excellent qualities especially those that vsually proceede from Iupiters influence as Iustice liberalitie magnificence pietie fauour beauty riches promotion loue and such like all which by the maligning nature of this damnifying planet Saturne are altogether corrupted and depraued as the Creetish Iupiter when he was but a tender iâ—fant was faine to be secretly conueyed away from his sterne and cruell father Saturne who sought his destruction Saturne being imprisoned and chayned by the Titanes was released by his dutifull and mercifull sonne Iupiter who came with a mightie army to the succor of his father Allegorically when the good and beneficiall Iupiter in any mans natiuitie ouer-ruleth preiudiciall Saturne beholding the other planets with an amyable and fortunat aspect which confoundeth the dead lookes and frowning face of Saturne then is that man freed from thâ—se â—aturnian chaynes of calamitie and miserie which otherwise he were subiect vnto These Titanes were the sonnes of heauen and earth signifying the foure elements which include in themselues a certaine terrene and earthly nature and are therefore continually depressed and beaten downe by the power of the superior bodies for vapors by the heate of the sunne the sunne is called Titan are drawne vp which when they approach neere the celestiall region are repelled and driuen downe againe or els resolued into pure and subtile ayre and this mounting vp and throwing downe is perpetuall Iupiter when he had thus enlarged his father vsurped his crowne and royall dignitie bannishing Saturne into hell or the infernall regions Historically Iupiter hauing freed his father from thaldome tooke vpon himselfe the dignitie and regiment of Creete enforcing Saturnus to flie into Italie where he was honored liuing and dying as a God for such was the custome of that age to attribute diuine honors and titles vnto them as Gods of whom they receaued any goodnesse as they did indeede of this Saturnus who taught them how to till and manure the ground to coyne money of mettale which before was of leather to leaue bushes and caues and liue more ciuily and orderly and to obserue certaine lawes and constitutions by him inuented as appeareth by Virgil. S. Aeneid who therefore calleth that time the Golden age Now in truth Italy was then far inferior to Greece in Wealth and Dignitie and might therefore be called the infernall region or base and lowe countrey in respect of â—aturns florishing kingdome as also for that Italie is lower then Greece as inclining more to the west and it is an vsuall thing for men to call the East the superior or higher region and the West he lower downecast and inferior or lastly as Varro wil haue it qd latet Italia inter praecipitia Alpium Apennini because Italie doth as it were lurke and lie hidden betweene the abrupt and high toppes of the Alpes the Mountaine Apenninus That this is true which I report of his being in Italie besides the testimonie of Virgil in the place aboue alleaged where he saith that Italie was named Latium a Latendo because Saturne did lurke and lie there to hide himselfe from his sonne Iupiter Ouid also will beare me witnes who in the first of his Fasti concluding this matter saith that for an eternall memoriall of his arriuall and good institutions the Italian posteritie in their money of mettale figured the ship wherein he came vnto them At bona posteritas puppim formauit in aere Hospitis aduentum testificata dei Allegorically as before when in any mans action or natiuitie Iupiter is predominant then doth he controle Saturne depriuing him of his power and dominion and driuing him out as his inferior Sabinus thinketh that Saturne was therefore saide to be driuen into the infernal dungeons for that he is of all other Planets the most remote and furthest from the earth making that infinite and vnmeasurable height of Heauen to be this Tartarus this infernall or strange and far remoued region But the most conceipted allegory for this purpose is that folowing for although that in Saturns time and raigne that is by the inâ—luence and vertue of this Planet Saturne the seede is preserued in the bowels of the earth and congcaled or thickned in the bodies of sensible cretures at the first generation and conception yet when these things are brought forth and receaue increase and augmentation then doth Iupiter shew himselfe to be King and dealeth all in all driuing out olde Saturne into corners and blinde and obscure places where the first seedes of things lie hidden which only are subiect to Saturnus iurisdiction Time is swift and euerpassing without stay which may bee the cause why Saturne is changed to a swift courser when his wife tooke him dallying with Philyra of whom he begat Chiron the Centaure as hereafter will appeare Thus haue wee the good olde Saturne in his raggs with his foure children before him his consuming syth in his right hand and a stone couered with cloth put to his mouth with the left hand Out of Eusebius he may be thus also figured himselfe couered with a long roabe two eyes before as many behinde of which foure two did euer watch whilest other two slept foure