that day nine are counted to the Ides and they are the first day after the Calends that is to say after the first day of the moneth In March May Iune and October there be six but in all the other months but foure Others would deriue Annus ab Annulo a Ring because like a Ring it runneth round and returneth into it selfe As Virgil Atque in se suaper vestigiavolvitur annus Annus Lunaris is a moneth because the Moon spends little lesse than a moneth in the compassing of the Zodiacke Annus Solaris containeth 365 dayes and a quadrant in which time the Sun surueyes round the Zodiacke So that in euery fourth yeare a day is interlaced and wouen in and this called Annus Magnus or the greater compared with the Lunaris or monethly yeare Of which Virgil Interea magnum Sol circumvolvitur annum But the Annus Magnus with which Plato seemeth to hold according to Cicero consisteth of twelue thousand fiue hundred fiftie foure Solarie yeares The Scalary or Climatericall yeare consisteth of seuen yeares nine times told or nine yeares seuen times multiplied the number in the whole sixty three Of this yeare Aulus Gellius speaketh after this manner It is obserued and generally experimented That in all old men the sixty third yeare of their liues seldome or neuer passeth them without danger either by some extraordinarie disease of the body sicknesse or some calamitie which for the most part fore-runne the period of life Alledging a part of that Epistle which Augustus Caesar writ vnto his Nephew Caius the words be these I hope that gladly and with great good will thou hast celebrated my last birth day which was in the sixty third yeare of mine age for as thou seest wee haue escaped the common Clymactera dangerous vnto old men But the great yeare of the world of which Plato and diuers other Philosophers so dreamed some hold to be expleted in thirty six thousand Solarie yeres some in thirty nine thousand and some otherwise differing in number according to their own fancies But let vs not study too much the length of time and multiplicitie of yeares and in the interim forget the shortnesse and fewnesse of our owne dayes This the Ethnycke Poet considered no doubt when he left these words to succession Cuncta fluunt omnisque vagus formatur imago Ipsaquoque assiduo labuntur tempora motu c. All things passe on those creatures which are made Faile and by Times assiduate motion lade Much like the running streame which cannot stay No more can the light houres that post away But as one billow hastning to the shore Impells another and still that before Is by the following driv'n so we conclude Of Time It so flies and is so pursu'de The houres are alwaies new and what hath been Is neuer more to be perceiv'd or seene That dayly growes which had before no ground And moments past once neuer more are found The same Poet in another place Labitur occultè fallitque volubilis aetas c. The fleeting Age deceiues and stealing glides And the swift yeare on loose-rein'd horses rides Saith Martial Quid non long a dies quid non consumitis anni The better to illustrate what hath before been spoken concerning the Signes Coelestiall and other Men and Creatures which are said to haue place in the Firmament it shall not be amisse to insert some extractions from the Greeke Poet Aratus his Phainomenon interpreted by that excellent Prince adopted by Augustus Caesar to the Romane Empire Caesar Germanicus The Heauen saith he is distinguished into fiue Circles of which the two extreme are exceeding cold the Austral which is the lowest and the Boreal the highest The neerest vnto them are the Paralels as equally distant the one is the Tropicke Solstitial the other Hibernal or Hiemal by which the Sunne passing and keeping the eighth part of Capricorne make the Winter Solstice the other AEstiue or the Sommers by which the Sunne passeth and keepeth the eighth part of Libra and called the AEstiue Solstice The middle Circle is the AEquinoctial which keeping the eighth part of Aries maketh the Vernal or Springs AEquinoctial And passing thorow the eighth part of Libra the AEquinoctial Autumnal As they are called Circles in the Heauens so they are tituled Zones on the earth The cold Circles are held to be altogether inhabitable by reason of their extreme frigiditie but vnder the Torrid some are of opinion the AEthiopians liue inhabiting diuers Islands by the Red Sea and other tops and eminent places of the earth adjacent and those are held to be very spatious Our AEstiue Solstice is very high and hard Those which are called Antichthones are diuided from vs by the AEquinoctial circle seeming to be low and depressed as being the Antipodes to vs the Inhabitants of which places are called Antichthones Antistochae and Antisceptae and therefore Antipodes by reason of the bending and obliquitie of the earth The Zodiacke is called Signifer because it beareth the twelue Coelestiall Signes it beginneth not at the one end of the Circle