the Feast in hope of like destruction to the Christians as befell Iericho and then renew the shaking of their boughes The seuenth day is most solemne called by them Hoschana rabba the great Hosanna as if one should say the great feast of saluation or helpe because then they pray for the saluation of all the people and for a prosperous new-new-yeere and all the prayers of this Feast haue in them the words of sauing as O God saue vs and O God of our saluation and as thou hast saued the Israelites and such like the prayers are therefore called Hosannoth Then they produce seuen bookes and in euery of their seuen compassings lay vp one againe This night they know their fortunes by the Moone for stretching out their armes if they see not the shadow of their head by Moone-light they must dye that yeere if a finger wanteth hee loseth a friend if the shadow yeeld him not a hand hee loseth a sonne the want of the left hand portendeth losse of a daughter if no shadow no life shall abide with him for it is written Their shadow is departed from them Some Iewes goe yeerely into Spaine to prouide Pome-citrons and other necessaries for the furnishing this feast which they sell in Germany other places to the Iewes at excessiue prices They keepe their Tabernacles in all weathers except a very vehement storme driue them with a heauie countenance into their houses Their wiues and seruants are not so strictly tyed hereto §. IIII. Of their New Moones and New-yeeres day THe New-Moones are at this day but halfe festiuall to the Iewes accounting themselues free to worke or not in them but the women keepe it intirely festiuall because they denyed their Eare-rings to the molten Calfe which after they bestowed willingly on their Tabernacle The deuouter Iewes fast the day before Their Mattins is with more prayers their dinner with more cheere then on other dayes and a great part of the day after they sit at Cardes or telling of Tales That day when the Moone is eclipsed they fast When they may first see the New-Moone they assemble and the chiefe Rabbi pronounceth a long Prayer the rest saying after him The Iewes beleeuing that GOD created the world in September or Tisri conceit also that at the reuolution of the same time yeerely hee sitteth in iugdement and out of the bookes taketh reckoning of euery mans life and pronounceth sentence accordingly That day which their great Sanhedrin ordayned the New-yeeres festiuall God receiuing thereof intelligence by his Angels sent thither to know the same causeth the same day a Senate of Angels to bee assembled as it is written Daniel 12. All things prouided in the solemnest manner the three bookes are opened one of the most Wicked who are presently registred into the Booke of Death the second of the Iust who are inrolled into the Booke of Life and the third of the meane sort whose Iudgement is demurred vntill the day of Reconciliation the tenth of Tisri that if in the meane time they seriously repent them so that their good may exceed their euill then are they entred into the Booke of Life if otherwise they are recorded into the Blacke Bill of Death Their Scripture is produced by R. Aben Let them bee blotted out of the Booke of the liuing and not bee written with the Iust Blotting points you to the Booke of Death Liuing that of Life and not writing with the Iust is the third Booke of Indifferents All the workes which a man hath done through the yeere are this day examined The good workes are put in one ballance the bad in the other what helpe a siluer Chalice or such heauie metall could affoord in this case you may finde by experience in Saint Francis Legend who when the bad deeds of a great man lately dead out-weighed the good at a dead lift cast in a siluer Chalice which the dead partie had sometime bestowed on Franciscan deuotion and weighed vp the other side and so the Diuels lost their prey GOD say they pronounceth sentence of punishment or reward sometime in this life to bee executed sometime in the other In respect hereof their Rabbines ordaine the moneth before to be spent in penance and morning and Eeuening to sound a Trumpet of a Rams-horne as Aue Marie Bell to warne them of this Iudgement that they may thinke of their sinnes and besides to befoole the Diuell that with this often sounding being perplexed hee may not know when this New-yeeres day shall bee to come into the Court to giue euidence against them The day before they rise sooner in the morning to mutter ouer their prayers for remission and when they haue done in the Synagogue they goe to the graues in the Church-yard testifying that if GOD doe not pardon them they are like to the dead and praying that for the good workes of the Saints the iust Iewes there buried hee will pitty them and there they giue large almes After noone they shaue adorne and bathe themselues that they may be pure the next day for some Angels soyled with impuritie heere below are faine to purge themselues in the fierie brooke Dinor before they can prayse GOD how much more they and in the water they make confession of their sins the confession containeth two and twentie words the number of their Alphabet and at the pronouncing of euery word giue a knocke on their brest and then diue wholly vnder water The Feast it selfe they begin with a cup of Wine and New-yeere Salutations and on their Table haue a Rammes head in remembrance of That Ramme which was offered in Isaacks stead and for this cause are their Trumpets of Rams-horne Fish they eate to signifie the multiplication of their good workes they eate sweet fruits of all sorts and make themselues merry as assured of forgiuenesse of their sinnes and after meat all of all sorts resort to some bridge to hurle their sinnes into the water as it is written Hee shall cast all our sinnes into the bottome of the Sea And if they there espie any fish they leape for ioy these seruing to them as the scape-goate to carrie away their sinnes At night they renew their cheere and end this feast §. V. Of their Lent Penance and Reconciliation Fast. FRom this day to the tenth day is a time of Penance or Lent wherein they fast and pray for the cause aforesaid and that if they haue beene written in the Booke of Death yet God seeing their good works may repent and write them in the Life-Booke Thrice a day very earely they confesse three houres before day and surcease suits at Law c. And on the ninth day very earely they resort to the Synagogue and at their returne euery male taketh a Cocke and euery female a Henne if she be with childe both and the housholder saying out of the hundred and fift Psalme verses 17 18 19
freed from working and sanctified to holy vses therefore the daies also of other weekes receiued that name from this first weeke Touching which there is a Law of Constantine the great to keepe both it and the weeke before it also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without working which for the later was by custome obtained and by a Canon enioyed to spend it wholly in the Church with Psalmes and Hymnes and spirituall Songs Yea the antient Christians obserued a continuall festiuall from Easter to Whitsuntide in which they neither kneeled nor fasted Their Moneths as with vs and the Grecians tooke their name of the Moone and with them also their measure reckoning the order of their daies according to the age of the Moone and by course they contained one thirty dayes the next twenty nine and therefore were constrained euery second or third yeere to intercale or adde as in a Leape-yeere one moneth of two and twenty daies and in euery fourth yeere of three and twenty daies This they called Veadar because it followed the twelfth moneth Adar for the supply of ten daies one and twenty houres and two hundred and foure scruples which the twelue moneths of the Moone came short of the yeere of the Sunne And this they were forced to doe for the obseruation of the Passouer and their other feasts Before their Babylonian thraledome foure onely of these moneths were knowne by proper names the first called Ethauim the second Bul the seuenth which after was made the first Abib the eighth Zif but afterwards the rest receiued names which had beene before distinguished only by order and the former names also were altred that being reckoned the first moneth of the yeere in which befell the fifteenth day of the Moone after the Equinoctiall Vernall and their names follow Nisan Iar Sinan Thamuz Ab Elul Thischri Marcheschuan Cisleu Tebeth Schebath Adar Thus Hospinian but Scaliger and Ar. Montanus in his Daniel or ninth booke of Iewish Antiquities say That the antient yeere had twelue moneths as appeareth by the Historie of Noah but those moneths had no proper names but of their order the first second third moneth c. Those names which after they were knowne by were Chaldean and so Elias in Thesbi They were all Chaldean or Persian names not mentioned in any of the Prophets before the captiuitie and they also name but seuen But in Thargum Hierosol they are all expressed in their order The Iaponites Chinois and Indians haue no names yet for their moneths but name them by their order and number The Romanes also named some of their moneths by their order others after their Emperours as Iulius and Augustus to which Domitian added Germanicus for September his owne name for October Commodus made an Edict for the naming of August Commodus September Herculeus October Inuictus Nouember Exuperatorius December Amazonius The Hebrew yeere before Moses began at the new Moone next before the Autumnall Equinoctiall that being supposed by some to be the time wherein the World was first created euery Plant and Tree hauing the fruit and seede ripe and this reckoning of the yeere in ciuill affaires is obserued of the Iewes vnto this day and from hence they began their Iubilee and seuenth Sabbatticall yeere lest otherwise they should haue lost two yeeres profits not reaping the fruit of the olde yeere nor sowing in the next Their Ecclesiasticall or festiuall yeere began at the Spring as wee haue said afore by the commandement of GOD at and in remembrance of their departure out of Egypt at the same time Exod. 12. as with vs wee haue an Ecclesiasticall yeere moueable according to the fall of Easter differing from the Ciuill beginning at our Lady as with others at Christmasse or New-yeeres day Scaliger thus obserueth concerning the Iewish yeere The Iewes saith he vse a double reckoning of their yeere one after the course of the Moone the other after the Tekupha's or course of the Sunne Tekupha anciently was that moment in which the passed yeere ended and the following began But the later Iewes diuided the yeere of the Sunne into foure equall parts each whereof consisted of ninety one dayes seuen houres and a halfe And they diuided the said yeere into twelue equall parts each containing daies thirty houres ten and thirty minutes They began at the fifteenth of Aprill moued by the authority of R. Samuel an antient Criticke who ascribed the first Tekupha to that moneth which before they began in Autumne the reason was because at that time Moses led the Israelites out of Aegypt The moderne Iewes are so superstitious in the obseruation of their Tekupha's that they esteeme it danger of life to alter their reckoning of them They also attribute to each of them his proper Element as to the Tekupha Tamuz the Summer Solstice the Fire and he which should drinke or eate in the moment of that Tekupha they thinke should bee taken with a burning feuer Tekupha Nisan is on the fifteenth of Aprill Tekupha Tamuz on the fifteenth of Iuly Tekupha Tisri on the foureteenth of October Tekupha Tebeth on the fourteenth of Ianuarie In times past they obserued superstitiously the beginnings of euery moneth thinking that then the Sun entred into that Signe which was attributed to that moneth Now they onely obserue the foure Tropicall Signes Such is their folly as though now the entrance of Aries were not more then fiue and thirty dayes before the Tekupha of Moses But their leaden braines know not what Tekupha is not why nor when it was instituted So much Scaliger If the new Moone happened afternoone then the moneth and their New-Moone-Feast began the next day and the yeere likewise which began at the New-Moone They were so scrupulous concerning the Moone that Clemens Alexand. out of another Author obiects the worship thereof vnto them They thinke saith he that they alone know GOD not knowing that they worship Angels and Arch-angels and the Moneth and the Moone and if the Moone appeare not they keepe not that Sabbath which they call The first nor the New-Moone nor the Vnleauened nor the Feast nor the great Day This fabulous Author cited by Clemens vnderstood not himselfe saith Scaliger for they still obserue the appearance or first sight of the Moone not to ordaine the solemnitie thereby which was done by a certaine rule but to sanctifie it and therefore as soone as they saw the New-Moone they say Good lucke or a good signe be it to vs and to all Israel The same also do the Muhamedans obserue By the first Sabbath he meaneth the New-yeeres day called a Sabbath because it was holy-day by the Feast Pentecost by the great-Day that of Tabernacles Although in regard of vse some daies were more holy then other yet had euery day appointed sacrifices morning and euening Their Feasts were either weekely of which was the Sabbath or monethly euery New-Moone or yeerely of which were the Easter or
vnlawfull but they say vsurie is as Merchandize Ye which are good feare GOD and forsake Vsurie lest the anger of GOD and of the Prophet assaile you Take onely the principall and if he cannot pay you stay still he can and giue him almes for this shall be better for you And Az. 6. Euery one which feareth GOD must very much beware of this vice fearing the fire prepared for vnbeleeuers And Az. 11. ascribeth the miseries of the Iewes to their wickednes and vsuries Az. 4. 15. He which repenteth him and leaueth his sinne obtaineth pardon and the cancelling of that which is past but returning againe thereto hee shall suffer eternall fire In the 5. Vnto bad men is denied humane and diuine mercie except they repent GOD careth little for the conuersion of them which after that of Infidels they are made beleeuers become worse Such shall suffer without any remission intolerable punishment 10. GOD pardoneth lesse faults but not criminall Az. 5. Let no man reckon him a good friend which is an vnbeleeuer except it be for feare If betwixt you there grow discord laying aside all stomacke doe the will of GOD and become Brethren together imitating GOD who hath deliuered you from the fire and from dangers 6. GOD would not that any should doe euill to those of his owne Nation and those which consent to your Law but rather their profit and commoditie Az. 6. Thinke not that euer Paradise shall be open vnto you if you be not first valiant and couragious in battaile and before you enter into battaile prepare your selues for death and after the death of the Prophet Mahomet defend the orders by him giuen with Armes No man can die but when GOD will that is when his time is come Those which flee out of the warre are prouoked of the Deuill but GOD pardoneth them which repent They which die in the way of GOD are not truely called dead They liue with GOD. Let none feare them which are gouerned of the Deuill 7. Be patient and you shall haue eternall life 10. Accompanie not with vnbeleeuers neither in friendship nor other businesse They which goe on warfare for GOD and the Prophet shall receiue abundance in the Earth and after death the mercie of GOD. They which refuse except they be sicke or children shall be cast into Hell Neglect not prayers in your expeditions Some may pray whiles other stand in Armes Pray not for them which hurt their owne soules 18. Looke to your selues that there be no discord amongst you His last Azoara is this In the Name of the mercifull and pittifull GOD sanctifie thy selfe and pray continually and humbly vnto him which is Lord of all Nations Lord of all GOD of all that he will defend and deliuer thee from the Deuill which entreth into the hearts of men and from deuillish and peruerse men From Mahomet himselfe and from his diuellish and peruerse Law AMEN §. III. The Saracens opinion of their ALCORAN THus haue I endeuoured to bring some order out of confusion and haue framed these heads out of that Alcorau-Chaos where is scarce either head or taile this tale they haue and beleeue for what will not What shall not they beleeue which refuse to beleeue the Truth that he which readeth this Booke a thousand times in his life shall haue a woman in Paradise whose eye-browes shall be as large as the Raine-bow But amongst the more studious and iudicious the manifold contradictions therein hath bred no scruple as in their ordinary discourses in speech and writing may appeare For as many Marchants and such as haue liued with them report it is a common thing to heare from themselues obiections and doubts touching their Law in their Bookes also and Tractates are contained many Morall sentences and exhortations to vertue and holinesse of life and those things called in question which the Alcoran hath seemed to determine Of these their Bookes Master Bedwel hath lately translated and published one a Dialogue written some six hundred yeeres since in which many scruples are propounded and left vndecided many things found contradictory yea and the Bookes of the Old and New Testament commended and approued and the Doctrine of the Trinitie explained the exceptions also made by the other Mahumetans to the Gospell answered In that booke it is affirmed that there were written by Mahomet a hundred and twentie thousand sayings of which onely three thousand are good the residue false that the descent of the Moone into Mahomets sleeue is impossible that shedding of blood is too slippery an argument for proofe of Doctrine that the Sunne his beames and heat doe represent the Trinitie and Vnitie that the state of Paradise is like to that of Angels without meate drinke women and therefore that voluptuous Paradise is one of Mahomets fictions for himselfe saith hee did write some things in iest that it seemeth absurd and against reason and faith to follow a Law which it selfe saith none can vnderstand but GOD that the Alcoran in the Assora Ionas sends men to the Iewes and Christians for the right vnderstanding thereof that wheras it sayes Christ is the word of GOD it followes hee is the Sonne of GOD as reason and speech the Sunne and his layes are one Essence and the Vnderstanding Will Memory in one Man that the Chrstians could not as the Mahumetans obiect blot the name of their prophet out of their Scriptures seeing the Iewes and Christians and Heretiques and Christians haue alway beene watchfull aduersaries to each other and they are more ancient sixe hundred yeeres then Mahomet that the storie of the speaking Ant and other things are triuiall and impertinent that Moses Law was giuen with open miracles and the Gospell approued with diuers languages and martyrdomes that these nor any Law of GOD hath therein any contraritie that virginitie is a chiefe and bodily good and their prophet writes of himselfe polygamy adulteries and the like with many libidinous precepts and practises that these things seeme contrarie that the Deuills shall be saued the Iewes also and Christians which yet he counselleth to slay with other the like contradictions that their prophet onely vnderstood the Arabike and by an Interpreter heard that which is contained in the Bookes of Iewes and Christians which easily appeares in his falsifying the Histories of the Bible that hee hath no Testimony but his owne that there are many absurd things in their law not confirmed by Miracle and others excuse them by Metaphors c. These things are there religiously discoursed with shew of reuerence to their Law but exceeding magnifying of Christ and his Gospell which is so generall with the more learned sort that some also haue hazarded their liues in this quarrell And Auicen that learned Physician saith against their Paradise that wise Diuines more respect the minde the coniunction whereof with truth is a felicitie beyond those sensuall pleasures of the bodie And
where in the beginning of these tumults hee had beene put who first feared death and the next thing was hee begged water whom they presently proclaimed Emperour Osman consulted with Huzein Bassa late Vizier in the Polish warre and the Aga of the Ianizaries both faithfull to him sent to haue strangled Mustapha in the Seraglio but a new vproare happened and hee was remoued and guarded The next day the King with the Mufti went to them where after much intreatie their hearts somewhat relenting yet with new furie possessed they slew Huzein Bassa and the Aga the Mufti was conueyed away secretly and Osman led to Mustapha pleads for his life and at last is cast into the Seuen Towers prisoner Daout Bassa the new Vizier enquires and findes that Osman had two brothers liuing one about twelue the other seuen yeeres old and thereupon goes to the prison with a packe of executioners which finde him new falne asleepe and by their intrusion awaked and discontent At first they are amazed and hee made shew to defend himselfe till a strong knaue strooke him on the head with a battle axe and the rest leaping on him strangled him with much adoe And soone after they mourned for their dead King as freshly as they had raged vnseasonably this being the first Emperour they had betrayed and hauing set vp one which in all likelihood they must change for disabilitie The first of Iune following the Capiaga had receiued secret order to strangle Osmans brethren which going to doe they cry out and he by the Pages was slaine The Ianizaries mutinie afresh and will haue account of this treason whereof the King denies knowledge so did Daout who was suspected but to please them is degraded and Huzein Bassa late Gouernour of Cairo put in his place There is later report of the said Daout to bee strangled in the same place where hee had caused Osman to die Neither can wee expect otherwise then monstrous and portentuous births after such viperean conceptions CHAP. X. Of the Opinions holden by the Turkes in their Religion and of their Manners and Customes HOw the Turkes from so small beginnings haue aspired to this their present greatnesse you haue seene bought indeed at a deare price with their temporall Dominions accepting of a spirituall bondage becomming the Lords of many Countries and withall made subiect to those many Mahumetan superstitions The occasion and chiefe cause of Sects in the Saracenicall deuotions yee haue heard in the fourth and seuenth Chapters to which wee may adde here out of Bellonius He saith that besides the Alcoran they haue another booke called Zuna that is the Way or Law or Councell of Mahomet written after his death by his disciples but the readings thereof being diuers and corrupt the Caliph assembled a generall Councell of their Alphachi or learned men at Damasco wherein six Commissioners were appointed namely Muszlin Bochari Buborayra Annecey Atermindi and Dent to view and examine these bookes each of which composed a booke and those six bookes were called Zuna the other copies being two hundred Camels-lading were drowned in the Riuer those six onely made authenticall esteemed of equall authoritie among the Turkes with the Alcoran and after by one of their Diuines contracted into an Epitome which booke was called the Booke of Flowers But this Zuna being not Vna one as the Truth is but full of contrarietie hence haue risen Sects amongst them the Turkes differing from other Mahumetan Nations and diuided also amongst themselues §. I. Of their Eight Commandements ANTHONY MENAVINVS who liued a long time in the Turkish Court saith that the Booke of their Law is called Musaph or Curaam which Georgiouitz reckoneth another booke not the Alcoran it is in Arabike and they hold vnlawfull to translate it into the vulgar If any like not of Georgiouitz his opinion but thinke it to be the Alcoran for al is but the Article and the name little differs as before is shewed I could thinke it likely that this containeth some Extracts and Glosses thereof or is to their Alcaron as our Seruice booke to our Bible hauing some sons and proper methodes but grounded on the other Some things I finde cited out of the Curaam that are not in the Alcoran as that of the Angels mortalitie which perhaps may bee the mistaking of the Interpreter The ignorance of the Arabike hath caused much mis-calling of words and names They haue it in such reuerence that they will not touch it except they be washed from top to toe and it is read in their Churches by one with a loud voyce the people giuing deuout attendance without any noyse nor may the Reader hold it beneath his girdlested and after he hath read it he kisseth it and toucheth his eyes with it and with great solemnitie it is carried into the due place Out of this booke are deriued eight principall Commandements of their Law The first is GOD is a great God and one onely God and MAHOMET is the Prophet of God this Article of the Vnitie they thinke maketh against vs who beleeue a Trinitie of Persons in detestation whereof they often reiterate these words Hu hu hu that is He he he is onely GOD who is worthy to be praised for their limbes health c. and for that he hath prouided sustenance for euery one fortie yeeres before his birth The second Commandement is Obey thy Parents and doe nothing to displease them in word or deed they much feare the curses of their parents 3. Doe vnto others as thou wouldest bee done vnto 4. That they repaire to the Meschit or Church at the times appointed of which after 5. To fast one moneth of the yeere called Romezan or Ramadan 6. That they giue almes to the poore liberally and freely 7. To marry at conuenient age that they may multiply the sect of Mahomet 8. Not to kill Of these Commandements is handled at large in Menauino and in the booke of the Policie of the Turkish Empire and in others Their times of prayer according to the fourth precept are in the morning called Salanamazzi before Sun-rising the second at noone called Vlenamazzi The third about three houres before Sun-set called Inchindinamazzi The fourth at Sun-set Ascannamazzi The fifth two houres within night before they goe to sleepe Master Sandys nameth seuen times of prayer enioyned daily the first Tingilnamas two houres before day not mentioned by Septemcastrensis and another Giumanamas at ten in the morning duely obserued on the Fridayes by all at other times by the more religious When the Priest calls to prayer they will spread their garments on the earth though they bee in the fields and fall to their deuotions Moreouer I haue seene them conioyntly pray in the corners of the streets before the opening of their shops in the morning They spend but a part of Friday their Sabbath in deuotion and the rest in recreations but that so rigorously that a Turke
easily after apprehended the occasion to fulfill that subtill deuillish Oracle Against him Mauritius performed worthy attempts which made way vnto him for the Romane Empire And then also hee had good successe against the Persians by the valour of Philippicus his Generall insomuch that the Persians moued with these and other discontents by incitement of Varamus deposed Ormisda killed his wife and sonne before his eyes which hauing remained to performed vnto him that their last vncouth vnnaturall seruice were presently after put out with burning needles thrust into them himselfe first imprisoned and after beaten to death with clubs by Cosroes his sonne That Varamus had a little before beene sent as Generall against the Roman Armie which his seruice being found vnseruiceable and the Romans preuayling he was not onely depriued of his place but to his further disgrace was by the Kings commandement clothed in womans attyre which indignities he repayed not in words alone in his letters stiling Ormisda The Daughter of Cosroes but with those vnnaturall and disloyall practises which hee continued also against Cosroes sonne and heire of Ormisda forcing him to flee to Mauritius the Emperour for succour For Varamus did not approue his succession but writ vnto him to relinquish his royaltie for feare of succeeding in his fathers fortunes In that letter he stileth himselfe Friend of the Gods Enemy of Tyrants Wise Religious Vnblameable Happy Prouident c. CHOSROES giueth him an answere wherein he thus writeth CHOSROES King of Kings Lord of Lords Ruler of Nations Prince of Peace Saluation of men amongst the gods a man good and eternall amongst men a god most Illustrious most glorious Conquerour rising with the Sunne giuing eyes Starres to the night Noble from his ancestrie c. But for all these great Titles he was compelled to flee as is said and write in a lower stile to Mauritius Theophilactus Simocatta speaking of the Abares a Scythian Nation dwelling neere Ister saith that they were descended of the Hunnes and that Bocolabras which word signifieth one that is a Priest and Magus for their Priests were their Diuiners hauing offended Chagan the Prince of these Abates fled vnto their originall Nation dwelling in the East neere to the Persians commonly called Turkes This I mention to shew the Turkish originall and their common descent with the Hunnes with whose posteritie in Hungarie they now hold such continuall dissentions by the testimonie of an Author which writ his Historie a thousand yeeres since In his third Booke and sixth Chapter hee saith the Hunnes which dwell in the North-East whom the Persians called Turkes were subdued by King Hormisdas and whereas before the Persians had vsed to pay them fortie thousand pieces of gold to buy their peace they now forced these Hunnes to pay so much for tribute to the Persians The Persian Gold bred such surquedrie and excesse amongst the Turkes that they had their Beds Tables Horse-furniture and Armours of solide Gold which prodigalitie made them couetous and to demand larger contribution from the Persians hence arose those warres and that thraldome of the Turkish Nation This Author first of all other to my knowledge mentioneth the Turkish warres which since haue yeelded matter for Authors more then enough These Turkes are said to helpe Varamus in his rebellion but both hee and they receiued discomfiture by Narses the Roman Generall and sixe thousand were taken and slaine The Turkes being asked why they helped Varamus answered That they were forced thereto by famine they were also marked with a Black Crosse which they said they learned of the Christians thereby to expell hunger Cosroes thus recouered the Kingdome by aide of the Empire which Varamus had vsurped to himselfe Hee was deepely seene in the Chaldaean mysteries and being by a Roman Gouernour reproued for some excesse in those times when he so much needed their helpe he answered That the times did aduantage him to those reproofes but know saith hee that calamities shall also befall the Romans and the Babylonian Nation shall rule them three weekes of yeeres After that in the fifth weeke the Romans shall subdue the Persians which being come to passe a day shall come that shall haue no night and the expected end of the Empire shall be at hand in which time corruption shall be abolished and men shall liue according to Diuine Ordinance This either false or vncertaine prophecie according to that Deepenesse of Satan he vttered but what effect answerable hath followed I know not In his time the Saracens confederate with the Romans spoyled the Countries of Babylonia This Cosroes reigned nine and thirtie yeeres He held peace with the Romans whiles Mauritius liued but when Phocas cruelly and trecherously had slaine him a world of euills at once assaulted the Empire The Germans Gaules Italians Hunnes and Persians by their Armies afflicted the publike State and the Roman Bishop then began to aspire to an vniuersall Souereigntie which that Murtherer first entituled him vnto That Armie which was yet ted with the bloud of Mauritius by the Persians sword was punished and died in their owne bloud who hauing ouerthrowne the Romans in two battailes made way for further conquests Thus did God punish that Murtherer and besides to pay him in his owne coyne Priscus Heraclon and Heraclius conspired against this Conspirer and murthered the Murtherer and hauing cut off his Priuities and his Head hurled him into the Sea and destroied his Issue Horaclius succeeded in this troubled state of the Empire Chosroes preuailing by his victorious Armies entred Apamea Edessa Caesarea Cappadocie and subdued Asia whiles the Auares or Abares wasted and spoiled Europe the Saracens also as in preludes of their future fortunes committed great spoyle in Syria This in the third yeere of Heraclius in the fourth the Persians tooke Damascus in the fifth Ierusalem carrying away the Crosse and slew therein by instigation of the Iewes 90000. and subdued Palaestina In the seuenth he inuaded Egypt and Africa and conquered all euen to Ethiopia In the ninth the Auares entred Thrace with an Armie and Chagan chased Heraclius into the Citie spoiling many Townes but the next yeere compounded on peaceable conditions the Persians at the same time tooke Ancyra a Citie of Galatia In the twelfth yeere of Heraclius a certaine Astrologer Stephanus Alexandrinus prophecied that the Saracens should rule in power and dominion three hundred and nine yeeres and then should endure much disquiet and trouble fiftie sixe yeeres What he saw in the Starres we know not but their Fates were longer-liued Saes at this time sent with an Armie from Chosroes wasted all the East and held fraudulent conference with Heraclius who sent with him seuentie chiefe men Embassadours to Chosroes All these Saes treacherously lead captiues and bound into Persia which yet could not satisfie his tyrannicall Master who because hee had seene Heraclius and had not brought him aliue caused him to bee flaied quicke and
made them distastfull and this also which the Learned often obiect to these Sectaries that the King and Princes which first gaue way hereto died violently and miserably and fell into publike calamities Yet hath it euen to these times in diuers vicissitudes encreased and decreased and many Bookes haue beene thereof written which contayne many difficulties inextricable to themselues Their Temples are many and sumptuous in which huge monstrous Idols of Brasse Marble Wood and Earth are to be seene with Steeples adioyning of stone or timber and therein exceeding great Bells and other ornaments of great price Their Priests are called Osciami They continually shaue their heads and beards contrary to the Countrey custome Some of them goe on Pilgrimages others liue an austere life on Hills or in Caues and the most of them which amount to two or three millions liue in Cloysters of their reuenues and almes and somewhat also of their owne industrie These Priests are accounted the most vile and vicious in the Kingdome being of the baser raskalitie sold when they are children by their parents to the elder Priests of slaues made Disciples and succeeding their Masters in Sect and Stipend few voluntarily adioyning themselues to these Cloysterers Neither doe they affect more liberall learning nor abstayne but perforce from disauowed Luxurie Their Monasteries are diuided into diuers Stations according to their greatnesse in euery Station is one perpetuall Administrator with his slaue-Disciples which succeed him therein Superiour in the Monasterie they acknowledge none but euery one builds as many Cells or Chambers as he is able which they let out to strangers for great gaine that their Monasteries may be esteemed publike Innes wherein men may quietly lodge or follow their businesse without any explication of their Sects They are hired also by many to Funerall Solemnities and to other Rites in which wilde Beasts Birds or Fishes are made free and let loose the seuerer Sectaries buying them to this meritorious purpose In our times this Sect much flourisheth and hath many Temples erected and repaired many Eunuches women and of the rude vulgar embracing the same There are some Professors called Ciaicum that is Fasters which liue in their owne houses all their life abstayning from Fish and Flesh and with certaine set prayers worship a multitude of Idols at home but not hard to be hired to these deuotions at other mens houses In these Monasteries women also doe liue separated from men which shaue their heads and reiect Marriage These Nunnes are there called Nicu. But these are but few in comparison of the men One of the learned Sect famous in the Court relinquished his place in the Colledge and shaued his haire wrote many Bookes against the Confutians but being complayned of the King commanded hee should be punished which hee punished further on himselfe with cutting his owne throat Whereupon a Libell or Petition was put vp to the King against the Magistrates which relinquished Confutius and became of this Sect the King notwithstanding all the Queenes Eunuches and his Kindred are of this Sect made answere That such should goe into the Desarts and might bee ashamed of their Robes Hence followed orders That whosoeuer in his Writings mentioned an Idoll except by way of Confutation should be vncapable of degrees in Learning which caused much alteration in Religion for many of this Sect had preuayled much in Court and elsewhere Amongst the rest one Thacon was so honoured of the chiefe Queene that shee worshipped daily his garment because it was not lawfull for himselfe to enter the Palace but dealt by Eunuches One libelled to the King against him but had no answere which is the Kings fashion when he denies or disallowes it which made him more insolent But being suspected for a Libell made against the King and some writings in zeale of his Idols against the King being found he was beaten to death howling in his torments which before had vanted a Stoicall Apathie The other Sect-masters were banished the Court §. V. Of the third Sect Lauzu THeir third Sect is named Lauzu of a certaine Philosopher which liued in the same age with Confutius They fable that he was fourescore yeeres in his mothers wombe before his birth and therefore call him Lauzu that is old Philosopher He left no booke written of his Sect nor seemes to haue intended any such institution But his Sectaries called him after his death Tausa and haue fathered on him their opinions whereof they haue written many elegant bookes These also liue single in their Monasteries buying Disciples liuing as vile and vicious as the former They shaue not their haire but weare it like the Lay-men sauing that they haue a Hat or Cap of wood There are others married which at their owne houses professe greater austeritie and recite ouer set prayers They affirme That amongst other Idols they also worship the God of Heauen but corporeall and to whom their Legends tell that many indignities haue happened The King of Heauen which now raigneth they call Ciam he which raigned before was Leu who on a time came riding to the Earth on a white Dragon Him did Ciam who was a Diuinor giue entertainment and whiles Leu was at his good cheere mounted vp his Dragon which carried him to heauen there seized on the heauenly Royaltie and shut out Leu who yet at last was admitted to the Lordship of a certaine Mountaine in that Kingdom Thus they professe their god to bee a coozener and vsurper Besides this King of Heauen they faine another threefold Deitie one of which they say was the head of their Lauzu sect They promise to theirs Paradise which they shall enioy both in bodie and soule and in their Temples haue pictures of such as haue the Images of such Saints To obtaine this they prescribe certaine exercises which consist in diuers postures of sitting certaine prayers and medicines by which they promise to the obseruers through their gods fauour an immortall life in Heauen at least a longer mortall in the bodie The Priests of this Sect haue a peculiar Office of casting out Deuils which they do by two meanes one is to paint horrible shapes of Deuill in yellow paper with inke to be fastned on the walls and then fill the house with such sauage clamors that themselues might be thought to be Deuils the other is by certaine prayers or coniurations They professe also a power of faire weather and soule and other priuate and publike misfortunes : and some of them seeme to be Witches These Priests reside in the Kings Temples of Heauen and Earth and assist at the Kings sacrifices whether by himselfe performed or his Deputie Magistrates and thereby acquire great authoritie At these sacrifices they make musicke of all sorts which China yeeldeth harshed Europaean eares They are called likewise to Funeralls to which they come in precious Vestments playing on Musical Instruments They assist also at the consecrations of new Churches and
their Doctors neuer to reueale any of their secrets First that there was one God maker of Heauen Earth who alone not the Pagodes ought to be worshipped after that they were instructed in precepts necessary to saluation Xauerius asking what he repeated the Ten Cōmandements in order as we do and that in a mystical language known to few which their Doctors obserue in their holy things But the Bramene pronounced and explained them in the vulgar Further that the eight day or Sunday is to be kept holy then often to repeat the prayer Oncery Naraiua Noma the same which before is related and interpreted out of Heurnius this to be spoken with a lowe voice that they breake not their Oath likewise that their old bookes foretell of a time when all shall be of one Religion Fenicius another Iesuite learned of one of their Doctors other their mysteries contained in their Bookes that God produced all this world out of an Egge out of one part thereof the Land Sea and inferiour creatures out of the other the Heauens for habitation to the Gods that this World was founded on the end of a Buffals horne and because this beast leaned on one side ready to fall a huge Rocke was placed vnder him to support him But as before so here also followed some notice of better things For there was a Malabar Poet which writ 900. epigrams against their Pagodes each consisting of eight verses wherein he speakes many things elegantly of the Diuine Prouidence of Heauen and the torments of Hell and other things agreeing to the Christian Faith that God is present euery where and giues to euery one according to his estate that Celestiall blessednesse consists in the vision of God that the damned in Hell shall be tormented 400. millions of yeeres in flames and shall neuer die Thebramenes he calls fooles and blockes By this booke and by Mathematicall doctrine of the Sphere which they had scarcely euer heard of he made way for conuerting the people I haue thought good to say thus much together of them as in one view representing the Bramenes a name so anciently so vniuersally communicated to the Indian Priests although some particulars before haue beene or hereafter may be said touching some of them in other places according to the singularitie of each Nation in this so manifold a profession which they all demonstrate in their singular Superstitions CHAP. X. Of the Regions and Religions of Malabar §. I. Of the Kingdome of Calicut MAlabar extendeth it selfe from the Riuer Congeraco to the Cape Comori which some take to be the Promontory Cory in Ptolomey Maginus doubteth whether it be that which he calleth Commaria Extrema In the length it containeth little lesse then three hundred miles in bredth from that ridge of Gate to the Sea in some places fifty From Cangerecora to Puripatan are 60. miles of Coast therein Cota Colan Nilichilan Marabia Bolepatan Cananor where the Portugals haue a Fort in 12. degrees Tramapatan Chomba Main and Perepatan From thence to Chatua is the Kingdome of Calicut fourescore miles 11 coast therein Pandarane Colete Capocate Calecut in 11. 15. Chale a Portugall Fortresse Patangale Tanor a Citie Royall Pananc Baleancor and Chatua Then followes the Kingdome of Cranganor Next to that the Kingdome of Cochin then that of Porca without a good Port in her foure and fortie miles coast Coulan is next and then that of Trauancor which the Portugals called the Great King as being greater in State then the former subject to the King of Narsinga It is full of people diuided into many States by variety of Riuers which cause Horses to be vnseruiceable in their Warres and nourish many Crocodiles enrich the soyle and yeeld easie transportation of commodities which are spices of diuers kindes They haue Bats in shape resembling Foxes in bignesse Kites The chiefe Kingdomes in this tract are Kanonor Calicut Cranganor Cochin Carcolam and Trauancor About seuen hundred yeeres since it was one Kingdome gouerned by Soma or Sarama Perimal who by perswasion of the Arabian Merchants became of their Sect in which he proued so deuout that he would end his dayes at Mecca But before his departure he diuided his estate into these pety Signiories among his principall Nobles and kindred leauing vnto Coulam the spirituall preeminence and the Imperiall Title vnto his Nephew of Calicut who onely enjoyed the title of Zamori or Emperour and had prerogatiue of stamping coyne Some exempt from this Zamorin Empire and Allegeance both Coulam the Papall See of the high Bramene and Cananor and some haue since by their owne force exempted themselues This Perimal died in his holy Voyage and the Indians of Malabar reckon from this diuision their computation of yeeres as we doe from the blessed Natiuitie of our Lord He left saith Castaneda to himselfe but twelue leagues of his Countrie which lay neere to the shoare where he meant to embarque himselfe neuer before inhabited this he gaue to a Cousin of his then his Page commanding that in memorie of his embarquing there it should be inhabited and the rest to take Him for their Emperour except the Kings of Coulan and Cananor whom yet with the rest he commanded not to coine money but onely the King of Calicut For Calicut was therefore here built and the Moores for the embarquing tooke such deuotion to the place that they would no more frequent the Port of Coulan as before which therefore grew to ruine but made Calicut the Staple of their Merchandise Calicut the first in order with them shall bee so with vs The Citie is not walled nor faire built the ground not yeelding firme foundation by reason of the water which issueth if it be digged This Kingdome hath not aboue fiue and twenty leagues of Sea-coast yet rich both by the fertilitie of the soyle which yeeldeth Corne Spices Cocos Iaceros and many other fruits and by the situation as the Staple especially before the Portugals vnfriendly neighbourhood of Indian merchandise and therefore in her varietie of Merchants being a Map as it were of all that Easterne World The Egyptians Persians Syrians Arabians Indians yea euen from Catay the space of sixe thousand miles journey here had their trade and traffique The Palace also contained foure Halls of Audience according to their Religions for the Indians Moores Iewes Christians Of their Bramenes or Priests we haue already said They yeeld diuine honours to diuers of their deceased Saints and build Temples vnto beasts One of which dedicated to an Ape hath a large Porch for cattell to the vse of Sacrifice in which are saith Maffaeus seuen hundred marble Pillars not inferiour to those of Agrippa in the Roman Pantheon It seemeth that the ground in that place is not of so queasy and watery a stomacke but that it can digest deepe foundations To Elephants they attribute like Diuinitie but most of all to Kine supposing that the soules of
an Iland fourteene leagues from Zacotora from whence it is fifteen leagues to Cape Guardafu At Tamarind they had no raine in two yeers together Two small Iles lie to the North of Socotera called the two Sisters the Inhabitants of an oliue colour without Law among themselues or commerce with others There are also those two Iles the one of men the other of women which wee mentioned in our fift booke a matter how true I know not but very strange They are Christians subiect to the Bishop of Socotera and he to the Zatoia in Baldach Many other Ilands there bee of no great name in that Sea called Sinus Barbaricus as of Don Garcia the three and the seuen brethren of Saint Brandon Saint Francis Mascarenna Do Natal Comoro and many other besides those of Quiloa Mosambique and some other for their vicinitie to the Land before handled The I le of Saint Laurence so called by the Portugals by themselues Madagascar is meetest in all those parts to entertayne the Readers obseruation as being one of the greatest Ilands of the world It contayneth in breadth foure hundred and fourescore miles in length a thousand and two hundred M. Polo saith the Inhabitants were Saracens and were gouerned vnder foure Lords eate Camels flesh vse merchandize or artes Thus farre did the Great Can stretch his Tartarian Dominion and sent hither to spie the Land That which Polo saith he heard of a bird in this Iland called Ruch so bigge as it could take vp an Elephant hath no likelihood of truth He calls it Magascar It is situate from seuenteene to six and twentie ½ of Southerly latitude Onely vpon the coast they are Mahumetans within Land Idolaters black and like the Cafres the soile yeeldeth Cloues Ginger and Siluer It deserueth to haue better Inhabitants if Linschoten iudge rightly hauing many faire and fresh Riuers safe Harbours plentie of fruits and cattell therein are foure gouernments each fighting against other They vse not themselues to trade with others nor suffer others to traffique with them The Portugals haue some trade with them but goe not on land In the first discouerie of them by the Portugals 1506. they shewed themselues in hospitall and trecherous rewarding receiued kindnesse in their Canoas or Boats made of the body of a tree with shot There are said to bee some white people supposed to be of Chinian off-spring Of the people of Madagascar the Hollanders report that they are of colour blacke strong and well made they couer their priuities with cotton they haue large holes in their eares in which they weare round sticks They acknowledge one Creator and obserue Circumcision but know nothing of praying or keeping festiuals They haue no proper names whereby to distinguish one day from another neither doe they number weekes moneths or yeeres Nor doe they number aboue ten They are exceedingly afraid of the deuill whom they call Tiuuaddes because he vseth often to afflict them They liue most-what on fishing They marrie but one wife their time of marriage is for the men at twelue the women at ten yeeres of age Adulterie and Theft are punished with death The men vse to hunt abroad the women spin their Cottons at home whereof they haue trees yeelding plentie If any man kill any of his Kine all his neighbours may challenge part Cornelius Houtman saith they are sweet-spoken men They haue a kinde of Beanes or Lobos growing on trees the cod whereof is two foot long They haue a kind of seed whereof a little makes foolish a greater quantitie kils herewith they betrayed and killed threescore and eight Hollanders with their Captaine The English haue had some knowledge of this Iland to their cost as those of the Vnion before mentioned But not trusting them too farre they here finde good refreshing Captaine Downton arriued there in the Bay of Saint Augustine Aug. 10. 1614. and bought of them diuers Beeues at a reasonable rate The people are tall and swart their haire smooth and finely plaited their weapons are darts neatly headed with Iron Their cattell fairer then any I haue seene hauing on their fore-shoulders a lumpe of fat like the pomell of a saddle Here were Tamarin trees with greene fruit vpon them the pulpe whereof boyled cured our men of the Scorbute They haue store of cotton whereof they make striped cloth of diuers colours Another then in companie reports them to bee a strong actiue people not fearefull of gunnes or other weapons ciuill honest and vnderstanding their weapons small Lances Bowes Arrowes and Darts their Kine sold at three foure or fiue shillings a peece as sweet and fat as ours That bunch on the shoulder is very sweet in taste And as one reporteth he had seene the skin that compassed one of them contayned six or eight gallons Here are many Crocodiles The Vnion comming to Gungomar in the North-west corner of Madagascar was assaulted by a Nauie of an hundred Canoes by water arranged in order of a halfe moone the King trecherously assaulting them out of the woods and tooke Captaine Michelborne with other Merchants In Saint Marie an Iland by Madagascar they met with the King which was obserued of his subiects with great reuerence Here they buried one of their dead men the Ilanders being present who signified by signes that his soule was gone to heauen and would haue had them to cut off his legs by the knees The I le of Cerne they called Maurice Iland They found excellent Ebon trees there the wood whereof is as black as pitch and as smooth as Iuorie inclosed with a thick barke They found of the same kinde some red some yellow There were Palme-trees like the Cocos They found store of birds whereof they might take some in their nests with their hands There were no people inhabiting In the I le of Bata our men killed a Bat as great as a Hare in shape like a Squirrill with two flaps of skin which hee spred forth when he leaped from tree to tree which they can doe nimbly often holding only by their tailes The Hollanders in the Bay of Anton Gil Southwards from Madagascar in sixteene degrees saw the King blacke or hue wearing two hornes on his head and many chaines or bracelets of Brasse on his armes This place is fertile the people valiant In the channell betweene the firme land and Madagascar are many Ilands great and small all inhabited by Mahumetans the chiefe of which is S. Christopher more Northwards against Mombaza and Melinde are three Ilands Momsid Zanzibar and Pemba inhabited with Mahumetans of white colour In the time of M. Polo Zenzibar was Heathenish The inhabitants he saith very grosse and deformed and likewise the women Neere the Cape of Good Hope are the Isles of Don Aluares and Tristan d' Acunuha but of no great note The deepenesse of these Seas make them vncapable of many Islands CHAP. XII Of
175 CHAP. XIIII OF the Iewish opinions of the Creation their Ceremonies about the birth of a Childe of their Circumcision Purification and Redemption of the first borne and Education of their Children pag. 177 § I. Of their Exposition of Scripture a taste in Gen. 1.1 ibid. § II. Their Dreames of Adam pag. 178 § III. Of their Iewesses conception and trauell and of Lilith ibid. § IIII. Of the Iewish manner of Circumcision p. 179 § V. Of the Iewish Purification Redemption and Education pag. 181 CHAP. XV. OF their Morning Prayer with their Fringes Phylacteries and other Ceremonies thereof pag. 183 § I. Of their behauiour before they goe to the Synagogue ibid. § II. Of their Zizis and Tephillim and holy Vestments pag. 184 Of their Schoole or Synagogue Rites and their Mattins pag. 185 CHAP. XVI OF their Ceremonies at home after their returne at their meales and otherwise and of their Euening Prayer pag. 188 CHAP. XVII THeir weekly obseruations of Times viz. Their Mundayes and Thursdayes and Sabbaths pag. 190 § I. Of their Mundayes and Thursdayes ibid. § II. Of their Law Lectures pag. 191 § III. Of the Iewish Sabbath pag. 192 CHAP. XVIII THe Iewish Passeouer as they now obserue it and other their Feasts and Fasts pag. 194 § I. Of their Passeouer ibid. § II. Of Pentecost pag. 195 § III. Of the Feast of Tabernacles 196 § IIII. Of their new Moones and New yeeres day ibid. § V. Of their Lent Penance and Reconciliation Fast pag. 197. § VI. Of their other Feasts pag. 199 CHAP. XIX OF their Cookerie Butcherie Mariages Punishments and Funerals pag. 200 § I. Of their Cookerie ibid. § II. Of their Butcherie pag. 201 § III. Of their Espousals and Mariages ibid. § IIII. Of Coniugall duties pag. 203 § V. Of Diuorce and other Marriage obseruations pag. 204 § VI. Of the Iewish beggers Diseases and Penances pag. 205 § VII Of their Visitation of the sicke and Funerall Rites pag. 206 CHAP. XX. THe Iewes Faith and Hope touching their Messias pag. 207 § I. Of the Signes of the comming of their Messias ibid. § II. Iewish Tales of monstrous Birds Beasts Fishes and Men. pag 210 § III. Their Messias his Feast pag. 211 CHAP. XXI OF the hopes and hinderances of the Iewes conuersion pag. 212 CHAP. XXII THe later Inhabitants of Palestina and the parts adioyning since the dispersion of the Iewes till this day pag. 214 § I. Of the Christian times before the Saracens ibid. § II. Of the Saracens and Turkes in Palestina pag. 215 § III. Of the exploits of the Frankes and other Westerne Christians in Palestina pag. 214 § IIII. Of the Azopart and Assysine pag. 218 § V. Of the Dogzijn and Drusians and other Pagans there pag. 220 § VI. Of the vnchristian Christians pag. 222 THE THIRD BOOKE Of the Arabians Saracens Turkes and of the ancient Inhabitants of ASIA MINOR and of their Religions CHAP. I. OF Arabia and of the ancient Religions Rites and Customes thereof pag. 223 CHAP. II. OF the Saracene Name Nation and proceeding in Armes and the succession of their Chalifaes pag. 229 § I. Of the Saracens before Mahomets dayes ibid. § II. Of the Saracenicall beginnings and proceedings vnder Mahomet and his Successors of the Maraunian Race pag. 232 § III. Of the Abasian Chalifaes their Citie Bagadet with many Persian Indian and other occurrences vnder them pag. 236 § IIII. Of their Titles Greatnesse and Learning pag. 240 CHAP. III. THe life of Mahumet Mohammed or Muhammed the Saracen Law-giuer pag. 241 § I. Mahumets life after the Histories of Christians ibid. § II. The Saracen Storie of Mahomets life pag. 244 CHAP. IIII. OF the Alcoran or Alfurcan contayning the Mahumetan Law the summe and contents thereof pag. 248 § I. Of the composition of the Alcoran ibid. § II. The doctrine of the Alcoran brought into common places pag. 251 § III. The Saracens opinion of their Alcoran pag. 258 CHAP. V. OTher Mahumetical speculations and explanations of their Law collected out of their owne Commentaries of that Argument p. 259 CHAP. VI. OF the Pilgrimage to Mecca pag. 267 CHAP. VII OF the Successors of Mahomet of their different Sects and of the dispersing of that Religion through the World pag. 274. CHAP. VIII OF the Turkish Nation their originall and proceedings pag. 278 § I. Of the Turkish name and first original ibid. § II. Of the Turkish Kingdome in Persia and their other Conquests pag. 279 § III. Of the Ottoman Turkes their originall and proceedings pag. 281 CHAP. IX A Continuation of the Turkish Warres and affaires together with the succession of the Great Turks till this present yeere 1616. p. 284 § I. Of Solyman the Magnificent ibid. § II. Of Selim the Second and Amurath the Third pag. 285 § III. Of Mahomet the Third pag. 287 § IIII. Of Achmet which now reigneth pag. 288 § V. Of Sultan Achmets Person Family Gouernment and greatnesse of State pag. 291 § VI. An Appendix touching the Succession of Mustapha twice and of Osmans murder and other ciuill vnciuill late Combustions pag. 293 CHAP. X. OF the opinions holden by the Turkes in their Religion and of their Manners and Customes pag. 297 § I. Of their eight Commandements ibid. § II. Of other their opinions and practices in Religion pag. 300 § III. Of the Turkish manners their ciuill and morall behauiour pag. 303 CHAP. XI OF the religious places amongst the Turks their Meschits Hospitals and Monasteries with ther Lyturgie and Circumcision pag. 306 § I. Of their Temples a description of Saint Sophies ibid. § II. Of their Hospitals and Monasteries pag. 308 § III. Of their publike Prayers and Church-rites ibid. § IIII. Of their Sabbaths and of their Lent and Easter pag. 310 § V. Of the Turkish Circumcision pag. 311 CHAP. XII OF the Sepulchres Funerall Rites and opinions touching the dead among the Turkes pag. 312 CHAP. XIII OF the religious Votaries amongst the Turkes and of their Saints Sects Miracles and hypocriticall holinesse pag. 314 CHAP. XIIII OF their Priests and Hierarchie with a digression touching the Hierarchie and miserie of Christians subiect to the Turke p. 319 A digression touching the Hierarchie and miseries of Christians vnder the Turke p. 322 CHAP. XV. OF the Regions and Religions of Asia Minor since called Natolia and Turkey pag. 325 CHAP. XVI OF Asia proprie dicta now called Sarcum pag. 330 CHAP. XVII OF Ionia and other Countries in that Chersonesus pag. 336 THE FOVRTH BOOKE Of the Armenians Medes Persians Parthians Scythians Tartarians Chinois and of their Religions CHAP. I. OF Armenia Maior and Georgia and the neighbouring Nations p. 343 § I. Of the Armenians and Turcomanians ibid. § II. Of Iberia pag. 346 § III. Of Albania ibid. § IIII. Of Colchis or Mengrelia pag. 347 § V. Of the present Mengrelians and Georgians ibid. § VI. Of the Circassians pag. 348 § VII Of the Curdi pag. 349 CHAP. II. OF the Medes pag. 349 CHAP. III. OF the Parthians
diuersly expressed Yea euen the most lasciuious cruell beastly and Deuillish obseruations were grounded vpon this one principle That GOD must bee serued which seruice they measured by their owne crooked Rules euery where disagreeing and yet meeting in one Center The necessitie of Religion As for Policie although it is before answered yet this may be added That whereas men with all threatnings promises punishments rewards can scarce establish their politicall Ordinances Religion insinuateth and establisheth it selfe yea taketh naturally such rooting that all politicall Lawes and tortures cannot plucke it vp How many Martyrs hath Religion yea superstition yeelded but who will lay downe his life to seale some Politicians authority And so farre is it that Religion should be grounded on Policie that Policie borroweth helpe of Religion Thus did Numa father his Romane Lawes on Aegeria and other Law-giuers on other supposed Deities which had been a foolish argument and vnreasonable manner of reasoning to perswade one obscurity by a greater had not Nature before taught them religious awe to God of which they made vse to this ciuill obedience of their lawes supposed to spring from a Diuine Fountaine Yea the falshoods and varietie of religions are euidences of this Truth seeing men will rather worship a Beast Stocke or the basest Creature then professe no Religion at all The Philosophers also that are accused of Atheisme for the most part did not deny Religion simply but that irreligious Religion of the Greekes in idolatrous superstition Socrates rather swearing by a Dog or an Oke then acknowledging such gods It is manifest then that the Image of GOD was by the Fall depraued but not vtterly extinct among other sparkes this also being raked vp in the ruines of our decayed Nature some science of the God-head some conscience of Religion although the true Religion can bee but one and that which GOD himselfe teacheth as the onely true way to himselfe all other Religions being but strayings from him whereby men wander in the darke and in labyrinths of error like men drowning that get hold on euery twig or the foolish fish that leapeth out of the frying-pan into the fire Thus GOD left a sparke of that light couered vnder the ashes of it selfe which himselfe vouchsafed to kindle into a flame neuer since neuer after to be extinguished And although that rule of Diuine Iustice had denounced morte morieris to die and againe to die a first and second death yet vnasked yea by cauilling excuses further prouoked hee by the promised seed erected him to the hope of a first and second resurrection a life of Grace first and after of Glory The Sonne of God is promised to be made the seede of the Woman the substantiall Image of the inuisible GOD to be made after the Image and similitude of a Man to reforme and transforme him againe into the former Image and similitude of GOD and whereas GOD had made man before after his owne Image and lost him he now promiseth to make himselfe after Mans Image to recouer him euen that he which in the forme of GOD thought it not robbery for it was Nature to bee equall with GOD should bee made nothing to make vs something should not spare himselfe that hee might spare vs should become partaker of our Nature flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone that hee might make vs partakers of the Diuine Nature flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone This was that Seede of the Woman that hath broken the Serpents head which by death hath ouercome death and him that had the power of Death the Deuill who submitted himselfe to a death in it selfe bitter before men shamefull and of GOD accursed that hee might bring vs to a life peaceable glorious and blessed beyond what eye hath seene or heart can conceiue This promise of this Seed slaine from the beginning of the World was the seed of all true Religion the soule of Faith the life of Hope the well-spring of Charitie True it is that all receiued not this promise alike for a seed of the Serpent was fore-signified also which should bruise the heele of the Womans seede And this in the first seed and generation of Man soon appeared Caine and Abel were hereof liuely examples It appeareth that GOD had taught Adam how hee would bee worshipped as it were ordering and ordaining him the first Priest of the World which function he fulfilled both in instructing his Wife and Children in prayer with and for them and in the rites of Sacrificing His children accordingly in processe of time brought and offered their Sacrifices As concerning Sacrifices some hold opinion according to their owne practice that Nature might teach Adam this way of seruing GOD as if Nature were as well able to finde the way as to know that she is out of the way and were as well seene in the particular maner as in the generall necessitie of Religion We cannot see the Sunne without the Sunne nor come to GOD but by GOD to whom Obedience is better then Sacrifice and to hearken better then the fat of Rams ABEL saith the Scripture offered by faith without which faith it is impossible to please GOD but faith hath necessary relation to the Word of GOD who otherwise will be weary of our solemnities and asketh Who hath required them at our hands These sacrifices also besides that they were acknowledgements of their thankefulnesse and reall confessions of their sinne and death due to them therefore did lead them by the hand to Christ that Lambe of GOD that should take away the sinnes of the World figured by these slaine beasts confirming their faith in the promise and their hope of the accomplishment of which Nature could not once haue dreamed which hath rather the impression of some confused notions that wee haue lost the way and ought to seeke it then either light to discerne it or wisedome to guide vs in it Of sacrificing there were from the Beginning two kinds one called Gifts or Oblations of things without life the other Victims so our Rhemists haue taught vs to English the word Victimae slaine Sacrifices of Birds and Beasts Againe they were propitiatory consecratorie Eucharisticall and so forth whose kinds and rites Moses hath in his Bookes especially in Leuiticus so plainely declared that I should but powre water into the Sea or light a candle to the Sunne to dilate much of them these beeing the same in signification with the Leuiticall and little if little differing in the manner of doing Caine brought his offering being an Husbandman of the fruit of the ground Abel a Shepheard of the fattest of his Sheepe God respected ABEL and his offering the tree first and then the fruit the worker and then the worke which he signified either by voice or by fire from Heauen according to Theodotians translation as in
also the first naming of the seuen Planets The Science of Astronomie they say was much furthered by Enoch who saith Eupolemon was by the Greekes called Atlas to whom they attributed the inuention thereof Plinie was of opinion that Letters were eternall Howsoeuer it is more then apparant that the Booke bearing Enochs name is very fabulous which because the Tales therein professe antiquity although they were later dreames I thought it not vnfit to borrow out of Scaliger somewhat of that which he hath inserted in his Notes vpon Eusebius the Greeke Copie being as the Phrase testifieth translated out of Hebrew which had beene the worke of some Iew the Antiquity appeareth in that Tertullian citeth it The words are these And it came to passe when the sonnes of men were multiplyed there were borne to them faire Daughters and the Watch-men so he calleth the Angels out of Dan. 4. lusted and went astray after them and they said one to another Let vs choose vs Wiues of the Daughters of men of the Earth And Semixas their Prince said vnto them I feare me you will not doe this thing and I alone shall be debter of a great sinne And they all answered him and said We will all sweare with an Oath and will Anathematise or Curse our selues not to alter this our minde till we haue fulfilled it and they all sware together These came downe in the dayes of Iared to the top of the Hill Hermon And they called the Hill Hermon because they sware and Anathematised on it These were the names of their Rulers Semixas Atarcuph Arachiel Chababiel Orammante Ramiel Sapsich Zakiel Balkiel Azalzel Pharmaros Samiel c. These tooke them Wiues and three Generation were borne vnto them the first were great Gyants the Gyants begat the Naphelim to whom were borne Eliud and they taught them and their Wiues Sorceries and Inchantments Ezael taught first to make Swords and Weapons for Warre and how to worke in Metals He taught to make Womens Ornaments and how to looke faire and iewelling And they beguiled the Saints and much sinne was committed on the Earth Other of them taught the vertues of Roots Astrologie Diuinations c. After these things the Gyants beganne to eate the flesh of men and men were diminished and the remnant cryed to Heauen because of their wickednesse that they might come in remembrance before him And the foure great Archangels Michael Gabriel Raphael and Vriel hearing it looked downe on the Earth from the holy places of Heauen and beholding much bloud-shed on the Earth and all vngodlinesse and transgression committed therein said one to another That the Spirits and Soules of men complaine saying That yee should present our Prayer to the Highest and our destruction And the foure Archangels entring said to the Lord Thou art GOD of GODS and Lord of Lords c. Thou seest what Ezael hath done hee hath taught Mysteries and reuealed to the World the things in Heauen c. Then the Highest said The Holy one The Great one spake and sent Vriel to the sonne of Lamech saying Goe to Noe tell him of the end approching and a floud shall destroy the Earth c. To Raphael hee said Goe Raphael and binde Ezael hand and foot and cast him into darkenesse and open the Wildernesse in the Desart of Dodoel and there cast him and lay vpon him sharpe stones to the Day of Iudgement c. And to Gabriel he said Goe Gabriel to the Gyants and destroy the sonnes of the Watch-men from the sonnes of men set them one against another in warre and destruction To Michael he said Goe Michael binde Semixa and the others with him that haue mixed themselues with the daughters of men vntill seuentie Generations to the hils of the Earth vntill the day of their iudgement till the iudgement of the World bee finished and then they shall bee brought into the confusion of fire and vnto tryall and vnto the Prison of the ending of the World and whosoeuer shall be condemned and destroyed from hence-forth shall be cast together with them till the finishing of their Generation c. And the Gyants which were begotten of the Spirits and flesh they shall call them euill Spirits on the Earth because their dwelling is on the Earth The Spirits that depart out of their bodies shall bee euill Spirits because they were engendred of the Watch-men and men But it were tedious to recite further The antiquity of it and because it is not so common and especially because some of the Ancients and of the Papists haue beene misse-led by these Dreames refused iustly by Ierome and Augustine interpreting the sonnes of GOD in Moses to be spoken of Angels as their Translation did read it haue moued me to insert those Tales Notable is the diligence of the Purgatorie Scauengers who in Viues notes vpon Aug. de Ciuit. Dei Lib. 15. cap. 23. haue in their Index Expurgatorius set the Seale of their Office vpon a testimonie alleaged out of Eusebius de Praep. Euang. Lib. 5. cap. 4. as if they had beene Viues his owne words to be left out in the Impression The words because they sauour of the former errour haue Theere placed Non ergo Deos neque bonos damonas Gentiles sed perniciosos solummodo venerantur Quam rem magis Plutarchus confirmat dicens fabulosas de dijs rationes res quasdam significare à daemonibus antiquissimis gestas temporibus ea quae de gigantibus ac de Titanibus decantantur daemonum fuisse operationes Vnde mihi suspicio saith Eusebius but Viues is fined for it nonnunquam incidit ne ista illa sint quae ante diluuium a gigantibus facta diuina Scriptura tetigit de quibus dicitur Cùm autem vidissent Angeli Dei filias hominum quia essent speciosae elegerunt sibi ex illis vxores ex quibus procreati sunt famosissimi gigantes à saeculo Suspicabitur enim fortasse quispiam illos illorum spiritus esse qui ab hominibus postea dij putati sunt pugnasque illorum tumultus bella esse quae fabulosè de dijs conscribebantur Lactantius saith that when the World was multiplyed GOD sent Angels to keepe men from fraudes of the Deuill to whom he forbade all earth contagion These were by the Deuill insnared with women therefore depriued of Heauen and their Progeny of a middle nature betwixt Men and Angels became vncleane Spirits so that hence grew two kindes of Daemones or Deuillish Spirits the one heauenly the other earthly which would now seeme to be keepers and are destroyers of men The Angels are sometimes called the sonnes of God but that name is communicated to men who by nature children of wrath by faith in the naturall and onely begotten Sonne of GOD haue this prerogatiue to bee the sonnes of GOD and fellow-heires with CHRIST But some of the children of the Kingdome shall bee cast out because they
in the yeere from the Creation 1656. The Septuagint and the Fathers that followed them reckon farre otherwise which errour of theirs differing from the Hebrew verity Agustine ascribes to the first Coppiers of that Translation others to their own set purpose that they might contend with other Nations in the challenge of Antiquitie for that cause and least the often halfing of ages should trouble the faithlesse saith Master Broughton they faine Cainan betwixt Arphaxad and Selah in which account if Luke in his Genealogie had followed them it is to be ascribed to them which would correct Luke by their corrupt translation of the Septuagint for some Copies of the Gospel haue wanted it The place is commonly thought to be Armenia The Sybilline Oracles if at least we may so call those eight bookes in Greeke verse translated into Latine by Castalion doe place Ararat in Phrygia and say it is the Hill whence the Riuer Marsyas issueth But Scaliger censureth our Sybils to be counterfeit inuented with zeale to vp-hold the Truth by falshood in which our later Legendaries haue followed them Goropius after his wont paradoxicall holdeth it to be the Hill Paropanisus or Paropamisus a part of the Hill Taurus vnproperly ascribed to Caucasus which riseth betweene the Euxine and Hircan Sea supposed the highest part of the Earth called now Naugracot Hee imagined that the place first inhabited after the Floud was Margiana whence those Colonies passed that with Nimrod built Babylon His reason is because they went from the East to the Plaine of Shinar whereas Armenia beareth somewhat Westward from thence As though that iourney had been presently after the Floud which was an hundred yeares after in which space it is likely they followed the Mountainous Countries Eastward a long time and from Assyria Adiabena turned backe into that fertile Plaine where pride fulnesse of bread and abundance of idlenesse set them on worke against God I hold it not meet that a fewe coniectures should counterpoize the generall consent of all Ages Iosephus saith the place in Armenia was called Apobaterion of this their going forth of the Arke and alleadgeth Berosus testimonie that a part of this Arke was then said to remaine in the Cordyaean or Gordyaean Hils the pitch whereof some scraping away wore the same for Amulets And out of Nich. Damascenus lib. 96. There is saith he aboue the Region of the Minyae a great Hil in Armenia by name Baris wherein they say many saued themselues in the time of the Floud and one brought in an Arke there stayed the remnants of the wood thereof continuing there long time after which happily was he that Moses the Iewish Law-giuer writ of This mountaine or mountainous Region the Caldean Paraphrast calleth Kardu Curtius Cordaei montes Ptolomaeus Gordiaei the people are called Cardyaei or Gordyaei In this Tract saith Epiphan there is one high Mountaine called Lubar which signifieth the descending place Lubar in the Armenian and Egyptian language signifying the same that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before mentioned and the word Baris before cited out of Damascenus seemeth to be corruptly written for Lubaris The Armenians through all ages haue as it seemeth reserued the memorie hereof and euen in our daies there standeth an Abbey of Saint Gregories Monkes neere to this Hill which was able to receiue Shaugh Thamas and a great part of his Armie These Monkes if any list to beleeue them say that there remaineth yet some part of the Arke kept by Angels which if any seeke to ascend carrie them backe as farre in the night as they haue climed in the day Cartwright an eye-witnesse saith that this Hill is alwaies couered with snow at the foote thereof issue a thousand Springs there are adioyning three hundred Villages of the Armenians He saith also that there are seene many ruinous foundations supposed to be the workes of this first people that a long time durst not aduenture into the lower Countryes for feare of an other floud Abidenus saith that the Ship or Arke was still in Armenia in his time and that the people vsed the wood thereof against many diseases with maruellous effect After that Noah had obtained his deliuerance and was now gone out of the Arke his first care was Religion and therefore he hee built an Altar to the Lord and tooke of euery cleane beast and of euery cleane fowle and offered burnt offerings vpon the Altar And the Lord smelled a sauour of rest and renued the auncient blessings and promises to Noah and his posteritie The liuing creatures were also permitted to their food and submitted to their rule by whom they had in the Arke escaped drowning Onely the bloud was prohibited to them as a ceremoniall obseruation to instruct them in lenitie and hatred of crueltie the politicall Ordinance being annexed touching the bloud of man against man or beast that should shead the same This difference being alleadged of the life of Man and Beast that the life of the Beast is his bloud the life of Man is in his bloud Not that the bloud which we see shed is the life of the beast for that is properly Cruor not Sanguis that is the matter whose forme was the life or vitall spirit which being separated from the body is seuered also from the forme or life And the life of Beasts hath no other forme but that which is vnited with the bloud as the life of trees is the sappe of trees their bloud being as it were their soule But the life of man is in his bloud hauing his seate therein liuing when it is by death separated from the bloud meane while the Spirits being the purest part of the bloud as conduits conueying life to the bodily members and as firme bands of a middle nature between the body and soule vniting them together which bands and carriages being broken by effusion of bloud the soule subsisteth a spirituall substance without the body not subiect to substantiall corruption or mortalitie God did also make a couenant for Man with the beasts of the field infusing into the Nature of all things a dread and feare of man whereby they feare the power the snares and sleights of man and therefore flee or else submit themselues not by that willing instinct as to Adam in innocencie but rather with a seruile feare And although by hunger or prouocation or feare of their owne danger they sometimes rebell yet otherwise there remaines some impression of this naturall decree in them as experience in all places hath shewed Euen the Lyon King of Forrests and sauage Creatures doth not easily giue on-set but on such occasions yea the Moores meeting with this Beast doe rate and brawle at him this magnanimous beast passing by with a leering countenance expressing a mixt passion of dread and disdaine fearing the voice of one that feareth not the weapons of many and which himselfe by the terrour of
