thy walls and in this manner encreased thy goodlines and beauty BER Perchaunce those Pigmees of which Ezechiell maketh mention was some Nation of little men but not so little as those which wee speake of for Pigmee in Hebrew is as much to say as a man of little stature for if these Pigmees were such as those Authors write they must needes enioy long life seeing they voyaged so farre vsing traffique by Sea bringing vnto vs such commodities as theyr Country yeeldeth and carrying backe such of ours as are necessarie for them so that I account it a matter vnpossible that men whose space of lyues is so short should traffique with such carefull industrie in the farre Countries of Siry and Iury. LU. Your opinion is not without reason but in the ende heerein we cannot stedfastly affirme any thing for trueth so that it is best that wee leaue it euen so contenting our selues with that which hath beene vpon this matter alleadged seeing we haue not as yet ended our discourse of monsters I say therefore that Ctesias affirmeth that beeing with Alexander in India hee sawe aboue 130000. men together hauing all heads like dogges and vsing no other speech but barking BER I would rather call these dogges with two feete or else some other two footed beasts such as there is a kinde of great Apes of the which I haue seene one with a doggs face but standing vpright on his feete each part of him had the shape of a man or so little difference that at the first any man might be deceaued and so perchaunce might Ctesias and the rest of those which saw them seeing they could not affirme vvhether they had the vse of reason vvhereby they might be held for men and not brute beasts AN. Both the one and the other may be but leauing this they write that there are certaine men dwelling on the hill Milo hauing on each foote eight toes which turne all backward and that they are of incredible swiftnes Others that are borne vvith theyr haire hoary gray vvhich as they waxe olde becommeth blacke To be short if I should rehearse the infinite number of such like as are reported I should neuer make an ende for you canne scarcely come to any manne vvhich will not tell you one vvoonder or other vvhich hee hath seene One vvill tell you of an Evve that brought foorth a Lyon vvhich as Elian sayeth happened in the Countrey of the Coosians in the time of the tiranny of Nicippus Another vvill tell you of a Sovve that farowed a Pygge resembling an Elephant vvhich happened not long since in this Tovvne vvherein vvee dwell so that euery one will tell you a new thing and for my part I will not beleeue but that they are true because we see euery day new secrets of nature discouered the world is so great that we cannot knowe in the one part what is done in the other If it were not for this it were vnpossible to write the number of them neither were any booke how great so euer able to containe them But for the proofe of the rest I will tell you of one strange people found out in the world Mine author is Iohanes Bohemus a Dutch man in his booke entituled the manners and customes of all Nations who though he declareth not the time wherein it happened nor what the person was that found them out yet he writeth it so familierly that it seemeth he was some man meruailous well knowne in his Country but because you shall not thinke that I enhaunce the matter with wordes of mine owne I will repeate those selfe same which he vsed in the which haue patience if I be somwhat long Iambolo sayth he a man from his childhood wel brought vp after that his Father died vsed the trade of Merchandize who voyaging towards Arabia to buy spices and costly perfumes the ship wherein he went was taken by certaine Rouers which made him with another of the prisoners Cow-heard and keeper of their cattell with which as he went one morning to the pasture hee and his companion were taken by certaine Aethiopians and caried into Aethiopia to a Citty situate on the Sea whose custome was from long and auncient time to cleanse that place and others of the Country there abouts according to the aunswere of an Oracle of theirs in sending at certaine seasons two men beeing strangers to the Iland which they call Fortunat whose enhabitants liue in great and blessed happines If these two went thither and returned againe it prognosticated to that Country great felicity but if they returned through feare of the long way or tempest of the Sea many troubles should happen to that Country and those which so returned were slaine and torne in peeces The Aethiopians had a little boate fit for two men to rule into the which they put victuals enough for sixe moneths beseeching them with all instance to direct the Provv of their boate according to the commaundement of the Oracle towards the South to the end they might arriue in that Iland where those fortunate men liued promising them great rewardes if after theyr arriuall they returned backe threatning to pull them in peeces if they should before through feare returne to any coast of that Country because theyr feare should be the occasion of many miseries to that Land and as in so returning they should shewe themselues most wicked and cruell so should they at theyr hands expect all crueltie possible to bee imagined Iambolo and his companion beeing put into the boate with these conditions the Ethiopians remained on the shore celebrating theyr holie ceremonies and inuoking theyr Gods to guide prosperously thys little ship and to graunt it after the voyage finished safe returne Who sayling continuallie 4. months passing many dangerous tempests at last wearied with so discomfortable a voyage arriued at the Iland wherto they were directed which was round and in compasse about 5000. stadyes approching to the shore some of the inhabitants came to receiue them in a little Skiffe others stoode on the shoare wondering at the strangenes of theyr habite and attyre but in fine all receiued them most curteously communicating with thē such thinges as they had The men of this Iland are not in body and manners like vnto ours though in forme and figure they resemble vs for they are foure cubites higher and theyr boanes are like sinewes which they double writhe each way they are passing nimble and withall so strong that whatsoeuer they take in theyr handes there is no possible force able to take it from them They are hairie but the same is so polished and delicate that not so much as any one haire standeth out of order Theyr faces most beautifull theyr bodies well featured the entry of theyr eares far larger then ours The chiefest thing wherein they differ from vs is theyr tongues which haue a singuler particularitie giuen thē
and sometimes from low base estate enthroning them in kingdoms as for example King Gygas and almost in our very time Tamberlaine the great and deiecting others that were great and mighty yea Kinges and Monarches into extreame calamitie miserie infinite examples whereof may be seene in the Booke called The fall of Princes and manie others full of such tragicall disastres And it is manifest that this proceedeth from the constellations vnder which they are borne and the operations with which they worke because many Mathematitians and Astronomers knowing the day howre and moment wherin a man is borne vse to giue their iudgement and censure what shall betide vnto him so borne according to the Signes and Planets which then dominate in their force and vigure And many of them doe fore-tell so trulie manie wonderfull thinges that it seemeth scarcely possible to any man but God to knowe them which seemeth to proceede through the will of God whom it hath pleased to place that vertue in those Planets wherby the future successe might be knowne of those persons that are borne vnder thē And though I could here alleadge many examples of Emperours Kings and Princes whose successes to come vvere foretold them by Astronomers truly as indeed they hapned yet omitting them because they are so cōmonly known I will tell you one of Pope Marcellus who came to be high Bishop whose Father liuing in a place called Marca de Ancona where he was also borne beeing a great Astronomer at the birth of his sonne casting presently his natiuitie sayde openly that he had a sonne borne that day which should in time to come be high Bishop but yet in such sort as though he were not which came afterwards to be verified for after he was elected in the Consistorie by the Cardinals hee dyed within twentie daies not beeing able to publish or determine any thing by reason of his short gouernment I knewe also a man in Italie called the Astronomer of Chary who whatsoeuer he foretold the same proued in successe commonlie to be true so that he was held for a Prophet truth it is that hee was also skilfull in Palmestrie and Phisiognomie and thereby strangely foretold many things that were to come and perticulerly he warned a speciall friend of mine to looke wel vnto himselfe in the xxviij yeere of his age in which he should be in danger to receaue a wounde whereby his life shoulde stand in great hazard which fell out so iustly as might be for in that yeere he receaued a wound of a Launce in his bodie whereof he dyed A certaine Souldiour also one day importunating him to tell his fortune declaring vnto him the day and howre wherein he was borne and withall shewing him the palme of his hand and because he excused himselfe growing into choller and vrging him with threatnings to satisfie his demaund he told him that he was loth to bring him so ill newes but seeing you will needs haue it quoth he giue me but one crowne and I will be bound to finde you meate and drinke as long as you liue The Souldiour going away laughing and iesting at him seeing presently two of his fellowes fighting went betweene to part them and was by one of them thrust quite through the body so that he fell downe dead in the place AN. I cannot choose but confesse vnto you that many Astronomers hit often right in their coniectures but not so that they can assuredly affirme those thinges which they foretell of force and necessity to fall out there being so many causes and reasons to alter and change that which the signes and Planets doe seeme to portend the first is the will of God as being the first cause of all things who as he created and made the starres with that vertue and influence so can he by his only will change and alter the same when it pleaseth him Also all the starres are not knowne nor the vertues which they haue so that it may well be that the vertue of the one doth hinder make lesse or cause an alteration in the effect of the other and so an Astronomer may come to be deceaued in his calculations as vvas the selfe same Astronomer of Chary which you speake of when he fore-told that Florence being besieged with an Army imperiall with the forces of Pope Clement should be put to sackage and spoile of the Souldiours This Prophecie of his had like to haue cost him his life if hee had not made the better shift with his heeles for the Souldiours by composition that the Towne made finding themselues deluded made frusttate deceaued of their prophecied booty would haue slaine him if he had not with all possible diligence made away Besides if this were so there must of necessity follow a great inconuenience and such as is not to be aunswered for if when so euer any one is borne vnder such a constellation that of force the good or euill thereby portended must happen vnto him the selfe same then by consequence must needs happen to all those which are borne in that instant vnder the same signe and Planet for according to the multitude of the people which is in the worlde there is no houre nor moment in which there are not many borne together of which some come to be Princes and some to be Rogues When Augustus Caesar was borne it was vnpossible but that there were others also borne in the very same poynt and moment which for all that came not to be Emperours and to gouerne the whole worlde in so flourishing a peace as he did yea and perchaunce some of them went afterwards begging from dore to dore And thinke you that Alexander the great had no companions at his birth Yes without doubt had he though they had no part of his good Fortune and prosperity This matter is handled very copiously by S. Austine in his fifth booke De ciuitate Dei aunswering the Mathematitians and Astronomers which say that the constellations and influences are momentary whereby it should ensue that euery part and member of the body should haue a particuler constellation because the whole body together cannot be born in one moment nor in many moments to be short therefore they are many times deceaued that giue such great credite to the abusiue coniectures of Astronomy spending their whole time about the speculation and fore-knowledge of future things pertaining not onely to the birth of men fore-shewing their fortunes and successes but also to those of plagues earth-quakes deluges tempests droughts and such like things that are to happen BER If I vnderstand you well your meaning is that the influence of the Planets worketh not in men with any necessity or constraint but onely as it were planting in them an inclination to follow the vertue of their operations which may with great facility be euited in such thinges as are within the vse of free will and Lybre arbitrement In
