now the bus'nesse weepst thou wicked man As fearing to be tortur'd enter than Stay Stay beneath his arme-pits lies obscur'd What in the barge will neuer be endur'd Menippus what Smooth oily Flattery such As in his life time did auaile him much 'T is fit then thou Menippus shouldst lay by Freenesse of speech and too much liberty Thy boldnesse mirth and laughterâ— for is't fit To mocke vs thus thou in that place shouldst sit All that he is possest of let him still About him keepe for they are light and will Rather than hinder helpe our navigation As burdenlesse and fit for transportation And thou ô Rhetorician cast away Thy contradicting Phrases there 's no stay Similitudes Anti-positions too Periods and Barbarismes This thou must do All thy light-seeming words must be throwne by For in the Hold most heauy they will ly I throw them off The fastned cords vnbinde Plucke vp the Ladder 'bout the Cap-stone winde The Cable and weigh Anchor hoise vp Saile And thou ô Steeres-man pre'thee do not faile To looke well to the Helme and that with care Let 's now be merry hauing all our faâ—e But wherefore weepe these sad Ghosts but most thou That of thy huge beard wast dispoyl'd but now Because I held the Soule immortall Fye Beleeue him not ô Hermes 't is a lie 'T is somewhat else he grieues at What Canst tell Because after full Feasts he cannot smell Nor walking late whilest others were at rest Close muffled in his Cloake be made the guest To dissolute Strumpets sneake into his Schoole Betimes and with his suppos'd wisedome foole Yong Schollers cheating them of coine and time Thou that pretendest to be free from crime Is not to thee Death tedious Can it be I hastning to 't when nothing summon'd me But stay What clamor 's that a shore so hye We scarce can heare our selues speake Mercurie 'T is loud indeed but comes from sundry places There is a Crew that arm'd with loud disgraces Brand the dead Lampichus Another strife Growes from the women that reproch his wife And yonder his yong children but late borne Are ston'd by children and in pieces torne Some with loud accents Diaphantus praise The Orator for his elaborate Phrase And funerall Oration well exprest In Sycian for this Crato late deceast The Matrons with Damasia's mother there Howle and lament his losse But not a teare Is shed for thee Menippus thou 'rt more blest Novlulations shall disturbe thy rest Not so for thou within few houres shalt heare Dogs lamentably barking at my Beere The Crowes and Rauens croaking at my graue In hope some good share of my flesh to haue Menippus thou art valiant and now land Passe on fore-right incline to neither hand That path will leade you to the Iudgement Hall Whilest we transport the rest that yonder call Saile prosp'rously ô Mercury wee 'l on As best befits vnto the Iudgement Throne What shall of vs become now here they say Are sundry torments that endure foray Stones AEgles Wheeles in number that surmount Now each must of his life yeeld iust account Bias to one who by reason of the great sorrow he tooke for the losse of his children called vpon Death as desiring to depart out of the world said vnto him Why fond man dost thou call vpon that which though vncalled for will come vpon thee Musonius being demanded Who died best made answer Those that make account of euery present day at their last Theramines was no sooner departed out of an house but it presently fell to the earth When his Friends came about him to gratulate his vnexpected safety he said vnto them beyond their expectation Know you ô men vnto what greater dangers or a more vnfortunate death the gods haue reserued me Intimating That the escape from one disaster was no securitie from falling into another Which happened accordingly for not long after he fell into the hands of the thirtie Tyrants and was compelled to end his life by poyson Seneca Epist. 78. vseth these words Is any man so ignorant but knowes that at one time or other he must die yet when the time commeth many weepe and lament Why dost thou mourne ô Wretch why feare and tremble since all men are tied to that strict necessitie and thou art but to go whither all things before thee are gone To this law thou art borne the same thing happened to thy father thy mother and to all thy predecessors to all before thee and shall to all that must succeed thee c. Spartanus being inâ—idiated by Iphicrates the Generall of the Athenians and surprised by an ambush and demaunded of his Souldiers What in that exigent was to be done made answer What else but that whilest you fly basely I die fighting honorably Such was the spirit of Cato Vticensis who persuaded others to the safety of their liues whilest he prepared himselfe to a voluntarie death Rubrius Flavius condemned vnto death by Nero and being brought to the blocke when the Executioner spake vnto him that he would boldly stretch forth his neck Yes quoth he and I wish thou with as much resolution and as little feare mayst strike off my head I will conclude with this Similitude As all those Starres which rise from the East though they be of great celeritie and vertue yet tend to their setting and according to their diuers Circles some sooner some later hide themselues from our aspect So all the Generation of Mankinde from the East that is by their Natiuitie enter into the world and though here