Vnheard-of CURIOSITIES Concerning the TALISMANICAL Sculpture of the PERSIANS The HOROSCOPE of the PATRIARKES And the READING of the STARS Written in French by JAMES GAFFAREL And Englished by EDMUND CHILMEAD Mr. of Arts and Chaplaine of Christ-Church OXON LONDON Printed by G. D. for Humphrey Moseley and are to be sold at his Shop at the Princes Armes in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1650. The Testimony that Leo Allatius gives in his Apes Vrbanae concerning this Book CUriosus hic Liber intrà sex menses tèr fuit editus bis Parisijs et semèl aliâ Galliarum in Urbe innominatâ Suspicio est nec fallit Conjectura Rhotomagenses Bibliopolas spe lucri semèl atquè iterùm non sinetùm Sensus cùm Styli Corruptione ediâ—â—sse In English thus THis Curious Booke was printed Thrice within the space of Sixe Moneths Twice at Paris and Once in some other City of France not named in the Impression And it is suspected and upon very good Grounds too that the Booke-sellers of Roüen in hope of Gaine printed it more then Once though not without very great Corruption both of the Sense and Stile To the Worshipful my much Honoured Patron Edward Byshe the Younger ESQUIER Sir WERE Presents of this Nature what they pretend to and did not rather Engage then Gratifie the Receivers intitling Them to what Errors soever shall be there committed yet notwithstanding could not This of Mine expect to find any such Entertainment at Your hands For I bring not here a Gift but pay a Debt and but Restore unto you what was your Owne before Since this Dedication is but an Account of some of those houres which ought wholly to have been Otherwise employed in your Service Neither have you a Single Title to it only as Comming from Me But so Great is your Affection to Learning and so Active in Incouraging all that make the least Pretence to It as that were I a Stranger to you I should account my self Obliged to make my Addresses to You and should thinke all my Endeavors were justly due to Him that deserves so Well of Learning in Generall Be pleased therefore Sr. to accept of this Meane Present as a Testimonie not so much of my Gratitude as of your own Merit from Learning suffer me to make my Hearty though Weake Attempts of Deserving in some smal measure those many Favours wherewith You have not ceased to Oblige Your most Devoted Servant EDMUND CHILMEAD To my Lord Bishop of NANTES SIR I Present these Curiosities to your Lordship as to the most Knowing Man in this Choice Kind of Learning in the World If any conceive the Subject to be of too Daring a Nature and Vnfit to present a Prelate with whose Profession is onely To Know his Masters Crosse let them remember that the most Pious among the Ancient Fathers have not disdained the Curiosities of the Gentiles besides that Preaching wherein Your Lordspips Excellency is such as that it renders You Admired by All as an Oracle ought to be accompanied with Whatsoever may conduce to the Knowledge of God out of which number These Choise Pieces of Antiquity may not be excluded All France acknowledgeth Your Lordship to be as a second Saint Paul of Our Age seeing that since the time of this Great Apostle the Gospel hath not been preached more Learnedly nor with greater Eloquence and Zeale by Any then by Your Selfe and Your Disciples So that the Height of my Desures can be but this that These my Conceptions which I here present You with may be but received by Your Lordship as well as Those that issue from Your Lordships Pious Breast are by all the World If I arrive but to This I shall esteeme my Selfe doubly Happy having beene already long since so in having the liberty to call my selfe My Lord Your most Humble and Obedient Servant I. Gaffarel The Author's Additions and Advertisement to the Reader IT is not any Itch of writing possesses me Courteous Reader that I here present thee with these Curiosities those that know me have found me very free from this foolish passion But a person of quality whom to deny any thing were a great Crime in me hath forced them out of my Closet whence otherwise they never should have come since I had resolv'd after so many Calumnies indured never to adventure more into the Publick View having so oftentimes sighed forth those words of a Roman Prince Utinam nescissem literas But in fine the Intreaties and Commands of my friends have prevailed against my own Resolution and I am forced I confesse to this Publication since I could not but foresee well enough that my Enemies would not rellish at all this other Essay of my pen notwithstanding after all this I have wherewith to comfort my self since one of the greatest Prelates of our Age hath condemned their Insolence Receive therefore favourably this Discourse Courteous Reader and remember what we all are I will not say thou shalt find all things perfect here for I am no Angel and if there be any defects we must accuse our Mortality which renders all Mankind subject to Errour But above all know that I am no whit obstinate or self-conceited nor never was I take in very good part what Advertisements soever are given me neither doe I account my selfe so knowing but that I shall be very ready to learne of any man they are fooles only and vain-glorious that refuse to be taught and the Ignorant only say They know all As for my part Courteous Reader use me but friendly and I shall require nothing else If thou thinke it strange that a man of the Church as I am should adventure on so bold and daring a Subject as this seems to be consider I pray thee that many of my Profession have put forth things much more bold then these and even such as have been esteemed Dangerous too Thus Trithemius the Abbot put forth his Polygraphy and his Steganography where the Calling forth of Spirits is plainely delivered notwithstanding he makes other use of it then our Sorcerers doe Gulielmus Bishop of Paris hath not only written of Naturall Magick but he also both perfectly understood and practis'd it as the Learned Picus Mirandula reports of him Another Learned Bishop also Albertus Magnus by name hath taught the grounds of it with admiration Roger Bacon and Joannes de Rupescissa both Franciscan Friers have done the same Petrus Cirvellus a Spaniard of the same Order hath published to the Christian World a Book in Folio of the Foure Principall kinds of Divination and all the Maximes of Judiciary Astrology P. de Alliaco a Cardinall and Bishop of Cambray hath written of the same Subject as also hath Junctinus a Priest of Florence and a Dr. of Divinity And since we are fallen upon the Italians have not Aurelius Augurellus and Pantheus both Priests the one a Venetian the other a Tarvisian delivered the Fooleries of the Philosophers Stone the one in his Chrysopaea and the
other in his Voarchadumia Marsilius Ficinus also a Priest how full of Superstition are his writings yea what Superstition is there in the World that he hath not published to open View Antonius Bernardus Mirandulanus Bishop of Caserte hath after his example maintained a world of things cleane contrary to our Religion in his book De singulari certamine The Cardinall Cajetan de Vio hath done the very same and Giovanni Ingegneri Bishop of Cabo d'Istria hath newly busied himself in maintaining the Grounds of Physiognomy And before all these Synesius a Christian Bishop wrote a book of the Interpretation of Dreames commented on afterwards by Nicephorus Gregoras a Bishop also or Patriarch of Constantinople I omit the Superstitions of Joachimus Abbas and of Savanarola a Dominican Frier with Cardinall Bembus his Gli Asolani Aeneas Sylvius who was afterward Pope Pius II. his Lucrece the book so full of all Lewdnesse of Poggius the Florentine who was Secretary to the Pope Neither will I mention the Macaronick History put forth under the name of Merlin Coccai but written by Theophilus Folengius a Benedictine Frier nor an infinite number of other books written by Church-men with which Kind Reader if thou compare this of mine thou wilt find if any blame me they do it wrongfully And that thou mayst be fully acquainted with my purpose in this discourse know that I give no more credit to any of these Curiosities then the Catholique and Apostolique Church permits and that I have not published them at least some of the most nice and ticklish but after many Christians of my Profession as thou mayst perceive by the Sequel As touching Jeroboam's Calves I am not the first who hath said that the making of them was Lawfull and that this King was no Idolater the Learned Genebrard hath led me the way and after him Moncaeus and before them Abiudan and I shall be very ready to withdraw my self out of their company if I find there be any danger in 't If thou object that these Curiosities ought not therefore to be called Unheard-of seeing that they have been handled by others I answer that the greatest part of them were Vnheard-of to Christians since that I have collected them out of the writings of the Jewes where they were delivered so obscurely that even those of their own Nation neglected them As for the Talismanicall Figures they were so Vnheard-of in our Age that their very name was not so much as knowne Now that thou mayst have a more perfect understanding of what is delivered in the ensuing Discourse be pleased