right nature of things in the right hand an Ewer because the speech of the wise dampeth and putteth out the flame of passions I might note hereof many examples but I leaue them for the diligent Reader to search meaning here to offer him but Annotations which I feare alreadie are growen too long The little chaines that come forth from the Images golden tongue and draw such a number of hearers by the eares and heart signifie the great power of a well framed speech the truth whereof appeareth chiefely in preaching the word in counsels of graue common-wealths-men and orations of good Magistrates and valiant Captaines In this manner did the ancient Frenchmen paint and set out their Hercules surnamed Ognius whereupon Alciat hath made a pretie Embleme it is the 180. expounded at large by Cl. Minos The summe of all is that Eloquence is to be preferred before force Our Poet aimeth at that description Further concerning the Bore the Tygre and the Beare lying tame at the feet of this Image it signifieth that a pleasant and learned speech appeaseth all angrie cruell and sauage men and cuen the maddest and most brutish people in the world it maketh the woods and hills to daunce and leape that is to say it moueth bendeth and instructeth very block-heads and such as are most hard of vnderstanding and this may be the meaning of those fained tales of Amphion Orpheus Arion and other like Lastly this Image is inuironed with a double ranke of pillers well and strongly grounded and vnder-pinned that beare vp in due proportion the nino languages following each by her owne chiefe authors and maintainers For euery pillar was wrought in fashion of a man and framed to the countenance of one of their best writers in a long gowne or stole And that is the meaning of the French à la Cariatide After the Carian right as Vitruuius writeth at large in the first Chapter of his first booke of Architecture This I note because the French Commenter lets it passe and it troubled my selfe to vnderstand it at the first 23. Among the blessed wits For chiefe props of the Hebrue tongue which he placeth in the fore-front of Eloquence as in euery regard it was meet whether we cofider the sweet grauitie the natural impliance the shortnes hautines liuelines of it or the sincerity holines light heauenly Maiestic he nameth first Moses because he is the most anciēt of those whose writings in this tongue are extant As for the book of the Prophesie of Henoch it was lost a long time agoe He describeth this holy Law-writer after an excellent manner as was requisite in a discourse of eloquence His face shineth like a blasing Star alluding to that in the Scripture that Moses comming downe frō the Mount where he had talked with God his face so shined that none was able to behold his countenance in so much as he was faine to weare a vaile ouer it the rest is very easie to be vnderstood especially of such as haue neuer so lightly turned ouer the history Now for the bookes of Moses they were written many hundred yeares before the Greekes were knowne who were not heard of in the world but a little before the reigne of Saul had but few workes in writing or none at all till after the time of Salomon as their owne Histories witnesse whosoeuer will take paines to turne them ouer Nay further all their knowledge came from the Aegyptians Phenicians and others who had leaned somewhat by conuersing with the Hebiues And to come againe to Moses he hath beene in maruellous account with insinite Heathen Writers If any haue lightly regarded or found fault with him it was either because they vnderstood him not at all or maliced him exceedingly which a man may easily finde in their writings The second Author of the Hebrue he counteth Dauid whose Psalmes he speaketh of much in few lines but little it is in comparison of their excellencie whereof many ancient and late Writers haue spoken notable things I will not heape them vp here assuring my selfe that all true Christians will grant me that the Book of Dauids Psalmes is as Saint Basil saith the Store-house and treasurie of all good learning for all men to come at and will confesse with Saint Ierome and Saint Chrysostome that nothing better becommeth a man be he Peasant or Crafts-man great or small than to sing vnto the Lord the praises and thankesgiuing in these excellent songs contained the very liuely and true Anatomies of a beleeuing soule O how cursed and abominable before God and his Church are those wicked ones that haue forbidden Christians the vnderstanding and vse of them and banished them out of Christendome that haue suffered allowed maintained commanded and commended vnto the people these shamefull and wanton Poesies these books of vanitie error and leasings which with their Authors deserue the fire not the quiet and peaceable persons that call vpon Iesus Christ and belecue stedfastly the life euerlasting The soule that feareth God will not take this my digression ill nor thinke it needlesse As for the vngodly let them spit at it if they will I regard them not The third Author and ornament of the Hebrue is reckoned Salomon in his Prouerbs the Booke of the Preacher and the Song of Songs bookes more besprinckled with golden words and notable sentences than his Crowne was with pretious stones and pearles embossed Happie is the man that taketh delight to marke and daily thinke vpon so profitable and necessary instructions The fourth is the Prophet Esay the sonne of Amos right such a one as the Poet hath described These foure hee thought sufficient to name because they haue most Writings extant and are withall exceeding cloquent as might easily be proued by particulars if I were to write a Commentary or a whole discourse thereof 24. The Greeke Homer his Illias and Odyssea containing 48. bookes is the most ancient Greeke Author we haue his inuentions are wonderfull his vaine naturall his verses smooth and full of Art and the more they are considered the greater grace they haue There is also in them a hidden sense and the very well-spring of all humane knowledge as may appeare by that infinite peeces of his poesies are cited in the bookes of ancient and late Phylosophers Geographers Historiographers and Orators as Plutarch and others witnesse The next to Homer is Plato not in time but in worthinesse he is called the diuine Phylosopher because he is so maruellous pure so high and lofty in all his disconrses the true scholler of him that professing himselfe to know but one thing namely that he knew nothing declared that he knew all things that might be learned in the world as touching the world For concerning the knowledge of saluation Plato and his maister both were ignorant and sith all other knowledge is nothing in comparison of that the more are we bound to God that haue it he said most truely
that he knew nothing The third is Herodotus who writeth in the Ionick Dialect that is a kinde of Greeke differing a little in phrases and pronuntiation from the common-spoken as some farre scituate shires doe from the Court or mother-Citie of their Countrie in diuers points it agreeth with the French Plutarch dealeth somewhat too roughly with this worthy Historiographer in whose defence I will oppose the authoritie of a learned man of our time who in a certaine Preface of his saith of Herodotus Narrationes eius sunt disertae iudicationes expressae speciosae explicationes accuratae euidentes collectiones certae atqueplenae in his rerum gestarum hominum temporum fides accurata compertorum relatio dubiorum coniccturasagâ—x sabulosorum verecunda commemoratio miravbique simplicitas eximius quidam candor See the great praises and perfections of a graue Historiographer The fourth is Demosthenes the prince of Greeke Orators the very rule and square of all that endeuour to speake eloquently a man that leadeth other mens mindes as he list excellent in all his discourses which are extant the most of them and read to the great vse and prosit of those that know how to apply them 25. Then he of Anthonie and Catiline great foe That is Cicero surnamed the father of Eloquence he is the first and chiefe of those that grace and maintaine the Latine tongue He was extreamely hated of Marke Anthonie and Catiline both whom he hath also bitterly pursued and touched to the quicke as his Catilinarie and Philippicke Orations declare the often printing of his workes and learned mens