the ears cureth their infirmities A cataplasme applied to the belly helpeth them as they say very much who are vexed either with gripes or fluxes of the wombe Concerning Ruscus the decoction of the root if it be giuen in drink each other day to them that be tormented either with the stone or the wringing paines of the strangurie or to such as pisse bloud it helpeth them Now the preparing of this medicine and the proportion also of it is in this wise The said root must be taken out of the ground as it might be to day and tomorrow morning betimes it would be sodden and a sextar of this decoction is to be mingled with two cyaths of wine and so the Patient is to drink it Some make no such ado but take the root while it is green stamp it and in water draw the juice raw as it is and so drink it In sum it is held for certain That there is no better thing in the world for the infirmities and diseases incident to the priuy members of men than to bruse the tender crops of this herbe and then with wine and vinegre to presse out the juice and afterwards to drink the same In like maner Batis is good for them that be bound and costiue in the belly and a liniment of it after it is rosted in the embres and stamped is singular for the gout Last of all as touching the herbe Acinos the Egyptians vse to sow it as well to make guirlands thereof as to eat it Surely I would say it were Basil but that the branches and leaues be more hairy for certainly it is very odoriferous It hath a property to prouoke vrine and womens fleures CHAP. XXVIII ¶ The medicines that Colocasia or the Egyptian Bean doth afford GLausias was of opinion that Colocasia was good to lenifie or mitigat the acrimony of humors within the body and withall to help the stomack CHAP. XXIX ¶ The medicines made of Anthalium TOuching Anthalium wherof the Egyptians vse much to eat I find no other vse of it but only from the kitchin to the table Indeed there is an herb much like to it in name which some call Anthyllion others Anticellion whereof be two kind the one hath leaues and branches like to the Lentill and groweth a hand breadth or span high it commeth vp in sandy grounds exposed to the Sun and is saltish in taste The other resembles Chamaepitys but that it is lower and more hairy it beareth a purple floure carrieth a strong sent and loueth to grow in stony places The former kind is a most conuenient and proper herb for the diseases of the matrice and the natural parts of women Also being applied as a cataplasme with oyle Rosat and milke it is an vmbretarie medicine In case of the strangury and pains of the kidnies it is giuen with good successe to the quantitie of three drams The other likewise is giuen to drink the weight of four drams with hony and vinegre for to mollifie the hardnesse of the matrice to asswage the torments of the belly and to cure those that be taken with the falling sicknesse CHAP. XXX ¶ Of Parthenium and the medicinable vertues that it hath AS for Parthenium some name it Leucanthe others Tamnaum but our countryman Celsus the Physitian calleth it Perdicium and Muralium It groweth in the mounds hedges about gardens it bringeth forth a white floure sauouring like an apple and hauing a bitter taste The decoction of this herbe if a woman sit ouer it and receiue the fume into her body is good to mollifie the hard tumours of the matrice and natural parts as also to discusse all inflammations A pouder made of this herb dried and incorporat with honey and vinegre i. Oxymel and so applied purgeth choler adust and melancholy In which regard it is good for the swimming and dizzinesse of the brain and those that are giuen to breed the stone Being vsed in maner of a liniment it is good for the shingles and S. Anthonies fire likewise for the Kings euil if it be incorporate with old swines grease The Magitians vse it much for Tertian agues but they lay a great charge that it should in any wise be plucked vp with the left hand and the parties precisely named for whose sake they gather it but in any case they who pluck it must not look behind them which done a leafe of the herbe must be put vnder the tongue of the sick patient and when it hath bin held so a little while it must anon be swallowed down in a cyath of water CHAP. XXXI ¶ Of Night-shade or Morell of Alkakengi and Halicacabus and their vse in Physicke NOw concerning Nightshade or Morel which some name Strychnos others haue written by the name of Trychnos would to God that the guirland-makers of Aegypt had not imployed and vsed in their chaplets the floures of two kinds of them induced therto by the resemblance that they haue to the Iuy floures of which the second that hath red berries like cherries of a scarlet colour contained within certain bladders those berries ful of grains or seeds some name Halicacabus others Callion but our countreymen here in Italy call it Vesicaria because it is good for the stone in the bladder Certes this plant is more like a shrub or little tree full of branches than any herb bearing great and large bladders those fashioned like a top broad and flat at one end and sharp pointed at another inclosing within it a great berry which ripeneth in the month Nouember The third kind of Strychnos or Solanum hath leaues like to Basil but I must but lightly touch this herb and not stand long about the description either of it or the properties which it hath since my purpose is to treat of holsom remedies to saue folke and not of deadly poisons to kill them for certes this herb is so dangerous that a very little of the iuice therof is enough to trouble a mans brain and put him beside his right wits And yet the Greeke writers haue made good sport with this herb and reported pretty jeasts of it For say they whosoeuer taketh a dram of the iuice shall haue many strange fantasies appearing euidently vnto them in their dreames if they be men that they dally with faire women if they be women that they be wantons playing and toying with men without all shame and modesty and a thousand such vain illusions but in case they take this dose double then they shall proue foolish indeed broad waking yea go besides themselues let them take neuer so little more it is mortal and no remedy then but death This is that poison which the most harmlesse and best minded writers that euer wrot called simply Dorycnion for that soldiers going to battel vsed to anoint and invenom therewith the heads of their arrows darts and speares growing as it did so commonly in
to 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
pray 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
