such powre as for to turne their shape That are the giuers of the stripe before you hence escape One stripe now will I lende you more He strake them as beforne And straight returnd his former shape in which he first was borne Tyresias therefore being tane to iudge this iesting strife Gaue sentence on the side of Ioue The which the Quéene his wife Did take a great deale more to heart than néeded and in spight To wreake hir téene vpon hir Iudge bereft him of his sight But Ioue for to the Gods it is vnléefull to vndoe The things which other of the Gods by any meanes haue doe Did giue him sight in things to come for losse of sight of eye And so his grieuous punishment with honour did supplie By meanes whereof within a while in Citie fielde and towne Through all the coast of Aöny was bruted his renowne And folke to haue their fortunes read that dayly did resorte Were aunswerde so as none of them could giue him misreporte The first that of his soothfast wordes had proufe in all the Realme Was freckled Lyriop whom sometime surprised in his streame The floud Cephisus did enforce This Lady bare a sonne Whose beautie at his verie birth might iustly loue haue wonne Narcissus did she call his name Of whome the Prophet sage Demaunded if the childe should liue to many yeares of age Made aunswere yea full long so that him selfe he doe not know The Soothsayers wordes séemde long but vaine vntill the end did show His saying to be true in déede by straungenesse of the rage And straungenesse of the kinde of death that did abridge his age For when yeares thrée times fiue and one he fully lyued had So that he séemde to stande béetwene the state of man and Lad The hearts of dyuers trim yong men his beautie gan to moue And many a Ladie fresh and faire was taken in his loue But in that grace of Natures gift such passing pride did raigne That to be toucht of man or Mayde he wholy did disdaine A babling Nymph that Echo hight who hearing others talke By no meanes can restraine hir tongue but that it néedes must walke Nor of hir selfe hath powre to ginne to speake to any wight Espyde him dryuing into toyles the fearefull stagges of flight This Echo was a body then and not an onely voyce Yet of hir speach she had that time no more than now the choyce That is to say of many wordes the latter to repeate The cause thereof was Iunos wrath For when that with the feate She might haue often taken Ioue in daliance with his Dames And that by stealth and vnbewares in middes of all his games This elfe would with hir tatling talke deteine hir by the way Untill that Ioue had wrought his will and they were fled away The which when Iuno did perceyue she said with wrathfull mood This tongue that hath deluded me shall doe thée little good For of thy speach but simple vse hereafter shalt thou haue The déede it selfe did straight confirme the threatnings that she gaue Yet Echo of the former talke doth double oft the ende And backe againe with iust report the wordes earst spoken sende Now when she sawe Narcists stray about the Forrest wyde She wared warme and step for step fast after him she hyde The more she followed after him and néerer that she came The whoter euer did she waxe as néerer to hir flame Lyke as the liuely Brimstone doth which dipt about a match And put but softly to the fire the flame doth lightly catch O Lord how often woulde she faine if nature would haue let Entreated him with gentle wordes some fauour for to get But nature would not suffer hir nor giue hir leaue to ginne Yet so farre forth as she by graunt at natures hande could winne Ay readie with attentiue eare she harkens for some sounde Whereto she might replie hir wordes from which she is not bounde By chaunce the stripling being strayde from all his companie Sayde is there any body nie straight Echo answerde I. Amazde he castes his eye aside and looketh round about And come that all the Forrest roong aloud he calleth out And come sayth she he looketh backe and séeing no man followe Why fliste he cryeth once againe and she the same doth hallowe He still persistes and wondring much what kinde of thing it was From which that answering voyce by turne so duely séemde to passe Said let vs ioyne She by hir will desirous to haue said In fayth with none more willingly at any time or stead Said let vs ioyne And standing somewhat in hir owne conceit Upon these wordes she left the Wood and forth she yéedeth streit To coll the louely necke for which she longed had so much He runnes his way and will not be imbraced of no such And sayth I first will die ere thou shalt take of me thy pleasure She aunswerde nothing else thereto but take of me thy pleasure Now when she saw hir selfe thus mockt she gate hir to the Woods And hid hir head for verie shame among the leaues and buddes And euer sence she lyues alone in dennes and hollow Caues Yet stacke hir loue still to hir heart through which she dayly