recken these kind of people among the terrestrial or aquitall sort doubted whether y e he should number them among the liuing or among the deade And another named Anacharsis sayde that they were no further from death than the bredth of .iij. or ij fingers euen so much as the wood contained in thicknes in the which they sailed And if that their life séemeth vnto vs cruell what greater swéetenesse thinke we to finde in husbandrie and in the labor of the rusticall sort the whiche at the first séemeth vnto vs swéete lucky peaceable simple and innocent also that many Patriarkes and Prophetes haue chosen this kind of liuing as that in which there is least guile and deceit and also that many Romain Emperors haue in times past left their Pallaces Capitols Arkes triumphes glorious and faire buildings and Empires with all the rest of their worldly maiestie for to remaine in the fields to til and labor the earth trées and gardens as we read of Dioclesian Attallus Cirus Constantinus Cesar and others but those that will consider these things more nearer they will saye that among these Roses there are a great many thornes This being true that God hauing driuen mā out of Paradise sent him into the earth as to a place of exile and said vnto him the earth shalbe cursed for thy sake thou shalt eate therof in trauel and paine all the dayes of thy life For she shall bring forth thornes wéedes and thistels and thou shalt eate the hearbes of the field in the sweate of thy face shalt thou eate thy bread till thou be turned againe to earth out of the which thou wast taken But alas who hath more experimented or tasted this which God hath spoken than the poore labourers or husbandmen who manye times after that they haue labored sowed tilled the ground trauelled all the daye long endured extreme heate of the sunne the rigor of the colde sometimes bitings or stingings of venemous serpentes or wormes sweated bloude and water all the yeare long for to dresse the earth theyr nurse hoping to gather the fruites and sodenly behold a haile a frost a tempest a thunder or lightning that will sodenly defraud thē of all their hope To one his shéepe and Oxen die to another whilst that he is labouring in the fields the men of war and souldiers come and rauish that which he hath in such sorte that when he returneth to his house in steade of receiuing consolation and finding rest his wife bewaileth his children crieth out al his familie lamenteth and crieth out for hunger to be short it is no other thing than a griefe and a wounde hauing a continuall cause of dolor which sodenly complaineth of one thing incontinently of another now of the rain then of y e great drith also of the winds and tempests but aboue all the men of war with a company of other griefs figured in forme of a complaint by a Da pacem the which a friende o◠mine made me this other day the tennor wherof hereafter followeth A complaint of the pore husbandmen in Meeter made vpon Da pacem Domine in diebus nostris c. O God whom no man can gaine say thou knowest if that I lie That neither horse nor mare is left to whom then shal I crie Da But vnto thée O Lord and King which doest bring things to passe The vengeance therfore that I craue is to giue vs and them alas pacem The peace which is so necessarie giue vs this I thinke best Yet if thou wilt punish mankinde thou hast good cause and maist Domine Our fathers that before haue bene though in the worlde they were The like wickednes haue neuer séene as we which now are here in diebus nostris In labor and in trauell great with face arayed with sweate This thrée dayes haue I laboured yet I and mine want meate quia non est I haue planted sowed cut my vines I haue hedged and dungde my land For to giue foode vnto my babes but who cā their furious foes w estād alius Not one alone doth me molest but I am assailed-day by day As well of theeues as men of war my goods to them are made a pray qui Our shéepe and lambes they do destroy our calues they kill ech one Such men they are that vs annoy helpe thou O God alone pugnet Alas it is a wofull case among vs men of husbandrye When souldiers that go to the warres rob vs as they go by pro nobis O my Creator when I do thinke on thy bountie comfort I craue Knowing that of the wrong that I doé beare of them no recōpence I haue nisi tu In worldlings for to put my trust no there is no reliefe In them there is no helpe at all but in thée my hope most chiefe Deus When pilferie shall cease when reason and good policie In iustice shall take place then the good time shall be Leaue we these poore husbandmen with their miseries and trauels and penitrate more forward Let vs see what is done in the trade of merchandise if we doe consider it externely or outwardly it séemeth voyde from miseries and a promise of rest for the richesse in whiche it aboundeth also for that Plinie sayth it was inuented for the necessitie of life and that many wise men as one Thalus one Solon Hippocratus haue