seene notwithstanding many times it hath deuoured cities and drawne into it a whole tract of ground and fields Sea coasts and maritime regions most of all other feele earthquakes Neither are the hilly countries without this calamitie for I my selfe haue known for certain that the Alps and Apenine haue often trembled In the Autumne also and Spring there happen more earthquakes than at other times like as lightnings And hereof it is that France and Egypt least of all other are shaken for that in Egypt the continuall Sommer and in France the hard Winter is against it In like manner earthquakes are more rife in the night than in the day time but the greatest vse to be in the morning and euening Toward day light there be many and if by day it is vsually about noon They fortune also to be when the Sun and Moone are eclipsed because then all tempests are asleepe and laid to rest But especially when after much raine there followes a great time of heate or after heate store of raine CHAP. LXXXj ¶ Signes of Earthquake comming SAilers also haue a certaine foreknowledge thereof and guesse not doubtfully at it namely when the waues swel suddenly without any gale of wind or when in the ship they are shocked with billowes shaking vnder them then are the things seen to quake which stand in the ship as well as those in houses and with a rustling noise giue warning before-hand The foules likewise of the aire sit not quietly without feare In the sky also there is signe thereof for there goeth before an earthquake either in day time or soon after the Sun is gon downe a thin streake or line as it were of a cloud lying out in a great length Moreouer the water in wels and pits is more thicke and troubled than ordinary casting out a stinking sent CHAP. LXXXij ¶ Remedies or helps against Earthquakes toward BVt a remedie there is for the same such as vaults and holes in many places do yeeld for they vent and breathe out the wind that was conceiued there before a thing noted in certain townes which by reason they stand hollow and haue many sinks and vaults digged to conuey away their filth are lesse shaken yea and in the same towns those parts which be pendant be the safer as is well seen in Naples where that quarter thereof which is sollid and not hollow is subiect to such casualties And in houses the arches are most safe the angles also of walls yea and those posts which in shaking will jog to and fro euery way Moreouer walls made of brick or earth take lesse harme when they be shaken in an earthquake And great difference there is in the very kinde and manner of earthquakes for the motion is diuers the safest is when houses as they rocke keep a trembling and warbling noise also when the earth seemeth to swell vp in rising and again to settle down and sink with an alternatiue motion Harmlesse it is also when houses run on end together by a contrary stroke and butt or jur one against another for the one mouing withstandeth the other The bending downward in maner of wauing and a certain rolling like to surging billowes is it that is so dangerous and doth all the mischiefe or when the whole motion beareth and forceth it selfe to one side These quakings or tremblings of the earth giue ouer when the winde is once vented out but if they continue still then they cease not vntill forty daies end yea and many times it is longer ere they stay for some of them haue lasted the space of a yeare or two CHAP. LXXXIII ¶ Monstrous Earthquakes seene neuer but once THere hapned once which I found in the books of the Tuscanes learning within the teritorie of Modena whiles L. Martius and S. Iulius were Consuls a great strange wonder of the earth for two hils encountred together charging as it were and with violence assaulting one another yea and retyring againe with a most mighty noise It fell out in the day time and between them there issued flaming fire and smoke mounting vp into the sky while a great number of Roman Gentlemen from the highway Aemylia and a multitude of seruants and passengers stood and beheld it With this conflict and running of them together all the villages vpon them were dashed and broken to pieces very much cattell that was within died therewith And this hapned the yeare before the war of our Associates which I doubt whether it were not more pernicious to the whole land of Italy than the ciuil wars It was no lesse monstrous a wonder that was knowne also in our age in the very last yeare of Nero the Emperour as we haue shewed in his acts when medows and oliue rowes notwithstanding the great publique port way lay betweene passed ouerthwart one into anothers place in the Marrucine territorie within the lands of Vectius Marcellus a gentleman of Rome Procurator vnder Nero in his affaires CHAP. LXXXIV ¶ Wonders of Earthquakes THere happen together with earthquakes deluges also and inundations of the sea being infused and entring into the earth with the same aire and wind or else receiued into the hollow receptacle as it setleth down The greatest earthquake in mans memory was that which chanced during the empire of Tiberius Caesar when twelue cities of Asia were laid leuell in one night But the earthquakes came thickest in the Punick war when in one yeare were reported to be in Rome 57. In which yeare verily when the Carthaginians and Romans fought a battell at Thrasymenus lake neither of both armies tooke notice of a great earthquake Neither is this a simple euill thing nor the danger consisteth only in the very earthquake and no more but that which it portendeth is as bad or worse Neuer abode the city of Rome any earthquake but it gaue warning thereof before hand of some strange accident and vnhappie euent following CHAP. LXXXV ¶ In what places the seas haue gone backe THe same cause is to be rendred of some new hill or piece of ground not seen before when as the said winde within the earth able to huffe vp the ground was not powerful enough to breake forth and make issue For firme land groweth not only by that which Riuers bring in as the Isles Echinades which were heaped and raised vp by the riuer Achelous and by Nilus the greater part of Egypt into which if wee beleeue Homer from the Island Pharus there was a cut by sea of a day and a nights sailing but also by the retiring and going backe of the sea as the same poet hath written of the Circeiae The like by report hapned both in the bay of Ambracia for ten miles space and also in that of the Athenians for fiue miles neere Pireaeum also at Ephesus where somtime the sea beate vpon the temple of Diana And verily if we giue eare to Herodotus it was all a sea from aboue Memphis to the Ethyopian
worse than the blasting aforesaid for when it falleth vpon any trees or plants it there resteth and remains stil it congealeth all into an yee and no puffe of wind there is to remoue and dislodge it for why such frosts commonly are not but in time of a stil cleer and calm aire Touching that manner of Blasting or misliking called Sideratio as if they were smitten with the maligne aspect of some planet this danger chanceth peculiarly by some drie and hote winds which are busie commonly about the rising of the Dog star at what time wee shall see vong trees and newly graffed to die outright especially Figge trees and Vines The Oliue ouer and besides the worme whereto it is subject as wel as the Figge tree hath another greefe and sorance called in Latin Clavus Fungus or Patella i. a Knur Puffe Meazil or Blister chuse â—…ou whether and nothing is it but a very sendge or burne by the sunne Furthermore Cato saith That the red Mosse is hurtfull vnto trees Oftentimes also wee find that as wel Oliues as Vines take harm by ouermuch fertilitie and fruitfulnes As sor scab and skurfe what tree is cleare of it The running mange or tettar is a mischeefe peculiar vnto the Fig tree as also to breed certain Hoddy-dods or shell-Snailes sticking hard therto and eating it And yet these maladies are not indifferent and alike in all parts of the tree For thus you must think that some diseases are appropriate to one place more than another For like as men are troubled with the Arthriticall torments or the Gout euen so be trees yea and after 2 sorts as well as they for either doth the disease take the way to the feet that is to say to the roots there breaketh out and sheweth it selfe or else it runneth to the exterior joynts and fingers to wit the smal branches and top twigs which be farthest remote from the main body of the tree Hereupon then begin they to drie wither and waxe blacke and verily the Greeks haue proper names and tearms respectiue to the one infirmity and the other which we in Latin want Howbeit we are in some sort able to expresse the Symptones following therupon and namely when we say first That a tree is ill at ease sicke and in pain euery where anon that it falls away looks ill poore and leane when wee see the fresh green hew gone and the branches fraile and brittle last of all that it is in a wast consumption or feuer hectick and dieth sensibly to wit when it receiueth no nourishment or not sufficient to reach vnto al parts and furnish them accordingly and the tame Figge tree of al others is more subject hereunto as for the wild they be exempt wholly from all these inconueniences hitherto named Now as touching the scab or scurfe incident vnto trees it commeth of certain foggie mists and clammie dewes which light softly and leisurely after the rising of the Brood-hen star Vergiliae for if they be thin and subtile they drench and wash the trees wel and do not infect them with the scab howbeit in case they fall down right or that there be an ouer great glut of showers and raine the Fig tree taketh harme another way namely by soaking of too much moisture into the root Vines ouer and aboue the Worme and the Blast haue a disease proper vnto themselues called Articulatio which is a certain barrainesse of theirs when they leese their spring in the verie joynt And this may come vpon three causes the first when by vnseasonable and ill weather as frost heat haile or other forcible impressions of the aire they forgoe their young sprouts the second as Theophrastus hath well noted if in pruning of them the cut stand vpward and open to the weather the third when they be hurt by those that haue the dressing of them for want of skill and taking good heed for all these wrongs and inconueniences they feele in their joynts or knots A seuerall kind of blasting or mortification there is besides in vines after they haue done blooming which is called Roratio namely when either the grapes do fall off or before they come to their full growth be baked as it were into a thick and hard callositie It happens also that they be otherwhiles sick in case after their pruning their tender oilets or buds be either bitten with the frost or sindged with some blast The same befalleth likewise to them vpon some vntimely or vnseasonable heat for surely in all things a certaine measure and moderate temperature doth well to bring them to their perfection To say nothing of the wrong that is done vnto them by the vine-masters themselues and husbandmen as they dresse and trim them namely when they bind them ouer-streight as hath been said before or when the labourer that diggeth about them chaunceth to do them one shrewd turne or other by some crooked crosse blow or else when the ploughman at vnawares doth loosen the root or glance vpon it with the share and so disbarke the bodie of it finally they haue injurie done vnto them in case the pruning-hooke bee ouer blunt and so giue them a bruse In regard of all these causes they are lesse able to beare either cold or heat for euery outward injurie is readie to pierce their fresh galls and a skald head is soon broken But the tenderest and weakest of al others be the Apple trees and namely the hastie kind that bringeth sweet Iennitings Howbeit some trees there be which vpon such feeblenesse and hurt done vnto them become barren onely and die not namely the Pine and Date tree for if a man fetch off their heads you shall see them faile in bearing fruit but this hurt will not kill them quite Moreouer it falleth out otherwhiles that the Apples only or other such fruits as they hang are diseased when as the tree aileth nothing to wit if in due trme they wanted rain warmth or winds that were needfull or contrariwise if they had too much of euery one for by such means they either fall from the tree of themselues or els they are the worse for it if they proue worth ought at all The greatest displeasure that can happen to Vine or Oliue tree is when in their very blooming they be pelted with violent showers of raine for together with the blossome down goeth the fruit of them both From the same cause proceed the cankerwormes or caterpillars a most daungerous and hurtfull kind of vermine to trees which will eat out the greene bud knot and all Others there be that wil deuoure the blossome and leaues of Oliues also as in Miletum and thus hauing consumed all the greene leaues leaue the trees bare naked and ill-fauored to the eye These wormes doe breed in moist and warme weather and especially if there be thick and foggie mists Of the same vermine there is another engendred namely if there ensue vpon the former wet season hotter gleames
