by unreasonable creatures but proceed to their goodness The love of Women towards their Husbands of Mothers towards their Children of dutiful Daughters towards their Parents and of Sisters that have been kinde to their Brothers THe women of Wynedi in Germany beare such an expressible love towards their husbands that they repair to their sepulchers and holding their lives tedious without them they offer up their bodies wilingly either to the sword or to the fire The like is observed by the Women amongst the Geats the Catheoreans the Herulians a people which inhabite beyond the River of Danube by those of Thrace and the Indies The wife of Pandorus begged of her Husband that before hee hazarded himself to the extremity of of danger he would first take away her feares by taking away her life with his sword which he denyed and so gave the signal of battel in which he was vanquished and slain his Wife surprised and committed into the hands of one of the chief Captains who pitying her teares and sorrow to which her beauty gave no common lustre made suit unto her to make her his wife she put him off with all possible delays but after perceiving that what he could not compass with her good will he would by force she therefore craved some few hours of deliberation which he granted and being retired she first writ in a Note these words Let none report that the Wife of Pandorus harboured so little love as to outlive him Which Note leaving upon the Table she took a sword hanging in the chamber with which she slew herself Alceste wife to Admetus King of Greece gave herself up to a most willing death for to redeem the health and life of her husband Cleopatra Queen of Egypt suffered her breasts to be poysoned with Asps that she might die for the love of her Antony Admirable was the love of her two Handmaids Neaera and Charmione who would by no perswasion survive their Queen but out of an unmatchable zeale to their Mistresse both fell down by her and breathed their last Phila having heard that her Husband K. Demetrius had been defeated in a battail drank poison and so dyed Camma was not onely famous throughout all Galacia for her beauty but for her vertue she did so love her husband and was so constant unto him that she never went forth nor would suffer any man to see her whilst she was married Evadne at the solemnization of her husbands Funerall burnt her self to mingle her ashes with his The Queen Artimesia out of the great love she bore to her husband and inflamed with unspeakable desire and affection towards him took his bones and ashes and drank the powder thereof thinking no Sepulchre so worthy as her own body and for a perpetuall remembrance of her husband Mausolus King of Caria she caused a sumptuous Tomb of marvellous workmanship to be made of four hundred and eleven foot in circuit and forty foot high invironed about with thirty six Pillars wonderfully well carved it was held to be one of the seven wonders of the world Cecilia Barbadica Veneta lived with so great a faithfulness towards her husband Philippus Vedraminus that shee had never any other object of all her passions then her husband his happiness made her joyfull his fear her grief and on her face and in her actions appeared the good or bad fortune of her husband after his death she could not by any counsell comfort or perswasion bee won to taste the least food whatsoever or give answer to any word that was spoken to her in which silence and consumption she after some few daies of unspeakable sorrow breathed out her last The Princess Panthea having been acquainted that her husband Abradratus had been kill'd in Cyrus Camp she resolved to go her self and finde him out and having found him dead amongst a number of dead men she washed her whole body and face with his blood and striking her heart with a dagger she died embracing her husband The City of Wynbergen a free place in Germany being besieg'd by Caesar who grew so implacable that he resolved to take bloody revenge on the men for having defended their lives and honours so valiantly and thereby almost overthrown the greatest part of his Army The Articles being drawn for the surrender of the Town it was onely lawfull for the Matrons and Virgins by the Emperors Edicts to carry out as much as each one could carry of what they best liked The Wives out of an unexpressible love carried on their backs their Husbands and the Virgins and Damsels their Fathers or Brothers This strook such an impression in the heart of Caesar that of a mortall enemy he became their friend Artia Mater seeing her husband Poetus condemned and willing that hee should expire by his own hand rather then by that of the common Hang-man perswaded him to a Roman resolution but finding him somewhat daunted with the present sight of death she snatcht up a sword with which she stab'd