Tartaria with so little mouthes that they cannot eate but maintaine their liues with sucking in onely the substance and iuice of flesh and fruites There is another kind of men with dogs faces and Oxe feete which containe all their speech vnder two wordes onely with the which the one vnderstandeth the other There are others whom they call Phanaces whose eares are so great that they couer therewith their vvhole bodies they are so strong that vvith one pull they teare whole trees vp by the roots vsing them in their fight with exceeding agillity There are others with one eye only and that in their forehead their eares like dogs and their haire standing stiffe vp an end Others they describe with diuers and monstrous formes which if I should rehearse all I should neuer make an end yet by the way I will tell you what I haue reade in one of Ptolomes tables of Tartaria maior There is in it sayth he a Country now called Georgia fast by the kingdome of Ergonil in the which there are fiue sorts of people some blacke as Ethiopians some white like vs some hauing tailes like Peacocks some of very little and low stature with two heads and others whose face and teeth are in maner of horse iawes And if this be true it is a wonderfull thing that there should be in one Land such diuersities of men BER Doe these Authors set all these monsters together in one part of the earth or in diuers parts AN. In this point they differ farre the one from the other Pliny and Strabo agree with the story written by the Philosopher Onosecritus which was in India with Alexander the great and writeth all these monsters to be there Solinus sayeth that the Arimaspes being a people with one eie are in Scithia fast by the Riphaean mountaines Others hold that the most part of these monsters are in the solitary deserts of Affrica and the rest are in the mountaines of Atlas others sayde that the Cyclops Gyants of exceeding hugenes with one onely eye and that in the midst of their forehead were to be seene in Sicillia LU. Yet it may be that they are as well in one place as in another yet Strabo entreating of them in conclusion accounteth them but fables and fained matters and Sinforianus Campegius a man singulerly learned in a Chapter which hee writeth of monsters proueth by naturall reasons that there can be none such and if there be any that they are no men but brute beasts like vnto men Pomponius Mela is of the same opinion saying that the Satyres haue nothing else of man then the likenesse AN. I will neyther beleeue all nor condemne all which is written but as touching the Satyres me thinkes Pomponius Mela hath small reason for wee must rather beleeue Saint Hierome who in the life of Saint Paule the first Hermite which worke is allowed by our Church witnesseth that they are men and creatures reasonable Their shape is according to the description of diuers Authors like vnto men differing onely in some points as in hauing hornes on their heads their noses and forepart of their mouthes like to dogges snowts and their feete like to those of Goates Many affirme that they haue seene them in the deserts of Aegipt The Gentiles in diuers places adored them for Gods and Pan the God of Sheepheards was alwayes painted in the likenes of a Satyre Many haue written of these Satyres and it is held for a matter certaine and vndoubted AN. Sabellicus in his Aeneads sayeth that there are of them in the mountaine Atlas which runne on foure feet and some on two feet like men either sort passing swiftly Pliny affirmeth that there are of them in India in certaine mountaines called Subsolani whom not accounting men hee termeth to be most dangerous and harmfull beasts Ouid in his Metamorphosis sayeth that the Satyre is a beast like vnto a man onely that hee hath hornes on his head and feete like a Goate But if it be so that they are men capable of reason I wonder that we haue no greater knowledge of them AN. Heerein is no great cause of wonder because the deformity of their figure maketh them so vvild that it taketh from them the greatest part of the vse of reason so that they flie the conuersation of men euen as other bruite beastes doe but amongst them selues they conuerse and vnderstand one another well enough for all those which vvrite of the mountaine Atlas say that there are in the tops therof many nights heard great noyses and soundes as it were of Tabers and Flutes and other winde instruments vvhich they hold for a certaine to be doone by the Satyres in their meetings for as soone as the day comes you heare no more yet some will say that the Satyres are not the cause thereof but another secrete of Nature of the vvhich we will hereafter in his more conuenient and proper place discourse LU. Before we passe any farther let vs first vnderstand what difference there is between Satyres Faunes Egipanes for Virgill in the beginning of his Georgiques inuoketh as well the one as the other and sundry other Authors vsing these seuerall names doe seeme to put a difference betweene them AN. I will ansvvere you herein with Calepin which saith that Faunes were held amongst the Greeks for the selfe same which Satyrs among the Latines that they both are one thing Probus and Seruius saith that they are called Fauni à fando because they prophesied as Pan did amongst the Sheepheards And Seruius vvriteth that Egipans Satyrs and Faunes are all one Nicolaus Leonicus in his second booke de vana historia vvriteth of another sort of Satyrs much differing in shape from these before rehearsed he alledgeth an Author called Pausanias vvhose authority he followeth in his whole worke who sayeth that he heard Eufemius a man of great estimation and credite affirme that sayling towardes Spaine the ship in which they went through a great tempest and storme beeing driuen with a violent vvesterne wind to runne along the Ocean Seas brought them at last vpon the coast of certain Ilands which seemed to be vninhabited wher they had no sooner landed to take in fresh vvater but there appeared certaine vvild men of a fierce cruel resemblance all couered vvith haire somwhat reddish resembling in each other part men but onely that they had long tailes full of brisled haires like vnto horses These monsters discouering the Marriners ioyned them selues in a great troupe squadron together making an ilfauoured noyse like the barking or rather howling of doggs and at last of a sodaine set vpon them with such a fury and vehemence that they draue them backe to their ship forcing them to leaue behind them one of their vvomen which was also landed vpon whom they savv from their ship those brutish men or rather barbarous monsters vse all sort of fleshly abhomination and filthy lust
vnderstand by another example of the said Alexander who sayeth that a certaine Monke called Thomas with whom he was familiarly acquainted beeing a man euer after this accident of a most holy and approued good life who being resident in a Monastery neere vnto the Citty of Luka being situated amongst certaine mountaynes falling one day out with some other of the Monkes and mooued with an exceeding passion of choller went furiously out of the Cloyster with determination to absent himselfe from thence for euer and to goe liue in some other part as he was thus trauersing the thickest of the mountaine hee met with a great tall man of a tawnie Sunne-burnd complexion with a long blacke beard rowling eyes and his garment hanging downe to the ground After hauing saluted him the Moonke asked him whether he went that way seeing the same was no beaten or vsuall path The other aunswered him that hee followed a horse of his which was broken loose and had strayed ouer those mountaines into certaine meddowes on the other side so that they went on together talking till they came to a Riuer at the foote of the mountaine which because the same was very deepe and full of great pits they went along the side thereof seeking a Foord or passage till at last comming to a certaine place which seemed passable the Moonke would haue puld off his hose and shooes but the other would by no meanes suffer him so to doe saying that he was tall strong enough to carry him safely ouer on his shoulders in which perswasion he was so earnest that make the Monke what excuse he could he trussed him halfe perforce vp vpon his sholders at which instant looking downward he chanced to spie his Ferrymans feete not hauing seene them till then which were of a farre different making from those of other mens so that entring into some suspition hee would faine haue losed himselfe but he could not for the other began to wade with him into the deepest of the streame vvhere-vpon fearing it to be as in truth it was he began with great inward deuotion to commend him selfe to God and to call vpon the blessed name of Iesus for helpe at which very instant the other who was the deuill indeede threw him downe on the shoare of the Riuer vanishing presently away vvith so horrible a noise and tempest that the very sands of the Riuer were turned vpsie downe and the Oakes that grew vpon the banks were torne vppe by the rootes and the poore Moonke left in a traunce halfe dead who so soone as he reuiued and came to him selfe returned penitently to his Cloyster giuing thankes vnto GOD for the danger out of which hee had deliuered him BER To make recitall of all such like things as happen in the vvorlde were to beginne an endlesse and infinite worke for the deuils though they lost grace yet lost they not theyr naturall vertue as Anthonio de Florencia vvryteth so that if the same vvere not restrayned through the vvill of GOD they coulde vvorke many greater hurtes and damages then those which they doe AN. According to the saying of S. Paule they cannot onely take vpon them such formes of bodies as we haue said but they can also transforme them selues into Angels of light to deceaue vs which they would each moment put in practise as sometimes they doe were not their power suppressed and preuented which God doth somtimes by his only will