vpon what ground Calis-Malis In the lesser of the two foresaid isles stood the towne of Gades and in the greater Iulia Gaditana Augusta which before as appeareth out of Strabo was called Neapolis Now they call both towne and island Cadiz It is the seat of a Bishop who also is intitled Bishop of Alger This Isle was first discouered and inhabited by certaine Phoenicians of Tyrus as is euident out of most ancient records Vpon this isle some are of opinion that the Geryones afterward planted themselues whose droues the Aegyptian or Tyrian Hercules forcibly draue away At one corner of the isle stood the temple of this Hercules famous both for builders superstition riches and antiquity Why it should be holy saith Mela his bones there buried are a sufficient cause Vpon the other corner Strabo affirmes the temple of Saturne to haue been erected In the said temple of Hercules Caesar found the image of Alexander the great as Suetonius in his life reporteth A fountaine there was very holsome to drinke which with a strange kind of contrariety diminished at the floud and increased at the ebbe of the sea In this temple as the same author affirmeth were certaine brazen pillars of eight cubits wheron were ingrauen the costs bestowed in building of the same Here also the same author out of Artemidorus acknowledgeth a temple dedicated to Iuno Dionysius describes therein the temple of Age and of Death and tels of certaine altars consecrated to the Yere to the Moneth to Arte and to Pouerty Hercules pillars are here extant saith Isidore and here growes a kind of tree like a palme with the gum whereof the glasse of Epyrus being mingled is turned into a precious stone The inhabitants of old were famous for their skill in nauigation and from this their ancient trauersing of the seas they do not as yet degenerate But their principall gaine consisteth in making of Salt and in catching of Tunies for which they haue euery yeere an ordinary fishing These fishes being cut in pieces pouldred and barrelled are dispersed all Europe ouer This isle was esteemed by antiquitie the worlds extreame Westerne limit whereupon saith Silius Italicus in his first booke And Gades the vtmost bounds of men c. Also in his 17. booke Gades lands farthest end And Calpe bounding Hercules And Baetis crystall streames That bathe Apolloes steeds For here the Poets faine that the Sun being weary of his dayes labour drencheth himselfe in the Ocean and takes his rest wherefore Statius also calles it Gades the Sunnes soft bed Yea at this very time our Netherlandish Mariners call the Westermost Cape of this isle which by the inhabitants is named El cabo de San Sebastian Het einde der Werelt that is to say The Worlds end This ancient inscription found vpon this isle is by Appianus in his booke of Inscriptions alleged out of Cyriacus of Ancona as followeth HELIODORVS INSANVS CARTHAGINIENSIS AD EXTREMVM ORBIS SARCOPHAGO TESTAMENTO ME HOC IVSSI CONDIER VT VIDEREM SI QVISQVAM INSANIOR AD ME VISENDVM VS QVE AD HAEC LOCA PENETRARET In English thus I Heliodorus a mad Carthaginian commanded in my last will that they should in this tombe bury me at the worlds end to see if any more franticke than my selfe would come thus farre to visit me But that all this inscription is counterfeit and new I learne out of Anthony Augustinus his eleuenth chapter of ancient coines Concerning this isle you may reade more at large in Strabo and Philostratus And of the city reade Brunus in his volume of cities GVIPVSCO GVIPVSCO is a part of that Northerne tract of Spaine called of olde Cantabria it borders vpon the kingdome of Nauarre and the Pyreney mountaines which diuide it from France and it is bounded Westard by the prouince of Biscay The inhabitants in Ptolemey are called Varduli At this present some call it Lipuscoa others Lepuscoa but corruptly as Stephan Garibaio borne in the country writeth Some ancient records of this country do not vndeseruedly name it The wall and fortresse of Castile and Leon. It is a mountainous place euery where so abounding with yron and steele that for quantity and goodnesse of this mettall it is excelled by no other region in the world Wherefore from hence to their great commodity all the neighbour-countries are abundantly supplied with all kind of iron-tooles and instruments Here likewise they make warlike armour and artillery as namely Great ordonance Harquebuzes Caliuers Harnesse Swords c. so good and in such plenty as people of all nations are desirous to haue them They themselues also are a people very warlike So that this region a man may rightly call Mars his armory and the inhabitants his workemen Such as dwell vpon the coasts spending the greatest part of their time at sea reape vnto themselues great profit by taking Newfoundland fish called Baccalaos and Whales of whose fat they make great quantitie of Traine-oile Heere also they boile Salt mixing it I know not for what purpose with Oats and with Hempe-seed The head citie is Tholosa situate at the confluence of the riuers Araxis and Oria others there are also of note as Placencia swarming with Smiths Motrico or rather Monte de Trico so called of the rocke Trico that hangs ouer it The port of Sant Sebastian which is the largest most commodious vpon all the coast Hither people of sundry nations do trafficke At first it was called Hicuru afterward Don Bastia and corruptly Donastia which in signification is all one with Sant Sebastian For Don in the Biscain tongue signifieth Saint as Santo in Spanish But by the inhabitants it is commonly called Vrumea For this region differing altogether in language from the residue of Spaine hath many townes called by diuers names according to the difference of languages some whereof I thought good here to note for the benefit of those that reade histories The sundry names therefore of diuers townes in Guipusco are these that follow Salinas alias Gaza both signifying salt Mondragon alias Arrasale Monreal alias Dena Aspeitia alias Vrasueitia Saluatierra de Traurgui Olite alias Ariuierri Renteria alias Villanueua de Oiarcum Penna Oradada alias Puerto de Sant Adrian Elicaur alias Licaur Marquina alias Elgoiuar Azcoytia alias Vrazgoitia Miranda de Traurgui Araxa Arayça Also the hill Aralar is called Arara and the riuer Vidoso Vidorso and Alduida and Beyouia This riuer runnes betweene Spaine and France In describing this region Stephan Garibayo is very copious in the 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. and 14. chapters of his 15. booke And Florian del Campo writes somewhat of it in his first and second chapter And Nauagierus in his Iournall affirmeth that there is so much yron and steele dig'd out of the mines of Guipusco as yeeldeth 80000. duckats of yerely gaine The words of Plinie in his 34. booke and 14. chapter are not I thinke to this place impertinent Vpon the coast of Cantabria saith he which the
the moneths of May Iune and Iuly and reape within six weeks after Concerning this region reade the booke of Iaques Morguez le moine GVASTECAN THis also is a region of North America and part of New Spaine The inhabitants are poore Along the sea-coasts and the bancks of riuers they liue for the most part of fish but in the inland with Guinie-wheat which they call Maiz. Otherwise they are a people gentle enough The Spaniards haue planted two colonies here the one is called Panuco of the riuer that runneth by it and the other S. Iames of the vallies Not farre from Panuco neere the towne called Tamatao stands an hill with two fountaines vpon it one whereof disgorgeth blacke pitch and the other red which is scalding hot The BRITTISH Iles. THE EMPIRE OF GREAT BRITAIN included within the parallels 49. and 63. and the Meridians or longitudes 9. and 26. bounded vpon the South by France vpon the East by Germany vpon the North West by the Vast Ocean disioined from the rest of the maine land as High Admirall of the seas comprehendeth that Iland which at this day conteineth the kingdomes of England Scotland together with Ireland ouer against it Westward the circumiacent iles the Orchades Hebrides Man Anglesey Wight the Sorlings many others of lesse note and were generally of the old writers with one consent called BRITANNICAE INSVLAE The Brittish Ilands taking their denomination as seemeth from the greatest of them commander of the rest which indeed is properly called BRITANNIA Brittaine So named not of that fained Brutus the bloody parricide as the fabulous historian Geffrey of Monmouth against all reason authority truth of storie hath hitherto made the world beleeue nor of the Welch word Prydain or Prydcain as the learned Britaine Humfrey Lhoyd hath thought but of Brit a Celticke word which signifieth Painted For these people as Caesar and other old writers report vsed to paint their bodies and therefore were called of the Gaules their next neighbours BRITONES as those people of the same nation who to auoid the slauery and seruitude of the Romanes and withdrew themselues into the North parts from whom they continually molested their colonies heere were of them for the same reason in their language called PICTI The Greekes called it also ALBION not of Albion Neptunes sonne which sometime sweied the scepter heere as some haue most fabulously taught but of Alphiων the white cliffes vpon the sea coast which first offer themselues to the eie of those which to this our land saile hither from