Ne is that fame great glorious lampe of light, That doth enlumine all these leffer fyres, In better case, ne keepes his course more right, But is mifcaried with the other spheres: For fince the terme of fourteen hundred yeres, That learned Ptolomaee his hight did take, He is declyned from that marke of theirs Nigh thirtie minutes to the foutherne lake; That makes me feare in time he will us quite forfake. VIII.
And if to thofe Aegyptian wifards old
(Which in ftar-read were wont have best insight)
Faith may be given, it is by them told
That fince the time they first tooke the funnes hight, Foure times his place he shifted hath in fight, And twice hath rifen where he now doth weft, And wefted twice where he ought rife aright. But most is Mars amiffe of all the reft;
And next to him old Saturne, that was wont be best.
For during Saturnes ancient raigne it's fayd
That all the world with goodneffe did abound; All loved vertue, no man was affrayd
Of force, ne fraud in wight was to be found;
No warre was knowne, no dreadful trompets found; Peace univerfal rayn'd mongst men and beasts; And all things freely grew out of the ground: Iuftice fate high ador'd with solemne feasts, And to all people did divide her dred beheasts:
Moft facred vertue fhe of all the reft,
Refembling God in his imperiall might; Whofe foveraine powre is herein most exprest, That both to good and bad he dealeth right, And all his workes with iuftice hath bedight. That powre he alfo doth to princes lend, And makes them like himselfe in glorious fight To fit in his own seate, his cause to end, And rule his people right, as he doth recommend.
Dread foverayne goddeffe, that doest highest sit In feate of iudgement in th'Almighties stead, And with magnificke might and wondrous wit Doeft to thy people righteous doome aread, That furtheft nations filles with awfull dread, Pardon the boldnesse of thy basest thrall, That dare discourse of so divine a read, As thy great iustice praysed over all; The inftrument whereof loe here thy Artegall.
Artegall trayn'd in iuftice lore Irenaes queft purfewed; He doeth avenge on Sanglier
His ladies bloud embrewed.
HOUGH vertue then were held in highest price,
In those old times of which I doe intreat,
Yet then likewise the wicked feede of vice
Began to fpring; which fhortly grew full great, And with their boughes the gentle plants did beat: But evermore fome of the vertuous race
Rose up, infpired with heroicke heat,
That cropt the branches of the fient base,
And with strong hand their fruitfull rancknes did deface.
Such firft was Bacchus, that with furious might All th' east before untam'd did over-ronne, And wrong repreffed, and establisht right, Which lawlesse men had formerly fordonne : There iuftice first her princely rule begonne. Next Hercules his like enfample shewed, Who all the weft with equall conquest wonne, And monftrous tyrants with his club fubdewed; The club of iuftice dread with kingly powre endewed. III.
And fuch was he of whom I have to tell, The champion of true iuftice, Artegall : Whom (as ye lately mote remember well) An hard adventure, which did then befall, Into redoubted perill forth did call ; That was to fuccour a diftreffed dame, Whom a strong tyrant did uniustly thrall,
And from the heritage, which she did clame,
Did with strong hand withhold; Grantorto was his name.
Wherefore the lady, which Irena hight, Did to the faery queene her way addreffe, To whom complayning her afflicted plight, She her befought of gratious redreffe: That foveraine queene, that mightie empereffe, Whose glorie is to aide all fuppliants pore, And of weake princes to be patroneffe, Chofe Artegall to right her to restore;
For that to her he seem'd best skild in righteous lore.
For Artegall in iuftice was upbrought
Even from the cradle of his infancie,
And all the depth of rightfull doome was taught By faire Aftraea, with great industrie,
Whileft here on earth fhe lived mortallie:
For till the world from his perfection fell Into all filth and foule iniquitie,
Aftraea here mongst earthly men did dwell, And in the rules of iuftice them inftructed well.
Whiles through the world she walked in this sort, Upon a day she found this gentle childe Amongst his peres playing his childish sport; Whom feeing fit, and with no crime defilde, She did allure with gifts and fpeaches milde To wend with her: fo thence him farre fhe brought Into a cave from companie exilde,
In which she nourfled him, till yeares
And all the difcipline of iuftice there him taught.
There the him taught to weigh both right and wrong In equall ballance with due recompence,
And equitie to measure out along
According to the line of confcience,
Whenfo it needs with rigour to difpence:
Of all the which, for want there of mankind,
She caufed him to make experience
Upon wyld beafts, which fhe in woods did find, With wrongfull powre oppreffing others of their kind.
Thus fhe him trayned, and thus the him taught In all the skill of deeming wrong and right, Untill the ripeneffe of mans yeares he raught; That even wilde beasts did feare his awfull fight, And men admyr'd his over-ruling might ;
any liv'd on ground that durft withstand His dreadfull heast, much leffe him match in fight, Or bide the horror of his wreakfull hand, Whenfo he lift in wrath lift up his steely brand:
Which steely brand, to make him dreaded more, She gave unto him, gotten by her flight And earnest search, where it was kept in store In loves eternall house, unwift of wight, Since he himselfe it us'd in that great fight Against the Titans, that whylome rebelled Gainst highest heaven; Chryfaor it was hight; Chryfaor, that all other swords excelled,
Well prov'd in that same day when Iove those gyants quelled :
For of moft perfect metall it was made, Tempred with adamant amongst the fame, And garnisht all with gold upon the blade In goodly wife, whereof it tooke his name, And was of no leffe vertue then of fame : For there no fubftance was fo firme and hard, But it would pierce or cleave whereso it came; Ne any armour could his dint out-ward; But wheresoever it did light, it throughly shard. XI.
Now when the world with finne gan to abound,
Aftraea loathing lenger here to space Mongst wicked men, in whom no truth fhe found, Return'd to heaven, whence fhe deriv'd her race; Where she hath now an everlasting place
Mongst those twelve fignes, which nightly we do see The heavens bright-fhining baudricke to enchace; And is the Virgin, fixt in her degree,
And next herselfe her righteous ballance hanging bee. VOL. II.
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