Man which perhaps gave an argument to this fiction 2 It is almost the highest pitch of Fortune to be a favourite to a Prince but it ofttimes proves unfortunate not by any guilty intent of the servant but innocent ignorance of his masters intention 3 Rash Kings in an hasty passion have killed their dearest friends as Alexander did Clitus and Hercules Lycas It is Hallifax law first to condemn and execute and afterwards examine the cause Or into Tartar from a rock fall dead As he that Platoes book of death had read Cleombrotus a Philosopher of the Academick sect as soon as he had read the book called Phaedon concerning the immortality of the soul compiled by Plato who was scholar of Socrates cast himself down from a rock into the sea hastening to enjoy the happiness he had read of 1 Summum nec metuas diem nec optes No fear nor wish thy latter end Be not ashamed to live nor afraid to die nor hasten thy death in hope of a better life The souldier ought not to move unless the Commander give the word 2 Although our light afflictions are not to be compared to the eternal weâ—ght of glory immortal though we have a crown of righteousness laid up for us it is rather with patience to be expected then preposterously to be snatched The kingdome of heaven is not to be caught with such kind of violence 3 Those heathen Philosophers may rise up in judgment against these modern Hereticks that do hold that the body and soul die together Or he that Theseus guileful sail did view Or as the boy that one from Troyes wall threw 1. Aegaeus standing on the shore and seeing the black sail on his son Theseus ship at his returne from conquering the Minotaure contrary to his sons promise to put forth a white one threw himself down into the sea which ever since is called by his name the Aegaean sea 1 As well Joy as Fear distracts the faculties 2 Prosperity makes a man forget his own father many times himself 3 Parents are not more carefully mindful of their children then children are carelesly forgetful of their Parents Virgil. Aen. Omnis in Ascanio chari stat cura parentis Rivers never return a streame up to the spring from whence they flow nor children like love unto their parents Wise and true was the ancient saying To the Gods Parents and Teachers equivalent recompence cannot be rendred 2. Astyanax onely son of valiant Prince Hector was by Ulysses thrown headlong from a Turret of Troy lest he might afterwards claime the kingdom and take revenge upon the Greeks 1 A Conqueror if he would securely enjoy what he hath won must pluck up both branch and root of the former stock Caesar will indure no superior nor Pompey admit an equal Herod therefore would not onely have killed Christ whom he heard to be King of the Jews but burnt the ancient Records of the Kings That government whose foundation is laid in bloud and oppression is like a building whose groundsels are rotten it may for a time be under-propped and kept up but once falling no possible means can stay it 495. Or Bacchus Nurse and Aunt or who was sent Headlong because the saw he did invent 1. Ino sister of Semele mother of Bacchus was his Aunt and Nurse she being second wife to Athamas whom Juno did infuriate flying her husbands rage that would have killed her for a Lioness and her son Melicertes for a whelp threw her self and her son into the sea 1 Ino is called among the Greeks Leucothea among Latins Matuta or the Morning Melicertes is in Greek called Palemon in Latin Portunus which signifies the driving force of stormes he is son of Matuta the Morning because a red morning brings forth tempests 2 Learn by the pride of Ino to be moderate in prosperity No man knows what where or when shall be his death 3 Ino a Heathen disdained not to nurse her sisters child but the more shame and pity some Christians refuse to nurse their own thus they shew themselves but half-mothers yea more unnatural to their young ones then savage beasts 2. Perdix cousin and pupil to Daedalus rejoycing at the death of Icarus and because he was very ingenious for at twelve years of age he invented the saw was in envy thrown down by Daedalus from the top of Minerva's tower in Athens but he was supported by the Goddess and turned to a Partridge a bird of his own name 1 There is no envy so great and deadly as that between men of the same profession as Daedalus and Perdix Figulus Figulo invidet Nay some will violate all obligations to remove the rivals of their praise wishing their necks broke that they may not stand in their light But Minerva or admirable Art sustains and giveth life to happy endeavours Or as the Lydian girle whose neck was broke ' Cause against Mars reviling words she spoke Ilice daughter of Ibicus a Lydian being lustfully beloved of Mars by the help of Diana was kept from his violence yet she reviled against him wherewith Mars being much incensed killed her father with which Ilice being much grieved fell mad and threw her self from a rock into the sea 1 Innocent virginity had been too often a prey to the impetuous souldiery of Mars had not preserving providence made a rescue 2 A railing and reviling tongue bespeaketh destruction to it self and friends But why should Ibicus the father suffer when the child offends Perhaps the offence came by him for want of due correction restriction and instruction The Mother in the fable rather deserved to be hanged then her son for that she connived and not whipt him being a boy for stealing a book at school 3 Grief for loss of friends deceased is a sign of love not to them but our selves It is misery enough to lose a father why should I double it in losing my self too Meet in thy field a whelping Lioness 500. Let her thee kill as one did Paphages Paphages King of Ambracia in his walke meeting a Lioness with whelp was killed by her 1 Paphages may be a fat rich Prince the Lioness with her whelps may be a numerous army invading his plenteous kingdome 2 In natural bodies the longer they subsist in perfect health Dal. Aph. the more dangerous is the disease when it cometh and the longer in curing as having none of these humours spent which by distemper give foment and force to the approching malady So it is in the body Politick when war once seiseth