France and indeed the Welch poets call it Inis win that is as Orphaeus the most ancient poet of the Greeks doth interpret it Nesos leu caessa and Leucaios Chersos The white I le or The whiteland The first Inhabitants which seated themselues heere not long after the vniuersall Flood and Confusion of Babel came hither from France as by Neerenesse of place Likenesse of language Maners Gouernment Customes Name is by the learned Clarencieux Camden the onely light of our histories in that his thrise renowned Britannia euidently demonstrated For to this day the ancient Britans the Welchmen do call themselues CVMRI not Cambri as come from Gomer the sonne of Iapheth called of the Latines Cimber from whom are descended the Celtae or Gaules The Romanes a second nation vnder the conduct of Iulius Caesar about the yeare before the birth of CHRIST 54. entered Brittaine and planted their colonies in diuers and sundry places of this Iland The Scottes obseruing the Roman legions to grow weake and their Empire to decline thereupon tooke occasion first to seise vpon Ireland then about the yeare of CHRIST 446. great trouble arising in France the Emperours were constrained wholly to withdraw their forces from hence and to leaue the Brittaines naked and open to the furie of the Pictes their enemies From hence ensued a double mischiefe for first the vnquiet and turbulent Pictes thinking that now the onely opportunitie was offered them to accomplish their desires thought to make sure worke called in the Scottes out of Ireland combined themselues together against the poore disarmed Britans whereupon the Britans were constrained for safegard of their liues and liberties to call in about the yeare of CHRIST 440. the Angles Saxons and Iuites a warlike people inhabiting along the sea coast of Germany from the riuer of Rhein vnto Denmarke to aid them against their violent enemies The Normanes lead by William the Bastard their Duke tooke possession of Great Brittaine in the yeare 1066. The Vandalles Norweis and Danes who by their piracies and robberies a long time and oft greeuously vexed these Iles neuer seated their Colonies heere and therefore I passe them ouer with silence The forme of Brittaine is triangular like vnto that figure which the Geometers call Scalenum or as Nubiensis the Arabian saith to the head and necke of Alnaama the ostrich and therefore it may aswell as Sicilia be called TRINACRIA The three-cornered I le The ancient Geographers did hold it and that deseruedly to be the greatest Iland of the Maine Ocean wherefore Solinus saith it may well deserue the name of ANOTHER WORLD and Matthew Paris for the same cause calleth it THE QVEEN or Empresse of the Isles of the Ocean In respect of which large compasse it hath been in former ages diuided into many seuerall iurisdictions and kingdomes in the time of the Saxons England the South-east part into seuen and Wales into three Great Egbert in the yeare 800. reduced the Saxon heptarchy into a Monarchy The Irish Princes Nobles and Commons after the incarnation 1172. vnited their Pentarchy to the crowne of Egbert and swore alleageance to Henry the second King of England Edward the first to these did knit in the yeare after the birth of Christ 1282. the triple crowne of the Pety Kings of Wales In these our daies the eternall wisedome of the Great King of Heauen and Earth hath cast all these together with the crowne of Scotland into one massie Emperiall Diademe and placed it vpon the head of our dread soueraigne IAMES lineally descended from those mighty Monarches and shall we doubt not in time adde to these whatsoeuer from them vnto his Highnesse do belong BRITANNICAE INSVLAE or the Empire of Great Brittaine conteineth Ilands Greater and often mentioned in histories BRITANNIA diuided by the Romans into Superior the Higher conteining ANGLIA England CVMERIA Wales Inferior the Neather now called SCOTIA Scotland HIBERNIA Ireland vpon the West of Britaine Lesser yet famous belonging to England from it South Close to the shore of Brittaine VECTA Wight Vpon the coast of France CAESARIA Gersey SARNIA Gernsey And many other lesser West From the point of Cornwall SILLINAE Silly anno 145. In the middest betweene England Ireland and Scotland MONOEDA Man Wales MONA called of the English Anglesey of the Welch Tirmôn Scotland lying from it West HEBRIDES The West isles in number foure and fortie North ORCHADES Orkney-iles about
city Groningen as also that tract which they call Ommeland to these are adioined Ouerysel Drent and Twent countries of a fatte and fertile glebe well inhabited full of villages and hamlets breeding also great plenty of cattell The cities of West Friesland are thirteen GROENINGEN the more famous for that it brought forth the learned Rodolphus Agricola DAM LIEVVERDT with a faire castle heere is kept the Court or place of Parliament and Chancerie as they commonly call it DOCKVM the place where the famous Mathematician Gemma Frisius was borne FRANICHER a common palace and place of retreit whither the Noblemen and Gentry of this country do for their pleasure retire themselues BOLSART SNEECK where Ioachim Hopper a very learned and worthy man was borne ILST SLOTEN HARLINGEN vpon an arme of the German ocean which they call Suyderzee hath a commodious hauen garded with a strong castle to defend it from the impechment and assault of the enemie WORCKVM and HINDELOPEN vpon the same bay Lastly STAVEREN which in time past hath been a mighty city but now hauing endured many bitter storms and inundations of the sea it is nothing so renowmed nor great There are beside these 490. villages or parishes of which diuers are endowed with great priuiledges and haue many rich farmours It hath many Monasteries so that for the beauty of their townes husbandrie of the land and stately Abbeies Friesland giueth place to no other country whatsoeuer That in this prouince are many gentlemen descended from honourable families hauing their houses and farms in diuers places of the shire and no Barons or free Lords the cause is partly by reason of the foresaid casualities and partly for that they being contented with their own estate and liberty haue not followed the courts of forrein Princes Petrus Oliuarus in his annotations vpon Pomponius Mela where he speaketh of West Friesland writeth that within so little a circuite of ground he neuer saw so many parish Churches There were saith he which do alleadge this to haue been the cause of that multitude of Churches they report that there arose a great contention amongst the nobility of this country about their places in those Churches euery one contending for the highest seat and when as this contention grew euery day worse and worse they determined as many as were able to build them seuerall Curches euery man vpon his owne demaines and so euery man might take the highest roome in his own seat and heere grew the cause of building so many Churches Thus farre Oliuarius where also thou maist see many things els worth the reading Moreouer read Albertus Crantzius his Saxonia But he that desireth a more ample knowledge of this prouince let him haue recourse vnto the description of the Low countries done by Lewis Guicciardine Aelsius Edouardus Leon Frisius hath described this country in Heroike verse dedicated to D. Viglius Zwichemus Cornelius Kempius and Suffridus Petrus haue done the same at large in peculiar treatises The learned Hieronymus Verrutius did this other day promise to set out the antiquities of this Country FRISIA OCCIDENTALIS SIBRANDVS LEONIS LEOVARDIENSIS DESCRIB Cum priuilegio Imp. et Reg. Mtm. ad decennium 1579. Antiquae Frisiae situs sub Augusto Imperatore ut fertur EAST FRIESLAND THat the Frisij did not in former times inhabit this tract but the Cauchi there is none I thinke that doubt Beside Strabo Dion Suetonius Paterculus and Ael Spartianus Ptolemey who distinguisheth them into The Greater and The Lesser doth make mention of this people Ptolemey placeth the Greater Cauchi between the riuers Weiser and Elbe the Lesser between Eems and Weiser where now these Frieslanders which we call East-Frieslanders at this day do dwell Of the Cauchi Pliny in the first Chapter of his sixteenth booke thus speaketh In the North we haue seene saith he the countries of the Cauchi the Greater and the Lesser as they are termed altogether void of wood and trees For by an huge in-let there twise euery day and night by courses the sea runneth in amaine confusedly couering whatsoeuer generally the earth bringeth forth leauing it doubtfull which is sea and which is land There the silly distressed people get them vp to the toppes of high hills or mounts raised by labour and industrie of men according to the height of the highest tide as they find by experience and thereon they build their poore cottages where they dwell like sailers floting on the waters when the ocean flowing encloseth them round or like those which haue suffered shipwrake when the waters ebbing returne backe againe and then they go out to fish about their cabbines when they obserue the fish to follow the tide They haue no cattell they liue not vpon milke and whit-meats as their neighbours do they hunt not any wild beast as being farre from any shrubs or bushes where they may hide their heads Of Reike a kind of seaweed and rushes growing vpon the washes and boggy places they twist cords whereof they make their fishing