for a season they shine and according to their qualities and degrees giue lesse or greater lustre yet of necessity they must all arriue some early some late at the fall or set of Death according vnto the continuance of that Course which God in his wisedome hath appointed them and by degrees withdraw and hide themselues from the eyes of the World Now hauing sufficiently discoursed of Death I will point you to a contented life out of one of Martials Epigrams not without great elegancie thus deliuered vnto vs Vitam quae faciunt beatiorem c. Blithe Martiall wilt thou vndertake Things which the life more blessed make Th' are these A Fortune competent Not got by labour but descent No thanklesse Field a Fare conuenient No strife at all a Gowne expedient For warmth not trouble a minde quiet Strength purchas'd by a mod'rate diet A healthfull body Prudence grounded On Simplenesse Friendship compounded On Paritie then so to call That no one man may pay for all A Table without Art or Cost A Night so spent it be not lost In Drunkennesse yet that thou dare And boldly call it Free from Care A Bed not sad but chast in sport Sleepe that shall make the night seeme short To wish to be that which thou art And nothing more in whole or
daughter to be tyed to a rocke and to be deuoured of an huge Sea Monster whom Perseus the sonne of Iupiter rescued At whose request to Minerva she obtained that his head might appeare in the Septentrional Circle and from his breast to his feet to be visible in Arcturus the AEstiue Tropicke Circle Qua latus afflexum siâ—â—osi respicit Anguis Cassiopeia virum residet sublimis ad ipsum Sophocles relateth That Cassiopeia the wife to King Cepheus and mother to Andromeda compared with the Nymphs Nereiedes the daughters to Nereus boasting that shee excelled them all in beauty At which Neptune enraged sent a mighty Whale which did much dammage to that part of the Countrey which lay next to the sea side neither would hee be appeased till her daughter Andromeda was exposed to be made a prey for the sea Monster Nec procul Andromeda totam quam cernere nondum Obscura sub nocte licet c. The figures and postures of the mother and daughter are much different for the mother is descried sitting in a chaire bound vnto it but the daughter standing vpright and chained vnto a rocke Which Andromeda was said to be beloued of Cupid notwithstanding she was fettered betwixt two hills and so left to be a prey to Neptunes Monster but she was deliuered thence by Perseus and from him tooke the denomination of Persea and by the fauour of Minerva was receiued amongst the Stars Who after she was freed by Perseus would neither stay with father or mother but voluntarily associated him in all his trauels Sublimis fulget pedibus properare videtur Et velle aligeris purum AEthera tangere palmis Perseus was the sonne of Iupiter and Danaë who descending in a golden shore as she spred her lap to receiue it hee not slipping the opportunitie comprest her and begot Perseus Her father Acrisius King of the Argiues finding that she was vitiated by Iupiter he caused her to be put into a Mastlesse-Boat exposing her to the fury of the mercilesse Seas But after arriuing in Italy shee was found by a Fisherman and presented vnto the King of that Countrey with her yong sonne Perseus of whom shee was deliuered at sea The King gratiously entertaining her after made her his Queene and accepted of Perseus as of his owne naturall son Of whose Embassy to Poledectas King of the Island Seriphus the receiuing of his wings from Mercury and his sword Harpee from Vulcan his killing of three Gorgons the daughters of Phorcas c. were too long hereto relate being frequently to be found in sun drie knowne Authors Est etiam Aurigae facies siue inclita forma Natus Erithinius qui circa sub juga duxit Quadrupedis The Charioter is said to be the son of Vulcan and Minerva who was the first that yoked the vntamed Steeds constrained them to draw in the Chariot taking his example from the wagon and horses of the Sunne He first deuised the Panathaemea and gaue order for the building of Towers and Temples and for that cause was listed among the Stars where he beareth vpon his shoulders Capra the Goat which nourished with her milk Iupiter in his infancie In his arms he caris the two Kids the issue of the said Amalthaea which are thought by the Astrologians to portend rain and showres for so Musaeus de Capra witnesseth Others take him to be Myrtilus the sonne of Mercury and Wagoner to Oenomaus the father of Hippodamia Hic Ophiuchus erit longe caput ante nitendo Et vastos humeros tum caetera membra sequuntur This is the Serpentarie who standeth aboue the Scorpion holding in either hand a Serpent Some of our Astrologians take him to be AEsculapius the sonne of Apollo who was so expert in the art of Physicke that he is reported By the vertue of Herbs and Simples to haue raised the dead to life for which Iupiter enraged slew him with a thunder-bolt but at the earnest suit of his father Apollo he not onely restored him to the Liuing but after his naturall expiration gaue him that place amongst the rest of the Stars He was therefore called AEsculapius because the inclination tending to death is by physicke repelled and kept backe And for that cause hee is figured with a Dragon or Serpent who by casting their