and some mens Expensiveness therein together with the woful and dreadful Consequences of it 397 Chap. 20. Of the oversights of some Persons of great Abilities and their Imprudence in their Speeches or affairs 398 Chap. 21. Of the Dangerous and Destructive Curiosity of some men 400 Chap. 22. Of the Ignorance of the Ancients and others 401 Chap. 23. Of the Slothfulness and Idleness of some men 403 Chap. 24. Of the blockish Dulness and Stupidity of some Persons 404 Chap. 25. Of the Treacherous and Infirm Memories of some men and what injuries have been done thereunto through Age Diseases or other Accidents 406 Chap. 26. Of the Absurd and strange Follies of divers men 407 Chap. 27. Of such as have been at vast expences about unprofitable attempts and wherefrom they have been enforced to desist or whereof they have had small or no benefit 409 Chap. 28. Of false Accusers and how the Accused have been acquitted 410. Chap. 29. Of Perjured Persons and how they have been punished 412 Chap. 30. Of the Inconstancy of some men in their nature and disposition 414 Chap. 31. Of the Covetous and Greedy Disposition of some men 416 Chap. 32. Of the Tributes and Taxes some Princes have Imposed upon their Subjects 418 Chap. 33. Of Cheats and the extraordinary boldness of some in their Thefts 420 Chap. 34. Of Persons of base Birth who assumed the names of illustrious persons 424 Chap. 35. Of the huge Ambition of some men and their Thirst after Soveraignty 425 Chap. 36. Of the great desire of glory in some Noble and other Ignoble Persons 429 Chap. 37. Of the intollerable Pride and haughtiness of some Persons 426 Chap. 38. Of the Insolence of some men in Prosperity and their abject Baseness in Adversity 431 Chap. 39. Of the vain-glorious Boasting of some men 433 Chap. 40. Of the unadvised Rashness and Temerity of some Persons 443 Chap. 41. Of such Persons as were discontented in their happiest Fortunes 434 Chap. 42. Of Litigious Persons and bloody Quarrels upon slight occasions 436 Chap. 43. Of such as have been too fearful of Death and over desirous of Life 437 Chap. 44. Of the gross Flatteries of some men 404 Chap. 45. Of such as have been found guilty of that which they have reprehended or disliked in others 441 Chap. 46. Of such Persons as could not endure to be told of their Faults 442 Chap. 47. Of the base Ingratitude of some unworthy Persons 444 Chap. 48. Of the Perfidiousness and Treachery of some men and their Iust Rewards 447 Chap. 49. Of Voluptuous and Effeminate Persons 451 Chap. 50. Of the Libidinous and unchaste Life of some Persons and what Tragedies have been occasioned by Adulteries 452 Chap. 51. Of the Incestuous Loves and Marriages of some men 453 Chap. 52. Of such as have been warned of their approaching Death who yet were not able to avoid it 455 Chap. 53. Of such as have unwittingly or unwarily procured and hastned their own Death and Downfal 458 Chap. 54. Men of unusual Misfortunes in their Affairs Persons or Families 459 Chap. 55. Of the Loquacity of some men their inability to retain intrusted Secrets and the Punishment thereof 461 The FIFTH BOOK CHap. 1. The Succession of the Roman and Western Emperors 463 Chap. 2. Of the Eastern Greek and Turkish Emperors 469 Chap. 3. Of the Bishops and Popes in Rome and their Succession 493 Chap. 4. Of such men as have been the Framers and Composers of Bodies of Laws for divers Nations and Countries 482 Chap. 5. Of Embassadors what their Negotiations and after what manner they have behaved themselves therein 484 Chap. 6. Of such as were eminent Seamen or Discoverers of Lands or Passages by Sea formerly unknown 486 Chap. 7. Of the Eloquence of some men and the wonderful power of perswasion that hath been in their Speeches and Orations 488 Chap. 8. Of the most Famous Greek and Latin Historians 489 Chap. 9. Of the most Famous and Ancient Greek and Latine Poets 492 Chap. 10. Of Musick the strange efficacy of it and the most famous Musicians 496 Chap. 11. Of such as by sight of the Faâ—e could judge of the Inclinations Manners and Fortunes of the Person 497 Chap. 12. Of the Painters in former Times and the Principal Pieces of the best Artists 491 Chap. 13. Of the most eminent Artists for making of Statues and Images in Clay Marble Ivory Brass c. 493 Chap. 14. Of the most applauded Acters upon Theaters and the Name Riches and Favour of Great Persons they have thereby attained unto 494 Chap. 15. Of men notably practised in Swimming and how long some have continued under water 504 Chap. 16. Of the most famous Philosophers Academicks Stoicks Cynicks Epicureans and others 505 Chap. 17. Of the most Famous Printers in several Places 510 Chap. 18. Of such men as were of unusual Dexterity in shooting with the Bow or otherwise 510 Chap. 19. Of the Hereticks of former Ages and the Heresies maintained by them 511 Chap. 20. Of the most Famous Magicians Witches and Wizards and their mutual Contests their Diabolical Illusions and Miserable Ends. 515 Chap. 21. Of the Primitive Fathers and Doctors of the Church 518 The SIXTH BOOK CHap. 1. Of Dreams and what have been revealed to some Persons therein 545 Chap. 2. Of such Presages as have been to divers Persons and Places of their good and evil Fortune also of Presages by men to themselves or others by casual Words or Actions 549 Chap. 3. Of the Famous Predictions of some men and how the Event has been conformable thereunto 554 Chap. 4. Of several Illustrious Persons abused and deceived by Predictions of Astrologers and the equivocal Responses of Oraracles 558 Chap. 5. Of the Magnificent Buildings sumptuous and admirable Works of the Ancients and those of later Times 561 Chap. 6. Of the Libraries in the World their Founders and Number of Books contained in them 564 Chap. 7. Of such Persons who being of mean and low Birth have yet attained to great Dignity and considerable Fortunes 566 Chap. 8. Of Wonderful and sudden Changes in the Fortunes and Conditions of many Illustrious Persons 569 Chap. 9. Of such as have left Places of highest Honour and Employment for a private and retired condition 575 Chap. 10. Of Persons advanced to Honour through their own Subtlety some Accident or for some slight occasion 577 Chaap 11. Of sundry Customs that were in use and force with different Nations and People 580 Chap. 12. Of the several things that the several Persons and Nations have set apart and worshipped as their Gods 584 Chap. 13. Of the manner of Food which hath been or is yet in use amongst divers Nations and People or Persons addicted to some Idolatrous Sect. 588 Chap. 14. Of some Persons that have abstained from all manner of Food for many years together 589 Chap. 15. Of such as refused all Drink or to tast of any liquid thing or else found no need thereof 591 Chap. 16. Of
might be truly said of him that which hath been applyed to others that he was a living Library or a third University Upon occasion of some Writings which passed to and fro betwixt him and Dr. Gentilis then our Professour of the Civil Laws he publickly confess'd that he thought Dr. Raynolds had read and did remember more of those Laws than himself though it were his Profession 17. Carmidas a Grecian or Carneades as Cicero and Quintilian call him was of so singular a memory that he was able to repeat by heart the contents of most Books in a whole Library as if he had read the same immediately out of the Books themselves 18. Portius Latro had so firm a memory by nature and that so fortified by art it was at once so capacious and tenacious that he needed not to read over again what he had written it sufficed that he had once wrote it and though he did that with great speed yet did he in that time get it by heart Whatsoever he had entrusted with his memory in this kind could never be erased whatsoever he had once pronounced without Book he still remembred Enjoying the happiness of such a Memory he needed not the assistance of Books he gloried that he wrote down all in his mind and what he had there written he ever had in such readiness that he never stumbled at the calling to mind of any one word He spake as if he had read out of a Book if any man propos'd the name of any great General such a Memory had he as to History that immediately he could recount all that he had done and would relate his exploits in such a manner not as if he repeated what he had before read but as if he read what he had newly written 19. The Memory of the famous Iewel Bishop of Salisbury was rais'd by Art and Industry to the highest pitch of Humane Possibility for he could readily repeat any thing that he had penn'd after once reading of it And therefore usually at the ringing of the Bell he began to commit his Sermons to heart and kept what he learn'd so â—irmly that he used to say That if he were to make a Speech premeditated before a thousand Auditors shouting or fighting all the while yet could he say whatsoever he had provided to speak Many barbarous and hard names out of a Kalender and fourty strange words Welsh Irish c. after once reading or twice at the most and short meditation he could repeat both forwards and backwards without any hesitation Sir Francis Bacon reading to him only the last clauses of ten lines in Erasmus his Paraphrase in a confused and dismembred manner he after a small paâ—se rehearsed all those broken parcels of sentences the right way and the contrary without stumbling 20. Petrarch speaks of a certain Soldier a friend of his and his companion in many a Journey that he had such a Memory that though he was afflicted with publick and private calamities which are wont either to destroy or at least to disturb and weaken the Memory he could yet faithfully retain all that he had seen or heard even to the observation also of the time and place wherein the thing was said or done he was most desirous of And those things which he had heard many times before if they were again spoken of and that any thing was added or diminished he was able to correct it By which means it came to pass that while he was present Petrarch was the more cautious and circumspect in speaking 21. Ierome of Prague the same that was burnt alive in the Council of Constance had it appears a most admirable Memory whereof Poggius in his Epistle to Leonardus Aretinus produces this as an argument that after he had been three hundred and forty days in the bottom of a stinking and dark Tower in a place where he not only could not read but not so much as see yet did he alledge the Testimonies of so many of the Learnedst and Wisest persons in favour of his Tenets cited so many of the Fathers of the Church as might have suâ—â—iced and been more than enow if all that time he had been intent upon his study without the least molestation or disturbance 22. Nepotianus cousin to Heliodorus the Bishop by his Sister was of that notable Memory that in disputations and familiar conference if any man cited a Testimony he could streight know from whence it was as suppose this was Tertullians this Cyprians that from Lactantiâ—s c. to conclude with continual reading he made his bosome the Library of Christ. 23. Theodorus Metochites who in the Reign of Andronicus Paleologus was an eminent person by the excellency of the Memory had attain'd to the very height of Learning If you ask'd him of any thing that was new or of Antiquity he would so recount it as if he recited it out of some Book so that in his discourses there was little need of Books for he was a living Library and as it were an Oracle where a man might know all that he had desired 24. Christopherus Longolius had such a Memory that scarce any continuance of time was able to remove those things from his mind which he had once fixed there Being often ask'd of many different things concerning which he had read nothing of many years yet would he answer with as much readiness to each of them as if he had read them but that very day If at any time a discourse chanced to be of such things as were treated on by divers and different Authors when the things were the same yet would he so distinguish of them in his discourse reciting every Author in his own words that he seemed to speak them not by heart whereby mistakes may arise but as if he had read them out of the Books themselves When he did this often he so rais'd the admiration of Auditors that they thought he made use of some Artifice and not of his natural Memory 25. In Padua near unto me dwelt a young man of Corsica of good birth and sent thither to study the Civil Law In the study of which he had spent some years with that diligence and attention that there was now raised amongst us a great opinion of his Learning He came often almost every day to my house and there going a report that he attain'd to an Art of Memory by assistance of which he was able to perform that which another could not believe unless he beheld it When I heard this I had a desire to behold these wonderful things as one that am not very credulous of such matters as come by hear-say I therefore desir'd him to give me some such kind of instance of his Art as he should think fit He told me he would do it when I pleas'd Immediately then said I and when he refus'd not all we who were present went into the next room