nets and taking vp a kind of muddy earth with their hands drying it rather with the wind then with the sunne they vse it for fuell to dresse their meat and heat their limmes starke and stiffe with the cold blasts of the Northren winds They haue no other drinke but raine water which they catch and keep in ditches in the porches of their houses Yet these nations if they be at this day conquered by the Romanes they count it no other but slauery and bondage So it is indeed fortune is fauourable to some to their owne hurt and hinderance Thus Pliny writeth of this people who wondereth that they preferred liberty before the tyrannous command of the Romanes or rather as I thinke he enuieth that they were freed from their yoke For neither is it yet so wonderfull a thing as he would make it for a free nation before all things els whatsoeuer to maintaine their liberty which is excellent a thing in his iudgement ô Pliny whom thou thy selfe doest highly commend before all other who perswadeth vs to maintaine the same with the vttermost hazard of our life and affirmeth it worthily to be desired and preferred not only of man but also of brute beasts before all things in the world beside This country in former times was diuided into many Signiories which seuerally were gouerned by their seuerall and proper Princes euen vnto the time of Fredericke the third Emperour of Rome who gaue this whole country vnto one Vlricke and created him Earle of the same in the yeare after Christs natiuity 1465. The soile of this tract is so rich of all necessarie things that it seemeth not greatly to stand in need of the help of neighbour countries Yea it doth so plentifully abound with diuers things as Horses Oxen Cattell Hogges Wool Butter Cheese Barley Oates Wheat Beanes Pease and Salt that from hence euery yeare they conuey great store of these commodities vnto forrein countries This County hath
dispute of the Common-wealth and that the like tumults haue bereft many cities of their libertie and brought great calamities vpon them Now if any quarrell or dissention arise among the common sort it is not referred to the Masters or Wardens of their crafts and mysteries but to the Senatours themselues who presently appoint two arbitratours to search into the cause and to do their best to compound it If they can not bring it to agreement then it comes before the Senate who hauing awarded the matter do vnder a grieuous penaltie impose silence to both parties With great seueritie they punish fightings brawles iniuries and priuate quarrels for the maintenance of publike peace insomuch as a man would thinke that Minos and Rhadamanthus gaue dayly sentence vpon their iudgement seats Thus farre Pighius concerning the originall the magistrates and the common wealth of this citie More you may reade in the same authour The territories adiacent being naturally barren and sandie are by the industrie of the people made fruitfull In the same territorie stands Altorff where not many yeeres since the States of Nurenburg instituted an Vniuersitie Nurenburg is watered by the riuer Pegnitz which it crosseth with many stone-bridges In compasse it containeth eight miles It is compassed with a double wall whereon are 183. turrets besides castles and fortresses Concerning the originall situation maners and customes of this citie you haue a notable discourse written by Conradus Celtis a Poet laureat BRAVNSVICENSIS ET LVNEBVRGENSIS DVCATVVM VERA DELINEAT NORIMBERG AGRI FIDISSIMA DESCRIP Habet urbs Nurenberga plateas et vicos 52. puteos aquarum 16. fontes ex arborum truncis emanantes 12. pontes lapideos 11. publica balnea 13. Cum priuilegio decennali Imp. Reg. Cancel Brabantiae 1590. FRANKENLANDT FRANKENLANDT is partly plaine and partly mountainous the mountaines are not very steepe nor the plaines very fruitfull being for the most part sandy In many places the hilles be set with vines do yeeld pleasant and delicate wine especially about Wirtzburg There are great store of woods and much hunting The country is subiect to many gouernours notwithstanding they call the Bishop of Wirtzburg Duke of Frankenlandt The Bishops of Mentz and of Bamberg haue many places here And the Count Palatine enioyeth a great part Here the Marqueses Orantes are seated And here are many imperiall cities also As touching Norimberg it is doubtfull whether it belongs to Frankenland or Bauaria by the name Bauaria should seeme to chalenge it For Norimberg is as much to say as Mons Noricus The Norick hill whereby it appeareth that it was the city of the Norici And after the Norici succeeded the Boiari or Bauarians and now that portion of countrey that lies betweene Danubius and Norimberg is called Noricum Howbeit the city is in the diocesse of Bamberg which belongeth to Frankenlandt The inhabitants of Norimberg will be accounted neither Bauarians nor Frankes but a nation differing from both It is a stately city with churches castles and houses most sumptuously built It stands vpon the riuer Pegnitz in a barren and sandy place which increaseth the peoples industry for they are all either artizans or merchants so that they are exceeding rich and beare a great name in Germany It is a place most fit for the Emperours court a free city and seated almost in the midst of Germany Betweene Bamberg and Norimberg lies Forchaim a towne famous for snow-white bread The inhabitants suppose that Pilate was here borne Thus farre Aeneas Siluius in his description of Europe Reade also Iohannes Aubanus Hermannus Comes Nuenarius Tritthemius the Abbat and Iohn Auentinus who thinks that the principall city thereof Wirtzburg was of old called Poeonia THE BISHOPRICK OF MVNSTER OF this Bishopricke thus writeth Sebastian Munster in his Cosmography Charlemaine erected a third Bishopricke in the midst of Saxonie now Westphalia in Myningrode a place which afterward in regard of a famous Monastery there founded was called Munster and there he ordained as Bishop one Ludgerus borne in Frisland Whose successour Hermannus consecrated the Monastery and Church on the other side the water to the honour of the blessed Virgin Mary Which Monastery in short time so mightily increased and became so famous that it gaue name both to the City and Bishopricke so that the old name of Myningrode being abolished by little and little it began to be called the City and Bishoprick of Munster which name remaines euen till this present day Hitherto Munster out of Crantzius Concerning this Bishoprick and that of Ozenburg reade the Saxonie of Albertus Crantzius and Hamelman his commentaries of Westphalia This City anno 1533. receiued great dammage by the Anabaptists who expelling the citizens vsurped the same and chusing a King out of their rabble they held it almost a yeere against the Archbishop of Colen and the Duke of Cleue who besieged it with a strong army But the Bishop at length growing Master punished both them and their King as they deserued FRANCIAE ORIENTALIS VVLGO FRANCKENLANT DESCRIPTIO AVCTORE SEBAST A ROTENHAN MONASTERIENSIS ET OSNABVRGENSIS EPISCOPATVS DESCRIPTIO Auctore Godefrido Mascop Embricense Cum priuilegio BOHEMIA IOannes Dubrauius in his Bohemian story describeth this region in maner following Bohemia is situate in Germanie East it extendeth to Morauia and Silesia and west to Bauaria Austria bordereth to the South as Saxonie and Misnia do Northward It is in forme of a Theater enuironed around by the forest or woods of Hercynia Wherefore there is no great difference between the length and the bredth containing not much aboue 200. miles a piece Charles king of Bohemia who afterward was Emperour diuided it into 12. regions of which one only he named after the riuer Vultaw that runneth through Prage the other eleuen he called by the names of their principall townes some of them being so harsh of pronunciation that a man shall hardly speake them vnlesse he be a Bohemian borne or very skilfull in the language The chiefe Bohemian townes lying towards Morauia are Mutha Chrudima Konignigretz Pardubitz Litomitz Towards Bauaria you haue Glatow Domazlitz Misa and Tachow On the side towards Austria the principall towne is Buduitz with Cromlawe Trebon Hradeck as likewise on the Misnian side stand Pons Cadana Chomutawe Austia and on the Silesian quarter Iaromir Glacitz Curia and some others In the heart of the countrey the principall townes of note are Cuttenberg Kolim Pelsin Veron Zateckz Launa Slana Lytomerick and Tabor But the head citie of all is Prage being so great as it containeth three faire cities within it namely the new the old and the little towne which is disioyned from the two former by the riuer Vultaw Their Buildings both Publique and priuat are stately and magnificall This city hath two castles one called Vissegard whilom the Kings palace but now waste and almost desolate by meanes of ciuile warres Again that other castle that ouer looketh the little towne as it is named so it