continuall reading of them and borrowing thence the best graces of their writings doe proue his learning eloquence and plentie of speech to be such as the Poet here describeth The second is Caesar the most valiant of eloquent men and most eloquent of valiant men as may well appeare by his life in Plutarch and his Commontaries de bello Gallico by which worke he hath wrung the pen out of learned mens hands and in a manner discouraged them all from writing Histories because they see such perfection therein as they are not able to come neere The third is the Historiographer Salust we haue of his workes besides diuers Orations two Histories remaining Coniuratio Catilinae bellum Iugurthinum short they are but full of sentence and sinewes witnessing the ancient force and vigor of the Roman tongue The Reader may hereto adde the commendations of these three Authors as they are in many learned bookes of late writers here and there scattered As for those that thinke Cicero bableth without learning and that Caesar the Dictatour and first Emperour wrote not these Commentaries that beare his name and that Salust writeth a hard and forced stile because their accusations are false and they so farre out of the way I thinke them worthy none other answer than our Poets few verses here Of the fourth which is the Poet Virgil too much cannot be spoken his bookes of Georgickes and Aeneidos being such maruellous workes and so farre exceeding all other bookes of humanitic I speake not onely for the excellence of his verse but sure in the depth of his inuentions his iudgement his decence his modestie his grauitie and his state how much he doth outstrip and goe beyond all others may be seene not onely in euery booke of his but euen in euery verse wherein is contained a thousand thousand secrets and as it were the abridgement of all kinde of Arts and knowledge besides his proper tearmes his Epythites alway fit his metaphors and figures sow'n and sprinkled in their right places and his speech quite throughout eloquent and pure without any bodging or dawberie whatsoeuer The learned Caesar Scaliger among many others hath plainly and at large declared in his Art of Poetrie the excellency of this Author 26. Th'Italian For ornament of the Italian a language risen of the Roman or Latine he nameth three Poets and one Orator slipping diuers writers of historie and Secretaries that haue left diuers excellent workes Orations and Epistles among vs. The reason is I thinke because these foure containe in them all the graces of the others He nameth also the Tuscan tongue because of all the diuers Dialects of Italie the Luquish Milanish Geneuish and Venetian none are so pure and fine as the Florentine or Tuscan Iohn Boccace hath written long time agoe but a very fine and pure stile as his Decameron his Fiametta the Philocope The Laberinth and his other bookes witnesse that with the world are in so great request Francis Petrach hath written since and inuented goodly words and partly by his owne pregnant wit partly by imitation of the best Authors hath enriched the tongue with many graces he hath ventured also farre and made Sonets Chapters and Cantoes wonderfull curious Then Ludouico Ariosto of Ferara hath set forth a legend of Loue entituled Orlando furioso in verses sweet and meet famous throughout all Italie he is full of affections in his discourse and as delightfull as is possible by reason of the varietie of that fabulous matter he writeth of which he shadoweth so cunningly that the Reader is therewith often affected and mouâ—d as if it were a true storie or at least not altogether false Torquato Tasso is last of the foure in time of writing but in account as the Poet saith the first and chiefe he was the sonne of Bernardo Tasso that eloquent man whose excellent Epistles are in print This his sonne hath written in twenty bookes or Cantoes of stately verse a poeme the best of all Italians entituled Gierusalemme liberata all the graces and riches of the Greekes and Latines are there gathered together all wrought into it after the best manner so graue so short so learned so comely so liuely so stately as if it were the worke of another Virgil. There are also printed at Ferrara three volumnes of his workes containing other kindes of verse and all sorts of fine inuentions a Comedie a Tragedie diuers Dialogues and discourses in prose all are worth reading and all make good the iudgement that our Poet hath giuen of the Authour 27. The language Arabicke This language is comen of the Hebrew among other learned mens bookes that haue made this tongue of account we haue the workes of Aben Rois that is the sonne of Kings for Ben signifieth a sonne in Hebrew and the Arabians adde to the beginning this preposition A and sometime Al. This Aben Rois is the same that we commonly call Auerroës the Commentar a very excellent Philosopher He hath commented vpon most of Aristotle and is translated into Latine printed at Venice the worke doth shew the deepe reach and subtill braine of the man Auicen was a great Rhilosopher and Physitian as his writings also declare Gesner saith Auerroës was of Cordway and Auicen of Seuill and so I thinke but it appeareth by their workes that they were both Arabians and professed the superstition
will sooner mount and light aire downward presse Then how thou'lt aske me come these huge and raging floods That spoile on Riphean hils the Boree-shakeÌ„ woods Drowne Libanus and shew their enuious desires To quench with tost-vp waue the highest heau'nly fires He aske thee Cham how Wolues Panthers from the Wild This refutes all the obiections of Atheists At time by Heau'n design'd before me came so mild How I keepe vnder yoke so many a fierce captiue Restored as I were to th' high prerogatiue From whence fath'r Adam fell how wild foule neuer mand From euery coast of Heau'n came flying to my hand How in these cabins darke so many a gluttonous head Is with so little meat or drinke or stouer fed Nor feares the Partridge here the Falcons beake pounces Nor shuns the light-foot Hare a Tygers looke or Ounces How th' Arch holds-out so long against the wauy shot How th' aire so close the breath and dong it choaks vs not Confused as it is and that we find no roome For life in all the world but as it were in toombe Ther 's not so many planks or boords or nailes i'th'arch As holy myracles and wonders which to marke Astonnes the wit of man God shew'th as well his might By thus preseruing all as bringing all to light O holy Syre appease appease thy wroth and land In hau'n our Sea-beat ship ô knit the waters band That we may sing-of now and ours in after age Thy mercie shew'd on vs as on the rest thy rage Annotations vpon the first Booke of Noe called the Arke 1 DIvine verse He complaines of the miseries of our time of his bodies crasinesse and care of houshold affaires which hinder his bold designes and make his Muse fall as it were from heauen to earth He calls the verse diuine because of the subiect matter which he handleth acknowledging withall that as Ouid saith Carmina proueniunt anime deducta sereno and this serenitie or quietnesse of spirit which is all in all for a Christian Poem is a gift from Heauen And therefore this our Poet In stead of calling vpon his Muse which is but himselfe or helpe of profane inuentions looketh vp rather vnto that power from whence commeth euery good and perfect gift that is the father of light 2 Oh rid me This is a zealous inuocation and well beseeming the Authors intent which also is enriched with a daintie comparison For verily the chiefe grace of a Poem is that the Poet begin not in a straine ouer high to continue and so grow worse and worse to the end but rather that he increase and aduance himselfe by little and little as Virgil among the Latin Poets most happily hath done Horace also willeth a good writer in a long-winded worke ex sumo dare lucem that is to goe-on and finish more happily then he began Who so doth otherwise like is to the blustring wind which the longer it continues growes lesse and lesse by degrees but the wise Poet will follow rather the example of Riuers which from a small spring the farther they run grow on still to more and more streame and greatnesse 3 As our foresire foretold Saint Peter in his 2. chapt of his 2. Ep. calls Noe the Herault or Preacher of righteousnesse and in the