of Rome in the time of the Caesars there was exhibited to them a man who was of that strange agility that he would skip from place to place and cliâ—â— up a smooth wall after the same manner as â— Cat uses to do 2. I have seen oftentimes saith Camerarius in the Prince of Bamberge his Court a certain Peasant of Germany nourish'd and brought up as himself avouched in the Mountains thereby amongst Beasts he was so active and nimble of his Body that he amaz'd all that saw him He shew'd his agility not standing but walking upon his Feet and Hands like a Dog or Cat he would scramble up by the Coyns towards the roof of the Hall in such manner as an Ape could scarce do though otherwise he was a rustical Fellow heavy and of a gross making I saw him twice adds he as I was at the Princes Table leap upon the shoulders of one of the Guests and from thence upon the Table without overturning Dish or Cup and then cast himself with such a spring upon the Floor that one would have said it had been a Squirrel or Wild-cat He did use to skip as fast from place to place upon the tops of Towers and Houses built point wise as our House Cats will do There was in the Court a Dwarf called Martinet who us'd to mount the back of this nimble fellow and turn him too and fro and wheel him about as a Horse exercising him in divers leaps and sundry postures but whensoever he pleas'd with one leap he would cast his Rider though he endeavour'd to sit never so surely I would not have made any mention of this strange man in this Book saith the forenamed Author if I had not seen with my eyes his tricks of activity as many others yet living have done when I wrote this Chapter he was alive with a Wife he had marry'd 3. The great Sâ—ortia was of that notable agility thaâ— without the least assistance from another or any advantageous rise of the ground when he had once put his lest Foot into the Stirrup though his Helmet was on and all the rest of his Body complete arm'd yet would he neatly put himself into the Saddle of his great Horse 4. The Lapones are of a moderate Stature but of such agility of Bodies that with a Quiver at their back and a Bow in their hand they will at a leap transmit themselves in such a round or circle whose Diameter is but one Cubit 5. Totilas King of the Goths being to enter battle with Narses and his forces came into the midst of the Field mounted upon a brave Horse his Arms of Gold and his Purple Royal Robe upon them where he shew'd his rare Horsemanship excercising his Horse various ways with strange agility casting his Head upon his Crupper at others upon his Belly then turning himself on this and streight again upon his other side in performing of these feats he industriously wasted a great part of the Day from the first break of it on purpose to amuse the Enemy till such time as two thousand Horse were come up to him whom he expected before he would begin the fight 6. Antonius Nebrissensis tells that he saw a man at Hispalis who was born in the Canary Islands that would keâ—◠〈◊〉 of his feet in the same footsteps continually and suffer a man to stand at the distance of eight paces from him to throw stones at him He in the mean time by an artifical declining head by wirthing of his body this and that way and sometimes by the change and shifting his legs would avoid the blow and hurt that was aimed at him To this danger he would readily expose himself as oft as any man would give him a brass farthing 7. I saw saith Simon Maiolus in the Cisalpine France an Asiatick Rope-dancer that danced securely upon the Ropes with two Rapiers made fast to the inside of his legs in which condition he must keep his legs at a great distance or be wounded with the sharp points of the weapons he carried After this the same man had two round pieces of wood of the breadth of three fingers and somewhat more than a Cubits length fastned to his feet with these he danced standing upon them end ways Many other feats of activity he performed that will difficulty be believed by any besides such as were eye-witnesses thereof 8. Luitprandus no contemptible Author writes that Anno Dom. 950. at soch time as he was Ambassador from Berengarius to the Emperour at Constantinople he saw a strange sight A Stage-player saith he without any assistance from his hands bore upon his forehead a streight piece of wood in a pyramidical form the length of which was twenty four foot the breadth at the bottom two cubits and one cubit on the top of it Two naked boys except a modest covering climb'd up to the top of this piece of wood which the man kept in a streight and even poise from turning this and that way as if it had been rooted in his forehead having mounted the top the boys play'd upon it the wood remaining immoveable after this one of the boys came down while the other remained playing to the great content of the spectators the wood standing fast all this while The Stage-player continued all this space of time which was no small one with fixed feet his hands unemploy'd his body upright and his forehead immoveable although he bore upon it so great and so ponderous a piece of wood besides the weight of the boyes 9. Anno 1507. The Soldan of Aegypt made ostentation of his magnificence to the Turkish Embassador There were 60000 Mamalukes in like habit assembled in a spacious plain in which were three heaps of Sand â—ifty paces distant and in each a Spear erected with a Mark to shoot at and the like over against them with space betwixt â—or six Horses to run a brest Here the younger Mamalukes upon their Horses running a full carreer yield strange experiments of their skill Some shot Arrows backwards and forwards Others in the midst of their race alighted three times and their Horses still running mounted again and hit the mark nevertheless Others did hit the same standing on their Horses thus swiftly running Others three times unbent their Bows and thrice again bent them whilst their Horses ran and missed not the Mark Neither did others which amidst their race lighted down on either side and again mounted themselves no nor they which in their swiftest course leaped and turned themselves backwards on their Horses and then their Horses still running turned themselves forward There were which while their Horses ran ungirt rheir Horses thrice at each time shooting and then again girting their Saddles and never missing the Mark. Some sitting in their Saddles leaped backwards out of them and turning over their heads settled themselves again in their Saddles and shot as the former three times
Pulpit where he Pray'd and Preach'd to us about an hour and a half his Text was Seek ye the Kingdom of God and all things shall be added unto you In my poor judgement he made an excellent good Sermon and went clearly through without the help of any Notes After Sermon I went with him to his house where I propos'd these several following Questions to him Whether it was true the Book reported of him concerning the Hair whether or no he had a new set of Teeth come Whether or no his Eye-sight ever fail'd him And whether in any measure he found his Strength renew'd unto him He answer'd me distinctly to all these and told me he understood the Newsbook reported his Hair to become a dark brown again but that is false he took his Cap off and shew'd me it It is come again like a Childs but rather flaxen than either brown or grey For his Teeth he had three come within these two years not yet to their perfection while he bred them he was very ill Forty years since he could not read the biggest print without Spectacles and now he blâ—sseth God there is no print so small no written hand so small but he can read it without them For his strength he think himself as strong now as he hath been these twenty years Not long since he walked to Alnwick to dinner and back again six North Country miles He is now one hundred and ten years of age and ever since lâ—st May a hearty body very chearfulâ— and stoops very much he had five Children after he was eighty years of years four of them lusty Lasses now living with him the other dy'd lately his Wife yet hardly fifty years of age he writes himself Machel Vivan he is a Scottish man born near Aberdeen I forget the Towns name where he is now Pastor he hath been there fifty years Windsor Sept. 28. 1657. Your assured loving Friend Thomas Atkins 2. To this may sitly be annex'd a Letter which Plempius saith he saw under the hand of this wonderful old man himself dated from Lesbury Octob. the 19th 1657. to one William Lialkus a Citizen of Antwerp which is as followeth Whereas you desire a true and faithful messenger should be sent from New-castle to the Parish of Lesbury to enquire concerning John Maklin I gave you to understand that no such man was known ever to be or hath lived there for these fifty years last past during which time I Patrick Makel Wian have been Minister of that Parish Wherein I have all that time been present taught and do yet continue to teach there But that I may give you some satisfaction you shall understand that I was born at Whithorn in Galloway in Scotland in the year 1546. bred up in the Vniversity of Edenburgh where I commenc'd Master of Art whence travelling into England I kept School and sometimes preach'd till in the first of King James I was inducted into the Church of Lesbury where I now live As to what concerns the change of my body it is now the third year since I had two new Teeth one in my upper and the other in my nether Iaw as is apparent to the touch My sight much decay'd many years ago is now about the hundred and tenth year of my age become clearer Hair adorns my heretofore bald Skull I was never of a fat but a slender mean habit of body my diet has been and moderate nor was I ever accustomed to feasting and tippling hunger is the best sawce nor did I ever use to feed to satieâ—y All this is most certain and true which I have seriously though over hastily confirmed to you under the hand of Patrick Makel Wian Minister of Lesbury 3. That worthy person D. Pieruccius a Lawyer of Padua and Host to the great Scioppius did assure me that a certain German then living in Italy had at sixty years of age recover'd to himself both new Teeth and black Hair and had extended his life to a great many years with the only use of an extract of black Hellebore with Wine and Roles 4. Alexander Benedictus tells of Victoria Fabrianensis a Woman of fourscore years of Age that then her Teeth came anew and that though the Hair of her Head was fallen off yet it also came afresh 5. Torquemada assures us that being at Rome about the year 1531. it was bruired throughout Italy that at Tarentum there liv'd an old man who at the age of an hundred years was grown young again he had chang'd his skin like unto the Snake and had recover'd a new being withall he was become so young and fresh that those who had seen him before could then scarce believe their own eyes and having continued above fifty yeas in this Estate he grew at length to be so old as he seemed to be made of Barks of Trees whereunto he further adds another story of the like Nature 6. Ferdinand Lopez of Castegnede Historiographer to the King of Portugal in the eighth Book of his Chronicle relateth that Nonnio de Cugne being Viceroy at the Indies In the year 1536. there was a man brought unto him as a thing worthy of admiration for that it was aver'd by good proofs and sufficient Testimony that he was three hundred and forty years old He remembred that he had seen that City wherein he dwelt unpeopled being then when he spake it one of the chief Cities in all the East Indies He had grown young again four times changing his white Hair and recovering his new Teeth when the Viceroy did see him he then had the Hair of his Head and Beard black although he had not much and there being by chance a Physician at the time present the Viceroy willed him to feel the old man's Pulse which he found as good and as strong as a young man in the prime of his age This man was born in the Realm of Bengala and did affirm that he had at times near seven hundred Wives whereof some were dead and some were put away The King of Portugal being advertiz'd of this wonder did often inquire and had yearly news of him by the Fleet which came from thence he liv'd above three hundred and seventy years 7. An old Abbatess being decrepit suddenly became young her monthly coâ—rses return'd her rugged and wrinckled skin grew smooth her hoary hairs became black and new teeth in her head and paps swell'd after the manner as is usual with Virgins 8. The â—lesh of a Viper prepar'd and eaten clariâ—ies the eye-sight strengthens the sinews corroberates the whole body and according to Dioscorides procures a long and healthful age in somuch as they are proverbially said to have eaten a snake who look younger than accustomed nor is the Wine of Vipers less soveraign I have heard it credibly reported by those who were eye-witnesses how a Gentleman long desperately sick was restor'd by these means to health with more
