with a Garland of Roses vpon his head was by authoritie of the Senate committed to prison and was not enlarged before the end of the warre P. Munatius hauing taken from the head of Marsyas a Chaplet of floures and set it vpon his owne and thereupon being commaunded to ward by the Triumvirs called vnto the Tribunes of the Commons for their lawful fauour and protection but they opposed not themselues against this proceeding but deemed him worthie of this chastisement See the disclipine and seueritie at Rome and compare it with the loosenes of the Athenians where yong youths ordinarily followed reuils and bankets and yet in the forenoon would seeme to frequent the schooles of Philosophers to learne good instructions of vertuous life With vs verily we haue no example of disorder in this behalf namely for the abuse of garlands but only the daughter of Augustus Caesar late Emperor and cannonised as a god at Rome who complaineth of her in some letters of his yet extant that with grone and griefe of heart to be giuen to such riot and licentious loosenesse that night by night the would seem to adorn with Guirlands the statue and image of Marsyas the Minstrell We do not read in Chronicles that the people honoured in old time any other with a Coronet of floures but onely Scipio sirnamed Serapio for the neere resemblance that he had to his baily or seruant so called who dealt vnder him in buying and selling of Swine in which regard he was wonderous well beloued of the commons in his â—…ribuneship as bearing himself worthy of the famous and noble house of the Scipioes sirnamed Africani Howbeit as well descended and beloued as he was yet when hee died he left not behind him in goods sufficient to defray the charges of his funerals the people therfore made a collection and contributed by the poll euery man one As and so took order by a generall expence that he should be honourably enterred and as his corpes was carried in the streets to his funeral fire they flung floures vpon his bere out of euery window all the way In those daies the maner was to honor the gods with chaplets of floures and namely those that were counted patrones and protectours as well of cities and countries as of priuat families to adorne and beautifie therewith the tombs and sepulchres of those that were departed as also to pacific their ghosts and other infernall spirits farther than thus there was no vse of such Guirlands allowed Now of all those Chaplets most account was made of them wherein the floures were platted We find moreouer That the Sacrificers or Priests of Mars called Salij were wont in their solemnities feasts which were very sumptuous to weare Coronets of sundry floures sowed together But afterwards Chaplets of Roses were only in credit and reputation vntill that in processe of time the world grew to such superfluitie and sumptuous expence that no Guirlands would please men but of the meer precious and aromaticall leaf Malabathrum and not content therewith soone after there must be Chaplets fet as far as from India yea and beyond the Indians those wrought with needle work and the richest coronet was that thought to be which consisted of the leaues of Nard or els made of fine silke out of the Seres country and those of sundry colors perfumed besides al wet with costly and odoriferous ointments Further than thus they could not proceed and so our dainty wanton dames rest contented hithereto and vse no other Chaplets at this day As for the Greekes verily they haue written also seuerall Treatises concerning floures and Garlands and namely Mnestheus and Callimachus two renowmed Physicians haue compiled bookes of those Chaplets that be hurtfull to the braine and cause head-ach For euen herin also lieth some part of the preseruation of our health considering that perfumes do refresh our spirits especially when we are set at table to drinke liberally and to make merrie whiles the subtile odour of flours pierceth to the braine secretly ere we be aware Where by the way I cannot chuse but remember the deuise of Queene Cleopatra full of fine wit and as wicked and mischieuous withall For at what time as Antonie prepared the expidition and journey of Actium against Augustus and stood in some doubt of jealousie of the said Queen for al the fair shew that she made of gratifying him and doing him all pleasure he was at his taster would neither eat nor drink at her table without assay made Cleopatra seeing how timorous he was and minding yet to make good sport and game at his needlesse feare and foolish curiositie caused a Chaplet to be made for M. Antonius hauing before dipped all the tips and edges of the flowres that went to it in a strong and rank poison and being thus prepared set it vpon the head of the said Antonie Now when they had sitten at meat a good while and drunk themselues merrie the Queen began to make a motion and challenge to Antonie for to drink each of them their chaplets and withall began vnto him in a cup of wine seasoned and spiced as it were with those floures which she ware her owne self Oh the shrewd vnhappy wit of a woman when she is so disposed who would euer haue misdoubted any danger of hidden mischiefe herein Well M. Antonie yeelded to pledge her off goeth his owne Guirland and with the floures minced small dresseth his own cup. Now when he was about to set it to his head Cleopatra presently put her hand betweene and staied him from drinking and withall vttered these words My deare heart and best beloued Antonie now see what she is whome so much thou dost dread and stand in feare of that for thy security there must wait at thy cup and trencher extraordinarie tasters a straunge and new fashion ywis and a curiosity more nice than needfull lo how I am not to seek of means and opportunities to compasse thy death if I could find in my heart to liue without thee Which said she called for a prisoner immediately out of the goale whom she caused to drink off the wine which Antonie had prepared for himselfe No sooner was the goblet from his lips againe but the poor wretch died presently in the place but to come again to the Physicians who haue written of floures besides those abouenamed Theophrastus among the Greekes hath taken this argument in hand As for our countreymen some haue entituled their bookes Anthologicon but none of them all so farre as euer I could find wrote any Treatise concerning floures Neither is it any part of my meaning at this present to make Nosegaies or plat any Chaplets for that were a friuolous and vaine peece of work but as touching floures themselues I purpose to discourse so much as I think and find to be memorable and worth the penning But before I enter into this Treatise I am to aduertise the
impeached But some men there be which haue their tongues so at commandement and so artificially they can handle it and their throat together that they are able to counterfeit the singing of all birds and the voice of any other creature that one cannot know and discerne them asunder As touching Taste which is the judgement of meats and drinks to wit What smack and tallage they haue all other liuing creatures find it at the tip of their tongue only but man tasteth as wel with the pallat or roofe of his mouth The spungeous kernels which in men be called Tonsillae or the Almands are in swine named the Glandules That which betweene them hangeth downe from the inmost part and roofe of the mouth by the name of the Vvula is to be found in man onely Vnder it there is a little tongue which the Greekes call Epiglossis at the root of the other and the same is not to be found in any creature that laieth egs A twofold vse it hath lying as it doth between the two pipes Whereof that which beareth more outward and is called The rough Arterie or the Windpipe reacheth vnto the lungs and heart And as a man doth eat and swallow downe his meat this foresaid little flap doth couer it for feare lest as the spirit breath and voice passeth that way the meat or drink if it should go wrong to the other conduit or passage might indanger a man and put him to great trouble The other is more inward called properly the Gullet or the Wezand by which we swallow down both meat and drink and it goeth to the stomacke first and so to the belly This also the said flap doth couer by turns to wit as a man doth either speake or draw his breath lest that which is already passed into the stomacke should come vp againe or be cast vp vnseasonably and thereby impeach a man in his speech the Windpipe consisteth of a gristly and fleshie tunicle the Wezand of a membranous or sinewie substance and flesh together There is no creature hauing a necke indeed but it hath also both these pipes Wel may they haue a gorge or throat in whom there is found but the gullet only but nape of neck behind they can haue none As for those vpon whom Nature hath bestowed a neck they may with ease turn their head about too and fro euery way to looke about them because it is composed of many spondyles or turning round bones tied and fastened one vnto another by ioints and knots The Lion only together with the Wolfe and the Hyaena haue this necke bone of one entire and straight peece and therefore stiffe that it cannot turne Otherwise it is annexed to the chine and the chine to the loines This Chine likewise is a bony substance but made round and long and fistulous within to giue passage to the marrow of the backe which descendeth from the brain Learned men are of opinion That this marrow is of the same nature that the braine is and they ground vpon this experience That if the thin and tender skin that incloseth it be cut through a man cannot possibly liue but dieth immediatly All creatures that be long legged haue likewise in proportion as long necks So haue also water-fouls although their legs be but short But contrariwise yee shall not see any birds with long necks that haue hooked tallons Men onely and Swine are troubled with the swelling bunch in their throats which many times is occasioned by corrupt water that they drinke The vpper part or top of the Wezand is called the Gorge or the gullet the nether part or the extremitie thereof is the Stomacke There is another fleshie concauitie of this name vnder the windpipe annexed to the chine-bone long it is and wide made in fashion of a bottle flagon or rather a gourd Those that haue no gullet are also without a stomack a necke and a wezand as fishes for their mouths and bellies meet The sea Tortoise hath neither tongue nor teeth with the edge of his muffle so sharpe it is he is able well enough to chew all his victuals Vnder the Arterie or wind-pipe is the mouth of the stomacke of a callous or gristly substance thicke toothed with prickles in manner or a bramble for the better dispatching of the meat