Better have the Foxes soul body and witty mind then like the Leopard to be fair and foolish Siqua latent meliora puto Let no man call his brother Racha or fool mocking him for deformity of his body or infirmity of mind lest he incur the judgment Mat. 5. But why because others deride me should I destroy what God hath formed It is he that made us not we our selves Praised be his name that he made me a Man not a Toad The Potter might have made me a vessel of dishonour as well as honour Or suffer death shut in a Cave as he That did compile the gainless Tragedy Cherilus wrote the acts of Alexander the great For every good verse in his Poem he was promised a crown of gold and for every bad one a lash of all his verses onely seven were allowed the number of the bad was so great that he was lashed to death in a secret room Hereupon Alexander was wont to say that he had rather be in Homer deformed Thersites then in Cherilus the valiant Achilles 1 The Muses are the daughters of Apollo and Mnemosyne to express Poetry that divine inspiration nourished by memory Eupheme was their nurse for praise doth cherish noble endowments Their habitation was Parnassus and Helicon pleasant places For Poetry is a most delightful study The Muses were crowned with green and bitter leaves of Lawrell for the pains of Poets are bitter and constant They are Women for their pregnancy in knowledge They are Nine of the tripple Trine which flows from the perfection of number from these premises I may conclude That Dull-man Cherilus that ventures on Poetry and Dominus Mechanick that leaps from the pannel to the pulpit deserves as much a whip as the dull Asse that presumed to the Harp Or as he perish'd that Iambicks pen'd 520. So let thy sawcy tongue procure thy end Archilochus who first invented the Iambick verse was banished by the Lacedemonians and afterward slain by Crocalus a souldier and his books condemned 1 Sometimes wit becomes a Woe and Books a bane Non hunc quaesitum munus in usum Thus banishment was the bitter doome of my sweet Poet Ovid. The pen and the tongue be the gates as well of death as life Dip not therefore thy pen in gall lest it prove to thee like the writing on the wall unto Belshazzar Rather then so Scinde leves calamos frange Thalia libellos Break thy pens and tear thy books my Muse 2 Let thy speech be seasoned with salt that it may minister grace to the hearers 3 If thou speakest what thou shouldest not thou wilt hear what thou wouldst not As who with halting verse gainst Athens rail'd And hateful di'd after his victua's sail'd Aristophanes reviling against the praise of Athens which the Orators before had so highly extolled was by publick command famished to death This is reported by Alcyat of Hipponactes that railed against one Athenis in verses called Seazons which are lame or halting Iambicks 1 When Fame is once fled out Pegasus will hadly overtake it If thou art cried up by a stâ—ong opinion of the Grandees the rabble of the vulgar will never cry thee down What is one malapert Aristophanes against all Athens That 's but an Owl who thinks with his single note to drown the warble of an hundred Nightingals He deserves to feed upon the Commons like an Asse that brayes out his simple No when the general vote of the whole house hath pronounced I. As that harsh Lyrick Poet dy'd so may Thy hand prove false and be thy own decay Alcaeus the Lyrick Poet brake his promise which he made to Pittacus by joyning right hands and after railed also against him with bitter jeers and mocks for which at last he was banished 1 A mans eye and his honour are two tender pieces Dall Aph. the one cannot abide the rough touch of the hand nor the other endure the smart jerk of the tongue As therefore by the owners they are carefully preserved so by others that deal with them they should be tenderly used 2 Such pregnant wits as had rather lose their friend then their jest must learn the lesson that is taught a souldier to take heed while they level and discharge upon others they lie not so open that they be hit themselves 525. To Agamemnons son a Serpent gave Deaths wound so Poyson bring thee to thy grave Orestes son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra for killing his mother and Aegystus the Adulterer as also for murdering Pyrrhus King of Epirus was so haunted with Furies that he could not be expiated till he had sacrificed on the Altar of Diana Taurica at last by divine justice he was stung to death by a Serpent 1 Furies are the stings and torments of a guilty conscience which are the rudiments of the pains of hell therefore some are of opinion that there is no hell but in the conscience 2 What those Barbarians rashly said of Paul when the viper fastened on his hand Acts 28. surely this man is a murderer whom thought he escaped the sea yet vengeance suffereth not to live may be truly said of Orestes He escaped the sentence of the judges and the torments of the Furies yet the venemous serpent suffered him not to live but kill'd him Thy marriage first night be thy last of life So di'd Eupolis and his new ' spous'd wife Eupolis an Athenian there was also a Poet of that name the first night he lay with his wife Medulla or Glycerium they were both struck dead Of which subject there is an Epigram 3 Antholog So Quintas Sertullius a Roman with his wife were strangled the first night they lay in bed together Servius on the first of Virgils Aeneids reports that Hymenaeus with his wife were quelled the first night of their marriage therefore at Nuptials for expiation he is invocated as a God 1 If such untimely death happened to man and wife in their lawful marriage bed what may those impudent wretches that commit fornication and adultery look for Me thinks they should fear that judgment would surprize them in the very act as Zimri and Cosbi whom Phineas slew both together and the execution was allowed by God himself 2 Dionysius died laughing Attalus King of the Hunnes died of Euexia excess of health so in the midst of jollity mirth and pleasure death may be in the pot As Lycophron that buskin-Poets heart 530. So let in thine be stuck a fatall dart Lycophron one of the seven ancient Poets that were called Pleiades the other six were Theocritus Aratus Nicander Apollonius Philetus Homerus Junior wrote an obscure Poem called Alexandria containing the prophesie of Cassandra from Hercules to Alexander at last contending about priority he was by an adversary slain with an arrow 1 Ambition is torment enough for an Enemy for it affords as much discontentment in enjoying as want making men like poysoned Rats which when they have tasted of their banâ— cannot rest
