_A notable History of three amorous Gentlewomen, called Lamia,
Flora, and Lais: conteyning the sutes of noble Princes and other
great Personages made vnto them, with their answeres to diuers
demaundes: and the manner of their death and funerals._
Leauynge now our morall discourse of a carefull Mayster, of a
prouydent Scholer, of a vertuous Emperoure, of a sacred Senate,
and vniforme magistery, returne we to the setting forth and
description of three arrant honest Women, which for lewdnesse
wer famous, and for wicked Lyfe worthy to be noted with a blacke
coale, or rather their memory raked in the Dust and Cinders of
their Corpses vnpure. But as all histories be ful of lessons of
vertue and vice, as Bookes, sacred and prophane, describe the
liues of good and bad for example sake, to yelde meanes to the
posterity, to ensue the one and eschue the other, so haue I
thought to intermingle amongest these Nouels the seuerall sortes
of either, that ech Sexe and Kinde may pike out like the Bee, of
ech Floure, Honny, to store and furnishe with delightes their
well disposed myndes. I purpose, then, to vnlace the dissolute
lyues of three Amorouse Dames, that with their graces allured
the greatest Princes that euer were: enticed the noble men, and
sometimes procured the wisest and best learned to craue their
acquaintance, as by the sequele hereof shall well appeare. These
three famous Women, (as Writers do witnesse) were furnished with
many goodly graces and giftes of nature: that is to say, great
beautye of face, goodly proporcion of body, large and high
foreheades, theyr breastes placed in comely order, smal wasted,
fayre handes of passing cunning to play vpon Instruments,
a heauenly voice to fayne and sing: briefly, their qualities and
beauty were more famous than euer any that were born within the
Countries of Asia and Europa. They were neuer beloued of Prince
that did forsake them, nor yet they made request of any thing
which was denied them: they neuer mocked or flowted man (a thing
rare in women of theyr condition) ne yet were mocked of any: but
theyr specyal propreties wer to allure men to loue them: Lamia
wyth hir pleasaunt loke and eye, Flora with hir eloquent tongue,
and Lais wyth the grace and sweetenesse of hir singing voyce:
a straunge thinge that he which once was surprysed wyth the loue
of any of those three, eyther to late or neuer was delyuered of
the same. They were the richest courtizans that euer lyued in
the worlde, so long as theyr life did last, and after theyr
decease, great monumentes were erected for theyr remembraunce,
in place where they died. The most auncient of these three
Amorous dames was Lamia, who was in the tyme of King Antigonus,
that warfared in the seruice of Alexander the Great, a valyant
gentleman, although not fauored by Fortune. Thys kynge Antigonus
left behynde hym a sonne and heyre called Demetrius, who was
lesse valyaunt, but more fortunate than his father, and had bene
a Prynce of greate estimation, if in hys youthe hee had acquyred
frendes, and kept the same, and in hys age had not ben gyuen to
so many vices. Thys King Demetrius was in loue with Lamia, and
presented hir wyth rich giftes and rewardes, and loued hir so
affectionately, and in sutch sort, as in the loue of his Lamia
he semed rather a fole than a true louer: for, forgetting the
grauity and authoritye of his person, hee dyd not onelye gyue
hir all such things as she demaunded, but besides that hee vsed
no more the company of his wyfe Euxonia. On a tyme Kyng
Demetrius asking Lamia what was the thing wherewyth a woman was
sonest wonne? "There is nothing," answered shee, "whych sooner
ouercommeth a Woman, than when she seeth a man to loue hir with
al hys hart, and to susteyne for hir sake greate paynes and
passyons wyth long continuance and entier affection, for to love
men by collusion, causeth afterwards that they be mocked."
