Troia Brittanica: or, Great Britaines Troy A Poem Deuided into XVII. seuerall Cantons, intermixed with many pleasant Poeticall Tales. Concluding with an Vniuersall Chronicle from the Creation, untill these present Times. Written by Tho. Heywood |
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Canto. 7.
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 | Troia Brittanica: or, Great Britaines Troy |  |
140
Canto. 7.
Argumentum
Evridia stung with a Snake and dying,Sad Orpheus trauels for her sake to Hell,
Among th' Infernals Musickes vertue trying,
Much honoured (euen where fiends & deuils dwel)
Ceres to Hercules for vengeance crying,
Th'vndaunted Greeke, seekes Pluto to expell:
Iasons rich Fleece, & proud Troy once more racst
By Hercules, in our next skeades are placst.
Arg. 2.
Who Musick found: hell sakt: Perithous harmsEta describes, with great Medeas charmes.
1
Mvsicke by which the Spheares are taught to moue,And tune their motion to their makers praise,
Approues it selfe deuine: first found aboue,
After bequeath'd fraile man, to cheare his daies:
Whether t'were taught vs by the Birds, that proue
Their harmony, in their sweet-Chirping layes,
Or whether found by man: of this I am sure,
It hath bin Ancient, and shall long endure.
2
Let Homers Demodocus witnesse beare,And Virgils Iopas: with this heauenly skill,
Some say Amphion rauisht first the eare,
Which Zephus did with Notes and Crotchets fill,
141
As one that made his Ayers lowd and shrill,
Men diuersly deriue Musickes soft feet,
Some from Arcadia; likewise, some from Creet.
3
On Shalmes Trezenius Dardanus first plaid,On Cranes legs first, but after fram'd of Reed,
Bright Mayaes sonne on a parcht Tortoys made
Th'vnshaped Harpe: most Writers haue agreed
That Tubal gaue it forme, with pins that staid
The tuned strings, to make his Musicke speed:
Pan found the Pipe, to play at Syrinx sute,
Tymarias, was the first, that strung the Lute.
4
Nables and Regals, holy Dauid found,Dirceus an Athenian, Clarious shrill,
And these the Lacedemons did first sound,
When the Messenians they in armes did kill:
Vnto the Dulcimer first danced round
The Troglodites: after the Rebeck still
Th'Archadians fought: Pises Tyrhenus was
The first that fashiond Trumpets made of Brasse.
5
Which some to Myses attribute, and sayThe Hæbrewes with a Siluer Trumpet led,
Marcht, and retyrd: were taught to keepe array,
When to fall off, when on; fly or make head:
Dromslades the Romans taught: the Cretans they,
After the Lute their hostile paces tread:
Great Haliattes with his sword and shield,
Marcht not without lowd pipers in the field.
6
This, as it hath the power in dreadfull WarresMongst soft effeminate breasts to kindle rage,
and to relenting grace all entrance barres,
So hath it power the rudest thoughts t' asswage:
To musicke moue the Plannets, dance the stars,
It tempers fury, makes the wilde man sage,
In this consent of stringes, he that can well,
May with harmonious Orpheus enter hell.
142
7
We left Queene Ceres in her Daughters Quest,Measuring the earth from one side to another,
Yet can she find no end to her vnrest,
Her Daughter lost, shee is no more a Mother:
The earth once cherisht, she doth now detest,
Gainst which her spleene, she can no longer smother:
She cals it barbarous, vnthankefull, base,
And no more worthy of her Soueraigne grace.
8
And much against her ancient pleasure speakes,For what she fauour'd earst, she now dislikes,
In euery place she comes, the Ploughes she breakes,
The laborous Oxen she with Murraine strikes,
Vpon the toyling Swaines her spleene she wreakes,
Cattell and Men choake vp their new-plasht Dykes:
The barraine fieldes deceiue the Plow-mans trust,
The vsuring seede is molded vnto dust.
9
Which rather in the parched furrow dries,Layd open vnto euery rigorous blast,
Else to the the euish Byrds a prey it lies,
Or if it hap to gather root at last,
Cockle and Tares, euen with the Corn-eares rise,
Else by the choaking Cooch-grasse it is past:
Thus through her griefe, the earth is barraine made,
The hoped haruest perisht in the blade.
10
Meane time Euridice, the new made BrideOf Orpheus, with a princely traine consorted,
As in a Meddow by a Riuers side,
Vnto her Husbands Harpe one day she sported,
And by his tune her measured paces guide,
In a swift Hadegay (as some reported:)
She shrieking starts, for whilst her Husband singes
Vnto his Harpe, a Snake her Ankle stings.
11
In Orpheus armes she dyes, her soule discends,Ferryed by Charon o're the Stigian Lake,
The woefull Bridegroome, leaues his house and friendes,
Vowing with her the loath'd world to forsake,
143
And by the way, no cheerefull word he spake:
But by ten thousand pathes, turning doth crosse
Through Tartary, and through the blacke Molosse.
