if they be intellegible and deliuered to their capacity than in others which they vnderstand neuer a whit And hereupon verily it is come to passe that the art of Physicke hath this peculiar gift and priuiledge alone That whosoeuer professeth himselfe a Physitian is straightwaies beleeued say what he wil and yet to speak a truth there are no lies dearer sold or more dangerous than those which proceed out of a Physitians mouth Howbeit we neuer once regard and looke to that so blind we are in our deep persuasion of them and feed our selues each one in a sweet hope and plausible conceit of our health by them Moreouer this mischiefe there is besides That there is no law or statute to punish the ignorance of blinde Physitians though a man lost his life by them neither was there euer any man known who had reuenge or recompence for the euill intreating or misusage vnder their hands They learne their skil by indangering our liues and to make proofe experiments of their medicines they care not to kill vs. In a word the Physitian only is dispensed withal if he murder a man so clear he goeth away without impunity that none so hardy as once to twit or challenge him for it but say that one be so bold as to charge them with any vntoward dealing out they cry presently vpon the poor patients at them they rail with open mouth they are found fault with their vnrulinesse distemperature wilfulnesse and I know notwhat and thus the sillie soules that be dead and gone are shent bear away the blame The decuries or bands at Rome of those knights which are deputed and called Iudges are not chosen but by an ordinary triall and examination of their estate quality and person and the same by the principal of that order and degree both taken and approued streight inquisition there is made of their demeanor from house to house of their parentage also yea and true information giuen to the electors before they can be chosen Mint-masters such as are to giue their judgement of mony and the touch of coin be not taken hand ouer head but if any be more skilfull than others therein they are sent for rather than to faile as far as from Calis and the straits of Gilbretar And for to pronounce sentence as touching the banishment of a Roman citizen the fiue deputed or elected delegats named Quinqueviri had no warrant or decree passed before 40 daies were expired But for these Physitians who are the judges themselues to determine of our liues and who many times are not long about it but giue vs a quick dispatch send vs to heauen or hel what regard is there had what inquiry and examination is made of their quality and worthines But surely wel enough are we serued and we may thank none but our selues if we come by a shrewd turn so long as there is not one of vs hath any care or desire to know that which is good for his life and health We loue to walk forsooth with other mens feet We read we looke by the eies of others we trust the remembrance of another when we salute any man and to conclude in the very main point of all we commit our bodies and liues to the care and industry of others No reckoning is there now made of the riches and treasure of Nature but the most precious things indeed which serue for the maintenance and preseruation of health and life are vtterly rejected and cast away no account make we of any thing and think our owne but to liue in pleasures and dainty delights I will not leaue my hold of M. Cato whom I haue opposed as a shield and buckler against the enuie and spight of this ambitious and vain-glorious Art neither will I giue ouer the protection of that honorable Senat which hath judged no lesse and that without catching aduantage of the sinfull pranks lewd parts which are committed and practised vnder the pretence of this art as some man haply would look that I should set them abroad for to say a truth is there any trade or occupation goeth beyond it for poisoning what is the cause of more gaping and laying wait after wils and testaments than this What adulteries haue beene committed vnder the colour hereof euen in Princes and Emperors palaces as for example Eudemus with Livia the Princesse wife to Drusus Caesar Valens likewise with the Queen or Empresse aboue named Messalina But say that these crimes and odious offences are not to be imputed vnto the Art it selfe but rather to be charged vpon the persons I meane the corrupt and lewd professors thereof yet surely I am of this beleefe that in regard of these enormities Cato was as much afraid of the entrance of Physicke as of some Queene into the citie of Rome For mine own part I mean not to say ought of their extreme auarice of the merchandise spoile and hauocke that they make when they see their patients in danger of death and drawing to their end nor how high they hold as it were in open market the easement and release of the sicke mans pains whiles he is vnder their hands ne yet what pawnes and pledges they take as earnest of the bargaine to dispatch the poore Patient out of