The vjth Chapitre.
MINERUA THE VIRGYNE, surnamede Pallas, with suche clarytude was exaltede that the folyshe people beleuyde that hyr begynnynge was not mortall. Sum say that in the tyme of Ogiges, the Kynge of the lake called Tritonia, not farr frome the place called Circeum the lesse, that ther she was fyrste seene on earthe and knowne, and forbecause that by processe of tyme she was seene to make many thynges that were not afore made, not onely emonge the rude Affricanes but also emonge the Grecians, that in those tymes precellyde all other in wisdome, they dyd beleue that she was procreate, withoute a mother, of Jupiters brayne. To whiche scornefull opynyon the more faithe was geuen vnto it, because hyr heade begynnynge was not knowne. Thys aboue all other they affyrme to be a perpetuall virgyne, and to make it the better to be beleuyde, they affyrme also that Vulcane longe wrestlede with hyr to haue hade hyr uirgynite, but she by strength vaynquyshede hym. They say further that the way how to spynne woolle, afore hyr tyme vnknowne, she fyrst inuentyd it, for, lernynge other by what ordre the superfluyte of the woolle shulde be purgede and how with cardes of yrone it shulde be dressyd and so be put on the distaf, it folowde that after that she ymagyned and taught other to weaue it in the lombe. Wherof that notable fighte betwyxt hyr and Aryagnes is rehersyde. And more, she founde also the vse of oyle, vntyll that tyme to men vnknowne. Whiche, because it semyde to men to be a thynge muche profitable, in the namynge of the cyte of Athenes, albeit Neptunus straue with hyr for the same, the victory was geuen to hyr. And besydes all this, they say that she founde first numbers and put theym in that ordre whiche be vsed emongst vs vnto thys day; and, for conclusion, whether it were of the boone of sum byrde, or ells of sum reede, she taught fyrst to men to pype and to blowe in a bagg pype, and that she threw the pype downe frome heuen to the earthe, because it made theym defourmyde and to haue greate throtes that blewe in theym. What more shulde I say? For so diuers prodigiouse meruells bi hyr wytte inuentyde, the olde antiquyte not onely attrybutyde to hyr the geuer of wisdome, but more, the geuer and graunter of all godlye thynges. Whereby the Athenes were so drawne, because theyr cytie was apte to lernynge, the redy way for a man to cum to prudens, that they toke hyr as the protectres and all craftes of scyences dyd onely dedicate to hyr, and made, to this, to hyr honour a greate and exellent fayre temple. Whiche accomplisshed and to hyr consecrate, they sett vp an ymage of hyr, the eyes wherof were sett a sqwynte, because raath or seldome is knowne to what entent the mynde of a wyseman pretendith. They wyllyde also that she shulde haue an helmet on hyr heade, to sygnyfye that the counsells of a wyseman ar couerd and armyde agaynst all thynges, with a harnes on hyr body, to shewe that a wyseman is allways armyde agaynste all fortunes and chauncys that cum; hauynge in hyr hande a longe speere to expresse therby that a wyse mans counsell stretchys with hys strokes afar of. Ouer and besydes this, she had a sheelde of crystall, wherin was paynted the heade of Gorgonius coueryde, meanynge by that same that wyse men were euer so preuentyde agaynste all false fraude and deceyte that fooles, that marke it not, semyde thei wer but harde stoones that they regardyd. And euen afore hyr thei set an owle, meanynge thereby that a wyse man aswell preuentyth perylls by nyght as by day. At the laste the reuerence and the fame of this goddesse was so farr spredde abrode that euery wher was dedicate to hyr temples and churches, and so farr spredd this errour that in the Capitall of Rome, nyghe to the seate of Jupiter, Minerua was sett emonge all the myghty goddes of the Romayns, next vnto Juno the quene, and she had in reuerence as a quene with hyr. But ther be sum helde opynyon that ther was not onely this Minerua, but also dyuers others of that name, which gladly I assent to, to make the numbre of noble women the more.