XXII. Nemefis, or the Viciffitude of Things.

EMESIS is faid to be a Goddess Venerable unto all, but to be feared of none but Potentates and Fortune's Favourites. She is thought to be the Daughter of Oceanus and Nox. She is portrayed with wings on her Shoulders, and on her Head a Coronet; bearing in her Right Hand a Javelin of Afb, and in her Left a Pitcher with the Similitudes of Ethiopians engraven on it; and lastly, she is described fitting on a Hart.

The Parable may be thus unfolded. Her Name Nemefis doth plainly fignify Revenge or Retribution, her Office and Adminiftration being (like a Tribune of the People) to hinder the conftant and perpetual Felicity of happy Men, and to interpose her Word, veto, I forbid the Continuance of it; that is, not only to chaftife Infolency, but to intermix Profperity (though harmless and in a mean) with the Viciffitudes of Adverfity, as if it were a Cuftom, that no mortal Man fhould be admitted to the Table of the Gods but for Sport. Truly when I read that Chapter, wherein Caius Plinius hath collected his Misfortunes and Miseries of Auguftus Cæfar, whom of all Men I thought the moft Happy, who had also a kind of Art to use and enjoy his Fortune, and in whose Mind might be

noted neither Pride, nor Lightness, nor Niceness, nor Disorder, nor Melancholy, (as that he had appointed a time to die of his own accord,) I then deemed this Goddess to be great and powerful, to whose Altar fo worthy a Sacrifice as this was drawn. The Parents of this Goddess were Oceanus and Nox, that is, the Viciffitude of things and Divine Judgement obfcure and fecret: For the Alterations of things are aptly represented by the Sea, in respect of the continual Ebbing and Flowing of it, and hidden Providence is well fet forth by the Night: For even the Nocturnal Nemesis (seeing Human Judgement differs much from Divine) was seriously obferved by the Heathen.

Cadit et Ripheus juftiffimus unus,

Qui fuit ex Teucris, et fervantiffimus æqui.

Diis aliter vifum

Virgil Æneid. lib. 2.

That Day, by Greekish Force, was Ripheus flain
So just and strict Observer of the Law,

As Troy within her Walls, did not contain
A better Man Yet God then good it saw.

She is defcribed with Wings, because the Changes of things are fo fudden, as that they are feen before foreseen: For in the Records of all Ages, we find it for the most part true, that great Potentates, and wife Men, have perished by those Misfortunes which they most contemned; as may be observed in Marcus Cicero, who being admonished by Decius Brutus of Octavius Cæfar's hypocritical Friendship and Hollow-heartedness towards him, returns him this Answer, Te autem, mi Brute, ficut debeo,

amo, quod iftud quicquid eft nugarum me fcire voluisti: I must ever acknowledge myself (Dear Brutus) beholden to thee, in Love, for that thou haft been so careful to acquaint me with that which I efteem but as a needlefs Trifle to be doubted.

Nemefis is alfo adorned with a Coronet, to fhew the envious and malignant Disposition of the Vulgar, for when Fortune's Favourites and great Potentates come to ruin, then do the common People rejoice, fetting, as it were, a Crown upon the Head of Revenge.

The Javelin in her right Hand points at those whom she actually strikes and pierceth through.

And before those, whom she destroys not in their Calamity and Misfortune, she ever presents that black and difmal Spectacle in her left Hand: For queftionless to Men fitting as it were upon the Pinnacle of Profperity, the thoughts of Death and painfulness of Sickness and Misfortunes, perfidioufness of Friends, treachery of Foes, change of Eftate, and fuch like, feem as ugly to the Eye of their Meditations, as those Ethiopians pictured in Nemefis her Pitcher. Virgil, in describing the Battle of Actium, speaks thus elegantly of Cleopatra.

Regina in mediis patrio vocat agmina fiftro,
Nec dum etiam geminos à tergo refpicit angues.

The Queen amidst this hurly-burly stands,
And with her Country-Timbrel calls her Bands;
Not spying yet, where crawl'd behind her Back,
Two deadly Snakes with Venom speckled black.

But not long after, which way foever fhe turned, Troops of Ethiopians were ftill before her Eyes.

ture.

Laftly, It is wifely added, That Nemefis rides upon a Hart, because a Hart is a moft lively CreaAnd albeit, it may be, that fuch as are cut off by Death in their Youth, prevent and fhun the Power of Nemefis; yet doubtlefs fuch, whofe Profperity and Power continue long, are made subject unto her, and lie as it were trodden under her Feet.

XXIII. Achelous or Battle.

T is a Fable of Antiquity, that when Hercules and Achelous as Rivals contended for the Marriage of Deianira, the matter drew them to Combat, wherein Achelous took upon him many divers fhapes, for fo was it in his Power to do, and amongst others, transforming himself into the likeness of a furious wild Bull, affaults Hercules and provokes him to fight. But Hercules, for all this, fticking to his old Human Form, courageously encounters him, and fo the Combat goes roundly on. this was the event, That Hercules tore away one of the Bull's Horns, wherewith he being mightily daunted and grieved, to ranfom his Horn again, was contented to give Hercules, in exchange thereof, the Amalthean-Horn, or Cornu-Copia.

But

This Fable hath relation unto the Expeditions of War, for the Preparations thereof on the de

fenfive part (expressed in the Person of Achelous) are very diverse and uncertain. But the invading Party is most commonly of one fort, and that very fingle, confifting of an Army by Land, or perhaps of a Navy by Sea. But for a King that in his own Territory expects an Enemy, his occafions are infinite. He fortifies Towns, he assembles Men out of the Countries and Villages, he raiseth Citadels, he builds and breaks down Bridges, he difposeth Garrisons, and placeth Troops of Soldiers on Passages of Rivers, on Ports, on Mountains, and Ambushes in Woods, and is bufied with a multitude of other Directions, infomuch, that every day he prefcribeth new Forms and Orders; and then at last having accommodated all things complete for Defence, he then rightly represents the form and manner of a fierce fighting Bull. On the other fide, the Invader's greatest care is, the fear to be diftreffed for Victuals in an EnemyCountry; and therefore affects chiefly to hasten on Battle: For if it should happen, that after a Field-fight, he prove the Victor, and as it were, break the Horn of the Enemy, then certainly this follows, that his Enemy being ftricken with Terror, and abased in his Reputation, presently bewrays his weakness, and seeking to repair his lofs, retires himself to fome ftronghold, abandoning to the Conqueror the spoil and fack of his Country and Cities which may well be termed a Type of the Amalthean-Horn.