seene notwithstanding many times it hath deuoured cities and drawne into it a whole tract of ground and fields Sea coasts and maritime regions most of all other feele earthquakes Neither are the hilly countries without this calamitie for I my selfe haue known for certain that the Alps and Apenine haue often trembled In the Autumne also and Spring there happen more earthquakes than at other times like as lightnings And hereof it is that France and Egypt least of all other are shaken for that in Egypt the continuall Sommer and in France the hard Winter is against it In like manner earthquakes are more rife in the night than in the day time but the greatest vse to be in the morning and euening Toward day light there be many and if by day it is vsually about noon They fortune also to be when the Sun and Moone are eclipsed because then all tempests are asleepe and laid to rest But especially when after much raine there followes a great time of heate or after heate store of raine CHAP. LXXXj ¶ Signes of Earthquake comming SAilers also haue a certaine foreknowledge thereof and guesse not doubtfully at it namely when the waues swel suddenly without any gale of wind or when in the ship they are shocked with billowes shaking vnder them then are the things seen to quake which stand in the ship as well as those in houses and with a rustling noise giue warning before-hand The foules likewise of the aire sit not quietly without feare In the sky also there is signe thereof for there goeth before an earthquake either in day time or soon after the Sun is gon downe a thin streake or line as it were of a cloud lying out in a great length Moreouer the water in wels and pits is more thicke and troubled than ordinary casting out a stinking sent CHAP. LXXXij ¶ Remedies or helps against Earthquakes toward BVt a remedie there is for the same such as vaults and holes in many places do yeeld for they vent and breathe out the wind that was conceiued there before a thing noted in certain townes which by reason they stand hollow and haue many sinks and vaults digged to conuey away their filth are lesse shaken yea and in the same towns those parts which be pendant be the safer as is well seen in Naples where that quarter thereof which is sollid and not hollow is subiect to such casualties And in houses the arches are most safe the angles also of walls yea and those posts which in shaking will jog to and fro euery way Moreouer walls made of brick or earth take lesse harme when they be shaken in an earthquake And great difference there is in the very kinde and manner of earthquakes for the motion is diuers the safest is when houses as they rocke keep a trembling and warbling noise also when the earth seemeth to swell vp in rising and again to settle down and sink with an alternatiue motion Harmlesse it is also when houses run on end together by a contrary stroke and butt or jur one against another for the one mouing withstandeth the other The bending downward in maner of wauing and a certain rolling like to surging billowes is it that is so dangerous and doth all the mischiefe or when the whole motion beareth and forceth it selfe to one side These quakings or tremblings of the earth giue ouer when the winde is once vented out but if they continue still then they cease not vntill forty daies end yea and many times it is longer ere they stay for some of them haue lasted the space of a yeare or two CHAP. LXXXIII ¶ Monstrous Earthquakes seene neuer but once THere hapned once which I found in the books of the Tuscanes learning within the teritorie of Modena whiles L. Martius and S. Iulius were Consuls a great strange wonder of the earth for two hils encountred together charging as it were and with violence assaulting one another yea and retyring againe with a most mighty noise It fell out in the day time and between them there issued flaming fire and smoke mounting vp into the sky while a great number of Roman Gentlemen from the highway Aemylia and a multitude of seruants and passengers stood and beheld it With this conflict and running of them together all the villages vpon them were dashed and broken to pieces very much cattell that was within died therewith And this hapned the yeare before the war of our Associates which I doubt whether it were not more pernicious to the whole land of Italy than the ciuil wars It was no lesse monstrous a wonder that was knowne also in our age in the very last yeare of Nero the Emperour as we haue shewed in his acts when medows and oliue rowes notwithstanding the great publique port way lay betweene passed ouerthwart one into anothers place in the Marrucine territorie within the lands of Vectius Marcellus a gentleman of Rome Procurator vnder Nero in his affaires CHAP. LXXXIV ¶ Wonders of Earthquakes THere happen together with earthquakes deluges also and inundations of the sea being infused and entring into the earth with the same aire and wind or else receiued into the hollow receptacle as it setleth down The greatest earthquake in mans memory was that which chanced during the empire of Tiberius Caesar when twelue cities of Asia were laid leuell in one night But the earthquakes came thickest in the Punick war when in one yeare were reported to be in Rome 57. In which yeare verily when the Carthaginians and Romans fought a battell at Thrasymenus lake neither of both armies tooke notice of a great earthquake Neither is this a simple euill thing nor the danger consisteth only in the very earthquake and no more but that which it portendeth is as bad or worse Neuer abode the city of Rome any earthquake but it gaue warning thereof before hand of some strange accident and vnhappie euent following CHAP. LXXXV ¶ In what places the seas haue gone backe THe same cause is to be rendred of some new hill or piece of ground not seen before when as the said winde within the earth able to huffe vp the ground was not powerful enough to breake forth and make issue For firme land groweth not only by that which Riuers bring in as the Isles Echinades which were heaped and raised vp by the riuer Achelous and by Nilus the greater part of Egypt into which if wee beleeue Homer from the Island Pharus there was a cut by sea of a day and a nights sailing but also by the retiring and going backe of the sea as the same poet hath written of the Circeiae The like by report hapned both in the bay of Ambracia for ten miles space and also in that of the Athenians for fiue miles neere Pireaeum also at Ephesus where somtime the sea beate vpon the temple of Diana And verily if we giue eare to Herodotus it was all a sea from aboue Memphis to the Ethyopian
which parteth Bithynia from Galatia Beyond Chalcedon stood Chrysopolis then Nicopolis of which the gulfe still retaines the name wherein is the hauen of Amycus the cape Naulocum Estia wherein is the temple of Neptune and the Bosphorus a streight halfe a mile ouer which now once again parteth Asia and Europe From Chalcedon it is 12 miles and an halfe There beginneth the sea to open wider where it is 8 miles a quarter ouer in that place where stood once the towne Philopolis All the maritime coasts are inhabited by the Thyni but the inland parts by the Bithynians Lo here an end of Asia and of 282 nations which are reckoned from the limits and gulf of Lycia vnto the streights of Constantinople The space of the streights of Hellespont and Propontis together vntill you come to Bosphorus in Thracia containeth in length 188 miles as we haue before said From Chalcedon to Sigeum by the computation of Isidor are 372 miles and a halfe Islands lying in Propontis before Cyzicum are these Elaphonnesus from whence commeth the Cyzicen marble and the same Isle was called Neuris and Proconnesus Then follow Ophyusa Acanthus Phoebe Scopelos Porphyrione and Halone with a towne Moreouer Delphacia and Polydora also Artacaeon with the towne Furthermore ouer against Nicomedia is Demonnesos likewise beyond Heraclea iust against Bithynia is Thynias which the Barbarians call Bithynia Ouer and besides Antiochia and against the fosse or riuer Rhyndacus Besbicos 18 miles about Last of all Elaea two Rhodussae Erebinthus Magale Chalcitis and Pityodes THE SIXTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS CHAP. 1. ¶ Pontus Euxinus THe sea called Pontus Euxinus and named by the Greeks in old time Axenos for the hard vsage that passengers found at the hands of those sauage Nations vpon the coasts thereof is spred also betwixt Europ and Asia vpon a very spite and speciall enuy of Nature as it seems to the earth and a wilfull desire to maintaine the sea still in his greatnesse and to fulfill his greedy and endlesse appetite For shee was not contented to haue inuironed the whole earth with the main Ocean yea and taken from it a great part thereof with exceeding rage ouerflowing the same and laying all empty and naked it sufficed not I say to haue broken through the mountaines and so to rush in and after the sea had dismembred * Caspe from Affricke to haue swallowed vp much more by far than is left behind to be seen no nor to haue let Propontis gush through Hellespont and so to encroach again vpon the earth and gaine more ground vnlesse from the streights of Bosphorus also he enlarge himselfe into another huge and vast sea and yet is neuer content vntill the lake Moeotis also with his streight meet with him as he thus spreadeth abroad and floweth at liberty and so ioine together and part as it were their stolne good betweene them And verily that all this is happened maugre the earth and that it made all resistance that it could appeareth euidently by so many streights and narrow passages lying between these two elements of so contrary nature considering that in Hellespont the space is not aboue 875 paces from land to land and at the two Bosphori the sea is so passeable that oxen or kine may swim at ease from the one side to the other and hereupon they both tooke their name the which vicinitie serueth very wel to entertaine and nourish amity among nations separated by nature one from another and in this disunion as it were appeareth yet a brothely fellowship and vnitie For the cocks may be heard to crow and the dogs to bark from the one side to the other yea and men out of these two worlds may parly one to another with audible voice and haue commerce of speech together if the weather be calme and that the windes doe not carry away the sound thereof Well the measure some haue taken of the sea from Bosphorus Thracius to the lake of Moeotis and haue accounted it to be 1438 miles and a halfe But Eratosthenes reckoneth it lesse by one hundred Agrippa saith that from Chalcedon to Phacis is a thousand miles and so to Bosphorus Cimmerius 360 miles As for vs we will set downe summarily and in generall the distances of places according to the moderne knowledge of our nation in these daies forasmuch as our armies haue warred in the very streight and mouth of this Cimmerian streight Being passed then from the streight of Bosphorus Thracius we meet with the riuer Rhebas which some haue called Rhoesus and beyond it Psillis another riuer then come we to the port of Calpas and Sangarius one of the principall riuers of Asia it ariseth in Phrygia it receiueth other huge riuers into it and among the rest Tembrogius and Gallus The same Sangarius was called also Coralius After this riuer begin the gulfes Mariandini vpon which is to be seen the towne Heraclea scituate vpon the riuer Lycus It is from the mouth of Pontus 200 miles Beyond it is the port Acone cursed for the venomous herbe and poisonous Aconitum which taketh name thereof Also the hole or caue Acherusia Riuers also there be Pedopiles Callichorum and Sonantes One towne Tium eight and thirty miles from Heraclea and last of all the riuer Bilis CHAP. II. ¶ The nation of the Paphlagonians and Cappadocians BEyond this riuer Bilis is the countrey Paphlagonia which some haue named Pylemerina and it is inclosed with Galatia behinde it The first towne ye meet in it is Mastya built by the Milesians and next to it is Cromna In this quarter the Heneti inhabit as Cornelius Nepos saith Moreouer from thence the Venetians in Italy who beare their name are descended as he would haue vs beleeue Neere to the said towne Cromna is another called Sesamum in times past and now Amastris Also the mountaine Cytorus 64 miles from Tium When you are gone past this mountain you shall come to Cimolus and Stephane two townes and likewise to the riuer Parthenius and so forward to the cape and promontory Corambis which reacheth forth a mighty way into the sea and it is from the mouth of the sea Pontus 315 miles or as others rather thinke 350. As far also it is from the streight Cimmerius or as some would rather haue it 312 miles and a halfe A towne there was also in times past of that name and another likewise beyond it called Arminum but now there is to be seen the colony Sinope 164 miles from Citorum Being past it you fall vpon the riuer Varetum the people of Cappadocia the townes Gazima and Gazelum and the riuer Halyto which issuing out of the foot of the hill Taurus passeth through Cataonia and Cappadocia Then meet you with these towns following Gangre Carissa and the free city Amisum which is from Sinope 130 miles As you 〈◊〉 farther you shall see a gulfe carrying the name of the said towne
aboue those before rehearsed there be other sorts of earth hauing a property by themselues which I haue named heretofore but in this place I am to set downe their nature and vertues also There is a kind of earth comming out of the Isle Galata and about Clupea in Affricke which killeth scorpions like as the Balearike and Ebusitane earth is the death of other serpents THE XXXVI BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proem CHAP. I. ¶ The natures and properties of Stones The excessiue expence in columnes and buildings of Marble IT remaines now to write of the nature of stones that is to say the principal point of all enormious abuses and the very height of wastful superfluities yea though we should keep silence and say nothing either of precious stones and Amber or of Chrystall and Cassidonie For all things els which we haue handled heretofore euen to this Booke may seem in some sort to haue been made for man but as for mountaines Nature had framed them for her owne selfe partly to strengthen as it were certaine ioints within the veines and bowels of the earth partly to â—…ame the violence of great riuers to break the force of surging waues and inundations of the sea and in one word by that substance and matter whereof they stand which of all others is most hard to restraine and keep within bounds that vnruly element of the water And yet notwithstanding for our wanton pleasures and nothing els we cut and hew we load and carry away those huge hils and inaccessible rockes which otherwise to passe only ouer was thought a wonder Our Ancestors in times past reputed it a miracle and in manner prodigious that first Annibal and afterwards the Cimbrians surmounted the Alps but now euen the same mountains wee pierce through with picke-axe and mattocke for to get out thereof a thousand sorts of marble wee cleaue the capes and promontories we lay them open for the sea to let it in downe we goe with their heads as if wee would lay the whole world euen and make all leuell The mightie mountains set as limits to bound the frontiers of diuers countries and to separate one Nation from another those wee transport and carrie from their natiue seat ships wee build of purpose for to fraught with marble the cliffes and tops of high hills they carrie too and fro amid the waues and billowes of the sea and neuer feare the danger of that most fell and cruell element wherein verily wee surpasse the madnesse and vanitie of those who search as high as the clouds for a cup to drink our water cold and hollow the rocks that in manner touch the heauen and all to drink out of yce Now let euery man thinke with himselfe what excessiue prices of these stones hee shall heare anone and what monstrous pieces and masses he seeth drawne and carried both by land and sea let him consider withall how much more faire and happy a life many a man should haue without all this and how many cannot chuse but die for it whensoeuer they go about to doe or if I should speake more truely to suffer this enterprise also for what vse else or pleasure rather but onely that they might lie in beds and chambers of stones that forsooth are spotted as if they neuer regarded how the darknesse of the night bereaueth the one halfe of each mans life of these delights and ioies When I ponder and weigh these things in my mind I must needs think great shame impute a great fault to our forefathers that liued long sinceÌ„ blush in their behalfe Lawes were enacted and prohibitions published by the Censors and those remaining vpon record forbidding expressely That neither the kernelly part of a Bores neck nor dormice other smaller matters than these to be spoken of should be serued vp to the boord at great feasts but as touching the restraint of bringing in marble or of sailing into forraine parts for the same there was no act or statute ordained CHAP. II. ¶ Who was the first that shewed Marble stones in Columnes or any publicke workes at Rome BVt some man haply might reply againe vpon me and say what need was there of any such ordinance considering there was no marble in those daies brought in from strange countries Vnto whom I answer That it is a meere vntruth for euen our progenitors of whom I speak saw well enough how in that yere when M. Scaurus was Aedile there were not fewer than 360 pillars of marble transported to Rome for the front and stage of a Theater which was to continue a small while and scarcely to be vsed one moneth to an end and yet no law there was to checke and controule him for it But it may be inferred againe the Magistrats winked hereat because he did all this for a publicke pleasure to the whole citie during the plaies exhibited by him in his Aedileship marrie that is it that I would haue What reason I pray you had they so to doe By what means more doe abuses and inormities creepe into a citie or state than by a publicke president giuen for I assure you it was nothing else but such examples at the first that brought those other things I meane yvorie gold jewels and precious stones to be vsed by priuat persons so commonly as they be in their houses plate and ornaments And what haue we left and reserued at all for the very gods to haue since that we lay so much vpon our selues but say that in those daies they did tolerat this excesse in Scaurus because of the pastimes he did exhibite to the whole city What were they silent also and made no words when the said Scaurus caused the biggest of all these columnes yea those that were fortie foot high within twain and the same of Lucullean black marble to be erected and placed in the court before his owne house in mount Palatine And least any man should say that this is done in secret and hucker mucker know he That when these pillars were to be carried vp into the mount Palatine where his house stood the Bailife that had the charge of the publick sinkes vaulted vnder the ground dealt with Scaurus for good securitie yea and demanded cautions and sureties for satisfying of all harmes and dammages that might be occasioned by their carriage so huge and heauie they were Considering then this bad example so prejudiciall to all good manners and so hurtful to posterity had it not bin better for the city to haue cut off these superfluities by wholsome laws and edicts than thus to permit such huge and proud pillars to be carried vnto a priuat house vp into the Palatine mount euen vnder the nose of the gods whose images were but of earth and hard by their temples that had for their couers and louvers no better than such as were made of potters cley CHAP. III. ¶ The first man who had
flesh and bone all saue the teeth And Mutianus mine author affirmeth that look what mirroirs currycombs cloth or shoos soeuer be cast into the said coffins with the dead they will turn all into stone Of this nature there be stones in Lycia and in the East countries which if they be hung or applied to liuing bodies also will eat and fret them away Yet the stone called Chernites resembling yvorie is more mild and gentle for keepe it will and preserue dead bodies without consuming them at al in a sepulchre or coffin of this stone the body of K. Darius they say was bestowed Touching the stone called Porus like it is vnto the marble of Paros for white colour and hardnesse howbeit nothing so weighty Theophrastus writeth That there be found in Aegypt certain cleare and transparent stones and those he saith bee like vnto the Serpentine marble Ophites haply such there were in his time for now are there none of them to be found but as they are gone so there be new come in their place As for the stone Assius in tast it is saltish but singular good to allay the paine of the gout if the feet onely be put into a trough or hollow vessell made of that stone Moreouer all griefes pains and infirmities of the legs will be healed in such quarries wheras in all mettall mines the legs take harm Furthermore this stone yeeldeth in the top of the quarrie a certain light substance apt to be reduced into a soft pouder which they call the floure of the said stone and is as effectuall as the stone it selfe in some cases Like it is for al the world to a red pumish stone If it be mixt with Cyprian brasse or copper it cures the accidents of womens brests but being incorporat with pitch or rosin it discusseth the kings euill and any biles or botches The same reduced into a lohoch to be licked down leasurely serueth well in a phthysicke and tempered with hony it healeth vp old vlcers and skinneth them cleane and yet this property it hath to eat away any excrescence of proud flesh The same is good for the bitings of wild and venomous beasts Such morimals or sores as scorne ordinary cures be full of suppuration it drieth Finally there is an excellent cataplasme made with it and beane floure put together for the gout CHAP. XVIII ¶ Of Yvorie minerall digged out of the ground Of stones that are of abonie nature and such as their veines represent Datetrees within and of other kinds of stone THeophrastus and Mutianus aboue named are verily persuaded That there be some stones which ingender others And as for Theophrastus he affirmeth That there is a minerall Yvorie found within the ground as well black as white also that there be bones growing within the earth yea and stones of a bony substance About Munda a city in Spaine where Caesar dictator defeated Pompey there are found stones resembling Date-trees breake them as often as you will There be also certaine black stones whereof there is as great account made as of marbles like as the stone also of the cape Taenara And such black stones Varro saith be more firm and hard which come out of Africa than those of Italy and contrariwise that there be white stones harder to be wrought by the Turner than the marble of Paros the said Varro affirmeth that the flint of Luna may be slit with the saw whereas that of Tusculum will cracke and flie in pieces in the fire also That the darke and duskish Sabine stone if it be sprinckled with oil will burne of a light fire moreouer That about Volsinij there haue been found quernes or hand mill-stones framed ready for worke yea and some we haue seen to turne about and grind of their owne accord but such haue bin taken for prodigies And since I am fallen vpon the mention of such mill-stones there is not a country in the world affoordeth better of that kinde than Italy doth neither do such grow in the rocke and are hewed forth but be entire stones of themselues apart and yet in some prouinces there are none of them to be had at all And in this kind there be of a more free and softer grit which being smoothed and polished with a slicke stone may seem a far off as if they were Serpentine marble and verily there is not a stone wil indure better or lie longer in building For thus you must thinke that all stones bee not of one and the same nature to abide rain and weather heat of Summer and cold in Winter alike for some be more durable than others like as we find in sundry kinds of timber Finally there be stones also which may not away with the raies of the Moon which in continuance of time wil gather rust yea and with oile will change their white colour CHAP. XIX ¶ Of Curalium or Pyrites i. the Marcasin and the medicinable vertues thereof Of the stone Ostracites and the Amiant together with the properties seruing in Physicke also of the stone Melitites and the vertues thereof Likewise of the Geat and the effects that it worketh in Physick Of Spunges Lastly of the Phrygian stone and the Nature of it THe mill-stone Curalium some call Pyrites because it seemeth to haue great store of fire in it howbeit there is another fire stone going vnder the name of Pyrites or Marcasin that resembleth brasse ore in the mine And they say that of it there is found great plenty in the Isle Cypros and in those mines which are about Acarnania where a man shal meet with one in colour like siluer and another like gold These stones be calcined many sundry waies some boile them two or three times in hony so long vntill all the liquor be consumed others burne them first in fire of coales then they calcine them with honey and afterwards wash them after the maner of brasse These stones thus prepared are good in Physick namely to heat to dry to discusse to subtiliat grosse humors and to mollifie all schirrhosities or hard tumors The same are much vsed also crude and vncalcined being reduced into pouder for the kings euill and fellons Moreouer in the rank of these Marcasines some range certaine stones which we cal quicke fire-stones and of all others they be most ponderous these be most necessarie for the espials belonging vnto a camp if they strike them either with an iron spike or another stone they will cast forth sparks of fire which lightning vpon matches dipt in brimstone dry pufs or leaues wil cause them to catch fire sooner than a man can say the word As touching the stones Ostracitae they haue a resemblance to oister shels wherof they took their name vsed they are much in stead of a pumish stone to smooth and slick the skin taken in drink they stanch any flux of bloud and in forme of a liniment applied with hony they heale the vlcers in womens brests and