neither is it extended to the other but from the depth of the Tropicke Austral and Brumal the same reaching by the AEquinoctial to the height of the Solstice and in it's longitude and latitude by the middle of the AEstiue The oblique parts of the Circle Zodiacke 365. The twelue seuerall Signes haue thirty distinct parts of which some are called Minora Lesse others Ampliora Greater and are vulgarly stiled Canophora but the compensation is supposed to be contained in fiue parts to make the seuerall portions of the Zodiacke 365. The beginning of those from Aries some are tituled Masculine others Foeminine Of the Tropicke Signes two are AEquinoctial Aries and Libra two Solstitial Capricornus and Cancer c. Of the Stars this is the order Of both the Circles the double Septentriones are turned towards the South in figure with their tailes auerse or backe to backe betwixt which the Dragon seemeth obliquely to slide vnder one foot is the Serpentarie and his feet seeme to touch the face of the Scorpion at the side of whom backeward stands the Custos and beneath his feet the Virgin holding a fiery branch in her hand With retrograde steps next lies the Lion and in the middle AEstiue Solstice Cancer and Gemini The knees of the Charioter touch the heads of the Gemini but his feet are ioyned to the hornes of the Bull. Aboue the Hoeduli occupie place in the Septentriones Much on the right hand neere vnto the Crowne haue aboad the Serpent in the hands of the Serpentarius and hee that resteth himselfe vpon his knee and with his left foot kicketh the crest of the Septentrionall Dragon reaching one arme towards the Ballance the other to the Crowne The hinder foot of Cepheus is fixed in the lesser Septentrione with his right hand catching hold
and serue him Not that hee should proudly ouerweene That the shape and figure of God is answerable in a true and iust conformity with his owne for the word Image is not so to be vnderstood to accord correspond with the exterior shape or similitude but rather with the spirituall Intelligence which consists of the more pretious part namely the Soule For as God by his vncreated Power is wholly God gouerning and giuing life to all things for as the Apostle saith In Him we liue moue and haue our Being euen so the Soule by his prouidence giueth life to the bodie and vnto euery part thereof and is said to be the Image of God like as in the Trinitie for though in name it is but one Soule yet hath it in it selfe three excellent dignities The Vnderstanding the Will and the Memorie And as the Son is begotten of the Father and the Holy-Ghost and proceedeth both from the one and the other in like manner is the Will ingendred of the Vnderstanding and Memorie And as the three persons of the Trinitie are but one God so these three powers and faculties of the Soule make but one Soule Man then was created according to the Image of God that euerie Like delighting in his Like hee should euermore wish to bee vnited vnto his Similitude which is God first to acknowledge him next in knowing him to honor him and in honoring him to loue him and in louing him to serue and obey him For this cause he made him with an vpright and erected body noâ— so much for his dissimilitude vnto beasts who be stooping and crooked hauing their eyes directed to the earth as to eleuate his lookes and to mount his vnderstanding toward heauen his original leauing all the obiects of terrestriall vanities and exercising his faculties in the contemplation and speculation of things sublime and permanent God when he created Man bestowed vpon him three especiall good gifts the first His owne Image the next That hee made him after his owne similitude the third That hee gaue him the Immortalitie of the Soule Which three great blessings saith Hugo S. Victor were conferred by God vpon Man both naturally and by originall justice Two other gifts hee hath inriched Man with the one vnder him the other aboue him vnder him the World aboue him God The World as a visible good but Transitorie God as an invisible Good and Eternall There be three principall Hurts or Euils which abuse and corrupt the three before-named Blessings the first Ignorance of Goodnesse and Truth the second an appetite and desire of Euil and Wickednesse the last Sicknesse and infirmity of the body Through Ignorance the Image of God hath beene defaced in vs by Carnall desires his Similitude blemished and by Infirmities the body for the present made incapable of Immortality For these three Diseases there be three principall Remedies Wisedome Vertue and Necessitie to ouercome Ignorance we are to make vse of Wisedome that is to vnderstand things as they are without idle curiositie To suppresse the appetite to do euill we are to embrace Vertue which is the habitude of the Soule after nature conformable with Reason To make Necessitie tread down Infirmitie is meant of absolute Necessitie without which things cannot be done as without eyes wee