IMPRIMATUR THO. TOMKYNS R. R mo in Christo Patri ac Domino D no. GILBERTO Divina Providentia Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi à Sacris Domesticis Ex Aedibus Lambethan Julii 9. 1668. A TREATISE PROVING Spirits Witches AND Supernatural Operations BY PREGNANT INSTANCES AND EVIDENCES Together with other Things worthy of Note By Meric Casaubon D. D. LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill 1672. TO THE READER CHristian Reader what ever thou art otherwise thou art not a true Christian or so good as thou shouldest be if thou doest not account that of a Christian thy best title though it doth concern thee no further perchance than I shall tell thee by and by yet it doth me very much in thankfulness to God and to acquit my self of wilful negligence in some particulars of this ensuing Treatise to acquaint thee with the occasion and in what condition I was when I wrote it I will not go back so far as to tell thee what I have suffered since I have been in the world by sicknesses and some other accidents the relation whereof though very true yet I am sure would be incredible unto many There may be a time for that if God please It shall now suffice to tell thee that about three years ago and somewhat better being in London I was seized upon with a cold and shortness of breath which was so troublesome that I went to an intimate friend and learned Physician for help who made no question but in few days he would cure me and to that end prescribed some things But before many days were over himself ended his life in whose death good learning ancient I mean had a great loss But the comfort is which I can witness he died a Christian After him the cause still continuing I had recourse unto another of the same profession whom though I knew not before yet I found him very friendly and so far as I could judge very rational in his prescriptions But notwithstanding such help the disease increasing rather than abating I at last resolved with Gods help for Canterbury again which I did think many times I should never see more Where for eight or nine moneths I continued much in the same case till at last that disease ended in some nephritical fits which I did not expect to out-live But I did till April 1666. when I was freshly assaulted with new fits which more remisly or sharply continued some moneths till at last divers other evil symptomes concurring I lost sleep and so lost it that for the space of four moneths and upwards I may truly to the best of my knowledge say I had not one hour of natural sleep but such as was by the advice of my Physicians procured by Drugs the strongest that are to that end which sleep so procured left me always in such a hatred and detestation of life that nothing but obligation of conscience could have prevailed with me or any body else I think in my case to preserve life at so dear a rate What I was unto others I know not I was unto my self I am sure a wonder nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prodigium a monster our old translation that I did hold out so long And yet when I did most despair of life or rather comfort my self that the time of my deliverance was now surely come so it pleased God I began to recover sleep and not long after amended to such a degree of chearfulness 〈◊〉 for many weeks after I did ever and anon 〈◊〉 whether I was not in a dream But 〈◊〉 the continuance of my chearfulness though 〈…〉 other weakness I think any Christian 〈◊〉 if he do not think me worse than an ordiâ—â—â—y Heathen or Infidel will easily believe â—hat I had some thoughts how I might employ a â—â—fe so much of it as was yet to come so strangely prolonged to do Him some service whom I loâ—â—ed upon as the only Author First I resolved my most immediate profession to preach as often as I could And for the first time being an Easter-day a very proper day after such a reviving I thought as to bodily strength I came off well enough But when I attempted it a second time though till the Evening before I thought my self in very good case yet I found my self suddenly so disabled and brought so low again which continued for three days that since that time my opinion hath been I should but tempt God to think of any such thing any more After this my chearfulness and vigour of spirits still continuing I began to think of writing a trade which I began very young and of which I thank God for it I have had comfort at home and abroad as much and more than I did ever promise my self I did pitch upon a subject which I did think most convenient for me as having more immediate relation to devotion and not unseasonable in these ungodly times It was not long before I had all my materials out of several papers and Note-books together and ready But when I thought to put them into a form by coherence of matter and stile I found my self so unable that I did absolutely conclude I had no other business in this world and to no other end God had prolonged my life than by continued earnest repentance a greater work I doubt than many imagine to fit my self for a better How I have acquitted my self I must leave to God But time passing moneth after moneth and I still continuing in as good vigour of mind I thought as when at the best it troubled me not a little that I should live profitable unto my self only At last this subject once before thought upon but since forgotten came into my mind again I will not be so bold without better warrant with God Almighty to say that he put it into my head either before when it first offered it self or now when I remembred it But this I may truly say since I have been a writer I never proceeded in any subject for the time that was bestowed upon it with more expedition and alacrity For it hath been my case ever since I came out of that languishing extremity which affected my Spirits most that my body hath continued very weak ever since so that it is but some part of the day when at best that I can converse with books seldom so well that I can walk or stand upon my legs and when once set in my Study to write or to meditate it is irksome to me to rise upon any occasion and therefore I avoid it without there be some great necessity much more tedious and irksome and not without danger to reach books which I cannot reach a great part of my books without climbing nor always find very readily though ranged and ordered with care when I seek them This is the cause that my quotations are not always so full or so punctual as otherwise they might have been But
inveigh against them as the confusion of all sound Philosophy and in very deed the true asylum asinorum Yet if a man consider of it soberly and read impartially what is by very sober men pleaded for them he may find ground enough it is my opinion to believe them especially when he doth consider that Aristotle himself was forced besides his four Principia or Elementa to have recourse to a quintam essentiam besides that which he doth appropriate to the Heavens as a more noble cause yea to God himself in some things as the immediate cause operating above nature above reason humane by his meer Omnipotency Whereby Aristotle doth apparently lay a foundation for miracles as we may shew in due place whereas some conceited foolish men pretended Christians but real Atheists as Pomponatius and the like because they would not seem to depart from Aristotle's doctrine refer all miracles to natural causes Besides it is well known that Hippocrates also doth acknowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in diseases by which though Gallen and some others understand ambientem aerem only yet even so then certainly the aer preternaturally or supernaturally affected by some divine or celestial cause which is the more probable because in other places he doth speak of the Gods according to the phrase of those days very reverently and doth much ascribe to their power in those things that happen unto men BUT to our Coelestes influxus though they be granted yet it is very possible that many things may be ascribed unto them which may proceed from other causes That some men are lucky at Cards beyond all imagination or do feats with them beyond the limits of any supposed activity or jugling such as learned Raguseius doth profess in the presence of some others men of great worth and fame whom he doth name Hieron Fabritius ab Aquapendente Hercules Saxonia c. to have seen and admired I should not though never so much admired or incredible ascribe to a Celestial influence though I find a very good Author whom I ever look'd upon as a second Aristotle the greatest commendation I think that can be given to man Religion laid aside in point of sound and solid reasoning even Thomas Aquinas cited for it by the same learned Author whose opinion in that matter I much sooner embrace that such things are done by contract with the Devil And yet I have ground to believe that so much may be done in this kind by art and cunning which things are commonly referred to the power of uâ—e and custom which will be our next consideration after this of influxes so strange and miraculous in appearance that a man had need to be very well vers'd in such speculations before he charge any man And that is when the case is so notorious as no man can rationally doubt as in that pretended Jugler who related by divers before Charles the Ninth King of France made the Rings of a gold Chain to leap towards him one after another who was at a distance and after that made the Chain whole again which at last himself confessed to have done by the help of the Devil for which he was deservedly cast out of the Court and punished Learned Vossius hath it too and quotes three Authors for it but those three have it but from one which kind of quoting is not so safe except this very thing add some weight because it hath been believed by such and such and not contradicted by any But in a case of