Theatrum Mundi The Theator or rule of the world wherein may be sene the running race and course of euerye mans life as touching miserie and felicity wherin is contained wonderfull examples learned deuises to the ouerthrowe of vice and exalting of vertue wherevnto is added a learned and maruellous worke of the excellencie of mankinde Written in the Frenche Latin tongues by Peter Boaystuau and translated into English by Iohn Alday ¶ IMPRINTED AT LONdon by H. D. for Thomas Hacket and are to be sold at his shop in Paules Churchyarde at the signe of the Key ¶ In prayse of the Booke LO here the braunches fresh and greene Lo here deare Friend the race Lo here the path is to be seene through which mankinde doth trace The finall scope the totall ende the wandring steps wherein Humanum genus seemes to tende ▪ his pagent to begin Most like a Theater a game or gameplace if ye will which royally doth beare the fame approude by learned skill Through blisse through ioy through smiling fate commixt with care and woe Now plaste aloft in Princely state and straight brought downe as lowe By hap mishap or haplesse happes compared to a shade Or flower of the fielde which clappes or heate doth cause to fade For as the youthfull wightes assay their partes on stage a while And lauish tongues from day to day with time doth them beguile So that at last their pompe and pride their filed speach hath ende None otherwise away to slide our crooked limmes doe bende The chiefest Lampe or glistring Starre whereof described plaine Surmounting others all full farre herein thou mayst attaine And thus with Tullies worke I fine placing this learned Booke Condecorate with Muses nine a Glasse whereon to looke To the Right Worshipfull Sir William Chester Knight Alderman of the Citie of London and Merchant of the Staple Iohn Alday wisheth health to the pleasure of God with most happie and prosperous successe in all your affaires AMONG all the Learned worthy writers of our age worshipful Sir there is none to my iudgement more worthy of perpetual prayse than those which haue most learnedly philosophied on the miserie of man those I say which contemplating beholding the calamities of these dayes with the corruption of man kind haue not feared to set forth the liues liuings of al estates to this end that in reading hearing their miserable life and wicked conuersation they be the soner moued to detest and abhorre the same and crie out with the Prophete Dauid saying I haue sinned Lord and therevppon amende their wicked wayes Among the which the Author hereof named Peter Boaystuau hath most worthilye set foorth this present worke not only in the French tongue to the profit of his Countrie but first of all in the Latin tongue to his perpetuall and due prayse and to the profite of all Christian Countries and Nations Wherein he hath moste learnedly set forth the corruption of all estates so that those that reade this present booke can no otherwise do but be ashamed of their vniust dealings Moreouer least that man should dispaire of his saluatiō in reading this pitiful Metamorphose or Tragedie knowing themselues culpable he hath most worthily set forth the dignitie and excellencie of man shewing him how much more in excellencie he doth excell all other creatures whō GOD hath created and made So that this is in sūme Right Worshipfull Sir the effect of this rude translation the which I thought good to direct vnto your worship and so much the rather bicause of youre ripe iudgement and perfect knowledge in the French tongue the which as it is well knowen to be vncomparable so are the rest of your most godly vertues wherewith nature hath endued you as a worthie and graue counseller to this honorable Citie of London Receyue therefore I besech you this my rude translation and it accepting in good part excuse my rash enterpise esteeming it as a zeale of my good will the which moste worthilye vnto your worship I haue directed Your daily Orator Iohn Alday To the Right Excellent and Reuerende Lord and Prelate my Lord Iames of Betoun Archbishop of Glasco and Ambassador of Scotland Peter Boaystuau wisheth health and perpetuall obedience MY good Lorde certaine auncient Philosophers haue made maruellous complaints against the ingratitude and misknowledge of man for that he neuer entreth into his owne conscience and considereth not his owne proper nature althoughe that his industrie and prouidence be so great that it spreadeth all abrode In such sort that neyther the compasse and largenesse of the Earth the violence nor deepenesse of the Seas neyther the amplitude and spreading of the Ayre neyther the burning heate nor distance of the Sunne neyther yet the course or reuolutiō aswell of y e Clouds as of the Firmamēt can retaine or hinder the celerity of his Spirit but that he will séeke know the nature resort of al y ◠is contained in the vniuersal world The furie and rage of y ◠wilde beasts he tameth and maistereth and he only remaineth without bridell or snaffle by his diligence and promptnesse of wit he hath described the properties of herbes and plants the secret vertues of stones with the calcionating of mettels And notwithstanding man is so masked and disguised that he knoweth not himselfe He is the Heraulde beginner and foreshewer of things contayned in the circute of this worlde and yet he is blinde and dumbe in his owne doings He foreséeth and discouereth the nature and propertie of the Elementes he reformeth ordeyneth compasseth and weyeth that which is séene vnder the concauits of the Skies And neuerthelesse man in himselfe is as one confoūded and ouercome In consideration wherof my good Lord I haue vnto him addressed this Rule by the which he may contemplate and aduise without being drawen beside him selfe his infirmitie and miserie to the ende that making an anotamie