glad of your company and with what speed hee can makes towards her away runnes the woman thinking her sweet heart had leapt downe from the gibbet and followed her after speedes the man as loath to be destitute of companie still crying Stay for me Stay for me but the faster he called the faster she ran feare added to both their hast downe they tumbled often but as quickly they were vp againe still she fled still hee pursued But contrary was the issue of their feares for she neuer looked backe till she came to her owne house where finding the doores open and her husband set at supper for hast tumbled him and his stoole downe one way and the table and meat another hee rising with much adoe askt what the pox she ayled and if she brought the diuel in with her at her taile long it was ere she could make him any answer or come to her right sences how she excused it I knew not the traueller when he found himselfe neere the cittie and saw light slackned his pace and went quietlie to his Inne whether they euer met after to reconcile their mistake or no I know not neither is it much pertinent to inquire A Moderne History of an Adulteresse THe king of Scythia obseruing a man to goe still naked whereas the coldnesse of the clime enforceth them to inquire after sables furres and the warmest garments can be found in a violent and continued snow meeting him demanded of him whether he were not cold Of whom the fellow asked another question Whether his forehead were cold or not The king answered it was not neither can I be cold ô king replide he where custome hath made me all forehead this may aptly allude to many as well in these our dayes as the former in whom sinne hath begot such a habit that where it once possesseth it selfe it compells all the other powers and affections of the body and mind to become ministers and vassailes for sinne wheresoeuer it doth vsurpe doth tyrannise and as we see the dyer when he would staine white cloath and put it into another hew doth it with a small mixture being nothing comparable either in weight or quantitie to the stuffe he would haue changed so bee the mind neuer so chast or the body of neuer so white and vnblemisht a puritie yet if the diuell once come to put in his ingredients with great facilitie and easinesse he will change the whole peece into his owne colour and complexion and of this we haue both daily and lamentable experience and therefore custome is called a second nature for alas how easilie wee see boldnesse grow to impudence and satietie into surfet This puts mee in mind of seauen short questions asked of the seauen wise men of Greece and by them as briefely answered What 's the best thing in man The mind that 's pure What 's worst A man within himselfe vnsure Who 's rich He that nought couets What 's he poore The couetous man that starues amids his store Womans chiefe beautie what Chast life is such Who 's chast She onely whom no fame dares tuch Who 's wise The man that can but acts no ill The foole That cannot but intends it still They that can containe themselues within these few prescriptions may vndoubtedly store vp a good name to themselues and honour to their posteritie But what the neglect of these may grow vnto I will in some sort illustrate vnto you in a moderne Historie lately happening and in mine owne knowledge An antient gentleman as well growne in reputation as yeares and in those parts where he liued hauing purchased to himselfe a generall respect for both marryed a beautifull young gentlewoman of good parts and parentage But hauing no issue by her he selected vnto his acquaintance a noble young gentleman one that had trauelled France Italy Spaine and had beene at the Sepulchre making that happy vse of his trauell that he was able to discourse properly and without affectation either of the scituation of citties or the conditions and customes of people and in one word to giue him his owne deserued character there was nothing in him wanting that might become a perfect and a compleat gentleman This young mans father was a great friend and familiar neighbour to this old man before spoken of who had obserued his modestie and curteous behauior euen from his infancie and therefore was the more affected to his discourse and company his affection grew so farre that he purposed to make him a peece of his heire Whilest they continued in this familiaritie and the young man still frequented the house there grew great acquaintance betwixt him and the gentlewoman No maruell for they had bin play-fellowes and schoole fellowes and by reason of their paritie in yeares vsed though an honest yet a kind of suspected familiaritie insomuch that it grew to a calumnie till passing from one man to another it ariued at length to the eares of the young mans father who sorted opportunitie to talke with his sonne demaunding of him how that fire