was first inhabited both before and after the Floud : and from thence were Colonies sent into Syria and Phoenecea , which held their Language pure by reason few Strangers had recourse to them till after the 〈◊〉 of the first Temple as appeareth by Coynes of the Tyrians and Sidonians which are digged out and found daily PSAMMETICHVS King of Egypt caused two Children to bee closely brought vp by a Shepheard who should at times put Goates to them to giue them sucke without euer hearing humane voyce After two yeares they vttered the word Bec Bec which was the voyce that they had heard of their Nurses the Goates but not so interpreted by Psammetichus for hee inquiring in what Language Bec was significant and hearing that the Phrygians so called Bread ascribed to them the prioritie of all Nations and Languages Melabdim Echebar the great Mogor as the Iesuites Epistles declare made the like tryall of thirtie Children whom hee caused without hearing of man to be brought vp setting Guards to obserue the Nurses that they should not speake to them purposing to bee of that Religion whereto they should addict themselues But neither could they euer speake or would he euer addict himselfe to one certaine Religion Goropius by a few Dutch Etymologies grew into conceit and would haue the World beleeue him that Dutch was the first Language which if it were wee English should raigne with them as a Colonie of that Dutch Citie a streame from that Fountaine by Commerce and Conquests since manifoldly mixed But his euidence is too weake his authoritie too new The common and more receiued opinion is that the Hebrew was the first confirmed also by Vniuersalitie Antiquitie and consent of the Christian Fathers and Learned men grounding themselues vpon this Reason That all the names mentioned in Scripture before the Diuision are in that Language onely significant besides it is not like that Shem conspired with these Babylonians and therefore not partaker of their punishment Now it is very probable and almost manifest that hee was the same which after is called Melchisedech King of Salem betwixt whom and Abraham in that familiaritie it is not likely that there was much dissonance in Language Hee is also called the Father of all the Sonnes of Heber by a peculiar proprietie although hee had other Sonnes because the puritie of Religion and Language remayned in Hebers Posteritie And why should Heber call his Sonne Peleg Diuision but of this Diuision which then happened The Nation and Language of Israel borrow their name Hebrew of him And if it had happened to himselfe why should hee more then others haue so named his Sonne CHAP. IX A Geographicall Narration of the whole Earth in generall and more particularly of ASIA TYPUS ORBIS TERRARUM Domini est terra plenitudo ejus orbis terrarum universi qui habitant in eo Psalmo 24. יהוה WE haue all this time beene viewing one Nation which alone was knowne in the Earth vntill confusion of Language caused diuision of Lands and haue taken notice of the Heads and Authours of those Peoples and Nations that from that time were scattered ouer the World and after setled in their proper Habitations We haue not followed the opinion of some both of the Ancients and later Writers in defining the number of Nations and Languages through the World reckoned by them seuentie two For who seeth not that Moses in that tenth of Genesis is most carefull to describe the Posteritie and bounds of Canaan which GOD had giuen to Israel which it were absurd to thinke in so small a Territorie to bee of so many that is eleuen seuerall Languages And how many Nations were founded after that by Abrahams Posteritie not to mention so many other Fountaines of Peoples by the sonnes of Hagar and Ketura and Esau the Sonne of Isaac Neyther could the World so suddenly bee peopled and of that which then was peopled Moses writing a Historie of and for the Church so farre mentioneth the Affaires and Nations of the World as it was meete for the Church and especially that Church of the Israelites to know according as it was likely they should haue then or after more or lesse to doe with them Africanus hath reckoned the seuentie two by name But how easie were it in these dayes to set downe seuentie two more of differing Nations both in Region and Language and how little of the World was then knowne shall presently bee shewed Besides it may bee a question whether diuers of those there mentioned did not speake the same Language as in Chaldaea Syria and Canaan with some diuersitie of Dialect a little more then in our Northerne Westerne and Southerne English Which may appeare both by the Pilgrimages of the Patriarkes Abraham Isaac and Iacob in those parts which had needed new Interpreters by that rule in euery two or three dayes trauell except themselues had beene almost miraculously skilfull in Languages and by the Chaldaean and Syrian Monuments and Bookes which some obserue to come nigh to the Hebrew Doctor Willet reproueth Philoes opinion That the Chalde and Hebrew was all one because Daniel an Hebrew was set to learne the Chalde or that the Syrian and Chalde according to Mercerus opinion was the same yet grants that in the first times the Syrian and Chalde little differed Scaliger a fit man to speake of Languages who could speake so many saith as before is obserued That in Assyria was the first both Man and Language euen the same which thence passed with their Colonies into Syria and Canaan where it remayned pure euen then when in Assyria it selfe it was corrupted by entercourse of strangers Abraham spake this corrupted Syrian which tooke place only in the Tracts of Euphrates at the first but after both he and his Posteritie vsed the Language of Canaan so that Laban whose Kindred Countrey and Language was the same with Abrahams yet spake another and differing Language from that of Iacob one calling that Galed which the other calleth Iegarsabadutha Thus it appeareth by him that the ancient Syrian Assyrian and Chaldaean were first that which is now called Hebrew because the Hebrewes obserued and retayned it and onely haue left Bookes to vs written therein whom the Cananites called Hebrewes as Scaliger and Montanus affirme because Abraham had passed ouer the Riuer Euphrates vnto them but after degenerated first in the parts neare Euphrates where it was first spoken and when the Tyrians and Sidonians had the Empire of the Sea by reason of their Traffique it proued impure there also howsoeuer in the time of Elisa or Dido the Phoenician or Punicke which shee carryed into Africa was pure Hebrew as were also their Letters The later Carthaginian Letters were read from the left hand to the right as the Latine and Greeke but those from the right hand yet not the same which now are called Hebrew but ought rather
they after obtained Eusebius in the first booke of his Chronicle attributeth the originall of Idolatry to Serug the Father of Nahor Beda saith In the daies of Phaleg Temples were built and the Princes of Nations adored for gods The same hath Isidore Epiphanius referreth it to Serug and addeth That they had not grauen Images of Wood or Metall but pictures of men and Thara the Father of Abraham was the first Author of Images The like hath Suidas Hugo de S. Victore saith Nimrod brought men to idolatrie and caused them to worship the fire because of the fiery nature and operation of the Sun which errour the Chaldaeans afterwards followed These times till Abram they called Scythismus The reason of their Idolatrie Eusebius alleageth That they thus kept remembrance of their Warriours Rulers and such as had atchieued noblest enterprises and worthiest exploits in their life time Their posteritie ignorant of that their scope which was to obserue their memorials which had been Authors of good things and because they were their forefathers worshipped them as heauenly Deities and sacrificed to them Of their God-making or Canonization this was the manner In their sacred Bookes or Kallenders they ordained That their names should bee written after their death and a Feast should be solemnized according to the same time saying That their soules were gone to the Isles of the blessed and that they were no longer condemned or burned with fire These things lasted to the dayes of Thara who saith Suidas was an Image-maker and propounded his Images made of diuers matter as gods to be worshipped but Abram broke his Fathers Images From Saruch the Author and this Practice Idolatry passed to other Nations Suidas addeth specially into Greece for they worshipped Hellen a Gyant of the posterity of Iapheth a partner in the building of the Tower Not vnlike to this we reade the causes of Idolatry in the booke of Wisdome supposed to be written by Philo but because the substance is Salomons professing and bearing his name which of all the Apochrypha-Scripture sustaineth least exception attaineth highest commendation When a Father mourned grieuously for his sonne that was taken away suddenly he made an Image for him that was once dead whom now he worshippeth as a God and ordained to his seruants Ceremonies and Sacrifices A second cause hee alleageth viz. The tyrannie of men whose Images they made and honoured that they might by all meanes flatter him that was absent as though hee had beene present A third reason followeth The ambitious skill of the workeman that through the beauty of the worke the multitude beeing allured tooke him for a God which a little before was honoured but as a man The like affirmeth Hierome Cyprian and Polydore de inuentoribus LACTANTIVS as before is shewed maketh that the Etymologie of the word Superstitio Quia superstitem memoriam defunctorum colebant aut quia parentibus suis superstites celebrabant imagines eorum domi tanquam deos penates either because they honoured with such worship the suruiuing memory of their dead Ancestors or because suruiuing and out-liuing their Ancestors they celebrated their Images in their houses as houshold gods Such Authors of new Rites and Deifiers of dead men they called Superstitious but those which followed the publikely-receiued and ancient Deities were called Religious according to that Verse of Virgil. Vana superstitio veterumque ignara deorum But by this rule saith Lactantius wee shall find all Superstitious which worship false gods and them only religious which worship the one and true GGD The same Lactantius faith That Noah cast off his sonne Cham for his wickednesse and expelled him Hee abode in that part of the Earth which now is called Arabia called saith he of his name Canaan and his Posteritie Canaanites This was the first people which was ignorant of GOD because their Founder and Prince receiued not of his Father the worship of GOD. But first of all other the Egyptians began to behold and adore the heauenly bodies and because they were not couered with houses for the temperature of the Ayre and that Region is not subiect to clouds they obserued the Motions and Ecclipses of the Starres and whiles they often viewed them more curiously fel to worship them After that they inuented the monstrous shapes of beasts which they worshipped Other men scattered through the World admiring the Elements the Heauen Sunne Land Sea without any Images and Temples worshipped them and sacrificed to them sub dio til in processe of time they erected Temples and Images to their most puissant Kings ordained vnto them Sacrifices Incense so wandering from the knowledge of the true GOD they became Gentiles Thus farre Lactantius And it is not vnlike that they performed this to their Kings eyther in flatterie or feare of their power or because of the benefits which they receiued from them this beeing saith Plinie the most ancient kinde of thankefulnesse to reckon their Benefactours among the gods To which accordeth Cicero in the Examples of Hercules Castor Pollux Aesculapius Liber Romulus And thus the Moores deified their Kings and the Romanes their deceased Emperours The first that is named to haue set vp Images and worship to the dead was Ninus who when his Father Belus was dead made an Image to him and gaue priuiledge of Sanctuary to all Offenders that resorted to this Image whereupon mooued with a gracelesse gratefulnesse they performed thereunto diuine honours And this example was practised after by others And thus of Bel or Belus beganne this Imagerie and for this cause saith Lyra they called their Idols Bel Baal Beel-zebub according to the diuersitie of Languages Cyrillus calleth him Arbelus and saith that before the Floud was no Idolatrie amongst men but it had beginning after in Babylon in which Arbelus next after whom raigned Ninus was worshipped Tertullian out of the Booke of Enoch before mentioned is of opinion That Idolatrie was before the Floud Thus to continue the memorie of mortall men and in admiration of the immortall heauenly Lights together with the tyrannie of Princes and policies of the Priests beganne this worshipping of the creature with the contempt of the Creator which how they increased by the Mysteries of their Philosophers the fabling of their Poets the ambition of Potentates the Superstition of the vulgar the gainfull collusion of their Priests the cunning of Artificers and aboue all the malice of the Deuils worshipped in those Idols there giuing answeres and Oracles and receiuing Sacrifices the Histories of all Nations are ample Witnesses And this Romane Babylon now Tyrant of the West is the heire of elder Babylon sometimes Ladie of the East in these deuotions that then and still Babylon might bee the mother of Whoredomes and all Abominations To which aptly agree the Parallels of Babylon and Rome in Orosius the Empire of the one ceasing when
the World all Nations honoring his memory except some Heathens as the Parthians on the left hand and Indians on the right which were remainders of the Chaldaeans and called Zabij These Zabij Scaliger also sayth were Chaldaeans so called a vento Apeliote as one might say Eastern-men or Easterlings and addeth that the Booke so often cited by Rambam concerning their Religion Rites and Customes is yet extant in the hands of the Arabian Muhamedans Out of this booke our Rabbie reciteth their opinions that Adam was borne of man and woman as other men and that hee was a Prophet of the Moone and by preaching perswaded men to worship the Moone and that hee composed bookes of husbandry that Noe also was a husband-man and beleeued not in Idols For which the Zabij put him in prison and because he worshipped the Creator Seth also contradicted Adam in his Lunarie worship They tell also that Adam went out of the Land of promise which is towards India and entred into Babylon whither hee carried with him a tree still growing with branches and leaues and a tree of stones and leaues of a tree which would not burne vnder the shadow of which tree he said ten thousand men might be couered the height whereof was as the stature of a man Adam also had affirmed in his booke of a tree in India the boughes whereof being cast on the ground would stir like Serpents and of another which had a root shaped like a man endued with a kind of sounding voyce differing from speech and of a certaine hearbe which being folded vp in a mans clothes would make him walke inuisible and the smoke of the same being fired would cause thunders another tree they worshipped which abode in Niniuie twelue yeeres and contended with the Mandrake for vsurping her roome whereby it came to passe that the Priest or Prophet which had vsed to prophesie with the spirit of that tree ceased a long time from prophesying and at last the tree spake to him and bade him write the sute betweene her and the Mandrake whether of them were the more honourable These fooleries saith he they attributed to Adam that so they might proue the eternitie of the world and Deitie of the Stars These Zabij made them for this cause Images of gold to the Sunne of siluer to the Moone and built them Temples saying that the power of the Planets was infused into those Images whence they spake vnto men and taught things profitable The same they affirmed of those trees which they apropriated to each of them with peculiar worships rites and hallowings whereby that tree receiued a power to speake with men in their sleepes From hence sprang magicall diuinations auguries necromancie and the like They offered to their chiefe god a Beetle and seuen Mice and seuen Fowles The greatest of their bookes is that of the Aegyptian seruice translated into Arabike by a Moore called Enennaxia which containeth in it many ridiculous things and yet these were the famous wise-men of Babylon in those daies In the said booke is reported of a certaine Idolatrous Prophet named Tamut who preaching to a certaine King this worship of the seuen Planets and twelue Signes was by him done to a grieuous death And in the night of his death all the Images from the ends of the world came and assembled together at the great golden Image in the Temple at Babylon which was sacred to the Sunne and hanged betweene the heauen and the earth which then prostrated it selfe in the midst of the Temple with all the Images round about shewing to them all which had befallen Tamut All the Images therefore wept all night and in the morning fled away each to his owne Temple And hence grew that custome yearely in the beginning of the monerh Tamut to renew that mourning for Tamut Other bookes of theirs are mentioned by him one called Deizamechameche a booke of Images a booke of Candles of the degrees of Heauen and others falsly ascribed to Aristotle and one to Alformor and one to Isaac and one of their Feasts Offrings Prayers and other things pertaining to their Law and some written against their opinions all done into Arabike In these are set downe the Rites of their Temples and Images of stone or mettall and applying of Spirits to them and their Sacrifices and kinds of meates They name their holy places sumptuously built the Temples of Intelligible formes and set Images on high mountaines and honour trees and attribute the increase of men and fruites to the Starres Their Priests preached that the Earth could not bee Tilled according to the will of the gods except they serued the Sunne and Starres which being offended would diminish their fruites and make their Countries desolate They haue written also in the former bookes that the Planet Iupiter is angrie with the Deserts and drie places whence it commeth that they want water and trees and that Deuils haunt them They honoured Husband-men and fulfilling the will of the Starres in tilling the ground they honoured Kine and Oxen for their labours therein saying that they ought not to be slaine In their festiuals they vsed Songs and all Musicall instruments affirming that their Idols were pleased with these things promising to the doers long life health plentie of fruits raines trees freedome from losses and the like Hence it is saith R. Moses that the Law of Moses forbiddeth these rites and threatneth the contrarie plagues to such as shall obserue them Tehy had certaine hallowed beasts in their Temples wherein their Images were before which they bowed themselues and burned incense These opinions of the Zabij were holden also by the Aramites Chanaanites and Aegyptians They had their magicall obseruations in gathering certaine hearbs or in the vse of certaine metals or liuing creatures and that in a set certaine time with their set rites as of leaping clapping the hands hopping crying laughing c. in the most of which women were actors as when they would haue raine ten Virgins clothed in hallowed garments of red colour danced a procession turning about their faces and shoulders and stretching their fingers towards the Sunne and to preuent harme by haile foure Women lay on their backes naked lifting vp their feete speaking certaine words And all Magicall practices they made to depend of the Starres saying that such a Starre was pleased with such an incense such a Plant such a metall such words or workes and thereby would be as it were hired to such or such effects as to driue away Serpents and Scorpions to slay wormes in nuts to make the leaues fall and the like Their Priests vsed shauings of the head and beard and linsey wolsey garments and made a signe in their hand with some kind of metals The Booke of Centir prescribeth a woman to stand armed before the starre of Mars and a man clothed in womans attire painted before the starre of Venus to prouoke lust The worshippers of
the fire made men beleeue that they which would not cause their children to passe through the fire should lose them and easily perswaded them thereunto as a thing easie saith the Rabine for they did not burne them although herein both diuine and humane testimonies make me beleeue the contrarie From hence saith hee descended the customes obserued by women in holding and mouing their children ouer the fire or smoke They had their diuersities of Processions and when they hallowed a tree to an Image one part of the fruit thereof was offered and the other eaten in the house of the Idoll the like they did with the first fruits of euery tree making men beleeue that otherwise the tree would become vnprofitable They had their magicall enchantments in the planting or grafting of trees with obseruations of the starres incenses words but this most Diabolicall that in the houre when one kinde was to be ingrafted into another the science which was to bee ingrafted should bee holden in the hand of some beautifull woman and that some man should then carnally but vnnaturally haue knowledge of her the woman in that instant putting the science into the tree They vsed also to make circles when they planted or sowed and went about the same some fiue times because of the fiue planets some seuen in regard of the Sunne and Moone added to that number For this cause the Iew not vnprobably thinketh that mixtures in garments seedes and the like were forbidden by the Law of Moses with other rites any way resembling these They further worshipped Deuils beleeuing that they appeared to men in the formes of Goates and therefore called their Deuils Kids and held it vnlawfull to sheare or to eate their kids but especially they abhorred the killing of Kine but performed much worship to them as they also doe in India to this day They sacrificed Lyons Beares and wilde Beasts as is mentioned in the Booke Zeuzit They held bloud in much abomination accounting it a great pollution and yet did eat it because they said it was the food of Deuils and they which did eat it should haue communion with them and that they would come to such and reueale vnto them things to come Some whose nicer stomackes could not indure to eate it receiued the same when they killed a beast in a Vessell or in a ditch and did eate the flesh of that Sacrifice being placed about that bloud thinking that the Deuils did eate the bloud and that thus by this as it were eating at the same table was entertained betwixt them and the Deuils mutuall familiaritie and societie They beleeued also that in their sleepes the Deuils came and reuealed secrets vnto them Concerning a menstruous woman their custome was that shee should sit alone in a house and that the places where shee set her feet should be burned whosoeuer talked with her was vncleane yea if he but stood in the wind of her the wind from her did pollute him Likewise these Zabians thought whatsoeuer went from their bodies was vncleane as nailes haire bloud and therefore Barbers and Surgeons were holden polluted and after cutting off their haire vsed much washing for expiation But it needeth some expiation that I insist so long in these narrations and haue need of some Barber or Surgeon to ease me of superfluities if that can be superfluous which fitteth so to our proiect and in the iudgement of the learnedst of the Iewish Rabbines in many ages seemed the cause of so many prohibitions in Moses his Law lest they should conforme themselues in religious obseruances to these superstitious Zabians But let vs now returne to Diodorus who affirmeth that the Chaldaeans numbred fortie three thousand yeeres vntill the comming of Alexander since first they had begunne their obseruations of the Starres These yeeres Xenophon de aequiuocis interpreteth of moneths for so sayth he the Chaldaeans reckoned their antiquities in other things they kept their computation according to the Sunne But of their fabulous antiquities wee haue heard before where wee haue also touched that one beginning of Idolatrie did arise of this curious and superstitious Starre-gazing especially in the Countries of Aegypt where not at all vsually and in Chaldaea where diuers moneths together they haue neither raines nor cloudes Strabo diuideth the Chaldaeans into sects Orcheni Borsippeni and others diuersly opinionate of the same things Borsippa was a Citie sacred to Diana and Apollo Plinie addeth the Hippareni Daniel reckoneth vp foure kind of Wise-men among the Chaldaeans the first are called Chartummim which were Enchanters Ashaphim Astrologers Mecashpim Sorcerers or Iuglers deluders of sense and Chasdim Chaldaeans which howsoeuer it were a generall name of that Nation yet was it appropriated vnto a certaine sect and profession of learning among them which seemed to excell the rest and were their Priests Philosophers and Mathematicians as you haue heard In the seuen and twentieth verse of the same chapter are mentioned also Cachimim Wisards which by coniectures and casting of lots did ghesse of things to come and Gazrin of the word gazar to cut these opened and diuined by the entrals of sacrifices The vanitie of their diuinations appeareth in that Prophet howsoeuer they haue beene renowned therefore among the Heathens as in the foretelling of Alexanders death and before that when Darius had changed his Scaberd into the Greeke fashion the ruine of that Empire by the Greeks When Faustina the Empresse wife to M. Antonius had fallen in loue with a Fencer or sword-player and being sicke confessed the same to her husband the Chaldaeans were sent for who gaue counsell to kill the Fencer and that shee should wash her selfe in his bloud and then accompanie with her Husband which was done and Commodus begotten who in qualities resembled that Fencer vpon this occasion as the people reported though others esteemed him a Bastard Plutarch sheweth how vainely the Romans depended on their predictions Thus Iuvenal reproues them Chaldaeis sed maior erit fiducia quicquid Dixerit Astrologus credent à fonte relatum Ammonis Ioues Oracles no greater credit haue Then sooth-saying of Chaldaee coozening knaue Many Edicts were after made against them Otho Heurnius laboureth to bring the Grecian Philosophie from the Chaldaeans yea Aristotle himselfe as hee had receiued the the Persian and Indian Philosophie by tradition of Pythagoras and Democritus and the Aegyptian and Iewish learning from Plato so was hee instructed sayth hee in the Babylonian sciences by Callisthenes But Caelius Rhodiginus and Iosephus Scaliger thinke them rather corrupters of learning whereof they had no solid knowledge and that the Greekes attained thereunto by their owne industrie without borrowing of the Chaldaeans Peucer deemeth them too Philosophicall the peruerters of Religion into Theoricall speculations of Nature and confuteth their fiue kinds of prognosticating But their estimation could not haue beene such in Daniels time if they had not beene
manner of sitting is crowned on their Temples with garlands their retiring places distinguished with cords by which the stranger may haue accesse to which of them hee liketh best And thus doe these Votaries of Venus sit holding it religion to bee irreligious none of them euer returning home till some guest haue cast money into her lap whom it is not lawfull for her to refuse but to accept of him and his price whatsoeuer he be and follow him aside from the Temple where hee defileth her At the giuing of the money hee vseth these words Tanti tibi deam Mylittam imploro that is at this price or for so much I implore vnto thee the goddesse Mylitta so the Assyrians call Venus and this money is consecrated to a sacred vse After this with the goddesse good leaue shee may returne home although for no great price againe saith our Author to be hired By this meanes the fairest are quickly dispatched the rest endure a restlesse and irkesome penance sometime a yeere two or three before they can be discharged of their honestie and the law together and hence might arise that former ambitious vpbraiding in Baruch Among their many Idols Bel bare the bell not here alone but in all the countries of Assyria and adioyning thereto as appeareth in the Historie of the Bible where Bel or Baal is so often mentioned as the Idoll of so many Nations and the sinne of the apostaticall Synagogue They built vnto him high places or else in stead thereof vsed the roofes of their houses to his worship they built him houses they made him Images erected Altars planted Groues bended to him the knee and kissed him in token of subiection vsed perfume and incense obserued to him holy dayes cut and lanced themselues in his seruice with other extaticall furies and religious frensies with ornaments of gold and iewels inuocations and immolations yea of their owne children he had also his peculiar prophets and priests These and such like doth the Scripture mention of this Babylonian Idoll whose contagion infected the East with a Catholike Idolatrie that could plead Antiquitie Vniuersalitie and Consent by euidence of Scripture-historie which later Babylon cannot doe and yet was but Catholike and generall errour Bel was sayth Plinie Inuentor sideralis scientiae the inuentor of Astrologie which Heurnius addeth hee defiled with impure Magicke as did his daughter Semiramis who warred vpon Zoroaster in enuie of his greater learning Bels magicke appeared in his sepulchre which Xerxes opening found a vessell of glasse and therein a carkasse swimming in oyle which reached not to the brim by a hand-breadth In a little pillar iust by was engrauen that he should dearely repent it which opening the sepulchre did not fill vp the vessell this Xerxes assayed to doe in vaine and therefore departed very heauie finding in his Grecian Expedition the truth of Bels prophecie The like is said to happen when Darius in hope of treasure opened the sepulchre of Semiramis hee found a chist which being opened a venimous pestilence issued that consumed the third part of men Ribera affirmeth that diuers later Authors and before them Theodoret doe esteeme the name Bel or Baal to be a generall name agreeing to all the gods of the Gentiles according to the signification of the word to wit a Lord It was a name generall to their Idols when it was put alone but particular with some addition as Bel-zebub Baal-zephon There were so many Baals in Syria sayth Drusius as there were Regions and almost as many as Cities The Moabites had their Chamos the Ammonites Moloch the Sydonians Astarte in Gaza Maruan in Hamath Asima c. all called Baal in like sort as the Europaeans varied the names of Iupiter as Iupiter Capitolinus Iupiter Ammon Stygius Olympius and the rest many gods and many lords sayth Saint Paul yet in the Easterne Dialect wee may reade many Baalim and in the Westerne many Ioues the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latine Iouis the ancient nominatiue Iouis pater Iouispiter and by contraction Iupiter not as Tully Lactantius and others quasi iuuans pater being all deriued that wee may note this by the way of that ineffable name which wee pronounce Iehoua And had they not intended the true God when they vsed Baal or Ioue absolutely without addition neither had the Lord prohibited thou shalt call mee no more Baali that is my Lord nor Paul applied that speech of Aratus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wee are his generation hauing foure verses before begunne his booke with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnto the true GOD. Seruius is Author that Belus the father of Dido descended of that ancient BELVS the first King of the Assyrians which people worshipped Saturne and Iuno which were after worshipped in Africa whereupon the Punikes called GOD Bal from whence came those names Hannibal Adherbal and such like whom the Assyrians in some respect call Bel and Saturne and the Sunne This opinion that in Bel they worshipped the Sunne is followed by Tremellius and Iunius in their notes on Esaias Chap. 46.1 because the Assyrians Persians and Babylonians accounted the Sunne the greatest God and worshipped the Fire as a particle thereof To him the Iewes with this borrowed forreine Idolatrie dedicated Horses and Chariots which Iosias abolished together with the Altars on the roofe of Ahas his house the high places where their god might see their deuotions Hierom on that place of Esay sayth that Bel was Saturn which Suidas confirmeth Augustine relateth the vsuall opinion on those words Iud. 2. They serued Baal and Astaroth that Baal in those parts was the name of Iupiter and Astarte of Iuno and produceth the Punicke language in which Baalsamen signifieth the Lord of Heauen and for Astaroth which he readeth Astartibus he sayth it is in the plurall number in regard of the multitude of Iunoes Images each bearing the name of Iuno This also is exemplified in the blessed Virgin by Ribera sometime called our Ladie of Loretto sometime our Ladie of Monteferato c. according to the diuersitie of places wherein they worship not Marie the Virgin but their owne Idols the daughters of their whorish mother Babylon For the Tyrians Sydonians Philistims and other Syrian and Assyrian Nations the Scripture brandeth them with this Bel or Baal-Idolatrie in hatred of which name the Iewes called the Prince of Deuils as the Acaronites did their principall Idols by the name of Beelzebub Thus the Greekes and Latines hath confounded the Assyrian and Tyrian Bel which by Iosephus Scaliger who not vnworthily is called the Dictator of knowledge and great Prince of learnings state are distinguished and made two the one sayth he is written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the later 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and reproued Hierome for making Belus the father of Ninus and the Virgilian Belus to be one But in his notes on the fragments
Diarbech The chiefe Cities in it are Orfa of seuen miles compasse famous say some for the death of Crassus Caramit the mother Citie of the Countrey of twelue miles compasse Mosul and Merdin of which in the next Chapter Betweene Orpha and Caramit was the Paradise of Aladeules where hee had a fortresse destroyed by Selim. This his Paradise was like to that which you shall finde in our Persian Historie Men by a potion brought into a sleepe were brought into this supposed Paradise where at their waking they were presented with all sensuall pleasures of musicke damosels dainties c. which hauing had some taste of another sleepie drinke after came againe to themselues And then did Aladeules tell them That he could bring whom hee pleased to Paradise the place where they had beene and if they would commit such murders or haughtie attempts it should bee theirs A dangerous deuice Zelim the Turke destroyed the place CHAP. XIIII Of Niniue and other neighbouring Nations WE haue hitherto spoken of Babylonia but so as in regard of the Empire and some other occurrents necessitie now and then compelled vs to make excursions into some other parts of Assyria Mesopotamia c. And I know not how this Babylon causeth confusion in that Sea of affaires and in regard of the diuision of the pennes as sometimes of tongues of such as haue written thereof Hard it is to distinguish betweene the Assyrian and Babylonian Empire one while vnited another while diuided as each partie could most preuaile and no lesse hard to reconcile the Ethnike and Diuine Historie touching the same Ptolemey straitneth Assyria on the North with part of Armenia neere the hill Niphates on the West with Mesopotamia on the South with Susiana and Media on the East But her large Empire hath enlarged the name of Syria and of Assyria which names the Greekes did not well distinguish to many Countries in that part of Asia The Scripture deriueth Syria from Aram and Assyria from Ashur Both were in their times flourishing and mention is made from Abrahams time both of the warres and kingdomes in those parts yea before from Ashur and Nimrod as alreadie is shewed Mesopotamia is so called and in the Scripture Aram or Syria of the waters because it is situate betweene Euphrates and Tygris the countries Babylonia and Armenia confining the same on the North and South Whereas therefore wee haue in our former Babylonian relation discoursed of Assyria extending the name after a larger reckoning here wee consider it more properly Euphrates is a Riuer very swift for they which goe to Bagdet buy their boats at Birra which serue them but one voyage and sell them at Felugia for seuen or eight which cost fiftie because they cannot returne But Tygris is swifter the Armenians bring victuals downe the same to Bagdet on rafts made of Goats skinnes blowne full of wind and boords laid vpon them on which they lade their goods which being discharged they open the skinnes and carrie them backe on Camels Dionysius and Strabo tell of this Riuer that it passeth through the Lake Thonitis without mixture of waters by reason of this swiftnesse which also giueth it the name for the Medes call an Arrow Tygris Lucan sayth it passeth a great way vnder ground and wearie of that burthensome iourney riseth againe as out of a new fountaine At Tygrim subito tellus absorbet hiatu Occultosque tegit cursus rursusque renatum Fonte nouo flumen pelagi non abnegat vndas The chiefe Citie in these parts was Niniue called in Ionas A great and excellent Citie of three dayes iourney It had I borrow the words of our reuerend Diocesan an ancient testimonie long before in the Booke of Genesis For thus Moses writeth That Ashur came from the land of Shinar and built Niniueh and Rehoboth and Calah and Resin At length he singleth out Niniue from the rest and setteth a speciall marke of preeminence vpon it This is a great Citie which honour by the iudgement of the most learned though standing in the last place belongeth to the first of the foure Cities namely to Niniue Others imagined but their coniecture is without ground that the foure Cities were closed vp within the same walls and made but one of an vsuall bignesse Some ascribe the building of Niniue to Ninus the sonne of Belus of whom it tooke the name to be called either Ninus as wee reade in Plinie or after the manner of the Hebrewes Niniue They conceiue it thus That when Nimrod had built Babylon Ninus disdaining his gouernment went into the fields of Ashur and there erected a Citie after his owne name betweene the riuers Lycus and Tygris Others suppose that the affinitie betwixt these names Ninus and Niniueh deceiued profane Writers touching the Author thereof and that it tooke to name Niniueh because it was beautifull or pleasant Others hold opinion that Ashur and Ninus are but one and the same person And lastly to conclude the iudgement of some learned is that neither Ashur nor Ninus but Nimrod himselfe was the founder of it But by the confession of all both sacred and Gentile Histories the Citie was very spacious hauing foure hundred and fourescore furlongs in circuit when Babylon had fewer almost as some report by an hundred and as afterwards it grew in wealth and magnificence so they write it was much more enlarged Raphael Volaterranus affirmeth That it was eight yeeres in building and not by fewer at once then tenne thousand workemen There was no Citie since by the estimation of Diodorus Siculus that had like compasse of ground or statelinesse of walls the height whereof was not lesse then an hundred foot the breadth sufficiently capable to haue receiued three Carts on a row and they were furnished and adorned besides with fifteene hundred Turrets Thus farre our reuerend and learned Bishop Diodorus telleth out of Ctesias that Ninus after he had subdued the Egyptians Phoenicians Syrians Cilicians Phrygians and others as farre as Tanais and the Hyrcanians Parthians Persians and other their neighbours he built this Citie After that hee led an armie against the Bactrians of seuenteene hundred thousand footmen and two hundred thousand horse in which Expedition he tooke Semiramis from her husband Menon who therefore impatient of loue and griefe hanged himselfe Hee had by her a sonne of his owne name and then died leauing the Empire to his wife His Sepulchre was nine furlongs in height each of which is sixe hundred feete and ten in breadth The credite of this Historie I leaue to the Author scarce seeming to agree with Moses narration of the building of Niniue any more then Semiramis building of Babylon Some write That Semiramis abusing her husbands loue obtained of him the swaying of the Empire for the space of fiue dayes in which shee depriued him of his life and succeeded in his estate But lest the
that crueltie Some interprete Moloch and Remphan Act. 7. to bee the Sunne and Moone The Talmudists would perswade men that they did not burne their children in this Moloch-sacrifice but onely the father tooke his children and moued them to and fro thorow the fire none otherwise then at this time on Saint Iohn Baptists day when the Sunne passeth thorow Cancer children vse to leape thorow bone-fires But both Scripture and Heathen Authors write otherwise Moloch is also called Baal There was a valley neere Hierusalem sometime possessed by the sonne of Hinnom where the Hebrewes built a notorious high place to Moloch it was on the East and South part of the Citie It was also called Topheth or Tymbrell of that Tymbrell-rite which those Corribantes and bloudie Priests did vse or else for the spaciousnesse of it Ieremie prophecieth That it should be called the Valley of slaughter because of the iudgements for the idolatrous high places in it Vpon the pollution hereof by slaughter and burials it grew so execrable that Hell inherited the same name called Gehenna of this place first of the lownesse being a Valley secondly for the Fire which heere the children there the wicked sustaine thirdly because all the filth was cast out of the Citie hither it seemed they held some resemblance The Ammonites also were as Montanus affirmeth circumcised Canaan was the sonne of Cham Father of many Nations as Moses declareth Sidon and Heth Iebusi Emori Girgashai Hivi Arki Sini Aruadi Zemari Hamathi the most of which were expelled their Countrey slaine or made tributarie by the Israelites Their border was from Sidon to Gaza West and on the East side from Sodome to Lasha or Callyrrhoe Arrias Montanus is of opinion that according to the number of the twelue Tribes of Israel so were the people of Canaan and therefore to those eleuen before rehearsed he addeth their Father Canaan who left his name to them all and where he liued retained a part to himselfe betweene the Philistims and Amorites Of those his sonnes Sidon the eldest inhabited the Sea-coast and Eastward from him Heth vnto the hill Gilboa of him came the Hittites Iebus went further on the right-hand Emor inhabited the midland Countrey Westward from the Iebusites The Girgashite dwelt aboue the Hittite next to Iordan and the lake Chinereth so called because it resembleth the forme of a Harpe after called Gennezareth The Heuite or Hiuite inhabited betweene the Amorite and the Philistim The Arkite possessed the rootes of Libanus The Sinite dwelt beyond the Hittite Eastward neerer to Iordan Aruadi enioyed the Countrey next to the Wildernesse of Cades Zemari obtained the Hills called of him Semaraim The Hamathite possessed the Countrey nigh to the Fountaines of Iordan As For the most notable Mountaines and Cities which each of these Families enioyed they which will may reade further in the same Author Of these and their ancient Religions and Policies wee find little or nothing but in the Scripture where the Lord testifieth that for their sinnes the Land spued them out Some of them as some thinke fled into Africa where Augustine saith that the Countrey people inhabiting neere Hippon called themselues in their Punike Language Chanani Procopius in the fourth booke of the Vandale warre affirmeth That all the Sea-coast in those times from Sidon to Aegypt was called Phoenicia and that when Ioshua inuaded them they left their Countrey and fled into Aegypt there multiplied and pierced further into Africa where they possessed all that Tract vnto the Pillars of Hercules speaking halfe Phoenician They build the Citie Tinge or Tanger in Numidia where were two Pillars of white stone placed neere to a great Fountaine in which in the Phoenician tongue was ingrauen Wee are Canaanites whom IOSHVA the Thiefe chased away Which if it were so the name of Hercules might therefore bee ascribed to those Pillars as accounted the chiefe Phoenician Idoll Philo or the Author of those fabulous Antiquities sayth That the Israelites found among the Amorites seuen golden Images called Nymphes which as Oracles directed them in their affaires and wrought wonders the worke of Canaan Phut Selah Nebroth Elath Desvat of admirable workmanship yeelding light in the night by vertue of certaine stones which could not by mettall be broken or pierced or be consumed by fire but must needs haue an Angell to burie them in the depth of the Sea and there let them lie This people was not vtterly at once destroyed but sometime as in the dayes of Iabin and Sisera conquered their Conquerors and retayned some power and name of a People till the times of Dauid who destroyed the Iebusites and dwelt in the Fort of Sion calling it after his owne name The Citie of Dauid And in the dayes of Salomon Pharao King of Aegypt tooke and burnt Gezer and slue the Cauaanites that dwelt in the Citie and gaue it for a present to his daughter Salomons wife And all the people that were left of the Amorites Hittites Perizzites Hiuites and Iebusites whom the children of Israel were not able to destroy those did Salomon make tributaries vnto this day 1. King 9.16 20 21. The posteritie of these seruants of Salomon are mentioned among the Israelites which returned from the Babylonian Captiuitie and accrued into one People with them OF THE HEBREW NATION AND RELIGION FROM THE BEGINNING THEREOF TO OVR TIMES THE SECOND BOOKE CHAP. I. The Preface of this Booke and à Description of the Region of Palaestina since called Iudaea and now Terra Sancta IN the former Booke we haue traced the foot-steps of Religion following Her in Her wanderings from the Truth and Her selfe through diuers Nations till we came into this Land sometime flowing with Milke and Hony whose first inhabitants we last tooke view of The Hebrewes were by the Soueraign Lord of all made heires of their labours and possessed both their place and wealth Houses and Cities which they builded not Vineyards which they planted not and which is more these were a type vnto them of the true and heauenly Countrey which not by their merits but by the meere mercy of the Promiser they should enioy These did GOD choose of all the Kindreds of the Earth to make vnto himselfe a Kingdome of Priests a holy Nation and his chiefe treasure aboue all people though all the Earth be his He made them the Keepers of his Oracles bestowing on them the Adoption and the Glorie and the Couenants and the giuing of the Law and the Seruice of God and the Promises of whom were the Fathers and of whom concerning the flesh Christ came who is God ouer all blessed for euer Amen These things were not onely communicated but appropriated to them He shewed his Word vnto IACOB his Statutes and his Iudgements vnto ISRAER He dealt not so with any Nation neither had the Heathen knowledge of his Lawes hee was their prerogatiue and
and by the glorie and order of them learned the knowledge of GOD neuer ceasing that diuine search till GOD appeared to him Which opinion may reconcile both the former that first he was and after ceased to be an Idolater before God appeared in vision to him He alledgeth Philo for his Author that at fourteene yeeres Abraham reproued Thara for seducing men vnto Idolatrie moued by his priuate lucre with Images and seeing the Heauen sometime cleare sometime cloudie he gathered that that could not bee GOD. The like hee concluded of the Sunne and Moone by their Eclipses for his father had taught him Astronomie At last GOD appeared and bade him leaue his Countrey Whereupon hee tooke his Fathers Images who as before is said was an Image-maker and partly broke partly burnt them and then departed Suidas further thinketh him the first inuenter of Letters of the Hebrew tongue and of the interpretation of dreames which I leaue to the Authors credit But for the fault of Abraham before his calling and other blemishes after in him and the rest of the Patriarchs what doe they else but in abounding of mans sinne set out the superabounding grace of GOD and are profitable as learned Morton in his answere of this cauill hath out of one of their owne obserued against them what he had obserued out of Augustine to these foure purposes Faith Instruction Feare and Hope the Faith of the Historie which flattereth or concealeth the faults of none Instruction to vertue by seeing others faults taxed Feare for what shall Shrubs doe if Cedars fall and Hope that wee imitate their repentance by seeing their pardon But to returne to our Historie Many of the Ethnike histories mention him Berosus commendeth him for his iustice and skill in Astronomie Nic. Damascenus sayth that hee raigned at Damascus and that in his time his house continued in Damascus and was still called by his name Hecataeus wrote a booke of him and Alexander Polyhistor telleth that hee was borne in the tenth generation after the floud in Camarine or Vrien a Citie of Babylon Iosephus addeth that when famine draue him into Aegypt hee disputed with the Priests and most learned Aegyptians in questions of Diuinitie and in their diuided Sects hauing confuted one by another he communicated to them the truth both in this and in Arithmeticke and Astronomie whereof before the Aegyptians were ignorant Abram sayth Master Broughton in his Consent was borne sixtie yeeres later then the common account as appeareth by computation of Terahs age who died at two hundred and fiue yeeres and after his death Abram went from Charan into Canaan the threescore and fifteenth yeere of his owne life and therefore was borne in the hundred and thirtieth and not in the seuentieth yeere of his father in the three hundred fiftie and two yeere after the Floud whereas the common opinion reckoneth the two hundred ninetie and two To Abram GOD had giuen commandement saying Goe from thy Countrey and from thy Kindred and from thy Fathers house into the Land which I shall shew thee and I will make of thee a great Nation c. His Historie is fully related by Moses and his progenie also whereof Ismael his Sonne by Agar and other his sonnes which he had by Ketura his second wife he sent to inhabite the East Countrey Arabia in his life time but Isaac was made his Heire both temporall and spirituall to whom Iacob succeeded in the promised blessing who with his sonnes and familie went downe into Aegypt where his posteritie multiplied exceedingly and were called sometimes Ebrewes of their ancient pedegree sometime Israelites of the name Israel giuen to Iacob by the Angell Gen. 32.28 Their whole Historie so largely and plainely in holy Writ recorded I feare to make Mine by euill reciting Those Fountaines are more open to all then that any should neede ours or others Brookes mixed with some myrie earth at least in the passage and my intent is to bee largest in relation of those things which are not in the Scriptures onely touching those things briefly for order sake Their Religion meane while was the best amongst the best though stayned in some as Rachel which stale her father Labans Idols and Iacob was forced to reforme his Familie in this respect and after in Aegypt they were corrupted with the Aegyptian superstition as Ezechiel protests against them The manner of Diuine worship was not so straitly limited as afterwards to persons and places By Reuelation and Tradition they receiued the religious worship wherein they instructed their posteritie vntill that in their extremest thraldome GOD sent Moses and Aaron to deliuer them vnder whose conduct they passed through the Sea and Wildernesse to the brinkes of Iordan receiuing in the way that Law which as a Tutor or Schoole-master was in that their nonage to traine them vp vntill that full and ripe age when GOD sent his Sonne made of a woman made vnder the Law that hee might redeeme them that were vnder the Law that wee might receiue the adoption of Sonnes §. II. Of the Law of MOSES the twelue Tribes and of Proselytes OF this Law although Moses hath giuen vs an absolute relation in Scripture whereof he was the first Pen-man of that at least which remayneth vnto vs yet if wee shall out of him bring them into their order and ranke them vnder their seuerall heads as Sigonius and others haue done it shall not be I thinke ouer-tedious to the Reader The Law is diuided vsually into the Morall Ceremoniall and Iudiciall as parts of the same the first deliuered on the Mount Sinai by the dreadfull voice of the Almightie God and by the finger of God written after in Tables of stone called Ten words summarily abridged into two Commandements by the Law-giuer himselfe The first and great Commandement enioyning the loue of GOD the second of our NEIGHBOVRS that God who himselfe is Charitie imposing nothing but the louely yoke of Loue and Charitie vnto his seruants This Law is eternall written first in the hearts of our first Parents which being defaced it was written againe in the stonie Tables of the Law where it was but a killing letter till Grace and Truth by IESVS CHRIST indited and indented it in the fleshy Tables of the Gospell as Christs new Commandement written it renewed hearts and shall for euer be then grauen in those spirituall Tables when wee that here are Naturall men shall rise againe Spirituall men and shall be the Law of that holy Citie the new Ierusalem this being then perfected when Faith and Hope and this World shall bee finished The other parts Ceremoniall and Iudiciall were for the particulars proper vnto that Nation the one respecting the manner of Diuine seruice the other of ciuill Gouernment not giuen as the other immediatly to the Israelites by GOD himselfe but communicated in the Mount to Moses that hee might acquaint the
sometimes was vsed for a small summe as hee sheweth out of Homer Pollux and others Howsoeuer therefore I will not so vilifie this Talent here as to esteeme it with some but a shekel yet I would take it as the notation of the word may inferre but for some massie piece of metall This beautifull frame I should deforme with my description if after a double narration of all the parts forme and contents thereof in the History of the Bible I should recite the particulars This Temple fleeced by some repaired by others continued in variety of state till the sacking and ruine of it together with the City by Nebuchodonosor And after their reture by the edict of Cyrus and other the Persian Kings it was rebuilded but farre inferiour in glory in the space as the Iewes say vnto Christ of six and forty yeeres after others it was longer in hand by reason of impediments from their cauilling and malicious neighbours But this error if we vnderstand them of the building of Zorobabel proceeded from the Iewish ignorance of the Persian Chronologie which knew no other Persian Darius but one attributing to Cyrus one and thirty yeeres to Cambyses nine to the Magi seuen moneths and in the sixth yeere of Darius which followed as they accounted was the Temple finished all which amount to six and forty They confound Darius Nothus to whose times the most and best of our moderne Chronographers Scaliger Iunius Caluisius Liuely and others referre this rebuilding of the Temple with that former Darius the sonne of Histaspes and from that second yeere of Darius Nothus wherein the Edict was made for the Temple doth Scaliger beginne the reckoning of Daniels seuenty weekes and a halfe as he interpreteth accounting from thence to the destruction of this Temple foure hundred fourescore and thirteene yeeres and a halfe This second Temple hauing receiued accesse of magnificence in succession of times was spoyled and polluted vnder Antiochus who dedicated the same to Iupiter Olympius but being freed and dedicated anew by Maccabaeus it recouered great part of the former beautie till as Iosephus saith and his abbreuiator Iosippus it was pulled downe by Herod and built anew Herein both that allegation of the Iewes of six and forty yeeres is against this assertion of Iosephus and the History also of Hegesippus who reporteth that he onely compassed the circuit about the Temple with a wall and beautified the same with costly buildings erected from the foundatiō the Porches about the Sanctuary and fortified it with the Castle Antonia but some account this Hegesippus a counterfeit Chrysostome more probably vnderstands those words of the Iewes Forty and six yeeres was this Temple a building of the Herodian Temple and herein Scaliger Hospinian and the great Cardinall Baronius follow him accounting exclusiuely from the eighteenth yeere of Herods raigne which Funccius reckoneth An. M. 3947. to the yeere 3992. in which Iohn baptized and Christ vttered these words in all which they coniecture that some what was still a doing about the new building thereof although the principall part thereof was performed and finished by Herod in eight yeeres This they gathered by Iosephus his owne Testimony that the building continued till the time of Nero and in another place where he affirmeth that the East porch which Luke cals Salomons Porch was still remaining of the ancient building in the dayes of Nero. For thus hee saith in the last booke of his Antiquities speaking of the times of Albinus fourescore and three yeeres after Herod began this worke as Scaliger reckoneth Now the building of the Temple was finished The people therefore seeing eighteene hundred worke-men which had before been wont to liue by that building idle and vnwilling that the money should be laid vp lest it might become a prey to the Romans carefull also to prouide for the worke-men perswaded the King to re-edefie the East Porch which closed vp the outside of the Temple hanging ouer a deepe and narrow valley borne vp by a wall of foure hundred cubits height and the length of euery stone was twenty cubits the thicknes six the worke of King Salomon which first built the Temple But the King to whom Claudius Caesar had committed the building of the Temple seeing that it required much time great expence c. refused Thus it is apparent that all the Temple was not demolished till the finall destruction thereof vnder Titus Neither doe the Iewes in the Talmud speake of any third Temple Nor can the Prophecy of Haggeus be fulfilled That the glory of the second Temple should exceede the glory of the former if Christ of whose comming it is interpreted had not by his presence preaching and miracles not only supplied the defects before mentioned but made it surmount the other in effects of Maiesty and glory And the zeale vnto this Testimony not the meanest which the Christian veritie vrgeth against the Iewish Incredulitie and Apostasie which is necessarily demonstrated and euinced whilest yet they continue their vaine hopes of a Messias so many Ages after the desolation of that Temple whereof Aggee prophecied hath caused me to vse so many words in this matter But to satisfie the fancies of great men their great workes are commonly made greater For howsoeuer it was very great in it selfe that Herod should haue eight yeeres together many worke-men at worke which Iosephus numbreth for some part of the time ten thousand and a thousand Priests yet sustaining no doubt some intermission after his time either wholly or in part it could not be so great as to haue accomplished it wholly from the foundation wherein Salomon spent seuen yeeres and besides what any of the naturall Israelites performed in this worke hee imployed an hundred three and fifty thousand and six hundred worke-men of the Strangers or Forrainers found in the Countrey And whereas the second Temple was but halfe the height of the former perhaps it is true that according to Iosephus he perfected it to that height of an hundred and twenty Cubits whereof twenty cubits sanke downe in the settling of the foundations If any yet will rather thinke this Temple the worke of Herod then Zorobabel as a thing which Iosephus by his owne eyes might obserue Scaliger doth neuerthelesse salue that prophecy of Aggee by distinction of the Building and of the Continuall Sacrifice Saying that if it had beene ten times reedified yet the continuall Sacrifice continuing causeth that there is no interruption and that it should still be called but one Temple It was builded by Herod of white stones fiue and twenty cubits long eight thick and twelue broad He that would further reade the particulars let him haue recourse to Iosephus in his fifteenth booke of Antiquities This Temple was burned by Titus in the sack of the City the same day that before it had beene fired by the Chaldaeans Adrian the Emperour did after destroy the
persons were there whose touch might pollute them They washed also Cups and Brasen vessels and Beds not Chamber-beds to lie on Drusius expoundeth but dining-beds which they vsed in stead of Tables They would not eate with Publicans or sinners yea they accounted themselues polluted with their touch Their hypocrisie in prayer Christ mentioneth that it was long and open in the streetes c. It was thrice in the day at the third sixt and ninth houre Their words submisse and softly as of Hannah 1. Sam. 1. and toward the Temple They Tythed all Luke 18. Math. 23. euen the smallest matters For Tythes saith Akiba are the Hedges of thy Riches And another Prouerbe learne it Tythe that thou maist be rich Epiphanius addeth they paid first fruits thirtieths and fiftieths Sacrifices and Vowes Their Phylacteries or Seruatories Defensiues so the word signifieth in Hebrew Totaphoth they vsed as Preseruatiues or Remembrancers of the Law and ware them larger then other men Hierome calls them Pittaciola resembling to them herein some simple superstitious women wearing little Gospels and the wood of the Crosse and such like of zeale not according to knowledge strayning a Gnat and swallowing a Cammell This superstition then complayned of by Hierome yet remaineth saith Scaliger among Christians and Mahumetans which weare about them the Gospell of S. Iohn Christ condemneth not the Rite but their ambition for dilating not for wearing them to which all the Iewes were bound and all the Iewes and Samaritans obserued They vsed the like ambition in their Fringes or twisted Tassels which the Iewes call Zizis and vse them still as after shall appeare Their Oathes were By Ierusalem the Temple the Heauen Earth their Head by the Law Fagius obserueth that the Iewes in swearing lay their hand on the booke of the Lawe at this day Other Oathes are little esteemd Hence it seemeth came our corporall oathes on a book The Iewes saith Capito thinke it no Oath if one forsweare by Heauen or Earth vnlesse he say by him which dwelleth there c. And none is subiect to that Curse in which the name of God is not added That of Corban pertayneth to this place mentioned Math. 15.5 Marke 7.11 which some interprete as if a Iew should say to his Parents That he had alreadie dedicated all that to God to whom vowes are to be performed wherewith he might haue helped them Doctor Rainolds saith That the Iewes as they were prone to vngodly vowes so this was an vsuall vow amongst them and they would binde it with an Oath That such or such a man should haue no profit by them The Oath which they herein vsed as most solemne was By the Gift for so they were instructed That if any sware by the Altar it was nothing but if by the Gift he was a debtor The Pharises therefore taught if any had said to his father By the Gift thou shalt haue no profit by me then he might in no case doe them any good against the Commandement Honour thy Father c. The Iewes vsed to binde their vowes with a curse as they which vowed Paules death vsing yet to suppresse the curse it selfe as If they shall enter into my rest So these By the gift if they haue any profit by me meant they should haue none Thus the Talmud saith he the Booke of their Canon Law and Schoole-Diuinitie saith That a man is bound to honor his Father vnlesse he vow the contrary Masius explaineth it thus That they did consecrate by saying Corban all where-with they should haue benefited their parents as if they had said Let it be Anathema or deuoted whatsoeuer it be with which I may profit thee And therefore those Rabbines vnder pretext of Religion allowed not to spend on his parents that which he had thus vowed to God Scaliger thus interpreteth the place as if a sonne being by his parents admonished of his dutie should put them off with this exception vnlesse that which I haue offered for thee free me of this burthen But let the more curious reade it in himselfe and what Masius Serarius and others haue written hereof The Pharises were esteemed pitifull The Sadduces more cruell They were much addicted to Astrologie and the Mathematikes whose names of the Planets Epiphanius rehearseth as also the twelue Signes There were seuen sorts of the Pharises which the Talmud reckoneth first Sichemita which measure pietie by honour and profit as the Sichemites which for the marriage of Dina endured circumcision Secondly Nacphi which lifted not his feete from the ground the third Kisai Draw-blood which smiteth his head to the wall to cause the bloud to come and also shutteth his eyes that he behold not a woman The fourth that standeth on his perfection called Mahchobathi What is my sinne as if there wanted nothing to his Righteousnesse The fift Meduchia which goe lowly and stooping The sixt The Pharisee of Loue which obeyeth the Law for loue of vertue or reward The seuenth the Pharisee of Feare which is holden in obedience by feare of punishment This they call Iobs Pharisee the former Abrahams Epiphanius describeth their strict obseruations Some saith he prescribed to themselues ten yeeres or eight or foure yeeres continence Some lay on plankes which were onely nine inches broad that when they slept they might fall to the pauement so to be awakened againe to prayer and keepe themselues waking Others put stones vnder them for the same end by pricking to awake them Others lay on Thornes for that purpose Scaliger reproueth Epiphanius for affirming that the Pharises ware womans attire as not agreeing to their austeritie which despised all beds beate themselues against walles and put thornes in the fringes of their garments to prick them he thinketh him deceiued by some Iewes report and addeth that the moderne Iewes haue little or no knowledge of those ancient Pharises but as they learne it of the Christians or of Pseudo-Gorionides so hee calleth the Hebrew booke ascribed to Ioseph Ben Gorion whom Drusius esteemeth and Scaliger proueth to be a counterfeit wherein Serarius and Ribera concurre with them The Pharises in a selfe-conceit and singularitie called all but themselues in a disgracefull scorne Other men so said he Luke 18. I am not as other men whereas they accounted themselues Masters of others on whom also they bound heauie burthens in their Rules and Cases the breach whereof they iudged Sinne in the people but yet held not themselues bound thereto For example Euery Israelite ought euery day by their Rule to say ouer the ten Commandements and that in the first Watch which might not be deferred for danger of sinne and yet amongst themselues they esteemed it lawfull at any houre of the night But vpon the Proselytes they imposed more then on the other Israelites all which they were bound to in their censure vnder paine of Hell fire and therefore
in abomination presently The Samaritan if he meeteth a Iew Christian or Mahumetan he saith vnto them Touch me not Scaliger out of the Arabian Geographer telleth of an Iland still inhabited with these Samaritans in the red Sea which appeareth by their custome when any comes on shore forbidding to touch them This arrogant superstition remaineth with them The Samaritan Chronicle is cited by Eusebius Chron. graec l. 1. Scaliger saith hee had a copie of their great Chronicle translated out of Hebrew into Arabian but in Samaritan Letters It differeth somewhat from the Hebrew account The Iewes confound the Samaritans and Sadducees as if they were but one Sect The difference hath appeared for the Sadducees accept all the Bible the Samaritans Moses only The Sadducees denyed the soules immortalitie and reward The Samaritans in their Chronicle acknowledge both a place of reward and punishment after this life But whether they beleeue the Resurrection or no he doubteth The Sadducees denie Spirits Angels Diuels the Samaritans confesse them The Samaritans also vse still those ancient Letters called Phoenician which the Hebrewes vsed before the captiuitie which whoso listeth to view let him see their Characters and Scaligers large notes thereon in his Annotations vpon Eusebius Chronicle and a briefe of their Chronicle and Kalender therein written in his Emendation as before is said Which they beginne very Religiously after their manner In the name of Iah the GOD of Israel There is none like to Iah our GOD. One Iehoua GOD of GODS LORD of LORDS a great GOD strong and terrible There is none like to the GOD Ieschurun the GOD of ABRAHAM ISAAC IACOB IOSEPH and our Lord MOSES ELEAZAR and PHINEAS He confirme vnto you the blessing of our Lord MOSES IEHOVA GOD of our Fathers adde vnto you as many as yee are a thousand times and blesse you This inscription the great Synagogue of Garizim alwaies vse when they write to other Samaritan-Synagogues the Kalender of the yeere following They are very ignorant of Antiquities and know none other but that they came thither with Moses out of Aegypt neither can they tell any thing of the old Kings or defection of the ten Tribes vnder Ieroboam They lightly touch the names of Samson Samuel Dauid and others in their Chronicle which they call the booke of Iosue Ptolemaus Lagi conueyed Colonies of them into the Cities of Aegypt the Reliques whereof are those Samaritans which haue a Synagogue in the great Citie Cairo And those also in the Iland before mentioned In respect of the Mount Garizim the seate and Sanctuarie of their holies the Samaritans call themselues men which belong to the blessed Hill and still euery yeere they in Aegypt receiue from the great Synode of Garizim the type of the yeere following two of which Scaliger had seene and hath expressed one of them The Samaritans were diuided also into diuers sects as Epiphanius rehearseth One whereof were called Dositheans if it be lawfull to reckon them Samaritans which acknowledged as Epiphanius acknowledgeth of them the Resurrection of the dead They abstaine from such things as haue life some of them from marriage after they haue beene before married and some continue in Virginitie They obserue circumcision and the Sabbath and they touch no man but hold euery man in abomination Report goeth also of their fasting and exercises They had name of Dositheus who being a Iew and hauing well profited in their Law but not receiuing promotion sutable to his ambition reuolted to the Samaritans and hatched this sect amongst them And when afterwards in a singularitie he had gone aside into a Caue and there mewed vp himselfe and persisted in hypocrisie and fasting he there died as the fame goeth through his wilfull want of bread and water After a few daies some resorting to him found his dead body crawling with wormes and compassed with flies Of this name Dositheus there were diuers Two of them liued after the comming of Christ One a Iew sonne of R. Iannai the other a Samaritan which endeuoured to perswade his Countrimen that he was the Christ which Moses had prophecied of as Origen reporteth and saith of him are the Dositheans named Another is mentioned in Iohasin who liued in the time of Christ the Disciple of Sammai And before these was another Dosthai the sonne also of Iannas of whom it is said in Ilmednu that Senacherib sent R. Dostha to Samaria to teach the Samaritans the Law This seemeth to be he whom before out of Epiphanius wee haue called Esdras the first founder of the Samaritan heresie And so Tertullian saith of him Dositheus the Samaritan was the first that reiected the Prophets as not hauing spoken by the holy Ghost The like testimonie Hierome giueth of him His colleague and companion is said to be one Sebua the supposed author of the Sebuaeans In Ilmedenu he is called Sebaia or Sebuia Dositheus also taught that how and in what position of body he was in the Sabbath morning in the same he ought to continue all that day without change of gesture or place that if he did sit he should sit in the same place all day long and so of lying or other habit of body The Author of this Dosithean Sect properly so called liued as Scaliger thinketh about or at the destruction of the Temple and could not be that first Dustai or Dosthai The Sebuaeans you haue heard in Drusius opinion haue their name of Sebuia the companion of Dosthai sent by Senacherib or rather by Esarhaddon which if it be so it seemeth this Sect is ancient haply nothing differing from the other Samaritans Epiphanius maketh a difference but the cause he alledgeth was the Iewes refusall of their helpe at Ierusalem which was common to all the Samaritans The difference he alledgeth is the transposing of their solemnities for that quarrell betwixt them and the Iewes from the Iewish times so that they kept their Passe-ouer in August which they made the beginning of their yeere Pentecost in Autumne and that of Tabernacles when the Iewes kept their Passe-ouer neither might they sacrifice in Garizim obseruing such differing solemnities Scaliger whom I shame not thus often to name in relation of these things too intricate for mine owne or for common wits to finde both in his Treatise against Serarius cap. 1. and 21. and in his Canons Isagog lib. 3. dissenteth from Epiphanius saying that they dissented not from the other Samaritans but that the name was a common name which the Iewes ascribed to the Samaritans It signifieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Weekers Which name they gaue them because that euerie weeke betweene the Passe-ouer and Pentecost they obserued that day of the weeke in which the computation of the fiftie daies beganne with as great solemnitie as the feast of Pentecost it selfe This day from which the reckoning beganne was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the second because
