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.
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 Great
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
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
it a certain hard knurre which is brittle and apt to breake into small crumbs besides the corn or grain therein called Sal. Some pieces of crystall you shall haue which carry a certain red rust others be full of hairy strakes a man would imagin they were so man rifts but cunning artificers can hide this last imperfection when they cut and engraue the piece that hath it for in truth if a crystall be pure and cleare of it selfe much fairer it is plain than so wrought and engrauen and such crystals the Greeks call Acenteta but aboue all when they look not like the froth of clear water last of all this is to be considered that the heauier crystall is in proportion the better account there is made of it Moreouer I read of certaine Physitians who are of opinion that there is not a better and more wholesome cautery for any part of the body that requreth cauterising or burning than a ball or pomander of crystall held opposit between the member and the Sun beams But will you heare of another notorious example of folly and madnesse in these crystals as well as in Cassidoins There are not many yeres since a dame of Rome and shee none of the richest who bought one boll or drinking cup of crystall and paid 150000 sesterces for it As for Nero the Emperour of whom I spake erewhile when vnhappy news was brought vnto him of a great ouerthrow and a field lost to the danger of his owne state and the common-wealth in the height of his rage and a most furious fit of anger caught vp two crystall drinking cups and pasht them all to pieces his spight was belike at all the men liuing in that age better means he could not deuise to plague and punish them than to preuent that no man else should drinke out of those glasses and in very truth a crystall being once broken cannot by any deuise whatsoeuer be reunited and made whole againe as before We haue at this day cups and vessels of glasse that come passing neere vnto crystall but wonderfull it is that notwithstanding our glasses be so like yet they haue not abated and brought downe the price of crystal but rather caused it to be far dearer In the next degree to crystall wee are to place Amber a thing that hitherto I heare women only set daintie store by and adorne themselues withall strange it is that l'Amber Cassidoine and Crystall should thus be in equall request with fine pretious stones marie for Cassidoin and Crystall in some respects verily they may seeme to deserue a higher roume and namely in regard that both of them are so appropriat for to drink water or cold liquor out of such cups but as for Amber our delicates and wantons haue not yet deuised any probable reason why there should be such a reckoning made of it but surely it is the folly and vain curiosity of the Greeks that hath giuen accasion thereof and brought it into so great a name And here I must beseech the readers to beare with me in this my discourse as touching the first originall of Amber for I thinke it not impertinent to deliuer what marueiles and wonders the Greeks haue broached as touching this thing that the age and posterity ensuing may yet be acquainted with their fabulosities first and formost therefore many of their Poëts yea and as I suppose the chiefe and principall of them to wit Aeschylus Philoxenus Nicander Euripides and Satyrus tell vs a tale of the sisters of young price Phaëton who weeping piteously for the miserable death of their brother who was smitten with lightning were turned into Poplar trees which in stead of tears yeelded euery yere a certain liquor called Electrum id est Amber which issued from them where they grew along the riuer Eridanus which we call Padus id est the Po and the reason why the same was named Electrum is this Because the Sun in old time was vsually called Elector in Greeke But that this is one of their loud lies it appeares euidently by the testimony of all Italie But some of these Greek writers and such as would seem to be more speculatiue and better seene in the works of Nature than their fellowes haue told vs of certain Islands that should lie along the coast within the Venice gulfe called Electrides forsooth because that amber is there gathered