exercised it also that it is an occasion to kéepe Princes in peace and vnity transporting from one citie to another that which aboundeth in the one and lacketh in the other but we cannot so wel cloke it but that y e eye may wel sée how much the life of Merchaunts is vnquiet and to how many daungers they are subiect continually as well by lande as by sea without putting in accompt that for the most part of their time they are as Fugitiues and Vagabondes from their townes and countries and they séeme litle to differ from banished sauing that their banishment is willingly for that they flie runne aud burne by sea and by land by fiers and flames for a couetous heate of an vnmeasurable gaine and they are contented to be depriued of rest ease that they ought to receiue of their owne wines and children lands possessions to be at al times in hazard of their liues by a thousande meanes and ways that are for them prepared of Pirats and others and al for an vnsatiable auarice that doth daily torment them not forgetting how they do periure thēselues beguile and deceiue their neighbor in such sort that with great payne any vsing y e trade can be made rich but by beguiling of others haue in their common prouerb ȳ they néede but turn their back a while to God and enlarge a little the entrie of their conscience for to be riche and surmount fortune to the which we maye adde many other euils and maledictions
she hath charged man with suche an vnsatiable appetite that he ceaseth not continuallye to séeke for newe and straunge kinde of meates and hauing founde to his appetite with greate payne he can abstaine himselfe but that he wyll take more than nedefull after the whiche commeth Surfets Rheumes Cancars and other infinite kindes of sickenesses But as touching beastes they content themselues with that that nature hathe prepared without chaunging or forcing their nature for to please their appetite Moreouer nature hath giueÌ„ them a complection so well ruled and gouerned that they neuer take more thaÌ„ is requisite for their nourishment neyther in drinke nor in meat But as for man al the fruites of y e earth those of the trées the fishes of the sea and the Fowles of the aire doe not suffice him but in all points turning hys nature he doth disguise puffe vp change the substance into excesse and the nature into arte to the ende that by such vnsatiablenesse nature be angered and almost forced to take more than is nedefull so then when that nature is ouercharged and that the stomacke is wel filled all the braynes are troubled in such sorte that there is neither of them that can execute their office And I am ashamed that I must nedes tell it that the vnmeasurable delicatenesse that raigneth among Christians this day is the cause that there are many that are not ashamed to giue their bodies and their members to al kinde of vice and villanie and to all kinds of wickednesse howe execrable so euer they be euen in committing many fornications theftes fellonies And I doe maruell that the bellies of manye vnsatiable gluttons do not rot and bruste out by their greate excesse and in the meane time the poore Lazarus standeth at the gate redy to die for hunger and can not haue so much as the crommes that fall from theyr table And therfore such Godbellies or Bellygods are called by the Prophetes fatte Calues who by good reason may be compared to brute beastes for their soule which is the chiefest part they haue being in the bodie so perfumed with meats and drinkes is captiue as in a darke prison or dungeon where as it is almoste stifled and smuthered and the wits whiche are the instrumeÌ„ts with the which she ought to be serued are buried therein as within the bowels of a beast and against such gluttons as make their belly their God the Prophet Esay crieth out saying Wo be to you that rise earlie to follow drunkennesse and to sit drinking till the Euening to the ende that the wine heate you The which vice at this present day is so familiar among men that there is not almost neither Nation or prouince but that is infected and that glorieth in their great drinking The Tartarians the Persians and the Gréekes haue celebrated druÌ„kennesse among their chiefest triumphes and constrained them that were at their bankets to drinke or to goe their wayes The Macedonians were instructed of their Emperor Alexander to drinke without measure But aboue all Nations Italie hath got the price in the which as Plinie doth write drunkennesse in his time did so raigne that they did not only drink themselues out of al measure but also they constrained their Mares and Horses to doe the like Paulus Diacrus in his Historie of Lumbardes doth rehearse a thing almost monstrous of the vice of drunkeÌ„nesse of foure old meÌ„ that made a banket in the whiche they drunke the yeares of one another after the maner as followeth they ordeyned to drinke two to two and counted theyr age of yeares that they had and he that drunke to his companion should