Poet Buthus Iulius Bassus and Sextius Niger who wrote both in Greeke of Physicke and Fabius Vestalis Forreine Writers Democritus Metrodorus Scepsius Menechmus Xenocrates Antigonus and Duris who all foure wrote of grauing chasing and embossing mettals a worke entituled Toreutice Heliodorus who described the ornaments and oblations hanged vp in Athens Nymphodorus Andreas Heraclides Diagoras Botryensis Iolla Apollodorus Archimedes Dionysius Aristogenes Diomedes Mnesicles Xenocrates the sonne of Zeno and Theomnestus ¶ IN THE XXXV BOOKE IS SHEWED IN what account Painting was in old time Chap. 1. The honour and regard of Pictures in times past 2. In what price Images were of old 3. When Images were first erected and set vp in publicke place as also in priuat houses with their scutcheons and armes the beginning of pictures the first draught of Picturs in one simple colour the first Painters and how ancient they were in Italie 4. Of Roman Painters the first time that Painting and Picturs grew into credit who they were that drew their victories in colors vpon tables and set them forth to be seen and when forrein Pictures began to be of some good reckoning at Rome 5. The art and cunning of drawing pictures the colours that painters vse 6. Of colours naturall and artificiall 7. What colour will not abide to be laid wet what colours they painted withall in old time at what time first the combats of sword-fencers at vtterance were set forth in painted tables to be seene 8. How ancient the art of Painting is when it began a catalogue of the excellent workemen in that kind and how their workemanship was prised and esteemed 9. The first that contended stroue who could paint best also who first vsed the pencill 10. Of Pictures so liuely drawne that birds were deceiued therwith what is the hardest point in Painting 11. The way to still birds that they sing and chatter not who was the first that deuised to enamell or to set colours with fire and with the pencill painted arched roufs and vaults and among the wonderful prises that Pictures were set at in old time 12. The first inuentors of potterie of Images made of clay and cast in moulds also of vessels made of earth and their price 13. Sundry sorts of earth for potters of the dust or sand of Puteoli of other kindes of earth which turne to be hard stone 14. Of walls made by casting in moulds also of bricke walls and the manner of making them 15. Of Brimstone Alume their diuers kinds and vse in Physicke 16. Of sundry sorts of earth namely Samia Eretria Chia Selenusia Pingitis and Ampelitis and the vse they haue in Physicke 17. Sundry sorts of chalke for fullers to scoure clothes to wit Cimolia Sarda Vmbrica of a kind of earth called Saxum as also that giueth a siluer color is called Agentaria 18. Who were they that enriched their slaues after they were enfranchised and who they were of slaues came vp and grew to great wealth and power 19. Of the earth that coms out of the Island Galeta of the earth Clupea also of that which commeth from the Balear Islands and the Isle Ebusa In sum the medicins histories and obseruations in this booke amount to 956. Latine Authors alledged Messala the Oratour Messala the Elder Fenestella Atticus Verrius M. Varro Cor. Nepos Decius Eculeo Mutianus Melissus Vitruvius Cassius Seuerus Longulanus Fabius Vastalis who also wrote of Painting Forreine Writers Pasiteles Apelles Melanthius Asclepiodorus Euphranor Parasius Heliodorus who wrote of the Pictures and other ornaments set vp at Athens Metrodorus who likewise wrote of Architecture to wit Masonrie and Carpentrie Democritus Theophrastus Apion the Grammarian who also made a booke af Minerall or Chymicke Physicke Nymphodorus Andreas Heraclides Iolla Apollodorus Diagor as Botryensis Archidemus Dionysius Aristogenes Demanes Mnesicles Xenocratos the scholler of Zeno and Theomnestus ¶ THE XXXVI BOOKE TREATETH of Stones Chap. 1. The nature and propertie of stones the superfluitie and expense about buildings of marble 2. Who first shewed at Rome columnes of marble in publike place 3. The first that brought columns of marble to Rome out of forreine countries 4. The first workemen that were commended for cutting in marble and at what time that inuention began 5. Excellent peeces of worke in marble to the the number of 126. The cunning and curious workmen themselues of the white marble of the Island Paros The stately and admirable sepulchre Mausoleum 6. When they began at Rome to build with marble who was the first that ouercast the outside of walls with marble at what times this or that kind of marble was taken vp in building at Rome who cut marble first and brought it into leaues or thin plates by cutting the manner thereof also of sand 7. Of the hard stone of Naxos and Armenia sundry kinds of marble 8. Of the Alabastre marble of Lygdinum and Alabandicum 9. Of the great obeliske at Thebes in Aegipt and at Alexandria of that also which is in the great cirque or shew-place at Rome 10. Of that obeliske which standeth in Mars field at Rome and serueth for a Gnomon or Stile in a quadrant or dyall 11. Of a third obeliske at Rome in the Vatican 12. Of the Pyramides in Aegipt and a monstrous Sphynx of a wonderfull height 13. Of the Mazes or Labyrinths in Aegipt the Isle Lemnos and in Italie 14. Of hanging gardens made vpon terraces of a great towne where all the houses were build vpon vaults and arches seeming to hang in the aire also of the temple of Diana in Ephesus 15. Of the stately temple of Cyzicum of a certaine rocke of stone called Fugitiue of an Echo that rendreth the voice seuen fold of an house built without naile or pin of the sumptuous and wonderfull buildings at Rome 16. Sundry kinds of the Loadstone the medicinable vertues and properties thereof 17. Of certain stones which soone eat consume dead bodies that be laid therein of others againe that preserue them long of the stone Asius and the vertues of it 18. Of Iuorie digged out of the earth of stones conuerted into bones of stones that represent palms imprinted in them and of other kinds 19. Of Curalius or a kind of Marquesite called Pyrites and the vertues thereof of the stone Ostracites and Amiantus the properties of it of the stone Melitites and the power thereof of the Geat and his medicinable properties of Spunge stones of the stone Phrygius and his nature 20. Of the Bloud-stone and fiue sorts of it and of Schistus 21. Foure kinds of the Aegle stone of the stone within the bellie of them called Callimus of the stones Samius and Arabus also of Pumish stones 22. of stones meet for to make Apothecaries mortars of soft stones of the stone Specularis of Flints of the shining stone Phengites of whetstones and other stones meet for building of stones that will resist the fire and abide all weather and tempest
not make twenty and many such things of like sort Whereby no doubt is euidently proued the power of Nature and how it is she and nothing els which we call God I thought it not impertinent thus to diuert and digresse to these points so commonly divulged by reason of the vsuall and ordinarie questions as touching the Essence of God CHAP. VIII ¶ Of the Nature of Planets and their circuit LEt vs returne now to the rest of Natures workes The stars which we said were fixed in heauen are not as the common sort thinketh assigned to euery one of vs and appointed to men respectiuely namely the bright faire for the rich the lesse for the poore the dim for the weak the aged and feeble neither shine they out more or lesse according to the lot and fortune of euery one nor arise they each one together with that person vnto whom they are appropriate and die likewise with the same ne yet as they set and fall do they signifie that any bodie is dead There is not ywis so great societie betweene heauen and vs as that together with the fatall necessitie of our death the shining light of the starres should in token of sorrow go out and become mortall As for them the truth is this when they are thought to fall they doe but shoot from them a deale of fire euen of that aboundance and ouermuch nutriment which they haue gotten by the attraction os humiditie and moisture vnto them like as we also obserue daily in the wikes and matches of lampes or candles burning with the liquour of oile Moreouer the coelestiall bodies which make and frame the world and in that frame are compact and knit together haue an immortall nature and their power and influence extendeth much to the earth which by their effects and operations by their light and greatnesse might be knowne notwithstanding they are so high and subtill withall as we shal in due place make demonstration The manner likewise of the heauenly Circles and Zones shall be shewed more fitly in our Geographicall treatise of the earth forasmuch as the consideration thereof appertaineth wholly thereunto onely we will not put off but presently declare the deuisers of the Zodiake wherin the signes are The obliquitie and crookednesse thereof Anaximander the Milesian is reported to haue obserued first and thereby opened the gate and passage to Astronomie and the knowledge of all things and this happened in the 58 Olympias Afterwards Clâ—…ostratus marked the signes therin and namely those first of Aries and Sagitarius As for the sphere it selfe Atlas deuised long before Now for this time we will leaue the very bodie of the starry heauen and treat of all the rest betweene it and the earth Certaine it is that the Planet which they call Saturne is the highest and therefore seemeth least also that he keepeth his course and performeth his reuolution in the greatest circle of all and in thirtie yeares space at the soonest returneth againe to the point of his first place Moreouer that the mouing of all the Planets and withall of Sun and Moone go a contrarie course vnto the starrie heauen namely to the left hand i. Eastward whereas the said heauen alwaies hasteneth to the right i. Westward And albeit in that continuall turning with exceeding celerity those planets be lifted vp alost and carried by it forcible into the West and there set yet by a contrarie motion of their owne they passe euery one through their seuerall waies Eastward and all for this that the aire rolling euer one way and to the same part by the continuall turning of the heauen should not stand still grow dul as it were congealed whiles the globe thereof resteth idle but dissolue and cleaue parted thus diuided by the reuerberation of the contrarie beams and violent crosse influence of the said planets Now the Planet Saturne is of a cold and frozen nature but the circle of Iupiter is much lower than it and therfore his reuolution is performed with a more speedy motion namely in twelue yeres The third of Mars which some call the Sphere of Hercules is firy and ardent by reason of the Suns vicinity and wel-neere in two yeares runneth his race And hereupon it is that by the exceeding heate of Mars and the vehement cold of Saturne Iupiter who is placed betwixt is well tempered of them both and so becommeth good and comfortable Next to them is the race of the Sun consisting verily of 360 parts or degrees but to the end that the obseruation of the shadowes which he casteth may return againe iust to the former marks fiue daies be added to euery yeare with the fourth part of a day ouer and aboue Whereupon euery fifth yeere leapeth and one odde day is set to the rest to the end that the reckoning of the times and seasons might agree vnto the course of the Sun Beneath the Sun a goodly faire star there is called Venus which goeth her compasse wandering this way and that by turnes and by the very names that it hath testifieth her emulation of Sun and Moone For all the while that she preuenteth the morning and riseth Orientall before she taketh the name of Lucifer or Day-star as a second Sun hastning the day Contrariwise when she shineth from the West Occidentall drawing out the day light at length and supplying the place of the Moone she is named Vesper This nature of hers Pythagoras of Samos first found out about the 42 olympias which fel out to be the 142 yere after the foundation of Rome Now this planet in greatnesse goeth beyond all the other fiue and so cleare and shining withall that the beames of this one star cast shadowes vpon the earth And hereupon commeth so great diuersitie and ambiguitie of the names thereof whiles some haue called it Iuno other Isis and othersome the Mother of the gods By the naturall efficacie of this star all things are engendred on earth for whether she rise East or West she sprinckleth all the earth with dew of generation and not onely filleth the same with seed causing it to conceiue but stirreth vp also the nature of all liuing creatures to engender This planet goeth through the circle of the Zodiake in 348 daies departing from the Sun neuer aboue 46 degrees as Timaeus was of opinion Next vnto it but nothing of that bignesse and powerful efficacie is the star Mercurie of some cleped Apollo in an inferiour circle he goeth after the like manner a swifter course by nine daies shining sometimes before the Sun-rising otherwhiles after his setting neuer farther distant from him than 23 degrees as both the same Timaeus and Sosigenes doe shew And therefore these two planets haue a peculiar consideration from others and not common with the rest aboue named For those are seene from the Sun a fourth yea and third part of the heauen oftentimes also in opposition ful against the Sun And all of
directly plumbe ouer mens heads and causeth no shadow In like manner the shadowes of them that dwell Northerly vnder the Solstitiall circle in Summer falling all at noone tide Northward but at Sunne-rising Westward doing the same demonstration Which possibly could not be vnlesse the Sunne were far greater than the earth Moreouer in that when he rises he surpasses in breadth the hil Ida compassing the same at large both on the right hand and the left and namely being so farre distant as he is The eclipse of the Moone doth shew also the bignesse of the Sunne by an infallible demonstration like as himfelfe eclipsed declareth the littlenesse of the earth For whereas there be of shadowes three formes and figures and euident it is that if the darke materiall body which casteth a shadow be equall in bignesse to the light then the shadow is fashioned like a colume or piller and hath no point at the end if it be greater it yeeldeth a shadow like a top directly standing vpon the point so as the nether part therof is narrowest and then the shadow likewise is of infinite length but if the said body be lesse than the light then is represented a pyramidall figure like an hey-cocke falling out sharpe pointed in the top which manner of shadow appeareth in the Moones eclipse it is plaine manifest and without all doubt that the Sunne is much bigger than the earth The same verily is seen by the secret and couert proofes of Nature it selfe For why in diuiding the times of the yeere departeth the Sunne from vs in the winter marry euen because by meanes of the nights length and coolenesse he would refresh the earth which otherwise no doubt he should haue burnt vp for it notwithstanding he burneth it in some measure so excessiue is the greatnesse thereof CHAP. XII ¶ The inuentions of man as touching the obseruation of the heauens THe reason verily of both eclipses the first Romane that published abroad and divulged was Sulpitius Gâ—…llus who afterward was Consull together with M. Marcellus but at that time being a Colonell the day before that King Perseus was vanqnished by Paulus he was brought forth by the Generall into open audience before the whole host to fore-tell the eclipse which should happen the next morning whereby he deliuered the armie from all pensiuenesse and feare which might haue troubled them in the time of battell and within a while after he compiled also a booke thereof But among the Greeks Thales Melesius was the first that found it out who in the eight and fortieth Olympias and the fourth yeere thereof did prognosticate and foreshew the Sunnes eclipse that happened in the reigne of Halyattes and in the 170. yeere after the foundation of the citie of Rome After them Hipparchus compiled his Ephemerides containing the coutse and aspects of both these planets for six hundred yeeres ensuing comprehending withall the moneths according to the calculation reckonings of sundry nations the daies the houres the scituation of places the aspects and latitudes of diuers townes and countries as the world will beare him witnesse and that no lesse assuredlv than if â—…e had been priuie to Natures counsels Great persons and excellent these were doubtlesse who aboue the reach of all capacitie of mortall men found out the reason of the course of so mighty starres and diuine powers and whereas the sillie minde of men was before set and to seeke fearing in these eclipses of the starres some great wrong and violence or death of the planets secured them in that behalfe in which dreadful feare stood Stesichorus and Pindarus the Poets notwithstanding their lofty stile and namely at the eclipse of the Sun as may appeare by their poems As for the Moone mortall men imagine that by magicke sorceries and charmes she is inchanted and therefore helpe her in such a case when she is eclipsed by dissonant ringing of basons In this fearefull fit also of an eclipse Nicias the Generall of the Athenians as a man ignorant of the course thereof feared to set saile with his fleet out of the hauen and so greatly endangered and distressed the state of his countrey Faire chieue yee then for your excellent wit O noble Spirits interpretors of the heauens capable of Natures works and the deuisers of that reason whereby ye haue surmounted both God and man For who is he that seeing these things and the painfull ordinarie trauels since that this terme is now taken vp of the stars would not beare with his owne infirmitie and excuse this necessitie of being born to die Now for this present I will bâ—…iefly and summarily touch those principall points which are confessed and agreed vpon as touching the said eclipses hauing lightly rendred a reason thereof in most needfull places for neither such prouing and arguing of these matters belongs properly to our purposed worke neither is it lesse wonder to be able to yeeld the reason and causes of all things than to be resolute and constant in some CHAP. XIII ¶ Of Eclipscs CErtaine it is that all Eclipses in 222 moneths haue their reuolutions and return to their former points as also that the Sun's eclipse neuer happeneth but vpon the change of the Moone namely either in the last of the old or first of the new which they call conjunction and that the Moone is neuer eclipsed but in the full and alwaies somewhat preuents the former Eclipse Moreouer that euery yeare both planets are eclipsed at certaine dayes and houres vnder the earth Neither be these eclipses in all places seene when they are aboue the earth by reason sometimes of cloudy weather but morâ—… often for that the globe of the earth hindereth the sight of the bending conuexitie of the heauen Within these two hundred yeres was it found out by the witty calculation of Hipparchus that the Moone sometimes was eclipsed twice in fiue moneths space and the Sun likewise in seuen also that the Sun and Moone twice in thirty dayes were darkned aboue the earth how beit seene this was not equally in all quarters but of diuers men in diuers places and that which maketh me to maruell most of all in this wonder is this that when agreed it is by all that the Moone light is dimmed by the shadow of the earth one while this eclipse hapneth in the West and another while in the East as also by what reason it hapned that seeing after the Sunne is vp that shadow which dusketh the light of the Moone must needs be vnder the earth it fell out once that the Moone was eclipsed in the West and both planets to be seene aboue the ground in our horison for that in twelue daies both these lights were missing and neither Sun nor Moon were seen it hapned in our time when both the Vespasians Emperors were Consuls the father the third time and the son the second CHAP. XIV ¶ Of the Moones motion CLeare it is that the Moone alwaies in her encreasing hath
