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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16282	The manners, lauues, and customes of all nations collected out of the best vvriters by Ioannes Boemus ... ; with many other things of the same argument, gathered out of the historie of Nicholas Damascen ; the like also out of the history of America, or Brasill, written by Iohn Lerius ; the faith, religion and manners of the Aethiopians, and the deploration of the people of Lappia, compiled by Damianus a ̀Goes ; with a short discourse of the Aethiopians, taken out of Ioseph Scaliger his seuenth booke de emendatione temporum ; written in Latin, and now newly translated into English, by Ed. Aston.; Omnium gentium mores, leges, et ritus. English. 1611	Boemus, Joannes, ca. 1485-1535.; Góis, Damião de, 1502-1574.; Nicolaus, of Damascus.; Léry, Jean de, 1534-1611. Histoire d'un voyage fait en la terre du Brésil.; Scaliger, Joseph Juste, 1540-1609. De emendatione temporum.; Aston, Edward, b. 1573 or 4.	1611 (1611)	STC 3198.5; ESTC S102777	343,933	572

in honour of Heroules and were long since instituted in the dayes of Euander Dionysius Halicarnasseus following the opinion of Varro herein saith that Romulus ordained three score priests to make publike sacrifices through euery tribe and euery ward annexing vnto them as their assistants the diuiners and southsaiers euery ward likewise had his proper Genius or spirit which they supposed did defend them and their proper ministers to doe sacrifice vnto them but the goddesse Vesta was generally worshipped of all And lastly hee deuided and digested the yeere into tenne monthes by all which ordinances and decrees it may easily bee gathered and plainely perceiued that Romulus was most skilfull and expert in all matters both diuine and humaine and that they detract much from his glory and wisdome which report that the people of Rome liued without morality amongst themselues or religion towards their gods vntill the raigne of Numa Pompilius And these were the ciuil institutions ordained by Romulus But Numa Pompilius that afterwards succeeded him in the Kingdome in some part altered and in some part added vnto his Statutes and first in following the course of the Moone hee disposed the yeere into twelue monthes whereas before Romulus made it to consist but of tenne and altering the order of the monethes hee set Ianuary and February before March whereas till that time March was the first month and the beginning of the yeere and so hee made March for to bee the third in order and ranke Next hee appointed some daies to bee festiuall and holy and some other as dismal ominous and vnluckie wherein he would not any way meddle with the people or beginne any businesse After this hee created one chiefe Flamin or Priest to doe sacrifice to Iupiter whom he called Dialis and honored him with a roabe of dignity and chaire of state hee then created two other priests one to sacrifice to Mars and the other to Romulus and these were also called Flamines for the caps of honour which they wore vpon their heads moreouer he elected the Virgine Vestals which for the first ten yeeres did nothing but learne the rites and manner of sacrifising the next ten yeeres they spent in doing sacrifice themselues and the third ten yeeres they taught and instructed nouisses and fresh commers into that profession and then at the thirtith yeeres end it was in their choise whether they would mary or continue still in that course of life And those Virgin Vestals were maintained at the common cost of the City and reuerenced with titles of perpetual virginity and other ceremonies but if any of them were conuicted of incest her sentence was sorrowfully pronounced by the Cittizens that shee should bee set quicke in the ground at the gate called Collina which is in the hill Quirinalis and there couered with earth till shee were dead Hee dedicated also vnto Mars twelue other priests which hee called Salij whose office was vpon certaine daies in the month of March which tooke his name of the god Mars to lead a solemne dance in some of the principall places of the City they were cloathed with coates of diuers collours and their vppermost garments were red and changeable they had swords by their sides hanging in brazen belts in their right hand they caried launces and rods and brazen bucklers in their left and vpon their heads they wore high hats waxing sharpe towards the crowne These priests which for their solemne dancing the Romaines called Sallij according to the opinion of Dionysius did little differ from the Coribantes or Sibilles priests which the Greekes called Curetes finally he created a Bishop or high priest to whom he gaue supreme authority ouer all infreior priests and in him it lay to appoint what oblations should bee offred vpon what daies and in what Temples Besides all these holy orders of priests and religious persons hee ordained the Feciales or herraulds to denounce warre or peace and they were to haue a speciall regard that the Romanes should not make warres against any vniustly and if the Romaines were iniured or robbed by any others these Feciales were to require restitution of the goods wrongfully taken and detained but if they denied to make restitution then were they to denounce open war against them Their power was likewise to deliuer offenders to bee punished to those whose goods they had iniuriously taken if wronge were offered to Legats or Ambassadors they were to correct it and if the causes were honest and iust they might conclude a peace and breake it againe if it appeared that the League was vnlawfully established And if either the captaine or chiefe conductor of the army or the whole army in generall had done any thing contrary to their oths and alleagance in them it rested wholy to punish the offence This done he limitted their times of mourning commanding that the death of infants vnder three yeeres old should not bee lamented at all and that for elder children they should bewaile them as many monthes as they were yeeres old so as it exceeded not