skinnes are thought to recouer their youth as Physitians by their medicines curing diseases restore their weake Patients to their former vivacitie and strength Moreouer the Dragon is a Hierogliphycke of attention and hearing which is likewise requisite in such as professe that art He is also said to haue been instructed by Chiron the Centaure and to haue receiued the name of Hepeones not vainely conferred vpon him In regard that powerfull medicines are the qualifying and curing of such violent diseases as trouble and molest the health of the body Vnguibus innocuis Phrigium rapuit Ganimedem Et Coelo appositus lustos quo Iupiter arsit In puero luit excidio quem Troia furorem The AEgle is said to be numbered amongst the Starres because he stole from Ida Ganmied and carried him vp to heauen where he remaineth Iupiters Cup-bearer Hee is called also the Ensigne of Iove for when the rest of the gods diuided the Birds amongst them hee fell to the Thunderers lot either because hee soareth higher than any other Fowle and hath a kinde of dominion ouer them or else in regard that he onely is of such sharpe sight that his eyes are not dazled with the bright splendant beames of the Sunne for so hee is placed with his wings spread and his head looking towards the East Aglaosthenes relateth That Iupiter transfiguring himselfe into an AEgle flew into the Isle Naxos where hee was nursed and there possessed the Kingdome from whence he made an expedition against the Titanois And sacrificing before the battell an AEgle as a good and prosperous omen appeared vnto him and brought him thunderbolts which he vsed in that conflict The Arrow which the AEgle holdeth in her claws is said to be that which Apollo slew the Cyclops with who forged that thunderbolt with which Iupiter killed AEsculapius and for that cause was put amongst the rest of the Starres Hinc alius decliuis ducitur ordo Sentit insanos obscuris flatibus Austras The Dolphine as Artemidorus reporteth when Neptune was inamoured of Amphitrite and demanded her in marriage who to preserue her virginitie was fled to Atlas was by him sent amongst many others to solicit her about his former suit who after much enquiry found her where she had concealed her selfe in one of the Atlantick Islands Which making knowne to Neptune he by his great importunitie at length persuaded her vnto his owne wishes Which hauing obtained he not onely for his faith and industry did confer great honour vpon the Dolphine in the sea but caused him also to haue a place in the
Hee answered That hee had a naturall inclination to it and therefore no persuasion could diuert him from it The other replied vpon him I pray where died your Father he answered At Sea Again he asked him Where his Grandfather died Who told him At sea And are not you then said he sor that cause afraid to go to sea The Captaine made answer Before I resolue you fully of your demand let me also be satisfied in one thing from you I pray you where died your father He answered In his bed And where saith he died your Grandfather Hee likewise answered In his bed He then replied Why are you not then for that cause onely afraid to go to bed It is a true saying No man dieth more willingly than such as haue liued most honestly And wherefore should we be afraid to meet with that which wee know it is not possible for vs to shun Heraclitus calleth it the Law of Nature the Tribute of the Flesh the Remedie of Euils and the Path either to heauenly Felicitie or eternall Miserie Claudian lib. 2. de Raptu Proserp speaking of Death writeth after this manner Sub tua purpurei venient vestigiareges Deposito luxu turbaque cum paupere mixti Omniamors equat c. Purple-rob'd Kings their glory layd aside And pompous state beneath thy steps shall fall Mixt with the poorer throng that 's void of pride And vaine excesse 'T is Death which equalls all And Ovid speaking of the vnpartialitie of the fatall Sisters Metam lib. 10. saith Omnia debentur vobis paulumque morati Serius aut citius c. All things to you are due after small stay Sooner or later we must walke one way There 's but one common path to vs assign'd To that all tend as there to be confin'd It is a great and weighty thing saith the Philosopher and not soone learned When that inevitable houre shall come to entertaine it with patience Thou canst not fly the necessitie thereof ouercome it thou maist namely if thou dost not first yeeld vnto it if quietly thou expectest it if vnmoued thou receiuest it if thou dost persist certaine against incertaintie and fearelesse against that which most men feare then maist thou be said truly to conquer and ouercome it There is nothing so bitter but an equall and constant spirit can easily digest for many in their patient sufferings seeme to despise the most exquisite torments Mutius the Fire Regulus the Crosse Anaxarchus the contusion of all his members Theramenes and Socrates Poyson and when sentence of death was deliuered to Canius from the Tyrant hee then playing at Chesse seemed so little daunted at the message that without change of countenance he played out his game And so of others Now whence grew this magnanimitie but from a sound and cleare conscience assiduate practise of Vertue and a courage armed against all disasters Nothing is more calamitous than a minde doubtfull of what is to come