the way at once and lastly of their hidden secrets and paradoxes which forsooth they will not divulge abroad but for some round summe of money As for example that a â—…ataract or pearle in the eie is to be couched rather and driuen down by the needle than quite to be plucked forth wherby it is come to passe that it is a very good turne the best for vs as the case standeth that we haue so great a number of such murderers and theeues in the commonwealth for I assure you it is not long of any shame and honesty where of there is none in them but their malicious aemulation being so many as they are that the market is well fallen and the prices come down of their workmanship Notorious it is that Charmis the abouenamed Physitian that came from Marsiles bargainedwith one patient that he had to haue 200,000 Sesterces for his cure and yet hee was but a flranger and a prouinciall inhabitant Also as well knowne it is that Claudius Caesar vpon a condemnation and judgement tooke at one time by way of confiscation one hundred thousand sesterces from one Alcontes who was no better than a Chirurgion or Wound-healer who beeing confined into France and afterwards restored gathered vp his crums again got as much within few yeares I am content also that these faults should be laid not vpon the art but the men that professe it Neither verily do I mean to shew and reproue the base abject and ignorant sort of that crew nor how little order and regiment they obserue in the cure of diseases or in the vse of bains and hot waters how imperiously they prescribe
there be that bring all their children like to themselues and others againe as like to their husbands and some like neither the one nor the other You shall haue Women bring all their daughters like to their fathers and contrariwise their sonnes like to themselues The same is notable and yet vndoubted true of one Nicaeus a famous Wrestler of Constantinople hauing to his mother a woman begotten in adulterie by an Aethiopian and yet with white skin nothing different from other women of that countrey was himselfe black and resembled his grandsire the Aethiopian abouesayd Certes the cogitations and discourses of the minde make much for these similitudes and resemblances whereof we speake and so likewise many other accidents and occurrent obiects are thought to be very strong and effectuall therin whether they come in sight hearing and calling to remembrance or imaginations only conceiued and deeply apprehended in the very act of generation or the instant of conception The wandring cogitation also and quicke spirit either of father or mother flying to and fro all on a sudden from one thing to another at the same time is supposed to be one cause of this impression that maketh either the foresaid vniforme likenesse or confusion and varietie And hereupon it commeth and no maruell it is that men are more vnlike one another than other Creatures for the nimble motions of the spirit the quicke thoughts the agilitie of the minde the varietie of discourse in our wits imprinteth diuers formes and many marks of sundry cogitations whereas the imaginatiue facultie of other liuing creatures is immoueable alwaies continueth in one in all it is alike and the same still in euery one which causeth them alwaies to engender like to themselues each one in their seuerall kindes Artenon a mean man amongst the Commons was so like in all points to Antiochus King of Syria that Laodicea the Queen after that Antiochus her husband was killed serued her owne turne by the said Artenon and made him play the part of Antiochus vntill she had by his meanes as in the Kings person recommended whom she would and made ouer the kingdome and crown in succession and reuersion to whom she thought good Vibius a poore commoner of Rome and Publicius one newly of a bondslaue made a free-man were both of them so like vnto Pompey the Great that hardly the one could be discerned from the other so liuely did they represent that good visage of his so full of honestie so fully expressed they and resembled the singular maiestie of that countenance which appeared in Pompeius his forehead The like cause it was that gaue his father also the syrname of Menogenes his Cooke albeit he was syrnamed already Strabo for his squint eyes but hee would needs beare the name of a defect and infirmitie euen in his bond-seruant for the loue he had vnto him by reason of his likenesse So was one of the Scipio's also syrnamed Serapius vpon the like occasion after the name of one Serapia who was but a base slaue of his and no better than his swine heard or dealer in buying and selling of swine Another Scipio after him of the same house came to be syrnamed Salutio because a certaine jester of that name was like vnto him After the same manner one Spinter a player of the second place or part and Pamphilus another player of the third part or in the third place gaue their names to Lentulus and Metellus who both were Consuls together in one yeare for that they