Barderates Industria Pollentia Carrea which also is named Polentia Foro Fuluij the same that Valentinum Augusta of the Vagienni Alba Pompei Asta and Aquae Statyellorum And this is the ninth Canton after the Geographie of Augustus This coast or tract of Liguria containeth betweene the riuers Varus and Macra 211 miles To it is adioined the 7 wherin is Hetruria from the riuer Macra and it oftentimes changed the name In old time the Pelasgians chased the Vmbrians from thence and by them the Lydians did the like of whose king named they were Tyrrheni but soon after of their ceremonies in sacrificing in the Greeks language Thusci The first towne of Hetruria is Luna famous for the hauen then the Colonie Luca lying from the sea and neerer vnto it is Pisae between the riuer Auser and Arnus which took the beginning from Pelops and the Pisians or Atintanians a Greeke nation Vada Volateranea the riuer Cecinna Populonium of the Tuscanes in times past scituate only vpon this coast After these the riuer Prille and anon after Vmbro nauigable and of it tooke name so forward the tract of Vmbria and the port towne Telamon Cossa Volscientium a Colonie planted there by the people of Rome Grauiscae Castrum Novum Pyrgi the riuer Caeretanus and Caere it self standing foure miles within called Agylla by the Pelasgians who built it Alsium and Frugenae The riuer Tiberis distant from Macra 284 miles Within-forth are these Colonies Falisca descended from Argi as Cato saith and for distinction is called Hetruscorum Lucus Feroniae Russellana Senensis and Sutrina As for the rest these they be Aretini the old Aretini Fidentes Aretini Iulienses Amitinenses Aquenses surnamed Taurini Vlerani Cortonenses Capenates Clusines the old Clusines the new Fluentini fast vpon the riuer Arnus that runs before them Fesulae Ferentinum Fescennia Hortanum Herbanum Nepet Nouempagi i. the nine villages the Shire-wiek called Prefecture Claudia or Foro Clodij Pistorucin Perusia Suanenses Saturnini who beforetime were called Aurinini Sudertani Statones Tarquinienses Tuscanienses Vetulonienses Veientani Vesentini Volaterrani surnamed Hetrusci and Volsinienses In the same part lie the territories Crustuminus and Caeletranus bearing the names of the old townes Tiberis beforenamed Tybris and before that Albula from the middest well neere of Apennine as it lies in length runs along the marches of the Aretines small and shallow at the first and not able to beare a vessell without being gathered together as it were by fish-pooles into a head and so let goe at sluces as Tinia and Glanis which run into him the which are at the same passe and require 9 daies for collection of waters and so are kept in for running out in case they haue no helpe of rain at al. But Tiberis by reason of the rough stony and rugged channell for all that deuise hold on no long course together but only for troughes to speake more truly than boats thus it doth for a hundred and fifty miles not far from Tifernum Perusia and Otriculum diuiding as it passeth Hetruria from the Vmbrians and Sabines and so forth vntill anon within thirteen miles of the citie Rome it parts the Veientian countrey from the Crustumine and soone after the Fidenate and Latine territories from the Labicane But besides Tinia and Glanis he is augmented with two and forty riuers and especially with Nar and Anio which riuer being also it selfe nauigable encloses Latium behind and neuerthelesse so many waters and fountaines are brought thereby into the citie whereby it is able to receiue any ships be they neuer so great from the Italian sea and is the kindest marchant to conueigh all commodities growing and arising in any place of the whole world it is the onely riuer of all others to speake of and more villages stand vpon it and see it than al other riuers in what land soeuer No riuer hath lesse liberty than it as hauing the sides therof enclosed on both hands yet he is no quarreller nor much harm doth he albeit he hath many and those suddain swellings and in no place more than in the very citie of Rome do his waters ouerflow yet is he taken to be a prophet rather and a Counsellor to giue warning yea and in smelling more religious and breeding scruple to speake a truth than otherwise cruell and doing any great harme Old Latium from Tiberis to Circeios was obserued to be in length 50 miles So small roots at the first took this Empire The inhabitants thereof changed often and held it some one time some another to wit the Aborigenes Pelasgi Arcadians Sicilians Auruncanes and Rutilians And beyond Circeios the Volscians Ossians Ausonians from whence the name of Latium did reach soone after as farre as to the riuer Liris In the beginning of it stands Ostia a Colonie brought thither and planted by a Roman king the towne Laurentum the groue of Iupiter Indiges The riuer Numicius and Ardea built by Danae the mother of Perseus Then the Colonie Antium sometimes Aphrodisium Astura the riuer and the Island The riuer Nymphaeus Clastra Romana Circeij in times past an Island yea and that verily enuironed with a mighty sea if we beleeue Homer but now with a plain A wonder it is what we are able to deliuer concerning this thing to the knowledge of men Theophrastas who of strangers was the first that writ any thing diligently somewhat of the Romans for Theopompus before whom no man made mention at all said only That the citie was woon by the Gaules and Clitarchus next after him spake of nothing else but an embassage sent vnto Alexander this Theophrastus I say vpon a better ground and more certaintie now than bare hearesay hath set downe the measure of the Island Circeij to be eightie Stadia in that booke which he wrot to Nicodorus the chiefe Magistrate of the Athenians who liued in the 460 yeere after the foundation of Rome citie Whatsoeuer land therefore aboue tenne miles compasse lies neere about it hath beene annexed to the Island But after that a yeere another strange and wonderfull thing fell out in Italy for not far from Circeij there is a meere called Pomptina which Mutianus a man who had beene thrice Consull reporteth to haue been a place wherein stood 23 cities Then there is the riuer Vfens vpon which standeth the towne Tarracina called in the Volscian tongue Anxur where sometime was the citie Amycle destroied by serpents After it is there the place of a caue or peak the lake Fundanus the hauen Cajeta The town Formiae named also Hormiae the ancient seat as men thought of the Laestrigones Beyond it was the towne Pyrae the Colonie Minturne diuided asunder by the riuer Liris called Clanius The vtmost frontier towne in this part of Latium laid to the other is Sinuessa which as some haue said was wont to be called Sinope Thence comes to shew it selfe that pleasant and plentifull countrey Campania From this vale begin the hills full of
cruell otherwise though he was now in his old age for in his youthfull daies he was giuen ouermuch to drinking of wine would delight to behold this renowned and worthy knight with great wonder and admiration For the like rare gift and commendable qualitie men think verily that C. Piso first rise and afterwards was aduanced to the Prouostship of the city of Rome by the said Tiberius namely for that in his court being now emperor he sat 2 daies and 2 nights drinking continually and neuer stirred foot from the boord And verily Drusus Caesar by report in nothing more resembled his father Tiberius than in taking his drink But to return again to noble Torquatus herein consisted his excellency That he did it according to art for this you must take withall there is an art of Drinking grounded vpon certain rules and precepts Torquatus I say drank he neuer so much was not known at any time to falter in his tongue neuer eased himself by vomiting neuer let it goe the other way vnder boord how late soeuer he sat vp at the wine ouer night he would be sure to relieue the morning watch sentinel He drunk most of any man at one entire draught before the pot went from his head and for smaller draughts besides he went before all other in number his winde he neuer tooke while the cup was at his mouth but iustly obserued the rule of drinking with one breath he was not known to spit for all this to conclude he would not leaue in the cup so much as would dash against the pauement make the least sound to bee hard a special point and precise law to preuent the deceit of those that drinke for a wager A singular glory no doubt in him and a rare felicity Tergilla challenged M. Cicero the younger son to that M. Cicero the famous Orator and reproched him to his face that ordinarily he drunk 2 gallons at once and that one time aboue the rest when he was drunke he flung a pot at M. Agrippa his head And truly this is one of the fruits and feats of drunkennesse But blame not young Cicero if in this point yet he desired to surmount him that slew his father M. Antonius I mean for he before that time strained himselfe and stroue to win the best game in this feat making profession thereof as may appeare by a booke that he compiled and set forth with this title Of his owne drunkennesse wherein hee was not ashamed to avow and justifie his excesse and enormities that way and thereby approoued as I take it vnder pretence and colour of his drunkennesse all those outrages of his all those miseries and calamities that he brought vpon the whole world This treatise he vomited and spued out a little before the battell of Actium wherein he was defeated whereby it may appeare very plainly that as he was drunken before with the bloud of citizens so still hee was the more bloud-thirsty For this is a property that necessarily followeth this vice That the more a man drinketh the more he may and is alwaies dry And herein spake to good purpose a certain Embassadour of the Scythians saying That the Parthians the more they drunke the thirstier they were As touching the nations in the West part of the world they haue their drinks also by themselues made of * corn steeped in water whereof they will drinke to the vtterance and be drunk and namely in Spaine and France where the manner of making the same is all one how soeuer they haue * diuers names and in Spain they haue devised means that these drinks Ale or Beer wil abide age continue stale In Egipt likewise they haue inuented such kind of drinks made of corn so that no part or corner of the world there is but drunkennesse reigneth And verily these liquors how soeuer they be named they vse to drinke entire as they bee and made of the very strength of Malt neuer delaying the same with water as we dowines But it may be sayd That Nature hath endowed inriched those countries with abundance of corn and therefore they may wel do it Oh how industrious we are to maintain our vices There is a deuise found would euer any man haue thought it how water also should make men drunke Two liquors there be most pleasing and acceptable to mens bodies wine within oile without Both proceed from two speciall trees howbeit of the twaine Oile is necessary and Wine may be better spared And verily men haue not bin idle in the making of good oile how beit they haue beene more addicted and giuen to make Wines for drink as may appeare by this that reckoning but the generall kinds thereof a man may find 195 sorts of wine but if a man would subdiuide and destribute those heads into their branches he should meet almost with twice as many but of Oyles there bee not so many kindes by farre Whereof we purpose to treat in the booke next following THE FIFTEENTH BOOK OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS CHAP. I. ¶ The natures of trees that beare Fruit. THere were no oliue trees grew in Italy but vpon the coast side and that within 40 miles of the sea about the 440 yere after the foundation of the city of Rome if it be true that Theophrastus saith who was one of the most famous and renowned Authors among the Greeks Fenestella writeth moreouer and affirmeth that during the raigne of Tarquinius Priscus which was much about the 183 yeare from the foundation of the city of Rome there were no Oliue trees at all to be found either in Italy Spaine or Africke whereas now at this day they are seene all Italy ouer yea and be come as far as the regions beyond the Alps euen into the mids and very heart of France and Spaine Indeed in the yeare after the foundation of Rome 505 which was when Appius Claudius the nephew of that great Appius Claudius syrnamed the Blind and L. Iunius were Consuls together a pound of the oile was sold for twelue Asses and not long after namely in the 680 yeare M. Seius the son of Lucius one of the Aediles Curule for the time beeing brought downe the market so well that a man might haue bought ten pound for one As and at that price he serued the people of Rome throughout all that yeare Lesse cause therefore a man hath to maruell hereat who knoweth how not past 22 yeares after that namely when Cn. Pompeius was the fourth time Consull Italy was able to furnish other nations and prouinces with oile of Oliues Hesiodus also who was especially addicted to the study of husbandry and of all things thought it most necessarie to be taught and published for the good of mankinde wrote thus much concerning the Oliue That neuer a man was knowne to that day for to haue gathered the fruit of that Oliue tree which himselfe had planted so
Garland of Roses vpon his head was by authoritie of the Senate committed to prison and was not enlarged before the end of the warre P. Munatius hauing taken from the head of Marsyas a Chaplet of floures and set it vpon his owne and thereupon being commaunded to ward by the Triumvirs called vnto the Tribunes of the Commons for their lawful fauour and protection but they opposed not themselues against this proceeding but deemed him worthie of this chastisement See the disclipine and seueritie at Rome and compare it with the loosenes of the Athenians where yong youths ordinarily followed reuils and bankets and yet in the forenoon would seeme to frequent the schooles of Philosophers to learne good instructions of vertuous life With vs verily we haue no example of disorder in this behalf namely for the abuse of garlands but only the daughter of Augustus Caesar late Emperor and cannonised as a god at Rome who complaineth of her in some letters of his yet extant that with grone and griefe of heart to be giuen to such riot and licentious loosenesse that night by night the would seem to adorn with Guirlands the statue and image of Marsyas the Minstrell We do not read in Chronicles that the people honoured in old time any other with a Coronet of floures but onely Scipio sirnamed Serapio for the neere resemblance that he had to his baily or seruant so called who dealt vnder him in buying and selling of Swine in which regard he was wonderous well beloued of the commons in his â—…ribuneship as bearing himself worthy of the famous and noble house of the Scipioes sirnamed Africani Howbeit as well descended and beloued as he was yet when hee died he left not behind him in goods sufficient to defray the charges of his funerals the people therfore made a collection and contributed by the poll euery man one As and so took order by a generall expence that he should be honourably enterred and as his corpes was carried in the streets to his funeral fire they flung floures vpon his bere out of euery window all the way In those daies the maner was to honor the gods with chaplets of floures and namely those that were counted patrones and protectours as well of cities and countries as of priuat families to adorne and beautifie therewith the tombs and sepulchres of those that were departed as also to pacific their ghosts and other infernall spirits farther than thus there was no vse of such Guirlands allowed Now of all those Chaplets most account was made of them wherein the floures were platted