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Notes: This transcript has been made using modern English spelling instead of the original 17th century spelling. Uncertain substitutions are indicated by footnotes where the original spelling is quoted.

 

Lacunas are indicated by […]. I have attempted to interpolate the missing or corrupted text from context and from what is said in other sources. Fortunately nothing of vital importance in this text is corrupted but transcriptions of the Latin quotes should be considered to be unreliable and referred back to the original text.

 

Numbering is (a), [b], where (a) = paragraph number, [b] = page number in the printed text.

 

Expanded numbering system, not yet implemented is (a:c, b) or (a.c, b) where c = sentence number in given paragraph beginning at 1 for the first sentance, except for the title on page [1] which is numbered (1.0).

 

Paragraphs, headings, and pages before the start of the main body of the text are numbered in Latin. The main body is numbered in standard numerals. Margin notes in the main body are indected here by { } and have not been numbered.

 

A chronological table of the people and events referred to in this text aligned with the Chronicon of Saint Jerome is provided in the file “Chronology.xls”

 

 

© Argyros George Argyrou

Email aggie@...thamptongreekcommunity.co.uk

http://www.enthymia.co.uk/myths/bible/

 

08/11/2007

last edited and proofed 19/11/2007, 12/01/2008, 12/10/2008, 12/11/2008, 22/04/2009, 21/04/2013, 28/04/2013

version 1.10.5d

 

 

A copy of the complete printed text originating from the British Library is located at:

http://www.annomundi.com/history/travels_of_noah_complete_text.htm

 

 


AN HISTORICAL

TREATISE OF THE

TRAVELS OF NOAH INTO

Europe : Containing the first inhabita-

tion and peopling thereof.

 

As also a breefe recapitulation of the Kings, Governors, and Rulers commanding in the same, even until the first building of Troy by Dardanus.

 

Done into English by Richard Lynche, Gent.

 

Tempo `e figlisaola di verita.

 

LONDON,

 

Printed by Adam Islip.

1601.

 

[ii]G. STEAVENS

 

[iii]To the Worshipful my very good friend [Master] [Peter] [Manwood] [Naive.]

 

(x) Sir, being wholly unfurnished of any other means to testify my gratefulness for your many kindnesses towards me, and thinking it unfit that they so long should sleep obscured or publicly unacknowledged, I judged it irequisite by dedication of these few lines unto you (disabled by Fortune for any other fashion) to let you know how much I desire to be found thankful to an assured friend. The matter handled, chalengeth no great worth, the manner [iv]in the dressing of itself, and yet my endeavours to deserve the continuation of your love, not to be rejected : as Time shall beget a more opportune occasion, my industry shall not slack to apprehend the fame, from which (it may be) may be produced a better shaped issue : till when and ever after I rest

 

Yours in all sincere affection and fidelity, assured,

 

Richard Lynche.

 


[1]A TREATISE OF

the travailes of Noah into Europe,

containing the first inhabitation and peopling thereof.

 

(1) To begin with the genealogy of Dardanus (the first founder and erector of the city of Troy) it is requisite that we take for out chief guide therein the first prince and Patriarch of the world, called Noe, surnamed Gallus, following herein most especially, the chronicle of the authentic writer, Berosus the Chaldean : who indeed of all others most accordeth with the writings and holy works of Moses in the old Testament : for as much as the Chaldeans generally addicted themselves to letters into which they were allured and persuaded by Noe, showing them the use of History, and therein the true particulars of the creation of the world, until that very time wherein they then lived ; which also Noe himself learned and was [2]instructed in by his father [Lamech] who [had] [learn]ed his knowledge from [his forefather the Patriarch,] [Enoch] before he was [sent] up[on] [to do] [the Lords business] : and this Enoch had it [by] [tradition] [from] [his forefather] Adam, who was [possessed] [therewith] by [the] [sublime] [and] holy inspiration. Let us now therefore [affirm] [what] this Berosus the Chaldaean will [deliver] unto [us,] [being] a most renowned, ancient, and grave author, who flourished not long before the times of Alexander the Great ; and unto whom (as Ptolemy in his Natural history reporteth) the Athenians for his great wisdom and eloquence, erected in their [university] a most stately [and] [gorgeous] [statue] to his own shape and similitude, whose tongue they guided over with most pure and resplendent gold. This Berosus we will in this Treatise much rely upon, adjoining withal unto his authority other authors of great worth, learning and antiquity.

 

(2) Noe (according to [Berosus] in his [enteritis,] one of Hebrew words) signifieth as much as resting or [sitting] of a mans self, and he was the son of [Lamech], which signifieth humility. This Noe by the descriptions of old writers was taken in those days to be a [Giant], in respect of his extraordinary nature, proportion, and [corpulence] and he was about the age (as Moses also in [the sixth] chapter of Genesis [affirmeth]) of five hundred years, when he begat of his wife [Tytia] (otherwise called Aretia) [these] his three first sons, [Cham], [which interpreted], [signifies famous]; otherwise called [Melechisedech], [Shem] the son [he last] [begat] Berosus affirmeth him to be the [youngest] which signifies subtlety or craft : and Iaphet, which signifies liberty or freedom ; [and with his three sons Noe] and his [family] [3]lived in a city called Enos, which was the first city in the world, and was built by Cain the son of Adam, at the foot of the mountain Libanus in the land of Syria, and in the particular province of Phoenicia, not far from the famous city of Ierusalem, situated in the holy land.

 

(3) In this city of Enos, and in many others thereabouts inhabited and lived many most deformed, fierce, and terrible giants, who by reason of their unmatchable strength and indomitable powerfulness, ruled and overswaied all those people thereabouts at their pleasure, committing many odious and ungodly deeds, and living a most dissolute and vicious life, engorging their luxurious appetites with surfeits of adultery and libidinous conversation, as void of shame, the law of nature, and the fear of God.

 

(4) In these times many very learned Astronomers and wise Soothsayers gave out prophetical divinations of the sudden approaching destruction of the universal world, which their forewarning prognostications they engraved and cut forth in pillars of marble and stone monuments, to signify thereby unto the world their knowledge of such future happening accidents. All this notwithstanding, these obstinate and heart-hardened Giants persevered in their impious and detestable practices, tyrannising and oppressing without all measure, addicting themselves to the finding out of weapons, shields, and other warlike accoutrements, as also to the making of tents, pavilions, and such like expedient necessaries for the field : wholly excluding all thought of and alteration or change to ensue : only the good giant Noe, among all the rest, feared God, and was obedient to his laws, with all the rest of his family and household, which was Titea [4]his wife, Shem, Cham, and Iaphet, their children, and Pandora, Noela, & Noegla, their wives : all which, Noe instituted in modesty and good manners, and in the reverence and fare of their sovereign Creator. He therefore as well by divine commandment, as by the science of Astronomy, by which he gathered the overthrow and confusions of the world, began to frame and fashion that huge ship or Ark, which we so often read in holy scriptures, & which was appointed from above to be the means of the salvation and preservation of human kind. Noe, when he saw this general inundation to approach and show itself, conveyed him and his family into this Ark, when presently all the world, and all things else therein (this excepted) were overwhelmed and lumbered under the raging fury of this so strange and all-devouring deluge : and this was performed on the eighteenth day of April, in the six hundred year of the age of Noe. And hitherto was accounted the first age of the world, according as Philo the Iew in his computations afirmeth.

 

(5) The world thus universally drowned and kept down under the all-subduing power of the waters (Noe and his family excepted) in the end they began again to sink back and retire into the earth, which when Noe perceived (his Ark then resting on the top the high hill Gordicus in Armenia) by the will and commandment of God, he with the rest (which were seven) came out of his ship, and descended down unto the new dried land : which was performed eight hundred thirty three years before the foundation of Troy, & before the incarnation of Christ two thousand three hundred and seventeen years. Noe then seeing himself thus left the sole King, [5]Monarch, Emperor, Patriarch, Lord and Master of the whole universal land, remained wondrously astonished at this so strange and sense amazing accident: and passing along the land, he found on a plain a fair pillar of marble, whereon he carefully engraved and set down the deluge and general inundation of the world in the form of an historical discourse : & this stone (as it is reported) is called at this day by the inhabitants thereabouts, Myri-Adam, which interpreted, signifies the issue of Noe, and it standeth in the county of Armenia, being a great province of Asia the great, which affronteth towards the East the Hyrcanian sea, towards the South lies Mesopotamia, towards the North Colchos and Albania, and towards the West, Cappodocia ; and through the midst of it run the two famous rivers, Tigris and Euphrates, of all which countries, hereafter in this history, more at large shall be spoken. It is written, That Noe begat of his wife Tytea after the flood, thirty children, viz. Tuyscon the Great, Prometheus, Iapetus, Macrus, and the sixteen Titans which were all Giants : also Cranus, Granaus, Oceanus, and Tipheus ; and of daughters, Araxa surnamed the Great, Regina, Pandora, Cranua, and Thetis: some authors do allege more, but for brevity’s sake we will not further contend with others opinions. Noe thus living in Armenia, instructed these his children in the knowledge of sacred Theology, and in rites belonging to religion and holy sacrifices, as also in the understanding of human manners and secrecies of Nature, of which he himself had composed many books, which afterward the priests and churchmen of Scythia and Armenia, preserved and kept in great regard and reverence. For this cause he was [6]called among the Scythians, Ogyges Saga, which interpreted from the Scythian language, signifies as much as Great Patriarch, sovereign Priest, and mighty Sacrificer. And this Berosus affirmeth, saying : Primum isague dixerunt Ogyges Sagam, id est, Illustrem Sacrorum Pontificem Noam : he also taught and instructed them the knowledge of the course of the planets, and divided the year into twelve months, according to the course and circumference of the Moon : he also by his study of Astronomy and observation of the celestial motions, could prognosticate of the alterations of weather in the year succeeding : for which causes the Scythians and Armenians very highly honoured him, thinking him to partake of the divine nature and supernal knowledge, and therefore called him Olybama & Arsa, which is as much as to say, the Heaven, and the Sun : and they afterward also built and named many great cities in his name and of his wife Titea, so much were they honoured for their virtues and godly conversation. He further taught those people the use of agriculture and tillage of the ground, and also the finding out of the use of the grape, and the manner to plant vines and other necessaries for their more easy living, whereupon he was entermed Ianus, which in the Scythian tongue, signifies the giver of wine. But as he was the first that found out the use thereof, so was he the first that felt the power and virtue of it, who not being able to endue the fume and mighty strength of the operation thereof, in a great feast whereto he had invited many of his friends, fell extremely drunk, and so overcome therewith, as he lay senselessly sleeping in unseemly manner amid these his guests and friends so invited : such was the fury of [7]that new found drink.

 

(6) Among all the sons of Noe, Cham was the least in his fathers favour, who also by reason of his Magic art (wherein he had great knowledge) was called Zoroast, who wholly gave himself over unto all incivility and rude behaviours, following the abominations and vices of those horrible giants before the flood : he, as hating his own father, for that he saw himself least beloved of him, as he saw him thus lying drunk (using some charms of enchantment) took now the time of revenge, and by his Magic so bewitched his father in those places of generation, that he disabled him ever after to have use of a woman, or to get more children : for these and other such his detestable impieties, he incurred the wrath and displeasure of God, in most grievous manner, and was afterward banished from his father, who afflicted him with no more punishment  therein for such his unnatural deed so committed.

 

(7) Human kind through the succession of time, so much increased and multiplied, that they were now enforced to seek some new habitations and places of abode : whereupon the good Patriarch Noe, surnamed Ianus, began to exhort the princes and chiefs of this family, to put themselves in search for other countries and places of residence, and there to build and erect villages and cities, for the society of human conversation : and he thus allotted unto them their regions and quarters, where to populate and inhabit. To Sem, surnamed Melchisedech, he appointed Asia the great, and he had with him in this company xxv. Rulers of his family. He afterwards built the city [8]of Salem, now called Ierusalem, and he lived even until the time of Abraham. Unto Iaphet his brother was allotted Europe, and he had with him fourteen rulers of his generation : and unto these two, Noe bequeathed his blessing most amply, according as the scripture maketh mention : As for Cham, although he was out of grace with his father, yet had he his inheritance also allowed unto him, which was the other third part of the world, as hereafter shall be further spoken of.

 

(8) Frier John Annius of Viterbe, the expositor of our author Berosus, doth recite, that Philo the Iew (another very ancient author) doth write, That in the hundred year after the deluge, Noe to show and instruct his children in Cosmography, went up on the mountains which overlook the Pontic sea (part of which is now called Mare Mediterraneum) and there showed unto his sons Sem all the Asiatic seas, from the flood Tanais in Tartaria unto the river Nilus in Egypt : unto Cham he showed all the rivers issuing from the seas of Africa, and from thence through Egypt to the streights of Gibraltar : and to Iaphet all the rivers and floods of Europe,  passing from those straights, through Spain, France, and Italy, and those countries round about : into which country of Italy Noe also afterward arrived and left behind him certain of his people in that part of the county where Rome was long after built, which was eight hundred years after the flood : from thence he passed unto the coasts of Greece, and entered into the straights leading to Constantinople, by the sea called Mare Major, and so again to the floods of the Tanais in Tartaria, from whence he first set forth. And it is to be noted, That as he passed through all those [9]countries, he always left people behind him to inhabit and increase in those countries, distributing unto every number certain quarters to remain in : and after this time, in short space many countries were again re-inhabited and peopled afresh, which since the flood were desolate, and lay naked and depopulat.

 

(9) About the one and twentieth year of this his return from the above written voyage, Noe began to divide kingdoms, & also to erect monarchies in the world: of which, Nembroth the Giant, the son of this nephew Cus, who was the son of Cham, was first of all established, in the hundred and one and thirtieth year after the inundation, and he was called the first Saturn or king over the Babylonians and Assyrians, who afterward in a fair Campania called Sennaar, laid the foundation, and erected the great tower and city of Babel, which he had caused to be built even to the height of the highest mountains, but after by the confusion of languages it was given over and left unfinished. Nembroth after this lived in peace and tranquillity 56 years.

 

(10) Not many years after the setting up of the monarchy of Babylon, Noe divided four particular kingdoms in Europe, viz. the kingdom of Italy, Spain, France and Almaigne : for in Italy reigned Comerus Gallus, the eldest son of Iaphet : in Spain ruled Tuball (called also Iuball) the fifteenth son of Iaphet : in France Samothes (surnamed Dis) Iaphets fourth son: and over Almaign, (now called Germany) governed the Giant Tuyscon, one of the sons of Noe. And so likewise in many other places of the world were several governments and [10]kingdoms then erected, which now to recite, [were remiss[1]] and impertinent to our purpose, & everyone of them a long time kept and were contented with their quarters so allotted unto them, and imposed laws and edicts unto their people, and they called the country after their own name, as also many mountains, rivers, and towns were so entermed, to the end, that all succeeding posterity might know by what means and by whom such cities and other monuments received their first ground and foundation.

 

(11) After these kingdoms and governments erected, and the earth now again well peopled, Noe now undertaketh his second voyage into Europe, leaving Sabatius Saga his nephew, and brother to Nembroth king of Babylon, to govern and command over the country of Armenia, from whence he now departeth with purpose to visit his children, and to know of their estates. And this Sabatius Saga (called Saturn) had all the country even unto the land of Bactria, lying towards India (at this day called Tartaria) under his rule and authority. These things at home thus established, Noe (surnamed Ianus) with his wife Titea, and many multitudes of people besides, began his voyage (which was eight score and nine years after the flood, and in the eight and thirtieth year of the reign of Nembroth) towards Hyrcania, which he then peopled, and called them after his own name Ianij. From thence he came to Mesopotamia, where also he left behind him many people to inhabit: and from thence he attained the country called Arabia Foelix, where he erected two cities, the one called Noa, the other called Ianinea, furnishing them with inhabitants : after, he passed from [11]thence, and came into Africa, which part of the world he first assigned unto the government and sovereignty of his second son Cham, but at that time there ruled Triton the son of Saba, which was the son of Cus, the eldest son of the same Cham. This Triton received Noe and his company with great joy and gladness of heart, and he stayed there for half a year, in which time Triton died, and left his son Hammon inheritor to the kingdom of Africa, otherwise called Lybia. After this, Noe passed forward, and at the length arrived in Spain, which was two hundred fifty nine years after the flood and in the tenth year of the reign of Ninus the third king of Babylon.

 

(12) Iuball or Tuball, the fifth son of Iaphet, and the first king of Spain (as all histories do affirm) received his grandfather Noe Ianus, and his grandmother Tytea, with honourable entertainment and all gladsome willingness : who also were exceeding joyful to see the prosperous estate of their nephew Iuball, for so much as they found, that he governed his people with great justice, policy and good laws, as Berosus in a certain place alledgeth, saying : Anno Nini quarto Tysscon gigas Sarmatas, legibus format apud Rhenum : Idipsum agit Iubal apud Celuberos (hoc est Hispanos) & Samothes apud Celtas. Noe therefore to help his nephew for the better peopling of his country, founded there two great cities, calling the one Noela, and the other Noegla, in remembrance and honour of his two fair daughters, so called, being the wives of Iaphet and Cham : & after this, departed for Italy to his nephew or grand child Comerus Gaullus, the first son of Iaphet, whom before he had appointed to be king of that [12]country. In this voyage, and in his remain in Spain, were spent nine years. Now it is not written, whether he went this journey into Italy by land or sea, notwithstanding : it is likely, and agreeth with good probability that in this his voyage he would not pass by without visiting the wise prince, his nephew Samothes, the brother of Tuball king of Spain, who was by his appointment created the first king of France, as is before touched, and he had reigned about this time six score years, and lived after this in peace and tranquillity five and thirty years and upward.

 

(13) The second time of the coming of Ianus thus into Italy, was in the time of his age eight hundred and threescore years (and now eight score since his last departure from thence) where thinking to find Comerus Gallus, he now understood that he was dead, and that his son Cham (contrary to the appointment of Noe) not contented with the sovereign dominations of Africa, had there wrongfully usurped the siegnorie of Italy, and had now commanded over that country five and twenty years or thereabouts : and which was worse, as all the other kings in Europe had instructed and governed their people in civility, manners, and education, he contrary to such their good examples, had most abominably corrupted the youth of Italy with all manner of impieties, vices, and odious signs, which he with the help of those people (called Aborigines, which he brought along with him to people the country) made them to embrace, entertain and live in. Noe upon the knowledge of this, waxed marvellous heavy and discontent, as sorrowing for the ungodliness of his own son, and suffered him thus for [13]the space of three years to continue therein, hoping daily to see some amendment or other in him : but finding him to persevere therein, and rather to increase in it than otherwise, he banished him, with a certain number of people with him, from out the confines of Italy; from whence departed, he arrived in the Island of Sicilia, where he with his company long after lived.