ten monthes which was the vttermost time prescribed for mourning for any ones death When Numa Pompilius had established these lawes for the gouernment of the common-wealth he then seuered and distributed the people into sundry companies and societies according to their arts and profession as minstrels crafts-men head-carpenters dyers shoomakers tanners masons potters c. making of diuers of those arts one fraternitie or bodie politicke Seruius Tullius deuided the whole multitude of citizens into sundry orders ranckes or armies which he called Classes and into centuries or bands consisting of a hundred men the manner of his disposition of them was thus In the first order or degree he inroled those who were taxed in their subsidie bookes at a hundred thousand Asses and of this order there was fourescore centuries consisting indifferently of young men and old so as the old men should euer remaine at home to saue and defend the city and the youth were to try the fortune of warres abroad he then commanded them both to weare armor and weapons both of defence of offence as helmets shields priuie-coates and bootes to defend themselues and speares and swords to offend the enemy to this first ranke or degree hee added two centuries of workemen or pioners which were to cast trenches build rampiers and to make all their engines and instruments of warre and they euer went vnarmed to bee alwaies in redinesse for any labor The second order or degree consisted of twentie centuries and were such as were taxed betwixt seuentie fiue and a hundred thousand Asses they were deuided into young and old as the former order and tollerated to weare the same armor and weapons the other did saue onely the coate of fence which they might not weare The third order was of such as were taxed at fifty thousand Asses they consisted of as many centuries as the other and did nothing

my selfe and others together with the approbation of my indeauours and commendation of the workes by some worthy and worthily respected friends whose Iudgements doe farre exceed mine owne incouraged mee to vndergoe the businesse and to proceed in that I had already begunne with more alacrity which after much labour I haue now at length finished and suited in this ragged liuery and made him to speake in a phrase though not eloquent yet I hope plaine and intelligible And albeit a tale may be much improued by a formal manner of telling yet gold is more esteemed of for his goodnesse then for his collour and the worthinesse of the worke ought to bee of more regarde then the elegancy of the phrase the one beeing the substance the other but the shadow As for the nice curiosity of such word-weighing Crittickes as will sooner find two faults in another then amend one in themselues I little esteeme either of them or their censures But if for want of other matter to quarrell at any Momus should accuse my pen for mercenarie I protest I may truly answer them with the very words of mine Author that what I haue done was not Spe lucri ulsius neo popularis aurae ambitione verumenimuero tam libero plane otioso studio quam rei ipsius mira dulcedine at que vtilitate If I haue omitted or misconstrued any abolete words or sentences for their harshnesse and ill coherence or erred in setting downe the true quantitie of weights and measures for auoyding whereof I haue most commonly vsed the Latine words themselues or in describing the disguised apparell of sundry people as namely those rude sauages called Tovovpinambaltii beeing so different from all other nations as keeping the sence I could hardly adapt them to our owne English phrase or if I haue shewed my selfe too affectionate in the commendation of our owne country in my inlargement added to the chapter of England where I supposed mine Author was too sparing or to bee short if in the confession of the Aethiopians faith or the Epistles written from Prester Iohn to the Pope and kings of Portugall or in any other place or by any other meanes I haue ought mistaken or squared from the true meaning of the writers Bee pleased courteous and friendly Reader in humanity patiently to passe them ouer and impute such errors and escapes rather to the want of knowledge of the truth than want of will to expresse the truth And so concluding with this one onely aduertisement that if in the whole course of these bookes thou meete with any thing that in thy opinion doth ouermuch exalt the ceremonies of the Church of Rome thou wilt consider that the Author was an absolute Papist as well thou mayst perceiue and therefore of likelihood would by all meanes he could aduance and make the best of his owne Religion nor did I thinke it the part of a Translator by marginall notes to suppresse his opinions but in this place rather to forewarne thee which as the Prouerbe sayth doth fore-arme thee how to giue credit in those cases I commit these my labours to thy fauour able consideration and thy selfe to Gods holy protection Resting thine in what he is able ED. ASTON THE AVTHORS PREface to the Reader THE most famous and memorable lawes customes and manners of all nations and the situation of each seueral Countrie which Herodotus the father of Histories Diodorus Siculus Berosus Strabo Solinus Trogus Pompeius Ptolomy Pliny Cornelius Tacitus Dionysiuss Afer Pomponius Mela Caesar Iosephus and of later Writers Vincentius Aeneas Syluius who was afterward Pope Pius the second Antonius Sabellicus Iohannes Nauclerus Ambrosius Calepinus Nicholas Perottus in his books intituled Cornucopiae and many other famous Historiographers haue confusedly and as it were by parts commended vnto vs in their Commentaries I haue good diligent Reader as my leysure would serue collected abridged digested and compacted together in this short and compendious Breuiary wherein you may easily finde what euer you haue occasion to looke for which I haue effected not in expectance of gaine nor affecting popular prayse but freely and without other recompence then the pleasure and profite the thing it selfe bringeth with it And herein I haue expressed as well the customes