wings were fastned to his shoulders two spread foorth as though he were ready to flie two pluckt in as though he meant to stand still he had also two wings at his head The foure eyes and wings note that Time though it seeme to sleepe yet alwaies watcheth and yet so watcheth as it seemeth still to sleepe and as it standeth it flyeth away and yet in flying after a manner standeth still The two wings at his head are said to represent the intellectuall facultie and reasonable power of mans minde the old Philosophers being of opinion that the soule receaued from Saturnes spheare the gift of reason and intelligence * Saturnes two pictures Saturne his wife had diuerse names Rhea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à fluendo either because euery thing floweth from the earth as from a fountaine or that the flowing raigne is made of vapors and exhalations from the earth Vesta she is also called because she is Vestita that is couered with corne and grasse as with a vesture or quia vistat because she standeth by her owne force quasi vista according to that of Ouid in his Fasti. Stat vi terra sua vistando vesta vocatur Causaque par graij nominis esse potest Vt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dâ—catur The other Vesta Caelius his wife differeth not much from this but that she seemeth to figure the very essence of the earth and this the fruitefull efficacy operation and assistance thereof whereupon she was called Opis as I saide before of helpe or assistance Cybele of a Phâ—igian Mountaine so called or rather as Festus Pompeius thinketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying a Cube sith in olde time they did consecrate a Cube vnto here the reason was for that a Cube which way so euer it be throwne staÌ„deth
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 is sayd to be halfe a man and halfe a horse sith surgery and in olde times there was in effect no other part of Physick knowen but surgery is auayleable aswell for horses and other beasts as it is for man and thus much to shew that Phoebus is physicall Now he is also Musicall and therefore Mercurie gaue him a Lute whereon he playeth alluding to the harmonie of the coelestiall Globes and the constancie and vniformitie which the Sun obserueth most strictly in his course as euer keeping the Eclipticall line for which cause he is the master of the nine Muses ruling the concent and melody of the nine Sphaeres The Muses are the daughters of Ioue for all goodnes comes of Ioue and of Mnemosyne Memory Their nurse was Eupheme Honor and Fame for Honos alit artes honor and commendation is a spur to a student They were nine proportionably to the number of the Sphaeres whose gouerning spirites the Platonists and Pythagoreans would haue them to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coelestiall was the first referred to the immoueable Sphaere called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polymnia to Saturne a great singer or singing much and of many matters Cleio to Mars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is glory and renowne Melpomene to the Sunne singing celebrating extolling Erato to Venus louing and amiable Euterpe to Mercurie pleasant and delight some Thalia to the Moone florishing These be the eight Muses as it were the tunes of those eight Sphaeres whereof is made the perfect concent and melodious harmonie figured by the ninth called Calliope a sweete concent the chiefe and guide of all the Muses as Ouid witnesseth 5. Metam Dedimus summam certaminis vni meaning Calliope and Finierat doctos è nobis maxima cantus to weete Calliope They are called Musae of the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is to teach and instruct a man in those things that are sacred and holy diuine and mysticall whereof came the word mysterie They are also called Camenae à canendo of singing and Pierides of the mount Pierius where they were borne They all hand in hand daunce in a round and Phoebus in the middle all liberall sciences are vnited and chayned together the one depending on the other noting that absolute 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and cohaerent concatenation and continuation of all ingenuous erudition Lastly Phoebus is the father of Oracles and prophecies the eye of the world seeing and hearing all things first as Homer was woont to say and Ouid in imitation of Homer Videt hic deus omnia primus Therefore Laurell is his tree both for that it is alwayes greene and neuer toucht with lightning noting that the fame of vertue and learning is euer flourishing and neuer dyeth as also hoate and odoriferous and as it is reported causeth true dreames being applyed to a mans head and temples and being cast into the fire portendeth good luck if it make a great noyce or crackling bad if either none or but a little Coruus the Crowe is his bird whose different chirps and prognostications of rayne were obserued of soothsayers and diuiners whose maister is Apollo Cicnus the Swan is also his bird the Swan is white and bright as the sunne a singer as Phoebus a foreteller of his owne death and so a diuiner as Apollo Cicnus was