Christians there is but one God represented under those fictious names He is All in All our Help Wisdom Captain and Comfort To me to me with ears and hearts attend And let my prayers have their weight and end Hear me O Earth hear me O boysterous Main Hear me O skie let me your favours gain O Starres O Sun most glorious in thy rayes O Moon appearing not alike alwayes 75. O Night renown'd for shade O Triple Fate That spin our lives to the appointed rate The Gentiles made Night a Goddess but gave her no Temple nor sacrifice She is painted like a woman because that sex is more fearful and so are men by night more then day She bears a white child in the right hand that is Sleep and a black one in the left that is Death The three fatal Sisters are Clotho that holds the distaff Lachesis that spins the thred of mans life and Atropos that cuts it off 1 There is a three-fold estate of man Birth Life Death Hence the first Fate is called Nona because man is born in the ninth moneth the second Decima because man liveth ten times ten years the third Morta Death They are called Parcae because Death spares none They are the daughters of Jupiter and Themis God of Heaven and Goddess of Justice for Death is Gods just decree for sin Styx whom the Gods do swear by that dost glide With murmuring noise through valleys by Hell side Styx indeed is a Well in Arcadia whose water is strong poison so cold that nothing can contain it but a Mules hoof with this Alexander is thought to be made away by Antipater not without some aspersion upon Aristotle The Poets feign that this is a river in Hell that the Gods did swear by it which oath if any brake he was for certain years debarr'd from Nectar and Ambrosia the food of Deities 1. Styx signifies Hate because men dying begin to hate their former sins Heathens durst not take the name of Styx in vain but Christians take the name of God in vain what then may such sinners expect but to be debarr'd from Nectar and Ambrosia life and immortality Furies whose tresses winding snakes do tie 80. Who at the gates of that dark prison lie The three Furies Alecto Megaera and Tisiphone daughters of Pluto and Proserpina were called in heaven Dirae in earth Harpyae in hell Furiae 1 These are taken for the tortures of a guilty conscience where the torments of hell begin or for the commotions of the mind Covetousness Envy Discord or for Gods three judgments Megaera Plague sweeping all away Alecto Famine never satisfied Tisiphone Sword a murtherer and revenger of sin These are worshipped not because they can do good but lest they should do hurt Fawnes Satyres Lares Gods of low degree Rivers and Nymphes and you that half-Gods be 1. Faunus king of the Latins had a wife called Fauna or Fatua from prophecying she read fortunes Hence foretellers of things are called Fatuarii and inconsiderate speakers Fatui The Faunes are thought to have sent the disease called Ephialtes or Night-mare which Pliny terms Faunorum ludibria Faunus was worshipped as a God for teaching Tillage and Religion much more should we worship the true God that giveth all good things These Gods had hornes to fright men to religion whom reason would not draw Primus in orbe Deum fecit timor 2. Satyres were lascivious creatures their descent I find not they were like the Faunes with a mâ—ns head horned all hairy with Goates feet they were Deified because they should not hurt the catel 1 These are but rude rustick clownes given to drinking wenching and dancing â—acchus is said to be their companion because â—ine provokes lust This conception of Satyes may proceed from savage men discovereâ— in woods by the civil wearing beasts skins on â—heir tawny bodies with the tail hanging doâ—n behind and hornes on their heads either for ornament or terrour such are yet amoâ—g the West-Indians Mr Sandys to these ignorance and â—ar ascribed a celestial Deity 3. Lares â—ere begot of Mercury and Lara Some think the Lâ—rvae and Lemures to be the same they are as Penates Gods of houses and Lar is painted like a dog a good house-keeper which is kind to the houshold fieâ—e to strangers Men sacrificed to him in the châ—ney hence the house and so the fire is called La. 1 Thâ—se were Gods of low degree among the ancient Romans and what higher have the new 4. Nymphae quasi Lymphae were Deities of the Waters if sprung from Mountains they were called Oreades if from Woods and Trees Dryades and Hamadryades if from moisture of flowers Napeae if from the Sea Nereides if from Rivers Naiades 1 These Nymphs were daughters of Oceanus because Rivers return into the Sea froâ— whence they came So should we return thanks to God from whence comes all These Nymphs are painted spinning It is no shâ—me for a Lady to be a Spinster or a â—uswife 2 In Poets there be Gods of Haven Earth Hell Woods Waters c. Tâ— shew that Gods power and providence dâ— reach unto every place If I climbe to â—eaven thou art there if to Hell thou art tâ—ere also Enter presenter Deus hic ubiq potenter Gods old and new that do remain till now From the first Chaos listen to my vow 85. While ' gainst this hateful wretch with câ—â—rms I pray While grief and wrath their several parts diâ—play Gods of each rank let power my wish attâ—in And let no jot nor point of it prove vain As I do wish Gods do that all may be 90. Thought by Pasiphäes step-son said ot me Theseus son of Aegeus that took â— wife Ariadne daughter of Pasiphäe whom Bacchâ— after married being too credulous to the false acusation of his son Hippolitus made by Phoedra â—s Mother-law prayed Neptune to destroy him â—e caused a Sea-calf to startle his Coach-horses they threw him dragg'd him and kill'd him 1 If Theseus his curse prevailed against his own son why not Ovids against his foe 2. Note the malice of a Stepmother 3. Take heed of a parents curse Let him endure those pains which I omit And let his torments far exceed my wit I feign his name but let my vote no lesse Vex him or with the Gods find less success 95. He whom I curse goes now on Ibis score That knows he hath deserv'd these plagues and more I le not delay but speedily proceed To sacred Rites all people hear and heed Utter such dolefull words become a Herse 100. And let your faces overflow with tears Come to him with bad Omens and left feet Put on such robes as be for Mourners meet Ibis put on thy sacrificing weed Here stands the altar for thy death make speed 105. The pomp's prepared for thy Obsequies Hasten lay down thy throat curs'd sacrifice Earth thee no food no water streams allow A prosperous gale wind on thee never blow Let neither