to adde this which followeth In the First Part Cap. 1. p. 7. I say that I had not been able to discover the reason why Plutarch Strabo Trogus Tacitus and Diodorus had accused the Jewes of worshipping a Vine I have since found that it was because they had heard say and even themselves seen at least some of them that in the Temple at Jerusalem there was a Golden Vine with it's leaves and clusters of grapes made against the wall as it is described by Josephus Interior porta saies he tota inaurata erat ut dixi circum eam auratus paries desuper autem habebat aureos pampinos unde racemi staturâ hominis dependebant I know very well that many so understand the words of Josephus as if this Vine were not of Solid Massy gold but only gilded after the manner of Phrygian work But the other Josephus the Sonne of Gorion contradicts this Interpretation of the words for speaking in the same History of the Destruction of Jerusalem both more clearly and more at large of this Golden Vine and it's bunches of Grapes he saies Fecit insuper Herodes vitem de auro mundo posuit in summitatem colümnarum cujus pondus erat mille talentorum aureorum Erat autem vitis ipsa facta opere ingenioso habens ramos perplexos cujus folia germina facta erant ex rutilanti auro botri autem ex auro fulvo grana ejus acini atque folliculi facti erant ex lapidibus preciosis totumque opus erat fabrefactum opere vario ut esset mirandum spectaculum gaudium cordis omnibus intuentious ipsam And presently after he addes Multi quoque scriptores Romani testantur se eamvidisse cum desolaretur Templum Now the fore-named Authors Plutarch Strabo and the rest seeing that the Jewes had in their Temple a Golden Vine so rich so precious and of so admirable workmanship they were easily perswaded that they worshipped it in honour of Bacchus who was the first that subdued the East and this is the Opinion of Cornelius Tacitus who lived at the same time when this Beautifull Temple was destroyed Sed quia saith he Sacerdotes Judaeorum tibia tympanisque concinebant hedera vinciebantur vitisque aurea in Templo reperta Liberum Patrem coli domitorem Orientis quidam arbitrati sunt nequaquà m congruentibus institutis Quippe Liber festos laetosque ritus posuit Judaeorum mos absurdus sordidusque But we passe by this Impious Author who makes a mock at the Religion of the Jewes on all occasions In the Second Part Chap. 4 pag. 86. where I render the Greek words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by these French words Menues Pensees Little thoughts I have translated the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it ought to be understood which signifies properly Little Delicate and small as we call one of the Greek letters Ypsilon that is to say the Little Y. Now the Second Thoughts are Small Fine and Delicate because they consider things abstracted and separated from Matter which the First doe not And therefore we say in French very elegantly when wee speake of one that hath brought forth any curious conceit voila vne pensée bien destièe In the following Chap. you may adde these admirable Gamahes At Pisa in the Church of St. John you have on a certaine stone an Old Hermite perfectly drawn by Nature only but with so much exactnesse that there seemes not to be wanting any thing that belongs to one of that sort of men For he is represented in a Desert suitable to his profession and sitting neare a Brooks side with a Clock in his hand This Naturall piece of Picture almost fully answers That they deliver St. Anthony in In the Temple of S. Sophia at Constantinople there is also seen upon a plain white Marble the Image of S. John Baptist cloathed with a Camels skinne being only defective in this that Nature hath drawn him but with one foote At Ravenna in the Church of St. Vitalis there is to be seen a Franciscan Frier naturally drawn upon a stone of an Ash-colour At Sneiberg in Germany there was found in the Earth a certaine little Statue of a kind of unrefined Metall naturally made which represented in a round Figure a man having a little Child at his back and whoever hath any where seene the picture of St. Christopher may easily
some infected with this disease is because that here next to the Italians they eate more hogs flesh then any where else Neither do I say this but according to the opinion of Physicians without the least purpose of offending any either Strangers or those of my owne Nation In a word Courteous Reader I shall desire thee to interpret in good part whatsoever thou shalt find in this Book seeing that my purpose is to deale clearely as one exempt from passion In the 77. page of the same Chapter my intent is not to ranke Joseph's gift of Interpreting Dreames with the Art of Conjecturing at the meaning of Dreames Nor yet to reject the order of the Commandements established by the Church and to introduce that which is set downe page 291. for I there follow the Jewes manner of counting them Lastly I must intreat thee to correct the faults of the Presse and use mee as thou wouldst be used thy self A TABLE of the Chapters and their CONTENTS PART I. Wherein the Jewes and other Eastern Men are defended CHAP. I. That many things are falsely imposed upon the Jews and the rest of the Eastern men which never were THE CONTENTS 1. THe Arguments brought against the Eastern men whereon grounded 2. The Iewes falsely accused by Appion Plutarch Strabo Trogus Tacitus and Diodorus Siculus of worshipping Asses Vines and the Clouds 3. Whence these Fooleries sprung 4. The Syrians falsely said to worship Fishes Xenophon Cicero Aelian Ovid Martial Artemidorus and Scaliger refuted 5. The Idoll Dâ—gon not figured like a Woman or Siren as Scaliger would have it but in the forme of a Triton The Fable laid open 6. The Samaritans no Idolaters no more then Aaron and Jeroboam for having made Calves of gold according to Abiudan 7. The Cherubins of the Arke not made in the forme of Young Mea against the opinion of all both Greeke and Latine Authors and the greatest part of the Jewish too 8. Arguments in defence of the Samaritans 9. The reasons brought by the Iewes and Cajetan touching the figure of the Cherubins of no force 10. The Jewes falsely accused of burning their Children to the Idoll Moloc Whence the custome of leaping over the Fire of St. John hath been derived CHAP. II. That many things are esteemed ridiculous and dangerous in the Bookes of the Jewes which yet are without any blame maintained by Christian Writers THE CONTENTS 1. THat we ought not to rest on the bare Letter of the Scriptures 2. Authors that have treated of Ridiculous Subjects without being reproved 3. The books of the Jews lesse dangerous then those of the Heathens which yet are allowed by the Christian Fathers 4. The Feast that God is to make for the Elect with the flesh of a Whale how to be understood 5. Ten things created on the Even before the Sabboth and what they were 6. The Opinions of the Ancient and Modern writers touching the end of the world what Fathers of the Church have been of the Jews opinion in this Particular 7. Diverse opinions concerning the number of years from the Creation to our Saviour Christ and what wee ought to conclude as touching the end of the world 8. The Ancient Rabbins are falsely accused of speaking ill of our Saviour Iesus Christ 9. The Third Objection in the precedent Chapter answered and an Enumeration of some Errours of great Importance in Our owne Bookes PART II. Of the Talismanical Sculpture of the Persians or the manner of making Figures and Images under certain Constellations CHAP. III. THAT the Persians are unjustly blamed concerning the Curiosities of their Magicke Sculpture and Astrology THE CONTENTS 1. THe evill custome of blaming the Ancients is noted 2. The Reasons brought against the Persians and their Magicke examined and found of no force The Errors of the Counterfet Berosus Dinon Comestor Genebrard Pierius and Venetus concerning Zoroaster 3. The strange Statues of Laban and Micha called Teraphim perhaps allowed of God 5. The Errours of Elias Levita Aben-Esra R. Eliezer R. D. Chimehi Cajetan Sainctes Vatablus Clarius Mercerus Marinus and Mr. Selden concerning these Teraphim The grosse conceit of Philo Iudaeus touching this Particular 6. A Conjectnre touching these Statues what they were and an answer to what may be objected against it 7. Of certaine Strange Prodigious things which have foretold Disasters which have been seen to come to passe and which do yet foretell the same 8. The Conclusion of all before delivered CHAP. IV. That for want of understanding Aristotle aright men have condemned the power of Figures and concluded very many things both against this Philosopher and against all sound Philosophy THE CONTENTS 1. ERrors in Learning caused by the Ignorance of the Languages 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Specimen and not Species 3. The reading of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proved to be full 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ill translated and hence the Question of Universals not understood 5. The proper translating of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 6. The Errors committed in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The correcting of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rejected against Cicero 7. It is falsely concluded out of Aristotle that Fire is moist against du Villon 8. That Aristotle is abused by Interpreters by reason of their not understanding the force of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9. The false Interpretation of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 given by Stapulensis 10. