to poyson In like manner do Perwinkles and Snailes but not only in the winter season but in Summer againe they lie still cleauing so hard to rocks stones that although by force they be plucked off and turned with their bellies vpward yet they will not out of their shell In the Baleare Istands there be a kinde of them called Cauaticae which neuer creepe out of their holes within the ground neither liue they of any grasse or greene herbe but hang together like clusters of grapes Another sort there is of them but not so common hiding themselues within the couer of their shell sticking euer fast vnto them these lie alwaies vnder the ground and were in times past digged vp onely about the Alpes along the maritime coasts but now of late they be discouered in Veliternum also where men begin to get them out of the earth But the best of them all and most commendable are those in the Island Astypelaea As touching Lisards deadly enemies to the Snailes or Winkles aboue-named men say they liue not aboue six moneths In Arabia the Lizards be a cubit in length and in the mountain Nisa of India they be foure and twenty foot long some tawnie some light red and others blew of colour CHAP. XL. ¶ Of Dogges AMong those domesticall creatures that conuerse with vs there be many things worth the knowledge and namely as touching dogges the most faithfull and trustie companions of all others to a man and also horses And in very truth I haue heard it credibly reported of a dogge that in defence of his master fought hard against theeues robbing by the high way side albeit he were sore wounded euen to death yet would he not abandon the dead body of his master but draue away both wild foule and sauage beast from seizing of his carkasse Also of another in Epirus who in a great assembly of people knowing the man that had murdered his Mr. flew vpon him with open mouth barking and snapping at him so furiously that he was ready to take him by the throat vntill he at length confessed the fact that should cause the dog thus to rage and fome against him There was a king of the Garamants exiled and recouered his royall state againe by the meanes of 200 dogs that fought for him against al those that made resistance and brought him home maugre his enemies The Colophonians and Castabaleans maintained certain squadrons of mastiue dogs for their war seruice and those were put in the vaward to make the head and front of the battell and were neuer knowne to draw back and refuse fight These were their trustiest auxiliaries and aid-soldiers and neuer so needy as to call for pay In a battell when the Cimbrians were defeated and put all to the sword their dogges defended the baggage yea and their houses such as they were carried ordinarily vpon charriots Iason the Lycian had a dogge who after his master was slaine would neuer eat meat but pined himselfe to death Duris maketh mention of another dogge which he named Hircanus that so soone as the funerall fire of king Lysimachus his master was set a burning leapt into the flame And so did another at the funerals of king Hiero. Moreouer Phylistus reporteth as strange a story of king Pyrrhus his dogge as also of another belonging to the tyrant Gelo. The Chronicles report of a dog that Nicomedes king of Numidia kept which flew vpon the queene Consingis his wife al to mangled and worried her for toying and dallying ouerwantonly with the king her husband And to goe no farther for examples euen with vs here at Rome Volcatius a noble gentleman who tought Cecelius the ciuile law as he returned home one euening late riding vpon an hackney from a village neere the citie was assailed by a theefe on the high way but he had a dog with him that saued him out of his hands Caelius likewise a Senator of Rome lying sicke at Plaisance chanced to be assailed by his enemies well appointed and armed but they were not able to hurt and wound him by reason of a dog that he had about him vntill such time as they had killed the said dog But this passeth al which happened in our time and standeth vpon record in the publicke registers namely in the yeere that Appius Iunius and P. Silus were Consuls at what time as T. Sabinus and his seruants were executed for an outrage committed vpon the person of Nero sonne of Germanicus one of them that died had a dog which could not be kept from the prison dore and when his master was throwne down the staires called Scalae Gemoniae would not depart from his dead corps but kept a most pitteous howling and lamentation about it in the sight of a great multitude of Romanes that stood round about to see the execution and the manner of it and when one of the companie threw the dogge a piece of meat he straightwaies carried to the mouth of his master lying dead Moreouer when the carkasse was thrown into the riuer Tiberis the same dog swam after made all the means he could to beare it vp aflote that it should not sink and to the sight of this spectacle and fidelitie of the poore dogge to his master a number of people ran forth by heapes out of the citie to the water side They be the onely beasts of all others that know their masters and let a stranger vnknown be come neuer so suddenly they are ware of his comming and will giue warning They alone know their owne names and all those of the house by their speech Be the way neuer so long and the place from whence they came neuer so farre they remember it and can go thither againe And surely setting man aside I know not what creature hath a better memorie As furious and raging as they be otherwhiles yet appeased they will be and quieted by a man sitting down vpon the ground Certes the longer we liue the more things we obserue marke still in these dogges As for hunting there is not a beast so subtle so quick so fine of sent as is the hound he hunteth and followeth the best by the foot training the hunter that leads him by the coller and leash to the very place where the beast lieth Hauing once gotten an eie of his game how silent secret are they notwithstanding and yet how significant is their discouerie of the beast vnto the hunter first with wagging their taile and afterwards with their nose and snout snuffing as they doe And therefore it is no maruell if when hounds or beagles be ouer old wearie and blind men carry them in their armes to hunt for to wind the beast and by the verie sent of the nose to shew and declare where the beast is at harbour The Indians take great pleasure to haue their salt bitches to be lined with tygres and for this purpose when they goe proud they couple and
was for being one of those three in the Triumvirate yoked and matched with wicked companions and most dangerous members to the weal publique and this galled him the more that in this fellowship the Roman empire was not equally and indifferently parted among them three but Antonie went away with the greatest share by odds Also his ill fortune was in the battell before Philippos to fall sicke to take his flight and for three daies diseased as he was to lurke and lie hidden within a marish whereupon as Agrippa and Mecoenas confesse he grew into a kinde of dropsie so as his belly and sides were puffed vp and swelled with a waterish humor gotten and spred betwixt the flesh and the skin Furthermore he suffered shipwrecke in Sicily and there likewise he was glad to skulk within a caue in the ground What should I say how when he was put to flight at sea and the whole power of his enemies at his heeles he besought Proculeius in that great danger to rid him out of his life how he was perplexed for the quarrels and contentions at Perusium in what feare and agonie hee was in the battell of Actium a towne of Albanie as also for the issue of the Pannonian warre for the fall of a bridge and a towne both So many mutinies among his soldiers so many dangerous diseases the iealousie and suspition that he had euermore of Marcellus the reproch shame he sustained for confining and banishing Agrippa his life so many times laid for by poison and other secret traines the death of his children suspected to haue bin by indirect meanes the double sorrow and grief of heart thereby and not altogether for his childelesse estate The adulterie of his owne daughter and her purpose of taking his life away detected and published to the World the reprochfull departure and slipping aside of Nero the sonnè of his Wife another adulterie commited by one of his owne Neeces Ouer and aboue all this thus many more crosses and troubles comming one in the necke of another namely want of pay for his souldiers the rebellion of Sclauonia the mustering of slaues and bond seruants to make vp his army for want of other able youths to leuy vnto the warres Pestilence in Rome Citie famin and drought vniuersally throughout Italy and that which more is a deliberat purpose and resolution of his to famish and pine himselfe to death hauing to that end fasted 4 dayes and 4 nights and in that time receiued into his body the greater part of his owne death Besides the ouerthrow and rout of Varius his forces the foule staine and blemish to the touch of his honor and maiestie very neere the putting away of Posthumius Agrippa after his adoption and the misse that he had of him after his banishment then the suspition that hee conceiued of Fabius for disclosing his secrets adde hereto the opinion and conceit be tooke of his owne wife and Tiberius which surpassed all his other cares To conclude that god and he who I wot not whether obtained heauen or deserued it more departed this life and left behinde him as heire to the crowne his enemies sonne CHAP. XLVI ¶ Whom the gods iudge most happy I Cannot ouerpasse in this discourse and consideration the Oracles of Delphos deliuered from that heauenly god to chastise and represse as it were the folly and vanitie of men and two there be which giue answer to the point in question after this manner First that Phedius who but a while before died in the seruice of his countrey was most happy Moreouer Gyges the most puissant king in those daies of all the earth sent a second time to know of the Oracle who was the happiest man next him and answer was made That Aglaus Psophidius was happier than the former Now this Aglaus was a good honest man well stept in yeares dwelling in a very narrow corner of Arcadia where he had a little house and land of his own sufficient with the yearely commodities thereof to maintaine him plentifully with ease out of which hee neuer went but employed himselfe in the tillage and husbandry thereof to make the best benefit he could in such sort that as it appeared by that course of life as he coueted least so he felt as little trouble and aduersitie while he liued CHAP. XLVII ¶ Who was canonised a god here vpon earth liuing BY the ordinance and appointment of the same Oracle as also by the ascent and approbation of Iupiter the soueraigne god Euthymus the famous wrestler who alwaies wan the best prize at Olympia saue once was reputed and consecrated a god whiles he liued and knew thereof born he was at Locri in Italy where one statue of his as also another at Olympia were both in one day stricken with lightning whereat I see Callimachus wondred as if nothing else were worthy admiration and gaue order that he should be sacrificed vnto as a god which was performed accordingly both whiles he liued and after hee was dead A thing that I maruell more at than any thing else That the gods were therewith contented and would permit such a dishonour to their maiestie CHAP. XLVIII ¶ Of the longest liues THe terme and length of mans life is vncertaine not only by reason of the diuersity of climats but also because Historians haue deliuered such varietie of mens ages and euerie man by himselfe hath a seuerall time limited vnto him at the very day of his birth Hesiod the first writer as I take it who hath treated of this argument and yet like a Poet in his fabulous discourse touching the age of man saith forsooth that a crow liues nine times as long as we and harts or stags 4 times as long as hee but Rauens thrice as long as they As for his other reports touching the Nymphs and the bird Phoenix they are more like poeticall tales than true relations Anacreon the Poet maketh mention that Arganthonius king of the Tartessians liued 150 yeares and Cynaras likewise King of the Cyprians ten yeares longer Theopompus affirmeth that Epimenides the Gnossian died when he was 157 yeares old Hellanicus hath written That amongst the Epians in Aetolia there be some that continue full two hundred years and with him accordeth Damases adding moreouer that there was one Pictoreus among them a man of exceeding stature mighty and strong withall who liuedthree hundred yeares Ephorus testifieth that ordinarily the kings of Arcadia were 300 yeares old ere they died Alexander Cornelius writeth of one Dando a Sclauonian who liued 500 yeres Xenophon in his treatise of old age makes mention of a King of the Latines or as some say ouer a people vpon the sea coasts who liued 600 yeares and because he had not lied loud enough already he goes on still and saith that his son came to 800. All these strange reports proceed from the ignorance of the times past and for want of knowledge how they made their account for some
LIII ¶ Of sudden Deaths AS for sudden death that is to say the greatest felicitie and happines that can befall man many examples wee haue thereof that alwaies seeme strange and maruellous howbeit they are common Verrius hath set forth a number of them but I will keepe within a meane and make choice of them all Besides Chilon the Laced emonian of whom we spake before the died suddenly for very ioy Sophocles the poet and Denis a king or tyran of Sicily both of them vpon tydings brought vnto them that they had won the best prise among the tragical Poets Presently after that famous defeat at Cannae a mother died immediatly vpon the sight of her son aliue whom by a false messenger she heard to haue bin slain in that battell Diodorus a great professed Logician for very shame that hee could not presently assoile a friuolous question nor answer to some demands proposed by Stilbo swouned and neuer came again Without any apparant cause at all that could be seen diuers haue left their life namely two of the Caesars the one Pretor for the time being the other who had borne that dignity the father of Caesar the Dictator both of them in the morning when they were new risen and putting on their shooes the one at Pisae the former at Rome In like maner Q. Fabius Maximus in his very Consulship vpon the last day of December which was the last also of his magistracie had hee liued longer in whose place Rebilus made sute to be Consull for a very few houres that remained of that yere Semblably C. Vulcatius Gurgius a Senator All of them in perfect health so lustie and well liking that they thought to go forth presently and of nothing lesse than to dy before Q. Aemylius Lepidus euen as he was going out of his bed chamber hit his great toe against the dore sill and therewith died C. Aufidius was gotten forth of his house and as he was going to the Senat stumbled with his foot in the Comitium or common place of assemblies and died in the place Moreouer a certain Embassador of the Rhodians who had to the great admiration of all that were present pleaded their cause before the Senat in the very entry of the Councell house as he was going forth fell downe dead and neuer spake word Cn. Boebius Pamphilus who had bin Pretor died suddenly as he was asking a boy what it was a clocke A. Pomâ—…s so soon as he had worshipped the gods in the Capitoll and said his Orasons immediateâ—… died So did M. Iuventius Talva the Consull as hee was offering sacrifice And Caius Serâ—… Paâ—…sa aâ—… hee stood at a shop in the market place about eight of the clocke in the morâ—… â—…ning â—…pon his brother P. Pansa his shoulders Boebius the Iudge as hee was adiourning the day of ones appearance in the court M. Terentius Corax whiles he was writing letters in the market place No longer since than the very last yeare a Knight of Rome as hee was talking with another that had been Consul and rounding him in the eare fell downe starke dead And this hapned before the yvorie statue of Apollo which stands in the Forum of Augustus But aboue all others it is strange that C. Iulius a Surgeon should die as he was dressing of a sore eie with a salue and drawing his instrument along the eye What should I say of L. Manlius Torquatus a man who had bin somtime Consul whose hap was to die sitting at supper euen in reaching for a cake or wafer vpon the boord L. Durius Valla the physition died whiles he was drinking a potion of mede or sweet honied wine Appius Aufeius being come out of the Baine after he had drunk a draught of honied wine as he was supping off a rere egge died P. Quintius Scapula as he was at supper in Aquillius Gallus his house Decimus Saufeius the Scribe as he sate at dinner in his owne house Cornelius Gallus one who had bin Lord Pretor and T. Aetherius a Roman Knight died both in the very act of Venus whiles they lay vpon women The like befell in our daies to two gentlemen of Rome who died both as they were dealing contrary to nature with one and the same counterfeit Iester named Mithycus a youth in those daies of surpassing beauty But of all others M. Ofilius Hilarus an actor and plaier in comedies as it is reported by antient writers died most secure of death with the greatest circumstances about it for after he had much delighted the people made them sport to their contentment on his birth day he kept a feast at home in his house and when supper was set forth vpon the table hee called foâ—… a messe of hot broth in a pottinger to drinke off and withall casting his eye vpon the maske or visor he put on that day fitted it for his visage and tooke off the chaplet or garland from his bare head and set it thereupon in this habit disguised as he sate hee was starke dead and key cold before any man perceiued it vntill he that leaned next vnto him at the boord put him in minde of his pottage that it cooled and making no answer they found in what case he was These examples all be of happy deaths but contrariwise there be an infinite number that are as miserable vnfortunat L. Domitius a man descended of a mâ—…st noble house and parentage being vanquished by Caesar before Marseils and taken prisoner aâ—… Corfinium by the same Caesar for very irksomnesse of his tedious life poisoned himselfe but after he had drunke the poison repented of that which he had done and did all that euer hee could to liue still but in vaine We finde vpon record in the publique registers that when Felix one of the carnation or flesh-coloured liuery that ranne with chariots in the great cirque or shew-place was had forth dead to be burnt one of his fauorits and consorts flung himselfe into his funerall fire for company A friuolous and small matter it is to speak of but they of the other part that sided with the aduerse faction of other liueries because this act should not turne to the honor and credit of their concurrent the actiue Chariotier aboue named gaue it out and said that this his friend and wel-willer did not do it for any loue he bare him but that his head was intoxicate with the strong sauor of the incense and odors that were in the fire and so being beside himself wist not what he did Not long before this chanced M. Lepidus a gentleman of Rome descended of a most noble family who as is aboue said died for thought and griefe of heart that hee had diuorced his wife was by the violent force of the flame cast forth of the funerall fire because of the extreme heat thereof no man could come neere to lay his corps again in the place where it was should be they were fain to
gather as it were a compleat hody of arts and sciences which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that are either altogether vnknowne or become doubtfull through the ouermuch curiositie of fine wits again other matters are deciphered in such long discourses that they are tedious to the readers insomuch as they loath and abhor them A difficult enterprise it is therfore to make old stuffe new to giue authoritie credit to nouelties to polish and smooth that which is worne and out of vse to set a glosse and lustre vpon that which is dim and darke to grace countenance things disdained to procure beleefe to matters doubtful in one word to reduce nature to all and al to their own nature And verily to giue the attempt only and shew a desire to effect such a desseigne as this although the same be not brought about and compassed were a braue and magnificent enterprise Certes of this spirit am I that those learned men and great students who making no stay but breaking through al difficulties haue preferred the profit of posteritie before the tickling and pleasure of itching eares in these daies which I may protest that I haue aimed at not in this worke only but also in other of my bookes alreadie and I professe that I wonder much at T. Livius otherwise a most renowned famous writer who in a preface to one of his books of the Roman history which hee cōpiled from the foundation of Rome thus protested That hee had gotten glorie ynough by his former writing and might sit still now take his ease but that his mind was so restlesse and so ill could abide repose that contrariwise it was fed and nourished with trauel nothing else But surely me thinks in finishing those Chronicles he should in dutie haue respected the glory of that people which had conquered the World and aduanced the honour of the Romane name rather than displaied his owne praise and commendation Ywis his demerit had beene the greater to haue continued his story as he did for loue of the subiect matter and not for his priuat pleasure to haue I say performed that peece of worke more to gratifie the state of Rome than to content his owne minde and affection As touching my selfe forasmuch as Domitius Piso saith That bookes ought to be treasuries store houses indeed and not bare and simple writings I may be bold to say and averre That in 36 bookes I haue comprised 20000 things all worthie of regard consideration which I haue recollected out of 2000 volumes or therabout that I haue diligently read and yet very few of them there be that men learned otherwise and studious dare meddle withall for the deepe matter and hidden secrets therein contained and those written by 100 seuerall elect and approued authors besides a world of other matters which either were vnknowne to our forefathers and former writers or else afterward inuented by their posteritie And yet I nothing doubt that many things there be which either surpasse our knowledge or else our memorie hath ouerslipt for men we are and men emploied in many affaires Moreouer considered it would be that these studies wee follow at vacant times and stolne houres that is to say by night season onely to the end that you may know how wee to accomplish this haue neglected no time which was due vnto your seruice The daies we wholly employ and spend in attendance about your person we sleepe onely to satisfie nature euen as much as our health requireth and no more contenting our selves with this reward That whiles wee study and muse as Varro saith vpon these things in our closet we gaine so many houres to our life for surely we liue then only when we watch and be awake Considering now those occasions those lets and hinderances aboue-named I had no reason to presume or promise much but in that you haue emboldened me to dedicate my bookes vnto you your selfe performeth whatsoeuer in me is wanting not that I trust vpon the goodnesse and worth of the worke so much as that by this means it will be better esteemed and shew more vendible for many things there be that seeme right deare and be holden for pretious only because they are consecrate to some sacred temples As for vs verily we haue written of you all your father Vespasian your selfe and your brother Domitian in a large volume which wee compiled touching the historie of our times beginning there where Aufidius Bassus ended Now if you demand and aske me Where that historie is I answer that finished it was long since and by this time is iustified and approued true by your deeds otherwise I was determined to leaue it vnto my heire and giue order that it should be published after my death lest in my life time I might haue bin thought to haue curried fauour of those whose acts I seemed to pen with flatterie beyond all truth And therfore in this action I do both them a great fauour who haply were minded before me to put forth the like Chronicle and the posteritie also which shall come after who I make reckning and know will enter into the lists with vs like as we haue done with our predecessors A sufficient argument of this my good mind frank hart that way you shal haue by this That in the front of these books now in hand I haue set down the very names of those writers whose help I haue vsed in the compiling of thē for I haue euer bin of this opinion That it is the part of an honest minded man one that is ful of grace modesty to confesse frank ly by whom he hath profited gottē any good not as many of those vnthankful persons haue done whom I haue alledged for my authors For to tell you a plain truth know thus much from me that in conferring thē together about this worke of mine I haue met with some of our moderne writers who word for word haue exemplified copied out whole books of old authors and neuer vouchsafed so much as the naming of them but haue taken their labors trauels to themselues And this they haue not done in that courage and spirit to imitate yea to match them as Virgil did Homer much lesse haue they shewed that simplicitie and apert proceeding of Cicero who in his bookes of Policie and Common-weale professeth himselfe to hold with Plato in his Consolatorie Epistle written to his daughter confesseth and saith plainely thus I follow Crantor and Panaetius likewise in his Treatise concerning Offices Which worthy monuments of his as you know well deserue not onely to be seene handled and read daily but also to be learned by heart euery word Certes I hold it for a point of a base and seruile mind and wherein there is no goodnesse at al to chuse rather to be surprised and taken in theft than to bring home borrowed good or to repay a due debt