counsel but at last being shipwrack'd he betook himself to a plank and so was saved 1 Ino was called Matuta Goddesse of the sea and the morning perhaps because the morning seems to rise out of the sea she is feignâ—d to appease the sea because winds that rage by night use to fall in the morning 2 The World is a sea the Church is a ship if we leave this ship we may be drowned eternally when the Church is torn in pieces by schismes and heresie we must not leave it so but hold fast to one plank where two or three are gathered together in the name of Christ keeping the ribband the bond of love and unity And left this kind of death but one should know At two horse tailes in pieces drawn be thou Metius Suffetius General of the Albans stood with his army expecting the event of the battel between the Romans with whom he was in league and the Fidenates on purpose to incline to the prevailing party Tulbus Hostilius having got the day condemned Metius to be drawn in pieces between two horses 1 True valour doth more respect and honour a professed constant foe then an unconstant ambodexter friend Pietas in hoste probatur 2 As Metius being alive was in mind between two so is he in body being dead Thus commonly Jack-on both-sides come to an untimely untoward end 3 Pretend not God and intend the Devil serve not God for Baalams wages of iniquity 4 Too many have fought not so much for the Cross of Christ as of the Coyn. Cruxillos maneat Die thou as he whom Carthage souldiers caught 280. That seorn'd a Roman should be chang'd or bought Marcus Attilius Regulus Consul of Rome was in battel taken captive by the Carthaginians and sent to Rome to return their captives in exchange for him he disswadeth the Romans and returneth to the enemy they cut off his eye-lids that he might not sleep and put him in an hollow tree full of sharp nails there he died 1 One pearle is of more value then Millions of barly cornes One Sun more glorious then a numerous company of Stars One wise and magnanimous Leader is of greater price then a numberless army of common-souldiers such an one will rather indure a torturing death then live that his Countrey may thereby suffer disgrace or damage 2 Heroick valour is more expressed by dying honourably in a good cause then saving his life by a base submission upon dishonourable termes 3 A mature final battel hath been accounted less disadvantagious then frivolous delay by exchange of captives 4 When our enemies take off our eye-lids our eyes are made the more open to behold the heavens 5 Persecutors are as pricks in our sides Lord prick their hearts to repentance Gods thee assist no more then th' Altar did Of Jove Hyrcaeus him that there was hid Priamus King of Troy fled to the Altar of Jupiter Hyrcaeus whence Pyrrhus dragged him by the hair of the head and slew him 1 Princes are subject to mutability and misfortunes as much if not more then subjects 2 Bloud-thirsty Ravilliacks fear neither God nor Man respect a Prince no more then a Peasant regard a Temple as little as a Tavern 3 Smite the Shepherd and the sheep will be scattered Fight not against small or great but against the King 2 Chron. 18.30 An Helmet is safer then a Crown to defend the head As from mount Ossa Thessalus was thrown So headlong from a rock be thou cast down Thessalus King of Thessala most courteously entertained a stranger called Euryalus Walking together on the hill Ossa Euryalus thence cast him down and killed him and so possessed his kingdome 1 Some heretofore in the shape of strangers have entertained Angels but some since have in the form of Angels of light entertained worse then Euryalus 2 Cherish not a snake in thy bosome lest it sting thee to death 3 Ambition doth think Aceldama the nearest way to a throne 4 Ingratitude was the first of sins and is the worst Call a man unthankful and then tell him what you will Si ingratum dixeris omnia dixeris 285. As of Euryalus th' Usurper let The flesh of thee to greedy snakes be meat Euryalus that kill'd King Thessalus had his head eaten with Snakes 1 Divine justice will not suffer murder chiefly of a kind and noble Thessalus to be unrevenged 2 These snakes may be torments of the soul for sin What joy is it with Damocles to enjoy all things that may content all my senses when the point of a naked sword lies at my throat or which is far worse a sting in my conscience A good conscience is a continual feast and a bad one a perpetual hell From bloud-guiltiness good Lord deliver us Let scalding water poured on thy pate As Minos hasten thy appointed sate Minos King of Crete married Pasiphäe a Bull by means of a wooden Cow made by Daedalus had carnal commerce with the Queen Daedalus fearing the Kings revenge flies to Cocalus King of Cilicia Minos pursueth him and is kindly entertained by Cocalus The daughters of Cocalus pouring water upon his head in the Bath killed him 1 Though Minos for his equity and strict life on earth be feigned to be Judge in hell he had a loose Queen to his wife on earth And indeed the Proverb is as true as trivial The honester man the worse his luck 2 The history of Pasiphae runneth thus A captain named Bull incontinently used the Queen Mars affecteth Venus A souldier aimes at the fairest mark that is no Bull. 2 Many pats have been scalded with the daughters of Venus and live longer then Minos but it was hot service 3 Be not so unhospitable to entertain a stranger and kill him that is the part of a Crocodile Or as Prometheus fierce not free thy bloud 290. To lofty Eagles be continual food Prometheus son of Iapetus and Themis because he made a man of clay and stole fire from heaven to put life into him was by Jupiter bound to a pillar on the hill Caucasus where an Eagle eats his heart which daily reneweth and Pandora's basket of miseries do afflict him 1 Prometheus might be an Astronomer that upon the hil Caucasus continually looked on the Celestial fires that is the Stars and observed the motion of the Sun and so his heart was eaten with cares and studies 2 Man may be called Promethus for of all sublunary creatures Man is most prudent and provident yet none more subject to Pandora's box of miseries then Man none more eaten with the Eagle of cares then Man 3 Prometheus is said to have first found out the use of fire among men therefore after death is honoured with Festivals as Vulcan the God of Fire and Ceres the Goddesse of Corn. To this me thinks alludeth that simple I wish not sinful Ceremony in some parts of England upon St Clements night among Brewers Bakers Smiths and such hot artificers But Morally Prometheus as the word importeth