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rightly understood condemneth those that deny the power of Figures The proofe of this at large CHAP. V. The power of Artificiall Images is proved by that of those that are found Naturally imprinted on Stones and Plants commonly called Gamahe or Camaieu and Signatures THE CONTENTS 1. THe Division of Naturall Figures or Images Gamahe or Camaieu drawn peradventure from the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chemaia 2. Of divers rare Gamahes or Stones painted naturally and why they are more frequently found in hot Countreys then in Cold. 3. Of other curious Gamahes not painted mentioned by Pliny Nider Gesner Goropius Becanus Thevet and Mr. de Breves A new Observation on the Bones of Giants 4. Of Gamahes that are Ingraven and whether those places where ever any Fish shels are found have been formerly covered with water or not 5. Certaine admirable Figures and Signatures that are found in all the parts of Plants Many choyce Inquiries proposed on this Subject 6. The power of these Figures proved and the Objections answered that are brought against it 7. The Secret discovered why a Scorpion applied to the wound made by a Scorpions sting should not hurt rather then cure it 8. Of the Figures of Plants that represent all the parts of the body of a man and that cure the same when ill-affected 9. The Formes of all things admirably preserved in
doe yearely cause their Children to passe over the Fire of St. John to this day Which Custome ought to be abolished seeing it hath been anciently condemned by a Councell held at Constantinople Syn. 6. in Trull can 64. In cap. 16.4 lib. Reg. Videantur Olaus Mag. in Histor Gothica Leo African in Descript Afric D. Ie. Chrysostom qui in Homil. de Nativitat S. Ioannis Solennes ejus honori 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excitatas ait ipsumque diem Lampada appellâ—ium and Theodoret proves clearely that this Custome of these Fires is still a rellick of the Ancient Abominations CHAP. II. That many things are esteemed Ridiculous and Dangerous in the Bookes of the Jewes which yet are without any blame maintained by Christian Writers THE CONTENTS 1. THat we ought not to rest on the bare Letter of the Scriptures 2. Authors that have treated of Ridiculous Subjects without being reproved 3. The Bookes of the Jewes lesse dangerous then those of the Heathens which yet are allowed by the Christian Fathers 4. The Feast that God is to make for the Elect with the Flesh of a Whale how to be understood 5. Ten things created on the Even before the Sabbath and what they were 6. The Opinions of the Ancient and Moderne Writers touching the end of the World what Fathers of the Church have been of the Jewes opinion in this Particular 7. Divers opinions concerning the number of yeares from the Creation to our Saviour Christ and what we ought to conclude as touching the End of the World 8. The Ancient Rabbins are falsly accused of speaking ill of our Saviour Jesus Christ 9. The third Objection in the Precedent Chapter and an Enumeration of some Errors of great Importance in our owne Books BUt be it so may some say that the Jewes are free from the guilt of these Crimes and their books not polluted with these Abominations yet it cannot be denied but that they have vented in them many fooleries more ridiculous ones The 2d Objection then a man can imagine and even some that are very dangerous too and that therefore they are unworthy our reading and the Curiosities found in them not to be valued at all This is the second Objection which was proposed in the precedent Chapter The Auswer If I were here to deal only with those that are free from Passion it would be easie for me to satisfie them in two words but since that I may chance to have to do with opinionative self-conceited men it will concern me to convince them by the force of Reasons backed with examples I say then that suppose there are many fooleries and absurd things found in the books of the Iewes but why then do we admit of the books of the Poets where you have nothing else For what can be conceived more ridiculous then that men should be transformed into Rocks Rivers Plants and Trees or what more remote from common sense then that Stones should discourse Flowers reason and trees make their moan and sigh out their afflictions why were the Fables of Aesope ever received which attribute the use of Reason to all things even the most insensible that nature hath produced And to say the utmost in one word Why then do we admit of the Bible which also make Trees as the Vine and the Bramble to speak The Trees went forth on a time to anoint a King over them Iudic. 9.8 and they said unto the Olive-tree Reigne thou over us But the Olive-tree said unto them should I leave my fatnesse wherewith by me they honour God and man and go to be promoted over the trees And this Tree refusing them they then make their addresses to the Fig-tree and afterwards to the Vine and at last they are constrained to come to the Bramble What a strange Metamorphosis is here If it be answered that these are Figures Similitudes and Parables which Ioathan made use of to expresse to the people the Tyranny of Abimelech and that in like manner the Ancient Poets proposed their Fables under which was alwayes couched some Philosophicall secret either Morall or Divine Why shall not the same Liberty be allowed to the Iewes also Will they have them to be lesse Rationall then the rest of Mankind or more Brutish then very Beasts Was there ever the like Peevishnesse seen 2. If the Jewes had busied themselves in describing the War betwixt Frogs and Mice as Homer hath done or in writing the Commendation of a Tyrant as Polycrates hath done the praise of Injustice as Phavorinus of Nero as Cardan of an Asse as Apuleius and Agrippa of a Fly and of a Parasiticall life as Lucian The same hath le S. du Belay done in divers of his Poems or of Folly as Erasmus we then should have them hooted at for Fooles or Mad-men Or had they made Epitaphs or Funerall Orations upon the death of a Cat an Ape a Dog a Didapper an Asse a Magpye a Flea as some of our Italian Fantasticoes have done we should no doubt heare them charged then with the finest wittiest Idolatrous Foolery that ever men were guilty of And yet the Authors of these Trifles heare no one word of it If they should yet but have taken upon them to set down the Rules of Divination as many of our Latine Christians have done or to teach the manner of Interpreting Dreames as one hath done in Gochlenius Barth Gochl Introd ad Physiog who tels you that as soone as you are awaked you must open a Psalter and the first Letter that is found in the beginning of the Page shall shew what shall happen As for example if it be A it signifies the Party shall be of a Free Nature if B he shall be powerfull in War C and D signifies Sadnesse and Death E and F that he shall have if he be married a Noble Of-spring G denotes some sad accident to befall him H foreshewes the Love of Women I a good and happy Life K Folly and Mirth and so forward of all the rest the very remembrance whereof makes me laugh If the Jewes I say should have busied themselves with such Sottish Impertinencies as these would any of the Christians so much as have touched their Bookes I shall passe by a thousand Fooleries wherewith our owne Bookes are stuffed and a thousand Fopperies which some people give credit to as that of Names and Numbers which is copiously handled by Raimundus Veronensis in his book intituled Opera del l' Antiqua honorata scienzae di Nomandia wherein a man shall see by the Letters of his name whether he shall live a long time or not whether of the two shall survive the Husband or the Wife What Preferments one shall rise to What Death a man shall dye and a world of such like Propositions which are not onely ridiculous but dangerous also And now let any man if he can find fault with the Jewish Rabbins whose writings are free from any