was kindled from whence this smoke grew who notwithstanding many protestations of his owne innocence in which he derogated nothing from truth was charged by his father to auoid all rumor and aspertion to forbeare the occasion and absent himselfe from the house and this he imposed him vpon his blessing To this the young man with great modestie assented as vnwilling to contradict his fathers counsell as to increase that iniurious suspition concerning the gentlewomans honour which was vndeseruedly called in question It is to be vnderstood that many friendly and modest courtesies had past betwixt this young couple in so much that hauing all libertie granted both of societie and discourse hee prest her vpon a time so farre to know if it should please God to call away her husband being verie old and by the course of nature not likely to liue long how she purposed to dispose of her selfe To whom she protested that though she wisht her aged husband all long life and happinesse yet if it pleased the higher powers to lay the crosse of widdowhood vpon her she would if so hee pleased conferre vpon him her youth her fortunes and whatsoeuer shee was endowed with before any other man liuing if it pleased him to accept of them and this she bound with an oath This the gentleman betwixt honouring and louing her could not chuse but take wondrous kindly at her hands and vowed to her the like The conditions on both sides were accepted onely as shee had bound her selfe by one oath she imposed vpon him another namely that till that time of her widdowhood he should neither associate him priuately conuerse nor contract matrimonie with any woman whatsoeuer These things thus accorded betwixt them yet the fathers coniurations so farre persuaded with the sonnes obedience that notwithstanding many vrgent and important messages from
incertaine course they were driuen neere vnto Paâ—is Epitherses with manie of the other passengers being then awake â— voice was heard from the Island which to the admiration of them all called vpon the name of one Thamus this Thamus was an Aegyptian and his name scarce knowne to any in the ship twice he was cald but aunswered not but at the third summons breaking scilence these wordes with a loude voice were vttered Thamus greatâ—an â—an is dead Epitherses reported that these words put them into an vniuersall feare diuerse arguments being held amongst them and it being long disputed Whether it were necessarie that this command should be performed or omitted But Thamus thus resolued that if the wind stood faire he would not alter his course but passe the Island but otherwise he would deliuer the message according as he was inioyned Comming neere the Palodes their sayles were on the suddaine becalmed for neither wind was felt to blow nor tyde or water perceiued to mooue whith he perceiuing turned himselfe towards the Island and made this lowd acclamation The great god Pan is dead which words were no sooner vttered but a great intermixture of howling yelling and mourning was heard from the Island to the infinite amasement of them all This was done in the presence of so many witnesses that the rumor thereof spread so farre as Rome euen to the eares of Tyberius Caesar by whom Thamus being sent for he related the circumstance in the presence of the Emperour and many learned men all which concluded that this Pan before spoken of was the same who was held to be the sonne of Mercury and Penelope The truth is and agreed vpon by all approoued authours that at the birth of Christ all Oracles ceased and since that time were neuer heard to giue answer vnto any demand whatsoeuer And thus I take leaue of the second Sybill Phoemonoe SYBILLA DELPHICA SHe was called Daphne and said to be the daughter of the Prophet Tyresias many of whose verses Homer is said to assume to himselfe and make them his owne She prophesied of the warres and destruction of Troy Tyrasius was king of Thebes who as some say was strucke blind because he vnawares saw Diana naked bathing her selfe in a fountaine Of whom Ouid speakes in Metamorph. At pater omnipotens c. Omnipotent Ioue did for his losse of eyes Inspire him with the spirit of Prophesies Things future to predict which was I guesse To make his plague seeme in his honour lesse Of him Statius likewise speakes in the second booke of his Thebaiedes Some thinke Daphnis the neateheard who was the first inuenter of the Bucolick verse to be her brother he as Sindus and Vollateranus both auerre was strooke blind because he adulterated a woman in his drunkennesse the circumstance is so set downe by Aelianus He was the darling of Mercury and no sooner borne but laid out vnder a Lawrell tree the kine which he fed were said to be the sisters of the Sunne for so Homer in his Odissaea relates In his flower of youth he was beloued of a beautifull nymph who grew enamoured