12
There is a steepe decliuy way lookes downe,Which to th' Infernall Kingdome Orpheus guides,
Whose loouer, vapors breathes: he sits not downe,
But enters the darke Cauerne with large strides,
With thousand shadowes, he is compast round,
Yet still the suffocating Mists diuides:
Millions of Ghosts vnbodied, bout him play,
Yet fearelesse, Orpheus still keepes no his way.
13
Hels restlesse Ferriman with Musicke payd,Is pleas'd to giue him waftage too and fro,
The triple Hell-hound, that his entrance stayd,
Charmed with Musicke, likewise lets him go,
So through the ayry throng he passage made,
(Th'immortall people that remaine below.)
And tuning by the way his siluer stringes,
To the three fatall Sisters, Thus he singes:
14
You powers Infernall, full of awfull dread,Whose dietyes no eye terrestriall sees,
I know all Creatures that are mortall bred,
At first or last, must stand to your decrees,
I come not as a spy among the dead,
To blab your doomes, or rob you of your fees:
I onely pierce these vaults (voyd of all crime)
To seeke my Bride, that perisht fore her time.
15
By loue, whose high commaund was neuer boundedIn Earth or Heauen, but hath some power belovv
By your blacke Ministers: by Orcus rounded
With Styx, whose pitchy Waters ebbe and flow,
By those three Kings, by whom all doomes are sounded,
The Elisian pleasures, and the Lake of Woe:
By all the dreadfull secrets of the dead,
Fayre Parcæ knit againe her vitall thread.
144
16
I seeke not to exempt her from your doome,This is our generall home, heare we must stay,
Though now releast, (as all things hither come)
So must she too, and heare abide for aye,
Graunt that she now may but bespeake her roome,
And to her death allot a longer day:
Or if th' immoued Fates, this will not doe
Before my time (with her detaine me to.)
17
This with such moouing accents Orpheus sung,That Chin-deepe Tantalus forgot to bow
Vnto the shrinking Waue: Ixion hung
Vntost vpon the Wheele: and Sisiphe now
Rests him vpon his stone. His Harpe was strung
With such rare art, the Danaes knew not how:
To vse their empty tubbes, Stix breath'd not fire,
Nor can the vulture on Prometheus tyre.
18
The Sisters weepe, Hels Iudges appeare mild,And euery tortur'd Ghost forgets his paine,
Proserpine laught, and the drad Pluto smild
To see her chang'd of cheere, no soules complaine,
Hels Senate to his grace is reconcild,
And all agree, she shall suruiue againe:
Through million-Ghosts, his Bride is sought & found,
And brought to him, still haulting on her wound.
19
He takes her, with this charge at Plutoes hand,Not to looke backe till he Auernus past,
And the large limits of the Stygian Strand,
Through darke and obscure wayes, through deserts vast,
Steepe hils and smoaky Caues, his Wife he man'd,
Vntill he came where a thin plancke was pla'st
O're a deepe raging Torrent, where dismayd,
Orpheus lookes backe, her trembling arme t'haue staid.
20
Which the three-throated Cerberus espying,Snatches her vp, and beares her backe to hell,
In vaine are all his sighes, his teares, his crying:
Lowder then he can play, the Dog can yell,
145
Is ready with his Bride mongst shades to dwell,
So long vpon the barren plaines he trifled,
Till with hels vapors he was almost stifled.
21
At length the Rhodopeian Orpheus turnesHis feeble paces to the vpper earth,
Which now with discontented Ceres mournes
The rape of Proserpine, still plagu'd with Dearth,
Either the Sun the gleby Champion burnes,
Else too much raine doth force abortiue birth
To the ranke Corne, the world forcst to complaine,
With widdowed Orpheus and the Queene of Graine.
22
Who hauing searcht Earth, of her child to know,She finds her no where on the earth abiding;
And skaling heauen, Heauen can no daughter showe,
Therefore both heauen and earth the Queene is chiding,
Onely she left vnsought the vaults below,
But heares how Orpheus hath by Musickes guiding
Past through Auernus and the Stygian fires,
Therefore of him she for her childe inquires.
23
He tels her of her Daughter new translated,Whom in the vaulted Kingdomes he had seene
With Pluto, in th'infernall Throne instated,
Where though against her will she raignes as Queene:
Oh Ihoue (quoth she) and hath that God (most hated
Of Proserpine) the hellish raptor beene!
Monarch of Deuils, since thou doest constraine mee,
Vnto the Gods aboue I must complaine mee.
24
This was (quoth Hercules) about the seasonWhen Hyppodamia matcht with Theseus frend,
Noble Perithous by the Centaures Treason,
Was rauisht and re-purchast: But an end,
Our watre-toyld limbes we keepe against all reason
From Natiue rest, I feele soft sleepe discend
and close my eye-lids with his downy wings,
I must to rest; For this time, farewell Kings.
