The Argument
of loue; or cōmendation of ſpeciall perſonages, or Morall: which for the moſt part bee mixed with ſome Satyricall bitterneſſe, namely, the ſecond of veuerence due to olde age the fifth of coloured deceipt, the ſeuenth and ninth of diſſolute ſhepheards & Paſtors,the tenth of contempt of Poetrie ard pleaſant wits. And to this diuiſion may euery thing herein be reaſonably applied: A few onlie except whoſe ſpeciall purpoſe and meaning I am not priuie to. And thus much generally of theſe xij Aeglogues. Now will we ſpeake particularly of all, and firſt of the ſirſt. Which he calleth by the ſirſt monethes name Ianuaries wherein to ſome he may ſeeme ſowlie to haue faulted; in that hee erroniouſlie beginneth with that moneth, which beginneh not the yeare, For it is well knowne, and ſtoutlie maintayned with ſtrong reaſens of the learned, that the yeare beginneth in March, for then the Sun renueth his ſiniſhed courſe, and the ſeaſonable ſpring reſreſheth the earth and the pleaſaunce thereof being buried in the ſadnes of the dead Winter now worne away, reliueth.
This opinion maintaine the olde Aſtrologers & Philoſophers, namelie the reuerend Andalo, and Macrobius in his holydaies of Saturne, which account alſo was generalie obſerued both of Grecians and Romaines. But ſauing the leaue of fuch learned heades, wee maintaine a custome of countinge the ſeaſons from the moneth Ianuarie upon amore ſpeciall cauſe, then the heathen Philoſephers euer coulde conceiue; that is, for the incarnation of our mightie Sauiour and eternall Redeemer the Lord Chriſte, who as then renewing the ſtate of the decayed worlde, and returninge the compaſſe of expired yeares to their former date and first commencement, lefte to us bis heires a memoriall of his birth in the ende of the last yeare and beginning of the nexte. Which reckoning, beſide that eternall monument of our ſaluation, leaneth alſo upon good proofe of ſpeciall iudgement. For albeit that in el-der