raues The more for sorrowe of repulse Through restlesse carke and care Hir bodie pynes to skinne and bone and waxeth wonderous bare The bloud doth vanish into ayre from out of all hir veynes And nought is left but voyce and bones the voyce yet still remaynes Hir bones they say were turnde to stones From thence she lurking still In Woods will neuer shewe hir head in field nor yet on hill Yet is she heard of euery man it is hir onely sound And nothing else that doth remayne aliue aboue the ground Thus had he mockt this wretched Nymph and many mo beside That in the waters Woods and groues or Mountaynes did abyde Thus had he mocked many men Of which one miscontent To sée himselfe deluded so his handes to Heauen vp bent And sayd I pray to God he may once féele fierce Cupids fire As I doe now and yet not ioy the things he doth desire The Goddesse Ramnuse who doth wreake on wicked people take Assented to his iust request for ruth and pities sake There was a spring withouten mudde as siluer cleare and still Which neyther shéepeheirds nor the Goates that fed vpon the hill Nor other cattell troubled had nor sauage beast had styrd Nor braunch nor sticke nor leafe of trée nor any foule nor byrd The moysture fed and kept aye fresh the grasse that grew about And with their leaues the trées did kéepe the heate of Phoebus out The stripling wearie with the heate and hunting in the chace And much delighted with the spring and coolenesse of the place Did lay him downe vpon the brim and as he stooped lowe To staunche his thurst another thurst of worse effect did growe For as he dranke he chaunst to spie the Image of his
face The which he did immediately with feruent loue embrace He féedes a hope without cause why For like a foolishe noddie He thinkes the shadow that he sées to be a liuely boddie Astraughted like an ymage made of Marble stone he lyes There gazing on his shadowe still with fixed staring eyes Stretcht all along vpon the ground it doth him good to sée His ardant eyes which like two starres full bright and shyning bée And eke his fingars fingars such as Bacchus might beséeme And haire that one might worthely Apollos haire it déeme His beardlesse chinne and yuorie necke and eke the perfect grace Of white and red indifferently bepainted in his face All these he woondreth to beholde for which as I doe gather Himselfe was to be woondred at or to be pitied rather He is enamored of himselfe for want of taking héede And where he lykes another thing he lykes himselfe in déede He is the partie whome he wooes and suâ—er that doth wooe He is the flame that settes on fire and thing that burneth tooe O Lord how often did he kisse that false deceitfull thing How often did he thrust his armes midway into the spring To haue embraste the necke he saw and could not catch himselfe He knowes not what it was he sawe And yet the foolish elfe Doth burne in ardent loue thereof The verie selfe same thing That doth bewitch and blinde his eyes encreaseth all his sting Thou fondling thou why doest thou raught the fickle image so The thing thou séekest is not there And if a side thou go The thing thou louest straight is gone It is none other matter That thou doest sée than of thy selfe the shadow in the water The thing is nothing of it selfe with thée it doth abide With thee it would departe if thou withdrew thy selfe aside No care of meate could draw him thence nor yet desire of rest But lying flat against the ground and leaâ—ing on his brest With gréedâ—e eyes he gazeth still vppon the falced face And through his sight is wrought his bane Yet for a little space He turnes and settes himselfe vpright and holding vp his hands With piteous voyce vnto the wood that round about him stands Cryes out and ses alas ye Woods and was there euer any That looude so cruelly as I you know for vnto many A place of harbrough haue you béene and fort of refuge strong Can you remember any one in all your tyme so long That hath so pinde away as I I sée and am full faine Howbeit that I like and sée I can not yet attaine So great a blindnesse in my heart through doting loue doth raigne And for to spight me more withall it is no iourney farre No drenching Sea no Mountaine hie no wall no locke no barre It is but euen a little droppe that kéepes vs two a sunder He would be had For looke how oft I kisse the water vnder So oft againe with vpwarde mouth he riseth towarde mée A man would thinke to touch at least I should yet able bée It is a trifle in respect that lettes vs of our loue What wight soeuer that thou art come hither vp aboue O pierlesse piece why dost thou mée thy louer thus delude Or whither fliste thou of thy friende thus earnestly pursude Iwis I neyther am so fowle nor yet so growne in yeares That in this wise thou shouldst me shoon To haue me to their Féeres The Nymphes themselues haue sude ere this And yet as should appéere Thou dost pretende some kinde of