and these notches or plaits grow smaller and smaller as they approch neerer to the belly so as the vtmost roughnesse thereof in the end is like vnto a Smiths file Now are we come to the Heart which in all other liuing creatures is scituate in the very midst of the brest in man only it lies beneath the left pap made in maner of a peare with the pointed and smaller end beareth out forward Fishes alone haue it lying with the point vpward to the mouth It is generally receiued and held that it is the first principall part which is formed in the mothers wombe next vnto it the braine and the eies last of all And as these be the first that die so the Heart is last In it no doubt is the most plenty of heat which is the cause of life Surely it euer moueth and panteth like as it were another liuing creature by it selfe couered it is within-forth with a very soft yet a strong tunicle that enwrappeth it defended it is besides with a strong mure of ribs and the brest bone together as being it selfe the principall â—…tresse and castle which giues life to all the rest It contains within it certaine ventricles and hollow reâ—…s as the chiefe lodgings of the life and bloud which is the treasure of life These in greater beasts are 3 in number none there is without two This is the very seat of the mind and soule From this fountain there do issue 2 great vessels master-veins or arteries which are diuided into branches being spred as wel to the fore-part as the back parts of the body into smaller veins dominister vitall bloud to all the members of the body This is the only principall part of the body that cannot abide to be sick or languish with any infirmity this lingereth not in continuall pain no sooner is it offended but death insueth presently When all other parts are corrupt and dead the Heart alone continueth aliue All liuing creatures that haue an hard 〈◊〉 heâ—…t are supposed to be brutish those that haue small Hearts be taken for hardy and valiant 〈◊〉 â—…riwise they are reputed for timorous and fearfull which haue great Hearts And the biggest Heart in proportion of the body haue Mice Hares Asses Deere Panthers Weasels Hyâ—…es in one word all creatures either by nature fearefull or vpon feare hurtful In Paphlagonia Partridges haue two Hearts In the Hearts of Horses Kine Buls and Oxen are otherâ—…hiles bones found The Heart in a man groweth yerely two drams in weight vntill it be 50 yeares of age and from that time forward it decreaseth from yere to
an Island distant Northward from Britaine six daies sailing Yea and some affirme the same of Mona an Island distant from Camalodunum a towne of Britaine about 200 miles CHAP. LXXVI ¶ Of Dials and Quadrants THis cunning and skill of shadowes named Gnonomice Anaximines the Milesian the disciple of Anaximander aboue named inuented and hee was the first also that shewed in Lacedemon the Horologe or Dial which they call Sciotericon CHAP. LXXVII ¶ How the dayes are obserued THe very day it selfe men haue after diuers manners obserued The Babylonians count for day all the time betweene two Sun-risings the Athenians betweene the settings The Vmbrians from noone to noone But all the common sort euery where from day light vntill it be darke The Roman Priests and those that haue defined and set out a ciuil day likewise the Egyptians and Hipparchus from midnight to midnight That the spaces or lights are greater or lesse betwixt Sun risings neere the Sunsteds than the equinoctials it appeareth by this that the position of the Zodiake about the middle parts therof is more oblique and crooked but toward the Sunsted more streight and direct CHAP. LXXViij ¶ The reason of the varietie and difference of sundry Countries and Nations HEreunto we must ioyne such things as are linked to celestiall causes For doubtlesse it is that the Aethiopians by reason of the Sunnes vicinitie are scorched and tanned with the heate thereof like to them that be adust and burnt hauing their beards and bush of haire curled Also that in the contrarie Clime of the world to it in the frozen and icie regions the people haue white skins haire growing long downeward and yellow but are fierce and cruell by reason of the rigorous cold aire howbeit the one as well as the other in this mutabilitie are dull and grosse and the very legs do argue the temperature for in the Aethiopians the iuice or bloud is drawne vpward againe by the naturall heate But among the nations Septentrionall the same is driuen to the inferior parts by reason of moisture apt to fall downward Here breed noisome and hurtfull wilde beasts but there be ingendred creatures of sundry and diuers shapes especially birds Tall they are of bodily stature as well in one part as the other in the hot regions by the occasionall motion of fire in the other by the moist nourishment But in the midst of the earth there is an wholesome mixture from both sides the whole Tract is fertill and fruitfull for all things the habit of mens bodies of a mean and indifferent constitution the colour also shewing a great temperature The fashions and manners of the people are ciuill and gentle their sences cleare and lightsome their wits pregnant and capable of all things within the compasse of Nature they also beare soueraigne rule and sway empires and monarchies which those vttermost nations neuer had Yet true it is that euen they who are out of the temperate Zones may not abide to be subiect nor accomodate themselues to these for such is their sauage and brutish nature that it vrgeth them to liue solitarie by themselues CHAP. LXXiX ¶ Of Earthquakes THe Babylonians were of this opinion that earthquakes and gaping chinks and all other accidents of that nature are occasioned by the power and influence of the planets but of those three only to which they attribute lightnings and by this means namely as they keepe their course with the Sun or meet with him and especially when this concurrence is about the quadratures of the heauen And surely if it be true which is reported of Anaximander the Milesian naturall Philosopher his prescience and foreknowledge of things was excellent and worthy of immortalitie who as it is said forewarned the Lacedemonians to looke wel to their city and dwelling houses for that there was an earthquake toward which hapned accordingly when not only their whole city was shaken and fell downe but also a great part of the mountain Taygetus which bare out like to the poupe of a ship broken as it were from the rest came down too wholly couering the foresaid ruines There is reported another shrewd guesse of Pherecydes who was Pythagoras his master and the same likewise diuine and propheticall he by drawing water out of a pit both foresaw and also foretold an earthquake there Which if they be true how far off I pray you may such men seeme to be from God euen while they liue here on earth But as for these things verily I leaue it free for euery man to weigh and deeme of them according to their owne iudgement and for mine owne part I suppose that without all doubt the windes are the cause thereof For neuer beginneth the earth to quake but when the sea is still and the weather so calme withall that the birds in their flying cannot houer and hang in the aire by reason that all the spirit and winde which should beare them vp is withdrawne from them ne yet at any time but after the windes are laid namely when the blast is pent and hidden within the veines and hollow caues of the earth Neither is this shaking in the earth any other thing than is thunder in the cloud nor the gaping chinke thereof ought else but like the clift whereout the lightning breaketh when the spirit inclosed within strugleth and stirreth to go forth at libertie CHAP. LXXX ¶ Of the gaping chinks of the earth AFter many and sundry sorts the earth therefore is shaken and thereupon ensue wondrous effects in one place the walls of cities are laid along in another they be swallowed vp in a deepe and wide chawne here are cast vp mighty heaps of earth there are let out Riuers of water yea and somtimes fire doth breathe forth and hot springs issue abroad in another place the course and chanell of riuers is turned clean away and forced backward There goeth before and commeth with it a terrible noise one while a rumbling more like the loowing and bellowing of beasts otherwhiles it resembles a mans voice or else the clattering and rustling of armor and weapons beating one vpon another according to the qualitie of the matter that catcheth and receiueth the noise or the fashion either of the hollow cranes within or the cranny by which it passeth whiles in a narrow way it taketh on with a more slender and whistling noise and the same keepeth an hoarse din in winding and crooked caues rebounding againe in hard passages roaring in moist places wauing and floting in standing waters boiling and chasing against solid things And therefore a noise is often heard without any earthquake and neuer at any time shaketh it simply after one and the same manner but trembles and waggeth to and fro As for the gaping chink sometimes it remaineth wide open and sheweth what it hath swallowed vp otherwhiles it closeth vp the mouth and hideth all and the earth is knit together so againe as there remaine no marks and tokens to be