this nature before such company and yet of fresh memory when the first relation was made the testimony of one credible witness may be thought sufficient But for Pererius why he should be so bitter against Celestial influences since he also doth grant and ground upon occult qualities which often are fetched from Celestial influences and liable to the same inconveniencies and therefore by some as was said before who would gladly be thought to see further than other men so termed asylum asinorum I see no reason BUT granting these influences the great question doth remain whether they work as general only or as particular causes also It is the opinion of some very learned that their power and operation doth extend even to particulars as for example to dispose and to incline not compel a man to such and such actions but of more that they work only as general causes as for example why in some ages men generally have been more inclinable to superstition ready to believe and to swallow more than the boldest impostor could invent in others more to Atheism and incredulity all upon the senses and what is visible and palpable though against all sense and reason In some more for strifes and contention in others more for peace and calmer studies And what shall we say to that influence that produced in men that frantick humor the beginning whereof is ascribed by Historians to the year of the Lord 1260. of wandring about half naked and whipping themselves unto bloud Which though suppressed by authority for a while sprung up again some forty or fifty years after with so much advantage that most Kingdoms in Europe were over-run with it and notwithstanding the opposition of Popes by their excommunications and other means that were used continued above 100. years after as doth appear by a peculiar tractate of Gerson the learned Chancellor of France set out Anno Dom. 1460. against it Thousands in one company of all kind of people might have been seen in divers places thus martyrizing their bodies by tearing their flesh and their bloud running a pitiful sight in outward appearance but whether to the greater pleasure of their distemper'd minds or pain of body I know not I have spoken of it elsewhere which I shall not here repeat I quote no Authors there are so many Historiographers besides others that take notice of it I think it needless If I may speak my mind without offence this prodigious propensity to innovation in all kind but in matters of learning particularly which so many upon no ground that I can see on appearance of reason are possessed with I know not what we should more probably ascribe it unto than to some sad constellation or influence But to conclude this matter of influences whether of general only or of particular efficacy also it is agreed on all hands that they are secrets of Nature or of Heaven if you will which none will upon pretence of any art attempt to dive unto but upon a presumption that the world as of wicked men in general some Philosophers have maintained cannot subsist without cheaters and impostors ANOTHER great cause of wondring is the power of use and custom which they who either by the report of others creditable witnesses or by their own experience have not been acquainted with and well considered of must needs ascribe to magick and supernatural causes many things which are meerly natural It is a subject of a
under the name of superstition subject to derision I think the advice is not amiss ANCIENT Heathens had an opinion not unworthy the consideration that no prodigie or bad Omen could hurt them by the event who did profess not to regard them or could elude them by a contrary interpretation Pliny's words to this purpose are Exemplis apparere ostentorum vires in nostra potestate esse ac prout quaequâ— accepta sint ita valere He doth add In Augurum certè disciplina c. that is That by the discipline of the Augures a sort of Diviners or Soothsayers among the Romans it is very certain that neither imprecations or auspicies or presages did belong unto them to hurt them who when they had any work in hand did profess and declare they did take no notice of either Quo munere divinae indulgentiae maius nullum est saith he that is Than which the Divine mercy hath not vouchsafed unto men a greater gift or boon So Pliny lib. 28. cap. 2. And in the next Chapter he doth mention some particular rites and ceremonies which they used to elude or avert mischiefs when threatned by some ill presage or inauspicious accident Of which St. Augustin doth treat and reckon many in his second de Doct. Christiana Chap. 20. I make no great wonder if many of those superstitious rites and ceremonies by both Pliny and St. Augustin mentioned were thought efficacious to elude or avert when the observation of prodigies was so transcendent that every thing almost that did not happen every day was looked upon as a prodigie It was not hard to avert or elude as they interpreted it what probably as founded upon such groundless fears and imaginations would never have hapned though probable too that meer fear and imagination though no better grounded might be the cause sometimes that some things hapned really which otherwise had never been But however because Pliny no very superstitious man who elsewhere hath not faith enough to believe that God cares for the world or takes any notice of mens actions whether good or bad because he doth here we see so magnifie the power of faith and therein the goodness of God that would so provide it and appoint it and that besides Pliny there be others that attest the same or much to the same purpose as afterwards in due place may be shewed we may consider besides Christian faith whether there be not some kind of natural faith such as natural meer natural men are and always have been capable of which with God by his own order and appointment is and always hath been more or less meritorious or efficacious for the averting of some temporal evils and a good pledge or forerunner of that true faith in Christ by which we hope not only to be rescued from that misery which as the wretched posterity of a sinful protoplast we are born unto but also I expect no otherwise but that the wits will laugh at our simplicity purchase Heaven it self and Immortality But of this more elsewhere which I will not here transcribe WITH this of Pliny the elder doth well agree the resolution of Pliny the latter and as well with Christianity and therefore not unworthy our observation A friend of his who was to plead a cause within one or two days after had a dream which much troubled him and threatned as he did interpret it some kind of miscarrying Whereupon he doth address himself to Pliny that he would procure him a further day Pliny first doth propose unto him what in such a case himself had done preferring that excellent rule or maxim of Homer's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is in effect That a good cause ought to be regarded more than any signs or prodigies whatsoever before terrifying dreams and visions when he was to defend the cause of an innocent friend against potent enemies Wherein notwithstanding his terrifying presages or prodigies he prospered He did so and hoped his friend might also But if that would not satisfie him his next advice is Quod dubâ—t as ne feceris which he calls Consultissimi cujusque praeceptum the precept or advice of all that are wise and prudent Not to do that whereof you doubt which I think doth very well agree with that of the Apostle And he that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith For whatsoever is not of faith is sin But lastly I make great difference of prodigies that concern private men only and those which concern Princes and whole common Weals I do not think these so easie to be avoided as those I HAVE done with prodigies I now proceed to that I have to observe upon the instances or the chiefest of them that have been produced which may be useful as I conceive in all or most other cases of Credulity or Incredulity And here first of all I propose this rule of Credulity or Incredulity in general in St. Augustin's words Multa St. Augustin hath it Nonnulla only but I think it will bear multa very well credibilia sunt falsa sicut incredibilia multa sunt vera Or in Minutius Foelix his words more pithily In incredibili verum in credibili mendacium that is in English That many things which seem incredible are true and many things false which are very credible or likely-true Which is no more if so much than what Aristotle long before in that known Axiom of his taught that falsa quaedam c. that some things that are false have more appearance of truth than some things that are true It is no argument to me that a thing is true because it is possible no nor because probable nay it is certain that many lyes and falshoods are founded upon this very thing probability Though civility may oblige not to contradict where we see no impossibility yet discretion will to doubt and to suspend assent till we see good ground of belief I know the wisest man may mistake sometimes many are credulous and many love to tell what themselves have forged or what they have from others though themselves perchance do not believe it I am no Sceptick or Pyrrhonick and whether ever any such were really is a question which to be in my apprehension is little less than of a rational creature born to turn into a senseless brute And it doth much derogate from Gods goodness to think that he should give us reason the best of gifts for no other use than always to doubt which is worse than to have no reason at all Yet this I must say which I think most true their profession was if ever any such to doubt of all things the best way never to be a Sceptick is not to be too quick of belief and to doubt of many things Take it from St. Augustin that it may have more authority best in his own words but because very worthy to be known unto all that would be wise I will put them
