wise man bestoweth vpon Diuine worship is no losse but a gaine vnto him And Ouid speaking of their holy-daies Postera lux oritur linguisque animisque fauete Nunc dicenda bono sunt bona verba die c. The Feast is come your tongues and mindes compell To speake good words this day becomes them well Keepe your eares free from vaine and mad contention Workmen cease worke be free from reprehension And Tibullus vpon the like occasion and argument Luce sacra requiescat humus requiescat Arator c. Vpon the sacred day let the ground rest Nor let it be with the rude Plow opprest Your yokes vnloose of labour there 's no need Let your crown'd Oxen at the manger feed All Holy-daies a priuiledge should win In which let not the handmaid card or spin How people ought to come prepared to their sacrifices and offerings is thus liuely expressed in Ouid Innocui veniant procul hinc procul impius esto Frater in partus Mater c. ¶ Thus interpreted Th' Innocuous hither come Brothers prophane And impious Mothers from this place abstaine He that shall thinke his father liues too long Or that his mothers life may his state wrong The moth'r in law that hates her step-sonnes life And the Tantalidan brothers still in strife Be banisht hence Medea come not here Nor Progne nor her sister let appeare In that choise place where we the gods applaud Nor any that hath gain'd his wealth by fraud So carefull were the Poets to commend Vertue to posteritie and to lay a blacke aspersion on Vice to all perpetuitie that such as were pious and addicted to goodnesse they striued to memorise if not immortalise and those of the contrary that were irreligious and despisers of the gods they laboured in all their Records to expose their liues and actions to aspersion and obloquie For example For their chastitie these were made remarkeable Penelope the daughter of Icarius and wife to Vlysses Evadne daughter to Philax and wife to Capanaeus Laodamia daughter to Acastus wife to Protesilaus Hecuba daughter of Cissaeus wife to King Priamus Theone daughter of Thestor wife to King Admetus And amongst the Romans Lucretia daughter of Lucretius wife to Collatyne c. For their Pietie these Antigona the daughter of Oedipus who gaue sepulture to her brother Polynices Electra daughter of Agamemnon for her loue to her brother Orestes Iliona daughter of Priam for her goodnesse extended toward her brother Polidore and her parents Pelopaea daughter of Thiestes for reuenging the injuries done vnto her father Hypsipilae daughter of Thoas for preseruing the life of her Parent Calciope for not forsaking her father in his miserie after the losse of his kingdome Harpalice daughter of Harpalicus for interposing her selfe in battell preseruing her Father and chasing his enemies Agave the daughter of Cadmus who in Illyria slew the King Lycotherses by which she restored her Father to his kingdome Xantippe who when her father Myconus or as it is read in Valerius Cimonus was shut vp in close prison there to be famished preserued his life with the milke from her brests Tyro the daughter of Salmoneus who to saue her father sacrificed the liues of her owne children c. And of men Damon who snatcht his mother from the fire AEneas for bearing his father on his shoulders through swords and flames Cleops and Bitias or according to Herodotus Cleobis and Biton the sonnes of Cidippe Priest vnto Iuno Argiua for drawing their mother in her Chariot vnto the Temple when her Oxen were absent and the penaltie of her not being there was no lesse than the losse of her life c. Some they haue eternised for erecting of Temples as Pelasgus the sonne of Triopa who was the first that built a Church consecrate to Iupiter Olympius in Arcadia Thessalus reared another to Iupiter Dodonaeus in Macedonia scituate in Molossus Eleuther was the first that erected an image vnto Liber pater and taught how it should be honored Phronaeus the sonne of Inacus was the first that built a Temple to Argiue Iuno Otrira the Amazon and wife of Mars laid the foundation of that in Ephesus and dedicated it vnto Diana Lycaon the son of Pelasgus erected another to Mercury Cillenius in Arcadia c. Some for diuers vettues knowne to be in them they haue immortalised and of men made gods to encourage others by their example As Hercules the sonne of Iupiter and Alcmena for his justice in supplanting Tyrants and Vsurpers Liber Pater or Bacchus the sonne of Iupiter and Semele for being supposed to be the first that planted the Vine Castor and Pollux the sonnes of Iupiter and Laeda and brothers to Helena for their valour and vertue Perseus the sonne of Iupiter and Danaë was for the like translated into a star So was Arcas the sonne of Iupiter and Calisto who first gaue that prouince the denomination of Arcadia related into one of the Septentriones and Cynosura the Nurse of Iuno into another The like we reade of Asclepius the sonne of Apollo Erodine and Ariadne the daughter of Minos and Pasiphae who being