by reason that the foresaid riuer Po fals into the sea among them howbeit wel known it is that there were neuer yet Islands so named within that tract no nor any Islands at all neere to that place into which the riuer Padus could possioly bring any thing at al down his streameâ—… As for Aeschylus the foresaid Poët who saith that the riuer Eridanus is in Iberia that is to say Spaine otherwise that it is called Rhodanus as also for Euripides and Apollonius who say that Rhosne Po both meet in one and discharge themselues together into the said Venice gulfe they shew their grosse ignorance in Cosmography and description of the world and therfore they would be rather pardoned if they knew not what Amber was Those that write more modestly than the rest and yet can lie as well as the best beare vs in hand that about the sides of the foresaid Venice gulfe or Adriatick sea vpon rockes otherwise inexcessible there grow trees which yerely at the rising of the Dogstar do yeeld forth this Amber in manner of a gum Theophrastus contrariwise affirmes that Amber is digged out of the ground As for Chares he saith that Phaëton died in Aethyopia neere vnto the temple of Iupiter Ammon which is the reason of a chappell there wherein hee is shrined as also of an oracle much ronowmed in which quarters quoth he amber is engendred Philemon would make vs beleeue that Amber is minerall and that within Scythia in two places it is gotten forth of the earth in the one it is found white of the colour of wax which they call Electrum in the other it is reddish or tawny and that is named Sualternicum Demostratus cals Amber Lyncurion for that it commeth of the vrine of the wild beast named Onces or Lynces the which is distinct in colour for that which proceedeth from the male is reddish and of a fiery colour the other which passeth from the female is more weake in colour and enclineth rather to whitish Some giue it the name Langurium and make report of certaine beasts in Italie named Languriae Zenothemis tearmeth the same beasts Langas and by his saying they liue about the Po. Sudines talketh of a tree in Liguria which should beare this Amber of whose opinion also was Metrodorus Sotacus was verily persuaded that it run downe from certaine trees in Brittaine and those he thereupon called Electrides Pytheas affirmeth that in Almaine there is the arme of the Ocean called Mentonomon along which there inhabit certaine people named Gutti for the space of six thousand
thereof ibid. d Limpins shell fishes medicinable 443. b Limyra a fountaine eftsoones remoouing and thereby presaging somewhat 404 i k Linden tree the inner barke thereof soketh vp salt 176. h the vertues that it hath otherwise 185. d Line seed where it loueth to grow 2. i Line much vsed in what countries 2 k. l Line how it is knowne to be ripe when it is gathered and how dried 4. g. h. how to be watered dried againe punned and otherwise ordered 4. h. i Line-quicke what it is and the vse thereof 4 l m. where â—…t groweth ibid. Line seed serueth for meat 4 h. it is medicinable ibid. Line called Byssus and the lawne or tiffanie thereof 5. b the price it beareth ibid. Linnen Setabine 2 m. Allian ib. Fauentin 3 a. Retouine ib Linnen cloth how to be bleached 69. b Linnen weauers where they were wont to worke 2. l Linnen where the best is made 2. m Linnen cloath burnt to ashes how employed 5. b Linnen died as well as woollen 5. c Linnen curianes and veiles of diuerse colours auerspread the Theatres and Forum of Rome 5. c. d Linnen white esteemed best 5. f Lint of linnen cloath for what purpose it is good 5 b. See more in Flax. Lings See Heath Lingua an hearbe the vertues thereof 205. c Lingulaca an hearbe described 232. i Linus a medicinable riuer 403. a Lions paw an hearbe 250 h. the sundry names that it hath ibid. Lions bodie yeeldeth medicines 310 m. the greace the teeth haire gall and heart 310 m. 311 a b Lions danger how to be auoided 359. b Liparae among the Greeke writers lenitiue and vnctuous plasters 174 l. 474 h how such be made 520. i Liparis a pretious stone 628. i Lips chapped how to be cured 327 f. 328 h. 352 l. 377 b See Chaps and Fissures Lips scabbed exulcerat or otherwise diseased how to be healed 178 l. 377 b. 509 a Liquirice described 120 g. the best Liquirice ibid. the medicinable properties thereof ibid. Liquirice iuice 320 h. why called Adipson ibid. Litharge of three