vegitable and generall Terrene nature also suffered and still groanes vnder the losse of their first purity occasioned by his fall What concernes him now so neerely as to attend to the cultiuating or refining thereby aduancing of his rationall part to the purchase regaining of his first lost felicity And what meanes to conduce to this purchase can there bee but the knowledge first and loue next for none can loue but what hee first knowes of his Maker for whose loue and seruice he was only made And how can this blind lame and vtterly imperfect Man with so great a lode to boote of originall and actuall offence vpon his back hope to approach this supreme altitude and immensity which In quella inaccessibil luce Quafi in alta caligine s'asconde as an excellent Poetesse discribes the inscrutable Beeing of God but by two meanes only the one by laying his burden on him that on his Crosse bore the burthen of all our defectes and interpositions betweene vs and the hope of the vision of his blessed Essence face to face heereafter and the other by carefull searche of him here in this life according to Saint Paules instruction in his works who telles vs those inuifible things of God are cleerely seene being vnderstood by the things that are made or by the workes of his blessed hands So as betweene these two mayne and only meanes of acquiâ—…ing here the knowledge and hereafter the vision of him wherein all our present and future happinesse consists what middle place to descend to my former discourse can these mens Morall Philosophy trow we challenge which in its first Masters and teachers time before there was any better diuinity knowne might well enough passe for a course kind of diuinity but howeuer such as one as with the leaue of our Poets needes no fiction to clothe or conceale it in And therfore vtterly vnfit to bee the Subiect of Poems since it containes in it but the obuious restraints or impulsions of the Humane Sence and will to or from what it ynly before-hand without extrinsicke force or law feeles and knowes it ought to shunne or imbrace The other two more remooued and harder lessons do certainely more in the affaire both of soule and body concerne vs. And these if we be wise enough to loue our selues so well wee must seeke and take from the hands of their fittest teachers As in the first we need goe no farther though learned wise Writers haue made mention and to high purpose of a Theologia Philosophica as they call some of the doctrines of the auncient Poets then to the Doctors and Doctrines of that Church that God dyed to plant and which shall liue till the worlds death And for instruction in our next necessary Lesson to wit the Misteries of Nature we must if we will follow Plato's aduice inquire of those and by them be directed who liued neerest to the time of the gods meaning the old wise Ethnicks among whom the best Masters were certainly most if not all of them Poets and from whose fires as I haue formerly touched the greatest part of all humane knowledges haue taken their first light Among these I say and not elsewhere excepting the sacred Old Law only must we search for the knowledge of the wise and hidden wayes workings of our great Gods hand maid Nature But alas who findes or who seekes now adayes to finde them Nay what is more strange there want not of these learned of our times that will not bee intreated to admit those excellent Masters of knowledge to meane if they allow them any meaning scarce other at all then meerely Morall doctrine I haue knowne Latine and Greeke Interpreters of them in these times men otherwise of much art and such as able to render their Authors phrase to the height of their good in our worse language yet aske the most as I haue some of them and I feare they will answere as one and the best of our Greeke translators hath ingenuously confest to mee that for more then matter of Morality hee hath discouered little in his Authors meanings Yet my old good friend as well as I wish him and very well I wish him for those parts of Fancy Industry and meritorious Ability that are in him must pardon mee that I affirme it is not truer that there euer was such a thing as a Musaeus or Hesiod or Homer whom he has taught to speake excellent English then it is that the least part of the Doctrine or their wisest expositors abuse mee and other Ignorants with mee that they meant to lay downe in those their wise though impossible fables was matter of Manners but chiefely Nature No lesse then in the rest of those few before and many after them whom all Antiquity has cried vp for excellent Poets and called their works perfect Poems For proofe of which Truth wee will first mention two or three of the best of them and to omit the multiplicity of lesse autentike testimonies that all Authors are full of alledge only the beforecited Mirandula who speaking of that Magia naturalis or naturall wisdome or as he defines it naturalium-the exact and absolute knowledge of all naturall things which the Auncients were Masters of sayes that in that Art