XXXIIII ¶ Of the Buffe or Tarandus the Lycaon and the Thos IN Scythia there is a beast called Tarandus which changeth likewise colour as the Chamaeleon and no other creature bearing haire doth the same vnlesse it be the Lycaon of India which by report hath a maned necke As for the Thoes which are a kinde of wolues somewhat longer than the other common wolues and shorter legged quicke and swift in leaping liuing altogether of the venison that they hunt take without doing any harme at all to men they may be said not so much to change their hew as their habit and apparell for all winter time they be shag-haired but in summer bare and naked The Tarandus is as big as an oxe with an head not vnlike to a stags but that it is greater namely carrying branched hornes clouen hoofed and his haire as deep as is the Beares The hide of his backe is so tough and hard that thereof they make brest-plates He taketh the colour of all trees shrubs plants floures and places wherein he lieth when he retireth for feare and therefore seldome is he caught But when he list to looke like himselfe and be in his owne colour he resembleth an Asse To conclude strange it is that the bare body of a beast should alter into so many colours but much more strange it is and wonderfull that the haire also should so change CHAP. XXXV ¶ Of the Pork-pen THe Porkpens come out of India and Africke a kind of Vrchin or hedge-hog they be armed with pricks they be both but the Porkpen hath the longer sharp pointed quilles and those when he stretcheth his skin he sendeth and shooteth from him when the hounds presseth hard vpon him he flieth from their mouthes and then takes vantage to launce at them somwhat farther off In the Winter he lieth hidden as the nature is of many beasts to doe and the Beares aboue the rest CHAP. XXXVI ¶ Of the Beares and how they breed and bring forth their young THey ingender in the beginning of winter not after the common manner of other foure-footed beasts but lying both along clasping and embracing one another then they goe apart into their dennes and caues where the she beare thirtie daies after is discharged of her burden and bringeth forth commonly fiue whelps at a time At the first they seem to be a lump of white flesh without all form little bigger than rattons without eies wanting haire only there is some shew and apparance of claws that put forth This rude lumpe with licking they fashion by little little into some shape nothing is more rare to be seen in the world than a she beare bringing forth her yong and this is one cause that the male beares are not to be seen in 40 daies nor the femall for 4 moneths If they haue no holes and dens for the purpose they build themselues cabbins of wood gathering together a deale of boughes bushes which they couch and lay artificially together to beare off any shower so as no raine is able to enter and those they strew vpon the floore with as soft leaues as they can meet withall For the first 14 daies after they haue taken vp their lodging in this manner they sleep so soundly that they cannot possibly be wakened if a man should lay on and wound them In this drowsinesse of theirs they grow wondrous fat This their grease and fat thus gotten is it that is so medicineable and good for those that shed their haire These 14 days once past they sit vpon their rump or buttocks and fall to sucking of their fore-feet and this is all their food wherof they liue for the time Their yong whelpes when they are starke and stiffe for cold they huggle in their bosom and keep close to their warm breast much like to birds that sit vpon their egs A strange and wonderful thing it is to be told and yet Theophrastus beleeueth it That if a man take bears flesh during those daies and seeth or bake the same if it be set vp and kept safe it will grow neuerthelesse All this time they dung not neither doth there appeare any token or excrement of meat that they haue eaten and very little water or aquositie it found within their belly As for bloud some few small drops lie about the heart only and none at all in the whole body besides Now when spring is come forth they go out of their den but by that time the males are exceeding ouergrown with fat and the reason therof cannot be readily rendred for as we said before they had no more but that fortnights sleep to fat them withall Being now gotten abroad the first thing that they do is to deuoure a certain herbe named Aron i. Wake-robin and that they do to open their guts which otherwise were clunged and grown together and for to prepare their mouths and teeth again to eat they whet and set the edge of them with the yong shoots and tendrons of the briers and brambles Subiect they are many times to dimnesse of sight for which cause especially they seek after hony combs that the bees might settle vpon them and with their stings make them bleed about the head and by that means discharge them of that heauinesse which troubleth their eies The Lions are not so strong in the head but beares bee as weak and tender there and therfore when they be chased hard by hunters put to a plunge ready to cast themselues headlong from a rocke they couer and arme their heads with their fore-feet and pawes as it were with hands and so jump downe yea and many times when they are baited in the open shew-place we haue known them laid streaking for dead with one cuffe or box of the eare giuen them with a mans fist In Spain it is held for certain that in their brain there is a venomous qualitie and if it be taken in drinke driueth men into a kind of madnesse so as they will rage as if they were bears in token whereof whensoeuer any of them be killed with baiting they make sure work and burn their heads all whole When they list they wil go on their two hinder feet vpright they creep down from trees backward when they fight with buls their manner is to hang with all their foure feet about their head and hornes and so with the very weight of their bodies wearie them There is not a liuing creature more craftie and foolish withall when it doth a shrewd turne We finde it recorded in the Annales of the Romans that when M. Piso and M. Messala were Consuls Domitius Aenobarbus and Aedile Curule vpon the 14 day before the Calends of October exhibited 100 Numidian beares to be baited chased in the great Cirque and as many Aethiopian hunters And I maruell much that the Chronicle nameth Numidian since it is certain that no bâ—…rs come out of Africke CHAP. XXXVII ¶ Of the Rats of
both kinds and not accompany together vnlesse they tasted the milk and sucked the damme when they were yong of that kinde which they would couer And for this purpose they vse to steale away either the yong Asse foles and set them in the dark to the teats of the Mare or els the yong colts to suck of the she Asse For there is a kind of Mule also that comes of a stone horse and a female Asse but of all others they be vntoward and vnruly and so slow withall that it is vnpossible to bring them to any good seruice and much more as all things else if they be far in age when they ingender If when a she Asse hath taken the horse and be sped there come an Asse and couer her againe she will cast her fruit vntimely and lose all but it is not so if an horse couer her after an Asse It is noted found by experience that seuen daies after an Asse hath foled is the best time to put the male vnto her and then soonest will she be sped as also that the he Asses being wearie with trauel wil better couer the femals than otherwise being resty That Asse is held for barren which is not couered nor conceiueth before she haue cast her sucking or foles teeth whereby the age is known as also she that standeth not to the first couering but loseth it In old time they vsed to call those Hinuli which were begotten betweene a horse and an Asse and contrariwise Mules such as were ingendred of an Asse and a Mare Moreouer this is obserued that if two beasts of diuers kindes ingender they bring forth one of a third sort and resembling none of the parents also that such begotten in this maner what kind of creatures soeuer they be are themselues barren and fruitles vnable either to beare or beget yong And this is the cause that she mules neuer breed We finde verily in our Chronicles that oft times Mules brought forth yong foles but it was alwaies taken for a monstrous and prodigious signe And yet Theophrastus saith that in Cappadocia ordinarily they do beare and bring forth foles but they are a kind by themselues Mules are broken of their flinging and wincing if they vse often to drinke wine It is found written in many Greeke authors that if an he Mule couer a Mare there is ingendred that which the Latins call Hinnus that is to say a little Mule Between Mares and wild Asses made tame there is ingendred a kind of Mules very swift in running and exceeding hard hoofed lanke and slender of bodie but fierce and couragious and vnneth or hardly to be broken But the Mule that comes of a wild Asse and a female tame Asse passeth all the rest As for wild asses the very best floure of them be in Phrygia and Lycaonia In Africke the flesh of their foles is held for excellent good meat and such they cal Lalisiones It appeares in the Chronicles of Athens That a mule liued 80 yeares And reported thus much there is of it That when they built the temple within the citadel thereof this old Mule being for age able to do nothing els would yet accompanie other Mules that laboured and caried stones thither and if any were ready to fall vnder their lode would seeme to relieue and hold them vp and as it were incourage them to his power insomuch as the people tooke so great delight and pleasure therein that they made a decree and took order that no corn-masters that bought and sold graine should beat this mule from their ranging siues when they clensed or winnowed their corne but that he might eat vnder them CHAP. XLV ¶ Of Buls Kine and Oxen. THe Boeufs of India are as high by report as Camels and foure foot broad they are betwixt the horns In our part of the world those that come out of Epirus are most commended and beare the greatest price aboue all others and namely those which they say are of the race breed of king Pyrrhus who that way was very curious For this prince because he would haue a principall good breed would not suffer the Buls to come vnto the kine and season them before they were both foure yeares old Mighty big they were therefore and so they continue of that kind vnto this day How beit now when they be but heifers of one yeare or two yeres at the most which is more tolerable they are let go to the fellow and breed Buls may wel ingender and serue kine when they be 4 yeares old and one of them is able all the yeare long to goe with ten kine and serue their turne They say moreouer that a Bull after he hath leapt a Cow and done his kind if he go his way toward the right hand he hath gotten an oxe calfe but contrariwise a cow calfe if he take the left hand Kine commonly take at their first seasoning but if it chance that they misse and stand not to it the 20 day after they seeke the fellow and goe a bulling againe In the tenth moneth they calue and whatsoeuer falleth before that terme never proueth nor commeth to good Some write That they calue iust vpon the last day of the tenth moneth complete Seldome bring they forth two calues at a time Their seasoning time commonly continueth 30 daies namely from the rising of the Dolphin starre vnto the day before the Nones of Ianuarie howbeit some there be that go to fellow in Autumne Certes in those countries where the people liue altogether of milke they order the matter so that their kine calue at all times so as they are not without their food of fresh milke all the yeare long Bulls willingly leape not aboue two kine at most in one day Boeufes alone of all liuing Creatures can grase going backeward and verily among the Gamarants they neuer feed otherwise Kine liue not aboue 15 yeares at the vtmost bulls and oxen come to 20 they be at their â—…ll strength when they are 5 yeres old It is said that they will grow fat if they be bathed with lot water or if a man slit their hide and with a reed or pipe blow wind betweene the flesh and the skin euen into their intrals Kine Buls and Oxen are not to be despised as vnkindely although they look but ilfauoredly and be not so faire to the eie for in the Alpes the least of bodie are the best milch kine and the best laboring oxen are they which are yoked by the head and not the neck In Syria they haue no dewlaps at all hanging vnder the necke but bunches standing vp on their backs in stead thereof They of Caria also a country of Asia are ilfauored to sight hauing betweene their neckes and shoulders a tumor or swelling hanging ouer besides their horns are loose and as it were out of joint and yet by report they are passing good of deed and labor most stoutly Furthermore it is generally held