especially when the occupying vse and interest thereof hath gained a man as much as the principall Now as touching the titles and inscriptions of Bookes the Greekes therein haue a wonderfull grace and great felicitie some haue intituled them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby they would giue vs to vnderstand of A sweet hony-combe * others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say The horne of plenty and store in such sort that whosoeuer readeth these goodly titles must needs hope for some great matters in such bookes and as the proverb goeth looke to drinke there or else no where a good draught of hens milke You shall haue moreouer their bookes set out with these glorious inscriptions The Muses The Pandects Enchiridion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Goodly names all and such as who would not make default of appearance in court and forfeit a recognisance or obligation to vnclaspe such books and turne ouer the leafe But let a man enter into them and reade forward Lord how little or no substance at all shall he find within the verie mids answerable to that braue shew in the front or outside thereof As for our countreymen Latines I meane and Romans they be nothing so fine and curious as the Greeks grosse are they in comparison of them in giuing titles to their books they come with their Antiquities Examples and Arts and those also be such authors as are of the most pleasant and finest inuention amongst them all Valerius who as I take it was named Antias both for that hee was a Citizen of Antium and also because the ancestors of his house were so called vvas the first that gaue to a booke of his owne making the title of Lucubratio as a man would say Candleworke or Night-studie Varro he tearmeth some of his Satyres Sesculyxes and Flexibulae Diodorus among the Greekes was the first that laied aside toyish titles and because he would giue some braue name to his Chronicles entituled it Bibliotheca i. a Librarie Apion the famous Grammarian euen hee whom Tiberius Caesar called the Cymball of the world whereas indeed hee deserued to bee named a Timbrill or Drum rather for ringing and sounding publique fame was so vain-glorious that he supposed all those immortalized vnto whom hee wrote or composed any pamphlet whatsoeuer For mine owne part although I nothing repent mee that I haue deuised no pretier Title for my Booke than plaine Naturalis Historia i. The reports of Nature without more ceremonie yet because I would not be thought altogether to course and rate the Greekes I can be content nay I am willing to bee thought in this behalfe like vnto those excellent grand masters in Greece for Painting and Imagerie whom you shall finde in these Reports of mine to haue entituled those rare and absolute peeces of worke vvhich the more wee view and looke vpon the more wee admire and wonder at for their perfection with halfe titles and vnperfect inscriptions in this manner Apelles went in hand with this Picture or Polycletus was a making this Image as if they were but begun neuer finished and laid out of their hands which was done no doubt to this end that for all the varietie and diuersitie of mens iudgements scanning of their workemanship yet the Artificer thereby had recourse to make excuse had meanes I say to craue and haue pardon for any faults and imperfections that could be found as if hee meant to haue amended any thing therein amisse or wanting in case hee had not beene cut off and preuented by death These noble workemen therefore herein shewed right great modestie that they set superscriptions vpon all their painted tables pourtraitures and personages as if they had beene the last peeces of their workemanship and themselues dissabled by vnexpected death that they could not make a finall end of any one of them for there were not knowne as I take it aboue three in all which had their absolute titles written vpon them in this forme Ille fecit i. This Apelles wrought and those pictures will I write of in place conuenient By which it appeared euidently that the said three tables were fully finished and that the workeman was so highly contented with their perfection that he feared the censure of no man No maruaile then if all three were so much enuied and admired throughout the world no marueile if euerie man desired to be master of them Now For my selfe I know full well and confesse freely that many more things may be added not to this story alone but to all my bookes that I haue put forth alreadie which I speake by the way because I would preuent and auoid those fault-finders abroad those correctors and scourgers of Homer for surely that is their very name because I hear say there be certaine Stoike Philosophers professed Logicians yea and Epicurians also for at Grammarians hands and Criticks I neuer looked for other who are with child still and trauaile vntill they be deliuered of somewhat against my bookes which I haue set forth as touching Grammer and for this ten yeares space nothing is come to light but euermore the fruit miscarieth belike before the full time as the slip of an vnperfect birth whereas in lesse space than so the verie Elephant bringeth forth her calfe be it neuer so big But this troubleth me neuer a whit for I am not ignorant that a silly woman euen an harlot and no better durst encounter Theophrastus and write a booke against him notwithstanding hee was a man of such incomparable eloquence that thereupon hee came by his diuine name Theophrastus from whence arose this prouerbe and by-word Marie then go chuse a tree to hang thy selfe And surely I cannot containe and hold my tongue but I must needs set downe the verie words of Cato Censorius so pertinent to this purpose whereby it may appeare that euen Cato himselfe a most worthy personage who wrote of militarie Discipline who had beene brought vp and trained to feats of warre vnder Great Scipio Africanus or rather indeed vnder Anniball who in the end could not endure Africanus himselfe but was able to controll him in martiall affaires and who besides hauing the conduct as L. Generall of the Romane armie atchieued the better hand ouer his enemies in the field and returned with victorie this Cato I say could not auoid such backbiters and slanderers but knowing that there would be many of them readie to purchase themselues some name and reputation by reprouing the knowledge and skill of others brake out into a certaine speech against them And what was it I know right well quoth hee in that booke aforesaid that if these writings of mine come abroad once and be published to the view of the world there will be many step forth to quarrell and cauill therewith such fellows soonest and most of all who are quite void of vertue and honestie and know not what
also that some are aged and euer hoarie and gray others againe young and alwaies children that they be blacke of colour and complexion winged lame hatched of egs liuing and dying each other day are meere fooleries little better than childish toies But it passeth and exceedeth all shamelesse impudencie to imagine adulteries amongst them eftsoones also chiding scolding hatred and malice and more than that how there be gods patrons of theft and wickednesse Whereas in very deed a god vnto a man is he that helpeth a man and this is the true and direct path-way to euerlasting glory In this way went the noble Romans in old time and in this tract at this day goeth with heauenly pace Vespasian Augustus both he and his children Vespasian I say the most mightie ruler of the whole world whiles he relieueth the afflicted State of the Romane Empire and Common-weale And this is the most antient manner of requitall to such benefactours That they should be canonized gods And hereof came the names as well of all other gods as of the stars and planets which I haue mentioned before in recognisance of mens good deserts As for Iupiter verily and Mercurie and other princes raunged among the gods who doubteth that they were called otherwise among themselues and who confesseth not how these be celestiall denominations to expresse and interpret their nature Now That the soueraigne power and deity whatsoeuer it is should haue regard of mankind is a toy and vanity worthy to be laughed at For can we chuse but beleeue can we make any doubt but needs that Diuinity and Godhead must be polluted with so base manifold a ministery And hardly in manner may it be iudged whether of the twain be better and more expedient for mankinde to beleeue that the gods haue regard of vs or to be persuaded that they haue none at all considering That some men haue no respect and reuerence at all of the gods others againe so much as it is a very shame to see their superstition Addicted these are and devoted to serue them by forrein magicke ceremonies they weare their gods vpon their fingers in rings yea they worship and adore monsters they condemne and forbid some meats yet they deuise others for them Impose they do vpon them hard and vengible charges to execute not suffering them to rest and sleep in quiet They chuse neither mariages nor children ne yet any one thing els but by the approbation allowance of sacred rites and mysteries Contrariwise others there are so godlesse that in the very capitoll they vse deceit and forsweare themselues euen by Iupiter for all that he is ready to shoot his thunderbolts and as some speed wel enough with their wicked deeds and irreligion so others again feele the smart and are punished by the saints whom they adore and the holy ceremonies which they obserue How beit betweene both these opinions men haue found out to themselues a middle Godhead and diuine power to the end that we should giue stil a more vncertaine coniecture as touching God indeed For throughout the whole world in euery place at all times and in all mens mouths Fortune alone is sought vnto and called vpon she only is named and in request shee alone is blamed accused and endited None but she is thought vpon she only is praised she only is reproued and rebuked yea and worshipped is she with railing and reprochfull tearms and namely when she is taken to be wauering mutable and of the most sort supposed also blind rouing at randon vnconstant vncertaine variable and fauoring the vnworthy whatsoeuer is laid forth spent and lost whatsoeuer is receiued woon and gotten all that comes in all that goes out is imputed to Fortune and in all mens reckonings and accounts she makes vp the booke and sets all streight So abiect we are so seruile also and enthralled to Lots that euen the very chance of Lots is taken for a god than which nothing maketh vs more doubtfull and ignorant of God Now there are another sort that reiect Fortune Chance both and wil not abide them but attribute the euents and issues of things to their owne seuerall stars and go by the fatall horoscope or ascendent of their natiuitie affirming that the same shall euer befall which once hath bin set downe and decreed by God so as he for euer after may sit still and rest himselfe And this opinion beginneth now to settle and take deep root insomuch as both the learned and also the rude and ignorant multitude run that way on end From hence behold proceed the warnings admonitions of lightenings the fore-knowledge by Oracles the predictions of Soothsayers yea and other contemptible things not worthy to be once spoken of as sneesing and stumbling with the foot are counted matters of presage Augustus Caesar of famous memorie hath made report and left in writing that his left foot shooe was vntowardly put on before the right on that very day when he had like to haue miscarried in a mutiny among his souldiers Thus these things euery one doe enwrap and entangle silly mortall men void of all forecast and true vnderstanding so as this only point among the rest remaines sure and certain namely That nothing is certaine neither is there ought more wretched and more proud withall than man For all liuely creatures else take care onely for their food wherein Natures goodnes and bountie of it selfe is sufficient which one point verily is to be preferred before all good things whatsoeuer for that they neuer thinke of glory of riches of seeking for dignities and promotions nor ouer and aboue of death Howbeit the beleefe that in these matters the gods haue care of mens estate is good expedient and profitable in the course of this life as also that the vengeance and punishment of malefactors may well come late whiles God is busily occupied otherwise in so huge a frame of the world but neuer misseth in the end and that man was not made next in degree vnto God for this That he should be wel-neare as vile and base as the bruit beasts Moreouer the chiefe comfort that man hath for his imperfections in Nature is this That euen God himselfe is not omnipotent and cannot do all things for neither he is able to worke his owne death would he neuer so faine as man can do when he is wearie of his life the best gift which he hath bestowed vpon him amid so great miseries of his life nor indow mortall men with euerlasting life ne yet recall raise and reuiue those that once are departed and dead nor bring to passe that one who liued did not liue or he that bare honorable offices was not in place of rule and dignity Nay he hath no power ouer things done and past saue only obliuion no more than he is able to effect to come with pleasant reasons and arguments to proue our fellowship therin with God that twise ten should
not make twenty and many such things of like sort Whereby no doubt is euidently proued the power of Nature and how it is she and nothing els which we call God I thought it not impertinent thus to diuert and digresse to these points so commonly divulged by reason of the vsuall and ordinarie questions as touching the Essence of God CHAP. VIII ¶ Of the Nature of Planets and their circuit LEt vs returne now to the rest of Natures workes The stars which we said were fixed in heauen are not as the common sort thinketh assigned to euery one of vs and appointed to men respectiuely namely the bright faire for the rich the lesse for the poore the dim for the weak the aged and feeble neither shine they out more or lesse according to the lot and fortune of euery one nor arise they each one together with that person vnto whom they are appropriate and die likewise with the same ne yet as they set and fall do they signifie that any bodie is dead There is not ywis so great societie betweene heauen and vs as that together with the fatall necessitie of our death the shining light of the starres should in token of sorrow go out and become mortall As for them the truth is this when they are thought to fall they doe but shoot from them a deale of fire euen of that aboundance and ouermuch nutriment which they haue gotten by the attraction os humiditie and moisture vnto them like as we also obserue daily in the wikes and matches of lampes or candles burning with the liquour of oile Moreouer the coelestiall bodies which make and frame the world and in that frame are compact and knit together haue an immortall nature and their power and influence extendeth much to the earth which by their effects and operations by their light and greatnesse might be knowne notwithstanding they are so high and subtill withall as we shal in due place make demonstration The manner likewise of the heauenly Circles and Zones shall be shewed more fitly in our Geographicall treatise of the earth forasmuch as the consideration thereof appertaineth wholly thereunto onely we will not put off but presently declare the deuisers of the Zodiake wherin the signes are The obliquitie and crookednesse thereof Anaximander the Milesian is reported to haue obserued first and thereby opened the gate and passage to Astronomie and the knowledge of all things and this happened in the 58 Olympias Afterwards Clâ—…ostratus marked the signes therin and namely those first of Aries and Sagitarius As for the sphere it selfe Atlas deuised long before Now for this time we will leaue the very bodie of the starry heauen and treat of all the rest betweene it and the earth Certaine it is that the Planet which they call Saturne is the highest and therefore seemeth least also that he keepeth his course and performeth his reuolution in the greatest circle of all and in thirtie yeares space at the soonest returneth againe to the point of his first place Moreouer that the mouing of all the Planets and withall of Sun and Moone go a contrarie course vnto the starrie heauen namely to the left hand i. Eastward whereas the said heauen alwaies hasteneth to the right i. Westward And albeit in that continuall turning with exceeding celerity those planets be lifted vp alost and carried by it forcible into the West and there set yet by a contrarie motion of their owne they passe euery one through their seuerall waies Eastward and all for this that the aire rolling euer one way and to the same part by the continuall turning of the heauen should not stand still grow dul as it were congealed whiles the globe thereof resteth idle but dissolue and cleaue parted thus diuided by the reuerberation of the contrarie beams and violent crosse influence of the said planets Now the Planet Saturne is of a cold and frozen nature but the circle of Iupiter is much lower than it and therfore his reuolution is performed with a more speedy motion namely in twelue yeres The third of Mars which some call the Sphere of Hercules is firy and ardent by reason of the Suns vicinity and wel-neere in two yeares runneth his race And hereupon it is that by the exceeding heate of Mars and the vehement cold of Saturne Iupiter who is placed betwixt is well tempered of them both and so becommeth good and comfortable Next to them is the race of the Sun consisting verily of 360 parts or degrees but to the end that the obseruation of the shadowes which he casteth may return againe iust to the former marks fiue daies be added to euery yeare with the fourth part of a day ouer and aboue Whereupon euery fifth yeere leapeth and one odde day is set to the rest to the end that the reckoning of the times and seasons might agree vnto the course of the Sun Beneath the Sun a goodly faire star there is called Venus which goeth her compasse wandering this way and that by turnes and by the very names that it hath testifieth her emulation of Sun and Moone For all the while that she preuenteth the morning and riseth Orientall before she taketh the name of Lucifer or Day-star as a second Sun hastning the day Contrariwise when she shineth from the West Occidentall drawing out the day light at length and supplying the place of the Moone she is named Vesper This nature of hers Pythagoras of Samos first found out about the 42 olympias which fel out to be the 142 yere after the foundation of Rome Now this planet in greatnesse goeth beyond all the other fiue and so cleare and shining withall that the beames of this one star cast shadowes vpon the earth And hereupon commeth so great diuersitie and ambiguitie of the names thereof whiles some haue called it Iuno other Isis and othersome the Mother of the gods By the naturall efficacie of this star all things are engendred on earth for whether she rise East or West she sprinckleth all the earth with dew of generation and not onely filleth the same with seed causing it to conceiue but stirreth vp also the nature of all liuing creatures to engender This planet goeth through the circle of the Zodiake in 348 daies departing from the Sun neuer aboue 46 degrees as Timaeus was of opinion Next vnto it but nothing of that bignesse and powerful efficacie is the star Mercurie of some cleped Apollo in an inferiour circle he goeth after the like manner a swifter course by nine daies shining sometimes before the Sun-rising otherwhiles after his setting neuer farther distant from him than 23 degrees as both the same Timaeus and Sosigenes doe shew And therefore these two planets haue a peculiar consideration from others and not common with the rest aboue named For those are seene from the Sun a fourth yea and third part of the heauen oftentimes also in opposition ful against the Sun And all of
line the second to the Meridian line or the South the third to the Sun-setting in the Equinoctiall and the fourth taketh vp all the rest from the said West to the North star These quarters againe they haue parted into foure regions a piece of which eight from the Sun-rising they called the Left as many again from the contrary part the Right Which considered most dreadfull and terrible are those lightnings which from the Sun-setting reach into the North and therefore it skilleth very much from whence lightnings come and whither they go the best thing obserued in them is when they return into the Easterly parts And therefore when they come from that first and principall part of the skie and haue recourse again into the same it is holden for passing good hap such was the signe and token of victories giuen by report to Sylla the Dictatour In all other parts of the element they be lesse fortunate or fearful They that haue written of these matters haue deliuered in writing that there be lightnings which to vtter abroad is held vnlawful as also to giue eare vnto them if they be disclosed vnlesse they be declared either to parents or to a friend and guest How great the vanity is of this obseruation was at Rome vpon the blasting of Iunoes temple found by Scaurus the Consull who soone after was President of the Senate It lightneth without thunder more in the night than day time Of all creatures that haue life and breath man only it doth not alwaies kill the rest it dispatcheth presently This priuiledge honour we see Nature hath giuen to him whereas otherwise so many great beasts surpasse him in strength All other creatures smitten with lightning fall downe vpon the contrary side man onely vnlesse he turne vpon the parts stricken dyeth not Those that are smitten from aboue vpon the head lie downe and sinke directly He that is stricken watching is found dead with his eies winking and close shut but whosoeuer is smitten sleeping is found open eied A man thus comming by his death may not by law be burned Religion hath taught that he ought to be enterred and buried in the earth No liuing creature is set a fire by lightning but it is breathlesse first The wounds of them that be smitten with thunderbolts are colder than all the body besides CHAP. LV. ¶ What things are not smitten with Lightning OF all those things which grow out of the earth Lightning blasteth not the Laurell tree nor entreth at any time aboue fiue foot deep into the ground and therefore men fearfull of lightning suppose the deeper caues to be the surest and most safe or els booths made of skins of sea-beasts which they call Seales or Sea-calues for of all creatures in the sea this alone is not subiect to the stroke of lightning like as of all flying foules the Eagle which for this cause is imagined to be the armour-bearer of Iupiter for this kinde of weapon In Italie betweene Tarracina and the temple of Feronia they gaue ouer in time of warre to make towers and forts for not one of them escaped but was ouerthrowne with lightning CHAP. LVI ¶ Of strange and prodigious raine to wit of Milke Bloud Flesh Iron Wooll Tyles and Brickes BEsides these things aboue in this lower region vnder heauen we finde recorded in monuments that it rained milke and bloud when M. Acilius and C. Porcius were Consuls And many times else besides it rained flesh as namely whiles L. Volumnius and Serv. Sulpitius were Consuls and look what of it the foules of the aire caught not vp nor carried away it neuer putrified In like manner it rained yron in the Lucanes countrey the yere before that M. Crassus was slaine by the Parthians and together with him all the Lucanes his souldiers of whom there were many in his army That which came downe in this raine resembled in some sort Sponges and the Wisards and South sayers being sought vnto gaue warning to take heed of wounds from aboue But in the yere that L. Paulus and C. Marcellus were Consuls it rained wooll about the Castle Carissa neare to which a yeare after T. Annius Milo was slaine At the time that the same Milo pleaded his owne cause at the bar there fell a raine of tyles and bricks as it is to be seen in the Records of that yeare CHAP. LVII ¶ Of the rustling of Armour and sound of Trumpets heard from Heauen IN the time of the Cimbrian warres we haue bin told that Armour was heard to rustle and the trumpet to sound out of heauen And this happened very often both before and after those wars But in the third Consulship of Marius the Amerines and Tudertes saw men in armes in the skie rushing and running one against another from the East and West and might behold those of the West discomfited That the very firmament it selfe should be of a light fire it is no maruel at all for oftentimes it hath been seene when clouds haue caught any greater deale of fire CHAP. LVIII ¶ Of Stones falling downe from the Skie AMong the Greeks there is much talke of Anaxagoras Clazomenius who by his learning and skill that he had in Astronomie foretold in the second yeare of the 78 Olympias what time a stone should fall from out of the Sun and the same happened accordingly in the day time in a part of Thracia neere the riuer Aegos which stone is shewed at this day as big as a waine load carrying a burnt and adust colour at what time as a comet or blazing starre also burned in those nights Which if any man beleeue that it was fore-signified must needs also confesse that this diuinitie or fore-telling of Anaxagoras was more miraculous and wonderfull than the thing it selfe and then farewell the knowledge of Natures workes and welcome confusion of al in case we should beleeue that either the Sun were a stone or that euer any stone were in it But that stones fall oftentimes downe no man will make any doubt In the publicke place of Exercise in Abydos there is one at this day vpon the same cause preserued and kept for to be seene and held in great reuerence it is but of a meane and small quantity yet it is that which the selfe-same Anaxagoras by report fore-signified that it should fal in the mids of the earth There is one also at Cassandria which was in old time vsually called Potidaea a colony from thence deducted I my selfe haue seene another in the territorie of the Vocantians which was brought thither but a little before CHAP. LIX ¶ Of the Rainebow THose which we call Rain-bowes are seene often without any wonder at all or betokening any great matter for they portend not so much as rainy or faire daies to trust vpon But manifest it is that the Sun beames striking vpon an hollow cloud when their edge is repelled are beaten backe against the Sun and thus ariseth varietie
