two nosethrills and one mouth proportionably shadow the fiery and bright nature of the seauen Planets His long bristled beard and bush be the beames of the Sunne and other Planets and Starrs whose influence is the cause of earthly generations His crooked rough and deformed lymmes are the foure Elements and the bodies thereof made which compared with those aboue are altogether rude and homely His Goates feete leggs note out the crooked course of things terrestriall for euen as Goats go neuer streight nor continue any setled and direct coâ—rse but wander and skipp here and there so what soeuer is vnder the Sphere of the Moone obserueth no constant and immutable proceeding but confusedly changeth from this to that from that to an other without any intermission Pan was in loue with a spotles and pure virginâ— vniversall nature affecteth and earnestly desireth a celestiall and perpetuall constancy in these inferior bodies Syrinx runs from Pan soe doth immutable constancy forsake these inferior matters which are dayly tossed to and fro and continually subiect to tenthousand alterations Syrinx in her maine flight is stopped and stayed by the Riuer Ladon in like sort the heauens and caelestiall bodies which by reason of their continuall motion are like to a Riuer dooe stay and bridle that wandring and inconstant constancy of inferior bodies and though the heaueÌ„s theÌ„selues by reason of their perpetual motioÌ„ seeme somewhat varyable and inconstant yet this their instability is indeed most stable and motion immutable noted by this spotles virgin transformed into reades which being moued and breathed vpon by the life-inspiring Zephirus yeelde this sweete melody as those celestiall globes are said to doe by the impulsion and direction of their intellectuall guydes and Spyrites Hereupon is Pans pipe made of seauen reades figuring that heauenly harmony of the seauen Planets caused by their neuer-ending circumduction and reuolution Pan lastly besides his pipe hath a staffe also Sith by the stayed and setled motion of the seauen Planets this vniuersall efficacie of nature ordereth the proceedings of these inferior bodies accordingly The tale is told by Ouid and Achilles Statius * Paâ—spiâ—ture Mydas the golden asse and miserlike foole who was faine to vnwish his wish of transforming euery thing into golde by his tutching thereof preferred Pans rurall harmony before the heauenly skill of Apollo and was therfore woorthily rewarded with asses eares for his labor which deformyty though for a time he concealed by couering it with his purple bonnet yet at last was discouered by his Barber who neither daring to tell it any body nor being able to keepe it secret digged a pit in the ground and therein whispered That his master Mydas had asses eares which pit being by him then filled vp with earth againe brought forth a number of reedes which blown by the winde repeated the buried woords vttered by the Barber to weet That King Midas had asses eares A golden foole and a silken asse may foâ— the time be clad with purple delude the gazers on but when the reades growe that is when after his death the learned begin to write and lay him open to the world then is his nakednes discouered Pan commonly hath his garland of the leaues of a Pinetree he was accompted the God of Sheepe and Shepheards and kept in the woods Such was Siluanus who therfore had his name of Silua signifying a wood Fauni and Satyri may hether also be referred whom Iupiter calleth rusticall and halfe-gods Ouid 1. Metamorphoseâ—n Sunt mihi semidei sunt rustica numina Nymphae Faunique Satyrique et monticolae Siluani Quos quoniam caeli nondum dignamur honore Quas dedimus certê terras habitare sinamus These Satyrs are sayd to be lytle Dandiprats with two horns crooked noses hayry and rough bodies and goates feete Plutarch writeth in Syllaes lyfe that there was one of them caught not farre from Apollonia a city of Epirus and brought to Sylla which being by many interpreters demaunded who or what he was vttred a kinde of voice but such as no man vnderstood it being a sound that resembled the neying of a horse togeather with the bleating of a Goate It is reported that Antony the Eremite saw and spake with such a Satyre in the Desert of Egipt who confessed that himself and his fellowes were but mortall creatures inhabiting the wildernes although the Gentiles seduced and blinded did honor them as Gods calling them Fauni and Satyri adding further that he came as sent from his companions desiring Antony to make intercession for them to his and their God whom they did know and acknowledge to haue come into the world to saue the world Besides these rurall Gods the auncient Poets perceauing that there was a life-giuing moysture and efficacie of humor in trees hilles seas flouds lakes wells and such like haue apoynted them their seuerall Nimphes and Deities as Ladies of the same hereof came these names Dryades Hamadryades Ephidryades Oreades Napeae Naiades Limniades and such others The Satyrs aboue spoken of by reason of their wanton and lasciuious nature are made companions of Bacchus the drunken God but sith by talking