Cavallerie changed The gifts and rewards represented vnto valiant souldiers for their braue seruice And at what time Coronets of gold were seene THe chamber of the foresaid judges consisted of diuers estates and degrees distinguished all by seuerall names for first and foremost there were of them called Tribuni aeris as it were Generall receiuers or Treasurers secondly Selecti chosen from among the Senators and last of all those who simply were named Iudices or Iudges taken from among the knights or men of armes Ouer and besides these they had others called Nongenti choice men selected from out of all the estates who had the keeping of those chists or caskets wherin were put the voices of the people in their solemn elections And by reason of a proud humor in men chusing themselues names to their owne liking great diuisions and factions arose in this house and chamber of the foresaid Iudges whiles one would needs be called Nongentus another Selectus and a third gloried in the title of Tribune or Receiuer But at length in the ninth yere of the reigne of the Emperor Tiberius Caesar the whole estate of the gentrie or cauallerie of Rome was reduced to an vniformitie and an order was set downe whereby it was knowne who might weare rings and who might not which fell out to be in that yeare when C. Asinius Pollio and C. Antistius Vetus were Consuls together and in the 775 yere alter the foundation of Rome city And verily this vniforme regularity was occasioned by a trifling cause to speak of and whereat wee may well maruell and thus stood the case C. Sulpitius Galba desirous in his youth to win some credit with the foresaid Emperour Tiberius and namely by deuising meanes how to bring Taueâ—… Cooks shops and victualing houses in danger of the law and to forfeit penalties pleaded against 〈◊〉 and complained before the Senat That those who were the vndertakers and Tenants 〈◊〉 â—…re of the foresaid Tauerns c. and made their gaine thereby had no other meanes to bearâ—…â—…mselues out nor plea to defend their faults and disorders but their rings The Senat taking knowledge hereof ordained an act That none from that time forward might bee allowed to weare the said rings vnlesse he were free borne and that both himselfe his father and grand sire by the fathers side were assessed in the Censors booke 400000 sesterces and by vertue of the law Iulia as touching the publicke Theatre had right to sit and behold the plaies in the first and foremost 14 ranks or seats for knights appointed Howbeit afterwards euery man labo red and made means one with another to be allowed to weare this ornament of a ring Now in regard of these disorders and variances aboue rehearsed prince Caius Caligula the Emperour adjoyned to the former foure a fifth Decurie And shortly after men gtew to that height and pride in this behalfe of wearing rings and the company so surcreased that whereas in Augustus Caesars dayes there could not be found knights and Gentlemen sufficient throughout all Rome to furnish those Decuries by this time they could not be contained all within the Chamber of Iudges or Decuries abouesaid insomuch as now adaies no sooner are there any slaues manumised and affranchised but presently by their good will they must be at their rings A thing that neuer before was knowne in Rome for aforetime when a man spake of the iron ring he was vnderstood presently to point at the Gentlemen and Iudges before named but the said ornament or badge became so commonly to be taken vp by one as well as another that a gentleman of Rome Flauius Proculus by name indited 400 at once before Claudius Caesar Censor for the time being and declared against them for this abuse and offence See what inconuenience insued vpon the act of rings for whiles thereby a distinction was made between that degree other free-born citizens streight-waies base slaues leapt in and were so bold as to take that ornament vpon them And here by the way it is to be noted that the two Gracchi Tiberius and Caius brethren vpon a certain desire and inbred affection that they had to maintaine and nuzzle the people in sedition and to beare a side alwaies against the Senat for to currie fauour with the Commons and to do them a pleasure deuised first to haue al them called Iudges who by vertue of the foresaid statute or edict might weare rings and this he did to crosse and beard the Senat. But after the fire of tbis sedition was quenched and the popular authors thereof who stirred blew the coles were murdered the denomination of these criminall Iudges after diuers troubles and seditions with variable and alternatiue fortune fell in the end to the Publicans and Farmers of the reuenues of the State and being thus deuolued vpon them there continued insomuch as for a good while the said Publicans made vp the third degree betweene the Senatours and the Commons Howbeit M. Cicero when he was Consull re-established the Knighthood Cauallerie of Rome in their former estate and place and so far preuailed that hee reconciled them againe vnto the Senat giuing out openly that he himselfe was come of that degree and by that means by a certain popularity sought to draw them all to side with him From this time forward the men of arms were installed as it were in the third estate of Rome insomuch as al edicts and publick acts passed in the name of the Senat People and Cauallerie of the citie And for that these knights or gentlemen were last incorporated into the body of the Common-weale this is the only reason that euen now also they are written in all publicke Instruments after the People As touching the name or title attributed to this third estate or degree of Horsemen or men of Arms it hath bin changed and altered oftentimes for in the daies of Romulus and other KK of Rome they were called Celeres afterwards Flexumines and in processe of time Trossuli by occasion that these horsmen without any aid at all of the Infanterie had woon a towne in Tuscane nine miles on this side Volsinij called Trossuli which name continued in the Cauallerie of Rome vntill the time of C. Gracchus and afterward And verily Iunius who vpon the great amitie betweene Gracchus and him was syrnamed Gracchanus hath left these words in writing as touching this matter concerning the degree of knights quoth hee those who now are called Equites i. Horsemen beforetime had to name Trossuli the change of which name arose vpon this that many of these Gentlemen ignorant in the originall and first occasion of the foresayd name Trossuli and what the meaning thereof was were ashamed so to be called He alledgeth moreouer the cause of the said name and yet notwithstanding quoth hee they cannot away with the name at this day but are so called against their wils To come again vnto our former discourse of
conceptions and children within the wombe The signes how to know whether a woman goe with a sonne or a daughter before she is deliuered 7. Of the conception and generation of man 8. Of Agrippae i. those who are borne with the feet forward 9. Of strange births namely by meanes of incision when children are cut out of their mothers wombe 10. Of Vopisci i. such as being twins were borne aliue notwithstanding the one of them was dead before 11. Histories of many children borne at one burden 12. Examples of those that were like one to another 13. The cause and manner of generation 14. More of the same matter and argument 15. Of womens monethly tearmes 16. The manner of sundry births 17. The proportion of the parts of mans body and notable things therein obserued 18. Examples of extraordinary shapes 19. Strange natures of men 20. Of bodily strength and swiftnesse 21. Of excellent sight 22. Who excelled in hearing 23. Examples of patience 24. Who were singular for good memorie 25. The praise of C. Iulius Caesar. 26. The commendation of Pompey the Great 27. The praise of Cato the first of that name 28. Of valour and fortitude 29. Of notable wits or the praises of some for their singular wit 30. Of Plato Ennius Virgill M. Varro and M. Cicero 31. Of such as carried a maiestie in their behauiour 32. Of men of great authority and reputation 33. Of certaine diuine and heauenly persons 34. Of Scipio Nasica 35. Of Chastitie 36. Of Pietie and naturall kindnesse 37. Of excellent men in diuerse sciences and namely in Astrologie Grammer and Geometrie c. 38. Item Rare peeces of worke made by sundry artificers 39. Of seruants and slaues 40. The excellencie of diuerse nations 41. Of perfect contentment and felicitie 42. Examples of the varietie and mutabilitie of fortune 43. Of those that were twice outlawed and banished of L. Sylla and Q. Metellus 44. Of another Metellus 45. Of the Emperour Augustus 46. Of men deemed most happy aboue all others by the Oracles of the gods 47. Who was canonized a god whiles hee liued vpon the earth 48. Of those that liued longer than others 49. Of diuerse natiuities of men 50. Many examples of strange accidents in maladies 51. Of the signes of death 52. Of those that reuiued when they were carried forth to be buried 53. Of suddaine death 54. Of sepulchres and burials 55. Of the soule of ghosts and spirits 56. The first inuentors of many things 57. Wherein all nations first agreed 58. Of antique letters 59. The beginning of Barbers first at Rome 60. The first deuisers of Dials and Clockes In summe there be in this booke of stories strange accidents and matters memorable 747. Latine Authors alleadged Varrius Flaccus Cn. Gellius Licinius Mutianus Mutius Massurius Agrippina wife of Claudius M. Cicero Asinius Pollio Messala Rufus Cornelius Nepos Virgil Livie Cordus Melissus Sebosus Cernelius Celsus Maximus Valerius Trogus Nigidius Figulus Pomponius Atticus Pedianus Asconius Sabinus Cato Censorius Fabius Vestalis Forreine Writers Herodotus Aristeus Beto Isigonus Crates Agatharcides Calliphanes Aristotle Nymphodorus Apollonides Philarchus Damon Megasthenes Ctesias Tauron Eudoxus Onesicratus Clitarchus Duris Artemidorus Hippocrates the Physitian Asclepiander the Physitian Hesiodus Anacreon Theopompus Hellanicus Damasthes Ephorus Epigenes Berosus Pessiris Necepsus Alexander Polyhistor Xenophon Callimachus Democritus Duillius Polyhistor the Historian Strato who wrate against the Propositions and Theoremes of Ephorus Heraclides Ponticus Asclepiades who wrate Tragodamena Philostephanus Hegesias Archimachus Thucidides Mnesigiton Xenagoras Metrodorus Scepsius Anticlides and Critodemus ¶ IN THE EIGHT BOOKE ARE CONtained the natures of land beasts that goe on foot Chap. 1. Of land creatures The good and commendable parts in Elephants their capacitie and vnderstanding 2. When Elephants were first yoked and put to draw 3. The docilitie of Elephants and their aptnesse to learne 4. The clemency of Elephants that they know their owne dangers Also of the felnesse of the Tigre 5. The perceiuance and memory of Elephants 6. When Elephants were first seene in Italie 7. The combats performed by Elephants 8. The manner of taking Elephants 9. The manner how Elephants be tamed 10. How long an Elephant goeth with young and of their nature 11. The countries were Elephants breed the discord and warre betweene Elephants and Dragons 12. The industrie and subtill wit of Dragons and Elephants 13. Of Dragons 14. Serpents of prodigious bignesse of Serpents named Boae 15. Of beasts engendred in Scythia and the North countries 16. Of Lions 17. Of Panthers 18. The nature of the Tygre of Camels and the Pard-Cammell when it was first seene at Rome 19. Of the Stag-Wolfe named Chaus and the Cephus 20. Of Rhincceros 21. Of Onces Marmosets called Sphinges of the Crocutes of common Marmosets of Indian Boeufes of Leucrocutes of Eale of the Aethiopian Bulls of the best Mantichora of the Sicorne or Vnicorne of the Catoblepa and the Basiliske 22. Of Wolues 23. Of Serpents 24. Of the rat of India called Ichneumon 