hope of friendship by thy chéere For when I stretch mine armes to thée thou stretchest thine likewise And if I smile thou smilest too And when that from mine eyes The teares doe drop I well perceyue the water stands in thine Like gesture also dost thou make to euerie becke of mine And as by mouing of thy swéete and louely lippes I wéene Thou speakest words although mine eares conceiue not what they béene It is my selfe I well perceyue it is mine Image sure That in this sort dâ—luding me this furie doth procure I am mamored of my selfe I doe both set on fire And am the same that swelteth too through impotent desire What shall I doe be woode or wo whome shall I wo therefore The thing I séeke is in my selfe my plentie makes me poore O would to God I for a while might from my bodie part This wish is straunge to heare a Louer wrapped all in smart To wish away the thing the which he loueth as his heart My sorrowe takes away my strength I haue not long to liue But in the floure of youth must die To die it doth not grieue For that by death shall come the ende of all my griefe and paine I would this yongling whome I loue might lenger life obtaine For in one soule shall now decay we stedfast Louers twaine This saide in rage he turnes againe vnto the forsaide shade And rores the water with the teares and sloubring that he made That through his troubling of the Well his ymage gan to fade Which when he sawe to vanish so Oh whither dost thou flie Abide I pray thée heartely aloud he gan to crie Forsake me not so cruelly that loueth thée so déere But giue me leaue a little while my dazled eyes to chéere With sight of that which for to touch is vtterly denide Thereby to féede my wretched rage and surie for a tide As in this wise he made his mone he stripped off his cote And with his fist outragiously his naked stomacke smote A ruddie colour where he smote rose on his stomacke shéere Lyke Apples which doe partly white and striped red appéere Or as the clusters ere the grapes to ripenesse fully come An Orient purple here and there beginnes to grow on some Which things assoone as in the spring he did beholde againe He could no longer beare it out But fainting straight for paine As lith and supple waxe doth melt against the burning flame Or morning dewe against the Sunne that glareth on the same Euen so by piecemale being spent and wasted through desire Did he consume and melt away with Cupids secret fire His liuely hue of white and red his chéerefulnesse and strength And all the things that lyked him did wanze away at length So that in fine remayned not the bodie which of late The wretched Echo loued so Who when she sawe his state Although in heart she angrie were and mindefull of his pride Yet ruing his vnhappie case as often as he cride Alas she cride alas likewise with shirle redoubled sound And when he beate his breast or strake his féete against the ground She made like noyse of clapping too These are the woordes that last Out of his lippes beholding still his woonted ymage past Alas swéete boy beloude in vaine farewell And by and by With sighing sound the selfe same wordes the Echo did reply With that he layde his wearie head against the grassie place And death did cloze his
then he held his peace But tell vs ere we part Quoth Phocus what offence or fault committed hath your Dart His Darts offence he thus declarde My Lorde the ground of all My griefe was ioy those ioyes of mine remember first I shall It doth me good euen yet to thinke vpon that blissfull time I meane the fresh and lustie yeares of pleasant youthfull Prime When I a happie man enioyde so faire and good a wife And she with such a louing Make did lead a happie life The care was like of both of vs the mutuall loue all one She would not to haue line with Ioue my presence haue forgone Ne was there any Wight that could of me haue wonne the loue No though Dame Venus had hir selfe descended from aboue The glowing brands of loue did burne in both our brests alike Such time as first with crased beames the Sunne is wont to strike The tops of Towres and mountaines high according to the wont Of youthfull men in woodie Parkes I went abrode to hunt But neither horse nor Hounds to make pursuit vpon the sent Nor Seruingman nor knottie toyle before or after went For I was safe with this same Dart. when wearie waxt mine arme With striking Déere and that the day did make me somewhat warme ▪ Withdrawing for to coole my selfe I sought among the shades For Aire that from the valleyes colde came breathing in at glades The more excessiue was my heate the more for Aire I sought I waited for the gentle Aire the Aire was that that brought Refreshing to my wearie limmes And well I bea rt in thought Come Aire I wonted was to sing come ease the paine of me Within my bosom lodge thy selfe most welcome vnto me And as thou heretofore art wont abate my burning heate By chaunce such was my