is such as it doth almost exceed the capacitie of mans witte no man need to wonder why in former times as well as now the Noblemen so much delighted to dwell heere This we haue taken out of Leander where manie other things may be read of who hath described the whole kingdome this Citie and the Liberties thereof very curiouslie that indeed it is not necessarie to send the Reader vnto any other Authour but Scipio Mazzella which in a seuerall and peculiar Treatise hath with extraordinarie paines and diligence set out in the Italian Tongue a description of this kingdome There is also in Print a little booke written by Alexander Andreas of the warre betweene Philippe King of Spaine and Paul the fourth Pope of Rome out of which the Reader which is not satisfied with this discourse of ours may heere and there picke out something concerning this kingdome worth the noting and not triuiall The booke is set out in the Italian tongue by Hieronymo Ruscello Iohn Baptista Caraffa Pontanus and Pandulfus Collenutius haue written the histories and chronicles of the kingdome of Naples in the which they in diuers places speake much of the situation of this country Gabriel Barry hath very curiously described Calabria his natiue country as Sanfelicius hath done Campania REGNI NEAPOLITANI VERISSIMA SECVNDVM ANTIQVORVM RECENTIORVM TRADITIONEM SCRIPTIO PYRRHO LIGORIO AV Cum priuilegio APVLIA now called PVGLIA or TERRA DI OTRANTO WE haue composed this discourse following of this countrey out of the treatise of Antony Galatey which he wrote of the situation of Iapigya now called Terra di Barri This country saith he in respect of his situation is seated in the most temperate place of the world Of diuers authours it hath beene diuersly called by sundry names Aristotle and Herodotus called it Iapygia others Peucetia others Mesapia others Magna Gracia Great Greece others Apulia others Calabria for that which now is called Calabria was anciently called Brutia The corne hearbs and fruits of this country are of the best The oats of this soile is as good as the barly of other countries and the barly as good as their wheat Melones of a most pleasing taste and Pome-citrons do euery where grow in great plenty Physick herbs of greater force then other where are here in all places very common The aire is very wholesome the soile is neither drie nor squally or moorish But these so great gifts and blessings of God are intermedled with some mischiefe and danger for heere nature doth breed a most venemous and pernicious kind of spider the Greeks do call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Phalangium and Araneus whose poisonous bite is onely cured by Musicke or Tabret and Pipe Heere is also the venimous serpent which the Greeks call Chersydros the Latines Natrix terrestris the Land snake we call it if I be not deceiued an Adder and heere is a kinde of Locust which hurt and mar all things they light vpon The cities of this country long since more famous were Tarentum now Taranto proudly seated between two seas exceedingly stored with fish in forme somewhat like a long Iland This city in all mens iudgement is inuincible Callipolis now Galipoli Pliny called it Anxa is a city situate in the end of a promontorie or forland shooting farre out into the sea but with such a narrow Isthmos or necke-land that in some places there is scarce so much as a cartway It is very strong and round beset with high cliffes from the maine land there is only one entrance in the which is a very strong Castell Hydruntum of them called Otranto is the chiefe city and which is somewhat more Metropolitan of the whole Peninsula or Demi-ile and that not without cause for whether you respect the antiquity of it the vertue and humanity of the citizens ioined with valour and great magnanimity it hath euer been of them accounted for a very famous and worthy city It hath a very good and capacious hauen but against the raging blasts of the North wind not so safe It was sometime very strong and defencible but now it lieth almost leuell with the ground The fields adioining are very fruitfull full of springs and alwaies green From hence Montes Cerauni certaine hills of Epirus now called Cimera and Canina may easily be descried Heere is the end of the Hadriaticke and Ionian seas as Pliny testifieth Brundusium now called Brindisi a famous city hath as notable a hauen as any in the world els where the inner hauen is enclosed with castles and an huge chaine the outer hauen is heere and there beset with rocks and small Ilands but his mouth is by Alphonsoes meanes so stopped and dette vp that there is no entrance but for little shippes and barges It hath beene in former time a very populous city now it is little inhabited These are the chiefe marine cities He that would know more particularly of the ancient names situation antiquities and priuate stories of the mid-land cities and townes we refer him to the learned discourse of Galatey written of this his natiue country to which if he please to adioine the description of Leander I perswade my selfe the thirstie Reader shall not know what els he may demand CALABRIA GAbriel Barrius Franciscanus hath very curiously described Calabria in fiue bookes which are imprinted at Rome with as little heedfull diligence Out of him we haue culled these particulars following CALABRIA saith he a country of Italie in forme and fashion not much vnlike a tongue lieth between the vpper and neather seas It beginneth at the neather sea the Greeks call it the Tyrrhen sea the Latines the Mediterran or Mid-land sea from the riuer Talao which runneth into the Bay of Policastro at the vpper sea the Ionian sea the Grecians terme it from the riuer Siris otherwise sometime called Senno and coasteth along vntill it come to the streights of Faro di Messano and the city Regio and so being diuided longwise by the mount Apennine heere they call it Aspro monte it endeth in two capes or promontories the one called Leucopetra of them Capo de Leocopetra the other Lacinium vulgarly of them called Cabo delle colonne or Cabo dell ' Alice Not only the plaines and champions but euen the hillie places like vnto Latium or Campania are well serued with water Whatsoeuer is necessary for the maintainance of mans life this country doth yeeld in great abundance it needeth no forraine commodities but is able to liue of it selfe Calabria generally is a good and a fertile soile it is not combred with Fennes Lakes or Bogges but is alwaies green affoording good pastorage for cattell and excellent ground for all sorts of graine The fountaines and brooks are many and those passing cleare and wholesome The sunnie hills and mountaines open to euery coole blast of wind are wonderfull fertile for corne vines and trees of diuers kinds whereof arise great profit to
againe wonne by those of Pisa Now together with the kingdome of Sicilia it is gouerned by the Spaniard MALTA sometimes called MELITA QVintinus Heduus hath passing well described this Iland and hath set forth a peculiar Treatise of the same The landing of S. Paul and his shipwrecke heere vpon this coast hath made this Iland famous But not many yeares since by the ouerthrow of the Turks huge nauy the knights of Hierusalem to their eternall fame manfully defending the assault it is now againe made more famous See also Fazellus of this I le ELBA anciently called ILVA THis Iland in these our daies is in subiection to the Dukes of Florence and by a strong castell newly built it seemeth to be very defensible and safe against the inuasions of the Turks Of the new order of knight-hood by the name of the Knights of S. Steuen answereable to those of Hierusalem in Malta instituted in the yeare 1561. by Cosmus Medices Duke of Tuscane read Caelius Secundus in his historie of the warres of Malta That this Iland had many veines of mettall it is cleare by the report of ancient Cosmographers And now Leander saith it hath a rich mine of iron where also the Loadstone is found as he writeth Matthiolus telleth that from hence Liquid alume is brought and conueied vnto vs. Diodorus Siculus in his fifth booke hath a large description of this Iland where he calleth it by the name of Aethalia CORCYRA now CORFV IT is an Iland of the Hadriaticke sea subiect to the state of Venice In it is a very strong castell of the same name where is continually maintained a garrison against the Turks Beside the ancient Geographers these later writers Volaterranus Bened. Bordonius and Nicolas Nicolay in his Eastern obseruations with others haue described this Iland ZERBI of old writers called LOTOPHAGITIS THe ouerthrow of the Christian nauie neere this Iland which happened in the yeare of Christ 1560. hath made this iland more famous Of the situation bignesse and gouernours of this Iland read Iohannes Leo Africanus in his fourth booke of his description of Africa INSVLARVM ALIQVOT MARIS MEDITERRANEI DESCRIPTIO Cum Priuilegio The Ile ISCHIA THat this Iland hath been in former times called AENARIA ARIMA INARIMA and PITHECVSA Homer Aristotle Strabo Pliny Virgill Ouid and other good writers are sufficient witnesses Now it is called ISCHIA of the name of the city there built vpon the top of an hill in forme somewhat like the Hucklebone as Hermolaus Barbarons testifieth which of the Greeks is named Ischia or rather of the strength and defenciblenes of the place as Volaterranus thinketh Although it be sure that these be but synonymes of one and the same iland yet Mela Liuie and Strabo do seeme to make Aenaria and Pithecusa two distinct iles as also Ouid may be thought to do in these verses Inarimen Prochitamque legit sterilique locatas Colle Pithecusas habitantum nomine dictus By Inarime he saileth by Prochyte ile by barren Pithecuse A town on toppe of loftie cragge where wilie Apes do vse Where by Pithecusas as I thinke he vnderstandeth the city ancientlie as also now