albeit a man made triall thereof in the winter season furthermore that the pesants who dwelt in the next forests were pestred with Elephants wilde beasts and serpents of all sorts and those people were called Canarij for that they and dogs feed together one with another and part among them the bowels of wild beasts For certaine it is knowne that a nation of the Aethyopians whom they cal Peroesi ioineth vpon them Iuba the father of Ptolomaeus who before-time ruled ouer both Mauritanes a man more memorable and renowned for his study and loue of good letters than for his kingdome and royall port hath written the like concerning Atlas and he saith moreouer that there is an herb growing there called Euphorbia of his Physitions name that first found it the milkie iuice whereof he praiseth wondrous much for to cleare the eies and to be a preseruatiue against all serpents and poisons whatsoeuer and thereof hath he written a treatise and made a book by it selfe thus much may suffice if it be not too much as touching Atlas CHAP. II. ¶ The prouince Tingitania THe length of the Prouince Tingitania taketh 170 miles The nations therin be these the Mauri which in times past was the principall and of whom the prouince took name and those most writers haue called Marusij Being by war weakened and diminished they came in the end to a few families only Next to them were the Massaesuli but in like manner were they consumed Now is the prouince inhabited by the Getulians Bannurri and the Autololes the most valiant and puissant of all the rest A member of these were somtime the Vesuni but being diuided from them they became a nation by themselues and bounded vpon the Aethiopians The prouince naturally full of mountains Eastward breedeth Elephants In the hill also Abila and in those which for their euen and equal height they cal The 7 brethren and these butt vpon Abila which looketh ouer into the sea From these beginneth the coast of the Inward sea The riuer Timuda nauigable and a town somtime of that name The riuer Land which also receiueth vessels The town Rusardie and the hauen The riuer Malvana nauigable The towne Siga iust against Malacha scituate in Spaine the Royall seat of Syphax and now the other Mauritania For a long time they kept the names of KK so as the vtmost was called Bogadiana and likewise Bocchi which now is Caesarienses Next vnto it is the hauen for the largenesse thereof called Magnus with a towne of Roman citizens The Riuer Muluca which is the limit of Bocchi and the Massaesuli Quiza Xenitana a towne of strangers Atsennaria a towne of Latines three miles from the Sea Carcenna a Colonie of Augustus erected for the second Legion likewise another Colonie of his planted with the Pretorian band Gunugi and the promontorie of Apollo And a most famous towne there Caesarea vsually before-time called Iol the Royall Seat of King Iuba endowed by Claudius the Emperour of happie memorie with the franchises and right of a Colonie at whose appointment the old souldiers were there bestowed A new towne Tipasa with the grant of the liberties of Latium Likewise Icosium endowed by Vespasian the Emperour with the same donations The colonie of Augustus Rusconiae and Ruscurium by Claudius honoured with the free burgeoisie of the citie Rusoezus a colonie of Augustus Salde a Colonie of the same man Igelgili also and Turca a towne seated vpon the sea and the riuer Amsaga Within the land the Colonie Augusta the same that Succubar and likewise Tubrisuptus Cities Timici Tigauae Riuers Sardabala and Nabar The people Macurebi the riuer Vsar and the nation of the Nabades The riuer Ampsaga is from Caesarea 233 miles The length of Mauritania both the one and the other together is 839 miles the breadth 467. CHAP. III. ¶ Numidia NExt to Ampsaga is Numidia renowned for the name of Masanissa called of the Greekes the land Metagonitis The Numidian Nomades so named of changing their pasture who carry their cottages or sheds and those are all their dwelling houses about with them vpon waines Their townes be Cullu and Rusicade from which 48 miles off within the Midland parts is the colonie Cirta surnamed of the Cirtanes another also within and a free borough town named Bulla Regia But in the vtmost coast Tacatua Hippo Regius and the riuer Armua The towne Trabacha of Roman citizens the riuer Tusca which boundeth Numidia and besides the Numidian marble and great breed of wilde beasts nothing is there else worth the noting CHAP. IV. ¶ Africa FRom Tusca forward you haue the region Zeugitana and the countrey properly called Africa Three promontories first the White then anon that of Apollo ouer-against Sardinia and a third of Mercurie opposite to Sicilie which running into the sea make two creekes the one Hipponensis next to the towne which they call Hippo rased the Greeks name it Diarrhyton for the little brooks and rils that water the grounds vpon this there bordereth Theudalis an exempt towne from tribute but somewhat farther from the sea side then the promontory of Apollo And in the other creek Vtica a towne of Roman citizens ennobled for the death of Cato and the riuer Bagrada A place called Castra Cornelia and the colony Carthago among the reliques and ruines of great Carthage and the colony Maxulla towns Carpi Misna and the free borough Clupea vpon the promontorie of Mercurie Item free townes Curubis and Neapolis Soone after ye shall meet with another distinction of Africke indeed Libyphoenices are rhey called who inhabit Byzacium for so is that region named containing in circuit 250 miles exceeding fertile and plenteous where the ground sowne yeeldeth again to the husband-man 100 fold increase In it are free townes Leptis Adrumetum Ruspina and Thapsus then Thenae Macomades Tacape Sabrata reaching to the lesse Syâ—…is to which the length of Numidia and Africa from Amphaga is 580 miles the breadth 〈◊〉 â—…ch there of as is knowne 200. Now this part which wee haue called Africke is diuided into prouinces twaine the old and the new separated one from the other by a fosse or ditch brought as farre as to Thenae within the Africane gulfe which towne is 217 miles from Carthage and that trench Scipio Africanus the second caused to be made bare halfe the charges together with the KK The third gulfe is parted into twaine cursed and horrible places both for the ebbing and flowing of the sea and the shelues betweene the two Syrtes From Carthage to the nearer of them which is the lesse is 300 miles by the account of Polybius who saith also that the said Syrte is for 100 miles forward dangerous and 300 about By land also thither the way is passeable by obseruation of the Stars at one time of the yeare onely and that lyeth through desert sands and places full of serpents And then you meet with Forrests replenished with numbers of wilde beasts And within-forth Wildernesses of
of voluntary death and verily when they are disposed to die at any time they make a great funerall fire cast themselues into it and so end their daies Besides all these one thing there is among them halfe brutish and of exceeding toile and trauell and yet it is that which partly maintaineth all the other estates abouesaid namely the practise of hunting chasing and taming Elephants And in very truth with them they plow their ground vpon them they ride vp down with these beasts are they best acquainted they serue in the wars for maintenance of their liberty and defence of their frontiers against all inuasion of enemies In the choise of them for war-seruice they regard and consider their strength their age and bignesse of body But to leaue them An Island there is within the riuer Ganges between two arms thereof of great largenesse and capacity which receiueth one nation by it selfe apart from others named it is Modogalica Beyond it are seated the Modubians and Molindians where standeth the stately city Molinda scituat in a plentiful and rich soile-Moreouer the Galmodroesians Pretians Calissae Sasuri Fassalae Colubae Orxulae Abali and Taluctae The king of these countries hath in ordinary for his wars 50000 foot 3000 horse and 400 Elephants Then you enter into a country of a more puissant valiant nation to wit the Andarians planted with many villages well peopled and moreouer with 30 great townes fortified with strong walls towers and bastiles These find and maintain prest ready to serue the king in his wars an Infantery of 100000 foot a Cauallery of 2000 horse and 100 Elephants besides wel appointed Of all the regions of India the Dardanian country is most rich in gold mines and the Selian in siluer But aboue all the nations of India thorowout and not of this tract and quarter only the Prasij far exceed in puissance wealth and reputation where the most famous rich and magnificent city Palibotria stands whereof some haue named the people about it yea and all the nation generally beyond Ganges Palibotrians their king keeps continually in pay 600000 foot men and 30000 horsemen and 9000 Elephants euery day in the yere whereby you may soon guesse the mighty power wealth of this prince Beyond Palibotria more within the firme land inhabit the Monedes and Suari where standeth the mountain Maleus and there for six moneths space the shadowes in winter time fal Northward and in summer season go into the South The pole Arcticke starres in all that tract are seen but once in the yere and that no longer than for 15 daies as Beton reporteth But Megasthenes writeth that this is vsuall in other parts of India The Antarctique or South pole the Indians call Dromosa As for the riuer Iomanes which runs into Ganges it trauerseth through the Palibotrians country and passeth between the townes Methora and Cyrisoborca Beyond the riuer Ganges in that quarter and clymate which lieth Southward the people are caught with the Sun and begin to be blackish but yet not all out so sun-burnt and blacke indeed as the Aethyopians and Moores And it seemeth that the neerer they approch to the riuer Indus the deeper coloured they are and tanned with the Sun for you are not so soone past the Prasians country but presently you are vpon Indus and among the mountaines of this tract the Pygmaeans by report do keepe Artemidorus writeth that betweene these two riuers there is a distance of 21 miles CHAP. XX. ¶ The riuer Indus THe great riuer Indus which the natiue people call Sandus issueth out of a part or dependance of the hill Caucasus which is called Paropamisus hee takes his course and runs full against the Sun rising and makes 19 riuers more to lose their names which he takes in vnto him among which the principall are these Hydaspis one bringing with him 4 more and Cantabra another accompanied with 3 besides Moreouer of such as are of themselues nauigable without the help of others Acesines and Hypasis And yet for all their additions the riuer of Indus such a sober and modest course as it were his waters keepe is in no place either aboue 50 stadia ouer or 15 paces i. 75 foot or 12 fathom and halfe deep This riuer incloseth within two branches of it a right great Island named Prasiane and another that is lesse called Patale As for himselfe they that haue written the least of him say he beareth vessels for 1240 miles and turning with the course of the Sun keepeth him company Westward vntill hee is discharged into the Ocean The measure of the sea coast from Ganges vnto him I wil expresse generally and in grosse as I find it written albeit there is no agreement at all of Authors touching this point From the mouth of Ganges where he entreth into the sea vnto the cape Caliugon and the towne Dandagula are counted 725 miles from thence to Tropina 1225 miles Then to the promontorie Perimula where stands the chiefe mart or towne of merchandise in all India they reckon 750 miles from which to the towne aboue-said Patale within the Isle 620 miles The mountainers inhabiting betwixt it and Iomanes are the Cesti and Celiboni wilde and sauage people next to them the Megallae whose king hath in ordinary prest for seruice 500 Elephants of foot and horse a great number but vncertaine it is how many sometime more somtime fewer As for the Chryseans Parasangians and Asangians they are full of the wilde and cruell Tygers they are able to arme 30000 foot and 800 horse and to set out with furniture 300 Elephants This country is on three sides enuironed and inclosed with a raunge of high mountaines all desart and full of wildernesse for 625 miles and of one side confined with the riuer Indus Beneath those wilde hills you enter among the Dari Surae then you come againe to waste desarts for 188 miles compassed about for the most part with great bars and banks of sand like as the Islands with the sea Vnder these desart forrests you shall meet with the Maltecores Cingians Marobians Rarungians Moruntes Masuae and Pangungae Now for those who inhabit the mountains which in a continuall raunge without interruption stand vpon the coasts of the Ocean they are free States and subiect to no Prince and many fair townes and cities they hold among these cliffes and craggy hills Then come you to the Naraeans inclosed within the highest mountaine of all the Indian hills Capitalia On the other side of this mountaine great store there is all ouer it of gold and siluer mines wherein the Inhabitants do dig Then you enter vpon the kingdom of Oratura whose king indeed hath but ten Elephants in all howbeit a great power of footmen And so forward to the Varetates who vnder their King keepe no Elephants at all for his seruice trusting vpon their Cauallery and Fanterie wherein they are strong Next to them the Odomboerians
marie that was a monstrous and prodigious token and foreshewed some heauy fortune that followed after Also in the beginning of the Marsians war there was a bondwoman brought forth a Serpent In sum there be many mis-shapen monsters come that way into the world of diuers and sundry formes Claudius Caesar writeth That in Thessalie there was borne a monster called an Hippocentaure that is halfe a man and halfe a horse but it died the very same day And verily after he came to weare the diadem we our selues saw the like monster sent vnto him out of Egypt embalmed and preserued in honey Among many strange examples appearing vpon record in Chronicles we reade of a childe in Sagunt the same yeare that it was forced and rased by Anabal which so soone as it was come forth of the mothers wombe presently returned into it againe CHAP. IIII. ¶ Of the change of one Sex to another and of Twins borne IT is no lie nor fable that females may turne to be males for we haue found it recorded that in the yearely Chronicles called Annals in the yere when Publius Licinius Crassus and C. Cassius Longinus were Consuls there was in Cassinum a maid childe vnder the very hand and tuition of her parents without suspition of being a changeling became a boy and by an Ordinance of the Soothsayers called Aruspices was confined to a certain desart Island and thither conueyed Licinius Mutianus reporteth that he himselfe saw at Argos one named Arescon who before time had to name Arescusa and a married wife but afterwards in processe of time came to haue a beard and the generall parts testifying a man and thereupon wedded a wife Likewise as he saith he saw at Smyrna a boy changed into a girle I my selfe am an eye witnesse That in Africke one L. Cossicius a citisen of Tisdrita turned from a woman to be a man vpon the very mariage day who liued at the time I wrot this booke Moreouer it is obserued that if women bring twins it is great good hap if they all liue but either the mother dieth in childbed or one of the babes if not both But if it fortune that the twinnes be of both sexes the one male the other female it is ten to one if they both escape Moreouer this is well knowne that as women age sooner than men and seeme old so they grow to their maturitie more timely than men and are apt from procreation before them Last of all when a woman goeth with childe if it bee a man childe it stirreth oftner in the wombe and lieth commonly more to the right side wheras the female moueth more seldom and beareth to the left CHAP. V. ¶ The Generation of Man the time of childe-birth from seuen moneths to eleuen testified by many notable examples out of historie ALiother creatures haue a set time limited by Nature both of going with their yong and also of bringing it forth each one according to their kinde Man only is borne all times of the yeare and there is no certaine time of his abode in the wombe after conception for one commeth into the world at the seuen moneths end another at the eighth and so to the beginning of the ninth and tenth But before the seuenth moneth there is no infant euer borne that liueth And none are borne at seuen moneths end vnlesse they were conceiued either in the very change of the moone or within a day of it vnder or ouer An ordinary thing it is in Egypt for women to go with yong eight moneths and then to be deliuered And euen in Italy also now adaies children so borne liue and do well but this is against the common receiued opinion of all old writers But there is no certainty to ground vpon in all these cases for they alter diuers waies Dame Vestilia the widow of C. Herditius wife afterward to Pomponius and last of all maried to Orfitus all right worshipful citisens and of most noble houses had 4 children by her three husbands to wit Sempronius whom she bare at the seuenth moneth Suillius Rufus at the eleuenth and seuen moneths also she went with Corbulo yet they liued all and these two Iast came both to be Consuls After all these sons she bare a daughter namely Caesonia wife to the Emperor Caius Caligula at the eighth moneths end They that are borne thus in this moueth haue much ado to liue and are in great danger for forty dayes space yea and their mothers are very sickly and subiect to fall into vntimely trauell all the fourth moneth and the eighth and if they fall in labor and come before their time they die Massurius writeth that L. Papyrius the Pretor or Lord chief Iustice when a second heire in remainder made claim and put in plea for his inheritance of the goods made an award and gaue iudgement against him in the behalfe of an Infant the right heire borne after the decease of his father vpon this That the mother came in and testified how she was deliuered of that childe within thirteene moneths after the death of the Testator the reason was because there is no definite time certaine for women to go with childe CHAP. VI. ¶ Of Conceptions and signes distinguishing the sex in great bellied women before they are deliuered IF ten dayes after a woman hath had the company of a man shee feele an extraordinary ache in the head and perceiue giddinesse in the brain as if all things went round finde a dazling and mistinesse in the eies abhorring and loathing meat and withall a turning and wambling in the stomacke it is a signe that she is conceiued and beginneth to breed if she goe with a boy better coloured will she be all the time and deliuered with more ease and by the 40 day she shall feele a kinde of motion and stirring in her wombe But contrarie it falleth out in the breeding of a girle she goeth more heauily with it and findeth the burthen heauier her legs and thighes about the share will swell a little And ninetie dayes it will be before she absolutely perceiueth any mouing of the infant But be it male or female shee breeds they put her to much paine and grieuance when their haire beginneth to bud forth and euer at the full of the Moone and euen the very infants after they are borne are most amisse and farthest out of frame about that time And verily great care must be had of a woman with child all the time she goeth therewith both in her gate and in euery thing else that can be named for if women feed vpon ouer-salt and poudered meat they wil bring forth a child without nailes and if they hold not their wind in their labor longer it will be ere they be deliuered and with more difficultie Much yawning in the time of trauell is a deadly signe like as to sneese presently vpon conception threatneth abortion or a slip CHAP. VII ¶ Of the conception and generation of
principall and chiefe in Senat to come to great riches by good and lawful means to leaue much faire issue behind him and to conclude to be simply the best man of all other and the principall person in the city To these perfections he and none but he since Rome was Rome attained Now to confute this were a long and needlesse piece of worke considering that one only mischance checked these fauors of Fortune and fully disproued all for the very same Metellus became blinde in his old age for hee lost his eies in a skare-fire at what time hee would haue saued and got away the Palladium i. Image of Minerua out of the temple of Vesta His act I confesse was vertuous and memorable but the event was ill for him and miserable In regard whereof I know not how he should be called vnhappy and wretched and yet I see not why he should be named happy and fortunate This I must needs say in conclusion that the people of Rome granted vnto him that priuiledge that neuer man in the world was knowne to haue namely to ride in his coach to the Senat house so oft as he sate at the councell table A great prerogatiue I confesse and most stately but it was allowed him for want of his eyes CHAP. XLIV ¶ Of another Metellus ASonne likewise of this Q. Metellus who gaue out those commendations aforesaid of his father may be put in the ranke of the most rare presidents of felicitie in this world for besides the most honorable dignities and promotions hee was aduanced vnto in his life time and the glorious addition and syrname of Macedonicus which he got in Macedonie when he was dead there attended vpon his dead corps at his funerals to inter him foure of his sons the one Pretor for the time being the other three had been Consuls in their time of these three two had triumphed in Rome and the third had been Censor These were points I may tell you of great note and regard and few men are to be found in comparison that can come to any one of them And yet see in the very prime and floure of all these honors it fortuned that Catinius Labeo syrnamed Macerio a Tribune or protector of the Commons whom he before by vertue of his Censorship had displaced out of the Senat waited his time when he returned about noone from Mars field and seeing no man stirring in the market place nor about the Capitoll tooke him away perforce to the cliffe Tarpeius with a full purpose to pitch him downe headlong from thence and to breake his necke A number came running about him of that crue and company which was woont to salute him by the name of Father but not so soone as such a case required considering this so sudden an occurrent and when they were come went but slowly about any rescue and kept a soft pace as if they had waited vpon some corps to a buriall and to make resistance and withstand perforce the Tribune armed as he was with his sacrosanct and inuiolable authoritie they had no warrant by Law insomuch as hee was like to haue perished and come to a present mischiefe euen for his vertue and faithfull execution of his Censorship had there not been one Tribune of ten found hardly and with much adoe to step between and oppose himselfe against his Collegue and so by good hap rescued him out of his clutches and saued him as it were at the very pits brinke euen from the vtter point of death And yet he liued afterwards of the courtesie and liberalitie of other men for why All his goods from that day forward were seised as forfeit and confiscate by that Tribune whom before-time he had condemned as if hee had not suffered punishment and sorrow enough at his hands to haue his necke so wrythed by him as that the bloud issued out at his very eares Certes for mine owne part I would reckon this for one of his crosses and calamities That hee was an enemie to the later Africanus Aemylianus euen by the testimonie and confession of Macedonicus himselfe for after the death of the said Africanus these were his words vnto his owne sonnes Go your waies sirs and do honour to his Obsequies for the funerall of a greater personage and a better Citisen shall you neuer see And this spake he to them when as they had conquered Creta and the Baleare Islands and thereof were syrnamed Creticus and Balearicus and had worne the lawrell diadem in triumph being himselfe already entituled with the stile of Macedonicus for the conquest of Macedonie But if we consider and weigh that onely wrong and iniurie offered him by the Tribune who is it that can iustly deeme him happy being exposed as he was to the pleasure mercy and force of his enemie far inferior to Africanus and so to come to confusion What were all his victories to this one disgrace what honors and triumphant chariots strooke not Fortune downe with her foot and ouerturned all againe or at least wise set not back again with this her violent course suffering a Roman Censor to be haled and tugged in the very heart of the city the only way indeed to bring him to his death to be harried I say vp to that capitoll hill there to make his end whither aforetime hee ascended tâ—…iumphant but neuer committed that outrage vpon those prisoners and captiues whom hee lead in triumph and for whose spoiles he triumphed as to hale and pull them in that rude sort And verily the greater was this outrage and seemed the more heinous in regard of the felicity that afterward ensued considering that this Macedonicus was in danger to haue lost so great an honor as he had in his solemne and stately sepulture namely when he was caried forth to his funerall fire by his triumphant children as if he had triumphed once again at his buriall In sum that can be no sound and assured felicitie that is interrupted with any indignitie or disgrace whatsoeuer much lesse by such an one as this was To conclude I wot not well whether there be more cause to glory for the modest cariage of men in those daies or to grieue at the indignitie of the thing in that among so many Metelli as there were so audacious a villanie as this was of Catinius was neuer reuenged vnto this day CHAP. XLV ¶ Of Augustus Caesar late Emperor AS touching the late Emperor Augustus whom all the world rangeth in this ranke of men fortunat if we consider the whole course of his life we shal find the wheele to haue turned often and perceiue many changes of variable fortune First his owne vncle by the mothers side put him by the Generalship of the horse and notwithstanding all his earnest suit preferred Lepidus to that place before him secondly he was noted and thought hardly of for those outlawries of Roman citisens and thereby purchased himselfe much hatred and displeasure tainted also he