146
25
Whether being weary of his hostile paineTooke in the former fight, he couets rest,
Or whether modesty made him refraine,
To heare his praise where he deserued best:
But his returne the Kings intreat in vaine,
When Theseus thus proceeds at their request;
Ceres displeasd the hye Olimpus mounts,
And to the eare of Ihoue this rape recounts.
26
Reuenge great Ihoue (quoth she) thy wrongs and mine,And if mine cannot moue thee, let thy owne,
For ours betwixt vs is faire Proserpine,
(By diuellish Pluto into Orcus throwne)
Long lost, long sought, my daughter's found in fine,
Rather not found, her losse is certaine knowne:
For how alas can I vvell tearme her found
Whom I still lose, kept low, beneath the ground.
27
In the rude armes of the blacke Dis shees plac'st,Hels Adamantine gates besides inclose her,
Let not thy Aunt great Ihoue be thus disgrac'st,
But of my owne childe make me free disposer,
Else let my name be from thy Bed-role rac'st,
and be no more a Goddesse, if I lose her:
But Ihoue by faire words seekes t'appease the Mother,
and reconcile her to his Stigian Brother.
28
But th' vnappeased Goddesse hates the Thiefe,That with her daughter all her pleasure stale,
and since heauen giues no comfort to her griefe,
Sheele try vvhat Mortal can her daughter bale,
She comes vvhere Hercules and all the chiefe
Of Greece assembled, where she tels this tale:
And weeping, sweares to be at sterne defiance,
With the Tartarian Dis, and his alliance.
29
Before Alcides on this Iourney wentVnvvares to him, my friend and I prepare,
(Noble Rerithous) to this one discent,
Thinking to cheare the Queene opprest vvith care,
147
We scarce (well arm'd) had tucht the lowest stare:
But Cerberus, my friend vntimely slew,
and me halfe-dead vpon the Pauement threw.
30
Vnto my rescue great Alcides came,To Hyppodamias husband much to late,
The Ihouiall youth that can all Monsters tame,
Ere he findes leysure to lament our Fate,
Or on the murdrous Hel-hound to exclaime,
He fals his huge Club on the Monsters pate,
Which with such violent fury pasht his braines,
It stounds him, so he leaues him bound in chaines.
31
Aduentring forward in his Lyons case,Th'vnbodied Ghosts affrighted from him flie,
Who see such terror in his yrefull face,
Poore soules they feare by him againe to die,
Hels Marble gates he beates ope with his Mace
And manly might amongst the Deuils try,
Who as they stop his way, his Club makes reele,
Whilst Furyes fly him with their whips of steele.
32
Vast hell is all in vprore, Pluto wondersTo see his black-fac'st ministers afraide,
he feares th'Imperiall Lord of fire and Thunders
Attempts his lower Kingdoms to inuade:
From Proserpine, his twined armes he sounders,
Takes vp his sable Mace of Porphyr made:
And with his blacke Guard forward marcheth still,
where greatest was the presse, the cry most shrill.
33
Hell had beene sack't, and all hels right displayd,had not the Fates whom Gods and Men obey,
The fury of th'aduentrous Græcian stayde,
and with their reuerent paces stopt his way,
(Those whom the Gods incline to, he obeyd)
In their Brasse rols that neuer shall decay,
Alcides (by their license) reades his Fate,
and armes layde by, more mildly they debate.
148
34
Pluto inquires the cause of his arriue,He tels him for the rauisht Proserpine,
Whom as he heares, the King intends to wiue,
Whose heauenly face must among Angels shine,
Not be amongst the Deuils damnd aliue,
Of this the Fate twixt him and his define:
And thus amongst them they compound the cause,
According to their neuer-changing Lawes.
35
That if Queene Proserpine hath kept strict fast,And since her entring Hell not tasted food,
as she hath once the Stygian riuer past,
So backe to earth she may re-saile the flood;
Inquiry made, the girle alas did tast
Some few Pomgranat graines, which vnderstood,
Her doome the fates amongst themselues compound,
That Proserpine must still liue vnder ground.
36
Attonement made with hell, the glorious Greeke,Arm'd with his club returnes the way he came,
Vpon the earth atchieuements new to seeke,
Since hell is fild with his victorious name,
Through many a winding path, and turning creeke,
He comes at last where my deere friend lay slaine:
I wounded, and the triple Hell-hound laid
Bound in those Gyues which he for others made.
37
To mournefull Hyppodamia he presentsThe murdrous Dogs with her deere husbands coarse,
She sings his Dirge in many sad Laments,
But at the fiend that slew without remorse
Her husband, shee aimes all her discontent,
And on his face imprints her womanish force:
heere Theseus wept, nor could he longer hide
His priuate sorrow for his friend that dide.
38
This is the Noble Theseus Æthraes sonne,By King Egeus, that durst hell inuade,
In battaile th' Amazonian Baldrick wonne,
And stout Hyppolite his Dutchesse made,
149
The Mynotaure in the Dedalian shade:
He by her helpe, to whom she proou'd vntrue,
Releast the Tribute, and the Monster slew.
