Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	blood_n	dragon_n	sanguine_a	164	3	16.9113	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42668	The history of four-footed beasts and serpents describing at large their true and lively figure, their several names, conditions, kinds, virtues ... countries of their breed, their love and hatred to mankind, and the wonderful work by Edward Topsell ; whereunto is now added, The theater of insects, or, Lesser living creatures ... by T. Muffet ...; Historie of foure-footed beasts	Topsell, Edward, 1572-1625?; Topsell, Edward, 1572-1625? Historie of serpents.; Gesner, Konrad, 1516-1565. Historia animalium Liber 1. English.; Gesner, Konrad, 1516-1565. Historia animalium Liber 5. English.; Moffett, Thomas, 1553-1604. Insectorum sive minimorum animalium theatrum. English.; Rowland, John, M.D.	1658 (1658)	Wing G624; ESTC R6249	1,956,367	1,026

that desire to read more of this subject shall finde store of examples in Aelianus his sixt and thirteen Books To conclude when Messalina the wife of Claudius did send certain men to take away the life of Nero who was a rival of Britannicus it is said that when they had him in their hands to strangle him a Dragon appeared out of the earth or floor of the chamber and did so terrifie these hangmen that they ran away and spared Neroes life By which example another example of piety in Dragons is observed Again Telephus ignorantly lying with his mother had committed incest with her had not a Dragon by divine providence come and parted them asunder therefore Draconi similis est virtus indagatrix quae diligenter omnia perscrutatur rimaturque studiosissimè the vertue of discretion or perfect knowledge is like a Dragon which diligently searcheth all things and studiously looketh into every chink so did this Dragon preserve the chastity of the mother and the son when they ignorantly and in the dark had defiled each other but for his appearance and demonstration I will add but this one example more of their love of chastity in men and women In Lavinium there was a great holy Wood neer unto which stood a Temple of Juno in that wood there was a great deep den of a Dragon unto the which Dragon the Virgins came every year being blinde-folded with clowts and carrying Marchpanes in their hands When they entred the Wood there was a certain spirit as it was said without offence did lead them to the den of the Dragon and so every one of the Virgins did severally offer up their Marchpanes to the Dragon the Dragon received the Marchpane at the hand of every pure Virgin and unspotted but if they were defiled and held only the name of Virgins then the Dragon refused the Marchpane and therefore they were all examined at their coming forth that those which had lost their Virginity might be punished by the Law And by this story although none but Heathens will believe it to be true because it is a fable meerly invented to defend Idolatry which with my soul and spirit I do detest yet I may collect thus much as a moral out of a fable that Dragons in ancient time did honor Virginity And thus seeing they neither love nor are beloved of any other creature I will here leave to talk of their love and friendship and passe on to their hatred and adversaries The examples before expressed being all extraordinary and beside nature do not conclude but that there is an ordinary hatred betwixt Men and Dragons and therefore in the discourse of their enemies Men must have the first place as their most worthy adversary for both Dragons have perished by Men and Men by Dragons as may appear by these stories following When the Region of Helvetia began first to be purged from noysome Beasts there was a horrible Dragon found neer a Countrey Town called Wilser who did destroy all men and beasts that came within his danger in the time of his hunger insomuch that that Town and the fields there to adjoyning was called Dedwiler that is a Village of the Wildernesse for all the people and Inhabitants had forsaken the same and fled to other places There was a man of that Town whose name was Winckelriedt who was banished for man-slaughter this man promised if he might have his pardon and be restored again to his former Inheritance that he would combate with that Dragon and by Gods help destroy him which thing was granted unto him with great joyfulnesse Wherefore he was recalled home and in the presence of many people went forth to fight with the Dragon whom he slew and overcame whereat for joy he lifted up his sword imbrued in the Dragons bloud in token of victory but the bloud distilled down from his sword upon his body and caused him instantly to fall down dead And thus this noble Conqueror a man worthy to be remembred in all ages and Nations who had strength to kill the Dragon being alive yet had no power to resist the venom of his bloud he being dead But had it not been that his hand had been before imbrewed in the bloud of a man I do not believe that the bloud of a Dragon could have fallen so heavy upon him But this is the judgement of GOD either to punish murder in the same kinde or elso to teach us that we should not rejoyce in our own merits left God see it and be angry For our Saviour Christ forbade his Disciples that they should rejoyce that the Devils were subject to them and therefore much lesse may we poor creatures rejoyce for overcoming men or beasts And yet one thing more is to be considered in the death of this man who was banished for killing a man and was pardoned for killing a Dragon and yet killed by the Dragon after the Dragon was slain Thus bloud was the sin because it brought death death again brought bloud to be the revenger of the first that the bloud of man might be washed away with the bloud of man and the bloud of a Serpent coming betwixt And thus I may truly say as the Christian Poet saith in another case Sanguine succrevit sanguine finis erit as it grew so shall it end in bloud In the days of Philip King of Macedon there was a way into a Mountain of Armenia over which the King had prayed that never man might go but he might die wherefore Socrates to try the effect of the Kings prayer set his Optick Philosophical glasse that he might see what was in that way and presently he perceived two great Dragons who coming out of their dens did infect the air there abouts with a pestilent evaporation of their own breath This he declared to the King who for the revocation of his own prayer armed divers men to go out against them and kill them who likewise performed the same and so cleared the way from that annoyance And thus we see another story of Dragons slain by men Hereunto may be added how Hercules when he was a childe in his cradle slew two Dragons as Pindarus relateth And the Corcyreans did worship Diomedes for killing of a Dragon Donatus a holy Bishop in Germany finding a Dragon to lie secretly hid beside a bridge killing Men Oxen Horse Sheep and Goats he came boldly unto him in the name of Christ and when the Dragon opened his mouth to devour him the holy Bishop spitting into his mouth killed him When Orpheus was in hawking and while he intended his sport suddenly a Dragon set upon him but his hawking Spaniels or Dogs released him of that Danger for they tore the Dragon in pieces Many such other stories I could relate but I spare them here because I have handled them in the beginning of this story and so I passe over the slaughter of Dragons by Men and come to the

