in those countries destributing unto every number certaine quarters to remaine in and after this time in short space many countries were againe reinhabited and peopled afresh which since the floud were desolat and lay naked and depopulat About the one and twentieth yeare of this his returne from the above written voyage Noe began to divide kingdomes also to erect monarchies in the world of which the first was the monarchie of Babylon over the which Nembroth the Giant the sonne of his nephew Cus who was the sonne of Cham was first of all established in the hundred and one and thirtieth year after the inundation and hee was called the first Saturne or king over the Babylonians and Assyrians who afterward in a faire Campania called Sennaar laid the foundation and erected the great tower and citie of Babell which he had caused to be built even to the height of the highest mountaines but after by the confusion of languages it was given over and left unfinished Nembroth after this lived in peace and tranquilitie 56 yeares Not many years after the setting up of the monarchie of Babylon Noe divided foure particular kingdomes in Europe viz. the kingdome of Italie Spain Fraunce and of Almaigne for in Italie raigned Comerus Gallus the eldest sonne of Iaphet in Spaine ruled Tuball called also Iuball the fifteenth sonne of Iaphet in Fraunce Samothes surnamed Dis Iaphets fourth sonne and over Almaign now called Germanie governed the Giant Tuyscon one of the sonnes of Noe. And so likewise in many other places of the world were severall governements and kingdomes then erected which now to recite were tedious and impertinent to our purpose every one of them a long time kept and were contented with their quarters so allotted unto them and imposed lawes and edicts unto their people and they called the countrey after their own name as also many mountaines rivers and townes were so entearmed to the end that all succeeding posteritie might know by what meanes and by whome such citties and other monuments receaved their first ground and foundation After these kingdomes and governements erected and the earth now againe well peopled Noe now undertaketh his second voiage into Europe leaving Sabatius Saga his nephew and brother to Nembroth king of Babylon to governe and commaund over the countrey of Armenia from whence hee now departeth with purpose to visit his children and to know of their estates And this Sabatius Saga called also Saturne had all the countrey even unto the land of Bactria lying towards India at this day called Tartaria under his rule and authoritie These things at home thus established Noe surnamed Ianus with his wife Titea and many multitudes of people besides began his voyage which was eight score and nine yeares after the floud and in the eight and thirtieth yeare of the raigne of Nembroth towards Hyrcania which he then peopled and called them after his owne name Ianij From thence he came to Mesopotamia where also he left behind him many people to inhabit and from thence he attained the countrey called Arabia Foelix where he erected two citties the one called Noa the other Ianinea furnishing them with inhabitants after hee passed from thence and came into Affrica which part of the world hee first assigned unto the governement and soveraignetie of his second sonne Cham but at that time there ruled Triton the sonne of Saba which was the son of Cus the eldest sonne of the same Cham. This Triton receaved Noe and his companie with great joy and gladnesse of hart and he staied there some halfe a year in which time Triton died and left his sonne Hammon inheritour to the kingdome of Affrica otherwise called Lybia After this Noe passed forward and at the length arrived in Spaine which was two hundred fiftie nine yeares after the floud and in the tenth yeare of the raigne of Ninus the third king of Babylon Iuball or Tuball the fift son of Iaphet and the first king of Spaine as all hystories do affirme received his grandfather Noe Ianus and his grandmother Tytea with honorable entertainement and all gladsome willingnesse who also were exceeding joyfull to see the prosperous estate of their nephew Iuball for so much as they found that hee governed his people with great justice policie and good lawes as Berosus in a certaine place alleadgeth saying Anno Nini quarto Tuyscon gigas Sarmatas legibus format apud Rhenum Idipsum agit Iubal apud Celtiberos hoc est Hispanos Samothes apud Celtas Noe therefore to helpe his nephew for the better peopling of his countrey founded there two great citties calling the one Noela and the other Noegla in remembrance and honour of those his two faire daughters so called beeing the wives of Iaphet and Cham after this departed for Italie to his nephew or grand child Comerus Gallus the first sonne of Iaphet whom before he had appointed to bee king of that countrey In this voyage and in his remaine in Spaine were spent nine yeares Now it is not written whether he went this journey into Italie by land or sea notwithstanding it is very likely and agreeth with good probabilitie that in this his voyage he would not passe by without visiting the wise prince his nephew Samothes the brother of Iuball king of Spaine who was by his appointment created the first king of Fraunce as is before touched and hee had raigned about this time sixe score yeares and lived after this in peace and tranquillitie five and thirtie yeares and upward The second time of the comming of Ianus thus into Italie was in the time of his age eight hundred and threescore yeares and now eight score since his last departure from thence where thinking to find Comerus Gallus hee now understood that he was dead and that his son Cham contrarie to the appointment of Noe not contented with the soveraigne domination of Affrica had there wrongfully usurped the siegnorie of Italie and had now commaunded over that countrey five and twentie yeares or therabouts and which was worse as all the other kings in Europe had instructed and governed their people in civilitie manners and education hee contrarie to such their good examples had most abhominably corrupted the youth of Italie with all manner of impieties vices and odious sinnes which he with the helpe of those people called Aborigines which he brought along with him to people the countrey made them to embrace entertain and live in Noe upon the knowledge of this waxt marvellous heavie and discontent as sorrowing for the ungodlinesse of his owne sonne and suffered him thus for the space of three years to continue therin hoping dayly to see some amendment or other in him but finding him to persever therin and rather to encrease in it than otherwise hee banisht him with a certaine number of people with him from out the confines of Italie from whence departed hee arrived in the Island of Sicilia where hee with his companie long after
a great troupe and companie of followers friends he embarked for the cost of Phrygia to see the greatnesse of Dardanus and the beautie and excellencie of his new built citie Dardania After some tedious and troublesome travels in this voyage at the last hee arrived at his wished and desired place where with all manner of ceremonie he was joyfully entertained by Dardanus whose reciprocall and mutuall love grew in the end to bee such as hee resolved and there set downe his rest for ever to remaine and not to returne againe into Italie but sent word thether of his purposes and commaunding them to create and establish Turrhenus in his absence king and sole ruler over all that countrey In few yeares Dardanus began to grow unto great mightinesse riches and power who had also a neighbour prince of mightie puissance wealthie and fortunate whose name was Teâ—â—rus whereupon many writers call the Phrygians also Teucri and this Teucrus was the sonne of Scamander and Idea and had also himselfe a very beautifull and faire daughter which hee maried shortly after unto Dardanus and was called Batea of whome Dardanus begot a sonne called Eâ—icthonius who succeeded after him and was inheritour unto the kingdome of Phrygia This Ericthonius in processe of time arose up unto a wonderfull greatnesse and large possessions who as many writers do affirme was accounted to bee one of the richest kings in those daies in that part of the world who as it is also said had at the least three thousand horses of his owne continually feeding in his pastures And this Ericthonius had also a sonne whom he named Tros whome after his death hee left as successour and inheritour unto him and of whose name afterwards the Dardanians were called Trojans This Tros very much obliged and beautified the cittie also