cannot see without eares heare without feet walke c. There is another kinde of Necessitie which is called Conditionall as when a man is to trauell a journey he vseth an horse for his better expedition And so the like For these three Remedies all Arts and disciplines in generall haue been deuised and inuented as first to attain vnto Wisdome and Knowledge the Theoricke or Contemplatiue for the atchieuing vnto Vertue the Practiuqe and Actiue and to supply Necessitie Mechanicke which is that which we call Handicraft or Trading which as Iohannes Ludovicus in his Booke called The Introduction to Wisedome saith Vtile indumentum excogitavit necessitas c. i. Necessitie found out Garments profitable pretious light neat and vaine Man consisteth of the Body and the Soule The true exact measure of Mans body wel proportioned is thus defined His height is foure cubits or six feet a cubit being iust one foot and an halfe the foot is the measure of foure palmes or hand-bredths a palme is the bredth of foure fingers ioyned The armes being spread abroad the space betweene the end of the one longest finger vnto the other is the iust measure from the plant of the foot to the crowne of the head according to Pliny lib. 7. cap. 17. The parts of the Body are thus proportioned the face from the bottom of the chinne to the top of the forehead or skirt of the haire is the tenth part of the height or length thereof the same is the bredth of the forehead from one side to the other The face is diuided into three equall parts one from the bottom of the chinne to the lowest tip of the nose the second from thence vpward to the eye brow the third from thence to the top of the forehead The length of the eye from one angle opposed to the other is the fiue and fortieth part the like proportion beareth the distance and space betwixt the one eye and the other The length of the nose is the thirtieth part and the hollow of the nosthrill the hundred and eightieth The whole headâ— from the bottome of the chinne to the crowne of the head the eighth part the compasse of the necke the fifteenth the length of the breast and stomack and so the bredth almost the sixt part The Nauil holdeth the mid seat in the body and diuideth it selfe into two equall distances The whole length of the thighes and legs to the plant or sole of the foot is little lesse than the â—alfe part the length of the foot the sixt part so also are the armes to the cubit and the cubit to the hand the hand is the tenth part Vitruv. lib. 13. Cardan lib. 11. de Subtilitate c. Plotinus the Platonicke Philosopher being earnestly solicited by the cunning Painter Emutius that he would giue him leaue to draw his picture would by no meanes suffer him but made him this answer Is it not enough that wee beare this image about vs whilest we liue but we must by way of ostentation leaue it for posteritie to gaze on For he was of the opinion of Pythagoras who called the Body nothing else but the Case or casket of the Mind and that hee saw the least of Man who looked onely vpon his bodie And Diogenes the Cynicke was wont to deride those who would keepe their Cellars shut barred and bolted and yet would haue their Bodies continually open by diuers windowes dores as the mouth the eyes the nosthrils and other secret parts thereof Stoboeus Serm. 6. The Body is described by Lucretius in this one Verse Tangere enim aut tangi nisi corpus nulla
than the greatest punishment that can be inflicted in this world Indicis in lite brevis est vox Ite Venite Dicetur Reprobis Ite Venite Probis Aspera vox Ite vox est benedicta Venite Quod sibi quisque sâ—rit praesentis tempore vitae Hoc sibi messio crit cum dicitur Ite Venite There were some comfort to the damned Souls if their torment might haue end but that shall neuer be and no torment greater than that of perpetuitie The reason of this perpetuity is threefold the first drawn from the state and condition of the Majesty offended The second from the state and condition of the Reprobates for as long as they remaine sinnefull so long shall they remaine tormented for sinne But in Hell they euer remaine sinnefull and sinne is like oile and the wrath of God like fire as long as the oile lasteth the fire burneth and so long as sinfull so long tormented and therefore damned for euer For most sure it is That in Hell there is neither grace nor deuotion The Wicked shall be cast in exteriores tenebras extra limitem Divinae misericordiae i. Into vtter darknesse without the limits of Gods mercie For though their weeping in Hell may seeme penitentiall yet they do but Lugere poenas non peccata lament their punishment but not their sinne The third reason is drawne from Gods justice for when life was offered them they refused it and therefore justly when in Hell they beg it they go without it I shut vp the premisses in the succeeding Emblem The Emblem IT is reported by the Poets and some antient Historiographers That in Dodonia a