king of Liguria he loued Musick and is therefore of Ouid turnd to a Swanne Lastly the cock is Apolloes bird who dutifully saluteth him and bids him good morrow euery morning He is figured a young fresh youth hauing long hayre no beard a lute in the one hand a bowe in the other in a chariot drawen with foure coursers Pyroeis Eous Aethon Phlegon Ignitus Matutinus Ardens Comburens being all Epithetes incident to the nature of the sunne whose Pallace and Chariot are described by Ouid 2. Metam In Latine he is called Sol quasi solus alone and incomparable * The first picture of the Sunne Hercules kild Gerion and brought away his oxen where by Hercules both Pierius and Hesiodus his interpreter vnderstand the Sunne sith he is the glorie and ornament of Iuno that is the ayre for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Iuno and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is glory And Gerion they make to be winter of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to crye or roare thereby noting the roaring and blustring tempests of winter which are calmed and repressed by Hercules that is to say by the heate of the Sunne The Oxen be the crashes of thunder whose feareful sound resembleth the lowing of Oxen and these thundrings are neuer lightly heard but when Hercules hath slayne Gerion when winter is ouerpast by the heate of the Sun Apollo being banished from heauen for killing the Cyclopes fedde Admetus his Sheepe Kine and Oxen by the riuer Amphrysus Oxen set foreward husbandry and the vitall heate and influence of the Sunne is the chiefe cause of increase so then Apollo may well be called a pastor because as Pontanus sayth he feedeth and maintayneth all that liueth Quòd pascat quicquid sub coeli nascitur oris The Assyrians by report of Macrobius especially honoured one God aboue others whom they named Adad which signifieth one to whom they ioyned a Goddes for a companion called Atargatis attributing all to these two by whom they vnderstande the Sunne and the earth The picture of Adad had his beames and rayes inclyning downewardes towarde Atargatis shewing that the heauens worke on and in the earth by influence from the sunne Atargatis was so framed as that her beames ascended vpwardes towardes Adad notyng that whatsoeuer the earth brought foorth it came by operation of the coelestiall vertue Vnder Atargatis was a Lyon signifying that she was the great mother of all things Earth who a◠I shewed before when I spake of Cibele had her chariot drawen by Lyons * The picture of Adad Atargatis Aesculapius was borne by the death of his mother as Ouid telleth the tale in the second of his transformations where after that he had shewed how Apollo in his furie slew Coronis great with Aesculapius hee addeth thus Non tulit in cineres labi sua Phoebus eosdem Semina sed natum flammis vteroque parentis Eripuit geminique tulit Chironis in antrum c. The vertue medicinable is hereby figured drawen from the roots of hearbs when the earth is pierced with the arrowes that is parched by the hoate beams of the Sunne This is deliuered to Chiron the learned and experienced Physitian who thereof frameth wonderfull compositions Aesculapius is made sitting on a high seate with a crowne of Laurell on his head a long beard a knotted staffe in his right hand it is a difficult and hard matter to restore decayed health and a Snake in his left hand a serpent is quick of sight and watchfull so must a Phisitian be A Snake may well bee taken for a signe of health sith as shee by casting her olde
too youthful Adonis For no sooner was sweete sea-borne Nymph Aphrodite Conueyd in chariot by siluer swans to Olympus But to the wilde wood went too wilde and wilful Adonis Where when his hounds on a time by chaunce had rowzed a wilde-boare Himselfe sets on first and boare in a brauery woundeth Boare enrag'de runs forth with foaming tusk to Adonis And teares those very parts those tendrest parts of Adonis Which were stil most deare to Adonis deare Aphrodite Teares and wounds and kills Aphrodites loued Adonis And now eu'n iust now when wilde Boare murdred Adonis Ioues great guests were gone and all solemnities ended And sweete louely Venus from Olympus newly departed Thinking euery howre to be two and two to be twenty Til she beheld her boy but alas too soone she beheld him Downe fro the skies she beheld her long-lookt loued Adonis Dismembred wounded with his owne blood all to besprinckled Then to the dolefull dale where murdred Adonis abideth Her milke-white coursers with might and maine she directeth Leaps downe rents her roabes and poore breast all to bebeateth Teares hayre scratcheth face and deathswound deadly bewaileth Hellish Fates qd shee though world be depriu'd of Adonis Corps and loued lymmes by you yet world to the worlds end In despite of you shall yearely remember Adonis Yearely remember mee by remembring yearely Adonis Yea this purpled blood wil I speedily turne to a purple Flowre which shal be a grace to the ground insteede of Adonis If that Apollo could transforme his boy Hyacinthus Into a flowre for a fame to the mourning flowre Hyacinthus Which stil beares ay ay in leaues