 

(14) Ianus then taking upon himself the kingdom of Italy, which was now two hundred three score and twelve years after the flood, he began like a careful governor to root out and separate the infectious sheep out of the whole flock, least with their impurities all should be corrupted, and so he choose out a certain number of people which were tainted with the vices of their commander that last ruled (and which people were called Aborigines) & commanded them to depart out of the country, over the river Tybre, first called Ianiculum: which thing they performed and demanded for their queen and governess Crana, Noes daughter, which he also graunted them, and they were as already said, called Aborigines, & those which were left in Italy, were called Ianigines, after his own name. He had not long reigned here, but he caused to be built on this side of the river Tybre, towards Tuscania, a marvellous great citie on the top of a high mountain, which he then called Ianiculum, & after that Vaticanum, and since the town of S. Peter of Rome, and it was seated on the same place, which at this day S. Peters church standeth upon, as also the Popes palace, called at this day in Italian, Belvedere, which is as much as, The fair sight. Round about those countries to the river Arnus, which [14]passeth through Florence, to the bounds of Sardinia, did Noe cause to be inhabited and made populous in those days : wherein also he built and erected many most beautiful cities, which he called Aryn Ianas, id est ex Iana exa Italas :  and he began then also to write and set [down] laws and institutions for the civil administration of justice, and government of [Commonwealth[2]], which he first prescribed in the city of Vetulonia, called since Viterbe : and instructed the people also in the sciences of Physic, Astronomy, and Divinations, and in the ceremonial rites and customs belonging to holy sacrifices ; and of these also he made many and several books.

 

(15) It hath been mentioned before, how that upon Noes first departure out of Armenia, he constituted and established his nephew Sabatius Saga, surnamed Saturn, to rule as King and Patriarch over that country; wherein he afterward reigned peaceably, even until the time of the reign of Iupiter Belus, the son of Nembroth, the second King of Babylon: who yielding unto his disobedient desires, and coveting to command as sole Monarch of the whole world, was the first violator & infringer of the ordinances appointed in those days, and by whose means the golden age afterward lost such her title, and never since was called so : for before such his over haughty humours, all things were peaceable, common, & free. This Iupiter endeavoured by all devices possible to overturn the greatness of Sabatius Saga, surnamed Saturn, and commanded also his son Ninus to undertake all means how to bring him and his family to death and destruction : which thing they jointly effectuated so far, as hardly escaped he the snares and subtleties laid to entrap him. Saturn therefore seeing [15]himself in those dangers and casualties, to be deprived of all dignity and command for succour and refuge fled unto his grandfather Noe, there hoping to be protected, safeguarded, and defended, which thing also Virgil thus remembereth : Primus ab ethereo venit Saturnus Olimpo arma locis fugiens & regnit exul ademptis. Noe acceding to the expectation of Saturn, friendly entertained him & gave him many gracious signs of his welcome & and [wished] arrival : and for to honour him the more, and to show the effects of his friendship and good will towards him, created him the Commander, King and Patriarch of the Aborigines, whom lately we specified : and there caused him also to build a city, which he called after his own name Saturnia, hard by that of Ianus, called Ianiculum; in which very place at this day one part of Rome, which lieth on the other side of the river Tybre, standeth, and is erected ; as Virgil also in his Eneidos mentioneth, where he bringeth in Aeneas speaking to Evander, saying : Hac quo preterea disiectis opida muris, Religutas veterum vides monumenta virorum, Ianiculum buie fuerat, illi Saturnia nomen. Ianus then and Saturn thus reigning together, Titea the great, Noes wife, began in those times first to set up the order of Nuns, and ceremonies of Vestal virgins, inventing then the setting up of lights and lamps in the churches and temples dedicated to the profession of virginity and chastity; which custom was in those days very reverently regarded, and endured in great honour and reputation, even unto the time of the Romans, Saturne likewise very painfully instructed to the people in the tillage, and in the nature of soils, wherein he had great skill and knowledge, as also in the ceremonies of religion : and not [16]long after (having instituted his son Sabus to be the successor to the king of the Sabines and Aborigines) he died, in the three hundred and forty fourth year after the inundation of the world. In the very same year also, Noe Ianus finding & perceiving his end to approach, and that now his lustiness and vigour of spirits began to shrink and decrease, created one of his sons, called Cranus, the King and Patriarch over the Iangenes (which are now called Tuscanes) and the sixth year after departed this life, and gave up to his maker, his noble and heroic spirit : which was after he had reigned in Italy fourscore and two years, and after the flood three hundred forty six years, before the foundation of Troy four hundred and fourscore, and before the incarnation of Christ, one thousand nine hundred threescore and seven years, in the age of the same Noe, nine hundred and fifty.

 

{Virgil. Whereupon Poets feign Saturn was banished heaven by Iupiter}

 

{Virgil.}

 

(16) The death of this good King and Patriarch possessed almost all the people in the world with great sorrow and lamentation, and especially the Armenians and Italians, who in most honourable manner celebrated his obsequies with such their then used rites and ceremonies, and afterward dedicated and attributed unto him divine honours and godlike adorations, building and consecrating temples and holy altars unto him, calling him by diverse and several names and titles, as the Sun, the Heaven, the Seed of the world, the Father of the gods, the Soul of the world, the God of peace, the giver of justice and holiness, the expulser of things hurtful: also their children and successors called him Ianus, Geniius, Quadrifons, [Enotrius], Ogyges, Vertumnus, Vadymon, Protheus, Multisors, Diespiter, and Iupiter : and they invented all manner of honours [17]and strange worships to reverence and adore him : they also shaped forth his picture into diverse forms and fashions : sometimes setting him forth with two faces, to signify  thereby this wisdom upon every matter and every occasion : sometimes also with four faces, to denote thereby that he was the god of the year for that he had so divided it into four several parts, being the Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, as Macrobius in his Saturnals also remembreth, saying : Ianus apud nosin quatuer partes spectat, ut demonstraeius simulathrume phaleris advectu : Afterwards the Phoenicians portrayed him forth in the form of a Dragon, biting her tail, to show thereby the roundness, and the beginning and ending of the year. In honour of him also at this day the first month of the year is called after his own name Ianuarius, as Servius in his Aneidas affirmeth. The ancients likewise have shaped him forth with two keys in his hand, to show thereby that he was the inventor of gates and doors, as also of the locking of them and making them fast, to the end, that the holiest temples and sacred places should not be polluted with the impious abuse of thieves and uncivil persons, and to avoid adulteries and other such like sins then raging : and of his name since have all doors and gates been called [Ianuae]. In many other sorts and forms have the ancients defigured the image of this Noe Ianus, as Propertius and many others have written, who in the fourth book of his Elegies, thus speaketh:

 

Quid mirare meas tot in uno corpore formas?

Accipe Vertumni signa paterna dei

Tuscus ego Tuscis orior, & c.

 

{Macrobius}

 

{Servius}

 

(17) [18]And undoubtedly, there hath not been read of any that lived so uprightly and justly as this Patriarch Noe, neither that ever any had such honours, reverence and godlike adorations done unto him, both in his life time; and after his death, who also was among those people in those days called God: neither is it to be wondered, that in those elder times there were so many gods held & worshiped among the ancients, for so much as it is to be understood., That in those days all those princes, rulers, and governors that had lived virtuously, justly, and godly, and have commanded their people with [mildness], equity, and uprightness, were entermed gods, and that also without performing any idolatrous adoration or reverence unto them, as Metasthenes and ancient author historian of Persia affirmeth, where he thus saith : Ante Nynum ducentis & qudraginta novem annis regnatum fuit sub tribus dijs regious, quorum qui primus universoimperavit orbi, fuit Ogyges, qui prefuit inundationi terraru, & c. [Cathon] also, another very ancient writer, thus speaketh : Italia complura a dijs & ducibus fortita fuit nomina, a Iano Ianicula quens quidem Enotrium dictum existimant, quis invenit uvum & far. And for these and such like reasons Moses and other godly Patriarchs were called gods, not that they were so in essence, but only in participation, as in the seventh chapter of Exodus it is written : Ego te dedi deum Pharaoni : and in the three and twenty chapter, Dijs non detrahes, & principem populi tui ne maledicas. Further also the Prophet David thus sayth : Principes populorum congregaii sunt, cam deo Abraham, quoniam dij fortesterra vebementer elevastisunt.

 

(18) These things are thus so amply and at large exposed, [19]to the end, that the reader of this Treatise should not to much marvel or wonder when mention is made in this book of gods and goddesses, which in those days were so much observed and reverence. Ovid rehearsing the words of this Noe Ianus, and showing that in his death the golden age ceased, thus sayth :

 

Tunc ego regnabam patiens cum terra deorum

Esset, & humanis numina mixta locis

Nodum iuslitiam, facinus mortale fugarat,

Vltima de superis illa reliquit humum,

Proque meta populum, sive ut pudor ille regebat,

Nullus erat iustis reddere iura labor

Nil mihicum bello, posles pacem que tuebar, & c.

 

{Ovid.}

 

(19) And as Noe was among the ancients thus honoured and adored, and temples and altars consecrated unto him: so also was Titea his wife held in great reverence, worship, and holy esteem, who was called also Vesta, Aretia, Terra, Regina sacrorum, magna Cybeles, Materque deorum, atque Vestalium Princeps, sive Abbatißa, as Berosus and other writers affirm. Having thus touched the death of this good Patriarch Noe, it shall not be now impertinent something to remember and speak of the wicked and abominable life of his son Cham, which although of itself it be worthless of any recapitulation or recital, yet to descend to the line all genealogy of the Lybian Hercules the Great, it cannot be well omitted : from which Hercules, Dardanus the first founder and erector of Troy, descended and came.

 

(20) [20]It hath been already specified, how Noe dividing the universal earth unto his children, and how Cham abounding in all vices and detestable courses, notwithstanding was not deprived of his portion, but had his right of inheritance justly allotted unto him, which was the third part of the world, and particularly Africa to the hither part of Egypt; for which countries he was commanded by his father to depart, with his wife Noegla, and five and thirty rulers (which is as much to say, as the chiefs of family of his blood and house) as also with all their children and issue: which was accordingly performed, and presently he established himself as king and Saturn of Egypt, where he erected and build a city called Chem-Myn: and among them also, he himself was called Pan[3], and Silvanus, which people likewise (so engendered and issued of that family) to honour and worship him the more, and to show their love unto him, lived in all impious and ungracious manner, perpetrating most odious and soul-damming villainies, affairming publicly, That men ought lawfully to have the company of their own mothers, sisters, and daughters, in all lusts and concupiscence of the flesh; and other many most inhuman and shameful acts, not to be recited. And to show that they gloried and boasted in the wickedness of such their king and ruler, they entermed him by the name Cham Esenuus, which signified their infamous god Pan. And thus he ruled in Egypt long time, even unto the six and fiftieth year of the reign of Iupiter Belus, the second king of Babylon: in which year he began to travel, and came into Italy (which was then called Kytim) to his brother Comerus Gallus, the first king of that country; after whose death Cham presently [21]usurped and undertook that mighty government who instead of virtuous instructions and gold laws, in which all other princes round about him, his kinsmen (commanding Germany, Spain, and France) had instructed and taught their people, clean contrary infected the youth of Italy with all manner of impieties, incivility, and corruptible vices: persuading them (being of themselves well addicted) to usury, robbery, murder, poisonings, and the study of the Magic art, who by reason of his own great skill therein, was surnamed Zoroastes, and was the first inventor and practicer of that of that vile and diabolical learning, of the use of which he composed and writ many books, and he was called generally through out the world, Cam Esennus, id est Cam infamis, & impudicus, propagator. Some have thought, That the Turk for those such like causes, is called in his letters patents, le grand Cam de Tartaria.

 

(21) It is written, that Cham had one sister which was called Rhea, married to Hammon, king of Lybia, who also was enamoured of one other fair woman, called Almanthea, and had of her by adulterous means, a son, whose name afterwards was Dionysus; which child was secretly brought up and nourished in a certain city of Arabia, called Nysa : not withstanding, the matter was not so closely & cunningly handled, but his wife Rhea had privy advertisements thereof. Whereupon in despite and jealous discontent, she forsooke her husband, and went home to her brother Cham (then abiding in the Island of Sicilia) who presently married and espoused her, and (as some writers hold) his wife Noegla being alive: but of this other he afterwards got many children, as Cus the father of Nembroth, the giant [22]the first king of Babylon, Typhon the giant, and also many others.

 

(22) Cham and his own sister Rhea thus married together, they consulted and advised to be revenged of king Hammon of Lybia, and to that effect raised a great army of men, and with the assistance and help of their brothers (the sixteen giants) they set forwards from Sycilia, and in the end arrived within the territories and confines of Lybia, where they gave king Hammon battle, and in the field overthrew and vanquished him, so that he was glad to flee into the Isle of Crete (now called Candia:) not long after this, Rhea had a son of her husband Cham, called Osyris[4], afterwards surnamed Iupiter Iustus, who proved a most noble and gallant prince, far differing from the wicked humours and dispositions of his father.

 

(23) After this, about the three and fortieth year of the reign of Ninus king of Babylon, Dionysus the son of king Hammon and of the fair Almanthea, now being come to age and of mans estate, began now to think upon the wrong offered unto his father by Cham & Rhea, in usurping the command of Lybia, and determined accordingly to be revenged upon them, which also he afterwards performed, and expulsed them again out of the country, investing himself in the regalia thereof. Notwithstanding, he used Osyris (the young son of Cham and Rhea) with great clemency and mercy, and received him as his adopted child, and in remembrance of his father called him also Hammon and Iupiter : and brought him up very carefully in the study of letters and other necessary gifts: over whom he appointed as schoolmaster and tutor, a learned man called Olympus, of whom afterwards [23]Osyris took his name, and was surnamed Olympicus. After that Cham and his wife and sister Rhea were thus disconfirmed and overthrown by Dionysus the new king of Lybia, and now retired with such disgrace into the furthermost and obscurest corners of Egypt, Rhea was presently upon this, delivered of a daughter called Iuno, which was also called Isis the Great : and this was in the first year of the reign of Semyramis, which was three hundred and two years after the flood: and this Isis was accounted for the fairest, as also the best disposed lady of the world. But her unfortunate & and wicked father Cham, now remaining in Ægypt (as hath been already specified) was not contented with such his habitation there, but seeking further (as over ambitiously inclined) arrived in the country of Bactria, not far from Persia, where he wrought and prevailed with his diabolical skill of Necromancy, that he subjugated and brought under all those people thereabouts, insomuch as he there reigned in great puissance, pride and mightiness: and yet not with this satisfied, gathereth great troops and armies of men, and invadeth the Assyrians, against whom marcheth their king called Nynus, the young, the son of the before mentioned Semyramis, whose fortune was such, as he victoriously triumphed over his enemy Cham, suppressing his glory, rule, and haughtiness, he himself being in that battle slain, and all the army shamefully discomfited.

 

(24) Many writers have affirmed, That this Cham was a man of singular ingenuity and sharp capacity, and that he first found out the seven liberal Sciences, and had wrote many books of great worth, among which, his chiefest were of Necromancy, of which most part of them were [24]burned by the beforesaid Nynus. Some also say, That he only in the world came out of his mothers womb laughing and with a smiling countenance, which is an uncouth thing, and (as most hold) prognosticating no good. Unto this Cham, Tiphon the Giant (his eldest son by Noegla) was heir, and also succeeded him in humours and malicious dispositions, who was brought up in Egypt, & there continued. And now also it shall be fit to revert our history unto the two youngest children of Cham Zoroastes, which excelled in all good parts and virtuous inclination as their father abounded in the contrary, & that was that Osyris before spoken of (the adopted son of Dionysus, king of Lybia) and Isis his sister, the fairest & best accomplished damsel in the world, whom afterward he took to wife and married, with whom he had also the kingdom and principality of Egypt. These two now newly espoused, he being of threescore years of age, and she about fifty (and yet our author Berosus terms them very youthful) began to apply themselves to the study of the nature of herbs, and to the finding out of planting, tilling, and sowing of corn, which afterwards they instructed their people in, and showed the use to their neighbours dwelling in Palestine, of which ruled king and governor Sem, surnamed Melchisedech, who was the first that ever offered bread and wine unto God. From thence Osyris passed into Egypt, and there also very painfully showed them the manner of tilling and agriculture, as likewise the Poet Tibullus speaketh of, saying :

 

Primus aratra manu solertifecit Osyris,

Et uneruns ferro sollicitavit bumum.

 

{Tibullus.}

 

(25) [25]Afterward he travelled into many other countries, always learning them (then living by acorns, nuts, and water) in the knowledge of such his new inventions; and by these gentle and mild courses he gained the love of all people, and by that means almost possessed himself of all the world, with the regalities and principalities thereof (the Empire of Babylon only excepted) whose conquests, victories, prevailements, and powers, we will something more apply hereafter remember, following as well our own author Berosus, as also Diodorus Siculus, the learned Catasthenes, and many other authentic authors herein in their books and writings of matters of elder times, and subjects of antiquity. Osyris therefore (surnamed Iupiter Iustus) having by his wife and sister Isis (otherwise called Iuno) and also of many other ladies, which here shall be needless to recite) many children, as Hercules the great, Anubis, Macedon, Lidus, Meon, Neptune, Oros, and also many others, he assembleth a mighty army of all sorts of people, both puissant and subtle, and leaving the government of the kingdom of Egypt to the queen Isis, carrying along with him some of his aforesaid children, he taketh a long and wearisome journey. The chief place of command in all his army, he appointed unto his eldest son Hercules of Lybia, who upon his escutcheon and arms, bare depainted the shape of a crowned Lion rampant, holding in his forefeet a mighty hatchet. His two other brothers, Anubis and Macedon, carried defigured on their shields, the one a Dog, the other a Wolf; according to the signification of their names. The arms of the Emperor Osyris was a royal sceptre, and under that, the form of an eye: as who searcheth the monuments of [26]antiquity, may there find it out: by which is perceived how ancient an usage the giving of arms is, and how to be respected. And in those times all good and just princes were called gods, as Pan, Apollo, Iupiter, and infinite others, with their goddesses, muses, and nymphs.