it is of the same name with the whole iland Which although now it be obserued to be ioined to the I le yet in former ages it was called Gerunda and was apart and disioined from the I le as Pontanus a man of good credit doth testifie in his second booke which he wrote of the warres of Naples where he affirmeth that in his time it was ioined vnto the Iland by a causway made between them Prochita not farre distant from hence which Plinie doth write to haue been seuered from Pithecusa doth shew that this was sometime adioined to and sometime disioined from this Iland The same authour doth affirme which Strabo also doth approue that all these sometime were cut off from the maine continent and to haue been part of the cape Miseno This doth the forenamed Pontanus in his sixth booke confirme in these words That Aenaria saith he was cutte off from the maine continent many things do demonstrate namely The torne rocks The hollow ground full of caues The nature of the soile like vnto that of the continent leane drie and spuing out hotte springs and fountaines It breedeth flaming fires in the middest of the earth wherefore it is manifest that it conteineth much Alume Andreas Baccius in that his famous worke of the Bathes of the whole world writeth that this iland doth counterfait Campania of which it was sometime a part not only in respect of the fertility of the soile but also for likenesse and similitude of the bathes Erythraeus vpon the 9. booke of Virgills Aeneiads doth thinke it to be called Arima of a kind of people or beasts so named and that Virgill was the first that when he translated that of Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Ionicke preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 altering the declension and number did make the new word Inarime Yet Plinie in the 6. chapter of his 3. booke and Solinus surnamed Polyhistor are of a contrary opinion which do affirme it to be of Homer also called Inarime And as the same Pliny reporteth it was called Aenaria for the ships of Aeneas put into harborough heere Pithecusa not of the great store of Apes there found but of Coopers shops or warehouses But this opinion the same Erythraeus in the foresaid place laboureth to ouerthrow as not altogether consonant to the truth for that of tunnes made for this purpose he protesteth that he hath not read of in any authour whatsoeuer Yet Seruius in my iudgement seemeth vpon the forcited 6. of Virgils Aeneads to stand for Pliny where he saith that by Cumae there was a certaine place named Doliola that is if we should interpret it Tunnes And it is more likely that this Iland should take the name from that place with which sometime it was vnited according to the opinion of these good authours rather then of apes for I regard not the fable of Ouid of which beasts none are heere or euer were That this Iland from the beginning hath been subiect to earth-quakes flames of fire and hot waters from thence oft breaking out we are certified by Strabo and Pliny The mountaine which Strabo calleth Epomeus and Pliny Epopos now they call it S. Nicolas mount which for the same cause they report to haue burned inwardly at the bottome and being shaken with an earthquake to haue somtimes cast out great flakes of fire Heere hence arose that fable of Typhon the giant wherof you may read in Homer Virgill Silius Italicus who calleth him Iapetus Lucane and others as the same Strabo interpreteth which they fable to lie vnderneath this hill and to breath out fire and water That it is on euery side wonderfully fertile of the last writers Io. Elysius Fran. Lombardus Io. Pontanus Solenander Andreas Baccius and especially Iasolinus the authour of this
ENGLAND In old writers there are but few records left of these Ilands Amongst the new writers Olaus Magnus Gothus Episcopus Vpsaliensis Albertus Crantzius Saxo Grammaticus Iacobus Zieglerus Sigismundus ab Herberstein in his commentaries of Moscouia haue described these countries And Nicolas Wimman hath set forth the nauigation of the Northren sea See also a little discourse of Antony and Nicolas Zenis two brethren of the ilands situate vnder the North pole together with the shipwracke of Peter Quirinus written by himselfe and Christophero Fiorauante as also by Nicholas Mighel in the Italian tongue There is also a discourse of these Northren parts written by Sebastian Cabato who in the yeare 1557. first sailed into these quarters But aboue all the history of Saxony lately written and set out by Dauid Chytraeus is not to be forgotten SEPTENTRIONALIVM REGIONVM DESCRIP ISLAND I Do find in the Ecclesiasticall history lately set forth and imprinted vnder the name of M. Adams That the people of this Iland came vnto Adelbert Bishop of Breme earnestly entreating him to appoint them some learned diuines that might be able to preach the Gospell and plant Christianity amongst them Neither do I thinke that there is any mention of this Nation in any other more ancient writer than he Although I must confesse that Sigebertus Gemblacensis hath left record that Great King Arthur about the yeare of Christ 470. subdued this iland and reduced the people to his obedience This I take as a fable not for any true history For I do certainly know that this was neuer written by Sigebert but shuffled in as many things els by some other For a very faire Manuscript copy of mine owne as also another in parchment of my friend haue it not Now this Adelbert died about the yeare after Christs incarnation 1070. And that the name Thule oft spoken of almost by all old writers aswell Poets and Historians as Geographers doth not pertaine to this Iland against the opinion well neere of all the learned men of our time but rather to Scone Scandia Peninsula a neck-land of Norway not only the authority of Procopius a graue discreet writer but also for that a note and remnant of that name yet remaineth to this day in Scone in that part which is opposite to the Orkeney iles namely in a place of Norway where the famous Mart of the Belgae is seated For amongst other shires of Norway there is one in this place which they call Tilemercke that is the March or shire of Tule The ilands also ouer against this shore which vulgarly are called Hetland and Shetland the seamen as I vnderstand out of England by the relation of my good friend M. W. Camden are commonly called Thylinsel whereby I conceiue that this Iland tooke the name from the next maine land opposite vnto it For what els is Thilensel but the iland of Thile This opinion of mine not only Pomponius Mela doth confirme who writeth that Thule was opposite to the sea coast of the Belgae he directly saith I say Belgarum not Britannorum littori the sea coast of Britaine where indeed Island is situate not Thule but also Ptolemey the prince of all Geographers and writers in that argument who placeth Thule vnder the 29. degree of Longitude and 63. of Latitude Which position and calculation of degrees doth exactly and precisely fall vpon Tilemarke And as for Island there is no man that hath looked with halfe an eie into Geographicall Mappes and Charts but doth know it to lie vnder the first degree of Longitude and the sixtieth degree of Latitude And I perswade my selfe euen Arngrimus Ionas himselfe an Islander borne in that his Treatise of Island where he saith that the latitude of this Iland is about 44. degrees and 45. minutes was much deceiued It is therefore as cleare as the noone day as he saith that Island is not the same that Thule was and the same Procopius saith that it is inhabited by thirteen Nations and gouerned by so many Kings and to be tenne times as great as Brittaine so that not without good cause Stephanus giueth it the title of Great when as it is certaine that Island is much lesse than Brittaine The same Procopius affirmeth that the Scritifinni a kind of people so called did inhabite Thule these Diaconus nameth Strictofinni and speaketh of them in Scandia as doth also Iornandes in his history notwithstanding he corruptly calleth them that I may note this by the way Crefennae Thus gentle Reader thou seest that which they name Scandia or Scone he calleth Thule and the same nation to this day dwelleth in the same Scandia called by the same name no whit corrupted For they are called vulgarly Scrickefinner and do dwell in Scandia and not in Island In Thule Procopius writeth that there be huge great woods in Island all the world knoweth there are none at all And so Isacius vpon Lycophron saith truly when he affirmeth that Thule is vpon the East of Brittaine not vpon the North as is Island Contrary to that which Strabo a most worthy and diligent Geographer by the sound iudgement of all the learned saith of it but from the relation as there he addeth of Pytheas a shamefull lying historiographer whose custome was as Diodorus Siculus in his second booke writeth to counterfait and coine fables so cunningly that ordinarily they passed for true stories This is that Thule which Tacitus reporteth when the Romane nauy sailed round about Brittaine was seen and viewed by them but not regarded and therefore not entered as is probable This could not be Island which is much farther off and out of kenning But this is enough in this place of Thule or Scandia We will addresse our selues to speake of Island an iland altogether vnknowen and not once named in any ancient writer ISLAND or the Frosen or Icie land which is all one was so named of the ice which lieth continually vpon his North side for there now beginneth the Frosen-sea as Crantzius writeth It was called SNELAND of the Snow which all the yeare long doth heere in some places continue Item GARDARSHOLM that is Garders ile so called as Arngrimus himselfe being an Islander borne writeth of one Gardar a man so named who first found it or inhabited the same This iland is an hundred Germane miles in length as commonly most writers do hold but the foresaid Arngrimus Ionas saith it is 144. miles long For the most part it is not inhabited but is wast and mountainous especially toward the North part by reason of the bitter blasts of the South winds which will not suffer as Olaus teacheth so much as any low shrubbe or bush once to put forth his head It is subiect to the king of Norway and so hath continued euer since the yeare of Christ 1260. at what time first the same Arngrime affirmeth they did their homage to that Crowne Whereupon the king of Denmarke euery yeare sendeth thither a Lieutenant by