We find moreouer That the Sacrificers or Priests of Mars called Salij were wont in their solemnities feasts which were very sumptuous to weare Coronets of sundry floures sowed together But afterwards Chaplets of Roses were only in credit and reputation vntill that in processe of time the world grew to such superfluitie and sumptuous expence that no Guirlands would please men but of the meer precious and aromaticall leaf Malabathrum and not content therewith soone after there must be Chaplets fet as far as from India yea and beyond the Indians those wrought with needle work and the richest coronet was that thought to be which consisted of the leaues of Nard or els made of fine silke out of the Seres country and those of sundry colors perfumed besides al wet with costly and odoriferous ointments Further than thus they could not proceed and so our dainty wanton dames rest contented hithereto and vse no other Chaplets at this day As for the Greekes verily they haue written also seuerall Treatises concerning floures and Garlands and namely Mnestheus and Callimachus two renowmed Physicians haue compiled bookes of those Chaplets that be hurtfull to the braine and cause head-ach For euen herin also lieth some part of the preseruation of our health considering that perfumes do refresh our spirits especially when we are set at table to drinke liberally and to make merrie whiles the subtile odour of flours pierceth to the braine secretly ere we be aware Where by the way I cannot chuse but remember the deuise of Queene Cleopatra full of fine wit and as wicked and mischieuous withall For at what time as Antonie prepared the expidition and journey of Actium against Augustus and stood in some doubt of jealousie of the said Queen for al the fair shew that she made of gratifying him and doing him all pleasure he was at his taster would neither eat nor drink at her table without assay made Cleopatra seeing how timorous he was and minding yet to make good sport and game at his needlesse feare and foolish curiositie caused a Chaplet to be made for M. Antonius hauing before dipped all the tips and edges of the flowres that went to it in a strong and rank poison and being thus prepared set it vpon the head of the said Antonie Now when they had sitten at meat a good while and drunk themselues merrie the Queen began to make a motion and challenge to Antonie for to drink each of them their chaplets and withall began vnto him in a cup of wine seasoned and spiced as it were with those floures which she ware her owne self Oh the shrewd vnhappy wit of a woman when she is so disposed who would euer haue misdoubted any danger of hidden mischiefe herein Well M. Antonie yeelded to pledge her off goeth his owne Guirland and with the floures minced small dresseth his own cup. Now when he was about to set it to his head Cleopatra presently put her hand betweene and staied him from drinking and withall vttered these words My deare heart and best beloued Antonie now see what she is whome so much thou dost dread and stand in feare of that for thy security there must wait at thy cup and trencher extraordinarie tasters a straunge and new fashion ywis and a curiosity more nice than needfull lo how I am not to seek of means and opportunities to compasse thy death if I could find in my heart to liue without thee Which said she called for a prisoner immediately out of the goale whom she caused to drink off the wine which Antonie had prepared for himselfe No sooner was the goblet from his lips againe but the poor wretch died presently in the place but to come again to the Physicians who haue written of floures besides those abouenamed Theophrastus among the Greekes hath taken this argument in hand As for our countreymen some haue entituled their bookes Anthologicon but none of them all so farre as euer I could find wrote any Treatise concerning floures Neither is it any part of my meaning at this present to make Nosegaies or plat any Chaplets for that were a friuolous and vaine peece of work but as touching floures themselues I purpose to discourse so much as I think and find to be memorable and worth the penning But before I enter into this Treatise I am to aduertise the
especially when the occupying vse and interest thereof hath gained a man as much as the principall Now as touching the titles and inscriptions of Bookes the Greekes therein haue a wonderfull grace and great felicitie some haue intituled them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby they would giue vs to vnderstand of A sweet hony-combe * others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say The horne of plenty and store in such sort that whosoeuer readeth these goodly titles must needs hope for some great matters in such bookes and as the proverb goeth looke to drinke there or else no where a good draught of hens milke You shall haue moreouer their bookes set out with these glorious inscriptions The Muses The Pandects Enchiridion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Goodly names all and such as who would not make default of appearance in court and forfeit a recognisance or obligation to vnclaspe such books and turne ouer the leafe But let a man enter into them and reade forward Lord how little or no substance at all shall he find within the verie mids answerable to that braue shew in the front or outside thereof As for our countreymen Latines I meane and Romans they be nothing so fine and curious as the Greeks grosse are they in comparison of them in giuing titles to their books they come with their Antiquities Examples and Arts and those also be such authors as are of the most pleasant and finest inuention amongst them all Valerius who as I take it was named Antias both for that hee was a Citizen of Antium and also because the ancestors of his house were so called vvas the first that gaue to a booke of his owne making the title of Lucubratio as a man would say Candleworke or Night-studie Varro he tearmeth some of his Satyres Sesculyxes and Flexibulae Diodorus among the Greekes was the first that laied aside toyish titles and because he would giue some braue name to his Chronicles entituled it Bibliotheca i. a Librarie Apion the famous Grammarian euen hee whom Tiberius Caesar called the Cymball of the world whereas indeed hee deserued to bee named a Timbrill or Drum rather for ringing and sounding publique fame was so vain-glorious that he supposed all those immortalized vnto whom hee wrote or composed any pamphlet whatsoeuer For mine owne part although I nothing repent mee that I haue deuised no pretier Title for my Booke than plaine Naturalis Historia i. The reports of Nature without more ceremonie yet because I would not be thought altogether to course and rate the Greekes I can be content nay I am willing to bee thought in this behalfe like vnto those excellent grand masters in Greece for Painting and Imagerie whom you shall finde in these Reports of mine to haue entituled those rare and absolute peeces of worke vvhich the more wee view and looke vpon the more wee admire and wonder at for their perfection with halfe titles and vnperfect inscriptions in this manner Apelles went in hand with this Picture or Polycletus was a making this Image as if they were but begun neuer finished and laid out of their hands which was done no doubt to this end that for all the varietie and diuersitie of mens iudgements scanning of their workemanship yet the Artificer thereby had recourse to make excuse had meanes I say to craue and haue pardon for any faults and imperfections that could be found as if hee meant to haue amended any thing therein amisse or wanting in case hee had not beene cut off and preuented by death These noble workemen therefore herein shewed right great modestie that they set superscriptions vpon all their painted tables pourtraitures and personages as if they had beene the last peeces of their workemanship and themselues dissabled by vnexpected death that they could not make a finall end of any one of them for there were not knowne as I take it aboue three in all which had their absolute titles written vpon them in this forme Ille fecit i. This Apelles wrought and those pictures will I write of in place conuenient By which it appeared euidently that the said three tables were fully finished and that the workeman was so highly contented with their perfection that he feared the censure of no man No maruaile then if all three were so much enuied and admired throughout the world no marueile if euerie man desired to be master of them Now For my selfe I know full well and confesse freely that many more things may be added not to this story alone but to all my bookes that I haue put forth alreadie which I speake by the way because I would preuent and auoid those fault-finders abroad those correctors and scourgers of Homer for surely that is their very name because I hear say there be certaine Stoike Philosophers professed Logicians yea and Epicurians also for at Grammarians hands and Criticks I neuer looked for other who are with child still and trauaile vntill they be deliuered of somewhat against my bookes which I haue set forth as touching Grammer and for this ten yeares space nothing is come to light but euermore the fruit miscarieth belike before the full time as the slip of an vnperfect birth whereas in lesse space than so the verie Elephant bringeth forth her calfe be it neuer so big But this troubleth me neuer a whit for I am not ignorant that a silly woman euen an harlot and no better durst encounter Theophrastus and write a booke against him notwithstanding hee was a man of such incomparable eloquence that thereupon hee came by his diuine name Theophrastus from whence arose this prouerbe and by-word Marie then go chuse a tree to hang thy selfe And surely I cannot containe and hold my tongue but I must needs set downe the verie words of Cato Censorius so pertinent to this purpose whereby it may appeare that euen Cato himselfe a most worthy personage who wrote of militarie Discipline who had beene brought vp and trained to feats of warre vnder Great Scipio Africanus or rather indeed vnder Anniball who in the end could not endure Africanus himselfe but was able to controll him in martiall affaires and who besides hauing the conduct as L. Generall of the Romane armie atchieued the better hand ouer his enemies in the field and returned with victorie this Cato I say could not auoid such backbiters and slanderers but knowing that there would be many of them readie to purchase themselues some name and reputation by reprouing the knowledge and skill of others brake out into a certaine speech against them And what was it I know right well quoth hee in that booke aforesaid that if these writings of mine come abroad once and be published to the view of the world there will be many step forth to quarrell and cauill therewith such fellows soonest and most of all who are quite void of vertue and honestie and know not what
directly plumbe ouer mens heads and causeth no shadow In like manner the shadowes of them that dwell Northerly vnder the Solstitiall circle in Summer falling all at noone tide Northward but at Sunne-rising Westward doing the same demonstration Which possibly could not be vnlesse the Sunne were far greater than the earth Moreouer in that when he rises he surpasses in breadth the hil Ida compassing the same at large both on the right hand and the left and namely being so farre distant as he is The eclipse of the Moone doth shew also the bignesse of the Sunne by an infallible demonstration like as himfelfe eclipsed declareth the littlenesse of the earth For whereas there be of shadowes three formes and figures and euident it is that if the darke materiall body which casteth a shadow be equall in bignesse to the light then the shadow is fashioned like a colume or piller and hath no point at the end if it be greater it yeeldeth a shadow like a top directly standing vpon the point so as the nether part therof is narrowest and then the shadow likewise is of infinite length but if the said body be lesse than the light then is represented a pyramidall figure like an hey-cocke falling out sharpe pointed in the top which manner of shadow appeareth in the Moones eclipse it is plaine manifest and without all doubt that the Sunne is much bigger than the earth The same verily is seen by the secret and couert proofes of Nature it selfe For why in diuiding the times of the yeere departeth the Sunne from vs in the winter marry euen because by meanes of the nights length and coolenesse he would refresh the earth which otherwise no doubt he should haue burnt vp for it notwithstanding he burneth it in some measure so excessiue is the greatnesse thereof CHAP. XII ¶ The inuentions of man as touching the obseruation of the heauens THe reason verily of both eclipses the first Romane that published abroad and divulged was Sulpitius Gâ—…llus who afterward was Consull together with M. Marcellus but at that time being a Colonell the day before that King Perseus was vanqnished by Paulus he was brought forth by the Generall into open audience before the whole host to fore-tell the eclipse which should happen the next morning whereby he deliuered the armie from all pensiuenesse and feare which might haue troubled them in the time of battell and within a while after he compiled also a booke thereof But among the Greeks Thales Melesius was the first that found it out who in the eight and fortieth Olympias and the fourth yeere thereof did prognosticate and foreshew the Sunnes eclipse that happened in the reigne of Halyattes and in the 170. yeere after the foundation of the citie of Rome After them Hipparchus compiled his Ephemerides containing the coutse and aspects of both these planets for six hundred yeeres ensuing comprehending withall the moneths according to the calculation reckonings of sundry nations the daies the houres the scituation of places the aspects and latitudes of diuers townes and countries as the world will beare him witnesse and that no lesse assuredlv than if â—…e had been priuie to Natures counsels Great persons and excellent these were doubtlesse who aboue the reach of all capacitie of mortall men found out the reason of the course of so mighty starres and diuine powers and whereas the sillie minde of men was before set and to seeke fearing in these eclipses of the starres some great wrong and violence or death of the planets secured them in that behalfe in which dreadful feare stood Stesichorus and Pindarus the Poets notwithstanding their lofty stile and namely at the eclipse of the Sun as may appeare by their poems As for the Moone mortall men imagine that by magicke sorceries and charmes she is inchanted and therefore helpe her in such a case when she is eclipsed by dissonant ringing of basons In this fearefull fit also of an eclipse Nicias the Generall of the Athenians as a man ignorant of the course thereof feared to set saile with his fleet out of the hauen and so greatly endangered and distressed the state of his countrey Faire chieue yee then for your excellent wit O noble Spirits interpretors of the heauens capable of Natures works and the deuisers of that reason whereby ye haue surmounted both God and man For who is he that seeing these things and the painfull ordinarie trauels since that this terme is now taken vp of the stars would not beare with his owne infirmitie and excuse this necessitie of being born to die Now for this present I will bâ—…iefly and summarily touch those principall points which are confessed and agreed vpon as touching the said eclipses hauing lightly rendred a reason thereof in most needfull places for neither such prouing and arguing of these matters belongs properly to our purposed worke neither is it lesse wonder to be able to yeeld the reason and causes of all things than to be resolute and constant in some CHAP. XIII ¶ Of Eclipscs CErtaine it is that all Eclipses in 222 moneths haue their reuolutions and return to their former points as also that the Sun's eclipse neuer happeneth but vpon the change of the Moone namely either in the last of the old or first of the new which they call conjunction and that the Moone is neuer eclipsed but in the full and alwaies somewhat preuents the former Eclipse Moreouer that euery yeare both planets are eclipsed at certaine dayes and houres vnder the earth Neither be these eclipses in all places seene when they are aboue the earth by reason sometimes of cloudy weather but morâ—… often for that the globe of the earth hindereth the sight of the bending conuexitie of the heauen Within these two hundred yeres was it found out by the witty calculation of Hipparchus that the Moone sometimes was eclipsed twice in fiue moneths space and the Sun likewise in seuen also that the Sun and Moone twice in thirty dayes were darkned aboue the earth how beit seene this was not equally in all quarters but of diuers men in diuers places and that which maketh me to maruell most of all in this wonder is this that when agreed it is by all that the Moone light is dimmed by the shadow of the earth one while this eclipse hapneth in the West and another while in the East as also by what reason it hapned that seeing after the Sunne is vp that shadow which dusketh the light of the Moone must needs be vnder the earth it fell out once that the Moone was eclipsed in the West and both planets to be seene aboue the ground in our horison for that in twelue daies both these lights were missing and neither Sun nor Moon were seen it hapned in our time when both the Vespasians Emperors were Consuls the father the third time and the son the second CHAP. XIV ¶ Of the Moones motion CLeare it is that the Moone alwaies in her encreasing hath