in signe of a wailing If that Apollo could his dolefull boy Cyparissus Turne to a dolefull tree to the ioyles deadly Cupressus Shall not Lady Venus doe the like for loued Adonis Then with life-giuing Nectar sweete blood she besprinkleth And the besprinkled blood with a round top swells as a buble Purpled round by degrees is speedily changd to a purpled Flowre that beares faire leaues and fraile leaues euery winde-puffe Blowes them away So good things goe so dyed Adonis Flowre fades eye dazeleth face wrinkleth bewty decayeth CAssiopaea said Elpinus hath so passionately discoursed of Venus and Adonis that I feare me vnder these names she mourneth her owne loue and vttreth her owne affection Howsoeuer it be Saturnus that is Tyme with his sithe as I said elsewhere cut off his fathers manlike parts of which cast into the sea Venus was borne So Saturne destroyeth Venus bringeth foorth and both are necessary for the continuall propagation of these inferior bodies sith the corruption of one is the generation of another Venus is faire bewty enticeth to lust She is naked loue cannot be concealed She is borne of the sea louers are inconstant like the troubled waues of the sea Hereof was shee also called Aphrodite of the froath of the sea being like to Sperma Shee is called Venus qd ad omnia veniat or else à venustate Swans and Doues drawe her chariot Doues are wanton and Swans are white and musicall both being meanes to procure loue and lust Myrrha is sacred vnto her so is the rose also that because it is thought to cause loue this because it is fayre and fraile pleasant and pricking hauing a thorne aswell as a flowre as loue hath In Saxony she was figured naked in a chariot drawne with two Swannes and two doues her head bound with myrtle leaues a burning starre on her breast a globe representing the earth in her right hand and three golden apples in her left Behinde her were the three graces back to back hand in hand and apples in their hand The first picture of Venus Now for Venus her loue to Adonis and lamentation for his death by Adonis is meant the sunne by Venus the vpper hemisphere of the earth as by Proserpina the lower by the boare winter by the death of Adonis the absence of the sunne for the sixe wintrie moneths all which time the earth lamenteth Adonis is wounded in those parts which are the instruments of propagation for in winter the son seemeth impotent and the earth barren neither that being able to get nor this to beare either fruite or flowres and therefore Venus sits lamentably hanging downe her head leaning on her left hand her garments all ouer her face * â—he second â—icture of â—enus Pontanus expresseth it thus Terra etenim solem queritur deserta cadentem Inuidit quem tristis hyems cui saeuior apri Horret cana gelu facies cui plurimus imber Crine madet geminos cùm malè contudit armos Ac veluti virgo absenti cum sola marito Suspirat sterilem lecto traducere vitam Illius expectans amplexus anxia charos Cum grauidos aperitque sinus terra relaxat Spiramenta nouas veniat quà succus in herbas Diglomeratque niues grandine verberat auras Nam cùm sol rebus praesit pater ipse creandis Vt sese ad manes brumae sub frigore transfert Tum tellus vidua sulcos oblimat in alno Et tandem complexa suum laetatur Adonim Adonis was turnd to a fading flowre bewty decayeth and lust leaueth the Iust full if they leaue not it Equicola expoundeth it thus Adonis was borne of Myrrha Myrrhe prouoketh lust Adonis was kilde by a boare that is he was spent and weakened by old age Venus lamenteth lust decayeth The companions of Venus were the three Graces virgins free mery amiable all ioyning together So good turns must bee willingly aforded without grudging Some make Mercury their leader because good turns ill bestowed be bad turns benefacta malè collocata malèfacta arbitror therefore wisdome and discretion figured by Mercury is here requisite The first of them is Euphrosyne of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make mery to cheare and comfort the second Aglaia of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bewtifie The third Pithus of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to perswade or Thalia florishing as others name her Some make them winged because a good turne is little worth vnles it come quickly Gratia quae tarda est ingrata est gratia namque Cùm properat fieri gratia grata magis Two of them looke towards vs and one fromwards vs we must yeeld double thanks and double requitall for good turnes They be in greeke called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of mirth and ioy Natalis Comes referreth it to the tilling and fertiltie of the earth * The pictures of thâ— Graces The one hath in her hand a rose the second a Dye the third a braunch of mirtle The rose noteth ioy the Dye is a token that they ought to come in course The myrtle that they should neuer be forgotten but alwaies florish and continue fresh and greene Before wee leaue Venus wee must remember her sonne Cupido who to omit the philosophicall discourses of the Platonists concerning diuers loues was pictured a boy louers are childish blinde they see no reason