eleauenth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrewes it is said that Noe being aduertised from God of things not yet seene conceined a reuerent seare and built the Arch for safegard of his familie through the which Arch he condemned the world and was made heire of the righteousnesse which is by saâ—th By these places may be gathered that Noe laying hold on the truth of Gods threats and promises as Moses also sheweth in the sixt of Gen. prepared materials for the Arch and in building the same did as well by worke as word of a Preacher condemne the impiety and wickednesse of men warning them of the iudgement which hung ouer their heads which also was put in execution at the very time appointed by the Almighty 4 When all were once i' th' Arke This historie of the Deluge our Poet had before touched in the end of the second day of his first weeke which passage I the Translator thought good here to insert that the description might be the fuller These verses and the rest to the end of this booke shew vs the fearefull iudgement of God vpon the sinnes of that former world set downe first by Moses in the 6.7 and 8. chapters of Genesis Were I to write a full commentary thereof I should discourse of Noes Arke and diuers questions which present themselues concerning that rare subiect with the precedents consequents and coincidents but I touch lightly these things to draw the Readers care and make still more and more knowne vnto him the great learning and Art shewed in this diuine Poem To see how our Author is his crafts-master let a man conferre this decription with that of Ouid in the first booke of his Metam concerning the Deluge of Deucalion Some of his verses I thought good here to set downe for encouragement of such as haue leysure more neerely to consider and compare the French with the Latine Protinus Aeolijs Aquilonem claudit in antris Et quaecunque fugant inductas flamina nubes Ennttitque Notum madidis Notus euolat alis Terribilem piceá tectus caligine vultum Barba grauts nimbis canis fluit vnda capillis Fronte sedent nobulae rorant pennaeque sinusque Vtqué manu latè pendentia nubila pressit Fit fragor densi sunduntur ab aethere nimbi Then speaking of the land and out-let of Riuers thus Intremuit motuque vias patesecit aquarum Eupatiata ruunt per apertos slumina campos Cwnque satis arbusla trabunt pecudesque virosque Tectaque cumque sais rapiunt penetralia sacris See the rest of Ouid who hath not so exactly described these things as our Poet. 5 Nereus By this word he means the Sea which at the Deluge ouerflowed the whole Earth because it was not then held within the proper bounds thereof by the powerfull goodnesse and prouidence of the Creator Ouid expresseth it thus Omnia pontus erant deerant quoquelittora ponto Virgil thus Spumeus atque imo Nereus ciet aequora sundo Natalis Comes in his Mythologie lib. 8. cap. 6. hath much of Nereus and the Nereides where also he giues a reason why the Poets so call the Sea 6 The Sea-Calues So I translate le Manat for the Veal-like flesh thereof though this be indeed a great Sea-fish described by Rondeletius in the 18. chapter of his sixt booke He is also like a young Bull with a broad backe and a very thicke skin they say he weigheth more then two oxen are well able to draw His flesh as I said before commeth neere the taste of Yeale but it is fatter and not so well relished he will be made as tame as a dog but hath a shrewd remembrance of
his booke De ant quitate linguae Hebraicae there are many such Treatises set forth by diuers learned men whereout and of the bookes aforenamed may be gathered infinite proofes of that which the Poet hath touched in this second reason The third is that there liues no Nation vnder the cope of heauen but keepeth still some words of Hebrew in their speech First the Caldean Syrian Arabian Egyptian Persian Ethiopian and many other as the Gotthicke Troglodyticke Punicke are so deriued thence that they come as neere it as Italian to Latine some more some lesse Secondly the Greeke Latine and those others that are farthest off haue yet here and there some words that we must needes grant are sprong from the same fountaine a man may set downe a many of them but it were too long here to coate the examples Thirdly the roots of many words that are taken to be Greeke or some other tongue are found to be Hebrew as Franciscus Iunius hath plainly shewed in his learned oration Deliuguae Hebraea antiquitate praeslantia The fourth reason is that the doctrine of the old Testament which is the doctrine of the first and most ancient people of the world was not written but in Hebrew No man denieth that the people that came of Sem the sonne of Noe is the most ancient among these remained the Church of God and the Hebrew tongue God spake not but in the Hebrew tongue by the high Priest that wore the sacred Ephod and the breast-plate of iudgement whereon was set 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vrim Thummim words signifying lights and perfections which some thinke was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or foure-letered name Iehoua contained within the brest-plate others say it was the rankes of those twelue precious stones there enchased that on them had ingrauen the names of the twelue tribes of Israel as if it were a repetition of that which Moses saith in the 17 18 19 and 20. verses of the 28. chapter of Exodus where he speaketh of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vrim Thummim in the 30. verse others hold they were certaine names others are of diuers other opinions Some late writers thinke those words were ingrauen in the breast-plate This is a secret the search whereof whether one dispute of the words or what they meant or what 's become of them c. is very painfull and needlesse for that now sithence the comming of Christ we ought to follow the truth it selfe and not stay vpon shadowes These words doubtlesse gaue to vnderstand that all light and perfection commeth of our Sauiour in whom all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily dwelleth in whom are hid all the treasures of vnderstanding knowledge who is the light of his Church that is made vnto vs of God his father wisedome iustice redemption and holinesse In all iudgements demands oracles and reuelations that were made by Vrim and Thummim as may be gathered out of the 27. chapter of Numbers the first booke of Samuel the 13. and 30. chapters and other places where aduise and counsell was asked of God and answere was made by the mouth of the high Priest there appeared a cleere light a sure truth and perfection all which in Christ is accomplished Now these demands and answers were propounded and rendred in the Hebrew tongue long time before any other language was vsed in the world For so soone after their scattering at Babel they could not well be incorporated into a common wealth and as for religion that was not kept but in the race of Sem as Moses plainly declareth all through the historie of Abraham Concerning the Prophets their dreames and visions God spake not they vnderstood not neither answered or taught they the Church but in the Hebrew that significant vnmingled holy chaste and heauenly tongue whereas others lispe and stammer-out vncertaine sounds and are infinite wayes defiled through the dishonest foolish erronious and vngodly discourses of their inuentours I except the bookes of the new Testament and all writings drawne from the cleere fountaines of holy Scripture besides the which there is nothing but vanitie filth wickednesse and vngodlinesse in the world Moreouer the Lord himselfe setteth downe his law to his people and writing it twise with his owne finger and speaking with his owne mouth to Moses and his other seruants in the Mount vsed the Hebrew tongue So did the Angels and Prophets and Iesus Christ spake the Syriacke a tongue so deriued of the Hebrew that they are very like as their Grammars declare The Apostles spake diuers tongues and wrote also according to the people and persons with whom they had to doe yet for all that in their bookes may be noted an infinite many of phrases borrowed of the Hebrew as the learned interpreters of the new Testament haue exactly shewed The fift and last reason set downe by the Poet is that the Hebrew words especially the proper names some are alledged for example and many other may be added are of great waight and importance