in the top were Lyons in the middle were Goats and also at the foot thereof Serpents If they suffer heat or cold they are much endangered for such is their nature that they avoid all extremity and the females with young are most of all molested with cold if they have conceived in the Winter then many Abortments or casting their young followeth In like sort it hapneth if they eat Walnuts and not to their full unripe therefore either they must be suffered to eat of them to saciety or else they are not to be permitted to them If at any time the eat Scammony Hellebore Lesseron or Mercury they are much troubled in their stomach and lose their milk especially the white Hellebore The Publicans in the Province of Cyrene have all the government of the pastures and therefore they permit not Benzwine to grow in their Countrey finding thereby great gain and if at any time their Sheep or Goats meet with any branch thereof they eat it greedily but the Sheep immediately fall to sleep and the Goats to Neezing Aegolethros and Sabine are poyson to Goats The Herb called in Greek Rhododendron and may be Englished Rose-tree is poyson to Goats and yet the same helpeth a man against the venome of Serpents The prickle or spindle tree called also Euonymus which groweth in the Mount Occynius called Ordyno about the bigness of a Pine-apple-tree having soft leaves like the same and it buddeth in September and the flower is like to a white Violet flower this killeth Goats except they be purged with black Hellebore immediately after they have eaten thereof The Egyptians when they will describe a man devouring Sheep or Goats they picture the herb Curilago or Conyza because it also killeth them Also as Clodrysippus affirmeth they avoid Cumin for it maketh them mad or bringeth upon them Lethargies and such like infirmities He avoideth also the spettle of man for it is hurtful to him and to the Sea-fish Scolopendra and yet he eateth many venemous herbs and groweth fat thereby and this also may be added that Goats grow fat when they are with young but by drinking of Honey they are weakned and indangered of death Concerning their drink it is necessary for a skilful Goat-herd to observe the nature of the beast and the best time and place of their watering according to the saying of Virgill Jubeo frondentia Capris Arbuta sufficere fluvios praebere recentes In the Summer they are to be watered twice a day and at other times once only in the afternoon but it is reported of the Goats of Cephalenia that they drink not every day like other Goats but only once or twice in six months and therefore they turn themselves to the winde or cold air of the Sea and by yawning suck into their mouths or bellies that which serveth them in stead of water When the Sun declineth they ly and look not upon one another but on the contrary and they which lodge in the fields take up their rest amongst their acquaintance But if they be used to fold or house they remember it and repair thither of their own accord which thing caused the Poet to write in this manner Atque ipsae memores redeunt in tecta suosque Ducunt gravido superant vix ubere limen Concerning their stables or houses to lodge in for their defence against the cold the diligent herd-man must observe that nothing must be laid under the Goat to ly upon and it is best to make his stable upon stones or some some such hard floor and the same must be kept and turned dry every day from the annoyance of their dung for that hurteth their heads It is good to set the window of their stable to the Sun and from the winde according to the counsel of Virgil Et stabula a ventis hyberno opponere soli Ad medium conversa diem cum frigidus olim Jam cadit extremoque irrorat Aquarius anno Although Goats be stronger then Sheep yet they are never so sound for in buying and selling or them he was never accounted a wise man that either hoped to buy or promised to sell without fault It was sufficient in open Market places when and where Goats were to be sold to promise Hodie capras recte esse bibere posse eas licite habere that is that the day of their sale they were well and could drink and they were his own and it was lawful for him to have them But farther no man was urged for Archelaus saith they are ever Febricitantes because their breath is hotter and their copulation more fiery and therefore their herdmen must not be unprovided of good and sufficient medicine to help them and not only against their natural diseases but also their continual horn-wounds which they give one another by their often fightings and also when they aspire to climbe upon steep and craggy pointed rocks or trees they often fall and are wounded in such cases they have no such Physitian as their Keeper whose bag and box must be as an Apothecaries shop to yeeld continual remedies to all their grievances The best means to preserve them in health next to a good diet and warm lodging is to plant Alysson neer to their stabling houses And their continual Ague spoken of before is profitable to their body for when it departeth and leaveth them presently they perish and dy Sheep and Goats have a natural foresight of the Pestilence or Murrain of Earth-quakes and of wholesome temperate weather and of abundance and store of fruits but neither of both shall be ever infested by the Pestilence if you give them the powder of a Storks Ventricle or maw one spoonful thereof in water every day And whereas all other kinde of Cattel when they are sick consume and pule away by little and little only Goats perish suddenly insomuch as all that are sick are unrecoverable and the other of the flock must be instantly let bloud and separated before the infection overspread all and the reason of their sudden death is because of their aboundance of food which ministreth speedy flax for the fire of their disease to burn At such times they must not feed all the day long but only thrice or four times a day be led forth to grass and brought in again to their stables If any other sickness annoy them they are to be cured with Reed and the roots of white Thorn beat together with Iron Pestles and mingled with rain Water and so given to the Cattel to be drunk but if this medicine help not then either sell them away or else kill them and salt them till you minde to eat them Goats are not troubled with Lice or Nits but only with Tickes There is a certain Wine called Melampodion the report is that one Melampos a Shepherd had it revealed unto him to cure the madness of Goats it is made of black Hellebore and

