in our Sauiour Christ but remaine obstinate in stubbernes and hardnes of hart and therefore God permitteth that they liue continually in slauery and subiection of Christians Moores Pagans reproached contemned and persecuted in which seruile miserable state they shall continue so long as they doe perseuer in resisting not willingly acknowledge the manifest and knowne truth But this is so cleare that it were in vaine to spend therein any time Turning therefore to that whereas you said that in respect of other sectes there were but few Christians in the worlde I would haue you otherwise perswaded for presupposed that the greater and truer Christianity be in these our parts of Europe Yet for all that there are Christians in all parts of the world or at least ouer the greater part thereof Besides those with whom we commonly heere conuerse there is on the other side of Alemaigne Hungry Polonia within our Europe a great number of Christian Regions as Russia Prusia Lituania Moscouia part of Tartaria many other mighty Prouinces which followe the Greeke Church though not wholy for some of them apart sepuester them selues from the same holding seueral different opinions Besides these there are the kingdomes of Scotland Mirguena Swethland and Westgothland with infinite others towards the North of which we will one day discourse more particulerly and at length But leauing Europe because it is so knowne and notorious let vs passe into Libia Affrica which is the second part of the world where we shall finde besides many Countries conquered by the Crowne of Portugale and reduced to the Christian faith that on the Coast towards the South in the midst thereof is a Christendome so great large and wide that it is little lesse then this of our Europe which is wholy vnder the gouernment and subiection of one King and Gouernour LU. Is not that hee whom wee call Prester Iohn AN. Yes it is he indeede which is now commonly so called but those which gaue him this name and nowe call him so know not what they say nor whether they name him right or no. LV. This cannot I vnderstand vnlesse you declare it plainlier vnto mee for it is contrary to the common opinion of all men AN. I confesse it to be so and that it is a great chaunce if you find any man affirme the contrary but if you will heare me a little you shal vnderstand wherein the error is so that you your self wil confes that I haue reasō in that which I will say First therefore it were good that you did vnderstand what Paulus Iouius entreating of this matter affirmeth who sayth that this name of Prester Iohn is corrupted that his true name is Belulgian which was cōmon to all the Kings of that Land the which interpreted signifieth a rich pearle of great incomparable excellence But turning to our purpose if you reade the life of S. Thomas the Apostle and S. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles you shall find that S. Thomas went to preach the faith in India maior where he died leauing conuerted to the Christian beliefe infinite multitudes of people who electing and choosing after his death a priest that was called Iohn to gouerne instruct rule them from that time forward each of their Gouernors being for the most part priests were called Priest Iohn bearing the name of the first elected Of their election there is written a very strange History that at the time of the solemnity thereof a hand of S. Thomas was brought forth into which putting a dry withered Vine when hee that was elected passed by the same burgened and sprouted out Vine leaues greene branches and sundry clusters of ripe Grapes out of which they pressed the wine with which they celebrated the same day seruice But though you beleeue not this there is no greater danger For they had not the body of S. Thomas neither knew they where it was and as we find in the Chronicles of Portugale this holy Apostle died in a Country called Choromandel in the kingdom of Bishaga in a citty named Melia somtimes the principal of that kingdom but now ruinated remaining only certaine auncient and noble buildings by which it appeareth the Citty to haue been somtimes great populous amongst the which there is a church held by the enhabitants in great veneration saying that there lay buried the body of S. Thomas another of a King by him conuerted to the faith of Christ. The Portugales digging in search thereof found 3. bodies the one of the king another of the Apostle a third of one of his Disciples That of the Apostle they knew by sundry markes chiefly in that they found lying by him in his graue a Launce with the which the fame went in those Countries that he was slaine vvhich opinion whole India maintayneth but the Church in his life recordeth the same in another sort saying that he was wounded to death with a knife by the hands of an Idolatrous Priest though herein be small difference S. Isidore speaking of him saith that he died with the stroke of a Launce his body as it is written in his life was transported into the Country of Syria into the Citty of Aedisa and this is that which we chiefly ought to beleeue But how so euer it be S. Mathew was he who preached in Aethipia and S. Thomas in India after whom succeeded Prester Iohn whose beginning of rule was great mighty which authority in space of time they came to loose and to be yoked vnder the subiection of the great Cham. The manner of this being so far off hath not beene well vnderstooode though some haue endeuoured to write and giue notice thereof principally though passing obscurely a certayne Armenian but certayne it is that there are as yet sundry tokens of this Christianity Iohn Mandeuile vvryteth in the description of a iourney vvhich he made that there are many of these Christian Prouinces vnder the dominion Empire of great Cham whom at his entry into their Townes they encounter with their Cleargy in Procession the holy Crosse before them to which hee boweth maketh low reuerence and that they blesse fiue Apples presenting them vnto him in a dish of which hee taketh and eateth of the one If he refuse so to doe they take it for a great disfauour Lodouicus Patritius Romanus writeth that being in Taprobana he found there sundry Merchants of the fore-said Prouinces who professed the faith of Christ making him great and large offers if hee would accompany them home into their Country instruct them more amply throughly in the faith according to the vse of the Romain Church which request of theirs he would willingly haue accomplished but that he dared not vndertake so far a voyage so that heereby wee may gather that Prester Iohn is not hee which is in Aethiopia but he who was in the Oriental Indies
world of a discourse so worthy to be knowne and published whatsoeuer therein is faultie let the same lie vpon my shoulders As for your selfe your owne worthinesse of desert your great learning your excellent skill in languages your many times approoued valour your long experience in martiall affaires and generally the great worth wherein the worlde holdes you both abroade and at home will be for you a strong and sufficient warrant and Bulwarke against any whatsoeuer calumniation And so returning vnto you this Treatise of your owne with the intrest of a loue that shall neuer cease to manifest it selfe in any occasion wherein it shall please you to employ me entreating your fauourable censure and best construction of this as I must cōfesse ouerbold endeuour I cease wishing that the successe of your fortunes may be equall to the deseruing of your vertues Yours euer faithfully deuoted Ferdinando VValker The Authors Epistle Dedicatorie to the most Honourable and reuerent Praelate Don Diego Sarmento de Soto Maior Bishop of Astorga c. THE graue and wise Philosopher Hipocrates well waying the conditions and qualities of humaine life briefely in few wordes comprehended the whole that is contained in the same when he said Life is short knowledge long time swift occasion headlong and experience dangerous This is right honourable and reuerend Praelate a Sentence so pithy prosound and delicate that it were not possible for any man in howe long wryting so euer better or more materially to expresse the misery of those that are passed out of this world of vs that as yet liue in it and of as many as shall heereafter be while it endureth And I know not who is so deuoyd of sence but that sometimes thinketh with himselfe how wretched and vnstable