destinie proceeding to repeate ▪ Mo words of daliance like to these I vsed for to say Great pleasure doe I take in thée for thou from day to day Doste both refresh and nourish me Thou makest me delight In woods and solitarie grounds Now would to God I might Receiue continuall at my mouth this pleasant breath of thine Some man I wote not who did heare these doubtfull words of mine And taking them amisse supposde that this same name of Aire The which I callde so oft vpon had bene some Ladie faire He thought that I had looude some Nymph And therevpon streight way He runnes me like a Harebrainde blab to Procris t◠bewray This fault as he surmised it and there with lauas tung Reported all the wanton words that he had heard me sung A thing of light beliefe is loue She as I since haue harde For sodeine sorrow swounded downe and when long afterwarde She came againe vnto hir selfe she said she was accurst And borne to cruell destinie and me she blamed wurst For breaking faith and treating at a vaine surmised shame She dreaded that which nothing was she fearde a headlesse name She wist not what to say or thinke The wretch did greatly feare Deceit yet could she not beleue the tales that talked were Onlesse she saw hir husbands fault apparant to hir eie She thought she would not him condemne of any villanie Next day as soone as Morning light had driuen the night away I went abrode to hunt againe and spéeding as I lay Upon the grasse I said come Aire and ease my painfull heate And on the sodaine as I spake there séemed for to beate A certaine sighing in mine eares of what I could not gesse But ceasing not for that I still procéeded nathelesse And said O come most pleasant Aire with that I heard a sound Of russling softly in the leaues that lay vpon the ground And thinking it had bene some beast I threw my flying Dart. It was my wife who being now sore wounded at the hart Cride out alas Assoone as I perceyued by the shrieke It was my faithfull spouse I ran me to the voiceward lieke A madman that had lost his wits There found I hir halfe dead Hir scattred garments staining in the bloud that she had bled And wretched creature as I am yet drawing from the wound The gift that she hir selfe had giuen Then softly from the ground I lifted vp that bodie of hirs of which I was more chare Than of mine owne and from hir brest hir clothes in hast I tare And binding vp hir cruell wound I striued for to stay The bloud and prayd she would not thus by passing so away Forsake me as a murtherer she waxing weake at length And drawing to hir death a pace enforced all hir strength To vtter these few wordes at last I pray thée humbly by Our bond of wedlocke by the Gods as well aboue the Skie As those to whome I now must passe as euer I haue ought Deserued well by thée and by Loue which hauing brought Me to my death doth euen in death vnfaded still remaine To nestle in thy bed and mine let neuer Aire obtaine This sed she held hir peace and I receyued the same And tolde hir also how she was beguiled in the name But what auayled telling then she quoathde and with hir bloud Hir little strength did fade Howbeit as long as that she coud Sée ought she stared in my face and gasping still on me Euen in my mouth she breathed forth hir wretched ghost But she Did séeme with better cheare to die for that hir conscience was Discharged quight and cleare of doubtes Now in conclusion as Duke Cephal wéeping told this tale to Phocus and the rest Whose eyes were also moyst with teares to heare the pitious gest Behold King Aeacus and with him his eldest sonnes both twaine Did enter in and after them there followed in a traine Of well appointed men of warre new leuied which the King Deliuered vnto Cephalus to Athens towne to bring Finis septimi Libri ¶ THE EIGHT BOOKE of Ouids Metamorphosis THe day starre now beginning to disclose the Morning bright And for to clense the droupie Skie from darkenesse of the night The Easterne wind went downe flakes of foggie Clouds gan show And from the South a merrie gale on Cephals sayles did blow The which did hold so fresh and large that he and all his men Before that he was looked for arriued safe agen In wished Hauen In that while King Minos with his fléete Did wast the cost of Megara And first he thought it méete To make a triall of the force and courage of his men Against the towne Alcathoe where Nisus reigned then Among whose honorable haire that was of colour gray One scarlet haire did grow vpon his crowne whereon the stay Of all his Kingdome did depende Sixe times did Phoebe fill Hir hornes with borrowed light and yet the warre hung wauering still In fickle fortunes doubtfull scoales and long with fléeting wings Betwene them both flew victorie A Turret of the Kings Stood hard adioyning to the Wall which being touched rings For Phoebus so men say