you may see in Buxtorfius In this booke were contayned the Traditions and ordinances of the Elders according to the prescript whereof the Iewish Synagogue was to bee ordered and it was receiued and approued of the Iewish Synagogue in the yeere of Christ 219. Some yeeres after Rabbi Iochanan Rector of the Vniuersitie of Ierusalem for the space of eightie yeeres enlarged that booke and called it the Talmud of Ierusalem being fitted for their vse which dwelt in the land of Israel as the other for Forreners which for the difficultie and obscuritie thereof was not had in such estimation as the former nor is it at this day After him Rabbi Asse read in the Schooles those Tractates handling euery yeere two of them so in the sixtie yeeres of his Rector-ship hee went twice through it all but finished in writing onely fiue and thirtie Tractates After him in the yeere 427. Maremar was made Rector to whom Mar the sonne of Rabbi Asse adioyned himselfe These perfected that which Rabbi Asse had left vnfinished And that which they thus added was called Gemara or the complement Thus the Mischnaios and Gemara made vp the whole Talmud These two spent in their labours threescore and thirteene yeeres And so in the yeere of our Lord 500. the Talmud was perfected receiued for authenticall and called the Babylonian Talmud according to which the Iewes to this day behaue themselues in cases spirituall and temporall accounting it as their ciuill and cannon Law The Iewes ascribe the Ierusalem Talmud to the yeere of the World 4229. the other 4265. This is called the Talmud of Ierusalem saith Serarius not because it was written there But was compiled not in the Babylonian Vniuersitie but in one of Israel and in the Ierusalem language which at that time was very corrupt and confused with Greekish Persian and Roman mixtures This was both begun and ended by R. Iochanan aforesaid betweene the times of the Misna and Gemara About the yeere 4860. and 1100. yeeres after Christ R. Isaac ben Iaccb in Spaine writ so it is called The little Talmud And in the great and true Thalmud are the additions of R. Barkaphra Eldad Danius fableth that it is in Hebrew amongst his enclosed Iewes Note also that the name Thalmud or Talmud is giuen sometimes to the whole worke sometimes and often to the Gemara noly calling it the booke of the Misna and Talmud And this is that Law verball or deliuered by word of mouth which is equalled to the other without which the written law cānot be conceiued or vnderstood The ioy of the hart saith Aben Ezra and refreshing of the bones betwixt which and the written Law hee can finde no difference but being deliuered to them from their Elders In one of their bookes printed at Cremona 1556. is this sentence Thinke not that the Law written is the foundation but rather the Law Traditionall is the right foundation and according to this Law did God make couenant with the Israelites for God foresaw their captiuitie in time to come and therefore lest the people among whom they should dwell should write out and interpret this Law as they did the other God would not haue it written And although in processe of time this Law be now written yet it is not explained by the Christians because it is hard and requireth a sharpe wit That which is spoken of the Law is applyed to commend their Talmud If you can frustrate saith the Lord my Couenant with the day and the night that is according to their booke Tanchuma when you will no longer learne and obserue the Talmud And in the Talmud is thus recorded To studie and reade in the Bible is a vertue and not a vertue that is a small vertue but to learne their Mischna or Talmud text is a vertue worthy reward and to learne by heart Gemara the complement of the Talmud is a vertue so great that none can be greater The Wise men say they are more excellent then the Prophets and the wordes of the Scribes more louely then those of the Prophets and therefore the one forced to confirme them with miracles the other simply to bee beleeued as is said Deut. 17.10 When some of his Schollers visited R. Eliazer in his sicknesse and said Rabbi teach vs the wayes of life that we may finde euerlasting life his answer was Giue honour to your fellow Students and turne away your Children from the studie of the Bible and place them betwixt the knees of the wise Neither can hee saith the Talmud in other places haue a quiet conscience which returnes from the studie of the Talmud to the studie of the Bible And Nothing is more excellent then the most holy Talmud And it is impossible to stand on the foundation of the written Law but by the traditionall And to dissent from his Doctor is as to dissent from God to beleeue the words of the wise is as to beleeue God himselfe They say The Law is like to water the Misna to wine the Gemara or Talmud to Preserues the Law like to Salt the Misna to Pepper the Talmud to Spices They blaspheme that God studies the Bible in the day time and the sixe orders of the Talmud by night Hence it is that the Rabbins are more exercised in their Talmud then in the Bible as on which their Faith is founded more then on the other and according to this doe they expound the Scripture And as their Talmud is most certaine so also is that whatsoeuer exposition of their Rabbins according to the same Thus saith Rabbi Isaac Abhuhabh whatsoeuer our Rabbins in their Sermons and mysticall explainations haue spoken wee are no lesse firmely to beleeue then the Law of Moses And if any thing therein seeme repugnant to our sense we must impute it to the weakenesse of our conceit and not to their words as for example it is written in the Talmud that a Rabbin once preached that the time would come when a woman should euery day bee deliuered of her burthen according to the saying Iere. 31.7 Concepit statimque peperit One not beleeuing this the Rabbin answered that hee spake not of a common woman but of a Henne which should euery day lay an egge Such are their expositions I know not whether fitter to be heard of Heraclitus or Democritus more lamentable or ridiculous and yet is it there said that their wordes are the words of the liuing God whereof not one shall fall to the ground and must not bee derided either in word or thought whether yee respect the persons or workes of their Rabbins Therefore in a Dutch booke printed in Hebrew characters at Cracouia 1597. it is written that the Iewes are bound to say Amen not onely to their Prayers but to all their Sermons and Expositions according to the Prophet Esay Open the gates the people commeth schomer amunim which keepeth righteousnesse that is say
by the finger of God being more ancient giuing confirmation to the Scripture not subiect to wresting and containing all truth whereas poore Scripture for no better defending of the Iesuiticall Iebusiticall Iezabelicall assertions is condemned first of her meane originall as being written but by the Apostles not the finger of God Secondly as a later vpstart and thirdly as receiued vpon the Churches authoritie and fourthly a dead letter written in paper or parchment with Inke subiect to wresting like a sheath which admits any blade whether of leade wood or brasse as well as the true one And lastly not containing all the mysteries of Religion explicitly as being not therefore giuen to prescribe an exact forme of Faith but written by some vpon some occasions to some Churches and therefore in controuersies as of Images Inuocation of Saints and the like where Scripture seemes to speake for heretikes wee must haue recourse to the other kind of Scripture written in the heart of the Church as Interpreter of all Scriptures Iudge of all opinions and whatsoeuer else foule-mouthed blasphemie with faire pretext can arrogate to this or derogate from the other O that men would therefore hate that Whore which these impudent Panders prostitute thus decked with the spoyles of diuine Scriptures which haue another testimonie of themselues and therefore the testimonie of God that All Scripture is giuen by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for reproofe for correction for Instruction in righteousnesse yea and hereunto sufficient that the man of God whose men whose emissaries are these gaine-sayers may bee perfect throughly perfected vnto all good workes But leaue wee Simeon and Leui brethren in euill together Yet before wee leaue their Talmud though highly esteemed amongst them I thought meet also to speake more largely both of that and of their learned Rabbins out of Petrus Galatinus Sixtus Senensis Paulus Ricius Rambam and others that write thereof The Traditionall Law they call Tora scebealpe that is the Law which is in the mouth or deliuered by word of mouth Rabbi Moses Aegyptius telleth the passages thereof thus Ioshua receiuing it of Moses deliuered it to Phineas the sonne of Eleazar the Priest Phineas to Heli the Priest hee to Samuel the Prophet Samuel to Dauid hee to Achias the Prophet who deliuered the same to Elias the teacher of Elisha Elisha or Elisaeus to Ioiada the Priest this Ioiada to Zacharias Zacharias to Hosea and hee to Amos Amos to Esay of whom Micheas receiued it and of him Ioel Nahum from him and from him againe Habacuck who taught it Sephanie the Instructer of Ieremie of whom Baruch the Scribe learned it Baruch taught it Ezra Vntill this time the Iewes had none other but the written Scripture Now for their Scriptures they call the same Arbaa Veefrim that is the foure and twentie of the number of the bookes after their computation all which they reduce to foure parts The first of which they call Tora the Law or Humas the Pentateuch or fiue bookes and they call euery booke after the first words in the beginning thereof The second part hath foure bookes Ioshua Iudges Samuel and Kings The third part comprehendeth foure other which they call the last Prophets Esay Ieremie Ezekiel and the booke of the twelue smaller Prophets The fourth part is called Chettuuim and hth eleuen bookes Paralipomenon or Chronicles the Psalmes the Prouerbes Iob Ruth Ecclesiastes Lamentations Canticles Ester Daniel Ezra which they make one with Nehemia Ecclesiasticus Iudith and Tobias and the first booke of Maccabees they haue but reckon not among the foure and twentie The third and fourth bookes of Ezra I haue not seene saith Galatinus in Hebrew but some of them say that they are lately found at Constantinople but the second of Maccabees and the Booke of Philo called the Wisedome of Salomon I neuer saw but in Greeke nor those additions to Daniel But after the Babylonian captiuitie Ezra writing out the Law which had beene burned in the destruction of the Citie other Wisemen writ out the Exposition of the Law lest if another destruction should happen the same might perish And from that time all the Wise-men which are called the men of the Great Synagogue in their teaching the Law deliuered the same both in word and writing vntill the Talmud was written It was then saith Picus in seuentie bookes after the number of the seuentie Elders These mens authoritie hath the next place to the Prophets And are in this order mentioned in their Talmud Ezra deliuered the same to Simon the Priest called Iaddus who was honoured of Alexander This Simon deliuered this explaination to Antigonus Antigonus to Iosephus the sonne of Iohn and to Iosephus the sonne of Iehezer They to Nuaeus Arbulensis and Ioshua the sonne of Peratria whose Auditor the Iewes falsly affirme that Iesus our blessed Sauiour was which liued an hundred and ten yeers after Those two deliuered the same to Iuda the son of Tibaeus and Simon the sonne of Sata These to Samaia and Abatalion and they to Hillel and Samaeus Hillel flourished an hundred yeeres before the destruction of the second Temple and had eightie Schollers or Disciples all of excellent wit and learning thirtie of them for their excellence had the Diuinitie descending vpon them as Moses and other thirtie obtained that the Sunne should stand still for them as Ioshua the rest were accounted meane Of these the greatest was Ionothas sonne of Vziel the least Iohn the sonne of Zacheus which yet knew the Scripture and Talmud and all things else to the examples of Foxes and Narrations of Diuels Hillel and Samaeus deliuered this explaination to this Iohn and to Simeon the Iust sonne of the said Hillel who after receiued Christ in his armes and prophesied of him in the Temple Rabbi Moses proceedeth and saith that Simeon taught Gamaliel Pauls Master and Gamaliel instructed his sonne Rabban Simeon who was slaine of Hadrian the Emperour after he had taught his sonne Iudas whom the Iewes for his Learning and Holinesse call Rahbenu Haccados that is our holy Master of which honourable name there had beene another in the time of the Roman Consuls These for the most part besides almost infinite others of their hearers haue left many things written of the explaination of the Law of which the Talmud was compacted Of the vnreasonable absurdities and impious blasphemies of the Talmud howsoeuer abominable in themselues yet let it not be irkesome to the Reader to see some mentioned therein to obserue the depth of diuine vengeance which in this blinded Nation wee may heare and feare For who would thinke it possible that any could entertaine in his heart that which there they haue written of GOD as that before the creation of this world to keepe himselfe from idlenesse hee made and marred many other worlds that he spends three houres euery day in reading the Iewish law that Moses one day ascending to Heauen
away and they dyed whence came that custome of saluting and praying well to men in neezing The strangling of Achitophel they also interpret of this neezing farewell The fourth dayes fast is for Women which are with childe or giue sucke but the Tuesday and Wednesday in likelyhood were not ordinarie as the other Sunday might not bee thus honoured being the Christian Sabbath and Friday was the preparatiue to their owne Those two dayes are generally halfe holy-dayes Assembling earely in their Synagogues besides their ordinarie prayers they annexe many other Among others they vse one Prayer called Vchurachum of miraculous effect as appeared in Vespatians time who committing three Ships full of Iewes without Oare or Mariner to the wide Seas which arriued in three seuerall regions Louanda Arlado Burdeli worke for Geographers Those which arriued in this last port by tyrannicall Edict of the King were to be tryed whether they were true Iewes as Hananias Misael and Azarias made proofe of their Religion Whereupon three dayes being required as they said Nebuchadnezzar had granted them wherein to betake themselues to fasting and prayer in this time of respite three deuout Iewes Ioseph Beniamin and Samuel inuened each of them a prayer which they ioyned into one and continued in praying the same three dayes at the end whereof they cast themselues into the fire and there continued till it was consumed Hence arose this ordinance euery Munday and Thursday to vse the same prayer which is this And hee is mercifull and pardoning sinne doth not destroy the sinner Hee often turneth his anger from vs and doth not kindle all his wrath Thou O my God suffer me not to want thy mercie let thy gentlenesse and truth keepe mee alwayes Helpe vs O God our God and gather vs from the Gentiles c. for their restitution as in other their prayers and destruction of their enemies the Christians After this they prostrate themselues on their faces as before with many other orisons to the like effect §. II. Of their Law-Lectures THeir solemne ceremonie of the Law-lecture followeth In all their Synagogues they haue the fiue bookes of Moses written in great letters on Parchments of Calues-skins sowed together in length which at both ends are fastened to pieces of wood by which the booke may be lifted and carried This booke is kept in an Arke or Chest set in some wall of the Synagogue Before the doores of the Arke is a hanging of Tapestrie more or lesse precious according to the qualitie of their Feasts and for the most part wrought with Bird-worke The booke is wrapped in a linnen-cloath wrought with Hebrew words without that is hanged about some other cloath of Linnen Silke Veluet or Gold to which is fastened a plate of Siluer by a chayne of Gold vpon the which is written The crowne of the Law or holinesse of the Lord Then goeth one about crying Who will buy Gelilah etzchaijm This is an office whereby they are authorized to handle those pieces of wood and to open the booke of the Law Hee which giueth most for it hath it the money is reserued for the poore The pieces of wood are called etzchaijm tree of life according to Salomon Wisedome is a tree of life to them that lay holde thereon When the chiefe Chanter hath taken out the booke and goeth with it into the Pulpit they all sing out of Num. 10.35 Arise O Lord and let thine enemies bee scattered and let them that hate thee flye before thee And out of Esay 2.3 Many people shall goe and say Come let vs ascend to the mount of the Lord to the house of the God of IACOB and hee shall teach vs his wayes and wee will walke in his pathes for the Law shall goe out of Sion and the Word of the Lord from Ierusalem When this Praecentor layeth the booke on his arme hee saith Magnifie the Lord with mee and let vs exalt his name together to which all the people answer Exalt yee the Lord our God and bow before his foot-stoole for it is holy exalt yee the Lord our God and bow to the mountaine of his holinesse for Iehouah our God is holy There vpon a Table couered with silke hee layeth downe the booke and he which hath bought the Office taketh from it the cloathes wherein it is wrapped Then these two call some one of the Congregation by his owne and his Fathers name who commeth foorth and kisseth the booke not on the bare Parchment for that were a sinne but on the cloathes which couer it and taking it by those pieces of wood saith aloud Praise the Lord c. Blessed bee thou O Lord who hast chosen vs before any other people and giuen vs thy Law Blessed bee thou O God the Law-giuer Then the Praecentor readeth a Chapter out of the booke and then hee which was called foorth with like kissing and blessing returneth Then another is called foorth and doth likewise After him another who had need bee of strong armes for hee lifteth vp and carrieth this booke that all may see it all crying This is the Law which Moses gaue to the Israelites This Office is called Hagbahah and is sold as the former The women meane-while contend amongst themselues in this Synagogue by some Lattice to haue a sight of the Law for the women haue a Synagogue apart seuered with Lattices so besides their pretence of modestie to fulfill the saying of Zacharie The family of Dauid shall mourne apart and their wiues apart c. If he which carrieth the booke should stumble or fall it were ominous and should portend much euill These two Officers fold vp the booke as before and then come all and kisse the same and then it is carried to his place with singing After this they end their Prayers as at other times saying Lord leade mee in thy righteousnesse because of mine enemies direct thy way before me And The Lord keepe my going out and comming in from henceforth for euer Which they also say when they goe foorth on a iourney or to worke §. III. Of the Iewish Sabbath THey prepare themselues to the obseruation of their Sabbath by diligent prouision on the Friday before night of the best meates well dressed especially the women prouide them good Cakes They honour the Sabbath with three bankets first on the Friday night when their Sabbath beginneth another on the Sabbath day at noone the third before sunne-set Eate yee it to day to day is the Sabbath of the Lord to day yee shall not find it Manna in the field do you not see To day thrice mentioned and therefore by Moses owne ordaining that Manna must so often bee eaten on the Sabbath The richest Iewes and most learned Rabbins disdaine not some or other office at chopping of hearbs kindling the fire or somewhat toward this preparation The Table remaineth couered all that night and day They wash and if need
Hierome interprets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arabia vesper coruus planicies occidens and acknowledgeth the fitnesse of the former name in Ieremie answering the condition of the people giuen to robbe on the borders of Palestina and all Trauellers from Ierusalem to Iericho Thus hee comments on that place of Ieremie which he translates Quasi latro in solitudine the Hebrew being Harabi Hence Martin del Rio Adeo autem latrocinijs infames vt Hebraeis Arabs latronem denotet sicut Chananaeus Mercatorem Chaldaeus Mathematicum From the practice of the people their proper names became appellatiues an Arabian for a robber as Sarak also a Chananite for a Marchant a Chaldean for a Mathematician The Nations of this wide Tract of Land are many It is the next to bee spoken of in this our Discourse according to Geographicall methode as confining vpon Iudaea whence wee last departed Some deriue the name from Arabus the sonne of Apollo and Babylonia And the forged Berosus of Annius telleth That Ianus Pater sent one Sabus into Arabia Foelix Arabus into Arabia Deserta and Petreius into Petraea all Nephewes of Cham all indeed the Sonnes of Annius his braine True it is that Arabia is commonly diuided into those three parts Petraea Deserta and Foelix Of the Nations in Arabia Plinie writeth largely amongst the rest naming the Saracens whom S. Hierome often Epiphanius also and other of the ancient Fathers mention of which wee are anon to speake at large But long before Plinie the Scripture speaketh of the people of this Region not only those which are said to descend of Cush the sonne of Cham but of many others which descended of Abraham as Ishmael the sonne of Abraham by Hagar and Zimram and Iokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah with their posteritie the issue of Abraham by Keturah who after that Seba and Sabbetha and Rama and Sabtheca had peopled some parts of Arabia were sent away with their portions Eastward to the East Countrey that is into Arabia where it is likely they mingled their Seed and Generations with those former of the posteritie of Cham for therefore it seemeth Moses wife Zipporah was called a Cushite or as some reade an Aethiopian not that shee was of the Countrey Aethiopia in Africa but a Midianite of Arabia of Abrahams race which Countrey because the posteritie of Cush had first inhabited and happily had mingled themselues in marriages with them shee is called a Cushite which some wrongly expound an Aethiopian if they vnderstand it properly although Cush were also the Father of the Aethiopians But of this name Aethiopia sometimes taken more largely otherwhiles more straitned you shall see more in our seuenth Booke the first Chapter This posteritie of Abraham are in Scripture often called the children of the East Saint Hierome reckons also to Arabia the Idumaeans Moabites and Ammonites and certaine it is that the places sometimes by them inhabited are now accounted to Arabia The many names of the Arabian Nations they which will may reade in Plinie and others Mohamed Ben-Iacob Sirazita Author of the Arabike Dictionary affirmeth that Iaarob called Ierah Gen. 10.25 sonne of Cahhtan or Iectan was Author of the Arabike tongue which was brought to perfection by Ishmael son of Abraham who dwelt in a Region called Araba of that Iaarob whence the whole land of Arabia tooke name The name Foelix or Happie is giuen to the Southerly parts of Arabia for the fertilitie thereof the name Petraea to a second part of Petra the seat Royall after called Arach of Aretas an Arabian King The Desart Arabia hath a name answerable to the nature thereof being in great part without Inhabitants for the barrennesse of the soile as is also a great part of that which is called Petraea This Desart Arabia is also called Aspera Inferior Caua and of the Hebrewes Cedar It is bounded on the East with Babylonia and part of the Persian Gulfe on the North with Mesopotamia neere to Euphrates on the West with Syria and Arabia Petraea on the South are the Mountaines of Arabia Foelix Neere to them and to Euphrates it hath some Townes and is frequented with Marchants otherwhere partly vnpeopled partly Strabo therefore termeth it Scenitis fed with such Roming Arabians as haue no dwelling houses but remoue to and fro seeking where to finde pasture for their Beasts and lodge in Tents Dauid accounteth himselfe miserable for this dwelling in the Tents of Kedar or as Tremelius reades it as the Scenites of Kedar Thus did the Patriarkes of old thus did the Scythians and thus doe the Tartars and the Arabians in Asia Africa and Europe at this day roming rouing robbing and therefore the Iewes call the Tartarians Kedarim because of their like course of life They which dwell in Townes and Cities obseruing a more ciuill life are called Moores the other Arabians in more proper appellation or Beduines The name Moores was giuen them of the Spaniards because out of Mauritania they inuaded Spaine and now is taken vsually not so much for the Inhabitants of the Arabian Cities as for all of the Arabian and Mahumetan superstition Bosra is the chiefe Citie Arabia Petraea adioyneth on the West and North to Syria on the East to the Desart Arabia on the South to the Happie Plinie Strabo and Ptolemie call it Nabathaea Some thinke of Nebaioth sonne of Ishmael Tyrius calls it Arabia Secunda Now it is called by Ruscelli Baraab or after Ziglerus Barra or Bathalatha after Castaldus Mela ascribeth the Hill Casius hereto which saith hee is so high that from the fourth watch of the night or the last quarter thereof it sheweth the Sunne-rising But Nonius Pintianus correcteth him saying there are two Casij the one of Syria the other of Arabia and that this report is to be applied to the Syrian Casius wherein Schottus is of another minde Nigh to Syria it is more plentifull then in other parts The scarcitie of wood and water with the barrennesse of the soile in other places shew how it is maligned of the Elements Both in this part and the former they had need goe strong and well accompanied for feare of robberie and spoile which the Arabians attend This part is famous vnto all Generations not so much for the Amalakites Midianites and other their bordering Neighbours of whom and their Religion somewhat is spoken before as for the miraculous passage of the Israelites through the same and abode therein fortie yeeres in which time they receiued the Law were fed with Manna their Meate Drinke Clothing Iudgements Mercies continually yeelding miraculous euidence of Gods presence amongst them Bellonius visited the Mount Sinai he saith it is a mile and a halfe from Horeb and farre higher from whose top which is hard stone of yron colour may both shores of the Red Sea be seene This Sea is not therefore called
hee saith of Frankincense In Panchaea is the Citie Panara whose Inhabitants are called the Ministers of Iupiter Tryphilius whose Temple is thence distant threescore furlongs admirable for Antiquitie Magnificence and nature of the place it is two hundred foot long the bredth answerable hauing in it large Statues and about it the houses of the Priests Many fountaines there springing make a nauigable streame called the water of the Sunne which is medicinable to the bodie The Countrey about for the space of two hundred furlongs is consecrated to the gods and the reuenue thereof spent in Sacrifices Beyond is a high mountaine called the seate of heauen and Olympus Triphylius where Coelus is said to haue instituted the Rites there yeerely obserued The Priests rule all in Panchaea both in ciuill and religious cases and liue very deliciously attired with linnen Stoales and Mitres and party-coloured Sandals These spend their time in singing Hymnes and recounting the acts of their gods They deriue their generation from the Cretan Iupiter They may not goe out of their sacred limits assigned them if they doe it is lawfull to kill them The Temple is enriched with gifts and offerings The doores excell for matter and workemanship The bed of the god is six Cubits long and foure broad all of gold faire wrought The Table stands by nothing inferiour In the middest is another bed of gold very large grauen with Aegyptian letters in which are contained the gests of Iupiter Coelus Diana and Apollo written by Mercurie Thus farre Diodorus Iustine mentioneth Hierotimus an Arabian King which had six hundred children by Concubines Some are of opinion that the Wise-men which by the ancient conduct of a Starre came to Ierusalem the first fruites of the Gentiles came out of Arabia Scaliger mentioneth a conquest antiently made and holden by the Arabians in Chaldaea Philostratus saith the Arabians are skilfull in Auguries or Diuinations because they eate of the head and heart of a Dragon That they eate Serpents Solinus affirmeth Athenaeus saith That the Arabians vsed to maime themselues if their King hapned to bee maimed and that in the same member and in another place hee citeth out of Heraclides Cumaeus the delicacies of this Arabian King and his quiet or idle course of life committing matters of iudgement to Officers and if any thinke himselfe wronged by them hee pulls a chaine fastned to a window in the highest part of the Palace Whereupon the King takes the matter into his hand and whether part hee findeth guiltie dyeth for it His expences were fifteene Babylonian Talents a day The Arabians kill Mice as a certaine supposed enemy to the gods a custome common to them with the Persians and Aethiopians The women couer their faces contented to see with one eye rather then to prostitute the whole face They kill not vipers but scarre them away with Clappers from their Balsame-trees saith Pausanias when they gather that commoditie because they thinke them consecrated to those Balsame-trees vnder which they liue and feed of that liquor with which also they cure themselues if they are bitten of them The Arabike tongue is now the common language of the East especially among such as embrace the Mahumetan Religion this language in the first diuision of tongues according to Epiphanius was begun in Armot the first speaker and Author thereof It is now the most vniuersall in the world as Bibliander Postellus Scaliger Aldrete and Claude Duret in his late Historie del ' Origine des Langues de cest vniuers doe proue at large from the Herculean pillars to the Molluccas and from the Tartars and many Turkes in Europe vnto the Aethiopians in Afrike extending it selfe which was neuer granted to any other language since that first confusion and babbling at Babel CHAP. II. Of the Saracene Name Nation and proceeding in Armes and the succession of their Chalifaes §. I. Of the Saracens before MAHOMETS dayes THe Arabians are distinguished by many sir-names the chiefe whereof saith Scaliger are the Hagarens so called of Hagar the hand-maid of Sara whom the Arabians call Erabelhagiari and Elmagarin and the Saracens still called by their neighbours Essarak that is theeuish The Hagarens were more ciuill whose chiefe hold was Petra and their Princes were all entituled Aretae as the Egyptians Ptolemaei Hierome in many places affirmeth that the Ismaelites and Hagarens are the same which now are called Saracens so in his Commentarie on the second of Ieremie Cedar saith he is the Region of the desart and of the Ismaelites whom now they call Saracens And on the twentie fiue of Ezekiel the Madianites Ismaelites and Agarens are now called Saracens And on Esay twentie one he extendeth their desart from India to Mauritania and to the Atlantike Ocean Epiphanius likewise affirmeth That the Hagarens and Ismaelites in his time were called Saracens Plinie mentioneth that the Saracens placing them neere to the Nabathaeans Ptolemey likewise nameth the Scenites so called of their tents which with themselues their flockes and substance they remoued vp and downe from place to place Posteritie hath called all these Tent-wanderers saith Scaliger out of Ammianus Marcellinus Saracens and so doth Ptolemey in the next words call the next adioyning people seating them in the Northerly bounds of Arabia Foelix In the same Chapter he setteth downe Saraca the name of an Arabian Citie Some Authors haue written that because Ishmael was sonne of Hagar a bond-woman his nicer posteritie haue disclaimed that descent and deriued their pedegrece and name from Sara Peruersonomine saith Hierome assumentes sibi nomen Sarae quòd scilicet de ingenua domina videantur esse generati Iosephus Scaliger in his Annotations vpon Eusebius Chronicle after that hee hath cited the former testimony of Ammianus and of Onkelos on the thirtie seuen of Genesis addeth the authoritie of Stephanus who affirmeth Saraka to bee a Region of Arabia neere the Nabathaeans of which hee thinketh that the Saracens borrowed their name Wee know saith Scaliger that the Arabian Nomades are so called for SARAK in Arabike soundeth as much that is furaces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 theeuish or robbers such as the Cosak-Tartars bordering on the Turkes the Bandoliers in the Pyrenaean hills and the Borderers sometimes betwixt England and Scotland De Sara peridiculum To call them Saracens of SARA is ridiculous for then either they must bee called SARAEI or shee SARACA Mr. Brerewood saith that Sarra signifies a Desart and Shakan to inhabit in the Arabike and therefore as they are called Scenites of their Tents so might they also of the Desarts their not habited habitation be called Saracens Booke of Lang. c. 13. And Erpenius saith that this name is vnknowne to themselues but all the Muhammedans generally call themselues Muslimos or Muslemans which signifieth Beleeuers as if all else were Infidells or Heretikes Marcellinus thus writeth of them this people
raigned and after another of the same name and the Saracens were diuided Tebid Dadac and Zulciminius challenged each to himselfe the Soueraigntie and when all these were ouerthrowne and slaine Asmulinus amongst the Persians raised vp the seruants to murther their masters and with them he ouerthrew Iblinus with one hundred thousand Saracens and after Maruan himselfe with three hundred thousand who fleeing into Egypt was there also vanquished and slaine in a Temple This murther grew through the faction of the Abasian stocke who conspired against him because he had slaine one of their kindred Abulabas the chiefe of this conspiracie succeeded him in the yeere 749. and remoued the Chaliphate to that family from the Maraunians in the yeere of their Hegeira 132. after the Arabian computation as wee follow Scaliger herein and he the Chronicle which Abraham Zacuthi gathered out of the Monuments of the Ismaelites In the former relations we haue principally followed Curio his Saracenicall History though by the way we haue borrowed of others also §. III. Of the Abasian Chalifaes their Citie Bagadet with many Persian Indian and other occurrences vnder them TARIK MIRKOND writes that the family of Abas had still from the first challenge continued their quarrell and that Oelid to satisfie them had caused the sonnes of Abdala one of the Abasians to be proclaimed his successours one of which Safa in this warre against Maruuan forced him to flee to Mesera or Cairo in Aegypt where hee was taken and put to death and with him eightie persons of the family of Ben Humia They did also breake open their Sepulchers and burnt the bones sparing onely one of that liue Hamarben Abdala Azis Safa was sonne of Abdala the sonne of Aly whose father was Abdula the sonne of Abas Hee had for Wazir or Vesir which I mention to shew the antiquitie of this custome in the Saracenicall regiment still obserued by the Turkes and Persians as chiefe Counsellour and swayer of the State Abuzalemah whom for conspiracie hee put to death placing in his roome Kaleb Barmaqui He made his three Vncles chiefe Gouernours of the Prouinces Dauid or Daud of Medina and Mecca Abdula of Syria Aegypt and Africke and Safa hee sent to Korosan the chiefe Citie whereof is called Mechad whereas Ismael Sophi and his successours are interred This Citie is fortified with three hundred Towers each from other a Musket shot distant Thus Mirkond This Safa or as Curio calls him Abulabas being dead Abugephar Elmantzar succeeded Hee imprisoned the twelue sonnes of Hasin the sonne of Ali where they perished He began first to build the Citie of Bagded Mirkond saith that in the 145. yeere of the Heg. hauing finished a warre against some Rebels in Arabia parting from Cufa hee crossed Mesopotamia and comming to the bankes of Tygris the bountie of the soyle and commodious scituation for the visiting of his Prouinces caused him to build this Citie which by reason of many pleasant and delightfull Gardens which are in that Countrey the people called Bagadad of Baga a Persian word which signifies a Garden Hee dyed vpon the way to Mecca A. Heg. 759. or after Zacuth 758. Iohn di Barros ascribeth this Citie to the same Bugiafar also for so hee calleth him but Curio to one Muamat long after Scaliger thinketh this to bee Seleucia a Citie built nigh vnto Babylon by Seleucus neere the meeting and mixing of Euphrates and Tygris of which see our Babylonian Historie in the first booke Mahdi his sonne succeeded A. H. 165. Mirkond calls him Mahadi Bila In his time Akemben Ocem sometime Secretarie to Abusalem Gouernour of Karason slaine by Abuiafar reuolted from his subiection and Religion Hee had but one eye and was of terrible aspect hee not onely sought to bee acknowledged for King but would bee worshipped as a God couering his face with a vaile saying That men were vnworthy to see his face and many Prouinces receiued him for King But Mahadi sending a strong power against him his partakers poysoned him and then gaue out that hee was ascended into Heauen But as many of his kindred and followers as were taken were burned and the Countries subdued A. Heg. 169. To Mahadi succeeded Elida Bila Musa which after fifteene moneths dyed and Arachid Bila Harun his brother succeeded Against him rebelled Rafh Eben Nacer of Samarkand who entituled himselfe King in expedition against whom Arachid dyed A. H. 193. Mahamid Amin was his successour to whom hee gaue all he held in Alep and thence Westward to Mahamun another sonne hee had giuen Persia and Karason to Racem the third Aderbaion and Diarbek This diuision caused another in which the Chalife seeking to dispossesse Mahamun by force was ouerthrowne Bagadet whither hee was pursued taken and himselfe slaine A. 198. Mahamun or Mamon was the next Chalife against whom the Gouernours of Aderbaion and Karason rebelled which hee pacified as he could Hee spent much to haue all the bookes of Phylosophie the Mathematikes and Physike which hee could get to bee translated out of the Greeke He dyed A. H. 210. Abu Ezach Matacon or Mutetzam the fourth sonne of Harun succeeded Hee built Samarrah on Tygris Northwards from Bagdet which soone after was ruined Sistom a Prouince neere the Persian Gulfe rebelled and long warres continued in Persia This Matacon wanne much from the Grecian Emperour Hee dyed after he had raigned eight yeeres leauing behind him eight Sonnes and eight Daughters with eight thousand Slaues Hee had taken eight Cities the chiefe of eight Realmes and put to death the eight Kings thereof Hee left eight millions also of Treasure hauing liued to make vp eight eights fortie and eight yeeres Wacek succeeded in whose time by a three yeeres famine Karason was almost dispeopled Afterwards they returned and warred against the Mayusi Heathenish people in Persia whereof saith Mirkond there are great numbers at this day which worship the fire of whom they made a great massacre Methucal or Almoto Wakel Bila Iafar succeeded A. 222. in whose raigne the descendants of Aly did rise for that he sought all meanes to hinder their pilgrimage to his Sepulchre breaking the bankes of Euphrates with the inundation thereof into the desart stopping their passage Montacer sonne of this Chalife murthered him by his slaues A.H. 234. but dyed himselfe within sixe moneths after Abul Abas Hamed his next heyre after fiue yeeres rule was cast into Prison by his Souldiers and there famished In Persia the Deputies or Gouernours had vnder many Chalifes succeeded by a kinde of inheritance the Chalife confirming the succession to the heyre But in these dayes arose one Acem Ben Zeyd Alauuy that is Sent of God hee entred into Persia and tooke diuers Cities and Prouinces thereof Mostahhin the next Chalife enioyed the seate but sixteen moneths He dyed A.H. 242. Almatez Bila followed the thirtie three in order of their Chalifes He sent Mesa Ben Buka against Acem Ben Zeyd and recouered much from him which he
Companions the first Abdollah or Abu-Bacr his sincerest and most inward friend a man very rich and releeuer of Mohameds necessities his successour after his death He dyed the thirteenth yeere of the Hegira and sixtie three of his age and was buried in the same graue with Mohamed The second was Homar the sonne of Chattab surnamed Faruq who succeeded Abi-Bacr and ruled ten yeeres and six moneths Hee was the first which was called King of the faithfull and writ the Annalls of the Moslemans and brought the Alcoran into a Volume and caused the Ramadam Fast to be obserued He was slaine the twentie three of the Hegira and buried by Abi-Bacr The third was Othman who in his twelue yeeres raigne subdued Cyprus Naisabur Maru Sarchas and Maritania and dyed A. H. 35. and was buried in the buriall place of the Citie Aali is the fourth who is called also Emir Elmumenin that is King of the faithfull Hee was slaine A. H. 40. in the sixtie three of his age and was buried in the Citie Kerbelai Hee was Vncles sonne or Cosin-German to Mohamed and his sonne-in-law and deare familiar from his youth and receiued the Mosleman law together with Mohamed whereupon hee was wont to say I am the first Mosleman And therefore the Persians detest the other three Chalifas as heretikes burne their writings wheresoeuer they finde them and persecute their followers because forsooth they were so impudent to prefer themselues before Aali and spoiled him of the right-due by Testament Hence are wars hostile cruelties betwxit them the Turks and Arabs Mohamed the false prophet in the eleuenth yeere after his Hegira or flight and the sixtie three of his age dyed at Medina and was buried there in the graue of Aaisee his wife Here is a stately Temple and huge erected with elegant and munificent structure daily increased and adorned by the costs of the Othomans and gifts of other Princes Within this building is a Chappell not perfectly square couered with a goodly roofe vnder which is the Vrne of stone called Hagiar Monaüar sometimes belonging to Aaisce aforesaid This is all couered with gold and silke and compassed about with yron grates guilded Within this which shineth with gold and gems Mohameds carcasse c833208arcasse was placed and not lifted vp by force of Load-stone or other Art but that stone-Vrne lieth on the ground The Mosleman Pilgrims after their returne from Mecca visit this Temple because Mohamed yet liuing was wont to say That hee would for him which should visit his Tombe as well as if he had visited him liuing intercede with God for a life full of pleasures Therefore do they throng hither with great veneration kisse and embrace the grates for none haue accesse to the Vrne of stone and many for loue of this place leaue their Countrey yea some madly put out their eyes to see no worldly thing after and there spend the rest of their dayes The compasse of Medina is two miles and is the circuit of the wall which Aadhd Addaule King of Baghdad built A. H. 364. The territorie is barren scorched Sands bringing forth nothing but a few Dates and Herbes CHAP. IIII. Of the Alcoran or Alfurcan containing the Mahumetan Law the summe and contents thereof §. I. Of the Composition of the Alcoran THe Booke of Mahomets Law is called by the name of ALCORAN which signifieth a collection of Precepts and Alfurcan as it is expressed and expounded in a Booke called The Exposition or Doctrine of the Alcoran because the sentences and figures thereof are seuered and distinguished for Al is the Article and phurcan signifieth a distinction or as some say Redemption Claude Duret citeth an opinion that of the Hebrew word Kara which signifieth the Law or Scripture commeth this word Koran which with the Article Al signifieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Scripture as with them it is esteemed The like hath Soranzo Master Bedwel in his Arabian Trudg-man saith that the Thema is not KARANA coniunxit colligit as before is deliuered but KARA which signifies to read so that Alkoran in Arabike is iust as much as Hammikra is in Hebrew that is the Text Corpus iuris the authenticall bodie of their Law It is called in that language the Koran without the Article Al and Korran so Cantacuzenus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if one should say their Bible Scripture or Booke of the Law The Word of GOD saith Mahomet in that Booke came not to mee all at once as the Law vnto Moses the Psalmes to Dauid and the Gospell to Christ The Sentences or Chapters thereof are called Azoaras which is interpreted a Face as wee call them Capita Heads So saith one which hath written Notes vpon the Alcoran but Master Bedwel who hath published an Index or Table of all these Azoara's or Chapiters with their Arabike Titles as they are named and cited by the Mahumetans saith That they call the name of the Chapiter Sura and with their Article Assura or Suraton Assurato And hee deriues of the Hebrew word Zobar that Azoara but this Arabike Sura is expressed not by Zain He but by Sin Wau and Resh differing letters being no other then the Syrian Suriya which signifieth principium initium For as the Bookes of Moses in the Hebrew and the Sections of the Ciuill and Canon Law so these Chapiters for the most part are denominated of some notable word in the beginning of the same and are so cited by Mahumetans and learned Christians Yet these sometime name it by the interpretation as the chap. Albacara the chap. of the Cow because the word so signifies The stile is not in Meter as some haue imagined for Iosephus Scaliger a great Criticke and reputed one of the greatest Linguists in the world affirmeth That that Language is not capable of metricall measures by quantities of Syllables as neither the Hebrew Abyssine or Syrian Hee saith yet That the Alcoran is composed in Rime but such as is not in any tunable proportion but that word which maketh vp the Rime being sometimes neerer and sometimes farre beyond all harmony distant from that word whereto it answereth A hobbling kinde of Rime saith Master Bedwel in his Index Alcorani and rude Poeme without all care for it is Postellus his testimony you shall haue a period of two hundred Syllables to rime and hold like cadence to as other very short Scaliger addes that at the end of such Rimes are set the figures of Flowers or some such matter which if it be so the Turkish nicetie of making no likenesse of any thing in their Carpets or other workes is stricter then these Alcoran bookes themselues and indeed is not common with them vnto other Mahumetans who vse their libertie in this point For the words and phrase no man euer writ any thing in Arabian more rudely saith an Arabian Christian in confutation hereof and much better might Muzeilenia Helcasi and Alabazbi
the Aethiopian and Calliata Ellecedi which vpon emulation composed also euery one an Alcoran glory of those their Workes containing more honestie and truth Neither hath it pleased any noble or wise man but the rude vulgar of which sore the wearie Labourers gladly gaue eare to his promise of Paradise the poore delighted to heare of Gardens in Persia and Bankrupts and Felons easily listened to securitie and libertie The language is vulgar Postellus also testifieth and without all Art of Grammar such as is obserued of their learned Writers without all bounds of reason or eloquence The Method is so confused that our Arabian Author who liued before it was so generally embraced and in freer times saith That hee had heard euen good Saracens affirme with griefe that it was so mixed and heaped together that they could finde no Reason in it Bad Rime as you haue heard and worse Reason Hierome Sauanorola hath the like saying That no man can finde herein any order Nor could so confused and foolish a Worke proceed from any naturall or supernaturall light It is yet craftily contriued when hee hath set downe some wicked doctrine presently to lace and fringe it with precepts of Fasting Prayer or good manners alwayes taking away things hard to bee beleeued or practised and where it deliuereth any truth it is maymed with defect eclipsed with obscuritie and serueth for a stale to falshood Erpenius hath translated the Chapiter of Ioseph containing a hundred and eleuen Verses the second of which calls it Coran and the next Alcoran the Article added His Annotation is Per verbum Dei intelligunt legem suam qua Coranus ipsis dicitur quam Muhamed ijs persuasit coelitus ad se demissam And although the matter bee absurd and impious yet he saith others perhaps haue of zeale said otherwise that this Coran is composed with such puritie of speech accurate analogie and expressed with perfection of writing that deseruedly it is to them the matter and rule of Grammar They call it Koran of a word which signifies to read as a reading Lecture or collection of Chapiters as the learnedst Arabs will haue it It is not much lesse then the New Testament in words The Arabs extoll it aboue all creatures and ranke it next to God and thinke him vnworthy to liue which toucheth it vnreuerent as a contemner of God They vse it therefore with all reuerence nor will permit a Christian or a Iew to touch it to sit on it is a grieuous crime capitall to Iewes or Christians Nor may they themselues touch it vnwashed and therefore write on the couer thereof Let no man touch it but he which is cleane In it are one hundred and fourteen Chapiters of vnequall quantitie that of Ioseph the twelfth the second as large as the last fortie The first is but of six Verses and therefore not reckoned a Chapiter by our Country-man Robert of Reading who also diuides the fiue following into more by tenne that the seuenth is his seuenteenth Euery Chapiter hath the name of the first word or of the subiect as this is called Ioseph the first opening because it presents it selfe at the opening of the booke It was composed out of diuers papers of Muhamed found at his house which hee professed to receiue from Gabriel at diuers times by Abubecr his father in law the Numa of that Saracen Empire Each Chapiter is called Souraton and with the Article Assurato whence the Latine call it Azoara z. for ss and o. a for o. u as in the word Alcoran it is not to be construed vultus but gradus a degree or step for these steps the whole is passed and each of these was a lesson also to be conned of children and of his disciples After these fancies had caused him to bee expelled Mecca he fled ten dayes off to Iatfrib and there diuulged the rest This is called Medina and Medinatalnabi the Citie of the Prophet and hence some Chapiters haue title of Mecca some of Medina This flight was the fifteenth of Iuly at night A. 622. which is their Aera or computation of their yeeres reckoned by the Moone so that their 1026. began the twentie ninth of December A. D. 1616. Euery Chapiter consists of Verses very vnequall and lame affected rithmes Yea sometimes a sentence is patched in to make vp a rithme Before euery Chapiter is prefixed Bismillahirrahmanirrahimi for so they read it coined together with Articles as if it were all one word the signification is In nomine Dei miseratoris misericordis that is In the name of God shewing mercie mercifull which is as much as summè misericordis exceedingly mercifull or mercifull in Act and Nature To these words they ascribe innumerable mysteries and vertues so that they thinke that almost no worke can haue good successe vnlesse they preface it with this sentence Therefore in the beginning of their bookes they vse it and whatsoeuer businesse they goe about if it be to mount their horse or set forth to rowe a boat c. as I haue beene told Also there are in the beginning of Chapiters fourteene mysticall words of the signification whereof the Arabs professe their vncertaintie and Abubecr was wont to say That in euery booke God kept somewhat secret to himselfe which in the Alcoran were those mysticall beginnings of Chapiters Diuers haue diuersly deuised to hunt out Cabalisticall senses and state-periods with other vanities from them They hold that all the Alcoran was sent in one night which they call therefore nox demissionis nox potentiae and lest it might breed a contradiction that some parts were deliuered at Mecca for so it must be written not Mecha they say that Muhamed receiued them by pieces of the Angell as occasions required but hee from God all in one night and so they will haue the name signifie also a booke sent from heauen Thus much Erpenius in his Annotations on that Chapiter wherein also he blameth the old translation of Robert Reading as in other things so in that that when his mistresse brought Ioseph before other women they were all saith the translation menstruous and cut their hands saying hee was rather an Angel then a man He translates for menstruate sunt magnificarunt eum they magnified him adding concerning that cutting off the hand that it is still an vse of the Arabs Persians and people of the East to expresse loue My friend Mr. Bedwel fortie yeeres studious of Arabike hath told mee that that translation of Reading is generally reasonable well done nor is so faultie as some will haue it or much reading supply that way As for other supply it needs a sword like that Gordian knot rather then a penne that as by the sword it hath beene obtruded on the world as a iust punishment of ingratitude to the Sonne of God the eternall Truth and not by reasons or Scriptures which it corrupts mingles mangles maimes as the Impostors obliuion sometimes sometimes
the memorie of his owne designes occasioned so by the sword and fire it may be rooted out of the world againe The first Surat or Chapiter which is the Pater noster or daily prayer of the Muhamedans I will transcribe out of Erpenius called by them Opening as before is said and the Mother of the booke foundation treasure and perfection In the name of God the shower of mercie mercifull Praise to God the Lord of the Creatures the shewer of mercie mercifull the King of the day of Iudgement Wee worship thee and we call vpon thee Direct vs into the right way the way of them who are gracious towards them without anger against them and not them which erring not Amen The Copies of the Alcaron were diuers and after Mahomets death made if it could be worse at least otherwise then he left them For Hali had one Copie left him by Mahomet which the Iewes corrupted adding racing changing at their pleasure and promised him their assistance if hee would professe himselfe a Prophet But Ozimen commanded all the Bookes to be brought and deliuered into the hands of Zeidi and Abdalla to bring all into one booke and where they dissented to reade after the Copie of Corais and to burne all the rest They thus composed the Alcoran whereof they left foure Copies which after were lost And yet Hali Abitalib and Ibenmuzod then refused to deliuer their Bookes Whereupon arose diuers Readings and afterward diuers Schismes which to compound others often endeuoured by like labours after but could not throughly perfect the same Neither doth that which we haue translated agree with those things which Frier Richard and others cite out of it in their confutations thereof The truth thereof is such in his deuisings of new and seeking and altering the old that it is not probable in Viues opinion that euer hee read the Old and New Testament For saith he though I thinke of him exceeding badly yet thinke I him not so mad to change and wrest the Scripture there especially where it made nothing against him but he had partly heard of such things partly was so perswaded by his fellowes Apostata-Iewes and Christians This riming harsh confused packing worke disagreeing each Copie from other and all from truth and honestie hath beene translated into Latine once by an English man Robertus Retinensis and after by Ioannes Segobiensis a Spaniard at the Councell of Constance and after out of Arabian into Italian published by Andraea Ariuabene The first and last of these that of Robert of Reading and the Italian translations are here by vs followed For the Arabike I vnderstand not nor can warrant this when so great a man as Scaliger findeth great fault with it He that vndertooke to mend the Latine stile marred the sense and the Italian beguileth the world in professing to haue translated out of the Arabike Thus Scaliger who mentioneth another translation then in hand which we are almost out of hope to see In the meane while such as we haue we giue to you It containeth Chapters or Azoara's 124. euery of them beginning In the name of the mercifull and pittifull God Euthymius Zigabenus mentioneth but 113. Mr. Bedwel saith that all the Arabike copies which euer hee saw whether written in the East or West amongst the Moores in Barbarie doe constantly with one consent reckon 114. The reason of this difference is this some Interpreters doe not account the first for any Chapiter but make it a kinde of Preface Robert of Reading of the second Chapter maketh foure of the third three of the fourth foure of the fifth two of the sixth three The first of these are the words of Mahomet and is called the Mother of the Booke and is as it were their Creede the rest are all deliuered as the words of GOD hee being induced as speaker The first is in this sense In the name of the mercifull and pittifull God Thankes bee vnto God the Lord of the World mercifull pittifull Iudge of the day of Iudgement Wee pray vnto thee wee trust in thee Lead vs into the right way the way of them whom thou hast chosen not of them with whom thou art angrie and of the Infidels Postellus thus translateth it In the name of God mercifull pittifull Praise bee to God King of the World mercifull and pittifull King of the day of Iudgement O let vs serue him and wee shall bee helped Direct vs in the right point the point of them with whom thou art well pleased without anger against them and they shall not erre This prayer is saith hee as common to them as the Lords Prayer to vs and is so ouer and ouer with battologies by some of them repeated that they will say ouer the same word or two or three words an hundred times saying Alhamdu lillah hamdu lillah hamdu lillah and so on with these and the other words in like manner And thus doth the Priest in their publike prayers which they say supplieth the defects of such as are negligent in praying some will say and repeat it in the fields till with wearinesse they fall downe Others with wheeling about their bodies till they be besides themselues and then in imitation of Mahomet vtter some ridiculous obscure phantasticall speeches They diuide it into seuen periods which they cal miracles as they are here by the points That which is before them In the name c. Mahomet vsed to vtter alwayes when hee arose from his sicknesse or traunce and therefore is prefixed to all the Chapters and by deuout Authors also in the beginning of their Philosophicall workes By these words the point and the right point they vnderstand the Alcoran Now let vs see the Doctrine contained in this booke which with much labour I haue thus reduced into Theologicall heads reducing that which therein is confusedly heaped and handled in diuers places to this Method naming the Chapter or Azoara where the Reader may finde each sentence §. II. The Doctrine of the ALCORAN brought into common Places OF GOD he writeth that he is One necessary to all incorporeall which neither hath begotten nor is begotten nor hath any like him the Creator long-suffering searcher of the heart true That he will confound inchantments that without his gift none can beleeue this his Alcoran that hee hath no sonne for hee needeth nothing and he which setteth a second in the place of GOD shall goe into hell Az. 31. and he hath no partaker 32. yet in Azoar 67. hee induceth God speaking thus To Christ the sonne of Marie wee haue giuen the Gospell that by him men may obtaine the loue and fauour of GOD and that the beleeuers amongst them Christians shall receiue a great reward as also in Az. 2. he saith Euery one whosoeuer liueth rightly be he Iew or Christian or if he leaueth his owne Law and embrace another if hee worship GOD and doe good shall vndoubtedly
obtaine Diuine fauour Az. 2. The Creator said I am the onely Creator alwayes the same pittifull mercifull besides whom there is none other whose miracles and great workes are vnto the wise the frame of Heauen and Earth the intercourse of night and day the ships in the Sea fit for the vse of men raine for the refreshing of the earth the composition of all creatures the windes the cloudes c. 15. Inuoke and worship one GOD alone 43. All the miracles of GOD cannot bee written if all the Trees in the world were pennes and the Sea seuen times greater and were inke with whom it is a small thing to raise the dead OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST hee writeth thus Azo 29. Wee sent our Spirit to Marie the best of all women and the wombe vntouched Azoar 31. in likenesse of a man professing himselfe a Diuine Messenger concerning a Sonne c. And when shee in trauell plained Christ came from vnder her and said Feare not and when some chid with her about the childe the childe it selfe made answere I am the Seruant and Prophet of God Hee saith the Iewes did not slay Christ but one like him Azo 11. and vpbraideth them for not receiuing him Azo 2. and chap. 4. To Christ the Sonne of Marie properly communicating our owne soule wee haue giuen him strength and power more then other Prophets yet chap. 13. he disclaimeth that worship which is done him and his mother Az. 4. Wee giuing our soule to Christ the Sonne of Marie preferred him before all others that had beene exalted by me to speake with GOD to power and vertue He inserteth the Prayer of the Virgins Mother when shee felt her selfe with childe by Ioachim and maketh Zacharie to bee the Virgins Tutor 5. Who hee saith for his vnbeliefe was dumbe three dayes The Angell saluted Marie saying O thou the purest of all women and men deuoted to GOD. Ioy vnto thee of that great Messenger with the Word of GOD whose name is IESVS CHRIST an excellent man at the command of the Creator he shal come with Diuine power with knowledge of all learning with the Booke of the Law and Gospell shall giue Commandements to the Israelites shall giue life cure diseases shew what is to be eaten and to be done shall confirme the Old Testament shall make some things lawfull which before were vnlawfull c. Hee acknowledgeth that his Mother knew not man 11. They say the Iewes that they killed Christ the Sonne of Marie the Messenger of GOD but it was not true but they crucified in his stead another like him for the incomprehensible GOD caused him to goe vnto Him IESVS is the Spirit and Word and Messenger of GOD sent from heauen 11. And GOD spake to him Az. 13. and gaue him a cleane and blessed soule whereby he made yellow formes of birds and breathing on them made them flie Hee cured one borne blinde and the leprous and raised the dead GOD taught him the Booke and Wisdome and the Gospell and Testament Concerning his LAVV and ALCORAN he handleth it in the second Chapter of Azoara which beginneth thus In the name of the mercifull and pittifull God This booke without any falshood or errour shewing the Truth to them which loue feare and worship GOD and are studious of prayers and almes and the obseruation of the lawes giuen of GOD from heauen to thee and other thy Predecessors and the hope of the world to come hath manifested the true Sect For this bringeth the followers thereof to the highest inricheth them with the highest good as to the vnbeleeuers and erroneous it menaceth truely the greatest euill to come This hee after applieth to Paradise and Hell which is due to the Enemies of Gabriel which intimateth this Booke to his heart by the Creator and to all the Enemies of GOD and Michael and the Archangels This his Alcoran hee calleth the establishing of the Law of the Israelites and Azo 21. hee arrogateth to his Booke wisdome and eloquence and 47. hee saith it was composed of the incomprehensible and wise GOD euery where agreeing with it selfe and calleth it 63. the Booke of Abraham and 69. if it should be placed on a Mountaine that Mountaine for Diuine feare would be dissolued Those which will not be conuerted take and slay by all meanes intrapping them and fight against them till they be your Tributaries and Subiects And 18. the fifth part of all the prey is due vnto GOD and his Prophet and to your Kindred and Orphans and the poore Those that are taken in Warre kill or make slaues but pardon them if they will turne to your Law and GOD also will pardon them Such good Warriours shall haue full pardon The Iewes and Christians contrarie to that he had said before let GOD confound He hath sent his Messenger with the right way and good law that he may manifest and extoll it aboue all lawes Of the twelue moneths foure are to be consecrated to fight against the enemies Those that refuse this war-fare lose their soules and they which flie in the day of battell Az. 6. doe it by the Deuils instigation thus punishing them for their former sinnes Yea the Deuils themselues Az. 56. being conuerted thereby say to their Diobolicall Nation We haue heard a Booke sent after Moses which approoueth all his sayings and teacheth the true and right way And Az. 12. he calls the Alcoran a Booke of truth sent from aboue a Confirmer of Christs Precepts Hee saith Az. 15. That Moses deliuered some things in writing more vnwritten He makes his Booke to bee the same which GOD had taught Abraham Ismael Isaac Iacob Moses and CHRIST Az. 5. he saith his booke containes some things firme and without exception some things contrarie which froward men peruert to controuersies but the exposition thereof belongs to GOD onely and to the wisest which beleeue that all of it came from God Az. 6. he excites them to defend it when hee shall be dead or slaine and God will reward them Neither can any die but by the will of God to wit in the time appointed They which in the expedition shall haue pardon which is better then all possessions and an easie iudgement And they which die in the wayes of God are not to bee esteemed dead for they liue with GOD. That life is firme this and all worldly things mutable 7. If the Alcoran Az. 9. were not of God it would haue many contrarieties in it which himselfe yet Az. 5. confesseth They which are well Az. 10. and remaine at home are not of like merit as they which goe to warre The fire of hell is hotter then the danger of warre And although thou Prophet shouldest pardon the resisters of God and his Messenger seuentie times yet God will neuer pardon them The sicke and weake and such as haue not necessaries are excused from this necessitie of warre but to the good Warriours God giueth Paradise in reward of
were it not for sensualitie ignorance and the sword these Alcoran-fables would soone vanish CHAP. V. Other Muhameticall speculations and explanations of their Law collected out of their owne Commentaries of that Argument OF such writings as haue come to our hands touching Mahomets doctrine and Religion that seemeth most fully to lay them open which is called by some Scala a booke containing the exposition of the Alcoran in forme of a Dialogue translated into Latine by Hermannus Dalmata and made the twelfth Chapter of the first Booke of the Alcoran in Italian I haue therefore presumed on the Readers patience to those former collections out of the Alcoran it selfe to adde these ensuing as a further explanation of their opinions The Messenger of GOD so beginneth that booke was sitting amongst his fellowes the praier and salutation of GOD bee vpon him in his Citie Iesrab and the Angel Gabriel descending on him said GOD saluteth thee O Mahomet c. There came foure wise-men Masters in Israel to prooue thee the chiefe of whom is Abdia-Ben-Salon Mahomet therefore sent his cousin Hali to salute them and they being come to Mahomet after mutuall salutations Abdia telleth him that he and his fellowes were sent by the people of the Iewes to learne the vnderstanding of some obscurer places of their Law Mahomet asketh if he come to enquire or to tempt Abdia saith to enquire Then Mahomet giuing him full leaue he beginneth hauing before gathered out of the whole bodie of their Law an hundred most exquisite questions The principall dregs you shall here haue Abdia Tell vs O Mahomet whether thou bee a Prophet or a Messenger Mahomet GOD hath appointed me both a Prophet and a Messenger Ab. Doest thou preach the Law of GOD or thine owne Law Mah. The Law of GOD this Law is Faith and this Faith is that there are not Gods but one GOD without partaker Ab. How many Lawes of GOD are there Mah. One the Law and Faith of the Prophets which went before vs was one the Rites were different Ab. Shall we enter Paradise for Faith or Workes Mah. Both are necessarie but if a Gentile Iew or Christian become a Saracen and preuent his good Workes Faith onely shall suffice But if Gentile Iew or Christian doe good Workes not in the loue of GOD the fire shall consume both him and his worke Ab. How doth the mercie of GOD preuent his anger Mah. When before other creatures Adam rose vp he sucesed and said GOD be thanked and the Angels hearing it said The Pittie of GOD be vpon thee Adam who answered Amen Then said the Lord I haue receiued your Prayer Ab. What be the foure things which GOD wrought with his owne hands Mah. Hee made Paradise planted the tree of the Trumpet formed Adam and did write the Tables of Moses Ab. Who told thee this Mah. Gabriel from the Lord of the world Ab. In what forme Mah. Of a man standing vpright neuer sleeping nor eating nor drinking but the praise of GOD. Ab. Tell me in order what is one what is two what three foure fiue sixe c. to an hundreth Mah. One is GOD without Sonne partaker or fellow Almightie Lord of life and death Two Adam and Eue Three Michael Gabriel Saraphiel Archangels Secretaries of GOD. Foure The Law of Moses the Psalmes of Dauid the Gospell and Alfurcan so called of the distinction of the Sentences Fiue The prayers which GOD gaue mee and my people and to none of the other Prophets Six The dayes of the Creation Seuen Heauens Eight Angels which sustaine the Throne of GOD. Nine Are the Miracles of Moses Ten Are the Fasting-dayes of the Pilgrimes three when they goe seuen in their returne Eleuen Are the Starres whereof Ioseph dreamed Twelue moneths in the yeere Thirteene Is the Sunne and Moone with the eleuen Starres Fourteene Candles hang about the Throne of GOD of the length of fiue hundred yeeres Fifteene The fifteenth day of Ramadam in which the Alcoran came sliding from heauen Sixteene Are the Legions of the Cherubims Seuenteene Are the names of GOD betweene the bottome of the earth and hell which stay those flames which else would consume of the world Eighteene Interpositions there be betweeene the Throne of GOD and the ayre for else the brightnesse of GOD would blinde the World Nineteene Be the armes or branches of Zachia a Riuer in hell which shall make a great noise in the day of Iudgement Twentie The day of the moneth Ramadam when the Psalmes descended on Dauid The one and twentieth of Ramadam Salomon was borne The two and twentieth Dauid was pardoned the sinne against Vriah The three and twentieth of Ramadam Christ the Sonne of Marie was borne the prayers of GOD be vpon him The foure and twentieth GOD spake to Moses The fiue and twentieth the Sea was diuided The sixe and twentieth He receiued the Tables The seuen and twentieth Ionas was swallowed of the Whale The eight and twentieth Iacob recouered his sight when Iudas brought Iosephs coat The nine and twentieth Was Enoch translated The thirtieth Moses went into Mount Sinai Ab. Make short worke for thou hast done all this exactly Mah. Fortie are the daies of Moses his fasting Fftie thousand yeeres shall the day of Iudgement continue Sixtie are the veines which euery of the heauens haue in the earth without which varietie there would be no knowledge amongst men Seuentie men Moses tooke to himselfe Eightie stripes are due to a drunken man Ninetie the Angell said to Dauid This my fellow hath ninetie sheepe and I but one which he hath stollen from mee An hundred stripes are due to the Adulterer Ab. Well shew vs how the earth was made and when Mah. GOD made man of mire the mire of froth this was made of the tempests these of the sea The sea of darknesse the darknesse of light this of the word the word of the thought the thought of Iacinth the Iacinth of the commandement Let it be and it was Ab. How many Angels are set ouer men Mah. Two one on the right hand which writeth his good deeds another on the left which registreth his bad These sit on mens shoulders Their pen is their tongue their inke is their spittle their heart is the booke Ab. What did GOD make after Mah. The bookes wherein are written all things past present and to come in heauen and earth and the pen made of the brightest light fiue hundred yeeres long and eightie broad hauing eightie teeth wherein are written all things in the world till the day of Iudgement The booke is made of the greatest Emerald the words of Pearles the couer of pitie GOD ouer-looketh the same an hundred and sixtie times in a day and night The heauen is made of smoake of the vapour of the sea the greennesse of the sea proceedeth from the mount Kaf which is made of the Emeralds of Paradise and compasseth the world bearing vp the heauens The gates of heauen are of gold the
hee was so bold with the Emperour as to tell him to his face that if hee did neglect the cause of those Mahumetans hee might be thereunto by his subiects compelled Concerning the Mufti and other steps of their Hierarchy Master Knolles writeth That the Turkes haue certaine Colledges called Medressae at Constantinople Adrinople Bursia and other places in which they liue and studie their prophane Diuinitie and Law and haue among them nine seuerall steps or degrees vnto the highest dignitie The first is called Softi which are young Students The second are Calfi who are Readers vnto the first The third Hogi Writers of Bookes for they will suffer no Printing The fourth are Naipi or young Doctors which may supply the place of Iudges in their absence The fifth Caddi Iudges of their Law and Iustices to punish offenders of which there is one at least in euery Citie through the Turkish Dominion and are knowne from other men by their huge Turbants two yards in compasse The sixth are Muderisi which ouersee the Caddies doings and are as Suffragans to their Bishops who are the seuenth sort and are called Mulli which place and displace Church-men at their pleasure The eight Cadelescari who are but two great and principall Iudges or Cardinals the one of Graecia the other of Natolia and these two sit euery day in the Diuano among the Bassaes and are in great reputation The ninth is the Mufti who is among the Turkes as the Pope among the Roman Catholikes When the Bassaes punish any offence against their Law they send to him Hee may not abase himselfe to sit in the Diuano neither when hee comes into the presence of the Grand Seignior will he vouchsafe to kisse his hand or to giue any more reuerence then he receiueth The Great Sultan ariseth to honour him when hee comes vnto him and then they both sit downe face to face and so talke and conferre together No man can ascend to this place but by the dignities aforesaid Mahomet the third forced by a tumult of the Ianizaries to present himselfe vnto them came accompanied with the Mufti and some few others of the reuerend Doctors of their Law who were by the Sultan commanded to sit downe whiles the great Bassaes abode standing Such respect it had to these men Thus much Knolles In the Booke of the Policie of the Turkish Empire it is said that the Mufties authority is like to that of the Iewish High Priest or Roman Pope I rather esteeme it like to that of the Patriarkes of Alexandria Antioch c. as binding not all Mahumetans but the Turkes onely whereas the one had the other challengeth a subiection of all which professe their religion That Author also affirmeth that whensoeuer the Mufti goeth abroad forth of his own house which he vseth to doe very seldome his vse and custome is first to goe and visit the Emperour who as soone as hee seeth him comming to salute him and doe him reuerence presently ariseth out of his seat and embracing him with great kindnesse entertaineth him very friendly and louingly causing him to sit downe by him and giuing him the honour of the place His authoritie saith Soranzo is so great that none will openly contradict the Mufties sentence but yet if the Emperour be setled in a resolution the Mufti with feare or flattery inclines vnto him Next to the Mufti is the Cadilescher who being also chosen by the Emperour may bee compared to those whom the Christians call Patriarches or else to the Primats and Metropolitans of a Kingdome Of these there are now in this encreased greatnesse of the Turkish Empire three whereas it seemeth that they had in the time of Baiazet but one and long after as before is said but two To one of these is assigned Europe namely so much thereof as is subiect to the Turke for his Prouince To the second Natolia or Turky to the third Syria and Egypt with the parts adioyning There were but two Cadileschers till Selym wan Syria and Egypt and erected a third But Soranzo saith that this third of Cairo is not rightly called Cadilescher but should rather be called the great Cadi Out of all which Prouinces whatsoeuer causes come to be determined by appeale or otherwise they are brought to be decided before the Cadilescher of the same Prouince whence they arise notwithstanding that the abode of each of them be continually or for the most part at Constantinople or elsewhere wheresoeuer the Emperour holdeth his Court The honour done to them is little lesse then to the Mufti for that their authoritie is ouer Priest and people temporall and spirituall they are also learned in their law aged and experienced Of the Muderisi and Mulli I can say no more then I haue done Next to these are the Cadi which are sent abroad and dispersed into euery Citie and Towne of the Turkish Empire which besides their Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction as I may terme it in forcing man to their religious obseruations are as it were Iusticers and Gouernours of the places So neere glued are the Offices and Officers the religion and politie of the Turkes There are other which are not sent forth which are called Choza that is Elders These with the Talismans haue the ordering of their Parishionall Churches The Thalisman calling the people to prayer and the Choza executing the Seruice and Preaching and in absence each supplying others Office Menauino more distinctly and in other names numbreth those Church-officers The Modecis is a Gouernour of an Hospitall receiuing and disposing the rents with the other customes thereof Their Schoole degrees are before spoken of out of Knolles Some adde to these former these other Priests of baser condition The Antippi are certaine Priests which vpon Friday called of them Glumaagun and is obserued as their Sabbath because Mahomet as some hold was borne on that day and on other their fasting and feasting-dayes after they haue vsed diuers Ceremonies in a certaine place in the middest of the Temple about thirtie steps high from thence read vnto the people something concerning the life of Mahomet After which two little boyes stand vp and sing certaine Prayers Which being ended the Priest and all the people sing a Psalme with a low voyce and then for halfe an houre together they cry Illah illelah that is there is but one God After all this one of these Antippi out of that high place sheweth forth vnto the people a Lance and Scimitar with exhortation to vse their Swords and Lances in defence of their Religion Of the Imam and Meizin is elsewhere shewed that the one calleth the people to the Mosche or Meschit the other there celebrateth publike Orisons The Sophi also are certaine Clerks or Priests employed in the singing of Psalmes and Hymnes after their manner in their Churches at the times of publike Prayers All these inferior Orders of Priests are chosen by