make another fire hard by of dry vine cuttings and such like sticks and so he was burnt bare and naked as he was CHAP. LIIII ¶ Of Buriall or Sepulture TO burne the bodies of the dead hath bin no antient custome among the Romans the maner was in old time to inter them But after they were giuen once to vnderstand that the corses of men slain in the wars afar off and buried in those parts were taken forth of the earth again ordained it was to burne them And yet many families kept them still to the old guise and ceremonie of committing their dead to the earth as namely the house of the Cornelij whereof there was not one by report burned before L. Sylla the Dictator and he willed it expressely and prouided for it before hand for feare himselfe should be so serued as C. Marius was whose corps he caused to be digged vp after it was buried Now in Latine he is said to be Sepultus that is bestowed or buried any way it makes no matter how but humatus properly who is interred only or committed to the earth CHAP. LV. ¶ Of the Ghosts or spirits of men departed AFter men are buried great diuersitie there is in opinion what is become of their souls ghosts wandering some this way and others that But this is generally held that in what estate they were before men were born in the same they remain when they are dead For neither body nor soule hath any more sence after our dying day than they had before the day of our natiuitie But such is the folly vanitie of men that it extendeth stil euen to the future time yea and in the very time of death flattereth it selfe with fond imaginations and dreaming of I know not what life after this for some attribute immortality to the soule others deuise a certain transfiguration therof there be again who suppose that the ghosts sequestred from the body haue sense whereupon they do them honour and worship making a god of him that is not so much as a man As if the maner of mens breathing differed from that in other liuing creatures or as if there were not to be found many other things in the World that liue much longer than men and yet no man iudgeth in them the like immortality But shew me what is the substance and body as it were of the soule by it selfe what kind of matter is it apart from the body where lieth her cogitation that she hath how is her seeing how is her hearing performed what toucheth she nay what doth she at al How is she emploied or if there be in her none of all this what goodnesse can there be without the same But I would know where shee setleth and hath her abiding place after her departure from the body and what an infinit multitude of souls like shadows would there be in so many ages as well past as to come now surely these be but fantastical foolish and childish toies deuised by men that would faâ—…ne liue alwaies and neuer make an end The like foolery there is in preseruing the bodies of dead men the vanity of Democritus is no lesse who promised a resurrection thereof and yet himself could neuer rise again And what a folly is this of all follies to think in a mischief that death should be the way to a second life what repose and rest should euer men haue that are borne of a woman if their soules should remain in heauen aboue with sence whiles their shadows tarried beneath among the infernall wights Certes these sweet inducements and pleasing persuasions this foolish credulitie and light beliefe marreth the benefit of the best gift of Nature to wit Death it doubleth besides the paine of a man that is to die if he happen to thinke and consider what shall betide him the time to come For if it be sweet and pleasant to liue what pleasure and contentment can one haue that hath once liued and now doth not But how much more ease and greater securitie were it for each man to beleeue himselfe in this point to gather reasons and to ground his resolution and assurance vpon the experience that he had before hee was borne CHAP. LVI ¶ The first inuenters of diuers things BEfore we depart from this discourse of mens nature me thinks it were meet and conuenient to shew their sundry inuentions and what each man hath deuised in this world In the first place prince Bacchus brought vp buying and selling he it was also that deuised the diadem that royall ensigne and ornament and the manner of triumph Dame Ceres was the first that shewed the way of sowing corne whereas before-time men liued of mast She taught also how to grind corne to knead dough and make bread thereof in the land of Attica Italy and Sicily for which benefit to mankind reputed she was a goddesse She it was that beganne to make lawes howsoeuer others haue thought that Rhadamanthus was the first law giuer As for Letters I am of opinion that they were in Assyria from the beginning time out of mind but some thinke and namely Gellius that they were deuised by Mercurie in Aegypt but others say they came first from Syria True it is that Cadmus brought with him into Greece from Phoenice to the number of sixteen vnto which Palamedes in the time of the Troian war added foure more in these characters following 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And after him Simonides Melicus came with other foure to wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the force of all which letters we acknowledge and see euidently expressed in our Latine Alphabet Aristotle is rather of mind that there were 18 letters in the Greeke Alphabet from the beginning namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that the other two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and and X. were set to by Epicharmus and not by Palamedes Anticlides writeth That one in Egypt named Menon was the inuentor of letters fifteene yeares before the time of Phoroneus the most antient king of Greece and he goeth about to proue the same by antient records and monuments out of histories Contrariwise Epigenes an author as renowned and of as good credit as any other sheweth That among the Babylonians there were found Ephemerides containing the obseruation of the stars for 720 yeares written in bricks and tiles and they that speake of least to wit Berosus and Critodemus report the like for 480 yeares Whereby it appeareth euidently that letters were alwaies in vse time out of mind The first that brought the Alphabet into Latium or Italy were the Pelasgians Euryalus and Hyperbius two brethren at Athens caused the first bricke and tile-kils yea and houses thereof to be made whereas before their time men dwelt in holes and caues within the ground Gellius is of opinion that Doxius the sonne of Coelus deuised the first houses that were made of earth and cley taking his patterne from Swallowes and Martins nests Cecrops founded
to enter the squadrons and battalions of the enemies and for the most part all the seruice in the wars of the East is performed by them and they especially determine the quarrell these be they that breake the ranks beare down armed men that are in the way and stampe them vnder foot These terrible beasts as outragious otherwise as they seem are frighted with the least grunting that is of a swine be they wounded at any time or put into a fright backeward alwaies they go and do as much mischiefe to their own side that way as to their enemies The African Elephants are afraid of the Indian and dare not look vpon them for in truth the Indian Elephants be far bigger CHAP. X. ¶ How they breed and bring forth their young and of their nature otherwise THe common sort of men thinke that they go with young ten yeres but Aristotle saith that they go but two yeares and that they breed but once and no more in their life and bring not aboue one at a time also that they liue commonly by course of nature 200 yeres and some of them 300. Their youthful time and strength of age beginneth when they be 60 yeres old they loue riuers aboue all things and lightly ye shall haue them euermore wandring about waters and yet by reason otherwise of their big and vnwealdie bodies swim they cannot Of all things they can worst away with cold and that is it they are most subiect vnto and feele greatest inconuenience by troubled they be also with the collick and ventosities as also with the flux of the belly other maladies they feele not I find it written in histories that if they drinke oile the arrows and darts which stick in their bodies wil come forth and fall off but the more that they sweat the sooner wil they take hold and abide in stil the faster The eatin of earth breedes the consumption in them vnlesse they feed and chew often therof they deuoure stones also As for the trunks and bodies of trees it is the best meat they haue therin take they most delight If the date trees be too high that they cannot â—…each the fruit they will ouerturn them with their forehead and when they lie along eat the dates They chew and eat their meat with their mouth but they breath drink and smell with their trunke which not improperly is called their hand Of all other liuing creatures they cannot abide a mouse or a rat and if they perceiue that their prouander lying in the manger tast and sent neuer so little of them they refuse it and wil not touch it They are mightily tormented with paine if they chance in their drinking to swallow down an horsleech which worm I obserue they begin now to cal a bloud-sucker for so soon as the horsleech hath setled fast in his wind-pipe he putteth him to intollerable pains Their hide or skin of their back is most tough hard but in the belly soft tender couered their skin is neither with haire nor bristle no not so much as in their taile which might serue them in good stead to driue away the busie troublesome flie for as vast huge a beast as he is the flie hanteth stingeth him but ful their skin is of crosse wrinkles lattisewise besides that the smell thereof is able to draw and allure such vermin to it therefore when they are laid stretched along and perceiue the flies by whole swarms setled on their skin suddenly they draw those cranies and creuises together close and so crush them all to death This serues them in stead of taile main and long haire Their teeth beare a very high price and they yeeld the matter of greatest request and most commendable for to make the statues and images of the gods but such is the superfluity and excesse of men that they haue deuised another thing in them to commend for they find forsooth a special dainty tast in the hard callous substance of that which they cal their hand for no other reason I beleeue but because they haue a conceit that they eat yvorie when they chew this gristle of their trunk In temples are to be seen Elephants teeth of the greatest size how beit in the marches of Africke where it confineth vpon Aethiopia they make of yuory the very principals and corner posts of their houses also with the Elephants tooth they make mounds pales both to inclose their grounds and also to keep in their beasts within park if it be true that Polybius reporteth from the testimony of king Gulussa CHAP. XI ¶ Where the Elephants are bred how the Dragons and they disagree ELephants breed in that part of Africke which lieth beyond the desarts and wildernesse of the Syrtes also in Mauritania they are found also amongst the Aethyopians and Troglodites as hath beene said but India bringeth forth the biggest as also the dragons that are continually at variance with them euermore fighting and those of such greatnesse that they can easily clasp and wind round about the Elephants and withall tye them fast with a knot In this conflict they die both the one and the other the Elephant he fals downe dead as conquered and with his heauy weight crusheth and squeaseth the dragon that is wound and wreathed about him CHAP. XII ¶ The wittinesse and policie in these creatures WOnderfull is the wit and subtilty that dumbe creatures haue and how they shift for themselues and annoy their enemies which is the only difficulty that they haue to arise grow to so great an heigth and excessiue bignes The dragon therfore espying the Elephant when he goeth to reliefe assaileth him from an high tree and launceth himselfe vpon him but the Elephant knowing well enough he is not able to withstand his windings knittings about him seeketh to come close to some trees or hard rocks and so for to crush and squise the dragon between him and them the dragons ware hereof entangle and snarle his feet legs first with their taile the Elephants on the other side vndo those knots with their trunk as with a hand but to preuent that againe the Dragons put in their heads into their snout and so stop their wind and withall fret and gnaw the tenderest parts they find there Now in case these two mortall enemies chance to re-incounter on the way they bristle bridle one against another and addresse themselues to fight but the chiefe thing the dragons make at is the eie whereby it comes to passe that many times the Elephants are found blinde pined for hunger and worne away and after much languishing for very anguish and sorrow die of their venome What reason should a man alledge of this so mortall warre betweene them if it be not a very sport of Nature and pleasure that she takes in matching these two so great enemies together and so euen and equall in each respect But some report this mutuall
pittifull groning of a man they are saddle-backed their snout is camoise and flat turning vp And this is the cause that all of them after a wonderfull sort know the name Simo and take great pleasure that men should so call them The Dolphin is a creature that carries a louing affection not only vnto man but also to musicke delighted he is with harmony in song but especially with the sound of the water instrument or such kind of pipes Of a man he is nothing affraid neither auoides from him as a stranger but of himselfe meeteth their ships plaieth and disportes himselfe and fetcheth a thousand friskes and gamboles before them He will swim along by the mariners as it were for a wager who should make way most speedily and alwaies outgoeth them saile they with neuer so good a fore-wind In the daies of Augustus Caesar the Emperour there was a Dolphin entred the gulfe or poole Lucrinus which loued wondrous well a certain boy a poore mans son who vsing to goe euery day to schoole from Baianum to Puteoli was woont also about noone-tide to stay at the water side and to call vnto the Dolphin Simo Simo and many times would giue him fragments of bread which of purpose he euer brought with him and by this meanes allured the Dolphin to come ordinarily vnto him at his call I would make scruple and bash to insert this tale in my storie and to tell it out but that Mecenas Fabianus Flauius Alfius and many others haue set it downe for a truth in their chronicles Well in processe of time at what houre soeuer of the day this boy lured for him called Simo were the Dolphin neuer so close hidden in any secret and blind corner out he would and come abroad yea and skud amaine to this lad and taking bread and other victuals at his hand would gently offer him his back to mount vpon and then downe went the sharpe pointed prickles of his fins which he would put vp as it were within a sheath for fear of hurting the boy Thus when he had him once on his back he would carry him ouer the broad arme of the sea as farre as Puteoli to schoole and in like manner conuey him backe again home and thus he continued for many yeeres rogether so long as the child liued But when the boy was fallen sicke dead yet the Dolphin gaue not ouer his haunt but vsually came to the wonted place missing the lad seemed to be heauie and mourne againe vntill for very griefe sorrow as it is doubtles to be presumed he also was found dead vpon the shore Another Dolphin there was not many yeeres since vpon the coast of Affricke neere to the citie Hippo called also Diarrhytus which in like manner would take meat at a mans hand suffer himselfe gently to be handled play with them that swom and bathed in the sea and carrie on his backe whosoeuer would get vpon it Now it fell out so that Flauianus the Proconsull or lieutenant Generall in Affrick vnder the Romans perfumed and besmeered this Dolphin vpon a time with a sweet ointment but the fish as it should seem smelling this new strange smel fell to be drow sie and sleepie and hulled to and fro with the waues as if it had bin halfe dead and as though some iniurie had bin offered vnto him went his way and kept aloufe and would not conuerse any more for certaine moneths with men as before-time Howbeit in the end he came again to Hippo to the great wonder astonishment of all that saw him But the wrongs that some great persons and lords did vnto the citizens of Hippo such I mean as vsed to come for to see this sight and namely the hard measure offered to those townesmen who to their great cost gaue them entertainement caused the men of Hippo to kill the poore Dolphin The like is reported in the citie Iassos long before this time for there was seene a Dolphin many a day to affect a certaine boy so as he would come vnto him wheresoeuer he chanced to espy him But whiles at one time aboue the rest he followed egerly after the lad going toward the towne he shot himselfe vpon the dry sands before he was aware and died forthwith In regard hereof Alexander the Great ordained that the said young boy should afterwards be the chiefe priest and sacrificer to Neptune in Babylon collecting by the singular fancie that this Dolphin cast vnto him That it was a great signe of the speciall loue of that god of the sea vnto him and that he would be good and gracious to men for his sake Egesidemus writeth that in the same Iassus there was another boy named Hermias who hauing vsed likewise to ride vpon a Dolphin ouer the sea chanced at the last in a sodaine storme to be ouer-whelmed with waues as he sat vpon his backe and so died and was brought backe dead by the Dolphin who confessing as it were that he was the cause of his death would neuer retire againe into the sea but launced himselfe vpon the sands and there died on the drie land The semblable happened at Naupactum by the report of Theophrastus But there is no end of examples in this kinde for the Amphilochians and Tarentines testifie as much as touching Dolphins which haue bin enamoured of little boies which induceth me the rather to beleeue the tale that goes of Arion This Arion being a notable musition plaier of the harpe chanced to fall into the hands of certain mariners in the ship where he was who supposing that he had good store of mony about him which he had gotten with his instrument were in hand to kill him and cast him ouer boord for the said monie and so to intercept all his gaines he seeing himselfe at their deuotion and mercie besought them in the best manner that he could deuise to suffer him yet before he died to play one fit of mirth with his harpe which they granted at his musicke and sound of harpe a number of Dolphins came flocking about him which done they turned him ouer shipbord into the sea where one of the Dolphins tooke him vpon his backe and carried him safe to the bay of Taenarus To conclude and knit vp this matter In Languedoc within the prouince of Narbon and in the territorie of Naemausium there is a standing poole or dead water called Laterra wherein men and Dolphins together vse to fish for at one certain time of the yeare an infinite number of fishes called Mullets taking the vantage of the tide when the water doth ebbe at câ—…tain narrow weares and passages with great force break forth of the said poole into the sea and by reason of that violence no nets can be set and pitched against them strong enough to abide and beare their huge weight and the streame of the water rogether if so be men were not cunning and craftie to wait and espie their