of the forenamed Maffeius who handleth them more at large with many other things of these Ilands of Iaponia Of the same there are heere and there many things in the Iesuites Epistles INDIA THat there is not a more goodly and famous country in the world nor larger comprehended vnder one and the same name than INDIA almost all writers iointly with one consent haue affirmed It was so named of the riuer Indus The whole compasse of India by the iudgement of Strabo and Pliny is thus limited vpon the West it hath the riuer Indus on the North the great mountaine Taurus on the East the Eastern sea wherein those famous Ilands the Moluccaes do lie on the South it hath the Indian sea In the middest it is diuided into two large prouinces by the goodly riuer Ganges Of which that which is on the West side of Ganges is called India intra Gangem India on this side Ganges that on the East India extra Gangem India beyond Ganges That in holy Scripture it is called EVILAT or Hauila this latter some writers call SERIA the country of the Seres as Dominicus Niger testifieth M. Paulus Venetus seemeth to diuide it into three prouinces the Greater the Lesser and the Middlemost which he saith they name Abasia This whole country generally not only for multitude of nations of which as Herodotus writeth it is most populous and best stored of any country in the world and for townes and villages almost infinite but for the great abundance of all commodities only brasse and lead excepted if one may giue credit to Pliny is most rich and fortunate It hath very many riuers and those very great and faire These running to and fro and in many places crossing and watering the same do cause it as in a moist soile where the sunne is of force to bring forth all things most plentifully It storeth all the world with Spices Pearles and Pretious stones as hauing greater plenty of these commodities than all the countries of the whole world besides There are neere vnto this country many goodly ilands which heere and there lie scattering in the maine Ocean so that it may iustly be tearmed the World of Ilands But especially IAPAN which M. Paulus Venetus calleth Zipangri situate in this sea is worth the noting which because it is not many yeares since that it was knowen to few or none I thinke it not amisse to say something of it in this place It is a very large and wide iland and hath almost the same eleuation of the Northren pole and position from the South with Italy The Ilanders and people heere inhabiting are much giuen to learning wisedome and religion and are most earnest and diligent searchers out of the truth in naturall causes They vse to pray and say seruice oft which they do in their Churches in the same maner as the Christians do They haue but one King vnto whom they are subiect and do nothing but according to his behests and lawes Yet he also hath one aboue him whom they call Voo to whom the ordering of Ecclesiasticall matters gouernment of the state of the Church is soly committed This peraduenture we may not vnfitly compare to the Pope as their King to the Emperour To their Bishop they commit the saluation and care of their soules They worship only one God protraitured with three heads yet they can shew no reason of this act They baptize their infants by fasting in token of penance they labour to bring downe their bodies They crosse and blesse themselues with the signe of the crosse against the assault of Satan so that in religion certaine ceremonies and maner of liuing they seeme to imitate the Christians yet notwithstanding the order of the Iesuites labour by all meanes possibly they can not refusing any paines and trauell to reduce them wholly to Christianity Heere are also the MOLVCCAE certaine ilands famous for the abundance of spices which they yearly yeeld and send into all quarters of the world In these is bred the Manucodiatta a little bird which we call the bird of Paradise a strange fowle no where els euer seen More neere the coast of India is SVMATRA or rather Samotra for so the King himselfe of that country writeth it in his letters vnto his Maiesty this Iland was knowen to the ancient Geographers and Historians by the name of TAPROBANA There are also diuers other Ilands heereabout of great estimation and fame as Iaua Maior Iaua Minor Borneo Timor c. as thou maist see in the Mappe but we cannot in this place speake of euery thing particularly and to the full Thus farre the religion of Mahomet is professed and from Barbary ouer against Spaine euen vnto this place is the Arabicke language spoken or vnderstood The Moores from Marrocco Ambassadours to our late Queene some fiue yeares since we saw and heard them speake that tongue naturally in which also their commission or letters patents were written From Achem in Samotra and Bantam in Iaua Maior our Merchants this other day brought letters vnto his Highnesse so fairely and curiously written in that character and language as no man will scarcely beleeue but he that hath seen them especially from so barbarous and rude a Nation Of the ancient writers Diodorus Siculus Herodotus Pliny Strabo Quintus Curtius and Arrianus in the life of Alexander haue described the Indies So hath Apuleius also in the first booke of his Floridorum Dion Prusaeus in his 35. oration hath written much of this country but very fabulously There is also extant an Epistle of Alexander the Great written to Aristotle of the situation of India Of the latter writers Ludouicus Vartomannus Maximilianus Transsiluanus Iohannes Barrius in his Decades of Asia and Cosmas Indopleutes whom Petrus Gyllius doth cite haue done the same But see the Iesuites Epistles where thou shalt find many things making much for the discouery of the I le Iapan But if thou desire a full and absolute description of the same I would wish thee to haue recourse vnto the twelfth booke of Maffeius his Indian history Iohn Macer a Ciuillian hath also written bookes of the history of India in which he hath much of the ile Iaua Moreouer Castagnedo a Spaniard hath written in the Spanish tongue a discourse of the Indies Of the ilands which lie scattering heere and there in this ocean read the twentieth booke of the second Tome of Gonsaluo Ouetani written in like maner in the Spanish tongue INDIAE ORIENTALIS INSVLARVMQVE ADIACIENTIVM TYPVS Cum Priuilegio The kingdome of PERSIA OR The Empire of the SOPHIES THe Empire of the Persians as it hath alwaies in former ages been most famous so at this day still it is very renowmed knowen farre and neere and conteineth many large and goodly prouinces For all that whole tract of Asia comprehended between the great riuer Tigris the Persian gulfe the Indian which of old writers was called mare Rubrum the Red sea the riuers
forenamed Iulian in the same Misopogonos And this is one kinde of memoriall or Chronicle with them as Tacitus witnesseth Otherwise they spend their whole life in warlike and military exercises We reade in Caesar that robbery is not accounted as any infamy And Seneca sayth they take care for nothing more than for armour and weapons In these they are bred and borne in these they are nourished If their countrey haue long peace they do voluntarily go and offer their seruice to those nations which do wage warre vpon any other as Tacitus witnesseth They procure their mothers children and wiues to bring vnto them being in fight incouragements and meat and drinke neither do they feare to sucke and dresse their wounds They begin the skirmish with singing sound or clashing of their weapons and dancings They animate and encourage one another with shouting and loud hallowings In battell they vse long speares and pikes the weapons of the Alemans or Teutones as Lucan in his sixth booke affirmeth To leaue his armour behinde him in the field was accounted the greatest disgrace that might be insomuch that many after their returne home from the warre haue ended that infamie with an halter Hence perhaps is that of Eusebius and S. Clement which report that many of the Germans do hang themselues Dion and Herodotus say that they vsually swimme ouer riuers for the lightnesse of their armour and the talnesse of their bodies doth lift them vp and beare them aboue the water as Tacitus witnesseth Pliny teacheth that the pirats do saile in seuerall hollow trees whereof some one doth beare thirtie men apiece The same