attributeth this to her right foot The like is attributed to a Sea-calf and the fish Hyaena and therefore the old Magicians by reason of this exanimating property did not a little glory in these beasts as if they had been taught by them to exercise Diabolical and praestigious incantation whereby they deprived men of sense motion and reason They are great enemies to men and for this cause Solinus reporteth of them that by secret accustoming themselves to houses or yards where Carpenters or such Mechanicks work they learn to call their names and so will come being an hungred and call one of them with a distinct and articulate voice whereby he causeth the man many times to forsake his work and go to see the person calling him but the subtile Hyaena goeth further off and so by calling allureth him from help of company and afterward when she seeth time devoureth him and for this cause her proper Epithet is Aemula ●●cis Voyce-counterfeiter There is also great hatred betwixt a Pardall and this Beast for if after death their skins be mingled together the hair falleth off from the Pardals skin but not from the Hyaenaes and therefore when the Egyptians describe a superiour man overcome by an inferiour they picture these two skins and so greatly are they afraid of Hyaenaes that they run from all beasts creatures and pla●es whereon any part of their skin is fastened And Aelianus saith that the Ibis bird which liveth upon Serpents is killed by the gall of an Hyaena He that will go safely through the mountains or places of this beasts abode Rasis and Allertus say that he must carry in his hand a root of Colloquintida It is also believed that if a man compasse his ground about with the skin of a Crocodile an Hyaena or a Sea-calf and hang it up in the gates or gaps thereof the fruits enclosed shall ●ot be molested with hail or lightning And for this cause Mariners were wont to cover the tops of their sails with the skins of this Beast or of the Sea-calf and Horns saith that a man clothed with this skin may passe without fear or danger through the middest of his enemies for which occasion the Egyptians do picture the skin of an Hyaena to signifie fearless audacity Neither have the Magicians any reason to ascribe this to any praestigious enchantment seeing that a Fig-tree also is never oppressed with hail nor lightning And the true cause thereof is assigned by the Philosophers to be the bitterness of it for the influence of the heavens hath no destructive operation upon bitter but upon sweet things and there is nothing sweet in a Fig tree but only the fruit Also Columella writeth that if a man put three bushels of ●eed grain into the ●kin of this Beast and afterward sow the same without all controversie it will arise with much encrease G 〈…〉 worn in an Hyaenaes skin seven dayes instead of an Amulet is very soveraign against the biting of mad dogs And likewise if a man hold the tongue of an Hyaena in his hand there 〈◊〉 Dog that dareth to seize upon him The skin of the forehead or the bloud of this Beast resisteth all kinde of Witchcraft and Incantation Likewise Pliny writeth that the hairs layed to Womens lips maketh them amorous And so great is the vanity of the Magicians that they are not ashamed to affirm that by the tooth of the upper jaw of this Beast on the right side bound unto a mans arme or any part thereof he shall never be molested with Dart or Arrow Likewise they say that by the genital of this beast and the Article of the back-bone which is called Atlantios with the skin cleaving unto it preserved in a House keepeth the family in continual concord and above all other if a man carry about him the smallest and extreme gut of his intrails he shall not only be delivered from the Tyrany of the higher powers but also foreknow the successe and event of his petitions and sutes in Law If his left foot and nails be bound up together in a Linnen bag and so fastened unto the right arme of a Man he shall never forget whatsoever he hath heard or knoweth And if he cut off the right foot with the left hand and wear the same whosoever seeth him shall fall in love with him besides the Beast Also the marrow of the right foot is profitable for a Woman that loveth not her Husband if it be put into her nostrils And with the powder of the left claw they which are anointed therewith it being first of all decocted in the bloud of a Weasil do fall into the hatred of all men And if the nails of any beast be found in his maw after he is Ilain it signifieth the death of some of his hunters And to conclude such is the folly of the Magi●ians that they believe the transmigration of souls not only out of one man into another but also of man into beasts And therefore they affirm that their men Symis and religious votaries departing life send their souls into Lions and the religious women into Hyaenaes The excrements or bones coming out of the excrements when it is killed are thought to have virtue in them against Magical incantations And Democritus writeth that in Cappadocia and Mesia by the eating of the hearb Therionarcha all wilde beasts fall into a deadly sleep and cannot be recovered but by the aspersion of the urine of this beast And thus much for the first kinde now followeth the second The Second kinde of HYAENA called Papio or Dabuh THis Beast aboundeth near Caesarea in quantity resembling a Fox but in wit and disposition Wolf the fashion is being gathered together for one of them to go before the flock 〈…〉 or howling and all the rest answering him with correspondent tune In hair it resembleth a 〈◊〉 and their voices are so shrill and sounding that although they be very remote and far off yet do men hear them as if they were hard by And when one of them is slain the residue flock about his carcase howling like as they made funeral lamentation for the dead When they grow to be very hungry by the constraint of famine they enter into Graves of men ●nd eat their dead bodies Yet is their flesh in Syria Damascus and Ber●tus eaten by men It is ●alled also Randelos Aben●●m Aldabha Dabha Dabah and Dhoboha which are derived from the He 〈…〉 ew word Deeb or Deeba Dabuh is the Arabian name and the Africans call him Les●ph his feet and 〈…〉 gs are like to a mans neither is it hurtful to other Beasts being a base and simple creature The 〈…〉 olour of it is like a Bear and therefore I judge it to be A●●●o●●on which is ingendered of a Bear and 〈◊〉 Dog and they bark only in the night time They are exceedingly delighted with Musick such 〈◊〉 is

