who being in sléep dreamed of Buls fighting all night and in the morning he had two horns growing on his head The learned hold opiniâ—n that imagination and vapours of dreams may alter things into some other substance as Caieta and Aenulia two married women became men and Medea by a dream waxed hot in love with Jason and so imagination by operation of natural vapours doth effect things wonderfully as some do by sight assure themselves most certain and some by conjectures affirm things to be true but because imagination is a thing that néedeth at large to be spoken off considering how diversly it worketh in divers men I will in another place speak of it CHAP. XXVII Of the beginning of Marrrriages and the divers manners of the same AFter that God had made the world in full perfection and so beautifull that the Gréeks did call it Cosmos which is fair framing all things for the use of man as well the world as also all that move or grow in the world he then made a woman who should be likewise a further solace to man and as he made the world and all living creatures in it in several proportions in it he framed man like himself to behold the heavens to measure the elements to rule the very Globes and to the end he might multiply the world he said unto Adam after he blessed all things on earth Goe and multiply The multiplication and the use thereof was so divers that divers countries had sundry orders as well in single life as in matrimony And as concerning antiquity of marriage we read in Trâ—gus that noble Historian that Cecâ—ops the first King of Athens before the time of Deucalion first framed and appointed matrimony in Gréece But such were their orders in divers places such was their liberties in matrimony that the Egyptians the Indians and the Thracians might marry as many as they would according to the ability of the man some ten some twelve some more some lesse Again amongst the Scythians the Persians and all Barbary their wives and daughters were common one for another like bruit beasts The Messagetes had this law that it was not to be suffered that any of their country should marry but one wise but it was lawfull for any man to take another mans wife and to make an exchange for so were their wives common to all but married to one In Lybia the people called Augylas and the people called Nasamones had this order in their matrimonies that the Bride the first night after she was married should lie with every guest before she should go to bed to her own husband The Arabians law was that one woman should be married to all her kinsmen and at all times lawfull for any of her kin to challenge and claim her as his wife using this policy to leave a staff at the chamber door to give to understand that one was in bed with her and when the staff was not there then they knew that no body was within and if any were found of another kindred it was adultery and by law he should die Polydorus reciteth a History for the purpose to be noted That there was a Kings daughter of great beauty which had fifteen tall men to her brethren with whom severally oftentimes she did accompany and being almost wearied desirous to take some rest for she was so fair and they so many that always she had company she used this pollicy to make a staff much like to the chamber staff which was as it were a Porter appointed to give notice Afterwards upon a time one of her brethren had left her in the Chamber and was gone out she straight laid the staff at the door thinking thereby somthing to ease her self and to rest from venery but one of her brethren came from the market having left all his brethren there and when he saw the staff at the door went straight to his father and accused his sister of adultery saying that all his brethren were in the market and that there was a fornicator with his sister But the matter being known he was punished by his father for that he slâ—ndered his sister The like liberty in matrimony was sometimes amongst the Medes and with the people called Magi Anthropophagi and with divers others Some of Aethiopia and some of Arabia married their own mothers and sisters Thus people in divers manners did lead their lives and do lead their lites so horribly and filthily that better it were not to know it then to know it But though it be a play and a sport to the ungodly and wicked yet it is a horror and ugly monster to the godly and wise for to know all things profiteth the good Herodotus in his fourth book doth mention certain inhabitants called Poeni approaching the confines of Egypt whose order and law of matrimony was that the King of that country should have the first taste of the Bride before her husband This order was once observed by the ancient Scots that the Lord of the soil should have the virginity of the married woman The Assyrians and Babylonians did sometimes marry those that hired their bodies to all men The people called Cantabri gave money as a dowry with their wives to other men The daughters of the Lydians and the Cyprians might not marry till they had gained by the hire of their bodies as much as should pay their dowry In the mean time did they go from City to City from town to town offering themselves to every man upon the high way and when they had gained sufficiently for their dowry then might they marry and not before And thus were there sundry orders and several laws to maintain the same Some again did lead a life without women as the Esseni which Pliny affirmeth that they live most sober and chast without women all their life time Also certain people of Thrace called Cristae did likewise avoid the company of women The Romans after Rome was built five hundred years and more kept matrimony inviolated till Sputinus a noble Roman because of the barrenness of his wife had a divorcement granted him when Pomponius and Papitius were Consuls in Rome Moses perceiving the Iews much to be given to several vices some to covetousnesse some to lechery for the reformation of domestick quietnesse and because the Iews were desirous of other women either for beauty or for wealth they had a divorcement granted by Moses to mitigate the fury and hardnesse of their hearts which was rather to avoid the tyranny of the Iews which they used towards their first wives and by sufferance then by commandement For as the world in most places was too wicked concerning the liberty of Matrimony so were they in divers Countreys very straight concerning Marriages in so much that the Ethnicks observed that sentence of Catullus the Poet that virginity ought to be ruled by the parents sith one part is the fathers the second is the mothers and
every countrey in their due order of living and to begin with the Egyptians a people most ancient and so expert in all sciences that Macrobius the writer calleth the Countrey of Egypt the Nurse and Mother of all Arts For all the learned Greeks have had their beginning from Egypt even as Rome had from Gréece This people observe their days by account of hours from midnight to midnight They honour the Sun and Moon for their Gods for they name the Sun Osiris and the Moon Isis Their féeding was of fish broyled in the heat of the sun with herbs and with certain fowls of the aire They lived a thousand years but it is to be understood that hey number their years by the Moon the men did bear burthens upon their heads and the women upon their breasts and shoulders the men made water sitting the women standing The Crocodile is that beast which they most do adore that being dead they bury him a Sow is that beast which they most detest so that if any part of their clothes touched a sow they straight did pull off their clothes and wash them over They were black people most commonly slender and very hastie Curâ—ius calleth them seditious vain very subtile in invention of things and much given to wine The Aethiopians are a people that live without Laws and reason servants and slaves to all men selling their children to merchants for corn their hair long with knots and curled The Indians were a people of too much liberty as Herodotus saith the women accompanying them in open sight Neither sowe they nor build neither kill they any living beast but féed on barley bread and herbs they hang at their ears small pearls and they deck their arms wrists and necks with gold The Kings of India are much honoured when they come abroad their ways