is our estate how swiftly and irreuocably time flieth away and howe small a space our life endureth which at such time as wee thinke that we haue reaped some knowledge and vnderstanding of some things in the world though God wot it be but little in respect of the much that it is to be knowne then presently commeth Death and cutteth vs off who for late that he stayeth yet cōmeth he in the childhood of our vnderstanding For if we marke it well we shall finde that how wise and ingenious so euer we account our selues yet that in the very Winter and last of our life we begin to learne and see new Accidents at which we wonder as things that were neuer heard of before and though we imagine that there is nothing in the whole world of which we are ignorant yet euery day almost presenteth to our eyes some new matter or other vnknowne and vnvnderstood thereby to abate the vaine conceaued pride of our owne vniuersall knowledge and if we should liue a 1000. yeeres more we should in like sort daily find new things to astonish vs. Those that are wisest therfore are neuer puffed vp with such an opinion of their owne wisedome but conforming themselues with the truth doe say as Socrates sayde One thing onely doe I know which is that I know nothing This proceedeth of the shortnes of our life the greatnes of the world the secrets of Nature the weakenes of our vnderstanding and the error with which we abuse our selues in thinking that all things to be knowne are comprehended in that little which we know Diuers therefore of cleare iudgments seeing the end of their dayes vnineuitably approach sustaine no small griefe to see that they scarcely begin to know the worlde and to vnderstand some particularities thereof when forcibly they are constrained to leaue the same and so to dye with the milke of wisedome in their mouthes The excellent Philosopher Gorgias Leontinus hauing liued a hundred and seauenty yeeres when the houre of his death drew neere seemed to be very heauy and sorrowfull and when his friends and Schollers endeuoured to giue him consolation he aunswered My sadnes is not because I dye but because hauing studied all my life it faileth me now when I begin to know and vnderstand somwhat So mighty is Nature and diuers in her workes and the world so great that there are euery day new nouelties brought vnto our notice of which though I know your L. being so wise and well experimented will make no wonder yet you will receaue delight to finde some of them heere briefely collected together with other singularities full of pleasure recreation which collection I haue taken the hardines to dedicate vnto your Lor. calling it the Garden of curious Flowers to the end that vnder the fauour and protection of your Lor. it may appeare abroade without fearing the censure of such as are accustomed to murmure at other mens labours who nowe perchaunce will be silent in that it is protected by your L. the quallity and merite of whose person with the most honourable antiquity of his Noble stocke and lynage is so notorious to all men that the basenes of my barraine stile should rather preiudice the same then otherwise leauing therefore to speake thereof I beseech th' Almighty to defend keepe the most Honourable and reuent person of your L. in all faelicity with encrease of Honour as we your L well-wishers and Seruants doe desire The humble Seruant of your L. which kisseth his most Honourable hands A. de Torquemeda A Table wherein are contayned the Names of those Authors whose authorities are alleadged in this Treatise A. AEneas Siluius Aristotle Albertus Magnus Andraeas Mateolus Aulus Gellius Alyfarnes Algasar Auicenne Anthonius Sabellicus Anthony Gubert Aelyan Alexander de Ales. Aelyanicus Acatheus Amatus Lusitanus Atheneus Naucrates Anaximander August Eubinus Eustechius S. Anthony of Florence Alonso del Castillo Albertus Kransius S. Austine Apollonius Tyaneus Auienius Anselmus B. Baptista Fulgoso Beda S. Basill Boetius C. Caetanus Celius Rodiginus Calepinus Crates Pergamenus Cornelius Tacitus Casaneus Calcidius Cornelius Celsus Capela Cornelius Nepos Chronicle of Spaine D. Diodorus Siculus Dauid Democritus Dionisius Halicarnassius Dyoscorides E. Ezechiell Egidius Augustus Ecclesiasticus Encisus Cosmogr Esay F. Erancisco de Victoria G. Gaudencius Merula Grecus Commendator Gentil Gemma Frisius S. Gregory H. Homer Herman Lopes de Castaneda S. Hierome Henricus Bucenburgn Herodote Hermes Trismegistus Hippocrates I. Iustine Iuuenal Iohannes Teutonicus Iacobus Philippus Bergamus Iohannes Bocacius Iosephus Iohannes Magnus Iohannes Saxo. Iohn de Uarro S. Iohn Damascen S. Iohn Chrisostome S. Isidore Iohn Andrew Iohn Mandeuile Iob. Iacobus Ziglerus Iamblicus Iulius Capitolinus L. Leuinus Lemnius Lodouicus Viues Lucian Lucinus Mucianus Lucius Marineus Siculus Lactantius Firmianus Lopes D' Obregon S. Luke Lodouicus Patricius Romanus Lucius Apuleius M. Macrobius Marcus Damascenus Marcus Uarro Marcus Paulus Venetus Mercurius Trismegistus Marsilius Ticianus Mechouita Polonius Megasthenes N. Nicolaus Florentinus Nicolaus Leoncius Nicolaus de Lyre Nimphodorus O. Onosecritus Ordinaria Glosa Ouidius Olaus Magnus Origines P. Plinius Paulus iuris consultus Pomponius Mela. Pausanias Petrus Crinitus Plutarchus Pontanus Pigafeta Philip.
he vvould faine come foorth she her selfe liuing in pittifull extreamity and painfully gasping for life vvhich her seruants perceauing opened the wound a little more and tooke the Infant out causing him to be nourished the which prospered so vvel that he aftervvards cam to attaine the royall Diademe and raigned many yeeres And not much before our time a Gentleman called Diego Osorio of the house of Astorgo vvas borne in the selfe same manner but they tooke so little heede in cutting of his mothers belly that they gaue him a slash on the legge of which hee remained euer after lame and liued manie yeeres AN. Children to be borne toothed is a thing so common that we haue seene it often amongst the Auncients as Pliny and Soline writeth were Papinus Carbo and Marcus Curius Dentatus I can giue good testimony heereof my selfe as an eye witnes of some that haue been borne with teeth and that with those before vvhereby we may the better beleeue the antiquity LV. Some Greeke Authors write that Pirrhus King of the Epirotes in steede of teeth was borne with a hard massie bone onely one aboue and another beneath And Herodotus vvriteth that in Persia there vvas a whole linage that had the like Caelius Rodiginus in the beginning of his fourth booke de antiquis lectionibus bringeth for author Io. Mochius vvhich affirmeth that Hercules had three rowes of teeth which is passing strange but no doubt there haue happened many miraculous things in the vvorld vvhich for want of vvriters haue not come to our knowledge and if we could see those things which happen in other Countries we should not so much vvonder at these of which we novv speake neither neede we goe farre to seeke them for wee shall finde enough euen in our Europe and Countries heere abouts BER I will tell you vvhat I saw in a Towne of Italy called Prato seauen or eight miles off from Florence a child new borne vvhose face was couered with a very thick beard about the length of ones hand white and fine as the finest threeds of flaxe that might be spunne which when he came to be two moneths old began to fall off as it had peeld avvay through some infirmity after which time I neuer savv him more neither knovv I what became of him LV. And I once savv a little vvench which was borne with a long thick haire vpon the chine of her backe and so sharpe as if they had beene the brisles of a vvild Boare so that shee must continually euer after keepe it cut short or othervvise it hurt her vvhen shee cloathed her selfe AN. These are things vvherein Nature seemeth not farre to exceede her accustomed order Let vs therefore come to thē that are more strange and of greater admiration Pliny writeth that there was a woman called Alcippa deliuered of an Elephant and another of a Serpent besides he writeth that he saw himselfe a Centaure brought to the Emperour Claudius in hony to keepe him from putrefaction which was brought forth by a woman of Thessalia Besides these there are manie other such like thinges reported by vvise and graue Authors that such as neuer heard of them before vvould be astonished at theyr strangenes LVD And thinke you that this age