reason therfore but they neuer talke of that Land which runneth on in length by the sea coast on the left hand towards the West passing by the kingdome of Norway and many other Prouinces and Countries for they know not what Land it is neither whether it goeth nor where it endeth nor where it turneth to ioyne with those parts of which they haue notice LV. By this meanes then it may be that they are deceaued which say that Europe is the least part of the three olde diuided parts of the world yet some say that on the other side of the bounds of Asia also there is much vnknowne Lande AN. You haue reason for this Land of which I speak stretching out along the Occident commeth turning to the Septentrion euen till vnder the Northern Pole which is the same that we here see from which forward on the other side what Lande there is or howe it extendeth it selfe wee knowe not though perchaunce the same be very great and spacious But let vs leaue this matter till hereafter where I will declare it more particulerly let vs return to entreate of som grounds and principles which are necessary for the facility of vnderstanding that which wee will speake of for otherwise in alleaging euery particuler wee should bring in all the Astrologie and cosmography of the world and therfore ommitting to declare what thing the Sphaere is and in what sort it is vnderstood that the earth is the Center of the worlde and then how the Center of the Earth is to be vnderstood with infinit other the like I will onelie alleadge that which is necessarie for our discourse First therefore all Astronomers and Cosmographers deuide the heauen into fiue Zones which are fiue parts or fiue gyrdings about according to which also the Earth is deuided into other fiue parts The one hath in the midst thereof the Pole Artick or North-pole which is the same that wee see the other hath the South or Pole Antartick directly contrary on the other side of the Heauen These 2. Poles are as two Axeltrees vpon which the whole Heauen turneth about they still standing firme in one selfe place in the midst betweene them both is the same which we call Torrida Zona and of the other two Colaterall Zones the one is between Torrida Zona the North-pole beeing the same in which we inhabite cōtaining Asia Affrick Europe it hath not bin known or vnderstood til these our times that any other of the Zones or parts of the earth hath been enhabited and so saith Ouid in his Metamorphosis that as the heauen is deuided into fiue Zones two one the right hand and two on the left and that in the midst more fierie then any of the rest so hath the diuine Prouidence deuided the Earth into other fiue parts of which that in the midst is through the great heate vninhabitable and the two vtmost in respect of their exceeding cold The selfe same opinion holdeth Macrobius in his seconde booke of the Dreame of Scipio Virgill in his Georgiques and the most part of all the auncient Authors whose authorities it serueth to no purpose to rehearse because in these our tymes we haue seene and vnderstood by experience the contrary as touching Torrida Zona seeing it is as well to be enhabited as any of the others and euery day it is past vnder frō one part to another as wee the other day discoursed And trulie the ignoraunce of the Auncients must bee verie great seeing they know not that Arabia faelix Aethiopia the coast of Guyne Calecut Malaca Taprobana Elgatigara many other Countries then in notice were vnder Torrida zona beeing a thing so notorious manifest that I maruaile how they coulde so deceaue themselues and not onely they but diuers moderne Writers also which though one way they confesse it yet another way they seeme to stande in doubt as may be seene by the Cosmography of Petrus Appianus augmented by Gemmafrigius a man in that Science very famous whose wordes are these The fiue zones of the Heauen constitute so many parts in the Earth of which the two vtmost in respect of theyr extreame cold are vnenhabitable the middlemost through the continuall course of the Sunne and perpendiculer beames thereof is so singed that by reason it seemeth not at all or very hardly to be habitable The Greeke Commendador likewise a man of great fame estimation in Spayne deceaued himselfe in his glosse vvhich hee vvrote vpon Iohn De Meno wherein hee maintayneth thys auncient opinion by these vvordes The Mathematitians sayth hee deuide the Earth into fiue Zones of which the two vtmost next the Poles through theyr great extreamitie of colde are not enhabitable neyther that in the midst through extreame heate the other two of each side participating of the heate of the middle and the colde of the vtter Zones are temperate and inhabitable Of these two the one is enhabited by those Nations of which we haue notice and is deuided into three parts Affrica Asia and Europa the other is enhabited by those whom we call Antypodes of whom we neuer had nor neuer shall haue any knowledge at all by reason of the Torrida or burned Zone which is vninhabitable the fierie heate of which stoppeth the passage betweene them and vs so that neyther they can come at vs nor we at them c. Though heere the Comendador confesse that there are Antypodes with whom wee cannot conuerse nor traffique yet the Auncients accounting the Torrida Zona as vninhabitable doubted whether there could be of the other side therof any people seeming vnto them vnpossible for any man since the creation of Adam which was created in this second Zone of the Pole Articke to passe ouer the burning Zone and there to generate and spred mankind Of this opinion seemeth to be S. Austine when he saith Those which fabulously affirme that there are Antypodes which is to say men of the contrary part where the Sunne riseth when it setteth with vs and which goe on the ground with theyr feete right against ours are by no meanes to be beleeued and Lactantius Firmianus in his third booke of Diuine Institutions laugheth and iesteth at those which make the earth and the water to be a body sphaericall and round at which error of his being a man so wise and prudent I cannot choose but much meruaile in denying a principle so notoriously known as though the world being round those people which are opposite to vs vnderneath should fall downe backwards The grosnes of which ignorance being nowe so manifestly discouered I will spend no more time in rehearsing his wordes so that they deny that there are Antypodes and that the world is enhabitable at all the Zones the contrary whereof is manifest Pliny handleth this matter in the sixty fiue Chapter of his second booke but in the end he resolueth not whether
there are Antypodes or no neither can it out of his words be gathered what he thinketh thereof LU. What is the meaning of this word Antipodes AN. I will briefely declare it vnto you though mee thinkes you should haue vnderstood the same by that which I haue sayd before Antypodes are they which are on the other part of the world contrary in opposite vnto vs going with their feete against ours so that they which vnderstand it not thinke that they goe with their heads downward whereas they goe in the selfe same sort with their heads as wee doe for the world being round in what part thereof soeuer a man standeth eyther vnder or aboue or on the sides his head standeth vpright towards heauen and his feete directly towards the Center of the earth so that it cannot be saide that the one standeth vpward and an other downward for so the same which wee should say of them they might say of vs meruailing how wee could stay our selues without falling because it should seeme to them that they stand vpward and we downward and the right Antypodes are as I said those which are in contrary and opposite Zones as they of the North-pole to those of the South-pole and we being in this second Zone haue for our Antypodes those of the other second Zone which is on the other side of Torrida Zona but those in Torrida Zona it selfe cannot holde any for theyr right Antypodes but those which are of one side thereof directly to those that are on the other vnder them or aboue them or howe you list to vnderstand it BER I vnderstand you well but we being in this Zone which is round winding as you say about the earth how shall we terme those that are directly vnder vs who by all likelihoods must be onely vpon one side of the world for if there were a line drawne betweene them and vs through the earth the same line should not come to passe through the Center and middle of the earth AN. These the Cosmographers call in a manner Antypodes which in such sort as they haue different places one frō an other so doe they terme them by different names as Perioscaei Etheroscaei and Amphioscaei being Greeke wordes by which their manner of standing is declared and signified Perioscaei are those whose shadowes goe round about and these as you shall heereafter vnderstand cannot bee but those which are vnder the Poles Amphioscaei are those which haue their shadow of both sides towards Aquilo and Auster according as the Sunne is with them Etheroscaei are those which haue their shadow alwayes on one side but what distinction soeuer these words seeme to make yet Antypodes is common to them all for it is sufficient that they are contrary though not so directly that they writhe not of one side nor other for facility of vnderstanding this take an Orenge or any other round fruite thrust it of all sides full of needles and there you shall see howe the points of the needles are one against another by diuers waies of which those that passe through the sides are as well opposite as those which passe through the very Center and middle of the Orenge But this being a matter so notorious and all men now knowing that the whole world is enhabitable and that the same being round one part must needes be opposite to another it were to no purpose to discourse any farther therein LU. This