are set and decked with fresh flowers and men in arms following their Chariots made of Margarite stones and men méeting them with frankincense And when their King goeth to bed their harlots attend him with songs and mirth making their prayers unto their Gods of darknesse for the good rising of their King Again the children kill their parents when they wax old the maids and young damosels of India are brought abroad amongst the young men to choose them their husbands When any man dieth his wife will dress her self most bravest for the funeral and there they are both buried together Hercules is much honoured in that countrey and the River Ganges The Scythians are pale and white for the coldness of the air and full of courage Amongst these people all things are almost in common saving no man will have his sword and his cup common their wives they weigh not but are common one with another For drunkenness they pass all nations for in their solemn banquets there may no man drink of that appointed cup which is carried abroad to banquets unlesse he had slain one or other for it was accounted amongst the Scythians no honesty for a man to live unlesse he had killed one or other They have no cities nor towns as Egypt which was full of them for it is written that when Amazis reigned a King in Egypt there were twenty thousand cities numbred within the countrey of Egypt but Scythia is a most barren and rude countrey the people whereof live and féed beastly a countrey most cold for that no wood groweth in the countrey no religion no temples for their Gods but to Mars onely their chief weapons are bows and arrows When the King dieth in Scythia fifty men and fifty of his best horses must bear him company and be slain for that they judge they shall go one way The Parthians are a people most thirsty saith Pliny for the more they drink the more thirsty they are their chief glory they séek is by drinking and are given so much to surfeits and drunkenness that their breath for their inordinate drinking doth stink and wax so strong that no man can abide them their King likewise is so much honored of them that when he commeth in place they ever knéel and kisse his foot He hath many Quéens with whom the King must lie one after another The King hath about his Chariot ten thousand souldiers with silver spears in their hands and the end of their spears all gold they honour their King with the Sun the Moon the fire the water the wind and the years to these they sacrifice and honour them as their Gods to lie is most horrible with the Parthians insomuch that they instruct their young children onely to avoid lies and to learn to speak truth Of all men they hate ungrateful men they judge it most unhonest to speak any thing filthy and loath chiefly that which is shamefull either in talk or in doing insomuch that they will not spit or make water but in a place where either a floud or a river or some other water is Riding dancing and tennis they exercise most The people of Arabia are long haired with shaven heards save that they spare the upper lips unshaven their women are common for all men at al times to meddle with leaving a staffe at the door in token unto one another that she is with one already and to let understand that he must tarry untill that man go out In Arabia it is not thought amisse for any one to lie with his mother and if any that is not kin take that in hand it is adultery they worship as their Gods Urania and Dionisius They are like unto the Babylonians people of most corrupt life and most given unto filthy pleasure Insomuch that their daughters and their wives are hired unto every man walking in the stréets going unto the temples meeting and offering themselves unto any stranger With the Arabians and Babylonians we may well compare the Lesbians and the Sybarites people passing in that wickednesse given to nothing but to sleep and venery insomuch that they weary themselves with all kind of pleasures and the excesse of their banquets and the bravery of their women was such that made all the beholders to muse and wonder at their excesse as well in cloathing as in féeding wherein they took glory they expelled all sound and noise that might trouble their sleep So filthy were these nations that hand foot head and all parts of the body were naturally given to pollute themselves with venery The Arcadians are people of such antiquity that as they suppose they are before the Moon of this they brag most they worship Pan as their God this people never triumphed over their enemies nor kept wars with any nations but oftentimes served under other princes These Arcadians were like to the people called Averni for their brags of their antiquity for even as the Arcadians brag of the moon so the Averni boasted of their pedigree and stock who were the ancient Troyans wherefore they would be called brethren unto the stout and ancient Romans The Boetians
the God of théeves and for the antiquity of theft it is thought that Prometheus Deucalions father as Poets do feign by the aid of Minerva stole first fire from Phoebus for the which fact he was punished in mount Caucasus after this sort he was bound fast and an Eagle appointed to eat up his heart and to hale his puddings along in furtherance and memory of his theft Hercules and Jason two of the most famous Princes that ever Greece fostred went unto Colchis to steal the golden Fléece Theseus and Perithous went unto the Kingdome of Pluto to steal Proserpina away There was dwelling in a rock near Athens a famous théef named Sciâ—on who was wont to throw headlong strangers that were his guests from a rock into the sea and after that he had continued a long time in spotling and murthering of men that passed by in taking their goods and lives away he was in theÌ„ same sort by Theseus put himself to death Cacus of whom Virgil makes mention the son of Vulcan was so crafty a théef that having a den in mount Aventine he used to draw any thing backward by the tail unto his cave where he spoiled it whether it were man or beast there should he be brought by flight of Cacus to he destroyed till he attempted to spoil Hercules by stealth who after long wrastling in his den with his club slew him The famous theef Sinius used such seats and thefts about Corinth that he would bind any passer by or strangers unto trees and there would hew them into small gobbets for their money and substance These three last renowned theeves are much mentioned of writers So Capiton kept himself fifty years in a den as a common robber to steal and to spoil all that came near his violence The Argives were men most noted and infamous for this fault insomuch that a proverb grew of the Argives Argivi fures that is the Argives are theeves Amongst the Persians there were certain theeves called Cardaces permitted without punishment to steal and to rob The old Germans and ancient Egyptians might somtime by law and the liberty of their country be allowed to steal Lycurgus made laws in Sparta amongst the Lacedemonians that he that did steal without reprehension or being taken with the theft should be free and he which could not artificially steal being taken should be punished insomuch that Brusonius in his second book doth speak of a young man that stole a young Fox the owner thereof following after demanded of the young man whether he saw a little for or no the young man denied it hiding the Fox under his cloak but the Fox a subtil beast willing to shew himself to his master did bite and scratch the young man so sore that his puddings gushed out of his side who thus suffered himself to die rather then he would manifest his theft Wherefore Theophrastus a noble philosopher having the examination of a subtile théef demanded whether he could blush or no to the which the théef answered that he could not for he néeded not to blush in a true matter therefore saith Theophrastus thou art the liklier to be a théef for truth alwaies appeareth in a shamefast countenance Wherefore the wise Cato the Senior was wont to say that young men that waxed red were better to be trusted then those that would wax pale for the one signifieth shamefastnesse and the other deceit For Pithias Aristotles daughter being demanded what colour was best in man or woman she answered that colour that shamefastnesse bringeth which is a blushing countenance But to speak of Pyrates Sextus