man sayth that there is yet a custome with them that the conquered giue an herbe to the conquerours Appianus Alexandrinus sayth they contemne death by reason that they are perswaded that they shall returne to life againe Perhaps for that cause peraduenture it is that Tacitus speaketh thus of them They desire no great funerals that only is obserued that the bodies of famous and better sort of men may be burnt with some certeine kinde of wood They heape vpon the fire neither garments nor any sweet sauours Euery mans armour and some mans horse also was cast into the fire The sepulchre is raised with turfs c. They haue also a certaine kinde of punishment only vsed here as Tacitus sayth who writeth that they hang traitours and runnagates vpon trees but idle and lustie fellowes Lipsius readeth big-limmed and lazie lubbers they throw into puddles and fennes casting an hardle or grate ouer them Caesar in his sixt booke de bello Gall. makes me imbrace that reading of Lipsius where if I be not deceiued he maketh them slothfull whom they account in the number of runnawayes cowards and traitours neither do I see how these differ to accuse a man for idlenesse and to make him infamous for slothfull dulnesse This is that diuersitie of punishment according to the diuersity of offences They vse not any sacrifices and they count them only in the number of gods if we may beleeue Caesar whom they see as the Sunne the Moone and Vulcan But afterwards as it is manifest out of Tacitus who liued vnder Verna the Emperour they got themselues other gods also as Mercury Hercules whom if we may credit Lucian they did call Ogmion Mars Isis and the mother of the gods beside one named Alcis The same Tacitus addeth that they accounted also Velleda and Aurinia amongst the number of their gods Suidas mentioneth this but that he readeth Beleda for Velleda Theodosius out of Dion writeth that the virgin Ganna gaue out oracles He also heere maketh mention of the temple of Tanfannae He sayth that the Sueui which is the greatest nation of all Germany did worship the mother Earth which as Lipsius readeth they call Aërtha which yet is called Aerde But they haue no images Tertullian in his Apolog. writeth if the reading be vncorrupt that Belenus is the god of the Norici Plutarch and out of him Clemens Alexandrinus teacheth that they haue certaine holy women Tacitus calleth them Agathias Polyaenus Fortune-tellers Prophetesses who did tell of things to come by the roaring wirlings and circumuolutions of riuers It is very like that Caesar meant these same people which he reporteth sayd to Ariouistus that it was not lawfull for the Germans to ouercome if they fought before the new moone Hither are those things to be referred which Strabo speaketh of the Prophetesses of the Cimbrians people of Germanie in his seuenth booke Aelian in the second booke of his Var. hist chap. 31. hath noted that they foretell things to come euen by birds entrals of beasts signes and forespeakings Tacitus is witnesse that they made experimentall diuinings euen by the neying of their horses It is manifest out of Suetonius his Domitian that they had also Diuiners which foretell by looking into the entrals of beasts We reade in Tacitus that at an appointed time they publikely sacrificed those men and that in their consecrated groues and by calling on the names of their gods which I also gather out of Claudian his first booke of the praise of Stilicon who calleth these woods cruell by reason of their ancient religion Tacitus also attributeth vnto these a certaine kinde of casting of lots Iosephus in his eighth booke of Antiq. chap. 8. doth tell a prety tale worth the reading of a captiue souldier concerning their skill in diuination by birds And thus of many things we haue selected these few particulars of Olde Germany which hath now a new face farre other fashions rites and maners than at that time it had Caesar will affoord more to the greedy Reader but especially Tacitus in his peculiar booke written of the Germans Moreouer some things thou mayest finde in a Panegyricke speech made to Aurelius Maximianus the Emperour The Epitome of Liuie in the 104. booke witnesseth that he wrote of the situation and maners of Germanie Caecilius reporteth that Plinius Secundus his vncle wrote twentie books of the warres of Germanie Agathias witnesseth that Asinius Quadratus did most curiously describe the estate of Germanie But we hitherto want all these books of Pliny and Liuy Notwithstanding there are some men of no reputation which bragge that they haue those bookes extant by them and do suffer them to lie hid and fight with wormes to the great iniurie and dammage to learnings common-wealth Of this vanquished and yet inuincible Germanie these men tooke their names or surnames to wit Nero Claudius Drusus of whom Ouid thus speaketh Et mortem nomen Druso Germania fecit Great Drusus was of Germane named and there he li'th intomb'd Germanicus Caesar this mans sonne Tiberius Caesar C. Caesar Nero Vitellius and Domitian as Suetonius Dion Tacitus and their coines do witnesse Item Nerua Hadrian Antoninus Pius Traian M. Aurelius Antoninus Commodus Carocalla Maximinus Maximus his sonne Gallienus and Claudius as their ancient coines doe plainly teach Aurelian also Maximilian Valentinian Valens and Gratian
moorish fennes and bogges Those things also which the Poets do tell of the witchcraft of the sorceresse Circe and that fabulous transmutation and changing of men into diuers and sundry formes or shapes with Seruius I doe rather attribute to the force of nature than to magicke or witchcraft namely of the horrour of those which passe by that way whereby men do seeme to be changed into beasts and with Pliny I may say How infinite are those fables that are tolde of Medea of Colchis and others but especially of our Italian Circe who for her excellent skill in the arte magicke was canonized for a goddesse And be it farre from me and from euery Christian man that we should beleeue those things which it were wicked and profane to thinke or imagine For I haue read in the Ancyrane councell that they are woorse than Pagans and infidels who doe beleeue that any creature may by any man be turned and transformed into any other shape or similitude than by the Creatour himselfe who first gaue them that forme and fashion Therefore let all other men say what they will and perswade what they can they shall neuer make me beleeue these fables It seemeth that the fable arose of the nature and quality of the place for those places which lie out into the sea as this promontory doth are woont to be in more danger of storme and windes than any other places whatsoeuer Which blasts accompanied with the waues ebbes and tides of the sourging sea falling vpon the rocks cliffes and hollow places do cause such sundry sounds and noices that such as doe saile by this way not without a great horrour and trembling doe seeme as if they heard at one instant men mourne lions roare wolues howle dogs barke hogs grunt and beares to make a noice Hither do those words of Lucan in his sixt booke belong Omnia subducit Circaeae vela procellae That this promontory is full of trees especially of okes myrtles and bay-trees Theophrastus writeth from the relation of others Strabo sayth that it aboundeth with diuers sorts of roots peraduenture as there he addeth they affirme this of it that they may the better apply it in all respects vnto the fable of Circe And do you not thinke that this saying of Aristotle the Prince of Philosophers in his Admiranda did arise from hence They report sayth he that in the mount Circello there groweth a deadly poison of such great force that so soone as euer it is taken all the haire of the body immediatly falleth off and it so weakeneth all the parts and members of the same that they wex so litly and dwined that outwardly they beare the shew of dead carkeises such as it would grieue any man to beholde Strabo writeth that in this mountaine was an altar dedicated to Minerua and withall there is to this day to be seene a certeine goblet or bowle of Vlysses but this latter he affirmeth to be from the opinion and report of the vulgar sort only But passing ouer these fables let vs returne againe vnto the historicall narration of such things as in trueth are either here found or haue happened in this place Horace hath left recorded that the sea vpon this coast yeeldeth great store of good oisters which thereof are called Ostrea Circaeia Suetonius reporteth that Marcus Lepidus was by Augustus Caesar for euer confined and banished into this place Plutarch writeth that Iulius Caesar had a purpose hard beneath the city by a deepe channell to conuey the riuer Tiber another way and to turne the course thereof toward this Circaeium promontorium and so to haue caused it to fall into the sea at the city Anxur by which meanes those which for trade and trafficke were by ship to trauell vp to Rome he meant to make their passage more easie and safe but being preuented by death performed not what he had purposed Here also was the city CIRCAEIVM or Circaeia or as Strabo termeth it Circes towne That it was made a colony of the Romans by Tarquinius Liuy Halicarnasseus Cicero and Plutarch do ioyntly testifie Strabo sayth that it hath a good and conuenient hauen I would thinke that the mention or plot of this ancient citie Circaeia doth still remaine in this mountaine