King is under a higher and to him he oweth service and homage His service is perfect freedome he that denieth this will be a reprobate slave to sin and Satan Better submit to his golden Scepter then be bruised by his iron rod. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God As Dionysius from Amastrix gone Thou in Achilles course be left alone Dionysius or Lerneus King of Heraclia being banished by Mithridates from Amastrix a city built by his wife Amastrix fled to a place called Achilles course whither Achilles had pursued Iphigenia and there forsaken by his friends was slain 1 Princes exiled may expect more danger and less comfort then a private person Pliny reports that the river Novanus in Lumbardy runs over the banks at Midsummer and is dry in Winter Prosperity finds too many friends Adversity few or none Whosoever revolts was never a friend Thrice with Eurydamas 'bout Thrafill's urne 330. Let Larissean wheels thy carcas turne Eurydamas that slew Thrasillus King of Larissa in a tumult was afterwards killed by Simo the Kings brother and three times dragged about Thrasillus grave 1 In a rabble of the giddy multitude a sovereign Prince is sooner destroyed then a sturdy peasant 2 One viol set in tune and hanged in a room with others being touched the rest do smpathize with a grumbling sound Thus the sensitive tree if ye touch one leaf the whole tree will quake Injury offered to a brother will move compassion and revenge We may-seek retaliation of bloud for bloud that in a right way is warrantable But insultation upon a dead foe is most ignoble Instant morientibus ursi The magnanimous Lion scorns to touch a liveless creature Like him whose corps we dragg'd about Troy's wall Which he long kept which after him did fall Hector son of Priamus and Hecuba the most valiant Captain of all the Trojans slew Patroclus and the best of the Grecian Captaines at last he was slain by Achilles and dragged about the walls of Troy shortly after his death Troy was taken 1 Cut off the head how can the body move Smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered A thousand of souldiers amount not to the value of one wise valiant Chief a trusty Trojan The losse of an heroick Hector is the fall of a kingdome Except the Lord keep the city the watch-men watch in vain When the Lord of hosts leaveth Jericho rams horns may blow it down Strange death Hippomedes daughter suffered Horses through Athens hale th' adulterer dead 335. When tired life thy limbs forsake a nag Along the ground thy loathsom carcass drag Hippomenes King of Athens having found his daughter Limone guilty of adultery shut her up with an hungry horse which at last devoured her and the adulterer was dragged at the horse taile along the streets for which horrid fact the King was banished 1 Adultery is a beastly sin and capital among Jews and Heathen but among some Christians it is more often threatned then punished because perhaps the executioner of justice cannot without fear of a recoil cast the first stone 2 Children have covered the nakedness of their father witness Noah Gen. 19. why may not a father do so to his child though in conscience he cannot cover the sin he may for his credit cover the shame and upon hopeful signs of conversion endeavour a pardon from God and Man 3 The love of parents is extreme too indulgent or too impatient A passionate father is no competent judge upon an offending child Parents provoke not your children to wrath Eph. 6.4 much less in your proeoved wrath destroy a child lest your father which is in heaven destroy you for it Be split upon a rock as many a Greek Upon Caphareus in the Eubaean Creek Nauplias in revenge of his son Palamedes who by the false accusation of Ulysses was put to death made great lights on the promontory Caphareus in Euboea whither the Grecians returning from Troy struck saile taking it for a haven and there perished 1 A spring naturally descends not ascends so is love between the ancestors and posterity No child or grand-child can so dearly love their progenitors as they do them It appears by Nauplias 2 The new ignis fatuus of false lights have shipwracked the tender consciences of too many silly women and men laden with sin upon the offensive rocks of Schisme and Heresie more then Caphareus As Ajax dy'd by thunder-bolt and Sea 340. Let fire assist the water to drown thee Ajax Oileus after the siege of Troy returning home lustfully and profanely forced Cassandra in the Temple of Pallas and was therefore justly shot to death by a thunder-bolt and drowned in the Sea 1 When a souldier is unbraced of the armes of Mars he is quickly imbraced in the armes of Venus Of idleness comes no goodness A Bird sitting not flying is shot by the fowler Water standing not running gathers filth By doing nought we learn to do naught 2 Gods presence is every where but more perpendicularly in his Temple Holiness becometh his house for ever 3 Spiritual fornication consenting to Satan in a wandering or a wicked thought is sinful any where but in that holy place it is all one as if the woman should act the filthy sin before her husbands face But corporal fornication under that sacred roof is not onely heathenish but devillish For it doth at once defile both the Material and spiritual temple of that jealous God And double sin double punishment Let Furies wrack thy mind be thou as mad As he that one wound in his body had Marcyas son of Hyagnis the Musician was so proud of his skill that he presumed to challenge Apollo and scorning to yield had his skin plucked over his ears 1 The Frog in the fable stretching to be as great as the Ox burst to pieces Thrasonian prodigals that wear whole Lordships on their backs at once straining to be Lords leap out of their skins like puddings and at last become scarce worth a pudding If thou hast learning and art proud I suspect thy learning what hast thou that thou hast not received and if thou hast received it why boastest thou As Dryas son that Rhodopes kingdome held Who cut his legs when harmless vines he fell'd Lycurgus King of Thrasia son of Dryas perceiving that some of his subjects were too much given to wine commanded all vines in Thracia to be cut down Hence the Poet feign that Lycurgus because he envied Bacchus Wine for his sacrifice fell mad and cut his own shins 1 Harme watch harme catch Vinum immodicè haustum est venenum modicè divinum especially to a Poet. 2 God saw all things which he made to be very good Gen. 1. and gave wine to make glad the heart of man Psal 104. why then should an abuse by one or few extirpate the use of a creature shall wine be a sin because Noah was drunk One of the first and