Pompey the son of Pompey the great kept under him divers and sundry Pyrates about the borders of Italy and Sicily to rob and spoil upon the seas to his great infamy and reproach being the son of so famous a Roman whom Rome a long time so estéemed that Caesar hardly might be superiour to him What shall I say of King Pyrrhus and Caius Verres whom Cicero for his sundry thefts and spoil and for divers sacriledges by Verres committed compared unto the foresaid Tyrant To speak of infinite Pyrates and divers Sacriledgers it were to none effect because it is a common practise in all Countreys Therefore as Diogenes the Philosopher said when he saw a poor man led between the Magistrates to the place of execution Behold saith he a little theef betwéen a number of great theeves God grant that it may not truly be spoken of divers Magistrates in sundry places CHAP. XXXVII Of Lust THe spoil and slaughter of Lust did always far surpasse all other vices it hath suppressed Castles and Countreys it hath vanquished Kings and Cesars overthrown the pomp of Asia Affrica and Europe and almost depopulated the whole world This vice of all vices is to be abhorred and detested for there is no vice but hath its center as pride chiefly hath her seat appointed in puissant Princes and Noble men Covetousnesse resideth with old men that be Magistrates and Officers Envy with men of sciences and faculties Vsury with Citizens Symony with Bishops and Priests Hypocrisie with Religious men Deceit with Merchants but Lust is common to all men as well to the subject as to the Prince to the learned as to the ignorant to the wise as to the foolish For David and son Salomon to whom God gave singularity of wisdome dexterity of wit to govern the Israilites yet the sacred Scriptures do witness of their horrible lust David lusted for Bathsheba and that so wickedly that he appointed a way to put to death her husband Uriah Solomon lusted so much that he did forget his God that did guide his steps all the while he ruled justly and lived godly in Israel Aristotle and Socrates in despight of their Philosophy and great knowledge the one became a slave to Hermia the other a subject to Aspasia Sampson and Hercules for all their strength and conquest of Giants and monsters the one prostrated his Club at Deianiraes foot the other committed his strength to the beauty of Delilah The renowned and sugred Oratours Demosthenes and Hortensitis the one from Athens came to Corinth to compound for a nights lodging with Lais the other in Rome with nicenesse and wantonnesse was judged more subject to lust then Lord over himself If then witty and wise men if learned and discreet men if eloquent and subtil men if strong and mighty Conquerours have been ruled by lust deceived by beauty overcome with women what should I speak of Heliogabulus not well named Emperour but worthily called the beast of Rome What should I recite that Monster and Tyrant Nero What should I recite that filthy and vile Emperour Caligula the onely sink of sin and shame not Emperors but Monsters not Princes but Tyrants not men but beasts which defiled their own sisters kept open stews and brothel houses maintaining Whores and Harlots made Laws at their banquets every man to his woman first and then to his meat and
Idolatry sprung up by Meâ—issus King of Greet Images and pictures were first made by Epimetheus Tribute was appointed first by Darius Fighting on horseback by the Centaures was first practised Immediately things were found apt and necessary unto wars after that Mars first invented the way thereunto Then the Lacedemonians people of great antiquity found first the Helmet a Sword and a Spear the Scythians found first the use of Bows and Arrows the Thracians were ancient in feats of chivalry for that Mars as they supposed was born with them who was honoured as the God of wars and found out divers things necessary for wars Happy was that man that might then invent something or other to profit his country and thus the wit of man sought so déeply and studied so painfully that from a rude and lumpish Chaos the world waxed beautifull and men waxed civil and all things became ripe and perfect by the industry of man Afterwards the world grew unto such ripenesse that liberal sciences were found and used in all places as things necessary unto man and there was nothing unsought that might induce profit both hearbs stones trées and all things within the compasse of the earth were searched to what end they were and used accordingly unto some purpose Vulcanus and Promotheus found out the profit of the fire Anacharsis the Scythian first found bellows to blow the same as Ceres taught to plough the ground Argeus did invent the dunging of it Urania found first Astrologie the people of Chaldea straight practised the same Errato invented the use of Geometry the people of Egypt straight exercised the same To be brief Clio first found Histories Melpomene Tragedies Thalia Comedies Polyhimnia Rhetorick Calâ—ope Poetry or rather Palias her self whom all the Greeks supposed to be the first founder of sciences and arts Simonides invented the art of memory as the register and sure recorder of knowledge to keep the same the vertues of herbs were found by Mercury and Chiron and by others Hyppocrates and Avicen first professed Physick though the most part do attribute to Apollo the first exercise in Physick and unto his son Aesculapius the practise of Chirurgery Dedalus in Creet was the first Carpenter Amphion the first Musitian in Thebes Tages the first Soothsayer in Hetruria Nothing escaped mans inâ—ustry Aristeus King of Arcadia first found the use of Honey and the nature of Bees the Lydians to die Wool the Egyptians found out the first use of flax the Phrygians to sew first with néedles the Hetruscans Weaving Nature left nothing unsought for her own profit as Plautus saith she is always desirous to invent and to know new things Victories and triumphs were first invented by Dionisius Crassus made the silver garland first to be worn in Rome The Phrygians made the Chariot first Hunting was practised by Artaxerxes and laws thereunto appointed Epeus for that he invented the brasen horse in Troy for the Gréeks is famous Perillus for that he made the brazen Bull in Agrigentum for Phalaris the tyrant is renowned though the one was made to satisfie tyranny and the other to accomplish treason Yet such was the desire that men had to Fame that alwaies they studied and contrived what best might advance their Fame and might be the memorial of their attempt travel What a thing was it to sée in ancient time the invention and policy of men in all countries what orders what laws were in all places to conserve that by wit which afterwards they destroyed by wars What was not invented in Rome before Julius Caesar and Pompeius altered it before those wicked members Sylla and Marius spoyled it before that rebel Catiline disturbed it before Marcus Antonius and Augustus quite destroyed it So that pollicy of men in observing laws orders in their wisedom in framing them their magnanimity in defending them were topsey turvey thrown down afterwards by cruel Tyrants and wicked Princes as Caligula Nero Tiberius Heliogabalus with others so that time findeth all things and endeth all things time maketh and time destroyeth CHAP. VII Of the sumptuous and wonderfull Buildings of Kings and Princes I Thought it convenient to place the strange and wonderful buildings which were made by mens hands together with the marvellous works of nature and the rather because amongst them are so famous that for the renown thereof they are named in number the seven wonders of the world The first was called Pyramides which the Kings of Egypt made by the City of Memphis a miracle so made that twenty and two yeares six thousand were occupyed and travelled in the same either as Pliny saith to busie the vulgar people lest they should be idle or else to shew and brag their superfluous wealth in making so stupendious a work The second were the walls of Babylon which Quéene Semiramis unto her perpetuall memory had made a monument amongst the Persians In making of these walls she kept three hundred thousand men at work they were made of two hundred cubits height and fifty cubits broad having a hundred gates wrought of brasse round about to come and go unto the city and from the City And upon the walls