year are found as it were congealed and dead the bodies of these persons are firm without corruption inward or outward and so remain D. Paludanus an excellent Physician and a studious collector of exotick rarities told me that at his house he had two such Indians most entire that they had no ill savour that they were not lurid with a pale and dead colour but that to the beholders afar off their skin seemed reddish and that in all other things motion only excepted they were like to the living He â—aid that it came to pass by the blowing of the South-wind which hath such a power to stupeâ—ie and congeal and that in open places it often befals the Indians in respect of their bodies if they find not out places where to secure themselves This saithful witness occasions me to give the more credit to Cornelius Witslietus when he tells that in the mountainous parts of the Provinces of I hil there blows a wind that proves dangerous not in respect of its vehemence but its notable subtilty Heretofore the first Discoverers of this Country having on foot got over the high mountains came to this place but now by reason of dangerous wind or air they dispatch the voyage by Sea The breath of this wind is so hurtful that it oppresses the vital heat in the Bowels kills the passenger immediately hurts not the dead body in the least but preserves it free from corruption and putrefaction They say that Almagro in his return back which was five months from his coming found divers of his Soldiers together with their Horses dead with cold that they were fresh and whole and so also their Horses both in such posture as they were when they were alive at the instant of their congelation 20. Camerarius tells of a Kinsman of his a person of Honour who though he had not seen yet had heard by many of the truth of that which follows and that at Cairo and in other places in Aegypt it is held as a solemn thing and common also for my better satisfaction he shewed me a Book Printed long before at Venice containing the Description of divers Voyages made by Venetian Embassadours to the Princes of the Northern Asia into Aethiopia and to other Countries Amongst the rest was a discourse out of which I have taken some words towards the end the sence whereof is this Anno 1540 upon the twenty fifth of March many Christians accompanied with certain Janizaries went from Cairo to a little barren Mountain about half a league off it was in times past assign'd for the burial of the dead in this place there meet ordinarily every year an incredible multitude of persons to see the dead bodies there interred coming out as it were of their Graves and Sepulchres This beginneth the Thursday and lasteth till the Saturday and then all vanisheth away Then may you see Bodies wrapped in their cloaths after the old fashion but they see them not either standing or walking but only the arms or the thighs or some other part of the body which you may touch if you go farther off and presently come forward again you shall find these arms or limbs appearing more out of the ground and the more you change places the more divers and eminent these motions are seen At the same â—â—â—e many Tents are erected about this Mountain for both whole and sick that come thither in great Troops believe verily that whosoever washeth himself the night before the Friday with a certain water drawn out of a pond thereby hath a remedy â—o recover or maintain health This is the report of the Venetian besides which we have also the relation of a Jacobin of Vlm named Foelix who hath travelled in those Quarters of the Levant and hath published a Book in the Almain Tongue of what he saw in Palestine and Aegypt wherein he makes the same Relation This Parcel Resurrection of Legs and Arms c. useth to be seen and believed upon Good Friday and the Eve of that saith Mr. Gregory and then adds out of Simon Goulartius from the relation of one Stephen du Plais an eye-witness and a man of very good and sober note in his acknowledgment And he told me moreover that he had and others had done so too touched divers of these rising members And as he was once so doing upon the hairy head of a child a man of Cairo cryed out aloud Kali kali ante materasde that is to say Hold hold you know not what you do 21. In the year 1448 in the ruines of an old Wall of that beautiful Church at Dumferlin in Scotland there was found the body of a young man in a Coffin of Lead wrapped up in Silk it preserved the natural colour and was not in the least manner corrupted though it was believed to be the body of the Son of King Malcolme the Third by the Lady Margaret 22. The body of Albertus Magnus was taken out of his Sepulchre to be interred in the midst of the Chancel in a new built Tomb for that purpose it was two hundred years from the time wherein he had been first buried yet was he found entire without any kind of deformation unless it was this that his jaw seemed to be somewhat fallen I know not whether this is imputable to the Divine Power or to the virtue of those things wherewith he was embalmed but I saw the thing I speak of with these eyes of mine and I testifie by this writing the truth of the Relation 23. At the opening of the Sepulcher of Charles Martel there was no part of his body to be found therein but instead thereof a Serpent was found in the place Vid. Kornman de mirac mortuorum lib. 4. cap. 86. p. 35. CHAP. XXXIX Of such Persons as have return'd to life after they have been believed to be dead WHen a Bird hath once broken from her Cage and has tasted the sweetness of the air and which is more of the pleasure of society and liberty it 's not an easie thing to allure her back to the place of her former restraint And it is as hard to conceive that a Soul which has once found it self in a state of enlargement should willingly return any more into the strait and uneasie prison of the Body But it seems by what follows that there are certain laws on the other side of death to which it must obey by vertue of which we read of so many morsels cast up again which death seemed to have swallowed quite down 1. That is wonderful which befel to two Brother Knights of Rome the elder of them was nam'd Corfidius who being in the repute of all men dead the tables of his last will and testament were recited in which he had made his Brother the Heir of all he had But in the midst of the Funeral preparations he rose with great cheerfulness upon his Legs and said That he had been with
the Books of Aristotle's Metaphysicks forty times and thereby so fixed them in his memory that he was able to repeat them without Book 2. Anthony Wallens by the help of the art of memory in six months space learn'd by heart the whole Epitome of Pagnine with such excellent success that thereby he was enabled well to interpret any place of the holy Scriptures and to give a reason for it 3. Mr. Humphrey Burton a Gentleman of good worth in the City of Coventry being at this time of my writing this viz. Sept. 10. 167â— of the age of eighty and three besides his many and other accomplishments can by the strength and firmness of his memory give the sum of any Chapter in the New Testament and of the Chapters in divers Books of the Old Testament in a Latine Distich with as much readiness and as little hesitation as if he had directly read them out of a Book I my self have frequently put him to the trial wherein though I have observ'd no order but nam'd hâ—â—e a Chapter at the beginning then one towards the end then again return'd to the middle and so on purpose prevented any assistance he might have from an orderly succession and dependance yet could I no sooner name the Chapter and Book whereof I desired the account but he was ready with his Distich 4. Cineas the Embassadour of King Pyrrhus the very next day that he came to Rome both knew and alâ—o saluted by their names all the Senate and the whole order of the Gentlemen in Rome 5. Franciscus Cardulus a learned man was able to write two pages entire which any other man should read in the same order he read them or if any of the company had rather he would repeat them backwards 6. I have heard it from one who was present at the discourse that in the presence of a Prince of Germany when mention was made of Tacitus that Iustus Lipsius did then say that he had the Golden Volume so firm and entire in his memory that nothing had ever slipt him therein he challenged any to make a trial of what he said And go to said he set one here with a Poynard and if in repeating of Tacitus all over I shall miss but in one word let him stab me and I will freely open my Breast or Throat for him to strike at 7. The Works of Homer are his Iliads and Odysses the former consists of twenty four Books and so also the latter His Iliads hath in it thirty one thousand six hundred and seventy Verses and I suppose his Odysses hath no less and yet it is said of Iosephus Scaliger that in one and twenty days he committed all Homer to his memory 8. Antonius the Aegyptian Eremite without any knowledge of Letters yet by the frequent hearing of them read had the whole body of the Scriptures without book and by diligent thinking of them did well understand them saith S. Augustine in his Prologue to his first Book de Doctrina Christianâ 9. Hortensius who for his Eloquence was called the King of Causes of him Cicero writing to Brutus There was saith he in that man such a memory as I have not known a greater in any It 's said of him that sitting on a time in the place where things were exposed to publick sale for a whole day together he recited in order all the things that were sold there their price and the names of the Buyers and by the account taken of them it appeared that he had not been deceiv'd in any of them Cicero comparing him with Lucullus saith Hortensius his memory was the greater for words but that of Lucullus for things 10. Lucius Lucullus a great Captain and Philosopher by an admirable strength of memory was able to give so ready an account of all affairs at home and abroad as if he had had them all at once presented before his eyes 11. Pompeius Gariglianus a Canon of the Church of Capua was of so great a memory as I remember not to have known his like he was so well and throughly known in all Plato Aristotle Hippocrates Galen Themistius Thomas Aquinas and others that as an admirable instance of his memory he would upon occasion not only repeat their sentences but the very words themselves 12. Age saith Seneca hat done me many injuries and deprived me of many things I once had it hath dulled the sight of my eyes blunted the sense of hearing and slackened my Nerves Amongst the rest I have mentioned before is the memory a thing that is the most tender and frail of all the parts of the soul and which is first sensible of the assaults of age that heretofore this did so flourish in me as not only serv'd me for use but might even pass for a miracle I cannot deny for I could repeat two thousand names in the same order as they were spoken and when as many as were Scholars to my Master brought each of them several Verses to him so that the number of them amounted to more than two hundred beginning at the last I could recite them orderly unto the first nor was my memory only apt to receive such things as I would commit to it but was also a faithful preserver of all that I had entrusted it with 13. Lippus Brandolinus in his Book of the condition of humane life reports of Laurentius Bonincontrius that at eighty years of age he had so perfect and entire a memory that he could remember all that had happened to him when he was a Boy and all that he had read in his youth and could recite them in such a manner that you would think he had seen or read them but that very day 14. Aeneas Sylvius in his History of the council of Basil at which himself was present tells of one Ludovicus Pontanus of Spoleto a Lawyer by profession who died of the pestilence at that Council at thirty years of age that he could recite not the titles only but the entire bodies of the Laws Being saith he for vastness and fastness of memory not inferiour to any of the Ancients 15. Fumianus Strada in his first Book of Academical Prolusions speaking of Franciscus Suarez He hath saith he so strong a memory that he hath S. Augustine the most copious and various of the Fathers ready by heart alledging every where as occasion presents it self fully and faithfully his sentences and which is very strange his words nay if he be demanded any thing touching any passage in any of his Volumes which of themselves are almost enough to fill a Library I my self have seen him instantly shewing and pointing with his finger to the place and page in which he disputed of that matter 16. Dr. Raynolds excelled this way to the astonishment of all that were inwardly acquainted with him not only for S. Augustine's Works but also all Classical Authors so that it
aboard the Cape Gally and passing through the churms of Slave he asksd divers of them what their offences were every one excused himself one saying that he was put in out of malice another by Bribery of the Judge but all of them unjustly Amongst the rest there was one little sturdy black man and the Duke asking him what he was in for Sir said he I cannot deny but I am justly put in here for I wanted Money and so took a Purse hard by Sarragona to keep me from starving The Duke with a little Staff he had in his hand gave him two or three Blows upon the Shoulders saying you Rogue what do you amongst so many honest innocent men get you gone out of their company So he was freed and the rest remained still in statis quo prius to tug at the Oar. 7. The Emperour Constantius had besieged Beneventum when Romualdus the Duke thereof dispatch'd Geswaldus privily away unto Grimoaldus the King of Lombardy the Dukes Father to desire him to come with an Army unto the assistance of his Son He had prevailed in his Embassy and was by Grimoaldus sent away before to let his Son know that he was coming with some Troops to his Aid But in his return by misfortune he fell amongst the Enemies who being informed of the Auxiliary forces that were upon the march hoped to have Beneventum yielded to them before their Arrival if they could make Romualdus to despair of his Succours To this purpose having enjoyned Geswaldus to speak their sence they led him to the Walls but when he came thither he declared the whole truth to the besieged and gave them to understand that e're long Grimoaldus would be with them with a considerable Army This cost Geswaldus his Life and the Imperialists raised their Siege the next day after 8. King Lâ—dislaus was a great Lover of Truth and therefore amongst his Courtiers when any of them praised any deed of his or quality that was in him if he perceived that they said nothing but the truth he would let it pass by uncontroul'd But when he saw that a gloss was set upon it for his praise of their own making he would say with some heat I pray thee Good Fellow when thou sayest Grace never bring in Gloria Patri without a Sicut erat If thou make any report of an Act of mine report it as it was and no otherwise And lift me not up with Lies for I love it not It is written of our Henry the Fifth that he had something of Caesar in him which Alexander the Great had not that he would not be drunk And something of Alexander the Great that Caesar had not that he would not be flattered 10. One who was designed for an Agent waited upon the knowing and experienced Lord Went-worth for some direction in his conduct and carriage to whom he thus delivered himself To secure your self and serve your Country you must at all times and upon all occasions speak truth For saâ—th he you will never be believed and by this means your truth will both