remedy for a disease so vneurable as this is accounted to be LU. Seeing we are in thys discourse of byrthes it were not amisse that we knewe in what space a woman may beare child so that the same may liue and be accounted lawful AN. This matter hath been handled by many authors which giue vs light herein The Lawiers say that in the 7 month taking therof some dayes away and in the tenth month likewise the birth may be called lawfull as one of their digests beginning septimo mense and diuers other declareth and Iustinianus in his Autentick of restitutions The Philosophers and Phisitions debate thereof more at large Pliny sayeth that the child borne in the eighth moneth may liue which is directly against the experience we haue and the opinion we generally hold thereof for we see that those children doe not liue which are borne in the seauenth moneth vnlesse they are borne iust at the time complet hee holdeth besides that the birth of eleuen moneths is lawfull and so hee sayeth that the mother of Suillius Rufus was deliuered of him at the end of eleuen moneths Other Philosophers haue held opinion that a woman may goe with child till the thirteenth moneth but to rehearse all their opinions were neuer to make an end he that seeketh to be satisfied heerein may reade Aristotle Aulus Gellius and many more Authors Phisitions which intreate copiously thereof it is sufficient for vs that wee haue said so much in a matter which we haue so sildome occasion to know or vnderstand BER This matter in truth is fitter for Phisitions to discourse of then for vs but in the meane time I would faine know what these Hermophrodites are vvhich I heard Signior Ludouico euen now say were so common to the Aegiptian women LV. This matter is so common that there is scarsely any one ignorant but that there are often children borne with two natures the one of a man the other of a woman though diuers times the one of so slender force and weake that it serueth not for other then to shewe what Nature can doe when she pleaseth but some there are though rare which are as fully puissant in the one nature as in the other of the first sort I knew a married woman my selfe which it was well knowne had also the nature of a man but without any force or effect though in her countenance and iesture there appeared a kind of manlines of the other sort also there are diuers and amongst the rest there was one in Burgos who beeing commaunded to choose whether nature she would exercise the vse of the other being forbidden her vpon paine of death made choise of that of the feminine sort but afterwards being accused that she secretly vsed the other vnder colour therof committed great abhomination she was found guilty and burned AN. I haue heard that there was another the like burned in Seuilia for the selfe same cause but in these parts we hold it for a great wonder that men should haue the nature of vvomen or women of men Yet Pliny alleadgeth the Philosopher Califanes which was with Alexander Magnus in his conquest of the Indies who sayth that amongst the Nasamans there is a people called Androgini who are al Hermophrodites and vse in their embracements without any difference as wel the one nature as the other But we would scarcely beleeue this being so vnlikely were it not confirmed by Aristotle which saith that these Androgins haue the right teate like a man the left with which they nourish their babes like a vvoman BER This matter seemeth vnto me very nevv strange neither doe I remember that euer I heard the like but there are so many things in the vvorld aboue our capacity that I hold it not impossible especially being affirmed for true with the authority of so graue authors though me thinks this Country must needes be very farre from those which are now of late discouered in India LV. I cannot choose but merualie much hereat and I beleeue that it is some influence or constellation or else the property of the Country it selfe which ingendreth the people in such sort as we see other Countries bring forth people of diuers complexions qualities conditions But now seeing we haue so long discoursed of births as wel cōmon natural as vnnatural rare it were not amisse if we said somwhat of such as are prodigious monstrous so far beyond that wonted order and rule of Nature which she is accustomed to obserue AN. It is true that there hath been seene diuers births admirable monstrous which either proceed frō the wil and permission of God in whose hands all things are or els throgh some causes and reasons to vs not reuealed though many of them by coniectures tokens com afterwards to be discouered which though they perfectly cōclude not the demonstration of the true cause yet giue they vs a great liklihood apparance to gesse thereat It is a thing naturall to all children to giue a turn in their mothers belly to come into the world with the head forwards yet this generall rule oftentimes faileth some come forth thwartlong some with their body double neither of the which can liue their body is so crusht and broken the mothers also of such are in exceeding danger Others come to be borne with their feet forward which is also passing dangerous as well for the mother as the child vnlesse they chaunce to come foorth with their armes hanging down close by their sides vvhich if they hold vpward or croswise they crush them or put them out of ioynt so that fevve such liue Of these cam the linage of Agrippas in Rome which is as much to say as Aegrè parti brought forth in paine and cōmonly those that are so borne are held to be vnlucky of short life Some say that Nero was so borne of his mother Agrippina who though he seemed in obtaining the Empire to be fortunate yet in losing it so soon with a death so infamous his end proued him vnfortunate miserable It happeneth also sometimes that the mothers die and that the children by opening their sides are taken out aliue come to liue doe vvell Of these was Scipio Affrican which was therfore the first that was called Caesar another Romaine Gentleman called Manlius as Pliny vvriteth in his seauenth booke BER It is a matter so true notorious that there is no dout to be made therof which we read in the chronicles of Spaine of the birth of Don Sanches Garcia king of Nauarre vvhose mother Donna Ursaca being at a place called Baruban to take her pleasure in the fields vvas by certaine Mores which of a sodaine came thither to spoile and make booty thrust into the body vvith a speare in such sort that the babe vvith which she went great appeared out of the wound as though