of Pan I haue thought of them here I meane to leaue both him and them to their forrests and rurall harbors Pan thus dispatcht it was thought good that Saturne his children should be remembred in order and first Iupiter by Damaetas whose tale was much to this effect IOue as he looked downe fro the skies sawe beautiful Io Saw and said well mett faire mayde well woorthy the thundrer Toyle not thy sweete self it 's too hoate come fro the scorching Sunne to the cooling shade loe here and here is a harbor If thou darâ—st not alone passe through these desolat harbors Foâ—e feare of wilde beasts let a God be thy guide by the forrest And noe trifling God but a God that welds the triumphant Mace and hurls lightnings and thunderbolts from Olympus Io fled for feare for loue Ioue hastened after And for a quick dispatch both lands and seaes on a soddaine Ouer-cast with a cloude and soe caught bewtiful Io. In meane time Iuno Ioues wife lookes downe fro the heauens Seeing lightsome skies at myd-day soe to be darkned Yet noe foggs or mystes from pooles or moores to be lyfâ—ed Meruailes much and asks if her husband were in Olympus Who transformd sometimes to a Bull sometimes to a golden Showre was woont each where such slippery prancks to be playing Ioue was not to be founde why then qd Iuno without doubt Fowly deceaued I am this day or fowly abused Down straight way fro the skies in a iealous fury she flingeth And those coosning clowdes and darcknes roundly remoueth Ioue foresawe this geare and faire white bewtiful Io Straight with a tryce transformde to a fayre white bewtiful heyfar Iuno geu's good woords although God knows with an ill will And commends this Cow and sais ô happy the Bullock Whoe might once enioy this fayre white bewtiful
to repine at lightsom Olympus Yet notwithstanding if thou stand fully resolued And that my brother Pluto must needs be refused Then let Persephone both mine and thine be reduced If she be fasting yet for so hath Atropos ordred And fatall orders are neuermore to be altred Mother was ful bent to reduce her childe from Auernus Destinie did forbid for that Proserpina walking In Plutoes Orchard by chance worst chance of a thousand Suckt seu'n Pomegranate kernels and no-body knew it Sauing Ascalaphus who made it knowne to Auernus And stayd Persephone who then for a worthy requitall Foule-tungd Ascalaphus forthwith traÌ„sformd to a Scricheowle Foule and loathsome foule whose neuer-luckily-sounding Voyce brings baleful newes and certaine signes of a vengeance Ioue tooke paines made peace first iustly the yeare he deuided Then to the husband halfe and halfe to the mother apointed and by thease good meanes causd euery part to be pleased Persephone six moonths with her husband dwels in Auernus And six other months doth shew her selfe to Olympus Lady Ceres all griefe and all contention ended Sent forth Triptolemus with coach and corne to the people Scattred in euery coast whose foode was kernel of ackorne Triptolemus traueling through strange lands lastly ariued On Scythian borders where Lyncus falsly pretending Life intended death and making shew of a friendly Host his sleeping guest vnawares had shamefuly murdred Had not Lady Ceres his barbarus enuy preuenting Lyncus turnd to a Lynx and his vayn-glory repressed Who of an others fact first autor would be reputed WEll sayd Elpinus sith Amarillis is safely returned from hell I hope Elpinus may haue the like successe otherwise so many fearefull monsters and hellish apparitions might well haue daunted a stouter heart then mine Pluto then you see the third brother rauished Proserpina the naturall eâ—ficacie and vertue of the earth sayth Cicero 2. de natura deorum draweth vnto it the rootes of corne growing increasing in the bowels of the earth Ceres her mother seeketh Proserpina and mourneth for her absence the corne pursueth and foloweth the seâ—de or The earth seemeth to greeue when the corne springeth not vp in due time Proserpina was rauished in Cicil the dearest soyle to Ceres that was a most fruitful and fertile Island Arethusa signifying the natural power and vertue of the seede and roote is the first that tolde Ceres tydings of Proserpina In continuance and conueniencie of time by that naturall efficacie and operation of the roote and seede the grayne and corne itselfe appeareth springeth vp Six moneths soe lies with her husbaÌ„dial the winter time whilest the sunne doth soiourne in the southerne signes six aboue with her mother when the sunne returneth to the northerne signes bringing corne to ripenes and maturitie She had this name Proserpina of the latine word Proserpo which is to creepe forwards because the rootes creepe along in the body of the earth She was gathering flowers when Pluto tooke her away and kept her below for then is that naturall vertue of the seede working to produce afterwards the fruit and flowre accordingly Pluto was accompted the Lord of riches and treasure Pluto is the earth whence al mettals are digged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke signifieth riches and in latine they called him Ditem to note Diuitias that is Rich alluding to riches