secure your self if you be questioned and put those you deal with who will still hunt counter to a loss in all their disquisitions and undertakings 11. The Emperour Tiberius had such an aversion to flatteries that he suffered no Senator to come to his Litter neither to wait upon him nor so much as about business When a Consular person came to him to appâ—ase his displeasure and sought to embrace his Knees he fled from him with that earnestness that he fell all along upon his face when in common discourse or in any set oration ought was said of him that was complemental he would interrupt the person reprehend him and immediately alter the form of his words when one called him Lord he commanded he should no more name him by way of reproach One saying his Sacred employments and another that he went to the Senate he being the Author he compellâ—d both to alter their expressions for Author to say Perswader and for Sacred to say Laborious 12. Pambo came to a Learned Man and desired him to teach him some Psalm he began to read unto him the thirty ninth and the first Verse which is I said I will look to my ways that I offend not with my Tongue Pambo shut the Book and took his leave saying he would go learn that point And having absented himself for some Months he was demanded by his Teacher when he would go forward he answered that he had not yet learn'd his old Lesson to spâ—ak in such a manner as not to offend with his Tongue 13. Albertus Bishop of Meâ—tz reading by chance in the Bible one of his Council coming in asked him what his Highness did with that Book The Arch-Bishop answered I know not what this Book is but sure I am that all that is written therein is quite against us When Aristobulus the Historian presented to Alexander the Great a Book that he had wrote of his glorious Atchievements wherein he had flatteringly made him greater than he was Alexander after he had read the Book threw it into the River Hydaspis and told the Author that it were a good deed to throw him after it The same Prince did also chase a certain Philosopher out of his presence because he had long lived with him and yet never reproved him for any of his vices or faults 15. Maximilianus the first Emperour of that name look how desirous he was to be famous to posterity for his noble Actions and Atchievements so much was he also aversâ— and afraid to be praised to his face When therefore on a time divers eloquent and learned men did highly extol him with immediate Praises in their Panegyricks he commanded Cuspinianus to return them an answer ex tempore and withal take heed said he that you praise me not for a mans own Praises from his own Mouth carry but an evil savour with them 16. Cato the younger charged Muraena and indicted him in open Court for Popularity and Ambition declaring against him that he sought indirectly to gain the peoples favour and their voices to be chosen Consul Now as he went up and down to Collect Arguments and Proofs thereof according to the manner and cuâ—tom of the Romans he was attended upon by certain persons who followed him in the behalf of the Defendant to observe what was done for his better instruction in the process and suit commenced These men would oftentimes be in hand with Cato and ask him whether he would to day search for ought or negotiate any thing in the matter and cause concerning Muraena If he said no such credit and trust they reposed in the veracity and truth of the man that they would rest in that answer and go their ways A singular proof this was of the reputation he had gain'd and the great and good opinion men had conceived of him
concerning his Love to Truth 17. Euricius Cordus a German Physician hath this honour done to his memory It is said of him that no man was more addicted to truth than he or rather no man was more vehemently studious of it none could be found who was a worser hater of ing and falshood he could dissemble nothing nor bear that wherewith he was offended which was the cause of his gaining the displeasure oâ— some persons who might have been helpful to him if he would but have sought their favour and continued himself therein by his obsequiousness Thus much is declared in his Epigrams and he saith it of himself Blandire nescis ac verum Corde tacere Et mirare tuos displicuisse libros Thou canst not flatter but the truth dost tell What wonder is 't thy Books then do not sell. Paulus Lutherus Son to Martin Luther was Physician to Ioachimus the Second Elector of Brandenbuog and then to Augustus Duke of Saxony Elector It is said of him that he was verè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lover of liberty and freedom of Speech far from â—lattery and assentation and in all points like unto that Rhesus in Euripides who saith of himself Talis sum et ego rectam sâ—rmonum Viam secans nec sum duplex vir Such a one am I that rightly can Divide my Speech yet am no double man The virtues of this Luther were many and great yet I know not any wherein he more deservedly is to be praised than for this honest freedom of speaking wherein he mightily resembled his Father 19. When I lived at Vtricht in the Low Countries the Reply of that valiant Gentleman Colonel Edmonds was much spoken of There came a Country-man of his out of Scoâ—land who desiring to be entertained by him told him that my Lord his Father and such Knights and Gentlemen his Cousin and Kinsmen were in good health Colonel Edmonds turning to his friends then by Gentlemen said he believe not one word he says My Father is but a poor Baker in Edinburg and works hard for his living whom this Knave would make a Lord to curry favour with me and make you believe that I am a great man born when there is no such matter CHAP. V. Of such as have been great Lovers and Promoters of Peace THere is a certain Fish which Aelian in his History calls the Adonis of the Sea because it liveth so innocently that it toucheth no living thing strictly preserving peace with all the offspring of the Ocean which is the cause it is beloved and courted as the true darling of the Waters If the frantick world hath had any darlings they are certainly such as have been clad in Steel the destroyers of Cities the suckers of humane blood and such as have imprinted the deepest scars upon the face of the Universe These are the men it hath Crown'd with Lawrels advanc'd to Thrones and â—latter'd with the misbecoming Titles of Heroes and Gods while the Sons of peace are remitted to the cold entertainment of their own vertues Notwithstanding which there have ever been some who have found so many Heavenly Beauties in the face of Peace that they have been contented to love that sweet Virgin for her self and to Court her without the consideration of any additional Dowry 1. The Inâ—abitants of the Island Borneo not far from the Moluccas live in such detestation of war and are so great Lovers of peace that they hold their King in no other veneration than that of a God so long as he studies to preserve them in peace but if he discover inclinations to war they never leave till he is fall'n in Battle under the Arms of his Enemies So soon as he is slain they set upon the Enemy with all imaginable fierceness as Men that fight for their liberty and such a King as will be a greater Lover of peace Nor was there ever any King known amongst them that was the perswader and Author of a war but he was deserted by them and suffer'd to fall under the Sword of the Enemy 2. Datanes the Persian being employed in the besieging of Sinope received Letters from the King commanding him to desist from the Siege Having read the Letter he adored it and made gratulatory sacrifices as if he had received mighty favours from his Master and so taking Ship in the very next Night he departed 3. The Emperour Leo who succeeded Martianus having given to Eulogius the Philosopher a quantity of Corn one of his Eunuchs told him that such kind of largess was more fitly bestowed upon his Soldiers I would to God said the Emperour that the state of my Reign was such that I could bestow all the stipends of my Soldiers upon such as are learned 4. Constantinus the Emperour observing some differences amongst the Fathers of the Church called the Nicene Council at which also hmself was present At this time divers little Books were brought to him containing their mutual complaints and accusations of one another All which he received as one that intended to read and take cognizance of them all But when he found that he had received as many as were intended to be offered he bound them up in one bundle and protesting that he had not so much as looked into any one of them he burnt them all in the sight of the Fathers giving them moreover a serious exhortation to peace and a Cordial Agreement amongst themselvrs 5. It is noted of Phocion a most excellent Captain of the Athenians that although for his military ability and success he was chosen forty and five times General of their Armies by universal approbation yet he himself did ever perswade them to peace 6. At Fez in Africk they have neither Lawyers nor Advocates but if there be any controversies amongst them both parties Plaintiff and Defendant came to their Alsakins or Chief Judge and at once without any further appeals or pitiful delays the Cause is heard and ended It is reported of Caesar to his great commendation that after the defeat of Pompey he had in his custody a Castle wherein he found divers Letters written by most of the Nobles in Rome under their own hands sufficient evidence to condemn them but he burnt them all that no Monument might remain of a future grudge and that no man might be driven to extremities or to break the peace through any apprehension that he lived suspected and should therefore be hated 8. Iames King of Arragon was a great enemy to contentions and contentious Lawyers insomuch as having heard many complaints against Semenus Rada a great Lawyer who by his Quirks and Wiles had been injurious as well as troublesome to many he banished him his Kingdom as a man that was not to be endured to live in a place to the Peace of which he was so great an enemy 9. I read of the Sister of Edward the Third King of
Gifts and Presents and so sent him away in safety Afterwards he commanded those Courtiers who had incited him against him to enquire what words this man gave out of him amongst the Greeks they made report again and told him that he was become a new man and ceased not to speak wonderful things in the praise of him Look you then said Philip unto them am not I a better Physician than all you and am not I more skilled in the cure of a foul-mouthed fellow than the best of you 13. King Ptolemaeus jesting and scossing at a simple and unlearned Grammarian asked him who was the Father of Peleus I will answer you Sir said he if you will first tell me who was the Father of Lagus This was a dry slout and touched King Ptolemaeus very near in regard of the mean Parentage he was descended from So that all about the King were mightily offended at it as an intolerable frump The King said no more than this If it be not seemly for a King to take a jest or a scoff neither is it seemly or convenient for him to give one to another man CHAP. XXI Of such as have well deported themselves in their Adversity or been improved thereby THe Naturalists say there are a sort of Shell-fish which at a certain time open to receive the Dew of Heaven and that being thus impregnate then the more they are tossed to and fro with the foaming billows of the Sea the more orient and precious is the Pearl that is found in them In like manner there are some men who are beholden to their Afflictions for their Vertues and who had never shined with that lustre had not the black night of Adversity come upon them It is proverbial of England Anglica Gens optima flens â—essima ridens a particular example hereof we have in 1. Iohn Barret born at Linne bred a Carmelite of White Friers in Cambridge when Learning ran low and Degrees high in that University so that a Scholar could scarce be seen for Doctors till the University sensible of the mischief thereby appointed Dr. Cranmer afterwards Arch-bishop of Canterbury to be the Poser General of all Candidates in Divinity Amongst whom he stopped Barret for his insufficiency Back goes Barret to Linne turns over a new yea many new leaves plying his book to purpose whose former ignorance proceeded from want of pains not parts and in short time he became a tolerable a good an excellent and admirable Scholar And commencing Doctor with due applause liv'd many years a painful Preacher in Norwich always making honourable mention of Dr. Cranmer as the means of his happiness 2. Pope Pius the fifth was long tormented with the Stone and Strangury and in the sharpest of his fits he was often heard to say with sighs Lord give me an encrease of sorrow so thou wilt but give me a proportionable encrease of patience 3. Petrus the Abbot of Claravalla through the vehemence of his disease lost one of his eyes and bare that Affliction not only with patience but said he rejoyced that of two enemies he was now freed from the â—rouble of one of them 4. Alphonsus King of Naples was informed in his absence by Lupus Simonius his Viceroy there that one of those two mighty Ships which the King had built and seemed like Mountains by the negligence of the Sea-men had taken â—ire and was burnt down He told the Messenger that he well knew that Ship though great and magnificent would yet after some years be corrupted or perish by some accident or other and that therefore the Viceroy if he was wise would bear that misfortune with an equal mind as he himself did 5. Telamon hearing of the death of his beloved Son being a man unbroken by all the Assaults of Fortune with an unmoved countenance replyed It is well for I knew he must die whom I had begotten 6. L. Paulus Aemilius had four Children two of them Scipio and Fabius were brought into other Families by Adoption the other two being boys he yet retained