Forrest in Greece famous for the Okes there growing and therefore dedicate to Iupiter there is a Fountaine or Well into which whoso putteth a Torch lighted or flaming it is presently extinguished but take one vnlighted which neuer came neere the fire and it is instantly kindled The Motto which the Author of this Emblem groundeth hereon is Sie rerum inverâ—â—tur ordo Hauing some consimilitude with that of Gregory 14 Moral Hostis noster quanto magis nos sibi rebellare conspicit quanto amplius expugnare contendit Eos autem pulsare negligit quos quieto iure se possidere sentit i. Our spirituall Enemy the Diuell the more he perceiueth we rebell against him the greater his opposition is against vs but spareth to trouble or molest such as he knoweth to be already in his quiet possession The two maine Engins by which the Diuell seeketh to vndermine Mankinde are Desperation and Presumption Concerning the first S. Bernard saith Let no man despaire of grace though he begin to repent in his later age for God iudgeth of a mans end not of his past life for there is nothing so desperate which Time cannot cure nor any offence so great which Mercy cannot pardon Livy telleth vs That of all the perturbations of the minde Despaire is the most pernicious And Lactantius informes vs That if he be a wicked and wilfull homicide that killeth any man wittingly needs must he be the same or worse who layeth violent hands vpon himselfe dispairingly For what is Dispaire but the feare of punishment and distrust in Gods mercy by reason of which man making himselfe his owne judge becomes his owne Executioner For as Stobaeus saith The dread and terror of inevitable punishment is the sole cause of desperation Against which irremittable sin Seneca in Medaea thus counsels vs Qui nihil potest sperare nihil desperet He that hath nothing to hope for let him nothing feare And Ovid lib. 2. de Ponto Confugit interdum Templi violator ad Aram Nec petera offensi numinis horret opem Sometimes Church-robbers to the Altars fly And to the injur'd gods for mercy cry Concerning Presumption Saint Augustine saith Nulla praesumptio est perniciostor quam de propria justitia scientia superbire ô superba praesumptio ô praesumptuosa superbia i. No presumption is more dangerous than to be proud of our owne righteousnesse or knowledge ô proud presumption ô most presumptuous pride Philo telleth vs That one prime occasion why leuen was forbidden the Iewes at the solemne Feast of Easter was to teach them to haue a great care to keepe themselues from pride and presumption into which they were apt to fall who held any extraordinarie conceit or opinion of themselues their hearts being suddenly swelled therewith as the dough is puft vp with the leuen Claud. de 4 Honor. Cons. saith Inquinat Egregios adiuncta superbia mores i. Where Pride sets in it's foot it corrupteth the best manners It is said to deuour gold and to drink bloud and to climbe so high by other mens heads til at length it fall and breake it 's own neck Plutarch calls it a vapour which striuing to ascend high presently turneth into smoke and vanisheth Therefore commendable was that modestie in the sonne of King Agesilaus who hearing that Philip the father of Alexander the Great much gloried in a victorie not long before gained sent him word That if hee pleased to measure his shadow he should finde it no greater after his Conquest than it was before I conclude with Seneca in Hercul fuerent Sequitnr superbos victor à tergo Deus And now come to the Author vpon the former Emblem most pertinent to this purpose Fax limphis Dodona tuis immersa necatur Quae micat igne nitet quae sine luce fuit Fons sacer iste deo sic pristina credidit aetas At Deus hic stigij rex Acheontis erat Patrat idem cum fonte suo regnator Averni Ordinis inversi gaudet ille dolis Nempe pios rigidae percellit Acumine legis Blanditurque malis sanguine Christe tuo ¶ Thus paraphrased A Taper without fire in Dodon drencht Is kindled But if lighted as soone quencht Which Well the men of Old in their blinde piety Made sacred to a god but no true Diety The Diuell keepes this Fountaine nor doth leaue By inverst order Mankinde to deceiue Good men with the Lawes rigor still pursuing Flattring the Bad with Mercy to their ruin A Meditation vpon the former Tractate I. THou Great God now and euer blessed Thy Seruants wretched and distressed Assist with thy Diuinest aid Lest We like Those that did rebell And head-long were throwne downe to Hell Be Reprobates and Out-casts made II. O Thou who Heav'n and Earth dost guide And aboue all sinnes hatest Pride Because soone after the Creation The first bright Angell led the way And then our two first Parents They Trod the same path to our Damnation III. There is no Sinne that can be nam'd But with a strange selfe-loue inflam'd Originall'tis and In-nate And since that time it is wee finde Dispersed into all Mankinde To ouerthrow our blest estate IV. He that is with this Sinne infected Hath both Thy Loue and Feare reiected Although Thou bee'st the onely Holy And that