sorts 474 i. how it is made ibid. k why called Spuma argenti i. the froth of siluer ib. what it is and how it differeth from drosse ibid. Litharge how to be prepared 474 l. m 475 a the medicinable vertues of Litharge prepared ibid. Lithospermon an hearbe See Greimile Lithostrata what pauements 596 m. when they were deuised 597. a Liuer obstructed or stopped how to be opened 167 c. 189 e 329 d. 443. a. Liuer pained how to be eased 380 m. 442 k Liuer hard and swelled how to be mollified 142 l. 189 c for the Liuer feeble or any way diseased comfortable medicines 37 〈◊〉 40 k. 41 d. 47 d e. 57 d. 59 d. 61 a. 62. g 63 a 〈◊〉 69 a. 75 e. 76 i. 77 e. 104 i l. 106 i. 119 c 120 h. 124 l. 125 c e. 127 e. 130 g. 138 i. 143 c 147 a. 150 l. 163 b. 171 e f. 173 b d. 181 a b d. f 184 l. 185 a. 191 c. 193 a. 207 d. 238 m. 247 b c 248 g. 254. g. 277 b. 278 l. 281 c. 301 c. 359 c 590 h. in the Liuers of Swine little stones medicinable 332. k Liuerwort the hearbe why it is called Lichen 244 m. the sundry kindes and description 245 a. the vertues ibid. Liuing creatures be most medicinable 292 h i l Liuius Drusus how much plate he had 481. b Lix what it is 599. c Lixivus Cinis or lie ashes ibid. the medicinable vse thereof ibid. what vse fencers and sword-plaiers make of it ibid. Lizards male how they be knowne from the female 398. h L O Loadstone 515 a. where it is to be found ibid. b. it is not the right rocke Magnus ibid. the wonderfull nature of the Loadstone 586 l. why called Magnes ibid. how it was first found ibid. fiue kindes thereof ibid. m Loadstone male and female 587 a. the different sorts thereof ibid. Aethyopian Loadstone best ibid. b. where it is found and how knowne ibid. c the medicinable properties of all Loadstones 515 a. 587. b Loathing of meat how helped 147 b. 248 h. 259 c. 277 a See Appetite Loines or small of the backe in paine how to be eased 37 e 39 d. 40 k. 41. f. 42 h. 43 a. 53 b. 54 h. 59 b. 66 k. 66 a 108 k. 110 i. 119 d. 123 a. 134 m 143. f. 144 i. 149 b 182 g. 190 k. 280 g. 304 l. 309 e. 312 k. 313 b. 350 h 381 f. 382 g. 556 l. 557 e. white Lome troublesome to pioners working in gold mines 467. e. f. Lomentum a kinde of painters colour in powder 471. b 484 m. the price ibid. Lonchitis what hearbe 233. a. the description ibid. it differeth from Xiphion and Phasganton ibid. Longaon a gut See Fundament Long-wort an hearbe 230 i. two kinds thereof ibid. k. male and female ibid. Looking-glasses See Mirroirs Loose-strife an hearbe See Lysimachia Lotometra a kinde of Lotos 125. f. the description ibid. holesome bread made thereof in Aegipt ibid. Lotos a name giuen to sundry plants 177 a Lotos an hearbe 99. c. the qualitie that the seed hath ibid. Lotos an herbe and not a tree 125. e. how it is proued ibid. the vertues of this hearbe ibid. Lotus which is called the Greeke beane 177. a. the vertues ibid. Loueach why it is called Ligusticum 30. i. it is also named Panax ibid. to win loue and fauour what medicines auaile 47. f. 108. h 311. a. See Grace Loue potions condemned by Plinie 213. d Lourie or Laureoll an hearb 174. g. the medicinable vertues it hath ibid. the description 198 k the berries or seed what vertues they haue ibid. for the Lousie disease remedies appropriat 36. l. 39. b. 44. h 74. i. 149. a. 162. k. 173. c. 179. d. 189. b. c. 190. h. 232. m 264. h. 324. g. h. i. 367. a. b. See Lice Sylla Dictatour died of the Lousie disease 264. h Louvers and lanterns ouer temples of potters worke in cley who deuised 552. h L V Lucipores what they were 459. a Lucius Lucullus ouerruled by the streight hand of his Physician in diet 304. i Lucullus tooke his death by a loue cup 213. c M. Ludius Elotas a painter who beautified the temple of Iuno at Ardea with pictures 544. l. verses testifying the same ibid m Ludius another painter who practised to paint vpon walls varietie of works 545. a. his grace and dexteritie therein ibid. Lunaticke or out of right wits how to be cured 107. e. 149. e 218 i. 219. d. 335. c. 381. b. 387. d. 402. l. See Phranticke Lungs enflamed how to be helped 64. i. 135. d. 275. e Lungs exulcerat and purulent how to be mundified and healed 37. b. 43. c. 57. d. 61. a. 179. e. 308. h. 329 b Lungs stuffed with fleame how to be discharged and scoured 43. c. 59. e. 74. g. 106. i. 167. d Lungs diseased medicines in generall 77. e. 200. l.
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