there be that bring all their children like to themselues and others againe as like to their husbands and some like neither the one nor the other You shall haue Women bring all their daughters like to their fathers and contrariwise their sonnes like to themselues The same is notable and yet vndoubted true of one Nicaeus a famous Wrestler of Constantinople hauing to his mother a woman begotten in adulterie by an Aethiopian and yet with white skin nothing different from other women of that countrey was himselfe black and resembled his grandsire the Aethiopian abouesayd Certes the cogitations and discourses of the minde make much for these similitudes and resemblances whereof we speake and so likewise many other accidents and occurrent obiects are thought to be very strong and effectuall therin whether they come in sight hearing and calling to remembrance or imaginations only conceiued and deeply apprehended in the very act of generation or the instant of conception The wandring cogitation also and quicke spirit either of father or mother flying to and fro all on a sudden from one thing to another at the same time is supposed to be one cause of this impression that maketh either the foresaid vniforme likenesse or confusion and varietie And hereupon it commeth and no maruell it is that men are more vnlike one another than other Creatures for the nimble motions of the spirit the quicke thoughts the agilitie of the minde the varietie of discourse in our wits imprinteth diuers formes and many marks of sundry cogitations whereas the imaginatiue facultie of other liuing creatures is immoueable alwaies continueth in one in all it is alike and the same still in euery one which causeth them alwaies to engender like to themselues each one in their seuerall kindes Artenon a mean man amongst the Commons was so like in all points to Antiochus King of Syria that Laodicea the Queen after that Antiochus her husband was killed serued her owne turne by the said Artenon and made him play the part of Antiochus vntill she had by his meanes as in the Kings person recommended whom she would and made ouer the kingdome and crown in succession and reuersion to whom she thought good Vibius a poore commoner of Rome and Publicius one newly of a bondslaue made a free-man were both of them so like vnto Pompey the Great that hardly the one could be discerned from the other so liuely did they represent that good visage of his so full of honestie so fully expressed they and resembled the singular maiestie of that countenance which appeared in Pompeius his forehead The like cause it was that gaue his father also the syrname of Menogenes his Cooke albeit he was syrnamed already Strabo for his squint eyes but hee would needs beare the name of a defect and infirmitie euen in his bond-seruant for the loue he had vnto him by reason of his likenesse So was one of the Scipio's also syrnamed Serapius vpon the like occasion after the name of one Serapia who was but a base slaue of his and no better than his swine heard or dealer in buying and selling of swine Another Scipio after him of the same house came to be syrnamed Salutio because a certaine jester of that name was like vnto him After the same manner one Spinter a player of the second place or part and Pamphilus another player of the third part or in the third place gaue their names to Lentulus and Metellus who both were Consuls together in one yeare for that they resembled them so truly And certes mee thinkes this fell out very vntowardly and was but a ridiculous pageant and a very vnseemly shew vpon a stage to see both Consuls liuely represented there at once in the persons of these two players Contrariwise Rubrious the stage player was sirnamed Plancus because he was so like to Plancus the Orator Againe Burbuleius and Menogenes both players of Enterludes resembled Curio the father or the elder and Messala Censorius for all he had been Censor that the one could not shift and auoid the syrname of Burbulcius and the other of Monogenes There was in Sicily a certaine fisherman who resembled in all parts Suria the Pro-consull not only in visage and feature of the face but also in mowing with his mouth when hee spake in drawing his tongue short and in his huddle and thicke speech Cassius Seuerus that famous orator was reproched for being so like vnto Mirmillo a drouer or keeper of kine and oxen Toranius a merchant slaue-seller sold vnto M. Antonius now one of the two great Triumvirs two most beautiful and sweet faced boyes for twins so likewere they one to the other albeit the one was borne in Asia and the other beyond the Alps. But when Antony afterwards came to know the same and that this fraud and cousenage was bewraied and detected by the language speech of the boyes he fell into a furious fit of choler and all to berated the foresaid Toranius And when among other challenges he charged him with the high price he made him pay for they cost him two hundred Sesterces as for twins when they were none such the wily merchant being his craftsmaster answered That it was the cause why he held them so deare and sold them at so deare a rate for quoth he it is no maruell at all that two brethren twins that lay both together in one belly do resemble one the other but that there should be any found borne as these were in diuers countries so like in all respects as they he held it for a most rare and wonderfull thing This answer of his was deliuered in so good time and so fitly to the purpose that Antonie the great man who neuer was well but when he outlawed citisens of Rome and did confiscat their goods he I say that erewhile was all enraged and set vpon reuiling and reprochfull termes was not only appeased but also contented so with his bargaine that he prised those two boies as much as any thing else in all his wealth CHAP. XIII ¶ The cause and manner of generation SOme bodies there be by a secret of nature so disagreeing that they are vnfit for generation one with another And yet as barren as they be so coupled together fruitfull they are enough being ioyned with others Such were Augustus the Emperor and his wife Liuia In like manner some men there be as well as women that can skill of getting and breeding none but daughters and others there be againe that are good at none but sonnes and many times it falleth out that folke haue sonnes and daughters both but they by turnes this yeare a son the next yeare a daughter in order So Cornelia the mother of the Gracchi who for twelue child-beds kept this course duly and Agrippina the wife of Caesar Germanicus for nine euer changing from the male to the female Some women are barren all their youth and others again beare but once in
the brain Wherupon all the rest at once assaied to break forth and get away not without a great hurry trouble among the people notwithstanding they were without the lists and those set round about with yron grates and bars And for this cause Caesar the Dictatour when afterwards hee was to exhibit the like shew before the people cast a ditch round about the place letting in the water and so made a mote thereof which prince Nero afterwards stopped vp for to make more room for the knights and men of armes But those Elephants of Pompey being past all hope of escaping and going cleere away after a most pittifull manner and rufull plight that cannot bee expressed seemed to make mone vnto the multitude crauing mercie and pittie with grieuous plaints and lamentations bewailing their hard state and wofull case in such sort that the peoples hearts earned again at this piteous sight and with tears in their eies for very compassion rose vp all at once from beholding this pageant without regard of the person of Pompey that great Generall and Commander without respect of his magnificence and stately shew of his munificence and liberality where he thought to haue woon great applause and honor at their hands but in lieu thereof fell to cursing of him and wishing all those plagues and misfortunes to light vpon his head which soon after insued accordingly Moreouer Caesar the Dictatour in his third Consulship exhibited another fight of them and brought forth 20 to maintain skirmish against 500 footmen and a second time he set out 20 more with woodden turrets vpon their backs containing 60 defendants apiece and he opposed against them 500 footmen and as many horse After all this Claudius and Nero the Emperors brought them forth one by one into single fight with approued expert and accomplished fencers at the end of al the other solemnitie when they had done their prizes This beast by report of all writers is so gentle to all others that are but weak and not so strong as himselfe that if he passe through a flock or heard of smaller cattell it will with the nose or trunke which serueth in stead of his hand remoue and turn aside whatsoeuer beast commeth in his way for feare he should go ouer them and so crush and tread vnder his foot any of them ere it were aware And neuer do they any hurt vnlesse they be prouoked thereto Alwaies walke they by troups together and worst of all other can they away with wandring alone but loue company exceeding well If it fortune that they be inuironed with horsmen look how many of their fellows be feeble weary or wounded those they take into the mids of their squadron and as if there were marshalled and ordered by a Serjeant of a band or heard the direction of some Generall so skilfully and as it were with guidance of reason do they maintain fight by turns and succeed one after another in their course The wild sort of them after they be taken are soonest brought to be tame and gentle with the iuice or decoction of husked barly CHAP. VIII ¶ The manner of taking Elephants THe Indians are wont to take Elephants in this manner the gouernor driueth one of them that are tame into the chase and forrests and when he can meet with one of them alone or single him from the heard he all to beateth the wilde beast till he hath made him wearie and then he mounteth vpon him ruleth him as wel as the former In Africk they catch them in great ditches which they make for that purpose into which if one of them chance to wander astray from his fellowes all the rest immediatly come to succour him they heap together a deale of boughs they rol down blocks stones and whatsoeuer may serue to raise a banke and with all that euer they can do labor to plucke him out Before-time when they meant to make them tractable their maner was by a troup of horsmen to driue or train them by little little a long way in a certain lawn or vally made by mans hand for the nones ere they were aware and when they were inclosed within ditches or bankes there they would keep them from meat so long vntil for very hunger they would be glad to come to hand for food by this they might know they were gentle and tame enough to be taken if they would meekly take a branch of a bow presented and offred vnto them But now adaies since they seek after them for their teeths sake they make no more ado but shoot at their legges which otherwise naturally are tender enough and the softest part of their whole body The Troglodites a people bounding vpon Aethiopia who liue only vpon the venison of Elephants flesh vse to clime trees that be neer their walk and there take a stand from thence letting all the heard to passe quietly vnder the trees they leap down vpon the buttocks of the hinmost then he that doth this feat with his left hand laieth fast hold vpon his taile and sets his feet and legs fast in the flanke of the left side and so hanging and bending backward with his body he cutteth the ham-strings of one of his legges with a good keen bil or hatchet that he hath of purpose in his right hand which done the Elephant beginneth to slack his pace by reason that one of his legs is wounded the man then maketh shift to get away and alighteth on foot and for a farwell he hougheth the sinews likewise of the other ham and all this doth he in a trice with wonderful agility and nimblenes Others haue a safer way than this but it is more subtill and deceitfull they set or stick in the ground a great way off mighty great bows ready bent to hold these fast they chuse certain tal lusty and strong fellows and as many others as sufficient as they to draw with all their might and maine the said bowes against the other and so they let flie against the poore Elephants as they passe by jauelins and bore-spears as if they shot shafts and stick them therwith and so follow them by their bloud Of these beasts the femals are much more fearfull than the male kind CHAP. IX ¶ The manner of taming Elephants AS furious and raging mad as they be sometime they are tamed with hunger and stripes but men had need to haue the help of other Elephants that are tame already to restraine the vnruly beast with strong chains of all times when they go to rut they are most out of order and starke wood down go the Indian stables and beast stals then which they ouer-turne with their teeth and therfore they keepe them from entring into that fit and separate the femals apart from the males making their parks and enclosures asunder as they doe by other beasts The tamed sort of them serue in the wars and carry little castles or turrets with armed