Chamelaea Tragacanth of Tragium or Scorpio Also of Myrice Brya and Galla. THe shrub or bush which beares the graine Gnidium that some call Linum is after some writers named Thymelaea according to others Chamelaea there be that call it Pyrosachne some again giue it the name of Cneston others of Cneoros This plant how soeuer it be named resembleth the wild Oliue but that the leaues be narrower and gummy to the teeth if a man bite them for height and bignesse answerable to the myrtle the seed thereof is for colour and fashion like to the grain of wheat and serueth only for physicke As touching the plant Tragium it is to be found in the Isle Candy onely It hath a resemblance of the Terebinth like as the seed also which by report is most excellent and effectuall to heale wounds made by darts and arrowes The same Isle hath the bush Tragacanth growing in it the root whereof is like to that of Bedegnar and the same Tragacanth is much preferred before that which growes either in Media or Achaia A pound of Tragacanth is worth 30 deniers Roman As for the plant Tragium or Scorpio it grows likewise in Asia A kind of bramble or brier it is without any leaues bearing fruit of berries much like to red grapes whereof there is good vse in physicke Touching Myrice which others call Tamarix and Achaia Brya the wilde Italy brings it forth this special propertie it hath that the tame kind thereof only namely that which grows in gardens beareth fruit like galls In Syria Egypt this groweth plenteously and the wood thereof we cal Vnhappy but the more vnluckie and vnfortunate be those of Greece for there groweth Ostrys named also Ostrya a solitary tree about watery and moist rocks hauing barke and branches like to the Ash but Peare-tree leaues saue that they be somwhat longer thickker with long cuts or lines wrinkled and riuiled thoroughout and the seed in forme and color is like to barley The wood of it is hard and strong and some say if any peece therof be brought into an house where a woman is in trauaile of child-birth she shall haue difficult labour and hardly be deliuered and whosoeuer lyeth sicke there shall die a miserable death CHAP. XXII ¶ Of Euonymus or the Spindle tree of Adrachne Congygria and Thapsia IN the Island Lesbos there groweth a tree named Euonymos no better nor more lucky than Ostrya before said Much vnlike it is not the Pomegranat tree As for the leafe that it beares it is of a middle size between that of the Pomegranat and the Bay otherwise for shape and softnesse it resembles that of the Pomegranat the floure is whiter the smell and tast wherof is pestiferous and menaces present death it beares cods like to Sesama within which be grains or seeds foure square and thick but deadly vnto all creatures that eat them The leafe also is as venemous as the graine yet otherwhiles there ensues therof a fluxe and gurrie of the belly which saues their life or else there were no way but one Alexander Cornelius called that tree Eone whereof the famous ship Argo was made and like it was by his saying to the Oke that carries Misselto the timber whereof neither water wil putrifie nor fire consume no more than the Misselto it selfe But so far as euer I could learn no man knew that tree but himselfe As for the tree Adrachne all the Greeks in manner take Porcellaine for it whereas indeed Porcellaine is an hearb called in Greeke Andrachne so as they differ in one letter but Adrachne is a tree of the wild forrests growing vpon mountaines and neuer in the plaines beneath resembling the Arbut or Strawberrie tree saue that the leaues be lesse and neuer fade nor fall And for the barke rough and rugged indeed it is not but a man would say it were frozen and al an yee round about so vnpleasant it is to the eye Like in leafe to Adrachne is the tree Congygria but otherwise it is lesse and lower This propertie it hath To lose the fruit wholly together with the soft downe that it beareth which they cal Pappus a qualitie that no other tree hath beside it Like to Andrachne also is Apharce and beares fruit twice in one yeare as well as it The former is ripe when the grape begins to bud and bloom the latter in the beginning of winter but what manner of fruit this should be I haue not found written As touching the Ferula it will not be amisse to speake therof among sorrain plants yea and to range it among trees for as herafter we wil distinguish in the diuision of trees some plants are of this nature To sâ—…ew al the wood they haue where the bark should be that is to say without sorth and where the heart of the wood ought to be they haue nought but a light and spongeous pith as the Elder or else nothing at all as Canes and Reeds But to come to our Ferula aboue named it growes in hot countries beyond-sea with a stalk or stem full of knotty joints Two kinds be knowne of them for that which the Greeks call Marthex groweth tall but Narthecia is always low The leaues that put forth at the joints be euer biggest toward the ground this plant otherwise is of the nature of Dill and the fruit is not vnlike There is not a plant in the world lighter than it for the bignesse being easie therfore to weld and carrie the stem therof serues old men in stead of staues to rest vpon The seed of this Ferula or Fennell-gyant some haue called Thapsia but herin they be deceiued for that Thapsia doubtlesse is a kind of Ferula by it selfe leafed like Fennel with an hollow stalke and neuer exceeds in hight the length of a walking-staffe the seed is like to that of the Ferula and the root white cut it there issues forth milke stampe it you shall see it yeeld plenty of juice Neither is the barke of the root rejected and cast aside although both it the milke and the juice â—…e very poisons for surely the root is hurtfull to them that dig it vp and if neuer so little of the aire therof breath vpon them so venomous it is their bodies will bolne and swell their faces will be all ouerrun with a wild fire to preuent which mischifes they are forced to anoint their bodies with a cerot Howbeit as dangerous as they be Phisicians make vse thereof in the cure of many inward diseases so they be wel corected and tempered with other safe medicines In like maner they say that the juice of Thapsia is singular good for the shedding and falling of the haire also against the blacke blew markes remaining after stripes as if Nature furnished not Physicians sufficiently with other wholsom remedies but that needs they must haue recourse to such poisonful and mischieuous medicines But this is the cast of them all to pretend
