to a resolution not onely to enter vpon this new taske but also to breake through all difficulties vntill I had brought the same if not to a full and absolute perfection yet to an end and finall conclusion Besides this naturall inclination and hope which carried mee this way other motiues there were that made saile and set mee forward I saw how diuerse men before me had dealt with this authour whiles some laboured to reforme whatsoeuer by iniurie of time was growne out of frame others did their best to translate him into their own tongue and namely the Italian and French moreoover the Title prefixed therto so vniuersall as it is to wit The Historie of the World or Reports of Nature imported no doubt that hee first penned it for the generall good of mankind Ouer and besides the Argument ensuing full of varietie furnished with discourses of all matters not appropriate to the learned only but accommodat to the rude peisant of the countrey fitted for the painefull artizan in towne and citie pertinent to the bodily health of man woman and child and in one word suiting with all sorts of people liuing in a societie and common-weale To say nothing of the precedent giuen by the authour himselfe who endited the same not with any affected phrase but sorting well with the capacitie euen of the meanest and most vnlettered who also translated a good part thereof out of the Greeke What should I alledge the example of former times wherein the like hath euermore been approued and practised Why should any man therefore take offence hereat and enuie this good to his naturall countrey which was first meant for the whole world and yet some there be so grosse as to giue out That these and such like bookes ought not to bee published in the vulgar tongue It is a shame quoth one that Liuie speaketh English as hee doth Latinists onely are to bee acquainted with him as Who would say the souldiour were to haue recourse vnto the vniuersitie for militarie skill and knowledge or the scholler to put on armes and pitch a campe What should Plinie saith another bee read in English and the mysteries couched in his bookes divulged as if the husbandman the mason carpenter goldsmith painter lapidarie and engrauer with other artificers were bound to seeke vnto great clearkes or linguists for instructions in their seuerall arts Certes such Momi as these besides their blind and erronious opinion thinke not so honourably of their natiue countrey and mother tongue as they ought who if they were so well affected that way as they should be would wish rather and endeauour by all meanes to triumph now ouer the Romans in subduing their literature vnder the dent of the English pen in requitall so the conquest sometime ouer this Island atchieued by the edge of their sword As for our speech was not Latine as common and naturall in Italie as English here with vs. And if Plinie faulted not but deserued well of the Romane name in laying abroad the riches and hidden treasures of Nature in that Dialect or Idiome which was familiar to the basest clowne why should any man be blamed for enterprising the semblable to the commoditie of that countrey in which and for which he was borne Are wee the onely nation vnder heauen vnworthie to tast of such knowledge or is our language so barbarous that it will not admit in proper tearmes a forreine phrase I honor them in my heart who hauing of late daies troden the way before mee in Plutarch Tacitus and others haue made good proofe that as the tongue in an Englishmans head is framed so flexible and obsequent that it can pronounce naturally any other language so a pen in his hand is able sufficiently to expresse Greeke Latine and Hebrew And my hope is that after mee there will arise some industrious Flavij who may at length cornicum oculos configere For if my selfe a man by profession otherwise carried away for gifts farre inferiour to many and wanting such helps as others bee furnished with haue in some sort taught those to speake English who were supposed very vntoward to bee brought vnto it what may be expected at their hands who for leisure may attend better in wit are more pregnant and being graced with the opinion of men and fauour of the time may attempt what they will and effect whatsoever they attempt with greater felicitie A painfull and tedious travaile I confesse it is neither make I doubt but many doe note mee for much follie in spending time herein and neglecting some compendious course of gathering good and pursing vp pence But when I looke backe to the example of Plinie I must of necessitie condemne both mine owne sloth and also reproue the supine negligence of these daies A courtiour he was and great favourit of the Vespasians both father and sonne an oratour besides and pleaded many causes at the barre a martiall man withall and serued often times a leader and commander in the field within the citie of Rome hee mannaged civile affaires and bare honourable offices of State Who would not thinke but each one of these places would require a whole man and yet amid these occasions wherewith he was possessed he penned Chronicles wrate Commentaries compiled Grammaticall treatises and many other volumes which at this day are vtterly lost As for the Historie of Nature now in hand which sheweth him to be an excellent Philosopher and a man accomplished in all kinds of literature the onely monument of his that hath escaped all dangers and as another Palladium beene reserued entire vnto our time wherein hee hath discoursed of all things even from the starrie heauen to the centre of the earth a man would marveile how hee could possibly either write or doe any thing else But considering the agilitie of mans spirit alwaies in motion an ardent desire to benefit posteritie which in these volumes hee hath so often protested his indefatigable studie both day and night euen to the iniurie of nature and the same continued in euerie place as well abroad as within-house in his iourney vpon the high way where his manner was to read and to indite in his ordinarie passage through the streets betweene court and home where he gaue himselfe no rest but either read or else found his notarie worke to write and for that purpose rode vsually in an easie litter with the said Notarie close by his side lesse wonder it is that hee performed his service to Prince and state according to his calling and withall deliuered vnto posteritie so many fruits of wit and learning For what is not the head of man able to compasse especially making saile with a feruent desire and resolution to see an end and besides taking the vantage of all moments and losing no time whereof hee was unus omnium parcissimus Touching his affection to search into the secrets of Nature it was that and nothing else that shortened his daies and
of the dunghill are as proud and high minded ye shal see them to march stately carying their neck bolt vpright with a combe on their head like the crest of a soldiers helmet And there is not a bird besides himself that so oft looketh aloft to the Sun and sky and then vp goeth the taile and all which he beares on high turning backward again on the top like a hook And hereupon it is that marching thus proudly as they do the very Lions which of all wilde beasts be most couragious stand in feare and awe of them and will not abide the sight of them Now of these Cocks some of them are made for nothing els but war and fighting and neuer are they well but in quarrels brawles and fraies and these be cocks of kind and the countries from whence they come are grown into name being much renowned for their breed as namely Rhodus and Tenagra in the first and highest degree In a second ranke and place be those of Melos and Chalcis Vnto these birds for their worth dignity the purple robe at Rome and all magistrats of state disdain not to giue honor These be they that by their tripudium solistimum i. hearty feeding obserued by the pullitiers shew good successe These rule our great rulers euery day and there is not a mighty L. or state of Rome that dare open or shut the dore of his house before he knowes the good pleasure of these fowles and that which more is the soueraigne magistrate in his majestie of the Roman empire with the regall ensignes of rods and axes caried before him neither sets forward nor reculeth backe without direction from these birds they giue order to whole armies to aduance forth to battel again command them to stay and keep within the camp These were they that gaue the signall and foretold the issue of all those famous foughten fields whereby we haue atchieued all our victories throughout the whole world and in one word these birds command those great Commanders of all nations vpon the earth as acceptable to the gods in sacrifice with their smal fibres filaments of their inwards as the greatest and fattest oxen that are killed for sacrifice Moreouer their crowing out of order too soon before their houre or too late and namely in the euening portendeth also and presageth somwhat by it selfe For well known it is that by their crowing at one time all night long they fore-signified to the Boeotians that noble victorie of theirs atchieued ouer the Lacedaemonians For this interpretation and coniecture was giuen thereupon of a fortunat day because that bird neuer croweth if he be beaten or ouercome If they be once carued and made capons they crow no more And this feat is practised vpon them two manner of waye namely either by burning their loines toward their kidnies with a red hot yron or else by cauterising their legs beneath and their spurs and then presently applying a plaister vnto the exulcerate and blistered place made of potters white clay or chalky earth and being thus serued they will sooner feed and be fat At Pergamus euery yeare there is a solemne shew exhibited openly to the people of Cocke-fighting as if sword-fencers were brought within the lists to fight at outterance We finde in record among our Annales that within the territorie of Ariminum in that yeare when Marcus Lepidus and Quintus Catulus were Consuls there was a dunghill cocke did speake and it was about a ferme-house in the countrey belonging to one Galerius But this hapned neuer but once for ought that I could euer heare or learne CHAP. XXII ¶ Of Geese and who first eat the Goose liuer Also of the leafe of a Goose of Comagena THe Goose likewise is very vigilant and watchfull witnesse the Capitoll of Rome which by the meanes of Geese was defended and saued whereas at the same time through the default of dogs which should haue giuen warning all had like to haue bin lost Wherefore the first thing that the Censors do by vertue of their office is to take order for the Geese of the Capitol and to appoint some one man of purpose to see vnto them that they haue meat enough Moreouer they are said to be giuen much to loue for at Argos there was a Goose that was wonderously inamoured of a faire boy named Olenus as also of a damosel whose name was Glauce who vsed to play on the lute before king Ptolomaeus and by report at the same time a Ram made court vnto the said wench and was in loue with her It may be credibly thought also that this creature hath some sparks as it were of reason vnderstanding and learning for Lacydes the Philosopher had one of them about him which would neuer leaue him night nor day neither in the open street abroad nor in priuat house at home but would follow him euen to his close and secret baines where he vsed to bathe But our countrimen and citisens of Rome beleeue me are wiser now adaies who know forsooth how to make a dainty dish of their Liuer For in those Geese that are kept vp and cram'd fat in coup the liuer grows to be exceeding great and when it is taken forth of the belly it waxeth bigger still if it be steeped in milk and sweet mede together Good cause therefore it is that there be some question and controuersie about the first inuentor of this great good and singular commoditie to mankind whether it were Scipio Metellus a man who lately was called to be Consulior M. Sestius who in those daies was by his birth a gentleman of Rome But to leaue that stil vndecided this is certainly known that Messalinus Cotta son to that Messala the Orator found out the secret to broile fry the flat broad feet of Geese and together with cocks combs to ãâã a sauory dish of meat thereof between two platters For surely I for my part will giue euery man his due and right and will not defraud them of their singular praise and honour who haue bin benefactors to the kitchen and proceeded masters in cookerie A maruellous thing of these birds that a flock of them should come all the way bare foot from * Terwin and Torney in France as far as to Rome Their order was who had the conduct of them in this large voyage to bring those forward that were weary and lagged behind into the vaward forefront and so the rest by a certain thick vnited squadron which naturally they make going together driue the others before them A second commoditie that Geese yeeld especially those that be white is their plume and downe For in some places their soft feathers are pluckt twice a yeare and yet they cary feathers again and be as well couered with plume as before and euermore the neerer to the skin and flesh the softer is the downe But of all other the finest and best is that which is brought out of
being boiled in oile the decoction also is vsually giuen in drink to those who be subiect to the falling euill likewise to such as be troubled in mind beside themselues to as many as are giuen to dizzines giddines of the brain and do ween that euery thing turnes round but they must take the poise of one dram euery day throughout the yeare The same root if it be taken in any great quantity purgeth the sences But the principall and most excellent vertue that it hath is this That if it be stamped with water and so applied it draweth forth spels of broken and shiuered bones as well and effectually as the verie true Bryonie which is the cause that some doe call it White Bryonie for there is another which is black and of greater efficacie to the same purpose if it be applied with hony Frankincense It is very good to resolue impostumes and biles which are in growing and not yet come to suppuration but if they haue continued and gather to an head it bringeth them soone to maturation and afterwards clenseth them It bringeth downe womens monthly sicknesse and prouoketh vrine An electuary or lohoch made therof to licke and suffered gently to melt vnder the tongue and go downe leisurely is singular good for such as bee short-winded and labour for breath also for pleurisies or pains of the side for convulsions and inward ruptures If one drink the weight of three oboli 30 daies together it will wast and consume the swelled splene The same serueth in a liniment to be applied with figs to the excrescences or risings of the flesh ouer the naile called Pterygia Being laid too as a cataplasm with wine it fetcheth away the after-birth in women and taken to the weight of a dram in honied water it purgeth flegmatick humors The juice of the root must be drawne before the fruit or seed be ripe this juice either alone or incorporat with Eruile meale if the body be annointed therewith doth illustrat the colour make the skin soft and tender and in one word it is such an embelishment that it maketh any person better for the sale where by the way note that it chaseth serpents away Moreouer the very substance of the root if it be stamped with fat figs doth lay the riuels and wrinckles of the skin plain and euen if it be rubbed or annointed therewith but then the party must walk immediatly vpon it a good quarter of a mile for otherwise it will fret and burne the skin vnlesse presently it be washed off with cold water Howbeit the black wild vine doth this feat more gently and with greater ease for surely the white setteth an itch vpon the skin There is therfore a black wild vine which properly they call Bryonia some Chironia others Cynecanthe or Apronia like in all respects to the former but only in the colour of the root grape or berry for it is black as I haue before said The tender sprouts sions that spring from the root Diocles preferred to be eaten in a sallad or otherwise before the very crops and tender shoots of the true garden Sperage and indeed they prouoke vrine and diminish the spleen far better it groweth commonly in hedges among bushes and shrubs and most of all in reed-plots The root without-forth is blacke but within of a pale yellow box colour and this is of much more efficacie to draw out broken bones than the aboue-named white Briony Moreouer this peculiar property it hath besides To cure the farcines or sores in horse necks and for this it is thought to be the only thing in the world Said commonly it is that if a man do set an hedge or hay thereof round about a grange or ferm house in the country there will no kites nor hawks nor any such rauening birds of prey come neere so as the pullen and other foul kept about the said ferme shall be secure from their claws or tallons If it be tied about the ankles of a man or the pasterns of laboring horses vnto which there is a fall either of Phlegmatick humors or of a bloud causing the gout in the one and the pains in the other it cureth the same Thus much concerning the sundrie sorts of Vines and their properties respectiue to Physicke As touching Musts or new wines the first and principall difference of them lieth in this that some by nature are white others blacke and others again of a mixt colour between them both Secondly some Musts there be whereof wine is made and others which serue only for cuit but if we regard the artificiall deuises and the carefull industry of man about them there be an infinit number of musts all distinct and different one from the other Thus much may suffice to deliuer fully in generall terms concerning musts or new wines As for their properties There is no must or new wine but it is hurtfull to the stomack though otherwise pleasant to the veines and passages Certes if a man poure downe new wine hastily without breathing or taking the wind between presently as he commeth out of the bain or hot-house hee doth enough to kill himselfe Howbeit of a contrary nature it is to the Cantharides saueth those that are in danger by drinking them A singular counterpoison is new wine in the lees against al serpents but principally the Haemorrhoids and the Salamanders It causeth head-ache and is an enemy to the throat and windpipes wholsome it is for the kidnies the liuer and the inward parts of the bladder for it easeth them all of pain But a singular vertue it hath against the venomous worm or flie Buprestis aboue the rest if one drink it with oile and cast it vp againe by vomit it is an excellent remedy for those who haue taken too much Opium it helpeth those who are in danger of crudled milk within the body such also as are poisoned with hemlock envenomed with the poison Toxica Dorycnium In sum white new wine is not so powerful in operation as others Likewise the Must wherof cuit is made is pleasanter than the rest causes lesse headach As touching the sundrie kinds of wine which are exceeding many as also the vertues and properties of euery seueral sort in manner by it selfe I haue sufficiently discoursed in a former Treatise Neither is there any point more difficult to be handled or that affourdeth greater variety of matter And a man canot readily say Whether wine be more hurtfull or wholsome for our bodies considering the doubtful euent and issue presently on the drinking therof for that somtime it is a remedy and a helpe otherwhiles it proueth to be a mischiefe and a very poison For mine owne part according to my first dessign and purpose I am to treat only of such things as Nature hath brought forth for the health and preseruation of man Wel I wote that Asclepiades hath made one entire volume expressely of the manner how to
there was not that vse of them in physick as at this present for now adays if folk be amisse or il at ease straightwaies they run to the bains and bath for remedy And in truth those waters which stand vpon brimstone be good for the sinews such as come from a veine of alume are proper for the palsie or such like infirmities proceeding from resolution of the nerues Moreouer they that hold of bitumen or nitre such as be the fountains Cutiliae be potable and good to be drunke and yet they are purgatiue To come to the vse of natural bains and hot waters many men in a brauery sit long in a bath and they take a pride in it to indure the heat of the water many hours together and yet is there nothing so hurtfull for the body for in truth a man should continue little longer in them than in ordinary artificiall bains or stouphs and then afterwards when he goeth forth hee is to wash his body with fresh cold water not without some oile among Howbeit our common people here thinke this to be very strange will not be brought to to it which is the reason that mens bodies in no place are most subject to diseases for the strong vapours that steme from thence stuffe and fil their heads and although they sweat in one part yet they chil in another notwithstanding the rest of their bodies stand deep within the water Others there are besides who on the like erronious conceit take great joy in drinking a deal of this water striuing avie who can poure most of it downe the throat I haue my selfe seen some of them so puffed vp and swolne with drinking that their very skin couered and hid the rings vpon their fingers namely when they were not able to deliuer again the great quantity of water that they had taken in Therefore this drinking of much water is not good to be vsed vnles a man do eftsoons eat salt withall Great vse there is and to good purpose of the mud which these fountains do yeeld but with this regard that when the body is besmeared and bedawbed outwardly therwith the same may dry vpon it in the Sun Well these hot waters be commonly full of vertue howbeit this is not generall That if a spring be hot by and by we should think it is medicinable for the experience of the contrary is to be seen in Egesta of Sicily in Larissa Troas Magnesia Melos and Lipara Neither is it a sure argument of a medicinable water as many are of opinion if a piece of siluer or brasse which hath bin dipped therein lose the colour for there is no such matter to be seene by the naturall baths of Padua neither is there perceiued in them any difference in smell from others Concerning Sea waters the same order and mean is to be obserued especially in such as bee made hot for to help the pains and infirmities of the sinews and many hold them good to souder fractures of bones yea and to cure their bruises and contusions likewise they haue a desiccatiue vertue wherby they dry rheumaticke bodies in which regard men bath also in sea water actually cold Moreouer the sea affoor deth other vses in diuers and sundry respects but principally the aire therof is wholsome for those who are in a phthysicke or consumption as I haue beforesaid and cureth such as doe reach or void bloud vpward and verily I remember of late daies that Annaeus Gallio after that he was Consull tooke this course namely to saile vpon the sea for this infirmity What is the cause think ye that many make voiages into Aegypt surely it is not for the aire of Egypt it self but because they lie long at sea and be sailing a great while before they come thither Furthermore the vomits also which are occasioned at sea by the continual rolling and rocking of the ships neuer standing stil are good for many maladies of head eies and brest and generally they doe cure all those accidents for which the drinking of Ellebore serueth As for sea water to be applied simply of it selfe vnto the outward parts physitians are of opinion that it is more effectual than any other for to discusse resolue tumors more particularly if there be a cataplasme made of it and barly meale sodden together it is singular for the swellings behind the ears called Parotides They mingle the same likewise in plasters such especially as be white and emollitiues and if the head be hurt and the * brain touched and offended it is soueraigne to be infused into the wound It is prescribed also to be drunke for albeit the stomack take some offence and hurt thereby yet it purgeth the body well and doth euacuat melancholick humors and black choler yea and if the bloud bee cluttered within the body it sendeth it out one way or other either vpward or downeward Some haue ordained it to be giuen for the quartan feuer others aduise to saue and keep it a time for to serue the turne in case of Tinesmes which are vnordinat strainings at the stoole to no effect also for all gouts and pains of joints and in very truth by age long keeping it forgoeth al that brackish tast which it had at the first Some boile it before but all in generall agree in this To vse for these purposes that sea water which was taken out of the deep far from the land such as is not corrupt with any mixture of fresh water with it and before their patients do drink it enjoyne them to vomit and then also do they mingle with it either vineger or wine for that purpose They that giue little thereof and by it selfe appoint radishes to be eaten presently vpon it with honied vineger or oxymell for to prouoke the patient to vomit againe Moreouer they vse otherwhile to minister a clystre made of sea water first warmed verily there iâ⦠not a better thing than it for to bath and foment the cods withall if they be swelled either with ventosities or waterish humors Also it is much commended for kibed heels if they be taken before they are broken and exulcerat and in like manner they kill the itch cure scabs tettars and ringwormes Sea water serueth wel to wash the head to rid it of nits and filthy lice yea and reduceth black and blew marks in the skin to the fresh and liuely colour againe In all these cures after the vse of salt-water it is passing good to foment the place affected with vineger hot Ouer and besides it is thought to be very wholsome and good against the venomous stings of serpents and namely of the spiders Phalangia and scorpions Semblably it cureth those that be infected outwardly with the noysome saliuation or spittle of the Aspis called Ptyas but in these cases it must be taken hot furthermore a perfume made with sea-water and vineger is singular for the head-ach If it be clysterized hot
Equinoctiall line the second to the Meridian line or the South the third to the Sun-setting in the Equinoctiall and the fourth taketh vp all the rest from the said West to the North star These quarters againe they haue parted into foure regions a piece of which eight from the Sun-rising they called the Left as many again from the contrary part the Right Which considered most dreadfull and terrible are those lightnings which from the Sun-setting reach into the North and therefore it skilleth very much from whence lightnings come and whither they go the best thing obserued in them is when they return into the Easterly parts And therefore when they come from that first and principall part of the skie and haue recourse again into the same it is holden for passing good hap such was the signe and token of victories giuen by report to Sylla the Dictatour In all other parts of the element they be lesse fortunate or fearful They that haue written of these matters haue deliuered in writing that there be lightnings which to vtter abroad is held vnlawful as also to giue eare vnto them if they be disclosed vnlesse they be declared either to parents or to a friend and guest How great the vanity is of this obseruation was at Rome vpon the blasting of Iunoes temple found by Scaurus the Consull who soone after was President of the Senate It lightneth without thunder more in the night than day time Of all creatures that haue life and breath man only it doth not alwaies kill the rest it dispatcheth presently This priuiledge honour we see Nature hath giuen to him whereas otherwise so many great beasts surpasse him in strength All other creatures smitten with lightning fall downe vpon the contrary side man onely vnlesse he turne vpon the parts stricken dyeth not Those that are smitten from aboue vpon the head lie downe and sinke directly He that is stricken watching is found dead with his eies winking and close shut but whosoeuer is smitten sleeping is found open eied A man thus comming by his death may not by law be burned Religion hath taught that he ought to be enterred and buried in the earth No liuing creature is set a fire by lightning but it is breathlesse first The wounds of them that be smitten with thunderbolts are colder than all the body besides CHAP. LV. ¶ What things are not smitten with Lightning OF all those things which grow out of the earth Lightning blasteth not the Laurell tree nor entreth at any time aboue fiue foot deep into the ground and therefore men fearfull of lightning suppose the deeper caues to be the surest and most safe or els booths made of skins of sea-beasts which they call Seales or Sea-calues for of all creatures in the sea this alone is not subiect to the stroke of lightning like as of all flying foules the Eagle which for this cause is imagined to be the armour-bearer of Iupiter for this kinde of weapon In Italie betweene Tarracina and the temple of Feronia they gaue ouer in time of warre to make towers and forts for not one of them escaped but was ouerthrowne with lightning CHAP. LVI ¶ Of strange and prodigious raine to wit of Milke Bloud Flesh Iron Wooll Tyles and Brickes BEsides these things aboue in this lower region vnder heauen we finde recorded in monuments that it rained milke and bloud when M. Acilius and C. Porcius were Consuls And many times else besides it rained flesh as namely whiles L. Volumnius and Serv. Sulpitius were Consuls and look what of it the foules of the aire caught not vp nor carried away it neuer putrified In like manner it rained yron in the Lucanes countrey the yere before that M. Crassus was slaine by the Parthians and together with him all the Lucanes his souldiers of whom there were many in his army That which came downe in this raine resembled in some sort Sponges and the Wisards and South sayers being sought vnto gaue warning to take heed of wounds from aboue But in the yere that L. Paulus and C. Marcellus were Consuls it rained wooll about the Castle Carissa neare to which a yeare after T. Annius Milo was slaine At the time that the same Milo pleaded his owne cause at the bar there fell a raine of tyles and bricks as it is to be seen in the Records of that yeare CHAP. LVII ¶ Of the rustling of Armour and sound of Trumpets heard from Heauen IN the time of the Cimbrian warres we haue bin told that Armour was heard to rustle and the trumpet to sound out of heauen And this happened very often both before and after those wars But in the third Consulship of Marius the Amerines and Tudertes saw men in armes in the skie rushing and running one against another from the East and West and might behold those of the West discomfited That the very firmament it selfe should be of a light fire it is no maruel at all for oftentimes it hath been seene when clouds haue caught any greater deale of fire CHAP. LVIII ¶ Of Stones falling downe from the Skie AMong the Greeks there is much talke of Anaxagoras Clazomenius who by his learning and skill that he had in Astronomie foretold in the second yeare of the 78 Olympias what time a stone should fall from out of the Sun and the same happened accordingly in the day time in a part of Thracia neere the riuer Aegos which stone is shewed at this day as big as a waine load carrying a burnt and adust colour at what time as a comet or blazing starre also burned in those nights Which if any man beleeue that it was fore-signified must needs also confesse that this diuinitie or fore-telling of Anaxagoras was more miraculous and wonderfull than the thing it selfe and then farewell the knowledge of Natures workes and welcome confusion of al in case we should beleeue that either the Sun were a stone or that euer any stone were in it But that stones fall oftentimes downe no man will make any doubt In the publicke place of Exercise in Abydos there is one at this day vpon the same cause preserued and kept for to be seene and held in great reuerence it is but of a meane and small quantity yet it is that which the selfe-same Anaxagoras by report fore-signified that it should fal in the mids of the earth There is one also at Cassandria which was in old time vsually called Potidaea a colony from thence deducted I my selfe haue seene another in the territorie of the Vocantians which was brought thither but a little before CHAP. LIX ¶ Of the Rainebow THose which we call Rain-bowes are seene often without any wonder at all or betokening any great matter for they portend not so much as rainy or faire daies to trust vpon But manifest it is that the Sun beames striking vpon an hollow cloud when their edge is repelled are beaten backe against the Sun and thus ariseth varietie
barrels or earthen vessels and so they will continue good till new come As for all other plums as they be soon ripe so they are as soone gone It is not long since that in the realm of Granado and Andalusia they began to graffe plums vpon apple-tree stocks and those brought forth plums named Apple-plums as also others called Almond-plums graffed vpon Almond-stocks these haue within their stone a kernel like an Almond and verily there is not a fruit again wherein is seene a wittier deuise to conioine and represent in one and the same subiect two diuers sorts As for the Damascene-plums taking name of Damasco in Syria we haue sufficiently spoken thereof in our treatise of strange trees and yet long since they haue bin knowne to grow in Italy which although they haue a large stone and little carnosity about them yet they neuer wither into wrinkles and riuels when they be dry for that they want the ful strength of the kind Sun which they had in Syria We should do wel to write together with them of the fruit Sebesten which also come from the same Syria albeit now of late they begin to grow at Rome being graffed vpon Soruices As touching peaches in generall the very name in Latine whereby they are called Persica doth euidently shew that they were brought out of Persis first and that it is a fruit not ordinary either in Greece or Natolia but a meere stranger there Contrariwise wilde plums as it is well knowne grow euery where I maruell therefore so much the more that Cato made no mention thereof considering that of purpose he shewed the maner how to preserue and keep diuers wild fruits till new came for long it was first ere Peach trees came into these parts and much adoe there was before they could be brought for to prosper with vs seeing that in the Island Rhodes which was their place of habitation next to Aegypt they beare not at all but are altogether barren And whereas it is said That Peaches be venomous in Persia do cause great torments in them who do eat therof as also that the KK of Persia in old time caused them to be transported ouer into Aegypt by way of reuenge to plague that country and notwithstanding their poisonous nature yet through the goodnes of that soile they became good and holesom all this is nothing but a meere fable a loud lie True it is indeed that the best writers who haue been painful aboue others to search out the truth haue reported so much concerning the tree Persea which is far different from the Peach tree Persica beareth fruit like to Sebesten of color red and willingly would not grow in any country without the East parts and yet the wiser more learned Clerkes do hold That it was not the tree Persea which was brought out of Persis into Egypt for to annoy and plague the country but that it was planted first by K. Perseus at Memphis Whereupon it came that Alexander the Great ordained That all victors who had won the prize at any game there should be crowned with a chaplet of that tree to honor the memoriall of his great grandsires father But how euer it be certaine it is that this tree continueth greene all the yere long and beareth euermore fruit one vnder another new and old together And to returne again to our Plum-trees euident it is that in Cato's time they were not knowne in Italy but all the Plum-trees which we now haue are come since he died CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of nine and twenty kinds of Fruits contained vnder the names of Apples OF Apples that is to say of fruits that haue tender skins to be pared off there bee many sorts For as touching Pome-citrons together with their tree we haue already written The Greekes call them Medica according to the name of the country from whence they first came in old time As for Iujubes as also the fruit Tuberes they bee likewise strangers as well as the rest and long it is not since they arriued first in Italy the one sort out of Africk the other namely Iujubes out of Syria Sextus Papinius whom my self in my time saw Consul of Rome was the first man that brought them both into these parts namely in the later end of Augustus Caesar the Emperor and planted them about the rampiers of his campe for to beautifie the same Howbeit to say a truth their fruit resembled rather berries than apples yet they make a goodly shew vpon the rampiers and no maruell since that now adayes whole groues of trees begin to ouertop and surmount the houses of priuat persons Concerning the fruit Tuberes there be two sorts thereof to wit the white and the reddish called also Sericum of the colour of silke The Apples named Lanata are held in manner for strangers in Italy and are knowne to grow but in one place thereof and namely within the territory of Verona Couered they be all ouer with a kind of down or fine cotton which albeit both quince and peach be clad and ouergrown with in great plenty yet these alone cary the name thereof for otherwise no special propertie are they known by to commend them A number of apples there are besides that haue immortalised their first founders and inventers who brought them into name caused them to be known abroad in the world as if therin they had performed some worthy deed beneficiall to all mankinde In which regard why should I think much to rehearse reckon them vp particularly by name for if I be not much deceiued thereby will appeare the singular wit that some men imployed in graffing trees and how there is not so small a matter so it be wel and cunningly done but is able to get honor to the first author yea and to eternise his name for euer From hence it comes that our best apples take their denominations of Matius Cestius Manlius Claudius As for the quince-apples that come of a quince graffed vpon an apple stock they are called Appiana of one Appius who was of the Claudian house and first deuised and practised that feat These apples cary the smel with them of quinces they beare in quantitie the bignesse of the Claudian apples and are in color red Now lest any man should think that this fruit came into credit by reason only of partiall fauor for that the first inuentor was a man descended from so antient noble a family let him but think of the apples Sceptiana which are in as great request as they for their passing roundnesse and they beare the name of one Sceptius their first inuentor who was no better than the son of a slaue lately infranchised Cato maketh mention of apples called Quiriana as also of Scantiana which he saith the maner is to put vp in vessels and so keep them But of all others the last that were adopted and tooke name of their patrons and inuentors be
which at both ends taking it long-waies groweth hard in manner of a stone how beit that which hath an hard shell without and a soft body within is better than that which is hardened in the carnous substance of the body and lightly neither of both these qualities happeneth to any but the male kind Ouer and besides some you shall find fashioned long like an egge others as round as a ball and a third sort sharp pointed The outward colour also yeeldeth variety for some be blacker than other but the whiter commonly ââ¦e the better set by Some are bitter toward the ends and sweet in the mids The length also the shortnesse of the stele or taile whereto they hang maketh a difference The very tree it self causeth diuersity of the fruit for that Oke which beareth the biggest mast is named Hemeris A shorter tree this is than the rest with a round head and putting forth many hollow arm pits as it were of boughes and branches The wood or timber of the ordinary and common Oke is tougher and harder than that of others and lesse subiect to putrifaction ful of arms boughes it is as the other but it groweth taller and is thicker in the body The highest of all is the Aegilops which loueth to grow in wild and desart places Next to it for talnesse is the broad leafed Oke but the timber therof is not so good and profitable for building howsoeuer it be imploied for to make charcole yet being once squared to that purpose cleft it is subiect to the worm and will soon rot and for this cause being in quarters they vse not to make cole of it clouen but of the solid and round boughs or branches thereof And yet this kind of charcole serueth only the Bloom-smithies and furnaces the hammer-mills also of brasse and copper-smithes whom it standeth in great good stead and saueth them much fewell for it burneth and consumeth no longer than the bellowes goe let them leaue blowing once presently the cole dieth and so it lasteth long for at euery new blast it is renewed againe and refreshed otherwise it sparkleth very much and yeeldeth many cinders But the charcole made of yong trees is the better Now the maner of making them is this when the wood is cut into many clefts splents fresh and green they are heaped vp on high and hollow in manner of a furnace or chimney and then well luted with clay in the top and all about which done the pile of truncheons aforesaid is set on fire within and as the outward coat or crust of clay beginneth to wax hard the workemen or colliers pierce it with poles and pearches and make diuers holes therein for vent and to let out the smokie vapor that doth sweat and breath from the wood The worst of all other for timber or cole is the oke named Haliphleos a thicke barke it hath and as big a body but for the most part hollow and light like a spunge or mushrom and there is not another besides it of all these kind of trees that rotteth as it stands aliue Besides so vnfortunate it is that the lightning smiteth it as low as it groweth for none of them ariseth to any great height which is the cause that it is not lawfull to vse the wood thereof about the burning of any sacrifice Seldome beareth it any Acorns and those few that it hath be exceeding bitter so as no other beast will touch them but swine again nor they neither but for pure hunger when they can meet with no other food Moreouer in this regard also reiected it is and not emploied in any religious vse for that without blowing at the wood and cole thereof continually it will not burne cleare and consume the sacrifice but goeth out and lieth dead But to returne vnto our mast againe that of the Beech tree feedeth swine quickely maketh their flesh and lard faire and pleasant to the eie tender to be soone sodden or rosted light and easie of digestion and good for the stomacke The mast of the Holme causeth hogs to gather a more fast and compact flesh their bodies to be neat slender lanke and ponderous Acornes doe engender a fleshy substance more square and spreading and the same also most heauy and hardest of digestion and yet they are of all other kinds of mast most sweet and pleasant Next to them in goodnesse by the testimony of Nigidius is that of the tree Cerrus neither is there bred of any other a courser flesh howbeit hard it is fast and tough As for the mast of Ilex hogs are endangered by eating thereof vnlesse it be giuen them warily by little and little Hee sayth moreouer that of all other it falleth last Moreouer the mast of Esculus Robur and the Corke causeth the flesh to be spungeous and hollow To conclude what trees soeuer beare mast carry also certaine nuts called Galls and lightly they are full of mast but each other yeare But the oke Hemeris beareth the best gals and fittest for the curriors to dresse their leather The broad leafed Oke hath a kinde of Galls like vnto it but lighter in substance and not so good by far it carrieth also blacke galls for 2 sorts there be and this is better for the dier to colour wooll CHAP. VII ¶ Of the Gall-nuts and how many other things Mast-trees doe beare besides Mast. THe nuts called Galls doe euer breake out all at once in a night and namely about the beginning of Iune when the Sun is ready to goe out of the signe Gemini The whiter sort thereof commeth to the growth in one day and if in the first spring and breaking foorth thereof it be hot weather it drieth and withereth out of hand and commeth not to the full bignesse and perfection namely to haue a kernell as much as a bean The blacke of this kind continueth longer fresh and green and groweth still to the bignesse otherwhiles of an apple The best galls be those of Comagena the worst is that of the oke called Robur which are knowne by the holes they haue that may be seen through The common oke Quercus ouer and besides the fruit which is the mast beareth many other things for it carieth both sorts of gal the black and the white certaine berries also like Mulberries but that they be dry and hard resembling for the most part a buls head containing within them a fruit much like the kernels of the oliue Moreouer there grow vpon it certain little bals not vnlike to nuts hauing soft flox within good to make candle-wiek or matches for lamps for burn they wil without any oile like as the black Gals It beareth also other little pils or balls good for nothing couered ouer with haire yet in the spring time they yeeld a certain juice or liquor like hony Furthermore there breed in the hollow arm-pits as it were of the boughes other small pills setled or sticking close to the
and stark The leaues serue to make a good liniment for to annoint the pitch of the stomacke and their juice applied in manner of a pessarie setleth the mother when it rolleth euery way and is out of her place The greene leaues chewed and applied cure the running skalls in the head the cankers and sores in the mouth all risings and apostemations and likewise the piles A decoction of the said leaues is singular for burns and skals likewise for lims out of joynt if they be bathed therin The very leaues in substance stampedand incorporat with the juice of a peare-quince into an ointment set a reddish yellow colour vpon the haire of the head The floures brought into a liniment with vinegre assuage the paine of the head the same calcined and burnt into ashes within a pot of vnbaked or raw earth either alone or with hony healeth corrosiue sores and putrified vlcers These floures haue a certaine sauor with them which procureth sleep The oile called Gleucinum is astringent and yet it cooleth after the same sort that the oile Oenanthium The Balsame oile called Balm is of all others most pretious as hertofore I haue said in my treatise of odoriferous ointments and of great efficacie against the venome of al serpents It clarifieth the eie-sight mightily and dispatcheth mists and clouds which dimmed the same it easeth all those who draw their breath with difficultie it assuageth impostumations and hard swellings it keepeth bloud from cluttering and is excellent to mundifie foule vlcers singular comfortable to the eares in case of paine hardnesse of hearing singing within to the head also for to assuage the ach for the nerues against shaking trembling and convulsions withal a proper remedy for ruptures It danteth and mortifieth the poison of Aconitum if it be taken with milk If the patient lying sicke of an ague be annointed all ouer therewith it mitigateth the fits comming with shaking and shiuering Howbeit folke must be warie and vse it with moderation for being hot in the highest degree it is caustick and so doth en flame and burne and therfore if a mean be not kept it bringeth a mischiefe for a remedie and doth more harme than good Concerning Malobathrum the nature and sundrie kinds thereof I haue discoursed heretofore Now for the vertues which it hath in Physicke first it prouoketh vrine being stamped the juice drawne out of it with wine by way of expression is excellent to be applied vnto the eyes for to stay their continuall watering the same laid to the forehead as a frontall procureth sleep to them that would gladly take their repose And more effectually it worketh in case the nosethrils also be annointed therewith or if it be drunke with water The leafe of Malabathrum if it be but held vnder the tongue causeth the mouth and the breath to smell sweet like as if it lie among apparell it giueth them a pleasant sauour The oile of Henbane is emollitiue howbeit an enemie to the sinewes certes if it be taken in drinke it troubleth the braine The oile of Lupines called Therminum is likewise an emollitiue and commeth nearest of any to the operation and effects of oile-rosat Touching the oile of Daffodills I haue spoken of it in the treatise of the floures thereof Radish oile cureth the lowsie disease and namely when lice are engendred vpon some long and chronick disease it clenseth the skin of the face from all roughnesse and maketh it slicke and smooth The oile of Sesama cureth the paine of the eares and healeth vlcers which eat as they spread euen such as be morimals and check the Chirurgians hand Oile of Lillies which wee haue named Lirinon Phaselinum and Sirium is most agreeable and wholsom for the kidnies also to procure and maintaine sweat to mollifie the matrice and naturall parts in women to promote digestion inwardly The oil or ointment Selgiticum as we haue already said is comfortable to the sinues like as the grasse-green oile which the Inguinians dwelling vpon the causy or street-way Flamminia vse to sel. Elaeomeli an oil which as I haue declared before issueth from oliue trees in Syria carrieth a certaine tast of hony howbeit their stomacks it maketh to rise at it who licke therof and it is of power to soften the belly It purgeth choler Electiuè if two cyaths thereof be giuen to drink in one hemine of water howbeit these symptomes or accidents do follow them who drinke thereof They lie as it were in a dead sleepe and must eftsoons be awakened Our lustie drunkards who make profession of carousing vse to take one ciath thereof before they sit down to drink one another vnder bourd The oile of Pitch is vsed euery where for to heale the skurfe mange and farcins in beasts Next to vines and oliues Date trees are to be raunged in the highest place and doe cary the greatest name Dates if they be fresh and new doe inebriat and ouerturn the braine and if they be not very wel dried they do cause head-ach neither are they so far as I can see any way good for the stomacke againe they do exasperat the cough and make it worse yet they be great nourishers and cause them to feed who eat of them Our ancients in old time drew a certaine juice or liquor out of them when they were boiled which they gaue vnto sicke persons in stead of an hydromell or honyed water to drinke and that for to refresh them to restore their strength and to quench thirst and for this purpose they preferred the Dates of Thebais in high Aegypt before all others Being eaten as meat especially at meals they are good for them who reach vp bloud The dates Caryotae serue to make a liniment for the stomack the bladder belly guts with an addition of Quince among Being incorporat with wax safron they reduce the black and blew marks remaining after stripes in the skin to their naturall colour Date stones with their kernels are burnt in a new earthen vessel which was neuer occupied before and being thus calcined and their ashes washed they serue in stead of Spodium and doe enter with other ingredients into collyries or eie-salues and with some Nard among they make fukes to paint and imbelish the eye-browes CHAP. V. ¶ Of the Myrabolan Date and the Date Elate THe best Palm or Date tree which beareth a fruit like to Myrabolanes is that which groweth in Aegypt These Dates haue no stones like to others Being taken in vnripe and hard wine they stop the flux of the belly and stay the extraordinary course of womens fleures and do consolidat wounds As touching the Date-tree called Elate or Spathe it affoordeth for vse in Physick the yong buds the leaues and the barke The leaues serue to be applied vnto the midriffe and precordial parts the stomacke liuer and such corosiue vlcers as hardly will be brought to heale and skinne vp The