both kinds and not accompany together vnlesse they tasted the milk and sucked the damme when they were yong of that kinde which they would couer And for this purpose they vse to steale away either the yong Asse foles and set them in the dark to the teats of the Mare or els the yong colts to suck of the she Asse For there is a kind of Mule also that comes of a stone horse and a female Asse but of all others they be vntoward and vnruly and so slow withall that it is vnpossible to bring them to any good seruice and much more as all things else if they be far in age when they ingender If when a she Asse hath taken the horse and be sped there come an Asse and couer her againe she will cast her fruit vntimely and lose all but it is not so if an horse couer her after an Asse It is noted found by experience that seuen daies after an Asse hath foled is the best time to put the male vnto her and then soonest will she be sped as also that the he Asses being wearie with trauel wil better couer the femals than otherwise being resty That Asse is held for barren which is not couered nor conceiueth before she haue cast her sucking or foles teeth whereby the age is known as also she that standeth not to the first couering but loseth it In old time they vsed to call those Hinuli which were begotten betweene a horse and an Asse and contrariwise Mules such as were ingendred of an Asse and a Mare Moreouer this is obserued that if two beasts of diuers kindes ingender they bring forth one of a third sort and resembling none of the parents also that such begotten in this maner what kind of creatures soeuer they be are themselues barren and fruitles vnable either to beare or beget yong And this is the cause that she mules neuer breed We finde verily in our Chronicles that oft times Mules brought forth yong foles but it was alwaies taken for a monstrous and prodigious signe And yet Theophrastus saith that in Cappadocia ordinarily they do beare and bring forth foles but they are a kind by themselues Mules are broken of their flinging and wincing if they vse often to drinke wine It is found written in many Greeke authors that if an he Mule couer a Mare there is ingendred that which the Latins call Hinnus that is to say a little Mule Between Mares and wild Asses made tame there is ingendred a kind of Mules very swift in running and exceeding hard hoofed lanke and slender of bodie but fierce and couragious and vnneth or hardly to be broken But the Mule that comes of a wild Asse and a female tame Asse passeth all the rest As for wild asses the very best floure of them be in Phrygia and Lycaonia In Africke the flesh of their foles is held for excellent good meat and such they cal Lalisiones It appeares in the Chronicles of Athens That a mule liued 80 yeares And reported thus much there is of it That when they built the temple within the citadel thereof this old Mule being for age able to do nothing els would yet accompanie other Mules that laboured and caried stones thither and if any were ready to fall vnder their lode would seeme to relieue and hold them vp and as it were incourage them to his power insomuch as the people tooke so great delight and pleasure therein that they made a decree and took order that no corn-masters that bought and sold graine should beat this mule from their ranging siues when they clensed or winnowed their corne but that he might eat vnder them CHAP. XLV ¶ Of Buls Kine and Oxen. THe Boeufs of India are as high by report as Camels and foure foot broad they are betwixt the horns In our part of the world those that come out of Epirus are most commended and beare the greatest price aboue all others and namely those which they say are of the race breed of king Pyrrhus who that way was very curious For this prince because he would haue a principall good breed would not suffer the Buls to come vnto the kine and season them before they were both foure yeares old Mighty big they were therefore and so they continue of that kind vnto this day How beit now when they be but heifers of one yeare or two yeres at the most which is more tolerable they are let go to the fellow and breed Buls may wel ingender and serue kine when they be 4 yeares old and one of them is able all the yeare long to goe with ten kine and serue their turne They say moreouer that a Bull after he hath leapt a Cow and done his kind if he go his way toward the right hand he hath gotten an oxe calfe but contrariwise a cow calfe if he take the left hand Kine commonly take at their first seasoning but if it chance that they misse and stand not to it the 20 day after they seeke the fellow and goe a bulling againe In the tenth moneth they calue and whatsoeuer falleth before that terme never proueth nor commeth to good Some write That they calue iust vpon the last day of the tenth moneth complete Seldome bring they forth two calues at a time Their seasoning time commonly continueth 30 daies namely from the rising of the Dolphin starre vnto the day before the Nones of Ianuarie howbeit some there be that go to fellow in Autumne Certes in those countries where the people liue altogether of milke they order the matter so that their kine calue at all times so as they are not without their food of fresh milke all the yeare long Bulls willingly leape not aboue two kine at most in one day Boeufes alone of all liuing Creatures can grase going backeward and verily among the Gamarants they neuer feed otherwise Kine liue not aboue 15 yeares at the vtmost bulls and oxen come to 20 they be at their â—…ll strength when they are 5 yeres old It is said that they will grow fat if they be bathed with lot water or if a man slit their hide and with a reed or pipe blow wind betweene the flesh and the skin euen into their intrals Kine Buls and Oxen are not to be despised as vnkindely although they look but ilfauoredly and be not so faire to the eie for in the Alpes the least of bodie are the best milch kine and the best laboring oxen are they which are yoked by the head and not the neck In Syria they haue no dewlaps at all hanging vnder the necke but bunches standing vp on their backs in stead thereof They of Caria also a country of Asia are ilfauored to sight hauing betweene their neckes and shoulders a tumor or swelling hanging ouer besides their horns are loose and as it were out of joint and yet by report they are passing good of deed and labor most stoutly Furthermore it is generally held
ballace his body and so plungeth himselfe down and sinketh to the bottom CHAP. XXX Of the many-foot fish called Ozaena of the Nauplius and Locusts of the sea or Lobster OF the Polypus or Pourcontrell kind with many feet is the Ozaena so called of the strong sauor of their heads for which cause especially the Lampreys follow in chase after him As for the Many-feet or Pourcuttels they lie hidden for two months together and aboue two yeares they liue not They die alwaies of a consumption or Phthysicke the female sooner than the males and ordinarily after that they haue brought forth their yong frie. I cannot ouerpasse but record the reports of Trebius Niger one of the traine and retinue ef L. Lucullus Proconsull in Boetica which he vpon his knowledge deliuered as touching these Many-feet fishes called Polypi namely That they are most desirous and greedie of cockles muscles and such like shell-fishes and they againe on the contrarie side so soone as they feele themselues touched of the Polypes shut their shels hard and therwith cut asunder their clawes or armes that were gotten within and thus fall they to feed vpon those who sought to make a prey of them Now in very truth these shel-fishes all of them see not at all neither haue they any other sense but tasting of their meat feeling of their drinke These Polypi foreseeing all this lie in wait to spie when the said cockles c. gape wide open and put in a little stone between the shels but yet beside the flesh bodie of the fish for feare lest if it touched and felt it she would cast it forth again thus they theeue and without all daunger and in securitie get out the fleshie substance of the meat to deuoure it the poore cockles draw their shels together for to clasp them between as is aboue-said but all in vaine for by reason of a wedg between they will not meet close nor come neere together See how subtle and craftie in this point these creatures be which otherwise are most sottish and senselesse Moreouer the said Trebius Niger affirmeth that there is not any other beast nor fish in the sea more daungerous to doe a man a mischiefe within the water than is this Pourcuttle or Many-feet Polypus for if he chance to light on any of these diuers vnder the water or any that haue suffered shipwracke and are cast away he assailes them in this manner He catcheth fast hold of them with his clawes or armes as if he would wrestle with them and with the hollow concauities and noukes between keepeth a sucking of them and so long he suckes and sokes their bloud as it were cupping-glasses set to their bodies in diuers places that in the end he draweth them drie But the only remedie is this to turne them vpon their backe and then they are soone done and their strength gone for let them lie so they stretch out themselues abroad and haue not the power to clasp or comprehend any thing And verily all liuing creatures in the sea loue the smell of them exceeding well which is the cause that fishers besmare and anoint their nets with them to draw and allure fishes thither The rest which mine author hath related as touching this fish may seem rather monstrous lies and incredible than otherwise for he affirmed that at Carteia there was one of these Polypi which vsed commonly to go forth of the sea and enter into some of their open cesterns and vauts among their ponds and stewes wherein they keep great sea-fishes and otherwhiles would rob them of their salt-fish and so go his waies againe which he practised so long that in the end he gat himselfe the anger and displeasure of the maisters and keepers of the said ponds and cesterns with his continuall immeasurable filching whereupon they staked vp the place and empalled it round about to stop all passage thither But this thief gaue not ouer his acustomed haunt for all that but made meanes by a certaine tree to clamber ouer and get to the fore-said salt fish and neuer could he be taken in the manner nor discouered but that the dogges by their quick sent found him out and baied at him for as he returned one night toward the sea they assailed and set vpon him on all sides and therwith raised the foresaid keepers who were afrighted at this so sudden an alarm but more at the strange sight which they saw For first and foremost this Polype fish was of an vnmeasurable and incredible bignesse and besides he was besmeared beraied all ouer with the brine and pickle of the foresaid salt-fish which made him both hideous to see to and to stinke withall most strongly Who would euer haue looked for a Polipe there or taken knowledge of him by such marks as these Surely they thought no other but that they had to deale and encounter with some monster for with his terrible blowing and breathing that he kept he draue away the dogs and otherwhiles with the end of his long stringed winding feet he would lash and whip them somtimes with his stronger clawes like arms he rapped and knoked them well and surely as it were with clubs In summe he made such good shift for himselfe that hardly and with much adoe they could kill him albeit he receiued many a wound by trout-spears which they launced at him Wel in the end his head was brought and shewed to Lucullus for a wonder as big it was a as good round hogshead or barrel that would take and containe 15 Amphores and his beards for so Trebius tearmed his clawes and longstringed feet carried such a thicknesse and bulke with them that hardly a man could fathome one of them about with both his armes such knockers they were knobbed and knotted like clubs and withall 30 foot long The concauities within them and hollow vessels like great basons would hold 4 or 5 gallons a peece and his teeth were answerable in proportion to the bignes of his bodie The rest was saued for a wonder to be seene and weighed 700 pound weight This author of mine Trebius affirmeth that Cuttels also and Calamaries haue been cast vpon that shore ful as big Indeed in our sea there be Calamaries taken of 5 cubits long and Cuttels of twaine in length and these liue not aboue two yeares Mutianus reporteth that himselfe saw in Propontis another kind of fish carying as it were a ship of his owne and making saile with it like to some galley and a shel-fish it was fashioned with a keele like to a barge or barke with a poupe embowed and turned vp yea and armed as it were in the proe with a three-forked pike Within which lay hidden as he saith another liuing creature called Nauplius resembling a Cuttle fish and for no other reason in the world but to make sport and play with it for companie Now the manner of this pastime and sailing was in two