of auncient time as those which be in vse at this day as well the good as the bad in differently that both lying open before thine eyes by their examples thou mayst follow and imitate in the course of thy life those which be honest holy and commendable and auoyd those which be dishonest and shameful And hereby thou shalt perceiue good Reader in what perfection and happinesse we now liue at this day and how fimply rudely and vnciuilly our forefathers liued from the Creation of the world to the generall Floud and for many ages after When as they vsing no money no merchandize but equalling one benefit with another had nothing proper to themselues but sea and land as common to all as the aire and firmament No man then gaped after honor and riches but euery one contented with a little liued a rurall secure and idle life free from toyle or trauell accompanied with one or more wiues and their sweet children hauing no other house than the heauens the shadow of a tree or some homely cabbin their meate was then the fruite of trees and milke of beasts their drinke water and their clothing first the vtmost rinde or broade leaues of trees and afterwards the skinnes of beasts vnhandsomly stitched together They were not then enclosed in and immured in walles nor defended with ditches but wandring abroad at their willes with their cattell not then compassed in inclosures reposed their bodies where euer night tooke them sleeping ioyfully and securely without feare of theeues or robbers wherof that age was ignorant All which things afterwards crept in and insued of mens variable willes emulation and dissonant desires when fruites gotten without labour beeing insufficient to sustaine such multitudes and other things growing defectiue and for the repelling and repressing the often incursions and fierce assaults of beasts and forraine people they were constrained to gather themselues into multitudes to ioyne their forces together and to apportion themselues certaine limits and territories wherein to liue where ioyning and vniting their houses for neighbourhood they beganne to liue a more ciuill and popular kind of life to fence and fortifie themselues with wals and trenches and to ordaine lawes and elect magistrates for the maintenance of peace and tranquilitie amongst them And then they began to prouide for their maintenance not onely by husbanding their grounds or following their flockes but by sundry other exercises and new inuented arts to passe by sea with their nauies into forren nations first for transporting of companies to inhabit new-found countries and then for trafficke and trading one with another to traine vp horses for the cart of copper to make coyne to cloth themselues more curiously to feed

long obseruation the course of the stars by whose speculatiō they prophesied of mens future fortunes They imagined the planets to be of great power and especially Saturne supposing the sunne to be of most beauty and of greatest vertue and that Mars Venus Mercury and Iupiter were to be obserued more then the rest for that they hauing each one his proper and peculiar motion foreshewed things to come and were the true interpreters of the gods And of this they were so fully perswaded as they called these foure stars al by the name of Mercury They foretold many things to come both hole-some and hurtful by winds shewers heate comets eclipse of Sunne Moone earthquakes and by sundry other signes and prodigies besides And they imagined that there were other stars subiect inferior to these planets of which some wandred in our Hemisphere and some in that which is vnder vs besides this they held the like error that the Aegiptians did and fained to themselues twelue gods attributing vnto each of them a month a signe in the Zodiake They prophesied of many things that should happen to their Kings as foreshewing to Alexander the victory he should haue in the fight with Darius to Hircanor Seleucus and to other successors of Alexander and many things after that to the Romaine successors whose euents proued true They write also of foure and twenty other stars whereof twelue be beyond the Zodiake towards the North and the other twelue towards the South of which those which appeare to our view they suppose to haue dominion ouer the liuing and the other to pertaine to those which be dead These things other circumstances haue those Chaldeans set forth to mens sight as they haue noted by long obseruation alleaging that this their doctrine hath continued for the space of three and forty thousand yeers from the first inuentiō therof to the reigne of Alexander which allegation of theirs were a very grosse impudent fable vnlesse we should interprete that the time of each yeere were but a month as was amongst the Aegiptians Of Iudaea and of the customs lawes and institutions of the Iewes CAP. 4. PAlestine which is also called Iudaea is a perticular Prouince of Syria sytuated betwixt Caelosiria and Arabia Petrea vpon the West it is washed with the Aegiptian sea and vpon the East with the riuer of Iordan This land the bookes of holy Bible and Iosephus their imitator called Canaan a land abounding with many riches as hauing plenty of fruites famous waters and being well furnished with balme It is scituated in the very middle of the world and is therefore very temperate neither to hot nor to cold which for the temperature of the elements the Israelites or Hebreues being a very ancient people and with whom alone from the first Creation of mankinde the knowledge and worship of the Heauenly and true God and the first forme of speech remained esteemed to be that which was promised by God to their fathers Abraham Isaac and Iacob a land flowing with milke and hony And therefore in the fortith yeere after the children of Israells departure out of Aegipt vnder the conduct of their valiant captaine Iosua they obtained the dominion thereof by force of their armes vanquishing and expelling one and thirty Kings which raigned in that Contry The Israelites retaine and liue vnder those laws which they receiued frō Moses their first