besides but because they be found elsewhere and knowne to be better in other places than in Arabia I will treat of them in their course and ranke when it commeth And yet Arabia it selfe as fruitfull and happy as it is in this behalfe is wondrous eager in seeking after forreine spices and sendeth for them into strange countries So soone are men glutted and haue their fill of their owne and so greedy and desirous be they of other countries commodities They send therfore as far as the Helymaeans for a tree named Bruta like to a spreding cypres hauing boughes couered with a whitish bark casting a pleasant smelling perfume when it burneth and highly commended in the chronicles and historie of Claudius Caesar for strange vertues and wonderfull properties For he writeth That the Parthians vse to put the leaues therof in their drinke for to giue it a good tast and odoriferous smell The odour thereof resembleth the Caedar very much and the perfume is a singular remedie against the stinking and noisome fumes of other wood It groweth beyond the great channell of the riuer Tigris called Pasitigris vpon the mount Zagrus neare vnto the citie Citaca They send moreouer to the Carmanians for another tree called Strobos and all to make sweet perfumes but first they infuse the wood thereof in Date-wine and then burn it This is an excellent perfume for it wil fill the whole house rising vp to the chambers aloft to the arched seelings of the roufe and returning downe againe to the very floore and ground beneath most pleasantly But it stuffes a mans head howbeit without any paine or ach at all With this perfume they procure sleep to sick persons And for the traffick of this commodity the merchants meet at the citie Carras where they keep an ordinarie faire or mart and from thence they went customably to Gabba twentie daies journey off where they were wont to haue a vent for their merchandise and to make returne and so forward into Palestine of Syria But afterwards as K. Iuba saith they began to go to Charace and to the kingdom of the Parthians for the same purpose For mine owne part I thinke rather with Herodotus That the Arabians transported these odours and spices to the Persians first before that they went therewith either into Syria or Aegypt and I ground vpon the testimonie of Herodotus who affirmeth That the Arabians paid euery yeare vnto the KK of Persia the weight of a talent in Frank incense for tribute Out of Syria they bring back Storax with the acrimonie and hot smell wherof being burnt vpon their herths they put by and driue away the loathsomnesse of their own odors wherewith they are cloyed for the Arabians vse no other fuell at all for their fires but sweet wood As for the Sabaeans they seeth their meats in the kitchin some with the wood of the Incense tree and others with that of Myrrhe insomuch as both in citie and country their houses be full of thesmoke and smell thereof as if it came from the sacrifice vpon the altars For to qualifie therfore this ordinarie sent of Myrrhe and Frank incense wherewith they are stuffed they perfume their houses with Storax which they burne in Goats skins Loe how there is no pleasure whatsoeuer but breedes lothsomnesse if a man continue long to it The same Storax they vse to burn for the chasing away of Serpents which in those forests of sweet trees are most rife common CHAP. XVIII ¶ Of the felicitie of Arabia NEither Cinamon nor Casia do grow in Arabia and yet is it named Happie vnworthie countrey as it is for that surname in that it taketh it selfe beholden to the gods aboue therefore whereas indeed they haue greater cause to thanke the infernal spirits beneath For what hath made Arabia blessed rich and happie but the superfluous expense thnt men be at in funerals employing those sweet odors to burne the bodies of the dead which they knew by good right were due vnto the gods And verily it is constantly affirmed by them who are acquainted well with the world and know what belongeth to these matters That there commeth not so much Incense of one whole yeares increase in Saba as the Emperor Nero spent in one day when he burnt the corps of his wife Poppea Cast then how many funerals euery yeare after were made throughout the world what heaps of odors haue been bestowed in the honor of dead bodies wheras they offer vnto the gods by crums and graines only And yet when as men made supplication to them with the oblation of a little cake made with salt and meale and no more they were no lesse propitious and merciful nay they were more gratious and fauourable a great deale as may appeare by histories But to returne againe to Arabia the sea enricheth it more than the land by occasion of the orient pearles that it yeeldeth and sendeth vnto vs. And surely our pleasures our delights and our women together are so costly vnto vs that there is not a yeare goeth ouer our heads but what in pearles perfumes and silkes India the Seres and that demy-Island of Arabia stands vs at the least in an hundred millions of Sesterces and so much fetch they from vs in good money within the compasse of our Empire But of al this masse of Spice and Odors how much I pray you commeth to the seruice of the coelestiall gods in comparison of that which is burnt at funerals to the spirits infernall CHAP. XIX ¶ Of Cinamon and the wood thereof called Xylocinnamomum Also of Canell or Casia FAbulous antiquitie and the prince of lyers Herodotus haue reported That in that tract where Bacchus was nourished Cinamon and Canell either fell from the nests of certaine fowles and principally of the Phoenix thorough the weight of the venison and flesh which they had preyed vpon and brought thither whereas they builded in high rockes and trees or else was driuen and beaten downe by arrowes headed with lead Also that Canell or Casia was gotten from about certaine marishes guarded and kept with a kind of cruell Bats armed with terrible and dreadfull tallons and with certain flying Pen-dragons And all these deuises were inuented only to enhaunce the price of these drugs And this tale is told another way namely That in those parts where Canell and Cinamon grow which is a country in manner of demy-Island much enuironed with the sea by the reflection of the beames of the Noon-sun a world of odoriferous smells is cast from thence in such sort that a man may feele the sent at one time of all the aromaticall drugs as it were met together and sending a most fragrant and pleasant sauour far and neare and that Alexander the Great sailing with his fleet by the very smell alone discouered Arabia a great way into the maine sea Lies all both the one and the other for Cinamone or Cinamon call it whether you will groweth in Aethiopia a
handle and declare the qualitie of Hydromel or honied water so neere a dependant thereto Of which there be two kinds the one is fresh and new made in hast vpon occasion and presently vsed the other is kept and preserued As touching the former Hydromel if it be made as it should be of dispumed and clarified hony it is of singular vse in that exquisit spary diet fit for sick persons and namely in meats of light digestion such as is a thin gruell made of naked frumenty washed in many waters also to be ioyned in restoratiues for to recouer the Patients strength much enseebled Moreouer good it is for the mouth and the stomacke to mitigat the fretting humors setled and bedded therin to cool the extremity of heat for I find in good authors that to ease and mollifie the belly it is better to be giuen cold than otherwise aâ—… also that it is a proper and conuenient drink for those who chil and quake for cold likewise for such as be heartlesse haue smal or no courage at all whom those writers cal Micropsychos Moreouer there is a reason rendred full of infinite subtiltie and the same fathered first vpon Cato Why the same things feel not alwaies bitter or sweet alike in euery mans tast for he saith that this diuersitie proceedeth from those little motes or bodies that go to the making of all things whiles some of them be smooth others rough rugged some cornered others round in sum according as they be more or lesse respectiue and agreeable to the nature of each man this is the cause that those persons who are ouer-wearied or exceeding thirsty be more cholerick and prone to anger Good reason therefore that such asperity of the spirit or rather indeed of the vital breath should be dulced and appeased by the vse of some sweet and pleasant liquor which may lenifie the passage and mollifie the conduits of the said spirit that they do not cut race and interrupt it going in out in drawing or deliuering the wind And in very truth euerie man may find by experience in his own self how meat and drink doth moderat and appease anger sorrow heauinesse and any passion or perturbation of the mind whatsoeuer And therefore those things would be obserued which make not onely to the nourishment and health of the body but also serue for to rectifie and reform the maners and demeanor of the mind Now to return again vnto our Hydromel or honied water very good by report it is for the cough and being taken warm it prouoketh to vomit put oile thereto and it is singular against the poison of Ceruse or white lead A countre-poison also it is and a preseruatiue to such as haue eaten Henbane and Dwale especially taken with asses milk as I haue obserued hertofore Instilled into the ears or poured into the fistulous sores of the secret parts it is thought to be excellent Incorporat with the crums of soft bread and reduced into the form of a pessarie and so put vp it is singular for the infirmities of the natural parts of women and being applied accordingly it taketh down all sudden swellings occasioned by windines cureth dislocations and in one word mitigateth all