25. Of the Crocodiles and Skinke and the Riuer-horse 26. Who shewed first at Rome the Water-horse and the Crocodiles Diuerse reasons in Physicke found out by dumb creatures 27. Of beasts and other such creatures which haue taught vs certaine hearbes to wit the red Deere Lizards Swallowes Tortoises the Weasell the Stork the Bore the Snake the Panther the Elephant Beares Stocke-Doues House-Doues Cranes and Rauens 28. Prognostications of things to come taken from beasts 29. What cities and nations haue bin destroied by small creatures 30. Of the Hiaena the Crocuta and Mantichora of Bieuers and Otters 31. Of Frogs sea or sea-Calues and Stellions 32. Of Deere both red and Fallow 33. Of the Tragelaphis of the Chamaeleon and other beasts that change colour 34. Of the Tarand the Lycaon and the Wolfe called Thoes 35. Of the Porc-espines 36. Of Beares and how they bring forth their whelpes 37. The rats and mice of Pontus and the Alps also of Hedgehogs 38. Of the Leontophones the Onces Graies Badgers and Sqirrils 39. Of Vipers Snailes in shels and Lizards 40. Of Dogs 41. Against the biting of a mad dog 42. The nature of Horses 43. Of Asses 44. Of Mules 45. Of Kine Buls and Oxen. 46. Of the Boeufe named Apis. 47. The nature of sheepe their breeding and generation 48. Sundry kinds of wooll and cloths 49. Of sheepe called Musmones 50. Of Goats and their generation 51. Of Swine and their nature 52. Of Parkes and Warrens for beasts 53. Of beasts halfe tame and wild 54. Of Apes and Monkies 55. Of Hares and Connies 56. Of beasts halfe sauage 57. Of Rats and Mice of Dormice 58. Of beasts that liue not in some places 59. Of beasts hurtfull to strangers In summe there be in this Booke principall matters stories and obseruations worth the remembrance 788. Latine Authors alledged Mutianus Procilius Verrius Flaccus L. Piso Cornelius Valerianus Cato Censorius Fenestella Trogus Actius Columella Virgil Varro Lu. Metellus Scipio Cornelius
were cut off by the Ocean which notwithstanding clasping round about all the midst thereof yeelding forth and receiuing againe all other waters besides and what exhalations soeuer that go out for clouds and feeding withall the very stars so many as they be and of so great a bignesse what a mighty space thinke you will it be thought to takevp and inhabit and how little can there be left for men to inhabit surely the possession of so vast and huge a deale must needs be exceeding great and infinite What say you then to this That of the earth which is left the heauen hath taken away the greater part For whereas there be of the heauen fiue parts which they call Zones all that lieth vnder the two vtmost to wit on both sides about the poles namely this here which is called Septentrio that is to say the North and the other ouer against it named the South it is ouercharged with extreme and rigorous cold yea and with perpetuall frosts and ice In both Zones it is alwaies dim and darke and by reason that the aspect of the more milde and pleasant planets is diuerted cleane from thence the light that is sheweth little or nothing and appeareth white with the frost onely Now the middle of the earth whereas the Sun hath his way and keepeth his course scorched and burnt with flames is euen parched and fried againe with the hot gleames thereof being so neere Those two only on either side about it namely betweene this burnt Zone and the two frozen are temperate and euen those haue not accesse and passage the one to the other by reason of the burning heate of the said planet Thus you see that the heauen hath taken from the earth three parts and what the Ocean hath plucked from it besides no man knoweth And euen that one portion remaining vnto vs I wot not whether it be not in greater danger also For the same Ocean entring as we will shew into many armes and creekes keepeth a roaring against the other gulfes and seas within the earth and so neere comes vnto them that the Arabian gulfe is not from the Egyptian sea aboue 115 miles the Caspian likewise from the Ponticke but 375. Yea and the same floweth between and entreth into so many armes as that thereby it diuideth Africke Europe and Asia asunder Now what a quantity of land it taketh vp may be collected and reckoned at this day by the measure and proportion of so many riuers and so great Meres Adde thereto both Lakes and pooles and withall take from the earth the high mountaines bearing vp their heads aloft into the sky so as the eye can hardly reach their heights the woods besides and steepe descents of the vallies the Wildernesses and waste wildes left desart vpon a thousand causes These so many pieces of the earth or rather as most haue written this little-pricke of the world for surely the earth is nothing else in comparison of the whole is the only matter of our glory This I say is the very feat thereof here we seeke for honors and dignities here we exercise our rule and authoritie here we couet wealth and riches here all mankinde is set vpon stirs and troubles here we raise ciuill wars still one after another and with mutuall massacres and murthers wee make more roome in the earth And to let passe the publique furious rages of nations abroad this is it wherein we chase and driue out our neighbor borderers and by stealth dig turfe from their soile to put vnto our owne and when a man hath extended his lands and gotten whole countries to himselfe far and neere what a goodly deale of earth enioyeth he and say that he set out his bounds to the full measure of his couetous desires what a great portion thereof shal he hold when he is once dead and his head laid low CHAP. LXIX ¶ That the earth is in the middest of the world THat the earth is in the midst of the whole world it appeareth by manifest and vndoubted reasons but most euidently by the equal houres of the Equinoctial for vnlesse it were in the midst the Astrolabe and instruments called Diophae haue proued that nights and daies could not possibly be found equall and those aboue-said instruments aboue all other confirme the same seeing that in the Equinoctial by one and the same line both rising and setting of the Sun are seen but the Sommer Sun rising and the Winter setting by their owne seuerall lines which could by no means happen but that the earth resteth in the centre CHAP. LXX ¶ Of the vnequall rising of the stars of the Eclipse both where and how it commeth NOw three circles there be infolded within the Zones afore named which distinguish the inequalities of the dayes namely the Sommer Solstitiall Tropicke from the highest part of the Zodiacke in regard of vs toward the North Clyme And against it another called the Winter Tropicke toward the other Southern Pole and in like maner the Equinoctial which goes in the mids of the Zodiacke circle The cause of the rest which wee wonder at is in the figure of the very earth which together with the water is by the same arguments knowne to be like a globe for so doubtlesse it commeth to passe that with vs the stars about the North pole neuer go downe and those contrariwise about the Meridian neuer rise And againe these here be not seene of them by reason that the globe of the earth swelleth vp in the mids between Again Trogloditine and Egypt confining next vpon it neuer set eye vpon the North pole stars neither hath Italy a sight of Canopus named also Berenices haire Likewise another which vnder the Empire of Augustus men sirnamed Caesaris Thronon yet be they stars there of speciall marke And so euidently bendeth the top of the earth in the rising that Canopus at Alexandria seemeth to the beholders eleuate aboue the earth almost one fourth part of a signe but if a man looke from Rhodes the same appeareth after a sort to touch the verie horizon and in Pontus where the eleuation of the North pole is highest not seene at all yea and this same pole at Rhodes is hidden but most in Alexandria In Arabia all hid it is at the first watch of the night in Nouember but at the second it sheweth In Meroe at Midsommer in the euening it appeareth for a while but some few daies before the rising of Arcturus seene it is with the very dawning of the day Sailers by their voiages finde out and know these stars most of any other by reason that some seas are opposite vnto some stars but other lie flat and incline forward to other for that also those pole stars appeare suddenly and rising out of the sea which lay hidden before vnder the winding compasse as it were of a ball For the heauen riseth not aloft in this higher pole as some men haue giuen out else should
moreouer little lesse than 25000 stadia CHAP. CIX ¶ The Harmonicall measure and Circumference of the World DIonysidorus in another kind would be beleeued for I will not beguile you of the greatest example of Grecian vanitie This man was a Melian famous for his skill in Geometrie he dyed very aged in his owne countrey his neere kins-women who by right were his heires in remainder solemnized his funerals accompanied him to his graue These women as they came some few daies after to his sepulchre for to performe some solemne obsequies thereto belonging by report found in his monument an Epistle of this Dionysidorus written in his owne name To them aboue that is to say To the liuing and to this effect namely That he had made a step from his sepulchre to the bottome and centre of the earth and that it was thither 42000 stadia Neither wanted there Geometricians who made this interpretation that he signified that this Epistle was sent from the middle centre of the earth to which place downward from the vppermost aloft the way was longest and the same was iust halfe the diametre of the round globe whereupon followed this computation That they pronounced the circuit to be 255000 stadia Now the Harmonicall proportion which forceth this vniuersalitic and nature of the World to agree vnto it selfe addeth vnto this measure 7000 stadia and so maketh the earth to be the 96000 part of the whole world THE THIRD BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proeme or Preface HIt herto haue we written of the position and wonders of the Earth Waters and Starres also we haue treated in generall termes of the proportion and measure of the whole world Now it followeth to discourse of the parts thereof albeit this also be iudged an infinite piece of worke nor lightly can be handled without some reprehension and yet in no kinde of enterprise pardon is more due since it is no maruell at all if he who is borne a mortall man knoweth not all things belonging to man And therefore I will not follow one Author more than another but euery one as I shall thinke him most true in the description of each part Forasmuch as this hath been a thing common in manner to them all namely to learn or describe the scituations of those places most exactly where themselues were either borne or which they had discouered and seene and therefore neither will I blame nor reproue any man The bare names of places shall be simply set downe in this my Geographic and that with as great breuitie as I can the excellency as also the causes and occasions thereof shall be deferred to their seuer all and particular treatises for now the question is as touching the whole earth in generalitie which mine intent is to represent vnto your eies and therefore I would haue things thus to be taken as if the names of countries were put downe nâ—…ked and void of renowne and fame and such onely as they were in the beginning before any acts there done and as if they had indeed an indument of names but respectiue onely to the World and vniuersall Nature of all Now the whole globe of the earth is diuided into three parts Europe Asia and Africa The beginning we take from the West and the Firth of Gades euen whereas the Atlanticke Ocean breaking in is spred into the Inland and Mediterranean seas Make your entrance there I meane at the Streights of Gibralter and then Africa is on the right hand Europe on the left and Asia before you iust betweene The bounds confining these are the riuers Tanais and Nilus The mouth of the Ocean at Gades whereof I spake before lyeth out in length 15 miles and stretcheth forth in breadth but fiue from a village in Spaine called Mellaria to the promontorie of Africke called the VVhite as Turannius Graccula born thereby doth write T. Liuius and Nepos Cornelius haue reported that the breadth thereof where it is narrowest is