directly plumbe ouer mens heads and causeth no shadow In like manner the shadowes of them that dwell Northerly vnder the Solstitiall circle in Summer falling all at noone tide Northward but at Sunne-rising Westward doing the same demonstration Which possibly could not be vnlesse the Sunne were far greater than the earth Moreouer in that when he rises he surpasses in breadth the hil Ida compassing the same at large both on the right hand and the left and namely being so farre distant as he is The eclipse of the Moone doth shew also the bignesse of the Sunne by an infallible demonstration like as himfelfe eclipsed declareth the littlenesse of the earth For whereas there be of shadowes three formes and figures and euident it is that if the darke materiall body which casteth a shadow be equall in bignesse to the light then the shadow is fashioned like a colume or piller and hath no point at the end if it be greater it yeeldeth a shadow like a top directly standing vpon the point so as the nether part therof is narrowest and then the shadow likewise is of infinite length but if the said body be lesse than the light then is represented a pyramidall figure like an hey-cocke falling out sharpe pointed in the top which manner of shadow appeareth in the Moones eclipse it is plaine manifest and without all doubt that the Sunne is much bigger than the earth The same verily is seen by the secret and couert proofes of Nature it selfe For why in diuiding the times of the yeere departeth the Sunne from vs in the winter marry euen because by meanes of the nights length and coolenesse he would refresh the earth which otherwise no doubt he should haue burnt vp for it notwithstanding he burneth it in some measure so excessiue is the greatnesse thereof CHAP. XII ¶ The inuentions of man as touching the obseruation of the heauens THe reason verily of both eclipses the first Romane that published abroad and divulged was Sulpitius Gâ—…llus who afterward was Consull together with M. Marcellus but at that time being a Colonell the day before that King Perseus was vanqnished by Paulus he was brought forth by the Generall into open audience before the whole host to fore-tell the eclipse which should happen the next morning whereby he deliuered the armie from all pensiuenesse and feare which might haue troubled them in the time of battell and within a while after he compiled also a booke thereof But among the Greeks Thales Melesius was the first that found it out who in the eight and fortieth Olympias and the fourth yeere thereof did prognosticate and foreshew the Sunnes eclipse that happened in the reigne of Halyattes and in the 170. yeere after the foundation of the citie of Rome After them Hipparchus compiled his Ephemerides containing the coutse and aspects of both these planets for six hundred yeeres ensuing comprehending withall the moneths according to the calculation reckonings of sundry nations the daies the houres the scituation of places the aspects and latitudes of diuers townes and countries as the world will beare him witnesse and that no lesse assuredlv than if â—…e had been priuie to Natures counsels Great persons and excellent these were doubtlesse who aboue the reach of all capacitie of mortall men found out the reason of the course of so mighty starres and diuine powers and whereas the sillie minde of men was before set and to seeke fearing in these eclipses of the starres some great wrong and violence or death of the planets secured them in that behalfe in which dreadful feare stood Stesichorus and Pindarus the Poets notwithstanding their lofty stile and namely at the eclipse of the Sun as may appeare by their poems As for the Moone mortall men imagine that by magicke sorceries and charmes she is inchanted and therefore helpe her in such a case when she is eclipsed by dissonant ringing of basons In this fearefull fit also of an eclipse Nicias the Generall of the Athenians as a man ignorant of the course thereof feared to set saile with his fleet out of the hauen and so greatly endangered and distressed the state of his countrey Faire chieue yee then for your excellent wit O noble Spirits interpretors of the heauens capable of Natures works and the deuisers of that reason whereby ye haue surmounted both God and man For who is he that seeing these things and the painfull ordinarie trauels since that this terme is now taken vp of the stars would not beare with his owne infirmitie and excuse this necessitie of being born to die Now for this present I will bâ—…iefly and summarily touch those principall points which are confessed and agreed vpon as touching the said eclipses hauing lightly rendred a reason thereof in most needfull places for neither such prouing and arguing of these matters belongs properly to our purposed worke neither is it lesse wonder to be able to yeeld the reason and causes of all things than to be resolute and constant in some CHAP. XIII ¶ Of Eclipscs CErtaine it is that all Eclipses in 222 moneths haue their reuolutions and return to their former points as also that the Sun's eclipse neuer happeneth but vpon the change of the Moone namely either in the last of the old or first of the new which they call conjunction and that the Moone is neuer eclipsed but in the full and alwaies somewhat preuents the former Eclipse Moreouer that euery yeare both planets are eclipsed at certaine dayes and houres vnder the earth Neither be these eclipses in all places seene when they are aboue the earth by reason sometimes of cloudy weather but morâ—… often for that the globe of the earth hindereth the sight of the bending conuexitie of the heauen Within these two hundred yeres was it found out by the witty calculation of Hipparchus that the Moone sometimes was eclipsed twice in fiue moneths space and the Sun likewise in seuen also that the Sun and Moone twice in thirty dayes were darkned aboue the earth how beit seene this was not equally in all quarters but of diuers men in diuers places and that which maketh me to maruell most of all in this wonder is this that when agreed it is by all that the Moone light is dimmed by the shadow of the earth one while this eclipse hapneth in the West and another while in the East as also by what reason it hapned that seeing after the Sunne is vp that shadow which dusketh the light of the Moone must needs be vnder the earth it fell out once that the Moone was eclipsed in the West and both planets to be seene aboue the ground in our horison for that in twelue daies both these lights were missing and neither Sun nor Moon were seen it hapned in our time when both the Vespasians Emperors were Consuls the father the third time and the son the second CHAP. XIV ¶ Of the Moones motion CLeare it is that the Moone alwaies in her encreasing hath
the tips of her hornes turned from the Sun toward the East but in the waine contrariwise Westward Also that she shines the first day of her apparition ¼ parts and the foure and twentieth part of an houre and so riseth in proportion the second day forward vnto the full and likewise decreaseth in the same manner to the change But alwaies she is hidden in the change within fourteene degrees of the Sunne By which argument we collect that the magnitude of the other Planets is greater than that of the Moone for so much as they appeare otherwhiles when they be but seuen degrees off But the cause why they shew lesse is their altitude like as also the fixed starres which bv reason of the brightnesse of the Sunne are not seene in the day time whereas indeed they shine as clearely by day as by night And that is manifestly proued by some eclipses of the Sun and exceeding deepe pits for so they are to be seene by day light CHAP. XV. ¶ Generall rules touching the motions and lights of other Planets THose three which we say are aboue the Sun be hidden when they goe their course together with him They arise in the morning and be called Orientall Matutine and neuer depart farther than eleuen degrees But afterwards meeting with his raies and beames they are couered and in their triple aspect retrograde they make their morning station a hundred and twenty degrees off which are called the first and anon in a contrarie aspect or opposition 180 degrees off they arise in the euening and are Occidentall Vespertine In like sort approching from another side within an hundred and twenty degrees they make their euening stations which also they call the second vntill he ouertake them within twelue degrees and so hide them and these are called the euening settings As for Mars as he is neerer vnto the Sun so feeleth he the Sun beames by a quadrant aspect to wit ninetie degrees whereupon that motion tooke the name called the first and second Nonagenarie from both risings The same planet keepeth his stationarie residence six moneths in the signes whereas otherwise of his owne nature but two moneths But the other planets in both stations or houses continue not all out foure moneths apiece Now the other two inferiour planets vnder the Sun go downe and are hidden after the same manner in the euening Coniunction and in as many degrees they make their morning rising and from the farthest bounds of their distance they follow the Sun and after they haue once ouertaken him they set againe in the morning and so out-go him And anon keeping the same distance in the euening they arise againe vnto the same limits which we named before from whence they are retrograde and return to the Sun and by the euening setting they be hidden As for Venus she likewise maketh two stations according to the two manners of her apparance morning and euening when she is in farthest bounds and vtmost points of her Epicycle But Mercurie keepeth his stations so small a while that they cannot be obserued This is the manner and order as well of the lights and appearances of the planets as of their occultations and keeping close intricate in their motion and enfolded within many strange wonders For change they do their magnitudes and colours sometime they approch into the North the same againe go backe toward the South yea and all on a sudden they appeare one while neerer to the earth and another while to the heauen wherein if we shall deliuer many points otherwise than former Writers yet confesse we do that for these matters we are beholden vnto them who first made demonstration of seeking out the wayes thereto howbeit let no man dispaire but that hee may profit and goe forward alwaies in further knowledge from age to age For these strange motions fall out vpon many causes The first is by reason of those eccentrique circles or Epicycles in the stars which the Greekes call Absides for needs we must vse in this treatise the Greeke termes Now euery one of the planets haue particular Auges or circles aforesaid by themselues and these different from those of the starry heauen for that the earth from those two points which they call Poles is the very centre of the heauen as also of the Zodiacke scituate ouerthwart betweene them All which things are certainly knowne to be so by the compasse that neuer can lie And therefore for euery centre there arise their owne Absides whereupon it is that they haue diuerscircuits and different motions because necessarie it is that the inward and inferiour Absides should be shorter CHAP. XVI ¶ Why the same Planets seeme sometime higher and some lower THe highest Absides therefore from the centre of the earth are of Saturne in the signe Scorpio of Iupiter in Virgo of Mars in Leo of the Sun in Gemini of Venus in Sagittarius of Mercury in Capricorne and namely in the middle or fifteenth degree of the said signes and contrariwise the said planets in the same degrees of the opposite signes are lowest and to the centre of the earth neerest So it commeth to passe that they seeme to moue more slowly when they goe their highest circuit not for that naturall motions doe either hasten or slacke which be certaine and seuerall to euery one but because the lines which are drawne from the top of the Absis must needs grow narrow and neere together about the centre as the spokes in cart wheeles and the same motion by reason of the neerenesse of the centre seemeth in one place greater in another lesse The other cause of their sublimities is for that in other signes they haue the Absides eleuated highest from the cen tre of their own eccentrique circles Thus Saturne is in the height of his Auge in the 20. degree of Libra Iupiâ—…er in the 15. of Cancer Mars in the 28. of Capricorne the Sunne in the 29. of Aries Vâ—…nus in the 16. of Pisces Mercurie in the 15. of Virgo and the Moone in the 4. of Taurus The third reason of their altitude or eleuation is not taken from their Auges or circles accentrique but vnderstood by the measure and conuexitie of heauen for that these planets seeme to the eie as they rise and fall to mount vp or settle downward through the aire Hereunto is knit and vnited another cause also to wit the Zodiaks obliquitie latitude of the planets in regard of the eclipticke For through it the starres which we called wandering do moue and take their course Neither is there any place inhabited vpon earth but that which lieth vnder it For al the rest without the poles are fruitles desart and ill fauoured Only the planet Venus goeth beyond the circle of the Zodiake 2. degrees which is supposed to be the very efficient cause that certaine liuing creatures are ingendred and bred euen in the desart and vnhabitable parts of the world The Moone likewise
were procreated to foretell the accidents that ensued afterward Now for that they fall out so seldome the reason thereof is hidden and secret and so not knowne as the rising of planets aboue said the eclipses and many other things CHAP. XXViij ¶ Of the Heauen flame LIkewise there are seen stars together with the Sun all day long yea and very often about the compasse of the Sun other flames like vnto garlands of corne eares also circles of sundry colours such as those were when Augustus Caesar in the prime of his youth entered the city of Rome after the decease of his father to take vpon him his great name and imperial title CHAP. XXjX ¶ Of Coelestiall Crownes ALso the same garlands appeare about the Moone and other goodly bright stars which are fixed in the firmament Round about the Sun there was seene an arch when Lu. Opimius and Q. Fabius were Consuls as also a round circle when L. Porcius and M. Acilius were Consuls CHAP. XXX ¶ Of sudden Circles THere appeared a circle of red colour when L. Iulius and P. Rutilius were Consuls Moreouer there are strange eclipses of the Sunne continuing longer than ordinarie as namely when Caesar Dictator was murthered Moreouer in the wars of Antony the Sun continued almost a whole yeare of a pale wan colour CHAP. XXXj ¶ Many Suns OVer and besides many Suns are seene at once neither aboue nor beneath the bodie of the true Sunne indeed but crosse-wise and ouerthwart neuer neere nor directly against the earth neither in the night season but when the Sun either riseth or setteth Once they are reported to haue beene seene at noone day in Bosphorus and continued from morne to euen Three Suns together our Ancestors in old time haue often beheld as namely when Sp. Posthumus with Q Mutius Q. Martius with M. Porcius M. Antonius with P. Dolabella and Mar. Lepidus with L. Plancus were Consuls Yea and we in our daies haue seene the like when Cl. Caesar of famous memorie was Consul together with Cornelius Orfitus his Colleague More than three we neuer to this day finde to haue been seene together CHAP. XXXII ¶ Many Moones THree Moones also appeared at once and namely when Cn. Domitius and C. Fannius were Consuls which most men called Night Sunnes CHAP. XXXIII ¶ Day light in the Night OVt of the Firmament by night there was seen a light when C. Coelius and Cn. Papyrius were Consuls yea and oftentimes besides so as the night seemed as light as the day CHAP. XXXIV ¶ Burning Shields or Targuets A Burning shield ran sparkling from the West to the East at the Suns setting when L. Valerius and C. Marius were Consuls CHAP. XXXV ¶ A strange sight in the Sky BY report there was once seene and neuer but once when Cn. Octauius and C. Scribonius were Consuls a sparkle to fall from a star and as it approched the earth it waxed greater and after it came to the bignesse of the Moone it shined out and gaue light as in a cloudy and darke day then being retyred againe into the sky it became to mens thinking a burning Lampe This Licinius Syllanus the Proconfull saw together with his whole traine CHAP. XXXVI ¶ The running of Stars to and fro in the Sky SEene there be also Stars to shoot hither and thither but neuer for nought and to no purpose for from the same quarter where they appeare there rise terrible windes and after them stormes and tempests both by sea and land CHAP. XXXVij ¶ Of the Stars called Castor and Pollux I Haue seene my selfe in the campe from the soldiers sentinels in the night watch the resemblance of lightning to sticke fast vpon the speares and pikes set before the rampier They settle also vpon the crosse Saile yards and other parts of the ship as men do saile in the sea making a kinde of vocall sound leaping to and fro and shifting their places as birds do which fly from bought to bough Dangerous they be and vnlucky when they come one by one without a companion and they drowne those ships on which they light and threaten shipwrack yea and they set them on fire if haply they fall vpon the bottome of the keele But if they appeare two and two together they bring comfort with them and foretell a prosperous course in the voiage as by whose comming they say that dreadfull cursed and threatning meteor called Helena is chased and driuen away And hereupon it is that men assigne this mighty power to Castor and Pollux and inuocate them at sea no lesse than gods Mens heads also in the euen tyde are seene many times to shine round about and to be of a light fire which presageth some great matter Of all these things there is no certain reason to be giuen but secret these be hidden with the maiestie of Nature and reserued within her cabinet CHAP. XXXViij ¶ Of the Aire IT remaineth now thus much and thus far being spoken of the world it selfe to wit the starry heauen and the planets to speake of other memorable things obserued in the Skie For euen that part also hath our forefathers called Coelum i. the Skie which otherwise they name aire euen all that portion of the whole which seeming like a void and empty place yeeldeth this vitall spirit whereby all things do liue This region is seated beneath the Moone and farre vnder that Planet as I obserue it is in a manner by euery man agreed vpon And mingling together an infinite portion of the superiour coelestiall nature or elementarie fire with an huge deale likewise of earthly vapours it doth participate confusedly of both From hence proceed clouds thunders and those terrible lightenings From hence come haile frosts shoures of raine stormes and whirlewindes from hence arise the most calamities of mortall men and the continuall warre that nature maketh with her owne selfe For these grosse exhalations as they mount vpward to the heauen are beaten backe and driuen downeward by the violence of the starres and the same againe when they list draw vp to them those matters which of their owne accord ascend not For thus we see that shoures of raine do fall foggie mists and light clouds arise riuers are dried vp haile stormes come downe amaine the Sunne beames doe scorch and burne the ground yea and driue it euery where to the middle centre but the same againe vnbroken and not losing their force rebound backe and take vp with them whatsoeuer they haue drunke vp and drawne Vapours fall from aloft and the same returne againe on high winds blow forcibly and come emptie but backe they goe with a bootie and carry away euery thing before them So many liuing creatures take their wind and draw breath from aboue but the same laboureth contrariwise and the earth infuseth into the aire a spirit and breath as if it were cleane void and empty Thus whiles the Nature goes too and fro as forced by some engin by the swiftnesse of the
these stars be seen in euery place both those that vnto the next Sailers are supposed to be higher the same seeme to them afarre off drowned in the sea And like as this North pole seemeth to be aloft vnto those that are scituate directly vnder it so to them that be gone so far as the other deuexitie or fall of the earth those aboue said starres rise vp aloft there whiles they decline downeward which here were mounted on high Which thing could not possibly fall out but in the figure of a ball And hereupon it is that the inhabitants of the East perceiue not the eclipses of Sun or Moone in the euening no more than those that dwell West in the morning but those that be at noone in the South they see very oft At what time Alexander the great won that famous victorie at Arbela the Moone by report was eclipsed at the second houre of the night but at the very same time in Sicily she arose The eclipse of the Sun which chanced before the Calends of May when as Vipsanus and Fonteius were Consuls being not many yeares past was seene in Campania betweene the 7 and 8 houres of the day but Corbulo a General Commander then in Armenia made report that it was seene there betweene the tenth and 11 houres of the same day by reason that the compasse of the globe discouereth and hides some things to some and other to others But if the earth were plaine and leuell all things should appeare at once to all men for neither should one night be longer than another ne yet should the day of 12 houres appeare euen and equall to any but to those that are seated in the mids of the earth which now in all parts agree and accord together alike CHAP. LXXj ¶ What is the reason of the day light vpon earth ANd hence it commeth that it is neither night nor day at one time in all parts of the world by reason that the opposition of the globe brings night and the round compasse or circuit thereof discouereth the day This is knowne by many experiments In Africk and Spaine there were raised by Hanibal high watch-towers and in Asia for the same feare of rouers and pyrats the like helpe of beacons was erected wherein it was noted oft times that the fires giuing warning afore-hand which were kindled at the sixt houre of the day were descried by them that were farthest off in Asia at the third houre of the night Philonides the curror or Post of the same Alexander aboue named dispatched in 9 houres of the day 1200 stadia euen as far as from Sicyone to Elis and from thence againe albeit he went downe hill all the way he returned oftentimes but not before the third houre of the night The cause was for that he had the Sun with him in his first setting out to Elis and in his returne backe to Sicyone he went full against it met with it and ere he came home ouerpassed it leauing it in the West behind going from him Which is the reason also that they who by day light saile westward in the shortest day of the yeare rid more way than those who saile all night long at the same time for that the other do accompany the Sun CHAP. LXXij ¶ The Gnomonicke art of the same matter as also of the first Diall ALso the instruments seruing for the houres as Quadrants and Dials will not serue for all places but in euery 300 stadia or 500 at the farthest the shadowes that the Sun casteth change and therefore the shadow of the style in the Dial called the Gnomon in Egypt at noone tide in the Aequinoctial day is little more in length than halfe the Gnomon But in the city of Rome the shadow wanteth the ninth part of the Gnomon In the towne Ancona it is longer than it in a 35 part But in Venice at the same time and houre the shadow and the Gnomon be all one CHAP. LXXiij ¶ Where and when there be no shadowes at all IN like manner they say that in the towne Syene which is aboue Alexandria 50 stadia at noone tide in the midst of Sommer there is no shadow at all and for further experiment thereof let a pit be sunke in the ground and it will be light all ouer in euery corner Wherby it appeareth that the Sun then is iust and directly ouer that place as the very Zenith thereof Which also at the same time hapneth in India aboue the riuer Hypasis as Onesicratus hath set downe in writing Yea and it is for certaine knowne that in Berenice a city of the Troglodites and from thence 4820 stadia in the same countrey at the towne of Ptolemais which was built at the first vpon the very banke of the Red sea for the pleasure of chasing and hunting of Elephants the selfe same is to be seen 45 daies before the Summer Sunsted and as long after and that for 90 daies space all shadowes are cast into the South Again in the Isle Meroe the capitall place of the Aethiopian nation inhabited 5000 stadia from Syene vpon the Riuer Nilus twice in the yeare the shadowes are gon and none at all seen to wit when the Sun is in the 18 degree of Taurus and the 14 of Leo. In the country of the Oretes within India there is a mountaine named Maleus neere which the shadowes in Summer are cast into the South and in Winter into the North. There for 15 nights and no more is the star Charles-wain neere the pole to be seen In the same India at Patales a most famous and frequented port the Sun ariseth on the right hand and all shadowes fall to the South Whiles Alexander made abode there Onesicritus a captaine of his wrot that it was obserued there that the North star was seen the first part only of the night also in what places of India there were no shadowes there the North star appeared not and that those quarters were called Ascia i. without shadow neither keepe they any reckoning of houres there CHAP. LXXIV ¶ Where twice in the yeare the shadowes go contrarie waies BVt throughout all Trogliditine Cratosthenes hath written that the shadowes two times in the yeare for 45 daies fall contrarie waies CHAP. LXXV ¶ Where the day is longest and where shortest IT comes thus to passe that by the variable increment of the day light the longest day in Meroe doth comprehend 12 Equinoctiai houres and 8 parts of one houre aboue but in Alexandria 14 in Italy 15 in Britaine 17 where in Sommer time the nights being light and short by infallible experience shew that which reason forceth to beleeue namely that at Mid summer time as the Sun maketh his approch neere vnto the pole of the world the places of the earth lying vnderneath hath day continually for six moneths and contrariwise night when the Sun is remote as far as Bruma The which Pythias of Massiles hath written of Thule an
him but also by good proofe and euident arguments to haue bin of all other before his time a prince most addicted to the publick benefit of all mankind for the only man he was who deuised to drinke poison euery day hauing taken his preseruatiues before to the end that by the ordinary vse and continuall custome thereof it might be familiar vnto his nature and harmlesse The first he was also who deuised sundry kinds of antidotes or counterpoisons wherof one retaineth his name to this day he it was also and none but he as men think who first mingled in the said antidotes and preseruatiues the bloud of Ducks bred in his own realme of Pontus for that they fed and liued there of poisons and venoâ—…ous hearbs Vnto him that famous and renowned professor in Physicke Asclepiades dedicated his books now extant for this Physitian being solicited to repaire vnto him from Rome sent the rules of Physick digested into order and set downe in writing instead of comming himselfe And Mithridates it was as it is for certaine knowne wâ—…o alone of all men that euer were could speake two and twentie languages perfectly so as for the space of six and fiftie yeares for so long he reigned of all those Nations which were vnder his dominion there neuer came one man to his court but he communed and parled with him in his own tongue without any truchman or interpreter for the matter This noble Prince amongst many other singular gifts that he had testifying his magnanimitie and incompatable wit addicted himselfe particularly to the earnest studie of Physicke and because he would be exquisite and singular therein he had intelligencers from all parts of his dominions and those took vp no small part of the whole world who vpon their knowledge exhibited vnto him the particular natures and properties of euery simple by which means he had a cabinet full of an infinit number of receits and secrets set down together with their operations effectâ—… which he kept in his said closet and left behind him with other rich treasure of his But Pompey the Great hauing vnder his hands the whole spoile of this mighty Prince meeting in that saccage with those notes abouesaid gaue commandement vnto his vassall or infranchised seruant the abouenamed Lenaeus an excellent linguist most learned grammarian to translate the same into the Latine tongue for which act of Pompey the whole world was no lesse beholden vnto him than the common-wealth of Rome for the foresaid victorie Ouer besides these what Greeke authors haue trauelled in Physicke I haue declared heretofore in conuenient place And among the rest Euax a King of the Arabians wrote a booke as touching the vertues and operations of Simples which he sent vnto the Emperour Nero Crateuas likewise Dionysius also and Metrodorus wrote of the same Argument after a most pleasant and plausible manner I must needs say yet so as a man could picke nothing almost out of all their writings but an infinit difficultie of the thing for they painted euery herb in their colors and vnder their pourtraicts they couched and subscribed their seueral natures effects But what certainty could there be therin pictures you know are deceitfull also in representing such a number of colours and especially expressing the liuely hew of Hearbs according to their nature as they grow no maruell if they that limned and drew them out did fail and degenerat from the first pattern and originall Besides they came far short of the mark setting out hearbs as they did at one only season to wit either in their floure or in seed time for they change and alter their form and shape euerie quarter of the yeare Hereof it came that all the rest labored to describe their forms colours by words only Some without any description at all of their figure or colour contented themselues for the most part with setting downe their bare names and thought it sufficient to demonstrat and shew their power and vertue afterwards to whosoeuer were desirous to seeke after the same and verily the knowledge thereof is no hard matter to attain vnto For mine own part it hath bin my good hap to see growing in the plant all these medicinable herbs excepting very few by the meanes of Antonius Castor a right learned and most renowned Physitian in our daies who had a pretty garden of his own well stored with simples of sundry sorts which hee maintained and cherished for his owne pleasure and his friends who vsed to come and see his plot as indeed it was worthy the sight this Physitian was then aboue a hundred yeres old in all his life neuer found what sicknesse meant neither for all this age of his was his wit decaied or memory any whit impaired but continued as fresh still as if he had bin a yong man But to proceed forward with our discourse Certes we shall not find a thing againe which our Ancestors so much admired and were more rauished withall than the knowledge of simples True it is I confesse that the inuention of the Ephemerides to fore-know thereby not onely the day night with the â—…clypses of Sun Moon but also the very hours is antient howbeit the most part of the common people haue bin and are of this opinion receiued by tradition from their forefathers That all the same is done by inchantments thatby the means of some sorceries and herbs together both Sun and Moone may be charmed and inforced both to lose and recouer their light to doe which feat women are thought to be more skilfull and meet than men And to say a truth what a number of fabulous miracles are reported to haue beene wrought by Medea queen of Colchis and other women and especially by Circe our famous witch here in Italy who for her singular skil that way was canonized a goddesse And from hence it came I suppose that Aeschylus a most antient Poet made report of Italy to be furnished with herbes of mighty operation and many others haue spoken much of the mountaine Circeios bearing her name wherein the said Lady somtime dwelt kept her residence And for a notable proof of her singular skil in that kind the same knowledge in some measure continueth vnto this day in the Marsians a nation descended from a son of hers who are well knowne to haue a naturall power by themselues to tame and conquer all serpents and not to be subiect to any danger from them As for Homer verily the father and prince of all learning learned men and the best author that we haue of antiquities howsoeuer otherwise he was addicted to extoll and magnifie dame Circe yet he attributeth vnto Egypt the glory and name for good herbs yea though in his time there was not that base Egypt watered as now it is with Nilus for afterwards it grew by the mud left there by the inundation of the said riuer Truly this Poet