pains Thus much of Hydromel new made for our moderne physitians haue vtterly condemned the vse of that which is kept vntil it be stale And this they generally hold That it is not so harmlesse as water nor so solid and powerfull in operation as wine Howbeit let it be long kept it turneth into the nature of wine and as all writers do accord then is it most hurtfull to the stomack and contrary to the sinewes As for honied wine the best and most wholsome is alwayes that which is made of the oldest wine that is hard and indeed with it you shall haue it to incorporat very easily which it will neuer do with any that is new sweet and being made of green harsh or austere wine it doth not fill and charge the stomacke no more it doth being made of boiled honey and ingendreth lesse ventosities which is an vsual thing with hony This honey bringeth them to appetite of meat who haue lost their stomack Taken actually cold in many it loosneth the belly but being hot it stayeth and bindeth the same The honied wine is very nutritiue and breedeth good flesh Many haue held out a long time fresh and lusty in their old age with the nourishment of honied wine alone without any other food whereof we haue one notable example of Pollio Romilus who being aboue an hundred yeres old bare his age passing well whereat the Emperour Augustus of famous memorie maruelled much and being vpon a time lodged as a guest in his house he demanded of him what means he vsed most so to maintaine that fresh vigour both of body and mind to whom Pollio answered By vsing honied wine within and oile without Varro saith that the yellow jaundise was called a Kings disease or a sicknesse for a King because it was cured ordinarily with this honied wine called Mulse As touching another kind of honied wine named Melitites how it is made of Must or new wine hony together I haue declared sufficiently in my treatise of wines But I suppose there hath bin none of this sort confected these hundred yeares past and aboue for that it was found to be a drink which bred ventosities in the stomacke and other inward parts Howbeit the manner was in old time to prescribe it for to bee giuen in agues to make the bodie soluble prouided alwaies that it had the due age also to those who lay of the gout to such likewise as had weake and feeble sinews and to women who abstained altogether from meere wine Next after Honey the treatise of Wax which is correspondent to the nature of honey by good order followeth Corcerning the originall working and framing thereof the goodnesse the seueral kinds according to diuers countries I haue written in conuenient place This is generally obserued that al sorts of wax be emollitiue heating and incarnatiue but the newer and fresher they are the better they are thought to be Wax taken inwardly in a supping or broth is singular for the bloudy flix and exulceration of the guts so be the very honey-combes giuen in a gruell made of frumenty first parched and dried at the fire Contrarie it is to the nature of milk for take ten grains of wax made in smal pills of the bignesse of millet corns in some conuenient lipuor they will not suffer the milke to cruddle in the stomacke If there be a rising or swelling in the share the present remedie is to sticke a plastre of white wax vpon the groine Moreouer to reckon vp and decipher the sundry vses that wax is put vnto in matters of Physicke as it is mixed with other things it is no more possible for a Physician than to particularize of other simples and
and stark The leaues serue to make a good liniment for to annoint the pitch of the stomacke and their juice applied in manner of a pessarie setleth the mother when it rolleth euery way and is out of her place The greene leaues chewed and applied cure the running skalls in the head the cankers and sores in the mouth all risings and apostemations and likewise the piles A decoction of the said leaues is singular for burns and skals likewise for lims out of joynt if they be bathed therin The very leaues in substance stampedand incorporat with the juice of a peare-quince into an ointment set a reddish yellow colour vpon the haire of the head The floures brought into a liniment with vinegre assuage the paine of the head the same calcined and burnt into ashes within a pot of vnbaked or raw earth either alone or with hony healeth corrosiue sores and putrified vlcers These floures haue a certaine sauor with them which procureth sleep The oile called Gleucinum is astringent and yet it cooleth after the same sort that the oile Oenanthium The Balsame oile called Balm is of all others most pretious as hertofore I haue said in my treatise of odoriferous ointments and of great efficacie against the venome of al serpents It clarifieth the eie-sight mightily and dispatcheth mists and clouds which dimmed the same it easeth all those who draw their breath with difficultie it assuageth impostumations and hard swellings it keepeth bloud from cluttering and is excellent to mundifie foule vlcers singular comfortable to the eares in case of paine hardnesse of hearing singing within to the head also for to assuage the ach for the nerues against shaking trembling and convulsions withal a proper remedy for ruptures It danteth and mortifieth the poison of Aconitum if it be taken with milk If the patient lying sicke of an ague be annointed all ouer therewith it mitigateth the fits comming with shaking and shiuering Howbeit folke must be warie and vse it with moderation for being hot in the highest degree it is caustick and so doth en flame and burne and therfore if a mean be not kept it bringeth a mischiefe for a remedie and doth more harme than good Concerning Malobathrum the nature and sundrie kinds thereof I haue discoursed heretofore Now for the vertues which it hath in Physicke first it prouoketh vrine being stamped the juice drawne out of it with wine by way of expression is excellent to be applied vnto the eyes for to stay their continuall watering the same laid to the forehead as a frontall procureth sleep to them that would gladly take their repose And more effectually it worketh in case the nosethrils also be annointed therewith or if it be drunke with water The leafe of Malabathrum if it be but held vnder the tongue causeth the mouth and the breath to smell sweet like as if it lie among apparell it giueth them a pleasant sauour The oile of Henbane is emollitiue howbeit an enemie to the sinewes certes if it be taken in drinke it troubleth the braine The oile of Lupines called Therminum is likewise an emollitiue and commeth nearest of any to the operation and effects of oile-rosat Touching the oile of Daffodills I haue spoken of it in the treatise of the floures thereof Radish oile cureth the lowsie disease and namely when lice are engendred vpon some long and chronick disease it clenseth the skin of the face from all roughnesse and maketh it slicke and smooth The oile of Sesama cureth the paine of the eares and healeth vlcers which eat as they spread euen such as be morimals and check the Chirurgians hand Oile of Lillies which wee haue named Lirinon Phaselinum and Sirium is most agreeable and wholsom for the kidnies also to procure and maintaine sweat to mollifie the matrice and naturall parts in women to promote digestion inwardly The oil or ointment Selgiticum as we haue already said is comfortable to the sinues like as the grasse-green oile which the Inguinians dwelling vpon the causy or street-way Flamminia vse to sel. Elaeomeli an oil which as I haue declared before issueth from oliue trees in Syria carrieth a certaine tast of hony howbeit their stomacks it maketh to rise at it who licke therof and it is of power to soften the belly It purgeth choler Electiuè if two cyaths thereof be giuen to drink in one hemine of water howbeit these symptomes or accidents do follow them who drinke thereof They lie as it were in a dead sleepe and must eftsoons be awakened Our lustie drunkards who make profession of carousing vse to take one ciath thereof before they sit down to drink one another vnder bourd The oile of Pitch is vsed euery where for to heale the skurfe mange and farcins in beasts Next to vines and oliues Date trees are to be raunged in the highest place and doe cary the greatest name Dates if they be fresh and new doe inebriat and ouerturn the braine and if they be not very wel dried they do cause head-ach neither are they so far as I can see any way good for the stomacke againe they do exasperat the cough and make it worse yet they be great nourishers and cause them to feed who eat of them Our ancients in old time drew a certaine juice or liquor out of them when they were boiled which they gaue vnto sicke persons in stead of an hydromell or honyed water to drinke and that for to refresh them to restore their strength and to quench thirst and for this purpose they preferred the Dates of Thebais in high Aegypt before all others Being eaten as meat especially at meals they are good for them who reach vp bloud The dates Caryotae serue to make a liniment for the stomack the bladder belly guts with an addition of Quince among Being incorporat with wax safron they reduce the black and blew marks remaining after stripes in the skin to their naturall colour Date stones with their kernels are burnt in a new earthen vessel which was neuer occupied before and being thus calcined and their ashes washed they serue in stead of Spodium and doe enter with other ingredients into collyries or eie-salues and with some Nard among they make fukes to paint and imbelish the eye-browes CHAP. V. ¶ Of the Myrabolan Date and the Date Elate THe best Palm or Date tree which beareth a fruit like to Myrabolanes is that which groweth in Aegypt These Dates haue no stones like to others Being taken in vnripe and hard wine they stop the flux of the belly and stay the extraordinary course of womens fleures and do consolidat wounds As touching the Date-tree called Elate or Spathe it affoordeth for vse in Physick the yong buds the leaues and the barke The leaues serue to be applied vnto the midriffe and precordial parts the stomacke liuer and such corosiue vlcers as hardly will be brought to heale and skinne vp The