of him in Sicilia with whom he made a couenant That if euer he cast himselfe into the embraces of any second loue he desired of the Fates that his eyes might for euer loose the benefit of the Sunne Not long after the Kings daughter fell in loue with him whom hee vitiated in the heat of his wine and grew blind soone after Some make him the inuentor of the Beucolicks which others confer vpon Stesichorus Himeraeus But touching Daphne thus Palephatus in his fabulous Narrations speakes of her Terra or the Earth fell in loue with the flood Ladon of their mutuall compression Daphne was begot of her Apollo grew inamoured and layd daylie siege to her chastitie but shee not able to oppose his importunities and willing to preserue her virginitie pure and without blemish petitioned to her mother Earth That she would againe receiue her to conceale her from the Sunne into her bosome from whence shee at first proceeded to whose request her mother condiscended and kept her so long till from her brest shee sprong out a Laurell tree whom Phoebus notwithstanding courted but in vaine The manner of her transportation Ouid with great elegancie relates in his Metamorph. Without this Laurell as some thinke the Tripos in Boetia plac't neere the vaticinating caue cannot be erected All writers confirme a her Sybell and a Prophetesse belonging to the Delphian Oracle howsoeuer the Poets haue fabled Her prophesie was to this purpose An Angell shall descend and say Thou blessed Marie haile Thou shalt conceiue bring foorth yet be A Virgin without faile Three gifts the Chaldaeans to thy sonne Shall tender with much pietie Myrrhe to a Man Gold to a King And Incense to a Deitie SIBILLA CVMAEA SHe was called Cimmeria and was one of Apollo's Priests borne in Cuma a citie of Aeolia Leonard Aretine in his booke de Aquila volante calls her Omeria and would deriue her from Italie Herodotus in his first booke hath left this historie recorded That Pactias the Persian flying for refuge into the citie Cuma hee was demaunded thence by Mazares the great generall but the Cumaeans would not deliuer him vp without aduise from the Oracle There was in those daies an antient and much adored altar sacred to Apollo to which the Aeolaes and the Ionians in all their hesitations repaired for counsell it was scituate in the Milesian fields neere to the port called Panormus to this place were sent men both of birth and trust to demand from the Cumaeans Whether Pactias should bee deliuered vnto the Persians who answered Let him be surrendered vp which when the men of Cuma heard they with a ioynt sufferage concluded to send him thence and to obey the Oracle To which decree Aristodicus the sonne of Heraclius violently opposed himselfe a man amongst the rest at that time most illustrious either not giuing credit at all to the answere or distrusting their fidelitie that brought it therefore hee himselfe with other of the prime citisens prepared themselues for a second expedition these repairing to the Branchidae or Priests of which this Cumaea was one Aristodicus humblie kneeling before the altar thus bespake Apollo Pactyas the Lidian oh king and god to shunne a violent death gaue himselfe into our patronage the Persians redemaund him of the Cumaeans we though we feare not their forces yet dare not surrender vp a suppliant to death who hath tendred his safetie into our hands till wee heare from thee what in this destraction is most fit to be done To these words the Priest as from Apollo returned this answere Let Pactias be deliuered vp to the Persians This done Aristodicus it seemes not well pleased to betray the life of his friend surueying the Temple round he spyde where sparrows and other small birds had builded their neasts who taking away their young was about to
whose feature Hercules being much delighted he hosted there longer than his purpose which Iolaus taking ill Amalthaea out of a horne in which she had hoarded some quantitie of money furnisht Hercules with all things needfull which some strangers taking especiall notice of they rumord it abroad and from thence first grew the Prouerbe But to returne to our Amalthaea Cumana This was she by whose conduct Aeneas had free passage into hell as Virgill expresseth at large in his sixt booke She brought to Tarquinius Priscus those three bookes of Prophesies of which two were burnt and one preserued By which computation comparing the time betwixt Aeneas and Tarquin she could liue no lesse than fiue hundred yeares nor is it altogether incredible since when Liuia the daughter of Rutilius Terentia of M. Cicero and Clodia of Aulus the first liued ninetie seauen yeares the second a hundred and thirtie the third a hundred and fifteene after the bearing of fifteene children Gorgias Leontius the tutor of Isocrates and many other learned men in the hundred and seauenth yeare of his age being