the Planets MAny haue essaied to finde out the distance and eleuation of the planets from the earth and haue set downe in writing that the Sun is distant from the Moon 18 degrees euen much as the Moone from the earth But Pythagoras a man of a quicke spirit hath collected that there are 126000 furlongs from the earth to the Moone and a duple distance from her to the Sun and so from thence to the twelue signes three times so much Of which opinion was also our countreyman Gallus Sulpitius CHAP. XXII ¶ Of the Planets musicke and harmonie BVt Pythagoras otherwhiles vsing the termes of Musicke calleth the space betweene the earth and the Moone a Tonus saying that from her to Mercurie is halfe a tone and from him to Venus in manner the same space But from her to the Sun as much and half again but from the Sunne to Mars a Tonus that is to say as much as from the earth to the Moone From him to Iupiter halfe a Tonus likewise from him to Saturne halfe a Tonus and so from thence to the signifer Sphere or Zodiacke so much and halfe againe Thus are composed seuen tunes which harmonie they call Diapason that is to say the Generalitie or whole state of consent and concord which is perfect musicke In which Saturne moueth by the Dorick tune Mercury by Phthongus Iupiter by the Phrygian and the rest likewise A subtilty more pleasant yw is than needfull CHAP. XXIII ¶ The Geometry or dimension of the world A Stadium or Furlong maketh of our paces an hundred twentie and fiue that is to say six hundred twenty and fiue foot Possidonius saith That from the earth it is no lesse than forty stadia to that height or altitude wherein thicke weather windes and clouds doe engender Aboue which the aire is pure cleare and light without any troubled darkenesse But from the cloudy and muddy region to the Moone is 2000000 stadia from thence to the Sun fiue thousand By means of which middle space betweene it commeth to passe that so exceeding great as the Sun is he burneth not the earth Many there be moreouer who haue taught that the clouds are eleuated to the hight of nine hundred stadia Vnknown these points are and such as men cannot wind themselues out of but as well may they now be deliuered to others as they haue bin taught to vs in which notwithstanding one infallible reason of a Geometricall collection which neuer lieth cannot be reiected if a man will search deep into these matters Neither need a man to seeke a iust measure hereof for to desire that were in maner a point of fond and foolish idlenesse as if men had nothing else to do but onely to make an estimate and resolue vpon a guesse and coniecture therof For whereas it is plaine and apparent by the course of the Sunne that the circle through which he passeth doth containe three hundred threescore and almost six degrees and alwaies the dimetrent line or diameter taketh a third part of the circumference and little lesse than a seuenth part of a 3. it is plain that deducting one halfe thereof by reason that the earth scituate as a centre commeth betweene the sixt part well neere of this great circuit which he makes about the earth so farre as our mind doth comprehend is the very height from the earth vp to the Sunne but the twelfth part to the Moone because she runneth so much a shorter compasse than the Sun whereby it appeareth that she is in the middest betweene the earth and the Sun A wonder it is to see how farre the presumpteous minde and heart of man will proceed and namely being inuited and drawne on by some little successe as in the aboue named matter The reason whereof ministreth plenteous occasion of impudencie for they who dared once to giue a guesse at the space betweene the Sun and the earth are so bold to do the like from thence to heauen For presuming that the Sunne is in the middest they haue at their fingers ends by and by the very measure also of the whole world For look how many seuen parts the dimetrent hath so many 22. parts or thereabout hath the whole circle as if they had gotten the just and certain measure of the heauen by leuel and the plumb or perpendicular line The Aegyptians according to the reckoning which Petosiris and Necepsos haue inuented do collect That euery degree in the circle of the Moone which is the least as hath been said of all other containeth 33. stadia and somewhat more in Saturne the greatest of all the rest duple so much and in the Sunne which we said was the middest the halfe of both measures And this computation hath very great importance for he that will reckon the distances betweene the circle of Saturne and the Zodiake by this calculation shall multiplie an infinite number of Stadia CHAP. XXIIII ¶ Of sudden Starres THere remaine yet some few points as touching the world for inthe very heauen there be Starres that suddenly arise and appeare whereof be many kindes CHAP. XXV ¶ Of Comets or blazing stars and coelestiall prodigies their nature scituation and diuers sorts THese blasing starres the Greekescall Cometas our Romanes Crinitas dreadfull to be seene with bloudy haires and all ouer rough and shagged in the top like the bush of haire vpon the head The same Greekes call those starres Pogonias which from the nether part haue a maine hanging downe in fashion of a long beard As for those named Acontiae they brandish and shake like a speare or dart signifying great swiftnesse This was it whereof Tiberius Caesar the Emperour wrot an excellent Poeme in his sift Consulship the last that euer was seen to this day The same if they be shorter and sharpe pointed in the top they vse to call Xiphiae and of all other palest they be and glitter like a sword but without any reies or beames which another kind of them named Disceus resembling a dish or coit whereof it beareth the name but in colour like to amber putteth sorth here and there out of the brimmes and edges thereof As for Pitheus it is seene in forme of tunnes enuironed with in a smokie light as if it were a concauitie Ceratias resembleth an horne and such a one appeared when the whole manhood of Greece fought the battell of Salamis Lampadias is like to burning torches and Hippeus to horse maines most swift in motion turning round There is also a white Comet with siluer haires so bright and shining that hardly a man can endure to looke vpon it and in mans shape it sheweth the very image of a god Moreouer there be blazing starres that become all shaggie compassed round with hairie sringe and a kind of maine One heretofore appearing in the forme of a main changed into a speare namely in the 108 Olympia's and the 398 yeare from the foundation
were procreated to foretell the accidents that ensued afterward Now for that they fall out so seldome the reason thereof is hidden and secret and so not knowne as the rising of planets aboue said the eclipses and many other things CHAP. XXViij ¶ Of the Heauen flame LIkewise there are seen stars together with the Sun all day long yea and very often about the compasse of the Sun other flames like vnto garlands of corne eares also circles of sundry colours such as those were when Augustus Caesar in the prime of his youth entered the city of Rome after the decease of his father to take vpon him his great name and imperial title CHAP. XXjX ¶ Of Coelestiall Crownes ALso the same garlands appeare about the Moone and other goodly bright stars which are fixed in the firmament Round about the Sun there was seene an arch when Lu. Opimius and Q. Fabius were Consuls as also a round circle when L. Porcius and M. Acilius were Consuls CHAP. XXX ¶ Of sudden Circles THere appeared a circle of red colour when L. Iulius and P. Rutilius were Consuls Moreouer there are strange eclipses of the Sunne continuing longer than ordinarie as namely when Caesar Dictator was murthered Moreouer in the wars of Antony the Sun continued almost a whole yeare of a pale wan colour CHAP. XXXj ¶ Many Suns OVer and besides many Suns are seene at once neither aboue nor beneath the bodie of the true Sunne indeed but crosse-wise and ouerthwart neuer neere nor directly against the earth neither in the night season but when the Sun either riseth or setteth Once they are reported to haue beene seene at noone day in Bosphorus and continued from morne to euen Three Suns together our Ancestors in old time haue often beheld as namely when Sp. Posthumus with Q Mutius Q. Martius with M. Porcius M. Antonius with P. Dolabella and Mar. Lepidus with L. Plancus were Consuls Yea and we in our daies haue seene the like when Cl. Caesar of famous memorie was Consul together with Cornelius Orfitus his Colleague More than three we neuer to this day finde to haue been seene together CHAP. XXXII ¶ Many Moones THree Moones also appeared at once and namely when Cn. Domitius and C. Fannius were Consuls which most men called Night Sunnes CHAP. XXXIII ¶ Day light in the Night OVt of the Firmament by night there was seen a light when C. Coelius and Cn. Papyrius were Consuls yea and oftentimes besides so as the night seemed as light as the day CHAP. XXXIV ¶ Burning Shields or Targuets A Burning shield ran sparkling from the West to the East at the Suns setting when L. Valerius and C. Marius were Consuls CHAP. XXXV ¶ A strange sight in the Sky BY report there was once seene and neuer but once when Cn. Octauius and C. Scribonius were Consuls a sparkle to fall from a star and as it approched the earth it waxed greater and after it came to the bignesse of the Moone it shined out and gaue light as in a cloudy and darke day then being retyred againe into the sky it became to mens thinking a burning Lampe This Licinius Syllanus the Proconfull saw together with his whole traine CHAP. XXXVI ¶ The running of Stars to and fro in the Sky SEene there be also Stars to shoot hither and thither but neuer for nought and to no purpose for from the same quarter where they appeare there rise terrible windes and after them stormes and tempests both by sea and land CHAP. XXXVij ¶ Of the Stars called Castor and Pollux I Haue seene my selfe in the campe from the soldiers sentinels in the night watch the resemblance of lightning to sticke fast vpon the speares and pikes set before the rampier They settle also vpon the crosse Saile yards and other parts of the ship as men do saile in the sea making a kinde of vocall sound leaping to and fro and shifting their places as birds do which fly from bought to bough Dangerous they be and vnlucky when they come one by one without a companion and they drowne those ships on which they light and threaten shipwrack yea and they set them on fire if haply they fall vpon the bottome of the keele But if they appeare two and two together they bring comfort with them and foretell a prosperous course in the voiage as by whose comming they say that dreadfull cursed and threatning meteor called Helena is chased and driuen away And hereupon it is that men assigne this mighty power to Castor and Pollux and inuocate them at sea no lesse than gods Mens heads also in the euen tyde are seene many times to shine round about and to be of a light fire which presageth some great matter Of all these things there is no certain reason to be giuen but secret these be hidden with the maiestie of Nature and reserued within her cabinet CHAP. XXXViij ¶ Of the Aire IT remaineth now thus much and thus far being spoken of the world it selfe to wit the starry heauen and the planets to speake of other memorable things obserued in the Skie For euen that part also hath our forefathers called Coelum i. the Skie which otherwise they name aire euen all that portion of the whole which seeming like a void and empty place yeeldeth this vitall spirit whereby all things do liue This region is seated beneath the Moone and farre vnder that Planet as I obserue it is in a manner by euery man agreed vpon And mingling together an infinite portion of the superiour coelestiall nature or elementarie fire with an huge deale likewise of earthly vapours it doth participate confusedly of both From hence proceed clouds thunders and those terrible lightenings From hence come haile frosts shoures of raine stormes and whirlewindes from hence arise the most calamities of mortall men and the continuall warre that nature maketh with her owne selfe For these grosse exhalations as they mount vpward to the heauen are beaten backe and driuen downeward by the violence of the starres and the same againe when they list draw vp to them those matters which of their owne accord ascend not For thus we see that shoures of raine do fall foggie mists and light clouds arise riuers are dried vp haile stormes come downe amaine the Sunne beames doe scorch and burne the ground yea and driue it euery where to the middle centre but the same againe vnbroken and not losing their force rebound backe and take vp with them whatsoeuer they haue drunke vp and drawne Vapours fall from aloft and the same returne againe on high winds blow forcibly and come emptie but backe they goe with a bootie and carry away euery thing before them So many liuing creatures take their wind and draw breath from aboue but the same laboureth contrariwise and the earth infuseth into the aire a spirit and breath as if it were cleane void and empty Thus whiles the Nature goes too and fro as forced by some engin by the swiftnesse of
we are vnthankfull as though shee serued not mans turne for all dainties not for contumely and reproch to be misused Cast she is into the sea or else to let in peeres and frithes eaten away with water With yron tooles with wood fire stone burdens of corne tormented she is euery houre and all this much more to content our pleasures and wanton delights than to serue vs with naturall food and necessary nourishment And yet these misusages which she abideth aboue and in her outward skin may seeme in some sort tolerable But we not satisfied therewith pierce deeper and enter into her very bowels we search into the veines of gold and siluer we mine and dig for copper and lead mettals And for to seek out gemmes and some little stones we sinke pits deep within the ground Thus we plucke the very heart-strings out of her and all to weare on our finger one gemme or precious stone to fulfill our pleasure and desire How many hands are worne with digging and deluing that one ioynt of our finger might shine again Surely if there were any diuels or infernall spirits beneath ere this time verily these mines for to feed couetousnes and riot would haue brought them vp aboue ground Maruell we then if she hath brought forth some things hurtfull and noisome But sauage beasts I well thinke ward and saue her they keepe sacrilegious hands from doing her iniurie Nay ywis it is nothing so Dig we not amongst dragons and serpents and togethet with veines of gold handle we not the roots of poisoned and venomous herbes howbeit this goddesse we finde the better appaied and lesse discontented for all this misusage for that the end and issue of all this wealth tends to wickednesse to murder and wars and her whom we drench with our bloud we couer also with vnburied bones Which neuerthelesse as if she did reprooue and reproch vs for this rage and furie of ours she her selfe couereth in the end and hideth close euen the wicked parts of mortall men Among other imputions of an vnthankfull minde I may well count this also That we be ignorant of her nature CHAP. LXIIII. ¶ Of the forme of the earth THe first and principall thing that offereth it selfe to be considered is her figure in which by a generall consent we doe all agree For surely we speake and say nothing more commonly than the round ball of the earth and confesse that it is a globe enclosed within 2 poles But yet the forme is not of a perfect and absolute roundle considering so great heigth of hills and such plaines of downs howbeit if the compasse therof might be taken by lines the ends of those lines would meet iust in circuit and proue the figure of a iust circle And this the very consideration of naturall reason doth force and conuince although there were not those causes which we alledged about the heauen For in it the hollow bending conuexitie boweth and beareth vpon it selfe and euery way resteth vpon the centre thereof which is that of the earth But this being solid and close compact ariseth still like as if it swelled stretching and growing forth The heauen bendeth and inclineth toward the centre but the earth goeth from the centre whiles the world with continnall volubilitie and turning about it driueth the huge and excessiue globe thereof into the forme of a round ball CHAP. LXV ¶ Of the Antipodes whether there be any such Also of the roundnesse of water MVch adoe there is here and great debate betweene learned men and contrariwise those of the leaud and ignorant multitude for they hold that men are ouerspread on all parts vpon the earth and stand one against another foot to foot also that the Zenith or point of the heauen is euen and alike vnto all and in what part soeuer men be they go still and tread after the same manner in the middest But the common sort aske the question and demand How it happeneth that they opposite iust against vs fall not into Heauen as if there were not a reason also ready That the Antipodes againe shall maruell why we fell not downe Now there is reason that commeth betweene carrying a probabilitie with it euen to the multitude were it neuer so blockish and vnapt to learne That in an vneuen and vnequall Globe of the Earth with many ascents and degrees as if the figure thereof resembled a Pine-apple yet neuerthelesse it may be well enough inhabited all ouer in euery place But what good doth all this when another wonder as great as it ariseth namely That it selfe hangeth and yet falleth not together with vs as if the power of that Spirit especially which is enclosed in the World were doubted or that any thing could fall especially when nature is repugnant thereto and affordeth no place whither to fall for like as there is no seat of Fire but in fire of Water but in water of Aire and Spirit but in aire euen so there is no roome for Earth but in earth seeing all the Elements besides are ready to put it backe from them Howbeit wonderfull it remaineth still How it should become a Globe considering so great flatnesse of Plaines and Seas Of which doubtfull opinion Dicaearchus a right learned man as any other is a fauourer who to satisfie the curious endeauours of Kings and Princes had a charge and commission to leuell and take measure of mountaines of which he said that Pelion the highest was a mile and a halfe high by the plumbe rule and collected thereby that it was nothing at all to speake of in comparison of the vniuersall rotunditie of the whole But surely in my conceit this was but an vncertaine guesse of his since that I am not ignorant that certaine tops of the Alpes for a long tract together arise not vnder fiftie miles in heigth But this is it that troubles the vulgar sort most of all if they should be forced to beleeue that the forme of water also gathers round in the top And yet there is nothing in the whole world more euident to the sight for the drops euery where not onely as they hang appeare like little round bals but also if the light vpon dust or rest vpon the hairy downe of leaues we see they keep a perfect and exquisite roundnes Also in cups that are filled brim full the middle part in the top swell most Which thing considering the thinnes of the humour and the softnes thereof setling flat vpon it selfe are sooner found out by reason than by the eie Nay this is a thing more wonderfull that when cups are filled to the ful put neuer so little more liquor thereto the ouerplus will run ouer all about but contrariwise it falleth out if you put in any solid weights yea and it were to the weight of twenty deniers or French crowns in a cup. Forsooth the reason is this for that these things receiued within lift vp the liquor aloft to the top but poured
vpon the tumour that beareth aloft aboue the edges theymust needs glide off and run by The same is the reason why the land cannot be seen by them that stand vpon the hatches of the ship but very plainly at the same time from the top of the masts Also as a ship goeth a far off from the land if any thing that shineth and giueth light be fastened to the top-gallant it seemeth from the land side to goe downe and sinke into the sea by little and little vntill at last it be hidden clean Last of all the very Ocean which we confesse to be the vtmost and farthest bound enuironing the whole globe by what other figure else could it hold together and not fall downe since there is no other banke beyond it to keepe it in And euen this also is as great a wonder how it commeth to passe although the sea grow to be round that the vtmost edge thereof falleth not downe Against which if the seas were euen flat and plaine and of that forme as they seem to be the Greeke Philosophers to their own great ioy and glory do conclude and proue by Geometricall subtill demonstration that it cannot possibly be that the waters should fall For seeing that waters run naturally from aloft to the lower parts and that all men confesse that this is their nature and no man doubteth that the water of the sea came euer in any shore so far as the deuexitie would haue suffered doubtlesse it appeares that the lower a thing is the neerer it is to the centre and that all the lines which from thence are sent out to the next waters are shorter than those which from the first waters reach to the vtmost extremitie of the sea Hereupon the whole water from euery part thereof bends to the centre and therfore falls not away because it inclines naturally to the inner parts And this we must beleeue that Nature the work-mistresse framed and ordained so to the end that the earth being dry could not by it selfe alone without some moisture keepe any consistence and the water likewise could not abide and stay vnlesse the earth vpheld it in which regard they were mutually to embrace one another and so be vnited whiles the one opened all the creeks and nouks and the other ran wholly into the other by means of secret veins within without and aboue like ligaments to claspe it yea and so break out at the vtmost tops of hils whether being partly caried by a spirit and partly expressed forth by the ponderositie of the earth it mounteth as it were in pipes and so far is it from danger of falling away that it leapeth vp to the highest and loftiest things that be By which reason it is euident also why the seas swell not and grow notwithstanding so many riuers daily run into them CHAP. LXXVj ¶ How the matter is vnited and knit to the earth THe earth therefore in his whole globe is in the midst thereof hemmed in by the sea running round about it And this need not to be sought out by reason and argument for it is knowne already by good proofe and experience CHAP. LXXVij ¶ Nauigation vpon the sea and great Riuers FRom Gades and Hercules pillars the West sea is at this day nauigable and sailed all ouer euen the whole compasse of Spaine and France But the North Ocean was for the most part disconered vnder the conduct of Augustus Caesar of famous memorie who with a fleet compassed all Germanie and brought it about as far as to the cape of the Cimbrians and so from thence hauing kenned and viewed the vast and wide sea or else taken notice thereof by report he passed to the Scythian Clymat and those cold coasts frozen and abounding with too much moisture For which cause there is no likelihood that in those parts the seas are at an end whereas there is such excessiue wet that all stands with water And neere vnto it from the East out of the Indian sea that whole part vnder the same clyme of the world which bendeth vnder the Caspian sea was sailed throughout by the Macedonian armies when Seleuchus and Antiochus reigned who would needs haue it so that Seleuchus and Antiochus should beare their names About the Caspian sea also many coasts and shores of the Ocean haue bin discouered and by piece-meale rather than all whole at once the North of one side or other hath been sailed or rowed ouer But yet to put all out of coniecture there is a great argument collected out of the Mere Maeotis whether it be a gulfe and arme of that Ocean as I know many haue beleeued or an ouerflowing of the same and diuided from it by a narrow piece of the continent In another side of Gades from the same West a great part of the South or Meridian gulfe round about Mauritania is at this day sailed And the greater part verily of it like as of the East also the victories of Alexander the Great viewed and compassed on euery side euen as farre as vnto the Arabian Gulfe Wherein when Caius Caesar the sonne of Augustus warred in those parts the marks and tokens by report were seen remaining after the Spaniards shipwracke Hanno likewise in the time that Carthage flourished in puissance sailed round about from Gades to the vtmost bounds and lands end of Arabia and set downe that his voyage in writing Like as also Himilco was at the same time sent out in a voyage to discouer the vtter coasts of Europe Moreouer Cornelius Nepos writeth that in his time one Eudoxius a great sailer at what time he fled from King Lathyrus departed out of the Arabian gulfe and held on his course as far as Gades Yea and Coelius Antipater long before him reporteth that he saw the man who had sailed out of Spain to Aethiopia for traffique of merchandise The same Nepos maketh report as touching the compassing about of the North That vnto Qu. Metellus Celer Colleague to C. Afranius in the Consulship but at that time Proconsull in Gaule certain Indians were giuen by a King of the Sueuians who as they failed out of India for traffick as merchants were driuen by tempests and cast vpon Germanie Thus the seas flowing on all sides about this globe of the earth diuided and cut into parcels bereaue vs of a part of the world so as neither from thence hither nor from hence thither there is a thorow-faire and passage The contemplation whereof seruing fit to discouer and open the vanitie of men seemes to require and challenge of me that I should proiect to the view of the eye how great all this is whatsoeuer it be and wherein there is nothing sufficient to satisfie and content the seuerall appetite of each man CHAP. LXViij ¶ What portion of the earth is habitable NOw first and formost me thinks men make this reckoning of the earth as if it were the iust halfe of the globe and that no portion of it