the muskles and sinews that he became paralyticke in that part and euer after vnto his dying day was rid as well of all sence as of the paine of the gout But say that in these cases it might be tollerable to set down in their books some poisons what reason nay what leaue had those Greeks to shew the means how the brains and vnderstanding of men should be intoxicat and troubled what colour and pretence had they to set downe medicines and receits to cause women to slip the vntimely fruit of their womb and a thousand such like casts deuises that may be practised by herbs of their penning for mine owne part I am not for them that would send the conception out of the body vnnaturally before the due time they shall learne no such receits of me neither will I teach any how to temper spice an amatorious cup to draw either man or woman into loue it is no part of my profession For wel I remember that Lucullus a most braue Generall and a captain of great execution lost his life by such a loue potion Much lesse then shall ye haue me to write of Magick witch-craft charmes inchantments and sorceries vnlesse it be to giue warning that folk should not meddle with them or to disproue those courses for their vanities and principally to giue an Item how little trust and assurance there is to be had in such trumpery It sufficeth me and contenteth my mind yea and I think that I haue done wel for mankind in recording those herbs which be good and wholsome found out by men of wit and learning for the benefit of posterity CHAP. IIII. ¶ Of Moly and Dodecatheos of Poeony otherwise called Pentorobus or Glycyside Of Panaces Asclepium Heraclium and Chironium Of Panaces Centarium or Pharnaceum Of Heraclium Siderium Of Henbane called Hyoscyamus Apollinaris or Altercangenus HOmer is of opinion That the principall and soueraigne hearb of all others is Moly so called as he thinketh by the gods themselues The inuention or finding of this hearbe hee ascribeth vnto Mercury and sheweth that it is singular against the mightiest witcheraft inchantments that be Some say that this herb Moly euen according to Homers description with a round and black bulbous root to the bignesse of an onion and with a leafe or blade like that of Squilla groweth at this day about the riuer or lake Peneus and vpon the mountain Cylleum in Arcadia also that it is hard to be digged out of the ground The Grecian Simplists describe this Moly with a yellow floure wheras Homer hath written that it is white I met with one physitian a skilful Herbarist who affirmed vnto me That this Moly grew in Italy also and in verie truth he brought and shewed me a plant which came out of Campaine about the digging vp whereof among hard and stony rocks he had bin certain daies but get he could not the entire root whole and sound but was forced to break it off and yet the root which he shewed mee was thirtie foot long Next vnto Moly in account and reputation is that plant which they call Dodecatheos for that it doth represent comprehend the maiesty of all the chiefe gods They say if it be drunk in water it is a soueraign medicine for al maladies Seuen leaues it hath resembling very much those of Lectuce and the same spring from a yellow root As touching Paeony it is one of the first herbs that were euer known and brought to light as may appeare by the author or inuentor thereof whose name it beareth still Some call it Pentorobos others Glycyside where by the way I am to aduertise the Reader of the difficulty in the knowledge of herbs by their names considering that the same herbe hath in sundry places diuers appellations But to proceed forward with our Paeony it groweth among bleake and shady mountains rising vp with a stem between the leaues 4 fingers high and bearing in the top 4 or 5 heads fashioned somwhat like to Filberds within which there is plenty of seed both red and black This herb is good against the fantasticall illusions of the Fauni which appeare in sleep It is said that this herb must be gathered in the night season for if the Rainbird woodpeck or Hickway called Picus Martius should chance to spie it gathered he would flie in the face and be ready to peck out the eies of him or her that had it The herb Panace promiseth by the very name a remedy of all diseases A number there be of herbs so called and all ascribed to some god or other for the inuention of them for one of them hath the addition of Asclepion for that Aesculapius had a daughter named also Panacea As touching the concret juice named Opopanax it is drawn from the root of this plant beeing of the Ferula or Fennell kind such as I haue heretofore shewed by way of incision the which root hath a thick rind and of a saltish sauor When the root is pulled out of the ground there is a religious ceremony obserued to fil vp the hole again with all sorts of corn as it were in satisfaction to the earth for the violence offered in tearing it vp As for the said juice Opopanax where and how it should be made and which is the best kind therof and not sophisticat I haue declared already in my Treatise of forrain and strange plants That which is brought out of Macedony they cal Bucosicum because the Neat-heards of the country mark when the liquor breakes forth and runneth out of it selfe and so receiue and gather it from the plant this wil not last but of all the rest soonest loseth the force Moreouer in all sorts of it that is rejected principally which is black and soft for these be markes to know that it is corrupted and sophisticate with wax A second kind there is of Panaces which they cal Heraclium the inuention of the vertues and properties whereof is attributed vnto Hercules Some there be who call it Origanum Heracleaticum the wild because it is like to Origan wherof I haue heretofore written but the root of this Panaces is good for nothing A third kind of Panaces took the name of Chiron the Centaur who was the first that gaue intelligence of the herbe and the vertues thereof The leafe is like vnto the Dock but that it is bigger and more hairy the floure is of a golden yellow color the root but small it loueth to grow in rich fat and battle grounds The floure of this Panaces is most effectual in Physick in which regard there is more vse and profit thereof than of all the former kindes A fourth Panaces there is besides found out also by the same Chiron whereupon it hath the denomination of Centaureum called also it is Pharnaceum the occasion of this two fold name is this because there is some controuersie in the first inuention
vntil in the end al their Physicke proued nothing but words and bibble babbles for beleeue me his schollers and disciples thought it more for their ease and pleasure to sit close in the schooles and heare their doctours out of the chaire discourse of the points of Physicke than to go a simpling into the desarts and forrests to seeke and gather herbs at all seasons of the yere some at one time and some at another CHAP. III. ¶ Of the new practise in Physicke of Asclepiades the Physitian and what course he tooke to alter and abolish the old Physicke for to bring in the new WHat cunning means soeuer these new Physitians could deuise to ouerthrow the antient manner of working by simples yet it maintained still the remnants of the former credit built surely vpon the vndoubted grounds of long experience and so it continued till the daies of Pompey the Great at what time Asclepiades a great Oratour and professor of Rhetoricke went in hand to peruert and reiect the same for seeing that he gained not by the said Art sufficiently was not like to arise by pleading causes at the bar to that wealth which he desired as he was a man otherwise of a prompt wit and quick spirit he resolued to giue ouer the law and suddenly applied himselfe to a new course of Physick This man hauing no skill at all and as little practice considering he neither was well studied in the Theoricke part of this science nor furnished with knowledge of remedies which required continuall inspection vse of simples wrought so with his smooth and flowing tongue and by his daily premeditat orations gained so much that he withdrew mens mindes from the opinion they had of former practise and ouerthrew all In which discourses of his reducing all Physick to the first and primitiue causes he made it a meere coniecturall Art bearing men in hand that there were but fiue principall remedies which serued indifferently for all diseases to wit in Diet Abstinence in meat Forbearing wine otherwhiles Rubbing of the body Walking and the Exercise of gestations In sum so far he preuailed with his eloquent speech that euery man was willing to giue eare applause to his words for being ready enough to beleeue those things for true which were most easie and seeing withall that whatsoeuer he commended to them was in each mans power to perform he had the general voice of them so as by this new doctrine of his he drew al the world into a singular admiration of him as of a man sent descended from heauen aboue to cure their griefs and maladies Moreouer a wonderfull dexterity and artificiall grace he had to follow mens humors and content their appetites in promising and allowing the sick to drink wine in giuing them eftsoons cold water when he saw his time and all to gratifie his patients Now for that Herophylus before him had the honor of being the first Physitian who searched into the causes of maladies and because Cleophantus had the name among the Antients for bringing wine into request and setting out the vertues thereof this man for his part also desirous to grow into credit reputation by some new inuention of his own brought vp first the allowing of cold water beforesaid to sick persons as M. Varro doth report took pleasure to be called the Cold-water Physitian He had besides other pretty deuises to flatter please his patients one while causing them to haue hanging litters or beds like cradles by the mouing rocking whereof too and fro he might either bring them asleep or ease the pains of their sicknes otherwhiles ordaining the vse of bains a thing that he knew folk were most desirous of besides many other fine conceits very plausible in hearing and agreeable to mans nature And to the end that no man might think this so great alteration and change in the practise of Physick to haue bin a blind course and a matter of smal consequence one thing aboue the rest that woon himfelfe a great fame and gaue no lesse credit and authority to his profession was this that meeting vpon a time by chance with one he knew not carried forth as a dead corse in a biere for to be burned he caused the body to be carried home from the funerall fire and restored the man to health again Certes this one thing wee that are Romanes may be well ashamed of and take in great indignation That such an old fellow as he comming out of Greece the vainest nation vnder the sun beginning as he did of nothing should only for to inrich himself lead the whole world in a string and on a sudden set down rules and orders for the health of mankind notwithstanding many that came after him repealed as it were and annulled those lawes of his And verily many helps had Asclepiades which much fauored his opinion and new Physick namely the manner of curing diseases in those daies which was exceeding rude troublesome painfull such adoe there was in lapping