vp with her tallons she throweth them downe from aloft to breake their shells And it was the fortune of the Poet Aeschylus to die by such a meanes For when he was foretold by wizards out of their learning that it was his destinie to die on such a day by some thing falling on his head he thinking to preuent that got him forth that day into a great open plain far from house or tree presuming vpon the securitie of the cleare and open skie Howbeit an Aegle let fall a Tortoise which light on his head dasht out his braines and laid him asleep for euer Of the fourth knid is Percnopterus the same that Oripelargus fashioned like to a Geire or Vulture it hath least wings a bodie bigger than the rest but a very coward fearfull of a bastard and crauen kind for a rauen will beat her Besides she hath a greedie and hungrie worm alwaies in her georg and craw and neuer is content but whining and grumbling Of all Aegles she only carrieth away with her the dead prey feedes thereupon in the aire wheras others haue no sooner killed but they prey ouer them in the place This bastard buzzard kind maketh that the fifth which is the roiall Aegle is called in Greek Gnesios as one would say true and kindly as descended from the gentle and right airie of Aegles This Aegle roial is of a middle bignesse and of a reddish colour a rare bird to be seene There remaineth now the sixt and last sort and that is Haliartos This Aegle hath the quickest and clearest eie of all other soaring mounting on high when she spieth a fish in the sea downe she comes with a power plungeth into the water and breaking the force thereof with her brest quickly she catcheth vp the fish and is gone That Aegle which we named in the third place haunting lakes fens and standing waters for to prey vpon water-foule who to shift from her are driuen otherwhile to diue vnder the water but she presseth so hard vpon them that they be wearied and astonied in the end and then she catcheth them vp and carieth them away A worthy sport it is to see the maner of their scuffling whiles the silly riuer bird makes means to gain the bank side for refuge especially if it be well grown with reeds and the Aegle for her part driues her from thence with the clap and stroke of the wing whiles I say as the Egle striketh and there with plungeth her selfe down into the water the poore fowle that swims vnderneath seeing the shadow of the Egle houering about the bank side riseth vp again in another place far enough off from the Egle and where shee imagined she should be least looked for Which is the cause that these wild fowle in the water commonly swim in flockes For when they are many together they are not much troubled and annoied by reason that with fluttering their pinnions with dashing and flapping the water with their wings they dazle the sight of their enemie Oftentimes also the very Egles not able to weld the prey that they haue seised on are together with it drawne vnder the water so drowned Now as touching the Haliartos or the Osprey she only before her little ones be feathered will beat and strike them with her wings and thereby force them to looke full against the sun beames now if she see any one of them to winke or their eies to water at the raies of the Sun she turns it with the head forward out of the nest as a bastard and not right nor none of hers but bringeth vp and cherisheth that whose eye will abide the light of the Sun as she looks directly vpon him Moreouer these Orfraies or Ospreies are not thought to be a seuerall kind of Egles by themselues but to be mungrels and ingendred of diuers sorts And their young Ospraies be counted a kind of Ossifragi from them come the lesser Geires they again breed the greater which ingender not at all Some reckon yet another kind of Egle which they cal Barbatae and the Tuscanes Ossifrage But of the six kinds before rehearsed the 3 first and the fift haue in their nest a stone found named Aeetites which some call Gagates and it is therein ingendred This stone is medicinable and singular good for many diseases and if it be put into the fire it wil neuer a whit consume Now this stone as they say is also with child for if a man shake it he shall heare another to rattle and sound within as it were in the belly or wombe of it But that vertue medicinabâ—… abouesaid is not in these stones if they be not stollen out of the very nest from the airie 〈◊〉 they do and make their nests vpon rocks and trees Three egs commonly they lay whereof two only they vse to hatch howbeit somtimes they haue bin seen to haue 3 yong ones But lightly one of them they turn out of the nest because they would not be troubled with feeding nourishing it And verily Nature hath wel prouided that at such a time the old Egles should not be able to puruey sufficient for meat for otherwise if they should reare their birds they were enough to destroy the yong breed of deere wild beasts in a whole country that there should be no venison nor game at all for gentlemen Moreouer by the same prouidence of Nature all that while their tallons or clees hooke and turne inward very much also for very hunger their feathers wax gray white so as they haue good cause not to abide their yong But when they haue cast them off the Ossifrages which are neere of k in vnto them are ready to take them and bring them vp with their own birds But the old Aegles their dammes not content therewith persecute them still when they are growne to be bigge ones beating and chasing them away farre off as their very concurrents and who would intercommune with them and rob them of their prey And were it not so certainly one airie of Egles needs the reach of a whole country to furnish them with venison sufficient to their full They haue therefore their seuerall coasts and walks and without those limits and vsuall haunts they rauen not When they haue seised of any prey they carry it not away presently but first lay it downe peruse and peise the weight of it and then away they fly therewith amaine but not before They die not for age nor vpon any sicknesse but of very famine by reason that the vpper beake of their bil is so far ouergrown and turns inward so much that they are not able to open it to feed themselues Their maner is ordinarily to go to their busines namely to fly and seek their prey after noon for all the forenoon they are perched vp doing nothing waiting the time when men be not stirring abroad but about their markets within the cities and
light and settle vpon the very head of the fouler Also if he chance to approch the nest of the brood-hen she will run forth and be about his feet she wil counterfeit that she is very heauy and cannot scarse go that she is weake and enfeeblished and either in her running or short flight that she taketh she wil catch a fall and make semblance as if she had broken a leg or a wing then will she run out againe another way and when he is ready to take her vp yet will she shift away and escape and so put him besides his hope And all this doth shee to amuse the Fouler after her vntill she haue trained him a contrary way from the couey Now by that time that shee is past that feare and freed of the motherly care she had of her yong ones then will she get into the furrow of some land lie along on her back catch a clot of earth vp with her feet and therewith hide her whole body and so saue both her selfe and her couey To conclude Partridges by report liue 16 yeres CHAP. XXXIV ¶ Of House-doues NExt after Partridges the nature of Doues would be considered since that they haue in a manner the same qualities in that respect howbeit they be passing chaste and neither male nor female change their mate but keep together one true vnto the other They liue I say as coupled by the bond of mariage neuer play they false one by the other but keep home still and neuer visit the holes of others They abandon not their owne nests vnlesse they bee in state of single life or widdow head by the death of their fellow The females are very meek and patient they wil indure and abide their emperious males notwithstanding otherwhiles they be very churlish vnto them offering them wrong and hard measure so jealous be they of the hens and suspicious though without any cause and occasion giuen for passing chaste and continent by nature they are Then shall ye heare the cocks grumble in the throat quarrell and complain and all to rate the hens then shall ye see them peck and job at them cruelly with their beakes and yet soone after by way of satisfaction and to make amends again for their curst vsage they will fall to billing and kissing them louingly they will make court vnto them and wooe them kindly they will turne round about many times together by way of flatterie and as it were by praiers seeke vnto them for their loue As well the male as the female be careful of their yong pigeons and loue them alike nay ye shall haue the cocke oftentimes to rebuke yea chastise the hen if she keep not the nest well or hauing bin abroad for comming no sooner home againe to her yong And yet kind they be to them when they are about to build lay and sit A man shall see how ready they be to helpe to comfort and minister vnto them in this case So soon as the egs be hatched ye shall see them at the very first spit into the mouths of the yong pigeons salt brackish earth which they haue gathered in their throat thereby to prepare their appetite to meat and to season their stomacks against the time that they should eat Doues and Turtles haue this property in their drinking not to hold vp their bils between-whiles and draw their necks backe but to take a large draught at once as horses and kine do CHAP. XXXV ¶ Of Stockedoues SOme authors we haue who affirme that Stockdoues liue ordinarily 30 yeres and some vntill they be 40 yeares old In which time they find no infirmitie nor discommodity at all but only this That their clawes be ouergrowne which is a signe of their age howbeit they may be pared without danger They haue all of them one and the same manner of tune in their singing and commonly they make three rests in their song besides the fa-burden in the end which is a kind of grone All winter they be silent in spring they are loud enough the woods resound with them Nigidius is of opinion that if a man call vnto a Stockdoue within-house as she is sitting vpon her egs she will leaue her nest and come at the call They doe lay after Midsommer These doâ—…es and Turtles liue eight yeres CHAP. XXXVI ¶ Of Sparrowes COntrariwise the Sparrow is but short liued howbeit as lecherous as the best The cocke Sparrow by report liueth but one yeare the reason why men so thinke is because in the spring there is not one of them found with a blacke bill and yet in summer before it began to be blacke The hens liue somwhat longer But to come againe to Doues it is generally held that they haue a certaine sense and feeling of glory and a man would verily thinke that they haue a knowledge of their gay feathers and how they are changeably coloured as a man looketh vpon them as they stand Moreouer they seem to take a pride in their flying whiles they keep a clapping of their wings and cutting of the aire euery way as if they had a pleasure to be flying abroad In which brauerie of theirs whiles they flap with their wings and keepe a glorious noise which cannot be without the beating of their very pinions together they are exposed to the Faulcon and other hauks as prisoners fast bound and tied for otherwise if they would flie at liberty and ease without keeping such ado with their clapping they were much more swift of wing than the very hawks that prey vpon them But the hawke like a very theefe lieth hidden among the boughes and branches of trees marketh the Doue how he fetcheth his flight and taketh his pleasure in the aire and when he seeth his time in all this glory of his and the mids of his brauery seizeth vpon him and carieth him away CHAP. XXXVII ¶ Of the Kestrell TO preuent this danger therefore the Doues need to haue with them the bird which is called Tinnunculus i. a Kestrill or Stannell for she defendeth them and by a certaine naturall power that she hath skareth and terrifieth all other haukes insomuch as they cannot abide either to see her or to heare her cry Wherupon Doues aboue all others loue these birds And as men say pigeons wil not leaue their own douecoat to flie to another if in the foure corners thereof there be enterred foure Kestrils aboue said in foure new earthen pots well nealed and neuer vsed before But others haue vsed means to keep pigeons in their doue house for otherwise they be birds that loue to be ranging and wandring abroad namely by slitting and cutting the ioints of their wings with some thin sharp piece of gold for if you do not so their wounds will fester and be dangerous And in very truth these birds be soon seduced and trained away from their owne homes and they haue a cast with them to flatter and entise one another they
hands 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
than to labor a ground exceeding much and to ouer-til it L. Rarius Rufus a man of very base and low parentage descended yet aduanced to the Consular dignity for his prowesse in feats of arms was otherwise very thrifty and sparing after the maner of the old world insomuch as partly by his niggardise and partly through the liberality of Augustus Caesar he had gathered good together amounting to the sum of an hundred millions of Sesterces all which masse of money what with purchasing land to land in the Picene country and what with bestowing such a deale of husbandry vpon it more ywis of a vain glory and ostentation than for any profit that he reaped thereby he laid forth and spent euery whit of that stock insomuch as hardly he could finde any man that would take vpon him to be his executor or to accept simply of the inheritance What shall we say then or what good commeth of such houses or lands so chargeable as that they are like to cost a man his life and that by famine I hold therfore that in all things a mean is best and bringeth greatest profit in the end To till and husband ground well is necessary to ouer-do the same and to exceed turneth more to the damage than the profit of the lord vnlesse it were done by his own children or to maintain the charge of keeping such hinds as otherwise must be found if they sat still and did nothing for setting that cause aside it falleth out oftentimes that the gathering and inning of some haruest if a man count all the pains emploied and the mony of the purse is nothing beneficial to the master In like maner Oliues would not alwaies be tended and looked vnto ouermuch neither do some grounds require much diligence but are the worse for such attendance as may be seen by report in Sicily which is the cause that new commers thither for to be tenants and to occupy those lands are many times deceiued and put besides their reckoning After what manner then shall we proceed in the husbandry of our land to most benefit and behoofe Learn a rule out of the Oracle or sententious riddle which goeth in this forme Malis bonis i. Cheapest Best But herein me thinks good reason it is that our old great grandfathers should be defended and excused for holding these strange and obscure paradoxes they I say who by such rules and precepts tooke great care and paines to instruct vs how to liue Would you know then what they meant by this word Malis surely they vnderstood those that were cheapest and stood them in least The chiefe point of all their prouidence and forecast was to goe the nearest