aimed it was likely for to smight It ouerflew him Iason was the man that cast the Dart. With that the sonne of Ampycus sayd Phoebus if with hart I haue and still doe worship thée now graunt me for to hit The thing that I doe leuell at Apollo graunts him it As much as lay in him to graunt He hit the Swine in déede But neyther entred he his hide nor caused him to bléede For why Diana as the Dart was flying tooke away The head of it and so the Dart could headlesse beare no sway But yet the moodie beast thereby was set the more on fire And chaâ—ing like the lightning swift he vttreth forth his ire The fire did sparkle from his eyes and from his boyling brest He breathed flaming flakes of fire conceyued in his chest And looke with what a violent brunt a mightie Bullet goes From engines bent against a wall or bulwarks full of foes With euen such violence rusht the Swine among the Hunts a mayne And ouerthrew Eupalamon and Pelagon both twaine That in the right wing placed were Their followes stepping to And drawing them away did saue their liues with much a do But as for poore Enesimus Hippocoons sonne had not The lucke to scape the deadly dint He would away haue got And trembling turnde his backe for feare The Swine him ouertooke And cut his hamstrings so that streight his going him forsooke And Naestor to haue lost his life was like by fortune ere The siege of Troie but that he tooke his rist vpon his speare And leaping quickly vp vpon a trée that stoode hard by Did safely from the place behold his foe whome he did flie The Boare then whetting sharpe his tuskes against the Oken wood To mischiefe did prepare himselfe with fierce and cruell mood And trusting to his weapons which he sharpened had a new In great Orithyas thigh a wound with hooked groyne he drew The valiant brothers those same twinnes of Tyndarus not yet Celestiall signes did both of them on coursers sit As white as snow and ech of them had shaking in his fist A lightsome Dart with head of steele to throw it where he lyst And for to wound the bristled Bore they surely had not mist But that he still recouered so the couerts of the wood That neyther horse could follow him nor Dart doe any good Still after followed Telamon whom taking to his féete No héede at all for egernesse a Maple roote did méete Which tripped vp his héeles and flat against the ground him laid And while his brother Peleus relieued him the Maid Of Tegea tooke an arrow swift and shot it from hir bow The arrow lighting vnderneath the hauers eare bylow And somewhat rasing of the skin did make the bloud to show The Maid hirselfe not gladder was to sée that luckie blow Than was the Prince Meleager He was the first that saw And first that shewed to his Mates the blud that she did draw And said for this thy valiant act due honor shalt thou haue The men did blush and chearing vp ech other courage gaue With shouting and disorderly their Darts by beaps they threw The number of them hindred them not suffring to ensew That any lighted on the marke at which they all did ame Behold enragde against his ende the hardie Knight that came From Arcadie rusht rashly with a Pollar in his fist And said you yonglings learne of me what difference is betwist A wenches weapons and a mans and all of you giue place To my redoubted force For though Diana in this chase Should with hir owne shield him defend yet should this hand of mine Euen maâ—gre Dame Dianaas heart confound this orped Swine Such boasting words as these through pride presumptuously he crakes And streyning out himselfe vpon his â—iptoes streight he takes His Pollar vp with both his hands But as this bragger ment To fetch his blow the cruell beast his malice did preuent And in his coddes the spâ—â—ding place of death his tusshes puts And rippeth vp his paunche Downe falles Ancaeus and his guts Come tumbling out besmearde with bloud and foyled all the plot Pirithous lxions sonne at that abashed not But shaking in his valiant hand his hunting staffe did goe Still stoutly forward face to face t' encounter with his foe To whome Duke Theseus cride a farre O dearer vnto mée Than is my selfe my soule I say stay lawfull we it sée For valiant men to kéepe aloofe The ouer hardie hart In rash aduentring of him selfe hath made Ancaeus smart This sed he threw a weightie Dart of Cornell with a head Of brasse which being leueld well was likely to haue sped But that a bough of Chestnut trée thick leaued by the way Did latch it and by meanes therof the dint of it did stay Another Dart that Iason threw by fortune mist the Bore And light betwene a Mastifes chaps and through his guts did gore And naild him to the earth The hand of Prince Meleager Plaid hittymissie Of two Darts his first did flie to far And lighted in the ground the next amid his backe stickt fast And while the Bore did play the fiend and turned round agast And grunting flang his fome about togither mixt mâ—â—h blood The giuer of the wound the more to stirre his enmies mood Stept in and