feele anguish and payne And if you be desirous to see many particularities and the seuerall opinions of diuers learned Authors read Caelius Rodiginus in his second Booke De Antiquis Lectionibus where hee discourseth copiously thereof But now for not digressing frō the principall let vs come to that which they call Phantasma the vvhich hath his beginning in the fantasie which is a vertue in Man called by an other name Imaginatiue and because thys vertue beeing mooued worketh in such sort that it causeth in it selfe the thinges feigned and imagined to seem present though in truth they are not Wee say also that the thinges which vanish away so soone as we haue seene them are fantasies seeming to vs that wee deceaue our selues and that we sawe them not but that they were onely represented in our fansie But thys is in such sort that sometimes we trulie see them indeed and other times our imagination fansie so present them to our view that they deceaue vs and wee vnderstand not whether they were things seene or imagined and therefore as I thinke comes it that wee call the thinges which we really see Visions and others which are fantasticated and represented in the fantasie Fancies vvhether of which this was that hapned in Fuentes de Ropell I know not but sure I am that it was as true as strange neither is the place so farre distant beeing onely two miles hence but that you may by infinite witnesses be thorowly resolued of the veritie thereof There lyued about 30. yeeres since a Gentleman of good account called Anthonio Costilla who of the vvhich I my selfe can giue good witnesse was one of the valiantest hardiest men of all the Country for I haue beene present at some broyles byckerings of his in which I haue seen him acquite himselfe with incredible courage and valour Insomuch that beeing somewhat haughtie and suffering no man to ouercrowe him he had many enemies thereabouts which caused him wheresoeuer he went to goe alwayes well prouided so that one day riding from his owne house to a place called Uilla Nueua hauing vnder him a good Ginet and a strong Launce in his hand when he had doone his businesse the night cōming on and the same very darke he lept a horse back and put himselfe on his way homeward comming to the end of the Village where stoode a Chappell in the forepart or portall of which there was a lettice window within the same a Lampe burning thinking that it shoulde not be wel done to passe any further without saying his prayers hee drewe neere vnto the same saying his deuotions a horseback where whiles hee so remained looking into the Chappell hee savve three visions like Ghostes issue out of the middest thereof seeming to come out from vnder the ground to touch the height of the roufe with their heads As he had beheld them awhile the haire of his head began to stand an end so that being somewhat affrighted he turned his horse bridle and rode away but he had no sooner lyfted vp his eyes when hee sawe the three visions going together a little space before him seeming as it were to beare him company so that commending himselfe to God blessing him selfe many times he turned his horse spurring him from one side to another but wheresoeuer hee turned they were alwaies before his eyes vvhereupon seeing that he coulde not be rid of them putting spurres to his horse he ranne at them as hard as he could with his Launce but it seemed that the visions went and mooued themselues according to the same compasse wherein hee guided his horse for if he went they went if he ranne they ranne if he stood still they stood still alwaies keeping one euen distance from him so that hee was perforce constrained to haue them in his company till hee came to his owne house before which there was a great court or yard opening the gate of which after hee was lighted of his horse as he entred he found the same visions before him and in this manner came hee to the doore of a lodging where his wife was at which knocking and beeing let in the visions vanished away but hee remained so dismayed and changed in his colour that his wife thinking hee had receaued some wounde or mishap by his enemies often asked him the cause of this his deadly countenaunce alteration and seeing that he would not reueale the same vnto her she sent for a friende of his that dwelt thereby a man of good qualitie and of singuler learning and integritie of life who presently comming and finding him in that perplexity importuned him vvith such instance that at last he recounted vnto him the particularity of each thing that had hapned He being a very discrete man making no exterior shewe of vvonder or amazement bad him be of good courage and shake off that dismaiment with many other comfortable perswasions causing him to goe to supper and from thence brought him to his bedde in which leauing him layd with light burning by him he vvent forth because he would haue him take his rest and sleep but hee was scarcely gone out of his chamber when Anthonio Costilla began with a loud skrietch to cry out for help wherevpon he with the rest entring into the chamber and demaunding the cause of this outcry he told them that hee was no sooner left alone but that the three visions came to him againe and made him blind with throwing dust vpon his eyes which they had scraped out of the ground which in trueth thed found it to be so from that time forward therefore they neuer left him vnaccompanied but all profited nothing for the seauenth day without hauing had Ague or any other accident he departed out of this world LV. If there were present heere any Phisition hee would not leaue to affirme and maintaine that this proceeded of some melancholly humor ruling in him with such force that he seemed really to behold that which was represented in his fantasie BER The same also may wel be for many times it seemeth that we see things which in deed we doe not being deceaued through the force of our imagination and perchance this of those visions may be the like who being once represented in the imagination of fancie had force to work those effects and the humor which caused the same encreasing through amazement and feare might at last procure death yet for all this I will not leaue to beleeue but that these visions were some Spirits who taking those bodies of ayre earth water or fire or mingling for that effect any of those Elements together came to put so great amazement in this man that the same was cause of his death AN. In all things which by certaine knowledge cannot be throughly approoued there neuer want diuers and contrary opinions so that in this diuersity of iudgements I would rather impute it to the worke of Spirits then to any