way to worke and to be at the smallest cost and no maruell for who were they that gaue out these thriftie precepts euen those who reproched a victorious General and one who triumphed ouer the enemy for hauing a cupboord of siluer plate weighing but ten pound those I say who if their bayliffes of husbandrie chanced to die whereby their lands in the countrey stood void would make suit to be gone themselues thither and to return to their own fermes leauing behind them the glory of all their victories by them atchieued and to conclude euen those who whiles they were imploied in the conduct of armies had their grounds looked vnto and tilled at the charges of the common-weale and had no other for their bayliffs than the noble Senators of Rome From their mouths came these other oracles and wise sentences following An ill husband is he who is forced to buy that which his ferme might affoord him As bad is that housholder master of a family who doth that in the day which might be don by night vnlesse vnseasonable weather driue him to it worse than either of these is he who doth that vpon work-daies which should haue bin done on play daies or idle holidaies but the worst of all other is he who when the weather is fair wil chuse to work rather within close house than abroad in the open field here I cannot hold and rule my selfe but I must needs alledge one example out of antient histories whereby it may be vnderstood How it was an ordinary matter to commense actions and to maintaine pleas in open court before the body of the people in the case of Husbandry as also in what sort those good Husbandmen of old time were wont to defend their owne cause when they were brought into question And this was the case There was one C. Furius Cresinus late a bond-slaue and newly infranchised who after that hee was set at liberty purchased a very little piece of ground out of which he gathered much more commodity than all his neighbors about him out of their great and large possessions whereupon he grew to be greatly enuied and hated insomuch as they charged him with indirect means as if he had vsed sorcery and by charmes and witch-craft drawne into his owne ground that increase of fruits which should otherwise haue growne in his neighbors fields Thus vpon complaint and information giuen he was presented and indited by Spurius Albinus an Aedile Curule for the time being and a day was set him down peremptorily for his personal appearance to answer the matter He therfore fearing the worst and doubting that he should be cast to pay some grieuous fine at what time as the Tribes were ready to giue their voices either to acquit or condemne him brought into the common place his plough with other instruments and furniture belonging to husbandry he presented likewise in the open face of the court his owne daughter a lusty strong lasse and big of bone yea and as Piso telleth the tale well fed and as well clad he shewed there I say his tooles and plough yrons of the best making and kept in as good order maine and heauy coulters strong and tough spades massie and weighty plough-shares and withall his draught Oxen ful and faire Now when his course came to plead his own cause before the people and to answer for himselfe thus he began and said My masters quoth he you that are citizens of Rome behold these are the sorceries charms and all the inchantments that I vse pointing to his daughter his oxen furniture abouenamed I might besides quoth he alledge mine owne trauell and toile that I take the early rising and late sitting vp so ordinary with me the carefull watching that I vsually abide and the painefull sweats which I daily indure but I am not able to represent these to your view nor to bring them hither with me into this assembly The people no sooner hard this plea of his but with one voice they all acquit him and declared him vnguilty without any contradiction By which example verily a man may soone see that good husbandrie goeth not all by much expence but it is pains taking and careful diligence that doth the deed And hereupon came the old
be made of Zea than of Wheat and called it is Granum or Granatum although in Alica that be counted a fault To conclude they that wil not vse chalk do blanch and make their Frumentie white by seething milke with it and mingling all together CHAP. XII ¶ Of Pulse IT followeth now to write of the nature of Pulse among which Beanes do challenge the first ranke and principall place for thereof men haue assaied to make bread The meale of Beans is called in Latine Lomentum There is not a Pulse weigheth more than it and Beane meale makes euery thing heauier wherin it is Now adaies they vse to sel it for prouender to feed horses And indeed Beanes are dressed and vsed many waies not only to serue all kind of four-footed beasts but also for man especially For in most countries it is mingled with Frumentiâ—… corn and namely with Pannicke most of all whole and entire as it is but the more delicat and daintie way is to break and bruise it first Moreouer by ancient rites and religious ceremonies at the solemn sacrifice called Fabraria the maner was to offer vnto certain gods and goddesses Beane cakes This was taken for a strong food being eaten with a thick grewel or pottage howbeit men thought that it dulled a mans sences and vnderstanding yea and caused troublesome dreames in the night In regard of which inconueniences Pythagoras expressely forbad to eat Beanes but as some haue thought and taught it was because folke imagined that the soules of such as were departed had residence therein which is the reason also that they be ordinarily vsed and eaten at the funerals and obsequies of the dead Varro also affirmeth That the great Priest or Sacrificer called the Flamine abstains from Beanes both in those respects aforesaid as also for that there are to be seen in the floure thereof certain letters or characters that shewheauines and signs of death Further there was obserued in old time a religious ceremonie in Beanes for when they had sown their grounds their maner was of all other corne to bring back with them out of the fieldes some Beanes for good luck sake presaging thereby that their corne would returne home again vnto them and these Beanes thereupon were called in Latine Refriuae or Referiuae Likewise in all port-sales it was thought that if Beanes were entermingled with the goods offered to be sold they would be luckie and gainefull to the seller This is cerataine that of all the fruits of the earth this only will be full and sound when the Moone is croisant notwithstanding it were gnawne and halfe eaten with some thing before Set them ouer the fire in a pan with sea water or any other that is saltish they will neuerbe thoroughly sodden They are set or sowne before the retrait of the Starre Vergiliae i. the Brood-hen the first of al other Pulse because they might take root betimes and preuent the Winter And yet Virgill would haue them to be put into the ground in the Spring like as the manner is in Piemont and Lombardie all about the riuer Po. But the greater part of good Husbandmen are of this opinion That the stalke or straw of Beanes sowne early or set betimes are better than the very fruit it selfe which hath had but three months being in the ground For the cods and stalks only of Beans are passing good fodder and forage for cattell Beanes when they are blouming and in their floure desire most of al to be refreshed with good store of rain but after they haue don flouring they care for little the sowing of this Pulse in any ground is as good as a mucking vnto it for it enriches it mightily And therefore towards Macedonie and about Thessalie the manner is when Beanes begin to blossom for to turne them into the ground with the plough Beans come vp and grow in most places of their owne accord without sowing and namely in certaine Islands lying within the Northern ocean which our countrymen therupon haue named Fabariae Semblably they grow wild commonly thoroughout Mauritania but exceeding hard and tough they be and such as possibly canot be sodden tender There are likewise in Aegypt to be found Beanes with a stalk beset full of prickles or thornes which is the cause that Crocodiles wil not come neer them for feare of hurting their eyes The stemme of these Beanes is foure cubites in height but exceeding thicke and big withall tender it is notwithstanding and soft running vp euen and smooth without any knots or joints at al it caries a head in the top like Chesboule or Poppy of a rose red color wherin are contained not aboue 30 Beanes at the most The leaues be large the fruit it selfe or the Bean is bitter in tast and the smel not pleasant howbeit the root is a most dainty meat which the inhabitants do eat as wel raw as sodden and like it is to reed cane roots These grow in Syria and Cylicia as also about the lake Torone within Chalcis As touching other Pulse Lentils be sown in Nouember and so are Pease but in Greece only Lentils loue a light ground better than a fat heauie they like also drie and faire weather Two kinds thereof be found in Aegypt the one more round and blacke than the other the rest be fashioned as common Lentils According to the manifold vse and diuers effects of Lentils there haue sundrie names and denominations beene borrowed from them for I find in writers that the eating of Lentils maketh men to be mild and patient whereupon they be called Lenti and Lenes As for Pease it ought to be sowed in warm places lying well vpon the Sunne for of all things it cannot abide the cold Which is the cause that in Italie and in other countries where the clime is tough and hard they are not sowne vsually but in the Spring and folke chuse a gentle light and loose ground To come now to the Ciâ—…h pease the nature of it is to be nitrous and saltish and therefore it burneth the ground where it grows Neither must it be sowne vnlesse it were well steeped and soked in water the day before many sorts there be of these cich-pease different in bignes form colour and tast for there are both blacke and white and those in fashion shaped like to a Rams head and therupon they are so called There is a second kind named Columbinum or by others Venerium These are white round light lesse than the former Rams-head ciches which men do eat ceremoniously with great religion when they meane to watch thoroughly all night long There is a little cich pease also called Cicercula made cornered and otherwise vneuen like vnto a Pease But the best ciches and most pleasant are those that come neerest in resemblance to the Eruile and generally the red kind and the black are more firm and fast than the white cich pease grow within round cods whereas other Pulse
onely vpon the head allaieth by report the ach thereof More than it it is said That the very sent of Pennyroiall preserueth the brain from the offence that may come by the distemperature either of heat or cold yea and from the inconuenience of thirstinesse insomuch as whosoeuer haue two branches or sprigs of Pennyroiall put into his ears shall feele no accessiue heat though they continued in the Sun all the day long Peniroiall being applied in form of a liniment together with Barly groats and vinegre assuageth all grienous paines watsoeuer Howbeit the female of this kind is thought to be of greater operation euery way than the male Now hath this female a purple floure that you may know it thereby from the other for that of the male is white The female Penyroiall taken in a mash made with salt and barley groats in cold water staieth a kecklish stomack and keepeth it from the inordinat desire and many offers to cast In the same manner also it easeth the paine of the breast and belly Likewise the gnawings of the stomack it ceaseth being taken in water as also immoderat vomits it represseth with vinegre and barley groats Being sodden in hony with a little nitre among it cureth the maladies of the guts If one drinke it with wine it causeth abundance of vrine and if the said wine be made of the Amminean grapes it expelleth the stone and grauell yea and all things els which may engender inward pains If it be taken with honey and vinegre it prouoketh womens termes and quieteth them when they lie gnawing and fretting inwardly yea and sendeth forth the after-burden The same setleth the mother and reduceth it into the right place It expelleth also the dead child within the mothers body The seed of Peniroial if it be smelled vnto is singular good to recouer their tongue againe who be speechlesse for the falling sicknesse also it is giuen in a cyath of vinegre If it fortune that one must drink vnholesome waters the seed thereof reduced into pouder and strewed therupon correcteth all the malice thereof If the same be taken in wine it slaketh the itch in the bodie proceeding of hot and salt humors The seed of Pennyroiall mingled with salt vinegre and honey if it be wel rubbed into the bodie comforteth the sinewes in case of cramps and convulsions and particularly helpeth those who with a crieke are forced to carrie their necke much backeward The decoction therof is a soueraigne drinke against the sting of Serpents and particularly of Scorpions if it be bruised and taken with wine especially that which groweth in drie places Moreouer Penyroiall is held to be very soueraigne for the cankers or vlcers in the mouth and as effectuall to stay the cough The floures of Penyroial that be fresh and new gathered if they be burnt make a singular perfume to kill fleas Among many good receits that Xenocrates hath left vnto vs we find this for one namely That a branch of Pennyroiall wrapped within wooll and giuen to the patient for to smell vnto before the fit come of a tertian ague driueth it away as also if it be put vnder the couerlet of the bed and the Patient laid vpon it it doth no lesse For these purposes abouenamed the wild Penyroiall is of most efficacie This hearbe resembleth Origan and hath smaller