destinction of the winds Aeolus the son of Hellen he professed it first Amphion brought musicke first into the world The flute and the single pipe or recorder were the inuentions of Pan the son of Mercurie The crooked cornet Midas in Phrygia deuised And in the same country Marsyas inuented the double fluit But Amphion taught first to sing and play to the Lydian measures Thamyras the Thracian to the Dorian and Marsyas of Phrygia to the Phrygian Amphion likewise or as some say Orpheus and after others Linus plaied first vpon the Citterne or the Lute Terpander put seuen strings more vnto it Simonides added thereto an eight and Timotheus the ninth Thamiras was the first that plaied vpon the stringed instrument Lute Cittern or harpe without song Amphion sung withal or according to some Linus Terpander was the first that set songs for the foresaid stringed instrument And Dardanus the Troezenian began first vocall musicke to the pipe The Curets taught to daunce in armour and Pyrrhus the Morisk in order of battell and both these were taken vp first in Crete The heroick or hexametre verse we acknowledge to haue come first from the Oracle of Pythius Apollo But about the original of Poemes Poetry there is a great question among authors And it is probably gathered by histories that there were Poets before the time of ths Trojane war Pherecides of Syros in the daies of king Cyrus inuented first the writing in prose Cadmus the Milesian wrote Chronicles and compiled the first history Lycaon hath the report of setting out the first publicke games and prouing of masteries fears of strength of actiuity in Arcadia To Acostus in Iolcum we are beholden for the first solemnities and games at funerals and after him to Theseus in the streights of Isthmus Hercules instituted the exercise of wrestlers and champions at Olympia and Pythus was the first plaier at tennise Gyges the Lydian gaue the first proofe of painting and limning in Aegypt but in Greece Euchir a cousin of Daedalus was the first painter as Aristotle supposeth but after Theophrastus it was Polygnotus the Athenian Danaus was the first that sailed with a ship and so he passed the seas from Egypt to Greece for before that time they vsed but troughs or flat planks deuised by K. Erythra to crosse from one Island to another in the red sea But we meet with some writers who affirme that the Troians and Mysians were the first sailers and deuised nauigation before them in Hellespont when they set out a voiage against the Thracians And euen at this day in the British ocean there be made certaine wicker boats of twigs couered with lether and stitched round about in Nilus of paper cane-reed and rushes Philostephanus witnesseth that Iason first vsed the long ship or gally but Egesias saith that it was Paralus Ctesias attributes it to Samyras Saphanas to Semyramis and Archimachus to Aegeon Damastes testifieth that the Erythraeans made the Bireme or gally with two banks of oares Thucydides writeth that Aminocles the Corinthian built the first Trireme with three rows of oars to a side Aristotle saith that the Carthaginians were the first that set to sea the Quadrireme with 4 ranks of oares to a side and Nesichthon the Salaminian set aflote the first Quinquereme with 5 course of oares on either side Zenagoras of Syracusa brought vp those of six and so from it to those of ten Mnesigeton was the inuenter It is said that Alexander the Great built gallies for 12 bankes to a side and Philostephanus reporteth that Ptolemae syrnamed Soter rose to fifteen Demetrius the son of Antigonus to thirty Ptolomae Philadelphus to forty and Ptolomae Philopator syrnamed Tryphon to fifty As for ships of burthen and merchandise as hoyes c. Hippus Tyrius inuented them The Cyrenians made fregates the Phoenicians the bark the Rhodians the Pinace and Brigantine and last of all the Cyprians made the hulke and great carrack The Phoenicians were the first that in sailing obserued the course of the stars The Copeans deuised the oare the Plateans inuented the broad and flat end thereof Icarus the sailes Daedalus the mast and the crosse saile-yard The vessels for transporting of horses were the inuention of the Samians or else of Pericles the Athenien The Thasij had the honour for framing the long ships couered with hatch for before-time they fought only from out of the hin-decke in the poupe and the fore-castle in the proe Then came Piseus the Tyrrhene and armed the stem and beake-head of the shippe with sharpe tines and pikes of brasse Eupalamus deuised the anchor Anacharsis made it first with two teeth or floukes the grapling hookes and the yron hands were the deuise of Pericles the Athenien and finally Typhis inuented the help of the helme for the Pylot to steere rule the ship The first that set out an Armada to the sea for fight was Minos The first that killed beasts was Hyperbius the son of Mars and Prometheus ventured to slay an oxe or a Boeufe CHAP. LVII ¶ Wherein appeared first the generall agreement of all Nations THe secret consent of all countries was shewed first in this That they should vniuersally in all places vse the Ionian letters CHAP. LVIII ¶ Of Antique Letters THe old characters of Greeke letters were the same in manner that the Latine be in these daies and this appeareth sufficiently by an antique table of brasse which came from the temple at Delphos the which at this day is in the great library of the Palatium dedicated to Minerua by the liberality of the Emperors with this or such like inscription vpon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Nausicrates the son of Tisamenus an Athenien caused this table to be made and set vp to the noble virgin Minerua CHAP. LIX ¶ When Barbers were first seene at Rome THe next thing that all people of the world agreed in was to entertain Barbers but it was late first ere they were in any request at Rome The first that entered Italy came out of Sicilie and it was in the 454 yeare after the foundation of Rome Brought in they were by P. Ticinius Mena as Varro doth report for before-time they neuer cut their haire Tâ—…e first that was shauen euery day was Scipio Africanus and after him commeth Augustus the Emperor who euermore vsed the rasor CHAP. LX. ¶ Of Horologies or Dials when they were first deuised THe third vniuersal accord of all nations was in the obseruation how the houres went and this was a point grounded vpon good reason but at what time and by whom this was deuised in Greece we haue declared in the second booke of this work long it was before this order came vp at Rome as well as the vse of the Barber In the 12 tables of Romane lawes there is no mention at all made but of East and West after certain yeres the noon-stead point in the South quarter also was obserued and the Consuls bedle or
to say after the Sunsted in summer All other birds which be as it were of the same race driue their yong ones out of the nest when they be once flidge and put them to it forcing them to flie abroad like as the Rauens also who likewise feed not on flesh only and they likewise when they perceiue their yong once to be strong chase and driue them away farre off Therefore about little villages and hamlets there commonly be not aboue two paire of them at once And about Cranon verily in Thessalie yee shall neuer see aboue one paire of them for the old ones giue place to the yong and fly away There are some diuers and different properties in this bird and that before-named for the Rauens engender before the Sunsted and fot sixtie daies are somwhat ill at ease and troubled with a kind of drought or thirstines especially till such time as the figges be ripe in Autumne and then from that time forward the Crow beginneth to be diseased and sick Rauens for the most part lay fiue egges and the common sort are of opinion that they conceiue and engender at the bill or lay their egges by it and therefore if women great with child chance to eat a Rauens egge they shall be deliuered of their children at the mouth and generally shall haue hard labour if such an egge be but brought into the house where such a great bellied woman be Aristotle denies this and saith that the Rauens conceiue by the mouth no more than the Aegyptian Ibis and he affirmeth that it is nothing else but a wantonnesse which they haue in billing and kissing one another which we see them to doe oftentimes like as the Doues and Pigeons also The Rauens of all other foules seeme to haue a knowledge of their owne significations in presages and fore-tokens for when the mercinarie hired souldiers of Media were all massacred vnder a colour of entertainment and hospitalitie the Rauens flew all away out of Peloponnesus and the region of Attica The worst token of ill lucke that they giue is when in their crying they seeme to swallow in their voice as though they were choked The night birds haue also crooked tallons as the Owles Scritch-Owle Howlets All these see but badly in the day time The Scritch-Owle alwaies betokeneth some heauie newes and is most execrable and accursed and namely in the presages of publick affaires he keepeth euer in desarts and loueth not only such vnpeopled places but also that are horrible and hard of accesse In summe he is the very monster of the night neither crying nor singing out cleare but vttering a certaine heauy groane of dolefull mourning And therefore if he be seen to fly either within cities or otherwise abroad in any place it is not for good but prognosticates some fearfull misfortune Howbeit I my selfe know that he hath sitten vpon many houses of priuat men and yet no deadly accident followed thereupon He neuer flieth directly at ease as hee would himselfe but euermore sidelong or byas as if he were carried away with the wind or somewhat else There fortuned one of them to enter the very secret sanctuarie within the Capitoll at Rome in that yeare when Sex Papellio Ister and L. Pedanius were Consuls whereupon at the Nones of March the city of Rome that yeare made generall processions to appease the wrath of the gods and was solemnly purged by sacrifices CHAP. XIII ¶ Of the bird Incendiaria THis fire-bird Incendiaria is likewise vnlucky and as our Chronicles and Annals doe witnesse in regard of her the city of Rome many a time hath made solemne supplications to pacifie the gods and to auert their displeasure by her portended As for example when L. Cassius and C. Marius were Consuls in that very yeare when by occasion of a Scritch-Owle seene the city likewise was purged by sacrifice as is aboue said and the people fell to their prayers deuotions But what bird this should be neither do I know nor yet finde in any writer Some giue this interpretation of Incendiaria to be any bird whatsoeuer which hath beene seene carying fire either from altar or chappell of the gods Others call this bird Spinturnix But hitherto I haue not found any man that would say directly That hee knew what bird this should be CHAP. XIV ¶ Of the bird Cliuina or Cluina LIkewise the bird named in old time Clivina or Cluina which some call Clamatoria and which Labeo describeth by the name of Prohibitoria I see is as little known as the other Nigidius also maketh mention of a bird called Subis which vseth to squash Egles egs CHAP. XV. ¶ Of other vnknowne Birds IN the Augures bookes which the Tuscanes haue composed there be many birds described and set out in their colours which haue not been seene some hundreds of yeares past And I muse and maruell much that they should be now extinct and the race of them cleane gone considering that the kind of those fowles is not lost but continueth still in great aboundance which men eat daily at their tables and consume so ordinarily CHAP. XVI ¶ Of night-flying Birds OF strangers and forrein writers Hylas is thought to haue written best and most learnedly as touching Auguries and the nature of birds He reports in his book that the Howlet Scritch-owle the Spight that pecketh holes in trees the Trogone and the Chough or Crow when they be hatched come forth of their shels with their taile first and that by reason of their heads so heauy the egs are turned with the wrong end downward so the hinder part of the body lieth next vnder the henne or the dam to sit vpon and cherish with the heat of her body CHAP. XVII ¶ Of Owles or Howlets IT is a pretty sight to see the wit and dexteritie of these Howlets when they fight with other birds for when they are ouerlaid and beset with a multitude of them they lie vpon their backs and with their feet make shift to resist them for gathering themselues into a narrow compasse there is nothing in a maner to be seen of them saue only their bill and talons which couer the whole body The Faulcon by a secret instinct and societie of nature seeing the poore How let thus distressed commeth to succor and taketh equal part with him and so endeth the fray Nigidius writeth that Howlets for sixty daies in winter keepe close and remain in couert and that they change their voice into nine tunes CHAP. XVIII ¶ Of the Spight or Woodpecker SOme little birds there are also that haue hooked clees as the Spights which are known by the sirname of Martius and be therefore called Pici Martij These are of great account in Auspices and presage good They that job and pecke holes in trees and will climbe vpright like cats are of this race As for them they will rampe vp with their bellies to the tree bending backward when they peck