for sometimes they lay open vnto vs the chiefe things that doe befall the person so named Nay further if a man would take the paines to change the order of letters hee may sinde in them many goodly mysteries The Greekes haue found the way and followed it in the interpretation of their proper names but they come farre short of the liuelihood and maiestie of the Hebrewes who begun the thing before them many hundred yeeres As for other tongues the most part of their proper names haue no meaning they are deuised at-all-auentures so are they right tokens of barbarisme Some tongues there are more happy and plentious than others in this behalfe but their interpretations are for the most part vncertaine especially if the Root thereof come not from or neere the Hebrew Herehence againe the curious reader may take occasion of a large commentarie I leaue it vnto him 13. Then doe I theesalute It is not without cause that the Poet straight vpon the former discourse vseth these words considering the excellency of the Hebrew tongue and that he setteth out in so few verses her wonderfull perfections each one of them requiring a large treatise and himselfe being vnable to shut vp so great matters in so few words For example sake let vs consider but very briefly those three points that the Poet here toucheth to wit that the two and twenty Hebrew letters are full of hidden sense that the proper names of persons Countries and Cities in this tongue are as much as abridgements of their life and deedes that the names of birds beasts and fishes containe the history of their natures howbeit since the fall of Adam the knowledge thereof is greatly darkened To make the Reader somewhat more desirous to enter mediation hereon I will set him downe some examples Concerning the mysteries of the Hebrew Letter-row Eusebius and S. Ierom in his Epistle ad Paul vrbic which is the 155. expoundeth them as I
betwixt the which runneth Euphrates Arphaxad passing Euphrates staied in Chaldea and for that Astronomy and other excellent arts there chiefly flourished the Poet surnameth him the Learned which appertaineth also vnto him in regard of the true doctrine maintained by his posteritie and after some corruption reformed in the house of Abraham whom the Lord remoued from Vr of the Chaldeans into Syria C ham tire vers le Midi Cham fut fait le Seigneur de la terre bornee Vers l'Autan par les flots de la noire Guinee De Sephal Botongas Gaguametre Benin Et du chaut Concritan trop fertil en venin Vers le Nort de la mer qui naissant pres d'Abile Depart lariche Europe l'Afrique sterile Vers la part ou Tytanle soir noye ses rez De l'onde de Cap-verd de Cap-blanc de Fez. Et vers celle ou Phebus le matin se resueille De l'Ocean d'Aden de la mer Vermeille Et qui plus est encore tout ce qui gist enclos Entre le mont Liban les Arabes slots Habitation des successcuts de Cham. Entre l'onde Erytree le Goulfe Persique Il l'adiouste grand Prince à son sceptre d'Afrique Canan l'vn de ces fils s'amaisonne à l'entour Du Iourdain doux-glissant ou se doit quel que iour Heberger Israel Pheud pouple la Lybie Mizraim fon Egypte Chus l'Ethiopie C ham Lord was of the Land that Southward is beset With blacke Guineas waues and those of Guagamet Of Benin Cefala Botongas Concritan That fruitfull is of drugs to poison beast or man It Northward fronts the sea from Abil pent betweene The barren Affrick shore and Europs fertil greene And on the Westerne coast where Phoebus drownes his light Thrusts-out the Cape of Fesse the green Cape and the white And hath on th' other side whence comes the Sun from sleepe Th'Arabick seas and all the ruddy-sanded deepe Nay all the land betwixt the Liban mountaine spred And Aden waues betwixt the Persick and the Red This mightie Southerne Prince commanding far and wide Vnto the Regiment and scept'r of Affrick tide For Canan one his sonne began to build and dwell By Iordan gentle streame whereas great Israel Was after to be lodg'd Phut peopled Lybia Misraijm Egypt had Chus Ethiopia 8. Cham. The share of Cham was Africke which the Poet boundeth out as followeth It hath on the Southside the Aeâ—hiopicke Ocean or the sea of Guinea the land of Negros the realmes of Caefala which commeth neere the South Tropicke and is right-ouer against Madagascar or as the Spanish call it the Isle of S Laurence Bolongas lower and hard by the Cape of good hope Guagamet about the lake of Zembre from whence the riuer Nile springeth as Daniell Cellarius noteth in his Map of Africke and Benin that Ises aboue th'Equator neere the great bay betwixt Meleget and Mauicongo As for Concritan it is a great wildernesse betweene Cefala and Bolongas which by reason of extreame heare brings forth great store of poisonous things Now the Northbound of Affricke is the Midland-sea and on the West it shooteth out three capes or promontories named in the text all toward the Atlanticke Ocean but the greene cape which is more southward and pointeth more toward the Sea called in respect of the Antatticke pole the North Sea though it lye very neere the Equator on the East of Affricke plaies the Arabian Gulfe and the great red Sea now called the Indicke Ocean and beyond these bounds the Poet saith Cham also possest Arabia which is distinguished into three parts the Happy the Desert and the Stony all enclosed by the Mount Libanus and the Red and Persian Gulfes 9. Canan He setteth downe briefly and in foure verses the seuerall abodes of Chams foure sonnes according as they are named in the tenth chapter of Genesis Chus the eldest brother had Aethiopia which some take for that vnder Aegypt others for the land of Chus which is a part of Arabia the Happy as may be gathered by many places of the old Testament well noted of M. Beroals in the sixt chapter of his fourth booke of Chronicles Mizraim peopled Aegypt that of the Hebrewes was commonly called Mitzraijm and long after Aegypt of the name of King Aegyptus who succeeded Belus in that kingdome and was brother to Danaus who came into Greece and was Author of that name generall to the Grecians which as Saint Augustine thinkes De Ciu. Dei the eighteenth booke and tenth chapter happened about the time of Iosua Phut the third sonne of Cham gaue name saith Iosephus to the Phutaeans after called Lybians of one of the sonnes of Mesren or Mizrain named Lybis He addeth also that in Mauritania there is 〈◊〉 certaine riuer and countrey called Phute Ezechiel 30.5 numbreth Phut among those that were in league with Chus and Lud which the Latine interpreter translateth Ethiopia Lydia and the Lydians so also did the 70. Interpreters This I say to mouâ— the Reader that is so delighted vnto a further and more diligent search I thinke Phut was seated neere Arabia and Aegypt although Arias Montanus and others place him in the coast of Affricke now called Barbary about Tunis Bugie Algeri and the Mountaines of Maroco Now of Canan or Chanaan the fourth sonne of Cham was called that Land of Promise which the twelue Tribes of Israel vnder the conduct of Iosua in due time entered and possessed The bounds thereof are plainly set downe in the booke of Exodus chap 23. verse 31. and elsewhere I neede not here discourse of them except I were to write a long Commentarie Iaphet tirevers le Septentrion l'Occident Iaphet s'estend depuis les eaux de l'Hellespont La Tane flot Euxin iusques au double mont Du fameux Gibaltar l'Ocean qui baigne De son flus reflus le ruiage d'Hespaigne Et depuis ceste mer ou les chars attelez Se promenent au lieu des Gallions ailez Iusqu'au flot Prouençal Tyrrhene Ligustique L'onde de la Morce de la docte Attique Contre le beau terroir de l'Asie mineur Second iardin d'Eden du monde l'honneur Et ce large pays qui gist depuis Amane Iusqu'au source du Rha du bord de la Tanes Habitation des enfans de laphet leurs descendans Des reins de so Gomer se disent descendus Tant de peuple guerriers par la Gaule espandus Et les Germains encor iadis dits Gomerites De tubal ceux d'Hespaigne de Magog les Scythes Mazaca de Mosoch de Madai les Medois Les Thraces de Thyras de Iauan les Gregeois Iaphet to the North and West Now Iaphet spred along from th'Ellesponticke waters Th'Euxine and Tanaies vnto the mount Gibraltars Renowned doubl ' ascent and that sun-setting Maine Which with his ebbe and flow playes on the shore of Spaine And from that higher sea vpon whose
