some words of comfort there Bare words saith she will never cure my care If Jove could his paternity enlarge Sans use of wife and both our parts discharge Why may not I as well a mother be Without his help and breed with chastitie All charms and mixtures both in land and seas I 'll search and trie and grope the Stygian lees She still talk'd on My looks my doubt betray'd O Nymph cries she thy looks do promise aid Thrice I resolv'd to speak and thrice I held Great Joves sad anger me with trouble fill'd I pray thee help said she Thy act most sure Shall be conceal'd to this I Styx adjure A flower said I sent from th' Olenian fields Will do the deed but one my garden yields The giver bade me touch a barren Cow 'T will make her breed I try'd and it did so I pluck'd the flow'r and touch'd her with it she With touch of it conceiv'd immediately Now to Propontis left-hand doth she turn And Thrace being big with child where Mars was born Who still remembring of his birth by me Thou in our town shalt have a place said he Nor think my power soft garlands onely yields It doth extend as well to corn-sown fields If Corn blooms well the harvest will be rich If Vines bloom well 't will make the branches stretch If Olives bloom well 't is chearly yeare Both Plumbs and Apples their successe have here If blooms be nip'd both Beans and Pease decay And forrein Nilus Lentils fade away Wine also flow'rs laboriously tunn'd up In buts and thick clouds swim about the top Hony is mine the Hony-bees I set On Thyme and Lilyes and the Violet We also sport the fragrant flow'rs among When strength is sound blouds fresh and bodies young This her discourse in silence I admire Saith she Speak freely if you ought require Lady said I thy Games first pedigree Relate I ceas'd And she replies to me The other tools of Luxury unfound That man was rich that Cattel kept and ground Hence Locuples and hence Pecunia came But now each man anothers wealth did claim The custome was to feed the peoples Commons Without controllment they long time were no mans Sans law the people did their Commons keep He was a churl that by himself fed sheep This liberty the Publick Aediles made For th' Commons Men before no courage had Some Judges took the cause in hand and fin'd The wrongfull Honours to their place were joyn'd Part of the fine to me was contributed And with applause my Games were instituted Plac'd on the hills side then a cliff huge tall Now 't is good way which ye Publicius call I thought her Games had every yeare been plaid She did deny it and again thus said We joy in honours both of Feasts Fires Fanes We Deities are all ambitious trains Men have with sinnes incens'd the Gods ofttimes Then flatter'd them with offrings for their crimes Oft have I seen Jove hurling his fire-storm At sight of incense hold his threatning arm But if contemn'd the wrong we do require With heavy vengeance and exceed in ire See Meleager burn'd with absent brand ' Cause Dian's altar did neglected stand The same Pow'rs weapons Niobe afflicted A Maid yet twice reveng'd her hearths neglected Hippolytus when torn with frighted steeds How fain would he have honour'd Venus deeds 'T were long to tell the errours of this kind My self once slipp'd out of the Romanes mind What should I do how shew my discontent What damages should my disgrace invent Sad I my office cast aside I varnish'd No meads each garden lay unpriz'd ungarnish'd The Lilies dy'd the Violets dry'd away The strings of ambre-Saffron did decay Oft cry'd my Zephyr O do thou not spoil Thy dow'r My dow'r to me was then but vile The Olive-blooms were nipp'd by tetchy wind Corn-blooms the hailstones did to pouder grind The Vine was hopefull but the South did frown And forced show'rs did beat the blossomes down I would not be nor is my wrath extreme But I then car'd not for protecting them The Fathers met and should the yeare well flower An annuall feast they vow'd unto my Power I yielded to their vow To me my Playes Two Consuls Lenas and Posthumius raise I would have ask'd why such licentious jests And wanton sports were used in her feasts But I bethought me She 's no Power austere But all her gifts are for delight and chear Brows are embroydered with spruce garlands sew'd And tables cover'd with fresh roses strew'd The bouzy guest deck'd with a film-film-flower crown In drunken garb there dances up and down And 's head with oyl and flow'rs and wine well-lin'd He Catches sings at 's Sweet-hearts doore unkind Crown'd temples meddle with no serious matter Nor are flow'rs us'd in drinking of fair water Till Achelous temper'd was with wine Flow'rs in their drinking men did never joyn Flow'rs Bacchus loves Ariadne's crown can tell That flow'rs and garlands please him passing well Scenes mirthfull please her She does not belong Not she believe me to the Tragick throng But why do Strumpets in these joviall playes The mymicks act I easily learn'd the cause She 's none of those same grave and stately Dames To vulgar