with him and then give him the slip and after this keep out of his hands and reach in despight of all means that the Emperor or those he employed could use or devise And another in the same Severus his reign named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he had two names of whom some particular acts are related how he came to Rome himself delivered some of his followers when already condemned as the manner was to be cast unto wild beasts how he accosted the Captain or Centurion that was sent against him took him by craft judged him shaved his beard and sent him back with an errand which I shall forbear Generally it was said of him that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I think I may English more plainly and not lose much of the emphasis That when he was seen he could not be â—â—und when he was found he could not be taken when he was taken he could not be held But yet he was taken â—t last not by force or policy of men but by the treachery of a Concubine the less to be pitied that being so wise and wary otherwise he would trust himself to such creatures Some years before the happy which made us all happy restoration of our Gracious Sovereign whom God preserve in a Book-sellers shop I remember I lighted upon a book in two Volumes intituled L' Histoire des Larrons c. that is The History of Thieves in France from what time I know not I am sorry I did not buy it it may be I was not so well furnished which at that time when forced to sell a great part of my books could be no discredit I look upon it as a very useful subject the better to understand the world and if the same were done of the Thieves of England so it were done with judgment and fidelity which from an ordinary hand can hardly be expected I think it would be well worth the labour Here it may be observed that there always hath been a kind of men in the world who naturally as I may say are fitted with a marvellous kind of audacity to attempt strange things and by a strange constellation or fatality are attended with luck and success for a long time at least in their boldest attempts beyond all imagination The Greeks have many names for such kinds of men as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like some of which have an intimation of somewhat above men and if we should say beyond what is supernatural ordinarily known there is a more natural kind of possession not so known it may be there were no great error in it When I lived some years before our Restoration with Sir John Cotton grandchild to famous Sir Robert where besides that inestimable Library known far and near his noble and learned company was a daily comfort I remember well I could tell the day and the year but I forbear that as we were together by the fire not long before dinner a well spoken Gentleman and though not a professed Scholar yet well acquainted with good learning came to him and made relation of what had passed at Westminster-hall that day in the cause of a Lady between her and her husband how among the witnesses that were to depose for the Lady exception was taken against one in the prosecution of which business such things were there publickly without any reply declared against him that he had done in England in France and elsewhere as in all my reading I could scarce paralel either for the quality of the things or for the success and confidence of the person that he that had done such things durst shew himself in a publick Court BUT to return to Herodotus his relations The first of them in his second book doth consist of many parts The first and second part the contriving of a stone in the building that might be taken away at their pleasure that knew the secret whereby they might have an entrance into a Treasury-house and the craft and courage of the Son after his Fathers death the Author of the contrivance when he was fallen into the trap without any hopes of getting out to advise his Brother and fellow-Thief to cut off his head lest he might be known by it so far is credible enough The third part also not altogether incredible by such a device divers Towns some within our memory have been taken But for the fourth of the prostitution of the Kings daughter and the manner how she was eluded hath too much of improbability and somewhat of impossibility to be believed true as Herodotus well judged which is more than I can say of the fifth and last it being very possible in those times and in that place when and where so many brute beasts were worshipped for the benefit they afforded unto men very possible I say that the King should apprehend somewhat of a Deity in that man that could effect such strange things his very curiosity to find the truth of what he so much admired might provoke him to do such a thing more probably than that the incomprehensibleness of the Euripus should be the cause of Aristotle his death or the unsolubleness of the Fisher-mens riddle should of Homers ANOTHER relation he hath in the same book of much affinity concerning Thieves who by long and tedious digging under ground did rob another Kings Treasury which we may wonder at that any should be so confident or so resolute to attempt such a thing in so much improbability for it was a long way that they were to dig of success but have no reason otherwise as set out and explained by Herodotus to think it incredible This digging under ground puts me in mind of the Gunpowder-plot such a Plot as for the horror and immanity of it I know not whether any History can paralel But this hath been sufficiently set out by others both Papists and Protestants I have somewhat to say of it which to me seems as horrible almost as the Plot it self what it may do unto others I know not I was once in the time of the rebellion at the table of one that was very great then but must not now be named There was at the table more than one or two whether Priests or Ministers rightly ordained I cannot tell for even of them some though not many did basely temporize but by their habit and some other circumstances of that sort of people that were Preachers in those days How it came to be talked of I know not but talked of it was I am sure and confidently affirmed that there never was any such thing really as the Gunpowder Plot but that it was a Plot of King James his contriving to endear himself unto the people I do not remember that my patience was ever more put to it though I never came into such company which was not often nor without great necessity but well armed with patience I did not think such
to certain knowledge or science though not science properly because not grounded upon the knowledge of the causes In either sense credulity taken will fit our purpose well enough yet of the two I rather chuse the second that credulity may be taken for a vice that so as all or most vertues according to Aristotle's doctrine though by some upon very light grounds as I conceive much opposed we may place this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or belief also in the middle of two vicious extremities And so is this business of believing very well stated by Plutarch in more than one place and upon several occasions LASTLY whereas my title promiseth the consideration of both equally Credulity and Incredulity and most of my examples will be found of Incredulity or such as tend to the reproof and confutation of it I may be thoâ—ght to have dealt partially as though I favoured or less blamed Credulity than the contrary vice But that doth not follow neither had I any such respect in the chusing of my examples Neither indeed is it absolutely determinable which of the two Credulity or Incredulity is most dangerous or blamable but as the particular object of either is so may the one be more or less than the other But I must confess the business of incredulity did more run in my head at this time because of the times so set upon Atheism which of all kind of incredulity is the most horrible and damnable and most unworthy of a rational man Now one prime foundation of Atheism as by many ancient and late is observed being the not believing the existence of spiritual essences whether good or bad separate or united subordinate to God as to the supream and original Cause of all and by consequent the denying of supernatural operations I have I confess applied my self by my examples which in this case do more than any reasoning and the authority of the holy Scriptures laid aside are almost the only convincing proof to the confutation of such incredulity in this first part especially However unadvised credulity and incredulity being considered as two extreams by the doctrine of contraries it will follow that what tends to the illustration or confutation of the one doth in some sort equally belong unto the other and though the examples generally have more reference to the one than to the other the observations upon the examples shall equally concern them both which is enough to justifie my Title NOW because credulity and incredulity doth properly belong unto such things as are wondred at either as besides the ordinary course of nature and therefore wondred at because rare and unusual or against it and therefore thought impossible or supernatural it will not be amiss in the first place to consider what those things are considered in their kinds or generality which usually cause admiration As I go along I may meet with somewhat that may occasion some consideration otherwise I have no intention but to name them only MONSTERS are the most ordinary subject of their admiration who are not qualified to admire any thing else though it deserve it much more However they that have or shall read the History of Monsters written by Bauhinus not to mention others may think the better of many things which before perchance they thought incredible Though he treat of all kind