Tridented

Trineus beholding a ſhape of ſuch ſtrangeneſſe, making the ſigne of the Croſſe on his breaſt, and aduauncing his Shield for his defence, ſtoode to defend what this deformed Monſter durſt doe: who lifting vppe his tridented forke, ſtrooke it quite thorow his Shielde, and the blowe falſing along his pouldrone, wounded him a little in the arme.

Euen ſo the Mariners perceiuing all Their labour ſpent, and the effect but ſmall, And of neceſſity that all muſt dye, If Ionah leaue not their ſociety, They tooke vp Ionas, and with one accord, And common ayde, threw Ionas ouer boord; Whereat grim Neptune wip’t his fomy mouth, Held his tridented Mace vpon the South; The windes were whiſt, the billowes daunc’t no more, The ſtorme allay’d, the heau’ns left off to rore, The waues (obedient to their beheaſt) Gaue ready paſſage, and their rage ſurceaſt: The ſkie grew cleare, and now the glorious light Begins to put the gloomy clouds to flight: Thus all on ſuddaine was the Sea tranquill, The heau’ns were quiet, and the Waues were ſtill.

MOuntaines ſhall mooue, the Sun his circling courſe Shall ſtop; Tridented Neptune ſhall diuorce Th’embracing floods, from their beloued Iles, Ere Heauen forgets his ſeruant, and recoiles From his eternall vow: […]

[…]where the tridented Rhadamanthus—(Yama with Brahams, also tridentiferous?) with his three-headed dog Cerberus […] receives them into those unsunned dominions.

Finally there were gods allotted to the sixteen regions of the sky, mapped on the bronze liver used for divination purposes, found at Piacenza. Some of these are equated with Greek deities, about others little is known. Tinia, Uni and Menrva of course appear and also Nethuns, the tridented sea god equated with Poseidon.

A friend of hers, she told me, had taken Freddie to the seaside for the afternoon – Freddie had always been fascinated by the sea, and would sit on the shingle for hours gazing out with rapt attention over this strange, unknowable, shifting element, as if he had once seen something rising out of it, a sea monster, or a tridented god, and was patiently waiting for it to appear again.