the Prouince of Celtica which is all that which is now the countrie of Lyons and from that againe vnto the Pyrenaean hils is the country of Aquitanica once called Armorica Augustus deuideth France into foure parts by adding to those three the Prouince of Lyons And Ammianus maketh many subdiuisions by distributing the country of Lions into two parts and Aquitanica into two parts Braccata Gallia which is also called Narbon was so called of a certaine fashion of mantles or breeches called Braccae which by them were much worne Gallia Belgica which adioyneth vnto Rhene speaketh for the most part the Almaine tongue and comprehendeth many prouinces as Heluetia Alsatia Lotharingia Luxenburg Burgundy Brabant Gelderland Holland Zeland all which may bee more rightly accounted part of Germany then of France but that the riuer of Rhene hath deuided it from Germany And surely I see no reason why hils riuers should limit bound Kingdoms but rather the language and gouernment and that each Country should extend as farre as his owne proper language is spoken The Romanes called the people of Gallia by one generall name Celtae after the name of their King and Gallatae of Galata his mothers name but they bee now called Franci and Gallia France of those people of Germanie so called by whom it was al subdued as Baptista Mantuanus writeth in his booke intituled Dionysius and Anthonius Sabellicus in his third booke of the tenth Aeneade The Dictator Caesar saith that the French men doe differ much amongst themselues both in language lawes and institutions and that many things be common to most of them as to bee factious which is a general aspertion not only vnto Citizens and Burgesses but in priuate families also for euery one as he excelleth others in wealth or wisdome contendeth to haue the souerainty and to aduance his owne faction coueting to haue all things done by his owne direction rather then by others though as wise wealthy as himself an other institution they haue very ancient and grounded vpon good reason that is that the common people should liue in security and not bee iniured by the nobility for but for that there is no country in the world wherein the clownes liue in greater contempt and slauery then in France for there was held little difference betwixt them and slaues being neuer called to any publike councel but oppressed with tributes or constrained to lend their money without security in so much as they were content to retaine to noble men and gentlemen yeelding themselues as slaues and bondmen vnto them only to bee freed from other mens extortions and wrongs There were two sorts of men that caried most estimation amongst them which were the Equites and the Druides some likewise did attribute as much honour to Poets and Prophets as vnto the Druides for that the Prophets bended their whole courses to finde out the causes of natural things the Poets wholy imployed themselues in praises and poems and all these were by Caesar called by the name of Druidae These Druidae had the charge and ouersight of al sacrifices both publike and priuate their function was also to expound and interpret their religion and to instruct and bring vp children and young men in learning and decipline for the assemblies and troupes of such youth were much accounted of to them was committed likewise the disciding of controuersies the bounding limitting of mens grounds power to punish offendors by death torments or otherwise and if either priuate person or Magistrate offred to withstand or gainsay any of their decrees or refused to stand to their awarde they would interdict and forbid him to come to their sacrifices which amongst that people was the greatest punishment that could bee inflicted The Druides shunned the communication and company of all men least they should bee polluted and no one could haue iustice or bee honoured and reuerenced according to his place dignity and deserts if any of these Druides were against it They had one that was the gouernor and Arch-priest ouer them who bore the chiefest sway as head of the whole order and euer as one of those prouosts or gouernors died an other was elected in his roome out of those Druides either by worthinesse of person or plurality of voices This councel or Senate of Druides assembled at one time of the yeere at Lyons which is about the middle of France and there they kept their Sessions for the hearing and determining of all controuersies that were brought before them from al parts of the Country which kinde of Iudgement and establishing of lawes and statutes was afterwards receiued amongst al the nobles commons of France the superstition beeing first brought out of Britany and by them called the Parliament of which I will speake more hereafter The Druides were exempted from the warres and had immunity from tribute and whosoeuer addicted himselfe to that kinde of profession must learne by heart thousands of verses yea so many as some of them spent twenty yeeres in conning verses without booke nor was it lawfull for them to commit any thing to writing that belonged to the knowledge of that science for that they auoided all meanes that might either bee a helpe vnto their memories or anywise concerne the authority of that discipline and also that their idle superstitious rites might not bee laide open to the common people and yet all other sorts of Gaules and themselues in all other matters both publike priuate vsed at that time the Greeke character The Druides beleeued and preached the immortality of the soule that after her departure out of one body shee remooued into an other by which means al feare of death being taken away they were more hardy and venturous to vndergo al dangers They would reason and dispute much of the stars and of their motion of the magnitude the worlde and sytuation of the earth and of the naturall causes of things and power of their prophane gods they held a position likewise that the world was eternall and that the elements of fire and water preuailed one against an other by turnes An other sort of religious persons and which were most deuoute of all others were those they called Equites and they when they fell into any dangerous disease or any other perill of their liues would offer for the recouery of their health or auoiding of imminent danger a humaine sacrifice which sacrifice must euer bee solemnized by the assistance of some one of the Druides Some others of that sect had great huge Images made hallow and couered with twigges into the concauity whereof they would put men aliue and then set fire about the Image vntill all were consumed away The punishment inflicted vpon theeues and offenders they esteemed most gratefull and acceptable to their gods and all those ancient Gaules held the god Mercury in great veneration as first founder and inuentor of all arts and misteries the
vessels or glasse vessels and kept them in their houses for the space of a yeare during which time they reuerenced them very religiously offering vnto them the first fruits of their increase Some say that thee that did most excell others in comlinesse of body skill in breeding cattell strength and riches him they elected for their King And that they had an ancient lawe that the Priests of Memphis might when they pleased depriue the King of his life by sending vnto him the messenger that caryed the signe of death and ordaine an other to raigne in his steed They beleeued that there was one immortall God and that hee was maker of the world and gouernor of all things any other God they esteemed mortall who was their vncertaine King as is said And hee that best deserued of their citty him next vnto their King they reuerenced as God And such was the state of Aethiopia at the beginning and for a long continuance these their customes and manners of their nation But at this day as Marcus Antonius Sabellicus out of whose history wee haue taken most matters which wee treate of both in this and the bookes following saith that hee had intelligence from some that were borne in those countries that the King of Aethiopia whome wee call Pretoian or Presbiter Ioan or Ioan and they Gyam which in their language signifieth mighty is so potent a Prince that hee is sayd to haue vnder him as his vassalls three-score and two Kings And that all their great Bishops and states of all those kingdomes are wholy guided by him at whose hands the order of Priesthood is obtained which authority was by the Pope of Rome giuen and annexed to the Maiesty of their Kings and yet hee himselfe is no Priest nor neuer entred into any holy orders There be a great number of Archbishops and euery one of them who euer hath the least hath twenty Bishops vnder his iurisdiction The Princes and other Bishops of great dignity when they goe abroad haue carried before them a crosse and a golden vessell filled with earth that the sight of the one may put them in minde of their mortality and the other of our Sauiours passion Their Priests are suffered to mary for procreations sake but if they bury one wife it is vtterly vnlawfull for them to mary an other Their Temples are very large and farre richer then ours and for the most part builded vp to the topp arch-wise They haue many religious houses and families of holy orders as Antonians Dominicks Calaguritans Augustines and Macarians who be all arrayed by permission of their Archbishops with apparell of one coulour Next vnto Almighty God and his Mother the blessed Virgin Mary Saint Thomas surnamed Didimus is chiefly honoured in that country They hold an opinion that their great King whom they call Gyam was ingendred of King Dauid and that the race of that one family hath continued euer since hee is not black as most of the Aethiopians are but rather white The citty Garama is now the Kings seate which consisteth not of Bulwarkes and houses with strong wals but of tents or tabernacles made of fine flaxe or silke imbrodered with purple and placed in decent and seemely order The King according to his custome liueth for the most part abroade not contayning himselfe within the circuite of the Citty aboue two daies together ether because they account it absurde and effeminate or that they are prohibited by some lawe They haue in redinesse vpon any little occasion tenne hundred thousand men well instructed in feates of armes fiue hundred Elephants besides an infinit number of Horses and Camels There be also throughout the whole kingdome certaine stipendary families the issue whereof haue a gentle incision made in their skinne and bee marked with a hot iron with the signe of the Crosse In warres they vse bowes speares cotes of male and helmets the order of Priesthood is in greatest dignity next vnto whome are the sages or wizards whom they call Balsamati and Tenquati They esteeme much also of innocency and honesty accounting them the first step to wisdome the Nobility are the third in honor and dignity and the stipendary the last the Iudges discerne of causes of life and death but referre the decree to the