captain althogh for many ages before Moses daies they liued without written law with great deuotion sanctity obtayning the truth by diuine Oracles and by the acutenesse magnanimity of their mindes and vnderstandings yet that great diuine Moses thought that no City could long continue in safety without the practise of law and equity And therefore when by rewarding the good punishing the wicked he had sufficiently exhorted his people to imbrace vertue and eschew vice he proposed vnto them other lawes and ciuel ordinances founded vpon those ten chiefe heads and grounds of lawes pronounced by God himselfe in mount Sina written in two Tables of which lawes being so many as they alone wold be sufficiēt matter to fill a whole volume I will onely touch those which be most worthy of remēbrance they that desire to know the rest let them read Iosephus the bookes of the Bible First Moses ordained that young children as soone as they were able to conceiue should bee instructed in the lawes seeing they contained in them the best kind of discipline That whosoeuer blasphemed the name of God should hang all a whole day be cast out at night without burial That no sacrifice should be solemnized vvith money gotten by whoredome That there should be 7. chiefe gouernors in euery city which were most noted for Iustice vvisdom that two of the leuitical Priests shold sit in iudgment with them if in discerning cōtrouersies the Iudges would not condiscēd to that which vvas right the vvhole matter should be decided by the discretion of the Priest Elder That the testimony of one man should not be currant to conuince an other of any crime nor yet of tvvo vnlesse their honesties vvere approued but the testimonie of three should stand and yet neither slaue nor woman should be sufficient witnesse because in one the basenesse of his fortune in the other the weaknesse and lightnesse of her sexe might rightly bee suspected that the fruite of trees new set or planted should not bee medled withall before the fourth yeere and that then they should pay for tithes the tenth part of the increase That neighbours and strangers should haue some part also and that the residue should remaine to him that planted them That they should sow cleane seed vpon their grounds and not mingled because the land would not like with seed of two sorts That trauellers should not bee restrained and interdicted from fruites but that they might gather as much as they pleased and their present necessity required and that if they were ashamed to take it the owners should offer it vnto them That the woman that gained vnlawfully or married her selfe to an other besides her lawfull husband should not bee regarded as a wife That shee that was supposed to bee a Virgine and was found defiled in her bodie with any man and conuicted of the crime should either bee stoned to death or burned aliue If one deflowred a Virgin espoused to an other man though she consented yet both parties should suffer extreame punishment and if he rauished her forcibly that then onely the author of the iniury should bee punished That if a man die and leaue no children behinde him his widdow should marry the brother of her deceased husband and by that matrimony bring forth issue to succeed them in their stocke but if the brother refused to marry her hee should shew the cause of his refusall before the elders and if his cause were approued good hee should haue liberty

law to bee purged by offering vp a Ramme The flesh of which oblations whether they were publicke or priuate the Priests did eate in the Temple one measure containing a peck of the finest flower was allowed for the oblation of a Lambe for a Ramme two and for a Bull three There was also allowed Oyle which was powred vppon the sacrifice A Lambe was publickly sacrificed euery morning and euening and vppon euery seuenth day which was called their Sabbaoth and which by their law they held most holy there were double sacrifices offred vpon their Altars In the beginning of the month were offered for reconciliation two Oxen seauen yearling Lambes one Ramme and one Kidde to which were added two Kiddes more the one whereof was sent out of the bounds of the Citty and there offered as a satisfaction for the sinnes of the multitude and the other was burned skinne and all in the purest place of the suburbes of the Citty The Priests gaue a Bull sanctified for that purpose and a Ramme for a whole burnt sacrifice There was also other sacrifices mingled with ordinary ceremonies and holy dayes such was the fifteenth day of the month which the Macedons called Hyperueretheus and vppon the returne of Autumne they fixed their Tents or Tabernacles and keeping that day holy offered yearely whole burnt offerings the dooers thereof vppon the moneth Xanthicus which is Aprill carryed in their hands the boughes of Myrrh Willow Palmes and Peach tree where-vppon the yeare tooke his beginning vppon the day of the full Moone the sunne then entring into the signe Aries And because at that time the people of Israel were deliuered out of the land of Egipt they sacrificed the misticall Lambe and celebrated the feasts of vnleuened bread or sweete bread in the full Moone some few dayes after vpon which dayes were euer burned for a whole burnt sacrifice two Bulls one Ramme and seauen Lambes wherevnto was added one Kidde for satisfaction for their sinnes in the second day of Sweete-bread were offered the first parts of their fruites and a measure of Oyle and in the beginning or springing of their fruites a Lambe for a whole burnt sacrifice Their dayes of Penticost also were certaine which time they called Asarthan that is to say Quinquagesima or the fifteeth day and then they offered leauened bread made of drie meale two Ewe lambes two Calues and two Rammes for a whole burnt offering and two Kiddes in recompence of their misdeeds The Heathen writers disagree from the Ecclesiasticall concerning the Iewes and Moses their Captaine for Cornelius Tacitus in the one and twentith Booke of his Diurnalls attributing the departing of that people out of the land of