is no small matter which you say that the whole world is enhabitable for leauing aside that you should say this generality is to be vnderstood that there is in all parts of the world habitation notwithstanding that there are manie Deserts Rocks and Mountaines which for some particuler causes are not enhabited me thinks you can by no meanes say that the two vtmost Zones in which the North South-pole is contained are enhabited seeing the common opinion of all men to the contrary AN. I confesse that all the old Astrologians Cosmographers and Geographers speaking of these two Zones doe terme them vninhabitable the same proceeding as they say through the intollerable rigour and sharpnes of the cold of which they affirme the cause to be because they are farther off from the Sunne then any other part of the earth and so sayth Pliny in the 70. Chapter of his second booke by these words Heauen is the cause of depriuing vs the vse of three parts of the earth which are the three vninhabitable Zones for as that in the midst is through extreame heate not any way habitable so of the two vtmost is the cold vntollerable being perpetually frosen with ice whose whitenes is the onely light they haue so that there is in them a continuall obscurity as for that part which is on the other side of Torrida Zona though it be temperate as ours is yet is it not habitable because there is no way to get into it c. And here-vpon he inferreth that there is no part of the world enhabited nor where people is but onely this Zone or part of the earth in which wee are an opinion truly for so graue an Author farre from reason and vnderstanding That therfore which I intend euidently to make manifest vnto you is that they were not onely deceaued in those Zones wherein eyther Pole is contayned but in Torrida Zona also for as this is found not to be so vntemperate nor the heate and Ardor so raging as they supposed so also is the cold of the Polar Zones nothing so rigorous and sharpe as they described it but sufferable and very well to be endured and enhabited as by proofe we find that all those cold Regions are peopled But the Auncients are to be excused who though they were great Cosmographers and Geographers yet they neuer knew nor discouered so much of the earth as the Modernes haue done which by painefull and industrious Nauigation haue discouered many Regions Countries and Prouinces before vnknowne not onely in the Occidentall Indies the which wee will leaue apart but in the Orientall also and in the farre partes of the Septentrion for proofe whereof reade Ptolome which is the most esteemed Geographer and to whom is giuen in those thinges which he wrote the greatest credite and you shall finde that hee confesseth himselfe to be ignorant of many Countries nowe discouered which he termeth vnknowne and vnfound Landes saying That the first part of Europe beginneth in the Iland of Hybernia whereas there are many other farther North that enter also into Europe and also a great quantity of firme Land which is on the same part towards the North-pole where he might haue taken his beginning and in his eight Table of Europe speaking of Sarmacia Europaea hee sayeth that there lyeth of the one side thereof a Country vnknowne and in his second Table of Asia entreating of Sarmacia Asiatica hee sayth the same not acknowledging for discouered
women of Egipt are so fruitefull that they haue often 3. or 4. children at a burden and though he expresseth not so much yet we must imagine that many of them liue and doe well or otherwise hee would neuer make so often mention of them In this our Spayne we haue often seene a woman deliuered of three children at once and one in a Village not far hence of 4. and in Medina del campo some yeres passed it was publiquely reported that a certain principal woman was brought a bed of 7. at once and it is said that a Bookebinders wife of Salamanca was deliuered of 9. and we must thinke that in other Countries haue hapned the like of as great greater admiration though we as they say being in one ende of the world haue had no notice nor knowledge of them LV. Plinie saith it is certaine that sixe children may be borne at one birth which is most strange vnlesse it be in Egypt where the women bring sildome one alone into the worlde In Ostia there was a woman that had at one burden two sonnes and two daughters all liuing and doing well Besides in Peloponeso a woman was 4 times deliuered each time of 5. sonnes the most part of which liued Trogus Pompeius writing of the Egiptian women saith that they are often deliuered of 7. sons at once of which some are Hermophrodits Also Paulus the Lawyer writeth that there was brought from Alexandria to Adrian the Emperor a woman to be seene which had fiue liuing children 4. of the which were borne in one day the 5. foure daies after the deliuery of the first Iulius Capitolinus writeth the like of a woman deliuered of 5. sons in the time of Anth. Pius so that the matter which signior Bernardo rehersed of the woman with 3. liuing children is not so newe nor strange Besides it is coÌ„firmed with the publique fame of that which hapned to a lady one of the greatest of this land which being in trauaile it was told her husband that she was deliuered of one son within a little space of one more within few houres they told him that shee had brought him forth 4. more which were 6. in all who answered merily to those that brought him the newes if you can wring her well I warrant you qd hee you shal get more out of her This is no fable but a matter known to be true AN. Seeing we are falne into the discourse of prodigious births I can by no means passe ouer with silence that which Nicholaus de florentia writeth alledging the authority of Auicenna in Nono de animalibus that a woman miscaried at one time of 70. proportioned children the same author alledgeth Albertê° Magnê° which said that a certaine Phisition told him for assured trueth that beeing sent for into Almaigne to cure a gentlewoman hee sawe her deliuered of a 150. children wrapt all in a net each of them so great as ones little finger all borne aliue proporcioned I know well that these thinges are almost incredible to those which haue not seene theÌ„ yet is this one thing so notorious wel known that it coÌ„firmeth the possibility of the rest though it be far more admirable then any of theÌ„ all That which hapned to the lady Margaret of Holland which brought forth at one burden 306. children all liuing about the bignes of little mise which were christned by the hands of a Bishop in a bason or vessel of siluer which as yet for memory remaineth in a Church of the same Prouince the which our most victorious Emperor Charles the fift hath had in his hands this is affirmed to be true by many and graue witnesses Sundry authors write hereof especially Henricus Huceburgensis Baptista Fulgoso Lodo. Viues which saith that the cause of this monstrous birth was the curse of a poore woman which coÌ„ming to the gates of this great Lady to demaund almes in steede of bestowing her charity she reuiled taunted her reprochfully calling her naughty pack asking her how many fathers shee had for her children wherat the poore woman taking griefe beseeched God on her knees to send vnto this Lady so many children at a burden that she might be able neyther to know theÌ„ nor to nourish them BE. I think there neuer was the like of this seene or heard of in the world and truly herein Nature exceeded much her accustomed limites the iudgment thereof let vs referre to the Almightie who suffered permitted her to conceaue so many creatures which seeing it comes so well to purpose I will tell you what I haue heard of som men of credit such as wold not report any vntruth which is that in the kingdom of Naples or in diuers places therof the childbirth is passing dangerous to the Mothers because there issueth out before the childe appeare a little beast of the fashion bignes of a little frog or little toade and somtimes 2. or 3. at once if any of the which through negligence come to touch the grounde they hold it for a rule infallible that the woman which is in trauaile dieth presently which because so soone as it coÌ„meth out of the wombe it creepeth that swiftly they haue the bed stopt round about besides the ground wals so couered that it cannot by any means com to tuoch the earth besides they haue alwaies ready a bason of water wherein they presently put those litle beasts couering it so close that they cannot get out carry theÌ„ therin to some riuer or to the sea wherein to auoide the danger they cast theÌ„ and though I haue not seen any Author which writ so much yet all those that haue been in those countries confirme the same so that there is no doubt to be made thereof but that it is as true as strange and though it may seeme that I vse some digression froÌ„ the matter yet me thinks that it is not amisse that we should vnderstand what Aristotle writeth in his 3. booke de animalibus of a he Goat which as it seemed was euen ready to coÌ„ceaue if nature would haue giuen him therto any place for he had teates like vnto the femals great full of milk so that they milked him it came froÌ„ him in such quantity that they made cheese thereof AN. Meruaile not much at this for if you read the booke which Andreas Mateolus of Siena made de epistolis medecinalibus you shal find that he saith hee saw himselfe in Bohemia 3. of the same sort of the which hee himselfe had one for his proper vse whose milke he found by experience to bee the best medicine of all for those which were troubled with the Apoplexy or falling sicknes BER There must be some cause for which Nature in such a thing as this exceeded her accustomed order and perchance it was to bring a
one in Scithia a Prouince of Asia and the other in Lybia a Prouince of Affrica vvherein is confirmed that which you say touching theyr diuersitie of Regions though their manner of life were all one And if you desire to know the sum of their history the opinion of diuers authors concerning thē reade Pedro Mexias in his Forrest of Collections who therin handleth it at large truly if they were so mighty as they are vvritten to be some great and notable matter must needes haue succeeded before their fall who in time of theyr prosperity had achiued such vvoorthy enterprises BER Leauing this let vs resolue our selues in the matter of Pigmees proposed by Signior Ludouico the discourse of which vvill yeeld as much matter vvhereon to speake as this of the Amazones ANT. Of these the most parte of Cosmographers make mention describing them to be men of three spans in length Plinie holdeth that they exceede not in length three hand-bredths the thombe being strect out Iuuenall speaking of them sayth that theyr vvhole stature passeth not the height of a foot Both the one the other may be true for as amongst vs there be some men greater then other so may there be betweene them difference of statures though the highest cannot exceede three spans or very little more Theyr habitation is in the vtter parts of India towards the East neere the rising of the Riuer Ganges in certaine Mountaines where at such times as it is in other places Winter the Cranes come to lay theyr egges and to bring vp theyr young ones about the Riuer sides vvhose comming so soone as the Pigmees perceiue because they are so little that the Cranes regard them not but doe them much hurt as well in theyr persons as in eating vp theyr victuals spoyling their fruites they ioyne themselues as Homer writeth in great number to breake theyr egges to prepare themselues to this terrible fight they mount