the water of the sea about the shore Capnites as some think is a kind of stone by it selfe beset with many wreaths and those seeming to smoke as I haue said already in due place the naturall place of it is Cappadocia and Phrygia in some sort it is like yvory As touching Callainae it is commonly said that they be found alwaies many joined together Catochites is a stone proper to the Island Corsica in bignes it exceedeth ordinary precious stones a wonderfull stone if all be true that is reported thereof and namely That if a man lay his hand thereupon it will hold it fast in maner of a glewie gum Catopyrites groweth in Cappadocia Cepites or Cepocapites is a white stone and the veins therein seem to meet together in knots and so white and cleare withall that it may serue as a mirrour to shew ones face Ceramites in colour resembleth an earthen pot As for Cinaediae they be found in the braine of a fish named Cinaedus white they be and of a long fashion and of a wonderfull nature if wee may beleeue that which is reported of the euent which they signifie and namely that according as they bee cleare or troubled in colour they do presage either storms or calm at sea Cerites is like to wax and Circos vnto wreaths or circles Corsoides is made in maner of a gray peruke of haire Corallo-achates vnto a Corall set with gold spots Corallis to Vermillon and is ingendred in India and Syene Craterites hath a colour betweene the Chrysolith and the base gold Electrum of an exceeding hard substance Crocallis doth represent a cherry Cyssites is engendred about Coptos and is of a white color it seemeth as it were to be with childe for somthing stirs and ratleth within the belly if it be shaken Calcophonos is a blacke stone if a man strike vpon it he shall perceiue it to ring like a piece of brasse and the Magitians would persuade those that play in Tragoedies to carry it about them continually As for the stone Chelidonia there be two sorts of it in colour they do both resemble the Swallow and of one side which is purple you shal see black spots intermingled here and there among Chelonia is no more but the very eie of an Indian Tortoise of a most strange nature by the Magitians saying and working great wonders but they will lie most monstrously for they would promise and assure vs That after one hath well rinsed or washed his mouth with hony and then lay it vpon the tongue hee shall presently haue the spirit of prophesie and be able to foretell of future things all a day long either in the full or change of the Moon but if this be practised in the wane of the Moon he shall haue this gift but onely before the Sunne-rising vpon other daies namely while the moone is croissant from six of the clock or sun-rising six houres after Moreouer there be certaine stones called Chelonitides because they be like to Tortoises by which these Magitians would seeme to tell vs by way of prophesie and reuelation many things for to allay tempests and stormes but especially the stone of this kinde which hath golden drops or spots in it if together with a flie called a beetle it be cast into a pan of seething water it will auert tempests that approch Chlorites is a stone of a grasse green colour according as the name doth import and by the saying of Magitians it is found in the gesier of the bird called Motacilla or Wagtaile yea and is ingendred together with the said bird They giue direction forsooth as their manner is to inchase or inclose it with a piece of yron and then it will doe wonders Choaspites taketh that name of the riuer Choaspes green it is and resplendent like burnished gold Chrysolampis is found in Aethyopia all the day long of a pale colour but by night it glowes in manner of a cole of fire Chrysopis is so like to gold as a man would take it for no other The stones called Cepionides grow in Aeolis about Atarne a little village now but somtimes a great town they haue many colours and be transparent sometimes in manner of glasse otherwhiles like Crystall or the lasper such also as be not cleare through but foule and thick within are notwithstanding so pure and neat without that they will represent a man or womans visage as wel as a mirroir or looking glasse Daphnias is a stone whereof Zoroastres writeth and namely that it is good against the falling sicknesse Diadochus is like to Berill Diphris is of two kinds the white and the black the male and the female where in may be perceiued very distinctly those members that distinguish the sex by reason of a certain line or vein of the stone Dionysias is a blacke stone and hard withall hauing certain red spots interming led if it be stamped in water it giueth the tast of wine and is thought to withstand drunkennesse Draconites or Dracontia is a stone ingendred in the brains of serpents but vnlesse it be cut out whiles they be aliue namely after their heads be chopt off it neuer grows to the nature of a precious stone for of an inbred malice and enuie that this creature hath to man if perceiuing it selfe to languish and draw on toward death it killeth the vertue of the said stone and therefore they take these serpents whiles they be asleepe and off with their heads Sotacus who wrote that he saw one of these stones in a kings hand reports that they who go to seek these stones vse to ride in a coach drawn with two steeds and when they haue esp ed a dragon or serpent cast in their way certain medicinable drugs to bring them asleep and so haue means and leisure to cut off their heads white they are naturally transparent for impossible it is by any art to polish them neither doth the lapidary lay his hand to them Encardia is a precious stone named also Cardiscae one sort there is of them wherein a man may perceiue the shape of an heart to beare out a second likewise there is so called of a greene colour and the same doth represent also the forme of an heart the third sheweth the heart only black for all the rest is white Enorchis is a faire white stone the same being diuided the fragments thereof do resemble a mans genetoirs whereof it took that name As touching Exhebenus the stone Zoroastres saith that it is most beautifull and white and therewith goldsmiths vse to burnish and polish their gold As for Eristalis being of it self a white stone seemes as a man holdeth it to wax red Erotylos which some cal Amphicome others Hieromnemon is commended much by Democritus for sundry experiments in prophesying and foretelling fortunes Eumeces groweth in the Bactrians country like to a flint being laied vnder a mans head lying asleep vpon his bed it representeth by visions
not make twenty and many such things of like sort Whereby no doubt is euidently proued the power of Nature and how it is she and nothing els which we call God I thought it not impertinent thus to diuert and digresse to these points so commonly divulged by reason of the vsuall and ordinarie questions as touching the Essence of God CHAP. VIII ¶ Of the Nature of Planets and their circuit LEt vs returne now to the rest of Natures workes The stars which we said were fixed in heauen are not as the common sort thinketh assigned to euery one of vs and appointed to men respectiuely namely the bright faire for the rich the lesse for the poore the dim for the weak the aged and feeble neither shine they out more or lesse according to the lot and fortune of euery one nor arise they each one together with that person vnto whom they are appropriate and die likewise with the same ne yet as they set and fall do they signifie that any bodie is dead There is not ywis so great societie betweene heauen and vs as that together with the fatall necessitie of our death the shining light of the starres should in token of sorrow go out and become mortall As for them the truth is this when they are thought to fall they doe but shoot from them a deale of fire euen of that aboundance and ouermuch nutriment which they haue gotten by the attraction os humiditie and moisture vnto them like as we also obserue daily in the wikes and matches of lampes or candles burning with the liquour of oile Moreouer the coelestiall bodies which make and frame the world and in that frame are compact and knit together haue an immortall nature and their power and influence extendeth much to the earth which by their effects and operations by their light and greatnesse might be knowne notwithstanding they are so high and subtill withall as we shal in due place make demonstration The manner likewise of the heauenly Circles and Zones shall be shewed more fitly in our Geographicall treatise of the earth forasmuch as the consideration thereof appertaineth wholly thereunto onely we will not put off but presently declare the deuisers of the Zodiake wherin the signes are The obliquitie and crookednesse thereof Anaximander the Milesian is reported to haue obserued first and thereby opened the gate and passage to Astronomie and the knowledge of all things and this happened in the 58 Olympias Afterwards Clâ—…ostratus marked the signes therin and namely those first of Aries and Sagitarius As for the sphere it selfe Atlas deuised long before Now for this time we will leaue the very bodie of the starry heauen and treat of all the rest betweene it and the earth Certaine it is that the Planet which they call Saturne is the highest and therefore seemeth least also that he keepeth his course and performeth his reuolution in the greatest circle of all and in thirtie yeares space at the soonest returneth againe to the point of his first place Moreouer that the mouing of all the Planets and withall of Sun and Moone go a contrarie course vnto the starrie heauen namely to the left hand i. Eastward whereas the said heauen alwaies hasteneth to the right i. Westward And albeit in that continuall turning with exceeding celerity those planets be lifted vp alost and carried by it forcible into the West and there set yet by a contrarie motion of their owne they passe euery one through their seuerall waies Eastward and all for this that the aire rolling euer one way and to the same part by the continuall turning of the heauen should not stand still grow dul as it were congealed whiles the globe thereof resteth idle but dissolue and cleaue parted thus diuided by the reuerberation of the contrarie beams and violent crosse influence of the said planets Now the Planet Saturne is of a cold and frozen nature but the circle of Iupiter is much lower than it and therfore his reuolution is performed with a more speedy motion namely in twelue yeres The third of Mars which some call the Sphere of Hercules is firy and ardent by reason of the Suns vicinity and wel-neere in two yeares runneth his race And hereupon it is that by the exceeding heate of Mars and the vehement cold of Saturne Iupiter who is placed betwixt is well tempered of them both and so becommeth good and comfortable Next to them is the race of the Sun consisting verily of 360 parts or degrees but to the end that the obseruation of the shadowes which he casteth may return againe iust to the former marks fiue daies be added to euery yeare with the fourth part of a day ouer and aboue Whereupon euery fifth yeere leapeth and one odde day is set to the rest to the end that the reckoning of the times and seasons might agree vnto the course of the Sun Beneath the Sun a goodly faire star there is called Venus which goeth her compasse wandering this way and that by turnes and by the very names that it hath testifieth her emulation of Sun and Moone For all the while that she preuenteth the morning and riseth Orientall before she taketh the name of Lucifer or Day-star as a second Sun hastning the day Contrariwise when she shineth from the West Occidentall drawing out the day light at length and supplying the place of the Moone she is named Vesper This nature of hers Pythagoras of Samos first found out about the 42 olympias which fel out to be the 142 yere after the foundation of Rome Now this planet in greatnesse goeth beyond all the other fiue and so cleare and shining withall that the beames of this one star cast shadowes vpon the earth And hereupon commeth so great diuersitie and ambiguitie of the names thereof whiles some haue called it Iuno other Isis and othersome the Mother of the gods By the naturall efficacie of this star all things are engendred on earth for whether she rise East or West she sprinckleth all the earth with dew of generation and not onely filleth the same with seed causing it to conceiue but stirreth vp also the nature of all liuing creatures to engender This planet goeth through the circle of the Zodiake in 348 daies departing from the Sun neuer aboue 46 degrees as Timaeus was of opinion Next vnto it but nothing of that bignesse and powerful efficacie is the star Mercurie of some cleped Apollo in an inferiour circle he goeth after the like manner a swifter course by nine daies shining sometimes before the Sun-rising otherwhiles after his setting neuer farther distant from him than 23 degrees as both the same Timaeus and Sosigenes doe shew And therefore these two planets haue a peculiar consideration from others and not common with the rest aboue named For those are seene from the Sun a fourth yea and third part of the heauen oftentimes also in opposition ful against the Sun And all of
setting Moreouer shee beginnes to digresse in latitude and to diminish her motion from the morn rising but to be retrograde and withall to digresse in altitude from the euening station Againe the planet Mercury being Oriental Matutin begins both waies to climb that is to mount higher day by day but to digresse in latitude being Orientall Vespertine and when the Sunne hath ouertaken him within the distance of fifteene degrees he stands still for foure daies vnmoueable Within a while he descendeth from his altitude dayly and goeth backe retrograde from the euen setting namely when the Sunne hideth him with his raies to the Moone rising when hee appeareth before the Sunne is vp This starre onely and the Moone descend in as many daies as they ascend But Venus ascendeth vp to her station in fifteene daies and the vantage Againe Saturne and Iupiter are twice as long descending and Mars foure times See how great variety is in their nature but the reason thereof is euident For they which go against the vapour and heate of the Sunne do also hardly descend Many secrets more of Nature and lawes whereunto she is obedient might be shewed about these things As for example The planet of Mars whose course of all others can be least obserued neuer maketh station but in quadrate aspect as for Iupiter in triangle aspect and very seldome seuered from the Sunne 60. degrees which number maketh six angled formes of the heauen that is to say is the iust sixth part of the heauen neither doth Iupiter shew his rising in the same signe this yeare as in the former saue onely in two signes Cancer and Leo. The planet Mercurie seldome hath his euen rising in Pisces but very often in Virgo and the morne rising in Libra In like manner the morne rising in Aquarius but very seldome in Leo. Neither becommeth he retrograde in Taurus and Gemini and in Cancer not vnder the 25 degree As for the Moone she entreth not twice in coniunction with the Sun in any other signe but in Gemini and sometime hath no coniunction at all and that only in Sagitarius As for the last and first of the Moone to be seene in one and the selfe same day or night hapneth in no other signe but Aries and few men haue had the gift to see it and hereupon came Linceus to be so famous for his eye sight Also the planets Saturne and Mars are hidden with the Sun beames and appeare not in the heauen at the most 170 dayes Iupiter 36 or at least ten daies wanting Venus 69 or when least 52. Mercury 31 or at least 17. CHAP. XVIII ¶ What is the cause that the Planets alter their colour THe reason of the Planets altitudes is it that tempereth their colours according as they be neerer or farther off from the earth For they take the likenesse of the aire into the coasts whereof they enter in their ascent and the circle or circumference of another Planets motion coloureth them as they passe either way ascending or descending The colder setteth a pale colour the hotter a red and the windie a fearefull and rough hue Onely the points and coniunctions of the Absides and the vtmost circumferences shew a darke blacke Each planet hath a seuerall colour Saturne is white Iupiter cleare and bright Mars fierie and red Venus Orientall or Lucifer faire Occidentall or Vesper shining Mercury sparkeling his raies the Moone pleasant the Sunne when he riseth burning afterwards glittering with his beames Vpon these causes the sight is intangled and discouereth euen those stars also which are contained and fixed in the sky more or lesse For one while a number of them appeare thicke about the halfe Moone when in a cleare and calme night she gently beautifieth them Another while they are seen but here and there insomuch as we may wonder that they are fled vpon the full Moone which hideth them or when the beams either of the Sun or other aboue said haue dazled our sight Yea the very Moone her selfe hath a feeling doubtlesse of the Sun beames as they come vpon her for those raies that come sidelong according to the conuexitie of the heauen giue but a darke and dim light to the Moone in comparison of them that fall directly with straight angles And therefore in the quadrangle aspect of the Sun she appeareth diuided in halfe in the triangle she is well neere inuironed but her circle is half emptie and void howbeit in the opposition she seemeth full and againe as she is in the waine she representeth the same formes decreasing by quarters as she increased with like aspects as the other three planets aboue the Sun CHAP. XIX ¶ The reason of the Suns motion and the vnequalitie of daies AS for the Sun himselfe a man may obserue foure differences in his course twice in the yeare making the night equall with the day to wit in the Spring and Autumne for then he falleth iust vpon the entre of the earth namely in the eight degree of Aries and Libra Twice likewise exchanging the compasse of his race to lengthen the day from the Bruma or mid-winter in the eighth degree of Capricorne and againe to lengthen the night from the Sommer Sunsted being in as many degrees of Cancer The cause of vnequall daies is the obliquitie of the Zodiake whereas the one halfe iust of the world to wit six signes of the Zodiake is at all times aboue and vnder the earth But those signes which mount vpright in their rising hold light a longer tract and make the daies longer whereas they which arise crooked and go by as passe away in shorter and swifter time CHAP. XX. ¶ Why lightnings are attributed to Iupiter MOst men are ignorant of that secret which by great attendance vpon the heauens deepe Clerkes and principall men of learning haue found out namely that they be the fires of the three vppermost planets which falling to the earth carry the name of lightnings but those especially which are seated in the midst to wit about Iupiter haply because participating the excessiue cold and moisture from the vpper circle of Saturne and the immoderate heate from Mars that is next vnder by this meanes he dischargeth the superfluitie and hereupon it is commonly said that Iupiter shooteth and darteth lightnings Therefore as out of a burning piece of wood a cole of fire flieth forth with a cracke euen so from a star is spit out as it were and voided forth this coelestiall fire carrying with it presages of future things so as the heauen sheweth diuine operations euen in these parcels and portions which are reiected and cast away as superfluous And this most commonly hapneth when the aire is troubled either because the moisture that is gathered moueth and stirreth forward that aboundance to fall or else for that it is disquieted with the birth as it were proceeding from a great bellied starre and thereforewould be discharged of such excrements CHAP. XXI ¶ The distances of
heauen the fire of discord is kindled and groweth hot Neither may she abide by it and stand to the fight but being continually carried away she rolleth vp and down and as about the earth shee spreadeth and pitcheth her tents as it were with an vnmeasurable globe of the heauen so euer and anon of the clouds she frameth another skie And this is that region where the winds raigne And therefore their kingdome principally is there to be seene where they execute their forces and are the cause well neere of all other troubles in the aire For thunderbolts and flashing lightenings most men attribute to their violence Nay more than that therefore it is supposed that otherwhiles it raineth stones because they were taken vp first by the winde so as we may conclude that they cause many like impressions in the aire Wherefore many matters besides are to be treated of together CHAP. XXXIX ¶ Of ordinary and set seasons IT is manifest that of times and seasons as also of other things some causes be certaine others casuall and by chance or such as yet the reason thereof is vnknowne For who need to doubt that Summers and Winters and those alternatiue seasons which we obserue by yearely course are occasioned by the motion of the Planets As therefore the Sunnes nature is vnderstood by tempering and ordering the yeare so the rest of the starres and planets also haue euery one their proper and peculiar power and the same effectuall to shew and performe their owne nature Some are fruitfull to bring forth moisture that is turned into liquid raine others to yeeld an humour either congealed into frosts or gathered and thickened into snow or else frozen and hardened into haile some afford winds others warmth some hot and scorching vapours some dewes and others cold Neither yet ought these starres to be esteemed so little as they shew in sight seeing that none of them is lesse than the Moone as may appeare by the reason of their exceeding height Well then euery one in their own motion exercise their seuerall natures which appeareth manifestly by Saturne especially who setteth open the gates for raine and shoures to passe And not onely the seuen wandering starres be of this power but many of them also that are fixed in the firmament so often as they be either driuen by the excesse and approch of those planets or pricked and prouoked by the casting and influence of their beams like as we find it happeneth in the seuen stars called Suculae which the Grecians of raine name Hyades because they euer bring foule weather Howbeit some of their owne nature and at certaine set times do cause raine as the rising of the Kids As for Arcturus he neuer lightly appeareth without some tempestuous and stormie haile CHAP. XL. ¶ The power of the Dog-starre WHo knoweth not that when the Dogge-starre ariseth the heate of the Sunne is fiery and burning the effects of which starre are felt exceeding much vpon the earth The seas at his rising do rage and take on the wines in sellars are troubled pooles also and standing waters doe stirre and moue A wilde beast there is in Aegypt called Orix which the Aegyptians say doth stand full against the Dog-starre when it riseth looking wistly vpon it and testifieth after a sort by sneezing a kind of worship As for dogs no man doubteth verily but all the time of the canicular daies they are most ready to run mad CHAP. XLI ¶ That the stars haue their seuerall influences in sundry parts of the signes and at diuers times MOreouer the parts of certaine signes haue their peculiar force as appeareth in the Equinoctiall of Autumne and in mid-winter at what time we perceiue that the Sun maketh tempests And this is proued not onely by raines and stormes but by many experiments in mens bodies and accidents to plants in the countrey For some men are stricken by the Planet and blasted others are troubled and diseased at certaine times ordinarily in their belly sinewes head and minde The Oliue tree the Aspe or white Poplar and Willowes turne or wryth their leaues about at Mid-summer when the Sun entreth Cancer And contrariwise in very Mid-winter when he entreth Capricorne the herbe Penyroiall floureth fresh euen as it hangs within house drie and ready to wither At which time all parchments such like bladders or skinnes are so pent and stretched with spirit and wind that they burst withall A man might maruell hereat who marketh not by daily experience that one herbe called Heliotropium regardeth and looketh toward the Sun euer as he goeth turning with him at all houres notwithstanding he be shadowed vnder a cloud Now certaine it is that the bodies of Oysters Muskles Cocles and all shell fishes grow by the power of the Moone and thereby againe diminish yea and some haue found out by diligent search into Natures secrets that the fibres or filaments in the liuers of rats and mice answer in number to the daies of the Moones age also that the least creature of all others the Pismire feeleth the power of this Planet and alwaies in the change of the Moone ceaseth from worke Certes the more shame it is for man to be ignorant and vnskilfull especially seeing that he must confesse that some labouring beasts haue certaine diseases in their eyes which with the Moone do grow and decay Howbeit the excessiue greatnesse of the heauen and exceeding height thereof diuided as it is into 72 signes maketh for him and serueth for his excuse Now these signes are the resemblances of things or liuing creatures into which the skilfull Astronomers haue with good respect digested the firmament For example sake in the taile of Taurus there be seuen which they named in old time Vergiliae in the forehead other seuen called Suculae and Boötes who followeth after the wain or great Beare Septentriones CHAP. XLII ¶ The causes of raine showers winds and cloudes I Cannot denie but without these causes there arise raines and windes for that certaine it is how there is sent forth from the earth a mist sometimes moist otherwhiles smokie by reason of hot vapours and exhalations Also that clouds are ingendered by vapours which are gone vp on high or else of the aire gathered into a waterie liquour that they be thicke grosse and of a bodily consistence wee guesse and collect by no doubtful argument considering that they ouer-shadow the Sun which otherwise may be seene through the water as they know well that diue to any depth whatsoeuer CHAP. XLIII ¶ Of Thunder and Lightening DEnie I would not therefore but that the fierie impressions from stars aboue may fall vpon these clouds such as we oftentimes see to shoot in cleare and faire weather by the forceble stroke whereof good reason it is that the aire should be mightily shaken seeing that arrowes and darts when they are discharged sing and keepe a noise as they flie But when they incounter a cloud there arises