were cut off by the Ocean which notwithstanding clasping round about all the midst thereof yeelding forth and receiuing againe all other waters besides and what exhalations soeuer that go out for clouds and feeding withall the very stars so many as they be and of so great a bignesse what a mighty space thinke you will it be thought to takevp and inhabit and how little can there be left for men to inhabit surely the possession of so vast and huge a deale must needs be exceeding great and infinite What say you then to this That of the earth which is left the heauen hath taken away the greater part For whereas there be of the heauen fiue parts which they call Zones all that lieth vnder the two vtmost to wit on both sides about the poles namely this here which is called Septentrio that is to say the North and the other ouer against it named the South it is ouercharged with extreme and rigorous cold yea and with perpetuall frosts and ice In both Zones it is alwaies dim and darke and by reason that the aspect of the more milde and pleasant planets is diuerted cleane from thence the light that is sheweth little or nothing and appeareth white with the frost onely Now the middle of the earth whereas the Sun hath his way and keepeth his course scorched and burnt with flames is euen parched and fried againe with the hot gleames thereof being so neere Those two only on either side about it namely betweene this burnt Zone and the two frozen are temperate and euen those haue not accesse and passage the one to the other by reason of the burning heate of the said planet Thus you see that the heauen hath taken from the earth three parts and what the Ocean hath plucked from it besides no man knoweth And euen that one portion remaining vnto vs I wot not whether it be not in greater danger also For the same Ocean entring as we will shew into many armes and creekes keepeth a roaring against the other gulfes and seas within the earth and so neere comes vnto them that the Arabian gulfe is not from the Egyptian sea aboue 115 miles the Caspian likewise from the Ponticke but 375. Yea and the same floweth between and entreth into so many armes as that thereby it diuideth Africke Europe and Asia asunder Now what a quantity of land it taketh vp may be collected and reckoned at this day by the measure and proportion of so many riuers and so great Meres Adde thereto both Lakes and pooles and withall take from the earth the high mountaines bearing vp their heads aloft into the sky so as the eye can hardly reach their heights the woods besides and steepe descents of the vallies the Wildernesses and waste wildes left desart vpon a thousand causes These so many pieces of the earth or rather as most haue written this little-pricke of the world for surely the earth is nothing else in comparison of the whole is the only matter of our glory This I say is the very feat thereof here we seeke for honors and dignities here we exercise our rule and authoritie here we couet wealth and riches here all mankinde is set vpon stirs and troubles here we raise ciuill wars still one after another and with mutuall massacres and murthers wee make more roome in the earth And to let passe the publique furious rages of nations abroad this is it wherein we chase and driue out our neighbor borderers and by stealth dig turfe from their soile to put vnto our owne and when a man hath extended his lands and gotten whole countries to himselfe far and neere what a goodly deale of earth enioyeth he and say that he set out his bounds to the full measure of his couetous desires what a great portion thereof shal he hold when he is once dead and his head laid low CHAP. LXIX ¶ That the earth is in the middest of the world THat the earth is in the midst of the whole world it appeareth by manifest and vndoubted reasons but most euidently by the equal houres of the Equinoctial for vnlesse it were in the midst the Astrolabe and instruments called Diophae haue proued that nights and daies could not possibly be found equall and those aboue-said instruments aboue all other confirme the same seeing that in the Equinoctial by one and the same line both rising and setting of the Sun are seen but the Sommer Sun rising and the Winter setting by their owne seuerall lines which could by no means happen but that the earth resteth in the centre CHAP. LXX ¶ Of the vnequall rising of the stars of the Eclipse both where and how it commeth NOw three circles there be infolded within the Zones afore named which distinguish the inequalities of the dayes namely the Sommer Solstitiall Tropicke from the highest part of the Zodiacke in regard of vs toward the North Clyme And against it another called the Winter Tropicke toward the other Southern Pole and in like maner the Equinoctial which goes in the mids of the Zodiacke circle The cause of the rest which wee wonder at is in the figure of the very earth which together with the water is by the same arguments knowne to be like a globe for so doubtlesse it commeth to passe that with vs the stars about the North pole neuer go downe and those contrariwise about the Meridian neuer rise And againe these here be not seene of them by reason that the globe of the earth swelleth vp in the mids between Again Trogloditine and Egypt confining next vpon it neuer set eye vpon the North pole stars neither hath Italy a sight of Canopus named also Berenices haire Likewise another which vnder the Empire of Augustus men sirnamed Caesaris Thronon yet be they stars there of speciall marke And so euidently bendeth the top of the earth in the rising that Canopus at Alexandria seemeth to the beholders eleuate aboue the earth almost one fourth part of a signe but if a man looke from Rhodes the same appeareth after a sort to touch the verie horizon and in Pontus where the eleuation of the North pole is highest not seene at all yea and this same pole at Rhodes is hidden but most in Alexandria In Arabia all hid it is at the first watch of the night in Nouember but at the second it sheweth In Meroe at Midsommer in the euening it appeareth for a while but some few daies before the rising of Arcturus seene it is with the very dawning of the day Sailers by their voiages finde out and know these stars most of any other by reason that some seas are opposite vnto some stars but other lie flat and incline forward to other for that also those pole stars appeare suddenly and rising out of the sea which lay hidden before vnder the winding compasse as it were of a ball For the heauen riseth not aloft in this higher pole as some men haue giuen out else should
an Island distant Northward from Britaine six daies sailing Yea and some affirme the same of Mona an Island distant from Camalodunum a towne of Britaine about 200 miles CHAP. LXXVI ¶ Of Dials and Quadrants THis cunning and skill of shadowes named Gnonomice Anaximines the Milesian the disciple of Anaximander aboue named inuented and hee was the first also that shewed in Lacedemon the Horologe or Dial which they call Sciotericon CHAP. LXXVII ¶ How the dayes are obserued THe very day it selfe men haue after diuers manners obserued The Babylonians count for day all the time betweene two Sun-risings the Athenians betweene the settings The Vmbrians from noone to noone But all the common sort euery where from day light vntill it be darke The Roman Priests and those that haue defined and set out a ciuil day likewise the Egyptians and Hipparchus from midnight to midnight That the spaces or lights are greater or lesse betwixt Sun risings neere the Sunsteds than the equinoctials it appeareth by this that the position of the Zodiake about the middle parts therof is more oblique and crooked but toward the Sunsted more streight and direct CHAP. LXXViij ¶ The reason of the varietie and difference of sundry Countries and Nations HEreunto we must ioyne such things as are linked to celestiall causes For doubtlesse it is that the Aethiopians by reason of the Sunnes vicinitie are scorched and tanned with the heate thereof like to them that be adust and burnt hauing their beards and bush of haire curled Also that in the contrarie Clime of the world to it in the frozen and icie regions the people haue white skins haire growing long downeward and yellow but are fierce and cruell by reason of the rigorous cold aire howbeit the one as well as the other in this mutabilitie are dull and grosse and the very legs do argue the temperature for in the Aethiopians the iuice or bloud is drawne vpward againe by the naturall heate But among the nations Septentrionall the same is driuen to the inferior parts by reason of moisture apt to fall downward Here breed noisome and hurtfull wilde beasts but there be ingendred creatures of sundry and diuers shapes especially birds Tall they are of bodily stature as well in one part as the other in the hot regions by the occasionall motion of fire in the other by the moist nourishment But in the midst of the earth there is an wholesome mixture from both sides the whole Tract is fertill and fruitfull for all things the habit of mens bodies of a mean and indifferent constitution the colour also shewing a great temperature The fashions and manners of the people are ciuill and gentle their sences cleare and lightsome their wits pregnant and capable of all things within the compasse of Nature they also beare soueraigne rule and sway empires and monarchies which those vttermost nations neuer had Yet true it is that euen they who are out of the temperate Zones may not abide to be subiect nor accomodate themselues to these for such is their sauage and brutish nature that it vrgeth them to liue solitarie by themselues CHAP. LXXiX ¶ Of Earthquakes THe Babylonians were of this opinion that earthquakes and gaping chinks and all other accidents of that nature are occasioned by the power and influence of the planets but of those three only to which they attribute lightnings and by this means namely as they keepe their course with the Sun or meet with him and especially when this concurrence is about the quadratures of the heauen And surely if it be true which is reported of Anaximander the Milesian naturall Philosopher his prescience and foreknowledge of things was excellent and worthy of immortalitie who as it is said forewarned the Lacedemonians to looke wel to their city and dwelling houses for that there was an earthquake toward which hapned accordingly when not only their whole city was shaken and fell downe but also a great part of the mountain Taygetus which bare out like to the poupe of a ship broken as it were from the rest came down too wholly couering the foresaid ruines There is reported another shrewd guesse of Pherecydes who was Pythagoras his master and the same likewise diuine and propheticall he by drawing water out of a pit both foresaw and also foretold an earthquake there Which if they be true how far off I pray you may such men seeme to be from God euen while they liue here on earth But as for these things verily I leaue it free for euery man to weigh and deeme of them according to their owne iudgement and for mine owne part I suppose that without all doubt the windes are the cause thereof For neuer beginneth the earth to quake but when the sea is still and the weather so calme withall that the birds in their flying cannot houer and hang in the aire by reason that all the spirit and winde which should beare them vp is withdrawne from them ne yet at any time but after the windes are laid namely when the blast is pent and hidden within the veines and hollow caues of the earth Neither is this shaking in the earth any other thing than is thunder in the cloud nor the gaping chinke thereof ought else but like the clift whereout the lightning breaketh when the spirit inclosed within strugleth and stirreth to go forth at libertie CHAP. LXXX ¶ Of the gaping chinks of the earth AFter many and sundry sorts the earth therefore is shaken and thereupon ensue wondrous effects in one place the walls of cities are laid along in another they be swallowed vp in a deepe and wide chawne here are cast vp mighty heaps of earth there are let out Riuers of water yea and somtimes fire doth breathe forth and hot springs issue abroad in another place the course and chanell of riuers is turned clean away and forced backward There goeth before and commeth with it a terrible noise one while a rumbling more like the loowing and bellowing of beasts otherwhiles it resembles a mans voice or else the clattering and rustling of armor and weapons beating one vpon another according to the qualitie of the matter that catcheth and receiueth the noise or the fashion either of the hollow cranes within or the cranny by which it passeth whiles in a narrow way it taketh on with a more slender and whistling noise and the same keepeth an hoarse din in winding and crooked caues rebounding againe in hard passages roaring in moist places wauing and floting in standing waters boiling and chasing against solid things And therefore a noise is often heard without any earthquake and neuer at any time shaketh it simply after one and the same manner but trembles and waggeth to and fro As for the gaping chink sometimes it remaineth wide open and sheweth what it hath swallowed vp otherwhiles it closeth vp the mouth and hideth all and the earth is knit together so againe as there remaine no marks and tokens to be
in Verbanus Ticinus in Benacus Mincius in Seuinus Ollius in Lemanus lake the riuer Rhodanus As for this riuer beyond the Alpes and the former in Italy for many a mile as they passe carry forth their owne waters from thence where they abode as strangers and none other and the same no larger than they brought in with them This is reported likewise of Orontes a riuer in Syria and of many others Some riuers again there be which vpon an hatred to the sea run euen vnder the bottom thereof as Arethusa a fountaine in Syracusa wherein this is obserued that whatsoeuer is cast into it commeth vp againe at the riuer Alpheus which running through Olimpia falleth into the sea shore of Peloponnesus There go vnder the ground and shew aboue the ground againe Lycus in Asia Erasinus in Argolica Tygris in Mesopotamia And at Athens what things soeuer are drowned in the fountain of Aesculapius be cast vp againe in Phalericus Also in the Atinate plaines the riuer that is buried vnder the earth twentie miles off appeareth againe So doth Timavus in the territory of Aquileia In Asphaltites a lake in Iury which ingenders Bittumen nothing will sinke nor can be drowned no more than in Arethusa in the greater Armenia and the same verily notwithstanding it be full of Nitre breedeth and feedeth fish In the Salentines countrey neere the towne Manduria there is a lake brim full lade out of it as much water as you will it decreaseth not ne yet augmenteth poure in neuer so much to it In a riuer of the Ciconians and in the lake Velinus in the Picene territory if wood be throwne in it is couered ouer with a stony barke Also in Surius a riuer of Colchis the like is to be seen insomuch as ye shall haue very often the bark that ouergrowes it as hard as any stone Likewise in the riuer Silarus beyond Surrentum not twigs onely that are dipped therein but leaues also grow to be stones and yet the vater thereof otherwise is good and wholesome to be drunk In the very passage and issue of Reatine meere there growes a rocke of stone bigger and bigger by the dashing of the water Moreouer in the red sea there be oliue trees and other shrubs that grow vp green There be also very many springs which haue a wonderfull nature for their boiling heat yea and that vpon the very mountains of the Alpes and in the sea between Italy and Aenaria as in the Firth Baianus and the riuer Liris and many others For in diuers and sundry places ye may draw fresh water out of the sea namely about the islands Chelidoniae and Aradus yea and in the Ocean about Gades In the hot waters of the Padouans there grow greene herbes in those of the Pisanes there breed frogs and at Vetulonij in Hetruria not far from the sea fishes also are bread In the territory Casinas there is a riuer called Scatebra which is cold and in Summer time more abounding and fuller of water than in winter in it as also in Stymphalis of Arcadia there breed come forth of it little water-mice or small Limpins In Dodone the fountain of Iupiter being exceeding chill and cold so as it quencheth and putteth out light torches dipped therein yet if you hold the same neere vnto it when they are extinct and put out it setteth them on fire againe The same spring at noon-tide euermore giueth ouer to boile and wants water for which cause they call it Anapauomenos anon it begins to rise vntill it be midnight and then it hath great abundance and from that time againe it faints by little and little In Illyricum there is a cold spring ouer which if ye spread any clothes they catch a fire and burne The fountaine of Iupiter Hammon in the day time is cold all night it is seething hot In the Troglodites countrey there is a fountaine of the Sunne called the sweet Spring about noon it is exceeding cold anon by little and little it growes to be warm but at midnight it passeth and is offensiue for heate and bitternes The head of the Po at noon in Summer giueth ouer as it were and intermits to boile and is then euer drie In the Island Tenedus there is a spring which after the Sommer Sunsteed euermore from the third houre of the night vnto the sixt doth ouerflow And in the isle Delos the fountain snopus falleth and rises after the same sort that Nilus doth and together with it Ouer against the riuer Timavus there is a little Island within the sea hauing hot wels which ebbe and flow as the tide of the sea doth and iust therwith In the territory of the Pitinates beyond Apenninus the riuer Nouanus at euery midsummertime swelles and runnes ouer the bankes but in mid-winter is cleane dry In the Faliscane countrie the water of the riuer Clitumnus makes the oxen and kine white that drinke of it And in Baeotia the riuer Melas maketh sheepe blacke Cephyssus running out of the same lake causeth them to be white and Penius again giues them a black colour but Xanthus neere vnto Ilium coloureth them reddish and hereupon the riuer tooke that name In the land of Pontus there is a riuer that watereth the plaines of Astace vpon which those mares that feed giue blacke milke for the food and sustenance of that nation In the Reatine territorie there is a fountaine called Neminia which according to the springing and issuing forth out of this or that place signifyeth the change in the price of corne and victuals In the hauen of Brind is there is a Well that yeeldeth vnto sailers and sea-fering-men water which will neuer corrupt The water of Lincestis called Acidula i. Soure maketh men drunken no lesse than wine Semblably in Paphlagonia and in the territory of Cales Also in the Isle Andros there is a fountaine neere the temple of Father Bacchus which vpon the Nones of Ianuarie alwaies runneth with water that tasteth like wine as Mulianus verily beleeueth who was a man that had beene thrice Consull The name of the spring is Dios Tecnosia Neere vnto Nonacris in Arcadia there is the riuer Styx differing from the other Styx neither in smell nor colour drinke of it once and it is present death Also in Berosus an hill of the Tauri there be three fountaines the water whereof whosoeuer drinketh is sure to die of it remedilesse and yet without paine In the Countrey of Spaine called Carrinensis two Springs there bee that runne neere together the one rejecteth the other swalloweth vp all things In the same countrey there is another water which sheweth all fishes within it of a golden colour but if they be once out of that water they be like to other fishes In the Cannensian territory neere to the lake Larius there is a large and broad Well which euery houre continually swelleth and falleth downe againe In the Island Sydonia before Lesbos an hot fountaine there is that
runneth onely in the Spring The lake Sinnaus in Asia is infected with the wormewood growing about it and there of it tasteth At Colophon in the vault or caue of Apollo Clarius there is a gutter or trench standing full of water they that drinke of it shall prophesie and foretell strange things like Oracles but they liue the shorter time for it Riuers running backward euen our age hath seen in the later yeres of Prince Nero as we haue related in the acts of his life Now that all Springs are colder in Summer than Winter who knoweth not as also these wonderous workes of Nature That brasse and lead in the masse or lumpe sinke downe and are drowned but if they be driuen out into thin plates they flote and swim aloft and let the weight be all one yet some things settle to the bottome others againe glide aboue Moreouer that heauie burdens and lodes be stirred and remoued with more ease in water Likewise that the stone Thyrreus be it neuer so big doth swim whole and intire breake it once into pieces and it sinketh As also that bodies newly dead fall downe to the bottome of the water but if they be swollen once they rise vp againe Ouer and besides that empty vessels are not so easily drawne forth of the water as those that be full that raine water for salt pits is better and more profitable than all other and that salt cannot be made vnlesse fresh water be mingled withall that sea-water is longer before it congeale but sooner made hot and set a seething That in Winter the sea is hoter and in Autumne more brackish and salt And that all seas are made calme and still with oile and therefore the Diuers vnder the water doe spirt and sprinkle it abroad with their mouthes because it dulceth and allaieth the vnpleasant nature thereof and carrieth a light with it That no snowes fall where the sea is deep And whereas all water runneth downeward by nature yet Springs leape vp euen at the very foot of Aetna which burneth of a light fire so farre forth as that for fiftie yea and an hundred miles the waulming round bals and flakes of fire cast out sand and ashes CHAP. CIIII. ¶ The maruailes of fire and water iointly together and of Maltha NOw let vs relate some strange wonders of fire also which is the fourth element of Nature But first out of waters In a citie of Comagene named Samosatis there is a pond yeelding forth a kinde of slimie mud called Maltha which will burne cleare When it meeteth with any thing solide and hard it sticketh to it like glew also if it be touched it followeth them that free from it By this meanes the townesmen defended their walls when Lucullus gaue the assault and his souldiers fried and burned in their owne armours Cast water vpon it and yet it will burne Experience hath taught That earth onely will quench it CHAP. CV ¶ Of Naphtha OF the like nature is Naphtha for so is it called about Babylonia and in the Austacenes countrey in Parthia and it runneth in manner of liquid Bitumen Great affinitie there is betweene the fire and it for fire is ready to leap vnto it immediatly if it be any thing neere it Thus they say Media burnt her husbands concubine by reason that her guirland annointed therewith was caught by the fire after she approched neere to the altars with purpose to sacrifice CHAP. CVI. ¶ Of places continually burning BVt amongst the wonderfull mountaines the hill Aetna burneth alwaies in the nights and for so long continuance of time yeeldeth sufficient matter to maintaine those fires in winter it is full of snow and couereth the ashes cast vp with frosts Neither in it alone doth Nature tyranize and shew her cruelty threatning as she doth a general consuming of the whole earth by fire For in Phoselis the hil Chimaera likewise burneth and that with a continuall fire night and day Ctesias of Gnidos writeth that the fire therof is inflamed and set a burning with water but quenched with earth In the same Lycia the mountaines Hephaestij being once touched and kindled with a flaming torch do so burne out that the very stones of the riuers yea and the sand in waters are on fire withall and the same fire is maintained with raine They report also that if a man make a furrow with a staffe that is set on fire by them there follow gutters as it were of fire In the Bactrians countrey the top of the hill Cophantus burneth euery night Amongst the Medians also and the Caestian nation the same mountaines burneth but principally in the very confines of Persis At Susis verily in a place called the white tower out of fifteene chimnies or tunnels the fire issueth and the greatest of them euen in the day time carrieth fire There is a plaine about Babylonia in manner of a fish poole which for the quantity of an acre of ground burneth likewise In like sort neere the mountaine Hesperius in Aethyopia the fields in the night time do glitter and shine like stars The like is to be seene in the territorie of the Megapolitanes although the field there within-forth be pleasant and not burning the boughes and leaues of the thicke groue aboue it And neere vnto a warme Spring the hollow burning furnace called Crater Nymphaei alwaies portendeth some fearefull misfortunes to the Apolloniates the neighbours thereby as Theoponpus hath reported It increaseth with showers of raine and casteth out Bitumen to be compared with that fountaine or water of Styx that is not to be tasted otherwise weaker than all Bitumen besides But who would maruell at these things in the mids of the sea Hiera one of the Aetolian Islands neere to Italy burned together with the sea for certaine daies together during the time of the allies war vntill a solemne embassage of the Senat made expiation therefore But that which burneth with the greatest fire of all other is a certaine hill of the Aethyopians Thoeet Ochema and sendeth out most parching flames in the hottest Sun-shine daies Lo in how many places with sundry fires Nature burneth the earth CHAP. CVII ¶ Wonders of fires by themselues MOreouer since the Nature of this onely element of fire is to be so fruitfull to breed it selfe to grow infinitely of the least sparks what may be thought will be the end of so many funerall fires of the earth what a nature is that which feedeth the most greedy voracitie in the whole world without losse of it selfe Put thereto the infinit number of stars the mighty great Sun moreouer the fires in mens bodies those that are inbred in some stones the attrition also of certain woods one against another yea and those within clouds the verie original of lightnings Surely it exceedeth all miracles that any one day should passe not al the world be set on a light burning fire since that the hollow firy glasses also set opposit against