and time of ours yeeldeth not as many strange and vvonderfull things as the antiquitie did Yes vndoubtedly doth it vvere vve so carefull to registre and to commit them to memory as they were I will tell you one of the which I am a witnesse my selfe of a woman that hauing had a very hard trauaile in the which she was often at the poynt of death at last was deliuered of a child and withall of a beast whose fashion was lyke vnto a Firret which came foorth with his clawes vpon the childes brest and his feete entangled within the childs legges both one and the other died in few houres BER Wee see and heare daily of many things like vnto these and besides we haue seene women in steede of chyldren bring forth onelie lumpes of flesh which the Phisitions call Moles I haue seene my selfe one of the which a woman was deliuered of the fashion of a great Goose-neck at one end it had the signe of a head vnperfectly fashioned and the woman told me that when it came into the world it moued and that therfore they had sprinkled water vpon it vsing the words of Baptisme In engendring of these things Nature seemeth to shewe herselfe weake and faint and perchance the defect heereof might be in the Father or mother the imperfection of whose seed was not able to engender a creature of more perfection AN. Your opinion herein is not without some reason but withall vnderstande that there may bee aswell therein supersluitie which corrupting it selfe in steede of engendring a child engendreth these other creatures which you haue rehearsed as the Elephant the Centaure and the rest but the likeliest is that they are engendred of corrupted humors that are in the womans body vvhich in time wold be the cause of her death in steed of which Nature worketh that vvhich Aristotle saith in his Booke De communi animalium gressu that Nature forceth her alwaies of things possible to doe the best and vvhen she can create any thing of these corrupted humors whereby she may preserue lyfe shee procureth to doe it as a thing naturall LU. The one and the other may wel be true but yet in my iudgement there is another reason likelier then eyther of them both which is that all these thinges or the most part of them proceede of the womans imagination at the time of her conception For as Algazar an auncient Philosopher of great authority affirmeth The earnest imagination hath not onely force and power to imprint diuers effects in him which imagineth but also may worke effect in the things imagined for so intentiuely may a man imagine that it rayneth that though the wether were faire it may become clowdy raine indeed and that the stones before him are bread so great may be the vehemency of his imagination that they may turne into bread BE. I beleeue the miracle which Christ made in turning water into wine but not these miraculous imaginations of Algazar which truly in mine opinion are most ridiculous AN. In exteriour things I neuer sawe any of these miracles yet Aristotle vvriteth in his ninth Booke De animalibus that the Henne fighting with the Cocke and ouercomming him conceaueth thereof such pride that shee lyfteth vp her crest and tayle imagining that shee is a Cocke and seeking to tread the other Hennes vvith the very imagination whereof she cōmeth to haue spurres But leauing thys let vs come to Auicenna for in thys matter we cannot goe out of Doctors and Philosophers whose opinion in his seconde Booke is that the imagination of the minde is able to work so mightie a change in naturall things that it hapneth oftentimes
that was also 300. yeeres old both by his lowne saying and the affirmation of those that knew him well besides other many great proofes and arguments thereof This Moore for the austeritie of his life and abstinence vvhich hee vsed was held amongst the rest for a very holie and religious man and the Portugals had great familiarity friendshippe vvith him For all thys though the Chronicles of Portugall are so sincere that there is nothing registred in them but with great fidelitie and approoued truth yet I should stagger in the beliefe of this were it not that there are so many both in Portugall and Spayne which are eye witnesses hereof and know it fully to be true BER And so trulie should I but that your proofe and information is not refutable for these ages are so long in respect of the shortnesse of ours that they bring with them incredible admiration and mee thinkes it is impossible that the first of these two shoulde haue had so many wiues AN. It being verified that hee liued so long this is not to be wondred at for the law both of Gentiles and Moores permitteth men to forsake their wiues and to take new as often as they please and so perchance this man was so fantasticall and peeuish that not contenting himselfe long with any he tooke it for a custome to put away his wiues as we doe seruants that please vs not And as they hold together as many wiues as they will though they bee not all called lawfull what letted him if he chopt changed some turning away taking new especially if he were so rich that he had meanes to maintaine many at once so that there is no such cause to wonder at any of these thinges for in the yeare 1147. in the time of the Emperor Conrad died a man which had serued Charles the great in his warres who as it was by inuinsible arguments proued had liued 340. yeeres and it agreeth with that which you haue sayd of this Indian whence Pero Mexia which writeth also the same tooke it Fascicuhis Temporum likewise maketh mention thereof All thys can he doe in whose hands Nature is shoutning lengthning lyues and ages as it pleased him but for my part I will neuer beleeue but that there are in these things some secrete mysteries which we neither conceiue nor vnderstand LU. Let vs take it as we find it without searching the profound iudgments of God who onely knoweth wherefore hee dooth it and in truth I dared not vtter as holding in for a thing fabulous that which I haue read in the xv booke of Strabo where he saith that those which dwel on the other side of the moūtaines Hyperbores towards the North many of them liued a 1000. yeares AN. I haue also read it but hee writeth the same as a thing not to be beleeued though he denieth not but that it may be possible that many of them liued very long but the likeliest is that in those Countries they deuide theyr yeeres according to the reckoning of which Pliny speaketh one into foure by which computation a thousand yeeres of theirs maketh 250. of ours and this differeth not much from the ages of other people and Nations which we haue rehearsed Yet Acatheus the Philosopher speaking of the mountaines Hyperbores sayeth that those which dwell on the farther side liue more yeeres then all the other Nations of the world Pomponius Mela also speaking of them in the third booke vseth these words vvhen they are weary of liuing ioyfull to redeeme themselues from the trauailes and miseries of life they throw themselues headlong into the Sea which they account the happiest death and fortunatest Sepulcher that may be how so euer many Authors of credite verifie theyr liues to be long BER It is said also that those of the Iland Thile according to the opinion of many now called Iseland liue so long that wearied with age they cause themselues to be conuaied into other parts to the ende that they may dye AN. I haue not seene any Author that writeth this it is like to be some inuention of the common people because those of that Iland liue very long euery one addeth what pleaseth him for as the desire to liue is a thing naturall to all men so how old so euer a man be he will in my opinion rather procure to defend and conserue his life then seeke occasion to finish or shorten the same This people being in the occident and according to the auncient vvriters the last Nation that is knowne that way participate with the Hiperboreans in fame of long life or perchaunce those which haue heard speake of Biarmio Superior the which as we will one day discourse is the last which is knowne of the other side of the Septentrion and of which are written many wonderfull matter chiefely of their long life without infirmity ending onely through extreamity of age the which many of them not attending voluntarily kill themselues thought that these men were vnder the selfe climate and hereof was the inuention of the Elysian fields which the Gentiles held to be in these parts But