her her self and plucking it from her bosome presented it unto her husband onely with these few and last words Paete non dolet Poetus It hath done me no harm and so fell down and dyed Martial in the first book of his Epigrams saith thus in speaking of this couragious Woman Casta suo gladium cum traderet Aria Paeto Quem dedit visceribus traxerat illa suis Si qua fides vulnus quod feci non dolet inquit Sed quodtu facies hoc mihi Paete dolet When Aria did to Paetus give that steel Which shee before from her own breast had tane Trust me saith she no smart at all I feel My onely wound 's to think upon thy pain Portia a famous and excellent Roman Lady having heard that her most dear and beloved husband was dead her bowels burning with an unexpressable fire of love for her husband and finding no knife to kill her self withall nor cord to hang her self nor Well to drown her selfe she went to the fire and with her own hands she cast down her throat burning coals Triara wife to Lucius Vitellus seeing her husband in a dangerous battail she presented her self in the midst of the slaughter killing on all sides till she had hem'd her self in with dead bodies slain by her own hand so bold and magnanimous a spirit had the conjugall love to her husband imprest in her Admirable was the love of Julia towards her husband the great Pompea who seeing onely the gown of her husband which was brought home bespotted with blood and conceiving thereby that some mischance had happened to her husband she fell into a swound and afterwards the trouble of her soul made such a great emotion in her body that she dyed thereof Paula Romana after her husbands death was so far from being perswaded to a second match that she did never eat nor drink in company of any man Proba Valleria Falconia a Roman Matron and wife to Adelphus
ELOGIVM HEROINUM OR THE PRAISE OF WORTHY WOMEN Written by C. G. Gent. LONDON Printed by T.M. A.C. and are sold by William Nott neer the Chequer Office in Ivy-lane 1651. TO THE MOST EXCELLENT MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND HIGH-BORN Princesse ELIZABETH OF BOHEMIA Madam YOur illustrious Name is traced on the Frontis-piece of this Book as that of Minerva in the Temple of Vertue To render the names of these Famous Vestals more recommendable by that of so great and illustrious a Princesse as your Highness is whose marvellous wisdom and profound knowledge in Arts Sciences and Languages is admired by all men whose great Iudgement and Goodness are inexpressible symptoms of excelling Qualities Let therefore your memory most Sacred and Famous Princess be as eternal as your illustrious life happy and succesfull May your future fortunes be answerable to your vertues that as you have the daily earnest prayers of all good men so you may have the successe of their wishes the which though many who never yet saw you desire yet all those who have had the honour to be acquainted w th you know how worthily You deserve them For that your vertues have raised you to such a high degree of perfection as that you render not only those of your but even all Men unable to imitate Your Highnesse They as well as my self are therefore solely obliged to admire You which is the only intent of Madame Your Highnesses Most humble most obedient and most faithfull Servant CHARLES GERBIER To the most Honourable THE Countess Dowager OF CLAIRE The Patroness of all Vertue and Learning Madame PSaphon having assembled several Birds taught them to pronounce these words Psaphon is a God! and afterwards setting them at liberty by the rehearsal of their lesson they did spread their masters glory throughout all the Vniverse These ever to be admired Women being revived have learned your Honours name and as all the world did envy the glory of their fame so will they now invite all men to admire your perfections they will say that few Nations or Ages have yeelded your equal that to your knowing Judgement all learned men have recourse and that your matchlesse wisdome will be an example of admiration to all posterity May all men blazon your eminent deserts may your most vertuous minde enjoy what it most desires or deserves and may Heaven powr down upon your Honour the dews of thousand Celestial blessings together with all true happinesse are the zealous wishes of him who is Madam Your HONOURS most humble devoted zealous servant CHARLES GERBIER TO THE Vertuous Accomplish't LADY Anne Hudson MADAME I Do not offer unto you any thing of my own for that it is already yours or that you are worthy thereof since your eyes have not so many charms nor your attractions so much power to captivate hearts as the lustre of your Vertues do expresse unto all men the admirable perfections both of Nature and Grace which are extant in your person Your modesty the mildnesse of your discourse and that