and somtimes by a third person as that of the deuill which vnder the habite of a very beautifull and wise woman dined with a Bishop who was deliuered from destruction by S. Andrew the Apostle cōming to demaund almes of him like a Pilgrime by aunswering a question proposed to him by the deuill which was how far distant the heauen was from the earth Thou shouldst better know then I answered S. Andrew because thou hast falne from thence where-with the deuill finding him selfe discouered vanished presently But it is to no purpose to detaine our selues in these examples because there are whole volumes full of them and Saint Gregory in his Morrals rehearseth many notable thinges which they may reade that desire to know them BER For all this I must needs tell you one by the way which hath been told me for a matter vndoubted and most assuredly true of one Don Anthonio de la Cueua a Gentleman passing well knowne in this our Country nowe lately dead vvho by Gods permission for some cause to vs vnknowne was while he liued often tempted and vexed with visions and fantasies so that in continuance of time he began not to feare them though hee accustomed to haue all night long continually a candell burning by him in the chamber where he slept One night amongst others lying in his bed and reading of a booke he might heare a great rumbling vnder the bed and as he lay imagining what the same might be he perceaued come from vnder the bed close by the bed side an arme and hand seeming to be of a naked Blackamoore which taking the candell turned it downwards in the candlestick and put it forth and at that very instant offered to come into the bed to him which he endeuoring to refist the blacke Moore or rather deuill grasped him by the armes he him likewise beginning to wrestle and strugle together with such force and making so great a noyse that the seruaunts of the house awaked who comming into the Chamber to knovve what the matter was found Don Anthonio de la Cueua alone in such a heate and sweating as though he had newly come out of a Stew or Hothouse who declared vnto them the particularitie of this accident and withall that so soone as they began to enter into the Chamber the vision vntwynged himselfe from him so that he knew not what was becom thereof LUD At one thing I doe much wonder which I haue often heard to be affirmed for truth that the deuils also are Incubi and Succubi taking oftentimes to that ende the shape likenes sometimes of men sometimes of women ANT. This is affirmed by many Authours For their malice is so great that they will not stick to commit the greatest abhomination and wickednes that may be so that ioyntly they may procure and cause men to commit it with them Caelius Rodiginus saith that there was in Greece a man called Marcus naturall of Cafronesus vvho had great familiaritie with deuils for which cause he liued alwaies solitary conuersing little with other men This man vttered many of the deuils secrets of which this of the Incubi and Succubi was one and many other that for theyr filthines and abhomination are not to be spoken of but according to his confession all the deuils doe not vse this execrable offence but those onely who are neere vnto vs and doe forme theyr bodies of a grosse substance as of water or earth Saint Augustine saith that the Satyres and Faunes
present at a spectacle so fearefull horrible cruell And if this Monster were not in such a desert place farre of from those parts which are by the people enhabited hee were able to dispeople and bring to desolation the vvhole Country for yet as it is those that are neerest liue in great feare and dread of him LVD Truly I remember not that euer I heard of a more terrible and cruell Serpent and therefore I much wonder why the people of that Countrey doe not seeke some remedy to deliuer themselues of so miserable a feare and scourge as he is vnto theÌ„ AN. Neuer thinke but that they haue done their best though perchance it hath little auailed them BE. Their only remedy must come froÌ„ God which is that time shal end his life to doe which the force of man suffiseth not As for my part I wonder not at all that there should be a serpent so great fierce as this is for both Plinie Strabo alleaging Megasthenes write of Serpents in India which are so great that they deuoure a Stag or an Oxe whole in at once Pliny also by authoritie of Metrodorê° saith that there are some so huge that they reach the birdes which flie in the ayre in time of the Emperor Regulus there was one found about the shores of the Riuer Bragada 120. foote long to destroy which there was a whole Army of men sette in order as though they had gone to assault a mightie Citty AN. But nowe turning to our former discourse I say it is a thing strange and meruailous that in so great an extremity of cold as that of the North there should breede so many venemous Serpents the number of which is so great that the people is with them miserably afflicted especially the Sheepheards whose trade of life being most in the open field meet with them oftenest and therfore they neuer goe vnprouided of necessary remedies to apply presently when neede requireth But being wearied with matter so full of contagion and poyson I will passe forward and come vnto their trees whose kinds and qualities are diuers rowing in that extreamity of cold Snow and Ice to such an exceeding height and greatnes that there are no better found in the world to make ships and maine masts of then they are But seeing they are smally different from ours I will spend no time in describing theyr particularities onely I will tell you of one called Betulnye which is in growth very great and tall and all the yeere long continually greene without casting his leafe for which cause of the common people he is called the holy Tree not vnderstanding his vertue and property which is so hote that in despite of the cold hee retaineth alwayes his greenenes and verdure so that many Serpents make their nests and dens vnder his rootes through the warmenesse and heate of the which they defend themselues against the rigorous sharpnes of the colde which all the other trees not enduring as they shoote forth their leaues fruites in the Sommer so shed they them againe in the Winter returning to their naked barenes The like also doe all their hearbes and plants of which many are such as we haue commonly heere and many farre different of vs neither knowne nor vsed BER I am of opinion that in these Lands there are generally all such kinds of thinges as are in others excepting alwayes the difference of the soyles the quality of which maketh some better some worse and of greater and lesser vertue in their kinds and operations But let vs detaine our selues no longer about thinges of so small importance I pray you therefore tell vs if that be true of which we reasoned the other day that is if all these Prouinces and Lands are enhabited of Christians for if it be so I wonder we should haue heere no more particular knowledge and notice of a matter so important AN. Make no doubt at all of that which I haue tolde you for all those of the Kingdome of Norway which is very great and contayneth many mighty Prouinces and those of Dacia Bothnia Elfinguia Laponia Lituania Escamia Filandia Escandia Gronland Island Gothland Westgothland Swethland Sueue and Denmarke with many other Septentrionall Regions and Prouinces euen to the Hiperbores amongst which also are sundry of those that the great Duke of Muscouia and Emperour of the Russians possesseth all these I say are vnder the banner and fayth of our Sauiour Iesus Christ though differently For some follow the Church of Rome others obserue the ceremonies of the Greek church cleauing wholy there-vnto others of them followe the Catholique Church but ioyntly there-withall certaine errors that are there spread abroade LV. But leauing this till an other time and returning to our former purpose I pray you tell me if the Emperour of Russia be so great a Monarch as heere it is sayd he is AN. No doubt but he is so great and mighty that there are fewe or no Princes of Christendome besides equall vnto him in gouernment and signeury of manie Kingdomes Prouinces Lands and Countries as partly may be vnderstoode by his tytles in a Letter which he wrote to Pope Clement the seauenth the beginning of which was as followeth The great Lord Basilius by the grace of God Emperour and Lord of all Russia great Duke of Blodemaria of Muscouia of Nouogradia of Plescouia of Finolenia of Yfferia of Iugoria of Perminea of Verchia of Valgaria Lord and great Prince of the neather Nonogradia of Cernigonia of Razania of Volothecia of Rozeuia of Belchia of Boschouia of Iraslauia of Beloceria of Vdoria of Obdoria of Condinia c. This Letter was written in the Citty of Muscouia which is his principall seate and from which the whole Country taketh his name in the yeere of our Lorde 1537. LU. Are all these Kingdomes Lands and Prouinces which you haue named enhabited with Christians AN. It is to be supposed that they are though I cannot affirme the same for a certainty for perchaunce hee hath gotten some of them by conquest the people of which may yet remaine in their idolatry as for the law of Mahomet it is there of small force Yet for all this this Duke or Emperour or what you list to call him being so mighty a Prince as he is there is notwithstanding a Prouince and Nation of people called Finnes which liue in a manner vnder the Pole so valiant and stoute in Armes that they hold him at a bay yea and sometimes enter into his Country with fire and sword making great conquests vppon him BER So that the neerest Nation to them that liue vnder the North-pole is that of the Russians Muscouites AN. You say true it is so indeede of one side marry on the other side is Bothnia Fynland and some others which are vnder the very Pole but on that side of Russia and Muscouia the old Cosmographers for far that they went reached not
