taste I am besides of opinion that they be deceiued who thinke that bees gather not of Oliue trees For we see it ordinary that there be more casts and swarmes of Bees where Oliues grow in greater abundance These pretty creatures hurt no fruit whatsoeuer They will not settle vpon a floure that is faded and much lesse of any dead carkasse They vse not to go from their hiue about their busines aboue 60 paces if it chance that within the precinct of these limits they finde not floures sufficient out goe their spies whom they send forth to discouer forage farther off If in this expedition before they come home againe they be ouertaken by the night they couch vpon their backes for feare lest their wings should be ouercharged with the euening dew and so they watch all night vntill the morning CHAP. IX ¶ Those that haue taken a speciall pleasure in Bees SVch is the industrie of this creature that no man need to wonder at those two persons who delighted so much in them that the one namely Aristomachus of Soli for threescore yeares lacking but twaine did nothing else but keep bees and Philiscus the Thasian emploied the whole time of his life in Forrests and Desarts to follow these little animals whereupon hee was surnamed Agrius And both these vpon their knowledge and experience wrote of Bees CHAP. X. ¶ The order that they keepe in their worke THe manner of their businesse is this All the day time they haue a standing watch ward at their gates much like to the corps de guard in a campe In the night they rest vntill the morning by which time one of them a waketh and raiseth all the rest with two or three big hums or buzzes that it giues to warn them as it were with sound of trumpet At which signall giuen the whole troupe prepares to flie forth if it be a faire and calme day toward for they doe both foresee and also foreshew when it will bee either windie or rainie and then will they keepe within their strength and fort Now when the weather is temperate which they foreknow well enough and that the whole armie is on foot and marched abroad some gather together the vertue of the floures within their feet and legges others fil their gorge with water and charge the downe of their whole body with drops of such liquor The yonger sort of them go forth to worke and carry such stuffe as is beforenamed whiles the elder labor build within the hiue Such as carry the floures abouesaid stuffe the inner parts of their legs behind and those Nature for that purpose hath made rough with the help of their forefeet those again are charged full by the means of their muffle Thus being full laden with their prouision they return home to the hiue drawne euen together round as it were in a heap with their burden by which time there be three or foure ready to receiue them and those ease and discharge them of their lode For this you must thinke that they haue their seuerall offices within Some are busie in building others in plaistering and ouercasting to make all smooth and fine some be at hand to serue the workemen with stuffe that they need others are occupied in getting ready meat and victuals out of that prouision which is brought in for they feed not by themselues but take their repast together because they should both labour and eat alike and at the same houre As touching the maner of their building they begin first aboue to make arch-work embowed in their combs and draw the frame of their work downward where they make two little allies for euery arch or vault the one to enter in by the other to go forth at The combs that are fastened together in the vpper part yea and on the sides are vnited a little and hang all together They touch not the hiue at all nor ioin to it Sometime they are built round otherwhiles winding bias according to the proportion of the hiue A man shll find in one hiue hony combs somtime of two sorts namely when two swarms of bees accord together and yet each one haue their rites and fashions by themselues For feare lest their combs of wax should be ready to fal they vphold them with partition wals arched hollow from the bottom vpward to the end that they might haue passage euery way to repaire them The formost ranks of their combes in the forefront commonly are built void and with nothing in them because they should giue no occasion for a theefe to enter vpon their labours Those in the backe part of the hiue are euer fullest of hony and therefore when men would take out any combes they turne vp the hiues behind Bees that are emploied in carrying of hony chuse alwaies to haue the wind with them if they can If haply there do arise a tempest or a storm whiles they be abroad they catch vp some little stony greet to ballance and poise themselues against the wind Some say that they take it and lay it vpon their shoulders And withall they flie low by the ground vnder the wind when it is against them and keep along the bushes to breake the force thereof A wonder it is to see and obserue the manner of their worke They mark and note the slow-backs they chastise them anon yea and afterwards punish them with death No lesse wonderful also it is to consider how neat and clean they be All filth and trumperie they remoue out of the way no foule thing no ordure lieth in the hiue to hinder their businesse As for the doung and excrements of such as are working within they be laid all on a heap in some by-corner because they should not goe far from their worke and in foule weather when otherwise they haue nought to do they turn it forth Toward euening their noise beginneth to slacke and grow lesse and lesse vntill such time as one of them flieth about with the same loud humming wherewith she waked them in the morning and thereby giueth a signal as it were and commandement for to go to rest much after the order in a camp And then of a sudden they are all husht and silent CHAP. XI ¶ Of the drone Bees THe houses and habitations that Bees build first are for the Commons which being finished they set in hand with a pallace for their king If they foresee that it will be a good season and that they are like to gather store of prouision they make pauilions also for the Drones And albeit they be of themselues bigger than the very bees yet take they vp the least lodgings Now these drones be without any sting at all as one would say vnperfect bees the last fruit of such old ones as are weary and able to do no more good the very later brood increase and to say a truth no better than slaues to the right bees indeed And
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
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 verily