Praefect of the citty who is called Licomagia who alwaies representes the person of the King written lawes they haue none but iudge according to equity and right If any man bee convicted of adultery hee shall pay for his punishment the fortith part of his goods but the adulteresse shal receiue a domesticall reuenge by her husband for he shall punish her whome it doth most concerne The husbands assigne dowers for their wiues requiring noe portion with them There women are attired with gold wherof that country doth much abound pearles also and silke both men and women weare garments downe to the feete with sleeues and not open in any place all colours are alike vnto them except blacke which is there vsed onely for mourning garments They bewaile the dead for the space of forty dayes The second courses in their greatest banquets consist of raw flesh which beeing finely minced into small peeces and strawed ouer with sweete spices they feed vpon most hungerly wollen cloath they haue none insteed wherof they are clothed either with silke or flax they vse not all one language but diuers and distinguished by diuers names They exercise them-selues eyther in husbandry or about cattle they haue euery yeare two haruests two summers All the people of Lybia from this Aethiopia or India to the vtmost part of the west honour the impiety of Mahomet and liue in the same kinde of religion that those Barbarians practise which are now in Aegipt and bee called Moores as it is thought of their wandring or straying abroad for that country of Libia also was no lesse hatefull than the Sarasins in those accursed times wherein was the greatest alteration in humaine matters the manners of people loue of deuotion and names of all Nations being for the most part changed Of Aegipt and the ancient customes of that country CAP. 5. EGipt a region in Affricke or as some will haue it next adioyning to Affricke was so called of Aegiptus the brother of Danaus King of Argyues before which time it was called Aeria This country as Plinie in his first booke witnesseth ioyneth Eastward to the red sea and to Palaestyne vpon the West it hath Cyrene and the residue of Affricke and extendeth from the South to Aethiopia and from the North to the Aegyptian sea The most famous citties of that country were Thebes Abydos Alexandria Babilon and Memphis now called Damiata and the great citty Cayrus or Alcir which is the Soldans seate In Egypt as Plato reporteth it doth neuer raine but the riuer of Nylus ouer-flowing the whole land once euery yeare after the summer Solstice maketh the whole
ready and willing mindes to vnder-goe all perils and dangers of warfare Their common-wealth also consisteth of three sorts of common people of husbandmen shepheards and craftsmen The husbandmen buy their ground at an easie rate of the Priests of the King or of the Souldiours and apply their husbandry without intermission all their time from their infancie by which meanes they are farre more expert in husbandry then others both for the precepts they receiue from their parents as also by reason of their continuall practise The sheapheards likewise receiuing the charge and skill of keeping cattell from their fathers follow that kinde of exercise for all their life long And arts and sciences amongst the Aegiptians are most exquisite and brought to the highest straine of perfection for the Egiptian tradesmen without intermedling in publicke affaires exercise no other labour but such onely as is eyther permitted by the law or taught by their fathers so as neither the enuy of the teacher nor ciuill hatred nor any other thing whatsoeuer can hinder them from that course of life they haue entred into The Egiptians censured not of things at hap hazard but with reason and discretion for they esteemed things rightly done to be very beneficiall for mans life and that the onely way to auoyde euil was to punish the offenders and to succor the oppressed but that the punishment due for an offence should bee forborne in regarde eyther of meede or money they held to be the vtter confusion of their publicke life and therefore they setled the best and choisest men of the most famous citties as at Heliopolis Memphis Thebes and set them as iudges ouer the rest which sessions of Iudges were thought to be nothing inferior to the Iudges of Areopagus in Athens nor to the Senate or councell of the Lacedemonians established long time after them when these Iudges being thirty in number were assembled together they made election of the worthiest man amongst them to bee their chiefe Iudge or Iustice in whose absence the whole company assembled appointed an other Iudge to be his substitute These Iudges were all maintained at the Kings cost but the cheefe Iudge was farre better allowed then the rest who alwayes had hanging about his neck in a chaine of gold bedeckt with diuers precious stones an Image which they called Truth and when they were set in Iudgment the Image of Truth being laid before them by the chiefe Iudge and all their lawes which were contained in eight volumes placed in the middle of the Iudges their maner was that the accuser should set downe his accusation in writing the maner of the iniury or losse committed and done and how much he esteemed him-selfe damnified then was there a time allotted for the accused to answer his aduersaries accusations by writing and eyther to purge himselfe that he did not the iniury or to auerre that what he did was iustly done or that the wrong or losse hee did was not of such value as was supposed after this the plaintiffe replied and the defendant made answer to his replication So as the pleading of both parties being twise heard after the Iudges had examined and reasoned of the matter in controuersie the chiefe Iudge turning the signe of Truth towards him that had truth of his side pronounced the sentence and this was the maner of their Iudgments And now because occasion is offered to speake of the Institution of their lawes I thinke it not impertinent to our purpose to make mention of the ancient lawes of the Egyptians that thereby we may know how farre they excelled others both in order and vtility And first of all periured persons were punished with death as those which had committed a double offence both in violating their duty towards the gods and in breaking and abolishing faith and truth amongst men which is the chiefest bond of humaine society if a Traueller finde one that is set vpon with theeues and robbed and beaten or suffered any other iniury and doth not set to his helping hand to ayde him if it lye in his power hee shall dye for it but if hee could not assist him then ought hee to make the theeues knowne and to prosecute the iniury with his accusation which if hee doe not he shall be whipped with a certaine number of stripes and bee bard from all sustenance for three whole dayes together hee which accuseth an other falsely and is called in question for it shall vndergoe the punishment prouided for false accusers and all the Aegiptians were at certaine times constrained to giue vp theyr names in writing to the Presidents and Gouernors and what trade of life they exercised in dooing whereof if any say vntruly or liued by vnlawfull gaine hee was punished with death if any one kill eyther free-man or seruant willingly he shall dye for it by the lawes which regarding not the quallity of the estate but the heynousnesse of the deed and the euill mind of the dooer deliuer men from euill so as by reuenging the death of seruants and slaues free-men may liue in more security The paines of death were not afflicted vpon fathers which had slaine their sonnes but they were inioyned to stand for three daies and three nights about the dead corps the publike watch standing by to see it done for they thought it vniust to depriue him of life that was author of his sonnes life but rather that he should be afflicted with continuall griefe and repentance of the fact whereby others might shunne the like offence To Paracides was imposed a most exquisite and extreame punishment for the lawe was that the liuing body and the dead corps should be bound together ioynt by ioynt vpon sharpe Pikes or stakes and burned vpon a heape of thornes adiudging it to be the most heynous offence that could bee amongst men for one to doe him to death violently of whom hee had receiued life If any woman great with child were adiudged to dye her death was deferred till she was deliuered for they thought it meere iniustice that an infant which committed no euill should perish with the guilty or that two should bee punished whereas but one offended Those which in warres did eyther breake theyr array or would not obey their Leaders and Captaines were not punished with death but with the reproch ignominy of all men which disgrace after they had blotted out by their vertue and valiant acts they recouered their former estate and dignities and that law brought it to passe in continuance of time that men accounted that dishonour to bee the greatest euill could hap vnto them and much more greeuous then death Those which reuealed any secrets to their enemies had their toungs cut out and those which clipped money or counterfetted any false coyne or altered it eyther in weight or fashion or stamped it with letters or defaced the letters or forged any false deeds were punished with the
long obseruation the course of the stars by whose speculatiō they prophesied of mens future fortunes They imagined the planets to be of great power and especially Saturne supposing the sunne to be of most beauty and of greatest vertue and that Mars Venus Mercury and Iupiter were to be obserued more then the rest for that they hauing each one his proper and peculiar motion foreshewed things to come and were the true interpreters of the gods And of this they were so fully perswaded as they called these foure stars al by the name of Mercury They foretold many things to come both hole-some and hurtful by winds shewers heate comets eclipse of Sunne Moone earthquakes and by sundry other signes and prodigies besides And they imagined that there were other stars subiect inferior to these planets of which some wandred in our Hemisphere and some in that which is vnder vs besides this they held the like error that the Aegiptians did and fained to themselues twelue gods attributing vnto each of them a month a signe in the Zodiake They prophesied of many things that should happen to their Kings as foreshewing to Alexander the victory he should haue in the fight with Darius to Hircanor Seleucus and to other successors of Alexander and many things after that to the Romaine successors whose euents proued true They write also of foure and twenty other stars whereof twelue be beyond the Zodiake towards the North and the other twelue towards the South of which those which appeare to our view they suppose to haue dominion ouer the liuing and the other to pertaine to those which be dead These things other circumstances haue those Chaldeans set forth