if they were then no greater then they now are the greatnes of his stature was not so out of proportion and wonderfull and if the bodies of Antheus Oryon had thē been measured they would not haue been so many of their cubits as they were of theirs that measured them I beleeue that they would nowe be more the cause hereof is that as the world waxeth old so al things draw to be lesser for euen as earth that hath not ben laboured yeeldeth greater fruite at the beginning and in more aboundance then after when it becōmeth weary and tired with continuall trauaile bringing forth euen so the vvorld through wearines and long course of generation ceaseth to breed men of so large and puissant statures as it wonted AN. Although in part of this your argument you seeme to haue some reason yet you are deceaued if you hold this for a generall rule without exception for this age of ours is not without Gyants and those very great truth it is that in times past there were of thē in many parts and now in very few those for the most part in Lands nere to the North South pole for it seemeth that Nature enclineth to create this greater men in cold Countries But seeing this is a matter which cannot be handled without falling into discourse of those Countries towards the Septentrion matter of no lesse admiration let vs leaue it till we meete another time to the ende wee may haue where-with to entertaine good conuersation LU. There are also people of great stature which liue in hote Countries towards the Aequinoctiall for as Crates Pergamenus writeth there is a people among the Aethiopians called Sirboti whose common stature is eight cubites and more in height and what thinke you May not these men well be called Gyants AN. This onely Author maketh relation thereof and though we haue notice of all the Nations of Aethiopians we haue neuer seene nor heard of any such great people amongst them but wee notoriously knowe that there are of them in the colde Regions and such as are commonly helde to bee vninhabitable which at farther leasure I will cause you thoroughly to vnderstand LV. If you thinke that I will forgette this your promise you are deceaued for I holde well in memory all such matters as we doo nowe leaue in suspence but nowe seeing you will haue it so let vs passe on and giue mee to vnderstand vvhether liue longest these great or little men for it agreeth with reason that the one greatnes should be conformable to the other AN. The long life of man consisteth neyther in littlenes nor greatnes but in being wel complexioned hauing good humors not apt to receaue corruption besides a mild reposed life good victuals sobriety in eating drinking many other particuler things which Phisitions prescribe doe help much there-vnto but the chiefest of all is the good quality condition of the country as wel for some particuler constellation as for the temperature purenes of the ayre breeding the victuals in perfection without rawe and flimy humors this I take to be the cause why some Nations liue so long Aelianicus sayth that in the Prouince of Aetolia the men liue 200. some 300. yeres and Pliny sayth that there is a people in India called Cimi who liue ordinarily 140 yeeres Onosecritus also writeth that in a certaine part of India where at noone dayes there is no shadow at all the men are of height 5. cubits and two hand breadths that they liue 130. yeres without waxing old but die euen as it were in their middle age There is another Nation of people of a Prouince called Pandora whose life endureth v. or 300. yeres in their youth their haire is hoary and gray in their elder age turning to be blacke Though these liues be long yet we may giue credite there-vnto for the causes which I haue said chiefely for the purenes of the aire which cōserueth health as wel in humane bodies thēselues as in the fruits victuals which grow there with lesse coruption more perfection vertue thē in other parts 〈◊〉 glueth testimony heereof speaking of the Iland Lemnos and the Citty Mirina the which hath in opposite the mountaine Atos in Macedonia which is so high that being thence in distance 6000. paces it couereth this Citty with his shadow on the top wherof moueth no aire at al but pure in so much that the ashes which there remaine moues not frō one yere to another on the height of this hil was builded a City called Acroton the enhabitants of which liued twice so long as those that dwelt beneath BE. If this Citty were so wholsom the people of so long life wherfore cam it to be dispeopled for saken by reason me thinks it should be as full of people as it were able to hold AN. One cōmodity alone suffiseth not to the life of man for what auaileth long life if men liue continually in penury and want of thinges necessary For in so great a height Spring they could haue none neither could they gather water into Cesternes because it was higher then the Region where the clouds are congealed which could by no means moue themselues wanting wind as they must needs want there for howe can there be any where the ashes lye without mouing so that this other commodities for their sustenance were to be prouided with such paine difficulty and vnease that forsaking this place they chose rather with more ease though shorter life to commodate themselues elsewhere for this selfe same cause is the mountaine of Olympus vninhabited in whose top also it is affirmed the ayre to be so pure that there bloweth no wind at all The like also I beleeue to be of the mountaine Pariardes which is in Armenia where after the flood the Arke of Noe remained But all this is to no other ende then that you should vnderstand the reason how mans life is to be conserned more in some places then in others and euen so I thinke it to be in the Prouinces which we haue rehearsed that also which the selfe Solinus sayeth of the Aethiopians whom they call Macrobians who are on the other side of the Iland Meroe and liue ordinarily 150. yeeres and many reach to 200. And Gaudencius Merula writeth that he hath found Authors which affirme that in the selfe same Iland Meroe the people neuer die of any sicknes liuing so long till very age consume them But leauing this generality of liues let vs come to entreate of some particulers without alleadging the liues of those holy Fathers out of the old Testament before and after the flood of 800. and 900. yeeres a peece which we firmely beleeue through faith and because the holy Church affirmeth it so that wee know it to be true and indubitable neither is that a small argument
that was also 300. yeeres old both by his lowne saying and the affirmation of those that knew him well besides other many great proofes and arguments thereof This Moore for the austeritie of his life and abstinence vvhich hee vsed was held amongst the rest for a very holie and religious man and the Portugals had great familiarity friendshippe vvith him For all thys though the Chronicles of Portugall are so sincere that there is nothing registred in them but with great fidelitie and approoued truth yet I should stagger in the beliefe of this were it not that there are so many both in Portugall and Spayne which are eye witnesses hereof and know it fully to be true BER And so trulie should I but that your proofe and information is not refutable for these ages are so long in respect of the shortnesse of ours that they bring with them incredible admiration and mee thinkes it is impossible that the first of these two shoulde haue had so many wiues AN. It being verified that hee liued so long this is not to be wondred at for the law both of Gentiles and Moores permitteth men to forsake their wiues and to take new as often as they please and so perchance this man was so fantasticall and peeuish that not contenting himselfe long with any he tooke it for a custome to put away his wiues as we doe seruants that please vs not And as they hold together as many wiues as they will though they bee not all called lawfull what letted him if he chopt changed some turning away taking new especially if he were so rich that he had meanes to maintaine many at once so that there is no such cause to wonder at any of these thinges for in the yeare 1147. in the time of the Emperor Conrad died a man which had serued Charles the great in his warres who as it was by inuinsible arguments proued had liued 340. yeeres and it agreeth with that which you haue sayd of this Indian whence Pero Mexia which writeth also the same tooke it Fascicuhis Temporum likewise maketh mention thereof All thys can he doe in whose hands Nature is shoutning lengthning lyues and ages as it pleased him but for my part I will neuer beleeue but that there are in these things some secrete mysteries which we neither conceiue nor vnderstand LU. Let vs take it as we find it without searching the profound iudgments of God who onely knoweth wherefore hee dooth it and in truth I dared not vtter as holding in for a thing fabulous that which I haue read in the xv booke of Strabo where he saith that those which dwel on the other side of the moūtaines Hyperbores towards the North many of them liued a 1000. yeares AN. I haue also read it but hee writeth the same as a thing not to be beleeued though he denieth not but that it may be possible that many of them liued very long but the likeliest is that in those Countries they deuide theyr yeeres according to the reckoning of which Pliny speaketh one into foure by which computation a thousand yeeres of theirs maketh 250. of ours and this differeth not much from the ages of other people and Nations which we haue rehearsed Yet Acatheus the Philosopher speaking of the mountaines Hyperbores sayeth that those which dwell on the farther side liue more yeeres then all the other Nations of the world Pomponius Mela also speaking of them in the third booke vseth these words vvhen they are weary of liuing ioyfull to redeeme themselues from the trauailes and miseries of life they throw themselues headlong into the Sea which they account the happiest death and fortunatest Sepulcher that may be how so euer many Authors