Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

Of reedes, whan they weren ripe,
With double pipes for to pipe.
Therof he yaf the firste lore,
Till afterward men couthe more,
To every crafte of mannes helpe
He had a redy wit to helpe
Through natural experience.
And thus the nice reverence
Of fooles, whan that he was dede,
The foot was torned to the hede
And clepen him god of nature,
For fo they maden his figure.

An other god, so as they fele,
Whiche Jupiter upon Semele
Begat in his avouterie,

Whom for to hide his lecherie
That none therof shall take kepe
In a mountaigne for to kepe,

Which Dion hight and was in Ynde,
He fend, in bokes as I finde,

And he by name Bachus hight,

Which afterward, whan that he might,

A waftor was and all his rent
In wine and bordel he despent.
But yet all were he wonder bad,
Among the Grekes a name he had,
They cleped him the god of wine,
And thus a gloton was divine.
There was yet Esculapius
A god in thilke time as thus.

His craft ftood upon furgerie,

But for the lufte of lecherie,

That he to Daires doughter drough,
It fell, that Jupiter him flough.
And yet they made him nought forthy
A god and wift no cause why.
In Rome he was long time fo
A god among the Romains tho,
For as he faide of his presence
There was deftruied a peftilence,
Whan they to thile of Delphos went.
And that Apollo with him sent
This Efculapius his fone

Among the Romains for to wone,
And there he dwelte for a while,
Till afterwarde into that ile,

Fro when he cam, ayeine he torneth,
Where all his life that he fojorneth
Among the Grekes, till that he deiede.
And they upon him thanne leide
His name and god of medicine
He hatte after that ilke line.
An other god of Hercules
They made, which was netheles

A man, but that he was so stronge
In al this world that brode and longe
So mighty was no man as he.
Merveiles twelve in his degre,
As it was couth in fondry londes,
He dide with his owne hondes

Hercules deus fortitudinis.

Pluto deus inferni.

Ayein geaunts and monftres both,
The whiche horrible were and loth.
But he with strength hem overcam,
Wherof fo great a price he nam,
That they him clepe amonges alle
The god of strengthe and to him calle.
And yet there is no refon inne,
For he a man was full of finne,
Which proved was upon his ende,
For in a rage him felf he brende.
And fuche a cruell mannes dede
Accordeth nothing with godhede.

They had of goddes yet an other,
Which Pluto hight, and was the brother
Of Jupiter, and he fro youth

With every word, which cam to mouth,
Of any thing, whan he was wroth,
He wolde fwere his comun othe
By Lethen and by Flegeton,
By Cochitum and Acheron,

The whiche after the bokes telle
Ben the chefe floodes of the helle,
By Segne and Stige he fwore also,
That ben the depe pittes two
Of helle, the most principall.
Pluto thefe othes over all

Swore of his comun cuftumaunce,

Till it befelle upon a chaunce,

That he for Jupiters fake

Unto the goddes let do make

A facrifice, and for that dede
One of the pittes for his mede

In hell, of whiche I spake of er,
Was graunted him, and thus he there
Upon the fortune of this thinge
The name toke of helle kinge.

Lo, these goddes and well mo
Among the Grekes they had tho,
And of goddeffes many one,

Whose names thou shalt here anone,

And in what wife they deceiven

The fooles, whiche her feith receiven.

So as Saturne is foveraine

Of falfe goddes, as they saine,
So is Sibeles of goddesses

The moder, whom withoute geffes
The folke prein honour and serve
As they, the whiche her lawe observe.
But for to knowen upon this,

Fro when she cam and what she is,
Bethincia the contre hight,

Where she cam first to mannes fight.
And after was Saturnes wife,
By whom thre children in her life
She bare, and they were cleped tho
Juno, Neptunus and Pluto,

The which of nice fantasy

The people wolde deify.

And for her children weren fo

Sibeles thanne was also

Nota, qualiter Sibeles dearum mater et origo nuncupa

tur.

[blocks in formation]

Made a goddeffe, and they her calle
The moder of the goddes alle.

So was that name bore forth,

And

yet

the cause is litel worth.
A vois unto Saturne tolde,
How that his owne fone him sholde
Out of his regne put away,

And he because of thilke wey,

That him was shape fuche a fate,

Sibele his wife began to hate

And eke her progenie bothe.

And thus while that they were wrothe

By Philerem upon a day

In his avouterie he lay,

On whom he Jupiter begat.

And thilke child was after that,

Which wrought al that was prophecied,
As it to-fore is specified.

So whan that Jupiter of Crete

Was king, a wife unto him mete

The doughter of Sibele he toke,

And that was Juno, faith the boke
Of his deification

After the fals opinion,

That have I tolde, fo as they mene.

And for this Juno was the

Of Jupiter and suster eke,
The fooles unto her feke

quene

And fain, that he is the goddeffe
Of regnes bothe and of richeffe,

« PreviousContinue »