Spaniards haue taken as it were this one graine away but thus much say they pointing to the rest in the vessell thus much and more haue they left behinde them Now the word Viracochie because it comes thus in my way Benzo himselfe in his third booke saith it signifies the froth or scumme of the Sea and that the Peruvians so call the Spaniards for deepe hatred and abomination of them saying also sometimes one to another in their language The wind beares downe houses and trees and the fire burnes them but these Viracochie they doe worse than wind and fire They waste all they eat all they turne the earth and all vpside downe they turne the course of Riuers they are neuer at quiet they neuer cease ranging vp and downe to seeke gold and siluer and all they finde is too little for them When they haue it what doe they They take their pleasure they warre one with another rob one another kill one another they are euer giuen to lying blaspheming and denying the same God whom they professe and these men haue cruelly slame without cause our fathers our children and kinsfolkes taken from vs contrary to all right our goods our libertie and countrie Hauing thus commended the Spaniards they cause the Sea for vomiting on the Earth so cruell and wicked a people and often haue vpbraided the Spaniards themselues with this notorious reproach that Gold was the Christians God O how shall this people in the latter day condemne that euer greedy couetousnesse for which Europe now adaies heareth so ill and is by the selfe-people thereof so wasted and vnpeopled But concerning the diuers gouernments of the West-Indies seeing they are set downe so well at large by Lopes Ouâ—ede Benzo and others it is too great a matter for me to handle in this discourse which is I feare me growne too long already therefore will I draw to an end The Poet at the 413. verse begins to shew some likely opinions how this new-found world was pleopled and first in generall that the people of countries inhabited exercising their ordinary traffick one with another might sometimes be cast by force of tempest vpon the West-Indian shore and so be constrained their ships being broken to remaine still there Others by plague war or famine were driuen to leaue their countries and seeke some quietter dwelling farre off and so haue lighted on these new Countries Or perhaps some great man of authority or cunning Pilot by ventring made a discouery thereof and led the ouer-creases of some people thither As the Poet sheweth more particularly in the verses following 44 Nay could not long agoe He guesseth in speciall and most likely that the inhabitants of the furthest Northeast shore of Asia to wit the men of Quinsay and other places there might haue emptied their ouer-peopled Cities by passing the Anien Straight a part of Sea no broader as he saith then the Phare of Gallipoli Gibraltare or Messine and so from the East Indies might they haue stored first the land of Tolguage which Theues in his map of the new world placeth betwixt the Realmes of Anián Tolm and Quiuir within 15 degrees of the North-pole then the rest as followeth 45 So from the Wastes of Tolm and Quiuir In all this huge Northren part of America few people there are especially toward the coast ouer against Quinsay and the other East countries There are therefore great Waste-lands as the later Card-men haue noted about the kingdomes or countries of Anian Tolguage Quiuir and Tolm about 12000 leagues compasse So then the Poet holds opinion that some of Sems posteritie hauing once passed from the farthest East-point of Asia ouer to the West-Indian Coast thrust their of-spring farther into the land The Countries here named by the Poet are to be found in the Sea-cards and Land-maps betwixt Now-Spaine and Estotilant as if he meant that the North-part of America was first inhabited concerning the properties and particular descriptions of these places reade the third volume of the Spanish Nauigations the second Booke of the generall historie of Lopez de Gomara chap. 37. c. the Historie of Florida Benzo the Reports of Johannes Verazzanus laques Cartier and other French Captaines concerning their discouering of the Land of Labour where the Sea is frozen Baccalos New France Canada Hochilega and other lands thereabouts Reade Thenet also and the later Card men For the French Calienza I haue translated Caliquas according as I finde it writted both in others and in Ortellus who also hath for Mechi Terlichi-mechi and therefore I translate it Terlichi 46 They sow'd at'nother side Xalisco now called Noua Gallicia is described by Gomara in the 21. chapter of his fift booke It is a land very fruitfull and rich in honey waxe and siluer and the people there are Idolaters and Men-eaters Nunnius Gusmannus who seized the country for the King of Spaine in the yeare 1530. hath written a discourse thereof and it is to be read in the third volume of the Spanish Nauigations The Prouince of Mechuacan from whence not far lyeth Cusule is about 40 leagues lower southward then Xalisco that also the said Gusmannus conquered after he had most cruelly and traiterously put to death the Prince and Peeres of the country as Gomara sheweth in his booke and chapter aboue quoted Mexico which some account all one with Themixtetan is the mother-Citie of that kingdome now called Hispania Nona wonderfull rich it is and strong and of high renoume built farre more curiously then Venice vpon a lake salt on the north-side because it is there of a Sea-like breadth and on the south-side fresh because of a Riuer that empties there into it Greater is the Citie thought to be then Seuille in Spaine the streets are passing well set and their channels in such manner cast as cannot be mended Diuers places there are to buy and sell-in the needfull and ordinarie wares but one there is greater then the rest with many walkes and galleries round about it where euery day may be seene aboue threescore thousand Chapmen There is the Iudgement Hall for common Pleas and were also many temples and shrines of Idols before the comming of Ferdinando Cortez who made thereof the first conquest for the king of Spaine exercising most horrible cruelties vpon all both young and old in the Citie as Barthelemi delas Casas a Monke and Bishop of Spaine reports in his historie of the Indies where he stayed a long time Looke the description of Mexico in the third volume of the Spanish Nauigations fol. 300. See also Benzo of Millaine his historie of the new world the second booke and 13. Chapter Now from these parts abouenamed after report of some wonders of many there seene and worthy a larger discourse by themselues the Poet drawes his Colonies downe further towards Peru by the Land-straight of Panama which parts the South-sea from the Ocean and thereabout is hardly 20. leagues in breadth The fiery mountaine
may aske How falls it out that the Nations of the world comming all of one father Noe doe varie so much one from another both in body and minde The Poet therefore making this obiection most worthy to be considered giueth also answer thereunto first in generall by way of exclamation and maruaile then in particular manner setting downe some speciall reasons of this wonderfull diuersitie that appeareth in the stature complexion strength colour and custome of people wheresoeuer dispersed ouer the face of the earth The first and principall cause is Nature it selfe that is the wise prouidence of God maruellous in all his workes If God had made the earth in all places alike all flowers of one colour and sauour all beasts fowles fishes and creeping things of one kinde had he made the heauen without starres or the starres all of one bignesse and men all of the same hew beauty feature strength and disposition as well of bodie as minde the diuers colours of his infinite wisdome had not so shined in them But as he is aboue all yea onely wise good and beautifull so would he in his workes keepe a certaine resemblance of his owne perfection prouoking vs thereby daily to aduance and raise our thoughts vnto the high consideration perfect loue and due reuerence of himselfe Now if we consider all his workes the light of his wonderfull glory no where appeareth more then in the diligent view of Man who is very fitly called of the Greekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the little world For in this little table hath he lymbed-out in orient colours for