resembled them so truly And certes mee thinkes this fell out very vntowardly and was but a ridiculous pageant and a very vnseemly shew vpon a stage to see both Consuls liuely represented there at once in the persons of these two players Contrariwise Rubrious the stage player was sirnamed Plancus because he was so like to Plancus the Orator Againe Burbuleius and Menogenes both players of Enterludes resembled Curio the father or the elder and Messala Censorius for all he had been Censor that the one could not shift and auoid the syrname of Burbulcius and the other of Monogenes There was in Sicily a certaine fisherman who resembled in all parts Suria the Pro-consull not only in visage and feature of the face but also in mowing with his mouth when hee spake in drawing his tongue short and in his huddle and thicke speech Cassius Seuerus that famous orator was reproched for being so like vnto Mirmillo a drouer or keeper of kine and oxen Toranius a merchant slaue-seller sold vnto M. Antonius now one of the two great Triumvirs two most beautiful and sweet faced boyes for twins so likewere they one to the other albeit the one was borne in Asia and the other beyond the Alps. But when Antony afterwards came to know the same and that this fraud and cousenage was bewraied and detected by the language speech of the boyes he fell into a furious fit of choler and all to berated the foresaid Toranius And when among other challenges he charged him with the high price he made him pay for they cost him two hundred Sesterces as for twins when they were none such the wily merchant being his craftsmaster answered That it was the cause why he held them so deare and sold them at so deare a rate for quoth he it is no maruell at all that two brethren twins that lay both together in one belly do resemble one the other but that there should be any found borne as these were in diuers countries so like in all respects as they he held it for a most rare and wonderfull thing This answer of his was deliuered in so good time and so fitly to the purpose that Antonie the great man who neuer was well but when he outlawed citisens of Rome and did confiscat their goods he I say that erewhile was all enraged and set vpon reuiling and reprochfull termes was not only appeased but also contented so with his bargaine that he prised those two boies as much as any thing else in all his wealth CHAP. XIII ¶ The cause and manner of generation SOme bodies there be by a secret of nature so disagreeing that they are vnfit for generation one with another And yet as barren as they be so coupled together fruitfull they are enough being ioyned with others Such were Augustus the Emperor and his wife Liuia In like manner some men there be as well as women that can skill of getting and breeding none but daughters and others there be againe that are good at none but sonnes and many times it falleth out that folke haue sonnes and daughters both but they by turnes this yeare a son the next yeare a daughter in order So Cornelia the mother of the Gracchi who for twelue child-beds kept this course duly and Agrippina the wife of Caesar Germanicus for nine euer changing from the male to the female Some women are barren all their youth and others again beare but once in their
Of Statues and Images of Siluer of the workemanship in grauing Siluer and of other things pertinent thereto MEn commonly haue thought that the first statues of siluer seene in Rome were made in the honour of the Emperour Augustus by way of courting and flatterie to winne his grace and fauour as those times did require but it is altogether vntrue for before his daies we finde that Pompey the Great when he rode in triumph caused the siluer statue of K Pharnaces the first of that name that euer raigned in the realme of Pontus to be carried in a solemn shew like as the image also of Mithridates his father besides chariots as well of gold as of siluer Moreouer it falleth out sometimes that siluer is vsed in stead of gold also vpon some vrgent cause and just occasion as we may see by our proud sumptuous dames that are but commoners and artizans wiues who are forced to make themselues carquans and such ornaments for their shooes of siluer because the rigour of the statute prouided in that case will not permit them to weare the same of gold And I my selfe as I remember haue seen Aurelius Fuscus a gentleman of Rome who being put beside his place and hauing lost the dignity of a man of arms by reason of a notable calumniation framed against him when as young gentlemens sons vsed to accompany him because he had the name of a braue souldier weare his rings of siluer But to what purpose do I collect these examples seeing our soldiers make no reckoning of yvorie but the hilts of these swords and the hafts of their daggers bee garnished with siluer damasked and ingrauen their scabberds and sheaths bee set out with siluer chapes and their sword-girdles hangers and bawdricks gingle again with thin plates of siluer And