leaues than the Penyroiall of the Garden some giue it the name of Dictamnus If it chance that either sheepe or goats do tast thereof it prouoketh them presently to blea whereupon certain authors changing one letter for another in Greeke call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This herb is so hot and ardent that if any part of the body be rubbed or annointed therewith it will rise into a blister If one haue taken a through-cold and thereby gotten a cough Physitians haue prescribed to vse frictions therewith before the Patient go into the bain for to sweat Also their direction is to do the like before the cold fits of agues as also in case of the crampe and torments of the guts Wonderfull good it is in all kinds of gout If it be taken in drinke with honey and salt it is singular for those who be diseased in the liuer as also for the lights for it opens their pipes and dischargeth them of the flegme that stuffed them so as they may reach vp and voyd the same with ease The decoction thereof with some salt is excellent good for the splene and the bladder yea and for all ventosities and shortnesse of breath Semblably the iuice prepared and dressed in maner a foresaid bringeth the mother into the naturall place and serueth as a countre-poison against the Scolopendre both of the sea and the land as also for the pricke of the scorpion especially against the biting of man or woman The root thereof being applied fresh and green is maruellous good to represse rank vlcers to consume the proud flesh about them The same being dry and so applied reduceth skars to their fresh colour and beautie of the faire and whole skin Thus much of Penyroyall of the garden and the field Great conformitie there is in operation between Peny-royal and Nep for being both boiled in water vnto the composition of a third part they discusse and shake off the cold in Ague fits which causeth the Patient to shake and besides are of validitie to bring downe womens monethly sicknesse In summer time they asswage the extremitie of heat Nep also is powerful against serpents for the smoke and perfume of this herbe they canot abide but will fly from it which is the cause that such as be afraid of serpents strew Nep vnder them in the place where they mean to repose and sleepe Being bruised and applied to the running fistulous vlcers between the nose and the greater corner of the eye it is counted a soveraign remedie Also being fresh gathered and mixed with a third part of bread and so temperat and incorporat with vinegre to the form of a liniment it cureth the head-ach The juice thereof being instilled into the nosthrils whiles the Patient lieth vpon his back stancheth bleeding at the nose The root also together with Myrtle seed in warm wine cuit and so gargarised helpeth the Squinancie As touching wild Cumin it is an herb exceeding small putting forth foure or fiue leaues and not aboue and those indented like a saw but the garden Cumin is of singular vse in physicke but principally for the pain in the stomack It dispatcheth the grosse vapors arising from flegme it dissolueth also vento sities if it be either bruised and eaten with bread or drunk with water and wine in which sort it asswageth the wringing torments and other pains of the guts how beit it maketh folke look pale as many as drink of it Certes by that deuise namely by ordinary drinking of Cumin as it is reported the schollers and followers of Porcius Latro that famous and great Rhetorician
and therefore much eating of them causeth a man to grow corpulent and nathelesse to be strong and lusty withall which is the cause that professed wrestlers and champions were in times past fed with figs. For Pythagoras a great master and warden of these exercises was the first man who brought them to eat flesh meat Moreouer figs be restoratiue and the best thing that they can eat who are brought low by some long and languishing sicknesse and now vpon the mending hand and in recouerie In like manner they are singular for the falling euil and the dropsie Figs applied as a cataplasme are excellent either to discusse or els bring to maturity any imposthumes or swellings but they doe the seat more effectually if either quicke-lime or sal-nitre be mixt therwith Boiled with Hyssop they clense the brest break and dissolue the flegmatick humors either fallen to the lungs or there ingendred so by consequence rid away an old cough Sodden in wine so applied as a liniment they cure the infirmities incident to the seat or fundament they mollifie and resolue the swelling tumors of the paps they discusse and heale fellons pushes biles risings behind the ears A fomentationmade with their decoction is good for women And the same being sodden with Faeni-greek are excellent for the pleurisie Peripnewmony i. the inflammation of the lungs Boiled with Rue they assuage the ventosities or collicke in the guts The same being incorporat with verdi-grease or the rust of brasse cureth the morimals of the legs and with Pomgranats they heale the rising exulceration of the flesh and skin about the naile roots But made into a cerot with wax they heale burnes scaldings kibed heels Seeth Figs in wine with wormwood and barley meale and put nitre to them they are passing wholesome for those who are in a dropsie Chew them they binde the belly Make a cataplasme of Figs and salt together the same is singular for the sting of scorpions Boyle them in wine and so apply them you haue an excellent remedy to draw forth carbuncles to the outward parts and bring them to an head Take the fattest fullest Figs you can get lay them vpon the vgly and ill fauored tumor called Carcinoma i. the Canker so it be not vet exulcerat I assure you it is a soueraigne remedy and hardly can be matched againe and so it is also for the festering and eating vlcer Phagedaena There is not another tree againe growing vpon the face of the earth that yeeldeth better or sharper ashes than the wood of the Figge-tree doth either to clense vlcers or to incarnat consolidat and restrain flux of humors It is taken in drink for to resolue cluttered bloud within the body Semblably if it be giuen to drink with water oile of each one cyath it serues wel for those who are dry beaten bruised who are fallen from some high place such also as haue spasms inward rvptures And thus they vse to giue it in al cramps and namely in that vniuersall convulsion which holdeth the body so stiffe that it can stir no way nor other as if it were made of one intire piece without any ioint Likewise both taken in drink and also infused or iniected by clystre it helpeth the fluxe occasioned either by a feeble and rheumatick stomacke or els by the vlcer of the guts If a man rub the body all ouer with it and oile together it setteth it into an heat were it before benummed A liniment made of it and wrought with wax and oile Rosat together skinneth a burnt or scalded place most finely leauing no skar at al to be seen Temper it with oile and therwith annoint their eies who are pore-blind sand blind or otherwise short-sighted it amends their eie-sight to conclude rub the teeth often therewith it preserueth them white neat and from rotting Thus much of Fig-tree ashes Moreouer it is commonly said That if one come to a Fig-tree bend a bough or branch therof downward to the ground and bearing vp his head without stooping reach and catch hold of a knot or ioint with his teeth and so bite it off that no man see him when he is doing of it and then lap the same within a piece of fine leather tied fast by a thred and hang it about his necke it will dispatch the kings-euill and swelling kernels or inflammations behind the eares The bark of the Fig-tree reduced into pouder mixed with oile and so applied healeth the vlcers of the belly Green Figs taken raw stamped and incorporat with niter and meale take away all warts whether they be smooth or rough The ashes made of those shoots that spring from the root is a kind of Antispodium and may go for Spodium indeed If the same be twice calcined and burnt and then mixed with cerusse or white lead and so reduced into trochiskes they make a good collyrie or eie-salue to cure the roughnesse and exulceration of the eies As many vertues as the mild fig-tree hath yet the wild is much more effectuall in operation howsoeuer she yeeldeth lesse milke or white juice than the other doth For a branch onely of it is as good as rennet or rindles to make milk turn and run to a cheese curd Howbeit that milky liquor which it hath if it be gathered and kept vntill it be dry and wax hard serueth to season our flesh meats and giue them a good tast For which purpose it is wont to be mixed and dissolued in vineger then the flesh must be well rubbed and poudred therwith The same is vsually mingled with caustick and corrosiue medicines when there is an intention to raise blisters and make an issue It causeth the belly to be laxatiue and openeth the matrice if it be vsed with Amyl pouder Being taken in drink with the yolk of an egg it prouoketh womens fleurs Applied in a liniment with the floure of Feni-greeke it easeth the pains of the gout it clenseth the leprosie and foul wild scab it killeth ring-worms and fell tettars it scoureth away freckles and such flecks as disfauor the face likewise it cureth the parts stung with venomous serpents or bitten with mad dogs Moreouer this juice of the wild Fig-tree applied vnto the teeth with a lock of wooll allaieth their ach so it doth also if it be put into them that be worme-eaten and hollow The tender yong branches together with the leaues if they be mingled with Eruile are good against the poison of venomous sea-fishes But then according to some Physitians there must be wine added to this receit The said tender branches being put into the pot with Boeuf and so boiled together saue much fewell for lesse fire by far will serue to seeth the meat The green figs of this wild fig-tree brought into a liniment do mollifie and discusse the kings euil and all other tumors and apostemes And in some measure the leaues also haue the same operation
The said juice incorporat with oile serueth for an ointment also to be applied outwardly for the Sciatica Some vse the seed for the strangury The substance of Broom stamped with swines grease helpeth the ach or pain in the knees To come now to Tamarisk which the Greeks call Myrice Lenaeus affirmeth That it is vsed in maner of the Amerian willow for beesomes and more than so that if it bee sodden in wine stamped and reduced into a liniment with hony it healeth cankerous vlcers and in very truth some hold That the Myrice and Tamariske be both one But doubtlesse singular it is for the spleen in case the patient drink the iuice pressed out of it in wine And by report there is that wonderfull antipathy and contrariety in Nature betweene Tamariske and this one part alone of all the other bowels that if the troughs out of which swine drinke their swil be made of this wood they wil be found when they are opened altogether without a spleen And therfore some Physitians do prescribe vnto a man or woman also diseased in the spleen and subject to the opilations therof both to drinke out of cups or cans of Tamarisk and also to eat their meat out of such treen dishes as be made of that wood One renowned writer aboue the rest and for knowledge in great credit and author it among Physitians hath affirmed and auouched constantly That a twig of Tamarisk slipped or broken from the plant so as it touched neither the ground nor any yron toole assuageth all belly ache in case the patient weare it about him so as that his girdle and coat hold it fast and close to the body The common people cal it The vnlucky tree as I haue heretofore said because it beares no fruit is neuer with vs set or planted In Corinth and all the territory or region round about they name it Brya and make two kinds thereof to wit the wilde which is altogether barren and that which is of a more tame and gentle nature This Tamarisk in Egypt and Syria beareth in great plenty a certain fruit in substance hard and wooddy in quantity bigger than the gal-nut of an vnpleasant and harsh tast which the Physitians do vse in stead of the Gal-nut and put into those compositions which they name Antheras Howbeit the very wood of this plant the floure leaues and barke also be vsed to the same purpose although they be not so strong in operation as the said fruit The rind or barke beaten to pouder is giuen with good successe to them that cast vp bloud also to women who haue a great shift of their fleurs likewise to such as be troubled with a continual flux occasioned by the imbecility of the stomack The same bruised and applied as a cataplasme represseth and smiteth backe all impostumations a breeding The juice pressed out of the leaues is good for the same infirmities moreouer they vse to boil the leaues in wine for the same intent But of themselues alone being brought into a liniment with some hony among they are good to be applied vnto gangrenes The foresaid decoction of the leaues beeing drunke in wine or the leaues applied with oyle of Roses and wax mitigat the said gangrenes namely when the flesh tendeth to mortification And in this manner they cure the night-foes or chilblanes Their decoction is wholsome for the paine of teeth or eares for which purpose serueth the root likewise and the leaues Ouer and besides the leaues haue this property That if they be brought into the form of a cataplasme with barly groats and so applied they keep down and restrain corrosiue vlcers The seed if it be taken to the weight of a dram in drinke is a preseruatiue and counterpoison against spiders and namely those called Phalangia And if the same be incorporat with the tallow or grease of any fatlings or beasts kept vp in stall stie or mow into a liniment it is singular good for any vncome or fellon Of great efficacy it is also against the sting of all serpents except the Aspis The decoction likewise