this being a matter that requireth long time we will now leaue it returne to our former discourse Truly if conforming our selues to reason we would well weigh the trauailes miseries vexations which in this wretched life we endure we should esteeme a short life far hapier then a long which we see beset with infinite troubles calamities endeuor so in this transitory life to serue God that we may come in glory to enioy that other which shal endure for euer BER Seeing we haue hetherto discoursed of so many particularities belonging vnto men let vs not forget one which is of no lesse mistery nor lesse worthy to be knowne then the rest which is of the Centaures or Archers to the ende wee liue not deceaued in that which is reported of thē for many Histories make mention of them though to say truth I neuer read any graue Author that affirmeth to haue seene them or stedfastly that they now are or at any other time haue been in the world which if they either be indeed or haue been they are not to be held for small wonders but for as great as euer haue been any in the world AN. Certainely this of the Centaures is but a Poetical fiction for if it were true it is not possible as you said but that som graue Author or other would haue written therof LV. Let vs yet know whence these fables had their beginning AN. Aske this of Eginius Augustus Libertus which in a booke of his entituled Palephatus de non credendis fabulis sayth that Ixion King of Thessalia brought a mighty Heard of Bulls and Cows to the mountain Pelius which being affrighted throgh some accident that happened scattered themselues flying into the Woods Valleys other vninhabited places out of which they
greater wonder of nothing to work so many miraculous things as he doth me thinks we should not so much meruaile or at least wee should not holde it so vnpossible as these Phylosophers do that a reasonable woman should conceaue a chyld by a Sea-man and that in the participation of reason he should take after his mother whose seede concurred as well in his generation as his fathers For there haue hapned and happen daily in the world many thinges no lesse notable then this of the which thys one which I will rehearse you is so strange and admirable that I should not dare recite it vnlesse it were confirmed by the testimony and authority of so many learned and graue Writers The first is Iohn Saxon in his History the second Iohannes Magnus Archbishop of Vpsala in the Kingdome of Sweueland and lastly it is written and affirmed by his Successour the Archbishop Olaus Magnus There liued say they in a Towne of the Kingdome of Sweueland built neere the mountaines a very principall and rich man who had a daughter very beautifull and faire the which going foorth one euening in company of other maydens to walke and take the ayre as they were sporting in the midst of their deuises and pastimes there issued out of a thicket that was on those mountaines a Beare of exceeding greatnes fierce and terrible making towardes them as fast as hee could the which tremblingly fearefully began to flie each one procuring to saue her selfe onely this seely young maydens hap was to fall into his pawes with whom running away as fast as hee might without any resistance he recouered the thicknes of the wood whose principall intention though it were as it is to be imagined to satisfie the appetite of his rauening hunger yet was it the pleasure of God not to permit this maydens death for the Beare moued with an instinct of Nature different farre from his cruell kind refrained not onlie from deuouring her but carrying her into a Caue which he had in the bottome of a deepe Valley in the Forrest conuerted the rage of his cruelty into a loue most vehement stroking her softly with his pawes cherinshing and handling her in such gentle sort that she perceauing his intention relented in some part her feare and for terror of death not daring to resist his fiercenes suffered him to gather the flower of her virginity The Beare daily issued out of the Caue chasing Harts and other beasts presenting alwayes part of his pray vnto her of which hunger compelled her to eate her drinke was cleare water out of a running Fountaine that passed vnder the trees neere this Caue and in this sort sustained she her desolate life praying continually vnto God to haue pitty on her and to deliuer her out of this wretched estate and miserable calamity And though shee determined oftentimes to runne away when the Beare was out yet shee neuer dared to attempt the same fearing death if she were found by him and besides not daring to aduenture through the mountaines being so full of sundry diuers cruell wild beasts Hauing certaine moneths endured this vnhappy kind of life it happened that certaine Noble men came with nets toyles dogs a hunting into this Forrest by whom this Beare was entrapped and slaine The vvench hearing their cries and voyces and that they were neere vnto her Caue ranne with all possible speed vnto them who with singuler amazement as well at the ralation shee made as at the wildnes of her affrighted countenance carried her away with them and deliuered her vnto her parents who scarcely knew her she was become so vgly disfigured Nature which often worketh things meruailous out of her natural order common obserued course ioyned in such sort the seede of this brute beast in the body of this mayden that to her intollerable greefe and dismayment shee perceaued her selfe to goe great fearing nor attending anie thing else then to bee deliuered of some horrible monster But such was the will of the Almighty that at the end of nine moneths shee came to beare a goodly Boy resembling in nothing else his Father then that hee was somewhat more hairy then other children are They nourished him vp with diligence and care calling him the Beare or perchance that name was giuen him afterwards by the people wondering at his miraculous fiercenes valour for after he came to mans estate he became so strong valiant and hardy of his person that he was redoubted farre and neere and comming to haue knowledge of those that slew the Beare by whom he was engendered he depriued them of life saying That though by theyr meanes he had receaued a good turne yet could he doe no lesse then reuenge his Fathers death This man begatte Trugillus Sprachaleg afterwards a famous Captaine vvhose Sonne was Ulfon a man notable renowned and of whom the Chronicles of those Countreyes make great and often mention for hee was Father to Suenus which by his valour came to obtaine the royall Diademe of Denmarke and they say that of this lynage discende all the Kings of Denmarke and Swethland LU. In trueth this Story should seeme fabulous were it not by so many graue and learned men affirmed to be true but wee may well giue it credite because wee haue knowledge of the like happened in our time no lesse monstrous nor woorthy of admiration then this which you haue rehearsed and there are as yet many which founde themselues present and can giue witnesse thereof It was in this sort as I haue heard it through true relation of many persons most woorthy to be beleeued A vvoman in Portugale for a hainous offence by her committed was condemned and banished into an vninhabited Iland one of those which they commonly call the Isles of Lagartes whether shee was transported by a shippe that went for India and by the way set a shoare in a Cock-bote neere a great mountaine couered with trees and wilde bushes like a Desert The poore vvoman finding her selfe alone forsaken and abandoned vvithout any hope of life beganne to make pittifull cryes and lamentations in commending her selfe vnto God him to succour her in this her lamentable solitary estate Whiles shee was making these mournfull cōplaints there discended from the mountaine a great number of Apes which to her exceeding terror and astonishment compassed her round about amongst the which there was one far greater thē the rest who standing vpō his hind legs vpright seemed in height nothing inferiour to the common sort of men he seeing the vvoman weepe so bitterly as one that assuredlie held her self for dead came vnto her shewing a cheerefull semblaunce and flatteringly as it vvere comforted her offering her certaine fruites to eate in such sort that he put her in hope that shee should not receaue any damage of those other Apes taking her by the arme and gently as it vvere inuiting her to followe him to the mountaines to the which