or foreshewing of all the partes of his life he be the sooner moued to detest abhorre his vile and corrupt liuing And if we would be equitable Iudges of humaine actions what is this worlde anye other than a Rule circle or compasse where as some play the handicraftes men of base condicion others represent Kings Dukes Earles Marquesses Knights Barons and others constituted in dignities and notwithstanding assoone as they haue layde downe their maskings and disguisings and that death cōmeth which maketh an ende of this bloudie Tragedie then they knowe themselues to be all men and wretched sinners and then the Lorde God which is in heauen laugheth at their foolish enterprises and vanities as witnesseth y e Prophet Dauid yea with such a dreadfull laughter that he maketh vs quake for feare and the earth to shake Man then in my iudgement is subiect to an infinit number of miseries and calamities in the which he is wrapped in from his birth euen to his graue wherefore séeing this pitiful Metamorphose also his excellēt
she hath charged man with suche an vnsatiable appetite that he ceaseth not continuallye to séeke for newe and straunge kinde of meates and hauing founde to his appetite with greate payne he can abstaine himselfe but that he wyll take more than nedefull after the whiche commeth Surfets Rheumes Cancars and other infinite kindes of sickenesses But as touching beastes they content themselues with that that nature hathe prepared without chaunging or forcing their nature for to please their appetite Moreouer nature hath giueÌ„ them a complection so well ruled and gouerned that they neuer take more thaÌ„ is requisite for their nourishment neyther in drinke nor in meat But as for man al the fruites of y e earth those of the trées the fishes of the sea and the Fowles of the aire doe not suffice him but in all points turning hys nature he doth disguise puffe vp change the substance into excesse and the nature into arte to the ende that by such vnsatiablenesse nature be angered and almost forced to take more than is nedefull so then when that nature is ouercharged and that the stomacke is wel filled all the braynes are troubled in such sorte that there is neither of them that can execute their office And I am ashamed that I must nedes tell it that the vnmeasurable delicatenesse that raigneth among Christians this day is the cause that there are many that are not ashamed to giue their bodies and their members to al kinde of vice and villanie and to all kinds of wickednesse howe execrable so euer they be euen in committing many fornications theftes fellonies And I doe maruell that the bellies of manye vnsatiable gluttons do not rot and bruste out by their greate excesse and in the meane time the poore Lazarus standeth at the gate redy to die for hunger and can not haue so much as the crommes that fall from theyr table And therfore such Godbellies or Bellygods are called by the Prophetes fatte Calues who by good reason may be compared to brute beastes for their soule which is the chiefest part they haue being in the bodie so perfumed with meats and drinkes is captiue as in a darke prison or dungeon where as it is almoste stifled and smuthered and the wits whiche are the instrumeÌ„ts with the which she ought to be serued are buried therein as within the bowels of a beast and against such gluttons as make their belly their God the Prophet Esay crieth out saying Wo be to you that rise earlie to follow drunkennesse and to sit drinking till the Euening to the ende that the wine heate you The which vice at this present day is so familiar among men that there is not almost neither Nation or prouince but that is infected and that glorieth in their great drinking The Tartarians the Persians and the Gréekes haue celebrated druÌ„kennesse among their chiefest triumphes and constrained them that were at their bankets to drinke or to goe their wayes The Macedonians were instructed of their Emperor Alexander to drinke without measure But aboue all Nations Italie hath got the price in the which as Plinie doth write drunkennesse in his time did so raigne that they did not only drink themselues out of al measure but also they constrained their Mares and Horses to doe the like Paulus Diacrus in his Historie of Lumbardes doth rehearse a thing almost monstrous of the vice of drunkeÌ„nesse of foure old meÌ„ that made a banket in the whiche they drunke the yeares of one another after the maner as followeth they ordeyned to drinke two to two and counted theyr age of yeares that they had and he that drunke to his companion should drinke so many times as he had liued yeres and the yongest of these foure was .lviij. yeres olde the seconde sixtye thrée the thirde lxxxvij and the fourth lxxxxij So that it was not knowen what they did eate at this banket either more or lesse but we know that he that drunke least did drinke lviij tasters of wine and the others so many as they had liued yeares in suche sorte that one of them did drinke lxxxxij times It is not therfore without a cause that this great Philosopher Plato knowyng the harme that wine bringeth to man saide that partly the Gods had sent wine for the punishment of man and to take vengeance of their sinnes causing them when that they are drunke to kyll and murther one another the which coÌ„sidered of Cyneas Ambassadour of King Pyrrhus on a time when that he arriued in Egypt and that he had séene the excesse height of the vineyards in that countrie did saye that by good right that mother was hanged so highe seing she brought forth so daungerous a childe as the wine For this cause Androcides did admonish that great Monarch AlexaÌ„der that wine was the bloud of the earth and therefore he shoulde take héede howe to receyue it The which not being well obserued by him in his intemperancie killed