with him at home one of these being fourteen years of age died five days before his Triumph the other of twelve years deceased the third day after it And whereas there was almost none of the people but seriously lamented the misfortune of his House he himself bare it with so great a spirit that calling the people together he rather gave them Consolations than admitted any from them This was a part of his Oration to them Whereas O Citizens in this great felicity of yours I was afraid lest Fortune did meditate some evil against you It was my prayer to the highest Jupiter to Juno and Minerva that if any calamity was impending upon the people of Rome that they would inflict the whole of it upon my Family All therefore is well since by the grant of my request they have so brought it to pass that you should rather grieve for my adversity than that I should lament your misfortune 7. When the Romans by their continual War with Hannibal and especially by the calamity that befel them in tho loss of that great Battel at Cannae had much exhausted their Forces yet they received their Adversity with such a greatness of mind that they dared to send fresâ— Recruits to their Forces in Spain even then when Hannibal was ready to knock at their Gates and the Grounds whereupon the Camp of Hannibal stood was sold for as much in Rome as if Hannibal had not been there To demean themselves in this sort in their adverse fortune what was it but to enforce that angry Deity for mâ—re shame to be reconciled with them 8. Hiero the Tyrant of Sicily was at first a rude unaccomplished a furious and irreconcilable person the same in all points with his Brothâ—r Gelo but falling afterwards into a lingring Sickness by which he had a long Vacation from publick cares and business and emâ—â—oying that time in reading and converse with learned men he became a man of great Elegancy and singular Improvements And afterwards when he was perfectly recovered he had great familiarity with Simonides Pindar the Theban and Bacchilides 9. Xenophon was sacrificing to the Gods when as he stood by the Altar there came to him a Messenger from Mantinea who told him that his Son Grillus was dead in Battel he only laid aside the Crown from his head but persisted in his Sacrifice but when the Messenger added that he died Victorious he reassumed his Crown and without other alteration finished what he was about 10. Antigonus the Successor of Alexander had layen sick of a lingering Disease and afterwards when he was recovered and well again We have gotten no harm said he by this sickness for it hath taught me not to be so proud by puâ—ting me in mind that I am but a mortal man 11. Plaâ—o aâ—â—irms that Theagâ—s had no other occasion to addict
avitâ Relligione Iaem senescente ne dicam sublatá Mutavit chorum altiorem ut capesceret Vade nunc si libet imitare R. W. 24. Manutius in his Preface to his Paradoxes tells us of one Creighton a Scotch-man who at twenty years of Age when he was killed by the Order of the Duke of Mantua understood twelve Languages had read over all the Fathers and Poets disputed de omni scibili and answered extempore in Verse Ingenium prodigiosum sed de fuit Iudicium He had a prodigious Wit but was defective in Iudgment CHAP. XLIII Of the first Authors of divers Famous Inventions THe Chineses look upon themselves as the wisest People upon the Face of the Earth they use therefore to say that they see with both eyes and all other Nations but with one only They give out that the most famous inventions that are so lately made known to the Europaean world have been no Strangers to them for a number of Ages that are passed I know not what Justice they may have in these pretensions of theirs but shall content my self to give some account of the most useful amongst them by whom and when they were conveyed down to us 1. The Invention of that Excellent Art of Printing Peter Ramus seems to attribute to onâ— Iohn Faust a Moguntine telling us that he had in his keeping a Copy of Tully's Offices Printed upon Parchment with this Inscription added in the end thereof viz. The Excellent Work of Marcus Tullius I John Faust a Citizen of Ments happily I up 〈◊〉 not with writing Ink or Brass Pen but with an Excellent Art by the help of Peter Gerneshem my Servant finished it was in the Year 1466. the Fourth of February Pasquier saith the like had come to his hands and Salmuth says that one of the same Impression was to be seen in the Publick Library of Ausburg another in Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge and a fifth Dr. Hakewell saith he saw in the Publick Library of Oxford though with some little difference in the Inscription Yet Polydor Virgil from the report of the Moguntines themselves affirms that Iohn Gutenberge a Knight and dwelling in Mentz was the first Inventor thereof Anno 1440. and with him agree divers Learned Persons believing he was the first Inventor of this Invaluable Art but Faust the first who taking it from him made proof thereof in Printing a Book Iunius tells it was the Invention of Lawrence Ians a Citizen of Harlem in the Low Countries with whom joyned Thomas Peters a Kinsman of his for the perfecting of it and that the forementioned Iohn Faust stole his Letters and fled with them first to Amsterdam thence to Collen and aferwards to Ments According to their Books they of China have used Printing this 1600 years but 't is not like unto ours in Europe for their Letters are engraven in Tables of Wood. The Author gives his Manuscript to the Graver who makes his Tables of the same bigness with the Sheets that are given him and pasting the Leaves upon the Table with the wrong side outwards he engraves the Letters as he finds them with much facility and exactness their Wooden Tables are made of the best Pear-tree So that any Work which they print as they do in great numbers remains always intire in the Print of the Table to be Reprinted as oft as they please without any new expence in setting for the Press as there is in our Printing It was brought into England by William Caxto of London Mercer Anno 1471. who first practised it As touching that of Guns though Lipsius calls it the Invention of Spirits and not of men and Sir Walter Raleigh will have it found out by the Indians and Petrach and Valâ—urius refer it to Archimedes for the overthrow of Marcellus his Ships at the Seige of Syracuse Yet the common opinion is that it was first found out by a Monk of Germany Forcatulus in his fourth Book of the Empire and Philosophy of France names him Berthold Swartz of Cullen and Salmuth calls him Constantine Aâ—klitzen of Friburg but all agree that he was a German Monk and that by chance a Spark of Fire falling into a pot of Nitre which he had prepared for Physick or Alchymy and causing it to fly up he thereupon made a composition of Powder with an Instrument of Brass or Iron and putting Fire to it found the conclusion to answer his desire The first publick use of Guns that we read of was thought to be about the year 1380. as Magius or 400 as Ramus in a Battel betwixt the Genowayes and the Venetians at Clodia Fossa in which the Venetians having got it seemes the invention from the Monk so galled their enemyes that they saw themselves wounded and slain and yet knew not by what means nor how to prevent it as witnesseth Platina in the life of Pope Vrban the sixth 3. The Mariners compass is an admirable Invention of which â—odinus thus though there be nothing in the whole Course of Nature that is more worthy of wonder then the Loadstone yet were the ancients ignorant of the divine use of it It points out the way to the skillful Mariner when aâ—l other helps fail him and that more certainly though it be without Reason sense or life then without the help thereof all the Wisards and learned Clerks in the world using the united strength of their wits and cunning can possibly do Now touching the time and Author of this invention there is some doubt Dr. Gilbert our country man who hath written in Latine a large and learned discourse of this stone seems to be of opinion that Paulus Venetus brought the Invention of the use thereof from the Chineses Osorius in his discourse of the Acts of King Emanuel refers it to Gama and his Country men the Portugals who as he pretends took it from certain barbaroâ—s Pirates roaving upon the Sea about the Cape of good Hope Goropius Becanus thinks he hath good reason to intitle it upon his countrymen the Germans in as much as the thirty two points of the Wind upon the Compass borrow the name from the Dutch in all Languages But Blondâ—â— who is therein followed by Pancirollus both Italians will not have Italy lose the prayse thereof telling us that about Anno 1300 is was found out â—t Mâ—lâ—hiâ— or Melphis a Citty in the Kingdome of Naples in the province of Câ—â—â—pania now called Terra di Lovorador But for the Author of it one names him not and the other assures us he is not known Yet Salmuth out of Câ—â—zus and Gomara confidently christens him with the name of Flavius and so doth Dubartas whose verses on this subject are thus translated We 'r not to Ceres so much bound â—or bread Neither to Bacchus for his Clusters red As signior Flavio to thy witty tryal For first inventing of the Seamens Dyal Th' use of th' needle turning in the same
of Arms. And because they were to go against a King who was no less mighty and puissant than warlike as was the King of France there ought to be a time to make necessary provision for a War of so great importance The Embassador presently to no purpose or reason added these words Anchio hodetto piâ— volte questo medesimo à sua sanctita which is to say And I have oftentimes said the same to his Holiness these words which shewed the will of the Embassadour to be different from that of his Prince gave great doubt and suspicion to the Kings Council and they began to doubt that the Embassadour was rather inclined to favour the King of France than the Pope his Master and setting secret Spies about him to observe his behaviour it was perceived that by night he spake secretly with the French Embassadour by which means he was undone and if he had fallen into the hands of the Pope he had peradventure put him to death However by his imprudent answer he both wronged himself and was the occasion that the King of England was constrained to begin the War sooner than he would who in deferring the succours had possibly accorded the controversie betwixt the Pope and the French King 7. Demaratus which should have succeeded in the Kingdom of Sparta was deprived thereof by Ariston his father for one only imprudent word uttered without consideration in the Senate Which was that news being brought unto him that he had a son born he counted upon his fingers how long his Wife had been with him and seeing that there were no more than sâ—ven Months and that usually women are delivered at nine he said It is not possible that he should be my son these words turned to the great damage of Demaratus for after the death of Ariston his father the Spartans refused to give him the Kingdom because the Ephori bare record that Ariston had said that it was not possible that Demaratus born at the end of seven Months should be his son and that he had bound it with an Oath 8. Renzo de Ceri a most honourable Captain in hâ—s time was in the pay and â—ervice of Lawrence de Medici against Francis Maria Duke of Vrbin This Captain was advertised that certain Spanish Captains had plotted a Treason to deliver the Duke of Vrbin into the hands of the Duke of Florence wherefore the said Renzo talking with a Drum demanded of him in jest and laughing but with great inconsideration When will these Spaniards deliver your Duke Prisoner The Drum made no answer but being returned to the Camp he reported to his Duke the words which Renzo had used to him without any necessity or reason wherefore the Duke of Vrbin having engraven them in his heart stood upon his guard and marked the behaviour of the Spanish Captains In the end through certain Letters and writings found amongst their Baggage the truth appeared and the Conspirators against Duke Francis were known who were committed to Prison and convict of Treason Thus Renzo was the cause why the Treason took no effect the Captains were dispatched and that Lawrence his Master made not so soon an end of the Wars as otherwise he might probably have done 9. Famous was the Contention between Chrysostom on the one part and Thâ—ophilus Cyril and Epiphanius on the other about the burning or not burning of Origens Books all good and great men yet they grow so hot that because Chrysostom would not consent to the burning Theophilus and Cyril would hardly acknowledge him a lawful Bishop and Epiphanius in bitter chiding fell to such choler as he said he hoped he should not die a Bishop To whom Chrysostom answered as eagerly again That he trusted he should never return alive into his own Country of Cyprus which chiding words were not so bitter in sound as afterwards they proved true indeed For both Epiphanius died before he gat home to Cyprus and Chrysostom being put out of his Bishoprick ended his life in banishment CHAP. XXI Of the dangerous and destructive curiosity of some men VEssalius was busied in the dissection of the body of a Person of Quality meaning to find out the root of that distemper which was supposed to have given him his death when to his grief he found that which he looked not for The heart panted and there appeared other convincing signs that the unfortunate Noble-man might have lived had not he been so unseasonably Butchered this cost the Anatomist much trouble and disgrace and it hath fallen out with many others in the like maâ—ner who while they have been gratifying their curiosity have occasioned irreparable injuries to themselves or others 1. Cornelius Agrippa living in Lorrain had a young man who Tabled with him one day being to go abroad he left the Keys of his Study with his Wife but with great charge to keep them safe and trust them to no man The youth over-curious of Novelty never ceased to importune the woman till â—he had lent him the Key to take view of his Library he entred it and light upon a Book of Conjurations wherein reading he straight hears a great bouncing at the door but not minding that he reads on the knocking grew greater and louder but he making no answer the Devil breaks open the door and enters enquires what he commands him to have done or why he was called the youth amazed and through extreme fear not able to answer the Devil â—eises upon him and wriths his neck in sunder Agrippa returns and finds the young man dead and the Devils insulting over the Corpse he retires to his Art and calls his Devil to an account of what had been done who told him all that had passed then he commanded the Homicide to enter the body and walk with him into the Market-place where the Students were frequent and after two or three turns there to forsake the body he did so the body falls down dead before the Scholars all judge the reason of it some sudden fit of an Apoplexy but the marks about his neck and jaws rendred it somewhat suspicious Agrippa concealed this story in Lorrain but being banished thence he afterwards feared not to publish it in Lorrain 2. The Emperour Carracalla had a curiosity to know the name of him who was most like to succeed him and employed one Maternianus to enquire amongst the Magicians of the Empire by whom accordingly he was advertised that Macrinus was to be the man the Letters being brought unto Carracalla as he was in his Charriot were by him delivered with the rest of his Pacquets to the hands of Macrinus who was Captain of his Guard and by his oâ—fice to attend upon the person of the Emperour that he might open them and signifie unto him the contents thereof at his better leisure Macrinus finding by these the danger in which he stood resolved to strike the first blow and to that end entrusted