Aegipt not to Gods diuine will and power but to necessity writeth thus of them The scabbe and noysome itch beginning in Aegipt saith hee Boch●ris the Aegiptian King desired a remedy in the Temple of his god Hamon where hee was admonished to purge his kingdome and to banish those people meaning the Iewes which were hatefull to their gods into other countries Wherevpon they beeing expulsed and a great multitude of them which had the scabbe least sitting together in waste and desolate places most of them beeing almost blinde with weeping Moses one of those which were banished among the rest admonished them not to expect any helpe of goddes or men but onely to relye and commit them-selues wholy to him as their guide and Captaine wherevnto they assented and agreed and so beeing vtterly ignorant what would become of them tooke their iourney at aduentures wherein aboue other things they wanted water and that they watching all night in the open fields not farre from destruction saw a flocke of wylde Asses going from feeding and sitting downe vpon a rocke ouer-growne with thick woods these Moses pursued and tooke and therevpon and to the end that he might for euer bee assured of that people he gaue vnto them new lawes and ceremonies contrary to all other nations for those things which wee hold for holy they account as prophane and allow of those things which with vs are poluted They hollowed and worshipped within their houses the picture of a beast the sight whereof expelled both thirst and error and sacrificed a Ramme in despite of the god Hamon they offer also an Oxe in derision of the god Apis which the Aegiptians worship vnder the forme of an Oxe They abstaine from Swines flesh for auoyding the scabbe because that beast is dangerous for that disease They rest vppon the seuenth day because that day brought end to their labours and yeelding to slouthfulnesse the seuenth yeare also is spent in Idlenesse the honor whereof is by others attributed to Saturne by reason of hunger and fasting their bread is altogether vnleauened these lawes how euer they were brought in are there defended and though mercy and firme faith are in great request amongst them yet they carry deadly hatred against all other nations They bee seperated in their banquets and seuered in their beds They are much giuen to lust and yet they abstaine from the company of women of other nations but hold nothing vnlawfull amongst them selues They ordained circumcision of their priuities that by that difference they might bee discerned from others and the first lesson they learne is to contemne the gods The soules of those which were slaine in battell or by punishment they suppose to be eternall They haue the like regard of Hell and perswasion of Heauenly things on the other side the Aegiptians worshippe diuers beasts and wrought Idols but the Iewes in their hearts and minds acknowledge but one onely God accounting those prophane which faine or pourtray the images of their gods in the forme of men These and many other things hath Cornelius Tacitus and Trogus in his seauen and thirty booke written of the Iewes Three sects of the Iewes were seuered and distinguished one from another by their vsuall manner of liuing which were the Pharasies the Sadducees and the Esseians The Pharasies liued very austerely and sparingly instituting new traditions by which they finished and abolished the traditions of Moyses They carried in their forheads and vpon their left arme certaine frontlets and papers wherein was written that decalogue which the Lord sayd thou shalt haue as it were hanging betwixt thine eyes and in thy hand and these they called Philacteries of the Greeke word Philatein which signifieth to fullfill the law These also fastned the edges of their vestures to the rest of their garments with thornes that beeing pricked therewith as they went they might remember Gods commandements They thought all things to bee done by GOD and by destiny and that to doe or neglect things that were lawfull and iust consisted in the will of man but yet that in all things fate was a furtherer whose effects they essteemed to proceed from the motion of the Heauenly bodies They would neuer contradict their elders nor superiours They beleeued the general iudgement that al

chiefly to be feared c. And in the conclusion of the same letters is mentioned that his sonne Iohn Paleologus which dyed about two yeares before the King of the Romaean Kings was called to the celebration of the sacred Synode And that Ioseph the Patriarch of Constantinople came with him with a great number of Archbishops and Bishops and Prelates of all sorts among whom were the Proctors or Factors of the Patriarckes of Antioch Alexandria and Ierusalem who when they had ioyned themselues together in loue of holy faith and religion the vnity of the Church being ordained and established all the difficulties and troubles of ancient time which seemed erronious contrary to religion were by Gods diuine assistance vtterly taken away abolished which things being rightly established and set in order the Pope himselfe brought great ioy vnto them all This booke of Pope Eugenius wee haue sent vnto you which wee haue kept vncorrupted and wee would haue sent vnto you the whole order and power of the Popes blessing but that the volume of these things would seeme too great for it would exceed in bignes the whole booke of Paul to all the nations he writ vnto The Legates which brought these things vnto vs from the Pope were Theodorus Peter Didymus and George the seruants of Iesus Christ and you shall do well most holy Father to command your bookes to be looked ouer where I suppose some memory of these things which we write of may be found out Wherefore holy father if you will write any thing vnto vs beleeue it confidently that we will most diligently commit it to our bookes that the eternall memory of those things may remaine to our posterity and surely I account him blessed whose memory is preserued in writing in the sacred citty of Rome and in the seate of the Saints S. Peter and S. Paul for these