Clytus burned the Citie of Percepolis and committed manye other foule and detestable crimes It is not therefore in this our age that these wicked vices of gluttonye and drunkennesse haue made their laste ende vpon the earth but it séemeth that they haue nowe made almost their comming in with man The transgression of our first parents Adam and Eua was the cause that the gate of Paradise was shut against vs. Esau solde hys birth right The great Prophet S. Iohn Baptist was cruellye slaine and murthered after that the cruel tyrant Kyng Herode had bankeâ—ed The wicked riche man was damned for it is expressiuely saide in the Text that he fared deliciously and therfore was he buried in hel Noe being ouercome with wine slept with his priuie parts vncouered and was mocked of his children Loth being ouercome with wine did deflowre his owne daughters Nowe therfore we sée how much more â—auor nature hath shewed vnto beastes than vnto vs in that they do so moderate their appetites that they take no more than is necessarie for the preseruation of their health in such sort that they are not vexed with an infinite number of diseases as we are And if it happen that they are afflicted with anye harmes nature hath instructed them proper remedies without hauing refuge to Phisicke or Phisicions which vnder the colour of receiue chaunge R. into D. and make deceiue so that somtimes we buy full deare the trauell of them which manye times cause our death for the most part of their laxatiue medicines are no other than very hammers to beate downe men But if it happen that the beastes or fowles are sicke nature doth shewe them remedies As the wood Doues Iayes Merlings and Partriches the which purge theyr superfluities with Bay leaues The Pigeons Turtels and Hennes with the herbe Helxine The Torterels wil heale their biting with Cegue The Dogs and Cats when their bellies are too full will purge them in eating dewed herbes or grasse When the Deare are hurt they
recken these kind of people among the terrestrial or aquitall sort doubted whether y e he should number them among the liuing or among the deade And another named Anacharsis sayde that they were no further from death than the bredth of .iij. or ij fingers euen so much as the wood contained in thicknes in the which they sailed And if that their life séemeth vnto vs cruell what greater swéetenesse thinke we to finde in husbandrie and in the labor of the rusticall sort the whiche at the first séemeth vnto vs swéete lucky peaceable simple and innocent also that many Patriarkes and Prophetes haue chosen this kind of liuing as that in which there is least guile and deceit and also that many Romain Emperors haue in times past left their Pallaces Capitols Arkes triumphes glorious and faire buildings and Empires with all the rest of their worldly maiestie for to remaine in the fields to til and labor the earth trées and gardens as we read of Dioclesian Attallus Cirus Constantinus Cesar and others but those that will consider these things more nearer they will saye that among these Roses there are a great many thornes This being true that God hauing driuen mā out of Paradise sent him into the earth as to a place of exile and said vnto him the earth shalbe cursed for thy sake thou shalt eate therof in trauel and paine all the dayes of thy life For she shall bring forth thornes wéedes and thistels and thou shalt eate the hearbes of the field in the sweate of thy face shalt thou eate thy bread till thou be turned againe to earth out of the which thou wast taken But alas who hath more experimented or tasted this which God hath spoken than the poore labourers or husbandmen who manye times after that they haue labored sowed tilled the ground trauelled all the daye long endured extreme heate of the sunne the rigor of the colde sometimes bitings or stingings of venemous serpentes or wormes sweated bloude and water all the yeare long for to dresse the earth theyr nurse hoping to gather the fruites and sodenly behold a haile a frost a tempest a thunder or lightning that will sodenly defraud thē of all their hope To one his shéepe and Oxen die to another whilst that he is labouring in the fields the men of war and souldiers come and rauish that which he hath in such sorte that when he returneth to his house in steade of receiuing consolation and finding rest his wife bewaileth his children crieth out al his familie lamenteth and crieth out for hunger to be short it is no other thing than a griefe and a wounde hauing a continuall cause of dolor which sodenly complaineth of one thing incontinently of another now of the rain then of y e great drith also of the winds and tempests but aboue all the men of war with a company of other griefs figured in forme of a complaint by a Da pacem the which a friende o◠mine made me this other day the tennor wherof hereafter followeth A complaint of the pore husbandmen in Meeter made vpon Da pacem Domine in diebus nostris c. O God whom no man can gaine say thou knowest if that I lie That neither horse nor mare is left to whom then shal I crie Da But vnto thée O Lord and King which doest bring things to passe The vengeance therfore that I craue is to giue vs and them alas pacem The peace which is so necessarie giue vs this I thinke best Yet if thou wilt punish mankinde thou hast good cause and maist Domine Our fathers that before haue bene though in the worlde they were The like wickednes haue neuer séene as we which now are here in diebus nostris In labor and in trauell great with face arayed with sweate This thrée dayes haue I laboured yet I and mine want meate quia non est I haue planted sowed cut my vines I haue hedged and dungde my land For to giue foode vnto my babes but who cā their furious foes w estād alius Not one alone doth me molest but I am assailed-day by