gracious humility with the which you entertain those who have the honour to be acquainted with you are precious jewels which do atchieve your renown Give me leave then Madam to end this my thrice humble dedication with that homage and with that bounden oblation which I owe to your all attracting goodnesse and let your favourable acceptance deign to receive it since it 's presented with all the submissiv'st respects imaginable by him who puts all his heart in his Pen the better to assure you that amongst those who admire you none can be more then himself Madam Your most humble and obedient servant Charles Gerbier To his worthy Friend Mr. CHARLES GERBIER Upon this his ELOGIVM HEROINVM Were not this Treatise fully fraught with its intrinsick worth It might like Cloth that 's finely wrought Be to the Press put forth A luster to receive whereby Its sale might bettered be But as its value doth rely On its reality You have it thus undeck'd without An influence of Verse Or lofty Poems which no doubt The Author could rehearse But he intends not the least part Of Rhetorick to strain His Theam is void of flatt'ring Art He shuns Ambages vain For who'mongst mortals dare be bent T' oppose it with a No And since the bruitest beasts assent Who then would not do so With me let all men then confesse That which I do disclose The praise of Women's ne'r the lesse Though it be writ in Prose B. S. Kt. To his much valued Friend THE AUTHOR The Grecian Beauties first Apelles saw Before he dar'd fair Venus Picture draw That he out of their many graces one Might make of all the only Paragon So thou out of the best the best hast writ Hast cull'd the choicest best therewith to fit This work of thine that it in worth and store Might all surpasse have written thee before Or after shall How much these Angels owe To this thy worthy pains themselves best know E. B. Esq To his worthy friend Mr. Charles Gerbier upon his Elogium Heroinum or the Praise of worthy Women I find my self by much to be too weak To adde a grace where every line will speak Where female constancie and beauty you Have open laid to censure and to view Which will in spight of envious time comprise Your worthy Women in our memories And from respects ingag'd I must make known Thy lines are unaffected free thy own Thy matter 's rare expressions genuine Stile most emphatical wit divine Then reap thy due and let Apollos bayâ—s In spight of Autumne grow to crown thy praises J. H. To his loving Brother ON HIS ELOGIVM HEROINVM OR HIS Praise of worthy Women Scarce dare I these rude lines prefix To this your worthy Womens praise Lest therby I might chance t' eclipse The glory of their splendent rayes For by my stile in it's ruffe cast I may their excellencies blast Ne'r did I tast of those sweet streams Which charming Helicon doth yeeld Nor hath Apollo with his beams Me grac't so that into the field O' th' Muses I am loth t' appear Lest infamy me thence may bear The very subject of your Book Doth clearly unto us set forth It 's excellence nor need you look That I attempt t' inlarge its worth This far surpasseth my small skill Nor can I reach it with my quill And though I know it 's a hard task To please all pallates yet submit I must to censure and unmask My ignorance rather then it Be said that I just then withdrew My hand this tribute being due Expresse I cannot what that Sexe Which you so worthily do blaze Deserved hath nor need we vexe Our selves that they have born the bayes Away from us for they excel All those who on this orb do dwel Their brave atchievments do outvye What ere we undertook and they Themselves to all eternity Have Trophies rais'd so that we may Sit down and them admire Their
humbly crave from this most worthy Sex one onely boon That it may not be offended at this my young Eagles flight towards such a source of perfect Rayes during the tenderness of my wings which affords me that pen whereby I endeavour to trace the description of their most perfect lineaments and dimensions Of the Wisdome and Learning of some Women WIsdome is the guide of all other vertues it gives goodnesse to good people pard'neth the wicked makes the poor rich and the rich honorable it 's that wherin our soveraign good and the end of our life consisteth Learning is the knowledge and understanding of Arts and Sciences without it Nature is blind Wisdome and Learning have made these following women famous to all posterity Nicaula Queen of Saba did expose her self to a long and tedious journey from the farthest part of Ethiopia unto Hierusalem there to dispute with Solomon the wisest of all men as it appeares by the Scriptures which therefore give her an immortal praise Mirrhe Queen of the Lydians was so little of body as that she seemed to be a Dwarf but so far excelling in wisdome as that she was called a Gyant she was a wise and