conclude that if they are prepared with all these Circumstances observed which we have before delivered and ingraven upon some Matter that is Proper for the receiving of the Influences of the Starres they may Naturally retaine them and work those wonderfull Effects which we have before set downe This Conclusion will receive both more Confirmation and more Clearnesse by the Answers to the following Objections in the meane time Contra Cels 4. Advers Haeres l. 1. c. 23. De Civ Dei l. 10. c. 11. Hist Sclav L◠14. Contra gent. l. 4. Col. 80. De Error proph rel cap. 16. Pand. Turc cap. 230. Capitolo 4. for your satisfaction in the truth of these Influences of the Coelestiall bodies upon Artificial things you may have recourse to Tertullian Origen S. Irenaeus S. Augustine Thekel or the Author of the book intituled Liber Lapidum filiorum Israel Arnoldus Abbas Lubecensis Arnobius Olympiodorus in Photius Julius Firmicus and Leunclavius You may see also the little Pamphlet written by Barnerio an Italian the Title whereof is Regole sopra la Carta Marina where he proves learnedly and by Experience that many Cottons and Wools of the Eastern Countries and even of our Own Countries also do last longer or a less while if they be wrought in diverse Kingdomes and under certaine Constellations as it is also observed in Ships Vitruvius proves the same to be so in Buildings also notwithstanding that both the Stone and Morter be as good in the one place as in the other CHAP. VII That the Objections which are made against Talismanicall Figures make not any thing at all against their Power THE CONTENTS 1. WHence the Custome of using certaine Words and of applying certaine Characters in the Cure of Diseases hath sprung 2. An Abominable Ceremony used by the Egyptians for to cause Haile to cease The Reason of the Command given to the Jewes of not Graffing on a tree of a Different Kind 3. The Talismans delivered by Antonius Mizaldus condemned 4. The Objections brought by Gulielmus Parisiensis Gerson answered The Power the Sun hath within the bowels of the Earth 5. A Fourth Objection answered The stories of Sorcerers and of Images of Waxe of very little Credit 6. A Fifth Objection refuted Of the Weapon-Salve that cures the Wound by being applied to the Weapon that made it 7. The Sixt Objection of no Force A remarkable story of two Twins 8. The Operation of these Talismans proceeds not from the Secret Vertue of the Stone 9. Cajetan and Pomponatius defended against Delrio touching the Power of Figures 10. The Vertue of the Starres descends as well upon a Living Scorpion as upon its Image 11. The Forcible Reasons brought by Galeottus in Defence of Talismans 12. The Objection brought against Franciscus Ruëus answered 13. The Story of Virgil's Talismanicall Fly and Horse-leech a True one against Naudaeus Gervais his booke not Fabulous as is commonly believed 14. Of some Admirable and Curious Inventions of men that seeme more Incredible then Talismans 15. Certaine Objections never before brought against the Power of Figures with their Solution THe Wonderful Effects which have been alwaies observed to have been wrought by Talismanicall Figures have so perplexed the minds of those men who account every thing to be Magicke which themselves are not able to comprehend as that without making any Distinction at all betwixt Power which is Naturall and Lawfull and that which our Faith permits us not to meddle with they have boldly published that what Vertue soever proceeds from Figures is utterly Diabolicall But when they perceived that Knowing Men would hardly sit downe so and that it concerned them to produce some Reasons to prove that these Figures can have no Naturall Power at all they have at length brought These following ones though they are built on very weake foundations as we shall make it appeare 1. The First is that Reason it selfe tels us that these Operations cannot be Totally Naturall but rather superstitious and Dangerous seeing that to reduce them to a full and entire Effect there are some certaine words to be used which have no Power at all especially over things which have no Sense and that Therefore the Making of them ought to be forbidden and rejected as the Church hath ordained To answer fully and in Order both to This Objection and to the rest that follow I say that in the First place we are to take notice that in the matter of these Figures we have already condemned all Words and all other Superstitions so that to avoid a Tedious Repetition the Reader must call to mind what hath already been said to This. As for the Church it never yet rejected the True and Lawfull Power of Figures such as we have described it as may appeare out of the Writings of those two Learned Men Tho. Aquinas and Cardinall Cajetan And if the Fathers have sometimes condemned it it was not till they saw that it was so mixed with superstition that I say not Abominations that they conceived they should never otherwise be able to divert men from the Practice of it but by condemning it utterly as Moses likewise did in forbidding absolutely the Graffing on a Tree of a different kind only to keep them from that sinne which was usually committed at that Action as we shall shew hereafter And that it may appear that the bare Figures have not been used alwayes without any Application of Words and Ceremonies such as were not only Vaine but Ridiculous also we may take notice that in Aegypt when they would cause Haile to cease which might have been effected by the Vertue of a bare Talisman onely it was thought Necessary that Foure Naked Women should lye along upon the ground on their backs and lifting up their feet on high they were to pronounce some certaine words and so the Haile would cease Quatuor Mulieres said they as R. Moses reports jaceant in terra super dorsum suum nudae et erigant pedes suos et dicant talia verba et operentur istud grando descendens super locum illum recedet ab eodem loco This Ridiculous Ceremony was taken from the Posture of some Talismanicall Figure In Gen. which served to divert stormes of Haile whereon saith Chomer was graven the Image of Venus lying along Besides some Ignorant persons having lighted upon some of the Characters which the Ancients had invented that so they might conceale their Philosophical Secrets from the unworthy Rabble such as are those wherewith the Chymists bookes are full not knowing the Originall of them and believing that they had some secret Vertue in them they graved them on Talismans Such perhaps was the Aegyptians Serapis which had on its breast the so much Celebrated Letter Tau This inscribing of Cifres and Characters brought also along with it this Beliefe that seeeing there were Letters written upon Talismans they might certainly then be read also and hence did this Superstition take
kind of Astrology as they never were acquainted with the Fourth will needs have them to have acknowledged in the Secrets of this Science Certain Spirits which never had any Being save only in his own Fancy and makes them to have been the Authors of a world of Fopperies which have been forged by the Greeks and Latines upon this Subject And the Last of them makes such a Strange Wild thing of the whole Doctrine of it and sets it forth in so Grosse and Ridiculous a Dresse as that his Book deserves very justly to be ranked with the Fables of Merlin 2. To begin then with Hm if you have a mind to have a Tast of him see but the 20th Chapter of his History of Languages where after a long Discourse of the Jewish Curiosities which he explaines after His manner he comes at last to his Tables or Figures the First of which sheweth the Mysteries of the Unit number of Two number of Three and number of Foure to whom he assignes these Four Good Angels ARIEL THARSIS SERAPH CHERUB and their Foure Spirits which he saith are called MAHAZAEL AZAEL SAMAEL AZAZEL then the Foure Seasons of the Year the Four Gates of Heaven the Four Quarters of the World the Foure Angels that rule over them the Foure Rivers of Paradise the Four Winds FAVONIVS SVBSOLANVS AVSTER AQVILO with their Four Spirits PAYMON ORIENS AMMONIVS EGYN Very Pretty Stuffe this which he fathers upon the Jewes although in Truth it never had any Being save only in his own Fancy no more then those other Fooleries which he hath vented in his Second Table For as concerning the names of the Angels which according to the Opinion of the Ancient Astrologers have their Residence in the Seven Planets he is right but in one of them all the rest being either Corrupted or else Invented by Himself as will appear to Any Man that shall but compare them with the True Ones set down by Aben-Arè who is translated into Latine by the Conciliator As for those Seven Intelligences which Duret hath assigned to the Seven Planets he had need be a very Subtile Theologist that can shew any Reason why he makes a Distinction betwixt the Seven Spirits which he calls by the names of SEMELIEL NOGAEL COCHABIEL LEVANAEL SABATHIEL ZEDEKIEL MADIMIEL and their Intelligences NACHIEL HAGIEL TIRIEL ELIMEL AGIEL JOPHIEL GRAPHIEL But may we not very well laugh at Carlo Fabri an Italian who hath fince translated these Fopperies into his own native Language and hath besides given other strange Names to these Angels the most of which he hath taken out of Raziel Picatrix Agrippa and a Book entituled Les Clavicules de Salomon of all which Duret will need have us believe the Hebrews to have been the Authors as likewise of the Twelve Intelligences that belong to the Twelve Months of those which reside in the Twenty Eight Mansions of the Moon which he sets down in his Third and Fourth Table but so Childishly that being not able to find any character for the last Mansion for there are but Twenty Seven Hebrew Letters reckoning also the Finall he is fain to make use of a Latine O and will have this Cypher in the Predictions of his Fantasticall Astrology to signifie INVNDATIONS caused by the Intelligence AMNIXIEL in the Mansion ALBOTHAM And now tell me if he had not very good Reason to devise these strange words for the better Confirmation of these Chimera's For why we are to take notice that here is no such stuffe as