The North winde also bringeth in haile so doth Corus The South wind is exceeding hot and troublous withall Vulturnus and Favonius be warme They also be drier than the East and generally all winds from the North and West are drier than from the South and East Of all winds the Northern is most heathfull the Southern wind is noisome and the rather when it is drie haply because that when it is moist it is the colder During the time that it bloweth liuing creatures are thought to be lesse hungry the Etesiae giue ouer ordinarily in the night arise at the third houre of the day In Spaine and Asia they blow from the East but in Pontus from the North in other quarters from the South They blow also after the Mid-winter when they be called Orinthiae but those are more milde continue fewer daies Two there be that change their nature together with their site and place the South winde in Affrick bringeth faire weather and the North wind there is cloudy All winds keep their course in order for the more part or els when one ceaseth the contrary beginneth When some are laid the next to them do arise they go about from the left hand to the right according to the Sun Of their manner and order monthly the prime or fourth day after the change of the Moone doth most commonly determine The same windes wil serue to saile contrariwise by means of setting out the sailes so as many times in the night ships in sailing run one against another The South winde raiseth greater billowes and more surging waues than the North for that the South wind ariseth below from the bottome of the Sea the other blustereth aloft and troubleth the top of the water And therfore after Southern winds earth-quakes are most hurtful The South wind in the night time is more boisterous the Northerne wind in the day The winds blowing from the East hold and continue longer than those from the West The Northern winds giue ouer commonly with an odde number which obseruation serueth to good vse in many other parts of naturall things and therfore the male winds are iudged by the odde number The Sun both raiseth and also laieth the windes At rising and setting hee causeth them to be aloft at noon-tide he represseth and keepeth them vnder in Summer time And therefore at mid-day or mid-night commonly the winds are down and lie still for both cold and heat if they be immoderate do spend and consume them Also rain doth lay the winds and most commonly from thence they are looked for to blow where clouds break and open the skie to be seen And verily Eudoxus is of opinion if wee list to obserue the least reuolutions that after the end of euery fourth yere not only all winds but other tempests and constitutions also of the weather return again to the same course as before And alwaies the Lustrum or computation of the fiue yeres beginneth at the leap yere when the Dog-star doth arise Thus much touching general winds CHAP. XLVIII ¶ Of sudden Blasts NOw wil we speake of sudden blasts which being risen as hath bin said before by exhalations of the earth and cast downe againe in the meane while appeare of many fashions enclosed within athin course of clouds newly ouercast For such as be vnconstant wandering and rushing in manner of land flouds as some men were of opinion as wee haue shewed bring forth thunder and lightening But if they come with a greater force sway and violence and withall burst and cleaue a dry cloud asunder all abroad they breed a storme which of the Greeks is called Ecnephias but if the clift or breach be not great so that the wind be constrained to turne round to roll and whirle in his discent without fire i. lightening it makes a whirle puffe or ghust called Typhon i. the storme Ecnephias aforesaid sent out with a winding violence This takes with it a piece broken out of a congealed cold cloud turning winding and rolling it round and with that weight maketh the owne fall more heauie and changeth from place to place with a vehement and sudden whirling the greatest danger and mischiefe that poore sailers haue at sea breaking not onely their crosse saile yards but also writhing and bursting in pieces the very ships and yet a small matter is the remedy for it namely the casting of vinegre out against it as it commeth which is of nature most cold The same storme beating vpon a thing is it selfe smitten backe againe with a violence and snatcheth vp whatsoeuer it meeteth in the way aloft into the skie carrying it back and swallowing it vp on high But if it breake out from a greater hole of the said cloud by it so borne down and yet not altogether so broad as the abouenamed storm Procella doth nor without a cracke they call this boisterous wind Turbo casting downe and ouerthrowing all that is next it The same if it be more hot and catching a fire as it rageth is named Prester burning and withall laying along whatsoeuer it toucheth and encountereth CHAP. XLIX ¶ Other enormious kindes of Tempests NO Typhon commeth from the North ne yet any Ecnephias with snow or while snow lieth on the ground This tempestuous winde if when it brake the cloud burned light withall hauing fire of the owne before and catched it not afterward it is very lightning and differeth from Prester as the flame from a cole of fire Againe Prester spreadeth broad with a flash and blast the other gathereth round with forcible violence Typhon moreouer or Vortex differeth from Turben in flying backe and as much as a crash from a cracke The storme Procella from them both in breadth and to speake more truly rather scattereth than breaketh the cloud There riseth also vpon the sea a darke mist resembling a monstrous beast and this is euer a terrible cloud to sailers Another likewise called a Columne or Pillar when the humour and water ingendred is so thicke and stiffe congealed that it standeth compact of it selfe Of the same sort also is that cloud which draweth water to it as it were into a long pipe CHAP. L. ¶ In what Lands Lightenings fall not IN Winter and Summer seldome are there any Lightnings and that is long of contrary causes because in Winter the aire is driuen close together and thickened with a deeper course of clouds besides all the exhalations breathing and rising out of the earth being stark congealed and frozen hard do extinguish cleane what firie vapour soeuer otherwise they receiue which is the reason that Scythia and other cold frozen quarters thereabout are free from lightenings And Aegypt likewise vpon the contrarie cause and exempt from Lightnings namely exceeding heate for the hot and dry exhalations of the earth gather into very slender thin and weake clouds But in the Spring and Autumne lightnings are more rife because in both those seasons the causes as well of Summer as
were cut off by the Ocean which notwithstanding clasping round about all the midst thereof yeelding forth and receiuing againe all other waters besides and what exhalations soeuer that go out for clouds and feeding withall the very stars so many as they be and of so great a bignesse what a mighty space thinke you will it be thought to takevp and inhabit and how little can there be left for men to inhabit surely the possession of so vast and huge a deale must needs be exceeding great and infinite What say you then to this That of the earth which is left the heauen hath taken away the greater part For whereas there be of the heauen fiue parts which they call Zones all that lieth vnder the two vtmost to wit on both sides about the poles namely this here which is called Septentrio that is to say the North and the other ouer against it named the South it is ouercharged with extreme and rigorous cold yea and with perpetuall frosts and ice In both Zones it is alwaies dim and darke and by reason that the aspect of the more milde and pleasant planets is diuerted cleane from thence the light that is sheweth little or nothing and appeareth white with the frost onely Now the middle of the earth whereas the Sun hath his way and keepeth his course scorched and burnt with flames is euen parched and fried againe with the hot gleames thereof being so neere Those two only on either side about it namely betweene this burnt Zone and the two frozen are temperate and euen those haue not accesse and passage the one to the other by reason of the burning heate of the said planet Thus you see that the heauen hath taken from the earth three parts and what the Ocean hath plucked from it besides no man knoweth And euen that one portion remaining vnto vs I wot not whether it be not in greater danger also For the same Ocean entring as we will shew into many armes and creekes keepeth a roaring against the other gulfes and seas within the earth and so neere comes vnto them that the Arabian gulfe is not from the Egyptian sea aboue 115 miles the Caspian likewise from the Ponticke but 375. Yea and the same floweth between and entreth into so many armes as that thereby it diuideth Africke Europe and Asia asunder Now what a quantity of land it taketh vp may be collected and reckoned at this day by the measure and proportion of so many riuers and so great Meres Adde thereto both Lakes and pooles and withall take from the earth the high mountaines bearing vp their heads aloft into the sky so as the eye can hardly reach their heights the woods besides and steepe descents of the vallies the Wildernesses and waste wildes left desart vpon a thousand causes These so many pieces of the earth or rather as most haue written this little-pricke of the world for surely the earth is nothing else in comparison of the whole is the only matter of our glory This I say is the very feat thereof here we seeke for honors and dignities here we exercise our rule and authoritie here we couet wealth and riches here all mankinde is set vpon stirs and troubles here we raise ciuill wars still one after another and with mutuall massacres and murthers wee make more roome in the earth And to let passe the publique furious rages of nations abroad this is it wherein we chase and driue out our neighbor borderers and by stealth dig turfe from their soile to put vnto our owne and when a man hath extended his lands and gotten whole countries to himselfe far and neere what a goodly deale of earth enioyeth he and say that he set out his bounds to the full measure of his couetous desires what a great portion thereof shal he hold when he is once dead and his head laid low CHAP. LXIX ¶ That the earth is in the middest of the world THat the earth is in the midst of the whole world it appeareth by manifest and vndoubted reasons but most euidently by the equal houres of the Equinoctial for vnlesse it were in the midst the Astrolabe and instruments called Diophae haue proued that nights and daies could not possibly be found equall and those aboue-said instruments aboue all other confirme the same seeing that in the Equinoctial by one and the same line both rising and setting of the Sun are seen but the Sommer Sun rising and the Winter setting by their owne seuerall lines which could by no means happen but that the earth resteth in the centre CHAP. LXX ¶ Of the vnequall rising of the stars of the Eclipse both where and how it commeth NOw three circles there be infolded within the Zones afore named which distinguish the inequalities of the dayes namely the Sommer Solstitiall Tropicke from the highest part of the Zodiacke in regard of vs toward the North Clyme And against it another called the Winter Tropicke toward the other Southern Pole and in like maner the Equinoctial which goes in the mids of the Zodiacke circle The cause of the rest which wee wonder at is in the figure of the very earth which together with the water is by the same arguments knowne to be like a globe for so doubtlesse it commeth to passe that with vs the stars about the North pole neuer go downe and those contrariwise about the Meridian neuer rise And againe these here be not seene of them by reason that the globe of the earth swelleth vp in the mids between Again Trogloditine and Egypt confining next vpon it neuer set eye vpon the North pole stars neither hath Italy a sight of Canopus named also Berenices haire Likewise another which vnder the Empire of Augustus men sirnamed Caesaris Thronon yet be they stars there of speciall marke And so euidently bendeth the top of the earth in the rising that Canopus at Alexandria seemeth to the beholders eleuate aboue the earth almost one fourth part of a signe but if a man looke from Rhodes the same appeareth after a sort to touch the verie horizon and in Pontus where the eleuation of the North pole is highest not seene at all yea and this same pole at Rhodes is hidden but most in Alexandria In Arabia all hid it is at the first watch of the night in Nouember but at the second it sheweth In Meroe at Midsommer in the euening it appeareth for a while but some few daies before the rising of Arcturus seene it is with the very dawning of the day Sailers by their voiages finde out and know these stars most of any other by reason that some seas are opposite vnto some stars but other lie flat and incline forward to other for that also those pole stars appeare suddenly and rising out of the sea which lay hidden before vnder the winding compasse as it were of a ball For the heauen riseth not aloft in this higher pole as some men haue giuen out else should
seene notwithstanding many times it hath deuoured cities and drawne into it a whole tract of ground and fields Sea coasts and maritime regions most of all other feele earthquakes Neither are the hilly countries without this calamitie for I my selfe haue known for certain that the Alps and Apenine haue often trembled In the Autumne also and Spring there happen more earthquakes than at other times like as lightnings And hereof it is that France and Egypt least of all other are shaken for that in Egypt the continuall Sommer and in France the hard Winter is against it In like manner earthquakes are more rife in the night than in the day time but the greatest vse to be in the morning and euening Toward day light there be many and if by day it is vsually about noon They fortune also to be when the Sun and Moone are eclipsed because then all tempests are asleepe and laid to rest But especially when after much raine there followes a great time of heate or after heate store of raine CHAP. LXXXj ¶ Signes of Earthquake comming SAilers also haue a certaine foreknowledge thereof and guesse not doubtfully at it namely when the waues swel suddenly without any gale of wind or when in the ship they are shocked with billowes shaking vnder them then are the things seen to quake which stand in the ship as well as those in houses and with a rustling noise giue warning before-hand The foules likewise of the aire sit not quietly without feare In the sky also there is signe thereof for there goeth before an earthquake either in day time or soon after the Sun is gon downe a thin streake or line as it were of a cloud lying out in a great length Moreouer the water in wels and pits is more thicke and troubled than ordinary casting out a stinking sent CHAP. LXXXij ¶ Remedies or helps against Earthquakes toward BVt a remedie there is for the same such as vaults and holes in many places do yeeld for they vent and breathe out the wind that was conceiued there before a thing noted in certain townes which by reason they stand hollow and haue many sinks and vaults digged to conuey away their filth are lesse shaken yea and in the same towns those parts which be pendant be the safer as is well seen in Naples where that quarter thereof which is sollid and not hollow is subiect to such casualties And in houses the arches are most safe the angles also of walls yea and those posts which in shaking will jog to and fro euery way Moreouer walls made of brick or earth take lesse harme when they be shaken in an earthquake And great difference there is in the very kinde and manner of earthquakes for the motion is diuers the safest is when houses as they rocke keep a trembling and warbling noise also when the earth seemeth to swell vp in rising and again to settle down and sink with an alternatiue motion Harmlesse it is also when houses run on end together by a contrary stroke and butt or jur one against another for the one mouing withstandeth the other The bending downward in maner of wauing and a certain rolling like to surging billowes is it that is so dangerous and doth all the mischiefe or when the whole motion beareth and forceth it selfe to one side These quakings or tremblings of the earth giue ouer when the winde is once vented out but if they continue still then they cease not vntill forty daies end yea and many times it is longer ere they stay for some of them haue lasted the space of a yeare or two CHAP. LXXXIII ¶ Monstrous Earthquakes seene neuer but once THere hapned once which I found in the books of the Tuscanes learning within the teritorie of Modena whiles L. Martius and S. Iulius were Consuls a great strange wonder of the earth for two hils encountred together charging as it were and with violence assaulting one another yea and retyring againe with a most mighty noise It fell out in the day time and between them there issued flaming fire and smoke mounting vp into the sky while a great number of Roman Gentlemen from the highway Aemylia and a multitude of seruants and passengers stood and beheld it With this conflict and running of them together all the villages vpon them were dashed and broken to pieces very much cattell that was within died therewith And this hapned the yeare before the war of our Associates which I doubt whether it were not more pernicious to the whole land of Italy than the ciuil wars It was no lesse monstrous a wonder that was knowne also in our age in the very last yeare of Nero the Emperour as we haue shewed in his acts when medows and oliue rowes notwithstanding the great publique port way lay betweene passed ouerthwart one into anothers place in the Marrucine territorie within the lands of Vectius Marcellus a gentleman of Rome Procurator vnder Nero in his affaires CHAP. LXXXIV ¶ Wonders of Earthquakes THere happen together with earthquakes deluges also and inundations of the sea being infused and entring into the earth with the same aire and wind or else receiued into the hollow receptacle as it setleth down The greatest earthquake in mans memory was that which chanced during the empire of Tiberius Caesar when twelue cities of Asia were laid leuell in one night But the earthquakes came thickest in the Punick war when in one yeare were reported to be in Rome 57. In which yeare verily when the Carthaginians and Romans fought a battell at Thrasymenus lake neither of both armies tooke notice of a great earthquake Neither is this a simple euill thing nor the danger consisteth only in the very earthquake and no more but that which it portendeth is as bad or worse Neuer abode the city of Rome any earthquake but it gaue warning thereof before hand of some strange accident and vnhappie euent following CHAP. LXXXV ¶ In what places the seas haue gone backe THe same cause is to be rendred of some new hill or piece of ground not seen before when as the said winde within the earth able to huffe vp the ground was not powerful enough to breake forth and make issue For firme land groweth not only by that which Riuers bring in as the Isles Echinades which were heaped and raised vp by the riuer Achelous and by Nilus the greater part of Egypt into which if wee beleeue Homer from the Island Pharus there was a cut by sea of a day and a nights sailing but also by the retiring and going backe of the sea as the same poet hath written of the Circeiae The like by report hapned both in the bay of Ambracia for ten miles space and also in that of the Athenians for fiue miles neere Pireaeum also at Ephesus where somtime the sea beate vpon the temple of Diana And verily if we giue eare to Herodotus it was all a sea from aboue Memphis to the Ethyopian hills
that shake and tremble vnder mens feet as they go namely in the territorie of the Gabians not far from Rome there be almost two hundred acres of ground which tremble as horsemen ride ouer them And the like is in the territory of Reate CHAP. XCV ¶ Of Islands euer floting and swimming CErtaine Isles are alwaies wauing and nuer stand still as in the countrey about Caecubum Reate aboue named Mutina and Statonia Also in the lake Vadimonis and neer the waters Cutyliae there is a shadowie darke groue which is neuer seen in one place a day and night together Moreouer in Lydia the Isles Calanucae are not only driuen to fro by winds but also many be shoued and thrust with long poles which way a man will a thing that saued many a mans life in the war against Mithridates There be other little ones also in the Riuer Nymphaeus called Saltuares or Dancers because in any consort of Musitians singing they stir and moue at the stroke of the feet keeping time and measure In the great lake of Italy Tarquiniensis two Islands carry about with them groues and woods one while they are in fashion three square another while round when they close one to the other by the drift of winds but neuer fouresquare CHAP. XCVI ¶ In what lands it neuer raineth Also many strange wonders and miracles of the earth and other Elements heaped together PAphos hath in it a famous temple of Venice vpon a certain floure and altar whereof it neuer raineth Likewise in Nea a towne of Troas a man shall neuer see it raine about the Image of Minerua In the same also the beasts killed in sacrifice if they be left there neuer putrifie Neere to Harpasa a towne in Asia stands a rocke of stone of a strange and wonderfull nature lay one finger to it and it will stir but thrust at it with your whole body it moueth not at all Within the demy Island of the Tauri and city Parasinum there is a kinde of earth that healeth all wounds but about Assos in Troas there growes a stone wherewith bodies are consumed and therefore is called Sarcophagus Two hills there be neere the riuer Indus the nature of the one is to hold fast all manner of iron and of the other not to abide it wherefore if a mans shooe sole be clouted with hob nailes in the one of them a man cannot plucke away his foot and in the other he can take no footing at all Noted it is that in Locri and Crotone was neuer pestilence knowne nor any danger by earthquake And in Lycia euer after an earthquake it hath been faire for forty daies In the territorie of Arda if corne be sowed it neuer comes vp At the altars Murtiae in the Veientian field likewise in Tusculanum and the wood Cyminia there be certaine places wherein whatsoeuer is pitched into the ground can neuer be plucked vp againe In the Crustumine countrey all the hay there growing is hurtfull in the same place but being once without it is good and wholesome CHAP. XCVII ¶ What is the reason of the reciprocall ebbe and flow of the seas and where it is that they keepe no order and are without reason OF the nature of waters much hath bin said but the sea tide that it should flow and ebbe againe is most maruellous of all other the maner thereof verily is diuers but the cause is in the Sun and Moon Between two risings of the Moone they flow twice and twice go backe and alwaies in the space of 24 houres And first as he riseth aloft together with the world the tides swell and anon again as it goeth from the height of the Meridian line and enclineth Westward they slake again as she moueth from the West vnder our horizon and approcheth to the point contrarie to the Meridian they flow and then they are receiued backe into the sea vntill she rise again and neuer keepeth the tyde the same houre that it did the day before for it waiteth and attendeth vpon the planet which greedily draweth with it the seas and euer riseth to day in some other place than it did yesterday Howbeit the tides keepe iust the same time between and hold alwaies six houres apiece I meane not of euery day and night or place indifferently but only the equinoctial For in regard of houres the tides of the sea are vnequall forasmuch as by day and night the tydes are more or lesse one time than another in the equinoctial only they are euen and alike in all places A very great argument this is full of light to conuince that grosse and blockish conceit of them who are of opinion that the planets being vnder the earth lose their power and that their vertue beginneth when they are aboue only for they shew their effects as well vnder as aboue the earth as wel as the earth which worketh in all parts And plaine it is that the Moone performeth her operations as well vnder the earth as when we see her visibly aloft neither is her course any other beneath than aboue our horizon But yet the difference and alteration of the Moone is manifold and first euery seuen daies for whiles she is new the tides be but small vntill the first quarter for as she groweth bigger they flow more but in the full they swell and boile most of all From that time they begin again to be more milde and in the first daies of the wain to the seuenth the tides are equall and againe when she is diuided on the other side and but halfe Moon they increase greater And in the Coniunction or the change they are equall to the tides of the full And euidently it appeareth that when she is Northerly and retired higher farther from the earth the tides are more gentle than when she is gone Southerly for then she worketh neerer hand and putteth forth her full power Euery eight yere also after the hundreth reuolution of the Moone the seas returne to the beginning of their motions and to the like encrease and growth by reason that she augmenteth all things by the yerely course of the Sun forasmuch as in the two equinoctials they euer swel most yet more in that of the Autumne than the Spring but nothing to speak of in Mid-winter lesse at Mid-summer And yet these things fall not out iust in these very points and instants of the times which I haue named but some few daies after like as neither in the full nor in the change but afterward ne yet presently so soon as the heauen either sheweth vs the Moon in her rising or hideth her from vs at her setting or as shee declineth from us in the middle climat but later almost by two equinoctial hours Forasmuch as the effect of all influences and operations in the heauen reach not so soon vnto the earth as the eiesight pierceth vp to the heauen as it appeareth by lightnings thunders thunderbolts Moreouer
all tides in the main Ocean ouerspread couer and ouerflow much more within the land than in other seas besides either because the whole and vniuersall element is more couragious than in a part or for that the open greatnesse and largenesse thereof feeleth more effectually the power of the Planet working forcibly as it doth far and neere at liberty than when the same is pent and restrained within those streights Which is the cause that neither lakes nor little riuers ebbe and flow in like manner Pythias of Massiles writeth That aboue Brittain the tide floweth in height 80 cubits But the more inward and Mediterranean narrow seas are shut vp within the lands as in an hauen How beit in some places a more spacious liberty there is that yeeldeth to the power and command of the Moon for we haue many examples and experiments of them that in a calm sea without wind and saile by a strange water onely haue tided from Italy to Vtica in three daies But these tides and quick motions of the sea are found to be about the shores more than in the deep maine sea For euen so in our bodies the extreme and vtmost parts haue a greater feeling of the beating of arteries that is to say the vitall spirits Yet notwithstanding in many firths and armes of the sea by reason of the vnlike risings of the planets in euery coast the tides are diuers and disagreeing in time but not in reason and cause as namely in the Syrtes And yet some there be that haue a peculiar nature by themselues as the Firth Taurominitanum which ebbeth and floweth oftner than twice and that either in Euboea called likewise Euripus which hath seuen tides to and fro in a day and a night And the same tide three daies in a moneth standeth stil namely in the 7 8 and 9 daies of the moons age At Gades the fountaine next vnto the chappell of Hercules is inclosed about like a well the which at sometimes riseth and falleth as the Ocean doth at others againe it doth both at contrary seasons In the same place there is another spring that keepeth order and time with the motions of the Ocean On the banke of Betis there is a towne the wells whereof as the tide floweth do ebbe and as it ebbeth do flow in the mid times betweene they stirre not Of the same qualitie there is one pit in the towne Hispalis all the rest be as others are And the sea Pontus euermore floweth and runneth out into Propontis but the sea neuer retireth backe againe within Pontus CHAP. XCVIII ¶ Maruels of the Sea ALl seas are purged and scoured in the full Moone and some besides at certaine times About Messala and Nylae there is voided vpon the shore certaine dregges and filthinesse like to beasts dung whereupon arose the fable That the Sunnes oxen were there kept in stall Hereunto addeth Aristotle for I would not omit willingly any thing that I know that no liuing creature dieth but in the reflux and ebbe of the sea This is obserued much in the Ocean of France but found onely in man by experience true CHAP. XCIX ¶ What power the Moone hath ouer things on Earth and in the Sea BY which it is truly guessed and collected that not in vaine the planet of the Moone is supposed to be a Spirit for this is it that satisfieth the earth to her content shee it is that in her approch and comming toward filleth bodies ful and in her retire and going away emptieth them again And hereupon it is that with her growth all shell-fish wax encrease and those creatures which haue no bloud them most of all do feele her spirit Also the bloud in men doth increase or diminish with her light more or lesse yea the leaues of trees and the grasse for sodder as shall be said in conuenient place do feele the influence of her which euermore the same pierceth and entreth effectually into all things CHAP. C. ¶ Of the power of the Sun and why the Sea is salt THus by the feruent heate of the Sun all moisture is dried vp for wee haue been taught that this Planet is Masculine frying and sucking vp the humidity of all things Thus the broad and spacious sea hath the taste of salt sodden into it or else it is because when the sweet and thin substance thereof is sucked out from it which the firie power of the Sun most easily draweth vp all the tarter and more grosse parts thereof remaine behinde and hereupon it is that the deep water toward the bottom is sweeter and lesse brackish than that aboue in the top And surely this is a better and truer reason of that vnpleasant smacke and taste that it hath than that the sea should be a sweat issuing out of the earth continually or because ouermuch of the dry terrence element is mingled in it without any vapour or else because the nature of the earth infecteth the waters as it were with some strong medicine We finde among rare examples and experiments that there happened a prodigious token to Denis tyrant of Sicily when he was expelled and deposed from that mightie state of his and this it was the sea water within one day in the hauen grew to be fresh and sweet CHAP. CI. ¶ In like manner of the Moones Nature ON the contrary they say that the Moone is a planet Foeminine tender nightly dissolueth humors draweth the same but carieth them not away And this appeareth euidently by this proofe that the carkasses of wilde beasts slain she putrifieth by her influence if she shine vpon them When men also are sound asleepe the dull nummednesse thereby gathered she draweth vp into the head she thaweth yce and with a moistening breath proceeding from her enlargeth and openeth all things Thus you see how Natures turn is serued and supplyed and is alwaies sufficient whiles some stars thicken and knit the elements others againe resolue the same But as the Sun is fed by the salt seas so the Moone is nourished by the fresh riuer waters CHAP. CII ¶ Where the Sea is deepest FAbianus saith that the sea where is deepest exceedeth not fifteen furlongs Others againe do report that in Pontus the sea is of an vnmeasurable depth ouer against the Nation of the Coraxians the place they call Bathei Ponti whereof the bottome could neuer bee sounded CHAP. CIII ¶ The wonders of Waters Fountaines and Riuers OF all wonders this passeth that certain fresh waters hard by the sea issue spring forth as out of pipes for the nature of the waters also ceaseth not from strange and miraculous properties Fresh waters run aloft the sea as being no doubt the lighter and therefore the sea water which naturally is heauier vpholdeth and beareth vp whatsoeuer is brought in Yea and amongst fresh waters some there be that flote and glide ouer others As for example in the lake Fucinus the riuer that runneth into it in Larius Addua in