were made three hundred towers she brought Euphrates one of the foure Rivers of Paradise to passe through the middest of Babylon The third in order was the sumptuous tombe of Mausolus King of Caria which Quéene Artemesia his wife made so gorgâ—eous that it was twenty and five Cubits high and in compasse foure hundred and eleven foot and wrought round about with sixe and thirty pillars and broad beames hence all the monuments and brave buildings of Emperours and Kings took their patterne for it was so curiously wrought that upon the East side that famous workman Scopas shewed his skill upon the West side that renowned Leocares wrought his cunning upon the North side Briax a man of great name applyed his part and upon the South side Timotheus did what he could to winne renowne These foure famous workmen had more fame by making the tombe of Mausolus then for all the workes that ever they made before These two noble Quéenes are not to be blotted out of memory all the while that the name of Babylon is reade of in bookes or the Tombe of Mausolus spoken off with tongues Now to passe further to speake of that monument and miracle which excelleth all the world for worke I meane the great Temple of Diana amongst the Ephesians in the building of which all Asia were occupyed two hundred and twenty yeares almost with all powers of the world This Temple was made nigh the seas for feare of earthquakes it was foure hundred twenty and five foote long two hundred and twenty foote of breadth it had a hundred twenty and seven pillars which for the wealth thereof every one after another was made by a king The cheife master of this worke was Ctesiphon whose fame thereby was spread over all the world The fifth was the high tower which King
are the rudest people in the world so that the Athenians call them as Plutarch reporteth bold baiards and blocks for their grosse understanding The Bactrians are most puissant and warlike souldiers detesting much the excesse of the Persians but are of such grosse sense notwithstanding that they give and bestow their old men and also sick men unto dogs to be devoured which dogs for the purpose they nourish and bring up in their country The Agrigentines a people given unto such buildings and banquetting that Plato the Philoso said the Agrigentines builded as though they should live for ever and banquetted as though they should die dayly The manners of the Assyrians were to bring their sick friends abroad unto the high ways to séek to ask and to know remedies for their sicknesse of all kind of men that passe by and if by chance without remedy the sick should die they should bear him home and bury him solemnly anointing over the corps with honey and wax This people did wear for their weapons daggers and targets and clubs they did worship Adad for their God and Adargatin for their Goddesse The people of Creet were most expert sea men and well practised in wars abstaining not onely from flesh but also from sodden meat their thief infamy was in venery masculin otherwise for their manners of living much like unto the noble Lacedemonians which for their modesty in feeding and contempt of wealth for their wisedome and study in warfares passed all nations for a token thereof they printed in their Targets the Gréek letter L. named Lambda they brought up their youth as Lycurgus that ancient law-setter taught them in all kind of study pain and labour with hunger thirst cold and heat whereby they might be able to suffer any chance happened or injury offered then were they again brought up in wrastling leaping running swimming riding and such other qualities as might profit their country in time of service for their nature was either to win and conquer or else to die and yeeld Learning and science they little esteemed insomuch that Athens and Sparta could never agree for that the one was addicted to serve Minerva or rather the muses the other given unto Mars Lycurgus made a law in Sparta that no man might accompany with his own wife but with shamefastnesse of that filthy act The candles might not be lighted in that house where the man was when that he would go unto his wife When the King would go unto wars before he should go unto the field to incounter with the enemies he offered two solemn sacrifices the one unto Minerva otherwise named Bellona to kindle flames of stoutnesse in his souldiers manfully to fight the other to the Muses to moderate their doings in victory as might be commendable and praise worthy therein they passed all men in patience for as before they brought up their children in such hardinesse that their parents would have them whipt scourged and wounded into the flesh to harden them in their young years They suffered theft to be unpunished for that the exercise thereof doth represent a kind of boldnesse in wars The nature of the Lydians was to delight in superstiticus divinations in invention of plaies and in theft As for the art of dicing and playing divers kinds of games upon tables the Lydians first invented the same They also were much enflamed by luxurious life and filthy venery which they neither spared day nor night Pliny writeth of a certain Nation called Esteni which abstained from all kind of pleasure insomuch that they never accompany with women never eat flesh nor drink wine and thus by custome of fasting they became naturally chast For custome and use saith Aristotle is another nature In that countrey no man possesseth any thing of his own all things are indifferent betwéen them and they live as companions one with another for in these their vertues they excel all men in vehement and most ardent love towards God Thus vertue most diligent with great care and study was weighed their Neighbours wonderfully beloved and made of so that by this their precept of life they have great fame and commendations They have few Cities and as few Towns and for that they take the earth as a common Mother they have all one respect unto all kind of men The Getes have no division of lands no limits of ground nor any partitions of their goods they drink bloud mingled with milk they eat no flesh and they rejoyce much when their friends die even as the people called Trauses in Thracia do when any is born into the world they mourn and lament with wéeping eys that the little child then born should know the misery and state of this wretched world and when any of their friends are dead they rejoice and be glad with melody and all kind of mirth for that he hath past this toiling life The Thracians people of great antiquity were famous warriours bragging much that Mars the God of war was born in their country much addicted unto drunkennesse selling their children in the market and their maids and daughters are common to lie with every man they judge and count it most commendation to live onely by spoil theft and wars they brag if any have a wound and think it a fame unto the person And of the contrary if they have no mark in the forehead no wound in the body they will judge those idle men and cowards the common people worship Mars and Diana for their Gods their king onely doth worship Mercury by whom the King useth to swear Psilli are people of so great folly that when the Southern wind bloweth so long and strong that their lands perish their waters dry then they arm themselves with common counsel to fight against the wind even like to the people of Câ—lta who use to draw their swords shake their spears at the waves of the seas to revenge the injuries and wrongs done by the seas to them The Bithinians were men of like folly for they would ascend and climb up to the top of high mountains either to thank Jupiter for his furtherance towards them or else to curse Jupiter for his cruelnesse towards them So the Pigmies being sore troubled and molested with Cranes did ride on Rams and Goats backs with their bows and arrows a whole band together in the spring time towards the sea-banks to break their eggs to destroy their nests and to fight with the Cranes every third moneth they take this journey in hand else would the Cranes destroy them for that they are little dwarfs of a cubit long their houses are made of dirt and feathers most like unto birds nests but that they say they are somewhat larger and bigger I know not to what purpose I do recite these countries sith the more I write the more I have to write What should I recite the people that eat the flesh of Lions and Panthers called Agriophagi or recite those
