The extravagant shepherd, the anti-romance, or, The history of the shepherd Lysis translated out of French.

Thirteenth BOOK.

THough there need not much be said on these two Orations, the Objections and Answers being so clear; yet to draw things to some conclusion, I shall where my Authour hath been very liberal, contribute some∣what.

The War of Troy is by most acknowledg'd a fiction: and Homer grounded his Poem on some old wives Tales, yet Clarimond says nothing of that, because truth and Poetry travel not far together. But he quarrels at the subject of his Books, which is ill, and that grand fault, of not mentioning the causes of that war; for that he had written any thing before, is but a conjecture; which yet Philiris makes the best

of, when he says, that his subject was well enough known in Greece, and that con∣sequently he might begin where he pleas'd. But as to Homer's Country, which Philiris saies is heaven, and that Poetry is the Language of the Gods, 'tis a little extraordinary, though all Oracles were in verse. For Homers sentences, besides that they are such as it may be were in every mouth in those days, all sects of Phi∣losophy have gotten somewhat out of him; as if he commend Vertue, he is pre∣sently a Stoick, &c. Nor have they been more fortunate, that make him Master of all Arts; or to say better, a Jack of all Trades. For to make him a Ship-Carpenter, 'tis enough that he makes his Vlisses one: To shew he was a good Cook, he made his Hero's turn the spit, and boil the pot, and in Vulcan he is an Armourer: This was an easie way to be of all Trades; but it is to be thought, that Ignorance and Pedantry were the Godfathers that gave him that name. That any Captains and the like should esteem him, as if his works could infuse courage, is as improbable; and yet this is no great commendation; for Amadis hath sharpen'd the courage of some, whose unacquaintance with affairs kept them in ignorance of what was truly military. And for Alexander and Alcibiades, who going into a school, and ask∣ing the Master for Homer's Iliads, gave him a box on the ear, when he told him he had none, 'tis no great credit. Alcibiadas was a rash yong fellow, that affronted all where he came, not sparing the very Images of the Gods, the noses whereof he cut off; besides that, it shews that it was in those days a Book fitter for School∣boys then Souldiers; and indeed it was fit a Schoolmaster should have it, it being their daily-bread; as Hieron said to Xenophanes, complaining of Poverty; That Homer, though while he liv'd, begg'd his bread, yet dead, he maintained ten thou∣sand men. And hence it came, that the Schoolmasters have ever been his greatest celebrators. As for Hector's leaving the Army in a fight, to go and deliver a mes∣sage that was unnecessary, 'twas such an absurdity as Philiris mentions it not. As for the fable of Circe, 'tis justly tax'd: for dawb as you will with Mythologies, Ulysses's lying with a Sorceress, will be a thing of ill example. As for the Beauty of Helen and Penelope, Clarimond says what he ought, and Philiris answers as well; but for the chastity of the latter, and that evasion of the web, 'tis such a poor one, that so many yong Lovers could not but in so many years discover it. But there are that say, that those yong men, all enjoy'd her, and that thence sprang the God Pan, you have the credit of the Poets for the one as well as the other.

Clarimond having spoken of Homer, spends not time on the other Greek Poets, since it was but repetition; and so falls on Virgil the Prince of the Latine Poets. That Dido liv'd not in Aeneas's time, is easie to prove: for his Fables, they are low enough; his Buckler of Aeneas, his golden branch to go to hell with; to finde explications for them, were to no purpose. But Philiris deservedly com∣mends the harmony, weight, and fluency of his verse.

For Ovid and his Metamorphoses, it hath been in divers places shew'd they are not natural, and some modern, have been more fortunate; as for example, A Player being to represent all conditions and persons, having offended Mercury, in not representing him well, was by that God Metamorphos'd into a Looking-glass, that so he might represent things better then he did in his life time. And that other, of a cruel disdainful Mistress, who could not be charm'd by any complaints of her Lover, the Gods to punish the one, and reward the other, chang'd this desperate Lover into a Loadstone, and that ungrateful Mistress into Iron, that so in spight of her teeth she might be drawn by him, whom before she did avoid. To which if we adde the Metamorphoses of Marne, Morin, Synopa, &c. we need say no more.

Orlando Furioso is a book hath less order yet then Ovid, from whom and the other Poets the invention is borrow'd. You must not think Clarimond can quote all the impertinences of any book, especially of this; as where Astolphus rides to heaven upon his Hypogriph, and there meets with St. John the Evangelist, who shews him all the curiosities of the place, having put up his horse in a certain place, where he gave him celestial oats. Yet is the Author among his Countrymen

call'd the Divine Ariosto; and so is Aretin, notwithstanding all his filthiness and impiety.

Tasso is not so confus'd; but his mingling together sacred and prophane things, shews him of that Country where they love vice, and allow impiety. Du Bartus is not much behinde; but it must be thought his design was only to reduce the Scri∣pture into neater terms then it was in: but methinks, being to speak as a Chri∣stian, he might have omitted the Suns coach and horses, and such other Pagan ab∣surdities.