of the seed clysterized is singular for the jaundise it kils lice and nits and staieth the immoderat flux of womens months The ashes of the very wood of the tree is good in all those cases beforesaid which if they be mingled in the stale of an oxe and so taken of man or woman either in meat or drink it will disable them for hauing any mind to the sports of Venus euer after And a burning cole of this wood when it is quenched in the stale or beasts pisse they vse to saue lay vp in the shade for that purpose but if one list to kindle lust then they set it on fire againe To conclude the Magitians say That it would do as much if the vrine only of a gelded man were taken for the said purpose CHAP. X. ¶ Of the Bloud-rod Of Siler Of Priuet The Alder tree and Ivy. Of Cisthus and Cissos Of Erithranos Of Chamaecissos or Ground-Ivie Of Smilax or Bindweed Of Clematis THe Plant called the Sanguin-rod is as vnhappy as the foresaid Tamariske The inner bark thereof is singular good to open again those vlcers which are healed aloft only and skinned before their time The leaues of Siler brought into a liniment and applied as a frontall to the forehead allay the paine of the head The seed thereof driuen into pouder and incorporat with oile is good for the lousie disease and keepeth the body from lice The very serpents cannot abide this plant or shrub but flie from it which is the cause that the peasants of the country make their walking staues thereof Our Ligustrum or Priuet is the very same tree that Cypros is in the East parts To good vse it serueth amongst vs here in Europ for the juice of it is wholsome for the sinews the ioynts and any extreme cold The leaues applied with some corns of salt heale all inueterat vlcers in any part whatsoeuer and particularly the Cankers in the mouth The graines or berries that it beareth are good to kill lice also for any gal where the skin is fretted off between the legs and so be the leaues likewise The foresaid berries do cure the pip in Hens and Pullen As for the Alder tree the leaues if they be applied hot as they be taken out of scalding water do cure without faile any tumor or swelling As touching the Ivy tree 20 kinds therof and no fewer I haue already shewed and of al these there is not one but the vse of it in Physick is doubtfull and dangerous For first and formost Ivy if it bee drunke in any quantity howsoeuer it may purge the head surely it troubleth the brain Taken inwardly it hurteth the sinews applied outwardly it doth them much good Of the very same nature it is that vineger All the sorts of Ivies be refrigeratiue In drink they prouoke vrin But the soft
vntil in the end al their Physicke proued nothing but words and bibble babbles for beleeue me his schollers and disciples thought it more for their ease and pleasure to sit close in the schooles and heare their doctours out of the chaire discourse of the points of Physicke than to go a simpling into the desarts and forrests to seeke and gather herbs at all seasons of the yere some at one time and some at another CHAP. III. ¶ Of the new practise in Physicke of Asclepiades the Physitian and what course he tooke to alter and abolish the old Physicke for to bring in the new WHat cunning means soeuer these new Physitians could deuise to ouerthrow the antient manner of working by simples yet it maintained still the remnants of the former credit built surely vpon the vndoubted grounds of long experience and so it continued till the daies of Pompey the Great at what time Asclepiades a great Oratour and professor of Rhetoricke went in hand to peruert and reiect the same for seeing that he gained not by the said Art sufficiently was not like to arise by pleading causes at the bar to that wealth which he desired as he was a man otherwise of a prompt wit and quick spirit he resolued to giue ouer the law and suddenly applied himselfe to a new course of Physick This man hauing no skill at all and as little practice considering he neither was well studied in the Theoricke part of this science nor furnished with knowledge of remedies which required continuall inspection vse of simples wrought so with his smooth and flowing tongue and by his daily premeditat orations gained so much that he withdrew mens mindes from the opinion they had of former practise and ouerthrew all In which discourses of his reducing all Physick to the first and primitiue causes he made it a meere coniecturall Art bearing men in hand that there were but fiue principall remedies which serued indifferently for all diseases to wit in Diet Abstinence in meat Forbearing wine otherwhiles Rubbing of the body Walking and the Exercise of gestations In sum so far he preuailed with his eloquent speech that euery man was willing to giue eare applause to his words for being ready enough to beleeue those things for true which were most easie and seeing withall that whatsoeuer he commended to them was in each mans power to perform he had the general voice of them so as by this new doctrine of his he drew al the world into a singular admiration of him as of a man sent descended from heauen aboue to cure their griefs and maladies Moreouer a wonderfull dexterity and artificiall grace he had to follow mens humors and content their appetites in promising and allowing the sick to drink wine in giuing them eftsoons cold water when he saw his time and all to gratifie his patients Now for that Herophylus before him had the honor of being the first Physitian who searched into the causes of maladies and because Cleophantus had the name among the Antients for bringing wine into request and setting out the vertues thereof this man for his part also desirous to grow into credit reputation by some new inuention of his own brought vp first the allowing of cold water beforesaid to sick persons as M. Varro doth report took pleasure to be called the Cold-water Physitian He had besides other pretty deuises to flatter please his patients one while causing them to haue hanging litters or beds like cradles by the mouing rocking whereof too and fro he might either bring them asleep or ease the pains of their sicknes otherwhiles ordaining the vse of bains a thing that he knew folk were most desirous of besides many other fine conceits very plausible in hearing and agreeable to mans nature And to the end that no man might think this so great alteration and change in the practise of Physick to haue bin a blind course and a matter of smal consequence one thing aboue the rest that woon himfelfe a great fame and gaue no lesse credit and authority to his profession was this that meeting vpon a time by chance with one he knew not carried forth as a dead corse in a biere for to be burned he caused the body to be carried home from the funerall fire and restored the man to health again Certes this one thing wee that are Romanes may be well ashamed of and take in great indignation That such an old fellow as he comming out of Greece the vainest nation vnder the sun beginning as he did of nothing should only for to inrich himself lead the whole world in a string and on a sudden set down rules and orders for the health of mankind notwithstanding many that came after him repealed as it were and annulled those lawes of his And verily many helps had Asclepiades which much fauored his opinion and new Physick namely the manner of curing diseases in those daies which was exceeding rude troublesome painfull such adoe there was in lapping and couering the sicke with a deale of cloaths and causing them to sweat by all meanes possible such a worke they made sometime in chafing and frying their bodies against a good fire but euery foot in bringing them abroad into the hot Sunne which hardly could be found within a shadie and close citie as Rome was In lieu whereof not onely there but throughout all Italy which now commanded the whole World and might haue what it list hee followed mens humours in approouing the artificiall baines and vaulted stouves and hot houses which then were newly come vp and vsed excessiuely in euery place by his approbation Moreouer he found means to alter the painefull curing of some maladies and namely of the Squinancie in the healing whereof other Physitians before him went to worke with a certain instrument which they thrust down into the throat He condemned also worthily that dog-physick which was in those daies so ordinarâ—… that if one ailed neuer so little by and by he must cast and vomit He blamed also the vse of purgatiue potions as contrary and offensiue to the stomack wherein he had great reason and truth on his side for to speake truely such drinks are by most Physitians forbidden considering our chiefe care and drift is in all the course of our physick to vse those means which be comfortable and wholsom for the stomack CHAP. IIII. ¶ The foolish superstition of Art-Magicke which here is derided Of the tettar called Lichen remedies proper for it and the diseases of the throat ABoue all other things the superstitious vanities of Magitians made much to the establishing of Asclepiades his new Physicke for they in the heigth of their vanity attributed so strange and incredible operations to some simples that it was enough to discredit the vertues of them all First they vaunted much of Aethyopus an hearbe which by their saying if it were but cast into any great riuer
to that of the Iuy saue that the berries containing the same be soft This herb delighteth in shady cool rough and watery places Beeing giuen to the full quantity of one Acetabulum it is singular for the inward maladies which be proper to women The wild Vine called by the Greeks Ampelos-Agria is an herbe as I haue sufficiently described already in my Treatise of Vines planted and wel ordered by mans hand which putteth forth hard leaues of Ash-colour long branches and winding rods clad with a thicke skin and the same be red resembling the floure Phlox which in the chapter and discourse of Violets I called Iovis Flamma and a seed it beareth much like vnto the graines within a Pomegranate The root boiled in three cyaths of water and two cyaths of the wine comming out of the Island Coos is a gentle emollitiue of the belly and maketh the body soluble in which regard it is giuen with good successe to such as be in a dropsie A very good herb for women as well to rectifie the infirmities of the matrice as also to scoure and beautifie the skin of their face Moreouer for the sciatica it is good to stamp it leafe and all and to annoint the grieued place with the juice thereof As for Wormewood there be many kindes thereof One is named Santonicum of a city in France called Saints another to wit Ponticum taketh that name of the kingdome Pontus where the sheep feed fat with it which is the cause that they be found without gall neither is there a better Wormwood than it much bitterer than that of Italy and yet the marow or pith within of that Ponticke Wormwood is sweet to ours Meet and requisite it is that I should set down the vertues and properties thereof an herb I must needs say as common as any and most ready at hand howbeit few or none so good and wholesome to say nothing of the especiall account which the people of Rome make of it about their holy sacrifices and solemnities for in those festiuall holydaies named Latinae at what time as there is held a great running with chariots for the best game he that first attaineth to the goale and winneth the prise hath a draught of VVormwood presented vnto him And I beleeue verily that our forefathers and ancestors deuised this honourable reward for the good health of that victorious chariottier as judging him worthy to liue still And in truth a right comfortable herb it is for the stomack and doth mightily strengthen it In which regard there is an artificiall wine that carieth the strength and tast thereof named Absinthites according as I haue shewed heretofore moreouer there is an ordinary drinke made of the decoction of Wormwood boiled in water for the right making whereof take six drams weight of the leaues and sprigs together seeth them in three sextars of raine water and in the end put thereto a small quantity of salt which done the liquor ought to stand a day and a night afterwards to coole in the open aire and then is it to be vsed Certes there is not a decoction of any herbe of so great antiquitie as it and knowne to haue beene vsed so long Moreouer the infusion of VVormewood is in great request and a common drinke for so we vse to call the liquor wherein it lay steeped a certain time Now this would be considered that be the proportion of water what it will the said infusion ought to stand close couered for three daies together Seldome or neuer is there any vse of wormewood beaten to pouder ne yet of the juice drawn by way of expression And yet those that presse forth a iuice take the Wormwood when the seed vpon it beginneth to swell and wax sull and being newly gathered let it lie soking in water three daies together but if it were drie before to steep it a whole seuen night which done they set it ouer the fire in a brasen pan with this proportion namely ten hemines of the herbe to fiue and fortie sextars of water and suffer it to boyle vntill a third part of the liquor be consumed after this the decoction must run through a strainer with hearbe and all well pressed then ought it to be set vpon the fire againe and suffered to seeth gently and leisurely to the height or consistence of honey much after the order of the syrrup made of Centaurie the lesse But when all is done this juleb or syrrup of VVormewood is offensiue to the stomack and head both whereas that decoction first aboue-named is most wholsome for astringent though it be and binding the mouth of the stomack aloft yet it doth euacuat choler downward it prouoketh vrine keepeth the body soluble and the belly in good temper yea and if it be pained giueth great ease the worms ingendered therein it expelleth and being taken with Seseli and Celticke nard so there be a little vineger put thereto it dispatcheth all ventosities in the stomacke and cureth women with child of that inordinat desire and strange longing of theirs it clenseth the stomack of those humors which cause lothing of meat bringeth the appetite againe and helpeth concoction if it be drunke with Rue Pepper and salt it purgeth it of raw humors crudities occasioned by want of digestion In old time Physitians gaue wormwood for a purgatiue but then they tooke a sextar of sea water that had bin kept long six drams of the seed with three drams of salt and one cyath of hony and the better will this purgation worke in case the poise of salt be doubled but it would be puluerized as fine as possibly may be to the end that it might passe away the sooner and worke more easily Some vsed to giue the weight beforesaid in a gruell of Barley groats with an addition of Peniroyall others against the Palsie and others againe had a deuise to put the leaues of wormwood in figs and make little children to eat them so that they might not tast their bitternes Wormwood being taken with the root of Floure-de-lis dischargeth the brest of tough fleagme and clenseth the pipes For the iaundise it would be giuen in drinke raw with Parsley or Maidenhaire Supped hot by little and little in water it breaketh wind and resolueth ventosities and together with French Spikenard it cureth the infirmities of the liuer and taken with vineger or some gruel or els in figs it helpeth the spleen giuen in vineger it helpeth those that haue eaten venomous Mushrums or be poisoned with the gum of Chamaelion called Ixia In wine if it be taken it saueth those who haue drunk Hemlock it resisteth the poison inflicted by the sting of the hardishrow the sea dragon and scorpions It is holden to be singular for the clarifyng of the sight if the eies be giuen to watering it represseth the rheum or flux of humors thither so it be applied with wine cuit and laid vnto contusions and the skin