the ravishment of Virginia CHAP. XX. Of the strange Natures of Waters Earth and Fire IN divers learned Histories we read especially in Pliny of the wonders of waters and of the secret and unknown nature of fire wherin for the rare sight thereof are noted things to be marvelled at There is a water in the countrey of Campania where if any mankind will enter therein it is written that he shall incontinent be bereft of his senses And if any woman kind happen to go into that water she shall always afterward be barren In the same countrey of Campania there is a lake called Avernus where all flying fowls of the air that fly over that lake fall presently therein and die A well there is in Caria called Salmacis whose water if any man drink thereof he becommeth chaft and never desireth the company of a woman The River Maeander doth bréed such a kind of stone that being put close to a mans heart it doth straight make him mad There are two rivers in Boetia the one named Melas whose water causeth straight any beast that drinketh thereof if it be white to alter colour to black the other Cephisus which doth change the black beast to a white beast by drinking of the water Again there is in India a standing water where nothing may swim beast bird man or any living creature but they all sink this water is called Silia In Affrica on the contrary part there is the water named Apustidamus where nothing be it never so heavy or unapt to swim but will swim upon the water Lead or any heavy mettal doth swim in that lake as it is in the well of Phinitia in Sicilia Infinite waters should I recite if I in this would be tedious in repeating their names whose strange natures whose secret and hidden operation whose force and vertue were such as healed divers diseases As in the Isle of Avaria there was a water that healed the collick and the stone By Rome there was also a water called Albula that healed gréen wounds In Cilicia the river called Cydnus was a present remedy to any swelling of the legs Not far from Neapolis there was a well whose water healed any sicknesse of the eys The lake Amphion taketh all scurfs and sores from the body of any man What should I declare the natures of the four famous Rivers that issue out of Paradise the one is named Euphrates which the Babylonians and Mesopotamians have just occasion to commend the second is called Ganges which the Indians have great cause to praise the third called Nilus which the countrey of Egypt can best speak of and the fourth is called Tigris which the Assyrians have most commodity by Here might I be long occupied if I should orderly but touch the natures of all waters So the alteration of the seas and the wonders thereof appear as ebbing and flowing as saltnesse and swéetnesse and all things incident by nature to the seas which were it not that men see it dayly and observe the same hourly and mark things therein continually more wonders would appear by the seas then almost reason might be alledged for God as the Prophet saith is wonderfull in all his works So the five golden Rivers which learned and ancient writers affirm that the sands thereof are all glistering gems of gold as Tagus in Spain Permus in Lydia Pactolus in Asia Idaspes in India and Arimaspus in Scythia These are no lesse famous through their golden sands which their rowling waves bring to land in these aforesaid countreys then Parnessus in Boetia where the Muses long were honoured or Simois in Phrygia where Venus was conceived by Anchises To coequat the number of these five last and pleasant Rivers there are five as horrible to Nature as Styx in Arcadia whose property is to kill any that will touch it and therefore feigned of the Poets to be consecrated to Pluto for thfre is nothing so hard but this water wil consume so cold is the water thereof Again the River Phlegeton is contrary to this for the one is not so cold but the other is as hot and therefore called Phlegeton which is in English Fiery or smoakie for the Poets feign likewise that it burneth out in flames of fire Lethes and Acheron two Rivers the one in Affrica the other in Epire the one called the river of forgetfulnesse the other the river of sadnesse The fifth called Cocytus a place where mourning never ceaseth These five rivers for their horror and terror that procéeded from them for the strange and wonderfull effects thereof are called infernal lakes consecrated and attributed to King Pluto which Virgil at large describeth Divers wells for the strangenesse of the waters and for the pleasantnesse thereof were sacrificed to the Gods as Cissusa a well where the Nurses of Bacchus used to wash him was therefore consecrated to Bacchus so Melas to Pallas Aganippe to the Muses and so forth not molesting the Reader further with natures of Water I mean now briefly to touch the strange nature of the Earth Pliny affirmeth that there was never man sick in Locris nor in Croton neither any Earthquake ever heard in Licia By Rome in the field called Gabiensis a certain plat of ground almost two hundred Acres would tremble and quake as men rode upon it There are two hils of strange natures by the River called Indus the nature of the one is to draw any Iron to it insomuch as Pliny saith that if nails be in any shoes the ground of that place draweth the sole off There is a piece of ground in the City Characena in the countrey of Taurica where if any come wounded he shall be straight healed And if any enter under divers places as in a place called Hirpinis where the temple of Mephis is builded or in Asia by Iheropolis they shall incontinently die Again there are places by the vertue of ground in that place that men may prophesie Divers times we read that one piece of ground devoured another as the hill Ciborus and the city hard by called Curites were choaked up of the earth Phegium a great mountain in Aethiopia and Sipilis a high hill in Magnesia with the cities named Tantalis and Galarus There is a great Rock by the City Harpasa in Asia which may be moved easily with one finger and yet if a man put all his strength thereunto it will not stir I néed not speak of mount Aetna in Sicilia of Lypara in Acolia of Chymera in Lycia of Vesuvius and Aenocauma five fiery mountains which day and night burn so terribly that the flame thereof never resteth If any man will see more of these marvellous and wonderfull effects of Elements let him read the second book of Plini where he shall have abundance of the like examples There he shall see that in some places it never rained as in Paphos upon the temple of Venus in Nea a town in Phrygia upon the temple of Minerva and in
decay The Athenians have such care of the dead that being dressed with all kind of swéet odours they put them in such sumptuous tombs and gorgeous graves that the sepulchres are made over with fine glasse The Scythians when their Kings and noble men die they must have to bear them company to the grave one of their concubines and one of their chief servants and one of their friends that loved them best alive they I say must accompany and follow them to the grave being dead The Romans had this custome that if any man of countenance and credit should die his sons and daughters his nigh kinsmen and best beloved friends as Cicero doth write of Metellus did put him in the fire made for that purpose unlesse he were one of the Emperours whose funeral pomp was much more sumptuous for then his body was to be carried to the market or common Hall of Rome on the second day he was to be carried by certain young noble men to Martius field where a great pile of wood was raised much like a Tower and there after much solemnity and ceremonies done he that succéeded him as an Emperour did first put fire to that work and then all men were busie to sée the body burned and when they had burned him to ashes they would let an Eagle flie from the top of some high Tower which as they supposed should carry his soul unto heaven The Assyrians did use to anoint the dead bodies with honey and wax and with study and care did preserve them from putrifaction Such strange order of burial was in India that the women of that country thought there could be no greater fame nor worthier renown then to bee burned and buried together with their husbands The Thracians are much to be