drinke so many times as he had liued yeres and the yongest of these foure was .lviij. yeres olde the seconde sixtye thrée the thirde lxxxvij and the fourth lxxxxij So that it was not knowen what they did eate at this banket either more or lesse but we know that he that drunke least did drinke lviij tasters of wine and the others so many as they had liued yeares in suche sorte that one of them did drinke lxxxxij times It is not therfore without a cause that this great Philosopher Plato knowyng the harme that wine bringeth to man saide that partly the Gods had sent wine for the punishment of man and to take vengeance of their sinnes causing them when that they are drunke to kyll and murther one another the which coÌ„sidered of Cyneas Ambassadour of King Pyrrhus on a time when that he arriued in Egypt and that he had séene the excesse height of the vineyards in that countrie did saye that by good right that mother was hanged so highe seing she brought forth so daungerous a childe as the wine For this cause Androcides did admonish that great Monarch AlexaÌ„der that wine was the bloud of the earth and therefore he shoulde take héede howe to receyue it The which not being well obserued by him in his intemperancie killed Clytus burned the Citie of Percepolis and committed manye other foule and detestable crimes It is not therefore in this our age that these wicked vices of gluttonye and drunkennesse haue made their laste ende vpon the earth but it séemeth that they haue nowe made almost their comming in with man The transgression of our first parents Adam and Eua was the cause that the gate of Paradise was shut against vs. Esau solde hys birth right The great Prophet S. Iohn Baptist was cruellye slaine and murthered after that the cruel tyrant Kyng Herode had bankeâ—ed The wicked riche man was damned for it is expressiuely saide in the Text that he fared deliciously and therfore was he buried in hel Noe being ouercome with wine slept with his priuie parts vncouered and was mocked of his children Loth being ouercome with wine did deflowre his owne daughters Nowe therfore we sée how much more â—auor nature hath shewed vnto beastes than vnto vs in that they do so moderate their appetites that they take no more than is necessarie for the preseruation of their health in such sort that they are not vexed with an infinite number of diseases as we are And if it happen that they are afflicted with anye harmes nature hath instructed them proper remedies without hauing refuge to Phisicke or Phisicions which vnder the colour of receiue chaunge R. into D. and make deceiue so that somtimes we buy full deare the trauell of them which manye times cause our death for the most part of their laxatiue medicines are no other than very hammers to beate downe men But if it happen that the beastes or fowles are sicke nature doth shewe them remedies As the wood Doues Iayes Merlings and Partriches the which purge theyr superfluities with Bay leaues The Pigeons Turtels and Hennes with the herbe Helxine The Torterels wil heale their biting with Cegue The Dogs and Cats when their bellies are too full will purge them in eating dewed herbes or grasse When the Deare are hurt they
consist Their health and conseruation is the decay and ruine of their neighbor their richesse is the spoylings of the poore and others their ioys is the mournings and bewaylings of others and yet many times their victorie can not be so happie but that bothe the vanquisher and the ouercommed maye wepe and lamente For there was neuer battell so luckie but that the vanquisher at the last doth repent if he be touched with any sparke of humanitie The whiche the Heathen haue acknowledged and confessed by their owne proper witnessing as also the great Emperor Marcus Aurelius the which after manye glorious victories obtained against his enimies as he receyued hys triumphe at Rome féeling in his hearte the worng that he had don to his neighbor began to crie out when that he was conducted to his chaire of triumph saying what more greater follie or vanity may an Emperor of Rome haue for bicause he hath conquered many townes stirred those that were at rest destroyed Cities rased strong houlds robbed the poore enriched tyrants made an infinite number of orphelines widowes and in recompence of al these harmes he is receyued with triumphe and magnificence many are deade and manye haue trauelled and taken paines but one alone beareth the glorie Then he addeth these wordes by the immortall Gods when I was brought to Rome in such a triumph and saw the poore captiues in yron bandes and chaines I powred out the widdowes lamentations I sawe an infinite number of treasure ill gotten then I remembred them deade I reioyced outwardlye but inwardlye I wept teares of bloud began to crie againste Rome after this sort come hither Rome why reioycest thou at the wrongs of others art thou of more antiquitie than Babilon more fairer than Helena more richer thā Carthage more