and ho through pure feare made her to confesse it but on such condition that hee should forgiue her and neuer disclose word thereof to anie man liuing therupon reuealing vnto him all the secret misteries of her wicked and damnable science which her husband hearing began to enter into a great desire to see the manner of theyr meetings whereupon beeing agreed to goe together the selfe same night after shee had craued leaue of sathan to admit her husband they both anoynted them selues and were carryed to the wicked assembly and place of their execrable and pestiferous delights The man after hauing gazed about him awhile diligently beheld all that passed sate himselfe downe at a table with the rest furnished with sundry and diuers sorts of daintie meates to the eye seeming delicate and good but in proofe of a very sowre and vnpleasant tast of which when he had prooued diuers finding them all to be of a most vnfauorie relish he began to call for salt because there was none at all vpon the table but seeing the bringing of the same delayd he began to be more importunat in crauing it at last one of the deuils to please him set a salt-seller on the table but hee beeing vnmindfull of his vviues admonishment which vvas that hee shoulde there in no wise speake any word that vvere good holie seeing the salt come at last after so long calling for God blesse vs quoth he I thought it would neuer haue come which word he had no sooner spoken but all that euer was there vanished away with a most terrible noyse tempest leauing him for a great while in a traunce out of which so soone as he came to himselfe recouering his spirits sence hee founde himselfe naked in a field amongst certaine hilles where walking vp and downe in great sadnes and anguish of spirit so soone as the day came hee met with certaine Sheepheards o whom demaunding what country the same vvas he perceiued by theyr aunswere that he was aboue a hundred miles from his owne house to which with much a doe making the best shift he could at last he returned and made relation of all this which you haue heard before the Inquisitors whereupon his wife and diuers others whō he accused were apprehended arraigned found guihie and burnt AN. I am gladde that you were put in minde to recite this history which truly is very strange though I haue often reade and heard of the like for that which concerneth this kind of people is no new matter but very auncient Many very old Authours write much of them and of Witches Negromancers and Enchaunters no lesse pestilent and pernitious to humaine kinde then these others sith leauing to be men they became to be deuils in their works of which sort there haue beene very many famous or rather infamous in the world as Zoroastes Lucius Apuleius Apolonius Tyaneus and many others of whom there is now no knowledge or memory because Historiographers haue not vouchsafed to write of thē as men not worthy to be commended to the posterity as for this our time the number of them is the more the pitty too great which though they professe the faith of Christ yet they are not ashamed to confederate themselues with the deuill and to doe their works in the name of Belzebub as the Pharisies sayd of our Sauiour and for a small contentment in this worlde make no account of the perdition of theyr soules though for the greatest part also they neuer enioy heere any great prosperity or euer come to any good successe for commonly their confederate the deuill bringeth them to a shamefull end procuring the discouery of their wickednes and so consequently punishment for the same which if one amongst twenty here escapeth yet in the other world he is assured perpetually to fry in the fire of hell But leauing these let vs now come to another sort of them who handle the matter in such sort that they wil scarcely be knowne what they are these are Charmers the which as it seemeth haue a perticuler gift of God to heale the biting of mad dogs to preserue people cattell from being endomaged by them These as they say are known in that they haue the wheele of S. Katherin in the roof of their mouth or in som other part of their body who thogh in my iudgement it cannot be denied but that they doe great help in such like things yet to heare their prayers coniurations grosse clownish phrases would moue a man to laughter though they to whō they vse them seeme to recouer therby their health AN. This is a strange people but truly this gift or vertue of theirs is much to be doubted of seeing for the most part as Frier Franciscus de Victoria saith they are base forlorne people of ill example in their life somtimes such as boast make their vaunts of more thē they can accomplish and I haue heard that some of them wil creepe into a red hot Ouen without danger of burning BE. I cannot think that any man hath particuler grace to doe this but rather that he doth it by the help in the name of the deuil LV. No doubt but many of them doe so though there are also som to whom God hath imparted particuler graces and vertues as those of whom Pliny writeth alleaging the authority of Crates Pergamenus that there is in Hellespont a kind of men called Ophrogens who with only touching heale the wounds made by serpents vpon which imposition of their hands they presently purge cast out auoid all the poyson venom with which they are infected and Varro saith that in the same Country there are men which with their spettle heale the biting of Serpents and it may be that these were all one people Isigonus and Nimphodorus affirme that there is in Affrica a certaine people whose sight causeth all those things to perrish vpon which it is intentiuely fixed so that the very trees wither and the children die there-with The selfe same Isigonus sayeth that in the Country of the Tribals and Ilyrians there is a certaine kind of people which in beholding any one with frowning eyes if they detaine their sight any while vpon them doe cause them to die and Solinus writeth the like of certayne vvomen among the Scythians Pirrhus King of Epyrotes as Plutarch testifieth in his lyfe had such vertue in the greate toe of his right foote that vvho so euer had a sore mouth if hee touched him there-with was helped presentlie and some Authors vvrite that hee healed also many other infirmities there-vvith As for the King of Fraunce it is a thing notorious to all menne that hee hath a particuler grace and vertue in healing the Lamparones or Kinges Euill and it may bee that as GOD hath imparted these graces to many and sundry kindes of people so also may hee endue some of these menne of vvhich wee