 

(26) This mighty, powerful, and gallant army thus gathered together, the Emperor Osyris proceedeth in his intended voyage, and therein compasseth round the whole universal earth: his first resistance was upon his entering Africa, where was opposed against him the Giant Antheus, but him he presently overthrew. After that, he quietly passed into India and Ethiopia, where he did great good in instructing the poor ignorant people in the true knowledge of necessary nutriment and victuals, telling them the manner how to govern and command with policy, justice and equity. Here also he subdued many most ugly and fierce Giants, full of cruelty and blood, who generally with their greatness had tyrannised over all those countries of Asia. He slew the tyrant Busiris of Phoenicia, which used to sacrifice men and women unto the gods. After this, he arrived in Phrygia, and there also subjugated the Giant Typhon, in whose command and place he established one of his own sons, ruling there, being the place where Troy afterward was erected. From thence he came by long passages, into this part of the world, being Europe, through the straights of the sea called Hellespont, since called the arm of S. George dividing Grecia from Turkie.

 

(27) At this time ruled in Thracia (which is that part of Greece where Constantinople is erected) a most horrible tyrant and inhumane Giant called Lycurgus, who now [27]denied passage through the country unto Osyris, and at the first fiercely resisted his approaches, but in the end, in gallant fight, he slew him with his own hand and remained victor and sole commander of that country which afterwards he resigned to one of his own followers called Maron, being a young and valiant prince. From thence he passed into another province called Emathia, in which also ruled many bloody cruel Giants, all which he clean extirpated, destroyed, and subdued, settling the country in peaceable quietness and security, over which he appointed to be commander, one of his own sons before spoken of, called Macedon, who afterwards called the country after his own name, Macedonia, and the people Macedonians[5], of whom descended and issued the ever famous conqueror, Alexander the great. Out of this country, the Emperor Osyris presently departed, and came into the Isle of Crete (now called Candia) where he vanquished the Giant Milinus, a tyrannical and sour governor, yet he appointed his son (in whome good hopes appeared of good government) to be king of the said Island. From these parts he returned again into Grecia, and so to Scythia, now called Tartaria, where he found his eldest son, the great Hercules of Lybia, in prosperous estate: who at this instant was extremely enamoured of a lady called Araxa, by whom afterwards he begat a son called Tuscus, which long after was king of Italy, and of whom descended king Dardanus, the first founder and builder of Troy. From Tartaria, the mighty Emperor Osyris (surnamed Iupiter Iustus) and his son Hercules are now departed, and in short space arrived in Hungarie, and so came into Almaign or Germany, even unto the flood [28]of Duno, not far from the famous river Rhine, where (finding the country something populous) he made some stay and residence, painfully instructing them in the sowing of corn and planting of vines: and builded also in this place diverse villages and cities, of whom, he being also surnamed Apis) the mighty house of the Counts of Hasbourgh in Germany took her name; from which hath issued the noble and illustrious house of Austria, since in great power and greatness exceedingly flourishing. He also there gave the names unto the chiefest hills & mountains thereabouts, whereof at this day some are called Appenini. And from thence he passed into Italy, which presently shall be further shown, as that very ancient author affirmeth, whom we call Cathon the ancient saying :

 

Aurea et as usque ad Apina deorum Italia ultimum, & c.

 

{Cathon.}

 

(28) In these times there reigned in Germany a prince, called Gambrivius, the vij. king of the Germans, descended from the house of Tuyscon the Giant, the first king of that country, and son of Noe. With this prince the emperor Osyris made long residence, and was royally seated and entertained, as being indeed near in kindred and consanguinity, who accordingly received him and his train with great joy and gladness. The country of Italy about this time was extremely oppressed with the tyranny & and bloody fashions of infinite numbers of Giants that thereabouts then lived called Titans, insomuch, as the people of the county, not able longer to tolerate and endure those such slavish impositions and insufferable tyrannies, ([29]hearing of the fame and late arrival of the Emperor Osyris, into Germany) sent their messengers or ambassadors unto him, most humbly craving and desiring his favourable assistance and protection against those barbarous and uncivil oppressors, and that he would make a journey thither to deliver them from the miserable servitude & bondage that they were forced to abide and live in. The Emperor Osyris or Iupiter hearing and accepting of their distressed condition and case, willingly condescended to leave Germany, and to undertake a voyage thither, to redress and supresse their wrongs, and the Giants super-arrogant pride, glory, and haughtiness : which, although the were of kindred and alliance with him, yet in respect of their uncivil and tyrannical usances, he instantly proceeded to the redressement thereof : and in three several battles utterly overthrew, vanquished and discomfited them, and thereupon took upon him the government of the principality of Italy, which (long before) his father Cham and his grandfather Noe, were also possessed of : and he commanded and ruled over the Italians for the space of eleven years, where for the most part he remained in the city of Viterbe, called also Verulogia, and at the end of eleven years, in great triumph, joy and glory instituted his nephew Lestrigon the Giant (the son of his son Neptune) king, commander, & ruler over all the country of Italy.

 

(29) But for so much as in this book mention is made oftentimes of strange and horrible giants, & other rare and admirable things, the reader may perhaps remain incredulous, and scarce believe them to be true, accounting them wholly fabulous, and by invention fashioned, [30]yet to allege some authority for the confirmation thereof (leaving out infinite other examples of infallible certainty) you only shall be referred to the holy scriptures, and also unto Iosephus the Iuwish writer, who amply hath handled the apology thereof : among the rest, Nembroth, Golias, and others, are apparent, that there were Giants, and of unusual stature, strength, & proportion of body. If the authority of Boccace may be accepted, he thus writeth of himself : In my time (sayth he) there was found under the foot and hollow cavern of a mountain, not far from the city of Deprana, in the Isle of Sicilia, the body of a marvellous, huge, and strange proportioned Giant, which seemed to hold in one of his hands a mighty long  piece of wood like unto the body of a young tree, or the mast of a ship, which so soon as it was touched, fell all into ashes and dust, but it was all garnished & wrought about with lead, which remained sound and firm, & it was found to weigh five hundred pound weight : his body also being touched, consumed, and became all powder and ashes, except certain of his bones, and three of his teeth, which were also peized, and every tooth weighed forty ounces. For the height and full stature of his body; it was conjectured by the people of that country, to be two hundred cubits long. And the same author sayeth, That his teeth were afterwards hanged up in our lady’s church of Deprana, for a strange monument, and a thing of wonders and relics of memory, but leaving these matters to be further ruminated by the scrupulous, I will return [31]to our main intendment proceeding, till I have further explained the obscurity thereof.

 

(30) These things above spoken of, being achieved by Osyris against those Giants and molesters of civil conversation, he departed out of Italy with all his royal army, singularly well-prepared and in gallant equipage, accompanied with gods, heroes, demi gods, and martialists, that is, with all valiant, courageous, and wise princes, rulers and captains : and it is not written, whether in this his journey he passed through Gaul (now called France) or went that way by sea, but hard by the continent he coasted, in which then ruled one Lucus, king of that famous country: but howsoever he journeyed, he now is [ar]rived in Spain, where once again he renewed mortal battles against the Tytans, which were mighty Giants, and cousins to those he before discomfited in Italy, these also he now subdueth and quite raiseth out all their generation, leaving the government of that county to the command of Gerion. And from thence again sailed into Greece, and arrived in the province of Peloponnesus, now called Morea : and he there settled himself, and ruled in the city of Argos[6] for the space of five and thirty years, as it is written by Eusebius in his book of Time. After this he createth his son Egialus, king of Achaia, and so returneth again into Egypt, there to spend his latter days with his wife and sister Isis, surnamed Iuno; who took such his coming home in full joyous acceptance and gladsome pleasingness. By this time all the world had been filled with the report of Osyris great fame and worthiness, unto whom were ascribed and given many tittles & and names of triumph, as Iupiter Iustus, Dux, Rex, Consultor, Cuius [32]regnum perpetuum est, & habitalio in Olympo :  all which were clean contrary to those wherewith his father Cham was entituled.

 

(31) Being thus retuned into his country of Egypt, he caused in many and several parts and corners thereof, to be erected certain columns and high pillars, in which he commanded to be cut out and engraved for the preservation and memory of his name and glory, these following lines, as Diodorus Siculus repeateth them :

 

Mihi pater Saturnus deorum olim iunior, sum vero Osyris rex, qui universum peragrvi orbem, usque ad Indarum desertos sines, ad eos quoque sum profectus, wui arcto subjacent, & Istri fonts, & usque Oceanum, sum Saturni filus antiquior, germen ex pulchro & generoso ortum, cui genus non semen fuit, nec fuit in orbe locus quem non adinerim, docens ea quorum inventor fui.

 

(32) After he thus was quietly seated in his kingdom of Egypt, his brother Typhon the Egyptian (who in all villainy & malice followed the humours of his father Cham) began now to repine and envy at the glory and fortune of the Emperor Osyris, in so much as he fell into a present conspiracy with many other malicious Giants for the death and destruction of him and of his greatness : which he most traitorously prosecuted so far, as in the end, by subtle and crafty practices he entrapped him, who was by him and the rest of the Giants cruelly murdered and torn in pieces, whose body they divided, and had hewn out into six and twenty pieces, whereof every Giant had a [33]share and part, as a reward and satisfaction for such their bloody and victorious stratagem : but afterwards these parts of his body were found out and gathered together again by the means of his wife Isis, and buried, with their right honour and due solemnity, whom after his death the Egyptians held and worshiped as a god, as also the children of Israel did the like in the desert. Boccace sayth, That he was called also Serapis, and that the ancient Poets termed him likewise Dionysus, Liber Pater, and Bacchus, and that he was the first that ever triumphed, which was in the first voyage he made into the Indies; and that the invention of garlands and crowns was by him devised.

 

(33) Our author Berosus by his collections seemeth to allege, That this Emperor Osyris was thus slain in the prime and flower of his age, having attained only unto three hundred years, for he was born about the time of Ninus the third king of Babylon, and died in the reign of Baleus, the Babylonians eleventh king, by which it is very apparent, what wonderful long time men in those ages did live. His wife Isis survived him two hundred and fourscore years, as hereafter shall be mentioned, who after that she had with all fit ceremonies and rites performed the funerals of her murdered husband, began now to think upon the actors thereof, and to meditate upon revenge and direfull practices : whereupon she convocateth all her children and nephews, and inciteth them to the embracement of this her attempt and action, against the horrible murderers of her newly entered husband. To be short, they condescended to the motion, and in the field encounter with Typhon and his associates, and in battle utterly subdue them : which victory was achieved hard by [34]the river Oris in Arabia, and in the same place where Osyris himself slew the mighty Giant and tyrant Antheus. The world being thus delivered of the perverse generation of Cham, Isis remained a peacefull and secure governess and queen over Egypt, which she compassed as well by her own polices and devices, as by the valour and hardy prowess of her children, of which the chiefest and most valiant was called Hercules of Lybia, of whom now (withdrawing my pen for a while to speak further of Isis) I will more amply entreat.

 

(34) Hercules therefore, the most valorous and courageous young prince, after he had by this means revenged the death of his father Osyris upon his uncle Typhon[7], and the rest of his associates, began now to have a feeling of his own power and vigour, and undertaketh many most tedious voyages, to scour all places of the world from the tyranny and oppression of such inhumane and impious tyrants : and first he passed through the province of Phoenicia, where he slew the Tyrant Busiris, the son of him whom Osyris before had slain. From thence he went into Phrygia, where Tory afterward was built and there overcame the young tyrant Tipheus; and gave the government of that country to his own son Athus, which he begat of a lady called Omphale, as hereafter shall be declared. Likewise he vanquished the Giant Mylinus, the younger king of the Island of Candia[8] : and from thence he came into Africa, since called Barbaria, of which he names most part of it Lybia after his own name, which before was called Phutea: and there in memory of his conquests he erected a column and stately pinnacle. From hence passing through the straights of Gibraltar, he arrived in [35]Spain, where upon his first landing, he fought body to body against the three Gerions, which were brothers and joint commanders and kings of Spain, those also he overcame and slew, and created his son Hispalus king and ruler of that country : which was now the ninth king thereof, and of whom the city Hispalis, now called Sivile in Spain, took her name and was so called. After this, Hercules determined to make a journey into Italy, there also to purchase further fame and reputation, by suppressing the tyranny of those that there then lived according to their own will, power, and mightiness. In this his journey towards Italy by land, he passeth through the kingdom called Regnum Celticum, then called also Gaul, and at this day is known and nominated by the name of France : of the antiquity of which country (before we come to speak of his arrival in Italy) having so fit occasion, we will in this place something remember.

 

{Johannes Annius}

 

(35) First therefore we must find out and know in what time and in what age this famous Hercules of Lybia passed through the country in this journey, for so much as it is not written of any certainty, or by an authentic author, That he ever journeyed through this kingdom before, although some do hold , That he went that way into Spain with his father Iupiter (surnamed Iustus) in the reign of Lucus, the eight king of Gaul, as hath been before somewhat commemorated and this matter may be easily and evidently discovered, by comparing the times wherein Hispalus was established and made king of Spain with those succeeding, of which, Iohannes Annius of Viterbe, a most excellent writer & diligent Historiographer in his Chronicles of Spain, sayth, That the same [36]Hispalus was crowned and invested in the kingdom of Spain by his father Hercules, in the six and thirtieth year of Baleus (the second of that name) the eleventh king of Babylon ; which was after the flood five hundred fourscore and ten years, before the foundation of Troy two hundred threescore and one years, and before the incarnation of Christ a thousand and seven hundred and seven and twenty : for Hercules was born presently after the death of Ninus, the third king of Babylon, from whose death unto the six and thirtieth year of Baleus, the eleventh king, were just two hundred fourscore and ten years : so that by this means is may clearly be perceived, in what time and what age this Lybian Hercules so arrived in Gaul, being presently after the coronation of his son Hispalus in Spain. At this very time therefore of his coming into Gaul (which we will now hereafter call France) reigned and governed in that country as their king and commander, one called by the name of Iupiter Celtes, the son of king Lucus, whom before we a little touched, who exceeded all others in riches in those days, and was marvellous wealthy in sheep, in cattle, and in pasturage, which were all the goods and possessions that princes in those times abounded in, in that county ; for then silver or gold was not there known, jewels and rare stones were disesteemed, no tributes were paid, no taxes or impositions laid upon the subjects, all things without deceit, art, or any villainous invention of mans brain, were peaceably enjoined. And to confirm this their ignorance of silver and such metals Diodorus Siculus thus sayth, That shepherds of this king Iupiter Celtes, attending their flocks on the top of the mountains which divide the kingdom of France [37]from that of Spain, called Pyrenei, espied on the [sudden] on the one side of the furthermost hills, certain liquid moisture to run down in hasty streams into the valleys below, and at the higher part of that mountain, certain flames of fire in most furious manner to shoot themselves; in so much, that very hard rocks and stone substances on that mountain were dissolved and were melted with the extremity of the heat and [riscaldation] of those fires : which also ceased not, but continued in that strange manner many months together. The fitly and simple understanding of these shepherds, by no means affirmed any apprehension of this so strange working of nature, but entertained it as a matter exceeding their capacity and reach of judgment, and therefore passed it over with the lesser wonder, in that they acknowledged in themselves so deep an imperfection and want of knowledge. But it so fortuned, That certain merchants of Phoenicia travelling along those coasts, and perceiving that that metal must needs be good which so distilled and tumbled down from the tops of those mountains (being, as many old writers allege, the metal of silver) began to feel the dispositions of those all ignorant shepherds, and to come to some composition and friendly terms for exchange of some wares they had, with that metal, which those hills in that plenty so aflourded and yielded forth. The poor shepherds (as I told you before) not capable of the true value thereof, for matters of very little worth (which those merchants had) exchanged the one for the other, without any suspect of disadvantage or ill bargain on their sides : and thereupon the Phoenicians laded and freighted their ships (then abiding in port or [38]haven not far off) with that metal which those silver mines so produced, and afterwards enriched their country therewith in most abundant and plentiful manner: and by the reason of these fires, those hills were afterwards entearmed and called Montes Pyrenaei, for Pyr in Greek signifies Feu in French, and fire in English. But to return from whence we digressed. This royal king, Iupiter Celtes which before we remembered, had one only daughter, which he prized and endeared as his chiefest good; who excelled all other ladies in the world, in proportion and stature, and in the graces of natural beauty, and for that she was of so extraordinary and large tallness, she was in those days held among those people a Giantess. This lady, whether proud of her own goodly features, or chaste in her cognitions, could not by any means be brought to affect any match or marriage, that might be occasion to take her from his sight, and the fruition of her so desired presence, until the coming of this so far-famoused and renowned Hercules of Lybia (of whose great worthiness and strange performances, they had largely heard) they of themselves entertained a new thought, and were easily induced, upon the first sight of his personage (which was majestic and of wondrous grace) to unite their house with one of so noble demerit and of so general fame. Hercules likewise became so far ensnared with the gallant beauty, big proportion, and exquisite perfections of Galathea (for so was the lady called) that he instantly discovered the motions of his affections and love towards her, which were reciprocally embraced and kindly entertained: so that there rested only the consummation [39]of the nuptials, which were presently after performed with all manner of solemnization and rites of ceremonies observed in those days. Not long after the marriage of the Giantesse Galathea unto Hercules, her father Iupiter Celtes died, who for his virtuous life and good government, was held in that reputation, esteem, & reverence among those people, that ever since that day, the third part of all that country of France is called after his own name Celtica. After him succeeded his son in law Hercules, and took upon him the command and government of the country of France, living peaceably and prosperously with his wife Galathea many years, and taught also the people new courses how to live, & better customs and fashions of behaviour, controlling them for their rude and uncivil manners, and wholly depressing a most inhumane and impious order they had, of sacrificing poor strangers unto their gods, this he abolished and wholly extinguished, enjoining straight laws, & punishments for the violators and infringers of such his commandment herein. Not long after he built and erected a most gallant and mighty city, which he caused to be seated on a high mountain of that country, which now is called by the name of Dutchie of Burgundie, between Authun & Langres, which city he called Alexia, which interpreted, signifies conjunctive or uniting, to show that there were two noble houses of strange countries conjoined and made one. This city afterwards flourished in great glory and puissance, and especially in the times of Iulius Caesar, before which, he himself with a most strong army lay, begirting the same with a most stricht & hard siege: at which time, the giving of the flowers [40]de Luces in France took his original, as Iulius Caesar himself in his seventh book of his Commentaries afirmeth. But at this present, that once gallant and glorious city of Alexia is but a mean village, and of small account in the country of Lauxois not far from Flauigny.