is the term whereby is signified the alteration of new Must into wine To hinder therfore that it work not as naturally it will they haue no sooner tunned or filled it out of the Vat but immediatly they dousse the vessels full of new Must in the water and let them there continue till mid-December be past and that the weather be setled to frost and cold and likewise the time expired of the working within the said vessells Moreouer there is another kind of wine naturally sweet which in Prouance and Languedoc is called Dulce i. sweet namely in the territorie of the Vocontians For this purpose they let the grapes hang a long while vpon the Vine but first they wryth the steele that the bunch hangs to Some make incision into the very Vine branch as far as to the pith and marrow within to diuert the moisture that feeds the grape others lay the clusters a drying vpon tile-houses and all this is done with the grapes of the Vine Heluenaca There be that range in a ranke of these sweet wines that which they cal Diacyton For which effect they drie the grapes against the Sun howbeit in a place well enclosed for 7 daies together vpon hardles 7 foot likewise from the ground in the night season they saue them from all dewes and so on the eight day they tread them in the wine presse and thus they draw forth a wine of an excellent sauor and tast both A kind of these sweet wines is that which they name Melitites in manner of a Braget Meade or Metheglin Howbeit different it is from the mead or honied wine which the Latines call Mulsum made of old wine that is hard and a little honie whereas the foresaid Melitites consists of 5 gallons of new tart wine still in the verdure whereto is added one gallon of honie and a cyath of salt and so boiled all together But I must not forget to place among these sundry kinds of drinke the liquor Protropum for so some call new wine running it self from the grapes before they be troden and pressed But to haue this good and so to serue the turne so soon as it is put vp into proper vessells for the purpose it must be suffered to work and afterwards to reboile and work againe for fortie daies space the Summer following euen from the very beginning of the dog daies and so forwards CHAP. X. ¶ Of weake and second Wines three kinds THe second wines which the Greeks call Deuteriae Cato and we Romans name Lora cannot properly and truly be called Wines being made of the skins and seeds of grapes steeped in water howbeit reckoned they are among course houshold wines for the hines and meinie to drinke And three kinds there be of them For somtime to the tenth part of the new wine that hath beene pressed out they put the like quantity of water and suffer the foresaid refuse of the grapes to soke therin a day and a night which done they presse it forth againe A second sort there is which the Greeks were wont to make in this manner They take a third part of water in proportion of the wine that was pressed forth and after a second pressing they seeth it to the wasting of the third part The third is that which is pressed out of the wine lees and this Cato cals Phoecatum i Wine of lees But none of these wines or drinks will endure aboue one yeare CHAP. XI ¶ What neat wines began of late to be in request in Italie IN this treatise of wines I cannot omit this obseruation That whereas all the good wines properly so called and known in the whole world may be reduced in fourscore kinds or therabouts two parts of three in this number may well be counted wines of Italie which in this regard farre surpasseth all other nations And hereupon ariseth another thing more deepely to be noted That these good wines were not so rife nor in such credit from the beginning as now they be CHAP. XII ¶ Obseruations touching wine TO say a truth Wines began to grow in reputation at Rome about sixe hundred yeares after the foundation thereof and not before For king Romulus vsed milk when he sacrificed to the gods and not wine as may appeare by the cerimonial constitutions by him ordained as touching religion which euen at this day be in force and are obserued And king Numa his successor made this law Posthumia in his later daies Let no man besprinckle the funer all fire with wine Which edict no man doubteth but he published and enacted in regard of the great want and scarsitie of wine in those daies Also by the same Act he expressely did prohibite to offer in sacrifice to the gods any wine comming of a Vine plant that had not beene cut and pruned intending by this deuise and pretence of religion to enforce men to prune their Vines who otherwise would set their minds on husbandrie only and plowing ground for corne and be slow enough in hazarding themselues for to climbe trees whereunto Vines were planted M. Varro writeth That Mezentius the king of Tuscane aided the Rutilians of Ardea in their warres against the Latines for no other hire and wage but the wine and the vines which then were in the territorie of Latium CHAP. XIII ¶ Of the ancient vsage of wine and the wines in old time IN ancient time women at Rome were not permitted to drink any wine We read moreouer in the Chronicles That Egnatius Mecennius killed his owne wife with a cudgell for that hee tooke her drinking wine out of a tun and yet he was cleared by Romulus and acquit of the murder Fabius Pictor in his Annales reports That a certaine Romane dame a woman of good worship was by her owne kinsfolke famished and pined to death for opening a cupbord wherin the keis of the wine-sellar lay And Cato doth record that hereupon arose the manner and custome That kisfolk should kisse women when they met them to know by their breath whether they smelled of Temetum for so they vsed in those daies to tearme Wine and thereof drunkennesse was called in Latine Temulentia Cn. Domitius a judge in Rome in the like case pronounced sentence judicially against a woman defendant in this forme That it seemed she had drunke more wine without her husbands knowledge than was needfull for the preseruation of her health and therefore afterward definitiuely That she should lose the benefit of her dowrie Certes the Romanes for a long time made great spare of wine L. Papyrius lord Generall of the Romane armie when he was at the point to joyne battell with the Samnites made no other vow but this That he would offer vnto Iupiter a little cup or goblet of wine in case he atchieued the victorie and woon the field Ouer and besides we find in histories that among donatiues and presents certaine sextars or quarts of milke haue beene many times giuen but neuer