seuen miles ouer but ten miles where it is broadest From so small amouth a wonder to consider spreadeth the sea so huge and so vast as we see and withall so exceeding deepe as the maruell is no lesse in that regard For why in the verie mouth thereof are to be seen many barres and shallow shelues of white sands so ebbe is the water to the great terrour of shippes and sailers passing that way And therefore many haue called those Streights of Gibralter The entrie of the Mediterranean Sea Of both sides of this gullet neere vnto it are two mountaines set as frontiers and rampiers to keepe all in namely Abila for Africke Calpe for Europe the vtmost end of Hercules Labours For which cause the inhabitants of those parts call them the two pillars of that God and doe verily beleeue that by certaine draines and ditches digged within the Continent the maine Ocean before excluded made way and was let in to make the Mediteranean seas where before was firme land and so by that meanes the very face of the whole earth is cleane altered CHAP. I. ¶ Of Europe ANd first as touching Europe the nource of that people which is the conqueror of all nations and besides of all lands by many degrees most beautifull which may for right good cause haue made not the third portion of the earth but the one halfe diuiding the whole globe of the earth into two parts to wit from the riuer Tanais vnto the Streights of Gades The Ocean then at this space abouesaid entreth into the Atlanticke sea and with a greedie current drowneth those lands which dread his comming like a tyrant but where he meeteth with any that are like to resist those he passeth iust by and with his winding turns and reaches he eateth and holloweth the shore continually to gaine ground making many noukes and creekes euery where but in Europe most of all wherein foure especiall great gulfes are to be seene Of which the first from Calpe the vtmost promontorie as is aboue said of Spain windeth and turneth with an exceeding great compasse to Locri and as far as the promontorie Brutium Within it lieth the first land of all others Spaine that part I meane which in regard of vs at Rome is the farther off and is named also Boetica And anon from the Firth Virgitanus the hither part otherwise called Tarraconensis as far as to the hils Pyrenaei That farther part of larger Spaine is diuided into two prouinces in the length thereof for on the North side of Boetica lyeth Lusitania afront diuided from it by the riuer Ana. This riuer beginneth in the territorie Laminitanus of the hither Spain one while spreading out it selfe into broad pooles or meeres otherwhiles gathering into narrow brooks or altogether hidden vnder the ground and taking pleasure to rise vp oftentimes in many places falleth into the Spanish Atlantick Ocean But the part named Tarraconensis lying fast vpon Pyrenaeus shooting along all
infected and to change the colour thereupon Furthermore doubtlesse it is that children breed their fore teeth in the seuenth moneth after they are borne and first those in the vpper chaw for the most part likewise that they shed the same teeth about the seuenth yere of their age others come vp new in the place Certaine it is also that some children are borne into the world with teeth as M. Curius who thereupon was surnamed Dentatus and Cn. Papyrius Carbo both of them very great men and right honourable personages In women the same was counted but an vnlucky thing presaged some misfortune especially in the daies of the KK regiment in Rome for when Valeria was borne toothed the wizards and Soothsayers being consulted thereabout answered out of their learning by way of Prophesie That look into what citie she was caried to nource she should be the cause of the ruine and subuersion thereof whereupon had away shee was and conueied to Suessa Pometia a city at that time most flourishing in wealth and riches and it proued most true in the end for that city was vtterly destroied Cornelia the mother of the Gracchi is sufficient to proue by her own example that women are neuer borne for good whose genitall parts for procreation are growne together and yeeld no entrance Some children are borne with an entire whole bone that taketh vp all the gum instead of a row of distinct teeth as a son of Prusias king of the Bythinians who had such a bone in his vpper chaw This is to be obserued about teeth that they onely check the fire and burn not to ashes with other parts of the body and yet as inuincible as they are and able to resist the violence of the flame they rot and become hollow with a little catarrhe or waterish rheume that droppeth and distilleth vpon them white they may be made with certaine mixtures and medicines called Dentifices Some weare their teeth to the very stumps onely with vse of chawing others againe loose them first out of their head they serue not onely to grind our meat for our daily food and nourishment but necessary also they be for the framing of our speech The fore-teeth stand in good stead to rule and moderate the voice by a certaine consent and tuneable accord answering as it were to the stroke of the tongue and according to that row and ranke of theirs wherein they are set as they are broader or narrower greater or smaller they yeeld a distinction and varietie in our words cutting and hewing them thicke and short framing them pleasant plaine and ready drawing them out at length or smuddering and drowning them in the end but when they bee once falne out of the head man is bereaued of all means of good vtterance and explanation of his words Moreouer there are some presages of good or bad fortune gathered by the teeth men ordinarily haue giuen them by nature 32 in all except the nation of the Turduli They that haue aboue this number may make account as it is thought to liue the longer As for women they haue not so many they that haue on the right side in the vpper iaw two eie-teeth which the Latines call Dogs-teeth may promise themselues the flattering fauors of Fortune as it is well seene in Agrippina the mother of Domitius Nero but contrariwise the same teeth double in the left side aboue is a signe of euill lucke It is not the custome in any countrey to burne in a funerall fire the dead corps of any infant before his teeth be come vp but hereof will we write more at large in the Anatomie of man when wee shall discourse purposely of euerie member and part of the body Zoroastres was the onely man that euer wee could heare of who laughed the same day that he was borne his brain did so euidently pant and beat that it would beare vp their hands that laid them vpon his head a most certain presage fore-token of that great learning that afterward he attained vnto This also is held for certain and resolued vpon that a man at three yeares of age is come to one moitie of his growth and height As also this is obserued for an vndoubted truth that generally all men come short of the ful stature in time past and decrease stil euery day more than other and seldome shall you see the son taller than his father for the ardent heat of the elementarie fire whereunto the world enclineth already now toward the later end as somtimes it stood much vpon the waterie element deuoureth and consumeth that plentifull humor and moisture of naturall seed that engendreth all things and this appeareth more euidently by these examples following In Crete it chanced that an hill claue asunder in an earth-quake and in the chink thereof was found a body standing 46 cubits high some say it was the body of Orion others of Otus We find in chronicles records of good credit that the body of Orestes being taken vp by direction from the Oracles was seuen cubits long And verily that great and famous poet Homer who liued almost 1000 yeres ago complained and gaue not ouer That mens bodies were lesse of stature euen then than in old time The Annales set not downe the stature and bignesse of Naevius Pollio but that he was a mighty gyant appeareth by this that is written of him namely that it was taken for a wonderfull strange thing that in a great rout presse of people that came running together vpon him he had like to haue bin killed The tallest man that hath bin seen in our age was one named Gabbara who in the daies of prince Claudius late Emperor was brought out of Arabia nine foot high was hee and as many inches There were in the time of Augustus Caesar 2 others named Pusio and Secundilla higher than Gabbara by halfe a foot whose bodies were preserued and kept for a wonder in a charnell house or sepulchre within the gardens of the Salustians Whiles the same Augustus sate as president his niece Iulia had a little dwarfish fellow not aboue 2 foot and a hand bredth high called Conopas whom she set great store by and made much of as also another she dwarfe named Andromeda who somtime had been the slaue of Iulia the princesse and by her made free M. Varro reporteth that Manius Maximus and M. Tullius were but two cubits high yet they gentlemen and knights of Rome and in truth we our selues haue seen their bodies how they lie embalmed and chested which testifieth no lesse It is well knowne that there be some that naturally are neuer but a foot and a halfe high others again somwhat longer and to this heigth they came in three yeres which is the full course of their age and then they die Wee reade moreouer in the Chronicles that in Salamis one Euthimenes had a son who in three yeres grew to be three cubits high
them hornes but some are nott but in those which are horned a man may know their age by the number of the knots therein more or lesse and in very truth the nott shee goats are more free of milke Archelaus writeth that they take their breath at the eares and not at the nostrils also that they be neuer cleare of the ague And this haply is the cause that they are hotter mouthed and haue a stronger breath than sheepe and more egre in their rut Men say moreouer that they see by night as well as by day therefore they that when euening is come see nothing at all recouer their perfect sight again by eating ordinarily the liuer of goats In Cilicia and about the Syrtes the people clad themselues with goats haire for there they shere them as sheep Furthermore it is said that goats toward the Sun-setting cannot in their pasture see directly one another but by turning taile to taile as for other houres of the day they keep head to head range together with the rest of their fellowes They haue all of them a tuft of haire like a beard hanging vnder their chin which they call Aruncus If a man take one of them by this beard and draw it forth of the stock all the rest will stand still gazing thereat as if they were astonied and so wil they doe if any of them chaunce to bite of a certaine hearb Their teeth kill trees As for an oliue tree if they doe but lick it they spoile it for euer bearing after and for this cause they be not killed in sacrifice to Minerua CHAP. LI. ¶ Of Swine and their natures SWine goe a brimming from the time that the Westerne wind Fauonius beginnes to blow vntill the spring Aequinoctiall and they take the bore when they be eight months old yea in some places at the fourth month of their age and continue breeding vnto the seuenth yeare They farrow commonly twice a yeare they be with pig foure months One sow may bring at one farrow twenty pigges but reare so many she cannot Nigidius saith that those pigs which are farrowed ten daies vnder or ten daies ouer the shortest day in the yeare when the sun entreth into Capricorn haue teeth immediatly They stand lightly to the first brimming but by reason that they are subject to cast their pigs they had need to be brimmed a second time Howbeit the best way to preuent that they doe not slip their young is to keepe the bore from them at their first grunting and seeking after him nor to let them be brimmed before their ears hang downe Bores be not good to brim swine after they be three yeres old Sowes when they be wearie for age that they cannot stand take the bore lying along That a sow should eat her own pigs it is no prodigious wonder A pig is pure good for sacrifice 5 daies after it is farrowed a lamb when it hath been yeaned 8 daies and a calfe being 30 daies old But Gornucanus saith That all beasts for sacrifice which chew cud are not pure and right for that purpose vntill they haue teeth Swine hauing lost on eie are not thought