the Ancient Inchantments of Toledo or the Art Magick of Raziel or Picatrix but all Excellent Naturall Secrets and things well worthy of our serious Contemplation What Beasts should we be should we but suffer our selves to be lead by the Nose by This Man And what a miserable Condition were we in had we no other Judges in this Particular then Him and Vigenere who would notwithstanding seem to be very Learned in these Mysteries endeavouring as the other hath done to make us take up upon his Account for Solid Doctrine a thousand Fooleries which are more Impertinent then those of Men in Fevers I should willingly have given you a Tast of them but that I am already nauseated with those before set down only I shall give this Caveat to those that shall read the writings of these Men that where ever they speake of Spirits and of the Astrology of the Hebrewes where they produce One Truth they vent ten Thousand Falshoods as I shall make it appear in my Cribrum 3. As for Carlo Fabri whom I named before I do not remember ever to have read any thing so Ridiculous Dello Seudo di Christo overo di David l. 2. as that which He hath written of These same Spirits For as if he had spent one part of his Time in Heaven and the other part in Hell he gives you an Exact Account as he thinks what Angels are proper to all the severall Princes in the World assigning to the Seven Electors of the Empire those which are acknowledged to be of greatest Power as namely to the Arch-Bishop of Mayence who is the Primary Elector and High Chancellour of Germany MICHAEL to the Arch-Bishop of Treves High chancellour of France and the Second Electour GABRIEL to the Arch-Bishop of Collen High Chancellour of Italy and the Third Electour RAPHAEL to the Count Palatine of the Rhine the Fourth Electour URIEL to the Fift which is the Duke of Saxony SCEALTIEL to the Sixt which is the Marquesse of Brandenburg J EHUDIEL and to the King of Bohcmia who is the Seventh FERECHIEL And now who can choose but laugh at this Pretious Doctrin 4. That of Augustinus Riccius of Kunrath and of some of the Later Rabbins is altogether as Impertinent where they assure us that the Ancient Hebrew Astrologers disposed of the Ten Zephiros in severall Parts of the Heavens allotting Seven of them to the Seven Planets which are the Authors of all those Effects say They which we impute to the Stars distributing Good and Evill Fortune to Mankind His itaque Zephiros saith Riccius sive Ideis Mundi corporei regimen quasi immediatoribus Dijs non secùs quam Astrologi Septem Err aticis Stellis Terrenorum Dominatum adscribunt They goe yet farther then this and say that Moses who was a Learned Astrologer making use of his knowledge in these Secrets gave the Jewes Those Lawes which he grounded upon the Harmony of these Planetary Zephiros As for Example He instituted the Fourth Commandement REMEMBER TO KEEP HOLY THE SABBATH DAY because this Day was governed by Saturne a Malignant Planet who might cause those works that were undertaken on This Day to be Unprosperous and that Moses therefore thought it fit that the people should rest on This Day The Fifth Commandement HONOVRTHY FATHER AND THY MOTHER hath Reference to the Sphere of Jupiter which is a Benigne Favourable Star the Sixt THOV SHALT NOT KILL to Mars
certaine Tracts added which are not found at all in the Hebrew Those Peices that are Legitimate are these that follow First a Tract entitled Initium Sapientiae which is called by the Conciliator Introductorium which is indeed a very Choyce Peice and containes in it what ever is necessary to be observed in the Nativity of a Child Another called Liber Rationum where he discourseth of the Natures of the Signes the Revolution of Daies and Ages and of those Angels which have the Government of the world in their severall Turnes which is a Position maintained by Robert Flud also in his Apology for the Brethren of the Rosy Crosse as we have observed in our Notes upon R. Elcha Then follow in order these other Books Liber Interrogationum Liber Luminarium et Cognitio dici Critici seu de Cognitione cause Crisis De Mundo vel seculo which the Translator calls Liber Conjunctionum Planetarum Revolutionum annorum Mundi where he makes a Repetition of many things which are set down only in the Second Book by the Author It appeares then by this Catalogue that those two Tracts which the Conciliator makes to follow these and intitles Liber Nativitatum Revolutionum earum and Liber Electionum are not found in the Hebrew neither could I ever meet with any such Tracts in any one of all those Copies that I have seen of this Rabbins Works nor yet with diverse other things which are handled in That Collection which the Translator calls Tractatus insuper Particulares ejusdem Abrahae in quibus tractatur de Significationibus Planetarum in duodecim domibus However the Learned are very much obliged unto him seeing that before this Translation of his came abroad into the World the Astrology of the Hebrewes was wholy Unknowne to the Latines But to returne 11. We have shewed what Stars these Ancient Astrologers accounted Malignant in the Nativities of Children Let us now see which were those they accounted Benigne and Favourable and from whose Aspects they Presaged all Good Fortune to the New-born Child Abarbanel then saith that Sol was the Chiefest from whom they took their Omens of Good and this was the reason saith the same Author that when God caused King Hezekiah to be borne again as it were the second time he made choise of the Sun to be the Sign by which this Miracle should be wrought Next after the Sun they accounted Venus to be most Propitious and perhaps from this Observation of the Ancients it was that next to the Sun and the Moon This Planet was most especially Worshipped throughout the whole East as it is affirmed by R. Kapol Ben-Samuel These Ancient Hebrews acknowledged also the Planet Jupiter which they sometimes called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gad and sometimes also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mazal Tob and those that came after them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cocheb tsedek to be a very Favourable Star For which reason it was that the New-married Man was wont to give his Bride a Ring whereon was ingraved the fore-named words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mazal tob that is to say in the Natural signification of the Words A Good Star or Good Fortune desiring by this Ceremony that She might be delivered of all her Children under this Favourable Starre as it hath been observed both by Munster Aben-Ezra and Chomer Insomuch that the Later of these Authors affirmes that even in His time there were some that were so Curious as he calls them in these Observations or rather as we may justly say so Melancholick and Foolish as that they would not lye with their Wives but at some certain houres to the end that if they should prove with Child they might be brought to bed under this Starre whose Revolutions they were most diligent in Calculating But these Strange Fancies are found only among the Later Jewes and never entred so much as into the Thoughts of their Fore-fathers the Ancient Hebrewes as the same Chomer affirmes who observed only That which a certain Pure Innocence dictated unto them attributing no other Effect to the Stars then what were meerly Naturall and whose causes were imprinted on these Celestiall Bodies by Him who created all things in their Perfection 12. But it is now time that we answer this Weighty Objection that is made against us namely that seeing that the Holy Scriptures make not any mention of any of these Astrologicall Curipsities in the Lives of the Patriarks whom we affirm to have been Calculaters of Nativities a man may very well account them to be False if not Dangerous seeing they are grounded only upon the Fantasticall Conceits of the Rabbins who are known to have been of the Faction of the Judiciary Astrologers If I had not already elsewhere defended the Innocence of the Learned Jewes See my Advertisement to the Learned touching the Orientall Languages in this Particular I should in this place have taken an occasion to shew how much our Christian Writers have injured them by charging them unjustly with such things as they were never guilty of But now I shall only here make it appear that these Astrologicall Curiosities may be proved out of the Holy Scriptures For confirmation then of what we have here proposed we read in Genesis that Leah Jacobs Wife Gen. 30.11 called one of her Sons by the name of the Planet Jupiter which is called Gad under which no doubt he was born et peperit Zilpah saith the Latine following the Originall ancilla Leah ipsi Jacob filium et ait Leah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bagad et vocavit nomen ejus Gad. The Vulgar Translation and S. Hierome instead of Bagad translate Foclicitér which is the same with Cum Bona Fortuna as it is proved by S. Angustine who reprehendeth those that collected from this Text that the Ancients worshipped Fortune Vnde videtur Occasio saith he non benè intelligentibus dari tanquam illi homines Fortunam coluerint c. And that it may clearly and evidently appear that the Vulgar Translation understands by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gad Fortuna Bona which is one of the Epithets that is given to the Planet Jupiter as is acknowledged on all hands we need but turn to the 65. Chapter of Isaiah ver 11. where the same word is rendered by Fortuna Vos qui dereliquist is Dominum qui obliti estis montem Sanctum meum qui ponitis Fortunae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Legad mensam et libatis super eam The Sepuagint also had long before given the same Interpretation of this word rendering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bagad in Fortuna Now that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gad is the Planet Jupiter Aben-Esra testifieth expresly In Sphaet Iud. part 3. sec 5. col 2. where he saies that the Targum purposely retained this word as being the most proper for the expressing of this Star And Abarbanel upon the same Text of Genesis expounds this Passage without any Scruple