asked Why he desired to liue any longer answered Because he felt nothing in his body by which to accuse age Herodotus Pliny Cicero and others speake of one Arganthonius Gaditanus who raigned fourescore yeares being sixtie yeares of age before he came to his crowne Solynus and Ctesias with others auerre that amongst the Aethiopians a hundred and thirty yeares is but a common age and many arriue vnto it Hellanicus testates that the Epians a people of Aetolia attained to two hundred whom Damiates exceedes naming one Littorius that reached to three hundred the like we reade of Nestor I will conclude with Dondones whom Pliny affirmes suruiued fiue hundred yeares yet neuer stooped with age More liberallie speakes Zenophon who bestowes on one of the Latin Kings eight hundred and six hundred vpon his father but I will forbeare further to speake of her age and come to her Oracle Vnto the Assyrian Monarchy we assigne One thousand yeares two hundred thirty nine When thirty six successions shall expire The last his glories pompe shall end in fire Thence to the Meades it transmigrates and they Shall in nine full successions beare chiefe sway Three hundred yeares shall memorise their deeds Wanting iust eight The Persian then succeedes In th' vniuersall Empire which must last Fourteene Kings raigns and then their sway be past Ouer to Greece but ere their light blow out Two hundred fiftie yeares shall come about Adding fiue moneths The Monarchy now stands Transferd on Macedonia who commands The world but Alexander by him is guided The spatious earth but in his death diuided Amongst his captaines Macedon one ceaseth Asia another Syria best pleaseth A third Aegypt a fourth thus lots are cast Two hundred eighty eight their pompe shall last And then expire Great Rome shall then looke hye Whose proud towers from 7. hills shall braâ—e the skye And ouerlooke the world In those blest dayes Shall come a King of kings and he shall raise A new plantation and though greater farre Than all the Monarches that before him are In maiestie and power yet in that day So meeke and humble he shall daine to pay Tribute to Caesar yet thrice happy he That shall his subiect or his seruant be After the death of Alexander the kingdome of Macedonia was successiuelie inioyed by fifteene Kings and indured a hundred fiftie seauen yeares and eight moneths Asia and Syria were gouerned by nineteene Kings and lasted two hundred eightie nine yeares Aegypt was possest by tenne Ptolomies and lastlie by Cleopatra and it continued two hundred eightie eight yeares These Kingdoms fayling the Romans gained the chiefe predominance Of this Sybell S. Isiodore Virgill and Ouid writ more at large she writ her Prophesie in leaues of trees and then plac't them ouer the Altar which when the wind mooued or made to shake they had no efficacie but when they remained firme and without motion they receiued their full power and vertue therefore Dante the famous Italian Poet thus writes Come la neue al sole se distilla Cosi al vento nelle foglie leue Si perdea la sententia de Sibille I cannot here pretermit Ouids expression of this Sybell who when Aeneas hauing receiued from her that great curtesie to enter hell and to come safe thence and for that would haue sacrificed to her done her diuine adoration she thus answered him Nec dea sum dixit nec sacrifuris honore c. I am no goddesse goddesse sonne 't is true Nor are these diuine honours to me due I had beene such and darknesse not haue seene Had I a prostitute to Phoebus beene For whilst he courts my loue and day by day Hopes with large gifts mine honour to betray Aske what thou wilt oh bright Cumaean maide It shall be granted thee Apollo said I willing that my dayes should euer last Prostrate vpon the earth my selfe I cast And graspt as much dust as my hand could hold Let me then liue said I till I haue told So many yeares as there are bodies small Lockt in this hand The god could not recall Nor I vnsay I had forgot in truth To insert in my rash boone All yeares of youth Euen that too to haue yielded to his will I might haue had but I am virgin still Haue to this houre remaind my happier dayes Are all forespent Decrepit age now layes His weake hand on me which I must endure Long time to come seauen ages I am sure Are past nor shall my thread of life be spuune Vntill the number of these sands be runne The houre shall be when this my body here Shall small or nothing to the sight appeare This time and age haue power to doe and when I shall not louelie seeme as I did then Nay doubtlesse Phoebus will himselfe deny That e're he cast on me an amorous eye Saue by my voice I shall no more be knowne But that the Fates haue left me as mine owne Ouid hath fabulated that she was changed into a Voyce the word Sybilla importing Vox She prophesied much of the Roman warres and the successe of their Empire