there is a God or beleeue him to be what he is not or knowing despise him by which they become as negligent in Humane actions as carelesse of Diuine From hence arise wicked cogitations blasphemous speeches and nefarious proiects al which are abhominable in the sight of God and man as in all their refractorie courses professing no reuerence or regard of the Creator by which they can haue no commerce with any thing that is essentially good or honest In Athens a strict Edict was made That all such as were proued to be Divum Contemptores i. Scorners or Despisers of the gods should be conuented before the Areopagitae and beeing conuicted their goods were sold at a publique out-cry and their irreligions grauen vpon pillars to make their persons odible Those also who aimed their iniuries and insolencies against their Parents Countries or any superiour Magistrates were not onely branded with infamie but their bodies punished with great seueritie Of the former Iuvenal thus speakes Sunt qui infortunae iam casibus omnia ponunt Et nullo credunt mundum rectore moveri Natura volvente vices lucis anni Atque ideo intrepid◠quaecunque altaria tangunt Some all the Power to Chance and Fortune giue And no Creator of the world beleeue Say Nature guide's the Sun's course and the yeare These touch the holy Altars without feare What may we thinke then of Cheopes King of Egypt remembred by Herodotus who caused all the Temples throughout his Prouinces to be fast shut and barred vp left any of his people should offer diuine sacrifice vnto the gods We reade likewise of Diagoras melius before spoken of who flourished in the eightie eighth Olympiad This Man because he persuaded the People from the worship of their gods was not onely banished Athens the city wherein he taught but after his confinement a Talent was proposed for a reward to him that would kill him These and the like were no doubt altogether ignorant That man was created for the seruice of God and That there can be no surer signe of the imminent ruine of a Kingdome and Commonweale than Contempt of Religion of which saith Basil no Creature is capable but Man onely Where no Religion resteth there can be no vertue abiding saith Saint Augustine Therefore the first Law that ought to be imposed on man is The practise of Religion and Pietie for if wee did truely apprehend the vertue thereof from thence the Voluptuous man would suppresse his pleasures the Couetous man acquire his wealth the Proud man deriue his felicitie and the Ambitious man his glory being the Bodies health and the Soules happinesse and indeed the onely mean to fill the empty corners of the heart and satisfie the vnlimited affects of the Desire Iosephus Langius reporteth That diuers learned and religious men supping together by appointment a profest Philosopher or rather a prophane Atheist had intruded himselfe among them who in all his arguing and discourse spake in the contempt of Religion and the Soules future felicitie often vttering these words Coelum Coeli Domino Terram autem dedit filijs hominum i. Leaue Heauen to the Lord of heauen but the Earth he gaue to the sons of men At length he was strooke with an extraordinarie iudgement being tormented at once in all the parts and members of his body so that he was forced to exclaime and cry ô Deus ô Deus ô God ô God Which the rest obseruing one of them vpbraided him in these words Thinkest thou ô Naturall man to contemne so great a Deitie and to vilifie his holy Ordinance and escape vnpunished Whom another thus seconded Do'st thou now begin to distrust thy philosphy and to call vpon and complain vnto him whom til now thou either wouldst not or didst not know Why do'st thou not suffer that Lord of heauen to rest quietly in that heauen which he hath made but that thou thus importunest him with thy clamours Where is now thy Coelum Coeli Domino c. Lucian of whom I before gaue a short Character was sirnamed Samosatensis because borne in Samosata a city scituate not far from Euphrates he was called Blasphemus Maledicus and Atheos He liued in the time of Traianus Caesar and was at first an Aduocate or Lawyer and practised at Antioch a city in Syria but it seemes not thriuing by his parsimonious and close-fisted Clients he forsooke that profession and retyred himselfe though to a lesse profitable yet a more pleasing study namely to be a follower of the Muses Volaterranus reports of him That hee was a Christian but after prooued a Renegade from that Faith and being demanded Why he turned Apostata his answer was That he had gained nothing by that profession more than one bare syllable added to his name being christened Lucianus where before his name was plaine Lucius His death as the best approued Authors relate of him was wretched and miserable for walking late in the euening hee was assaulted by band-dogs and by them worried