therein an hundred twentie seuen Pillars the workes of so many Kings threescore foot in height and sixe and thirtie of them very curiously wrought The Temple was foure hundred twentie fiue foot long two hundred and twentie broad of the Ephesians holden in such veneration that when Croesus had begirt them with a straight siege they deuoted their Citie to their Goddesse tying the wall thereof with a rope to the Temple It was enriched and adorned with gifts beyond value It was full of the workes of Praxiteles and Thraso The Priests were Eunuches called Megalobyzi greatly honoured and had with them sacred Virgins Some call these or else another order of Diana's Priests Estiatores and Essenae that is Good fellowes after the appellation of this bad age which by yeerely courses had a peculiar diet assigned them and came in no priuate house All the Ionians resorted to Ephesus at Diana's festiuall which with daunces and other pompe they solemnized with their wiues and children as they had done before at Delos the Temple had priuiledge of Sanctuarie which Alexander extended to a furlong Mithridates to a flight-shot Antonius added part of the Citie But Augustus disanulled the same that it should no longer bee a harbour for villaines This the Romans finde saith a Roman Pope relating this Historie among whom are so many Sanctuaries as Cardinals houses in which theeues and ruffians haue patronage which make the Citie otherwise quiet and noble a denne of theeues A lake named Selinusius and another which floweth into it were Diana's patrimonie which by some Kings being taken from her were after by the Romans restored And when the Publicans had seized the profits Artimedorus was sent in Ambassage to Rome where hee recouered them to Diana for which cause they dedicated to him a golden Image in the Temple In the midst of the lake was the Kings Chappell accounted the worke of Agamemnon Alexander not onely restored the Ephesians to their Citie which for his sake they had lost and changed the gouernment into a popular state but bestowed also the tributes which before they had paied to the Persians vpon Diana and caused them to be slaine which had robbed the Temple and had ouerthrowne the Image of Philip his father therein and such of them as had taken Sanctuarie in the Temple he caused to be fetched out and stoned While hee staied at Ephesus hee sacrificed to Diana with very solemne pompe all his Armie being arranged in battell array But this Temple of Diana together with their Diana is perished But neuer shall that Truth perish which Paul writ in his Epistle to them for obseruing which by Christ himselfe in another Epistle written by S. Iohn they are commended and which in a Councell there holden was confirmed against the Heresie of Nestorius and Celestius But alas that golden Candlesticke as was threatned is now almost by Greekish superstition and Turkish tyrannie remoued thence a Bishop with some remnants of a Church still continuing The Ephesians were obseruers of curious Arts which not onely Luke mentioneth but the prouerbe also confirmeth Ephesiae literae so they called the spells whereby they made themselues in wrestling and other conflicts inuincible The summe of those Magicall bookes burned by them Luke rateth at 50000. pieces of siluer which Budaeus summeth at 5000. Crownes The many Temples of Venus at Ephesus are not worth memorie Memorable is the History of an Ephesian maid who when Brennus inuaded Asia promised him her loue which he much desired and withall to betray the Citie to him if hee would giue her all the Iewels and Attire of the women which the Souldiers were commanded to doe who heaped their gold so fast vpon the Damosell according to their command that shee was therewith couered and slaine The Asiarchae which Luke nameth Beza saith were certaine Priests whole office it was to set forth publike playes and games in honor of their Gods as also were the Syriarchae The Ephesians as all other Ionians were much addicted to nicenes and sumptuousnesse of attire for which other their delicacies they grew into a prouerbe The Ionians had other places and Temples amongst them famous for deuotion and antiquitie such as no where else are to be seene as the Temple and Oracle of Apollo at Gemini Myus had a small arme of the Sea whose waters by the means of Meander fayling the soyle brought forth an innumerable multitude of fleas which forced the Inhabitants to forsake their Citie and with bagge and baggage to depart to Miletus And in my time saith Pausanias nothing remaineth of Myus in Myus but Bacchus Temple The like befell to the Atarnitae neere to Pergamus The Persians burnt the Temple of Pallas at Phocea and another of Iuno in Samos the remaines whereof are worthy admiration the Erythraean Temple of Hercules and of Pallas at Prienae that for antiquitie this for the Image The Image of Hercules is said to be brought in a ship which came without mans helpe to the Cape where the Chians and Erythraeans laboured each to bring the same to their owne Citie But one Phormio a Fisher-man of Erythraea was warned in a dreame to make a rope of the haires cut off from the heads of the Erythraean Matrons by which their husbands should draw the same to the Towne The women would not yeeld but certaine Thracian women which had obtained their freedome granted their haire to this purpose to whom therefore this priuiledge was granted to enter into Hercules Temple a thing denied to all other the Dames of Erythraea The rope stil remaineth and the Fisher-man which before was blinde recouered his sight In this Towne also is Mineruaes Temple and therein a huge Image of Wood sitting on a Throne holding with both hands a Distaffe There are the Graces and Houres formed of white Marble At Smyrna was the Temple of Aesculapius and nigh to the Springs of the Riuer Meles a Caue in which they say Homer composed his Poems Thus much Pausanius The Ionian letters were more resembling the Latine then the present Greeke are and were then common as in our first Booke is shewed in our Phoenician Relations At Miletus a mad phrensie had once possessed their Virgins where by it came to passe that they in great multitudes hanged themselues Neither cause appeared nor remedie Needs most they goe whom the Deuill driues Whom neither the sweetnesse of life bitterternesse of death teares intreaties offers custodie of friends could moue Modestie detained from proceeding in this immodest butcherie and which is more to be wondred at a Posthume modestie which could not be borne till they were dead For a Law was made That the naked bodies of such as had thus strangled themselues should bee drawne through the streets which contumely though it were but a Gnat to those Camels which with the halter they swallowed yet strained they at it and it could
Sea Mela writeth that from the Hill which ascendeth the space of ten furlongs this Caue or strange Valley descendeth by degrees the further the more spacious enuironed with a greene circle of pleasant shadie Groues filling the eyes and minde at once with pleasure and wonder There is but one passage into it and that narrow and rough which continueth a mile and halfe vnder delightfull shades the Rills running heere and there resounding I know not what strange noyse in those darkened Bowers When they are come to the bottome another Caue presently presents it selfe which terrifieth those that enter with the multiplied sounds of Cymbals and vncouth minstrelsie And the light fayling by degrees it brings them into a darke vault where a Riuer riseth and hauing runne a swift course in a short channell is againe drunke vp of the earth so soone dieth that streame which is yet immortall the Earth dealing with this that as some with their children begotten and borne in darknesse smoothering that breath which but euen now from them they receiued alway bearing and alway barren There is a further passage but none durst view it possessed with a superstitious fancie of the Gods inhabiting that conceit presenting all things to the minde as venerable and full of Deitie which to the sense were dreadfull and full of horror Beyond this was the Tryphonian alway couered with a blacke mantle of darkenesse fabulously supposed the bed of Typhon and naturally exstinguishing the naturall life of whatsoeuer entred Vnto these things which haue beene said of the Temples Priests and Rites obserued in Asia thus much may be added out of Sardus of their Sacrifices The Phrygians sacrificed Swines bloud This did the Galli Priests of Cybele and this did the Bedlem Votaries to recouer of their madnesse The Colophonians offered a dog to Enodia which is Hecate as did also the Carians to Mars The Phaselites in Pamphilia sacrificed Fishes to Caber the sonne of Vulcan and the Lydians Eeles to Neptune The Cappadocian Kings in their Sacrifices to Iupiter Stratioticus or Militaris on a high Hill built a great fire the King and others bringing Wood thereto and after that another lesser which the King sprinkled with Milke and Hony and after fired it entertaining those which were present with good cheere Peucer tells of Diuinations vsed in some parts of Lycia betwixt Myra and Phellus there was a Fountaine full of Fishes by whose forme nature motion and feeding the Inhabitants vsed Diuination The same Lycians in the Groue of Apollo not farre from the Sea had a drie ditch called Dina in which the Diuiner put in fishes and ten gobbets of rosted flesh fastened on spits with certaine Prayers after which the drie ditch became full of water and fishes of all kindes and formes by which the Priests obserued their Predictions And not farre from hence at Myrae in Lycia was the Fountaine of Apollo Curius where the fishes being three times called with a Pipe assembled themselues and if they deuoured the meats giuen them it was interpreted a good bode and happy presage if they strucke away the same with their tayles it was direfull and dreadfull At Hierapolis in Lycia the fishes in the Lake of Venus being called by the Temple-keepers presented themselues enduring to bee scratched gilled and mens hands to bee put into their mouthes They diuined by lots six moneths of the yeere together at Patara in Lycia in Apolloes Temple But Saturne hath swallowed his owne Children and Time which brought forth these both Gods and Religions hath also consumed them not leauing any such memoriall of them as might satisfie any curious searcher yet in relation of the Greekish Rites from which these for the most part haue not much swarued you may expect a more full and ample Discourse It is now time at last to rest our wearie limbes enough and more hath the Pilgrim tolde you of the Arabian Deserts of the Monster Mahomet and his Vicars the Caliphaes euen in this title they will parallel Rome of their Rapines answerable to their name of their Viperous off-spring the Turkes and of the elder Inhabitants of that Asian Tract Let mee here a little breathe mee before I ascend the Armenian Hils OF THE ARMENIANS MEDES PERSIANS PARTHIANS SCYTHIANS TARTARIANS CHINOIS AND OF THEIR RELIGIONS The fourth Booke CHAP. I. Of ARMENIA MAIOR and GEORGIA and the neighbouring Nations SLOWLY hitherto haue wee proceeded in the discouerie of a part of Asia sometime the store sometimes the want of conuenient matter detaining our pen In the one Time the Consumer of things causing much time and paines to be spent in curious search that wee might produce some light out of darknesse In the other store of Stories and varietie of varying Authors hath dimmed our weaker eyes with multiplicitie of lights vncertaine in so many Tracts and Tractates where to begin and when to end Now at last are wee passed Euphrates into a Countrey that often exalteth it selfe as though it would pierce the skies and as often receiueth the due punishment of aspiring pride being cast downe into so many lowly valleyes and deiected bottomes The World which after the Floud was repeopled from hence still carrieth in the seuerall Ages Places Peoples and Men thereof the resemblance of her Cradle now vp now downe in all varietie and vicissitude of chance and change constant in vnconstancie treading this Armenian Measure with vnequall paces ouer Hills and Dales like it selfe onely in vnlikenesse Here Noes Arke setled and here must our Ship hoyse sayle §. I. Of the Armenians and Turcomanians ARMENIA hath a great part of Cappadocia and Euphrates on the West Mesopotamia on the South on the North part Colchis Iberia Albania on the East the Caspian Sea and Media Part of this greater Armenia is now called Turcomania the other part is contained in Georgia Ptolomey reckoneth in it principall Mountaines the Moschici Paryarges or Pariedri Vdacespes Antitaurus Abos and the Gordaei which the Chaldean Paraphrast calleth Kardu and Q. Curtius Cordei Berosus Cordyes On these Hils the Arke rested whereof wee haue spoken in the first Booke Haithon if wee beleeue him of his owne Countrey where hee was of royall linage calleth this Mountaine Arath little differing from the Scripture-appellation Ararat and addeth That although in regard of abundance of Snow alway possessing the top thereof none be able to goe vp thither yet there alway appeareth in the top a certaine blacke thing which the vulgar people esteeme to be the Arke Perhaps it may be some cloud or mist which grosse vapours doe often cause on the tops of high Hills For before Haithons dayes Beniamin Tudelensis telleth that one Ghamar ben Alchetab had taken thence the remainder of the Arke and therewith built an Ismaeliticall Meschit And yet a man may herein doubt also for concerning reliques pretending such Antiquitie Faith can finde no foundation in such ruinous rubbish and wee haue before shewed
out of Berosus and Nicolaus Damascenus of old and Cartwrights later trauels what may be thought thereof Armenia as Strabo affirmeth receiued the name of one of Iasons companions which followed him in his Nauigation out of Harmenia a Citie of Thessaly betweene Pherae and Larissa The wealth of this Region appeared when Ptolomey appointing Tigranes to bring in to the Romans sixe thousand Talents of Siluer he added voluntarily beyond that summe to euery Souldier in the Campe fiftie drammes of Siluer to euery Centurion a thousand to euery Deputie of a Countrey and Chiliarch a Talent Their Religion must at first be that which Noah and his Family professed after by time corrupted Here saith our Berosus Noah instructed his posteritie in Diuine an Humane Sciences and committed many naturall secrets vnto writing which the Scythian Armenians commend to their Priests onely none else being suffered to see or reade or teach them He left also Rituall Bookes or Ceremoniall of the which hee was termed Saga that is Priest or Bishop Hee taught them also Astronomy and the distinction of yeeres and moneths For which they esteemed him partaker of Diuine Nature and surnamed him Olybama and Arsa that is the Heauen and the Sunne and dedicated to him many Cities some saith he remaining at this day which beare these names And when hee went from thence to gouerne Cytim which now as bee affirmeth they call Italy the Armenians were much affected to him and after his death accounted him the Soule of the heauenly bodies and bestowed on him Diuine Honors Thus Armenia where hee began and Italy where he ended doe worship him and ascribe to him Names Heauen Sunne Chaos the Seed of the World the Father of the greater and lesse Gods the Soule of the World mouing Heauen and the Creatures and Man the GOD of Peace Iustice Holinesse putting away hurtfull things and preseruing good And for this cause both Nations signifie him in their writings with the course of the Sunne and motion of the Moone and a Scepter of Dominion persecuting and chasing away the wicked from among the societie of men and with the chastitie of the bodie and sanctimony of the minde the two keyes of Religion and Happinesse They called also Tidea the mother of all after her death Aretia that is the Earth and Esta that is the Fire because shee had beene Queene of the Holy Rites and had taught maidens to keepe the holy euerlasting fire from euer going out Noah before he went out of Armenia had taught men Husbandry more ayming at Religion and Manners then Wealth and Dainties which prouoke to vnlawfull things and had lately procured the wrath of GOD. And first of all men he found out and planted Vines and was therefore called Ianus which to the Aramaeans soundeth as much as The Author of Wine Thus farre Berosus lib. 3. and in the fourth Booke hee addeth that Nymbrot the first Saturne of Babylon with his sonne Iupiter Belus stole away those Rituall or Ceremoniall bookes of Iupiter Sagus and came with his people into the land Sennaar where he appointed a Citie and laid the foundation of a great Tower a hundred thirtie and one yeeres after the Floud but neither finished this nor founded the other Old Ianus when hee went hence left Scytha with his mother Araxa and some inhabitants to people Armenia being the first King thereof Sabatius Saga being consecrated High Priest from Armenia vnto the Bactrians all which space saith he in our Age is called Scythia Saga In his fifth booke hee reporteth That Iupiter Belus possessed with ambition of subduing the whole world closely endeuoured to make or take away Sabatius Saga who being not able otherwise to escape his treachetie fled away secretly But Ninus the sonne of Belus pursued his fathers intent against Sabatius who substituted his sonne Barzanes in his place and fled into Sarmatia and after from thence into Italy to his father Ianus Barzanes was subdued by Ninus But to come to an Author of better credite Strabo saith The Armenians and Medes haue in veneration all the Temples of the Persians but the Armenians especially esteeme the Temples of Tanais as erecting them in other places so in Acilesina They dedicate vnto them men-seruants and women-seruants the most noble of that Nation there dedicating shall I say or prostituting their daughters where after long prostitution with their Goddesse they are giuen in marriage none refusing such matches How much can the shadow how little can the substance of Religion perswade men to The Image of Tanais or Anaitis was set vp in her Temple all of solid gold and when as Antonius warred against the Parthians this Temple was robbed The same went That hee which first had layed sacrilegious hands on the spoyles was smitten blind and so diseased that he died thereof But when Augustus being entertained of an ancient warriour at Bononia asked him of the truth of this report he answered Thou now O Emperour drinkest that bloud for I am the man and whatsoeuer I haue came by that bootie This Goddesse is supposed to be the same with Diana A Region of Armenia bare the same name Anaitis How bloudy Rites the Armenians sometimes vsed appeareth by the Historie of the Riuer Araxes before called Halmus borrowing this later name of a King there raigning to whom in warres betwixt him and the Persians the Oracle prescribed the sacrifice of his two faire daughters Pietie forbade what pietie commanded and whiles the King would be an Vmpire between Nature and the Oracle which is the vsuall euent in arbitrements he satisfied neither That the Oracle might bee fulfilled he sacrificed two of noble birth of notable beautie that Nature might not be wronged hee wronged Iustice the true touch-stone of true pietie hee spared his owne and offered the daughters of Miesalcus but so hee lost both his daughters by Miesalcus reuenging sword and himselfe in this Riuer by himselfe drowned Bacchus loued Alphoesibaea an Armenian Damsell and while Tygris then if you beleeue the Story called Sollax was too coole a Mediatour betweene the two hot louers hee swam ouer on a Tygers backe Hence the Fable of his Metamorphosis into a Tygre hence that name left to the Riuer Armenia was subdued to the Persians by Cyrus one part thereof payed to the Persians twentie thousand Colts for yeerely tribute Sariaster sonne to Tigranes the Armenian King conspired against his father the Conspirators sealed their bloudie faith with a bloudie ceremonie they let themselues bloud in the right hands and then dranke it Wonder that in such a treachery as immediately before the same Author affirmeth of Mithridates his sonne that any man would helpe or that hee durst importune the Gods no wonder that so bloudie a seale was annexed to such euidence The Temple of Baris mentioned by Strabo may happily be some Monument of Noahs descent by corruption of the word Lubar as before said Iosephus out of
the light compasseth the Tower of Susa and the religious Temple of Diana Daniel calls it Vlay it seemeth to be or to become the same with Choaspes and so doth Ptolomey confound them they dranke also onely Chalybonian wine made at Damascus in Syria and their bread was made of the wheat of Assos in Phrygia Their sumptuous feasting appeareth in the Scripture beyond what is read in any storie of any King in which was somewhat of euery Nation subiect to him set before him his Salt was brought out of Egypt Amongst the baggage and stuffe of Darius which Parmenio tooke at Damascus were found two hundred seuentie seuen Cookes nine and twentie Scullians thirteene which had charge of white-meates seuenteene which were to minister water seuentie which belonged to the wine-celler fortie which looked to the oyntments and sixtie sixe which made Crownes How many may we thinke were there in his setled Court His dining-roome was full of musicall women whereof one began the song the rest followed three hundred of these creatures singing playing dancing spent the night in his bed-chamber Hee which could deuise any new pleasure was highly rewarded for which purpose Xerxes promised largely to such Epicurean-Masters by an open Proclamation The King vsually sate alone sometimes his mother and wife were admitted other guests sate where hee might see but not be seene of them yea they had slauish sauce to their sweet meates being narrowly watched by the Eunuches whether they cast any liberall lookes towards any of the Kings women Yet the Parthian guests had more seruile entertainment as euen now wee shewed Concerning the multitudes of their women and curiositie of their lusts the booke of Ester yeelds ample testimonie Cicero addeth that they bestowed for the maintenance of their wiues robes and dresses one Citie for their haire another for their necke yea the reuenues of whole countries on such excesse Socrates in Platoes Alcibiades telleth of an Embassador into Persia which was almost a whole day in trauelling through a Region called the Queenes Girdle another called the Queenes Head-tire and so for euery other part of her Wardrobe The Kings children especially the eldest sonne were presently after their birth committed to Eunuches which beside education did compose and order their lims at seuen yeeres of age they learned to ride and hunt hauing skilfull instructers for that purpose at foureteene yeeres they were committed to the discipline of the Royall Masters which were foure choisely learned the first in Prudence which taught the Magia of Zoroastres and the institution of a King the second in Iustice who taught to speake and deale truly the third in Temperance wherein hee instructed his new disciple as the fourth in Fortitude The Persian King had one whose office was to salute the King with these words Arise O King and thinke on such things as Mesoromasdes would haue thee Almost euery day hee performed his holy Rites for which cause were slaine euery day one thousand sacrifices amongst which were Oxen Asses Harts the Magi being present Before their sacrifices they discoursed of pietie and when they went to this their deuotion there were men on both sides the way set in rankes with officers called Mastigophori who suffered none but great personages to enter First were led Bulls foure and foure together which were sacrificed to Iupiter After them were led Horses to bee offered to the Sunne Then followed a Chariot drawne with white Horses hauing a golden beame and crowned sacred to Iupiter after that the Chariot of the Sunne like the former Then a third Chariot the Horses couered with Scarlet after which followed men carrying fire and next the King in his Chariot before which went foure thousand Target men and two thousand Speare-men about it There followed three hundred with Darts on horse-backe two hundred horses with golden bridles and after them three thousand Persians and in the last place the Medes Armenians Hireans Xenophon indeed which writes this in his Institution of Cyrus intends rather the frame of a iust Empire then the truth of History yet professeth to relate no other Rites and Customes then which the Persians embraced neither doth hee in these things disagree from Herodotus and Curtius The Kings Chariot was drawne with white horses the drowning of one of which was the cause of drying the Riuer Gyndes For Cyrus enraged for the losse of his white Palfrey diuided the riuer by force of men into three hundred and twentie rills so that it wilderd and lost it selfe in those many by-wayes an argument what Diuision can doe These horses were of the Nisaean race in Media When the King descended from his Chariot a golden stoole was set him to step on one alway attending his Chariot with such a stoole While hee rode in his Chariot hee spent the time in whitling with a knife not in reading or any graue meditation and therefore was vnlearned When hee went on progresse into Media he enioyned the Countrey to spend three dayes before to hunt Scorpions which there abounded allowing rewards therefore They vsed by themselues or their Legats to visite their officers in the Prouinces and to punish or preferre them according to their merits In iudgements they not onely considered the crimes and accusations but the counterpoise also of their vertues and the clemencie of Artaxerxes in their irreuocable law appeared in cutting off the Tyarae of condemned persons in stead of their heads As often as the King entred into Persepolis euery Matron was to haue a piece of gold giuen her the men also were rewarded which multiplied children but especiall rewards were bestowed on them which were called Orosange which had deserued well of the King whose names and facts were therefore recorded as we reade of Mordecai and his recompence Themistocles receiued of the Kings bountie the Citie Magnesia to finde him bread which Region was worth fiftie Talents yeerely Lampsacum for wine Myus for cates The chiefe gift giuen to any was a mill of gold The Kings birth-day was a solemne feast called Tycta that is perfect for the magnificence thereof in which hee gaue gifts to the people yea hee might not denie any petition then made to him The King nourished so many Indian dogs for hunting that foure great villages in the plaine of Babylon were assigned to their sustenance Artaxerxes caused Megabyzus as Ctesias writeth to bee beheaded for striking a Lyon with his dart which was readie to assault the King because he therein transgressed the Law and preuented the Kings triall of his valour The reuenues of the tributes were 14560. Euboike Talents the siluer and gold were melted and kept in earthen vessels which were broken when they came to vse the same Besides this the subiect prouinces yeelded to the maintenance of the King other things as Armenia horses Babylonia foure moneths victuals and the rest of Asia the other eight and other Regions their peculiar commodities The
succeeded him who made himselfe a Mahumetan and called himselfe Hamed After whose short raigne Argonkhon Geniotukhon Badukhan Gazun he made Casbin his Imperiall Citie Alyaptu succeeded in order This last made himselfe Mahumetan kept his Court at Tauris and first brought in the custome of tribute children which he tooke from their parents Christians and Iewes to frame to his seruice Hee built Sultania His sonne and successour Abuzayd spend his summer at Sultania and his winter at Bagadet after whose death which happened A. H. 736. the Tartarians were diuided into Persia euery one making himselfe King of that which he held which continued till the time of Tamerlane Thus haue I out of Mirkond related these Tartar-Persian affaires But if I adde some what out of Haithon which liued in the middest of these times let it not seeme tedious first of a Paradise destroyed by the Tartar Haalon and then of the successors till his time nor mentioning some which ruled but a little while in Persia In the North-East parts of Persia which of this new Heresie they called Mulchet there was an old man named Aloadin a Mahumetan as all those parts then were which had inclosed a goodly Valley situate betweene two Hills and furnished it with all variety which Nature and Art could yeeld as Fruits Pictures rills of Milke Wine Honny Water Palaces and beautifull Damosells richly attyred and called it Paradise to which was no passage but by an impregnable Castell And daily preaching the pleasures of this Paradise to the youths which he kept in his Court sometimes he would minister a sleepie drinke to some of them and then conueigh them thither where being entertained with these pleasures foure or fiue dayes they supposed themselues rapt into Paradise And then being againe cast into a trance by the said drinke hee caused them to be carryed forth and after would examine them of what they had seene and by this delusion would make them resolute for any enterprise which he should appoint them as to murther any Prince his enemie For they feared not death in hope of their Mahumeticall Paradise But this Haolon or Vlan after three yeeres siege destroyed him and this his Fooles Paradise Some tell this of Aladeules in the time of Zelim the first Abaga succeded him in the gouernement of these parts Anno 1264. but not in the Christian Religion Tangodor the next became a Saracen and called himselfe Mahomet and at Tauris and other places destroyed the Churches of the Christians as Haolon had done of the Saracens he banished the Christians and peruerted as many Tartars as he could to Mahumetisme But Argonus the sonne of Abaga rebelled and taking him cut him asunder in the middle succeeding in his place Anno 1285. After him Regayto whom the Tartars slew placing in his stead Baydo a Christian who forbad the preaching of Mahumetisme among the Tartars and reedified the Churches of the Christians Casan succeeded in his Dominion and Deuotion and after his death Carbaganda who in his childhood had beene baptized and named Nicholas but when his Christian Mother was dead he became a Saracen Thus farre out of Haithonus in which History appeareth the vicissitude of diuers Religions sometime Tartarian sometime Christian sometime Mahumetan as in the Princes who gouerned these Countries vnder the great Cham or Can of the Tartars so also no doubt in a great part of the Countries themselues which vsually are of the Kings Religion This Carbaganda reigning about 1305. is the last Tartar Prince which ruled in the parts of Syria and in Persia the state was soone after diuided into many Soueraignties For as their Religion so also their Empire fayled the Egyptian Soldans preuayling in Syria the Ottoman Tukes in Asia and Gempsas in Persia This Gempsas was Soldan of the Parthians and about the yeere 1350. restored that Persian Kingdome to the Parthians Thus our Christian Historiographers Mirkond mentions him not Likely it is when all fell to sharing he got his part Of Tamerlan Mirkond relates that when Chingius sent Occoda into Maurenahar Carachar Nuyon was made his first Visier in which dignity hee and his posterity continued there till Teymur or Tamurlan the fifth from him with other great gouernments Teymur being Visier and Captayne Generall to Sciorgat Meckhom which raigned in Chagaty and dyed A. 1370. was proclaymed King in his steed He by his prosperous armes subdued Maurenahar Turquestan Koarrazm Karason Sistom Industan Hyerakhen Parc Kermon Mazandaron Aderbaion and Kusistam Bagadet Alep Damasco defeated Sultan Farache King of Egypt and after tooke Baiazet the great Turke prisoner He dyed Anno 1405. His victories are by others enlarged to Russia and China and the great Chams state settled on him Mirzab Charok his fourth sonne succeeded him in the Empire and after him Anno 1447. his sonne Mirzah Oleghbek but as after Alexander so after Tamerlan their hastie gotten Empire was much distracted among the great Souldiers his followers which held great shares to themselues making warre on their Masters sonnes And one of the descendants of them Abtelatife slew Oleghbek in the field Anno 1450. and was slaine of his Souldiers sixe moneths after Sultan Abusayd grand-child to Miromcha the third sonne of Tamerlan succeeded slaying Abdula the brother of Abdelatife But he also was slaine by Mirzah Yadigar Mahamed one of Acembec or Vsuncassans partakers who had before slaine Iooncha Contarini and Barbaro which were in Persia with Vsuncasan call him Iausa others I know not why Malaonchres others Demir after whose death Abusayd was called to the gouernment of Kermon Hierak and Aderbaion and being sollicited for peace by Asembelus Acembec or Vsuncassan aforesaid reiected it and so lost himselfe and left those parts of the Persian Empire to the Conqueror But in Maurenahar Sultan Hamed his sonne succeeded 28. yeeres and after him his nephew Babor the last of Tumberlans bloud there raigning Ichaybekan comming from Vsbek Anno 1500. and dispossessing him Yet did Babor possesse Gaznehen and some part of India till his death 1532. where his sonne Homayon succeeded him and to him his sonne Geluladin Akbar commonly called Melabdim Echbar the Great Mogol Father of him which now raigneth of whom in the next booke Yadigar that slew Abusayd was also of Tamerlans race the sonne of Mahamed sonne of Baysangor sonne of Mirzah Charok He by Acembecs helpe chased Ocem another of Tamerlans posterity by Hamar Cheque his third sonne King in Katason and Strabat out of those parts into Faryab and Mayman neere Balk whence hee suddenly returning with a small force by aduantage of Yadigar or Hiadigar his negligence slew him and recouered his Realme He dyed Anno 1506. Two of his sonnes succeeded him Bahady and Musafar whom Chaybec Vsbek chased out of their Kingdome Bahady fled to Ismael Sophy who gaue him the lands of Chambe Gazon in Tauris and tenne Scrafs of gold by the day thence he was
after carryed prisoner by the Turke to Constantinople where hee dyed Besides these of the posterity of Tamerlan there were other Princes in Persia and the parts adioyning as those of the factions of Blacke Sheepe and White Sheepe Of the former was Kara Issuf which conquered Tauris Sultania Casbin and the countries of Seruan and Diarbech but dying was spoyled to his shirt of his Souldiers yea they cut off his eares for his iewells and left him in the open field Charrok held long warres with Scander and Iooncha his sonnes the latter of which after many conquests was slaine by Acembec and Acen Aly his sonne and successour and thus the White Sheepe faction preuayled Ozun Acembec or Vusun-Casan the head thereof of the Tarcoman Nation heire of Diarbech and Lord of many Prouinces which hee conquered as before is noted but defeated by Mahumet the great Turke He dyed Anno 1471. His sonne Calil succeeded who was slaine by his brother Iacob or Yacub whose wife bearing dishonest affection to one of the Court sought by the murther of her husband to aduance this Courtier to her husbands bed and Empire And hauing conueyed venome into a golden cup presents her husband the same to drinke who somewhat suspecting her caused her to begin himselfe and his sonne following her both in dinking and dying And thus was Persia by the wickednesse of one woman made the Stage of ciuill warres whiles the chiefe Nobles sought each to possesse himselfe of the State which at last after fiue or sixe yeeres war befell to Alumut or Eluan-beg then being but fourteene yeere old who was slaine by Ismael in the yeere 1499. And thus yee haue had the succession of the Persian Kings in the first and second Dynastie of the Saracens you heard in the former Booke next after whom the Tartars and these here mentioned till Ismael obtayned the state whose posterity still hold it Beniamin Tudelensis telleth that Senigar then King of Persia had two and fortie Kingdomes subiect to him and that his Dominion extended foure moneths iourney and speaketh as though hee were not subiect to the Caliph in his temporalities Master Polo reckons eight Kingdomes of Persia Casibin Curdistan Lor Suolistan Spaan Siras Soncaia Timocaim not reckoning Hirak the chiefe Citie wherof was Tauris and diuers other Countries now and before his time subiect to the Persian And by most Historians it appeareth that Persia had before the dayes of Tangrolopix and till the Tartars conquest Sultans which yeelded small subiection to the Chaliphs §. III. Of Ismael Sofi first founder of the present Persian Empire or fifth Dynastie THe Historie of Ismael because it giueth much light both into the State and Religion of Persia is more fully to be reported After that Mustacen Mumbila or Almustacenbila Abdula the Caliph of Bagdet had bin by the Tartars done to death in the yeere after Haithonus account 1258. about the yeere 1369. there arose in Persia a Nobleman called Sophi Lord of the Citie Ardouil reporting himselfe to be of the bloud of Alle or Hali descended from Musa Cazin or Cersin one of the twelue sonnes as is said of Hocem thirteene descents distant This Sophi or as our Tarik Mirkond aforesaid calls him Cheque Safy had issue Cheque Mucha the father of Cheque Ali who begate Cheque Ebrahem and he Sultan Iuneyd father of Cheque Aydar who begate Ismael These continued their Hali-holies Our Authors mention none from Sophi to Iuneyd whom they make his sonne calling him Guinne otherwise written Guini Guine and Giunet Minadoi saith That Sexchiuni or more distinctly Siec Giunet was Authour of the Persian sect who vnder the name of So and of Siec that is of a wise man and an Author of Religion or rather vnder the pretence of holinesse began to perswade the people that the three first successors of Mahomet were vsurpers onely Ali ought to be named lawfull successor and ought to be called vpon in their prayers and by all meanes ro be honoured From this time forward the Sepulchre of Ali and his sonnes in Cafe grew in great credit and was visited euery yeere after the same sort that the Turks visit the Sepulchre of the other three and the Kings of Persia vsed there to bee crowned and girt with their sword and their great Calife there kept his residence Because this Case was neere Babylon hence grew the common error that these things were done at Babylon or Bagdet Iouius also is deceiued where he maketh Arduelle or Aidere author of the Persian faction Sofi is by Minadoi deriued of Sofiti a people subdued by Alexander but Scaliger more fitly Tzophi which in Arabike signifieth a man of pure Religion In this respect there is no lesse contention betweene these other Muhammedans then betweene the Samaritans and the Iewes so that the Persians are a kinde of Catharists or Puritans in their impure Muhammedrie Claudet Duret mentioneth another Etymologie that Sophi signifieth Wooll and that this profession in token of humilitie wearing nothing on their heads more precious then wooll were so called But the former deriuation is more probable Nic. Nicolai in his third Booke hath also that woollen deriuation and Geffrey Ducket saith that Sophi signifieth a Begger and that the King is not there in Persia so called but Shaugh which agreeth with their report which say that Ismael renewed or continued the name Sofi or Sofiti but his successors leauing that and the name of Siec haue retayned onely the Title of Saha which some write Shaugh some Xa a Royall title communicated by the head of this superstition to those Kings which participate with them therein Ioseph Scaliger saith that Sa or Scha is the same with Monsieur among the French and Don among the Spaniards The Iewes and Arabians write it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is sometimes set before the name as in the present King Scha Habas sometime comes after as Melixa for Melic-scha Barrius begins this pedigree at the father of Giunet or Guine so he calls him and not as Minadoi with Guinet himselfe He addeth That for the Ensigne Character or Cognisance of his Sect he ordayned that in the midst of their Turbant which they weare with many folds there should arise a sharpe top in manner of a Pyramis diuided into twelue parts in remembrance of Ali his twelue sonnes from the top to the bottome They vsed the colour Red on their heads saith Minadoi by ordinance of Arduelle and therefore were called Cheselbas that is Red-heads some write it Cuselbas Sophi as Mirkond affirmeth was holden in such reputation of holinesse by Tamerlane that he came to visit him as a Saint and at his request set free 30000. slaues which he had taken in the warres against Baiazat to whom Cheque Sophi gaue apparell and other necessaries and sent them home to their houses whereby hee wan great fame and affection Barrius
at his departure to giue a signe thereof by striking downe the top of a steeple Which being effected the Kings conuersion followed together with many of the Nobilitie to the Roman faith libertie also being granted to preach it openly and to build Churches and Monasteries thorowout the Kingdome This was beleeued in England especially by a friend of our Authors vnto whom that Pamphlet was sent who requested him to say Masse in thanks-giuing to GOD for so great a benefit But in the end that Iesuite who sent the Pamphlet gaue out that it was but a thing deuised by French Hugonets to disgrace their societie Gracious societie that can sometime cure their lies with a distinction of piaefraudes sometime couer them with a robe of the new fashion Aequiuocation sometimes can expose their bastards at other mens doores to shield themselues from shame with laying the blame on others and haue a mint in their pragmaticall heads of such supersubtle inuentions what are they now disgraced and that by Hugonets Euen as truly as the Parliament-house should haue beene blowne vp by Puritans this also was the Ignatians deuice or like to that newes of the late Queene whose Ambassadours were at Rome for the Popes Absolution or that of Bezaes recantation and Geneuaes submission to the Pope Blessed Ignatius let mee also inuocate or let him deigne to reade in that all-seeing glasse this poore supplication infuse some better spirit or some cleanlier and more wittie conueyance at least into thy new progenie lest the Protestants grosser wits sent see feele the palpablenesse and impute the Iesuitical courses to that Author which said he would go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all ACHABS Prophets which when he speaketh a lie speaketh of his owne because he is a lier and the father thereof Hitherto wee tooke Ignatius for their father but now we find a New of whom they borrow Bankruptly shifts beseeming onely the Merchants of Babylon disgracing humanitie defacing diuinitie worthily raunged amongst the poore policies of the Hospitall of the desperate Since also Iansonius in his Mercurius Gallobelgicus hath told vs newes of the Kings graunt to build a Temple and Monasterie for Christians himselfe as hee saith much enclining to that religion whereupon many haue been baptized and not a few through the power of holy-water haue beene cured The King hath further sent to the Georgians to vnite them to the Romish Church and the Armenians also by an embassage to Rome haue protested all obedience to that Sea as they before had done in the Couent of Saint Augustine which is in the chiefe Citie of Persia He setteth downe the copie of King Abas his Letter to the Pope wherein he requested him to send a Prelate to gouerne at Tres Ecclesiae where the chiefe of the Armenian Christians vsed to reside The like he writeth in another letter to the King of Spaine which if it be so argueth rather his policie to obtaine good will and helpe of the Christians against the Turk then any loue to Christian Religion CHAP. X. Of the Scythians Sarmatians and Seres and of their Religion §. I. Of the Scythian Name People Region Language and manner of life VNder the name Scythia is contained a verie great part of the world It was diuided into Scythia Europaea and Asiatica Pliny saith That this name reacheth vnto the Sarmatians and Germans and to those farthest Nations which were vnknowne to other men And Strabo in his first booke saith That all knowne Regions towards the North were-called Scythians or Nomades and in his eleuenth booke he affirmeth that the Greekes called all those Northerne Nations Scythians and Celtoscythians Those beyond the Adriatike and Pontike Seas and the Riuer Ister or Danubius were called Hyperborei Sauromatae and Arimaspi those beyond the Caspian Sea Sacae and Massagetae Some will haue this name to be giuen them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to be angrie Others of their Shooting called still of some of those Nations and in some other languages Schieten of which our word Shoot is deriued Mela in his third Booke and fifth Chapter calleth them all Sagae and in the fragment which beareth the name of Cato de Originibus is mentioned Scythia Saga this word Saga Berosus interpreteth a Priest saying that Noah left the Scythian Armenians his rituall bookes which onely Priests and that onely among Priests might reade who were therefore called Saga as Noah himselfe had been These peopled the Countries from Armenia to the Bactrians all which place was called Scythia Saga ouer which Sabatius reigning in the time of Iupiter Belus Araxa with his sonne Scythia possessed all from Armenia Westward to Samatia in Europe The Grecians fable Hercules to be the father of these Nations begetting Scythes on a monster whose vpper halfe resembled a Woman the nether part a Viper It were an endlesse and boundlesse worke to seeke and set out the true and proper beginnings and bounds of this so large a Tract of the world called Scythia the particular Nations of them would be but harsh to recite out of Pliny Mela Strabo and others the multitude wherof he that will may find in Ortelius his Thesaurus collected together The Sarmatae or Sauromatae are sometime made one peculiar people of the Scythians and sometimes the names are confounded Sarmatia also being diuided into Europaea and Asiatica whereof the one is interpreted by Oliuerus Polonia by Ortelius Russia and the other Tartaria Goropius in his Becceselana admiring his owne language coniectureth that while Nimrod and his company fell to babel or after our pronuntiation babble at Babel others namely the Cymbrians or posteritie of Gomer staied still in Margiana a Countrie fruitfull of Vines whither hee imagineth Noah descended out of the Arke and there abode after the Floud These he supposeth being not at Babel retained their old and first vniuersall language But Margiana growing too little for their multiplied numbers they were forced to send out Colonies And thus the Saxons Tectosages Sauromatae Getes or Gothes the Danes Galles and other Scythian Nations the true posteritie of Gomer and keepers of the first language as he by Dutch Etymologies gathereth peopled both Scythia and Sarmatia in Asia and Europe together with all Germanie France England Norway Denmarke and some parts of Asia Minor Hee that will bee further informed of his Reasons let him reade his Saxonica Gotodanica and other Treatises of his Becceselanian Antiquities Ptolomey distinguisheth Scythia from Samatia hee confineth Sarmatia Europaea with the Sarmatian Ocean and the land vnknowne on the North with Vistula on the West the Easterne border is Tanais from whence vnto the Hircanian Sea Eastward is Sarmatia Asiatica on the North abutting on the vnknown parts of the earth on the South with the Euxine Sea and a line drawne right from thence to the Caspian Sea Scythia is by
and by their weight leaue so deepe impression in the sand that hereby men knowing their haunt doe vnder set this their Tract with sharpe stakes headed with yron couering the same againe with sand by this meanes preying on the spoyler and deuouring the deuourer esteeming nothing more sauorie then the flesh nor more medicinable then the gall of this Serpent More Serpentine then this diet was that custome which they vsed when any proper and personable Gentleman of valourous Spirit and goodly presence lodged in any house amongst them in the night they killed him not for the spoyle but that his soule furnished with such parts of body and mind might remaine in that house Much hope of future happinesse to that house did they repose in so vnhappy attempts But the great Can killed this Serpent also ouerthrowing this custome in the conquest of that Prouince CARDANDAN confineth on the Westerne limits of Carazan They make blacke lists in their flesh razing the skinne and put therein some blacke tincture which euer remayneth accounting it a great ornament When a woman is deliuered of a child the man lyeth in and keepeth his bed with visitation of Gossips the space of fortie dayes They worship the ancientest person of the house ascribing to him all their good In this prouince and in Caindu Vocian and Iaci they haue no Phisicians but when any be sicke they send for their Witches or Sorcerers and acquaint them with their maladie They cause Minstrels to play while they dance and sing in honour of their Idols not ceasing till the Diuell entereth into one of them of whom those Sorcerers demand the cause of the parties sickenesse and meanes of recouerie The Demoniake answereth for some offence to such or such a god They pray that God of pardon vowing that when he is whole he shall offer him a sacrifice of his owne bloud If the Diuell see him vnlikely to recouer he answereth that his offences are so grieuous that no sacrifice can expiate but if there be likelihood of recouery he enioyneth them a sacrifice of so many Rams with blacke heads to be offered by these Sorcerers assembled together with their wiues then will that god be reconciled This is presently done by the kinsemen of the sicke the sheepe killed their bloud hurled vp towards Heauen The Sorcerers and Sorceresses make great lights and incense all this visited house making a smoke of Lignum Aloes and casting into the ayre the water wherein the sacrificed flesh was sodden with some spiced drinkes laughing singing dancing in honour of that God After all this reuel-rout they demand againe of the Demoniake if the God be appeased : if so they fall to those spiced drinkes and sacrificed flesh with great mirth and being well apayed returne home if not they at his bidding renue their superstition ascribing the recouerie if it happen to that Idoll and if he dyeth notwithstanding they shift it off to the want of their full due fleecing or tasting the same before to the Idols defrauding Thus doe they in all Cathay and Mangi Thus much out of the large reports of Paulus that renowmed Venetian to whom our Relations are so much indebted Rubruquius telleth the like of CAILAR and CARACORAM where hee had beene in these Catayan Prouinces concerning their Christopher or Giant-like Idols and Idol Temples in one of which he saw a man with a crosse drawne with inke on his hand who seemed by his answers to bee a Christian with Images like to that of Saint Michael and other Saints They haue a Sect called Iugures whose Priests are shauen and clad in Saffron-coloured garments vnmarried an hundred or two hundred in a Cloyster On their holy-dayes they place in their Temples two long formes one ouer against another whereon they sit with bookes in their hands reading softly to themselues Nor could our Author entring amongst them by any meanes breake this their silence They haue wheresoeuer they goe a string about them full of nut-shels like the Popish beadrols alway they are vttering these words Ou â—am hactani God thou knowest expecting so many rewards as they make such memorials of God They haue a Church-yard and a Church-porch with a long pole on it as it were a steeple adioyning to their Temples In those porches they vse to sit and conferre They weare certaine ornaments of paper on their heads Their writing is downewards and so from the left hand to the right which the Tartars receiued from them They vse Magicall Characters hanging their Temples full of them They burne their dead and lay vp the ashes in the top of a Pyramis They beleeue there is one God that he is a Spirit and their Images they make not to represent God but in memoriall of the rich after their death as they professed to Rubruquius The Priests besides their Saffron-iackets buttoned close before weare on their left shoulder a cloake descending before and behind vnder their right arme like to a Deacon carrying the Housel-boxe in Lent They worship towards the North clapping their hands together and prostrating themselues on their knees vpon the Earth holding also their foreheads in their hands They extend their Temples East and West in length vpon the North side they build as it were a Vestrie on the South a Porch The doores of their Temples are alwayes opened to the South A certaine Nestorian Priest told him of so huge an Idoll that it might be seene two dayes before a man came at it Within the Quier which is on the North side of the Temple they place a chest long and broad like a Table and behind that chest stands their principall Idoll towards the South round about which they place the other lesse Idols and vpon that chest they set candles and oblations They haue great Bels like vnto ours The Nestorians of those parts pray with hands displayed before their breasts so to differ from that Iugurian Rite of ioyning hands in prayer Thus farre William de Rubruquius who was there Anno 1253. In Thebet sayth Odoricus resideth the Abassi or Pope of the Idolaters distributing Religious preferments to those Easterne Idolaters as the Roman Pope doth in the West CHAP. XVII Of other Northerne people adioyning to the Tartars and their Religions THE Permians and Samoits that lye from Russia North and North-east are thought to haue taken their beginning from the Tartar-kind whom they somewhat resemble in countenance The Permians are subiect to the Russe they liue by hunting and trading with their furres as doe the Samoits which dwell more toward the North-Sea The Samoit or Samoed hath his name as the Russe sayth of eating himselfe as if they had sometime beene Canibals and at this time they will eate raw flesh whatsoeuer it be euen the very carrion that lyeth in the ditch They say themselues that they were called Samoie that is of themselues as if they were Indigenae there â—â—ad and not transplanted from
Paquin were alike very admirable seeming to be made in the reigne of the Tartars Foure of them were very great One a Globe marked with paralells and meridians as great as three men could fathom set vpon a great Cube of brasse likewise the second was a Spheare fiue foot in the Diameter with Chaines in stead of Circles diuided into 365. degrees and a few minutes the third was a Gnomon ten foot high on a huge Marble the fourth and greatest consisteth of three or foure Astrolabes each fiue foot in the Diameter with other appurtenances very admirable Their Rules of Physicke differ much from ours yet agree with vs in feeling the pulse and are not vnhappy in their cures They vse simple medicines roots hearbs and the like their whole Art in manner the same with our Herbarists They haue thereof no publike Schoole but as each priuately learneth of some Teacher In both the Royall Cities Degrees are granted to the Professors after Examination but both this and that of little worth none being thereby of greater authoritie or without it hindered to practise And neither in Physicke nor Astrologie doth any take great paines which hath any hope of proficience in their Ethikes those being the refuges of Pouertie this the high-way to Honor. Their Geography was such that they called their Countrie Thien-hia that is All vnder heauen thinking the World to haue little else of any worth §. VII Of their Ethikes Politikes and Degrees in Learning CONFVTIVS their Philosophicall Prince compyled foure Volumes of the Ancient Philosophers adding a fifth of his owne these he called the Fiue Doctrines They containe Morall and Politicall Precepts of good Life Gouernment with the Examples Rites Sacrifices and Poems of the Ancients Besides these fiue Volumes out of Confutius some of his disciples are gathered into one Tome diuers Rules Sentences Similes touching the wel ordering of a mans selfe family or the kingdome which is called the four-Foure-bookes and into so many parts diuided These nine are their ancientest and fountaines of the rest of their books containing most part of their Hieroglyphicall Characters authorized by royal Priuiledges ancient Customes to be the Principles and Foundations of all Chinian Learning wherin it is not enough to vnderstand the Text but suddenly to write of euery sentence to which purpose that Tetrabiblion must be cunned by heart They haue no publike Schoole or Vniuersity where Readers vndertake to expound them but euery one is to prouide him a Master at his owne choice and charge of which are great numbers because in that multitude of Characters one cannot teach many and each man desires to haue his children taught at home They haue three Degrees which are conferred vpon such as by examination are found worthy This examination is onely in writing The first Degree called Sieucai is bestowed in euery Citie by the Tihio a learned man appointed thereunto by the King in that place which is named the Schoole and somewhat resembleth our Batchellors This Tihio visiteth euery Citie in the Prouince for this purpose whither when he is come all the Students in the Citie and Confines that aspire to that Degree resort and submit themselues to a three-fold Triall First he is examined of certaine Masters which are set ouer the Bachellors till they attaine a higher Degree in which all are admitted to triall that will sometimes foure or fiue thousand in one Citie These Masters are maintained by the King to this Office These passe them ouer to a second proofe by the Foure Magistrates of the Citie which of so great a number chuse some two hundred of the best Writers whom they commit to the third Examination by the Tihio who intituleth twentie or thirtie of the chiefe of them and numbreth them with the Bachellor of former yeeres These are priuiledged to weare a Gowne Cap and Bootes in token of their Degree and in publike Assemblies haue higher Places besides larger Complements and Immunities and are subiect to their Tihio and those Foure Masters other Magistrates little meddling with their cases This Tihio doth also examine those former Bachellors to see how they haue profited or decayed which according to their writing are diuided into fiue rankes the first are licenced vnto some publike Offices of lesse reckoning the second haue a reward but not so great the third haue neither reward nor punishment the fourth are publikely scourged the last degraded and ranked with the Communaltie Their second Degree is called Kiugin somewhat like the Licentiates in some Europaean Vniuersities This is conferred but once in three yeeres in the chiefe Citie of the Prouince in the eight moneth and with greater solemnitie to fewer or more according to the dignitie and largenesse of the Prouince In Pequin in Nanquin 150. doe proceed Licentiats in Cequian Quiansi and Fuquiam 95. in the rest fewer Vnto this Triall onely Bachellours and but the choice of them are admitted not aboue thirtie or fortie of one Citie which yet sometimes in one Prouince amount to 4000. Competitors That third yeere therefore which happened with them 1609 1612 1615 c. a few dayes before the eight Moone which often falls out in September the Magistrates of Pequin present vnto the King the Names of 100. the chiefe Philosophers in China out of which hee chuseth thirtie two for euery Prouince to bee sent Examiners One of these two must bee of the Kings Colledge called Han lin yuem As soone as euer they are named by the King they must post to their designed Prouince many Spies attending that they speake not with any one man of that Prouince before the Kiugin are entituled Other principal Philosophers also of that Prouince are chosen to assist these Examiners in the first Triall In euery Prouinciall Citie is a huge Palace erected for this end enclosed with high walls in which are many roomes wherein without noyse they may discusse those writings and in the midst of the Palace aboue 4000. Cels or little Studies which can hold nothing but a small table a stoole and one man out of which one is not permitted to see or speake with another When these Posers are come to the Citie they and their Assistants of that Prouince are shut vp in their seuerall Stations before they may speake with each other or any one else and so continue all the time of this Act or Commencement many Souldiers and Magistrates attending to prohibite all commerce conference on all hands with any within or without the Palace In this examination three daies the ninth the twelfth and the fifteenth of the Moone are spent in euery Prouinciall Citie from the earliest light til the euening darkenesse the doores carefully shut some refection being the day before allowed them at publike charge When the Bachellers come into the Palace they are narrowly searched whether they bring any Booke or Writing with them and are allowed only their Pensill Paper Inke and writing Plate or
Doer or his Posteritie The Ancients made no question of the Soules immortalitie speaking often of the Dead as liuing in Heauen But of the punishments of wicked men in Hel not a word The later Professors teach that the Soule dies with or soone after the Bodie and therfore beleeue neither Heauen nor Hel. Some of them hold that good mens soules by the strength of vertue hold out some longer time but of bad men to die with the bodie But the most common opinion taken from the Sect of Idolaters and brought in fiue hundred yeeres since holdeth that the World consisteth of one substance and that the Maker thereof together with Heauen and Earth Men Beasts Plants and the Elements doe make vp one bodie of which euery Creature is a distinct member thence obseruing what loue ought to be amongst all things and that Men may come to become one with GOD. Although the learned men acknowledge one supreame Deitie yet doe they build him no Temple nor depute any place to his worship no Priests or Ministers of Religion no solemne Rites no Precepts or Rules none that hath power to ordaine or explaine their Holies or to punish the Transgressors They doe Him no priuate or publike deuotions or seruice yea they affirme that it belongs to the King only to do sacrifice and worship to the King of Heauen and that it is treason for others to vsurpe it For this cause the King hath two Temples very magnificent in both the Royall Cities the one consecrate to Heauen the other to Earth in the which hee was wont himselfe to sacrifice but it is now performed by some principall Magistrates which slay there many Sheepe and Oxen and performe other Rites many to Heauen and Earth in his stead To the other spirits of Hills Riuers and the foure Regions of the World onely the chiefe Magistrates doe sacrifice nor is it lawfull to priuate men The Precepts of this Law are in their nine Bookes before mentioned Nothing in this Sect is moee generall from the King to the meanest then their yeerely Obits to their Parents and grand-fathers which they account obedience to Parents though dead of which afterwards The Temple they haue is that which in euery Citie is by the Law built to Confutius in that place where there Schoole or Commencement house is This is sumptuous and hath adioyning the Palace of that Magistracie which is ouer the Bachellors or Graduates of the first degree In the chiefe place of this Temple or Chappell is placed his Image or else his name in golden Cupitall Letters on a faire Table besides which stand other Images of his disciples as inferiour Saints Into this Temple euery new and full Moone all the Magistrates of the Citie assemble with the Bachellors and adore him with kneelings wax-lights and incense They do also yeerely on his birth-day and other appointed times offer vnto him meat-offerings or dishes with great prouision yeelding him thanks for the learning they haue found in his Bookes as the cause of their Degrees and Magistracies But they pray not to him for any thing no more then to the dead in their Obits There are other Chappels of the same Sect vnto the Tutelare spirits of each Citie and proper to euery Magistrate of the Court Therein they binde themselues by solemne oath to obserue the Lawes in their function and that at their first entrance heere they offer meates and burne odours acknowledging diuine Iustice in punishing periurie The scope of this Sect of the learned is the publike peace and well ordering of the priuate and publike state and framing themselues to Morall vertues wherein they doe not much disagree from the Christian veritie They haue fiue concords in their Moralitie in which as Cardinall vertues they comprise all Humanitie the duties namely of Father and Child Husband and Wife Master or Superiour and those vnder them Brethren amongst themselues and lastly Equals and Companions They condemne single life and permit polygamie This precept of Charitie to doe to others as one would bee done to is well handled in their Bookes and especially the pietie and obseruance of Children to their Parents and Inferiours to their Superiours Longobardus saith that euery new and full Moon-day a little before Sun-rising in all the Cities of this Kingdome and in all the streets at one and the same houre they make publication of these sixe Precepts First Obey thy Father and Mother Secondly Reuerence thy Elders and Superiours Thirdly Keepe peace with thy Neighbours Fourthly Teach thy Children Fiftly Fulfill thy Calling and Office The last prohibiteth crimes Murther Adulterie Theft c. Many mixe this first with other Sects yea some hold not this a Sect but an Academie Schoole or Profession of Policie and gouerning the priuate and publike State §. IIII. Of the Sect Sciequia THe second Sect is called Sciequia or Omitose in Iapon pronounced Sciaccu and Amidabu the characters to both are the same the Iaponites call it also the Totoqui Law This was brought into China from the West out of a Kingdome called Thiencio or Scinto now Indostan betweene Indus and Ganges Anno Dom. 65. I haue read That the King of China mooued by a dreame sent Legates thither which brought thence Bookes and Interpreters which translated those Bookes from hence it passed into Iapon and therefore the Iaponders are deceiued which thinke that Sciaccu and Amidabu were Siamites and came into Iapon themselues Perhaps they then heard of the Apostles preaching in India and sending for that had this false doctrine obtruded on them These hold that there are foure Elements whereas the Chinois foolishly affirme fiue Fire Water Earth Metals and Wood not mentioning the Aire of which they compound this Elementary World with the creatures therein They multiplie Worlds with Democritus and with Pythagoras hold a Metampsychosis or passage of Soules out of one body into another They tell of a Trinitie of Gods which grew into one Deitie This Sect promiseth rewards to the good in Heauen to the euill threatens punishments in Hell extolleth Single life seemes to condemne Marriage bids fare-well to house and houshold and begs in Pilgrimages to diuers places Their Rites doe much agree it is the Iesuites assertion with the Popish their Hymnes and Prayers with the Gregorian fashion Images in their Temples Priestly Vestments like to their Pluutalia In their Mumsimus they often repeate a name which themselues vnderstand not Tolome which some thinke may be deriued from that of Saint Thomas Neither in Heauen or Hell doe they ascribe eternitie but after certaine spaces of yeeres they allow them another birth in some other Earth there allowing them penance for their passed sinnes The seuerer sort eate not flesh or any thing that had life but if any delinquish their penance is not heard the gift of some money or the mumbling ouer their Orisons being they promise of power to free from Hell These things made a faire shew but their corruptions
kindnesse offered and indignities suffered by reason and treason of the Portugals who had by bribes and slanders wrought the Vice-Roy or Deputie called Mocreb Chan against him passed thence to Agra to the Court as Embassadour with a Letter from the King of England Peniero a Iesuite before in this Booke mentioned obserue the Conuersions and conuersations of that Societie in those parts like a wothy Factor for his Nation had proferred to Mocreb-Chan fortie thousand Rials of Eight to send them to Daman that so hee might become their prisoner and the English negotiation might bee hindered and now when the name of an Embassadour had protected him from such courses plotted with him to ouerthrow his iourney both by detraction of necessarie forces to assist him in a way so full of Out-lawes and Rebels and suborning his Trudge-man and Coach-man to poyson or murder him by the way which was not farre from effecting The Portugals had also dealt with the Lord of Cruly to bee readie with two hundred Horsemen to assault him in the way so that hee was forced to hire a strong conuoy for the securitie of his person Being come to Agra hee was brought with great State to the King who kindly entertained him and sware by God and by his Fathers soule to performe the Kings Maiesties request in the Letter contained notwithstanding the deprauation thereof by the Iesuite to whom the King had giuen it to reade He promised also to allow him three thousand and two hundred pound a yeere or foure hundred Horse for so they reckon all their fees much like the Turkish Timariots and caused him to take a wife of the Countrey the daughter of an Armenian Christian called Mubarikesha sometimes a Commander in the warres of Ekbar Padasha Father to this present Mogor or Mogol whose name is Selim. This King is so fickle and inconstant that what hee had solemnly promised for an English Factory was by the Portugals meanes reuersed and againe promised and againe suspended and a third time both graunted and disanulled so that the second of Nouember 1611. Captaine Hawkins departed from Agra and the last of December came to Cambaya where hee heard of English shipping in which hee passed first to the Red Sea after to Sumatra and Bantam and dyed on the Irish shoare in his returne homewards Whiles he kept at Agra his liuing assigned him by the King was much impaired by the Officers who appointed to him such places where Out-lawes and Rebels liued so that hee neuer receiued aboue three hundred pound His attendance whiles hee was in fauour was honourable and neere the King so that the Mahumetans enuying a Christian such dignitie became his priuie enemies and assistants to the Portugals which was increased by a Present the King sent him publikely being a wilde Boare killed in his hunting-Progresse and by him and his eaten The insolencies of the Guzarates if they may bee suffered and as much basenesse of their deiected cowardly courages being kept in awe which is also the disposition of all the Indian Ethnikes both white and blacke the Portugals pride and treachery the fittest places for our Indian traffique whether wee follow the colours of Mars or Mercury and other his diligent obseruations I omit But so I cannot the rarities of the Mogols Court customes puissances wealth and gouernment notwithstanding our former Discourse hauing met with so rare a guide For the greatnesse of his State hee reporteth that his Empire is diuided into fiue great Kingdomes the first named Pengab the chiefe Citie whereof is Lahor the second Bengala and Sonargham the mother Citie the third Malua the chiefe Seat Vagain the fourth Deckan in which Bramport is principall and so is Amadauer in the fifth Kingdome which is Cambaya Hee hath sixe principall Castles for the keeping of his treasure at Agra which is in the heart of all his Kingdomes Guallier Neruir Ratamboore Hassier Boughtaz There are three Arch-Rebels which with his forces hee cannot call in Amber Chapu in Deckan in Guzerat the sonne of Muzafer sometime their King called Bahador and Raga Rahana in Malua Hee hath fiue sonnes Sultan Cussero Sultan Peruis Sultan Chorem Sultan Sharier Sultan Bath two young daughters and three hundred wiues of which foure are principall None hath the title of Sultan but his sonnes Mirza is also ascribed to his brother and children Chan as a Duke Their degrees and titles are according to their proportion of Horses allowed them foure are of the fame of twelue thousand the King his mother eldest sonne and one of the blood Royall called Cham Azam Of the fame of nine thousand Horse are three these are as Dukes Marquesses of fiue thousand of which are eighteene Earles of three thousand Vicounts so may wee paralell them with our titles of honour two thousand Barons of one thousand Horse Knights foure hundred others fewer to twentie all which are called Mansibdars men of liuing or Lordship of which are three thousand Of Haddies which receiue monethly pay from sixe Horse to one are fiue thousand Officers of Court and Campe sixe and thirtie thousand as Gunners Porters Water-men Cookes Gardiners keepers of Horses Elephants c. whose wages are payed them monethly from ten to three Rupias A Rupia is two shillings of our coyne His Captaines or Mansibdars are to maintaine vpon their allowance and haue in readinesse at a seuen nights warning three hundred thousand Horse The Kings reuenue of his Crown-land is fiftie Crou of Rupias euery Crou is one hundred Leckes and euery Lecke a hundred thousand Rupias all which in our money is fiftie millions of pounds a summe incredible and exceeding that which is said of China His daily expences are fiftie thousand Rupias for his owne person as apparell victuals and other houshold expences with the feeding of sundry sorts of beasts and of some few Elephants his expences on his women by the day amount to thirtie thousand Rupias In his Treasurie of Agra are in Gold of Seraffins Ecberi which are ten Rupias a piece threescore Leckes Of another sort which are one thousand Rupias each twentie thousand pieces and ten thousand of another sort halfe the value Of Toles euery Tole is a Rupia of Siluer and ten of those Toles is the value of one of Gold thirtie thousand Of another sort of ten Toles fiue and twentie thousand Of another sort of fiue Toles fiftie thousand In Siluer of Rupias Ecberi thirteene Crou Of a kinde of coyne worth a hundred Toles a piece fiftie thousand Of another halfe as much one Lecke Of thirtie Toles a piece fortie thousand pieces Of twentie Toles a piece thirtie thousand pieces Of ten Toles a piece twentie thousand pieces Of fiue Toles a piece fiue and twentie thousand Of Sauoys each of which is a Tole and a quarter two Leckes Of Iagaries whereof fiue make sixe Toles one Lecke In Iewels of Diamants one Batman and a halfe a Batman is