and Acacia 13. Of the common and wild thistle of Ery sisceptrum of the thorne or thystle Appendix of Pyxacanthum or the Barbarie tree of Paliurus of the Holly of the Eugh tree and other bushes with their vertues in Physicke 14. Of the sweet Brier or Eglantine of the Respââ¦ce bush of the white bramble Rhamnus of Lycium of Sarcocolla of the composition named Oporice and all their medicines 15. Of Germander of Perwinke or Lowrie of ãâã or Oliuell of Chamaesyce of ground yvie of Lauander Cotton of Ampeloprasos or Vine Porret of Stachys or wild Sauge of Clinopodium or Horse-time of Cudweed of Perwinke of Aegypt and their properties 16. Of Wake-Robin of Dragonwort or Serpentine of the garden the greater Dragon-wort of Arisaron of yarrow and Millefoile of bastard Nauew of Myrrhis and Onobrychis with their vertues 17. Of Coriacesia Callicia and Menais with three and twentie other hearbes and their properties which are held by some to serue in Magick Of Considia and Aproxis with others that reduce and reuiue loue againe 18. Of Eriphia Lanaria and water Yarrow with their vertues 19. Of the herbes that growe vpon the head of statues and Images of the hearbes that come out of riuers of the herbe called Lingua simply i. the tongue of herbes growing within sieues and vpon dnnghils of Rhodora of the herbe Impia i. the child before the parents of the herbe Pecten veneris of Nodia of Cleiuers or Goose Erith of Burs of Tordile of Dent de chien or Quiches of Dactylus and Fenigreek with their vertues In summe herein are comprised medicines stories and obseruations a thousand foure hundred and eighteene collected out of Latine Authors C. Volgius Pompeius Lenaeus Sextius Niger and Iulius Bassus who wrate both in Greeke Antonius Castor M. Varro Cornelius Celsus and Fabius Forreine Writers Theophrastus Apollodorus Democritus Orpheus Pythagoras Mago Menander the author of the booke Biochresta Nicander Homer Hesiodus Museus Sophocles and Anaxilaus Physitians Mnestheus Callimachus Phanias the naturall Philosopher Simo Timaristus Hippocrates Chrysippus Diocles Ophion Heraclides Hicesius Dionysius Apollodorus of Cittia Apollodorus the Tarentine Praxagoras Plistonicus Medius Dieuchus Cleophantus Philistio Asclepiades Cratevas Petronius Diodotus Iolla Erasistratus Diagoras Andreas Mnesicles Epicharmus Damion Sosimenes Theopolemus Solon Lycus Metrodorus Olympias the Midwife of Thebes Phyllinus Petreius Miction Glaucia and Xenocrates ¶ IN THE XXV BOOKE ARE CONTAINED the natures of hearbes and weeds that come vp of themselues The reputation that hearbes haue been of When they began first to be vsed Chap. 1. The properties and natures of wild herbes growing of their owne accord 2. What Authours haue written in Latine of the nature and vse of hearbes When the knowledge of simples began first to be practised at Rome What Greeke Authours first wrote of herbes the inuention and finding out of sundry hearbes the Physicke of old time What is the cause that Simples are not so much in request and vse for Physicke as in old time The medicinable vertues of the Eglantine and Serpentary or Dragon 3. Of a certaine venomous fountaine in Almaine the vertues and properties of the herbe Britannica what diseases cause the greatest paines 4. Of Moly of Dodecatheos of Paeonium named otherwise Pentorobus and Glycyside of Panace or Asclepios of Heraclium of Panace Chironeum of Panace Centaureum or Pharnaceum of Heraclium Siderium of Henbane 5. Of the herbe Mercurie female of Parthenium of Hermu-Poea or rather Mercurie of Yarow of Panace Heracleum of Sideritis of Millefoile of Scopa regio of Hemionium Teucrium Splenium Melampodium or blacke Ellebore and how many kinds there be of them The medicinable vertues of blacke and white Ellebore when Ellebore is to be giuen how it is to be taken to whom it is not to be giuen also that it killeth Mice and Rats 6. Of Mithridatium of Scordotis or Scordium of Polemonia otherwise called Philetaeria or Chiliodynama of Eupatorie or Agrimonie of great Centaurie otherwise called Chironium of the lesse Centaurie or Libadium called Fel Terrae i. the gall of the Earth Of Triorches and their vertues 7. Of Clymenus Gentian Lysimachia and Parthenius or Motherwort Mugwort Ambrose Nenuphar Heraclium and Euphorbia with all their vertues medicinable 8. Of Plantaine Buglosse Hounds tongue Oxe-eye or May weed of Scythica Hippice and Ischaemon of Betonie Cantabrica Settarwort of Dittander or Hiberis of Celendine the greater Celendine the lesse or Pilewort of Canaria of Elaphoboscos of Dictamnum of Aristolochia or Hartwort how fishes will come to it for loue of bait and so are soone caught The counterpoysons against stinging of serpents by these herbes abouenamed 9. Of Argemonia of Agaricke Echium Henbane Vervaine Blattaria Lemonia Cinquefoile Carot Persalata the Clot Burre Swines bread or Cyclaminus Harstrang all very good for the sting of serpents 10. Of Danewort or Walwort of Mullin of Thelyphonon Remedies against the sting of Scorpions the biting of Toades and mad Dogs and generally against all poysons 11. Receits and remedies against head-ach and diseases of the head 12. Of Centaurie Celendine Panace and Henbane and Euphorbium all soueraigne medicines for the eies 13. Of Pimpernell or Corchorus of Mandragoras or Circeium of Henbane of Crethmoagrion of Molybdaena of Fumiterre of Galengale of Floure de lis of Cotyledon or Vmbilicus Veneris of Housleeke or Sengreene of Pourcellane of Groundswell of Ephemerum of great Tazill of Crow-foot which affourd medicines against the infirmities and diseases of the eyes eares nosthrils teeth and mouth In summe this Booke doth yeeld of medicines stories and obseruations a thousand two hundred ninetie and two Latine Authours cited M. Varro C. Volgius Pompeius Lenaeus Sextius Niger and Iulius Bassus who both wrote in Greeke Antonius Castor and Cornelius Celsus Forreine Writers Theophrastus Apollodorus Democritus king Iuba Orpheus Pythagoras Mago Menander who wrote Biochresta Nicander Homer Hesiodus Musaeus Sophocles Xanthus and Anaxilaus Physitians Mnestheus Callimachus Phanias the naturall Philosopher Timaristus Simus Hippocrates Chrysippus Diocles Ophion Heraclides Hicesius Dionysius Apollodorus the Tarentine Praxagoras Plistonicus Medius Dieuches Cleophantus Philistio Asclepiades Cratevas Iolla Erasistratus Diagoras Andreas Mnesicles Epicharmus Damion Theopolemus Metrodorus Solon Lycus Olympias the midwife of Thebes Phyllinus Petreius Miction Glaucias and Xenocrates ¶ IN THE XXVI BOOKE ARE CONTAIned the medicines for the parts of mans bodie Chap. 1. Of new maladies and namely of Lichenes what they be and when they began to raign in Italie first Of the Carbuncle of the white Morphew or Leprosie called Elephantiasis and of the Collicke 2. The praise of Hippocrates 3. Of the new practise in Physicke of the Physician Asclepiades and by what meanes hee abolished the old manner of practise and set vp a new 4. The superstitious follie of Magicke is derided Also a discourse touching the foule tettar called Lichenes the remedie thereof and also the infirmities of the throat and chawes 5. Receits and remedies against the kings euil also for
setting Moreouer shee beginnes to digresse in latitude and to diminish her motion from the morn rising but to be retrograde and withall to digresse in altitude from the euening station Againe the planet Mercury being Oriental Matutin begins both waies to climb that is to mount higher day by day but to digresse in latitude being Orientall Vespertine and when the Sunne hath ouertaken him within the distance of fifteene degrees he stands still for foure daies vnmoueable Within a while he descendeth from his altitude dayly and goeth backe retrograde from the euen setting namely when the Sunne hideth him with his raies to the Moone rising when hee appeareth before the Sunne is vp This starre onely and the Moone descend in as many daies as they ascend But Venus ascendeth vp to her station in fifteene daies and the vantage Againe Saturne and Iupiter are twice as long descending and Mars foure times See how great variety is in their nature but the reason thereof is euident For they which go against the vapour and heate of the Sunne do also hardly descend Many secrets more of Nature and lawes whereunto she is obedient might be shewed about these things As for example The planet of Mars whose course of all others can be least obserued neuer maketh station but in quadrate aspect as for Iupiter in triangle aspect and very seldome seuered from the Sunne 60. degrees which number maketh six angled formes of the heauen that is to say is the iust sixth part of the heauen neither doth Iupiter shew his rising in the same signe this yeare as in the former saue onely in two signes Cancer and Leo. The planet Mercurie seldome hath his euen rising in Pisces but very often in Virgo and the morne rising in Libra In like manner the morne rising in Aquarius but very seldome in Leo. Neither becommeth he retrograde in Taurus and Gemini and in Cancer not vnder the 25 degree As for the Moone she entreth not twice in coniunction with the Sun in any other signe but in Gemini and sometime hath no coniunction at all and that only in Sagitarius As for the last and first of the Moone to be seene in one and the selfe same day or night hapneth in no other signe but Aries and few men haue had the gift to see it and hereupon came Linceus to be so famous for his eye sight Also the planets Saturne and Mars are hidden with the Sun beames and appeare not in the heauen at the most 170 dayes Iupiter 36 or at least ten daies wanting Venus 69 or when least 52. Mercury 31 or at least 17. CHAP. XVIII ¶ What is the cause that the Planets alter their colour THe reason of the Planets altitudes is it that tempereth their colours according as they be neerer or farther off from the earth For they take the likenesse of the aire into the coasts whereof they enter in their ascent and the circle or circumference of another Planets motion coloureth them as they passe either way ascending or descending The colder setteth a pale colour the hotter a red and the windie a fearefull and rough hue Onely the points and coniunctions of the Absides and the vtmost circumferences shew a darke blacke Each planet hath a seuerall colour Saturne is white Iupiter cleare and bright Mars fierie and red Venus Orientall or Lucifer faire Occidentall or Vesper shining Mercury sparkeling his raies the Moone pleasant the Sunne when he riseth burning afterwards glittering with his beames Vpon these causes the sight is intangled and discouereth euen those stars also which are contained and fixed in the sky more or lesse For one while a number of them appeare thicke about the halfe Moone when in a cleare and calme night she gently beautifieth them Another while they are seen but here and there insomuch as we may wonder that they are fled vpon the full Moone which hideth them or when the beams either of the Sun or other aboue said haue dazled our sight Yea the very Moone her selfe hath a feeling doubtlesse of the Sun beames as they come vpon her for those raies that come sidelong according to the conuexitie of the heauen giue but a darke and dim light to the Moone in comparison of them that fall directly with straight angles And therefore in the quadrangle aspect of the Sun she appeareth diuided in halfe in the triangle she is well neere inuironed but her circle is half emptie and void howbeit in the opposition she seemeth full and againe as she is in the waine she representeth the same formes decreasing by quarters as she increased with like aspects as the other three planets aboue the Sun CHAP. XIX ¶ The reason of the Suns motion and the vnequalitie of daies AS for the Sun himselfe a man may obserue foure differences in his course twice in the yeare making the night equall with the day to wit in the Spring and Autumne for then he falleth iust vpon the entre of the earth namely in the eight degree of Aries and Libra Twice likewise exchanging the compasse of his race to lengthen the day from the Bruma or mid-winter in the eighth degree of Capricorne and againe to lengthen the night from the Sommer Sunsted being in as many degrees of Cancer The cause of vnequall daies is the obliquitie of the Zodiake whereas the one halfe iust of the world to wit six signes of the Zodiake is at all times aboue and vnder the earth But those signes which mount vpright in their rising hold light a longer tract and make the daies longer whereas they which arise crooked and go by as passe away in shorter and swifter time CHAP. XX. ¶ Why lightnings are attributed to Iupiter MOst men are ignorant of that secret which by great attendance vpon the heauens deepe Clerkes and principall men of learning haue found out namely that they be the fires of the three vppermost planets which falling to the earth carry the name of lightnings but those especially which are seated in the midst to wit about Iupiter haply because participating the excessiue cold and moisture from the vpper circle of Saturne and the immoderate heate from Mars that is next vnder by this meanes he dischargeth the superfluitie and hereupon it is commonly said that Iupiter shooteth and darteth lightnings Therefore as out of a burning piece of wood a cole of fire flieth forth with a cracke euen so from a star is spit out as it were and voided forth this coelestiall fire carrying with it presages of future things so as the heauen sheweth diuine operations euen in these parcels and portions which are reiected and cast away as superfluous And this most commonly hapneth when the aire is troubled either because the moisture that is gathered moueth and stirreth forward that aboundance to fall or else for that it is disquieted with the birth as it were proceeding from a great bellied starre and thereforewould be discharged of such excrements CHAP. XXI ¶ The distances of
of Rome Noted it hath bin that the shortest time of theit appearance is a seuen-night and the longest eighty daies some of them moue like the wandering planets others are fixed fast and stir not All in maner are seen vnder the very North star called Charlemaignes Wain some in no certain part thereof but especially in that white which hath taken the name of the Milk circle Aristotle saith that many are seene together a thing that no man else hath found out so far as I can learne Mary boisterous windes and much heate of weather are foretokened by them There are of them seene also in Winter season and about the Antarticke South pole but in that place without any beames A terrible one likewise was seene of the people in Ethiopia and Egypt which the King who reigned in that age named Typhon It resembled fire and was pleited and twisted in manner of a wreath grim and hideous to be looked on and no more truly to be counted a star than some knot of fire Sometimes it falleth out that rhe planets and other stars are bespred all ouer with haires but a Comet lightly is neuer seen in the west part of the heauen A fearefull star for the most part this Comet is and not easily expiated as it appeared by the late ciuill troubles when Octauius was Consul as also a second time by the intestine war of Pompey and Caesar. And in our dayes about the time that Claudius Caesar was poysoned and left the Empire to Domitius Nero in the time of whose reigne and gouernment there was another in manner continually seen and euer terrible Men hold opinion that it is materiall for presage to obserue into what quarters it shooteth or what stars power and influence it receiueth also what similitudes it resembleth and in what parts it shineth out and first ariseth For if it be like vnto flutes or hautboies it portendeth somewhat to Musitians if it appeare in the priuy parts of any signe then let ruffians whore-masters and such filthy persons take heed It is respectiue to fine wits and learned men if it put forth a triangular or foure-square figure with euen angles to any scituations of the perpetuall fixed stars And it it is thought to presage yea to sprinkle and put forth poison if seen in the head of the Dragon either North or South In one only place of the whole world namely in a Temple at Rome a Comet is worshipped and adored euen that which by Augustus Caesar himselfe of happy memorie was iudged verie lucky and happy to him who when it began to appeare gaue attendance in person as ouerseer of those playes and games which he made to Venus genetrix not long after the death of his father Caesar in the colledge by him instituted and erected testifying his ioy in these words In those very daies during the solemnities of my Plaies there was seen a blasing star for seuen daies together in that region of the sky which is vnder the North star Septentriones It arose about the 11 houre of the day bright it was and cleare and euidently seene in all lands by that star it was signified as the common sort belceued that the soule of Iulius Caesar was receiued among the diuine powers of the immortal gods In which regard that marke or ensigne of a slar was set to the head of that statue of Iulius Caesar which soone after we dedicated in the Forum Romanum These words published he abroad but in a more inward ioy to himselfe he interpreted and conceiued thus of the thing That this Comet was made for him and that himselfe was in it borne And verily if we wil confesse a truth a healthfull good and happy presage that was to the whole world Some there be who beleeue that these be perpetuall stars and go their course round but are not seen vnlesse they be left by the Sun Others againe are of opinion that they are ingendred casually by some humour and the power of fire together and thereby do melt away and consume CHAP. XXVI ¶ Hipparchus his opinion of the Stars Also historicall examples of Torches Lamps Beames Fiery Darts opening of the Firmnment and other such impressions HIppaachus the foresaid Philosopher a man neuer sufficiently praised as who proued the affinitie of stars with men and none more than he affirming also that our soules were parcell of heauen found out and obserued another new star ingendred in his time and by the motion thereof on what day it first shone he grew presently into a doubt Whether it hapned not very often that new stars should arise and whether those starres also moued not which we imagined to be fixed The same man went so farre that he attempted a thing euen hard for God to performe to deliuer to posteritie the iust number of starres He brought the same stars within the compasse of rule and art deuising certaine instruments to take their seueral places and set out their magnitudes that thereby it might be easily discerned not only whether the old died and new were borne but also whether they moued and which way they tooke their course likewise whether they increased or decreased Thus he left the inheritance of heauen vnto all men if haply any one could be found able to enter vpon it as lawfull heire There be also certaine flaming torches shining out in the sky how be it neuer seene but when they fall Such a one was that which at the time that Germ. Caesar exhibited a shew of Sword-fencers at vtterance ran at noontide in sight of all the people And two sorts there be of them namely Lampades which they call plaine torches and Bolides i. Lances such as thé Mutinians saw in their calamitie when their city was sacked Herein they differ for that those lampes or torches make long traines whiles the forepart only is on a light fire but Bolis burnes all ouer and draweth a longer taile There appeare and shine out after the same manner certain beams which the Greekes call Docus like as when the Lacedemonians being vanquished at sea lost the empire and dominion of Greece The firmament also is seene to chinke and open and this they name Chasma CHAP. XXVij ¶ Of the strange colours of the Sky THere appeareth in the Sky also a resemblance of bloud and than which nothing is more dread and feared of men a fiery impression falling from out of heauen to earth like as it hapned in the 3 yeare of the 107 Olympias at what time King Philip made all Greece to shake with fire and sword And these things verily I suppose to come at certaine times by course of nature like as other things and not as the most part thinke of sundry causes which the subtill wit and head of man is able to deuise They haue indeed been fore-runners of exceeding great miseries but I suppose those calamities hapned not because these impressions were but these therefore
a vapor with a dissonant sound like as when a red hot yron maketh an hissing being thrust into water a smokie fume walmeth vp with many turnings like waues Hereupon stormes do breed And if this flatuositie or vapour doe struggle and wrestle within the cloud from thence it commeth that thunderclaps be heard but if it breake through still burning then flieth out the thunderbolt if it be longer time a strugling and cannot pierce through then leams and flashes are seene With these the cloud is clouen with the other burst in sunder Moreouer thunders are nothing els but the blows and thumps giuen by the fires beating hard vpon the clouds and therefore presently the firy chinkes and rifts of those clouds do glitter and shine Possible it is also that the breath and winde eleuated from the earth being repelled back and kept downe by the stars so held in and restrained within a cloud may thunder whiles Nature choketh the rumbling sound all the while it striueth and quarelleth but sendeth forth a crack when it breaketh out as we see in a bladder puffed vp with winde Likewise it may be that the same wind or spirit whatsoeuer is set on fire by fretting and rubbing as it violently passeth headlong downe It may also be stricken by the conflict of two clouds as if two stones hit one against another and so the leams and flashes sparkle forth so as all these accidents happen by chance-medley and be irregular And hereupon come those bruitish vain lightenings such as haue no natural reason but are occasioned by these impressions aboue said With these are mountains and seas smitten and of this kind be all other blasts and bolts that do no hurt to liuing creatures As for those that come from aboue and of ordinary causes yea and from their proper stars they alwaies presage and foretell future euents In like manner as touching the windes or rather blasts I would not denie but that they may proceed from a dry exhalation of the earth void of all moisture neither is it impossible but that they do arise out of waters breathing and sending out an aire which neither can thicken into a mist nor gather into clouds also they may be driuen by the lugitation and impulsion of the Sun because the winde is conceiued to be nought els but the fluctuation and waiuing of the aire and that by many means also for some we see to rise out of riuers firths and seas euen when they be stil and calme as also others out of the earth which winds they name Altani And those verily when they come backe againe from the sea are called Tropaei if they go onward Apogaei CHAP. XLIIII ¶ What is the reason of the resounding and doubling of the Eccho BVt the windings of hils and their often turuings their many tops their crests and ridges also bending like an elbow or broken and arched as it were into shoulders together with the hollow noukes of vallies do cut vnequally the aire that reboundeth them fro which is the cause of reciprocall voices called Ecchoes answering one another in many places when a man doth holla or houpe among them CHAP. XLV ¶ Of Windes againe NOw there be certaine caues and holes which breed windes continually without end like as that is one which we see in the edge of Dalmatia with a wide mouth gaping leading to a deep downfall into which if you cast any matter of light weight be the day neuer so calm otherwise there ariseth presently a stormie tempest like a whirle puffe The places name is Senta Moreouer in the prouince Cyrenaica there is reported to be a rock consecrated to the South-wind which without prophanation may not be touched with mans hand but if it be presently the South wind doth arise and cast vp heaps of sand Also in many houses there be hollow places deuised made by mans hand for receipt of wind which being inclosed with shade and darknesse gather their blasts Whereby we may see how all winds haue one cause or other But great difference there is betweene such blasts and winds As for these they be setled and ordinarie continually blowing which not some smal tracts particular places but whole lands do feele which are not light gales nor stormy puffes named Aurae and Procellae but simply called winds by the Masculine name Venti which whether they arise by the continuall motion of the heauen and the contrary course of the Planets or whether this winde be that spirit of Nature that engendreth all things wandering to and fro as it were in some wombe or rather the aire beaten and driuen by the vnlike influences and raies of the straying starres or planets and the multiplicitie of their beames or whether all winds come from their owne stars namely these planets neerer at hand or rather fall from them that be fixed in the firmament Plaine and euident it is that guided they by an ordinary law of Nature not altogether vnknowne although it be not yet throughly knowne CHAP. XLVI ¶ The Natures and obseruations of the Windes THe old Greeke writers not so few as twentie haue set downe and recorded their obseruations of the Winds I maruell so much the more that the World being so at discord and diuided into kingdomes that is to say dismembred as it was so many men haue had care to seek after these things so intricate and hard to be found out and namely in time of wars and amid those places where was no safe lodging nor abode and especially when pyrats and rouers common enemies to mankinde held welneere all passages I maruell I say that at this day each man in his owne tract and countrey taketh more light and true knowledge of some things by their commentaries and bookes who neuer set foot there than they doe by the skill and information of home-born inhabitants whereas now in time of so blessed and ioious peace and vnder a prince who taketh such delight in the progresse of the State and of all good arts no new thing is learned by farther inquisition nay nor so much as the inuentions of old writers are throughly vnderstood And verily it cannot be said that greater rewards were in those daies giuen considering that the bountie of Fortune was dispersed and put into many mens hands and in truth most of these deepe Clerkes and learned men sought out these secrets for no other reward or regard than to doe good vnto posteritie But now mens manners are waxen old and decay now all good customes are in the waine and notwithstanding that the fruit of learning be as great as euer it was and the recompences as liberall yet men are become idle in this behalfe The seas are open to all an infinite multitude of saylers haue discouered all coasts whatsoeuer they saile through and arriue familiarly at euery shore all for gaine and lucre but none for knowledge and cunning Their mindes altogether blinded and bent vpon nothing
Winter are confused and corrupt And this is the reason also that lightnings are common in our Italie for that the aire being more moueable and wauering by reason of a kinder Winter and a cloudie Summer is alwaies of the temperature of Spring or Autumne In those parts also of Italy which lie off from the North and encline to warmth as namely in the tract about Rome and Campania it lightneth in Winter and Summer alike which happeneth in no other part thereof CHAP. LI. ¶ Sundry sorts of Lightnings and Wonders thereof VErie many kindes of Lightnings are set downe by Authors Those that come drie burne not at all but onely dissipate and disperse They that come moist burne not neither but blast things and make them looke duskish Now a third kinde there is which they call Bright and Cleare and that is of a most strange and wonderfull nature whereby tuns and such like vessels are drawne drie and their sides hoops and heads neuer toucht therewith or hurt nor any other shew and token thereof is left behinde Gold copper and siluer money is melted in the bags and yet the very bags no whit scorched no nor the wax of the seale hurt and defaced or put out of order Martia a noble Ladie of Rome being great with childe was strucke with lightning the childe she went withall was killed within her and she without any harme at all liued still Among the Catiline prodigies it is found vpon Record that M. Herennius a Counsellor and States-man of the incorporate towne Pompeianum was in a faire and cleare day smitten with Lightning CHAP. LII ¶ Of obseruations as touching Lightning THe Antient Tuscanes by their learning do hold that there be nine gods that send forth Lightnings and those of eleuen sorts for Iupiter say they casteth three at once The Romans haue obserued two of them and no more attributing those in the day time to Iupiter and them in the night to Summanus or Pluto And these verily be more rare for the cause aforenamed namely the coldnesse of the aire aboue In Hetruria they suppose that lightnings break also out of the earth which they call Infera i. Infernall and such be made in Mid-winter And these they take to be terrene and earthly and of all most mischieuous and execrable neither be those generall and vniuersall lightnings nor proceeding from the stars but from a very neere and more troubled cause And this is an euident argument for distinction that all such as fall from the vpper skie aboue strike aslant and side-wise but those which they call earthly smite straight and directly But the reason why these are thought to issue forth of the earth is this because they fall from out of a matter nearer to the earth forasmuch as they leaue no markes of a stroke behind which are occasioned by force not from beneath but comming full against Such as haue searched more subtilly into these matters are of opinion that these lightnings come from the Planet Saturne like as the burning lightning from Mars And with such lightning was Volsinij a most welthy citie of the Tuscanes burnt full and whole to ashes Moreouer the Tuscanes call those lightnings Familiar which presage the fortune of some race and are significant during their whole life and such are they that come first to any man after he is newly entred into his owne patrimonie or familie How beit their iudgement is that these priuat lightnings are not of importance and fore-tokening aboue ten yeres vnlesse they happen either vpon the day of first mariage or of wedding As for publique lightnings they be not of force aboue 30 yeares except they chance at the very time that townes or colonies be erected and planted CHAP. LIII ¶ Of raising or calling out Lightnings by Coniuration IT appeareth vpon record in Chronicles that by certaine sacrifices and prayers Lightnings may be either compelled or easily intreated to fall vpon the earth There goeth a report of old in Hetruria that such a lightning was procured by exorcismes and coniurations when there entered into the citie Volsinij after all the territory about it was destroyed a monster which they named Volta Also that another was raised and coniured by Porsenna their King Moreouer L. Piso a writer of good credit reporteth in his first booke of Annales that Numa before him practised the same feat many a time and often and when Tullus Hostilius would haue imitated him and done the like for that he obserued not all the ceremonies accordingly was himselfe strucke and killed with lightning And for this purpose sacred groues we haue and altars yea and certaine sacrifices due thereto And among the Iupiters surnamed Statores tonantes and Feretrij we haue heard that one also was called Elicius Sundry and diuers are mens opinions as touching this point and euery man according to his owne liking and fancie of his minde To beleeue that Nature may be forced and commanded is a very audacious and bold opinion but it is as blockish on the other side and sencelesse to make her benefits of no power and effect considering that in the interpretation of Lightning men haue thus farre forth proceeded in skill and knowledge as to foretell when they will come at a set and prescript day and whether they will fordoe and frustrate the dangers pronounced or rather open other destinies which lie hidden and an infinite sort of publicke and priuat experiments of both kinds are to be found And therefore since it hath so pleased Nature let some men be resolued herein and others doubtfull some may allow thereof and others condemne the same As for vs we will not omit the rest which in these matters are worth remembrance CHAP. LIIII ¶ Generall rules of Lightning THat the Lightning is seene before the Thunderclap is heard although they come indeed iointly both together it is certainely knowne And no maruell for the eye is quicker to see light than the eare to heare a sound And yet Nature doth so order the number and measure that the stroke and the sound should accord together But when there is a noise it is a signe of the lightning proceeding of some naturall cause and not sent by some god and yet euermore this is a breath or winde that commeth before the thunderbolt and hereupon it is that euery thing is shaken and blasted ere it be smitten neither is any man stricken who either saw the lightning before or heard the thunderclap Those lightnings that are on the left hand be supposed to be luckie and prosperous for that the East is the left side of the world but the coming therof is not so much regarded as the return whether the fire leap back after the stroke giuen or whether after the deed done and fire spent the spirit and blast abouesaid retire backe againe In that respect the Tuscans haue diuided the heauen into 16 parts The first is from the North to the Suns rising in the
were cut off by the Ocean which notwithstanding clasping round about all the midst thereof yeelding forth and receiuing againe all other waters besides and what exhalations soeuer that go out for clouds and feeding withall the very stars so many as they be and of so great a bignesse what a mighty space thinke you will it be thought to takevp and inhabit and how little can there be left for men to inhabit surely the possession of so vast and huge a deale must needs be exceeding great and infinite What say you then to this That of the earth which is left the heauen hath taken away the greater part For whereas there be of the heauen fiue parts which they call Zones all that lieth vnder the two vtmost to wit on both sides about the poles namely this here which is called Septentrio that is to say the North and the other ouer against it named the South it is ouercharged with extreme and rigorous cold yea and with perpetuall frosts and ice In both Zones it is alwaies dim and darke and by reason that the aspect of the more milde and pleasant planets is diuerted cleane from thence the light that is sheweth little or nothing and appeareth white with the frost onely Now the middle of the earth whereas the Sun hath his way and keepeth his course scorched and burnt with flames is euen parched and fried againe with the hot gleames thereof being so neere Those two only on either side about it namely betweene this burnt Zone and the two frozen are temperate and euen those haue not accesse and passage the one to the other by reason of the burning heate of the said planet Thus you see that the heauen hath taken from the earth three parts and what the Ocean hath plucked from it besides no man knoweth And euen that one portion remaining vnto vs I wot not whether it be not in greater danger also For the same Ocean entring as we will shew into many armes and creekes keepeth a roaring against the other gulfes and seas within the earth and so neere comes vnto them that the Arabian gulfe is not from the Egyptian sea aboue 115 miles the Caspian likewise from the Ponticke but 375. Yea and the same floweth between and entreth into so many armes as that thereby it diuideth Africke Europe and Asia asunder Now what a quantity of land it taketh vp may be collected and reckoned at this day by the measure and proportion of so many riuers and so great Meres Adde thereto both Lakes and pooles and withall take from the earth the high mountaines bearing vp their heads aloft into the sky so as the eye can hardly reach their heights the woods besides and steepe descents of the vallies the Wildernesses and waste wildes left desart vpon a thousand causes These so many pieces of the earth or rather as most haue written this little-pricke of the world for surely the earth is nothing else in comparison of the whole is the only matter of our glory This I say is the very feat thereof here we seeke for honors and dignities here we exercise our rule and authoritie here we couet wealth and riches here all mankinde is set vpon stirs and troubles here we raise ciuill wars still one after another and with mutuall massacres and murthers wee make more roome in the earth And to let passe the publique furious rages of nations abroad this is it wherein we chase and driue out our neighbor borderers and by stealth dig turfe from their soile to put vnto our owne and when a man hath extended his lands and gotten whole countries to himselfe far and neere what a goodly deale of earth enioyeth he and say that he set out his bounds to the full measure of his couetous desires what a great portion thereof shal he hold when he is once dead and his head laid low CHAP. LXIX ¶ That the earth is in the middest of the world THat the earth is in the midst of the whole world it appeareth by manifest and vndoubted reasons but most euidently by the equal houres of the Equinoctial for vnlesse it were in the midst the Astrolabe and instruments called Diophae haue proued that nights and daies could not possibly be found equall and those aboue-said instruments aboue all other confirme the same seeing that in the Equinoctial by one and the same line both rising and setting of the Sun are seen but the Sommer Sun rising and the Winter setting by their owne seuerall lines which could by no means happen but that the earth resteth in the centre CHAP. LXX ¶ Of the vnequall rising of the stars of the Eclipse both where and how it commeth NOw three circles there be infolded within the Zones afore named which distinguish the inequalities of the dayes namely the Sommer Solstitiall Tropicke from the highest part of the Zodiacke in regard of vs toward the North Clyme And against it another called the Winter Tropicke toward the other Southern Pole and in like maner the Equinoctial which goes in the mids of the Zodiacke circle The cause of the rest which wee wonder at is in the figure of the very earth which together with the water is by the same arguments knowne to be like a globe for so doubtlesse it commeth to passe that with vs the stars about the North pole neuer go downe and those contrariwise about the Meridian neuer rise And againe these here be not seene of them by reason that the globe of the earth swelleth vp in the mids between Again Trogloditine and Egypt confining next vpon it neuer set eye vpon the North pole stars neither hath Italy a sight of Canopus named also Berenices haire Likewise another which vnder the Empire of Augustus men sirnamed Caesaris Thronon yet be they stars there of speciall marke And so euidently bendeth the top of the earth in the rising that Canopus at Alexandria seemeth to the beholders eleuate aboue the earth almost one fourth part of a signe but if a man looke from Rhodes the same appeareth after a sort to touch the verie horizon and in Pontus where the eleuation of the North pole is highest not seene at all yea and this same pole at Rhodes is hidden but most in Alexandria In Arabia all hid it is at the first watch of the night in Nouember but at the second it sheweth In Meroe at Midsommer in the euening it appeareth for a while but some few daies before the rising of Arcturus seene it is with the very dawning of the day Sailers by their voiages finde out and know these stars most of any other by reason that some seas are opposite vnto some stars but other lie flat and incline forward to other for that also those pole stars appeare suddenly and rising out of the sea which lay hidden before vnder the winding compasse as it were of a ball For the heauen riseth not aloft in this higher pole as some men haue giuen out else should
these stars be seen in euery place both those that vnto the next Sailers are supposed to be higher the same seeme to them afarre off drowned in the sea And like as this North pole seemeth to be aloft vnto those that are scituate directly vnder it so to them that be gone so far as the other deuexitie or fall of the earth those aboue said starres rise vp aloft there whiles they decline downeward which here were mounted on high Which thing could not possibly fall out but in the figure of a ball And hereupon it is that the inhabitants of the East perceiue not the eclipses of Sun or Moone in the euening no more than those that dwell West in the morning but those that be at noone in the South they see very oft At what time Alexander the great won that famous victorie at Arbela the Moone by report was eclipsed at the second houre of the night but at the very same time in Sicily she arose The eclipse of the Sun which chanced before the Calends of May when as Vipsanus and Fonteius were Consuls being not many yeares past was seene in Campania betweene the 7 and 8 houres of the day but Corbulo a General Commander then in Armenia made report that it was seene there betweene the tenth and 11 houres of the same day by reason that the compasse of the globe discouereth and hides some things to some and other to others But if the earth were plaine and leuell all things should appeare at once to all men for neither should one night be longer than another ne yet should the day of 12 houres appeare euen and equall to any but to those that are seated in the mids of the earth which now in all parts agree and accord together alike CHAP. LXXj ¶ What is the reason of the day light vpon earth ANd hence it commeth that it is neither night nor day at one time in all parts of the world by reason that the opposition of the globe brings night and the round compasse or circuit thereof discouereth the day This is knowne by many experiments In Africk and Spaine there were raised by Hanibal high watch-towers and in Asia for the same feare of rouers and pyrats the like helpe of beacons was erected wherein it was noted oft times that the fires giuing warning afore-hand which were kindled at the sixt houre of the day were descried by them that were farthest off in Asia at the third houre of the night Philonides the curror or Post of the same Alexander aboue named dispatched in 9 houres of the day 1200 stadia euen as far as from Sicyone to Elis and from thence againe albeit he went downe hill all the way he returned oftentimes but not before the third houre of the night The cause was for that he had the Sun with him in his first setting out to Elis and in his returne backe to Sicyone he went full against it met with it and ere he came home ouerpassed it leauing it in the West behind going from him Which is the reason also that they who by day light saile westward in the shortest day of the yeare rid more way than those who saile all night long at the same time for that the other do accompany the Sun CHAP. LXXij ¶ The Gnomonicke art of the same matter as also of the first Diall ALso the instruments seruing for the houres as Quadrants and Dials will not serue for all places but in euery 300 stadia or 500 at the farthest the shadowes that the Sun casteth change and therefore the shadow of the style in the Dial called the Gnomon in Egypt at noone tide in the Aequinoctial day is little more in length than halfe the Gnomon But in the city of Rome the shadow wanteth the ninth part of the Gnomon In the towne Ancona it is longer than it in a 35 part But in Venice at the same time and houre the shadow and the Gnomon be all one CHAP. LXXiij ¶ Where and when there be no shadowes at all IN like manner they say that in the towne Syene which is aboue Alexandria 50 stadia at noone tide in the midst of Sommer there is no shadow at all and for further experiment thereof let a pit be sunke in the ground and it will be light all ouer in euery corner Wherby it appeareth that the Sun then is iust and directly ouer that place as the very Zenith thereof Which also at the same time hapneth in India aboue the riuer Hypasis as Onesicratus hath set downe in writing Yea and it is for certaine knowne that in Berenice a city of the Troglodites and from thence 4820 stadia in the same countrey at the towne of Ptolemais which was built at the first vpon the very banke of the Red sea for the pleasure of chasing and hunting of Elephants the selfe same is to be seen 45 daies before the Summer Sunsted and as long after and that for 90 daies space all shadowes are cast into the South Again in the Isle Meroe the capitall place of the Aethiopian nation inhabited 5000 stadia from Syene vpon the Riuer Nilus twice in the yeare the shadowes are gon and none at all seen to wit when the Sun is in the 18 degree of Taurus and the 14 of Leo. In the country of the Oretes within India there is a mountaine named Maleus neere which the shadowes in Summer are cast into the South and in Winter into the North. There for 15 nights and no more is the star Charles-wain neere the pole to be seen In the same India at Patales a most famous and frequented port the Sun ariseth on the right hand and all shadowes fall to the South Whiles Alexander made abode there Onesicritus a captaine of his wrot that it was obserued there that the North star was seen the first part only of the night also in what places of India there were no shadowes there the North star appeared not and that those quarters were called Ascia i. without shadow neither keepe they any reckoning of houres there CHAP. LXXIV ¶ Where twice in the yeare the shadowes go contrarie waies BVt throughout all Trogliditine Cratosthenes hath written that the shadowes two times in the yeare for 45 daies fall contrarie waies CHAP. LXXV ¶ Where the day is longest and where shortest IT comes thus to passe that by the variable increment of the day light the longest day in Meroe doth comprehend 12 Equinoctiai houres and 8 parts of one houre aboue but in Alexandria 14 in Italy 15 in Britaine 17 where in Sommer time the nights being light and short by infallible experience shew that which reason forceth to beleeue namely that at Mid summer time as the Sun maketh his approch neere vnto the pole of the world the places of the earth lying vnderneath hath day continually for six moneths and contrariwise night when the Sun is remote as far as Bruma The which Pythias of Massiles hath written of Thule
in Verbanus Ticinus in Benacus Mincius in Seuinus Ollius in Lemanus lake the riuer Rhodanus As for this riuer beyond the Alpes and the former in Italy for many a mile as they passe carry forth their owne waters from thence where they abode as strangers and none other and the same no larger than they brought in with them This is reported likewise of Orontes a riuer in Syria and of many others Some riuers again there be which vpon an hatred to the sea run euen vnder the bottom thereof as Arethusa a fountaine in Syracusa wherein this is obserued that whatsoeuer is cast into it commeth vp againe at the riuer Alpheus which running through Olimpia falleth into the sea shore of Peloponnesus There go vnder the ground and shew aboue the ground againe Lycus in Asia Erasinus in Argolica Tygris in Mesopotamia And at Athens what things soeuer are drowned in the fountain of Aesculapius be cast vp againe in Phalericus Also in the Atinate plaines the riuer that is buried vnder the earth twentie miles off appeareth againe So doth Timavus in the territory of Aquileia In Asphaltites a lake in Iury which ingenders Bittumen nothing will sinke nor can be drowned no more than in Arethusa in the greater Armenia and the same verily notwithstanding it be full of Nitre breedeth and feedeth fish In the Salentines countrey neere the towne Manduria there is a lake brim full lade out of it as much water as you will it decreaseth not ne yet augmenteth poure in neuer so much to it In a riuer of the Ciconians and in the lake Velinus in the Picene territory if wood be throwne in it is couered ouer with a stony barke Also in Surius a riuer of Colchis the like is to be seen insomuch as ye shall haue very often the bark that ouergrowes it as hard as any stone Likewise in the riuer Silarus beyond Surrentum not twigs onely that are dipped therein but leaues also grow to be stones and yet the vater thereof otherwise is good and wholesome to be drunk In the very passage and issue of Reatine meere there growes a rocke of stone bigger and bigger by the dashing of the water Moreouer in the red sea there be oliue trees and other shrubs that grow vp green There be also very many springs which haue a wonderfull nature for their boiling heat yea and that vpon the very mountains of the Alpes and in the sea between Italy and Aenaria as in the Firth Baianus and the riuer Liris and many others For in diuers and sundry places ye may draw fresh water out of the sea namely about the islands Chelidoniae and Aradus yea and in the Ocean about Gades In the hot waters of the Padouans there grow greene herbes in those of the Pisanes there breed frogs and at Vetulonij in Hetruria not far from the sea fishes also are bread In the territory Casinas there is a riuer called Scatebra which is cold and in Summer time more abounding and fuller of water than in winter in it as also in Stymphalis of Arcadia there breed come forth of it little water-mice or small Limpins In Dodone the fountain of Iupiter being exceeding chill and cold so as it quencheth and putteth out light torches dipped therein yet if you hold the same neere vnto it when they are extinct and put out it setteth them on fire againe The same spring at noon-tide euermore giueth ouer to boile and wants water for which cause they call it Anapauomenos anon it begins to rise vntill it be midnight and then it hath great abundance and from that time againe it faints by little and little In Illyricum there is a cold spring ouer which if ye spread any clothes they catch a fire and burne The fountaine of Iupiter Hammon in the day time is cold all night it is seething hot In the Troglodites countrey there is a fountaine of the Sunne called the sweet Spring about noon it is exceeding cold anon by little and little it growes to be warm but at midnight it passeth and is offensiue for heate and bitternes The head of the Po at noon in Summer giueth ouer as it were and intermits to boile and is then euer drie In the Island Tenedus there is a spring which after the Sommer Sunsteed euermore from the third houre of the night vnto the sixt doth ouerflow And in the isle Delos the fountain snopus falleth and rises after the same sort that Nilus doth and together with it Ouer against the riuer Timavus there is a little Island within the sea hauing hot wels which ebbe and flow as the tide of the sea doth and iust therwith In the territory of the Pitinates beyond Apenninus the riuer Nouanus at euery midsummertime swelles and runnes ouer the bankes but in mid-winter is cleane dry In the Faliscane countrie the water of the riuer Clitumnus makes the oxen and kine white that drinke of it And in Baeotia the riuer Melas maketh sheepe blacke Cephyssus running out of the same lake causeth them to be white and Penius again giues them a black colour but Xanthus neere vnto Ilium coloureth them reddish and hereupon the riuer tooke that name In the land of Pontus there is a riuer that watereth the plaines of Astace vpon which those mares that feed giue blacke milke for the food and sustenance of that nation In the Reatine territorie there is a fountaine called Neminia which according to the springing and issuing forth out of this or that place signifyeth the change in the price of corne and victuals In the hauen of Brind is there is a Well that yeeldeth vnto sailers and sea-fering-men water which will neuer corrupt The water of Lincestis called Acidula i. Soure maketh men drunken no lesse than wine Semblably in Paphlagonia and in the territory of Cales Also in the Isle Andros there is a fountaine neere the temple of Father Bacchus which vpon the Nones of Ianuarie alwaies runneth with water that tasteth like wine as Mulianus verily beleeueth who was a man that had beene thrice Consull The name of the spring is Dios Tecnosia Neere vnto Nonacris in Arcadia there is the riuer Styx differing from the other Styx neither in smell nor colour drinke of it once and it is present death Also in Berosus an hill of the Tauri there be three fountaines the water whereof whosoeuer drinketh is sure to die of it remedilesse and yet without paine In the Countrey of Spaine called Carrinensis two Springs there bee that runne neere together the one rejecteth the other swalloweth vp all things In the same countrey there is another water which sheweth all fishes within it of a golden colour but if they be once out of that water they be like to other fishes In the Cannensian territory neere to the lake Larius there is a large and broad Well which euery houre continually swelleth and falleth downe againe In the Island Sydonia before Lesbos an hot fountaine there is that