to mens sight as they haue noted by long obseruation alleaging that this their doctrine hath continued for the space of three and forty thousand yeers from the first inuentiō therof to the reigne of Alexander which allegation of theirs were a very grosse impudent fable vnlesse we should interprete that the time of each yeere were but a month as was amongst the Aegiptians Of Iudaea and of the customs lawes and institutions of the Iewes CAP. 4. PAlestine which is also called Iudaea is a perticular Prouince of Syria sytuated betwixt Caelosiria and Arabia Petrea vpon the West it is washed with the Aegiptian sea and vpon the East with the riuer of Iordan This land the bookes of holy Bible and Iosephus their imitator called Canaan a land abounding with many riches as hauing plenty of fruites famous waters and being well furnished with balme It is scituated in the very middle of the world and is therefore very temperate neither to hot nor to cold which for the temperature of the elements the Israelites or Hebreues being a very ancient people and with whom alone from the first Creation of mankinde the knowledge and worship of the Heauenly and true God and the first forme of speech remained esteemed to be that which was promised by God to their fathers Abraham Isaac and Iacob a land flowing with milke and hony And therefore in the fortith yeere after the children of Israells departure out of Aegipt vnder the conduct of their valiant captaine Iosua they obtained the dominion thereof by force of their armes vanquishing and expelling one and thirty Kings which raigned in that Contry The Israelites retaine and liue vnder those laws which they receiued frō Moses their first captain althogh for many ages before Moses daies they liued without written law with great deuotion sanctity obtayning the truth by diuine Oracles and by the acutenesse magnanimity of their mindes and vnderstandings yet that great diuine Moses thought that no City could long continue in safety without the practise of law and equity And therefore when by rewarding the good punishing the wicked he had sufficiently exhorted his people to imbrace vertue and eschew vice he proposed vnto them other lawes and ciuel ordinances founded vpon those ten chiefe heads and grounds of lawes pronounced by God himselfe in mount Sina written in two Tables of which lawes being so many as they alone wold be sufficiēt matter to fill a whole volume I will onely touch those which be most worthy of remēbrance they that desire to know the rest let them read Iosephus the bookes of the Bible First Moses ordained that young children as soone as they were able to conceiue should bee instructed in the lawes seeing they contained in them the best kind of discipline That whosoeuer blasphemed the name of God should hang all a whole day be cast out at night without burial That no sacrifice should be solemnized vvith money gotten by whoredome That there should be 7. chiefe gouernors in euery city which were most noted for Iustice vvisdom that two of the leuitical Priests shold sit in iudgment with them if in discerning cōtrouersies the Iudges would not condiscēd to that which vvas right the vvhole matter should be decided by the discretion of the Priest Elder That the testimony of one man should not be currant to conuince an other of any crime nor yet of tvvo vnlesse their honesties vvere approued but the testimonie of three should stand and yet neither slaue nor woman should be sufficient witnesse because in one the basenesse of his fortune in the other the weaknesse and lightnesse of her sexe might rightly bee suspected that the fruite of trees new set or planted should not bee medled withall before the fourth yeere and that then they should pay for tithes the tenth part of the increase That neighbours and strangers should haue some part also and that the residue should remaine to him that planted them That they should sow cleane seed vpon their grounds and not mingled because the land would not like with seed of two sorts That trauellers should not bee restrained and interdicted from fruites but that they might gather as much as they pleased and their present necessity required and that if they were ashamed to take it the owners should offer it vnto them That the woman that gained vnlawfully or married her selfe to an other besides her lawfull husband should not bee regarded as a wife That shee that was supposed to bee a Virgine and was found defiled in her bodie with any man and conuicted of the crime should either bee stoned to death or burned aliue If one deflowred a Virgin espoused to an other man though she consented yet both parties should suffer extreame punishment and if he rauished her forcibly that then onely the author of the iniury should bee punished That if a man die and leaue no children behinde him his widdow should marry the brother of her deceased husband and by that matrimony bring forth issue to succeed them in their stocke but if the brother refused to marry her hee should shew the cause of his refusall before the elders and if his cause were approued good hee should haue liberty
soules were incorruptible that onely the soules of the good did flitte and remoue into other bodies vntill the resurrection and last iudgement and that the soules of the wicked were detained and imprisoned in euerlasting dungeons and these were called Pharises because in their habits and liuings they differed from the common disposition of other men The Saduces denied fortune and destiny saying that God saw all thinges and that it was in the will of man to do either good or euill they denied that the soules after this life suffered eyther punishment or pleasure they denied also the resurrection of the dead supposing their soules and bodies to perish together nor did they hold that there were any Angels and yet they receiued the fiue bookes of Moses they were seuere without measure and nothing sociable amongst themselues for which seuerity they named themselues Saduces that is to say iust But the Esseians liued altogether a monasticall life vtterly despising wedlocke and the company of all women not because they thought it fitte by forbidding carnall copulation to destroy the succession of mankind but that they should beware of womens intemperance suppo sing no womā to be faithfull true to her husband They had all thinges in common oyntments and bathes they accounted a reproach and esteemed a deformity in their trimming to bee an ornament vnto them so as they were alwayes arrayed in white garments they had no certaine citty but dwellings in euery place They spake no prophane words before the sunne rising but praied for his rising and after that workt vnto the fift houre then washing their bodies in water they eate together with few words They accounted an oath as periury and allowed none to be of their sect vnder a yeares probation and after the first yeares tryall when they were admitted they tryed their manners other two yeares also in which time if they were found in any sinne they would driue them away from them that eating grasse like beasts they might repent till their deaths When ten of them sat together no one would speake if nine of them were vnwilling they would not spit in the middle nor on the right side They obserued their sabboth so religiously that vpon that day they would not so much as purge their bellyes They carryed with them a wodden Pickax where-with they digged a hoale in the earth in some secret place to ease them-selues in and couered themselues diligently with their long garments least they should doe iniury to the diuine lights for which cause also they filled the hole againe presently They were long of life by reason of the simplenesse of their dyet for they liued for the most part with Dates they had no vse of money and they adiudged that death the best which happened to a man for Iustice sake They hold that all soules were created from the beginning and incorporated for a time in mens bodies and that the good soules after they departed from the bodyes liued beyond the Ocean where ioy is reserued for them and that the euill soules are assigned boystrous and stormie places towards the East Some of them could foretell things to come and some vsed the company of wiues but very moderatly for they supposed that if they should altogether abstaine from women the whole stocke of humaine kinde would perish There dwell in Syria at this day Greekes which bee called Gryphoni Iacobites Nestorians and Sarasins and two people of the Christian Religion which bee the Syriani and the Marouini the Syrians sacrifice as the Greekes doe and were some times obedient to the Church of Rome but the Marouini agree with the Iacobites and vse the same language and writing the Arabians doe These sundry sorts of holy men inhabite the hill Libanus the Sarrasins dwell about Ierusalem they be valiant in warre and expert in husbandry The Syrians bee vnprofitable people and the Marouines most valiant men though they be few in number Of Media and of the manners of the Medes CHAP. 5. MEDIA a region in Asia is so called as Solinus reporteth of Medus the sonne of Medea and Aegeus King of Athens and the people thereof be called Medi But Iosephus is of opinion that they be called Medes of Medeus the sonne of Iaphet This Region according to Ptolomeus is bounded vpon the North with the Hyrcan sea vpon the West with the great Armenia and Assyria with Persia vpon the South and on the East with Hircania and Parthia Their chiefest exercise and which is almost peculiar to that nation is shooting and riding Their Kings in ancient time were of great authority their head attires their round caps and their garments with sleeues remooued with the Empire and gouernment vnto the Persians It was proper to the Median Kings to haue many wiues which custome was shortly put in practise amongst priuate men in so much as it was not lawfull to haue lesse then seuen wiues In like manner it was thought fitting for women to haue many husbands and to haue lesse then fiue they deemed a miserie The Medes make leagues and confirme friendship after the maner of the Greekes and also by striking their armes about the shoulder blade and then to lick vp each others bloud That part of Media which is towards the North is barren and therefore they make them a kinde of paste of Apples dryed and brused in morters bread of rosted Almonds and wine of the rootes of hearbes and liue for the most part vpon the flesh of wilde beasts Of Parthia and the manner of liuing of the Parthians CAP. 6. THe Parthians which were banished out of Scythia and obtained this country by deceit called it after their names Parthia It hath vpon the South Carmania on the North Hyrcania on the West Media and Aria on the East The countrie is full of woods and hills and very barren of fruites The people during the time the Medes and Assyrians possessed the Empire were accounted base and of no credit nor estimation but when the kindome of Media was translated to the Persians this people also as a barbarous nation without name was a prey vnto the vanquishers and lastly became subiect to the Macedonians but in tract of time they grew of such vertue and valour and were so prosperous and successfull in their designements that they gouerned not onely the countries neere adioyning but making warre against the Romaines which then were conquerors of all Countries ouerthrew them with great destruction and slaughter of their men Plinie reckoneth foureteene kingdomes vnder the gouernment of the Parthians Trogus attributeth vnto them the Empire of the East as if they had made diuision of the whole world with the Romaines This people after their reuolting from the Macedonian Empire were gouerned by Kings which were all called Arsaces of Arsax their first King next vnto the Maiestie of their Kings was the order and gouernment of the people out of which were elected both Captaines for