Agayn, Demetrius asked hir further: "Tell me, Lamia, why doe
diuerse Women rather hate than loue men?" Whereunto she
answered: "The greatest cause why a Woman doth hate a man, is,
when the man doth vaunt and boast himselfe of that which he doth
not, and performeth not the thing which he promiseth." Demetrius
demaunded of her: "Tell me, Lamia, what is the thing wherewith
men doe content you best?"--"When wee see him," sayde she, "to
be dyscrete in wordes, and secrete in his dedes." Demetrius
asked hir further: "Tell me, Lamia, how chaunceth it that men be
ill matched?" "Bycause," answered Lamia, "it is impossible that
they be well maryed, when the wife is in neede, and the husbande
vndiscrete." Demetrius asked hir what was the cause that amitye
betwene lwo louers was broken? "There is nothing," answered she,
"that soner maketh colde the loue betwene two louers, than when
one of them doth straye in loue, and the Woman louer to
importunate to craue." He demaunded further: "Tell me, Lamia,
what is the thinge that moste tormenteth the louing man?" "Not
to attayne the thing which he desireth," answered she, "and
thinketh to lose the thing whych he hopeth to enioy." Demetrius
yet once agayne asked hir thys question: "What is that, Lamia,
which most troubleth a Woman's hart?" "There is nothing,"
answered Lamia, "wherwith a woman is more grieued, and maketh
hir more sad, than to be called ill fauored, or that she hath no
good grace, or to vnderstand that she is dissolute of lyfe."
This lady Lamia was of iudgement delicate and subtyll, although
il imployed in hir, and thereby made al the world in loue with
hir, and drew al men to hir through hir fayre speach. Now,
before she lost the heart of Kyng Demetrius, shee haunted of
long time the vniuersities of Athenes, where she gayned great
store of money, and brought to destructyon many young men.
Plutarch, in the lyfe of Demetrius, saith, That the Atheniens
hauing presented vnto him XII. C. talents of money for a
subsidie to pay his men of warre, he gaue al that summe to his
woman Lamia: by meanes whereof the Atheniens grudged, and were
offended wyth the kyng, not for the losse of their gift, but for
that it was so euil employed. When the King Demetrius would
assure any thynge by oth, hee swore not by his gods, ne yet by
his predecessors, but in this sort: "As I may be styll in the
grace of my lady Lamia, and as hir lyfe and mine may ende
together, so true is this which I say and do, in this and thys
sort." One yere and two Moneths before the Death of King
Demetrius, his frend Lamia died, who sorowed so mutch hir death,
as for the absence and death of hir, he caused the Phylosophers
of Athens to entre in this Disputation, Whether the teares and
sorow whiche he shed and toke for her sake, were more to be
estemed than the riches which he spent in her obsequies and
funerall pompes. This Amorous gentlewoman Lamia, was borne in
Argos, a City of Peloponnesus, besides Athenes, of base
parentage, who in hir first yeares haunted the countrey of Asia
Maior, of very wyld and dissolute lyfe, and in the ende came
into Phænicia. And when the Kyng Demetrius had caused hir to be
buried beefore hys chamber-window, hys chiefest frendes asked
him, wherefore hee had entoomed hir in that place? his aunswere
was this: "I loued hir so wel, and she likewyse me so hartyly,
as I know not which way to satisfie the loue which she bare me,
and the duety I haue to loue her agayne, if not to put hir in
such place as myne eyes maye wepe euery day and mine hart still
lament." Truely this loue was straung, which so mighty a Monarch
as Demetrius was, did beare vnto such a notable curtizan,
a woman vtterly void of grace, barren of good workes, and
without any zeale or spark of vertue, as it should appeare. But
sith we read and know that none are more giuen or bent to
vnreasonable loue, than mighty Princes, what should it bee demed
straung and maruellous, if Demetrius amongs the rest do come in
place for the loue of that most famous woman, if Fame may
stretch to eyther sorts, both good and euill? But let vs come to
the second infamous gentlewoman, called Lais. She was of the
isle of Bithritos, which is in the confines of Græcia, and was
the daughter of the great Sacrificer of Apollo his temple at
Delphos, a man greatly experienced in the magike art, wherby he
prophecyed the perdition of his daughter. Now this amorous Lias
was in triumph in the time of the renowmed King Pyrrhus,
a Prince very ambitious to acquire honor, but not very happy to
keepe it, who being yonge of sixteene or seuenteene yeares, came
into Italy to make warres against the Romains: he was the first
(as some say) that aranged a camp in ordre, and made the
Phalanx, the mayne square and battell: for before hys time, when
they came to entre battell, they assailed confusedly and out of
array gaue the onset. This amorous Lias continued long time in
the campe of Kynge Pyrrhus, and went wyth hym into Italy, and
wyth him retourned from warre agayne, and yet hir nature was
sutch, as shee woulde neuer bee mainteined wyth one man alone.