nest and those that be already hatched will for very feare fall downe then in reuenge of this wrong she will flie vpon him and with her bill peck where the skin is off and raw with rubbing yea and make holes euen to the very bone Moreouer Foxes and the Yeeles of Nilus cannot abide one another but are in continuall war So be Wezils and Swine There is an vnhappy bird called Aesalon and but little withall yet will she squash and breake the Rauens egs And when she hath yong ones they bee much troubled and annoied with Foxes she again to be quit with them will all to pinch nip both the Fox and her cubs The Rauens seeing that come to aid as it were against a common enemy The Gold-finch liueth among bushes and thorns and therefore she also hates the Asse because he eateth vp the floures that grow therupon The bird Aegithus so far hateth another called Anthus that men are verily persuaded the bloud of them both will not mingle together and hereupon it is that the sorcerers and witches haue brought it into an ill name The Thoes and the Lions do fouly jarre and disagree In summe the least creatures as well as the biggest quarrell and fight one with another Rats and field Mice cannot abide to come neere a tree that is full of Ant-nests The Spider espying a Serpent lying along vnder the shade of a tree where she spinneth slideth down vpon a fine thred to the head of the Serpent and stingeth him so deep into the braine that he falleth a hissing and grinding his teeth he keepeth a winding and turning about but hath not the power to breake the thred that hangeth aboue ne yet to fly from the Spider insomuch as the Serpent lieth there dead in the place Contrariwise Peacocks and House-doues be as friendly one to another so be the Turtles and Popinjaies the Merles and Turtles likewise The Crow and the lesse Bittours also for they ioine and band together against the common enemy the Fox Likewise the bird-Harpe and the Kite against the Buzzard What will ye say be there not tokens of affection euen in Serpents the cruellest and fellest creatures of all others in the world I haue written already of the report or tale that goeth in Arcadia of a man whose life was saued by a Dragon that was brought vp by him so soon as euer he knew him by his voice As for the Aspis Philarchus telleth a strange history of it For hewriteth that in Aegypt there was an Aspis vsed ordinarily to come to the table of a certaine Egyptian and there tooke meat at his hand which Serpent afterwards had yong ones whereof one chanced to sting a son of the master of the house that he died of it Now when the dam the old Aspis came accordingly at the accustomed houre of repast for victuals and perceiued the deed committed by her little one not onely killed it in satisfaction of the former fact but also forbare the house and was neuer knowne to repaire thither againe CHAP. LXXV ¶ The sleepe of liuing creatures THe question Whether liuing creatures sleep or no is not very difficult but soon decided For plain it is that of land creatures all that winke and close their eies doe sleepe As for those in the water that they also sleepe though but a little euen they are of opinion who otherwise make doubt of the rest And this they do not collect gather by their eies for lids they haue none to shut but because they are seene to lie so still and quiet as fast and sound asleep stirring no part but a little wagging their tailes and seeming to start and bee affright at any sudden noise made in the water As for the Tunnies we may auouch more confidently of their repose for they come of purpose to sleep vnder the banks or rocks And flat broad fishes lie so still sleeping among the shelues that oftentimes a man may take them vp with his hand The Dolphins and Whales be heard to rout and snort again they sleepe so soundly Moreouer as touching Insects no man need to doubt that they sleep so quietly do they lie and make no noise nay if you bring a candle or other light and set it euen before their eies you shall not haue them to awake nor moue An infant after it is borne sleepeth for certaine moneths at the first and in manner doth nothing els But the elder hee waxeth wakefull is he euery day more than other Babes at the very beginning do dreame For they will waken and start suddenly in a fright and as they lie asleep keep a sucking of their lips as if it were at the breast heads Some neuer dream at all And if such chance contrary to this custome for to dreame once it hath bin counted for a signe of death as we haue seene and prooued by many examples and experiments And here in this place there offereth it selfe a great question and very disputable pro contra grounded vpon many experiments of both sides namely whether the soule of man while the body is at rest foreseeth things to come and how it should so do or whether this be a thing of meere chance and altogether coniecturall as many others be And surely if we go by histories we may find as many of the one side as the other Howbeit all men in manner agree in this That dreames either immediatly vpon drinking wine and full stomacke or els after the first sleep are vaine and of no effect As for sleep it is nothing els but a retreat and withdrawing of the soule into the mids of it selfe Euident it is that Horses Dogs Kine Oxen sheep and goats do dreame Whereupon it is credibly also thought that all creatures which bring forth their yong quicke and liuing do the same As for those that lay egges it is not so certaine that they dreame but resolued it is that they all do sleep Now let vs passe and proceed to the treatise of Insects THE ELEVENTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proeme IT remaineth now to write of those liuâ—…g creatures which are the most subtill of all others that Nature hath brought forth forasmuch as some are of opinion That they breath not ne yet haue any bloud at all CHAP. I. ¶ Of Insects in generall MAny and sundry sorts there be of Insects as well among land creatures as those that fly in the aire Some are winged as bees some haue partly wings and partly feet as Pismires others want both and neither flie nor go on their feet And wel may they all be called Insecta by reason of those cuts and diuisions which some haue about the necke others in the breast and belly the which do go round and part the members of the body hanging together onely by a little pipe and fistulous conueiance There be of them that haue not the body diuided entire one part from the
you how artificially she hides the snares in that net of hers made into squares to catch the poore flies A man would not thinke who sees the long yarne in her web wrought serce-wise smoothed and polished so cunningly and the verie manner of the woofe so glewish and clammie as it is of it selfe that all were to any purpose and serued for that which she intends See withall how slacke and hollow the net is made to abide the wind for feare of breaking and thereby so much the better also to fold and enwrap whatsoeuer coms within her reach What a craft is this of hers to leaue the vpper part thereof in the front vndone as if she were wearie for so a man may guesse when he can hardly see the reason and as it is in hunters net and toile that so soone as those nets be stumbled vpon they should cast the flies head long into the lap and concauitie of the net To come now vnto her nest and hole Is there any Architecture comparable to the vault and arched frame And for to keep out the cold how is it wrought with a longer and deeper nap than the rest What subtiltie is this of hers to retire into a corner so far from the mids making semblance as though she meant nothing lesse than that she doth and as if she went about some other businesse Nay how close lies she that it is impossible for one to see whether any bodie be within or no! What should I speak of the strength that this web hath to resist the puffes and blasts of winds of the roughnesse to hold and not breake notwithstanding a deale of dust doth weigh and beare it downe Many a time ye shall see a broad web reaching from one tree to another and this is when she learns to weaue begins to practise and trie her skill Shee stretches a thread and warps in length from the top of the tree downe to the very ground and vp again she whirles most nimbly by the same thread so as at one time she spins and winds vp her yarne Now if it chance that any thing light into her net how watchfull how quick sighted how readie is she to run Be it neuer so little snared euen in the very skirt and vtmost edge therof she alwaies skuds into the mids for so by shaking the whole net she intangles the flie or whatsoeuer it be so much the more Looke what is slit or rent therein she presently doth mend and repaire and that so euen and small that a man cannot see where the hole was derned and drawne vp again These Spiders hunt also after the yong Lizards first they enfold and wrap the head within their web then they catch hold and tweake both their lips together and so bite and pinch them A worthy sight and spectacle to behold fit for a king euen from the stately Amphitheatres when such a combat chances Moreouer there be many presages and prognostications depend vpon these Spiders for against any inundations and ouerflowings of riuers they weaue and make their cobwebs higher than they were wont In faire and cleare weather they neither spin nor weaue vpon thicke and cloudie daies they be hard at worke and therefore many cobwebs be a signe of raine Some thinke it is the female that spins and weaues and the male which hunts and gets in the prouision for the familie thus ordering the matter equally in earning their liuing as man and wife together in one house Spiders engender together with their buttocks little worms they do lay like egs For considering that the generation of all Insects besides in a manner can be declared and shewed no otherwise I must not deferre the relation therof it being so admirable as it is Well then these egs they lay in their webs but scattering here and there because they vse to skip and leap when they thrust them forth The Phalangius only sits vpon the eggs within the very hole and those in great number which begin not so soon to peep but they eat the mother yea and oftentimes the father likewise for he helps her also to cooue And these kind of Spiders bring commonly 300 at a time wheras all the rest haue fewer They sit ordinarily thirtie daies As for yong Spiders they come to their full growth and perfection in foure weekes CHAP. XXV ¶ Of Scorpions SEmblably the land Scorpions do lay certaine little worms or grubs in maner of eggs and when they haue so done perish likewise for their labour as the Spiders Their stings be as venomous and dangerous as those of serpents and albeit there ensue not thereupon so present death yet they put folke to more paine a great deale insomuch as they languish and lie drawing on three daies before they die If a maiden be stung with one of them she is sure to die of it other women also for the most part catch their death thereby and hardly escape Yea and men also find their poison to be mortall deadly if they be stung in a morning by them when they creep newly out of their holes fasting before they haue discharged their poison by pric king one thing or other first Their sting lies in their tails and readie they are with it alwaies to strike There is not a minute of an houre but they practise and trie how they can thrust it forth so malicious they be because they would not lose and misse the first opportunity presented vnto them They strike both sidelong or byas and also crooked and bending vpward with their taile The poison that comes from them is white as Apollodorus saith who also hath set downe 9 sorts of them and distinguished them by their colours which me thinks was but superfluous and more than needed considering that a man cannot know by his discourse which of them he would haue to be least hurtfull and noisome He affirmeth that some haue double stings and that the males are more curst and cruell than the females for he auouches that they do engender together and that the males may be knowne by this That they are long and slender Moreouer that they be al of them venomous about mid-day when they be enchafed and set into an heat by the scalding and scorching sun also when they be drie and thirstie they cannot drinke their full and quench their drought This is well known that those which haue seuen joints in their tailes be more fell than the rest for it is ordinarie in them to haue but six In Affrick this pestilent creature vses to flie also namely when the Southerne winds blow which carrie them aloft in the aire and beare them vp as they stretch forth their armes like oares The same Apollodoruâ—… before-named auouches plainely that some of them haue very wings indeed The people called Psylli who making a gainfull trade and merchandise of it to bring in hither vnto vs the poisons of other countries and by that meanes haue
keepe in medowes yea and Creckets that haunt the earth and stocke of chimnies where they make many holes and lie cricking aloud in the night The Glo-wormes are named by the Greeks Lampyrides because they shine in the night like a sparke of fire and it is no more but the brightnes of their sides and taile for one while as they hold open their wings they glitter another while when they keep them close together they be shadowed and make no shew These Glowbards neuer appeare before hay is ripe vpon the ground ne yet after it is cut downe Contrariwise the flies called Blattae liue and be nourished in darknesse light is an enemie vnto them and from it they flie They breed commonly in baines and stouves of the moist vapors that be there Of the same kind there be other great Beetles red in color which work themselues holes in the drie earth where they frame certaine receptacles like vnto Bees combs little and small ful of pipes resembling hollow spunges and all for a kind of bastard honey whereof yet there is some vse in Physicke In Thrace neare to Olynthus there is a little territorie or plot of ground where this one creature among all other cannot liue whereupon the place is called Cantharolethus The wings generally of all Insects be whole without any slit and none of them hath a taile but the Scorpion Hee alone hath not only armes but also a sting in the taile As for the rest some of them haue a sharp pricked weapon in their muzzle as namely the Breese or great Horse-flie called in Latine Asilus or Tabanus whether you will Likewise Gnats also and some kind of flies And these prickes serue them in good stead both for mouth and tongue Some of these are but blunt not good for to pricke but only handsome to sucke withall as flies which haue all of them a tongue beeing euidently fistulous and like a pipe And none of all these haue any teeth There bee Insects with little hornes proaking out before their eyes but weake and tender they bee and good for nothing as the Butterflies And there be againe that are not winged and such be the Scolopendres All Insects that haue legges and feet goe not directly but bias and crooked Of which some haue the hinder legges longer than the former and such bend hooked outward as the Locusts CHAP. XXIX ¶ Of Locusts THe Locusts lay egges in Autumne by thrusting downe into the ground the fistule or end of their chine and those come forth in great abundance These eggs lie all winter long in the earth and at the end of the spring the yere following they put out little Locusts black of coloâ—…r without legs and creeping vpon their wings Hereupon it commeth that if it be a wet spring and rainie those egs perish and come to no good but in a drie season there will be greater increase and store of Locusts the Summer ensuing Some writers hold opinion that they lay and breed twice a yeare likewise that they perish and die as often For they say that when the star Vergiliae doth arise they breed and those afterwards about the beginning of the Dogdaies die and others come in their place Others say that they engender and breed againe their second litter at the full or setting of Arcturus True it is indeed that the mothers die so soone as they haue brought forth their little ones by reason of a small worme that presently breedes about their throat which chokes them And at the same time the males likewise miscarrie See what a little matter to speake of bringes them to their death and yet a wonder it is to consider how one of them when it list will kill a serpent for it will take him fast by the chaws and neuer lin biting till she hath dispatched him These little beasts breed no where but in plain and champion countries namely such as be full of chinks and creuises in the ground It is reported that there be of them in India three foot long where the people of the country vse their legs and thighes for sawes when they be thoroughly dried These Locusts come by their death another way besides that aboue-named for when the wind takes them vp by whole troupes together they fall down either into the sea or some great standing pooles And this many a time happens by meer chance and fortune and not as many haue supposed in old time because their wings are wet with the night dew For euen the same Authors haue written that they flie not in the night for cold But little know they that it is ordinarie with them to passe ouer wide and broad seas and to continue their flight many daies together without rest And the greater wonder is this that they know also when a famine is toward in regard wherof they seek for food into far countries in such sort as their comming is euer held for a plague of the gods procâ—…eding from their heauie wrath and displeasure For then commonly they are bigger to be seen than at other times and in their flight they keepe such a noise with their wings that men take them for some strange fowles They shade and darken the very Sunne as they flie like vnto a great cloud insomuch as the people of euery country behold them with much feare least they should light in their territorie and ouer-spread the whole countrey And verily their strength is such that they hold out still in their flight and as if they had not enough of it to haue flowne ouer seas they giue not ouer to trauerse mightie great countries in the continent And lookâ—… in what place soeuer they settle they couer whole fields of corne with a fearefull and terrible cloud much they burne with their very blast and no part is free but they eat and gnaw euen the very dores of mens dwelling housâ—… Many a time they haue been known to take their flight out of Affrick and with whole armies to infest Italie many a time haue the people of Rome fearing a great famine and scarsitie toward been forced to haue recourse vnto Sybils books for remedie and to auert the ire of the gods In the Cyrenaicke region within Barbarie ordained it is by law euery three yeares to wage war against them and so to conquer them that is to say first to seeke out their neasts and to squash their eggs secondly to kill all their yong and last of all to proceed euen to the greater ones and vtterly to destroy them yea and a greeuous punishment lieth vpon him that is negligent in this behalfe as if he were a traitor to his prince and countrey Moreouer within the Island Lemnos there is a certaine proportion and measure set down how many and what quantitie euery man shall kill and they are to exhibit vnto the magistrate a just and true account thereof and namely to shew that measure full of dead Locusts And for this
are incident vnto it for to annoy the same This ball and point of the sight is compassed also round about with other circles of sundry colors black blewish tawny russet and red to the end that by this medley and temperate mixture of colors enuironed with the white besides the light might be let in represented to the Optick-sinew and also by a temperat reuerberation and beating backe from those other colours it should not dazle or offend the apple with the exceeding brightnesse thereof In sum this mirror or glasse-window is so perfect and so artificially contriued that as little as the ball of the sight is a man may see himselfe ful and whole in it And this is the cause that many fouls from a mans fist are ready to peck at the eies aboue all other parts for that they would gladly sort and draw vnto their owne representation and image which they see in the eies as vnto that which they naturally affect Certain sumpter-horses and mules such like beasts of carriage only are troubled with sore eies and diseased that way at euery change and increase of the Moon But man alone in the catarrhact suffusion of the eie by voiding from it a certain humor which troubled the sight doth recouer and see again There haue bin many known blind 20 yeares and more yet afterwards inioied the benefit of their eies Some haue bin borne blinde without any fault or defect of their eies Diuers men likewise haue suddenly lost their sight by some secret accident and no outward offence knowne to giue occasion thereof Many right skilfull masters in Chirurgerie and the best learned Anatomists are of opinion That the veines of the eies reach to the braine For mine owne part I would rather thinke that they passe into the stomacke This is certain I neuer knew a mans eie pluckt out of his head but he fell to vomiting vpon it the stomack cast vp all within it We that be citizens of Rome haue a sacred and solemne manner and vse among vs To close vp their eies that lie a dying and are giuing vp the Ghost and when they be brought to the Funerall fire to open them againe The reason of this ceremonious custom is grounded hereupon That as it is not meet for men aliue to haue the last view of a mans Eie in his death so it is as great an offence to hide them from heauen vnto which this honor is due the body now presented Man alone is subiect to the distortion depraued motion of his eies Hereof are come the syrnames of certain families in Rome Strabones Poeti for that the first of those houses were squint-eied and had rolling eies Those that were borne blink but with one eie our countrymen called Coclites as also them that were pinke-eied and had very small eies they termed Ocellae As for such as came by those infirmities by some iniurie or mischance they were surnamed Lucini Moreouer we see that those creatures which ordinarily do see by night as Cats do haue such ardent and fierie eies that a man cannot indure to look full vpon them The eies also of the Roe-bucke and the Wolfe are so bright that they shine again and cast a light from them The sea-calues or Seales and the Hyenes alter eftsoones their eies into a thousand colours Ouer and besides the eies of many fishes do glitter in the night when they be drie like as the putrified and rotten wood of some old trunke of an oke or other wood Wee haue said before that those winke not nor shut their eie-lids who cannot roll their eies atone-side but are faine to turne their whole head withall when they would see a thing that is not iust before them The Chamaeleons by report rol their eies all whole euery way as they list vp and downe too and fro Crabs looke awrie And yet such fishes as are inclosed within a brittle and tender shell haue their eies inflexible stiffe Lobsters and Shrimpes for the most part haue their eies standing out very hard albeit they be couered with the like shells Those that haue hard eies are not so well sighted as those that haue moist It is commonly said that if a man pluck the eies out of the heads of yong serpents or yong Swallows they wil haue new again in their place All Insects and other creatures that lie within hard shels stir their eies as four-sooted beasts do their ears but in those that haue tender shels their eies be hard And all such as also fishes Insects haue no lids to their eies and therfore couer them not But there be none without a thin membrane or pellicle ouer them which is cleare and transparent like glasse Men and women haue haire growing on the brims of both Eie-lids but women do colour them euery day with an ordinarie painting that they haue so curious are our dames and would so fain be faire beautiful that for sooth they must die their eies also Nature ywis gaue them these hairy-eie-lids for another end namely for a palaisade as it were rampier of defence for the sight yea and to stand out like a bulwark for to keep off and put by all little creatures that might come against the eies or what things soeuer els should chance to fall into them Some write That the haire of the eie-lids will shed and fal away but not without some great injury and namely in such persons as be ouermuch giuen to lecherie No other liuing creatures haue these haires but such as otherwise be clad all ouer their bodies with haire or feathers But as four-footed beasts haue them in the vpper lid only so Fouls haue none but in the nether like as those serpents which are tender skinned and four-footed as Lizards The Ostrich is the only foule which hath haire on the vpper eie-lidde The Ape hath on them both as well as man Moreouer all fouls haue not eie-lids and therefore such do not winke namely those that bring forth liuing creatures The greater and heauier foules when they would close their eies doe it with drawing vp the nether lid The same also twinkle by means of a pellicle or skin comming from the corners of their eies Doues and such like birds wink with both eie-lids but four-footed beasts that lay egs as Tortoises and Crocodiles vse the nether lid only without any twinkling at all because their eies be very hard The vtmost compasse or edge of haire in the vpper lid the Latines called in old time Cilium and thereof came the name of the brows to be Supercilium in Latine This brim of the eie-lid if it be diuided by any wound cannot be drawne together againe like as some few parts besides of mans body Vnder the eies are the balls of the Cheeks which men and women only haue which in old time they called Genae in Latine And by the law of the twelue Tables women were expressely