and that he name giuen vnto him of Aethiopia was but through error because the people would haue it to be so Iohannes Teuronicus in his book of the rites customes of Nations is as well deceaued also in this matter as the rest following the cōmon opinion that he of Aethiopia in Afrique should be Prester Iohn the other hauing raigned beene subdued in the end of Asia where as I said the great Cham or Tartare holdeth his Empire signeury who as it is thought is one of the puissantest mightiest monarches of the world so he entituleth himselfe King of Kings Lord of Lords This matter though otherwise well knowne and verified is also confirmed by Marcus Paulus Venetus who was along time resident in Townes Citties of his Empire and by an English Knight likewise called Iohn Mandeuile who seruing him in his warrs receaued his wages pention BER You haue great reason in all this which you haue said and now I call to memory that the Aethiopians beganne to receaue the faith of S. Phillip the Deacon and afterwards by the preaching of S. Mathew the Apostle and therefore they vaunt them selues to be the first Christians that were in the world in community But leauing these there is a prouince of Christians in Asia called Georgia the which say they were so called because they were conuerted by S. George but I rather take it to be the ancient proper name of the Prouince These Georgists are also called Yuori they haue their Embassadours alwaies in the Court of the Sophie I knowe not whether they pay him tribute or no their Country is very colde and full of Mountaines Those also of Colchos are christians now called by an other name Mengrels There is another kind of people called Albanes who maintaine the Christian religion There is another country of Christians who are called Iacobits on the Mountaine Sinay there are other christians named Maromites And all the coast of India is inhabited of christians from the entry of the Red-Sea where the citty of Aden standeth to the citties of Ormur Dia Malaca and frō thence forward to the kingdoms of Iapon China which are verie great mighty and hereabouts border many other Kingdoms citties Ilands as Zamora Taprobana Zeilan Borney and the Iles of Molucco whence the spice cōmeth with many other Regions great little where dwell infinit numbers of Christians as well Portugals as other which through their good example haue conuerted themselues to the Christian faith the like is hoped that those wil doe which liue vnder the subiection of the great Cham seeing they drawe so neere vnto it which should be a great augmentation of christianitie so that by this meanes Christianitie goeth as it were compassing round about the whole world The christianitie of the Armenians is notorious to all men in the greater of which they are in a manner all christians and in the lesser the greatest part There are likewise christians in Sury in Egypt where as yet remaine sundry signes of ancient christianity in many other parts though in respect of their farre distance from hence we haue no plaine and perticuler knowledge of them I haue read in the chronicles of Portugall that vvhen the Ilands of Catatora were founde out the enhabitants were all christians in their beliefe though God wot passing ignorant in the misteries of the same for they onely worshipped the Crosse because they said that God the redeemer of mankind died vpon the same as for the rest they held a few precepts the chiefest of which was to obserue the law of Nature They called themselues by the names of the Apostles and other Saints whereby it may be thought that some good christian man had arriued in that Iland and conuerted thē to the faith through whose death or departure from thence they remained so smally endoctrined in that Beliefe through the which they should worke their saluation As for the christianity of the West Indies new discouered world we al know it hold it for a thing most assured that asmuch as is shall be discouered will embrace the Catholick faith because that people easily discouereth the error of their Idols and false gods knowing him whom they serued to be the verie deuill himselfe for some of them were of the same beliefe as those of India Maior of whom I spake before who held him in solemne reuerence with sacrifice temples But since the christians arriuall in those parts now they see the dreadful state of damnation wherin they stood withall the deuils authority daily decaying for he speaketh nor appeareth now no more vnto thē as he was wont to doe there come daily such mighty numbers of them with such sorrowfull contrition repentance to receiue the Christian faith that it is wonderfull in which after they are once throughly instructed they perseuer with such ardent charity zeale and perfection that trulie I am ashamed to say how far they doe excell vs of vvhom they receaued it LVD At one thing I do much vvonder and that is how the christianity of these Indies remaineth so cleere without Heresies considering the foule contagious infection that is here amongst vs no doubt but diuers haue gone out of these parts thither that haue not beene of the soundest in Religion but it seemeth that God hath layde his hand vpon that Country for the preseruation of the same to the end he may be there honored serued BE. Wee haue vnderstood that Christendom is far greater then we thought it had been if we all could agree in one vnitie of acknowledging obeying the Catholique Church and couer our selfe vnder the blessed protection thereof not as many doe who beare only the name of Christians but are indeed children of damnation following other fantasticall Churches professing new haereticall doctrines I pray God that wee may liue to be all liuely members of one true and Catholique Church the Spouse of Christ that we may one day see the prophecie fulfilled Et erit vnum Ouile vnus Pastor and there shal be one flold one Sheepheard LV. That wee may see say you this were to promise your selfe a longer life then those of whō we yesterday made mention considering the diuersitie of supersticions factious Sectes wherewith the world is infected AN. Say not so for whē soeuer it shall please God to touch the harts of all those in the world with his mercifull hands he can in one yeere yea in one month day houre or moment so illuminate lighten not only all haereticall Christians but also Turkes Moores Pagans and Iewes and all erronious Sectes ouer the whole world that they may see and repent their owne error reconcile themselues into the bosome of our holy Mother the Catholique Church to th' end the prophecies you haue said may take effect but let vs not looke
other such like tales of which the common people speaketh AN. There are some certainly yea and very many which I take to be meere fictions and fables inuented by men for their pastime or some other cause that moued them others there are which are vndoubtedly of most assured truth as it appeareth by sundry examples successes which cannot be denied LU. Truly Signior Anthonio I shold be very glad throughly to vnderstand this matter of Spirits whether they be illusions deceits of the deuill who representeth thē in imagination fancy only or whether they are truly seene discerned with our bodily eyes for according to the diuersity of tales which I haue heard and of such diuers sorts I knowe not what I should iudge thereof AN. You haue entred into a matter very deepe me thinks you go about to make me a Diuine perforce as yesterday you did in that of terestriall Paradise wherin because I found you then easie to be contented I am the readier now to satisfie you so far as my knowledge extendeth Let vs therfore repose our selues on this greene banke where with the shadow of those trees of one side the freshnes of this Fountain on the other we shal sit to our ease contentment BER We are ready to fulfill obey your cōmaundement in all things especially in this tending to so good an end surely I haue oftentimes beaten my braines about this matter of which you will nowe entreate but still in the end finding the conceite thereof intricate aboue my capacity I gaue it quite ouer AN. Well therfore I wil begin to say what I know as there ariseth any doubt aske and I wil doe my best to resolue satisfie you as wel as I can with the greatest breuity possible for otherwise the matter is so great so much thereof written that