ibid. they taught the vse of the Helme in the ship 275. f are troubled with the gout ibid. Kissing of women by kinsfolke vpon what occasion 418. k K N Knees being wounded in their hollowes bring present death 350. i of Knees a discourse ibid. Knurs in timber 489. b L A LAburnum what manner of tree 468. k Labeones who they were 336. l Laboriae in Campane a most fruitfull tract 567. f Labruscae bastard wild Uines 538. g Lacta the best Casia or Canell 373. e Lactes placed next to the bag of the stomacke 342. l Lacydes accompanied with a Goose. 280. k Ladanum the best 370. k. the price thereof ibid. Ladanum how it is gathered 370. g Ladanum of two kindes ibid. i Laestrigones monsters of men 154. g Laërtes a king mucked ground with his own hands 507. b Lagopus a bird why so called 296. h Lalisiones what they be 224. i Lama what tree 369. e Lambes named Cordi 226. l Lambes how to be chosen ibid. Lampades flaming torches in the skie 17. b Lampadias a kinde of Comet 15. f Lampido the onely woman knowne to haue been daughter to a king a kings wife and mother to a king 176. l Lampries in France how they are marked 248. i Lamprey a fish 245. b Lampreics of fresh water 246. g sea Lampreies their nature 248. h Lampyrides what they are 593. c Lanata what apples 438. g. why so called ibid. Lanati a sort of Pikes 245. e Land in the country made distinction of states at Rome 550. m. Land worth fortie denarij the short cubit 581. d Land Mediterranean fittest for fruits 501. c Land how much assigned by king Romulus to his subiests 549. d. Land of whom to be bought 553. c little Land well tilled 554. m Lands may be ouermuch tended 555. b Lanisis of Lacedaemon his swiftnesse 167. a Lanterne a sea fish 249. d Laodicea a citie the description thereof 107. a Larch tree 462. l. the timber and the liquid rosin thereof ibid. how it is drawne 465. b Larch tree female 487. b Larch tree of great length 489. d Lares a temple to them neere to which an altar erected to Orbona See Orbona Large space between the stomacke and the paunch is cause of more hunger 342. l Lawes who first inuented 187. c Lawrea the leafe of Lawrell 454. g Lawrell tree not smitten with lightening 27. c Lawrell groues why called Triumphales 454. g Lawrell a medicine for the Rauens 211. d the mad Lawrell 495. d Lawrell tree how it was employed at Rome 452. i Lawrell Delphicke Cyprian Mustacea ibid. Delphicke Lawrell described 452. k Cyprian Lawrell described ibid. Lawrell Tinus or wild Lawrell 452. k Lawrell Augusta or Imperiall ibid. Lawrell Baccalia 452. l Lawrell Triumphall ibid. Lawrell Taxa 452. l Lawrell Spadonia ibid. Lawrell Alexandrina 452. m Lawrell Idaea ibid. Lawrell token of peace 453. b Lawrell much honoured at Rome and why ibid. c Lawrell fairest vpon Parnassus 453. c Lawrell not smitten with the lightening ibid. a Lawrell Chaplet vsed by Tiberius Caesar against lightening 453. d Lawrell why vsed in triumph ibid. Laurcola 453. a. described ibid. Laurices young Rabbets or Leuerets 232. h Laurus the onely tree in Latine that giueth name vnto a man 454. g who laughed the day that he was borne 164. m Lax a fish 243. a L E Lead who first found out 188. l League who first deuised 189. i Leape yeare 6. h Learned wits honoured 171. f Leaues of Aspen tree neuer hang still 514. l Leaues that alter their shape form vpon the trees 470. h Leaues of some trees turne about with the Sunne in the Tropicke of Cancer 407. i Leaues of the trees how they be framed aboue and beneath 470. k. Leaues of trees distinguished by their bignesse forme and substance 470. l. m Leaues distinguished by other qualities and their order 471. a. Leaues of trees good fodder 471. b what Leaues are apt to shed and which are not 469. d a Philosophicall discourse touching the cause of shedding or holding Leaues 469. e. f Leaues of what trees hold their colour 470. g Lectos a promontory in Trouâ—… 471. f Ledon 370. i Lemnos Island 378. g. their manner ibid. Length of the legs and necke answerable for the proportion in all creatures 339. e Lentill where and when to be sowne 569. e Lentills of two kindes ibid. Lents and Lenes in Latine whence deriued 569. e Lentiske berries preserued 448. k Lentuli why so called 550. h Leococruta what kind of beast 206. h. and what of nature ibid. how engendred 212 Lconides rebuked Alexander the Great for burning too much Frankincense 367. f Leontophonus what beast 217. e. and why so called ibid. Leopards how they lie in wait 308. g Leptorhages what grapes 495. m Lepo or Mole a kinde of fish 249. c Letters or characters who inuented 187. f Leuaines 566. h. i. the nature thereof ibid. l Leuci kinde of Herons with one eye 334. g Lecocomum a kinde of Pomegranats 398. h Leucogaeon a place 568. h. it yeeldeth chalke to make white frumentie and a great reuenâ—…e yearely ibid. Leucosia Island sometimes ioined to the promontory of Syreus 540. i L I Libanus mount the description thereof 102. i Liciniani why so called 163. a Licinius Stolo condemned by vertue of his owne law 551. d of mans Life the tearme vncertaine 180. l Life short a benefit 183. b Licorne See Monoceros Lignum a fault in Cytron wood 396. h Lightenings attributed to Iupiter 14. g. the reason thereof ibid. presages of future things ibid. Lightenings seldome in Summer or Winter and the reason 25. c. in what lands they fall not ibid. the sundry sorts and wonders thereof 25. e. diuerse obseruations touching them 26. g. raised by coniuration ibid. k. generall rules of lightening ibid. m. it is seene before the thunderclap is heard and why ibid. what things are not strucken with lightenings 27. e Lights the seat of the breath 341. a. spongeous and full of pipes ibid. Limosae what fishes 243. c Lime at the root of Cberrte-troes hastens their fruit 546. k Limning See Painting Linden trees differ in sex 466. i. their fruit no beast will touch ibid. the Linden tree yeeldeth fine panicles for cordage 466. i the timber will not be worme-eaten ibid. k Linnen fine cloath whence 80. l Linnet very docible 293. a Likenes of children to parents grandsire or others 160. m 161. a. b. the reason in Nature 161. c Likenesse of one man to another diuerse examples 161. d deinceps Lions of the right kinde how they be knowne 200. i. k Lions bones will strike fire 344. m Lions how they will walke 350. k Lionesse lecherous 200. k Lionesses engender with Pardes ibid. Lion iealous of the Lionesse 200. k Lionesse how oft shee beareth young 200. l. and the manner thereof 201. b of Lions two kindes ibid. their nature and properties ibid. Lions long liued 201. c Lions crucified ibid. and why ibid.