to liue long after otherwise they may continue vntill they be fifteen yeares old yea some to twenty But they grow to be wood and raging otherwhiles and besides are subject to many maladies more most of all to the squinancie and wen or swelling of the kernels in the neck Will ye know when a swine is sick or vnsound pluck a bristle from the back and it will be bloudie at the root also he will cary his neck atone side as he goeth A sow if she be ouer-fat soone wanteth milke and at her first farrow bringeth fewest pigs All the kind of them loue to wallow in dirt and mire They wrinkle their taile wherin this also is obserued that they be more likely to appease the gods in sacrifice that rather writh turn their tailes to the right hand than the left Swine wil be fat and wel larded in sixtie daies and the rather if before you begin to frank them vp they be kept altogether from meat three daies Of all other beasts they are most brutish insomuch as there goes a pleasant by-word of them and fitteth them well That their life is giuen them in stead of salt This is known for a truth that when certaine theeues had stolne and driuen away a companie of them the swinheard hauing followed them to the water side for by that time were the theeues imbarged with them cried aloud vnto the swine as his manner was whereupon they knowing his voice learned all to one side of the vessel turned it ouer and sunke it tooke the water and so swam againe to land vnto their keeper Moreouer the hogs that vse to lead and goe before the heard are so well trained that they wil of themselues goe to the swine-market place within the citie from thence home againe to their maisters without any guid to direct them The wild bores in this kind haue the wit to couer their tracks with mire and for the nones to run ouer marish ground where the prints of their footing will not be sene yea and to be more light in running to void their vrine first Sowes also are splaied as well as camels but two daies before they be kept from meat then hang they by the fore-legs for to make incision into their matrice and to take forth their stones and by this means they will sooner grow to be fat There is an Art also in cookerie to make the liuer of a sow as also of a goose more daintie and it was the deuise of M. Apicius namely to feed them with drie figges and when they haue eaten till they bee full presently to giue them mead or honied wine to drink vntill they die with being ouercharged There is not the flesh of any other liuing creature that yeeldeth more store of dishes to the maintenance of gluttonie than this for fiftie sundrie sorts of tastes it affordeth whereas other haue but one a peece From hence came so many edicts and proclamations published by the Censors forbidding and prohibiting to serue vp at any feast or supper the belly and paps of a sow the kernels about the neck the brizen the stones the womb and the fore-part of the bores head and yet for all that Publius the Poet and maker of wanton songs after that he was come to his freedom neuer by report had supper without an hogs belly with the paps who also to that dish gaue the name and called it Sumen Moreouer the flesh of wild bores came to be in great request and was much set by in such sort as Cato the Censor in his inuectiue orations challenged men for brawne And yet when they made three kinds of meat of the wild bore the loine was alwaies serued vp in the mids The first Romane that brought to the table a whole bore at once
countrey neare vnto the Troglodites who by mutuall marriages are linked together in great affinity And in very truth the Aethiopians buy vp all the Cinamon they can of their neighbours and transport it into other strange countries ouer the vast Ocean in smal punts or boats neither ruled with helme and rudder nor directed to and fro with ores ne yet caried with sailes or any such meanes of navigation one man alone shall see you there in a boat armed and furnished with boldnesse only in stead of all to hasard himself and his goods in the surging sea These fellowes of all times of the yeare take the dead of the winter and then to chuse they will venter to crosse the seas for their voyage when the Southeast winds are aloft blow lustily These winds set them forward in a streight and direct course thorough the gulfes and after they haue doubled the point of Argeste and coasted along bring them into the famous port or hauen-towne of the Gebanites called Ocila And albeit this voiage be long dangerous for the merchants hardly can return in fiue yeres and many of them miscarie by the way yet by report they are nothing dismaied and daunted therwith but willingly aduenture still And being at Ocila what thinke you doe they exchange for and wherewith fraight they their vessels back againe homeward euen with glasses vessels of copper and brasse fine cloth buckles claspes and pincers bracelets and carcanets with pendant jewels so as a man would verily thinke that this trafficke were maintained and the voiages enterprised vnder the credit for the pleasure of womankind especially Now as touching the plant that bears Cinamon the tallest is not aboue 2 cubis high aboue ground nor the lowest vnder one hand-breadth or 4 inches in compasse about 4 fingers thicke immediatly from the earth it putteth forth twigs and is full of branches of six fingers length but it looketh as if it were drie and withered whiles it is greene it yeelds no smell at all and the leaf resembleth Origan it loues drought for in rainie weather it is lesse fruitfull and yet it is of this nature To be cut as a coppis It will grow verily in plaines but gladly it would lodge among the thickest rough of bushes greeues briers that are to be found so as men haue much adoe to come by it and to gather it but neuer is cut or cropped without especiall permission of a certtaine god which they take to be Iupiter and this patron of the Cinamon tree they call Assabinus To obtaine leaue and license so to do they are glad to sacrifice the inwards of 44 Kine or Oxen Goats also and Rams and when they haue all done yet permitted they be not to go about this businesse either before the Sun rising or after his setting Now when these twigs and branches be cut the Sacrificer or Priest diuides and parts them with a jauelin and sets by one portion for the god abouesaid the rest doth the merchant put vp and bestow in paniers for the purpose This manner of diuision is otherwise reported namely That the whole heap is cast into three parts whereof the sunne hath one for his share but they draw lots first for euery one of these trees seueral bundles or parcels of Cinnamon sticks and that which falleth to the Sun is let alone and left behind but of the own accord it catcheth a light fire and burneth The best Cinamon is thought to be that which growes about the slenderest sticks for the length of an hand bredth from the vpper end The second sort in goodnesse is that which is next it and somwhat lower but it beareth not full so much as an hand bredth and so consequently in order by degrees downward for the worst and of least price is that which is neerest the root because there is least barke the chiefe thing required in Cinamon which is the cause that the twigs in the tree top are preferred before the rest for that in them there is most barke As for the very wood it selfe which is called Xylocinamonum there is no reckoning made of it because of the acrimonie and sharpenesse that it hath resembling Origan A pound thereof is worth 20 deniers Of Cinamon there be according to some two kinds to wit the whiter and the blacker In times past the white was in more request but now adaies the black is most set by yea and that of diuers colours is better esteemed than the white But the truest marke indeed to chuse the best is to see that it be not tough and that it crumble not quickely if one piece be rubbed against another That which is tender and hath besides a white bark is not regarded at all but condemned for the worst Moreouer this is to be noted that the King onely of the Gebanites setteth the price and sale of Cinamon he it is that selleth it in open market according as it is by him taxed In old time a pound of it was sould for 1000 deniers and this price afterward rose higher by one halfe by reason that the forrests of Cinamon were as men say burnt by the barbarous Troglodites their neighbors in their furious wrath Now why it should be so deare no man certainly knows whether it were through the great rich merchants who ingrossed all into their hands by way of monopoly or by some other casualtie and chance of fire aforesaid But true it is and well knowne by that we find in diuers writers That there be such hot Southerne windes blowing in those parts that in Summer many times they set the woods on fire Vespasian Augustus the Emperor was the first that dedicated in the Temples of the Capitoll and goddesse Peace garlands and chaplets of Cinamon enclosed within fine polished gold In that temple which the Empresse Augusta caused to be built in the palace vpon Mount Palatine for the honor of Augustus Caesar late Emperor her husband I haue my self seen a Cinamon root of great weight set in a cup of gold which yearely did put forth certain drops which congealed into hard grains That monument remained there to be seen vntill the Temple and all was consumed by fire As concerning Casia or Canell a plant it is which groweth neer to the plains from whence the Cinamon comes but it loueth to liue vpon mountaines and beareth a bigger and rounder wood in the branches than the Cinamon and hath a thin rinde or skin more truly than a bark the slenderer that the same is and lighter the more reckoning is made of it clean contrary to the Cinamon This shrub that beareth Casia groweth to the height of 3 cubits and 3 colours it carieth for when it comes vp first for a foot from the root it is white then as it shooteth halfe a foot higher it waxeth red but as it riseth farther it is blackish and this part is held for the best and so the next to it in a degree
barrels or earthen vessels and so they will continue good till new come As for all other plums as they be soon ripe so they are as soone gone It is not long since that in the realm of Granado and Andalusia they began to graffe plums vpon apple-tree stocks and those brought forth plums named Apple-plums as also others called Almond-plums graffed vpon Almond-stocks these haue within their stone a kernel like an Almond and verily there is not a fruit again wherein is seene a wittier deuise to conioine and represent in one and the same subiect two diuers sorts As for the Damascene-plums taking name of Damasco in Syria we haue sufficiently spoken thereof in our treatise of strange trees and yet long since they haue bin knowne to grow in Italy which although they haue a large stone and little carnosity about them yet they neuer wither into wrinkles and riuels when they be dry for that they want the ful strength of the kind Sun which they had in Syria We should do wel to write together with them of the fruit Sebesten which also come from the same Syria albeit now of late they begin to grow at Rome being graffed vpon Soruices As touching peaches in generall the very name in Latine whereby they are called Persica doth euidently shew that they were brought out of Persis first and that it is a fruit not ordinary either in Greece or Natolia but a meere stranger there Contrariwise wilde plums as it is well knowne grow euery where I maruell therefore so much the more that Cato made no mention thereof considering that of purpose he shewed the maner how to preserue and keep diuers wild fruits till new came for long it was first ere Peach trees came into these parts and much adoe there was before they could be brought for to prosper with vs seeing that in the Island Rhodes which was their place of habitation next to Aegypt they beare not at all but are altogether barren And whereas it is said That Peaches be venomous in Persia do cause great torments in them who do eat therof as also that the KK of Persia in old time caused them to be transported ouer into Aegypt by way of reuenge to plague that country and notwithstanding their poisonous nature yet through the goodnes of that soile they became good and holesom all this is nothing but a meere fable a loud lie True it is indeed that the best writers who haue