Some make him blinde because he dealeth partially in distributing riches not according to desert And they giue him a key in his hand sith his hellish gates are so surely locked that the Ghostes once entring can neuer possibly returne He is called the God of Ghosts as some thinke because he first instituted the funerall obsequies and solemnities vsed at mens burials He sitteth as a prince on a throne with a crowne on his head a scepter in his hand and Cerberus his dogge at his feete Cupressus is sacred vnto him for it is vsed in funerals and being once cutte neuer buddeth or brancheth afterward * â—lutoes â—icture Proserpina being in hell did eate and as some others report the tale did eate poppie seedes whose nature is to cause drowsines sleepe staying and resting So Proserpina must stay below till she haue gotten roote and bee well and sufficiently grounded Her mother Ceres refused Mars and Apollo for wars and ouer much heate of the sunne are both bad for corne and plenty Ceres by reporte first found and taught the vse of corne and grayne and thereby brought men from that wilde and sauage wandering in woods and eating of Ackornes to a ciuil conuersing and more orderly dyet and caused them to inhabite townes to liue sociably to obserue certain laâ—es and institutions and for these causes was her self made a goddesse figured like a matron with a garland all of the eares of corne hauing in one hand a little bundle of Poppie as signes of fertilitie and in the other hand a fire brand wherewith she sought her daughter For in summer when the beames of the sunne are hoate and burning the countreymen seeke and gather the corne then full ripe and ready for the sickle Her chariot was drawne by two serpents or flying dragons serpents are so called a serpendo of creeping and crawling in and out as the rootes of corne doe or for that the turning and winding bodies of dragons resemble the crooked furrowes of the earth Ceres the earth great by Ioue the temperat heate of the ayre brought forth Proserpina corne and graine A sow was sacrificed to Ceres for she rooteth spoyleth the corne so was the goate to Bacchus for gnawing the vines or the sow is fruitefull so is the earth the sow euer walloweth in the myre and earth and Ceres herselfe noteth the earth * The picture of Ceres Besides Ceres there were other goddesses that had care of the fruite of the earth as Pales that lookt to the Pastures and was the Pastors goddes Pomona the Lady of Apples hauing her name of the latine Pomum which signifieth an apple Flora the goddes of flowres and wife to Zephyrus Bona dea the good goddes otherwise called Fauna à fauendo of cherishing and fauouring noting that quickning efficacy of the earth which norisheth and fostreth the seede cast into the same Flora they say in truth was a Romaine strumpet called Laurentia who dying left her wealth which was excessiue to the people of Rome who for her honor made her a goddes of flowres and called her Flora of the word Flos signifying a flowre Iupiter by report of Plato perceauing that the auncient edict commaunding euery man to be rewarded according to his desert was not obserued because men being aliue were iudged by liuing iudges did enact that none from thenceforth should receaue triall but after death when all externall shewes of birth bewty strength riches nobilitie and such like were altogether remoued And that only his three sonnes Aeacus Minos and Rhadamanthus whereof the two last were borne in Asia the first in Europe should after their death
were good me thinks qd he to finde out a great mightie Egle so strong that some two of vs might mount on his back he beare vs vp to the skies Mary we had need to look that these 2 be not too heauy or ouer-fat corpulent lest the Egle be ouercharged Therefore the Fennel and the Violet in my fancy be the fittest for this purpose as being deft and nimble fellowes and as light as may be Nay sayd Cowslip there is no reason at all to vse the help of an Egle in this matter because you know that Iupiter himselfe was once transformed into an Egle and caried vp to heauen an other kinde of burden theÌ„ Fennell or Violet Then out stept Hemlock with his fryse bonnet and sayd that he had sound a better and more compendious way to heauen then that It were not amisse qd he if we had a cart because the iourney is long and the ambassadours may by this meanes trauel with greater ease and facilitie Besides this they may therein conuey to Olympus some of the best fruites of our Gardens to present the Gods withal when they come thither The graue aduice of this fore-casting Academike was generally wel liked of sauing that they could not conceaue who should draw the Cart and therefore this inuention the more pitie came also to nothing All the Academike Gardiners deuised and mused much how it might be brought to passe Some remembring Lucians ship thought it best to goe by water Others rather by land through some great forrest as Dante did at last they all agreed that the surest way was to make ladders of the poles that bare vp their hoppes and by the meanes thereof to builde and rayse vp a towre that should