The same Lias was so amorous in her conuersatyon, so excellent
fayre, and of so comely grace, that if shee would haue kept hir
selfe faythfull to one Lorde or gentleman, there was no prynce
in the world but if he would haue yelded himselfe and all that
he had at hir commaundement. Lias, from hir retourne out of
Italy into Greece, repayred to the citye of Corinth, to make hir
abode there, where she was pursued by many kings, lordes, and
prynces. Aulus Gellius saith (which I haue recited in my former
part of the Pallace of pleasure, the fiftenth Noeuill,) that the
good Philosopher, Demosthenes, went from Athens to Corinth, in
disguised apparell, to see Lais, and to haue hir company, But
before the dore was opened, she sent one to demaunde .XII. C.
Sestercios of siluer: whereunto Demosthenes answered: "I buy not
repentance so deere." And I beleue that Demosthenes spake those
wordes by folowyng the sentence of Diogenes, who sayeth, that
euery beast after such acte is heauy and sad. Som wryters
affirme of this Amorous Lais, that thing whych I neuer reade or
hearde of Woman: whych is, that shee neuer shewed signe or token
of loue to that man whych was desyrous to doe her seruice: nor
was neuer hated of man that knew her. Whereby we may comprehend
the happe and fortune of that amorous Woman. Shee neuer shewed
semblance of great loue to any person, and yet shee was beloued
of all. If the amorous Lamia had a good Spirite and mynde, Lais
truely had no lesse. For in the art of loue she exceeded all
other women of hir detestable Arte and Scyence, as well in
Knowledge of Loue as to profite in the same. Vppon a Daye a
Younge Man of Corinth demaundying of hir, what hee shoulde say
to a Woman whome hee long tyme had loued, and made so greate
sute, that thereby he was like to fal into dispayre. "Thou shalt
say," (sayd Lais) "vnto hir, that sith she wyl not graunt thy
request, yet at least wyse it myght please hir to suffer thee to
bee hir seruant, and that shee would take in good parte the
Seruice that thou shalt doe vnto hir. Whych requeste if shee doe
graunte, then hope to attayne the ende of thy attempte, bycause
wee Women bee of such nature, as opening our mouthes to gyue
some mylde and pleasant answere to the amorous person, it is to
bee thoughte that wee haue gyuen our heart vnto hym." An other
Daye, in the presence of Lias, one praysed the Phylosophers of
Athens, saying, that they were very honest personages, and of
great learnynge. Whereunto Lais aunswered: "I can not tell what
great knowledg they haue, nor what science they studye, ne yet
what bookes youre Philosophers doe reade, but thys I am sure,
that to me beynge a woman and neuer was at Athenes, I see them
repayre, and of Philosophers beecome amorous persons." A Theban
knighte demaunded of Lais, what he might doe to enioy a ladye
wyth whose loue hee should bee surprised: Shee aunswered thus.