and couering the sicke with a deale of cloaths and causing them to sweat by all meanes possible such a worke they made sometime in chafing and frying their bodies against a good fire but euery foot in bringing them abroad into the hot Sunne which hardly could be found within a shadie and close citie as Rome was In lieu whereof not onely there but throughout all Italy which now commanded the whole World and might haue what it list hee followed mens humours in approouing the artificiall baines and vaulted stouves and hot houses which then were newly come vp and vsed excessiuely in euery place by his approbation Moreouer he found means to alter the painefull curing of some maladies and namely of the Squinancie in the healing whereof other Physitians before him went to worke with a certain instrument which they thrust down into the throat He condemned also worthily that dog-physick which was in those daies so ordinarâ—… that if one ailed neuer so little by and by he must cast and vomit He blamed also the vse of purgatiue potions as contrary and offensiue to the stomack wherein he had great reason and truth on his side for to speake truely such drinks are by most Physitians forbidden considering our chiefe care and drift is in all the course of our physick to vse those means which be comfortable and wholsom for the stomack CHAP. IIII. ¶ The foolish superstition of Art-Magicke which here is derided Of the tettar called Lichen remedies proper for it and the diseases of the throat ABoue all other things the superstitious vanities of Magitians made much to the establishing of Asclepiades his new Physicke for they in the heigth of their vanity attributed so strange and incredible operations to some simples that it was enough to discredit the vertues of them all First they vaunted much of Aethyopus an hearbe which by their saying if it were but cast into any great riuer
the said wal-lice and the bloud of a Tortoise together also to chase away serpents with the smoak or perfume of them likewise if any beast which hath swallowed down horse-leeches do take them in drink they will either kill them or driue them out yea and in what part soeuer they are settled and sticke fast they will remoue them and make them to fall off And yet some there be who vse this nastie and stinking creature in eie-salues for they incorporat them in salt womans milk and therwith annoint their eies yea and drop them into the eares with honey and oile rosat mingled together Others there be who vse to burne these punaises or wal-lice such especially as be of a wild kind and breed vpon Mallowes and incorporat their ashes in oile of Roses and instill them into the eares Touching other medicinable properties which they attribute vnto them namely for impostumes and botches that are broken and run for the Quartan agne and many more maladies although they giue direction to swallow them down in an egge or else enclosed within wax or a beane I hold them for lies and therefore not worthy to be related in sadnesse Marie I will not say but there is some probabilitie and apparence of reason why they should put them in those medicines which are ordained for the lethargie for surely they are knowne to be very proper against that drow sines which is occasioned by the venome of the Aspis to which effect seuen of them be ordinarily giuen in a cyath of water or but foure if the patient be a child In case of strangurie also when a man pisseth dropmeale they vse to put wall-lice into a syring and so conueigh them into the passage of the yard See the goodnesse and industrie of dame Nature the mother of all how she hath produced nothing in the world but to good purpose and with great reason And yet here is not all that they report of these lice called punaises For they say that whosoeuer carie two of them in a bracelet about his left arme within a lock of wooll but the same forsooth must be stollen from some shepheard he shall be secured against those agues that come ordinarily in the night season but say their fits vse to returne by day time then the said punices ought to be lapped in a reddish clout of a carnation colour Contrariwise the worme called Scolopendra is an enemie vnto these wall-lice and killeth them As for the Aspides look whomsoeuer they haue stung they die vpon it with a kind of deadly sleepinesse and benummednesse in all their lims and to say a truth of all serpents that creep vpon the ground they are most mortall and their wounds least curable Their venome if it enter once so farre that it come to bloud or doe but touch a greene wound there is no remedie but present death marie if it light vpon an old sore the danger is not so speedie nor the force so quick Otherwise let the same be taken in drinke to what quantitie soeuer it is harmelesse and doth no hurt at all for setting aside that sencelesse drowsinesse wich it inflicteth putrifaction and infection it causeth none which is the reason that the flesh of those beasts which die of their sting is meat good enough I would pause and make some stay in reporting a remedie that these Aspides do yeeld but that I haue my warrant from M. Varro whom I know to haue deliuered the same euen when he was fourescore yeeres old and eight namely That there is not in the world so good a thing to cure the bitings of the Aspides as to giue the party who is wounded thereby some of their vrine to drinke To come now vnto the Basiliske whom all other serpents do flie from and are affraid of albeit he killeth them with his very breath and smel that passeth from him yea and by report if he do but set his eie on a man it is enough to take away his life yet the Magicians set great store by his bloud and tell wonders thereof and namely that being of it selfe as blacke and as thick congealed as pitch yet when it is washed and dissolued it looketh more cleare and pure than Cinnabaris Vnto it they attribute strange and admirable effects For whosoeuer say they carie it about them shall gratious with princes or great potentats yea and at their hands obtaine a grant of all their petitions they shall find fauour with the gods aboue and speed in all their praiers remedie they shall haue of all diseases and no sorcerie or witchcraft shall take hold of them And some of them there be who call it the bloud of Saturne As for Dragons they haue no venome in them And if it be true that our Magicians say if a Dragons head be laid vnder the threshold of a dore after due worship and adoration of the gods with praiers supplications vnto them for their fauourable grace that house shall surely be fortunat The eies of a Dragon preserued drie pulverised and incorporat with hony into a liniment cause by their saying those who be annointed all ouer therewith to sleepe securely without any dread of night-night-spirits though otherwise they were fearfull timerous by nature Moreouer if we may beleeue them the fat growing about the heart of a Dragon lapped within a peece of a Buckes or Does skin and so tied fast to the arme with the nerues or sinues of a red Deere is very auaileable and assurerh a man good successe in all sutes of law The first spondyle or turning joint in the chine of a Dragon doth promise an easie and fauourable accesse vnto the presence of princes great states The teeth of a Dragon lapped within the skin of a roe buck or wild Goat and so bound fast with the sinewes of a Stag or Hind do mitigat the rigor of great lords and potentats causing them to incline to their petitions and requests who present themselues before them But aboue all other receits one composition there is which bewraieth the impudent and lying humor of these Magicians who promise vndoubted and infallible victory to those that haue it about them and this it is Take say they the taile and head both of a Dragon the haire growing vpon the forehead of a Lion with a little also of his marrow the froth moreouer that an Horse fometh at the mouth who hath woon the victory and prise in running a race and the nailes besides of a dogs feet bind all these together with a piece of leather made of a red Deere skin with the sinues partly of a Stag and partly of a fallow Deere one with another in alternatiue course carrie this about you and it will worke wonders Impostures all and loud lies And verily it is as gratious a deed to discouer and lay abroad these impudencies of theirs as to shew the remedies for the sting of serpents considering how these deuices
it into Pannonia and so from thence vnto vs through our prouinces of Istria and Venice for from Pannonia the Venetians first who confine next vpon the marches thereof and whom the Greekes call Heneti receiued it by way of merchandise in the maritime port townes along the Adriatick sea and so by that means brought it into name and request which ordinary traffick may be the reason which gaue occasion to the foresaid tale that runes of the Po and the Poplars about it that should weep Amber And euen at this day the country dames of Lumbardie and those parts beyond the Po vse to weare faire carkanets collers of Amber-beads to adorne themselues especially and in some sort for the health also of their bodies for persuaded they are that it withstands the inflammation of the Amygdales other accidents of the throat and chawes for that the people of that country are subject to poghes vnder their throat about those fleshie parts neere vnto it by reason of sundry kinds of waters which breed those infirmities The foresaid coast of Germany is almost six hundred miles from Carnuntum in Pannonia and yet of late daies much frequented by merchants from all quarters Certes a Gentleman of Rome discouered those parts by occasion that he was sent thither by commission from Iulianus who had the charge vnder Nero for furnishing of the solemne plaies and sights of sword-fencers to buy vp good store of amber This gentleman I say surueied diligently al those coasts saw the maner of the whole traffick for that commodity yea brought into Rome such plenty thereof that the great nets and cordage which for defence of the outstanding and open gallerie within the Theatre were opposed against the wild beasts there to be baited and to fight were buttoned set out with Amber the armour likewise the bieres other furniture for burial of those fencers which should happen there to be killed yea in one word all the apparel and prouision for one day to the setting out of those pastimes and disports stood most of Amber The greatest piece of Amber that he brought ouer weighed 13 pounds Moreouer it is held for certain That it is to be found among the Indians Archelaus who sometime reigned as king in Cappadocia writeth That from thence it is brought rude and vnclean with pieces of bark sticking within it but the way to scoure and pollish it