39
Eristheus, and the valiant Theban King,That knew the Prince Perithous, much lament him,
But with their teares the day began to spring,
They wish the Fates a longer date had lent him,
With kindled Lampes th'attendant Pages bring
The Princes to their Cabins: He that sent him
On this attempt, at parting they desire
To blesse their shores, whilst they the seas aspyre.
40
Our thoughts must land them which their Trophyes broughtFrom ruin'd Troy, on seuerall Coasts of Greece,
Remembring Iason, who with honor sought
The fam'd aduenture of the golden Fleece,
Duke Æson in this voyage spared naught,
Many bold Knights well arm'd at euery peece
Assist the Noble Greeke in this aduenter,
Offring the Argoe with the Prince to enter.
41
Duke Peleas gaue it furtherance, to whose CourtWhere Iason feasted, then Alcides came
With Philocletes, as his deare Consort,
From strange aduentures that Imblaze his fame,
Disankring from the fayre Thessalian Port,
Accompanied with many Knights of fame:
Castor and Pollux, bold Amphitrion,
Amphion, Zetus, and sterne Telamon.
42
Amphion was a fayre Harmonious Youth,Well skild in Musicke, Zethus was his Brother,
Begot by Cretan Ihoue one happy night,
Vpon the fayre Antiopa his Mother,
She Lychus Wise, yet rauisht with the sight
Of Iupiter, her loue she could not smother:
These her fayre sonnes built Thebes, with large extent,
Two yeares before they on this voyage went.
150
43
With all the Græcian chiualry attendedThey disimbogue, the gentle Billowes smile,
Th' Ægean Seas they passe, but late defended
By the Grand Thiefe, that gaue those Seas their stile,
No wind or waue their well-rig'd ship offended,
But the calme looking Thetis harbors guile:
Her fawning front she wrinkles with a frowne,
And thinkes th'ambitious Argonants to drowne.
44
At the blacke Euening close, the Sea lookt white,The storme-presaging Waue begins to swell,
And blustring Eurus rising now at night
With his flag Winges, vpon the waters fell:
The Mayster bids slacke sayle, but gainst the might,
Of his commaunded Mates, the winds rebell:
The Boat-Swayne brals, the Marriners are chid,
For what they would, the stubborne gusts forbid.
45
All fall to labour, one man helps to steere,Others to slacken the big-bellied Sayle,
Some to the Cap-string call, some pray, some sweare,
Some let the Tackles slip, whilst others hale:
Some cling vnto the maine-Mast, and cleaue there,
Some chafe with anger, some with feare looke pale:
Some ply the Pompe (and that which would deuour
Their ship in time) Sea into Sea repoure.
46
Sharpe-byting winter growes, and on each sideThe foure seditious Brothers threaten war,
and tosse the Billowes, who in scornefull pride
Spit foaming Brine, the winds with waters iarre,
The breaking seas, whose entrance were denyde,
Beate gainst each Pitchy-rib and calked sparre:
and by their Oaken strength denyde Intention,
Fall where they were begot, to meere confusion.
47
Now as the shriking Billowes are diuided,Low Vallyes tweene two mighty Mountaines fall,
From whose steepe breasts the shaken vessaile slyded,
Burying in Sea, Sayles, Tackles, Masts, and all:
151
Climbes vp those clyffes, a dreadfull watry wall:
That to themselues, amazd with feare they show,
Like men in th'ayre surueighing hell below.
48
It seem'd as if the Heauens and Seas had Wars,And that the one the other did defy,
Twixt whom the mutinous winds make greater Iars,
Th'ambitious Billowes seeme to threat the sky,
And fling their brine-waues in the face of Stars,
Who therewith mooud, melt all the Clouds on hye,
And such tempestuous shewers of raine thaw downe,
As if their drops meant the vast Seas to drowne.
49
The waters both of Heauen and Earth are mixt,Flagging their sayles to make them brooke no blast,
No Lampe of heauen appeares (wandring or fixt)
Darkenesse hath o're the face of both heauens past,
And left his vgly blindnesse them betwixt,
Whose horride presence makes the Greekes agast:
The Heauens bright fire, the troubled Water braues,
sindging with lightninges force the Gulfy waues.
50
Vnto these Argonants I may compareOur Island-voyages, alike distrest,
With whelming seas, thicke Mists, and troubled ayre,
Loud claps of Thunder: Lightning from the West,
so dreadfull, that their Pilots loose their care,
Through feare, forgetting what should stead them best:
The sea, to quench Heauens glorious Lamps aspyres,
Heauen burns the Ocean with her lightning fires.
51
As braue a Generall Martiald our great Fleete,as that bold Greeke that sought the fleece of Gold,
hoping by sea an enemy to meete,
Fiercer then Iasons, and more warlike bold,
Renowned Essex, at whose warlike feete
Spaines countlesse spoyles and Trophyes haue been told,
Who from Hesperia brought to Englands Greece,
More Gold then would haue weigh'd downe Iasons fleece.