stronger thā Troie better peopled than Thebes better compassed with ships than Corinth more delicious than Tyre more happier than Numantia all the whiche are perished clad with so many vertues and kepers of so many vertuous yet thou hopest to remaine for euer stuffed vp with so manye vices and people so vilde and vicious Beleue one thing of a suretie that the glorie that is at this howre of thee hath first bene of those and the destruction that hath come vpon them shal likewise come vpon thée O what philosophie what holinesse what oracles and what prophecie is founde in a Heathen man which had no knowledge of the Euangelicall light May not we be ashamed that haue bene nourished at a better schole and illuminated with the grace of the holy ghost that this Pagan shall rise at the daye of iudgement and condemne vs that make such hauock of humaine bloud séeing that the war hath alredy for many yeres past disquieted y e Christiā weale so that with great pain can be found at this day any Region in Europe but that is staind with humain bloud neither sea nor riuer but y ◠hath bene chaūged red Helericus King of the Gothes hauing in time paste destroyed Rome as Paulus Oroseus sheweth that flourished in his time caused to be proclaimed with the sounde of a trumpet that they shoulde not molest nor hurre those that were fled into the temple of S. Peter and S. Paule But things are come to suche desolation in oure age that there is no sanctuarie nor sauegard in temples nor holie places but y ◠poore maidēs and wiues haue bene violated and the poore shepe of Iesus Christ haue bene staine and murthered so mad are men without sparing aged kind or dignitie but they sacrifice all so that it seemeth that they will fight to ouerthrowe nature it selfe so that in the ende it wil come to passe if that God prouide not remedie that the publicke weales shall be peopled with wild beastes or trées for by littel and littel the world waxeth desert But what is the cause that we are so prompt and enclined to loose and decay those for the preseruation of which our sauiour Christ was willing to die but why are we so desirous of their life and bloud seing Iesus Christ hath shed his for to preserue and saue vs all But at the least why haue not we so muche compassion one of another as the brute beastes haue the which shew not theyr rage and crueltie one against another or if by fortune they fight sometimes it is when that they are oppressed with hunger or for the defence of their yong ones and yet they help themselues with those armours that nature hath appointed them without adding to them other kind of weapons inuented by the diuel for there is no earthly things but that may be ouercome with y e force of gūnes so that weying well this inuention it is not only more daungerous than all the cutting weapons of the worlde but also it is more pernicious and pestilent than anye other venim or poyson yea worse than the thundrings and lightnings that come from the aire y e which for that it is composed of foure straūge elementaries being in the moste parte of his greatest drith casting the fier in the middest of the smoke multiplieth of the aire and of the fier and mingleth with the moysture in such sort that the nature of euerye element fighting with the other conuerteth in humor and in great thundering bicause that the heate with the moisture cannot agrée nor endure together but straineth to come forth the aire addresseth to the aire and the fier draweth of his nature trauelling to moūt hie being an action superior and exceding in power all the rest the which he turneth into his nature before comming out by the which meanes groweth such a hurling noyse that it is necessarie that the thing wherein this poulder is be put in pieces or that the most weakest giue place to the strōgest And then of al this stuffe commeth Canons double Canons Serpentines Culuerines Sakers Faucons Fauconnets and suche like In the naming whereof the cunning maisters haue greatly failed in imposing to them the names of birdes the which serue to giue and shewe vs melodie and pleasure they shoulde rather appropriate to them the names of the infernall diuelles for as those engins serue to rent and dismember the bodies of men so in like case doe the diuelles beate and pame the soules in hell We haue here shewed what is done in the wars the recompence of those that frequent it Now let vs see what is done in the pallaces of Princes what is y e felicitie of y e Courtiers which make a shewe of their delicatenesse séemeth there any greater felicitie in the world than to haue the Princes fauor at al times to be cherished to distribute largely to others to take the best spoyles to vse courtly maners embracings kissinges cōueyings and other offices of humanitie with an infinite number of such kinde of dregs There are of thys sort crafty and wilie that do as the fisher man who assone as he hath