day As well of theeues as men of war my goods to them are made a pray qui Our shéepe and lambes they do destroy our calues they kill ech one Such men they are that vs annoy helpe thou O God alone pugnet Alas it is a wofull case among vs men of husbandrye When souldiers that go to the warres rob vs as they go by pro nobis O my Creator when I do thinke on thy bountie comfort I craue Knowing that of the wrong that I doé beare of them no recōpence I haue nisi tu In worldlings for to put my trust no there is no reliefe In them there is no helpe at all but in thée my hope most chiefe Deus When pilferie shall cease when reason and good policie In iustice shall take place then the good time shall be Leaue we these poore husbandmen with their miseries and trauels and penitrate more forward Let vs see what is done in the trade of merchandise if we doe consider it externely or outwardly it séemeth voyde from miseries and a promise of rest for the richesse in whiche it aboundeth also for that Plinie sayth it was inuented for the necessitie of life and that many wise men as one Thalus one Solon Hippocratus haue exercised it also that it is an occasion to kéepe Princes in peace and vnity transporting from one citie to another that which aboundeth in the one and lacketh in the other but we cannot so wel cloke it but that y e eye may wel sée how much the life of Merchaunts is vnquiet and to how many daungers they are subiect continually as well by lande as by sea without putting in accompt that for the most part of their time they are as Fugitiues and Vagabondes from their townes and countries and they séeme litle to differ from banished sauing that their banishment is willingly for that they flie runne aud burne by sea and by land by fiers and flames for a couetous heate of an vnmeasurable gaine and they are contented to be depriued of rest ease that they ought to receiue of their owne wines and children lands possessions to be at al times in hazard of their liues by a thousande meanes and ways that are for them prepared of Pirats and others and al for an vnsatiable auarice that doth daily torment them not forgetting how they do periure thēselues beguile and deceiue their neighbor in such sort that with great payne any vsing y e trade can be made rich but by beguiling of others haue in their common prouerb ȳ they néede but turn their back a while to God and enlarge a little the entrie of their conscience for to be riche and surmount fortune to the which we maye adde many other euils and maledictions
anye thing in his net draweth it vp and so goeth away withall othersome there are that play all out and others that remayne vntill they are as full as spunges and in the ende they are made to restore all others also that doe nothing but inuent subsidies and séeke meanes to inlarge or multiplie the treasures of kings and so become riche with spoyling of the poore people And Princes do by theÌ„ many times as we do by our hogs we let them fatten to the ende to eate and deuour them afterwarde so are they suffered many times to enriche themselues for to be despoyled after when that they are so fat and one that is new come shal manytimes be preferred in their places here you may sée how y t these poore courtiers sel their liberty for to become rich they must obey al commaundements be they iust or vniust they must frame theÌ„ selues to laugh wheÌ„ y e Prince laugheth to wéepe wheÌ„ he wéepeth approue y â— whiche he approueth coÌ„demne that which he condemneth they must obey to al alter and chaunge wholy his nature to be seuere with those that are seuere sorowfull with those that are sorowfull and in a maner transforme themselues into the nature of him whoÌ„ they will please or els to get nothing If the Prince be impudent they must be the like if he be cruell they must delight in bloudshed To be shorte they must frame themselues to all ordinances and maners of the Prince or whom they will please and yet many times one little offence stayneth all the seruice that one hath done in his life time The which those that assisted y â— Emperor Adrian did féele who when they were elected by him into hie estates and dignities by the reporte of diuers flatterers they had not only taken from them that which before he had giuen them but also they were declared to be his chiefe enimies The which Plato liuelye considering and foreséeing in the Court of the Atheniensis did proÌ„ptly quit their deliciousnesse and yet he coulde not so well take heede to himselfe but that he returned to Dennis a tyrant of Sicilie who in the ende solde him to Pirats of the sea But what happened to Xenon that olde sage graue Philosopher whom Phalaris in satisfaction of his seruice caused most cruelly to be put to death as also did the King of Cyprus AnacreoÌ„ to the noble philosopher Anaxagoras and Nero his tutor Seneca AlexaÌ„der Calistenus for that he woâ—â— not worship him caused his féete to be cut of his eares his haÌ„ds also his eyes to be put out and so left in the mercie of a straight prison or dungeon wherein he finished most miserably his dayes Such hath bene many times the ende of a great number of learned men who bicause they woulde not obey to the fearfull affections of Monarchs loste their liues in recompence of their good seruice and wholesome counsels without putting in account the vices that frequent those that followe the Courte whereas the most part of humain thinges are abolished Many in y e Court put of their cappes to thée that woulde be glad to sée thy head from thy shoulders such bow their knée to do thee reuerence which would that they had broken their leg to cary thée to thy graue Many haue the name of Lord that meriteth y e name of a hangman there is alwayes I know not what nor how or one I vnderstand not who is the cause that incessantlye one