"A man that is desirous of a woman, must folow his sute, serue
hir, and suffer hir and somtymes to seeme as though he had
forgotten hir. For after that a womans heart is moued to loue,
she regardeth more the forgetfulnesse and negligence vsed
towards hir, than she doth the seruice done before." An other
Gentleman of Achaia asked hir what he shoulde doe to a woman,
whom he suspected that she had falsified hir fayth{.} Lais
aunswered, "make hir beleue that thou thinkest she is very
faythful and take from hir the occasions wherby shee hath good
cause to be vnfaythful: For if she do perceiue that thou knowest
it, and dissemblest the matter, she wyll sooner dye than
amende." A gentleman of Palestine at another time inquired of
hir what hee should doe to a Woman whych he serued, and did not
esteeme the seruyce done vnto hir, ne yet gaue him thankes for
the loue which hee bare hir. Lais sayed vnto him: "If thou be
disposed to serue hir no longer, let hir not perceiue that thou
hast gyuen hir ouer. For naturally we women be tendre in loue,
and hard in hatred." Beyng demaunded by one of hir Neyghbours
what shee shoulde doe to make hir Daughter very wyse. "Shee"
(sayde Lais) "that wyll haue hir Daughter to bee good and
honest, must from her youth learne hir to feare, and in going
abrode to haunte litle company, and that she be shamefast and
moderate in hir talke." An other of hir neighbors inquyryng of
hir what shee myght doe to hir daughter whych began to haue
delyght to rome in the fieldes and wander abroade. "The remedy"
(sayde Lais) "that I finde for your daughter disposed to that
condition, is, not to suffer hir to be ydle, ne yet to be braue
and sumptuous in apparel." This amorous gentlewoman Lais, dyed
in the Citye of Corinth, of the age of .lXXII. Yeares, whose
death was of many matrones desired and of a great numbre of
amorous persones lamented. The thyrd amorous gentlewoman was
called Flora, which was not so auncient, ne yet of so greate
renoume as Lamia and Lais were, whose country also was not so
famous, For she was of Italy, and the other two of Grecia, and
although that Lamia and Lais exceded Flora in antiquity, yet
Flora surmounted them in lineage and generositie. For Flora was
of noble house, although in life lesse than chast. She was of
the country of Nola in Campania, issued of certayne Romans,
Knights very famous in facts of Armes and of great industrie and
gouernement in the common wealth. When the Father and mother of
this Flora deceased, she was of the age of XV. yeares, indued
with great riches and singular beauty, and the very orphane of
all hir kynne. For shee had neyther brother lefte wyth whom shee
myght soiourne, ne yet vncle to gyue her good counsell. In such
wyse that lyke as this young maistres Flora had youthe, riches,
lyberty and beauty, euen so there wanted neyther baudes nor
Pandores to entyce hir to fal, and allure hir to folly. Flora
seeing hir self beset in this wise, she determined to goe into
the Affrick warres, where she hazarded both in hir person and
hir honor. This dame florished and tryumphed in the tyme of the
firste Punique warres, when the Consul Mamillus was sent to
Carthage, who dispended more Money vpon the loue of Flora, than
hee did vpon the chase and pursute of his enimies. This amorous
lady Flora had a writyng and tytle fixed vpon hir gate, the
effect wherof was this: _King, Prince, Dictator, Consul, Censor,
high Bishop, and Questor may knocke and come in._ In that
writyng Flora named neither emperor nor Cæsar, bycause those two
most Noble names were long tyme after created by the Romanes.
Thys Amorous Flora woulde neuer abandon hir Person, but wyth
Gentlemen of Noble House, or of greate Dygnitye and Ryches. For
shee was wonte to say that a Woman of passinge Beauty shoulde be
so mutch esteemed as shee doth esteeme and sette by hir selfe.
Lias and Flora were of contrary maners and conditions. For Lias
would first bee payde, before shee yelded the vse of hir bodye:
but Flora wythout any semblance of desire eyther of golde or
siluer was contented to bee ruled by those with whom shee
committed the facte. Wherof vppon a day being demaunded the
question, she answered: "I gyue my body to prynces and noble
Barons, that they may deale with mee lyke Gentlemen. For I
sweare vnto you by the Goddesse Venus, that neuer man gaue me so
little, but that I had more than I looked for, and the double of
that which I could demaund." This Amorous lady Flora was wont
many times to saye, that a wise woman (or more aptly to terme
her a subtyll Wench) oughte not to demaund reward of her louer
for the acceptable pleasure which she doth hym but rather for
the loue whych she beareth him, bycause that al thinges in the
world haue a certayn pryce, except loue, which cannot bee payde
or recompenced but wyth loue. All the Ambassadors of the worlde,
whych had accesse into Italy, made so greate reporte of the
Beauty and Generositie of Flora, as they dyd of the Romane
common wealth, bycause it seemed to bee a Monstrous thynge to
see the Ryches of hir house, hir trayne, hir beauty the princes
and great lordes by whom she was required, and the presents and
giftes that were gyuen vnto hir. This Amorous Flora had a
continual regard to the noble house whereof shee came touchyng
the magnyficence and state of her seruyce. For albeit that she
was but a common woman, yet she was serued and honored lyke a
great lady. That day wherein she rode about the city of Rome,
she gaue occasion to be spoken of a whole month after, one
inquirynge of an other what great Romaine lords they were that
kepte her company? Whose men they were that waighted vpon her?