commended herein who at the birth of any of their friends children use to wéep and bewail the misery and calamity that man is born to and at the death of any of their friends they rejoice with such mirth and gladnesse that they past these worldly miseries that at the burial of them even when the corps doth go out of the house they altogether say with one voice Farewel friend go before and we will follow after So the corps goeth before and all his friends follow after him with trumpets musick and great mirth for joy that he is gone out of the vale of misery Plato that divine Greek and noble Philosopher made the like laws in Athens that when any of the chief officers should die he appointed that no mourning weeds should be worn there but all in white apparel and that fifteen young maids and fifteen young boys should stand round about the corps in white garments while the Priests commended his life to the people in an open oration then he was brought very orderly to the grave all the young children singing their country hymns and the ancient men following after them and the grave was covered with fair broad stones where the name of the dead with his vertuous commendations and great praise was set upon the stone The like grave the Italians use at this day and divers other countries And as these and others had the like ceremonies to the praise and commendations of the dead so others little esteemed and regarded such things insomuch that the Persians were never buried till Fowls of the ayr and dogs did eat some part thereof The Messagetes thought it most infamous that any of their friends should die by sicknesse but if the Parents waxed old the children and the next kinsmen they had did eat them up supposing that their flesh was more méet for them to eat then by worms or any other beasts to be devoured The people called Tibareni had a custome that those whom they loved best in their youth those would they hang in their age even so the Albans being inhabitants about mount Cancasus thought it unlawfull for any to care for the dead but straight buried them as Nabatheans bury their Kings and rulers in dung-hils The burial of the Parthians was nothing else but to commend them to the birds of the air The Nasomones when they bury their friends they set them in the grave sitting But of all most cruelly deal the Caspians and the Hircanians which kill their parents their wives their brethren their kinsmen and friends and put them in the high way half quick half dead for to be devoured of birds and beasts The fashion and custome with the Issidones a rude people in some part of Scithia as Plini in his fourth book affirmeth is to call their neighbours and friends together were the dead lie and there merrily singing and banquetting they eat the flesh of the dead and make the scull of the dead a drinking cup and cover it with gold to drink withall Again the people called Hyperborei think no better grace for their friends vvhen they be old then to bring them to some high bank of vvater or great rock and thence after much feasting eating and drinking in the middest of their mirth their own friends do throw them down into the water headlong To seek into histories many such burials might be found amongst so many rude and barbarous nations Notwithstanding in divers regions the funerals of the dead are so esteemed that the greatest infamy the severest punishment for any offendour vvas not to be buried this the Athenians used tovvards those that vvere traitors to their country and the Egyptians if any lived amisse he should be carried dead to the vvildernesse to be devoured of vvild beasts The Persians likewise brought the bodies of men condemned to be eaten of dogs The Lybians thought them most worthy of solemn buriall that died either in wars or were killed by wild beasts The Macedonians had great care in burying the dead souldiers in the field Amongst the Gentiles there were certain days appointed for mourning at the death of their friends Licurgus law amongst the Lacedemonians was that they should mourn but eleven days Numa Pompilus decreed that children after their parents death the wives their husbands c. should mourn ten moneths though by the Senatours it was enacted in the wars at Canna that the Romans should mourn but thirty days Amongst the Egyptians they had a custome to mourn after their kings died thréescore and twelve days but generally the most custome was to bewail the dead nine days In some places mourning was forbidden at their burial as at Athens by the law of Solon in Locretia in Thracia in Coos in Lybia and in divers other places The diversity of mourning was such that amongst the Gréeks they shaved their heads and beards and threw them into the grave with the dead Amongst the Lacedemonians when the Kings of Sparta died certain horsemen were appointed to travell over all the whole Kingdome certifying the death of the King and the women in every city did beat their brasen pots and made a great and heavy noise for the soone the Egyptians
nine just with the number of the Muses thus was the first Harp made by Apollo though some say it was made by Orpheus some by Amphion some by Liâ—s yet it is most like that Apollo made it For in Delphos the picture or effigies of Apollo is there set up having in his right hand a bow and in his left hand the thrée Graces and either of them having in their hands several kind of instruments the first a Harp the second a Pipe the third a Flute In the chapter of the invention of things you shall at large find more concerning musick But now to declare the harmony of musick the mirth and melody that procéeds from musick the love and affection that antient Princes and gravewise men bare to musick Themistocles though he was wise and discréet in other things yet for that as Cicero saith in his first book of Tusculans he refused to hear one play on the Harp in a banquet where he was he then of the wisest men in Athens was thought and judged to be of lesse learning than they supposed him to be For the Greeks judged none to be learned unlesse he were experienced in musick Socrates the father of all philosophy and master of all Philosophers being by the Oracle of Apollo named and judged the wisest man in all the world in his latter years being an old man was taught to play upon the Harp and often found amongst little children he being taunted of Alcibiades for that he found him playing with a little infant called Lamproces answered it is good being to be in good company Even so that wise and discreet Prince Agesilaus king sometime of the Lacedemonians spying one of his men to laugh at him for that he rode upon a long reed with one of his children said hold thy peace and laugh not and when soever thou shalt be a father thou must do as a father We read the like of noble Architas the Tarentine who when he was married having a great number of servants in his house he would play with their children and delighted much in the company of young infants Certainly either of these thrée last mentioned Socrates Ageâ—â—laus or Architas were in those days most renowned for their wisedom and knowledge and yet refused they not the company of young infants That mighty and strong Hercules though he was the son of Jupiter and counted in all the world most famous rather a God taken then a man as Euripides doth testifie would be often found amongst children and young innocent infants playing saying this sentence with a child in his hand I play with children which for the change thereof is so grateful unto me as though I were in the games of Olimpia The self-same famous Hercules went to school to Livius to learn to play upon the Harp to solace him in his sadnesse and to make him merry when he was compelled to mourn In the middest of his triumph went that great Conquerour Alexander likewise to learn musick That divine and godly Prophet David played upon his Harp and served his God with hymns and godly ballads It is written that in the marriage of King Cadmus the son of Agenor who builded Thebes in Boetia the Muses played on instruments In Gréece musick was so esteemed that their sages and wise Philosophers addicted themselves wholly to musick The Arcadians the Lacedemonians and the Thracians though they were people much given to wars severe in dealing hardy in all travels and in learning most inexperienced yet would they acquaint