yet of that validity estimation as the people of euery village yeeld there obedience to their parish Priest the parish Priest to the Deane the Deane to the Bishop the Bishop to the Archbishop the Archbishop to the Primate or Patriarch the primate or Patriarch to the Legate the Legate to the Pope the Pope to general councels and general councels only vnto God 4 The fourth Sacrament is the most holsome Sacramēt of the body bloud of our Lord Sauiour Iesus Christ euery priest that is duly called ordained according to the rules of the Church and intendeth to consecrate may by obseruing the vsual forme of words vsed in the consecration make the true body of Christ of a peece of wheaten bread and of wine his right and perfect bloud And this Sacrament the same Lord Iesus Christ in the night before he suffered his bitter passion did celebrate with his disciples consecrating it and ordaining that it should euer after be celebrated and eaten in remembrance of him It behoueth euery one that receiueth this Sacrament to bee strong in faith that he may beleeue and credit these thirteene things following First that he beleeue the transmutation or transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and bloud of Christ Secondly that though this be done euery day yet is not the body of Christ thereby augmented Thirdly that the body of Christ is not diminished though it be eatē euery day Fourthly that though this Sacrament be deuided into many parts that yet the whole and intire body of Christ remaineth in euery little particle Fiftly that though it be eaten of wicked malicious men yet is not the Sacrament thereby defiled Sixtly that to those which receiue it worthily as they ought it bringeth saluation eternal damnation to those which receiue it vnworthily Seuenthly that when it is eaten it conuerteth not into the nature property of him that eateth it as other meate doth but rather conuerteth the eater into the nature of the Sacrament rightly that being eaten it is taken vp into heauen without hurt Ninthly that in euery little forme of bread and wine is comprehended the great and incomprehensible God and Man Christ Iesus Tenthly that one and the same body of Christ is receiued and taken at one moment in diuers places of diuers men and vnder a diuers forme Eleuenthly that the substance of the bread being turned into the true body of Christ and the substance of the wine into his bloud the natural accidents of bread and wine doe yet remaine and that they are not receiued in forme of flesh and bloud Twelfthly that vnto those that eate it worthily it bringeth twelue great commodities which are expressed in these verses following Inflammat memorat substentat roborat auget Hostin spem purgat reficit vitam dat vnit Confirmat fidem minuit fomitemque remittit The effect whereof is that the hoast inflameth remembreth sustaineth strengthneth and augmenteth our hope It purgeth refresheth quickneth and vniteth It confirmeth our faith and mitigateth and vtterly quencheth in vs all concupiscence Lastly that it is wonderfull good and profitable for all those for whom the priest specially offereth it as a sacrifice be they liuing or dead and that therefore it is called the communion or Sacrament of the Eucharist In the beginning of Christian religion yet in some places there was consecrated at one time such a loafe of bread as being afterwards cut into small mamocks by the priest and laid vpon a sawcer or plate might well serue all the communicants that were present at the sacrifice and at that time did Christians communicate thereof dayly And afterwards they were limitted to receiue it only vpon sundaies but when the Church perceiued that this sacrament was not taken euery sunday so worthily and with such due obseruation as was sitting it was ordained that euery Christian man of perfect reason vnderstanding should with all diligence he could and with his best preparation both of body and soule receiue the same thrice a yeere or at the least euery yeere once at Easter as also when hee found himselfe in any danger of death as a ready preparatiue against al perils by which name it is often called 5 Matrimony which is a lawfull coniunction of man and wife instituted and ordained by the law of God the law of nature the law of nations is the fift Sacrament and the holy fathers in Christian piety haue commanded that but one marriage shall be solemnized at one time and that it shal not be done in secret but publikely either in the Church or Church-porch but most commonly in the Church-porch where the priest meeting the parties that are to be married first asketh of the man and then of the woman whether they be willing to be contracted who answering that they are content and agreed which is a thing most necessary in that Sacrament he taketh them by the right hands ioyning them togither in the name of the blessed and indeuided trinity in vnity the Father Sonne and holy Ghost hee admonisheth and exhorteth them that being euer mindefull of this vnion and holy communion they neuer after forsake one an other but to liue in mutual loue honor and obedience one to an other that they should not desire one an others company for lust but for procreation of children and that they should bring vp their children honestly carefully and in the feare of God this done he marrieth them with the ring and sprinkleth holy water on them and then putting on his stole which is thither brought him he leadeth them into the church and causing them to kneele humbly before the Altar there blesseth them if they were not blessed before the woman when she is married hath her haire tied vp with a red fillet or headband and a white veile ouer it without which veile or head couer it is neuer lawful for her after that time to goe abroad or to be in the company of men There be twelue impediments that hinder marriage before it be solemnized and dissolue it after it is contracted that is to say the error or mistaking of either party the breach of some condition kindred a manifest offence disparity of religion violence or forcible rauishment from their parents holy orders breach of reputation publike defamation affinity and dissability to performe the act of matrimony 6 The sixt Sacrament of the church is penance which is giuen by Christ as a second repaire of our shipwrake and euery Christian man is bound vndoubtedly to belceue that this Sacrament consisteth of these foure things to wit repentance for sins past cannonical confession absolution and satisfaction for he that will be partaker of this Sacrament must first of al repent be sorrowful in his very soule that through his grieuous and heinous sins hee hath lost that purity and innocency which he once had either by the Sacrament of Baptisme or by this Sacramēt formerly
the sea for the exceeding desire shee hath to auaile man-kinde whereby she becommeth as I may say the lappe and bosome that openeth and offereth trafficke and trading into all countries so as shee is iustly termed of some the nurse of all other nations and elected by Gods diuine prouidence as parent and Princesse of all other Prouinces and such a one as should gather together vnder one head and gouernment all dispersed dominions and should asswage and mitigate the rage and rudenesse of many barbarous people and by the diuine helpe of learning and the Latine toung should vnite and bring to sociable conference all nations though neuer so different in life and language for to passe ouer many people and kingdomes which the Romaines haue wone and conquered with their armies and cloquence the Citty of Rome alone is as amply stored with examples of all vertues as the Grecians with all their eloquence are with precepts yea they themselues deuining as it were that their land should become the head and gouernor of all others when they surnamed one part therof great Greece In a word it was not without the diuine prouidence ordained that where that most wise and omnipotent God had reiected all other nations it pleased him to make that the chiefe Empire fortresse and defence of all people that should afterwards bee the seate throne and chaire of the head of Gods Church and the Christian religion The Italians differ much amongst themselues both in countenance and stature for in Cisalpine France and about the gulfe of Venice the people be of a pale complexion neat in their apparell and curious in their speach but the inhabitants of Hetruria Latium Campania Lucania and the Brutij be of a more browne and swartie complexion and their haire black in stature they be lower and withall very leane and in apparell and speech more plaine and simple The Piceni and those which dwell on the skirts of the Adriatticke sea vntill you come to great Greece haue much resemblance to the former but in Apulia Calabria and in the vppermost parts of Italy towards Greece their speach and behauiour doth little differ from the Greekes Throughout all Italy and in a manner throughout all Europe it is not lawfull for any man to haue more wiues than one and all diuorses betwixt man and wife had their originall from the Citty of Rome for there it was that Spurius Carbillus complaining of his wiues barrennesse was the first that euer was diuorsed from his wife The Cittizens heretofore consisted of three sorts of people that is to say slaues libertines which were such as were once slaues and were manumitted and made free freemen The freemen were likewise deuided into three orders or ranks to wit the Plebeians the Equestri and the Patritij the solemnizing of their sacrifices and sacred rites was committed to Priests and Flamins besides whom they had diuerse colleges and societies of religious persons wherof some did sacrifice to one God and some to an other The Dictator was most honored of all other officers and bore the greatest sway amongst them from whom no appeale was sufferable for he bearing a Kinglike gouernment they had no higher officer to whom they might appeale the dignity of the Dictator continued but halfe a yeare for the most part they came to that high office by degrees as being first Questors or Treasurers then