and torne in pieces A most condigne punishment inflicted vpon him because in his life time he spared not to snarle against the Sauiour of the world And me-thinkes the Epitaph which hee composed vpon his owne Timon of Athens syrnamed Misanthropos i. Man-hater might not vnproperly be conferred vpon himselfe Hic iaceo vita miseraque Inopique solutus Nomen ne quaeras sed male tale peri. Here do I lie depriv'd of life Most miserable and poore Do not demand my name I dy'de Remember me no more Superfluous it were to make much forreine inquisition abroad seeing so many domesticke iudgements at home Far be it from me to iudge but rather to feare that many of them haue beene made remarkable among vs by reason of Irreligion and Atheism I forbeare to nominate any both for the dignitie of their places and greatnesse of their persons yet hath it beene no more than a nine dayes wonder to see the losse of heads the breaking of necks from horses some pistolled when they haue beene least prepared some stab'd with their own poniards others prouiding halters for their owne necks a sonne thrusts his sword through the womb of the mother which conceiued him one brother insidiates the life of another the husband hath killed his wife the wife slaine her husband and both of them their children the master his seruant the seruant his master the mistresse her maid the maid her mistresse And what can all these be but the fruits of the neglecting of the Lord God and the contempt of his Sabboth Much to be lamented it is that these things should be so frequent amongst Christians nay our owne kingdome when euen the Ethnicke Poets in their writings haue exprest not only an honour due to their gods but euen vnto the daies dedicated vnto their memories Plautus vseth these words Quod in diuinis rebus sumas sumptus sapienti lucro est c. i. That which a
tooke Hermes on her knee Danc't him sung to him and vpon him smil'd And vow'd she neuer saw so sweet a child To take him as her owne she then decreed And call'd for milke the pretty Babe to feed But when him to be Maia's Son she knew By Iupiter the Lad from her she threw And call'd him Bastard and began to frowne And in her rising cast the Pitcher downe Spilt was the Milke and wheresoe're it lyte The place appeares than all the rest more white The golden Ramme styl'd Prince of all the Signes Rising his Crest he tow'ards the East inclines In th' AEquinoctiall Circle with his head Reacheth Deltoton with his feet doth tread Vpon the Pistrix Thus his story was Phrixus and Helles bred from Athamas And Nebula were at domesticke strife With their proud Step-dame and pursu'd her life But thence cast out into the Woods they came Where wandring long their Mother brought a Ramme Who mounting on his backe she bids them fly They take the sea but soone the winde growes high And the waues troubled Helles is afraid Le ts go her hold and then downe slides the Maid The angry billowes her of life bereaue She forc't her name vnto that Sea to leaue But Phrixus to the Isle of Colchos steeres And when arriv'd before the King appeares Who for he had so past and scap'd the Brine There offered vp the Beast at Mars his Shrine But the rich Fleece whose euery haire was gold Which did amase King Octa to behold He left to him which with such care he kept That to a monstrous Dragon that ne're slept He gaue the charge thereof till Iafon landed Who the swift Argo at that time commanded But by Medea's aid as most auer He bore from Colchos both the Fleece and her Some thinke the Ramme therefore immortalis'd By reason that when Bacchus enterpris'd An expedition into Africa And was distrest for water by the way A Ram was seene out of the Sands to make Whom they pursu'd but could not ouertake Till he had brought them vnto Fountaines cleare Which hauing done he did no more appeare Bacchus who thought him as Diuinely sent Because his Army was nigh tyr'd and spent With heate and thirst and by that means preserv'd Who else in that wilde Desart had been starv'd To Iupiter call'd Ammon there erected A stately Temple and withall directed His Statue rear'd that for the Beasts more grace They on his forehead two Rams hornes should place For so we finde him figur'd Why the Bull Hath place aboue Some thinke because Ioves Trull Europa he from Sidon into Creet Transwafted whilest the waue ne're toucht her feet Some hold him rather for that Beast of note On whom Pasiphae did so madly dote Others for Iö in an Heifers shape By Iove transform'd Queene Iuno's rage to scape The reason is because the head 's sole seene The hinder parts as hid behinde a Skreene He lookes vpon the East and in his face The Hyades fiue Sisters haue their place They Nurses vnto Bacchus haue been thought Call'd the Dodonean Nymphs and thither brought By his great Power Nor are they seen in vain Who neuer rise but they portend some raine They were call'd Atlas Daughters and tooke name From their sole brother Hyas who to tame