 

(36) The great city of Alexia thus in those days peopled, inhabited, and fortified by the great Hercules, the king of Gaul: after some orders and institutions appointed for the good governance and managing of all things whatsoever at home, he proceedeth in his intended voyage for Italy, and for that expedition raised a mighty and powerful army; with which, after he had taken his leave of his wife Galathea, and of his young son Galathew, (now aged about four years or thereabouts) he progresseth to the effectuation of this first intendment, and presently enters into the territories of the Allobroges (which country is now called Savoy) and there with main force of many hands and laborious soldiers; he maketh his passage through those wondrous high rocky mountains, in all ordinary sense and opinion then inaccessible and not to be passed; but as the extreme industry and painfulness of work bringeth all difficult things in the end to obedience and command of art, so these undigested heaps of stubborn stones and rocks, were forced at the last to give way unto his army, so far, that all their horses and baggage whatsoever found a very plain and easy passage. From thence he descended and came into Italy, where he fully revenged himself of those inhumane and lawless Giants, which were the death of his own father Iupiter Iustus : and after all tumults quieted, and the resistants subdued, he fell to peaceable laws to the people [41]and to instruct them very carefully in matters of civil association & orderly living : where we will for a while leave him, and once again betake ourselves more particularly to entreat of the first original & inhabitation of France : to begin with which, it must of necessity be drawn by the lineal succession and descent of father to son, even unto that Iupiter Celtes, and this Hercules of Lybia we so lately remembered.

 

(37) It hath been in the beginning if this book related how in the hundred year after the universal inundation and deluge of all things whatsoever which were contained in the wide embracement of the world, the good father and Patriarch Noe made his first voyage, and put forth from Armenia with all those his children, nephews, and kinsfolk, to discover unto them the situation of many other countries then unknown : and that he first passed over the Pontic sea, and so to the arm of the sea Mediterraneum, coasting along the continent about all those quarters; of purpose to show unto his children the division of the world, and Cosmographically to instruct them in the situation of each several country, as they stood : and were inhabited before the flood: and after that, to proportionise unto his three first begotten sons, every one his share and allowance for his rule, command, and domination, as hath been before already spoken of. And in these his travels, he brought also along with him many sorts of beasts, cattle, herbs, and other such things that were available for the increase and maintenance of human life and with everyone of his children of kinsfolk left a certain allowance of such things, there to multiply and engender. In this his first peregrination, he came into [42]Gaul, and so into Italy, where after he had spent some time, he returned to Armenia, about the tenth year he had set forth from thence : by which it may be gathered, that Gaul was first inhabited and peopled in the hundred and eight year after the general flood.

 

(38) After this his return into Armenia, having there rested himself some one and twenty years, he began to invent the foundations of great cities, and to establish kingdoms and siegnories throughout the world : so that in the hundred and two and thirtieth year after the deluge he first erected and appointed the monarchy of the Babylonians, of which the first king was called Nembroth, Noe’s, cousin : and about the thirteenth year of the reign of Nembroth, he instituted and established for the king of the Gauls one of his kinsmen called Samothes, surnamed Dis, the fourth son of Iaphet, a man very wise and well governed. Samothes therefore accordingly took his leave of the Patriarch Noe, his grandmother Titea, of his father Iaphet, and of his mother Noegla, and the rest of his kindred, and set forward toward his kingdom and government with all expedition possible : carrying along with him diverse sorts of cattle, poultry, and other things necessary for the maintaining and conservation of mankind (which kind of things were all the riches & treasures that man desired to possess in those days:) and thus with all his train, family, and followers, he taketh shipping in the sea called Mare major, and in the end, by the favourable assistance of prosperous winds, he arrived within the confines of Gaul, which was some seven and thirty years after his first being there with his grandfather Noe, and about eight score and four years after the deluge: [43]by which it may be understood; That the this Samothes the fourth son of Iaphet, was little less than seven score years of age, when he now last visited the country.

 

(39) Samothes therefore now entered into his own kingdom with his wife, children, and followers, and also his horses, kine, and other things necessary, began to settle himself therein, and to give out edicts and brief commands what he would have done and performed in this his country : which was done in the year after the flood above written, and about two thousand fourscore and thirteen years before the incarnation of our Lord Iesus Christ. The country was very much peopled at this time; and great increases of all other things there were found upon his now coming (for it was now seven and thirty years past since Noe left people there first to inhabit and multiply, which in such a time grew to great abundance of all things whatsoever.) His welcome and entertainment was wondrous gladly accepted of those people and men of the country, who acknowledged him as their Lord, their Patriarch, their chief, and their Saturn; which names in those days were given as titles only of honour, excellence, and dignity, as Zenophon, in his Aequivocals also sayeth :

 

Saturni dicuntur familiarium nobilium regum, qui urbes condiderunt primogeniticorum, vocantur Ioves, & Iunones : vero Nepotes corum Hercules fortissimi & cetera.

 

(40) It may now very well be imagined, that those people having so long time lived without a governor, king, or particular commander, must of necessity be very rude, [44]uncivil, obstinate, and barbarous, living only according to the laws of Nature, and following their own wills, desires and concupiscence. Yet, notwithstanding, Samothes by fair and gentle demeanours & mild carriages, so won their hearts unto him, that they became easily reclaimed, and brought to be docible, and obedient to what precepts or commands were imposed upon them : and upon this he devised laws and ordinances for domestic conversation, which he caused to be made plain unto the people, who at the first something wondered at so strange alterations, having so many years together lived without any chief, or any laws or curb or bridle their natural fantasies and disordinat affections. And these laws were made in the fourth year of the reign of Ninus, the third king of Babylon, at what time Tuyscon the Giant, his uncle, king of Almaigne, and Tuball king of Spain, did the like, instructing their people very industriously in the rules of Philosophy, Physic, and Astronomy, which they themselves had learned of their grandfather Noe and their father Iaphet. And if it be here demanded, what kind of writings they then used, Berosus doth answer, that they were certain Phoenician characters & and letters (which also were used in Armenia) which were very like unto those of Cadmus long time after brought from Phoenicia into Greece, and therefore Iulius Caesar in his first book of Commentaries sayth, That the Gauls did use in those times Greek letters for their manner of writing : but undoubtedly, those characters were found long time before they were ever known in Greece, as Zenophon and many other authors confidently do affirm.

 

(41) Samothes, surnamed Dis, living thus in all tranquillity [45]and peaceable security among his people, ceased not daily to possess their hearts with strong opinions of the worth and value of learning, for it is written, that he was the wisest and most learned prince in the world in those times, as Berosus also alloweth, when he thus sayth :

 

Samothes, qui & Dis vocutur, Celtes colonias fundavit, necerat quis etate illa isto sapientior, ac poroperea samothes dictus est.

 

(42) Among other his rules of Philosophy and learning, one was (being the chiefest) he taught the people, That the souls of men were immortal ; which before they hardly believed, as men dwelling in the shade of ignorance, and invelloped with dark mists of error. After he had thus established laws and ordinances for the good government of his county, and all his people enjoying peaceably the fruits of quietness : after the end of seven and forty years, he returned up unto Nature that debt which could not be any longer kept back and detained ; and left his eldest son (called Magus) inheritor unto his kingdom and government, which was in the one and fiftieth year of the reign of Ninus the third king of Babylon, and when his father Samothes had commanded that country seven score and & five years, being at this death about three hundred years of age, or much thereabout. This Samothes was of that esteem in those days, and so generally reverenced and loved for his virtues through all that country, that the Gauls or Frenchmen, even unto the time of Iulius Caesar, boasted and gloried of nothing so much, as that they were descended and issued [46]from him, so highly was he possessed of the peoples hearts, in the greatest opinion of truest love, the which thing also Iulius Caesar in the sixth book of Commentaries more copiously remembereth. In his time also the sects of Philosophy first took their beginning and origin in Europe, and were called Samothees, which were men studied and expert in all letters, humane and divine; contrary to the opinion of many, who write, that Greece was the first mother and bringer forth of arts and sciences. But Diongenes Laertius, in the beginning of his book entitled The lives of the Philosophers, contradicteth those suppositions, saying : Philosphiam a Barbaris initia sumpsisse complures auctores, consta enim apud Persas claruisse Magos, apud Babilonios & Asirios floruisse Coldeos, apud Celtas & Gallos Druidas, & qui Samothoi dicuntar. Magus, the eldest son of the Patriarch and Saturn, Samothes surnamed Dis, began now to take upon him the rule and command of this his country so left unto him by rightful succession from his father, in the three hundred year after the flood, after the nativity of the Patriarch Abraham eight years, and before the birth of Christ two thousand and seventeen years. This Magus was a prince of great wisdom, learning and judgment, and also a great builder, as the interpretation of his name delivereth us: for this word Magus, in the Scythian tongue signifieth a builder, or erecter; and in the Persian language, a Philosopher or a wise man. And Berosus in his book of Time thus sayeth of him : Nini LI. anno, apud Celtas regnavit Samothes filius Magus, a quo oppids plurima posita sunt inea regione : by which it may be gathered, that he was the first that ever in that county caused any villages, cities, [47]towns or houses to be built and erected, for before that time men lived altogether in the fields, under the umbrages of trees and covertures of some pleasant groves. Ioannes Annius di Viterba in his Commentaries upon Berosus, sayeth, That this word Magus signifieth in that tongue which first was used is than country of Gaul, as much, as a palace, house, or mansion : which opinion challengeth unto it self the stronger probability, for that with Ptolemy in his  Cosmography you shall find, that most of the most ancient towns in that country ended with this word Magus : as Aquitaine, Noviomagus; in the province of Lyons, Neomagus ; in Gallia Belgica, Rhotomagus, which is now the city of Roan in Normandy: there is also Berbetomagus, Vindomagus, and many others, whose names end in this word Magus; as also Nimegham in Guelderland, was called likewise Noviomagus. By all these instances it is made apparent, that this Magus, the son of Samothes, was the first that reduced & gathered together the people of that country into villages, towns, and boroughs. And further, either of his life, or the certain time of continuance of this reign and government, it hath not been by and allowed author or ancient writer capitulated.

 

{Magus king of France the first that ever built towns in that country and caused them to be inhabited}

 

(43) After Magus, succeeded one of his sons called Sarron, the third king of France, who excelled in the study of letters, and governed his people with great mildness, clemency, and uprightness; and he was the first that erected universities or public schools of learning : and of him also came a sect of Philosophers called Sarrontides, as Diodorus Siculus in his sixth book of Antiquities affirmeth, thus saying : Sunt apud Celtas Theologi, ac Philosophiquos [48]vocant Sarronidas, qui precipue ab eis coluntur, nam moris est apud illos nullum absque Philosopho sarcisicium faccre & c. For in those days Philosophers and men of learning were regarded with great reverence, zeal, and gracious respect, and nothing there, of any import was concluded or agreed upon without their private[9] consent or advice therein.

 

{Sarron king of France, the first founder of Universities}

 

(44) Unto the kingdom of France after Sarron, came Dryus, Sarrons eldest son, unto whom Berosus ascribeth this title: Apud Celtas Dryus peritie plenus. He began to reign four hundred and ten years after the general deluge, which is about two hundred five & fifty years after the first foundation and inhabitation of the kingdom of France. He was deeply seen in principles of Philosophy, & very skilful in many other sciences. And it is very credibly delivered by many very grave and learned writers, that he built the city of Dreux in Normandy, and that of his name came the sect of Philosophers which were called Druids, which were wondrous learned Divines, Augurers, Magicians, and Sacrificers : but such their oblations and sacrifices in these their days of blindness, were performed with such inhumane and ungodly fashions, with the effusion and shedding of human blood in that lamentable and cruel manner, as is too strange to be reported : which unnatural and impious custom, was abolished and clean put down by the first Roman Emperors, Augustus, and Divus Claudius, as Suetonius Tranquilius, Iulius Caesar, and Pliny, more directly particularised the same.

 

{Bardus king of France inventor of Poetry}

 

(45) After the death of this Dryus, his son (called Bardus) reigned in his place & was the fifth king of France. This Bardus was the first deviser of rhymes, [49]songs and Music, of whom the Poets and Rhetoricians first took their sect, which were called also Bardes, as Diodorus Siculus in his sixth book more at large remembreth. And these Poets and singers were held in that reverenced regard in those times among those people, that if upon the instant encounter of the battles of the enemies of both parts, these Poets had stepped and put themselves in between both armies, they had for that present time recalled their furious intendments, and been mollified with the pleasant persuasive tongues of these eloquent Rhetoricians and sweet-singing Poets, as Berosus in one place sayth to the same purpose : Etiam apud agrestiores barbaros iracedit sapientia & Mars revertur ruusas.

 

(46) The debt unto Nature being fully satisfied by this king Bardus (for no quality[10] or evacuation whatsoever may avoid it) his eldest son called Longho was called upon to undertake that which his father had left hereditary unto him : of whom, no extraordinary memorable thing is left by fame unto the sons of time, nor any authority of any great antiquity possesseth us with his worthiness virtues or perfections : it is only supposed, that before his death he built the city of Langres, which we call in Latin Civitas Lingonensis. And he had a son called Bardus the younger, which was the seventh king of France, and began to command some three hundred and one and forty years after the foundation and enpeopling of this country of France. And it is very probable, That of these two kings Longho and Bardus, the first original and beginning of the people called Lombards took their beginning and name, for they are entermed in Latin [50]Longobardi, which nation, although at the first they were extracted and descended out of Almaign (now called Germany) yet they bare domination and rule for the space of two hundred years and more in Italy, even until the time of king Charlemagne, who absolutely deprived them of all command, power, and authority in that country round about.

 

(47) The eight king of France, was Lucus, the son of Bardus the younger, of whom it is written (as Ptolemy and others do affirm) the people called Luces or Lucenses (since inhabiting about the city of Paris) took their name and original. Of him also, writers have been very sparing to speak of, more than that he begat a son called Iupiter Celtes, the ninth king of France, and father to the fair and beauteous Galathea, whom before we so largely spoke of and remembered. And it is by computation and due reckoning found, that since the first Saturn and king of France called Samothes surnamed Dis, unto the reign of Iupiter Celtes, were about four hundred years. And now having this lineally drawn the succession of every king of this country, since the first inhabitation thereof until this Iupiter Celtes, and so consequently unto his son in law, Hercules of Lybia, now the tenth king of France; we will proceed with him (now employed about his affairs in Italy) and with his issue and posterity, as it is delivered by authors of great worth, learning and authority.

 

(48) It hath been before somewhat touched, how Hercules passing through those mountainous places of the country of the country of Savoy, at length arrived in Italy, where (having a puissant army) he presently fell to wars with the Giants [51]called Lestrigones, most bloody, cruel, and oppressive tyrants, and the murderers of consenting aidants unto the death of his father Osyris (surnamed Iupiter Iustus.) With these powerful commanders in that country, he entertained many fights, and found them very resolute, & prepared to endure the uttermost of his mightiness and strength : yet in the end, after a ten years war he victoriously triumphed over them, and utterly razed out all their issue and posteritie whatsoever: and the place wherein his last battle against these Giants, was fought in, retaineth still his old name, and is year called, The valley of the Giants; which is hard adjoining unto the city called Tuscanella in Tuscania. These civil & intestine broiles being thus valiantly and successfully appeased, Hercules remained a quiet and peacable possessor of all the country of Italy, wherein he reigned and continued for the space of twenty years, much about the time that his father Osyris, his grandfather Cham, and his great grandfather Noe, had there commanded : in which time he bestowed many gracious and commodious good turns upon the people of that country, and built and erected many gallant and famous cities, although the most part of them be at this day by the all consuming tyranny of Time ruinated, spoiled, and decayed. He also at this time caused the Island of Sardinia to be peopled, frequented, and inhabited, which until that time lay waste, depopulate, and barbarous : and in this place he appointed a ruler called Iolaus to command as under him, that country; and those people so committed unto him. He likewise caused through most part of Italy (especially in the moorish & wettest places thereof) many ditches and trenches to be cast up, that [52]thereby the palludious meres and standing lakes, might find passages to empty their floods, and that the fields and pastures by that means might be preserved dry, and be made more fit for agriculture, tillage, and other necessary increases for the general profit and good of all the whole country thereabouts : and of him the river Arnus taketh its name, for Hercules was also surnamed Musarnus : and he lived for the most part of the time that he spent in that country, in a city called Fesula in Tuscania, which city even at this day (though not in that glory as heretofore) giveth the arms of Hercules.