if health consisted in this That a man should become as bloudie as a sauage beast or that be counted a remedy which indeed is cause of a mischiefe and malady And wel deserue such bloud-suckers and cruell leeches to be frustrat of their cure and thereby to worke their owne bane and destruction for if it be held vnlawfull and abhominable to prie and look into the entrails and bowels of a mans body what is it then to chew and eat them But what monster was hee who first broched this geare and deuised such accursed drugs Ah wicked wretch the inuenter and artificer of those monstrosities thou that hast ouerthrowne all law of humanity for with thee wil I haue to do against thee will I whet my tongue and turne the edge of my style who first didst bring vp this bruitish leech-craft for no other purpose but to be spoken of another day and that the world might neuer forget thy wicked inuentions What direction had he who thus began to deuoure mans body lim by lim nay what conjecture or guesse moued him so to do what might the originall and foundation be whereupon this diuelish Physick was grounded what should he be that bare men in hand and would persuade the world That the thing which is vsed as a poison in witchcraft and sorcerie should auaile more to the health of man than other knowne and approued remedies Set case that some barbarous people vsed so to do say that strange nations and far remoued from all ciuility had these manners among them must the Greekes take vp those fashions also yea and credit them so much as to reduce them into a method amongst other their goodly Arts And yet see what Democritus one of them haue done there be extant at this day books of his inditing and penning wherein you shal reade That the soul of a wicked malefactor is in some cases better than that of an honest person and in other That of a friend and guest preferred before a stranger As for Apollonius another of that brood hee hath written That if the gums be scarrified with the tooth of a man violently slain it is a most effectuall and present remedy for the tooth-ach Artemon had no better receit for the falling sicknesse than to draw vp water out of a fountaine in the night season and to giue the same vnto the Patient to drink it in the brain-pan of a man who died some violent death so he were not burnt And Antheus took the scull of one that had bin hanged and made pills thereof which he ministred vnto those who were bitten by a mad dog for a soueraigne remedy Moreouer these writers not content to vse these sorceries about men imploied the medicines also of the parts of man to the cure of foure footed beasts and namely if kine or oxen were dew-blowne or otherwise puffed vp they were wont to bore holes through their horns so to inlay or interlard them as it were with mens bones finally when swine were diseased they tooke the fine white wheat Siligo being permitted to lie one whole night in the very place where some men were killed or burnt and gaue it them to eat As for me and all vs that are Latine writers God forbid we should defile our papers with such filthinesse our intention is to put downe in writing those good and wholsome medicines which man may affoord vnto man and not to set abroad any such detestable and hainous sorceries as for example to shew what medicinable vertue there may be in brest-milke of women newly deliuered what healthfull operation there is in our fasting spittle or what the touching of a man or womans body may auaile in the cure of any malady and many other semblable things arising from naturall causes For mine owne part verily I am of this mind That we ought not so much to make of our health or life as to maintain and preserue the same by any indirect course and vnlawful meanes And thou whosoeuer thou be that doest addict thy selfe to such villanies whiles thou liuest shalt die in the end a death answerable to thy beastly and execrable life To conclude therefore let euery man for to comfort his heart and to cure the maladies of his mind set this principle before his eies That of all those good gifts which Nature hath bestowed vpon man there is none better than to die in a fit and seasonable time and in so doing this is simply the best That in his power it is and the meanes hee hath to chuse what death he list CHAP. II. ¶ Whether Words Spels or Charmes are auaileable in Physicke Also whether wonders and strange prodigies may be either wrought and procured or put by and auoided by them or no. THe first point concerning the remedies medicinable drawn from out of man which mooueth the greatest question and the same as yet not decided and resolued is this Whether bare Words Charms and Inchantments be of any power or no If it be granted Yea then no doubt ought we to ascribe that vertue vnto man But the wisest Philosophers and greatest Doctors take them one by one doubt thereof and giue no credit at all thereto And yet go by the common voice of the whole world you shall find it a generall beleefe and a blinde opinion alwaies receiued whereof there is no reason or certain experience to ground vpon For first and formost we see that if any beast be killed for sacrifice without a sett forme of praier it is to no purpose and held vnlawfull semblably if these inuocations be omitted when as men seeke to any Oracles and would be directed in the wil of gods by beasts bowels or otherwise all booteth not but the gods seem displeased thereby Moreouer the words vsed in crauing to obtaine any thing at their hands run in one form and the exorcismes in diuerting their ire turning away some imminent plagues are framed after another sort also there be proper termes seruing for meditation only and contemplation Nay we haue seene and obserued how men haue come to make suit and tender petitions to the soueraign and highest magistrats with a preamble of certain set prayers Certes so strict and precise men are in this point about diuine seruice that for fear least some words should be either left out or pronounced out of order there is one appointed of purpose as a prompter to read the same before the priest out of a written booke that hee misse not in a tittle another also set neare at his elbow as a keeper to obserue and mark that he faile not in any ceremony or circumstance and a third ordained to goe before and make silence saying thus to the whole assembly congregation Favete linguis i. spare your tongues and be silent and then the fluits and haut-boies begin to sound and play to the end that no other thing be heard for to trouble his mind or interrupt him the while And