so strange which for the true proofe and vnderstanding whereof were necessary to be seene with our eyes for confirmation whereof though there be many most sufficient reasons and proofes yet I haue not reade heerein any Author which auoucheth his own knowledge and sight whereas me thinkes if these Regions were so short as by this computation of degrees the Authors seeme to make them there should not haue wanted curious men to discouer the particularities of them howe great so euer the difficulty or danger had beene in doing the same which if they had done they should perchaunce haue found many things farre otherwise then they deemed at least touching some particularities of which some later Writers vaunt to haue in part experience of which seeing we our selues are able to giue no assured testimony of sight I thinke it best that we leaue them to those whose curious industry wil omit no paine to attaine vnto the perfect searching out of things so worthy to be known and seeing the Auncients which went sifting out these matters confesse that from the same Land came Virgins to bring their first fruits to the temple of Apollo in Delos belike there was then some known way the passage betweene nothing so difficill as it nowe seemeth vnto vs which beeing to vs vnknowne and the manner howe to trauaile and passe through those cold Regions beset with deepe Snow thicke Ice wide Riuers painefull high Hils fearefull low Valleyes vnaccessible Desarts and all kinds of cruell wild Beasts we leaue them vnuoyaged not seeking any way whereby we may penetrate into them and attaine the cognition of their particulers in a manner concealed and hidden from vs of which though some fewe of the hether parts thereof were knowne by relation of some painefull and industrious men who affirmed that they had seene them yet the greatest part was by coniectures considerations and probable argumentes though the curiosity of our times hath passed a little farther because as I haue sayde they are eye-witnesses of part of that which wee haue discouered of as I will tell you straight but all shall be little to giue vs such perfect and particuler knowledge of this part of the worlde that we may discourse thereof as of the others which we know Some Authors will haue this Land to be in Asia others in Europe but in whether it be the matter is not great alwayes if it be in Europe then is Europe not so little a part of the earth as they make it of vvhich if they will set the limits there as the Auncients say it finished then must these Regions before time vndiscouered be another nevve part of the world and so they should make foure parts therof or fiue with that which is newly discouered thereof in the West Indies BER I vvonder not much if men haue not so good notice of those partes of which wee haue discoursed neere the one and neere the other Pole and of that vvhich runneth out by the Coast of the North towardes the West because besides the great sharpnes and rigour of the cold we haue no cōuersation at all with the enhabitants of those parts nor they with vs neither is there any cause to mooue eyther them or vs thereunto vnlesse it be the curiositie of some that thirst after the vniuersal knowledge of all things in the world as did Marcus Paulus Venetus who for this cause only trauailed so great a part of the worlde as any man that euer I heard of till this day Truth it is that some Kings and Princes through couetous desire of enlarging their dominions as you shall hereafter vnderstand haue entered so far as they could conquering into these parts which they found neyther ouer all enhabited neyther yet so desert but that it was in manie places and the greater part therof peopled and not so far one from another but that they had knowledge conuersation traffique together And as in these Countries and Prouinces of ours we finde one soyle plaine temperate and pleasant and another quite contrary sharpe barren and vnfruitfull subiect to boystrous winds harsh ayres and continuall snow wherewith some mountaines are all the yeere long couered so that no man will frame in them his habitation So likewise in these extreame Regions of the North no doubt but there are some parts of them vninhabited as those which Pliny Soline and the before remembred Authors terme condemned of Nature yet there want not wayes and compasses in cyrcling about them to discouer that which is enhabited on the other side and though with difficultie yet in fine Nature would not leaue to prouide an open way to the end that this Land should not remaine perpetually hidden and vnknown LV. I remember I haue seene in Paulus Iouius in a chapter which hee made of Cosmography abbreuiated in the beginning of his History these words speaking of the Kingdomes of Denmarke and Norway and the Landes beyond them Of the Nature saith he of these Lands of the peoples that liue beyond them called Pigmaei Ictiophagi which are those that liue by fishes now newly discouered in whose Country by a certaine order of the Heauen of that constellation the dayes and nights are equall which I will make mention in their place AN. Mee thinkes there are many that touch this matter promising to write largely thereof without doing it and if they doe it it is euen as they list themselues because there is no man to controle them and as for Paulus Iouius himselfe all that he wrote of this Country was by the relation of a Muscouian Embassadour in Rome In one place hee saith that the Muscouites border vpon the Tartaryans and that towards the North they are accounted the vtmost dwellers of the worlde and that towardes the West they confine with the Danske Sea And in another place the Muscouites sayth he who are seated betweene Polonia and Tartaria confine with the Ryphaean mountaines enhabite towards the Septentryon in the vtmost bounds of Europe and Asia extending themselues ouer the Lakes of the Riuer Tanays euē to the Hyperborean mountaines and that part of the Ocean which they call the Frozen Sea These are his wordes in which truly he hath little reason for the vtmost Land that the Muscouites possesse is where the day and night continue 3. months long a peece so that they cannot be called the last enhabitants of the earth for those whose day and night is of sixe months are farder North and neerer the Pole then they so that in fine as I sayd before touching these matters which cannot be seene without such difficultie those that entreat of them goe by gesse coniecturing thereat by the probabilitie of reasons considerations LU. As I imagine this countrey must be very great where the daies are so long in encreasing and decreasing and more if there be on the other side of the North before you come at the Sea so much other land of force it