ouer-looke the whole worlde and so might they in short time pierce the clowdes and by certaine engynes still draw vp new stuffe to increase the height of their fortification if occasion were The towre begun and halfe ended â—or many hands make light worke wee made choyce of three the most expert men in all our Vniuersitie in Astrologie Mathematikes and Philosophie to weete Hemlocke Pasnip and the Thistle to be ambassadors These three gathered diuers fruites Raysons and hearbs to present the Lordes and Ladies of heauen withall and to request diuers boones in the behalfe of our Vniuersitie So we brought and accompanied them with great ioy euen vnto the Ladders saw them mount vp chearefuly Hemlock was one Damoetas of the Deareles parck Fac-totuÌ„ indeclinabile to the Lady of the Lake Pasnip was a braue peece of a man about foure and thirty yeares olde fayre streight and vpright so nimble and light that he might well haue walked on the edge of a sworde or poynt of a speare The Thistle was more auncient as hauing passed full fortie yeares and was wholly addicted to contemplation After much mounting when the learned Thistle was almost at the first heauen he began to obserue and marke whether Strabo Ptolomaeus and other measurers of the world had made a good suruey thereof He viewed the toppe of the mount Parnassus where Lactantius and Plutarchus apointed the limites of the deluge and perceauing that from thence it was a thousand thousand myles vp to heauen hee laughed at their follie and made a mock of Berosus who would needes finde out the centre of the earth by the Arke of Noah Thus iesting at their ignorance and hauing his head full of Cosmographicall Proclamations he began to discourse to his companions of the situation and distance of kingdomes mountaines seas riuers woods of the eleuation of the Poles the rising of the stars the names of euery prouince with their lawes statutes customes and different kinds of discipline He shewed new-found worlds neuer known to Africa Europe or Asia He made Aristotle an asse who neuer thought that al the Zone vnder the Zodiake was habitable With these the like speculations and sweete sightes they passed the time and continued further on their iourney And further let them continue a while sayd the ruler of the company that came from Dawes crosse in the mean time whilst your Gardiners are mounting vp to heauen let vs learne of you what became of the fearful prediction of those Astrological masters Content qd the strauÌ„ger thus it fell out When these famous Astrologers with their nuÌ„bers poynts measures Astrolabes signes instruments had concluded for certaine that this inundation should ensue which would ouerflow drown the whole world so that not one person should escape aliue publishing this their conceit abroad by printing of their Almanacks and Prognostications shewing from day to day in the houses of great men and palaces of princes the signes the eclipses of the moone the coniunction of the planets and other such fantasies portending as they sayd this future inundation they made euery man feare and many run vp to hills that if they must needes dye they might die last and see others drownd before Among the rest the Prior of Saint Bartholomews remoued from London to Harrow hill and there bestowed an hundred markes in fortifiyng and furnishing himselfe agaynst the flood And now the time was at hand when all should come to naught When I know not by what reuolution or influence the ayre on the sodaine began to be black clowds to lowre and rayne to powre downe so fast that euery man verily beleeued the astrologicall predictions would prooue true in the ende sith they seemed so likely in the beginning This made men women and children tag and rag to climbe vp to trees to the tops of houses castles and steeples to saue their liues All the world being thus on an vprore there came an odde Astronomer peraduenture hauing lesse learning but surely more wit then the others who seeing what a pitifull howling and lamentation was made on euery side began with bitter words and vehemencie of speech to inueigh agaynst the former Astrologers saying they were seditious fellowes worthy to be clapt by the heeles and that all was starke false which they had put downe to the terror of the poore people who of all other deaths were most vnwilling to be choakte with water This new doctor was for his labour accompted a foole of wise and foole for still as hee thus preached it rayned still At last about two or three houres after as God would the ayre began to cleare vp the rayne ceased the storme was past and all was well agayne Then came foorth the amased people from trees rocks and Castles distracted betweene hope and feare scarce resolued whether themselues were dead or aliue as if they had come from the new-found worlde or out of Trophonius den and by degrees comming to their former sence and witte made great feasts and bonfires for ioy that they had escaped a daunger which neuer hangd ouer their heads The Astronomer that gaue out this comfortable contradiction seeing that all fell out according to his speech although peraduenture himselfe