keepe in medowes yea and Creckets that haunt the earth and stocke of chimnies where they make many holes and lie cricking aloud in the night The Glo-wormes are named by the Greeks Lampyrides because they shine in the night like a sparke of fire and it is no more but the brightnes of their sides and taile for one while as they hold open their wings they glitter another while when they keep them close together they be shadowed and make no shew These Glowbards neuer appeare before hay is ripe vpon the ground ne yet after it is cut downe Contrariwise the flies called Blattae liue and be nourished in darknesse light is an enemie vnto them and from it they flie They breed commonly in baines and stouves of the moist vapors that be there Of the same kind there be other great Beetles red in color which work themselues holes in the drie earth where they frame certaine receptacles like vnto Bees combs little and small ful of pipes resembling hollow spunges and all for a kind of bastard honey whereof yet there is some vse in Physicke In Thrace neare to Olynthus there is a little territorie or plot of ground where this one creature among all other cannot liue whereupon the place is called Cantharolethus The wings generally of all Insects be whole without any slit and none of them hath a taile but the Scorpion Hee alone hath not only armes but also a sting in the taile As for the rest some of them haue a sharp pricked weapon in their muzzle as namely the Breese or great Horse-flie called in Latine Asilus or Tabanus whether you will Likewise Gnats also and some kind of flies And these prickes serue them in good stead both for mouth and tongue Some of these are but blunt not good for to pricke but only handsome to sucke withall as flies which haue all of them a tongue beeing euidently fistulous and like a pipe And none of all these haue any teeth There bee Insects with little hornes proaking out before their eyes but weake and tender they bee and good for nothing as the Butterflies And there be againe that are not winged and such be the Scolopendres All Insects that haue legges and feet goe not directly but bias and crooked Of which some haue the hinder legges longer than the former and such bend hooked outward as the Locusts CHAP. XXIX ¶ Of Locusts THe Locusts lay egges in Autumne by thrusting downe into the ground the fistule or end of their chine and those come forth in great abundance These eggs lie all winter long in the earth and at the end of the spring the yere following they put out little Locusts black of coloâ—…r without legs and creeping vpon their wings Hereupon it commeth that if it be a wet spring and rainie those egs perish and come to no good but in a drie season there will be greater increase and store of Locusts the Summer ensuing Some writers hold opinion that they lay and breed twice a yeare likewise that they perish and die as often For they say that when the star Vergiliae doth arise they breed and those afterwards about the beginning of the Dogdaies die and others come in their place Others say that they engender and breed againe their second litter at the full or setting of Arcturus True it is indeed that the mothers die so soone as they haue brought forth their little ones by reason of a small worme that presently breedes about their throat which chokes them And at the same time the males likewise miscarrie See what a little matter to speake of bringes them to their death and yet a wonder it is to consider how one of them when it list will kill a serpent for it will take him fast by the chaws and neuer lin biting till she hath dispatched him These little beasts breed no where but in plain and champion countries namely such as be full of chinks and creuises in the ground It is reported that there be of them in India three foot long where the people of the country vse their legs and thighes for sawes when they be thoroughly dried These Locusts come by their death another way besides that aboue-named for when the wind takes them vp by whole troupes together they fall down either into the sea or some great standing pooles And this many a time happens by meer chance and fortune and not as many haue supposed in old time because their wings are wet with the night dew For euen the same Authors haue written that they flie not in the night for cold But little know they that it is ordinarie with them to passe ouer wide and broad seas and to continue their flight many daies together without rest And the greater wonder is this that they know also when a famine is toward in regard wherof they seek for food into far countries in such sort as their comming is euer held for a plague of the gods procâ—…eding from their heauie wrath and displeasure For then commonly they are bigger to be seen than at other times and in their flight they keepe such a noise with their wings that men take them for some strange fowles They shade and darken the very Sunne as they flie like vnto a great cloud insomuch as the people of euery country behold them with much feare least they should light in their territorie and ouer-spread the whole countrey And verily their strength is such that they hold out still in their flight and as if they had not enough of it to haue flowne ouer seas they giue not ouer to trauerse mightie great countries in the continent And lookâ—… in what place soeuer they settle they couer whole fields of corne with a fearefull and terrible cloud much they burne with their very blast and no part is free but they eat and gnaw euen the very dores of mens dwelling housâ—… Many a time they haue been known to take their flight out of Affrick and with whole armies to infest Italie many a time haue the people of Rome fearing a great famine and scarsitie toward been forced to haue recourse vnto Sybils books for remedie and to auert the ire of the gods In the Cyrenaicke region within Barbarie ordained it is by law euery three yeares to wage war against them and so to conquer them that is to say first to seeke out their neasts and to squash their eggs secondly to kill all their yong and last of all to proceed euen to the greater ones and vtterly to destroy them yea and a greeuous punishment lieth vpon him that is negligent in this behalfe as if he were a traitor to his prince and countrey Moreouer within the Island Lemnos there is a certaine proportion and measure set down how many and what quantitie euery man shall kill and they are to exhibit vnto the magistrate a just and true account thereof and namely to shew that measure full of dead Locusts And for this
long agoe the which I saw in the house of Pomponius Secundus a noble citizen of Rome and a renowmed Poet almost two hundred yeares after their death As for the writings of Cicero of Augustus late Emperour of famous memorie and of Virgill we daily see and handle them by the meanes of Paper so good and durable CHAP. XIII ¶ Of the bookes of Numa WE find many examples in stories which very directly and mightily do testifie against M. Varro as touching Papers For Cassius Hemina a most faithfull and ancient writer in the fourth booke of his Annales hath reported That one Cn. Terentius a scribe or publicke Notarie as he digged and delued in a ground which he had neare to Ianiculum light vpon a chist where in lay the bodie of Numa sometime king of Rome In the same also were found the bookes of the said king And as he affirmeth this happened in that yeare when Pub. Cornelius the sonne of Lucius surnamed Cethegus and M. Boebius sonne of Quintus surnamed Pamphilus were Consuls of Rome betweene which time and the raigne of Numa by just computation are reckoned 535 yeres He saith moreouer That those books were made of the Paper abouenamed The greater wonder it was how such kind of books should last sâ—… long especially within the earth and not putrifie The thing therefore being so strange and in manner miraculous that Paper should continue all that time I think it not amisse to set down the very words of Hemina likew I se as he deliuers them The world made a wonder quoth he how these books could possibly endure so many yeres but the party who found them yeelded this reason That within the said coffer about the mids of it there was a stone foure-square lapped all about and bound euery way with waxe candles in manner of a serecloth vpon which stone the foresaid books were laid and therefore it was as he supposed that they did not rot Moreouer the books also were embaulmed with the rosin or oile of Cedar which might be a good reason in his conceit that the moths came not to them Now these bookes contained the Philosophie and doctrine of Pythagoras and for that they treated of that Philosophical argument burnt they were by order from Q. Petilius the Pretor for that time being The same storie in effect doth C. Piso Censorinus a man who had been Censor report in the first book of his commentaries howbeit he setteth downe their number withall and saith they were fourteene in all whereof seuen treated of the Pontificall law and matters of religion and as many discoursed of Pythagoras his Philosophie But Tuditanus in the thirteeneth booke of the Annales affirmeth That they were the decretals only of Numa and contained his ordinances As for Varro himselfe he writeth in the fift booke of Humane Antiquities that they were in all but twelue And Antias in his second booke reporteth That two of them were written in Latine and contained the Pontificial diuinitie and church-matters and other twaine penned in Greeke were full of precepts in Philosophie He also affirmes in his third booke for what cause the said books by vertue of a publick decree were consumed with fire But all Historiographers agree in this That one of the Sibyls brought vnto Tarquinius the proud three books of which two were burnt by her owne selfe and the third likewise perished with fire together with the Capitol during the troubles of Sylla Ouer and besides Mutianus a man who had been thrice Consul of Rome hath left on record that of late while he was lord gouernor or Lycia he read in a certain temple an Epistle written by prince Sarpedon in Paper and bearing date from Troy And I wonder the rather at this if so be that when Homer liued and wrate his Poeme there was no land of Aegypt as now there is or why in case there was such vse of Paper then himself should write that in the very same Lycia Bellerophon had writing tables giuen him to deliuer as touching his owne death and not rather letters missiue wrot in Paper Wel howeuer that be this is certaine that there is a scarsitie otherwhiles of Paper also as well as of other commodities and this cane or reed Papyrus doth many times faile For not long since euen in the daies of Tiberius the Emperor in a dearth and want of Paper there were commissioners deputed and appointed by the Senat of Rome for the dispensing and distribution of it among the people otherwise there had been a great mutinie and tumult at Rome about Paper CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of the trees in Aethiopia AS touching Aethiopia and namely that quarter which confineth vpon Aegypt it hath in manner no trees at all of any name saue those that beare wooll or cotton concerning the nature of which trees we haue sufficiently spoken in the description of the Indians and of Arabia and yet in very truth the cotton that is brought from these trees in Aethiopia comes neerer to wool than any thing els howeuer the trees be otherwise like to the rest of that kinde and the burse or cod wherin this woollie substance lyes is greater and as big as a Pomegranat Besides these there be Date trees also like to such as we haue before described As touching other trees and especially the odoriferous woods within the Isles that lie vpon Aethiopia round about we haue said enough in the treatise of those Islands CHAP. XV. ¶ Of the trees growing in mount Atlas of Citron tables of the commendable perfections and contrariwise of the defaults thereof THe mountaine Atlas by report hath a wood in it of peculiar trees that elsewhere grow not wherof we haue already written The Mores that border vpon it are stored with abundance of Citron trees from whence commeth that excessiue expense and superfluitie about Citron tables made thereof And our dames and wiues at home by way of reuenge vse to twit vs their husbands therwith when we would seem to find fault with the costly pearls that they do weare There is at this day to be seen a board of Citron wood belonging sometimes to M. Tullius Cicero which cost him ten thousand Sesterces a strange matter considering hee was no rich man but more wonderfull if we call to mind the seueritie of that age wherein hee liued Much speech there is besides of Gallus Asinius his table sold for eleuen thousand Sesterces Moreouer there are two other which K. Iuba sold the one was prised at 15000 Sesterces and the other held little vnder Not long since there was one of them chanced to be burnt and it came with other houshold stuff but from the cottages in Mauritania which cost 140000 Sesterces a good round summe of money and the price of a faire lordship if a man would be at the cost to purchase lands so deer But the fairest and largest table of Citron wood that to this day hath beene seene came from Ptolomaee king of Mauritania the
are sufficient to refresh and nourish the corne Virgil is of opinion That fallowes would be made euery yeare and that our corn field should rest betweene whiles and beare but each other yere And surely I doe find this rule of his most true and doubtlesse right profitable in case a man haue land enough for to let his grounds play them and rest euery second yere But how if a man is streighted that way and hath no such reach and circuit lying to his liuing Let him help himselfe this way let him I say sow his good red wheat Far against the next yere vpon that ground from whence he gathered this yeare a crop of Lupines Vetches or Beans or some such grain as doth inrich and muck the ground For this also is principally to be noted that some corne is sowne for no other purpose but by the way as it were to aduance and help others to fructifie howbeit small fruit and increase to speak of ariseth thereby as I haue obserued once for all in the booke immediatly going before because I would not willingly reiterate and inculcate one thing often For herein regard especially ought to be had vnto the nature and property of euery soile CHAP. XXII ¶ Of certaine countries exceeding fertile and fruitfull Of a vine bearing grapes twise in one yeare Of the difference and diuersitie obserued in waters THere is in Africke or Barbary a city called Tacape scituate in the midst of the sands as men go to the Syrts and Leptis the great the territory lying about which city by reason that it is so well watered is maruellous fruitfull and indeed passeth a wonder and is incredible Within this tract there is a fountain which serueth abundantly for three miles well neer euery way the head therof verily is large enough otherwise howbeit the inhabitants about it are serued with water from thence by turns and dispensed it is among them at certain set hours and not otherwise There standeth there a mighty great date-tree hauing vnder it growing an oliue vnder which there is a fig-tree and that ouerspreadeth a Pomegranat tree vnder the shade whereof there is a Vine and vnder the compasse thereof first they sow Frument or eared corne after that Pulse and then worts and herbs for the pot all in one and the same yere Euery one of these rehearsed liue joy and thriue vnder the shade of others Euery foure cubits square of this soile taking the measure of a cubit from the elbow not to the fingers ends stretched out in length but clasped together into the fist is sold for 4 deniers Roman but this one surpasseth all the rest The vines in the said territory beare twice a yeare and yeeld their grapes ripe for a double Vintage So exceeding fruitfull is the soile that vnlesse the ranknesse thereof were abated and taken downe by bearing sundry fruits one vnder and after another so that it were imploied to one thing alone the inhabitants should neuer haue any good thereof for by reason of the ouer-ranknesse each seuerall fruit would perish and come to nought but now by meanes of plying and following it still with seed a man shall gather one fruit or other ripe all the yeare long And for certaine it