of Monsters yet Hermaphrodites only are in his Title as the most prodigious or most considerable Indeed many laws have been made about them and many cases proposed and answered both in the Civil and Canonical law I have read also of trials processes and Judgments against or concerning them in several Courts beyond the Seas and Pliny doth record that in his time they were in deliciis not for their beauty and good parts I suppose but such is the perversity of some for their very monstrosity And what if after all this some men will maintain that there be no such creatures One great argument will be they never saw any Another there have been some counterfeits Upon these grounds who seeth not how much the History of Nature may suffer through the rashness and ignorance of some who affect to be thought wise for denying what other men believe the Continuator of Thuanus his History will tell what passed in Paris Anno Dom. 1613. about this controversie if any desire to know AFTER Monsters those things I reckon that happen by natural sympathies and antipathies though these also denied by some who must adventure upon somewhat that they may be thought some body and again those things that proceed from what Physicians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is written both ways to which sympathies may be referr'd but it extends much further and again those things that proceed from the strength of imagination concerning all which not only example and instances in most books of all arguments are obvious but also peculiar books and tractates made by learned Physicians and Philosophers searching into the causes though natural acknowledged yet hidden and secret so far as the wit of man can reach are extant all these I conceive to them that search into the works of nature with diligence offer themselves frequently as worthy objects of admiration ANOTHER great object of admiration is that which they call occultae qualitates to which some sympathies and antipathies as also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be referred but is much more general than either Those occultae qualitates have been stiled by some men who had the ambition to be accounted more profound and quick-sighted into the works of nature than others asylum asinorum or the refuge or sanctuary of Asses but in their attempts and endeavours of rendring of reasons to maintain manifest qualities they generally have acquitted themselves so weakly so childishly as by the discourses and refutations of Physicians and Philosophers both ancient and late generally most approved and known doth appear that what they thought to brand others with hath unhappily but deservedly stuck to themselves their reasonings if not themselves being become the scorn and ludibrium of all truly wise and judicious So hitherto I am sure according to the old Philosophy But what the conceited omnipotency of Atomes according to the new Philosophy or revived Epicurism may do to satisfie all doubts and scruples I know not For my part I shall not be ashamed to acknowledge my weakness I have looked into it with as much candor and diligence as in such a case I thought necessary so far from prejudice that I would perswade my self I could not but speed and find what I sought for but I have not I profess it yet with submission to better judgments TO these occultae qualitates we may add influxus coelestes or influentiae to which I find very learned men Physicians and others to ascribe strange effects Yet there be very learned too that will by no means admit of such as learned Pererius by name who doth
necessary to my principal end I shall willingly forbear them or reserve them to another place That which I have to except in the relation of this story is that two Authors are named Gnagninus in Muscoviae descriptione and Sigismundus Baro in Hebeirsten in itineratio as two several Authors and two several testimonies whereas if we examine those Authors they will appear in this but one not only by the words which they borrow the one from the other almost the same in both but also by Gnagninus who at the end of his Description doth make honourable mention of Sigismundus whereby it doth appear that he had read him and borrowed of him But what is worse upon further examination it will appear that this Sigismundus Baro saith no such thing at all himself but hath that passage verbatim out of an Itinerarie of a nameless Author written in the Ruthenick-tongue translated or part of it by himself and inserted in his own Commentaries and moreover that he had with all possible diligence as he professeth Page 89. of the Antwerp Edition Anno Dom. 1557. inquired of those huminibus mutis and other morientibus reviviscentibus those sleepers in Caves of the Earth before spoken of yet professeth he could never meet with any that could say he had seen it himself but only heard it from others and therefore saith he Vt aliis ampliorem quaerendi occasionem praeberem to the end that others might further enquire not as believing it himself or commending it to others for a truth he was willing to let them know what he had found in the Itinerary It is almost incredible what a wrong to truth this manner of citing of witnesses and testimonies hath been in all ages when three or four sometimes four or five or more are cited as several witnesses who upon examination prove but one and perchance not so much as one good or clear witness But I have done with my first instance or example which concerned things natural as ordinarily taken and though store of such offer themselves to me yet because I have reason to make what hast I can being every day by much weakness summoned or put in mind I will proceed to instances in things supernatural which will better fit my design MY second instance therefore shall be out of Seneca who in his fourth book of Natural Questions which doth treat of Snow Hail and Rain in his sixth Chapter relates rather as a tale than a truth so he doth profess at the beginning what he found recorded and believed by some others to wit that there were men in some places who by observing of the clouds were able and skilful to foresee and foretel when a storm of Hail was approaching Cleonis was the place by him named which was then the name of more places than one but by what he saith of it it should be a Town of the Peloponnesus now Morea under the Turk of no very great fame or name But it seems whether by the nature of the Climat or somewhat else natural or supernatural very subject to storms of Hail by which the fruits of the ground very commonly destroyed It did so trouble them that after many endeavours it should seem to prevent their loss they at last found a strange remedy First it must be believed according to the relation that by diligent observation of the clouds and other temper of the skies in such storms which to their great grief and damage were so frequent among them some men had attained to that skill that they could as was said before foretel a storm Of these men some were chosen and appointed as publick officers therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is observers of the Hail to give warning to the people who upon that warning did hasten to kill some a Lamb others according to their abilities Pullum some young thing or other probably a Chick the bloud whereof was offered as a Sacrifice But if any were so poor or by chance so destitute at that time that he had neither agnum or pullum why then his way was to prick one of his fingers with some bodkin or writing-steel as the fashion was then that had a good point and that bloud was accepted for other and so the storm certainly diverted In the relation of this Seneca doth use some merry words which have deceived many which hath made me the more willing to take them into consideration as though it were far from him to believe such an absurd and impossible thing Grant saith he there were such men that could foresee and foretel a storm what relation have the clouds to bloud or how can such a little quantity of bloud as a Chicken or a prickt-finger can afford so suddenly penetrate so high as the skies to work such an effect Yet if a man doth well observe his words it will appear that Seneca did more incline himself to believe it and so doth propose it to us rather as a thing true than otherwise For after he had said that men in the examination of the cause were divided some as became very wise men that is his word absolutely denying that any such thing could be that men should covenant with the Snow and with small presents pacifie tempests though saith he It is well known that the Gods themselves are overcome with gifts for to what end else are all their sacrifices Others thinking that there was in bloud naturally some kind of efficacy to repel and avert a cloud he doth further add what he knew would be objected by others but how can in so little bloud be so great force as to pierce the clouds and to make them sensible of its power After this knowing and tacitly grounding there was no arguing the possibility of a thing by reason against certain evidence for which in this case there was so much to be said How much more safe and ready would it be saith he barely to say It is a lye an arrant lye it cannot be And then go on But at Cleonis they were wont to punish them severely who had charge to prevent the tempest if through their negligence either their Vines or their Corn had suffered In our XII Tables also the old Roman-law there was a law against them who should by any kind of inchantment hurt or destroy other mens Corn. To what end all this think we but to make it appear that if evidence would carry it there was enough to perswade us the report of Cleonis was true enough Yet after all this fearing he had gone too far to expose himself to the ludibrium or derision of those sapientissimi or wonderful wise men who would believe nothing to be true the clear profession of the Epicuraeans of those days the cause whereof they could not understand to make some amends he ends his discourse in the reproof as it were of rude ignorant antiquity that could believe such things as that there were Charms or Spells for the