Aediles or ouer-seeers after that Praetors or chiefe Iustices then were they made Consuls then Censors then they attained to the highest office of all which was Dictatorship But yet it did not alwaies necessarily follow that the Dictator had born all those offices before recited for he was oftentimes elected out of some inferior office for his valor worthinesse yet he had chiefest power and authority ouer all those ciuill gouernors as likwise ouer all officers that bore rule in the warres for in military affaires they had their degrees of gouernors aswell as in domesticall businesses for there the cōmon soldiors yeelded obedience to the Centurions the Centurions to the Tribunes the Tribunes to the Lieutenant the Lieutenants or deputies to the Consuls or vnto their Vice-presidents by them assigned to rule in their steeds and all these together with the Captaines and conductors of horsmen were subiect to the authority of the Dictator In warres that were lawfully begun souldiors might continue for the space of ten yeares if in all that time they neuer skirmished with the enimy nor were sommoned away to wage wars in other countries Besides this lawfull making of wars whereof I now speake there was an other sort of warfare called Causaria which was when the army for some reasonable cause was dismissed and the campe remooued This latter maner of warfare as it was not so honorable as the first yet did it carry with it no touch of ignominy nor disgrace because they were called thence for some speciall cause Seruius Tullius ordained that none should be soldiors but such as were betwixt the age of seuenteene yeares and eight and forty those which were men of peace went alwaies in gownes and the souldiors in short cassocks and coate armors When they intended to make battell against any country they would first send an herald or officer at armes to denounce warrs and being once entred into it they might not leaue it but for some lawfull cause All the citties of Italy were either confederats with Rome or such as were newly inhabited by those that came out of Rome and were called Colonia or Municipia which were such Citties as had liberties and priuiledges proper and peculiar to themselues of which sort some were made by plurality of voyces and some otherwise and those Cittie 's called Municipia were euer gouerned by their owne decrees but the Cittie 's called Coloniae were accounted as members of Rome and liued vnder the Romaine law In the citties or corporations called Municipia where there were Burgesses and Free denizens together their chiefest officers were called Decurions which were the same that Senators were at Rome The order of the Patritij were distinguished from the Equestri by their purple robes and the Equestri were knowne from the Plebeians by their gilden garments if he which had the chiefest authority and bore the prerogatiue royall amongst them had misdemeaned himselfe his cause was discerned by the whole body of the citty and the hearing and determining of all other capitall offences was committed to certaine Iudges elected by lots to that dignity out of that band of souldiers which were assistants to the Magistrates in matters of life and death for that yeare The deciding of all ciuill contentions belonged to the Praetor of the Centumuiri and so in like sort other crimes were committed to the consideration of other Magistrates And such generally were the manners and customes of all the people and citties of Italy which institutions and forme of gouernment they receiued
to the first Court of Parliament which is there by them so ratified and confirmed as no one can appeale from it and he which is found guiltie before them must pay vnto the Courts three-score pounds of Tours weight and some are adiudged to pay more according to the quality of the offence but if the party so condemned thinke that his cause was not well vnderstood and discussed and that he had some iniurie done him thereby receiuing some losse or hinderance hee may bring the matter thus crazed by misinformation againe into question before the Iudges but it shall not be heard vnlesse he pawne and put into their hands an hundred and twenty pounds to stand to their censure The fourth Court in the Court of Requests and is kept by the Masters of the Kings pallace or Masters of requests and supplications and none shall haue their causes heard there but only the kings seruāts or such as haue some priuiledges from the King and they shall not be molested in other Courts of this Court there be onely sixe Iudges it is lawfull to appeale from them to the Parlament If in handling controuersies any great difficulty arise it must be decided by the assembly of all the Iudges and Councellors of euery Court together which happeneth oftentimes in matters proposed by the King touching the gouernment of the Commonwealth for no law can be throughly established without the consent of this Senate or Parlament-house In this Parlament the Peeres of France and other masters of Requests that be the kings fauorites may sit as assistants vnto the Iudges and their places be next vnto the Presidents of the first Court or Chamber but all matters touching the king or any of the Peeres be defined and determined by the Peeres themselues and the Iudges of the first Court. There be twelue chiefe Peers elected out of all the Nobility of France whereof sixe be spirituall men six temporall the spirituall Peeres be the Bishop of Rhemes the Bishop of Lavdunum and the Bishop of Langres which be called Episcopi Duces or chiefe Bishops the Bishop of Beuvois the Bishop of Noyon and the Bishop of Challons which be Episcopi Comites or secundarie Bishops The sixe secular Peeres be the Duke of Burgundie the D. of Normandie and the Duke of Aquitania which bee chiefe Princes or Arch-dukes the Duke of Flanders the Duke of Tholousa and the Duke of Campania which be secundary Princes These twelue according to the opinion of Robertus were first instituted by Charles the great who taking them with him into the warres called them his Peeres as hauing equall power in assisting of the King and they were euer present at his coronation and yeelded obedience to no other Court but onely to the King and his Court of Parliament And these be the ancient and later maners of the Gauls and French-men and their customes most worthie of memorie Of Spaine and of the manners of the Spaniards CAP. 23. SPAINE the greatest country in Europe is situated betwixt France and Affricke and bounded with the Ocean sea and the Pirenaean hils It is comparable to any other country both for fertilitie of soyle and aboundance of fruites and vines and so sufficiently stored with all kind of commodities that be either necessarie or behoofull as it affordeth great part of her superfluitie to the city of Rome and all Italy ouer If you require gold siluer or pretious stones there they are in aboundance if mynes of Iron and sundry other mettals you shall find no defect if wines it giueth place to none and as for oyles it excelleth all other nations of Europe besides that they haue such store of salt as they neuer boyle it but dig it out of the earth in full perfection Yea there is no part of their ground be it neuer so barren but it yeeldeth increase of one thing or other the heate of the Sunne is not there so violent as in Affricke nor be they tossed with such continuall stormes and tempestuous winds as France is but there is an equall temperature of the heauens and wholesomnes of the ayre ouer all the Region it beeing greatly wasted with marine winds without such foggie mists and infectious exhalations as proceed from fennes and moorish grounds There is great plenty of hempe flaxe and broome the pill or skin wherof serueth to tye vp their vines and it affordeth more vermilion then any other countrie besides The currents of their riuers be not so swift and violent as they thereby become hurtfull but gentle and mild to water and manure their fields and medowes and the armes of the Ocean sea which adioyne vnto them affoord great store of fish and yet for no one thing was Spaine more commended in times past then for the swiftnesse of their horses whereof grew this fiction That the Spanish horses were conceiued of the winds Spaine taketh her beginning at the Pyrenaean hilles and winding by Hercules pillars extendeth to the Northerne Ocean so as all places contained within that compasse may iustly be said to be of Spaine The breadth of Spaine as Appianus writeth is ten thousand stadia the length much answerable to the breadth it ioyneth vnto France only at the Pyrenaean hils and on al other sides it is inclosed with the sea it is distinguished and knowne by three names Tarragon Bethica and Lusitania Tarragon the chiefe citties whereof were called Pallantia and Numantia now called Soria at the one end ioyneth vnto France and vnto Bethica and Lusitania at the other The Mediterranean sea runneth by the South-side thereof and vpon the North it lyeth opposite to the Ocean the other two prouinces be diuided by the riuer Anas so as Bethica the chiefe citties whereof were Hispalis and Corduba looketh West-ward into the Atlanticke sea and into the Mediterranean vpon the South Lusitania lyeth opposite onely to the Ocean the side of it vnto the Northerne Ocean and vnto the Western at the end the city Emerita being once the chiefe Cittie of that Prouince Spaine was first called Iberia of the riuer Iberus and after that Hesperia of Hesperus the brother of Atlas and lastly it was named Hispania of Hispalis now called Sibilia Their bodies bee very apt to indure both hunger and labour and their minds euer prepared for death they bee very sparing and strict both in their diet and euery thing else and they be much more desirous of warres then of peace So much as if warres be wanting abroade they wil grow to ciuill dissention and home-bred garboiles among themselues They will suffer torments euen vnto death rather than reueile a thing committed to their secrecie hauing more care of their credits and trust reposed in them then of their liues They be maruellous nimble and swift of pace and of an vnquiet and turbulent disposition their horses be both speedie and warlike and their armes more deare vnto them then their bloud They furnish not their tables with daintie