is knowne that men cannot ouercharge the ground no nor feed the fertilitie of it sufficiently Moreouer all kinds of water are not of like nature nor of equall goodnesse for to drench and refresh the ground In the prouince of Narbon now Languedoc there is a famous wel or fountain named Orge within the very head wherof there grow certaine herbes so much desired and sought for by kine and oxen that to seeke and get a mouthfull of them they will thrust in their whole heads ouer their eares vntill they meet therewith but howsoeuer these herbs seeme to spring grow within the water certain it is that nourished they are not but by rain from aboue And therefore to conclude knit vp all in one word Let euery man be wel acquainted with the nature both of his own land which he hath and also of the water wherewith he is serued CHAP. XXIII ¶ Of the diuers qualities of the soile Also the manner of dunging or manuring grounds IF you meet with a ground of your owne which we called heretofore by the name of Tenera the floure indeed and principall of all others after you haue taken off a crop of Barley you may very wel sow Millet thereupon and when that is inned and laid vp in the barne proceed to Raddish Last of all after they be drawne there may be barly or common wheat sowed in the place like as they do in Campaine for surely such a piece of ground needs no other tillage but often sowing Another order there is besides this in sowing of such soile namely that where there grew the red wheat Adoreum or Far there the ground should rest all the four winter moneths and in the Spring be sowed again with Beans so that it alwaies be imploied and kept occupied vntill Winter without any intermission And say that the ground be not altogether so fat yet it may be ordered so that it be euer bearing by turns in this sort that after the Frumenty or Spike corne be taken off there be pulse sowne three times one after another But in case the ground be ouer poore and lean it must be suffered to rest and take repose two yeares in three Moreouer many husbandmen do hold that it is not good to sow white corne or Frument vpon any land but such as lay fallow and rested the yeare before Howeuer it be the principall thing in this part of Agriculture consisteth in dunging wherof I haue written already in the former book next to this This one point only is resolued vpon by all men that none of our grounds ought to be sowed vnlesse they be manured and mucked before And yet herein must we be directed by certain rules peculiar and proper thereunto as follow Millet Panick Rapes Turneps or Navews ought neuer to be sowed but in a ground that is dunged If there be no compost laid vpon a ground sow vpon it Frument or bread-corne rather than Barley Likewise in grounds that rest and lie fallow euery other yere albeit in all mens opinion they are thought good for to beare Beans yet notwithstanding beans loue better wheresoeuer they come to be sowed in a ground but newly mucked He that mindeth to sow at the fal of the leafe must in the month of September before spread his dung turn it in with the plough and so incorporat it with the soile presently after a shower of rain euen so also if a man purpose to sow in the spring let him in the winter time dispose of his mucke vpon the lands and spread it The ordinary proportion is to lay 18 tumbrels or loads therof vpon euery acre Throwne abroad it must be also before it be dried and ere you sow or els so
sharpned that their steles helues or handles be fitted and set to their heads that shaken tubs barrels and such like vessels be new cowped bound with hoops and calfretted that their staues â—…e well scraped and cleansed or else new set into them And thus much of this Winter Quarter as farre as to the comming of the Westerne winde Favonius Now as touching the entrance of the new Spring which is from the rising of the said winde to the Equinox in March Caesar sets downe for it the time which for three daies together is variable and inconstant weather to wit seuenteen daies before the calends of March which is the thirteenth of Februarie Also 8 daies before the said Calends which is the 22 of Februarie vpon the sight of the first Swallow and the morrow after vpon which day the star Arcturus riseth Vespertine i. appeareth in the â—…ning In like manner Caesar hath obserued that the said wind hath begun to blow three daies before the Nones of March to wit the fift of March just with the rising or apparition of the Crab-star Cancer Howbeit most writers of Astrologie do assigne the first entry of the Spring and the comming of this wind to the 8 day before the Ides of March which is the eight of that moneth when as the star Vinâ—…emiator id est the Grape-gatherer beginneth to appeare at what time also the Northerly starre called the Fish ariseth vpon the morrow whereof to wit the ninth day the great starre Orion sheweth himselfe in his likenesse In the region Atâ—…ica where Athens standeth it is obserued that the star Milvus i the Kite or Glede appeareth then in that climat Caesar moreouer noted that the star Scorpio rises vpon the Ides of March those fatall Ides I say that were so vnfortunate vnto himselfe also that vpon the 15 Calends of Aprill which is the 18 of March the foresaid Milvus i the Kitestar appeareth to them in Italie and three daies after the Horse-star is hidden toward the morning This is the freshest the most busie or stirring interual or time between that husbandmen haue and yet therin they be oftenest deceiued for commonly called they are not to their work the very same day that the wind Fauonius should by course blow but when it begins to be aloft which is a point to be considered and obserued with right great regard for if a man would take heede and marke well this is that moneth wherein God giueth vs that sure and infallible sign which neuer faileth Now from what quarter or coast this wind doth blow and which way it commeth albeit I haue shewed alreadie in the second booke of this storie yet will I speake thereof more distinctly and exactly anon mean while from that day whensoeuer it hapneth on which that wind beginneth to blow come it sooner as namely when it is a timely and forward spring or come it later if it be a long winter for it is not alwaies the sixth day just before the Ides of February from that time I say must the rustical paisants settle to their work then are they to goe about a world of toilesome labour then must they plie their businesse and make speed to dispatch those things first that may not be defer'd put off then or neuer would their summer three month corne be sowne their vines be pruned in manner abouesaid their Oliue trees dressed and trimmed accordinglâ—… Apple-tree stocks and such like fruits are then to to be set and graffed then is the time to be digging and deluing in vineyards to remoue some yong plants out of their seminaries and digest them in order as they must grow and to supply their plots with new seed and impes Canes and Reeds Willows and Osiers Broom also would then some be set and others cut downe Elmes Poplars and Plane trees ought then to be planted as hath been said before then is the meetest season to cleanse the corne fields to sarcle and rid the winter corn from weeds and especially the bearded red wheat Far in doing wherof this must be the certain rule to direct the husbandmen namely when the root of the said Far begins to haue foure strings or threads to it As for Beans they must not be medled withall in that order before they haue put out three leaues and then verily they must be lightly gone ouer and cleansed rather with a light hooke than otherwise When Beanes be bloumed for 15 daies together they ought not to be touched As touching Barley it would not be sarcled or raked but in a drie ground and when the weather holds vp Order the matter so that by the Aequinox in March all your pruning and binding of Vines be done and finished If it be a vineyard foure men are enough to cut and tie an acre of vines and if they grow to trees one good workeman will be able to ouercome fifteen trees in one day This is the very time moreouer of gardening and dressing rose-plots or rosiers whereof I mean to treat apart and seuerally in the booke next following of drawing vinets also knots and fine storie works in gardens this is the only season to make trenches and ditches the ground also would now be broken vp for a fallow against the next yeare according to the mind and counsell of Virgil especially to the end that the Sunne might throughly parch and concoct the clots and thereby make it more mellow for the Seednes Howbeit I doe like better of their opinion as the more thristie and profitable of the two who aduise to plough no ground in the mids of the Spring but that which is of a mean temperature for if it be rich and fat presently the weeds will ouergrow and take vp the seams and furrowes againe say it be poore and leane the hot weather comming so soon vpon the fallow will dry it too fast spend all the moisture and kill the heart therof which should maintain the seed When thou hast found out in this maner the North-east wind Aquilo be sure that the wind which bloweth ful against it from the point where the Sun setteth in midwinter when daies be shortest is the Southwest called in Latin Africus and in Greek Lybs Obserue this wind wel for if a beast after she be couered turn about directly into this wind she will for certaine conceiue a female And thus much of the Line in the Quadrant next to the North point on the East side The third line from the North point which we drew first through the latitude of the shadow before said and which we called Decumana pointeth out the Equinoctial Sun-rising in March and September directeth thee also to the East wind vnder it called in Latine Subsolanus and in Greek Apeliotes Where the climat is healthful and temperat let vineyards be planted and arranged into this wind let ferm-houses also in the country be so built as the dores and windowes open into it This wind loueth
Magicke abouesaid there was a second Osthanes in the daies of K. Alexander the Great who by reason that he attended vpon him in his train during his journies and voiages that he made was himself in great reputation abroad and by meanes thereof gaue no small credit and authoritie to his profession for that hee had opportunity thereby as no man need to doubt to trauell and compasse the globe of the earth and so to spread and divulge this learning in all parts And verily that this doctrine hath bin heretofore receiued in some nations of Italy it appeareth as well by good euidences and records extant at this day in the body of our Law written in the 12 Tables as by other arguments and testimonies which I haue alledged in the former Booke Certes in the 657 yeare after the foundation of Rome citie and not before which fell out to be when Cn. Cornelius Lepidus and P. Licinius Crassus were Consuls there passed a decree and act of the Senat forbidding expressely the killing of mankinde for sacrifice whereby we may euidently see that vntill this inhibition or restraint came forth our progenitors and ancestours were giuen to those inhumane and monstrous sacrifices No question there is verily but that this Art of Magicke was professed in France and continued vntill our daies for no longer is it agoe than since the time of Tiberius Caesar that their Druidae the Priests and Wisemen of France were by his authority put down together with all the pack of such Physitians prophets wizards But what should I discourse any longer in this wise of that Art which hath passed ouer the wide ocean also gone as far as any land is to be seene even to the vtmost bounds of the earth and beyond which there is nothing to be discouered but a vast prospect of Aire and Water And verily in Brittaine at this day it is highly honored where the people are so wholly deuoted vnto it with all reuerence and religious obseruation of ceremonies that a man would think the Persians first learned all their Magick from them See how this Art and the practise thereof is spread ouer the face of the whole earth and how those nations were conformable enough to the rest of the world in giuing entertainment thereto who in all other respects are far different diuided from them yea and in manner altogether vnknowne to them In which regard the benefit is inestimable that the world hath receiued by the great prouidence of our Romanes who haue abolished these monstrous and abhominable Arts which vnder the shew of religion murdred men for sacrifices to please the gods and vnder the colour of Physicke prescribed the flesh to bee eaten as most wholsome meat CHAP. II. ¶ The sundry kinds of Magicke The execrable acts of Nero and the detestation of Magitians MAgicke may be practised after diuers sorts according as Osthanes hath set downe in writing for it worketh by the means of Water Globes or Balls Aire Starres Fire-lights Basons and Axes yea and many other means there bee that promise the foreknowledge of things to come besides the raising vp and conjuring of ghosts departed the conference also with Familiars and spirits infernall And all these were found out in our daies to be no better than vanities false illusions and that by the Emperor Nero and yet was he neuer more addicted to play vpon the cythern nor took greater pleasure to hear sing tragicall songs than to study art Magick and no maruell if he were giuen to such strange courses hauing wealth world at wil and his fortunes besides attended vpon accompanied with many deep corruptions of the mind But amid those manifold vices whereunto he had betaken and sold himselfe a principall desire he had to haue the gods forsooth and familiar spirits at his command thinking that if he could haue attained once to that hee had then climbed vp to the highest point and pitch of magnanimity Neuer was there man that studied harder and followed any Art more earnestly than he did Magick Riches he had enough vnder his hands and power he wanted not to execute what he would his wit was quicke and pregnant to apprehend and learn any thing ouer and besides other means that he practised to bring about this desseine of his which were so intollerable that the world could not indure them and yet he gaue it ouer in the end without effect an vndoubted peremptory argument to conuince the vanity of this Art when such an one as Nero rejected it But would to God he had conferred with familiars spirits yea taken counsel of all the diuels in hell for to be resolued of those suspitions which were gotten into his head rather than giuen commission as he did to the professed bawds and common harlots in stinking stewes and brothell houses for to make inquisition from house to house after those whom he had in jealousie Certes no bloudy and detestable sacrifices how inhumane and barbarous soeuer he could haue performed but they had beene far more easie and tollerable than those cruel imaginations which he conceiued and wherupon he murdered most piteously so many good citizens filled Rome with their restlesse ghosts But to return again to Art Magick which Nero would so fain haue learned what might be the reason that he could not reach vnto it Surely these Magitians are not without their shifts meanes of euasion to saue the credit of their art if haply they misse and come short at any time of their purpose for otherwhiles they beare vs in hand that ghosts and spirits will not appeare nor yeeld any seruice to those persons who are freckled full of pimples and haply Nero the Emperor was such an one As for his lims otherwise he had them all sound they were besides the set daies and times fit for this practise and prescribed by Magitians he might chuse at his good will pleasure Moreouer an easie matter it was for him to meet with sheep cole black such as had not a speck of white or any other colour for him I say who when he list could sacrifice men and took greatest delight in those sacrifices furthermore he had about him Tyridates the K. of Armenia a great Magitian to giue him instructions This prince Tyridates being vanquished and subdued by the Romane captains vnder Nero and forced by their capitulations to present himselfe personally at Rome for to do homage vnto the Emperour trauelled thither all the way by land which was a sore charge to the countries prouinces through which he passed bringing with him as he did the whole pompe and train for the triumph ouer Armenia and himselfe came vnto Caesar. And why would not this Tyridates passe the seas and saile ouer into Italy the nearest and most expedit way Forsooth so precise he was that he made