vpon Goates Rams and in very goodly equipage goe forvvarde to destroy this multiplication of Cranes as to a most dangerous and bloody enterprise BER This is a fierce people of great courage as it seemeth but as I haue heard they liue not long for theyr women at 3. yeares of age beare chyldren at 6. yeares are barren and reputed old and the greatest age they may reach vnto is ix or x. yeares Ouid in his 6. booke of Metamorp sayth that they are two foote long double the reckoning of Iuuenall and that theyr vvomen beare children at fiue yeares and at eyght yeares are old and die soone after AN. The common fame that goeth of them is so the like saith Aristotle by these words The Cranes come out of the plaines of Scithia to the lakes aboue Aegipt which is where the Riuer Nilus runneth and it is said that they fight in this place with the Pigmees and this is no fable but an assured truth that there are meruailous little men and very little horses also the men are about two feet and a handbreadth high the vvomen breed children at fiue yeres at eight are barraine and liue not much longer Solinus also entreating of the selfe same matter saith that the Pigmees enhabite certaine hils of India and that the longest terme of their life is eight yeeres LV. These authors are well wide one from another seeing the one placeth them in Affrica and the other in the vttermost bounds of Asia beeing so many thousand miles difference betweene them Pomponius Mela will haue their habitation to be in the farthest parts of all Affrica some others will haue it to be in Europe For Gemafrisius in his Cosmography sayeth that there was a ship made of leather driuen through a vehement tempest vpon the coast of the kingdom of Norway in the which were no other people then Pigmees of whose habitation there could no knowledge be had because no man could vnderstand their language but according to the course of their voyage it could not be but in some part betweene the West and the North which we will farther proue when we come to discourse thereof It must be in some other newe part of the world or else it must be in some Country contained vnder Europe Pigafeta a Knight of Malta which accompanied Magellan in his voyage to the Indies when he discouered the straight and returned back in the ship called Victoria which they say went round about the vvorlde in relation that hee made to the Pope of his strange aduentures by the way said that being in the Archpelago which is in the Sea of Sur and on the other side of the Straight there were found Pigmees in a certaine Iland of different fashion from these for their eares were as great as their whole body they laid themselues downe on the one and couered themselues with the other and were in their running exceeding swift which though he himselfe did not see because he could not apart himselfe from the voyage which the ship held yet it was in the Ilands there about a thing notoriously knowne and manifest and the most part of the Marriners testified the same AN. Pigafeta had neede for the credite of his report to bring such witnesses as had seene them in person but the matter is not great for euery man may beleeue herein what he list without committing deadly sinne Anthony Gubert seeing these diuersities tooke occasion in a Treatise of his to say that this matter of Pigmees is but a fable which hee endeuoureth to proue by diuers effectuall reasons the one of which is that the world beeing neuer so much voyaged neyther euer so great a part thereof discouered and knowne as now yet is there not any particuler part thereof certainly knowne or found out that is enhabited of Pigmees But omitting the sundry opinions of others which haue written of this matter it should be a great rashnes not to giue credite to so graue Authors as were Aristotle Soline and Pliny which affirme them to be and it may be that in times past this race of men were in those sundry parts which they say all of one forme and likenes according to that which wee sayde of the Amazones but let vs leaue this to be concluded by men of greater curiosity then wee are onely by the way I will tell you this that there are diuers of opinion that these Pigmees are not reasonable men but beastes bearing the figure and likenesse of men vvith some little more vse of reason then the other beastes haue BER They are in the wrong vvhich maintayne that opinion for it is most certaine that there are Pigmees and that they are men indued with reason the which you may see in Ezechiell vvhere hee reckoneth vp the Pigmees amongst other Nations that had affaires and dealings in the Citty of Tyre saying The Pigmees also which stand in thy Towres hanged vp theyr shieldes round about
head so incredibly great that it amazed the beholders but being rotten it fell in peeces the teeth still remaining whole of the which they carried one to Venice shewing it to those that desired the sight thereof as a thing wonderfull Frier Iacobê° Philippê° de Bergamo vvryteth in his Supplementum ChronicoruÌ„ that there vvas found a Sepulchre and in the same a body of admirable greatnesse outreaching as it were in length the high walls or buildings it seemed that he lay sleeping he had woundes vpon him well 4. foote wide at his bolster stoode a candle burning vvhich would not goe out till they bored a hole vnderneath then the light extinguished The body so soone as they touched it turned into powder ashes round about him were written in Greeke Letters these wordes Pallas sonne of Euander slaine by Turnus LUD You would wonder more at that which Sinforianus Campegius writeth in his Booke called Ortus Gallicus alleaging the authoritie of Ioh. Bocacius vvho affirmed to haue seene it himselfe that in Sicilia neere to the Citty of Trapana certaine Labourers diging for chalke vnder the foote of a hill discouered a Caue of great widenesse entring into the which with light they founde sitting in the midst therof a man of so monstrous hugenes that astonished therwith they fled to the vilage reporting what they had seen at last gathering together in great number with weapons torches they returned back to the Caue where they found this Giant whose like was neuer hearde of before in his left hand hee held a mighty staffe so great and thicke as a great maste of a ship seeing that he stirred not they tooke a good hart drew neere him but they had no sooner layde theyr hands vpon him but he fel into ashes the bones onely remayning so monstrous that the very skull of his head held in it a bushell of Wheat and his whole carkas beeing measured was found to be a 140. cubits long AN. It is necessary to alleage many Authors to giue credit to a thing so far out of all limits of reason the like of which hath neuer been seene or written of in the world which if it be true I would thinke it shoulde be some body buried before the floode For in the first age I take it that men vvere farre greater then they are nowe but since the Deluge neyther Nemrod neither anie of those that helped builde the Tower of Babilon neither any other Giant whatsoeuer hath approched any thing neer this monstrous and excessiue hugenes of stature LVD You haue reason but what shall we say thereto when we find it written by such authorized Authors gyuing vs the testimony of antiquity let vs therefore passe on with them returne to that which Sinforian sayd that hee saw himselfe by Valencia in a Cloyster of Grey-friers the bones of a Giant according to the greatnes of which by good Geometry the length of the body could bee no lesse then fortie foote Hee alleageth also Iohn Pius of Bononia which sayth that he sawe in a Towne on the Sea-side neere vnto Vtica or Carthage a tussle of a mans head which if it had been broken in peeces would haue made a hundred such tussles as men now liuing commonlie haue and of the selfe same tussle maketh S. Augustine mention in his booke of the Citty of God BER Many things like vnto these haue beene founde in times past which for my part beeing by such men confirmed I account woorthy of beleefe AN. There want not testimonies to giue them credite if wee will looke into Antiquities we shall finde in the holy Scripture that of Nemrod and those other Gyants of which Signior Ludouico nowe spake who after Noes-flood builded that high Tower to saue them selues in if such another shoulde happen to come or according to the Gentiles opinion to make warre with the Gods and all these in respect of men that now liue were sayd to be of a wonderfull and huge stature and comming vnto other ages neerer vnto ours that which is written of S. Christopher and confirmed by authoritie of the Romaine Church is notorious to all men where we finde that his proportion stature was little lesse then these aboue named Besides I haue heard diuers that haue been in the Monastery of Ronces valles affirme that there are certaine bones of those which as they say were slaine in the battaile wherein Charles the great was ouerthrowne by the King Don Alonso de Leon vvhere many of the twelue Peeres of Fraunce through the great valiantnes of Bernardo del Carpio ended their liues the vvhich bones are so great that they seeme to be of some Gyants a Frier that brought the measure of one of theyr shin-bones shewed it me it was in my iudgement as great as that of three men now a dayes but in this I referre me to those that haue seene them who told me also that there were some armours so great and heauy that they might well serue for a testimony of the greatnes of those bodies which ware them AN. This which you haue sayd agreeth with that which Iosephus writeth in his fift booke of Antiquities There was saith he a linage of Gyants which for the greatnes of their body and proportion different from other men were aboue measure wonderfull of which there are yet some bones to be seene not to bee beleeued of those which haue not viewed them And in time of Pope Iulio the third no longer agone there was a man in a Village of Calabria who perchance is yet aliue of so extraordinary a sise and stature that the Pope desirous to see him sent for him to Rome who because neither Horse nor Mule was able to carry him was brought to Rome in a Coach out of the which his legs from the knees downward hanged foorth he was so high that the tallest man in Rome reached not to his halfe breast according to which height the rest of his members were proportioned it was a thing of admiration to see how deuouringly he eat drank A friend of mine asked him whether his parents were great he aunswered that both his parents and brothers were of the middle sort onely he had a sister as yet young which by all coniecture in time would be as great or greater then himselfe LV. I am of opinion that in times past the men were for the most part greater then they now are and that by little and little they decrease daily and whereas the Auncients write that men then exceeded not the measure of seauen feete in height that their feete were then greater then ours and their cubits inches spans and all their other measures also so that the longer the world lasteth the lesse shall the people waxe Wee may the better vnderstand this to be so through that which is written of the Gyant Golyas in the first booke of Kings that he was sixe cubits high which