prudent woman when she was married and honest being a widow Pythagoras the light of his time and the first that was called a Philosopher was a Scholar unto his own Sister Themistoclea and he learn'd his Philosophy from her the greatnesse of her wisdome appears by a Letter which he sent unto her from Rhodes where he publikely read Philosophy she being then in Samothracia The said Letter translated out of Greek was as followeth Pythagoras your Brother and Disciple to you Themistoclea my dear Sister wisheth health and increase of wisdome I have read from the beginning to the very end the Book which you have sent unto me of Fortune and Misfortune By it I do really see that you are not lesse grave in writing then gracious in teaching the which doth not often befall us who are Men for the Philosopher Aristippus was harsh in speaking and profound in writing Amenides was succinct in writing and eloquent in speaking But you my deare sister have so much applied your self to study to write as that in Sentences you seem to have read all the Philosophers and by the antiquities which you expresse it seems that you have seen all the time past by which you doe make it appear that being a woman you are more then a woman because the nature of women is only to employ themselves to the present and to forget that which is past I have been told that you do imploy your self in writing the wars of our Country I do earnestly pray you and by the immortal gods do conjure you to flatter no body For as you cannot deny dear Sister but that I am the eldest of your three Brothers so I cannot disavow that among all your Disciples I am the least And as being your Disciple I ought to obey you so likewise being your eldest Brother you ought to believe me Therefore I do advise you deare Sister to continue to do your utmost as you have hither to done to be understood and wise in your words discreet and grave in your life and honest in your person and above all true in that which you write For if the body of man be worth little without the soule the mouth without truth is worth much lesse And this was the Letter which Pythagoras sent to his sister Themistoclea by which his profound humility and her great eloquence appeares Policrata daughter to the said Philosopher Pythagoras was not only wise fair and rich but esteemed and honoured for the integrity of her life and more admired for her Eloquence then Pythagoras himself Diotima did so excell in wisdome that Socrates who of all men was called the wise the just the Prince of Philosophers and the Father of Philosophie blushed not to imitate and call her his Tutresse and Instructresse Arreta had attained to that perfection of knowledge in the Greek and Latine tongues as that the common report was that the soul of Socrates was infused into her and when she was heard to speak it seemed that she had writ the doctrine of Socrates rather then learned it she her self instructed her sonne in all the Liberal Arts by whose industry he became a famous Professor he was called Aristippus she also taught and instructed many and wrote several Volumes some whereof were these following The Praises of Socrates The manner how to educate Children The Battails of Athens The unhappines of Women The Husbandry of the Ancients The Wonders of Mount Olympia The Vanities of Youth and the Calamities of Age. She read publikely the Natural Moral Philosophie in the Academies Schools of Athens five and twenty years she composed forty Books she had an hundred and ten Philosophers who were her disciples She died being seventy seven years old and the Athenians for an immortal praise to all posterity caused these following words to be engraven on her sepulchre Here lies Arreta the famous Grecian who was the light of all Greece She had Helen's Beauty Thirma's Honesty Aristippus Pen Socrates Soule and Homer's Tongue Leontium a Grecian Damosel did so excell in wisdome and in Philosophical contemplations as that Cicero relates in his book De natura Deorum that she durst write a worthy Book against that famous Philosopher Theophrastus Alexander the Great refused the beautiful Daughter of Darius with Kingdomes and infinite Treasures to boot and made choice of Barsina only for her great wisdom although she was poor and had no possessions Dominica the wife of the Emperor Valenticus whenas the Goths had threatned the utter subversion of Constantinople she by her wisdome and discretion so mediated with the Enemy as that she procured the safety both of the People and City Athenias the Daughter of a mean man was for her wisdom learning thought worthy by a Christian Emperor to be his wife Priscilla instructed Apollo himselfe that eloquent man Nicostrata wife to King Evander was so learned that the Grecians reported that if her Writings of the Trojan wars had not by envy been flung into