themselves with musick till they were thirty years old The people of Créet brought up their youth in all kind of melody and harmony The most part of the world did learn musick save in Egypt where as Diodorus in his second book affirmeth musick was forbidden least the tender and soft minds of their youth should be inticed to too much pleasure And though some contemn musick with Diogenes and say that it were more profitable to mend manners then to learn musick and some with Alcibiades despise musick who was wont to say that the Thebans were méet men to learn musick for that they could not speak but that the Athenians should hate such wanton tunes for that they spake without instruments Likewise King Pyrrhus being demaanded which was the best musitian Python or Charisius he despising them and their musick preferred a great warriour according to his own mind named Polysperches though these I say with divers others despised musick yet we read again as wise as they as stout as they used much musick as Acaâ—les Alexander the great Nero Silla M. Cato Socrates Cimon Too many might I repeat the learned Jopas whose songs in Virgil are expressed the Salij whose pleasant pamphlets Rome a long while embraced and much estéemed For as musick is delightfully pleasant full of harmony and melody so is musick terrible also and full of life and courage For we read in the old age while yet the world was rain that Aliates King of Lidia in his wars against the Milesians had Musitians for his Trumpetters Pipers and Fidlers as Herodoâ—us in his first book affirmeth to move the people with musick to wars The people of Créet as Gellius writeth had Gitterns and Cithrons playing before them as they went to the field to fight The Parthians used as Plutarchâ—s in the life of Crastus reporteth the beating of drums at their going into field the Ethiopians used songs of divers tunes and dancings before they went to wars the Syrians before they met their enemies would sing ballads to honour the fame of the wars with all kind of dancing to solace themselves the Cimbrians did make melody with dry skins beating the skins with sticks like drum sticks at the very entrance to the enemies Cyrus the great King did with his souldiers sing to Castor and Pollux before he took his voyage to the enemies the Athenians would sing hymns to Iupiter before they would go to the field the first noise and sound that the Lacedemonians had as Thâ—cidides saith instead of Trumpets were Flutes til ' by an Oracle they were warned of Apollo that if they thought to have victory over Moslena they should appoint a man of Athens for their Captain the Athenians being right glad of the Oracle for that the Lacedâ—monians and Athenians were alwaies enemies one to another they sent to Athens for a Captain who appointed to them a lame and a deformed man named Dircaeus in a reproach and mock of the Lacedemonians This Dircaeâ—s being appointed and made Captain over all the people of Sparta he first then invented the trump and taught all the Lacedemonians to sound the trump which was such a terrour to the enemies the people of Messena that at the first sound of the trumpets they fled and so the Lacedemonians got the victory thus was the ancient musick in the beginning so necessary that every country indeavoured to have skil in musick then Mars claimed musick in the field now
Venus onely exerciseth musick in chambers This is that kind of gentle and soft musick the Egyptians forbad the youth to be taught lest from men they would become again women but shall we join the old ancient games the mirth the solace and the plays that they used in those days together with their musick to prove the agility of that time and the activities of that age to be much estéemed amongst the Gréeks and Gentiles The Gréeks had four great games appointed the first in mount Olimpia in Arcadia hard by the City Pisa which Hercules invented first to honour Iupiter this was so famous amongst the Greeks that even as the Romans used to account their time by their Consuls so did the Greeks use to number by the games of Olimpia which was appointed every fifth year Vnto this game came all the youth of the world both on horseback and on foot to do masteries the reward was appointed for the victors a Garland made of Olive leaves for they came not there for money but for mirth and exercise ' insomuch that when Tigranes King Artabanus son heard of the fame thereof and of the Garlands of Olive he said Well worthy were the Greeks to be spoken of that so little estéemed money the Olive was preferred for the chief reward in Olympia This same moved first King Xerxes to wax against the Greeks to his losse and decay The second games were called Pithii and invented of Apollo in memory that he killed the great Serpent Python which was of Iuno sent to kill Latona Apollo his mother Here was appointed for the victors either on foot or on horseback a garland made of Oken leaves Here likewise all the youth of Greece exercised feats practised policies used masteries and proved themselves in any thing that they felt themselves apt to perform as in running leaping wrastling riding swimming or such like as then was used the third was called Isthmia invented of Theseus in the honour of Neptune In this play was appointed for the victors certain garlands made of Pine leaves having the name of Isthmos a place in Achaia where Neptune is worshipped The fourth game is called Nemea which the Argives make in memory of Hercules for that he killed a great fierce Lion in the woods of Nemea according to the name of the play Here do likewise the Argives come to exercise youth and practise feats as the rest do these four plays were long in Greece observed as causes and occasions for men to come together to shew feates and to try qualities the first in Olimpus for Iupiter the second in Delos for Apollo the third in Isthmos a place in Achaia for Neptune the fourth amongst the Argives to Hercules In the first play the garland of victory was made of Olive in the second play the garland of victory was of Oke in the third play they had their garlands of Pine in the fourth play of Poplar and thus then they triumphed in their mirth they joied in their victories they gloried in their garlands while the Lawrel as Ovid said was not known Besides these four famous plays there were divers others as Pyrrhus play which he invented in Creet for the souldiers to exercise themselves in arms wherein he taught divers gestures and sundry postures whence first procéeded the use of wars this was a kind of dâ—ncing in arms as Dionisius Hali in his seventh book saith which was by the people called Curetes maintained in the memory of Pyrrhus Licaon likewise invented other kind of plaies where naked men contrary to Pyrrhus games did use feats of activity Divers other games were had in great estimation in Greece being made and invented of men but the first inventeur of mirth was as Diodorus saith Mercurius which onely was invented to recreate the people and to practise agility and feats of bodies Others there were of lesse name but of as great mirth as divers kinds of playing at the Ball which is an ancient game as it séemeth in Virgil and it was much used sometime amongst the Troyans for when Aeneas immediately after the destruction of Troy came unto Italy he taught the exercise of the ball before he married Lavinia King Latinus daughter and at this day it is much used in divers countries Again for further recreation they used sundry kinds of playing at dice. Herodotus doth witnesse that the old and ancient Lidians did first find out the dice and Ball though Plini doth report that one named Pythus first found the play at the Ball but for the certainty thereof since so many balls there are and the playing likewise is so variable both Plini and Herodotus may well agree for the people of Lydia at a certain time being oppressed with great dearth and so plagued with hunger they invented then divers kinds of games at dice as Herodotus affirms to pass the time in playing to forget huÌ„ger for they fed one day they came together the second day to play thus eating a little one day to satisfie nature they plaied the second day to forget hunger Again there was amongst the ancient Gréeks a play much like unto our chesse play which one Xerxes a wise man first invented to warn a tyrannous prince which he