complayneth altereth or els despiseth In the Courte if thou wilt be an adulterer thou shalt finde of thy complices if thou wilt quarrell thou shalt find to whom if thou wilt lie thou shalt find those that will approue thy lies if thou wilt steale thou shalte finde them that will shewe thée a thousand wayes howe if thou wilte be a carder or a dicer thou shalt finde them that will cog and playe with thée if thou wilt sweare and beare false witnesse thou shalte finde there thy like to be shorte if thou wylte giue thy selfe to all kynde of wyckednesse and vices thou shalt find there the very exaÌ„ple giuers Here may you sée the life of my maisters the Courtiers which is no life but a continuall death Here you may sée wherin their youth is emploied whiche is not youth but a transitorie death WheÌ„ y â— they come to age knowest thou what they bring from theÌ„ce their gray heades their legges full of gouts their mouth hauing a naughtie smell their backe ful of paine their hearts ful of sorow and thought and their soule filled with sin to be short in the Court there is very little to write but muche to murmure at of the which things yf thou desier a more ample knowledge reade the worke that Dom Anthonie Guenera bishop of Mondouent and the Crowner of the Emperor and Eneas Siluius otherwise called Pope Pius which haue compassed twoo most excellent and perticular treatises of thys matter wherein they haue painted my maisters the Courtiers so in their coulors that they haue stayed the hope of adding to those that will discouer after them Let vs leaue speaking of y e Courtiers with their life so vnquiet and miserable and let vs contemplate a little the estate of Kings Princes Monarchs and Emperors for whome onely it séemeth that felicitie is created for if we consider all that maye render the life of man in tranquility happy and content we shall finde that fortune among all other mortall creatures hathe prouided for them prodigally What maketh maÌ„ more wonderfull in this worlde but goods richesse dignities Empire liceÌ„ce to do good or euill without correction powre to exercise liberalitie all kind of volupteousnesse aswell of the spirite as of the bodie All that may be wished for for the contentation of man be it in apparell in meates or drinkes varietie in meates in magnificence in seruices in vestures that which maye tickle the memorie and flatter the concupiscence of the fleshe is prepared for them euen from their cradell for to conduct y e estate of their life in more happe and felicitie The discourse of which if we wil consider outwardlye there is not one but will confesse that they alone triumph oner that that others languish in But if that we will consider things more nearer and examine and waye them in a true ballance we shall find that the selfe same things that we thinke degrées for to attaine to felicitie and to cause them to be happie are the verie instruments of vice that cause them to haue more greater sorowes that doth render theÌ„ most vnfortunate but wherfore serueth their costlye ornaments and honorable seruices or delicate meates when that they are in continuall feare to be poysoned seduced and beguiled by their seruitors haue not we had the experience therof in our time doeth not Platina write of a certaine Pope that was poysoned by the siege with a paper that his seruant did
a town of Babilonia entred into the great Temple of Apollo whereas they found a Coffer the which they opened thinking that there had ben some great treasure but the ayre that proceded out therof was so infectious that it first infected all the Region of Babilonia and then proceded into Grecia and from Gréece to Rome whereas it moued so many pestileÌ„ces that it caused to perish almost the third part of humaine kinde Let vs leaue the auncient histories and treate of those that haue passed vnder our age to the end that we being Christians may learne by the great miseries and afflictions that God hath sent vs the great fragilitie and miserie of oure humaine condition For when that hys wrath is kindled against our sinnes he maketh vs to féele the darts of his rigorous Iustice there is no kinde of paine nor torment but that therwith he afflicteth and persecuteth his creatures what experience had we in the yeare a thousand fiue hundreth twentie eight when that the plague was so grieuous in the French Camp whilst the siege was at Naples whereas the violence of the paine was so prompt and sodaine that they were sooner dead thaÌ„ they did think to die And this wicked and vnluckie disease did not only afflict the vulgar sort which were almost al consumed but also the great Lordes felt it the Lorde of Lautrâ—â— of Vaudemont de la Vall de Moleac the Chastynery grand Mont and other notable personages the memorie therof can not be renued without teares The lyke chaunced to English men in Bullen whereas the plage was so greate that there was not grounde inough in the towne to burie the deade so that the King of England coulde not finde men in Englande that would goe thither till that they were forced of violence to go for the more there went thither the more there died in such sorte that the foure corners of the town were putrified and corrupted with the smell and vapor that proceded from the deade bodies The yeare before that the deceased King Frauncis of good memorie espoused the Quéene Elinor Almaine was assailed with a new kinde of sickenesse wyth the which the parties that were taken died within xxiiij houres with a sweate and this sicknesse hauing taken his originall in the Occean spred in a moment all ouer Almaine as an embracing that consumeth al for before that a remedie was founde there died so many thousandes of men that manye Prouinces remained desert and forsakeÌ„ bicause of the putrifaction of the ayre that consumed all that it touched