we should neuer bring it to an end and because these illusions apparitions of Spirits chiefely proceed of the deuils let vs first see what the ancient Philosophers thought of them not touching our Christian Religion The Peripatetikes chiefely Aristotle were of opinion that there were no deuils at all and so saith Aueroes that hee knew no spirituall substances but those which moue the heauens which he calleth also Angels seperated substances intelligences mouing vertues so that the deuils being spirituall substances he seemeth to deny that there be any Of the same opinion was Democrites therin so obstinate that certaine yong men clothing themselues one night in deformed vgly attire seeming to be very deuils in deed thinking to make him afraide when they came into the place where he was vsing horrible feareful gestures he shewed himselfe secure without any alteration at all bidding thē cease to play the fools because he knew wel there were no such bugs as they represented And when these Philosophers were asked what griefe that was which those endured who were possessed of Spirits they answered it was a passion proceeding of a melancholly humor affirming melancholly to be able to worke those effects and as yet the most part of Phisitions maintaine the same affirming that when the deuill speaketh in diuers tongues yea though often very highly and mistically yet that all this may well proceed through the operation of a vehement melancholly But this is a manifest error for amongst the Ethnike Philosophers them selues there were diuers of a contrary opinion as Pythagoras Plato Socrates Trismegistus Proculus Pophirius Iamblicus many others though S. Austine in his ninth booke De ciuitate Dei sayeth that Plato and his followers called the superiour Angels Gods and that they were the selfe same whom Aristotle called Angels and in this sort is to be vnderstoode the spirit of Socrates so famous in Platos works and of which Apuleius writeth a whole booke and whosoeuer attentiuely readeth the Tymeus of Plato and his Cratilus in the tenth Dialogue De legibus shal find that he meant the same Aristotle him selfe sayeth that Lemures and Lamiae dwell in a sad Region LV. I vnderstand not these names if you declare thē not plainlier vnto me AN. The deuils are called by sundry different names which though for certaine respects keepe their particuler significations Lamiae properly signifie a kind of deuils yet vnder the same name are also contayned Hags and Witches as persons who haue confederation and agreement with the deuill and Lemures or Lares are such as wee call Hobgoblins or domesticall Spirits and as these are Spirits it seemeth to make against that which in other places he maintained But leauing these men who went so blindly and obscurely to worke Let vs come to the trueth it selfe which is Christ and to our Christian Religion which manifestly teacheth vs to vnderstand what we should beleeue as touching these maligne Spirits whose being is proued by so many examples and testimonies of the holy Scripture and by the misteries and miracles wrought by the same God our Sauiour in casting them foorth of humaine bodies The which afterwards the Apostles and holy men did in like sort The Philosophers which confessed that there were deuils though they vnderstood that theyr office was to torment the soules of euill liuers as saith Plato and Xenocrates in his booke which he made of death yet they drawe diuers waies for they make good spirits and euil spirits and they call the departed soules of great wise men Spirits halfe Gods feyning thē through the excellencie of their merrits to be assumpted into heauen where though they neuer entered into the Consistory with the other Gods but when they were called and appointed yet were they Mediators for men that liued on the earth carrying and offering vp theyr messages requests demaunds supplications to the Gods in heauen Neyther made they heere an end but they called also the Gods Daemons as it appeareth by the words of Trismegistus which are thus When the separation saith he shall be of the soule from the bodie the examination thereof shall be tryed by the power iudgment of the chiefe Daemon who finding it righteous godlie will assigne it a conuenient happy place but if he find it spotted with wickednes and defiled with sinnes and offences hee will throw it into the deepe Abysmes where there is alwayes horror and confusion terrible tempests violent waters and vnquenchable fires And so by degrees downewardes towards the earth they place other Gods still declyning till they come to the ill Spirits which they say are those who dwell vnder the earth in the deepe Abysmes thereof Feyning besides a hundred thousand other such like toyes vanities which if you desire to see you may reade the Phylosophers before named and besides them Caelius Rodiginus Protinus Pselius and many others who haue perticulerlie written of this matter But one thing I will assure you that he had neede of a very diuine iudgement whom they
contagion of these inferior bodyes and therfore the Philosophers party is not so freely generally to be maintained without exception of some particularities for if we will looke downe vnto the herbes we shal find that the Hemlock a kinde of weede yeelded to our elders a iuyce with the which they executed their sentence of death constraining those whom they condemned to die to drinke thereof as Plato writeth in his Phaedon The iuyce also of the Mandragora is knowne to be mortiferous and deadlie to those that drinke thereof AN. Passe on no farther in this matter for I confesse it to be as you say yet Hemlocke was not created by God neither doth the influence of the constellations worke in it any effect but for our profit commoditie for if you read Dioscorides you shal there find that there is nothing of greater efficacie to heale Saint Anthonies fire it asswageth the raging of the Milke in women newly deliuered and Plinie sayth that it preserueth the teates from swelling Cornelius Celsus affirmeth that it healeth watry eyes and stauncheth the bleeding at the nose and Galene sayth that the grayne thereof is the naturall foode of many Byrdes namelie Stares Neither is the Mandragora lesse profitable and wholsome for the roote thereof moystned and tempered with Vineger healeth the woundes made by Serpents dissolueth the Kings euill and cureth the disease called the Wolfe asswageth the paine of the Goute causeth the flowers of women to come downe and taketh spots out of the face All this saith Auicenne thereof in his seconde Booke Tryacle Escamonia Turbit Agarico and other Medicines made of herbes wee notoriously know to contayne poyson in them and yet wee see by daily experience how wholsome their operations are to those that are sicke and the like is in all other herbes vvhich are venomous of which there is not any one to be found that wanteth peculiar vertue or that is not one way or other helping and profitable Neither is there lesse vertue to be found in lyuing things which are commonly held to be venomous as for example though the Snake be not without poyson yet her skinne which she casteth as sayth Dyoscorides being sod in Wine and some drops thereof let fall into the eare diseased helpeth the paine thereof and the same Wine beeing taken and held in ones mouth cureth the tooth-ache and the flesh thereof being made into a certaine preparatife eaten healeth the Leprosie The Viper is most venemous and full of poyson yet are they no small vertues and commodities which she yeeldeth for as Pliny sayth in his 29. booke the ashes of her skinne beeing burned is the best remedy that may be to cause hayres falne of through infirmitie or disease to grow againe and that shee herselfe beeing burned and beaten into powder tempred with the iuyce of Fenell and certaine other things cleereth the eye-sight and driueth away Rhumes and Catarres Dyoscorides also sayth and Plinie affirmeth the same that the payne of gowtie feete is taken away by annointing them with her greace and Galen in his sixth booke De virtute medicamentorum affirmeth that if a Viper be choked with a corde or string made of coloured Flaxe and hanged about the neck of him which suffereth any passion stuffing or choaking in the throat it shall be an admirable remedie the selfe same affirmeth Auicenne in his 3. booke though there be many that regard not whether the string be of Flaxe