been painful aboue others to search out the truth haue reported so much concerning the tree Persea which is far different from the Peach tree Persica beareth fruit like to Sebesten of color red and willingly would not grow in any country without the East parts and yet the wiser more learned Clerkes do hold That it was not the tree Persea which was brought out of Persis into Egypt for to annoy and plague the country but that it was planted first by K. Perseus at Memphis Whereupon it came that Alexander the Great ordained That all victors who had won the prize at any game there should be crowned with a chaplet of that tree to honor the memoriall of his great grandsires father But how euer it be certaine it is that this tree continueth greene all the yere long and beareth euermore fruit one vnder another new and old together And to returne again to our Plum-trees euident it is that in Cato's time they were not knowne in Italy but all the Plum-trees which we now haue are come since he died CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of nine and twenty kinds of Fruits contained vnder the names of Apples OF Apples that is to say of fruits that haue tender skins to be pared off there bee many sorts For as touching Pome-citrons together with their tree we haue already written The Greekes call them Medica according to the name of the country from whence they first came in old time As for Iujubes as also the fruit Tuberes they bee likewise strangers as well as the rest and long it is not since they arriued first in Italy the one sort out of Africk the other namely Iujubes out of Syria Sextus Papinius whom my self in my time saw Consul of Rome was the first man that brought them both into these parts namely in the later end of Augustus Caesar the Emperor and planted them about the rampiers of his campe for to beautifie the same Howbeit to say a truth their fruit resembled rather berries than apples yet they make a goodly shew vpon the rampiers and no maruell since that now adayes whole groues of trees begin to ouertop and surmount the houses of priuat persons Concerning the fruit Tuberes there be two sorts thereof to wit the white and the reddish called also Sericum of the colour of silke The Apples named Lanata are held in manner for strangers in Italy and are knowne to grow but in one place thereof and namely within the territory of Verona Couered they be all ouer with a kind of down or fine cotton which albeit both quince and peach be clad and ouergrown with in great plenty yet these alone cary the name thereof for otherwise no special propertie are they known by to commend them A number of apples there are besides that haue immortalised their first founders and inventers who brought them into name caused them to be known abroad in the world as if therin they had performed some worthy deed beneficiall to all mankinde In which regard why should I think much to rehearse reckon them vp particularly by name for if I be not much deceiued thereby will appeare the singular wit that some men imployed in graffing trees and how there is not so small a matter so it be wel and cunningly done but is able to get honor to the first author yea and to eternise his name for euer From hence it comes that our best apples take their denominations of Matius Cestius Manlius Claudius As for the quince-apples that come of a quince graffed vpon an apple stock they are called Appiana of one Appius who was of the Claudian house and first deuised and practised that feat These apples cary the smel with them of quinces they beare in quantitie the bignesse of the Claudian apples and are in color red Now lest any man should think that this fruit came into credit by reason only of partiall fauor for that the first inuentor was a man descended from so antient noble a family let him but think of the apples Sceptiana which are in as great request as they for their passing roundnesse and they beare the name of one Sceptius their first inuentor who was no better than the son of a slaue lately infranchised Cato maketh mention of apples called Quiriana as also of Scantiana which he saith the maner is to put vp in vessels and so keep them But of all others the last that were adopted and tooke name of their patrons and inuentors be
fire than to flie from it to the leaues of the Ash. A wonderfull goodnesse of dame Nature that the Ash bloometh and flourisheth alwaies before that serpents come abroad and neuer sheddeth leaues but continueth greene vntill they be retired into their holes and hidden within the ground CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of the Line or Linden tree two sorts thereof GReat difference there is euery way between the male female Linden tree for the wood of the male is hard and knottie of a redder colour also and more odoriferous than the female The barke moreouer is thicker and when it is plucked from the tree it is stiffe and will not bend It beareth neither seed nor floure as the female doth which also is rounder and bigger in bodie and the wood is whiter more faire and beautifull by farre than is the male A strange thing it is to consider that there is no liuing creature in the world will touch the fruit of the Linden tree and yet the juice both of leaf and barke is sweet ynough Between the bark and the wood of this tree there be thin pellicles or skins lying in many folds together whereof are made bands cords called Brazen ropes The finest of these pellicanes or membrans serued in old time for to make labels and ribbands belonging to chaplets and it was reputed a great honor to weare such The timber of the Linden or Tillet tree will neuer be worm-eaten The tree it selfe is nothing tall but of a meane height howbeit the wood is very commodious CHAP. XV. ¶ Ten kinds of the Maple tree THe Maple in bignesse is much about the Linden tree the wood of it is very fine and beautifull in which regard it may be raunged in the second place and next to the very Citron tree Of Maples there be many kinds to wit the white and that is exceeding faire and bright indeed growing about Piemont in Italie beyond the riuer Po also beyond the Alps and this is called the French Maple A second kind there is which hath a curled graine running too and fro with diuers spots the more excellent worke whereof resembling the eies in the Peacockes taile thereupon took also the name And for this rare and singular wood the countries of Istria and Rhaetia be chiefe As for that which hath a thicke and great graine it is called Crassiuenium of the Latines and is counted to be of a baser kind The Greekes distinguish Maples by the diuerse places where they grow For that of the champion or plaine countrey which they name Glinon is white and nothing crisped contrariwise the wood of the mountaine Maple is harder and more curled and namely the male of that sort and therefore it is in great request for most exquisite and sumptuous workes A third sort they name Zygia which hath a reddish wood and the same easie to cleaue with a barke of a swe rt colour and rough in handling Others would haue it to be no Maple but rather a tree by it selfe and in Latine they call it Carpinus CHAP. XVI ¶ Of the Bosses Wennes and Nodosities called Bruscum and Molluscum Of the wild Fisticke or Bladder nut-tree called Staphylodendron also three kinds of the Box tree THe bunch or knurre in the Maple called Bruscum is passing faire but yet that wich is named Molluscum excelleth it Both the one and the other swell like a wen out of the Maple As for the Bruscum it is curled and twined after a more crawling and winding manner whereas the Molluscum is spread with a more direct and strait course of the grain And certes if there might be plankes hereof found broad enough to make tables doubtlesse they would be esteemed and preferred before those of the Citron wood But now it serueth only for writing tables for painels also and thin bords in wainscote work to set out beds heads and seelings and such are seldome seen As for Bruscum there be tables made of it inclining to a blackish color Moreouer there be found in Alder trees such nodosities but not so good as those by how much the wood of the Alder it selfe is inferior to the Maple for beauty and costlines The male Maples do put forth leaues and flourish before the female Yea and those that grow vpon dry grounds are ordinarily better esteemed than those of moist and waterish places in like sort as the ashes Beyond the Alps there is a kind of bladder Nut-tree whereof the wood is very like to the white white Maple and the name of it is Staphylodendron It beareth certain cods and within the same kernels in tast like the Filberd or Hazell-nut Now for the Box tree the wood thereof is in as great request as the very best seldom hath it any grain crisped damask-wise and neuer but about the root the which is dudgin and ful of work For otherwise the grain runneth streight and euen without any wauing the wood is sad enough and weighty for the hardnesse thereof and pale yellow colour much set by and right commendable As for the tree it selfe gardeners vse to make arbors borders and curious works thereof Three sorts there be of the Box tree the first is called the French Box it groweth taper-wise sharp pointed in the top and runneth vp to more than ordinarie height The second is altogether wild and they name it Oleastrum good for no vse at all and besides careith a strong and stinking sauor with it The third is our Italian box and so called Of a sauage kind I take this to be also howbeit by setting and replanting brought to a gentle nature This spreadeth and brancheth more broad and herewith a man shall see the borders and partitions of quarters in a garden growing thick and green all the yeare long and kept orderly with cutting and clipping Great store of box trees are to be seen vpon the Pyrenaean hils the Cytorian mountains and the whole Berecynthian tract The thickest and biggest Box trees be in Corsica and they beare a louely and amiable floure which is the cause that the hony of that Island is so bitter there is not a beast that will eat the fruit or grain thereof The Boxes of Olympus in Macedonie are more slender than the rest and but low of growth This tree loueth cold grounds yet lying vpon the Sun The wood is as hard to burn as iron it will neither flame nor burn cleare it selfe nor serue to make charcole of CHAP. XVII ¶ Of the Elme foure kinds BEtween these wild trees abouesaid and those that bear fruit the Elm is reckoned of a middle nature in regard of the wood and timber that it affords as also of the friendship acquaintance that it hath with vines The Greekes acknowledge two sorts thereof namely one of the mountains which is the taller and the bigger and the other of the plaines champion which is rather more like a shrub the branches that it shooteth forth are so smal and slender