of credite verifie theyr liues to be long BER It is said also that those of the Iland Thile according to the opinion of many now called Iseland liue so long that wearied with age they cause themselues to be conuaied into other parts to the ende that they may dye AN. I haue not seene any Author that writeth this it is like to be some inuention of the common people because those of that Iland liue very long euery one addeth what pleaseth him for as the desire to liue is a thing naturall to all men so how old so euer a man be he will in my opinion rather procure to defend and conserue his life then seeke occasion to finish or shorten the same This people being in the occident and according to the auncient vvriters the last Nation that is knowne that way participate with the Hiperboreans in fame of long life or perchaunce those which haue heard speake of Biarmio Superior the which as we will one day discourse is the last which is knowne of the other side of the Septentrion and of which are written many wonderfull matter chiefely of their long life without infirmity ending onely through extreamity of age the which many of them not attending voluntarily kill themselues thought that these men were vnder the selfe climate and hereof was the inuention of the Elysian fields which the Gentiles held to be in these parts But this being a matter that requireth long time we will now leaue it returne to our former discourse Truly if conforming our selues to reason we would well weigh the trauailes miseries vexations which in this wretched life we endure we should esteeme a short life far hapier then a long which we see beset with infinite troubles calamities endeuor so in this transitory life to serue God that we may come in glory to enioy that other which shal endure for euer BER Seeing we haue hetherto discoursed of so many particularities belonging vnto men let vs not forget one which is of no lesse mistery nor lesse worthy to be knowne then the rest which is of the Centaures or Archers to the ende wee liue not deceaued in that which is reported of thē for many Histories make mention of them though to say truth I neuer read any graue Author that affirmeth to haue seene them or stedfastly that they now are or at any other time haue been in the world which if they either be indeed or haue been they are not to be held for small wonders but for as great as euer haue been any in the world AN. Certainely this of the Centaures is but a Poetical fiction for if it were true it is not possible as you said but that som graue Author or other would haue written therof LV. Let vs yet know whence these fables had their beginning AN. Aske this of Eginius Augustus Libertus which in a booke of his entituled Palephatus de non credendis fabulis sayth that Ixion King of Thessalia brought a mighty Heard of Bulls and Cows to the mountain Pelius which being affrighted throgh some accident that happened scattered themselues flying into the Woods Valleys other vninhabited places out of which they
Beleeue me the vertues of the water are no lesse then theyrs for as the herbes sucke and draw theyr propertie and vertue out of the earth which nourisheth and produceth them yeelding moisture and sustenaunce to their rootes so likewise the water draweth to it selfe the propertie of the earth minerals through which it passeth participating with thē of their vertues which beeing so deepe in earth are frō vs hidden vnknown But I know not whether the vertue of a Spring which Aristotle writeth to be in Sycilia in the Country of the Palisciens proceede of thys cause for the misterie which it contayneth is farre greater and so sayth Nicholaus Leonicus that it is a thing verie hardly credible for he affirmeth the propertie thereof to be such that who so taketh a solemne oath and the same oath be written in Tables and cast with certaine solemnities into the Fountaine If the oath contained therein be true the Tables remaine floating aloft vpon the water but if it be false they sink incontinently downe to the bottome And he which tooke the same is burned presently in the place and conuerted into ashes not without damage many times of those that were present They called this the holy Fountaine and appointed the charge and custody thereof to Priests which suffered no man to sweare vnlesse that hee first put in sureties that hee would content him selfe to passe by this triall LV. I rather thinke that Aristotle and those that wrote heereof were deceaued then otherwise because we heare not at this present that there is any such Fountaine knowne in Sicilia if there had beene in times past any of such force and vertue the memory thereof would be farre more rife and famous then it is BER Let vs neuer trouble our selues with the triall heereof for in this sort we may say the like of all those others which we haue not seen AN. The selfe same Nicolaus Leonicus writeth of another Fountaine in the Country of the Elyans nere to the Riuer Citheros into the which all the water that ranne there out degorged There stood by this Fountaine a sacred house the which they constantly affirmed to haue beene the habitation of foure Nimphs Caliphera Sinalasis Pegaea and Iasis All manner of diseased persons that bathed them selues in this Fountaine came there out whole and sound The like is written of two other Riuers the one in Italy called Alteno and the other called Alfeno in Arcadia But of no lesse wonder then all the before rehearsed is that which is vvritten of the Lake in Scithia in the Country of the Dyarbes neere to the Citty Teos the which besides the meruailous plenty of fish in which it aboundeth hath a property most admirable for in calme and warme weather there apeareth aboue the vvater great aboundance of a kind of liquor like vnto oyle which the inhabitants in Baotes made for the same purpose skimme off from the vvater and apply the same to their vses finding it to be as good and profitable as though it were very oyle in deede There is likewise in the Prouince of Lycia nere a Citty called Pataras a Fountaine the vvater that floweth from which looketh as though it were mingled with blood The cause whereof as the Country men say is through one Telephus who washing therein his wounds it hath euer since retained the colour of blood But the likeliest is that it passeth through some veine of red clay or coloured earth vvith the which mixing it selfe it commeth forth stained with that colour the Author hereof is Nicolaus Leonicus And Athenaeus Naucratites sayeth that in an Iland of the Cyclades called Tenaeus there is a Fountaine whose water will agree by no means to be mingled with vvine alwayes howsoeuer it be mingled or poured with vvine into any vessell it remaineth by it selfe a part so that it is to be taken vp as pure vnmedled as when it was poured forth yea though all possible diligence were vsed to ioyne and mingle them LV. There be a great many that would be glad that all water were of this condition by no means brooking the mixture therof with wine as a thing that keepes them somtimes sober against their wils AN. You say truth but leauing them with their fault which is none of the least but one of the greatest foulest that may be in any man pretending to beare honour or reputation I say there is in the Iland of Cuba according to the relation of many which haue seene the same a Fountaine which poureth forth a thick liquor like vnto Tarre which is of such force that they cauke and pitch their ships withall in such sort that they remaine as firme dight against the entry of water as though they were trimmed with the best sort of Pitch that we doe heere vse in these parts BER I haue heard say that there is in the same Iland a great Valley the stones that are found in which are all so round as if they had by Art euery one beene fashioned in the same forme LV. Perchaunce Nature hath so framed them for some effect of the which wee are ignorant seeing that few or none of her workes are without some secrete mistery and as well may these stones serue to some vse as the liquor of that Fountaine but let vs heerewith not trouble Signior Anthonio from prosecuting his discourse AN. Solinus discoursing of the Iland of Cerdonia saieth that it containeth many wholsome vvaters Springs amongst the rest one whose water healeth all infirmity of the eyes withall serueth for a discouery of theeues for whosoeuer by oath denieth the theft which he hath cōmitted in washing him selfe with that water loseth incontinent his fight if so be that his oath be true his eye siight is therby quickned made more sharp liuely but whosoeuer obstinately persisteth in denying his fault remaineth blind for euer But of this Fountaine there is now no notice at all for I haue beene long resident in that Iland during which time I neuer heard any such matter Many the like vnto these are written of by diuers Authors the which for their vncertainty I wil not weary my self in rehearsing only I wil tell you of a Lake which is in the Spanish Iland called S. Domingo in a mountaine very high vninhabited The Spaniards hauing conquered that Country found round about this mountaine no habitation of people through the cause of a hideous noise which was therein continually heard amazing making deafe the hearers therof the hiden cause secret mistery wherof no man being able to comprehend three Spaniards resolutly deliberated to goe vp into the height thereof to discouer if it were possible the occasion whence this continuall roaring proceeded so that prouiding them selues of all things necessary for the difficulty ragged sharpnes of the way being ful of craggy rocks shruby trees bushes