the Sun beams sooner set things a burning than any other fire What should I speake of innumerable others which be indeed little but yet naturally issuing out in great abundance In the Promontorie Nymphaeum there commeth forth a flaming fire out of a rock which is set a burning with rain The like is to be seene also at the waters called Scantiae But this verily is but feeble when it passeth and remoueth neither indureth it long in any other matter An ash there is growing ouer his fiery fountain and couering it which notwithstanding is alwaies green In the territorie of Mutina there riseth vp fire also vpon certaine set holy-daies vnto Vulcan It is found written That if a cole of fire fall down vpon the arable fields vnder Aricia the very soile presently is on fire In the Sabines territorie as also in the Sidicines stones if they be anointed or greased will be set on a light fire In a towne of the Salantines called Egnatia if fire be laid vpon a certaine hallowed stone there it will immediatly flame out Vpon the alter of Iuno Lacinia standing as it doth in the open aire the ashes lie vnmoueable and stir not blow what stormy winds that will on euery side Ouer and besides there be fires seene suddenly to arise both in waters and also about the bodies of men Valerius Antias reporteth That the lake Thrasymenus once burned all ouer also that Serv. Tullius in his childehood as he lay asleepe had a light fire shone out of his head likewise as L. Martius made an oration in open audience to the army after the two Scipios were slain in Spain and exhorted his soldiers to reuenge their death his head was on a flaming fire in the same sort More of this argument and in better order will we write soone hereafter For now we exhibit and shew the maruells of all things hudled and intermingled together But in the mean while my mind being passed béyond the interpretation of Nature hasteneth to leade as it were by the hand the minds also of the readers throughout the whole world CHAP. CVIII ¶ The measure of the whole earth in length and breadth THis our part of the earth whereof I speak floting as it were within the Ocean as hath bin said lieth out in length most from the East to the West that is to say from India to Hercules pillars consecrated at Gades and as mine Author Artemidorus thinketh it containeth 85 hundred 78 miles But according to Isidorus 98 hundred and 18. M. Artemidorus addeth moreouer from Gades within the circuit of the sacred Promontorie to the Cape Artabrum where the front and head of Spain beareth out farthest in length 891 miles This measure runneth two waies From the riuer Ganges and the mouth thereof whereas he dischargeth himself into the East Ocean through India and Parthyene vnto Myriandrum a city of Syria scituate vpon the gulfe or Firth of Isa 52 hundred 15 miles From thence taking the next voiage to the Island Cyprus to Patara in Lycia Rhodes and Astypataea Islands lying in the Carpathian sea to Taenarus in Laconia Lilybaeum in Sicilie Calaris in Sardinia 34 hundred 50 miles Then to Gades 14 hundred and 50 miles Which measures being put al together make in the whole from the said sea 85 hundred 78 miles The other way which is more certain lieth most open and plain by land to wit from Ganges to the riuer Euphrates 50 hundred miles and 21. From thence to Mazaca in Cappadocia 244 miles so forward through Phrygia and Caria to Ephesus 400 miles 98. From Ephesus through the Aegean sea to Delos 200 miles Then to Isthmus 212 miles From thence partly by land and partly by the Laconian sea and the gulfe of Corinth to Patrae in Peloponnesus 202 miles and an halfe so to Leucas 86 miles a halfe and as much to Corcyra Then to Acroceraunia 132 miles and a halfe to Brundusium 86 miles and a halfe so to Rome 3 hundred miles and 60. Then to the Alpes as far as the village Cincomagus 518 miles Through France to the Pyrenaean hils vnto Illiberis 556 miles to the Ocean and the sea coast of Spaine 332 miles Then the cut ouer to Gades seven miles and a halfe Which measure by Artemidorus his account maketh in all 86 hundred 85 miles Now the bredth of the earth from the Meridian or South-point to the North is collected to be lesse almost by the one halfe namely 54 hundred and 62 miles Whereby it appeareth plainly how much of the one side heate of fire and on the other side frozen water hath stolne away For I am not of minde that the earth goeth no farther than so for then it should not haue the forme of a globe but that the places on either side be vnhabitable and therefore not found out and discouered This measure runneth from the shore of the Aethyopian Ocean which now is habited vnto Meroe 550 miles From thence to Alexandria 1200 and 40 miles So to Rhodes 583 miles to Gnidus 84 miles and a halfe to Cos 25 miles to Samus 100 miles to Chius 84 miles to Mitylene 65 miles to Tenedos 28 miles to the cape Sigaeum 12 miles and a halfe to the mouth of Pontus 312 miles and a halfe to Carambis the promontorie 350 miles to the mouth of Maeotis 312 miles and a halfe to the mouth of Tanais 265 miles which voiage may be cut shorter with the vantage of sailing directly by 89 miles From the mouth of Tanais the most curious Authors haue set downe no measure Artemidorus was of opinion that all beyond was vnfound and not discouered confessing that about Tanais the Sarmatian Nations do inhabit who lie to the North pole Isidorus hath added hereto twelue hundred miles as far as to Thule which is a iudgement of his grounded vpon bare guesse and coniecture I take it that the borders of the Sarmatians are knowne to haue no lesse space of ground than this last mentioned commeth vnto And otherwise how much must it be that would containe such an innumerable company of people shifting their seats euer and anon as they doe Whereby I guesse that the ouer-measure of the clime inhabitable is much greater For I know certainely that Germany hath discouered mightie great Islands not long since And thus much of the length and breadth of the earth which I thought worth the writing Now the vniuersall compasse and circuit thereof Eratosthenes a great Clerke verily for all kinde of literature in this knowledge aboue all others doubtlesse most cunning and whom I see of all men approued and allowed hath set downe to be 252000 stadia Which measure by the Romanes account and reckoning amounteth to 300 hundred and 15 hundred miles A wonderous bold attempt of his but yet so exquisitly calculated and contriued by him that a shame it were not to beleeue him Hipparchus a wonderful man both for conuincing him and all his other diligence besides addeth
the snow is then thawed more vnruly and rough vnto the fields thereby than to the vessels vpon it howbeit it stealeth and carieth away nothing as his owne but when he hath left the fields his bountie is more seen by their plenty and fruitfulnesse from his head he holdeth on his course 90 miles wanting twain aboue 300. In which his passage he taketh in vnto him not only the nauigable riuers of the Apennine and the Alps but huge main lakes also that discharge themselues into him so as in all he carieth with him into the Adriaticke sea to the number of 30 riuers The chiefe and most notorious of them all are these sent out of the side of Apennine Tanarus Trebia Placentine Tarus Nicea Gabellus Scultenna Rhenus But running out of the Alpes Stura Morgus Duriae twaine Sessites Ticinus Lambrus Addua Olius and Mincius And there is not a riuer againe that in so little a way groweth to a greater streame for ouercharged it is and troubled with the quantitie of water and therefore worketh it selfe a deepe channell heauie and hurtfull to the earth vnder it although it be deriued and drawne into other riuers and goles betweene Rauenna and Atium for an hundred and twenty miles yet because hee belcheth and casteth them out from him in so great aboundance he is said to make 7 seas Drawn he is to Rauenna by a narrow channel where he is called Badusa and in times past Messanicus But the next mouth that he maketh carieth the bignesse of an hauen which is named Vatreni at the which Claudius Caesar as hee came triumphant out of Britaine entred into Adria with that huge Vessell more like a mighty great house than a Ship This mouth of it was before-time called Eridanum of others Spineticum of the city Spinae neere by built by Diomedes as some thinke with the treasures of Delphie There the riuer Vatrenus from out of the territory of Forum Cornelij encreaseth Padus The next moneth that it hath is Caprasiae then Sagis and so forth Volane which before-time was called Olane All those riuers and trenches aforesaid the Tuscanes began to make first out of Sagis carrying the forceable streame of the riuer acrosse into the Atrian meeres which are called the seuen seas and made the famous hauen of Atria a towne of the Tuscanes of which the Adriaticke sea tooke the name afore-time which now is called Adriaticum From thence are the full mouthes there of Carponaria and the Fosses Phylistinae which others call Tartarus but all spring out of the ouerflowing of the Fosse Phylistina holpen with Athesis comming out of the Tridentine Alpes and Togisonus out of the territory of the Padouans Part of them made also the next port Brundulum like as the two Medoaci and the Fosse Clodia make Edron With these Padus mingleth it selfe and by these he runneth ouer and as it is said by most writers like as in Aegypt Nilus maketh that which they call Delta so it shapeth a triangle figure between the Alpes and the sea coast two miles in compasse A shame it is to runne to the Greekes for to borrow of them the Etymologie and reason of any thing in Italy howbeit Metrodorus Scepsius saith That forasmuch as about the spring and head of this riuer there grow many pitch trees called in French Padus therefore it tooke the name Padus Also that in the Ligurian language the riuer it selfe is called Bodincus which is as much to say as bottomelesse And to approue this reason and argument there is a towne thereby called Industria but by an old name Bodincomacum where in very deed beginneth the greatest deapth thereof CHAP. XVII ¶ Italy beyond Padus the eleuenth Region NExt to it is the region called Transpadana and the eleuenth in number all whole in the mid-land part of Italy into which the seas bring in all things with fruitfull channel The townes therein be Vibi-Forum and Segusta The colonies at the foot of the Alpes Augusta of the Taurines an ancient descent from the Ligurians from whence Padus is nauigable Then Augusta Praetoria of the Salassi neer vnto the two-fold gullets or passages of the Alpes to wit Graija and Peninae for men say that the Carthagineans came through the one and Hercules in at the other named Graijae There standeth the towne Eporedia built by the people of Rome by direction and commandement out of the bookes of Sibylla Now the Gauls in their tongue call good horse-breakers Eporedicae Also Vercella of the Lybici descended from the Sallij Nouaria from the Vertacomacores which euen at this very day is a village of the Vocontij and not as Cato thinketh of the Ligurians of whom the Leui and Marici built Ticinum not far from Padus like as the Boij comming ouer the Alpes founded Laus Pompeia and the Insubrians Millaine That Comus and Bergomus yea and Licini-Forum with other nations thereabout were of the Orobian race Cato hath reported but the first beginning and originall of that nation of Orobians he confesseth that he knoweth not Which notwithstanding Cornelius Alexander sheweth to haue descended from the Greekes and this he guesseth by the interpretation of their name which signifieth Men liuing in mountaines In this tract Barra a towne of the Orobians is cleane destroyed from whence Cato saith the Bergomates took their beginning bewraying euen by their name that they were seated more highly than happily There are cleane gone and consumed also the Caturiges banished persons of the Insubrians likewise Spina before-named In like sort Melpum a towne of speciall importance for wealth which as Nepos Cornelius hath written was by the Insubrians Doians and Senones rased on that very day on which Camillus forced Veij CHAP. XVIII ¶ Venice the tenth Region NOw followeth the tenth region of Italy Venice lying fast vpon the Adriaticke sea the riuer whereof Silis commeth forth of the mountaines Taurisani wherein also is the Towne Altinum the riuer Liquentia issuing from the mountaines Opitergeni a hauen of the same name the colonie Concordia Riuers and hauens to wit Romatinum Tilauentum the greater and the lesse Anassum whereunto Varranus runneth downe Alsa Natiso with Turrus running fast by Aquileia a colony scituate 12 miles from the sea This is the region of the Carni ioyning vnto that of the Iapides the riuer Timavus and the castle Pucinum so famous for good wine The vale and Firth Tergestinus taking name of the Colonie Tergeste 23 miles from Aquileia beyond which six miles is the riuer Formio 189 miles from Rauenna the ancient bound or limit of Italy enlarged but at this day of Istria which was so named of the riuer Ister flowing out of the riuer Danubius into Adria and ouer against the same Ister the gullet or mouth of Padus also entreth thither by the contrary rushing streames of which two riuers the sea between both beginneth to be more milde as many Authors haue reported but vntruly and Cornelius Nepos also although he
riuer Calycadnus The cape Sarpedon the townes Olme and Mylae the Cape and towne both of Venus the very next harbor from whence men passe into the Isle Cypres But in the maine land you shall finde these townes Myanda Anemurium Coracesium and the riuer Melas the antient bound that limiteth Cilicia Farther within-forth are to be spoken of the Anazarbenes at this day Caesar Augustani Castabla Epiphania before-time Eniandos Eleusa and Iconium Seleucia vpon the riuer Calicadmus sirnamed also Trachiotis a city remoued backward from the sea where it was called Hormia Furthermore within the country the riuers Liparis Bombos and Paradisus Last of all the mountaine Iubarus All Cosmographers haue ioyned Pamphylia to Cilicia and neuer regarded the Nation of Isaurica being a country by it selfe hauing within it these towns Isaura Clibanus Lalassis And it shoots down to the sea side full vpon the frontiers of the country Anemurium aboue-said In like sort as many as haue set forth maps and descriptions of the world had no knowledge at all of the Nation Homonades confining vpon it notwithstanding they haue a good towne within it called Homona Indeed the other fortresses viz. 44 lie hidden close among the hollow vallies hils of that country There inhabit the mountainers ouer their heads the Pisidians somtime called Sobymi whose chiefe colony is Caesaria the same that Antiochia Their townes be Oroanda and Sagalessos This nation is inclosed as it were within Lycaonia lying within the iurisdiction of the lesse Asia and euen so together with it the Philomelians Timbrians Leucolithi Pelteni and Hyrienses resort thither for law and iustice There is a gouernment or Tetrarchy also out of the quarter of Lycaonia on that side that bordereth vpon Galatia vnto which belong 14 States or cities the chiefe whereof is called Iconium As for the nations of Lyconia those of any note be Tembasa vpon Taurus Sinda in the confines of Galatia and Cappadocia But on the side thereof aboue Pamphilia ye meet with Myliae discended in old time from Thrace who haue for their head city Aricanda As for Pamphilia it was in antient time called Mopsopia The Pamphylian sea ioineth to the Cilician The townes scituate vpon that coast be Side Aspendus on the hill Plantanistus and Perga Also the cape Leucolla the mount Sardemisus the riuer Eurymedon running hard by Aspendum Moreouer Cataractes the riuer neere vnto which stand Lyrnessus and Olbia and the vtmost towne of all that coast Phaselis Fast vpon it lieth the Lycian sea and the nation of the Lycians where the sea makes a huge great gulfe The mountaine Taurus likewise confining vpon the Levant sea doth limit Lycia and Cilicia with the promontorie Chelidonium This Taurus is a mighty mountain and determineth as a judge an infinite number of nations So soone as he is risen from the coast of the East Indian sea hee parteth in twaine and taking the right hand passeth Northward and on the left hand Southward somwhat bending into the West yea and diuiding Asia through the middest and but that he meeteth with the seas ready to stop and dam vp the whole earth besides He retireth back therefore as being curbed toward the North fetching a great circuit and so making his way as if Nature of purpose opposed the seas eftsoones against him to bar him of his passage of one side the Phoenician sea of another the great sea of Pontus the Caspian Hyrcanian seas likewise and full against him the lake Moeotis And notwithstanding all these bars within which he is pent twined and wrested yet maketh he means to haue the mastery and get from them all and so winding byas he passeth on vntill he encounter the Riphaean hils which are of his owne kinde and euer as he goeth is entituled with a number of new names For he is called Imaus where he first beginneth a little forward Emodus Paropamisus Circius Canibades Parphariades Choatras Oreges Oroandes Niphates and then Taurus Neuerthelesse where he is highest and as it were ouer-reacheth himselfe there they name him Caucasus where he stretcheth forth his armes like as if he would now and then be doing with the seas he changeth is name to Sarpedon Coracesius and Cragus and then once again he takes his former name Taurus euen where he opens and makes passage as it were to let in the world And yet for all these waies and ouertures he claimeth his owne stil and these passages are called by the names of gates in one place Armeniae in another Caspiae and sometimes Ciliciae Ouer and besides when he is broken into parcels and escaped far from the sea he taketh many names from diuers and sundry nations on euery side for on the right hand he is termed Hyrcanus and Caspius on the left Pariedrus Moschicus Amazonicus Coraxicus and Scythicus and generally throughout all Greece Ceraunius To returne then to Lycia being past the foresaid cape there Chelidonium ye come to the towne Simena the hill Chimaera which casteth flames of fire euery night the city Hephaestinm where the mountains about it likewise oftentimes are known to burne Somtimes the city Olympus stood there but now nothing to be seene but mountaines and amongst them these townes Gage Corydalla and Rhodiopolis On the sea coast the city Lymira vpon a riuer to which Aricandus runneth also the mountaine Massyrites the cities Andriara and Myra Also these townes Apyre and Antiphellos which somtime was called Habessus and more within-forth in a corner Phellus Then come ye to Pyrrha and so to Xanthus 15 miles from the sea and to a riuer likewise of that name Soon after ye meet with Patara before-time named Sataros and Sydinia seated vpon an hill and so to the promontorie Ciagus Beyond which ye shall enter vpon a gulfe as big as the former vpon which standeth Pinara and Telmessus the vtmost bound in the marches of Lycia In antient time Lycia had in it 60 townes but now not aboue 36. Of which the principall and of greatest note besides the aboue named be Canae Candiba where is the famous wood Oenium Podalia Choma vpon the riuer Adesa Cyane Ascandalis Amelas Noscopium Tlos and Telanorus As for the midland parts of the maine you shall finde Chabalia with three townes thereto belonging Oenonda Balbura and Bubon When you are beyond Telmessus you meet with the Asiaticke sea otherwise called Carpathium and this coast is properly called Asia Agrippa hath diuided it in two parts whereof the one by his description confronteth vpon Phrygia and Lycaonia Eastward but on the West side it is limited with the Aegean sea Southward it bounds vpon Egypt and in the North vpon Paphlagonia the length thereof by his computation is 470 miles the bredth 300. As for the other he saith That Eastward it confineth vpon Armenia the lesse Westward vpon Phrygia Lycaonia and Pamphylia on the North it butteth vpon the prouince or realm of Pontus and on the South side is inclosed with the
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