 

(49) Italy being freed from the servitude wherein it lived of those ungodly and uncivil Giants, and being now brought to a general quietness, ease, and prosperous estate, Hercules determined with himself to send for both of his eldest sons, to establish the one in the principality of Italy, & the other in the kingdom of France; and he to take his journey once again into Spain (to which country he was much addicted) there to live privately, and to spend the rest of his years to come, in peace pleasantness, and in all content. Whereupon he dispatched messengers to his wife Galathea (then remaining in France, as hath been before spoken of) to send him presently his son Galatheus, being now of mans estate, and very able to bare arms. Other messengers were dispatched into Scythia (now called Tartaria) there to seek out his eldest son Tuscus, then remaining with the queen Araxa, queen of Scythia, inhabiting those countries which lie upon the flood Tanais, and by the moors and water-lakes called Meotides. Upon the commandment of king Hercules, Galathea his wife presently sent unto him [53]his son Galatheus into Italy, accompanied with the greatest men of France, who was very joyfully welcomed unto his father with great feasts and signs of gladness : for he was now grown up unto a gallant big proportion of body and comely feature, and was also of a very gentle and gracious disposition, mild in his demeanours, and yet majesticall and of a spirit-promising aspect throughout all his countenance. Not long after him arrived his elder brother Tuscus from Tartaria, who also was of a mighty corpulence and extraordinary large stature, whom indeed Hercules had begot in the very prime of his youth and vigorous lustiness. Upon the meeting of these two, a great court of assembly of great lords and princes was held in all pomp, glory, and magnificence : where, in the presence of all the noble Lords and Barons of diverse countries and governments, as of Egypt, Lybia (now called Africa) Spain, France, Italy, and Tartaria, with great solemnities, rites, and ceremonies, Tuscus was created and established the sole king, Saturn, and commander of all the country of Italy, and he was there invested in the dignity of [Coritus], that is as much to say, as Iupiter crowned, or Patriarch of Tuscania: & the younger brother Galatheus, aged about six and thirty years or thereabouts, was preferred also at that time unto the rule and government of the kingdom of France. All which ceremonies were performed with great triumph, state, and royalty, and kept in the city of Viterba, in the year of after the universal inundation of the world, six hundred and five and twenty, before the foundation of Troy nine score and one years, and before the incarnation of Christ a thousand six hundred forty eight. These things thus [54]solemnly consummated, and Hercules voluntarily disposing himself of these two such imperial crowns. After he had delivered some instructions & principles of good government to these new erected kings, Tuscus and Galatheus, after a general conge of them all, he took his journey towards Spain, to the great discontent and grief of all the chief Barons, and also of the Plebians, throughout all the country of Italy : but being now arrived in Spain, he found his son Hispalus, which he himself had before established in that kingdom, to be dead, who had reigned only seventeen years : and that after him succeeded his nephew Hispanus, the seventeenth king of Spain, and the first of that name, who called the country after his own name Hispania, which name it ever since hath retained : for before that time is was called Hiberia. This Hispanus reigned afterwards some two and thirty years or near thereabouts, as most writers and Chronographers of Spain do agree. And in this kings reign, about the nineteenth year thereof (as is before written) arrived Hercules in that country, now very aged, and of many years, where he continued three years with his nephew, without any command or place, in as great content, ease, and quiet as might be, for he had now given over the desire of rule and principality, and gloried in nothing so much, as that he by his own valour, prowess, and labours, had conquered such gallant countries to dispose of as he himself thought good, and to give to his children to enjoy as their rightful inheritances: for indeed he was the Monarch and prince almost of all the world, and had attained unto such his height of glory and fame, not by oppressions, tyranny, or unlawfulness, but by the [55]subduing of wicked and ungodly giants, the disposing of all usurpers and bloody governors, & by the abolishing and rooting out of all devilish and inhumane customs then observed in those days among the poor and faith-wanting vulgars in those times of error. In these his times of privateness and retried living which he spent in Spain, he builded and caused to be erected many great towns, cities, and villages ; for which cause the people of that country still call him Hercules the builder. Besides this, also he gave and addicted himself to the finding out of the natures of strange herbs, and to the study of Astronomy, and to the Magic art, wherein he wondrous deeply was seen, and excellently well read; but he never applied the use thereof but unto the good and general commodity of the country. He found out many remedies and enchantments against the poison of serpents and many other venomous beasts, then abounding in that country in great plenty, and by which the inhabitants before were grievously molested and exceedingly troubled. He also performed there many other memorable things of great worth, value and import, as Higinus and many other very learned writers do affirm. Not long after, his nephew Hispanus, king of Spain, died without issue, & left none of his own blood to inherit the kingdom after him : whereupon by the general entreaty of all the whole land, and by public consent, the command and government of that country was imposed upon Hercules, whom the people for his virtues, fair demeanours, and good government, did indeed very highly affect and reverence : and here (having so fit an occasion to speak of the original and antiquity of this country of Spain) we will [56]for a while leave him, undertaking the charge once again and the command and government thereof: and we will begin with the first king of Spain, and so by succession and lineal decent from one to another, as far as Berosus, Eusebius, Solynus, and Diodorus Siculus have preceeded therein, and until we come to the reign of this Hercules

 

(50) The very first inhabitation and peopling of this country of Spain, was by those people that came from the other side of the Caspian sea, called Iberi, Persae, Phoenicians, and Paeni, as Pliny in the third book of his natural history doth allege: as also Marcus Varro, and Cato in his originals do affirm the same ; wholly condemning the Grecians of vain glory and ignorance, to write, that Hercules, Pirenes, Lusus, and Pan were the first that ever inhabited in this country : but of the colonies therefore of those people before mentioned, it is very certain, that Spain took first her original, as also those other Islands round about, is called Sicilia, Corsica, Sardinia, and Baleares: and the Island Corsica was so called of the people Corsi, which the Grecians term Cyrnum or Cyrum, but the Persians and Hebrews call Corsum : and after these people, the Goths and Alani came and lived in Spain long time, and continued for the most part of them until this very present wherein we now live, from whom and from the rest before mentioned, it is delivered for certain by many ancient, grave, and learned writers, this country of Spain deriveth he first beginning and principle foundation.

 

(51) S. Ierome, Eusebius, Iosephus, and many other approved good authors, do all consent and agree, That Tuball the [57]first son of Iaphet, the son of Noe, was the first that ever was called by the name of king in that country of Spain, and that he was also the first that erected & built towns and cities, and prescribed bounds and limits in the same; which as Berosus sayth, was after the flood a hundred three and forty years, and in the twelfth year of the reign of Nembroth, the Babylonians Saturn and ruler; which was before the foundation of Troy six hundred thirty seven years, and before the nativity of Christ two thousand two hundred years. The great city which he called after his own name (Tuball) is in Baetica, as Pomponius Mela affirmeth, as also Strabo averreth the same. This kings chief study and delight was in pasturage, in flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle, wherein in those times men reposed great contentment, pleasure and felicity : & such his study the people (called Arameans) entearmed by the name of Tharaconem, which is as much to say, as Pastorum congreationem, The meeting together or assembly of sheepheards, as S. Ierome and the Thalmudists of the Iewes interprets it: and of the same the great city of Tharacona is called, as Saguntum first took her name of Sagus, the builder and erecter thereof. He began also first to set down laws, precepts, and directions unto his people, and to possess them with the opinion of good obedience unto their prince, and persuaded them by fair and gentle means to the embracement of civil and quiet life and conversation: and this, Berosus saith was performed and done in the fourth year of Ninus king of Babylon, as before in some places hath been a little remembered: and Strabo sayth, That in the tenth year of the same Ninus king of Babylon, and in the age of Tuball one [58]hundred and fifteen years, Noe (surnamed Ianus) coming out of Africa and Phoenicia, arrived in Spain, & brought thither with him two colonies, called Nooelas and Nooeglas; although Pliny in his third book of natural history, in the six and twentieth chapter thereof calleth them Nooegas and Nooeas : and in this country were they planted, and remained with great multiplication, increase and abundance. This Tuball reigned in this his government, until the nine and fortieth year of the reign of Ninus, and from the first inhabitation of Spain a hundred and five and fifty years : and in this kings government was the Patriarch Abraham born, which was just by all nearest computation, towards the end of his reign, and in the four and fortieth year of the before specified Ninus king of Babylon.

 

{The Patriarch Abraham born.}

 

(52) Unto Tuball succeeded his son called Iberus, in the government and kingdom which he had left him to enjoy: which was from the flood two hundred ninety & nine years, from the first enpeopling of Spain a hundred fifty six, before the erection of Troy five hundred thirty and one, and before the birth of Christ two thousand and sixteen years. And of this Iberus (as Marcus Varro alledgeth) the country was generally called Iberia, as it was afterwards Celtiberia, of certain people called Celts, inhabiting long after in France, as many authentic historians do affirm : and of this king also the river Iberus took her name, and was so called. This flood, as Solynus, Albertus Magneus, and Diodorus Siculus aver, beginneth his first Spring, and taketh his head under the hills called Montes Pyrenaei, which lately before we remembered, and from thence runs winding and crooked like the shape of a [59]serpent or snake through the promotorie of [Feraria], and so tumbleth down amaine into the sea called Pelagus Beleare. And this king Iberus reigned until the three and thirtieth year of the rule of Semiramis, which is about seven and thirty years or much thereabouts, as Eusebius accounteth it.

 

{Marcus Varo.}

 

{Solymus.}

 

{Ptolemy.}

 

{Varro.}

 

(53) The third king of Spain, according to the opinion of most historians, was Iubalda, of whose name the hill called Iubalda, was so called as Berosus affirmeth, although in Ptolemy it is written Iubeda, and by the successions of times, corruptibly Gybaltar, by which name at this time the country doth acknowledge it. Thus Iubalda began to enter into his kingdom in the four and thirtieth year of the reign of Semiramis: from the worlds inundation three hundred thirty six, from the birth of the holy Patriarch Abraham four and forty, from the first inhabitation of Spain two hundred wanting seven years, before the building of Troy four hundred fourscore and four years, and before the birth of out Saviour Christ one thousand nine hundred fourscore and one years. And in this kings reign the ever-famoused Hercules of Lybia was born, which was before the birth of the Grecian Hercules, of whom so many grave authors have written and been deceived, almost seven hundred years : of the difference of which because it hath bred such an incurable scar of error among very learned and old writers, I think it shall not be much impertinent in this place something to particularise. Of the number therefore of those men which were called by the name of Hercules, Varro and many other authors allege to be at least three and forty several names, but the most famous and renowned were only two, [60]of which, the first and most worthy was called Egiptius Thebanus, or Hercules Licicus, the second, Alcaus Gracus, the son of Alcmena and Amphitrio, as Diodorus Siculus, Herodotus, and many others affirm, who report also, That there was a temple in Phoenicia built and dedicated unto the first Hercules many years before the coming of this Hercules Gracus, the son of Amphitrio, and that also long after both these two (with the ancient Grecians) were held and worshiped in great reverence and adoration; but the one of them, being Hercules Egiptius (say they) was adored as a god, the other but as a mighty and famous conqueror. Cicero in his book entituled de natura Deorum, seteth down this Hercules also as a god, as Macrobius also and many others have opinionated the same. Diodorus Siculus in his first book confidently alleadgeth, That this Hercules Graecus had not to name Hercules, which signifies hearty, but that his proper name was Alceus and also Heraclius, which interpreted, signifies Iunonis gloria : which opinion like wise Herodotus consenteth with, when in his second book of histories he affirmeth, that this word Hercules is not a Greek word, but of the Egyptian language, and that the Grecians afterwards stole it from the right owner thereof, and unworthily attributed it unto this Alceus, the son of Amphitrio: which thing also Eusebius maintaineth, and sayth, That those famous and gallant exploits wherewith the world was so long possessed, and carried such universal admirations among all men, were misplaced and bestowed on a stranger, that came not near the true merit and worthiness of him whom it truly concerned; thereby clean exempting & excepting this Alecus (Amphitrios son) from all interest or right [61]unto any these so high and [wonder won]by performances, as only particular and belonging unto this noble Hercules Egiptus or Libicus, the son of Osyris, called Iupiter Iustus (as Diodorus Siculus, Berosus & Moyses also certainly do report.) Unto him also the people of Lybia consecrated many triumphs, ceremonious observances, and general feasts, as one for his valour and virtues honoured and worshiped amongst them as a mighty and powerful god : so were they blinded from the true sight and understanding of knowledge, in those times of darkness, error, and superstition. And these people were first called Phinei or Phaetontei, as Iosephus and Iberonimus in his tenth chapter upon the book of Genesis affirmeth. Unto this Hercules of Lybia were adjoined also all these names (according to the Egyptian tongue) Her, Hercol, Arno, [Masarno] and [At]; of which, hereafter occasion will present itself, further to expound, and more largely to speak of : but it is most unfallibly certain, that this Hercules Egiptus or Libicus, was long before the times of the so much renowned Hercules of Greece: who indeed according to the writings of very many grave and learned authors, deserved not the least part of so many glorious praises and titles of honour, as the flattering and self pleasing conceits of the Grecians have so amply and prodigally ascribed unto him : for he is by many authors set down no other but a very pirate on the sea, a robber and bloody oppressor, where he could find out any booty or advantage to show his power, will, and mightiness; much unlike the proceedings that victorious and virtuous conqueror Hercules of Lybia : to approve which to be no detraction, but memorious notes of forepassed learned writers, [62]Manethon that famous Priest and Historian of Egypt, thus sayth: constat hanc Herculem Gracum [dalo] non bello Lakmedontem nil einsmodi, suspicantem occidisse, & primum ex maximis pirates extitisse, quanquam virum divino & admirabilirobore preditum, &c. Whereby it is very apparent by this authority and many others of like worth and antiquity, that this Hercules the Grecian was but some famous robber or pirate, living for the most part among the Argonauts, men excelling in warlike discipline, and armed with armours of iron and other like furnitures for the wars, as Eusebius sayth: Hercules Alceus affuit dominitiojam orbe, & legibus & regibus formato, & instituto, & formidoloso ferro invento : whereas contrariwise, Hercules Egiptus lived in times of ignorance, in respect of those knowledges, when the use of armour or iron was unfound out, the fury of war not then felt, and in times of new-rising tumults, not as then ripened or grown to any head or maturity. His armour was the skins of wild beasts, and such like accoutrements was he habited with : which also is attributed unto Hercules Alceus, as having a Lions skin and a great club in his hands, but they are among the rest of the fables which the Grecians used, inserted : for it is nothing likely, that the use of iron being in those times found out, he would have used any such inferior means of defence for the safety of his body. This assertion also maketh clean contrary against him : for Hercules of Lybia was born before the destruction of Troy (according to the computation of the Egyptian years) above ten thousand years, but Alceus not fully two thousand, as Diodorus in his first book of Time alleadgeth : which manner of computation and reckoning of the Egyptians, if [63]we will reduce to the order and rule observed by the Chaldeans, Scythians, Hebrews, and Ianigenae, which is by the circular circumference and circular revolution of the Sun, accounting it as we now recon, we shall find that he was born presently after the king of Babylon called Ninus, which according to our latter observation, some eight hundred years before the overthrow of Troy; which maketh up the number and proportion of ten thousand years, held and observed among the Egyptians: by which we may perceive the great distance of time that was between these two famous personages, Hercules Egiptus or Libicus, the son of Osyris, surnamed Iupiter Iustus, and Hercules Gracus or Alceus (or as some hold) the son of Amphitrio and Alcmena : or the son (by adulterous means) as some others do think, of one called Iupiter Gracus. But having now thus far digressed from the main intendment, we will return to the prosecuting thereof.

 

(54) The continuance of the reign of the above written Iubalda, king of Spain, dated from the four and thirtieth year of the reign of Semiramis, the Babylonian Empress, until the eighteenth year of Arius; which is in the whole about the time of threescore and four years, as by the diligent & careful collections both of Eusebius and Berosus, is clearly approved. And about this time (the Patriarch Abraham, being about the age of a hundred years) is born his son Isaac, as all histories for the most part give record and mention. In the government of this king Iubalda, no memorable act done in that country, is left written by historians.

 

(55) Unto the kingdom of Spain, next after him, [64]succeeded Brygus, which was in the eighteenth year of the late specified Arius, the Babylonians sixth king; which is from the first inhabitation of Spain, two hundred threescore and seven years, and before the foundation of Troy four hundred and thirty. The word Brygus with the Arameans and Armenians, is called Castellum. And the Etruscans at this day (with whom many words of the Aramen language remain) call a castle Bricola, by changing the letter g into c. This king Brygus (as Berosus & other writers affirm) founded and erected many towns and great castles in the kingdom of Spain, as Ptolemy also copiously hath delivered; as in the country of Lusitania, there are castles called at this day Laccobryga, Mirobryga, and others. And in the province of Tartaria, a town called Brygantum, Volubryga, and many others, sounding and ending after the name of the king Brygus. Pliny sayth in his first book of natural history, that many old writers do affirm, That a certain people called Brygi in Europe travelled into Asia, and there builded a city and called it Brygios, which afterwards by changing the letter B into P, was called Phrygios; and that the Phrygians afterwards from these people took their first original and being, of whom issued that famous progeny of the Trojans, so gloriously renowned throughout the world : and this king Brygus reigned in all security and peace until the first year of the reign of Belaneus, the king of Babylon, which was about two and fifty years or near thereabouts.

 

{Pliny.}

 

(56) The fifth king of Spain was Tagus (as Berosus and Diodorus deliver) and he began his rule and government before the nativity of Christ a thousand eight hundred threescore and five years, before the building of Troy [65]threescore and eighteen years, after the first peopling of Spain three hundred and nine years. And of that kings name that far famed river Tagus taketh her name: in which (as Pliny and Solynus report) were found many golden sands, heaped together in many places of that river. This king with many authors is called also Tagum Orma, and Moyses by syncereicall composition, tearmeth him Tagorma, as Ptolemy and many other writers of great worth and credit, more particularly have spoken of the same : and this Tagus reigned in the kingdom of Spain, about the time of thirty years, by all due computation and conferring of consent of times, and as Berosus afirmeth the same.

 

(57) In the first year of the reign of Armatritis the ninth king of the Babylonians and Assyrians, the rule and government of the kingdom of Spain fell and come unto Betus, of whom afterwards a great part of this country took her name and was known by the name of [Boetiea]. The Etruscans by transposition and division of ae, call him Beatus, which with the Latins signifies happy or blessed. The Hebrews derive this word Betus from Behin, which as S. Ierome [interprets it means as much as], [locus] vita [mea] (id est) [saelicisatis] [ipsas] & c. and from hence it is likely, that in this country some supported the Elesian fields to be, and so also thereby many other such like suppositions arose, which to decide, would here be tedious, and too much digression from the matter intended. This king Betus reigned seven and thirty years, as Berosus and other authors do allege.