they ouerturne some and that they gette vp also into great ships but as it seemeth not with meaning to doe hurte but onely through nouelty and curiositie to view them and that commonly they keepe together in flocks and companies in maner of an Armie and it hath happened that som of them entring into shyps haue been so amazed that they haue been taken by the Mariners but in finding themselues layde hold on they giue loude and pittifull shrikes making a most hydeous and ilfauoured noyse at which very instant there are heard infinite other the like cryes and howlings in such sort that they make deafe the eares of them that heare them and there appeare so many of theyr heads aboue water as though they were a mightie Armie of many people with the vvhich and with their terrible noyse they make the waues rise so vehemently that is resembleth a furious tempest The which is a token that they goe alwaies together vnlesse it be that some one stray by chance when they perceiue that any of theyr company is taken they make this crying tumult to assault the ship vnlesse the Mariners do presently turne him lose cast him into the Sea againe which beeing done they cease theyr clamour and goe their waies quietly vnder the vvater without doing any farder hurt And therfore that which signior Ludouico saide is not without reason for truely though they be not creatures reasonable yet seeme they to haue farre greater vse thereof then other Fishes haue for as farre as wee can conceaue and iudge that entry of theirs so boldly into the ships is not with any intention to do harme but only to view what is in them and to behold the men whose likenesse they beare And if perchance they ouerturne any little vessel such as are Cockboats or Skiffes it is through their heauy weight and not through any will to doe mischiefe But let vs refer this to th' Almightie who onely knoweth the truth of that which we gesse at by coniecture BER I would that you knewe afore we passe any farder a common opinion which is helde in the kingdome of Galicia of a certaine race of men whom they call Marini the which as it is affirmed for matter most assured and they themselues deny not but make their boast thereof are discended from one of these Tritons or Seamen vvhich though beeing a thing very ancient is tolde in diuers sorts yet they come all to conclude that a certaine vvoman going along the Sea-shore vvas surprised and taken by one of these Tritons that lay embusht in a tuffet of Trees and by force constrayned to yeelde vnto his lustlie desire after the accomplishment of which he withdrew himselfe into the water returning often to the same place to seeke this woman but at last perceauing that his vsuall repayre thither was descried and that there was waite layd to take him he appeared no more It pleased God to permitte this woman from the time of that acquaintance with the Triton to conceaue child which though at the time of her deliuery proued to be in each poynt like vnto other children yet by his strange appetites desires and infinite other signes and tokens it was most euident and manifest that it was begotten by the same Triton or Seaman This matter is so ancient that I meruaile not though it be told after diuers sorts seeing there is no Author that writeth it neyther any other testimonie thereof then onelie the common and publique fame which hath spred and published it LU. One poynt herein me thinks by the way is rather to be helde for a fable then to bee credited for though it were that Nature through any such copulation should suffer some thing to be engendered yet should the same be a monster not a man capable of reason as you say this was for hence would arise two no small inconueniences the one that there should be men in the worlde whose beginning shoulde not discend from our first Parents Adam and Eue for this Triton neyther is neyther can bee accounted a reasonable man and of the posteritie of Adam in like sort neither his sonne nor those that shall discend of him the other is to gaine-saie the generall rule of all Philosophers and Phisitions which resolutely affirme it to be vnpossible that there shoulde be engendered of the seede of a man reasonable and of a creature vnreasonable any creature like to eyther of them perfectlie bearing eyther of both theyr shapes Though put the case that the contrary sometimes happen between a Mare and an Asse a dogge and a Shee-woolfe or a Foxe and a bitch yet the contradiction is not so great these beastes differing so little one from another as the great and vnspeakeable difference vvhich in so manie poynts is betweene men and bruite beastes And though in likenesse and similitude a Seaman resemble a man of reason yet it suffiseth that hee differ onely in reason then the which there can in the world be no greater difference And therefore Galen the Phisition in his third Booke De vsu partium in scoffing manner iesteth at a certaine Poet called Pindarus because hee affirmed the fable of Centaures to be true BER All that you haue sayde standeth with great reason but I haue alwayes heard that the seede onely of the man is able to engender without any necessity that the vvomans should concurre also of this opinion is Aristotle LVD In thys sort the contradiction is greater for if the seed of the vvoman concurre not in generation of necessity it must ensue that the thing engendered be like the Father and not the mother the contrary whereof is knowen to be true and that both the seede of the male and female concurre in generation which if it were otherwise the generation could not com to effect and thys maintaineth Hipocrates in his booke De Genitura and in that De sterilibus and Galen in his 14. booke De vsu partium AN. Very vvell hath this matter been debated on both sides yet I will not leaue vnaunswered the two inconueniences alleaged by Signior Ludouico as for the first it followeth not that if a woman conceaue a chyld reasonable by a creature vnreasonable that therfore the same child shold not be accounted the ofspring of Adam for it suffiseth that he is on the mothers side without any necessitie that he must be also of the fathers As for the second I confesse that guyding our selues by the ordinary course of Nature the Phylosophers and Phisitions in maintayning the impossibilitie of perfect generation betweene different creatures haue great reason vnlesse that it be in these before mentioned whose fimilitude is such that they seeme to be all of one kinde But we must not so restraine Nature as they doe without hauing regard to the superior cause which is God by whose will it is directed and gouerned and to whom wholy it obeyeth For seeing it is a
all the rest that is reported of them to be a meer fable BER It is a thing most true known and approued that there are in the Sea as diuers and sundry kindes of Fishes as there is on the earth of beasts or in the ayre of foules so that it is not to be wondred at if some of them resemble humaine forme as these which we haue named LU. And though wee haue long deteyned our selues in this conuersation yet before wee part I beseech you resolue me in one doubt which remaineth coÌ„cerning men the which is this I haue heard say that there haue been in times past certaine women which changing theyr sexes haue been conuerted into men which seemeth so strange and vnnaturall that I hold it but for a fable like that which is reported of Tyresias the Thebane Prophet AN. Neuer wonder so much at this for possibly this which is reported of him as a tale false and feigned was indeede truth as many other the like which haue with great authority beene written and affirmed For proofe whereof read Pliny in his 4. chapter of his 7. Booke where he vseth these words It is no matter feyned sayth hee that women sometimes change their sexe for we sinde in the Chronicles that Publiê° Liciniê° Crassê° Caius Cassiê° Longinê° beeing Consuls a young mayden perfect in that sexe daughter to Casinus was changed and metamorphozed to a perfect man and therefore by the commaundement of theyr Soothsayers was carried away as a thing prodigious and cast into a desert Iland And Licinius Mucianus affirmeth that he saw in Argos a man called Aresconte who had beene first a vvoman called Arescusa after the changing of her sexe she came to haue a beard and married a vvife of the like sort he sawe a young strypling in the Citty of Smyrna and a little farder he coÌ„meth to say I my selfe saw in Affrica Luciê° Cosciê° a cittizen of Triditania who the selfe same day that he was maried beeing then a woman was transformed into a man Neither is Plinie alone author of this wonderful nouelty for Pontanê° a man of great grauity writeth that a woman in the citty of Caeta after she had bin 14. yeres married turned her sex becam a man that another woman called Emilia maried vnto a citizen of Ibula called Anthonio Spensa after she had been 12. yeres his wife becam a perfect man and maried another woman begat children Another far stranger then eyther of these is recited by the same authour of a woman that had been maried brought forth a sonne which afterwards beeing conuerted into a man married another woman and had children by her but because these are old matters and it may be sayd that wee goe farre for witnesses I will tell you what Doctor Amatus writeth a Phisition of no small estimation in Portugall who in a worke of Phisicke which he made sayth that in a village called Esgueyra distant ix leagues from the Citty of Corimbra there liued a Gentleman who had a daughter named Marya Pacheco the which at such age as by the course of nature her flowers should haue come downe in sted thereof as though it had before lyen hidden in her belly there issued forth a perfect and able member masculine so that of a vvoman shee became a man and was presently clothed in mans habite and apparrell and her name changed from Marie to Manuell Pacheco and not long after passing into the East Indies shee wan in the vvarres great reputation through the valour of her person from whence returning most opulent and rich she shortly afterward married a Gentlewoman of a very Noble house by whom whether she had any children or no he writeth not but onely that she neuer came to haue any beard retayning alwayes a womanly face countenance and thys he affirmeth of his owne sight and knowledge But those that will neyther giue credite to these thinges vvhich I haue sayde nor to the Authors of them let them read Hyppocrates by a common consent called the Euangelist of Phisitions There was sayth he in his 6. booke De morbis popularibus a woman called Phaetula in the Citty of Abderis wife to Piteus which beeing of young and tender yeares when her husband was banished from thence remained many months without hauing her flowers which caused her to feele an exceeding payne in her members whereupon her body shortly after miraculously changed sexe her voyce became manly sharpe and her chinne was couered with a beard The selfe fame hapned in like sort in Tafus to Anamisia wife to Gorgippus LUD Truly these things which you haue rehearsed are meruailous and the onely authoritie of Hippocrates suffiseth to giue them credit emboldned through which I will tel you a thing which till nowe I alwayes accounted as a fable or thing dreamed which though it be long since it was tolde me yet would I neuer vtter it to any because I reputed it as a thing altogether incredible It was thus A friend of mine of good authority and credite told me that in a Village not farre hence there was a vvoman maried with a Husbandman by whom hauing no children they were at continuall iarre so that were it through iealousie or other cause she led with him a most vnquiet life for remedy whereof shee rising on euening cloathed her selfe in the garments of a young fellowe that dwelt with them in the house and departed secretly from that time forward faigning her selfe to be a man and put her selfe into seruice gaining where-with to sustaine her life in which estate after she had a while remained whether it were that Nature wrought in her with so effectuall vertue and puissance or that her owne earnest imagination seeing her selfe in that habite had force to worke so strange an effect she was transformed into a man and maried an other woman not daring through simplicity discouer this matter till by chaunce a man that had beene before time acquainted with her looking one day earnestly vpon her and viewing in her the perfect resemblance of her which hee had before time knowne demaunded if she or rather he were her brother vvhereuppon he being now changed and become a man and withall putting great confidence in the other opened vnto him the whole secresie of this successe instantly beseeching him not to discouer it to any man BER Whatsouer Nature hath at one time done it may doe an other and as well may this which you haue tolde bee true as that which is affirmed by Writers and therefore you haue done well to reserue it till nowe comming so well to purpose as it doth for the confirmation of the before rehearsed especially we being nowe so well perswaded of the possibility thereof but if you should tell the same amongst some kinde of men you would be in great hazard to be iested at for your labour as I was for saying that there was