which lies the way to Atlas the most fabulous mountaine of all Africk For writers haue giuen out that this hill arising out of the very midst of the sea sands mounteth vp to the skie all rough ill fauored and ouergrowne on that side that lieth to the shore of the Ocean vnto which it gaue the name and yet the same is shadowie full of woods and watered with veines of spouting Springs that way which looketh to Africke with fruitfull trees of all sorts springing of the own accord and bearing one vnder another in such sort that at no time a man can want his pleasure and delight to his full contentment Moreouer that none of the inhabitants there are seene all day long all is still and silent like the fearfull horror in desert wildernesse and as men come neerer and neerer vnto it a secret deuotion ariseth in their hearts and besides this feare and horrour they are lifted vp aboue the clouds and euen close to the circle of the Moone Ouer and besides that the same hill shineth oftentimes with many flashes of fires and is hanted with the wanton lasciuious Aegipanes and Satyres whereof it is full that it resoundeth with noise of Haut-boies pipes and fifes and ringeth againe with the sound of tabers timbrels and cymbals These be the reports of great famous writers to say nothing of the labors and works both of Hercules and Perses there and to conclude that the way vnto it is exceeding great and not certainely knowne Bookes there were besides of Hanno a great captain and commander among the Carthaginians who in the time of the most flourishing state of Carthage had a charge and commission to discouer and suruey the whole compasse of Africk Him most of the Greeks as well as our countreymen following among some other fabulous stories haue written that hee also built many cities there but neither memoriall vpon record nor any token of them at all is left extant Whiles Scipio Aemylianus warred in Africk Polybius the writer of the Annales receiued of him a fleet who hauing saled about of purpose to search into that part of the world hath put thus much downe in writing that from the said mountaine West toward the forrest ful of wild beasts which Africk breedeth vnto the riuer Anatis are 485 miles And from thence to Lixus 205. Agrippa saith that Lixus is distant from the streights of Gades 112 miles Then that there is an arme of the sea called Saguti Also a towne vpon the promontory Mutelacha Riuers Subur and Sala Moreouer that the hauen Rutubis is from Lixus 313 miles And so forward to the Promontorie of the Sun The port or hauen Risardir the Gaetulians Autololes the riuer Cosenus the nation of the Scelatites and Massalians The riuers Masatal and Darat wherein Crocodiles are ingendred Then forward that there is a gulfe of 516 miles inclosed within the promontory or cape of the mountain Barce running along into the West which is called Surrentium after it the riuer Palsus beyond which are the Aethiopians Perorsi at their back are the Pharusi Vpon whom ioine the midlanders to wit the Gaetulianders But vpon the coast are the Aethyopian Daratites the riuer Bambotus ful of Crocodiles Hippopotames i. Water-horses From which he saith That there is nothing but mountains all the way as far as to that which we call Theon-Ochema The gods chariot Then in sailing nine daies and nights to the promontorie Hesperium he hath placed the mountain Atlas in mid-way thereof which by all other writers is set downe to be in the vtmost marches of Mauritania The first time that the Romans warred in Mauritania was in the time of prince Claudius Emperor at what time as Aedemon the freed seruant of king Ptolomaeus by C. Caesar slaine went about to reuenge his death for as the barbarous people retired and fled back certaine it is that the Romans came as far as to the hill Atlas And not only such Generals as had bin Consuls and were of the Senatours degree and calling who at that time managed and conducted the wars but knights also and gentlemen of Rome who from that time had gouernment and command there tooke it for an honor and glory that they had pierced and entred into Atlas Fiue Romane Colonies as wee haue said be in that prouince and by that common fame and report there may seeme to lie a thorow faire thither But that is found for the most part by daily experience most deceiueable of all things else because persons of high place and great worth when they are loath to search out narrowly into the truth of matters sticke not for shame of ignorance to giue out vntruths and neuer are men more credulous and apt to beleeue and be deceiued than when some graue personage fathereth a lie And verily I lesse maruell that they of gentlemens degree yea and those now of Senators calling haue not come to the certaine knowledge of some things there seeing they set their whole affection and mind vpon nothing but excesse and riot which how powerfull it is and forcible is seen by this most of all when forests are sought out far and neere for Iuory and Citron trees when all the rocks in Getulia are searched for Murices and Purpurae shell fishes that yeeld the purple crimson colour Howbeit the natural inhabitants of that country do write That in the sea coast 150 miles from Sala there is the riuer Asana that receiueth salt water into it but hath in it a goodly faire hauen and not far from it another fresh riuer which they call Fut from which to Dyris for that is the name in their language of Atlas by a generall consent are 200 miles with a riuer comming betweene named Vior And there the speech so goeth are to be seene the certain tokens of a ground somtimes inhabited to wit the reliques of vine yards and date tree groues Suetonius Paulinus a Consull in our time who was the first Roman leader that for certaine miles space went ouer Atlas also hath reported verily as touching the height thereof that with the rest and moreouer that the foot thereof toward the bottom stand thick and ful of tail woods with trees therein of an vnknown kinde but the heigth of them is delectable to see to smooth and euen without knots the leaues branches like Cypresse and besides the strong smell they yeeld are couered all ouer with a thinne downe of which with some help of Art fine cloath may be made such as the silk-worm doth yeeld That the top and crest thereof is couered ouer with deepe snow euen in Sommer time Moreouer that he reached vp to the pitch of it at the tenth daies end went beyond it as far as a riuer called Niger through wildernesses ful of blacke dust where otherwhiles there stood out certaine cliffes and craggie rocks as they were scortched and burnt and that those places by reason of partching heat were not habitable
call Hercules his town Two Arsinoites there be they and Memphites reach as farre as two the head of Delta Vpon it there do bound out of Affrica the two Ouafitae There be that change some names of these and set down for them other iurisdictions to wit Heroopolites and Crocodilopolites Between Arsinoites and Memphites there was a lake 250 miles about or as Mutianus saith 450 fifty paces deep i. 150 foot the same made by mans hand called the Lake Maeridis of a king who made it 72 miles from thence is Memphis the castle in old time of the Aegyptian kings From which to the Oracle of Hammon is twelue daies iournie so to the diuision of Nilus which is called Delta fifteen miles The riuer Nilus rising from vnknowne springs passeth thorow desarts and hot burning countries and going thus a mighty way in length is known by fame onely without armes without wars which haue discouered and found out all other lands It hath his beginning so far forth as Iabâ—… was able to search and find out in a hil of the lower Mauritania not far from the Ocean where a lake presently is seen to stand with water which they call Nilides In it are found these fishes called Alabetae Coracini Siluri and the Crocodile Vpon this argument presumption Nilus is thought to spring from hence for that the pourtract of this source is consecrated by the said prince at Caesaria in Iseum and is there at this day seene Moreouer obserued it is that as the Snow or rain do satisfie the countrie in Mauritania so Nilus doth encrease When it is run out of this lake it scorneth to run through the sandy and ouergrown places and hides himself for certaine daies iourny And then soone after out of a greater lake it breaketh forth in the country of the Massaesyli with Mauritania Caesarienses and lookes about viewing mens company carrying the same arguments still of liuing creatures bred within it Then once again being receiued within the sands it is hidden a second time for twenty daies iourny in the desarts as farre as to the next Aethiopes and so soone as hee hath once againe espied a man forth hee startes as it should seem out of that spring which they called Nigris And then diuiding Affrick from Aethiopia being acquainted if not presently with people yet with the frequent company of wild and sauage beasts and making shade of woods as he goes he cuts through the middest of the Aethiopians there surnamed Astapus which in the language of those nations signifieth a water flowing out of darkenesse Thus dasheth he vpon such an infinite number of Islands and some of them so mighty great that albeit he bare a swift streame yet is he not able to passe beyond them in lesse space than 5 daies About the goodliest and fairest of them Meroe the chanell going on the left hand is called Astabores that is the branch of a water comming forth of darkenesse but that on the right hand Astusapes which is as much as lying hid to the former signification And neuer taketh the name of Nilus before his waters meet again accord all whole together And euen so was he aforetime named Siris for many miles space and of Homer altogether Aegyptis and of others Triton here and there and euer and anon hitting vpon Islands and stirred as it were with so many prouocations and at the last enclosed and shut within mountaines and in no place he caries a rougher and swifter stream whiles the water that he beareth hastens to a place of the Aethiopians called Catadupi where in the last fall among the rockes that stand in his way he is supposed not to runne but to rush downe with a mighty noise But afterwards he becomes more milde and gentle as the course of his streame is broken and his violence tamed and abated yea and partly wearied with his long way and so though with many mouths of his he dischargeth himselfe into the Aegyptian sea Howbeit at certaine set daies he swelleth to a great height and when he hath trauelled all ouer Aegypt hee ouerfloweth the land to the great fertility and plenty thereof Many and diuers causes of this rising and increase of his men haue giuen but those which carry the most probabilitie are either the rebounding of the water driuen back by the winds Etesiae at that time blowing against it and driuing the sea withall vpon the mouths of Nilus or else the Summer rain in Aethiopia by reason that the same Etesiae bring clouds thither from other parts of the world Timaeus the Mathematician alledged an hidden reason therof to wit that the head and source of Nilus is named Phyala and the riuer it selfe is hidden as it were drowned within certain secret trenches within the ground breathing forth vapors out of reeking rockes where it thus lieth in secret But so soone as the sunne during those daies commeth neere drawne vp it is by force of heate and so all the while he hangeth aloft ouerfloweth and then againe for feare he should be wholly deuoured and consumed putteth in his head againe and lieth hid And this happeneth from the rising of the dog starre Sicinus in the Sunnes entrance into Leo while the planet standeth plumbe ouer the fountaine aforesaid for as much as in that climate there are no shadows to be seene Many againe were of a different opinion that a riuer Howeth more abundantly when the Sunne is departed toward the North pole which happeneth in Cancer and Leo and therefore at that time is not so easily dried but when he is returned once againe back toward Capricorn and the South pole it is drunke vp and therefore floweth more sparely But if according to Timaus a man would thinke it possible that the water should be drawne vp the want of shadowes during those daies and in those quarters continueth still without end For the riuer begins to rise and swell at the next change of the Moone after the Sun-steed by little and little gently so long as he passes through the signe Cancer but most abundantly when he is in Leo. And when he is entred Virgo he falleth and settleth low again in the same measure as he rose before And is cleane brought within his bankes in Libia which is as Herodotus thinketh by the hundreth day All the whiles it riseth it hath been thought vnlawfull for kings or gouernours to saile or passe in any vessell vpon it and they make conscrence so to do How high it riseth is known by markes and measures taken of certaine pits The ordinary height of it is sixteen cubits Vnder that gage the waters ouerflow not all Aboue that stint there are a let and hinderance by reason that the later it is ere they be fallen and downe again By these the seed time is much of it spent for that the earth is too wet By the other there is none at all by reason that the ground is dry and thirsty
marie that was a monstrous and prodigious token and foreshewed some heauy fortune that followed after Also in the beginning of the Marsians war there was a bondwoman brought forth a Serpent In sum there be many mis-shapen monsters come that way into the world of diuers and sundry formes Claudius Caesar writeth That in Thessalie there was borne a monster called an Hippocentaure that is halfe a man and halfe a horse but it died the very same day And verily after he came to weare the diadem we our selues saw the like monster sent vnto him out of Egypt embalmed and preserued in honey Among many strange examples appearing vpon record in Chronicles we reade of a childe in Sagunt the same yeare that it was forced and rased by Anabal which so soone as it was come forth of the mothers wombe presently returned into it againe CHAP. IIII. ¶ Of the change of one Sex to another and of Twins borne IT is no lie nor fable that females may turne to be males for we haue found it recorded that in the yearely Chronicles called Annals in the yere when Publius Licinius Crassus and C. Cassius Longinus were Consuls there was in Cassinum a maid childe vnder the very hand and tuition of her parents without suspition of being a changeling became a boy and by an Ordinance of the Soothsayers called Aruspices was confined to a certain desart Island and thither conueyed Licinius Mutianus reporteth that he himselfe saw at Argos one named Arescon who before time had to name Arescusa and a married wife but afterwards in processe of time came to haue a beard and the generall parts testifying a man and thereupon wedded a wife Likewise as he saith he saw at Smyrna a boy changed into a girle I my selfe am an eye witnesse That in Africke one L. Cossicius a citisen of Tisdrita turned from a woman to be a man vpon the very mariage day who liued at the time I wrot this booke Moreouer it is obserued that if women bring twins it is great good hap if they all liue but either the mother dieth in childbed or one of the babes if not both But if it fortune that the twinnes be of both sexes the one male the other female it is ten to one if they both escape Moreouer this is well knowne that as women age sooner than men and seeme old so they grow to their maturitie more timely than men and are apt from procreation before them Last of all when a woman goeth with childe if it bee a man childe it stirreth oftner in the wombe and lieth commonly more to the right side wheras the female moueth more seldom and beareth to the left CHAP. V. ¶ The Generation of Man the time of childe-birth from seuen moneths to eleuen testified by many notable examples out of historie ALiother creatures haue a set time limited by Nature both of going with their yong and also of bringing it forth each one according to their kinde Man only is borne all times of the yeare and there is no certaine time of his abode in the wombe after conception for one commeth into the world at the seuen moneths end another at the eighth and so to the beginning of the ninth and tenth But before the seuenth moneth there is no infant euer borne that liueth And none are borne at seuen moneths end vnlesse they were conceiued either in the very change of the moone or within a day of it vnder or ouer An ordinary thing it is in Egypt for women to go with yong eight moneths and then to be deliuered And euen in Italy also now adaies children so borne liue and do well but this is against the common receiued opinion of all old writers But there is no certainty to ground vpon in all these cases for they alter diuers waies Dame Vestilia the widow of C. Herditius wife afterward to Pomponius and last of all maried to Orfitus all right worshipful citisens and of most noble houses had 4 children by her three husbands to wit Sempronius whom she bare at the seuenth moneth Suillius Rufus at the eleuenth and seuen moneths also she went with Corbulo yet they liued all and these two Iast came both to be Consuls After all these sons she bare a daughter namely Caesonia wife to the Emperor Caius Caligula at the eighth moneths end They that are borne thus in this moueth haue much ado to liue and are in great danger for forty dayes space yea and their mothers are very sickly and subiect to fall into vntimely trauell all the fourth moneth and the eighth and if they fall in labor and come before their time they die Massurius writeth that L. Papyrius the Pretor or Lord chief Iustice when a second heire in remainder made claim and put in plea for his inheritance of the goods made an award and gaue iudgement against him in the behalfe of an Infant the right heire borne after the decease of his father vpon this That the mother came in and testified how she was deliuered of that childe within thirteene moneths after the death of the Testator the reason was because there is no definite time certaine for women to go with childe CHAP. VI. ¶ Of Conceptions and signes distinguishing the sex in great bellied women before they are deliuered IF ten dayes after a woman hath had the company of a man shee feele an extraordinary ache in the head and perceiue giddinesse in the brain as if all things went round finde a dazling and mistinesse in the eies abhorring and loathing meat and withall a turning and wambling in the stomacke it is a signe that she is conceiued and beginneth to breed if she goe with a boy better coloured will she be all the time and deliuered with more ease and by the 40 day she shall feele a kinde of motion and stirring in her wombe But contrarie it falleth out in the breeding of a girle she goeth more heauily with it and findeth the burthen heauier her legs and thighes about the share will swell a little And ninetie dayes it will be before she absolutely perceiueth any mouing of the infant But be it male or female shee breeds they put her to much paine and grieuance when their haire beginneth to bud forth and euer at the full of the Moone and euen the very infants after they are borne are most amisse and farthest out of frame about that time And verily great care must be had of a woman with child all the time she goeth therewith both in her gate and in euery thing else that can be named for if women feed vpon ouer-salt and poudered meat they wil bring forth a child without nailes and if they hold not their wind in their labor longer it will be ere they be deliuered and with more difficultie Much yawning in the time of trauell is a deadly signe like as to sneese presently vpon conception threatneth abortion or a slip CHAP. VII ¶ Of the conception and generation of
That which is ingendred and brought forth is as it were some little mites of blackish â—…esh which they call Tadpoles or Polwigs shewing no good form but that they haue some shew of eies only and a taile Some few daies after their feet are framed then parts their taile in twain which serueth for their feet behind And a strange thing it is of them after they haue liued some 6 months they resolue into a slime or mud no man seeth how afterward with the first rains in the Spring returne again to their former state as they were first shapen no man knows after what sort by a secret and vnknown way incomprehensible notwithstanding it fals out ordinarily so euery yere As for the Limpins Muskles and Scallops they breed of themselues in the mud and sands of the sea Those which are of an harder coat as the Pourcelanes and Purples of a certain viscous and slimy substance like a muscilage As for that little fry resembling small gnats and flies of the sea they come of a certaine putrifaction and sowernesse of the water as the Apuae which are the groundlings and Smies of the some of the sea set in an heat chafed after some good shewer They that are couered with a stony shell as Oisters breed of the rotten and putrified slime mud of the sea or of the some that hath stood long about ships or stakes and posts set fast in the water and especially if they bee of Holme wood Howbeit it hath bin found of late in Oister pits that there passeth from them in stead of Sperm a certain whitish humor like milk As for Yeels they rub themselues against rocks and stones and those scrapings as it were which are fretted from them in time come to take life and proue snigs and no other generation haue they Fishes of diuers kinds engender not one with another vnlesse it be the Skate and the Raifish and of them there commeth a fish which in the forepart resembleth a Ray in Greek hath a name compounded of both Rhinobatos Other fishes there be that breed indifferently on land and sea according to the warme season of the yeare In Spring time Scallops Snailes and Horsleeches do engender and by the same warmth quicken and come to life but in Autumne they turn to nothing The Pike Sardane breed twice a yere like as al stone fish the Barbels thrice as also a kind of Turbit called Chalcis i. the Shad the Carp 6 times the Scorpenes and Sargi twice namely in Spring and Autumne Of flat broad Fishes the Skate only twice in the yere to wit in Autumne and at the setting or occultation of the star Vergiliae The greatest number of Fishes ingender for 3 moneths April May Iune The Cods or Stockfishes in Autumne The Sargi Crampfishes Squali about the equinoctiall Soft skinned Fishes in the spring and the Cuttel in euery month The spawn of this Fish which hangeth together like a cluster of grapes by the means of a certaine blacke glew or viscositie like inke the Milter doth blow and breath vpon before it can bee good for otherwise it commeth to no proofe The Pour-cuttles engender in Winter and in the Spring and then bring forth a spawne crisped and curled as it were like the wreathing branches and tendrils of a vine branch and that in such plenty that when they are killed they are not able to receiue and containe the multitude of their egs in the concauitie or ventricle of their head and belly which they bare when they were great They hatch them in fifty daies but many of them proue addle and neuer come to good there is such a number of them The Lobsters and the rest with thin shels lay egge after egge and sit vpon them in that manner The female Pourcuttle one while sitteth ouer her egs another while she couereth the cranie or gutter where she hath laid them with her clawes and arms enfolded crosse one ouer another lattise wise The Cuttle laieth also vpon the dry land among the reeds or els wheresoeuer she can find any sea-weeds or reits to grow by the 15 day hatcheth The Calamaries lay egs in the deep which hang close and thick together as the Cuttles do The Purples Burrets and such like do lay in the Spring The sea Vrchins are with egge euery full moone in the winter time and the winkles or cocles are bred in the winter likewise The Crampfish is found to haue 80 young at once within her and hatcheth her tender and soft egs within her bodie shifting them from one place of the wombe to another In like manner do all they which are called Cartilagineus or gristly By which it commeth to passe that fish alone both conceiue with egge and yet bring forth a liuing creature The male sheath-fish or riuer whale Silurus of al others only is so kind as to keep and looke to the egs of the female after they be laid many times for fifty daies after for feare they should be deuoured of others Other females hatch in three daies if the male touch them The Horne-beaks or Needle-fishes Belonae are the only fishes which haue within them so great egs that their wombe cleaueth and openeth when they should lay them but after that they be discharged of them it groweth together and vniteth againe A thing vsuall as they say in Blind-wormes The fish called Mus-Marinus diggeth a gutter or ditch within the ground and there laieth her egs and the same she couereth ouer with earth and so lets them alone for 30 daies then she commeth and openeth the place again findeth her egs hatched and leadeth her little ones to the water CHAP. LII ¶ Of fishes wombes THe shel-fishes Erythini Chanae haue their wombs or matrices As for that fish which in Greeke is called Trochos i. the top is thought to get it selfe with yong The frie of all water creatures at the first see not CHAP. LIII Of the exceeding long life of fishes IT is not long since that we heard of one fishes memorable example which proued the long life of fishes There is a faire house of retreat and pleasure called Pausilupum in Campaine not far from Naples where as Anneus Seneca writeth there died a fish in the fish-pooles of Caesar 60 yeres after that it had bin put in by Pollio Vedius and there remained two more of that age and of the same kind which liued still And since wee are come to make mention of fish-ponds me thinks I should do well to write somwhat more thereof before I giue ouer this discourse of fishes and water creatures CHAP. LIV. ¶ Of Oyster pits and who first deuised them THe first that inuented stewes and pits to keep oysters in was Sergius Orata who made such about his house in Baianum in the daies of L. Crassus that famous oratour before the Marsians war And this the man did not for his belly and to maintain gourmandise but
see it stain vessels of brasse yea they wil becom black againe and lose their brightnesse if they be touched therewith No maruell then if the venome and poison of serpents proceed from the Gall. They that vse to feed of worme-wood growing in Pontus commonly haue no gall Rauens Quailes and Feasants haue their gall ioining to their kidnies or rather to their guts of one side and no more and some to the guts only as Pigeons Haukes and Lampreies Few birds there be that haue gall in the Liuer As for Serpents and Fishes they haue the greatest gals of all others for the proportion of their bodies Most of them haue their gall along their guts throughout in manner of the Hauke and the Kite Moreouer in all Whale fishes their gall is fastened to the liuer and so we see it lieth in the Seales whose Gall is singular good for many purposes Oxe Gall in limming giueth a golden colour The Soothsaiers haue dedicated it to Neptune the mighty power of water Augustus the Emperor found two Galls in a beast that he killed for sacrifice vpon that very day whereon he obtained that famous victorie at Actium Some say that the lobes or fibres in the smal Liuers of certaine Mice and Rats are commonly found to be as many as the Moone is daies old in euery moneth and looke how many daies you reckon of her light so many may you count the fibres aforesaid Also that their liuer groweth at mid-winter when daies be at shortest In the kingdomes of Grenada and Andalusia in Spaine Connies are many times found with double Liuers The land Frogs of Toads kind haue one lop or lappet of the liuer which Ants will not touch because of the poison therein as is supposed Liuer of all things may be kept and preserued longest and we reade in chronicles that there haue bin found in some cities long besieged Liuers in salt or pouder which had continued a 100 yeres Serpents and Lizards haue long Liuers In that sacrifice which Caesina Volaterranus killed Dragons were seen to issue from among the Entrails and the Liuer and this turned to be a lucky presage And verily why should wee think this report or any other in sacrifices to be incredible considering that vpon the very day that K. Pyrrhus was slain the heads of the beasts being slain for sacrifice notwithstanding they were cut off from the bodies moued forward vpon the ground and licked vp their owne bloud The vpmost inwards of a man to wit the Heart and Lungs are diuided from the other entrails beneath by certain pellicles or rims of the Midriffe which the Latines call Proecordia because they are drawne and set before the Heart as a defence and the Greeks Phrenes true it is that Nature in great prouidence hath inclosed all the noble and principal parts within seuerall skins and coats of their owne which might serue in stead of sheathes and cases for their better defence but in this partition of the Midriffe shee had a more particular regard to the propinquitie of the Stomack and Belly lest that the vitall parts being so neare should be oppressed and suffocated with the streams and vapors of the meat therin boiling To this parr are we beholden for our quick wit this membrane of the Midriffe we may thank for our ready conceit and vnderstanding to which effect charged it is with no flesh but composed of fine subtile sinews The same likewise is the very especiall seat of mirth as we may perceiue euidently by tickling vnder our armeholes vnto which it reacheth and as in no place of mans body the skin is more fine and tender so it taketh as great pleasure to be tickled and lightly scratched there And herupon it is that in solemne combats of sword-fencers at vtterance with the sharp as also in field battels we haue many a time seen men wounded and thrust through the Midriffe to die laughing To proceed in our Anatomy all creatures hauing a Stomack or Read are not without a belly vnder it As many as chew cud haue the same double or two fold the rest one and no more and looke who want bloud are without it also For some there be that haue one entire gut that beginneth at the mouth and by a certaine way redoubleth and returneth backe againe thither and namely the Cuttill and the Polype In man it is annexed to the bottome of the Stomack like as in a Dog And in these twaine onely narrower it is in the lower part which is the cause that none but they do vomit for when their bellies be full the streight passage beneath keepes the meat from descending and so it returneth vpward which cannot happen to them that haue it wide and large whereby the meat is sooner sent downe into the guts beneath Next to the bag of the Stomack men and sheep haue the small guts called Lactes through which the meat passeth in others it is named I le Next vnto which are the greater guts that reach into the Paunch and in man they are full of windings and turnings which is the reason that as many as haue a great space between the Stomacke and the Paunch are more hungry and greedy of meat than others And those who haue the fattest and most greasiest bellies most commonly are the grossest of capacity and vnderstanding Some fouls likewise haue a two-fold receptacle for their meat the one is the gizzer craw or gorge wherein they bestow at the first their meat when they take it new the other is the true stomacke indeed into which they send out of the former the victuals already altered prepared and in good forwardnes of concoction And such be Hens and Pullein Coists or Stock-doues House-doues or Pigeons and Partridges All the rest in manner want the said gizzer but in stead thereof haue a wider gorge where-through the meat passeth into the stomack as Choughes Rauens and Crowes Some againe there bee that haue neither one nor other but be far different from the rest and these haue their bellie hard to their gorge and especially such as haue long neckes and narrow as the bird Porphyrio The paunch or bellie of those beasts which are whole houfed is hard and rough And in land beasts it is in some thicke toothed and set full of sharp pricks in others it is framed rugged likewise plaited crosse in manner of lattice readie to catch and bite whatsoeuer Those which haue not teeth in both chawes nor yet chew cud do in this bellie concoct and digest their victuals and out of it they send the meat into the paunch where the guts lie This member in the mids is in all creatures fastened to the nauill and in man it is like vnto that of a swine hauing toward the neather part a great gut named Colon and this is it which giues occasion to the intollerable paine of the colique This Gut in dogs is very streight and narrow whereupon they haue