of God grauen in him and to chaunge it to the likenesse of a Diuell and therfore is happened to him that which the Prophet Dauid sayth God hath called man to honor yet he doeth not consider it and therefore is compared to the beastes that perish Here you may sée that his proudnesse arrogancie and boldenesse hath bene the cause of all the sores and maledictions of humaine kind For yf it had not bene for the ambition and desier to be great of the first man we had bene as the Aungels in heauen such as we shall be at the resurrection and crowned with honor and glorie And yet this is little as touching the paines and afflictions before mencioned which are as a leaning stock to our bodies but the diseases of the spirite is much worse the which are muche more perillous than the afflictions of the bodie For those of the bodie sayth Plutarchus do manifest and shew out of themselues eyther by the yll colour of the face or by the mouing of the thumbe or els by some other meanes or griefe and beyng knowen the remedies are incontinēt sought for But as touching the maladies of the spirite he that is sicke cannot iudge by signes or otherwise his griefe for it is in the spirite who can then giue iudgement therfore the pacient not knowing his disease séeketh not also for remedie Furthermore there is a greater abuse for those that haue their bodies afflicted we call them by the name of sicke the which doth torment them as if they were persecuted with a fransie we name them franticke if they be pained in their ioyntes we saye they haue the Gout if they shake we say they haue the Palsey But O immortall God we do the contrarie to the afflicted spirites for those that are wrathfull burne in their passion those that wound one and kill another we call them hardie and strong we say that they esteme much honor and commendation they that violate women and virgins we call that bearing of loue those that are proude and that séeke by all vnlawfull meanes to climbe vp to high dignities we name them graue honorable men of good demeanor and ripe iudgement those that are couetous and that become riche in short times that beguile their neighbor by many subtilties inuētions we call this good husbandrie so forth euen of al the rest Here you may sée how that we cloke all these things Here you may sée that this shadowing or cloking of vice vnder y e mantell of vertue is cause of so many euils and mischiefes as continually happen and fall vpon vs making by the onely name worthie of honor the things that merite blame and dishonor of the whiche the most part of humaine spirits at this day are tormented and vexed as we haue done those of the bodie what eloquence or dignitie of worde might satisfice what maiestie of sentences might comprehende them for seeing that the worlde wherein we are is at this daye drowned in so manie kindes of vices that it séemeth to be properly the sinke whereas all the wickednesse of the former age hath bene emptied and poured Beginne we of couetousnesse who is it that euer saw it déeper rooted in all estates of the world thā at this present but what other thing are these Cities Common welths Prouinces and kingdomes of this world if we will well consider it but verie shoppes and storehouses of auarice couetousnesse This is the season that the Prophet Esay speaketh of their land is full of siluer and golde neither is there anye ende of their treasure This is the world that y e Prophet did foreshew they ioyne house to house and lande to lande as thoughe they themselues woulde alone dwell vpon the earth And of this pestilēt roote of couetousuesse procedeth as from their liuely Welspring an infinit number of euils that are poured out on the earth and spred through all the partes of the world Of the original of the most parte of warres of the great effusion of bloud with the which the earth is ouerflowen of the murthers treasons sacriledges thefts pilfreys vsuries fraudes forswearings the corruption of witnesses peruerting of iudgementes from thence the subtilties and practises procéede in corrupting one and poysoning another from thence the immoralitie and lingring of proces do procede to be short from thence commeth all kinde of corruption and euill and neuerthelesse the vice and sinne of men are so familiar that there can scant be found any estate but that therewith is polluted Also the Ecclesiasticall sort Iudas and Simon Magus sowed the firste séede therof the which hath so fructified since that many others haue tasted and felt therof At such time as the Church was poore néedye persecuted and scattered by the Tyrants and Infidels and that it was gouerned by poore fishermen they nourished these poore and suffered not that anye one shoulde want But nowe that it is at the highest degrée of riches and that it is gouerned by the greate Prelates she hath no more care for the members of Iesus Christ by such sorte that now we may sée the stréetes full of poore beggars bare naked all clad with pouertie wyth an infinite number of banished women and driuen out of their