some salt and brackish and others of so many different tastes properties that it is vnpossible to reckon theÌ„ There are many Authors which write of theyr different vertues and conditions some of the which are recited by Pedro Mexias in a chapter of his booke entituled The Forrest of Collections which seeing you may there finde at large when it shall please you to peruse him I will spend no time in rehearsing LVD You say he collected some whereby I imagine there are other some by him vnremembred of which you shoulde doe vs great fauour to giue vs notice and vnderstanding AN. I am perswaded that he left them out not for vvant of remembrance or knowledge of them but onelie that hee wrote those which he accounted the principallest of greatest wonder For what greater or more incredible strangenes may there be then that of the Fountaine of Epirus into the which putting a Torch or a candle lighted it quencheth and extinguisheth the flame thereof and putting it in dead it kindeleth and enflameth the same and that which he writeth of other Riuers Lakes which burned the hands of those that had falsly sworne beeing put into them and others that filled them ful ofleprosie and of the Fountaine Elusidis which in sounding a Flute or other musicall instrument beginneth to swel buble vp in such quantity as though it would flow oouer the which in ceasing the sound appeaseth it selfe againe sinketh setleth it selfe into a quiet estate as it was before There are so many like vnto these written reported that to go about to rehearse theÌ„ all would be an endlesse work I will only therfore recite some of theÌ„ recited by Pliny in his second booke cap. 103. som other mentioned by other authors of great authority grauity and credit which I imagine you haue not heard neither are they in the collections of the beforesayd Author remembred First therfore to begin how strange miraculous is that of Iacobs Well in Sichar where Sychen the son of Emor died by signes and tokens of which the inhabitants knowe in what sort the Riuer Nilus shall ouerflowe that ensuing yere for it hapneth yerely once at which time they faile not with all diligence to obserue the tokens thereof especially how high the water riseth wherby they assuredly know in what sort the Nile shall rise and how far he shall ouerflowe that yere by which obseruation they know if the yere shal be scarse barrein or plentiful abundant according to which they make their prouisions fetching from other parts thinges necessary for their sustenaunce if there be any apparance of dearth Of the Lake which Pedro Mexias sayth is in Ethiopia in the which those that bathe themselues come forth as it were annoynted and besmeared with Oyle Pomponius Mela Solinus make mencion whom hee alleageth for authors saying that the water thereof is so subtile delicate and and pure that a feather falling therein goeth straight without any let downe into the bottome which is no small cause to wonder at that being in shew greasie and full of grossenesse the effect thereof should bee so aboue reason contrary The selfe same property writeth Gaudencius Merula of a Lake which is in India called Silias into the which casting the lightest thing that may be it sinketh presently to the bottom The which according to the Philosophers opinion proceedeth of the great purity and thinnesse which is very neere to be conuerted into ayre There are also in a vally of Iury as wryteth Iosephus in his booke of the captiuity of the Iewes alleaged by Nicholaê° Leonicê° neer a place called Macherunte a great number of Springs of the which some are sweet of a most pleasing tast and others vnsauory and bitter in extremity being all wreathed as it were mingled one with another Not far from thence there is a Caue into the which there issue out of a Rocke two fountaines so neere together that they seeme to be both but one and yet are in their effects most different contrary for the one is extreame colde and the other hote so that between theÌ„ both they make there a lake of most singuler temprature healing those that bathe themselues therein of diuers infirmities And seeing it coÌ„meth to passe to count the wonderful things of this vally though we digresse a little from the order of our discourse concerning the property of waters I will tell you what the same Authour writeth of the property of an herbe which there is found called Baharas taking his name of that part of the valley where it groweth It hath the colour of a bright shining flame by the glistering discouered far of by night but the neerer you approche vnto it the more it loseth of his brightnes which when you come to take it vanisheth leauing deluded deceaued the handes of those that seeke it Neither can it be found vnlesse you first cast vpon it the vrine of a woman that hath her flowers beeing corrupted and poured downe all at once vpon it which beeing done it discouereth it selfe presently to the viewe of those that seeke it who die at the very instant vnlesse they haue a peece of the roote of the same herbe gathered before bounde to theyr arme hauing which they remaine secure may gather it without any perrill or danger But they haue also another manner of gathering the same which they hold for the surer which is thus He that goeth in search thereof finding it pareth the ground close rounde about away and bringing with him a dogge bindeth him with a corde fast to the roote therof at whose departure the dogge striuing to follow him pulleth it vp by the roote falling presently downe dead in the place by his death giuing securitie to his Maister to take vp the roote without any danger at all and to carry it away to apply it to such vse as pleaseth him The vertue therof is so great that it healeth men possessed of deuils besides many and diuers other infirmities for which it is a remedy most excellent So that some will say that the vertue of this hearbe was not vnknowne to Salomon by the excellencie and force whereof hee expelled euill spirits and cured infinite diseases which was an occasion to make his wisedome be held in greater admiration that others learned this of him after his death working therewith many meruailous and admirable things exceeding the rules of Nature but thys is Apocryphus and not written by any Authour of credite LV. God ordained not this hearbe with such difficultie to be found and gathered without enduing it also with some especiall and particuler vertue which as sayth Hermes he hath in such sort imparted to herbes plants stones that if we had the knowledge and vse of them we should so cure all infirmities and diseases that wee should seeme to be in a manner immortall AN.
stopping their eares fast close with pelets of wax taking some few victuals with thē put themselues onward in their enterprize not without exceeding wearines trauel insomuch that the one fainting by the way was forced to bide behind The other two with chereful labor vertuous alacrity ouercōming all difficulties cam at last with much ado vnto the top of the mountain wher they found a great Plain without any trees in the midst a lake the water of which was obscure black as inke boiling bubling vp as though all the fire in the world had been flaming vnder it making a noise so terible thundring that though they had stopped their eares with all possible care diligence yet the intollerable roring noise thereof wrought such a humming and giddines in their heads that they were constrained with all possible hast to returne without bringing any certaine relation then this which you haue heard BE. Such a matter as this cannot be without great mistery for put case that there were vnderneath some mine of Sulphur or brimstone sufficient through the heat of the fiery matter therein to make the water seeth vp and boile yet could not the same cause a noyse so tempestuous horrible as you said the same is and besides me thinks this continuall boiling should in time consume the water and so the Lake by consequence become dry LU. Perchaunce there may be some Spring or Fountaine there neere which feedeth the Lake with as much warer as the fire consumeth by which meanes it can neuer be voyde or empty AN. Let vs leaue these secrets of Nature to him onely which hath made them for though we through some causes represented in our vnderstanding would seeke to yeeld reasons thereof yet when we thinke to hit the white we shall finde our selues far wide returning therefore to our former matter of Springs Waters me thinks it were not reason that speaking of things so farre off we should ouer-slip these which we haue heere at home in our owne Country hauing in this our Spaine two Fountaines whose effects are not a little to be admired at the one of which is in a Caue called de la Iudia by the Bridge of Talayuelas neere the Castle of Garcimunios which though I my selfe haue not seene yet I haue been thereof so certified that I assuredly know it to be true It yeeldeth a vvater which in falling congealeth and becommeth hard in manner of a stone which hardnes it alwayes after retaineth without dissoluing in such sort that they apply it to theyr buildinges BER It were neede of great Philosophy to know the mistery of this that vvater should in such sort harden that it should neuer afterwards dissolue the contrary reason whereof we see in great heapes of Ice which how hard so cuer they be yet change of weather maketh them to dissolue and melt LV. This is because the heat vndoeth that which is done by the cold as in snow haile ice which seeing it worketh not the like effect in these stones we may thereby gather that not the cold but som other secret to vs hidden vnknown is the cause of this obduration hardnes I haue heard with great credite affirmed that there is also neere the towne called Uilla Nueua del obyspo a Fountaine in which during sixe moneths of the yeare from such time as the sunne entreth into the signe of Lybra which beginneth about the midst of September called the Equinoctiall of the Autumne till the middest of March there is no one drop of water and all the other halfe yeare there runneth a most cleere abundant streame and thys is euery yere ordinary Of thys Fountaine maketh mention also Lucius Marineus Siculus Sinforianus Campegius wryteth of another in Sauoy which breedeth by miraculous operation stones of exceeding vertue BER If this be true