of Dardania 〈…〉 which long time after it retained 〈…〉 had three sonnes which were Ilus Assaracus 〈…〉 hee brought up in the knowledge 〈…〉 warlicke sciences unto which kind of studie as it is written hee himselfe also was much addicted and had many yeares together maintained hostile warres with the king of Crete called Iupiter the fourth of that name there in which warres his sonne Ganimedes was taken prisoner even by the hands of Iupiter himselfe who for that in his ensigne and colours he gave an Eagle being his armes it should seeme the Poets for that cause have devised and feigne 〈…〉 as hee was on hunting was snatcht up from the 〈◊〉 unto heaven by Iupiter 〈…〉 Eagle find that hee is now taken for one of the twelve signes of the Zodiake called Aquarius Some other authors also write that one Tantalus king of high Phrygia and of Paphlagonia a most miserable covetous and auaricious prince had laid certaine snaâ—es and privie meanes to entrap this Ganimedes and to take him prisoner as hee used to sport himselfe in hunting thinking by that devise to get a mightie raunsome of his father Tros for the redeeming and enfranchising of his imprisoned and captivated sonne and that this Tantalus sent him to one Iupiter of the Isle of Crete for to safegard him and to have halfe the raunsome which should bee paied for his redeliverie and freedome And for such like causes belike the Poets also doe invent and say that Tantalus is plagued and tormented in hell standing up to the chin in water and apples hanging downe unto his lips and yet can neither drinke nor tast the one or the other and it is also more credibly written that he died most miserably and in great extremitie His sonne Pelops also banished and exiled his owne naturall countrey fled into Greece and there maried a wonderfull rich wife and great ladie by which meanes hee got unto himselfe and obtained the commaund of a whole countrey which he called after his own name Peloponnesus which is now the countrey of Mauritania and subject unto the Empire of the Turke And of this Pelops issued and came the two famous captaines Agamemnon and Menelaus Tros thus having lost his sonne on this fashion studied upon revenge and in the meane times comforted himselfe with his two other sonnes Ilus and Assaracus And this Ilus called Troy after that Ilion who begat a sonne named Laomedon the father of the renowmed Priamus and of Assaracus issued and came Anchises Aeneas father And the before written Tros ruled commaunded there in great power and puissance for the space of threescore yeares or neare thereabouts Archilochus as Archilochus in his booke of Times alloadgeth Laomedon the sonne of king Ilus as is beforesaid after the death of his father tooke upon him the rule and government of Troy in the two hundred and two and twentieth yeare after the first foundation therof by Dardanus and hee had five sonnes and two daughters which were these Priamus Titonus Lampus Clytion and Letaon and of these Homer in his Iliads maketh further mention his daughters were Antigone and Hesione Homer The Greeke Poets who indeed for the most part are full of such like fables doe say that the two gods Neptune and Apollo for a certaine summe of money promised them by him went with him about the circuit of the citie and there erected wonderfull strong and most huge high wals round about the same the which wals afterwards finished accordingly and no money received nor to bee got Apollo in great rage and anger infected the citie with a deadly and generall pestilence and Neptune in token of his wrath and displeasure also sent a monster of the sea among them unto which they must every day give and throw a young child or els that they all should perish and bee devoured by the ravenous maw and hunger thereof and that in the end it happened upon the daughter of Laomedon called Hesione to be given unto this marine beast which say they was rescued and releeved by great fortune by Hercules of Greece which came that way and who afterwards slew that monster and in gratification therof the ladie Hesione the daughter of Laomedon was promised unto him not long after in marriage but yet not married unto him by reason of the unwillingnesse afterward howsoever it fell out of her father for the breach of which promise Hercules afterwards slew Laomedon in open battell and spoyled and ruinated such his glorious citie And for that Thelamon his consort had that day behaved himselfe very valiantly in fight hee bestowed the young ladie Hesione upon him as his concubine and slave who carried her away with him into the countrey of Solamina whereof he was then king and ruler But it is most certaine that for the most part all those Greeke writers have erred infinitely and have delivered many most unlikely hystories for this Hercules as hath been before spoken was a notable and a famous pyrate and hee slew Laomedon by trecherie and surprised Troy on a suddaine and unawares and also hee was a common ravisher of maidens as of Hesione Medea and others as
writ many bookes and hee was called generally throughout the world Cam Esenuus id est Cam infamis impudicus propagator Some have thought That the Turke for those and such like causes is called in his letters patents le grand Cam de Tartaria It is written That Cham had one sister which was called Rhea maried to Hammon king of Lybia who also was enamoured of one other faire woman called Almanthea and had of her by adulterous meanes a son whose name afterwards was Dionysius which child was secretly broght up and nourished in a certaine citie of Arabia called Nysa notwithstanding the matter was not so closely cunningly handled but his wife Rhea had privie advertisements thereof Whereupon in despight and jealous discontent she forsooke her husband and went home to her brother Cham then abiding in the Island of Sicilia who presently maried and espoused her and as some writers hold his wife Noegla being alive but of this other he afterwards got many children as Cus the father of Nembroth the first king of Babylon Typhon the gyant and also many others Cham and his owne sister Rhea thus maried together they consulted and advised to be revenged of king Hammon of Lybia and to that effect raised a great armie of men and with the assistance and helpe of their brothers the sixteene gyants they set forwards from Sycilia and in the end arrived within the territories and confines of Lybia where they gave king Hammon battell and in the field overthrew and vanquisht him so that he was glad to flie into the Isle of Crete now called Candia not long after this Rhea had a sonne of her husband Cham called Osyris afterwards surnamed Iupiter Iustus who prooved a most noble and gallant prince far differing from the wicked humors and dispositions of his father After this about the three and fortieth yeare of the raigne of Nynus king of Babylon Dionysius the sonne of king Hammon and of the faire Almanthea now beeing come to age and of mans estate began now to think upon the wrong offered unto his father by Cham Rhea in usurping the commaund of Lybia and determined accordingly to bee revenged upon them which also hee afterwards performed and expulst them againe out of the countrey investing himselfe in the regaltie thereof Notwithstanding he used Osyris the yong sonne of Cham and Rhea with great clemencie and mercie and receaved him as his adopted child and in remembrance of his father called him also Hammon and Iupiter and brought him up very carefully in the studie of letters and other necessarie gifts over whom he appointed as schoolmaister and tutor a learned man called Olympus of whom afterwards Osyris took his name and was surnamed Olympicus After that Cham and his wife and sister Rhea were thus discomfited and overthrowne by Dionysius the new king of Lybia and now retired with such disgrace into the furthermost and obscurest corners of Aegypt Rhea was presently upon this delivered of a daughter called Iuno which was also called Isis the Great and this was in the first yeare of the raigne of Semyramis which was three hundred and two yeares after the floud and this Isis was accounted for the fairest as also the best disposed ladie of the world But her unfortunat wicked father Cham now remaining in Aegypt as hath beene alreadie specified was not contented with such his habitation there but seeking further as over ambitiously enclined arrived in the countrey of Bactria not far from Persia where he so wrought and prevailed with his diabolicall skill of Negromancie that he subjugated and brought under all those people thereabouts insomuch as hee there raigned in great puissance pride and mightinesse and yet not