at all thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vegad hou Cochab Tsedek that is to say This Gad is the Planet Jupiter as you may see in the Learned Pagnin who being a Christian Thesaur lingu in Gad. ought the lesse to be suspected The Learned may also have recourse to the Great Masoreth where this word is reckoned in the number of those Fifteen that are written Imperfectly and yet are read as though they were perfect and wanted not any Letter And this is the reason that in all the Correct Hebrew Bibles you alwaies see this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text expressed by a little Mark which sends you to the Margine where you find it written at length 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bagad All these things being considered it will appear most evidently that this Child of Jacobs was born under the most Propitious Planet Jupiter which is for This Reason called by the name of Gad which name was also given to the same Child Now if it be demanded why doe we not then any where else meet with the like Example Jacob Ben-Samuel answereth that This was observed chiefly by reason of the Jealousie that was betwixt the two Sisters Leah and Rachel Jacob's Wives For Leah seeing that her Sister had two Children already which made her so proud as that She began to boast Comparavit me Deus cum sorore mea fearing lest that after She should have given over Child-bearing her Sister would have the upper hand of her and that She should be no longer beloved by her Husband She gave her Maid unto him and caused him to goe in unto Her and as soon as she perceived her to be with Child she observed so well the time of her falling it Travell that seeing her bring forth a Mar Child and that under the Planet Jupiter too as she had learnt to speak from her Husband she accounting her selfe now more happy then her Sister would have him called also by the name of this so Propitious a Planet And these were the Astrologicall Observations of these Patriarks which were so much the more Holy and Religious in that they wrought in these Good Men a Continuall Admiration of the Works of God But those that came after them mixing superstition with this Astrology of their Fore-fathers it came in a short time to be Corrupted and to loose its First Puritie 13. Thus the Egyptians who were neighbours to the Chaldeans of whom they also learnt this Science were the first that filled it with a world of Vanities or rather Abominations as you may see in Rabbt Moses his Ductor dubiorum who often cites these Books De Servitio Egyptiaco De ritu Zabiorum De Arte Magica which is otherwise a very choise Book a part whereof I have seen in Hebrew but it was Originally written in Egyptian by Centir the Philosopher The Egyptians then were the first Authors of this Alteration in Astrology yet were they not neverthelesse the Inventers of the Characters of the Planets ♄ ♃ ♂ ☉ ♀ ☿ ☽ for none of them except one or two are to be found in any of the Ancient Monuments of this Nation and besides those that are found there have a clear different signification from what at this day they have with us And certainly if they had desired to have represented Saturne by a Sickle they would have figured a Sickle and not have set downe this Character ♄ which is no whit at all like it and so of Jupiter ♃ of Venus ♀ and the rest And now let any one judge what reason we have to give any Credit to the Author of those Collections which are inserted at the end of Hyginus his Works when he tels us that these Characters came not only from the Egyptians but from the Chaldeans also Chaldaicae sunt saith he atque Egyptiacae Notae quibus Planetae ab Astronomis insigniuntur But he good Man understood not that the Reasons why Saturne is pictured with a Sith or Sickle and Jupiter with a Thunderbolt were things these People never dreamt of and were a long time after forged by the Giddy-headed Greekes who turned all manner of things into Fables and who thought they should never be taken for men of worth unlesse they invented and published to the world these their Fooleries which have since wrought us this Unhappinesse that we have but a Dark Confused Notion of the Wisedome of the Ancients So that endeavouring to give us a New Kind of Astrology which was stuffed up with Fables their Horoscopes were crected upon an infinite Rabble of False Deities which they assigned to the Stars And thus at length they began to teach that the Planets themselves were Gods whereof some were of a Gentle and others of a Sterne Nature calling Saturne by reason of its Malignancy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the name of a Certain Goddesse the Reyengeresse of Injuries so called say They ab Indignatione Jupiter was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Victory Mars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Boldnesse The Sun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Good Demon Venus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Love Mercury 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Necessity and the Moon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good Fortune searching after the good Fortune of the Child in these Appellations which they called Sortes Fortunae 14. Now as it was their Designe to imitate the Ancients and to follow them in their Inventions So did they notwithstanding endeavour either to corrupt their Doctrine or else to adde something to it that they might not be thought to have borrowed the Whole from any body such is the power of Ambition and Vain-glory. Thus in the twelve Houses wherein the Planets mutuall Aspects to each other throughout the Signes of the Zodiacke are set downe they thought sit to foretell of the Child not such things as take their Originall from the Instant of the Childs Birth which are called Congenitae and which the Ancient Hebrewes also observed but from those rather that happened after its Birth Those that are desirous to be satisfied herein may have recourse to Scaligers Notes upon Manilius where he sets downe the manner of erecting this kind of Theme or Figure of a Nativity where the First House shews that the Child shall be a House-keeper the Second that he shal be a Souldier and a Travailer the Third that he shall be a man of great Employment and so of the rest These Houses Manilius calleth Athla as for example when he would say the First House he saies the First Athlon or the Second the 2d. Athlon c. Whereupon Scaliger takes occasion to refute Picus Mirandula and Jo. de Roias a Spaniard for saying that these Athla mentioned by Manilius were only the Theme of a Nativity or Horoscope as they are now usually taken whereas He affirmes on the Contrary that the Author understands hereby whatsoever is Acquired beside the Natural Inclination of the Child Et ut meliùs saith he mentem Manilij
as the Prophecies that are written in Bookes are not the Cause of those Events which they foretell shall happen but onely the Signe in like manner saith he may the Heavens very justly be called a Booke wherein God hath written all that is hath been and hereafter shall be And for confirmation of this he citeth a passage out of a Booke the Title whereof is Narratio Joseph a Book in his time highly esteemed by all men wherein the Patriarch Jacob giving his Blessing to all his Children tels them that he had read in the Tables of Heaven all that ever was to befall Them and their Posterity Legi saith He in tabulis Caeli quaecunque contingent Vobis et filijs vestris Whence the same Origen concludes as well in his Tract on this Question Vtrùm stellae aliquid agant as in his Booke De Fato Cap. 6. that some Mysteries may assuredly be read in the Heavens by reason that the Starres are disposed and ordered there in the forme of Characters The Conclusion of this Learned Father is so much the stronger in that where the Vulgar Translation reades Sintin Signa the Originall Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vehaio◠leototh that is to say word for word Et sint in Literas Lib. 9. de Fato cap. 35. This Doctrine is of so great Importance as that Julius Sirenus hath undertaken the Defence of it and maintaines that it is a most True and Safe Opinion and such as hath been Entertained by most Religious Men. Neque in illis corporibus Coelestibus saith St. Augustine