they call Hercules his town Two Arsinoites there be they and Memphites reach as farre as two the head of Delta Vpon it there do bound out of Affrica the two Ouafitae There be that change some names of these and set down for them other iurisdictions to wit Heroopolites and Crocodilopolites Between Arsinoites and Memphites there was a lake 250 miles about or as Mutianus saith 450 fifty paces deep i. 150 foot the same made by mans hand called the Lake Maeridis of a king who made it 72 miles from thence is Memphis the castle in old time of the Aegyptian kings From which to the Oracle of Hammon is twelue daies iournie so to the diuision of Nilus which is called Delta fifteen miles The riuer Nilus rising from vnknowne springs passeth thorow desarts and hot burning countries and going thus a mighty way in length is known by fame onely without armes without wars which haue discouered and found out all other lands It hath his beginning so far forth as Iabâ⦠was able to search and find out in a hil of the lower Mauritania not far from the Ocean where a lake presently is seen to stand with water which they call Nilides In it are found these fishes called Alabetae Coracini Siluri and the Crocodile Vpon this argument presumption Nilus is thought to spring from hence for that the pourtract of this source is consecrated by the said prince at Caesaria in Iseum and is there at this day seene Moreouer obserued it is that as the Snow or rain do satisfie the countrie in Mauritania so Nilus doth encrease When it is run out of this lake it scorneth to run through the sandy and ouergrown places and hides himself for certaine daies iourny And then soone after out of a greater lake it breaketh forth in the country of the Massaesyli with Mauritania Caesarienses and lookes about viewing mens company carrying the same arguments still of liuing creatures bred within it Then once again being receiued within the sands it is hidden a second time for twenty daies iourny in the desarts as farre as to the next Aethiopes and so soone as hee hath once againe espied a man forth hee startes as it should seem out of that spring which they called Nigris And then diuiding Affrick from Aethiopia being acquainted if not presently with people yet with the frequent company of wild and sauage beasts and making shade of woods as he goes he cuts through the middest of the Aethiopians there surnamed Astapus which in the language of those nations signifieth a water flowing out of darkenesse Thus dasheth he vpon such an infinite number of Islands and some of them so mighty great that albeit he bare a swift streame yet is he not able to passe beyond them in lesse space than 5 daies About the goodliest and fairest of them Meroe the chanell going on the left hand is called Astabores that is the branch of a water comming forth of darkenesse but that on the right hand Astusapes which is as much as lying hid to the former signification And neuer taketh the name of Nilus before his waters meet again accord all whole together And euen so was he aforetime named Siris for many miles space and of Homer altogether Aegyptis and of others Triton here and there and euer and anon hitting vpon Islands and stirred as it were with so many prouocations and at the last enclosed and shut within mountaines and in no place he caries a rougher and swifter stream whiles the water that he beareth hastens to a place of the Aethiopians called Catadupi where in the last fall among the rockes that stand in his way he is supposed not to runne but to rush downe with a mighty noise But afterwards he becomes more milde and gentle as the course of his streame is broken and his violence tamed and abated yea and partly wearied with his long way and so though with many mouths of his he dischargeth himselfe into the Aegyptian sea Howbeit at certaine set daies he swelleth to a great height and when he hath trauelled all ouer Aegypt hee ouerfloweth the land to the great fertility and plenty thereof Many and diuers causes of this rising and increase of his men haue giuen but those which carry the most probabilitie are either the rebounding of the water driuen back by the winds Etesiae at that time blowing against it and driuing the sea withall vpon the mouths of Nilus or else the Summer rain in Aethiopia by reason that the same Etesiae bring clouds thither from other parts of the world Timaeus the Mathematician alledged an hidden reason therof to wit that the head and source of Nilus is named Phyala and the riuer it selfe is hidden as it were drowned within certain secret trenches within the ground breathing forth vapors out of reeking rockes where it thus lieth in secret But so soone as the sunne during those daies commeth neere drawne vp it is by force of heate and so all the while he hangeth aloft ouerfloweth and then againe for feare he should be wholly deuoured and consumed putteth in his head againe and lieth hid And this happeneth from the rising of the dog starre Sicinus in the Sunnes entrance into Leo while the planet standeth plumbe ouer the fountaine aforesaid for as much as in that climate there are no shadows to be seene Many againe were of a different opinion that a riuer Howeth more abundantly when the Sunne is departed toward the North pole which happeneth in Cancer and Leo and therefore at that time is not so easily dried but when he is returned once againe back toward Capricorn and the South pole it is drunke vp and therefore floweth more sparely But if according to Timaus a man would thinke it possible that the water should be drawne vp the want of shadowes during those daies and in those quarters continueth still without end For the riuer begins to rise and swell at the next change of the Moone after the Sun-steed by little and little gently so long as he passes through the signe Cancer but most abundantly when he is in Leo. And when he is entred Virgo he falleth and settleth low again in the same measure as he rose before And is cleane brought within his bankes in Libia which is as Herodotus thinketh by the hundreth day All the whiles it riseth it hath been thought vnlawfull for kings or gouernours to saile or passe in any vessell vpon it and they make conscrence so to do How high it riseth is known by markes and measures taken of certaine pits The ordinary height of it is sixteen cubits Vnder that gage the waters ouerflow not all Aboue that stint there are a let and hinderance by reason that the later it is ere they be fallen and downe again By these the seed time is much of it spent for that the earth is too wet By the other there is none at all by reason that the ground is dry and thirsty
it fetcheth such windings to and fro that oftentimes it is taken for to run back againe from whence it came The first countrie that it passeth through is Apamia and from thence it proceedeth to Eumenitica and so forward through the plaines Bergylletici Last of all hee commeth gently into Caria and when hee hath watered and ouerflowed all that land with a most fat and fruitful mud that he leaueth behind him about ten stadia from Miletus he dischargeth himselfe into the sea Neer to that riuer is the hill Latmus the citie Heraclea surnamed Caryca of a hill of that name also Myus which as the report goeth was the first citie founded by the Ionians after their arriuall from Athens Naulochum and Pyrene Also vpon the sea coast the towne called Trogilia and the riuer Gessus Moreouer this quarter all the Ionians resort vnto in their deuotion and therefore named it is Panionia Neere vnto it was built a priueledged place for all fugitiues as appeareth by the name Phygela as also the town Marathesium stood there sometime and aboue it the renowmed citie Magnesia surnamed Vpon Maeander of the foundation of that other Magnesia in Thessalie From Ephesus it is 15 miles and from Trallais thither it is three miles farther Beforetime called it was Thessaloce Androlitia and being otherwise situate vpon the strond it tooke away with it other Islands called Derasides and ioine them to the firme land from out of the sea More within the maine standeth Thyatira in old time called Pelopia and Euhippa vpon the riuer Lycus But vpon the sea coast yee haue Manteium and Ephesus founded in times past by the Amazones But many names it had gone through before for in time of the Troiane war Alopes it was called soone after Ortygia and Morges yea and it took name Smyrne with addition of Trachaea i. rough Samornium and Ptelea Mounted it is vpon the hill Pione and hath the riuer Caystrus vnder it which commeth out of the Cilbian hills and bringeth downe with it many other riuers and principally is maintained and enriched with the lake Pegaseum which dischargeth it selfe by reason of the riuer Phyrites that runneth into it With these riuers he bringeth downe a good quantitie of mud whereby he increaseth the land for now already a good way within the land is the Island Syrie ioined to the continent A fountain there is within the citie called Callipia and two riuers height both Selinus comming from diuers parts enuiron the temple of Diana After you haue been at Ephesus you come to another Manteium inhabited by the Colophonians and within the country Colophon it selfe with the riuer Halesus vnder it Then meet you with the noble temple of Apollo Clarius and Lebedos And in this quarter somtime was to be seen the towne Notium The promontory also Coryceon is in this coast and the mountaine Mimas which reaches out 250 miles and endeth at length in the plaines within the continent that ioyne vnto it This is the place wherein Alexander the Great commanded a trench seuen miles long and an halfe to be cut through the plain for to ioyne two gulfes in one and to bring Erythree and Mimas together for to be enuironed round therewith Neere this city Erythree were sometimes the townes Pteleon Helos and Dorion now there is the riuer Aleon and the cape Corineum vpon the mount Mimas Clazomene Partheniae and Hippi called Chytophoria hauing beene sometime Islands the same Alexander caused to be vnited to the firme land for the space of two stadia There haue perished within-forth and beene drowned Daphnus Hermesia and Sipylum called before-time Tantalis notwithstanding it had beene the chiefe citie of Moeonia situate in that place where now is the meere or lake Sale And for that cause Archaeopolis succeeded in that preeminence and after it Colpe and in stead thereof Lebade As you returne from thence toward the sea side about twelue miles off you come vpon the citie Smyrna built by an Amazonite but repaired and fortified by Alexander the Great Situat it is pleasantly vpon the riuer Melis which hath his head and source not far off The most renowned hils in Asia for the most part spred themselues at large in this tract to wit Mastusia on the back side of Smyrna and Termetis that meets close to the foot of Olympus This hil Olympus endeth at the mountain Tmolus Tmolus at Cadmus and Cadmus at Taurus When you are past Smyrna you come into certain plains occasioned by the riuer Hermus and therefore adopted in his name This riuer hath his beginning neer to Doryleus a city of Phrygia and takes into it many other cities principally Phryge which giues name to the whole nation and diuides Phrygia and Caria asunder Moreouer Lyllus Crios which also are big and great by reason of other riuers of Phrygia Mysia and Lydia which enter into them In the very mouth of this riuer stood somtime the towne Temnos but now in the very vtmost nouke of the gulfe certain stony rocks called Myrmeces Also the towne Leuce vpon the cape so called somtime an Island it was and last of all Phocaea which limiteth and boundeth Ionia But to returne to Smyrna the most part of Aeolia whereof we will speake anon repaires commonly thither to their Parliament and Assises Likewise the Macedonians syrnamed Hircani as also the Magnetes from Sipylum But vnto Ephesus which is another principal and famous city of Asia resort those that dwell farther off to wit the Caesarians Metropolites Cylbianes the Myso-Macedonians as well the higher as the lower the Mastaurians Brullites Hyppepoenians and Dios-Hieriteae CHAP. XXX ¶ Aeolis Troas and Pergamus Aeolis in old time Mysia confronts vpon Ionia so doth Troas which bounds on the coast of Hellespontus Being then past Phocaea you meet with the port Ascanius the place where sometime Larissa stood and now Cyme and Myrina which loueth to be called Sebastopolis Within the firme land Aegae Attalia Posidea Neon-tichos and Temnos But vpon the coast the riuer Titanus and a city taking name thereof The time was when a man might haue seen there the city Grynia but now there is but an hauen and the bare ground by reason that the Island is taken into it and ioyned thereto The towne Elaea is not farre from thence and the riuer Caicus comming out of Mysia Moreouer the towne Pytane and the Riuer Canaius Other townes there were in old time but they are lost and perished namely Canae Lysimachia Atarnaea Carenae Cisthene Cilla Cocillum Thebae Astyre Chrysa Paloestepsis Gergithos and Neandros Yet at this day are to be seen the city Perperene beyond it the tract and territory Heracleotes the towne Coryphas the riuer Gryliosolius the quarter called Aphrodisias before-time Politice Orgas the country and Scepsis the new The riuer Evenus vpon the banke whereof stood once Lyrmessos and Miletos but now they are gon In this tract is the mountain Ida. Moreouer in the sea coast Adramytteos
no more than 5 fathom deepe howbeit in certain chanels that it hath it is so deep that it canot be sounded neither wil any anchors reach the bottom and there rest and withall so streight narrow these chanels are that a ship cannot turne within them and therefore to auoid the necessitie of turning about in these seas the ships haue prows at both ends and are pointed each way in sailing they obserue no star at all As for the North pole they neuer see it but they carry euer with them certaine birds in their ships which they send out oft times when they seeke for land euer obseruing their flight for knowing well that they wil fly to land they accompany them bending their course accordingly neither vse they to saile more than one quarter of a yeare and for 100 daies after the Sun is entred into Cancer they take most heed and neuer make saile for during that time it is winter with them And thus much we come to knowledge of by relation of antient Writers But we came to far better intelligence and more notable information by certain Embassadors that came out of that Island in the time of Claudius Gaesar the Emperor which happened vpon this occasion and after this manner It fortuned that a free slaue of Annius Plocamus who had farmed of the Exchequer the customs for impost of the red sea as he made saile about the coasts of Arabia was in such wise driuen by the North windes besides the realme of Carmania and that for the space of 15 daies that in the end he fell with an harbour thereof called Hippuros and there arriued When he was set on land he found the King of that Countrey so curteous that hee gaue him entertainment for six moneths and entreated him with all kindenesse that could be deuised And as he vsed to discourse and question with him about the Romanes and their Emperour he recounted vnto him at large of all things But amongst many other reports that he heard he wondred most of all at their iustice in all their dealings was much in loue therewith and namely that their Deniers of the money which was taken were alwaies of like weight notwithstanding that the sundry stamps and images vpon the pieces shewed plainly that they were made by diuers persons And hereupon especially was he mooued sollicited to seeke for the alliance and amitie of the people of Rome and so dispatched 4 Embassadours of purpose of whom one Rachias was the chiefe and principall personage By these Embassadours we are informed of the state of that Island namely that it contained fiue hundred great townes in it that there was a hauen therin regarding the South coast lying hard vnder Palesimundum the principall citie of all that realme and the kings seat and pallace that there were by iust account 200000 of commoners citizens moreouer that within this island there was a lake 270 miles in circuit containing in it certain Islands good for nothing else but pasturage wherein they were fruitfull out of which lake there issued 2 riuers the one Palesimundas passing neere to the citie abouesaid of that name and running into the hauen with three streames whereof the narrowest is fiue stadia broad and the largest 15 the other Northward on India side named Cydara also that the next cape of this country to India is called Colaicum from which to the neerest port of India is counted foure daies sailing in the midst of which passage there lieth in the way the Island of the Sunne They said moreouer that the water of this sea was all of a deepe greene colour and more than that full of trees growing within it insomuch as the pilots with their helmes many times brake off the heads and tops of those trees The stars about the North-pole called Septentriones the Waines or Beares they wondred to see here among vs in our Hemisphere as also the Brood-hen called Vergiliae in Latine as if it had been another heauen They confessed also they neuer saw with them the Moone aboue the ground before it was 8 daies old nor after the 16 day That the Canopus a goodly great and bright star about the pole Antarcticke vsed to shine all night with them But the thing that they maruelled and were most astonied at was this that they obserued the shadow of their own bodies fell to our Hemisphere and not to theirs and that the Sun arose on their left hand and set on their right rather than contrariwise Furthermore they related that the front of that Island of theirs which looked toward India contained 10000 stadia reached from the South-East beyond the mountains Enodi Also that the Seres were within their kenning whom they might easily discouer from out of this their Island with whom they had acquaintance by the meanes of trafficke and merchandise and that Rachias his father vsed many times to trauell thither Affirming moreouer that if any strangers came thither they were encountred and assailed by wild sauage beasts and that the inhabitants themselues were gyants of stature exceeding the ordinary stature of men hauing red haire eies of colour blewish their voice for sound horrible for speech not distinct nor intelligible for any vse of traffick and commerce In all things else their practise is the same that our merchants and occupiers do vse for on the farther side of the riuer when wares and commodities are laid downe if they list to make exchange they haue them away and leaue other merchandise in lieu thereof to content the forrein merchant And verily no greater cause haue we otherwise to hate abhor this excessiue superfluitie than to cast our eie so far and consider with our selues what it is that we seeke for from what remote parts we fetch it and to what end we so much desire al this vanitie But euen this Island Taprobane as farre off as it is seeming as it were cast out of the way by Nature and diuided from all this world wherein we liue is not without those vices and imperfections wherwith we are tainted and infected For euen gold siluer also is there in great requestand highly esteemed and marble especially if it be fashioned like a tortois shell Iemmes and pretious stones pearles also such as be orient and of the better sort are highly prised with them and herein consisteth the very height of our superfluous delights Moreouer these Embassadors would say that they had more riches in their Island than we at Rome but we more vse thereof than they They affirmed also that no man with them had any slaues to command neither slept they in the morning after day-light ne yet at all in the day time That the maner of building their houses was low somewhat raised aboue the ground and no more adoe that their markets were neuer deare nor price of victuals raised As for courts pleading of causes and going to law they knew not what it meant
yeelds a safe commodious hauen Also that the riuer Tuberum is nauigable along the bankes whereof the Parites inhabit And after them the Ichthyophagi who tooke vp so long a tract that they were 20 daies sailing by their coasts They make relation likewise of the Isle of the Sun named also the couch or bed of the nimphs This Island is red all ouer and no liuing creature will liue therin but is consumed perishes no man knoweth how or vpon what cause They speake besides of the nation of the Orians as also of Hytanis a riuer in Carmania which affordeth many baies and harbours yea and plentie of gold in the grauell and sand therof And here was the first place wherin they obserued that they had a sight of the North-pole star As for the starre Arcturus they affirmed that they saw it not euery night nor at any time all night long Furthermore that the country of the Achaemenides in Persea reached thus farre Ouer and besides that as they trauelled ordinarily they found good store of mines wherein was digged for brasse yron Arsenicke or Sardaracha and Vermilion And then they came to the cape of Carmania from which to the coast ouer-against them of the Marae a people in Arabia the cut ouer sea is 50 miles Vpon these coasts they discouered 3 Islands whereof Organa onely is inhabited by reason of fresh water within it and from the continent it lieth about 25 miles And foure Islands more they fell vpon euen in the Persian gulf ouer-against Persia. And about these Islands they might se sea-adders Serpents so monstruous great that as they came swimming toward them they put the very fleet in great fright for there were among them some 20 cubits long Beyond it they met with the Island Acrotadus likewise the Gaurates Isles wherein the nation the Chiani doe inhabit About the middle of this gulfe or arme of the sea the riuer Hiperus hath his course able to beare great hulkes and ships of burden Also the riuer Sitiogagus vpon which a man may passe in 7 daies to Pasargadia Also a riuer that is nauigable called Phirstimus and an Island within it but it is namelesse As for the riuer Granius which runs through Susiane it carries but small vessels Along the coast on the right hand of this riuer dwell the Deximontanes who dresse and prepare Bitumen Then the come to the riuer Oroatus with a dangerous hauen or mouth where it falls into the sea vnlesse a man be guided by skilfull pilots full against this riuer there are discouered 2 little Islands Past which the sea is very low and shallow full of shelues and sands more like a meere and marish water than a sea Howbeit there be certaine trenches or channels in it that draw deepe water wherein they may without danger saile Then met they with the mouth of the riuer Euphrates Also the lake which the two riuers Eulaeus and Tigris doe make neere vnto Characum And so from thence they arriued vpon the riuer Tigris at Susa. And there an end of the nauigation performed by Onesicritus and Nearchus For after they had beene three months embarked and in their voiage vpon the sea they found Alexander at Susa wherehe feasted and made solemne bankets and that was 7 monthes after he parted from them at Patalae And thus much concerning the voiage of Alexander his fleet Now afterwards from Syagrus a Promontory in Arabia it was counted vnto Patale 1332 miles held it was for certain then that the West wind with the people of that country call Hypalus was thought most proper for to make saile to the same place Howbeit the age ensuing discouered a shorter and safer cut namely if from the said promontorie or cape Syagrus they set their course directly to the mouth of the riuer Zizerus which maketh an harborough in India And in truth this passage held a long time vntill such time that in the end the merchants found out a more compendious and shorter course and gained by their voiage to India for euery yeere now they saile thither and for feare of pirats and rouers that were wont very much to infest and annoy them they vsed to embarke in their ships certaine companies of Archers And seeing that all these seas are now discouered and neuer before so certainly I will not thinke much of my pains to declare and shew the whole course of our Indian voiages from out of Aegypt And first and formost this is a thing worthy to be noted and obserued of euery man that there is not a yeere goeth ouer our heads but it costs our State to furnish a voiage into India 500 hundred thousand Sesterces i. fifty millions of Sesterces For which the Indians sendeth backe againe commodities and merchandise of their owne which being at Rome are sold for an hundred times as much as they cost or yeeld in the price an hundred fold gain But to returne againe to our voiage from Alexandria in Aegypt it is two miles to Iuliopolis from whence vpon the riuer of Nilus they saile 303 miles to Coptus which may be done in 12 daies space hauing the Etesian winds at the poupe From Coptus they trauell forwards vpon Cammels backs and for great default of water in those parts there be certain set places for bait lodging and watering The first is called Hydreuma 32 miles from Coptus The second one days journey from thence in a certaine mountaine The third watering place at another Hydreuma 95 miles from Coptus The fourth againe in a second mountaine The fifth is at a third Hydreuma of Apollo from Coptus 184 miles Beyond which the resting place is vpon another hill And then to Hydreuma the new from Coptus 234 miles Another water towne there is called Hydreuma the old named also Trogloditicum where two miles out of the port way lieth a garrison keeping watch and ward both day night and foure miles distant it is from new Hydreuma From whence they trauell to the towne Berenice an hauen towne standing vpon the red sea 258 miles from Coptus But for as much as the journey all this way is for the most part performed in the night season by reason of the excessiue heat the trauellers are forced to rest all the day long therefore twelue daies are set down for the whole voiage between Coptus and Berenice The time then that they vsually begin to set saile is about Midsummer before the dog daies or presently vpon the rising of the dog starre And about the 30 daies end they arriue to Ocelis in Arabia or els at Cama within Saba the countrey of incense A third port there is besides called Muza vnto which there is no resort of merchants out of India neither is it in request but with merchants that aduenture only for incense drugs spices of Arabia Howbeit peopled this country is within-forth and hath diuers great townes Of which Saphar is the principall and the
Man I Am abashed much and very sory to thinke and consider what a poore and ticklish beginning man hath the proudest creature of all others when the smel only of the snuffe of a candle put out is the cause oft times that a woman fals into vntimely trauel And yet see these great tyrans and such as delight only in carnage and bloudshed haue no better original Thou then that presumest vpon thy bodily strength thou that standest so much vpon Fortunes fauors and hast thy hands full of her bountifull gifts taking thy self not to be a foster-child and nurceling of hers but a naturall son borne of her owne body thou I say that busiest thy head euermore and settest thy minde vpon conquests and victories thou that art vpon euerie good successe and pleasant gale of prosperity puffed vp with pride and takest thy selfe for a god neuer thinkest that thy life when it was hung vpon so single a thred with so small a matter might haue miscarried Nay more than that euen at this day art thou in more danger than so if thou chance to be but stung or bitten with the little tooth of a Serpent or if but the verie kernell of a raisin go downe thy throat wrong as it did with the poet Anacreon which cost him his life Or as Fabius a Senator of Rome and Lord chiefe Iustice besides who in a draught of milk fortuned to swallow a small haire which strangled him Well then thinke better of this point for he verily that will euermore set before his eies and remember the frailty of mans estate shall liue in this world vprightly and in euen ballance without inclining more to one side than vnto another CHAP. VIII ¶ Of those that be called Agrippae TO be borne with the feet forward is vnnaturall and vnkinde and such as come in that order into the world the Latines were wont to name Agrippae as if a man should say born hardly and with much ado And in this maner M. Agrippa as they say came forth of his mothers wombe the only man almost known to haue brought any good fortune with him and prospered in the world of all that euer were in that sort borne And yet as happy as hee was and how well soeuer he chieued in some respects he was much pained with the gout and passed all his youth and many a day after in bloudy wars and in danger of a thousand deaths And hauing escaped all these harmfull perils vnfortunate he was in all his children and especially in his two daughters the Agrippinae both who brought forth those wicked Imps so pernicious to the whole earth namely C. Caligula and Domitius Nero two Emperours but two fiery flames to consume and waste all mankinde Moreouer his infelicitie herein appeared that hee liued so short a time dying as he did a strong and lusty man in the 51 yeare of his age tormented and vexed with the adulteries of his owne wife oppressed with the heauy and intolerable seruitude that he was in vnder his wiues father In which regards it seems he paid full deare for the presage of his vntoward birth and natiuitie Moreouer Agrippina hath left in writing That her son Nero also late Emperor who all the time of his reigne was a very enemy to all mankinde was borne with his feet forward And in truth by the right order and course of Nature a man is brought into the world with his head first but is carried forth with his feet formost CHAP. IX ¶ Births cut out of the wombe BVt more fortunate are they a great deale whose birth costeth their mothers life parting from them by means of incision like as Scipio Africanus the former who came into the world in that manner and the first that euer was sirnamed Caesar was so called for the like cause And hereof comes the fore-name also of the Caesones In like sort also was that Manlius borne who entred Carthage with an army CHAP. X. ¶ Who are Vopisci THe Latines were wont to call him Vopiscus or rather Opiscus who being one of two twins hapned to stay behinde in the wombe the full terme when as the other miscarried by abortiue and vntimely birth And in this case there chance right strange accidents although they fall out very seldome CHAP. XI ¶ Examples of many Infants at one birth FEw creatures there be besides women that seeke after the male and can skill of their companie after they be once conceiued with yong one kind verily or two at the most there is knowne to conceiue double one vpon the other We find in books written by Physitians and in their records who haue studied such matters and gathered obseruations that there haue passed or bin cast away from a woman at one only slip 12 distinct children but when it falleth out that there is some pretty time betwixt two conceptions both of them may carry their full time and be borne with life as appeared in Hercules and his brother Iphiclus as also in that harlot who was deliuered of two infants one like her owne husband the other resembling the Adulterer likewise in a Proconnesian bond-seruant who was in one day gotten with childe by her master and also by his Baily or Procurator and being afterwards deliuered of two children they bewrayed plainly who were their fathers Moreouer there was another who went her full time euen nine moneths for one childe but was deliuered of another at the fiue moneths end Furthermore in another who hauing dropped downe one childe at the end of seuen moneths by the end of the ninth came with two twinnes more Ouer and besides it is commonly seen that children be not alwaies answerable to the parents in euery respect for of perfect fathers and mothers who haue all their limmes there are begotten children vnperfect and wanting some members and contrariwise parents there are maimed and defectiue in some part who neuerthelesse beget children that are sound and entire and with all that they should haue It is seen also that infants are at a default of those parts their parents misse yea and they carry often times certaine markes moles blemishes and skarres of their fathers and mothers as like as may be Among the people called Dakes the children vsually beare the markes imprinted in their armes of them from whom they descend euen to the fourth generation CHAP. XII ¶ Examples of many that haue been very like and resembled one another IN the race and family of the Lepidi it is said there were three of them not successiuely one after another but out of order after some intermission who had euery one of them at their birth a little pannicle or thin skin growing ouer their eye Some haue bin known to resemble their grandsires and of two twins one hath beene like the father the other the mother but he that was borne a yere after hath bin so like his elder brother as if he had bin one of the twins Some women
infected and to change the colour thereupon Furthermore doubtlesse it is that children breed their fore teeth in the seuenth moneth after they are borne and first those in the vpper chaw for the most part likewise that they shed the same teeth about the seuenth yere of their age others come vp new in the place Certaine it is also that some children are borne into the world with teeth as M. Curius who thereupon was surnamed Dentatus and Cn. Papyrius Carbo both of them very great men and right honourable personages In women the same was counted but an vnlucky thing presaged some misfortune especially in the daies of the KK regiment in Rome for when Valeria was borne toothed the wizards and Soothsayers being consulted thereabout answered out of their learning by way of Prophesie That look into what citie she was caried to nource she should be the cause of the ruine and subuersion thereof whereupon had away shee was and conueied to Suessa Pometia a city at that time most flourishing in wealth and riches and it proued most true in the end for that city was vtterly destroied Cornelia the mother of the Gracchi is sufficient to proue by her own example that women are neuer borne for good whose genitall parts for procreation are growne together and yeeld no entrance Some children are borne with an entire whole bone that taketh vp all the gum instead of a row of distinct teeth as a son of Prusias king of the Bythinians who had such a bone in his vpper chaw This is to be obserued about teeth that they onely check the fire and burn not to ashes with other parts of the body and yet as inuincible as they are and able to resist the violence of the flame they rot and become hollow with a little catarrhe or waterish rheume that droppeth and distilleth vpon them white they may be made with certaine mixtures and medicines called Dentifices Some weare their teeth to the very stumps onely with vse of chawing others againe loose them first out of their head they serue not onely to grind our meat for our daily food and nourishment but necessary also they be for the framing of our speech The fore-teeth stand in good stead to rule and moderate the voice by a certaine consent and tuneable accord answering as it were to the stroke of the tongue and according to that row and ranke of theirs wherein they are set as they are broader or narrower greater or smaller they yeeld a distinction and varietie in our words cutting and hewing them thicke and short framing them pleasant plaine and ready drawing them out at length or smuddering and drowning them in the end but when they bee once falne out of the head man is bereaued of all means of good vtterance and explanation of his words Moreouer there are some presages of good or bad fortune gathered by the teeth men ordinarily haue giuen them by nature 32 in all except the nation of the Turduli They that haue aboue this number may make account as it is thought to liue the longer As for women they haue not so many they that haue on the right side in the vpper iaw two eie-teeth which the Latines call Dogs-teeth may promise themselues the flattering fauors of Fortune as it is well seene in Agrippina the mother of Domitius Nero but contrariwise the same teeth double in the left side aboue is a signe of euill lucke It is not the custome in any countrey to burne in a funerall fire the dead corps of any infant before his teeth be come vp but hereof will we write more at large in the Anatomie of man when wee shall discourse purposely of euerie member and part of the body Zoroastres was the onely man that euer wee could heare of who laughed the same day that he was borne his brain did so euidently pant and beat that it would beare vp their hands that laid them vpon his head a most certain presage fore-token of that great learning that afterward he attained vnto This also is held for certain and resolued vpon that a man at three yeares of age is come to one moitie of his growth and height As also this is obserued for an vndoubted truth that generally all men come short of the ful stature in time past and decrease stil euery day more than other and seldome shall you see the son taller than his father for the ardent heat of the elementarie fire whereunto the world enclineth already now toward the later end as somtimes it stood much vpon the waterie element deuoureth and consumeth that plentifull humor and moisture of naturall seed that engendreth all things and this appeareth more euidently by these examples following In Crete it chanced that an hill claue asunder in an earth-quake and in the chink thereof was found a body standing 46 cubits high some say it was the body of Orion others of Otus We find in chronicles records of good credit that the body of Orestes being taken vp by direction from the Oracles was seuen cubits long And verily that great and famous poet Homer who liued almost 1000 yeres ago complained and gaue not ouer That mens bodies were lesse of stature euen then than in old time The Annales set not downe the stature and bignesse of Naevius Pollio but that he was a mighty gyant appeareth by this that is written of him namely that it was taken for a wonderfull strange thing that in a great rout presse of people that came running together vpon him he had like to haue bin killed The tallest man that hath bin seen in our age was one named Gabbara who in the daies of prince Claudius late Emperor was brought out of Arabia nine foot high was hee and as many inches There were in the time of Augustus Caesar 2 others named Pusio and Secundilla higher than Gabbara by halfe a foot whose bodies were preserued and kept for a wonder in a charnell house or sepulchre within the gardens of the Salustians Whiles the same Augustus sate as president his niece Iulia had a little dwarfish fellow not aboue 2 foot and a hand bredth high called Conopas whom she set great store by and made much of as also another she dwarfe named Andromeda who somtime had been the slaue of Iulia the princesse and by her made free M. Varro reporteth that Manius Maximus and M. Tullius were but two cubits high yet they gentlemen and knights of Rome and in truth we our selues haue seen their bodies how they lie embalmed and chested which testifieth no lesse It is well knowne that there be some that naturally are neuer but a foot and a halfe high others again somwhat longer and to this heigth they came in three yeres which is the full course of their age and then they die Wee reade moreouer in the Chronicles that in Salamis one Euthimenes had a son who in three yeres grew to be three cubits high
may wonder the more at this matter and come to the full conceit thereof if he do but consider that it was counted an exceeding great iourny that Tiberius Nero made with three chariots shifting from one to the other fresh in a day and a night riding post haste vnto his brother Drusus then lying sicke in Germany and all that was but 200 miles CHAP. XXI ¶ Examples of good Eie-sight VVE find in histories as incredible examples as any be as touching quicknesse of Eie-sight Cicero hath recorded that the whole Poeme of Homer called Ilias was written in a piece of parchment which was able to be couched within a nut shel The same writer maketh mention of one that could see and discerne out-right 135 miles And M. Varro nameth the man and saith he was called Strabo who affirmeth thus much moreouer of him that during the Carthaginian war he was wont to stand and watch vpon Lilybaeum a cape in Sicily to discouer the enemies fleet loosing out of the hauen of Carthage and was able to tel the very just number of the ships Callicrates vsed to make Pismires and other such like little creatures out of yvorie so artificially that other men could not discerne the parts of their body one from another There was one Myrmecides excellent in that kinde of workmanship who of the same matter wrought a chariot with foure wheeles and as many steeds in so little roome that a silly flie might couer all with her wings Also he made a ship with all the tackling to it no bigger than a little bee might hide it with her wings CHAP. XXII ¶ Of Hearing AS for hearing there is one example wonderfull For the bruit of that battell whereupon Sybaris was forced sacked was heard the very same day as far as Olympia in Greece As touching the news of the Cimbrians defeature as also the report and tidings of the victorie ouer the Persians made by the Roman Castores the same day that it was atchieued were held for diuine reuelations rather than humane reports and the knowledge thereof came more by way of vision than otherwise CHAP. XXIII ¶ Examples of Patience MAny are the calamities of this life incident to mankind which haue affoorded infinite trials of mens patience in suffering paines in their body Among others for women the example of Leaena the courtisan is most rare and singular who for all the dolorous tortures that could be deuised would neuer bewray Harmodius and Aristogiton who slew the tyranous king And for men Anaxarchus did the like who being for such a cause examined vpon the racke in the midst of his torments bit off his own tongue with his teeth the only means wherby he might haply reueale and disclose the matter in question and spit it in the face of the ty rant that put him to his torture CHAP. XXIIII ¶ Examples of Memorie AS touching memorie the greatest gift of Nature and most necessary of all others for this life hard it is to iudge and say who of all others deserued the chiefe honor therein considering how many men haue excelled and woon much glory in that behalfe King Cyrus was able to call euery souldier that he had through his whole army by his owne name L. Scipio could do the like by all the citizens of Rome Semblably Cineas Embassador of king Pyrrhus the very next day that he came to Rome both knew and also saluted by name all the Senate the whole degrees of Gentlemen and Cauallerie in the citie Mithridates the king reigned ouer two and twentie nations of diuers languages and in so many tongues gaue lawes and ministred justice vnto them without truchman and when he was to make speech vnto them in publicke assembly respectiuely to euery nation he did performe it in their own tongue without interpretor One Charmidas or Charmadas a Grecian was of so singular a memory that hâ⦠was able to deliuer by heart the contents word for word of all the books that a man would call for out of any librarie as if he read the same presently within book At length the practise hereof was reduced into an art of Memory deuised and inuented first by Simonides Melicus and afterwards brought to perfection and consummate by Metrodorus Sepsius by which a man might learne to rehearse againe the same words of any discourse whatsoeuer after once hearing and yet there is not a thing in man so fraile and brittle againe as it whether it be occasioned by disease by casual iniuries or occurrents or by feare through which it faileth somtime in part and otherwhiles decaieth generally and is clean lost One with the stroke of a stone fell presently to forget his letters onely and could reade no more otherwise his memorie serued him well enough Another with a fall from the roofe of a very high house lost the remembrance of his owne mother his next kinsfolks friends and neighbors Another in a sicknesse of his forgot his own seruants about him and Messala Corvinus the great Orator vpon the like occasion forgot his own proper name So fickle and slipperie is mans memorie that oftentimes it assaieth and goeth about to leese it selfe euen whiles a mans body is otherwise quiet and in health But let sleep creepe at any time vpon vs it seemeth to be vanquished so as our poore spirit wandreth vp and downe to seeke where it is and to recouer it againe CHAP. XXV ¶ The praise of C. Iulius Caesar. FOr vigor and quicknesse of spirit I take it that C. Caesar Dictatour went beyond all men besides I speake not now of his vertue and constancie neither of his high reach and deep wit whereby he apprehended the knowledge of all things vnder the cope of heauen but of that agilitie of minde that prompt and ready conceit of his as nimble and actiue as the verie fire I haue heard it reported of him that he was wont to write to reade to indite letters and withall to giue audience to suiters heare their causes all at one instant And being emploied as you know he was in so great and important affairs he ordinarily indited letters to foure secretaries or clerkes at once and when he was free from other greater businesse he would otherwise finde seuen of them work at one time The same man in his daies fought 50 set battels with banners displaied against his enemies in which point he alone out-went M. Marcellus who was seene 40 times saue one in the field Besides the carnage of citizens that hee made in the ciuill wars when he obtained victory he put to the sword 1192000 of his enemies in one battell or other And certes for mine owne part I hold this for no speciall glory and commendation of his considering so great iniurie done to mankind by this effusion of bloud which in some part hâ⦠hath confessed himselfe in that he hath forborne to set downe the ouerthrowes bloud-shed of his aduersaries fellow citizens during
Athens at what time as the citie was besieged by the Lacedaemonians god Bacchus appeared sundry times by way of vision in a dreame to Lysander their king admonishng him to suffer his delight and him whom he set most store by for to be enterred Whereupon the king made diligent enquirie who lately was departed this life in Athens and by relation of the citizens soone found it out and perceiued who it was that the foresaid god meant and so gaue them leaue to bury Sophocles in peace and to performe his funeralls without any molestation or impeachment CHAP. XXX ¶ Of Plato Ennius Virgil M. Varro and M. Cicero DEnis the tyrant borne otherwise to pride and cruelty being aduertised of the comming and arriuall of Plato that great clerke and prince of learning sent out to meet him a ship adorned with goodly ribbands and himselfe mounted vpon a charriot drawne with foure white horses receiued him as if he had bin a K. at the hauen when hee dis barked and came aland Isocrates sold one Oration that he made for 20 talents of gold Aeschines that famous oratour of Athens in his time hauing at Rhodes rehearsed that accusatorie oration which he had made against Demosthenes read withall his aduersaries defence againe by occasion wherof he was confined to Rhodes and there liued in banishment and when the Rhodians that heard it wondred thereat Nay qd Aeschines you would haue maruelled much more at it if you had heard the man himselfe pronouncing it pleading Viua voce yeelding thus as you see a notable testimony of his aduersary in the time of his aduersitie The Athenians exiled Thucidides their Generall Captaine but after he had written his Chronicle they called him home again wondring at the eloquence of the man whose vertue and prowesse they had before condemned The KK of Egypt and Macedonie gaue a singular testimony how much they honoured Menander the Comicall poet in that they sent Embassadors for him and a fleet to waft him for his more securitie but he wan vnto himselfe more fame and glory by his owne setled iudgement for that he esteemed more of his owne priuat study and following his book than of all those fauors offered vnto him from great princes Moreouer there haue bin great personages and men of high calling at Rome who haue shewed the like in token how they esteemed and regarded the learned crew of forrein nations Cn. Pompeius after he had dispatched the war against Mithridates intended to go and visit Posidonius that renowned professor of learning and when hee should enter into the mans house gaue streight commandement to his Lictors or Huishers that they should not after their ordinary maner with all others rââ¦p at his dore and this great warriour vnto whom both the East and West parts of the world had submitted vailed bonet as it were and based his armes and ensignes of state which his officers carried before the verie dore of this Philosopher Cato syrnamed Censorius vpon a time when there came to Rome that noble embassage from Athens consisting of three the wisest sages among them when hee had heard Carneades speake who was one of those three gaue his opinion presently That those embassadors were to be dispatched and sent away with all speed for feare least if that man argued the case it would be an hard piece of worke to sound and find out the truth so pregnant were his reasons and so witty his discourses But Lord what a change is there now in mens manners and dispositions This Cato the renowned Censor both now and at all times else could not abide to haue any Grecian within Italy but alwaies gaue judgement to them all in generall to be expelled but after him there comes his nephew once remoued or his nephewes sonne who brought one of their Philosophers ouer with him when he had bin military Tribune or knight marshall and another likewise vpon his embassage to Cypres And verily a wonder it is and a memorable thing to consider how these two Catoes differed in another point for the former of them could not away with the Greek tongue the other that killed himselfe at Vtica esteemed it as highly But to leaue strangers let vs now speak of our own countrimen so renowned in this behalfe Scipio Africanus the elder gaue expresse order and commanded That the statue of Q. Ennius the poet should be set ouer his tomb to the end that the great name and stile of Africanus or indeed the booty rather that hee had woon and carried away from a third part of the world should in his monument vpon the reliques of his ashes be read together with the title of this poet Augustus Caesar late Emperor expressely forbad that the Poeme of Virgil should be burned notwithstanding that he by his last wil and testament on a modesty gaue order to the contrary by which means there grew more credit and authority vnto the Poet than if himself had approued and allowed his owne verses Asinius Pollio was the first that set vp a publicke Library at Rome raised of the spoile and pillage gained from the enemies In the Library of which gentleman was erected the image of M. Varro euen whiles he liued a thing that won as great honor to M. Varro in mine opinion considering that amongst those fine wits whereof a great number then flourished at Rome his hap only was to haue the garland at the hands of a noble citizen and an excellent Orator beside as that other nauall crowne gained him which Pompey the Great bestowed vpon him for his good seruice in the pyrats war Infinite examples more there are of vs Romans if a man would seeke after them and search them out for this only nation hath brought forth more excellent and accomplished men in euery kinde than all the lands besides of the whole world But what a sin should I commit if I proceeded farther and speake not of thee O M. Cicero and yet how should I possibly write of thee according to thy worthinesse would a man require a better proofe of thy condigne praises than the most honorable testimony of the whole body of that people in generall and the acts onely of thy Consulship chosen out of al other vertuous deeds throughout thy whole life Thine eloquence was the cause that all the Tribes renownced the law Agraria as touching the diuision of Lands a-among the commons albeit their greatest maintenance and nourishment consisted therein Through thy persuasion they pardoned Roscius the first author of that seditious bill and law whereby the States and degrees of the city were placed distinctly in their seats at the Theatre they were content I say and tooke it well that they were noted and pointed at for this difference in taking place and rowms which he first brought in By means of thy orations the children of proscript and outlawed persons were ashamed and abashed to sue for honorable dignities in common-weale thy witty head it was that
mutuall war between them after another sort and that the occasion thereof ariseth from a naturall cause for say they the Elephants bloud is exceeding cold and therefore the dragons be wonderful desirous thereof to refresh and coole themselues therewith during the parching hot season of the yeare And to this purpose they ly vnder the water waiting their time to take the Elephants at a vantage when they are drinking where they catch fast hold first of their trunke and they haue not so soone clasped and intangled it with their taile but they set their venomous teeth in the Elephants eare the onely part of all their body which they cannot reach vnto with their trunke and so bite it hard now these dragons are so big withal that they are able to receiue all the elephants bloud thus are they sucked dry vntill they fall down dead and the dragons also drunke with their bloud are squeesed vnder them and so dy together CHAP. XIII ¶ Of Dragons IN Aethyopia there be as great dragons bred as in India namely 20 cubits long but I maruell much at this one thing that king Iuba should think they are crested They are bred most in a countrey of Aethyopia where the Asachaei inhabit It is reported that vpon their coast they are inwrapped foure or fiue of them one within another like to a hurdle or lattise-worke and thus passe the seas to find out better pasturage in Arabia cutting the waues and bearing their heads aloft which serue them in stead of sailes CHAP. XIV ¶ Of monstrous great Serpents and namely of those called Boae MEgasthes writeth that there be serpents among the Indians growne to that bignesse that they are able to swallow stags or bulls all whole Metrodorus saith that about the riuer Rhyndacus in Pontus there be serpents that catch and deuoure the fowles of the aire be they neuer so swift winged and soare they neuer so high Well knowne it is that Attilius Regulus Generall vnder the Romans during the wars against the Carthaginians assailed a Serpent neere the riuer Bagrada which caried in length 120 foot and before hee could conquer him was driuen to discharge vpon him arrowes quarrels stones bullets and such like shot out of brakes slings and other engins of artillery as if he had giuen the assualt to some strong warlike towne the proofe whereof was to be seen by the marks remaining in his skin and chawes which vntill the war of Numantia remained in a temple or conspicuous place of Rome And this is the more credible for that we see in Italy other serpents named Boae so big and huge that in the daies of the Emperor Claudius there was one of them killed in the Vaticane within the belly whereof there was found an infant all whole This serpent liueth at the first of kines milk and thereof takes the name Boae As for other beasts which ordinarily of late are brought from all parts into Italy and oftentimes haue there been seen needlesse it is for me to describe their formes in particular curiously CHAP. XV. ¶ Of Scythian beasts and those which are bred in the North parts VEry few sauage beasts are ingendred in Scythia for want of trees pasturage Few likewise in Germany bordering vpon it Howbeit that countrâ⦠bââ¦ings forth certaine kindes of goodly great wild boeufs to wit the Bisontes mained with a collar like Lions and the Vri a mighty strong beast and a swift which the ignorant people call Buffles whereas indeed the Buffle is bred in Africke and somewhat resembles a calfe rather or stag The Northerne regions bring forth wilde horses which there are found in great troups like as in Asia and in Africk there are to be seen wild Asses Moreouer a certain beast called the Alce very like to a horse but that his eares are longer and his necke also with two markes distinguishing them asunder Moreouer in the Island of Scandinavia there is a beast called Machlis not much vnlike the Alce aboue-named common he is there much talk we haue heard of him howbeit in these parts he was neuer seen He resembles I say the Alce but that he hath neither ioynt in the hough nor pasternes in his hind legs and therefore he neuer lieth downe but sleepeth leaning to a tree Wherefore the hunters that lie in wait for these beasts cut down the trees while they are asleepe and so take them otherwise they should neuer be taken they are so swift of foot that it is wonderfull Their vpper lip is exceeding great and therefore as they grase and feed they go retrograde lest if they went passant forward they should fold that lip double vnder their muzzle There is they say a wild beast in Paeonia called Bonasus with a maine like an horse otherwise resembling a bull mary his hornes bend so inward with their tips toward his head that they serue him in no stead at all for fight either to offend or defend himself and therefore all the helpe hee hath is in his good footmanship and otherwhiles in his flight by dunging which he will squirt out from behind him three acres in length This his ordure is so strong and hot that it burneth them that pursue him like fire if haply they touch it A strange thing it is and wonderfull that the Leopards Panthers Lions and such like beasts as they go draw in the points of their claws within their body as it were into sheaths because they should neither breake nor wax blunt but be alwaies keene and sharpe also that when they runne they should turne the hooked nailes of their pawes back and neuer stretch them forth at length but when they meane to assaile or strike any thing CHAP. XVI ¶ Of Lions THe Lions are then in their kind most strong and couragious when the haire of their main or collar is so long that it couereth both necke and shoulders And this comes to them at a certain age namely to those that are ingendred by Lions for such as haue Pards to their sires neuer haue this ornament no more than the Lionesse These Lionesses are very lecherous aad this is the cause that the Lions are so fell and cruell This Africke knowes best and sees most and especially in a great drought when for want of water a great number of wild beasts resort by troups to those few riuers that be there and meet together and hereupon it is that so many strange shaped beasts of a mixt and mungrell kind are there bred whiles the males either perforce or for pleasure leap and couer the females of all sorts From hence it is also that the Greeks haue this common prouerbe That Africke euermore brings forth some new and strange thing or other The Lion knoweth by sent and smell of the Pard when the Lionesse his mate hath played false and suffered her selfe to be couered by him and presently with all his might and maine runneth vpon her for to chastise and punish her And therefore