of but the most part tooke it to be the iust iudgement of God vvhom it pleased to make this man an example to the vvorld in suffering him to end his dayes so miserably and to haue his tong torne out of his head and carried away for he vvas noted to be a great outragious swearer and blasphemer of Gods holy name vvhile hee liued LU. And may it not be that the vvhirle-vvind catching this man in the midst thereof might haue povver to vvorke these effects as vvell as vvhole Rocks to be vvhirled vp and trees to be turned vp by the rootes by the furious buffing together of vvindes when they meete AN. I confesse vnto you that the force of whirle-windes are very great and that they worke often very dangerous and damageabe effects as that which destroyed Algadefres ouerthrowing the houses and buildings and making them all flat with the earth in like sort it is passing dangerous at Sea when two contrary winds take a ship betweene them for sildome or neuer any shippe so taken escapeth but as for this which happened in Benauides I cannot iudge it to be other then the worke of the deuill through the permission of God as by two reasons it appeareth the first that they being two men together the one was saued the other that the dead mans tongue was wanting could not be found LU. You haue satisfied vs as concerning the power which the deuil hath and the limitation thereof therfore passe on I pray you with your former discourse AN. The fourth kind of Spirits are those which are in the waters as well the Sea as Floods Riuers and Lakes these neuer cease to raise damps and stormes persecuting those which saile putting them in great and fearefull dangers through violent and raging tempests procuring to destroy and drowne the ships also through the ayde of monsters rocks and shallowes which are in the Sea the like doe those of the Riuers guiding in such sort the Boates that they make them to ouerturne and causing those that swimme to entangle them selues in sedge or weeds or bringing them into some pits or holes where they cannot get out and finally by all meanes possible they persecute and molest them so far as the limitation of their power extendeth The fifth kind of Spirits are those which are in the Caues vautes of the earth where they lie in waite to entrap those that digge in Mines and Wells and other workes vnder the ground whose death and destruction they couet and procure as much as they may These cause the motions and tremblings of the earth through the ayde of the windes which are therein enclosed whereby whole Citties are often in danger to be swallowed vp especially those which are built neere the Sea whole mountaines are heereby throwne downe infinite peoples destroyed yea and sometimes the Sea heereby breaketh into the Land wasting deuouring whatsoeuer it findeth before it The sixth and last kinde of Spirits are those who are in the Abysmes place whose name is Hell whose principall and proper office is besides the paines which they endure to torment the damned soules This is the place where is no order at all as sayth Iob but continuall feare horror and amazement BE. Seeing you haue declared vnto vs how many sorts of Spirits there are tell vs also I pray you whether they haue bodies or no because I haue often beaten my braines about this secrete without finding any man that could herein resolue me AN. You may well call it a secret considering the diuers opinions that are thereof for many say that they are pure Spirits as Apuleius who made himselfe so well acquainted with them writeth that there is a kinde of Spirits who are alwayes free from the strings and bonds of the body of vvhich number is Sleepe and Loue whom he termeth spirits vvhereby he seemeth to confesse that there are others which haue bodyes so thinketh S. Basile who attributeth bodies not only to these Spirits but also to the Angels The like is vnderstood by the words of Pselius They who followe this opinion alleage for the maintenance thereof the wordes of the Prophet Dauid where he saith He which maketh his Angels spirits and his ministers of fire c. They alleage also S. Augustine to haue beene of the same opinion saying that the Angels before theyr fall had all their bodies formed of the superior purest part of the Ayre and such those haue as yet which remained guiltlesse of Lucifers offence the bodies of whose followers were turned into a thicker and grosser ayre to the end they might be therein more tormented But the Maister of Sentences sayth in his second booke that this is not Saint Augustines opinion but falsely attributed vnto him and so the common opinion of all the holy Doctors is that both the Angels and deuils are pure Spirits as S. Thomas and Saint Iohn Damascene and S. Gregory who aunswere most sufficientlie to such doubts as may herevpon be mooued as how they may feele suffer and receaue punishment though Gaudencius Merula defend the contrary saying that thinges incorporat cannot onely suffer or receaue feeling of any bodily paine but that also to feele them in vnderstanding is vnpossible But as for this opinion holde it for a manifest error for truly Gaudencius in some of his opinions goeth farre vvide of the marke If I should heere rehearse each of the seuerall Doctors opinions I should beginne an endlesse worke leauing them therefore I will come to the poynt indeed that which the rest confesse to be the generall opinion as I sayde before of all or the most part of the holy Doctors of the Church which is that the Angels when it is necessarie doe fashion make vnto thēselues visible bodies for the effects which they pretend as we finde in many places of the holie Scripture whether it be of ayre thickned of fire or of earth it maketh no matter but that so it is see what is written of the three Angels that came to the house of Abraham in the likenesse of three beautifull young men and the Angell Gabriell appeared to the glorious virgine in a most goodlie forme and figure when he brought her the salutation The selfe same is permitted to deuils in their operations whose bodies though we call fantasticall because they vanish presentlie away yet they verily are visible bodies formed of some such substance as I said before but the same is so fine and delicate that it straight dissolueth vanisheth And because this is to the purpose of that which you asked mee and which we now discourse of I haue so lightlie passed ouer all the rest for there haue not wanted Doctors vvhich affirme the deuils to be in such manner bodily that they haue neede of foode vvherewith to sustaine themselues and that they feare stoute men and flie from theyr sharpe vveapons and that beeing striken they