superstition They marry but one wife and admit no second succeeding marriage The Bramenes must descend of the Bramene Tribe and others cannot aspire to that Priesthood but some are of higher account then other For some serue for messengers which in time of warre and among theeues may passe safely and are called Fathers They will not put a Bramene to death for any crime Heurnius reporteth that they haue bookes and Prophets which they alledge for confirmation of their opinions that they thinke God to be of blacke colour that they worship the herbe Amaracus or Marioram with many superstitious Ceremonies that they haue in their writings the Decalogue with the explanation thereof that they adjure all of their Society vnto silence touching their mysteries that they haue a peculiar language as Latine in these parts wherein they teach the same in their Schooles that their Doctors hallow the Sundayes in diuine worship adoring the God which created heauen and earth often repeating the sentence I adore thee O God with thy grace and aide for euer to take food from the hands of a Christian they account as sacrilege When they are seuen yeeres old they put about their necke a string two fingers broad made of the skinne of a beast called Cressuamengan like a wilde Asse together with the haire which he weareth till he is fourteene yeeres old all which time he may not eate Betelle That time expired the said string is taken away and another of three threeds put on in signe that hee is become a Bramene which hee weareth all his life They haue a Principall amongst them which is their Bishop which correcteth them if they doe amisse They marrie but once as is said and that not all but onely the eldest of the brethen to continue the Succession who is also heire of the fathers substance and keepeth his wife straitly killing her if he finde her adulterous with poison The yonger brethren lie with other mens wiues which account the same as a singular honour done vnto them hauing libertie as Balby affirmeth to enter into any mans house yea of the Kings no lesse then of the Subjects of that Religion the husbands leauing the wiues and the brethren their sisters vnto their pleasures and therefore departing out of the house when they come in And hence it is that no mans sonne inheriteth his fathers goods and I knowe not whether they may inherite that name of father or sonne but the sisters sonne succeedeth as being most certaine of the bloud They eate but once a day and wash before and after meate as also when they make water and goe to stoole They haue great cournuâ—s belonging to their Churches besides offerings and at set houres of the day resort thither to sing and doe other their holy Rites Twice in the day and as often in the night their Pagode is taken out of the Altar and set on the Bramenes head looking backward and is carried in Procession three times about the Church the Bramenes wiues carrying lights burning euery time they come to the principall doore of the Church which is on the West side thereof some Churches haue two doores on a side they set it downe on their offering-stone and worship it Twice a day they bring it to eate of their sod Rice as often it seemeth as the Bramene is hungry When they wash them which is often they lay a little ashes on their heads foreheads and breasts saying that they shall returne into ashes When the Bramenes wife is with childe as soone as he knoweth it he cleanseth his teeth and abstaineth from Betelle and obserueth fasting till shee bee deliuered The Kings of Malabar will scarce eate meate but of their dressing They are of such estimation that if Merchants trauell among theeues and robbers one Bramene in the companie secureth them all which Bramene will eate nothing of another mans dressing and would not become a Moore for a Kingdome Nic. di Conti saith he saw a Bramene three hundred yeeres old hee addeth that they are studious in Astrologie Geomancie and Philosophie To be short they are the Masters of Ceremonies and the Indian Religion in whose precepts the Kings are trained vp The Bramenes haue it seemeth much familiaritie with the Deuill so strangely doe they foretell things to come though they bee contingent They also interpret Prodigies Lots Auguries and thereby growe into great credit the people depending on them and the Kings becomming of their Order They perswade the people that their Pagodes doe often feast together and therefore would haue such dainties offered which they and theirs deuoure threatning if they be sparing and niggardly plenty of Plagues and diuine wrath Besides these Secular There are other Religious or Monasticall Bramenes which are called Iogues anciently called by the Greekes Gymnosophists because they went naked and so they still doe professing much austeritie of life at least for a time with long Pilgrimages and much bodily exercise little profiting the soule possessing nothing but want and beggarie seeking thereby to winne credite to themselues and their Sect The Verteas I take to bee another Sect the religious Votaries of the Banians or Pythagoreans Both those and these are kindes of Ethnike Monkes which professe by strict penance and regular obseruations to expiate their sinnes and procure saluation to their soules There are also some that liue as Heremites in Desarts some in Colledges some wander from place to place begging some an vnlearned kind are called Sanasses some contrary to the rest nothing esteeme Idols obserue chastitie twenty or fiue and twenty yeeres and feed daily on the pith of a fruit called Caruza to preserue in them that cold humour neither doe they abstaine from flesh fish or wine and when they passe along the way one goeth before them crying Poo Poo that is way way that women especially may auoid for their vow will not permit the sight of a woman These weare not the three threads which the other Bramenes weare neither are their bodies burned after death as of the rest yea the King himselfe honoreth them and not they the King some liue inclosed in iron Cages all filthie with ashes which they strew on their heads and garments some burne some part of their body voluntarily All are vain-glorious and seeke rather the shell then the kernell the shew then the substance of holinesse Xauerius once in conference with the Bramens demanding of them what their God commanded to those that would come to Heauen was answered Two precepts one to abstaine from killing of Kine in whose shape the Gods were worshipped and the other to obserue the Bramenes the Ministers of their Gods But they haue more mysticall learning which one of them secretly disclosed to the Iesuite This was of a famous Schoole College or Vniuersity of those Bramenes all the Students whereof at their first Admission he said were sworne by solemne Oath vnto
Moores traded there and still enioy many possessions These marry one Wife and their Children inherit and they may touch the Nayro's The Cagianem are a Sect of the Nayros hauing a Law and Idols by themselues which they may neuer alter They make Tiles to couer the Temples and the Kings Palace The Nayro's may be with their women but must wash themselues before they goe home Another Sect is called Manantamar which are Landerers nor may they or their Posteritie be of other function nor may they mingle themselues with any other Generation They haue Idol ceremonies and Temples by themselues The Nayros may vse their Wiues or Women rather Their Brethren or Nephewes are their Heires The Calton are Weauers and haue a distinct Idolatrous Sect otherwise are as the former Besides these of better condition there are of baser sort eleuen Sects which may not marrie nor meddle with others The first of these are called Tiberi Husbandmen the second Moger and are Mariners both hauing their proper Superstitions and vse their women in common the third are Astrologers whom they call Canius Great men aske their counsell but may not touch their persons The Aggeri are Masons and Workers in Metals The Muchoa or Machoe are Fishers dwelling in Villages by themselues the men Theeues the women Harlots with whom they please The Betua are Salt-makers the Paerun are Iugglers Inchanters and Physicians if such damnable Deuillish practices may deserue so honourable Name which when any are sicke and require their helpe vse Coniuration to cause the Deuill to enter into some of them and then by his suggestion declare the euent of the Disease and what Sacrifices or other things are to be performed They may not touch or bee touched of other men The Reuolat are a baser sort of Gentiles which carry wood into the Citie to sell and herbs The Puler are as excommunicate persons and liue in Desarts where the Nayros haue no occasion to passe and when they goe neere any of these Nayros or any of the better sort they cry as lowd as they can as the Lepers among the Iewes that others may auoid them For if any touch them their Kindred may for such action or passion stay them and as many of these Puler also as may make satisfaction for such disparagement Some nights they wil go of purpose seeking to touch some of the Nayro women with hand sticke or hurling of a stone which if they effect there is no remedie for the woman but to get her forth and liue with these Villaines or to be sold to escape killing by the hands of her Kindred These Puler are Theeues and Sorcerers The Pareas are of worse esteeme and liue in Desarts without commerce of any reputed worse then the Deuill These ten sorts or eleuen if you reckon two sorts of the Tiberi as our Author doth whereof one are Warriors distinguished by a certaine cudgell which they must carry in their hands from the Nayros are as well differing in Religions matters of common life though for their seuerall Rites it were wrong to the Reader at large to recite them if we had the particulars to deliuer But this is common in India that each Trade and Tribe distinguish a new Sect There are besides these Gentiles Naturall of Malabar many strangers of Indians Moores and Christians But in other Kingdomes of Malabar the Heathenish Religion is little differing from that in Calicut Cranganor is a small Kingdome the Inhabitants of the Citie which giueth name to the Region are Christians of Saint Thomas profession about seuentie thousand in number Cochin is now growne great by the Portugals traffique and friendship Of the rest there is not much worth the recitall The Papall honour among the Bramenes was by ordination of Perimal which placed there the Supremacie of the Bramens because He to whom he gaue Coulam was a greater Man then the rest This Papall title was Cobritin a dignity which the King of Cochin still retayneth to be supreme Head of the Bramenes For the ancient Kings of Coulan remooued their seate to Cochin which was then in their Territories But Warres haue since much altered the face of things in those parts In these parts are now many Christian Proselites of the Iesuites Conuersion besides many of the olde Thomas Christians Both Men and Women in Cochin account it a great Gallantry to haue wide Eares which therefore they stretch by Art hanging Waights on them till they reach to their shoulders Porca is a Kingdome Southwards from Cochin but little we can say of it In Trauancor betweene Coulan and the Cape were many Christians if they may be so called which want Sacraments For in fifty yeeres together they had not seene a Priest only they had the priuiledges and name of Thomaean-Christians These Thomaeans are now as the Iesuites report reduced to their Catholicisme The King of Trauancors Dominion stretcheth beyond the Cape Comori where Malabar endeth on the East-side fourescore and ten miles as farre as Cael which diuers great Lords hold vnder him Among the rest is the Signiory of Quilacare In the City of Quilacare is an Idoll of high account to which they solemnize a Feast euery twelfth yeere where the Gentiles resort as the Popish Christians in the Romish Iubilee The Temple sacred to this Idoll hath exceeding great reuenue The King for so he is called at this Feast erecteth a Scaffold couered with silke and hauing washed himselfe with great solemnity he prayeth before this Idoll and then ascendeth the Scaffold and there in presence of all the people cutteth off his Nose and after that his Eares Lips and other parts which he casts towards the Idoll and at last he cutteth his throate making a butcherly sacrifice of himselfe to his Idoll He that is to be his Successor must be present hereat for he must vndergoe the same Martyrdome when his twelue yeeres Iubilee is come Along this Coast dwell the Paraui simple people and Christians which liue by fishing of Pearles The Nayros make such holes in their Eares that Caesar Fredericke sayth hee thrust his arme vp to the shoulders in one of them They are prodigal of their liues in the honour of their King Osorius telleth of some which like the renowmed Decij had vowed themselues to death and not to returne from the enemy without victory Aloisius Goueanus numbreth in the Sea Coast of Coulam three and twenty townes of which nineteene had Christian Churches The Malabars are generally of one Language and one kind of writing This their writing was in leaues of Palme which they call Olla two fingers broad and long as the matter they intended written on both sides with a stile of Iron which they binde vp in Bookes betweene two boords in greater or lesser forme as they please Their writing is from the left hand to the right They reckoned their times before the Portugals came into the Indies from the departure of
full of Iuyce like Lemmons at the end as Apples haue a stalke so this Fruit hath a Nut like the kidney of a Hare with kernels toothsome and wholsome The lambos exceedeth in beauty taste smell and medicinable vertue it is as bigge as a Peare smelleth like a Rose is ruddie and the tree is neuer without fruit or blossomes commonly each branch hauing both ripe and vnripe fruits and blossomes all at once Linschoten saith on the one side the tree hath ripe fruites and the leaues falne the other couered with leaues and flowres and it beareth three or foure times in a yeere The Iangomas grow on a tree like a Plum-tree full of prickles and haue power of binding The Papaios will not grow but Male and Female together but of these also the Carambolas Iambolijns and other Indian fruits I leaue to speake as not writing an Indian Herball but onely minding to mention such things which besides their Country haue some variety of Nature worthy the obseruation For the rest Gracias ab Horto translated by Carolus Clusius Paludanus Linschoten Christophorus Acosta writing particularly of these things and others in their generall Herbals may acquaint you Of this sort is the Indian Figge tree if it may be called a tree which is not aboue a mans height and within like to a Reed without any woody substance it hath loaues a fathome long and three span abroad which open and spread abroad on the top of it It yeeldeth a fruit in fashion of the clusters of Grapes and beareth but one bunch at once contayning some two hundred Figges at least which being ripe they cut the whole tree downe to the ground leauing onely the root out of which presently groweth another and within a moneth after beareth fruit and so continueth all the yeere long They are the greatest sustenance of the Country and are of very good taste and smell and in those parts men beleeue that Adam first transgressed with this fruit But of greater admiration is the Coquo tree being the most profitable tree in the world of which in the Ilands of Maldiua they make and furnish whole ships so that saue the men themselues there is nothing of the ship or in the ship neyther tackling merchandize or ought else but what this tree yeeldeth The tree groweth high and slender the wood is of a spungy substance easie to bee sowed when they make Vessels thereof with cordes made of Cocus For this Nut which is as bigge as an Estridge Egge hath two sorts of huskes as our Walnuts whereof the vppermost is hayry like hempe of which they make Ockam and Cordage of the other shell they make drinking Cups The fruit when it is almost ripe is full of water within which by degrees changeth into a white harder substance as it ripeneth The liquor is very sweet but with the ripening groweth sowre The liquor extracted out of the tree is medicinable and if it stand one houre in the Sunne it is very good Vineger which being distilled yeeldeth excellent Aquauitae and Wine Of it also they make by setting it in the Sunne Sugar Of the meate of the Nut dryed they make Oyle Of the pith or heart of the tree is made paper for Bookes and Euidences Of the leaues they make couerings for their Houses Mats Tents c. Their apparell their firing and the rest of the Commodities which this tree more plentifull in the Indies then Willowes in the Low Countryes yeeldeth would be too tedious to recite They will keepe the tree from bearing fruit by cutting away the blossomes and then will hang some Vessell thereat which receiueth from thence that liquor of which you haue heard It is the Canarijns liuing and they will climbe vp these trees which yet haue no boughes but on the top like Apes This tree hath also a continuall succession of fruits and is neuer without some No lesse wonder doth that tree cause which is called Arbore de rais or the Tree of Roots Clusius calleth it by Plinies authoritie the Indian Figge tree and Goropius with more confidence then reason affirmeth it to be the Tree of Adams transgression It groweth out of the ground as other trees and yeeldeth many boughes which yeeld certayne threeds of the colour of Gold which growing down-wards to the earth doe there take root againe making as it were new trees or a wood of trees couering by this meanes the best part somtimes of a mile in which the Indians make Galleries to walke in The Figges are like the common but not so pleasant The Arbore triste deserueth mention It growes at Goa brought thither as is thought from Malacca The Hollanders saw one at Achi in Samatra In the day time and at Sunne-setting you shall not see a flowre on it but within halfe an houre after it is full of flowres which at the Sun-rising fall off the leaues shutting themselues from the Sunnes presence and the tree seeming as if it were dead The flowres in forme and greatnesse are like to those of the Orange-tree but sweeter in Acostas iudgement then any flowres which euer hee smelled the Portugals haue vsed all meanes to haue it grow in Europe but our Sunne hath refused to nourish such sullen vnthankfull Malecontents And that yee may know the Indians want not their Metamorphoses and Legends they tell that a man named Parisatico had a Daughter with whom the Sunne was in loue but lightly forsaking her he grew amorous of another whereupon this Damosell slue herselfe and of the ashes of her burned carkasse came this tree Bettele is a leafe somewhat like a Bay leafe and climbeth like Iuie and hath no other fruit neither is any fruit more in vse then these leaues at bed and boord and in the streets as they passe they chew these leaues and in their gossippings or visiting of their friends they are presently presented with them and eate them with Arecca which is a kind of Indian Nut. It saueth their teeth from diseases but coloureth them as if they were painted with blacke bloud When they chew it they spit out the iuyce and it is almost the onely exercise of some which thinke they could not liue if they should abstaine one day from it They haue an Herbe called Dutroa which causeth distraction without vnderstanding any thing done in a mans presence sometimes it maketh a man sleepe as if hee were dead the space of foure and twentie houres except his feet be washed with cold water which restoreth him to himselfe and in much quantitie it killeth Iarric cals it Doturo and sayth that Pinnerus the Iesuite and his Family at Lahor were by meanes of this herbe giuen them by a theeuish seruant distracted and the goods then carried out of their house The women giue their husbands thereof and then in their sights will prostitute their bodies to their Iewder louers and will call them Coruudos stroking them by the beard the husband sitting with his eyes open
for now he had found this signe thereof the Sabbaticall Riuer shewing this Sand in proofe thereof Credit Iudaeus Apella the Iewes beleeue quickly all but the truth especially in Portugall whither he came with this report Many thousand moued by his words remoued their dwellings and selling their substance would needs goe into these parts of Persia by the Sabbaticall Riuer to fixe their habitation there wayting for their promised Messias One and a chiefe of this superstitious Expedition was Amatus Lusitanus a Physician of great note accounted one of the most learned of his Profession and a Writer therein and Iohn Micas a Merchant of great wealth They passed through France Germany Hungary their company like a Snow-ball encreasing as they went with the addition of other Iewes of like credulity When they came to Constantinople there were of them in many Bands or Companies thirty thousand Cabasomi Bassa the Turkish Commander thought to gaine by this occasion and would not suffer them to passe ouer the water into Asia without many hundred thousands of Duckets except they would passe on horse-backe This example was soone both spred and followed of the other Bassaes and Commanders in Asia as they went their wealth and substance being euery where so fleeced that they came into Syria much lessened in numbers in estate miserable and beggerly new Officers euery where as new hungry Flyes lighting on these wretched carkasses so I may call them some they whipped some they empaled some they hanged and burned others Thus were these miserable Pilgrimes wasted and Don Iohn Baltasar was present when Amato aforesaid being dead with this affliction his Physicke bookes were in an Out-cry to be sold at Damasco and because they were in Latine no man would buy them till at last another Iew became Chapman Micas one of the wealthiest men which Europe held dyed poore in an Hospitall at Constantinople And this was the issue of their Pilgrimage to the Sabbaticall streame which they supposed to finde in this Persian Gulfe where wee haue too long holden you the Spectators of this Iewish Tragedie And yet let me intreate your patience a litle longer in considering the occasion of this error We haue elsewhere mentioned this Sabbaticall Riuer now you shall vnderstand that the Iewes generally haue drowned their wits therein Rambam cals it Gozan Genebrard alleageth many R. R. testimonies of it but of all and of all let Eldad Danius his tale which Genebrard hath translated find some fauourable entertainment the rather because one of our Apocryphall Authors seemes to weaue the same webbe which as the worthier person deserueth first examination Esdras therefore so wee suppose him and this is not all his Iewish Fables reporteth that the ten Tribes which Salmanasar led captiue tooke counsell among themselues to leaue the multitude of the Heathen and goe forth into a further Countrey where neuer Mankind dwelt that they might there keepe their statutes which they neuer kept in their owne Lord And they entred into Euphrates by the narrow passages of the Riuer For the most High then shewed signes for them and held still the floud till they were passed ouer For through that Countrey there was a great way to goe namely of a yeere and a halfe and the same Region is called Arsareth Then dwelt they there vntill the latter time And now when they shall begin to come the Highest shall stay the Springs of the streame againe c. Here you see no lesse Miracle then in Iordan or the Red Sea for their passage which seeing it was through Euphrates yee will pardon our Iew for searching it neere this Persian Gulfe especially seeing his good Masters the Rabbins had increased this Tale with the Inclosure of these Iewes from passing againe into our World not by the continuall course of Euphrates as Esdras insinuateth but by the Sabbatising of the Sabbaticall streame which by Eldads description is two hundred cubits ouer full of sands and stones without water making a noyse like thunder as it floweth which by night is heard halfe a dayes Iourney from it On the Sabbath it is continually quiet and still but all that while ariseth thence a flame that none dare enter or come neere by halfe a mile Thus the fire if not the Religion of the Sabbath then detaynes them no lesse then the stony streame on the weeke dayes and what stony heart can refuse them credit Yet doth not hee and Esdras agree of the Inhabitants both deriuing them from the tenne Tribes but Eldad challengeth no lesse antiquitie then from Ieroboam who contending with Rehoboam the godly Catholike Israelites refusing to fight against the house of Dauid chose rather to attempt this Pilgrimage and so passing the Riuer Physon for the Scriptures had forbidden them to meddle with Egypt Ammon or Amalck they went and they went til they came into Ethiopia There did the foure Tribes of Dan Nepthali Gad Aser settle themselues which continually war vpon the seuen Kingdoms of Tusiga Kamtua Koha Mathugia Tacul Bacma and Kacua fie on the simplicity of our Geographers which know not one of these no better then Esdras his Arsareth they haue a King whose name is Huziel Mathiel vnder whom they fight each Tribe three moneths by course The Tribe also of Moses for they imagine his children claue to their Mothers Religion which was a Madianite or Ethiopian is turned to their truth and they all obserue the Talmud the Hebrew Tongue the Ordinances of the Elders and suffer nothing vncleane amongst them Yea no Vtopian State comparable to theirs He tels the like tales of the other Tribes But how came he thence to tell this newes Truely I wonder no lesse then you yet he saith he goe to the Sea forgetting that before he had compassed his Countrey with the Sabbaticall streame and there was taken captiue and by his leanenesse escaping the Canibals else our fat Storie had beene deuoured was sold to a Iew of whom perhaps this forged Tale procured his redemption Howsoeuer the Tradition holds both for these inclosed Iewes and that Sabbaticall streame that it should be sought here-a-wayes or found no where The reciting is sufficient refuting to a reasonable vnderstanding and yet the Iewes are not onely besotted with these their inclosed brethren imagining their Messias may bee amongst them although they know not whether to ascribe this transportation to Salmanaser or to Alexander the Great or to the dayes of Ieroboam but Christians also tell of them about the Pole and they know not where And I haue seene a printed Pamphlet of their comming out of those their Inclosures in our times with the numbers of each Tribe Yea Postellus Boterus and many other deriue the Tartars from them which dreame they which please may reade at large confuted by Master Brerewood It was about the yeere 1238. when Eldad came from thence into Spaine If any lust to haue another Guide for the Sabbaticall streame Master Fullers
a Ship after the fashion of ours which as he could he did which wan him fauour and a larger annuitie Hee after built him another an hundred and twentie tunnes and by this meanes and acquainting him with some principles of Geometry and the Mathematikes grew in such fauour that the Iesuits and Portugals his quondam enemies were now glad to vse him as a mediatour in their suits to the Emperour Hee hath now giuen him a Lordship with eightie or ninetie Husbandmen or Slaues to serue him a fauour neuer before done to any Stranger He could neuer obtaine leaue to returne home to his wife but the Emperour was contented he should write for a Dutch and English trade to be there established yeerly They haue there saith he an Indies of money a good attractiue to bring them thither And thither since both Hollanders and English haue resorted The first English ship that there arriued was the Cloue anno 1613. Generall Saris aduenturing from Bantam thither by the Moluccas and after an intricate passage amongst Rockes and Ilands which he feared would haue inclosed him without possibilitie of Egresse through an open Sea he arriued at last at Firando He was well entertayned there by King Foyen and his Nephew the young King who comming aboord began their Complements of Salutation at the feet putting off their shooes and joyning their hands the right within the left moued them to and fro before their knees They were entertained with a banquet and musicke to their good content No sooner were they gone but multitudes of their Gentrie came aboord with their Presents but to preuent danger they obtayned a Gardiano from the King Daily they were oppressed with multitudes to gaze on the Ship and her beautifull Sterne and some women seeing the Pictures of Venus and Cupid hanging in the Generals Cabin fell on their knees thereto whispering for they durst not openly professe it that they were Christianos and this Picture they tooke to bee that of Our Lady and Her Sonne such a ridiculous Image scarsly an Image of truth is there in Images called Lay-mens bookes indeed Doctrines of vanity and Teachers of lies whence it is an easie discent to Yee worship yee know not what After that the King came aboord againe with his Women which there sang and played on Instruments obseruing time and that by booke as it was pricked but with harsh musicke to English eares Hee gaue him the choyse of diuers houses to hire for his abode but little sale might be made the people not daring to trade till the Emperours License was obtayned Sixe weekes he stayed here expecting the comming of Master Adams before named with whom he after passed to the Court eight hundred miles further First from this Iland by water to Ozaca thence to Surunga or Sorungo where the old Emperour resides He was well prouided of necessaries for his Water-passage by the King of Firando and for his Land-iourney also with Men and a Palankine for Himselfe and a spare Horse and one and twenty other horses for his men raken vp as with vs Post-horses by the way The third day after they were come to Sorungo they were admitted to the Emperours presence in his Castle where they ascended on certaine stayres and came to a matted roome in which they sate a while on the matts after the Easterne fashion wayting the comming of the Emperour to whom they were anon admitted and deliuered His Maiesties Letter vnto Him which He tooke and layd vpon his head and with promise of speedy dispatch willed them to repaire to their lodging after their tedious journey Thence they went to Edoo where the Prince keepes his Court and found honourable entertainment Surungo is as bigge as London with the Suburbes but Edoo is both a greater and fairer Citie all or most of the Nobilitie hauing there their faire Houses gilded and making a gallant shew The old Emperour wisely makes way to his Sonnes succession almost putting him into present possession of the State by the greater Court and Pompe heere then at Surunga The Princes Secretary is Father and therefore of greater experience to the Secretary of the Emperour The Prince is aboue fortie yeeres old He returned to Surunga and had Articles of Trade granted which the Secretary aduised they should propound as briefely as might be the Iaponians affecting breuitie These * I haue seene in the Iaponian Character seeming to differ from that of the Chinois in forme but like for paper and manner of writing with pensils taking the Inke from a stone whereon it is mixed with water the lines downewards multiplyed from the right hand to the left sealed with a redde print of Inke and not with Waxe Some say the Iaponians haue letters Captaine Saris brought diuers of their bookes which seeme rather to be Characters then Letters as farre as I can guesse vnlike to the Chinois yet with like art of Printing the Pictures in their bookes not comparable to the Art in ours He heard that they had but twenty Characters which must be vnderstood of Letters for Characters standing for entire words cannot easily be numbred as in China we haue obserued Being returned after the view of Meaco to Firando He there setled a Factorie of English Merchandise leauing Master Cockes with some others of our Nation there in Trade Himselfe returning from Bantam Since this some Intelligence hath beene receiued from Master Cockes as wee shall obserue in due place and others haue beene employed in this Iaponian Trade whither the Chinois resort with many Iunkes notwithstanding their mutuall hatred the Iaponian ready to kill that Man which shall call him a Chinese and the Chinois so hating all Trade with Strangers that themselues heere reported that fiue thousand had lately beene slaine by the King therefore and the Officers put out of their places the new Officers neuerthelesse for bribes permitting These this Egresse And this may serue by the way to answer such as will by no meanes beleeue that the Iesuites haue set foot in China because the Chinois dare not for any summe carry a Stranger thither and protest that none are admitted no nor any Iesuites there seene For all this I easily beleeue the Iesuites also acknowledge and therefore in many yeeres euen after the Mart was permitted in Canton to the Portugals could not bee admitted till great importunitie after many many repulses on the one side and on the other side bribes preuayled especially for These as not seeming dangerous so few in number so sacred in profession so farre in habitation so Admirable for Arts so liberall in the Giuing Art which goes beyond all the Seuen Liberall and at last after many yeeres pressing with Presents vnto the King Himselfe and those so acceptable as in that Story is mentioned The Chinois at Bantam knew it not and no maruell for these were Merchants neere the Coast from which the Iesuites had their Residences very remote Their China fashion
same Cockes sitting produced a Basiliske and telles of two such Cockes at Zirizea killed by the people which had found them sitting on such Egges Theophrast also saith that Serpents are plentifully ingendred of much Raine or effusions of Mens blood in Warre Mice are multiplyed in drie seasons which the store of them this drie Winter 1613. confirmeth of which hee saith there are great ones in Egypt with two feet which they vse as hands not going but scaping Ostriches keepe in companies in the Desarts making shewes a farre off as if they were troupes of Horsemen a ridiculous terrour to the Carauans of Merchants a foolish Bird that forgetteth his Nest and leaueth his Egges for the Sunne and Sands to hatch that eateth any thing euen the hardest Iron that heareth nothing They haue Eagles Parrots and other Fowles But none more strange then that which is termed Nifr bigger then a Crane preying vpon Carnon and by his flight buryeth his great body in the Clouds that none may see him whence hee espyeth his prey and liueth so long that all his feathers fall away by age and then is fostered by his young ones Other Fowles they haue too tedious to relate of which let the Reader consult Iobson Santos and other Relations in our Voyages published Grashoppers doe here often renue the Aegyptian plague which come in such quantitie that they intercept the shining of the Sunne like a Cloud and hauing eaten the Fruits and Leaues leaue their spawne behind worse then their predecessours deuouring the very barkes of the Leafe-lesse Trees The old depart none knowes whither and sometime with a South-East winde are carried into Spaine The Arabians and Libyans eate them before they haue spawned to that end gathering them in the morning before the Sunne hath dryed their winges and made them able to flie One man can gather foure or fiue bushels in a morning Orosius tells that once they had not onely eaten vp Fruits Leaues and Barke While they liued but being dead did more harme for being carried by a wind into the Sea and the Sea not brooking such morsels vomiting them vp againe on the shoare their putrified carkasses caused such a plague that in Numidia dyed thereof eight hundred thousand and on the Sea-coast neere Carthage and Vtica two hundred thousand and in Vtica it selfe thirtie thousand Souldiers which had beene mustred for the Garisons of Africa In one day were carried out of one Gate one thousand and fiue hundred carkasses They are said to come into Barbarie seuen yeeres together and other seuen not to come at which times Corne before so deare is sold for little and sometime not vouchsafed the reaping such is their soyle and plentie The iuyce of the young is poyson Plinie cals them a plague of Diuine Anger they she saith hee with such a noyse that one would take them for other Fowles and passe ouer huge tracts by Sea and Land In Italy the people by them haue beene driuen to Sibyllius remedies for feare of Famine In Cyrenaica there was a Law thrice a yeere to warre against them destroying the Egges first then the young and lastly the growne ones In Lemnos a certaine measure is appointed for each man to bring of them to the Magistrate And they hold Iayes in high regard because they kill them with flying against them In Syria men are compelled to kill them in Parthia they eate them The Scriptures also often threaten and mention this plague as Gods great Armie But otherwhere they seeme strangers In Aethiopia they haue their principall habitation Clenard mentioneth their mischiefes about Fez where they bring Cart-loades of them to fell the people deuouring these deuourers Aluares in his thirtie two and thirtie three Chapters tels of these Grashoppers in Aethiopia that in some places they made the people trusse vp bagge and baggage and seeke new Habitations where they might finde victuall The Countrey all Desart and destroyed and looking as if it had snowed there by reason of the vnbarked Trees and the fields of Mais the great stalkes whereof were troden downe and broken by them and in another place a Tempest of Raine and Thunder left them more then two yards thicke on the Riuersbanks This he saw with his Eyes But if we stay a little longer on this subiect the Reader will complaine of their troublesome companie heere The studious of Natures rarities in these parts may resort to Leo and others as also for their further satisfaction in the Fishes and Monsters of the water as the Hippopotamus in shape resembling a Horse in bignesse an Asse they goe into the Corne grounds of the Aegyptians and in their feeding goe backwards towards the Riuer so to beguile men who looking forwards for them they meane while conuey themselues into the Water In this Riuer of Nilus in the time of Mauritius Mena being Gouernour of Egypt there with many other saw neere the place where Cairo now standeth a Giantly monster from the bottome of his belly vpwards aboue the water like altogether to Man with flaxen hayre frowning Countenance and strong limbes Some imagined him to bee Nilus the supposed Riuer-deitie After hee had continued in the common view of all men three houres there came forth of the Water another like a Woman with a smooth face her haire partly hanging and partly gathered into a knot and blacke of colour her face very faire rosie lippes fingers and brests well proportioned but her lower parts hidden in the water Thus from morning till Sun-set they fedde their greedy eyes with this spectacle which then sanke downe againe into the Waters Hondius speakes of a Mermaid taken in the Netherlands and taught to Spin I sweare not to the truth of it But many Histories speake of some like Men in their whole shape both in our and other Coasts and some like Lions and for Mermaides in the Voyage of Henry Hudson for Northerly Discouerie 1608. Thomas Hils and Robert Rainer saw one rise by the Ship side on the fifteenth of Iune from the Nauill vpwards her backe and brests like a Woman as likewise her bignesse of body her afterparts like a Porpise and speckled like a Mackerill when they called their company to see it shee sanke downe I might adde many other Creatures strange and wonderfull and yet not so wonderfull as the effects and vertues which Albertus Mizaldus and others tell of these and other Creatures Such are the Sea-kine lesser then the Land-kine the Tartaruca a Tortoise which liueth in the Desarts of huge bignesse c. The people wich inhabite Africa are Arabians Moores Abissines Aegyptians and diuers sorts of the Heathens differing in Rites from each other as shall follow in our discourse The Monsters which Plinie and others tell of besides Munster and Sabellicus out of them I neither beleeue nor report CHAP. II. Of Aegypt and the famous Riuer Nilus and first Kings Temples and Monuments according to HERODOTVS
recompence them with other sixe moneths continuall serenitie and faire weather not then raysing by reason of his further absence any more exhalations then are by himselfe exhausted and consumed which time for that cause they call Summer GOROPIVS therefore out of his coniectures telleth vs of a twofold Winter vnder both Tropikes at the same time vnder Cancer the rainy Winter which in manner as ye haue heard attends on the Sunne vnder Capricorne the Astronomicall Winter in the Suns absence where also he supposeth it to raine at that time by reason of the high Hils there situate and the great Lakes which minister store of moisture besides that Cancer is then in the house of the Moone Againe the winds Etesij that is to say ordinary euery yeere in their annuall course euery Winter lift vp the Cloudes to the tops of the Hils which melt them into raine whereby all the Riuers in Aethiopia are filled and cause those ouer-flowings which in Nilus is strangest because it is in Egypt farthest off from the raines that cause it Aristides sayth that Aristotle found by his wit and Alexander by experience sending men thither for that purpose that raines were the cause of this ouer-flowing and that those raines were caused by Etesian winds which sayth hee are by the approching Sunne ingendred in the North parts and carried to the South where meeting and multiplying on the tops of the high Aethiopian Hils they cause raines Master Sandys affirmeth that some moneth before this rising of Nilus for diuers dayes you shall here see the troubled Ayre full of blacke and ponderous Cloudes and heare a continuall rumbling threatning to drowne the whole Country yet seldome so much as dropping but carried Southward by the North winds that constantly blow at that season The Egyptians by three Pitchers Hieroglyphically intimated a threefold cause the Earth the South Ocean and these raines Strange it is that the Earth of Egypt adioyning to the Riuer preserued and weighed daily keepes the same weight till the seuenteenth of Iune and then growes daily heauier with the increase of the Riuer experimented generally affirmed by French English and others Marcus Fridericus Wendelinus hath written a large Booke which hee calleth Admiranda Nili and hath preambled with a pretie Preface Booke of the wonders of water Saint Ambrose had giuen him a good Text in his Hexaemero The Sea saith hee is good the hostry of Riuers the fountaine of showers the deriuation of ouer-flowings By it remote Nations are ioyned danger of battles are remoued Barbarian furie is bounded it is a helpe in necessitie in perils a refuge a delight in pleasures wholsomnesse to the health coniunction of men separated compendiousnesse of trauelling a shelter of the afflicted a Subsidie to the publike Treasury the nourishment of sterilitie Hence are showres transfused on the Earth the Sunne drawing the water of the Sea by his rarifying beames and exhaling it vp to the colder shadie clouds there cooled and condensate into showers which not only temper the drought but makes fertile the fields What should I reckon the Ilands which are as it were embroydered Iewels in which those which with firme purpose of chastitie put off the secular enticements of intemperance may chuse to lye hid to the World and to auoyd the doubtfull turne againes of this life The Sea therefore is the Closet of Temperance the Schoole of Continence the retyring place of Grauity the Hauen of Securitie the time-tempests calme the sobrietie of the World the incentiue of deuotion the voyce of singers contending with the waues surges c. These prayses of that holy Father giuen to the Sea may here be set as Prince Nilus his Inheritance the Oceans eldest sonne a Riuer of longer course and further fetched and more vnknowne pedigree then any Riuer that age of the Ancients knew and from so equall an arbitriment to three Seas the West-Atlantike the East-Indian and vnknowne-South running so many degrees to the North in pilgrimage to that holy ground where Christ himselfe had sought refuge and whence by a mightie hand God had deliuered Israel and in whose waters Moses made the beginning of the Egyptian plagues For more holinesse was in Christs feet then could be vnholinesse in Egypts elder Idolatries or later Mahumetan Furies and yet those precious feet impart no holinesse to the ground or men where Faith receiueth not what thence readily floweth Still doth Nilus visit and euer forsakes those whom Christ visited and which haue forsaken Christ as drowning himselfe for anguish or vnder the Seas bottome to seeke close and priuate Intelligence with Iordan where the waters are as pestiferous in that Dead Sea as were the deeds Deuillish which ouerwhelmed the Sodomites Region therein and from the neighbouring Region chased the Canaanites first and after the carnall Israelites But I am almost drowned also betwixt these places of Diuine Iudgement Wendelinus hath giuen vs the elder names Schichor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oceanus Aegyptus Triton Astaboras Iupiter Aegyptius Gichon Syris Chrysorrhoas Noym Mahara Abbabuius Syene Dyris Hee tels vs also the originall out of the Negus his Title to be in Goyome a Countrey subiect to the Abassine argueth against the conceits of those which make Nilus one of the Riuers of Paradise and Philosophically discourseth of the ouer-flowing the mouthes and issues and the qualities thereof but so largely that I rather referre the studious to him then presume hence to enlarge this Discourse already tedious He hath packed his Booke as a full store-house of ancient and moderne Ethnike and Christian authorities of all kindes in this Argument In my Voyages now published Aluarez and the Iesuits giue great light to this Obscure-famous Riuer Iohn Baptista Scortia a Iesuite hath lately published two Bookes of this one Riuer with manifold speculations thereon It seemeth not without cause that the name Paper is deriued from Papyrus growing in Nilus so much Paper hath bin written thereof He deriueth Nilus from two Lakes which I dare not aduenture there are so many Hippopotami and Crocodiles therein The ouer-flowing is common to most Riuers vnder the Line to Zaire and diuers Riuers of Africa but the cause and effect are in shorter streames more euident to Gambra also whose ouer-flowing is as obscure on the Guinaea Coast as Nilus on the Egyptian likewise to Menan of Pegu and Indus which Philostratus in diuers other things compares to Nilus and the Riuer of Siam in Asia and to the Riuers of Amazones and Guiana in America Frier Luys de Vrreta ascribeth the ouer-flowing to some secret passages and pores whereby the Ocean and the Mountaynes of the Moone hold mutuall commerce This increase of Nilus continueth forty dayes or more after which followeth the decrease as long In the middle of Nilus sayth Leo ouer against the old City of Cairo standeth the Ile Michias or the measuring Ile contayning one thousand and fiue hundred Families and a Temple and a foure-square Cisterne of
flesh neither of their owne young nor of men as on the contrarie they worship the Storke for her pietie in nourishing her aged parents that I speake not of their wed-locke chastitie for breach whereof Crollius tells from the relation of an eye-witnesse That in a wood neere to Spire in Germanie the Male complayning to a congregation of Storkes caused them to teare his Mate in pieces The Egyptians also had a conceit That Swines milke would breede the leprosie and that Swine were beasts odious to the Sunne and Moone He citeth out of Endoxus That they spared them for treading their Seede into the ground which was their Harrowing and Tillage when Nilus had newly left the softned Earth to send these Labourers their Kine and Swine to tread in the myrie Earth the Corne which they sowed therein The Egyptians sware by the head of their King which oath whosoeuer violated lost his life for the same without any redemption The Priests in old time renowmed for their learning in Straboes time were ignorant and vnlearned No woman might beare Priestly function These Priests might not eate Egs Milke or Oile except with Sallads they might not salute Mariners nor looke vpon their children or kinsfolks They washed themselues in the day-time thrice and in the night twice they were shauen wore linnen garments alwayes new washed were daily allowed sacred meates Of their ancient Priests thus Du Bartas singeth in Syluesters tune The Memphian Priests were deepe Philosophers And curious gazers on the sacred Starres Searchers of Nature and great Mathematickes Ere any letter knew the ancient'st Attickes Tertullian speakes of the continence of Apis his Priests and addes That certayne women consecrated to the African Ceres voluntarily relinquished marriage and from thenceforth might not touch a Male no not so much as k sse their owne sonnes Their magicke skill appeared in Iannes and Iambres which withstood Moses and in Hermes testimonie of himselfe R. Salomon on Exod. 8. writeth That Pharao said to Moses and Aaron Doe you bring straw into Ophraim a Citie full of straw And doe yee bring inchantments into Egypt which aboundeth therewith Postellus deriueth the Egyptian and Orientall sciences from Abraham to whom he dareth to attribute their diuinations by the Aire Water Fire Earth Birds and alleageth Rambams authoritie That the greatest part of the Alcoran is taken out of the Egyptian learning and saith That Moses and Salomon studied the same and expounded in Scripture what Abraham had taught them to which also hee ascribeth the Iewish Exorcismes in casting out Deuils But some Deuill I thinke hath taught him so to commend these deuillish Arts as he doth no lesse the Alcoran and the Iewes Cabala calling them an excellent Appendix to Moses and both of I know not what magicall facultie first infused into Adam in the puritie of his creation and taught by the Angell Raziel by him deliuered in verball tradition written first by the Henoch the bookes whereof Nimrod stole from Noah which Abraham might learne either in that Chaldean Nation or from Melchisedech But let vs obserue these Priests further When they sacrificed they made choice of their beasts by certaine religious markes a Cow they might not sacrifice as consecrated vnto Isis They kindled a fire and sprinkling water ouer the Sacrifice with inuocation of their God killed it cut off the head which either they sold to the Grecians if they would buy it or cast it into the Riuer with imprecation That whatsoeuer euill was imminent to them or their Countrey might be turned vpon that head This ceremonie seemes to haue come to them from the Iewes And they haue beene as liberall of their Rites since to the Catholikes for so they will be called as appeareth both by this Relation and by the testimonie not onely of Moresinus a Protestant but Maginus Polidorus Boemus and Beroaldus Popish writers although dawbed ouer with new mysticall significations as in Bellarmine and other the purest Catholikes is seene Their Priests were their Iudges the eldest of which was chiefe in pronouncing sentence He wore about his necke a Saphire Iewell with the Image of Truth therein engrauen The Priests of Isis besides their shauings and linnen garments had paper-shooes on their heads Anubis in their hands a Timbrell or a branch of Sea-wormewood or a Pine-apple They had one chiefe Priest or Primate of Egypt as appeareth by Iosephus and Heliodorus who maketh Thyamis to succeede his father Calasyris in this high Priesthood at Memphis Manetho also enioyed this Pontificall Hierarchie as appeareth by his Epistle to Ptolemeus which after shall follow Philostratus speaketh of Gymnosophists which some ascribe to India Heliodorus to Ethiopia he to Ethiopia and Egypt These saith hee dwelt abroad without house on a Hill a little off the bankes of Nilus where grew a Groue in which they held their generall Assemblies to consult of publike affaires hauing otherwise their studies and sacrifices apart each by himselfe Thespesion was the chiefe of this Monkish Colledge when Apollonius after his visitation of the Babylonian Magi and Indian Brachmanes came thither These held the immortalitie of the soule and accounted Nilus for a god If a man at Memphis had by chance-medley killed a man hee was exiled till those Gymnosophists absolued him Hercules Temple at Canopus was priuiledged with Sanctuarie to giue immunitie to Fugitiues and Malefactors Thus elsewhere Osiris Apollo in Syria Diana at Ephesus euery Cardinals house saith a Pope in Rome Saint Peter at Westminster and other Popish Oratories priuiledged Dennes of Theeues §. III. Of their Feasts and Oracles THeir Feasts were many of which Herodotus reckoneth one at Bubastis in honour of Diana To this place the Men and Women at this festiuall solemnitie sayled in great multitudes with minstrelsie and showtings and as they came to any Citie on the waters side they went on shore and the women some danced some played some made a brawle with the women of the place and thus resorting to Bubastis they there offered great Sacrifices spending in this feast more Wine then in all the yeere besides Hither resorted of Men and Women besides Children seuen hundred thousand In Busiris was solemnized the feast of Isis in which after the sacrifice many thousands beat themselues but with what they did beate themselues was not lawfull to relate The Carians that inhabited Egypt did also cut their foreheads with swords signifying thereby that they were forreiners This Citie was in the midst of the Egyptian Delta and in it a very great Temple of Isis A third feast was at Sai in honour of Minerua where assembling by night they lighted candles full of Salt and Oile and therewith went about the walls of the Citie This solemnitie was called Light-burning or if you will Candle-masse This night they which came not hither yet obserued the setting vp of Lights throughout Egypt A fourth
eight and twentie The wealth of the Ptolomies raigning in Egypt appeareth by Straboes report of Auletes his reuenues to be twelue thousand fiue hundred Talents which yet was counted dissolute and vnthriftie This by Master Brerewood is summed two millions three hundred fortie three thousand seuen hundred and fiftie pounds of our mony Wheras the reuenues of Darius Hystaspis accounted a hard man is by Herodotus reckoned foureteene thousand fiue hundred and sixtie Euboike Talents which makes 1820000. pounds a great deale lesse summe from that greater Empire But they had other improuements Alexander is said to spend more then this on Hephestions funerall by fiftie fiue thousand pounds Yea the Roman reuenues are by Plutarch p summed at eight thousand fiue hundred Myriades which in our money is two millions sixe hundred fiftie sixe thousand and two hundred and fiftie pounds not hugely exceeding the Egyptian §. II. Of the Schoole and Librarie at Alexandria HAuing mentioned the Studies and learned men at Alexandria and wealth of their Kings I hold it not amisse to entertaine your eyes in longer view of that Alexandrian Schoole and Librarie Simandius or Osymanduas is the first in any Historie mentioned that erected a Librarie setting this Inscription in the Frontispice thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Medicinary or Physicke-shop of the Minde Some accuse Homer to haue stollen his Iliads and Odysses out of Vulcans Temple at Memphis being the workes of Phantasia a woman the worke of a womanish fantasie so to deceiue or receiue of That almost more then Man But the second Ptolomey sonne of Ptolomeus Lagi was Author of that famous Library at Alexandria following saith Strabo the example of Aristotle Atheneus addes the Bookes of Aristotle also bought by Ptolomey of Neleus which succeeded Theophrastus in this Legacie bequeathed to him from the Philosopher Himselfe Iosephus tells vs of the Translation of the Law by the Seuentie or Seuentie two Interpreters procured by Demetrius Phalareus at the Kings charge who also obtained the like Translations of other Chaldaean Egyptian and Romane Monuments the number of which translated Bookes Cedrenus numbers one hundred thousand Seneca speakes of foure hundred thousand Iosephus of fiue hundred thousand in the whole which by the succeeding care of this Kings Successors did after amount it is Gellius Ammianus Isidores testimonie to seuen hundred thousand Volumes All which by cruell disaster in the Ciuill warres of Caesar perished by fire He firing the ships and they the adjoyning Library which neither He in his Commentaries nor Hirtius as Caesars most dismall fate once mention but Plutarch Dio Liuie Seneca Ammianus and Gellius forget not these manifold Memorials thus buried at once for euer in forgetfulnes This Library was in the Temple of Serapis as both Marcellinus after him Tertullian testifie but that in Tertullians dayes was another famous Library of Cleopatra's Founding called for the likenesse Ptolemeys which in likelihood continued till that glorious Fabrike was ruined in the dayes of Theodosius as Ruffinus Socrates and Sozomen haue written Most of the Bookes of this latter were brought from Pergamus chiefe City of the lesser Asia Seat of the Attalike Kings one of which Eumenes there collected two hundred thousand Volumes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not reckoning as Lipsius interprets the place that Volume for more then one which contayned diuers Treatises giuen by Antonius vnto Cleopatra as Plutarch hath related Ptolemey the fift then liuing denied Eumenes in enuious emulation the Egyptian paper the cause that Parchment was then inuented at Pergamus by Eumenes his industry for the vse of his Library as not onely Plinie and Varro but the name of these skinnes called Pergamena of that City sufficiently witnesse The Egyptian Paper of which ours made of ragges hath still the name was made of a Sedgie Reed growing in the Marishes of Egypt called Papyrus which easily diuides it selfe into thinne flakes these laid on a Table and moystened with the glutinous water of Nilus were prest together and dryed in the Sunne The Greekes and Romanes had their many famous Libraries which would here trouble our Egyptian Traueller who in Lipsius his Booke of that Argument may better satisfie himselfe as also touching their Furnitures of Marble Iuory Glasse and many many curious artificiall Inuentions besides the Images of the bodies of learned Men there placed of Gold Siluer or Brasse neere to more precious Images of their learned Mindes in their written Monuments These indeed are the best mens best Images in which their Immortall Soules speake Immortally yea Immortality to themselues and others they being dead yet speaking and neuer denying their wise counsels and familiar company to the t Studious who by this meanes are neuer lesse alone then when alone and as King Alphonsus sometimes said neuer find better Counsellers then these dead And euer let their names flourish that bestow care and cost to keepe those learned Names euer flourishing and in redeeming these Monuments from Wormes Mice and putrifaction erect vnto themselues Monuments farre beyond the stupendious Pyramides and other monstrous births of artificiall vanity Cheops is scarsly remembred nor worthy to be named with this Ptolemey that fire not being able to consume the honour of his Name that deuoured his Bookes whereas Cheops his very name is doubted and his memoriall rotten not withstansting his Pyramis still continues the remembrance of his Actiue and Passiue forgetfulnesse And let my body want a Sepulchre if my soule doe not more honour that Bodleian Monument then all Triumphall Chariots of the liuing then the Mausolaean Mogoll or Memphian magnificence for the dead or any other Regall or Imperiall interments There the stones are mute or speake the Architects prayse or haue inscribed a few Verses verball flourishes perhaps of the Poets wit but here euery Booke hath an Epitaph nay the whole Booke is an Epitaph and reall Testimony of the Founders worth so many thousand dead Authours quickened by such care to speake his deserued prayse so many liuing Students hauing their Minds daily feasted by such bounty and the vnborne posterity hauing a better Inheritance purchased and prouided to their minds then their carefull Parents can for their Bodies But how doth this likenesse transport vs from Alexandria to Oxford In both an admirable Library in both Prouisions of mayntenance for Collegiate and Academike Students both necessary companions For what else is store of Bookes stately Fabrikes and costly Furniture without Students but carkasses without soule and what They without Bookes and mayntenance but walking Shadowes and wandring Ghosts the one is it is Senecas sentence a studious luxury the other a riotous study Diuine then is that Heroike care of Such who at once both Clients and Patrons of Arts and Learning by liuing and liuelihood seeme to ioyne and giue life to soule and body together And such was this Ptolemey who made part of His
wherof being eaten causeth laughing dalliance and makes one as it were drunken and maruellously prouoketh to lust In the Kingdome of Tunis is placed the Lake Tritonia where Minerua is said to haue shewed her selfe the Inuenter of Spinning and of Oyle and therefore worshipped Ezzab is the most Easterly part of the Tunetan Kingdome the chiefe Prouince whereof is Mesrata The Inhabitants are rich and pay no Tribute There grow Dates and Oliues and they traffique with the Numidians to whom they carry the Wares which they buy of the Venetians The Great Turke swayeth with his Ottoman Scepter at this present this Kingdome of Tunis and all Africa from Bellis de Gomera to the Red Sea except that little which the Spaniard hath At this day they are Mahumetan and haue beene about these nine hundred yeeres past from the time of Hucba The Inhabitants of the Cities differ much from the Mountayners and ruder Rustickes For they are studious especially in matters of their Law as in times past they were also in Philosophy and the Mathematickes But these last fiue hundred yeeres their Princes and Doctors haue prohibited many Sciences as Astrologie and Philosophy according to the Mahumetan custome they vse much washing and resorting to the Temples They are very faithfull in their promises and exceeding iealous They goe through the World as Merchants and in many places are entertayned as Readers and Masters in diuers Sciences and are well esteemed in Egypt Aethiopia Arabia Persia India Turkie The younger sort yeeld much reuerence to their Elders and Parents and will not hold discourse of loue or sing loue-songs in their presence But these Citizens are very proud and reuengefull The Lords esteeme more of their beasts then of their common people The Country people in the fields and mountaynes liue hardly in labour and want They are beastly theeuish ignorant vnfaithfull Their women before they bee married may liue as wantonly as they list yea the father maketh hatefull loue to the daughter and the brother is vnlouingly louing to the sister The Numidians are trayterous homicides theeues and for reward will doe any thing Such also are the Libyans without any kind of Letters Faith or Law without Heauen or Earth liuing if that may be called a life like wild beasts for ignorance like Deuils for wickednesse like Dogges for pouerty These things reporteth Leo of them who liued among them which may prouoke vs to thankefulnesse to that Great God who hath giuen Vs such abundance for body and soule in things present and future temporall and eternall CHAP. IX Of the Kingdome of Tremisen Algier and other places ancienty called Mauritania Caesariensis §. I. Of Tremisen and of the ancient Maurusij THe Kingdome of Telensin or Tremisen beginning Westward from the Riuer of Zha and Muluia Eastward it bordereth on the Great Riuer Southward vpon the Desart of Numidia and Northward vpon the Mediterran Sea It was by the Romans called Mauritania Caesariensis the name came of the Inhabitants called Mauri and of the Greekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some say of their colour because it is obscure and darke They were supposed to come hither first with Hercules out of India More likely it is that they descended of Phut the sonne of Cham Gen. 10.6 Plinie mentions a Riuer named Fut in these parts descending from Atlas Salust saith they came with Hercules who being dead in Spaine as the Africans report his Armie being gathered of many Nations was diuersly diuided The Medes Armenians and Persians of that number sayled into Africa of which the Persians dwelt neere the Sea their ships with the keeles turned vpwards seruing them for houses and mixed themselues with the Getuli entitling themselues Numidians The Libyans adioyned themselues to the Armenians and to the Medi whom by corruption of Language they called Mauri These Getulians and Libyans he saith were before very rude wandring vp and downe without Law or Ciuility liuing like beasts lying and feeding on the ground which testimony of Salust Mela in like words confirmeth But of these and other African people let them which please learne of that Author and of such as haue written Notes vpon him as Gruterus Glarianus Riuius Ciacconius Putschius and others Vitruuius nameth Mauritania Maurusia Ortelius testifieth That in ancient Coines it is read Mauretania and so Tacitus readeth Ptolemey diuideth it into Mauritania Caesariensis which Victor Vticensis calleth Maior and Tingitania Pliny ascribes this diuision to Caligula Dion to Claudius Caesar of whom it was sirnamed Casariensis of the Mother Citie Caesarea where hee planted a Roman Colony before called Iol the Royall Seat of Iuba a man famous for that hee first reigned ouer both these Mauritania's but more famous for his Learning whereby he still liueth in the learned Monuments of Pliny and others Authour of much of our African report Hee in his childhood was led in triumph at Rome his father Iuba the successour of Bechus had before slaine himselfe in the Ciuill Warres Augustus restored him to his Fathers Kingdome to which he left his sonne Ptolomey borne of the daughter of Antonius and Cleopatra whom Caligula slue and then diuided Mauritania into two Prouinces whereof this is called as is said Caesariensis of the Colonie of Claudius Caesar That which Procopius hath written of the originall of these Maurusij as he termes them although in our first Booke mentioned here also so may seeme to deserue Relation When Iosua or Iesus the sonne of Nun or Nane had inuaded the Land of Canaan the people fled into Egypt and there multiplying , pierced into Africa replenishing with people all that Coast vnto the Pillars of Hercules vsing a semi-Phoenician Dialect For all the Sea-coast from Sidon to Egypt was anciently called Phoenicia They built the Towne Tinge in Numidia where they erected two Pillars of white stone neere a great Fountayne wherein was ingrauen in Phoenician Letters Wee flee from the face of Iesus the Thiefe the Sonne of Nane These are supposed the first Inhabitants of Africa and for that cause Antaeus their King which encountred in single combate with Hercules was said to bee the Sonne of the Earth Afterwards when the Phoenicians came hither with Dido they were here receiued for kindreds sake and permitted to build Carthage which after grew so mighty that it subdued and expelled the Maurusij themselues The Romans made the Carthaginians and other Africans Tributaries and caused the Maurusij to inhabit the furthest parts of Africa but in processe of time they obtayning many victories against the Vandals seated themselues in Mauritania till Iustinian remooued them Thus farre Procopius Paulus Diaconus recordeth also the same History sauing that he sayth the Egyptians would not receiue them and therefore they passed into Africa The Maurusij in the time of Iustinian were destroyed and captiued in such multitudes that a Maurusian slaue was valued at the price of a sheepe The Author of
and Ieuiza Ferdinando therefore prouided an Armada against them and built a Fort within shot of the Towne whereupon they requested peace and promised Tribute But Barbarussa when Ferdinando was dead was sent for by the Citizens and made Captaine ouer all their Forces Hee soone after murthered Selum Etteumi an Arabian Prince which had beene created Gouernour of Algier when Bugia was taken by the Spaniards and possessed himselfe of the gouernment and there coyned money calling himselfe King the neighbouring people yeelding him obedience and tribute This was the beginning of Barbarussas greatnesse and at the most part hereof Leo was present and lodged in his house which had beene Embassadour from Algier to Spaine from whence he had brought three thousand books written in Arabike And whiles I was at Tunis I heard that Barbarussa was slaine at Telensin and his brother Cairadin succeeded It was told me also that the Emperour Charles the fift had sent two armies to surprise Algier the first whereof was destroyed in the Playne the second slaine and made slaues by Babarussa in the yeere of the Hegira 922. Thus farre Leo In the yeere 1541. Charles himselfe with his Imperiall Nauie passed the Seas to like both purpose and effect more ouer-comming himselfe in the patient bearing his losses then his enemies whom he sought to assaile He was mooued to this Expedition by the complaints of his Subiects against the Turkish Pirats which vnder Asanaga Barbarussa's Lieutenant infested all those Seas But the tempestuous weather both at Land and Sea disappointed him and after the losse of many both men and ships was forced to returne and to make roome for his Souldiers caused his Horses their gallant breede notwithstanding to bee cast ouer-boord Thus doth Algier still continue a sinke of Pirats and now saith Maginus there are in it not many lesse then fiue and twentie thousand Christian slaues which in likelyhood at this time are increased Tripoli is also a seate of a Turkish Viceroy or Beglerbeg and of Turkish Rouers In the Kingdome of Telensin is the Desart of Angad wherein are store of Roes Deere and Ostriches Arabian Theeues and Lions The Castle of Izli was sometime stored with Inhabitants and stately walled Since it was inhabited with Religious persons much reuerenced by the Kings of Telensin and the Arabians which giue free entertainment for three dayes vnto all Trauellers A little off runneth a Riuer out of which they water their fields which else would yeeld them no fruit Guagida betwixt two stooles had vnquiet sitting paying tribute both to the Kings of Telensin and the Arabians Ned Roma was built by the Romanes as the name testifieth for Ned signifieth Like and like it was if Historiographers faile not vnto Rome Here and at Tebecrit dwelt great store of weauers Haresgōl was sometime famous but being destroyed by a King and Patriarch of Cairaoan it bequeathed as it seemeth the greatnesse thereof to Telensin which after grew in renowme This Towne giues name to this Kingdome When Abu Tesfin raigned it had in it sixteene thousand Families Ioseph King of Fez besieged it seuen yeeres together and almost famished them but he being slaine by treason they found victuals enough in their enemies campe which they assailed and spoiled for their reliefe Fortie yeeres after Abulhesen King of Fez after thirtie moneths siege tooke it and beheaded their King Here are many and beautifull Temples hauing their Mahumetan Priests and Preachers Likewise here are fiue Colledges most sumptuously built by the Kings of Telensin and Fez curiously wrought with musaike worke for the Arabian Muses and Students which haue their maintenance there Their Bathes and Innes I omit A great part of this Citie is inhabited with Iewes distinguished by their yellow Turbants from the other Citizens which being very rich in the yeere of the Hegira 923. were robbed and brought to beggerie The Turkes are now Lords thereof betweene whom and Charles the fift who had vndertaken their protection the Citie is much impayred as also by the warres betwixt the Seriffe and the Turke Barbarussa subiected it Batha is a great Citie or rather was such now ruined by warres Not farre hence in Leo's time kept a famous Heremit much esteemed for his holinesse who in short time grew so rich in Horses and other Cattell that none in that Region were comparable to him He payd nothing nor any of his to the King or to the Arabians because they supposed him a Saint I was told by his Disciples saith Leo that the tenth of his Corne is eight thousand bushells a yeere He hath fiue hundred Horses and Mares ten thousand small Cattell and two thousand Oxen besides that he hath yeerly sent him from diuers parts of the world of almes and offering betweene foure and fiue thousand duckats His fame is spred ouer Asia and Africa his disciples are fiue hundred which dwell with him and liue at his charge to whom hee enioyneth neither penance nor labour but to reade ordinarie prayers and giues them some names of God to obserue in their prayers which they are to mumble so many times a day for which cause multitudes resort to him to be his disciples which after such instruction he sends home againe He hath an hundred Tents some for Strangers some for Shepheards and others for his Familie This good and lustie Hermit hath foure wiues and many slaues and by them many sonnes and daughters gallantly attyred His children also haue wiues and children in so much that the whole Familie of this Heremit and his sonnes exceeded fiue hundred Hee is honored of the Arabians and the King of Telensin is afraid of him I being desirous to know him was entertayned of him three dayes and supped with him euery night in secret roomes where hee shewed me among other things bookes of Magicke and Alchymie and would haue proued to me that Magicke was a true Science whereby I thought him to be a Magician because I saw him so much honored and yet vsed neither sayings nor doings but those Inuocations of God by certayne names Thus farre Leo lib. 4. Oran is subiect to Spaine taken by Peter Nauarre 1509. It hath ten thousand Families The Turkes in vaine assaulted it An. 2563. Their Piracies procured this Spanish thraldome vnto which Mersalcabir a most famous Hauen is also subiect Tegdemt is as the Arabian name signifieth Ancient It sometime was famous and abounded with men of learning and Poets But hee which would further bee informed of the Cities of this Kingdome let him reade Leo. The people of Bresch vse to paint a blacke crosse on their cheeke and another vpon the palme of their hand The same is obserued of diuers others which yet know not the reason thereof being Mahumetans The storie saith that the Gothes inuading and ruling these parts proclaymed freedom from tribute to all such as would become Christians a badge of which Christianitie was this crosse still kept now