pittifull groning of a man they are saddle-backed their snout is camoise and flat turning vp And this is the cause that all of them after a wonderfull sort know the name Simo and take great pleasure that men should so call them The Dolphin is a creature that carries a louing affection not only vnto man but also to musicke delighted he is with harmony in song but especially with the sound of the water instrument or such kind of pipes Of a man he is nothing affraid neither auoides from him as a stranger but of himselfe meeteth their ships plaieth and disportes himselfe and fetcheth a thousand friskes and gamboles before them He will swim along by the mariners as it were for a wager who should make way most speedily and alwaies outgoeth them saile they with neuer so good a fore-wind In the daies of Augustus Caesar the Emperour there was a Dolphin entred the gulfe or poole Lucrinus which loued wondrous well a certain boy a poore mans son who vsing to goe euery day to schoole from Baianum to Puteoli was woont also about noone-tide to stay at the water side and to call vnto the Dolphin Simo Simo and many times would giue him fragments of bread which of purpose he euer brought with him and by this meanes allured the Dolphin to come ordinarily vnto him at his call I would make scruple and bash to insert this tale in my storie and to tell it out but that Mecenas Fabianus Flauius Alfius and many others haue set it downe for a truth in their chronicles Well in processe of time at what houre soeuer of the day this boy lured for him called Simo were the Dolphin neuer so close hidden in any secret and blind corner out he would and come abroad yea and skud amaine to this lad and taking bread and other victuals at his hand would gently offer him his back to mount vpon and then downe went the sharpe pointed prickles of his fins which he would put vp as it were within a sheath for fear of hurting the boy Thus when he had him once on his back he would carry him ouer the broad arme of the sea as farre as Puteoli to schoole and in like manner conuey him backe again home and thus he continued for many yeeres rogether so long as the child liued But when the boy was fallen sicke dead yet the Dolphin gaue not ouer his haunt but vsually came to the wonted place missing the lad seemed to be heauie and mourne againe vntill for very griefe sorrow as it is doubtles to be presumed he also was found dead vpon the shore Another Dolphin there was not many yeeres since vpon the coast of Affricke neere to the citie Hippo called also Diarrhytus which in like manner would take meat at a mans hand suffer himselfe gently to be handled play with them that swom and bathed in the sea and carrie on his backe whosoeuer would get vpon it Now it fell out so that Flauianus the Proconsull or lieutenant Generall in Affrick vnder the Romans perfumed and besmeered this Dolphin vpon a time with a sweet ointment but the fish as it should seem smelling this new strange smel fell to be drow sie and sleepie and hulled to and fro with the waues as if it had bin halfe dead and as though some iniurie had bin offered vnto him went his way and kept aloufe and would not conuerse any more for certaine moneths with men as before-time Howbeit in the end he came again to Hippo to the great wonder astonishment of all that saw him But the wrongs that some great persons and lords did vnto the citizens of Hippo such I mean as vsed to come for to see this sight and namely the hard measure offered to those townesmen who to their great cost gaue them entertainement caused the men of Hippo to kill the poore Dolphin The like is reported in the citie Iassos long before this time for there was seene a Dolphin many a day to affect a certaine boy so as he would come vnto him wheresoeuer he chanced to espy him But whiles at one time aboue the rest he followed egerly after the lad going toward the towne he shot himselfe vpon the dry sands before he was aware and died forthwith In regard hereof Alexander the Great ordained that the said young boy should afterwards be the chiefe priest and sacrificer to Neptune in Babylon collecting by the singular fancie that this Dolphin cast vnto him That it was a great signe of the speciall loue of that god of the sea vnto him and that he would be good and gracious to men for his sake Egesidemus writeth that in the same Iassus there was another boy named Hermias who hauing vsed likewise to ride vpon a Dolphin ouer the sea chanced at the last in a sodaine storme to be ouer-whelmed with waues as he sat vpon his backe and so died and was brought backe dead by the Dolphin who confessing as it were that he was the cause of his death would neuer retire againe into the sea but launced himselfe vpon the sands and there died on the drie land The semblable happened at Naupactum by the report of Theophrastus But there is no end of examples in this kinde for the Amphilochians and Tarentines testifie as much as touching Dolphins which haue bin enamoured of little boies which induceth me the rather to beleeue the tale that goes of Arion This Arion being a notable musition plaier of the harpe chanced to fall into the hands of certain mariners in the ship where he was who supposing that he had good store of mony about him which he had gotten with his instrument were in hand to kill him and cast him ouer boord for the said monie and so to intercept all his gaines he seeing himselfe at their deuotion and mercie besought them in the best manner that he could deuise to suffer him yet before he died to play one fit of mirth with his harpe which they granted at his musicke and sound of harpe a number of Dolphins came flocking about him which done they turned him ouer shipbord into the sea where one of the Dolphins tooke him vpon his backe and carried him safe to the bay of Taenarus To conclude and knit vp this matter In Languedoc within the prouince of Narbon and in the territorie of Naemausium there is a standing poole or dead water called Laterra wherein men and Dolphins together vse to fish for at one certain time of the yeare an infinite number of fishes called Mullets taking the vantage of the tide when the water doth ebbe at cââ¦tain narrow weares and passages with great force break forth of the said poole into the sea and by reason of that violence no nets can be set and pitched against them strong enough to abide and beare their huge weight and the streame of the water rogether if so be men were not cunning and craftie to wait and espie
CHerry-trees Peach-trees and generally all that either haue Greek names or any other but Latine are held for aliens in Italy Howbeit some of them now are infranchised and taken for free denizens among vs so familiar they be made vnto vs and they like the ground so well But of them we will speake in the ranke of those trees that beare fruit For this present we are to treat of those that be meere forrainers and for good lucke sake begin we will with that which of all others is most holesome to wit the Citron tree called the Assyrian tree and by some the Median Apple-tree the fruit whereof is a counterpoison and singular Antidote against all venome The tree it selfe bears the leafe like vnto an Arbut tree mary it hath certain pricks among The Pomecitron is not so good to be chewed and eaten of it selfe howbeit very odoriferous it is as be the leaues also therof which are vsed to be laid in wardrobes among apparel for the smel thereof wil passe into the cloths and preserue them from the moth spider and such like vermin This tree beares fruit at all times of the yere for when some fall for ripenesse others wax mellow and some again begin then but to shew their blossome Many forrainers haue assaied to transplant them and set them in their own countries in regard of their excellent vertue to resist poisons And for this purpose they haue caried yong quick sets or plants of them in earthen pots made for the purpose and inclosed them well with earth howbeit the roots had liberty giuen them to breath as it were at certain holes for the nones because they should not be clunged and pent in prison Which I rather note because I would haue it known once for all and well remembred That all plants which are to be remoued and carried far off must be set very close and vsed in the same order most precisely But for all the care and paines taken about it for to make it grow in other countries yet would it not forget Media and Persia nor like in any other soile but soon die This is that fruit the kernels wherof as I said before the lords and great men of Parthia vse to seeth with their meat for to correct their soure and stinking breaths And verily there is not a tree in all Media of better respect than is the Citron tree As for those trees in the region of the Seres which beare the silk wool or cotton we haue spoken thereof in our Cosmographie when we made mention of that Nation CHAP. IV. ¶ Of Indian Trees and when the Ebene was first knowne at Rome IN like manner discoursed we haue of the talnesse and greatnesse of Indian trees Of all those trees which be appropriate to India Virgil hath highly commended the Ebene aboue all the rest and he affirmeth That it will not grow elswhere But Herodotus assigneth it rather to Aethyopia and saith That euery three yeares the Aethyopians were wont to pay by way of tribute vnto the kings of Persia 100 billets of the timber of that tree together with gold and yuory Moreouer I must not forget since that mine author hath so expressely set it downe that the Ethyopians in the same regard were bound to pay in like manner twentie great and massie Elephants teeth In such estimation was yuorie then namely in the 310 yeare after the foundation of Rome at what time as Herodotus put forth that historie at Thurij in Italy The more maruell it is that we giue so much credit to that writer saying as he doth How that in his time before there was no man knowne in Asia or Greece nor yet to himselfe who had not so much as seen the riuer Po. The Card or Map of Ethiopia which lately was presented and shewed to the Emperor Nero as wc haue before said doth sufficiently testifie That from Syene which confines and bounds the lands of our Empire and dominion as far as to the Island Meroe for the space of 996 miles there is little Ebene found and that in all those parts betweene there be few other trees to be found but Date trees Which peraduenture may be a cause That Ebene was counted a rich tribute and deserued the third place after Gold Iuory Certes Pompey the Great in that solemnitie of triumph for the victorie and conquest of Mithridates shewed one Ebene tree Fabianus is of opinion that it wil not burne howbeit experience sheweth the contrary for take fire it will yea and cast a pleasant and sweet perfume Two kindes there be of Ebene the one which as it is the better so likewise it is rare and geason it carrieth a trunke like another tree without knot the wood thereof is blacke and shining and at the very first sight faire and pleasant to the eie without any art or polishing at all The other is more like a shrub and putteth forth twigs as the Tretrifolie A plant this is commonly to be seene in all parts of India CHAP. V. ¶ Of certaine Thornes and Fig-trees of India THere groweth also among the Indians a Thorne resembling the later kind of Ebene and found to serue for the vse of candles for no sooner commeth it neere vnto the fire but it catcheth a flame the fire leaps presently vnto it Now it remains to speak of those trees which set Alexander the Great into a wonder at what time as vpon his victory he made a voiage for to discouer that part of the world First and formost there is a fig tree there which beareth very small and slender Figs. The property of this tree is to plant and set it selfe without mans help For it spreadeth out with mighty armes and the lowest water-boughes vnderneath doe bend so downward to the very earth that they touch it againe and lie vpon it whereby within one yeares space they will take fast root in the ground and put forth a new Spring round about the Mother-tree so as these branches thus growing seeme like a traile or border of arbors most curiously and artificially made Within these bowers the Sheepherds vse to repose and take vp their harbor in Summer time for shady and coole it is and besides well fenced all about with a set of young trees in manner of a pallaisado A most pleasant and delectable sight whether a man either come neere and looke into it or stand a farre off so faire and pleasant an arbour it is all greene and framed arch-wise in just compasse Now the vpper boughes thereof stand vp on high and beare a goodly tuft and head aloft like a little thicke wood or forrest And the body or trunke of the Mother is so great that many of them take vp in compasse threescore paces and as for the foresaid shadow it couereth in ground a quarter of a mile The leaues of this Tree are verie broad made in forme of an Amazonian or Turkish Targuet which is the reason that
be sodden in wine and water they serue in stead of a broth or grewell so do no fruit els but Pome and Peare-Quinces CHAP. XVI ¶ The manner how to preserue Apples THe generall rules to keep and preserue Apples are these Imprimis That the solars be wel planked and boorded in a cold and drie place prouided alwaies that the windows to the North do stand open especially euery faire day Item to keep the windows into the South shut against the winds out of that corner and yet the North winds also where they blow doe cause Apples to shrink and riuell ill fauouredly Item That Apples be gathered after the Aequinox in the Autumne and neither before the full of the Moone nor the first houre of the day Moreouer that all the Apples which fell be seuered from the other by themselues and laid apart also that they be bedded vpon straw mats or chaffe vnder them that they be so couchedas that they touch not one another but haue spaces between to receiue equall aire for to bee vented To conclude this is well knowne that the Amerine Apples doe last and keepe good long whereas the honie Apples will abide no time CHAP. XVII ¶ How to keep Quinces Pome-granats Peares Sorvises and Grapes FOr the good keeping and preseruing of Quinces there must be no aire let into them where they are enclosed or else they ought to be confected in sodden honey or boiled therein Pomegranats should be plunged into sea-water boiling and so hardened therein and after that they be dried in the Sun three daies so as they be not left abroad in the night to take dew they would be hanged vp in a solar and when a man list to vse them then they must be wel washed in fresh water M. Varro sets downe the manner to keep them within great earthen vessels in sand And if they be not ripe he would haue the earthen pots bottomes broke off and so the Pomegranates to be put in and couered all ouer with mould but the mouth therof must be well stopped for letting any aire in prouided alwaies that the steele and the branch wherto the fruit groweth be pitched For so quoth he they will not giue ouer to grow still yea and proue bigger than if they had remained vpon the tree As for other Pomegranats i. that are ripe they may be wrapped and lapped one by one in fig-leaues such as are not fallen but plucked from off the tree greene and then to be put into twigge paniers of oisiers or else daubed ouer with potters blay He that would keep Peares long must put them in earthen vessels turned with the bottomes vpward well varnished or annealed within couered also with saw dust or fine shauings and so enterred As for the Tarentine Peares they abide longest on the tree ere they be gathered The Anitian Peares be well preserued in cuit-wine As for Soruisses they are kept also in trenches within the ground but the couer of the vessel whereinto they are put ought to be well plastered all ouer and so stand two foot couered with earth also they may be set in a place exposed open to the Sun with the bottome of the vessells vpward yea and within great barrels they may be hung vp with their branches and all after the manner of grape-clusters Some of our moderne writers handle this argument more deepely than others and fetch the matter farre off giung out rules in this manner saying That for to haue Apples or Grapes de garde that is to say fit to be preserued and to last long the trees that beare the one and the other ought to be pruned and cut betimes in the waine of the Moone in faire weather and when the winds blow drie Likewise they affirme That fruits to be preserued would be chosen from drie grounds gathered before they be full ripe and this would be looked vnto in any hand that the Moon at the gathering time be vnder the earth and not appearing in our hemisphaere And more particularly for Grape bunches they would be gathered with a foot or heele from the old hard wood and the Grapes that are corrupt and rotten among the rest be clipped off with a paire of sheers or plucked out with pincers then to be hung vp within a great new earthen vessell well pitched with the head or lid thereof thoroughly stopped and plastered vp close to exclude all aire After which manner they say Soruisses and Peares may be kept but so as in any case the twigs ond steeles whereby they hang be well besmeared with pitch Moreouer order would be giuen that the barrels and vessells wherein they are kept be far ynough from water Some there be again who keep Grapes together with their branch after the same maner in plaster but so as both ends of the said branch sticke in the head of the sea-Onion Squilla and others let Grape-clusters hang within hogsheads and pipes hauing wine in them but so as the Grapes touch not the wine in any case There be also that put Apples and such fruits in shallow pans or pancheons of earth and let them swim and flote aloft vpon the wine within their vessels for besides that this is a way to preserue them the wine also as they think will thereby get a pleasant odoriferous tast Others ye haue besides that chuse rather to preserue al these fruits as well Apples Pears c. as Grapes couered in Millet seed Howbeit the most part dig a trench or ditch two foot deep in the ground they floore it with sand in the bottome and lay their fruits thereupon then they stop the top with an earthen lid and afterwards couer al with earth Some there are which smeare their bunches of Grapes all ouer with potters clay and when they are dried in the Sun hang them vp in solars for their vse and against the time that they should occupie them steep them in the water and so wash off the foresaid clay But for to keep Apples that are of any worth they temper the same clay with wine and make a morter thereof wherein they lap the said Apples Now if those Apples be of the best kind and right soueraigne after the same sort they couer them with a crust of the like past or morter or else clad them within a coat of wax and if they were not fully ripe afore they grow by that means and break their crust or couer what euer it be But this would not be forgotten that they vse alwaies to set the Apple or fruit vpright vpon the taile howsoeuer they be kept Some there are who gather Apples and such like fruit with their slips and sprigs hide them within the pith of an Elder tree and then couer them in earth as is before written And others there are who for euery Peare or Apple haue a seuerall earthen pot and after that their lids be well closed and stopped with pitch then they enclose them again with great vessels
there are again who would haue it to be Stephanos Alexandri i. Alexanders chaplet This plant also is full of branches carrying a thicker and softer leafe than the common Lawrell and if a man tast therof it will set both the mouth also the throat on a fire the beries that it beareth be blackish inclining to a kind of red It hath bin noted and obserued in antient writers that no kind of Lawrel in old time was to be found in the Island Corsica and yet in these daies it is there planted and thriueth well enough The Lawrell betokeneth peace insomuch as if a branch therof be held out among armed enemies it is a signe of quietnes and cessation from armes Moreouer the Romans were wont to send their missiue letters adorned with Lawrell when they would giue aduertisement of some special good newes or ioiful victory they vsed besides to garnish therewith their lances pikes and spears The knitches also and bunches of rods born before grand captains and generals of the army were beautified set out with Bay branches Herewith they stick and bedecke the bosome of that most great and gracious Iupiter so often as there commeth glad tidings of some late fresh victory And all this honor is don to the Lawrell not because it is alwaies green nor for that it pretendeth and sheweth peace for in both these respects the oliue is to be preferred before it but in this regard that the fairest and goodliest of them grow vpon the mountain Pernassus and therefore also is it so acceptable to Apollo for which cause as may appeare by L. Brutus the Roman kings in old time were accustomed to send great presents and oblations thither to the temple of Apollo or peraduenture it was in memoriall of that ground that bare Lawrell trees and which according to the Oracle of Apollo the said L. Brutus kissed when he intended the publicke freedom of the city and minded to deliuer it from the yoke and seruitude of the kings or haply because it alone either set with the hand before the dores or brought into the house is not blasted and smitten with lightning And these reasons verily induce me to beleeue that in times past they chose the Bay tree for their triumphs before any other rather than as Massurius would haue it because the Lawrell serued for a solemne perfume to expiate and assoile the carnage and execution don vpon the enemies And so far were men in old time from common vsing either Lawrell or oliue and polluting the same in any prophane vse that they could not be permitted to burne thereof vpon their altars when they sacrificed or offered Incense although it were to doe honour to the gods and to appease their wrath and indignation Euident it is that the Bay tree leaues by their crackling that they make in the fire do put it from them and seem to detest and abhor it It cureth moreouer the diseases of the guts the matrice and the bladder also the lassitude and wearinesse of the sinews It is reported that Tiberius Caesar the Emperor vsed euer to weare a chaplet thereof when it thundered for feare of being strucken with lightening Moreouer certaine strange and memorable euents as touching the Bay tree haue happened about Augustus Caesar. For Liuia Drusilla who afterwards by mariage with the said Augustus became Empresse and was honored with the title of Augusta at what time as she was affianced and espoused to Caesar chanced as she sat still to haue an exceeding white hen to light into her lap which an Aegle flying aloft let fall from on high without any harme at all to the said pullet Now when this lady or princesse aduised considered wel the hen without being astonied and amazed at so strange miraculous a sight she perceiued that the hen held in her bill a lawrell branch full of Bay berries The Wisards and Soothsaiers were consulted withall about this wonderful occurrent and gaue aduise in the end to preserue the bird and the brood therof likewise to set in the ground the foresaid branch and duly to tend and look vnto it Both the one and the other was done and excecuted accordingly about a certain house in the country belonging to the Caesars seated vpon the riuer Tyberis neere the causey or port way Flaminia about nine miles from Rome which house therupon was called Ad Gallinas as a man would say The signe of the Hens Well the foresaid branch mightily prospered and proued afterwards to be a groue of Laurels which all came from the first stock In processe of time Augustus Caesar when he entred in Triumph into Rome caried in his hand a branch of that Bay tree yea and wore a chaplet vpon his head of the same and so did all the Emperors and Caesars his successors after him Hereof also came the custome to set againe and replant those branches of Lawrel that emperors held in their hands when they triumphed therof continue whole woods groues distinguished each one by their seuerall names and perhaps therefore were they named Triumphall This is the only tree known in the Latine tongue whereof a man beareth the name Againe there is not another tree besides that hath the leafe to cary in the Latine tongue a denomination and name by it selfe apart as well as the tree for whereas the plant is named Laurus the leafe we call Laurea Moreouer there is a place likewise within the city of Rome on mount Aventine retaining stil the name Loretum which first was imposed vpon it by reason of a lawrell groue which grew there The Bay tree also is vsed in solemne purifications before the gods and to conclude this would be resolued and agreed vpon by the way That if a branch therof be set it will prosper and become a tree although Democritus and Theophrastus make some doubt thereof Thus much of Lawrels and other domesticall and natiue trees it remaineth now to write of those that be wild and sauage and of their natures THE SIXTEENTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proeme HItherto haue we treated of those Trees that beare Apples and such like fruits which likewise with their mild iuice and sweet liquors made our meats first delight some and taught vs to mingle together with the necessarie food for sustentation of our liues that which maketh it delicate and pleasant to content our taste as well those trees that naturally were so in the beginning as those which through the industry and skill of man what by graffing and what by wedding them as it were to others became toothsome and delectable to our tongue whereby also we haue gratified in some sort wild beasts and done pleasure to the foules of the aire It followeth now by order that we should discourse likewise of trees that beare Mast those trees I say which ministred the first food vnto our forefathers and were the nources that fed and
Pine-apples or nuts which cleaue and open vpon the tree bee called Zamiae and well may they be so named for vnlesse they be plucked they hurt and corrupt the rest The only trees that bear no fruit at all that is to say not so much as seed are these the Tamariske good for nothing but to make Beesoms of the Poplar Alder Atinian Elme and the Alaternus which hath leaues resembling the Holme and partly the Oliue As for such trees which neither at any tââ¦me are set or planted nor yet beare fruit they bee holden for vnfortunate accursed and condemned in such sort as there is no vse of them in any sacrifice or religious seruice Cremutius writeth That the Almond tree whereon ladie Phyllis hanged her selfe had neuer after greene leaues on it Such trees as yeeld gum after they haue put forth their bud do cleaue and open howbeit the gum that issueth out neuer commeth to any thicknesse vntill the fruit thereof be gathered Yong trees commonly beare not so long as they shoot and grow The Date tree the fig tree the Almond tree the Apple tree and the Pyrrie do soonest of all other let their fruit fall before it be fully ripe Semblably the Pomegranat tree which is so tender besides that with euery thicke and heauie dew white frost and foggie time she wil be bitten shed the blossom which is the cause that folk vse to bend the boughs thereof downeward to the ground that both dew and time may sooner fall off which lights vpon them and otherwise would ouer-load and hurt them The Pyrrie and the Almond tree cannot abide close and cloudie weather especially if the wind be Southerly although no raine do fall for in such daies if they chance to blossom they not only shed their flowre but lose their fruit new knit But the Sallow or Withie tree is of all others most ticklish and soonest forgoes the seed or chats that it beareth before it commeth to any ripenes for which cause called it is of Homer Loose-fruit or Spill-fruit Howbeit the age ensuing naught as it was hath interpreted that Epithet of his in another sense according to the wicked experience they had of it whereby it was found that the seed therof causeth barrainesse in women and hindreth conception But in this regard Nature hath well done also to preuent this mischiefe and inconuenience in that she hath not been very carefull to preserue the seed and yet for the maintenance of the whole kind she hath endued it with this gift To grow very quickly if a man do pricke into the ground but a cutting or twig thereof And yet by report there is one Willow in Candie and namely about the very descent of Iupiters caue which is wont ordinarily to carie the graine or seed thereof vntill it be full ripe and then is it of a rough and writhen shape of a wooden and hard substance and withall of the bignesse of a cich pease Moreouer some trees there be that proue barraine and fruitlesse by the occasion of the imperfection of the soile and territorie where they grow and namely in the Isle Paros there is a whole wood or coppise that vsually is lopt and cut but it neuer beareth any fruit The Peach trees in the Island Rhodos blossome only and otherwise are fruitlesse Ouer and besides this difference of trees that some be fruitfull and others barraine ariseth of the sexe also for commonly the males beare not howsoeuer some affirme cleane contrary and say They are the male only that be fruitfull and the female barren Furthermore it falleth out many times that trees be fruitlesse either because they grow too thick one by another or else are ouercharged and too ranke with boughes and branches but of such as do beare some bring forth their fruit both at the sides and also at the very tips and ends of their branches as the Peare tree Pomegranate tree Figge tree and Myrtle As for others they are of the nature of corne and pulse for the one grows in the eare or spike alone the other by the sides not otherwise The Date tree onely as hath been said before containeth fruit within certain pellicles and the same hangeth down in clusters after the manner of grapes Other trees beare their fruit vnder the leafe for their safeguard and defence except the Fig tree which hath her Figs aboue the leaf because it is so large and ouershadowie Moreouer the leafe of the fig tree commeth forth after the Figge One notable thing is reported of a kind of figge-trees in Cilicia Cyprus and Hellas to wit that they haue this propertie singular by themselues To bring forth their perfect Figs vnder leafe and their greene abortiue Figs that come to no proofe after the leafe The Fig tree beareth moreouer certain hastie Figs which the Athenians call Prodromos i. vant-courriers or forerunners because they be long ripe before others The Laconian Figge trees bring the fairest and greatest Figs. CHAP. XXVII ¶ Of trees that be are twice and thrice in one yeare Also what trees soonest wax old and of their ages IN the same countries aboue-named there be Figge trees also that beare Figges twice in one yeare And in the Island Cea the wild Figge trees beare thrice in the same yeare for the second increase is put forth on the first and the third vpon the second and by this third fruit the Figges of the tame Figge tree receiue their maturitie by way of caprification and those wild greene Figges of theirs come forth aboue the leafe Moreouer there be some Pyrries and Apple trees that bring forth fruit twice a yeare as also there be others of the hastie kind which do beare both Peares and Apples betimes in the yeare There is a kinde of Crab tree ââ¦lso or Wilding that in like manner beareth twice a yeare and the later fruit is ripe presently after the midst of September especially in places lying well vpon the Sun As touching Vines there be of them also that after a sort beare three times in the yeare which thereupon men call Insanas i. The mad or foolish vines for whiles some of the grapes be ripe others begin to swel and wax big and a third sort againe are but then in the flower M. Varro writeth That in Smyrna by the sea side there was a vine that bare fruit twice a yeare as also an Apple tree in the territorie of Consentia But this is an ordinary thing throughout all the countrey about Tacapa in Africa and neuer is it seen otherwise there so fertile is the soile but thereof will wee write more at large hereafter in another place As for the Cypresse trees they faile not but come with fruit thrice in one yeare and their berries be gathered in Ianuarie May and September and all of a diuers bignesse one from the other Ouer and besides the very trees themselues are not laden with fruit after one and the same manner for the Arbut
odoriferous any wood is the more durable also it is and euerlasting Next to these trees aboue rehearsed the wood of the Mulberrie tree is most commended which in tract of time as it growes to be old waxes also blacke Moreouer some kinds of wood as they be more lasting than other so they continue better being emploied in one kind of work than they do in another The Elme timber will well abide the aire and the wind The wild Oke Robur loueth to stand within the ground and the common Oke is good in the water let it bee vsed aboue ground to take the aire and the weather it will cast warpe and cleaue too bad The Larch wood agreeth passing wel with water works and so doth the black Alder. As for the Oke Robur it will corrupt and rot in the sea The Beech will doe well in water and the Walnut tree likewise but to stand within the earth they are principall good and haue no fellow And for the Iuniper it will hold the owne being laid vnder ground but for building aboue in the open aire it is excellent good The Beech and the Cerus wood rot quickly The smal Oke called Esculus canot abide the water The Cherrie tree wood is firme and fast the Elme and the Ash are tough how beit they will soone settle downward and sag being charged with any weight but bend they will before they break and in case before they were fallen they stood a while in the wood after they had a kerfe round about for their superfluous moisture to run out vntill they were well dried they would be the better and sure in building It is commonly said that the Larch wood if it be put into ships at sea is subject to wormes like as al other kinds of wood vnlesse it be the wild and tame Oliue For to conclude some timber is more readie to corrupt and be marred in the sea and others againe vpon the land CHAP. XLI ¶ Of wormes that breed in wood OF vermine that eat into wood there be 4 kinds The first are called in Latine Teredines a very great head they haue for the proportion of the body and with their teeth they gnaw These are found only in ships at sea and indeed properly none other be Teredines A second sort there be and those are land wormes or mothes named Tineae But a third kind resembling gnats the Greeks tearme by the name of Thripes In the fourth place bee the little wormes whereof some are bred of the putrified humor and corruption in the very timber like as others againe engender in trees of a worme called Cerastes for hauing gnawne and eaten so much that he hath roume enough to turne him about within the hole which he first made hee engendreth this other worm Now some wood there is so bitter that none of these wermin will breed in it as the Cypresse others likewise so hard that they cannot eat into it as the Box. It is a generall opinion that if the Firre be barked about the budding times at such an age of the Moon as hath been before said it will neuer putrifie in the water Reported it is by those that accompanied Alexander the great in his voiage into the East that in the Isle Tylos lying within the red sea there be certain trees that serue for timber to build ships the which were known to continue two hundred yeares and being drowned in the sea were found with the wood nothing at all perished They affirmed moreouer that in the same Island there grew little plants or shrubs no thicker than would wel serue for walking staues to cary in a mans hand the wood whereof was massie and ponderous striped also and spotted in manner of a Tygres skin but so brittle withall that if it chanced to fall vpon a thing harder than it selfe it would breake into fitters like glasse CHAP. XLII ¶ Of timber good for Architecture and Carpentrie what wood will serue for this or that worke and which is the strongest and surest timber for roufes of building WEe haue here in Italie wood and timber that will cleaue of it selfe For which cause our Maister Carpenters giue order to besmeare them with beasts dung and so to lie a drying that the wind and piercing aire should not hurt them The joists and plankes made of Firre and Larch are very strong to beare a great weight although they bee laid in length ouerthwart Contrariwise the Rafters made of the wild Oke Robur and Oliue wood wil bend yeeld vnder their load whereas the other named before do resist mainly withstand neither will they easily break vnlesse they haue much wrong nay sooner do they rot than faile otherwise in strength The Date-tree wood also is tough and strong for it yeeldeth not but curbeth the contrarie way The Poplar setteth and bendeth downeward whereas the Date-tree contrariwise rises vpward archwise The Pine and the Cypres are not subject either to rottennesse or worme-eating The Walnut tree wood soone bendeth and is saddle-backt as it lieth for thereof also they often vse to make beames and rafters but before that it breaketh it will giue wââ¦ing by a cracke which saued many a mans life in the Island Antandros at what time as being within the common baines they were skared with the crack that the floore gaue and ran forth speedily before all fell Pines Pitch trees and Allar are very good for to make pumps and conduit-pipes to conuey water and for this purpose their wood is boared hollow lying buried vnder the ground they will continue many a yeare sound and good let them bee vncouered without any mould and lie aboue ground they will quickly decay But if water also stand aboue the wood a wonder it is to see how they will harden therewith and endure Firre or Deale wood is of all other surest and strongest for roufes aboue head the same also is passing good for dore leaues for bolts and barres also in all seelings and wainscot or whatsoeuer it bee whether Greekish Campaine or Sicilian it is best and maketh very faire worke A man shall see the fine shauings thereof run alwaies round and winding like the tendrills of a vine as the Ioyner runneth ouer the painels and quarters with his plainer Moreouer the timber of it is commendable for coaches and chariots and there is not a wood that makes a better and stronger joynt with glew than it doth insomuch as the sound plank will sooner cleaue in any other place than in the joynt where it was glewed CHAP. XLIII ¶ Of glewing timber of rent clouen and sawen painell GReat cunning there is in making strong glew and in the feat of joyning with it as well in regard of seelings and wainscot made of thin bourd and painell as of marquetry other inlaid workes and for this purpose Ioyners doe chuse the mistresse threadie grain that is most streight which some call the Fertill veine because ordinarily it breedeth others
of the sunne more than ordinarie which burne the foresaid wormes and therefore change them into other vermine Moreouer there is a fault or imperfection besides wherto Oliues and Vines especially are subject and this they cal in Latine Araneus i. the Spider when cobwebs as it were doe enfold and wrap their fruit keeping them from growing and so in time killing them Ouer and besides there be certaine winds which sindge and burne Oliues and grapes principally yea and all sorts of fruits whatsoeuer In some yeres also ye shall see all ââ¦uits worm-eaten and especially Apples Peares Medlars and Pomegranats without any such hurt and offence to the trees that bear them As for Oliues the worm sometimes doth them harme otherwhiles good for if the worme be engendred and formed before it take the Oliue it consumes and spoileth the fruit but in case they breed within the kernel it causeth the Oliue to thriue the better by eating the said kernel that drew away and sucked the humor which nourished it The rain that falleth after the rising of the starre Arcturus hindereth the generation of wormes and preserueth fruits from being worme-eaten and yet if the wind sit Southward in that time when it so raineth such raines will breed worms in oliues especially called Drupae which beginning but then to ripen are most readie to fall from the tree And verily those trees that grow in waterie places or neer riuers are more subject to haue worme-eaten fruit which although it fall not so soone yet it is as loathsome euery way Ouer and besides there is a certaine kind of flie resembling the Gnat which annoieth some trees and their fruits and namely Mast and Figs and it seemeth that this flie is engendred of a certaine sweet humour that lyeth vnder their barkes Thus much as touching all diseases to speake of that trouble trees As for the impressions of the Aire at certaine seasons as also of other accidents occasioned by the climat they are not properly to bee called Maladies because they kill trees sodainly as namely when a tree is blasted outright or all at once doth wither and drie away like as when some puffe of an vntoward wind peculiar vnto any region doth smite them such as in Apulia they call Atabulus and in Euboea is named Olympias For if this wind chaunce to blow in mid-winter it biteth burneth and drieth vp trees with such cold blasts as afterwards no heat of the Sunne is able to recouer againe In this sort likewise al trees growing in vallies or standing along riuers sides bee endaungered and aboue all others Vines Oliues and Figge trees This death that they thus take is soone after discouered and seene in the budding time when trees begin to put foorth how soeuer it be later ere the Oliue shew it Howbeit a good signe it is in them all of their recouery when they lose their leaues for you shall see the leaues tarie on in many of them and when you think they are past the worst sodainly die Otherwhiles also you shall haue the leaues to fade and seeme drie yet afterwards the same trees to reuive againe and become greene Furthermore in the Northerly regions as in Pontus and Phrygia some trees there are that be ordinarily frozen to death namely when the frost and yee continueth after mid-winter fortie daies And not onely there but also in other countries if immediatly after that trees haue put forth their fruit there follow a hard frost they wil die vpon it although the frost last not many daies In a second ranke of causes that may kill trees are to be ranged the injuries and wrongs that come by mans hand Pitch oyle and grease are very enemies and hurtfull to them al but especially to young trees Againe if trees be barked round about they will die all vnlesse it be the Corke tree for it will thriue and prosper the better if it be in that wise discharged of the outward barke for growing as it doth ouer thicke it claspeth and clingeth to the tree so hard that it choketh and strangleth it again Neither doth the tree Adrachne find any hurt or offence by disbarking vnlesse the very wood be cut also together with it As for cherie trees Lindens and Vines it is ordinarie with them to cast ther barke in some sort and take no harme thereby but it is not the vitall and liuely inner barke indeed which is next vnto the bodie but that onely which by comming of another underneath fresh and young is driuen forth and thrust out Some trees there be which naturally haue their barke full of chaps and rifts as the Planes for example As for ââ¦he Line or Linden tree if it chance to leese the barke it will come in manner whole and entire againe In such therefore the manner is by way of cure to close vp againe with clay and dung the naked and bare place and so to bring it to a cicatrize and I assure you this practise somtimes speeds well and doth the deed prouided alwaies that the naked place were not surprised before the cure with extremity either of cold or heat Certaine it is that by this means both kinds of the Oke as wel the Robur as the Quercus liue the longer and die nothing so soone as otherwise they would And herein the time of the yeare ought to be considered when a tree is thus pilled and disbarked for in case that a man pill the barke of the Firre or Pine tree during those months wherein the sunne passeth thorough the signes of Taurus or Gemini which is the very season of their budding there is no way but one with them for presently they die but if this wrong should befall them in winter they would abide it the better and longer liue than being so misused either in Aprill or May. The same is the case of the mast-Holme the wild Robur also and the common Oke Howbeit take this note by the way that if the void place where the tree hath beene barked round about be but narrow so as the brims of the barke remaining be not farre a sunder the trees aforesaid will take no harme at all thereby Mary in the tenderer sort and such as a man may say are but of a weake complexion and growing besides in a leane and hungrie ground if the barke be taken away but of one side and no more it is enough to kill them The like may be said of the topping or beheading the Cypresse the Pitch tree and the Cedar for let these haue their heads either cut off with an axe or burnt by fire they will die there is no remedie As much also is to be said when beasts doe brouse and eat them As for the Oliue tree if a Goat chance but to licke thereof it will thereupon proue barraine and beare no more Oliues so saith Varro as we haue noted heretofore But as some trees vpon the like injury done vnto them will die so others
people were holden to call the Commons away from their market affaires Also the manner in those daies was to take their sleepe and repose in good straw and litter Yea and when speech was of glory and renowne men would call it by no other term but Adorea of Ador a kind of fine red wheat Where by the way I haue in great admiration the antique words of those times and it doth me good to think how significant they were For thus we read in the sacred Pontificall Commentaries of the high priests For the Augurie or solemne sacrifice called Canarium let there be certain daies appointed to wit before the corn shew eare out of the hose yea and before that it come into it But to return againe to the praise of Husbandry When the world was thus addicted and giuen to Agriculture Italy was not only well prouided and sufficiently furnished of corne without any help from out prouinces but also all kind of grain and victuals were in those daies so exceeding cheap as it is incredible for Manius Martius a Plebeian Edile of Rome was the first man that serued the people wheat at one Asse the Modius and after him Minutius Augurinus the eleuenth Tribune of the commons euen he who indited that mutinous and seditious citizen Sp. Melius brought down the price of wheat for 3 market daies to an Asse the Modius The people therefore of Rome in regard of this good deed of his erected a statue for him without the gate Trigemina and that with such affection and deuotion that euery man contributed somewhat thereto by way of beneuolence Trebius also in the time of his Aedileship caused wheat to be sold vnto the people at the same rate to wit one Asse a Modius For which cause there were 2 statues also in memorial of him set vp both in the Capitoll and also in Palatium and himselfe when he was departed this life had this honor done vnto him by the people at his exequies as to be carried on their shoulders to his funerall fire It is reported moreouer That in the very same yeare wherein the great goddesse Cybele called also the mother of the gods was brought to Rome there was a more plentifull haruest that Summer and corn was at a lower price than had bin known in ten yeares before Likewise M. Varro hath left in writing That when L. Metellus made shew of so many Elephants in his triumph at Rome a Modius of good red wheat was worth no more than one Asse also a gallon of wine cost no more And as for drie figges thirty pound weight carried no higher price and a man might haue bought a pound of Oile oliue and 12 pound of flesh at the very same reckoning And yet all this plenty and cheapnesse proceeded not from the great domaines and large possessions of those priuate persons that incroched vpon their neighbors and hemmed them within narrow compasse For by the law published by Stolo Licinius prouided it was that no Roman citizen should hold in priuat aboue fiue hundred acres The rigor of which law or statute was extended and practised vpon the Law-maker himselfe and by vertue thereof he was condemned who for to possesse aboue that proportion and to defraud the meaning of the said Act purchased more lands in the name of his Son Loe what might be the proportion and measure of possessions allowed euen then when as the State and Common-wealth of Rome was in the prime and began to flourish And as for the Oration verily of Manius Curius after such triumphs of his and when he had subdued and brought vnder the obeisance of the Roman Empire and laid to their dominion so many forrein nations what it was euery man knoweth wherin he deliuered this speech That he was not to be counted a good man but a dangerous citizen who could not content himselfe with a close of seuen acres of ground And to say a truth after that the kings were banished out of Rome and their regiment abolished this was the very proportion of land assigned to a Roman Commoner If this be so What might be the cause of so great plenty abundance aforesaid in those daies Certes this nothing els great LL and generals of the field as it should seem tilled themselues their ground with their own hands the Earth again for her part taking no small pleasure as it were to be eared and broken vp with ploughes Laureat and ploughmen Triumphant strained her selfe to yeeld increase to the vttermost Like it is also that these braue men and worthy personages were as curious in sowing a ground with corne as in ordinance of a battell in array as diligent I say in disposing and ordering of their lands as in pitching of a field and commonly euery thing that commeth vnder good hands the more neat and cleane that the vsage thereof is and the greater paines that is taken about it the better it thriueth and prospereth afterwards What shall we say more was not C. Attilius Serranus when the honorable dignity of Consulship was presented vnto him with commission to conduct the Roman army found sowing his own field and planting trees whereupon he took that syrname Serranus As for Quintius Cincinnatus a purseuant or messenger of the Senat brought vnto him the letters patents of his Dictatorship at what time as he was in proper person ploughing a piece of ground of his owne containing foure acres and no more which are now called Prata Quintiana i. Quintius his medowes lying within the Vaticane and as it is reported not onely bare-headed was hee and open breasted but also all naked and full of dust The foresaid officer or sergeant taking him in this maner Do on your cloths sir quoth he and couer your body that I may deliuer vnto you the charge that I haue from the Senate and people of Rome Where note by the way that such Pursevants and Sergeants in those daies were named Viatores for that eftsoones they were sent to fetch both Senatours and Generall captaines out of the fields where they were at worke but now see how the times be changed They that doe this businesse in the field what are they but bond-slaues fettered condemned malefactors manacled and in one word noted persons and such as are branded and marked in their visage with an hot yron Howbeit the Earth whom wee call our Mother and whom wee would seem to worship is not so deafe and sencelesse but she knoweth well enough how shee is by them depriued of that honour which was done in old time vnto her insomuch as wee may well weet that against her will shee yeeldeth fruit as shee doth howsoeuer wee would haue it thought by these glorious titles giuen vnto her that she is nothing displeased therewith namely to be labored and wrought by such vile and base hirelings But we forsooth do maruell that the labor of these contemptible bond slaues and abiect villains doth not render the