of the dunghill are as proud and high minded ye shal see them to march stately carying their neck bolt vpright with a combe on their head like the crest of a soldiers helmet And there is not a bird besides himself that so oft looketh aloft to the Sun and sky and then vp goeth the taile and all which he beares on high turning backward again on the top like a hook And hereupon it is that marching thus proudly as they do the very Lions which of all wilde beasts be most couragious stand in feare and awe of them and will not abide the sight of them Now of these Cocks some of them are made for nothing els but war and fighting and neuer are they well but in quarrels brawles and fraies and these be cocks of kind and the countries from whence they come are grown into name being much renowned for their breed as namely Rhodus and Tenagra in the first and highest degree In a second ranke and place be those of Melos and Chalcis Vnto these birds for their worth dignity the purple robe at Rome and all magistrats of state disdain not to giue honor These be they that by their tripudium solistimum i. hearty feeding obserued by the pullitiers shew good successe These rule our great rulers euery day and there is not a mighty L. or state of Rome that dare open or shut the dore of his house before he knowes the good pleasure of these fowles and that which more is the soueraigne magistrate in his majestie of the Roman empire with the regall ensignes of rods and axes caried before him neither sets forward nor reculeth backe without direction from these birds they giue order to whole armies to aduance forth to battel again command them to stay and keep within the camp These were they that gaue the signall and foretold the issue of all those famous foughten fields whereby we haue atchieued all our victories throughout the whole world and in one word these birds command those great Commanders of all nations vpon the earth as acceptable to the gods in sacrifice with their smal fibres filaments of their inwards as the greatest and fattest oxen that are killed for sacrifice Moreouer their crowing out of order too soon before their houre or too late and namely in the euening portendeth also and presageth somwhat by it selfe For well known it is that by their crowing at one time all night long they fore-signified to the Boeotians that noble victorie of theirs atchieued ouer the Lacedaemonians For this interpretation and coniecture was giuen thereupon of a fortunat day because that bird neuer croweth if he be beaten or ouercome If they be once carued and made capons they crow no more And this feat is practised vpon them two manner of waye namely either by burning their loines toward their kidnies with a red hot yron or else by cauterising their legs beneath and their spurs and then presently applying a plaister vnto the exulcerate and blistered place made of potters white clay or chalky earth and being thus serued they will sooner feed and be fat At Pergamus euery yeare there is a solemne shew exhibited openly to the people of Cocke-fighting as if sword-fencers were brought within the lists to fight at outterance We finde in record among our Annales that within the territorie of Ariminum in that yeare when Marcus Lepidus and Quintus Catulus were Consuls there was a dunghill cocke did speake and it was about a ferme-house in the countrey belonging to one Galerius But this hapned neuer but once for ought that I could euer heare or learne CHAP. XXII ¶ Of Geese and who first eat the Goose liuer Also of the leafe of a Goose of Comagena THe Goose likewise is very vigilant and watchfull witnesse the Capitoll of Rome which by the meanes of Geese was defended and saued whereas at the same time through the default of dogs which should haue giuen warning all had like to haue bin lost Wherefore the first thing that the Censors do by vertue of their office is to take order for the Geese of the Capitol and to appoint some one man of purpose to see vnto them that they haue meat enough Moreouer they are said to be giuen much to loue for at Argos there was a Goose that was wonderously inamoured of a faire boy named Olenus as also of a damosel whose name was Glauce who vsed to play on the lute before king Ptolomaeus and by report at the same time a Ram made court vnto the said wench and was in loue with her It may be credibly thought also that this creature hath some sparks as it were of reason vnderstanding and learning for Lacydes the Philosopher had one of them about him which would neuer leaue him night nor day neither in the open street abroad nor in priuat house at home but would follow him euen to his close and secret baines where he vsed to bathe But our countrimen and citisens of Rome beleeue me are wiser now adaies who know forsooth how to make a dainty dish of their Liuer For in those Geese that are kept vp and cram'd fat in coup the liuer grows to be exceeding great and when it is taken forth of the belly it waxeth bigger still if it be steeped in milk and sweet mede together Good cause therefore it is that there be some question and controuersie about the first inuentor of this great good and singular commoditie to mankind whether it were Scipio Metellus a man who lately was called to be Consulior M. Sestius who in those daies was by his birth a gentleman of Rome But to leaue that stil vndecided this is certainly known that Messalinus Cotta son to that Messala the Orator found out the secret to broile fry the flat broad feet of Geese and together with cocks combs to 〈◊〉 a sauory dish of meat thereof between two platters For surely I for my part will giue euery man his due and right and will not defraud them of their singular praise and honour who haue bin benefactors to the kitchen and proceeded masters in cookerie A maruellous thing of these birds that a flock of them should come all the way bare foot from * Terwin and Torney in France as far as to Rome Their order was who had the conduct of them in this large voyage to bring those forward that were weary and lagged behind into the vaward forefront and so the rest by a certain thick vnited squadron which naturally they make going together driue the others before them A second commoditie that Geese yeeld especially those that be white is their plume and downe For in some places their soft feathers are pluckt twice a yeare and yet they cary feathers again and be as well couered with plume as before and euermore the neerer to the skin and flesh the softer is the downe But of all other the finest and best is that which is brought out of
waspes hunt after the greater flies and when they haue whipt off their heads carry away the rest of their bodies for their prouision The wild Hornets vse to keep in hollow trees all winter time like other Insects they lie hid and liue not aboue two yeres If a man be stung with them hardly he escapes without an ague and some haue written that 27 pricks of theirs will kill a man The other Hornets which seeme to be the gentler be of two sorts the lesse of body do worke and trauell for their liuing and they die when winter is come but the greater sort of them continue two yeares and those also are nothing dangerous but mild and tractable These make their nests in the spring and the same for the most part hauing foure dores or entries vnto them wherein the lesser labouring hornets abouesaid are ingendred When those are quick brought to perfection gotten abroad they build longer nests in which they bring forth those that shall be mothers and breeders by which time those yong hornets that worke be ready to do their businesse and feed these other Now these mothers appeare broader than the rest and doubtfull it is whether they haue any sting or no because they are neuer seen to thrust them forth These likewise haue their drones among them as wel as Bees Some think that toward winter these all do lose their stings Neither Hornets nor Waspes haue kings or swarmes after the maner of Bees but yet they repaire their kind and maintaine their race by a new breed and generation CHAP. XXII ¶ Of Silk-wormes the Bombylius and Necydalus And who first inuented silke cloath AFourth kind of flie there is breeding in Assyria greater than those aboue named called Bombyx i. the Silke-worme They build their nests of earth or clay close sticking to some stone or rock in manner of salt and withall so hard that scarcely a man may enter them with the point of a spear In which they make also wax but in more plenty than bees and after that bring forth a greater worme than all the â—…est before rehearsed These flies ingender also after another sort namely of a greater worme or grub putting forth two hornes after that kind and these be certain canker-wormes Then these grow afterwards to be Bombylij and so forward to Necydali of which in six moneths after come the silke-wormes Bombyces Silk-worms spin weaue webs like to those of the spiders and all to please our dainty dames who thereof make their fine silks and veluets forme their costly garments and superfluous apparell which are called Bombycina The first that deuised to vnweaue these webs of the silke-worme and to weaue the same againe was a woman in Coos named Pamphila daughter of Latous and surely she is not to be defrauded of her due honor and praise fot the inuention of that fine silke Tiffanie Sarcenet and Cypres which in stead of apparell to couer and hide shew women naked thorough them CHAP. XXIII ¶ Of the Silkeworme in Cos. IT is commonly said that in the Isle Cos there be certaine Silkwormes engendred of floures which by the meanes of rain-showers are beaten downe and fall from the Cypres tree Terebinth Oke and Ash and they soone after doe quicken and take life by the vapor arising out of the earth And men say that in the beginning they are like vnto little Butterflies naked but after a while being impatient of the cold are ouergrowne with haire and against the winter arme themselues with good thick-clothes for being rough-footed as they are they gather all the cotton and downe of the leaues which they can come by for to make their fleece After this they fal to beat to felt thicken it close with their feet then to card it with their nailes which done they draw it out at length and hang it betweene branches of trees and so kembe it in the end to make it thin and subtill When al is brought to this passe they enwrap enfold themselues as it were in a round bal and clew of thread and so nestle within it Then are they taken vp by men put in earthen pots kept there warme and nourished with bran vntill such time as they haue wings acording to their kind and being thus well clad and appointed they be let go to do other businesse Now as touching the wooll or fleece which they haue begun men suffer it to relent in some moisture and so anon it is spun into a small thread with 〈◊〉 spindle made of some light Kex or Reed This is the making of that fine Say wherof silk cloth is made which men also are not abashed to put on and vse because in summer they would go light and thin And so far do men draw back now a daies from carying a good corslet armor on their backs that they think their ordinarie apparell doth ouer-lode them Howbeit hitherto haue they not medled with the Assyrian Silkworme but left it for the fine wiues and dames of the city CHAP. XXIV ¶ Of Spiders and their generation IT were not amisse to joine hereunto a discourse of Spiders for their admirable nature which deserues a speciall consideration Wherin this is first to be noted that of them there be many kinds and those so well known vnto euery man that needles is to be particularize stand much vpon this point As for those which be called Phalangia their stinging and biting is venomous their bodie small of diuers colors and sharpe pointed forward and as they go they seeme to hop and skip A second sort be black and their feet are exceeding long All of them haue in their legs three joints The least of this kind called Lupi spin not at all nor make any webs The greater stretch forth their webs before the small entries into their holes within the ground But the third kind of Spiders be they which are so wonderfull for their fine spinning and skilful workmanship these weaue the great and large cobwebs that we see yet their very womb yeeldes all the matter and stuffe wherof theybe made Whether it be that at some certain season naturally their belly is so corrupt as Democritus saith or that within it there is a certain bed as it were which engenders the substance of silke But surely whatsoeuer it is so sure and steadie nailes the Spider hath so fine so round and euen a thread she spinnes hanging thereunto herselfe and vsing the weight of her owne bodie in stead of a wherue that a wonder it is to see the manner thereof She begins to weaue at the very mids of the web and when she hath laid the warpe brings ouer the woofe in compasse round The mashes and marks she dispenses equallâ—… by euen spaces yet so as euery course growes wider than other and albeit they do increase still from narrow to be broader yet are they held and tied fast by knots that canot be vndone Mark I
be sodden in wine and water they serue in stead of a broth or grewell so do no fruit els but Pome and Peare-Quinces CHAP. XVI ¶ The manner how to preserue Apples THe generall rules to keep and preserue Apples are these Imprimis That the solars be wel planked and boorded in a cold and drie place prouided alwaies that the windows to the North do stand open especially euery faire day Item to keep the windows into the South shut against the winds out of that corner and yet the North winds also where they blow doe cause Apples to shrink and riuell ill fauouredly Item That Apples be gathered after the Aequinox in the Autumne and neither before the full of the Moone nor the first houre of the day Moreouer that all the Apples which fell be seuered from the other by themselues and laid apart also that they be bedded vpon straw mats or chaffe vnder them that they be so couchedas that they touch not one another but haue spaces between to receiue equall aire for to bee vented To conclude this is well knowne that the Amerine Apples doe last and keepe good long whereas the honie Apples will abide no time CHAP. XVII ¶ How to keep Quinces Pome-granats Peares Sorvises and Grapes FOr the good keeping and preseruing of Quinces there must be no aire let into them where they are enclosed or else they ought to be confected in sodden honey or boiled therein Pomegranats should be plunged into sea-water boiling and so hardened therein and after that they be dried in the Sun three daies so as they be not left abroad in the night to take dew they would be hanged vp in a solar and when a man list to vse them then they must be wel washed in fresh water M. Varro sets downe the manner to keep them within great earthen vessels in sand And if they be not ripe he would haue the earthen pots bottomes broke off and so the Pomegranates to be put in and couered all ouer with mould but the mouth therof must be well stopped for letting any aire in prouided alwaies that the steele and the branch wherto the fruit groweth be pitched For so quoth he they will not giue ouer to grow still yea and proue bigger than if they had remained vpon the tree As for other Pomegranats i. that are ripe they may be wrapped and lapped one by one in fig-leaues such as are not fallen but plucked from off the tree greene and then to be put into twigge paniers of oisiers or else daubed ouer with potters blay He that would keep Peares long must put them in earthen vessels turned with the bottomes vpward well varnished or annealed within couered also with saw dust or fine shauings and so enterred As for the Tarentine Peares they abide longest on the tree ere they be gathered The Anitian Peares be well preserued in cuit-wine As for Soruisses they are kept also in trenches within the ground but the couer of the vessel whereinto they are put ought to be well plastered all ouer and so stand two foot couered with earth also they may be set in a place exposed open to the Sun with the bottome of the vessells vpward yea and within great barrels they may be hung vp with their branches and all after the manner of grape-clusters Some of our moderne writers handle this argument more deepely than others and fetch the matter farre off giung out rules in this manner saying That for to haue Apples or Grapes de garde that is to say fit to be preserued and to last long the trees that beare the one and the other ought to be pruned and cut betimes in the waine of the Moone in faire weather and when the winds blow drie Likewise they affirme That fruits to be preserued would be chosen from drie grounds gathered before they be full ripe and this would be looked vnto in any hand that the Moon at the gathering time be vnder the earth and not appearing in our hemisphaere And more particularly for Grape bunches they would be gathered with a foot or heele from the old hard wood and the Grapes that are corrupt and rotten among the rest be clipped off with a paire of sheers or plucked out with pincers then to be hung vp within a great new earthen vessell well pitched with the head or lid thereof thoroughly stopped and plastered vp close to exclude all aire After which manner they say Soruisses and Peares may be kept but so as in any case the twigs ond steeles whereby they hang be well besmeared with pitch Moreouer order would be giuen that the barrels and vessells wherein they are kept be far ynough from water Some there be again who keep Grapes together with their branch after the same maner in plaster but so as both ends of the said branch sticke in the head of the sea-Onion Squilla and others let Grape-clusters hang within hogsheads and pipes hauing wine in them but so as the Grapes touch not the wine in any case There be also that put Apples and such fruits in shallow pans or pancheons of earth and let them swim and flote aloft vpon the wine within their vessels for besides that this is a way to preserue them the wine also as they think will thereby get a pleasant odoriferous tast Others ye haue besides that chuse rather to preserue al these fruits as well Apples Pears c. as Grapes couered in Millet seed Howbeit the most part dig a trench or ditch two foot deep in the ground they floore it with sand in the bottome and lay their fruits thereupon then they stop the top with an earthen lid and afterwards couer al with earth Some there are which smeare their bunches of Grapes all ouer with potters clay and when they are dried in the Sun hang them vp in solars for their vse and against the time that they should occupie them steep them in the water and so wash off the foresaid clay But for to keep Apples that are of any worth they temper the same clay with wine and make a morter thereof wherein they lap the said Apples Now if those Apples be of the best kind and right soueraigne after the same sort they couer them with a crust of the like past or morter or else clad them within a coat of wax and if they were not fully ripe afore they grow by that means and break their crust or couer what euer it be But this would not be forgotten that they vse alwaies to set the Apple or fruit vpright vpon the taile howsoeuer they be kept Some there are who gather Apples and such like fruit with their slips and sprigs hide them within the pith of an Elder tree and then couer them in earth as is before written And others there are who for euery Peare or Apple haue a seuerall earthen pot and after that their lids be well closed and stopped with pitch then they enclose them again with great vessels
womb and this reason soundeth more probable than that they should be scattered because in their fall they rebound and make a ratling to drowne forsooth all other noises from the bride-bed or chamber That these Nuts also were brought out of Persis first by commandement of the Kings is euident by their Greeke names for the best kind of them they call Persicon and Basilicon as one would say the Persian and Royall nut and these indeed were the first names Afterwards the nut came to be named Caryon by all mens confession for the heauinesse of head which it causeth by reason of the strong smell Their outward husk serues to die wooll and the little nuts when they come new forth are good to giue the haire of the head a reddish or yellow colour The experiment therof was first found by staining folks hands as they handled them The elder that nuts be longer kept the more oleous and fatty they are The only difference in the sundry kinds consisteth in the shel for that in some it is tender and brittle in others hard in one sort it is thin in another thick lastly some haue smooth and plain shells others again be as full of holes and cranies Walnuts be the fruit alone that Nature hath inclosed with a couer parted in twaine and so is ioyned and set together for the shell is diuided and cleft iust in the middle and each halfe resembleth a little boat The kernell within is distinguished into foure parts and between euerie of them there runneth a membrane or skin of a wooddy substance As for other nuts their meat is solid and compact as we may see in Filberds and Hazels which also are a kind of nuts and were called heretofore Abellinae of their natiue place from whence came good ones at first They came out of Pontus into Natolia and Greece and therefore they be called Pontick nuts These Filberds likewise are couered with a soft bearded huske and as well the shell as the kernell is round and solid all of one entire piece These nuts also are parched for to be eaten and within their belly they haue in the mids a little chit or spirt as if it were a nauill As for Almonds they are of the nature of nuts and are reckoned in a third ranke An vpper husk they haue like as Walnuts but it is thin like as also a second couerture of a shell The kernell differeth somewhat for broader it is and flatter and their skin more hard more sharpe and hoter in taste than that of other nuts Now whether the Almond tree were in Italy during the life of Cato there is some doubt and question made because he nameth the Greeke nuts which some do hold for a kind of walnut Mention maketh he besides of the Hazel nuts or filberds as well the Galbae as the Prenestine commended by him aboue all others which hee saith are put vp in pots and kept fresh and green within the earth Now adaies the Thasian and Albeusian nuts be in great account and two sorts besides of the Tarentine whereof the one hath a tender and brittle shell the other as hard and those are the biggest of all other and nothing round He speaketh also of the soft shaled Filberds Molluscae the kernels whereof doe swell and cause their shels to breake in sunder But to return again to our Walnuts some to honor them interpret their names Iuglandes as a man would say the nuts of Iupiter It is not long since I heard a knight of Rome a gentleman of high calling and who had bin Consul professe and say that he had certain walnut trees that bare twice a yeare As for Fisticks we haue spoken already of them To conclude these kind of nuts the aboue named Vitellius brought first into Italy at the same time namely a little before the death of Tiberius the Emperor and withall Flaccus Pompeius a knight of Rome who serued in the wars together with him caried them ouer into Spain CHAP. XXIII ¶ Of Chestnuts eight kindes WE entitule Chestens also by the name of Nuts although indeed they are more aptly to be called a kind of Mast. This fruit what euer it be is inclosed within a huske and the same defended and armed all ouer with a rampier and palisade as it were of sharp pricks like the skin of an vrchin whereas the A corn and other Mast is but half couered and that defence in them is begun only And certes a wonderfull matter it is that we set so little store by this fruit which Nature is so carefull to hide and defend Vnder one of these husks ye shall find somtime three Chestnuts and those hauing certain tough pils or shells very pliable But the skin or filme within and which is next to the body or substance of the fruit vnlesse it be pilled off and taken away marreth the taste of it like as it doth also in other nut-kernells Chestnuts if they be rosted are better and more pleasant meat than otherwise They vse also to grind them to meale and thereof is made a kind of bread which poore women for hunger will eat The first Chestnuts were known to grow about Sardis from thence were brought wherfore the Greeks call them Sardinian nuts but afterwards they came to be named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Iupiters nuts when as men began to graffe them for thereby they became more excellent And this day there be many sorts of them The Tarentine be gentle and not hard of digestion and in forme flat and plaine That which they call Balanitis is rounder it will soone be pilled and cleansed and of it selfe will leape out of the skin And of this kind the Salarian is more neat flat and smooth the Tarentine not so easie to be handled and dealt withall the Corellian is more commended than the rest as also the Meterane which commeth of it by grassing the manner whereof we will shew when we come to treat of graffes These haue a red pilling in which regard they are preferred before either the three cornered or the blacke common ones which be also called Coctiuae i. Chestnuts to be boiled The best Chestnuts are they which grow about Tarentum and Naples in Campaine All the rest are good in manner for nothing but to feed swine so close sticketh the pill or inner skin also as if it were soudered to the kernell within and so hard it is to seperate the one from the other CHAP. XXIIII ¶ Of Carobes of fleshie and pulpous fruits of Mulberries of liquid kernels or graines and of berries THe fruit called Carobes or Caracts may seeme to come neare vnto the foresaid Chestnuts so passing sweet they be but that their cods also are good to be eaten They bee as long as a mans finger and otherwhiles hooked like a faulcheon and an inch in bredth As for mast it cannot be reckoned among fruit properly called Poma and therefore we will speak