among some others he mentions Praestitit Homerus Homer excelled and who dissimulauit-as all other knowledges so hath hiddenly layd downe this also in his Ulysses his trauailes As likewise of Orpheus Nihil efficacius Hymnis Orphei in naturali Magia si debita musica animi intentio coeterae circumstantiae quas nôrunt sapientes fuerint adhibitae There is nothing of greater efficacy then the hymnes of Orpheus in naturall Magick if the fitting musick intention of the minde and other circumstances which are knowne to the wise bee considered and applyed And againe that they are of no lesse power in naturall magick or to the vnderstanding thereof then the Psalmes of Dauid are in the Caball or to vnderstand the Cabalistick Science by And lastly Zoroaster who that he was a possessor likewise of that absoluta cognitio rerum Naturalium before metioned no lesse then of that Theologicall Philosophy his expounders find in him may appeare by that Doctrine of his in particular of the Scala á Tartaro ad primum ignem which the learned Io Picus interprets protensum-the series or concatenation of the vniuersall Natures from a no degree as he speakes of matter to him that is aboue or beyond all degree graduately extended no lesse then by that Attribute in generall giuen him by all the learned of all Ages viz that he was one of the greatest as first of Naturall Magicians or Masters of the absolute knowledge of all Nature To omit as I said the Testimonies of an infinity of other Authors in confirmation of the before-affirmed troth who knowes not that most if not all of those fables in all the rest of the Auncients of
must to returne home to my former discourse in honour iust praise of the before mentioned wise Auncients and with the premised befitting caution not doubt to say that as his Instructions in the holy Scripture and especially in the old Law must of necessity reach as far farther then the bare historicall trueth though not in the same manner as extends the difference in our selues betweene Nature alone and Nature and Grace vnited so likewise that one and a great portion of the doctrine of that part of holy Writ the wise Ethnicks vndoubtedly possest in all perfection to wit the knowledge of all Natures most high and hidden wayes and workings and though far short in the safer part of wisdome of their more inlightned successors yet was the bare light or rather fire of nature in them enough to draw theÌ„ as high as Reason could help flesh and bloud to reach heauen with Nay which is more were it not wide of my purpose though it contradicts it not to conster them other then meere children of Nature I might perhaps gaine fauour of some of our weaker persuaders in their spirituall Cures if to flanke and strengthen the diuine letter wiâ—…h prophaner Authorities be in this backward and incredulous age not irrequisite by paralelling in the Historicall part I meane chiefely and as it lies the Sacred letter and Ethnick Poesyes together to a large extention And beginning with Moses shew them all those dij maâ—…orum gentium from Saturne to Deucalions deluge were but names for Adam Caine Lamech and the rest of their successors to Noahs floud Nor that their Rhaea or Terra mother of all the Gods and Uenus could be other then Moses his Eua and Noem ... What other can He fiod's * Pandora-the first and beautifullest of all women by whome all euils were dispersed and spred vpon the Earth meane then Moses his Eue What can Homers Ate whom he calls* the first daughter of Iupiter and a woman pernicious and harmefull to all vs mortalls and in an other place tells how the wisest of men was cosened and deceiued by his wife what can he I say meane in these women but Eue What was the Poets Bacchus but his Noah or Noachus first corrupted to Boachuâ—… and after by remoouing a letter to Bacchus who as Moses tels vs of Noah was the first likewise in their accompt that planted the vine and taught men the vse of wines soone after the vniuersall deluge What can be plainer then that by their Ianus they ment Noah also whome they giue two faces to for hauing seene both the old and new world and which his name in Hebrew Iain or wine likewise confirmes Noah being as we late alledged Moses for witnesse the first inuentor of the vse of wines What could they meane by their Golden-Age when Nulli subigebant arua coloni Ipsaque tellus Omnia liberius nullo poscente ferebat But the state of Man before his Sin and consequently by their Iron age but the worlds infelicity and miseries that succeeded his fall when Luctus vltrices posuere cubilia curae Pallentesque habitant morbi tristisque senectus Et metus malesuada fames turpis egestas Lastly for I haue too much already exceeded my commission what can Adonis horti among the Poets meane other then Moses his Eden or terrestriall Paradise the Hebrew Eden being Uoluptas or Delitiae whence the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or pleasure seemes necessarily deriued The Caldaeans and Perfians so I am tould called it Pardeis