like profit as that trauell in former times of great captains and LL. Generalls And in very truth euen among other forrein nations it was counted a princelike profession indeed to be able for to giue rules and directions about Husbandry for so we may see that both kings haue studied this argument as namely Hiero Philometor Attalus and Archelaus and also martiall captaines to wit Xenophon and Mago the Carthaginian As for Mago verily our Senate did him that honour after Carthage was woon that in sacking it and giuing away among diuers LL. of Affricke the Libraries there found they thought good to reserue only 28 volumes of his and penned by him as touching Agriculture and io haue them translated into the Latin tongue notwithstanding that M. Cato had already beforetime put out in writing and set forth certaine rules precepts therof giuing order for this translation to those that were well seene in the Punicke or Carthaginian language in which businesse D. Syllanus a Romane gentleman of a right worshipfull house went beyond all others As for great schollers and men of profound and deep learning a number there were besides that trauelled in this matter whom wee haue named already in the forefront and eftsoones shall mention in the discourse of this volume In which range we must nominate not vnthankfully among the meanest writers M. Varro who beeing fourescore yeares old and one thought it not amisse to compile a speciall booke and treatise of Husbandry CHAP. IIII. ¶ The manner of Husbandry in antient time LAte it was ere the Romans began to set their minds vpon Vines and Vineyards for at first they tilled only corne fields for very necessitie euen as much as might suffice to serue the city The order and manner whereof I will set in hand to treat of not after a vulgar and common sort but according to my vsuall manner hitherto more soundly as hauing sought out with all care and diligence not only the antient practise in times past but the inuentions also of late daies withal searched into the causes and reasons of euery thing and found them out My purpose is besides to speake in this treatise of the fixed Starres their rising and setting their apparition and occultation together with their influences as they are vndoubtedly obserued and seen here vpon earth And this my meaning is to do after a plain and familiar sort forasmuch as they who hitherto wrote of this argument haue handled the same so subtilly and penned it with so high a stile as they may seeme to any man for to haue written books for Oratours to reade rather than to the capacity of plaine husbandmen for to practice First and foremost therefore I will for the most part deale by Oracles that is to say sententious Sawes for to determine this question in hand concerning which there are as many to be found in number and those as true in effect as in any other part and profession of this our life whatsoeuer And least any man should think it strange that I cal these rules of Husbandrie Oracles who would take them for lesse considering how they proceed from Time a god most certaine and are deliuered and approoued by Experience the truest prophet of all others And beginne I will with Cato first CHAP. V. ¶ The praââ¦se and commendation of Husbandmen what things are to be required in the purchasing or taking to ferme of hoââ¦se and land THe children saith Cato that are begotten by husbandmen proue most valiant the hardiest souldiers and such as thinke least harme of all others In buying of land take heed you be not too hot and eager vpon the purchase In the husbanding of ground spare for no paine and trauell but in the purchasing therof be you nothing forward a thing ouer-bought hath euermore repentance and had I wist attending vpon it They that are about a purchase ought aboue all to see how the ground is watered what waies and auenues be about it and what neighbors be neare vnto it Out of euery one of these points matters of great importance and deepe conclusions may be picked and those most certaine and infallible Cato addeth moreouer and saith That there would be good regard had of the people confining and other grounds bounding thereupon whether they be well liking faire and trim to see vnto For these be his words It is a good signe quoth he that the ferm is well seated and in a commodious quarter if all about looke well Attilius Regulus hee who during the first Punicke warre was twise Consull of Rome was wont to say That a man should not purchase an vnwholesome piece of land were it neuer so rich and fruitfull nor make choice of a barren soile were it neuer so healthie Now as touching the healthfulnesse of a place a man may not alwaies conclude therof by the color and fresh hue of the inhabitants for many times it falleth out that those who be vsed to pestilent places hold out well and haue their health yea and by their lookes bewray no harme that they take Moreouer some quarters and coasts there be which at some times of the yeare stand sound and healthy enough but I will count none holesome but such as be healthfull all the yere long An ill piece of land is that which putteth the lord thereof to pain and with which he is forced to wrestle for to haue his health Cato would haue this point especially to be considered that the soile of a ferme scituat as hath bin said be good of it selfe and fertile also that neere vnto it there be store of laborers and that it bee not farre from a good and strong towne moreouer that it hath sufficient meanes for transporting of the commodities which it yeeldeth either by vessels vpon water or otherwise by waines vpon the land Furthermore that the manour house be well built and the land about it as well husbanded Howbeit herein I see many men to erre much and greatly to be deceiued for they hold opinion that the negligence and il husbandry of the former lord is good for him that shall purchase land and come after him But I say there is nothing more dangerous and disaduantageous to the buyer than land so left wast and out of heart and therefore Cato giueth good counsell to purchase land of a good husband and not rashly and hand ouer head to despise and set light by the skil and knowledge of another Who saith moreouer That as well land as men which are of great charge and expence how gaineful soeuer they may seeme to be yeeld not much profit in the end to the master declaro when all counts be cast and reckonings made He therfââ¦re judgeth that the Vine yeeldeth the best reuenue of all commodities belonging to a ferme and good reason he hath so to say because aboue all things he taketh order to cut off expence as much as may be Next to it he reckoneth Hortyards such especially as
very big 341. a Chameleons roll their whole eies 331. f Chamelaea 398. k Chamaeropes what they be 387. a Chamaemyrsine 434. h Chani fishes without males 244. m Characias a kinde of reed or cane 483. e Charit oblepharon a shrub within the sea 402. k Charcoale of Oke-wood 459. c Charcoale of young tree best ibid. Charcoale how it is made 459. d Charcoale worst made of the Oke Hatiphleos ibid. Charme to driue away haile 547. f Charmidas his memory 168. g Chasma what it is 17. h of Chastitie rare examples 173. f Chats or Catkins vpon diuers trees 459. d Chaus a beast 205. e Chalenophagi hairie all but head 134. i Cheiidoniae Islands in Asia 368. l Chelidony stones in mawes of young birds 343. b Chenelopes See Birganders Chenerotes 281. b Cheese vnknowne to barbarous nations 348. k Cheese of the best sort made in Dalmatia ibid. l Cheese excellent at Vatusium ibid. m Cheese of diuers sorts 349. a of Cheese a discourse 348. l a Cherrie tree bearing armes of a mighty bignesse 476. m Cherrie trees when to be grafted 523. b Cherries of a middle kind between berries grains 448. g Cherrie trees brought into Italy ibid. h. they will not grow in Aegypt ibid. Cherries Apronian Actian Caecilian Iulian Duracin Plinian of Portugall Laurean Macedonian 448. h Cherries how they be kept ibid. i Chestnuts rather no be called Mast than nuts 446. l Chestnuts described ibid. their kernils ground into meale for bread ibid. how to be eaten ibid. Chestnuts called Sardinian nuts and why ibid. named ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ibid. uâ⦠Chestnuts Tarentine Balanitis ibid. Chestnuts Salarian Corellian Meteran Coctiua 447 a Chestnuts which be best ibid. Choughs filch mony 285. c Chine-bone 339. e. the vse of it ibid. Chin man onely hath 337. a Chickins how they be hatched 298. l Children begotten and borne at what age of the parents 163. a. b. Children not alwaies answerable to their parents in euery respect 160. l Children twelue distinct cast away at one slip from a woman 160. k Children of the Dakes carry the marke of their parents to the fourth generation 161. a childreÌ changelings 158 h Children breed their teeth in the seuenth moneth of their age 164. b Children aboue three at a birth is monstrous 157. d a Child returned into the mothers wombe 158. g Chimaera a hill in Phoselis burning both night and day 47. b. blacke Choller cause of fury 341. e. cast vp by vomit deadly ibid. Choromandae what people 156. h Chilo his sayings counted Oracles 173. c. how he died and was honoured ibid. d Chronicles who first deuised 189. f Chrysomela a kinde of Quince 436. h Chydaei certaine Dates 388. g C I Cich-pease and the nature thereof how to be sowne 569. f 570. g. sundry kinds of ciches 370. g Cich-pease how codded ibid. M. T. Cicero the elder his praise 172. m M. Cicero the younger challenged for a drunkard 428. g Cicercuta 370. g Cicero his commendation 272. m Cici Looke Ricinus Cichorie medicinable to diuerse birds 211. d Cilicia the description thereof 104. m Cinnamologus a bird 288. m Cinnamon 372. f. g Cinnamon groweth in Aethyopia 372. i. exchanged for what commoditie 372. k Cinnamon plant described ibid. Cinnamon the best 373. a. b. Cinnamon of two kinds ibid. b Cinnamon the price ibid. Cinnamon root set into the ground in the temple of Augustus ibid. c Cinnamon garland dedicated by Uespasian 373. d Cinnamon shrub will not prosper in Syria 478. l Circos a kind of Hawke 274. k Circei Islands by the retiring of the sea ioyned to the continent 39. e Circeus the name of a wind 23. b Circumference of the world 49. e Citron tree 359. c. the fruit a counterpoison ibid. Citron tree fruitfull 359. d. it liketh not to be in strange countries ibid. pome-Citron kernils good against a stinking breath ibid. e Citron tree 395. c Citron tables ibid. Citron tree beareth not but in Assyria 478. k Ciuicke coronets six giuen to Manlius Capitolinus ibid. Ciuicke coronets 456. h. compared with all others ibid. Ciuicke coronets fourteen giuen to Siccius Dentalus 454. e Ciuicke coronet or garland wherof it was first made 457. b lawes appertaining to Ciuicke coronets ibid. d Ciuicke coronet at Rome comparable to the best among the Greekes ibid. c C L Clamato ria a bird 277. c Clapping of hands reioice Bees 231. e of Clawes a discourse 351. c Cleopatraher lauish expence 257. a Q. Cleopatra her rich pearles ibid. Cleostratus found out the signes in the Zodiake 5. e Clerus a bitter thing found in hony combes 318. l Climastericke yeares 182. h Clodding of lands 579. e Clodeus the son of Aesope his expence and riot in pearles 257. d. Clogs hanging from Rosin trees all but the Larch 463. Cloth of gold when it was inuented 226. i Clothes of diuers colours wouen 228. i Clouds their shapes 29. c Cloues a spice 362. h Cluina or Cliuina a bird 277. c Clupea a fish killeth another called Attilus 243. a C N Cneston Cneros 398. k C O Cocks go about with chickens when the hen is dead 299. e Cocks watchfull and desirous of glory 279. c. Astronomers ibid. Sentinels ibid. they loue soueraignty and win it by fight ibid. c. d Cockes dreadfull to the Lion ibid. e Cockes of kinde fighters ibid. Cockes beare great sway in Auspices 279. f Cockes carued and made capons 280. h Cocke fighting ibid. a Cocke spake ibid. Cocolobis See Vine Basilica Coctura what it was 412. k Coclites who they were 335. b Cod-fish 245. b Coggygria a tree the proprieties of it 399. c Coine stamped with the image of sheepe kine and oxen 550. l. Colariae a sort of cod-fish 245. e Colon a gut so called 343. a. in it is the paine of the collicke ibid. Colostratia a disease that commeth of Bee-stings 348. h Columbinum Cicer. 570. g Colour of the king of Bees 318. i Colours in the eie why they are 335. b Colymbades what Oliues 432. g Comagenum a precious composition 381 Comata part of France 332. i Comarum what it is 447. e Comets white with siluer haires 15. f. shaggie and like a mane when such a one appeared and the continuance of such when they doe appeare 16. g Comets what they doe fore-token ibid. g Comets neuer lightly seene in the West part of the heauen 16. h. were worshipped for gods ibid. i Combat betweene Buls and Elephants 195. f Cambat betweene an Elephant and a Roman ibid. d. e Commodities in a farme which be most gainefull 553. e. f Commosis first foundation of Bees worke 313. g Conception at what time 164. h signes of Conception 159. a. of a boy and a girle distinst ihid d. Conception double 160. l Conchylium a shell-fish 246. i Conchylia what fishes 258. i Conger a fish 246. b Conferration what it was 550. i Connies kinnle euery moneth 303. d. they admit superfoetation ibid. Connies exceeding fruitfull
to leaue the heauen and those coelestiall Bodies in their maiestie What is the cause that as the Magnet or loadstone draweth iron vnto it so there is another stone abhorreth the same and driueth iron from it What should the reason be of the Diamond that peerlesse stone the chiefe iewell wherein our rich worldings repose their greatest ioy and delight a stone otherwise inuincible and which no force and violence besides can conquer but that it remaineth still infââ¦ngible and yet that the simple bloud of a poore Goat is able to burst it in pieces Besides many other secrets in nature as strange yea and more miraculous All which we purpose to reserue vnto their seuer all places and will speake of them in order Mean while may it please the Reader to pardon vs and to take in good part the manner of our entrance into this matter for albeit we shall deale in the beginning with the smallest and basest things of all others yet such they be as are wholsome and concerne much the health of man and the maintenance of his life And first will we set in handwith the garden and the herbes that wee finde there CHAP. I. ¶ Of the wilde Cucumber and the juice thereof Elaterium THis wild Cucumber as we haue said heretofore is far lesse than that of the Garden Out of the fruit hereof there is a medicinable juice drawne which the Physitians call Elaterium For to get this juice men must not stay vntill the Cucumber be fullâ⦠ripe for vnles it be taken betimes and cut down the sooner it wil leap flurt in the handling from the stele whereto it hangeth against their faces with no smal danger of their eye-sight Now when it is once gathered they keepe it soone whole night The next morrow they make an incision and slit it with the edge of a cane They vse to strew ashes also thereupon to restrain and keep down the liquor which issueth forth in such abundance which done they presse the said juice forth andreceiue it in raine water wherin it setleth and afterwards when it is dried in the Sunne they make it vp into Trochisques And certaine these Trochisques are soueraigne for many purposes to the great good and benefit of mankind For first and foremost it cureth the dimnesse and other defects or imperfections of the eyes it healeth also the vlcers of the eye lids It is said moreouer that if a man rub neuer so little of this juice vpon vine roots there will no birds come neere to pecke or once touch the grapes that shall hang thereon The root of this wild Cucumber if it be boiled in vinegre and made into a liniment and so applied is singular good for all kinds of gout but the juice of the said root helpeth the tooth-ach The root being dried and incorporat with rosin cureth the ringworme tettar wild scab or skurf which some cal Psora and Lichenes it discusseth and healeth the swelling kernels behind the eare the angrie pushes also and biles in other Emunctories called Pani and reduceth the stooles or skars left after any sore and other skarres to their fresh and natiue colour againe The juice of the leaues dopped with vinegre into the ears is a remedie for deafenesse As for the liquor concrete of this cucumber named elaterium the right season of making it is in autumne neither is there a drug that the Apothecaries hath which lasteth longer than it doth howbeit before it be three yeres old it begins not to be in force for any purpose that a man shal vse it and yet if one would occupie it fresh and new before that time he must correct the foresaid Trosch es with vinegre dissoluing them therin ouer a soft fire in a new earthen pot neuer occupied before but the elder they be the better and more effectuall they are insomuch as by the report of Theophrastus Elaterium hath bin kept and continued good 200 yeares And for fiftie yeares it is so strong full of vertue that it wil put out the light of a candle or lamp for this is the triall and proofe of good Elaterium it being set neer therto before that it puts out the light it cause the candle to sparkle vpward and downward That which is pale of color and smooth is better than that which is of a greenish grasse color rough in hand the same also is somwhat bitter withall Moreouer it is said that if a woman desire to haue children do cary about her the fruit of this wild Cucumber fast tied to her bodie she shall the sooner conceiue and proue with child prouided alwaies that in the gathering the said Cucumber touched not the ground in any case Also if it be lapped within the wooll of a Ram be bound to the loins of a woman in trauell of childbirth so that she be not her selfware therof she shal haue the better speed and easier deliuerance but then so soon as the infant the mother be parted the said Cucumber must be had out of the house in all hast where the woman lyeth Those writers who magnifie these wild Cucumbers and set great store by them affirm That the best kind of them groweth in Arabia and the next about Cyrenae but others say That the principall be in Arcadia That the plant resembleth Turnsol That betweene the leaues and branches thereof there groweth the fruit as big as a Wallnut with a white taile turning vp backeward in manner of a Scorpions taile whereupon some there bee who giue it the name of the Scorpion Cucumber True it is indeed that as wel the fruit it selfe as the juice therof called Elaterium be most effectuall against the pricke or sting of the Scorpion as also that it is a medicine purgatiue of the bellie but especially cleanseth the wombe or matrice of women The ordinarie dose is from half an Obulus to a Solid i. an obole or half a scruple according to the strength of the patient A greater receit than one Obulus killeth him or her that taketh it but being taken within that quantitie aboue named in some broth or conuenient liquor it is passing good for the dropsie yea and to euacuat those filthie humors thar engender the lowsie diseas Being tempered with honey and old oile and so reduced into a thin ointment or liniment it cureth the Squinancie and such diseases incident to the windpipes CHAP. II. ¶ Of the Serpentine Cucumber called otherwise the Wandering Cucumber also of the Garden Cucumbers Melons or Pompions MAny there be of opinion that the Serpentine Cucumber among vs which others call the wandring Cucumber is the same that the former Cucumber which yeeldeth Elaterium The decoction whereof is of that vertue that whatsoeuer is besprinckled therewith no myce wil come neer to touch it The same being sodden in vinegre and brought to the consistence of an ointment is a present remedie to allay the pains of gout
to continue healthful strong lusty that they be good for the stomack in this regard that they cause rifting and breaking of wind vpward which is a good exercise of the stomacke and withall that they keepe the bodie loose and laxatiue yea and open the Haemorrhoid veines if they be put vp in maner of suppositories Also that the juice of onions and Fennell together be maruellous good to be taken in the beginning of a dropsie Item That their juice being incorporat with Rue and Hony is soueraigne for the Squinance As also that they will keep waking those who are fallen into a Lethargie To conclude Varro saith That if Onions be braied with salt and vinegre and then dried no woorms or vermine will come neere that composition CHAP. VI. ¶ Of cut Leekes or Porret of bolled Leeks and of Garlicke POrret otherwise called Cut-Leekes or vnset Leeks stancheth bleeding at the nose in case it be stamped and put vp close into the nosethrils or otherwise mingled with the pouder of the Gall-nut or Mints Moreouer Porret staieth the immoderat shift or fluxe of bloud that follows women vpon a slip or abortiue birth if the juice thereof be drunk in breast-milke In the same manner it helps an old cough and al other diseases of breast and lungs Burnes and sealdings are healed with a liniment made of Porret or Leek blades likewise the Epinyctides for so in this place I tearme that vlcer which in the lachrymal or corner of the eie runneth and watereth continually some call it Syce that is to say a fig. And yet others there be who vnderstand by that word Epinyctides the blackish or blew blistring wheals the bloudy fals I mean and angrie chilblanes that in the night disquiet and trouble folk that haue them But to come againe to our Porret the blades thereof stamped and laid too with Honie healeth all sores and vlcers whatsoeuer The biting of any venomous beast the sting also of Serpents are cured therwith As for the impediments of the hearing and the ears they be remedied with the juice of Leeks and Goats gall or els a like quantitie of honied wine instilled thereinto And as for the whistlings or crashing noises that a man shall heare within head otherwhiles they are discussed with the iuice of Leeks and womans milk dropped into the ears If the same be snuffled vp into the nosthrils or otherwise conueighed that way vp into the head it easeth head-ach for which purpose also it is good to poure into the eare when one goeth to bed and lieth to sleepe two spoonfuls of the said iuice and one of Honie The iuice of Porret if it be giuen to drinke with good wine of the grape against the sting of serpents and namely Scorpions likewise so taken with an Hemine of wine it cureth the pains of the loines or small of the back Such as spit or reach vp bloud such as be diseased with the Phthisick or consumption of the lungs such also as haue bin long troubled with the Pose the Murre Catarrhe and other rheums find great help by drinking the iuice of Porret or eating Leeks with their meat Moreouer Leeks are taken to be very good either for the iaundise or dropsie Drinke the same with the decoction of husked Barley called Ptisane to the quantity of one Acetable you shal find ease for the pains of the rains or kidnies The same measure and quantity being taken with honey mundifieth the Matrice and naturall parts of women Men vse to eat of Porrets or Leekes when they doubt themselues to haue taken venomous Mushroms And a cataplasm therof cureth green wounds Porret is a solicitour to wantonnesse and carnal pleasures it allaieth thirstinesse dispatcheth those fumes that cause drunkennesse But it is thought to breed dimnesse in the eie-sight to ingender wind and ventosity howbeit not offensiue to the stomack for that withall it maketh the belly laxatiue Finally it scoureth the pipes cleareth the voice thus much of Porret in blade or cut Leeks vnset These headed Leeks that are bolled and replanted are of the same operation but more effectual than the vnset Leeks The iuice therof giuen with the pouder either of Gal-nuts or frankincense or els Acacia cureth those that reject or reach vp bloud Hippocrates would haue the simple iuice therof giuen without any thing els for that purpose and hee is of opinion that it will disopilate the neck of the Matrice and the naturall parts of women yea and that they will proue fruitful and beare children the better if they vse to eat Leeks Being stamped and laid to filthie sores or vnclean vlcers with hony it clenseth them Being taken in a broth made of Ptisane or husked barly it cureth the cough staieth the rheume or catarrh that distilleth into the chist or breast-parts it scoureth the lungs and wind-pipe and healeth their exulcerations The like it doth if it be taken raw without bread 3 bols or heads of them together each other day and in this maner it will cure the patient although he raught vp and spit out putrified and corrupt matter After the same maner it cleareth the voice it inableth folk to the seruice of lady Venus and auaileth much to procure sleep If Leeke bols or heads be sodden in two waters i. changing the water twice and so eaten they wil stop the Lask and stay all inueterat fluxes whatsoeuer The pillings or skins of Leek heads if they be sodden the decoction therof wil change the haire from gray to blacke if they be washed or bathed therewith As touching Garlicke it is singular good and of great force for those that change aire and come to strange waters The very sent thereof chaseth Serpents and Scorpions away And as some haue reported in their writings it healeth all bitings stings of venomous beasts either eaten as meat taken in drinke or annointed as a liniment but principally it hath a special property against the Serpents called Haemorrhoids namely if it be first eaten and then cast vp aââ¦in by vomit and wine Also it is soueraigne against the poisonous biting of the mouse called ãâã Shrew and no maruell for why it is of power to dull and kill the force of the venomous herb Aconitum i. Libard bane which by another name men cal Pardalianches because it strangleth or choketh Leopards yea it conquereth the so poriferous deadly quality of Henbane the bitings also of a mad dog it healeth if it be applied vpon the hurt or wounded place with him As for the sting of serpents verily Garlick is exceeding effectuall if it be taken in drink but withal you must not forget to make a liniment of it the hairy strings or beard growing to the head the skins also or tails and all wherby it is bunched tempered all together with oile laid vpon the grieued place and thus also will it help any part of the body fretted or galled yea though it were
bloud within the bodie like as it stancheth bleeding at the nose if it be stamped and put vp into the nosethrils and otherwise a collution therof to wash the mouth withall doth much good to the teeth Semblably the juice distilled into the ears allaies their pain prouided alwaies as I haue often said alreadie that a mean and measure be kept As for the juice of the wild Rue if it be tempered either with oile of roses or of baies or els mingled with Cumin Honie it helpeth those that are hard of hearing discusseth the ringing sound in the ears Moreouer the juice of rue stamped and drawne with vinegre is excellent good to be instilled or let drop from on high by way of Embrochation vpon the region of the brain and temples of the head for the phrensie Some put thereto wild running Thime also and baies therewith annointing the head and neck of the patient Others haue prescribed it in case of Lethargie to those that can do no other but sleepe continually for to smel vnto And those haue giuen counsel also to them that be subject to the falling sicknesse for to drinke the juice thereof sodden in foure Cyaths of water before the fit came on them for to preuent and auoid the intollerable cold which they should endure as also to those that be apt to chill for cold to be eaten with meat raw Rue sends out euen the bloudie vrine which is gathered into the blader And as Hippocrates is of opinion If it be drunk with sweet thicke and grosse wine it causeth womens floures to come downe it expelleth the after-birth yea and the dead infant within the womb And therefore he aduiseth women in trauel to haue those naturall parts annointed with Rue yea to sit ouer a suffumigation made therof Diocles maketh a cataplasm with Rue Vinegre Hony Barly floure for faintings cold sweats and tremblings of the heart Likewise against the torments of the smal guts commonly called the Iliak passion he appointeth to take the decoction thereof in Oile and to receiue the same in lockes of wooll and so to be applied vnto the vpper region of the belly Many doe set downe two drams thereof drie and one dram and a halfe of Brimstone as an excellent receit to bee taken by those that reach and spit vp filthy and stinking matter but if they cast or send vp bloud they should drinke the decoction of three branches thereof in wine It is an ordinarie practise in case of the Dysenterie or bloudie Flix to giue it stamped first with cheese in wine but they mingle therewith Bitumen and so crum or break it into their drink against the difficulty of taking wind Also three drams of the seed therof is giuen in drinke to those that are fallen from a loft for to dissolue the bruised and cluttered bloud within them Item Take one pound or pint of oile of wine one sextar or wine quart seeth the leaues of Rue herin that oile so prepared is singular good for to annoint parts which are benummed and in manner mortified and blacke with cold Moreouer considering that it is diuretical as Hippocrates thinketh and doth prouoke vrine I canot but wonder at some who giue it as a thing that staieth vrin therefore appoint it to be drunke by those that cannot hold their water The inunction thereof with Allum and Hony clean seth the dry wild scab leprosy Likewise with Morel or Nightshade hogs grease and Bulls tallow it scoureth the Morphew taketh away werts discusseth and dispatcheth the Kings euil and such like tumors In like manner it killeth the fretting hot humor called S. Anthonies fire being applied to the place with vinegre Honny or Cerusse i. white Lead like as it cureth the Carbuncle laid too with vinegre alone Some there be who prescribe Laserpitium also to be joined with the rest in this liniment but without it they cure the chilblanes bloudy fals that be so angry in the night season Many vse to boile Rue together with wax reduce it into a Cerot which they apply to the swollen breasts or paps of women as also to the breaking out of phlegmatick pustules or wheales much like to our measels or small pockes Also being reduced into an vnguent with the tender sprigs or tops of Laurell it is a singular remedy for the flux or fall of humors into the burse of the cods And verily this Rue is counted so excellent an hearbe in operation this waies and so respectiue peculiarly to those parts that it is commonly holden for a soueraign remedie to heale all ruptures if a man take the wild of that kind and make a liniment of it and old Swines grease together Likewise if any bones or lims be broken a Cerot made with the seed of Rue and wax together is able to souder the fracture The root of Rue being reduced into a liniment cureth bloud shotten eies and restoreth to the natiue colour all skarres or spots that giue blemish to any part of the bodie Among the other properties that be reported of Rue this is one to be wondred at considering how hot it is of nature as all Physicians doe agree That a bunch thereof beeing boiled in oile Rosate and with one ounce of Aloe brought into the forme of an ointment should represse their siuet who are annointed therewith As also that ordinare vse thereof at meat should disable folke as wel in the act of generation as conception In which regard it is prescribed vnto them that shed their seed and vnto such as vse to dreame in their sleepe of amato rious matters and the delights of Venus But women with child must beware how they eat Rue they especially must forbear this hearbe for I find that it killeth the yong child conceiued within their bodies Thus much for the effects that it worketh in men and women Ouer and besides al which there is not an hearb growing in the garden that is so much vsed for the curing of 4 footed beasts whether they be broken winded and pursiue or otherwise bitten stung with venomous beasts in which cases there must be an injection made vp into the nosthrils of the juice of Rue in wine Also if it chance that a beast hath swallowed an Horseleech in drinking let it be taken with vinegre Finally in euery accident of theirs let Rue be prepared and ministred respectiuely vnto each griefe according to the manner set downe for men in the semblable case CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of wild Mint of garden Mint of Penyroiall of Nep and Cumin WIld Mint is called in Latin Mentastrum it differeth from the other in the form of the leaues for shaped it is like Basil how soeuer in color it resembles Penniroyal which is the cause that some name it the sauage Penyroiall In the time of Pompey the Great it was knowne by experience that the leaues of wild Mint chewed and applied outwardly cured the Leprosie
onely vpon the head allaieth by report the ach thereof More than it it is said That the very sent of Pennyroiall preserueth the brain from the offence that may come by the distemperature either of heat or cold yea and from the inconuenience of thirstinesse insomuch as whosoeuer haue two branches or sprigs of Pennyroiall put into his ears shall feele no accessiue heat though they continued in the Sun all the day long Peniroiall being applied in form of a liniment together with Barly groats and vinegre assuageth all grienous paines watsoeuer Howbeit the female of this kind is thought to be of greater operation euery way than the male Now hath this female a purple floure that you may know it thereby from the other for that of the male is white The female Penyroiall taken in a mash made with salt and barley groats in cold water staieth a kecklish stomack and keepeth it from the inordinat desire and many offers to cast In the same manner also it easeth the paine of the breast and belly Likewise the gnawings of the stomack it ceaseth being taken in water as also immoderat vomits it represseth with vinegre and barley groats Being sodden in hony with a little nitre among it cureth the maladies of the guts If one drinke it with wine it causeth abundance of vrine and if the said wine be made of the Amminean grapes it expelleth the stone and grauell yea and all things els which may engender inward pains If it be taken with honey and vinegre it prouoketh womens termes and quieteth them when they lie gnawing and fretting inwardly yea and sendeth forth the after-burden The same setleth the mother and reduceth it into the right place It expelleth also the dead child within the mothers body The seed of Peniroial if it be smelled vnto is singular good to recouer their tongue againe who be speechlesse for the falling sicknesse also it is giuen in a cyath of vinegre If it fortune that one must drink vnholesome waters the seed thereof reduced into pouder and strewed therupon correcteth all the malice thereof If the same be taken in wine it slaketh the itch in the bodie proceeding of hot and salt humors The seed of Pennyroiall mingled with salt vinegre and honey if it be wel rubbed into the bodie comforteth the sinewes in case of cramps and convulsions and particularly helpeth those who with a crieke are forced to carrie their necke much backeward The decoction therof is a soueraigne drinke against the sting of Serpents and particularly of Scorpions if it be bruised and taken with wine especially that which groweth in drie places Moreouer Penyroiall is held to be very soueraigne for the cankers or vlcers in the mouth and as effectuall to stay the cough The floures of Penyroial that be fresh and new gathered if they be burnt make a singular perfume to kill fleas Among many good receits that Xenocrates hath left vnto vs we find this for one namely That a branch of Pennyroiall wrapped within wooll and giuen to the patient for to smell vnto before the fit come of a tertian ague driueth it away as also if it be put vnder the couerlet of the bed and the Patient laid vpon it it doth no lesse For these purposes abouenamed the wild Penyroiall is of most efficacie This hearbe resembleth Origan and hath smaller leaues than the Penyroiall of the Garden some giue it the name of Dictamnus If it chance that either sheepe or goats do tast thereof it prouoketh them presently to blea whereupon certain authors changing one letter for another in Greeke call it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This herb is so hot and ardent that if any part of the body be rubbed or annointed therewith it will rise into a blister If one haue taken a through-cold and thereby gotten a cough Physitians haue prescribed to vse frictions therewith before the Patient go into the bain for to sweat Also their direction is to do the like before the cold fits of agues as also in case of the crampe and torments of the guts Wonderfull good it is in all kinds of gout If it be taken in drinke with honey and salt it is singular for those who be diseased in the liuer as also for the lights for it opens their pipes and dischargeth them of the flegme that stuffed them so as they may reach vp and voyd the same with ease The decoction thereof with some salt is excellent good for the splene and the bladder yea and for all ventosities and shortnesse of breath Semblably the iuice prepared and dressed in maner a foresaid bringeth the mother into the naturall place and serueth as a countre-poison against the Scolopendre both of the sea and the land as also for the pricke of the scorpion especially against the biting of man or woman The root thereof being applied fresh and green is maruellous good to represse rank vlcers to consume the proud flesh about them The same being dry and so applied reduceth skars to their fresh colour and beautie of the faire and whole skin Thus much of Penyroyall of the garden and the field Great conformitie there is in operation between Peny-royal and Nep for being both boiled in water vnto the composition of a third part they discusse and shake off the cold in Ague fits which causeth the Patient to shake and besides are of validitie to bring downe womens monethly sicknesse In summer time they asswage the extremitie of heat Nep also is powerful against serpents for the smoke and perfume of this herbe they canot abide but will fly from it which is the cause that such as be afraid of serpents strew Nep vnder them in the place where they mean to repose and sleepe Being bruised and applied to the running fistulous vlcers between the nose and the greater corner of the eye it is counted a soveraign remedie Also being fresh gathered and mixed with a third part of bread and so temperat and incorporat with vinegre to the form of a liniment it cureth the head-ach The juice thereof being instilled into the nosthrils whiles the Patient lieth vpon his back stancheth bleeding at the nose The root also together with Myrtle seed in warm wine cuit and so gargarised helpeth the Squinancie As touching wild Cumin it is an herb exceeding small putting forth foure or fiue leaues and not aboue and those indented like a saw but the garden Cumin is of singular vse in physicke but principally for the pain in the stomack It dispatcheth the grosse vapors arising from flegme it dissolueth also vento sities if it be either bruised and eaten with bread or drunk with water and wine in which sort it asswageth the wringing torments and other pains of the guts how beit it maketh folke look pale as many as drink of it Certes by that deuise namely by ordinary drinking of Cumin as it is reported the schollers and followers of Porcius Latro that famous and great Rhetorician
with a Garland of Roses vpon his head was by authoritie of the Senate committed to prison and was not enlarged before the end of the warre P. Munatius hauing taken from the head of Marsyas a Chaplet of floures and set it vpon his owne and thereupon being commaunded to ward by the Triumvirs called vnto the Tribunes of the Commons for their lawful fauour and protection but they opposed not themselues against this proceeding but deemed him worthie of this chastisement See the disclipine and seueritie at Rome and compare it with the loosenes of the Athenians where yong youths ordinarily followed reuils and bankets and yet in the forenoon would seeme to frequent the schooles of Philosophers to learne good instructions of vertuous life With vs verily we haue no example of disorder in this behalf namely for the abuse of garlands but only the daughter of Augustus Caesar late Emperor and cannonised as a god at Rome who complaineth of her in some letters of his yet extant that with grone and griefe of heart to be giuen to such riot and licentious loosenesse that night by night the would seem to adorn with Guirlands the statue and image of Marsyas the Minstrell We do not read in Chronicles that the people honoured in old time any other with a Coronet of floures but onely Scipio sirnamed Serapio for the neere resemblance that he had to his baily or seruant so called who dealt vnder him in buying and selling of Swine in which regard he was wonderous well beloued of the commons in his ââ¦ribuneship as bearing himself worthy of the famous and noble house of the Scipioes sirnamed Africani Howbeit as well descended and beloued as he was yet when hee died he left not behind him in goods sufficient to defray the charges of his funerals the people therfore made a collection and contributed by the poll euery man one As and so took order by a generall expence that he should be honourably enterred and as his corpes was carried in the streets to his funeral fire they flung floures vpon his bere out of euery window all the way In those daies the maner was to honor the gods with chaplets of floures and namely those that were counted patrones and protectours as well of cities and countries as of priuat families to adorne and beautifie therewith the tombs and sepulchres of those that were departed as also to pacific their ghosts and other infernall spirits farther than thus there was no vse of such Guirlands allowed Now of all those Chaplets most account was made of them wherein the floures were platted We find moreouer That the Sacrificers or Priests of Mars called Salij were wont in their solemnities feasts which were very sumptuous to weare Coronets of sundry floures sowed together But afterwards Chaplets of Roses were only in credit and reputation vntill that in processe of time the world grew to such superfluitie and sumptuous expence that no Guirlands would please men but of the meer precious and aromaticall leaf Malabathrum and not content therewith soone after there must be Chaplets fet as far as from India yea and beyond the Indians those wrought with needle work and the richest coronet was that thought to be which consisted of the leaues of Nard or els made of fine silke out of the Seres country and those of sundry colors perfumed besides al wet with costly and odoriferous ointments Further than thus they could not proceed and so our dainty wanton dames rest contented hithereto and vse no other Chaplets at this day As for the Greekes verily they haue written also seuerall Treatises concerning floures and Garlands and namely Mnestheus and Callimachus two renowmed Physicians haue compiled bookes of those Chaplets that be hurtfull to the braine and cause head-ach For euen herin also lieth some part of the preseruation of our health considering that perfumes do refresh our spirits especially when we are set at table to drinke liberally and to make merrie whiles the subtile odour of flours pierceth to the braine secretly ere we be aware Where by the way I cannot chuse but remember the deuise of Queene Cleopatra full of fine wit and as wicked and mischieuous withall For at what time as Antonie prepared the expidition and journey of Actium against Augustus and stood in some doubt of jealousie of the said Queen for al the fair shew that she made of gratifying him and doing him all pleasure he was at his taster would neither eat nor drink at her table without assay made Cleopatra seeing how timorous he was and minding yet to make good sport and game at his needlesse feare and foolish curiositie caused a Chaplet to be made for M. Antonius hauing before dipped all the tips and edges of the flowres that went to it in a strong and rank poison and being thus prepared set it vpon the head of the said Antonie Now when they had sitten at meat a good while and drunk themselues merrie the Queen began to make a motion and challenge to Antonie for to drink each of them their chaplets and withall began vnto him in a cup of wine seasoned and spiced as it were with those floures which she ware her owne self Oh the shrewd vnhappy wit of a woman when she is so disposed who would euer haue misdoubted any danger of hidden mischiefe herein Well M. Antonie yeelded to pledge her off goeth his owne Guirland and with the floures minced small dresseth his own cup. Now when he was about to set it to his head Cleopatra presently put her hand betweene and staied him from drinking and withall vttered these words My deare heart and best beloued Antonie now see what she is whome so much thou dost dread and stand in feare of that for thy security there must wait at thy cup and trencher extraordinarie tasters a straunge and new fashion ywis and a curiosity more nice than needfull lo how I am not to seek of means and opportunities to compasse thy death if I could find in my heart to liue without thee Which said she called for a prisoner immediately out of the goale whom she caused to drink off the wine which Antonie had prepared for himselfe No sooner was the goblet from his lips againe but the poor wretch died presently in the place but to come again to the Physicians who haue written of floures besides those abouenamed Theophrastus among the Greekes hath taken this argument in hand As for our countreymen some haue entituled their bookes Anthologicon but none of them all so farre as euer I could find wrote any Treatise concerning floures Neither is it any part of my meaning at this present to make Nosegaies or plat any Chaplets for that were a friuolous and vaine peece of work but as touching floures themselues I purpose to discourse so much as I think and find to be memorable and worth the penning But before I enter into this Treatise I am to aduertise the
root and neuer passe in height a hand bredth Thus much may suffice concerning odoriferous floures CHAP. VIII ¶ The colours of Cloth resembling those of Floures and striuing with them for the better Of Amarantus or Passe-velours of Chrysocome or Chrysit is THe excessiue ryot and prodigall superfluitie of men is grown to this passe that hauing taken no small pleasure in surmounting the natural sauor of simple floures by their artificial odors and compound perfumes they canot rest so but must proceed also in the craft and mysterie of dying cloth to challenge the fairest floures in the garden and to match if not to surpasse the liuely colours of Natures setting Of these tinctures I finde that there be three principal the one in grain which striueth with that bright orient colour in Roses and there is not a more pleasant thing to the eye than to see the Scarlet or purple of Tyros or to behold the double died Dibapha or the Laconian purple The second rich dy stands vpon the Amethyst colour and resembleth the March violet this also beareth much vpon that purple which of the said violet is called Ianthinus for now I handle dies and colors in general terms which neuerthelesse may be subdiuided into many other speciall sorts The third is ordinarily made of the purple porcellane shel-fishes and that in diuers sundry maners for of this tincture there are cloathes which incline much to the colour of Turnsoll and of these some be many times of a deeper and fuller dy than others Also there is another sort which standeth much on the Mallow floure inclining to a purple and a third sort which resembleth the violet that commeth late in the yere called the purple stock-gillofre and indeed this is the freshest richest color that can be died out of those fishes aforesaid Certes the tinctures dies now adaies are so liuely as wel for simple colors as mixt and compound such artificiall means are deuised by our sumptuous gallants than in this strife of Nature and art together a man shal hardly iudge whether of them haue the better hand As touching yellow I finde that it is a most antient colour and highly reputed of in old time for the wedding vaile which the Bride ware on her marying day was all of yellow and women only were permitted to vse them which might wel be the cause that this color is not reckoned among those that be principall that is to say common as well to men as women for the wearing and vsing of colours indifferently by the one and the other is that which hath giuen them their name and speciall credit Howbeit doe what we can fo all our skill and industry we must giue place without all doubt to the purple floure gentle for we cannot reach possibly to the color thereof Now to say a truth a purple Spike rather this isr than a floure and the same altogether without any smell Of a strange and wonderfull nature this is it loues of all things to be cropped and the more it is plucked the better it commeth againe it beginneth to spike or put out the floure in the month of August and continueth vntill Autume The best is that of Alexandria for after it is gathered it will keep the fresh and liuely colour still This maruellous propertie it hath by it selfe That when all other floures doe faile and are gone if it be wet in water it looketh fresh againe and for want of others serues all winter long to make chaplets guirlands The chiefe and principall vertue that it hath is shewed in the very name Amaranthus for so it is called in Greek because it neuer doth fade or wither But to come again to our artificiall colors we haue one that answereth to the floure named Cyanos i. blewbottle likewise to the yellow golden floure Elichryson Verily none of all these floures or colors were in request in the daies of K. Alexander the Great for the Greeke authors who wrot next after his dicease haue made no mention at al of them whereby it is plaine that they grew into a name liking since their time howbeit no man needs to make doubt or question That found out they were first by the Greekes for how els should it be that their names which be meere Greekish are currant here in Italy Howbeit this cannot be denied that Italie hath giuen name to the hearb Petilium which floureth in Autumne groweth about briers and brambles and is only commendable for the colour sake which is much like to the wild Rose or Eglantine the leaues of which floure be small and no more than fiue A wonderfull thing to be noted in this floure That the head should bend and nod downward so as vnlesse it bee thus as it were wreathed and bowed the said leaues will not shew out of a small cup or vessell of sundrie colours and enclosing within it a yellow seed As touching a dasie a yellow cup it hath also and the same is crowned as it were with a garland consisting of fiue and fifty little leaues set round about in manner of fine pales These bee floures of the medow and most of such are of no vse at all no maruell therfore if they be namelesse howbeit some giue them one tearme and some another As for Chrysocon or Chrysitis no Latine denomination it hath at all an hearbe it is growing an hand breadth high putting sorth certaine buttons as it were in the head glittering as bright as gold with a black root tasting harsh and yet sweetish withall it groweth commonly in places full of stones shadowy CHAP. IX ¶ The excellencie of Chaplets and Guirlands ' of Cyclaminus and Melilot of Trifolie or Clauer and three kinds thereof NOw that we haue gone through in manner the princidall dies and richest colours that be it remaineth that we passe to the treatise of those Guirlands which being made of diuers colored floures in regard only of that varietie are delectable pleasing to the eye And considering that some of them stand vpon flours others of leaf they may be all reduced to two principall heads Among flours I take to be all kinds of broom for from them there be gathered yellow floures and the Oleander Item the blossoms of the Iujube tree which also is called Cappadocia for they resemble much the odor of the oliue blooms as for Cyclaminum i. Sowbreed it groweth among bushes whereof more shall be said in another place a purple Colossian flour it caries which is vsed to beautifie set out game-coronets To come now to chaplets made of leaues the fairest that goe vnto them be Smilax and Iuy and therein also their berries interlaced among do make a goodly shew aboue al of which we haue spoken at large in the treatise of shrubs and trees Many kinds there are besides of plants proper for this purpose which we must be faine to expresse by Greeke names forasmuch as our