Ardentesque faces quas quamvia savids horret For as they are inwardly filled with natural fire for which cause by the Egyptians they were dedicated to Vulcan so are they the more afraid of all outward fire and so suspicious is he of his welfare that if he tread upon the rinde or bark of Oke or the leaves of Osyer he trembleth and standeth amazed And Democritus affirmeth that there is a certain herb growing no where but in Armenia and Cappadocta which being laid to a Lion maketh him to fall presently upon his back and he upward without stirring and gaping with the whole breadth of his mouth the reason whereof Pliny faith is because it cannot be bruised There is no Beast more desirous of copulation then a Lioness and for this cause the males oftentimes fall forth for sometimes eight ten or twelve males follow one Lioness like so many Dogs one salt Bitch for indeed their natural constitution is so not that at all times of the year both sexes desire copulation although Aristotle seemeth to be against it because they bring forth only in the spring The Lioness as we have shewed already committeth adultery by lying with the Libbard for which thing she is punished by her male if she wash not her self before she come at him but when she is ready to be delivered she flyeth to the lodgings of the Libbards and there among them 〈◊〉 deth her young ones which for the most part are males for if the male Lion finde them he knoxeth them and destroyeth them as a bastard and adultenous issue and when she goeth to give them suck she saigneth as though she went to hunting By the copulation of a Lioness and an Hyaena is the Ethiopian Crocuta brought forth The Arcadian Dogs called Leontomiges were also generated betwixt Dogs and Lions In all her life long she beareth but once and that but one at a time as Esop seemeth to set down in that fable where he expresseth that contention between the Lioness and the Fox about the generosity of their young ones the Fox objecteth to the Lioness that she bringeth forth but one whelp at a time but he on the contrary begetteth many cubs wherein he taketh great delight unto whom the Lioness maketh this answer Parere se quidem unum sed Leonem that is to say she bringeth sorth indeed but one yet that one is a Lion for one Lion is better then a thousand Foxes and true generosity consisteth not in popularity or multitude but in the gifts of the minde joyned with honorable descent The Lionesses of Syria bear five times in their life at the first time five afterwards but one and lastly they remain barren Herodotus speaking of other Lions saith they never bear but one and that only once whereof he giveth this reason that when the whelp beginneth to stir in his Dams belly the length of his claws pierce through her matrix and so growing greater and greater by often turning leaveth nothing whole so that when the time of littering cometh she casteth forth her whelp and her womb both together after which time she can never bear more but I hold this for a fable because Homer Pliny Oppianus Solinus Philes and Aelianus affirm otherwise contrary and besides experience sheweth the contrary When Apollonius travelled from Babylon by the way they saw a Lioness that was killed by hunters the Beast was of a wonderful bigness such a one as was never seen about her was a great cry of the Hunters and of other neighbours which had flocked thither to see the monster not wondering so much at her quantity as that by opening of her belly they found within her eight whelps whereat Apollonius wondring a little told his companions that they-travelling now into India should be a year and eight moneths in their journey for the one Lion signified by his skill one year and the eight young ones eight moneths The truth is that a Lion beareth never above thrice that is to say six at the first and at the most afterwards two at a time and lastly but one because that one proveth greater and fuller of stomach then the other before him wherefore nature having in that accomplished her perfection giveth over to bring forth any more Within two moneths after the Lioness hath conceived the whelps are perfected in her womb and at six moneths are brought forth blinde weak and some are of opinion without life which so do remain three dayes together untill by the roaring of the male their father and by breathing in their face they be quickned which also he goeth about to establish by reason but they are not worth the relating Isidorus on the other side declareth that for three dayes and three nights after their littering they do nothing but sleep and at last are awaked by the roaring of their father so that it should seem without controversie they are senseless for a certain space after their whelping At two moneths old they begin to run and walk They say also that the fortitude wrath and boldness of Lions is conspicuous by their heat the young one containeth much humidity contrived unto him by the temperament of his kinde which afterwards by the driness and calidity of his complection groweth viscous and slimie like bird-lime and through the help of the animal spirits prevaileth especially about his brain whereby the nerves are so stopped and the spirits excluded that all his power is not able to move him untill his parents partly by breathing into his face and partly by bellowing drive away from his brain that viscous humor these are the words of Physiologus whereby he goeth about to establish his opinion but herein I leave every man to his own judgment in the mean season admiring the wonderful wisdom of God which hath so ordered the several natures of his creatures that whereas the little Partridge can run so soon as it is out of the shell and the duckling the first day swim in the water with his dam yet the harmful Lions Bears Tygres and their whelps are not able to see stand or go for many moneths whereby they are exposed to destruction when they are young which live upon destruction when they are old so that in infancie God clotheth the weaker with more honor There is no creature that loveth her young ones better then the Lioness for both shepherds and hunters frequenting the mountains do oftentimes see how irefully she fighteth in their defence receiving the wounds of many Darts and the stroaks of many stones the one opening her bleeding body and the other pressing the bloud out of the wounds standing invincible never yielding till death yea death it self were nothing unto her so that her young ones might never be taken out of her Den for which cause Homer compareth Ajax to a Lioness fighting in the defence of the carcass of Patroclus It is also reported that the male will