with this satisfied gathereth great troupes and armies of men and invadeth the Assyrians against whome marcheth their king called Nynus the young the sonne of the before mentioned Semyramis whose fortune was such as hee victoriously triumphed over his enemy Cham suppressing his glory rule and haughtinesse he himselfe being in that battell slaine and all the armie shamefully discomfited Many writers have affirmed That this Cham was a man of singular ingenuitie and sharpe capacitie and that hee first found out the seven liberall Sciences and had wrote many bookes of great worth among which his cheefest were of Negromancie of which most part of them were burned by the beforesaid Nynus Some also say That hee onely in the world came out of his mothers womb laughing and with a smiling countenance which is an uncouth thing and as most hold prognosticating no good Vnto this Cham Tiphon the Gyant his eldest sonne by Noegla was heire and also succeeded him in humors and malicious dispositions who was brought up in Aegypt there continued And now also it shall bee fit to revert our hystorie unto the two yongest children of Cham Zoroastes which excelled in all good parts and vertuous inclination as their father abounded in the contrary that was that Osyris before spoken of the adopted sonne of Dionysius king of Lybia and Isis his sister the fairest best accomplisht damosell in the world whom afterward he tooke to wife and maried with whome hee had also the kingdome and principalitie of Aegypt These two now newly espoused he being of threescore yeares of age and shee about fiftie and yet our author Berosus tearms them very youthfull began to applie themselves to the studie of the nature of hearbes and to the finding out of planting tilling and sowing of corne which afterwards they instructed their people in and shewed the use to their neighbors dwelling in Palestina of which ruled king and governour Sem surnamed Melchisedech who was the first that ever offered bread and wine unto God From thence Osyris passed into Aegypt and there also very painefully shewed them the manner of tilling and agriculture as likewise the Poet Tibullus speaketh of Tibullus saying Primus aratra manu solerti fecit Osyris Et tenerum ferro sollicitavit humum Afterward he travelled into many other countries alwaies learning them then living by acornes nuts and water in the knowledge of such his new invention and by these gentle and mild courses hee gained the love of all people and by that meanes almost possest himselfe of all the world with the regalities and principalities thereof the Empire of Babylon onely excepted whose conquests victories prevailements and powers we wil something more amplie hereafter remember following as wel our owne authour Berosus as also Diodorus Siculus the learned Catasthenes and many other authenticke authors herein in their bookes and writings of matters of elder times and subiects of antiquity Osyris therfore surnamed Iupiter Iustus having by his wife and sister Isis otherwise called Iuno and also of many other ladies which here shal bee needlesse to recite many children as Hercules the great Anubis Macedon Lidus Meon Neptune Oros and also many others hee assembleth a mightie armie of all sorts of people both puissant and
oftentimes of strange and horrible Gyants other rare and admirable things the reader may perhaps remain incredulous and scarse beleeve them to bee true accounting them wholly fabulous and by invention fashioned yet to alleadge some authoritie for the confirmation therof leaving out infinite other examples of infallible certainetie you only shall be referred to the holy scriptures and also unto Iosephus the Iewish writer who amply hath handled the apologie therof among the rest Nembroth Golias and others are apparent that they were Gyants and of unusuall stature strength proportion of bodie If the authoritie of Boccace may be accepted he thus writeth of himselfe In my time sayth hee there was found under the foot and hollow caverne of a mountaine not far from the citie of Deprana in the Isle of Sicilia the bodie of a marvellous huge and strange proportioned Gyant which seemed to hold in one of his hands a mightie long peece of wood like unto the bodie of a young tree or the mast of a ship which so soone as it was touched fell all into ashes and dust but it was all garnisht wrought about with lead which remained sound and firm it was found to weigh five hundred pound weight his bodie also being touched consumed and became all pouder and ashes except certaine of his bones and three of his teeth which were also peized and every tooth weighed fortie ounces For the height and full stature of his bodie it was conjectured by the people of that countrey to be two hundred cubits long And the same authour sayth That his teeth were afterwards hanged up in our ladies church of Deprana for a straunge monument and a thing of wonderfull admiration In many other places are the bones of gyants that lived in those daies kept and preserved for woonders and reliques of memorie but yet not of so uncouth and almost incredible hugenesse but leaving these matters to bee further ruminated by the scrupulous I will returne to our maine intendment proceeding till I have further explaned the obscuritie thereof These things above spoken of being atchieved by Osyris against those Gyants and molesters of civile conversation he departed out of Italie with all his royall armie singularly well prepared and in gallant equipage accompanied with gods heroes demie gods and martialists that is with all valiant courageous and wise princes rulers and captaines and it is not written whether in this his journey he passed through Gaule now called Fraunce or went that way by sea but hard by the continent hee coasted in which then ruled one Lucus king of that famous countrey but howsoever he journeied hee now is strived in Spaine where once againe hee renued mortall battels against the Tytans which were mightie Gyants and cousins to those he before discomfited in Italie these also hee now subdueth and quite raseth out all their generation leaving the governement of that countrey to the commaund of Gerion And from thence he againe sayled into Greece and arived in the province of Peloponnesus now called Morea and hee there setled himselfe and ruled in the citie of Arges for the space of five and thirtie yeares as it is written by Eusebius in his booke of Time After this he createth his sonne Egialus king of Achaia Eusebius and so returneth againe into Aegypt there to spend his latter daies with his wife and sister Isis surnamed Iuno who tooke such his comming home in full joyous acceptance and gladsome pleasingnesse By this time all the world had beene filled with the report of Osyris great fame and worthinesse unto whom were ascribed and given many titles names of triumph as Iupiter Iustus Dux Rex Consultor Cuius regnum perpetuum est habitatio in Olympo all which were cleane contrary to those wherewith his father Cham was entituled Being thus returned into his countrey of Aegypt hee caused in many and severall parts and corners thereof to bee erected certaine columnes and high pillars in which he commaunded to bee cut out and engraved for the preservation and memorie of his name and glory these following lines Diodorus Siculus as Diodorus Siculus repeateth them Mihi pater Saturnus deorum olim iunior sum vero Osyris rex qui vniversum peragravi orbem usque ad Indorum desertos fines ad eos quoque sum profectus qui arcto subjacent Istri fontes usque Oceanum sum Saturni filius antiquior germen ex pulchro generoso ortum cui genus non semen fuit nec fuit in orbe locus quem non adinerim docens ea quorum inventor fui After hee thus was quietly seated in his kingdome of Aegypt his brother Typhon the Aegyptian who in all villanie mallice followed the humors of his father Cham began now to repine and envie at the glorie and fortune of the Emperor Osyris in so much as he fell into a present conspiracie with many other mallicious Gyants for the death and destruction of him and of his greatnesse which hee most traiterously prosecuted so far as in the end by subtill and craftie practises he entrapped him who was by him and the rest of the Gyants cruelly murdered and torn in peeces whose bodie they divided and had hewne out into six and twentie peeces whereof every Gyant had a share and part as a reward and satisfaction for such their bloudie and victorious stratageme but afterwards these parts of his bodie were found out and gathered together againe by the meanes of his wife Isis and buried with their right honor and due solemnitie whom after his death the