arriued into an Island in forme round and in compasse about fiue thousand stadia into which when they were entred some of the Inhabitants came to meete them and some others runing towards them being greatly amazed and wondering at the comming of strangers into their Island receiued them very curteously and bountifully offered them such things as their country afforded The Inhabitants of that Island are nothing like to vs either in stature or manners for though they carry the same proportion of body and members yet bee they farre taller then wee are the most of them being aboue foure cubits hie and notwithstanding their exceeding height their bones bee not solid like ours but flexible like nerues or sinewes by which meanes they exceed vs in agility and nimblenesse of body and they are so strong with al as what euer they grasp with their hands can hardly bee wrested from them They be a very beautiful comely and well featured people and their skinnes so smooth and so slike as you can hardly perceiue any wrinkle or haire vpon any part of their bodies The hollownesse of their eares is much wider then ours and their tongues as farre different for nature assisted with their ingenious wits and dispositions hath indued them with this extraordinary priuiledge that their tongues are naturally so cleft and deuided from the roote to the tip as they seeme to haue euery one two tongues by which meanes they doe not onely speake a humaine and intelligible voice but they can truely imitate the chirping and singing of diuers birdes likewise and that which is more strange they will talke and conferre with two seuerall persons of seuerall matters at one and the selfe same time the one part of the tongue speaking and giuing answere vnto one and the other part to the other The ayre is there very pure and wholesome all the yeere long according to the saying of the poet that apples peares and grapes will rotte and corrupt vpon the trees and vines and the daies and nights are euer of an equall length and when the Sunne is directly ouer their heads there is no shadow of any thing towards the South All the people of one stocke or kindred liue together so as they exceed not the number of foure hundred their chiefest abode is in the fields for the earth naturally produceth great store of fruits without tillage or trauell in so much as through the vertue and quality of the Island and temperature of the aire they haue more then they are able to spend There be a kinde of reeds growing in that Island which beare great store of fruite like vnto white vetches the fruite of these reedes they gather and sprinkle with warme water and then euery graine will bee as bigge as a Doues egge which they afterwards grinde or beate into meale and make thereof a kinde of bread which in taste is most pleasant and delicious There bee many great springs and fountaines of water whereof some bee hot and serue for bathes and to cure diseases and some cold and withall maruelous sweete and very phisicall likewise They be a people very industrious and greedy of learning and especially of Astrology Their letters which they vse in sence and signification are eight and twentie but their carecters are but seuen in number for euery caractar hath foure seuerall significations or interpretations and they write not from the left hand towards the right as wee doe but beginne at the top and write downewards They be very long of life the most of them liuing the full age of a hundred and fifty yeeres and for the most part without any sicknesse at all and if any hap to fall either into an ague or any other infirmity of body they are compelled by their law to die forth-with They are also appointed how long they shall liue which age when they haue accomplished they willingly procure their owne deathes some by one meanes and some by an other There is an herbe in that countrie vpon which if any one lay his body hee falleth into a sweete and delectable slumber and in that sheepe departeth his life without paine Mariages they haue none but women bee there common to all children equally loued of al and brought vp in common amongst al so as no man can say this is my wife or this is my child yet oftentimes they take the children from their nurses least mothers should afterwards reknowledge their owne sonnes through which community it happeneth that being voide of ambition and affectation or curious desire of that which nature denieth them they liue quietly and peaceably without sedition or dissention There bee also in that Island certaine beasts which though they bee little of body yet in respect of their nature and vertue of their bloud they bee most rare and admirab they bee of a round body like vnto a Tortoise or Seacrable and haue two lines crossing their middle vpon euery end whereof standeth an eare and an eye so as they heare with foure eares and see with foure eyes and yet haue but one belly or paunch that receiueth their meate and round about their body grow many feete with which they can goe backward and forward at their pleasure the bloud of this beast is said to be of a maruelous strange efficacy for if a body bee cut and mangled into peeces so as it appeare to haue life in it be anointed with the bloud of this beast euery part wil instantly grow to other and the body will bee whole againe Euery family or company that liue together doe likewise breed and norish vp great birds of a diuerse nature and by those birds they make triall how their children will prooue afterwards for they set them when they bee very young vpon the backes of the birds and if they sit fast when the birds biginne to flutter and flie without feare of falling those children they bring vp but if they shew themselues dastardly and timerous they are reiected and thrust away and suffered to liue no longer as beeing vnprofitable for any excercise of the minde And the eldest of euery kindred or company that so liue together is Lord and commander ouer the rest to whom they yeeld obedience as to their King and when he accomplisheth the age of an hundred and fifty yeers he depriueth himself of life for so their law commands and hee that is next vnto him in age taketh the gouernment vpon him The sea that incloseth the Island is very boysterous rugged yet is the water most pleasant delightsome in taste the North pole and many other starres which are seene in our Horison appeare not in theirs There bee other seuen Islands of like quantitie and of like distance one from an other and indued with like manners and lawes as this is The Inhabitants of these Ilands vse the fruites of the earth which shee bountifully affordeth of her owne accord very sparingly for their dyet is
simple and they couet for nothing but to suffice nature they eate flesh some-times boylde and sometimes broyld and dresse their meate them-selues reiecting the Arte of Cookery and all seasoning of their meates with salte or spices as friuolous and vnnecessary They worship the Firmament the Sunne and the rest of the celestiall bodyes they catch diuerse sorts of fishes and birds and they haue great store of Olyue trees and Vines which naturally hold their increase so as they haue Oliues and Grapes in aboundance without trauell or cost These Ilands also produce serpents that bee great ones but nothing hurtfull the flesh whereof is maruelous sweete and delicious Their garments are of a sine white Cotton or Downe which groweth in the middle of Reedes which being dyed with the Iuyse of these sea fishes that coloureth purple they make themselues purple garments thereof There be also diuerse sorts of liuing creatures of strange and almost incredible natures They obserue a certaine order and strict course in their dyet eating but onely one kinde of meate vppon one day for some day they eate fishes an other day fowles an other flesh of beasts and some-times Oyle and the table where they eate theyr meate is very meane and simple They bee addicted to diuerse exercises for some serue and are serued in course some are imployed in fishing some in fowling some in sundry Artes and manuall occupations and all of them in generall are busied in some one thing or other that redoundeth to their common good In their sacred ceremonies and vpon holy dayes they sing lawdes and himnes in honor of their gods and especially of the Sunne to whome they dedicate themselues and their Islands They bury their dead bodyes vpon the sea coast couering the carcasse with sand that by the flowing and inundation of the waters there may bee a great heape of sand in the place where the corpes are buryed The canes whereof they eate the fruite as they say doe increase and decrease according to the disposition of the Moone The water of their fountaines is both sweet and holsome alwayes hotte vnlesse it bee mingled either with wine or cold water When Iambolus and his companion had liued in that Iland seauen yeares they were forced to depart for the Ilanders held them to bee euill liuers and of bad behauiour and conuersation and therefore prouiding their shippe ready and victualling her they set forward on their iourney though fore against their wills and at the foure months end they came to the King of India by whome they were afterwards safely conducted through Persia and brought into Greece Of the Iland called Taprobane and of the manners of the Inhabitants CAP. 26. TAPROBANE before mans venterousnesse by exquisit searching into euery creeke and corner of the sea had truely and throughly discouered it was held to be as it were an other world that wherein the Antipodes were supposed to dwell But Alexander the great by his prowesse and valour remooued the ignorance of this common error which did much augment and increase the glory of his name for Onesicritus the praefect of his nauie being by him sent to search out what manner of land it was what commodities it yeelded and how and by whom it was inhabited made it most apparent and manifest vnto vs. The length of the Iland is seauen thousand stadia and fiue thousand in breadth and it hath a riuer running through the middle of it that deuideth it into two parts Some part of this Iland is wholy replenished with beasts and Elephants which be farre bigger then India breedeth any and some part of it is well peopled There bee great store of Pearles and precious stones of diuerse kindes It is situated East and West and beginneth at the sea called fretum Indioe from Prasla a countrie in India into Taprobane at the first discouery thereof was the space of 25. dayes sayling but it was with such boates as the riuer of Nilus carried that were made of reedes for at this day with our shippes it is not aboue seuen dayes sayle The sea that deuideth the Iland in twaine in many places is very shallow being not aboue seuen foote deepe but in some other places againe the channell is so exceeding deepe that no anchor can reache the bottome In sayling they obserue not the course of the starres for the North pole and the seauen starres doe neuer appeare to their view and the Moone is no longer seene in their Horizon but from the sixt day after his change to the sixteenth but the cleere and radiant starre called Canopus shineth there very bright and the Sunne riseth vppon their right hands and setteth vppon their left With coyne they were altogether vnacquainted vntill the raigne of the Emperour Claudius and it is reported that they were greatly amazed at the sight of money because it was stamped with sundry figures and similitudes and yet in weight and substance was all one In stature and bignesse of body they exceed all other men of what nation so euer They dye and coulour their hayre browne their heires bee gray or blew their visage grimme and sterne and their voyce harshe