own time and King Canutus the sixth almost to the year of Christ 1200. but more like a Poet than Historian commonly also omitting an account of the time 30. Conradus Abbot of Vrsperga a Monastery in Suevia as worthy of reading as any of the German Writers hath described the Affairs of Germany beginning two hundred years after the Flood and carrying on his relation to the twentieth year of Frederick the second that is Anno Dom. 1230. 31. Iohannes Aventinus wrote the Annals of the Boii and memorable matters of the Germans in seven Books beginning from the Flood and continuing his History to Ann. 1460. 32. Iohannes Nauclerus born not far from Tubinga hath an intire Chronicon from the beginning of the World to his own time and the year of our Lord 1500. in two Volums 33. Albertus Crantzius hath brought down the History of the Saxons Vandals and the Northern Kingdoms of Denmark Sweden Gothland and Norway to Ann. 1504. 34. Iohannes Sleidanus hath faithfully and plainly written the History of Luther especially and the contests about matters of Religion in the Empire of Germany the Election and Affairs of Charles the fifth Emperour and other of divers of the Kings of Europe from Anno Dom. 1517. to Ann. 1556. 35. Philippus Comineus wrote five Books of the Expedition of Charles the eighth into Italy and Naples and eight Books of the Acts of Lâ—wis the eleventh and Charles Duke of Burgundy worthy to be read of the greatest Princes 36. Froisardus wrote the sharp Wars betwixt the French and English from Anno 1335. to Ann. 1400. 37. Hiâ—ronymus Osorius wrote the Navigation of the Portugals round Africa into India and the Acts of Emanuel King of Portugal from Anno 1497. to his death in twelve Books 38. Antonius Bonfinius in four Decades and an half hath wrote the History of the Hungarian Kings to the death of Matthias the son of Huniades and the beginning of the Reign of Vladislaus 39. Polydor Virgil hath wrote the History of England in twenty six Books to the death of Henry the seventh 40. Iustinus flourished Anno Christi 150. and wrote a compendious History of most Nations from Ninus the Assyrian King to the twenty fifth year of Augustus compiled out of forty four Books of Trogus Pompeius a Roman Ecclesiastical Writers I have here no room for but am content to have traced thus far the steps of David Chytraeus in his Chronology whose help I have had in the setting down of this Catalogue CHAP. IX Of the most famous and ancient Greek and Latin Poets THE Reader hath here a short account of some of the most eminent of Apollo's old Courtiers as they succeeded one another in the favour of the Muses not but that those bright Ladies have been I was about to say equally propitious to others in after-times nor is it that we have given these only a place here as if our own Land were barren of such Worthies Our famous Spencer if he was not equal to any was superiour to most of them of whom Mr. Brown thus He sung th' Heroick Knights of Fairy Land In lines so elegant and such command That had the Thracian plaid but half so well He had not left Eurydice in Hell But it is fit we allow a due reverence to Antiquity at least be so ingenuous as to acknowledge at whose Torches we have lighted our own The first of these Lights 1. Orpheus was born in Libethris a City of Thrace the most ancient of all Poets he wrote the Expedition of the Argonauts into Colchis in Greek Verse at which he was also present this Work of his is yet extant together with his Hymns and a Book of Stones The Poets make him to be the Prince of the Lyricks of whom Horace in his Book De Arte Poeticâ Sylvestres homines sacer interpresque deorum Caedibus foedo victu deterruit Orpheus Dictus ob hoc lenire Tygres rabidosque leones His Father was Oeagrus his Mother Caliopea and his Master was Linus a Poet and Philosopher Orpheus is said to have flourished Anno Mundi 2737. Vid. Quenstedt Dial. de Patr. vir illustr p. 453. Voss. de Nat. Constit. artis Poet. cap. 13. sect 3. p. 78. Patrit de Instit. reipub l. 2. tâ— 6. p. 83. 2. Homerus the Prince of Poets born at Colophon as Cluverius doubts not to affirm but more Cities besides that strove for the honour according to that in Gellius Septem urbes certant de stirpe illustris Homeri Smyrna Rhodos Colophon Salamis Ios Argos Athenae Many are the Encomiums he hath found amongst learned men as The Captain of Philosophy The first Parent of Antiquity and Learning of all sorts The original of all rich Invention The Fountain of the more abstruse Wisdom and the father of all other Poets à quo cen fonte perenni Vatum Pieriis ora rigantur aquis Of him this is part of Quintilians Charaâ—ter In great things no man excelled him in sublimity nor in small matters in propriety In whom saith Paterculus this is an especial thing that before him there was none whom he could imitate and after him none is found that is able to imitate him He flourished Anno Mund. 3000. Vid. Quenstedt dialog p. 483. Gell. Noct. Attic. lib. 3. cap. 11. p. 104. Quintil. instit orator lib. 10. cap. 1. p. 466. 3. Hesiodus was born at Cuma a City in Aeolia bred up at Ascra a Town in Boeotia a Poet of a most elegant genius memorable for the soft sweetness of his Verse called the son of the Muses by Lipsius the purest Writer and whose labours contain the best Precepts of Vertue saith Heinsuis Some think he was contemporary with Homer others that he lived an hundred years after him I find him said to flourish Anno Mundi 3140. Vid. Quintil. instit orat lib. 10. cap. 1. p. 466. Vell. Pâ—tercul hist. lib. 1. ...... Voss. de Poet. Graec. cap. 2. p. 9. Quenstedt dial p. 478. 4. Alcaeus a famous Lyrick Poet was born in the Isle of Lesbos in the City of Miâ—ylene whence now the whole Isle hath its name what Verses of his are left are set forth by Henricus Stephanus with those of the rest of the Lyricks Quintilian saith of him That he is short and magnificent in his way of speaking diligent and for the most part like Homer he flourished Olymp. 45. Vid. Quenstedt dialog p. 433. Quintil. instit orat lib. 10. cap. 1. p. 468. 5. Sappho an excellent Poetress was born in the Isle of Lesbos and in the City of Eraesus there she was called the ninth Lyrick and the tenth Muse she wrote Epigrams Elegies Iamâ—icks Monodies and nine Books of Lyrick Verses and was the Invetress of that kind of Verse which from her is called the Sapphick she attained to no small applause in her contention first with Stesichorus and then with Alcaeus she is said to flourish about the 46 Olympiad Voss. Instâ—t Poet. lib. 3. cap. 15. p.
Pompeiopolis he was Physician to Aâ—tigonus King of Macedon a most Learned Poet and one that wrote divers things amongst others a Book of Astronomy called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which he elegantly describes in Heroick Verse the whole frame of the Celestial Sphere the Image Figure rise and set of all the Stars therein which was Translated into Latin by Cicero and others Chytraeus saith he was of Tarsus and that St. Paul his fellow Citizen cites in his Sermon at Athens an Hemistick of this his fellow Citizen he flourished in the time of Ptolomaus Philadelphus Olympiad 124. Chytr de Poet. lect p. 217. Voss. de Poet. Graec. cap. 8. p. 63. 20. Lycophron was a Grammarian and Tragick Poet born at Chalcis heretofore a rich Town in Euboea he was one of the seven which they call the Pleiades the rest were Theoâ—ritus Nicander Callimachus Apollonius Aratus and Homerus junior he wrote many Tragedies which are all lost all that is extant of him is his Alexandra or Cassandra an obscure Poem he flourished Olympiad 127. Voss. de Poet. Graec. cap. 8. p. 64 Quenstedt dial p. 432. 21. Oppianus born in Anazarbus as some in Corycus saith Suidas both Cities of Cilicia was a Grammarian and Poet sweet generous and incomparable saith Rosinus He wrote Halieutica or of Fishes and Fishing five Books and four of Hunting all which are extant Alexander Sâ—vâ—rus so much delighted in them that for every Verse he gave him a Stater of Gold upon which they were called Golden Verses Quenstedt dial p. 499. 22. Musaeus the same who wrote the Loves of Hero and Leander though he is said by Iulius Scaliger to be before Homer himself Yet saith Vossius nothing is more manifest than that he lived under the Caesars and that after the fourth Age and is therefore in old Books called Musaeus the Grammarian Voss. de Poet. Graec. Pap. 9. p. 81. 1. Quintus Ennius born at Rudiae say some at Tarentum say Eutropius and Eusebius from him Virgil the Phoenix of the Latin Poets borrowed not a few Verses and with some light change transferred them into his own Poems Once being found reading of Ennius and ask'd what he was about I am said he gathering of Gold out of Ennius his Dunghil Ennius hath the first place amongst the Latin Epick Poets he wrote the Roman War in Heroick Verses he died of the Gout at past seventy years of age was buried in the Monument of the Scipio's in the Appian way a mile from the City he â—â—ourished A. ab V. C. 570. Voss. p. 4. 2. Pacuvius was born at Brundusium he was a Tragedian of great account and the son of Ennius his sister he liv'd at Rome where he painted and sold Plaies thence he went to Tarentum where he died almost ninety years of age Voss. de Poet. Latin cap. 1. p. 6. 3. Plautus was by birth from Vmbria through a scarcity that was at Rome he was fain to hire out himself to a Baker to work at his hand-mill where as oft as he had leisure from his work he wrote and sold his Comedies he flourished in the latter end of the second Punick War and in the succeeding seventeen years and died in the 149 Olympiad Voss. de Latin Poet. cap. 1. p. 8. 4. Publius Terentius the most elegant Writer of Latin Comedy was born at Carthage betwixt the second and third Punick War He served Terentius Lucanus a Senatour in Rome by whom for his wit and person he was not only civilly treated but soon obtained his freedom Cicero saith he was the best Author of the Latin Tongue and his bosom companion because he used frequently to read in him he wrote six Comedies and flourished Olympiad 151. but died in Arcadia Quenstedt dial p. 671. Voss. de Lat. Poet. cap. 3. p. 41. 5. C. Lucilius was born at Suessa Arunca a Town in Italy he was a Writer of Satyres yes the chief of the Latin Satyrists saith Tully a Learned man and a very ingenious person of a sharp wit a man of excellent life himself and a stinging accuser of the villanies of others he was the Great Uncle of Pompey the Great and war'd under Scipio Africanus in the Numantine War he died at Naples in the â—orty sixth year of his age in the 160 Olympiad A. Gell. noct Attic. lib. 18. cap. 8. p. 490. Voss. de Lat. Poet. cap. 2. p. 9. Quintil. de instit orator lib. 10. cap. 1. p. 472. Plin. nat hist. lib. 1. cap. p. Quenstedt dial p. 379. 6. Titus Lucretius Carus he wrote a Book of the nature of things according to Epicurus his doctrine in whose foot-steps he trod all his Philosophy tends to the extirpation of Religion and himself frequently confesses That he wrote what he did for that purpose that he might free men from the burden of Religion and the fear of the gods by a Philtre or Love-potion he was made mad and in the forty fourth year of his age slew himself he flourished Anno ab V. C. 680. and about 174. Olympiad Voss. de Poct lat cap. 1. p. 13. Quenstedt dial p. 362. 7. M. Annaeus Lucanus was born at Corduba in Spain I. Scaliger saith of him That he is long and the father of tediousness but Quintilian gives him this Character That he is ardent and sprightful remarkable for his Sentences and rather to be numbred amongst Oratours than Poets An excellent describer he is of the Civil War betwixt Caesar and Pompey a great speaker and full of Heroick Spirit being found in the Conspiracy of Piso he cut his veins and bled to death he flourished Anno Christi 62. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 3. p. 41. Quintil. de Instit. orator lib. 10. cap. 1. p. 471. Quenstedt dial p. 10. 8. Publ. Virgilius Maro is by general consent The Prince of the Latin Poets he was born at Andes a Village near unto Mantua in Italy Iul. Scaliger saies of him That he ought to be the Pattern Rule beginning and end of all Poetical imitation Iosephus Scaliger saith He not only excess all humane ingeny but hath raised himself to a kind of equality with nature it self his Bucolicks Georgicks and Aeneads are in every hand He died at Brundusium his bones were translated to Naples and buried about two miles from the City with an Epitaph of his own making Thus Mantua me genuit Calabri rapuere tenet nunc Parthenope cecini Pascua Rura Duces he flourished Anno ab V. C. 728. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 2. p. 26. Quenstedt dial p. 299. 9. Q. Horatius Flaccus the Prince of the Latin Lyrick Poets was born at Venusâ—â—m in Italy he is saith Quintilian the chief at noting the manners of men very pure and accurate worthy almost alone to be read he rises high sometimes is full of jucundity and various Figures and hath a most happy boldness in words he died at Rome aged about fifty and flourished in the Reign of Augustus Anno ab V. C. 735. Voss. de