Aegyptians held worshipped as a god as also the children of Israel did the like in the desart Boccace sayth That hee was called also Serapis and that the auncient Poets tearmed him likewise Dionysius Liber Pater and Bacchus and that hee was the first that ever triumphed which was in the first voyage hee made into the Indies and that the invention of garlands and crownes was by him devised Our authour Berosus by his collections seemeth to alleadge That this Emperour Osyris was thus slaine in the prime and flower of his age having attained onely unto three hundred yeares for he was borne about the time of Ninus the third king of Babylon and died in the raign of Baleus the Babylonians eleventh king by which it is very apparent what woonderfull long time men in those ages did live His wife Isis survived him two hundred and fourescore yeares as hereafter shall bee mentioned who after that shee had with all fit ceremonies and rites performed the funerals of her murdered husband began nowe to thinke upon the actors thereof and to meditate upon revenge and direfull practises whereupon she convocateth all her children and nephewes and inciteth them to the embracement of this her attempt and action against the horrible murderers of her newly enterred husband To be short they condiscend to her motion and in the field encounter with Typhon and his associates and in
of with that mettall which those silver mines so produced and afterwards enriched their countrey therewith in most abundant and plentifull manner and by the reason of these fires those hils were afterwards entearmed and called Montes Pyrenaei for Pyr in Greeke signifies Feu in French and fire in English But to returne from whence we digressed This royall king Iupiter Celtes which before wee remembered had one onely daughter which hee prized and endeared as his cheefest good who exceeded all other ladies in the world in proportion and stature and in the graces of naturall beautie and for that she was of so extraordinarie and large talnesse shee was in those daies held among those people a Gyantesse This ladie whether proud of her own goodly features or chast in her cogitations could not by any meanes bee brought to affect any man whatsoever living neither would her father consent to any match or mariage that might be occasion to take her from his sight and the fruition of her so desired presence untill the comming of this so far-famoused and renowned Hercules of Lybia of whose great worthinesse and straunge performances they had largely heard they of themselves intertained a new thought and were easily induced upon the first sight of his personage which was majesticke and of wondrous grace to unite their house with one of so noble demerit and of so generall fame Hercules likewise became so far ensnared with the gallant beautie big proportion and equisit perfections of Galathea for so was the ladie called that he instantly discovered the motions of his affections and love towards her which were reciprocally embraced and kindly entertained so that there rested onely the consummation of the nuptials which were presently after performed with all maner of solemnization and rites of ceremonies observed in those dayes Not long after the mariage of the Giantesse Galathea unto Hercules her father Iupiter Celtes died who for his vertuous life and good governement was held in that reputation esteeme reverence among those people that ever since that day the third part of all that countrey of France is called after his own name Celtica After him succeeded his sonne in law Hercules and tooke upon him the commaund and governement of the countrey of Fraunce living peaceably and prosperously with his wife Galathea many yeares and taught also the people new courses how to live better customes and fashions of behavior controlling them for their rude and uncivile manners and wholly depressing a most inhumane and impious order they had of sacrificing poore strangers unto their gods this hee abolished and wholly extinguished enjoyning streight lawes punishments for the violaters and infringers of such his commaundement herein Not long after he built and erected a most gallant and mightie citie which hee caused to bee seated on a high mountaine of that countrey which now is called by the name of the Dutchie of Burgundie betweene Authun Langres which citie he called Alexia which interpreted signifies conjunctive or uniting to shew that there were two noble houses of straunge countries conjoined and made one This citie afterwards flourished in great glorie and puissance and especially in the times of Iulius Caesar before which hee himselfe with a most strong armie lay begirting the same with a most strict hard siege at which time the giving of the flowers de Luces in Fraunce tooke his originall as Iulius Caesar himselfe in his seventh booke of his Commentaries affirmeth But at this present that once gallant and glorious citie of Alexia is but a mean village and of small account in the countrey of Lauxois not far from Flauigny The great citie of Alexia thus in those daies peopled inhabited and fortified by the great Hercules the king of Gaule after some orders and institutions appointed for the good governance and managing of all things whatsoever at home hee proceedeth in his entended voyage for Italie and for that expedition raised a mightie and powerfull armie with which after hee had taken his leave of his wife Galathea and of his young sonne Galatheus now aged about foure yeares or thereabouts he progresseth to the effectuating of his first entendment and presently enters into the territories of the Allobroges which countrey is now called Savoy and there with main force of many hands and laborious souldiours hee maketh his passage through those wondrous high rockie mountains in all ordinarie sence and opinion then inaccessible and not to be passed but as the extreame industrie and painfulnesse of worke bringeth all difficult things in the end to obedience and commaund of art so these undisgested heapes of stubborne stones and rockes were forced at the last to give way unto his armie so far that all their horses and baggage whatsoever found a very plaine and easie passage From thence he descended and came into Italy where he fully revenged himselfe of those inhumane and lawlesse Gyants which were the death of his owne father Iupiter Iustus and after all tumults quieted and the resistants subdued hee fell to prescribe lawes to the people and to instruct them very carefully in matters of civile association orderly living where we will for a while leave him and once againe betake our selves more particularly to entreat of the first originall inhabitation of France to begin with which it must of necessitie be drawn by the lineall succession and discent of father to son even unto that Iupiter Celtes and this Hercules of Lybia wee so lately remembred It hath beene in the beginning of this booke related how in the hundred yeare after the universall inundation and deluge of al things whatsoever which were contained in the wide embracement of the world the good father and Patriarke Noe made his first voyage and put foorth from Armenia with all those his children nephewes and kinsfolkes to discover unto them the situation of many other countries then unknowne and that hee first passed over the Ponticke sea and so to the arme of the sea Mediterraneum coasting along the continent about all those quarters of purpose to shew unto his children the devision of the world and Cosmographically to instruct them in the situation of each severall countrey as they stood and were inhabited before the floud and after that to proportionize unto his three first begotten sonnes every one his share and allowance for his rule commaund and domination as hath been before alreadie spoken of And in these his travels hee brought also along with him many sorts of beasts cattell hearbes and other such things that were availeable for the encrease and maintenance of humane life and with every one of his children or kinsfolke left a certaine allowance of such things there to multiply and engender In this his first perigrination he came into Gaule and so into Italie where after hee had spent some time hee returned backe into Armenia about the tenth yeare he had set forth from thence by which it may bee gathered that Gaule was