melancholly passion or humor and perchaunce if these visions had not had sufficient force through this amazement to procure his death yet would they haue been cause vnto him of som other secret infirmity but howsoeuer it was it was by the secret permission of GOD the which we comprehend not and therefore it were in vaine to trouble our selues more about it BER Many the like things happen in the world full of admiration as well for the terror of their effects as for the mistery of their causes which we conceaue not Of which sort was that which happened in Bolonia to Iohn Vasques de Ayola the verity of which I haue found to be approued by most certaine indubitable proofes LV. I haue heard this often as a thing whose truth is not to be doubted of but seeing you vndertooke to tell it I pray you goe forward with the same BER I will tell it you as it was told me as it is both in Bolonia and Spaine by infinite testimonies confirmed This Ayola in his youth with other Spaniards his companions comming to Bolonia with intention to remaine there and to study the Lawes as many of his other Country-men did and finding at the first no conuenient lodging wherin they might commodiously remaine so as for their study was necessary as they went enquiring vp downe the streetes they met with three or foure Gentlemen of the Towne of whom they demanded if they could adresse them to any good place where they might abide being strangers newly come out of Spaine and vnacquainted the one of the Gentlemen smiling made them aunswere that if they desired to haue a commodious house he would furnish them with one poynting to a goodly great house in the same streete whose dores and windowes were fast closed vp and that without any rent or hire at all at which liberall offer of his the Spanish Studients being somwhat abashed thought surely that hee had iested with them till another of the Bolonians tolde them that the same was in deede spoken merily because the same house had beene mured well twelue yeeres since no man in all this space daring liue within the same by reason of the fearefull visions and sights which are there vsually seene and heard by night so that the owner sayth he hath giuen ouer and abandoned it as a thing lost because there is not any man found so hardy that dare aduenture to abide there onely one night If the matter be no greater then this quoth Ayola let him deliuer me the keyes and I and my companions will God willing goe liue in the same come what will The Gentleman hearing this their resolute answer told them that if they required the keies they would cause them to be deliuered vnto them with many thanks besides vvherevpon finding them still persist in their determination they brought them to the owner of the house who laying many terrors before their eyes seeing them not regard the same but rather to laugh thereat caused the doores to be vnrammed opened and deliuering them the keyes put them in possession of the house assisting theÌ„ besides with some necessary houshold-stuffe the rest that wanted they prouided for themselues so that being furnisht of all thinges they tooke vp their lodging in a chamber that opened into a great Hall hiring a woman that dwelt there without to dresse their victuals for they could not finde any that dared serue them within the house All those of Bolonia stood intentiue to behold the successe of this matter the Spaniards only making a mockery thereof for hauing beene there aboue thirty dayes they had neuer seene nor heard any thing so that they held all that which was said to be a meere fable but within a while after the two being one night laid downe to sleepe Ayola remaining at his study towards midnight he heard of a sodaine a great brute noise as if it had been the clattering of many chaines together vpon which growing into some alteration he imagined presently with him selfe the same to be without doubt the vision which was wont to be seene in this house therefore determined to goe waken his companions but being about to goe it seemed that his hart failed him so that he was as it were forced to attend the euent of this alone after he had listned intentiuely a while he perceiued that the same noise cam vp the great staires of the hall so that pulling vp his spirits coÌ„mending himselfe to God with a good hart blessing himselfe many times taking in one hand his sword in the other a candel lighted he went out of his chaÌ„ber and put himselfe in the midst of the Hall for the chaines though the noise they made were great seemed to come very leasurely standing so a while he might see com towards him throgh the dore that opened to the staires a fearful vision that affrighted him extreamely made all his haire stand an end for it was the carkas of a very great man only knit together by the bones without any flesh at all like the forme wherin death is painted he was tied about the legs round about the body with certain chaâ—â—es which he drew trailing along so staied himselfe the one the other stood still beholding a while till at length Ayola recouering courage seeing that the vision moued not began to coniure him with the greatest holiest wordes that his feare suffered him to imagine to tell him what the thing was which he sought or desired and to let him vnderstand if he needed any thing promising him his helpe assistance so farre as he possibly could The vision laide his armes a crosse and making shew that hee receaued gratefully this offer seemed to recommend himselfe vnto him Ayola bad him againe tell him if he would haue him goe with him to any place The vision bowed downe his head pointed to the staires whence he came Ayola bad him goe on before in Gods name promising stedfastly to follow him whether so euer hee went vpon which the vision began to returne whence he came going with great space and leasure seeming to be so clogged with the chaines that he could goe no faster Ayola following him as he came to the midst of the staires whether through the wind or that he trembled in seeing himselfe alone with such company his candell went out so that his amazement feare was much greater then before yet gathering together his spirits as well as he might he said to the vision thou seest that my candell is out therefore stay heere a while I will goe light him and come presently back againe where-vpon going backe kindling the same in the fire he returned finding the vision in the selfe same place where hee left him so that the one the other going on a new they past through the whole house and came into a Court and from thence into a great