vnderneath the shield did thrust his Boarspeare through Then all the Hunters shouting out demeaned ioy inough And glad was he that first might come to take him by the hand About the vgly beast they all with gladnesse gazing stand And wondring what a field of ground his carcasse did possesse There durst not any be so bolde to touch him Nerethelesse They euery of them with his bloud their hunting staues made red Then stepped forth Meleager and treading on his hed Said thus O Ladie Atalant receiue thou here my fée And of my glorie vouch thou safe partaker for to bée Immediatly the vgly head with both the tusshes braue And eke the skin with bristles stur right griesly he hir gaue The Ladie for the giuers sake was in hir heart as glad As for the gift The rest repinde that she such honor had Through all the rout was murmuring Of whom with roring reare And armes displayd that all the field might easily sée and heare The Thesties cried Dame come of and lay vs downe this geare And thou a woman offer not vs men so great a shame As we to toyle and thou to take the honor of our game Ne let that faire smooth face of thine beguile thée least that hée That being doted in thy loue did giue thée this our fée Be ouer farre to rescow thée And with that word they tooke The gift from hir and right of gift from him He could not brooke This wrong but gnashing with his téeth for anger that did boyle Within said fiersly learne ye you that other folkes dispoyle Of honor giuen what diffrence is betwéene your threats and déedes And therewithall Plexippus
and the land that bred a chyld so voyd of grace I would the land Panchaya should of Amomie be rich And Cinnamom and Costus swéete and Incence also which Dooth issue largely out of trees and other flowers straunge As long as that it beareth Myrrhe not woorth it was the chaunge Newe trées to haue of such a pryce The God of loue denyes His weapons too haue hurted thée O Myrrha and he tryes Himselfe vngiltie by thy fault One of the Furies three With poysonde Snakes and hellish brands hath rather blasted thée To hate ones father is a cryme as heynous as may bee But yit more wicked is this loue of thine than any hate The youthfull Lordes of all the East and Péeres of chéef estate Desyre to haue thée too their wyfe and earnest sute doo make Of all excepting onely one thy choyce O Myrrha take Shee féeles her filthye loue and stryues ageinst it and within Herself sayd whither roonnes my mynd what thinke I to begin Yée Gods I pray and godlynesse yée holy rites and awe Of parents from this heynous cryme my vicious mynd withdrawe And disappoynt my wickednesse At leastwyse if it bée A wickednesse that I intend As farre as I can sée This loue infrindgeth not the bondes of godlynesse a whit For euery other liuing wyght dame nature dooth permit Too match without offence of sin The Hecfer thinkes no shame Too beare her father on her backe The Horse béestrydes the same Of whom he is the syre The Gote dooth bucke the Kid that hée Himself begate and birdes doo tread the self same birdes wée sée Of whom they hatched were before In happye cace they are That may doo so without offence But mans malicious care Hath made a brydle for it self and spyghtfull lawes restreyne The things that nature setteth free yit are their Realmes men sayne In which the moother with the sonne and daughter with the father Doo match where through of godlynesse the bond augments the rather With doubled loue Now wo is mée it had not béene my lot In that same countrie too bée borne And that this lucklesse plot Should hinder mée Why thinke I thus Auaunt vnlawfull loue I ought too loue him I confesse but so as dooth behoue His daughter were not Cinyras my father then Iwis I myght obtaine too lye with him But now bycause he is Myne owne he cannot bée myne owne The néerenesse of our kin Dooth hurt me Were I further of perchauâ—ce I more myght win And if I wist that I therby this wickednesse myght shunne I would forsake my natiue soyle and farre from Cyprus runne This euill heaâ—e dooth hold mée backe that béeing present still I may but talke with Cinyras and looke on him my fill And touch and kisse him if no more may further graunted bée Why wicked wench and canst thou hope for further doost not sée How by thy fault thou doost confound the ryghts of name and kin And wilt thou make thy mother bee a Cucqueane by thy sin Wilt thou thy fathers leman bee wilt thou bée both the moother And suster of thy chyld shall he bée both thy sonne and brother And standst thou not in feare at all of those same susters thrée Whose heads with crawling snakes in stead of heare bematted bée Which pushing with theyr cruell bronds folks eyes and mouthes doo sée Theyr sinfull harts but thou now whyle thy body yit is frée Let neuer such a wickednesse once enter in thy mynd Defyle not myghtye natures hest by lust ageinst thy kynd What though thy will were fully bent