as much whereupoâ—… he is not able to liue aboue 100 yeares for want of Heart as the Aegyptians be of opinion whose manner is to preserue the dead bodies of men spiced and embalmed It is reported of some men that they haue hearts all hairy and those are held to be exceeding strong and valoâ—… Such was Aristomenes the Messenian who slew with his owne hands 300 Lacedaemoniaâ—… Himselfe being sore wounded and taken prisoner saued his owne life once and made an escape out of the caue of a stone quarrie where he was kept as in a prison for hee got forth by narrow Fox-holes vnder the ground Being caught a second time whiles his keepers were fast asleep he rolled himselfe to the fire bound as he was and so without regard of his owne bodie burnt in sunder the bonds wherewith he was tied And at the third taking the Lacedaemonians caused his brest to be cut and opened because they would see what kind of Heart hee had and there they found it all ouergrown with hair Moreouer this is obserued in perusing the inwards of beasts That when they be wel liking and do presage good the Heart hath a kind of fat in the vtmost tip thereof howbeit this would be noted That according to the Soothsaiers learning their Heart is not alwaies taken for a part of the bowels or intrails for after the 123 Olympias when Pyrrhus king of Epyrus was departed out of Italy what time as L. Posthumius Albinus was king sacrificer at Rome the Soothsaiers and Wisards began first to look into the heart among other inwards That very day when as Caesar Dictator went first abroad in his roiall purple robe and tooke his seat in the golden chaire of estate he killed two beasts for sacrifice in both of them the intrailes were found without any Heart whereupon arose a great question and controuersie among the Augures and Soothsaiers How it could be that any beast ordained for sacrifice should liue without that principall part of life or whether possibly it might lose it for that present only Ouer and besides it is held for certaine that if any dye of the trembling and ache of the heart or otherwise of poison their heart will not burne in the fire And verily an Oration there is extant of Vitellius wherein he challengeth Piso and chargeth him directly with Poysoning of Germanicus Caesar vpon this presumption for he openly protested and prooued That the heart of Germanicus would not consume in the funerall fire by reason of poyson But contrariwise Piso alledged in his own defence the foresaid disease of the Heart called Cardiaca wherof as he said Germanicus died Vnder the Heart lie the Lights which is the very seat of breathing whereby we draw and deliuer our wind For which purpose spungeous it is and ful of hollow pipes within Few fishes as we said before haue any Lungs other creatures also that lay egs haue but smal and the same full of froth and without bloud wherupon they be not thirsty at all which is the cause likewise that Seales and Frogs can diue so long vnder the water The Tortoise also albeit he haue very large Lungs and the same vnder his shell yet there is no bloud therein And verily the lesser that the lungs be the swifter is the body that hath them The Chamaeleons lights be very big for the proportion of his body for little or nothing els hath he within it Next followeth the liuer which lies on the right side In that which is called the head of the Liuer much varietie and difference there is For a little before the death of Marcellus who was slaine by Anniball as he sacrificed there was found a Liuer in the beast without that head or fibres aforesaid and the next day after when he killed another for sacrifice it was seen with two When C. Marius sacrificed at Vtica the same was likewise wanting in the beast being opened Semblably when prince C. Caligula the Emperor sacrificed vpon the first day of Ianuarie at his entrance into the Consulship the Liuer head was missing but see what followed in that yeare his hap was to be slain Moreouer his successor Claudius within a month before he died by poison met with the like accident in his sacrifice But Augustus Caesar late Emperor of famous memory as he killed beasts for sacrifice the very first day that he entred vpon his imperiall dignity found in 6 of them 6 liuers which were all redoubled folded inward from the nethermost lobe or skirt beneath wherupon answer was made by tâ—…e Soothsayers That within one yere he should double his power and authority The foresaid head of the Liuer if it chance to be slit or cut presageth some euill hap vnlesse it be in case of feare and pensiuenesse for then it betokeneth good issue and an end of care and sorrow About the mountaine Briletum and Tharne also in Chersonesus neere vnto Propontis all the Hares ordinarily haue two Liuers and a wonderous thing it is to tell if they be brought into other countries one of the said Liuers they loose Fast to the Liuer hangeth the Gall yet all creatures haue it not And about Chalcis in Euboea the sheep are quite without Gall. But in Naxus they all haue two Gals and the same very big The strangers that come into both those parts think the one as prodigious monstrous as the other Horses Mules Asses Deere both red and fallow Roe-bucks Swine Cammels and Dolphins haue no Gall. Some Mice and Rats there be which haue it And few men there are without howbeit such are of a stronger constitution more healthfull longer liued Howbeit some are of opinion That all horses haue Gall not annexed to their liuer but within their bellie and as for the Deere aboue said it lieth as they think either in their taile or els their guts which by their saying are so bitter that hounds and dogs by their good wils would not touch them Now this Gal is nothing els but an excrement purged from the worst bloud therefore bloud is taken to be the matter thereof Certain this is that no creatures haue Liuers but such as likewise haue bloud And in truth the Liuer receiueth bloud from the heart vnto which it is adioined and so conueigheth and destributeth it into the veins Black choler lying in the Liuer causeth fury and madnesse in man but if it be all cast vp by vomit it is present death hereupon it commeth that we terme furious and raging persons by the name of cholericke or full of Gall so great is the venome of this one part if it reach once to the seat of the mind and possesse it Nay more than that if it be spred and dispersed ouer all parts of the body it infecteth it with the yellow jaundice yea and coloureth the very eies as it were with Saffron Let it out of the bladder or bag wherin it is ye shal
of an accident obserued in it and a special qualitie that it had For the tree forsooth outwardly resembleth a thorn but the leaues are made directly like feathers Let a man shake the boughs neuer so little shed they will and fall incontinently but soon after there spring vp new in their steads CHAP. XI ¶ Sundry sorts of Gum. Also of the Cane Papyrus THe best gum in all mens iudgement is that which comes of the Egyptian thorne Acacia hauing veins within of checker work or trailed like wormes of colour greenish cleere withall without any pieces of the bark intermingled among and sticking to the teeth as a man cheweth it A pound thereof is commonly sold at Rome for three deniers The gumme that issueth from the bitter Almond trees and Cherry trees is not so good but the worst of all is that which the Plum tree yeeldeth There runneth likewise out of vines a certaine gum that is passing good for the bleach scabs and scals in little children And otherwhiles ye shall find some in Oliue trees and that cureth the tooth-ache Moreouer the Elme growing vpon Corycus a mountain in Cilicia and the Iuniper there haue a gum but good for nothing As for that of the Elme it breeds gnats there Moreouer of Sarcocolla a tree so called there distilleth a gum of that name which Painters and Physitions both haue great vse of Like it is to Manna Thuris which is the pouder of Incense and therefore the white is better than the red Sold it is at the same price that the other aboue named And thus much concerning the trees growing vpon mountains and plains Now albeit we are not entred yet into the treatise of those plants and shrubs which grow either in marish grounds or by riuers sides yet before we depart out of Egypt we must not forget the plant Papyrus but describe the nature thereof considering that all ciuilitie of this our life the memoriall and immortalitie also of men after death consists specially in paper which is made thereof M. Varro writes that the first inuention of making paper was deuised vpon the conquest of Egypt atchieued by Alexander the Great at what time as he founded the city Alexandria in Egypt where such paper was first made For before that time there was no vse at all saith he of paper but men vsed to write in Date tree leaues first and afterwards in the 〈◊〉 and barks of certain trees Then in processe of time they began to register publique records in rolls and sheets of lead and soon after priuate persons set downe their owne affaires in linnen books or els in tables couered with wax For we read in Homer that before the war of Troy writing tables were vsed And at the very time when he wrot Egypt was not all continent firm land as now it is For as he saith all the Papyrus whereof paper is made grew in that branch or arm of Nilus which answereth onely to the tract or territorie within the jurisdiction Sebennitis but afterward that part also was laid to Egypt by the shelves and banks made with the inundation of the said riuer For from the Island Pharos which now ioineth close vnto Alexandria by a bridge or narrow causey between it was a day nights sailing with a good fore wind at the poup to the main land as Homer hath reported But afterwards as Varro hath written by occasion of a certaine enuious strife and emulation which arose betweene one of the Ptolomees K. of Egypt and Eumenes K. of Pergamus about the erecting of their great libraries when Ptolomaeus suppressed and kept in all the paper made in Egypt there was parchment deuised by the said Eumenes to be wrought at Pergamus of skins And finally the vse was commonly taken vp of both to wit Paper and Parchment which continues the perpetuitie and euerlasting remembrance of men and their affaires But to returne vnto our plant Papyrus it growes in the marishes of Egypt or els in the dead standing waters of Nilus namely in certaine plashes and pits whereas the water did ouerflow and remained still after the riuer was fallen and down againe and namely such holes and ditches which are not aboue two cubits deep The root is wrythen and crooked of the thicknes of a mans arme the scape or stalk that riseth from it hath three sides with 3 corners trianglewise not aboue 10 cubits in height growing taper-wise small and sharp in the top where it beareth an head inclosed and round in maner of a cabbage Howbeit no seed it carrieth within neither serues the floure for any purpose but onely for chaplets to adorne the images of the gods The inhabitants of Egypt do vse the root in stead of wood not for fuell only but also to make thereof sundry vessels and vtensils in an house The very bodie and pole of the Papyr it selfe serueth very well to twist and weaue therwith little boats and the rinds thereof be good to make saile-clothes curtains mats and couerlets clothes also for hangings and ropes Nay they vse to chew and eat it both raw and sodden but they swallow the iuice only down the throat and spit out the grosse substance Moreouer there is Papyrus found in Syria about that very lake and meere whereas the sweet Calamus aboue named grows Neither vsed king Antigonus any other ropes about the tackling of his ships but such as were made hereof For as yet the vse of Spartum was not common Moreouer it is not long since that there was found growing in Euphrates about Babylon this plant Papyrus and knowne to serue for paper as well as the other in Egypt And yet for all that the Parthians will not leaue their old custome to weaue and purfle letters in their cloathes after the maner of embroderie Now 〈◊〉 touching the writing paper made of Papyrus after they haue cut it into certaine trunkes as long or as short as the size of their paper they diuide or sliue it with the point of a needle or bodkin for the purpose into very thin plates or leaues but they driue them as broad and large as possibly they can CHAP. XII ¶ Of diuers kinds of Paper and how writing Paper is made also the triall of good or bad Paper and the glue or past belonging thereto THe best sheets or leaues of paper be those which are set out of the very midst or heart of the stem or stalk of Papyrus and so consequently better or worse according as they be nearer or farther from it In antient time the principall paper and the largest was called Hieratica i. sacred or holy as being imployed only about religious and diuine books But afterwards the flatterers of the Emperor Augustus named those of the best sort Augustae like as the second Liviae after the name of his wife And hereupon it came that the paper Hieratica 〈◊〉 in a third ranke Next to them in goodnesse was reputed the
they serue giueth them to vnderstand that he hath chosen that peculiar tree And no maruel for in very deed Misselto is passing geason and hard to be found vpon the oke but when they meet with it they gather it very deuoutly and with many ceremonies for first and formost they obserue principally that the Moon be iust six daies old for vpon that day they begin their months and new yeares yea and their seueral ages which haue their revolutions euery thirty yeres because she is thought then to be of great power and force sufficient and is not yet come to her halfe light and the end of her first quarter They call it in their language All-Heale for they haue an opinion of it that it cureth all maladies whatsoeuer and when they are about to gather it after they haue well duly prepared their sacrifices and festiual cheare vnder the said tree they bring thither two yong bullocks milk white such as neuer drew in yoke at plough or wain and whose heads were then and not before bound by the horn which done the priest araied in a surplesse or white vesture climbeth vp into the tree and with a golden hooke or bill cutteth it off and they beneath receiue it in a white soldiers cassock or coat of armes then fall they to kil the beasts aforesaid for sacrifice mumbling many oraisons praying deuoutly that it would please God to blesse this gift of his to the good and benefit of all those to whom he had vouchsafed to giue it Now this persuasion they haue of Misselto thus gathered That whaâ—… liuing creatures soeuer otherwise barren do drink of it will presently become fruitfull thereupon also that it is a soueraign countrepoison or singular remedie against all vermine So vain and superstitious are many nations in the world and oftentimes in such friuolous and foolish things as these THE SEVENTEENTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS CHAP. I. ¶ The wonderfull prices of some Trees AS touching the nature of all those trees which of their owne accord doe grow as well vpon the main land as the sea coast we haue already treated sufficiently It remaineth now to discourse of those which to speake more properly are made rather and forced by art and wit of man than otherwise come by nature and of themselues But before I enter into this treatise I canot chuse but maruel how it is come to passe That those trees which for necessity need we hauing taken from the wilde and brute beasts and possessed in common with them considering that men maintaine fight and scramble with them for the fruits that fall yea and otherwhiles with the fowles of the aire about those which hang vpon the tree should grow to so excessiue a price as to be esteemed among the principall delights of this world And that this is so appeareth by that most notable example in mine opinion of L. Crassus and Cn. Domitius Aenobarbus This L. Crassus a right renowmed Orator of Rome as any one of his time had a stately and sumptuous dwelling vpon mount Palatine howbeit that house of Q. Catulus who defeated in battell the Cimbrians together with C. Marius went beyond it a faire deale in magnificence and stood likewise within the pourprise of the same mount But the goodliest and fairest Pallace knowne in that age was that of C. Aquilius a Gentleman or Knight of Rome scituate vpon the hill of Osiers called Viminalis in regard whereof there went a greater name of him than for all the skill he had in the Ciuill Law which was his profession Yet of all those three Crassus onely was challenged and reproched for that foresaid house of his And in this manner is the storie deliuered Crassus and Domitius great personages both and descended from most noble Houses in Rome after they had beene Consuls happened also to be chosen Censors together and this fell out to be in the six hundred sixty two yeare after the foundation of the city but during this Magistracie of theirs there passed many a foule day and bitter fit betweene them so dissonant were their natures and their conditions so farre vnlike Now it fortuned vpon a time that Cn. Domitius as hee was hot and hasty man by nature and carried an inward hatred besides in his heart which soone is kindled and set on fire yea and most insatiable vpon emulation and enuy betweene Concurrents such as they two were reprooued Crassus verie sharpely for his excesse in expence and namely That any Censor of Rome should dwell in so stately and sumptuous a Pallace as he did and euer and anon made offer to buy the House and pay him downe-right for it an hundred Millions of Sesterces whereat Crassus being a man quicke of spirit and of a prompt and present wit finely conceited withall and not to seeke for a ready answer tooke him at his word and accepted of the offer reseruing only six trees that grew about his house Tush quoth Domitius replying againe take those Trees away and take all if they be gone I will none of the house though I might haue it for a single denier Then Crassus hauing gotten the vantage and start of him rejoyned and came vpon him thus Tell me now I pray you good Domitius whether of vs twaine giueth a scandalous example to the world Whether am I my selfe I say offensiue and deserue to be taxed and noted by mine own Censorship who can be contented to liue quietly and louingly among my neighbours in mine owne house and that house which came to me by way of inheritance from my father or you rather that for six trees bid 100 millions of Sesterces Now if a man be desirous to know what these trees might be truly they were no other but six Lote trees very faire and beautifull indeed but there was nothing in them commendable saue only their spreading and casting a goodly shade And verily Caecina Largus a Nobleman and principal citizen of Rome vsed many a time and often I remember well to shew me when I was a yong man those trees about his house And since our speech hath bin of such trees as liue very long these I wote wel continued for the space of 180 yeres after Crassus death to the great fire that Nero caused to bee made for to burne Rome fresh and green they were with good keeping and looked yong still like to haue liued many a faire day more had not that prince hastened the vntimely death euen of trees also as well as of citizens Now lest any man should think that all the sumptuositie of Crassus consisted only in those trees and that the furniture otherwise of his house was but mean and simple and could minister vnto Domitius no matter of such contesting and reproofe disposed as he was to quarrel and find fault know he thus much That the said Crassus had before that time set vp in the open hall of that house
made of Zea than of Wheat and called it is Granum or Granatum although in Alica that be counted a fault To conclude they that wil not vse chalk do blanch and make their Frumentie white by seething milke with it and mingling all together CHAP. XII ¶ Of Pulse IT followeth now to write of the nature of Pulse among which Beanes do challenge the first ranke and principall place for thereof men haue assaied to make bread The meale of Beans is called in Latine Lomentum There is not a Pulse weigheth more than it and Beane meale makes euery thing heauier wherin it is Now adaies they vse to sel it for prouender to feed horses And indeed Beanes are dressed and vsed many waies not only to serue all kind of four-footed beasts but also for man especially For in most countries it is mingled with Frumentiâ—… corn and namely with Pannicke most of all whole and entire as it is but the more delicat and daintie way is to break and bruise it first Moreouer by ancient rites and religious ceremonies at the solemn sacrifice called Fabraria the maner was to offer vnto certain gods and goddesses Beane cakes This was taken for a strong food being eaten with a thick grewel or pottage howbeit men thought that it dulled a mans sences and vnderstanding yea and caused troublesome dreames in the night In regard of which inconueniences Pythagoras expressely forbad to eat Beanes but as some haue thought and taught it was because folke imagined that the soules of such as were departed had residence therein which is the reason also that they be ordinarily vsed and eaten at the funerals and obsequies of the dead Varro also affirmeth That the great Priest or Sacrificer called the Flamine abstains from Beanes both in those respects aforesaid as also for that there are to be seen in the floure thereof certain letters or characters that shewheauines and signs of death Further there was obserued in old time a religious ceremonie in Beanes for when they had sown their grounds their maner was of all other corne to bring back with them out of the fieldes some Beanes for good luck sake presaging thereby that their corne would returne home again vnto them and these Beanes thereupon were called in Latine Refriuae or Referiuae Likewise in all port-sales it was thought that if Beanes were entermingled with the goods offered to be sold they would be luckie and gainefull to the seller This is cerataine that of all the fruits of the earth this only will be full and sound when the Moone is croisant notwithstanding it were gnawne and halfe eaten with some thing before Set them ouer the fire in a pan with sea water or any other that is saltish they will neuerbe thoroughly sodden They are set or sowne before the retrait of the Starre Vergiliae i. the Brood-hen the first of al other Pulse because they might take root betimes and preuent the Winter And yet Virgill would haue them to be put into the ground in the Spring like as the manner is in Piemont and Lombardie all about the riuer Po. But the greater part of good Husbandmen are of this opinion That the stalke or straw of Beanes sowne early or set betimes are better than the very fruit it selfe which hath had but three months being in the ground For the cods and stalks only of Beans are passing good fodder and forage for cattell Beanes when they are blouming and in their floure desire most of al to be refreshed with good store of rain but after they haue don flouring they care for little the sowing of this Pulse in any ground is as good as a mucking vnto it for it enriches it mightily And therefore towards Macedonie and about Thessalie the manner is when Beanes begin to blossom for to turne them into the ground with the plough Beans come vp and grow in most places of their owne accord without sowing and namely in certaine Islands lying within the Northern ocean which our countrymen therupon haue named Fabariae Semblably they grow wild commonly thoroughout Mauritania but exceeding hard and tough they be and such as possibly canot be sodden tender There are likewise in Aegypt to be found Beanes with a stalk beset full of prickles or thornes which is the cause that Crocodiles wil not come neer them for feare of hurting their eyes The stemme of these Beanes is foure cubites in height but exceeding thicke and big withall tender it is notwithstanding and soft running vp euen and smooth without any knots or joints at al it caries a head in the top like Chesboule or Poppy of a rose red color wherin are contained not aboue 30 Beanes at the most The leaues be large the fruit it selfe or the Bean is bitter in tast and the smel not pleasant howbeit the root is a most dainty meat which the inhabitants do eat as wel raw as sodden and like it is to reed cane roots These grow in Syria and Cylicia as also about the lake Torone within Chalcis As touching other Pulse Lentils be sown in Nouember and so are Pease but in Greece only Lentils loue a light ground better than a fat heauie they like also drie and faire weather Two kinds thereof be found in Aegypt the one more round and blacke than the other the rest be fashioned as common Lentils According to the manifold vse and diuers effects of Lentils there haue sundrie names and denominations beene borrowed from them for I find in writers that the eating of Lentils maketh men to be mild and patient whereupon they be called Lenti and Lenes As for Pease it ought to be sowed in warm places lying well vpon the Sunne for of all things it cannot abide the cold Which is the cause that in Italie and in other countries where the clime is tough and hard they are not sowne vsually but in the Spring and folke chuse a gentle light and loose ground To come now to the Ciâ—…h pease the nature of it is to be nitrous and saltish and therefore it burneth the ground where it grows Neither must it be sowne vnlesse it were well steeped and soked in water the day before many sorts there be of these cich-pease different in bignes form colour and tast for there are both blacke and white and those in fashion shaped like to a Rams head and therupon they are so called There is a second kind named Columbinum or by others Venerium These are white round light lesse than the former Rams-head ciches which men do eat ceremoniously with great religion when they meane to watch thoroughly all night long There is a little cich pease also called Cicercula made cornered and otherwise vneuen like vnto a Pease But the best ciches and most pleasant are those that come neerest in resemblance to the Eruile and generally the red kind and the black are more firm and fast than the white cich pease grow within round cods whereas other Pulse