the Glosse upon the 42. Psalm which beginneth Like as the Hart desireth the water springs so longeth my soul after my GOD. But for the ending of this question we must consider and remember that there are two kindes of Harts one eateth Serpents and feeling the poyson to work straight-way by drinking casteth up the poyson again or else cureth himself by covering all his body over in water The other kinde only by nature killeth a Serpent but after victory forbeareth to eat it and returneth again to feed in the Mountains And thus much for the discord betwixt Harts and Serpents In the next place great is the variance betwixt Serpents Dragons and Elephants whereof Pliny and Solinus write as followeth When the Elephants called Serpent-killers meet with the Dragons they easily tread them in pieces and overcome them wherefore the Dragons and greater Serpents use subtilty in stead of might for when they have found the path and common way of an Elephant they make such devises therein to intrap him as a man would think they had the devise of men to help them for with their tails they so ensnare the way that when the beast cometh they intangle his legs as it were in knots of ropes now when the beast stoopeth down with his trunk to loose and untie them one of them suddenly thrusteth his poysoned head into his trunk whereby he is strangled The other also for there are ever many which lie in ambush set upon his face biting out his eyes and some at his tender belly some winding themselves about his throat and all of them together sting bite tear vex and hang upon him untill the poor beast emptyed of his blood and swollen with poyson in every part fall down dead upon his adversaries and so by his death kill them at his fall and overthrow whom he could not overcome being alive And whereas Elephants for the most part go together in flocks and troops the subtile Serpents do let passe the foremost of every rank and set only upon the hindermost that so one of the Elephants may not help another and these Serpents are said to be thirty yards long Likewise forasmuch as these Dragons know that the Elephants come and feed upon the leaves of trees their manner is to convey themselves into the trees and lie hid among the boughs covering their foreparts with leaves and letting their hinder parts hang down like dead parts and members and when the Elephant cometh to brouze upon the tree-tops then suddenly they leap into his face and pull out his eyes and because that revenge doth not satisfie her thirsting only after death she twineth her gable-long body about his neck and so strangleth him It is reported that the blood of Elephants is the coldest bloud in the world and that the Dragons in the scorching heat of Summer cannot get any thing to cool them except this bloud for which cause they hide themselves in Rivers and Brooks whither the Elephants come to drink and when he putteth down his trunk they take hold thereof and instantly in great numbers leap up into his ears which only of all his upper parts are most naked and unarmed out of which they suck his bloud never giving over their hold till he fall down dead and so in the fall kill them which were the procurers of his death So that his and their bloud is mingled both together whereof the Ancients made their Cinnabaris which was the best thing in the World to represent bloud in painting Neither can any devise or art of man ever come neer it and beside it hath in it a rare vertue against poyson And thus much for the enmity betwixt Serpents and Elephants The Cat also by Albertus is said to be an enemy to Serpents for he saith she will kill them but not eat thereof howbeit in her killing of them except she drink incontinently she dyeth by poyson This relation of Albertus cannot agree with the Monks of Mesuen their relation about their Abby-cat But it may be that Albertus speaketh of wilde-cats in the Woods and Mountains who may in ravin for their prey kill a Serpent which followeth with them the same common game The Roes or Roe-bucks do also kill Serpents and the Hedge-hog is enemy unto them for some-times they meet both together in one hole and then at the sight of the Serpent the Hedge-hog foldeth himself up round so as nothing appeareth outwardly save only his prickles and sharp bristles the angry Serpent fetteth upon him and biteth him with all her force the other again straineth herself above measure to annoy the Serpents teeth face eyes and whole body and thus when they meet they lie together afflicting one another till one or both of them fall down dead in the place For sometime the Serpent killeth the Hedgehog and sometime the Hedge-hog killeth the Serpent so that many times she carrieth away the Serpents flesh and skin upon her back The Weasels also fight with Serpents with the like successe the cause is for that one and other of them live upon juyce and so for their prey or booty they fall together in mortall warre Herein the Weasel is too cunning for the Serpent because before she fighteth she seeketh Rue and by eating thereof quickly discomforteth her adversary But some say that she eateth Rue afterward to the intent to avoyd all the poyson she contracted in the combat The Lyon also and the Serpent are at variance for his rufling mane is discouraged by the extolled head of the Serpent to his breast And therefore as S. Ambrose saith this is an admirable thing that the Snake should run away from the Hart the most fearfull of all other beasts and yet overcome the Lyon King of all the residue The Ichneumon or Pharos Mouse is an enemy to Serpents and eateth them and because he is too seeble to deal with a Snake alone therefore when he hath found one he goeth and calleth as many of his fellowes as he can finde and so when they find themselves strong enough in company they set upon their prey and eat it together for which cause when the Egyptians will signifie weaknesse they paint an Ichneumon The Peacock is also a professed terror and scourge to Snakes and Adders and they will not endure neer those places where they hear their voice The Sorex and Swine do also hate and abhor Serpents and the little Sorex hath most advantage against them in the Winter-time when they are at the weakest To conclude the Horse is wonderfully afraid of all kindes of Serpents if he see them and will not go over but rather leap over a dead Snake And thus I will end the warre betwixt Serpents and Four-footed beasts and Fowls Now lest their curse should not be hard enough unto them God hath also ordained one of them to destroy another and therefore now it followeth to shew in a word the mutuall discord betwixt themselves The Spider although