bee Lords of the kingdome of heauen iudges of the whole world And because that this is my beliefe I therfore send these letters that I may obtaine grace of your holines and your most sacred Senate that from thence may come vnto me a holy benediction increase of all good things And I most earnestly beseech your holines to send vnto me some images pictures of the Saints especially of the virgin Mary that your name may be often in my memory that I may take continuall pleasure in your gifts Furthermore I heartily intreate you to send vnto me men learned in the Scriptures workmen likewise that can make images swords and all maner of weapons for the warre grauers also of gold and siluer and Carpenters Masons especially which can build houses of stone and make couering for them of lead and copper wherby the roofes of the houses may be defended And besides these such as can make glasse instruments of musicke and such as be skilfull in musicke those also that can play vpon Flutes Trumpets and pshalmes shall be most welcome deere vnto vs and these workmen I much desire should bee sent me from your Court but if there be not sufficicient store in your court your holines may command them of other Kings who will obey your command most readily When these shal come to me they shall bee honorably esteemed of according to their deserts from my liberality shall be amply rewarded and if any shall desire to returne home he shall depart with liberall gifts whither hee please for I will not detaine any one against his will though I should haue great fruit and benefite by his industry But I must now speake of other matters demand of you most holy father why you exhort not the Christian kings your children to lay aside thir armes and as becommeth brethren to accord and agree amongst themselues seeing they be thy sheepe and thou their sheepheard for your holines knoweth right well what the Gospell commandeth where it is said That euery kingdome diuided in it selfe shall be desolated and brought to ruine And if the Kings would agree in their hearts conclude an assured league and peace together they might easily vanquish all the Mahometans and by their fortunate entrance and sudden irruption vtterly burst and throw downe the sepulcher of that false Prophet Mahomet For this cause holy father indeuour your selfe that a firme peace and assured league of friendship may bee concluded and established amongst them admonish them to be assistant aiding vnto me seeing in the confines of my kingdomes I am on all sides inclosed and incompassed about with those most wicked men the Mahometane Moores for those Mahometane Moores yeeld mutual aid one to another the kings with kings petty kings with petty kings do sincerely and constantly assemble themselues against vs. There is a Moore very neere neighbour vnto me to whom the other bordering Moores minister weapons horses and munition for the warres These be the kings of India Persis Arabia and Egypt which things grieue and molest mee exceedingly euery day when I behold the enemies of the Christian religion ioyned together in brotherly loue and to enioy peace to see the Christian kings my brothers to be nothing at all moued by these iniuries nor to yeeld mee any helpe as assuredly behoueth Christians to doe seeing the impious brood of Mahomet do aid and assist one another neither am I he that for that purpose should require Souldiers prouision for warres of you seeing I haue Souldiers left of mine owne but onely I desire your praiers and orisons wishing also fauour grace with your holines with all Christian Kings my brethren for I must seeke to obtaine friendship of you that I may bee fully instructed and furnished of those things which I formerly desired to the terror of the Moores that my neigbours the enemies of the Christian faith may vnderstand that the kings do fauor aid me with a singular care affection which surely will redound to the praise of vs in common seeing we agree together in one verity of religion and faith and in this councell wee will conforme which shall be firme and absolute with that which shal fall out to be more profitable God therfore fulfill all your desires about the praises of Iesus Christ and of God our Father to whom all men giue praises for euer and euer And you most holy Lord and father imbrace me I beseech you with all the Saints of Iesus Christ which be at Rome into which embracings let all the boderers of my kingdomes and those which dwell in Ethiopia be receiued giue thanks to our Lord Iesus Christ with your spirit These letters your holinesse shall receiue at the hands of my brother Iohn King of Portugall the sonne of the most mighty King Emanuell by our Embassador Francis Aluarez Other letters from the same Dauid Emperour of Ethiopia written to the Pope of Rome in the yeare of our Lord God 1524. and interpreted by Paulus Iouius HAppy and

declaration of these Epistles hath promised to translate into Latine the booke which Francis Aluarez composed concerning the scituation manners and behauiour of the Ethiopians in which booke he expresseth and setteth forth his whole iourney or trauels One coppy of which booke I my selfe haue in my keeping But if Iouius surcease to translate it I would not bee strange to take the matter in hand although not willingly vnlesse most holy father it please you to command and then shall I be more free and safe from all malitious detractors who may happily suppose that I vndergoe the busines not with a desire to further the Christian common-wealth but rather in aemulation of Iouius glory For the doing of which busines effectually faithfully I suppose I am sufficiently instructed for when I had executed my embassage into Germany and Sarmatia was returned vnto my king Iohn the third of that name of whose great courtesie and bountie in receiuing of me I had sufficient triall I fell in conference with the Ethiopian Embassador at Lisbon a man honoured and indued with the dignity of a Bishop admirable for his credit doctrine and eloquence in the Chaldean and Arabian tongue and in briefe a man most fit to bee