To be alwayes troubled is to be miserable before miserie happen for there is nothing more foolishly wretched than to be still in feare especially of death which if nothing else the very necessitie thereof and the common equalitie with all Mankind ought to make tollerable First diligently thinke with thy selfe That before thou diest all thy vices die in thee And next That thou makest a consummation of thy life before thy death O! when thou shalt see that time in which thou shalt perceiue no time to belong vnto thee in which thou shalt be temperate and calme and in thy saâ—ietie carelesse of the morrow Then that day which now thou fearest as thy last shall appeare to thee thy birth day to eternitie Dost thou weepe and lament These things belong to those which are new borne Dost thou thinke those things to be lost which thou leauest Why shouldst thou dote vpon that which was not thine own but leant Who is it that would set a price vpon Time or at a deare rate estimate the Day who truly vnderstandeth that hee is euery houre dying In this we much deceiue our selues That we see not Death afarre off nor apprehend it neere That part of our age which is past is free that which is behinde is in the power of Death neither do we fall vpon Death suddenly but step by step we meet it by degrees we daily die for euery day a part of our life is taken from vs and euen at that time when we increase our life decreaseth we lose our Infancie first our Childehood next then our Youth and euery one of these when it arriueth to the full period perisheth for yesterdayes life is this day wanting and tomorrow this dayes being hath ceased to be nay euen this day which wee breath wee diuide with Death for it is the very moment and point of time in which we can be said to liue yea lesse if lesse can be imagined neither of that little or lesse space can we assure our selues Saint Chrisostome super Math. calleth Death The necessarie gift of corrupt Nature which ought not fearefully to be auoided but rather chearefully embraced for by making that voluntarie which is compulsiue that which is to God a due debt we offer vnto him as a free gift Moreouer a foolish and ridiculous thing it is for men to delight in sleepe and feare death when sleepe is nothing else but the imitation of Death Saint Augustine lib. de Natura Gracia vseth these words If thou boastest thy selfe of Nobilitie Riches or Honour of thy Countrey or the applause giuen vnto thee by the People looke into thy selfe and consider That thou camest from the earth and into it againe thou must returne Looke about and behold all those which in times past haue flourished in the like splendours Where be the insuperable Emperors Where be those that frequented Meetings Musicke and Feasts and delighted in the braue breed of Horses Where be their Robes of state their rich and gorgeous Vesture Where their troupes of Followers and large traine of Attendants Where their sportings and Reuellings Where be the Captains of Armies Champions Iudges Tyrants are not all Earth Dust and Ashes and their magnificence and memorie in a small Tombe and short Epitaph contained Looke into their gorgeous and glittering Sepulchres and see how much the Lord differs from the Seruant Tell me which is the Rich man and which the Poore Distinguish if thou canst the Captiue from the Conqueror the Valiant from the Timerous or the Faire from the Deformed Therefore remember thy selfe ô Man of thy fraile and weake nature least thou beest any way tumor'd with Pride Arrogance or Vain-glory. Bernard in one of his Sermons saith Novissima sunt quatuor c. The foure last things are Death Iudgement Hell and Glorie Than Death what more horrible Than Iudgement what more terrible Than Hell what more intollerable Than Glory what more delectable It will not I hope appeare much impertinent to introduce one of Lucians Dialogues because the
necessaries wanting or if he intended that voyage he could not go in better company At which words the bold Centurion leapt into the empty saddle and was presently hurried away from the sight of his seruants in a moment and the next euening at the same houre and in the same place he was found by his seruants and friends who were there seeking and enquiring after him To whom he related his journey and what he had seene in the Holy City describing punctually euery Monument and place of remarke which agreed with the relations of such Trauellers and Pilgrims as had beene there and brought Certificate and assured testimonie from thence He shewed vnto them likewise an hand-kerchiefe which that Cooke his seruant or rather Diuell in his likenesse had giuen him stained with bloud but told him if at any time it were foule or durtie he should cast it into the fire for that was the onely way to make it cleane He shewed them likewise a knife and sheath which he bestowed vpon him which hee said was the guift of a gratefull remembrance but gaue him a great charge thereof for said he the mettal is poysoned and euery blow giuen therewith is present and immediate death Alexander Alexandri relateth a story of a poore Captiue shut vp in a darke dungeon but by a Spirit taken from thence and transported into diuers Infernal places where hauing spent three entyre dayes and nights being mist all that time by the Gaoler he was after brought backe