A Lion striuing was depriv'd of breath For whom the Sisters wept themselues to death The Pleiades they be in number seuen Deare Sisters and together shine in heauen Six only seen at once The reason why Six with the gods congrest but one did ly With Sisiphus a Mortall for which reason She hides her face as had she done some treason The Gemini who louingly embrace Take on the right hand of Auriga place Aboue Orion who his rise begins In the mid place betwixt the Bull and Twinnes Such as deepe knowledge in the Stars professe Castor and Pollux call them Others ghesse Them to be Zeâ—us and Amphion who Were most kinde Brothers To which some say no But that Triptolimus and Iasion claime Scite in that Orbe and in the Heauens the name But of the first th' opinion best doth please And that they are the two Tindarides Brothers to Hellen two the most entire That e're could yet boast of Coelestiall Fire They in their life the Seas from Pyrats freed And after death it was by Iove decreed To set them so that from their glorious Sphere They may behold what euer is done there To curle or calme the Ocean they haue power To cleare the Aire or dampe it with a shower To tosse the Robbers ships on shelues and sands And steere the Merchants safe to forrein lands In Wracks they can preserue in stormes appease No stars haue more dominion on the Seas O're which th' are knowne to beare such watchfull eies That when one sets the other 's seene to rise The AEstiue Circle Cancer doth diuide Iust in the middle but a little wide From Hydra yet aboue his eyes reflect Directly on the Lions sterne aspect But why the Crab should be allow'd his Sphere It may be askt I 'le tell you what I heare When mighty Hercules did vndertake To combat Hydra neere the Lernian Lake As with his club he made the Monster reele This crept behinde and pincht him by the heele At which the Prince more angry for bee'ng stayd In his hot sight lookt backe to see what aid Hydra had got and when the Câ—ab he spy'd A Worme so base his fury was supply'd Then with a looke of anger mixt with scorne He stamp'd vpon 't vntill he saw it torne And shatter'd all to pieces with one spurne Halfe burying it in th' earth Then did he turne Againe vpon the Monster nor withdrew Till Hydra with her numerous heads he slew This seene by Iuno who the Crab had sent To vex the Heroë she incontinent The limbes disperst did suddenly combine And plac'd it one amongst the Twelue to shine Who beares vpon him Stars that shine but dull Call'd Asini yet make his number full The cause of their translation thus we read When all the gods assembled and made head Against the Gyants in that glorious war Where hills and rockes were tost and throwne from far It is remembred how amongst the rest To take the gods part Liber Pater prest Satyres and Sylvâ—nes Shepheards he from Pan And Neatheards tooke not sparing god nor man That neere to him were knowne to haue abode Not his owne Priests and they on Asses rode Now when the battell was to ioyne the cry On both sides 'gan to mount vp to the Sky At which the poore beasts much affrighted they Aboue the rest were loudly heard to bray The Gyants hearing it not knowing whence That noise should come began to hatch suspence How Iove had made of such strange Monsters choice Whose strengths perhaps might match that horrid voice Which made
of the Swanne aboue whose wings the Horse extenderh his hoofe and aboue the Horse Aquarius is listed and neere vnto him Capricornus Vnder the feet of Aquarius lieth the great Austriue Fish Before Cephaeus Cassiopeia and Perseus extendeth his foot vnto the backe of the Charioter Ouer the head of Perseus Cassiopeia is seene to walke Betwixt the Swanne and him that resteth vpon his knee the Harpe is placed in middest of whom aboue from the East the Dolphine is seene vnder whose taile is discouered the AEgle and the next vnto her is the Serpentarie Hauing spoke of the Boreal Circle wee come now vnto the Austral Vnder the sting of the Scorpion is the Altar placed and vnder his body the fore-parts of the Sagittarie are seene so farre as he is Beast his hinder foot is eminent in another part of the Australl Circle Neere to the Centaures priuy parts the taile of Hydra and the Crow At the knees of the Virgin is placed the Vrne vpon the left hand of Orion which is also called Incola Fluvius which some stile Padus others Eridamus lieth vnder the feet of Orion The Hare is next seene to shine with great refulgence and iust at his heeles Laelaps or the Dog with extraordinarie brightnesse behinde whose taile Argoë or the Ship hath station Orion stretcheth his hand towards the foot of the Bull and with his feet comes very neere to the Gemini The backe part of the Dog is aboue the head of the Ramme and the Deltoton or Triangle not far from the feet of Andromeda The Whale is beneath Aries and Pisces and the connexion of the two Fishes haue one common star c. Of the twelue Coelestiall Signes I haue spoken