is possessed with a Deuill and cannot be cured except she become one of their Societie The foolish Husband beleeues consents and makes a sumptuous Feast at her Deuillish Admission Others will coniure this Deuill with a Cudgell out of their Wiues others fayning themselues to bee possessed with a Deuill will deceiue the Witches as they haue deceiued their Wiues There are Exorcists or Diuiners called Muhazzimi which cast out Deuils or if they cannot they excuse themselues and say it is an ayrie Spirit They write Characters and frame Circles on an ash-heape or some other place then they make certaine signes on the hands or foreheads of the possessed party and perfume him after a strange manner Then they make their Inchantment and demand of the Spirit which way he entred what he is and his name and then command him to come forth Others there are that worke by a Cabalisticall rule called Zairagia and is very hard for he that doth this must be a perfect Astrologer and Cabalist My selfe it is Leo's report haue seene a whole day spent in describing one figure onely It is too tedious here to expresse the manner Howbeit Mahomets Law forbids all Diuination and therefore the Mahumetan Inquisitors imprison the Professors thereof There are also in Fez some Learned men which giue themselues the sirnames of Wisemen and Morall Philosophers which obserue Lawes not prescribed by Mahumet some account them Catholike others not but the vulgar hold them for Saints The Law forbiddeth Loue-songs which they say may be vsed They haue many Rules and Orders all which haue their Defenders and Doctors This Sect sprang vp fourescore yeeres after Mahumet the first Authour thereof was Elhesen Ibun Abilhasen who gaue Rules to his Disciples but left nothing in writing About an hundred yeeres after came Elharit Ibnu Esed from Bagadet who left Volumes of Writings vnto his Disciples but by the Lawyers was condemned Fourescore yeeres after vnder another famous Professor that Law reuiued who had many Disciples and preached openly But by the Patriarke and Lawyers they were all condemned to lose their heads the giddie Receptacles of such phantasticall Deuotions But hee obtayned leaue of their Chaliph or Patriarch that he might try his Assertions by Disputations with the Lawyers whom he put to silence and therefore the Sentence was reuoked and many Colledges built for his Followers An hundred yeeres after Malicsach the Turke destroyed all the maintayners thereof some flying into Cairo some into Arabia Not long after Elgazzuli a learned man compounded the Controuersie so reconciling these and the Lawyers that the one should be called Conseruers the other Reformers of the Law After the Tartars had sacked Bagdat in the yeere of the Hegeira 656. these Sectaries swarmed all ouer Asia and Africa They would admit none into their Societie but such as were learned and could defend their Opinions but now they admit all affirming Learning to be needlesse for the Holy teacheth them that haue a cleane heart Therefore they addict themselues to nothing but Pleasure Feasting and Singing Sometimes they will rend their garments saying They are then rauished with a fit of Diuine loue I thinke rather superfluitie of belly-cheare is the cause for one of them will eate as much as will serue three Or else it is through wicked lust for sometimes one of the Principals with all his Disciples is inuited to some Marriage-feast at the beginning whereof they will rehearse their deuout Orizons and Songs but after they are risen from Table the elder beginne a Dance and teare their garments and if through immoderate drinking any catch a fall one of the youths presently take him vp and wantonly kisse him Whereupon ariseth the Prouerbe The Heremits Banquet signifying that the Scholler becomes his Masters Minion for none of them may marry and they are called Heremites Among these Sects in Fez are some Rules esteemed Hereticall of both sorts of Doctors Some hold That a man by good Workes Fasting and Abstinence may attaine to the nature of an Angell the Vnderstanding and Heart being thereby so purified say they that a man cannot sinne though he would But to this height is ascended by fiftie steps of Discipline and though they fall into sinne before they come into the fiftieth Degree yet will not God impute it They vse strange and incredible Fastings in the beginning but after take all the pleasures of the World They haue a seuere forme of liuing set downe in foure Bookes by a by a certaine learned man called Essebrauer de Schrauard in Corasan Likewise another of their Authors called Ibnul Farid wrote all his Learning in witty Verses full of Allegories seeming to treat of Loue. Wherefore one Elfargano commented on the same and thence gathered the Rule and the Degrees aforesaid In three hundred yeeres none hath written more elegant Verses which therefore they vsed in all their Banquets They hold that the Heauens Elements Planets and Starres are one God and that no Religion is erronious because euery one takes that which he worships for God They thinke that all knowledge of God is contained in one Man called Elcorb elect by God and wise as he Forty among them are called Elauted which signifieth Blocks Of these is Elcoth or Elcorb elected when the former is dead threescore and ten Electors make the choice There are seuen hundred threescore and fiue others out of whom those threescore and ten Electors are chosen The Rule of their Order binds them to range vnknowne through the World either in manner of Fooles or of great Sinners or of the vilest man that is Thus some wicked persons of them goe vp and downe naked shamefully shewing their shame and like brute beasts will sometimes haue carnall dealings with women in the open streets reputed neuerthelesse by the common people for Saints as we haue shewed elsewhere There is another sort called Caballists which fast strangely eate not the flesh of any liuing creature but haue certaine meates and habits appointed for euery houre of the day and of the night and certaine set Prayers according to the dayes and monethes strictly obseruing the numbers of them and carry square Tables with Characters and Numbers engrauen in them They say that good Spirits appeare to them and talke with them instructing them in the knowledge of all things There was amongst them a famous Doctor called Boni which composed their Rule and Orders whose Booke I haue seene seeming more to sauour of Magicke then the Cabals Their notablest works are eight The first called Demonstration of Light contayneth Fastings and Prayers The second their square Tables The third fourescore and nineteene Vertues in the Name of God contayned c. They haue another Rule among these Sects called Sunab the Rule of Heremits the Professors whereof inhabite Woods and solitary Places without any other sustinance then those Desarts affoord None can describe their life because they are estranged from all humane Societie He that would see more of
Almohades and had by him the Alcoran This Abdelmon or Abdel Mumen was he writeth the sonne of a Potter to whom Auentumerth a great Astronomer foretold his Royaltie To this Auentumerth did one Almehadi ioyne himselfe who interpreted the Alcoran contrary to the Bagdat Catholocisme and the interpretations of the Almoranides which then ruled in Africa whose helpe Abdel vsed to obtaine the Kingdome both of Africa and Spaine Hee buried Almohadi being dead very Royally not farre from Marocco where he is had in great veneration and prayers made to him and the followers of his sect called of him Almohadis To Abdel Mumen succeeded his Sonne Auen Iacob who being slaine in Portugall his Brother Aveniuseph succeeded and then his Sonne this Auen Mahomath with whom he saith were slaine two hundred thousand Moores the carkasses lying so thicke that they could scarce ride ouer them and yet in all the field no signe of bloud to be seene For two dayes space the Spanish Armie burne no wood for any vse but the Arrowes Launces and Pikes of the Moores burning of purpose and not onely for necessitie and yet scarcely consumed halfe With him perished the Almohades Thus farre Rodericus an eye-witnesse not much differing from Leo. I cannot omit that which Mathew Paris hath written of Iohn King of England about these times and in his owne dayes He sent saith he Thomas Herdinton and Radulph Fitz Nicolas Knights and Robert of London Clarke to Admirall Murmelius King of Marocco Africa and Spaine whom they commonly call Miramumelius to make offer vnto him of his Vassalage and that he would not onely hold the Land of him with payment of Tribute but would also change his Religion and accept the Mahumetan The Embassadours hauing declared their message the King or Emire Elmumenin to call him rightly shut vp the Booke whereon they found him reading and after a little deliberation thus answered I was now reading a Greeke Booke of a certaine wise man and a Christian called Paul whose wordes and deeds well please me this onely I like not that hee forsooke the Religion wherein he was borne and vnconstantly embraced another and the same I say of your Master God Almightie knowes that if I were without the Law and now to chuse This aboue all other should be my choise And then by diuers questions enforming himselfe better of the state of the Kingdome and of the King he grew into great passion and indignation against the King protesting that he thought him vnworthy to bee his Confederate and commanded the Embassadours neuer more to see his face The Author heard Robert of London one of those which were sent relate these things HONDIVS his Map of the Kingdome of Marocco MAROCCHI REGNUM §. II. Of the Kings of the Seriffian Familie ABout the yeere 1508 began to grow in name through Numidia a certaine Alsaique borne in Tigumedet in the Prouince of Dara beeing a subtill man and no lesse ambitious in minde then learned in those Sciences whereunto the Mahumetanes are most addicted Hee by confidence of his blood descended of their Prophet and of the diuisions of the States of Africa and the exploits there dayly atchieued by the Portugals attempted to make himselfe Lord of Mauritania Tingitana For this cause hee sent his three Sonnes Abdel Abnet and Mahomet to visit the Sepulchre of Mahomet Much was the reuerence and reputation of holinesse which they hereby acquired amongst that superstitious people which now beheld them as Saints and kissed their garments as most holy Reliques These failed not in their parts of the play to act as much deuotion as high contemplatiue lookes deepe fetched sighes and other passionate interiections of holinesse could expresse Ala Ala was their yernfull note their food was the peoples almes The old Father ioyning to see his proiects thus farre proceed and minding to strike whiles the Iron was hote sent two of them to Fez Amet and Mahumet where one of them was made Reader in the Amodonaccia the most famous Colledge of Fez and the younger was made Tutor to the Kings young sonnes Aduanced thus in fauour of the King and People by their Fathers aduice they apprehended the present occasion of the harmes sustained by the Arabians and Moores vnder the Portugals Ensignes they demanded Licence of the King to display a Banner against the Christians putting him in hope easily to draw those Moores to him and so to secure the Prouinces of Marocco In vaine were Mulley Nazer the Kings brother his allegations not to arme this Name of Sanctitie which being once victorious might grow insolent and forget dutie in minding a Kingdome They obtaine their desires and with a Drum and Banner with Letters of commendations to the Arabians and people of Barbary they are so attended with forces and fortunes that Ducala and all as farre as Cape de Guer stoopes to their command the people willingly yeelding their Tenths to this Holy warre against the Portugals enemies of their Faith Hereunto was added the ouerthrow which they gaue to Lopes Barriga a famous Portugall Captaine the brightnesse of that sun-shine being somewhat eclipsed with the losse of their elder brother if rather a Monarchie were not hereby furthered By faire words they entered into Marocco The Arabians of Ducala and Xarquia about this time trying their quarrels by dint of Sword in mutuall conflicts presented a fit occasion to the Seriffs to prey vpon them both their strength hauing made them weake and their weaknesse making the other strong And now did they begin to vsurpe soueraigntie presenting their Fessan King with sixe Horses and sixe Camels and those but simple whom before they had acknowledged their Soueraigne with payment of the fifths of their spoile The King of Fez before applauding his owne victories in theirs began now to distaste and to distrust hee sends to them to demand his fifths and the tribute also formerly paide him by the Kings of Marocco Death the common enemie of Mankinde here interposed her selfe on the Seriffian part and tooke the King of Fez out of the world the Scepter descending to his Sonne Amet the Scholler of the young Seriff who not onely proceeded not in his Fathers demands but confirmed Amet in the Signiorie of Marocco so that in some small matters hee would acknowledge the soueraigntie of Fez But now the Seriffs whose hearts continually encreased with their fortunes sent him word that being lawfull successours to Mahomet they owed no man tribute and had more right in Africa then he if hee would respect them as his friends and Allies so it were if otherwise they which had power to offend the Christian should not bee destitute in defending themselues The sword the vnequalle starbiter of equitie is now made vmpire the Fessan proclaimeth warres besiegeth Marocco is dislodged and in his returne vanquished Thus haue the Seriffs acquited themselues of that yoake and now intend new conquests on the other side of Atlas and in Numidia and in
They haue no Fleas a small priuiledge for they haue infinite store of Scorpions Fighig hath industrious and wittie people whereof some become Merchants others Students and goe to Fez where hauing obtayned the degree of Doctors they returne into Numidia and are made Priests and Preachers and so become rich Tegorarin hath Traffique with the Negros They water their Corne-fields with Well-water and therefore are forced to lay on much soyle In which respect they will let Strangers haue their houses Rent-free onely the Dung of Themselues and their Beasts excepted They will expostulate with that stranger which shall in some nicer humour goe out or doores to that businesse and aske him if hee know not the place appointed thereunto Heere were many rich Iewes which by meanes of a Preacher of Telensin were spoyled and most of them slaine at the same time that Ferdinand chased them out of Spaine Techort is a Numidian Towne exceeding courteous to Strangers whom they entertaine at free-cost and marrie their Daughters to them rather then to the Natiues Pescara is exceedingly infested with Scorpions whose sting is present death wherefore the Inhabitants in Summer time forsake their Citie and stay in their Countrey-possessions till Nouember Libya extendeth it selfe from the Confines of Eloachat vnto the Atlantike betwixt the Numidians and Negros It is one other of the Seuen parts into which wee haue diuided Africa the Arabians call it Sarra that is a Desart Plinie in the beginning of his fift Booke sayth That all Africa by the Graecians was called Libya Taken in a more proper sence it is diuersly bounded by the Ancients and therefore wee will heere hold vs to Leo's description The name Libya is deriued from Libs a Mauritanian King as some affirme Herodotus saith of a woman named Libya Among the Libyans are reckoned the Libyarcha Libiophaenices Libyaegyptij and diuers other Nations euen of the Ancients accused for want of inward and outward good things cunning onely in Spoyle and Robberie The Libyans worshipped one Psaphon for their God induced thereunto by his subtiltie For he had taught Birds to sing PSAPHON is a great God which being set at libertie chaunted this note in the Woods and easily perswaded the wilde people to this deuotion which Aelian saith Annon had endeuoured in vaine It was the custome of Women to howle in their Temples whence some of the Bacchanall Rites were borrowed by the Graecians Vnto the Libyans are reckoned those Nations whose barbarous Rites are before related in the seuenth Chapter of this Booke Wee will now come to later Obseruations Men may trauell eight dayes or more in the Libyan Desarts ordinarily without finding any water The Desarts are of diuers shapes some couered with grauell others with sand both without water heere and there is a lake sometime a shrub or a little grasse Their water is drawne out of deepe pits and is brackish and sometimes the sands couer those pits and then the Trauellers perish for thirst The Merchants that trauell to Tombuto or other places this way carrie water with them on Camels and if water faile them they kill their Camels and drinke water which they wring out of their guts Their Camels are of great abilitie to sustaine thirst sometimes trauelling without drinke twelue dayes or more Otherwise they were neuer able to trauell thorow those Desarts In the Desart of Azaoad there are two Sepulchres of Stone wherein certaine letters engrauen testifie that Two Men were there buried one a very rich Merchant who tormented with thirst bought of the other which was a Carrier or transporter of wares a cup of Water for ten thousand Duckats and dyed neuerthelesse both buyer and seller with thirst Their liues for lewdnesse resemble the Numidians before mentioned but for length come much short of them few attayning to threescore yeeres They are as little need as they haue thereof often plagued with those clouds of Grashoppers which couer the ayre and destroy the earth The Libyan Desart of Zanhaga beginning at the Westerne Ocean extendeth it selfe farre and wide betweene the Negros and the Numidians to the Salt-pits of Tegaza From the Well of Azaoad to the Well of Araoan an hundred and fiftie miles space is no water for lacke whereof many both men and beasts there perish Likewise in the Desart Gogdem for nine dayes iourney no drop of water is found In the Desart of Targa is Manna found which the Inhabitants gather in little vessels and carrie to Agadez to sell They mingle it with their drinke and with their pottage It is very wholsome Tegaza is an inhabited place where are many veynes of Salt which resemble Marble they digge it out of pits and sell it to Merchants of Tombuto who bring them victuals For they are twenty dayes iourney from any habitation the cause that sometimes they all die of famine They are much molested with the South-east winde which maketh many of them to lose their sight Bardeoa was found out lately by one Hamar a guide vnto a Carauan of Merchants who lost his way by reason of a maladie that fell into his eyes yet blind as hee was hee rode on a Camell none else being able to guide them and at euery miles end caused some sand to bee giuen vnto him whereon hee smelled and thereby at last told them of an inhabited place forty miles before he came at it where when they came they were denied water and were forced by force to obtaine it The Riuers that arise out of Atlas and by the vnkindnesse of their Kinde fall this way finding these thirsty Wildernesses to yeeld them the readiest channels are trained alongst by the allurements of the sands stouping and crouching to them till being further from witnesses they are either swallowed vp on great Lakes or else whiles they hold on their pursuit for the Ocean lose themselues in the search and whiles they are liberall to the thirstie sands in the way at last dye themselues I cannot say diue themselues as else where in the World for thirst in the Desarts And yet through these waylesse wayes doth couetousnesse carry both the Arabians in their rouings and Merchants with their Carauans to the Negros for wealth whither I thinke at last you expect the comming of this our Carauan also CHAP. XIIII Of the Land of Negros §. I. Of the Riuer NIGER Gualata Senaga and Guinea NIgratarum terra or the Land of Negros either is so called of the Riuer Niger or of the blacke colour of the Inhabitants some thinke the Riuer is named Niger of the people it hath on the North those Desarts which we last left on the South the Aethiopike Ocean and the Kingdome of Congo on the East Nilus on the West the Atlantike Leo makes Gaogo in the East and Gualata in the West the limits thereof On the side of the Riuer Canaga it is sandie and desart beyond it is plentifull being watered with Niger
in our way going from the Red Sea till hauing doubled the Cape we come from the Abassine Christians to those of Congo on the Aethiopian Ocean Aethiopia sub Aegypto so the Geographers call this part hath on the North Egypt on the West Libya Interior on the South Aethiopia Agisimba on the East the Red and Barbarian Seas to the Promontory Raptum which Ortelius placeth about Quiloa Porie cals it Quilimanci Mercator interprets Magala The Abissine Empire is by our late Writers intended further receiuing for the Southerne limits the Mountaines of the Moone and for the Westerne the Kingdome of Congo the Riuer Niger and Nubia and therefore contayneth Aethiopia sub Aegypto and besides Trogloditica Cinnamomifera Regio and part of the inner Libya True it is that the Great Neguz his titles comprehend thus much yet rather as a monument of what he hath had then an euidence of what hee hath The Turkes in the North the Mores on the West others other-where circumcising this circumcised Abissine and now according to Boterus and Barrius the Lake Barcena is the Center of his Dominion But euen still Frier Luys de Vrreta giues him both all before named and more The name Abissine or Abassine which is giuen to this Region Niger deriueth from the Egyptian word Abases which Strabo reporteth they gaue to all inhabited places compassed with great Desarts and situate therein in manner as the Ilands in the Sea three of which Abases he saith were subiect to the Egyptians Scaliger saith that the Arabians call these Aethiopians Elhabaschi whence they are vsually named Abassines and this with him is an argument that they are not Natiues of the place but thither deriued out of Arabia For the Abaseni are by Vranius in Stephanus placed in Arabia Thurifera whose words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. This haue I inserted out of Stephanus for satisfying the more iudicious Scaliger addeth that the Language in which their Ecclesiasticall and sacred Bookes are written is as farre from the true Ethiopicke as the Dutch or Italian The tongue is most elegant if care and diligence be added and is called Libertie because the Arabian Conquerors therefore only free did vse it The Ethiopians themselues call it Chaldee yet is it neerer the Hebrew then the Chaldee it is onely learned by Booke and of their Priests They indeed haue other Histories of themselues from the floud downewards but whereto a man must not rashly giue credit They call themselues Ethiopians To take now some exacter view of these parts leauing those Iewish monstrous Fables of Monsters of threescore and ten cubits their great lyes of the little Pigmey-Christianes with such other stuffe fit for them to write who are iustly credulous of lyes because they beleeued not truth let vs see what others haue written both of the people and place and first of the first and most ancient Relations §. II. Of the Nations neere the Falls of Nilus and of Meroe THe Cataracts or Falls of Nilus which separate Ethiopia from Egypt are by the most Authors reckoned two the greater and the lesse Stephanus addeth a third at Bonchis an Ethiopian City These are Mountaines which incroch vpon the Riuer and with their loftie lookes and vndermining trecherie hauing drawne vp the Earth which should affoord him a Channell into their swelling and ioynt conspiracie as with a mixt passion of feare and disdaine make the waters in their haste and strife ouerthrow themselues downe those steepe passages the billowes bellowing and roaring so terribly with the Fall that the Inhabitants as some affirme which dwell neere are thereby made deafe and the Riuer amazed and dizzie whirles it selfe about forgetting his tribute to Neptune till forced by his owne following waters hee sets or rather is set forward on his iourney They are now called Catadhi which signifieth noyse of those dreadfull and hideous out-cries which there are caused Thus saith Bermudesius of those Falls in the Kingdome of Goiame which rush downe from a Rocke almost halfe a league high and steepe sounding like Thunder Betwixt these Falls and Meroe Strabo placeth the Troglodytae of which we haue alreadie spoken and the Blemmyes Nubae and Megabari They are Nomades without Towne or habitation and addicted to robbery Procopius testifieth that these were accustomed to doe much damage on the Romane Confines and therefore Dioclesian brought them out of their barren Territories and gaue them Elephantina and the Region adioyning for habitation communicating to them the Roman Rites and Superstitions and built the Citie Philas in hope of future friendship Coelum non animam they changed the Soyle not the Soule but were no lesse iniurious to Oasis and other the Romane subiects They worshipped some Gods borrowed of the Graecians Isis and Osiris of the Egyptians and Priapus The Blemmyes also offered humane Sacrifices with cruell inhumanitie to the Sunne till Iustinians time who tooke away those bloudie deuotions As for the tale that those Blemmyes wanted heads and had their eyes and mouthes in their brests the Authors had either no eyes to see the truth or more head then they should to deuise lyes as we may say of other shapelesse and monstrous shapes of people which Plinie and Solinus out of other Authors report to inhabit these vnknowne parts some wanting lips some nostrils some tongues or mouthes c. indeed all wanting truth Rather would I counsell the studious of Geographie to learne the names of the Peoples and Nations of these Regions of Plinie and Solinus which because we haue but names of them I forbeare to name Meroe doth inuite mee to a longer entertainment being an Iland which Nilus with louely embraces claspeth about according to Iosephus and Cedrenus sometimes called Saba as now also the Abissines name it the Egyptians call it Naule Babe the Inhabitants Neube our Maps Guegere to which Theuet addeth more if not more then truth The Iland after Heliodorus the Bishop of Tricca his description is three square each of which triangle limits are made by three Riuers Astaboras and Asasoba Strabo cals it Astapus and Astosabus this from the South that from the East drowning their names and waters with Nilus in it is in length three thousand furlongs in bredth a thousand plentifull of Elephants Lions Rhinocerotes Corne and Trees besides her hidden treasures and Mynes of Iron Brasse Siluer Gold and Salt It hath also Heben wood as Lucan singeth Laeta comis Hebeni It receiued that name of Moroe sister of Cambyses or after Eusebius of Merida the Mother of Chenephris King of Egypt They worshipped a Barbarian God and besides Pan Hercules and Isis They cast their dead into the Riuer others reserued them at home in glasse shrines others in earthen receptacles buried them neere to their Temples They esteemed them for Gods and sware by them They ordained
after and Abram a slaue vsurped the State He had beene seruant to a Romane at Adulis a Citie of Ethiopia worthy mention especially in this matter for the ominous prosperitie of seruants For the Citie it selfe was built by fugitiue seruants which ranne from their Egyptian Masters and this Abram a seruant there obtayned to be a King neither could the Ethiopian with all his might depose him The like ambassage to Archetas King of Ethiopia was sent by Iustinus for and against the Persian both which I mention to shew the greatnesse at that time of his State nothing comparable notwithstanding to that which after befell them Among the Ethiopian Antiquities Plato testifies as Orosius cites him that many plagues and vncouth diseases infested and almost altogether destroyed Ethiopia about that time that Bacchus inuaded India If any delight himselfe in such Legendarie drosse as the counterfeit Abdias set forth by Wolfgangus Lazius hath in it touching the Magicians and Enchantments and some other ceremonies of Ethiopia I am loth to blot my paper with them not because we are not certaine of the truth for in others we may be deceiued but because wee are certaine of the errors so grosse that they may be seene and felt Maruell that Lazius an Historian would with his Notes illustrate such a hotchpotch of darknesse And yet our Countriman Harding leauing the cleare waters of Truth hath swallowed the same swill as the Iewell of our Church hath taught him The Eunuch of Candace was the first Ethiopian Christian as Luke Act. 8. and Eusebius doe shew But before we come to their Christian conuersion wee are first to declare their conuersion to Iudaisme if it bee true which the Ethiopians write in the time of Salomon The Ethiopians hauing liued before a vagrant life like the Nomades of old and the Arabians and other Libyan Nations not farre from them in Asia and Africa at this day Aruc the Ethiopian King first fixed a settled abode at Axuma and made it the Royall Citie after whom followed Agab and in the third place Ghedur or Sabanut which subdued all Ethiopia and left the Kingdome to his daughter Makeda that reigned eightie yeeres Anno 50. of her reigne shee visited Salomon After her they reckon these Kings till Christs time Melic Andedo Auda Gigasio Zangua Guasio Antet Bahara Cauada Chanze Endur Guaza Endrath Chaales Setija Aglaba Anscua Breguas Guase Beseclugna Baazena in whose time they say Christ was borne Genebrard sets downe the times of their Reigne which hee confesseth and it selfe conuinceth to be false This Queene of Saba before mentioned in our discourse of Arabia of which Countrie I thinke shee then was and these Abassens since that time thence descended and transplanted is by Iosephus called Nicaule the Queene saith he of Ethiopia and Egypt But Zaga Zabo in the Ethiopian Historie which hee wrote and caused to be done into Latine by Damianus a Goes calls her Maqueda whose Historie the Ethiopians haue written in a Booke as bigge as all Pauls Epistles The summe of his report is this Shee was a worshipper of Idolls as her Ancestors had beene when as fame filled her eares with the renowme of Salomons name and then sent a messenger to Ierusalem to learne the truth who at his returne confirming those former reports shee went her selfe to visit him Of him besides many other things shee learned the Law and the Prophets By him shee conceiued also a sonne of whom shee was deliuered in her iourney homewards and named him Meilech After twentie yeeres education in Ethiopia shee sent him to Salomon his father to be instructed of him in wisdome desiring him to consecrate her sonne King of Ethiopia before the Arke of the Couenant shee ordayned also that women should not henceforth inherit as before had bin accustomed Salomon did this and changed his name to Dauid and after long instruction sent him back to his mother attended with many noble companions among whom was Azarias the sonne of Zadok the Priest This Azarias caused Tables to be made like to those in the Arke and pretending to sacrifice for the good successe of his iourney went in and stole the Tables of the Law leauing in their roome these later counterfeits which he reuealed not to any till he came to the borders of Ethiopia Then Dauid being made acquainted with the fact danced for ioy as his Grandfather Dauid had done before the Arke wherein the Tables were inclosed his people making great ioy His Mother resigned to him the Empire and from that time to this the Kingdome hath passed in a right Line from male to male Circumcision also with the Law of Moses hath beene obserued The Officers which Salomon appointed his Sonne are still continued in the same Families and order nor may the Emperour chuse them out of any other stocke then those of the Iewes This long Legend I report not for the truth but for that Religious conceit wherewith it is accepted in Ethiopia for who knowes not that none but the High Priest and that but once a yeere entred into that holy place where the Arke was that I speake not of Nadabs and Abihu's fire with other diuine Iudgements Vzzahs touching and the Bethshemites viewing the Arke at so deere a rate could but make dreadfull so damnable an attempt Besides wee should haue looked for our blessed Sauiour out of Ethiopia where Salomons Heires still reigne if these say true and not goe to Salathiel and Zorobabel descended of another brother and therefore further off from the throne of their Father Dauid on which Christ was to fit and to which he was borne next and apparant Heire euen according to the flesh And yet doth Genebrard credit these reports and Baronius also in part as Luys de Vrreta reporteth This Luys hath written three large Bookes in Spanish collected as he sayth out of Don Iuan de Baltasar an Ethiopian of great account who had beene Embassadour from his Master Alexander the Third the great Negus into Persia and other places and came into Spaine with his licence to imprint his Ethiopian History Out of him Luys reporteth that the former Booke whence Zago Zabo the Bishop Embassadour to the King of Portugall had taken those things is Apocrypha yet so as that it is true concerning that report of Maquedas conception and the Royall Discent from thence till these times The stealing of the Tables hee denieth and affirmeth that the truth was that Salomon had bestowed on the Queene of Saba a fragment of the Tables which Moses brake in his zeale for the Israelites Idolatrie with the Golden Calfe For that conception by Salomon hee proueth it by the Ethiopian Records the title of their King and his Armes which are the same which the Tribe of Iuda gaue viz. a Lion rampant crowned in a field Or with this Inscription The Lion of the Tribe of Iuda hath ouercome Since they were Christians they
or Abassenes they call themselues Chaldaeans for their ancient and elegant Language in which their Books are written is neere to the Chaldaean and Assyrian Moreouer the Ecclesiasticall History testifieth and out of the same Nicephorus lib. 9. c. 18. that many Colonies were sent out of Assyria into Ethiopia They are there called Axumitae of their chiefe Citie but by themselues as Aluares affirmeth Chaschumo More may we see hereafter of their Rites and other things worthy of knowledge in the Institutions of that tongue which we haue diligently and Methodically written These words of Scaliger haue made me take some paines in the search of the premisses for hee differeth from the opinion of others which haue written any thing of Presbiter or Priest Iohn as they terme him in Asia whom the Tartars subdued Ortelius maketh a Presbyter Iohn in Asia and another in Africa if I vnderstand him As for that Vncam William de Rubruquis which trauelled those parts in the morning of the Tartar-greatnesse Anno 1253. reporteth that one Con Can raigned in Kata-Catay or blacke Catay after whose death a certaine Nestorian Shepheard a mightie Gouernour of the people called Yayman which were Nestorian Christians exalted himselfe to the Kingdome and they called him King Iohn reporting of him tenne times more then was true as is the Nestorians wont For notwithstanding all their great boasts of this man when I trauelled along by his Territories there was none that knew any thing of him but onely a few Nestorians This Iohn had a brother a mightie shepheard called Vut which inhabited three weekes journey beyond him hee was Lord of a Village called Cara Carum his subiects called Critor Merkits were also Nestorians But their Lord abandoning Christianitie embraced Idols and retained with him Priests of the said Idols Tenne or fifteene dayes journey beyond his Pastures were the Pastures of Moal a beggerly Nation and neere them the Tartars Iohn dying this Vut became his Heire and was called Vut Can whom others call Vnc Can and his droues and flockes ranged vnto the Pastures of Moal About the same time one Cyngis a Blacke-smiâ—h in Moal stole many of Vut Cans Cattell who in reuenge with his forces spoyled the Moals and Tartars They agrieued made Cyngis their Captaine who suddenly brake in vpon Vut and chased him into Cataya tooke his Daughter and married her and had by her Mangu that was then the Great Can when our Author wrote this These Relations sauour not of any such Monarchie as should extend from Aethiopia to those parts of Asia Marcus h Paulus telleth that the Tartars were Tributaries to this Vncam so he calleth him which saith hee after some mens opinion signifieth in our language Priest Iohn but through his tyrannie prouoked to rebellion they vnder the conduct of Cyngis slue Vncam And afterwards hee saith that Tenduc was vnder the subjection of Priest Iohn but all the Priests Iohns that there raigned after Vncam were tributarie to the Great Can and in his time raigned one George who was a Priest and a Christian as were the Inhabitants But hee held not so much as the Priests Iohns had done and the Great Cans did still joyne in affinitie with this Familie marrying their Daughters vnto these Kings This George was the fourth after Priest Iohn and was holden a great Seignior Hee ruled ouer two Nations called by some Gog and Magog by the Inhabitans Vng and Mongul where some were Mahumetanes some Heathens other Christians It appeareth by their Histories that Scaliger was deceiued to thinke that this Priest Iohn had so large an Empire seeing Rubruquis in the same Age or soone after could in his owne Countrey heare so little of him and his posteritie in Marcus Paulus his time continued tributarie Kings vnder the Tartar The name Priest was giuen them of that function which hee testifieth George receiued and Iohn perhaps of that first Shepheard that vsurped Con Cans estate To let passe therefore that Presbyter Iohn in the North-east we stumble on another mid-way betwixt that and Ethiopia For so Ioannes de Plano Carpini sent Embassadour to the Great Can from Pope Innocent Anno 1246. and Vincentius in his Speculum tell of the King of India Major called Presbiter Iohn being inuaded by the Tartars vnder the leading of Tossus Can sonne of Cyngis who before had subdued India Minor Hee by a Stratageme acquitted his Realme of them For making mens Images of Copper he set each of them vpon a saddle on Horse-backe and put fire within them placing a man with a paire of bellowes on the horse-back behind euery Image And so with many Images and Horses in such sort furnished they marched against the Tartars and when they were ready to joyne by kindling a fire in each Image they made such a smoke that the Indians wounded and slue many Tartars who could not see to require them thorow the smoke but were forced to leaue that Countrey and neuer after returned Heere now wee meet with a new Presbyter Iohn in India Major which whether he were the same with the Ethiopian let vs a little examine India is by Marcus Paulus diuided into three parts the Lesser Greater and Middle the first of them hee boundeth from Ciamba to Murfili and saith it had in it eight Kingdoms the Middle called Abascia had in it seuen Kingdomes three whereof were Saracens the rest Christians Sixe of them were subject to the seuenth It was told me saith hee that after their Baptisme with water they vsed another Baptisme with fire branding three markes on their forehead and both their cheekes The Saracens vsed one brand from the forehead to the middle of their nose They warre with the Solden of Aden and with the Inhabitants of Nubia and are reputed the best warriours in India The greater India extendeth from Malabar to the Kingdome of Chesmacoran and had in it thirteene Kingdomes This Abascia by the bordering enemies of Nubia and Aden is apparant to bee this Ethiopia where wee now are euen by their Brands wee may know them And this the Ancients called India For Sidonius calleth the Ethiopian Memnones Indians and Aelianus placeth Indians at Astaboras one of the Riuers of Meroe Virgil also bringeth Nilus out of India Vsque coloratis amnis deuexus ab Indis which must needes be meant of Ethiopia Nicephorus reckoneth the Sabeans and Homerites people of Arabia vnto India Sabellicus complaineth of the confounding of these names India and Ethiopia saying that most men did thinke Ethiopia next to Egypt to bee that India where Alexander ouerthrew Porus This confusion of names I thinke did first grow from confusion of Nations For as is before obserued out of Eusebius the Ethiopians arose from the Riuer Indus and setled their habitation neere to Egypt Perhaps they brought the Indian name also to these parts Or else the ignorance of these remote Countries might
about and that many thousand Mules besides Camels and innumerable Porters attended on the baggage at euery remoue But if these things were euer true the case is much altered in this last Age and euery day growes worse and worse those things which yee haue heard out of the Frier being false Neyther was there euer any such Emperour as Alexander the third by him so often mentioned but what with the Turkes on the North side the Moores on the East the Gallae from other parts and intestine Rebellions each challenging his right not by Election or Inheritance so much as by the Sword all things are brought almost to nothing and the Aethiopian greatnesse is now in a great Eclipse And for that Balthasar which the Frier pretends his Authour Godignus sayth that he being examined hereof affirmed them to be the Friers Inuentions somethings he confessed he had published not true but such as hee thought could doe no man harme Whatsoeuer therefore in this Booke is borrowed from that Spaniard I doe neither in all things disclaime nor can exact credit thereto this being the lyers reward that euen in true reports he is doubted More full Relations of the present State of this Empire I referre to our next Aethiopian Visitation The Gallae before mentioned are a Nationlesse Nation eyther the same or like in conditions to the Giacchi or Iagges of which we shall anon speake which as in Congo and other parts so heere also brought confusion and desolation where they came As for those Patriarches Barretus and Ouiedus Godignus hath bestowed on each of them a Booke in Relation of their Liues and inserted Epistles of their owne to prooue the Frier a Lier Barrettus desiring to be rid of that Title which he could not make reall and Ouiedo hauing a Briefe or Bull from Pius Quintus to free him and send him to Iapan which hee yet refused vpon hopes of better successe eyther amongst the Christians or Ethnickes in those parts many of which in Damut and Sinaxis had desired Baptisme and by the wicked Emperour were reiected He propoundeth also an Ouerture to send fiue hundred Portugall Souldiers into those parts by which strength they might succour themselues and their followers an argument of their weaknesse which could with so small a handfull be awed This may be added that these Aethiopians haue their blacke colour in such estimation that they paint Christ the Angels and Saints blacke the Deuill Iudas Caiphas Pilate and wicked persons they paint white They take Salt out of Minerals in pieces of halfe a foote which serues there instead of money ten or fifteene of those pieces being the price of a slaue the cause that when Paez the Iesuit first entred these parts his Gold could doe him little seruice and when a Saracen in his company had dressed him a Hen yet durst not he taste of it for offending the scrupulous Abassines who will eate nothing which a Turke hath killed Hee writes that their houses are base and little round of earth couered with thatch contayning but one roome except the Palaces of great Men. In that yeere 1603. the Grasse-hoppers did great harme which ate vp all that was greene where they came a greater misery of Ciuill Warre accompanying the Emperour being deposed and imprisoned and another legitimate for the former was a Bastard brought out of Prison to the Throne This new King Malac Ceged wrote kind Letters to Paez to bring him the Lawes of Portugal and Ouiedos Bookes praysing God that after seuen yeeres imprisonment The stone which the builders refused was become the head of the corner He was presently assaulted and much distressed by the Gallae whom at that time hee ouercame Not so other Traytors the chiefe of which was Zezelazeus who slue the Emperour Sauenquil and erected one Iacobus whom after hee relinquished and tooke part with Sazinosius which ouerthrew Iacobus and after that imprisoned Zezelazeus who escaped the Prison but not a Traytors reward being slaine by Husbandmen whose Oxen hee would haue taken away This Sazinosius still infested with Treasons for euen an Heremite or Anachoret which had liued a solitary life twenty yeeres together conspired against him aspired to Souereignty besides many many Others and the Gallae and the effect of both Robbers and Theeues through the Countrie deuised of an vnion with the Romish Church and writ Letters to the Pope dated Octob. 14. and to the King of Spaine for supplies of Souldiers Decemb. 10. 1607. the Copies of which Iarric hath inserted in his fift Booke So farre from truth is that Frier which in these times proclaymes such felicity in Aethiopia vnder I know not what Alexander the birth of his crowing braine §. IIII. Of the Sabaeans and their Queene which visited SALOMON LEt vs conclude with Saba and the Queene thereof touching which as elsewhere we haue shewed we rather beleeue that this Queene the supposed founder was of the Sabaeans in Arabia whose neighbours the Abasenes were and both as it is very probable her subiects These after many ages it is the coniecture of great Clerkes passed into these parts of Africa and seated themselues here by conquest retayning their old language in their Lyturgie to this day This Lyturgie or Canon of their Masse which with other their Formes and Rites of Baptisme Confirmation Purification c. is extant in Bibliotheca Patrum doth call their Church the Church of Sceua or Sheba and Stephanus placeth the Sabaeans and Abasenes together as before in this first Chapter of this Booke is shewed Tradition might well continue the memorie of this Queene amongst them and Superstition might easily adde where Diuine and Humane learning wanted aboundance of errours which is not the Ethiopian case alone but almost all Ecclesiasticall Histories written of things done long before and deliuered onely by Tradition rolled like a Snow-ball by superstition of succeeding times haue yeelded such Legendarie lumps that neede much licking before any forme of Truth can appeare As therefore I reiect not the Ethiopian Historie wholly nor deeme it a meere changeling in this challenge of the Sabaean inheritance so yet I hold it needes iudicious examination and censure the most whereof hath beene obtruded on that simple credulous Nation in later times as our Monkes dealt in these parts many ages Ptolomey calls the chiefe of Ethiopia Auxume which Stephanus calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arianus Axomite Procopius Auzomide all of them giue it the Metropolitan honour it is supposed to be the same which now is called Chaxumo whereof Barbosa Corsali and Aluares haue written in witnesse whereof are many ancient buildings there yet remayning and pillars somewhat resembling the Egyptian Obeliskes admirable for their height and workmanship some aboue threescore yards high full of Letters These Letters of which are many there seene in many ruines not one of all the Abassens can vnderstand which argueth a greater antiquitie then the
signifying Red and habitation not very farre distant make enough probable by others to the repercussion of the Sunne-beames by others to the colour of the Sand and Earth in the bottome and by others to the nature of the Water it selfe Solinus affirmeth it is called Erythraeum of King Erythrus the Sonne of Perseus and Andromade and not only of the colour alledging Varro that learned Romane for his Authour who also mentioneth a Fountayne on the shoare thereof which changeth the colour of the Sheepes fleeces which drinke thereof into a duskish and darker colour Strabo citeth the testimony of Nearchus and Orthagoras concerning the I le Tyrina two thousand furlongs from Carmania in which the Sepulchre of Erythras is shewed being a great Hill planted with trees and that he raigned in those parts and left his name thereunto which they learned of Mithropastes who flying from Darius had liued in that Iland Barrius writeth That Alfonso Dalboquerque that victorious Portugall who subdued so many Ilands Seas and Kingdomes to that Crowne in a Letter to King Emanuel affirmeth That it may be called the Red Sea of certayne red spots or staines which are seene therein and when he entred into the Streits he encountred a great veine of red water extending it selfe from Aden as farre as they could see from the ships tops These red veines of water the Moores ascribed to the ebbing and flowing of that Sea Iohn di Castro afterwards Viceroy of India sayled to the bottome of Streit as farre as Suez and much laboured to find the cause why it should be called the Red Sea there knowne only by the name of the Sea of Mecca and they maruelled much at our name Red. He or Gaspar Aloisius which writ the Booke of this Voyage which my friend Master Hakluyt communicated to mee sayth that the colour of this Sea is as of other Seas neyther is there red dust blowne in by the winds but the Land generally on both sides is browne and very darke as if it were scorched in some places blacke and in some white the Sands are of ordinary colour onely in three places were certaine Mountaynes with veines of red which were hard Rocke In many places the waues seeme very red by accident but taking vp the water in a Vessell out of the Sea it seemed cleerer and more Crystalline then that without the Straits Hee caused also some to diue which did bring him out of the sandy bottome a red matter branched like Corall In other places where were greene spots in the Sea were taken out greene branches and where the Sea was white the sand there vnder was very white and though the depth in some places amounted to twenty fathome yet the purity of the Chrystalline waters caused this transparent colour Neere to Suachen he found most of those spots and from thence to Alcocer the space of one hundred thirty sixe leagues The Sea in this space hath many shelues the ground whereof is Coral-stone of which one sort is red the other very white The white Sands in the bottome make it seeme white the Ooze greene that Corally substance red which in that space was the most of the three But neerer the bottome towards Suez in a great space hee saw none Further without the Strait he saw such red spots or veines of water at Cape Fartach as if Oxen had beene slaine there yet the water taken vp in a Vessell seemed cleere and hee supposed that this rednesse proceeded of the Whales bringing forth their young Barrius misliketh that coniecture and those other of Antiquity in searching the cause of this name of Red and is of opinion That the violent currents of the Tydes assisted with some tempestuous winds rayse vp from the bottome that red floore whereof we haue spoken and cause by the motion of the same vnder the water that rednesse in the vpper face thereof which is in more spacious quantity neere the Straits where there is greatest force of the Tydes and the threeds or straines of this rednesse are lesse in the greater and more spacious Sea-roome The Portugall Pilots first thought that the winds brought out red dust from the dry soyle of Arabia which no mans experience hath confirmed Andrea Corsali which sayled and warred vnder the Portugals in these Seas Anno 1516. sayth hee knowes not why it should be called red for the water is coloured as in other Seas which seemeth to crosse the former reports and may eyther bee construed of the water generally not discoloured or perhaps while hee was there the Tydes and Winds did not conspire so boysterously as at some other times they doe against the yeelding and weaker soyle in the bottome thereof Our English Pilots haue giuen later and better light in their Trade at Moha and other places as in the first and second parts of our Bookes of Voyages is euident But the most Learned Pilot for the Erythraean Antiquities is Master Fuller who in the last Chapiter of his fourth Booke examineth the Graecian Fables of Ayatharchides Ctesias Ourainus Pausanias of Boxus also Mela Plinie and the rest and at last concludeth that of Esaus name Edom the Countrey was called Edumaea farre larger then that of Ptolomey besides it contayning a great part of Petraea and all Nabathea and of that Countrey coasting so great a part of that Sea as appeares by Salomons and Iehoshaphats Ophyrian Nauies built at Ezion-Geber in Edumaea their owne Countrey the Sea adioyning was called Edumaean or in Greeke interpretation Erythraean that is Rubrum or Red as Cephas the name properly by Christ giuen to the first of the Apostles is commonly in a Greeke interpretation called Peter Howeuer it be for this rednesse many deceiue themselues in streitning this name to the Arabian Gulfe which the Ancients gaue vnto all the Seas from Aegypt to India and reckon the Persian and Arabian Gulfes armes of the Red Sea Yea Arrianus not hee that writ Alexanders life who yet in the report of Nearchus his voyage from Indus to the Riuer Tigris calls it the Red Sea but another of that name in his Periplus of the Erythrean Sea translated and illustrated with a large Commentarie by Stuckius and set forth by Ortelius in a peculiar Map thereof comprehendeth in the title of the Red Sea all from Arsinoe and Egypt to Malacca or the Chersonesus Aurea Hauing now troubled you with the name why and how farre the name extendeth wee may view the Ilands therein situate which if any would more fully know let him reade Arrianus and Barrius and the voyage of Solyman Bassa 1538. vnto Diu written by Damianus in Latine and by a Venetian in Ramusius who was present in the action I must but touch the principall §. II. Of the chiefe Townes and Ilands in the Red Sea SVes is neere the beginning of the Sea which some suppose to bee that which the Ancients call Arsinoe after others Heroum here is the
renue their mourning with great howling as they then did for Kashurakeny who died the yeere before They report that the Canibals haue a Sea behinde them They found a Bath two miles about so hote that they could not drinke it Master Patteson was slaine by the Sauages of Nanhoc a Riuer of the Tarentines Their short Commons caused feare of mutiny One of the Sauages called Aminquin for a straw hat and knife giuen him stript himselfe of his cloathing to Beuers skinnes worth in England 50. shillings or three pound to present them to the President leauing onely a flap to couer his priuities He would also haue come with them for England In winter they are poore and weake and do not then company with their wiues but in Summer when they are fat and lusty But your eyes wearied with this Northerne view which in that Winter communicated with vs in extremitie of cold looke now for greater hopes in the Southerne Plantation as the right arme of his Virginian body with greater costs and numbers furnished from hence But first let me tell you that by some lately these Northerne Parts are stiled by the Name of New-England as being supposed in the same Latitude with Noua Albion on the South Sea discouered by Sir Francis Drake hauing New France on the North and the Southern Plantation of Virginia on the South New Spaine New Granado New Andalusia being in the same Continent A Map and Discouerie hereof was set forth this last yeere by Captaine Iohn Smith with new English Names exchanged for the Saluage It lyeth betwixt 41. degrees and 45. minutes The harsh Names of the habitations of those parts I forbeare to recite the commodities are expressed by that Author First for fish let not any thinke this contemptible when by his report the Hollanders reape from three kinds Herring Cod and Ling fifteene hundred thousand pound yeerely herevpon principally founding their greatnesse by Sea and Land In March Aprill May and halfe Iune here is Cod in abundance in May Iune Iuly and August Mullet and Sturgeon whose Roes doe make Caularie and Puttargo Their store of Herrings they compare to the haires of their heads In the end of August September October and Nouember you haue Cod againe to make Corfish or Poore-Iohnt wice as good as in New-found-land where their fishing also is chiefely but in Iune and Iuly Mullets are here taken by Nets which at Cape Blanke are hooked and twice as large He addes store of Red-berries called Alkermes Muske-Rats Beuers Otters Martins Blacke Foxes probabilities of Mines and manifold commodities of the soile the particulars whereof I referre to the booke it selfe together with the arguments for a Plantation there There also you may reade his Obseruations and Discoueries Anno 1614. with the successe of sixe ships that went the next yeere and his disasters by French Pirats and English perfidie This present yeere 1616. eight voluntarie ships went thither to make further tryall and hereafter we hope to haue English Colonies renued in this Northerly Plantation newly called New-England §. II. Of the Southerne Plantation and Colonies and many causes alledged of the ill successe thereof at the first CAptaine Bartholomew Gosnold hauing long sollicited many of his friends at last preuailed with some Gentlemen as Master Edward Maria Wingfield Captaine Iohn Smith and diuers others with the helpe of some Noblemen and Merchants his Maiestie granting Commission for establishing Councels to direct here and to gouerne and execute there so that December 19. 1606. they set saile and after long contending with contrarie windes and the windy inconstancie of some of the company that would haue returned for England before they had saluted their desired Port they were by a storme forced into the same vnexpected where after some harme by assault of the Sauages on the 13. of May Master Wingfield was chosen President their fort contriued and the fals soone after discouered Sixe weekes being thus spent Captaine Newport returned with the ships and Captaine Smith before held in much iealousie was by the paines of Mr Hunt the Preacher reconciled and admitted of the Councell a hundred being left there for the Plantation Within ten dayes after the departure of this moueable Tauerne as they called it a more sauage enemy then the Sauages had assaulted them and scarcely ten left vntouched with sicknesse through want of conuenient lodging and diet of which from May to September fifty dyed Wingfield was deposed and Ratcliffe established in his place and by the industrie of Smith Iames Towne was builded the Sauages supplying their necessities they failing Captaine Smith sought trade abroad others at home intending a returne in the Pinace for England by his vnexpected returning were forced to stay or sinke which action cost the life of Captaine Kendall Soone after the like plot of the President and Captaine Archer was discouered and by him againe suppressed The Winter approaching the Riuers afforded them plenty of Cranes Swannes Geese Ducks with which and Pease wilde Beasts and other land-commodities they dayly feasted But in the discouerie of Chickahamine Riuer George Casson was surprised and Smith with two others were beset with two hundred Sauages his men slaine and himselfe in a quagmire taken prisoner but after a moneth he procured himselfe not onely libertie but great admiration amongst them and returning once more stayed the Pinace from flight and the Fort from being abandoned The Treasurer and Councell meane-while carefull to supply their wants sent two ships with neere a hundred men Capt. Newport arriued safely Captaine Nelson with the other ship by force of windes was driuen to shift as hee could elsewhere Now the Sauages enchanted by Smiths relations of God Nature and Art were in manner at his command till the ambition of some by giuing foure times as much for their commodities as he appointed seeking to seeme of so much greater magnificence and authoritie made them prize their commodities dearer Newport whom Smith had called father and extolled with Powhatan the Emperour went with solemnitie to visit him sending Smith before who after his manner of State gaue him royall entertainment sitting vpon his bed of Mats his pillow of leather embroidered with pearle and white beads attired with a robe of skins large as an Irish mantle at his head and feet sate a handsome yong woman on each side his house twenty others their heads and shoulders painted red with a great chaine of white beades about their necks before those sate his chiefest men in like order in his Arbor-like house Newport gaue him a boy for whom Powhatan gaue him Namontacke his seruant which was after brought into England Powhatan wittily cheated our men and offering so much corne as they gaue copper said he could eate that not this Their gettings in this voyage other commodities and their townes were casually consumed by fire and the ship staying fourteene weekes spent most of that prouision for the reliefe of the
together may no way compare with this Countrey either for commodities or goodnesses of soyle This sparke kindled in their hearts such constancie of zeale and forwardnesse that they furnished out Sir Thomas Gates who had happily returned with the rest from Bermudas with six ships 300. men and a hundred Kine with other Cattle Munition and prouision of all sorts Sir Thomas Dale hauing newes that it was a Fleet of enemies prepared himselfe and the rest to an encounter but it ended with a common ioy in the shaking of hands and not of Pikes Lawes are now made for lawlesnesse had marred so much before for the honour of God frequenting the Church obseruation of the Sabbath reuerence to Ministers obedience to superiours mutuall loue honest labours and against Adultery Sacriledge wrong and other vices Harbengers of Gods wrath and mans destruction The Colony consisted of seuen hundred men of sundry Arts and Professions few of them sicke which hauing left the Fort at Cape Henry fortified and kept by Captaine Dauies and the keeping of Iames Towne to that Noble and wel-deseruing Gentleman Master George Perole is remoued vp the Riuer fourescore miles further beyond Iames Towne to a place of higher ground strong and defencible by nature with good Ayre plenty of Springs much faire and open grounds freed from Woods and wood enough at hand Here they burnt brickes cut downe wood and euery man fals to somewhat they haue built they say competent houses the first story all of bricke that euery man may haue his lodging and dwelling by himselfe with a sufficient quantity of ground allotted thereto Here also they were building an Hospitall with fourescore lodgings and beds already sent for the sicke and lame as the Booke called the New life of Virginia relateth Master Whitaker in his Letter and Booke from Henrico 1612. testifieth the health and welfare of the Colonie Samuel Argal in the yeere 1613. affirmed likewise that hee found the state of Virginia farre better then was reported In one Voyage they had gotten 1100. bushels of Corne they found a slow kind of Cattle as bigge as Kine which were good meate and a medicinable sort of earth They tooke Pokohuntis Powhatans dearest daughter prisoner a matter of good consequence to them of best to her by this meanes being become a Christian and married to Master Rolph an English Gentleman Thus I haue beene bold somewhat largely to relate the proceedings of this Plantation to supplant such slanders and imputations as some haue conceiued or receiued against it and to excite the diligence and industry of all men of ability to put to their helping hand in this Action so Honourable in it selfe Glorious to God in the furtherance of his Truth and beneficiall to the Common-wealth and to the priuate purses of the Aduenturers if the blooming of our hopes be not blasted with our negligence As for the want of successe hitherto Careat successibus opto Quisquis ab euentu facta notanda putet Reason should preuaile with Men leaue sense and euent of things as an argument for Beasts That reason which sheweth Virginia's more then possibilities probabilities doth also point out the causes of those ill Successes Discontents at Sea Ignorance of the Country and of their Language Diuision in the Councell Commanders some of them not skilfull Souldiers nor forward Aduenturers Care to relade the Ships before they could prouide Houses of Victuals Ambition Cruelty Neglect of the Seasons for Fish and Land-commodities Brackish slimy Water at Iames Fort Riot Sloth False information in England Sending ill People that consumed the rest with idlenesse Want of Authority to punish them That kind of Aristocraticall Authority first established occasion of their Quarrels Iniuries to and from the Saluages and yet a necessity of their vse and helpe Sicknesse caused by the grosse and vaporous Aire and soyle about Iames Towne and drinking water The theeuish trucke and exchange which some secretly held with them The treachery of Fugitiues Falshood of the Sauages and the Many many faults as they report of Mariners in priuate truckings and night marts both with our Men and Sauages Their long stay and spending the Colonies reliefe besides Extraordinary casualties of fire cold shipwracke and if wee beleeue Ouiedo and obserue the like amongst the Spaniards the very Aire of the Indies seemes to be of inclination and disposition to contentions which easily ruine and dissolue the greatest and best enterprises that I speake not of the Deuils malice to Christian hopes Experience hath now made men wiser both to preuent and remedie these euils and to order their proceedings accordingly And although Fame fils not our eares with so often and many Virginian rumors as aforetimes yet we know that still waters are deepest and wee cannot but hope that those worthy Virginian-Consuls cunctando restituunt rem rather with carefull prouidence and watchfull diligence working sure then with humerous hastinesse laying foundations to a leisurely repentance seeking more the common good there then to be the common talke heere Once they there maintayne themselues now a long time without the wonted charge to the Company and diuers of our Nobility and Gentry doe now as after a long slumber while we are writing these things againe bethinke them of this Virginian Plantation whereunto the profitable Neighbour-hood of the Summer Iles or Bermudas may be good furtherance God Almighty prosper both that the Word may goe out of Bermuda and the Law of the Lord from Virginia to a truer conuersion of the American World then hitherto Our Humorists or Spanish insolencies haue intended §. III. Of the Soyle People Beasts Commodities and other Obseruations of Virginia FOr the description of the Countrey Master Hakluyt from Others Relations in his third Volume of Voyages hath written largely of those parts discouered for Sir Walter Raleigh Concerning the later Captaine Iohn Smith partly by word of mouth partly by his Map thereof in print and more fully by a Manuscript which hee courteously communicated to mee hath acquainted mee with that whereof himselfe with great perill and paine had beene the Discouerer being in his discoueries taken Prisoner as is before said and escaping their fury yea receiuing much honour and admiration amongst them by reason of his Discourses to them of the motion of the Sunne of the parts of the World of the Sea c. which was occasioned by a Diall then found about him They carried him Prisoner to Powhatan and there beganne the English acquaintance with that sauage Emperour The summe of his obseruation in that and other Discoueries since concerning the Countrey is this Virginia is situate betweene 34. and 44. degrees of Northerly latitude the bounds whereof on the East side are the great Ocean Florida on the South on the North Noua Francia the Westerne limits are vnknowne But that part which began to bee planted by the English Southerne Colony in the yeere 1606. is vnder the degrees 37.
38. and 39. The temperature agreeth with English bodies not by other meanes distempered The Summer is hot as in Spaine the Winter cold as in France and England certaine coole Brizes doe asswage the vehemency of the heate The great Frost in the yeere 1607. reached to Virginia but was recompenced with as milde a Winter with them the next yeere And the Winter Anno 1615. was as cold and frosty one fortnight as that There is but one entrance by Sea into this Country and that at the mouth of a very goodly Bay The Capes on both sides were honoured with the names of our Britanian hopes Prince Henry and Duke Charles The water floweth in this Bay neere two hundred miles and hath a channell for a hundred and forty miles of depth betwixt seuen and fifteene fathome of breadth ten or fourteene miles At the head of the Bay the Land is Mountaynous and so runneth by a Southwest Line from which Mountaynes proceed certaine Brooks which after come to fiue principall Nauigable Riuers The Mountaynes are of diuers composition some like Mil-stones some of Marble many pieces of Chrystall they found throwne downe by the waters which also wash from the Rockes such glistering Tinctures that the ground in some places seemeth gilded The colour of the earth in diuers places resembleth Bole-Armoniac terra sigillata and other such apparances but generally is a blacke sandy molde The Riuer next to the mouth of the Bay is Powhatan the mouth whereof is neere three miles broad it is Nauigable an hundred miles falls rocks shoalds prohibite further Nauigation hence Powhatan their greatest King hath his Title In a Peninsula on the Northside thereof is situate Iames Towne The people inhabiting which haue their Weroances are the Kecoughtans which haue not past twenty fighting men The Paspaheghes haue forty Chichahamania two hundred The Weanocks an hundred The Arrowhatocks thirty The Place called Powhatan forty The Appamatusks threescore The Quiyonghcohanocks fiue and twenty The Warraikoyacks forty The Naudsamunds two hundred The Chesapeacks an hundred The Chickahamanians are not gouerned by a Weroance but by the Priests No place affordeth more Sturgeon in Summer of which at one draught haue beene taken threescore and eight nor in Winter more Fowle Fourteene miles from Powhatan is the Riuer Pamaunke nauigable with greater Vessels not aboue threescore and ten miles Toppahanok is nauigable an hundred and thirty miles Patawomeke an hundred and twenty To speake of Powtuxunt Bolus and other Riuers on the East side of the Bay likewise of diuers places which receiued name by some accident as Fetherstones Bay so called of the death of one of ours there happening and the like or to mention the numbers which euery people can make would exceed our scope and the Readers patience Captaine Smiths Map may somewhat satisfie the desirous and his Booke now printed further This the Captaine saith that hee hath beene in many places of Asia and Europe in some of Africa and America but of all holds Virginia by the naturall endowments the fittest place for an earthly Paradise Alexander Whitaker the Preacher at Henrico writes that at the mouth of Powhatan are the Forts of Henrico and Charles two and forty miles vpward is Iames Towne and threescore and ten miles beyond that the new Towne of Henrico ten miles higher the fals where the Riuer falleth downe betweene many minerall Rockes twelue miles beyond a Chrystall Rocke wherewith the Indians head their Arrowes three dayes iourney from thence is a Rocke or Hill found couered ouer with a rich siluer Ore Our men that went to discouer those parts had but two Iron Pickaxes with them and those so ill tempered that the points turned againe at euery stroke but tryall was made of the Ore with argument of much hope Sixe dayes iourney beyond this Mine runs a ridge of Hils beyond which the Indians report is a great Sea which if it bee true is the South Sea At Henrico they are exceeding healthfull and more then in England Master Thomas Hariot hath largely described the Commodities which the Water and Earth yeeld set forth also in Latine with exquisite Pictures by Theodore de Bry besides the relations of Brereton and Rosier and others There is a Grasse which yeeldeth silke beside store of Silke-wormes Hempe and Flaxe surpassing ours in growth and goodnesse exceeded by a new found stuffe of a certaine sedge or water-flagge which groweth infinitely and with little paines of boyling yeeldeth great quantitie of sundry sorts of Skeines of good strength and length some like silke and some like Flaxe and some a courser sort as Hempe There is also a rich veine of Allum of Terra Sigillata Pitch Tarre Rozen Turpentine Sassafras Cedar Grapes Oyle Iron Copper and the hope of better Mines Pearle sweete Gummes Dyes Timber Trees of sweet wood for profit and pleasure of which kinde haue beene discouered fourteene seuerall kinds Neither is it needfull that heere I relate the Commodites of Virginia for food in Fowles Beasts Fishes Fruites Plants Hearbes Berries Graines especially their Maiz which yeeldeth incredible recompence for a little labour One Acre of ground will yeeld with good husbandry two hundred Bushels of Corne They haue two Roots the one for Medicinall vse to cure their hurts called Weighsacan the other called Tockahough growing like a flagge of the greatnesse and taste of a Potato which passeth a fiery purgation before they may eate it being poyson whiles it is raw Yet in all this abundance our men haue had small store but of want and no fire nor water could purge that poyson which was rooted in Some to the hinderance of the Plantation The chiefe Beasts of Virginia are Beares lesse then those in other places Deere like ours Aronghcun much like a Badger but liuing on trees like a Squirrell Squirrels as big as Rabbets and other flying Squirrels called Assepanicke which spreading out their legs and skins seeme to flye thirty or forty yards at a time The Opassom hath a head like a Swine a tayle like a Rat as bigge as a Cat and hath vnder her belly a bagge wherein she carrieth her yong Their Dogges barke not Their Wolues are not much bigger then our Foxes Their Foxes are like our siluer-haired Conies and smell not like ours Mussascus is otherwise as our Water-Rat but smelleth strongly of Muske Master Whitaker saith they yeeld Muske as the Musk-Cats doe Their Vetchunquoys are wild Cats Their vermine destroyed not our Egges and Pullen nor were their Serpents or Flyes any way pernicious They haue Eagles Hawkes wild Turkeyes and other Fowle and Fish which here to repeate would to some nice fastidious stomacks breed a fulnesse though with some of their Countrimen in Virginia they would haue beene sauoury sometimes and dainty They are a people clothed with loose Mantles made of Deeres skins and aprons of the same round about their middles all else naked of stature like to vs in England They
would eate them The seuerall peoples by him reckoned would heere be tedious to name which we may say of the like made by Godoy and Aluarado Of the customes of the Ancient Mexicanes one of Cortes his Gentlemen hath written a Treatise extant in Ramusius wherein are described their Citie Temples Rites of Sacrifice and the like as after followeth out of him and others CHAP. X. Of the ancient Inhabitants of New-Spaine and the Historie of their Kings §. I. The Mexican Exodus and first founding HAuing now declared the subuersion of this State and Kingdome by the Spaniards I hold it not amisse to looke backe vpon the first people which heere inhabited with the beginnings and proceedings of the Mexican Empire The first Inhabitants of New-Spaine were very barbarous and sauage which liued onely by Hunting and for this reason were called Chichemecas They liued naked solitary in the Mountaines without Tillage Policie or any religious Ceremonies their wiues followed the same Hunting exercise leauing their children tied in a Panier of Reeds to the boughs of some tree They did eat what they got in hunting raw They ate also Snakes and Lizards which they offered likewise in sacrifice to the Sunne whom onely they worshipped and that without any Image they offered to him Fowles from the Butter-fly to the Eagle And some remnants of the like beastly men as is said before are yet found which doe great hurt and will not by either cunning or force of the Spaniards be reduced to any other course They seeme to haue learned the Sauage nature of the wilde Beasts of whom and with whom they liue By this meanes it came to passe that this wilde Mountainous people left the best and most fertile part of the Country vnpeopled which certaine remote Nations possessed whom they called Nauatalcas for their ciuilitie These came from those Northerne parts which now they call new Mexico The Nauatalcas paint their beginning and first Territorie in maner of Caues because of their seuen Tribes and men comming out of them By the supputation of their Bookes this departure was aboue eight hundred yeeres since and by reducing to our account about the yeere of our Lord 720. Fourescore yeeres they stayed on the way the cause whereof they ascribe to their Gods which spake visibly to them and bade them seek new Lands that had such signes as they notified Thus they proceeded in seeking those signes and peopled the best parts still remouing their habitations as they found more fertile Countries leauing onely the aged sicke and weary with a few others to remaine in the former And by these leisurely proceedings they entred the land of Mexico about the yeere 902. after our account Those seuen Nations came not all at once but first the Suchimilcos next the Chalcas and thirdly the Tepanetans fourthly those of Tescuco after them the Tlalluicans the sixt were the Tlascaltecans which helped the Spaniards to conquer Mexico and therefore are exempted from tribute to this day These expelled as their Histories say certaine Gyants whom in pretence of Friendship they had inuited to a banquet and in their drunkennes stole away their weapons and slew them Neither doth this seeme a fable for at this day are found dead mens bones of incredible bignesse I saw a tooth saith Acosta at Mexico in the yeere 1586. as bigge as the fist of a man and according to this all the rest was proportionable Three hundred and two yeeres after the first transmigration those of the seuenth Caue or Line arriued which is the Mexican Nation they worshipped the Idoll Vitzliputzli and the Diuel spake gouerned this Nation He promised to make them Lords ouer all which the other six Nations possessed and to giue them a Land plentifull in riches whereupon they went forth carrying their Idoll with them in a Coffer of Reeds supported by foure of their principall Priests with whom he talked and communicated his Oracles and Directions He likewise gaue them Lawes and taught them the Ceremonies and Sacrifices they should obserue And euen as the pillar of Cloud and Fire conducted the Israelites in their passage thorow the Wildernesse so this apish Diuell gaue them notice when to aduance forwards and when to stay The first thing they did wheresoeuer they came was to build a house or Tabernacle for their Vitzliputzli which they set alway in the middest of their Campe and there placed the Arke in the middest of the Altar This done they sowed the Land and if their God commanded to gather they did so and if to raise their Campe they obeyed leauing the aged sicke and weary to gather their fruits and to dwell there The chiefe Captaine whom they followed was called Mexi whence came the name of their City and Nation Their Idoll perswaded them when some were bathing themselues in certaine Lakes to remoue the Campe closely and steale away their clothes whereat they which were thus forsaken changed their language and manner of life retayning alway their hatred to the Mexicans They peopled the Prouince Mechouacan from hence to Mexico is fifty leagues and vpon the way is Malinalco which they say was peopled by a Witch and her familie whom by the commandement of their God they left behinde closly remouing the armie by night They stayed in a place called Tuta where by stopping a Riuer they drowned a Plaine and planted it round with Willowes and other trees and many liking the place talked of staying there whereat their God offended threatned the Priests and in the night slew those which had consulted of staying Their hearts were found pulled out and their stomackes opened which after that they obserued in their Sacrifices The Mexicans by the aduice of their Idoll proceeded and by force made way thorow the Chalcas and sent to the Lord of Culbuacan who granted them the place of Ticaapan to dwell in which was full of Snakes and venemous Beasts which by the helpe of their God they tamed He would not suffer them to stay there but commanded them to proceed and to seeke forth a Woman whom they should name the Goddesse of Discord Whereupon they sent to the King of Culhuacan to demand his Daughter to bee Queene of the Mexicans and Mother of their God who easily condescended and sent his daughter gorgeously attired The same night she arriued by order of their God shee was murthered and flayed and a yong man was couered with her skin with her apparell thereon and being placed neere the Idoll she was consecrated a Goddesse and Mother of their God they euer after worshipping the same making an Idol which they call Toccy that is Our Grand-mother The King of Culhuacan hereupon warred against them and chased them out of those parts by which meanes they came to the place where Mexico now is Heere certaine old Priests or Sorcerers entring into a place full of Water-Lillies they met with a very faire and cleare current of Water with Trees