man more sometimes then in granting him his desires The father here grants what an enemy would have wished thus ruine comes by indulgence For History Phaeton King of the The sports is feigned to be son of Phoebus and to fall from his chariot in that he first assayed to find out the course of the Sun but was prevented by death Nat. Com. In that time abundance of fire fell from heaven therefore he is said to burn the world Physically Phaeton as his name signifies is a bright and burning inflammation which proceeds from the Sun Clymene his mother is water from whom the Sun attracts those exhalations these set on fire produce a vehement heat which thunder and lightning follow hence he is said to be struck with lightning by Jupiter For Morality Behold here a rash and ambitious Prince presented to the life inflamed with desire of rule The horses of the Sun are the common people unruly and prone to innovation who finding the weakness of their Prince flie into all exorbitances so to a general confusion As Aeolus son and one of that fierce straine Whence Arctos came that seldome threatens rain 1. Salmonius son of Aeolus not the King of the winds was King of Elis where he built a City not so contented he gave out that he was Jupiter and to gain credit to his report he feigned thunder and lightning by ratling of brass pans and drums in his coach and casting up squibs into the aire at last Jupiter by true thunder killed him 1 Content is a lesson too hard for the headst of the highest forme a King We seldome see an humble Prince but we commonly see proud beggars 2 Tempests beat at lofty Cedars and thunder smites the highest mountains when humble shrubs and lowest vallies be in safety 3 We may and must imitate our Redeemer as he is Man in Mercy and Humility not as he is God in Miracles and Majesty 2. Menius son of Lycaon brother of Calistho that was turned into a dry Star in the North called Arctos seeing his father turned into a Wolfe and his house on fire railed against Jupiter and was therefore slain with a thunder-bolt 1 The voice of a King is like the roaring of a Lion but the voice of God like thunder A King will do what pleaseth him and who dare say what doest thou Eccles 8.3 Who art thou then that contendest with thy Maker who is just in all his works and holy in all his wayes A swine will cry a Lamb is dumb at the slaughter so is the good Christian and the bad under the hand of affliction Better with Eli say It is the Lord let him do what he pleaseth or with the Church to tremble at the judgment of God upon Ananias c. then as Jobs wife bid her husband curse God and die If we kick against the pricks we shall like stubborn Jades be kick'd and prick'd the more As Macedon by lightning and her mate Were burn'd on thee fall like avenging fate Macedon a Queen of Macedonia with her husband for their impiety were both burned to death with lightning 1 It is dangerous when subjects in a kingdome do give themselves over to impiety for when the Body Natural or Politick is diseased it will affect or infect the Head More dangerous when the sickness begins in the head for all the members are apt to sympathize Regis ad exemplum Therefore Jeroboam in holy Writ is so often famed with this infamous addition Jeroboam the son of Nebat that caused Israel to sin Though virtue seems more amiable vice seemes more imitable chiefly in a Prince Therefore the strumpet Lais boasted that she had a greater company at her school then Socrates at his 475. Those tear thee whom Latona hath exil'd From Delos ' cause young Thrasus they had kill'd Thrasus a young man coming to offer sacrifice in Diana's Temple was killed by dogs therefore she commanded that no dogs should ever after come near that place and sent a plague among them 1 Thus the Devil that hellish Cerberus who is like a dog in a manger is most busie in tempting us when we are most busie in serving God So Pharaoh was never so violent against Israel as when they were departing from Egypt towards Canaan And have not later ages afforded some snarling curres to bite and blind whelps to bark at us when we offer to serve the true God in his holy Temple God sent Lions among the Assyrians for hindering devotion 2 Kings 17. and plagues upon the Egyptians Beware of the concision beware of dogs Or those tore him that spi'd Diana bare Or Linus who was King Crotopus heir 1. Diana bathing her self in the valley of Gergaphia Acteon by chance beheld her naked the blushing and angry Goddess transformes him into the shape of a long-liv'd Hart and his dogs tore him in pieces 1 Some Authors report that Diana possessed his dogs with an imagination that their master was a Hart. And perhaps they ran mad in the Canicular dayes Sandys through the power of the Moon that is Diana augmented by the entrance of the Sun into Leo and what force then could resist the worrying of their master Some do aver that Lucian the Apostata and Atheist came to the like end But this Fable may teach us what dangerous curiosity it is to search into the secrets of Princes or by chance to discover their nakedness who thereby incurring their hatred ever after live the life of an Hart full of fear and suspicâ—on often accused by their own servants to their utter ruine Let us therefore guard our eyes and ears nor desire to know or see more then concern us Acteon may be said to cast off the mind of a man and degenerate into a beast when he neglected the pursuit of virtue and heroick actions Some imagine that he is said to be devoured of his hounds because he was impoverished by maintaining them but what was that expence unto a Prince I rather agree with those that think it was by maintaining ravenous and riotous scycophants who have too oft exhausted the Exchequers of wealthy Princes and reduced them to extreme necessity Those whom we feed at our own tables will first seek to cut our throats 2. Linus son of Apollo and Psammate daughter of Crotopus King of the Argives in fear of her fathers wrath was hidden among sedge where dogs came and devoured him 1 Indulgence of too kind mothers hath I confess undone more children but severity of unkind fathers hath destroyed too many Some flying the fury of a dogged father have desperately dispatched themselves by a dogs death Art thou a father take heed lest by cruelty to thy own child thou prove to thy own self as Menedemus Heautontimorumenos thy own tormentor Be stung of venemous Snakes no less then she 480. Oeägrus daughter by Calliope Euridice wife to Orpheus son of Oeägrus and Calliope sporting among the herbs and flowers was stung by a Serpent