reiect and reach vp bloud and for the Squinance Next after the wine verjuice Omphacium I cannot chuse but write of Oenanthe which is the floure that wild vines do beare whereof I haue already made mention in my discourse of ointments The best Oenanthe is that of Syria especially along the coasts and mountaines of Antiochia and Laodicea That which groweth vpon the white vine is refrigeratiue and astringent being powdered and strewed vpon wounds it doth very much good applied as a liniment to the stomack it is exceeding comfortable A proper medicine it is for the suppression of vrine the infirmities and diseases of the liuer the head-ache the bloudie flix the imbecility of the stomack and the loosenesse proceeding from it also for the violent motion of cholerick humours proceeding vpward and downeward The weight of one obolus thereof taken with vineger helpeth the loathing that the stomacke hath to meat and procureth appetite It drieth vp the running scales breaking out in the head and most effectuall it is to heale all vlcers in moist parts and therefore cureth sores in the mouth priuie members and the seat or fundament Taken with hony and saffron it knitteth the belly The scurfe and roughnesse of the eie-lids it doth clense and make them smooth it represseth rheume in waterie eies Giuen in wine to drink it comforteth and confirmeth feeble stomackes but in cold water it staies the casting and reaching vp of bloud The ashes thereof is much commended in collyries eie-salues also for to mundifie filthy and vlcerous sores to heale likewise whitflawes rising at the naile roots and either the going away of the flesh from them or the excrescence thereof remaining about them For to bring it into ashes it must be torrified in an Ouen and so continue vntill the bread be baked and readic for to bee drawne As for Massaris or the Oenanthe in Africke it is imploied onely about sweet odours and pomanders and both it as also other floures men haue brought into so great name by making haste to gather them before they could knit to any fruit so inuentiue is mans wit and so greedy to hunt after nouelties and strange deuises CHAP. I. ¶ The medicines which grapes fresh and new gathered do yeeld Of Vine branches and cuttings of grape kernels and the cake remaining after the presse Of the grape Theriace Of dried grapes or Raisins Of Astaphis of Staphis-acre otherwise called Pituitaria Of the wild vine Labrusca of the wild vine both white and blacke Of Musts or new wines Of sundry kinds of Wine and of Vineger OF Grapes that grow to their ripenesse and maturitie the blacke are more vehement in their operation than the white and therefore the wine made of them is nothing so pleasant for in very truth the white grapes be sweeter far by reason they are more transparent and cleare and therefore receiue the aire into them more easily Grapes new gathered do puffe vp the stomacke and fill it with winde they trouble also the belly which is the cause that men are forbidden to eat them in feuers especially in great quantity for they breed heauinesse in the head and induce the Patient to sleepe ouermuch vntill hee grow into a lethargie Lesse harme doe those grapes which after they be gathered hang a long time by which means they take the impression of wind and aire and so become wholsome to the stomacke and to any sicke person for they doe gently coole and bring the Patient to a stomacke againe Such grapes as haue bin condite and preserued in some sweet wine are offensiue to the head and fume vp into the brains Next in request to those aboue said which haue hanged a long time be such as haue bin kept in chaffe for as many as haue lien among wine-marc or the refuse of kernels skins remaining after the presse are hurtfull to the head the bladder and the stomacke howbeit they doe stop a laske and nothing is there better in the world for those that doe cast and reach vp bloud and yet those grapes that haue bin kept in must or new wine are much worse than such as haue lien in the marc afore said Moreouer wine cuit if they haue come into it maketh them hurtfull and offensiue to the stomack But if they must needs be preserued in some liquor the Physitians hold them most whol some which haue bin kept in rain water although they be least toothsome for they do the stomack a great pleasure in the hot distemperature thereof they be comfortable when the mouth is bitter by occasion of the regurgitation of choler from the liuer and the burse of the gal they giue great contentment also in bitter vomits in the violent and inordinat motion of cholerick humors raging vpward and downward as also in case of dropsie to those that lie sick of burning feuers As touching grapes preserued in earthen pots they refresh and season the mouth which was out of tast they open the stomack and stir vp the appetite to meat how beit this inconuenience they bring with them That they are thought to lie more heauy in the stomacke by reason of the breath and vapor which exhaleth from their kernels If hens capons cocks and such like pullen be serued among their meat with the floures of grapes so as they once tast and eat thereof they wil not afterwards peck or touch any grapes hanging by clusters vpon the vine The naked branches and bunches wherupon there were grapes haue an astrictiue vertue and indeed more effectual that way be such as come out of the pots abouesaid The kernels or stone within the grapes haue the same operation and in very truth these be they and nothing els whereby wine causeth head-ach Being torrified beaten to pouder and so taken they be good for the stomack Their pouder is vsually put into the pot in manner of barly groats for to thicken broth and suppings which are ordained for them who haue the bloudy flix who are troubled with a continual loosnesse following them by occasion of the imbecillity of the stomack and for such as are ready to keck and heaue at euery little thing Their decoction serueth very wel to foment those parts which are broken out and giuen to bleach and itch The stones themselues are lesse hurtful to the head or bladder than the little kernels within The same beeing driuen into pouder and applied with salt are good for inflammations of womens brests the decoction thereof whether it be taken inwardly or vsed by way of fomentation helpeth as well those who haue gone a long time with a dysentery or bloudy flix as them who through imbecility of stomack do scoure and purge downward continually The grape Theriace whereof we haue written in due place is good to be taken as a counterpoison against the sting of serpents it is a common receiued opinion that the burgeons and branches of that vine should likewise be taken inwardly
and therefore much eating of them causeth a man to grow corpulent and nathelesse to be strong and lusty withall which is the cause that professed wrestlers and champions were in times past fed with figs. For Pythagoras a great master and warden of these exercises was the first man who brought them to eat flesh meat Moreouer figs be restoratiue and the best thing that they can eat who are brought low by some long and languishing sicknesse and now vpon the mending hand and in recouerie In like manner they are singular for the falling euil and the dropsie Figs applied as a cataplasme are excellent either to discusse or els bring to maturity any imposthumes or swellings but they doe the seat more effectually if either quicke-lime or sal-nitre be mixt therwith Boiled with Hyssop they clense the brest break and dissolue the flegmatick humors either fallen to the lungs or there ingendred so by consequence rid away an old cough Sodden in wine so applied as a liniment they cure the infirmities incident to the seat or fundament they mollifie and resolue the swelling tumors of the paps they discusse and heale fellons pushes biles risings behind the ears A fomentationmade with their decoction is good for women And the same being sodden with Faeni-greek are excellent for the pleurisie Peripnewmony i. the inflammation of the lungs Boiled with Rue they assuage the ventosities or collicke in the guts The same being incorporat with verdi-grease or the rust of brasse cureth the morimals of the legs and with Pomgranats they heale the rising exulceration of the flesh and skin about the naile roots But made into a cerot with wax they heale burnes scaldings kibed heels Seeth Figs in wine with wormwood and barley meale and put nitre to them they are passing wholesome for those who are in a dropsie Chew them they binde the belly Make a cataplasme of Figs and salt together the same is singular for the sting of scorpions Boyle them in wine and so apply them you haue an excellent remedy to draw forth carbuncles to the outward parts and bring them to an head Take the fattest fullest Figs you can get lay them vpon the vgly and ill fauored tumor called Carcinoma i. the Canker so it be not vet exulcerat I assure you it is a soueraigne remedy and hardly can be matched againe and so it is also for the festering and eating vlcer Phagedaena There is not another tree againe growing vpon the face of the earth that yeeldeth better or sharper ashes than the wood of the Figge-tree doth either to clense vlcers or to incarnat consolidat and restrain flux of humors It is taken in drink for to resolue cluttered bloud within the body Semblably if it be giuen to drink with water oile of each one cyath it serues wel for those who are dry beaten bruised who are fallen from some high place such also as haue spasms inward rvptures And thus they vse to giue it in al cramps and namely in that vniuersall convulsion which holdeth the body so stiffe that it can stir no way nor other as if it were made of one intire piece without any ioint Likewise both taken in drink and also infused or iniected by clystre it helpeth the fluxe occasioned either by a feeble and rheumatick stomacke or els by the vlcer of the guts If a man rub the body all ouer with it and oile together it setteth it into an heat were it before benummed A liniment made of it and wrought with wax and oile Rosat together skinneth a burnt or scalded place most finely leauing no skar at al to be seen Temper it with oile and therwith annoint their eies who are pore-blind sand blind or otherwise short-sighted it amends their eie-sight to conclude rub the teeth often therewith it preserueth them white neat and from rotting Thus much of Fig-tree ashes Moreouer it is commonly said That if one come to a Fig-tree bend a bough or branch therof downward to the ground and bearing vp his head without stooping reach and catch hold of a knot or ioint with his teeth and so bite it off that no man see him when he is doing of it and then lap the same within a piece of fine leather tied fast by a thred and hang it about his necke it will dispatch the kings-euill and swelling kernels or inflammations behind the eares The bark of the Fig-tree reduced into pouder mixed with oile and so applied healeth the vlcers of the belly Green Figs taken raw stamped and incorporat with niter and meale take away all warts whether they be smooth or rough The ashes made of those shoots that spring from the root is a kind of Antispodium and may go for Spodium indeed If the same be twice calcined and burnt and then mixed with cerusse or white lead and so reduced into trochiskes they make a good collyrie or eie-salue to cure the roughnesse and exulceration of the eies As many vertues as the mild fig-tree hath yet the wild is much more effectuall in operation howsoeuer she yeeldeth lesse milke or white juice than the other doth For a branch onely of it is as good as rennet or rindles to make milk turn and run to a cheese curd Howbeit that milky liquor which it hath if it be gathered and kept vntill it be dry and wax hard serueth to season our flesh meats and giue them a good tast For which purpose it is wont to be mixed and dissolued in vineger then the flesh must be well rubbed and poudred therwith The same is vsually mingled with caustick and corrosiue medicines when there is an intention to raise blisters and make an issue It causeth the belly to be laxatiue and openeth the matrice if it be vsed with Amyl pouder Being taken in drink with the yolk of an egg it prouoketh womens fleurs Applied in a liniment with the floure of Feni-greeke it easeth the pains of the gout it clenseth the leprosie and foul wild scab it killeth ring-worms and fell tettars it scoureth away freckles and such flecks as disfauor the face likewise it cureth the parts stung with venomous serpents or bitten with mad dogs Moreouer this juice of the wild Fig-tree applied vnto the teeth with a lock of wooll allaieth their ach so it doth also if it be put into them that be worme-eaten and hollow The tender yong branches together with the leaues if they be mingled with Eruile are good against the poison of venomous sea-fishes But then according to some Physitians there must be wine added to this receit The said tender branches being put into the pot with Boeuf and so boiled together saue much fewell for lesse fire by far will serue to seeth the meat The green figs of this wild fig-tree brought into a liniment do mollifie and discusse the kings euil and all other tumors and apostemes And in some measure the leaues also haue the same operation
likewise of the Pine-tree barke boiled in wine is giuen to drink for the pains and torments in the belly The kernels of the Pine-nuts quench thirst they pacifie and stil the frettings and gnawings of the stomack they rectifie the corrupt and putrified humors there setled and bedded they strengthen weak bodies in manner of a restoratiue and are right good agreeable to the reins and bladder howbeit they seem to exasperat the throat to encrease a cough Being taken inwardly either in water wine sweet cuit or the decoction of * dates or tamarinds they purge cholerick humors when the gnawing gripes within the stomack be exceeding violent and painfull it is good to mix therewith Cucumber seed and the juice of Pourcellane likewise in case either bladder or kidnies be exulcerat for diureticall they be also and prouoke vrine Touching the bitter Almond tree the decoction of the roots thereof doth supple the skin and lay it euen and smooth without wrinckles it imbelisheth the visage with a fresh liuely and cheerfull colour The bitter Almonds themselues bring folk to sleep and get them appetite to their meat they moue vrine and stir the ordinary course of womens monethly fleurs they serue in a liniment for the head-ach especially in feuers but if the said head-ach come by occasion of drunkennesse or a surfet of wine they would be applied with vineger oile rosat and a sextar of water They haue a property to stanch bleeding mixed with Amylfloure and mints They are good in a lethargy and the falling sicknesse if the head be therewith annointed all ouer They cure the angry night-foes called chilblanes and bloudy-falls applied with cold wine they cure vlcers which grow to putrifaction and with hony the bitings of mad dogs they take away the scales and dandruffe about the face if so be there haue bin vsed before some conuenient fomentation to prepare the skin for this medicine An Almond milk drawn with water and taken as a drinke easeth the pains of the liuer and kidnies Bitter Almonds reduced into a loch with Terpentine worke the same effect so that the Patient be often licking thereof For those who be troubled with the stone and grauell with difficultie also of pissing they be very effectuall if they be taken with sweet wine cuit also beaten with honied water they be singular to clense the skin and make it look neat and faire Reduced into the form of a loch with hony they be wholsome for the liuer good to ripen and dispatch a cough excellent for to mitigat the paines of the cholique and this electuarie must bee taken to the quantity of one hazell nut at a time with a little sauge put thereto It is said that our lusty tosse-pots and swil-bols if they eat foure or fiue bitter almonds before they sit them down to drink shall beare their liquor well and neuer be drunke quaffe they and poure they downe as much as they wil also that if foxes chance to eat of them and cannot come by water neere at hand to lap they wil die thereof Sweet almonds are not so medicinable as the bitter and yet they be purgatiue abstersiue and diureticall If they be new and fresh they charge and stuffe the stomacke Hazel-nuts and Filbirds otherwise called the Greekish nuts beeing taken in vineger with wormwood seed cure the yellow jaunise as it is commonly said a liniment made with them doth help the diseases incident to the seat and particularly the piles and swelling bigs there appearing The same medicine is good for the cough and such as spit and cast vp bloud As for Walnuts the Greeks haue giuen them a * name importing as much as the heauines of head and not without good cause for the very shade of the tree and the sent of the leaues do pierce and enter into the head so do the kernels also in lesse while if they be eaten now the newer they be the more pleasant tast they haue the drie are more oily and vnctious hurtfull to the stomack hard of digestion causing head-ach naught for them who haue a cough and for such as would vomit in a morning fasting good only in that troublesom running to the stoole and straining for nought by reason of their property to euacuat fleam The same being eaten before meat do dull the force of any poisons they help the squinancy also applied with Rue and oil Aduerse contrary they are to the nature of onions do keep down represse their strong smell which riseth from them after a man hath eaten them Applied with a little hony they are thought to be very good for the inflammation of the ears with Rue for the brests and paps as also for dislocations and parts out of ioint But if they be vsed with onions salt and hony they are singular for the biting both of dog man The shel of a wal-nut is thought to be of a caustick quality and good to burn or seare an hollow tooth the same being burnt pulverized and incorporat with oile or wine serueth to annoint the heads of yong babes for to make the hair grow thick in that maner it is vsed to bring the haire again of elder folk when through some infirmity it is shed The more Walnuts that one eateth with more ease shal he driue worms out of the belly VVal-nuts that haue bin very long kept do cure carbuncles gangrenes tending to mortification and reduce the black and blew spots remaining after stripes to their own color The bark of the wal-nut tree is a soueraign remedy for the bloudy flix and the foule tettars or ringworms The leaues bruised stamped with vineger so applied put away the pain of the ears After that Mithridates that most mighty and puissant king was vanquished Cneus Pompeius found in his secret closet or cabinet among other precious jewels the receit of a certain antidote or preseruatiue against poison set down vnder the hand of the sayd prince in a priuat note-book of remembrances in this maner following Take 2 dry walnutkernels as many figs of rue 20 leaues stamp al these together into one masse with a graine or corn of salt among Vnder which receit was thus much subscribed VVhosoeuer vse to eat of this confection in a morning next his heart there shall no poison hurt him that day It is said moreouer that the kernels of walnuts chewed by a man or woman fasting doe cure the biting of a mad dog so that the place be annointed and dressed therewith But to return again to Hazle-nuts and filberds they do cause head-ach they breed winde in the stomack and a man would not think nor beleeue how soon they wil make one fat but that experience approueth it If they be rosted or torrified they cure a rheume and if they be beaten to pouder and giuen to drink in honied water they rid away an old cough that hath stucke to one a long time some
again and verily there came Physitians and Chirurgions out of Egypt a countrey apt to breed the like diseases and where they be common such as professed only the skill in this kind of cure who filled their purses well and mightily enriched them selues by their practise at Rome for well known it is that Maââ¦lius Cornutus late L. Pretor and lieutenant general for the state in the prouince of Guienne or Aquitane in France dealt with one of these Egyptian leeches for to be cured of this disease and agreed to pay him 200000 Sesterces for his paine And thus much of Mentagra Moreouer what a wonderfull thing is this obserued in these new kind of maladies that many times contrary to the course of other sicknesses they come together in troupes that some of them should all on a sudden light vpon a particular country that they should take to one certaine member of mans body assaile those of such an age and no other haue a spight to persons of this or that quality and spare the rest as if they made choice some to plague young children others elder folk some to punish none but the rich and mighty others to be doing with the poore and needy In our Annals or Chronicles we find vpon record That while Lucius Paulus and Q. Marcius were Censors of Rome the pestilent carbuncle a disease appropriat to Prouance and Languedoc in France came first into Italy Of which maladie there died within the compasse of one yeare about that very time when I compiled this worke and history of mine two noble men of Rome and late Consuls to wit Iulius Rufus and Q. Lecanius Bassus of which two the former was cut for it by the counsell of vnskilfull Physitians and by that means lost his life As for the other hauing it vpon the thumb of his left hand he chanced to pricke it himselfe with a needle and although the wound was so small that hardly it could be seene and discerned yet it cost him his life This carbuncle riseth ordinarily in the most hidden and secret parts of the body and for the most part vnder the tongue it is hard and red in manner of the swelling veines called in Latine Varices and yet in the head it looketh blackish the skin also about it seemeth swe rt and dead it stretcheth the skinne and the flesh in some sort stiffe but without any great swelling no paine at all no itching no other symptome but sleepe wherewith it so possesseth the Patients that in three daies it will make an end of them Otherwhiles it causeth the party to fall into a quiuering and shaking as it were for cold and raiseth certaine blisters or angry pimples round about it and verie seldome causeth an Agúe but looke in whomsoeuer it taketh to the stomacke or throat it quickely dispatcheth and maketh an end of them As touching the white leprosie called Elephantiasis according as I haue before shewed it was not seen in Italie before the time of Pompey the Great This disease also began for the most part in the face and namely it tooke the nose first where it put forth a little specke or pimple no bigger than a small Lentill but soone after as it spread farther and ran ouer the whole body a man should perceiue the skin to be painted and spotted with diuers and sundry colors the same vneuen bearing out higher in one place than another thicke here but thin there and hard euery where rough also like as if a scurfe or scab ouerran it vntil in the end it would grow to be blackish bearing downe the flesh flat to the bones whiles the fingers of the hands and toes of the feet were puffed vp and swelled againe A peculiar malady is this and naturall to the Egyptians but look when any of their kings fell into it wo worth the subjects and poore people for then were the tubs and bathing vessels wherein they sat in the bain filled with mens bloud for their cure But surely this disease continued not long in Italy before it was quite extinguished like as another before it and in old time Gemursa which began between the toes and so long agoe it is since any haue bin troubled therwith that the very name also is forgotten and grown out of vse Where by the way this is to be noted as a strange and wonderfull thing That some of our diseases should haue an end and lose their course for euer and others againe continue still as for example the cholique passion which came among vs no longer agoe than in the daies of Tiberius Caesar the Emperor and the first that euer felt it was the prince himselfe whereupon arose no small question throughout the whole city of Rome for when as the said Emperour published a certain proclamation wherein he excused himself for not comming abroad to manage the affaires of the State because he was sick of the cholique the Senat and people reading this strange name of an vnknowne maladie entred into a deep discourse with themselues what to thinke and make of it But what should we say of all these kinde of diseases and what an anger and displeasure of the gods is this thus to plague and punish vs Was it not enough to haue sent amongst men into the world a certaine number of maladies otherwise and those not so few as three hundred but we must be in feare and danger still euery day of new and yet see as many as there be of them comming by the hand of God yet men thorow their owne excesse and disorders bring as many more vpon themselues and be causes still of farther troubles miseries Well thus you see by that which I haue written in the former bookes what was the old Physicke in times past namely consisting of the simples onely found in dame Natures garden and how she alone at the first and for a long time was our Physitian and furnished vs with remedies for all diseases CHAP. II. ¶ The praise of Hippocrates and other Physitians meere Simplests HIppocrates verily had this honor aboue all men That he was the first who wrote with most perspicuity of Physicke and reduced the precepts and rules thereof into the bodie of an art howbeit in all his bookes wee find no other receits but herbes Semblably the writings of Diocles the Carystian were no lesse stored with the like medicines and yet a famous Physitian he was and both in time and reputation next and second to Hippocrates Praxagoras also and Chrysippus yea and after them Erasistratus held on the same course As for Herophylus although he was the first that went more exquisitly to work and brought in a more subtill and fine method of Physick yet none esteemed better of simples than hee But surely practise and experience which as in all things else is found to be most effectuall so in the profession of Physick especially began in his daies by little and little to slake
vntil in the end al their Physicke proued nothing but words and bibble babbles for beleeue me his schollers and disciples thought it more for their ease and pleasure to sit close in the schooles and heare their doctours out of the chaire discourse of the points of Physicke than to go a simpling into the desarts and forrests to seeke and gather herbs at all seasons of the yere some at one time and some at another CHAP. III. ¶ Of the new practise in Physicke of Asclepiades the Physitian and what course he tooke to alter and abolish the old Physicke for to bring in the new WHat cunning means soeuer these new Physitians could deuise to ouerthrow the antient manner of working by simples yet it maintained still the remnants of the former credit built surely vpon the vndoubted grounds of long experience and so it continued till the daies of Pompey the Great at what time Asclepiades a great Oratour and professor of Rhetoricke went in hand to peruert and reiect the same for seeing that he gained not by the said Art sufficiently was not like to arise by pleading causes at the bar to that wealth which he desired as he was a man otherwise of a prompt wit and quick spirit he resolued to giue ouer the law and suddenly applied himselfe to a new course of Physick This man hauing no skill at all and as little practice considering he neither was well studied in the Theoricke part of this science nor furnished with knowledge of remedies which required continuall inspection vse of simples wrought so with his smooth and flowing tongue and by his daily premeditat orations gained so much that he withdrew mens mindes from the opinion they had of former practise and ouerthrew all In which discourses of his reducing all Physick to the first and primitiue causes he made it a meere coniecturall Art bearing men in hand that there were but fiue principall remedies which serued indifferently for all diseases to wit in Diet Abstinence in meat Forbearing wine otherwhiles Rubbing of the body Walking and the Exercise of gestations In sum so far he preuailed with his eloquent speech that euery man was willing to giue eare applause to his words for being ready enough to beleeue those things for true which were most easie and seeing withall that whatsoeuer he commended to them was in each mans power to perform he had the general voice of them so as by this new doctrine of his he drew al the world into a singular admiration of him as of a man sent descended from heauen aboue to cure their griefs and maladies Moreouer a wonderfull dexterity and artificiall grace he had to follow mens humors and content their appetites in promising and allowing the sick to drink wine in giuing them eftsoons cold water when he saw his time and all to gratifie his patients Now for that Herophylus before him had the honor of being the first Physitian who searched into the causes of maladies and because Cleophantus had the name among the Antients for bringing wine into request and setting out the vertues thereof this man for his part also desirous to grow into credit reputation by some new inuention of his own brought vp first the allowing of cold water beforesaid to sick persons as M. Varro doth report took pleasure to be called the Cold-water Physitian He had besides other pretty deuises to flatter please his patients one while causing them to haue hanging litters or beds like cradles by the mouing rocking whereof too and fro he might either bring them asleep or ease the pains of their sicknes otherwhiles ordaining the vse of bains a thing that he knew folk were most desirous of besides many other fine conceits very plausible in hearing and agreeable to mans nature And to the end that no man might think this so great alteration and change in the practise of Physick to haue bin a blind course and a matter of smal consequence one thing aboue the rest that woon himfelfe a great fame and gaue no lesse credit and authority to his profession was this that meeting vpon a time by chance with one he knew not carried forth as a dead corse in a biere for to be burned he caused the body to be carried home from the funerall fire and restored the man to health again Certes this one thing wee that are Romanes may be well ashamed of and take in great indignation That such an old fellow as he comming out of Greece the vainest nation vnder the sun beginning as he did of nothing should only for to inrich himself lead the whole world in a string and on a sudden set down rules and orders for the health of mankind notwithstanding many that came after him repealed as it were and annulled those lawes of his And verily many helps had Asclepiades which much fauored his opinion and new Physick namely the manner of curing diseases in those daies which was exceeding rude troublesome painfull such adoe there was in lapping and couering the sicke with a deale of cloaths and causing them to sweat by all meanes possible such a worke they made sometime in chafing and frying their bodies against a good fire but euery foot in bringing them abroad into the hot Sunne which hardly could be found within a shadie and close citie as Rome was In lieu whereof not onely there but throughout all Italy which now commanded the whole World and might haue what it list hee followed mens humours in approouing the artificiall baines and vaulted stouves and hot houses which then were newly come vp and vsed excessiuely in euery place by his approbation Moreouer he found means to alter the painefull curing of some maladies and namely of the Squinancie in the healing whereof other Physitians before him went to worke with a certain instrument which they thrust down into the throat He condemned also worthily that dog-physick which was in those daies so ordinarâ⦠that if one ailed neuer so little by and by he must cast and vomit He blamed also the vse of purgatiue potions as contrary and offensiue to the stomack wherein he had great reason and truth on his side for to speake truely such drinks are by most Physitians forbidden considering our chiefe care and drift is in all the course of our physick to vse those means which be comfortable and wholsom for the stomack CHAP. IIII. ¶ The foolish superstition of Art-Magicke which here is derided Of the tettar called Lichen remedies proper for it and the diseases of the throat ABoue all other things the superstitious vanities of Magitians made much to the establishing of Asclepiades his new Physicke for they in the heigth of their vanity attributed so strange and incredible operations to some simples that it was enough to discredit the vertues of them all First they vaunted much of Aethyopus an hearbe which by their saying if it were but cast into any great riuer
there be who drink the same for to purge both vpward and downward for otherwise an enimy it is to the stomack in which potion if there be put some salt it doth euacuat fleagme but with salt petre it voideth cholerick humors If the patient haue a mind to purge by seege he shal do wel to drink the juice of Tithymall in water and vineger mingled together but if he be disposed to vomit it is better to drink it in cuit or mead The ordinarie dose is three oboles thereof in a potion But the better way is to take the figs prepared as is beforesaid after meat and euen so taken in some sort the juice doth sting the throat and set it on fire For to say a truth of so hot a nature it is that alone of it selfe being applied outwardly vnto any part of the body it raiseth pimples and blisters no lesse than fire in which regard it is vsed for a caustick or potentiall cauterie the second kind of the Tithymall is knowne by the name Myrsinites which others call Caryites The reason of the one name is this for that it beareth sharp pointed and prickie leaues in manner of the Myrtle but that they be somwhat more tender and the same groweth in rough places like as the former The bushy heads or tufts of this Tithymall would be gathered when Barly beginneth to swell in the eare so they be let to take their drying in the shade 9 daies together for in the Sun they wil be withered in that space The fruit which this plant beareth doth not ripen all together in one season but some part thereof remaineth against the next yere and the said fruit is called the Tithymal nut which is the cause that the Greeks haue imposed vpon it that second name Caryites The proper time to gather and cut down this herb is when corn is ripe in the field and ready to be reaped or mowed Which beeing washed must afterwards be laied forth a drying so they vse to giue it with two parts or twice as much of black Poppie yet so as the whole dose may not exceed one acetable This Tithymall is nothing so strong a vomitory as the former no more be the rest whereof I will speak anone Some there be who giue the leaues also with black poppy after the foresaid proportion the very nut or fruit it selfe alone in mead or cuit or els if they put any thing thereto it must be Sesama and truely in this maner it sendeth flegmatick chollerick humors away by seege This Tithymal is singular for the sores in the mouth But for cankerous and corrosiue vlcers indeed which corrode deep into the mouth it is good to chew and eat the same with honey The third kind of Tithymall is called Paralius or Tithymalis This herb puts forth round leaues riseth vp with a stalk a span or hand full high the branches be red and the seed white which ought to be gathered when the grape beginneth to shew blacke vpon the vine And being dried and made into pouder is a sufficient purgation so it be taken inwardly to the measure of one acetable the fourth kind is named Helioscopium the leaues wherof resemble Purcellane and from the root it puts forth 4 or 5 small vpright branches which be likewise red and half a foot high the same also be ful of juice or milk This herb delighteth to grow about town sides bearing a white seed wherin Doues Pigeons take exceeding great pleasure which also is ordinarily gathered when the grape maketh some shew of ripening It took this name Helioscopium for that it turns the heads which it beareth round about with the Sun Halfe an acetable thereof taken in Oxymel purgeth choller downeward And in other cases vsed it is like as the former Tithymall named Characias The fifth men call Cyparissias for the resemblance that the leaues haue to those of the Cypresse tree it riseth vp with a double or threefold stem and loueth to grow in champian places of the same operation and vertue it is that Helioscopium and Characias beforenamed The sixth Tithymal is commonly called Platyphyllos although some name it Corymbites others Amygdalites for the resemblance that it hath to the almond tree there is not a Tithymal hath broader leaues than it which is the reason of the first and vsuall name Platyphyllos it is good to kil fish it purges the belly if either the root leaues or iuice be taken in honied wine or in mead to the weight of foure drams a speciall vertue it hath to draw water downward from all other humors The seuenth is called commonly Dendroides and yet some giue it the name Cobion others Leptophyllon ordinarily it is found growing vpon rocks and of all others carrieth the fairest head likewise the stems be reddest and the seed sheweth in most plenty the effects be all one with those of Characias as touching the plant called Apios Ischas or Rhaphanos-agria i. the wild Radish it putteth forth two or three stalkes like bents or rushes spreading along the ground and those be red and the leaues resemble rue the root is like an onion head but that it is larger which is the reason that some haue called it the wild Radish this root hath a white fleshie substance within but the skin or rind thereof is blacke it groweth vsually vpon rough mountains and otherwise in faire greens full of grasse The right season to dig vp this root is in the Spring which being stamped and strained they vse to put in an earthen pot where it is permitted to stand look what it casteth vp and swimmeth aloft they scum off and throw away the rest of the iuice thus clarified purgeth both waies if it be taken to the weight of one obolus a half in mead or honied water and in that maner prepared it is giuen to those that be in a dropsie the ful measure of one acetable the pouder also of the root dried is good to spice a cup for a purgation and as they say the vpper part of the root purgeth choler vpward by vomit whereas the nether part doth it by seege downward Now for the pains and wrings which oftentimes torment the poorebelly all the kinds of Panaces and Betony are singular to assuage and allay them plain vnlesse they be such as are occasioned by crudity and indigestion As for the iuice of Harstrang it dissolueth ventosities for it breaketh wind vpward and causeth one to rift so doth the roots of Acorus also carots if they be eaten in a salad after the maner of Lettuce For the infirmities proper to the guts namely the worms there breeding Ladanum of Cypresse is soueraigne to be taken in drinke in like maner the pouder of Gentian drunk in warm water to the quantity of a bean Plantain likewise hath the same effect if there be taken of it first in a morning to the quantity of 2
pained already in that part shall find ease thereby Inguinaria which some name Argemony is an herb growing euery where amongst bushes briers and brambles which if it be but held in the hand is thought to be excellent good for the accidents that befall the groin Panaces made into a cataplasme with hony healeth the flat biles and botches that arise in the emunctories of the share and the like effect hath Plantaine applied with salt fiue-leafe the root of the great clot-bur like as in case of the kings euill euen so is Damasonium to be vsed As for Taperwort or Mullen if leafe root and all be stamped with some sprinckling of wine among and be afterwards lapped within a leafe of the own and so heat vnder the embers laid to the grieued place hot it is very good for the same purpose some affirm vpon their own knowledge by the experience that they haue seen that this cataplasme wil work much more effectually if a yong maiden all naked haue the applying of it to the said bile prouided alwaies that both she and he the patient be fasting also that she touch the sore or impostume with the back-side of her hand in so doing say these words following Negat Apollo pestem posse crescere quam nuda virgo restinguat i. Apollo wil neuer suffer that a botch which a naked virgin thus cureth shall possibly grow farther which charm she must pronounce thrice after she hath withdrawn her hand backe and withall both he and she are to spit as often vpon the floore that is to say euery time that she repeateth the foresaid spell Furthermore the root of Mandragoras being applied with water healeth these botches so doth the decoction of the Scammonium root reduced into a pultesse with hony Also the herb Sideritis laid too with old hogs grease last of all Chrysippea incorporat with fat figs where by the way note that this herb retaineth the name of him who first brought it to light CHAP. X. ¶ Of the water-Rose otherwise called Nenuphar Of such herbs as either heat or coole the aptite to lust and venery Of Satyrion or Ragwort * with the red roots of Crategis and Sideritis NYmphaea which also is named Heraclea if it be but once taken in drinke disableth a man altogether for the act of generation as I haue said before 40 daies after the same if a man drink fasting or eat with his meat freeth him from the dreams of imaginary Venus which cause pollution The root applied in a liniment to the genetoirs doth not onely coole lust but also keep down and represse the abundance of natural seed in which regard it is thought good to nourish the body and maintain a cleare voice On the contrary side the vpper root of Glader giuen to drink in wine kindleth the heat of lust like as the herbe which they call Sampier Sauage as also wild Clarie being stamped and incorporat with parched barly meale But in this case wonderfull is the herb Orchis both male and female and few be like vnto it for two kinds there be of it the one beareth leaues like vnto the oliue but that they are longer riseth vp with a stem foure fingers high carrying purple floures a double bulbous root formed like to a mans genitoirs whereof the one swelleth and the other falleth by turns ech other yeare and ordinarily it groweth neere the Sea side The other is knowne by the name of Orchis Serapias and is taken to be the female the leaues resemble leeke blades the stalke is a span or hand-breadth high and the flours be purple the root likewise is bulbous twofold fashioned like to a mans stones or cullions of which the bigger or as some say the harder drunk in water prouoketh the desire to venery the lesser or the softer taken in goats milk represseth the foresaid appetite Some say it is leafed after the maner of Squilla or sea-onion saue that the leaues be smoother and smaller and it putteth vp a stalk ful of pricks or thorns the roots wherof do heale the sores in the mouth and discharge the chest of fleame but drunk in wine do stop a laske A power it hath also to stir vp fleshly lust like as Satyrion but this herb differeth from the other in that it is diuided by joints or knots and besides busheth more and is fuller of branches the root is thought to be good for sorcery and witchcraft the same also either by it selfe alone reduced into pouder or els stamped incorporat with fried barly groats into a liniment is singular good for the tumors and other risings and impostumes in the said priuie parts or members of generation The root of the former Orchis giuen to drinke in the milke of an ewe bred vp at home of a cade lambe causeth a mans member to rise and stand but the same taken in water maketh it to go down againe and lie As for the Greekes they describe Satyrion with leaues like vnto the red Lilly but that they be smaller no more in number than three which spring directly from the root the stem smooth a cubit high naked and bare without leaues and it hath withall two bulbous roots of which the nethermore which also is the bigger serueth to get boies the vpper and that is the lesse is as good to engender girles They haue likewise another kinde of Satyrion which they name Erythraicon and it beareth certain grains or seeds resembling that of * Chast-tree or Agnus Castus but that they be bigger and smooth the root is hard and white within the rind wherof is red and in tast is somwhat sweetish an herb ordinarily found as they say vpon mountains and by their saying the root is of that vertue that if it be held oneiy in a mans hand it wil cause the flesh to rise incite him to the company of women but much more will it set him in a heat if he drink it in some hard and green wine in regard of which propertie the manner is to giue it in drinke to goats and rams if they be vnlusty and nothing forward to leape the females The Sarmatians likewise ministred a drench made with this herb vnto their stone-horses or stallions when by reason that they are ouertrauelled and tired out of heart by continuall labour they perceiue them to be slow and vnapt to couer mares which defect the Greekes call by a proper and sit term Prosedamon But say that one by taking of this root is ouer lusty and too much prouoked that way the means to abate and quench the heat strength thereof is to drink mead or the juice of lettuce In sum the Greeks generally when they would signifie any extraordinary wanton sust or appetite to venery haue a pretty name for it and call it Satyrion And euen so they haue giuen a denomination to Crataeogonon which is an herbe diuided by knots or joints
which the antient Romans were wont to doe at the siege and assault of any towne or city was by their priests to conjure and call forth that god or goddesse which was the patron or patronesse therof and withal to promise vnto the said god or goddesse either the same place againe or else a greater and more spacious seat yea and the like diuine worship or better among the Romanes and euen at this day our Pontifies or Bishops haue the charge of this sacred ceremony amongst other functions belonging to their ministery And hereupon well known it is that for this cause and nothing else it was neuer divulged obroad what god was the protector and patron of Rome city for feare least some of our enemies should assay to coniure him forth and deale by vs as we do by them Furthermore who is there that is not afraid of all maledictions and cursed execrations and especially when the names of the infernall fiends or vnluckie foules are vsed in such bannings For feare likewise of some harme see we not that it is an vsuall thing to crush and break both egge and fish shels so soon as euer the meat is supped and eaten out of them or els to bore the same through with a spoone stele or bodkin From hence came those amatorious eidyls and eclogues of Theocritus among Greek Poets of Catullus and Virgil among vs full of amorous charmes in imitation of such exorcismes and coniurations indeed I assure you many folke there be of this beleefe That by certaine spells and words in manner of charmes all the pots and vessels of earth baking in a furnace may be cracked and broken without touching them at all And there are not a few who are persuaded for certaine that euen the very serpents as they may be burst by inchantment so they can vnwitch themselues and that as brutish otherwise and earthly as they be yet in this one thing they haue a quicke sence and vnderstanding insomuch as at the charms of the Marsians they will shrink from them and draw in their bodies round into a knot though it were in the night season when they lie asleepe Some there be also that when a skare-fire hath taken an house write certaine words vpon the walls and thereby limit and confine the fire that it shall go no farther Certes I am not able to say whether strange forraine and ineffable words hard to be pronounced are more auailable to the effecting of these incredible things or our Latin words comming out at a venture vnlooked for and spoken at random which must needs seem ridiculous in our judgement seeing that the spirit and mind of man expecteth alwaies some great and mighty matter in these coniurations and exorcismes which may carry a majesty therewith to incline and moue the gods to mercy and fauour or rather indeed to command their heauenly power perforce But to proceed Homer the Poet hath written that prince Vlyxes being wounded in the thigh stanched the bloud with a charme And Theophrastus testifieth that there be proper spels to cure the Sciatica Cato hath left in writing that there is a special charm for dislocations wherby any bone put out of ioint may be set again And M. Varro reporteth the like vertue of certain good words for the gout As for Caesar the Dictatour it is commonly said of him that hauing beene once endangered with the fall or ouerthrow of his coach wherein he rode would neuer afterwards ride in coach againe vnlesse so soone as euer hee had taken his place and before that he set forward vpon his way he had pronounced a certaine charm that he had in store and persuaded he was that if he said it ouer three times together he should come by no mischance in his journey but trauel in security A thing that I know many now adaies to practise ordinarily as well as he But for farther proofe and confirmation of this opinion I report me to euery mans conscience and knowledge to that I say which there is not one but knoweth What is the cause I pray you that the first day of euery yeare we salute one another for luck sake with wishing a good new yere What is the reason tel me that in all our publick processions and generall solemnities euery fifth yeare for the health and good estate of the city they made choice of such persons for to lead the beasts appointed to sacrifice whose names were good and fortunat or how commeth it about that for to preuent or diuert witchcraft and sorcery we obserue a peculiar adoration and inuocat vpon the Greekish goddesse of vengeance Nemesis in which regard onely we haue her statue or image set vp in the Capitoll notwithstanding we know not yet what name in Latine to giue her How is it that in making mention of those that be dead we speake with reuerence and protest that we haue no meaning to disquiet their ghosts thereby or to say ought preiudiciall to their good name and memoriall If there be nothing in words how hapneth it I would fain know that we haue such an opinion of odd numbers beleeuing that they be more effectuall in all things than the euen a matter I may tell you of great consequence if we do but obserue the criticall daies in feuers Also in the gathering of our first fruits be they Pears Apples Figs c. wherfore vse we to say These be old God send vs new What mooueth vs to wiââ¦h health and say God helpe or blesse when one sneezeth for euen Tiberius Caesar who otherwise was known for a grim sir and the most vnsociable and melancholick man in the world required in that manner to be salued and wished well vnto whensoeuer he sneezed though he were mounted in his chariot And some there be who in this case do ceremoniously salute the party by name and thinke there is a great point of religion lies in that Moreouer is not this an opinion generally receiued That when our ears do glow and tingle some there be that in our absence doe talke of vs Attalus auoucheth for a certainty that if a man chance to espie a scorpion and do no more but say this one word * Duo i. two the serpent wil be stil quiet and neuer shoot forth his sting And now seeing by occasion of mentioning a scorpion I am put in mind of Africk you shal vnderstand thus much that throughout all that country there is not one goeth about to do any thing but before he begins he saith this word * Africai Africk As for other nations in euery enterprise that men take in hand they vse the name of their gods pray ordinarily that it would please them to giue a grace and blessing to their attempts As for this ceremony namely when the table is spread and furnished with viands to lay a ring from the finger vpon it we see it commonly orderly practised and that