also are of this nature that they be able to cure and ease such as are stung already either by touching only or else by a medicinable sucking of the place of which kind are the Psylli and Marsi those also in the Island Cyprus whom they call Ophugenes and of this race and house there came an Embassador out of the said Island whose name was Exagon who by the commandement of the Consuls was put into a great tun or pipe wherein were many serpents for to make an experiment and trial of the truth and in very deed the said serpents licked his body in all parts gently with their tongues as if they had bin little dogs to the great wonder of them who beheld the manner of it A man shall know those of this family if any of them remain at this day by this signe that they breath a strong and stinking sent from them especially in the Spring season Now these people beforenamed had not only a gift to cure folk with their spittle but their very sweat also had a medicinable vertue against the sting of serpents For as touching those men who are born and bred in Tentyrus an Island lying within the riuer Nilus so terrible they be vnto the Crocodiles that they wil not abide so much as their voice but flie from them so soon as they heare it Moreouer it is knowne for certaine that all the sort of these people who haue their bodies thus priuiledged by that secret antipathie in nature between them serpents are able to ease those who are stung if they do but come in place where they be like as a wound will be more angry and sore if they come neare who at any time before haue been hurt by sting of serpent or tooth of mad dog such also carry about with them in their bodies so venomous a quality that their onely presence is enough to marre the egs that a brood-hen sits vpon and make them all addle yea and to driue ewes and other cattell to cast their yong before the time such a virulent property remaineth still behind in their bodies who haue bin once stung and bitten that notwithstanding they be cured thereof yet venomous they are now and hurtfull to others who beforetime were poisoned themselues But the only way to remedy this inconuenience is to cause them to wash their hands before they enter into the roome where the patients lie and with the same water to besprinckle and wash them who are to be cured Againe this is to be obserued that whosoeuer at any time haue bin pricked with a scorpion shal neuer afterwards be stung by hornets waspes or bees A strange thing this is no doubt howbeit no great wonder vnto them who know that a garment or cloth which had bin vsed at funerals wil neuer be afterwards moth eaten and how that serpents hardly can be plucked out of their holes vnlesse it be by the left hand CHAP. IIII. ¶ Of certaine Sorceries and the properties of a mans spittle Also against Magitians THe inuentions of Pithagoras as touching numbers beare a great stroke in these matters and lightly misse not but principally in this That the said Philosopher would giue judgment by the vowels contained in the proper name of any person concerning their fortunes for in case the vowels were in number odde he pronounced that if the party euer proued lame of a lim lost an eie or met with any such like accidents the same should happen vpon the right side of the body but contrariwise if the number of vowels were euen then these infirmities should befall the left side Furthermore it is commonly said that if one take a stone dart or instrument of shot wherewith a man hath killed these three liuing creatures a man a wilde Bore and a Bear one after another that with one single stroke to euery one of them and fling the same clean ouer an house where there is a woman in hard trauell of child-birth so as it light on the other side without touching any part thereof the woman shal presently be deliueed More reason there is that a light jauelin or Pertuisan should do this feat which had bin drawn forth of a mans body so as it neuer touched the ground after for do but bring this murdering jauelin into the place where a woman is in labor it wil forthwith procure her deliuerance Orpheus and Archelaus do write much after the same maner of arrows pulled out of men bodies namely that if care be had that they touch not the earth then be laid vnder the bed where man or woman lieth they wil cause the parties to be enamored vpon them that bestowed the said arrows there and these authors report moreouer that the venison of any wild beast killed with the same weapon which was the death of a man before is singular to cure the falling sicknesse As some men there be whose bodies all throughout be medicinable so there be others who haue certain parts onely of the same vertue according as I haue written already concerning the thumbe of king Pyrrhus In the citie Elis also the inhabitants were wont to shew as a wonderfull monument the rib of Pelops which they auouched to be all of Iuory And euen at this day many there are who make great scruple to shaue or clip the haire growing in any molle or wert vpon the face As touching the fasting spittle specially of man or woman I haue shewed already how it is a soueraigne preseruatiue against the poison of serpents But that is not all for in many other cases it is found by daily experience to be of great operation and to worke effectually For first and formost if we see any surprised with the falling sicknesse we spit vpon them and by that means we are persuaded that we our selues auoid the contagion of the said disease Item an ordinary thing it is with vs to put by the danger of witch-craft by spitting in the eies of a witch so do we also when we meet with one that limpeth and is lame of the right leg Likewise when we craue pardon of the gods for some audacious and presumptuous praiers that wee make we vse to spit euen into our bosoms Semblably for to fortifie the operation of any medicines the manner is to pronounce withal a charm or exorcisme three times ouer and to spit vpon the ground as often and so we doubt not but it will do the cure and not faile Also when we perceiue a fellon or such like vncom sore a breeding the first thing that we doe is to marke it three times with our fasting spittle I will tell you of a strange effect and whereof it is no hard matter yw is to make the triall If one man hath hurt another either by reaching him a blow neare at hand or by letting flie somwhat at him farther off repent him when he hath so done let him presently spit just in