152
52
Grim Terror with the Greekes a ship-board lyesAll night: some weepe, some rage, the boldest feare,
Soliciting the Gods with Prayers and cryes,
Seeing their Fates and hopelesse ruins neere,
They thinke on Fathers, Children, Wiues, Allyes,
But whom they faine would see, they wish not there:
Grim terror in the Morning forward sped,
The Sunne begins to wake, the tempest fled.
53
Who as from forth the Spanish Seas he raisdeHis burnisht lockes, and bout his shoulders shooke them,
and (as his custome is) about him gazd
To view fayre Thetis bounds, and ouer-looke them,
He spyes th'Imbarqued Greekes, with feare amazd,
So sore the rough tumultuous Sea had tooke them:
He sees their Pendants torne, their Sheetes all rent,
Their Hatches broken, and theyr mayne-mast spent.
54
Therefore he angry, Neptune doth intreat,as he would haue him guild his siluer streames,
Or thaw his frozen Waters with his heate,
Or cheare his coole Waues with his gorgeous beames,
Th'aduentrous Greekes (his charge) not to defeat,
But they may safe re-view their Natiue Realmes:
Neptune is pleas'd, his Trident calmes the Seas,
And grants them waftage to what coast they please.
55
Who entring th' Hellespont acquire some shoreVVhere they may land, their Fortunes to repaire,
at Tenedos they tutch (knowne long before
By great Alcides, since he battayld there)
Where great Laomedon the Scepter bore,
and to preuent like dangers threatning care;
Re-builds his battred holds, and with supplyes,
Mans euery Sea-skout, that adiacent lyes.
56
These Garrisons, the Græcian Peeres denyReliefe or Anchorage, till the Kings mind
Be fully knowne: Who heares his foes so nye
That had so late his forces ouerthrowne,
153
And from his Coasts to get them quickely gone,
Or mongst them all hee'l leaue no liuing Greeke
For golden Pillage on the seas to seeke.
57
Vndanted Hercules at this offended,Sweares (by his Father Ihoue) Troyes second wracke,
And with his Argonants had then discended
Mauger the King, but Iason kept him backe,
Who being chiefe Commander, hath intended
A golden coarse, the Colchōs first must sacke,
Therefore (though much against Alcides will)
Put from that shore, the Conqueror threatens still.
58
Vowing if Fate affoord him safe returne,In whose aduenture al the Peeres vnite,
Troyes wals to batter, and their Citty burne,
And be the Kings eternall opposite,
To whose disgrace Troy shall in ashes mourne,
Th'vngratefull King be forc'st to death or flight,
And all these lofty Towers, at his next Landing,
Not haue one stone vpon another standing.
59
Resolued thus, they make to hoyse vp saile,Weigh Anchor, and their tackles hale and pull,
Their lofty spleenes gainst Troy they now auaile,
And onely ayme at the Phrixean wooll,
The God of winds affoords them a calme gale,
Making their waue-washt sheetes shew swelling full,
Whose gentle Gusts the Græcian Heroës bring
To Colchos, welcom'd by the Phasian King.
60
At whose arriue, Medea Iason viewing,Oh heauen (quoth she,) what passion's this I feele?
Shall yon faire Græcian youth his fame pursuing,
Die by inchanted fire, or tempered steele?
Oh saue thy fame (by this attempt eschevving)
Thy arme vvants povver to make the Dragon reele:
Thy amorous hand (alasse) too soft and white,
with Brasse-hoou'd Buls (that breath out fire) to fight.
154
61
More fitter t'were a Lady to embrace,T'imprison beauty in a cristall fold,
Oh why should one that hath so sweet a face,
(Made to be lou'd and loue) seeke acts so bold?
Too ventrous Greeke, for loues sake leaue this place,
Thou knowst not what thou seekst, the fleece of Gold
A royall prize it is, yet amorous stranger,
It hath not worth to countervaile the danger.
62
For the least blood shall drop downe by thy skin,Or in the combat staine the Colchian grasse,
Is of more worth then all that thou canst win,
Yet doth the riches of this Fleece surpasse:
But stay: What blind maze am I entred in?
What louing laborinth? Forgetfull Lasse:
Oh canst thou to a strangers grace appeale,
Who comes from farre, thy Fathers fleece to steale?
63
This Iason is our foe: dwels in a LandRemote, and of another Clyme indeed,
If thou wilt loue, about thee Princes stand
Of thine owne Nation, let this stranger bleed,
Despise him then, and all his forraine band,
That in thy Fathers pillage haue agreed:
Instead of loue, the amorous Greeke defie,
And by th'inchanted Monsters let him die.
64
But shall Medea view that Tragicke sight?And see his faire limbes by her Monsters rent?
Shall his white fingers with grim Hell-hounds fight,
That might Medea in her loue content?
Apollo may I neuer tast thy light,
Pertake thy earthly rise, or low discent,
But by my Art I shall so well prouide,
To be the Gold-Fleece-conquering Iasons Bride.
65
But how Medea? Wilt thou then forsakeThy Country, Father, Friends: All which are great,
and (to thy Lord) a rouing Pyrate take,
One that perchance hath no abiding seat?