or of wooll of what colour so euer and for the most part they vse therein white Besides Aristotle sayth in his third booke De Animalibus that as the Vipers and Scorpions are knowne to be noysome and full of poyson so haue they also many profitable and helping vertues if wee could attaine to the knowledge and experience of them all And lastly that the Viper sod in vvine healeth those that are infected with Leaprosie which Gallen confirmeth by an example alleadged in his eleuenth booke of simple Medicines where he sayth that certaine Mowers brought with them into the field where they laboured a little vessell of vvine leauing the same vnder a hedge by forgetfulnes vncouered within a while returning to drinke thereof as they poured out the vvine there fell out of the vessell a dead Viper into their drinking boule which hauing crept into the same was therein drowned so that they dared not to tast thereof There was thereby by chaunce at that present in a little Hute or Cabbine a man infected with a disease which they call Leaprosie who through the loathsome contagiousnes of his disease was expelled the Towne and forced to remaine in the fields to the end that the infection of his disease should scatter it selfe no farther The Mowers mooued with compassion accounting the calamitous life of this poore man to be more miserable then death gaue vnto him this impoysoned vvine to drinke as a work of charity thereby to deliuer him out of that languishing life so full of horror loathsomnes and calamity which hauing done the successe that followed was meruailous for so soone as the sick Leaper had greedily swallowed in the wine his disease and filthines began by little and little to fall from him and in short spacee he becam whole sound so that I say that all hearbs beasts and stones contayning in them any poyson or thing noysome containe also in them many good and profitable vertues neyther are we to attribute vnto the starres the blame of the domages which they doe but vnto our selues vvhich know not how to vse them as we ought and should doc for our health and commodity For the Sunne which with his comfortable heate conserueth and cheereth our life would perchaunce be occasion of death to him that in midst of a raging hot day would lay himselfe naked vpon some high place to be scorched parched with the beames thereof And as a sword or dagger which is made for the defence of man and to offend his enemy may be the causer of his owne death if he wil desperatly thrust it into his owne body in like sort those men who vse not the before rehearsed things and such like as they should doe in receauing thereby the profit they may in auoyding the harme that through the vse of them ill employed may ensue can not iusty lay blame on any but themselues Concluding therfore I say that pestilentiall contagious diseases are caused by matters of the earth it selfe infecting the ayre as dead carrions corrupted carkasses sinks standing stopt waters that come to putrifie and stink with many such other filthy infectious things As for great inundations droughts and famines with the rest of such like accidents that offend anoy vs they come and proceed for our chastisement from the wil of God causing permitting thē without the which neither can the starres haue any force or vertue at all neither can they be the causers of any
that the Hiperborians shold be those who dwell on those Mountaines which are on the end of Asia towards the North and me thinkes that Plinie and those Auncients beeing ignorant in the rest concerning them call those also Hyperboreans which dwell on the other side though there be a great quantity of Land betweene seeing hee calleth also by that name those which are vnder the Pole Artick or on the other side thereof AN. It is so for if they were there abouts we could not haue so litle knowledge of them as wee haue and in truth as I vnderstand there must needes be a great quantitie of Lande betweene those mountaines and the people whom he termeth by that name Solinus also entreateth of this matter in the verie selfe same manner which though it be somewhat prolixe I will let you vnderstand what he saith First talking of the Land which is on the other side of the Rephaean mountaines and of the Arymasps he vseth these words Vpon these mountaines the height of Ryphaeus there is a Region couered with continuall clowdes and Ise and in some places of exceeding height it is a part of the world condemned of Nature and seated in a perpetuall obscure myst in the very entrance of the Aquylon whereby it is most rigorously cold This onelie amongst all other Lands knoweth not all the courses of time of the heauens neither tasteth it any other thing then cruell Winter and sempiternall cold And farther speaking in another chapter of the Hyperborean mountaines he saith that there was a fable of the Hyperboreans a rumor of which to belieue any thing was accounted temerity but seeing saith he so many approued Authors men of great sufficiency cōfirme them let no man doubt of thē or hold thē for fabulous being approued with such authorities cōming therfore to speak of them they are on the other side of Pterophoros which we haue heard say is on the other side of Aquilo it is a blessed nation Some will situat the same rather in Asia thē Europe others in the midst betwixt the one th' other sun there as it setteth with Antipodes riseth with vs the which is contrary to reason there being so great a sea which runneth between the 2. rotundities They are therfore in Europe neer them as it is thought are the bars of the world and the last compassing or circuit of the stars they haue one only day in the yere There want not some who say that the sunne is not there as we haue him here but that he riseth in the Equinoctiall of the winter and setteth in the Autumne so that the day continueth sixe monthes together and the night as much The heauens are fauourable the ayre sweet the winds breathe gently comfortably there is amongst them nothing noysome or hurtful The woods are their houses in the day the trees yeelde them victuals they know not what discord is they are not troubled with infirmities they liue innocently theyr will is equall and opinions agreeing in olde age death is welcome vnto them which if it be tardife in cōming they preuent it in bereauing themselues of life for being wearie of liuing after hauing banqueted with theyr friendes they let themselues fall from the top of a high Rocke into the depth of the Sea and this is among them the most esteemed Sepulchre It is said that they were wont to sende by vnspotted virgins theyr first fruites to Apollo in Delos who beeing once by the wickednes of their hostes that harboured them defiled they since that time haue euer vsed to offer them vp within the bounds of theyr ovvne Countrie c. And Pomponius Mela ending to entreate of Sarmanica and beginning with Scithia from thence saith he follow the confines of Asia and vnlesse it be where the Winter is perpetuall and the cold not to be suffred doe enhabite the peoples of Scithia who in a manner all do call themselues Sagae and on the edge of Asia the first are the Hyperboreans vpon the Aquylon and the Ryphaean mountaines vnder the vtmost cyrcling of the starres where the Sunne not euery day as he doth with vs but rysing in the Equynoctiall of the Winter setteth in Autumne so that theyr day and night successiuely continueth sixe monthes long apeece LU. Me thinkes these three Authors say in a manner one thing and in like words differing onely a little about the habitation of this people the one placing them by the Ryphaean mountaines and the other by the Hyperboreans betweene the which as I take it there is a great distance but afore you passe any farder I pray you declare vnto vs the meaning of these two words lately by you mentioned Pterophoras Hyperbore AN. Pterophoras in Greeke is as much to say as a Region of feathers because the furie of the windes is there so violent that they seeme to flie with winges and the snovve which continually falleth resembleth great feathers Hiperboreans is as much to say as those that dwell vnder the wind Boreas which is the same that wee heere call Circius the which as it seemeth engendereth it selfe and riseth of the cold of those mountaines and this is the opinion of Diodorus Siculus though Festus Pompeius say that they are so called because they passe the common maner of