only extended to the attaining of some meane office sufficient for his maintenance contrary to his expectation the Pope made him some Cardinall or great Prelate so that wee may very well terme him Fortunate the like may be said of one that going with Horses or Oxen to tyl a peece of ground turneth vp a stone by Chaunce vnder which he findeth hidden some great treasure and there-with enricheth himselfe This mans intention and purpose was to tyll that ground and not to seeke for any treasure in finding of which we may say that he was fauoured of Fortune But because the examples of such thinges as haue truly indeede passed may be better vnderstoode we may say that the Emperour Claudius was very fortunate because Caligula being slaine and hee also fearing to be killed in that fury and vprore of the people for that he was his neere kindsman as hee peeped out of a corner of the house wherein he lay hidden to see how the world went was espied of a Souldiour who knowing him and running towards him Claudius cast himselfe downe at his feete humbly beseeching him to saue his life in which his miserable desperation the Souldiour bad him be of good courage and voide of feare saluting him by the name of Emperour and presently being brought foorth before the other Souldiours he was established and confirmed in his Predicessours roome so that heerein was Fortune fauourable vnto him for his peeping out of the corner wherein he lurked quaking for feare vvas with purpose to discouer if the coast were cleare and to saue his life it happened thereby accidentally vnto him that he was chosen and elected Emperour The like may be vnderstood in matters of aduersity as if one goe to the Court with purpose to serue the King and by his seruice to obtaine such fauour at his hands that he may thereby come to be rewarded with some rich estate or dignity and it falleth out so vnhappily with him that hee come in a quarrell to kill a man and thereby to loose all his substance wee may say that Fortune was aduerse and contrary vnto him or if a man walking wiâ—h his friend in the streete a tyle fall from the house and breake his head hee may iustly say that his Fortune was ill for both the one and the other happened by accident and not according to the purpose and meaning which they had And if you would haue an example contrary to this former see but what happened to Caligula the Predicessour of Claudius who going out of his house to solace himselfe in the Towne and to see certaine youthfull tryumphs and pastimes of yong Gentlemen of Rome was murdered by some that had conspired his death The purpose hee had was to recreate himselfe and to see those pastimes or rather as Suetonius Tranquillus sayeth to digest his last nights supper hauing his stomacke somwhat ouercharged and it happened accidentallie vnto him when he thought least thereof that he was slaine so that his Fortune may well be termed aduerse and contrary These matters also we may in generall call Chaunce because they chaunced without any such purpose meaning or intention and likewise Fortune because they happened to men hauing reason vnderstanding to make choise of one thing from another but if a Grayhound running after a Hare or any other Beast coursing vp and downe the fieldes should strike his foote vpon a thorne and become lame this cannot be properly called Fortune but Chaunce LU. Afore you passe any farther I would faine know why you say that these accidents are not to be termed Fortune in vnreasonable Creatures grounding your selfe therein because they haue not reason or vnderstanding to make election of one thing from another seeing in many Beasts wee see by experience many times the contrary as for example the Grayhound in seeing the Hare hath vnderstanding to follow her and meaning to catch her and I haue seene some that if theyr Maisters bee not present carry them vp and downe in theyr mouthes till they finde him besides the setting dogge when he seeth the Patriches standeth still and some make a signe to their Maisters with theyr foote to the ende that hee should shoote at them which they could neuer doe vnlesse they had an vnderstanding and purpose to haue those Patriches killed Besides what shall we say of those thinges which the Elephant doth vnderstanding obeying and executing those thinges which his Gouernour commaundeth him Marke also well the prankes and dooings of Apes and you shall finde in them so strange an imitation of man that they seeme by signes to manifest that they want nothing but speech and therefore me thinks that the definition of Fortune of which you spake may as well be applied to these Beastes as that of Chaunce seeing they haue such vse of vnderstanding AN. I confesse all that which you haue sayde to bee true marry that which is in these Beasts is not nor may not be called reason or vnderstanding but an instinct of Nature which moueth and leadeth them to doe that which they doe for all Beasts are not created for one effect but as their effects are diuers so are also their conditions and instincts hauing causes that carry with them perpetually a certaine limitted order agreement and this opinion is by all the Philosophers confirmed particulerly Aristotle in his third booke De Anima and all those that glosse vpon his text affirmeth that the brute Beastes are led and guided by a naturall instinction and appetite without hauing any reason or vnderstanding at all in those things which they doe LV. Your aunswer hath not so satisfied me but that I remaine as yet in some part doubtfull for howe can it be that the Elephant should so behaue himselfe in battaile fighting and carrying a Tower of Armed men vpon his backe wholy ruling and directing himselfe by his commaunders voyce vnlesse he were endued with vnderstanding for the commaundement is no sooner out of his Gouernors mouth but he presently executeth the same Besides we see that Beares in many things which they doe seeme not to be without the vse of vnderstanding they wrestle with men without hurting them they leap daunce conformably to the sound that is made vnto them the experience of this we haue all seene I particulerly haue seene one play vpon a Flute which though he could not distinguish the notes by measure yet he made a cleare distinct sound but all this is nothing in respect of that which we see done by dogs They aunswer to their names when they are called in all dangers they accompany assist their Maisters neither want they a kinde of pride presumption and disdaine as Solinus writeth of those which are bred in the Country of Albania who are so passing fierce and cruell that as he saith two of them were presented by a King of that country to great Alexander wheÌ„ he passed thereby towards
there are Antypodes or no neither can it out of his words be gathered what he thinketh thereof LU. What is the meaning of this word Antipodes AN. I will briefely declare it vnto you though mee thinkes you should haue vnderstood the same by that which I haue sayd before Antypodes are they which are on the other part of the world contrary in opposite vnto vs going with their feete against ours so that they which vnderstand it not thinke that they goe with their heads downward whereas they goe in the selfe same sort with their heads as wee doe for the world being round in what part thereof soeuer a man standeth eyther vnder or aboue or on the sides his head standeth vpright towards heauen and his feete directly towards the Center of the earth so that it cannot be saide that the one standeth vpward and an other downward for so the same which wee should say of them they might say of vs meruailing how wee could stay our selues without falling because it should seeme to them that they stand vpward and we downward and the right Antypodes are as I said those which are in contrary and opposite Zones as they of the North-pole to those of the South-pole and we being in this second Zone haue for our Antypodes those of the other second Zone which is on the other side of Torrida Zona but those in Torrida Zona it selfe cannot holde any for theyr right Antypodes but those which are of one side thereof directly to those that are on the other vnder them or aboue them or howe you list to vnderstand it BER I vnderstand you well but we being in this Zone which is round winding as you say about the earth how shall we terme those that are directly vnder vs who by all likelihoods must be onely vpon one side of the world for if there were a line drawne betweene them and vs through the earth the same line should not come to passe through the Center and middle of the earth AN. These the Cosmographers call in a manner Antypodes which in such sort as they haue different places one frō an other so doe they terme them by different names as Perioscaei Etheroscaei and Amphioscaei being Greeke wordes by which their manner of standing is declared and signified Perioscaei are those whose shadowes goe round about and these as you shall heereafter vnderstand cannot bee but those which are vnder the Poles Amphioscaei are those which haue their shadow of both sides towards Aquilo and Auster according as the Sunne is with them Etheroscaei are those which haue their shadow alwayes on one side but what distinction soeuer these words seeme to make yet Antypodes is common to them all for it is sufficient that they are contrary though not so directly that they writhe not of one side nor other for facility of vnderstanding this take an Orenge or any other round fruite thrust it of all sides full of needles and there you shall see howe the points of the needles are one against another by diuers waies of which those that passe through the sides are as well opposite as those which passe through the very Center and middle of the Orenge But this being a matter so notorious and all men now knowing that the whole world is enhabitable and that the same being round one part must needes be opposite to another it were to no purpose to discourse any farther therein LU. This is no small matter which you say that the whole world is enhabitable for leauing aside that you should say this generality is to be vnderstood that there is in all parts of the world habitation notwithstanding that there are manie Deserts Rocks and Mountaines which for some particuler causes are not enhabited me thinks you can by no meanes say that the two vtmost Zones in