forsaken by Theseus in the Isle Naxos and found by Liber Pater was placed amongst the stars by the name of Libera Pan the son of Mercury and Penelope was for his care ouer the herds and flocks made one of those gods called Semones i. Semi homines So Croton the son of Pan Euphemes who was said in his infancie to haue suckt with the Muses was transferred into the star called Sagittary So were Icarus with his daughter Erigone he changed into Arcturus and she into the coelestial Signe Virgo As Ganimed the son of Assaracus into Aquarius c. Others for other causes haue had free ingresse and regresse in and from Hell As Ceres when in her maternall piety she sought her daughter Proserpina and found her in the armes of Pluto Liber Pater when in his filiall duty he made descent to visit his mother Semele Hercules when he brought thence Cerberus Protesilaus to re-visit his wife Laodamia Alceste for her husband Admetus Theseus in search of his deare and entired friend Perithous Orpheus the sonne of Oeagrus to fetch thence his best beloued wife Euridice Castor and Pollux Vlysses and AEneas the one the son of Laertes the other of Anchises to visit their fathers Hippolitus the son of Theseus who was after called Virbius Adonis the sonne of Cymizes and Smirna by the intercession of the goddesse Venus whose Paramour he was Glaucus the sonne of Minos restored to life by Polyidus the sonne of Caranus c. Now of the contrary such whose barbarous cruelties and strange impieties were related vnto vs were Sylla the daughter of Nysus who by cutting off his purple locke betrayed vnto the Enemie his life and kingdome Ariadne the daughter of Minos who slew her brother and sonnes Progne the daughter of Pandion who murdered
her sonne Itis begot by her husband Tereus The Daiedes or Danaes daughters of Danaus for cutting the throats of their husbands and kinsmen the sonnes of AEgiptus The Lemniades or women of Lemnos who in the same Island most cruelly slew their sonnes and fathers Harpalice the daughter of Climenus who killed the childe which her incestuous father begot on her owne body Tullia the daughter of Servius King of the Romans who caused her chariot to be drawne ouer the body of her dead father for the horridnesse of which fact the street in the citie Rome where this was done was called Vicus sceleratus Of those abhorred for Incestuous congresse the most remarkable were Iocasta who had issue by her sonne Oëdipus and Pelopaea by her father Thiestes Harpalice with her Sire Climenus c. Some are to this day made infamous for killing their husbands As Clitemnestra the daughter of Thestius for conspiring with Egistus in the murder of her Lord Agamemnon the son of Atreus Iliona the daughter of Priam for killing her husband Polymnestor K. of Thrace Semyramis Queen of Babylon for the death of Ninus King of Assyria Helena after the death of Paris Deiphebus the sonne of Priam. Agave her husband Lycothersis in Illyria and Deianeira for sending the poysonous Shirt to her Lord Hercules of Lybia c. Others for killing their wiues As the same Hercules his wife Megara the daughter of Creon King of Thebes Theseus Antiopa the Amazon and daughter of Mars Cephalus the son of Deionis or of Mercury Procris the daughter of Pandion by his vaine jelousie c. Fathers for killing their daughters As Agamemnon the great General of the Grecian Army in their famous expedition against Troy who sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddesse Diana Climenus the sonne of Oeneus slew his daughter Harpalice because she killed her child and serued it in vnto him at a banquet Hyacinthus his daughter Spariantides vpon an answer returned from the Athenians Erichthaeus the sonne of Pandion his daughter Colophonia vpon the like occasion Cercyon the sonne of Vulcan his daughter Alopes for committing incest with Neptune AEolus his daughter Canace for the like done with her brother Mallaraeus c. Of mothers that most cruelly and vnnaturally haue murthered their owne children we reade That Medea the daughter of Oâ—tes King of Colchos slew her two sonnes Machareus Pherelus begot by Iason Progne the daughter of Pandion killed her son It is which she had by Tereus Ino the daughter of Cadmus yong Melicertes begat by Athamas the sonne of AEolus Althaea the daughter of Thestius Meleager by Oeneus the sonne of Parthaâ—n Themisto the daughter of Hypseus Plinthius and Orchomenes her two sonnes by Athamas Tyros the daughter of Salmoneus two sonnes begot by Sisiphus the sonne of Eolus Agave the daughter of Cadmus Penthaus the sonne of Echion at the imposition of Liber Pater c. So likewise of Selfe-murtherers Egeus the sonne of Neptune and father of Theseus cast himselfe headlong into the sea from whose death it still retaines the name of Mare Egeum i. the Egean sea Euhemus the sonne of Hercules precipitated himselfe into the riuer Lycorma which is now called Chrysorroas Aiax the sonne of Telamon slew himselfe for the losse of Achilles