upon a Countrey rich in the plenties of a long peace and full with the surfeit of continual ease it never leaves purging those superfluities till all be wasted and consumed Thus the roaring Lion of hell falls upon a soul being full and secure As to Lycurgus son that climb'd a tree And Idmon bold a Bore thy ruine be 1 Butes whom some authors call Ancaus or Angaeus son of Lycurgus King of Thrasia being fiercely pursued by a Bore climbed a tree but before he was up the Bore pulled him down again and slew him 1 This when we are climbing the tree of knowledge and sublime understanding of divine truth that Bore of the wilderness the Heretick labours to pluck us back into errours Thus when we are ascending the tree of life towards heaven that Serpentine Satan indeavours to draw us back into deadly sin and damned Hell 2. Idmon a southsayer among the Argonauts was in Bythinia slain by a Bore 1 Southsayers and Astrologers can foreshew to others what evils they may shun but cannot prevent what hangeth over their own heads Thales gazing on the Stars fell into a ditch Nequicquam sapit qui sibi non sapit If thou be wise be wise unto thy self The Bell rolls in others to sermon but hears not a word it self Moses brought the Israelites to Canaan but entred not in himself Many I fear shew others the way to heaven and come short themselves Sic vos non vobis mellificatis Apes A Bore thy deaths wound give when he is dead As upon whom fell such a creatures head Thoas a famous hunter in Andragathia was wont to hang on a tree the head and feet of all he caught as a sacrifice to Diana at last having got a mighty Bore he kept the feet and hang'd up onely the head by a string which fell upon him being a sleep under the tree 1 Although the Priests were allowed part of the Jewish sacrifice the whole was offered unto God 2 If so fearful and sudden death befell Ananias and Saphira because they detained part of their own gift devoted to the Church Acts 5. what may sacrilegious latrons expect who never gave to the Church as much as one of the widows mites yet take from it to their own use the most part of that was given to others 3 Offer not to God the blind or the lame serve not God by halfes but give him the honour due unto his name being Holocausts whole presents to him theâ— ought to be feared God might justly require all yet he accepts the tenths of our means and the seventh of our time shall we grudge him that God forbid 505. Like them be thou whom fruit of Pine-tree kill'd As Phrygia's hunter and Berentius child Atys a Phrygian hunter and Nauclus son of Berentius sleeping under a Pine-tree were both slain by apples falling from the same tree 1 Mille modis morimur mortales nascimur uno By one way we are born by thousands we die As God can save by small means so he can destroy Death is a long sleep and sleep a short death some have fallen into such a deadly sleep they never waked Lie down therefore with the Prophet Davids petition in thy mouth or heart Lord lighten mine eyes that I sleep not in death Psal 13. And if to Minos sands thou voyage make Let Cretians thee for a Sicilian take For the death of Minos King of Crete killed in Sicilia by King Cocalus or his daughter in the pursuit after Daedalus the Cretians ever since so hate that people that they put all to death that arrive in those coasts 1 The Aspick pursueth him which hath hurt or killed his mate and knows him among a multitude him he still hunteth and laieth for his life breaking through all difficulties and dangers to come unto him Dall Aph. So is revenge furiously out-ragious and out-ragiously furious Yea for the cause of one single person families cities kingdoms fall at variance and hardly or never be reconciled In revenge of one Dinah Simeon and Levi destroyed all the Sichemits Gen. 34. but cursed was their wrath Gen. 49.7 510. As to Alebas daughter it befell And to her husband let a house thee quell Alcidice daughter of Alebas a Larissean with her husband Lycoris by the fall of their house were slain 1 Whether these persons suffered this punishment for any offence to the Gods for the father Alebas was an oppressour or their house fell by chance I read not But holy Writ reports that while Jobs children were rioting the house fell down and killed them I will wind up this apâ—lication with our Saviours caveat unto the Jews and in them to all Thinke ye that those on whom the tower of Shilo fell were greater sinners more then you verily I say unto you except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Luke 13. As Tiberinus and Evenus nam'd The streams where they were drown'd be thou so fam'd Tiberinus or Tiberius King of the Albans was drowned in the river Albiola which since is called Tibris or Tiberis after his name So Evenus son of Mars and Marpesse was drowned in the river Lycormas and gave that river his name Evenus 1 The noblest honour the ancients could invent for the dead was a glorious Monument with their Names Titles and Deserts but Auson Mors etiam faxis nominibusque venit Death as well seizeth upon Monuments as Men. 2 Immortal fame was the utmost hope of the Heathen after death And what more doth that Christian expect who takes more care to have houses called of his name then his soul in an heavenly mansion The Lord be pleased to write my name in the book of life then let my fame on earth be as mortal as my body As Hyrtacus his son one fix thee dead Upon a stake let mans food be thy head Nisus son of Hyrtacus adventuring to redeem his friend Eurialus being caught by the army of the Kutilians willingly endured the same death with him their bodies were cast to be eaten by men and their heads put upon stakes 1 He that is a friend to all is a friend to none he that sincerely is a friend to one is truly a friend to himself for a friend is second self Let no man therefore like Janus bear two faces under one hood nor blow hot and cold out of one mouth Let friends like Harpocrates twins laugh and cry together partake and sympathize in every estate Learn of our voluntary friend and undeserved Saviour that freely died not with us but for us not for his friends but enemies 515. As Brotheus did when death was his desire Thy body cast into a flaming fire Brotheus son of Minerva by Vulcan because he was jeered for his deformed body cast himself into the fire and died 1 Vasius that deformed Roman to prevent others would first jeer himself 2 What nature fails in one is recompenced in another part Who more ugly shapen then Aesop who more ingenious