which the North South-pole is contained are enhabited seeing the common opinion of all men to the contrary AN. I confesse that all the old Astrologians Cosmographers and Geographers speaking of these two Zones doe terme them vninhabitable the same proceeding as they say through the intollerable rigour and sharpnes of the cold of which they affirme the cause to be because they are farther off from the Sunne then any other part of the earth and so sayth Pliny in the 70. Chapter of his second booke by these words Heauen is the cause of depriuing vs the vse of three parts of the earth which are the three vninhabitable Zones for as that in the midst is through extreame heate not any way habitable so of the two vtmost is the cold vntollerable being perpetually frosen with ice whose whitenes is the onely light they haue so that there is in them a continuall obscurity as for that part which is on the other side of Torrida Zona though it be temperate as ours is yet is it not habitable because there is no way to get into it c. And here-vpon he inferreth that there is no part of the world enhabited nor where people is but onely this Zone or part of the earth in which wee are an opinion truly for so graue an Author farre from reason and vnderstanding That therfore which I intend euidently to make manifest vnto you is that they were not onely deceaued in those Zones wherein eyther Pole is contayned but in Torrida Zona also for as this is found not to be so vntemperate nor the heate and Ardor so raging as they supposed so also is the cold of the Polar Zones nothing so rigorous and sharpe as they described it but sufferable and very well to be endured and enhabited as by proofe we find that all those cold Regions are peopled But the Auncients are to be excused who though they were great Cosmographers and Geographers yet they neuer knew nor discouered so much of the earth as the Modernes haue done which by painefull and industrious Nauigation haue discouered many Regions Countries and Prouinces before vnknowne not onely in the Occidentall Indies the which wee will leaue apart but in the Orientall also and in the farre partes of the Septentrion for proofe whereof reade Ptolome which is the most esteemed Geographer and to whom is giuen in those thinges which he wrote the greatest credite and you shall finde that hee confesseth himselfe to be ignorant of many Countries nowe discouered which he termeth vnknowne and vnfound Landes saying That the first part of Europe beginneth in the Iland of Hybernia whereas there are many other farther North that enter also into Europe and also a great quantity of firme Land which is on the same part towards the North-pole where he might haue taken his beginning and in his eight Table of Europe speaking of Sarmacia Europaea hee sayeth that there lyeth of the one side thereof a Country vnknowne and in his second Table of Asia entreating of Sarmacia Asiatica hee sayth the same not acknowledging for discouered
must haue the same encrease and decrease for the selfe same cause and reason as is of the other side and if the same goe lengthning on inwards it must be greater then it hath seemed vnto vs. AN. Whether this land extend it selfe on the other side of the North forward or whether the Sea be straight at hande I cannot resolue you for there is not any Author that writeth it neither do I thinke is there any that knoweth it the cause wherof as I said is that in passing by the coast of the West beyond the Iles of Thule the coldes are so bitterly sharpe that no ship dareth to aduenture farder by reason of the huge floting Rockes and flakes of Ise vvhich encomber that Sea threatning eminent danger and vnauoydable destruction to those that attempt to saile thereinto Of the other side of the East giuing a turne about to the very same North is discouered so far as the Prouince of Aganagora which is the last of all the knowne Countries on that side the Gulfe being past which is called Mare magnum for by land they say it is not to be trauailed by reason of the great Deserts the earth in many places full of Quagmyres with many other inconueniences which Nature seemeth to haue there ordained Some say that earthly Paradise standeth there and that therefore no earthly man in the world hath knowledge thereof but of this we haue before sufficiently entreated with the opinions of those that haue written thereupon Some there are also who write that in this Lande are certaine great mountains amongst the which are enclosed many peoples of India from which they haue no issue nor meanes at all to come out but I rather beleeue this to be a fiction because I find the same confirmed by no graue allowed Authour But howsoeuer it be beyond this Countrey called Aganagora is much vnknowne and vndiscouered Land neyther by sea thence Northward hath there been any nauigation or discouery of which also the extreame cold and the sea cōtinually frozen and choked vp with heapes of Ise may be the cause the feare of which hath hindred men from attempting the discouery therof onely that which we may hereby vnderstand is that there is a most great quantity of Land from the coast which goeth by the west turneth towards the North and that which compasseth about the East and turneth likewise to the North of which till this time there is not anie man that can giue direct notice in midst of all which is that which we intreated of which is vnder the North whose daie and night is reparted into a yeere BER I knowe not in vvhat sort the moderne Geographers doe measure or compasse the world but I know that they say that the whole Rotundity of all the Land and water in the worlde containeth not aboue sixe thousand leagues of which are discouered 4350. reckoning from the Hauen of Hygueras in the Occident or West Indies to Gatigara where the Prouince of Aganagora is cōtayned which is in the Orient so that there are yet to discouer 1650. leagues in discouering of which the ende and vtmost boundes of the Indies shoulde be knowne as well as that of this part of the earth which we inhabite AN. To those that will measure the world in this maner may be answered as a Boy in Seuilla to those that would deuide the conquest thereof between the King of Castile and the King of Portugale who in mockage of theyr folly puld downe his breeches and shewing them his buttocks badde them draw the line there along if they would needes deuide the world in the midst by measure as for those which mesure in such sort the worlde they take but the length of the earth fetching their way by the midst of the Equinoctiall and so the Astronomers and Cosmographers may goe neere the mark reckoning by degrees and giuing to euery degree 16. leagues a halfe a minute of way as they do but though they discouer this yet they can hardly come to discouer the many parts nookes that are of one side and another of the world being so wide that in one corner thereof may lye hydden many thousands of miles and Countries which beeing seene known wold perchance seem to be some new world so lieth this part of which I speake on the coast of the Sea quite without notice or knowledge BER Some will say that the shippe called Victoria which is yet as a thing of admiration in the Bay of Seuilia went round about the world in the voyage which she made of fourteen thousand leagues AN. Though she did compasse the world round about in one part yet it is not said that she compast the same about in all parts which are so many that to thinke onely of them is sufficient to amaze a mans vnderstanding Amongst the rest we neuer heard that the Coast from the West to the East by the way of the North or at least the greater part thereof hath beene compassed about as yet by any ship neither haue we knowledge of any thing at all neither by Sea nor Land nauigating from thence forward LV. If you reade Pomponius Mela in his Chapter of Scithia where he discourseth of this matter you shall finde that he bringeth the authority of Cornelius Nepos alleadging for witnesse Quintus Metellus whom he had heard say that when he was Proconsull of the Gaules the King of Swethland gaue him certaine Indians of whom demanding which way they came into those Countries they aunswered that through the terrible force of a great tempest they were so furiously driuen from the streame of the Indian Sea that after long attending nothing else thē to be swallowed vp of the waues they came at last violently to bee striken into a Riuer on the Coast of Germany which being true then they made that nauigation by those partes which you say are vndiscouered from the West to the East by the way of the North whereby it is to be thought that the Sea is not so frozen as they say but that it is nauigable AN. Truth it is that Mela saith so though it be doubted whether the Indians came this way or no and Mela himselfe in the ende of the Chapter turneth to say that all the same Septentrionall side is hardened with Ice and therefore vninhabitable and desert but as I haue said all this is not directly proued and confirmed by sound experience exact knowledge seeing we know not howe farre the Land extendeth it selfe on the other side of the North without comming to the Sea and if we would seeke to sift this secrete out and aspire to the knowledge of that which might be found in nauigating that Sea fetching a compasse about the world from North to North God knoweth what Lands would be found and discouered BER The likeliest to beleeue in this matter in my iudgement is that the same