all that will behold the wonders of his vnsearchable wisdome and they are here some of them by the Poet well pointed-out And a wonderfull thing indeed it is that among so many men as haue beene since the beginning are or shall be to the worlds end there neuer was nor is nor can be any one but differing much from all the rest both in bodie and minde and in many things else that ensue thereon This I am content to note but in a word leauing all the particulars of this miracle for the Reader priuatly to consider that he may wonder the more thereat and praise there-according th' almighty Creator the Soueraigne Good neither will I now take in hand to dispute against those that in searching the causes of this diuersitie ascribe all to Fortune or Nature as they call it meaning a secret propertie and power of the creatures or to the starres and other heauenly bodies to mans lawes custome or nourishment in stead of God who is indeed the first and only working cause of all things in whom we liue moue and are This matter would require a long discourse and though the Poet here beside the chiefe and only tine cause reckoneth certaine vnder-causes as custome growing to Nature th' example of Elders prouinciall Lawes and the influence of Stars it is not his meaning to take from the Lord of Nature this honour due vnto him for the diuersitie of his wonderfull works but only to lay open vnto vs a few such instruments as his incomprehensible wisdome vseth to make vs the better conceiue the manner of his heauenly working The Philosophers Astronomers Physicians and Politicks discourse at large vpon these differences he that would see them well handled let him reade the fift chapter of Bodines Method entituled de recto historiarum indicio and the first chapter of his fift booke de Republica which is the summe of all that he writes thereof in his Method Peucer also in the 13. and 14. bookes of his discourse vpon the principall sorts of diuinations and Hippocrates in his booke de Aëre aquis locis but especially Bodin may ferue to expound our Poet who in very few lines hath penned matter of so long discourse 59 The Northen man He entreth consideration of many points wherein the North and Southerne people differ Bodin in the places afore-quoted shewes the causes thereof according to Philosophie and Physicke because his bookes are common specially his Politicks I will not here set downe what he saith nor examine his opinions but leaue that wholly to the diligent Reader Concerning that the Poer noteth the best Histories auerre the same and namely for the Southerne people Iohannes Leo and Franciscus Aluares for the Northen Olaus Magnus the Baron of Herbestan in his Muscouie Buchanan in the historie of Scotland and diuers others 60 The Middle Man Bodm in the fift booke of his Politickes the first chapter diuideth all people dwelling on this side the Aequator into 3. kinds to wit the hot and Southerne people from the Aequator 30. degrees vpward the Meane and temperate in the next 30. and the Extreame cold and Northen people from the 60. degree to the Pole And so of the nations and countries beyond the Aequator The reason hereof he setteth downe in his Method chap. 5. 61 For in the sacred close The Poet goes on according to the said diuision and in few words implies all that discourse of Bodin who saith among other matters there that the people dwelling in the middle Regions haue more strength and lesse wit then the Southerne better parts of minde and lesse bodily force then the Northen and are moreouer the fittest for gouernment of Common-wealths and iustest in their actions And if a man doe marke well the histories of the world he shall finde that the greatest and most valiant Armies came euer out of the North the deepest and subtilest knowledge of Philosophie Mathematickes and all other contemplatiue Arts from the South and the best gouernment the best lawes Lawyers and Orators from the Middle countries and that the greatest Empires were founded and established there c. What reason there is for this he sheweth also in his fift chap. of his Meth. Looke more thereof in L. Regius de vicissitudine varietate rerum For my part I am of opinion that Almighty God as he hath knit and bound together the Elements and Creatures made of them with a maruellous compasse in number weight and measure best for continuance of the whole worke and mutuall agreement of the parts so hee hath also placed the chiefe subtiltie and liuely-hood of spirit farthest from the greatest bodily force either in beast or man for the better maintenance of humane societie in a iust counterpoys and gaue the middle kinde of people a nature of either tempered though if a man enter into particular discourse he may easily finde the northerne southerne and middle Nature in euery Nation What say I euery Nation nay I dare say in euery one of vs so fitly is Man called a little world But the southerne men for the most part hauing so quick and liuely parts of minde in a bodie lesse charged with flesh they represent the contemplatiue and studious kinde of life the northerne that haue their vvit in their fingers ends that is that are so cunning craftesmen inuenters of warlike engins artillerie and
whereof Euclide and his Expositors haue spoken at large in their sixt booke as they haue also many propositions touching the same before 22. The Globe This is a kind of Geometricall Solide most excellent and perfect aboue all others as all men that haue written thereof doe plainly declare whom the Poet here also followeth Their chiefe reasons are 1. That it hath the same fashion and shape that the world hath 2. That it hath neither beginning mids nor end 3. That it is moueable in place and immoueable out of place That it is concaue and conuex which is as much to say as Inbent and Out-bent or crusye and bulked that it is made of straight lines meaning the diameters and yet crooked round about as is the surface thereof that it mooueth euery way at once vpward downward backward forward rightway leftway that it swayes and mooues with it according to proportion all round bodies next it This we may well perceiue by that heauen called Primum mobile which drawes with it the firmament of fixed starres together with the seauen spheres of Planets That although it stand still as when the sphere is laid on a plaine yet seemes it to be in continuall motion and euery way nods and threatens to fall because the base or foot it stands-on is but a point from whence on euery-side halfe hangs-ouer This may seeme strange then euen where there is a foundation to rest-on Much more in the Earth that hath no foundation to sense but hangs in the Ayre whereof the Poet giues a good reason because it selfe is the resting-place or middle point of all the bodies concentrike and round of it selfe is not by any promontorie or corner forced from abroad More ample reasons hereof shall yee finde in the Commentaries of Clauius Junctinus Schreckensuschius and others vpon the Spheare of Iohn of Hallifax commonly called Iohannes de sacro Bosco and in the Commentarie of Millichius vpon the second booke of Plinie 4. The Sphere is alwaies and euery where throughout like it selfe so are not other bodies Geometricall 5 As houses that are blunt-cornerd receiue more into them then do the straight or sharp-cornerd because these stride not so wide as the other so the Sphere being as it were euery way blunt containes more then any Geometricall bodie of other shape 6. Other Solides are broken oft-times by reason of their beginnings ends plights knobs and ioynts whereas the Sphere is voide of all those and therefore must needs be more perfect and sound as all Astronomers and Geometricians doe proue both by their owne experience and to the view of others 23. The doubling of a Cube and squaring of a Round About these two secrets of Geometrie diuers learned men of our Age haue taken great pains as well in their Commentaries vpon Euclide as in Bookes and Treatises printed apart But because these matters doe require demonstrations with distinct number and figure it was impossible for me to set them downe here and my ayme is at things of more vse and profit He that would be further satisfied herein let him repaire to the learned Mathematicians or to their Bookes set forth in Print Nicolas de Cusa Orontius Cardan in his worke de proportionibus Pelletier Clauius Candales