hic latere posse cogitationes credendum est Lib. 2. contra Manich. c. 2. quemadmodum in his corporibus latent sed sicut nonnulli motus animorum apparent in vultu et maximè in oculis sic in illa perspicuitate ac simplicitate coelestium corporum omnes omninò motus animi latere non arbitror In Gen. l. 2. de Astron c. 4. I am not Ignorant that Pererius endeavours to finde out another Sense in these words of St. Augustine but it is an easie matter to say what one pleaseth in interpreting the words of a man that is Dead Now this Coelestiall Reading may the more easily be beleived to have been the Reall Meaning of This Learned Father seeing that many others of the Fathers have strongly confirmed it as St. Ambrose and Prosper who call the Heavens Ep. 8. ad Demetr De vera Rel. 3. in Ps 41. De Mirab De Fid. Orthod lib. 3. c. 1. by the Epithets of PAGES and WONDER FULL INSTRUCTIONS Albertus Magnus stiles them an UNIVERSAL BOOK And John Damascene goes yet farther and saies that they are CLEARE MIRROURS intimating that we may see distinctly There even as farre as to the most Secret and Weightiest Motions of our Soul which gave occasion to St. Augustine to utter those words which we have before cited All the Platonists in a manner were likewise of the same Perswasion and this is the reason that Porphyrie assures us that when he had resolved to have killed himselfe Plotinus having read his Intention in the Starres hindered him from doing it Orpheus also had knowledge of these Secrets as appeares by these Verses of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Certus tuus Ordo Immutabilibus mandatis currit in Astris 4. As for our Modern Writers it would even amaze a man to consider that among such infinite numbers of Books wherewith our Libraries are stuffed there is hardly Five or Six to be found that have taken any Notice at all of this Curious Piece of Antiquity concerning this Celestiall Writing I know very well that Ignorance will be presently ready with this Answer that the Vanitie of the Subject is the reason of this Their Silence But why then have such an infinite number of other Fooleries been taken into Consideration and thought a fit Subject for their Learned Pens which are a thousand times more Ridiculous in Appearance then This is whereas on the Contrary there is no Astrologer to whom this Science is not Necessary nor any Searcher into the Choiser Pieces of Theologicall Antiquity to whom in like manner it may not be usefull if at least it be True I am therefore apt to believe that the true reason is the Neglect rather of the Orientall Languages whereon these Curiosities do so necessarily depend as that without the knowledge of them they cannot possibly be explained or understood insomuch that we had no notice at all of these Mysteries till such time as they were brought into Europe by those men that addicted themselves to the study of the Eastern Languages Capnio was the First that De Art Cab. in an Age when Barbarisme reigned adventured to make some of these Choise Discoveries Picus Mirandula likewise who was the Phoenix of the Age he lived in took some pains in searching into these Secrets and also proposed the Question in hand in these terms Utrùm in Coelo sint descripta significata omnia cuilibet scienti legere Quest 74 Cornelius Agrippa also hath delivered His opinion herein Pierius Valerianus in his Hieroglyphicks Occult. Philos Lib. 44. fol. 366. c. hath these words Illa Extensio in modum pellis tanquam literis inscriptae luminaribus stellis dicitur Rakia c. Blaise de Vigenere in his Book Des Chifres makes a long Discourse on this Particular Banelli an Italian hath said more to this purpose then all the others upon those Words of S. Luke Gandete quòd nomina vestra scripta sint in Coelis Kunrath according to his usuall manner of Fooling makes a Riddle of it In Amphith In quo sunt pueri quotquot in Orbe Viri It seems that these kind of Authors write to no other end but that they may not be understood by this means seeming to make war against Nature which hath given us a Tongue and the use of Speech that we might be able to expresse our Conceptions whereas these men on the contrary Endeavour to be Obscure and Dark Robert Elud in his Apology for the Brethren of the Rosy Crosse hath gone on very far with this Celestiall Writing the Characters whereof he affirmes to be made in the same manner that Others are In Coelo saith He inserti impressi hujusmodi Characteres Apeloget Ed. Lug. Bar. An. 1617. qui non aliter ex stellarum ordinibus conflantur quam lineae Geometricae Literae Vulgares ex punctis Superficies ex lineis corpus ex superficiebus at length concluding that who so is able to read these Characters shall know not only what ever is to come but also all the Secrets of Philosophy Fol. 62. Quibus hujusmodi linguae Scripturae Arcanae Characterumque abditorum cognitio à Deo concessa est his etiam datum erit veras rerum naturas mutationes alerationes proprietates siderum omnesque alias operationes executiones oculis quaasi
illuminatis legere legendo intelligere 5. But of all the Moderns who have spoken of these Celestiall Characters Postell is the only man who seemeth to have had the greatest knowledg in them as may appear out of the greatest part of his Books among which that which he hath written upon the Jethsira gives us an Account of what himselfe had had experience of Si dixero me in Coelo vidisse in ipsis Linguae Sanctae Characteribus ab Esra primum publicè expositis ea omnia quae sunt in rerum natura constituta ut vidi non explicitè sed implicitè vix â—llus mihi crediderit tamen testis Deus Christus ejus quia non mentior Now that which makes me believe that this Learned Man had some ground of this his Confident Assurance of having such Knowledge in these Curiosities is that beside the Experience which possibly he might have had he had often also travailed into the Eastern Parts where he had no doubt seen the Books of the Arabians which are all full of this kind of Secret Learning And John Leo in his History of Africk affirmeth that in Marocco there is nothing more Common and the first book which he makes mention of is a book written by Elboni an Arabian the Title whereof is ELLYMAHEMORAMITH which book scarcely treateth of any thing else and it teacheth particularly how to describe all the Constellations in Arabick Letters and to picture them Elegantly within little Tables such as the Arabian Hermites doe alwaies carry about them and have them ready for their Use in applying them to the Rules of their Zairagia or Divination And this confirms that which I shall bring hereafter concerning the Mahometans searching after no other Figures in the Heavens then in their own Characters reading therein what ever is to happen in a very strange and unusuall manner Whence the fore-mentioned Postell upon the same book of the Creation In Iethzira saith Decreti itaque sunt demum delineati suisque figuris adumbrati igne divino in aquis Coeli scilicet expresso sancti Characteres tanta virtute in Coelis expressi ut possit etiam vertias futurorum haberi cujus scientiae adhuc vestigium in Marocho et multis alijs Ismaelitarum civitatibus licèt sint apud eos admodùm depravatae adulteratae figurae Sanctae I have sometimes thought that this Author put forth this Book of his De Configuratione Signorum Coelestium as a Preparative only to make way for the better entertaining of this Doctrine among the Europeans For having shewed that all the Stars instead of representing the Images of Living Creatures do no more but only make up certain Square Figures it would have been no hard matter afterwards to have perswaded men that these Figures were nothing but Hebrew Letters the figure whereof comes very neer to that of a Square For if he should have gone to work otherwise and should have endeavoured to have put these Celestiall Letters upon the world without any Preparing of mens Minds to receive them he would doubtlesse have been taken for an Impostor And he had been formerly sufficiently cried down so that he needed not to have exposed himself anew to the Calumny of every black Tongue by broaching new Propositions which he could never think would down with them unlesse he had first prepared their Palates to rellish them After the world had once been satisfied in the Probability of this his Doctrine he then intended to make a Full Discovery of all these Secrets in his Commentaries upon the Zohar wherein he had layed together such Variety of Curious Learning as himself witnesseth in divers places of his Printed Books as that it was not without reason that he so earnestly commended This most Excellent Piece to the World in his Last Will and Testament written with his own hand But since I have here made mention both of Hebrew and of Arabick Letters it may very well be doubted which of the two this Celestiall Writing is expressed in and which of these Languages these Letters make up This Doubt therefore I think fit to decide before I goe any further The Ismaelites or Arabians who have never wanted Men that have been very well skilled in all manner of Choise Learning though they have fallen sometimes upon Ridiculous Studies also being moved with a vaine-glorious desire of concealing this Truth namely that Their Language