countries by the insurrection of wars bearing their children in their armes And in the meane time these Prelates kéepe close the benefit of him that was crucified for them and are intertayned in their pomp and deliciousnesse the other sorte doe kéepe it and hourde it vp with suche curiositie that they make it their God and will rather let a poore bodie die at their gates than to refreshe him with a cup of water in such sorte that I am ashamed to shew or declare a historie almost monstrous of the couetousnesse of an Italian Prelate named Angelot which was a Cardinall for he was so empoisoned with this cursed poison of auarice that when the horskepers had giuen toward the night Otes to his horses he woulde come into the stable by a priuy way alone and without light to steale or take awaye the Otes Prouander from his owne horses and so continued manie nightes till the horsekeper perceiuing his horses waxe leane did hyde himselfe in the stable and taking my Lord with the maner did giue him so many strokes with y e Hay forke that he was faine to beare him into hys Chamber for condigne or iust recompence of his wicked and burning couetousnesse The which should séeme to be a fable and ridiculous but that Philelpheus and Iouian Pontanus in his booke of Liberality and many other sage writers make mention Behold the fruits beholde the rewardes of thys cursed riches the whiche is gathered togither with many sharpe bitter cares and is kept with continual feare then is left with many sighes teares of the which the auncient Romaines shoulde be good and manifest witnesses if we woulde bring in their Authors
did hir no harme and yet those that lay with hir being only infected with hir breath receyued sodaine death Auicen writeth that in hys time he did sée a man from whom all venemous beasts would flie if by chaūce any one had bitten him or touched him they shoulde straight wayes die Some whom the Gréekes haue named Ophirgenes who with onely touching healed the stinging of serpents and laying the hand on a bodie would draw out the venim As also do the Psiles and Marciens a people of Affrica the Ambassador of which named Exagon being come to anunciate and shewe some thing to the Romaines was put naked in a tunne full of Serpents Vipers Adders and other venemous beastes for to trie whether that their sayings were true But so soone as he was put therein in steade of offēding or hurting him they did lick and cherishe him to be short there are found things so fantasticall and straūge in man that many elders after they had considered the meaning of all things and finding nothing equall or to compare with the maruellous prouidence and industrie of man woulde be called Gods and worshipped and honored as a Deitie Some haue ben so constant that they did neuer laugh as Marcus Crassus for this cause he was named Agelaste for that he was neuer séene laugh Some haue neuer snorted nor routed as Pomponius Some haue neuer spit as Antonius the second Some haue neuer felt dolor nor paine in their bodie as Pontanus writeth of himself who sometimes would let him self fal and yet felt no harme Some haue had such a cleare sight that they coulde sée well fiftie or thrée score Leagues of as Solin Plinie writeth of one that was named Strabon the which in the time of open warre saw from a Promontorie of Cicill the ships to sayle from the Port of Carthage in Affrica althoughe it was aboue a hundreth thousand distance Tiberius y ◠Emperour waking a certaine houre in the night did sée al things aswell as by day There are certaine men as Plinie witnesseth in the country of Cardulius that will run as swift as Dogges and go so fast a pace that it is vnpossible to take them but only by sicknesse age Quintus Curtius and many others write that Alexander the great was composed of such harmonie and temperance of humors that his breath smelled naturally like Balme also his sweat was so swéete that when his Pipes were open they thought that he was all perfumed wyth perfumes and that which is more straunge and harde to beleue his bodie cast suche a sauor being deade that one woulde haue iudged it full of Aromatical drugs or perfumes Caius Caesar was so good on horsebacke that he caused hys handes to be bound behind him and it was a monstruous thing to sée and vncredible to heare that holding his knées close to the horse without bridell and saddell he woulde stay and turne a horse so lightly or nimblye as though he had bene bridled the which was in the time when he fauored Marius against Sylla M. Paulus a Venetian reciteth that the Tartarians haue so much powre ouer spirits and are so excellent in séeking the secretes of nature that they cause darkenesse to come when they will and that he being once cōpassed with théeues by this Art with great paine escaped Haitonus a man of singuler doctrine and of great authoritie is witnesse of this in his History of Sarmates that the armie of the Tartarians almost ouercome or destroyed was againe