SIBILLA HELLESPONTICA SHe hath the denomination of Marrinensis and as most Authours affirme deriues her selfe Ex agro Troiano from Troy in Asia She sung of the warres betwixt the Troians and the Greekes I will be briefe with her because I feare I haue beene too tedious in the former her Prophesie of Christ I haue included in these few lines When Atlas shoulders shall support a starre Whose ponderous weight he neuer felt before The splendour of it shall direct from farre Kings and Wisemen a new light to adore Peace in those dayes shall flourish and stearne warre Be banisht earth lost mankind to restore Then shall the Easterne Monarches presents bring To one a Priest a Prophet and a King And so much for Sybilla Hellespontica SYBILLA PHRIGIA SHe was called
reward and before all Iustly to be preferr'd That which we call Libertie Life our Parents Children Wealth Our Countrey Reputation Honor Health By this are kept though by the bad despis'd ,All that is good in Vertue is compris'd Moreouer all that are Noble Vertuous Learned Chast and Pious haue their places allotted them aboue when on the contrarie their soules are buried lower in the locall place of torment than their soules that are hayd to sleepe in the graue At the blessednesse of the good and future glorie assigned vnto them Lucan most elegantly aymed at Lib. 9. de Bello Ciuili where hee thus writes Ac non in Pharia manes iacuere fauilla Nec cinis exiguus tantam compescuit vmbram c. Which I thus English In th' Pharian flames the bright Soule doth not sleepe Nor can so small a Dust and Ashes keepe So great a Spirit it leapes out of the fire And leauing th'halfe-burnt members doth aspire And aymes vp to the place where Ioue resides And with his power and wisdome all things guides For now no ayre his subtile passage barres To where the Axle-tree turnes round the starres And in that vast and emptie place which lyes Betwixt vs and the Moone the visible Skyes Th' halfe-godded Soules inhabite such are nam'd There whom bright fierie Vertue hath inflam'd And were of pious life their hopes are faire Made Citizens and Free-men of the Aire And such redeem'd from all that was infected Are now within th' eternall Orbes collected This somewhat more illustrated by the Tragicke Poet Seneca in Hercule Oeteo thus saying Nunquam Stigias fertur ad vndas Inclita Virtus c. To the darke and Stigian shades Vertue when it seeming fades Is neuer borne Then O you chast And valiant though your yeeres may wast No limit Time to that can giue It Death suruiues then euer liue The cruell Fates can clayme no due Nor the blacke Stigian waues in you But when wasted Age hath spent The vtmost minute Time hath lent Then Glorie takes in charge the Spirit And guides it to the place of Merit Let these serue for an encouragement to Vertue and the attayning vnto all commendable Arts and Disciplines by which the Bodie is honoured and the Soule glorified And thus I take leaue of the Female Students in Theologie and Philosophie and now consequently come to the Poetesses may the Muses be fauourable to me in their relation Of Poetrie Horace sayth Et prodesse solent delectare Poetae In Poets there is both pleasure and profit who are for the most part I meane the best studious for the pleasingest phrase and most moouing eloquence From hence it grew that those of the first age first introduced common ciuilitie and humane moralitie amongst men reducing them from irregular and bruitish conditions into a mutuall and well gouerned societie for by pleasant and delightfull language refined from the vulgar Barbarisme they first drew the eares of the ruder people to attention from attention to instruction and by instruction to practise so that in processe of time by their smooth and gentle persuasions illustrated with facunditie and eloquence they brought them from voluptuousnesse to temperance from the fields into houses from liuing in villages to build walled cities and by degrees from edifying of houses for themselues to erect Temples to the gods by whose adoration it impressed a reuerent feare to offend them and so consequently reduced them from rudenesse to a more formall regularitie They were the first that taught them shame and feare shame to seeme bruitish to humanitie feare to appeare inhumane before a deitie They moderated the ferocitie of their mindes by smooth orations profitable documents and learned writings and the more to insinuate into their dull vnderstanding when prose seemed vnto them lesse delightfull they deuised verse and still as one kind grew stale or common they apprehended new and thus that eloquence that before lay loose and skattered was first contracted within feet and number Then when the vulgar seemed lesse capable of deepe Sophismes tending to moralitie and ciuile gouernement and therfore their grauer doctrines appeared to their eares harsh and