first inhabited and peopled in the hundred and eight yeare after the generall floud After this his returne into Armenia having there rested himselfe some one and twentie yeares hee began to invent the foundations of great citties and to establish kingdomes and siegnories throughout the world so that in the hundred and two and thirtieth year after the deluge he first erected and appointed the monarchie of the Babylonians of which the first king was called Nembroth Noes cousin and about the thirteenth yeare of the raigne of this Nembroth hee instituted and established for the king of the Gaules one other of his kinsmen called Samothes surnamed Dis the fourth sonne of Iaphet a man very wise and well governed Samothes therefore accordingly tooke his leave of the Patriarke Noe his grandmother Titea of his father Iaphet and of his mother Noegla and the rest of his kindred and set forward toward his kingdome and governement with all expedition possible carying along with him diverse sorts of cattell poultrey and other things necessarie for the maintaining and conservation of mankind which kind of things were all the riches treasures that men desired to possesse in those daies and thus with all his traine familie and followers hee taketh shipping in the sea called Marc major and in the end by the favorable assistance of prosperous winds he arrived within the confines of Gaule which was some seven thirtie yeares after his first being there with his grandfather Noe and about eightscore and foure yeares after the deluge by which it may bee understood That this Samothes the fourth sonne of Iaphet was little lesse than seven score yeares of age when he now last visited the countrey Samothes therfore now entred into his own kingdome with his wife children and followers and also his horses kine and other things necessarie began to settle himselfe therein and to give out edicts and breefe commaunds what he would have done and performed in this his countrey which was done in the yeare after the floud above written and about two thousand fourescore and thirteene yeares before the incarnation of our Lord Iesus Christ The countrey was very much peopled by this time and great encreases of all other things there were found upon his now comming for it was now seven and thirty yeares past since Noe left people there first to inhabit and multiplie which in such a time grew to great abundance of all things whatsoever His welcome and entertainement was wonderous gladly accepted of those people and men of the countrey who acknowledged him as their Lord their Patriarke their cheefe and their Saturne which names in those daies were given as titles only of honor excellence and dignitie as Zenophon in his Aequivocals also sayth Saturni dicuntur familiarium nobilium regum qui urbes condiderunt Primogeniti eorum vocantur Ioves Iunones vero Nepotes eorum Hercules fortissimi cetera It may now very well bee imagined that those people having so long time lived without a governour king or particular commaunder must of necessitie bee very rude uncivile obstinat and barbarous living onely according to the lawes of Nature and following their owne wils desires and concupiscence Yet notwithstanding Samothes by faire and gentle demeanures mild cariages so woon their hearts unto him that they became easily reclaimed and brought to be docible and obedient to what precepts or commaunds were imposed upon them and upon this hee devised lawes and ordinances for domesticke conversation which he caused to bee made plaine unto the people who at the first something wondered at so straunge alterations having so many yeares together lived without any cheefe or any lawes to curbe or bridle their naturall fantasies and disordinat affections And these lawes were made in the fourth yeare of the raigne of Ninus the third king of Babylon at what time also Tuyscon the Gyant his uncle king of Almaigne and Tuball king of Spaine did the like instructing their people very industriously in the rules of Philosophie Physicke and Astronomie which they themselves had learned of their grandfather Noe and their father Iaphet And if it bee here demaunded what kind of writings they then used Berosas doth answere that they were certaine Phoenician characters letters which also were used in Armenia which were very like unto those which Cadmus long time after brought from Phoenicia into Greece and therefore Iulius Caesar in his sixt booke of Commentaries sayth That the Gaules did use in those times Greeke letters for their manner of writing but undoubtedly those characters were found long time before they were ever knowne in Greece as Zenophon and many other authors confidently doe affirme Samothes surnamed Dis living thus in all tranquilitie and peaceable securitie among his people ceased not dayly to possesse their hearts with strong opinions of the worth and value of learning for it is written that hee was the wisest and most learned prince in the world in those times as Berosus also alloweth when he thus sayth Samothes qui Dis vocatur Celtas colonias fundavit nec erat quis etate illa isto sapientior ac propterea Samothes dictus est Among other his rules of Philosophie and learning one was beeing the cheefest hee taught the people That the soules of men were immortall which before they hardly beleeved as men dwelling in the shade of ignorance and invelloped with darke mists of errour After he had thus established lawes and ordinances for the good governement of his country and all his people enjoying peaceably the fruits of quietnesse after the end of seven and fortie yeares he rendered up unto Nature that debt which could not be any longer kept backe and detained and left his eldest sonne called Magus inherit or unto his kingdome and governement which was in the one and fiftieth yeare of the raigne of Nynus the third king of Babylon and when his father Samothes had commaunded that countrey sevenscore five yeares being at his death about three hundred yeares of age or much thereabout This Samothes was of that esteeme in those dayes and so generally reverenced and loved for his vertues through all that countrey that the Gaulois or Frenchmen even unto the time of Iulius Caesar boasted and gloried of nothing so much as that they were descended and issued from him so highly was he possest of the peoples hearts in the greatest opinion of truest love the which thing also Iulius Caesar in the sixt booke of his Commentaries more copiously remembreth In his time also the sects of Philosophie first tooke their beginning and originall in Europe and were called Samothees which were men studied and expert in all letters humane and divine contrarie to the opinion of many who write that Greece was the first mother and bringer forth of arts and sciences But Diogenes Laertius in the beginning of his booke entituled The lives of the Philosophers contradicteth those suppositions saying Philosophiam à Barbaris initia sumpsisse complures
speake of more than that hee begat a son called Iupiter Celtes the ninth king of Fraunce and father to the faire and beautious gyantesse Galathea whom before wee so largely spoke of and remembred And it is by computation and due reckoning found that since the first Saturn and king of Fraunce called Samothes surnamed Dis unto the raign of Iupiter Celtes were about four hundred years And now having thus lineally drawne the succession of every king of this countrey since the first inhabitation thereof untill this Iupiter Celtes and so consequently unto his sonne in law Hercules of Lybia now the tenth king of Fraunce we will proceed with him now employed about his affaires in Italie and with his issue and posteritie as it is delivered by authours of great worth learning and authoritie It hath been before somewhat touched how Hercules passing through those mountainous places of the countrey of Savoy at length arrived in Italie where having a puissant armie hee presently fell to wars with the Gyants called Lestrigones most bloudie cruell and oppressive tyrants and the murderers or consenting aidants unto the death of his father Osyris surnamed Iupiter Iustus With these powerfull commaunders in that countrey he entertained many fights and found them very resolute prepared to endure the uttermost of his mightinesse and strength yet in the end after a ten yeares wars he victoriously triumphed over them and utterly razed out all their issue and posteritie whatsoever and the place wherein his last battell against these Gyants was fought in retaineth still his old name and is yet called The valley of the Gyants which is hard adjoyning unto the cittie called Tuscanella in Tuscania These civile intestine broiles being thus valiantly and successefully appeased Hercules remained a quiet and peaceable possessor of all the countrey of Italie wherein he raigned and continued for the space of twenty yeares much about the time that his father Osyris his grandfather Cham and