cherished mankind in that rude wild age and poore infancie of the world but that I am forced to break the course of mine history and preuented with a deep study and admiration arising from the truth and ground of experience to consider What maner of life it might be to liue without any trees or shrubs at all growing out of the earth CHAP. I. ¶ Of Nations that haue no Trees nor Plants among them Of wonderfull trees in the Northerly regions WEe haue shewed heretofore that in the East parts verily toward the maine Ocean there be many countries in that estate to wit altogether destitute of trees In the North also I my selfe haue seene the people called Cauchi as well the greater as the lesse for so they be distinguished where there is no shew or mention at all of any tree whatsoeuer For a mightie great compasse their Country lieth so vnder the Ocean and subiect to the tide that twice in a day night by turns the sea ouer floweth a mighty deale of ground when it is floud and leaues all dry again at the ebbe return of the water insomuch as a man can hardly tell what to make of the outward face of the earth in those parts so doubtfull it is between sea and land The poore silly people that inhabit those parts either keep together on such high hils as Nature hath afforded here and there in the plain or els raise mounts with their own labor and handy work like to Tribunals cast vp and reared with turf in a camp aboue the height of the sea at any spring tide when the floud is highest and thereupon they set their cabbins and cottages Thus dwelling as they do they seeme when it is high water that all the plain is ouerspread with the sea round about as if they were in little barks floting in the midst of the sea againe at a low water when the sea is gone looke vpon them you would take them for such as had suffered shipwracke hauing their vessels cast away and left lying ato-side amid the sands for ye shall see the poore wretches fishing about their cottages and following after the fishes as they go away with the water they haue not a four-footed beast among them neither inioy they any benefit of milk as their neighbour nations do nay they are destitute of all means to chase wild beasts and hunt for venison in as much as there is neither tree nor bush to giue them harbor nor any neare vnto them by a great way Sea-weeds or Reike rushes and reeds growing vpon the washes and meers serue them to twist for cords to make their fishing nets with These poore souls and silly creatures are faine to gather a slimy kinde of fatty mud or oase with their very hands which they drie against the wind rather than the Sun and with that earth for want of other fuell they make fire to seeth their meat such as it is and heat the inward parts of their body ready to be starke and stiffe againe with the chilling North winde No other drink haue they but rain water which they saue in certain ditches after a shower and those they dig at the very entry of their cottages And yet see this people ss wretched and miserable a case as they be in if they were subdued at this day by the people of Rome would say and none sooner than they that they liued in slauerie But true it is that Fortune spareth many men to let them liue still in paine and misery Thus much as touching want of woods and trees On the other side as wonderfull it is to see the mighty forrests at hand thereby which ouerspread all the rest of Germany and are so big that they yeeld both cooling and shade to the whole countrey yea the very tallest woods of all the rest are a little way vp higher in the countrey and not farre from the Cauchi abouesaid and especially those that grow about the two great loughes or lakes in that tract Vpon the banks wherof as also vpon the sea-coasts there are to be seene thick rows of big Okes that loue their seat passing wel and thriue vpon it in growth exceeding much which trees happening to be either vndermined by the waues and billowes of the sea vnder them eating within their roots or chased with tempestuous winds beating from aboue carry away with them into the sea in manner of Islands a great part of the Continent which their roots doe claspe and embrace wherewith being counterpoised and ballaised they stand vpright floting and making saile as it were amid the waues by the means of their mighty armes which serue in stead of tackling And many a time verily such Okes haue frighted our fleets and armadoes at sea and especially in the night season when as they seemed to come directly against their proes standing at anker as if of purpose they were driuen vpon them by the waues of the sea insomuch as the sailers passengers within hauing no other means to escape them were put to their shifts and forced for to addresse themselues and range a nauall battell in order and all against trees as their very enemies CHAP. II. ¶ Of the huge and great Forest Hercynia IN the same North climat is the mighty forrest Hercynia A huge and large wood this is stored with tall and big Okes that neuer to this day were topt or lopt It is supposed they haue been euer since the creation of the world and in regard of their eternall immortality surmounting all miracles besides whatsoeuer And to let passe all other reports which happely would be thought incredible this is knowne for certain That the roots of the trees there run and spread so far within the ground that they encounter and meet one another in which resistance they swell and rise vpward yea and raise vp mounts of earth with them to a good height in many places or where as the earth followes not a man shal see the bare roots embowed arch-wise and mounting aloft as high as the very boughes which roots are so interlaced or els rub one against the other striuing as it were not to giue place that they make a shew of great portailes or gates standing open so wide that a whole troupe or squadron of horsmen may ride vpright vnder them in ordinance of battell CHAP. III. ¶ Of trees bearing Mast. MAst tres they were all for the most part which the Romanes euer so highly honoured and held in best account CHAP. IV. ¶ Of the Ciuicke garland and who were honoured with chaplets of Tree-leaues FRom Mast trees and the Oke especially came the Ciuicke coronets And in very truth these were the most honorable badges and ornaments that could possibly be giuen vnto souldiers and men of war in regard of their vertue and man-hood yea and now for a good while our Emperors haue had this chaplet granted vnto them in token and testimony of clemency euer
leather the root to die wooll And as for the fruit or Apples that it beareth they are a speciall kind by themselues for all the world they resemble the snouts or muzles of wild beasts and many of the smaller sort seeme to hang to one that is bigger than the rest As concerning boughs of trees some are termed blind because they put not forth certaine eies or chits where they should bud which happeneth somtime by a naturall defect when they are not of validity to thrust out a bud otherwhiles it is occasioned by some wrong and iniurie done namely when they be cut off and in the place of the cut there groweth as it were a callous skar that dulleth the vertue of the tree Furthermore looke what is the nature that forked trees haue in their boughes the same hath the Vine in her eies and burgeons the same also haue canes and reeds in their joints and knots Ouer and besides all trees toward their root and the nearest to the ground are thicker than else where Some run vp altogether in height and therein shew thrir growth as the Firre or Deale tree the Larch Date-tree Cypresse Elme and generally all that rise vp in an entire stocke and are not diuided Of those also that branch and put out many boughes there is a kind of Cherry-tree that is found to beare armes like beames forty cubites long and two foot in thicknesse square throughout the whole length CHAP. XXXI ¶ Of the Boughes Barke and Roots of trees THere are trees that immediatly from the root thrust out boughes and branches as do the Apple-trees Some be couered with a thin rind as the Lawrell and Iâ—…e tree others with a thicke barke as the Okes. In some a man shall find the barke euen and smooth as in the Apple-tree and fig-tree the same in others is rough and rugged as is to be seene in Okes and Date-trees And ordinarily all old trees haue more riueled barks and furrowed than the younger In many trees the bark naturally doth breake and cleaue of the own accord and namely in the Vine From some it shaleth and falleth off as from the Apple tree and the Arbut The cork and the Poplar haue a fleshie and pulpous barke the rind of the Vine and the Reed is made in manner of a membrane or thin skin In Cherry trees it is as slender as paper and runneth into rolls but Vines Lindens and Firs are clad with tunicles and coats of many folds In some again the rind is but single as in the Fig-tree and the Cane or Reed And thus much of Barke There is as great difference in the root For the fig-tree the Oke and the Plane haue great store of roots and large spurns contrariwise in the Apple tree they are short and small the firre and Larch haue one tap root and no more for vpon that one main master-root they rest and are founded howbeit many small strings and petie spurns shoot out of the sides In the Bay-tree the roots be more grosse and vnequally embossed and likewise in the oliue which also spredeth out into many branches But those of the oke be of a carnous substance and verily all the kind of okes do root deep into the ground Certes if we giue credit to Virgil that sort of them which are called Esculi go down as deep into the earth with their roots as they arise mount aboue ground with their heads The roots of the Apple-tree Oliue and Cypresse lie very ebbe and creep hard vnder the sourd of the ground Moreouer there be roots that run direct and streight as those of the Bay and Oliue there be againe that wind and turne as they go as those of the fig-tree Some are all ouergrowne and full of hairy strings as the firre-root and many others of wild trees that grow in forrests from which the mountains vse to pluck those fine fibers smal threds wherewith they twist goodly faire paniers couers for flaggons and bottels and work many other vessels prety deuises Some writers as namely Theophrastus hold opinion and haue put down in their books that no roots goe lower into the earth than that the Sunnes heat may pierce vnto them and giue them a kind warmth the which is more or lesse say they according to the nature of the soile as it is either lighter or lean or massier richer and faster compact But I take this to be a meere vntruth This is certain that we find in antient writers that a yong Fir when it was to be transplanted and set again had a root that went eight cubits within the earth and yet it was not digged vp all whole but broken in the taking vp and Ieft somewhat behind The roots of Citron trees are biggest of all other and spread most Next to them are those of the Planes Okes and other Mast-trees Some trees there be the roots wherof like better liue longer the more ebbe that they lie within the vpper face of the ground and namely Lawrels and therefore they spring fresh againe and put forth better when the old stock is withered and cut away Others hold that trees which haue short stumped roots do sooner decay liue lesse while But deceiued they are and may be reproued by the instance of fig-trees which liue least while and yet their roots are longest of any other I suppose this also to be as false which some haue held and deliuered in writing That the roots do diminish and decay as the trees do waxe old for the contrary hath bin seen by an aged oke which by the violent force of a tempest was ouerthrowne the root whereof tooke vp a good acre of ground in compasse Moreouer a common thing it is and ordinary to replant and recouer many trees that haue bin blown down and laid along for they will reioine knit againe and reuiue by meanes of the earth euen as a wound doth vnite by the solder of a callous cicatrice And this is a most vsuall and familiar practice obserued in the Planes which by reason of their great heads so thicke of boughes gather windes most and are soonest subiect to their rage if any one of them by that means be fallen they lop their boughes and discharge them of their weightie load and then set them vpright again in their owne place as it were in a socket and they will take root and prosper And in good faith this hath bin done heretofore already in Walnut trees Oliues and many other to the like proofe CHAP. XXXII ¶ Of certaine prodigious trees and presages obserued by them By what meanes trees grow of their owne accord That all plants grow not euery where and what trees they be that are appropriate to certaine regions and are not elsewhere to be found WE reade in Chronicles and records that many trees haue fallen without wind and tempest or any other apparent cause but only by way of prodigie and presage of some future euent
he is that hee beareth downe before him the roofe of many a house and carrieth it cleane away CHAP. III. ¶ The societie of the skie and aire with the earth respectiue to trees SOme men do force the skie for to be obedient conformable to the earth as namely when planting in dry grounds they haue regard to the East and North and contariwise when in moist places they respect the South Moreouer it falleth out that they be driuen otherwhiles to follow the nature of the very Vines and thereby to be ruled wherupon in cold ground they plant such as be of the hastie kind and soone ripen their grapes to the end that they may come to their maturity and perfection before cold weather comes As for such Vines and trees bearing fruit as canot abide dews those they set in to the East that the Sun may soon dispatch and consume the said dew but looke what trees do loue dewes and like well therewith those they will be sure to plant against the West or at leastwise toward the North to the end they may inioy the full benefit thereof All others againe grounding in manner vpon natural reason only haue giuen counsell to set as well Vines as Trees into the Northeast And Democritus verily is of this mind that such fruits will bee more pleasant and odoriferous CHAP. IIII. ¶ The quality of sundrie regions AS touching the proper seat of the Northeast wind and of all other winds we haue spoken already in the second booke and our purpose is in the next following to treat of the rising and falling of signes and notable stars of other Astronomical points also concerning heauen Now in the mean time for this present it is sufficient that in the former rule of the North wind we seem to rest and resolue vpon the apparent and euident argument of the wholesome and healthfull climate of the heauen forasmuch as we see that euermore all such trees as stand into the South soonest shed their leaues the same reason also is to be giuen of those that grow vpon the sea coasts and albeit in some places the winds blowing from thence and the very aire of the sea be hurtfull yet in most parts the same are good and profitable Certaine plants and trees there are which take pleasure to be remot from the sea and ioy to haue the sight of it only a farre off set them neerer to the vapors and exhalations ascending from thence they will take harm and mislike therewith The like is to be said of great riuers lakes and standing pooles As for those which we haue spoken of they either burn their fruit with such mists or refresh and coole such as be hot with their shade yea take joy and prosper in the frost and cold And therfore to conclude this point the surest way is to beleeue trust vpon experience thus much for this present concerning the heauen our next discourse will be of the Earth and Soile the consideration whereof is no lesse difficult to be handled than the other First and formost all grounds are not alike good for trees and most kinds of corne For neither the black mould such as Campain standeth vpon much as in all places best for Vines or that which â—…umeth and sendeth vp small and thin mists neither is the red veine of earth any better how soeuer there be many that commend it The white earth or chalkie marle the clay also within the territory of Alba and Pompeij for a vineyard are generally preferred before all other countries although they be exceeding fat which in that case is otherwise vsually reiected On the other side the white sand about * Ticinum likewise the blacke mould or grit in many places as also the red sandy ground although it be wel mingled tempred with fat earth are all of them nothing to the purpose for increase fruitfulnesse And herein must men take heed because oftentimes their judgement may faile when it goeth but by the eie for wee must not streight waies conclude that the ground is rich battle wheron we see goodly faire tall trees to grow vnlesse it be for those trees only for where shal we meet with any higher than the Fir is there a tree again that possibly can liue where it doth No more is rank grasse plentifull forrage a true token alwaies of a good ground for there is no better pasture nor grasing to be found than in Almaine and yet dig but vp the greene sourd and the thinnest coat of turfe that may be ye shal presently come to barren sand vnder it ne yet is it by by a moist ground that hath vpon it deepe grasse and hearbes shooting vp in height no more verily than a fat and rich soile is knowne by sticking to one fingers as appeareth plainly in all sorts of clay And verily no earth doth fill vp the trenches euen againe out of which it was cast that therby a man might find out whether the ground be sad or hollow and generally all sorts thereof will cause yron to rust that shal be put into it Moreouer there is no weighing of earth in ballance to know by that means which is lighter or heauier for who could possibly euer set down the iust weight that earth should haue Againe the ground that is cast vp into banks by the ouerflow of great riuers is not alwaies commendable seeing that some plants there be that decay if they be set in water And say that some such bank were ground good enough yet it continueth not so long vnlesse it be for Willowes and oisiers onely But if you would know a rich ground indeed one of the best arguments and signes therof is this when you see it to bring forth a thick strong haulme or straw such as vsually groweth in that noble territorie Laborine within Campaine which is of that bignesse that the people of the country vse it for fewell in stead of wood Now this ground so good as it is where whensoeuer we haue found it is hard enough to be tilled and requireth great labour and husbandry putting the poore husbandman to more paines in manner with that goodnesse of it than possibly he could haue with any defects and imperfections thereof For euen the hot earth called by the name of Carbunculus which vseth to burn the corne sown therupon may be helped remedied as it is thought by setting it with plants of poore hungry vines The rough grauell stone which naturally will crumble as grit many writers there bee that allow and commend for vines As for Virgil he findeth no fault with the ground that beareth fern and brake for a Vineyard The earth that is brackish and standeth much vpon salt pâ—…tre is thought to be more found for many plants than others and in regard of vermine that vse to breed therein much safer also Neither do high banks and hils remaine vntilled and naked for want of
thirsty Now doth this ground shine againe after the plough-share resembling that veine of earth which Homer the very fountaine and spring of all good wits reported to haue bin engrauen by a god in the armour of Achilles adding moreouer that the said earth looked black withall wherein hee obserued a wonderfull piece of workemanship notwithstanding it was wrought in gold This is that ground I say which beeing new broken and turned vp with the plough the shrewd and busie birds seeke after and goe vnder the plough-share for it this is it that the very Rauens follow the plough man hard at heeles for yea and are readie for greedinesse to pecke and job vnder his very feet And here in this place I cannot chuse but relate the opinion that is currant among our roiotous and delicate gallants which some other thing also making for our purpose in the discourse of this argument which wee haue in hand Certes Cicero a man reputed as he was no lesse indeed for a second light of all good learning and literature Better are esteemed quoth hee the sweet compositions and ointments which tast of earth than of saffron where note by the way that this great Clearke chose to vse the word of tast rather than of smell in such odoriferous perfumes and mixtures Well to speake at a word surely that ground is best of all other which hath an aromaticall smell and tast with it Now if we list moreouer to be better instructed what kind of sauour and odour that should be which we would so gladly find in the earth we may oftentimes meet with that sent euen when she is not stirred with the plough but lieth stil and quiet namely a little before the sun-setting especially where a rainbow seemeth to settle pitch her tips in the Horizon also when after some long and continuall drought it beginneth to rain for then being wet and drenched therwith the earth will send vp a vapor and exhalation conceiued from the Sun so heauenly and diuine as no perfume how pleasant soeuer it be is comparable vnto it This smell there must be in it when you ere it vp with the plough which if a man find once he may be assured it is a right good ground for this rule neuer faileth so as to say a truth it is the very smel and nothing els that will iudge best of the earth and such commonly are new broken grounds where old woods were lately stocked vp for all men by a generall consent do commend such for excellent Moreouer the same ground for bearing is held to be far better whensoeuer it hath rested between and either lien ley or fallow whereas for vineyards it is clean contrary and therefore the more care and diligence is to be emploied in chusing such ground least wee approoue and verifie their opinion who say That the soile of all Italie is alreadie out of heart and weary with bearing fruit This is certaine that both there and elsewhere the constitution of the aire and weather both giueth and taketh away the opportunitie of good husbandrie that a man cannot otherwhiles do what he would for some kind of grounds there is so fat and ready to resolue into mire and dirt that it is impossible to plough them and make good worke after a shower of raine Contrariwise in Byzacium a territory of Africke it is far otherwise for there is not a better and more fruitfull piece of ground lieth without dore than it is yeelding ordinarily 150 fold let the season be dry the strongest teeme of oxen that is cannot plough it fall there once a good ground shower one poore asse with the help of a silly old woman drawing the plough-share at another side will be able to go round away with it as I my selfe haue seen many a time and often And whereas some great husbands there be that teach vs to inrich and mend one ground with another to wit by spreading fat earth vpon a lean and hungry soile likewise by casting drie light and thirstie mould vpon that which is moist and ouer-fat it is a meere follie and wastfull expence both of time and trauaile for what fruit can he euer looke to reape from such a mingle mangle of ground CHAP. VI. ¶ Of the earth which Britaine and France loue so well THe Britaines and Frenchmen haue deuised another meanes to manure their ground by a kind of lime-stone or clay which they call Marga i. Marle And verily they haue a great opinion of the same that it mightily inricheth it maketh it more plentiful This marle is a certaine fat of the ground much like vnto the glandulous kernels growing in the bodies of beasts and it is thickned in manner of marrow or the kernell of fat about it CHAP. VII ¶ The discourse of these matters continued according to the Greekes THe Greekes also haue not ouerpassed this in silence for what is it that they haue not medled withall The white clay or earth wherewith they vse to marle their grounds in the territorie of Megara those onely I meane which are moist and cold they call Leucargillae These marles all the kind of them do greatly inrich France and Britaine both and therefore it would not be amisse to speak of them more exactly In old time there were two sorts therof and no more but of late daies as mens wits are inuentiue euery day of one thing or other they haue begun to find out more kindes and to vse the same for there are now diuers marles the white the red the Columbine the clay soile the stony and the sandy and all these are but two in nature to wit either hard and churlish or else gentle and fat The triall of both is knowne by the handling and a twofold vse they yeeld either to beare corne onely or els for grasse and pasture also The stonie or grauelly soile is good only for to nourish corne which if it be white withall and the pit thereof found among springs or fountains it wil cause the ground to be infinite fruitfull but it is rough in handling and if it be laid too thick vpon the lands or leyes it wil burn the very ground The next to it is the red marle called also Capnumargos which hath intermingled in it a certaine small stony grit full of sand This stony marle the manner is to break and bruise vpon the very lands and for the first yeares hardly can the straw be mowne or cut downe for the said stones Lighter is this marle than the rest by the one halfe and therefore the cariage thereof into the field is least chargeable It ought to be spred and laid thin some thinke that it standeth somewhat vpon salt But both the one and the other will serue well for fifty yeares and the ground inriched thereby will during that time yeeld plenty as well of corne as grasse CHAP. VIII ¶ Sundry sorts of Earth and Marle OF those marles which are