Masticke which is engendred in Pontus and is like to Bitumen and therto adde the root of Iris or the floure de luce and oile For this is found by experience That if the vessells be sered with wax the wines therin will not hold but turne soure quickly Moreouer we daily see that better it is to put vp wine into those vessels wherin vinegre hath been kept afore than into such as had dulcet or honied wine Cato sets downe a receit to trim and concinnate wine for that is the very tearme which he vses in this manner Take of lie ashes sodden with cuit boiled to the halfe one fortieth part temper it with a pound and a half of penniroyall or salt and otherwhiles with marble braied beaten into pouder among He makes mention also of brimstone but rosin he names with the last But aboue al he wills to refresh and renue the wine when it now begins to come to maturity and perfection with new wine which he calls Tortivum and I take it that he means that which ran last out of the wine-presse which he prescribeth also to be put vnto new wines for to get them a fresher color as the very tincture of wine and so it wil be also of a more fattie substance and goe down more glib and merrily See see how many deuises of medicines and slibber sauces the poore wine is forced to endure and all to please our pallat our eye and other sences and yet ywis we marueâ—… that it is so hurtfull to our bodies Well would you haue an experiment to know when wine is going or enclining to be dead and soure dip therein a thin plate of lead if it change color take it for a signe that it is in the way of decaying Of all liquors wine hath this propertie to vinew to pal into change in vinegre But a thousand medicines it doth affoord and books of Physick are full thereof Moreouer wine lees being dried will serue as a match to keep fire and without any other fewell to feed it ye shall haue it burne and flame of it selfe The ashes thereof is of the nature of Nitre and hath the same vertues and in this regard somewhat more for that it is found to be more fattie and vnctuous CHAP. XXI ¶ Of wine-cellars NOw when wine is made and tunned vp in maner aforesaid there is as great difference and diuersitie in the bestowing of it in cellars They of Piemont about the Alpes doe put vp their wines in woodden barrels bound well with hoopes for warmth and moreouer if the winter be very cold they make fires in their cellars or butteries to keep them for being frozen I will tell you a strange wonder yet true and to be verified not by hearesay but plain eiesight There were seen vpon a time whole heaps huge lumps of wine congealed into ice by occasion that the hoopes of the hogsheads burst that contained the wine and this was held for a prodigious token For indeed wine of it owne nature will not congeale and freeze only it will lose the strength and become apalled in extremitie of cold In warmer climats and more temperat they fil their wines into great stands and steanes of earth which they set into the ground either ouer the head all whole or else by halfe deeper or shallower according to the situation temperature of the region Likewise they giue the wine open aire in some places whereas in other they keep it close within house in tauernes and cellars And thereto belong these and such like rules First that one side of the wine-cellar or at leastwise the windows ought to stand open to the North or to the East in any wise where the Sunne riseth at the time of the Aequinoctiall Item that there be no muckhils nor priuies neer no roots of trees nor any thing of a strong and stinking sauor for that wine is of this nature to draw any smell very quickly into it and aboue all Fig trees as well the wild as the tame be hurtfull to wine-cellars Item as touching the order of placing the wine-vessels they ought to stand a pretty distance one from another for fear of contagion for that wine is alwaies most apt to catch infection very soon Moreouer it matters much of what proportion and fashion the pipes tubs and such vessels be made Those with great bellies and wide mouths are not so good Also they must be nealed with pitch presently vpon the rising of the dog-star afterwards doused and washed all ouer either in the sea or else salt water then to bee seasoned and strewed with vine ashes or cley and being scoured they ought to sweeten them with a perfume of Myrrhe which were good to be done also to the very cellars oftentimes Furthermore if the wines be weak and smal they had need to be kept in tubs and hogsheads let downe within the ground but the strong and mighty wines may lie aboue ground in the open aire Prouided alway that wine vessels be neuer filled top full but the void part that is left and stands aboue the wine would be thoroughly dightwith thicke wine made of withered grapes or sodden wine to the halfe and saffron mingled withall yea and old pitch together with cuit Thus also ought the lids and bungs of the vessels to be ordered with an addition besides of mastick and pitch In the deep of Winter they must not be vnstopped and opened in any case vnlesse the weather be faire and cleare Neither when the wind is Southerly or the Moon in the full This also is to be noted that the floure or mantle which the wine casts vp to the top is good when it is white if it be red it is a very bad signe vnlesse the wine it selfe be of that color Moreouer if the vessels be hote or the lids do sweat it is no good signe Note also that the wine which soone begins to mantle and cast vp a floure incontinently or to veeld another smell than the own wil not continue long good As for the cuits whether they be sodden to the half or the thirds they ought to be boiled made when the skie is without a Moon that is to say in the change and vpon no day else Moreouer the decoction must be in leads and not in coppers with walnuts among to receiue al the smoke which otherwise might infect the cuit In Campaine they let their best wines lie abroad in vessells euen in the open aire to take the Sun the Moone raine and wind and all weathers that come and this is thought to bee best for them CHAP. XXII ¶ Of auoiding Drunkennesse IF a man marke and consider well the course of our life we are in nothing more busie and curious nor take greater paines than about wine as if Nature had not giuen to man the liquor of water which of all others is the most wholsom drink and wherwith all other creatures are wel contented But
bone which is the very heart and best of the wood All trees whereof the wood is ouer dry beare fruit but each other yeare or at leastwise more in one yere than another as namely the Oliue tree a thing obserued more in them than in those that haue a pulpous and fleshie substance as the Cherry tree Neither are all trees indifferently furnished with store of the said fat or flesh no more than the most fierce and furious beasts As for the Box Cornel and Oliue trees they haue neither the one nor the other ne yet any marow at all and but very little bloud Semblably the Servis tree hath no heart the Alder no carnositie and yet both of them are stored wel enough with marow which is their pith no more than canes or reeds for the most part In the fleshy substance or wood of some trees there are to be found graine and veine both And easie it is to distinguish the one from the other for commonly the veins be larger and whiter contrariwise the grain which the Latines cal Pulpa runneth streit and direct in length and is to be found ordinarily in trees that wil easily cleaue And hereupon it commeth that if a man lay his eare close to one end of a beame or piece of timber he shall heare the knocke or pricke that is made but with a pen-knife at the other end be the piece neuer so long by reason that the sound goeth along the stieit grain of the wood By this means also a man shall find when the timber doth twine and whether it run not euen but be interrupted with knots in the way Some trees there be that haue certain hard bunches bearing out and swelling like to kernels in the flesh of a Swines necke and these knobs or callosities haue not in them long grain and broad veine as is aboue said but only a brawny flesh as it were rolled round together And to say a truth when such knurres and callosities as these be are found either in Citron or Maple trees men make great account of them and set no small store by that wood All other sorts of Tables when the trees are clouen or sawne into plankes are brought into a round compasse with the grain for otherwise if it were slit ouerthwart to make them round against the grain it would soon breake out As touching the Beech the graine of it runneth crosse two contrary wayes like combe teeth but in old time the vessels made of that wood were highly esteemed As for example Manius Curius hauing subdued his enemies protested and bound it with an oath That of all the booty and pillage taken from them hee had not reserued any thing for himselfe but onely a cruet or little Ewer of Beech wood wherein he might sacrifice vnto the gods There is no wood but floteth aloft the water and waueth in length like as that part which is next to the root is far more weighty setleth faster downe and sinketh Some wood hath no veins at all but consisteth only of a meere grain streight and small in maner of threds such commonly is easie to be clouen There is again wood that hath no such direct graine and that will sooner breake out than cleaue and of this nature is the Oliue and Vine-wood Contrariwise the whole body and wooddy substance of the Figge tree is nothing but flesh The Mastholme Cornel Oke Tretrifolie Mulberry Ebeny and Lotus which haue no pith and marrow with in as is beforesaid are all heart All wood for the most part turneth to a blackish colour The Cornel tree is of a deep yellow wherof are made the faire Bore-speare staues which shine again and be studded as it were with knots and chamfered betweene both for decencie and handsomnesse The Cedar Larch and Iuniper wood is red CHAP. XXXIX ¶ Of the Larch tree the Firre and the Sapine the manner of cutting or falling such like trees THere is a female Larch tree which the Greeks call Aegis the wood whereof is of a pleasant colour like to hony Painters haue found by experience that it is excellent good for their tables both for that it is so euen and smooth not apt besides to chink and cleaue as also because it will endure and last for euer And that part they chuse which is the very heart of it and next the pith which in the Fir tree the Greekes call Leuson In like sort the heart of the Cedar is hardest which lieth â—…xt to the pith or marrow aboue named much after the maner of bones in the bodies of liuing creatures when the muddy carnositie is scraped off and taken away The inward part also of the Elder by report is wondrous hard tough and they that make thereof staues for Bore-speares prefer it before any wood whatsoeuer For it standeth only vpon skin and bone that is to say of the rind and heart As touching the falling and cutting downe of trees to serue either in temples or for other vses round and entire as they grow without any squaring as also for to barke them the onely time and season is when the sap runs and that they begin to bud forth otherwise you shal neuer be able to get off their bark for bark them not they wil rot and become worm-eaten vnder the said barke and the timber withall wax duskish and blacke As for the other timber that is squared with the axe and by that means rid from the barke it would be fallen or cut downe between mid-winter and the time that the wind Favonius bloweth or if we be forced to vse the timber before and to preuent that time trees may be fallen at the setting of the star Arcturus or of the Harp-star before it Finally the vtmost and last time thereof is at the summer Sunnested But forasmuch as most men be ignorant of these seasons and know not when these starres aboue named do either rise or fall I will hereafter shew the reason both of the one and other in place conuenient For this present as touching the time of felling trees the common sort make no more scruple but thinke it sufficient to obserue that no trees which are to be hewne square for carpenters work be cast down and laid along before they haue borne their fruit As for the hard and sauage Oke if it be felled in the spring it will be subiect to the Worme but cut it down in mid-winter it will neither warp ne yet cleaue and chink being otherwise subiect vnto both namely as well to cast and twine as to rift and gape a thing incident to the Cork wood be it cut down in as good a season as is possible Moreouer it passeth to see how much the age of the Moon auaileth in this case for it is commonly thought that timber would not be fallen but in the wain and namely in the last quarter from the 20 day of the Moon till the thirtieth And this is generally receiued among
all good workmen That the best time to cut downe any timber is in the coniunction of the Moon with the Sun euen in the very day of the change before she sheweth new Certes Tiberius Caesar the Emperor gaue order to fel the Larch trees that came out of Rhoetia to repaire and re-edifie the bridge that serued to represent the shew of a naual battell vpon the water which fortuned to be consumed with fire iust at the change of the Moon Some say that we must precisely obserue the point of the conjunction and that the Moon withall be vnder the earth when such trees should be felled which cannot be but in the night But if it fall out besides that this conjunction or change of the Moone and the last day of the Winter Sun-stead meet together at one instant the timber then cut downe will last a world of yeares Next vnto it is that timber which is fallen in the daies and signes aboue rehearsed Others affirme moreouer that the rising of the Dog-star would be considered and chosen for this purpose for at such a time was that timber felled which serued for the stately hall or pallace of Augustus Moreouer for to haue good and profitable timber the trees would be cut down that are of a middle age for neither yong poles nor old runts are fit for durable building Furthermore there be that hold opinion that for to haue the better timber the trees should haue a kerfe to the very heart and pith round about and so let it stand an end still that all the humor by that means might run out before they be ouerthrowne and laid along And verily a wonderfull and miraculous thing is reported in old time during the first Punicke war against the Carthaginians namely that all the ships of that fleet which was conducted by Generall Duellius the high Admiral were shot into the sea and vnder saile within sixty daies after the timber whereof they were built was cut downe in the wood And L. Piso hath left in writing That against king Hiero there were 220 ships made furnished in 45 daies after the timber grew Also in the second Punick war the Armado which Scipio imploied was set aflote and bare saile forty daies after the fall of the timber See how forcible and effectuall in all things is the season and opportunitie of time duly taken especially when need driueth to make speed and hasten apace Cato the chiefe and only man of all others for experience and knowledge in euery thing in his treatise of all kind of timber to be imploied in building giues these rules following Make thy pressing plank especially of the black Sapine or Horn-beam tree Item Whensoeuer thou meanest to storke vp either Elme Pine Walnut tree or any other whatsoeuer for timber see thou dig it out of the ground in the wane of the Moon and that in the afternoon and take heed in any wise that the wind be not South Item The right season to fell a tree for timber is when the fruit is ful ripe Item Beware in any case that thou neither draw forth of the ground nor yet square a tree when the dew falleth And a little after Beware thou meddle not with timber trees but either at the change or full of the Moon And in no hand neither stork it vp then nor hew it hard to the ground But within foure daies after the full Moone plucke vp trees hardly for that is the best time Item Be well aduised that thou neither fell square nor touch with the ax any timber that is black vnlesse it be dry And meddle not with it if either it be frozen or full of dew Tiberius the Emperor aboue named obserued likewise the change of the Moon for cutting the haire both of head and beard And yet M. Varro gaue a rule That to preuent baldnesse and the shedding of haire the Barber should be sent for alwaies after the full Moon But to come again vnto our timber trees The Larch and Fir both but the Fir especially if they be cut down bleed a long time after and yeeld abundance of moisture Indeed these twain of all others be the tallest and grow most streight and vpright For Mast-poles and crosse saile-yards in ships the Fir or Deale is commended and preferred before all other for the smoothnes and lightnesse withall The Larch the Fir and the Pine haue this propertie common to them all To shew the graine of their wood running either parted in foure forked in twaine or single one by one For fine carpentry and Ioiners seeling within house the heart of the tree would be clouen or rent The quarter timber or that which runneth with foure grains is simply the best and more pleasant to be wrought than the rest They that be skilfull woodmen and haue experience in timber wil soon find at the first sight the goodnes of the wood by the very bark That part of the Fir tree which groweth next to the earth is without knots euen and plain the same is laid to soke and season in the water and afterwards the barke is taken off and so it commeth to be called Sapinus The vpper part is knotty and harder than the nether and the Latins name it Fusterna In sum what tree soeuer it be that side which regardeth the North is more strong and hard than the other And generally the wood of those trees that grow in moist and shadie places is worse contrariwise that which commeth from ground exposed to the Sun-shine is more fast and massie and withall endureth a long time And herupon it is that at Rome the Fir trees that come from the nether sea side out of Tuscane be in better request than those from Venice side vpon the coast of the vpper sea Moreouer there is great ods between Firre trees in regard of diuers Countries and Nations where they grow The best are those of the Alps and the Apennine hills Likewise in France there are excellent good Firs vpon the mountains Iura and Vogesus as also in Corsica Bithinia Pontus and Macedonia A worse kind of them grow in Arcadia and about the mountaines neare Aenea The worst be those of Pernassus Euboea for in those parts they be ful of boughs and grow twined besides they soone doe putrifie and rot As for Cedars the best simply be those that grow in Candy Affricke and Syria This vertue hath the oile of Cedar That if any wood or timber be thoroughly anointed therewith it is subject neither to worme nor moth ne yet to rottennesse The Iuniper hath the same propertie that the Cedar They proue in Spaine to be exceeding big and huge the Berries also greatest of all others And wheresoeuer it grows the heart thereof is more sound than the Cedar A generall fault and imperfection there is common to all wood When the graine and the knots run into round balls and such they call in Latin Spirae Also in some kind
meet for by reason of the foresaid bonds they need not feare the gaping of it too wide Some stocks there be that the very same day that they be graffed in the nource-garden are without any harme remooued to the place where they must grow If the stocke wherein you graffe be big and round the best way is to set the sion between the barke and the wood therof and to diuide the one from the other with a wedge of bone least in enlarging of the barke it channce to breake In graffing of a Cherry tree stocke the ouer rind or barke would be taken away before the clift be made Now these trees alone of all others may be graffed very well presently after mid-winter When the said rind is gone you shall see therein a certain down that if it chance to clasp about the graft it rots the same incontinently But to return again to our worke of graffing After the wedge is taken forth whole and sound at the point which is a token that no spill remaines within you may be bold to bind the head of the stocke all about Yet this would be considered by the way which I had like to haue forgotten that the best handsomest graffing is as neer the ground as may be in case the knots wil giue leaue and the stock beare it also that the grafts would not conueniently stand without the stock aboue six fingers breadth Now when al is done and sure work made as hath been said Cato willeth vs to take cley or the sandie grit of chalk mixed together with oxe or cow shearn to worke and temper all these together in maner of a tough past or cataplasme and then to lay the same within the clift round about to daube all And verily by this and other such rules which he hath left in writing it appears plainly that in those daies the manner was to graffe betweene the barke and the tree and not otherwise as also to set the sions in the stocke not aboue two fingers deepe As for Apple trees and Pyrries he prescribeth that they should be graffed in the Spring also 50 daies after the summer Sun-stead and again after vintage but Oliues and Fig-trees in the Spring only obseruing the age and disposition of the Moon when she is in the wane and thirstie that is to say drie moreouer after noonetide and when no Southern wind doth blow And I cannot chuse but wonder much at the curiositie and double diligence of Cato who not content to haue defended the graft with clay or past aforesaid yea and to preserue it with turfe and mosse against the injurie of rain and cold to haue bound it about also with little knitches of soft osier twigs sliued in twaine must giue charge besides to couer it with Oxe-tongue a kind of herb there is so called i. Buglosse and yet hee hath not done but the same must be bound with wispes and wreaths of straw and litter aloft Now adaies men make no more adoe but thinke it sufficient to stop and close vp barke and al with earth or cley and chaffe tempered together thinking it sufficient the graft beare out two fingers breadth aboue They that wait vpon the Spring season for to graffe are many times driuen to their shifts for want of time by reason that all trees make hast then to bud and do break out of a sudden vnlesse it be the Oliue the oilets or eies wherof be longest while in comming forth as hauing least sap of all other running vnder the barke the which if it were ouermuch would stifle and choke the grafts As for the Pomegranat and Fig tree howsoeuer otherwise they seem to be dry yet good it is not to defer and put off the graffing of them The Peare tree may well enough be graffed with the blossom on the head and it makes no matter if a man do stay and graffe it within the moneth of May. To be short if a man be constrained to fetch his sions or imps of Apple trees and such like far off it is thought that they will keepe their sap best if they be stuck or set fast in a Rape root Also if one would preserue them a certain time before they should be occupied it is passing good to lay them close betweene two erest tiles well stopped on euery side with earth and that neere to some riuers or fish-ponds CHAP. XV. ¶ The manner how to graffe a Vine tree AS for the cuttings or sets of vines they may be kept wel a long time couered all ouer with straw or litter in dry ditches and afterwards they are to be laid within the earth all hilled or couered saue only that their heads be seen aboue ground Cato graffeth a vine stock three maner of waies First he willeth that the mother stock should be cut ouerthwart then clouen through the very pith or heart in the mids wherin he would haue the yong imps thwitted and sharpened as is beforesaid to be set and ingraffed so as the marrow of the one and the other may ioyne and meet iust together The second maner is when two vine stockes doe reach one to the other for to cut byas or aslaunt after the manner of a goats foot two twigs or branches of either one with this regard that these cuts be of a contrarie side the one vnto the other and withall so deep as that they come vnto the pith or heart then to fit one to the other ioyning pith to pith and then binding them fast together so close that no aire may enter between vntill such time as the one hath adopted the other The third deuise is to bore holes in an old vine not directly but aslope as far as to the pith and then to put into them yong imps 2 foot long and to bind them fast which done to make a certaine batter or morter with clay beasts dung and sand together and therewith to dawbe the place but with this regard that the graft stand halfe vpright or somwhat leaning This manner of graffing hath bin checked and corrected of late daies by our countrymen who leauing the hand-piercer haue taken the French Vibrequin or brest-wimble which gently and quickely boreth a hole and hurteth not the wood for all chasing heate caused by the said piercer dulleth the vigor both of stock and imp Also they haue deuised that the said imp to be ingraffed be gathered from the tree when it begins to bud or burgen and when it is set into the stocke that it be left standing out with no more than two eies or buds out of the graffing place that it be well bound also with the winding rods of an Elme moreouer that on either side of it the mother stock be slit or cut in two places on both sides to the end that from thence rather than otherwise the waterish humour may distill and drop forth which of all things hurteth vines most After all this they would haue the said
he contained in long and flat according to the forme and figure of the seed which they hold Pease by themselues haue a long round cod in forme of a Cylinder The Pulse called Phasâ—…oli i. Kidney Beans vse to be eaten cod and al together These may be set or sowne in what ground you list from the Ides of October to the Calends of Nouember Finally all kinds of Pulse so soone as they begin to ripen are to be gathered or plucked hastily for stay neuer so little they leape out of their cods and shed and being once fallen they lie hidden in the ground like as the Lupine also CHAP. XIII ¶ Of Rapes or Neuewes of Amiternium Turneps NOw let vs proceed and passe to other matters and yet in this discourse it were meet to write somwhat as touching Rapes or Nauews The Latin writers our countreymen haue slightly passed by and touched them only by the way The Greeks haue treated of them somwhat more diligently and yet among pot-hearbes and worts growing in gardens whereas indeed according to good order they would be spoken of immediatly after Corne or Beanes at least wise considering there is not a plant of more or better vse than is the Rape or Nauew First and formost they grow not only for beasts of the earth and the Foules of the aire but also for men For all kinds of Pullen about a Farme-house in the countrey doe feed vpon the feed thereof as much as of any thing else especially if they be boiled first in water As for four-footed beasts they eat the leaues thereof with great delight and wax fat therewith Last of al men also take as great pleasure and delight in eating the leaues and heads of Rapes or Nauewes in their season as they do of young Coly-flories Cabbages or any tender crops of hearbs whatsoeuer yea when they are faded flaggie and dead in the Barn they are esteemed better than being fresh and green As for Rapes or Nauewes they will keep long and last al Winter both within the ground where they grew and being well wintered they will continue afterwards out of the earth lying abroad euen almost till new come so as they yeeld men great comfort to withstand hunger and famin In Piemont Lombardie those countries beyond the Po the people make the most account of gaine by gathering Rapes next to wine vintage and corne haruest It is not choise and daintie of the ground where it will grow for lightly it wil prosper where nothing els can be sowed In foggy mists hard frosts and other cold weather it thriues passing wel and grows to a wonderfull bignes I haue seene one of their roots weigh aboue fortie pounds As touching the handling and dressing of them for our table there be many waies and deuises to commend and set them out Preserued they may be till new come specially condite with sharp and biting Senuie or Mustard seed Moreouer our Cooks know how to giue them six other colours besides their owne which is pure and naturall they haue the cast to set euen a purple hew vpon them And to say a truth there is no kind of viands besides that being thus painted colored hath the like grace The Greeke writers haue diuided them by the sexe and therby made two principal kinds therof to wit the male and the female Nay more than that out of one and the same seed according as it is sowed they can make male or female whether they please For if they sow thicke and chuse therto a hard and churlish ground it will proue of the male kind Also the smaller that the seed is the better it is esteemed But of al Rapes male or female three especiall sorts there be no more For some roots spread flat and broad others are knit round like a ball the third sort that runs downe into the ground with a long root in manner of a Raddish they cal the wild Rape or Nauew this bears a rough lease and ful of angles or corners the juice that it yeelds is sharp hote and biting which being gathered in haruest time reserued mundisieth the eies and cleareth the sight especially being tempered with brest-milke If the weather be cold they are thought not only to thriue in bignesse of the root but also to prooue the sweeter whereas contrariwise in a warm season they run vp all to stalke and leafe The best simply are those that grow in the Nursine territory For they are sold by the weight and euery pound is worth a Roman Sesterce yea and otherwhiles twaine if there be any scarcity of them Next to these in goodnes be those that come out of Algidum Thus much of Rapes Navews As for the Turneps of Amiternum they be in a manner of the same nature that the Rapes aforesaid cold they loue as well Sown they are before the Calends of March foure quarts of their seed will take vp a whole acre of ground The best Husbandmen and such as are more exquisite in their practise of Agriculture giue order That the ground for Turneps should haue fiue tilthes whereas Rapes or Nauewes are content with foure but both the one and the other had need of a soile well inriched with dung or compost By their sayings also Rapes will prosper the better and come vp thicker if they be sowed in their huls chaffe and all together Moreouer they would haue the seeds-man to be naked when he sowes them and in sowing to protest that this which he doth is for himselfe and his neighbors and withall to pray as he goeth The proper season for the seednesse of them both is between the feasts of the two gods to wit Neptune and Vulcan To conclude there is a subtill and curious obseruation that many go by and do hold namely this To marke how many daies old the Moon was when the first snow sel the winter next before for if a man do sow Rapes or Turneps within the foresaid compasse of that time the moon being so many daies old they will come to be wondrous great and increase exceedingly Men vse to sow them also in the Spring but then they make choise of moist and hot grounds CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of Lupines AFter Rapes and Turneps the Lupines haue greatest vse and serue to be raunged next for that they indifferently serue both men and also all foure footed beasts that be houfed either whole or clouen Now for that the stalke is very shittle in mowing and therefore flyeth from the edge of the syth the onely remedie therefore that the mower may catch it is to goe to worke presently after a good shower And verily there is not a plant growing vpon the earth I meane of such as are sowne of seed more admirable than the Lupine in regard of the great amity and sympathie betweene the earth and it Looke how the Sun keepeth his course in our Horizon aboue so doth it turne and go withall insomuch as the