in diuers demonstrations vpon Euclide haue largely discoursed vpon these Secrets and others drawing neere vnto them 24. Keepe faster The Theoremes Problemes and Propositions of Geometrie contained in the books of Euclide are most certaine and out of all controuersie among people endued with reason as the Expositors of this Author doe plainly shew Howbeit the Sceptikes and Pyrrhonians both old and new do oppose them But the Poet simply considers the truth of things reiecting all Sophistrie which deserues not to be disputed withall especially when it denies principles and such as these whereby Geometrie hath filled the whole world and that but a hundred yeares since with an infinite sort of rare and admirable inuentions 25. By her the gentle streame For proofe of that last point he brings in 1. The vse of Wind-mills and Water-mills 2. Artillerie 3. The Saile mast sterne and other furniture of a ship 4. Printing 5. The Crane or wheele deuised to draw or lift-vp great stones to a high building and other Engines to command and beat downe pyles planks and whole trees if need be into the earth vnder water 6. The Crosse-staffe or Iacobs-staffe as we call it to measure the Earth Ayre Heauen and Sea and vnder this may be comprised all other instruments which the Surveyours of Land Camp-masters Geometors Astronomers and other men vse to that purpose or the like 7. All kinde of howre-glasses of sand or water Dyals of all sorts and sounding clocks to marke how the time passes both by day and night 8. Certaine statues and deuises of wood which by meanes of sundry gynnes of motion within them haue beene made to pronounce some words of mans voice whereto may be added the woodden Pigeon of Archytas the Eagle and Flie of Iohn de Montroyall the brasen head of Albertus Magnus the clock-cock of Strausburg 9. The deuise of Daedalus to flie in the ayre which hath beene imitated since by others In the tenth and last place he glaunceth at the vaunt which Archimedes made that he would mooue the Earth out of place if he had but elsewhere to stand These all deserue throughly to be considered but for the present I will content my selfe thus only to haue pointed at them And so come to the third Image which is Astronomie 3. L'Astronomie ne peut estre bien veue que de ceux qui conoissent l'Arithmetique la Germetrie Or d'autant que ces deux nous donnent seure entree Dans le sainct Cabinet où l'Vranie astree Tient sa ceinture d'or ses lumineux pendans Ses Perles ses rubis ses saphirs ardans Qu'homme ne peut monter sur les croupes iumelles Du Parnasse estoillé que guindé sur leurs ailes Que quiconque est priué de l'vn de ces deux yeux Contemple vainement l'artifice des cieux Le sculpteur a dressé pres de l'Arithmetique Et l'Art mesure-champ l'image Astronomique Ornemens de l'Astronomie Elle a pour Diademe vn argentè Croissant Sous qui iusqa'aux talons à iaunes flots descend Vn Comet allumé pour yeux deux Escarboucles Pour robe vn bleu Rideau que deux luisantes boucles Attachent sur l'espaule vn damas azurè D'estoilles d'animaux richement figuré Et pour plumes encor elle porte les ailes De l'oiseau moucheté de brillantes rouëles Now these two Arts because they lead vs onward right Into that sacred tent where Vranie the bright Sits guirt in golden belt with spangles albedight Of carbuncl ' and of pearle of rubye and chrysolite And that a man withou the help of eithers quill May neuer mount the twyns of starrie Pernas hill But whosoeuer wants one of these Eagles eies In vaine
tongue should remaine entire and vncorrupt with such as had corrupted the seruice of God But the Lord being mercifull vnto Abraham restored to him againe and kept for his faithfull children the first Language which had not beene so much corrupted in the family of Sem who parted not so farre from his father La terre partagee entre les enfans de Noé Sem tire vers l'Orient Ce pays qui s'estend non moins riche que large Iusqu'au bord Perosite où reide se descharge L'Ob Roy des douces caux l'Ob au superbe cours Fleuue qu'a peine on peut trauerser en six iours Iusques à Malaca les Isles où s'amasse La Canelle le Clou Sumatre sur qui passe Le Cercle egale-nuicts iusqu'au slot encor De Zeilan porte-perle Binasgar porte-or Depuis la mer Euxine l'onde fraternelle Des fleuues Chaldeans iusqu ' à l'onde cruelle Du destroit Anien les paresseuses eaux Habitation des successeurs de Cham. Ou Quinzit est hasty Chiorze ou les Taureaux Aussi grands qu'Elephans son habillez de soye Est la part du grand Sem. Car le destin enuoye Assur en l'Assyrie à sin qu'en peu de iours Chalé Resen Niniue au ciel haussent leurs tours Le porte-scepre Elam saisit les monts de Perse Et les fertils guerets que l'Araxe trauerse Lut le champ Lydien Aram l'Aramean Et le docte Arphaxat le terroir Chaldean This countrry reaching forth as rich as it is large From Peake of Perosites Sem went toward the West where doth himselfe discharge The stately running Ob great Ob fresh waters King A riuer hardly crost in six daies trauelling To Malaca to th'Isles from whence are brought huge masses Of Calamus and Cloues Samotra whereon passes Heau'ns Equinoctiall line and to the waters far Of Pearly Zeilan Isle and goldie Bisnagar And from the Pont-Eusine and from the brother waues Of those two Chaldee streames vnto the Sea that raues With hideous noise about the Straight of Aniens To Quinsies moorie poole and to Chiorza whence Come Elephantick buls with silken-haired hides This hight the share of Sem for Gods decree it guides Ashur t'Assyriland that after some few daies How and what Nations came of Sem. Chal Rezen Niniué their tow'rs to heau'n may raise The Persian hilles possest great Elams kingly race And those fat lands where-through Araxes bont his pace Lud held the Lydian fields Aram th'Armenia And learned Arphaxad the quarter Chaldean 6. This Countrey He setteth downe the lots of Sem Cham and Iaphet first in generall after meaning to shew the particular Colonies of each So then to Sem he allotteth Asia The proofe of these seuerall shares may be gathered out of the tenth Chapter of Genesis It is not meant that Sem in his owne life-time tooke possession of this huge plot of groūd although he liued 600 yeers but the posteritie of his fiue sonnes ouer-spred it by succession of time as the Poet declares at large hereafter and a man may perceiue some token hereof in that Moses reckoneth in the foresaid Chapter the sonnes of Joktan the sonne of Heber peti-sonne of Arphaxad sonne of Sem. Now before I shew the bounds here noted by the Poet in this lot of Sem I will set downe the description and deuision of Asia as now it is The map-drawers of our time differ in their order some consider it by the whole masse others by the sea-borders and parts best knowne which they reckon to be nine and those particularly deciphered in the first chapter of the twentieth booke of the Portugall historie But this kinde of deuision because it is more obscure and farther from my purpose I leaue and rest on the other which deuides the masse of Asia into siue principall parts the first which is ouer-against Europe and vnder the Emperour of Moscouie is bounded with the frozen sea the riuer Ob or Oby the lake of Kittay and the land-straight that is betwixt the Caspian and Euxine sea The second is Tartary subiect to the great Cham which abutteth Southward on the Caspian sea the hill Imaus and the riuer Juxartes Northward and Eastward on the Ocean and Westward vpon Moscouie The third part is possessed by the Turke and containeth all that lyes betweene the Euxine Aegean and Midland seas and so further betwixt Egypt the Arabian and Persian Gulfes the riuer Tygris the Caspian sea and the land-straight there The fourth is the Kingdome of Persia abutting Westward on the Turke Northward on the great Cham Eastward on the riuer Indus and Southward on the Indian sea As for the fist part it is the same which we call the East-Indies so named of the riuer Indus and distinguished the higher from the lower by the famous riuer Ganges These Indies are very large Countries as the Maps declare and front out Southward as farre as Malaca hauing besides an infinite sort of Ilands great and small which the Card-men haue well set downe both in Maps and writing Now see we the manner how the Poet considereth Asia He takes it first by right line from North to South to wit from the Peake foreland or cape