and terrible Those which dye an vntimely death liue commonly till they bee a hundred yeare old but those which spend out the full course of nature liue till they bee maruelous old farte exceeding mans ordinary frayltie They neuer sleepe in the day time and but part of the night neyther for they risâ— exceeding early Their buildings bee meane and lowe and their victualls alwayes alike they haue great store of Apples but no Vines They honor Hercules as their God Their Kings are elected as well by the voyces of the commons as by the nobility for the peoples care is to choose one of great clemencie and vnprooueable manners and such a one as is well striken in yeares and withall that hath no children for he which is a father is not there admitted to be a King be he neuer so good and vertuous and if the King at any time during his raigne hap to haue a child he is therefore instantly deposed and depriued of all Princely iurisdiction and this they doe for because they will not haue their kingdome become hereditary Moreouer bee their King neuer so iust and vpright yet will they not commit the absolute gouernment wholy into his hands for to the end he should not be sole Iudge in capitall causes there be forty Rectors or Guides annexed vnto him as his assistants and if the iudgement of the King and his forty assistants seeme partiall or distastfull to any one he may from them appeale to the people who haue likewise seuenty Iudges allowed them for the determining of such causes as come to them by way of appeale and the sentence that is pronounced by these seuenty Iudges must of necessity stand inuiolable The King in his apparell differeth much from the people and if he be found guilty of any offence
and thereof conuicted he dyeth for it yet not with such a death as any one should lay violent hands vpon him but by common consent hee is shut vp in some close place from the sight and company of all men and there famished to death This people bee generally addicted to husbandry and hunting of Tygers and Elephants for other common beasts they little regarde and some delight in fishing for shell fishes the shells weereof bee so bigge as one shell will make a house sufficient to containe a whole family The greater part of this Iland is burned with the heate of the Sunne and is therefore desert vppon the side of the Iland beateth a sea that is very greene They esteeme much of gold whereof and of all sorts of precious stones they garnish and beautifie their pots They haue great store of Marbles and Margarites and very bigge ones And these bee the people countries and nations whose manners customes and institutions are commended vnto vs by Historiographers and which by any meanes I could collect out of them yet I confesse there be many other which I haue eyther wholy omitted or lightly passed ouer because I could not write more of them than I found in other Authors hauing neuer by trauelling into those parts beene eye witnesse of them my selfe nor could otherwise attaine to the perfect knowledge thereof neyther doe I thinke it possible for mee or any man else to know and declare the manners of all nations but God onely to whom nothing is hidden nor nothing vnpossible for hee onely it is that first laide the foundation of the earth it was hee that first founded the depth and bottome of the sea and pointed vnto vs the passages through the deepe hee onely it is that so bountifully hath bestowed vpon vs wealth dignities honor and riches and all other commodities necessary for our beeing and hee it is that hath allotted vnto euery one his profession and course of life wherein to imploy himselfe for some hee hath ordained to bee husbandmen permitting then to growe wealthy by vnripping the bowels of the earth to some others hee hath giuen the sea wishing them to prouide their liuings some by fishing and some by merchandize some others he hath addicted to the study of Sciences and Philosophie that thereby they may attaine to honor and estimation and some others he hath put in places of authority to gouerne and praecede the rest And therefore it is no maruell that all men are not of one condition nor of one nature nor yet indued with like manners seeing wee perceiue such difference and variety in kingdomes and countries as that one country produceth white people an other swaithy an other tawny and some cleane black or like vnto flowers which grow in Assyria and euen so hath God appointed that people should be of variable mindes and dispositions as other things are and that euery one should rest contented with that course of life that God hath appointed for him FINIS The manners of diuerse nations collected out of the workes of NICHOLAS DAMASCEN THE Thyni which bee a people of Thrace receiue such as haue suffered shipwracke or fallen into pouerty by their owne defaults very courteously and friendly and all strangers likewise which come willingly vnto them are highly honored but those which come perforce whether they will or no are as seuerely punished The Aritoni kill no kinde of beast they haue their Oracles written in lots which they keepe in golden couers The Dardani a people of Illyrium bee washed onely three times in all their liues that is to say when they bee borne when they be marryed and when they lye a dying The Galactophagi a people of Scythia liue not in houses as most of the other Scythians doe their sustenance consisteth for the most part of Mares milke which serueth them both for meat and drinke They bee seldome ouer-come in battaile for that their prouision of victuals is in euery place and at all turnes in readinesse This people forced Darius to returne home without conquest they bee maruellous iust one towards an other as hauing both wiues and wealth in common to all they salute old men by calling them their fathers the yong men their children and their equals brethren of this people was Anacharsis one of the seuen wise men who came into Greece to learne the laws ordinances of other nations Homer remembreth this people where he saith the Mysi fight nigh at hand the Agaui milke Mares and the Galactophagi and Abij be most iust men And the reason why he calleth them Abij is either because they would not till the earth or for that they liued without houses or else because they onely vsed bowes in the warres for a bow of the Poets is often called Bios there is not one amongst them all as is reported that is either stirred with enuy swelled with hatred or striken with feare by reason of their exceeding great Iustice and communitie of all things The women there be as warlike as the men and go with them to the warres when need requireth and therefore it may well be true that the Amazons be women of such valerous and generous spirits as that they went forth with an army vnto Athens and Scicily at such time as their abode was about the poole of Maeotis The women of Iberia do once euery yeare being their whole yeares worke into an open and publicke place in presence of all the people where certaine men be elected by voyces as Iudges to censure of their labours and those which by them are adiudged most laborious are most honored and in highest estimation they haue also a girdle of a certaine measure within the compasse wherof if the belly of any will not bee comprehended they be thereby much disgraced The Vmbrici in their battels against their enimies hold it vnfitting for the vanquished to suruiue and that it is necessary eyther to ouer-come the enemy or to bee slaine themselues This people when any controuersie happeneth amongst themselues fight armed as if they made warre against their open enimies and hee which killeth his aduersary in fight is supposed to haue the iustest cause The Celtae a people inhabiting neere the Ocean account it a disgrace for any one to withdraw himselfe or leane his body to a wall or house when any inundation commeth towards them from the sea they arme themselues to meete the floud and make resistance vntill they be drowned neuer retiring back nor shewing the least feare of death any manner of way They weare their swords aswell when they bee occupied in the affaires of their common-wealth as in the warres and a greater punishment is infllicted vpon those which kill strangers then Cittizens for the first is punished with death the other with banishment And those aboue all others bee most honoured which atchiuing any victory haue thereby purchased any ground for their publicke vse the
declaration of these Epistles hath promised to translate into Latine the booke which Francis Aluarez composed concerning the scituation manners and behauiour of the Ethiopians in which booke he expresseth and setteth forth his whole iourney or trauels One coppy of which booke I my selfe haue in my keeping But if Iouius surcease to translate it I would not bee strange to take the matter in hand although not willingly vnlesse most holy father it please you to command and then shall I be more free and safe from all malitious detractors who may happily suppose that I vndergoe the busines not with a desire to further the Christian common-wealth but rather in aemulation of Iouius glory For the doing of which busines effectually faithfully I suppose I am sufficiently instructed for when I had executed my embassage into Germany and Sarmatia was returned vnto my king Iohn the third of that name of whose great courtesie and bountie in receiuing of me I had sufficient triall I fell in conference with the Ethiopian Embassador at Lisbon a man honoured and indued with the dignity of a Bishop admirable for his credit doctrine and eloquence in the Chaldean and Arabian tongue and in briefe a man most fit to bee sent from the most mighty Emperour of Ethiopia vnto great and potent princes for vrgent and weightie affaires his name was Zaga Zabo and after an assured and firme friendship was established betwixt vs I had often conference with him and reasoned and debated with him especially of the manners and Religion of the Christians of Aethiopia for I desired to know those things not by the bare narration of trauelling interpreters but from a man borne in that Country and that in his presence and receiuing it from his mouth Amongst other things I shewed vnto him an Epistle sent into Portugall by Mathew the Embassador which Epistle together with the Articles which he proposed before King Emmanuel I translated as I haue sayd into the Latine tongue and many things I haue corrected by his direction where the interpretation obtained not sufficient credit nor likelihood which he affirmed did oftentimes happen both to me and to Iouius for as then I had with me the Epistles of the same Iouius which we conferred with great diligence and after vnfained friendship and the true loue of Christ flourished and was esteemed amongst vs I was imboldened to require of him a plaine and sincere declaration of the faith and religion of the Aethiopians and to haue it penned downe with his owne hands which hee graunted vnto me with great alacritie and foorthwith beganne to