day before the Calends of Ianuary The Spring Aequinox when nights and daies be of a length in the eight degree of Aries Semblably the summer Sunstead or longest day of the yeare is alwaies when the Sun is entred eight degrees into Cancer Last of all the other Aequinox in Autumne when day and night is equall lighteth vpon the eight degree of Libra And certes seldom or neuer shall you see any of these foure daies without euident shew of some notable change in the weather Again these cardinall seasons or quarters of the yeare admit also their sub-diuisions still into some notable and special times obserued in the very middle space from the one and the other For betweene the summer Sunstead and the Aequinox in Autumne iust vpon the fiue and forty day after the same Sunstead the retrait or setting of the star called in Latine Fidicula i. the Harp beginneth the Autumne Likewise betweene that Aequinox and the winter Sunstead or shortest day of the yeare the Matutine or morning fall of the star Virgiliae vpon the three and fortieth day after the said Aequinox setteth the beginning of the winter So likewise vpon the fiue and fortieth day between mid-winter or the shortest day of the yeare and the spring Aequinox the blowing of the Western wind Favonius beginneth the Spring And last of all vpon the three and fortieth day from the sayd Aequinox toward the Summer Sunstead at what time as the star Virgiliae doth rise Matutine begins the Summer But to returne again to our Agriculture begin I will at the Seednes of Frument corne that is to say at the rising or apparition of the starre Vergiliae in the morning without making any mention at all of other pety stars for to interrupt the train and course of our treatise to heap difficulties one vpon another considering that the fierce and vehement star Orion is departed a great way off from vs by that time I am not ignorant that many fall to sowing corne long before and preuent this time beginning their Seednes within 11 daies after the Aequinox in Autumne namely at the approch and rising of the star Corona i. the Crowne promising themselues assuredly to haue rain vpon it for certain daies together Xenophon would not haue vs begin to sow before that God giue vs some good signe and token so to do And Cicero our countryman expounding this saying of Xenophon taketh the raines in Nouember to be that signe which God giueth whereas in very deed the true and vndoubted rule to goe by is to make no great hast into the field for to sow before the leaues begin to fall and this euery man holdeth to be at the very occultation or retrait of the star Vergiliae Some as we haue before said haue obserued it about 3 daies before the Ides of Nouember And for that the said star is so euident in the heauen and easiest to be known of all others called it is by the name of a garment hanging out at a Brokers shop And therefore by the fall or retrait thereof as many men as haue a care and forecast to preuent the couetous dealing of the merchant-Tailor as commonly such occupiers lie in the wind for gain guesse aforehand what winter will follow for if it be a cloudie season when the star retireth it threatens a rainy winter and then these merchants presently raise the price of the clokes which they sel but if the weather be faire and cleare at the setting or occultation thereof it sheweth a pinching and hard winter toward and then they hold other garments also very deare But this Husbandman of ours who cannot skill at all to looke vp and to learn the order and position of the heauens must spy this signe of winter amongst his briers and brambles he must find I say the time of Seednes as he looketh downe vpon the ground namely when he sees the leaues fallen and lying vnder his feet Thus may a man know the temperature of the climat and the yeare according as he perceiues the leaues be fallen more at one time than another sooner also in some places and later elsewhere For as the season is forward or late as the climate also is affected so are the trees knowne to shed their leaues accordingly And in very truth this is the truest signe of all others And the best thing therein is this that being generall throughout the whole world and yet peculiar to each place it neuer faileth A man might make a wonder hereat if he did not see and remember that vpon the very shortest day in the yere euen in midwinter when the Sun is entred Capricorn the herb Penyroyal vseth of it selfe to floure either set in chaplets or otherwise hanging and sticking in the shambles so willing is Nature to shew vs all her secrets and to keepe nothing hidden from vs. For loe what signes and marks she hath giuen vs wherby we might know the time of sowing corn and verily this is the only true and infallible direction grounded vpon approoued experience and the same shewed first by dame Nature for by this dropping fall of leaues what doth she els teach and counsell vs but to haue our eye vpon the ground and to cast seed into it assuring vs of a certain supply of dung and compost by ouerspreading the ground and cast seed into it that soon will turne into muck what doth she else I say but by couering the earth in this manner with leaues shew how carefull she is to defend it against hard frosts and pinching winds and in one word thereby putteth vs in mind to make the more hast and get our seed vnder mould As for Varro he is of the same opinion for beans also and willeth vs to obserue the said rule in sowing them at the fall of the leafe Others are of this mind that the best sowing thereof is in the full Moone But for Lentils we should attend the last quarter toward the change to wit from the 25 day to the thirtieth Also that Vetches must be sowed at the said age of the Moon for in so doing we shall preserue such pulse from the naked snaile Howbeit some others there be that indeed would haue these kindes of Pulse to be sowed at this time of the yeare and age of the Moon for prouender and forrage to be spent out of hand mary if we would keepe the same for seed then we should take the season of the Spring Besides those rules and tokens aboue specified there is one more which Nature vpon an extraordinarie prouidence ouer vs hath presented vnto our eies after a wonderfull manner which Cicero expresseth in these termes Iam vero semper viridis semperque gravata Lentiscus triplici solit a est grandescere foetu Ter fruges fundens tria tempora monstrat arandi The Mastick tree All times you see Is clad and richly dight With green in cold With fruit three-fold A faire and goodly sight
As she therefore By Natures lore Doth fruit thrice yearely beare So thereby we Know seasons three Our land to duly eare Of which three seasons one is appropriate for the sowing both of Poppy and also of Lineseed But since I haue named Poppy I will tell you what Cato saith as touching the sowing thereof vpon that land quoth he where you mean to sow Poppy burn your winding rods the cuttings also and twigs of vines which remained and were left at the pruning time when you haue burned them sow wild Poppy seed in the place for it is a singular medicine being boiled vp to a syrrup in honey for to cure the maladies incident to the chawes and throat As for the garden Poppy it hath an excellent and effectuall vertue to procure sleep And thus much concerning Winter corne and the Seednes thereof CHAP. XXVI ¶ A summarie or recapitulation of all points of Husbandry and to what out-works in the field a husbandman should be imployed respectiuely to euerie moneth of the yeare BVt now to compasse vnder a certain briefe Abridgement or Breviarie all points of husbandrie together At the same time before named to wit at the falling of the leafe it is good also to lay dung vnto the roots of trees likewise to mold and bank vines and one workeman is sufficient for one acre Also where the nature of the ground will beare it the husbandman shall not do amisse to disbranch and lop his tree-groues to prune his vineyards to hollow the ground of his seminaries and nourse-plots with mattocke and spade and dresse the mould light to open his sluces and trenches for water-course to driue and drain it out of the fields and finally to wash his Wine-presses first and then to shut and lay them vp dry and safe Item after the Calends or first day of Nouember let him set no hens vpon egs vntill the winter Sunstead be past when that time is come and gon set Hens hardly and let them couve 13 egs marie better it were all Summer long to put so many vnder them for in winter fewer will serue howbeit neuer vnder nine Democritus giueth a guesse what Winter we shall haue by the very day of the Winter Sunstead for look what weather is then and for threedaies about it the like winter he supposeth will ensue Semblably for the Summer he goeth by the other Sunstead or longest day of the yeare and yet commonly for a fortnight about the shortest day in the yeare to wit during the time that the fowles Halcyones do lay couve and hatch their egs in the sea the windes lie and the weather is more mild and temperat But as well by these signes as all other whatsoeuer we must guesse the influences and effects of the stars according to the euent within some latitude of time and not so precisely to limit and tie them alwaies to certain daies prefixed as if they were bound to make their appearance peremptorily in court iust then and faile not Moreouer in mid-winter meddle not at all with vines touch them not in any hand but let them alone What then is the husbandman to do Mary then quoth Hyginus after seuen daies be once past from the Sunnestead he is to refine his wines from the lees and let them settle yea and to poure them out of one vessel into another prouided withall that the Moon be a quarter old Also about that season to wit when the Sun is in Capricorn it is not amisse to plant cherrie trees and set their stones then is it good also to giue oxen Mast to feed them and one Modius or pâ—…cke is sufficient to serue a yoke at one refection allow them more at once you glut them and fill them full of diseases but at what time soeuer you make them this allowance vnlesse you hold on thirty daies together folke say they will be scabbed and mangie when the Spring commeth that you will repent for cutting them so short As for felling timber trees this was the proper season which we appointed heretofore All other winter works for an husbandman to be busied in would be done in the night for the most part sit vp he must late and rise betimes by candle light and watch hardly about them for that the nights be so much longer than the daies let him a Gods name find himselfe occupied with making Wicker baskets and hampers winding of hurdles twisting of frailes and paniers let him thwite torch wood taperwise with links and lights and when he hath by day light made ready and prepared thirtie poles or railes for vines to run on and sixty stakes or props to support them hee may in the euening make fiue poles or perches and ten forks or supporters and likewise as many early in the morning before day light But now to come to Caesars reckoning of the times digestion of the coelestial signes these be the notable stars which are significant and do rule that quarter which is between the winter Sunstead and the rising of the Western wind Favonius Vpon the third day saith he before the Calends of Ianuarie which is the 30 day of December the Dog-starre goeth downe in the morning vpon which day in Attica and the whole tract thereto adioyning the star Aquila i. the Aegle setteth by report in the euening and loseth her light The euen before the Nones of Ianuarie i. the fourth day thereof by Caesars account I mean for the meridian of Italy the Dolphin star riseth in the morning and the morrow after the Harp-star Fidicula vpon which day in Aegypt the star Sagitta i. the Arrow setteth in the euening Item from that time to the sixt day before the Ides of Ianuarie i. the eighth day of that moneth when as the same Dolphin goeth down or retireth out of sight in the euening vsually we haue in Italy continual frost and winter weather as also when the Sun is perceiued to enter into Aquarius which ordinarily falleth out sixteen daies before the Calends of Februarie i. the seuenteenth of Ianuary As for the cleare and bright star called the star Royal appearing in the breast of the signe Leo Tubero mine Author saith that eight daies before the Calends of Februarie to wit the 25 day of Ianuarie it goeth out of our sight in the morning also ouer-night before the Nones of Februarie i. the fourth day of the same moneth the Harp-star Fidicula goeth down and is no more seene Toward the later end of this quarter it is good and necessarie to dig and turne vp fresh mould with mattock and spade against the time that roses or vines shal be set wheresoeuer the temperature of the climat will beare it and for an acre of such worke sixty labourers in a day are sufficient to doe it well At which time also old trenches and ditches would be scoured or new made For morning worke before day the Husbandman must look to his iron tooles that they be ground whetred and
it If at his rising you see him to cast his beams afar off among the clouds and the mids between be void therof it signifieth raine If he spread his beames before he be vp and appear in our Horizon look for wind and water both If about him toward his going down there be seene a white circle there will be some little tempest and trouble some weather that night ensuing but in stead thereof if he be ouer-cast with a thicke mist the tempest will be the greater and more violent If the Sunne couchant appeare fierie and ardent there is like to be wind Finally if the circle aforesaid be blacke marke on which side the same breaketh from thence shal you haue blustering winds And so an end of the Sunne and his prognostications Now by right the Moone challengeth the next place for her presages of weather to come First and foremost the Aegyptians obserue most her prime or the fourth day after the change for if she appeare then pure faire and shining bright they are verily persuaded that it will bee faire weather if red they make no other reckoning but of winds if dim and blackish they look for no better than a foule and rainie moneth Mark the tips of her hornes when she is fiue daies old if they be blunt they foreshew raine if pricking vpright and sharp pointed withall they alwaies tell of winds toward but vpon the fourth day especially this rule faileth not for that day telleth truest Now if that vpper horne of hers only which bendeth Northward appeare sharpe pointed and stiffe withall it presageth wind from that coast if the nether horne alone seem so the wind will come from the South if both stand streight and pricking at the point the night following will be windie If the fourth day after her change she haue a red circle or Halo about her the same giueth warning of wind and raine As for Varro he treating of the presages gathered from the Moone writeth thus If quoth he the new moon when she is just foure daies old put her horns direct and streight forth she presages therby some great tempest at sea presently to follow vnlesse it be so that she haue a guirland or circle about her and the same cleer and pure for then there is good hope that there wil be no foule nor rough weather before the full If at the full one halfe of her seeme pure and neat a signe it is of a faire season if it be red the wind will be busie if enclined to blacke what else but raine raine Doe you see at any time a darke mist or cloud round about the body of the moone it betokeneth winds from that part where it first breaketh and in case there be two such cloudie and mistie circles enuironing her the tempest will be the greater but how if there be three of them for failing and those either black or interrupted distracted and not vnited surely then there wil be more storms more The new moone whiles she is croissant if she rise with the vpper tip or horne blackish telleth beforehand that there will be store of raine after the full and when she is in the wane but if the nether tip be so affected the rain will fall before she be at the full But what if that blacknesse appeare in the middle of her body betweene then saith Varro it will poure of rain in the very full A full moone hauing about her a round circle sheweth that there will be wind from that part where the said circle is most splendant If her hornes appeare when she riseth more grosse and thicke than ordinarie look soon after for a terrible tempest and and stormie weather If she shew not in our Horizon before the prime or fourth day after the chaunge and the West wind blow withall then that moone throughout threatneth cold and winter weather and if the day after the full she seeme extraordinarily enflamed she menaceth vnto vs sharp showres and bitter tempests Finally in euery moon there be eight points and so many daies according as she lighteth vpon the angles of the Sunne which most men obserue onely and take their presages of future weather by to wit the third seuenth eleuenth fifteenth ninteenth one and twentieth seuen and twentieth and the very day of her conjunction or chaunge In the third hlace a man may know the disposition of the seasons by the fixed starres and therefore it behooueth to obserue and marke them They seeme otherwhiles in the sky to flit and run too and fro and then we shal not be long without great winds rising from that quarter where such appeared and gaue token The starrie skie if it shew cleare and bright al ouer and in euery part alike during that particular season namely between the occultation of the Harp-star and the Aequinoctiall point which I proposed and set downe heretofore it is a fore-token of a faire and drie Autumne but yet cold If the Spring add Summer both passed not cleare without some raine and wet weather it will be an occasion that the Autumne following shall be drie and lesse disposed to wind howbeit thick muddy and enclined to mists A faire and drie Autumne bringeth in alwaies a windie winter When all on a sudden the stars lose their brightnesse and looke dim and that neither vpon a cloud nor a mist in the aire it signifieth either raine or grieuous tempests If the starres make semblance as if they flew vp and down many together and in their flying seem whitish they denounce winds from that coast where they thus do shoot Now if it seeme to the eye as if they ran and kept one certaine place those winds will hold and sit long in one corner but in case they do so in many quarters of the heauen they betoken variable and inconstant winds going and comming and neuer at rest When you see a circle about any of the other fiue planets or wandring stars you shall haue powring showres soone after Within the signe Cancer there be two prettie stars which the Mathematitians call Aselli i. little Asses betweene which there seemeth to be a small cloud taking vp some little roome and this they name in Latine Praesepia i. a Crib Cratch Bowzey or Manger now if it chaunce that this Racke or Crib appeare not and yet the aire bee faire and cleare otherwise a signe it is of cold foule and winter weather Also if one of these two little stars to wit that which standeth Northerly be hidden with a mist then shall you haue the South wind to rage but in case the other which is more Southerly be out of sight then the Northeast wind wil play his part As touching the Rainbow if it appear double as if there were two of them at once it telleth of raine toward A Rainebow presently after raine is a signe of faire weather but this is not so certaine neither will it hold long Also when a man seeth new
it came vp without sowing euen in the very woods and carried a more duskish green leafe and the same rougher It is said that if men eat the seed it wil extinguish vtterly their own seed The juice of green Hemp-seed being dropped into the eares driueth out any wormes or vermin there ingendred yea and what ear-wigs or such like creatures that are gotten into them but it will cause head-ach withall So forcible is this plant that by report if it be put into water it will make it to gather and coagulat Which is the reason that if horses haue the gurry they shall find help by drinking the said water The root if it be boiled in water doth mollifie and softenioints that be shrunk vp it assuageth the pains likewise of the Gout and such like wicked humors that fall down vpon any part Being yet green and reduced into a liniment and so applied it is good for burnes or scaldings but it must be often remoued and changed before it be drie As for Ferula or Fennel geant it carrieth a seed like to Dill. That kind which riseth vp in one stem and then diuideth it self and brancheth forth in the head is supposed to be the female The stalks are good to be eaten boyled and the right sauce wherein they be serued vp to giue them a more commendable tast is new wine and hony tempered accordingly and so prepared they be good for the stomack Howbeit if one eat ouer-liberally of them they cause head-ach Take the weight of one denier Roman of the root beat it to pouder and drinke it in two cyaths of wine you shall find it a soueraigne medicine against the stinging of serpents but you must not forget mean while to apply the root it self stamped into a cataplasme vnto the hurt place After this manner it helpeth the wringing torments of the guts Make a liniment or vnguent thereof and vineger together annoint the body therewith it restraineth the immoderate sweats that burst out although the Patient be sick of a feuer The juice of Ferula if it be eaten to the quantity of a Beane doth loosen the belly The small tendrils or branches of greene Ferula is good for all the infirmities abouenamed Take ten grains of Ferula seed in pouder with wine or so much of the pith within the stalk it stancheth bloud Some hold it good to giue a spoonful thereof euery fourth sixth and seuenth day after the change of the Moon to preuent the fits of the falling sicknes The nature of all these Fennel-geants is most aduerse to Lampreies for if they be touched neuer so little therewith they will die vpon it Castor was of opinion That the juice is excellent good to cleare the eye-sight And forasmuch as I haue spoken somewhat of Thistles and Artichoux how they should be ordered in my treatise of other garden plants I will put off no longer to discourse also of their properties and vertues in Physick Of the wild Thistles there be two kinds the one more ful of branches shooting out immediatly from the root the other riseth vp in one intire stem and the same is thicker withall Both of them haue but few leaues and those beset with prickles they beare heads pointed with sharp pricks round about in manner of caltrops Howbeit there is one kind which is the Artichoke which putteth forth a purple floure amidst those sharpe pointed prickes which very quickly turns into an hoarie downe readie to flie away with euery puffe of wind and this thistle the Greeks cal Scolymos The juice of the Artichoke stamped pressed out before it bloome bringeth haire again thicke if the naked place be annointed therewith The root either of Thistle or Artichoke sodden in water and so eaten is as good as a shooing-horne to draw on pot after pot for these great bibbers that desire nothing more than to be thirsty and to make quarrell to the cup. It strengtheneth the stomacke and if we may beleeue it is so appropriate vnto the matrice of women that it disposeth and prepareth it to conceiue men children In good faith Chaereas the Athenian and Glaucias especially who seemeth to be most curious in describing the nature and properties of these Thistles or Artichokes giue out no lesse To conclude if one chew them in his mouth hee shall finde that they will cause a sweet breath CHAP. XXIV ¶ The composition of a Treacle which was the ordinarie and familiar medicine of King Antiochus BVt before that we go out of the garden and leaue the herbes there growing I think it good to set down one confection made of them thought to be a most excellent and soueraigne antidote or preseruatiue against the poison of all venomous beasts whatsoeuer and which for the excellency thereof was ingrauen in stone vpon the forefront of the temple dedicated to Aesculapius in this maner following Take of wild running Thyme the weight of two deniers of Opopanax and Meu of each the like quantitie the seed of Dil Fennel Ameos and Parsly of each the weight of six deniers of Ervil floure twelue deniers or drams Let these be beaten into pouder and finely searced and when they be incorporat in the best wine that may be had they ought to be reduced into the form of Trosches euery one weighing a victoriat or half denier When occasion is to vse this composition dissolue one of these Trosches in three cyaths of wine and drinke it This is that famous Treacle or countrepoyson which great Antiochus the King was wont by report to take against all venoms or poysons whatsoeuer THE TVVENTY FIRST BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The nature of Floures and namely those of Chaplets and Guirlands CHAP. I. ¶ The wonderfull varietie of Floures CAto in his Treatise of Gardens ordained as a necessary point That they should be planted and inriched with such herbs as might bring forth floures for Coronets and Garlands And in very truth their diuersitie is such that vnpossible it is to decipher and expresse them accordingly Whereby wee may see that more easie it was for dame Nature to depaint adorn the earth with sundrie pictures to beautifie the fields I say with all maner of colours by her handy-worke especially where she hath met with a ground to her minde and when she is in a merrie humour and disposed to play and disport her selfe than for any man in the world to vtter the same by word of mouth Wherin certes her admirable prouidence she hath shewed principally in this That whereas she hath giuen vnto those fruits of the earth which serue for necessities the sustentation of man long life and a kind of perpetuitie euen to last yeares and hundreds of yeres these floures of pleasure and delight good only to content the eye or please the sence of smelling she would haue to liue and die in one day A great document and lesson for vs men in generall to