also there where the aire was so infected the dwellers remained marked with a red crosse Ioachim Scilerus writeth that when the pestilence tormented so furiously and by so loÌ„g space of time Englande the powre of the venim was so great that the reasonable creatures did not onelye die but that the birdes left their nests egges and yong ones the beasts left their caues dennes the serpents mowles appered aboue grouÌ„d by heaps and left their places for feare of the venemous vapor that was vnder the earth in such sorte that there were found deade vnder the trées and in the fieldes with pushes and botches on their poore members The yere 1546. the last day of Maye there did rise a plage that lasted nine Monethes so great and dreadfull at Aix a Citie in Prouincia whereas the people of all ages died in eating and drinking in such sort that the Churchyardes were so full of deade bodies that there was founde no more place to burie them and the most parte of the diseased fell into a fransie the second day and would cast themselues into Welles others fell oute of their windowes into y e streetes Some other were vexed with a bloudie Flir by the nose the which did runne day and night violently and with the losse of their bloude they lost their liues and it came to such extremitie desolation that womeÌ„ with childe brought forth the fruite of their wombe out of time they and their fruit dying the which afterward were chauÌ„ged to a violet or blewish colour as if the bloud had ben spred al ouer their bodies And to be short the desolation was so great that the father kept no count of his childe nor the husbande of his wife yea with monie in their handes oftentimes they died for default of a glasse of water or if by fortune they had for to eate the sicknesse was so cruel and short that they died many times with meat in their mouthes and the furie of this contagion was so inflamed and al the town so infected that with their looke that they wold cast vpon some they woulde infect them and their winde and breath was so venemous that there would rise botches and sores on the parties that therewith were attainted It is a fearful and pitiful thing in nature the which a Phisition left vs in writing the which was ordeined of the chiefe of the Citie to visite the sicke that the euill was so cruell that no remedie might be found so that they that were taken therewith had no hope of health but by the assault of death And they were so acquainted therewith that when they felt them selues taken they themselues woulde take a shéete and lie downe aliue thereon looking for no other thing than the violent departing that the soule hath for to depart from the bodie his mortall habitacle the whiche he sayeth to haue séene in many and specially in a womaÌ„ whome he called by a window for to ordeine hir some remedie and ease of hir paine whome also he perceiued by the window how she lay downe hirselfe in hir winding shéete so y â— they that buried y â— infected being entred into hir house shortly after found hir dead and lien in the middest of hir house with hir shéete half sowed There resteth now nothing but to treate of famine which is one of the scourges of Gods iustice as he himselfe hath witnessed to vs by his Prophetes and Apostles sometimes threatning sinners to giue them a heauen of brasse and a earth of fier that is to saye barren that shall not bring forth fruite and for this cause our Lord God declaring to his disciples the plagues that should come shewing before that Nation shal rise against NatioÌ„ kingdome against kingdome he addeth euen after that as thoughe one did depende on an other And there shall be pestilence and hunger in certain quarters of the earth For war pestilence and famine are the iij. darts that he is wont to shoote against the earth when that he is angrie with his creatures Let vs nowe sée whether that we haue not ben grieued with this dart aswel as with the others I wil not here shew the coÌ„mon famines that haue raigned diuers times in Asia Europa Affrica but I wyll only make mention of them of most memorie aswell Prophanes as of those in holie scripture
learned and wel séene in the knowledge of Histories or memoriall things done in our time where as he sayth that the yeare a thousand fiue hundreth twentie eight the world was giuen to so many vices and was so full of sinne and iniquitie that it was not humbled and amended bicause of the furious assaultes and great effusion of bloud of the former wars but to the cōtrarie it was become worse and wholy depraued by the meanes whereof the bonde of Gods wrathe was sprede out in this poore Realme of Fraunce after such a sorte that it was thought that all was brought to an end For there happened so great calamitie pouertie and miserie that there was neuer the like knowen by memoriall of time of the like affliction aswell in humaine bodies as in fruties and reuenues of the earth for during the space of fiue whole yeares which beganne the yeare 1528. the time came into suche a disorder that the foure seasons left their natural course and shewed themselues chaunged and altered among themselues the Spring time being Haruest and the Haruest the Spring time the Sommer in Winter and the Winter in Sommer but aboue all the Sommer had such powre y ◠it occupied the raigne and domination of the others and speciallye against his nature contrarie so that in the déepest colde of Winter that is to wit December Ianuarie and February in y ◠which times they ought to rest die leaue the ground and giue it ouer to frostes snowes and cold it was so extreme whote and the earth was so heated and burned that it was a fearefull sight to sée For in fiue yeares there fell little frost that remained aboue one day or twain so that by this vnaccustomed great heat maintained and nourished the vermine of