155
A Royall Prince and in all acts compleat,
Thy Country, Father, Friends, trifles but small,
And this one warlike Iason worth them all.
66
That he is louely; witnesseth mine eye,And valiant: what can better record beare
Then this attempt, whose fame to heauen will flye,
T'amaze the Gods that shall this Nouell heare,
I leaue a barraine kingdome, to discry
A populous Nation, what then should I feare?
In seeking with this amorous Greeke to dwell,
I aske Elisum, in exchange for Hell.
67
A Land, where if his people him resembleHumanity, and all good Thewes are rife,
Who if they loue their Lord, cannot dissemble
Their harts to her that shall safegard his life,
Th'inchanted Buls whose bellowing made heauen trēble,
Shall by their ruines make me Iasons wife,
Whom all the faire and potent Queenes of Greece,
Shall better welcome then the conquerd Fleece.
68
Opinion'd thus; at their next enter-view,(After their diuers oaths betweene them past)
That he the fam'd aduenture shall pursue,
Whose conquests with inchantments she binds fast,
And when his hands these monsters shall imbrew,
He to receiue her as his Bride at last:
Night passeth on, at the next birth of day,
Aurora frights the fearefull Stars away.
66
Much confluence of people throng together,In the large field of Mars they take their places,
The Princes of the Land in Scarffe and Feather
And Triumph-robes, expect the Greekes disgraces,
The burdend earth grones with spectators: whether
The King himselfe martiald with golden Maces
In person comes, his Barons him inuest
In a high Throne, degreed aboue the rest.
156
70
To such prepared ioyes the Frenchmen came,To see the valiaunt Mount-morensi roon,
against Charles Brandon, who for Englands fame,
Vanquisht their Knight, at which their ioy was doon,
The French, who to disgrace the English came,
Saw how bold Charles at one incounter woon
Their Champions armes, the French Qu to his pheer,
Which chang'd their promist mirth to sadder cheere.
71
Behold where Polymelaes sonne vndanted,against the brazen-hoofed Beasts appeares,
How (richly armd) his sword aloft he vanted,
T'incounter with the two infernall steares,
Who as he strikes, still breaths out words inchanted,
The Græcians stand amaz'd, Medea feares
To see young Iason Lord of her desire,
Betwixt two Buls, their Nosthrils breathing fire.
72
And least her Incantatious force might faile,She mumbles to her selfe more powerfull charmes,
Still doth the dreadlesse Greeke those Buls assaile,
Reddy to scorch him in his twice-guilt armes,
His sharpe edg'd sword their horned crests makes vaile,
That fire that scaldeth others, him scarce warmes,
(Such power hath Magicke) the fell Buls grovv tame,
And Iason tugs with them amidst the flame.
73
And first he by the dangling dew-laps takes them,Who force perforce his valour must obey,
He twixt his sinnowy armes together shakes them,
They bellowing yeeld themselues his glorious prey,
To bow their stubborne necke, bold Iason makes them,
On which th'obedient yoake he gently lay,
The Greekes applaud his conquest with shrill cries,
The Colchians shew their sorrowes in their eyes.
74
But alls not furnisht yet, he makes them drawThe teemed plow, to furrow vp his field,
The rusty yron doth the greene verdure flaw,
Quite vanquisht now, the conquered Oxen yeild,
157
The Vipers teeth he cast vpon his shield,
And sow'd them in the furrowes: they straight grew,
To armed men, and all on Iason flew.
75
The Greekes dismay, th'incourag'd Colchians showt,Onely Medea doth their ioy detest,
With magicke she assists her Champion stout,
Her Exorcismes haue power to arme his brest,
Those that but late incompast him about,
And with their steele strooke Stars out of his Crest,
Seeke mutuall armes, amongst themselues they brall,
So by seditious weapons perish all.
76
It now remaines the three-tongu'd venomous Snake,The Riuer-waking-Serpent to make sleepe,
Whose horride crest, blew skales, and vnces blacke,
Threat euery one a death (vnto his keepe
The Fleece is put) Medea bids him take
Grasse in blacke Lethe, laid three nights to steepe,
Vttering such powerfull charmes as calme the winds,
And the mou'd Billowes in their Channell binds.
77
Those drops being spinkled on the Dragons head,The words thrice spoke (the wakefull Serpent lies)
Drownd in forgetfull slumbers, seeming dead,
and sleepe (till now not knowne) seales vp his eyes,
Iason in safety may the Mansion tread
Where Colchos long preseru'd the golden prize,
and now at length faire Polimelaes sonne,
Inioyes the Fleece that he with danger wonne.
78
Proud of this purchase, but of her more glad,That by the Vertue of a powerfull word,
More hy command vpon these Monsters had,
Then he in vse of his remorslesse sword,
Vnto his Argoe he Medea Lad
Commanding all his merry mates aboord
But secretly, least when King Æta knew,
his daughters rape, he might her flight pursue.