the fire the name of Homer the Prince of Poets would have been unknown This famous Woman is by some called Carmentis because of the eloquence which was found in her Verses she helpd to make up the number of the Greek Alphabet and added to the Roman Letters her Prophesies were preserved by the Romans at the end of the Capitol with as much respect and care as they do the Sacrament Hermodica wife to Midas King of Pbrygia was not only celebrated for her rare features and beauty but for her great wisdome The Divine Plato had amongst his Disciples these two famous women to wit Laschenea and Axiothia the one had so profound a Memory and the other so extraordinary an Understanding as that Plato being in his Chaire he often did say when either of these two
chanced to be absent that he would not begin to read and being by the Philosophers his disciples desired thereunto he answered I will not read because Laschenea the Understanding which ought to hear me is not here and for the absence of Axiothia he said that the Memory which ought to preserve him was not yet come The wisdome of these two women is the more to be admired since Plato would not read but in their presence for he did esteem the memory of these two Women alone more then the Philosophie of all the Philosophers besides Cornelia wife unto Scipio Africanus and mother to the Noble family of the Graechi was so excellent in knowledge that she was more famous and honored by the Sciences which she publikely read in Rome then by the conquests which her Children made in Africk She was generally praised by the most learned men for her honesty wisdome and for her reading Philosophie publikely in Rome From her as from a fountain the eloquence of her children flowed Therefore Quintilius thus saith of her We are much bound to the mother Cornelia for the eloquence of the Gracchi whose unparallel'd Learning in her exquisite Epistles she hath bequeathed to posterity Cicero the Father of Latine eloquence whose skill in joining Philosophie with the Art of Rhetorick was excellent doth more highly exalt this famous Cornelia whenas he saith in his Rhetorick That if the name of a Woman had not diminished Cornelia she did deserve to be the chiefest of all the Philosophers because hee never saw such grave Sentences proceed from any mortal creature as were contained in her writings A Statue was erected on her sepulcher on which these words were engraven Here lyeth the most learned Cornelia mother of the Gâ—acchi she was both happy and fortunate in her Disciples whom she instructed though unhappy in her Children Aspasia a Miletian Damsel excelled in all Philosophical contemplations and so fluent a Rhetorician as that Socrates himselfe imitated her in his Facultas Politica Amalasuntha Queen of the Ostrogothes the daughter of Theodoricus King of those Ostrogothes in Italy was not only learned in the Greek and Latine tongues but spake all the barbarous languages that were used in the Eastern Empires exceeding well Eustochium a Romane Matron was excellently practised in the Greek and Latine Dialect as also in the Hebrew character she was in her time called the New prodigie of the world she with Reason overcame St. Hiero me and made him confesse he was overcome by her for that he could not answer the questions which she had propounded Amesia a modest Roman Lady being falsly accused of a great crime and ready to incurre the Pretorial sentence she with a manly yet modest courage stept up amongst the People and with a loud voice and a becoming gesture and facundious suavity she pleaded her own cause so eloquently so effectually and so strongly as that by the publique suffrage she was freed and acquited from all aspersions whatsoever and he who had accused her was himselfe most justly punished Hypparchia the sister of Magocles and wife to Crates Cynicus with one Sophisme did put Theodorus to silence Hortensia the daughter of Quintus Hortensius pleaded her selfe before the Triumvirate when a grievous Fine was imposed on the Romans and when none of the Orators or Lawyers durst so boldly and eloquently that she prevailed so far as that the greatest part of the Fine which was imposed on them was instantly remitted Sosipatra was a woman versed in many kindes of Disciplines and so excelent in all her studies that she was said to have been educated by the Gods themselves Corinna Thebana had such an excellent knowledge in Poesie that in several Contentions she bore away the garland from Pindarus the Prince of the Lyrick poets Sapho's Verses excelled Anacreon's though he was one of the most famous Poets in the world Telesilla was not onely wise chaste fair and couragious but she had attained to that perfection in poetry that she amongst all other women was held in admiration Cornificia sister to the great Poet Cornificius was very learned