restored by the enchauntment of a Standarde bearer that caused darkenesse to come vpon the campe of his enimies I haue red in many auncient Histories that the Ethiopians by the vertues and properties of certain herbes gathered in seasō do drie the floudes and Riuers and doe open all things that are shut What shal we saye more of the excellencie of man there hath bene founde some so wonderfull in Musicke that they chaunged the affections of those that did heare them their iests and mouings caused them to be ioyfull sorowfull and bold according as they would adulciate or harden their noyse Terpander and Metimeus Empedocleus Orpheus Emphion haue bene so excellent in this Arte that they healed in their time manye that were franticke mad and possessed with spirits Pithagoras by the perfection of this Arte so rauished the memorie of a yong man within few days that he made him chaste and caused him to forget the louing passions that tormented him continually All the Gréeke and Latin writers that haue treated of the iestes of Alexander make mention of his Harper Thimotheus who when he was at a banket playd an Alarum or assault causing the King to forsake the banket and take his armor so that his spirites remaining vanquished or ouercome was constrained to obey to the harmony that proceaded from the instrument Agamemnon going to war against the Troians not being verie sure of the chastitie of his wife Clitemnestra left hir in the garde and kéeping of an excellent Harper who whē that he saw hir in hir amorous toyes mitigated hir burning heate by the swéetnesse of his instrument In such sort that Aegisthus coulde not obtayne his desier before that he had slaine the said Musition which by his Art and Harmonie was so faithfull a kéeper and Protector Among these we maye recite the great King Dauid who by the vertue of his Hary did mollifie and appease the furie of King Saule when that the wicked spirite did torment him as it is most plainly shewed in the second booke of the Kings To be short and to set the last seale to the dignitie and excellencye of man there is no part of him but that there may be some fruite gathered to the vse of Phisicke as Galen and many others write A mans fasting spittle serueth against the biting of venemous beastes and also killeth them it helpeth the Ophthalmistes the filth of a mans eare called earewaxe being appliquated to our nostrels serue in steade of dormitories and prouoketh sléepe Mans vrine or water is good against the dropsie and for manye other vses of Phisicke The sweate of a man is excellent for to mitigate the Goute the bloud of a man being drunke hote healeth the passion of Loue as Authors doe write of Faustine wife to Marcus Auresius The flesh embalmed is verie soueraigne in many vsages of Phisick Many auncient Phisitions of Graecia and Arabia haue vsed the marrow of our bones the braynes of men and their bowels yea euen the duste and ashes of mens bones for to drinke them and cause thē to serue with maruellous effects to the vsage of Phisicke Orpheus and Orchilaus healed the quinancie with humaine bloud yea the filth of our nailes as Plinie witnesseth for to heale the Feuer so that there is no member of a mans bodie but that it is profitable not so much as the sweate of a man but that hath bene proued as Galen writeth also
the breath of a man well tempered comforteth greatlye the Leprousy as in like case the exerements of man the which can not be pronounced without shame the which as Xenocrates sayeth was vsed to the vse of auncient Phisicke finding so many helthful and excellent remedies in man that the antiquity pardoned no member though it were neuer so abiect and vile for to draw out profit Séeing then that man is so worthy and so excellent so wonderful and celestial Let vs therfore leaue hereafter to compare him to brute beastes The which although God hath prouided for theÌ„ all that for theÌ„ is néedefull for the preseruatioÌ„ of their life giuing to some skin others haire aswell for to sustaine and endure the violence of the colde as other inclinencies of the ayre and to others munimentes and defences for to repulse the dexterior euilles to other lightnesse and swiftnesse to run flie to others subtilty to hide theÌ„selues in dens and caues of the earth to others fethers and wings that they maye hang in the ayre to the ende to euitate the furie and rage of man all the which things notwithstanding are of little value to the regard of man For although he be created naked and couered with so tender a skin that quickely he is hurt and receyueth harme yet neuerthelesse that was not done without great prouidence For knowing that he had to exercise his fancie and other interior senses much more diligently than the brute beasts to serue afterward to the Intelecke it was therfore necessarie that he singularly should haue his Organs and instruments by the whiche he doeth such operations of matter more delicate and light and likewise the bloud more