Poet. Lat. cap. 2. p. 26. Quenstedt dial p. 382. Quintil. de Instit. orator l. 10. c. 1. p. 472. 10. Publ. Ovidius Naso was born at Sulmo an old Town of the Peligni in Italy thus saith he himself Trist. lib. 4. Eleg. 10. Sulmo mihi patria est gelidis uberrimus undis Millia qui novies distat ab urbe decem He excels all others in Elegy and therefore by Dempster is called The Prince of Elegy in the judgement of Seneca he is a most ingenious Poet had he not reduced that plenty of wit and matter into childish toyes his Medaea saith Quintilian shews how much that man was able to perform had he chose rather to govern than indulge his wit he died in his banishment and is buried near the Town of Tomos he flourished Anno Dom. 4. Quintil. de Instit. orator lib. 10. cap. 1. p. 473. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 2. p. 29. Senec. nat Quaest. cap. 27. p. 11. C. Valerius Catullus was born at Verona of no obscure Parentage for his father was familiar with Iulius Caesar and he himself was so accepted at Rome for the facility of his wit and learning that he merited the Patronage of Cicero as he himself acknowledges with thanks He loved Clodia whom by a feigned name he calls Lesbia Martial prefers him before himself he died at Rome in the thirtieth year of his age and that was commonly said of him Tantum parva suo debet Verona Catullo Quantum magna suo Mantua Virgilio He flourished Olympiad 180. Anno Dom. 40. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 1. p. 14. Gell. noct Attic. lib. 7. cap. 20. p. 220. 12. Albius Tibullus of an Equestrian Family in Rome a Poet famous for his Elegies in which he was the first amongst the Romans that excel'd saith Vossius he was in familiarity with Horace and Ovid. He loved Plancia under the feigned name of Delia whereas he was very rich by the iniquity of the times he complains he was reduced to poverty he composed four Books of Elegies and died young for the elegancy of his Verse it is said of him Donec erunt ignes arcusque Cupidinis arma Discentur numeri culte Tibulle tui He flourished A. ab V. C. 734. Quenste dt dial p. 369. Petr. Crinit de Poet. Lat. lib. 3. p. 71. 13. Sex Aurel. Propertius was born in Mevania a Town in Vmbria as he himself somewhere saith Vt nostris tumefacta superbiat Vmbria libris Vmbria Romani patria Callimachi He complains that he was put out of his fathers Lands in that division that was made amongst the Souldiers of the Triumvirate The true name of his Cynthia was Hostia saith Apuleius We have four Books of his Elegies some write that he died in the forty first year of his age he flourished with Ovid Catullus and Tibullus Petr. Crinit de Poet. Lat. lib. 3. p. 71. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 2. p. 31. 14. Cornelius Gallus born at Forojulium was an Oratour and famous Poet from a mean fortune he was received into the friendship of Augustus and by him made the first President of Aegypt when it was become a Roman Province Through his discourse in his Wine at a Feast he came into suspicion of a Conspiratour and being turn'd over to the Senate to be condemn'd for very shame he slew himself in the sixty third year of his age he wrote four Book of Elegies his Lycoris was one Cytheris a freed Maid of Volumnius most of his Writings are lost he flourished Olympiad 188. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 2. p. 25. 15. Decius Iunius Iâ—venaliâ— was born at Aquinum in Italy he spent his studies in writing Satyres following the examples of Lucilius and Horace in which kind he hath gained no mean reputation amongst the learned The Prince of Satyrists saith I. Scaliger his Verses are far better than those of Horace his Sentences are sharper and his phrase more open having offended Paris the Pantomime at eighty years of age in shew of honour he was made Prefect of a Cohort and sent into Aegypt he flourished Anno Dom. 84. Quenstedt dial p. 372. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 3. p. 41. 16. A. Persius Flaccus was born at Volaterra an ancient and noble City in Italy seated by the River Caecina He wrote Satyres wherein he sharply taxes the corrupted and depraved manners of the Citizens of Rome sustaining the person of a Philosopher while he severely reprehends he is instructive much he borrowed out of Plato saith Chytraeus by some he is under censure for his obscurity he flourished in the Reign of Nero Anno Dom. 64. died in the twenty ninth year of his age about the 210 Olympiad Quenstedt dial p. 322. Voss. de Poâ—t Lat. cap. 3. p. 41. 17. N. Valer. Martialis was born at Bilbilis in Celâ—iberia in the Reign of Claudius the Emperour At twenty years age he came to Rome under Nero and there continued thirty five much favoured by Titus and Domitian He was Tribune and of the Order of Knights in Rome after Domitian's death he was not in the like honour and therefore in Trajans time return'd into his own Country and there having wrote his twelfth Book of Epigrams weary of his Country and Life as being ill treated by his Country-men he deceased Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 3. p. 46. 18. Statius Papinius born at Naples lived under Domitian he left five Books Sylvarum twelve Thebaidos five Achilleidos Martial liked not that he was so much favoured and in his Writings never mentions him Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 3. p. 45. 19. Ausonius the Poet and also Consul at Rome was born in Gascony at Burdigala now called Burdeaux at he tells us himself thus Diligo Burdigalam Roman colo civis in illa Consul in ambabus cunae hic ibi sella curulis Scaliger saith of him That he had a great and acute wit he Stile is somewhat harsh he flourished Anno Dom. 420. Quenstedt dial p. 36. Voss. de Poet. Lat. cap. 4. p. 55. 20. Marcellus Palingenius wrote the Zodiack of like that is of the right way of institution of the life study and manners of men in twelve Books a Work of great Learning and Philosophical he flourished Anno Dom. 1480. Quenstedt dial p. 392. 21. Baptista Mantuanus Sirnamed Hispaniolus a Monk and excellent Poet to whom Mantua gave both birth and name he was accounted the almost only Poet in his age and another Maro he taxed with great freedom and liberty the corruption of the Roman Church the impiety and villanies of the Popes amongst others he thus writes of the Simony and Covetousness of the Popes Venalia nobis Templa Sacerdotes altaria sacra coronae Ignis Thura preces coelum est venale Deusque He wrote divers Verses in praise of the Saints and other excellent Books and flourished Anno Dom. 1494. Quenstedt dial p. 300. CHAP. X. Of Musick the strange efficacy of it and the most famous Musicians THere are four sorts of
This Work cost three hundred millions of Sesterces Certainly if a man consider the abundance of water that is brought thereby and how many places it serveth as well publick as private the Bains Stews and Fish-Pools Kitchens and other Houses of Office for Pipes and little Rivulets to water Gardens as well about the City as in Mannors and Houses of Pleasure in the fields near unto the City besides the mighty way that these waters are brought the number of Arches that must of necessity be built to convey them the Mountains that are pierced and wrought through the Vallies that are raised and made even and level he will confess that there never was any design in the whole World enterprised and effected more admirable than this CHAP. VI. Of the choicest Libraries in the World their Founders and number of Books contained in them AS Treasures both publickly and privately are collected and laid up in the Republick to be made use of when necessity requires and the greater and rarer they are the more precious they are accounted So the Treasures of Learning and of all good Arts and Sciences which are contained in Books as so many silent Teachers are worthily collected by publick and private persons and laid up amongst the choicest goods of the Common-wealth where they may be made use of to all sorts of persons as their studies incline them or as necessity shall require at any time whether in peace or war The most famous Repositories of Books were as followeth 1. Ptolomaeus Philadelphus the Son of Ptolomaeus Lagus reigning in Egypt and also by the concurrent and laborious endeavours of Demetrius Phalareus there was an excellent Library founded in Alexandria the noblest City of all Egypt in the year before Christs birth 280. and of the World 3720. This Library saith Baronius was enriched with more than 200000 Volumes brought out of all places in the World with exquisite care and diligence Amongst these were also the Books of the Old Testament translated by the LXX After which Translation the King also procured so many Greek Chaldee Egyptian Books and Latine ones translated into Greek as also of divers other Notions that at last he had heaped up therein saith Gellius seven hundred thousand Volumes But alas in how short a time did the splendour of so much vertue suffer an Eclipse for in the 183 Olympiad from the building of the City Caesar fighting in Alexandria that fire which burnt up the Enemies Navy took hold also of this burnt the greatest part of the City saith Orosius together with four hundred thousand Books so that from the founding of it to its destruction there were elapsed only 224 years 2. Eumenes the Son of Attalus and Father of that Attalus who was the last King of Pergamus and who dying made the people of Rome â—is Heir was the Founder of that excellent Library at Pergamus in the year from the Creation 3810. wherein were contained above twenty thousand choice Books 3. Queen Cleopatra about the year of the World 3950. and thirty years before the Birth of Christ gathered together such Books as had escaped the fire of Caesar in Alexandria built a place for them in the Temple of Serapis near to the Port and transferred thither 200000 Books from the Attalick or Pergamenian Library 4. M. Varro by the appointment of Iulius Caesar had the peculiar care committed to him of erecting a publick Library but it had come to nothing but for the helping hand of Augustus who succeeded him It was he that erected a famous Repository for Books in the Hill Aventine adorned it with Porticoes and Walks for the greater convenience of Students and enriched it with the spoils of conquered Dalmatia this was a little before the Birth of Christ and in the year of the World 3970. Nor did the bounty of this great Prince rest there but always aspiring to greater things he opened two other little inferiour to that in the Aventine one whereof he called the Octavian from the name of his Sister and the other the Palatine from the Mount or Hill on which it was erected Over the Keepers of which by his Imperial Order was C. Iulius Hyginnius an excellent Grammarian 5. Fl. Vespasianus about the sixth year of his Empire the seventy seventh from the Birth of Christ and of the World 4050. founded a Library in the Forum at Rome and contiguous to the Temple of Peace as if he thereby intended to shew that nothing was so requisite to advance men in Learning as times of peace 6. The Emperour Trajanus in the tenth year of his Reign one hundred and eight years after the Birth of Christ and from the Creation of the World 4092. built a sumptuous Library in the Market-place of Trajan which he called after his own sirname the Vlpian Library Dioclesian afterwards being to edifie some and adorn other Baths translated this Library unto the Viminal Hill which at this day hath the Gate of St. Agnes opening upon it 7. Domitianus the Emperour erected another near to his own house which he had built upon the Capitoline Hill which yet soon after was reduced to ashes in the Reign of Commodus which happened as Eusebius Dion and Baronius witness in the eighth year of Commodus his Empire the 189. year from the Nativity of Christ and from the Creation of the World about the four thousand one hundred sixty and third 8. Gordianus Senior about the two hundred and fortieth year after Christ built a Library which contained sixty and two thousand Books the greater part whereof were left as a Legacy to the Emperour by Geminicus Gammonicus 9. Constantinus the Emperour by the testimony of Baronius erected a sumptuous Library in the Province of Thrace at Byzantium called New Rome which was enriched with an hundred and twenty thousand Volumes he called that City Constantinople in the year from the Birth of Christ 324. but through the discord of his Sons about the year of the World 4321. and from the Birth of Christ 340. to wit of Constantinus Constantius and Constance the Emperours in the deplorable declination of the Empire and much more by fire it lost its fame and name being burnt by the people in hatred of Basilius the Emperour as saith Zonaras and Cedrenus which happened about the year from the Nativity of Christ 476. but being repaired and increased by the accession of three hundred and three Volumes Leo Isaurus in hatred of sacred Images burnt both it and its Keepers who were Counsellors of great renown This happened about the year of Christ 726. as witnesseth Zonaras Cedrenus and others In this Library was as is reported the gut of a Dragon 120 foot long upon which was written Homers Poems Iliads and Odysses in Letters of Gold 10. The Sâ—ptalian Libâ—aâ—y now in the possession of Manfrâ—d Septala a Patâ—ician of Mâ—llâ—ine 1664. contains seven thousand two hundred ninety Volumes amongst which are many