indirect meanes of sorcery they are become barren and vnapt for conception The matrice of the female Hyaene giuen in drink with the rind of a sweet pomegranat is a very comfortable medicin for that part in a woman A suffumigation made with the fat taken from the hetchfill piece or loines is singular for those women that be in hard trauell of childe and procureth them speedy deliuerance the marow or pitch out of the ridge bone whosoeuer carrieth about them shal find help against vain illusions and fantasticall imaginations The pizzle of the male Hyaena if it be burnt casteth a fume which is good for them that haue any sinews pluckt with the cramp Saue the feet of this beast and the very touching of them is soueraigne for bleared eies for ruptures inflammations but this regard must be had that the left foot be applied to those griefes in the left side and the right to the contrary But wot ye what if the right foot of the Hyaena chance to be carried ouer a woman whiles she is in labour of childbirth she shall surely die of it but contrariwise let it be the right foot she shall haue a quick dispatch and be deliuered with ease The skin or purse that holdeth the gall beeing either drunke in wine or taken with meat helpeth those that for weaknesse of stomack be apt to faint and fall into cold sweats and the bladder taken with wine cureth those that cannot hold their water Now look what vrine is found within the bladder of this beast you must thinke it is an excellent drink if it be mixed with oile Sesame seed and hony for any old griefe whatsoeuer The first rib and the eighth wil make a perfume which is passing good for those who are bursten the spondyles or ioints of the ridge-bone are as conuenient for women in trauell of child-birth and the Hyaens bloud taken inwardly with fried barly meale doth mitigat the wrings and gripes of the belly If the side posts or dore cheeks of any house be striked with the said bloud wheresoeuer Magitians are busie with their feats and jugling casts they shall take no effect whether they be charms exorcismes or inuocations insomuch as they shall not be able to raise vp spirits nor haue any conference with familiars by any means of conjuration whether it be by torch-lights by bason by water by globe or otherwise The flesh of this beast eaten is very effectuall against the biting of a mad dog and yet the liuer is of greater efficacy in this case If there chance either flesh or bone of man or woman whom this beast hath killed and deuoured to be found in the maw surely the perfume thereof is a present remedy for the gout as these Magitians would seeme to persuade vs. But how if there be found the nails of man or woman there then wo be to all those that were at the hunting and taking of this beast for it presageth that one of them is sure to die for it Beside all this they do affirme That either the excrements or bones which the Hyaena dischargeth out of the belly at the time that she is killed serue for countercharms or preseruatiues against sorceries and practises of Magitians As for the ordure or dung which is found within her guts being dried and taken in drinke is auaileable against the dysentery and the same reduced into a liniment with goose grease and so applied helpeth those that by some poison are infected all the body ouer The grease likewise of this beast vsed as an ointment hath a singular property to cure the biting of a dog so that the patient be couched vpon the skin of the said Hyaena as say our Magitians who affirm moreouer that a decoction made with the ashes of the pastern bone of the left leg boiled together with the bloud of a weazil causeth as many as be anointed all ouer therewith to be odious in the eies of all men The same effect do they attribute to the decoction of the eie But of all the fooleries that they haue broched as touching the Hyaena this passeth and may go for the chiefe That the hindmost end of the gut in this beast is of vertue that no captain prince or potentat shall be able to wrong or oppresse those who haue but the same about them but contrariwise assureth them of good speed in all their petitions and of happy issue in all suits of law and trials of iudgements The concauity or wrinckle thereof if a man do weare fast tied about his left arme is so forcible to charme a woman that if he do but set his eie vpon her she will leaue all and follow him presently The ashes of the haire growing therabout made into a liniment with oile and applied accordingly causeth those men who before were giuen to lewd wantonnesse and liued in bad name not onely to become chast and continent but also to put on grauity and grow staid in their behauiour Thus much of Hyaena For fabulous tales the Crocodile may challenge the next place a beast this is which naturally doth liue as well on land as in water for two kinds there be of them whereof the former keeping thus in both elements hath this especiall vertue if we may beleeue these Magitians To prouoke vnto carnal lust if the teeth which grew in the right side of the chaw be hanged fast likewise to the right arme of man or woman The eie-teeth of the said Crocodile filled vp with frankincense for hollow they be and tied to any part of the body put by those periodicall feuers which vse to return at sett and certaine hours but then the patient must not for fiue dayes together see the party who fastened the same about him And they report likewise that the little grauel stones taken out of their belly be of the same vertue to driue away the shaking fits of agues when they are comming which is the cause that the Aegyptians vse ordinarily to anoint their sick folke with the fat of this beast The other Crocodile resembleth this in forme but far lesse he is and keepeth only vpon the land liuing vpon most sweet and redolent flours In which regard much seeking there is after his guts for the pleasant senteurs and odors wherewââ¦th they be stuffed ful this dung they cal Crocodilea a singular remedy for all the diseases of the eies and namely against cataracts suffusions and mistie films if they be anointed with an eie-salue made of it and the iuice of Porret mixed together The same brought into a liniment with the oile Cyprinum serueth to take away all pimples that rise in the face and clenseth the skin from those spots that blemish the visage But if it be incorporat with water it scoureth whatsoeuer accidents be apt to run ouer the face and reduceth the skin vnto the natiue color for it riddeth frectles moles and generally any spots or flects that marre the beautie or
lees beneath and as the one is an excrement cast vp from a matter whiles it is purging it selfe so the other is the refuse or grounds thereof after it is purged and setled Howbeit many there bee who make but two kindes of this fome or litharge the one * Steresitis as it were solid and massiue the other * Peumene as one would say puffed vp and full of wind As for the third named Molybdaena they reckon as a thing by it selfe to be treated of in the discourse or chapter of lead Now the litharge abouesaid ought for the vse that it is emploied about for to be prepared in this manner first the lumps aforesaid are to be broken into small pieces as big as Hasel nuts and set ouer the fire againe thus when it is once red hot by the blast of bellows to the end that the coles and cinders might be separated one from another there is wine or vineger cast vpon it both to wash also withall to quench the same Now if it be Argyritis to the end it may look the whiter they vse to break it to the bignes of beans and giue order to seeth it in water within an earthen pot putting thereto wheat and barly lapped within pieces of new linnen cloth and suffer them to boil therwith till they burst which done for six dayes together they put it in mortars washing it thrice euery day in cold water and in the end with hot and so at length put to euery pound of the said Litharge the weight of one Obolus of Sal-gem The last day of all they put it vp into a pot or vessel of lead Some there be who seeth it with blanched beans and husked barly and after that dry it in the sun others think it better to seeth it with beans and white wool vntill such time as it colour the wooll no more black then they put thereto Sal-gem changing eft soones the water and dry it for the space of forty daies together in the hottest season of the Summer There be again who think it best to seeth it in water within a swines belly and when they haue taken it forth rub it wel with sal-nitre and pun it in mortars as before with salt Ye shall haue them that neuer bestow seething of it but only beat it with salt and then put water thereto and wash it Well thus prepared as is beforesaid it serueth for collyries and eie-salues in a liniment also to take away the foule cicatrices or scars the pimples and specks likewise that mar the beauty of women yea our dames wash the haire of their head withall to make it clean and pure And in very truth Litharge is of power to dry mollifie coole and attemper to clense also to incarnat vlcers and to asswage or mitigate any tumors Being reduced into the vnguents or plaisters aforesaid and namely with an addition of rue myrtles and vineger it is singular for S. Anthonies fire Semblably being incorporat with oile of myrtles and wax into a cerot it healeth kibed heeles CHAP. VII ¶ Of Vermilion and of what estimation it was among the old Romans the first inuention thereof Of Cinnabaris the vse thereof in Pictures and in Physicke The sundry sorts of Minium or Vermilion and how it is to be ordered to serue painters THere is found also in siluer mines a mineral called Minium i. Vermilion which is a colour at this day of great price and estimation like as it was in old time for the antient Romans made exceeding great acount of it not only for pictures but also for diuers sacred holy vses And verily Verrius alledgeth and rehearseth many authors whose credit ought not to be disproued who affirm That the maner was in times past to paint the very face of Iupiters image on high and festiual daies with Vermilion as also that the valiant captains who rode in triumphant maner into Rome had in former times their bodies coloured all ouer therewith after which manner they say noble Camillus entred the city in triumph And euen to this day according to that antient and religious custom ordinary it is to colour all the vnguents that are vseâ⦠in a festiuall supper at a solemne triumph with Vermilion And no one thing doe the Censors giue charge and order for to be done at their entrance into office before the painting of Iupiters visage with Minium The cause and motiue that should induce our ancestors to this ceremony I maruel much at and canot imagin what it should be True it is and well known that in these daies the Aethiopians in generall set much store by this colour and haue it in great request insomuch as not onely the Princes and great Lords of those countries haue their bodies stained throughout therewith but also the images of their gods are ââ¦ainted with no other colour in which regard I am moued to discourse more curiously and at large of all particulars that may concerne it Thcophrastus saith that 90 years before Praxibulus was established chiefe ruler of the Athenians which falls out iust vpon the 249 yere after the foundation of our city of Rome Callias the Athenian was the first that deuised the vse of Vermilion and brought the liââ¦ely colour thereof into name for finding a kinde of red earth or sandy grit in the mines of siluer and hoping that by circulation there might be gold extracted out of it he tried what he could do by fire and so by that means brought it vnto that fresh and pleasant ââ¦e that it hath which was the first original of Vermilion Hee saith moreouer That euen in those daies there was found Minium in Spain but the same was hard and full of gritty sand Likewise among the Colchi in a certaine ââ¦ock inaccessible by reason whereof the people of the country were constrained by shooting at it to shake and driue it down howbeit the same was but a bastard Minium But the best simply saith he was gotten in the territorie of the Cilbians somewhat higher in the country than Ephesus in sum That the said Minium or Vermilion is a certaine sandy earth of a deepe scarlet colour which was prepared in this order first they pun and beat it into pouder and then washed it being thus puluerised Afterwards that which setled in the bottom they washed a second time In which artificiall handling of Minium this difference there is that some make perfect Vermilion of it with the first washing others thinke the Vermilion of that making to be too pale and weake in colour and therefore hold that of the second washing to be best And verily I wonder not that this colour was so highly esteemed for euen beforetime during the state of Troy the red earth called Rubrica was in great request as appeareth by the testimony of Homer who being otherwise spary enough in speaking of pictures colours yet commends the ships painted therwith The Greeks call our
time vnto our ancestors came from Brindis and those consisted of tin and brasse tempered together But when siluer mirroirs came in place those went downe and these were preferred before them The first that made them of siluer was Praxiteles in the daies of Pompey the great Of late men had this opinion of siluer mirroirs That they would represent an image more liuely and truly in case their backe part were laid ouer with gold But to return again to siluer the Aegiptians vse a deuise to paint it to the end that they would drinke more deuoutly seeing their god Anubis painted within their pots And in truth they rest contented with painting their plate and neuer graue or chase any pieces This deuise is growne into such credit by the precedent receiued from thence that the statues of siluer caried in a shew at triumphs be nought set by vnlesse they be also enamelled painted black wonderfull it is how much more pretious they are thought to be when the natiue brightnes thereof it hid and the light quite put out or blindfolded The manner of making this black siluer is thus They take of siluer and sulphur vif as much of the one as the other of Cyprian brasse oâ⦠latton plates which brasse they call Coronarium as thin as may be a third part these they mix together and melt them in an earthen pot wel luted all ouer with cley and boile they must so long vntill the lid of the pot doth rise vp and flie open of it self Moreouer siluer wil look black with the yolke of an egge rosted hard and well beaten with vineger and Tripoli To come now vnto those that counterfeit mony Antonius whiles hee was one of the three vsurping Triumvirs mixed yron with the Roman siluer denier He tempered it also with the brasen coine and so sent abroad false and counterfeit mony Others there be that make money too light namely vnder the lawful proportion which is to coin and stamp for euery pound weight of siluer 84 deniers This enormity grew to this passe that M. Gratidianus published a law by vertue whereof there was an act instituted and ordained for the proofe and allowance of siluer deniers what touch and what poise they should haue by which act of his hee so pleased the Commons of Rome that there was not a street throughout all the city but they erected a siluer statue pourtraied all whole in a gowne in the fauor and honour of M. Gratidianus But strange it is and a man would not think it that this art and cunning deuised for the detecting of falshood and forgerie is the only means to teach deceit and wickednesse for many a man wil giue too too much for false mony yea and many siluer deniers for one counterfeit well and cleanly made to take forsooth a pattern thereby and learne to deceiue others CHAP. V. ¶ Of excessiue summes of money in mens hands Who they were in old time that were thought richest And when there began largesses at Rome and mony to be scattered and cast abroad to the people IN old time men knew no number aboue 100,000 and therefore at this day also in stead of a million we multiply the said number by ten and say thus in Latine Decies centina millia i. A hundred thousand ten times told and so forward repeating alwaies a hundred thousand to the numerall aduerbe as the sums doth amount Vsuries interests and coined money haue been the cause of these multiplications and by that occasion also came debts to be called euen vnto this age by the name of Aes alienum And thereof arose the proud name of Diuites i. Rich for great monied men were so called Yet take this withall That the first man that euer was knowne by that syrname Diues brought a shilling to nine pence in the end proued Banquerout defeated his creditours As for M. Crassus one of that same house and who gaue the same armes would commonly say That no man was to be counted rich and worthie of that title Diues vnlesse he were able to dispend by the yeare as much in reuenues as would maintaine a legion of souldiers And verily his owne lands were esteemed worth Bis millies sestertium that is to say Two hundred millions of sesterces Roman setting aside Sylla he was the richest Roman that euer was knowne And yet such was his auarice that hee could not content himselfe with that wealthy estate but vpon a hungry desire to haue all the gold of the Parthians would needes vndertake a voiage against them And albeit by his inestimable wealth he vsurped the title addition of Optimus i. The best in his time yet for me thinks it doth me good to prosecute stil and inueigh against this insatiable desire of hauing more we haue known many after him those otherwise of base condition and no better than slaues newly infranchised to haue growne vnto greater wealth and namely three at one time to wit during the Empire of Claudius Caesar and those were Pallas Callistas and Narcissus late bondslaues all to the said Emperor But to let these men passe as if they were lords still of worldly wealth in that yeare wherein C. Asinius Gallus C. Marcius Censorinus were Consuls of Rome died C. Caecilius Claudius who signified by his last will and testament bearing date the 6 day before the Calends of February the yere aboue written That albeit he had sustained exceeding great losses during the troubles of the ciuil war yet he should leaue behind him at the houre of his death of slaues belonging to his retinue foure thousand one hundred and sixteen in oxen three thousand and six hundred yoke of other cattell 257000 head and in ready coine H. S. DC i. threescore millions of sesterces Romane And besides he set out for defraying of his funerall charges eleuen thousand sesterces and gaue order expressely to be enterred so sumptuously But what of all this Set case these and such like men gathered together innumerable sums of mony and an infinit masse of goods yet they shall come nothing neare to the wealth of K. Ptolomaeus who according to the testimony of M. Varro at what time as Pompey the great warred aboââ¦t Iury maintained 8000 horsmen in pay continually with his own priuat purse kept an ordinary table within his court of a thousand persons and those had euery man his own cup of gold to drink out of and at each course and change of meats that came in new plate was serued vp stil to the boord These guests of his sared so highly that a man would haue said they had bin franke-fed But how far short was this mighty and sumptuous prince think ye for I wil say no more now of kings in comparison of one Pythius a Bithynian who sent to Darius the king a Present of a Plane-tree all entire of beaten gold and withall that famous gold Vine so much renowned by all
king Tarquinius Priscus sent for one Turianus to no other purpose in the world but to agree with him for to make the image of Iupiter in earth to set it vp in the capitoll for surely no better he was than made of clay and that by the hand of a porter which was the reason that they vsed to colour him ouer with vermillon yea and the charriots with foure horses which stood vpon the lanterne of the said temple were of no other stuffe concerning which I haue spoken in many places The same Turianus also made the image of Hercules which at this day retaineth still in the city that name which testifieth what matter he is made of Lo what kind of images there were in those daies made in the honour of the gods by our ancestors for the most excellent neither haue we cause to be ashamed of those our noble progenitors who worshipped such and no other As for siluer and gold they made no reckoning therof either about themselues or the very gods whom they worshipped and verily euen at this day there continue still in most places such images of earth As for the festiers and lanterns of temples there be many of them both within the city of Rome and also in diuers burrough townes vnder the Empire which for curious workmanship as it were chased and ingrauen are admirable and for continuance of time more lasting and durable than our louvers of gold and for any harme they do lesse subject I am sure to injurie Certes in these daies notwithstanding the infinit wealth and riches that we are growne vnto yet in all our diuine seruice and solemne sacrifices there is no assay giuen or tast made to the gods out of Cassidoine or cristallbols but only in earthen cups If a man consider those things aright weigh them duly in particular he shall find the bounty and goodnesse of the earth to be inenarrable though he should not reckon her benefits that she hath bestowed vpon mankind in yeelding vs so many sorts of corne wine apples and such like fruits herbs shrubs bushes trees medicinable drugs mettals and mineralls which I haue already treated of for euen in these works of earth and pottery which we are glutted with they be so vsuall and ordinary how beneficiall is the earth vnto vs in yeelding vs conduit pipes for to conuey water into our bains tyles flat yet hooked and made with crochets at one end to hang vpon the sides of the roofe chamfered for to lie in gutters to shoot off water curbed for crests to clasp the ridge on both sides brickes to lie in wals afront for building and those otherwhiles to serue as binders in parpine-worke with a face on both sides to say nothing of the vessels that be turned with the wheele and wrought round yea and great tuns and pipes of earth deuised to contain wine and water also In regard of which stone and earthen vessels K. Numa ordained at Rome a seuenth confraternitie of potters Ouer and besides many men there haue bin of good worth and reputation who would not be burnt to ashes in a funerall fire after they were dead but chose rather to haue their bodies bestowed entire within coffins of earth lying among leaues of myrtle oliue and blacke poplar after the Pythagorean fashion in which manner M. Varro tooke order for to be interred And if we looke abroad into the world most Nations vnder heauen do vse these earthen vessels and euen still those that be made of Samian earth and come from that Isle are much commended for to eat our meats out of and to be serued to the bourd and Eretum here in Italy retaineth yet the name for such vessell but for drinking-cups onely Surrentum Asia and Pollentia within Italy Saguntum in Spaine and Pergamus in Asia be in credit at Tralleis also a city in Sclauonia and Modenna to goe no farther than Lombardie in Italy there is made much faire vessell of earth appropriat vnto those places for euen in this respect some nations are innobled and growne into name This earthen ware is of that price besides that it is thought a commodity worth the transporting too and fro ouer land sea by way of merchandise But if we speak of that kind that is wrought by turners craft with the wheele the daintiest vessels come from Erythrae And in very truth such may the earth be that much art and fine workmanship is shewed therein in testimony whereof there be two stone vessels or earthen call them whether you wil within the principal temple of that city to be seen at this day thought worthy to be consecrated there in regard of their clean worke and their thinnesse besides which a master and his prentise wrought in a strife and contention whether of them could driue his earth thinnest howeuer it be they of the Island Cos are most commended for the fairest vessels of earth and yet those of Hadria beare the name to be more durable and of a more fast and firme constitution And since I am entred thus far I will obserue vnto you some examples of seueritie not impertinent to this discourse I find vpon record That Q. Ceponius was condemned and fined for an ambitious man onely for this because hee had sent an earth amphor of wine as a present vnto one who was to giue him his voice when he stood for an office And that you may certainly know that vessels of earth haue in some sort been in request among riotous gluttons and wastfull spend thrists listen what Fenestella saith as touching this point the greatest exceeding quoth he and gaudiest fare at a feast was serued vp in three platters and was called Tripatinum the one was of Lampreys the second of Pikes the third of the fish Myxon whereby it may appeare that euen in those daies men began at Rome to grow out of order and to giue themselues to riot and superfluity yet were not they so bad but we may prefer them euen before the Philosophers of Greece for it is written that in the sale of Aristotles goods which his heirs made after his decease there were sold 60 platters which were wont ordinarily to go about the house As for that one platter of Aesop the plaier in tragoedies which cost six hundred thousand sesterces I doubt not but their stomackes rise thereat when they reade thereof in my treatise as touching birds But this is nothing I assure you to that charger of Vitellius who whiles he was Emperor caused one to be made and finished that cost a million of sesterces for the making wherof there was a furnace built of purpose in the field the which I rather note because they should see the monstrous excesse in these daies that vessels of earth should be more costly than of Cassidonie Alluding to this monstrous platter Mutianus in his second Consulship when he ripped vp in a publicke speech the whole life of Vitellius now dead vpbraided
aboue the Pyramides abouesaid a great name there is of a tower built by one of the kings of Egypt within the Island Pharos and it keepeth commands the hauen of Alexandria which tower they say cost 800 talents the building And here because I would omit nothing worth the writing I cannot but note the singular magnanimity of K. Ptolome who permitted Sostratus of Gnidos the master workeman and architect to graue his owne name in this building The vse of this watch-tower is to shew light as a lanthorne and giue direction in the night season to ships for to enter the hauen where they shall auoid bars and shelues like to which there be many beacons burning to the same purpose and namely at Puteoli and Rauenna This is the danger onely lest when many lights in this lanterne meet together they should be taken for a star in the skie for that a far off such lights appeare to sailers in manner of a star This enginer or master workman beforesaid was the first man that is reported to haue made the pendant gallery and walking place at Gnidos CHAP. XIII ¶ Of the Labyrinths in Aegypt Lemnos and Italy SInce wee haue finished our Obelisks and Pyramides let vs enter also into the Labyrinths which we may truly say are the most monstrous workes that euer were deuised by the head of man neither are they incredible fabulous as peraduenture it may be supposed for one of them remaineth to be seen at this day within the jurisdiction of Heracleopolis the first that euer was made to wit three thousand and six hundred yeares ago by a king named Petesuccas or as some thinke Tithoes and yet Herodotus saith it was the whole worke of many KK one after another and that Psammerichus was the last that put his hand to it and made an end thereof the reason that moued these princes to make this Labyrinth is not resolued by writers but diuerse causes are by them alledged Demoteles saith that this Labyrinth was the roiall pallace and seat of king Motherudes Lycias affirmeth it to be the sepulchre of K. Moeris the greater part are of opinion that it was an aedifice dedicated expressely and consecrated vnto the Sun which in my conceit commeth nearest to the truth Certes there is no doubt made that Daedalus tooke from hence the pattern and platforme of his Labyrinth which he made in Crete but surely he expressed not aboue the hundreth part thereof chusing onely that corner of the Labyrinth which containeth a number of waies and passages meeting and incountring one another winding and turning in and out euery way after so intricat manner and so inexplicable that when a man is once in he cannot possibly get out againe neither must wee thinke that these turnings and returnings were after the manner of mazes which are drawne vpon the pauement and plain floore of a field such as we commonly see serue to make sport and pastime among boies that is to say which within a little compasse and round border comprehend many miles but here were many dores contriued which might trouble and confound the memorie for seeing such variety of entries allies and waies some crossed encountred others flanked on either hand a man wandred still and knew not whether he went forward or backward nor in truth where he was And this Labyrinth in Crete is counted the second to that of Aegypt the third is in the Isle Lemnos the fourth in Italy made they were all of polished stone and besides vaulted ouer head with arches As for the Labyrinth in Aegypt the entrie thereof whereat I much maruell was made with columns of stone and all the rest stuffed so substantially and after such a wonderfull maner couched and laid by art of Masonrie that impossible it was they should in many hundred yeres be disjointed and dissolued notwithstanding that the inhabitants of Heracleopolis did what they could to the contrary who for a spight that they bare vnto the whole worke annoied and impeached it wonderfully To describe the site and plot therof to vnfold the architecture of the whole and to rehearse euery particular therof it is not possible for diuided the building is into sixteene regions or quarters according to the sixteene seuerall gouernments in Aegypt which they call Nomos and within the same are contained certain vast stately pallaces which bear the names of the said jurisdictions and be answerable to them besides within the same precinct are the temples of all the Aegiptian gods ouer and aboue fifteen little chappels or shrines euerie one enclosing a Nemesis to which goddesse they be all dedicated to say nothing of many Pyramides forty ells in height apiece and euery of them hauing six walls at the foot in such sort that before a man can come to the Labyrinth indeed which is so intricat inexplicable wherein as I said before he shall be sure ro lose himselfe he may make account to be weary tyred out for yet he is to passe ouer certain lofts galleries garrets all of them so high that he must clime staires of ninety steps apiece ere he can land at them within the which a number of columns and statues there be all of porphyrit or red marble a world of images and statues representing as well gods as men besides an infinit sort of other pieces pourtraied in monstrous and ougly ââ¦hapes and there erected What should I speake of other roums and lodgings which are framed and situat in such manner that no sooner are the dores and gates opened which lead vnto them but a man shall heare fearfull cracks of terrible thunder furthermore the passages from place to place are for the most part so conueighed that they be as dark as pitch so as there is no going through them without fire light and still be we short of the Labyrinth for without the main wall therof there be two other mighty vpright wals or wings such as in building they call Ptera when you are passed them you meet with more shrouds vnder the ground in manner of caues and countermines vaulted ouer head and as dark as dungeons Moreouer it is said that about 600 yeares before the time of K. Alexander the Great one Circamnos an eunuch or groome of K. Nectabis chamber made some small reparations here about this Labyrinth neuer any but hee would go about such a piece of work It is reported also that while the main arches and vaults were in rearing and those were made all of foure square ashler stone the place shone all about and gaue light with the beams and plancher made of the Aegyptian Acacia sodden in oile And thus much may serue sufficiently for the Labyrinths of Aegipt and Candy The Labyrinth in Lemnos was much like to them only in this respect more admirable for that it had a hundred and forty columns of marble more than the other all wrought round by turners craft but with such dexterity that a
as steele whereupon it tooke that name in weight it passeth the rest but in natue it is farre vnlike for it will not abide the hammer but breake into pieces besides another adamant will pierce it and bore a hole quite through it which also may be said of the Cyprian Diamant so as to speak in one word these two last rehearsed may go only vnder the name of Diamants for otherwise they are but bastards and not true Diamants Moreouer as touching the concord and discord that is between things naturall which the Greekes call Sympathia and Antipathia whereof I haue so much written in all my bookes and endeauoured to acquaint the readers therewith in nothing throughout the world may we obserue both the one the other more euidently than in the Diamant For this inuincible minerall against which neither fire nor steele the two most violent and puissant creatures of natures making haue any power but that it checketh despiseth both the one and the other is forced to yeeld the gantelet and giue place vnto the bloud of a Goat this only thing is the means to break it in sunder howbeit care must be had that the Diamant be steeped therin whiles it is fresh drawn from the beast before it be cold yet when you haue made all the steeping you can you must haue many a blow at the Diamant with hammer vpon the anuill for euen then also vnlesse they be of excellent proofe good indeed it wil put them to it and break both the one the other But I would gladly know whose inuention this might be to soake the Diamant in Goats bloud whose head deuised it first or rather by what chance was it found out known What conjecture should lead a man to make an experiment of such a singular and admirable secret especially in a goat the filthiest beast one of them in the whole world Certes I must ascribe both this inuention all such like to the might and benificence together of the diuine powers neither are we to argue reason how and why nature hath done this or that sufficient it is that her will was so thus she would haue it But to come againe to the Diamant when this proofe taketh effect to our mind so that the Diamant once crack you shall see it break crumble into so small pieces that hardly the eie can discerne the one from the other Wel lapidaries are very desirous of Diamants seek much after them they set them into handles of yron therby they with facility cut into any thing be it neuer so hard Moreouer there is such a naturall enmity between Diamants Loadstones that if it be laid neer to piece of yron it will not suffer it to be drawn away by the loadstone nay if the said loadstone be brought so neere a piece of yron that it haue caught hold thereof the Diamant if it come in place will cause it to let goe the hold The diamant hath a property to frustrathe malicious effects of poyson to driue away those imaginations that set folke besides themselues to expell vaine feares that trouble and possesse the mind which is the reason that some haue called it Anachites Metrodorus Scepsius affirmeth That the Diamant is found in Germanie and the Island Baltia wherein Amber is ingendred but as far as euer I could reade he is the onely man that saith so This Diamant also of Almaine he preferreth before those of Arabia howbeit no man doubteth that he lieth stoutly After the precious Diamants of India and Arabia wee in these parts of the world esteem most of pearles but as touching them I haue written sufficiently in my ninth booke where I discoursed of such matters as the seas do yeeld CHAP. V. ¶ Of the Emeraud and the sundry sorts thereof Of greene gems or precious stones and such as be lightsome and cleare all thorow EMerauds for many causes deserue the third place for there is not a colour more pleasing to the eie True it is that we take great delight to behold greene herbes and leaues of trees but this is nothing to the pleasure wee haue in looking vpon the Emeraud for compare it with other things be they neuer so green it surpasses them all in pleasant verdure Besides there is not a gem or precious stone that so fully possesseth the eie and yet neuer contenteth it with sacietie Nay if the sight hath bin wearied and dimmed by intentiue poring vpon any thing els the beholding of this stone doth refresh and restore it againe which lappidaries well know that cut and ingraue fine stones for they haue not a better means to refresh their eies than the Emeraud the mild green that it hath doth so comfort and reuiue their wearines and lassitude Moreouer the longer and farther off that a man looketh vpon Emerauds the fairer and bigger they seem to the eie by reason that they cause the reuerberation of the aire about them for to seeme green for neither Sun nor shade ne yet the light of candle causeth them to change and lose their lustre but contrariwise as they euer send out their own raies by litle little so they entertain reciprocally the visual beams of our eies and for all the spissitude and thicknesse that they seeme to haue they admit gently our sight to pierce into their bottome a thing that is not ordinary in water The same are shaped many times hollow thereby to gather vnite and fortifie the spirits that maintain our eie-sight In regard of these manifold pleasures that they shew to our eies by generall consent of all men spared they are and lappidaries be forbidden expressely to cut and ingraue them and yet the Emerauds of Scythia and Aegypt be so hard as they cannot be pierced or wounded by any instrument moreouer when you meet with a table-Emerauld hold the flat face therof against any thing it will represent the said object to the eie as well as a mirroir or looking glasse And verily Nero the Emperor was wont to behold the combats of fencers and sword-plaiers in a faire Emeraud Now this first formost is to be noted that of Emerauds there be 12 kinds The fairest and richest of all other be those of Tartarie and called they are Scythick of the nation Scythia from whence they came and in truth there be none fuller and higher in colour or haue fewer blemishes and looke how far Emerauds goe beyond other precious stones so far do the Scythian Emerauds surpasse all others The Bactrian Emerauds as they are the next neighbors so they come nearest in goodnesse to the Scythicke found these be in chinks and joints as it were of rocks in the sea and gathered by report about the dog daies when the Northeast Etesian winds do blow for then they glitter and shine within the earth that is grown about them by reason that the said winds which in those parts are strong remoue the sand away
to the stallion for this purpose It is supposed also that the shee Asse within seuen daies after will soonest conceiue It is a rule to share and clip a Mares maine before shee will abide the couering of an Asse so vile and base a beast for so long as the haire of her maine is well growne she is so proud and glorious that she will not abide the Asse to come neare her So soone as they be couered and sped they run full into the South or North-wind according as they be conceiued either with male or female a thing that no other beasts besides doth And then suddainly they change their colour for their haire will be reddder or at leastwise fuller and deeper what colour soeuer it be By which signe it is knowne they are with fole and then they will admit no stallions vnto them would they neuer so faine And say that some of them haue foles running by their sides they will doe their deed at worke neuerthelesse nay when they be with fole they will labour as well as they did before in so much as many times they steale a foling before their master beware that they are with fole We haue read in Chronicles that Echecratides the Thessalian had a Mare which euen then when she was gone far with fole woone the best game in the Olympian race They that haue sought more narrowly into the secrets of Nature say That stone-Horses Dogs and Bores desire the females in a morning but Mares Bitches and Sowes make meanes to the male after noone Mares that are kept within house at rack and manger with hay and prouender desire to be couered threescore daies before those that goe abroad in the heard Swine alone of all creatures when they be brimming froth and fome at the mouth And as for the Bore if he heare the grunting of a Sow that seekes to be brimmed vnlesse he may come to her will forsake his meat vntill he be leane and poore and she againe will be so far enraged that shee will be readie to run vpon a man and all to teare him especially if his cloths be white But this rage and woodnesse of hers is asswaged and allaied only with bathing her share behind with vineger Some thinke there be certaine meats will prouoke beasts to fleshly lust namely Onions giuen in meat to a beast like as Rocket to a man or woman Moreouer it is supposed that whatsoeuer is made tame which by kind was wild the same will not breed as Geese and Ganders In like manner wild Swine red Deere if they be tamed or if they doe it is very long first and such only as were brought to hand euen from the time that they were very yong Finally this one thing is strange and wonderfull that all foure-footed beasts saue only the Mare and the Sow if they find themselues to be with yong driue the male from them But the Connie and the Hare alone will conceiue again when they be gone with yong CHAP. LXIIII. ¶ The varietie in liuing creatures as touching their comming into the world WHatsoeuer haue quicke creatures within them bring the same forth with the head forward For when the time is come the yong thing turns about a little before which otherwise lay streight out at length in the bellie Four-footed beasts whiles their dams go with them lie with their legs stretched along close vnto their own bellies An infant whiles it is in the mothers wombe gathereth round into a ball and hath his nose lying just betweene his two knees As for false conceptions or Moone-calues wherof we spake before some thinke they are engendred of the womans seed only namely when she is not conceiued by a man but by her selfe and hereupon it is that the said conception hath no vitall nor animall life because it proceeds not of the conjunction of male and female both True it is that it is endued with a certain vegetatiue power to be nourished and to grow like as we see intrees and many other plants CHAP. LXV ¶ The breed of Mice and Rats OF all creatures that bring forth their young perfect Swine only farrow one Pig and two Pigs at a time yea and somtimes a number of them Also they alone contrarie to the nature of all those that either be whole-hoofed or clouen-footed in twaine bring a number of yong ones at one farrow But aboue all Mice and Rats for fruitfulnesse do passe And therefore I cannot put off the discourse of them any longer and yet therin I must follow Aristotle for mine Author and the report withall of the souldiers that serued vnder Alexander the great It is said that they engender by licking without any other kind of copulation and that one of them hath brought six-score at a time also that in Persia there haue been young Mice found with yong euen in the bellie of the old dam. And some are of opinion that they will be bagged if they tast but of a little salt Why should wee then wonder any more how such multitudes of field-Mice and Rats should come to deuour whole fields of corne Howbeit the reason is not yet known how such numbers of them should al of a sudden consume away come to nothing For neither bee they found lying dead aboue ground neither can any man come forth and say that he hath turned vp any one with his spade as he digged in the Winter The countrey of Troas is mightily giuen to breed great store of them insomuch as they haue forced alreadie the inhabitants to abandon the place and depart Men say that the season proper and agreeable for their breeding in such aboundance is a great drought also that when they are toward their end there be little wormes breeding in their heads that kill them The Mice and Rats of Aegypt haue hard haire and pricky like to hedge-hogs They go likewise vpright on their hinder feet and walk as if they were two footed after the manner of those in the Alps. Moreouer if beasts of diuers kinds ingender together they may wel breed yong between them in case they do agree and jump in the time that the females of both should go with yong It is commonly thought and beleeued that among foure footed beasts the Lizard hath egs within her and deliuereth them at her mouth but Aristotle flatly denieth it Howbeit they sit not vpon them when they haue so done as being forgetful where they laid them so little or no memorie at all haue they And therefore the yong Lizards of themselues breake forth out of the shell CHAP. LXVI ¶ Of a Serpent ingendred of the marrow of a manâ⦠back bone I Haue heard many a man say that the marrow of a mans backe bone will breed to a Snake And well it may so be for surely there be many secrets in Nature to vs vnknown and much may come of hidden causes as we may see euen among foure footed beasts CHAP. LXVII ¶ Of
the Salamander AS for example the Salamander made in fashion of a Lizard marked with spots like stars neuer comes abroad and sheweth it felfe but in great shewres for in faire weather he is not seen He is of so cold a complexion that if he do but touch the fire he wil quench it as presently as if ice were put vnto it The Salamander casteth vp at the mouth a certaine venomous matter like milke let it but once touch any bare part of a man or womans body all the haire will fall off and the part so touched will change the colour of the skinne to the white morphew CHAP. LXVIII ¶ Of those that breed of others which neuer were ingendred Also of those that being ingendred yet breed not SOme creatures there be that breed of those that neuer were ingendred themselues and yet not according to those naturall means as others which wee haue shewed before and such also as either the Summer or Spring or some certain season of the yeare do breed Among which some ingender not at all as the Salamander for there is no more distinction of sex in them than in Yeeles and in all those which neither lay egs ne yet bring forth any liuing creature Oisters likewise and all such creatures as cleaue fast either to rockes or to the shelues are neither male nor female As for such as come of themselues if there be seene in them any distinction of male and female somthing verily they ingender betweene them but an imperfect creature verily it is and not resembling them neither doth that generation breed ought any more as we see the flies that ingender certain little wormes The experience hereof is better to be obserued in those creatures called Insects whose nature is hard to be expressed and yet I haue appointed a seuerall treatise for them apart Wherefore I will go forward in the discourse begun already and namely as touching the sence and vnderstanding of the forenamed Creatures and then proceed to the rest CHAP. LXIX ¶ The outward sences of liuing Creatures MAn excelleth all other Creatures first in the sence of feeling and then of tasting In the rest many beasts go beyond him For the Aegles haue a clearer eie-sight the Geires a finer smell and the Moldwarps notwithstanding they be couered ouer with earth so heauie so thick and deafe an element as it is yet their eare is far better than ours Moreouer albeit the voice of all them that speake aboue ground doth ascend vpward still from them yet heare theâ⦠when they talke yea and if a man chance to speake of them some hold that they vnderstand their speech and thereupon do fly from them A man who at first lacketh his hearing wanteth also the vse of his tongue neither are there any deafe borne but the same likewise be dumbe A man would not think neither is it likely that the Oisters in the sea do heare and yet vpon any noise and sound their manner is to sink down to the bottome And therefore when as men do fish for them in the sea they are as silent as they may be CHAP. LXX ¶ A discourse That fishes both heare and also smell FIshes verily haue no eares ne yet any holes to serue for hearing and yet plain it is that they doe heare as we may daily see in certaine fish ponds and stewes where fishes be kept for whââ¦n those that haue the charge of them make a noise with clapping of their hands as wild as they be otherwise they shall haue them come in great flocks to take their meat that is thrown in to them and this are they wont to do daily and that which more is in Caesars Fish-pooles a man may see whole skuls of fishes to repaire at their call yea and some wil part from the rest of their company and come alone to land when they be named Hereupon it is that the Mullet sea-Pike Stock-fish and Chronius are thought to heare best of all others and therfore liue very ebbe among the shelues and shallowes That fishes haue the sence of smelling it is manifest for they are not all taken ne yet delighted with one kinde of bait and this is obserued that before they bite they will smel to it Some also there be that lie in holes vnder rocks and no sooner hath the fisher besmeared and anointed the mouth and sides of the said rocks in the very entrance to their holes but he shall see them come forth as it were to auoid the sent of their own carion Let them lie in the very deep yet wil they resort to certain odors and smells namely to the Cuttill burnt and the Polype which for that purpose they vse to put into their nests And verily they cannot abide the smel of the sinke and pumpe of a ship neither wil they come neere vnto it but aboue all things they may not away with the bloud of fish The Pourcuttle hardly or not at all can be pulled from the rocks so fast cleaueth he howbeit come neer him with the herb Marjerome or Savorie he will presently leape from the rocke and away to auoid the sent thereof Purples also be caught by means of some stinking bait And for other creatures who doubteth but they haue a perfect smell Serpents are chased away with the smell and perfume of the Harts horn but aboue all with the odor of Styrax And Pismires are killed with the very fume of Origon Quick-lime or Brimstone Gnats loue all sour things and willingly will thither but to any sweet meats they come not neare CHAP. LXXI ¶ That the sence of feeling is common to all liuing creatures THere is not a liuing creature throughout the world but hath the sence of feeling though it haue none els for euen oisters and earth-wormes if a man touch them doe euidently feele I would think also that there is none but tasteth as wel as feeles For what should the reason else be hat some desire to tast this others that And verily herein is seene aboue all the singular workmanship of Nature in the frame of their bodies and the members thereof Some ye shall haue to seise vpon their prey with their teeth others snatch it with their talons and clawes some peck and pluck it with their hookt bils others pudder into their food with their broad nebs Some with the sharp point of their beaks worke holes into their meat others lie sucking at it Some lick others sup in to conclude some chew others swallow and deuoure whole as it is As touching their feet there is no lesse varietie in the vse thereof in snatching and carrying away in tearing and plucking a pieces in holding fast and in crushing their prey Some ye shall haue to hang by their feet and others neuer lin scraping and scratching the earth CHAP. LXXII ¶ What creatures liue of poison and what of earth ROe Bucks and Does yea and Quailes as we haue said before will feed fat with
so late of growth were those trees in his time and so slowly came they forward But now adaies they come vp of kernels and stones set in plots of ground for the purpose and being transplanted againe they beare Oliues the second yeare after Fabianus saith That Oliues loue not to grow either in the coldest or the hottest grounds Virgill hath set downe 3 kind of Oliues to wit Orchitae i. the great round Oliues Radij i. the long Oliues and those which are called Pausiae He saith moreouer That the Oliue trees require no tending or dressing at all and need neither the hooke to be pruned nor the rake and harrow to be moulded ne yet the spade to be digged about Doubtlesse the goodnesse of the soile and the temperature of the climat especially are very requisit and much materiall alone without farther helpe howbeit they vse to be cut and pruned yea they loue also to be scraped polished and clensed between where the branches grow ouer-thicke euen as well as vines and at the same season The time of gathering Oliues ensueth presently vpon the vintage of grapes but greater industry and skil is required to the making and tempering of good oile than about new wine for ye shall haue one and the self same kind of oliue to yeeld a different juice and diuers oiles first and formost of the greene oliue and altogether vnripe there is drawne the Oile oliue which hath of all other the best verdure and in tast excelleth the rest and of this oile the first running that commeth from the presse is most commended and so by degrees better or worse as the oile is drawn before or after out of the presse or according to a late inuention by treading them with mens feet in little panniers and vpon hardles made of small and fine oziers This is a rule The riper that the oliue is the fatter will the oile be and more plentifull but nothing so pleasant in tast And therefore the best season to gather Oliues both for goodnesse and abundance of oile is when they begin to shew black And such halfe-ripe Oliues we in Latine call Drupae and the Greekes Drypetae To conclude it skilleth very much whether the berries be ripe vpon the tree or mellow within their presse also whether the tree be watered that is to say the oliues hanging thereupon be drenched and refreshed with sprinkling water or haue no other moisture than their owne and that which they receiue by dews and raine from heauen CHAP. II. ¶ Of Oyle OIle-Oliue commeth to haue a rank and vnpleasant tast if it be old kept and stale contrary to the nature of wine which is the better for age And the longest time that oile will continue good is but one yere Wherein surely if a man would well consider he may obserue the great prouidence of Nature For seeing that wines are made to seruefor intemperance and drunkennesse there is not that necessitie to drinke much thereof and to spend them out of hand and more than so the daintie tast that they haue when they be stale induceth men to lay them vp and keep them long But contrariwise she would not haue vs make such spare of oile and therefore by reason of the generall vse and need thereof she hath made it vulgar and common to all As touching this benefit and gift of Nature bestowed vpon mankind Italy of all other nations in the world carrieth the name for the goodnesse thereof but principally the territory or county of Venafrum and namely that quarter lying toward Licinia which yeelds the oile called Licinianum wherupon there be no oliues comparable to them of Licinia both for to serue the perfumers in regard of the pleasant smel which that oile doth giue so appropriat vnto their ointments as also to furnish the kitchin and the table as they say that be fine-toothed haue a delicate taste which is the cause I say that this oile carrieth the only name And yet these oliues of Licinia haue this priuiledge besides that birds loue not to come neere them Next to these Licinian oliues the question is between them of Istria Baetica whether of them should go away with the price for their goodnesse and hard it is to say which is the better of the two A third degree there is vnder these twoaboue named namely of the Oliues that come from all other prouinces setting aside the fertile soile of that tract in Africke which yeeldeth so great increase of corn For it should seeme that Nature hath set it apart for graine onely seeing it so fruitfull that way and hath not so much enuied it the benefit of wine and oile which she hath denied those parts as thought it sufficient that they might glory and haue the name for their haruests As for other points belonging to oliues men haue erred and bin deceiued very much neither is there in any part concerning our life to be found more confusion than is therein as we will shew and declare hereafter CHAP. III. ¶ The nature of the Oliue berries also of yong Oliue Plants THis fruit called the Oliue consists of a stone or kernell of oile a fleshy substance and the lees or dregs now by these lees called in Latine Amurca I mean the bitter liquor of the grounds that the oile yeelds It comes of abundance of water and therefore as in time of drought there is least thereof so in a rainy and watery constitution you shall haue store and plenty As for the proper juice of the oliue it is their oile and the chiefe is that which comes of those that are vnripe like as we haue shewed before when we treated of Ompharium or the Oliue verjuice This oilie substance doth increase and augment within the Oliue vntill the rising of the star Arcturus to wit 16 daies before the Calends of October after which time their stones and carnous matter about them do rather thriue But marke when there followes a glut of raine and wet weather presently vpon a dry season the oile in them doth corrupt and turn all well neare into the lees aboue said which may easily be perceiued by the colour for it causeth the Oliue berrie to looke blacke And therefore when this blacknesse begins to appeare it is a sign that they haue somwhat although very little of the lees but before that they had non at all And herein men are foulely dceiued taking this marke for the beginning of their ripenesse which blacke hew indeed is a signe of their corruption and betokens that then they are in the way to be stark naught They erre also in this that they suppose an Oliue the more grown it is in carnositie to be the fuller of oile whereas in very truth all the good juice ââ¦n them is converted then into the grosse and corpulent substance thereof and thereby also the stone and kernell come to be big and massie which is the cause that they had need of watering at that