subtill and hote knowing that the spirit followeth in his complections the temperature of the bodie And if he had bene composed of rude and thick skin so should he haue had the vnderstanding blunt and brutishe but man is created of a subtill and liuelye fleshe bicause that the spirite which is liuely and subtill for the better more perfecter opening knowing of things The workmaister therefore is wonderfull which hath not attributed to man certaine commodities as he hath done to beastes knowing that his sapience and wisedome might render that which the condition of nature had denied him For althoughe he commeth forth naked on the earth without armour or defence the which chaunceth not to beastes that haue hornes clawes haire and shelles it is for his greate profit and aduauntage being armed with knowledge and endued with reason not outwarde but inwardly he hath put his munition and defence not in the bodie but in the spirite in such sort that there is neyther the greatnesse nor strength of wilde beasts neyther their defence in their hornes neither yâ—t the great lumpe of fleshe nor bones with the which they are composed and made may let that they be not tamed and made subiect vnder y e powre and authoritie of man for there is no beast be he neuer so fierce hardie or stoute but that trembleth sodenly when he séeth man although they had neuer séene him before And such grace succéedeth them by the vertue of the signacle and marke of God which is ingraued in them the which the auncieÌ„t Cabalists named Pahat in y e Hebrue tongue with the which Adam our first father fortified liued being conuersant with the beasts to whom he gaue the names so y â— he had got such authority and empire ouer theÌ„ that they knew him as their lord souereign maister but after that he traÌ„sgressed the deuine marke was effaced and abolished not altogither but for y â— most part Of the traces and footesteps thereof we sée yet certain sparks and beames shine in some vertuous men who although they be in the wildernesse that they lodge and lie in the dens caues of brute beasts they feare theÌ„ nothing but liue without feare with theÌ„ as we reade in the holie scripture of Sampson Dauid Daniell among the Lions Heliseus with the Beares and S. Paule with the Vipers There resteth nowe in fewe wordes to aunswere to the allegations that we haue made in our booke of humaine miseries aswell of the vilenesse of the nature of the which maÌ„ was created as of the condicion that is so tender and fraile that in many things beastes doe excell him Shoulde we therefore be so mad or dare we coÌ„fesse that God hath shewed more fauor to other beasts than to man no truly for although he hath created him vile and abiect as of a lump of earth yet this in nothing doth derogate his glory For it is manifest that he hath not created man corruptible for default of a better for by the creation of y â— Sunne the Moone the starres he hath shewed how he might haue created man of a thing more excelleÌ„t but he hath created him of the earth for to beate downe his pride and arrogancy the which hath bene the cause of the ruine and destruction of al his posteritie and that he must not only studie on earthly things as the brute beastes doe that looke for no other selicitie but in this miserable world but he must lift vp his eies to Heauen knowing that there is his Father his house and habitation his place of rest his heritage eternall felicitie Now as touching the miseries with the which he is charged and subiect God in the beginning created him not subiect to such miseries for God exalted him to the moste highest degrée of all the dignities of the earth and if he haue so many miseries as we haue before shewed they are chaunced to him since that he knew not himselfe and since the time that he hath strayde from the obedience and vocation to the which he was called and if that he coulde haue kept and retayned this excelent treasure his God would haue preserued him in perpetual felicitie Neuerthelesse though God hath made him subiect to many miseries it is not for anye hatred that he bare vnto him for he hath not pardoned his only sonne for y e great loue he bare vnto man but it is for his great profit that he hath created him such willing thereby to admonish him of his sinne and to plucke out from his heart that pestilent roote of pride the which the Deuill hath planted for to huÌ„ble and kéepe him vnder his feare Therfore this is the cause that man is subiect to so many miseries and is become mortall and corruptible And if man therfore séeing himselfe so wicked and miserable be so proude and hie minded what wold he be if he were immortall and incorruptible And therefore God hath here shewed his wisedome and sapience in y â— he hath made him subiect to corruption Notwithstanding in this corruptible and mortall vessell of earth he hath kept so goodly a harmonie and countenance that it is not possible to imagine or conceyue one more fairer To the ende