in the Greek and Latine tongues and so expert in making of Verses that she ex tempore did excel those which her Brother made at leasure though he was the greatest Poet of his time in Rome Phanarite Mother of Athenian Socrates was the first that disputed of Morality and who taught the mystical phylosophie of the Stars and Planets and how it may be made familiar and have correspondence with our humane and terrestrial actions Hyppatia a Woman of Alexandria did so excell in Learning as that she was frequented by many worthy Scholars whil'st she kept a publike School she wrote several Volumes she calculated her self an Ephemerides for many years she also writ a large volume of Astronomy L'Amia Aglius were not inferior in Musick to Arion or Orpheus Timarete the Daughter of Micaon Irene Anistarite Lala Cizizena Martia and many more have attained to as high a perfection in Painting as Apelles Zeucis and Apollidorus themselves ever did What men were ever known to surpass the Muses or the Sybils in Learning The IX Muses were these following Clio Vterpe Thalia Melpomene Terpsichore Erato Polyhimnia Vrania Calliope The XII Sybils were these Sybilla Persica called Samberta Sybilla Lybica Sybilla Delphica Sybilla Cumaea borne at Cimeria at Campania in Italy Sybilla Samia Sybilla Erithraea borne at Babylon Sybilla Cumana she wrote Nine books for three of which Tarquinius superbus gave 300 pieces of gold and caused them to be religiously kept in the Capitol at Rome Sybilla Hellespontiaca borne at Marmisea in the Territory of Troy Sybilla Albunea sirnamed Tiburtina because she was borne at Tiber 15 miles from Rome Sybilla Phrygia Sybilla Epyrotiea Sybilla Coliphonia Lampusia she came out of Greece from Coliphonia a City of Ionia The Books which these Sybils wrote contained manifest Prophesies of the Kingdome of CHRIST his Name his Birth and Death The changes of Kingdomes Foretold Inundations Earthquakes and Warres They also manifested that the whole World would be burnt and wished men to adore that God while they lived here who would punish them so severely hereafter for their contempt These Books were by the Arch-Traytor Silico burnt yet nevertheless some of their Prophesies are yet extant having been extracted out of other writings But as both the Ecclesiasticall and Secular Ancient and Modern Histories abound in examples of divers excellent and famous Ladies So likewise these latter times have not been barren in Learned women who were not a jot inferior to those of former Ages Constantia wife of Alexander Sforza was so laborious in the best Disciples that on the suddain and without any premeditation shee was able to discourse upon any argument either Theological or Philosophical and for her temporal vain in verse shee was much admired in which shee was so elegantly ingenious that shee attracted the ears of many judicious Schollers to bee her daily Auditors
valour and encouragement in presenting herself upon the walls to the violence of their arrows and engines the City was preserved The women of Bellovaca being besieged by Charles the great Duke of Burgundy most resolutely defended the walls tumbling the Assailants down headlong from their scaling-ladders to the everlasting honour of their Sexe and reproach of the Enemy Elphleda sister to King Edward before the Conquest sirnamed the fourth was present in the Battaile which was fought against the Danes at Toten-Hall in Stafford-shire and at the mighty overthrow at Wooddensfield where two Kings were slain two Earls and many thousands of the Danes She not only tamed the Welch-men but chased the Danes This Epitaph hath been left as a memorial over her Tombe Oh Elphlede mighty both in strength and minde The dread of men and Victress of thy kind Nature hath done as much as nature can To make thee maid but goodnesse makes thee man Yet pity thou should'st change ought save thy name Thou art so good a woman and thy fame In that growes greater and more worthy when Thy feminine valour much outshineth men Great Caesar's acts thy noble deeds excell So sleep in peace Virago-maid farewell Queen Margaret Henry the sixth's wife whose courage resolution and magnanimity deserves an immortal praise she was personally in all those Battails which were fought against the House of York nor are the English Chronicles sparing in commending her more then womanish spirit to everlasting memory In times past the Romans honoured even for private and common services their ordinary Souldiers some with Cirick Crowns or Garlands others with Lances headed with Gold Golden Chaines Statues of Ivory others with Triumphs Praises Acclamations Gratulations c. If these things were allowed to men only with what Elogies Enconomiums Crowns Garlands Statues Sepulchers and Monuments shall we then celebrate the memory if it were possible beyond all