Pine-apples or nuts which cleaue and open vpon the tree bee called Zamiae and well may they be so named for vnlesse they be plucked they hurt and corrupt the rest The only trees that bear no fruit at all that is to say not so much as seed are these the Tamariske good for nothing but to make Beesoms of the Poplar Alder Atinian Elme and the Alaternus which hath leaues resembling the Holme and partly the Oliue As for such trees which neither at any tâ—…me are set or planted nor yet beare fruit they bee holden for vnfortunate accursed and condemned in such sort as there is no vse of them in any sacrifice or religious seruice Cremutius writeth That the Almond tree whereon ladie Phyllis hanged her selfe had neuer after greene leaues on it Such trees as yeeld gum after they haue put forth their bud do cleaue and open howbeit the gum that issueth out neuer commeth to any thicknesse vntill the fruit thereof be gathered Yong trees commonly beare not so long as they shoot and grow The Date tree the fig tree the Almond tree the Apple tree and the Pyrrie do soonest of all other let their fruit fall before it be fully ripe Semblably the Pomegranat tree which is so tender besides that with euery thicke and heauie dew white frost and foggie time she wil be bitten shed the blossom which is the cause that folk vse to bend the boughs thereof downeward to the ground that both dew and time may sooner fall off which lights vpon them and otherwise would ouer-load and hurt them The Pyrrie and the Almond tree cannot abide close and cloudie weather especially if the wind be Southerly although no raine do fall for in such daies if they chance to blossom they not only shed their flowre but lose their fruit new knit But the Sallow or Withie tree is of all others most ticklish and soonest forgoes the seed or chats that it beareth before it commeth to any ripenes for which cause called it is of Homer Loose-fruit or Spill-fruit Howbeit the age ensuing naught as it was hath interpreted that Epithet of his in another sense according to the wicked experience they had of it whereby it was found that the seed therof causeth barrainesse in women and hindreth conception But in this regard Nature hath well done also to preuent this mischiefe and inconuenience in that she hath not been very carefull to preserue the seed and yet for the maintenance of the whole kind she hath endued it with this gift To grow very quickly if a man do pricke into the ground but a cutting or twig thereof And yet by report there is one Willow in Candie and namely about the very descent of Iupiters caue which is wont ordinarily to carie the graine or seed thereof vntill it be full ripe and then is it of a rough and writhen shape of a wooden and hard substance and withall of the bignesse of a cich pease Moreouer some trees there be that proue barraine and fruitlesse by the occasion of the imperfection of the soile and territorie where they grow and namely in the Isle Paros there is a whole wood or coppise that vsually is lopt and cut but it neuer beareth any fruit The Peach trees in the Island Rhodos blossome only and otherwise are fruitlesse Ouer and besides this difference of trees that some be fruitfull and others barraine ariseth of the sexe also for commonly the males beare not howsoeuer some affirme cleane contrary and say They are the male only that be fruitfull and the female barren Furthermore it falleth out many times that trees be fruitlesse either because they grow too thick one by another or else are ouercharged and too ranke with boughes and branches but of such as do beare some bring forth their fruit both at the sides and also at the very tips and ends of their branches as the Peare tree Pomegranate tree Figge tree and Myrtle As for others they are of the nature of corne and pulse for the one grows in the eare or spike alone the other by the sides not otherwise The Date tree onely as hath been said before containeth fruit within certain pellicles and the same hangeth down in clusters after the manner of grapes Other trees beare their fruit vnder the leafe for their safeguard and defence except the Fig tree which hath her Figs aboue the leaf because it is so large and ouershadowie Moreouer the leafe of the fig tree commeth forth after the Figge One notable thing is reported of a kind of figge-trees in Cilicia Cyprus and Hellas to wit that they haue this propertie singular by themselues To bring forth their perfect Figs vnder leafe and their greene abortiue Figs that come to no proofe after the leafe The Fig tree beareth moreouer certain hastie Figs which the Athenians call Prodromos i. vant-courriers or forerunners because they be long ripe before others The Laconian Figge trees bring the fairest and greatest Figs. CHAP. XXVII ¶ Of trees that be are twice and thrice in one yeare Also what trees soonest wax old and of their ages IN the same countries aboue-named there be Figge trees also that beare Figges twice in one yeare And in the Island Cea the wild Figge trees beare thrice in the same yeare for the second increase is put forth on the first and the third vpon the second and by this third fruit the Figges of the tame Figge tree receiue their maturitie by way of caprification and those wild greene Figges of theirs come forth aboue the leafe Moreouer there be some Pyrries and Apple trees that bring forth fruit twice a yeare as also there be others of the hastie kind which do beare both Peares and Apples betimes in the yeare There is a kinde of Crab tree â—…lso or Wilding that in like manner beareth twice a yeare and the later fruit is ripe presently after the midst of September especially in places lying well vpon the Sun As touching Vines there be of them also that after a sort beare three times in the yeare which thereupon men call Insanas i. The mad or foolish vines for whiles some of the grapes be ripe others begin to swel and wax big and a third sort againe are but then in the flower M. Varro writeth That in Smyrna by the sea side there was a vine that bare fruit twice a yeare as also an Apple tree in the territorie of Consentia But this is an ordinary thing throughout all the countrey about Tacapa in Africa and neuer is it seen otherwise there so fertile is the soile but thereof will wee write more at large hereafter in another place As for the Cypresse trees they faile not but come with fruit thrice in one yeare and their berries be gathered in Ianuarie May and September and all of a diuers bignesse one from the other Ouer and besides the very trees themselues are not laden with fruit after one and the same manner for the Arbut
commeth out of the Balear Islands for a Modius of that wheat yeeldeth in bread 30 pound weigâ—… yet otherwhiles it falleth out in some kinds of wheat being blended two sorts together 〈◊〉 namely that of Cyprus and Alexandria whereof neither exceed little or nothing more than 20 pound weight to the Modius that the bread made thereof will arise to the ordinary proportion for the Cyprian wheat is not bright but brown and duskish and therefore makes a blacke kind of bread in which regard the Alexandrian wheat which is faire and white is mixed with it and so both together do yeeld in bread 25 pound weight The wheat of Thebes addeth a surplusage thereto of one pound As for the maner of working and kneading dough I like not their fashions who take sea water for that purpose as most do that inhabit the sea coasts thinking thereby to saue the charge of salt for I hold this very hurtfull and dangerous Neither doe I thinke that vpon any other cause mens bodies are made more subiect to maladies than by this means In France Spain when the Bruers haue steeped their wheat or frument in water and masht it for their drink of diuers sorts as heretofore hath bin shewed they take the skum or froth that gathereth aloft by the working of the wort and vse the same in stead of leuen for to make their bread which is the reason that their bread is lighter and more houved vp than any other Moreouer there is great difference in wheat by reason of the straw or stalk that bears it for the thicker that it is and more full the better is the corne taken to be The Thracian wheat is inclosed and well clad as it were with many tunicles and coats throughly prouided by that means and good cause why to resist the excessiue cold of that climat which gaue the Thracians iust occasion also to cast about and deuise to haue a kind of wheat that remaineth vpon the ground not aboue three moneths by reason that the snow ouerspreadeth the face of the earth all the year â—…esides and verily this kinde of corne is come into other parts of the world and lightly within three moneths after it is sowed you shall haue it readie to bee reaped A practise well knowne all the Alpes ouer and in other cold and winterly regions where by report of the inhabitants this kind of corne doth wondrous well and none prospereth better or groweth more ranke than it Ouer and besides there is another kind of wheat that putteth vp from euery root one stalk and no more in any place whatsoeuer the manner is to sow it in no ground but that which is light and it neuer misseth Also about the Thracian gulfe there is wheat that within 40 daies after the sowing will be ripe and therupon it is called the Two-month wheat And would you heare a wonder there is no wheat more weighty than it and besides it yeelds no branne at all In Sicilie and Achaia both there is great vse thereof and namely among the mountainers of those two countries Much seeking also there is after that corne in the Isle Euboea about Carystus See how much Columella was deceiued who thought that there was not to be found so much as any kind of three months wheat whereas it is plaine that such hath beene of old and time out of mind The Greeks also haue a proper name for it and call it Trimenon Furthermore it is reported that in the countrey Bactriana there is some corne of that bignes that euery graine is full as much as one of the eares of ours But to returne againe to our husbandry of all spiked corne Barley is sowed first but I purpose to set down the very just time and season apropriat to each kind according to the seueral nature of euery sort which may meaning also is to declare Mean while I canot omit that there is among the Indians barley both sowne and also wild whereof they make the best bread that they haue As for vs Italians to say a truth we set most store by rice wherof being husked and cleansed we make grotes like for all the world to those which other men besides doe make of barley husked The leaues verily that this graine Rice doth beare be pulpous and fleshy resembling Porret or Leeks but that they be broader the stem groweth a cubit high the floure is of purple colour and the root round like a jem or pearle Barley husked was the most ancient meat in old time as may appeare by the ordinarie custome of the Athenians according to the testimonie of Menander as also by the addition or sirname giuen to sword-fencers who vpon their allowance or pension giuen them in barly were called Hordearij i. Barley-men The ordinarie drie grout or meale also Polenta which the Greeks so highly commend was made of nothing els but of barley and the preparing thereof was after sundrie waies The manner that the Greeks vsed was first to steepe the barly in water and giue it one nights drying the morrow after they parched or fried it and then ground it in a mill Others there be who when it is well fried and parched hard besprinckle it once againe with a little water and then dry it before it be ground There are some again who take the ears of barley when they are green beat driue the corn out and while it is fresh and new cleanse it pure which don they infuse it in water and while it is wet bray it in a mortar then they wash it well in osier paniers and so let the water run from it and beeing dried in the sun they pound or stamp it againe and beeing throughly husked and cleansed grind it into meale as is aforesaid Now when it is thus prepared one way or other to twenty pound of this barley they put of Line seed three pound of Corâ—…ander seed halfe a pound of salt about two ounces and two drams and after they haue pearched them all well they blend them together and grind them in a quem They that would haue this meale to keep long put vp into new earthen vessels al together both floure and bran But in Italy they neuer vse to steep or soke it in water but presently parch it and grind it smal into a fine meale putting thereto the former ingredients and the graine of Millet besides As for bread of Barley so much vsed of our forefathers in old time the posterity that liued after found to be naught and condemned it in such sort as they allowed it for prouender only to feed their beasts and cattel with But in stead therof came vp the vse of husked barly to be sodden for grewell so highly commended as a most nutritiue and strong meat and withal passing wholesome for mans bodie insomuch as Hippocrates who for skill and knowledge was the prince of all Physicians hath written one whole booke in the praises