depended upon the Hebrew have not only altered their Characters which were before very like to the Hebrew but have also adulterated their Names and the better to cover their knavery have also added certain Letters which the Hebrew Alphabet never knew as their Ssim Dsal Thsda or Tsa c. Insomuch that a certain Learned man that was very well skilled in their Language saies Arabes Postel de Phoen. Char. versutissimum hominum genus planè Ismaeliticum id est adulterinum postquam cognoverunt suas Literas ortum ducere ab Hebraicis satagerunt non tantum absolutè dissimiles forma reddere sed ordinem etiam perturbare nominum bonam partem mutare studuerunt They have had the Confidence also to affirme that Their Letters are the First that ever were and that if there be any Mysteries to be found either in the Signification or Figure of Characters we are to look for them no where else but in Their Language For which cause interpreting their Alphabet they deduce from the first Letter which is ALIPH this Verb Conjungere from the second Letter which is B A this word Inire from T A the Third Letter Producere and so of the rest making up a Prayer out of it which they say no other Alphabet is able to shew So that it is no marvel that they are able to produce so many severall meanings of words after this Rate of Interpretation seeing that as Kirstenius saith Integra Volumina de solis Nominibus literarum Alphabeti Arabici conficiqueunt sed longè adhuc plura de ordine figura alijsque accidentibus conscribi possent These Niceties have made the Arabians so superstitious in the Pronunciation of their Letters as that when they meete with many words united together by the meanes of an Aliph they will pronounce them all in a Breath though there should be an hundred of them and though they should be in danger of expiring in the Act. Those that are Curious after satisfaction herein may have recourse to the Arabicke Grammer Printed at Rome Now as all Superstition is attended on by a certaine Foolish Credulity so are these men certainely perswaded that the Heavens being figured with Their Letters and not with the Hebrew do fore-shew all things to come And this is the reason that besides the Division of their Letters into Gutturalls or such as are pronounced in the Throat into Vuales as the Latines call them that are sounded in the furthest part of the Roofe of the Mouth as others are by the Palate by
know well that this Latine word is not alwayes a Note of Similitude Facti sumus Sicut Consolati was the song of the People returning out of Captivity as Men that are Comforted shall we conclude hence that they were not Really so No But this word Sicut AS is Redundant in this place and might as well have been away So likewise in this passage Transivimus Sicut per Ignem and in many more the like Therefore Complicabuntur Coeli Quia LIBER sunt But if it be still Objected that for as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caph signifies sometimes sicut in the Originall there is no more reason why it should be rendered Quia then Sicut and Consequently it will still hold true that the Heavens are not a Booke but are onely as a Booke To this it may be answered that the Holy Scripture doth else-where fully decide this Controversie seeing that speaking of the Heavens it makes mention of Lines and Letters which are words that are most properly and Essentially spoken of a Booke and maketh no use of the word Sicut As at all which is an Infallible Argument that these words in the passage before cited Complicabuntur SICUT Liber Caeli are not expressions of Similitude Now that the Scripture speaking of the Heavens nameth expresly the word LETTER will appeare out of the very First Verse of the Bible where the Hebrew Text runnes thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bereshith bara Elohim ET haschamaim that is to say In the Beginning God created the LETTER or CHARACTER of the Heavens For this is the meaning of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ET or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aot which signifieth a LETTER And as for the word LINE wee finde it much more plainely set downe in the 19. Psalme Vers 4. In Omnem terram exivit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kavam LINEA corum I shall not here enter into any tedious Dispute Whether it be to be read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kolam Sonus eorum rather then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kavam Linea eorum and so consequently whether the Passage cited by St. Paul out of the Interpretation of the Seventy be corrupted or else the Hebrew Text. In my Advis sur les langues Orientales I shew with Titelmanns Bredembachius Malvenda Mercerus Genebrard that the Places are not at all Corrupted neither in the one nor in the other but that the Septuagint and St. Paul had regard to the Sense of the Words rather then to the Letter saying Sonus eorum to make it suite more aptly with the following Words Et in fines Orbis terrae verba eorum because that the Sound the Voyce and the Words doe very handsomely accord and suite together We may adde also that they made use of a Sublime and Allegoricall sense of these words applying them to the Preaching of the Apostles And thus St. Paul and the Septuagint being fully reconciled to the Hebrew Text we may the more boldly sticke to the Letter and read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kavam Linea eorum understanding it spoken of the Starres which are ranged in the Heavens after the manner of Letters in a Booke or upon a Sheet of Parchment For which reason also God is said in the Holy Scriptures to have stretched out the Heavens as a Skinne calling this Extension 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rachia from whence perhaps the Greekes might take their word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a Skinne or Hide it being most proper to a Skin to be Extended or Stretched forth Now upon this Extension as upon a Skinne hath God disposed and ranged the Starres in the manner of Characters whereby as by a Sacred Book the wonderfull Workes of God are set forth to all those that know how to read them Coeli enarrant gloriam Dei saith the Psalmist And here peradventure some may say that the Wonderfull Workes of God are set forth by the Heavens in their Prodigious Extent Harmony Brightnesse Order and admirable Motion and not by way of any Writing But R. Moses a very learned Jew assureth us that the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saphar to Declare or Set forth is never attributed to Things Inanimate so that from hence He concludes that the Heavens are not without some Soule which is no other then that of those Blessed Intelligences who have the Conduct of the Starres and dispose them into such Letters as God hath ordained declaring unto us Men by meanes of This Writing what Events we are to expect And for this cause this same Writing is called by all the Ancients 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chetab hamelachim that is to say The Writing of the Angels And that this passage Coeli enarrant gloriam Dei is clearly meant of this Celestiall Writing appeares by the words immediately following In omnem terram exivit Linea eorum I know very well that according to St. Paul and the Septuagint a man may understand by the Heavens the Apostles or as some others will have it the Prophets But if pursuing the Allegory a man should take occasion to deny the Literall Sense this would be no small Crime in in the Judgement of the Fathers Scripturae Verba saies the Whole Schoole propriè accipienda sunt quando nihil inde Absurdi fequitur So that if we sticke to the Letter of the Text not onely this Passage alleaged but many others also which I omit that I may come to the Maine Matter in hand doe very much confirme this Writing 3. Now as the Prophets have done before so have all the Learned among the Ancients also after their Example called the Heavens SACRED BOOKES as among the Jewes R. Simeon Ben-Jochay in the Zohar on the Section Temourah which is the 25. Chapter of Exodus Cifr 305. where he speakes very largely of this Celestiall Writing Lib. Moreh Seps Kab Beres Theâ—il Maguid Misnah In Misn Milchamot Adonai Galg Hass in Beres though very Obscurely R. Abraham also in his Jetsira or Booke of the Creation delivers many Mysteries of it and after them R. Moses Aegyptius Moses Ben-Nachman Abraham the Sonne of Dior his Contemporary Aben-Esra David Chimchi Jom Tof Ben-Abraham Joseph the Sonne of Meir Levi Ben-Gerson Chomer Abarbanel and many others which I shall here omit that I may come to the Greekes and Latines who will peradventure be better received The Learned Origen interpreting after his manner that is to say Subtilly and Quaintly this Passage in Genesis Et erunt in Signa Praep. Evang. lib. 6.9 affirmes as he is reported by Eusebius that the Starres were placed in this Order in the Heavens for no other end but to shew by their diverse Aspects Conjunctions and Figures what ever is to happen while the World indures as well in Generall as in Particular yet not so as if they were the Cause of all these things never any such thing came into the Thought much lesse into the Writings of this Learned man For