do we not see how our yong boies are kept in and restrained with siluer during the time that they be vnder mans age how our fine dames vse to wash and bath in siluer disdaining and setting light before any other bathing vessels in the bains insomuch as the same mettall and matter which we are serued with at the table is imployed also in shamefull and vncleanly vses Oh that Fabricius were aliue now again to behold these things if hee saw our women bathing together with men in one and the same bains and those paued as it were vnder foot with siluer so smooth and slipperie that they cannot hold their feet Fabricius I say who forbad expressely that any warriours and Generall captains should haue in plate more than one drinking boll or goblet and a saltsellar if hee saw siluer which was wont to be giuen in presents and rewards to braue men and valiant captains thus to be melted and broken to serue for these purposes what would he say but What a world is this we passe not for Fabricius nay we are ashamed of him and his frugality But to leaue these abuses and complaints one thing I wonder much at that among so many excellent artizans as haue been there is not one who took any pleasure to graue in gold nor became renowned thereby whereas many are famous for their workemanship in siluer howbeit Mentor of whom I spake erewhile excelled them all in this kinde and yet I doe not find that euer he made in all aboue eight peeces that were curiously and exquisitly wrought and those as it is said be all lost And no maruell for why the temple of Diana at Ephesus lieth along the Capitoll of Rome likewise and all within it hath perished by fire Howbeit Varro hath left in writing That among his antiquities one brasen image he had of Mentors hand-worke Next to him the world had Acragas Boethus and Mys in great admiration for their excellent skill and at this day there be extant peeces of all their workemanship to be seen in the Isle of the Rhodians for in the temple of Minerva which is at Lindus a city in that Island there is one statue of the said goddesse of Boethus his making within the temple of god Bacchus in the very city it selfe of Rhodes there are certain cups wrought by Acragas wherein bee ingrauen the religious Priestresses called Bacchae and the Centaurs Within the same Church are the pourtraicts of Silenus and the pretty Cupids expressed liuely in imagerie by Mys Moreouer Acragas pourtraied the resemblance of chaces or hunting in certain pots most artificially for which he became very famous After these there are to be ranged in another degree Calamis and Antipater together with Stratonicus who wrought within a broad-mouthed cup one of the Satyres sound asleepe but with such dexterity and so liuely that he is judged and said to haue couched and fitted him to the cup rather than barely ingrauen him Then followes Tauriscus of Cyzicum semblably Aristus and Eunicus both Mityleneans are highly commended as also Hecataeus and Praxiteles who flourished about the time of Pompey the Great Posidonius also of Ephesus and Ledus the Stratiat who was in great name for ingrauing of battels and armed men at the point to joyne skirmish Likewise Zopirus who made two singular cups in the one hee represented the honourable Court of the Areopagites in the other the triall and judgement of Orestes which were esteemed worth twelue talents In another age liued Pytheas a singular Artificer whose workemanship was so rare and exquisite that euery two ounces of his siluer plate was sold commonly for twentie thousand Sesterces and verily a broad goblet or standing piece there was of his making with a deuise appendant to it for to be set too and taken off by a vice and the same resembled Vlixes and Diomedes stealing the Palladium out of the temple of Minerua in Troy The same workeman deuised to set into little cups prettie images or mannikins resembling cookes which he termed Magiriscia but so finely delicatly wrought they were that the patterns of them could not be taken out in any mould without hurting and spoiling so subject were they to any outward injuries in the handling Furthermore Teucer was famous in his time for his dexterity and light hand in shallow imbossing Well in as great request as these artificers were in times past yet this cunning decaied all on a sudden and grew so far out of vse that nothing now commendeth such pieces of work but only antiquity in which regard how neare soeuer they be worne with continuall handling insomuch as the shapes and proportions of the imagerie ingrauen cannot be discerned yet great store is set by any such antique plate wheresoeuer it is to be had Ouer and besides it is to be noted that siluer will rust in medicinable waters such as stand vpon some especiall mine yea the salt aire breathing from them is able to infect it as wee may see in the Mediterranean parts of Spaine far remote from the sea Also in mines of gold siluer there are ingendred certain mineral colours seruing for painters to wit