men in their liuing and yeeres and Macrobius in his comment De somno Sciptonis interpreteth it saying that they are people which entring within the Land passed on the other side of the wind Boreas but whether it be as the one or the other sayes the matter makes not much BER Let vs passe forward and seeing these Authors seeme heerein to confesse that there are Lands and Prouinces vnder the Zones of the Poles which are enhabited I pray you tell vs what the Modernes doe thinke thereof who haue seene and discouered more then those of times past AN. The Modernes entreate very differently heereof though they be few for Countries so sharpe and so farre out of the way haue beene viewed or passed into by few whereby their particularities might be discouered though wee may say that heerein is fulfilled the saying of our Sauiour Christ that there is nothing so secrete but commeth to be reuealed and so there haue not wanted curious and industrious persons which haue verified the same discouering this secrete but afore we come to entreate of the particularities of this Country heare what Iacobus Ziglerus an Almaigne Author sayth The Auncients sayth hee perswaded by a naked imagination spake of those places by estimation of the heauens deeming thē not to be sufferable or enhabitable without great difficulty for those men which were borne or conuersant in Aegipt or Greece tooke an argument thereby to speake of the whole enhabitable world to affirme those parts vnder the North-pole not to be enhabited But to declare that the Lands how cold so euer they be are not therefore vninhabitable
Sorcerers Hags 84 Opinions of Destenie 101 104. Opinions of the Hiperboreans fo 119. Ophrogeus 88. P. Palmesters 107. Paradise 43 46. Pallas Euanders Sonne 22. Pariardes 24. Pirrhus 8. Pigmies 13 14 120 125. Pigmie what it signifieth 15. Phanaces 11. Phantasma 65. Phaenix 44. Physon 48. Pictorius 24. Planets 105. Pope Marcellus 105. Port Vizantine 10. Prester Iohn 55. Prosperous Fortune 93. R. Rangiferi 129 144. Riuers 42. Riuers of paradise 48. Riuer of greefe 127. Riuer of delight ibid. Robin-good-fellowes 78. Rosmarus 149. Rounceualls 22. S. Satires 12. 73. Sanches Garcia 8. S. Christopher 22. Saludadores 88. Scipio Affricanus first called Caesar 8. Sirboti 23. S. Thomas 55. 56. S. Andrew 72. Soule 105. Spirits 61 62 63. 64. 77. Stryges 84. Strength 21. Suillus Rufus Stones 41. T. Terrestriall Paradise 47. 52. Thalestris 14. Three principal erroneous acts 52 The beginning of Prester Iohn 56 The loue of dogs 96 97. The white Lake 137. The Lake Meler ibid. Tigris 48. Tongues deuided 17. Thule 44. 120. 125. Tritormo 20. Tritons 28. 30. Tyresias 34. V. Versatilis the Seraphins sword 48. Vipers 110. Vener a Lake 141. Vether a Lake 137. Vnderstanding 98. Vse of naturall Magique lawfull fol. 76. W. Water 37. Women of Aegipt 5. Women changed to men 34. 35. Wise men 36. Wild Asses 129. Witches 75. 80. World 23. 52. 115. Whales 148. Weathers 147. Wolfes 145. Y. Yuorie 57. Z. Zona Torrida 46. 48. 115. Zones fiue 113. Zuna 54. FINIS The colde more tolerable then the heate The Philosophers definition of Nature Leuinê° LeÌ„nius definition of Nature Natura naturans Natura naturata Many examples of meÌ„ like one to the other The likenes of Artemon to Antiochus Caius Bibius like to PoÌ„pey Diuers Romaines one like to another Don Rodrigo Girdon and his brother The strange likenes of two men A thing notable of two daughters and a sonne borne all at a burthen The answer of a young man to Augustus Caesar The womeÌ„ of Egipt meruailous fruitfull A woman deliuered of 7. children at once another of 9. A woman deliuered of 4. children all liuing Hermophrodites Two womeÌ„ deliuered at once of fiue sons a peece A Lady of Spaine deliuered of six sonnes 70. Proportioned children at one burden A gentlewoman of Almaigne deliuered of a 150. children The monstrous and strange child birth of the Lady Margaret of Holland The dangerous chyldebirth of women in the kingdom of Naples Hee Goates hauing milk in their teats How long a woman may goe great with child What Hermophrodites are Two Hermophrodites burned The Androgins are all Hermophrodites The linage of Agrippas Nero borne with his feet forward Scipio Affrican called Caesar quiae Caesus ex vtero The strange birth of Don Sanches Garcia king of Nauarre The like of Diego Osorio Children borne toothed Hercules borne with three rowes of teeth The face of a child newe borne couered with long haire A vvench hauing haire vppon the chine of her backe like brisles of a Boare A woman deliuered of an Elephant Sundry strange and monstrous childbirthes Lumpes of flesh called by the PhisitioÌ„s moles Nature forceth her alwayes to do the best The wonderful force of imagination A blacke child borne of white Parents The strange opiration of Nature in the Poet Vizantine A childe couered with hayre The place is called Petroe sancta A wonderfull Monster borne in Germany A wonderful monster A most strange stoie of a Frier Sundrie strange and monstrous formes of men Monosceli Phanaces Sundry diuers shapes of men in the Country of Georgia Arimaspes In what places of the world the monsters are written to be Satyres are men and creatures reasonable The shape of Satyres Meetings of the Satyres Satyres Faunes Egipanes Men with tailes like horses Three Ilands of Satyres Men with tayles like Foxes A race of men hauing all tayles A strange story of a Pilgrima A man with two heads Two children froÌ„ the nauill down ward ioyned in one Two chyldren ioyned backe to backe Pigmees Amazons Thalestris Qu. of the Amazons The Amazons cam to the warres of Troy Pedro Mexias The country stature story description of the Pigmees Theyr fight with the Cranes Ouid. Aristotle Solinus Pomponius Mela. Gemafrisius A shippe of Pigmees driuen on the shore of Norway The relation of Pigafeta in his voyage to the Indies with Magellan Pigmees are men endued with the vse of reason Ezechiel 27. Pigmee in Hebrew signifieth a little man Ctesias 130000. men together with heads like dogs An Ape with a dogs head Men with eight toes Men borne with gray haire which in old age waxeth blacke An Ewe brought forth a Lyon and a Sowe an Elephant Iohanes Bohemus The story of a miraculous Iland found out by Iambolo Iohanes Bohemus Cap. 26. Men whose bones are like sinewes Men with deuided tongues which speâ—â— two purposes at once Bread made of white seede These men vse 28. letters At 150. yeres they kil theÌ„selues A most strange kind of beast They abhor artificiall dressing of meates Theyr sobrietie Their apparrell Theyr exercise Alexander de Alexandria cap. 25. lib. 2. de diebê° Genialibus 4000. Ilands discouered by the Portugales Tritamio a Fencer of exceeding strength The lyke strength of his Sonne being a man of Armes vnder Pompey The miserable end of Milo who liuing was so renowned for his strength The miraculous force of Tritormo Ligdamus the Siracusan hauing his bones massiue and whole within A Gentleman in a certaine infirmity forbidden to drinke remained all his life time euer after without drinking Pero Pardo de Riba de Neyra griped his enemy to death betweene his armes Sundry that abstained long from drinke A man that neuer drank in his life The greatnes of strength consisteth not in the bignes of body Pusion and Secundila x. foote long a peece Orestes was 7. cubits long A bodie found of 33. cubits The miraculous leÌ„gth of the carkas of Antheus The Sepulchre of Pallas sonne to Euander The strange admirable stature of a Giant The bone of a Gyant to which his body being proportioned must be 40. foote long Heereof I take it it comes that seeing a great woman wee say shee is a Rounceuall Iosephus lib. quinto de antiquitatibus A man of Calabria of a meruailous tall and big stature Golyas the Gyant The longer the world lasteth the lesser are the people in stature People among the Ethiopians called Sirboti of 8. cubites in height Wherein the long life of man consisteth The men of Aetolia liue long People of the prouince Pandora The Citty Acroton buâ—lded on the top of the mountaine Atos. There bloweth no wind at all on the top of the hill Olympus Macrobians Men neuer die of sicknes in the Iland Meroe Pictorius liued 300. yeeres Diuers and different coÌ„putation of yeres by the Auncient Nestor liues 300. yeere The Abbesse of MoÌ„uiedro turned to be young again Two men that in theyr old age became youÌ„g againe A man in India that was