the earth as Todes Frogs Grashoppers Caterpillers and such like in such quantity that the yong and tender corne was no sooner come forth and out of his blade but that it was eatē and deuoured which was the cause that the corne that ought to multiplie and haue many eares and stalks of one roote brought forth but one or twoo and yet very barren beeing full of Darnell and blastings in such sort that when it was gathered the moste part came not aboue the quantitie of the sowed séede and manye times lesse And this famine lasted fiue yeares without ceasing a thing so pitifull and miserable that it is not possible for man to ymagine the like without seeing whiche was the cause that a quarter of Wheat was sold at Lyonnois Forests Auergny Bauionlois Burgonny Sauoye Dolphinye and manye other places for the summe of .xiiij .xvi .xviii. poundes turnoys And the poore people were so afflicted with suche dearth and scarcitie so long a time that a number of mischiefs and maledictions did follow For y e poore people that liued well inoughe of theyr rents and reuenues were cōstrained to forsake all and aske their bread for Gods sake and the number of poore beggars did so encrease that it was a pitifull sight to sée them in flockes harde to ouercome and more daungerous to endure for beside the great feare that men had to be robbed of them the which extreme necessitie did constraine there proceded a great stinking and infectious smell out of their bodies for that they filled their bellies with all kindes of hearbes good naught helthfull and venemous so that there was no herbes left in Gardens that they might come by not so muche as the stalkes and rootes of Coleworts of the which they founde not the one halfe to sustaine them And when that there was no more to be had in Gardens they had their refuge to wilde herbes not vsed so that the most part of them woulde séeth great kettels with Mallowes and other herbes and so satisfied thēselues as doe hogs But it was a greater wōder to sée bread made of chaffe ackornes and of haye séede the which the poore were forced to eate by impacience and rage of hunger and also remembring themselues howe that hogs do delite to féede on Fearne rootes they made breade thereof deceiuing or beguiling the hogs of their foode and sustenāce The which is inough to make vs knowe how much oure Lord Gods wrath was against y ◠filth of our sinne séeing that he permitted that mē should be brought to such necessitie as to eate with the hogges by the which meanes followed a number diseases and the worlde fell into a greate feare séeing a great bande or companie of men and women yong and olde goe shaking or trembling in the stréetes the others hauing the skinne swollen lyke drummes others lying halfe deade on the ground drawing their last breath and of such kind of people were stables and barnes filled others were so languishing that of great paine they coulde tel their necessitie nor yet scant draw their breath but quiuered and shaked with their legs rather séeming like to fancies and dreames than men Besides al this the great compassion was to see a great company of poore mothers bare leane and disfigured compassed and charged with many yong children the which by great distresse of famine cried out vnto their mothers for foode the which beheld them so pitifullye and dolefully that it séemed to me the greatest pitie of al hearing the anguishe and distresse of heart that they shewed by shedding abundance of teares and pitifull looke The saide Paradin writeth to haue séene at a place called Louhans in Burgonie a poore woman the which by great means and importunitie had found the meanes to get a piece of bread the which was sodenly snatched out of hir hand by a litle childe of hirs the which she gaue sucke to and held in hir armes the which was scant a yeare olde the mother had neuer séene it eate bread before for y ◠which she maruelled greatly beholding hir lyttell childe how it did eate this same browne breade that was hard and drie with so great an appetite that it was a straūge maruellous thing to behold for y e mother woulde haue gathered togither the crums that fell from his mouth but the child began to crie out as though it had sustained some great wrong for anger that he saw his mother gather togither the crums as though he had ben afraied not to haue had inough O eternal almightie God what image what spectacle might there be founde anye heart so void of humanity that might not be moued thereby with cōpassion pitie The said Author reciteth yet that in an other village not far distant from the before saide were found two women the which not finding wherewithall to sustaine or slake their hunger did eate and fill themselues with a venemous herbe named Scyla being like Onyons or wilde Lettise and not knowing the vertue nor propertie of the saide herbe poysoned themselues in such sort and maner that their féete and hands became gréen like Lezardes skinnes and the poyson came forth vnder their nayles of