that name son of Mino◠and Pasiphäe playing with a tennis-ball fell into a barrel of honey and there died Polyidus a Physician was shut up with the dead body in a room that he might restore him to life Seeing a Serpent coming towards the body he provoked him on purpose to be killed by him but by chance he killed the Serpent Another Serpent comes to the dead Serpent and with an herb revives it Polyidus with the same herb restores to life the dead body of young Glaucus 1 If by playing with the unconstant ball of the world we are drowned in mellifluous pleasures whereby our souls are dead in sins and trespasses none but Polyidus our knowing Physician Christ by the sovereign herb of grace can revive us to evarlasting life Or guilty drink with trembling hand that cup Which Socrates undauntedly suck'd up Socrates though by the Oracle of Apollo he was accounted the wisest and by the vote of all men the honestest yet by three envious neighbours Anytus Lycon and Melytus being falsly accused he was by the Judges condemned so drunk to his enemy Anytus a cup of poyson wherewith he died 1 There are sons of Belial knights of the post knaves that be-lie-all by false accusation will soon hang one true honest man And what will not malice and envy act chiefly being back'd with power rather then not see his neighbours two eyes out the envious man will gladly pluck out one of his own Those persecuting prosecutors of Socrates some were banished someslain Pilat though he knew that the Jews had delivered Jesus onely for envy yet condemned him He having drank of gall and vinegar a health to his enemies died upon the Cross but the Traytor suffered a more dishonourable death If thou dost love the steps of Haemon tread 560. As Macareus do thou thy sister wed Haemon married his own sister Rhodope therefore the Gods revenging so foul a fact turned them both into mountains 1 Peruse the histories of all the ancient authors and you will scarce find one among an hundred of that unlucky brood sprung from incestuous parents but was monstrously inhumane and bloudy and the end of the parents ominous Haemon and Rhodope were turned into mountaines In mountains and hills brute beasts do promiscuously couple without distinction or relation of brother sister dam or sire I hope this beastly heathenish vice is not so much as named among Christians therefore it shall not defile my pen nor offend my readers eyes or ears for me Concerning Macareus and Canace read before See thou as when the fire burn'd all things down What Hectors son did from his fathers town How Ulysses cast down Astyanax son of Hector from the walls of Troy read before Perish like him whose grand-sire was his sire His sister mother by incestuous fire Adonis begotten by Cynaras on his own daughter Myrrha was slain by a bore whose death Venus lamented with bitter tears and converted him into a flower which some call Anemony 1 Men of excellent beauties have been subject to miserable destinies Rarò forma viris impunita fuit 2 This lamentation for Adonis is mentioned under the name Tammuz which Jerom takes for Adonis but Tremelius for Osyris Ezech. 8. Allegorically both are one Now Adonis was no other then the Sun adored under that name by the Phoenicians Sandys as Venus by the name Astarten for the Naturalists call the upper Hemisphere of the earth which we inhabit Venus the lower part Proserpina Venus wept when Adonis was dead so when the Sun enters into the six Winter-signs of the Zodiack the widdowed earth weeps overflowed with raine Adonis in the Hebrew signifieth Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Sun is Lord of all the Planets Adonis was killed by a bore so the savage horrid winter delighting in mire and cold like a bore unfit for Venus doth as it were kill the Sun diminishing his heat and lustre Thus not onely the factious little foxes of schisme do pluck off her grapes but the wild bore of Heresie endeavours to root up and kill the vineyard the Church of Christ 565. Let such a kind of dart in thy bones stick As Icarus son-in-law to death did prick Ulysses husband of Penelope who was Icarus daughter was slain by a dart thrown unawares from the hand of his own son Telegonus near his Palace in Ithaca after that he had returned safe from Troy 1 No General though so wise valiant and triumphant as Ulysses having passed the pikes pistols and swords of the enemy can scape the dart of the last enemy which is death and that if providence so permit by the hand of one that is most near dear Alexander that conquered all the world was killed by a cup of wine from his own Butlers hand 2 The time manner and place of death is as much uncertain as death it self is certain Let us therefore with the Poet think everyday the last let us with Job expect every hour till our change come let us still pray with the Church From sudden death good Lord deliver us Like Anaxarchus be in morter pound Thy scatter'd bones like common grain resound Anaxarchus a Philosopher of Abdera being condemned by Nicocrean Tyrant of Cyprus to be pound with iron pestels in a morter suffered that torment so undauntedly that he often repeated this memorable speech Pound Tyrant pound Anaxarchus his wind-bag thou poundest not Anaxarchus Being threatned that his tongue should be cut out he bit it off in pieces and spit it in the Tyrants face 1 I do confess that this Heathen was an unparalell'd piece of Heroick valour but it merits the title of an effect of revengeful active malice rather then a testimony of patient passive martyrdome in comparison of Christians Hear the language of Saint Laurence who being laid naked on a burning gridiron is reported to have said thus Tyrant turn the other side this is broyl'd enough Those glorious Martyrs in Queen Maries fierce persecution kissed the flame and clipped the stake being fully assured that upon the wheels of faith in that fiery chariot with Elijah they should be carried into heaven And as the pratler off his horse fell dumb 570. The passage of thy throat choke with thy thumb Agenor a pratler not sparing Jupiter himself in his reviling talk fell off his horse and choked himself with his own thumb 1 Nature it self hath bound the tongue to the good behaviour and shut it within the outward prison of the lips and the inward of the teeth yet the unruly member is alwayes apt to break out But for so little a creature to flie out against Jupiter her Creator deserves death not onely sudden but eternal Like Psamate's father thee let Phoebus throw To deepest hell he us'd his daughter so Orchamus King of Babylon perceiving that his daughter Leucothōe had lain with Apollo buried her alive Apollo not able to revive her sprinkled Nectar upon her grave whence a Frankincense tree