 

(58) After him in the eight and thirtieth year of Armatritis [66]above mentioned, Gerion (surnamed Aser) challenged unto him the rule and dominion of the country of Spain wherein it is written, he governed with great tyranny and oppression of the inhabitants thereof, intruding himself by violent and forcible means into the possession and government of the kingdom. This word Gerion signifies in the Hebrew tongue as much as advena in Latin, which he manifested more plainly by coming from Mauritania into this kingdom of Spain, and ruling there like a stranger, according to his own will, desire, and mightiness. Berosus, as also Diodorus Siculus, doth affirm, That he had another name also, which in the Aramen and Mauritanian language was Deabo, in the Greek Chryseo, in Latin Aureo, which first of all came of his great wealth and store of gold, in which he most wondrously abounded in those days : and this Gerion reigned thus in this his usurped authority until the eight and twentieth year of the reign of Belochus, the tenth king and ruler of Babylonia, which was about the time of three & thirty years or near thereabouts. Immediately after him, three brethren together took the rule and government of this country of Spain into their hands, which were called Deabi [Lomnimi], which word (as S. Ierome expoundeth it) signifies the chiefs or rulers of armies, and which we call by the name of the three Gerions, being indeed the sons of the beforementioned Gerion, the last king and ruler of Spain. In the time when these three brethren thus reigned and ruled together, happened that generally known accident, which afterward the world so universally entertained from the report of loud tongued Fame, which was, the untimely and unfortunate death of Osyris, surnamed Iupiter Iustus; [67]who was most treacherously and vilely murdered by his brother Typhonas Egiptus, whose all lamented death was afterward highly revenged by his son Hercules Lybicus, who instantly took up arms, and scoured almost all the countries of the world, until he had found out the [author] of the murder of his father Osyris, upon whose body, his angry and wrathful mind took in the end direfull and cruel revenge: at which time also (he being in the pride and fullness of fury and choler) searched out all corners and places of abode, where any such like bloody and impious giants, rulers, and commanders, kept their tyrannical and uncivil governments : among the rest he slew Busyris in Phoenicia, Typhaus the younger in Phrygia, Mylinus, a great commander on the sea in Crete, Antheus in Lybia, the Lestrigones in Italy, and afterwards, these three brethren called Geriones in Spain, and also many others in many other places, as hath already heretofore been spoken of. After the overthrow thus of these late specified Geriones, he established and appointed to succeed them one called Hispalus, who now after these, instantly took upon himself the government thereof.

 

(59, 67) Hispalus therefore (according to the report and affirmation of Berosus) now entered to take possession of the regaltie and principality of Spain, which was from the flood five hundred fourscore and nine years, before the erection of Troy two hundred one & forty years, before the birth of Christ a thousand seven hundred twenty seven, and after the first finding out and peopling of Spain three hundred seven and forty years. Of this Hispalus, the city Hispalis first was erected and so entearmed; and he was the son of Hercules Lybicus, as many authors [68]and writers of fame and great antiquity have given in report unto the posterity of time. He reigned and commanded over Spain until the very end of the reign and government of Baleus, the Babylonians eleventh king which was by just reckoning and account, the time of seventeen years.

 

(60) In the first year of the reign of Altades, the twelfth king of Babylon, Hispanus the nephew of Hercules, was established king and sole ruler over the dominions of Spain, of which the country then generally was called Hispania, which the malice of time hath not yet worn out, but still it is known and called after the same name. After him, Hercules (coming out of Italy, fraught with years and many victories) took upon him by the election and suffrages of all the people, the rule & government thereof. And thus hath been linearly drawn forth the first inhabitation of the country of Spain with the particular and right successions of the kings and commanders thereof, as hath been warranted and allowed by writers of great antiquity and industrious Chronographers of Spain: where we will now surcease to wade any further, having brought it into the very times where we last left out chiefest purpose and matter; and will go forward, and proceed from hence until we shall nearer arrive at the time wherein Troy was first erected and founded, following herein the same manner of method and form, with which we first set forth, and mean to continue unto the end (by the favourable permission and allowance of the divine Majesty) Hercules therefore ruling thus in Spain, built and erected many goodly cities and fair castles in the country, whereupon at this day in some ancient [69]records and monumental schedules of Spain, you may read of another title given unto him, which is, Hercules edificator. He was called also by these names, as Her, Hercol, Arno, Musarno : and they thus signify and are englished from the Hebrew tongue, as S. Ierome and others expound it : Her signifieth hair, Hercol all covered over with hair, Arno signifieth a Lion, and Musarno the portraiture of effigies of a Lion, and these names were thus ascribed unto him, for that he always wore for his upper garment the hair skins of Lions, Bears, Leopards, and other such beasts, and for that on his shield or target was depainted and drawn the shape and form of a Lion, and which, in all his wars and attempts he always carried about him : & with some he was called the knight of the ramping Lion. The town of Verulonia, called also Viterbe, caused the picture of Hercules to be stamped and imprinted on their coin : which continued unto the time of the reign and government of the last king of the Lumbards, who then abolished the remembrance thereof by any such representation or means of memory. After the time of some nineteen years or thereabouts, as most writers do allege, having governed with all love and obedience of the people, Hercules died, leaving all those countries thereabouts heavily lamenting the loss and departure of so noble and gallant a conqueror; which was about the time of his own age three hundred and fifty years, and after he had reigned and commanded in France, Italy, and Spain, threescore and seven years. In solemn remembrance of whose generally deplored death, the people of Spain erected many most sumptuous and costly monuments, and bestowed upon [70]him a wonderful, rich and stately tomb, which as some hold, was built hard by that place, which as we now call them, the Gades, pillars, or columns of Hercules are seated upon, being not far from the famous straights of Gibraltar. Unto him also after his death they attributed very godlike honours, and terms of veneration and reverence; so was he possessed while he lived among mortals, with the love and opinion of all those people thereabouts, and wheresoever else he had governed and commanded. And more of this so far renowned conqueror Hercules shall not at this time be declared, whose victories, triumphs, & exploits would indeed require a small volume of themselves, being so many, so glorious, & so worthy, deserving in the perfection of their own merit to be insculpt in the brass leaved book of time-resisting and endless perpetuity. And now we will revert our pen to speak of his who famous sons, Tuscus king of Italy, and Galatheus king of France, and of their issue and posterity. But first is to be understood, that unto the kingdom of Spain next after Hercules, succeeded Hesperus, being the twelfth king and governor thereof, & who was brother unto the renowned Atlas, whom hereafter occasion will be presented to speak and entreat of.

 

(61) It hath been before declared and mentioned, how that the great Monarch and Emperor Hercules dispossessing himself voluntarily of two royal & mighty kingdoms, placed and instituted therein his two sons, Tuscus and Galatheus: who long time after lived reciprocally, & reigned together in their several commands and government, in all peace, quiet, and tranquillity. And to show and manifest this their love and agreement the more, Tuscus [71]freely bestowed and gave unto his brother Galatheus the great Island of Sicilia, as then appertaining & belonging unto the crown and kingdom of Italy, and which was then altogether desolate and disinhabited (the race and generation of Cham, Noes son, the first commander thereof, being now extinct and perished.) Unto this Island, Galatheus made a journey, carrying with him great numbers and abundance of people, and all things necessary for the inpeopling and inhabiting thereof: which people and nation he afterwards and from thence forth called after his own name Galath-enes; and erected and built also a very great city there, calling it by the name of Cenegalatha, of which city likewise, Pliny in his fourth book of Natural history doth there entreat and mention. And it was held in those days to be the greatest and chiefest honour that might be, to authorise and license and to build and erect any city, and to call it after his own name : for the denomination of which, no man neither could give any leave or authority, but those which were established in place and office of Coritus, that is, the Patriarch, Iupiter, of chief king and commander of that country, as Tuscus then was, being the sole king and ruler over all Italy and all those territories adjoining thereunto. And this grace and favour Galatheus took in great thankfulness and all kind acceptance, endeavouring by all means possible to be found grateful for so high a favour received. After all matters were well settled and orderly disposed in this new erected government of Sicilia, Galatheus returned back again into this country of France, where with all signs and apparent tokens of a long wished welcome, he was joyfully received of his people in all the province round [72]about, where we must now leave him for a while, to speak of his brother Tuscus, and of his affairs and negotiations in his government and charge.

 

{The diverse and several names of Italia}

 

{It was also called Taurina and Saturnia}

 

(62) This Tuscus (as is before declared) was the sole and absolute, King, Patriarch, and Iupiter of all the dominions of Italy; of whose name also a chief province of that kingdom then took her name, and was called Tuscania, and by the favourable good will of the tyrant Time (who is wont to blot out all relics and tokens of antiquity) it yet retaineth the same: in which particular country, he for the most part made his continual abode & residence, which before that time was called Etruria, & before that, Ianicula, and the people thereof Ianigenes, which is as much to say, as the issue of Ianus: it was also called Oenotria, Hesperia, Apenia, and many others according to the greatness and will of any such chief of famous king so commanding and ruling over it. Dionysus Halicarnaseus, writeth, That the country Hetruria (taken often time for the whole and entire kingdom of Italy) was also called Comera, of Comerus, Iaphets son; and it had to name also Razenua, Thuscia, and Thussa, and at this day Italia, as hereafter shall be declared. Berosus further sayeth, That at the first peopling and inhabiting thereof, It was called Umbria of the people Umbri, which heretofore we have somewhat touched, as also Pelasgia of the people Pelasgi (taken also sometimes for the inhabitants of a country in Greece.) Besides all these, it was also known by the name of Tarrhenia, as many authors of great and approved knowledge in matters of antiquity, have more amply delivered, which opinion also should be more easily entertained if we will but diligently mark the diverse [73]and several names given & attributed unto other countries, after the same fashion, and manner : for first concerning the people of France, they were first of all called Samothei, of Samothes their king, then Celti, then Galatij, after that Belgae, of their king and Patriarch Beligius, after that Galli, and since that Francigenae or Franci. The names in like manner of the people of Germany varied and differed very often and severally : For the first name that ever that people received, were Tuyscones, of Tuyscon one of Noes sons, the first that ever was king and ruler over than country. After that they were called Gambrivij, then Ingheones, after that, Ifteones, Suevi, and Vandali, then also Thetanes, Theutontes, Vindelici, Vandalici, after that Alemanni, and last of all, of the Romans (as some hold) they were generally entearmed Germani. So that by these it is plainly shown, how almost all countries and nations have at diverse times been diversely and differingly called: by the occasion of which, many writers that have not indeed seriously and laboriously looked into fragments of old and authentic fathers, for the derivations and first originals of cities and countries, have been infected with some disease or other of ignorance and error; by reason of which dangerous sickness, first creeping (though not perceived) into the heads of men learned and of authority, it hath proved universally mortal, to all those that have not invoked the aid of that good Physician, Industry, throughout all the world wheresoever, And so now again we will return to the place from whence we last of all set forth, which was from the matters and particulars which we handled of king Tuscus, sole ruler and commander of all the country of Italy, of whose [74]actions or memorable achievements, there is little read in any authors, only it is writ, that he first invented the order and dignity of the Palladian knighthood, and instituted large privileges and allowances for the maintenance of that new found ceremony. And of any matter else which might challenge unto itself worth and extraordinary [commends], done and performed by him, few or no historians have written: only he left after him, his son Altheus inheritor & rightful successor to his government and kingdom.

 

{The old names of the people of France}

{The names of the people of Germany}

 

(63) Altheus then, the son of Tuscus, began to take upon him the rule and command of Italy, presently after the death of his deceased father, which was the fourth year after the death of his grandfather Hercules in Spain, who as you have heard, left inheritor unto him Hesperus, the brother of Atlas, for the government of that country : which Hesperus had not there long reigned, but he was expulsed and driven out of his country by violent and oppressive means by his brother Atlas the giant, surnamed Italus[11] : so that now he was enforced to forsake the country, and to flee to Italy, in one part of which, he afterward commanded, and called it after his own name Hesperia, which name it long time afterwards retained. After this, Atlas Italus, not contented sufficiently with the principality and dominion of Spain (as overambitiously thoughted) came also into Italy, and overswayed by his mightiness and power all the country round about, and called all the country generally after his own name, Italia, by which it is at this day called, & in the kingdom of Spain he appointed one of his sons to reign called [75]Sicorus, which was now by just account the fourteenth king thereof. When these things were thus done, he went also into Sicilia, as Galatheus before had done, and there for a while he rested himself, till at the length he returned again back into Italy, wherein afterwards he lived many years. This Italus Atlas by his descent was of the linage of Iaphet, and of his son Comerus Gallus, the first king of Italy; and it was he which according to the opinions of many, excelled most of all men then living, in the knowledge of Astrology, for which cause, the [busy[12]] Poets feigned, that he supported and upheld the heavens with his shoulders. Altheus all this while was suppressed and kept under by the mightiness of this ruler, by reason whereof, histories cannot speak of any worthy matter done or performed by him: only it is written, he builded and erected two very large and beautiful cities, one of them called Alteta, the other Althea, with a castle also called after the same name. And this Altheus, the son of Tuscus before specified, was uncle unto Dardanus, the first builder and founder of Troy. He had also a son called Blascon, but it is not read, that he was afterward Coritus, that is, king of Italy, or commanded in any extraordinary power and authority; but that this Atlas Italus created and established one of this own sons, called Morges[13], in the dignity and office thereof, wrongfully disinheriting the true heirs that might lawfully have challenged the same: so that by this unjust means of usurpation & greatness, the line and issue of Hercules was debarred from the possessing and enjoying of what rightfully belonged unto them. Also he created and appointed his daughter called Rhoma, as duchess and commaunderesse of the people [76]and nation called Aborigines (of whom heretofore we something spoke of.) And this Rhoma was afterwards married to a prince of Tuscane, of whom she had a son called after her own name Rhomanessos, who was the first that ever laid the first foundation of Rome; as Sempronius very confidently affirmeth, condemning all those which attribute the first founding thereof unto Romulus, who (sayth he) indeed beautified and enlarged the same, but was not the first that laid the foundation thereof; and that his name Romulus (being himself found by that city by wondrous accident) took his name of Rome, and not Roma of Romulus, as the above written author Sempronius, a very sufficient writer, and some others also of allowed authority, have avered the same. And the interpretation of this word Rhomanessos, as S. Ierome, the Talmudists, and many others do expound it, is as much, as, Magna aut potens sublimitas, a mighty or powerful height or glory; being compounded of two several words of the Aramean language; Roma, which interpreted, signifies sublimitas, and Nesson, which is validum or magnum : or as some understand it, it signifieth validum augurium, which is, a strong and infallible prophecy, which indeed the exceeding greatness & all subjugating power & mightiness of that Empire did afterwards very truly answer and make good, being raised unto that infinite greatness and highest perfection of sovereignty, that it impelled almost the greater part of the world to sue unto her for favour, and to become tributary in great taxes and impositions unto her seat & magnificence. And this city also was called long after by the name of Valentia : of which, now we will cease further to entreat, retuning to [77]the matter before handled of Atlas, surnamed Italus, now flourishing and commanding over Italy, in great puissance, glory, and mightiness: who although (as it is already before specified) he bore great affection, favour, and love unto his son Morges, and had established him in the regality and kingdom of Italy, as Coritus, yet he began in the end to think and mediate with himself how apparent and monstrous wrongs and indignities he had offered to all the issue and posterity of Hercules, in expelling Altheus, and depriving his son Blascon of his right in the principality of that country; & in those thoughts and humours, he caused to be called unto him Camboblascon, the son of the beforementioned Blascon, the son of Altheus, and in lieu and recompense of all former and forpassed injuries, he gave unto him one of his own daughters in marriage and matrimonial association, who was called Electra, with whom in dowry he gave all those towns and countries lying about the Alps and the hether mountains; nearest confining upon Italy: and upon this, presently after died. After whose death, his son Morges, possessed belike with holy and religious cogitations, acknowledged the mighty wrong and disparagement which his father had imposed on his brother in law Camboblascon, in depriving him of his rightful succession, willingly and voluntarily despoiled himself of his crown and command, and transferred it upon Camboblascon, whom presently he caused to be created and established in the dignity of Coritus, that is, the Iupiter or king of Italy; and so after that, contented himself to live privately and obscurely with his brother in law and sister Electra: with whom he had not many years lived [78]and conversed, but he died, and paid Nature that debt which no sureties can put off, or be [bound for]: and so then Camboblascon was with more general allowances of the people fully invested in his office and place of Coritus, which is as much to say; as Iupiter Coronatus, as I have already made known, and which I cannot almost to often expound, in that many have made so many and several doubts and scruples, What these Iupiters, Saturns, and Hercules might mean? which names indeed are nothing else but titles of honour, superiority, and dignity: and Iupiter was such, as in Egypt Pharaoh, and Rome Caesar, and as now their Pope : for Iupiter is as much as, Iuvaus pater : and Papa, Pater patrium. And whereas the superstitious people of those days honoured and reverenced them as gods, it was nothing else, but some excellency and great dignity they possessed, or for some great virtue, learning, and knowledge they were then endued with, as Fabius Pictor and Zenophon have delivered the same, saying : Principes quia iusit errant, & religionibus dedits, iure babili dij, & dicti. Non enim arbitria illorum ab cquo, vel populis a iure innaio discedebant. Now then having satisfied that point, we may the more boldly proceed with our intendment and with the matters of this Camboblascon king of Italy, and Iupiter and Patriarch thereof, and the great father (as they say) of the famous and renowned Trojans. And this king built the fair city of Montoblascon in Tuscania which by corruption is now called and known by the name of [Montfiason]: and another also which he named Coritus, now called Cornete, which is situated about some forty miles from the now mighty city of Rome. And this Camboblascon had by his wife Electra, the [79]daughter of Atlas Italus king of Italy, three children which are these, Iasius, Dardanus, and Armonia: Iasius being created Coritas and Patriarch of Italy, his father being alive, who also bestowed upon him the rule and kingdom of France (as many Historiographers affirm) the next year after; so that he became very mighty and powerful in all those countries thereabouts. And now we will proceed with the rest of the kings of France, beginning where we left off, which was (if it be remembered) at Galatheus, the noble son of Hercules of Lybia, and of his fair wife Galathea: where it was then mentioned, how this Galatheus at the hands of his loving brother Tuscus received the island of Sicilia, and accordingly, carried with him people to inhabit and possess the country, which being performed, he returned also back again into France, as hath been likewise before somewhat touched: after which time, he lived peaceably and quietly many years, governing his people with great mildness and clemency, and yet mingled and accompanied with uprightness of justice, and execution of his laws and edicts; of whose deeds and performances, more than are already spoken of, few or no writers have mentioned, only, that of him and of his name the country generally was called Gaul, and so continued, and the people thereof termed Gaulons, which by corruption and overturning of many ages and times, are now in some part of the country called Wallons, and which before Galatheus, were called Samothei or Celti. And it is most likely by the conjectural opinions of most writers, that this king Galatheus remained and lived in those days for the most part in that part of Gaul, [80]which is now the province of Acquitaine, which is so called of the abundance of waters and rivers, wherein that country was want to exceed, and thus this place was held to be the first and most ancient of all the other parts of France, which indeed are only two more, for that the whole country of France is by most divided only into three parts, and they are called Gallia Acquinatica, Celtica, and Belgica, which of themselves retain and carry the very names of the first kings and rulers of them, as before is something specified. The chief cities and principalities of Gallia Aquinatica, are supposed and held to be these, as most ancient writers do consent, [Narbon], Thoulouse, Caours, Rodetz, Lymoges, Perigott. Bourdeaux, Zainctes, Augolesme, Baione, Clermont, Bourges, Tours, Foix, Lestore, Allebreth, Saint Pons, Nantes, Resnes, Saint Malo, and others. The chiefest rivers and waters, these, Gironde, Dordonne, Garonne, Loire, Lalier, Cher, Charente, & many others, now too long to recite.

