They have, although they ben to blame,
Attitled to her owne name.
Mars was an other in that lawe,
The which in Dace was forth drawe,
Of whom the clerk Vegecius
Wrote in his boke and tolde thus,
Howe he into Itaile came
And fuch fortune there he nam,
That he a maiden hath oppreffed,
Whiche in her ordre was profeffed
As fhe, which was the prioreffe
In Vestes temple the goddeffe,
So was the well the more to blame.
Dame Ylia this lady name
Men clepe, and eke fhe was also
The kinges doughter, that was tho,
Which Minitor by name hight.
So that ayein the lawes right
Mars thilke time upon her that
Remus and Romulus begat,
Whiche after, whan they come in age,
Of knighthode and of vaffellage
Itaile al hole they overcome
And foundeden the grete Rome.
In armes and of fuche emprise
They weren, that in thilke wife
Her fader Mars for the merveile
The god is cleped of bataile.
They were his children bothe two,
Through hem he toke his name fo,
There was none other cause why.
And yet a sterre upon the sky
He hath unto his name applied,
In which that he is fignified.
An other god they hadden eke,
To whom for counfeil they befeke,
The which was brother to Venus,
Apollo men him clepe thus.
He was an hunt upon the hilles,
There was with him no vertue elles,
Wherof that any bokes carpe,
But only that he couthe harpe,
Which whan he walked over londe
Full ofte time he toke on honde
To get him with his fuftenaunce
For lack of other
purveaunce.
And otherwhile of his falfhede
He feigneth him to conne arede
Of thing, which afterward fhuld falle,
Wherof among his sleightes alle
He hath the leude folk deceived,
So that the better he was received.
Lo now, through what creacion
He hath deificacion
And cleped is the god of wit,
To fuche as be the fooles yet.
An other god, to whom they fought,
Mercurie hight, and him ne rought
What thing he stale, ne whom he slough.
Of forcery he couthe inough,
That whan he wold him felf transforme,
Full ofte time he toke the forme
Of woman and his owne lefte.
So did he well the more thefte.
A great speker in alle thinges
He was alfo and of lefinges
An autor, that men wiste none
An other fuche as he was one.
And yet they maden of this the fe
A god, which was unto hem lefe,
And cleped him in tho beleves
The god of marchants and of theves.
But yet a sterre upon the heven
He hath of the planetes seven.
But Vulcanus, of whom I fpake,
He had a courbe upon the back,
And therto he was hippe-halt,
Of whom thou understonde shalt,
He was a fhrewe in al his youth
And he none other vertue couth
Of craft to helpe him felve with
But only that he was a smith
With Jupiter, whiche in his forge
Diverse thinges made him forge,
So wote I nought for what defire
They clepen him the god of fire.
King of Cicile Ypolitus
A fone he had, and Eolus
He hight, and of his faders graunt
He held by way of covenaunt
The governaunce of every ile,
Which was longend unto Cicile
Of hem that fro the lond forein
Lay ope the winde alle pleine.
And fro thilke iles into the londe
Full ofte cam the wind to honde,
After the name of him forthy
The windes cleped Eoly
They were, and he the god of winde.
Lo now, how this beleve is blinde.
The king of Crete Jupiter,
The fame, whiche I spake of er,
Unto his brother, which Neptune
Was hote, it lift him to comune
Parte of his good, so that by ship
He made him stronge of the lordship
Of all the fee in tho parties,
Where that he wrought his tirannies,
And the ftraunge iles aboute
He wan, that every man hath doubte
Upon his marche for to saile.
For he anone hem wolde affaile
And robbe what thing that they ladden,
His fauf conduit but if they hadden.
Wherof the comun vois aros
In every lond, that fuche a los
He caught, all nere it worth a stre,
That he was cleped of the fee
The god by name, and yet he is
With hem, that fo beleve amis.
This Neptune eke was thilke alfo,
Which was the firfte founder tho
Of noble Troy, and he forthy
Was well the more lette by.
The loresman of the shepherdes
And eke of hem, that ben netherdes,
Was of Archade and highte Pan,
Of whom hath spoke many a man.
For in the wode of Nonartigne
Enclosed with the trees of pigne
And on the mount of Parafie
He had of beftes the bailie,
And eke beneth in the valey,
Where thilke river, as men may say,
Which Ladon highte, made his cours,
He was the chefe of
governours
Of hem, that kepten tame beftes,
Wherof they maken yet the festes
In the citee of Stimfalides.
And forth withall yet netheles
He taughte men the forth drawing
Of beftaile and eke the making
Of oxen and of hors the fame,
How men hem fhulde ride and tame,
Of foules eke, fo as we finde,
Full many a subtil craft of kinde
He found, which no man knew to-fore.
Men did him worship eke therfore,
That he the first in thilke londe
Was, which the melodie fonde
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