be no better than meere mischiefes and sorceries which hurt and bewitch poore patients and such as trust in them True it is that all venomous beasts flie from those that be annointed with Dragons grease Likewise they cannot abide the strong virulent sauour of the rat of India called Ichneumon insomuch as they stand in dread of them who are annointed with a liniment made of the ashes of their skin incorporat in vinegre Moreouer lay the head of a Viper to the place where she hath wounded one it is a soueraign remedy yea though it were the head of any other Viper than it which inflicted the wound it is infinitely good Likewise if a man do hold vp the same Viper that inflicted the sting at a staues end ouer the smoak of wood burning or the vapor of seething water and yet say they warie enough they be thereof and will auoid it or annoint the place with a liniment made of her ashes burnt it is sufficient to heal the sore Nigidius mine Author affirmeth That serpents after they haue stung one are forced by a certain necessitie and instinct of Nature to returne vnto the party whom they haue hurt The Scythians yerely vse to slit a viperâ—… head between the eares for to take forth a little stone which she is wont to swallow when she is â—…ffrghted Others make vse of the whole head as it is Certaine trochisks there be made of a Viper called by the Greeks Theriaci for which purpose they cut away at both ends as well toward the head as the taâ—…e the breadth of foure fingers they rip her belly also and take out the garbage within but especially they rid away the blew string or vein that sticketh close to the ridge bone Which done the rest of the bodie they seeth in a pan with water and dill seed vntill such time as all the flesh is gon from the chine which being taken away and all the prickie bones therto belonging the flesh remaining they incorporat with fine floure reduce into trosches which being dried in the shade are reserued for diuerse vses and enter into many soueraigne antidotes and confections But here is to be noted that although these trosch s be called Theriaci yet are they made of vipers flesh onely Some there be who after a Viper is cleansed as abouesaid take out the fat and seeth it with a sextar of oile vntill the one halfe be consumed which serueth to driue away all venomous beasts if three drops of this ointment be put into oile and therewith the body be annointed all ouer Moreouer this is held for certaine that there is no sting or bit of serpents so mortall and incurable otherwise but the entrailes of the same which gaue the wound applied thereto will heale it as also that as many as haue at any time supped the broth wherein a Vipers liuer was boiled shall neuer afterwards be smitten or stung by serpents As for Snakes venomous they are not but at some times of the month when they feel themselues mooued by the instigation of the Moone but contrariwise theybe good for those which chance to be stung by them if they be taken aliue stamped or braied with water and therewith the affected place fomented Certes they are thought to be medicinable in many respects as I will hereafter declare which is the cause that a Snake is dedicated vnto the god of Physick Aesculapius And Democritus verily talketh of many strange and wonderfull compositions made of snakes by meanes whereof a man may vnderstand the language of birds and know what they prattle one to another But to say no more was not Aesculapius brought from Epidaurus to Rome in the forme of a Snake and keepe we not still many of that race commonly in our houses tame and gentle feeding them by the hand Surely if their eggs and young frie were not eftsoones destroied with firing them in their holes the world would be pestered with them they multiplie so fast The goodliest and fairest snakes to see too are those which live in the water and are called Hydri i. water-snakes but a more fell and venomous serpent their liues not vpon the face of the earth Howbeit the liuer of these water-snakes if it be kept in salt or otherwise preserued is a soueraigne remedie for those that be stung by the same kind Now for the spotted Lizard called Stellions a Scorpion stamped is singular good against their poyson For this you must thinke that of them there is made a venomous drinke for let him be strangled or drowned in wine whosoeuer drinke thereof shall sind themselues impoysoned in somuch as their faces will break forth into certaine spots and pimples foule morphew And this is the reason that our jealous dames when they would auert the affection and loue of their husbands from those concubins vpon whom they suspect them to be enamoured will if they can possible stifle a stellion in the complexion or ointment wherewith such harlots vse to paint their visage by meanes whereof they become disfigured and grow both foule and ill-fauoured But what is the remedie to cleanse the skin from such deformities The yolke of an egg incorporat with hony and salnitre doth the â—…ear The gall of these Lizards or Stellions punned and dissolued in water is said to haue an attractiue facultie to draw all the Weasels about the place to resort thither in companies Of all venomous beasts there are not any so hurtfull and dangerous as are the Salamanders As for other serpents they can hurt but one at once neither kill they many together to say nothing how when they haue stung or bitten a man they die for very griefe and sorrow that they haue done such a mischiefe as if they had some pricke and remorse of conscience afterwards and neuer enter they againe into earth as vnworthy to be receiued there but the Salamander is able to destroy whole nations at one time if they take not heed and prouide to preuent them For if he get once to a tree and either claspe about it or creepe vpon it all the fruit that it bears is infected with his venome and sure they are to die whosoeuer eat of that fruit and that by the meanes of an extreame cold qualitie that his poyson hath which doth mortifie no lesse than if they had taken the Libard-baine call Aconitum Moreouer say that shee doe but touch any peece of wood billet or hedge stake wherwith either a loafe is baked or a shiue of bâ—…ad tosted as many as eat thereof shall catch their bane by it or if one of them chance to faâ—… into a well or pit of water looke whosoeuer drinke thereof shall be sure to die vpon it and that which is more if there happen neuer so little of the spittle or moistuâ—… which shee yeeldeth to light vpon any part of the body though it touched no more but the sole of the foot it is enough to cause
in that violence and causing such trouble and broils as if the world were at war within it selfe And can there bee any thing more wonderfull and miraculous than to see the waters congealed oboue in the aire and so to continue pendant in the skie And yet as if they were not contented to haue risen thus to that exceeding height they catch and snatch vp with them into the vpper region of the aire a world of little fishes otherwhiles also they take vp stones and charge themselues with that ponderous weighty matter which is more proper to another Element The same waters falling downe againe in raine are the very cause of all those things here below which the earth produceth and bringeth forth And therefore considering the wonderfull nature thereof and namely how the corne groweth vpon the ground how trees and plants doe liue prosper and fructifie by the means of waters which first ascending vp into the skie are furnished from thence with a liuely breath and bestowing the same vpon the herbs cause them to spring and multiply we cannot chuse but confesse that for all the strength and vertue which the Earth also hath shee is beholden to the Waters and hath receiued all from them In which regard aboue all things and before I enter into my intended discourse of Fishes and beasts liuing in this Element I meane first to set down in generaility the maruellous power and properties of water it selfe and to illustrat the same by way of sundry examples for the particular discourse of all sorts of waters what man liuing is able to performe CHAP. II. ¶ The diuersitie of waters their vertues und operations medicinable and other singularities obserued therein THere is in maner no region nor coast of the earth but you shall see in one quarter or other waters gently rising and springing out of the ground here and there yeelding fountains in one place cold in another hot yea and otherwhils there may be discouered one with another neere adioyning as for example about Tarbelli a towne in Guienne and the Pyrenaean hills there do boile vp hot and cold springs so close one vnto the other that hardly any distance can be perceiued between Moreouer sources there be which yeeld waters neither cold nor hot but luke-warme and the same very holesome and proper for the cure of many diseases as if Nature had set them apart for the good of man only and no other liuing creature beside To these fountains so medicinable there is ascribed some diuine power insomuch as they giue name vnto sundry gods and goddesses and seeme to augment their number by that means yea otherwhiles great towns cities carrie their names like as Puteoli in Campane Statyellae in Liguria Aquae Sextiae in the prouince of Narbon or Piemont but in no countrey of the world is there found greater plenty of these springs and the same endued with more medicinable properties than in the tract or vale Baianus within the realm of Naples where you shall haue some hold of brimstone others of alume some standing vpon a veine of salt others of nitre some resembling the nature of Bitumen and others again of a mixt qualitie partly soure and partly salt Furthermore you shall meet with some of them which naturally serue as a stouph or hot-house for the very steeme and vapour only which ariseth from them is wholesome and profitable for our bodies and those are so exceeding hot that they heat the bains yea and are able to make the cold water to seeth boile again which is in their bathing tubs as namely the fountaine Posidianus whithin the foresaid territory Bajanus which name it tooke of one Posidius a slaue sometime and enfranchised by Claudius Caesar the Emperour Moreouer there be of them so hot that they are able to seeth an egg or any other viands or cates for the table As for the Licinian springs which beare the name of Licinius Crassus a man may perceiue them to boile and reeke again euen out of the very sea See how good Nature is to vs who amid the waues and billows of the sea hath affourded healthfull waters But now to discipher their vertues in Physick according to their seuerall kinds thus much in generality is obserued in these baths That they serue for the infirmities of the sinews for gout of the feet sciatica Some more properly are good for dislocations of ioints and fractures of bones others haue a property to loosen the bellie to purge and as there be of them which heale wounds and vlcers so there are again that more particularly be respectiue to the accidents of the head and ears and among the rest those which beare the name of Cicero and be called Ciceronianâ—… besoueraign for the eies Now there is a memorable manour or faire house of plaisance situat vpon the sea side in the very high way which leadeth from the lake Auernus to the cittie Puteoli much renowmed for the groue or wood about it as also for the stately galleries porches allies and walking places adioyning therunto which set out and beautifie the said place very much this goodly house M. Cicero called Academia in regard of some resemblance it had vnto a colledge of that name in Athens from whence he tooke the modell and patterne where he compiled those books of his which carrie the name of the place and be called Academice quaestiones and there he caused his monument or sepulchre to be made for the perpetuitie of his memoriall as who would say he had not sufficiently immortalized his name throughout the world by those noble works which he wrote and commended vnto posteritie Well soone after the decease of Cicero this house and forrest both fell into the hands and tenure of Antistius Vetus at what time in the very forefront as it were and entrie thereof there were discouered certaine hot fountaines breaking and springing out of the ground and those passing medicinable and wholesome for the eies Of these waters Laurea Tullus an enfranchised vassall of Cicero made certaine verses and those carying with them such a grace of majestie that at the first sight a man may easily perceiue how affectionat and deuout he was to the seruice of his lord and master and for that the said Epigram is worthy to be read not onely there but also in euery place I will set it downe here as it standeth ouer those baines to be seene in this Decasticon Quo tua Romanae vindex clarissime linguae Sylva loco melius surgere jussa viret Atque Academiae celebratam nomine villam Nunc reparat cultu sub potiore Vetus Hîc etiam apparent lymphae non ante repertae Lanquida quae infuso lumina rore levant Nimirum locus ipse sui Ciceronis honori Hoc dedit hacfontes cum patefecit ope Vt quoniam totum legitur sine fine per orbem Sint plures oculis quae medeantur aquae O