And whose liuery they ware. What Ladies they wer that rode in
her trayne. The brauery of hir apparell, hir great beauty and
port, and the wordes spoken by the amorous gentlemen in that
troupe were not vnremembred. When this maistres Flora waxed old,
a yong and beautifull gentleman of Corinth, demaunded her to
wyfe, to whom she answered: "I know well that thou wilt not
marie, the three score yeares whych Flora hath, but rather thou
desirest to haue the twelue hundred thousand Sestercios which
she hath in hir Coffres. Content thy selfe therefore, my frende,
and get thee home agayne to Corinth from whence thou comest. For
to sutch as be of myne age great honor is borne, and reuerence
done for the riches and wealth they haue, rather than for
mariage." There was neuer in the Romane Empyre, the lyke amorous
woman that Flora was, indued wyth so many graces and Queenelyke
qualities, for shee was of noble house, of singuler beauty, of
comely personage, discrete in hir affayres, and besides al other
comly qualyties, very lyberall. This maistres Flora spent the
most part of hir youth in Affrica, Almayne and Gallia
Transalpina. And albeit that she would not suffre anye other but
great lords to haue possession of hir body, yet she applyed hir
selfe to the spoile of those that were in place, and to the
praye of those that came from the warres. This amorous Flora
died when she was of the age of LXXV. yeares. She left for the
principal heire of all hir goods and Iuells. the Romain people,
which was estemed sufficient and able to make newe the Walles of
Rome, and to raunsome and redeme the common Wealth of the same.
And bycause that shee was a Romaine, and had made the state
therefore hir heyre, the Romaines builded in hir honor a
sumptuous Temple, whych in memorye of Fora was called Florianum:
and euery yeare in the memorye of hir, they celebrated hir feast
vppon the day of hir death: Suetonius Tranquillus sayeth, that
the first feaste which the Emperour Galba the second celebrated
wyth in Rome, was the feast of the amorous Flora, vpon whych
daye it was lawful for men and women, to doe what kynd of
dishonesty they could deuise. And she was estemed to be the
greater saint which that day shewed her selfe moste dissolute
and wanton. And bicause that the temple Florianum, was dedycated
to amorous Flora, the Romanes had an opinion, that al women
which vpon the same day repayred to the Temple in whorish
apparell, should haue the graces and giftes that Flora had.
These were the fond opinions and maners of the auncient, which
after their owne makinge and deuises framed Gods and Goddesses,
and bycause she proued vnshamefast and rich, a Temple must bee
erected, and Sacrifices ordayned for hir Whorish triumphes. But
that noble men and Kings haue bene rapt and transported with the
lurements of sutch notorious strumpets, is and hath bene common
in all ages. And commonly sutch infamous women be indewed with
greatest gifts and graces, the rather to noosell and dandle
their fauorers in the laps of their fadinge pleasures. But euery
of them a most speciall grace, aboue the rest. As of a Kyng not
lot long agoe we reade, that kept three, one the holiest,
another the craftiest, and the third the meriest. Two of which
properties meete for honest Women: although the third so
incident to that kinde as heat to a liuinge body. Cease wee then
of this kynde, and let vs step forth to be acquaynted with a
lady and a Queene the Godlyest and stoutest, that is remembred
in any auncient Monument or Hystory.