of the male 386 g. h Date trees corne of flips and branches as well as of kernils ibid. i Date trees spring of their owne leaues 508 m Dates guelded 386 l Date tree growing in the Capitoll of Rome 143 e Dates of 49 sorts 387 b Dates Royall 161 d Dates of Iurie best 387 e Dates of sundry sorts 388 h Dates serue to franke Swine ibid. i Damascene prunes ibid. l Date tree leaues serue for cordage 470 l. how to be pulled and ordered 470 l Date trees like not in a strange country 478 k Date tree of great antiquitie 495 e Dathiathum what it is 367 d Daies how they come to be vnequall and not of certaine length 13 f Daylight in the night 18 g Daylight vpon earth the reason thereof 35 c Day where it is longest and where shortest 36 i continuall day for six moneths ibid. how daies are obserued 36 l Day for six moneths together where 84 i the kindenesse of a Daughter to her mother 174 h Daughters of Agrippa deliuered of two tyrants 160 g Daphnis a bondslaue how highly praised 175 e Daudo a Sclauonian liued fiue hundred yeares 181 a Dactyle fishes 209 f Daughters of Marcus Curiatius why they were called Sedigitae 349 c Dauncing whose inuention 189 c D E Death suddaine 185 c. d. c. Dead supposed recouer 184 h Deale See Firre Deaw when it appeareth 29 b signes of Death in sicknesse 183 e Dead bodies weigh more than quicke 156 e Deafe naturally be dumbe 306 g Decumanus lines what it is 609 b Deere where they haue foure kidnies apeece 343 d Decapolis why so called 701 e Defrutum what it is 416 l Delos Island 40 g Delos Island famous and why so called 81 b. the diuerse names thereof 161 d Demetrius spared to burn Rhodes for the loue of a picture 175 d Democritus foreseeing by the stars a dearth of oile bought vp all aforehand 598 g. hee fained two gods Punishment and Benefit 3 d Democritus in hot weather fore-saw a shoure of raine and foretold it 610 m Deuteriae what wines 417 e D I Dials where first inuented 191 b. not seruing for all places 35 d Dialeta a kinde of Purples 29 b Dianitis Murrhe 369 b Dianaes temple at Ephesus foure hundred yeares in building 491 b. of what timber it was built 161 d her image of wood 491 c. by what meanes it endured so long ibid. Dianaes temple at Saguntum ibid. d Dibapha what Purple dies 260i Dianaes temple in Aulis 491 e Dia Pasmata what they be 383 c Dicaearchus his commission 31 d Digestion of meat worse in Summer than in Winter 355 f Digestion in sleepe of what effect 356 g Diademe first inuented 187 〈◊〉 Diuination by beasts who deuised 189 d Dinochares a renowned Architect 99 b Diomedian birds described and why so called 294 m 295 a. b. Dibapha what dies 260 i Dioscurias a famous citie of the Colchians 117 c. d by whom founded ibid. d Diuinors or men of a propheticall spirit 173 d Dionysius being deposed from his kingdome the sea-water grew to be fresh 44 i Dionysiodorus a Geometrician 49 c. and his Epistle found in his sepulchre and the contents thereof ibid. Diomedes his lake 94 g Diomedes his horses 78 h Diribitorium 489 d Discord betweene beasts 308 h Diuersitte of childrens resemblance of their parents ibid. b Diuision of fishes 247 d Difference between brains and marrow of the bones 333 a Difference of eie-sight in men 334 Diuersitie of mouthes in creatures 336 l Diuersitie of teeth in creatures 337 a Diseases strange incident to men and women 182. l. as strangely cured 183. a. who liued long without disease ibid. b. Diseases of sundry sorts ibid. c. d Diseases ihat haunt trees 538. m Distances in planting how to be obserued 514. l D O Docus shining beames in the skie 17. b Dogs louing and faithfull to their masters 218. l Dogs restore a king to â—…is crowne againe 218. m. their affection to their master 219. a Dogs emploied in wars 218. m. their rare properties 219. c one Dog ouercommeth a Lion and an Elephant 220. g. h Dogs mad 220. i. how they be preserued from madnesse ib. a Dog speaketh 220. k Dogs come into Hercules temple in the beast-market at Rome 285. d Dogs will not liue in the Isle of Sygaros 141. e Dog-starre his power 19. f Dog-starre powerfull on the sea 245. 〈◊〉 Dog-starre of great effect and precious 597. d. highly honoured ibid. Dolphins their nature 238. h. i Dolphin swiftest of all fishes and creatures 238. m. swifter than an arrow out of a bow ibid. sort themselues like man and wife 238. i Dolphins louingly affect men and musicke ibid. l. they loue mankind diuerse examples thereof 238. m Dolphins know the name Simo. ib. they helpe fishers to catch fish 240. 〈◊〉 they haue a certaine commonwealth ibid. l Dolphins haue no eares 333. c Dolphins enemies to Crocodiles 209. c Dormice kept tame 233 b. they sleepe all winter ibid. c kinde to their sires ibid. Doricke tune 14. l house Doues chast 290. g. hen-Doues meeke ibid h. the cocks iealous ibid. kinde to their pigions ibid. i. how they drinke ibid. stocke-Doues liue long 29â—… k. their tune ibid. Doues winke with both their eie-lids 336. i house-Doues glorious 290. m. taken in their pride by the faulcon 291. b. they loue the Kestrell or Stanell and wherefore ibid. doues emploied as posts and courriers betweene ib. c. how they be kept to their owne doue-cote ibid. doues and pigeons of great price 291. d Doues how ofâ—…en they sit and lay in a yeare 298. i. house-doues hatch a cocke and a hen pigeon 300. k. hen-doues tread one another for want of a cocke ibid. l Donax a kind of reed 485. c. k Dough how it is made 560 D R sea-Dragon 249. d Dragons in vines what they be 536. h Dragons fight with elephants and their subtiltie 198. k where they breed 199. c. Dragons procure appetite to meat with the iuice of wild lettuce 271. a some men neuer Dreame 309. c 〈◊〉 by Dreames who first practised 189. d Dreames common to all creatures that bring forth their young quicke ibid. Drepanâ—…s the sea-swallow seldome seen 351. d Drinke may be forborne altogether 166. g Drupae what oliues 379. b 30. g Drypetae what oliues 430. g Dryos hyphear 496. k Dryidae in France 497. b. why so called ibid. Dryidae their ceremonies in gathering of okes misselto ibid. c against drunkennesse and Drunkards 426. i M. Antonius a Drunkard and maintainer of Drunkennesse 428. g the behauiour of Drunkards 427. a Parthians great Drinkers of wine ibid. d Dromiscos Island 40. k D V Dung of blackebirds for what it is good 507. c Dunging of land when and in what order 582. l Dunghill cockes best adorned on the heads 331. b Dung how it is to be raked 582. l Dunging of grounds inuented by King Augeas 507. b Duracina certaine grapes 405. e Duracina
a liniment with kincense and the white of an egg doth in the space of 30 daies cure those that are bursten bellied In the little horns of shell-snails there is found a certaine hard substance resembling grit or sand which if it be hanged about a youg infant is a means that it shall breed teeth with ease The ashes of snail shels when the snails are gon incorporat in wax and applied to the seat of the fundament putteth backe the end of the tiwill that is fallen down and ready to hang out of the body but you must not forget to mingle with the said ashes the bloudy substance that is let out of a vipers brains when her head is pricked The braines of a viper if they be put in a little fine skin worn by a yong child helpeth it to breed teeth without any great pain for the same purpose serue also the teeth of serpents so they be chosen the biggest that are in their heads rauens dung wrapped in wool and hung to any part of yong infants cureth the chin-cough Some things there remain as touching this argument which hardly methinks I should not handle seriously deliuer in good earnest howbeit since there be diuers writers who haue put them down in writing I must not passe them ouer in silence They are of opinion and doe giue order to cure the rupture and descent of the guts in little children with a lizard but how first it ought to be of the male kind which is taken for this purpose and that may soone be knowne if vnder the taile it haue one hole and no more then there must be vsed all means possible that the said lizard do bite the tumor of the rupture through a piece of cloth of gold cloth of siluer or purple which done the said lizard must be tied fast within a new cup or goblet that neuer was occupied so set in some smoky place where it may die If little infants pisse their beds a readie way to make them containe their water is to giue them sodden mice to eat If there be any suspition of sorcerie witchcraft or inchantment practised for to hurt young babes the great horns of beetles such specially as be knagged as it were with smal teeth are as good as a countercharm and preseruatiue if they be hanged about their necks There is as they say a little stone within the head of an ox or cow which they vse to discharge and spit out when they be in danger of death the same if it be taken out of one of their heads which is suddenly stricken off before the beast be ware therof hanged about an infants necke or other part of the body is wonderful good for breeding of teeth Semblably they prescribe their brains to be caried about them in like maner for the same purpose also the little bone or stone found in a naked snails back Moreouer the anointing of childrens gumbs with the brains of a yong sheepe is singular good and effectual to cause them to breed their teeth with facilitie like as goose grease instilled with the juice of basil into their ears cureth the infirmities therof There be in many prickly herbs certain rough hairy worms which if they be hung about the necks of yong infants do presently cure them if haply there were any thing in their meat that stucke and lay hard in their stomack for they wil cause them to puke it vp To prouoke sleep there is not a better thing than the tried grease of vnwashed wool with some myrrh be it neuer so little infused dissolued in two cyaths of wine or els incorporat with goose grease and wine of myrtles for which intent they vse to take the bird called a Cuckow and within a hares skin tie it to the patient or els to bind the bil of a yong heron to the forehead within a piece of an asse skin and they are of opinion that the same bill alone is as effectuall so it be well washed in wine contrariwise the head of a bat dried and hanged about the neck keeps one from sleep altogether A lizard drowned to death in the vrin of a man disableth him from the vse of venery who drank the liquour whereof that vrine came and no maruel for why the magitians repose a great thing in a lizard in loue matters The excrements of snailes which resemble dung as also the dung of pigeons tempered in a cup of wine and giuen to drink coole fleshly lust The right lobe or side of a vultures lungs prouoke men to Venus sports if they cary it about them enwrapped within a cranes skin In like maner the yelks of fiue pigeons egs incorporat with swines grease to the weight of one denier Roman and so supped off work the same effect Some eat sparrowes vsually for this purpose or sup their egs Also there be who carry about them the right stone of a cock inclosed fast within a piece of leather made of a rams skin and to good effect if all be true that magitians say who affirm also that those women who are anointed with a liniment made of the ashes of the bird Ibis incorporat with goose grease and the oile Ireos shal if they be conceiued with child go out their full time and they say that whosoeuer be anointed with a liniment made of the stones of a fighting cocke and goose-grease shall haue but little mind to performe the act of generation or if the same be tied vnto any part of them within a piece of leather made of a rams skinne In like manner it is said that the stones of any other dunghill cock are of the same effect if together with the bloud of the said cock they be but laid vnder ones bed If one pluck the haires out of a mules taile while the stallion couereth her and bind the same together in a wreath or knot apply them to the legs or loins during the act of generation they will cause women to conceiue whether they will or no. Whosoeuer maketh water vpon the very place where a dog hath lift vp his leg and pissed so as both vrines be mingled together folke say he shall find himselfe therby more vnlustie to the worke of Venus A wonderfull thing it is if it be true which they report likewise of the ashes of a star-lizard or Stellion that if the same be enwrapped within some lint or linnen rag held in the left hand it stirreth vp the heat of lust but shift the same into the right hand it wil coole one as much Moreouer that if one put vnder the pillow where a woman laies her head a few flockes or locke of wooll soked well in batts bloud it wil set her on to desire the company of a man or if she do take a goose tongue either in meat or drink The old skin or slough that snakes do cast off in the Spring whosoeuer drinketh in his ordinary drink
middle finger But this finger now adayes is excepted onely and spared whereas all the rest be sped and charged with them yea and euery joint by themselues must haue some lesser rings and gemmals to fit them Some will haue the little finger loden with 3 rings others content themselues with one and no more vpon it wherewith they vse to seale vp the signet that is to signe ordinarily for this signe manuel I may tell you the manner was to lay vp safe among other rare and pretious things this might not come abroad euerie day as beeing a jewell that deserued not to be misused by handling commonly but to be taken forth out of the cabinet or secret closet neuer but when need required so that whosoeuer weareth one ring and no more vpon the least finger hee giueth the world to vnderstand that he hath a secret cabinet at home stored with some speciall things more costly and pretious than ordinarie Now as some there bee that take a pride and pleasure to haue heauy rings vpon their fingers and to make a shew how massiue and weighty they are so others againe are so fine and delicat as they thinke it a paine to weare more than one Some hold it good for sauing of the stone or collet if the Ring should chance to fall to haue the round hoope or compasse thereof wrought hollow or enchased within yea and the same filled vp with some lighter matter than is gold that it may fall the softer You shall haue many that vse to carry poyson hidden within the collet vnder the stone like as Demosthenes did that renowned Prince of Greeke Orators so as their rings serue for no other vse or purpose but to carry their owne death about them Finally the greatest mischiefes that are practised by our mighty men in these dayes are for the most part performed by the meanes of rings and signets O the innocence of the old world what a heauenly life led men in those dayes when as there was no vse at all of seale and signet But now we are faine to seale vp our ambries and hogsheads with our signets for feare we be robbed and beguiled of our meat and drinke This is the good that commeth of our legions and troupes of slaues which we must haue waiting and following at our heeles this commoditie we haue by our traine and retinue of strangers that wee keepe in our houses insomuch as wee are driuen to haue our Controllers and Remembrancers to tell vs the names of our Seruants and people about vs they are so many It was otherwise ywis by our ancestors and fore-fathers daies who had no more but one yeoman or groome apiece and those of the linage and name of their Lords and Masters as may appeare by the ordinary names of Marci-pores and Luci-pores and these had all their victuals and diet ordinarily at their masters bourd And therefore there was no great need to keep safely any thing vnder lockand key from such houshold seruitors wheras now adayes the cater goeth to the market to prouide cates and viands for to be stollen and carried away as soon as they come home and no remedy there is against it for no seale will serue to make sure either such lurchers themselues for filching or keep the very locks and keies safe and whole that lead to the prouision And why an easie matter it is to plucke the rings from their lord and maisters fingers that are oppressed with dead sleep or when they lie a dying And verily we hold in these daies a seale to be the best assurance in contracts that may be but I wot not how long it is since that custom first came vp And yet if we consider the fashions and manners of strange Nations we may peraduenture find how these signets came into such credit and authoritie and namely by the History of Polycrates the Tyrant or King of the Isle Samos who hauing cast into the sea a ring which he loued and esteemed aboue all other jewels met with the same againe by meanes of a fish which was taken in the belly whereof the said ring was found Now this king was put to death about the two hundred and thirtieth yeare after the foundation of our citie Howbeit the ordinarie vse of these signets as I suppose by all reason and likelihood began together with vsurie for proofe whereof marke how still at this day vpon any stipulation and bargaine paroll made off goes the ring presently to confirme and seale the same The which custome no doubt came from old time when there was no earnest nor gods-pennie more ready at hand than a signet So as we may conclude assuredly and affirme That amongst vs here at Rome when the vse of money and coyne was taken vp soone after came the wearing of rings in place But as touching the deuise and inuention of mony I will write anone more at large And now to return againe to my discourse of rings after they began once to bee in any request there were none at Rome vnder the degree of a knight or gentleman that carried rings on their fingers insomuch as a man might know a gentleman from a commoner by his ring like as a Senator was distinguisht from the Gentlemen wearing rings by his coat embroidered with broad gards and studs of purple Howbeit long it was before this distinction was obserued for I find that the publicke criers wore ordinarily such coats likewise embroidered as Senators do as appeareth by the father of L. Aelius Stilo syrnamed vpon that occasion Praeconimus because his father had bin a publicke Crier Certes these rings certified the middle degree inserted between the Commons and the Nobles and that name which in times past horses of seruice gaue to men of armes and gentlemen of Rome the same now adaies sheweth men of worth and those who are of such and such reuenues But long it is not since this disorder and confusion begun For when as Augustus Caesar late Emperour of happy memory ordained decuries of Iudges in criminal matters the greater part of them consisted of those who wore no other rings but of yron and those were simply called Iudges and not Knights or Men of armes for this name continued still appropriat to the troups of those gentlemen who serued vpon horses allowed by the Senat. Moreouer at the first there were no more but foure decuries of Iudges and hardly might there be found in each of those decuries a bare thousand for as yet those of our prouinces might not be admitted to this estate to sit and judge vpon criminall causes and euen at this day precisely obserued it hath bin That none but antient citizens might be Iudges for neuer any that came newly to their free burgeoisie were taken into this order and degree CHAP. II. ¶ Of the Decuries or Chamber of Iudges vpon record at Rome How often the name and title of the Romane Cavallerie changed
knight of Rome who deuised to garnish his bourds with siluer not couering them full and whole throughout with plates thereof nor after the manner of Deliacke workemanship but onely by parcels and according to the Punicke or Carthaginian fashion The same Pollio made beds and tables of gold but not long after those siluer beds and boords came to the order of those in the Isle Delos But all this sumptuositie was punished sufficiently and expiat by the ciuill warre of Sylla for a little before those troubles this excesse and these superfluities came vp as also about the same time men fel to make great chargers platters of siluer weighing one hundred pound a piece of which there were at Rome as it is well knowne when the said warre beganne to the number of fiue hundred and aboue which was the cause that many a man fell into the danger of proscription and confiscation for that their rich plate set their enemies teeth on water who for the loue and desire thereof practised by all cunning meanes their vtter vndoing Certes our Historians heretofore who attributed this cursed and vnhappie ciuill warre betweene Sylla and Marius vnto such superfluities and vices of those times which reigned so rife might be ashamed and blush to say so for our age hath been more hardy and hath proceeded farther without any such feare of punishment from aboue No longer since than in the daies of Claudius the Emperour Drusillanus a slaue of his syrnamed Rotundus the Seneschol or Treasurer vnder him in high Spaine had a siluer charger of fiue hundred pound weight for the working whereof there was a forge framed beforehand of set purpose and the same was accompanied and attended with eight more of a smaller size weighing 50 pound a piece Now would I gladly know if it might please you how many of his fellowes such slaues I meane as himselfe there must be to carry the said vessell and serue it vp to the table or what guests they mought bee who were to be seruâ—…â—…ith such huge plate Cornelius Nepos writeth that before the victorie of the sayd Sylla 〈◊〉 defeated Marius two dining tables and no more there were throughout Rome all of siluer Fenestella saith that in his time and he died the last yere of the reigne of Tyberius Caesar the Emperor men began at Rome to bestow siluer vpon their cupboords and side liuery tables euen then also by his saying Tortoise worke came in request and was much vsed Howbeit somwhat before his daies he writeth that those cupboords were of wood round and solid of one entire piece and not much bigger than the tables whereupon men eat their meat but when hee was a young boy they were foure square and of many peeces joyned together and then they began to be couered ouer with thin boords or painels either of maple or citron wood Soone after they fel to lay siluer plates vpon them at the corners only and along the joints where the planks were set together but by the time that he was come to be a well grown yong man they were at their drinking mazers or round-bottome dishes like balances whereupon they were called Staterae also at those platters which in old time were named Magides Howbeit men rested not contented to haue furnished themselues with plenty of siluer in their plaine plate and about their houses vnlesse the curious workmanship also thereof were more costly than the mettall and matter it selfe But lest this superfluity should be imputed vnto vs in these daies be it knowne that such curiosity was crept into the world long ago for C. Gracchus had in the furniture of his house certain vessels of siluer called Dolphins which cost him at the gold-smiths hand 5000 sesterces a pound an exceeding price for the fashion and workmanship considering L. Crassus the Orator had two pots artificially engrauen by the hand of Mentor that cunning workman the fashion and making whereof cost 100 sesterces a pound and yet he confessed and protested that hee was abashed to vse them and durst not for shame bring them abroad Moreouer knowne it is that he had in his cabinet pieces of plate which to be bought and sold were worth euery pound 6000 sesterces Briefly the conquest and reducing of Asia vnder our Empire was the first occasion that brought into Italy such wastfull excesse for L. Scipio shewed in triumph of siluer plate intailed and ingrauen 400 thousand and 50 pounds weight besides vessells of gold amounting to the weight of 100 thousand pound and this was in the yere from the foundation of Rome 565. But the free donation and bestowing of the said Asia vpon the city of Rome which fell vnto the Romans by the death of K. Attalus who in his last will and testament ordained them his full heires did most hurt vnto our state and this succession which our Antients injoyed by vertue of that gift did greater dammage to the integrity of manners and brought more corruption into our city than the former victory atchieued by force of armes for from that time forward men grew to be shamelesse and without regard of modesty euery mans fingers itched to be tempering with the treasure of K. Attalus and to buy the same at any price sold in open port-sale to them that would giue most which hapned in the 626 yere after the foundation of the city for in 56 yeres which was the meane space between the foresaid subduing of Asia and this feoffement of K. Attalus our city was well nuzzled and trained not onely in the admiration of such puissant forrein kings and princes but also in some affectionat loue to their wealth and riches About which middle time between namely in the 608 yere reckoning from the first founding of Rome when Achaia was likewise brought vnder our obedience and subjection this victory also was a mighty means to bring vs also out of al good order and to set vs forward to imbrace superfluities and to ouerthrow al honesty and vertue for now were brought in the stately statues and proud painted tables that we should want no inticing delights but that all the pride and pleasure of the world might be found at Rome Finally the ruin of Carthage was the rising of superfluitie with vs as if the Destinies had so appointed that at one the same time we should haue both wil to imbrace vice also power liberty withal to perform sin so that in regard of our times and the enormities thereof we may justifie yea and honor any of our ancestors who seemed before to offend in this behalfe for as it is said C. Marius after he had defeited the Cimbrians contented himselfe to drink in a woodden godet and tankerd after the example of father Bacchus C. Marius I say who of a good husbandman in the country about Arpinum of a common and ordinary souldier came to be a braue captaine and commander in the field CHAP. XII ¶