the belly than the other but the meale as wel of the one as the other doth heale the running sores scales of the head howbeit the wild better than the rest Moreouer these ciches are taken to be good for the falling sicknesse the swellings of the liuer and the sting of Serpents They procure womens termes and prouoke vrine and especially the grain it selfe rather than the leafe The same are singular for tettars and ring-worms for inflammations of the cods for the jaundise dropsie But all the sort of them be hurtfull to the bladder and kidnies especially if they be exulcerat For gangrenes and those morimall vlcers called Cacoethe they be better in case they bee tempered with honey Some there be who for to be ridde of all kinde of Warts take as many Cich-pease as there be warts and with euery one of them touch a wart and that vpon the first day after the change of the Moon which done they tie the foresaid Pease or Ciches in a little linnen â—…ag and fling them away backward behind them and they are persuaded that the warts will be gone by this means But our Latine Physitians are of opinion That the blacke ciches which be called Ram-ciches should be well and throughly sodden in water and salt of which decoction they prescribe vnto the patient for to drinke two cyaths in difficulty of making water for to expell the stone and rid away the jaundise Their leaues and stalks of straw being sodden in water ouer a good fire yeeld a decoction which beeing vsed as hot as may be suffered doth mollifie the callosities hardnesse growing about the feet so doth a liniment also made of the very substance it selfe stamped and applied hot The Columbine ciches sodden in water are thought to lessen and shorten the shaking fits in tertian and quartan agues The black cich-pease being beaten to pouder with halfe the quantity of gall-nuts and incorporat with sweet wine cuit called Passum and so applied cureth the vlcers of the eyes As touching Eruile somewhat I haue said already touching the properties thereof when I made mention of it among other kinds of pulse And indeed the old writers haue attributed as great power vertue vnto it as to the Colewort Being laid to with vineger it cureth the hurts that come by the sting of serpents or the teeth of man crocodile There be writers of approued authority who assirm for certain That if a man doe eat Eruile fasting euery day it will diminish and wast the swelling of the spleen The meale of Eruile as Varro reporteth taketh away the spots and moles of any part of the body And in truth this pulse is singular to represse corrosiue and eating vlcers but aboue all it is most effectuall in the sores of womens brests applied with wine it breaketh carbuncles Being torrified and incorporat with hony and reduced into an electuarie or bole and so taken as much as an hazell nut it amendeth the suppression or difficulty of voiding vrine dissolueth ventosities openeth obstructions and helpeth other accidents of the liuer the prouocations and proffers to the stoole without doing any thing reuiueth those parts that mislike and feele no benefit or nutriment of meat which they cal in Greek Atropha In like manner it cureth shingles ring-worms and tettars if it be first sodden in vineger so applied and not remoued vntil the fourth day If it be laid too with hony it keepeth biles from suppuration A fomentation made with the decoction thereof in water helps kibed heels the itch And it is generally thought That if a man drink it euery day next his heart vpon an empty stomack it will make the whole body looke with a better and more liuely colour Contrariwise the common opinion is That it is not good to be eaten ordinarily as meat for it moueth to vomit troubleth the belly lieth heauy vpon the stomack and fumeth vp into the head it breedeth ache and heauinesse in the knees But if it haue lien many daies in steepe after that imbibition of water it becommeth more mild and is a most wholsom prouender for horse and oxen The green cods of Eruile before they waxe hard if they be stamped with their stalkes and leaues together do colour and die the hairs of the head blacke As touching wild Lupines they be inferior to those which come of seed in all respects but only in biternesse And verily there is not a thing more commendable wholsome and light of digestion than white Lupines if they be eaten dry They are brought to be sweet and pleasant by hot ashes or scalding water Beeing eaten at meales vsually they make a fresh colour and chearfull countenance Bitter Lupines are very good against the sting of the Aspides Dry Lupins husked clensed from their skins applied to black mortified vlcers ful of dead flesh with a linnen cloth between reduce them to a liuely colour and to quick flesh again The same sodden in vineger discusse the kings euill and the swelling kernels impostumations behind the ears The broth or collature of them being sodden with Rue and Pepper may be giuen safely although it were in an ague to those that bee vnder thirty yeares of age for to expell the wormes in the belly As for young children who haue the wormes it is good to lay Lupines to their bellie whiles they be fasting All others are to take them torrified either by way of drink in a kind of wine cuit or els in electuary after the maner of a lohoch The same do giue an edge to the stomacke and quicken the appetite to meat The meale or pouder of Lupines wrought with vineger into a dough or paste and so reduced into a liniment and vsed in a bain or stouve represseth and keepeth down all wheales and itching pimples which are ready to breake forth and of it selfe is sufficient to drie vp vlcers It bringeth to the natiue and liuely colour al places blacke and blew with stripes Medled with Barly groats it assuageth all inflammations For the weaknesse of the huckle bone the haunch and loins the wilde Lupines are counted more effectual than the other A fomentation with the decoction of these wild Lupins maketh the skin more smooth and beautifull taking away all spots and freckles But if the same or garden Lupines be boiled to the height and consistence of hony they do clense the skin from black morphew and the leprosie These also if they be applied as a cataplasme do break carbuncles bring down or els ripen the swelling kernels named the kings euil and other biles and botches which of their nature be long ere they gather to head Boiled in vineger they reduce places cicatrized to their naturall colour and make them look faire white again But if they be throughly sodden in rain water of the collature that passeth from them there is made an abstersiue and scouring lie in manner of sope most excellent for to
braine and those who be subiect to the falling sicknes the same decoction also keepeth the haires from shedding if the place be bathed therewith But wonderfull it is that these small shauings should be so bitter as nothing more when the fruit it self is as sweet as any other Moreouer of the fine dust sawed or filed from this wood sodden in Myrtle water then kneaded or wrought into past so reduced into seuerall trochisks there is a soueraigne medicine made for the bloudy flix if the patient drinke the weight of one Victoriat or halfe dram of these trosches in three cyaths of water CHAP. III. ¶ Of Mast. ACornes or Mast of the Oke beaten to pouder incorporat with Hogs lard salted heale all those hard and swelling cankerous vlcers which they call in Greeke Cacoethe In all these trees bearing Mast the very substance of the wood is more forcible than the fruit the outward bark more than the wood and the inner rind or tunicle vnder it more than the bark or all the rest This membrane or pellicle if it be boiled is singular for the flux of the stomack proceeding of weaknesse The very Mast or Acorne it selfe reduced into a liniment and applied staieth the bloudy flix and the same resisteth the venom of serpents stings restraineth rheums and catarrhs and namely that flux of humors which causeth apostemations As well the leaues the mast or beries of this tree as the bark or juice drawn from it after boiling are excellent against the poisons called in Greek Toxica The barke sodden and brought into a liniment with Cow-milk is very good to be applied vnto the place where ferpents haue bitten or stung it is giuen also in wine for the bloudy flix of the same vertue efficacy is the holm-oke CHAP. IIII. ¶ Of the Scarlet graine of Holme-oke of Galls and Misselto of certaine little balls growing vpon the Oke of Mast of the root of Cerrus and of Corke THe Scarlet graine growing vpon the Oke-holm is very good to be laid to fresh wounds with vineger It is applied with water for the flux of watery humors vnto the eies dropped likewise into them when they be bloud-shotten Now there is a kind of it growing commonly in the region of Attica and throughout Natolia which very quickly turneth to be a grub or Magot wherupon it is called Scolecion and is rejected as being of no worth Many more sorts there be of it whereof the chiefe and principall I haue shewed already As touching the Gal-nuts I haue likewise made of it as many kinds for some be solid and massie others full of holes as if they were bored through You shall haue of them white and black some great others smal but how different soeuer they be in substance colour or quantity they be all of like nature The best are those of Comagene Gals are good to eat away the superfluous excrescences in the body They serue very wel for the infirmities of the gums and uvula for the cankers exulcerations breeding in the mouth Being first burnt then quenched in wine they are singular for the fluxes occasioned by a feeble stomack Applied in maner of a liniment they help the bloudy flix Incorporat in hony they cure whitflaws risings parting 's of the flesh and skin about the naile roots the roughnesse of the nailes the running scals and vlcers in the head the knobs or swelling piles in the fundament and in one word all those corrosiue and eating vlcers which consume the flesh to the very bone Boiled in wine and so instilled into the eares they cure the infirmities of that part So do they likewise help the eies if they be annointed therewith Applied with vineger they discusse flegmatick wheales and such like breakings out as also the flat biles and impostumes called Pani the round kernell within them if it be chewed allaieth the tooth-ach The same is good to skin raw and galled places any burn or scalded place Take vnripe Gal-nuts drink them with vineger they wil consume and weare away the swelled spleen Burn the same and quench them with salted vineger a fomentation thereof staieth the immoderat flux of womens fleurs reduceth the matrice fallen downe into the right place All the sort of these Gals do colour the haires of the head blacke Concerning Misselto That the principall and best is found vpon the Oke how it is cut and in what maner birdlime is made therof I haue already shewed Some for to make the said glew or birdlime stamp Misselto first and then seeth it in water vntill it swim aloft Others vse to chew the grains or kernels onely which they beare and spit out their outward pils or skins But the very best is that which hath no husk or skin at all which also is the smoothest withoutforth of a light tawnie or yellowish red within as greene as a leeke for indeed there is not a thing more glutinous or glewy than it This Misselto is a great emollitiue for it softeneth discusseth and resolueth also hard tumors it is excicatiue besides and drieth vp the Scrophules or swelling kernels knowne by the name of the kings euill If it be incorporat with rosin wax it mitigateth all sorts of impostumes or flat biles whatsoeuer Some put thereto Galbanum also in equall quantity or weight and so vse it in the same manner for to heale wounds It pollisheth and maketh smooth the rough vneuen nails if it be laid too for seuen daies and the medicine not remoued before but the nails ought to be wel washed with salnitre Some obserue certain superstitious ceremonies herein and are of opinion That it will worke the better with more efficacy in case it be gathered from the Oke the first day of the new Moon also if it be not cut downe with any bill hook knife or edged yron toole Moreouer they do hold That if it touch not the ground it cureth those who are troubled with the falling sicknes Semblably if women do but carry it about them it helpeth them to conceiue Finally if it be chewed and so applied vnto vlcers it is most effectuall to heale them perfectly As for the little round bals or apples sound vpon the Oke Robur if they be incorporat with Bears grease they cause the haire to come thick again where it is shed in case the bare or bald place be annointed therewith Of the great Oke Holm Cerrus thus much I haue to say That the leaues the bark and mast thereof do discusse and drie vp all gathering of impostumations euen such as grow to suppuration or mattering and stay the flux of humors which feed them A decoction thereof doth corroborat any member or part of the body which groweth to be sencelesse or benummed if the same be fomented therwith Also for to dry bind confirm any part which is feeble weak it is singular good to sit in a
is of force to put by many scrupules and religious doubts it is very euident You shall see some men to take the spittle out of their mouths and conuey it with their fingers end behind the ear for to reioice the heart driue away all pensiuenesse and melancholick fansies that trouble the mind And to bend or bow down the thumbs when we giue assent vnto a thing or do fauor any person is so vsuall that it is growne into a prouerbiall speech to bid a man put down his thumb in token of approbation In adoring the gods and doing reuerence to their images wee vse to kisse our right hand and turne about with our whole body in which gesture the French obserue to turne toward the left hand and they beleeue that they shew more deuotion in so doing As touching the maner of worshipping and adoring flashes of lightening all nations with one accord and conformity do it with a kind of whistling or chirping with the lips If there be mention made of scarefires at the table as we sit at meat we hold it ominous but we turn away the perillous presage thereof by spilling and casting water vnder the bourd When one riseth from his meat and is ready to depart if they of the house go in hand presently for to sweep the floore and make all cleane as also to take away dishes trenchers c. vpon the bourd or to remoue the cupbourd of plate liuery table whiles one of the guests is a drinking are thought to be most vnfortunat tokens and to presage much harm Servius Sulpitius a principal person of our city hath written a treatise of this argument wherein he giueth a reason why we should not leaue or shift our trenchers at euery course or change of dishes for in those daies there were no more allowed than there sat guests at the tables and those were serued but once for all If one chance to sneeze after repast the order is to call for a dish of meat and a trencher againe to be set vpon the bourd and in case he taste not of somwhat afterward it is thought a most fearefull and cursed presage on this behalf like as to sit at the table and eat nothing at all See how ceremonious those men were and what precise ordinances they instituted who were of beleef that in all our affaires and actions and at al times the diuine power of God was present and that by these means they left them pacified for all our sins and vices Neither is there an end here for ouer and besides it hath been marked that many times all the table is husht and there is not a word heard from one end to the other but this is noted neuer to happen but when the guests make a just euen number But what doth this silence presage Surely euery one of them shall be in danger to lose or impaire his credit good name and reputation Moreouer if a peece of meat chanced to fall out of the hand down to the floore it was taken vp and deliuered vpon the boord again where it passed from one to another and went through the table but in any wise they were forbidden to blow therupon for to clense it from the dust or filth that it caught Furthermore they haue proceeded thus far as to gather presages from such things as happen just at the time whiles one either speaketh or thinketh of the same But of all others this was counted a most execrable token in case it chanced that the Pontifie or high Priest sitting at the table proforma and for order sake at any solemne feast or sacrifice let fall a morcel oâ—… meat but if the same were laid vpon the boord again and afterwards burnt and sacrificed to the familiar gods of the house Lares it was thought a sufficient expiatory satisfaction Semblably men are of opinion That if any medicines purgatiue or others fortune to be set vpon a table before they bee giuen to the patient for to drink they wil do no good at all but lose their operation Also there is a superstitious ceremony in paring the nailes of the fingers during the market daies held at Rome with this charge that the party hold his tongue and be silent all the while bigin at the fore-finger and this forsooth concernes the mony of many a man Likewise as great a matter as that lieth in stroking or handling the haire of the head either on the 17 day after the change of the Moon or the 29 for a special means this is to keep the haire on which is giuen to fal as also to ease the head-ach Moreouer the peasants in the country obserue this custome in many mannors and farmes of Italy to forbid their wiues and women to spin as they walke vp and downe abroad in the street or any common way of passage or to carry their rockes and distaues vndizened or bare for this opinion they haue that in so doing they preiudice the hope of al fruits and the corne especially growing in the field for that yeare Not long since M. Seruilius Nonianus who in his time was a principal citizen of Rome to preuent the blearednesse of his eies which he feared before that either any man else foretold him of that disease or himselfe once named it took a little piece of paper and wrote therein these two capital Greek letters P and A which he lapped round fast tied with a linnen thred and so wore it hanging at a lace about his neck vnder his throat Mutianus who had bin thrice Consull of Rome obserued the same effect by wearing a flie aliue within a little rag of white fine linnen cloth and both of them did highly commend these medicines of theirs reporting that by those meanes they were free from bleared eies Finally we read of certain charms and spels against storms of hail against sundry sorts of diseases and namely for any part that is burnt or scalded and verily some of them haue been proued by experience to be effectuall But for mine own part abashed I am and ashamed to put them downe in writing considering how diuersly men are affected in minde And therefore to conclude this matter I leaue euery man to himselfe to giue credit or otherwise vnto them at his owne pleasure and discretion CHAP. III. ¶ Remedies proceeding from man for the cure of diseases IN my former Treatise as touching strange and wonderfull nations I spake of certaine races of men which were of a monstrous nature and carried a venomous regard and looke in their very eies besides many other properties of beasts which here to repeat were needlesse Howbeit in this place I think it not amisse to note that so me people there be whose bodies be from top to toe all medicinable and wholsome to others As for example the men of those families which do terrifie serpents and driue them away with their very presence who also are
same againe saying withall this charme I tied the knot and I will vndo it againe therewith go his waies she shall soone after fall to her businesse and haue more speedy deliuerance Orpheus and Archelaus both do affirme That if the squinancy be anointed with man or womans bloud it skilleth not out of what vein or part of the body it issued it is an excellent remedy for that disease The like effect it hath if their mouthes be rubbed with the said bloud who being ouertaken with the epilepsie are falne down for immediatly thereupon they will rise and stand vpon their feet Some write That if the great toes be pricked vntill they bleed again the drops that come forth worke the like effect in the falling sickenesse so that the face of the Patient be sprinkled or besmeared therewith or if a maiden touch the parties face that lieth in a fit of the said disease with her bare thumbe or great toe he shall come againe to himselfe and recouer By which experiment Physitians going by coniecture are of opinion That such persons subject to that disease should feed of the flesh of such beasts as neuer were with yong Aeschines a Physitian of Athens was wont to cure squinsies the inflammations of the amygdals the infirmities of the uvula and all cancerous sores with the ashes of a man or womans body burnt and this medicine he called Botryon Many maladies there bee that goe away the first time that either a man hath carnall knowledge of a woman or that a maid seeth her monthly sicknesse but if they end not at such a time commonly they proue chronicke diseases and continue a long time and especially the falling sicknesse It is said moreouer That the company of a woman easeth them very much who are stung with a scorpion but women in the same case catch harme by that means Some say also that if the eies be dipped three times in that water wherein a man or woman hath washed their feet they shall be troubled neither with blearednesse nor any other infirmity And others there be who affirm that the wens called the Kings euil the swelling kernels also behind the ears and the squinancy are cured with touching the hands of them that haue died a violent vntimely death Some stand not so much vpon that point but say That the backe of the hand of any one that is dead it skills not how nor by what means if it touch the grieued part wil work the like effect so that the dead party the Patient be both of one sex As for the tooth-ach it is a common speech That if one bite off a peece of some tree that hath been blasted or smitten with lightning prouided alwaies that he hold his hands behind him at his back in so doing the said morsell or peece of wood will take away the toothach if it be laid vnto the tooth Some there be who giue direction to take the perfume of a mans tooth burning in the fire for to ease the too h ach of a man and semblably of a womans tooth to help woâ—…en in the same case Others you shall haue that prescribe to draw one of the eie-teeth called in Latine Canini out of the head of man or woman lying dead and not yet enterred and to wear the same against the tooth-ach It is a common speech That the earth found in or about a man or womans scull is a singular depilatory and fetcheth away the haire of the eiebrows As for the grasse or weed that grows therein if any such may be found it causeth the teeth to fall out of the head with chewing only As also that no vlcer wil spread farther but keep at a stay if there be a circle drawne about it with the bone of a man or womans body As touching the cure of a tertian ague some there be who lade vp water out of 3 pits as much out of one as another and mingle all together which done they put the said water into a new earthen pot that neuer was occupied before begin to the Patient out of it giuing the rest vnto him or her for to drink when the fit commeth But for the quartan ague they get me a broken fragment of a wooden pin which held the sides crosse peece of a paire of gallows together wrap it within a lock of wool and so hang it about the Patient or els they take a peece of the halter or rope from the gallows and vse it in like maner for the foresaid purpose but wot ye what when the patient is by this meanes rid of the feuer the said parcel of wood or cord they vse to bury or bestow close in some hole within the ground where the Sun may neuer shine on it then the accesse wil neuer return more See the toies vanities of these Magitians and yet these be not all for they run on stil and say that if one take a whetstone which hath serued a long time to whet kniues other edge tooles on and lay the same vnder the boulster or pillow where one lieth that is ready to faint and giue vp the ghost vpon some indirect means by sorcery witchcraft or poisoning but this must be done without the knowledge of the said party you shal from the very mouth of the patient hear what poison was giuen in what place at what time but who it was that gaue it he or she shal not be able to name Moreouer this is known for a truth that if one be strucken speechlesse with lightning and then the body be bent and turned toward the wounded place the party shal recouer presently and speak again Some there be who to driue back and keep down the biles and botches that rise in the share take the thred or yearn out of the weauers loome which serue for the selvedge or list making seuen or nine knots and in the knitting of euery one of them name some widow or other and then tie it fast about the grieued place Also for to assuage the paine of any wound they giue order that the wounded party take a naile or some other thing that one hath troden vnder foot and to weare the same tied about the neck arme or other part of the body For to be rid of warts some chuse a time to pluck them vp by the roots when the Moone is twenty daies old at least and then lay themselues along vpon their backs in some ordinary high way looking fully vpon the Moone and stretching their armes backeward as farre as they can beyond their heads and looke what they can catch hold of with their hands therewith they rub the place If one cut and pare an agnell or corn in any part of the body obseruing a time when a star seemeth to shoot or fall they say it wil quickly weare away and be healed for euer They would beare vs in hand That if a man poure vineger vpon the
Harts-horn burnt and applied with wine the same also preserueth the haire from breeding lice and nits Likewise Goats gall mixed with Fullers earth and vineger if the head be waâ—…hed withall so as the hairs may dry againe by little little Semblably the gall of * Buck-goats tempered with Buls stale killeth lice now if the sayd gall be old adde thereto brimstone and it scoureth besides the dandruffe It is thought that the ashes of an asse pizzle will make the haire to grow thick and preserue them from being grey if the place be first shauen and well rubbed therewith or anointed with the liniment made of it and oile punned together in a leaden morter Likewise the vrin of a yong Asse fole is supposed to thicken the haire but there would be mixed some Spiknard with this washing lie to rectifie the strong sent of the said vrine Buls gall mixed with Aegyptian Allum serueth for a liniment to make the haire come again if the bald place be anointed therwith warm As for the running skals of the head there is not a better thing to cure them than Buls vrine so doth stale chamber lie if there be put to it Sowbread and brimstone howbeit Calues gall is of greater efficacy in this case which if it be mingled with vineger and the head rubbed therwith hot riddeth nits also Calues suet stamped with salt and reduced into a liniment is singular good for the sores in the head In these cases great account is made of Fox grease but especially of their gall and dung tempered with an equall portion of Senvy and so brought into an ointment Take the pouder or ashes of Goats horn but principally of the Bucke put thereto sal-nitre and the seed of Tamarisk incorporat all with butter and oile into an vnguent It is wonderfull effectuall in keeping haire from shedding so that the head be first shauen Semblably the ashes of a dogge burnt made into a liniment with oile causeth the haire of the eie-brows to look black goats milk by report taketh away nits An ointment made with their dung hony together causeth the hair to grow thick in places despoiled thereof by occasion of some diseases Likewise the ashes of their houfs incorporat with pitch keep the haire on which is about to shed As touching the pain of the head the ashes of an Hare burnt mixed with oile of Myrtles allay the same so doth the blown water which is left in the trough after that a boeufe or Asse hath done drinking if the patient take a draught of it and if we may beleeue it the genitall member of a he-Fox worne about the head in maner of a wreath cureth the head-ache The ashes of a Harts horn brought into a liniment with vineger oile rosat or oile of Ireos hath the like effect For watering eies there is a singular ointment made of boeufe tallow boiled together with oile And the ashes of Harts horn serueth by way of iniunction to cure their asperity and roughnes for which purpose the very tip and points of the knags are thought more effectuall The excrements or dung of a Wolfe are good to anoint the eies for the cataract The same reduced to ashes and made into a liniment with the best Attick honey is singular for those whose sight is dim and troubled so that the eies be anointed therewith in which case Beares gall is excellent The grease of a wild Bore incorporat with oile rosat is singular good for the bloudy fals or chilblanes called Epinyctides The ashes of an Asses house mixed with Asses milke taketh away the cicatrices of the eies together with the films and pearls that trouble the sight if they be annointed therewith The marrow of a Beefe taken forth of the right leg before punned with soot and so incorporat together in manner of a liniment rectifieth the disordered hairs and other accidents of the eye-lids and corners of the eies but for to haue an excellent soot proper to make a salue for to beautifie the eies it ought to be gathered from a wieke or snuffe made of Papyr reed and burning with Sesame oile in such sort as the same may be wiped away with a wing into a new earthen pot that neuer was vsed verily this is a soueraigne soot to hinder the growth again of haires after they be once plucked vp from the eie-browes Of an Oxe gall tempered with the white of an egge are made eie-salues reduced into rolles which beeing dissolued in water serue to annoint the eyes for foure daies together Calues suet with Goose grease and the iuice of Basill is singular for all the accidents whereto the eie-lids be subiect The marrow of a Calfe incorporate with equall weight of wax and common oile or oile Rosat together with an egge maketh a soueraigne liniment for the Stian or any other hard swellings in the eie-lids The violent rheums that fall into the eies are repressed and allaied with a cataplasm of tender cheese made of goats milke soked in hot water and so laid too and if there be any tumor or swelling risen by occasion of such a flux it would be applied with hony and both of them as well with swelling as without ought to be fomented with warme whey But say the eies be inflamed and bleered onely without any extraordinary moisture appearing in them the little muscles lying within the loins of a swine rosted and afterwards punned to a cataplasme and so applied do quite rid away the same bleerednesse It is commonly said that goats be neuer troubled with bleered eies nor yet roe-bucks or does by reason of certain herbs which they feed vpon and for that their sight is as good by night as day therfore certain pils be ordained for the infirmities of the eies made of their dung inwrapped within wax for to be swallowed at the change of the Moone Many there be who are of opinion that such as be dim-sighted and see little or nothing toward night whom the Greeks call Nyctalopes are cured with goats bloud especially the male also with the liuer of a goat sodden in some austere or hard wine Some giue direction to annoint the eies all ouer with the grauie or dripping of the said liuer rosted or else with the gall of a goat and to feed of the said flesh with this regard That whiles the same is a seething the eyes may receiue the vapor and steem thereof And of this opinion they be that the said medicine will do the better if the goat be of a bright ruddy colour Moreouer they would haue the eyes of the patient to be fomented with the vapor and fume that riseth from the decoction of the liuer whiles it boileth but others there be that prescribe to take the smoke thereof as it rosteth or frieth As for goats gall there be that vse it many waies prepared some with hony against the fumosities that trouble and dim the eie-sight others with a third part of