sent from the most mighty Emperour of Ethiopia vnto great and potent princes for vrgent and weightie affaires his name was Zaga Zabo and after an assured and firme friendship was established betwixt vs I had often conference with him and reasoned and debated with him especially of the manners and Religion of the Christians of Aethiopia for I desired to know those things not by the bare narration of trauelling interpreters but from a man borne in that Country and that in his presence and receiuing it from his mouth Amongst other things I shewed vnto him an Epistle sent into Portugall by Mathew the Embassador which Epistle together with the Articles which he proposed before King Emmanuel I translated as I haue sayd into the Latine tongue and many things I haue corrected by his direction where the interpretation obtained not sufficient credit nor likelihood which he affirmed did oftentimes happen both to me and to Iouius for as then I had with me the Epistles of the same Iouius which we conferred with great diligence and after vnfained friendship and the true loue of Christ flourished and was esteemed amongst vs I was imboldened to require of him a plaine and sincere declaration of the faith and religion of the Aethiopians and to haue it penned downe with his owne hands which hee graunted vnto me with great alacritie and foorthwith beganne to make description thereof which relation of his I haue faithfully translated into Latin as by the sequele will appeare wherein I went forward with greater desire my conscience vrging me that I was not ignorant that if these things should haue perished with me they could neuer after that be published by any other man for because they were so framed and composed after the Chaldean and Aethiopian phrase as they could hardly of any man bee vnderstood but of my selfe who by much familiaritie might attaine to the knowledge of all those things as well from the mouth as from the writings of the sayd Aethiopian Ambassadour In the name of our Lord Iesus Christ Amen THese be the things which be vsed obserued amongst vs Aethiopians as touching our faith and religion First we beleeue in the name of the holy Trinity the Father Sonne and holy Ghost who is one Lord three in name but one in Diuinity three representations but one similitude the coniunction of the three persons is equall equall I say in Diuinitie one Kingdome one throne one Iudge one Charity one Word and one Spirit but the word of the Father and of the Sonne the word of the holy Ghost and the Sonne is the same word and the word with God and with the holy Ghost and with himself without any defect or diuision the Sonne of the Father and the Sonne of the same Father without beginning to wit first the Sonne of the Father without mother For no one knoweth the secret and mysterie of his Natiuity but the Father Sonne and the holy Ghost and the same in beginning was the Word the Word was the Word with God and God was the Word the Spirit of the Father the holy Spirit and the Spirit of the Sonne is the holy Spirit but the holy Spirit of his Spirit is without any diminution or augmentation for that the holy Ghost the Aduocate or Comforter the true God which proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne spake by the mouth of the Prophets and descended in the fierie flame vppon the Apostles in the porch of Syon who declared and preached throughout the whole world the Word of the Father which Word was the Sonne himselfe Moreouer the Father is not first in that hee is Father nor the Sonne last in that he is the Sonne euen so the holy Ghost is neither first nor last for they be three persons but one God which seeth and is seene of no man and who by his onely counsell created all things and after that the Sonne of his owne accord for our saluation the Father himselfe being willing and the holy Ghost consenting thereunto descended from his high and heauenly habitation and was incarnate by the holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary which Mary was adorned with a double Virginity the one spirituall the other carnall he was also borne without any corruption the same Mary his mother after her child-bearing remaning a Virgin inspired with great wonder and hidden fire of Diuinity brought foorth without bloud paine or dolors her Sonne Iesus Christ who was a man innocent and without sinne perfect God and perfect man hauing one onely aspect As he was an infant he grew vp by little and little sucking the milk of his mother Mary the Virgin and when he attained to the age of thirty yeares he was baptized in Iordan he walked like other men he was wearie he sweat he was both hungrie and thirstie and all these things he suffered freely and voluntarily working many miracles and by his Diuinitie he restored sight to the blind healed those which were lame cleansed the leapers and raised vp the dead and last of all he was willingly apprehended and taken scourged beaten with buffets and crucified he languished and died for our offences and by his death he ouercame death and the diuell and by his sorrow in his life time hee dissolued our sinnes and bare our griefes and with the Baptisme of his bloud which Baptisme was his death he baptized the Patriarchs and Prophets and he descended into hell where was the soule of Adam and his sons the soule of Christ himselfe which is of Adam which soule of Adam Christ himself took of the blessed Virgin Mary and in the brightnes of his diuinity and strength of his crosse he brake the brazen gates of hell binding Satan in chaines of yron and