continually hearde so great hideous a noyse that no man dareth to approch neer it by three or foure leagues The shyppes keepe alwayes a loofe of fearing and flying that Coast as death it selfe There is seene amongst those trees such an abundance of great black fowles that they seeme in a manner to couer them who rysing vp into the ayre doe make so great a clowde that they obscure in a manner the cleerenesse of the Sunne theyr crying or rather roring is so horrible and fearefull that such as heare them though verie farre of are constrayned to stoppe theyr eares They neuer flie out of the precincts of thys Iland the same beeing alwayes shadowed with a kinde of obscuritie in manner like a Clowde diuersifying it froÌ„ the Land neere vnto it Some saith he doe affirme this Mountaine to be a part of Hell where the condemned soules are tormented vvhich opinion though it bee ridiculous yet the propertie of this Mountaine is strange and in the cause thereof some hidden mysterie which we comprehend not BER These are matters the secrecie of whose causes are not to be sifted out like vnto that of the Mountaines of Angernamia one of the farthest of those Northerne Prouinces which are so high that they are seene a farre of by those that sayle on the Bothnycke Sea and by them with great care and diligence auoyded through a wonderfull secret in them contayned which causeth a noyse so hideous violent feareful and full of astonishment that it is heard many leagues of and if that by force of tempest driuen or otherwise through ignoraunce vnwitting any ship passeth neere thereunto the horror thereof is so great that many die presently through the penetrating sharpnes and vntollerable violence of the same many remaine euer after deafe or diseased and out of theyr wits Neyther are they that trauaile by Land lesse carefull in auoyding these Mountaines Once certaine young men of great courage beeing curious to discouer the cause heereof stopping theyr eares as artificially as they coulde deuise attempted in little Boates to rowe neere these mountaines and to view the particularities of them but they all perrished in that attempt by theyr desastre leauing an example and warning to others not to hazard themselues in like danger That which we may hereafter imagine is that there are some clefts or Caues within the Rocks of these Mountaines and that the flowing and ebbing of the water striuing with the wind and hauing no aspyration out causeth that fearefull rumbling and hideous noyse and this is vnderstood because the greater the tempest is at Sea the greater is the noyse in those Mountains the same being in calme and milde weather nothing so loude and violent Of these mountains Vincentiê° maketh mention in his glasse of Histories though he write not so particulerlie of them as some moderne Authors doe which affirme that they haue seene them LV. Me thinks this place is as perrillous as that of Charibdis and rather more considering the sharpnes and terror of the noyse which penetrateth so farre and in my iudgement the flowing and ebbing of the water should draw vnto it the shippes and make them perrish though you made therof no mention AN. It seemeth vnto me that you also haue read these Authors which treat of the Septentrional Countries seeing it commeth now to purpose I will tell you one no lesse admirable then the rest which is that in a citty called Viurgo neere the prouince of Muscouia there is a Caue called Esmelen of so secret a vertue that no man hath hetherto been able to comprehend the mistery and cause thereof which is that casting any quicke beast into the same there issueth out presently a sound so terrible as though 3000. great Canons were discharged and shot off together the effect of which is such that the hearers thereof if they haue not their eares very well stopt closed do fall presently down depriued of all feeling sence like dead men out of which mortall traunce som neuer reuiue some do but froÌ„ that time forward so long as they liue they detaine som defect or other The greater the beast is that is throwne thereinto the greater is the noyse and roaring that resoundeth out This Caue is compast about with a verie strong wall and the mouth thereof shut vp with a mightie strong doore hauing many Lockes of vvhich the Gouernour hath one Key in his keeping and the rest of the Magistrates each of them a seuerall least otherwise some desastre might fall out by which the Citty might come to be dispeopled which though it be very strong both of walles and Ramparts yet the greatest strength thereof consisteth in the Caue neyther is there any enemy so mightie or puissant that dareth to besiege it hauing before his eyes the ruine of great Armies that haue attempted the same before by which after the Citty was brought into some extreamitie the Cittizens bethinking themselues of the propertie of the Caue coÌ„maunded by publique proclamation all those of the towne to stop theyr eares and one night vnawares to the enemie they cast into the Caue a great number of liuing beasts vpon vvhich there presently issued forth such a hideous infernall noyse and the violence thereof strooke such amazement into the enemies that some fell downe in a traunce and others throwing away theyr Armes fledde out of theyr Cabbines trenches the most confusedly that might bee and withall to encrease theyr misery the Cittizens issuing out massacred the greater part of them by that meanes deliuering theyr Cittie from seruitude And though they could not but receaue som inconuenience through the horrour of that hellish noyse though theyr eares were neuer so well closed yet through the ioy of theyr victory and recouered libertie they made small account of the same since which time all the borderers there abouts fearing the effect of theyr Caue doe liue in league amitie with them BER In truth this is a matter of great admiration and such that though diuers very great secretes both of heauen and earth are comprehended yet the curiositie of no wit how perfect soeuer can reach to giue heereof anie reason LVD Let vs leaue these secrets to him that made them whose will perchance is to conceale theyr causes froÌ„ vs. AN. You say well and in truth the more wee should beat our wits about them the lesse we should be able to vnderstand them it suffiseth therefore for vs to knowe that these are the secrete and wonderfull workes of God shewen by Nature the vnderstanding whereof is aboue our reach and capacitie But to follow on our discourse of the wonders of this Countrey you shal vnderstand that in those standing waters frozen Lakes of which wee spake before the ayre remaineth oftentimes shut in and inclosed the which moouing it selfe and running vp down vnder the Ise seeking vent causeth such roring and noyse that it were able to amaze
340. yeeres old had foure times renued his age A Moore in the Citty of Vengala 300. yeeres olde The lawes both of Gētiles and Moores permitteth to take manie wiues A man that had liued 340. yeres The long life of those that liue on the other side of the Mountaines Hyperbores Cornelius Tacitus writeth that in Illiria a man called Dondomio liued 500. yeeres Long life not to be desired Centauri vel Sagitarij The History of the Centaures Those of Nephele first learned to ride horses The cause of the warrs betweene the Lapiths the Centaures The Indians thoght that the man and the horse had been all one creature Chiron the Tutor of Achilles Tritons or Sea men Nereides A strange History of a Sea man A Sea man brought out of Mauritania into Spaine The Dolphins more cautelous then other Fishes A race of men in Galicia discended of a Triton Reasons refuting the former storie of men called Marini An answere to those refutations A most strange and admirable History of a Virgine deflowred by a Beare The most wonderfull History of a woman begotten with child by an Ape A strange history of the first inhabitation of the Kingdoms of Pegu Sian Mermaids A mermayd driuen a shore on the Sea-coast Tyresias the Theban Prophet The daughter of Casin changed into a man The like of a woman in Argos The like of a woman in the Citty of Caeta A gentlemans daugh ter of Portugall changed her sex The like of a woman called Phaetula The like of a Husbandmans wife in Spaine Strange things not to be told but before such as are learned and wise The cause of the diuersitie of the taste properties of waters The Fountaine of Epirus The Fountaine Eleusidis Iacobs Wel in Sichar The Lake Silias Sundry Springs of different natures in a valley of Iury neer Macherunte The most strange nature propertie of the herbe Baharas The vertue thereof A Spring in Sycilia most admirable A Fountaine in the Country of the Elyans The Fountaines Alteno Alfeno A Lake 〈◊〉 in Scithia A Fountaine in Licia Water of the Fountaine Tenaeus that will by no meanes be mingled with wine A Fountaine in the Iland of Cuba Stones in a Valley of the same Iland all round A strange Fountaine in the Iland of Cerdonia A Lake on the top of a mountaine in the I le of S. Domingo Two Fountaines in Spaine of strange effect A Fountaine in Sauoy breeding stones of great vertue A strange stone in the Earle of Beneuenta his Garden These Fouls are in English called Barnakles The Author is heerin deceaued for these are 2. seuerall stories both very true The strange fruite of a tree in the citty of Ambrosia A strange tree mentioned in Pigafetas relation to the Pope Certaine riuers of incredible greatnesse found out in the West Indyes Aristotles opiniō of the source of Riuers The opinion of Anaximander his followers The surest opinion cōfirmed by Scripture What the word of Paradice generally taken signifieth The Philosophers opinions concerning Paradice Where the Gentiles supposed the Elisian fields to be Thule is thought to be the same which is now called Iseland Plato The Phaenix renueth of her owne ashes Lactantius Firmianus discourse of Paradice S. Iohn Damascenes opinion of Paradise Venerable Bedes opinion Strabo the Theologians opinion Origens opinion These opinions refuted by S. Thomas Scotus Heauen taken for the regiō of the ayre in many places of Scripture Suidas a greek Author Arrianus a Greeke Historiographer The strange aduenture happening to Hanno a Carthagenian Captaine Nicolaus de lyra Ioha de Pechan Opinions of Caetanus Eugubinus touching terestriall Paradice S. Chrisost. The Seraphin with the fiery sword placed before Paradise Fables touching Paradice The foure Riuers that issue out of Paradice The rysing of the riuers Tygris and