his great grandfather Noe had there commaunded in which time hee bestowed many gracious and commodious good turnes upon the people of that countrey and built and erected many gallant and famous cities although the most part of them bee at this day by the all consuming tyrannie of Time ruinated spoiled and decayed He also at this time caused the Island of Sardinia to be peopled frequented and inhabited which untill that time lay wast depopulate and barbarous and in this place hee appointed a ruler called Iolaus to commaund as under him that countrey and those people so committed unto him Hee likewise caused through most part of Italie especially in the moorish wettest places thereof many ditches and trenches to bee cast up that thereby the palludious meres and standing lakes might find passages to emptie their flouds and that the fields and bastures by that meanes might be preserved drie and be made more fit for agriculture tillage and other necessarie encreases for the generall profit and good of all the whole countrey thereabouts and of him the river Arnus taketh name for Hercules was also surnamed Musarnus and he lived for the most part of the time that he spent in that countrey in a cittie called Fesula in Tuscania which citie even at this day though not in that glory as heretofore giveth the armes of Hercules Italie being thus freed from the servitude wherein it lived of those ungodly and uncivile Gyants and beeing now brought to a generall quietnesse ease and prosperous estate Hercules determined with himselfe to send for both of his eldest sonnes to establish the one in the principalitie of Italie the other in the kingdome of France and hee to take his journey once againe into Spaine to which countrey hee was much addicted there to live privately and to spend the rest of his yeares to come in peace pleasantnesse and in all content Whereupon hee dispatched messengers to his wife Galathea then remaining in Fraunce as hath been before spoken of to send him presently his sonne Galatheus being now of mans estate and very able to beare armes Other messengers were dispatched into Scythia now called Tartaria there to seek out his eldest sonne Tuscus then remaining with the queene Araxa queene of Scythia inhabiting those countries which lie upon the floud Tanais and by the moores and water-lakes called Meotides Vpon the commandement of king Hercules Galathea his wife presently sent unto him his son Galatheus into Italie accompanied with the greatest men of Fraunce who was very joyously welcommed unto his father with great feasts and signes of gladnesse for he was now growne up unto a gallant big proportion of bodie and comely feature and was also of a very gentle and gracious disposition mild in his demeanures and yet majesticall and of a spirit-promising aspect throughout all his countenance Not long after him arrived his elder brother Tuscus from Tartaria who also was of a mightie corpulencie and extraordinarie large stature whom indeed Hercules had begot in the very prime of his youth and vigorous lustinesse Vpon the meeting of these two a great court or assembly of great lords and princes was held in all pompe glorie and magnificence where in the presence of all the noble Lords and Barons of diverse countries and governments as of Aegypt Lybia now called Affrica Spaine Fraunce Italie and Tartaria with great solemnities rites and ceremonies Tuscus was created and established the sole king Saturne and commaunder of all the countrey of Italie and hee was there invested in the dignitie of Ceritus that is as much to say as Iupiter crowned or Patriarke of Tuscania the yonger brother Galatheus aged about six and thirtie yeares or thereabouts was preferred also at that time unto the rule and governement of the kingdome of Fraunce All which ceremonies were performed with great triumph state and royaltie and kept in the citie of Viterba in the yeare after the universall inundation of the world six hundred and five and twentie before the foundation of Troy ninescore and one yeares and before the incarnation of Christ a thousand six hundred fortie eight These things thus solemnely consummated and Hercules voluntarily dispossessing himselfe of these two such imperiall crowns After he had delivered some instructions principles of good government to these new erected kings Tuscus and Galatheus after a generall conge of them all he took his journey towards Spaine to the great discontent and greese of all the cheefe Barons and also of the Plebeians throughout all the countrey of Italie but beeing now arrived in Spaine he found his son Hâ—spalus which hee himselfe had before established in that kingdome to be dead who had reigned onely seventeene yeares and that after him succeeded his nephew Hispanus the seventeenth king of Spaine and the first of that name who called the country after his owne name Hispania which name it ever since hath retained for before that time it was called Hâ—beria This Hispanus raigned afterwards some two and thirtie yeares
in the kingdome of Spaine he appointed one of his sonnes to reign called Sicorus which was now by just account the foureteenth king thereof When these things were thus done he went also into Sicilia as Galatheus before had done and there for a while he rested himselfe till at the length he returned againe backe into Italie wherin afterwards he lived many yeares This Italus Atlas by his descent was of the linage of Iaphet and of his sonne Comerus Gallus the first king of Italie and it was hee which according to the opinions of many excelled most of all men then living in the knowledge of Astrologie for which cause the busie Poets fained that he supported and upheld the heavens with his shoulders Altheus all this while was suppressed and kept under by the mightinesse of this ruler by reason whereof hystories cannot speake of any worthie matter done or performed by him onely it is written he builded and erected two very large and beautifull cities one of them called Alteta the other Althea with a castle also called after the same name And this Altheus the sonne of Tuscus before specified was uncle unto Dardanus the first builder and founder of Troy Hee had also a sonne called Blascon but it is not read that hee was afterward Coritus that is king of Italie or commanded in any extraordinary power and authoritie but that this Atlas Italus created and established one of his owne sonnes called Morges in the dignitie and office thereof wrongfully disinheriting the true heires that might lawfully have challenged the same so that by this unjust meanes of usurpation greatnesse the line and issue of Hercules was debarred from the possessing and enjoying of what rightfully belonged unto them Also he created and appointed his daughter called Rhoma as dutchesse and commaundresse of the people and nation called Aborigines of whome heretofore wee something spoke of And this Rhoma was afterward maried to a prince of Tuscane of whom she had a son called after her owne name Rhomanessos who was the first that ever laid the first foundation of the citie of Rome as Sempronius very confidently affirmeth condemning all those which attribute the first founding thereof unto Romulus who sayth hee indeed beautified and enlarged the same but was not the first that laid the foundation thereof and that his name Romulus being himselfe found hard by that cittie by wonderous accident tooke his name of Roma and not Roma of Romulus as the above written authour Sempronius a very sufficient writer and some others also of allowed authoritie have averred the same And the interpretation of this word Rhomanessos as S. Ierome the Talmudists and many others doe expound it is as much as Magna aut potens sublimitas a mightie or powerfull height or glorie beeing compounded of two severall words of the Aramean language Roma which interpreted signifies sublimitas and Nesson which is validum or magnum or as some understand it it signifieth validum augurium which is a strong and infallible prophecie which indeed the exceeding greatnesse all subjugating power mightinesse of that Empire did afterwards very fitly answer and make good being raised unto that infinit greatnesse and highest perfection of soveraignetie that it impelled almost the greater part of the world to sue unto her for favour and to become tributarie in great taxes and impositions unto her seat magnificence And this citie also was called long after by the name of Valentia of which now wee will cease further to entreat returning to the matter before handled of Atlas surnamed Italus now flourishing and commaunding over Italie in great puissance glorie and