vnpleasant they dealt with them as carefull fathers vse to doe with their vntoward children when things profitable will not still them they seeke to please them with toyes so the Poets when wholesome foode would not tast their mouths they deuised sweet meates to realish their pallats finding out merrie and delightfull tales best agreeable with their itching eares comprehending notwithstanding golden truths in leaden fables They after instituted good wholesome laws to incourage the good and deiect the bad to raise the vertuous and well disposed to honor and to punish the euill doer either with pennance or shame then came the industrious man to bee first distinguished from the sloathfull and the thriftie from the prodigall things were no more made common euerie man eate of his owne labour and what he earned he might call his owne Hence first grew Industrie without which no common-weale nor publike state can stand And these and much greater were the first fruits of Poetrie now in this age so much despised the vse whereof was antient the apprehension diuine the practise commendable and the name reuerent There is a sympathie and correspondence betwixt Poetrie and Rhetoricke Appollo is god of the first and Mercurie the Mecenas of the second which the ancient writers the better to signifie vnto vs say That Apollo acquainted Mercurie with the Muses and Mercurie in requitall first inuented the Harpe and gaue it to Apollo being the instrument to which the Muses most delighted to sing as if they more plainely would haue sayd A Poet cannot be excellent vnlesse he be a good Rhetorician nor any Rhetorician attaine to the heigth of eloquence vnlesse he hath first layd his foundation in Poetrie They are two excellencies that cannot well exist one without the other Poetrie is the elder brother and more plaine in his condition Rhetorick the younger but more craftie in his profession hence it comes Poets are so poore and Lawyers so rich for they haue made a younger brother of the elder and possesse all the land Besides as much as Apollo is excellent aboue Mercurie as being God of Light of Musicke of Physicke of Arts c. and the other God of Bargaining Buying Selling of Cousening Theeuing and of Lyes so farre doth the first claime due prioritie aboue the second They may be thus distinguished Poets in that which outwardly appeares fabulous colour and shaddow golden truths to their owne painefull studies and labour and to the pleasure and profit of others But many Orators vnder seeming truths apparrell scandalous fictions aymed onely to their owne benefit to the impouerishing of others and many times stripping them out of a faire inheritance I speake of some not all and I honour the Law because I liue vnder it Poets they were the first teachers and instructers the people held them to bee
continued their priuate meetings in so much that custome bred impudence and suspition certaine proofe of their incestuous consocietie At length it comes to the eare of him that had contracted her with attestation of the truth thereof he though he feared the greatnesse of Leucippus his knowne valor and popular fauour yet his spirit could not brooke so vnspeakeable an iniurie he acquaints this nouell to his father and certaine noble friends of his amongst whom it was concluded by all iointly to informe Xanthius of his daughters inchastitie but for their owne safetie knowing the potencie of Leucippus to conceale the name of the adulterer They repaire to him and informe him of the businesse intreating his secrecie till he be himselfe eye-witnesse of his daughters dishonor The father at this newes is inraged but armes himselfe with inforced patience much longing to know that libidonous wretch who had dishonoured his familie The incestuous meeting was watcht and discouered and word brought to Xanthius that now was the time to apprehend them he calls for lights and attended with her accusers purposes to inuade the chamber great noise is made she affrighted rises and before they came to the doore opens it slips by thinking to flie and hide her selfe the father supposing her to be the adulterer pursues her and pierceth her through with his sword By this Leucippus starts vp and with his sword in his hand hearing her last dying shreeke prepares himselfe for her rescue he is incountred by his father whom in the distraction of the sodaine affright he vnaduisedly assaulted and slew The mother disturbed with the noise hasts to the place where she heard the tumult was and seeing her husband and daughter slaine betwixt the horridnesse of the sight and apprehension of her owne guilt fell downe sodainely and expired And these are the lamentable effects of Incest the father to kill his owne daughter the sonne his father and the mother the cause of all to die sodainely without the least thought of repentance These things so