Apelles for to countenance and credit the man demanded of him what price he would set of al the pictures that he had ready made Protogenes asked some small matter and trifle to speake of howbeit Apelles esteemed them at fifty talents and promised to giue so much for them raising a bruit by this means abroad in the world that he bought them for to sel againe as his owne The Rhodians hereat were moued and stirred vp to take better knowledge of Protogenes what an excellent workeman they had of him neither would Protogenes part with any of his pictures vnto them vnlesse they would come off roundly and rise to a better price than before time As for Apelles he had such a dexterity in drawing pourtraits so liuely and so neer resembling those for whom they were made that hardly one could be known from the other insomuch as Appion the Grammarian hath left in writing a thing incredible to be spoken that a certain Physiognomist or teller of Fortune by looking onely vpon the face of men and women such as the Greekes call Metoposcopos judged truly by the portraits that Apelles had drawne how many yeres they either had liued or were to liue for whom those pictures were made But as gracious as he was otherwise with Alexander and his train yet he could neuer win the loue and fauor of prince Ptolomaeus who at that time followed the court of K. Alexander and was afterwards king of Egypt It fortuned that after the decease of Alexander and during the reigne of K. Ptolomae aforesaid this Apelles was by a tempest at sea cast vpon the coast of Aegypt and forced to land at Alexandria where other painters that were no well willers of his practised with a jugler or jeaster of the kings and suborned him in the kings name to train Apelles to take his supper with the king To the court came Apelles accordingly and shewed himself in the presence Ptolomae hauing espied him with a stern and angry countenance demanded of him what he made there and who had sent for him and with that shewed vnto him all his seruitors who ordinarily had the inuiting of ghests to the kings table commanding him to say which of all them had bidden him whereat Apelles not knowing the name of the party who had brought him thither and beeing thus put to his shifts caught vp a dead cole of fire from the hearth thereby and began therewith to delineat and draw vpon the wall the proportion of that cousiner beforesaid He had no sooner pourfiled a little about the visage but the king presently tooke knowledge thereby of the party that had played this pranke by him and wrought him this displeasure This Apelles drew the face of K. Antiochus also who had but one eie to see withall for to hide which deformity and imperfection he deuised to paint him turning his visage a little away and so he shewed but the one side of his face to the end that whatsoeuer was wanting in the picture might be imputed rather to the painter than to the person whomhe portraied And in truth from him came this inuention first to conceale the defects blemishes of the visage and to make one halfe face onely when it might be represented full and whole if it pleased the painter Among other principall pieces of worke some pictures there be of his making resembling men and women lying at the point of death and euen ready to gasp and yeeld vp the ghost But of all the pictures portraitures that he made to say precisely which be the most excellent it were a very hard matter as for the painted table of Venus arising out of the sea which is commonly knowne by the name of Anadyomene Augustus Caesar late Emperour of famous memory dedicated it in the temple of Iulius Caesar his father which hee inriched with an Epigram of certaine Greeke verses in commendation as well of the picture as the painter And albeit the artificiall contriuing of the said verses went beyond the worke which they seemed to praise yet they beautified and set out the table not a little The nether part of this picture had caught some hurt by a mischance but there neuer could be found that painter yet who would take in hand to repaire the same and make it vp again as it was at first so as this wrong harm done vnto the work and continuing still vpon the same turned to the glory of the workeman This table remained a long time to be seen vntill in the end for age it was worm-eaten and rotten in such sort as Nero being Emperor was fain to set another in the place wrought by the hand of Doratheus But to come againe vnto Apelles he had begun another picture of Venus Anadyomene for the inhabitants of the Island Cosor Lango which hee minded should haue surpassed the former howbeit before he could finish it surprised he was with death which seemed to enuie so perfect workmanship and neuer was that painter knowne to this day who would turne his hand to that piece of worke and seeme to go forward where Apelles left or to follow on in those traicts and liniments which he had pourfiled and begun One picture he drew of K. Alexander the Great holding a thunderbolt and lightening in his hand which cost twentie talents of gold and was hung in the temple of Diana at Ephesus And verily this deuise was so finely contriued that as Alexanders fingers seemed to bear out higher than the rest of the work so the lightening appeared to be clean without the ground of the table and not once to touch it But before I proceed any farther let the readers take this with them and alwaies remember that these rich and costly pictures were wrought with foure colours and no more And for the workmanship of this picture the price thereof was paid him in good gold coine by weight and measure and neuer told and counted by tale Of his handyworke was the picture of a Megabyzus or guelded priest of Diana in Ephesus sacrificing in his pontificall habits vestiments accordingly Also the counterfeit of prince Clytus armed at all pieces saue his head mounted on horse-back and hasting to a battell calling vnto his squire or henxman for his helmet who was portraied also reaching it vnto him To reckon how many pictures Apelles made of K. Alexander and his father Philip were but losse of time and a needlesse discourse But I cannot omit the painted table containing the pourtrait of Abron that wanton and effeminat person which piece of work the Samians so highly extoll and magnifie ne yet another picture of Menander the K. of Caria that he made for the Rhodians and which they so much admire Neither must I forget the counterfeit of Ancaeus of Gorgosthenes the Tragaedian which he made at Alexandria or while he was at Rome one table containing Castor and Pollux with the image of Victorie and Alexander the