Greek Authors and six hundred Manuscripts they are set upon three hundred shelves â—itly disposed with that peculiar order as the study of every particular Science doth require First such as tâ—ach the first Elements of humane Life and the more polite Learning Secondly not a few that contain the Greek Latine Italian Histories and those of other Nations Thirdly such as contain the Precepts of Ethicks the Politicks and the Axioms of Moral Philosophy Fourthly such as pertain to Astronomy Geometry Musick Arithmetick and the Mathematicks Fifthly Philosophy and Physick the prints of living Creatures the History of Minerals and such like Sixthly the Books of both Laws Seventhly School and Practical Divinity Greek and Latine Fathers Commâ—ntaries upon Scripture and the General and Provincial Councils and Synods of the Church 11. The Vatican Library taking its beginning by very mâ—an degrees through the officious propensity of some Popes of Learning who enjoyed peace began so to increase that now it even labours under its own greatness and singularity For it is plain that Sixtâ—s the Fourth and especially Sixtus the Fifth did studiously endeavour the increase of it and withal Clemens the Eighth shewed out his great clemency and love of vertue when he took care upon the intreaties of the most learned Cardinal Baronius that the precious Library which Anarcas Fulvius Vrsinus a most lâ—arned person had heaped together as also all those Manuscripts collected by the most eminent Odoardus Farnesius should be transferred to the Vatican Pope Paulus the Fifth also brought hither the select Manuscripts of Cardinal Altemps to which he adjoined the Library of Heideâ—berg At such time as the Palatine of the Rhine was expelled it then received an accession of three hundred Greek Volumes in Manuscript Also Pope Vrban the Eighth enriched it with divers Greek Copies and when he had appointed Leo Allatius a man exactly skilled in the Greek Learning to be the Keeper thereof there were numbred six thousand Manuscipts an absolute Index of which was expected at the intimation of Cardinal Rusticutius but by what chance or misfortune it came not to light is yet altogether uncertain 12. The Escurial whereof Philip the Second the most potent King of Spain was the Founder hath in it a most noble Libâ—ary in which there are to be numbred seven thousand Greek and Latine Manuscripts which he had collected from several Libraries in Spain and Italy To this Library Cardinal Sirletus a most learned person gave all his Books It is also reported that two otâ—er Libraries did conspire to enrich this that of Antonius Augustuâ— Archbishop of Tarracon and the other of Don. N. the Ambassaâ—our of the King of Spain to the Republick of Venice for this last disposed all his Books to the King by his Will It hath also three thousand Arabick Books teaching the Secrets of Physick Astrology and Chirurgery and such as represent the Instruments subservient to the two last mentioned Facuâ—tiâ—s graphically described which Books it fell to the lot of Philip the Third by his Ships to take from the King of Tunis at such time as fear of a War from the King of Algier perswaded him to convey them to â— know not what Castle in hope of greater â—â—curity 13. Mâ—llaine hath a sumptuous Library the fiâ—st founding of which it owes to Cardinal Charles Borromâ—us who gave his own noble Library unto it and that the nobler in respect of Annotations upon divers Books of the Fathers which he lâ—ft to it written with his own hand Soon after Cardinal Frederick Borromaeus Archbishop also of the same Mâ—llaine assisted it with his endeavours and gave it not the name of his Family but from St. Ambrose who was once Aâ—chbishop there and the Patron of Mâ—llaine he gave it the title of the Ambrosian Library and being resolved to replenish it with Exotick Books he sent forth divers learned and vertuous men furnished with Chalices Patens and such other things as were for Church furniture into Asia to the Monks and Greek Bishops that by exchange or other price they might purchase Greek and Arabick Copies those espâ—cially of the Fathers nor was he disappointed In this Library were twelve thousand Manuscripts forty six thousand printed Volumes in the year 1645. Afterwards being yet increased and the former place too strait another was added as a supplement to it An. 1660. 14. In the higher part of the Palace of the Barberini in Rome the Cardinal Franciscus Barberini Nephew to Pope Vrban the Eighth by his Brother erected a Library in which is contained twenty five thousand choice Books of which number there are no less than five thousand Manuscripts 15. The Augustan Library is enriched with a multitude of Books and contains almost innumerable Greeks Copies in Manuscript if at least we may believe that Index of it which was imprinted at Augusta An. 1595. 16. That at Paris was founded by the most eminent Cardinal Iulius Caesar Mazarini in the endowing of which with a most precious Furniture of Books he neither spared gold or diligence Hither he caused to be transferred from the Archbishop of Trevers forty Chests replete with Manuscripts besides those other Books which he brought thither from the Library of Cardinal Richelieu and from some Provinces of France Of this Library there is an imprinted Index that gives a distinct account both of the number of the Books and names of the Authors in a very faithful relation 17. At Florence near to the Church of St. Laurence there is a Library that owes its founding to the Medicaean Family the Nurse of all kind of Vertues It was built by that Laurence Medices who in his Son gave the World that mild and meek Pastor of the Catholick Flock Pope Leo the Tenth The singularity of the Books in this Library may make amends for their multitude as will appear by the Index of it imprinted at Antwerpe 18. At the University of Leyden the choicest Monument of it is the Library there enriched with many manuscript Copies brought thither out of the East To this so flourishing an Academy Ioseph Scaliger the Son of Iulius Caesar Scaliger who was called the very Soul of Sciences left his own Manuscripts amongst which were divers Hebrew Syriack Greek and Latine ones the Index of which was published at Paris An. 1630. by Iacobus Golius a most excellent Linguist in that University 19. The famous Library at Oxford now called the Bodleian had a good Benefactor of King Henry the Eighth who employed persons into divers parts of the World to collect Books and from Constantinople by means of the Patriarch thereof he received a Ship laden with Arabick and Greek Books together with divers Epistles of the Fathers amongst which was that Epistle of St. Clement to the Corinthians which Baronius in the second Volume of his Annals so lamented as lost and which An. 1657. was printed and illustrated with Notes by N. the Prefect of this Library The
himself from biting with the other hand by thrusting his Coat into the mouth of it so letting it creep whither it would he followed holding it as his guide until the way was too streight for him and then dismissed it The Fox being loose ran through an hole at which came a little light and there did Aristomenes delve so long with his nails that at last he clawed out his passage and so got home in safety as both the Corinthians and Spartans after found to their cost 6. An. Dom. 1568. upon the Eve of All-Saints by the swelling of the Sea there was so great a deluge as covered certain Islands of Zealand a great part of the Sea coast of Holland and almost all Frizland In Frizland alone there were 2000 persons drowned many men who had climbed to the tops of Hills and Trees were ready to give up the ghost for hunger but were in time saved by Boats Amongst the rest upon an Hill by Sneace they found an Infant carried thither by the water in its Cradle with a Cart lying by it the poor Babe was soundly sleeping without any fear and then happily saved 7. William of Nassau Prince of Orange as he lay in Camp near to the Duke de Alva's Army some Spaniards in the night broke into his Camp and some of them ran as far as the Prince of Orange his Tent where he lay fast asleep He had a Dog lying by him on the bed that never left barking and scratching him by the face till he had waked him and by this means he escaped the danger 8. In that horrible Earthquake at Antioch it 's said by Dion that the Emperour Trajan was saved by miracle for by one of greater than humane stature in the ruine of the houses he was snatched out at the window After which for fear he abode some days in the open Air and in the publick Tents of the Hippodrome 9. An. Dom. 1045. the Emperour Henry the Third travelling toward Hungary upon the River Danubius Richilda the Widow of Albert Earl of Ebersberg entertained and lodged him very sumptuously and as she was making her supplication to the Emperour that Bosenburg and some other Lands in the Earls possession might be given to her Nephew Welpho while the Emperour in token of his Grant reached her his hand the Chamber-floor suddenly broke under them The Emperour fell into a bathing Vessel that was in the Stove underneath the same room and had no harm but Bruno the Bishop of Wirtzburg Cousin to the Emperour Alemanus the Bishop of Ebersberg and Richilda lighting upon the brinks of the Vessel were so sore hurt and bruised that they died some few days after A little before saith Aventine there appeared to Bruno as he was aboard the Barque with the Emperour a certain Ghost like an Ethiop who stood upon an high Rock and having called Bruno vanished 10. In the Earthquake of Apulia that happened in the year 1627. on the last day of Iuly one writeth That in the City of St. Severine alone ten thousand souls were taken out of the world that in the horrour of such infinite ruines and sepulchre of so many mortals a great Bell thrown out of a Steeple by the Earthquake fell so fitly over a child that it inclosed him and doing no harm made a Bulwark for him against any other danger Who balanced the motion of this metal but the same fingers that distended the Heavens 11. In Edge-hill Fight Sir Gervase Scroop fighting valiantly for his King received twenty six wounds and was left on the ground amongst the dead next day his Son Adrian obtained leave of the King to find and fetch off his Fathers Corps and his hopes pretended no higher than a decent Interrement thereof such a search was thought in vain amongst many naked bodies with wounds disguised from themselves and where pale death had confounded all complexions together However ever he having some general hint of the place where his Father fell did light upon his body which had some heat left therein the heat was with rubbing within a few minutes improved to motion that motion within some hours into sense that sense within a day into speech that speech within certain weeks into a perfect recovery living more than ten years after a monument of Gods mercy and his Sons affection The effect of this story I received from his own mouth in Lincoln Colledge 12. Pomponius was one of the number of those who were proscribed by the Triumvirate at Rome but he escaped death by a notable shift He takes to him the Ensigns of the Pretorship he in his Robe his Servants as so many Lictors with their Fasces kept close about their Master lest he should be known by such as they met in this order they passed undiscovered through the midst of the City At the Gate as Pretor he took and got up into a publick Chariot and so passed through all Italy pretending to be an Ambassador from the Triumvirate to Sextus Pompeius and was thereupon also furnished with a publick Barge with which he passed over into Sicily at that time the securest Sanctuary for the distrossed No small wonder it is that amongst so many men in so many places upon divers occasions he should not meet with any person that did betray him to those who sought after his life 13. Strange was that escape of Caesar in Egypt having hither pursued Pompey and discontented Ptolomy the King by demanding pay for his Souldiers he had his Navy which lay near the Pharos at Anchor assaulted by Achillas one of young Ptolomy's Courtiers Caesar himself was then at Alexandria and hearing of the Skirmish he hastned to the Pharos meaning to succour his Navy in person But the Egyptians making towards him on all sides he was compelled to leap into the Sea and swim for his life and though to avoid their Darts he sometimes dived under water yet held he still his left hand above and in it divers Books he drew after him his Generals Coat called Paludamentum with his teeth that his Enemies might not enjoy it as a Spoil and having swam thus 200 paces he got safe to his Ships where animating his Souldiers he also gained the Victory 14. Sir Richard Edgecomb Knight being zealous in the Cause of Henry Earl of Richmond afterwards King Henry the Seventh was in the time of King Richard the Third so hotly pursued and narrowly searched for that he was forced to hide himself in his thick Woods at his house at Cuttail in Cornwal Here extremity taught him a sudden policy to put a stone in his Cap and tumble the same into the water while these Rangers were fast at his heels who looking down after the noise and seeing his Cap swimming thereon supposed that he had desperately drowned himself and deluded by this honest fraud gave over their farther pursuit leaving him at liberty to shift over into Brittaigne 15.