his armor Lycurgus the sonne of Briantus being strooke with madnesse by Liber Pater laid violent hands vpon himselfe Agrius the son of Parthaon being expulsed from his kingdome by Diomedes King of AEtolia slew himselfe So Ceneus the sonne of Elatus Menicus the father of Iocasta or as some call him Menaetis precipitated himselfe from the walls of Athens Nisus the son of Mars hauing lost his purple locke cast himselfe vpon his sword and so died As likewise Climenus the sonne of Coeneus King of Arcadia after he had committed incest with his daughter Cyniras the sonne of Paphus King of Assyria after hee had committed the like with his owne naturall childe Hercules cast himselfe into the fire and so perished Adrastus with his sonne Hipponous did the like Pyramus the Babylonian slew himselfe for the loue of Thisbe And Oedipus the sonne of Laius destroyed his owne life for hauing incestuous Issue by his mother whose name was Iocasta c. Of Women that so dispairingly died these Hecuba the wife of Priam cast her selfe into the sea as Ino the daughter of Cadmus did the like with her sonne Melicertus Anticlia the mother of Vlysses and daughter of Antolychus strangled her selfe because she heard a false rumour of her sonnes death The like did Stoenobaea the daughter of Iobates and wife of King Praetus for the loue of Bellerephon Evadne the daughter of Philacus because her husband Capaneus was slaine at Thebes cast her selfe into the same funeral fire in which his body was burned AEthra the daughter of Pythaus for the death of her children Iliona for the death of her parents Themisto for her children Erigone for her father Phedra for the incestuous loue borne to her step-sonne Hyppolitus Phyllis for Demophoon Calypso daughter to Atlas for the loue of Vlysses Dido the daughter of Belus for AEneas c. Time would sooner faile me than Historie yet these I haue introduced to this purpose to shew That Atheisme and want of the true knowledge of God hath bin the cause of so many Murthers and Incests hath made so many Parracides and Fratricides and indeed hath beene the ground of all prodigious acts and inhumanities whatsoeuer Something is requisit to be spoken of Idolatry The word is deriued from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Cultus and Colo The definition thereof is Cultus Deo debitus Creaturae exhibitus i. The worship that is due onely to God conferre vpon the Creature An Idol is when any Statue or Image in which either some Deitie or any other thing shall stand for a Power a Patron Protector or Sauiour is represented and worshipped Of which kind was the golden Calfe Basil saith vpon the third of Esay What thing can appeare more vain and ridiculous than for a man to professe himselfe to be the workeman of his God and Maker To shew how abhominable Idolatry was in the eyes of the Almighty I will only quote you one place out of many in the holy Text Take therefore good heed vnto your selues for you saw no Image in the day that the Lord spake to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire that you corrupt not your selues nor make you a grauen Image or representation of any figure whether it be likenesse of male or female the likenesse of any beast that is on the earth or of any feathered fowle that flieth in the aire or of any thing that creepeth on the earth or of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth And lest thou lift vp thine eyes to heauen and when thou seest the Sunne the
seene Or like Adonis fitted to the chase Whom Venus met and sweetly did embrace Had she had wings as she had Shafts and Bow Saue in her stature you could hardly know Her from the Loue-god Cupid Now her minde She fresh and suting with her shape doth finde Ceasing her former losses to bewaile Thus with a sprightly courage she fets saile At ev'ry Coast she landeth she enquires But findes no answer fram'd to her desires Twelue times the Moone had wain'd and fill'd her round And yet her sister no where to be found At length vpon the fortunat Isle she lands Where then her wretched father was in bands And the bright Damsell new instated Queene Not many dayes before the King had beene Inuited two great Princes to attone In whose forc'd absence she now reignes alone In which short int'rim newes is brought to Court Of a strange ship new landed in the Port But chiefely That one passenger therein Is of a choice aspect whose beardlesse chin No manhood shewes they tooke him at first sight To be no other than Ioves Catamite For such was Ganimed by all account What time he snatcht the Boy from Ida Mount. The Queene all spirit before is now growne fiery To know him better by more strict enquiry Answer 's retun'd his person is Diuine As one made sacred at Apollo's Shrine And there 's no greater sacriledge than wrong And that to Apollo shall belong A Lord is sent the yong Priest to inuite He comes and she affects him at first sight For Nature hath a secret working still And to her