a mortal wound Alciatus hath an Embleme which he seemeth to have translated out of Greek from Antipater Sidonius of a Falconer which while he was looking up after Birds for meat for his Hawk suddenly a Dipsas came behinde him and stung him to death The title of his Embleme is Qui alta contemplatur cadere he that looketh high may fall and the Embleme it self is this that followeth Dum turdos visco pedica dum fallit alaudas Et jacta altivolam figit arundo gruem Dipsada non prudens auceps pede perculit ultrix Illa mali emissum virus ab ore jacit Sic obit extento qui sidera respicit arcu Securus fati quod jacet ante pedes Which may be thus Englished Whiles Thrush with line and Lark deceived with net And Crane high flying pierced with force of reed By Falconer was behold a Dipsas on the foot did set As if it would revenge his bloudy foul misdeed For poyson out of mouth it cast and bit his 〈◊〉 Whereof he dyed like Birds by him deceived Whiles bending bow alost unto the stars did look Saw not his fate below which him of life bereaved This Dipsas is inferior in quantity unto a Viper but yet killeth by poyson much more speedily according to these verses Exiguae similis spectatur Dipsas echidnae Sed festina magis mors ictus occupat aegros Parva lurida cui circa ultima cauda nigrescit That is to say This Dipsas like unto the Viper small But kills by stroke with greater pain and speed Whose tail at end is soft and black withall That as your death avoid with careful heed It is but a short Serpent and so small as Arnoldus writeth it killeth before it be espyed the length of it not past a cubit the fore-part being very thick except the head which is small and so backward it groweth smaller and smaller the tail being exceeding little the colour of the fore-part somewhat white but set over with black and yellow spots the tail very black Galen writeth that the ancient Marsi which were appointed for hunting Serpents and Vipers about Rome did tell him that there was no means outwardly to distinguish betwixt the Viper and the Dipsas except in the place of their abode for the Dipsas he saith keepeth in the salt places and therefore the nature thereof is more fiery but the Vipers keep in the dryer Countries wherefore there are not many of the Dipsades in Italy because of the moistnesse of that Countrey but in Lybia where there are great store of salt marishes As we have said already a man or beast wounded with this Serpent is afflicted with intolerable thirst insomuch as it is easier for him to break his belly then to quench his thirst with drinking always gaping like a Bull casteth himself down into the water and maketh no spare of the cold liquor but continually sucketh it in till either the belly break or the poyson drive out the life by overcoming the vital spirits To conclude beside all the symptomes which follow the biting of Vipers which are common to this Serpent this also followeth them that the party afflicted can neither make water vomit nor sweat so that they perish by one of these two ways first either they are burned up by the heat of the poyson if they come not at water to drink or else if they come by water they are so unsatiable that their bellies first swell above measure and soon break about their privy parts To conclude all the affections which follow the thick poyson of this Serpent are excellently described by Lucan in these verses following Signiferum juvenem Tyrrheni sanguinis Aulum Torta capu● retrò Dipsas calcata momor dit Vix dolor aut sensus dentis fuit ipsaque leti Frons caret invidia nec quicquam plaga minatur Ecce subit virus tacitum carpitque medullas Ignis edax calidaque incendit viscera tabe Ebibit humorem circum vitalia fusum Pestis in sicco linguam torrere palato Coepit def●ssos iret qui sudor in artus Non fuit atque oculos lachrymarum vena resugit Non decus imperii non moesti jura Catonis Ardentem tenuere virum quin spargere signa Auderet totisque furens exquireret agris Quas poscebat aquas sitiens in corde venenum Ille vel in Tanaim missus Rhodanumque Padumque Arderet Nilumque bibens per rura vagantem Accessit morti Libyae fatique minorem Famam Dipsas habet teriis adjuta perustis Scrutatur venas penitus squallentis arenae Nunc redit ad Syrtes fluctus accipit ore Aequoreusque placet sed non sufficit humor Nec sentit fatique genus mortemque veneni Sed putat esse sitim ferroque aperire tumentes Sustinuit venas atque os implere cruore Lucan lib. 9. In English thus Tyr●henian Aulus the ancient-bearer young Was bit by Dipsas turning head to heel No pain or sense of 's teeth appear'd though poyson strong Death doth not frown the man no harm did feel But loe she poyson takes the marrow and eating fire Burning the bowels ●arm till all consumed Drinking up the humor about the vital spire And in dry palat was the tongue up burned There was no sweat the sinews to refresh And tears fled from the vein that feeds the eyes Then Catoes law nor Empires honor fresh This fiery youth could hold but down the streamer flies And like a mad man about the fields he runs Poysons force in heart did waters crave Though unto Tanais Rhodanus Padus he comes Or Nilus yet all too little for his heat to have But dry was death as though the Dipsas force Were not enough but holp by heat of earth Then doth he search the sands but no remorse To Syrtes floud he hies his mouth of them he filleth Salt water pleaseth but it cannot suffice Nor knew he fate or this kinde venoms death But thought it thirst and seeing his veins arise Them cut which bloud stopt mouth and breath The signes of death following the biting of this Serpent are extreme drought and inflamation both of the inward and outward parts so that outwardly the parts are as dry as Parchment or as a skin set against the fire which cometh to passe by adustion and commutation of the bloud into the nature of the poyson For this cause many of the ancients have thought it to be incurable and therefore were ignorant of the proper medicines practising only common medicines prescribed against Vipers but this is generally observed that if once the belly begin to break there can be no cure but death First therefore they use scarification and make ustion in the body cutting off the member wounded If it be in the extremity they lay also playsters unto it as Triacle liquid Pitch with Oyl Hens cut asunder alive and so laid to hot or else the leaves of Purslain beaten in Vinegar Barley meal Bramble leaves pounded with Honey