people she allows her games And bids then use Youth's flow'r before 't is worn The Rose once wither'd men despise the Thorn But why said I since Ceres is in white Art thou in particolour'd garments dight Is 't ' cause her harvest hath that onely hue And in thy flow'rs all colours are to view She becken'd From her head the flow'rs dropp'd down As thick as roses on a table strown The Lights remain'd whose cause was yet conceal'd To clear my ignorance she the cause reveal'd Because my Flowers shine in purple rayes Therefore these Tapers well do suit my dayes Or ' cause my Flow'rs in colours bright do shine As well as Flames and both attract the eyne Or ' cause Nights freedome to my sports agree Let this last reason best accounted be One thing more briefly I have yet to say If I may ask said I. Said she You may Why is the dastard Goat and frightfull Hare For Lions fierce presented in a snare Not woods but gardens are our interest Sayes she Our fields scarce see a savage beast All ended thus She vanish'd presently And left an odour of her Deity That Naso's name may flourish with his measures O strew his fansie with thy flow'ry treasures The third night after Chiron in his course Draws forth his Starres half-man and half a horse Aemonian Pelion to the South inclines Whose sides with Oaks whose head is clad with Pines Here just old Chiron dwelt as fame doth say His caves old trunk remains still to this day He did instruct in numbers Lyricall Those hands which after were great Hector's fall Alcides with the most part of his toils Now well accomplish'd thither comes the whiles Here met by chance were those two fates of Troy The great Tirynthian and
beasts to hide Amid this field few herds and men display Among the woods the rest in ambush lay Lo like a torrent puff'd by sudden storm Or banks of snow dissolv'd by Zephyrs warm O're corn and hedges it doth range and rage Nor can the banks its luxury asswage Even so the Fabii range about the field And fearing nought whoms'ere they met they kill'd O whither royall brood O trust them not Right noble bloud beware their treacherous plot Fraud murders valour th' ambushment unseen Rush into open fields and hemme them in What could so few against ten thousand swords What help was there which misery affords Like as a boar chas'd by a cry of hounds The yelping curs with thundring tushes wounds Yet falls at last so they with vengeance die And take and deal their wounds alternately One day the Fabii did in arms array In arms array'd they all were slain one day 'T is said the Gods provided that some seed Might still be left in this Herculean breed For one young stripling of the Fabian race Unfit for feats of arms surviving was Which Maximus was thee to propagate Who by delaying didst restore the State Three constellations near the Snake the Crow And then the Cup that 's couch'd between the two In th' Ides they are conceal'd but next night rise We 'll tell the cause of their societies It chanc'd that Phoebus gave to Jove one day A solemn feast My tale shall make no stay Go Bird that nothing may be wanting bring Quoth he some water from a running spring The golden tanker in his claws the Crow Takes and through aire with waving wings doth row A fig-tree full of figs yet green there stood He pecks off one it was not fit for food His errand slighted he among the twigs Sits loyt'ring till the season rip'd the figs Then fills his crop and catching up a Snake Comes to his Master and this lie doth make Lo here my let the springs usurper who Kept me from water and my duty too D' you adde a lie to this vile trick of your Dare you delude an all-beholding Power For this no water shalt thou drink quoth he Whiles figs in ripening hang upon the tree This Phoebus said Crow Snake and Cup all shine Near-neighbouring stars the deeds eternall signe The third day next the Ides Luperci bare Run and horn'd Faunus rites solemniz'd are Relate ye Muses their originall And whence derived to the Romane wall The old Arcadians much did Pan adore Who but S r Pan in all Arcadia's shore Stymphalian waters green Pholoe And swift-stream'd Ladon may my witnesse be Pine-stately Nonacrine the same doth know And high Troezene and Parrhasian snow Hards Groves Springs Pans power there did keep Pan had large offrings for protected sheep His countrey Gods Evander did translate To this our city then a city's plat Thence we that God with Grecian rites adore Here 's still Joves Flamen as was there of yore Why run they then about you ask so fast Why run they naked all their clothes off-cast The God himself o're mountains doth delight To runne and force men to a sudden flight The God self-naked naked makes his frie Clothes are a hindrance to agility Before Joves birth Arcadians till'd the land They say that nation e're the Moon did stand At first rude Boores devoyd of wit and art Like bruits unexercis'd in reasons part Boughs were their house roots were the food they knew With both their palms for drink they water