the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines altered the Greeke name to Paradisus which as Eden is as Aulus Gellius defines it Locus amaenissimus voluptatis plenissimus the which selfe thing the auncient both Poets and Philosophers certainely ment by their horti Hesperidum likewise Now though we reuerence Moses more as we ought to doe then these his condisciples because inspired so far aboue them with the immediate spirit of Almighty God yet ought we neuerthelesse to reuerence them and the wisdome of their fables howeuer not vnderstood by euery body his condisciples I call them because they read bothe vnder their Aegyptian teachers one lesson were as Moses of himselfe sayes expert in the learning of the Aegyptians yea many of them and Poets all were to speake fitlyer the teachers of that Learning themselues and Masters therein no lesse then Moses How can we then indeed attribute too much to their knowledges though deliuered out of wise consideration in riddles and fictious tales But alas with shame enough may we speake it so far are we now adayes from giuing the due to them they deserue as those their learned and excellent fables seeme rather read to be abused then studyed in these times and euen by people too that are or would be accompted profound men What child of learning or louer of Truth could abide to see great pretenders to learning among vs that doubt and obstinately too whether the pretious treasure of that wisdome of the Auncients so carefully by them left sealed vp to the vse of their true Heires the wise and worthy of their posterity be any more indeed then a legacy of meere old wiues tales to poyson the world with If we will call this but ignorance let vs go farther and suppose that a man nor vnlearned one neither shall haue taken paines in foure or fiue fables of the Auncients to vnfould and deliuer vs much doctrine and high meanings in them which he calls their wisdome and yet the same man in an other Treatise of his shall say of those auncient Fables I thinke they were first made and their expositions deuised afterward and a little after Of Homer himselfe notwithstanding he was made a kind of Scripture by the latter Scooles of the Graecians yet I should without any difficulty pronounce his fables had in his owne meaning no such inwardnesse c. What shall we make of such willing contradictioÌ„s when a man to vent a few fancies of his owne shall tell vs first they are the wisdome of the Auncients and next that those Auncient fables were but meere fables and without wisdom or meaning til their expositours gaue them a meaning then scornefully and contemptuously as if all Poetry were but Play-vanity shut vp that discourse of his of Poetry with It is not good to stay too long in the Theater But let me not stick too long neither in this myre nor seeme ouer-sensible of wrong to what can suffer none for Veritas sayes the holy writ magna esâ—… praeualebit and such are nor lesse great and preuailing then truth it selfe those before mentioned Arcana of our wise Auncients which no Barbarisme I know can efface nor all the dampes and thick fogs by dull durty Ignorance breathed on them darken at all or hide from the quick eye of select and happier vnderstandings who know full well the ripest friutes of knowledge grow euer highest while the
Wanting the meane it selfe to satisfy I fainte and feele my death aproaching neere And more I grieue a thousand fold to dye That in my ruine that that is more deare Then life to mee must fall as well as I Deaths face were not so soure to looke vpon Might that sweete face suruiue when I were gone He weepes and to the water turnes againe Where he the weeping fain'd Narcissus viewes And eu'ry teare which the false faire eyes raine Th' impatience of his balefull woe renewes He striues to touch the lou'd cause of his paine Troubling the waters that his eyes abuse Then chafes and cryes if I may neither feele Nor heare at least let mee behould thee still He raues impatient of his harts vnreste His garment teares martyrs his haire and rendes it Then with his each bent sist his inn'ocent brest Beats but the weede he weares somewhat defends it He findes it and himselfe more to moleste Remooues the garment and starknak'd offends it With many ' a churlish blow and so betakes him Wholly to 's woe as one whose sence forsakes him The battr'ed juory brest shewes to the view Like halfe-ripe grapes apples halfe red or roses Strew'd on some lilly banke that blowing nue The virgin leaues to the warme Sun disclozes And such as though chang'd from the former hue Yet nought at all of his first beauty loozes But seemes though sore perhaps and akeing more As faire or fairer then it was before He stoopes againes to take an other sight Of the belou'd occasion of his woe The water shewes him soone the euill plight The flesh was in had boarne so many ' a blow He mournes to see 't and stody'ing how he might Heale and appeaze what he had injur'd so His armes though well he knowes the labour vaine He needes will plunge into the fount againe The water mooues he