any golden rings in vse and request about the time of the Trojane war for sure I am that the Poet Homer maketh no mention of them at all who otherwise speaketh of the brauery and rich attire of those times And when he talketh of writing tablets sent ordinarily in stead of letters missiue when he writeth of cloths and apparels bestowed in chists and coffers when he telleth vs of vessels as well gold as siluer plate he saith they were all bound and trussed fast with some sure knot and not sealed vp with any mark of a ring as the order is in these daies Moreouer when he reporteth of any challenge made by the enemy to single fight and sheweth how the captains fel to cast their seuerall lots for the choise of them which should performe the combat this was neuer done by the signet of rings but by some other especiall marks that euery one made Also when he taketh occasion to speak of the workmanship of the gods he rehearseth buckles clasps and buttons of gold other jewels and ornaments also belonging to the attire of women as eare-rings and such like of their making which at the beginning were commonly made but he speaketh not one word of golden rings And verily in my conceit whosoeuer began first to weare these rings did it couertly by little and little putting them vpon the fingers of the left hand the better to hide them as if they were ashamed to haue them openly seene whereas if they might haue auowed the honouring of their fingers by that ornament they should haue shewed them at the first vpon the right hand Now if any man object and say that the wearing them on the right hand might be some impeachment to a soldier for vsing his offensiue weapon which he beareth in that hand I alledge again that the hinderance was more in the left hand which serueth to hold and manage the targuet or buckler defensiue I reade in the same Poet Homer aforesaid that men vsed to plait bind vp the tresses of their haire with gold and therefore I wot not well whether men or women first began the manner of such braiding the locks of the haire As touching gold laid vp for treasure little was there of it at Rome for a long time for surely when the city was taken sacked by the Gauls and that the Romans were to buy redeem their peace for a sum of mony there could not be made in all Rome aboue one thousand pound weight of gold Neither am I ignorant that in the third Consulship of Cn. Pompeius there was embezeled and stolne 2000 pound weight of gold out of the throne or shrine of Iupiter within the Capitoll which had bin there bestowed and laid vp by Camillus whereupon many men haue thought that there was 2000 pound weight of gold gathered for the ransome of the city But surely looke what ouerplus and surcrease there was aboue the foresaid weight of one thousand pound it was of the very booty and pillage of the French and taken out of the temples and chappels in that part of the city whereof they were masters Moreouer that the Gaules themselues were wont to goe to the wars brauely set out and inriched with gold it appeareth by this one example of Torquatus who slew a Gaule in combat and tooke from him a massie collar of gold Apparant it is therefore that all the gold as well that of the Gaules as that which came from the temples abouesaid amounted to the said sum and no higher to the light and knowledge whereof we come by meanes of reuelation from Augurie which gaue vs to vnderstand that Iupiter Capitolinus had rendered againe the foresaid sum in duple proportions And here by the way there commeth to my remembrance another thing not impertinent to this place considering I am to treat againe of rings when the sexton or keeper of this cell was apprehended and the question demanded What was become of the treasure aforesaid of 2000 pound which Iupiter had in custody and which now was out of the way and gone Hee tooke the stone that was in the collar of his ring which he ware crackt it between his teeth and presently dyed therupon wherby the truth was not bewraied and reuealed as touching the theefe that robbed the said treasure Wel reckon the most that can be surely there was not aboue 2000 pound weight of gold to be had in Rome when the city was lost which was in the 364 yere after the first foundation therof at what time as appeareth by the rols of the Subsidie booke there were in Rome to the number of 152580 free citizens And what was 2000 pound in proportion to such a multitude of people Three hundred and seuen yeres after when the temple of the Capitoll was on fire all the gold to be found therein as also in al the other chappels and shrines arose to thirteen thousand pound weight which C. Marius the yonger seized vpon and conueied away to the city Praeneste And all the same was recouered againe and brought backe againe by Sylla his enemy who vnder that title carried it in triumph besides seuen thousand pound weight of siluer which he raised out of the spoile of Marius And yet neuerthelesse the day before hee had caused to be carried in a pompe of triumph fifteene thousand pound weight of gold and one hundred and fifteene thousand pound of siluer which came of the rest of the pillage gotten by that victorie of his But to returne againe vnto our discourse of gold rings I doe not read that they were ordinarily vsed before the daies of Cn. Flavius the sonne of Annius This Flavius beeing otherwise a man of mean and base parentage as whose grandsire by the fathers side had bin no better than a slaue infranchised howbeit hauing a pregnant wit of his own brought vp daily vnder a good schoolmaster Appius Claudius sirnamed the Blind whom he serued as his Scribe Clerke or Secretarie he grew into inward credit and fauor with his master that for his better aduancement he opened vnto him the whole course of dayes pleadable and not pleadable exhorting and persuading him withal to publish that secret and mysterie to the view knowledge of the whole city which the said Flavius after much conference and consultation had with Appius did and effected accordingly wherupon he became so gratious with the whole body of the people who were alwaies before wont to hang euery day vpon the lips of some few of the chief principal Senators for to haue the information and knowledge of the said daies that in the end a bil promulged by him passed by generall assent of them all for to be created Aedile Curule together Q. Annicius of Praeneste who not many years before had bin a professed enemy and born armes against the Romanes without any regard had in this election either of C. Petilius or Domitius who were nobly born had
vnto the souldiers their wages and their very pay thereupon was called Stipendiam from whence commeth Stipend a word commonly receiued According to which manner and custome all buyings and sellings at this day which passe with warrantise are vsually performed by interposition of the ballance which fer ueth to testifie the realitie of the contract and bargaine on both parts Touching brasse mony Servius Tullius a king of Rome caused it first to be coined with a stampe for before his daies they vsed it at Rome rude in the masse or lumpe as Remeus mine author doth testifie And what was the marke imprinted thereupon euen a sheepe which in Latine they call Pecus and from thence proceedeth the word Pecunia that signifieth mony And note here by the way that during the reigne of that king the best man in all Rome was valewed to be worth in goods not aboue 110000 Asses in brasse and at this rate were assessed the principall houses of the city in the kings bookes and this was counted the first Classis Afterwards in the 485 yere from the foundation of the city when Q. Ogulnius and C. Fabius were Consuls fiue yeares before the first Punicke warre they began to stampe siluer mony at Rome and three seuerall pieces were coined At what time ordained it was That the Denarius or Denier should goe for tenne Asses or pounds of brasse mony the halfe Denier Quinarius should be currant for fiue and the Sesterce reckoned worth two and a halfe Now for as much as during the first Punick war against the Carthaginians the ctiy was growne much behind hand and farre indebted so as they were not able to goe through the charges which they were to defray agreed it was and ordained to raise the worth of the brasen mony by diminishing the poise wheras therfore the Asse weighed a pound of twelue ounces they made the Asse of two ounces By which deuise the Commonwealth gained fiue parts in six and the Fisque or city chamber by that means was soone acquit of all debts But if you would know what was the marke of this new brasen Asse of the one side it was stamped with a two faced Ianus on the other side with the beake-head of a ship armed with brasen pikes Other smaller pieces there were according to that proportion to wit Trientes the third part of an Asse and Quadrantes the fourth which had the print of punts or small boats vpon them As for the piece Quadrans it was before time called Triuncis because it weighed three ounces Howbeit in processe of time when Anniball pressed hard vpon the city and put them to an exigent for mony to maintaine the wars against him driuen they were to their shifts and forced when Q. Fabius was Dictator to bring downe the foresaid Asse of two ounces vnto one Yea and enected it was That the siluer denier which went before time for ten Asses should be worth sixteene the halfe Denier or Quinare eight and the Sesterce foure and by this means the State gained the one halfe full And yet I must except the mony paied to souldiers for their wages for a Denier vnto them was neuer reckoned aboue ten Asses As for the siluer Deniers stamped they were with the pourtraiture of coches drawne with two horses or foure horses whereupon they were called Bigati and Quadrigati Within a while after there passed an act promulged by Papyrius by vertue whereof the Asses weighed not aboue halfe an ounce Then came Livius Drusus in place who being one of the Prouosts or Tribunes of the commons brought in base money and delaied the siluer with one eight part of brasse Touching that piece of coine which now is called Victoriatus stamped it was by an Act proposed by Clodius for before his time those pieces of mony were brought out of Sclauonia and reckoned as merchandise and stamped it is with the image of Victorie of which it tooke that name Concerning gold coined into mony it came vp threescore and two yeres after the stamping of siluer pieces and a scriptule of gold was taxed and valued at twenty sesterces which ariseth in euery pound according to the worth of sesterces as they were rated in those daies to nine hundred Sesterces But afterwards it was thought good to cast and stampe pieces of gold after the proportion of fiftie to a pound And those the Emperors by little and little diminished stil in poise till at length Nero brought them downe to the lowest and caused them to be coined after the rate of fiue and fiftie pieces to the pound In summe the very source and originall of all auarice proceedeth from this mony and coine deuised first by lone and vsurie and continued still by such idle persons that put forth their mony to worke for them whiles they sit still and find the sweetnes of the gaine comming in so easily But this greedy desire of hauing more still is growne after an outragious manner to be excessiue and no more to be named couetousnesse but rather insatiable hunger after gold insomuch as Septimuleius an inward and familiar friend of C. Gracchus forgat all bonds of amitie and hauing cut off his friends head vpon promise to haue the weight of it in gold brought the same vnto Opimius howbeit he poured molten lead into the mouth thereof to make it more heauie and so together with this parricide and vnnaturall murtherer cousened also beguiled the Commonweale But to speak no more of any particular citizen of Rome the whole name of the Romanes hath beene infamous among forraine nations for auarice and corruption in this kind as may appeare by the conceit that king Mithridates had of them who caused Aquilius a Generall of theirs whose hap was to fall into his hands for to drinke molten gold See what couetousnesse brings home with it in the end Now when I behold and consider no more but these strange names of our vessell in plate which are newly deuised in Greek from time to time according as the siluer is either double or parcell gilt or the gold enclosed and bound within worke I am ashamed of it and the rather for that in regard of these deuised names and daintie toies such plate as well of beaten gold as guilded only should be so vendible and sell so deare especially knowing as we do full well the good order that Spartacus held in his campe expressely commanding that no man should haue any plate of gold or siluer A great reproch to vs Romans that our fugitiues banished persons should shew a more nobler spirit than we our selues Messala the great Oratour hath left in writing That M. Antonius vsed to discharge all the ordure and filthy excrements of the body into vessels of gold yea and allowed Cleopatra likewise to do the same by her monthly superfluities most shamefully Noted it was among forrein Nations for excessiue licentiousnesse and that in the highest degree that K. Philip of Macedony was neuer