other fortune then the will and prouidence of GOD which ruleth and gouerneth all things but when we will stretch our selues farther vvee may say that Fortune coÌ„senting in Natura naturans which is God himselfe is part of Natura naturata being his operations I say part because of the definition of Aristotle others who attribute no more to her then accidentall causes so that Nature working in all other naturall thinges Fortune is more straightly limited in her workes and is inferiour to Natura naturata and the selfe same is to be vnderstood of that which wee call Chaunce BE. In this manner there is none other Chaunce nor Fortune but onely the will and prouidence of God seeing that thereon depend all successes and chaunces as well prosperous as aduerse AN. You haue said the truth and so are the wordes of Lactantius to be vnderstood in his 3. booke De diuinis institutionibus which are thus Let not those enuie at vs to whom God manifested the truth for as we well know Fortune to be nothing c. Comming therfore to the conclusion of this matter I say that we imitate the Gentiles in vsing this name of Fortune Chaunce as they did adding thereunto Hap Mishap Good luck Bad luck Felicity and Infaelicitie in an inferiour degree as it were vnto them when in pure truth there is neither Chaunce nor Fortune in such sort as they vnderstoode them and as yet many Christians thorough ignorance vnderstand them but if any such Christian would set himselfe with Aristotle to examine and sifte out the cleere reason of Chaunce and Fortune I am assured he would come to confesse the same as he which knewe and vnderstood that there was a first cause by which the vvorld was ruled and gouerned that was the beginning and Ruler of all things and that Fortune differed not from the will of the same which is the very selfe from which we receaue all good and euill according to our deserts God willing or permitting the same as it best pleaseth his diuine Maiestie so that the good Christian ought not to say in any prosperous successe of his It was my good fortune or Fortune did thys for me but that God did this or this was done by the will permission of God And therefore though we speake vnproperlie as conforming our selues to the common vse in vsing the name of Fortune in our discourses and affayres yet let vs alwayes thereby vnderstande the will of God and that there is no other fortune BER I knowe that you coulde haue discoursed more at large of this matter if it had pleased you neither should we haue wanted arguments and replyes matter to dispute on but you haue done farre better in leauing out those superfluous arguments which woulde haue but troubled our wits in going so roundly to the matter touching onely that which is requisite fit for the purpose with such breuity compendiousnes that we both vnderstand it distinctly beare it perfectly in our memory Now therfore I pray you if it be not troublesome vnto you make vs vnderstand what thing is Desteny how when for what cause we are to vse this word in which I find no lesse obscurity theÌ„ in those before discoursed of AN. I was glad in thinking that I had made an end now me thinks you cause to begin anew but I will refuse no paine so that it please you to take the same in good part to haue patience in hearing mee I will vse as much breuitie as I possibly may because otherwise the matter is so ample and so much thereof to be said that I know you would be weary in hearing me in summe therfore I will briefly alledge that which maketh most to the purpose beginning first with the opinion of the ancient Philosophers hereof The Stoyicks said that Desteny was an agreement order of naturall causes working their effects with a forcible vneuitable necessity in such sort that they affirmed al prosperitie and all misery the beeing of a King begger or hangman to proceed from the vnauoydable necessity of Desteny Aulê° Gelliê° saith that a Philosopher called Chrisippê° maintained Desteny to be a perpetuall and inclinable order and chaine of things of the selfe same opinion was Seneca when he said I verily beleeue that Desteny is a strong and forcible necessity of all thinges and doings whatsoeuer which by no means or force may be altred so that all those of this sect attributed to Desteny all successes good and bad that hapned as though they must of force necessitie so fall out without any possibility to be auoyded or eschewed to which opinion the Poet Virgill conforming himselfe saith of Pallas To euery man is assigned a fixed time and desteny not to be auoided This vnineuitable order according to many of their opinions proceedeth of the force which the starres and Planets haue through their influence and operation in humaine bodies Boetius in his 4. booke of Consolation saith that Destenie is a disposition fastned to the mooueable things by which the Prouidence annexeth each of them with order and agreement and according to S. Thomas in his 3. booke Contra Gentiles by Disposition is vnderstood ordenance which being considered with the beginning whence it proceedeth which is God may be called Desteny alwaies referring it selfe to the diuine Prouidence for otherwise we may say the same selfe of Desteny which we said of Fortune that desteny is nothing but only a thing fained in the imagination of the Gentiles for a good Christian ought by no means to attribute any inclination successe in matters or estate of his to desteny truly it is a wicked Gentilicall kind of speech which we vse in saying when any thing hapneth our Desteny woulde haue it so or it was his desteny hee could not auoyde it for though perchance the wiser sort knowe their error in saying so only following the common vse yet the common people think as they speak that Desteny is indeed a thing forcible not to be shunned but must of necessity happen and fall out LV. It is passing true that you haue said and for confirmation thereof I will tell you a most true storie which hapned to my selfe in one of the cheefest Citties of this Kingdome Riding one day with certain other gentlemen into the fields for recreations sake towards the euening as we returned homewardes we sawe by the Townes side three men setting vp a poast vpon a little knap close by the high-way for one that was condemned to be strangled there the next day of which three the one as a Gentleman in our company told me pointing to him was the Hangman adding withall that it was pittie that hee had vndertaken so infamous a condition beeing a young man otherwise well qualified and a very good Scholler of which desiring to know the truth because it seemed vnto me strange I turned my horse and