owne ends swayes the captiv'd will Nor is it wonder she so soone is woon Since such neere bloud in both their veines doth run The Delphian Idoll when he saw the state The Lady bore was much amas'd thereat Her princely habit and her numerous Traine The distance that she kept thereby to gaine The more obseruance seated in a Throne And marking with what gems her garments shone The Diamonds that were wouen in her haire And ev'ry thing about her then so rare For she in all respects so far surpast His fathers Daughter when he saw her last It neuer once could sinke into his minde Seeking a Captiue he a Queene should finde Besides her port her gesture garments strange Suting that Countrey bred in her such change The disguis'd Priest hath quite forgot her face And apprehends some goddesse is in place Againe The Delphians habit did so blinde The Princesse eyes she little dream'd to finde Though else he hardly could her knowledge scape A woman or a Sister in that shape And though they make a serious inter-view Looking both oft and long yet neither knew Though an alternate sympathie appear'd That one vnto the other was indear'd She feasts the Priest and with such sumptuous cheare As if Apollo's selfe had then been there Some short discourse they had the banquet ended But nothing to their owne affaires that tended All the choice fauors she can well affoord She freely giues night growes he hasts aboord But shee 'l not suffer him to lye so hard For in the Court his lodging is prepar'd And in that Island whilst he makes aboad He is to her as welcome as his god Now curteously compel'd Time calls to bed And they are both to sundry lodgings led His chamber rich and his Attendants great She now retyr'd begets a stronge conceit Which may in her the better be allow'd Since there 's no Faire-one but is somewhat proud Thinks she My beauty is of such rare note That all who looke on me from liking dote My royall husband Soueraigne of the land Swayes all his Subiects and I him command If any of my feature make relation His praise he soone turnes into admiration I am not seene in publique but they cry She is descended from some Deitie But what 's all this if onely these allow My Beauty such as neuer tooke strict Vow Here 's one that 's to the Votaries ally'd By a religious Oath from Venus ty'd Now were there in my face such vertue found To pierce his chaste brest with an vnseene wound Should it tempt him whom all lust doth abjure To gaine the Palme by merit I am sure But till of such a tryall I haue made To be still equal'd I am much afraid Shee 's now resolv'd to put her to the test And the next morning sends to see her guest Hee 's brought into her presence whom she spies No sooner but she courts him with her eyes Next change of blushes in her lookes appeare As if she would say something but did feare She then began to wooe him with her hand But that he would not seeme to vnderstand Then with her sighes but all the while was mute And she no whit the neerer in her suit But to breake silence she is now decreed Knowing Who spares to speake oft failes to speed To proue how far bright beauty can preuaile She to this purpose frames a passionate Tale. No Sex saith she no Age Degree or State But all are subiect to the will of Fate Their pow'r so strong I cannot say so just As what they bid we shall do that we must Our Wills are not our owne nor can we do But meerely that which they enforce vs to That their strict Lawes no Mortals can evade Ev'n I this day am an example made Who apprehend the best and would pursue it But 'gainst mine owne best nature must eschew it With that she blusht and turn'd her cheeke aside As if the loue she shew'd she faine would hide Proceeding thus I that am now a wife Did once resolue to leade a Vestall life And gladly would haue kept it to this hower But my chast Will they alter'd by their power After my Virgin girdle was vnty'de And that I was made both a Queene and Bride My best endeauors I did then imply To keepe vnbroken our conjugall Ty. But they haue brought thee from I know not whence To make me with my nuptiall Oath dispenceâ— They haue enforc'd my Lord to a faâ— Clime To sort to vs conuenient place and time If to do what Thou dost desire to heare Looke in my face and thou mayst reade it there And if I to my Lord proue thus ingrate What is it but our fortunes and his fate My loue-sicke thoughts are thus before thee layd And know she sues that must not be gain-sayd For vnresistable is my desire Pause but returne short answer I 'le retyre This spoke as much asham'd away she flings Now the yong Priest conceiues a thousand things What say or do he doth both feare or doubt Insnar'd he is and no way can get out Such a Dadalian Mase should Theseus try He ne're could finde the dore he entred by He apprehends what strange malicious spleenes Meane women loue-crost haue then what 's in queens By them he may coniecture as to swell More by how much in greatnesse they excell