in that place where in this description thou seest certeine ruines and foundations of the walles as it were of a city rased long since and layd leuell almost with the ground which place at this day is called by the name of Citta vecchia that is as much to say as The old citie Certeine remnants of this name doth yet remaine to be seene engrauen in the top of this same mountaine as Angelus Breuentanus a man of good credit the authour of this description and a most diligent searcher out of the Romane antiquities doth from his owne knowledge plainly testifie yet much defaced as he also affirmeth and worne out with continuance of time to wit in this forme PROMVNTORIVM VENERIS CIRCAEIENSIVM XXI The forenamed Breuentanus thinketh that by this inscription is shewed the distance of this place from the city of Rome And it is to be seene at this day in that place of this mountaine where thou seest this marke of a starre * imprinted MAGNA GRAECIA OR GREAT GREECE THat a great part of the true and ancient Italy if not all of it together with all Sicily was sometime called by the name of GREAT GREECE I thinke there is no man meanly seen in Geographie that maketh any doubt for the Grecians did in former times possesse as Trogus writeth not only a part but welnigh all Italy Listen what Pliny in the fifth chapter of his third booke saith Of it the Grecians a Nation very prodigall in commending themselues haue giuen their verdict in that they haue named a great part of it Great Greece Hither also pertaine those wordes of Festus Italy was called Great Greece because the Siculi sometime passed it or for that many and the greatest cities of it were built by the Grecians Seruius in his Commentaries vpon the first of Virgils Aeneids writeth thus Italy was termed Megale Hellas Great Greece for that all the cities from Taranto Tarentum euen vnto Cumae were first founded by the Grecians And therefore it was not altogether vnfitly of Plautus in his Menechmis called Graecia exotica outlandish Greece Seneca in his Consolation thus speaketh of it All that side of Italy which coasteth along with the Neather sea Mar Tosco was called Great Greece That Campania Terra di lauoro was possessed by the Grecians Pliny doth plainly affirme Maximus Tyrius in his six and twentieth Oration describeth Auernus lacus the lake of Tipergola in Campania to be within the compasse of Great Greece And that these authours speake truth Trogus particularly sheweth in the twentith booke of his history in these wordes The Tusci which dwell along by the coast of the Neather sea came from Lydia Item the Venetians Veneti which now we see
round about them but also of all seamen which trauell by that way Leander Albertus saith that these ilands do breed most excellent horses SICILIA OR TRINACRIA THat this was sometime a peninsula or demy-ile adioined to Italy as a part of Brutium in Calabria neere to Rhegium Rhezzo and afterward was by violence of tempest seuered from the same and of that accident the city Rhegium tooke the name it is a generall opinion of all antiquity But when or at what certaine time this diuision happened there is not any memoriall for ought I know remaining in any ancient writer Strabo Pliny and Dionysius do write that it was caused by an earthquake Silius and Cassiodorus do thinke it to haue been done by the rage and violence of the tide and surges of the sea They which lend their listening eares to fables do attribute the cause of it to Neptune as Eustathius witnesseth who with his three-tined mace in fauour of Iocastus the sonne of Aeolus diuided it from the maine land and so made it an iland which before was but a demy-ile that by that meanes he might the more safely inhabite and possesse the same Diodorus Siculus moued by the authority of Hesiodus ascribeth to Orion who that he might be compared to Hercules cutting through the rockes and mountaines first opened the Sicilian streights as he did of Gibraltar Therefore Trinacria quondam Italae pars vna fuit sed pontus aestus Mutauere situm rupit confinia Nereus Victor abscissos interluit aequore montes c. They which esteeme the ilands of the midland sea according to their quantity and content do make this the greatest as Eustathius and Strabo who affirme this not only to excell the rest for bignesse but also for goodnesse of soile As concerning the forme of this iland Pomponius Mela saith it is like that Capitall letter of the Greekes which they call Delta That the whole iland was consecrated to Ceres and Libera that is Proserpina all old writers do generally with one consent affirme to Ceres it was dedicated because it first taught the rules of setting sowing of corne to Proserpina not so much for that she was from hence violently taken by Pluto as for that which Plutarch and Diodorus do report for truth Pluto as soone as she vncouering her selfe first shewed herselfe to be seene of him gaue it her for a boone which kind of gifts and fauours the Greekes call anacalypteria Of the fertility and riches of this country there is a famous testimonie written by the learned Oratour Cicero in his second oration against Verres where he saith that Marcus Cato did call it The garner and storehouse of the Romane common wealth and the nurce of the vulgar sort The same Cicero doth adde in that place that it was not only the storehouse of the people of Rome but also it was accounted for a well furnished treasurie for without any cost or charge of ours saith he it hath vsually clothed maintained and furnished our greatest armies with leather apparell and corne Strabo in his 6. booke reporteth almost the same thing of it Whatsoeuer Sicilia doth yeeld saith Solinus whether by the kindnesse and temperature of the aire or by the industry and labour of man it is accounted next vnto those things that are of best estimation were it not that such things as the earth first putteth forth are ouergrowen with Centorui saffron Crocus Ceturipinus Aristotle in his Admiranda writeth that about Pelorus Cabo de la torre del Faro saffron groweth in such abundance that any man that listeth may load and carie it away by whole cart loads But Dioscorides doth affirme that that which groweth about Centuripinum a towne now called Centorui is much weaker and of lesse force than that which groweth in other places Diodorus Siculus saith that in the fields neere Leontium Lintini and in diuers other places of this iland wheat doth grow of it selfe without any labour or looking to of the husbandman That this iland was made a prouince first before any other forren nation amongst other Cicero and Diodorus haue left recorded Martianus sheweth that there were in it 6. colonies and 60. cities Pintianus at the 8. c. of Plinies 3. booke readeth 73. free colonies cities Silius in his 14. booke and Ouid in diuers places reckoneth vp the names of many of them but this our mappe speaketh of many more That it was in the beginning possessed and inhabited by Giants Laestrigones Anthropophagi and Cyclopes barbarous and vnciuill nations all histories and fables do iointly with one consent auerre Yet Thucydides saith that these sauage people dwelt only in one place of the iland Afterward the Sicani a nation of Spaine so called of the riuer Sicanus or as Solinus and Berosus haue giuen out of their king Sicanus driuen out of their country by the Ligures possessed it That these Sicani were not bred in the ile although some do so thinke Thucydides and Diodorus do constantly auouch Of these it was named SICANIA The Elymi and some of the Phocenses seated themselues heere after them succeeded the Phryges driuen from Troy as Pausanias thinketh and the Morgetes expelled out of Italy by the Oenotri as Strabo writeth In Plutarch his Conuiual Quaest and Iulius Pollux his 2. booke de Manibus I read that the Dores sometime did inhabite it Lastly it was all conquered by the Siculi a people of Italy ouerthrowen cast out of their possessions by the Opici and of them it was called SICILIA when as before it was knowen by the name of TRINACIA as Dionysius writeth or TRINACRIS as Ouid or TRINACRIA and TRIQVETRA as Pliny reporteth of the triangular forme Whereupon the Romans in their money were wont to counterfait or expresse this prouince by 3. legs ioined together about the vpper end of the thigh not much vnlike those armes of the E. of Darby as I thinke Lycophron for the same reason giueth it the title or epithite of TRICERVIX 3. necked and Pindarus in like maner calleth it TRICVSPIS 3. pointed Homer the prince of poets nameth it CYCLOPVM TERRA the land of the Cyclopes being peraduenture in his time not knowen by any proper name Iulius Firmicus saith that the Siculi the people of this iland are acute and nimble witted Quint. in his 6. booke of his Orat. saith that they are lasciuious and full of words Besides many famous acts done by these people both at home and abroad aswell in peace as in war there be many other things which haue made this iland very renowmed the birth of Ceres the rauishing of Proserpina the Giant Enceladus the wonderfull mathematician Archimedes the famous geometrician Euclide the painfull historian Diodorus Empedocles the deep philosopher the ingenious architecture of Daedalus the tombe of Sibylla Cumana Syracusae the famous tetrapolis or as Strabo saith a pentapolis one city made of 4. or 5. cities like as London in respect of Westminster and Southwarke may be said