there be who drink the same for to purge both vpward and downward for otherwise an enimy it is to the stomack in which potion if there be put some salt it doth euacuat fleagme but with salt petre it voideth cholerick humors If the patient haue a mind to purge by seege he shal do wel to drink the juice of Tithymall in water and vineger mingled together but if he be disposed to vomit it is better to drink it in cuit or mead The ordinarie dose is three oboles thereof in a potion But the better way is to take the figs prepared as is beforesaid after meat and euen so taken in some sort the juice doth sting the throat and set it on fire For to say a truth of so hot a nature it is that alone of it selfe being applied outwardly vnto any part of the body it raiseth pimples and blisters no lesse than fire in which regard it is vsed for a caustick or potentiall cauterie the second kind of the Tithymall is knowne by the name Myrsinites which others call Caryites The reason of the one name is this for that it beareth sharp pointed and prickie leaues in manner of the Myrtle but that they be somwhat more tender and the same groweth in rough places like as the former The bushy heads or tufts of this Tithymall would be gathered when Barly beginneth to swell in the eare so they be let to take their drying in the shade 9 daies together for in the Sun they wil be withered in that space The fruit which this plant beareth doth not ripen all together in one season but some part thereof remaineth against the next yere and the said fruit is called the Tithymal nut which is the cause that the Greeks haue imposed vpon it that second name Caryites The proper time to gather and cut down this herb is when corn is ripe in the field and ready to be reaped or mowed Which beeing washed must afterwards be laied forth a drying so they vse to giue it with two parts or twice as much of black Poppie yet so as the whole dose may not exceed one acetable This Tithymall is nothing so strong a vomitory as the former no more be the rest whereof I will speak anone Some there be who giue the leaues also with black poppy after the foresaid proportion the very nut or fruit it selfe alone in mead or cuit or els if they put any thing thereto it must be Sesama and truely in this maner it sendeth flegmatick chollerick humors away by seege This Tithymal is singular for the sores in the mouth But for cankerous and corrosiue vlcers indeed which corrode deep into the mouth it is good to chew and eat the same with honey The third kind of Tithymall is called Paralius or Tithymalis This herb puts forth round leaues riseth vp with a stalk a span or hand full high the branches be red and the seed white which ought to be gathered when the grape beginneth to shew blacke vpon the vine And being dried and made into pouder is a sufficient purgation so it be taken inwardly to the measure of one acetable the fourth kind is named Helioscopium the leaues wherof resemble Purcellane and from the root it puts forth 4 or 5 small vpright branches which be likewise red and half a foot high the same also be ful of juice or milk This herb delighteth to grow about town sides bearing a white seed wherin Doues Pigeons take exceeding great pleasure which also is ordinarily gathered when the grape maketh some shew of ripening It took this name Helioscopium for that it turns the heads which it beareth round about with the Sun Halfe an acetable thereof taken in Oxymel purgeth choller downeward And in other cases vsed it is like as the former Tithymall named Characias The fifth men call Cyparissias for the resemblance that the leaues haue to those of the Cypresse tree it riseth vp with a double or threefold stem and loueth to grow in champian places of the same operation and vertue it is that Helioscopium and Characias beforenamed The sixth Tithymal is commonly called Platyphyllos although some name it Corymbites others Amygdalites for the resemblance that it hath to the almond tree there is not a Tithymal hath broader leaues than it which is the reason of the first and vsuall name Platyphyllos it is good to kil fish it purges the belly if either the root leaues or iuice be taken in honied wine or in mead to the weight of foure drams a speciall vertue it hath to draw water downward from all other humors The seuenth is called commonly Dendroides and yet some giue it the name Cobion others Leptophyllon ordinarily it is found growing vpon rocks and of all others carrieth the fairest head likewise the stems be reddest and the seed sheweth in most plenty the effects be all one with those of Characias as touching the plant called Apios Ischas or Rhaphanos-agria i. the wild Radish it putteth forth two or three stalkes like bents or rushes spreading along the ground and those be red and the leaues resemble rue the root is like an onion head but that it is larger which is the reason that some haue called it the wild Radish this root hath a white fleshie substance within but the skin or rind thereof is blacke it groweth vsually vpon rough mountains and otherwise in faire greens full of grasse The right season to dig vp this root is in the Spring which being stamped and strained they vse to put in an earthen pot where it is permitted to stand look what it casteth vp and swimmeth aloft they scum off and throw away the rest of the iuice thus clarified purgeth both waies if it be taken to the weight of one obolus a half in mead or honied water and in that maner prepared it is giuen to those that be in a dropsie the ful measure of one acetable the pouder also of the root dried is good to spice a cup for a purgation and as they say the vpper part of the root purgeth choler vpward by vomit whereas the nether part doth it by seege downward Now for the pains and wrings which oftentimes torment the poorebelly all the kinds of Panaces and Betony are singular to assuage and allay them plain vnlesse they be such as are occasioned by crudity and indigestion As for the iuice of Harstrang it dissolueth ventosities for it breaketh wind vpward and causeth one to rift so doth the roots of Acorus also carots if they be eaten in a salad after the maner of Lettuce For the infirmities proper to the guts namely the worms there breeding Ladanum of Cypresse is soueraigne to be taken in drinke in like maner the pouder of Gentian drunk in warm water to the quantity of a bean Plantain likewise hath the same effect if there be taken of it first in a morning to the quantity of 2
it to exhibit a spectacle wherat the world should lament and cry out in detestation of Fortune no lesse ywis than if they had bin the bones and reliques of king Alexander the Great his corps to be laid solemnly in his sepulchre and herein he pleased himselfe not a little Titus Petronius late Consull of Rome when he lay at the point of death called for a faire broad-mouthed cup of Cassidoine which had cost him before-time three hundred thousand sesterces and presently brake it in pieces in hatred and despight of Nero for feare lest the same prince might haue seazed vpon it after his disease and therewith furnished his own bourd But Nero himselfe as it became an Emperour indeed went beyond all others in this kind of excesse who bought one drinking cup that stood him in three hundred thousand festerces a memorable matter no doubt that an Emperour a father and patron of his country should drink in a cup so deare But before I proceed any farther it is to be noted that we haue these rich Cassidoine vessels called in Latine Murrâ—…ina from out of the Leuant for found they be in many places of the East parts and those otherwise not greatly renowned but most within the kingdom of Parthia howbeit the principall come from out of Carmania The stone whereof these vessels be made is thought to be a certaine humour thickened and baked as it were within the ground by the naturall heat thereof In no place shali a man meet with any of these stones larger than small tablements of pillars or counting-bourds and seldome are they so thicke as to serue for such a drinking cup as I haue spoken of already resplendant they are in some sort but that brightnesse is not pearcing and to say a truth it may be called rather a polishing glosse or lustre than a radiant and transparent clearenesse but that which maketh them so much esteemed is the variety of colours for in these stones a man shall perceiue certaine vains or spots which as they be turned about resemble diuers colours enclining partly to purple and partly to white he shall see them aâ—…o of a third colour composed of them both resembling the flame of fire Thus they passe from one to another as a man holdeth them in so much as their purple seemeth to stand much vpon white and their milkie white to beare as much vpon the purple Some esteemed those Cassidoine or Murrhene stones richest which represent as it were certain reuerberations of sundry colours meeting all together about their edges and extremities such as we obserue in rainbowes others are delighted with cerataine fattie spots appearing in them and no account is made of them which shew either pale or transparent in any part of them for these be reckoned great faults and blemishes In like maner if there be seene in the Cassidoine any spots like corns or graines of salt if it containe resemblances of werts although they beare not vp but lie flat as they doe many times in our bodies finally the Cassidoine stones are commended in some sort also for the smell that they do yeeld As touching Crystall it proceedeth of a contrary cause namely of cold for a liquor it is congealed by extream frost in maner of yce and for the proofe hereof you shal find crystal in no place els but where the winter snow is frozen hard so as we may boldly say it is very yce and nothing els whereupon the Greeks haue giuen it the right name Crystallos i. Yce We haue this crystall likewise out of the East-parts but there is none better than that which India sends to vs. Ingendred it is also in Asia and namely about Alabanda Ortosia and the mountains adioyning but in request it is not no more than that which is found in Cyprus howbeit there is excellent crystall within Europe and namely vpon the crests of the Alps. King Iuba writeth that in a certaine Island lying beyond the red sea ouer-against Arabia named Neron there growes crystall as also in another thereby which yeeldeth the Topase pretious stone where Pythagoras lieutenant or gouernour vnder king Ptolome digged forth a piece which carried a cubit in length Cornelius Bocchus affirmeth that in Portugall vpon certaine exceeding high mountaines where they sinke pits for the leuell of the water there be found great crystal quarters or masses of a wonderfull weight But maruellous is that which Xenocrates the Ephesian reporteth namely that in Asia and Cyprus there be pieces of crystall turned vp with the very plough so ebb it lierh within the ground an incredible thing considering that before-time no man beleeued that euer it could be found in any place standing vpon an earthly substance but onely among cliffes and craggs It soundeth yet more like a truth which the same Xenocrates writeth namely that oftentimes it is carried down the streame running from the mountains As for Sudines hee saith confidently that crystall is not engendred but in places exposed onely to the South and verily this is most true for you shall neuer meet with it in waterish countries lying Northerly be the climat neuer so cold no though the riuers be frozen to an yce euen to the very bottome Wee must conclude therefore of necessitie that certaine coelestiall humours to wit of raine and some small snow together do concurre to the making of crystall and here upon it comes that impatient it is of heat and vnlesse it be for to drinke water or other liquor actually cold it is altogether reiected but strange it is that it should grow as it doth six angled neither is it an easie matter to assigne a sound reason thereof the rather for that the points be not all of one fashion and the sides betweene each corner are so absolute euen and smooth as no lapidarie in the world with all his skil can polish any stone so plain The greatest most weightie piece of crystal that euer I could see was that which Livia Augusta the Empresse dedicated in the Capitoll which weighed about fiftie pounds Xenocrates mine authour aboue-named affirmeth that there was seene a vessell of crystall as much as an Amphore and some besides him doe say that there haue beene brought out of India crystall glasses containing foure sextars a piece Thus much I dare my selfe auouch that crystall groweth within certaine rockes vpon the Alps and those so steep and inaccessible that for the most part they are constrained to hang by ropes that shall get it forth They that be skilfull and well experienced therein go by diuers markes and signes which direct them to places where there is cristall and where also they can discerne good from bad for this you must think there be many imperfections and faults therein as namely when it is rough or rugged in hand rustie like yron cloudie and full of speekes otherwhiles there is a secret hidden fistulous vlcer as it were within there lieth