drew No oxen panted at the crooked plow No landlord as his own a field did ow No horse was us'd legs were in stead of steed Sheep wooll for none but for themselves did breed With bodies naked they the aire indur'd To nipping frosts and sturdy storms inur'd Therefore they naked runne in signe and honour Of hardinesse and that old bare-skinn'd manner Yet for the chief cause why Pan doth detest All clothes Tradition tells a merry jest Perchance Tirynthius by his Sweet-hearts side Walk'd whereas Faunus on a bank them spi'd He eyes and fries and Countrey-lasses cries None for my diet here my Cupid lies The Lydians shoulders with perfumed hair Her breasts with glittring gold begaudy'd were A golden fanne Sols rivall heat repell'd Which Hercules kind hand before her held To Bacchus groves and Tmoles vineyards now They came when Hesper in the West did glow A cave by which there playes a chearfull brook With topazes and pumice arch'd they took Now while the servants had prepar'd the feast In her attire her Hercules she drest She puts on him her purple wast-coat slender And girdle which embrac'd her body tender Her zone's too little and her wast-coats bands He stretches out to thrust forth his huge hands Her bracelets break not made for that intent His huge plaice-foot her pretty sandals rent His weighty club and lions spoils she tries And quiver-weapons of a lesser cise Thus supper ended both themselves apply To sleep and on two severall couches lie Because next day some rites to Joves Wine-sonne They should perform which must be purely done Pan comes What dares not vent'rous love assault In midnight-darknesse to the silent vault He finds the servants clogg'd with wine and sleep And hopes the same clogs did the Lovers keep In comes the Lecher bold romes here and there His groping hands his warie ushers were At last he on the Lady's bed layes hold At first right happy in his venture bold Soon as he touch'd the lions bristly hide He plucks his hand back greatly terrifi'd Then trembling comes again again goes back Just like a traveller that spies a snake Then feels he to the softer-clothed bed Which stood at hand by couz'ning signes misled Up crawls he and on th' hither side lyes down His member stiffer then his horns were grown Mean while the feet he softly doth uncover His thighs with bristly hairs were harsh all over Attempting more Alcides from the couch Throws him quite off down lumps the lustfull slouch Maeonia at the noise for lights doth cry Which brought there make a strange discovery He with his fall much bruised grones and mones And much ado heaves up his heavy bones Alcides laugh'd and all at that night-rover And Omphale laughs at her goodly Lover The God by garments cheated hates them all And none but naked to his rites doth call Muse to these forrein adde our Countrey 's cause And let our steed in his own barriers race A goat to Faunus slain as was the manner Invited neighbours came to that small honour And while the priests th' embowell'd beast do rost On willow-spits about noontide almost The Martiall twinnes and Countrey-lads begun Some sports all naked in the fields and sunne And with swift whorlbats casting stones and darts They exercis'd their bodies strength and parts Behold a Shepherd on a mountain high Help Sirs thieves drive away our beasts doth crie 'T were long to arm two severall wayes both run And Remus first the
more eas'ly come away Who tells me now why Salii in a ring Dance with heaven's Buckler and Mamurius sing Thou Nymph that Dian's grove and spring dost haunt King Numa's Wife teach me thy feast I chaunt A lake much honour'd in religion stale Begirt with woods stands in th' Arician vale Hippolytus whom frighted steeds did tear Was hid herein For whom no horse comes there There tapes on which are many tablets hung To this good Goddesse veil the hedges long Ofttimes have women mistresse of their vows Brought hither lamps with wreaths about their brows Men stout of hand and swift of foot are kings Each king at last his mate to ruine brings A giggling brook doth on much gravel fall I oft have drunk there in a draught but small Muse-lov'd Aegeria yields those waters clear Who was king Numa's Wife and Counseller She first the Peeres too prone to live at ods With laws did temper and the fear of Gods Thence Laws that Strength might not bear al the sway Were made and men their vows did purely pay Wrath laid aside most pow'rfull Peace became ' Mongst Citizens a skirmish was a shame At th' Altars sight the furious man was turn'd And Wine and Wafers on the embers burn'd Behold Heavens Monarch lets his lightning flie Through crouding clouds and rains the welkin drie A flaming citie makes not such a blaze The King and People stood in great amaze The Nymph cries Thunder be n't too much afraid Is placable Jove's ire may be allay'd Yet must the means from Faun and Picus come Two Pow'rs that live within the lands of Rome Yet not without constraint First catch them you And bind them