mournes the Shadow flyes He lets it settle and then lookes againe And now the fatall fire wherein he fryes His Sence consumes through too much sence of paine So th'ore that in a melting furnace lyes Growes warme then hot nor long doth so remaine But meltes the fire tyring vpon 't the whiles And fusible ' as the liquid water boiles The white and faire vermilion faded be That late imbellisht and adorn'd him so His eye the faint lidd couers heauily Each limbe growes slack and powrelesse Ecco although He loath'd and vs'd her so disdainefully Hath still accompany'de him in his woe And euer would repeate and answer make Well as she could to whatsoere he spake What sound his hands beating each other made Or when his bosome felt their battery She the like sound returnes he to the Shade Languishing cryes Behould for thee I dye For thee I dye answers th'inamour'd maide Remembring her owne cruell destiny At length he sadly sighes farwell and dyes Farewell sayes Eccho and no more replyes His ghost is to the shades infernall gon And carry'ng still his error with him there Lookes him in those pale streames of Acheron And wooes winnes himselfe and ne're the neere The Nymphes and hamadryads eu'ry one With the sad Nayads who his sisters were With shriekes cryes which they to heau'n inforce Strew their faire shorne haires on the bloudlesse corse Ecco that grieues no lesse then th' other do Confounds her lamentation lowd with theirs And would her tresses teare and her flesh too Had she them still but as she may she beares Her part in eu'ry sound of griefe and woe That from beat hand or wayling voice she heares If any weeping cry aymee he 's gone She sayes the same and multiplies the moane His fun'erall pile rounded with tapers bright The wayling Nymphes prepare without delay But the dead corse is vanisht from their fight And in the place where the pale carcasse lay A flowre with yallow seed and leaues milke white Appeares a fairer flowre Aprill nor May Yeelds for it keeps much of his beauty still Some call 't a Lilly some a Daffadill Obseruation vpon the Tale of Narcissus As not the least of the Fables of the Auncients but had their meanings and most of them diuerse meanings also so no lesse hath this of Narcissus which Ouid hath smoothely sung and I paraphrastically Engglisht after my owne way and for my owne pleasure Wherein I am not vnwilling to render withall what as I am taught a little by my owne Genius and more by better vnderstandings then my own the Fable was by the first deuizers therof made to meane And first for the Geographick parte the Sence thereof is I conceiue obuious enough The Tale tells vs the god Cephissus a great Riuer in Boeotia that running through the ager Atticus or Attick field as the place was aunciently called meetes and mingles his streames with the Water-nymphe Liriope a narrow brooke so named and hauing betweene them compassed a flat low ground almost Iland-wise before their falling together into the Phalerick gulphe they were fitly called the Parents of this Narcissus or Daffadill beeing a floure which besides the specificall nature it hath to grow and thriue best in waterish places the medowy groundes those waters encompassed did chiefely yeeld and abound in This Narcissus is fained to eschew and flye the companie of all women no lesse then of the Nymphe Ecco that is enamour'd and doates vpon him denoting by this auuersion of his the nature of the floure that beares his name for the daffadill or water-lilly the seedes thereof especially as the applyers of them in medcine haue obserued do powerfully extinguish the ability and desire of carnall copulation by ouercooling of the Animall seed no lesse then does Porcelane Lettuce Agnus castus Calamint White violetts and the like of that kinde From this his before mencioned quality and the ill effect it workes in mans body his name Narcissus which is segnities-slothe stupiditie lazinesse was by the Anncients not vnfitly giuen to this vegitable And they out of this consideration likewise faigned that Preserpine when Pluto rauished her away as she was gathering floures had her lap full of Narcissusses because lazy vnbusied women are most subject vnto such inconueniences And because slothfull vnactiue and vnindustrious mindes are for the most parte vncapable of producing any permanent substantiall or reall effects or frute in any kinde this fraile flowre therefore the symbole of such like imperfect and dificient inclinations was among the number of lost dead and soone-to-be-forgotten things by those Auncient inuestigators of Natures trueths particularly dedicated to their Infernall gods The Morall expounders of this Fable will haue it meane thus Ecco or Fame a faire voice loues and wooes Narcissus or Philautia but the selfe-louing man enamor'd like this Narcissus only on himselfe and blinde to all pleasures but those of the Sence despises and slightes the more to be imbraced happinesse of a lasting renowne and memory and therefore dying his fame and all of him dyes with him and he becomes only