particularly I WILL not take upon me absolutely to determine how these Crosses might come I should not make any great wonder of them no more than I do of those stones which by the pious and learned compiler of Musaeum Veronense are called Crucis Lapilli and fully described by him which I do not find adscribed to any other but a natural cause Learned Remigius I remember hath an observation that very frequently those bodies that are struck with Thunder are found marked with signs resembling the impression of nails which they that are simple saith he suppose to be the Devils claw whom they believe to have hoofs and nails not ordinary But this as well he might he doth laugh at and proceeds to the inquisition of a natural cause out of Aristotle and others But I will not transcribe where there is such facile excess I AM a great admirer I profess it of a stone which is not very rare Many call them Thunder-stones I have them of divers forms as to the bigness or whole body which in some is perfectly Oval in some more round in others pointed or pyramidical some for the length not unlike a helmet and some very flat which have somewhat of the resemblance of a heart divided in two And this is observable in some of them that the lines not going through the body of the stone not visibly at least but ending soon they represent a perfect Star or Asterick as usually painted curiously set out in several rows of little points But this the occasion of this short digression is essential to them all that are perfect not broken I mean or wore out They have five double lines made of two distinct rows of pricks or full-points as it were but with great variety For in some every row is double very artificially set out The points in most are as it were dented in the stone in some others extant or eminent but still five curiously drawn from the top and all or most of them meeting in one center which is as it were a navel which navel as also the vertex or very top seemeth in some of them to be a body by it self or a different piece and separable from the rest but closely joynted or joyned I have sought into them diligently that write of stones but hitherto found but little that satisfies me They are not of the nature of ordinary stones I am sure but as I conceive owe their original to some kind of generation Learned Wormius who hath made a great collection of them in his Musaeum Wormianum doth tell us it is the opinion of some that they ingender even whilest stones which his own observation that he hath some which have other little ones annexed and as it were proceeding from them doth make the more probable to him at least Nec certè omninò abnuere pâ—ssum he saith of himself Most that write of them tell us that by Pliny they are called Ovum anguinum or Snakes-egge It may be so but what reason might enduce them to think so I must confess that as yet I am to seek His description is Vidi equidem id ovum mali orbiculati modici magnitudine crusta cartilaginis velut acetabulis brachiorum polypi crebris insigne Druidis which before I take upon me to translate I must understand better than I do Sure I am here is no mention of the five lines or tails as Gesnerus calls them the most eminent thing in these kind of stones Besides whether a true ovum anguinum or no the trial is saith Pliny Si contra aquas fluitet vel auro vinctum Will these stones do so I have so little belief they will that I never yet could be so idle as to make trial But again he writes of them as stones or eggs rather for he doth not at all in all his description make them to be stones or call them so of great worth and rarity which if these kind of stones be not much rarer in Italy than they are in England cannot be true of them Nor even so neither For England where they are so common being then in the power of the Romans they could not be very rare at Rome if in any request He tells of many strange or rather admirable qualities which the Druids and Magicians reported of them but not as believing them However if that be true he seems to report in good earnest that a Roman Knight whom he names was put to death by Claudius for having one of them about him when he was in suit of law hoping by the help of it to become victorious it will follow that this Snakes-egge was accounted a magical thing which will agree well enough with those things that are written and by some believed of the vertues of these Thunder-stones But this is not much to perswade me that they are the thing intended by Pliny by ovum anguinum when so many other things are against it Let me add that the figures of these stones set out by Wormius and Gesnerus though they agree so well that a man may suspect they had them the one from the other yet not very like in either of them to those stones that I have For whereas their figures between the lines are scabrous or full of little protuberances or eminences like little warts as Gesnerus calls them mine are smooth in those interstices one or two excepted which might contract their raggedness from the ground where they did long lie I have one so smooth that one half of it is perspicuous or pellucid and doth represent within some kind of circles or tunicles like Onions-coats which also hath this singular that in one side of the circumference it hath a little round excrescence as it were a Wen or a Wart but smooth The truth is the figures in Wormius do not agree with his description The description tells us that the lines or tails ab apice in basin from the top to the navel as I call it or as he not improperly alluding to the modiolus of a wheel where the radii meet and are fastened modiolum do excurrere the figure fetcheth them from the basis which is so main a difference that Gesner by that chiefly doth distinguish them from the true or supposed ovum anguinum or Snakes-egge by some supposed to be a Toads and by others the egge of a Tortoise And as to the stones which Wormius under one figure and under one kind by the name of Brontia Thunder-stone or ovum anguinum doth describe Gesner hath the figure of them in another place page 166. of my Edition under no certain name and Chapter 3. p. 59. c. under the title of Brontia Ombria and Ceraunia which are the right figures of the stones which but with much more variety I have very well and fully enough described by Wormius But it is time I should end this occasioned meerly by the mention of Thunder Thunder-marks and some kind of
declare durst mention such a book except such a one had been then extant in Galen's name or could be mistaken in his judgment concerning the Author whom he had read so diligently as by his writings doth appear So that even Valesius though he doth write against the opinion maintained by Trallianus yet he doth upon his authority yield it as unquestionable that such a book was then extant written by Galen As he so Fererius who hath written a Chapter of that argument and entituled it as Galen had his Treatise NOW because in those times most incantations used not only by the Jews but by Gentiles also as by Trallianus by Lucian by Origen and by others may appear had the name of Dominus Sabaoth as a chief ingredient it is observable that some godly Fathers who knew Christians had more right to that name than either Gentiles or Jews of those times had thought it no superstition to commend unto them the nomination of the Lord of Sabaoth upon such occasions not as an inchantment but a lawful prayer So doth Cyrillus Alexandrinus in his book De Adoratione Spirituali lib. 6. whose words perchance some might interpret as though he allowed those words to them that have faith as a lawful charm But what he writes in that very place against all kind of inchantments as unlawful and forbidden by God may sufficiently acquit him from any such intention But I cannot acquit Origen neither is it much material except I could acquit him of so many other pestilent errors wherewith he stands charged in the Ecclesiastical story and his books yet extant though much purged by Ruffinus the Latine interpreter proclaim him guilty of In his 20. Homily upon Josuah part of which in Greek is preserved in that Philocalia collected out of his works he doth very erroniously ascribe power to the very words and letters of ordinary charms for which he doth appeal to common experience and consequently would have the very letters or words of the Scripture in any language though not understood if but read and pronounced to be of great power and efficacy which as it is against the very principles of Natural Philosophy so against the determination of all sober Philosophers Physicians and Divines YET as there is nothing so uncouth or absurd but shall meet with a Patron so hath this opinion of the efficacy of bare sounds and letters met with some in our age as Thomas Bartholinus for one This Thomas Bartholinus one of the King of Denmarks Physicians the Author of many curious pieces if he be not either too credulous sometimes or too ambitious to be the reporter of strange things in his Centuriae Historiarum Anatomicarum rariorum upon the experience of some to whom he doth give credit doth maintain that the Epilepsie may be cured by charms and those charms upon a natural account of the causes not unlawful His reason I will not stand to examine I think they will not perswade very many besides those who think well enough of charms in general whatever it be that makes them effectual but would be glad to find a plausible pretence THIS mention of Bartholinus puts me in mind of a strange story I profess again seriously as I have done before this Discourse was never undertaken by me to tell the