 

{The chief cities of Gallia Acquinatica}

 

(64) After the death of the famous and most renowned Galatheus, his son Harbon took upon him the government of the country, and was established the twelfth king of France, who presently erected and built a very gallant city for his seat, and called it Harbonne after his own name, which is now called Narbonne, as many authors do affirm. And of this king, little or nothing is left written, memorable, or meriting a tedious commemoration or rehearsal, only he left behind him a son called Lugdus, which was now the thirteenth king of this country of France, and who built the famous city called Lugdunum, called also Lyon ; which is now one of the chiefest principallest cities of France, and [81]which hath long time flourished in great privileges, prerogatives, and extraordinary customs, being as city indeed [tres]-ancient and of long continuance ; and of her name all that province is called Lyonnoise, which as some hold, is contained within the bounds of Gallia Celtica, and is the greatest and the chiefest part thereof. And this city of Lyons was first founded and erected by the same king Lugdus, in the twelfth year of the reign of Mancaleus, the fourteenth king of Babylon, which is as much as to say, after the flood & inundation of the whole world six hundred and fourscore years, after the first inhabitating of France five hundred and sixteen years, before the foundation of the city of Troy one hundred and forty years, and before the now famous city of Paris was erected, two hundred and twenty years, before Rome was built five hundred threescore and eighteen years, and before the incarnation and birth of our Saviour Christ a thousand six hundred seven and thirty years, or near thereabouts. And in the times of this king Lugdus, arrived and came into France the queen Isis, who was so famous and renowned throughout all the world.

 

{The first foundation and building of the city of Lyons in France.}

 

(65) After this Lugdus succeeded his eldest son Belgius, now the fourteenth king of that country, whose name is yet even fresh in all mens memories, for of his name that great and populous country called Gallia Belgica, took her title and was so called, of which (as of the other) we will now make some mention. The chiefest rivers and waters thereof are these, Leseault, la Sambre, le Lis, le [Rio], Meuse, and Mosell, Sain, Marne, Somme, le Daulx, and others : the chief woods and forests these, Mormault, [82]and Ardenne. The highest hills and mountains, are the hill Saint Claude, les Faucsilles, and Vosegus. The principal villages and greatest cities are these: Cambray, Vallenciennes, Couloign, Conflans, Vtrecht, Mayence, Strasbourg, Aix, Constance, Lyege, Tournay, Arras, Amtens, Beauvais, Senlis, Laon, Noyne, Soissons, Meaulx, Rouan, Rains, Metz, Langres, Besancon, Salins, Dole, Losanne, Geneve, and Gamberi, The chiefest siegnories are these : the Dukedoms of Iulliers, Cleves, Gheldes, Brabant, Lorraine, Bar, Lembourg, and Luxembourg: the counties Palatine, Haynau, Bourgoigne, Ferretes, Montbeliad, Flaunders, Artois, Champaine, Holland, Zeland, and Namur. This king Belgius (of whom all these gallant and most famous countries were thus called) buided also the city of Belges, of which, now only some ruins and relics of memory are left, which are to be seen in the country of Haynu, and which Iulius Caesar likewise in the sixteenth book of his Commentaries doth mention & remember, where he calleth it Belgium. This word Belgius (as many old writers expound it) signifieth in the Hebrew or Phoenician language (which [83]tongue the ancient Gauloys then used) as much as An ancient god wrestling; for in those times (as I already have spoken) the people called their kings, gods : by which it may be gathered, that this their king Belgius was a great wrestler, unto which kind of exercise and unto the barriers, the people inhabiting Gallia Belgica did not long since wonderfully much addict themselves, & were very active and skilful therein, howsoever at this day those sports for the most part are now utterly left off and rejected. S. Ierome sayth also, That this word [Belga] signifieth in the Hebrew tongue, An ancient commotion, or an old strife and indeed heretofore those people of that country were much conversant in wars, in troubles, and dissentions, and were held to be the most valiant and strongest nations of this part of the world, as Caesar also in his Commentaries aleadgeth to the same purpose saying : Fortissimi autem omnium Belgi. And Strabo in the fourth book of his Commentaries also sayth thus : Omnibus Gallorum Belgi sunt fummi : as a people that in those times (as it is written) could bring into the field three hundred thousand fighting men. And thus much for the descriptions of the people of the county called Gallia Begica, with the chiefest towns, siegnories, and rivers thereof, and now we will look back again for the prosecuting and finishing of our former matter.

 

(66) In this king Belgius, the line and race of Galatheus the son of Hercules Lybicus, failed and was determinate, so that upon his death the people of France (being of themselves wonderfully desirous to elect one of that linage so near as it was possible) bestowed the government and command of that country upon the above written Iasius Ianigena, the son of Iupiter Camboblascon.  And so by that means Iasius was invested and established in that kingdom as the fifteenth king and Patriarch thereof. And in this year the realm and kingdom of Athens in Greece was first set up and begun, as Berosus our chiefly followed author in these matters of antiquity averreth, who thus saith: Apud Ianigenas a patre, Iasius creaius est Coritus, & anno sequnte simul ceperens duo reges, videlice primus Rex Atheniensium Cecrops priscus, & Iasius Ianigena apud Celtas. And this was about fourscore years or [84]thereabouts before the first building and erection of the city of Troy.

 

(67) Iasius Ianigena, the eldest son of Iupiter Camboblascon (as before declared) being thus so gloriously possessed of two such regal and powerful kingdoms, and being in the chiefest spring and blooming days of his age, contracted and joined in marriage with a noble and rich lady called Ipitis Cibeles : for the celebration of which nuptials and espousals, great feasts and ceremonies of joy and triumph were held and kept, and (as some write) performed in the city of Viterbe, then the capital seat of all Tuscania. And this was before the foundation of Troy threescore and seventeen years, in the presence of Dardanus the first builder thereof, and brother to the new married king Iasius Ianigena. Many writers do affirm, That in this marriage were greater triumphs, pastimes, sports, magnificence, state and pomp, than in any other in those times throughout all the world whatsoever, and chiefly in respect of the noble assembly and meeting of so many mighty and great princes, and more particularly for the coming of the famous empress and goddess (as they term her) the Egyptian Isis, the daughter of Cham, the wife of Iupiter Iustus, otherwise called Osyris, and the mother of that all renowned and ever memorable conqueror, Hercules of Lybia, king emperor of all France, Italy, and Spain. And this Isis there first taught those people the manner of making bread, of flour, meal, and such like stuff: although before that Osyris her husband had instructed them in knowledge of agriculture, tilling, and sowing corn, yet they were not until now perfected in the use and right applying thereof, especially for the [85]making of bread, which they learned and understood by the coming of this empress Isis. And this marriage and ceremony of association and matrimony was the first that in those times was celebrated and solemnized with any rites, feastivals, or new invented usances, as Diodorus Siculus to the same purpose thus sayth, these being his very words : Has nuptias a dijs primum celebrates ferunt, Cereremque in gratiam Iasij ei ex frumento panem attulisse, Mercurium lyram, Palladem decantatum monile peplum, ac ubias, & c. This their goddess Isis, otherwise called by the names of Cares, Iuno, Frugifera, Legifera, and others, was by all probability and by the opinion of all writers a woman of wonderful long life and many years, for at her now arrival and coming to this marriage into Italy, she was at least four hundred and fifty years old, as she that was born in the first year of the reign of Semiramis queen of Babylon, and lived in the whole at the least six hundred and sixteen years, for she was living after the first destruction and desolation of Troy, by the space of forty years or near thereabouts, as almost all writers have delivered in their opinions to the same purpose and effect. Iohannes Annius and old writer, sayth, That she was in Germany in the times of Hercules Alemannus, the eleventh king of that country, by him called Almaigne: and Cornelius Tacitus also seemeth to affirm the same by these words, Pars Suevorum etiam Isidi sacrificat. It is written also, that she was in France in the time of Lugdus then king thereof, as hath been before declared, and that she had travelled almost all these parts of Europe, instructing and teaching the poor ignorant people the use of many things then unknown & unfound [86]out. And to approve the better that she was present at this marriage of Iasius Ianigena, it is yet apparent in that country of Tuscan by many very ancient scrolls, left still from time to time in that country from one posterity to another; as also certain old statues and monuments of marble, with inscriptions of characters infixed thereon, found out in the times of Pope Alexander the sixth, averre the same, which as Iohannes Annius sayth, were first found in the earth in the city of Viterbe: and that there were at that time upon further digging and search of more such like relics, found hidden far in the ground four several images or pictures of triumph, the one was of Iasius, the other of his mother Electra, the third of his sister Armonia, which never married, but continued and died a vestal virgin, and the fourth was of the Cibeles the now new married wife of Iasius. There was also found another square kind of table made of marble, on which were in Greek letters, these words following engraved, which not long after were translated into Latin. Coritina disponsitio, cum Electra Atlas Kytij iamdudum pertransiveran, & maxima Isis [Fruroentaria] atque panifica, concessit ad nuptias Iasij filij Corits, in habitaculum turrite Cibeles spoxse  Iasij in prelso Cybelario, ad fontem Cybelarium, paulo post sub vandimonia palatial, & paulo post a scelerato fratre Dardano Iasius male perijtin Iasinello in Theisijs, & c. And these be the very words used heretofore by authors of antiquity. By these therefore and like semblable apparences it is cleared, that this Isis, their so reverently-adored goddess, was now present at the consummation of the espousals of Iasius Ianigena, king of Italy and France, with the lady Ipitis Cibeles, his wife. And that this Isis had travelled [87]and journeyed through many and diverse countries, it appeareth by many and several pillars and stone monuments erected in many countries of Europe in that behalf, as many authors do produce. Diodorus Siculus inferreth, That in Egypt she caused herself an mighty and stately column to be erected, wherein she caused also these words to be insculpted and inserted. Ego sum Isis Egipti Regina a Mercurio erudita. Que ego legibus Fratui, [cullus] soluet : ego sum Osyrides, ego sum prim frugum inventrix, ego sum Oriregis mater. But to omit many other like authorities and approvements which might conduce to the clearer manifesting and unclouding of what was first proposed, we will now go forward with this royal marriage of Iasius, that we with more speed may attain to the complete accomplishment and effectuating of my proposed intendment.

 

(68) This great king and ruler Iasius Ianigena had of this his wife Cibeles a son called Corybantus, so that now there wanted not any terrene or earth-born delight of felicity which might make this happy seeming potentate more fortunate, mighty, or contentfull, but it is a common humour of fortune, that amidst the thickest and most abundances of her graces and favours, she in some angry of fantastic imagination, suddenly snatcheth away her so liberally bestowed gifts, and leaveth the late possessors thereof involved and warped in a world of the miserablest unhappiest and foul vexations that may be invented, as by the fatal success and end of this kings life most plainly appeareth. For when as Dardanus, his younger brother (a man indeed of proud heart, great courage, and inward ambition) saw his brother Iasius thus float [88] (as it were) on the calm seas of joyous prosperity, and to taste of the sweet cup of Nectar, which Fortune oftentimes administereth unto her favourites, and thus to live famous in such abundant measure of grace and happiness ; he infinitely repined and maliciously stomached such the greatness and height of his power and authority, he being himself so suppressed and obscured by the spite of Fortune, and living privately and without command, as an inferior of some base born person of slave. These things oftentimes revolving and studying within himself, he could not now anylonger depress or quench the overfurious heat of his aspiring spirit, but in disdainful and scorning kind of fashion whet unto his brother the king, to demand leave and licence, That (upon some occasions of discontent pretended) he might depart out of the country to seek out his fortunes: which request Iasius refused to condescend unto, and would by no means allow of his brothers purposes in that behalf intended: whereupon Dardanus (taking it in great dislike and disparagement unto his greatness) began secretly to enter into deadly hostility with him, and to gather many factions and parties together on his side, which, by reason that he was extremely well beloved throughout most of those countries, grew to a great number and multitude of men, especially of those people then inhabiting on the other side of the river Tybre, which we called since the Latins, besides the county of Naples, Povilla, Calabria, and others thereabouts; all these conjoined and consorted with the faction of Dardanus: and with Iasius, all those on this side of the Tybre, being them of Tuscania, France, and other particular provinces thereabouts. At [89]this very time (as many writers do deliver) happened in the world many uncouth, strange, and wonderful portents, as fearful earthquakes, lightening, blazing comets, and ugly visions; as also throughout all Thessaly a general overflow and deluge of waters, in another part of Greece, a strange combustion of houses and towns, and miserable effects of fire throughout most part of that country. In the same time also, Pharao king of Egypt following Moses and the children of Israel through the red sea, with all his army perished and were overwhelmed with the churlish buffetings of the angry and wrathful billows. All which signs and extraordinary accidents did manifestly pretoken & prefigure the sudden approach of some great alteration of estates, and troubles of mighty kingdoms.

 

(69) The fire of discontent and enmity between the two brothers being thus wholly set on flame, and diverse attempts and meetings of wrath passed between them, it happened that Dardanus received the worst, and upon many encounters still was put unto his shifts, especially by the fresh supply and aid which Siceleus[14], king of the isle of Sicilia, & the sixteenth king of Spain had then brought unto his brother Iasius : so that continually being weakened more and more both in numbers of men, and in the courages of them that stayed, he was enforced for this own security to give over those such public means of oppression and revenge, and to betake his thoughts unto contriving and plotting of some more inward and therefore more dangerous stratagems. So that in the end (to avoid prolixity and tedious circumstance) he so wrought that he awaited a time when the king his brother (then all [90]suspectless of any intended mischief) went privately to a fountain or spring to wash himself, which occasion and opportunity so fairly presenting it self, Dardanus most traitorously and vilely murdered him. And upon that, not daring to adventure his stay, or to engage himself so far in those cases of peril, he presently took shipping in the next haven and with all this jewels & what else riches portable, he could carry with him away, with many of his friends, followers, and servitors, he secretly and closely set sail and departed.

 

(70) The right noble and trespuissant king of France thus cruelly murdered by the bloody hands of his own natural (though in that unnatural) brother, in the fiftieth year of his reign and mighty government, and in the fourscore and fourth year of his own age; all the people and inhabitants thereabouts began mightily to bewail his untimely and miserable end, which was before the foundation of Troy eight and twenty years or much thereabouts. In general deploration and laments of this kings death, not only Italy and France, but all parts of the world unto whom the shrill voiced trumpet of Fame had sounded forth this report, conjoined and bemoaned together, for that he kept peace and amity with all princes whatsoever, in all unity, love, and concord; and carried himself so upright and so wise in the troublesome management of affairs belonging unto two kingdoms, that he gained and won unto him the hearts and affections of almost all people whatsoever. After his death, his son Coribantus succeeded in the government of the kingdom of Italy, but not of France, so that the people thereof were a good while after without a chief or ruler: [91]but in the end they choose and elected one that was nearest unto the linage and line of Hercules as they might, and his name was Allobrox, now the sixteenth king thereof. The which king afterward for the most part kept and remained at the foot of the mountains Apennini, affronting upon Italy, and there commanded even unto the hills Pyrenei (which dived the county of Spain from France) and from the Mediterranean sea unto the main Ocean, and unto the river of Rhyne: and he there builded and erected many famous towns and cities, of which, some were those which were since called Piemont, Savoy, Proavnce, Daulphine, and others, and which people of very late times (if not at this day) were called Allobroges: and in this kings reign was the far-famed and mighty city of Troy first built and erected, To come unto the foundation of which, we must here in these affairs pause and take breath a while, and return unto Dardanus, now on the sea tossed with uncertain fortunes, and tempestbeaten indeed with overblowing and cruel winds, so that he remained in very great danger and hazard to be cast away and swallowed in the vast and merciless embracements of the all-wracking waters. Enforced by these calamities, he was glad to put in at an Island of the Ciclades, attending there the favourable similes of Fortune, and the abatement of those horrible and tempestuous storms. In the end he put forth again, and recovered the sea Archipeagnios, and went afterwards on shore in an Island in Greece called Samos or Samothrace, according to which the Poet Virgil in his eighth book of his Aeneidos sayth : Arunculos, ita ferre senec hic ortus [92]in agris, Dardanus ideas sij geapen id oubes Thrace id amque Samam quanunc Samothraceia sefeus. This Island of Samos or Samothrace is directly opposite unto the country of Thrace in Greece where Constantinople is erected, which heretofore abounded in all plenteous manner of Vines, Olive trees, Grapes and other such like fruit of most sorts; and in this country also was the learned and famous Philosopher [Anax]agoras born, and one of the prophetesses called Sibeles Sameos. [Alas] it is now (the more to be lamented) in the tyrannous hands and possessions of the bloody and barbarous Turks. [In] this country, Dardanus stayed a good space before he laid the foundation of Troy, hoping yet to be recalled home again into Italy : but when he perceived that all hopes were frustrate that were founded on such grounds, he puteth himself forth to seek out as yet his further fortunes, which happened as hereafter shall briefly be unfolded.