sufficiently already but of the other Stars in which I haue been very briefe it shall not be amisse to giue some of them a more large expression Of Draco or the Dragon we reade Caesar Germanicus thus Immanis Serpens sinuosa volumina torquet Hinc atque hinc superatque illas mirabile monstrum c. This Dragon of immense magnitude was appointed by Iuno to be the sleeplesse keeper of the Orchard wherin the Hesperian Apples grew whom Hercules in his aduenture to fetch thence the golden Apples as Pannaces Heracleus relateth slew and bore them thence To the perpetuall memorie of which facinerous act Iupiter translated both him and the Dragon into the Stars both in the same postures according to the successe of the fight the Dragon with his head cut off and he leaning vpon one knee his arms extended vpwards and his right foot stretched towards the Monster And therefore he is said to hold the skinne of the Nemaean Lion in his left hand for a perpetuall memory that naked and vnarmed he slew him singly in the forrest Inde Helicen sequitur senior baculoque minatur Se velle Artophilax c. Boâ—tes called also Auriga and Artophilax is said to be the Keeper or driuer of the Chariot which is the Septentriones Some report him to be Archas the sonne of Iupiter from whom the Prouince of Arcadia had after it's denomination Him Lycaon the sonne of Pelasgus entertaining Iupiter at a banquet caused to be cut in pieces and his limbs being cook'd after sundry fashions to be serued in to the table of purpose to proue whether he were a god or no. At which barbarous inhumanitie Iupiter iustly incensed burnt vp his pallace with lightning from heauen and after built there a city which was called Trapezos Lycaon he transhaped into a Wolfe and caused the dismembred limbes of Archas to be gathered together which hauing re-vnited he breathed in them new life and after committed him to a certain Goat-heard to be educated and brought vp Who after meeting his mother in the Forrest not knowing her would haue rauished for which the inhabitants of the Lycaean mount would haue slain him But Iupiter to free them both transfer'd them to the Stars where they are knowne by the name of the great and lesser Beare Him Homer calls Bootes Clara Ariadneae propius stant signa Coronae Hunc illi Bacchus thalami memor addit honorem It is said to be Ariadnes Crowne which Liber Pater or Bacchus caused to haue place amongst the stars which he presented vnto her at their espousals in the Isle of Creet But he who writes the Cretan historie saith That when Bacchus came to King Minor to demand his daughter in marriage hee presented vnto her that Crowne made by Vulcan in Lemnos the materials whereof were onely gold and pretious fulgent gems of such maruellous splendor that it lighted and guided Theseus through the intricate and darke Labyrinth Which was not translated into the Heauens til after their being in Naxos Isle It is still seene to shine with many splendant stars vnder the taile of the Lion Tempora laeva premit parti subiecta Draconis Summa genu subversa tenet qua se Lyra volvit The Harpe is said to haue place amongst the Stars for the honour of Mercury who made the first after the figure of a Tortois with seuen strings according to the number of the Pleiades daughters to Atlas which after he presented to Apollo Some attribute the inuention thereof to Orpheus by reason that hee was son to Calliope one of the Muses and composed it of nine strings suting with their number The musicke thereof was said to be of such sweetnesse that it attracted the eares of beasts and birds nay of trees and stones Moreouer it so preuailed ouer the Infernall Powers that by it he recouered his wife Euridice from hell Hee adoring Apollo more than any other of the gods and neglecting Liber Pater who honoured him the god being grieuously incenst against him whilest he was one day sitting on the mountain Pangoeus waiting for the Sun-rising Bacchus stirred vp the Bacchanalian women against him who with barbarous violence falling vpon him plucked him asunder limbe from limbe for so Eschilus writes the pieces of his body being after collected were buried in the Lesbian mountains and his Harpe after his death bestowed vpon Musaeus at whose entreatie Iupiter placed it amongst the Stars Cygnus de thalamis candeus qui lapsus adulter Furta Iovis falsa volucer sub imagine texit The Swanne was therefore said to haue place in the Firmament because Iupiter transfiguring himselfe into that shape flew into a part of the Atticke region and there comprest Nemesis who was also called Laeda for so saith Crates the Tragicke Poet. She was deliuered of an egge which being hatched brought forth Helena but because Iupiter after the act was done flew backe againe into heauen in the same shape he left the figure thereof amongst the Stars c. Cepheus extremam tangit Cynosurida Caudam Cepheus according to Euripides and others was King of AEthiopia who exposed his