helpeth them when they breed teeth or haue their gums sore or mouth exulcerat If there be hung about the neck of a little infant the tooth of a wolfe it keepeth them from starting or skriching in their sleep for feare and allaieth the pain which they feele in toothing the same doth also a wolues skin And verily the great master teeth and grinders of a wolfe beeing hanged about an horse necke cause him that he shall neuer tire and be weary be he put to neuer so much running in any race whatsoeuer Let a nurce anoint her brest with the rennet of an hare the babe that she giueth sucke vnto shall by that means be knit in the belly and not be troubled with the laske The liuer of an Asse with a little of the herb Panax mingled withal dropped into the mouth of an infant preserueth it from the falling sicknes and other dangerous diseases but this they say must be don for forty daies together If a child be lapped in a mantle or bearing-cloth made of an asse skin it shall not be affrighted at any thing The colts teeth that first fall from an horse-fole if they be hung about yong childrens necks ease them much of the pain that they haue in breeding teeth but more effectuall they be in case they neuer touched the ground The milt of a boeufe eaten with honey and the same reduced to a liniment and applied accordingly is good for the pain of the spleen put hony thereto it healeth the running skals that trouble children The milt of a calfe sodden in wine stamped and brought into a liniment healeth the cankers or little sores in the mouth that yong infants be subiect vnto The Magitians haue a deuise to take the brains of a female goat let it passe through a gold ring to drop the same into the mouth of infants new born before the teat be giuen vnto them which they say is singular good against the falling sicknes and other infirmities that to such babes are incident Goats dung wrapt within a piece of cloth and so hanged about a yong child stilleth it being neuer so froward or vnquiet and a girl especially The gums of yong babes washed with goats milk or annointed with hares braines cause them to haue great ease in toothing Cato is of opinion that whosoeuer vseth to eat hares flesh shall sleep well And the common sort of people are persuaded that the meat of this kind of venison causeth them that feed vpon it to look fair louely gracious for a week together afterwards For mine own part I think verily it is but a toy and meere mockery howbeit there must needs be some cause reason of this setled opinion which hath thus generally caried the world away to think so the magitians affirm for certain that if the eies be anointed with the gal of a female goat such only as had bin offred in sacrifice or laid vnder the pillow in bed it wil procure them to take their repose who were far out of sleep the ashes of a goats horn incorporat into an vnguent with oile of myrtles keeps those from diaphoretical sweats who are anointed therwith A liniment made of bores gall prouoketh vnto carnal lust the same effect there is of that virulent slime which Virgil the Poet describeth to drop from a mares shap against the time that she is to be couered also the stones of an horse so dried that they may be reduced into pouder for to be put in drink moreouer the right genetoir of an asse drunk in wine as need requireth or tied in a bracelet fast to the arme inciteth to venerie furthermore the frothie sperme that an asse sheddeth after he hath couered the female gathered vp in a peece of red cloth and inclosed within siluer so caried about one is of great power in this case as Osthanes mine author saith But Salpe a famous courtizan giueth direction to plunge the genitall member of this beast seuen times together in hot oile and with the said oile to anoint the share and parts therabout Bialcon aduiseth to drink the ashes of the said member or the stale of a bull presently after hee hath done his kind to a cow and with the earth that is moistened and made mire with the said stale to anoint the priuy parts Contrariwise there is not a thing that cooleth the lust of a man more than to annoint the said parts with the dung of myce and rats To conclude for to auoid drunkennesse take the lungs of an hog be it bore or sow it matters not in like manner of a kid and rost it whosoeuer eateth thereof fasting shall not be drunke that day how liberally soeuer he take his drinke CHAP. XX. ¶ Strange and wonderfull things obserued in beasts THere be other admirable properties and vertues reported of the same beast ouer besides those before rehearsed for it is said that whosoeuer do find and take vp an horse shoe shaken from the houfe an ordinary thing that happeneth vpon the way when a horse casteth his shooe and lay the same vp they shall find a remedy for the yox if they do but call to mind and thinke vpon the place where they bestowed the same Also that the liuer of an Hare is in this regard for curing of the hicket like to an horse shooe Moreouer if an horse doe follow in chase after a wolfe and chance to tread vpon the tracts where the wolfe hath run he will be broken winded and burst euen vnder the man vpon his backe It is thought moreouer that the ankle-bones of swine haue a property to make debate and quarrels Also when any sheep-pens or oxe-stals be on a fire if some of the dung be cast forth the sheepe and oxen that be within will sooner be gotten and drawne forth and neuer come thither again Furthermore that goats flesh will haue no ranke smell or taste if so be the same day that they were killed they did eat barley bread or drinke water wherein Laser was infused Besides that no flesh which is powdred well with salt in the wane of the moone shall euer corrupt and be subiect to worme or maggot But see how diligent and curious our ancestors haue bin in searching out the secrets of euery thing insomuch as we find obserued by them That a deafe Hare will sooner feed and grow fat than another that heareth And to come vnto leechcraft belonging to beasts it is said that if an horse void bloud excessiuely it is good to poure or iniect into the body hogs dung with wine As for the maladies of kine and oxen tallow sulphur-vif crow garlick a sodden hens egge are singular good medicines to be giuen euery one of them beaten together in wine the fat also of a fox is good in that case If swine be diseased the broth made of horse-flesh sodden is very good to be giuen them in their wash to drinke And in what disease soeuer it
to be buried in snow a pleasant smel it hath and is held to be a soueraigne ointment for any through-cold and quiuering fit for convulsions for sodain pains whereof no euident cause is known and in one word for all lassitudes and what infirmities soeuer be cured by the medicins called in Greeke A copa in such sort as that it serueth not only for an outward ointment but also for an inward medicine This Comagenum is made in Syria after another maner namely of the fat or grease of birds which is clensed tried and purified according as I haue before said with an addition of Erysisceptron Xylobalsamum the barke or young shoots of the Date tree and sweet Calamus of each as much as amounteth to the weight of the greace aforesaid and all these together must be put into wine and set ouer the fire for siuer and to take two or three waulms Now this is to be noted that the conuenient time of making it is in winter because it will neuer jellie and grow to any thick consistence in Summer vnlesse there be wax put into it Many other good medicines and ointments there be made of Geese whereat I marueile as much as at Goats for it is said that all Summer long euen vnto the fall of the leafe Geese and Rauens be continually sicke Finally as touching the honour which Geese deserued and woon by discouering the skallade that the Frenchmen made into the Capitoll hill of Rome I haue written heretofore CHAP. IIII. ¶ Medicinable receits taken from dogs and other beasts which are not tame but wild also from foules Remedies against the pricke or sting of the venomous spiders Phalangia VPon the foresaid occasion for the dogs which had the custome of the Capitoll barked not when the Gaules skaled the Capitoll there is a custome yearely obserued at Rome to trusse certain dogs to forkes and thus as it were crucified to hang them aliue vpon an Elder tree for examplarie justice which execution was performed between the temple of Ieventus and Summanus But seeing I am thus light vpon the mention of dogs I must needs discourse of them more at large and the rather for that our ancestours in old time obserued many ceremonies about this beast First and formost the ancient Romanes thought the flesh of sucking whelps to be so pure and fine a meat that they vsed to sacrifice and offer them as an expiatorie oblation to their gods for to appease their indignation And verily at this day they make no scruple to sacrifice a yong whelpe before it be full a day old and especially such an one as the bitch puppied the same morning yea and at the solemne festiuall suppers ordained for the honour of the gods they forget not this day to serue vp at the table certain dishes of yong whelps flesh that sucke their dams Moreouer that young dogs flesh was an ordinarie seruice at those sumptuous feasts called Aditiales it appeareth plainely by the testimonie of Plautus in his Comaedies Certes it is generally thought that for the venome called Toxicum there is not a better counterpoyson than dogs bloud It seemeth also that this domesticall creature taught men first the manner of discharging and purging the stomacke by vomit In summe there are a number of other medicinable vertues in a dog highly commended whereof I will write as occasion shall be offered in conuenient place But for this present I will proceed orderly according to my first intention and purpose To returne againe vnto the stinging of serpents these remedies following are taken to be effectuall to wit sheeps treddles and Goats dung fresh gathered and boiled in wine to the consistence of a liniment and so applied vnto the place also mice and rats splitted and so laid hot vnto the wound And verily how basely soeuer men thinke of this kind of cattell and hold them no better than vermine yet they are not without certaine naturall properties and those not to be despised but principally in regard of the sympathy betweene them and the planets in their ascent as I haue noted heretofore and namely considering how the lobes and filaments of their liuers and bowels do encrease or decrease in number according to the daies of the Moons age And these magicians do report That if one do giue vnto hogs the liuer of a mouse or rat within a fig they will follow the partie that gaue them that morcell They say moreouer that the same is able to do as much in a man but in case a cyath of oile be drunke vpon it it looseth all the vertue As touching Weasels there be two kinds of them for there be wild sort different from the rest in bignes for they be smaller and those the Greeks call Ictides their gall is said to be very effectuall against the sting of the Aspis whereas otherwise it is a very poyson it selfe As for that kind which keepeth about our houses wandering here and there in euery corner and vseth to carie her kitlings in her mouth to and fro euery day from place to place and neuer resteth as mine author Cicero doth write shee is an enemie to serpents and naturally persecuteth them Their flesh being salted is giuen to the weight of one denier in three cyaths of wine with great successe vnto those that be stung by serpents also their maw farced with coriander seed and kept in salt or brine is good for the same purpose if it be drunke in wine But the young kitling of the Weasell is best and most effectuall Other vile creatures there are besides which for their basenesse I bash to name and relate in this place howbeit because so many authors with one consent haue so constantly commended their medicinable properties I make it a matter of conscience to passe them ouer in silence considering that all our medicins proceed from that conuenience and repugnancie which is in the nature of all things whereof we haue so much spoken As we may see for example in these punies or wall lice the most ilfavoured and filthy vermine of all other and which we loth and abhor at the very naming of them for naturally they are said to be aduersatiue to the sting of all serpents and principally of the Aspis nay they are thought to be a counterpoyson against any venomous thing whatsoeuer and folke ground their reason hereupon because looke what day that Hens do eat a wal-louce the same day there shall no Aspis haue power to kill them And it is said moreouer That the very flesh of such hens as haue eaten such punies is singular good for those that be stung alreadie by the said serpents Other receits there be set downe by our great masters in Physicke as touching this foule vermine but those which carie most modestie with them and haue greatest respect vnto manhood humanity are these namely to rub or annoint the place which is stung with the said
the pourtraitures of noble champions they delight also to haue the face of Epicurus in euery chamber of the house yea and to carry the same about them vpon their rings wheresoeuer they go in the remembrance and honour of his natiuitie they doe offer sacrifice euery 20 day of the Moone and these moneth-mindes they keep as holy-daies duly which thereupon they call Icades and none so much as they who will not abide to be knowne another day by any liuely image drawne whiles they be aliue Thus it is come to passe that whiles artificers play them and sit still for want of worke noble arts by the means are decaied and perished But I maruel nothing hereat for thus it is verily and no otherwise when we haue no respect or care in the world to leaue good deeds behind vs as the Images of our minds we do neglect the liuely portraitures and similitudes also of our bodies In our forefathers daies ywis it was otherwise their hals and stately courts were not set out with images and pourtraitures after this sort there were not in them to be seene any statues or images wrought by artisan strangers none of brasse they had none of marble their Oratories Chappels were furnished with their own and their ancestors pourtraitures in wax and those liuely and expressely representing their visages these were set out and disposed in order these were the images that attended the funerals of any that was to be interred out of that stock linage Thus alwaies as any gentleman died a man should see a goodly traine of all those which were liuing of that house accompanying the corps causing also the images of their predecessors to march ranke by ranke in order according to their seuerall descents in which solemne shew the whole generation that euer was of that family represented by these images is there present ready to performe that last duty and honour to their kinsman Moreouer wheresoeuer these images stood within the ora tory and chappell before said there were lines drawne from them vpon the wall directing to the seuerall titles and inscriptions which contained their stile their dignities and honors c. As for their studies and counting houses full they were of books records and rols testifying all acts done executed by them both at home abroad during the time they were in place to beare office of state Ouer and besides those images within house resembling the bodily shape countenance there were others also without dores to wit about the portals and gates of the house which were the testimonies of braue minds valiant hearts there hung fixed the spoiles conquered and taken from the enemies which notwithstanding any sale or alienation it was not lawfull for the purchaser to pluck down in such sort as the house it self triumphed still and retained the former dignity notwithstanding it had a new lord and master and verily this was to the master and owner a great spur to valour and vertue considering that if he were not in heart courage answerable to his predecessor he could neuer come in at the gates but the house was ready to reproch and vpbraid him daily for entering into the triumph of another Extant there is vpon record an Oration or act of Messala a great Orator in his time wherin vpon a great indignation he expressely forbad that there should be intermingled one image that came from another house of the Leuini among those of his owne name and linage for feare of confounding the race of his family and ancestors The like occasion moued and inforced old Messala to put forth and publish those bookes which he had made of the descents and pedigrees of the Roman houses for that vpon a time as he passed through the gallerie belonging to Scipio Africanus his house he beheld therein his stile augmented by the addition of Salutio for that was one of his syrnames which fel vnto him by the last wil and testament of a certain rich man so called who adopted him for his owne son as being greatly discontented in his minde that so base a name as that to the shame and dishonor of the Africans should creepe into the noble family of the Scipio's But if I may speak without offence of these two Messalae it should in my conceit be some token of a noble spirit and good mind that loueth and imbraceth vertue to entitle his owne name although vntruely to the armes and images of others so long as they be noble and renowned and I hold it a greater credit so to doe than to demeane our selues so vnworthily as that no man should desire any of our armes or images And seeing that I am so far entered into this theam I must not passe ouer one new deuise and inuention come vp of late namely to dedicat and set vp in libraries the statues in gold or siluer or at leastwise in brasse of those diuine and heauenly men whose immortall spirits do speak still and euer shall in those places where their bookes are And although it bee vnpossible to recouer the true and liuely pourtraits of many of them yet we forbeare not for all that to deuise one Image or other to represent their face and personage though we are sure it be nothing like them and the want therof doth breed and kindle in vs a great desire and longing to know what visage that might bee indeed which was neuer deliuered vnto vs as it appeareth by the statue of Homer Certes in my opinion there can be no greater argument of the felicity happinesse of any man than to haue all the world euermore desirous to know What kinde of person hee was whiles he liued This inuention of erecting libraries especially here at Rome came from Asinius Pollio who by dedicating his Bibliotheque containing all the bookes that euer were written was the first that made the wits and workes of learned men a publique matter and a benefit to a Commonweale But whether the kings of Alexandria in Egypt or of Pergamus began this enterprise before who vpon a certain emulation and strife one with another went in hand to make their stately and sumptuous libraries I am not able to auouch for certain But to returne againe to our flat images and pictures that men in old time delighted much therein yea and were carried away with an ardent and extraordinary affection to them may appeare by the testimony not only of Atticus that great friend of Cicero's who set forth a book intituled A Treatise of painted images but also of M. Varro who in all his volumes whereof hee wrote a great number vpon a most thankfull and bountifull mind that he carried deuised to insert not onely the names of 700 famous and notable persons but also in some sort to set down their physiognomy resemblance of their visage not willing as it might seem that their remembrance should perish but desirous to preserue the
the sumptuous and superfluous expences in vessels made of it The first inuention of Cassidoine vessels and the excesse that way the nature and properties of those Cassidoins And what vntruths the writers in old time haue deliuered as touching Amber TO the end that it may appeare more euidently what the triumph of Pompey wrought in this respect I will put downe word forword what I find vpon record in the registers that beare witnesse of the acts which passed during those triumphs In the third triumph therefore which was decreed vnto him for that he had scoured the seas of pyrats and rouers reduced Natolia and the kingdome of Pontus vnder the dominion of the Romans defeated kings and nations according as I haue declared in the seuenth booke of this my history he entred Rome the last day of September in the yere when M. Piso and M. Messala were Consuls on which day there was carried before him in shew a chesse-boord with all the men and the same bourd was made of two precious stones and yet it was 2. foot broad and 4 foot long and lest any man should doubt hereof and thinke it incredible considering no jems at this day come neare thereto in bignesse know he That in this triumph hee shewed a golden Moone weighing thirtie pounds three dining-tables also of gold other vessell likewise of massie gold and precious stones as much as would garnish nine cup-boords three images of beaten gold representing Minerva Mars and Apollo coronets made of stones to the number of three and thirtie a mountaine made of gold foure square wherein a man might see red deare lyons fruit-trees of all sorts and the whole mountaine inuironed and compassed all about with a vine of gold moreouer an oratorie or closet consisting of pearle in the top or louver whereof there was a clocke or horologe Hee caused also to be borne before him in a pompous shew his owne image made of pearles the pourtraiture I say of that Cn. Pompeius whom regall majestie and ornaments would haue better beseemed and that good face and venerable visage so highly honoured among all nations was now all of pearls as if that manly countenance and seueritie of his had beene vanquished and riotous excesse and superfluitie had triumphed ouer him rather than hee ouer it O Pompey ô Magnus how could this title and syrname Le-grand haue continued among those nations if thou hadst in thy first victorie triumphed after this manner What Magnus were there no means else but to seek out pearles things so prodigal superfluous and deuised for women and which it had not beseemed Pompey once to weare about him and therewith to pourtray and counterfeit thy manly visage And was this the way indeed to haue thy selfe seeme precious doth not that pourtraiture come nearer vnto thee and resemble thy person farre liker which thou didst cause to be erected vpon the top of the Piraenean hils Certes a foule shame and ignominious reproch it was to be shewed in this maner nay to say more truly a wonderfull prodegie it was presaging the heauie ire of the gods for so men were to beleeue and euidently to conceiue therby that euen then and so long before the head of Pompey made of orient pearle euen the richest of the Leuant should be so presented without a bodie But setting this aside how manlike was all the rest of his triumph and how answerable to himselfe For first and foremost giuen freely by him vnto the chamber of the citie there were a thousand talents secondly vpon his leutenants and treasures of the campe who had performed so good seruice in defending the sea-coasts he bestowed two thousand Sestertia apiece thirdly to euery souldiour who accompanied him in that voiage he allowed fiftie Sestertia Well this superfluitie yet of Pompeies triumph serued in some sort to excuse Caius Caligula the Emperour and to make his delicacie and excesse to be more tollerable who ouer and besides all other effeminat tricks and womanly deuises wherof he was full vsed to draw vpon his legs little buskins or starlups made of pearle Pompeies precedent I say in some measure justified Nero the Emperour who made of rich and faire great pearles the scepters and maces the visors also and maskes which players vsed vpon the stage yea and the very bed-roumes which went with him as hee trauailed by the way So as wee seeme now to haue lost that vantage and right which we had to find fault with drinking-cups enriched with pearls yea and much other houshold stuffe and implements garnished therewith since that wheresoeuer we go from one end of the house to the other we seem to passe through rings or such jewels at leastwise which were wont to beautifie our fingers only for is there any superfluitie els but in regard and comparison hereof it may seeme more tollerable and lesse offensiue But to return vnto the triumph of Pompey this victory of his brought into Rome first our cups and other vessels of Cassidoine and Pompey himselfe was the first who that very day of his triumph presented vnto Iupiter Capitolinus six such cups and presently from that time forward men also began to haue a mind vnto them in cupbourds counting tables yea and in vessell for the kitchin and to serue vp meat in and verily from day to day the excesse herein hath so far ouergrowne that one great Cassidoine cup hath been sold for fourescore sesterces but a faire and large one it was and would containe well three sextars id est halfe a wine gallon There are not many yeres past since that a noble man who had been Consull of Rome vsed to drinke out of this cup and notwithstanding that in pledging vpon a time a lady whom he fancied he bit out a piece of the brim thereof which her sweet lips touched yet this injurie done to it rather made it more esteemed and valued at a higher price neither is there at this day a cup of Cassidoine more pretious or dearer than the same But as touching other excesse of this personage and namely how much he consumed and deuoured in superfluities of this kind a may may estimat by the multitude of such Cassidoin vessell found in his cabinet after his death which Nero Domitius tooke away perforce from his children and in truth such a number there were of them that being set out to the shew they were sufficient to furnish and take vp a peculiar theatre which of purpose he caused to be made beyond the Tyber in the gardens there and enough it was for Nero to behold the said theatre replenished with people at the plaies which he exhibited there in honor of his wife the Empresse Poppaea after one child-bed of hers where among other musicians he sung voluntary vpon the stage before the plaies began I saw him there my selfe to make shew of many broken pieces of one cup which he caused to be gathered together full charily as I take it to
description of these starre-Lizards Stellions 361. b against the sting and poyson of Stellio remedies 140. g Stephanomelis what hearb 263. f Stepanoplocos or Stephanopolis a picture of Glycera 80. l made by Pausias the painter who loued Glycera 546. l Stephusa an image of Praxiteles his making 500 k. why so called ibid. Sterelitis what kind of Litharge 474. k Stergethron an hearb See Housleeke Q. Stertinius a famous Physition at Rome and a great taker of fees 344 k. he and his brother rich sumptuous and died wealthie 344 l Stian or such like hardnesse rising in the eielids how to bee cured 324. m Stibi or antimonie 366. g Stibium See Stimmi Stitches in sides how to be eased 104 h. 120 l. 121 e 126 k. 193 a. 202 g. 516 g See Sides and Plurisie Stiffe and starke for cold how restored 263. a Stiffenesse of lims how to be made limmer supple 422. k Stilo Praeconinus his merrie scoffe vpon a Spaniards signet 601 e. Stimma a minerall 473 d. of two kinds ib. their description ibid. their medicinable vertues 473 d e. principall for the eies ib. how to be prepared 473. f. 474 h Stinking smell of any part of the body how palliated 128. h 161 d. Stipax a curious imageur and his workes 502 l Stipendium and Stipend whereof these words are deriued 462 l. Stoebe what hearb 120 l Stoechas an hearb where it groweth 289. f Stomacacum what disease 110 k. See Sceletyrbe anguish of Stomacke is most painfull next vnto strangurie 213 c. Stomacke weake and feeble how to be comforted 289 c 383 h. 437 c. 558 k. 591 a. 624 l. paine of Stomacke how eased 76 l. 102 k. l. 106 m. 138 m 163 c. 172 m. 186 i. 196 h. 283 a. 312 h. for Stomack irfirmities and diseases in generall appropriat remedies 37 f. 38 i. 41 a. 42 k. 46 g. 47 e. 48 h. k l. 50. l 51 d. 52 g. 55 c. 57 c. 60 i. 63 a. 70 h. 74. g. k. 76 i 77 c. 78 m. 102 k. l. 111 c. 119 c. 122 g. 129 a. 130 g i 141 f. 142 g. 147 a b. 158 g. 161 f. 163 b. 164 i k 170 h. 174 k. 197. f 200 k. m. 246 l. m. 288 i. 380 l m 424 g. 432 g. 609 c. 〈◊〉 â—…ulcerat how cured 329 d Stâ—…â—…gnawing how to be pacified 283 a. 329. d Stomaâ—…ce what composition and the vse thereof 164 m the reason of the name ibid. Stomatice Panchrestos and other stomaticals how made 170 h. 192 h Stone Sauge in herbe See Sederitis Stone that scorneth fire 593 d e a Stone swimming whâ—…le sinking broken 587 d Stones are not of like nature to abide the weather in building 593 c d e aire of a diuers nature and constitution for building 588 d Stone in bladder or kidnies how to be broken and expelled out of the body 39. d. 54. h. 60. k. 66. i. 72. k. 73. d. 74. l 76. h. 77. f. 78. g. 101. a. d. 104 h. 111. a. f. 120. i. k. 122 h 125. e. 127. b 128. l. 130. l. 143. a. 173. b. 175. b. 192. m 195. d. 196. k. 206. l. 254. g. i. 255. c. d. 281. b. 283. b 284. m. 289. a. 301. c. 313. b. 332. l. m. the paine of the stone how eased 194. h. 384. g. h. i. 402. l 403. b. 430. g. 443. e. 444. g h. i. 489. d. 629. f. a Stone voidedout of the body medicinable 301. c Stones suspected for building how to be prepared that they may serue 593. e a Stone dog-bitten causeth dissention in what house soeuer it is 303. d the Vulgar Stone what vertues it hath 285. a Stone cutting and grauen more antient than painting or casting brasse 565. c Storax the gum how to be chosen 180. l. the vertues that it hath ibid. Storax ibid. Strawberie tree See Arbur Strangurie counted the most painefull disease 213. c for strangurie or pissing dropmeale the remedies 40. k. 41. d 54. i. 78. g. 106. i. 111. a. d. 119. d. 127. c. 131. d. 157. f 179. b. 185. a. 188. h. 195. c. 199. c. 202. g. h. 216. h 254. g. h. 255. b. 274. k. 283. b. 284. m. 290. m. 316. m 356. i. 384. g h. Straâ—…gurie what causeth 384 h Stratiotes what berbe 204. m. the description 205. a the vertues medicinable that it hath ibid. Stratâ—… the Queene wife to K. Antiochus pictured vnseemely 〈◊〉 Clesides 549. e Stratonicus a â—…nning grauer 483 e. his workemanship ibid. Streames of riuers how to be staied 316. h Stricturae in yron what they be and why so called 514. i Strigiles of gold what they be in Spaine 465. e Stroking of the head at such a day of the Moone obserued for what purpose 298. i Strombi certaine Winkles or shel-fishes medicinable 446. i Strongyle what Alume 558 l. of two sorts and their description ibid. Strophia and Strophiola what they be 80 i Strumea See Crowfoot Strumus what herbe 280 g Struthium what herbe 10. g Strychnos 280 g. what herbe 112 h Styx a fountain yeelding a venomous water 400 h. 405. a S V Sualternicum what it is 606. h Successe in petitions how obtained 314 g Successe against aduersary at the barre and enemy in field how to be procured 315 d e. 354 i. 357 b. See more in Speed Succinum Amber why so called 607. e Sudines a writer 573. c Sudis a fish 452. l. the nature of it and the description ibid. Suilli what kind of Mushromes 132 m. their deadly poyson 133. a Sullanders in horses 338. l Sulphur-vif is naturall 556 i. why it is called Apyron ibid. See more in Brimstone Sumach of curriers 192. g Sumach of the kitchen ibid. b Sun-burning how to be taken away 161 b. 306 h. 327 e. Sun and salt singular for the gout 419. b Suns gem a pretious stone why so called 629 c Superstition of Pagans in their diuine seruice 294. l. m their Superstitious ceremonies obserued at their meat 297 e. f. as touching Superstitious ceremonies Servius Sulpitius wrot a booke ibid. f. Suppuration how to be discharged out of the breast 200. l Surbatting of the seet how to be helped 185. b Surfet vpon fish how to be helped 362. k Surfets in generall what doth resist 119. d Suthernwood the herbe described 91. b. c. the vertues that it hath ib. the degrees in goodnesse 108 i S W Swallowes young that be wild are better for Physick than other 378 i. those called Ripariae be best ibid. how to be calcined ibid. Swelling occasioned by windinesse how cured 136 k. See Ventosities Swellings hard how to be allaied 337 b. See Tumours Sweat of certaine mens bodies medicinable 299. a Sweats how to be procured 67 b. 103 c. 122 h. 160 l 162 k. 167 a. 182 g. 187 c. 193 c. 202 h. 233 c. 284. k 290. k. Sweats symptomaticall diaphoreticke stinking and immoderat how to be repressed 58. k. 78. k. 102. m. 153. c 160. i. 161. e. 174. k.