 

(71) It is to be understood, that on the other side of the [sea] Hellespont, which is called also the straights leading unto Constantinople, in the same continent of a country called Asia Minor, now called Natalia or Turkie, and not far from the above written island of Samos, is a province called Lydia, which heretofore was called also Meonia; in the which country, as also in those next and near joining thereunto called Phrygia, reigned and governed at that time a prince called by the name of Athus the younger, of the same blood and parentage as was Dardanus for (if it be remembered) we long since spake how Hercules of Libya had a lady to his wife called Omphale, by [93]whom he begat a son called Athus the great of which Athus, from decent to descent in four generations came this Athus the younger king of Meonia and Phrygia and who had two sons also the one called by the name of Lydus and the other Turrhenus. This king Athus having now upon the arrival of Dardanus great abundance of people in his country by reason of fruitful increases and multiplications: and having also but small store of victuals and food in his country to nourish and maintain so populous a state, for want of which, great famines, pestilences, and other diseases arose in the country, knew not almost how to dispose of his people, or in what sort to remedy this mischief, so that in the end he was informed by reason of that mortal famine, to discharge many of his subjects out of the country to seek out some new inhabitations and places of abode which thing also they wondrous willingly embraced as glad to be rid and quit of so penurious and starving a place. Dardanus hearing and understanding of these proceedings and in what necessities they stood in by the means of the overaboundance of inhabitants, presently made his repair to king Athus and there desired him, That since he must needs send forth such people for the finding out of new places of habitations, that he would bestow the charge, conduct and leading of them upon him, and that he would join with them for the provisions and necessities needful and convenient for the settling of themselves in such their new places of abode, residence, and habitation. This thing king Athus very willingly entertained, especially for that Dardanus was of this own kindred and consanguinity. [94]This request and desire of Dardanus thus obtained, he knew no other means to requite so great a favour, and to be occasion to draw on further kindness, but to offer unto Athus, and utterly to resign all his right, title, interest, and claim in the kingdom of Italy for one of his sons, unto which of them the father pleased and was contented. This profer of Dardanus being well considered of by king Athus, was in the end thankfully accepted: in lieu and exchange whereof was allowed unto Dardanus a certain quantity and piece of ground in Phrygia for him to build and erect a city upon. And between the two brethren Lydus and Turrhenus, lots were indifferently cast, which of them with a certain number of people should set forward for Italy, and which should stay at home : for the deciding whereof, it fell unto Lydus to remain behind, and to be left inheritor unto that kingdom which afterwards of his name was called Lydia ; and that Turrhenus should be presently dispatched away with his people to inhabit in Italy, of whom afterwards also it was called by the name of Turrhena. These covenants and agreements concluded upon, Turrhenus setteth forward from Asia Minor (now called Turkie) in his journey for Italy; and Dardanus with his people and associates began now to build in Phrygia, and in short space fully finished and erected a city, which he called after his own name Dardania : which before the incarnation of Christ a thousand an four hundred fourscore and seven years, before the building of Rome by Romulus four hundred and seven and twenty years, and before the city of Paris was erected threescore and ten years, as Eusebius [95]and most writers do affirm. On the other side Turrhenus is arrived in Italy, and presently repaireth unto the queen Cibeles, the widow and late wife to Iasius Ianigena, as before hath been declared, as also unto her son Coribantus king of Tuscania; unto which two, he brought and presented many costly and rich gifts from his father Athus king of Meonia : who also received them in all gracious and kind acceptance, as coming from their kinsman, and of the race and blood of Hercules of Lybia. Turrhenus had not long remained here, but that he was highly favoured of the king Coribantus, who now desirous to see and understand of the estate of his kinsman Dardanus, prepared presently to take in hand that so long and tedious journey, and ordained and instituted at home for the government of his country, the order of the twelve Dukes, whereof Turrhenus was one; and so with a great troupe and company of followers & friends he embarked for the coast of Phrygia, to see the greatness of Dardanus, and the beauty and excellency of his new built city Dardania. After some tedious and troublesome travels in this voyage, at the last he arrived at his wished and desired place, where with all manner of ceremony he was joyfully entertained by Dardanus, whose reciprocal and mutual love grew in the end to be such, as he resolved and there set down his rest for ever to remain, and not to return again into Italy, but sent word thither of his purposes, and commanding them to create and establish [Turrhenus] in his absence king and sole ruler over all that country. In few years Dardanus began to grow unto great mightiness, riches, and power, who [96]had also a neighbour prince of mighty puissance, wealth and fortune, whose name was Teucrus, where upon many writers call the Phrygians also [Teucrians] and this Teucrus was the son of [Scammander], who had also himself a very beautiful and fair daughter, which he married shortly after unto Dardanus, and was called Bateia, of whom Dardanus begot a son called Erichthonius, who succeeded him and was inheritor [unto] the kingdom of Phrygia. This Erichthonius in [process] of time arose up unto a wonderful greatness and large possessions, who (as many writers do assure) was accounted to be one of the richest kings in those days in that part of the world, who (as it is also said) had at the least three thousand horses of his own continually feeding in his pastures. And this Erichthonius had also a son whom he named Tros, whom after his death he left as successor and inheritor unto him, and of whose name afterwards the Dardanians were called Trojans. This Tros very much [enlar]ged and beautified the city also of Dardania [with many riches], which long time after it r[emain]ed [on him to beget] sons, which were Ilus, Assaracus, [and Ganymedes] [who] he brought up in the knowledge [of Philosophy and] sciences unto which kind of study ([as is] [necessary]) he himself also was much addicted and [for] many years together maintained hostile wars with the king of Crete called Iupiter, the fourth of that name there : in which wars his son Ganymedes was taken prisoner even by the hands of Iupiter himself who for that in his ensign and colours he gave an Eagle (being his arms) it should seem the Poets for that cause [97]have [testified] and [so] guided [made] [mistakes] as [govern] hunting [and] [snatch up] from the [realm] [his son] by [Aquila], [confused] [for] [a marvellous] [Eagle,] [for which] [he is] now [taken] [for and] [lies] [above] [the sign of the Zodiac called Aquarius.] Some [other] [authors] also write, [that one] Tantalus; king of high Phrygia and of Paphlagonia, a [mischievous] [monarch and] [nefarious] prince had laid [certain snares] and [privie] [arranged to] [entrap] [this] Ganymedes and to take him prisoner as he used to [sport] [himself] in [hunting], [relying] by [this] device to get a mighty ransom of his father Tros for the redeeming and enfranchising of [this] imprisonment [and his] son, and that this Tantalus son [unto] one Iupiter of the isle of Greece ; for to [safeguard] him; and to have half the mainland which should be paid for his redelivery and freedom.[15] And for such like [causes] [believe] the Poets also do [write] and say, that Tantalus is plagued and tormented in hell standing up to the chin in water, and apples hanging down unto his lips, and yet can neither drink nor eat the one or the other ; and it is also more credibly written, that he died most miserably and in great extremity.[16] His son Pelops also, banished and exiled his own natural country, fled into Greece; and there married a wonderful rich wife and great lady, by which means he got unto himself and obtained the command of a whole country, which he called after his own name, Peloponnesus, which is [now] the country of Mauritania, and subject unto the Empire of the Turk. And of this Pelops issued and cameth two famous captains, Agamemnon and Menelaus. Tros thus having lost his son on this fashion, studied [98]upon revenge, and in the mean times comforted himself with his two others, Ilus and Assaracus. And this Ilus called Troy after that, Ilion; who begat as son named Lamedon, the father of the renowned Priamus : and of Assaracus issued and came Anchises, Aeneas father. And the before written Tros ruled & commanded there in great power and puissance for the space of threescore years or thereabouts, as Archilochus in his book of Times alloadgeth.

 

{Archilochus.}

 

{Homer.}

 

(72) Laeomedon, the son of king Ilus (as is beforesaid) after the death of his father took upon him the rule and government of Troy, in the two hundred and two and twentieth year after the first foundation thereof by Dardanus, and he had five sons and two daughters, which were these, Priamus, Titonus, Lampus, Clytion and Letaon, and of these Homer in his Iliads maketh further mention: his daughters were Antigone and Hesione. The Greek Poets (who indeed for the most part are full of such fables) do say, that the two gods Neptune and Apollo, for a certain sum of money promised them by him, went with him about the circuit of the city, and there erected wonderful strong and most huge high walls round about the same: the which walls afterwards finished accordingly and no money received nor to be got, Apollo in great rage and anger infected the city with a deadly and general pestilence; and Neptune in token of his wrath and displeasure also, sent a monster of the sea among them, unto which they must every day give and throw a young child, or else that they all should perish and be devoured by the ravenous maw and hunger thereof; and that in the end it [99]happened upon the daughter of Laomedon [named] Hesione to be given [unto] this [marine beast] which (say they) was rescued and relieved by [great] [fortune] by [Hercules] of Greece which came that way, and who afterwards slew this monster and in gratification thereof the lady Hesione (the daughter of Laeomedon) was [promised] [unto] him not long after in marriage, but yet not married unto him by reason of the unwillingness afterward ([now sooner] it fell out) of her father: for [the breach] of which promise, Hercules afterwards slew Laeomedon in open battle and spoiled and ruin[ated such] his glorious city. And for that Thelamon his consort had that day behaved himself very gallantly in fight; he betrothed the young lady Hesione upon him, as his concubine and slave, who carried her away with [him] into the country of Sa[lamis] whereof he was then king and ruler. But it is most [eerraine]; that for the most part all those Greek writers have [erred] [infinitely] and have delivered many most unlikely histories : for this Hercules (as hath been before spoken) was a noble and famous pirate and he slew Laomedon by archery and surprised Troy on a sudden and unawares and also he was a common ravisher of maidens as of Hesione, [Midea], and others as [Manethos, Iohannes Annius] and Iacques de [Bergame] have written and very plainly approved the same. Laomedon being slain, Titonus succeeded next after him but he being of another disposition resigned his interest therein, and betook himself to travel into strange countries, even unto the Indies where (according to Diodorus Siculus) he married and lady called Ida, and (as the Poets write) Aurora of whom he [100]afterwards had a son called Memnon, who long after came unto the successor of Priamus in his chiefest [warrior] and was there slain by the hands of Achilles. In the absence therefore of his brother Tython, Priamus took upon him the government and charge of that kingdom, being the second son unto Laomedon their father who in short time came to be one of the greatest and most famous princes of the world for it is written, that he was wondrous, wise, discrete, and valiant, and [matched] his children with persons of great [sort], worth, and dignity. And for to make him at the first the stronger, and that he might have time to rectify his late spoiled and fire perished city, he entered into alliance and fast kindred with a very mighty and powerful prince, near adjoining upon his country who was called by the name of Cypseus, or (as some hold) Dymas, king and sole commander of Thrace, which is a province of Greece on this side of the sea Hellespont, whereof the chief city is at this day Constantinople: and with this Cypseus or Dymas his daughter, called Hecuba, he married: a lady accomplished with all exterior graces and inward virtuous dispositions, at which espousal of Primaus and Hecuba, great ceremony and signs of joyfulness were shown forth and observed : and of this lady it is writ, that he begot nineteen children male and female : and of other women and concubines which he daily kept and maintained in his palace (acceding to the fashions and usances in those days) he had one and thirty more, so that only nineteen of his fifty sons and daughters were legitimate and lawfully begotten, the rest bastards and illegitimate. That Priamus in all had so [101]many children (which indeed he publicly [maltreated] and shamed not to acknowledge) Virgil also in the [second] book of his Aeneidos thus sayth : Quinquaginta islith ilami, spis tania nepotum, And Homer in the last book of his Iliads most plainly seemeth to confirm the same.

 

(73) Troy now thus most gallantly flourishing, newly fortified, repaired, enlarged, enriched, enpeopled & thoroughly provided and stored of all manner of things which might be necessary either for use of [for] all [wars] and open hostilities, or for the conservation of peace & domestic tranquillity, began to assume unto herself a mighty and glorious self conceit and strong opinion of her own power, height and magnificence, offering herself of all victorious prevailments over her enemies whatsoever, and of a never failing prosperity, glory and felicity : and yet it is not writ, that Priamus himself was [puffed] up with any more extraordinary pride or insolence than became the greatness of so puissant a prince. It is writ also that in the times of this his greatest power he was forewarned by certain Oracles and false gods which they used to worship in those days, that so long as he did preserve and safeguard three things belonging unto the city, the town should be inexpungable and never to be lost, as Servius and Baccace have written of the same : the things were these, The image of Pallas called Paladium, preserved undefaced, The sepulchre or tomb of Laomedon which was under the great gate [Scea], kept unspoiled & whole, and as long as the life of Troylus lasted and did endure. Priamus therefore very careful to keep these things [102]with all diligentnesse and heed, lived in the greatest pomp, delicacy, and state that ever any prince in the world in those times did or could: so that he seemed not only to be king of Phrygia, but also chief dominator and emperor of all Asia, now called Natalia or Turkie: and he was called also in those times, The king of kings, as Strabo in the thirteenth book of his Geography, to the same purpose sayth: Priamus mango ex parvo, & Rex Regum effectus. And these his powers and authorities not only extended and stretched themselves abroad throughout the main continent and firm lands of all those countries thereabout round, but in the end showed themselves also and possessed their master of many famous and great Islands lying [far] in within the bosom and embracement of the uncivil and rude behavioured sea; as the island of Tenedos, and the island of [Merelyn], were subject and vassalized unto the government of his imperious principality, paying him yearly tribute, taxes, and impositions; and many others also of great fame adjoining near thereabout : so that the infinite greatness and large command of this thrice mighty emperor Priamus, possessed all the princes and rulers of countries near that way, with [astounded] admiration and wondrous maze of his sudden and unexpected puissance. And thereupon sent and dispatched messengers from all quarters to crave his amity, friendship, and to be in league with him, as also to be nearer allied unto him by some matches and marriages of their children on both sides ; by reason whereof, Priamus matched his children with great houses, and of great power and [102]possessions: First he married one of his legitimate and lawful begotten daughters called [Canase un]to a prince of great means named Aeneas, the son of old Anchises & his daughter Astyoche, he matched with one Telephus, a mighty king of Mysia : and his son Hector joined in matrimony with Andromacha, the fair daughter of Ection, the powerful and famous king of Thebes and Silicia : and Polydamas, one of the sons of Anthenor, married with one of Priamus daughters, (being a bastard with one of his concubines) being of an excellent and singular beauty, called Lycasta. So also many others of his children were linked and joined in marriages with men of great rule, power, and command in those days ; the posterity of which, and of their deeds and mightiness, hereafter in some other place and [opportunite] occasion may be presented further to speak of ; and for this time (being indeed forced by and extraordinary occasion) I must thus on the sudden promptly break off; desiring and writing very earnestly, that if this small piece of pains of mine shall [fortune] ever to be publicly impressed (which leaving behind me, it will not be in my power to prevent) it may indifferently pass uncensored, till the return of his fortune beaten father may answer for the innocence of the child, and be able a little better to protect him in his afflictions.

 

(74) And thus it hath been with great care and diligence laboured to find out the truest Historians for the [103]deriving of Dardanus, and consequently this king Priamus, from the race and line of the first prince and Patriarch, Noe, with the particular succession of kings and emperors of Europe, as hath been warranted by the authorities and writings of very learned and authentic authors.

 

Tempo `e figliuola di verita.

 

FINIS.

 



[1]remous”

[2] “Commonweales”

[3] Diodorus, (Library 1.1) confirms this account interpreting Chemmin (also called Thebides) named after Saturn as Pan’s city.

[4] This account of Osyris is based on the poem “Phrygia” by Thymaetes the son of Thymaetes the son of Leomedon of Troy, which was allegedly composed after Thymates visited Nysa about a generation before Trojan War and was written in very old language and characters, as described by Diodorus Siculus in his Library, book 3.4. “Phrygia” is obviously another version of the account which is described by Diodorus Siculus earlier in book 1.1 of his Library, which itself is based on the Egyptian Osirs myth transposed to Europe at the time of the 18th Dynasty.

[5] According to Diodorus Siculus (Library 1.2) while Osyris was in Ethiopia the Nile broke its banks and the resulting flood killed almost all the inhabitants so that Prometheus was near to killing himself, but Hercules made up the breaches. Diodorus then refers to Osyris killing Lycurgus in Thrace and placing Maron in his stead, making Macedon king of Macedonia, appointing Triptolemus to the tillage of Attica and then gaining immortality giving benefits to the world.

[6] “Arges”

[7] Diodorus records more or less the same account (Library 1.2) of the slaying of Typhon but attributes it  to Orus or Apollo and says that Hercules slew Anteus in the time of Osyris.

[8] Crete

[9] “privities”

[10] “quillit”

[11] See Dionysus of Halicarnassus 1.12.3 and 1.22.4

[12] “buse”

[13] See Dionysus of Halicarnassus 1.12.3 and 1.22.4

[14] Dionysus of Halicarnassus in his Roman Antiquities 1.12.3 quotes Antiochus of Syracuse who makes Sicelus contemporary with Morges the son of Italus and after dividing the nation those who had been called Oenotrians (after Oenotrus the son of Lycaon) became Sicles, Morgetes and Italians. At 1.22.4 quoting Philistus of Syracuse Dionysus refers to a Sicelus who lived 80 years before Trojan War as the son of Italus and the Ligurians who he led being expelled to Sicily by the Pelasgians and Umbrians were called Sicles after him.

[15] Apollodorus 3.12.2, “On succeeding to the kingdom, Tros called the country Troy after himself, and marrying Callirrhoe, daughter of Scamander, he begat a daughter Cleopatra, and sons, Ilus, Assaracus, and Ganymede. This Ganymede, for the sake of his beauty, Zeus caught up on an eagle and appointed him cupbearer of the gods in heaven.” Jerome, Chronicon 1358, “On account of the abduction of Ganymedes, war broke out between Tros the father of Ganymede and Tantalus, as Phanocles the poet writes. Therefore, the fable of Jupiter is in vain; and the abducting Eagle is invented.”

[16] Apollodorus Epitome 2.1, “Tantalus is punished in Hades by having a stone impending over him, by being perpetually in a lake and seeing at his shoulders on either side trees with fruit growing beside the lake. The water touches his jaws, but when he would take a draught of it, the water dries up; and when he would partake of the fruits, the trees with the fruits are lifted by winds as high as the clouds. Some say that he is thus punished because he blabbed to men the mysteries of the gods, and because he attempted to share ambrosia with his fellows.”