then am I deceaued for I neuer thought that stones could be bred but that they were as the bones of the earth alwayes of one bignes neyther decreasing nor increasing for otherwise if stones should grow in time they would come to be of such quantitie and greatnes that they would be in diuer parts very combersome AN. And doubt you of this Assure your selfe that stones waxe and diminish according to the qualitie of which they are the place where they are and the property nature and condition of the earth where they are founde Though those which wee here call peble stones remaine alwayes in one greatnes or els grow so little and so slowly that it can in many yeeres hardly be perceaued yet all those stones which are any thing sandie contracting drawing the earth about them conuert the same into theyr owne nature hardning it in such sort that in short space a little stone becōmeth to be exceeding great yea and in such sort that sometimes we see things of different nature and kinde enclosed shut vp within them still retaining their owne substance and essence which if you desire better to vnderstand behold but the stone in the Earle Don Alonsos garden which hee hath caused to be placed there as a thing meruailous to be viewed of al men which though it be hard and sound hath in the midst therof a great bone seeming to be the shinbone of some beast which the same stone embraced by all likelihood lying neere it on the ground and continually growing came at last to compasse it rounde about which beeing afterwards carued by a Mason was found lying in the very bosome midst therof and that thys should be a very perfect bone there is no doubt to be made thereof for I my selfe haue made most sufficient proofe and try all of the same BER I haue also viewed it very narrowly and am of your opinion AN. Turning to our discourse of Fountaines I am perswaded that there are many of rare and great vertues vtterly to vs vnknowne and sometimes it hapneth that the vertue of the water worketh through the ayde of some other thing ioyntly together matters verie admirable as that which Alexander writeth in his booke De diebus genialibus that in those partes of England vvhich bende toward the West when any shyps are broken and the ribbes or planches of them remaine a while in the water that with the continuall moystnes they engender bring forth certaine Puscles like Mushromps which within fevve dayes seeme to be aliue and to haue motion and by little and little grow gather feathers That part wherewith they are fast to the rotten tymber is like vnto a water-foules bill which comming lose of it selfe thys miraculous foule beginneth to heaue it selfe vp and by little and little in short space of time to flie and mount into the ayre Pope Pius whose name was Aeneas Siluius rehearseth this in another sort saying that in Scotland vpon the bankes of a Riuer there growe certaine Trees whose leaues falling into the water and putrifying
world this remained free for the waters were not able to ouercome the height thereof There is neyther languishing disease painefull old age nor consuming death No feare no greefe no coueting of riches no battailing no raging desire of death or vengeance bereaueth their repose Sorrowfull teares cruell necessities and carefull thoughts haue there no harbour No frozen dewe toucheth their earth no misty cloude couereth their fieldes neyther doe the heauens poure into them anie troubled waters onely in the midst thereof they haue a Fountaine which they call Uiba cleare pure aboundant of sweet vvaters which once a moneth moystneth the whole vvood The trees therein are of a meruailous height hang alwaies full of fruit in this delicious Paradice liueth the Phaenix the onely one bird of that kinde in the world c. BER Lactantius praiseth this Country very largely neither agreeth his opinion ill with Platos But he speaketh heere like a Philosopher and not like a Christian though perchaunce if hee had beene asked his opinion like a Christian in what part of the world he thought terestriall Paradice to be hee would haue described it in like sort But leauing these Philosophers Paradices seeming rather to be fictions then worthy of credite tell vs I pray you what the Doctors and Diuines say heerevnto whose diligence study and care hath beene greater in procuring to vnderstand write the veritie thereof AN. I will in few words tell you what some of them and those of the greatest authority haue written on thys matter S. Iohn Damascene in his second booke chap. 2. saith these words God being to make Man to his owne image likenes and to appoint him as King and ruler of the whole earth and all therin contained ordained him a sumptuous royall being place in the which he might leade a blessed happy glorious life and this is that diuine Paradise planted by his owne omnipotent hands in Heden a place of all pleasure and delight for Heden signifieth a delightfull place and hee placed him in the Oryent in the highest and most magnificent place of all the earth where there is a perfect temprature a pure and a delicate ayre and the plants continually greene fragrant it is alwayes replenished with sweet and odoriferous sauours a light most cleere and a beauty aboue mans vnderstanding a place truly onely fitte to be inhabited of him that was created to the image likenes of God himselfe LVD S. Iohn differeth not much in the situation and qualities hereof from the opinion of the others before alleadged but passe on I pray you with your discourse AN. Well be then attentife a while Venerable Bede handling this matter sayth Earthly Paradise is a place most delightfull beautified with a great abundance of fruitfull trees refreshed with a goodly fountaine The situation thereof is in the oryentall parts the ground of which is so high that the water of the flood could not ouer-reach the same and thys opinion holdeth Strabo the Theologian affirming that the height of the earth where Paradise is reacheth to the circle of the Moone through which cause it was not damnified by the flood the waters of which could not rise to the height thereof Those which follow this opinion might better conforme themselues with Origen who iudgeth that all this which is written of Paradise must bee taken allegorically and that it is not situate on the earth but in the third heauen whether S. Paule was lyfted in Spirit but leauing him because hee is alone in his opinion without hauing any that followeth him let vs returne to our alleaged Authors against whō S. Thomas and Scotus argue saying that Paradise can by no meanes reach vnto the circle of the Moone because the Region of the fire beeing in the midst the earth can by no meanes passe thorough the same without being burnt destroyed Besides this there are many other reasons sufficient to refute this opinion for so shold those Riuers which come from Paradise passe through the region of the fire which the contrariety of the two Elements being considered is absurd and besides if this ground vvere so high it could not chuse but be seene a farre of from manie parts of the world aswell by sea as by land and by this means also there should be a place in the worlde by the vvhich it seemes a man might goe vp into heauen so that this opinion is grounded vpon small reason and easie to be confuted Many other Authors there are which affirme Paradise to be in so high a part of the earth that the water of the Deluge could not reach vnto the top thereof to anoy it and to the obiection which may be made against them out of Moises which sayth that the waters thereof couered and ouerflowed the height of xv cubits all Mountaines vnder the vniuersall heauen they aunswer that these Mountaines are to be vnderstood such as are vnder the region of the Ayre where the clowdes are thickned and ingendered for Heauen is meant many times in the holy Scripture by this region as the royall Psalmist saith The foules of heauen the fishes of the Sea Where by this word heauen is vnderstoode the region of the ayre thorough which the birds flie so that according to their opinion the mount or place where Paradise is exceedeth is aboue this region of the ayre where there is neither blustering of winds nor gathering of cloudes so that it could not be endomaged by the waters of the flood This is the selfe same of which we discoursed yesterday as touching the mountains Olympus Athos Atlas that of Luna which in height according to the opinion of many exceedeth all the rest on the earth and many other like mountaines in the world ouer whose tops there is neither raine wind nor clowdes the ashes lying from one yere to another vnmooued because that the height of their tops exceedeth the midle region of the ayre pierceth thither where it is still pure without any mouing But S. Thomas also argueth this not to be tru saying that it is no conuenient place for Paradise to stand in the midst of the region of the ayre neither could it beeing there haue such qualities conditions as are necessary because the winds and waters would distemper it LU. This shold be so if it were in the midst of the region but you your selfe say that it passeth farder where the winds waters haue no force to worke any distemprature AN. If not the winds waters thē the fire wold work it for the farder it shooteth beyond the region of the ayre the neerer it approcheth the region of the fire BE. You speak against you self for yesterday you said that the city Acroton builded on the top of the mountain Athos being in the superior region of the ayre enioyed a singuler temperature AN. You say tru but things are not to be
doe her vttermost diligence to constraine him perforce to that whereto by his most solemne protestation hee was bound The Gentleman strooken heerewith into greater admiration then before aunswered her that he thought her not to be in her right sences for neuer in his life had he promised marriage nor once spoken to her in secret neyther was of meaning to satis-fie anie such demaund of hers The poore vvench welnigh out of her wits after infinite exclamations calling heauen and earth to witnes began perticulerly to recite vnto him all such thinges as had passed betweene her and the deuill asking him how he could be so impudent to deny the same she mingled with threatning teares wishing him to haue the feare of Gods vengeance before his eyes The Gentleman with great confusion began to blesse himself protesting vnto her by the most solemne sort of oaths he could that she was deceaued and that of this matter hee knew nothing at all Oh God quoth shee and howe is this possible doe you not remember that on such a very day to mee most vnfortunate naming a great feastiuall day you sware and vowed to accomplish with mee the holy estate of marriage in the open face of the Church which you said you were constrained to deferre as yet for some respects But he hauing heere no longer patience to the end quoth he that you shal fully and plainly perceaue your owne error I will by sufficient information and vnrefusable witnesses proue vnto you that I was not in this Towne the day you say neither 20. dayes before nor 20. dayes after if any man therefore in my name haue deceaued you I am not to be blamed and to the end shee might be the better resolued he sent incontinently for seauen or eight persons of credite as well of his house as others which without knowing the cause wherfore solemnly swore and declared that this Gentleman had beene the very day and all the time mentioned absent in another Towne aboue fifty leagues from thence The young Mayden remained confused and ashamed as well for this as for other particuler