yit euen the very thing Is such as will not suffer thée the same too end too bring For why he béeing well disposde and godly myndeth ay So much his dewtye that from ryght and truth he will not stray Would God lyke furie were in him as is in mee this day This sayd her father Cinyras who dowted what too doo By reason of the worthy store of suters which did woo His daughter bringing all theyr names did will her for too show On which of them shée had herself most fancie too bestow At first shée hild her peace a whyle and looking wistly on Her fathers face did boyle within and scalding teares anon Ran downe her visage Cyniras who thought them too procéede Of tender harted shamefastnesse did say there was no néede Of teares and dryed her chéekes and kist her Myrrha tooke of it Excéeding pleasure in her selfe and when that he did wit What husband shée did wish too haue shée sayd one like too yow He vnderstanding not hir thought did well her woordes allow And sayd in this thy godly mynd continew At the name Of godlynesse shée cast mée downe her looke for very shame For why her giltie hart did knowe shée well deserued blame Hygh mydnight came and sléepe bothe care and carkesses opprest But Myrrha lying brode awake could neyther sléepe nor rest Shée fryes in Cupids flames and woorkes continewally vppon Her furious loue One while shée sinkes in déepe despayre Anon Shée fully myndes to giue attempt but shame doth hold her in Shée wishes and shée wotes not what too doo nor how too gin And like as when a mightye trée with axes heawed rownd Now reedye with a strype or twaine to lye vppon the grownd Uncerteine is which way to fall and tottreth euery way Euen so her mynd with dowtfull wound efféebled then did stray Now héere now there vncerteinely and tooke of bothe encreace No measure of her loue was found no rest nor yit releace Saue onely death death likes her best Shée ryseth full in mynd To hang herself About a post her girdle she doth bynd And sayd farewell déere Cinyras and vnderstand the cause Of this my death And with that woord about her necke shée drawes The nooze Her trustye nurce that in another Chamber lay By fortune heard the whispring sound of theis her woordes folk say The aged woman rysing vp vnboltes the doore And whan Shée saw her in that plyght of death shée shréeking out began Too smyght her self and scratcht her brest and quickly too her ran And rent the girdle from her necke Then wéeping bitterly And holding her betwéene her armes shée askt the question why Shée went about too hang her self so vnaduisedly The Lady hilld her peace as dumb and looking on the ground Unmouably was sorye in her hart for béeing found Before shée had dispatcht herself Hernurce still at her lay And shewing her her emptie dugges and naked head all gray Besought her for the paynes shee tooke with her both night and day In rocking and in féeding her shée would vouchsafe to say What ere it were that gréeued her The Ladye turnd away Displeasde and fetcht a sygh The nurce was fully bent in mynd Too bowlt the matter out for which not onely shée did bynd Her fayth in secret things to kéepe but also sayd put mée In trust too fynd a remedye I am not thou shalt sée Yit altoogither dulld by age If
did as much as doone myght bee I could ynough bée thankfull for his goodnesse towards mée That I still speake and breathe That I the Sun and heauen doo sée Is his gift Can I thanklesse then or myndlesse of him bée That downe the round eyed gyants throte this soule of myne went not And that from hencefoorth when too dye it euer be my lot I may bée layd in graue or sure not in the Gyants mawe What hart had I that tyme at least if feare did not withdrawe Both hart and sence when left behynd you taking shippe I sawe I would haue called after you but that I was afrayd By making outcrye too my to myself too haue béewrayd For euen the noyse that you did make did put Vlysses shippe In daunger I did sée him from a cragged mountaine strippe A myghty rocke and intoo sea it throwe midway and more Ageine I sawe his giants pawe throwe howge big stones great store As if it were a sling And sore I feared least your shippe Should drowned by the water bée that from the stones did skippe Or by the stones themselues as if my self had béene therin But when that flyght had saued you from death he did begin On Aetna syghing vp and downe too walke and with his pawes Went groping of the trées among the woodes And forbycause He could not sée he knockt his shinnes ageinst the rocks eche where And stretching out his grisly armes which all beegrymed were With baken blood too seaward he the Gréekish nation band And sayd O if that sum good chaunce myght bring vntoo my hand Vlysses or sum mate of his on whom too wreake myne ire Uppon whose bowells with my téeth I like a Hawke myght tyre Whose liuing members myght with theis my talants teared béene Whoose blood myght bubble