shapes and portraits of so worthy personages against the injury of time which weareth and consumeth all things indeuoring by this means as it were in a kind of emulation striuing to do as much for them in this behalf as the gods could do not only in giuing them immortality but also by dispersing those pourtraits into all parts of the world to shew them personally in euery place to the eies of men as if they were present CHAP. III. ¶ At what time scutchions and shields with images ingrauen in them were first erected in publique place Where they beg an to be set vp in priuat houses The originall of pictures The first pourtrait that was of one single colour Of the first Painters How antient the Art of Painting was in Italy ANd this verily which Varro did namely to insert the names counterfeits of famous men in his books was to gratifie strangers only But of those who were desirous in this kinde to honour Romans I find in the Chronicles that Appius Claudius was the first him I meane who in the 259 yeare after the foundation of the city of Rome bare the Consulship with Seruilius and namely by dedicating in temples and publicke places of the city the shelds of his predecessours by themselues alone For within the chappell of Bellona hee caused to bee set vp the scutchions and shields of his ancestors taking great contentment to haue the armes of his predecessors seen on high and the same accompanied with the titles of their honorable dignities to be read A goodly shew no doubt and a magnificent in case there should be shewed withall a long descent of petty images representing a numâ—…er of children as it were the nest of a faire brood and off-spring for who would not take great joy and pleasure to see such a sight who would not fauorably behold the arms of such a race and linage After that Appius Claudius had giuen this precedent at Rome there followed M. Aemilius companion in the same Consulship with Q. Luctatius who not contented to haue the Armoires and coats of his Progenitors to be aduanced aloft in the stately hall and pallace Aemilia only tooke order that they should stand also at home in his owne house and this also was a matter of right great consequence beeing done according to the pattern and example of the martiall worthies in Homer for within these shields scutchions resembling those which were vsed in old time in the battels before Troy were represented the images of such as serued with them ingrauen therein for thereupon such shields took the name Clypei i. chased and ingrauen not of the old word in Latine Cluere which signifieth to fight or to be well reputed as our thwarting Grammarians would with their subtile sophistrie seeme to etymologize and deriue it Certes this originall of shields and coats of armours implied abraue mind and noble spirit ful of vertue and valour when euery mans shield shewed the liuely pourtrait of him that bare it in the warres The Carthaginians were wont to make their targuets of beaten gold and those likewise they caused to bee ingrauen with their own portraits carried the same with them to the wars And verily Q. Martius that worthy warriour and reuenger of the 2 Scipio's in Spain hauing defeated the Carthaginians taken many of them prisoners found among other spoils and pillage the shield of Asdrubal made in maner aforesaid Which shield was erected hung vp ouer the porch of Iupiters temple vpon Capitoll hill and remained there vnto the first fire that consumed the temple And seeing I am fallen vpon this poynt namely of erecting the armours woon from enemies in publicke place I may not passe ouer in silence the securitie and carelesse regard that our forefathers had in this behalfe which was so great that M. Aufidius who farmed and vndertook the custody or keeping of the Capitoll the temple and all therein the same yeare wherein L. Manlius and Q. Fulvius were Consuls and which was from the foundation of the city of Rome 575 yeares aduertised the Senat That those shields there which for so long together were appointed assigned thither by the Censors were not of brasse as they had been taken for but of siluer Concerning pictures and the first originall of painters art I am not able to resolue and set downe any thing for certain neither is it a question pertinent to my designe and purpose I am not ignorant that the Aegyptians do vaunt thereof auouching that it was deuised among them and practised 6000 yeres before there was any talk or knowledge therof in Greece avain brag and ostentation of theirs as all the world may see As for the Greeke writers some ascribe the inuention of painting to the Sicyonians others to the Corinthians But they do all jointly agree in this That the first pourtrait was nothing els but the bare pourâ—…ing and drawing onely the shadow of a person to his just proportion and liniments This first draught or ground they began afterwards to lay with one simple colour and no more which kind of picture after that they fell once to more curious workmanship they called Monochromaton i. a pourtrait of one colour for distinction sake from other pictures of sundry colours which notwithstanding yet this plaine manner of painting continueth at this day and is much vsed As for the linearie portraying or drawing shapes and proportions by lines alone it is said that either Philocles the Aegyptian or els Cleanthes the Corinthian was the inuentor thereof But whosoeuer deuised it certes Ardices the Corinthian and Telephanes the Sicyonian were the first that practised it howbeit colours they vsed none yet they proceeded thus far as to disperse their lines within as well as to draw the pourfle and all with a coale and nothing els And therefore their manner and order was to write also the names of such as they thus painted and alwaies to set them close to the pictures But the first that tooke vpon him to paint with colour was Cleophantus the Corinthian who as they say took no more but a piece of a red potsherd which he ground into pouder and this was all the colour that he vsed This Cleophantus or some other of that name was he who by the testimony of Cornelius Nepos as I will anon shew more at large accompanied Demaratus the father of Tarquinius Priscus king of Rome when he fled from Corinth to auoid the wrongs of Cypsellus the tyrant who persecuted and oppressed him But it cannot be so for surely before this Tarquines time the art of painting was grown to some perfection euen in Italy for proofe wherof extant there be at this day to be seen at Ardea within the temples there antique pictures and indeed more antient than the city of Rome and I assure you no pictures came euer to my sight which I wonder so much at namely that they should continue so long fresh and
the sumptuous and superfluous expences in vessels made of it The first inuention of Cassidoine vessels and the excesse that way the nature and properties of those Cassidoins And what vntruths the writers in old time haue deliuered as touching Amber TO the end that it may appeare more euidently what the triumph of Pompey wrought in this respect I will put downe word forword what I find vpon record in the registers that beare witnesse of the acts which passed during those triumphs In the third triumph therefore which was decreed vnto him for that he had scoured the seas of pyrats and rouers reduced Natolia and the kingdome of Pontus vnder the dominion of the Romans defeated kings and nations according as I haue declared in the seuenth booke of this my history he entred Rome the last day of September in the yere when M. Piso and M. Messala were Consuls on which day there was carried before him in shew a chesse-boord with all the men and the same bourd was made of two precious stones and yet it was 2. foot broad and 4 foot long and lest any man should doubt hereof and thinke it incredible considering no jems at this day come neare thereto in bignesse know he That in this triumph hee shewed a golden Moone weighing thirtie pounds three dining-tables also of gold other vessell likewise of massie gold and precious stones as much as would garnish nine cup-boords three images of beaten gold representing Minerva Mars and Apollo coronets made of stones to the number of three and thirtie a mountaine made of gold foure square wherein a man might see red deare lyons fruit-trees of all sorts and the whole mountaine inuironed and compassed all about with a vine of gold moreouer an oratorie or closet consisting of pearle in the top or louver whereof there was a clocke or horologe Hee caused also to be borne before him in a pompous shew his owne image made of pearles the pourtraiture I say of that Cn. Pompeius whom regall majestie and ornaments would haue better beseemed and that good face and venerable visage so highly honoured among all nations was now all of pearls as if that manly countenance and seueritie of his had beene vanquished and riotous excesse and superfluitie had triumphed ouer him rather than hee ouer it O Pompey ô Magnus how could this title and syrname Le-grand haue continued among those nations if thou hadst in thy first victorie triumphed after this manner What Magnus were there no means else but to seek out pearles things so prodigal superfluous and deuised for women and which it had not beseemed Pompey once to weare about him and therewith to pourtray and counterfeit thy manly visage And was this the way indeed to haue thy selfe seeme precious doth not that pourtraiture come nearer vnto thee and resemble thy person farre liker which thou didst cause to be erected vpon the top of the Piraenean hils Certes a foule shame and ignominious reproch it was to be shewed in this maner nay to say more truly a wonderfull prodegie it was presaging the heauie ire of the gods for so men were to beleeue and euidently to conceiue therby that euen then and so long before the head of Pompey made of orient pearle euen the richest of the Leuant should be so presented without a bodie But setting this aside how manlike was all the rest of his triumph and how answerable to himselfe For first and foremost giuen freely by him vnto the chamber of the citie there were a thousand talents secondly vpon his leutenants and treasures of the campe who had performed so good seruice in defending the sea-coasts he bestowed two thousand Sestertia apiece thirdly to euery souldiour who accompanied him in that voiage he allowed fiftie Sestertia Well this superfluitie yet of Pompeies triumph serued in some sort to excuse Caius Caligula the Emperour and to make his delicacie and excesse to be more tollerable who ouer and besides all other effeminat tricks and womanly deuises wherof he was full vsed to draw vpon his legs little buskins or starlups made of pearle Pompeies precedent I say in some measure justified Nero the Emperour who made of rich and faire great pearles the scepters and maces the visors also and maskes which players vsed vpon the stage yea and the very bed-roumes which went with him as hee trauailed by the way So as wee seeme now to haue lost that vantage and right which we had to find fault with drinking-cups enriched with pearls yea and much other houshold stuffe and implements garnished therewith since that wheresoeuer we go from one end of the house to the other we seem to passe through rings or such jewels at leastwise which were wont to beautifie our fingers only for is there any superfluitie els but in regard and comparison hereof it may seeme more tollerable and lesse offensiue But to return vnto the triumph of Pompey this victory of his brought into Rome first our cups and other vessels of Cassidoine and Pompey himselfe was the first who that very day of his triumph presented vnto Iupiter Capitolinus six such cups and presently from that time forward men also began to haue a mind vnto them in cupbourds counting tables yea and in vessell for the kitchin and to serue vp meat in and verily from day to day the excesse herein hath so far ouergrowne that one great Cassidoine cup hath been sold for fourescore sesterces but a faire and large one it was and would containe well three sextars id est halfe a wine gallon There are not many yeres past since that a noble man who had been Consull of Rome vsed to drinke out of this cup and notwithstanding that in pledging vpon a time a lady whom he fancied he bit out a piece of the brim thereof which her sweet lips touched yet this injurie done to it rather made it more esteemed and valued at a higher price neither is there at this day a cup of Cassidoine more pretious or dearer than the same But as touching other excesse of this personage and namely how much he consumed and deuoured in superfluities of this kind a may may estimat by the multitude of such Cassidoin vessell found in his cabinet after his death which Nero Domitius tooke away perforce from his children and in truth such a number there were of them that being set out to the shew they were sufficient to furnish and take vp a peculiar theatre which of purpose he caused to be made beyond the Tyber in the gardens there and enough it was for Nero to behold the said theatre replenished with people at the plaies which he exhibited there in honor of his wife the Empresse Poppaea after one child-bed of hers where among other musicians he sung voluntary vpon the stage before the plaies began I saw him there my selfe to make shew of many broken pieces of one cup which he caused to be gathered together full charily as I take it to
paper Amphitheatrike which name was giuen vnto it of the place where it was made The polishing and trimming of this paper Fannius vndertooke who set vp a shop in Rome for the selling of it and so skilfull was he and curious in the handling and dressing thereof that by the time hee had done withall and brought it to a perfect finenesse hee made the same of a course and common paper to be royall fit for the best persons that should vse it in such sort as there was none in any request to speak of but it and called after his name it was Fanniana As for that which passed not thorow his hands nor had his workemanship it retained still the old bare name Amphitheatrica After this kind of paper followed that which they called Saitica of a towne or city in Egypt where great abundance was made thereof of the courser pieces and refuse of the said Papyrus And yet there was another paper to wit Taâ—…otica so called of a place neere adioyning made of the grosser part neere to the bark and outside and this they sold for the weight and no other goodnesse that it had besides As for the merchant Paper or shop-paper called Emporetica it was not for to write in onely it serued as wast Paper for sarplers to wrap and packe vp wares in also for coffins or coronets to lap spice and fruits in and thereupon merchants and occupiers gaue it that name And with this the very cane it selfe is to be seene clad outwardly and the vtmost coat thereof is like to a reed or bulrush fit for no purpose but to make cordage of and not very good for that vse neither vnlesse it be for the water only which it wil abide very wel Now the making of all these Papers was in this sort namely vpon a broad bord wet with the cleare water of Nilus For the fatty and muddie liquor therof serues in stead of glew wherwith at the first the thin leafe of the cane Papyrus sliued from the rest and laid vpon the bourd to the full length in manner of the warpe according as the trunke will giue leaue being cut off at both ends namely toward the top and the root is wet and besmeared then is there another laid ouerthwart it after the order of the woofe with a crosse graine to the other and so is the web as it were of the Paper performed Pressed afterwards it is in certaine presses that both leaues may sticke together and then the whole sheets are dried in the Sun Which done they be so couched together that the best and largest lie first and so consequently in order as they be worse and of lesse size vntill you come to the worst And one scape or trunke lightly of the cane Papyrus yeelds not aboue 20 such sheets Great difference there is in them for the breadth notwithstanding the length be all one The best namely which were taken out of the heart of the cane beare 13 fingers in breadth The Hieratica Paper wants two of that number The Fannian is but ten fingers broad The common Paper Amphitheatrica but nine Saitica yet fewer and will not beare â—…e stroke of the hammer And as for the merchants Paper it was so short and narrow that it went not aboue six fingers Moreouer in Paper these 4 things must be considered that it be fine well compact white and smooth Howbeit Claudius Caesar the Emperor abated the credite of the Paper Augusta that it was no more accounted the best for indeed so thin it was that it would not abide the dent of the pen besides it would not hold inke but shew the letters on the other side and was euermore in danger of blurring and blotting specially on the back part and otherwise vnsightly it was to the eie for that a man might so easily see thorough it And therefore he deuised to fortifie and strengthen the said Paper and laid another course or coat as it were ouer the former in manner of a double woofe Hee enlarged also the breadth of the Paper for he caused it to be a foot broad yea and some a foot and an halfe I meane that kind which was called Macrocola or large Roiall Paper But herin was a fault and reason found it out for if one leafe of this large Paper were plucked off the more pages took harme thereby and were lost And therfore the former Claudian Paper which had but 3 leaues of Papyrus was preferred before all the rest Howbeit that which was named Augustane bare the name for letters missiue and the Liuiane continued still in the owne credite hauing no property of the first and principall but all in a second degree The roughnesse of Paper is polished and smoothed either with some tooth or else with a Porcellane shell but the letters in such slick Paper will soone fade and decay For by polishing it will not receiue the inke so deepe as when it is not smoothed although otherwise it will shine the better Moreouer it falls out many times that if the humor be not artificially laid the Paper is very stubborn but this fault is soon found out at the very first stroke of the hammer or else discouered by the smell especially if good heed were not taken in the tempering therof As for the spots and speckles the eie will quickly spie them but the long streaks and veines lying close couched between the pasted places can hardly be discerned before that the letter runs abroad and shewes how in the spongeous substance of the Paper wanting that past the ink will sinke thorough and make blots so deceitfull is the making of this Paper What remedie then but to be at a second labor to past it new againe another way to wit with the common past that wee vse made with the finest floure of wheat and tempered with hote scalding water and a little vinegre mingled therwith For the joiners glue and that made of gums is brittle and will not abide the rolling vp of these sheets into quiers But they that wil go more surely to work and make an exquisite past indeed boile the soft and tender crums or leauenedbread in seathing water and then let it run thorough a strainer which they vse to this purpose For besides that the Paper hereby will be more firme and haue lesse flawes it surmounts also in sweetnesse the water of Nilus Moreouer all kind of past whatsoeuer for this effect ought neither to be staler than a day old nor yet fresher and vnder that age After that it is thus pasted they beat it thin with the hammer and a second time runne lightly ouer with new past and then being thus knit bound fast again it is made smooth and void of wrinkles and finally beaten euen with the hammer and driuen out in length and breadth After this manner was that Paper made wherin were written the bookes and records of the two Gracchi Tiberius and Caius with their owne hands