Bees full wilde or Locusts spoylers bred But yet to look upon all horrible in seams For why the cruel Bore they shew in head They keep in rocks and stony places of the houses and earth making their dens winding and hanging according to these Verses Rimosas colit illa Petras sibique aspera tecta Et modice pendens facit inflexumque cubile In English thus The chinks of Rocks and passages in stone They dwell wherein their lodgings bare A little hanging made for every one And bending too their sleepy harbours are It is said that Canobus the Governour of Menelaus chanced to fall upon this Serpent in revenge whereof Helen his charge the wife of Menelaus broke his back-bone and that ever since that time they creep lamely and as it were without loyns which fable is excellently thus described by Nicander Quondam animosa Helene cygni Jovis inclyta proles Eversa rediens Troia nisi vana v●tustas Huic indignata est generi Pharias ut ad oras Venit adversi declinans flamina venti Fluctivagam statuit juxta Nili ostia classem Namque ubi nauclerus se fessum forte Canobus Sterneret et bibulis fusus dormiret arenis Laesa venenosos H●morrhois impulit ictus Illatamque tulit letali dente quietem Protinus o●iperae cernens id filla Ledae Oppressae medium serpenti fervida dorsum Infregit tritaeque excussit vinculae spinae Quae fragili illius sic dempta è corpore fugit Et graciles Haemorrhoiae obliquique Cerastae Ex hoc clauda trahunt jam foli tempore membra Which may be Englished thus Once noble Helen Joves childe by Swan-like shape Returning back from Troy destroyed by Grecian war If that our ancients do not with fables us beclap This race was envied by Pharias anger farre When to his shores for safety they did come Declining rage of blustring windy seas Water-biding-Navy at Nilus mouth gan run Where Canobus all tyred sainted for some ease For there this Pilot or Master of the Fleet Did hast from boat to sleep in ●rery sand Where he did feel the teeth of Hemorrhe deep Wounding his body with poyson deaths own hand But when egge-breeding Ledaes wench espyed This harm she prest the Serpents back with stroke Whereby the bands thereof were all 〈◊〉 Which in just wrath for just revenge she broke So ever since out of this Serpents fr 〈…〉 And body they are taken which is the cause That Cerasts and lean Haemorrhs are ever 〈◊〉 Drawing their parts on earth by natures lawes They which are stung with these Haemorrhs do suffer very intolerable torments for out of the wound continually floweth bloud and the excrements also that cometh out of the belly are bloudy or sometimes little rouls of bloud in stead of excrements The colour of the place bitten is black or of a dead bloudy colour out of which nothing floweth at the beginning but a certain watery humour then followeth pain in the stomack and difficulty of breathing Lastly the powers of the body are broken and opened so that out of the mouth gums ears eyes fingers ends nayls of the feet and privy parts continually issueth bloud untill a cramp also come and then followeth death as we read in Lucan of one Tellus a young noble man slain by this Serpent described as followeth Impressit dentes Haemorrhois aspera Tullo Magnanimo juveni miratorique Catonis V●que solet pariter totis se effundere signis Coricii pressura croci sic omnia membra Emisere simul rutilum pro sanguine vir●s Sanguis erant lachrymae qu●cunque foramina novit Humor ab iis largus manat cruor ora redundant Et patulae nares sudor rubet omnia plenis Membra fluunt venis totum est pro vulnere corp●s In English thus The Haemorrhe fierce in noble Tullus fastened teeth That valiant youth great Catoes scholar deer And as when Saffron by Corycians skeeth Is prest and in his colour on them all appear So all his parts sent forth a poyson red In stead of bloud Nay all in bloud went round Bloud was his tears all passages of it were sped For out of mouth and ears did bloud abound Bloud was his sweat each part his vein out-bleeds And all the body bloud that one wound feeds The cure of this Serpent in the opinion of the Ancients was thought impossible as writeth Dioscrides and thereof they complain very much using only common remedies as scarification ●stions sharp meats and such things as are already remembred in the cure of the Dipsas But besides these they use Vine-leaves first bruised and then sod with Honey they take also the head of this Serpent and burn it to powder and so drink it or else Garlick with Oyl of Flower-de-luce they give them also to eat Reisins of the Sun And besides they resist the eruption of the bloud with plaisters laid to the place bitten made of Vine-leaves and Honey or the leaves of Purslane and Barley-meal But before their urine turn bloudy let them eat much Garlick stamped and mixed with Oyl to cause them to vomit and drink wine delayed with water then let the wound be washed with cold water and the bladder continually fomented with hot Spunges Some do make the cure of it like the cure of the Viper and they prescribe them to eat hard Egges with Salt fish and besides the seed of Radish the juice of Poppy with the roots of Lilly also Daffadil and Rue Trefolie Cassia Opoponax and Cinnamon in potion and to conclude the flowers and buds of the bush are very profitable against the biting of the Haemorrhe and so I end the history of this Serpent Of the Horned SERPENT THis Serpent because of his Horns although it be a kinde of Viper is called in Greek Rerastes and from thence cometh the Latine word Cerastes and the Arabian Cerust and Cerustes It is called also in Latine Ceristalis Cristalis Sirtalis and Tristalis All which are corrupted words derived from Cerastes or else from one another and therefore I think it not fit to stand upon them The Hebrewes call it Schephiphon the Italians Cerastes the Germans En ge●urnte schl●●g the French Vn Ceraste un serpent Cornu that is a horned Serpent and therefore I have so called it in English imitating herein both the French and Germans I will not stand about the difference of Authors whether this Serpent be to be referred to the Asps or to the Vipers for it is not a point materiall and therefore I will proceed to the description of his nature that by his whole history the Reader may choose whether he will account him a subordinate kinde unto others or else a principall of himself It is an African Serpent bred in the Lybian sandy seas places not inhabited by men for the huge Mountains of sands are so often moved by the windes that it is not only impossible for men to dwell there but also very dangerous and perilous to travel through them for