Reader strange stories though true which might have made it much more both easie and voluminous Yet the use that may be made of this in point of Credulity or Incredulity in case any such report as very probably may occur of any other place or Country besides what inferences or experiments may be made upon it for the publick good if this be true makes me take notice of it and the rather because having enquired of divers Travellers into those parts whom I have had the opportunity to consult about it I have not as yet met with any that could give me any account Now the story is this In Italy not above twelve leagues they reckon there by miles ordinarily but he saith 12. leucis near a Town or Village vulgarly known he saith by the name of Il Sasso in Latin Braccianum there is a Cave commonly called the Cave of Serpents Serpents at all times it seems but at some time of the year more certainly and solemnly frequent it in great number And then if any troubled and afflicted with any ordinary disease proceeding from a cold cause as the Palsie Leprosie Dropsie c come and lie down immovable which the better to do some take Opium beforehand Serpents will come about him and suck him or lick him till he be well He tells of more but of one Cardinal among the rest particularly who being desperately ill there recovered Many other things he tells of it which it seems with other company he went of purpose to see This upon the report of the Country people he more delivers of it which sounds somewhat of a fable that one of the Serpents Coronâ insignitus adorned with a kind of Crown as the governor of the rest useth to come out of his hole first and after diligent search if he finds all things safe gives notice unto the rest This if true may give light to some other story which as I said before made me the more willing to take notice of it BY this I hope yea and before this as I have said before but that I had some consideration of the good use that might be made of what did offer it self over above but now again by this I hope it will be granted by all that do not profess wilful incredulity and contradiction that many things happen supernaturally which are above the sphere and activity of the believed and beloved atomes and can be referred to no other cause but the operations of Daemons or evil Spirits which once secured Atheism hath lost its greatest prop and the mockers and scoffers of the time the chiefest object of their confidence and boasting which though not our immediate subject yet of purpose as before said did we make choice of such instances of Credulity and Incredulity that we might una fidelia as they say duos parietes and yet still according to my Title in this First Part have I kept within the bounds of things Natural which by many according to the genius of the times are laid for a foundation of Atheism or at least for the undermining of Christianity which they that profess yet secretly endeavour to undermine deserve to be accounted the worst of Atheists I have now but a word or two concerning Divination and Prodigies in general because in all ages a main object of Credulity and Incredulity to add and then we shall see what observations more we can draw from the premised instances and so conclude which I begin to be weary of as much as any Reader can be this first Part. DIVINATION as it belongs unto God more properly nay unto God only if it be true divination that is such as
profession in a capacity probable to judge of the truth of those things to which he doth bear witness Every one of these particulars would require a particular consideration but that I would not be too long or tedious To make application of this to those witnesses or the chiefest I have produced and made use of I can give no account of their temper by their life or actions they were not nor could be known unto me that way But he was not altogether out who said Loquere ut te videam though subject to many exceptions I know yet ordinarily a man may give some guess at a mans temper in point of seriousness or lightness by his writings Cardan was a learned man and one that was well acquainted with the world of great experience I make no question But he was a man ventosi ingenii self-conceited beyond measure and as covetous of popular applause never spake man more truly than he that first past that censure on him Any man of ordinary judgment may quickly perceive it by his writings A man that did affect to tell strange things that cause wonder that he might be wondred at and admired by them that did believe him And indeed he doth tell more strange things of himself and his father and some other relations of his than a man shall likely meet with any where else But he was not only ventosus as censured by others but also mendacissimus a notable lyar as acknowledged and proved by his great friend Nodaeus and by his confession of himself according to his horoscope Nugax religionis contemptor maledicus impurus calumniator c. all which the same Nodaeus doth acknowledge most true of him SOME man may wonder this by the way what made Nodaeus who otherwise doth most ridiculously exalt him to acknowledge so much truth but there was a reason Cardanus and Nodaeus were not of one Religion in point of Spirits of whom though Cardanus tells many strange stories which I believe from such a convicted lyar are false yet among so many it is possible some might be true But whether false or true Nodaeus as all or most that are of that perswasion admirers of Epicurus c. could not indure to hear of them In that particular he doth cast dirt upon him and makes him the vilest man that ever was In others if you will believe him Cardanus was an incomparable man This in another age might have been thought a contradiction and Nodaeus himself censured for a man of no judgment at all if not worse But he knew what times he wrote in and how men stood affected Neither did his judgment herein deceive him which in a more sober age if God will be so merciful may cause no small wonder Well Cardan for one was a learned man of great experience but I say by Nodaeus his leave this mendacissimus doth spoil all I think they that trust him deserve to be deceived and I doubt many stand not upon that so much so they may be thought some body because they read Cardan I KNOW not any I have made use of but so far as may be guessed by their writings were sober and serious men and so accounted by those known unto me who mention them in their writings They were all or most of them learned Physicians and therefore best able to judge of those things which they wrote of and attested How it should advantage either the credit of their Art and profession which to preserve made Galen so unwilling a long time as before observed before he would acknowledge the efficacy of charms and incantations or their particular profit in their practice to acknowledge and of their own accord publish and proclaim the efficacy of supernatural means for cures c. such as we have made choice of too for instances no man I think can imagine how it might impair it is very apparent The best reward of their ingenuity from the greater number or those sapientissimi in Seneca they could expect is to be accounted either lyars or idiots Lastly Remigius excepted of whom some question may be made because he saith vidi hominem he saw the man he doth not say he saw the thing which yet may be true enough for any thing he saith all the rest expresly profess to have seen with their eyes what they relate Vair indeed doth not mention his eyes but he hath those circumstances which he doth attest which as I say there amount to a vidimus or cecular attestation BUT then thirdly Seneca saith oculis nihil fallacius and doth give some instances His instances are true yet I cannot allow of his inference We must trust to our eyes in most things to our ears and other senses else we shall not know what to trust to However it is very true in some cases our eyes our ears and other senses may deceive us and that relation may be suspected which is grounded upon two eyes or ears only though the witness be granted an honest discerning man I could mention many things that have hapned unto my self in that kind but one thing that hath made most impression I shall make bold to relate It is not many years but it was some time before our happy restoration My Son the only I have or then had and I had rid some twenty or thirty miles that day and came to the house of a worthy Gentlewoman of some relation by marriage where I had been often kindly entertained In the night about midnight I then guessed my said Son and I lying together and both fast asleep I was suddenly awakened by the report of a Gun or Pistolet as I then thought discharged under the bed It shook the bed I am sure Being somewhat terrified I awakened my bed-fellow asked him whether he had heard nothing told him what I had heard and felt He was scarce awake when a second blow was heard and the bed as before which did put him in such a fright that I forgat mine own and wholly applied my self to put him out of it and to keep him in his right wits Thus busie it was not long before a third blow and still the bed as before I would have risen but that he did so closely embrace me that I durst not leave him neither was he willing to let me go It was an hour at least after that third and last blow before I could get him to sleep and before day I also fell asleep In the morning being up before me I bid him look under the bed which he did but not so carefully as one possest with other apprehensions about the cause as he might have done I charged him not to speak to any until my self had first acquainted the Mistress of the house whom I knew an understanding discreet Gentlewoman It was about dinner-time before she came down to the Parlour and then as soberly as I could none being present but two of her daughters vertuous Gentlewomen I first