mightinesse who although as it is alreadie before specified he bore great affection favour and love unto his sonne Morges and had established him in the regaltie and kingdome of Italie as Coritus yet hee began in the end to thinke and meditat with himself how apparent and monstrous wrongs and indignities hee had offered to all the issue and posteritie of Hercules in expelling Altheus and depriving his sonne Blascon of his right in the principalitie of that countrey in those thoughts and humors hee caused to be called unto him Camboblascon the sonne of the beforementioned Blascon the sonne of Altheus and in lieu and recompence of all former and forepassed injuries hee gave unto him one of his owne daughters in mariage and matrimoniall association who was called Electra with whome in dowrie hee gave all those townes and countries lying about the Alpes and the hether mountaines nearest confining upon Italie and upon this presently after died After whose death his sonne Morges possessed belike with holy and religious cogitations acknowledging the mightie wrong and disparagement which his father had imposed on his brother in law Camboblascon in depriving him of his rightfull succession willingly and voluntarily despoiled himselfe of his crowne and commaund and transferred it upon Camboblascon whom presently hee caused to bee created and established in the dignitie of Coritus that is the Iupiter or king of Italie and so after that contented himselfe to live privately and obscurely with his brother in law and sister Electra with whome hee had not many yeares lived and conversed but hee died and paied Nature that debt which no sureties can put off or be bound for and so then Camboblascon was with more generall allowances of the people fully invested in his office and place of Coritus which is as much to say as Iupiter Coronatus as I have alreadie made known and which I cannot almost too often expound in that many have made so many and severall doubts and scrupules What these Iupiters Saturnes and Hercules might meane which names indeed are nothing else but titles of honour superioritie and dignitie and Iupiter was such as in Aegypt Pharoa and in Rome Caesar and as now their Pope for Iupiter is as much as Iuvans pater and Papa Pater patrium And whereas the superstitious people in those dayes honored and reverenced them as gods it was nothing else but for some excellencie and great dignitie they possessed or for some great vertue learning and knowledge they were then endued with as Fabius Pictor and Zenophon have delivered the same saying Principes quia iusti erant religionibus dediti iure habiti dij dicti Non enim arbitria illorum ab equo vel populis à iure innato discedebant Now then having satisfied that point we may the more boldly proceed with our intendment and with the matters of this Camboblascon king of Italie and Iupiter and Patriarke thereof and the great father as they say of the famous and renowmed Trojans And this king built the faire cittie of Montoblascon in Tuscania which by corruption is now called and knowne by the name of Montflascon and another also which hee named Coritus now called Cornete which is situated about some fortie miles from the now mightie cittie of Rome And this Camboblascon had by his wise Electra
the daughter of Atlas Italus king of Italie three children which are these Iasius Dardanus and Armonia Iasius being created Coritus and Patriarke of Italie his father being alive who also bestowed upon him the rule and kingdome of Fraunce as many hystoriographers affirm the next yeare after so that he became very mightie and powerfull in all those countries thereabouts And now we will proceed with the rest of the kings of Fraunce beginning where we last left of which was if it bee remembred at Galatheus the noble sonne of Hercules of Lybia and of his faire wife Galathea where it was then mentioned how this Galatheus at the hands of his loving brother Tuscus received the Island of Sicilia and accordingly caried with him people to inhabite and possesse the countrey which being performed he returned also back again into Fraunce as hath been likewise before somewhat touched after which time hee lived peaceably and quietly many yeares governing his people with great mildnesse and clemencie and yet mingled and accompanied with uprightnesse of justice and execution of his laws and edicts of whose deeds and performances more than are alreadie spoken of few or no writers have mentioned onely that of him and of his name the countrey generally was called Gaule and so continued and the people therof tearmed Gaulons which by corruption and overturning of many ages and times are now in some part of that countrey called Wallons and which before Galatheus were called Samothei or Celti And it is most likely by the conjecturall opinions of most writers that this king Galatheus remained and lived in those dayes for the most part in that part of Gaule which is now the province of Acquitaine which is so called of the abundance of waters and rivers wherein that countrey was wont to exceed and that this place was held to be the first and most auncient of all the other parts of Fraunce which indeed are onely two more for that the whole countrey of France is by most devided onely into three parts and they are called Gallia Acquinatica Celtica and Belgica which of themselves retaine and carie the very names of the first kings and rulers of them as before is something specified The cheefe citties and principall siegnories of Gallia Aquinatica The cheefe cities of Gallia Acquinatica are supposed and held to bee these as most auncient writers doe consent Narbon Thoulouse Caours Rodetz Lymoges Perigort Bourdeaulx Zainctes Augolesme Baione Clermont Bourges Tours Foix Lestore Allebreth Saint Pons Nantes Resnes Saint Malo and others The cheefest rivers and waters these Gironde Dordonne Garonne Loire Lalier Cher Charente many others now too long to recite After the death of the famous and most renowmed prince Galatheus his sonne Harbon tooke upon him the governement of the countrey and was established the twelfth king of Fraunce who presently erected and built a very gallant cittie for his seat and called it Harbonne after his owne name which is now called Narbonne as many authours doe affirme And of this king little or nothing is left written memorable or meriting a tedious commemoration or rehearsall onely hee left behind him a son called Lugdus which was now the thirteenth king of this countrey of Fraunce and who built the famous citie called Lugdunum called also Lyon which is now one of the cheefest and principallest cities of France and which hath long time flourished in great priviledges prerogatives and extraordinarie customes beeing a citie indeed tres-auncient and of long continuance and of her name all that province is called Lyonnoise which as some hold is contained within the bounds of Gallia Celtica and is the greatest and the cheefest part thereof The first foundation building of the cittie of Lyons in Fraunce And this citie of Lyons was first founded and erected by the same king Lugdus in the twelfth yeare of the raigne of Mancaleus the foureteenth king of Babylon which is as much to say as after the floud inundation of the whole world sixe hundred and fourescore yeares after the first inhabiting of Fraunce five hundred and sixteene yeares before the foundation of the cittie of Troy one hundred and fortie yeares and before the now famous citie of Paris was erected two hundred and twentie years before Rome was built five hundred threescore and eighteene yeares and before the incarnation and birth of our Saviour Christ a thousand sixe hundred seven and thirtie yeares or neare thereabouts And in the times of this king Lugdus arrived and came into Fraunce the queene Isis who was so famous and so renowmed throughout all the world After this Lugdus succeded his eldest sonne Belgius now the foureteenth king of that countrey whose name is yet even fresh in all mens memories for of his name that great and populous countrey called Gallia Belgica tooke her title and was so called of which as of the other we will now make some mention The cheefest rivers and waters thereof are these Lescault la Sambre le Lis le Rin Meuse and Moselle Saine Marne Somme le Daulx and others the cheefe woods and forrests these Mormault and Ardenne The highest hils and mountaines are the hill Saint Claude les Faucsilles and Vosegus The principall villages and greatest citties are these Cambray Vallenciennes Couloign Conflans Vtrecht Mayence Strasbourg Aix Constance Lyege Tournay Arras Amiens Beauvais Senlis Laon Noyon Soissons Meaulx Rouan