Next comes up Ronsard with his Poems, Sonnets, Elegies, &c. For his Sonnets, they are allusions to the old Greek and Latine Fooleries, or else some traductions out of Italians. But because he is often quoted with his absurdities in the text it self, we shall not say much here, only shake a little his hymn, wherein hee compares Hercules to Jesus Christ, both as to his birth and labours. The three nights that Jupiter made one, when he was to enjoy Alcmena, represent the number of years, which past before the Son of God was born of his mother; That Juno, who sent two great Serpents into Alcides's cradle, is King Herod, who to destroy the childe Jesus, sent his souldiers to kill the children in Bethlehem; That it was thought that those two children were purely humane, the one being thought the son of Joseph, the other of Amphitruo; though Jesus was the son of God, and Hercules the son of Jupiter: That Prometheus unchain'd, is humane nature set at liberty: That Hercules, who ever obeys Euristheus, is the Saviour of the world, who is ever obedient to his Father: That the envious Juno is Satan (for she represents both Herod and the Devil; where∣as Amphitruo and Euristheus doe both represent God the Father) That Hercules puting on the Garment of Iole, is Jesus Christ cloath'd with the humanity of his Church: That Hercules and Atlas who sustain the Heavens, are the Father and the Son who sustain the Vniverse: That Charibdis, which swallowed one of Alcides's Bulls, is Satan, that makes a prey on one of the disciplies of Jesus Christ: And lastly, that Hercules, who is burnt on a mountain, is our Redeemer, who offers himself up a sa∣crifice unto God the Father. O lewd Poet! The Adulteries of Jupiter, and the Incarnation of the Word, are they not fit comparisons? why is not Alcmena the Virgin, and the Angel Gabriel Mercury? But that Alcides, who to satisfie his lust, disguis'd himself, and spun with Iola, should be Jesus Christ, is equally as Impious. I am to note further, that he is such a sworn imitator of Homer, and the Poets his Predecessors, that he omits not their greatest absurdities: for this is but a patern of what might be quoted: for his descriptions and similitudes, they are as tedious as Homers. If a man be to get a little water boild, he tells how he clove the wood to make the fire with, then how he kindled it and blew it, then comes in the flame, that encircles about the Kettle, then the white scummings, then the noise it makes in boiling, and this is your constant entertainment. This Poet would finde a man perpetual Satyre, yet was the most renowned of his time.

But if we catch Poets and Fabulists, we must not let the Mythologists escape, who by their impertinences seek to continue the credit of the former, and would have us swallow down obscure and ambiguous fooleries for Divinity. 'Tis hard but some allusion or other may be found to save the reputation of advancers. Apollo and Neptune build the walls of Troy, saies the Fable; there must be water, says the Mythologist to make the morter, and when the wall is built, the Sun must dry it. If they had put in Minerva too, it had been said that it was to give them instructi∣ons for the Architecture, she being the Goddess of the Liberal Arts: But for Ve∣nus's accompanying Aeneas in his battels in Italy, as also being at those before Troy, and her being hurt there; if you would put all Pedantry to the rack, it can∣not finde any good explication. Those also that shift off the absurdity of Fables by Synonima's, are we not any thing more oblig'd to; as that Helen, Castor and Pollux are engendred of an egg; you must conceive the feat was done in some great Oval pa∣lace Nay, so critical are they, that they find explications for the adulteries and absur∣dities of these pittifull Divinities; and so impudent, as to present us with them as pieces of solid learning. Nay further, some in the defence of fables tell us, that the

Poets had read some parts of the Bible, and grounded them on some stories thereof; as that the Chariot of the Sun, was that of Elijah: but they cannot choose but be impertinent, that excuse impertinence.

As for Romances, there is as much said in the beginning of this Preface concern∣ing their impertinences, and that little entertainment that is in them, that we shall not have much to adde. For Diana of Montemajor, the Pastorals of Julietta, Daph••is and Cloe, and some others, my Author shall make good what is said against them. Nor does our Arcadia escape the quick-sighted Clarimond. Astraea is a book hath gotten great reputation, as coming out with the first fruits of more polished lan∣guage; and that which hath continued it is, that it contains a many stories fitted to the humours of all sorts.

Nor is what this great Antagonist of Romances sayes touching the beginning of the Argenis, so inconsiderable. The Verses are also forc'd in; you find them fre∣quently graven on stones, and any occasion serves to foist in a paper; so that we may think that the Book was rather made for the Verses, then the Verses for the Book.

As for D' Audiguier, the Author of Lysander and Calista, one thing may be said in his excuse, is, that he was rather a man of his sword then his pen, as appears in many of his Epistles; very Gasconically bragging, that he made his Pen with his Sword, to excuse his ill writing. But his mistake was, that having heard that Roman∣ces ought to be full of miraculous adventures, he hath endeavoured to make his the most monstrous he could; by mangling of his adventures, abruptly leaving things undone, and carrying the Reader into another Country, where he had left such a one, whom it was time to look after.

As for those that go into woods, and talk to themselves so loud, that some over∣hear, it is thought a mighty ornament, otherwise so many would not have used it, and that so frequently. The examples are obvious.

As for Amaryllis's interposition; that she should stir so much in a business which concerned the whole sex, for whose entertainment and diversion these excellent works are composed, wants not example, as may appear by that answer of a woman to a certain book written against the sex: That as the Lyon seeing a man painted with his foot on the throat of one of his kind, said, that if Lyons were Painters, they had the same advantage over men: So did women but write books, they would make men as contemptible as they make them, and would make it appear they are the nobler sex. And this was it caused Anselme to give such a cautious judgment, as being unwilling to disoblige any. But as for others, they may censure Romances as they please. But what influence these two Orations had on our excellent Shepherd, appears not yet, nor how this rare personage consummates all his high and famous adventures. But that is the work of the