wary how they contradict or oppose and as much wisdom in men that are better acquainted with the world when they meet with such to be very sparing of their stories which have any thing of strangeness nor yet to be very peremptory or forward to contest lest that besides the offence that unseasonable pertinaciousness may give they wrong their own reputation and be accounted lyars or wonder-mongers though unjustly Others there be who because they have seen somewhat themselves or are not altogether unacquainted with Histories or the travels of others ground upon that somewhat so much that they will not believe or acknowledge to be true whatsoever is beyond their knowledge or hear-say when God knows a man had need to be almost as old as the Devil before he can take upon him to know or peremptorily to determine what the world doth afford Though not born yet I have lived a long time in England a very small portion of the world for extent of ground sometimes in one place sometimes but necessitated partly by the late troubles in another always studious to observe or to learn from others what every place afforded worthy the knowledge besides what might be learned by printed books without much pains Yet to this day I think my self but a stranger in it daily meeting with many things that I never heard of before But I have often admired at the confidence of some Travellers who if they have been but six moneths abroad it may be less say France or Italy they think and talk of it as though they knew it as perfectly as the Country or Parish where they were born and bred a great part of their life Nay some be so simple and ignorant that whatsoever they have observed in an Inne or single house as they passed by they will tell you confidently that so and so such is the fashion in France or Italy when it may be that they that have lived in either Country all their lives long never met or heard of any such thing Doth not every Country as England particularly consist of several Shires and Provinces or Counties and hath not every County their particular rites and customs not only different but even contrary He therefore that shall ascribe the particular customs of any one County as Yorkshire or Devonshire to England in general doth he not expose himself to the just censure and indignation of those that shall believe him when they shall come to know their error and make themselves ridiculous to others that have better knowledge of the Countrie Hence proceed variety of reports and relations even in printed books which may be true perchance of such a place at such a time particularly but generally for want of wit and more experience delivered are most false and happily ridiculous In a great fight ordinarily men think their relations very creditable that can say if honest civil men they were at it Whereas it is very possible and I have known such a thing in my time more than once that one man of the same fight shall report a flight and the other both present and actors a victory and both truly enough but not so wisely because what they have seen in one part of the Army they rashly or ignorantly apply unto the whole and perchance call that a victory so for the time perchance which before the day be over may be the occasion of a total rout It is the observation of learned Cambden Ita in pugnarum ratione qui rebus gerendis adfuerunt c. Englished by Bishop Carleton Thus it is in Bateel they who are present and actors report not always the same thing each reporting what himself observed This is very appliable to the relations of Travellers concerning the same places or Countries A man therefore had need to consider well if truth be his end and aim whom he doth believe in such things or how he speaks himself upon the credit of others honest men perchance â—â—d such as have no intention to deceive but of what judgment what experience yea and moderation that also must be taken into consideration or we may miss our end I add moderation because some men naturally passionate are so swayed by their interest whether of profit or meer affection that they think they speak truth sometimes when they speak that which to others of the same judgment as to the cause but without passion doth appear notoriously false These things observed many seeming contradictions in Histories may be reconciled and we the better prepared when we read or hear strange things to judge and discern what upon grounds of probability we may believe and what not I rather say so than what credible or incredible because as in the First Part hath been declared I allow not of many things besides what is against the faith as absolutely incredible because what is really impossible is beyond our skill absolutely to determine WHAT may be required of an Historian in general to deserve credit many have treated of it Of late writers among others that offer now themselves to my remembrance Bodinus in his Methodus Historiae a book well deserving to be read and by Melchior Canus sufficiently known in his Common Places are two But I have nothing to do with History or Historians here in general but only as they relate strange things which in their own nature may be thought by some incredible Of which nature every man knows Herodotus the Greek Historian so much admired for the sweetness of his style and the ancientest Historian now extant in the judgment of many to be Insomuch that of all Historians whereof any account is made he hath got the name of a fabulous writer Indeed he had not the luck to write of things of his own time or Country for the most part as Thucydides did except it be in the last books and what is worse not of things which many others now extant have written of so that most things must be believed upon his credit if we see cause or may be rejected as fabulous or incredible if we think fit because not confirmed by any other But they do him great wrong that ascribe all that he tells of that nature generally accounted fabulous or incredible as though he were the Author or inventer of such things or did deliver them unto us for things which himself believed or did expect that others should For for the first there is no probability that he who to satisfie himself of the truth of those things which he had heard would take such pains to travel into Aegypt yea all Aegypt in person with so much diligence as himself tells us in many places and not Aegypt only but some other more remote places as Syria Palestina and the like would make so bad use of his travels though some have done it I must confess Thovetus of late for one as to abuse his Readers with stories of his own devising when his own travels could furnish him
I hope stands not in need of mine or any mans testimony in England hath gone much further and seems absolutely to determine it as I do And it is very remarkable that this story of Ezekiah's miraculous deliverance is no less than three times related at large in the Scripture the second of Kings 18.13 Isaiah 36. 2 Chron. 32. so careful was the Author of it that the memory of it might be propagated to posterity And why should we not make much of this confirmation of it from the ancientest of prophane Historians Especially when some Christians have made bold as Torniellus doth tell us if not to deny it yet to speak of it very doubtfully Now against Herodotus if it should be objected by any that he is a fabulous writer though somewhat hath already and much more may be said to vindicate his credit yet in this particular their needs no answer at all For it is confirmation enough that in those days when the thing hapned and for a long time after the miracle was acknowledged and the fame of it abroad though mistaken and misrelated in some particulars HERODOTVS doth add that to his days Sethon his Statue was to be seen in the Temple of Vulcan holding a Mouse in his hand Which Mouse might be an ancient Hieroglyphick such as are to be seen in that famous Tabula Isiaca or Aegyptiaca which I once had in an entire piece but is now I hope to be seen in the publick Library of the University of Oxford exhibited in parcels by Pignorius with explications In that Table strange figures of men and monsters are exhibited holding all somewhat in their hands Birds Flowers Cups and I know not what all which to unriddle certainly for wild conjectures and phansies may be had would require a better Oedipus than any later ages have afforded And it is very probable which by the late Reverend and learned Archbishop of Armagh is hinted that those Aegyptians who informed Herodotus as some before had them took the opportunity of that Hieroglyphick the better to countenance their story of that miraculous if true deliverance afforded to their King by Mice because of a tradition current in many places in those days that Mice had done some such thing some where mentioned by Aristotle in his Rhetoricks and by divers others since him Whence also they write that Apollo the Deliverer by sending those Mice came to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in some Country did signifie a Mouse Another reason also besides this why Mice were sacred in some Countries is given by Aelian in his twelfth book De animalibus Were there no other considerable story there be many more and some that have reference to the Scripture in Herodotus but this yet this one would make me to prize the book not a little which hath made me the more willing to take notice of it And so of a fable an incredible thing as of a King of Aegypt if not altogether incredible yet not very probable we have brought it to a credible nay certain and sacred story I SHALL now proceed to the consideration of those great works of men which were to be seen in Herodotus his time and are very particularly described by him which subject the great work of those ancient times in general I have observed to ordinary men who know little more than the things