experience to be of great efficacie in fetching off werts if they bee annointed therewith A second sort there is which they call Myloecon because ordinarily it haunteth about mils and bake-houses and there breedeth these by the report of Musa and Pycton two famous Physitians being bruised after their heads were gone and applied to a body infected with the leprosie cured the same perfectly They of a third kind besides that they be otherwise ill favoured enough carry a lothsome and odious smell with them they are sharp rumped and pin buttockt also howbeit being incorporate with the oile of pitch called Pisselaeon they haue healed those vlcers which were thought Nunquam sana and incurable Also within 21. daies after this plastre laid too it hath been knowne to cure the swelling wens called the Kings evill the botcâ—…es or biles named Pani wounds contusions bruises morimals scabs and fellons but then their feet and wings were plucked off and cast away I make no doubt or question but that some of vs are so dainty and fine eared that our stomacke riseth at the hearing onely of such medicines and yet I assure you Diodorus a renowned Physitian reporteth That he hath giuen these foure flies inwardly with rosin and hony for the jaundise and to those that were so strait winded that they could not draw their breath but sitting vpright See what libertie and power ouer vs these Physitians haue who to practise and trie conclusions vpon our bodies may exhibite vnto their Patients what they list bee it neuer so homely so it goe vnder the name of a medicine Howbeit some of the more ciuile sort and who carried with them a better regard of man-hood and humanitie thought it better and a more cleanely kinde of Physicke to reserue in boxes of horne the ashes of them burnt for the vses aboue named Others also would beat them after they were dried into pouder and minister them in manner of a clystre unto those that were Orthopnoicke and Rheumaticke Certes it is well knowne and confessed that a liniment made of them will draw forth prickes thorns spils and whatsoeuer sticketh fast within the flesh Moreouer the honey wherein Bees were extinct and killed is soueraigne for the diseases of the eares As for the impostumes and swellings arising behinde the eares called Pacotides Pigeons dung applied thereunto either alone by it selfe or with barly meale and oatmeale driueth them backe or keepeth them down Also the liuer or brains of an Owle being resolued in some conuenient liquor and applied accordingly cureth the accidents of the lap of the eare and the foresaid impostumations so doth a liniment made of the wormes called Sowes together with the third part of rosin and lastly the cricquets aboue rehearsed either reduced into a liniment or else bound to whole as they be are good in these cases Thus much concerning those maladies aboue specified it remaineth now to proceed vnto other diseases and the medicinable receits respectiue vnto them drawne either from the same creatures or els from others of that kinde whereof I purpose to treat and discourse in the next booke ensuing THE THIRTIETH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proem CHAP. I. ¶ The originall and beginning of Art Magicke When it first began and who were the Inventors of it By whom it was practised and aduanced Also other Receits or medicines drawne from Beasts THe folly and vanitie of Art Magicke I haue oftentimes already taxed and confuted sufficiently in my former books when and wheresoeuer iust occasion and fit opportunitie was offered and still my purpose and intention is to discouer and lay open the abuse thereof in some few points behind And yet I must needs say the argument is such asdeserueth a large and ample discourse if there were but this only to enduce me That notwithstanding it be of all arts fullest of fraud deceit and cousenage yet neuer was there any throughout the whole world either with like credit professed or so long time vpheld maintained Now if a man consider the thing well no marnell it is that it hath continued thus in so great request and authoritie for it is the onely Science which seemeth to comprise in it selfe three professions besides which haue the command and rule of mans minde aboue any other whatsoeuer For to begin withall no man doubteth but that Magicke tooke root first and proceeded from physicke vnder the pretence of maintaining health curing and preuenting diseases things plausible to the world crept and insinuated farther into the heart of man with a deepe conceit of some high and diuine matter therein more than ordinarie and in comparison thereof all other physicke was but basely accounted And hauing thus made way and entrance the better to fortifie it selfe and to giue a goodly colour and lustre to those faire and flattering promises of things which our nature is most giuen to hearken after on goeth the habit also cloke of religion a point I may tel you that euen in these days holdeth captiuate the spirit of man and draweth away with it a grearer part of the world and nothing so much But not content with this successe and good proceeding to gather more strength and win a greater name she interming led with medicinable receits Religious ceremonies the skill of Astrologie and arts Mathematical presuming vpon this That all men by nature are very curious and desirous to know their future fortunes and what shal betide them hereafter persuading themselues that all such foreknowledge depends on the course and influence of the stars which giue the truest and most certain light of things to come Being thus wholly possessed of men and hauing their sences and vnderstanding by this meanes fast enough bound with three sure chaines no maruell if this art grew in processe of time to such an head that it was and is at this day reputed by most nations of the earth for the paragon chief of al sciences insomuch as the mighty kings and monarchs of the Levant are altogether ruled thereby And verily there is no question at all but that in those East parts and namely in the realme of Persia it found first footing and was inuented and practised there by Zoroastres as all writers in one accord agree But whether there was but that one Zoroastres or more afterward of that name it is not yet so certainly resolued vpon by all Aurhors for Eudoxus who held art Magicke to be of all professions philosophicall and learned disciplines the most excellent and profitable science hath recorded that this Zoroastres to whom is ascribed the inuention therof liued and flourished 6000 yeares before the death of Plato And of his minde is Aristotle also Howbeit Hermippus whowrot of that art most exquisitely and commented vpon the Poëme of Zoroastres containing a hundred thousand verses twenty times told of his making and made besides a Repertorie or Index to euery booke
of the said Poësie this Hermippus I say reports That one Azonaces taught Zoroastres Art Magick which master of his liued 5000 yeres before the war of Troy Certes I cannot chuse but maruell much first That this Science and the memoriall thereof should so long continue and the Commentaries treating of it not miscary and be lost all the while during such a world of years considering besides that neither it was ordinarily practised and continued by tradition from age to age nor the successors in that facultie were professors of the greatest name and renowned by any writings For what one is there thinke you among so many thousands that hath any knowledge so much as by bare heare-say of those who are named for the only Magitians in their time to wit Apuscorus Zaratus Medians Marmaridius of Babylon Hippocus the Arabian and Zarmocenidas of Assyria For bookes haue we none extant of their writing nor any monuments which beare record and giue testimonie of such clerks But the greatest wonder of all is this that Homer the Poet in his Ilias a poem composed purposedly of the Trojan war hath not so much as one word of Magick and yet in his Odyssaea where he discourseth of the aduentures trauels fortunes of prince Vlysses such a do and stirre there is with it as if the whole work consisted of nothing else but magicke For what is meant by the variable transformations of Proteus or by the songs of the Meremaids whereof he writeth so much but that the one was a great sorcerer the other famous witches or Inchantresses As for that which he relateth of lady Circe how shee wrought her feats by conjuration only and raising vp infernal spirits surely it sauoreth of art Magick and nothing else I musē much also that after Homers time there is no writer maketh mention how this art arriued at Telmessus a city in the marches of Lycia wholly addicted to religion so famous for the colledge of priests and soothsayers there or at what time it made a voiage and passed ouer into Thessaly where it reigned so rife and was so vsually practised in euery towne city that with vs here in these parts of the world it tooke the denomination of that countrey and retained the same a long time notwithstanding that the word Magicke indeed was appropriate vnto a strange and far remote Nation And verily considering how about the time of the war and destruction of Troy there was no other physick in vse but that which Chiron the Surgeon practised and that during the heat and bloudy wars only it seemeth very strange and wonderfull to me That the nation of Thessaly and the natiue country of Achilles and Chiron should become so famous for magick insomuch as Menander also a Poet by all mens iudgement so framed by nature for deep learning and excellent literature as that he had no concurrent in his time that came neere vnto him entituled one of his Comoedies Thessalica wherein he deciphered and depainted liuely vnto vs the whole order and manner of witches with all their charmes and incantations by the vertue wherof they would seem to pull the Moon down from heauen I would haue thought that Orpheus soon after and in the age next insuing had brought in first these superstitious ceremonies by reason of the propinquity and neighborhood of that region and that he proceeded therewith to the aduancement of physick but for one thing which plucketh me back namely that Thrace his naturall country and the place of his birth was altogether ignorant of Magick and knew not what it meant But as far as euer I could finde the first that is recorded to haue commented and written of this art was Osthanes who accompanied Xerxes K. of the Persians in that voiage and expedition which in warlike manner he made into Greece and to say a truth he it was that sowed the seeds of this monstrous Art and infected therewith by the way all parts of the world wheresoeuer he went and came Howbeit those Authors and historiographers who haue searched more neerly into the matter set down another Zoroastres born in the Isle Proconnesus who wrote somewhat before Osthanes of that argument neuerthelesse this is held for certain That Osthanes was the man who most of all other set the Greeke nations not onely in a hot desire but also in a madding fit and inraged as it were after Magick And yet I must needs say that I haue obserued that not only at first but also from time to time the grea test name that went of learned men and great philosophers for their singular skil and profound knowledge arose from the opinion that was of their insight in this Science Certain it is that Pythagoras Empedocles Democritus and Plato were so far in loūe therewith that for to attaine the knowledge thereof they vndertooke many voiages and journies ouer sea and land as exiled and banished persons wandring from place to place more like trauellers than students and beeing returned againe into their owne countries this Art they blazed abroad and highly praised this they held as a secret and diuine mysterie As for Democritus he raised a great name of Apollonices Captidenes and Dardanus of Phoenicia as well by the Books of Dardanus his master which he fetched from out of his sepulchre where they were bestowed as also by publishing commentaries of his owne which were extracts and draughts out of those authors and their writings which afterwards receiued and learned by others so passed from hand to hand and were so deeply ingrauen and imprinted in the minds and memories of men that I assure you I wonder at nothing in the world so much for so full they are of lyes so little or no truth godlinesse and honesty is contained in them that men of judgement and vnderstanding who approue and esteem his other Books of Philosophie will not beleeve that these workes were of Democritus his making howbeit this is but a vaine conceit and persuasion of theirs for well it is knowne confessed that Democritus led away an infinite number of people by this means no man so much filling their heads with many faire promises and the sweet impression thereof rauished their sprits after this Art Moreouer there is yet one point more whereat I wonder as much as at any other to wit that these two professions Physicke I mean and Magick flourished both together in one age and shewed themselues in their greatest glory which was about the Peloponnesiack war in Greece 300 yeares after the foundation of our citie of Rome at what time as Hippocrates professed the one and Democritus for his part published the other Now there is another faction as it were of Magitians which tooke the first foundation from Moses Iamnes and Iotapes Iewes but many thousands of yeares after Zoroastres and yet the Cyprian Magicke is later than so by as many yeres But to come againe vnto our