holy father which art ordained of God to be the consecrator and sanctifier of all nations and the possessor of Saint Peters seate to you bee giuen the keyes of the kingdome of heauen and whatsoeuer you either binde or loose vpon earth shall be bound or loosed in heauen as Christ himselfe hath said and as S. Mathew hath written in his Gospell I the King whose name the Lyons doe worship by the grace of God called Athani Tingil that is to say virgins incense which name I receiued in baptisme but now when I first tooke vpon mee the gouernment of the kingdome I assumed vnto me the name of Dauid the beloued of God the piller of faith the kinsman of the stock of Iuda the son of Dauid the son of Salomon the son of the piller of faith the son of the seed of Iacob the son of the hand of Mary the son of Nav by the flesh Emperour of great high Ethiopia and of great kingdomes dominions lands King of Xoa of Caffate of Fatigar of Angote of Baru of Baaligaze of Adea of Vangue of Goiame where is the head of the riuer Nilus of Damaraa Vaguemedri Ambeaa Vague Tigri Mahon of Sabain where Saba was Queene of Bernagaes and Lord vnto Nobia in the end of Egypt All these Prouinces be within my power and many other which now I haue not reckoned nor haue I expressed these kingdomes prouinces in their proper names for pride or vaine-glory but for this cause onely that God may be praised more and more who of his singular benignity hath giuen vnto the kings my predecessors the gouernement of such great and ample kingdomes of the Christian religion and yet surely hee hath made me worthy of a more excellent fauour and grace then other Kings that I might continually deuote my selfe to religion because he hath made me Adell that is the Lord and enemie of the Moores and Gentiles which worship idols I send vnto you to kisse your holines feete after the manner of other Christian Kings my brethren to whom I am nothing inferior neither in religion nor power for I within mine owne kingdomes am the piller of faith neither am I aided with any forreine helpe for I repose my whole trust and confidence in God alone who gouerneth and sustaineth me vp from the time wherein the Angell of God spake vnto Phillip that hee should instruct in the true faith the Eunuch of the mighty Queene Candace the Queene of Ethiopia as shee was going from Ierusalem to Gaza And Phillip did then baptize the Eunuch as the Angell commaunded and the Eunuch baptized the Queene with a great part of her houshold and of her people which hath euer sithence continued Christians remaining for all times after that firme and stable in the faith of Christ And my predecessors hauing no other aid but onely Gods asistance haue planted the faith in very large kingdomes which I my selfe doe likewise daily contend to effect For I remaine in the great bounds of my kingdomes like a Lyon incompassed about with a mightie wood and hedged and inclosed against the Moores that lye in waite for me and other nations which bee enemies to the Christian faith and refuse to heare the word of God or my exhortations But I my selfe being girded with my sword doe persecute and expell them out by little little indeed by Gods diuine helpe which I neuer found wanting which happeneth otherwise to Christian kings for if the limits of their kingdoms be large it may easily be obtained for that one may assist minister helpe vnto another and receiue further helpe by your holines benediction of which I am partaker seeing in my bookes be contained certain letters which long since Pope Eugenius sent with his benediction vnto the king of the seed of Iacob which blessing giuen by his own hands being accepted and taken I do enioy and thereof greatly reioyce And I haue the holy temple which is at Ierusalem in great veneration vnto which I oftentimes send oblations due by our pilgrimes and many more and fatter I would haue sent but that the passages bee hindred by Moores and Infidels for besides the taking away from our messengers our gifts and treasures they will not suffer them to passe freely but if they would suffer vs to trauell I would come into the familiarity fellowship of the Romane Church as other Christian Kings do to whom I am nothing inferior in the christian religion for euen as they belieue I confesse one true faith and one Church and I most sincerely beleeue in the holy Trinity in one God and the virginity of our Lady the virgin Mary and I hold and obserue all the articles of the faith as they were written by the Apostles Now our good God hath by the hand of the most mighty and Christian King Emanuell made the passage open and plaine that we may meete by our Embassadors and that we being Christians ioyned in one faith might serue God with other Christians But while his Embassadors were in my Court it was reported vnto me that K. Emanuel was dead that his son my brother Iohn had the rule of his fathers kingdome wherupon as I was sorrowful for my fathers death euen so I reioyced greatly at the happy entrance of my brother into his kingdome so as I hope that we ioining our power and forces together may make open the passages both by sea and land by the regions of the wicked Moores and greatly terrifying them vtterly expell them from their seates and kingdomes that the way being made fit peaceable christians may freelie come and go to the temple of Ierusalem And then shall I bee pertaker of his diuine loue in the Church of the Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul And I couet greatly to obtaine the sacred benediction of the Vicar of Christ for without doubt your holinesse is Gods Vicar and when I heare many things of your holines by trauellers pilgrimes that go and come miraculously from our countries to Ierusalem from thence to Rome they breed in me an incredible ioy pleasure but I should bee more glad if my Embassadors could make a shorter cut in their iourneies to bring newes vnto me as my hope is they will once do before I dye by the grace of almighty God who euer keepe you in health and holines Amen And I kisse your holines feet and humbly beseech you to send me your blessing These letters also your holines shall receiue at the hands of my brother Iohn King of Portugall by our said Embassador Francis Aluarez These Epistles translated by Paulus Iouius I haue ioined to this worke for the better knowledge of this historie wherein we haue changed nor altered nothing although in many places they require alteration some few excepted which being badly translated into Spanish out of the Arabian and Abesenicke language did cleane alter the whole order of the Epistles The same Iouius also in his