Cavallerie changed The gifts and rewards represented vnto valiant souldiers for their braue seruice And at what time Coronets of gold were seene THe chamber of the foresaid judges consisted of diuers estates and degrees distinguished all by seuerall names for first and foremost there were of them called Tribuni aeris as it were Generall receiuers or Treasurers secondly Selecti chosen from among the Senators and last of all those who simply were named Iudices or Iudges taken from among the knights or men of armes Ouer and besides these they had others called Nongenti choice men selected from out of all the estates who had the keeping of those chists or caskets wherin were put the voices of the people in their solemn elections And by reason of a proud humor in men chusing themselues names to their owne liking great diuisions and factions arose in this house and chamber of the foresaid Iudges whiles one would needs be called Nongentus another Selectus and a third gloried in the title of Tribune or Receiuer But at length in the ninth yere of the reigne of the Emperor Tiberius Caesar the whole estate of the gentrie or cauallerie of Rome was reduced to an vniformitie and an order was set downe whereby it was knowne who might weare rings and who might not which fell out to be in that yeare when C. Asinius Pollio and C. Antistius Vetus were Consuls together and in the 775 yere alter the foundation of Rome city And verily this vniforme regularity was occasioned by a trifling cause to speak of and whereat wee may well maruell and thus stood the case C. Sulpitius Galba desirous in his youth to win some credit with the foresaid Emperour Tiberius and namely by deuising meanes how to bring Taueâ—… Cooks shops and victualing houses in danger of the law and to forfeit penalties pleaded against 〈◊〉 and complained before the Senat That those who were the vndertakers and Tenants 〈◊〉 â—…re of the foresaid Tauerns c. and made their gaine thereby had no other meanes to bearâ—…â—…mselues out nor plea to defend their faults and disorders but their rings The Senat taking knowledge hereof ordained an act That none from that time forward might bee allowed to weare the said rings vnlesse he were free borne and that both himselfe his father and grand sire by the fathers side were assessed in the Censors booke 400000 sesterces and by vertue of the law Iulia as touching the publicke Theatre had right to sit and behold the plaies in the first and foremost 14 ranks or seats for knights appointed Howbeit afterwards euery man labo red and made means one with another to be allowed to weare this ornament of a ring Now in regard of these disorders and variances aboue rehearsed prince Caius Caligula the Emperour adjoyned to the former foure a fifth Decurie And shortly after men gtew to that height and pride in this behalfe of wearing rings and the company so surcreased that whereas in Augustus Caesars dayes there could not be found knights and Gentlemen sufficient throughout all Rome to furnish those Decuries by this time they could not be contained all within the Chamber of Iudges or Decuries abouesaid insomuch as now adaies no sooner are there any slaues manumised and affranchised but presently by their good will they must be at their rings A thing that neuer before was knowne in Rome for aforetime when a man spake of the iron ring he was vnderstood presently to point at the Gentlemen and Iudges before named but the said ornament or badge became so commonly to be taken vp by one as well as another that a gentleman of Rome Flauius Proculus by name indited 400 at once before Claudius Caesar Censor for the time being and declared against them for this abuse and offence See what inconuenience insued vpon the act of rings for whiles thereby a distinction was made between that degree other free-born citizens streight-waies base slaues leapt in and were so bold as to take that ornament vpon them And here by the way it is to be noted that the two Gracchi Tiberius and Caius brethren vpon a certain desire and inbred affection that they had to maintaine and nuzzle the people in sedition and to beare a side alwaies against the Senat for to currie fauour with the Commons and to do them a pleasure deuised first to haue al them called Iudges who by vertue of the foresaid statute or edict might weare rings and this he did to crosse and beard the Senat. But after the fire of tbis sedition was quenched and the popular authors thereof who stirred blew the coles were murdered the denomination of these criminall Iudges after diuers troubles and seditions with variable and alternatiue fortune fell in the end to the Publicans and Farmers of the reuenues of the State and being thus deuolued vpon them there continued insomuch as for a good while the said Publicans made vp the third degree betweene the Senatours and the Commons Howbeit M. Cicero when he was Consull re-established the Knighthood Cauallerie of Rome in their former estate and place and so far preuailed that hee reconciled them againe vnto the Senat giuing out openly that he himselfe was come of that degree and by that means by a certain popularity sought to draw them all to side with him From this time forward the men of arms were installed as it were in the third estate of Rome insomuch as al edicts and publick acts passed in the name of the Senat People and Cauallerie of the citie And for that these knights or gentlemen were last incorporated into the body of the Common-weale this is the only reason that euen now also they are written in all publicke Instruments after the People As touching the name or title attributed to this third estate or degree of Horsemen or men of Arms it hath bin changed and altered oftentimes for in the daies of Romulus and other KK of Rome they were called Celeres afterwards Flexumines and in processe of time Trossuli by occasion that these horsmen without any aid at all of the Infanterie had woon a towne in Tuscane nine miles on this side Volsinij called Trossuli which name continued in the Cauallerie of Rome vntill the time of C. Gracchus and afterward And verily Iunius who vpon the great amitie betweene Gracchus and him was syrnamed Gracchanus hath left these words in writing as touching this matter concerning the degree of knights quoth hee those who now are called Equites i. Horsemen beforetime had to name Trossuli the change of which name arose vpon this that many of these Gentlemen ignorant in the originall and first occasion of the foresayd name Trossuli and what the meaning thereof was were ashamed so to be called He alledgeth moreouer the cause of the said name and yet notwithstanding quoth hee they cannot away with the name at this day but are so called against their wils To come again vnto our former discourse of
bodie how to be cured 259. c. 279. c. See Consumption Mison See Misy Messelto of the Oke is best 178. h. how glew or birdlime is made thereof ibid. Misy or Mison a kind of excrescence out of the ground 7. e Misy a minerall 510 h. how engendred ibid. the medicinable vertues ibid. the best ib. how knowne ibid. how calcined and prepared ibid. i K. Mithridates his praise 209. c. he was beneficiall to mankinde ibid. his ordinary taking of poysons and preseruatiues daily ibid. d. he deuised counterpoisons ibid. Mithridatium the famous composition was his deuise ibid. he spake readily two and twentie languages 209. e he studied Physicke ibid. his cabinet stored with secrets in Physicke 209. f Mithridation an hearbe found by K. Mithridates 220. h the description ibid. Mithridates his opinion as touching Amber 606. m Mitigatiues of paine 70 i. 76 k. 106 h. 423 d. 471 e 511 c. Miraxâ—…a pretious stone 628. k Metres a King of Egypt first caused Obeliskes to be reared and vpon what occasion 574. l M N Mnason a King who much admired painted tables 543. d Mneme a fountaine helping memorie 403. d Mnesias his opinion as touching Amber 606. l Mnesicles a Physitian 68. k Mnestheus wrote a booke of Chaplets or guirlands 82. h M O Moles in face or skin how to be taken away 140 m. 143 b 328 h. Molemonium what hearb 248 g Mollitiue medicines 70 i. 76 i. 103 d. 135 d. 141 a. 178. h 180 i k. 184 g. 185 b. 186 i. 187 e. 192 m. 206 i 303 a 319 b c. 320 m. 423 d. 475 a. 529 f. 556 l. 560 g 591 d. Mollugo what hearb and why so called 258 h Molochites a precious stone why so called 619 e. commended for scaling faire and cleane ibid. the vertues that it hath ibid. Molon an hear be 247 a. the description ibid. Moly an hearb 112 l. 213 f. by whom so called ib. who fonnd it out 214. g. described by Homer and the Greeke Herbarists diuersly ibid. Molybdaeus Metallica what it is 520 g h. the description nature and degrees in goodnesse ibid. how the best is knowne ib. the vse in Physicke ibid. Molybdaenae 474 l. See Galaena Molybditis a kind of Litharge 474 i. it commeth from the lead that is melted with siluer ibid. Momordica an hearb See Geranium Mony rained cause of couetousnesse 463 d Mony who counterfeited and how 479 a Mony plentifull when it was at Rome 480 i base siluer Mony brought in by Livius Drusus at Rome 463 c. Monochromata what pictures 525 b what painters were excellent therein 533 a Monthly tearmes or Fleures of women by what medicines procured 39 e. 46 l. 47 e. 48 l. 54 h k. 57 f. 60. k. 61 b 62 i. 72 h. 74 h. 75 b. 78 g. 103 b f. 104. g. 104 l 106 k. l. 107 f. 109 a e. 110 h i. 111 b. 119 d. 122 h 127 c. 128 i. 130 i k. 131 e. 134 g. 140 k. 142 i l 144 g. 150 g. 153 f. 163 c. 166 l. 168 i. 171 d 173 a b. 174 g. 177 b. 179 b. 180 l. 185 e. 187 c 189 e. 191 c. 192 k. 193 b. 198 i k. 199 b c. 200 k 201 a. 202. g. 206 i. 207 e. 215 g. 266 i l m. 267 a b c d e. 268 g. 274 g. 277 d. 278 l. 286 l. 287 f 289. f. 290 h. 291 b. 303 a. 306 h. 308 g. 313 a 314 k. 339 b. 362 i. 396 k. l. 430 m. 443 a. 448 k l m. 557 f. the immoderat flux thereof by what meanes to be staied 101 e. 104 l. 119 d. 142. i. 158 k. l. 163 b 164 g. 165 e. 170 k. 178 g. 185 e. 188 l. 189 a. 192 l 194 i. 195 a d. 197 d 266 k. 267 b c e. 282 m. 283 b 284 h. 285 d. 339 d. 340 h. 341 a. 350 g. 352 i l m 353 c. 396 l. 448 k. 510 k. 516 h 528 m. Monthly sicknesse in women cause of madnesse first in dogs 310. g Monthly flux of women in what cases wonderful 310 k. l. m how venomous it is 309 ab c. the remedies against it 309 d. 433 a. the same also is medicinable 309 d Moon calues moles and false Conceptions how to be dissolued and scattered 397. d Moones an hearbe See Buphthalmos Mordicatiue medicines 286 l. 418 k. l. 421 e. 485 b 508 l. Morell an hearb See Night-shade Morimals in the legs how to be healed 128 g. 140. g 142. m. 149. d. 167. e. 174. m. 250. g. 370. l. 447. f. Morion an Indian pretious stone 628. k. the blacke is Pramnion the red Alexandrinum if like the Sardoine Cyprium ibid. Morion what hearb 112 l. See Mandragoras Morion the pretious stone where it is found and the vse thereof 628. k Morphew in the face and skin otherwise how to be scoured and rid away 58. h. 62. l. 74. i. 103. d. 144. g. 193. b 219. d. 217. a. 290. l. 377. c. 394. l. m. 395. a. 403. a 422. h. 440. m. 557. a. Morters for Apothecaries Cooks and painters of what stone best 591. f Morter for building which is best 594. k Morter that will make a joint in stoneworke to hold water 594. h. Morticini what they be 134. k Mortification in members how to be restored 259. f Moses the Hebrew supposed by Plinie to be a notable Magician 373. a Mosse called Spagnos Spacos or Bryon what vertues it hath 181. b Mosse of the water for what it is good 414. h Moth how to be kept from cloths and garments 67. b. 277. e Mother rising in women with danger of suffocation by what meanes it is remedied 40. k. 62. h. 67. a. d. 74. h 104. l. m. 106. k. 121. d. 157. a. 180. g. 181. a. 218. l 266 l. 267 b c d. 283 a. 303 a. 307 b. 314. l. 397. a 430 m. 448 i k m. 557 f. 589 c. the Mother fallen or displaced how to be setled 57 c. 60 k 61 b. 103 e. 121 c. 125 c. 156 g. 161 f. 164 g. 174 k 178 g. 180 h. 181 d. 183 d. 195 a. 267 a d. 303 a 339 b. 340 i. k. 341 b. 350 g. See more in Matrice Mountaines wherefore made 562 i k Mountaines vndermined and clouen for gold 467 c breach of Mountaines washed with a currant brought by mans hand and the manner thereof 488 h i Mountaine digged through by Claudius Caesar a most chargeable and toilesome piece of worke 586 h Mouse-eare an hearb See Myositis Mouth sores vlcers and cankers how to be cured 42 g. 51 a 54 h. 60 l. 63 a. 65 c. 70. g. 72 g. 101. d. 102 i. 120 h k 141 d e. 149 a. 156 c. 161 f. 165 c. 173 c 175 a. 177 f. 185 e. 187. e. 189 c. 190 k 195 c. 196 g k. 197 a 239 e f. 252 l. 257 a 272 i. 286 h. 287 d. 313 a. 328 k. 351 a. 418 k 419 b. 432 i. 507 f. 509 a. 510 h. 511 b.