vnlesse we shold say that which is not lawfull that they are at one time good and at another time euill and that they cannot mixtly be the cause both of good and euill the which is not to be thought or beleeued that all the starres haue not one selfe caelestiall substance none of them separating themselues from theyr owne nature so that all the starres beeing good they may be the cause of good but not of euill BE. These authorities me thinks conclude not throughlie the purpose of their intention for there are manie thinges that can cause both good and euill and therefore the caelestiall bodies also may doe the same AN. This is when there is in any thing both good euill working effects according to the nature thereof but there is no euill in the heauens not in any thing therein contained for according to Aristotle in his seconde Booke De Coelo the motion thereof is life to all things in the ninth of his Metaphisickes also he affirmeth that in those things which are sempiternall there can be found no euill error or corruption And Auerroes entreating of this matter vseth these wordes It is a thing manifest saith he that in those things which are Eternall and whose essence is without beginning there can be no euill error or corruption the which cannot be in any thing but where euill is and heereby may be knowne the impossibilitie of prouing that which the Astronomers say that there are some of them luckie and others vnluckie this only may be knowne of them that there are som better then others By these words we may vnderstand that the starres are all good but not in equalitie neither haue they all equall vertue goodnes and as in them there is no euill at all so can they not be the cause of any harme at all neither can wee say that their influences cause any contagious or pestilentiall infirmities so thinketh Mercurius Trismegistus in his Asclepius Where the heauen saith he is that which engendreth and if the office thereof be to engender it cannot be to corrupt Proclus in his booke De Anima holdeth the same The Heauens saith hee founded with a harmony in reason containe all worldly thinges putting them in perfection accomodating them and benefiting them which being so how then can they damnifie destroy or corrupt them Auerroes also alleadgeth another reason by the testimonie of Plato who sayth That euill is found in those things which haue no order nor agreement and all diuine thinges are framed and constituted in most excellent order whereby it followeth that the starres and other caelestiall bodies haue no euill in them and hauing none in them they cannot worke or cause any This opinion followeth Iamblicus in his Booke De Misterijs Egiptiorum and Plotinus in his tenth Booke where he demaundeth if the stars be the causes of any thing iesting and scoffing at the Astronomers who affirme that the Planets with their motions are not onely the causes of riches and pouertie but also of vertue vices health and diseases that in diuers times they worke vpon men diuers operations And finally he will by no meanes permit that there are any euill starres or that they can be sometimes good and somtimes euill which opinion is also maintained by Auerroes in his 3. booke of Heauen Where whosoeuer sayth hee beleeueth that Mars or any other planet or starre howsoeuer set in coniunction or opposition can hurt or doe domage he beleeueth that which is contrary to all Philosophy Marcilius Ficinus in his Comentaries vpon the sixth Dialogue of Lawes sayth thus One thing we must vnderstande and beleeue that all forces and mouings of the superior Bodies which discende into vs are of their owne nature alwaies causers of our good and guide vs thereunto wee must not therefore iudge that viciousnes of ill conditioned men proceedeth of Saturne or rashnes and crueltie of Mars or craft and deceit of Mercury or lasciuious wantonnes of Venus Let vs see what reason thou hast to attribute vnto Saturne that frowardnesse and vice which thy euill custome conuersation exercise or dyet hath engendred in thy body or minde or to Mars that fiercenes and crueltie which seemeth to resemble that magnanimitie and greatnes to which he is enclined or to Mercurie that subtiltie and craft called by a better name industrie or to Venus thy lasciuious loue and wantonnesse Hapneth it not often that men loose their sight yea and sometimes their liues vnder the flaming blasts of the Sunne-beames which is ordained onely for our comfort and to giue life and nourishment to things And doe wee not see diuers that in open ayre receaue the warmenesse thereof to theyr comfort who in enclosed places are with a small heate smothered sluft choaked And euen as these men through the heate of the Sun whose nature is to helpe cherrish and comfort doe receaue domage by theyr owne faulte in not vsing the same as they shoulde doe so may the successes of those which are borne vnder these planets which by their nature are al good throgh euil vicious education proue naught though the inclination of their planets be neuer so good and fauourable So that by these wordes of Marsilius the opinion of Astronomers Mathematitians and Phisitions seemeth not to be wel grounded but that how commonly held or allowed soeuer it be he holdeth it to be reprouable by many and euident arguments LU. The Philosophers are not a little beholding to you for strengthning their opinion with so many authorities effectual reasons no doubt but if this matter were put to your arbytrement they should finde of you a fauourable iudge AN. I haue not so good opinion of my selfe as to take vpō me the arbitrement of this matter though it were of lesse substance then it is especially so many wise learned men maintaining either side I haue therfore onely rehearsed touched some of their allegations on both sides leauing you in your choyse to leane vnto that opinion which liketh you best referring alwaies the iudgement therof to those that are of greater learning deeper studie and more grounded wisedome thē my selfe though it seemeth vnto me to be a matter scarcelie determinable considering the varietie of effectuall reasons that may be alleaged of either side LVD For all this I account you halfe partiall and therefore I pray you aunswere mee to one obiection which might be of the Astronomers side opposed the which is thus We see that there are diuers venomous and hurtfull hearbes and manie other Wormes Vermins and Serpents so contagious that they are thorough theyr poysons and infections noisome vnto men yea and often causers of their death And seeing that all inferiour bodies are ruled receauing their forces and vertues from the influence of the heauenly and superior bodies it then seemeth that they should be cause of the domage which is wrought by the