Who hath giuen to y e belly so large a compasse Who is it that hath made y ◠most honorablest members to sight and the foule and filthie ones hid and placed out of sight Behold saith he how many deuine workes are shewed in one only matter what beautie there is in euerie one of them how they are equally compassed and differing the one from the other in their offices and actions Whō thinkest thou hath so formed and made them who is the father and the mother only God inuisible It séemeth now that we haue sufficientlye treated of humaine nature there resteth nowe for the perfection of mans honor to shew that there is no Art nor science but that men haue excelled eche one in their degrée more or lesse according to the influēces and fauors that hath bene giuen them from heauen I will leaue to speake here of liberall Arts and generally of all disciplines for to euitate prolixitie the originall and inuentiō of which is due to man as to his souereigne Author I will therfore shew certaine particuler things In euery one of which I will expresse what the dignitie and subtillitie of man is How wonderful should séeme to vs the magnamitie and noble heart of Alexander the which in his yong and tender yeares lamēted and wept bitterly knowing that his father Philip had obtained victorie of diuers and sundrie battels and after that he was demaunded of his gouernors from whence proceaded those teares with y e which his face was dewed and couered for feare saide he that I haue that my father hauing ouercomed so manye people and nations there is nothing left for me wherein I might exercise this excessiue desier that I haue to fight and become partaker of his glorie O what Oracle of generositie and manly courage was there in this childe to whome afterwarde fortune succeded according to his desier for before he was come to the age of thirtie yeares he had subdued so many Nations that he foūd no more that did resist him in the world so that he was constreyned to go or trauell to the furthermost parts of Affrica by the desertes to trie his strength against wilde and brute beastes for to ouercome them aswell as men the Historiographes write of him that he séeing himselfe Monarche of all the world remembring with himselfe that he had heard say of a Philosopher named Democrites that there was many worlds for the which cause he caused many Pioners and Artificers to dig and vndermine the ground to the end that if there were anye other people founde they might be brought vnder his obedience Likewise of Iulius Caesar Pompei one of the which beside the victories of ciuill warres faught fiftie times in battell ranged and flew aleuen hundreth fowre score and twelue thousād men the other besides nine hundreth and fortie shippes that he had taken on the sea conquered and had victory of eight hundreth seuentie six townes from the Alpes to the furthermost parte of Spaine Let vs not leaue out the glorie of Marcus Sergius who after he had lost his right hand and receyued .xxiij. wounds at diuerse times fought afterwarde foure sundrie times with his left hande and after he coulde not help himself therewith he made him an hande of Iron with the whiche he fought at the stege before Cremona defended Playsance and tooke twelue places in Gaule Let vs leaue speaking of armes and come to Artes and sciences that séeme to vs more vile and abiect as painting caruing grauing and such like Xeuxis a most excellent Painter counterfetted by his Arte a vine full of Grapes so subtillye wrought that the Birdes that did flie in the ayre woulde strike against it thinking there to finde foode And Appelles for the space of ten yeares employed al his wit and pollicie to paint an Image of Venus the which was endewed with so excellent beautie that the yong men that stoode beholding of it became amorous as though it had bene some liue Image and therefore by publicke edict he was charged to kéepe it secret for feare to allure the youth to corruptiō Who is it that doth not maruell of that whiche Pausanias a Greeke Historiographe writeth to haue bene formed made in Heraclia a Prouince of Peloponensia by a certaine artificer the which composed a brasen Horse hauing the tayle cut and deformed and all the other parts of the bodie perfect to y e which notwithstanding the other horses sought to ioyne and couple with such an ardent desier and affection that they brake oftentimes their houes with their often riding and horsing of him and for all that they were beaten and driuen a way yet woulde they not from thence but they would rage as if they had foūd a proude Mare But what secret thing what charme or what hid vertue was there therein which could constrain and force the brutish beasts to obey and loue a trunke of mettell voyde of féeling or vnderstanding Plutarch exalting the excellencie of man writeth that Archimedes did draw with one hand and with one corde or rope ouerthwart the market place of Siracusa a great ship fraighted with merchandise as if it had bene a horse that had bene led by the neck and all by the science of Methmaticke the which Baptist Leon one of the expertest men in our time assured to doen if anye great Lorde woulde furnish the thing What miracle in nature may be found more greater than this deuise of glasse that Sabot King of the Persians caused to be made the which was so great that he was set in a corner of the same as in the sphere or compasse of the earth séeing vnder his féete the cloudes starres that did rise and lie downe in such sorte that thoughe he was mortall he séemed to be aboue the heigth and expectation of immortality What thing more greater and deuiner maye be more maruellous speciallye in a King that ruled all the worlde who after the possession of the earth and the Sea he séemed to possesse the cloudes the heauen and the habitatiō of God But what Deitie or celestiall spirite might be hid in the statute or Image of Memon the whiche euery time and neuerthelesse man was the Author or Inuenter as Strabo and Cornelius Tacitus sheweth Who is it that woulde not be rauished in admiration if at any time he haue read that whiche the Histories make mention of a Doue of wood composed by Architas being made by certain figures and proportions of Mathmaticke did flie in the ayre as other birdes at the admiration of which Albert forged a brasen heade the which coulde speake plainely as if it had bene a liuing soule enclosed therein As in like case Galen an Author worthie of credēce writeth that Archimedes forged a glasse that burned in the Sea the ships of his enimies the which thing shoulde not seeme to vs straunge nor vncredible to those that haue seene a Spanyarde