sure And then she tells him how A black grove stood beneath mount Aventine At whose first sight you 'ld say 'T is sure divine I' th' midst of which a pure perpetuall rill O're-grown with mosse from stony veins doth still Here Faun and Picus us'd to drink The King Come hither kills a sheep unto the Spring There sets down wine perfum'd with spice and then Takes up a cave in ambush with his men The wood-Gods to their old wont came the bowls They turn'd off blithe and quench'd their thirsty souls Wine winneth rest From 's cave doth Numa creep And bound them fast while they were fast asleep They rais'd from rest strive much themselves to free The more they strive the more they gyved be Ye Gods cries Numa pardon my bold act Ye know 't no wicked though a subtile fact Tell us which way may thunder be allaid Thus Numa Faunus shook his horns and said Great is thy question We cannot aread This hard precept our pow'r is limited Grove-Gods are we to us the rule is given But of vast Hills Jove orders all in Heaven Him you alone from heaven cannot call down Perhaps you may when our direction's known Thus Faunus said and thus said Picus too But yet said Picus first these cords undo By speciall art Jove charmed you shall see Shall hither come let Styx my witnesse be Unbound they teach them what to do which way To draw down Jove and what strange charms to say We licence have to know a pious pen May chaunt such rhythms unfit for other men Jove is drawn down Hence after-ages all In celebration him Elicius call 'T is said the tops of Aventine did move The earth shrunk down press'd with the weight of Jove King Numa quak'd at heart his bloud affright Ran from his veins his hair stood bolt upright Come to himself Great King of heaven cries he Inform's how thunder may appeased be If we frequent thine altars with pure hand If our petition may with piety stand Jove yields but yet doth in short riddles blind The truth and with dark doubts distracts his mind Cut off a Head cries he It shall be done Replies the King I 'll cut an Onyon Of Man saies Jove I 'll take the hair he cries The soul quoth Jove He Of a Fish replies Jove smiles O Man that canst discourse endure With Gods do this this will my thunder cure But when to morrow's Sunne is rais'd full-fac'd A pledge I 'll give thee that thy realm shall last This said he mounted with a mighty thunder Th' acquainted heavens and left the King in wonder Who streight returns with joy and tells his Lords The passages They scarce believe his words But ye'll believe it if th' event proves true Mark what sayes he to morrow will ensue So soon as Sol to morrow leaves the land Jove gives a pledge that this our realm shall stand All doubtfull part The promise seems too farre The day appears Their faiths suspended are The ground was soft with drops of pearl bedew'd To Numa's gate there flocks a multitude Forth comes the King and takes his maple-throne A mighty crowd all whist about him run The Sunne appears but onely on his brim 'Twixt hopes and fears their beating spirits swim His head with white veil cover'd up he stands And lifts to heaven his God-familiar hands This is the houre of that thy promis'd signe Great Jove cries he confirm those words of thine As thus he pray'd the Sunne was fully rais'd Huge cracks of thunder through the heavens were nois'd Thrice in clear aire he roar'd thrice did he fling His bolts Believe me thoâ—gh a wondrous thing Behold the heaven just in the midst doth ope Down to the ground both Prince and People stoop A shield from thence turn'd with a gentle gale Falls down A shout the welkin clear doth scale He takes it up a bullock first knock'd down Whose youthfull neck a yoke had never known 'T is call'd Ancile ' cause it was par'd round About the brims no corners to be found Then knowing that his kingdomes fate did lie In that by counsel of great policie Of shields like-shap'd he bids to make a dozen That so an errour might the couzener couzen Mamurius a man of great desert As well for manners as his manuall art Perform'd this work To whom the bounteous King As I am true 't is thine ask any thing Now he from dancing had the Salii nam'd Their Arms appointed and their Canto's fram'd Mamurius said I ask no meed but fame At their Songs end let them but sing my name From thence those Priests perform King Numa's grant To that old merit and Mamurius chaunt Would any marry Though you both make speed Deferre't small stay sometimes great good doth breed Arms cause a strife strife wedlock should abhorre The time 's more fit when th' are laid up therefore Jove's Flamen's wife till these dayes be exspir'd Must also go undress'd and unattir'd Now when this Months third night from heaven doth fall One of the Fishes is not seen at all Two Twins they be this to the South inclin'd That to the North both nam'd from either wind When Tithon's Bride her tulip-cheeks bedews And from the Orient porch the fifth day shews Whether the Bear-herd or the Car-man slow He dives the waves