into the same and lodged in his irons though the place was double barred locked and bolted Who made relation of many strange sights seen in Hell and with what seuerall insufferable torments the Soules of the Damned were inflicted persuading all them that came to visit him to haue more care how they lead liues dissolute and wicked least after death they should be made partakers of such infatigable Torments Boccatius writeth the historie of a Nobleman of Insubria who vndertaking a journey or rather Pilgrimage to Ierusalem to accomplish a Vow before made at the parting with his wife left her a Ring with a constant condition and couenanted vowes betwixt them That if he returned not to claim it before the expiration of three yeares she should haue free leaue and liberty to bestow her selfe in marriage to her owne liking but vntill the last prefixed day to keepe her first nuptiall Faith inviolate After his departure it so happened that in the way he was set vpon by Outlawes and Robbers rifled taken prisoner and after carried into AEgypt where in processe of time being brought before the Emperour and examined he told him and truly too that he was son to a Nobleman of such a Country who when he himselfe in person disguised trauelled to discouer some parts of Christendom at his owne house gaue him courteous and honorable entertainement Which the Sultan remembring gratefully acknowledged his fathers great generositie and bounty and not onely restored him to present libertie but soone after created him Visier Bassa and made him the second person in the kingdome In which honour and greatnesse he continued till the date of three yeres were almost fully expired when remembring the last contract made betwixt his wife and him he grew into a sudden and deep melancholy which the Sultan perceiuing earnestly importuned him to know the reason of his so strange distemperature Who to shorten circumstance disclosed vnto him all the former passage betwixt himselfe and his best affected wife Which passionately apprehended by the Sultan he presently caused a skilfull Magitian to be called and sollicited him with the vtmost of his skill to further the desires of his Friendâ— The Necromancer caused instantly a rich bed to be prouided and layd him thereon which the Emperor caused to be furnished with an inestimable treasure both of coine and jewels The Insubrian was no sooner at rest but by the helpe of Spirits he was immediatly transported vnto Fycina his owne city and there left in the Cathedrall Church neere to the high Altar This was in the night Now early in the morning when the Sexton entred to prepare the Church for Diuine seruice he cast his eye vpon the glorious bed which shined with stones and gems and withall espied him layd thereon and as yet not fully awake At which vnexpected sight being extremely terrified he ran out of the Church and to all that he met proclaimed the prodigie By this time the Nobleman began to awake and recollect himselfe and then rising vp and walking forth of the Temple for the Sexton had left the doore open hee met with those who made toward the place to partake the wonderment Some of which notwithstanding his long absence and strange habit knew him and saluted him with a friendly welcome From thence hee went home longing to know how the affaires stood with his wife and Family but the time of their former vowes being now expired he found her newly contracted and the next day to haue been married to another husband which his seasonable arriuall most fortunately preuented Now touching the transportation of Witches by the assistance of the Diuell though I might select and cull out many histories both from Bodinus and Wyerius yet because they haue passed thorow the hands of many I will rather make choice of some few gathered out of Authors lesse read and not altogether so vulgarly knowne Bartholomaeus Spinaeus Master of the holy Pallace recordeth this Historie There was saith he a yongâ—Maid who liued with her mother in Bergamus and was found in one and the same night in bed with a cousin german of hers in Venice who being found there in the morning naked without linen or so much as a rag to couer her yet being neerely allyed to them they gently demanded of her how she came thither where her cloathes were and the cause of her comming The poore Guirle being much ashamed and mixing her blushes with many teares made answere to this purpose This very night said she when I lay betwixt sleep and awake in bed I perceiued my mother to steale softly from my side thinking I had not seene her and stripping her selfe from all her linnen she tooke from her closet a box of ointment which opening she anointed her selfe therewith vnder the arm-pits and some other parts of her body which done she tooke a staf which stood ready in a corner which shee had no sooner bestrid but in the instant she rid or rather flew out of the window and I saw her no more At which being much amased and the candle still burning by me I thought in my selfe to try a childish conclusion and rising from my bed tooke downe the said box and anointing my selfe as I had before obserued her and making vse of a bed-staffe in the like manner I was suddenly brought hither in a moment where I was no sooner entred but I espied my mother in the chamber with a knife in her hand and