posterity of these ever to be admired Constant and Couragious Women Of Faire Women BEauty is the Image of the Creator and the Rhetorick of Heaven it delights the eye contents the mind and the more it is seen the more it is admired That of Venus was so extraordinary as that Apelles who was the best of Painters could not with all his art though he had set before him a hundred choice and selected Beauties all naked and had taken from one a charming Eye another an amorous Lip from a third a pleasing smile and a modest blush from a fourth a graceful Nose a fifth a fair Hand and from each of them that special Lineament in which she most excelled represent such an Angelical Face such charming Eyes such amorous coral Lips such snaring Tresses such captivating Hands or such a pure Alabaster Skin as Venus had How should I then by my rude stile dare to expresse that which Apelles could not represent with severall Colours I know I am unable to express the least part of that which represents the wonderfull work of God and though I were able yet would I make a scruple to trace out miracles with ink Nor shall I enlarge on the great influences which the famous Beauties have had in former Ages over men Neither dare I presume to name those of these later times who are admired and adored by all men save such as are wilfully blind lest I should by the alleadging of their power run the same hazard as Antiochus did who was seized with a Feaver meerly by the rehearsal of Stratonica's extraordinary Beauty such divine gemmes did sparkle about her Or as Tyrasius King of Thebes who was struck blinde by his onely beholding of Diana as she was bathing herself For my part I am already not onely amazed but even transported if not lost with wonder by the bare rehearsall of the forementioned famous womens heroick acts And though I could aver how that their Beauty doth ravish beholders that their complexion is clearer then the Skie their Faces borders of Lillies interwoven with Roses how that the lustre of their Eyes surpasses the Diamond their Lips the Coral in redness that their Tresses are like the coloured Hyacinths of Arcadia their Necks as white as Snow their Breast as pure as Allabaster their Arms as ruddy as the Rose and that all their parts are most rare their whole bodies beautified with more then Terrene perfections how that they have more strength then the moistened Torpedoes which do not onely charm the hand but the heart also and that not onely the Lybian Lion loses his strength in beholding their beauty but the Basilisk his senses and though I should adde thereunto that they represent the lively Image of the Creator that they are the miracle of the world and the marvel of marvels after all this what say I more then each man knows and is by all men confest Were not the very feet of Thetis as bright as silver and the ankles of Hebe clearer then Chrystal Are they not admired and beloved even of unreasonable creatures was not a Virgin in Leucadia so beloved of a Peacock as that the enamoured Bird never left her whilst she lived and accompanied her in death for seeing the young Damsell dead she never would receive food from any hand but so pined away and dyed also Doth not Saxo Grammaticus in the tenth book of his Danish History report how that certain young maids of a Village in Switzerland playing and sporting together in the field upon a holy-day suddenly an huge Hee-bear rushed out of the Forrest and shatched up the fairest amongst them and hurried her away to his Den gently and without any harm where he long gazed on her face as if with a kind of admiration he grew so enamoured with her on the sudden that instead of a Murtherer he became a Lover imparting unto her all the prey he got abroad c. Did not an Fagle which was taken in a Neast and carefully brought up by a Virgn in the City of Sesto being come to full growth take her slight every day abroad and all the Fowle she could catch brought it home and laid it in the lap of her Mistres at length this Virgin dying and her body being born unto the Funeral fire the Eagle still attending it was no sooner exposed unto the flames but the Bird likewise by voluntary flight cast her self amidst the kindled pyle and gave her self as a most grateful sacrifice unto her Mistress Hearse Was not the Queen Suabilda so excelling rare in all the Lineaments of her body as that being doomed unto a wretched and miserable death and bound with thongs of Leather to be trod upon by the hoofs of wild horses her beauty struck such an impression even in those unreasonable creatures that they could not bee forced with their rude feet to leave the least character of violence upon limbs so fair and exquisitely shaped Therefore I shall not insist any longer on the specifying of womens Beauty since as it appears they are beloved and admired even