is to seeth it in the grease of a sow that suckleth pigs That it doth destil and drop at the first very clear liquid it is euident by this argument for that a man may see diuers things within to wit Pismires Gnats and Lizards which no doubt were entangled and stuck within it when it was green and fresh and so remained enclosed within as it waxed harder Many kinds there be of amber The white is most redolent and smels best but neither that nor yet those pieces which are coloured like wax be of any price The high coloured Amber namely that which is of a deepe yellow enclining to red is much more esteemed and the rather if it be cleare and transparant prouided alwaies that the glittering thereof be not too ardent Commendable it is in Amber and sheweth it to be rich if it represent fire in some sort but it must not be too too fiery But the excellent Amber is that which is called Falernum for the colour which it carrieth resembling the wine Falernnm and the same is clear and transparant with a gay lustre that pleaseth contenteth the eie very wel And yet some therebe who delight more in that Amber which lookes with a mild yellow like to boiled and clarified hony But this I am to giue you to vnderstand That there may be giuen vnto Amber what tincture or colour a man will but commonly they vse therto the suet of Kids and the root of Orchanet and no maruaile since that some haue deuised also to enrich it with a purple die To come vnto the properties that Amber hath if it be well rubbed and chaufed between the fingers the potentiall facultie that lies within is set on work and brought into actuall operation wherby you shall see it to draw chaffe strawes dry leaues yea and thin rinds of the Linden or Tillet tree after the same sort as the loadstone draweth yron Moreouer take the shauings scraped from Amber and put them into lamp-oile they will burne and maintaine light both longer and also more cleare than weekes or matches made of the very tire and best of flax As touching the estimation that our delicates and wantons make thereof Some there be who for their pleasure will giue more for a puppet or image made of Amber to the likenes and proportion of man or woman be it neuer so little than for the liuely and lusty body indeed of a tal man and valiant souldior But what should I say to such Certainly they deserue to be wel chastised for their peruers iudgment one rebuke is not sufficient Yet can I hold better with them who take pleasure in other things me thinks they haue some reason therof for Corinth vessell there is good cause that a man should set his mind therupon in regard of the singular temper of the brasse with some proportion of siluer and gold in pieces of mettall ingrauen enchased and embossed the curious art and the witty deuise seen vpon the worke may well rauish the spirit of the buyer and draw him on to giue a round price Touching rhe cups made of Cassidonie and Crystal I haue shewed already wherein lies their grace and what may enamour a chapman and cause him to bid well and offer frankly for them Faire pearles and goodly vniones are commended for that our braue dames enrich their borders therewith and set out theattire of their heads gems and pretious stones adorne and beautifie our fingers in sum there is no superfluitie that we haue but grounded it is either vpon some colourable vse that wee may pretend or els vpon some gallant shew that it makes As for this Amber I see nothing in the world to commend it only it is a mind that folk haue to take affection to it they know not wherfore euen of a delicat and foolish wantonnesse And in truth Nero Domitius among many other fooleries and gauds wherein he shewed what a monster he was in his life proceeded so far that he made a sonnet in praise of the hair of the Empresse Poppaea his wife which he compared to Amber and as I remember in one staffe of his dittie he tearmed them Succina i. Ambre and from that time our dainty dames and fine ladies haue begun to set their mind vpon this colour and haue placed it in the third ranke of rich tincture whereby we may see there is no superfluity and disorder in the world but it hath a pretence or cloake of some pretious name or other And yet I will not disgrace Amber
qualities maruellous bashfull they are for if one of them be ouermatched vanquished in fight he wil neuer after abide the voice braying of the conqueror but in token of submission giueth him a turfe of earth with veruaine or grasse vpon it Vpon a kind of shamefaced modesty they neuer are seen to ingender together but perform that act in some couert secret corner They go to rut the male at 5 yeres of age the femal not before she is 10 yeres old And this they do euery third yere and they continue therein fiue daies in the yeare as they say and not aboue for vpon the sixt day they all to wash themselues ouer in the running riuer before they be thus purified return not to the heard After they haue taken one to another once they neuer change neither fall they out and fight about their femalls as other creatures do most deadly and mortally And this is not for want of loue and hot affection that way for reported it is of one Elephant that he cast a fancy and was enamoured vpon a wench in Aegypt that sold nosegaies garlands of floures And lest any man should thinke that hee had no reason thereto it was no ordinary maiden but so amiable as that Aristophanes the excellent Grammarian was wonderfully in loue with her Another there was so kind and full of loue that he fansied a youth in the army of Ptolomaeus that scarce had neuer an haire vpon his face and so entirely he loued him that what day soeuer he saw him not he would forbeare his meat and eat nothing K. Iuba likewise reporteth also of an Elephant that made court to another woman who made and sold sweet ointments and perfumes All these testified their loue and kindnes by these tokens joy they would at the sight of them and looke pleasantly vpon them make toward them they would after their rude and homely manner by all means of flatterie and especially in this that they would saue whatsoeuer people cast to them for to eat and lay the same ful kindly in their laps and bosomes But no maruel it is that they should loue who are so good of memorie For the same Iuba saith That an Elephant tooke knowledge and acquaintance of one man in his old age and after many a yere who in his youth had bin his ruler and gouernor He affirmeth also that they haue by a secret diuine instinct a certain sence of justice and righteous dealing For when K. Bacchus meant to be reuenged of 30 Elephants that he had caused to be bound vnto stakes and set other 30 to run vpon them appointing also certain men among to pricke and prouoke them thereto yet for all that could not one of them be brought for to execute this butcherie nor be ministers of anothers crueltie CHAP. VI. ¶ When Elephants were first seen in Italy THe first time that Elephants were seen in Italy was during the war of K. Pyrrhus they called them by the name of Lucae boues i. Lucane oxen because they had the first sight of them in the Lucans countrie and it was in the 472 yere after the cities foundation But in Rome it was seuen yeres after ere they were seen and then they were shewed in a triumph But in the yere 502 a number of them were seen at Rome by occasion of the victorie of L. Metellus Pâ—…ntifex ouer the Carthaginians which Elephants were taken in Sicilie For 142 of them were conueied ouer vpon planks and flat bottomes which were laied vpon ranks of great tuns and pipes set thicke one by another Verrius saith that they were caused to fight in the great cirque or shew place and were killed there with shot of darts and iauelins for want of better counsel and because they knew not well what to do with them for neither were they willing to haue them kept and nourished ne yet to be bestowed vpon any kings L. Piso saith they were brought out only into the shew place or cirque aforesaid and for to make them more contemptible were chased round about it by certaine fellowes hired thereto hauing for that purpose certain staues and perches not pointed with iron but headed with bals like foiles But what became of them afterward those Authours make no mention who were of opinion that they were not killed CHAP. VII ¶ Their fights and combats MVch renowned is the fight of one Roman with an Elephant at what time as Annibal forced those captiues whom he had taken of our men to skirmish one against another to the vtterance For the only Roman that remained vnslaine at that vn naturall conflict he would needs match with an Elephant and see the combate himseife assuring him vpon his word that if he could kil the beast he should be dismissed and sent home with life liberty So this prisoner entred into single fight with the Elephant to the great hearts griefe of the Carthaginians slew him out-right Anniball then sent him away indeed according to promise and couenant but considering better the consequence of this matter and namely that if this combat were once by him bruted abroad the beasts would be lesse regarded and their seruice in the wars not esteemed made after him certaine light horsemen to ouertake him vpon the way to cut his throat so making him sure for telling tales Their long snout or trunke which the Latins call Proboscis may be easily cut off as it appeared by experience in the wars against K. Pyrrhus Fenestella writeth That the first fight of them in Rome was exhibited in the grand Cirque during the time that Claudius Pulcher was Aedile Curule when M. Antonius and A. Posthumius were Consuls in the 650 yere after the citie of Rome was built In like maner 20 yeres after when the Luculli were Aediles Curule there was represented a combat between bulls and Elephants Also in the second Consulship of C. Pompeius at the dedication of the temple to Venus Victoresse 20 of them or as some write 17 fought in the great Cirque In which solemnitie the Gaetulians were set to launce darts and jauelins against them But among all the rest one Elephant did wonders for when his legs and feet were shot and stucke full of darts he crept vpon his knees and neuer staied til he was gotten among the companies of the said Gaetulians where he caught from them their targets and bucklers perforce flung them aloft into the aire which as they fell turned round as if they had bin trundled by art not hurled thrown with violence by the beasts in their furious anger and this made a goodly sight and did great pleasure to the beholders And as strange a thing as that was seen in another of them whose fortune was to be killed out of hand with one shot for the dart was so driuen that it entered vnder the eie and pierced as far as to the vitall parts of the head euen the ventricles of