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79
Which to preuent the Negerous Lady takesThe young Absyrtes, a faire hopefull youth,
And when her father after Iason makes,
And with rough fury her escape pursuth,
She chops the Lads limbes into bits and flakes,
and in the Kings way strowes him without ruth,
And whilst he gathers vp with watry eyes
His peece-meale body, she in safety flies.
80
With triumphs they in Greece are welcomd all,And Iason famous for his royal Quest,
The Bed-red Father will his sonne install
In his owne kingdome, and with him his guest
Deepe-speld-Medea, at whose Magicke call
The Seas and winds, or trauell, or find rest:
Oh Magicke, by thy power what cannot they,
To whom the Seas submit, the winds obey?
81
Amongst those Princes that with Iason vvent,and vvere at home receiu'd, the great Alcide
amidst this generall Ioy seemes discontent,
His spleene to Troy he can no longer hide,
To be reueng'd he holds his firme intent,
He that to their distresse reliefe denide,
Must knovv what t'is to scorne his firme alliance,
So through all Greece he breaths gainst Troy defiance.
82
And vvith a gallant army taking Land,attaines the shore perforce, and in his way,
No Village, Fortresse, Tovvne, or Tower can stand,
But to his ruthlesse fury must giue way:
This hearing, King Laomedon hath mand
a Noble army, to make good the day:
Which ere the Sun into the West-sea fall,
Must see ten thousand Troians kild and thrall.
83
Laomedon remembring what great vvrackeTwelue-labord Hercules before time made,
Recounts to them his vvrongs, his Citties sack,
Their tyranies to al vvhom they inuade,
163
That haue too long vpon his confines staid:
Behold (quoth he) these would your freedomes barre,
Then with a generall showt prepare for warre.
84
The hoast of Greekes that heare their exclamation,Wait but to heare Alcides watch-word giuen,
Who cheares them thus: You are that warlike Nation
Whose fame fils all the Clymates vnder heauen,
Since you are strangers, let your salutations
Be with your swords, not words; for yet ere Euen
Yon standing hoast in their owne bloods wee'l drown,
And part the rich spoyle of yon rampierd Towne.
85
Lowd chearing Instruments on both sides sound,The battailes ioyne, both Greekes and Troians sinke:
They that but late the firme Earth proudly bound,
Now must below the waues of Lethe drinke,
The great Alcides borne to sway the ground,
Against his strength opposd, al mortals shrinke:
Who being more then man, must needs haue ods
To fight with any that are lesse then Gods.
86
Him whome th'all-doming Fates will haue to sway,How can Laomedon in armes subdue,
Though Troy be strong, yet must it Greece obey,
Alcides with his Club whole thousands slew,
By his sole-strength the Greekes obtaine the day,
And to the Citty gates the foe pursue,
Who mingled with their troopes, in this aduenture,
Slaughter the bold, and with the Cowards enter.
87
So by the English was great Cales suprisdAnd entred, with the Spaniards that retire,
they that at first the generals name despisd,
Now at the last are forc'st his fame t'admire,
English and Dutch in Spanish wealth disguisd,
Laden their fleet with pillage, whilst bright fire
Consumes the Towne, which twice the English take,
As Greece did Troy, great Essex and bold Drake.
164
88
Stout Aiax Telamon amongst the rest,Set his first foot in Troy, but him succeed
Ten thousand Greeks, and many a warlike brest,
Pierst with the Argiue weapons, freshly bleed:
They sacke the populous Towne from East to West,
Troyes second sacke is by the Fates decreed:
They sacke and ransacke, spoile, and freely kill,
And all the Towne with shreekes and clamors fill.
89
Amongst the rest that perisht in this broile,Laomedon fals by Alcides hand,
Whilst euery where the conquering Græcians spoile,
No man so bold that dares against them stand,
Great is the booty in so rich a soile,
They pillage all the substance of the land,
Beat downe the wals, the Temples ruine quite,
And kill poore infants in their mothers sight.
90
The Matrons in their husbands armes deflower,The reuerent Virgins in their parents eye,
And such as interdict their awfull power,
By their remorselesse bloudy weapons die,
Hie looking Troy is ruin'd in an houre,
Those Towres quite racst, whose sharpe spyres mockt the sky
and that proud towne the Asian glory ones,
Is now a confus'd heape of men and stones.
91
Al-conquering Hercules reueng'd at lastOf Troyes ingratefull Soueraigne, takes full ceasure
Of Asiaes Monarchy: his fury past,
amongst his host he parts the Citties treasure,
But Telamonus Aiax most he gracst,
and gaue him her that pleas'd him aboue measure,
The bright Hesione his valours meed,
The beautious Virgin from the sea-Whale freed.
92
Well was it for young Priam the Kings sonne,That he was else-where in the East imployd,
The Lybian else that Asia ouer-ronne
and conquered Troy, had likewise him destroid,
161
Are fraught with wealth, with pleasure ouer-ioyd:
Poore Troy, whilst they in their full mirth abound,
Liues desolate, and leueld with the ground.
