L. VIVES.
TO what end is it (a) that] A diuersity of reading. We follow the best copy. (b) before the temple] Hee speaketh of the sollemnities of the Goddesse Flora; which were kept by all the strumpets and ribalds in the Citty, as Plutarch, Ouid, and others doe report. For Flora her self was an whore: Lactantius lib. 1. The playes of Flora are celebrated with all lasciuiousnesse * 1.1 befitting well the memory of such a whore. For besides the bawdery of speeches, (which they stuck not to spew forth in all vncleanesse) the whores (at the peoples earnest intreaty) put off all their ap∣parell (those I meane that were the actors did this) and there they acted their immodest gestures before the people, vntill their lustfull eyes were fully satisfied with gazing on them. (c) The virgin goddesse] That was Vesta. Vpon the day before the Calends of May, they kept the feasts of Flo∣ra, Vesta, Apollo, and Augustus, vpon Mount Palatine. Ouid. Fastorum. 4.
Exit & in Maias festum Florale Calendas, Tune repetam, nunc me grandius vrget opus: Aufert Vesta diem, cògnati, Vesta recepta est Limine: sic iusti constituere Patres. Phaebus habet partem: Vestae pars altera cessit: Quod superest illis tertius ipse tenet. State Palatinae Laurus, pretexta{que} quercus Stet: domus aeternos tres habet vna deos.Let Flora's feasts, that in Mayes Calendes are, Rest till they come: now, to a greater faire: This day is Vesta's: she is entertained, In her sonnes house: our fathers so ordained. Phaebus hath part, Vesta hath part assign'd The third's Augustus share that's left behind. Liue greene thou noble oke, and Palatine Keepe greene thy daies, three gods possesse one shrine.