of Perosites as farre as Malaca where he taketh in the Moluckes and Taprobana and from thence riseth againe to Zeilan and Bisnagar Then draweth another line from the Maior or Euxine sea on the West to the straights of Anien Northeast and toucheth by the way some few Countries most note-worthy reseruing the rest vntill his particular description of the Colonies which followeth from the 297. verse vnto the 319. To make plaine some words in the text the Peake of Perosites is a promontory about the farthest part of Moscouy neare the Scythian sea where liueth as Cellarius reports of Asia in his great booke entituled Speculum orbis terrarum and Mercator in his world-map a certaine people which haue so small a vent for their mouth that they are nourished onely by the sauour and steeme of sodden flesh And about this promontory the Riuer Ob rising from the lake of Kythay groweth to an huge breadth and so emptieth into the Scythian or frozen sea The Baron of Herbestoin noteth it in his map of Moscouie and in his Historie saith as much as here followeth touching this riuer fol 82. They that haue beene thereon say they haue laboured a whole day without ceasse their vessell going very fast to passe the Riuer and that it is fourescore Italian miles broad Which ageeth well with that the Poet here saith and with report of Merator and Cellarius so that by good right it may be called rather then any other streame the king of all fiesh waters because in all the world besides there is none so large and this also is of a wonderfull great length for as the foresaid Baron affirmeth from the one end to the other to wit from the lake of Kythay to the frozen-sea it asketh
more then three moneths sayling The realme and citie of Malaca are described in the sixth booke of the Portugall historie chap. 18. It is neare the Equinoctiall aboue Taprobana so therefore Asia reacheth from the North-pole beyond the Equator The Isles from whence are brought buge masses of Cloues and Cassia are the Moluckes siue in number Tidor Terenat Motir Machian and Bachian beset with diuers other Isles and Islets vn ler and neere the Equator in the East which with their properties and manners of their inhabitants are well set downe in the 13. booke of the history of Portugall Chap. 8. Samotra whereon passes the night-equalling line or the Equator is the Isle Taprobana Southward ouer against Malaca it is aboue 450. leagues long and 120. broad I haue described it in the fist day of the first weeke see further the history of Portugall in the sixt booke the 18. chap. Zeilan is an Isle right against the Cape of Calecut aboue Taprebana toward the East it lies North and South in length about 125. leagues and in the broadest place is 75. ouer There are taken out of the sea great store of pearles very faire and brighte for the further description thereof see the 4. booke and 20 chapter of the history of Portugall Bisnagar is a kingdome lying betweene Decan and Narsingua the mountaines of Calecut and the sea called the great gulfe of Bengala It is rich in gold which is there found in riuers Looke the situation thereof in the Map of the East Indies and in the Asia of Ortelius and Cellarius The Pont-Eusine is now called the Maior or the Hacke Sea at the one end thereof toward the Midland-sea is Constantinople the Card-men call it by diuers names which Orteliu hath set downe in his Synonym By the Brother waues of those Chaldean streames is meant as I suppose the Persian sea whereinto Euphrates and Tygris both together empty being before ioined about Babylon now called Bagadet and so the Poet takes as much of the breadth of Asia at the West end as he doth at the East the one from Quinsay to Chiorze the other from the sea of Constantinople to the Persian Gulse Concerning the straight of Anion the Cardmen are not all of one opinion Mercator Ortelius Cellarius Theuet and others set downe plainly a good broad arme of Sea betwixt the North-east point of Asia and America But Vopelius ioynes Asia and this fourth part of the world together greatly enlarging Asia and cut tolling the other contrary to the opinion of the Authors aforesaid and many Spaniards that haue written of the new-found world the reasons that may be alledged in fauour of either side require a large Commentary Vopelius his opinion indeede cutteth off many doubts that arise about the enpeopling of America but Mercator and the others who are most commonly followed seeme to ground more vpon Geography and better to agree with the seas naturall sway and easie compassing the earth Arias Montanus in his booke intituled Phaleg where he treateth of the habitations of Noes posteritie setteth downe a Map according to Vopelius this booke of his bound in the volume called Apparatus is ioyned with the great Bibles of Antwerp But the Poet followeth Mercator Ortelius and the common opinion of the Cardmen of our time for Ptolome Strabo and Mela in their daies had not discouered so much Quinsay which the Poet cals Quinzit is a famous citie in the Northeast point of Asia about ten leagues from the sea built vpon peeres and arches in a marrish ground it is twenty leagues or one hundred miles about and by reason as well of the great Lake-waters there as also of the ebbe and slow of the sea it bath as M. P. Venet reports in the 64. chapter of his second booke 12000. bridges of stone the most renoumed bound-marke of all Asia and the greatest citie in the world if that be true But Theuet gainsaith it in the 27. chapter of the 12. booke of his Cosmography where he describes the Citie and Lake with the Riuer that causes the Lake to swell he saith it is not aboue foure leagues in compasse yet M. Paule affirmes he hath beene there Chiorze is another worthy part of Asia set downe here for a bound-marke because of the strange Buls there as great as Elephants with haire as smooth and soft as silke Howsoeuer now adaies that country is nothing so ciuill as others inhabited by the posterity of Cham and Iaphet yet the fruitfulnesse of the ground and great commodities there growing for maintainance of mans life declare it hath beene in times past one of the best portions of the children of Noe. 7. Ashur t' Assyriland Moses saith the sonnes of Sem were Elam Ashur Arphaxad Lud and Aram The Poet here in six verses hath noted out the first habitations of these fiue reseruing afterward about the 300. verse and so forth to shew their first second third and fourth out-going ouer the rest of Asia Concerning Ashur it may be gathered out of the 10. of Genesis verse the 11. that hauing sorted himselfe with the people that now began to feare Nimred and liking not to liue vnder that yoke went on further and in the Countrey after his name called Assyria built Niniuy which a long time remained one of the greatest Cities in the world as appeares by the prophesie of Ionas and other places of Scripture and Caleh and Resen not farre asunder which haue beene long agoe destroyed Elam that was the eldest seated himselfe by the riuer Euphrates neere the Persian Gulfe which now is called the Sea of Mesendin The Poet giues him a Princely title because the Monarchie began betime and long continued thereabouts where also reigneth still the Sophi a great Emperour and deadly enemy of the Turkes The Riuer Araxes is described by Ptolome in his third Map of Asia where he makes it spring from the soot of Pariard which some men take for the hill Taurus and so passing Scapene Soducene and Colthene to emptie into the Caspian sea These Countries are very rich and therefore the Poet cals them sat lands Lud hauing passed the Riuer composed of Tygris and Euphrates which straight after voids into the Golfe had Elam on the North the two Riuers ioyned and the Gulfe on the East and on the West the Marches of Seba which is the vpper part of Arabia The poet here allotteth him the Lydian fields if by Lydia be vnderstood that part of the lesser Asia called Meonia by Ptolome Herodote and Plinie Lud should haue wandered further then the other foure brothers Moses reports not any thing of his Colonies and his farre going may be the cause for according to the Poet he should haue coasted vp as farre as Aeolia and the Midland sea The seat of Aram is Mesopotamia to wit the Countries about Babylon and the mountaines of Armenia which were after called by the name of Taurus This also containeth Syria and the great Armenia