93
The Monster-maister hauing fild the skyWith martiall clangor in the lowdest straine,
After reuenge on Cacus Tyranny,
and the great Gyants of Cremona slaine,
King Pricus death, King Affer raised hie,
And the two Collumnes that he reard in Spaine,
To include in few his many deeds; we thus
In narrow roome, his labors twelue discusse.
94
1. The Eremanthion Bore, 2. and the fire-breathing Bul,3. The Lernan Hydra. 4, and the winged Hind,
5. Stymphalidus. 6. The Amazonian trull:
7. Th' Aegean stables, the seauenth taske assind,
8. The Cleonean Lyon. 9. with the scull
Of Diomed, who fed his Steeds gainst kind:
10. The golden fruit made ripe by bright Heperion,
11. Grim Cerbarus, 12. and triple-headed Gerion.
95
These taskes by Iunoes imposition ended,Whilst he on Ictes attractiue face
Doted, and her deserts alone commended,
Faire Deyaneyr imputes it her disgrace,
With such great wrongs vnto her bed offended,
Because his vassaile had supplied her place.
She sends a shirt, (and meanes her husband good)
Dipt in the poyson of the Centaures blood.
96
The traitor Nessus passing a deepe foordWith Deianeyre, away with her he flyes,
Alcides cannot reach him with his sword,
But after him his wounding arrow hies,
The dying Centaure speakes this latest word,
Faire Deianeyre, before death close mine eyes,
Receiue a guift, in signe I lou'd thee deerely,
Which though I die, in time may stead thee neerely.
162
97
I know thy Lord a Conqueror, yet subdudeBy womens beauty: therefore when you find,
The lustfull Prince mongst Forraine Queenes intrude,
and that their amorous Court-ships change his mind,
Send him a Shirt, with this my bloud Imbrude,
The vertue is, to make Alcides kind:
This said, his life he ended in a trice,
She (for it was his last) trusts his aduise.
98
Hearing faire Iole the hart had ceasdOf her deare Lord, and that she kept away,
She feeles her thoughts within themselues diseas'd,
and hopes to call him backe that went astray,
The Centaures dying guift the Lady pleasd,
Her seruant Lychas posts it without stay:
Oh! Thou weake woman, thou his death maist vant,
Whom Hell-hounds, Gyants, Monsters, could not daunt.
99
Hoping (alasse) his fauour to regaine,The Innocent Lady her deare Lord destroyd,
He d'ons her present, whose inuenomed Bane
Cleaues to his bones (Oh! Who can Fate auoyde?)
More then a man before he would complaine
Alcides beares, and no whit seemes annoyd:
Such tortures as the strongest might strike dead
he brookes: yet no part of his coulour fled.
100
But when he felt such Tortures, anguish, smart,That Gods aboue, nor Deuils damd could beare,
That stung his breast, and pierst his Noble hart,
he growes Impatient, that could neuer feare
Infernall panges, Infusde in euery part,
he striues the poysonous Shirt away to teare:
But with the cleauing Linnens forst to draw
The Brawnes from off his armes, and leaue them raw.
101
The poysond boyles, and he that could confoundGyants, so late to his immortall fame,
Now from the head to heele, is all one wound,
The raging venom-drops his flesh inflame,
151
Sometimes those powerfull hands that Monsters tame,
plucks down huge rocks, & cleaues thē with his stroaks
And sometimes by the roots rends vp huge Oakes.
102
Mad with these Torments Oeta Mount he traces,Where creeping in a hole he Lychas spies,
When stalking to his Caue with leasurd paces,
About his head he wheeles him in the skies,
And that being done the whole Mount he defaces,
A groue of Trees dispoyld about him lies,
A thousand Oakes he heapes vp on a pile,
And kindling them, sayes with a scornfull smile,
103
Whom neither Iunoes wrath, nor Plutoes hell,Whom neither Lyons, Buls, Dogs, Dragons, Whales,
Whom neither Tyrants grim, nor Gyants fell,
against that spirit a womans gift preuailes,
Her iealousie hath power that hart to quell,
Whom Serpents feare with their inuenomed skales,
Since none on earth deserues our blood to spill,
The great Alcides shall Alcides kill.
104
The fire burnes bright, he Philocletes cals,And vnto him bequeaths his shafts and bow,
Who at his warlike feet confounded fals,
The Club and Lyons case his bold hands throw
Into the flame, then he whom noughts appals,
Cries Ihoue I come, and boldly leaps in so:
That life that mortall did the heauens aspire,
Now with Immortall wings climes heauen by fire.
105
Alcides dead, and Priam backe returndFrom his successefull Battailes in the East,
He sees his Country spoyld, his Citty burnd,
His Father slaine, which most his grief increast,
These losses with his Sisters rape he mournd,
Nor are such weighty sorrowes soone surceast:
We for a while will leaue him to his care,
His Syre t'intoombe, his Citty to repaire.
168
The end of the seauenth CANTO.
| Troia Brittanica: or, Great Britaines Troy | |