purple colour the first course or ground is azur and straitwaies they come vpon it with roset and the white of an egg abouesaid After this rich and liuely rosat or purple red Indico is a colour most esteemed out of India it comes wherupon it took the name and it is nothing els but a slimy mud cleaning to the fome that gathereth about canes and reeds while it is punned or ground it looketh black but being dissolued it yeelds a wonderfull louely mixture of purple and azur There is a second sort of it found swimming vpon the coppers or vats in purple Diers worke-houses and in truth nothing els but the very fome or scum that the purple casts vp as it boileth in maner of a florey Some there be that do counterfeit and sophisticat Indico selling in stead therof pigeons dung Selinusian earth and Tripoli died and deeply coloured with the true Indico but the proofe thereof is by fire for cast the right Indico vpon liue coles it yeeldeth a flame of most excellent purple and while it smoketh the fume senteth of the sea which is the reason that some do imagine it is gathered out of the rockes standing in the sea Indico is valued at 20 denarij the pound In physicke there is vse of this Indico for it doth asswage swellings that doe stretch the skin it represseth violent rheums and inflammations and drieth vlcers The land of Armenia doth furnish vs with the colour verd d'azur and of that country it is named Armenicus a stone it is that is likewise died before it can die in manner of Borras or verd d'terre the best is the greenest yet withall it doth participat the colour of azur in which regard it may properly be called Verd d'azur In times past a pound of it was held at 300 Sesterces but since there was found in Spain a kind of sand that would take the like tincture and do as well the price hath bin well abated and is come downe to six deniers All the difference between this colour and azur is this for that it stands more vpon the white which causeth this colour to be lighter and weaker The only vse that it hath in physick is to nourish hairs especially those of the eie lids Ouer and besides all these colours aboue named there be two more newly come vp and those beare but a very low price to wit the green called Appianum oft times it is taken for Borras or Verd d'terre as if there were not other things enough that did counterfeit and resemble it Made it is of a certain greene chalky earth is worth but one Sesterce a pound The second new colour is a white called Anulare being that which in womens pictures giues a lightsom carnation white this also is made of a kind of chalk certain glassy gems or bugles which the common sort vse to weare in rings thereupon is called Anulare CHAP. VII ¶ What Colours refuse to be layd vpon some grounds with what colours they painted in old time and when the fight of Sword-fencers was first proposed to be seen at Rome OF all colours Roset Indico Azur Tripoli or Melinum Orpiment white lead or Cerusse loue not to be laid vpon plaister-work or any ground while it is moist yet wax wil take any of these colours abouesaid to be imploied in those kind of works which are wrought by sire so it be not vpon plastre parget wals for that is impossible whether they be inameld or damaskd yea and in their painting of ships at sea as well hulks hoies of burden as gallies and ships of war for now wee are come forsooth to inamel and paint those things that are in danger to perish be cast away euery houre so as we need not maruel any longer that the coffin going with a dead corps to a funerall fire is richly painted and we take a delight when wee mind to fight at sea to sail with our fleet gallantly dight inriched with colours which must cary vs into dangers either to our own death or to the carnage of others And when I consider so many colours those so variable as be now adaies in vse I must needs admire those artificers of old time and namely of Apelles Echion Melanthius and Nicomachus most excellent painters and whose tables were sold for as much apiece as a good town was worth and yet none of these vsed aboue foure colours in all those rich and durable workes And what might those be Of all whites they had the white Tripoli of Melos for yellow ochres they took that of Athens for reds they sought no farther than to the red ochre or Sinopie ruddle in Pontus their black was no other than ordinarie vitriol or shoomakers black And now adaies when we haue such plenty of purple that the very walls of our houses be painted all ouer therwith when there commeth from India store enough not only of Indico which the mud of their riuers do yeeld but also of Cinnambre which is the mixed bloud of their fel dragons and mighty elephants yet among all our modern pictures we cannot shew one faire piece of worke insomuch as wee may conclude All things were done better then notwithstanding the scarsitie that was of stuffe and matter But to say a truth the reason is Giuen wee are now as I haue oftentimes said to esteem of things that be rich and costly neuer regarding the art that is imployed about them And here I thinke it not amisse to set down the outragious excesse of this age as touching pictures Nero the emperor commanded that the portraict of himselfe should be painted in linnen cloth after the maner of a gyant-like colosse 120 foot high a thing that neuer had been heard or seen before But see what became of it when this monstrous picture which was drawne and made in the garden of Marius was don and finished the lightning and fire from heauen caught it and not only consumed it but also burnt withall the best part of the building about the garden A slaue of his infranchising as it is wel known when he was to exhibit at Antium certain solemnities and namely a spectacle of sword-fencers fighting at sharp caused all the scaffolds publique galleries and walking places of that city to be hung tapissed with painted cloths wherein were represented the liuely pictures of the sword-players themselues with all the wifflers and seruitors to them belonging But to conclude the best and most magnanimous men that for many a hundred yeares our country hath bred haue taken delight I must needs say in this art and set their minds vpon good pictures But to portray in imagery tables and painted cloth the publick shews of fencers sword-plaiers and to set them vp to be seen in open place to the view of the world began by C. Terentius a Lucan for this man to honour his grandfather who had made him his
See Steele the greatest number in old time a hundred thousand 470. c Number odde more effectuall than the euen 297. a criticall daies obserued by Physitians are of an odde Number ibid b Numbers ceremoniously obserued by Pythagoras 299. d Numidian red marble or Porphyrite 522. i Nummednesse vpon cold how to be healed 101. b. 105. c 108. l. Nummed members or astonied how to be recouered 300. l Nus a riuer so called of the effect 403. c Nutritiues 136. l. 139. c. 151. c. 162. l. 167. c. 172. l. 256. l 445. c. N Y Nyctalopes who they be 325. b. how such are to be cured of their dim sight 325. b. 368. g. 438. l Nyctigretum what hearbe and the properties therof 91. c. f why it is called Chenomychos 91. f. and why Nyctilops 92. g the Nymphes poole 405. a Nymphaea an hearbe See Nenuphar Nympharena a pretious stone why so called 628. l Nymphodorus a Physician 506. l O B OBaerati who they be 486. k Obelisks in Aegipt what they were and why consecrated to the Sunne 574. k who first erected Obeliskes ibid. Obeliske of K. Ramises spared by K. Cambises when hee burnt all besides 575. b an Obeliske eightie cubits high 575. c. how it was remoued and conueyed from the quarrey ibid. c. d Obeliskes how they were transported from Aegipt to Rome 575. e Obeliske in the grand cirque at Rome how high 576. d Obeliske in Mars field ibid. by what Kings of Aegipt those two Obeliskes were shewed 576. d. Obelisk in Mars field serueth for a Gnomon in a diall ib. h Obeliske erected by Nuncoreus in Aegipt a hundred cubits high 576. k Obeliske at Rome in the Vaticane ibid. Obeliskes of Emerauds 613. a Obliuion caused by some water 403. c Obolus what weight 113. e Obryzum what gold 465. d Obsidiana what kinde of glasses 598. h Obsidianus lapis a stone 598. h. why so called ibid. Obsidian stone how employed 598 i. where it is found ib. k Obsidianus a pretious stone 629. a. where to be found ibid. Obsidionall coronet what it was 116. h Obstructions in generall what doth open 143. c. 443. e O C Ochre 485. b. the vertues medicinable ibid. See more in Ochre Ochus a riuer yeelding salt 414. m Ocnos painted by Socrates what it importeth 549. a C. Octavus being embassadour killed by K. Antiochus 492. g. honoured with a statue at Rome ibid. O D Odinolyon why the fish Echeneis is so called 426. l Odious how an enemie may be made to all the world 314. g 316. g. Odontitis an hearbe 286. i. the description ibid. O E Oenanthe what floure 146. g. why so called 92. i. 110. g the medicinable vertues â—…7 a. where the best is ibid. Oentas a painter famous for his picture Syngenias 550. h Oenophorus an image of Praxiteles his making and why so called 500. l Oenothera what hearbe 259. e Oenotheris a magicall hearbe of strange effects 204. k Oesypum what it is 308. g Oesypum medicinable 350. l. which is best ibid. l. m. how to be ordered ibid. O I Oile grasse greene called Herbaceum 162. k. the vertues thereof ibid. Oile of Henbane 162. i. the effects good and bad that it hath ibid. Oile of Lupines and the vertues thereof ibid. i Oile of Daffodils what vertue it hath ib. k Oile of radish what operation it hath ib. Oile of Sesama what are the effects thereof ibid. Oile of Lillies what other names and medicinable properties that it hath ibid. Oile Selgiticun the vertues of it ibid. Oile called Elaeomeli the medicinable effects thereof 162. l Oile willingly doth incorporat with lime 176. i. See more in Oyle Oinions of sundry sorts 20. g Oinions differ in colour 20. i. in tast ibid. how to be kept 20. l. Oinion plots how to be ordered ib. l. m Oinions their properties 41. f the different opinions of Physicians as touching the nature and vertues of Oinions 42. i Oinions highly commended by Asclepiades and condemned by moderne writers ib. dogs Oinion Ornithogale described 99. c sea-Oinion See Squilla Aegiptians sweare by Oinions 20. g Oisier Willow the operation thereof 187. a Oisier Siler the vertues in Physicke 189. b Oisters and their commendations 437. c. d. their vertues medicinable ibid. Oisters a foot square 437. b Oisters Tridecna why so called ibid. b Oisters medicinable 436. i. a daintie meat ib. Oisters loue fresh waters and therefore the coasts ib. few Oisters found in the deepe sea 436. k a deuise to coole Oisters 437. c Oisters which be best ib. why the best Oisters be named Calliblephara 436. m Oisters desire to change their water ibid. thereby they feed fat 437. a coasts renowmed for their Oisters 437. a the best Oisters of Cizycum and their description ib. a. b O K Oke and Oliue at war one with another 176 g Oke Apples their vertues in Physicke 168. i Oke of Ierusalem an hearbe See Botrys O L Olach is a riuer detecting periurie 404. k Oleander what names it is knowne by 191. f. the strange nature that it hath 192. g. death to cattell counterpoyson to man ib. Oleastrense what it is 518. h Olenus Calenus a great Wisard of Tuscane 295. e. his practise with the Romane Embassadours to diuert the destinies and fortune from Rome ibid. Oliue tree gum 159. a Oliue leaues medicinable 158. k Oliues white their commendable vertues in Physicke 159. a. Oliues blacke their properties 159. b Oliues in pickle their good and harme ibid. Olympias a woman paintresse 551. b Olympias of Thebes an expert and sage midwife partly also a Physician 72. h. 339. b. shee forbiddeth women with child to vse Mallowes 72. h Olympius the surname of Pericles and why 501. c Olyra the vertues medicinable thereof 138. i O M Ombria a pretious stone 628. m. called likewise Notia ib. how it commeth ib. the vertues ibid. Omphacium See Wine Veriuice Omphilocarpos what hearbe 274. i O N Onces of all foure-footed beasts haue the quickest eye-sight 316. l. their body yeeldeth medicines for mans body ib. l. m. they hide their owne vrine vpon enuie to mankinde 317. a Onobrychis the hearbe described 202. h Onochelis or Onochyles 125. b Ononis or Anonis the herbe Rest-harrow 98. l. the description ib. 273. e. the vertues medicinable ib. Onopordon an hearbe 286 k. why so called ibid. Onosma an hearbe 286 k. the description ibid. Onuris an hearbe 259. e. the description ib. the vertues ib. See Oenothera Onyches female shell-fishes 444. h Onychites or Onyx what stone and where found 573. c how it was employed ibid. Onyx a pretious stone 615. e. the description and the sundry kindes ibid. Onyx of India and Arabia 615. e. f the true Onyx 616. g O P Opall a pretious stone 614. g. naturally it is bred in India ib. how it doth participat with other gems 614. h sundry kindes of the Opall ibid. Nonius proscribed for an Opall 614. h the imperfections in the Opall ibid. k. how falsisied ib. the triall
named Velleiacium wherein six men brought a certificate that they had liued an hundred yeares apiece foure likewise came in with a note of an hundred and twenty yeares one of an hundred and fourteene namely M. Mutius son of Marcus named Galerius foelix But because we will not dwell long in a matter so euident and commonly confessed in the review taken of the eighth region of Italy there were found in the rolle 54 persons of an hundred yeares of age 57 of an hundred and ten two of 125 foure of 130 as many that were 135 or 137 yeares old and last of all three men of an hundred and fortie But let vs leaue these ages and consider a while another inconstant variety in the nature of mortall men Homer reporteth that Hector and Polydamas were borne both in one night men so different in nature and qualitie Whiles C. Marius was Consull and Cn. Carbo with him who had been twice before Consull the fifth day before the calends of Iune M. Caecilius Ruffus and C. Licinius Calvus were borne vpon a day and both of them verily proued great Orators but they sped not alike but mightily differed one from another in the end And this is a thing seen daily to happen throughout the World considering that in one houre kings and beggars are borne likewise lords and slaues CHAP. L. ¶ Sundry examples of diuers Diseases PVb. Cornelius Rufus who was Consul together with M. Curius dreamed that he had lost his sight and it proued true indeed for in his sleep he became blind neuer saw again Contrariwise Phalereus or Iason Phereus being giuen ouer by the Physitions for an impostume he had in his chest in dispaire of all health purposing to kill himselfe for to be rid out of his paine stabbed his breast with a knife but he found this deadly enemy to be his onely Physition Q. Fabius Maximus being long sicke of a quartane Ague strucke a battell with the People of Sauoy and Auvergne neere the riuer Isara vpon the sixth day before the Ides of August wherein he slew of his enemies 13000 and therewith was deliuered from his feuer and neuer had it after Certes this gift of life that we haue from nature be it more or lesse is fraile vncertain and say that it be giuen to any in largest measure it is but scant yet and very short yea and of but small vse if wee consider the whole course thereof from the beginning to the end For first if we count our repose and sleep in the night season a man can be truly said to liue but halfe his life for surely a good moity and halfe deale thereof which is spent in sleeping may be likened well to death and if he cannot sleep it is a pain of all pains and a very punishment I reckon not in this place the yeares of our infancie which age is void of reason and sense ne yet of old age which the longer it continueth the more are they plagued that be in it What should I speake of so many kindes of dangers so many diseases so many feares so many pensiue cares so many prayers for death as that in maner we pray for nothing oftner In which regards how can a man be said to liue the while and therefore Nature knoweth not what better thing to giue a man than short life First and formost the senses wax dull the members and limmes grow benummed the eye sight decaieth betimes the hearing followeth soone after then faile the supporters the teeth also and the very instruments that serue for our food and nourishment and yet forsooth all this time so full of griefe infirmities is counted a part of our life Hereupon it is taken for a miraculous example and that to which again we canot find a fellow that Xenophilus the musitian liued 105 yeares without any sicknesse or defect in all his body For all other men beleeue me are vexed at certain houres like as no other creatures besides with the pestiferous heats and shaking colds of the feuer in euery ioynt sinew and muscle of the bodie which go and come keeping their times in their seuerall fits not for certain houres in the day only but from one day to another and from night to night one while euery third day or night otherwhiles euery fourth yea and somtime a whole yeare together Moreouer what is it but a very disease to know the time and houre of a mans death and so to die forsooth in wisedome For maladies there be in which Nature hath set down certain rules and lawes namely a quartaine feuer neuer lightly begins in the shortest daies of the yeare neither in the 3 moneths of winter to wit December Ianuarie Februarie Some diseases are not incident to those that are aboue 60 yeares of age others againe do end and passe away when youths begin to be vndergrowne and especially this is obserued in yong maidens Moreouer old folke of all other are least subiect to take the plague Furthermore sicknesses there be that follow this region or that assailing and infecting the inhabitants generally therein There be some againe that surprise and take hold of seruants only both all and some others touch the best persons alone of the highest calling and so from degree to degree But in this place obserued vsually it is by experience That a pestilence beginning in the South parts goeth alwaies towards the West and neuer lightly but in winter neither continueth it aboue three moneths CHAP. LI. ¶ Of the signes of death NOw let vs take a view of deadly tokens in sicknes in rage and furious madnesse to laugh is a mortall signe in frenzie wherein men are bestraught of their right wits to take care of the skirts fringes and welts of their garments that they be in good order to keepe a fumbling and pleiting of the bed-cloathes the neglect of such things as would trouble them in their sleepe and breake it the voluntarie letting go of their water prognosticate death A man may see death also in the eyes and nose most certainly of all other parts as also in the maner of lying as namely when the patient lieth alwaies on his backe with his face vpward We gather signes also by the vneuen stroke of the arterie as also when the pulse beateth so vnder the physitians hand as if he felt an ant creeping vnder it Other signes also there be which Hipocrates the prince and chief of all Physitions hath very wel obserued and set down Now whereas there be an infinite number of signes that presage death there is not one knowne than can assure a man certainly of life and health For Cato that famous Censor writing to his sonne as touching this argement hath deliuered as it were out of an Oracle That there is an obseruation of death to be collected euen in them that are in the most perfect health for saith hee youth resembling age is a certaine signe of vntimely death or short
life As for diseases they are so innumerable that Pherecydes of the Island Syros died of a great quantity of Lice that came crawling out of his body Some are knowne to be neuer free from the Ague as C. Mecoenas The same man for three yeares before hee died neuer laid his eies together for sleepe a minute of an houre Antipater Sidonius the Poet once a yeare during his life had an ague fit vpon his birth day he liued for all that to be an old man and vpon the day of his natiuitie died in such a fit CHAP. LII ¶ Of such as were carried forth vpon the Biers to be buried and reuiued againe AViola one that had bin Consull came again to himselfe when he was cast or put into the funerall fire to be burnt but because the flame was so strong that no man could come neere to recouer him he was burnt quicke The like accident befell to Lu. Lamia Pretor lately before As for C. Aelius Tubero that he was brought aliue again from the like fire after he had bin Pretor of Rome both Messala Rufus and many besides constantly affirme See how it goeth with mortall men see I say our vncertaine state and condition and how we are born exposed and subiect to these and such like occasions of fortune insomueh as in the case of man there is no assurance at all no not in his death We reade in Chronicles that the ghost of Hermotimus Clazomenius was woont vsually to abandon his body for a time and wandering vp and downe into far countries vsed to bring him newes from remote places of such things as could not possibly be knowne vnlesse it had bin present there and all the while his body lay as halfe dead in a trance This manner it continued so long vntill the Cantharidae who were his mortall enemies tooke his body vpon a time in that extasie and burnt it to ashes and by that means disappointed his poore soule when it came backe againe of that sheath as it were or â—…ase where she meant to bestow her selfe Moreouer we finde in records that the spirit or ghost of Aristaeas in the Island Proconnesus was seen euidently to fly out of his mouth in forme of a Rauen and many a like tale followeth thereupon For surely I take it to be no better than a fable which is in like manner reported of Epimenides the Gnosian namely that when he was a boy he being for heate and trauell in his iourney all wearie laid him downe in a certain caue where he slept 57 yeares At length he wakened as it were vpon the next morning and wondred at such a sudden change of euery thing he saw in the world as if hee had taken but one nights sleepe Hereupon forsooth in as many daies after as he slept yeares he waxed old Howbeit he liued in all 175 yeares But to returne to our former discourse women of all others by reason of their sex are most subiect to this danger to be reputed for dead when there is life in them and namely because of the disease of the matrice called the rising of the Mother which if it be brought againe and setled streight in the place they soone recouer and take breath againe Not impertinent to this treatise is that notable and elegant booke among the Greeks compiled by Heraclides where he writeth of a woman that for a seuen-night lay for dead and fetched not her breath sensibly who in the end was raised againe to life Moreouer Varro reporteth that vpon a time when the twenty deputy Commissioners were diuiding lands in the territory of Capua there was one there carried forth vpon his bier to be burnt and came home again vpon his feet Also that the like hapned at Aquinum Likewise that in Rome one Corfidius who had maried his owne Aunt by the mothers side after he had taken order for his funeralls and set out a certaine allowance therefore seemed to yeeld vp his ghost and die howbeit hee reuiued againe and it was his chance to carry him forth indeed vnto buriall who had prouided the furniture before for his funerall This Varro writeth besides of other miraculous matters which verily are worth the rehearsall at large One of them is this Two brethren there were by birth and calling gentlemen of Rome whereof the elder named Corfidius hapned in all appearance to die and when his last will and testament was once opened and published the yonger brother who was his heire was very busie and ready to set forward his funerall In the mean time the man who seemed dead fell to clap one hand against another and therewith raised the seruants in the house when they were come about him he recounted vnto them that he was come from his yonger brother who had recommended his daughter to his tuition and guardenage and moreouer had shewed and declared vnto him in what place he had secretly hidden certain gold vnder the ground without the priuity of any man requesting him withal to imploy that funerall prouision which he had prepared for him about his own buriall and sepulture As he was relating this matter his brothers seruitors came in great hast to this elder brothers house and brought word their master was departed this life and the treasure before-said was found in the place accordingly And verily there is nothing more common in our daily speech than of these diuinations but they are not to be weighed in equall ballance with these nor to be reported or credited all so confidently forsomuch as for the most part they are meere lies as we will proue by one notable example In the Sicilian voiage it fortuned that Gabienus one of the brauest seruitors that Caesar had at sea was taken prisoner by Sex Pompeius and by commandement from him his head was stricken off in a maner and scarce hung to the neck by the skin and so lay he all day long vpon the sands in the shore When it grew toward euening and that a great companie were flocked about him he fetched a great groane and requested that Pompetus would come vnto him or at leastwise send some one of his deare familiars that were neere vnto him And why Come I am quoth he from the infernal spirits beneath and haue a message to deliuer vnto him Then Pompey sent diuers of his friends to the man vnto whom Gabienus related in this maner That the infernall gods were well pleased with the iust quarrell and cause of Pompey and therefore he should haue as good issue therof as he could wish This quoth he was I charged and commanded to deliuer And for a better proofe of the truth in effect so soon as I haue done mine errand I shall forthwith yeeld vp the ghost And so it hapned indeed Histories also make mention of them that haue appeared after they were committed to earth But our purpose is to write of Natures works and not to prosecute such miraculous end prodigious matters CHAP.