their served to forsake his tyranny and to let him understand by his play that a Prince ought to be vigilant and to use his subjects as his force and strength even as the play is in moving the Pawns the Knights the Bishops for the defence and bulwarks of the King thus as the player I mean Xerxes did shew his master the King the effect of the play how the King was preserved by playing wisely of the men lest they be lost so the tyrant himself understood by the play of Xerxes how dangerous that Princes state is that useth not well his subjects nor discréetly sée and watch for their commodities which is the Princes safety Another play was used then in Gréece either upon the Dice or else closely in hand called Even and odde This play came from Greece unto Rome in the time of Augustus Caesar the second Emperor of Rome as Suetonius doth write in the life of Augustus wrote a Letter unto his daughter in Rome after this sort Daughter I send thee two hundred and fifty Sestercij which I give amongst thy guests to play after supper the Greek play called Even and odde whether it be at Dice or close in hand Le ts likewise were much used for recreation and mirth with divers other sundry games and plays to recreate the mind of man which both the Greeks and Gentiles did practise as well to try their wits as also to use pastime and mirth to draw company together to be merry I leave the Gréeks a while and will speak something of the Roman pastimes and sports which in nothing were inferiour to the Gréeks but rather excelled Gréece and all the world in all qualities And lest I should seem tedious I will speak of no
should be cut off offered to Jupiter in the Capitol of Rome his family to the temple of Ceres his children should be sold as bondmen to the Tribunes and Censors The Lacedemonians were most studiouâ— to expel idlenesse and brought their children up always in hardnesse to practise them in the Arts of Industry and hated Idlenesse so much that if any in the City of Sparta waxed grosse or fat they straight suspected him of idlenesse and if any young man waxed fat they had appointed laws that he should fast and live poor untill he were again changed into his first estate The Egyptians an ancient people when the country of Egypt began to be populous to avoid idlenesse as Pliny reporteth made the great building called the Pyramides which for the mightinesse and strange working thereof was named one of the seven wonders of the World in which there were kept at work thréescore thousand young men who continued a long time in the making thereof and onely to avoid and banish idlenesse The Athenians so abhorrid and detested idlenesse that when a certain man was condemned to die for that he was found idle in Athens a citizen thereof named Herondas as Plutarch testifieth was as desirous to see him as though he had been a prodigious Monster so strange and so marvellous was it to hear or to see any idle man in Athens The people called the Massilians would suffer no travellers neither Pilgrim nor Sacrificer nor any other stranger to come within their City lest under colour of religion or of pilgrimage they might corrupt the youth of the City with the sight thereof to be idle The Indians had a law made by their Wise-men called Gymnosophists that after meat was set on the table the youth should be examined what they had done for their meat and what pain and labour they had used all the morning before if they could make account of their travel they should goe to dinner but if they had béen idle they should have no meat except they had deserved the same The like did the young men of Argis who made an account to their Magistrates of their occupations and works The Areopagites as Valerius affirmeth did imitate the Athenians in commanding their youth to avoid idlenesse and to exercise travel the one as necessary to any Commonwealth as the other is most dangerous So that some countreys are naturally given to travel as the Lydians Phrygians French men with others Some again are given to idlenesse as the Persians Corinthians and others Some by law were forced to slie idlenesse some by punishment were feared from it some by death were enforced to labour for their living Thus this Monster Idlenesse is beaten every where and yet embraced in most places every man speaks against idlenesse yet a number are in love with it Magistrates and Officers are appointed to punish it and yet they often favour it CHAP. XL. Of Wrath and Anger and the hurts thereof THe famous and noble Philosopher Aristotle did charge his schollers always being in Anger or Wrath to behold themselves in a glasse where they might see such alteration of countenance such a palenesse in color that being before reasonable men they appear now like brutish beasts Wherefore that great Philosopher perceiving the furious and hastie nature of Alexander wrote from Athens unto India where this noble conqueror was at wars with King Porus to take heed of Wrath and Anger saying Anger ought not to be in any Prince toward his inferiour for he was to be mended with correction nor toward his equal for he might be redressed with power so that Anger ought not to be but against superiours but Alexander had no coequals Yet in vain was Aristotles doctrine to Alexander in this point for being in a baÌ„quet when Clitus his dear friend coÌ„mended his father King Philip in the former age to be the worthiest most renowned Prince Alexander wexed upon a sudden so angry that any man should be preferred before him though Philip was his own father which was comended and Cliâ—us his especial friend that did commend him that he thrust Clitus into the heart with a spear So hastie was this Prince that Calisthenes and Lysiâ—achus the one his Historian and counsellour the other his companion and friend for a few words spoken were either of them slain Silence therefore saith Aristotle is the surest reward to a Prince We read that King Tigranes of Armenia whom Pompey the great did conquer waxed so angry by a fall from his horse because his son was present and could not prevent his fathers fall that he thrust him with his dagger into the heart and was so sorry afterward and angry withal that he had likewise killed himself had not Anaxarchus the Phllosopher perswaded him Anger in a Prince saith Solomon is death terrible is the countenance of a King when he is oppressed with Wrath hurtfull to many and dangerous to all is the anger thereof Nero was so furious in anger that he never heard any thing if it were not to his liking but he would requite it one way or other with death insomuch that in his rage and anger he would often throw down tables being at dinner and dash cups of gold wrought with pearls against the walls and fling all away more like to a furious Gorgon of hell then a sober Emperor in Rome Such fury reigneth in anger that Orestes the son of Agamemnon slue his own mother Clytemnestra suddenly in his Wrath. Such madnesse reigneth in Anger that Ajax Telamon that famous and valiant Gréek after that Achilles was slain in the temple of Pallas by Paris at the destruction of Troy waxed so Angry because he might not have Achilles Armor which was given before to Ulisses that he beat stones and blocks fought with dead trées killed beasts thinking to méet with Ulisses amongst them If Anger make men murtherers if Wrath make men mad without wit or reason to know themselves or others let them imitate Plato in his anger who being angry with any of his scholers or servants would give the rod to Zenocrates to correct them Because he was angry the learned Philosopher misdoubted himself that he could not use moderate correction Even so Archicas would always speak unto his servant that had offended him Happy art thou that Architas is not angry Thereby giving his man to understand how dangerous Wrath is Aristotle saith the angry man séeth not the thing which lieth under his féet Augustus Caesar Emperour of Rome destred Athenedorus a Philosopher of Gréece which a long time accompanied Augustus in Rome and now was ready to depart to Athens that he would write som sentence that the Emperour might think of him in his absence The Philosopher took a pen and wrote in a little Table this sentence Caesar when thou art moved to anger speak nothing till thou hast recited the Greekes Alphabet a worthy lesson and a famous sentence well worthy to be learned of all