Rains Metz Langres Besancon Salins Dole Losanne Geneve and Camberi The cheefe siegnories are these the Dukedomes of Iulliers Cleves Cheldes Brabant Lorraine Bar Lembourg and Luxembourg the counties Palatine Haynau Bourgoigne Ferretes Montbeliard Flaunders Artois Champaine Holland Zeland and Namur This king Belgius of whome all these gallant and most famous countries were thus called builded also the citie of Belges of which now only some ruines and reliques of memorie are left which are to be seene in the countrey of Haynau and which Iulius Caesar likewise in the sixteenth booke of his Commentaries doth mention remember where he calleth it Belgium This word Belgius as many old writers expound it signifieth in the Hebrew or Phenician language which toung the ancient Gauloys then used as much as An auncient god wrastling for in those times as I alreadie have spoken the people called their kings gods by which it may be gathered that this their king Belgius was a great wrastler unto which kind of exercise and unto the barriers the people inhabiting in Gallia Belgica did not long since wonderfully much addict themselves were very active and skilfull therein howsoever at this day those sports for the most part are now utterly left off and rejected S. Ierom sayth also That this word Belga signifieth in the Hebrew tongue An auncient commotion or an old strife and indeed heretofore those people of that country were much conversant in wars in troubles and dissentions and were held to bee the most valiant and strongest nation of this part of the world as Caesar also
Manethon Iohannes Annius and Iacques de Bergame have written and very plainely approved the same Laomedon beeing slaine Titonus succeeded next after him but he being of another disposition resigned his interrest therein and betooke himselfe to travell into straunge countries even unto the Indies where according to Diodorus Siculus hee maried a ladie called Ida and as the Poets write Aurora of whome hee afterwards had a sonne called Memnon who long after came unto the succour of Priamus in his cheefest warres and was there slaine by the hands of Achilles In the absence therfore of his brother Tython Priamus took upon him the government and charge of that kingdome being the second son unto Laomedon their father who in short time came to bee one of the greatest and most famous princes of the world for it is written that he was wondrous wise discreet and valiant and matcht his children with persons of great sort worth and dignitie And for to make him at the first the stronger and that he might have time to reedifie his late spoyled and fire perished cittie hee entered into alliance and fast kindred with a very mightie and powerfull prince neare adjoyning upon his country who was called by the name of Cypseus or as some hold Dymas king and sole commaunder of Thrace which is a province in Greece on this side of the sea Hellespont whereof the cheefe cittie is at this day Constantinople and with this Cypseus or Dymas his daughter called Hecuba hee maried a ladie accomplisht with all exteriour graces and inward vertuous dispositions at which espousals of Priamus and Hecuba great ceremonies and signes of joyfulnesse were showne foorth and observed and of this ladie it is writ that he begot nineteen children male and female and of other women and concubines which he dayly kept and maintained in his pallace according to the fashions and usances in those daies hee had one and thiâ—tie more so that onely nineteene of his fiftie sonnes and daughters were legitimate and lawfully begotten the rest bastards and illegitimate That Priamus in all had so many children which indeed hee publickely maintained and shamed not to acknowledge Virgil also in the second booke of his Aeneidos thus sayth Quinquaginta illi thalami spes tanta nepotum And Homer likewise in the last booke of his Iliads most plainely seemeth to confirm the same Troy now thus most gallantly flourishing newly fortified repaired enlarged enriched enpeopled throughly provided and stored of all manner of things which might bee necessarie either for the use of fatall warres and open hostillities or for the conservation of peace domesticke tranquillitie began to assume unto her selfe a mighty and glorious selfe-conceit and strong opinion of her owne power height and magnificence assuring her selfe of all victorious prevailements over her enemies whatsoever and of a never failing prosperitie glorie and felicitie and yet it is not writ that Priamus himselfe was puft up with any more extraordinarie pride or insolencie than became the greatnesse of so puissant a prince It is writ also that in the times of this his greatest power he was forewarned by certaine Oracles and false gods which they used to worship in those daies that so long as hee did preserve and safegard three things belonging unto the cittie the towne should bee inexpugnable and never to bee lost as Servius and Boccace have written of the same the things were these The image of Pallas called Paladium preserved undefaced The sepulchre or tombe of Laomedon which was under the great gate Scea kept undespoiled whole and so long as the life of Troylus lasted and did endure Priamus therefore very carefull to keep these three things with all diligentnesse and heed lived in the greatest pompe delicacie and state that ever any prince in the world in those times did or could so that he seemed not onely to bee king of Phrygia but also cheefe dominator and emperour of all Asia now called Natalia or Turkie and hee was called also in those times The king of kings as Strabo in the thirteenth booke of his Geographie to the same purpose thus sayth Priamus magno ex parvo Rex Regum effectus And these his powers and authorities not onely extended and stretcht themselves abroad throughout the maine continent and firme lands of all those countries thereabout round but in the end shewed themselves also and possessed their maister of many famous and great Islands lying farre in within the bosome and embracement of the uncivile and rude behaviored sea as the Island of Tenedos and the Island of Metelyn were subject and vassalized unto the governement of his imperious principallitie paying him yearely tributes taxes and impositions and many others also of great same adjoyning neare thereabout so that the infinite greatnesse and large commaund of this thrice mightie emperour Priamus possessed all the princes and rulers of countries neare that way with astonied admiration and wonderous maze of his so suddaine and unexpected puissancie And thereupon sent and dispatched messengers from all quarters to crave his amitie friendship and to be in league with him as also to bee nearer allied unto him in some matches and marriages of their children on both sides by reason whereof Priamus matched his children with great houses and of great power and possessions First hee married one of his legitimate and lawfully begotten daughters called Creusa unto a prince of great meanes named Aeneas the sonne of old Anchises his daughter Astyoche hee matched with one Telephus a mightie king of Mysia and his sonne Hector joyned in matrimonie with Andromacha the faire daughter of Ection the powerfull and famous king of Thebes and Silicia and Polydamas one of the sonnes of Anthenor married with one of Priamus daughters beeing a bastard and begotten of one of his concubines beeing of an excellent and singular beautie called Lycasta So also manie others of his children were linked and joyned in marriages with men of great rule power and commaund in those dayes the posteritie of which and of their deedes and mightinesse hereafter in some other place and oportunitie occasion may bee presented further to speake of And for this time beeing indeed forced by an extraordinarie occasion I must thus on the suddaine abruptly breake of desiring and wishing very earnestly that if this small peece of paines of mine shall fortune ever to bee publickely impressed which leaving behind mee it will not bee in my power to prevent it may indifferently passe uncensured till the returne of his fortune beaten father may aunswere for the innocencie of the child and bee able a little better to protect him in his afflictions And thus it hath beene with great care and diligence laboured to find out the truest Hystorians for the deriving of Dardanus and consequently this king Priamus from the race and line of the first prince and Patriarke Noe with the particular successions of kings and emperours of Europe as hath beene warranted by the authorities and writings of very learned and authenticke authours Tempo è figliuola di verita FINIS