write they haue most though not much preuayled with these Barbarians Somewhat as themselues write they haue beene hindred in their Brasilian Conuersions by the peruersenesse of some couetous Portugals who sometimes vnder colour of peace would betray these silly soules and seize on them to cruell slauery sometimes would counterfeit Iesuiticall habits and vnder pretence of Religion perswading them to goe with them haue betrayed Religion and Them together sometimes would vnder-hand and closely threatten seruitude to all such as beleeued the Iesuits with all promises of kindnesse to such as would follow them which in effect proued to the Mynes or other offices of slauish drudgery and sometimes by hostile violence haue seized on such as the Iesuit haue conuerted and made slaues of them Most strange is that which they write of certaine Brasilians within the Land which eyther hauing seene the Religious Rites of the Portugals or instructed therein by some Fugitiues or Apostata's had set vp a new Sect of Christian Ethnicisme or Mungrell-Christianity This was about Anno 1583. They chuse one Supreme in their vnholy Holies whom also they call Pope other inferiour Prelates they call Bishops These ordayne their Priests which obserue in an Apish imitation their Confession Absolution Beads to number their Prayers great Gourds or Rattles in stead of Bels to assemble them together Free-schooles for instruction of youth Bookes of Barke bound in wood and strange Characters therein written a kinde of Baptisme also but wanting the essentiall words and forme all the Men they name Iesus the Women Marie the Crosse they haue but without veneration their Priests vow Continence They conceiue a state of perfection in drinking the juyce of the herbe Petine till they fall downe distracted as in the Falling-sicknesse quaking and stretching out their limbes with terrible gestures the Deuill speaking from within them their mouthes not open nor their lips moued after they haue thus continued a while they returne to themselues and are washed all ouer their bodies he is iudged the most sanctified Wight that hath expressed most extaticall gestures The most transcendent degree of perfection they ascribe to the muttering of certayne words ouer them by an Inchanter They say that their Ancestors long since dead will returne by shipping and deliuer them from the Portugals which all shall be slaine by them and if any shall escape they shall be turned into fishes or beasts Those of this faith shall inherit Heauen and all the vnbeleeuers shall be deuoured of Birds or Beasts In the yeere 1602. a Iesuite was sent amongst these Sectaries where their Great Father or Pope came to meete him attended with many weaponed men and Archers He began a Song which the other Brasilians vnderstood not and when he had sung one Verse the rest as with vs in the Quire answered Then did this Holy Father Catechize or instruct them with many idle words often mixing and repeating Sancta Maria Tupama Remireco that is Saint Mary the Wife of God c. Kneeling he lifted vp his eyes and hands to Heauen after the fashion of the Priests at Masse Hee and the Iesuite imbraced each other and then hee told the Iesuite that hee liued in the Woods as one that would not bee seene of Men. The next night hee caused a youth to bee hanged that had beene familiar with the Iesuite A conference was appointed betwixt him and the Iesuite where after much boasting of his sanctitie the Iesuite interrupted him and told him he came to teach him the way to Heauen but the other soone after conueyed himselfe away and came no more CHAP VI. Of the Countries from the Riuer of Plate to the Magellane Straits §. I. The Nations inhabiting neere the Riuer THis Riuer we haue already mentioned the Indians call it Parana and Iohn Dias de Solis discouering the same in the yeere 1512. for some shew it seemed to haue of that Metall called it the Riuer of Plata or Siluer It is forty leagues wide in the entrance and preuayleth so farre against the Oceans saltnesse that the taste of the fresh water sooner discernes his waters then the eye can see his bankes It ouerfloweth the Countrey as Nilus in Egypt and Orenoque Marannon with the other great Riuers in America It ebbeth and floweth a hundred miles vp the streame Dias whom some call the first Discouerer was with fifty of his companions there slaine and eaten But hee which hath most fully discouered the Nations that dwell neere this Riuer is Huldericus Schmidel who sayled thither in the yeere 1534. and continued in those parts almost twenty yeeres He sayled thither with Peter Mendoza who carried with him fiue and twenty hundred men to discouer conquer and inhabit those Regions They built the Citie Buenas Aeres so called of the wholsome Aire neere to an Indian Towne named Carendies of three thousand Inhabitants if that may bee called a Towne whose Inhabitants stay not long in one place They will drinke the bloud of the beasts they kill for thirst The Spaniards destroyed them whose parts famine seemed to take against that cruell people which with inuisible Darts so pierced their entrailes that vile and venemous creatures were applyed to the curing of their wounded stomackes and when such Medicines failed three of them stole a horse minding to flee from famine on that dead beast but were therefore horsed on a Gibbet where three others that by this example were terrified from Horse-flesh aduentured vpon these carkasses cutting thence large gobbets to pay that cruellest Tyrant and greediest Exactor Hunger his Tribute Another whose Brother dyed buried him in his owne body halfe their company were consumed with this plague The Indians of Carendies Bartennis Zeechuruas and Tiembus taking this aduantage assayled their Towne of Good Aires turning it into good fires by shooting Arrowes fired at the end thereinto They after passed vp the Riuer and came to Tiembus where the men are tall and great their women alway deformed with scratched and bloudy faces The Tiembus could make fiue thousand men Of the Spaniards were not left fiue hundred in a small time and Mendoza dyeth returning homewards The Curenda the next people are like the Tiembus The Macuerendas liue onely on fish and a little flesh There they killed a Serpent fiue and twenty foot long and as bigge as a man The Saluaisco goe starke naked and liue onely on fish flesh and honey The Curemagbas are of huge stature the men bore a hole in their nose in which they weare a Parrots feather The women paint their faces with indeleble lines The Carios Countrie is large neere to the Brasilians in Rites and Site They goe naked they will sell the father his daughter the husband his wife the brother his sister The price of a woman is a Hatchet Knife or such like They fat such as they take in their warres and then deuoure them with great solemnitie The Lampere made neere vnto their Towne
where they were well refreshed But a disease worse then the French Poxe there warred vpon them called Pori Yet did Pizarro hold on his resolution he passed ouer to Puna where the Gouernour intreated the Spaniards well till the abusing of their Wiues caused the Indians to take Armes and so made their riches become a prey to the preuayling Spaniards There had Pizarro the first intelligence of Atabaliba The Gouernour of this Iland to satisfie his iealousie cut off the Noses the Members and the Armes of his Eunuches or Keepers of his women Pizarro sent to Tumbez sixe hundred Prisoners which the Gouernour of this Land had taken of the party of Atabaliba who at that time mayntained Warre against his Brother Guascar about the Souereigntie and this Gouernour had taken Guascars part This ciuill discord was much to the Spaniards aduantage Pizarro sent three Messengers to Tumbez to demand peace and safe entrance but they notwithstanding the freedome of their Captiues deliuered them to the Priests to bee sacrificed to their Idoll of the Sunne Hee taketh Tumbez and sacketh the Temple and Citie From thence he proceeded in his way to Caximalca and Guascar sent some vnto him with great promises to demand his aide against his Brother Atabaliba soone after Atabaliba sent one to him to charge him to returne to his ships Pizarro answereth That hee came not to hurt any but for their good as his Emperour had giuen him in charge nor could he now being the Embassadour of the Pope and Emperour Lords of the World returne without great dishonour before he had seene his Royall person and communicated to him such instructions as might be good for his body and soule As he passed the Prouince of Chira the Lords thereof prouoked him against Atabaliba who had lately conquered their Countries And on the Riuer of Chira hee founded the Colonie of Saint Michael for the safe keeping of his spoyles and for his ships Hee marcheth on to Caximalca and sendeth Messengers on horse-back to giue him notice of his comming This strange Beast made the Indians afraid but Atabaliba was nothing mooued therewith more mooued to see those bearded men giue him so little reuerence Atabaliba sent Pizarro a paire of shooes cut and gilded that as hee pretended he might know him others thought that hee might bee knowne and designed to imprisonment or slaughter The next day the King was carried as in solemne triumph vpon mens shoulders garded with fiue and twentie thousand Indians in rich pompe and magnificence Vincentius de Valle Viridi a Dominican Frier holding in one hand a Crosse in the other his Breuiarie or as some say a Bible came before him with great reuerence and blessing him with the Crosse said Excellent Lord it behoueth you to know that God in Trinity and Vnity made the World of nothing and formed a man of the Earth whom hee called Adam of whom wee all haue beginning Adam sinned against his Creator by disobedience and in him all his Posteritie except Iesus Christ who being God came downe from Heauen and tooke flesh of the Virgin Mary and to redeeme Mankind dyed on a Crosse like to this for which cause wee worship it rose againe the third day after forty dayes ascended into Heauen leauing for his Vicar in Earth Saint Peter and his Successours which wee call Popes who haue giuen to the most puissant King of Spaine Emperour of the Romans the Monarchy of the World Obey the Pope and receiue the faith of Christ and if yee shall beleeue it most holy and that most false which yee haue yee shall doe well and know that doing the contrary we will make warre on you and will take away and breake your Idols therefore leaue the deceiueable Religion of your false Gods This preaching of the Frier might well seeme strange to Atabaliba which it seemes hee learned of the Mahumetans and not of the Apostles He answered that hee was Free and would not become tributary to any nor did acknowledge any greater Lord then himselfe and for the Emperour he could be pleased to be the friend of so great a Prince and to know him but for the Pope he would not obey him which gaue away that which was not his owne and tooke a Kingdome from him whom hee had neuer seene As for Religion hee liked well his owne and neyther would nor ought to call it in question being so ancient and approued especially seeing Christ dyed which neuer befell the Sunne or Moone And how saith hee doe you know that the God of the Christians created the World Frier Vincent answered That his Booke told it him and gaue him his Breuiarie Atabaliba looked on it and in it and saying it said no such thing to him hurled it on the ground The Frier tooke it vp and went to Pizarro crying Hee hath cast the Gospels to the ground Reuenge it O Christians seeing they will not our friendship nor our Law or to vse the words of a Spanish Captain there present in his relation thereof Come forth Christians come forth and come to these Enemies Dogs that wil not accept the things of God and the Cacique hath cast our holy Law to the ground Francisco di Xeres who was Pizarroes Secretary writeth that the Frier would haue opened the book because Atabaliba could not and he in disdain smote him on the arme and obiected to the Spaniards their abuses and robbing of his Caciques saying hee would not depart thence till all were restored Pizarro commanded to bring forth the Standard and the Ordinance the Horsemen in three Bands assailed Atabaliba's people and slue many hee himselfe arriued with his Footmen which layed about with their Swords all charged vpon Atabaliba slaying them which carried him whose Roome was presently supplyed by other till at last Pizarro pulled him downe from his Litter by the clothes All this while not one Indian fought because they had no commandement or as Xeres sayth for feare and amazement to see their Cacique so vsed and therefore no Spaniard was slaine and many Indians perished vpon the thrust for so the Frier had bidden them fight for feare of breaking their Swords neither were any wounded but onely Pizarro by one of his owne thrusting at Atabaliba in his taking and wounding Pizarro therewith in the arme Thus are the Indians chased their King with other great spoyles remayning with the Spaniards of which Xeres reckoneth 80000. Castilians in hold and 7000. Markes euery Marke being eight ounces in Siluer of the houshold Plate of Atabaliba And in Caxamalca they rifled houses full vp to the roofe of Garments besides Armour and Weapons of which some were Axes and Pole-axes of Gold and Siluer §. II. The huge Treasures taken by the Spaniards THe next day the Spaniards scowred about for spoyle and found fiue thousand Women of the Kings with much treasure Atabaliba was much grieued with his imprisonment especially in regard of the chaine which they
pious abstinent hee first reckoned the computation of yeeres after the Hegira and subscribed Letters hee first was called Emperour of the faithfull Hee first vsed the similitude of the Ant and her burthen Hee first assembled men together vnder one Prince in the moneth Ramadan His Scribes were Abdalla Zeid and Almal and Ali his Iudges at Medina Iezid at Cufa Abumias his Portor Iezid his Seale that of the Prophet He raigned ten yeeres of the Moone and 178. dayes 6136. yeere of the Sunne being compleat He distributed euery Friday the treasure to his Captaines according to their necessitie not as Abubacr according to their dignity saying that the Worlds goods were giuen to repell the Worlds euills The Christian Stories tell that when Omar had taken Ierusalem he writ them this letter of security In the name of the mercifull mercy-shewing God Of Omar Son of Alchittab to the people of the Citie Aelia is granted securitie of their persons wiues children goods and Temples that they be not destroyed nor vnoccupied At the houre of Prayer he would not pray in the Temple but alone at the steps before the doore writ then a priuiledge that no Muslim should pray at the steps but alone that no assembly should there be made for publike Prayers He prayed also at Bethleem at the Arch where Christ was borne and writ a Priuiledge that no Muslim should pray there but one after another without publike assembly When Alexandria was taken Amrus writ to Omar I haue taken a Citie containing foure thousand Baths twelue thousand Herb-sellers foure thousand tributary Iewes and foure hundred Iesters Omar writ to him to make a Riuer from thence to Colzuma for carriage of Corne thence to be transported by Sea to Medina which he did and it was called the Emperours Riuer Amrus tooke Barca and Tripolis he writ to the Patriarke of the Iacobites Beniamin a letter of Security whereupon he returned with great ioy hauing beene absent from his See thirteene yeeres When Heraclius was dead Constantine his Sonne raigned sixe monethes and was killed by his stepmother Heracleones succeeded and was soone deposed Constans followed OTSMAN Sonne of Affan Sonne of Abulas Sonne of Ommia Sonne of Abdusiams Sonne of Abdumenaf Sonne of Cuda was the fourth Emperour of the Muslims His mothers name was Arwis Daughter of Kerir whose mother was Bisa Daughter of Abdulmutalib Abdurrahman renounced the right which hee had with the rest which were designed on condition that he might chuse the Emperour wherewith all were pleased but Ali which after yeelded He named Otsman In the foure and twentieth yeere Mugiras tooke Bi r and Hamadan and Muauias tooke many Cities of the Romans In the seuen and twentieth yeere Abdalla Sonne of Said Gouernour of Egypt inuaded Africa slue the King and possessed his State Muauias also tooke Cyprus Otsman sent Abdalla and Said into Chorasan promising the gouernment to him which first came thither They tooke many Townes and Abdalla returned not till he had drunke of the riuer Balcha In the one and thirtieth yeere Iazdegijrd the last of the Persian Kings lost his life and their glory vanished and their Kingdomes were possessed by the Muslims That yeere also Abdalla Sonne of Said inuaded Nubia and the King made peace promising many captiues In the two and thirtieth yeere Abbas Sonne of Abdulmutalib dyed one of the chiefe of the Coraisites and if he passed by Omar or Otsman they would alight off their horses to doe him honour Abdurrahman Sonne of Auf dyed that yeere who gaue to euery man of Badra fiue hundred pieces of Gold which were a hundred and his goods were diuided into sixteene portions euery of which contayned eighty thousand peeces of Gold In the three and thirtieth yeere Soliman the Persian dyed aged two hundred fifty sixe yeeres others say three hundred and fifty Anno 35. many accusations were laid against Otsman for bringing backe to Medina Hakem whom the Prophet of glorious memory had expelled for deposing Said and substituting Ocha which was a drinker of wine and an adulterer for giuing to Merwan his Kinsman fiue African talents that is 504000. pieces of Gold c. he had borrowed ten thousand Staters which he repayed vpon sute of Law and after would haue borrowed againe but the Treasurer refused and declared it to the Muslims Otsman on Friday prayed in the Temple before the people and said O God I take thee to witnesse that I am truly penitent Yet the stirres encreased and many assembled to depose Otsman who sent to them to Medina to appeale to the Law of God so they call the Alcoran and the doctrine of his Prophet At last Muhammed sonne of Abubecr killed him in his bosome was the Alcoran on which fell one drop of bloud hee raigned twelue yeeres lacking eight dayes He was faire long-bearded much in fasting prayer and meditation of the Alcoran he left fiue hundred millions of Staters one hundred and fifty thousand pieces of gold His promotion of his Kindred caused his depriuation His Seale was inscribed I beleeue in God the Creator and Administrator Ali the fifth Emperour was sonne of Abutalib the Sonne of Abdulmutalib sonne of Hasiem sonne of Abdumenaf sonne of Cuda His mother was Fatima Daughter of Ased Son of Hasiem He was created Chalif the same day that Otsman was slaine An. 36. Zubeir and Talha went to Mecca to frustrate the choise of Ali and said they required the bloud of Otsman And Aijsia was at Mecca when Otsman was slaine and hearing of Alis succession incited men against him saying Otsman was slaine wrongfully By God I will require his bloud Ali answered Where is the mother of the Dogs alleaging that she gaue charge to slay him and called him Infidell She replyed They conuerted him and then killed him Aijsia Talha and Zubeir went from Mecca with a great Armie and tooke Basra Ali from Medina with twenty thousand fought with them being thirty thousand and slue Talha and Zubeir and put to flight Aijsias Souldiers Seuenty hands are related to be cut off from the bridle of the Camell on which Aijsia rode one after another and the Camell stucke with Arrowes like a Hedgehogge his legs cut off and Aijsia taken Ali sent her to Medina with seuenty women in mens habit Hauing thus ouercome the people of the Camell he went to Cufa and there fixed his Tents Thence he went and fought with Muaui which refused the oath of Alleageance An. 37. they had ninety battels in a hundred and ten dayes to euery of which Ali premised an exhortation to take the Oath which Muaui refused till the murtherers of Otsman were deliuered to death and the Chalifate were resigned The last battell was called the strong night in which night were slaine seuenty thousand on both sides And when day appeared Amrus warned Muaui that they should lift vp their Alcorans on their Speares which they did and cryed This Book of God be
sacking of Bagdet 65 Haaziph or Azaereth a feast of the Iewes 112 Hadrian vide Adrian Hagags cruelties 74 Hagarens whence so called their habitation c. 229. 230 Hagiagies crueltie 1024 Haithon vide Aiton Haire consecrated at the Temple of Dea Syria 70. Why worne long on the crowne 93. Worne with a long locke on the left side as the Deuill appeares in Virginia 843 Hakems wickednesse 1039 Halicarnassus 81 Halyattis 261 Hali vide Ali. Doctour Hals commendation 81 Iames Hals Discouery 813. 814 Hamceu chiefe Citie of China 441. Whither Quinsay ibid. Hamath Earthquake 147 Hamith a Iewish Court 98 Hammientes 666 Hamet King of Barbary 695. seq Habet or Hamet Ben Abdela Propheticall King 696. Slaine 699 700 Hannos Discoueries 512 Haran Temple and the Pilgrimages thither 255 Harcourts plantation in Guiana 901. 902 Haron the 26. Chalifa his Acts Vistories Deuotion and loue of Learning 1028. 1029 Harpies 67 Hasen the sixt Emperour of the Muslims 1021. His holinesse ibid. Poysoned by his Wife ibid. Hasidaei and Hasidim why so called and when began 125. 126. Not a Sect but a Fraternitie their Rites ibid. Diuers of the Pharisees and Essees of the Fraterternitie ibid. Hassem and Sem 101 Hawkes worshipped 635 Captaine Hawkins his Iournall 520 521 Hea a Prouince 243 Head of the Captiuitie 131 Head of the Land of Israel 134 Heauen and Earth Gen. 1. What meant thereby 5. Three Heauens 6. Heauen of the blessed ibid. Of the Kabalist and Talmudist 161. 162. Of Mahomet 245. 246. Of Siamites 491. 492. Heauens of the Iaponites 587. Heauen worshipped of the Chinois 471 Hebrew the first Language 39. 40 Of Heber ibid. Why called Hebrewes 40. 95. The same Language at first with the Chaldaean ibid. Hebrew Accents and Letters 40 Not capeable of meetre 41 Hebrewes why abhomination to the Aegpptians 637 Hebrewes in a speciall sense 95 Hebrew Patriarchs and their Religion before the Law 95. 96. seq Hebrew Policy and Ciuill Gouernment 97. 98 Hecla a hill in Island by some supposed Purgatory 761 Heden 17 Hegira 243. The computation of the Mahometicall Hegira 246 1014 Heliogabilus 58. 79 Heliognosti worshippers of the Sunne 135 Hell a fire without light 71. The Alpha and Omega of wickednesse ibid. Why called Genenna 86. By whom escaped 314 Mahomets Hell 254. 262. 314 Siamites Hell 491 Hell-mouth 50 Helena Iland 781 seq Helena Queene of Adiabena 62 Of Aethiopia 781 Hellen a Giant worshipped 45 Hrllenists whence so called 124 Helle Hellespont 98 Hellenians or Helienians a Sect of the Iewes 135 Hemerobaptists Iewish Hereticks 133 Hendorones their Countrey and Rites 535 Henoch taken away 15. 30. 31 His Artes Pillars and Writings ibid. By the Greekes called Atlas 31 Henoch a Citie so called 29. Booke of Henoch 30. Very fabulous 31. A fragment of that Booke cited ibid. Henry Prince of Wales his Encomium 861 Henry of Portugall first Discouerer of the Coasts of Africa 619 Hennes Egges how hatched in Aegypt 627 Heptacometae a people of most beastly disposition 330 Hercules 77. 78. 336 Hercules of the Parthians 337 Of Heraclea 577 Hercules Pillars two Hills 680 Heraclea a Citie described 577 Heraclius his Acts 215. 242. 364 365 Heremites 277. 428. Mock-heremites 315. Famous Heremite in Africa 637. At Saint Helena 781 Herod Ascalonita 81. Hee slue the Seuenty 100. Built the Temple 102. 103 Herodians a Sect of the Iewes 134 Herules their Rites 400 Hessees vide Essens Hesperides 680 Hassissim a Nation neere to Mount Libanus 277. Their Prophet ibid. Hierapolis in Syria 68 Hierarchie and High Priesthood of the Chaldees 55. Of the Syrians 68. Phoenicians 79 Of the Israelites before the Law 98. Of Samaritans 138. 139. Of Aaron 121. Of Assasines 218. 219. Of Dogzijn 220. 221. Of the Turkes 319. 320. Of Cappadocians 326. Zelans 328 Armenians 342. Albanians 346. 347. Persians 395. 396 In Cathaya 404. 415. Of Tartars 416. 417. Of Thebeth 430. China 461. 466. Of the Brachmanes 479. Of the Siamites 491. Of the Bramenes 547. 548. In Cochin 552. In Iapon 592. In Ternate 605. 506. In Samatra 614. In Pegu 505. 506 In Aegypt 635 Hieroglyphicks 82 Hierotimus an Arabian King which had sixe hundred children by Concubines 229 Hierro one of the Canaries 783 Hillel 158. When hee flourished 160. His Disciples 165 Hippopotamus 714 Hiram his Acts 79 Hircania and the Hircanians 355. 356 Hisiam Sonne of Abdulmelie the seuenteenth Chalifa 1025. His two Sonnes Muaui and Suleiman in a Battell put the Romanes to slight and tooke Constantine the Emperour ibid. His great Wardrobes ibid. Hisphaham vide Isphaam Hispaniola described 955. seq Their Creatures Oracles Priests Dances Zemes 957 seq The Miracles Prophesies Feasts of their Zemes their Holy-bread Oracles Burials Marriages Punishments Traditions of the Creation and Spirits 958. Ceremonies about the sicke and dead 959. Tempests there ibidem Quite dispeopled of the naturall Indians 960 Histaspes Father of Darius his trauell to the Brachmanes 479 Historie helped by Geographie 44 Hoaquam the Name of a China Idoll which hath rule ouer the eyes 461 Hog a Phoenician Philosopher 82 Hogs with hornes 566. With teeth more then ordinary ibid. Hollanders Acts in the East Indies 483. seq Holy-land vide Iudaea and Palaestina the situation and Map thereof 91. seq Homicide punished in Kain 28 Homer 207 Homer worshipped 621 Hondura and the Rites there 886 Honey venemous 221 Horeb 211 Horse offered to the Sunne 56 Horse-flesh royall fare to the Tartars 33 Horses taken with Hawkes 392 Fatted and eaten in Cairo 653 Sir Edward Horsey 973 Horsey viz. Sir Ierome Horsey his Obseruations in Russia and other Countries 973. seq Hornes rooting in ground 587 Worne by some Kings and Priests 613. 884 Hosanna of the Iewes 112 Hospitall at Bagdat 237. 238 242. 243. Medina 272. Of Saint Iohn Baptist 337. In Persia 374. 375. Merdin 6â—â— Goa 545. 546. Cairo 653. 654. Of the Turkes 308 Hospitals for Beasts and Birds 529 Hospitular Knights 584 Hourdes of Tartars 422. 423 Houres equall and vnequall 106 Of Prayer ibid. Hudsons Voyages to the North Nothwest 817. His wintering and treachery of his men 818. Gods iustice on them ibid. Huiunsin the strange Story of him 461 Hungaria magna 404 Hungarie ouerrun by the Turkes 283. 284. By the Tartars 404 405 Huracanos 963 Hoseins Heresie 1034 Hydaspes Priest of the Sunne 730 Hydras 624 Hyaena 622 Hyperboreans 397. 400 Hyrcania the description thereof 355 I IAbbok 86 Iacapucaya a Brasilian Fruit 913 Iacobs twelue Sonnes 89. 90. Hee reformed his Family 95 Iacobites Sect multiplying 1017 Iagges vide Giacqui Iah the name of God 2 Iamaica described 954 Iamboli Insula 796 Iames King of Great Brittaine his commendation 837 King Iames his New New-land 814 King Iames his Cape 817 Ianambuxos a Sect in Iapan their Rites 594. 595 Ianizaries of the Turke 291 292 Iapheth Iapetus his Posteritie 36. The eldest Sonne of Noah ibid. Iapon the Historie thereof 586. seq Diuerse of
40. g Cyril l. 3. cont Iulian h Tertul. de Idol i Oenomaus out of Hesiod affirmeth the number of Gods in the World to bee 30000. which number hee saith was then much encreased Euseb de 〈◊〉 preparat l. 5. c. 15 k Oros l. 2. c. 2 3 l Polyhist in Euseb Chron. m Tatianus apud Scalig. n Eragmenta haec extant in Ch. on gr Buseb lib. 1. per Scalig. Photij Bibliotheca in Helladio * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * The former Map of Paradise doth descripe the Topography of the Countrey of Babylonia a Herod l. 2. b Philostr de vit Apol. l. 1. c. 18. c Plin l. 6. c. 26. d Solinus c. 60. e Diod. l. 3. c. 4. f See lib. 16. g Curt. l. 5. h Et duo in aduersum misit per moenia cuâ—rus Propert. 3. i N. Lyr. in DaÌ„ 4 k Arist. Politic. l. 3. c. 2. l Greg. Naz. in vit. Basil Martial Ep. 1. Nicetes Non. in Naz. m Diod. Sic. l. 3. or after the Greeke l. 2. c. 4 Herod l. 2. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated a furlong is but six hundred foot In respect of this Idolatry it is like that Dionys cals Babylon a holy Citie n A rege Syro Diod. o Beros fragm apud Ioseph contra Appion lib. 1. Vid. Scal. notas in haec frag p Dan. 4.27 q Scal. notae in frag Berosi r Clarae Carihaginis arces Creditur centum portis Babylona superbam Foemineus struxisse labor Claud. Å¿ Pseudo Beros l. 5. t Nec designatam vrbem fundauit lib. 4 u Fundamenta designata Babyloniae oppidi magis quà m vrbis erexit Gen. 11.8 Aug. de Ciu. Dei li. 18. c. 2 Ap. Euseb Prep lib. 9. Dan. ca. 3. x Lyranus thinketh that the Basis whereon it stood is included in this height for as Symetrians obserue the length of a man holdeth proportion but of sixe and not of ten to the breadth y See D. Willet in Dan. 3. Ver 14. c. 18. z Ptol. Geog. l. 6. cap. 3. a Praefectus praetorio b Strabo l. 15. c Metasthenes Annij The true Megasthenes write about fiftie yeeres before Berosus hauing trauelled al the East about the end of Alexanders raigne * 2. King 19.9 d Syria comprehendeth in it after the largest sense Babylonia also See cap. 15. Plin. l. 5. c. 12. e Araian de rebus gestis Alexand lib. 3. f Ar. lib. 7. Mentioned also by Sir Ant. Sherley in his trauels into Persia g Verstegan Anriq c. 1. h Domin Nig. Asia Com. 4. i R. Fitche Hak. Voy. tom 2. k Herod lib. 2. l Plin. Nat. hist lib. 18. cap. 17. Cel. Rhod. Lec Antiq l. 8. c. 12. m Ammian l. 23. n Philost de vitu Apol. l. 1. c. 18. Philost aid Viu de trad dis. lib. 5 Magna Homeri mendatia maioribus mendacijs corrigil Et postea câ—isdem Apollonius penè totus sigmentum est valiosum ac blaspemum c. a Diod. Sic. l. 3. cap. 8. b Dij Consultores R. Mos Moreb l. 3. c. 30. Vid. eius Epist. ad Masil Iud. Gene. 12. Heb. 11. c Mentioned supra c. 10. d Lib. 2. c. 2. e Ios. Scal. in Epist. ad Casaubon Omnia allius Magistri opera tanti facio vt solum illum inter Iudaos desiise nugari dicam f So the Iewes call the said R. Mos of the first letters R. M. B. M. Rab. Mos Ben. Maimon contracted Rambam g These fables were some rubbish of Paradise the trees and Serpent therein c. In his Epistle to the Marsilian Iewes he writeth of Bookes which mention Iambasor Tzareth Roani and say they were before Adam and that Sombascher was Adams master and of the Indians which say they haue Cities 100000. yeeres old c. Of this mourning for Tamut or Thamuz See Ezek. 8.14 vid. infra c. 17. R. Mos l. 3. 31. 33. Cap. 38. Moloch and Saturnes sacrifices of humane bodies See Cap. 18. Aversa Venus h Idem citat P. Ric. in explic praecept neg 220. ex R. Mos Gerundensi i Eight moneths together Master Eldred Hak. Voy. tom 2. k Plin. l. 6. c. 26. Tertia ChaldaeoruÌ„ Doctrina c. Scalig. thinketh them named Orcheni c. of the place and not of difference of sects as if there had beene Vniuersities or Colledges of Chaldaeans the Orcheni were of Erech Scal. notae in frag Ber. l Dan. 2.2 See D. Willet Comm. ibid. q. 7. 29. * Q. Curtius m Iul. Capitolin M. Ant. Philos n Plut. in vit. Mar. Syl. Iuven. Sat. 6. o Otho Heurn Chaldaic p Cael. Rhod. Lec Ant. lib. 16. ca. 4. q Ios. Scal. praef in Manil. r Peuc de Diuinat Theom Astrol Å¿ Dan. 2.48 Praefectum antistitem super omnes sapientes Bab. constituit Trem. t Dan. 4.6 Praefecte Magorum u D. Willet in Dan. 2. Iun. x 2. Chro. 32.31 y Theod. de curand Graec. affec ser 1. z Philostrat. de vita Apol. lib. 1. a Ph. Morn de Verit. C. R. b Euseb de pra par Eu. l. 6. c. 8. c Euseb de praepar. l. 9. c 4. d Ammian l. 23. Plutar. de facie in orbe Lunae e Suidas in Canopo Ruffin hist eccl lib. 2. f Alex. ab Alexand l. 6. c. 26. g Coelius l. 8. c. 1. h Athen. lib. 14. cap. 17. g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may be interpreted with cords about them which better answereth to Herodotus his report i Bar. 6.42 l Hero Clio. Strabo lib. 16. mentioneth the same m The Arabians called her Alytta the Persians Mitra The Babylonians called her also Alamhone Lyl. Gerald. hist Deor. Syut 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verum nomen Veneris ait Sca. epist. ad Cas hoc est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n Bel Belti Nebo Mero Scheschach sic Heurnius in Indico o Ier 19.5 Ierem. 32. 1. Reg. 18. 16. 2. Reg. 23. 10. Ose 2. Es 46. p Plin. l. 6. c. 26. Oth. Heurnij Indicus Aelian Var. Hist lib. 13. cap. 3. q Herod lib. 1. telleth this of Nitocris Rod. Toletanus reporteth as strange a prodigie of Roderigo a little before the Sarasens inuaded Spaine lib. 3. cap. 17. r Rib. in Hos 2. Å¿ In Ierem. 32. t Nic. Serar in Iudic. u Drus Pra. pag. 225. x 1. Cor. 8.5 y Hos 2.16 Act. 17.26 z On those words of Virgi Impleuitque mero pateram quam Belus omnes à Belosoliti c. Aeneid 1. a 2. King 23.11 b Aug. tom 4. quaest. lib. 7. 16. Elias Cretens Com. in Nazian Orat. in Iul. 3. doth also take Bel and Baal for the same Et Nicet in Orat. 15. c Scalig. Can. Isagog lib. 3. pag. 314. d M. Selden Annot. on M. Drayton Poliolb. e Phot. Biblioth in Damascio 242. Sachoniatho as after followeth cap. 17. maketh Elius the father of Saturn f Lil. G. Gyr. hist Deor. Synt. 2. g Cap. 1. q. 16. Eadem Polanuâ— in Dan. cap. 1. h Quest
vsage of the captiue Emperour Kn. T. H. f Guibert Abbas hist Ierosol g I lle in tempore spiritu peregrini dei Occidentales populi af flati c. Ot. praef Fris ad Frid. 1. h See Gesta Dei per Francos in two large Tomes Rob. Mon. hist Ierosol Guibert ab hist Ieros. Baldricus Arch. hist Ieros. Ita etiam Gesta Francos Raimund de Agiles hist Ier. Fulch Carnat Gesta Peregr Albert. Aq hist Ierosol Azopart Assysines Tyr. l. 20 c. 31. Mat. Par. in Steph. P. Aemil Lud. Iunior c. b Vid. G. Nubrig l. 4. 24. seq l. 5. 16. King Richard was taken by the Duke of Austria vnder this colour c See l. 4. c. 8. of this Hist M. Polo l. 1. c. 21 Odoricus Haith c. 24. d Cartwright e See l. 4. c. 1. See l. 4. c. 1. Ben. Tudelensis * Gauteras in his Bella Antioch mentions this or such another terrible Earthquake about this time Iac. de Vitr l. 3. * An. Do. 1172. Edward the first his father then liuing warred in these parts and was by one of these Assasines almost slaine l. 1. c. 14. * Omnem indifferenter obedientiam superiori suo exhibitam sibi credunt esse vitae aeternae meritoriam Vitriac Vit. l. 1. c. 81. Mar. Sanut l. 3. pars 10 c. 8. Haply this name Arsasidae was either taken or giuen them of Arsaces the first founder of the Parthian Empire in those parts whence these came * Excreauit Dogzijn or Drusians Epiph. haer 26. Iac. de Vitr l. 1. cap. 13. G. Bot. Ben. Biddulph l et * Cartwright Barbaro and others Knolls Amur. 3. M. G. Sandys l. 3. p. 210. * Iac. vit. l. 1. c. 12. Volater l. 11. Sanut l 3. Vitriaco l. 1. c. 71.72 Vit. l. 1. c. 8. a Maginus b Plin. l. 6. c. 28. Orosius l. 1. c Solin 36. d So our English transl and the Span. Ital. Pagnine Vat. Tremel c. e Hier. in Es 27 in Ezec. 27. f Draudius in Solin Beros l. 4. g Gen. 25.2 h Numb 12.1 i Hier. in Es 21. k Gabriel and Iohn Marenitae translators of the Nubian Geographer who hath the most exact description of Arabia l Arias Montan Caleb m Maginus Ptolom l. 5. n Scenitae vel Nomades 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Teniorijs o Psal. 120 5 p TanquaÌ„ Sceniae Kedareni q Elias This rad Kedar r Boter relat part 1. l. 2. Å¿ Adri hom Theat T. S. t Mel. l. 1. c. 10. ad eum Caslig Pintiani spicileg A. Schot u Diod. sic l. 3. c. 12. x Lib. 1. c. vlt y R. Volaterran z Obser l. 2. c. 10. d. a Moses Narbonens writeth that he obserued in the stones of Sinai a bush or bramble figured whereof some thinke Sinai is named of Seneb which signifieth a bush Drus praet pag. 269. b Of this see more l. 7. c. 11. c Maginus Dom. Niger Com. Asiae l. 6. d Adrich saith it is now called Mamotra e Capt. Dounton which traded a little while since in the Red Sea calls it Yeoman f Vid. Drus praet p. 32. 33. Rhodoman calles her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Step. de vrb Beniam Itiner g Iuchasin pag. 2. Beniam pag. 61. Mecca in terra Aeliman sita Phot. Bibliotheca ca. 244. g Lud. Vertum. l 1. c. 7. h Beniamin tels of many Iewes in the Arabian Mountaines subiect to no Potentate as it seemeth of these i Iul. Scaliger Exerc 104. Ios. Scal. Ep. ad Cosub Lit. ad Chytr Aleppo Mis Plin. 6. 28. Sol. c. 46. Strab. l. 16. Diod. l. 3. c. 12. Psal. 72. Vid. Bern. Aldrete Antig. l. 2. k Gen. 37.28 Ezek. 27. l Psal. 76.1 147.20 m Herodot l. 3. n Suid. Hist o Coelius Aug. Curio Hist Sar. lib. 1. p Clem. Alex. Paraen q Arnob. l. 6. r Euseb de laudib Constant Sardus l. 3. c. 15. Å¿ Niceph. Hist. Eccle. l. 18. c. 23. t Herod l. 3. u Arrian l. 7. x Strabo l. 15. Circumcision in Arabia y Am. May. Cellin z Linschoten History of the Indies a Draudius in Solin b Sol. Polyhist c Strab. l. 16. d D. Sic. l. 3. e Plin. l. 12. c. 14. f Pl. in Poenult in Milite g Stuckius de sacris h Ioan. Boemus i Leo Africanus k Gal. 1.17 l Diod. Sic. l. 6. cap. 10. l Eadem ferè Euseb de praeparat Eu. lib. 2. m Iustin hist lib. 39. n Gramay As Arab. o Ios. Scal. Can. Isag. lib. 2. p Philost de vita Ap. l. 1. q Athenaeus l. 6. cap. 6. r Ath. l. 12. c. 4. Å¿ Plutarch de Inuid odio t Tertul. de veland Virg. u Pausaniae Beotica x Epiph. cont Sethian a Scal. E.T. l. 2. b Idem in Ier. 25. in Es 42. alibi c Epiph. ad haer lib. 1. d Lib. 6. c. 28. e Geograph lib. 6. cap. 7. f Scenitas Arabas quos Saracenos nunc appellamus A.M. l. 22 g Boterus Curio alij h Am. Mar. lib. 14. i Lib. 25. k Hierom. Trad. heb. in Genesm l Ierem. 49.28 Vid. Hieron in Es 21. m Or Muhammed n Constantin Porphyrogenit de admin Imp. cap. 15. o Euthemius calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p Scal. E.T. l. 5. q Herod lib. 3. r Arabs nob ap Vincent Bellar. lib. 24. Å¿ Hieron in Amos 5. t Gabriel Sionita Ioan. Hesronitae Beduois or Beduines actiuity Their Tribe or Families Their Food Foolish and blasphemous traditions Melongene Their apparel Cedren Comp. a Saracen hist. Curio l. 1. Dreshleri Chron. Boter Phryg Chron. Car. Chron. Sabel Aen. 8. l. 7 VolaterraÌ„ l. 12. Chron. Arab. Politie of the Turkish Empire c. b The Arabian names in other languages are translated diuersly c Abu-becher d Califa that is Vicar was the name of the chiefe place or soueraigntie in cases spirituall and temporal the successor of Mahomet And Amira is a Lord a name applied to the Califa and the great Rulers vnder him and also to all of Mahomet his kindred e Othman 4. A. D. 655. f Hali 5. g Hasen Ben Ali. h Some say he resigned and he with Muaui are reckoned but the sixth Caliph of the Arabians i This daily tribute was both ceased inuerted soone after when Abdimelech made peace with the Emperour with promise to pay him the like t ibute P. Diacon k Historicis Adonis vt Phar. Orontes 2. Reg. 5.12 * BaumgarteÌ„ Pereg. l. 3. c. 5. A.D. 1507. The Egyptians still and Turks are more charitable to dogs and cats then to men a About these times another FALSE prophet called Muctar obtained Persia and the Arabians were troubled P. Diacon in Iustin b Anno 679 â—79 alij 682 c Abdimelec sonne of Maruan Scal. 9 P. Diacon in Iustiniano d Others call him Abdul Mumen e Leo writeth otherwise as in our sixth Booke shal appeare he saith Marocco was built in the 424 yeere of
their Hegira f Called of Leo Qualid and of Scaliger Walid 110 Tarik Mirkond Oelid Scal. E.T. lib. 6. pag. 584. Turquet Span. Hist lib. 5. g M. Bedwel in hi Arab. Trudg saith it was of the situation Tarifa signifies the end or outmost bound of any thing h Tarik Mirkond hist Persic a Anno. 717. Suleiman b Curio lib. 2. c Wolfgang Droschter Chro. Omar d Iezid e P. Diac. Leo. f Paul Aemil. lib. 2. g Toures h Scal E.T. l. 6. pag. 584. saith that the countrie people keepe fresh memorie thereof as if it were lately done It was A. D 725. Hegire 106. sixteene yeere after they had inuaded Spaine i Annis 735. 737. 738. k Iezid l Hisan Mirkon calls him Ebrahem m Ios. Scal. Can. Is lib. 2. lib. 3 g Anno Dom. 753. Heg. 836. h As dec. 1. lib. 1 i Animad in Euseb Chron. Lydyat em tem * Lamberti Peramb Kent Mamuds exploites in India Persia c. * This was Tangrolipix Sec. c. 8. * In his time the Abasian Chalifes were receiued in Aegypt which the Phetimaeans of Ali had seperated Zacuth a Iacob de Vitriaco Hist Ieros. l. 1. c. 9. Amir Amira Amiras Admirans à themate AMARA praecepit Bedwel Hence is our title Admirall compounded and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sea b Such were the Gouernors of Chorasan Irak Siras Damasco Iaman Mutzul Halep Gunia Mahaan The Arabian calleth them Kings and their heyres succeeded them c Can. Isag. l. 3. d The great Turke obserueth some shadow of this custome in vsing one or other handicraft e Lud. Reg. l 8. f Plat. in vita Pont. g Cairaoan became a Papacie absolute though schismaticall as they called it so did Marocco the Persians were alway prone to such Schismes and other as it serued for their aduantage h Ber. Aldrete var. Antiq. l. 3. c. 33. i Scal. Epist. Step. Vberio Hee saith that the figures which we vse in Arithmetike came froÌ„ the Arabians or Moores to the Spaniards and thence to vs about three hundred yeers since and then much differing from those chaacters which now wee vse k De Trad. Discip lib. 4. Ludouicus Viu de caus corrupt art l. 4. Omnia illa Arabica videntur mihi resipere delira nenta Alcorani blasphemas Mab insanias nihil fieri illis potest indoctius infulsius frigidius l Scal. Epist. ad Casaub m Lud Reg. 7. 14. n Whereof Taurus is chiefe Citie M. Polo lib 1. cap. 9. calleth it Hierach Magin Med a maior Baghdad or Bagdat * The Deuils Ierusalem The Tartarian conquest is here omitted Aristotles books of Physicks admired * This number seemeth false Bochara the Citie of Auicenna some say in Bocara neere Samercand o This seemed to arise of their opinion of Fate Auicenna His dissimulation Damascus Comparison of Mahomet Almotannabbi M. Abi Abdillah Aleppo Sciarfeddin a Turkish Historian Muske how made a Fortalicium fidei reckoneth another genealogie and the Saracen Chronicle continueth this euen from Adam not agreeing with themselues or any truth b I. Bo. Ben. Volater c. c Christ Richer d Arabs Nobilis in Alcor refut Cedrenus calls her Chadicha e This mutiny according to others hapned many yeeres after that Mahumet had vnder the cloake of Religion furthered his ambition and rebellion f He neither was circumcised himselfe saith an Arabian nobleman in confutation of the Alcoran nor did command any thing thereof in his law but the Arabians vsed Circumcision before his time g Sansouino calleth him Bacira and addeth also Nicholas a Priest of Rome h Mahomet a Theefe and Murtherer i An Adulterer k A Wittall l Pet. Alf. apud Breidenbach m Mahomets miracles n For the vnderstanding of this reade Scal. E.T. lib. 2. 5. o Legend of Mahomet Hermano Dalmata interprete p These prophets were Abnabdalla Abnalmutaira Abuzaid Abamacumet Alabez Alfad Abulambez Ezerigi Abnamare Kabalchabar scholler of Kabalmedi or Kabalachbar q A mahumetan Chronicle saith That this Light claue to the hands of God two thousand yeeres before Adam worshipping him as the Angels after inclosed in the Rib of Adam c. r Sound couragious faire swift iust a Hunter and Archer Å¿ Or H mina Daughter of Abdemenes t See also Bellon Obseruat llb. 3. cap. 7. u La vita Mahometi saith In a shining ladder they went vp to heauen where the stars hung by golden chaines as big as mount Notho by Medina x There were in the first heauen Angels of the shapes of all creatures praying for the creatures of their shapes and a Cock whose feete touched one Heauen and head the other whose crowing moued the Cocks of the earth to doe so In the second was Noe. This heauen was of gold the third of Pearles wherein was Abraham and the huge huge Angell of Death with his booke pen in hand writing the times and mens liues which fatall opinions maketh them hardie The fourth was of Emerald here was Ioseph and the Angell of Compassion weeping for the sinnes of men The fifth of Diamond and in it Moses The sixth of Rubie and in it Iohn Baptist The seuenth of fire and in it Iesus Christ All these recommended themselues to his Prayers a Nobi a Prophet The Booke of the Policie of the Turkish Empire Scal. E.T. p. 741. Computation of their Hegera Note for reconciliation thereof with Christian account Mahomets filthinesse His foure wiues and his children Mo her of the Moslemans His foure associates or counsellors Abi-Bacr Homar Othman Aali Mohameds death and Sepulchre a Robertus Retinensis b Harman Dal. interprete c The stile of it d In annotationibus in Euseb Chron. Solum Canticum Mosis extremo Deuteronomio Prouerbia Salomonis totus fâ—rè liber lob quadaÌ„ rythmi necessitate cohibentur qui rythmus est instar duarum dimetriarum Iambicarum Sed aliquando pauciorum sunt syllabarum aliquando plurium c. Nam vt in Hebraico Syriaco Arabico Abyssino idiomate vlla metri species concipi possit nemo efficere possit quia id natura sermonis non patitur e The Phrase f The method e Hierom. SauaÌ„ f The subtilty Ric. Florentinus d The agreement of Copies e The truth of the matter in it f Io. Ludouic. Viu g The Translaters h Anno 1143. Moued by Pet. Cluniacensis whose Epistle thereof to S. Bern. is extant i In the Italian are 124. chapt besides this first and the Easterne Saracens reckon it but one Azoara to the fifth Bellon l. 3. diuided it into foure bookes and 201. chap. k Postel de orbis concordiae l. 1. c. 13. * Of God and Christ a Azo 122. b Azo 20. Of Christ e Of his law and the followers therof d Azoara 47. e Mahomet disclaimeth diuine miracles and humane Disputations prouing with the sword f Not to dispute nor seeke a signe in proofe of the Law g The Fox wil eate no grapes because
similitudinam australis quae dicitur Narquin u Lit. Iac. Anon. Anno 1603. x Wil. de Rupr Hak. tom 1. y Ptol l. 6. c. 16. z Io. de Plano Carp cap. 5. c The names of China haue often altered and so we may thinke of Cathay that somtimes more generall it is now restrained by the Saracens the only trauellers into these parts of China where they trade d Hak. e Abilsada Isap Ramus f Lib. 1. cap. 1. g Lib. 1. l. 2. h Hond tab i Ab. Ismael cited by Ramus vol. 2. k M.P. l. 1 55 f Marc. Paulus lib. 2. cap. 60. g Alhacen his H storie of Tamerlane translated by Iean du Bec. h Scal. de reb. Sinarum Can. Isag. lib. 3. Scal Elench Tr. N. Si. Step. de Lyps Latinitate Iob. 1.17 i Diab Pater mendac k Trigaut l. 5. c. 11. N. Trigaut l. 1. m Such as those which Presbyter Johannes Asiaticus held in Paulus his time n Armenians are permitted freer passage then others o It seemes to be therefore so called for Capher signifies an Infidell Pilgrimage to Mecca by and from the skirts of China Diuers for stones as for pearles this is also mentioned by Marcus Paulus p Paulus cals it Ciarcian This iourney for the principall places vnto Camul agrees with that report of Chaggi Memet in Ramusius q Musulmans that is right beleeuers r Io. de Pl. Car. c. 3. op Hak. to 1 Their sinnes Their Sorceries Their sicknes and Funerals Å¿ Vin. l. 30. c. 86. Their conditions t Mat. Paris u Vincent Bel. Spec. hist l. vit. c. 51. 52. x Io. de P. C. y C. 37. Sir Io. Mand. z W. de Rubr. Rubruq pars alt. M.S. a Churned Mares-milke b L. 1. c. 46 . L. 2. c. 26 L. 2. c. 26. n W. de Rich. in this sort Their Sects and Orders Tebeth and Chesmir Bachsi Sensim Vincent Bel. spec histor lib. 30. ca. 70. Ca. 75. Ca. 76. Ca. 77. Ca. 26. a Marcus Paulus h Odoricus Vinc. Io. Boem. The Grand Cans Palace i Odoricus calleth it Caido Odoricus reckoneth a greater number k Vincent l. 30. 31. Io Boem Munster Maginus G. B.B. c. l Mag. Geogrâ— Precop Desert Zagathai Cazai Morgat m Mart. Bronie Tartaria n De his Tar. vid. L. Chalcond l. 3. A Guag de Sarmat Sigism ab Herberst Pet. Bertius in tab Chyrraeus Anto. Geufr us de imperijs ex 4. sect Mahum. c. o Ph. Camerar in Med. Hist Cent. cap. 98. Guil. Brussius de Tar. D. Fletcher Desc of Russia 19. g God help vs Their Images G. Barkly h Anth. Jenkinson i Regumque turres Pauperum tabernae k Minimo contenta Natura l Ortelius Simocalta Niceph. Cal. l. 11. cap. 30. m M. Paulus l. 1 n G. Boter o Ant. Ienkins p Micbouius Lib. 1. Cap. 8. q Iesuit Epist. Rel Mogor r Leunclav Perond Iouius c. Å¿ Cic. Orat. pro Arch. t This Historie of Alhacen or the principall parts thereof I haue published in my Pilgrimes To. 2. li. 1. Brusius also tels of his lamenesse with other things of his schooling in Caramania where his fellow schollers chose him their King and other things not seeming credible u Some say 30000. x Lib. 1. Cap. 7. y Chag Memet z Carual Epist. a Lib. 3. Cap. 5. b See the Saracen History c L. 1. apud Ram. D. Flet. desc of Rus Cap. 19. M. Paulus l. 1. a This marriage admits no Non-residence b Funerall obseruances in Sabion Idolaters how vnderstood in this Booke c Ramusius d M. Paul Muske of a beast e W. de Rubr. c. 28. Odoricus saith the same f L. Vert. reporteth the like custome in Calicut g The serpents of Carazan h Naked pride i Infernall Physicke k Of him his wealth and family see Ramus Preface his Palace is yet in Venice now deuided into 70. dwellings Mich. Lock saw both it his Mappa mundi mentioned by Ramus and his Sepulchre l Hypocritical Shauelings D. Fletcher c. 20 a W. Pursgloue b Russes trauels translated by Rich. Finch Onecko hist ap Hessel Gerard. Whose Mappe makes these things more plaine c The Russes call it great Ob. W. Pursgloue Ios. Logan d Elata Baba Ortel G. B. E. e D. Fletcher Desc of R.C. 20. f R. Johnson apud Hak. to 1. Ios. Log. R. Finch W. Gourden W. Pursgloue g Hak. Voy. 10.1 Gerad de Veer ap De Bryin 3. par Iud. Orient h Nauig 1. i Nauig 2. k Description of the Samoyeds l From Cherry Iland they brought home a Beares skin 13 foot long Ionas Pooly m Nauig 3. a Ptol. Geog. l. 7. Cap. b Es 49.12 Osor. in parap Iun. Annot. c Scal. Cau. Isag. l. 3. d Pierre du arric l. 4. del histoire des Indes Orient cap. 17. Gotard Arthus hist Indiae Orient C. 49. Silke when inuented e As neither of Cin Cauchin-China Batte-china Cathay c. f Perera hath this name Escalanta Tangis Odorico N. di Conti Mangi Polo this and Cin. Longobard saith that the Magistrates called the Countries far from the court Mangines that is barbarous I. Panâ—ogia h Of the large China Map see an exposition To. 2. of my Pilâ—rimes M. Ricci b A note for our English East-India Merchants l This seemes to be some kind of Coale such as is found in diuers places of our Iland Ant. Dalmeida Barros Escalanta c. 8. Gaspar de Cruz. m Pantegia n Christ exp l. 3. cap. 10. Paquin in 40. degrees Trig. ep. 1612. Suceu o Pantagio p Botero. Relat. part 2. which yet of France c. cannot be iustified Trigant ep 1612 Prouince of Chequian Hamceu Hamcheu or Hanceu The Lake See the Map Quinsay ciuitas coeli See it described supr 98. q Ha da vna banda vn lago c. r That which is before said almost two dayes iourney is to be vnderstood of the Chinois iournies which make slow passage somtime but sixe miles a day M.P. l. 2. c. 68. Å¿ Anth. Dalmeida t Of the wholsomenesse and vse of warme drinkes See A. Perst del ber caldo u Vrilis pileus to the Chinois as vir lis Togd to the Romans Names Surnames few Seales Trigaut M. Ricci l. 1. c. 4. Printing Scal Ex. 92. Mons de Monfart Linsc l. 1. c. 23. x I haue bad of it in a square forme to be carried in a mans pocket as it were a marking stone y Pantogia Mendoza c. 4. Quonhoa signifieth of the Court by this meanes the Magistrates need not in euery new Prouince learne a new language Equiuocation Mentall and Verball Cic. Offic. l. 3. Hel. 6.16 China writing Astrologie Vid Ep. Thaisonis Sinae ad Ric. See th next Chap §. 4. Colledges of Astrologie in Paquin and Nanquin and not elsewhere z Ricci calls it alway not Paquin but Pequin Naturall Philosophy Flowers of China-learning Physicke a Foure books aforesaid Schoole-Masters Graduats
King of Delly all Indostan is his patrimony and his countrey diuided by three famous high wayes Porrab Pachan Dekan W. Clarke f Allahoban g Sultan Peruis h M. Clarke which diuers yeeres serued the Mogol in his warres and was one of these Haddies saith 30000. i Others say 2. s. 6. d. others 2. s. 3. d. k 150. millions of crownes l M. Withington which liued a Factor diuers yeeres in the Countrey receiued of the Iesuites which reside there this same story of the Mogols treasures m See Chap. 7. n M. Clarke saith 50000. Selims Religion and Customes o The Kings of India sit daily in Iustice themselues and on the Tuesdayes doe execution Feasts Mogols Sepulcher Couert saith the matter is fine Marble the forme nine square the compasse two English miles about nine stories high and that the King protested he would bestow thereon one hundred millions Iarric Thes. rer Indic l. 5. c. 23. An. 1612. n Nic Bangam They had money of these Ships some 32000. rials of eight wherof the Rehemee payd 15000. M. Downton saith They had goods for goods to a halfe-penny Nic. Withington M T. Best M. Patrick Copland M. Nathaniel Salmon M. Withington Nunno d' Ancuna M. Withington o M. Copland p Ant. Starky Ex Relat. M.S. Gen. Nic. Downton Martin Pring Beniamin Day Iohn Leman William Masham c. Master Downton both buried his sonne and died himselfe in this Voyage which since we haue published with other our Pilgrims continued by M. Elkington and M. Dodsworth his successiue successour q N. Withington r Goga is a rich towne on the other side of the Bay Some say that there was not so much harme done Masham Inuention of Ordnance first vsed by the Venetians against the Genuous An. Dom. 1378. who besieged Fossa-Clodia a town of theirs inuented by a German Alchymist a Monke called Bertholdus Swartus Others say Constantinus Anklitzen Printing was also first inuented by a German the first Printed booke being Tullies Offices at Mentz by one Iohn Fust which some thinke to be the same with Gutemberg who had made triall of this Art before without any perfection This Booke is still at Augsburg printed 1466. Ram. P. Verg. Pancirol Salmuth c. d So doth another namelesse Copy which I haue seene I omit the names of the Captaines e Ben Day Another hath Sanedo Nic. Withington f See M. Terris Booke and Childs Iournal Sir Tho. Roe in my voyages g See Swans Iournall and letters of Blithe Browne c. h Let. of T. Wilson and also of Robert Smith i One Philips in the Richard was principall cause of that victory by his Manhood k Of Dutch and English vnkind quarrells see Relations of M. Cocke Tho. Spurway Captaine Courthop Rob. Haies Captaine Pring Iohn Hatch William Hord letters of Cas Dauid George Iackeson Ia. Lane G. Ball M. Willes Kellum Throgmorton Ric. Nash S. T. Dale Io. Iordan A. Spaldwin G. Muschamp W. Anthon. H. Fitzherbert Th. Knollos B. Church-man G. Pettys c. Rob. Couert Agra a Fatipore a Citie as bigge as London Ios. Salbank Indico b 12000. or 15000. within the Citie Still R. Still or Stell and I. Crowther March 17. T. Cor. his letter to M. L. W. c Vers Hosk d Flauius Iustinianus Alemanicus Gothicus Francicus Germanicus Anticus Alanicus Vandalicus Africanus for that which followes Pius Foelix Inclytus Victor ac Triumphator , semper Augustus I hope his friends in the Verses before his booke haue giuen him more prodigious and himselfe before he comes home must needs multiply further hauing such huge bundles of papers abreeding in so many places at Aleppo Spahan Asmere c. e R. Still Lahore Chatcha 3 Fort. m Still Couerts Trauels are extant in his Booke n Hee saith that he hath put to death his own sonne and done 1000 other tyrannies Iohn Crowther W. Nichols Iohn Mildnall Mic. Withington 88. Courses . 1601. Calwalla a Towne of filthy Women Desart Reisbuti S.R. Sherly M. Withington robbed Sinda Wormes dangerous to ships o Fitch to the South-East and to the East from Agra Nicols S.E. by Land Goes N. E. to China Couert N. and S. quite through Still to Lahor N. E. and to Persia N.N.W. Withington the Westerle parts to Sinda c. p W. Clarke q W. Payton r 20000. horse 50000. foot and a mountainous Countrey hardly inuaded and conquered M. Clarke b M. Withington R. Couert R. Couert M. Payton M. Withington c Narratio Reg. Mogor Lahor is 300 miles from Agra Å¿ R. Fitch T. Coryat a Maginus b Maff. lib. 40 c Ioseph Ind. Linsch l. 1. c. 270 d Pat. Copland e L. Vertom l. 4 f Od. Barbosa g Coel. Rhodig lib. 11. cap. 13. h Maff. lib. 11. i Cic. Offic. k Maff. Histor Ind. lib. 11. l This same man appeared before Solyman the Turkish General at the siege of Diu. Viag di vn Comite Venetiano Nic. di Conti saith hee saw a Bramane three hundred yeers old m Morison part 3. c. 3. saith the same of the Irish Countesse of Desmond mentioned also by S. W. Ral. and that she liued 140. yeeres n Io. Santos l. 4. deuan. hist de India orientali o Dam. Ã Goes op Di. Bell. Camb. p Linschot q Od. Barbos r Gotardus Arthus Hist. Ind. Orient cap 23. Bally cap. 18. k Xaholam that is Lord of the World a Title and not a proper name l Daquem m Ios. Scal. de Emana temp lib. 7. n Ios. Scal. Can. Isag. lib. 7. o Clarke Banians M. Withington Marriages solemnized betwixt infants R. Couert Anominus p N. Downton Ben. Day q L. verb. lib. 4. r Eman. Pinner Balby saith at other times they eate but one meale a day cap. 10. Å¿ An. Dom. 1595. k The Religious in Cambaia Pinner l Em. Pinner Banians m Onesicritus reporteth the like of the Gymnosophists n Arrian Perip Mar. Eryth u Linsch c. 37. Andrea Corsuli x Od. Barbosa y The like lowsie trick is reported in the Legend of S. Francis and in the life of Ignatius of one of the first Iesuitical pillars by Mâ—ffâ—eus z N. di Cont. a Gi. Bot. Ben. Maff. lib. 1. Linschot lib. 1. cap. 34. Iarric l. 3. c. 1. b Gio. Bot. Ben. Garcias ab Horto l. 2. c. 28. Linschot c. c Lins l. 1. c. 27. Iarric Thes. rerum Indic l. 3. No exact order can bee vsed in relating so confused Rites o Of Goa reade Arthus hist Ind. c. 15. Linschot Al. Valignan p Tizzuarin signifies thirtie villages for so many it seemes were then there q Dec. 1. l. 8. c. vlt. Dec. 2. l. 5. c. 1. r Lins l. 1. c. 28.29 30 31 32. Balb c. 23. Balb. c. 22. Å¿ Lact. l. 1. c. 20. Aug. de C. D l. 6. c. 9. Rosianus Antiq. 1. 2. t R. Fitch u Linschot Don Duart de Menezes He summeth the publike ordinary expences of the Port in India at 134 199. li. 5.
Noort 1600. h Tho. Cand sh Voyage Hak. Tom. 3. i On the I le Capul k Ant. Galuana l Nic Nun. I Gaetan ap Ram. m A Pigafettae n Mas. Transil uano o Mas. Transil p Pigafetta q Got. Arthus pag. 396. r Sir Fr. Drake Å¿ Maff. lib. 5. t Galuane u Iac. Neccius x Lud. Fernand. La. Masonius y Got. Arthus pag. 403. z Holland Nauig 1598. 99 per Bilibald Stobaum a Gas Ens lib. 1. cap. 5. b Plutarc P. Aemil. Seneca Hippol. Med. Tibul. l. 1. Eleg. 8 Manil lib. 1. Astron Iuuenal Martial c. c Iac. Neccij Nauig in octaua part Ind. Orient de Bry. d Pigafetta e Nauig Holland 1598. per B. Strobaeum De Brv part 5. Ind. Or. hath the Pictures of these Gallies c. Polerine or Poolaroon and Polaway Ex relatione Cap. Saris qui suit Bantame per multos anno dum haec gerabantur N. Bangam Martin Pring * The more full relation of this Earthquake so it was see in my Voyages l. 5. tom 1. together with a description of these Ilands in Cap. Fitzherberts Letter There also may you see diuers Letters of the Kings of Tidore Ternate Bantam to His Maiestie and three Surrenders to him of diuers of those Ilands and the warres which the Banda businesse occasioned in the Indies betwixt the Dutch and Our Merchants as their owne and ours haue related the same * Capt. Saris. Will. Keeling W. Floris W. Bangam R. Cock Martin Pring M. Ball c. k Art hist Ind. Orient cap. 46. l Od. Barbosa m Hak. tom 3. a M. Paulus lib. 3. These seeme Rhinocerotes N. di Conti. b Vert. lib. 6. c Scot. d Bert. Taâ— e Gio. Bot Ben. f Od. Barbosa g Bar. dec. 2. l. 9 cap. 4. Of the Hollanders nauigations in these parts see Isacius Atthus the Dutch Historie of Graue Maurice h Capt. Saris. i Io. Isac Pontan Hist Amstelodam Nau. Batau 1594 ap De Bry part 3 c. 33. k 1615. Generall Butts the Dutch Generall cast away with two ships and their rich lading the third some goods saued but after losse of 135 men found driuing in the Sea besides many other losses Mart. Pring Th. Crowther c. l Bilib Stobaeuo k Cor Houtman Cor. Gerardi l Tho. Candish Hak. tom 3. pag. 822. m Houtman saith he was aliue 1596. supposed 160. yeeres old n Nauig Oliuer Noort o Houtman a Gi. Bot. Ben. Maff. lib. 4. G. Arthus Hist Indiae Orient cap. 40. b Linschot c P. Bertius Tab. d Ortel Maff. lib. 4. e Discoueries of the world f See Lamberts perambul g Nic. di Conti. h L. Vert. i Herman de Brec Arthus pag. 559. k In 1598. l 1604. Sir Ed. Michelborn m Sir Iames Lancaster n The like hapned there May 5. 1613. Pat. Copland o Cor. Houtman Iohn Dauyi Patrick Copland , M. Best * This reason is alledged why Sumatra should be Aurea Chersoneflus and Ophyr and not the Continent of Malacca which hath no Gold vid disc del R. di Mal. Tes Pol. p. 3. Of this Ophyrian Dispute see Varerius his Treatise Io. Vassius Ortel Pined c. Our Ophyrian discourse in the first booke of Voyages * Anno 1613. Captaine Saris * Sup. c. 13. §. 3. a M. Paul l. 3. Barbosa c Vid. sup l. 1. â—4 Mos Barcepha in Bib. Pat. Hopkins c. d Lib. 1. e Linschot An. Corsali f Maff. lib. 3. g Od. Barbosa h Vert. l. 3. c. 4. i Odoricus k Bert. Tab. l Her de Brea m Georgius Spilbergius n Herman de Brec ap de Bry part 8. Ind. Or. o Chap. 10. p Gi. Bot. Ben. q Paul l. 3. c. 19 r Linschoten Å¿ Od. Barbosa t Plin. li. 6. c. 22. Many reasons for proofe hereof see in a little Booke called the Circumference of the Earth u W. Thorp ap Fox Act. Mon. Our Pilgrimes with wanton Songs Bagpipes Canterbury Bels c. when they come into a Towne make more noyse then the King with al his Clarions and Minstrels So Chaucers tales Eras Colloq c. x See diuers examples here of in Iohn Nichols Pilgrimage and W. Lithgow reporteth the like when he was there Est 2.15 Aelian Var. Hist lib. 12. c. 1. a Gen. 25.4 b Antiq. lib. 1. cap. 15. c De his erymis aliis consule F. Luys de Vrreta lib. 4. cap. 1. Botero Bernardo Aldrete Antigued var. c. d Dom. Nig. G. Arthus hist Ind. Orient c. 4. e Io. Leo. lib. 1. f Rom. Malâ— lib. 1. cap â— g Many of the Ancients and Leo ascribe all beyond Nilus to Asia so Polyhist l. 3. c. 37. Dion Af c. feâ—e omnes h Maginus i Oc. Antlanticus k Plin. lib. 13 cap. 22. l Bud. de Ass lib. 5. m Io Leo lib. 1 n Maginus Pory o Io. Ler. lib. 9 p P. Bellon lib. 2 cap. 49. doth largely describe him See his description in Moreson and Sandys also Master Sanderson saw one at Cairo and hath described him in his voyage which I haue printed Tom. 1. lib. 9. q G. Sandye r Caius de rar animal speakes of two kindes the taile of the one three cubits long of the other a cubit broad vid. Hero Thal Arist. hist an 8. Plin. 8. 49. Aelian c. Å¿ Of Eastwood in Essex t Aristot Hist Animalium u Ouied. histor Ind. l. 16. c. 11. Vrban Calueto in Benzon l. b. 3. A. Gellius Noct. Attic. x Arist. Hist animal l. 6. c. 32. y Plin. l. 8 c. 30. Whitney Emble Solinus z Marbodeus de Gemmis * Sol. in cap. 36. calleth them Celphos These great Apes are called Pongo's * Satyres are thought to be a kind of Apes these are Naturall There are others vnnaturall of humane copulation with goats a third sort diabolicall illusions a fourth poeticall tales See these things at large in Baubinus de Hermaphrod l. 1 also Drad in Solin c. z Congo translated by A.H. a Strabo and Agatharchides write that they had seene Serpents 30. Cubits long b A. Gel. l. 6. c. 3. Iul. Obsequens Cap. 29. Pl. l. 8. c. 14. ballisus tormentisque vt oppidum aliquod expugnata serpens c. c Osor l. 4. c. 8. Treasurie of times l. 5. c. 31. see the whole Chapter Vitriaco testifieth that the Crocodile hatcheth her eggs onely with her sight and other things not probable P. Pigaset a Solinus c. 33. Theophrast de animal b Galen lib. de Theriaca Plinie saith it is twelue fingers long and nine inches l. 8. c. 21. Albert. mag de mirab. c Io. Baptista Porta c. d Lemnius de occultis l. 4. c. 12. e Ioh. Bapt. Mat. 3. ate Locusts and many people were therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 f P. Oros lib. 5. cap. 11. g Plin. l. 11. c. 29. h Taken out of the Sibylles Bookes Ioel. 1. 2. c. i Cl. Ep. ad Latem Aristot in hist
putant nominare De N. D. lib. 3. a Lucian de Astrologia b Strabo l 17. c Diod. Sic. l. 1. d Luc. de Sacra e Solin Am. Marc. f Euseb praepar. Euang. l. 2. c. 1. g Strabo l. 17. Vid. Naz. Orat. 24. ad cum Eliam Cret h Solinus Plutarch i De Ciuit. Dei l. 18. c. 5. k Vid Hieroglyph Gorop l. 4. l Suidas m Euseb Chron. n Apol. Biblieth l. 1. c. 2. o Scal. in Eus p Cael. Cal. de reb. Egyptiacis q Viu in Aug. de Ciu. Dei l. 18. c. 5. r Vbi supra ſ Gen. 30.39 t Varijsque coloribus Apis. Ouid. Met. 9. u Bulling Orig. Error x Suidas y Macrob. z Orig. cont Celsum lib. 3. a Ioach Vaget Geographist b Sup. l 3. c. 6. c G. Dous Itinerar d Strabo lib. 17. Stuckius de sacris sacrificijsque Gentilium de his fusius. Vid. Clem. Paren Meruetum e Vid Gesner de quadrup Aelian de an lib. 10 c. 30. f Iuuen. Sat. 15. see that whole Satyre Aelian de an lib. 10. cap. 21. g P. Bellon ob h Volat. Scalig. writes of a Leaden Crododile framed by art to chase away these beasts moltē after by Achmed Ben-Tolon ep ad Vaz i Diodor. Sic. l. 1 k Aelian de an l. 10. c. 23. e L. Pig mens Isiac exp f Ios. cont Ap. lib. 2. g Ioh. 3.14 h Vines in August i Ortel ex Clement Min. Foelice k In Es c. 46. cap. 12. alias l Ae. Var. l. 13. cap. 22. Strab. lib. 14. mentions a Temple and Image of Homer at Smyrna , with a coyne called Homerium m Plut. de Osir Is n See Acosta Gomara and our Picture booke Tom. 2. lib. 5. o Peut de Diuinat Idem Canic dies S. Maioli part 2. Colloq 1. p Sard. lib. 3. cap. 15. q Triflesque Eusiridis aras r Tab. Isiaca Bembi In Aegypto Canicipites Serpenticipites Afinicipites c. postea Vanae contrariae superstitionis aquam in praecipua veneratione habent ea tamen se abluuni Athanas cont Gent. idem Iustinus Mart. Apolog 2. Cyprian ad V. ſ Theod. Ser. 1. t Am. de Abraeham l. 2. c vlt u Vid. Brerew Enq. cap. 13. x Ael de Animal l. 10. c. 16. y Crol de signaturis z Drus de 3. sectis lib. 2. a Io. Boem. lib. 1 cap. 5. H. Roman de rep G. l. 3. c. 4. b Sard. l. 3. c. 18. Herod l. 2. c Du Bartas Colonies d Tert. Exhort ad Castitatem De Orig. c. 17. c. Raziel e Gramay As f Moresm Dep. rel g Magini Ptol. Pol. de inuentoribus Beroal in Apuleium h Draudius in Solinum i Aelian Var. hist l. 14. c. 34. k Alex. ab Alex. Gen dier l. 2. c. 8. l Ios. cont Ap. lib. 1. is qui super Egyptiaca sacra erat constitutus Hel. hi. Aeth l. 7. Herod l. 2. saith that they had 341. Priests and as many Kings before his time m Philost de vit Apol. lib. 6. c. 3. n Domitiano Imperatore o Pius 2. Asia p Pol. Vir. l. 3. * Herod lib. 2. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Hospin de Fest cap. 7. a Plut. de Os b Lib. 2. c Coel. Rhod. l. 7. cap. 17. d Plut. ibid. e Hosp. cap. 27. f M. F. Octau Arnob. contra gentes lib. 2. g Viues in Annot ad Aug. de Ciuit Dei lib. 8. cap. 27. Vide ante lib. 1. cap. 17. h De Osir i Peucer de Diuinat S. Ma. Di. Can. pag 2. co ' 2. k Achil. Stat. lib. 2. 3. * Antiq. 18.4 * Sueton. in Vit a Laur. Coru. b Ios. Ant. l. 1.8 c Dom. Nig. Aph. Com. 3. Clein Strom. l. 1. Bas in princip prou Girana Cos l. 2. Cic de diu l. 1. A. Theuet de mundo nouo c. 4. d G. B. in Exod. trac 6. e L. 14. 34. * Sophocles in Oedip. vid. Scholiast ib. ex Nymphod f Del'Orig de Langues c. 40. c. g Nazion Orat 3 adu Iul. Elias Cret h Flau. Vopisc Saturnius Trebellius Pollio testifieth the like in his Triginta Tyrannis . i Timberlies booke describeth this at large Sandys k Dionis Nicaei Adr. l Aelius Spartianus in Adriano Prudent cont Symmachum l. 1. Iustin Martyr Apol. 2. m Choul della Relig. Rom. Antich n Am. Mar. l. 22. o Diophantes Lacedem apud Stuckium de sacris p Coelius Rhodig Lectionum adtiq l. 16.3 q Polyb. Hist l. 15. c. 31. Exod. 1 c. r Tes Pot. 3. part pag 169. hath a whole discourse of them ſ Prou. 7.10 t Dion Cass l. 54. a Herod l. 3. Ioseph Antiq. b Iustin l. 1. c Strab. l. 17. describeth the forme of their Temples d Thucid l. 1. Aelian var. hist l. 6. c. 8. e Curt. lib. 4. Arrian l. 3. f Adrichom Theat T. San. g See Auson de clar vrb h Lydyat Emb. Temp. i Herodian l. 7. k Legidarum imperium regum series Stra. L. 17. Niceph. patr Eutrop. l. 6. 7. Ir. Patrit Panarch l. 9. Idem l. 16. l Some learned men are of opinion that these pretensed bookes of Hermes as also the Oracles of Sybill which are extant were but counterfeits of some Christians seeking to winne Heathens by such proofe worse then Heathennish Idem l. 16. m Strab. l. 17. n Brer de pond Cap. 10. Her Thal. o Arrian lib. 6. Plut. Pomp. Bud. de Asse a Diod. Sic. c. 1. b Naucrates ap Eustat in Praefat Odyss c Strab. l. 1. d Athen. l. 1. e Ioseph Ant. lib. 12. c. 2. Aristaeus f Epiph. de ponder Cedren * Sen. de Tranq cap. 9. g Gel. l. 6. c. vlt. Am. l. 22. Isid habet falso 70. pro 700. u Lips de Bibliothec c. 4. x Plut. Anton. y Sueton. in Tiber Plin. in Epist. de Sit. Ital. c. z Plin. l 35. c. 2. * Cic. Ossic l. 3. Alphons Rex Hisp a Sir Tho. Bodlie Founder of the famous Library at Oxford I might also here mention the Honorable care of D. King L.B. of London for that of Christ Church and many many other worthy Benefactors in both Vniuersities but their Memorials are there euerie Booke euerie Page euerie stone being more complete Panegyrikes of their praise then the complementall Oration of the best Orator b Studiosa quaedam luxuria c Strab. l. 17. Athen l. 1. d Philostrat. de Dionys sophista e Athen. l. 15. f Ruff l. 2. c. 23. Theod. l. 5. c. 22. g Am. Marcel l. 22. Dionys saith as much or more Inter Serapidis templa celeberrimum apud Alexand Vetustiss Memphi hoc fanum subire nec hospit nec sacerdotib licet priusquam Apin sepelierint Pausan At. h Oros l. 1. c. 8. affirmeth that of Iosephs act Egypt is still witnesse vnto his time continuing the payment of the fift part of their profits to the King i Story of Tyrannus
Saturnes Priest k Socra l. 5. c. 16 l Soz. l. 7. c. 15. Marcellinus reporteth that Theodosius by Edict abolished this Temple of Serapis m Nicep l. 12. 26 Theod. l. 5. 22. Hist trip l. 10. cap. 29. m Cer. Tac. l. 4. c. 35. vid. Nat. Sir H. Sauile n Dionys cals him Iupiter of Sinope on which Eustatius commenteth that Sinopites is the same with Memphites for Sinope is a hill of Memphis or else of this Pontike Sinope c adding this Storie Theoph. Patriarch of Antioch l. 2. cals Sarapis Sinopa profugus o Athen. l. 1. c. 5. 6. p Achil. Stat. 5. q Of Philadelphus incredible pompe and Philopators ship read Athen. l. 5. c. 5. 6. r A. Gel. l. 6. 17. Ado. Vien Å¿ Cor. Tac. An. 2. Of Memnons Image see Ortel in expedit Alexandri Mag. Dionys Eustath Iuven. Sat. 15. t Pausan Attic. u Sex Aur. Victor Sueton. Tran. Aug. x This body Ptolom tooke from Perdiccas and burried it at Alexandria in a Golden Tombe Strab. l. 17. y Ios. Ant. 19.6 z Isa 19.13 a Ios. an t l. 12. 2. b Procop. de bello Persico l. 1 c Con. Nic. Can. 6. d Hist Tripar cap. 11. Paul Diac. l. 8. e Vincent Spec. lib. 4. q Leo Afric c. 8. r The Arabians and Turkes doe call Cairo Miszir the reuenue whereof amounteth to aboue a Million runneth into the Hasnad or priuate Treasurie of the Great Turke and not into the publike Treasurie Lazora Soronzo He hath vnder him there sixteene Sanzacki 100000 Timariots or horsemens fees to maintaine so many horse for the Turkes warres at their owne charge Knolles Å¿ G. Tyr. saith it was built in the yeere of Mah. 358. and made the Seat Royall 361. t Pilgrim to Mecca ap Hak. u P. Mart. Leg. Bab. l. 3. x Perhaps this is that Babylon in Egypt where Sanutus saith the Merchants remayned the Soldane with his Souldierie in Cairo y Sal. Schu z Hak. Pilgrim to Mecca a Nean. Or. Terrae Par. 3. b Baumgarten tels a report but doubteth of the truth of 24000. which perhaps was a Cipher added to his account for 2400. c P. Mart. d W. Lithgow speakes of 100000. Christians in this City besides Saracens Iewes and Heathens * Like such as sell Godlings c. in London M. G. Sandys * Kali Rosetta Famoso non cedit turba Canopo Luxuria Iuuen S. 15. Moores in Egypt Cairo Their Mosques Raine in Cairo A stately Palace A stately Palace Orchards in Cairo Date Trees naturall and common euen in the Desarts of Egypt Castle of Cairo Cairo Gab. Sionita Io. Hesronita Salt of Nilus Balsam * Master Sandys saith there is now but one l. 6. c. 8. §. 2. * Vid sup pag 897. a This is in Syria and ascribed to the Sunnes entrance into Leo. b Of the Egyptian Cities see Marmolius his 11. booke the later part of Alexan. see the discourse and description of G. Braun and F. Hogenberg in C.O.T. lib. 2. cap. 56 c Illic Pellei proles vesana Philippi Felix praedo iacet terrarum c. Luc. d Gallen de theriaca e Pa. Eberus hist Iudaica 52.53 f Peregr c. 15. g Lib. 1. cap. 14. h This errour grew from the Schoole of Aristotelicall Philosophie whereof Anatolius was here Professor Euseb lib. 7. cap. 32. Niceph. l. 6. c. 36. The first succession of the Aegyptian Calipha's vncertaine d Car. Châ—on l. 4 c. 10. 11. 53. e Knolls T.H. f Iac. à Vitriaco or hist c. 8. g Peuc Car. Chro. h Read l. 3. c. 1â— i L. Fenestella de Sacerd. Rom. Mart. à Baum lib. 1. cap. 17. k Leg. Bab. 3. l Example for Christians in ending Controuersies of Religion m Good works among Turkes n Leo lib. 3. Mar. Ba. l. 1. c. 20 Vertomannus also mentions this actiuitie of the Mamalukes a Hist Sar. G. Tyr. Foxe Act Mon. Vitriac Sanut c. b G. Bot. Ben. Pory in Leon. Chytr Chron. c Abdias Fab. Dorotheus Baron. lib. 6. Whit. 55.2 d M. Edward Barton e Baron. Annals Papaeus Edagr Pantaleon c. d Dam à Goes Fran. Aluares c. 98. Hemingij Catechismus in fine Catholicae Tradig g Theat Vrbium Sandys h Iuuen. Saâ— 1 a Excerpta Barbaro-Lat Manusc Chron. Causab Collectanea hist c. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Venerable appropriated after to Augustus and his successours c Patricius out of a holy book setteth downe this Genealogie Horus the sonne of Osiris he of Chus and he of Cham or Chamephes d Aegyptian Dynasties e Cal. Calcag de reb. Aeg. Dynast 12. n F. Tarap de Reg. Hisp. o Ier. 44.30 Sen in Ludo Cla. Caes vid. Turneb ad l. 18. c. 13. B. Rhen. Cont. Ap. Theoph. l. 3. a Can. Isag. l. 3. b L. de Emen T. Some suppose the first of these Dynasties were soon after the Creation and soone after the floud Genebrard Chron. l. 1. c De Ciuit. Dei lib. 12 cap. 10. d Broughtons Concent e De Ciu. Dei l. 15. c. 13. f L. 1. c. 8. §. 11. See also the Chronologie at the end of his Booke and other Egyptian Antiquities in that History g Genes 46 34 . h Hist Aeth l 1 Idem Achill Stat. lib 3. i In vita Hiiar k Ios. cont Ap. Euseb Chron. l Paraen ad Genes m Orat. contra Graec. n Theoph. l. 3. o Eus Niceph. pat p Ado. Funct Beroal Perk. Bunt Codom More Pont. Phrigio Wolph Epit. Chron. gr Dogli Munst Herman Contract Lamb. Schaf Marian. Scotus Petr. Alexandr Rader c. q Orosius l. 18 cap. 10. r Of the Egyptian Kinge c. see Marmols eleuenth Booke to the 12. Chapter of Daniel Angeloâ— crat lib. 2. Å¿ Ios. Scalig. Can. Isag. l. 2. t Among all the 13. Prouinces subiect to the Chalipha of Bagdet Egypt had the second place as Constantinus Porphyrogenitus sheweth out of Theophanes Constant de admin Imp. c. 25. u Leo calleth him Elcâ—in * See Vitriaco his third book of the greatnesse of this Saladine and of Saffadin his brother which slue his ten Nephewes sonnes of Sal. and succeeded in this exceeding Monarchie of many many Kingdomes x Orient Hist cap. 5. y Peuc. Chron. l. 4 z P. Mart. Leg. Bab. lib. 3. a Ioac Camerar narrat. Tur. c. b Of the Egyptian misery in these times reade Vertoman and Mart. eye witnesses c Treasurie of ancient and modern times L. 5. C. 31. a Lib. 1. c. 8. b Plin. l. 5. c. 5. c Cyrene was built as Tzetzes affirmeth by Battus d Leo lib. 6. Io. Boem. Drus Ob. lib. 11. c. 15. Hier. in Ier. 3.2 e Dom. Nig. f Arrian lib. 3. Curt. lib. 4. g The fortune-telling Groue h Lucan calls them Garamantes lib. 9. Templum Libycis quod gentibus vnum Inculit Gacamantes habent stat Corniger illic c. i Vmbilicus k Scal. E. T. lib. 5. pag. 401. l Pausan lib 4. m De Os Is supr cap.