things passed betweene her the deuill which seemed to her impossible to haue beene done by any humaine man so that her iudgement waxing clearer she nowe began to suspect this her detestable Louer to be him who indeed he was and there-vpon entring into a wonderfull deepe repentance and vtterly giuing ouer the world shee placed her selfe in a Monastery where shee continued most deuoutly the rest of her life in Gods seruice BER She tooke in my iudgment the best and surest course both for her owne saluation and to reuenge her selfe of the iniury receaued by her enemy But seeing you haue set vs in this matter I pray you tell vs what power and authority they haue ouer the deuill that vse and exercise the Art of Negromancie for it is manifest that Negromancers and Witches constraine the deuils make them perforce obey and accomplish their commaundements and many also carry them bound and enclosed in rings boxes little viols and many other things applying their helps to such vses as they themselues will and such deuils they commonly call Familiars AN. It cannot be denied but that there is such an Art called Negromancie vsed in old times by faithfull and vnfaithfull and now in these our dayes also by diuers But this Art may be exercised in two sorts the first is naturall which may be wrought through things whose vertue property is naturall to doe them as hearbs plants and stones and other things as the planets constellations and heauenly influences and this Art is lawfull and may without scruple or offence be vsed and practised of those that can attaine vnto the knowledge of their hidden properties and such is that of which S. Thomas writeth in his Treatise De ente et essentia though some doubt whether the same be his or no where he alleageth that Abel the Sonne of Adam made a booke of all the vertues properties of the planets which foreknowing that the world should perish through the generall flood he enclosed so cunningly in a stone that the waters could not come to corrupt the same whereby it might be preserued and knowne to all people This stone was found by Hermes Trismegistus who breaking it and finding the booke therein enclosed profited wonderfully by applying the contents thereof to his vse which booke comming afterwards to the hand of S Thomas it is said that he did there-with many great experiences amongst the which one was that being sicke and troubled with the noise of Beastes and carriages that passed through the streete remedied that trouble by making an Image such as the booke prescribed him which being buried in the streete none of all the Beasts had power to passe thereby but cōming thither staid or went backward not being by any man to be constrained to do the contrary He also telleth of a certaine friend of his who by the selfe same booke made an Image putting the which into a Fountaine it caused all such vessels as touched the water thereof presently to breake which came by obseruations of certaine houres and points in working of those Images of which they tooke great reckoning and heede to the end that the planets might the better vse their influences in working those thinges which seemed supernaturall The vse of all this is so lawfull that there is nothing to be sayde to the contrary The other kinde of Negromancie or Art Magique is that which is vsed and practised through the helpe and fauour of the deuill which hath beene of long time as we know exercised in the world And of this the holy Scriptures giue vs sufficient testimony as well in the old Testament speaking of the Magitians of Pharaoh who contended with Moyses and Aaron as in the new Testament in the Acts of the Apostles making mention of Simon Magus rebuked by S. Peter and besides to satisfie your demaund you must vnderstand that the deuils may also be forced and constrained by the good Angels and this is because of the grace which the one lost and the other as yet retaine But leauing a-part the examples vvhich wee finde in the newe Testament of that which our Sauiour Christ as very GOD and manne wrought with them Let vs come to the Apostles and Saints who by the vertue of wordes and in the onely name of Iesus made them obey and accomplish all that which they commaunded them But the Magitians neyther by themselues neyther by their wordes Characters or signes haue power or force to constrayne the deuills to any thing howe so euer they persvvade them selues to the contrarie vvhich because you shall fully vnderstand to be so you must knowe that none canne vse or exercise this Arte of Negromancie vnlesse hee first make a secrete agreement or expresse couenaunt vvith the deuill and such deuilles vvith vvhom they deale in these couenauntes are not of the
The wonderfull puissance of the deuill The power of the deuill restrained by God A strange chance that happened to a Boy in the Citty of Astorga A verie strange thing that happened in Benauides The miserable end of a swearer The fourth kind of Spirits The fifth kind of Spirits These are causers of earthquakes The sixth kinde of Spirits The opinion of S. Basile touching the bodies of Spirits Both the Angels and deuils are pure Spirits The generall opinion of the holy Doctors coÌ„cerning the substance of Spirits The Spirits when it is necessary fashion vnto themselues bodies of fire ayre or earth c. What PhaÌ„tasma is A strange vision that hapned to Gentleman in Fuentes de Ropell A notable straÌ„ge thing that happened in Bolonia to one Iohn Vasques de Ayola a Spaniard A notable strange chance that hapned to a Gentleman in Spayne in a Monastery of Nunnes Another very strange history written by Alexander de Alexandro Another most straÌ„ge history written by Alexander de Alexandro The answer of S. Andrew to a question proposed to him by the deuill A strange History of Don Anthonio de la Cueua Incubi Succubi The deuils malice is such that he wil not stick to commit any abhomination so that he may cause men to commit it with him Marcus a Greacian that had great familiaritie with deuils An erronious opinion of Lactantius Firmianus A wonderful history of a mayden that was enamoured of the deuill An other strange history of a mayden deceaued by the deuill Negromancie Naturall Magique Abel the Sonne of Adam made a book of the vertues of the Planets The vse of natural Magique is lawfull The Magitians do couenant and agree with the deuill Some deuils higher in authoritie then others A pretty tale of Sprights that were seene in Beneuenta Another pretty tale of a Spright Trasgoâ—y Duendes de Casa Hobgoblins and Robin Goodfelows A Hobgoblin in the Citty of Salamanca A Story of a Studient and a Hobgobline in Beneuenta Another story of a Hobgobline in Beneuenta A false and ridiculous opinion that many hold touching those that are possessed Psellius opinion of the cause why the deuils desire to enter into mens bodies Enchaunters Witches The deuill sometimes entreth into the body of beastes A story of a student that rode between Guadalupe and Granada in one night Another notable chance that hapned to two men on their way to Granada Sorcerers Hags A notable chance that happened to a learned man in Spaine Fryer Alonso de Castra his opinion touching Sorcerers Hags Lamia Striges Wee call these skriech Owles Two maner of wayes by which the Sorcerers are present in generall assemblies with the deuill A strange story of a Sorceresse Another story of a Sorceresse written in Malleê° Maleficarum a booke contayning nothing but things exceeding wel verified and of vndoubted truth Another history of a Sorceresse recited by Paulus Grillandus The names of certaine old famous Sorcerers Negromancers The deuill in the ende always bringeth his ministers to shame and confusion Particuler vertue of men called Ophrogens A pretty kind of curing a man that was bitten by a mad dogge There is a Sect of men in Spain called Saludadores who heale by such like ceremonies those that are bitten by mad dogs I haue seene of them my selfe The cause why the deuill suggesteth euill thoughts to vs in our sleepe A strange chance that hapned to a Gentleman in his sleepe The deuill is alwayes lying in wait to deceaue vs. Aristotles definition of Fortune The grosnes of the Gentiles about their Gods Sundry maners and formes in which the Gentiles figured and paynted Fortune The phrase Corrio Fortuna is not so proper in English and therefore I set it in Spanish Temples dedicated to aduerse Fortune There is great difference betweene Chaunce Fortune The definition of Chaunce more general then that of Fortune Claudius despairing to liue of a sodain made Emperour Caligula murdered as he went to see certaine pastimes Beastes haue no vnderstanding but are onely guided by a distinct of Nature A Beare that playd vpon a Flute The fiercenes of the dogs of Albania The strange affection of a dog of K. Lysimachus The loue of a Romaine gentlemans dog to his dead maister Cardanê° also maketh meÌ„tion of thy dog in his booke de perfect is animalibus Fernandus Gonzala Ouiedê° sayth that this dog was called Bezerillus A strange story of the Earle of Beneuentaâ— dogge The gouernment of the Bees The prouidence of the Ants. The vigilance or the Cranes Reason and vnderstanding vnseparably conioyned and vaited together The cause why some beasts haue greater instinct then others * Dycha Desdycha * Ventura Disuentura * 〈◊〉 Desdichade Bonauentuâ—ado Malauenturado Some words of the Author omitted which treate of the Etimologie of Dycha Desdycha Ventura Disuentura and Disgracia deriuing them from the Latine which doe nothing agree with our English phrase In thinges spirituall interiour there can be no Fortune What wee ought in true Religion to thinke of Fortune There is no other Fortune then the will and prouidence of God What thing Desteny is The Stoyicks opinion of Desteny The opinion of Chrisippus The opinion of Seneca A story of one that said it was his desteny to be a Hangman An argument to proue that there is Destenie The obiection aunswered All that is not vnpossible may be auoided How the operation influence of the starres is to be vnderstoode Our soules farre more noble then the caelestiall bodies Out bodies lesse noble theÌ„ the Planets therfore subiect to their influence The influence of the planets worketh not â—â— force necessity but theyr effects may many vvayes bee altered and changed Our good Angel preserueth vs oftentimes from many mischiefes Astronomers sometimes foretell future things Pope Marcellê° Father said at the houre of his sonnes birth that he was borne to be Pope The Astronomer of Charie Many causes and reasons to alter that which the signes and Planets doe seeme to portend The Chyromancers or Palmestrers doe often meddle their Science with Negromancie The opinion of the Astronomers touching the operation of the Planets Opinion of the Philosophers The opinion of Plato Calcidius An obiection An aunswer to the obiection Auerroes Opinion of Merc. Trismegistus Auerroes Iamblicus Plotinê° scoffeth at the Astronomers Auerroes Opinion of Marsilius Ficinus The Astronomers opinion reprouable by many arguments Obiection The iuyce of Hemlocke giuen to drinke to those that were condeÌ„ned to die The iuyce of Mandragora is mortiferous The vertue of Hemlock The vertues of Mandragora No herbe so venomous but it is some-way vertuous profitable The Viper yeeldeth remedy against many diseases A Leaper strangely cured Pestilentiall diseases are caused through the corruptions putrifactions of the earth The heauen is deuided into fiue Zones and the earth into as many The opinion of Ouid. Macrobiê° Virgil and the rest of the ancients erred touching the enhabited parts of the