of this age or have looked into former times but perfunctorily is a principal object of incredulity I remember I had a speech of Seneca in my First Part Homine imperito c. I might English it with little alteration That man is a silly man that knows no more than the things of his own days or age However they that are well acquainted with the state and stories past or present of China or America will not perchance have much occasion to wonder much at any thing in the Roman or Persian story or any other of former times out of which nevertheless I make no question but we shall produce such things which many when they see the evidences though they will not know how or will be ashamed to oppose yet will hardly be brought to believe So much is the world changed in these parts at least best known to us from what it hath been in former times I remember when I was a young Student in Oxford I know not by whose recommendation it may be my own Father's for he had a great opinion of it and publickly professed it but so it is that I was very busie upon Apuleius his Apology for himself a serious Apology indeed for it was for his life being accused of Magick before the Governor of the place and answered for himself in person Happy therein for I think scarce any then living for eloquence wherein he is much unlike himself in all his other writings wit and all manner of learning could have performed it as he did so that he got off more for his excellent parts than for his innocency in that particular But whilest I was upon that book both with delight and admiration I met with one passage amongst the rest which I did much stick at About the end where he doth endeavour to clear himself of that which among other particulars was laid to his charge that he had bewitched a rich woman to get her love and by her love and marriage her means among other things that he doth answer for himself one is that though her wealth was great for a private woman of no power or dignity yet the dowry agreed upon was but small very small and secondly that wealth was not the thing he looked after in marrying her he doth argue because soon after he perswaded her to make over a considerable part of her estate to her sons among other particulars part of her family that is as the word is usually taken in the Civil Law part of her slaves and servants Now the number that she parted with there expressed is four hundred and I could not but think in reason that she would keep one half at least to her self So that upon that account this woman rich indeed and so accounted yet a private woman such a one as Apuleius doth maintain that had no reason being somewhat in years to despise him a young man neither for his person nor estate nor endowments of mind despicable this woman I say must be mistress of no less than seven or eight hundred servants This then to me seemed strange and almost incredible But afterwards when better acquainted with the state of the world at that time and for many ages before I thought nothing of it The truth is some thousands of servants and slaves in the estate of a wealthy Roman was no very extraordinary thing But then we must add the multitude of servants or slaves was that which made many rich in those days which they that do not understand wonder many times where there is no cause
Kings order brought to Paris and by him bought to be kept in his Cabinet of rarities as the very bones of a Gyant This Riolanus doth not deny Peireskius that great and famous Antiquary upon accurate examination of all circumstances did at first pass his verdict that probably they might be true bones of some great Gyant of the old time but afterwards did rather incline to think them the bones of an Elephant Riolanus after some conjectures doth pitch upon that at the last to make them fossilia bred and begot in the earth because saith he it is the property of some grounds to produce some bony stones or stony bones which have all the properties of true bones Or that they might be made by art which may be done he saith and in time thus metamorphosed by the water He hath more conjectures but in this particular case for as to the nature of the Fossilia in general and the marvellous works of nature in this kind I believe much but in this particular case in my judgment so improbable that it doth to me clearly appear that he had more will to oppose others than ability to give better satisfaction himself His exceptions from the dimensions or properties of the bones as first related I shall not take upon me to examine or to control it is not my trade Only I can say there might be some mistake in the relation or somewhat besides the ordinary course of nature which doth happen we know sometimes I my self when I was young did see a grave in Spittle-fields two or three days after it was opened The skull was broken in pieces by him that digged the ground and the pieces scattered and some carried away But by some pieces that were found and put together the whole skull by the Kings appointment as I was told being drawn out according to art did equal a bushel in the compass of it So I was told and I think by one of the Court and a Scholar but I am not certain I my self was then sick of a disease which I think caused more wonder than the Gyants bones It was but a pin but a very costly pin it proved in the compass of seven years for so long it was not before it came out of my body but before my body was well of it so that I was seldom out of the Chirurgeons hands But Physicians I thank God cost me little Sir Theod. Mayerne and Dr. Raphael Thoris I had in London where most of my sickness was who were my very good friends as they had been my Fathers But to return I had some of the Coins that were found in this Spittle-field's Grave But that other Grave is my business That that Grave should be the Grave of Teutobochus that Gyant or Gyant-like man mentioned by divers Ancients who according to Peireskius his casting must have been some 10. or 12. foot high according to an old inscription pretended to be found in the said grave besides other reasons that have been given I less believe it for that very inscription which I am sure cannot be of that antiquity except we should say that such a grave being digged up many hundred years ago which by a constant tradition or by some much worn inscription did appear to be Teutobochus his grave to increase the miracle of his height and bigness it was of purpose so re-built and the inscription also according the wit and genius of that age so renewed This is possible a man may say and somewhat of that nature I am sure hath been done in more than one age Witness the old Statues which with changing of their heads became the Statues of divers men or perchance of Gods and Men successively and many other things done in that kind which I will not stop to call to mind because there is no need except I had more confidence that it is so indeed I shall conclude nothing but as I begun when I have well considered of all particulars in the relation of these bones what I account certain in it what doubtful and perchance fabulous and read what others have thought and written of it and not of this only but of many such relations of graves and bones well attested I am at a stand and suspend my belief But therefore to conclude that all such relations are false because we cannot absolutely resolve or answer all doubts and Queres I hold that a very preposterous way and very unworthy the profession of a Philosopher or one that seeks after truth time may reveal many secrets which are now hid and diligent searching may find some but well agreeing with the dull and sottish Epicuraean humour which to prevent the trouble of inquiry and withal fearing that we may be forced sometimes to go to a higher cause than the sanctuary of Atomes hath found a compendious way to reject all as fabulous any evidence of truth to the contrary notwithstanding which it cannot give a reason of We have their own words out of Lucian a great friend if not professor of the Sect in our Preface to Dr. Dâ—e's Plato therefore said well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that To wonder and to admire was a quality that well became a Philosopher and was indeed the beginning and foundation of all Philosophy And so Aristotle too more than once very rightly For to wonder and admire doth cause inquiry and diligence it also sharpens the wit and brain But to believe nothing true that is strange and admirable doth well become such infidels who make their ease and their pleasure their God If any except that rather to wonder little Nil admirari the Poet saith may become a Philosopher better as he whose work is to dive into the causes of things which cause wonder to the ignorant that may be true too rightly understood since that not to wonder or to wonder but little is the fruit of having wondred much and that too from Aristotle that true master of reason indeed a title lately usurped by some who have as little right to it as any men of the world I think 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But what if the deceitfulness of men more than the obscurity of nature or any other cause be the cause of our admiration That also must upon such occasions among other things be remembred and those Etruscae Antiquitates before spoken of may serve for a pregnant example what pains some men though they get nothing by it will take to contrive a cheat and what admiration they cannot by true to raise it by false miracles What if some men though they cannot contrive any thing that will be ripe to work whilest they live yet can be so base and unworthy as to solace themselves whilest they live with the presumption of deluded posterity by their means So indeed it might happen that four or five hundred years before that grave was opened in Daulphine some such conceited man if man to be called and not Devil rather