infortunately happening Leucippus caused their bodies to be nobly interred when forsaking his fathers house in Thessalie he made an expedition into Creet but being repulst from thence by the inhabitants he made for Ephesia where he tooke perforce a citie in the prouince of Cretinaea and after inhabited it It is said that Leucophria the daughter of Mandrolita grew innamored of him and betrayed the citie into his hands who after maried her and was ruler thereof This historie is remembred by Pâ—rthenius de Amatorijs cap. 5. Of incest betwixt the father and daughter Ouid lib. Metam speakes of whose verses with what modestie I can I will giue you the English of and so end with this argument Accipit obscoeno genitor suà ◠viscera lecto Virgeneosque metus leâ—â—t Hortaturque timentem c. Into his obscene bed the father takes His trembling daughter much of her he makes Who pants beneath him ' bids her not to feare But be of bolder courage and take cheare Full of her fathers sinnes loath to betray The horrid act by night she steales away Fraught that came thither emptie for her wombe Is now of impious incest made the Tombe Next to the sinne I will place the punishment Iacob blessing his children said to Reuben Thou shalt be poured out like water thine excellencie is gone because thou hast defiled thy fathers bed Genes 49. Absolon went in to his fathers concubines and soone after was slaine by the hand of Ioab Kings 2.16 18. Of later times I will instance one Nicolaus Estensis Marquesse of Ferrara who hauing notice that his sonne Hugo a toward and hopefull young gentleman had borne himselfe more wantonly than reuerence and modestie required in the presence of his stepmother Parisia of the familie of Malatestae and not willing rashly either to reprooue or accuse them he watcht them so narrowly by his intelligencers and spies that he had certaine and infallible testimonie of their incestuous meetings for which setting aside all coniugall affection or paternall pittie he caused them first to be cast in strict and close prison and after vpon more mature deliberation to be arraigned where they were conuicted and lost their heads with all the rest that had beene conscious of the act Fulgos. lib. 6. cap. 1. I will borrow leaue to insert heare one remarkable punishment done vpon a Iew at Prague in Bohemia in the yeare 1530 who being taken in adulterie with a Christian woman they compelled him to stand in a tonne pitched within they boared a hole in which they forced him to put in that part with which he had offended iust by him was placed a knife without edge blunted for the purpose and there he stood loose saue fastened by the part aforesaid fire being giuen he was forced through the torment of the heat with that edgelesse knife to cut away that pars virilis and ran away bleeding after whom they set fierce mastifes who worried him to death and after tore him to peeces Lychost in Theatro Human. vitae Of Adulterie THe wife of Argento-Coxus Calidonius being tanted by Iulia Augusta because it was the custome of their countrie for the noble men and women promiscuously to mixe themselues together and to make their appointments openly without blushing to her thus answered I much commend the custome of our countrie aboue yours we Calidonians desire consocietie with our equals in birth and qualitie to satisfie the necessarie duties belonging to loue and affections and that publickely when your Roman Ladies professing outward temperance and chastititie prostitute your selues priuatly to your base groomes and vassals The same is reported to haue beene spoken by a Brittish woman Dion Nicaeus Xiphilin in vita seueri Her words were verified as in many others that I could heere produce so in the French Queene Fredigunda who though she infinitly flattered the King Chilpericus her husband outwardly yet she inwardly affected one Laudricus to whom she communicated her person and honour these in the Kings absence were scarce to be found asunder in so much that Chilperick himselfe could not more freely command her person by his power than the other by his loose and intemperate effeminacies It happened the king being on hunting and leauing the Chase before his houre stole suddainely vpon his Queene and comming behind her as shee was taking her Prospect into the Garden sportingly toucht her vpon the head with the Switch hee had then in his hand without speaking shee not dreaming of the kings so suddaine returne and thinking it had beene her priuate friend without looking backe Well sweet-heart Landricus saith shee you will neuer leaue this fooling and turning towards him withall discouered the king who onely biting his lippe departed in silence Shee fearing the kings distaste and consequently his reuenge sends for Landricus and as if the king had beene the offendor betwixt them two conspired his death and within few