to be derived from the Greek Echidna At this day it is doubted whether they live in Italy Germany or England for if they doe they are not knowne by that name yet I verily think that we have in England a kinde of yellow Adder which is the Viper that Bellonius saw here for I my selfe have killed of them not knowing at that time the difference or similitude of Serpents but since I have perceived to my best remembrance that the proportion and voyce of it did shew that it was a Viper The most different kinds of Vipers are found in Aegypt and Asia Concerning the quantity that is the length and greatnesse of this Serpent there is some difference for some affirme it to be of a cubit in length and some more some lesse The Vipers in Europe are very small in comparison of them in Africa for among the Troglodytes as writeth Aelianus they are fifteen cubits long and Nearchus affirmeth as much of the Indian Vipers Aristobulus also writeth of a Viper that he saw one which was nine cubits long and one hand breadth some again as Strabo affirm that they have seen Vipers of sixteen Cubits long and Nicander writeth thus of the Vipers of Asia Fert Asia ultra tres longis qui tractibus ulnas Se tendant rigidum quales Bucarteron atque Arduus Aegagus celsus Cercaphus intra Se multos refovet In English thus Such as Asia yeelds in length as are three elles In Bucarteron steepy rough these Vipers flourish Hard Egagus and high Cercaphus cels Within their compasse many such do nourish Others there be in Asia sixteen foot long and some there beagain twenty as in the Golden Castiglia where their heads are like the heads of Kids There be some that make difference betwixt Echis and Echidna because one of them when it biteth causeth a convulsion and so doth not the other and one of them maketh the wound look white the other pale and when the Echis biteth you shall see but the impression of two teeth and when the Echidna biteth you shall see the impression of more teeth But these differences are very idle for the variety of the pain may arise from the constitution of the body or the quantity of the poyson and so likewise of the colour of the wound and it is already set down that the Echis or Male Viper hath but two Canine teeth but the other namely the Echidna hath four thus saith Nicander Masculus emittit notus color ipse caninos Binos perpetuo monstrat sed foemina plures Which may be englished thus The Male two canine teeth whose colour well is known But in the Female more continually are shown But yet the Male hath beside his Canine teeth as many as hath the Female and besides the Male is known from the Female as the same Nicander writeth because the Female when she goeth draweth her tail as though she were lame but the Male more manlike and nimble holdeth up his head stretcheth out his tail restraineth the breath of his belly setteth not up his Scales as doeth the Female and besides draweth out his body at length The Meate of these Vipers are green Hearbes and also sometimes living Creatures and namely Hore-flies Cantharides Pithiocampes and such other things as they can come by for these are fit and convenient meat for them Aristotle writeth that sometimes also they eat Scorpions and in Arabia they not onely delight in the sweet juyce of Balsans but also in the shadow of the same But above all kinds of drink they are most insatiable of wine Sometime they make but little folds and sometime greater but in their wrath their eies flame they turn their tailes and put forth their double tongue In the winter-time as we have said already they live in the hollow Rocks yet Pliny affirmeth that then also they enter into the earth and become tractable and tangible by the hands of man for in the cold weather they are nothing so fierce as they are in the hot and in the Sommer also they are not at all times alike furious but like to all other Serpents They are most outragious in the Canicular daies for then they never rest but with continual disquiet move up and down till they are dead or emptied of their poyson or feel an abatement of their heat Twice in the year they cast their skins that is to say in the Spring and in the Autumn and in the spring time when they come out of their hole or winter lodgings they help the dimnesse of their eye-sight by rubbing their eyes upon fennel But concerning their copulation and generation I find much difference among writers wherefore in a matter so necessary to be known I will first of all set down the opinion of other men aswell Historians as Poets and then in the end and conclusion I will be bold to interpose my own judgment for the better information of the Reader Herodotus in his Thalia writeth that when the Vipers begin to rage in lust and desire to couple one with another the Male cometh and putteth his head into the mouth of the female who is so insatiable in the desire of that copulation that when the male hath filled her with all his seed-genital and so would draw forth his head again she biteth it off and destroyeth her husband whereby he dieth and never liveth more but the female departeth and conceiveth her young in her belly who every day according to natures inclination grow to perfection and ripenesse and at last in revenge of their fathers death do likewise destroy their mother for they eate out her belly and by an unnatural issue come forth into the light of this world and this thing is also thus witnessed by Nicander Cum durum fugiens morsu ignescentis echidnae Frendit echis vel ubi fervente libidinis aestu Saevo dente sui resecat caput illa mariti Ast ubi post vegetam ceperunt pignora vitam Jam propinqua adsunt maturi tempora partus Indignam chari mortem ulciscentia patris Erosa miserae nascuntur matris ab alvo In English thus When the male Viper gnasheth avoyding females bite Whose fiery rage is all on ardent lust Yet when he burnes for copulation right Her cruel tooth doth Husbandhead off crush But yet alasse when seeds begins to live And birth of young ones ripen in her womb Then they for Fathers death a full revenge d● give Eating forth their wretched mothres strong Vnto this agreeth Galen Isidore Plutarch Aelianus and Lucan who writeth Viperei coeunt abrupto corpore nati That is to say The geniture of Vipers blood Engender breaking bodies good Pliny agreeth with the residue for the death of the Male in carnal copulation but he differeth in this about the Female affirming that when the young Vipers grow ripe and perfect in their Mothers belly she casteth forth every day one for three daies together