down my throte whose flesh myght pant betwéene My iawes how lyght or none at all this losing of myne eye Would séeme Theis woordes and many mo the cruell féend did cry A shuddring horror perced mée too sée his smudged face And cruell handes and in his frunt the fowle round eyelesse place And monstruous members and his beard bestowbered with the blood Of man Before myne eyes then death the smallest sorrow stood I loked euery minute too bée seased in his pawe I looked euer when he should haue cramd mée in his mawe And in my mynd I of that tyme mée thought the image sawe When hauing dingd a doozen of our fellowes too the grownd And lying lyke a Lyon féerce or hunger sterued hownd Uppon them very eagerly he downe his gréedy gut Theyr bowwels and theyr limbes yit more than half aliue did put And with theyr flesh toogither crasht the bones and marée whyght I trembling like an aspen leaf stood sad and bloodlesse quyght And in beholding how he fed and belked vp againe His bloody vittells at his mouth and vttred out amayne The clottred gobbets mixt with wyne I thus surmysde like lot Hangs ouer my head now and I must also go too pot And hyding mée for many dayes and quaking horribly At euery noyse and dreading death and wisshing for too dye Appeasing hunger with the leaues of trées and herbes and mast Alone and poore and footelâ—sse and too death and pennance cast A long tyme after I espyde this shâ—ppe a farre at last And ronning downeward too the sea by fignes did succour séeke Where fynding grace this Troianeshippe receyued mée a Greeke But now I prey thée gentle fréend declare thou vntoo mée Thy Capteines and thy fellowes lucke that tooke the sea with thee He told him how that Aeölus the sonne of Hippot hea That kéepes the wyndes in pryson cloce did reigne in Tuskane sea And how Vlysses hauing at his hand a noble gift The wynd enclosde in leather bagges did sayle with prosperous drift nyne dayes toogither insomuch they came within the syght Of home but on the tenth day when the morning gan giue lyght His fellowes being somewhat toucht with couetousenesse and spyght Supposing that it had béene gold did let the wyndes out quyght The which returning whence they came did driue them backe a mayne That in the Realme of Aeölus they went a land agayne From thence ê™ he we came vntoo the auncient Lamyes towne Of which the féerce Antiphates that season ware the crowne A cowple of my mates and I were sent vntoo him and A mate of myne and I could scarce by flyght escape his hand The third of vs did with his blood embrew the wicked face Of leawd Antiphate whoo with swoord vs flying thence did chace And following after with a rowt threw stones and loggs which drownd Both men and shippes Howbéeit one by chaunce escaped sound Which bare Vlysses and my self So hauing lost most part Of all our deare companions we with sad and sory hart And much complayning did arryue at yoonder coast which yow May ken farre hence A great way hence I say wée sée it now But trust mée truly ouer néere I saw it once And thow Aenaeas Goddesse Venus sonne the iustest knight of all The Troiane race for sith the warre is doone I can not call thée to I warne thée get thée farre from Câ—rces dwelling place For when our shippes arryued there remembring eft the cace Of cruell king Antiphates and of that hellish wyght The round eyed gyant Polypheme wée had so small delyght Too visit vncowth places that wée sayd wée would not go Then cast we lotts The lot fell out vppon myself as tho And Polyte and Eurylocus and on Elpenor who Delyghted tootoomuch in wyne and eyghtéene other mo All wee did go too Circes house Assoone as wée came thither And in the portall of the Hall had set our féete toogither A thousand Lyons woolues and beares did put vs in a feare By méeting vs. But none of them was too bée feared there For none of them could doo vs harme but with a gentle looke And following vs with fawning féete theyr wanton tayles they shooke Anon did Damzells welcome vs and led vs through the hall The which was made of marble stone floore arches roof and wall Too Circe Shée sate vnderneathe a trauerse in a chayre Aloft ryght rich and stately in a chamber large and fayre Shée ware a goodly longtreynd gowne and all her rest attyre Was euery whit of goldsmithes woork There sate mée also by her The Seanymphes and her Ladyes whoos 's fyne fingers neuer knew What â—oozing wooll did méene nor threede from whorled spindle drew They sorted herbes and picking out the flowers that were mixt Did put them intoo mawnds and with indifferent space betwixt Did lay the leaues and stalks on heapes according too theyr hew And shée herself the woork of them did ouersée and vew The vertue and the vse of them ryght perfectly shée knew And in what leaf it lay and which in mixture would agrée And so perusing euery herâ— by gâ—od aduysement shée Did wey them out Assoone as shée vs entring in did see