make description thereof which relation of his I haue faithfully translated into Latin as by the sequele will appeare wherein I went forward with greater desire my conscience vrging me that I was not ignorant that if these things should haue perished with me they could neuer after that be published by any other man for because they were so framed and composed after the Chaldean and Aethiopian phrase as they could hardly of any man bee vnderstood but of my selfe who by much familiaritie might attaine to the knowledge of all those things as well from the mouth as from the writings of the sayd Aethiopian Ambassadour In the name of our Lord Iesus Christ Amen THese be the things which be vsed obserued amongst vs Aethiopians as touching our faith and religion First we beleeue in the name of the holy Trinity the Father Sonne and holy Ghost who is one Lord three in name but one in Diuinity three representations but one similitude the coniunction of the three persons is equall equall I say in Diuinitie one Kingdome one throne one Iudge one Charity one Word and one Spirit but the word of the Father and of the Sonne the word of the holy Ghost and the Sonne is the same word and the word with God and with the holy Ghost and with himself without any defect or diuision the Sonne of the Father and the Sonne of the same Father without beginning to wit first the Sonne of the Father without mother For no one knoweth the secret and mysterie of his Natiuity but the Father Sonne and the holy Ghost and the same in beginning was the Word the Word was the Word with God and God was the Word the Spirit of the Father the holy Spirit and the Spirit of the Sonne is the holy Spirit but the holy Spirit of his Spirit is without any diminution or augmentation for that the holy Ghost the Aduocate or Comforter the true God which proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne spake by the mouth of the Prophets and descended in the fierie flame vppon the Apostles in the porch of Syon who declared and preached throughout the whole world the Word of the Father which Word was the Sonne himselfe Moreouer the Father is not first in that hee is Father nor the Sonne last in that he is the Sonne euen so the holy Ghost is neither first nor last for they be three persons but one God which seeth and is seene of no man and who by his onely counsell created all things and after that the Sonne of his owne accord for our saluation the Father himselfe being willing and the holy Ghost consenting thereunto descended from his high and heauenly habitation and was incarnate by the holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary which Mary was adorned with a double Virginity the one spirituall the other carnall he was also borne without any corruption the same Mary his mother after her child-bearing remaning a Virgin inspired with great wonder and hidden fire of Diuinity brought foorth without bloud paine or dolors her Sonne Iesus Christ who was a man innocent and without sinne perfect God and perfect man hauing one onely aspect As he was an infant he grew vp by little and little sucking the milk of his mother Mary the Virgin and when he attained to the age of thirty yeares he was baptized in Iordan he walked like other men he was wearie he sweat he was both hungrie and thirstie and all these things he suffered freely and voluntarily working many miracles and by his Diuinitie he restored sight to the blind healed those which were lame cleansed the leapers and raised vp the dead and last of all he was willingly apprehended and taken scourged beaten with buffets and crucified he languished and died for our offences and by his death he ouercame death and the diuell and by his sorrow in his life time hee dissolued our sinnes and bare our griefes and with the Baptisme of his bloud which Baptisme was his death he baptized the Patriarchs and Prophets and he descended into hell where was the soule of Adam and his sons the soule of Christ himselfe which is of Adam which soule of Adam Christ himself took of the blessed Virgin Mary and in the brightnes of his diuinity and strength of his crosse he brake the brazen gates of hell binding Satan in chaines of yron and
execute those offices of the court the women likewise by the commandement and decree of the same Maqueda be circumcised shee being induced therevnto by this reason that euen as men haue a fore-skinne that couereth their yards in like manner haue women a certaine kernelly flesh which is called Nympha arysing vp in the middle of their priuy partes which is very fit to take the character of circumcision and this is done both to males and females vpon the eight day and after circumcision the men children be baptised vpon the fortieth day and the women children vpon the eighteeth day vnlesse any sicknesse or infirmity hapneth which may cause it to bee done sooner but if any children be baptised before the time appointed it is not lawfull to giue them sucke of their mothers milke but onely of their nurses vntill their mothers bee purified and the water wherein they bee baptised is consecrated and blessed with exorcismes and that very same day wherein children bee baptised they receiue the blessed bodie of our Lord in a little forme of bread wee receiued baptisme almost before all other Christians from the Eunuch of Candace Queene of Aethiopia whose name was Indich as it is said in the Acts of the Apostles which together with circumcision which wee had at that time as before is sayd wee obserue most holily and Christian like and by Gods assistance euer shall obserue nor doe we obserue or admit of any thing but of those onely which are expressed in the law and the prophets and in the Gospell and in the bookes of the councels of the Apostles and if wee receiue any things besides those they bee onely obserued for the time for that they seeme to appertaine to the gouernment and peace of the Church and that without any bond of sinne Wherefore our circumcision is not vncleane but the law and grace is giuen to our father Abraham which hee receiued of God as a signe not that either he or his children should be saued through circumcision but that the children of Abraham should be known from other nations And that which is inwardly vnderstood by the signe or mistery of circumcision wee doe highly obserue that is that wee may bee circumcised in our hearts neither doe wee boast of circumcision nor therefore thinke our selues more noble then other Christians nor more acceptable vnto God with whom is no acception of persons as Paul saith who also sheweth vs that wee bee not saued through circumcision but by faith because in Christ Iesus neither circumcision nor the cutting off the foreskinne preualeth but the new creature but Paul preached not to destroy the law but to establish it who was also baptised and beeing of the seed of Beniamin hee also circumcised Tymothy who was become a Christian his mother beeing an Hebrew and his father a Gentile knowing that God doth iustifie circumcision by faith and the fore-skinne by faith and as he himselfe was made all to all that hee might saue all To the Iewes hee was as a Iew that thereby hee might winne the Iewes and to those which were vnder the law hee was as one vnder the law although hee was not vnder the law to the end hee might gaine those which were vnder the lawe and to those which were without the law hee was as one without the law although hee was not without the law of GOD but vnder the law of Christ that hee might get those which were without the law and hee became weake that hee might gaine those which were weake which he did to shew that we bee saued not by circumcision but by faith And therefore when he preached to the Hebrewes hee spake vnto them in diuers speeches like an Hebrew saying God heretofore spake many waies and in many manners to our fathers in the prophets shewing vnto them out of the same prophets that Christ was of the seed of Dauid after the flesh Moreouer he preached vnto them that Christ was with our fathers in the tents in the Desert and that he led them into the Land of promise by the hand of Iosua And Paul also testifieth in the same place that Christ was the chiefe of priests and that hee entred into a new tent which is the Sanctum sanctorum The holy of holies and that with the sacrifice of his bodie and bloud hee abolished the bloud of goates and bulles whereby none that killeth them shall bee iustified and so hee spake sundry waies to the Iewes and also suffering himselfe to bee worshipped of his people by many ceremonies in a holy and vncorrupted faith Moreouer those children with vs bee accounted halfe Christians which here I vnderstand in the Romane Church bee called Paganes who because they die without baptisme ought to bee called halfe Christians because they be children of the sanctified bloud of parents baptised and of the holy Ghost and of the bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ by which three Testimonies all Christians bee so reputed because there bee three things which giue testimony in earth the spirite water and bloud as Saint Iohn witnesseth in his first canonicall Epistle the Gospell also saith a good tree bringeth forth good fruite and an euill tree bringeth forth euill fruite and therefore the children of Christians are not like vnto the children of the Gentiles and of the Iewes and of the Moores which bee withered trees without any fruit but the Christians bee elected in their mothers wombes as holy Ieremias the prophet and Saint Iohn Baptist were Furthermore the children of Christian women are elected and consecrated by the communication and imparting of the body bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ for when women great with child do take the most blessed body of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ the infant in the wombe receiuing nutriment is thereby sanctified for euen as the child in the mothers wombe conceiueth either sorrow or ioy according as the mother is affected so also is it nourished by the mothers norishment and as our Lord saith in his holy Ghospell if any one eate my body and drinke my bloud hee shall not tast of eternall death and againe if any one eate of my body and drinke my bloud hee shall remaine with mee and Paul the teacher of the Gentiles saith the vnbeleeuing husband is iustified by the beleeuing wife the vnbeleeuing wife is sanctified by the beleeuing husband otherwise your children should be vncleane but now they bee sanctified which if it bee so that the children of an vnbeleeuing mother bee sanctified by the saithfulnesse of the father then be they much more holy that bee borne of faithfull fathers and mothers for which cause it is farre more holy to call children before they bee christned halfe Christians then Pagans and the Apostles also haue said in their bookes of councels that al which beleeue and be not baptised may iustly bee termed halfe Christians who also say in the said bookes if Iew Moore or Gentile will receiue the faith hee is