part 1. N. di Gust b Nauatalcas signifieth welspeakers c Mexico and Mexicans The Mexican picture-history saith of Mexiti the name of the people Mexico was so called Beginning of humane sacrifices g Mexico Tonoxultan Acamapitzli the first King of Mexico a Many of these Orations are expressed in Acostas seuenth booke at large full of wittie inuentions and Rhetoricall flourishes Mouing Gardens Vitzilouitli the second King b Lop. de Gom. part 1. Chimalpopoca 3. Izcoalt 4. Motezuma the fift King Ticocic 6. Axayaca 7. Antzol 8. a And Master Hakluit hath a copie of it translated into English It was in the Mexican language sent to Charles the fift intercepted by Florinus Metezuma 9. b Lib. 7. cap. 20. Ominous prodigies Mexican Tributes from Tlatilulco and from other places * R. Tomson ap Hak. * H. Haukes ap Hak. Iob Hortop t Miles Philips u Iohn Chilton x Botero y Gasp Ens l. 2. z Ortel Theas a Naturall and Morall hist of the Indies lib. 5 cap. 3. b Hernando Cortes Acost l. 5. c. 9. Vitziliputzli Tlaloc c Gomar part 1 cals him the God of Prouidence Tezcallipuca d Cholula Quetzaalcoalt e Gomar part 1 Tozi f Ian. Dousa Praecid ad Arbit l. 3. c. 1. g Lop. de Gom. part 1. h They had their Venus and their Bacchus Mars and other such Deities in Mexican appellations as the Heathen Greekes and Romans as after shall appeare i Acost l. 5. Relat. del Temstitan k So some say from the like practice of the Ancients Victima was so called and hostia quasi à victo ab hoste Papa the name of the Mexican high Priest l Gomara saith that the ancient persons sometimes the King himselfe would put on this skin being of a principall Captiue m Iohn 8.44 n Lop. de Gom. part 2. o Acost l. 5. c. 27 p Gom. pa. 39◠a Acost l. 5. c. 13. b Narrat 2. ad Car. 5. c Gomara saith that the fourth was not a causey but a street of the Citie d Gom. part 1. e Pet. Mart. Dec. 5. l. 4. saith that in largenesse the situation of this Temple is matchable with a Towne of fiue hundred houses Quelcouatl f Acost l. 5. c. 13. g Lop. Gom. p. 1. h Acost l. 5 c. 15 Nunnes Friers Cortes narrat ad Imp. Relat. del Temistitan ap Ram. v. 3. i Mexican Votaries no lesse strict in that threefold cord which the Popish Votaries glory of Pouertie Continency Obedience with other wil worships yea for the time more austere k Tobacco l Lop. de Gom. part 1. pag. 396. Lit. Episc Mex m Ios. Acost l. 5. cap. 14. n Cortes narrat o Acost l. 5. c. 26. Their anointings p Their Witches q Their Rites vnto Infants Mex pict hist Education of children in Mexico Drunkards theeues adulterers stoned r Their marriages ſ Gomara part 1 pag. 389. Acost l. 5. c. 8. Burials Acost l. 6. c. 26. t Lop. de Gom. part 1. pag. 383. a Acost l. 6. c. 2. b Gom. pag. 317. Mexican hist M. S ap Hak. hath this Kalender Opinion of fiue Sunnes Mexican Feasts x Acost l. 5. c. 24 Relat. del Themistitam a The new Catholikes of old Spaine old Cacolikes of New Spaine alike in Superstition b Acost l. 5. c. 2. c Mexican Iubilee d Their relicks e The Mexicans Lent begun not with ashes but with dust f Gomara writeth otherwise as followeth in the end of this Chapter g Their bloudy Processions h Pet. Martyr Dec. 5. i Acosta li. 6. c. 7. k Pet. Martyr Dec. 5. lib. 4. l Acosta l. 6. c 9. Indian writing c Cap. 7. n Gomara part 1. p. 3. 69. o Pet. Mart. Dec. 4. l. 8. p Gomara vbi supra 5 q Relai del Temistitan ap Ram. v. 3. r Gom. p. 312. ſ Acosta l. 7. c. 20 t Lop. de Gom. part 1. pa. 10. gen hist cap. 52. u Pet. Mart. Dec. 4. lib. 1. circumsision and Crosses x This towne was taken by M. Will. Parker Anno. 1596. y Gomar gen hist cap. 54. z Gomar par 1. pag. 36. b H. Benzo l. 2. cap. 15. c Bot l. 5. part 1. Guatimala or Saint Iames d Benzo and Gomara say Sept. 8. 1541. e Gaspar Ens l. 3. cap. 6. f H. Benzo l. 2. cap 16. Gomar Histor Gen. cap. 209. g Benzo lib. 2. cap. 15. a Chap. 16. b Gom. gen Hist cap. 203. c P.M. Dec. 6. lib. 4. d Gom. ca. 205. Confession d Pet. Mart. Dec. 6. l. 6. 7. e Pet. Mart. Dec. 6. f Botero g Benzo lib. 2. cap. 14. Gomara part 2. cap. 32. h Pet. Mart. Dec. 3. l. 8. a Benz. l. 1. c. 23. b P. Mart. Dec. 2. l. 10. c Seuen shillings and sixe pence a Gas Ens. lib. 3 cap. 24. b Botero part 1 lib c. a See infra 5. 2 b Coelum vndique vndique pontus Nil nisi pontus aer H. Giraua l. 2. Vega pag. 2. lib. 3. cap. 4. saith that they were fierce women which followed their Husbands in the warres and fought with the Enemie These Orellana to make greater account of his Discoueries reported to bee Amazons and sued to the Emperour to be employed in that seruice and conquest of the Land of Amazons William Dauies sent hither in the fleet of the Duke of Florence tels of a small low Iland called Morria in this Riuer inhabited only by women which goe naked and vse Bow and Arrowes as doe the men in the parts adioyning for the killing of their owne food their haire long their brests hanging lowe Hee sayth he hath seene forty or fifty together going along by the Sea side when they espied a fish to shoote at it and presently throwing downe their Bowes to leape into the Sea after their Arrow bringing the same to Land with the fastned prey in all other things as lodging meat-dressing c. like the Neighbour Inhabitants Only they liue requestred from men except in one moneth of the yeare when the men resort for copulation to them and carry away the male children they finde The other they educate They carrie their children at their backes like Tinkers budgets and giue them the breast ouer the shoulder Thus farre Dauies As for that vnimammian rite he denies it of their wars except against fishes and other food no mention and that by their liuing without men may either be caused by the vnholsomnesse to that sexe as is reported of an Iland neere Zocotori or for some other reason which I leaue to the Readers search or credit c Pedro de Cieza de Leon. Chron. del Peru d Eastward from this Towne certain Negro slaues made a head and ioyning with the Indians vsed to rob the Spaniards Benzo l. 2. c. 9. e Linschoten P. Mart. Dec. 3. lib. 6. f Gomar Gen. Hist c. 67. g P.M. Dec. 3. lic 4. h Tobacco * P. Cieza Chron. Per. p. 1. c. 8. l
the writing being cancelled should bee neglected and perhaps the Name of God cast with it on the dung-hil the wise-men abolished that order on the third of Tisri which they instituted a holy-day As for the name of Maccabees Iunius saith it came from the inscription of those foure letters M. C. B. I. in the banners of those Princes which deliuered the Iewes from the Macedonian thraldome Scaliger saith that Iudas onely and properly was so called but by abuse of speech was not onely giuen to all of that kindred but to all which suffered in those times persecution for Religion as the seuen brethren and others The name Hasmonaei began with that Hircanus Scaliger thinketh because in the sixty eight Psalme it is by the Iewes interpreted Prince Aristobulus sonne of Hircanus first after the captiuitie called himselfe king and raigned one yeere Ioannes Alexander his brother twentie seuen after him his wife Alexandra nine Hircanus her sonne three moneths Aristobulus his brother three yeeres Ierusalem was taken of Pompey and Hircanus recouered the Priest-hood which he held two and twentie yeeres Antigonus by aide of the Parthians possessed Iudae a fiue yeeres and in his second yeere Herod was proclaimed King by the Romans who tooke the Citie the fift yeere of Antigonus and raigned foure and thirtie Scaliger ascribeth to Herods kingdome the number after Eusebius account reckoning from the birth of Abram 1977. he died 2016. Archelaus his son was made by Augustus Tetrarch of Ierusalem 2016. was banished 2025. Agricola was made king by Caligula 2053. Agrippa his son by Claudius 2060. and died 2116. thirtie yeeres after the destruction of the Temple The Dynastie of the Herodians lasted 139. yeeres Thus Scaliger He attributeth the Natiuitie of Christ to the 3948. yeere of the world Here we must leaue the Chronologers contending of the yeere of the world in which this blessed Natiuitie happened some adding many more yeeres some not allowing so many It is certaine by the Scripture that he was borne in the one and fortieth or two and fortieth of Augustus baptized in the fifteenth of Tiberius then beginning to be about thirtie yeeres of age in the thirtie three yeere he was crucified In the seuentie two as Baronius and seuentie one yeere of Christ as Buntingus and Liuely account Ierusalem was destroyed by Titus in the second of Vespasian Arias Montanus reckoneth this the yeere of the World 3989. and saith that the Hebrewes reckon it the 3841. which must needes be false The fault ariseth from the false computation of the Persian and Graecian Monarchies Iosephus counteth from the time of Herod to the destruction of the Temple twentie eight high Priests and a hundred and seuen yeeres After Scaliger in his Can. Isag. l. 3. this yeere 1612. is the 1614. of Christ of the World 5461. after the Iewish account of Hillel 5372. of the Armenians 1061. of the Iulian Period 6325. of the Hegira 1021. Anno 4. Olymp. 597. The Dionysian account which wee vsually follow was not generally receiued till after the time of Charles the Great CHAP. XII Of the Iewish Talmud and the Composition and estimation thereof also of the Iewish Learned men their succession their Cabbalists Masorites their Rabbines Vniuersities Students Rabbinicall creations their Scriptures and the translations of them §. I. Of the Talmud RAbbi Mosche Mikkotzi in a worke of his set forth Anno 1236. as Buxdorfius citeth him saith that the Written Law which GOD gaue to Moses and Moses to the Israelites is obscure and hard because it speaketh some things contradictorie which hee seeketh to proue by some places mis-interpreted and because it is imperfect and contayneth not all things meete to be knowne For who shall teach vs saith he the notes of Birds and Beasts a Franciscan might answere him out of the Legend of Saint Francis the Patron of his Order who shall teach them the proprietie and nature of points accents of Letters Also what fatte might be eaten what not c. Many such things are defectiue in the Law and therefore there is neede of some other Exposition of the written Law whence these things might be learned This Exposition for-sooth must be their Talmud the generation of which Viper touched before we will here more fully declare They say that Moses on Mount Sinai was not with GOD fortie daies and fortie nights to keepe Geese And GOD could haue written those Tables of the Law in an houre and sent him away with them so to haue preuented that Idolatrie with the Golden Calfe But GOD brought Moses into a Schoole and there gaue him the Law in writing first and then in all that long time expounded the same shewing the cause manner measure foundation and intention thereof in the true sense This vnwritten and Verball Law did Moses teach Ioshua be the Elders from these it was deriued to the Prophets After Zacharie and Malachie the last of these it came to the great Sanhedrib and after them by Tradion from father to sonne And Rabbi Bechai saith That Moses learned the Law written in the day time and this Traditionall Law by night for then he could not see to write Rabbi Mosche Mikkotzi sheweth the cause why God would deliuer the same by mouth onely and not in writing lest I wisse the Gentiles should peruert this as they did the other which was written And in the day of Iudgement when GOD shall demand who are the Israelites the Gentiles shall make challenge because of the Law written but the Iewes onely shall be acceped as hauing this Simani this verball exposition GOD also say they gaue them Chachamim Wise-men authors of diuers ordinances amongst them as to blesse GOD at the Sunne-rising and Sunne-setting And of Schooles where children should be taught the Law of Moses in euery Citie and where the Law of Moses should be read weekely and that the Israelites should not eate or drinke with the Gentiles nor what they had dressed after the example of Daniel c. But when the Temple was destroyed and the Iewes carried away captiues then arose vp Rabbi Iuda Hannasi who is called for his humilitie and godlinesse our Great Master to whom GOD procured such fauour in the eyes of Antoninus the Emperour that hee had authoritie to assemble out of all places of the Empire the most learned Iewes to consult in this their almost desperate Estate what course to take for the preseruation of the Law amongst the people And although this Kabala or Law giuen by word of mouth might not bee committed to writing yet in consideration and commiseration of their miserie whatsoeuer thereof was remayning in memorie hee writ in a booke which hee called Mischna that is a Deutronomie or Law reiterated contayning sixe summes diuided into sixtie lesse parts or tractates and these into fiue hundred thirtie two Chapters Thus farre R. Mikkotzi The contents of the sixe summes and their seuerall Tractates
then biggest when they haue nothing but wind to fill them Euen their glorious Titles so much insisted on in this Discourse then seeme to haue had beginning or at least to be in greatest vse when they were neere the end and Sun-set of their glorie and since haue encreased to this rabble of Rabbinicall stiles here deliuered and that which in these dayes is of greatest reckoning the Title Morenu our Doctor hath beene hatched saith Buxtorfius in Germany within these two hundred yeeres and thence passed into Italy in imitation of our Academicall degree of Doctors say some or else as others it was ordayned to be a speciall Title of honour with a kind of Iurisdiction ouer other R R. to preuent their lauish loosenesse in granting Bils of Diuorce that this power should bee appropriated to the Morenu The first which enioyed this Title in this proper sense for in a common it was common before as in Rambams Moreh Nebuchim appeares were Maharasch and his Scholer Maharil who dyed Anno Dom. 1427. §. IIII. Of the Scriptures and their Interpretations BEfore we shake hands with the Learned Writers of the Iewes it is not vnmeete in my opinion heere to meete with some question which some haue mooued concerning them and their dealing in and with the Scriptures For since that the Councell of Trent hath decreed in the yeere 1546. both the diuine authoritie of Scriptures Canonicall to the Apocrypha-bookes which the Iewes receiue not nor euer did and hath made the vulgar Translation Authenticall in publike Lectures Disputations Preachings and Expositions that none vnder any pretence whatsoeuer shall presume to reiect it it is wonder to see how eagerly that I say not impudently diuers of them haue sought to slander the originall Text and haue blamed as Authors thereof in the New Testament Heretikes and in the Old Iewes couering their malice to vs with pretence of the malice of Heretikes and Iewes and forgetting the true Rule That it is a shame to belie the Diuell Thus haue Canus and Pintus and Gregorius de Valentia Sacroboscus and others traduced the Iewes in this behalfe themselues refuted by their owne which yet by consequent ouerthrow that former Decree Sixtus Senensis Ribera Cardinall Bellarmine himselfe Andradius Andreas Masius Arias Montanus Isaac Leuita c. Besides of ours many and especially our owne learned Countrimen Whitaker Reynolds Morton c. Bellarmine hath both taught vs the vanitie of their opinion that hold That the Scriptures were all lost in the Babylonian Captiuitie and were by Ezra renewed miraculously who is rather commended for his industrie in interpreting and obseruing them and for ordering and compacting them in one Volume then for such needlesse reuelation to finde that which was neuer lost an Author rather as Hierome hath obserued of the present Hebrew Letters then of their ancient Scriptures and hath also prooued the absurditie of their conceit that imagine the Hebrew Fountaines corrupted First by the Argument of Origen and Hierome That such corruption must haue beene either before or after Christ if that Christ would haue reproued and not commended the Scriptures to their search if this how commeth it that the Testimonies cited by him and his Apostles are found now in Moses and the Prophets as they were then cited Secondly out of Augustine That it is not likely they would put out both their eyes in depriuing their Scriptures of truth that they might put out one of ours nor was it possible that such a generall conspiracie could be made Thirdly from their more then reuerent estimation of their Scriptures for which they would die if it were possible an hundreth deaths and euen still as Isaac answereth B. Lindan his Scholler they proclaime a Fast to expiate if by some accident that Booke but falls to the ground Fourthly some places in the Hebrew are more strong against the Iewes then our Translations are and the Prophesies which make most against them remaine there vncorrupted And lastly the prouidence of GOD would neuer herein faile his Church but hath left them with their bookes to bee dispersed through the world to beare witnesse to that Truth which they hate and persecute These are Bellarmines Arguments which because they are the Truth are also ours and therefore we haue beene bold with the Reader to insert them Leuita addes that the Hebrew Texts concerning Christ are more cleere and perspicuous then in any translation whatsoeuer who affirmes also of himselfe that reading the fiftie third Chapter of Esaias 1000. times by which he was conuerted to the Christian Faith and comparing it diligently with many translations he found a hundred times more touching the mysterie of Christ in that then in these Many Prophesies are in the Hebrew which make for the Christians and yet in the 70. are omitted The Iewes hold it a crime inexpiable to alter any thing therein which if any say they should doe but in one word of ignorance or malice it would bring the whole world in danger of perishing They will not lay their Bible but in a pure place nor touch it but with pure hands and are not religious alone but superstitious also in respect thereto As for that Emendation or Correction of the Scribes which Galatinus mentioneth wherein they haue corrupted the Text hee proueth it to bee a late dreame of the Talmud and answereth the Arguments of his fellowes herein not so Catholike as himselfe Now although this may seeme more then enough to conuince that folly yet it shall not bee impertinent to adde out of Arias Montanus somewhat touching the same because it openeth another mysterie touching the Hebrew Learning and the Masoreth When the Iewes saith he returned into their Country after the Captiuitie threescore and ten yeeres in Babylon it befell them partly by occasion of their long troubles which did distract their mindes partly by corruption of their Natiue Tongue which was growne out of kinde first into the Chaldee and afterward into the Syriacke that they neither knew nor pronounced so well the words of the Scripture written as the manner was without vowels Whereby it came to passe that in the writing of them there crept in some fault either through iniurie of the Times or by reason of troubles which fell vpon the People or by negligence of some Scriueners But this inconuenience was met withall afterward by most learned men such as Esdras was and afterward Gamaliel Ioseus Eleazar and other of great name who prouided by common trauell with great care and industrie that the Text of Scripture and the true reading thereof should bee preserued most sound and vncorrupt And from these men or from their instruction being receiued and polished by their Schollers in the Ages following there came as wee iudge that most profitable Treasure which is called Masoreth that is to say a Deliuerie or Traditionall because it doth deliuer aboundantly and faithfully all the diuers Readings that
euer were of the Hebrew Bibles Wherein there appeareth an euident token of the prouidence of GOD for the preseruation of the sacred Bookes of Scripture whole and sound that the Masoreth hath beene kept till our times these many hundred yeeres with such care and diligence that in sundry Copies of it which haue beene written no difference was euer found And it hath beene added in all the written Bibles that are in Europe Africke or Asia each of them agreeing throughly therein with other euen as it is printed in the Venice Bibles to the great wonder of them who read it Thus farre Montanus and by this Masóreth their Obiection of Caari and Caaru in the two and twentieth Psalme is answered in that certayne Readings haue the later and truer as the Masóreth testifieth Wee haue alreadie shewed That these Masorites inuented the prickes wherewith the Hebrew is now read to supply the lacke of vowels herein vsing religious care lest by inuenting new Letters to that purpose they should haue changed that ancient forme of writing and somewhat impayred the Maiesty thereof They tell that when a certayne Rabbine had read Zácar for Zécer he was slaine of his Scholler Ioab for violating Scripture Genebrard denying their opinion that make Ezra or Esdras Authour of these Hebrew prickes and Accents saith That they were inuented after the times of Honorius the Emperour in the yeare after the Temple was destroyed 436. which is sayth hee from Christ 476. in Tyberias a Citie of Galilee the chiefe Authours were Aaron Aseries and Iames Sonne of Nephthali whose dissenting one from another caused a diuision among the Iewes the Westerne Iewes following the former the Easterne which dwelt in Babylonia the later The Syriake Tongue some hold to haue sprung from the corruption of the Chaldee and Hebrew mixt The Editions and Translations of the Scriptures out of the Hebrew into the Greeke are reckoned nine besides that which Clement Alexandrinus sayth was before the time of Alexander whereof Plato and the Philosophers borrowed not a little The first already mentioned of the Seuentie The second of Aquila first a Gentile after a Christian and now last a Iew in the time of Adrian whom Serarius thinketh to bee Onkelos or Ankelos Author of the Targum The third of Theodotian a Marcionist vnder Commodus The fourth of Symmachus first a Samaritan and after that a Iew. Of the fift and sixt are not knowne the Authors Of all these Origen compounded his Hexapla The seuenth was the correction rather then a translation The eight was of Lucian Priest and Martyr The ninth of Hesychius But the most famous and ancient which the Spirit of GOD hath by often allegations in some measure confirmed is that of the Seuentie As for that conceit of the Celles which Iustine sayth were threescore and ten in which they were diuided and which Epiphanius placeth by couples and numbreth sixe and thirtie Celles in which by Miracle these thus diuided did all agree in words and sense Hierome derideth the same as a Fable because neither Aristaeus which then liued nor Iosephus doe euer mention it Now whereas Iosephus mentioneth onely the Law translated by them Iustinus Irenaeus Clemens Eusubius write That they translated all And although Aristaeus name but the Law yet who knoweth not that by this generall name they sometime comprehended all the Scripture as in the New Testament is seene as 1. Cor. 14.21 and Iohn 10.34 Some accuse this Aristaeus for a Counterfeit CHAP. XIII Of the Moderne Iewes Creed or the Articles of their Faith with their Interpretation of the same and their Affirmatiue and Negatiue Precepts §. I. Of their Creed STay your selues and wonder sayth the Lord of this people they are blind and make blind they are drunken but not with Wine they stagger but not by strong drinke c. And after because of their Hypocrisies And their feare toward me is taught by the Precept of Men. Therefore behold I will againe doe a maruellous worke in this People euen a maruellous worke and a wonder for the wisedome of their Wise-men shall perish and the vnderstanding of their prudent men shall bee hid This day is this Scripture as it hath beene many Ages heretofore fulfilled in our eyes as it hath appeared by our former declaration of the Talmud and further followeth in rehearsing the thirteene Articles of their Creed thus briefly expressed in their daily Prayer-bookes 1. I Beleeue with a true and perfect Faith that GOD is the Creator Gouernour and Preseruer of all Creatures and that he hath wrought all things worketh hitherto and shall worke for euer 2. I beleeue with a perfect Faith that GOD the Creator is one and that such an Vnitie as is in him can be found in none other who alone hath beene OVR GOD is yet and for euer shall continue OVR GOD. 3. I beleeue with a perfect Faith that GOD the Creator is not bodily nor indued with bodily properties and that no bodily Essence can be compared to him 4. I beleeue that GOD the Creator is the first and last and that nothing was before him that he shall abide the last for euer 5. I beleeue that he alone is to be adored and that none else may be worshipped 6. I beleeue that all whatsoeuer the Prophts haue taught and spoken is sincere Truth 7. I beleeue that the Doctrine and Prophesie of MOSES was true that hee was the Father and Chiefe of Wise men that liued then or before his time or should be in times to come after 8. I beleeue that all the Law as it is this day in our hands was so deliuered by GOD himselfe to MOSES 9. I beleeue that the same Law is neuer to be changed nor any other to bee giuen vs of GOD. 10. I beleeue that he knoweth and vnderstandeth all the works and thoughts of men as it is written in the Prophet He hath fashioned their hearts together considering all their works Psal. 33.15 11. I beleeue that GOD will recompence to all men their works to all I say which keepe his Commandements and will punish all Transgressers whomsoeuer 12. I beleeue that the MESSIAS is yet to come and although he doe long deferre his comming yet will I hope that he will come wayting for him euery day till he doth come 13. I beleeue with a perfect Faith that there shall be an awakening of the dead at that time which shall seeme fit to GOD the Creator the name of which GOD the Creator be much blessed and celebrated for euermore AMEN Genebrard out of the Spanish Breuiarie hath annexed this their Creed-prayer O GOD and King which sitteth on the Throne of Mercies forgiuest Iniquities c. O GOD which hast taught the thirteene Articles of Faith remember this day the Couenant of thy thirteene Properties as thou reuealedst them to Moses in thy Law 1. Lord Lord. 2. Strong 3. Mercifull 4. Gracious 5. Long-suffering 6.
insert out of this Iew because I know none other Author that can acquaint vs with the State of Bagded in the time of her chiefe flourishing before it was destroyed by the Tartars Thus haue wee giuen you a Chronographicall view of the ancient Chaliphaes with their first and greatest Conquests omitting the lesser and later as in the yeere 807. in Sardinia and Corsica in 826. in Creete 843. in Sicil and presently after in Italy ouer-running Tuscan and burning the Suburbes of Rome it selfe with the Churches of Peter and Paul 845. the next yeere in Illyria Dalmatia besides the taking of Ancona in 847. chased by Pope Leo from Ostia These with other their affaires of warre in Lucania Calabria Apulia at Beneuentum Genua Capua which Cities they tooke I passe ouer After this great bodie grew lubberly and vnweldie it fell vnder the weight of it selfe none so much as the Saracens ouerthrowing the Saracens as their Sects and Diuisions make plaine Neuerthelesse this dis-ioyning and disioynting notwithstanding their Religion euen still couereth a great part of the world For besides the triumphing sword of the Turke Persian Mogore Barbarian and other Mahumetan Princes such is the zeale of the superstitious Mahumetan that in places furthest distant this their Religion hath beene preached which they trade together with their Marchandize euen from the Atlantike Ocean vnto the Philippinaes It hath sounded in China it hath pierced Tartaria and although the name of Christian extendeth it selfe into so many Sects and Professions in the Countries of Asia Afrike and America besides Europe almost wholly Christians yet it is hard to say whether there bee not as many Disciples and Professors of this ridiculous and impious deuotion as of all those which giue their names to Christ in whatsoeuer Truth or Heresie Master Brerewood accounteth the Mahumetans more then the Christians in proportion of sixe to fiue Thus hath the Field and the Church stooped to Mahomet wee may adde more Saul among the Prophets learning hath flourished among the Mahumetans at first vnlearned and rude but enemies to learning in others Yea they sought to propagate their impious Mahometrie and extirpate the Christian truth by that pollicie of Iulian prohibiting all learning to their Christian subiects Such a decree of Abdalla A. 766. is recited by Theophanes When the Kings of Africa possessed Spaine they founded Vniuersities both at Marocco it is Scaligers report and in Spaine allowing yeerely stipends to the Professors And in those times was great ignorance of good learning in the Latine Church when good Disciplines flourished exceedingly amongst the Muhammedans Yea whatsoeuer the Latines writ after the industrie of the Arabians had acquainted them with their ignorance is wholly to be ascribed to the Arabians both their Philosophie Physicke and Mathematikes For they had no Greeke Author which was not first translated into Arabike and thence into Latine as Ptolomey Euclide and the rest till Constantinople being taken by the Turkes the Greeke Exiles brought vs backe to the Fountaines Iohn Leo testifies that many ancient Authors and great volumes are amongst them translated out of the Latine which the Latines themselues haue lost But now the Muhammedans are growne artlesse in Africa only in Constantinople may good Arabike Persian works be gotten by the helpe of the Iewes Lud. Viues saith That they translated Arabike out of the Latine but he was not so well able to iudge therof although he rightly ascribeth the corrupting of Arts to vnskilful translations and sheweth the difference of Abenrois or Auerrois his Aristotle as the Latins haue him from the Greeke But his inuectiue is too bitter in condemning all the Arabians as vnlearned doting and sauouring more of the Alcoran then of Art and the Spaniard might beare some grudge to that Nation which so many hundred yeeres had spoyled Spaine still leauing the fourth part of the Spanish Language as Scaliger testifieth thereof Arabike in monument of their Conquest Of their learned men were Auicen Auerrois Auempace Algazel c. Philosophers Mesue Rasis and many other Physicians and Astrologers mentioned in the Chronicles of Zacuthi Leo and Abilfada Ismael Geographers Cairaon Bagded Fez Marocco Corduba c. were Vniuersities of Saracen students But now Learning and Schooles are decayed and ruined euen as at first also it was amongst some of them little countenanced as appeareth by that Hagag in the 96. yeere of the Hegira who being Gouernor or King of Irak in his sicknesse consulted with an Astrologer Whether the Stars had told him of any Kings death that yeere he answered That a King should die but his name was Cani Whereupon Hagag remembring that at his birth his mother had imposed that name on him I shall die saith he but thou shalt go one houre before and presently caused his head to be smitten off An vnhappie Harbengership in regard of his Art an vnhappie Art which can better tell others Destinies then their owne But no maruell in Hagag who was fleshed in bloud that his Herodian Testament should bee thus bloudie who in his life had in that Median Prouince slaine an hundred and twentie thousand men besides fiftie thousand men and fourescore thousand women which perished in his imprisonments Baghdad which is also called Dar-assalam that is The Citie of Peace receiued that name of a Monke called Bachdad who as Ben-Casen writeth serued a Church builded in that Medow But Abu-Giapar Almansur the second Abassaean Chalipha who wanne it A. Heg. 150. named it Dar-assalam It is the Citie Royall of Mesopotamia now called Diarbecr which the said Almansur placed in a large Plaine vpon Tigris and diuided by the Riuer into two Cities ioyned by a Bridge of Boats This Citie built in this place Almansur ruled many yeeres and after him other Chaliphaes till the 339. yeere of the Hegira in which King Aadhd-eddaule and Saif-eddaule tooke it who with their Successours enioyed it till Solymus the Ottoman Emperour subdued and is now ruled by a Bascia with many Ianizaries But hereof Ahmad Abi Bacr of Bachdad in his Annals will shew you more This Citie is famous for Schooles of all Sciences both in former and the present time Here Ahmad Assalami a famous Poet wrote his Verses Here Alpharabius the renowned Philosopher and Physician borne at Farab in Turcomannia professed these studies publikely with great applause and leauing many of his Schollers in this Cities went to Harran of Mesopotamia where finding Aristotles Booke De Auditu hee read it fortie times and wrote vpon the Booke that he was willing againe to reade it Hence hee went to Damascus and there dyed A. H. 339. Thus Ben-Casem in his Booke De viridario Electorum Bochara is an ancient Citie vpon Euphrates in a Village belonging whereto Honain Ali Bensina whom the Latines call Auicenna was borne A. H. 370. Hee gaue himselfe to Physicke very young and was the first which became Physician to
Kings and Princes who before in that Countrey vsed no Physicians He published neere an hundred bookes manie of Physicke some of Philosophie a Dictionarie of Herbes and Stones Verses of the Soule c. He liued eight and fiftie yeeres and dyed in Hamadan He had runne thorow all Arts at eighteene Thus Ben-Casem But others affirme that a certaine Physician flourishing of great note vpon whom no praying nor paying could fasten a Disciple lest the secrets of his Art should bee made common the mother of Auicenna offers her sonne to doe him seruice in decoctions and other meaner offices which hee could not doe himselfe nor was there feare of danger from him whom nature had made deafe and therefore dumbe Hee made tryals and found Auicenna deafe as he thought and entertayned him who watched his times and transcribed his bookes and notes sending them closely to his Mother which after his mothers death hee published in his owne name Damascus is called of the Arabians Sciam and Demasc of the Syrians Darmsuc It is luxurious in Fruits of all kinds rich in Oliues and Yron of excellent temper by nature and so bettered by Art that no Helme or Shield can withstand it It is seated in a large Plaine at the roots of Libanas there called Hermon sixe miles in compasse double walled with a strong square Tower in the midst built by a Florintine beautified with Springs Market-places publike Buildings Meskits Bathes Canes and all sorts of like weauing and in all ancient times with Learning and learned men Here flourished Saint Damascen and heere Almotannabbi excelled in Arts and Armes emulous of Mahomet but not with like successe Hee was called Nabion that is The Prophet this Motannabbi that is Prophecying hee wrote the Alcoran elegantly and eloquently this excelled in Prose and Verse both had Followers but this mans Disciples after his death were disperst which hapned A. H. 354. Ben-Casem also relates that Mohamed Abi Abdillah professed Philosophie in this Citie and to dispute with all commers and wrote a huge Booke De vnitate existendi principiorum He dyed there A.H. 638. Aleppo is called of the Inhabitants Haleb the chiefe Mart of all the East frequented by Persians Indians Armenians and all Europians The Port is Scanderoone called by the Inhabitants Escanderuneh The soyle is very fertile and nourisheth abundance of Silke-wormes A.H. 922. Sultan Selim tooke it and found therein infinit wealth Sciarfeddin which wrote the Victories of the Othomans in two Tomes saith that it had of Gold and Siluer coyned 1150000. a mightie masse vncoyned Vests of cloath of Gold tissued or wrought with gold silk and scarlet aboue 300000. besides abundance of Gems Pearls And besides other wealth innumerable it had eight Armories well furnished It now flourisheth in the next place to Constantinople and Caito and may be called Queene of the East Here are store of Gems Amber Bengeoin Lignum Aloes and Muske which is taken from a little reddish beast beaten with many blowes on one place that the bloud may all come thither Then is the skin so swolne and full of bloud bound straight that the bloud may not issue and put into one or more bladders is dryed on a beasts backe till the bladder fall off of it selfe and that bloud after a moneth becomes excellent Muske At Aleppo was borne that great Grammarian Othaman Abu Homar surnamed Ben-ellhhageb which wrote Cafia and Sciafia of Grammer and dyed A. H. 672. CHAP. III. The Life of Mahumet Mahammed or Muhammed the Saracen Law-giuer §. I. Mahumets Life after the Histories of Christians THe life of Mahomet is at large described by diuers Authors but I finde it no where so fully as before the Alcaron in the Italian Edition the sum whereof and of the other reports touching the same is this Ismael was the first according to that Italian Author others ascribe it to Abraham that built the Temple at Mecca and hauing to wife an Egyptian Idolatresse had by her twelue sonnes which as he saith being dispersed in Arabia Persia Armenia sowed so many sorts of Religion and Chedar his second sonne placed in the Temple of his father vpon an high Tower called Alquibla an Idoll named Allech and Alleze instituting certaine cremonies and amongst the rest the sacrificing of a Ram in remembrance of that Ram which was presented to his grand-father Abram at the offering of Isaac Of Chedar descended Thebic and so in order Caab Numhib Almucaien Ahlucen Acaha Amubasca Amir Celif Nisca Abhimaistae Aadirem Scaad Mudhar Ilges Mudicita Hudhaifa Chinene Anascere Melich Phasce Paliff Lunai Cabnai Morta Chelef Facien Abdamanef Abdalmutalif Abdalla the supposed father of Mahomet his mothers name was Hennina or Hemina a Iewish as some write his father was an Ethnicke or Pagan Idolater His base condition and obscuritie was such that the Turkes themselues doubt whether he were an Arabian or Persian notwithstanding that genealogicall rabble Richerius reporteth that he was a Cyreuean by birth and that in the time of his minoritie or child-hood he was by some Plagiarie stolne away from his friends and sold to the Ismaelit-Marchants Others say that hee was abandoned both of father and mother and according to the cruell custome of that barbarous people sold to strangers From so base a beginning did this cunning Impostor and Seducer of the world arise to be the scourge of Princes and disturber of the world He was somewhat comely of person and of sharp wit and therefore was made ouer-seer of the businesse of Abdalmutalif his Master or as some say his Grand-father and traded for him in Soria Egypt and Persia and after his death inherited his goods continuing his trade of Marchandize with a great man of Corozan he succeeded him in his bed wealth by the marriage of his widdow Gadisa whom others call Adega the daughter of Hulert and that as some suspect not vnprobably by the helpe of Sorceries and Incantations With this widdow after shee was become his wife he liued in his wonted course of life thirteene yeeres and had by her one sonne and three daughters And by this meanes growne great he aspired higher assembling to himselfe a company of theeues vnthrifts and out-lawes which with him became voluntaries and aduenturers in the warres of the Emperour Heraclius against the Persians in which he valourously behaued himselfe and was wounded in the visage and Cosdroes the Persian King was ouercome After this Mahomet deuising further how to satisfie his ambitious desire of Soueraigntie met with occasion fitting those his aspiring designes The Arabians being denied their pay as is said raised a mutinie and rebellion these chose Mahomet to be their Captaine who vsed them as his instruments of robbery and violence about the countries of Mecca But the Nobles opposing themselues against him hee perceiuing that their power and authoritie would be a perilous rub in his way thought it his safest course to
when they haue wallowed a long time in lustfull pleasures shoot into the aire pieces of their flesh tyed to Arrowes and diuersly mangle themselues at last cut their owne throats so sacrificing themselues to the Pagode There are also certaine people called Amouchi otherwise Chiani which perceiuing the end of their life approach lay hold on their weapons which they call Chisse and going forth kill euery man they meet with till some body by killing them make an end of their killing They are loth it seemes to come into the Deuils presence empty-handed or to goe to Hell alone Some of them worship GOD in the likenesse of a Man some in the images of Kine and Serpents some inuoke the Sunne and Moone others some Tree or Riuer Among many Feasts which they celebrate in the yeere one in Autumne is most solemne in which they take some great tree and fasten it in the ground hauing first fashioned it like a mast of a Ship with a crosse-yard whereon they hang two hookes of iron And when any one by sicknesse or other miserie hath made a vow to their Idoll or Pagode hee commeth thither and being first admonished by the Priests to offer his sacrifice they lift him with those hookes by both the shoulders and there hold him to the Idoll till he hath three times saluted the same with clapping his folded hands to his breast and hath made some sport thereto with weapons which he hath in his hand After this he is let downe and the bloud which issueth from his shoulders is sprinkled on the Tree in testimonie of his deuotion Then they draw him vp againe by the middle to giue thankes to the Idoll and then giue him leaue to heale himselfe if he can They which are in great miserie or seeke some great matter at the hand of their Idoll doe this They haue another Feast celebrated in the night continuing eight nights in which many Candles were seene burning thorow the Citie Three or foure runne from one end of street to the other and hurling Rice and other meates after them say they offer it to the Deuill which followes them not daring to looke behind lest he should slay them In other places also they haue those Idol-chariots like vnto Towers to the drawing whereof many thousands of deuout persons put their helping-hand Anno 1598. there was a great contention whether the signe of Perimal should bee erected in the Temple of Cidambacham This signe was a gilded Mast with an Ape at the foot thereof Many Embassadors were there about this quarrell some vrging some resisting this deed But the Prince called the Naicho of Gingi would haue it set vp notwithstanding the Priests greatest vnwillingnesse The Priests therefore both regular which are the Iogues and secular Bramenes ascended vp the roofe of the Church and thence threatned to hurle downe themselues which twenty of the Iogues did and the rest threatned to follow But the Naicho caused Gunnes to be discharged at them which slue two and caused the rest to retire and breake their couenant rather then their necks with their fellowes A woman also of this faction cut her owne throat for zeale of this new superstition §. II. Of the Kings and Bramenes in this Kingdome THe swelling stile of this King of Bisnagar I thought worthie to be here inserted which is this The Husband of good fortune the God of great Prouinces King of the greatest Kings and God of Kings the Lord of horsemen the Master of them which cannot speake Emperour of three Emperours Conquerour of all he sees and Keeper of all he conquers Dreadfull to the eight coasts of the world Vanquisher of the Mahumetans c. Lord of the East West North and South and of the Sea c. Vencapadinus Ragiu Deuamaganus Ragel which now ruleth and gouerneth this world These Kings of Bisnagar haue as sayth Barrius a great part of the Westerne coast subject vnto them all betweene the riuers of Aliga and Cangerecora in which space are these coast Townes Ancola Agorapan Mergeu Onor a Royall Citie Baticala Bendor Bracelor Bacanor Carara Carnate Mangalor Mangliran Cumlata and Cangerecora From this Citie standing on a Riuer of the same name Southwards vnto the Cape Comori is reckoned the Malabar coast And although Goa and Calecut much hinder those his Ports yet to salute and shake hands with both Seas argues a great State specially where the adioyning are so small There are three Naichi or Tributary Kings subiect to Him such in power but in title Naichi that is Deputies or Presidents of Madura Gingi and Tanaior The Naicho of Madura is Lord of the Fishing coast The people are called Badagae and despise the Portugals because they drinke Wine eate Beefe and suffer themselues to be touched of the Pareae and carried on their shoulders For these in their Bramene zeale would not endure to touch or talke with the baser vulgar and their Bramenes would die rather then eate that which a Bramene had not dressed And therefore Robert Sforce a Iesuite comming amongst them professed himselfe of the Bramene or Rape bloud that is of Noble race procured a Bramene to dresse his meate abstained from Flesh Fish Wine and Egges after their Countrey manner and attired himselfe in the habite of a Sanasse one of their votaries and in pretence of chastitie stirred not out of his house in a whole yeere nor would be spoken with by euery one alleaging somtimes his deuouter conference with God so to winne credite with these Ethnikes He learned by conference with a Bramene that they maintayned that Philosophicall axiome that Nothing could be made of nothing and held three Beginnings or Vniuersall Causes the first Padi that is God the second Paiu the Matter of which they say the Soules are made the third Passan the Corporall matter They maintayned also the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Pythagorean passage of Soules out of one body into another for else say they how could there be such diuersitie of Men one a King another a Seruant one a Bramene another a Parea They are also Platonikes holding the Soule not to be the forme of the Body but enclosed therein as a Bird in a Cage The Bramenes weare ashes on their heads It seemes they are zealous Baneanes Their Saneasses are Asses indeed for literature only as Hermites they vow chastitie The Gorupi or Gorusi are the Doctors of their Law The Iesuites professed the Doctorship of these in the habite of the former which is a white Garment to the ankle with another of the same colour but thinner ouer it a red cloth cast ouer the shoulders one like a Cap or Hat on his head from his necke hangs downe a corde of fiue threeds three of gold and two of white silke they eate but once a day Their Bramenes haue a proper language and mysticall as Roman for the Romish holies called Gueredan which the Iesuite learned and thereby out of
their books that there had beene in these parts foure Lawes or Sects three of which the Bramenes still obserued to wit of Vesmu of Brama of Rubren the fourth meerely spirituall partly mixed with others and partly lost tending to the saluation of the Soule which he said that He brought now vnto them their Almes and Bodily chastisements without this not being effectuall to their saluation Any might learne and choose a Doctor for any of the other three but none was able to teach this When they become Schollers to such Doctors they doe a triple reuerence vnto the ground lifting vp their hands aloft then letting them downe to their heads and must like the Pythagoreans of old which was learned of the Indians rest satisfied with his Masters bare Assertion without questioning or further disputing He was once brought before a Consistorie of the Bramenes and accused for his new Doctrine Some Articles were That he should affirme that the washing in Remanancor and Ganges were to no effect That the Bramenes are inferior to the Raij or Princes That they should be all damned notwithstanding there were of them many Nhanisij and Sanasses the Nhanisij also vow chastitie and to forsake the World The President of this Councell cleered the Iesuite vpon the Apologie of another Bramene For that of Remanancor it is a corner of the Fishing Region wherein is a Temple famous through all the East which hee that shall visit and wash himselfe in the Sea iust by shall bee cleered from all his sinnes aswell as if it were done in Ganges Id Madura and the Territorie thereof are numbred a hundred thousand Bramenes the chiefe of which is Chocanada as their Bishop or Pope He would haue this Iesuite expelled the Countrie for that this Franke so euer since the Expedition to Ierusalem vnder Duke Godfrey of Bullen all Westerne Christians are called in all the East a name it seemes which the Saracens communicated to the Ethnikes had eaten with another Franke. Hee meant Fernandes another Iesuite that had not thus acted the Sanasse and Gurupi amongst them He alleadged also that His Temple was built in the ground of His Pagode But this Iesuite with Gold stopped this Bramenes mouth and had the soyle of the Church granted him in peace with promise of all fauour One thing that holds them intangled in this errour is that they hold it vnlawfull to copie out their Lawes and Religion in writing so that they which wil learne them must like the Druydes from their youth learne them of some Doctour and commit them to memorie in which they spend tenne yeeres and more And if any should write them they would pull out his eyes Emanuel Leitanus another Iesuite comming to Madura in the like Sanassian Habit obserued the Gorupian order and fell downe before Sforce to the ground Hee sitting in a Chaire couered with red because some of the Madurians were present The Bramenes in the Kingdome of Bisnaga are of such power that nothing is done without them and of the fiue Counsellours of State foure are Bramenes yea with their face to the earth all men and the King himselfe adore the Bramen-Pope nor doth the King admit any to conference in the morning before hee hath seene two Bramenes In Chandegrin is a Clocke that strikes not foure and twentie houres but sixtie and foure according to their diuision of the Night and Day each into foure parts and those subdiuided into eight The Iesuites conceiue that thefe Bramenes are of the dispersion of the Israelites and their Bookes called Sameseretan doe somewhat agree with the Scriptures but that they vnderstand them not They haue some propheticall phrases and some of them affirme that God made Adam the first man and being pressed acknowledge one God The King and his Nobles speak the learned and sacred tongue of the Bramenes Anno 1609. One of his Great men rebelling against him and fortifying the Castle of Vellur the King besieged him and on his submission pardoned him but so as hee turned his Fort which had stood the Rebell in an hundred thousand Crownes into a Palace besides twentie Fannes each worth an hundred thousand * Pardowes and innumerable Horses and Elephants The same yeere did the King write to the King of Spaine in commendation of the Iesuites with promise to assist the Vice-roy against the Moores and Hollanders which had obtained to build a Fortresse of the Naichus of Tanauapatan desiring the same friendship that since the King of Narsing as dayes had beene betwixt both their Ancestors subscribed King Ventacaxa Thus you see the same King diversly entituled according to the Citie Royall yea I finde him called of the castle before named King of Vellur so Floris stiles him saying that in Iune 1614. He granted trade to the English as likewise did Obiana Queene of Paleacatte One of his Wiue's which it seemes gouerned that Citie On Iuly the nine and twentieth his Abeskian was sent being a white cloth where his owne hand is printed in Sandall or Saffron and another the like from the Queene of Paleacatte The Kings Letter was written vpon a leafe of Gold wherein hee made excuse of former wrongs gaue them libertie to build a House or Fort with other priuiledges He gaue Floris the English Merchant a Towne of foure hundred Pardawes yeerely reuenue notwithstanding the Hollanders his Countrimen did what they could to hinder it Wâ—ngalâ— Floris his man had beene in the Kings presence who laid his hand vpon his head But on the eight and twentieth of October following newes came that this King was dead hauing raigned aboue fiftie yeeres His three wiues of which Obiana Queene of Paleacatte was one burned themselues with his corpse and great troubles were expected The Hollanders had presented this King with two Elephants of Seilan Cotabaxa the King of Badaya and Lellengana his Neighbour died not long before Mahmoud Vmin Cotabaxa his Brothers Sonne succeeded Musulipatan is in his Dominion Golconda is the Metropolitan Citie But hee is a Moore of the Sophi his Sect Golconda is the Citie Royall With the Naicho or King of Gingi vassall to the King or Emperour of Bisnagar the Iesuites found good entertainment Heere some of the Iogues distributed the water of Ganges out of certaine vessels couered with foule and filthie clothes which yet the people for deuotion kissed These Iogues with admirable patience endured the Sunnes heate and one among the rest enclosed himselfe in an Iron Cage with his head feet onely out of the Cage that he could neither sit nor lie downe at any time and on the Cage were hanged an hundred Lampes which foure other Iogues his companions lighted at certaine times And thus walked he in this his perpetuall Prison as a Light vnto the World in his vaine glorious opinion They reasoned with certaine Bramenes some of which held the Sunne for God and yet sometime to haue beene a man and for his merits so
these things let him reade the Booke of one Elefacni who writeth at large of the Mahumetan Sects whereof are threescore and twelue principall each mayntaining his owne for Truth and the way to Saluation Two are most predominant in these dayes that of Leshari in Africa Egypt Syria Arabia and Turkie and the other of Imamia in Persia and Corasan more lately broched Although I haue spoken before of the Saracen Sects yet could I not but follow Leo in his reports of them heere As for those Coniurers which by Art Magicke professe to find Gold which indeed lose Gold to find it and the Alchymists which seeking to turne other metals into Gold turne their Gold into other metals and the Bookes that both these haue of their Sciences likewise the Snake-charmers and other baser people I passe ouer In the Suburbs of Fez are an hundred and fifty Caues hewne out of excellent Marble the least of which will hold a thousand measures of Corne This is the sinke of Fez where euery one may be a Vintner and a Bawde Another Suburbe hath two hundred Families of Lepers which are there prouided for and all of that quality forced to keepe there In new Fez the Iewes haue a street wherein they haue their Houses Shoppes and Synagogues and are maruellously encreased since they were driuen out of Spaine They are Goldsmiths for the Mahumetans may not bee of that Trade because they say it is Vsury to sell things made of Gold or Siluer for more then their weight which yet is permitted to the Iewes They liue in exceeding contempt not being permitted to weare shooes but in stead thereof vse sockes made of Rushes They weare a blacke Turbant and if any will weare a Cap he must fasten a red cloth thereunto They payed to the King of Fez monethly in Leo's time one thousand and foure hundred Ducats The Mahumetan temporall Lords are not by their Law to hold any other reuenue then of euery subiect which possesseth an hundred Ducats two and a halfe for Tribute and of Corne the tenth measure yeerely Yea this is to be payed into the Patriarch or Califs hand who should bestow that which remayneth ouer and aboue the Princes necessitie on the common profit as for the poore and maintenance of Warres But now the Princes haue tyrannized further especially in Africa where they haue not left the people sufficient for their needments And therefore Courtiers are odious no lesse then the Publicans sometimes among the Iewes no man of credit vouchsafing to inuite them to their Tables or receiue gifts from them esteeming all their goods theft and bribery Nor may any Mahumetan Prince weare a Diademe which yet it seemes is now broken In Gualili a Towne of Mount Zarhon is Idris of whom before is spoken buried all Barbary religiously visiteth his Sepulchre Pharao is the name of a Towne by the vulgar supposed the worke of Pharao which fond conceit grew from a Booke entituled The Booke of the words of Mahomet taken out of an Author called Elealbi which sayth with Mahomets testimony that there were foure Kings which ruled all the World Two faithfull and two vnfaithfull the two former Salomon and Alexander Magnus the two later Nimrod and Pharao The Latine Inscriptions there seene shew it was the worke of the Romans In Piatra Rossa a Towne by the Lyons are so tame that they will gather vp bones in the streets the people not fearing them The like Lions are in Guraigura where one may driue them away with a staffe At Agla the Lions are so fearefull that they will flee at the voice of a child whence a Coward Braggart is Prouerbially called a Lion of Agla Shame is the name of a Castle so called of their shamefull couetousnesse which when they once requested the King then entertained amongst them to change he consented But the next morning when they had brought him vessels of Milke halfe filled vp with water hoping the King would not perceiue it hee said that none could alter nature and so left them and their name to them §. IIII. Of the fiue other Prouinces of this Kingdome and some later Obseruations WE haue now passed two Prouinces of the Kingdome of Fez the third is named Azgar which hath the Riuers Buragrag on the West Bunasar on the South the Ocean on the North and Eastward the Mountaines Here standeth Casar Elcabir which King Mansor gaue to a poore Fisher who had giuen him kinde entertainment in his Cottage one night when he had lost his company in hunting In it are many Temples one Colledge of Students and a stately Hospitall Habat the fourth Prouince or Shire of this Kingdome is next hereunto and contayneth almost an hundred miles in length and fourescore in breadth Ezaggen a Towne of Fez are permitted by an ancient Priuiledge of the Kings of Fez to drinke Wine not withstanding Mahomets prohibition Arzilla sayth Leo was taken by the English then worshippers of Idols about nine hundred yeeres after Christ The Religion I thinke deceiues him He addes that the Towne remayned without habitation thirty yeeres and then one of the Mahumetan Patriarches of Cordoua then Lord of Mauritania reedified it Of the acts of the English is not vnworthy the rehearsing That Seut or Ceuta there written Sunt was taken by the Portugals through the assistance of English Merchants Anno 1415. Iulian the Earle of Seut brought the Moores first into Spaine in the yeere of the Hegesra 92. In it were many Temples Colledges and learned men Errif begins at the Straits of Gibraltar and stretcheth Eastward to the Riuer Nocer an 140. miles The Inhabitants are valiant but are excessiue drinkers Mezemme and Bedis or Velles de Gumera are chiefe Townes in it On Mount Beni Ierso was built a faire Colledge and the Mahumetan Law publikely taught therein the Inhabitants therefore freed from all exactions A Tyrant destroyed this Colledge and slue the learned men The Books therein were valued worth foure thousand Ducats This was Anno 1509. In Mount Beni Guazeual is a hole that perpetually casteth vp fire Wood cast in is suddenly consumed to ashes some thinke it Hel-mouth In Mount Beni Mesgalda were mayntained many Mahumetan Doctors and Students which would perswade the people to drinke no wine which themselues will not abstaine from Garet the sixt Shire of this Kingdome lyeth betweene the Riuers Melulo and Muluia The seuenth is Chauz reputed the third part of the Kingdome betweene the Riuer Zha and Guruigara Herein standeth Tezza adorned with Colledges Temples and Palaces A little Riuer springing out of Atlas runnes thorow the chiefe Temple which is greater then that at Fez There are three Colledges and many Bathes and Hospitals Each Trade dwelleth by themselues as at Fez I was acquainted saith Leo with an aged Sire in this Citie reputed a Saint and enriched exceedingly with the peoples offerings From Fez did the people resort to visit him with their offerings which is fiftie miles he
haue added to this Armes a Crosse which the Lion holdeth in his right foot And in this right they lay challenge to Ierusalem for their Inheritance Now for the fragment of the Table which Moses brake it is receiued for a truth throughout Ethiopia and it is still preserued in the Hill Amara as the greatest Iewell in the World Baltasar had often seene and handled it It seemeth to be of the Chalcedonie stone shining and transparent and is a corner of a square Table the broken edges yet being manifest with the letters some broken some whole much differing from the common Hebrew which Genebrard sayth the Iewes inuented thereby to differ from the Schismaticall Kingdome of the Israelites of the ten Tribes the Samaritans still retayning the former as both hee and Scaliger affirme But these letters cannot bee read for hee brought a learned Iew skilfull in all the Easterne Languages Persian Arabike Indian Chinois c. yet knew them not This relique is with such deuotion admired of the Iewes that when they passe but within sight of that Hill Amara they prostrate themselues on the ground with reuerence and for this cause make much of the Ethiopians wheresoeuer they meete them as a people beloued of God to whom he hath imparted such a Relique They tell also a tale I thinke so likewise of the former of the Queene of Saba that in her iourney homewards she had a reuelation concerning a piece of Wood which shee saw that it should bee the same whereon Christ should after die for Mankind wherefore adoring the same with much deuotion and teares she wrote to Salomon thereof who hid it in the earth foure Stades where the Poole of Bethesda was made afterwards and by vertue thereof wrought Miracles But the Ethiopian Superstition hath Fables enough of her owne and needeth not the officious helpe of Romish Saints in this kind As for that succession of Iewish Officers Luys denyeth it himselfe therefore denyed by later examiners and sayth the Iewes are no where more hated then in Ethiopia and Alexander the Third late Emperour among them banished all Iewes and Mores out of all his Dominions The Officers of the Emperour are sayth hee the Sonnes of the Tributary King his Vassals and the noblest of his subiecti And for the Iewes which came with Meilech or Meilelec after called Dauid his next successor Lofu so hee calleth him becomming an Apostata reduced Idolatry and whereas Dauid his Father had giuen them one of the Temples dedicated to the Sunne in mount Amara to make it an house of Prayer to the God of Israel casting forth the Idols therein now in this Iosues dayes some of them returned to Ierusalem or to other Prouinces of Africa and some inhabited the vtmost parts of Africa neere the Cape of Good Hope and Desarts not before inhabited And the said Don Iuan de Baltasar being sent by the Emperour into the Lands of Monopopata so he calleth it and of Galofes of Barbizin of Mandinga and of Zape which are inhabited of Idolatrous Gentiles hee found among them some of these Iewes descended of that exiled stocke as themselues also hold which had forgotten their Iudaisme and all knowledge of the Scriptures onely had retained some reliques of it and abstinence from Swines flesh differing also from those Gentiles in worshipping one God whereas the other acknowledge One great God whom they call Caramus but worship also Tigres Lions Flyes Spiders Snakes Lizards and whatsoeuer first meete them in the morning These Gentiles call the Iewes Tabayqueros and will not admit them to purchase houses or inheritance but eyther vse them as Interpreters or Factors for Merchants which is the higest step they can attaine to or else to employ them in base drudgeries to be their porters slaughter-men and such like that they seeme rather slaues to those barbarous Nations then to enioy any liberty of freemen Rightly may those Nations hee called Barbarous which seeme rather to barke then to speake and yet they scorne that any should abase them with the basest of titles in their opinion to call them Tabayquero and reuenge it with the death of the wrong doer But I feare me our Frier will be found a Lyer howsoeuer I am forced to relate many things out of him hauing written so largely of this Ethiopian subiect with such boldnesse and pretending such assurance from reports of that Balthasar as if no doubt were to be made of his assertions CHAP. III. Of PRESBYTER IOHN and of the PEIEST-IOHNS in Asia whether that descended of these HAuing now declared the antiquities of Ethiopia drawne out of ancient Authors let vs neerer hand behold what neerer our times Others haue reported thereof Wherein first we will heere insert out of Scaligers annotation vpon the Ethiopian Ecclesiasticall Calendar or Computation of times somewhat remarkeable and fitting to our present purpose The name sayth hee of the Christian Ethiopians is not now first made knowne to vs For their Church not onely at Ierusalem and Constantinople but at Rome also and Venice hath had liberty a good while to vse their owne Rites The Portugals and Francis Aluares haue further discouered them Before we onely heard the name of Ethiopia A wonder it is that some ages since their Emperours name was made knowne to vs out of Asia rather then out of Ethiopia it selfe Three hundred yeeres agoe the Ethiopian Kings reigned in Asia especially in Drangiana the borders of Susiana India and China vntill the Tartars dispossessed them of the Asian Empire For Cingis first the first Tartar King slue Vncam the Ethiopian Emperour and his Posteritie chased the Abissines out of Moin and China and forced them to flee into Africa Often haue I maruelled that a people of no knowledge in these times of Sea-affaires could atchieue so mightie exploits as to propagate their Empire from Ethiopia to China Since that time the knowledge of that Emperour hath come to vain the name of Prestegiano which in the Persian tongue as much now of reckoning in Asia as the Latine in the West signifieth Apostolike inferring thereby that he is a Christian King of the right faith For Prestegan signifieth Apostles and Prestegani Apostolicall Padescha Prestigiani the King Apostolicall in Arabian Melich ressuli in Ethiopian Negusch Chawariawi Of this greatnesse of their Empire in Asia are witnesses those Ethiopian Crosses which are seene in Giapan China and other places Yea the Temple of Thomas the Apostle in the Region of Man labar hath nothing in it but is Ethiopian the crosses building and name it selfe It is called Hanarija which in Ethiopian is as much to say as Apostle which Marcus Paulus falsly expoundeth a Holy man This name in the Author seemeth to be giuen not to the Church but to the Apostle himselfe Paulus addeth that the remainder of the Christians subiect to Prestegian aboue in Teaduch The neighbouring Arabians call them now Habassi and wee from thence Abissines
3. n Plinie Choul c. o Drusius addeth another reason of the name Hammon the Egyptian name of the Sunne Iupiter idem qui Sol saith Arnobius and Minutius Foelix quaest. heb. lib. 3. p Peucer de Diuinat q Strab. 17. r Plut. de defec Orac. Å¿ Ierem. 10.11 t Diod. Sic. lib. 3. cap. 5. u Curt. ibidem Pompon Mela. Plin. Solin c. x Our Bathes in England as some affirme are hotter in the night then in the day Lucret. lib. 6. y Pausan lib. 3. z In Typo Expeditionis , Al. Mag. a Pub. Ouid. b Seu. Sulpit. Dialog Filesaecus de Paroec Orig. cap. 4. c Procop de Bel. Pers lib. 1â— d Io. Boem. G Draudius in Solinum Caelius Rhod. lib. 18. cap. 38 e The like doth Villamont report of the Turkes B. Aldrete Ant. Var. lib. 4. * Leo. lib. 1. * Maginus * Ios. Scal. Ep. ad Casaub Nic. Nic. was there present b Leo lib. 5. c Bugia an Vniuersitie d Suidas Aldrete Dion l. 43. e Nic. Nicolay lib. 1. f Vrbs Carthago peninsulae ad figuram accedens binc mari inde lacu maxima sui parti cingitur Isthmus quo Africae iungitur patet stadia 25. Itaque est in huius spatii latere quod vergit ad mare Vtica modico ab vrbe interuallo in alterâ— secundam lacum est Tunis Polyb. hist ib. 1. cap. 37. g Bell. Iugurth h Poeni quasi Phoeni. i P. Oros l. 4. cap. 22. k There were in Carthage the Temples of Iuno Memoria Apollo Silius addeth of Elisa and of Venuc Coelestis or Vrania the Phoenician Astroarche Syria Dea. l Of the Punike warres and greatnesse the Romane Histories are full so also Polybius and others among the Greekes Erant tunc temporis Carthaginensium imperio subiectae omnes Africae prouinciae admare nostrum fitae à Philanorum ara qua est è regione maioris Syrtis ad Columnas vsque Herculis quod spatium vltra 16000. staÌ„durum patet Iidem freto ad colummas traiecto omnem â—ram Hispaniae subegerant vsque ad Pyrenaeos Polyb. hist lib 3. cap. 39. c Modii d Polyb. l. 3. c. 11 seq 〈◊〉 translatione Casauboni Romani histo iâ—ifâ—re omnes haec penè e Cunctator f Stad in Idorum g Hannibal in Italia semper superior quòd nisi domi ciuium fuarum inuidiâ aebilitatus esset Romanos videtur superare potuisse Aemil. Probus in Hannibale h Lib. 2. cap. 15. i Osor l. 4 c. 23. k Prosperitate ac securitate rerum corruptis moribus plus nocuisse monstretur tam cita euersa quam prius nocuerat tamdiuaduersa Carthagô August de Ciuit. Dei li 3. c. 21. l Leo lib. 5. m Ap. Hak. n Ramus sheweth by a comment also of a Portugal Pilot that this was but coasting the West part of Africke c. o Dio. Sic. l. 5. c. 7 p Gen. Chron. q Dom. Nig. r Postel de Originib Å¿ Scal ad Eus Chron. Brere de Pond Scal. proleg ad Em. T. ed. vlt. * Exposinch at ad Rom. Salust Iugurth a Alex. ab Alex. Gen. dier l. 6. c. 4 b Aelian l. 14. c. 25. c Dom. Niger Perfidi Poeni prouerb See l. 1. c. 18. d Marcel in verb. Puell vid. Lactant. l 1. c. 21 Cyrill adu Iul. l. 4. Euseb de praep. l. 4 Tert. Apologet. e Sar. l. 3. f Suidas g Aug. in Psal. 98. h See Ortel in Parergo i George Braun hath described this and Algier c. in Ciuit. Orb. Ter. k Leo. l. 5. l Sleid.. Com. l. 9. Fr. Sur. Com. Doglioni m De hac expeditione Diarium scripsit Ioan. Etrobius n Surius Com. o Knolles p. 902 i Leo l. 5. k Maginus a Mucas or Muza b Io. Vasaeus Chron. Hispan Rod. Tolet l. 3. 19. c Rod. Lantius hist Hi. p. 2. c. 37. Alfons à Carthagena c. 44. Fr. Tarapa Magorn c. d Leo l. 2 e Surius Comment f Pofiel de Orig. a Plin. l. 5. c. 20. b Solin c. 36. Draudius Martin del Rio. c Io. Leo l. 5. d Nic. Nicolay l. 1. c. 18. G. Bot Ben. Of Tripolis read T. Sanders in Hak. to 2. p. 1. e Lhasis f Leo. l. 1. g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bas Ep. a Io. Leo. l. 4. Maginus Boter Dom. Niger Strab. l. 17. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obscurus c Arias Mont. in apparatu Tremel Iun. d Salust bell Iugurth e Vitruuius l. 8 , cap. 2. f Ortel Thesaur g Cornel. Tacit. hist l. 2. h Victor Persecutionis l. 3. i Plin. l. 5. c. 1. 2. k Caesar Comm. de bello ciuili Africano l. 5. Oresius l. 6. c. 16. R. Volater l. 12. l Procop. de bello Persico Vandilico l. 4. m Pauli Diaconi Iustianus o Procop. Eadem Coelius Rhodig l. 18. b. 38. Suidas saith that they were bold and fought fleeing and returning vpon aduantage like as we read of the Parthians p In Epistola ad Solomonem q Leo l. 4. r Anno 1515. Å¿ Monst Cosmog lib. 6. t Knolls p. 625. u Surij Comm. in Annum 1534 P. Iouius lib. 33. * Knolls saith fortie sunke an hundred threescore and one Gallies and sixtie Galliots taken pag. 883. Michael Isselt Com in An. 1571 a King Iames in his Poem of Lepanto b Io. Leo l. 4. c It hath now eiâ—htie thousand persons as Boterus affirmeth and by report now exceedes d This was Hâ—riaden the Turkish Admirall e Nic. Villagagnon de bac expedit Surii Comm. in Anno 1541. Of Charles his African exploits see Iouius Etropius Caluetus Stella Nic. Mameranus c. f Algier is described by G.B. in his Ciu. Vrb Ter. g Gi. Bot. Ben. d A rich Heremite i Oran k Tegdemt l Cateches Mystagogic P. G. m Pirats of these two Pirats there is a speciall Treatise set forth 1609. n Many English Christians vnworthy either of these names turn from that faith which they neuer had but in profession to professe themselues for hell Turkish o Knolls a Ptol. l 4. c. 8. b Plinie calls this Riuer Maluana c Dom. Nig. Aph. Com. 1. d Gi. Bot. Ben. e Plin. l. 5. c. 2 . f Silius lib. 1 . g Pompon Mela lib. 1. cap. 5. cum Oliuarii annot. h Natal Comes Mythol l. 7. c. 2. i Some say threescore and ten and that Sertorius found him in his sepulchre of that length I can easily beleeue both alike k Lib. 7. cap. 7. l Chronologie and Geographie are the two eyes of Historie Chytraeus m Dom. Niger Com. Aph. 1. n Vict. Vticensis Persecutionis Vand. o Procop. de Bello Vand. p Dion Halicar lib. 1. Muust Cosin l. 6. q Theatrum Arnoldi Mermannii r Io. Leo lib. 3. Gi. Bot. Ben. Maginus m Seges est vbi Troia fuit a Fez signifieth Gold in Arabike and so doth Phaz in Hebrew Vide Leo Sanut c. b Elsewhere called Fatima c Of
this : read our third book the difference seemeth to be more in names then truth The sweet situation of Fez a This compasse is to bee vnderstood of all the Buildings b Braccia di Toscania c Bells were first found and founded Anno 870. by Vrâ—us Duke of Vâ—nice Plonâ— Vagetii spicilegia d Vn hora digierno * This may be reckoned as old Rent with vs which now may bee exceedingly improued for Leo wrote this An. 1526. * Bellona enemie to the Muses * Infamous Inne-keepers a The man neuer seeth his Bride before Marriage but sends his Mother or some other Woman to see her and vpon that report agreeth with the Father b These tables are boords like Horn-bookes when one lesson is learned that is wiped out and another written so throughout the Alcoran till all bee learned a A female filthinesse b Anabaptisticall fancies in Fez c Vide l. 3. c. 7. d Gold-finders and Alchymists A note for Vsurers Tame Lions m T. Walsingham hist Hen. c. 5. a Bodiu Method cap. 4. Ant. Poss de hist Aoparat lib. 16. ser 7. cap. 2. b Historie of Barbarie Ro. C. * Boter part 1. Maginus Sanutus lib. 3. a Cordouan leather of Moracco b Leo part 2. Homar a Preacher Tyrant and Saint * Karraim Scripture-Iewes Sus. Huge Whale-bones Marocco * An. Dom. 1526. * Cael. Sec. Curio de regno Mar. p. 356. a Leo reckons them in this Order Abdul Ioseph Mansor Iacob Mansor , and this Mahomet Enasir whereas Curio-seemes to insinuate a longer line of posteritie these being all directly and immediatly succeeding b Curios fault arising from confounding the Histories of Abed Ramon and Abdul Mumen which liued ome Centuries or yeres after the former c Rod Tol de rob Hispan lib. 8. cap. 10 s d Lib 7. cap 6. e Lib. 8. cap. 10 f Mat Par. in Ichan p 2 3. a The end of the Raigne of Marins b Ro. C. his Historie of Barbary cap. 1. c The Turkes fingers haue itched to bee dealing with these parts euer since Solymans time and haue therfore willingly entertayned all occasions to effect their ambitious designes Nic. Honiger d Michal ab Isselt continuatio Surii in An. 1575 1578. e Io Thom. Freigius hist de caede Sebast f Nic Doglioni Compendio Hist. part 6. g G. Wilkins cals him Mully Mahomet h Edmund Hogan in Makluyt tom 2. part 2. * Henry Roberts Hak. ih p. 119. b Ro. C. his Historie of Barb. c G. W. d Carauan is a company of Merchants going together with their goods and beasts e Madoc Hack. f Bern. let Marocco 1600. g G. Wilk miseries of Barbarie * Of these warres and the Genealogie of this Seriffian Family see Laur. Bayerlincki opus Chron. to 2. in An. 1603. a He hath also diuers other Cities Tanger Seuia c. in those parts b The Moores call their protection or defence a Horne as is vsuall in the Scriptures c The Letter of R. S. since printed May 10. d R. S. saith that he foretold three should goe off without harme the rest should take siâ—â— but not goe off so it fell out e In the first Edition of this Booke See of this King A. Iansen Gaellobelg 1612. f R. S. lit Sasi who was with him foure dayes g G. B. letter h Ianson Gallob M. Fanister and principally M. Ioseph Keble then in Barbary i Side is as much as Dominus Lord or Master a title giuen to their Religious k Fiftie miles from Marocco f Thei fights are sleight in Barbary they discharge not their Peeces aboue twice then the greatest cry Hyrla Hyrla c. makes the other side runne away a Hanged vp by the hands and weights hanged at their priuie members also Limon peeles dipped in Oile and fired then dropped on their naked backes c. 1616. b Leo l. 2. c The Mountaines of Marocco d Carraim Iewes Leo an Ambassadour * G. Wilk Miseries of Barbarie * Chronol Aug. P. Diacon Zonar Constant P. Diac. Leont G B. B. 3. part lib. 2. * Const Parphyrogenitus de administr imperio ex Theophanis historia cap. 25. * Ios. Scal Can. Isagog l 3 Chalipha est Vicarius quo nomine â—â— cati sunt qui Muhammedem rerum potiti â—â—â—t , qui d u nis humanis praeessent * About two hundred yeers after the death of Mahomet all Barbarie was infected with that pestilence Leo lib. 1. * Ro. C. Historie of Barbarie b Leo lib. 1. c The generall vices of the Africans cha 8. * Ant Gueuara Epistol. Io. de Barras Asiae dec. 1. lib. 1. d Some will haue this Qualid or Vlit to be the Miralmuminin of Africa a Maraunian whom Leo maketh the Easterne Calipha e G. B.B hist Sar. lib. 1. a See 3. part Th. Pol. pag. 163 b Dec. 1. l. 1. Asia c Bagdet was built long after this time d In two yeres space it is said that there perished in those Spanish wars 700000. people e An. Do. 1110. f Don. Henry Earle of Loraine L. Ma. Siculus l. 7. de rebus Hisp L. And. Ressend de Ant. Lusic l. 4 he in a proeme to K. Sebast.. entitleth him Africus Atlaticus Aethiopicus Arabicus Perficus Indicus Taeprobanicus c. g Osor de reb. gestis Emanuel h Tutuan Asaphi Castellum regale Azamor Titium Mazagam c. Deam à Gates i Barrius Osorius Maffaeus L. Marmol l. 9. Arthus Dantiscanus P. Gatric lib. 3. k Lib. 6. cap. 1. l L. Marmolius Sanutus one of the exactest diuiders of Africa l. 1. parteth Libya into 7. desarts and Numidia into the 4. Lands of Tesset Segelmes Zel and Biledulgerid m Leo lib. 1. n Ptol. l. 4. Plin. l. 5. c. 3. P. Mela l. 1. c. 6. Oliuarius in Melam Cael. Rhod. l. 18. c. 38. * Mermannis Theatrum a Leo lib. 6. See of the Palme more fully Sup. c. 5. b Bicri an African Cosmographer his errour c Plin. lib. 5. d Strab. l. 17. Ortel Thesaurus e L. Coruini Geograph f Herodot l. 3. g Niger Aph. Com. 3 h Isid Orig. l. 6. i Alexand. ab Alex. l. 6. c. 4. k Coel. Rhodig l. 12. c. 2. l G. Bot. Ben. p. 1 lib. 3. Maginus m Leo lib. 1. n A. Cadamosto a Maginus Gi. Bot. Ben. b Io. Leo lib. 7. c Cadamosto d Ortel Ramusius c. e Ortelius and others in their Maps make Senaga and Gambra to be armes or mouthes of Niger Sanutus thinkes it to be Rio Grande Leo alleag th the opinion of some which thinke it to come from Nilus by some vnder-earth passage The truth is vncertaine the angry Desarts not admitting due search m Leo lib. 7. n Anno 1526. o Ric. Rainolds Hack. Iarric Thes. Rer. Indic tom 3. l. 1. c. 44. Ialophi p Tombuto Tangos maos Ala and Brocall Men mutire nefas nec clam nec cum Scrobe Pers Sat. 1. Madingae