time most of all Which being done by great paine and labour of man or happening through raine and plenty of showers vnlesse there insue a drie season faire weather to extenuate that grosse substance into which the Oliue had turned the foresaid iuice and humor all the oile is consumed and lost For it is heat nothing els as Theophrastus saith which ingendreth oile therfore both about the presse at first also in the very garners where Oliues be laid after they vse to keep good fires by that means to draw the more oile forth A third default there is in oile and that comes of two much sparing and niggardise for some men there are who being loth to be at cost to pluck and gather Oliues from the tree wait still and looke that they should fal of themselues And such folke as would seeme yet to keepe a meane herein namely to take some paines and be at a little cost beat and pell them downe with perches and poles whereby they do offer wrong to the poore trees ââ¦ea and hinder themselues not a little the yeare following when they shall find how much it is out of their way thus to break their boughes and branches Whereupon the law in old time prouided well for this inconuenience by an expresse inhibition to all gatherers of Oliues in these words No man so hardie as to breake strike and beat the Oliue tree But they that go most warily and gentlâ⦠to worke stand vnder the tree and with some canes shake the boughes and branches therewith or lightly smite them but in no case let driue and lay at them either with full down-right or crosse-blowes And yet as heedfull as they be in so doing this good they get by striking and knapping off the young shootes and sprigs which should beare the next yeare that they haue the trees carry fruit but once in two yeares for it The like hapneth also if a man stay till they fall of themselues for by sticking on the tree beyond their due time they rob the oliues to come after of all their nutriment wherewith they should be fed and detaine the place likewise where they should come forth and grow An euident proofe hereof is this That oliues vnlesse they be gathered before the ordinary yearely western winds do blow they gather heart again vpon the tree wil not so easily fall as before Men vse therefore to gather the Pausian Oliues first after Autumne which are fullest of carnosity not so much by nature as by misgouernement and disorder soone after the round Orchitae which haue plenty of oile then the oliues Radij and these forasmuch as they be most tender and soonest ouercome with abundance of the lees which we called before Amurca are therby forced to fal Howbeit such oliues as be thick skinned and hard tough also and admitting no wet rain by which means they are the least of all others wil abide on the tree til March and namely the Licinian Oliues the Cominian Contian Sergian which the Sabins eal roial all which change not colour look black before the foresaid Western wind blowes that is about the 6 day before the Ides of February for by that time folk think they begin to ripen Now for as much as the best most approued oile is made of them it seems that reason also being conformable to this defect of theirs justifies aproues the same in the end And this is commonly receiued and held among them that cold winters breed scarcity and dearth but ful maturity brings plenty namely when they haue leisure to ripen on the tree howbeit this goodnes is not occasioned by the time but by the nature rather of those kind of oliues which be long ere they turn into the foresaid dregs Amurca Men are also as much deceiued in this that when Oliues be gathered they keep them vpon borded floors in sellars and garners will not presse them before they haue swet whereas in truth the longer they lie the lesse oile they yeeld the more dregs of lees For by this means the ordinary proportion they say is to presse out of euery Modius of Oliues not aboue 6 pound of oile But no man makes any reckoning of the lees howmuch it increases in measure day by day in one the very same kind of Oliues the longer that they be kept ere they be pressed In one word it is a common error setled euery where that men do think the abundance of oile is to be esteemed according to the bignes of the oliues considering that the plenty of oile consists not in the greatnes of the fruit as may appeare by those that of some are called Roiall of others Majorinae and Phauliae which euery man knoweth are the biggest and fairest Oliues to see to yet otherwise haue least oile in them of any others Likewise in Aegypt the oliues are most fleshie ful of pulp howbeit least oleous As for the country Decapolis of Syria the oliues indeed be very smal there no bigger than Capers yet commended they are for their carnosity And for that cause the oliues from the parts beyond sea are preferred before the Italian for goodnesse of meat and as better to be eaten yet those of Italy yeeld more oile And euen within Italy the Picene and Sidicine oliues surpasse the rest For in truth these are first confected and seasoned with salt or els as all others prepared condite either with lees of oile or wine cuit Some oliues there be which they suffer to swim alone as they be in their owne oile without any help and addition of other things and such be called Colymbades And the same they vse otherwhiles to bruise and cleanse from their stones and then confect them with green herbs which haue some pleasant commendable taste Others there are which being otherwise very green and vnripe are presently brought to maturity and made mellow by lying infused and soking in hot scalding water And a wonder it is to see how Oliues wil drink in a sweet liquor and how by that means they may be made toothsome yea and to carry the tast of any thing that a man would haue them Among oliues there be also that are of colour purple like to those grapes which change colour when they begin to ripen Moreouer besides the aboue named sorts of oliues there be some named Superbae i. proud Also there are Oliues to be found which being dried by themselues onely are passing sweet yea and more delicate than raisins mary these are very geason and yet such are in Africke and about the city Emerita in Portugall As touching the very oile it self the way to preserue it from being ouerfat and thick is with salt If the barke of an Oliue tree be slit and cut it will receiue the rellice and smell of any medicinable spice and the oile thereof wil seem aromatized otherwise pleasant in tast it
leather the root to die wooll And as for the fruit or Apples that it beareth they are a speciall kind by themselues for all the world they resemble the snouts or muzles of wild beasts and many of the smaller sort seeme to hang to one that is bigger than the rest As concerning boughs of trees some are termed blind because they put not forth certaine eies or chits where they should bud which happeneth somtime by a naturall defect when they are not of validity to thrust out a bud otherwhiles it is occasioned by some wrong and iniurie done namely when they be cut off and in the place of the cut there groweth as it were a callous skar that dulleth the vertue of the tree Furthermore looke what is the nature that forked trees haue in their boughes the same hath the Vine in her eies and burgeons the same also haue canes and reeds in their joints and knots Ouer and besides all trees toward their root and the nearest to the ground are thicker than else where Some run vp altogether in height and therein shew thrir growth as the Firre or Deale tree the Larch Date-tree Cypresse Elme and generally all that rise vp in an entire stocke and are not diuided Of those also that branch and put out many boughes there is a kind of Cherry-tree that is found to beare armes like beames forty cubites long and two foot in thicknesse square throughout the whole length CHAP. XXXI ¶ Of the Boughes Barke and Roots of trees THere are trees that immediatly from the root thrust out boughes and branches as do the Apple-trees Some be couered with a thin rind as the Lawrell and Iââ¦e tree others with a thicke barke as the Okes. In some a man shall find the barke euen and smooth as in the Apple-tree and fig-tree the same in others is rough and rugged as is to be seene in Okes and Date-trees And ordinarily all old trees haue more riueled barks and furrowed than the younger In many trees the bark naturally doth breake and cleaue of the own accord and namely in the Vine From some it shaleth and falleth off as from the Apple tree and the Arbut The cork and the Poplar haue a fleshie and pulpous barke the rind of the Vine and the Reed is made in manner of a membrane or thin skin In Cherry trees it is as slender as paper and runneth into rolls but Vines Lindens and Firs are clad with tunicles and coats of many folds In some again the rind is but single as in the Fig-tree and the Cane or Reed And thus much of Barke There is as great difference in the root For the fig-tree the Oke and the Plane haue great store of roots and large spurns contrariwise in the Apple tree they are short and small the firre and Larch haue one tap root and no more for vpon that one main master-root they rest and are founded howbeit many small strings and petie spurns shoot out of the sides In the Bay-tree the roots be more grosse and vnequally embossed and likewise in the oliue which also spredeth out into many branches But those of the oke be of a carnous substance and verily all the kind of okes do root deep into the ground Certes if we giue credit to Virgil that sort of them which are called Esculi go down as deep into the earth with their roots as they arise mount aboue ground with their heads The roots of the Apple-tree Oliue and Cypresse lie very ebbe and creep hard vnder the sourd of the ground Moreouer there be roots that run direct and streight as those of the Bay and Oliue there be againe that wind and turne as they go as those of the fig-tree Some are all ouergrowne and full of hairy strings as the firre-root and many others of wild trees that grow in forrests from which the mountains vse to pluck those fine fibers smal threds wherewith they twist goodly faire paniers couers for flaggons and bottels and work many other vessels prety deuises Some writers as namely Theophrastus hold opinion and haue put down in their books that no roots goe lower into the earth than that the Sunnes heat may pierce vnto them and giue them a kind warmth the which is more or lesse say they according to the nature of the soile as it is either lighter or lean or massier richer and faster compact But I take this to be a meere vntruth This is certain that we find in antient writers that a yong Fir when it was to be transplanted and set again had a root that went eight cubits within the earth and yet it was not digged vp all whole but broken in the taking vp and Ieft somewhat behind The roots of Citron trees are biggest of all other and spread most Next to them are those of the Planes Okes and other Mast-trees Some trees there be the roots wherof like better liue longer the more ebbe that they lie within the vpper face of the ground and namely Lawrels and therefore they spring fresh againe and put forth better when the old stock is withered and cut away Others hold that trees which haue short stumped roots do sooner decay liue lesse while But deceiued they are and may be reproued by the instance of fig-trees which liue least while and yet their roots are longest of any other I suppose this also to be as false which some haue held and deliuered in writing That the roots do diminish and decay as the trees do waxe old for the contrary hath bin seen by an aged oke which by the violent force of a tempest was ouerthrowne the root whereof tooke vp a good acre of ground in compasse Moreouer a common thing it is and ordinary to replant and recouer many trees that haue bin blown down and laid along for they will reioine knit againe and reuiue by meanes of the earth euen as a wound doth vnite by the solder of a callous cicatrice And this is a most vsuall and familiar practice obserued in the Planes which by reason of their great heads so thicke of boughes gather windes most and are soonest subiect to their rage if any one of them by that means be fallen they lop their boughes and discharge them of their weightie load and then set them vpright again in their owne place as it were in a socket and they will take root and prosper And in good faith this hath bin done heretofore already in Walnut trees Oliues and many other to the like proofe CHAP. XXXII ¶ Of certaine prodigious trees and presages obserued by them By what meanes trees grow of their owne accord That all plants grow not euery where and what trees they be that are appropriate to certaine regions and are not elsewhere to be found WE reade in Chronicles and records that many trees haue fallen without wind and tempest or any other apparent cause but only by way of prodigie and presage of some future euent
and the same haue risen againe of themselues without mans helpe This happened during the wars against the Cymbrians to the great astonishment of the people of Rome who thereupon gathered a fore-tokening of great consequence for at Nuceria in the groue of Iuno there was an old Elme fell and after the head was lopped off because it light vpon the very altar of Iuno it arose of it own accord and that which more is immediatly vpon it put forth blossoms and flourished And this was obserued That from that very instant the majesty of the people of Rome began to take heart reuiue and rise again which had bin decaied and infeebled by so many and so great losses that the Romans hed receiued The like chanced by report neer the city Philippi vnto a Willow tree which was fallen downe and the head of it cut off clean semblably to an Aspen tree at Stagyrae neere vnto the colledge or publik place of Exercise there And all these were fortunate presages of good luck But the greatest wonder of all other was this of a Plane tree in the Isle Antandros which was not only fallen but also hewed and squared on all sides by the Carpenter and yet it rose againe by it selfe and recouered the former greennesse and liued notwithstanding it bare 15 cubits in length foure elnes in thicknesse and compasse All trees that we are beholden vnto the goodnesse of Nature for we haue by 3 means for either they grow of their owne accord or come of seed or else by some shoot springing from the root As for such as we inioy by the art and industry of men there be a great number more of deuises to that effect whereof we will speake apart in a seuerall booke for that purpose For the present our treatise is of trees that grow in Natures garden onely wherein she hath shewed her selfe many waies after a wonderfull manner right memorable First and formost as we haue shewed and declared before euery thing will not grow in euery place indifferently neither if they be transplanted will they liue This happeneth sometimes vpon a disdaine otherwhiles vpon a peeuish forwardnesse and contumacie but oftner by occasion of imbecility and feeblenesse of the very things that are remoued and translated nay one while the climate is against it enuious otherwhiles the soile is contrary therunto The balm tree can abide no other place but Iury. The Assyrian Pome-citron tree will not beare elswhere than in Syria As for the Date-tree it scornes to grow vnder all climats or if it be brought to that passe by transplanting it refuseth to beare fruit But say that it fortune by some meanes that she giueth some shew and apparance of fruit she is not so kind as to nourish and reare vp to perfection that which she brought forth forced against her will The Cinnamon shrub hath no power and strength to indure either the aire or earth of Syria notwithstanding it be a neere neighbor to the naturall region of her natiuity The daintie plants of Amomum or Spikenard may not away with Arabia howbeit they be brought out of India thither by sea for king Seleucus made triall therof so strange they are to liue in any other country but their own Certainly this is a most wonderful thing to be noted That many times the trees for their part may be intreated to remoue into a forrain country and there to liue yea and otherwhiles the ground and soile may be persuaded and brought to accord so wel with plants be they neuer such strangers that it will feed and nourish them but vnpossible it is to bring the temperature of the aire and the climat to condiscend thereto and be fauourable vnto them The Pepper-trees liue in Italy the shrub of Casia or the Canell likewise in the Northerly regions the Frankincense tree also hath been knowne to liue in Lydia but where were the hot gleames of the Sunne to bee found in those regions either to dry vp the waterish humor of the one or to concoct and thicken the gumme and Rosine of the other Moreouer there is another maruell in Nature welneare as great as that namely that shee should so change and alter in those same places and yet exercise her vertues and operations otherwhiles againe as if there were no change nor alteration in her She hath assigned the Cedar tree vnto hot countries and yet wee set it to grow in the mountaines of Lycia and Phrygia both She hath so appointed and ordained that cold places should be hurtfull and contrary to Bay-trees howbeit there is not a tree prospereth better nor groweth in more plenty vpon the cold hill Olympus than it About the streights of the Cimmerian Bosphorus and namely in the city Panticapaeum both K. Mithridates and also the inhabitants of those quarters vsed all meanes possible to haue the Lawrel and the Myrtle there to grow only to serue their turns when they should sacrifice to the gods it would neuer be did they what they could and yet euen then there were good store of trees there growing of a warm temperature there were Pomegranates and Fig-trees plenty and now adaies there be Apple-trees and Pyrries in those parts of the best and daintiest sort Contrariwise ye shall not find in all that tract any trees of a cold nature as Pines Pitch-trees and Firres But what need I to goe as farre as to Pontus for to auerre and make good my word Goe no farther than Rome hardly and with much adoe will any Chestnut or Cherrie trees grow neere vnto it no more than Peach-trees about the territory of Thusculum And worke enough there is to make hazels and filbards to like there turne but to Tarracina thereby ye shall meet with whole woods full of Nut-trees CHAP. XXXIII ¶ Of the Cypresse tree That oftentimes some new plants do grow out of the ground which were neuer knowne to be there beforetime THe Cypresse hath bin counted a meere stranger in Italy most vnwilling there to grow as we may see in the works of Cato who hath spent more words and made oftner mention of the Cypresse alone than of all other trees whatsoeuer Much ado there is with it before it come vp and as hard it is to grow and when all is done the fruit is good for nothing The berries that it beareth be wrinckled and nothing louely to the eie the leaues wherewith it is clad bitter in tast a strong and violent smell it hath with it not so much as the very shade therof is delectable and pleasant and the wood but small not solide but of an hollow substance insomuch as a man may range it among the kinds of shrubs Consecrated is this tree to Pluto therefore men vse to set a bough thereof as a signe before those houses wherein a dead corpes lieth vnder bourd As touching the female Cypresse it is long ere shee beareth The Cypresse tree for all this in the end
strengthen the heart vpon the recouerie of a long and dangerous sicknesse and is besides singular good to stay the stomacke after much casting and vomiting Heraclides was wont to giue Skirworts to them who had drunk Quick-siluer so such also as were but cold could not sufficiently perform the duties of mariage finally to them that being newly crept out of their beds after some grieuous disease had need of restoratiues Hicesius was of this mind and said they were good for the stomacke because no man could possibly eat 3 Skirwort roots together and yet he thinks that they would agree very well with those weak persons who were lately sick and newly walking abroad against they should fall to their old drinking of wine again But to come more particularly to the garden Skirwort If the juice therof be drunke with Goats milke it stayeth the flux of the belly called the Laske And thus much for the Skirwort named in Latin Siser But forasmuch as the proximitie and likenes in many Greek names many a time confounds the memorie and deceiues them causing them to mistake one thing for another I wil for vicinitie and neighborhood sake annex vnto Siser the hearb Siser or Seseli for me thinks they will doe very well to stand together but this is an hearb very common and well known The best is that which comes from Marseils is therupon named Seseli Massiliense it hath a broad flat seed and a yellow A second kind thereof is named Aethiopicum with a blacker seed but the third which is brought from Candie and therefore termed Creticum is of all other most odoriferous smels sweetest The root of Seseli or Siser casts a pleasant sauor and as men say the Vultures also or Geirs feed on the seed If a man or woman drinke it with white wine it cures an old cough it knits those who are brusen bellied or haue ruptures and lastly helps them that be much troubled with cramps or convulsions Also if it be taken to the weight or quantitie of two or three Ligules it cures those who haue their necks drawn backward to their shoulders with the Spafme it corects the defects and faults of the liuer it allaies the wrings and torments of the guts and bringeth them to pisse with ease and freely who are afflicted with the Strangurie The very leaues of siler are also medicinable for they procure easy childbirth yea and in that respect the very dumb four-footed beast findeth the benefit therof and that know the Hinds well ynough by a secret instinct of nature who being neer their time and readie to calue feed vpon this hearbe most of all others Good it is against S. Anthonies fire applied to the place in manner of a liniment Certes if a man eat either the leafe or the seed of Siler presently after meat or at the latter end of repast it helpeth digestion It staies the gurrie or running out of the belly in 4 footed beasts whether it be giuen stamped by way of a drench and so injected or chewed drie among their salt meat If kine or oxen be sicke stampe it and pour it down their throats orels clysterize them with it As for Elecampane if it be chewed vppon an emptie stomacke fasting it confirms the loose teeth so that it be taken as it was digged forth of the earth before it touch the ground againe Beeing confected or condite it cures the cough The juice of the root sodden expells the broad wormes bred in the guts The pouder of it dried in the shadow helpeth the cough the stitch and cramp dissolueth windines is good for the accidents incident to the throat and windpipes It is a soueraign medicine against the pricks or stings of venimous beasts The leaues applied as a liniment with wine appease the extream pain of the loins As for Onions I canot find that there be any of them grow wild Those which are sown in gardens I am sure wil with their smel only cause the eyes to shed tears by that means clarify the sight but if they be anointed with the juice they will mundifie the better It is said that they will procure sleepe and heale the cankers or vlcers of the mouth beeing chewed with bread Also greene Onions applied with vinegre to the plaae bitten with a mad dog or els drie and laid to with Honey and Wine so the plaster or cataplasm be not remoued in three daies cureth the hurt without danger In this maner also they wil heal galled places Being rosted vnder the ashes many vse to apply them with Barly floure or meale as a pultesse or cataplasme to the eies that be waterie or rheumatick as also to the vlcers of the priuy parts The imunction of the eies with the juice therof is thought to clense their cicatrises or cloudines of the eies called the pin and web as also to cure the pearle there breeding moreouer the bloud shotting or red streaks in the white and the white spots appearing in the blacke circle about the apple Moreouer it cureth bitings stings of serpents yea and heales al vlcers being emplastred with honey Also the exulcerations or impostumes within the ears are by it womens milke cured And for to amend the ringing and vnkind sound and noise therin to recouer those that be hard of hearing many haue vsed to droppe the juice of Onions together with Goose grease or els hony Furthermore they giue it to be drunke with water to those that suddenly become speechlesse and dumb A collution also made with Onions helps the tooth-ach And being laid vpon wounds made either with prick or bite of any venomous beast and especially of Scorpions it is thought to be a soueraign salue Many are wont to very good effect for to bruse Onions and therewith to rub those parts that be troubled with a skurfe and running mange as also to recouer haire where it is shed and gon Being boiled they are giuen for to be eaten vnto those who are diseased with the blodie Flix or pain of the rains loins Their outward pilings burnt into ashes mingled with vinegre cure the bitings and stings of serpents if the place be bathed or anointed therwith yea and the very Onion it selfe being applied with vinegre cures the sting of that shrewd worme Milliped As for all other vertues and properties of Onions the Physicians are wonderful contrary one to another in their writings for our moderne and late writers do hold and so haue deliuered in their books That onions are hurtful to the parts about the heart other vitall members as also that they hinder digestion breeding wind and ventosities and causing drought or thirstinesse Asclepiades and his sect or followers contrariwise affirme That onions are so wholsome that they will make them well colored who vse to feed vpon them and more than so they say that if one in health euery day eat of them fasting he shall be sure
that sort it taketh downe all tumors or swelling bunches A collution or fomentation therewith allayeth the tooth-ache and a liniment also made with it and Rosin worketh the same effect For all these accidents beforenamed the some of salt found sticking to rockes or floting vpon the sea water is thought to be more conuenient than any other salt But to conclude any salt whatsoeuer it is serueth well for those medicines that be ordained either to take away lassitudes or to enter into those sope balls that are to polish the skin and to rid it from wrinkles If either a boeufe or mutton be rubbed with salt it will kill the skab or mange in them for which purpose also they giue it vnto the sayd beasts for to lick and more particularly it is spurted out of ones mouth into horses eies Thus you see what may be said as touching salt CHAP. X. ¶ Of Nitre and the sundry kindes thereof The manner of making Nitre The medicines and obseruations to it belonging I May not put off the treatise concerning the nature of Salnitre approching so neer as it doth to the nature of salt and the rather am I to discourse of it more exactly because it appeares euidently that the physitians who haue written thereof were altogether ignorant of the nature and vertues of it neither is there any one of them who in that point wrote more aduisedly than Theophrastus In the first place this is to be noted That among the Medians there is a little Nitre ingendred in certain vallies which in time of drought became all hoary grey therwith and this they call Halmirrhaga There is found also some of it in Thracia neere vnto the Citie Philippi but in lesse quantitie and the same all fouled and bewraied with the earth this they name Agrion In times past men haue practised to make Nitre of oke wood burnt but neuer was there any great store of it made by that deuise and long it is since that feat was altogether giuen ouer As for waters fountains of nitre there be enow of them in many places howbeit the same haue no astringent vertue at all But the best Nitre is found about Clytae in the marches of Macedonie where there is most plenty thereof and they call it Chalastricum White and pure it is and commeth neerest to the nature of salt And verily a lake or meer there is standing altogether vpon nitre and yet out of the midst thereof there springeth vp a little fountain of fresh water In this lake there is ingendred Nitre about the rising of the Dog-star for 9 dayes together then it stayeth as long and beginneth fresh againe to flote aloft and afterward giues ouer Whereby it appeareth that it is the very nature of the soile that breedeth it for knowne it is by experience That if it cease once neither heat of Sun nor shoures of rain wil serue or do any good Besides there is another wonderful propertie obserued in this lake that notwithstanding the foresaid spring or source do seeth and boile vp continually yet the lake neither riseth nor ouerfloweth But during those nine daies wherein it is giuen to yeeld Nitre if there chance to fall any shoures they make the nitre to taste the more of salt And say that the North-East winds do blow the while the Nitre is nothing so good and cleere by reason of the mud mingled withall which those winds do raise Thus much of Nitre naturall As for artificiall Nitre great aboundance there is made of it in Egypt but far inferiour in goodnesse to the other for brown and duskish it is and besides full of grit and stones The order of making it is all one in manner with that of salt sauing onely that in the salt houses they let in sea water wheras into the boiling houses of Nitre they conuey the water of the riuer Nilus Whiles Nilus doth rise and flow you shal haue the said nitre-pits or workhouses dry but as it falleth and returneth again toward the channel they are seen to yeeld a certaine moisture which is the humor of nitre and that for the space of forty daies together with no rest or intermission between as there is about Clytae in Macedonie abouesaid Moreouer if the weather be disposed to rain during that time they imploy not so much of Nilus water to the making of Nitre Now so soon as the said humor beginneth to thicken presently they gather it in all hast for feare it should resolue again and melt in the nitre pits In this nitre as well as in salt there is to be found between whiles a certaine oleous substance which is held to be singular good for the farcin and scab of beasts The nitre it selfe is laid vp and piled in heaps where it hardeneth and continueth a long time But admirable is the nature of the lake Ascanius and of certaine fountaines about Chalcis where the water aboue and which floteth vppermost is fresh and potable but all beneath and vnder it toward the bottome is nitrous The lightest of the Nitre and the finest is reputed alwaies the best and therefore the some and froth therof is better than any other part And yet for some vses the grosse and foule substance is very good and namely for the setting of any colour vpon cloth and especially the purple die As touching the vertues of nitre it selfe how it is imploied many wayes I wil write in place conuenient But to return againe to our nitre pits and their boiling houses there be of them very faire and goodly in Aegypt In old time they were wont to be about Naucratis and Memphis only but those at Memphis were nothing so good as the other for there the nitre lying vpon heapes groweth to the hardnes of a stone insomuch as by this means you shall see mountaines thereof like rockes Of this nitre they vse to make certain vessels to vse in the house and many times they melt it with sulphur boyle it ouer the coles for to giue a tincture vnto the said vessels look also when they would keep any thing long they vse this stone-nitre Moreouer there be in Aegypt other nitre pits also out of which there issueth a reddish kind of nitre resembling the color of the earth from which it sweateth and ooseth out As for the fome of nitre which is commended for the best of all the antient writers were of opinion that it could not be made but when the dew fell at what time as the nitre pits were if I may so say great bellied and ful of nitre within but not ready to be deliuered thereof and therefore if they be neare as it were to their time there can no such froth be gathered notwithstanding the dew do fall Others there be of this minde that the said vppermost coat or crust aloft is ingendred by reason of the fermentation of the sayd nitre but the modern Physitians of late daies haue thought and
taught That Aphro-nitrum is gathered in Asia and found within certain soft and gritty caues distilling out of rocks These causes because they be vaulted and arched ouer head the inhabitants call Cochlacas which afterwards they doe drie in the Sun and the best is thought that of Lydia The true marke to know good sal-petre is to be very light in hand exceeding brittle easie to crumble inclining also much to the colour of purple this is brought from thence to vs in trochischs As for the Aegyptian Aphro-nitre or Salt-petre it comes in vessels wel pitched because it should not melt and resolue into water Those vessels also beforenamed ought to be throughly dried dressed in the Sun As for nitre the best is chosen by these marks namely if it bee passing fine cleare but withal spongious very ful as it were of pipes and holes Many do sophisticat it in Aegypt with quicklime but this deceit may be easily found by the tast for the good and true sal-nitre will soone melt and dissolue at the tongues end whereas the other that is not right pricketh and biteth in the mouth moreouer if it haue a sprinckling of lime among it carrieth a strong smell with it When it is calcined in some earthen pot it ought to be well couered with a lid lest it leap or fly out otherwise in the fire it selfe it sparkleth not nor leapeth forth neither groweth any thing els in those places where sal-nitre is ingendred wheras in salt-pits grasse commeth vp As for the Sea what a number of liuing creatures breedeth it and what plenty of reike and weeds besides And not only by this argument appeareth it that there is more acrimonie and sharpnesse in sal-nitre than in salt but also herein That no shooes will abide the nitre pits but presently fret and weare for otherwise wholsome they be and soueraign for the eies neither was it euer seen that any men who handled these pits of nitre and wrought therein were euer blind Moreouer this commodity they haue That if a man come thither hauing a sore or vlcer vpon him the same will soone be healed vp and skinned cleane but if one chance to bee wounded or hurt there long it will be ere he be cured thereof Salnitre prouoketh sweat if the body be annointed with it and oile together and it maketh the skin soft and tender That which is called Chalastraeum serueth in lieu of salt in making bread whereas the Aegyptian nitre is vsed with radishes for it maketh them more tender As for cates and meats if they bee powdred withall they will look white and be worse for it whereas all woorts either for pot or sallad will seeme the greener To come now vnto physick and the medicinable vertues of salnitre hot it is of temperature and doth extenuat biting besides and astringent a great drier it is doth exulcerat In regard of which qualities imployed it is in those accidents which require either drawing to the extetior parts or to be discussed and resolued such also as need some gentle mordication or would be lightly extenuated as meazils small pocks wheals and pimples Some for this purpose first make it red hot in the fire and then quench it with some astringent wine which done they beat and reduce it to pouder and therewith rub and chaufe the body in the bains without any addition of oyle to it mixt with the pouder of dried flour-de-lis incorporat in green oile oliue it represseth immoderat swets a liniment made therwith figs together doth extenuat the films in the eies and the asperity of the eie-lids it doth subtiliat the same operation hath it besides if it be sodden in wine cuit to the consumption of the one halfe and so is it good for the spots that arise in the eies The decoction of nitre boiled within the rind of a pomegranat in wine cuit cure the sore nails and the raggednesse thereof and reduced into an ointment with honey it cleareth the eie-sight a collution made therof sodden in wine with pepper easeth the tooth-ach if the mouth and gums be washed therewith so doth the decoction thereof with leeks Burn or calcine nitre into pouder it maketh an excellent dentifrice for blacke teeth and reduceth them again to their naturall whitenesse annoint the head with nitre Terra Samia incorporat together in oile it killeth the lice and nits that breed therein dissolued in wine and poured into the ears that run attyr it cureth them dropt into them with vineger it eateth and consumeth the filthy excrements of that part conueied dry into the said ears it discusseth the singing ringing therein A liniment made of nitre and fullers earth of each a like weight incorporat with vineger taketh away the foule morphew if the skin be annointed therwith mixed with rosin or with raisons of white grapes stamped stones and all it draweth vncoms and fellons to an head and breaks them reduced into an ointment with swines grease it preserueth the genitoirs from inflammation cureth them good likewise for the measils and small pocks which break out in all parts of the body put rosin thereto and incorporat them both in a liniment with vineger it healeth the biting of a mad dog so it be taken betimes at the beginning and in this manner it cureth also the sores occasioned by the sting of serpents eating vlcers which consume to the bone such likewise as be corrosiue and apt for putrefaction so it be mixed with quick-lime and tempered with vineger Stamp nitre with figs and bring it into the form of a cataplasme or liniment it doth much good for the dropsie the ventosities causing wringings and painful gripes of the belly it discusseth if the decoction thereof be drunk namely when to the weight of one dram it is sodden with rue dill or cumin Annoint their bodies all ouer who are weary with nitre oile and vineger you shal see how effectuall it is to refresh them and driue away their lassitude Rub and chaufe both hands and feet with nitre oile wrought together is singular good against quaking and shiuering cold giuen with vineger especially in a swet to those who are painted with the jaundise it represseth the itch that troubleth them if a man be poisoned with taking venomous mushroms he shall find means to auoid the danger thereof by drinking nitre in oxycrat or vineger water mingled together Hath one swallowed down the hurtfull fly Buprestis let him take a draught of sal-nitre in water it wil saue him for it causes vomit to those that haue drunk buls bloud it is vsually giuen with the spice Laser incorporat with honey and cow milk it healeth the breaking out and the exulcerations in the face Torrifie nitre vntill it begin to look blacke beat it then to pouder and cast the same vpon a raw place that is burnt it wil take out the fire and skin it vp again for the
Cavallerie changed The gifts and rewards represented vnto valiant souldiers for their braue seruice And at what time Coronets of gold were seene THe chamber of the foresaid judges consisted of diuers estates and degrees distinguished all by seuerall names for first and foremost there were of them called Tribuni aeris as it were Generall receiuers or Treasurers secondly Selecti chosen from among the Senators and last of all those who simply were named Iudices or Iudges taken from among the knights or men of armes Ouer and besides these they had others called Nongenti choice men selected from out of all the estates who had the keeping of those chists or caskets wherin were put the voices of the people in their solemn elections And by reason of a proud humor in men chusing themselues names to their owne liking great diuisions and factions arose in this house and chamber of the foresaid Iudges whiles one would needs be called Nongentus another Selectus and a third gloried in the title of Tribune or Receiuer But at length in the ninth yere of the reigne of the Emperor Tiberius Caesar the whole estate of the gentrie or cauallerie of Rome was reduced to an vniformitie and an order was set downe whereby it was knowne who might weare rings and who might not which fell out to be in that yeare when C. Asinius Pollio and C. Antistius Vetus were Consuls together and in the 775 yere alter the foundation of Rome city And verily this vniforme regularity was occasioned by a trifling cause to speak of and whereat wee may well maruell and thus stood the case C. Sulpitius Galba desirous in his youth to win some credit with the foresaid Emperour Tiberius and namely by deuising meanes how to bring Taueâ⦠Cooks shops and victualing houses in danger of the law and to forfeit penalties pleaded against ãâã and complained before the Senat That those who were the vndertakers and Tenants ãâã ââ¦re of the foresaid Tauerns c. and made their gaine thereby had no other meanes to bearââ¦ââ¦mselues out nor plea to defend their faults and disorders but their rings The Senat taking knowledge hereof ordained an act That none from that time forward might bee allowed to weare the said rings vnlesse he were free borne and that both himselfe his father and grand sire by the fathers side were assessed in the Censors booke 400000 sesterces and by vertue of the law Iulia as touching the publicke Theatre had right to sit and behold the plaies in the first and foremost 14 ranks or seats for knights appointed Howbeit afterwards euery man labo red and made means one with another to be allowed to weare this ornament of a ring Now in regard of these disorders and variances aboue rehearsed prince Caius Caligula the Emperour adjoyned to the former foure a fifth Decurie And shortly after men gtew to that height and pride in this behalfe of wearing rings and the company so surcreased that whereas in Augustus Caesars dayes there could not be found knights and Gentlemen sufficient throughout all Rome to furnish those Decuries by this time they could not be contained all within the Chamber of Iudges or Decuries abouesaid insomuch as now adaies no sooner are there any slaues manumised and affranchised but presently by their good will they must be at their rings A thing that neuer before was knowne in Rome for aforetime when a man spake of the iron ring he was vnderstood presently to point at the Gentlemen and Iudges before named but the said ornament or badge became so commonly to be taken vp by one as well as another that a gentleman of Rome Flauius Proculus by name indited 400 at once before Claudius Caesar Censor for the time being and declared against them for this abuse and offence See what inconuenience insued vpon the act of rings for whiles thereby a distinction was made between that degree other free-born citizens streight-waies base slaues leapt in and were so bold as to take that ornament vpon them And here by the way it is to be noted that the two Gracchi Tiberius and Caius brethren vpon a certain desire and inbred affection that they had to maintaine and nuzzle the people in sedition and to beare a side alwaies against the Senat for to currie fauour with the Commons and to do them a pleasure deuised first to haue al them called Iudges who by vertue of the foresaid statute or edict might weare rings and this he did to crosse and beard the Senat. But after the fire of tbis sedition was quenched and the popular authors thereof who stirred blew the coles were murdered the denomination of these criminall Iudges after diuers troubles and seditions with variable and alternatiue fortune fell in the end to the Publicans and Farmers of the reuenues of the State and being thus deuolued vpon them there continued insomuch as for a good while the said Publicans made vp the third degree betweene the Senatours and the Commons Howbeit M. Cicero when he was Consull re-established the Knighthood Cauallerie of Rome in their former estate and place and so far preuailed that hee reconciled them againe vnto the Senat giuing out openly that he himselfe was come of that degree and by that means by a certain popularity sought to draw them all to side with him From this time forward the men of arms were installed as it were in the third estate of Rome insomuch as al edicts and publick acts passed in the name of the Senat People and Cauallerie of the citie And for that these knights or gentlemen were last incorporated into the body of the Common-weale this is the only reason that euen now also they are written in all publicke Instruments after the People As touching the name or title attributed to this third estate or degree of Horsemen or men of Arms it hath bin changed and altered oftentimes for in the daies of Romulus and other KK of Rome they were called Celeres afterwards Flexumines and in processe of time Trossuli by occasion that these horsmen without any aid at all of the Infanterie had woon a towne in Tuscane nine miles on this side Volsinij called Trossuli which name continued in the Cauallerie of Rome vntill the time of C. Gracchus and afterward And verily Iunius who vpon the great amitie betweene Gracchus and him was syrnamed Gracchanus hath left these words in writing as touching this matter concerning the degree of knights quoth hee those who now are called Equites i. Horsemen beforetime had to name Trossuli the change of which name arose vpon this that many of these Gentlemen ignorant in the originall and first occasion of the foresayd name Trossuli and what the meaning thereof was were ashamed so to be called He alledgeth moreouer the cause of the said name and yet notwithstanding quoth hee they cannot away with the name at this day but are so called against their wils To come again vnto our former discourse of
gold There be yet some other points besides to be considered therein which cause distinction in diuers conditions of men for our ancestours willing at all times to honour those souldiers who had borne themselues valiantly in wars were wont to bestow chains of gold vpon strangers and auxiliaries such I meane as came to ayd and succour the Romans but vnto their owne naturall citizens they gaue none other but of siluer and true it is that Roman citizens had bracelets giuen them ouer and aboue which forreiners had not They were wont also a thing to be maruelled at to giue vnto citizens coronets of gold but who he was whom they honored first with this reward I could neuer find in any Chronicle and yet L. Piso hath set downe in his Annals the first giuer thereof for A. Posthumius L. Dictator quoth he vpon the winning of the fortified campe of the Latines neare the Lake Regillus was the first that bestowed vpon that souldier by whose valorous seruice principally the said hold was forced a coronet of gold which he caused to be made of the pillage taken from the enemie L. Lentulus in like manner being Consull gaue a crowne of gold vnto Sergius Cornelius Merenda at the winning of a certaine towne within the Samnites countrey Semblably Piso syrnamed Frugi bestowed vpon his owne sonne a Coronet of gold weighing fiue pound which hee caused to bee made of his owne priuate money and yet amongst other Legacies in his last Will and Testament the said Coronet hee bequeathed to the State and Common-wealth of Rome CHAP. III. ¶ Other vses besides of gold as well in men as women Of Gold in money When Brasse Silver and Gold were first stamped and coined Before Brasse was conuerted into stamped money how they vsed it in old time At what rate and proportion of money were assessed the best houses of Rome at the first leuying of Subsidies And at what time gold came into credit and request ALl the gold imploied in sacrifices to the honor of gods was in guilding the horns of such beasts as were to be killed and those onely of the greater sort But in warfare among souldiers the vse of gold grew so excessiue that the field and campe shone againe withall insomuch as at the voiage of Macedony where the Marshals of the field and colonels bare Armour set out with rich buckles and clasps of gold M. Brutus was offended and stormed mightily at it as appeareth by his letters found in the plaines about Philippi Well done of thee O M. Brutus to find fault with such wastfull superfluitie but why saidst thou nothing of the gold that the Roman dames in thy time wore in their shoos And verily this enormity and abuse I must needs impute vnto him whosoeuer he was that first deuised rings and by that means caused gold to be esteemed a mettall of much worth which euill precedent brought in another mischiefe as bad as it which hath continued a long time namely that men also should weare about their arms bracelets of gold next to their bare skin which deuise and ornament of the arm is called Dardanium because the inuention came from the Dardanians like as the fine golden carkanets Viriae we tearme Celticae and the necke-laces of gold Viriolae Celtibericae Oh the monstrous disordes that are crept into the world But say that women may be allowed to weare as much gold as they will in bracelets in rings on euery finger and joynt in carkanets about their necks in earings pendant at their ears in staies wreaths chinbands let them haue their chains of gold as large as they list vnder their arms or crosse ouer their sides scarfe-wise be gentlewomen and mistresses at their collars of gold beset thicke and garnished with massie pearls pendant from their necke beneath their wast that in their beds also when they should sleepe they may remember what a weight of gold they carried about them must they therfore weare gold vpon their feet as it were to establish a third estate of women answerable to the order of knights betweene the matrons or dames of honour in their side robes and the wiues of meane commoners Yet me thinkes we men haue more reason and regard of decencie thus to adorne with brooches and tablets of gold our youths and yong boies and a fairer sight it is to see great men attended vpon to the baines by beautifull pages thus richly decked and set out that all mens eies may turne to behold them But what meane I thus bitterly to inueigh against poore women are not men also growne to such outragious excesse in this kind that they begin to weare vpon their fingers either Harpocrates or other images of the Aegyptian gods engrauen vpon some fine stone But in the daies of the Emperor Claudius there was another difference and respect had That none might carrie the pourtraiture of that prince engrauen in his signet of gold without expresse licence giuen them by those gratious enfranchised slaues who were in place to admit vnto their lord the Emperor whom it pleased them which was the occasion and means of bringing many a man into danger by criminall imputations But all these enormities were happily cut off as soon as the Emperour Vespasian to the comfort and joy of vs all came once to the crowne for by an expresse edict he ordained That it might be lawfull for any person whatsoeuer to haue the image of the Emperour in ring brooch or otherwise without respect Thus much may suffice concerning rings of gold and their vsage To come now to the next mischiefe that is crept into the world I hold that it proceedeth from him who first caused a denier of gold to be stamped although to say a truth I know not certainly who he was that deuised this coine As for the people of Rome sure I am that before king Pyrrhus of Epirus was by them vanquished they had not so much as siluer mony stamped and currant Well I wot also that in old time the manner was to weigh our brasse by the Asse which was a pound weight and thereupon called As Libralis and yet at this day Libella like as the weight in brasse of two pound they named Dipondius As. And hereupon came the custome of adjudging any fine or penaltie vnder the tearme of Aeris grauis that is to say of brasse Bullion or in Masse From hence it is also that still in reckonings and accounts whatsoeuer hath bin laid out or deliuered goeth vnder the name of Expensa id est Expences as a man would say weighed forth because in times past all paiments passed by weight The Latines likewise vse the nowne Impendia for cost bestowed or the charges of interest in vsurie aboue the principall euen as the verbe Dependere betokeneth to pay because paiments ordinarily were performed by poise Moreouer the vnder treasurers of war or paimasters in the camp were in ancient time named Libripendes for weighing