euery place But other Writers who had not sought so far into the matter nor aduisedly considered of it gaue it the name of Manicon But those that of a naughty mind cared not secretly to impoison the whole world haue hidden the danger thereof and term it by a name pretending no harm some calling it Neuris others Perisson But as I protested before I think it not good to be too curious and busie about the description of this herb notwithstanding I might seem to giue a good caueat of it by further particularizing thereof Well the very second kind which they cal Halicacabus is bad enough for it is more soporiferous than Opium and sooner casteth a man into a dead sleep that he shal neuer rise again Some name it Morion others Moly and yet it hath not wanted those that haue thought it praise-worthy for Diocles and Euenor haue highly commended it and Tamaristus verily hath not stuck to write verses in the commendation of it A wonderfull thing that men should so far ouerpasse themselues and forget all honesty and plaine dealing for they say forsooth that a collusion made of this herbe confirmeth the teeth that be loose in the head if the mouth be washed therewith And one onely fault they found in Halicacabus otherwise it might be praised without exception that if the said collution were long continued it would trouble the brain bring them that vsed it to foolerie idlenesse of head But for mine own part my meaning is not to set down any such receits and remedies which may bring a further danger with them than the very discase it selfe for which they were deuised The third kind also is commended for to be eaten as meate although the garden Morell is preferred before it in pleasantnesse of 〈◊〉 Moreouer Xenocrates auoucheth That there is no maladie incident to our bodâ—… but the â—…id Morâ—… is good for it Howbeit I make not so great reckoning and account of all the helâ—… that these and such like herbes may afford as I doe make conscience to deliuer them in writing especially seeing we haue so great store of safe and harmlesse medicines which we may be sure can do no hurt Indeed the root of Halicacabus they vse to drinke and make no bones at it who would be known for great Prophets to foretell future things and therefore it is alone for them to be seen furious and raging the better to colour their knauerie and lead the world by the nose in a superstitious conceit and persuasion of their diuine gift of prophesie and so to feed men still in their folly But what is the remedie when a man is thus ouertaken for surely I am better content to deliuer that Euen to giue the party thus intoxicate a great quantity of Mede or honied water and to cause him to drink it off as hot as he can Neither wil I ouerpasse this one thing besides That Halicacabus is so aduerse vnto the nature of the Aspis that if the root thereof be held any thing neere vnto the said serpent it will bring asleepe and mortifie that venomous creature which by a soporiferòus power that it hath also of the own casteth a man into a deadly sleep and killeth him therewith And therefore to conclude hereupon it commeth that the same root bruised and applied with oile is a soueraigne and present remedie to them who are stung by the foresaid Aspis CHAP. XXXII ¶ Of Corchorum and Cnicus THey of Alexandria in Egypt vse to eat ordinarily of Corchorum This herb hath leaues inwrapped and infolded one within another after the maner of the Mulberry Good it is as they say for the midriffe and the parts about the heart also to recouer haire that is fallen away by some infirmitie and likewise for the red pimples or fauce-flegme in the face I reade moreouer that the skab or mange in kine and oxen is most speedily cured thereby And Nicander verily doth report that it helpeth the stinging of serpents if it be vsed before it be in the floure As touching Cnicus otherwise called Atractylis an herb appropriate to the land of Egypt I would thinke it meet not to vse many words about it but that it yeeldeth a soueraigne remedie against the poison of venomous beasts yea and the dangerous Mushroms if a man haue eaten them This is certain and an approued experiment That whosoeuer are wounded by the sting of Scorpions shall neuer feele smart or paine so long as they hold that herb in their hand CHAP. XXXIII ¶ Of Persoluta THe Chaplet-makers in Egypt set great store by Persoluta also which they sow and plant in their gardens onely for to make Coronets and Guirlands Two kindes there be of it the male and the female It is said That the one as well as the other if it bee put vnder man or woman in bed they shal haue no minde nor power at all to play at Venus game and specially the man CHAP. XXXIV ¶ Of Measures and Weights ANd forasmuch as we shall haue occasion oftentimes in setting downe weights and measures to vse Greeke vocables I care not much euen in this place to interpret those words once for all First and foremost the Atticke Drachma for all Physitians in manner go by the poise of Athens doth peise iust a Roman siluer denier and the same weigheth also six Oboli now one Obulus is as much in weight as ten Chalci A Cyathus of it selfe alone commeth to ten drams in weight When you shal reade the measure of Acetabulum take it for the fourth part of Hemina that is to say fifteen drams To conclude Mna which we in Latine call Mina amounteth iust to an hundred drams Atticke THE TVVENTY SECOND BOOK OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proeme A Man would thinke who did but reade the former Booke That dame Nature and the Earth both had done their parts and shewed their wonderfull perfection sufficiently if he considered withall the admirable vertues of so many herbes which they haue brought forth and bestowed vpon mankinde as well for pleasure as profit But see what a deale of riches more is yet behind and how the same as it is harder to be found so it is in effect more miraculous As for those Simples whereof wee haue already written for the most part they are such as haue serued our turne at the bourd or else in regard of their beauty odor and smell haue enduced vs to search farther into them and to make triall of their manifold vertues and operations in Physick But yet there remain behind many more and those so powerfull that they proue euidently vnto vs how Nature hath produced nothing in vaine and without some cause although the same be occult and hidden many times from vs and reserued only in her closet and secret counsell CHAP. I. ¶ Of certaine Nations which vse herbs for procuring and preseruing of beauty CEertes I do find and obserue that