Euphrates The sources of Ganges and Nylus The mountaine Emodos The mountaine of the Moone The Riuers that come frō Paradise hide themselues in the hollowes of the earth The Riuer Alpheus Sundry Riuers that hiding themselues vnder the earth come to rise out in newe springs The Gulfe called Mare magnum Encisus touching Paradise Some hold opinion that Nilus is not the same w t is in the holy Scripture called Fison The Authors conclusion concerning the foure Riuers The opinion of som who thought the world to be plaine and leuel before the time of the vniuersall flood Three principall sects of Erronius Religions in the world The originall of Idols The olde philosophers in theyr secret conceit detested the adoration of the feyned Gods The cause why the gētiles adore the deuill The Mahometists will neither hear nor answer any man in disputation against theyr religion Many learned Authors that vnrip lay open the beastly absurdities of Mahomets Secte The wise learned men amongst thē what shewe soeuer they make in publique do in secret detest his abusions Mahomets confession touching our Sauiour Iesus Christ our blessed Lady the Gospell and our Christian Beleefe The slauery and seruitude which the Iewes haue endured since the deniall of our Sauiour the true Messias is an euident argument to confute their obstinate blindnes The name of Prester Iohn is rightly Belulgian An egregious fiction of the Papists The place where Saint Thomas the Apostle died The Church holdeth that S. Thomas was slayne with a knife by an idolatrous Priest The beginning of the name and authority of Prester Iohn Prester Iohn is not hee which is in Aethiopia but he who was in the East Indies conquered by the great Chā though the other be now throgh error so called A Prouince of Christians called Georgia Sundry Prouinces kingdoms and Ilands of Christians Christianity goeth compassing roūd about the whole world The deuill speaketh nor appeareth no more to those Gentiles that begin to embrace the Christian fayth The newe conuerted Countries cleer without heresie A man that could by no meanes endure the sight of a Rat. A Noble man that if you shut by night any doore of the house wold be ready to throw him selfe out at the window A strange melancholly humor of a Gentlewoman which by reason discretion she violently suppressed Illusions and apparitions of Spirits do chiefly proceede of the deuill Democrites would by no meanes beleeue that there were any deuils The olde philosophers opinon touching those that were possessed with Spirits Lemures et Lamiae The fabulus fictiō of the old Phylosophers Daemonia Whether Lucifer and those other Angels that offended w t him fell altogether into Hell or no. Sixe degees of Spirits The deuils haue seuerall and sundry offices A strange story written in the book called The Hammer of Witches The office function of the thirde degree of Spirits The deuils malice against vs proceedeth onely of enuie The deuils though of different kindes yet in malice desire to doe euill are all alike Euery man hath a good Angell and a bad attendant vpon him Genium Hominis
The wonderfull puissance of the deuill The power of the deuill restrained by God A strange chance that happened to a Boy in the Citty of Astorga A verie strange thing that happened in Benauides The miserable end of a swearer The fourth kind of Spirits The fifth kind of Spirits These are causers of earthquakes The sixth kinde of Spirits The opinion of S. Basile touching the bodies of Spirits Both the Angels and deuils are pure Spirits The generall opinion of the holy Doctors coÌ„cerning the substance of Spirits The Spirits when it is necessary fashion vnto themselues bodies of fire ayre or earth c. What PhaÌ„tasma is A strange vision that hapned to Gentleman in Fuentes de Ropell A notable straÌ„ge thing that happened in Bolonia to one Iohn Vasques de Ayola a Spaniard A notable strange chance that hapned to a Gentleman in Spayne in a Monastery of Nunnes Another very strange history written by Alexander de Alexandro Another most straÌ„ge history written by Alexander de Alexandro The answer of S. Andrew to a question proposed to him by the deuill A strange History of Don Anthonio de la Cueua Incubi Succubi The deuils malice is such that he wil not stick to commit any abhomination so that he may cause men to commit it with him Marcus a Greacian that had great familiaritie with deuils An erronious opinion of Lactantius Firmianus A wonderful history of a mayden that was enamoured of the deuill An other strange history of a mayden deceaued by the deuill Negromancie Naturall Magique Abel the Sonne of Adam made a book of the vertues of the Planets The vse of natural Magique is lawfull The Magitians do couenant and agree with the deuill Some deuils higher in authoritie then others A pretty tale of Sprights that were seene in Beneuenta Another pretty tale of a Spright Trasgoâ—y Duendes de Casa Hobgoblins and Robin Goodfelows A Hobgoblin in the Citty of Salamanca A Story of a Studient and a Hobgobline in Beneuenta Another story of a Hobgobline in Beneuenta A false and ridiculous opinion that many hold touching those that are possessed Psellius opinion of the cause why the deuils desire to enter into mens bodies Enchaunters Witches The deuill sometimes entreth into the body of beastes A story of a student that rode between Guadalupe and Granada in one night Another notable chance that hapned to two men on their way to Granada Sorcerers Hags A notable chance that happened to a learned man in Spaine Fryer Alonso de Castra his opinion touching Sorcerers Hags Lamia Striges Wee call these skriech Owles Two maner of wayes by which the Sorcerers are present in generall assemblies with the deuill A strange story of a Sorceresse Another story of a Sorceresse written in Malleê° Maleficarum a booke contayning nothing but things exceeding wel verified and of vndoubted truth Another history of a Sorceresse recited by Paulus Grillandus The names of certaine old famous Sorcerers Negromancers The deuill in the ende always bringeth his ministers to shame and confusion Particuler vertue of men called Ophrogens A pretty kind of curing a man that was bitten by a mad dogge There is a Sect of men in Spain called Saludadores who heale by such like ceremonies those that are bitten by mad dogs I haue seene of them my selfe The cause why the deuill suggesteth euill thoughts to vs in our sleepe A strange chance that hapned to a Gentleman in his sleepe The deuill is alwayes lying in wait to deceaue vs. Aristotles definition of Fortune The grosnes of the Gentiles about their Gods Sundry maners and formes in which the Gentiles figured and paynted Fortune The phrase Corrio Fortuna is not so proper in English and therefore I set it in Spanish Temples dedicated to aduerse Fortune There is great difference betweene Chaunce Fortune The definition of Chaunce more general then that of Fortune Claudius despairing to liue of a sodain made Emperour Caligula murdered as he went to see certaine pastimes Beastes haue no vnderstanding but are onely guided by a distinct of Nature A Beare that playd vpon a Flute The fiercenes of the dogs of Albania The strange affection of a dog of K. Lysimachus The loue of a Romaine gentlemans dog to his dead maister Cardanê° also maketh meÌ„tion of thy dog in his booke de perfect is animalibus Fernandus Gonzala Ouiedê° sayth that this dog was called Bezerillus A strange story of the Earle of Beneuentaâ— dogge The gouernment of the Bees The prouidence of the Ants. The vigilance or the Cranes Reason and vnderstanding vnseparably conioyned and vaited together The cause why some beasts haue greater instinct then others * Dycha Desdycha * Ventura Disuentura * 〈◊〉 Desdichade Bonauentuâ—ado Malauenturado Some words of the Author omitted which treate of the Etimologie of Dycha Desdycha Ventura Disuentura and Disgracia deriuing them from the Latine which doe nothing agree with our English phrase In thinges spirituall interiour there can be no Fortune What wee ought in true Religion to thinke of Fortune There is no other Fortune then the will and prouidence of God What thing Desteny is The Stoyicks opinion of Desteny The opinion of Chrisippus The opinion of Seneca A story of one that said it was his desteny to be a Hangman An argument to proue that there is Destenie The obiection aunswered All that is not vnpossible may be auoided How the operation influence of the starres is to be vnderstoode Our soules farre more noble then the caelestiall bodies Out bodies lesse noble theÌ„ the Planets therfore subiect to their influence The influence of the planets worketh not â—â— force necessity but theyr effects may many vvayes bee altered and changed Our good Angel preserueth vs oftentimes from many mischiefes Astronomers sometimes foretell future things Pope Marcellê° Father said at the houre of his sonnes birth that he was borne to be Pope The Astronomer of Charie Many causes and reasons to alter that which the signes and Planets doe seeme to portend The Chyromancers or Palmestrers doe often meddle their Science with Negromancie The opinion of the Astronomers touching the operation of the Planets Opinion of the Philosophers The opinion of Plato Calcidius An obiection An aunswer to the obiection Auerroes Opinion of Merc. Trismegistus Auerroes Iamblicus Plotinê° scoffeth at the Astronomers Auerroes Opinion of Marsilius Ficinus The Astronomers opinion reprouable by many arguments Obiection The iuyce of Hemlocke giuen to drinke to those that were condeÌ„ned to die The iuyce of Mandragora is mortiferous The vertue of Hemlock The vertues of Mandragora No herbe so venomous but it is some-way vertuous profitable The Viper yeeldeth remedy against many diseases A Leaper strangely cured Pestilentiall diseases are caused through the corruptions putrifactions of the earth The heauen is deuided into fiue Zones and the earth into as many The opinion of Ouid. Macrobiê° Virgil and the rest of the ancients erred touching the enhabited parts of the