backward vnder the ground And hereupon it is that folke forbeare either to go at all vpon it or else they tread very lightly Being thus sowed it must be gently watered for three daies following after the Suns setting that the earth may drinke equally in all places vntill the sprouts appeare aboue ground Now after they haue had a yeares growth they be translated and re-planted againe in rewes for by that time they are come to a span or nine inches in height but great care must be had that the time be temperat that is to say that the weather be fresh and faire without any wind Certes a wonderfull thing it is to be spoken that all the danger or security of this tree standeth vpon the choice of that only day wherein it is replanted for let there fall neuer so smal a rain or dew nay let the wind blow neuer so little it is a great hasard whether it will die For euer after it is warished and safe enough howbeit it cannot abide a glut of rain at any time following Moreouer as touching Iujubes they are likewise set of their graines in the moneth of Aprill But that kinde of Peaches or Abricots which be called Tuberes loue better to be graffed either vpon a skeg or wilde Plum-stocke or Quince or else vpon the wild Hart-Rhamme called Calabricum or Spina Cervina To knit vp this discourse the fruit Sebesten and the Servises may be graffed and planted both vpon the same kind of stocke and looke what will beare the one is apt to receiue the other CHAP. XI ¶ The manner of translating or replanting out of one seminarie or nource-garden vnto another How Elmes are to be planted Also as touching trenches SOme would haue vs to remoue plants out of one seminarie into another before they be set indeed where they should be for to continue which me-thinkes is a matter of more toile and curiositie than necessitie howsoeuer they make promise that by such transplanting the leaues will proue larger and broader Now for Elms their seed or grain is to be gathered about the Calends of March when it beginneth to turn yellow and before the leaues break forth After it hath bin dried in the shadow for two daies it is to be sown thick in a plot of ground well broken vp and laid hollow beforehand and then must there be mould searced ouer through a fine riddle to the same thickenesse as we haue appointed for the Cypres In case no raine do fall in due time it ought to be watered by hand After one yere the plants that come herof must be taken vp out of the trenches and ranges wherein they came vp and translated directly into the Elme plots where they are to grow with this care good regard that they stand a foot at least euery way distant one from another As for the male Elmes vnto which Vines are wedded because they are without seed it is better they were planted in the Autumne and for that they want seed they would be set of plants Here with vs about Rome â—…de they vse to replant them again in their groue-plots when they be fiue yeares old or as some would haue it so soon as they be come to 20 foot in height The maner whereof is this in a trench or ditch called Novenarius 3 foot deep in the ground and as many broad or rather more they are set which done for three foot in height euery way about the foot of each tree from the ground as it stands there must be banks raised of some earth after the maner of those seats which they cal Arulae in Campanie As for the spaces between tree and tree they ought to be set out and disposed according to the nature and scituation of the place and as the ground wil giue leaue In the champion and plain country those would be planted that are of a drier nature and likewise in a thinner course As for Ashes and Poplars because they make hast to spring leafe and bud out betimes it is meet that their plants likewise were set and ranged with the first that is to say about the Ideas of Februarie for they also grow of plants and may well be replanted Now for the order of setting trees either in groues hort-yards or vine-yards wee ought to follow the vsuall maner of checquer row called Quincuntial which is not so common but it is also as necessarie not only good to admit all kindes of winde to passe betweene but also faire and pleasant to the eye considering that which way soeuer a man looks there offer to his sight both the allies and rewes directly ranged in order The Opiets or Wich-Hazels are sown of seed after the same maner as Elme in like sort also are they to be remoued transplanted out of their nource-plots as if they were wild drawn from the very forrests Moreouer aboue all things this would be considered that a tree to be remoued ought to be translated either into the like ground from whence it came or else into a better For we must take heed how we remoue plants out of warme grounds where the fruit is early ripe into others that be colder or late in ripening Semblably out of cold hard places they would not be translated into warm mellow and forward Item if it be possible let the trenches be cast and digged so long before that a good thicke green sourd be ouergrowne against the time that you mean to plant Mago is of opinion That the said trenches should stand made a yeare before at the least that they might be fully seasoned with the Sun and receiue all rain winde weather throughly But in case it fall out otherwise that the opportunitie thereof be ouerslipt oâ—… our leisure wil not serue he would haue fires to be made in the midst of them two moneths before and in no case any trees to be set but after showres of rain And if the ground be tough or hard and standing vpon the cley the ditches ought according to Mago for to be three cubits deepe euery way and if they be toplant plum trees he would haue them be a hand-bredth more or spanne in deapth and digged on euery side hollow and vaulted in manner of a fournace with a narrower mouth in the top In a blacke veine of ground by his direction it is sufficient that they be two cubites and a hand-breadth or spanne deepe and made foure-square in manner of a quadrangle In the measure and proportion of these ditches the Greeke writers doe accord in one saying that they ought not to be more than two foot and a halfe deepe nor wider than two foot bare also that in no place it must be vnder a foot and a halfe deepe for that in a moist soile we shal come ordinarily neer to water about that skantlin and not before But Cato is of another judgment If quoth he the place be waterish let the trenches be
three foot broad in the mouth but in the bottome not aboue a foot and a hand-breadth but see they bee foure foot deep prouided alwaies that they be paued beneath with stone and for want thereof laid with green willow bastons and for default of them with vine cuttings or such trousse so that they lie halfe a foot thicke But considering the nature of trees wherof we haue before written I think it not amisse to adde somewhat of mine owne namely The more ebbe that any roots of trees creepe vnder the ground the deeper they must be set into the earth as for example the Ash and the Oliue tree for they and such other like ought to stand foure foot deepe As for all the rest it skils not if they goe no deeper than 3 foot for that is thought sufficient Stocke me vp this root here quoth Papyrius Cursor a Roman in General in a brauery when he meant to terrifie the Pretor of the Praenestines Whereby it is plain that the more secure safe way in his judgment was rather to cut the stocke and maister Root indeed than slightly to pare away those bare roots that appeare naked aboue ground for that mought be done and the tree neuer the worse for it Some there be that would haue round peble stones laid in the bottom of such ditches which might as well contain and keep water as let it forth and giue issue therto whereas broad flat stones would not so doe but besides hinder the root that it should not goe downe and take hold of the earth For to keep therefore a meane betweene it were good in mine opinion to lay grauell vnder the root Moreouer there be diuers men of this mind that a tree should not be remoued either vnder two yeares old or aboue three wheras others make no question to transplant them after the first yeare without more adoe Cato alloweth not of translating a tree vnlesse it beare in thicknesse more than 5 fingers And verily so exactly hath he written hereof that he would not haue forgotten to marke in the barke of trees the South side before they were taken vp in case hee had thought that it was material to the replanting of them that they should stand just in the same position and accustomed coast of the heauen as they did before for feare least that side which regarded the North if now it should be opposed against the South might cleaue and rift with the heat of the Sunne not vsed thereto and contrariwise the parts which looked Southward might now by the Northern winds be clunged and congealed withall Now there be some that affect a cleane contrarie course and namely in the Fig tree and the Vine exchaunging the one side for the other being fully persuaded that by that means they will beare leaues thicker preserue and defend their fruit better and in the end shed fewer more particularly that the fig tree therby wil be the more easie to climb Most men take great heed of this only that when they prune trees and cut off the top ends of boughes the cut may be toward the South without any regard or consideration that in so doing they expose the boughs to the danger of cleauing by reason of the hote Southern wind which lieth vncessantly beating vpon them Yet hold I rather with them that would haue branches cut Southeast or Southwest namely toward the points where the Sun is at the fift and eight houres of the day Another secret there is besides wherof they are as ignorant howbeit not to be neglected namely to beware that the roots of such trees as are to be replanted stay not long aboue ground and thereby wax drie also that trees bee not digged vp either standing into the North or in any quarter between that point and the Southeast where the Sunne riseth in midwinter in case the wind sit in those corners or at leastwise that the roots be not exposed bare against any of those winds for surely many a tree dies hereby and husbandmen neuer know the cause thereof Cato vtterly condemneth al maner of winds whatsoeuer yea and raine too all the while that trees be in remoouing Moreouer in this case it is singular good that there hang to the roots of these trees when they be translated as much of the old earth wherein they liued and grew before as may bee yea and if it were possible to bring them away with the turfes whole and entire lapped fast about the roots And therefore Cato prouided wel that such yong plants should be caried in baskets earth and altogether with the roots Doubtlesse not without very great reason there is one Author saith That it is suffiâ—…nt that the vppermost course of the old mouth that lay at the foot of the tree should be put 〈◊〉 the root thereof now when it is replanted Some write that if the bottom of the hole or graue be paued with stone where Pomegranate trees should stand the Apple or fruit that they bear wil neuer burst nor cleaue vpon the trees Also that the roots of trees when they are to be set should be laid bending a tone side and not stand direct and streight Moreouer that the tree in any case be set just in the mids of the ditch or hole made for it It is said moreouer that if a man plant a fig-tree together with the sea-onion Scilla that is a kind of the Bulbi it wil make hast to bear Figs and those wil not be subject to the worme and yet other fruits will be worm-eaten neuerthelesse set them with the said Scilla as well as you can As for the roots of a tree who makes any doubt that great care should be had in the taking of them vp so as they might seeme rather drawn forth gently and not plucked vp violently But my purpose is not to dwell in these matters nor to stand much vpon such points which haue a manifest reason and wherof no man is ignorant or doubtfull to wit that the earth is to be well driuen and beaten downe close with a rammer that it may lie fast about the roots which Cato judgeth to bee a principall point for to be obserued in this businesse who also giueth a rule that the place where a tree is cut in the body should be plastred ouer with dung couered ouer also and fast tied with leaues CHAP. XII ¶ Of the spaces and distances that ought to bee betweene trees planted of their shaddowes and droppings of the place where they should be planted IT belongeth to this place properly for to speak of the distances between tree and tree in the setting Some writers are of opinion That Pomgranat trees Myrtle trees Lawrels should be planted thicker than ordinarie howbeit with this regard that they be set 9 foot a sunder one from another As for Apple trees they may stand a little more at large Peare trees somewhat wider than they Almond trees and Fig trees yet a
little more than all the rest But herein must we be ruled directed by the boughs spreading more or lesse by the room of the place it selfe and according to the shadow that each tree casteth There is not I say any one of these considerations to be neglected and the shade especially of all others would be obserued For such trees as branch round as it were in compasse although they be otherwise great as namely Apple trees and Pyrries yet they yeeld no great shadow whereas a man shall see Cherry trees and Lawrels take vp an exceeding deale of ground with their shade Now these shaddowes of trees haue their properties by themselues for that of the Walnut tree is noisome and hurtfull euen to man breeding heauinesse in the head and an ill neighbour it is besides to all plants either vnder or neere vnto it The Pine tree also with her shaddow nippeth and killeth the yong spring of all plants within the reach thereof Howb eit both it and also the Walnut tree resist the force of winds notably and therefore they serue in good steed to protect vineyards and are projected against the winds to breake their violence The dropping of the Pine Oke and Mastholme by reason of the raine water wherewith they are much charged is very heauy and ponderous and therefore hurtfull As for the Cypresse tree it droppeth little or nothing by reason that it receiueth so small a deale of rain and in truth of all others the shade is least the boughs are knit and trust so round and run vp sharpe pointed in the top The Fig tree giueth no thicke shadow howeuer the boughs spread large ynough which is the cause that no man forbiddeth the planting of them in Vineyards among Vines And as for Elmes their shade is so milde and thin that it nourisheth whatsoeuer it ouerspreads vnder it Howbeit Atticus is of opinion That the shaddow of Elmes is one of the thickest and most hurtfull neither doe I make any doubt thereof if they be let to spread into great armes and boughes at liberty marie if the branches thereof or if any tree within-forth be shrigged I thinke that the shade will doe no harme at all The Plane tree carieth a heauie head and therefore casteth a thicke shade howbeit pleasant it is and refreshes those that sit vnder it safe resting there is vpon the grasse rather than the bare ground and there is not a tree againe where grasse groweth thicker and longer to couer the bankes and seats vnder it As for the white Poplar or Aspen tree it maketh little or no shade at all the leaues keep such a wagging trembling and neuer hang still the shadow of the Alder tree is fat and battle it feeds whatsoeuer is sowne or set vnder it The Vine hath shade ynough to serue her owne turne the leaues are euer stirring and by their motion and turning often too and fro there is a good temperature of shade and Sunne by that meanes they serue also in steed of a couvert in time of raine and beare off a good shower Generally all trees in manner that haue their leaues hanging by a long taile cast but a light and slender shaddow And truly the knowledge hereof would not be contemned nor set in the last place of such points as belong to husbandrie considering there is not the shadow of any one tree but either is a kind nource or a shrewd and curst step-dame that is to say either profitable or incommodious to all the fruits of the earth For without all question the shade of Walnut trees Pine trees Pitch trees firs is no better than poison to all that is within the compasse of it and kils whatsoeuer it toucheth And thus much of Shadowes As touching the dropping of trees a man may conclude in one word all that belongs therevnto For looke what trees soeuer be so defended and clad with thick leaued branches that the raine canot passe readily through them be sure the dropping and distillation of such is naught and dangerous And therefore it skilleth very much in this matter and question now in hand to know the nature of the earth wherin we meane to plant how many trees it may well bear and nourish As for hills they require of themselues not so great distance betweene tree and tree as the plaines beneath besides in such places exposed to the wind it is good that they be planted thicker Howbeit Oliues require the greatest space between of all others and therfore Cato following the judgment of all Italie ordaines in these words That they should stand asunder fiue and twentie foot at the least and thirtie at the most but this rule holdeth not alwaies for herin guided we must bee by the nature and site of places which varie and differ much For in Boetica which is a part of Spaine there is not another tree growing bigger than the Oliue and if we may giue credite to authors that haue written hereof there bee in Affricke by their report many of them called Milliariae for that euery yeare they yeeld a thousand pound weight of oile apeece And therfore Mago allowed threescore and fifteen foot euery way for distance between Oliue trees or else fiue and forty at least euen in leane and hard grounds and those that were exposed to the winds And in Boetica verily the people vse to reap great plenty of corn among Oliue trees Now of all other follies this is one and bewraieth shamefull blindnesse and ignorance To be driuen to make glades between trees when they be grown to a good bignes and namely either by lopping their boughs too much for to let in light between and so by this means to hasten their age and decay or els to draw them by cutting them downe cleane wherin oftentimes they that did set them at first take themselues in the manner and blame their own want of skil Considering therefore that there is no greater shame can happen to husbandmen then to repent when a thing is done and then goe about to vndoe it much better it is of the twain in this case to fault in ouerwide than too streight roume CHAP. XIII ¶ What trees grow but slowly and which they bee that soone come forward also of the Sauine SOme trees by nature are slacke of growth and principally those that come of seed and liue longest But such as soone decay and die are quicke of growth as the Fig tree Pomegranat tree Plumme-tree Apple-tree Peare-tree Myrtle and Willow but they make amends for their short life in this that they goe before others in fruit and enrich their masters quickly for they begin to beare well at three yeeres age yea and they make a shew thereof in their blossom before Of all these the Pear-tree is the slowest But the Cypirus as wel the true legitimat as the bastard which is a shrub called Pseudo Cypirus come fastest forward of any other for they beare at first both
againe will be but the worse for it and such are the Almond trees for where before they did beare sweet Almonds they will euer after bring bitter Moreouer you shall haue some trees that wil thriue do the better after this hard dealing namely a kind of peare tree called Phocis in the Island Chios for you haue heard by me already which trees they be that lopping and shredding is good for Most trees and in manner all except the Vine Apple tree Fig tree and Pomegranate tree will die if their stocke or bodie be clouen and some be so tender that vpon euery little wound or race that is giuen them yee shall see them to die howbeit the Figge tree and generally all such trees as breed Rosin defie all such wrongs and injuries and will abide any wound or bruse whatsoeuer That trees should die when their roots are cut away it is no maruell and yet many there bee of them that wi liue and prosper well neuerthelesse in case they be not all cut off nor the greatest master roots ne yet any of the heart or vitall roots among the rest Moreouer it is often seene that trees kill one another when they grow too thicke and that either by ouershadowing or else by robbing one another of their food and nourishment The Iuie also that with clipping and clasping bindeth trees too hard hastneth their death Misselto likewise doth them no good no more than Cytisus or the hearbe Auro which the Greekes name Alimus growing about them The nature of some plants is not to kill and destroy trees out of hand but to hurt and offend them only either with their smell or else with the mixture and intermingling of their owne iuice with their sap Thus the Radish and the Lawrell doe harme to the Vine if they grow neare vnto it for surely the Vine is thought to haue the sense of smelling and wonderfully to sent any odours and therefore it is obserued in her by experience That if shee be neare vnto Radish or Lawrell shee will turne away and withdraw her selfe backeward from them as if shee could not abide their strong breath but vtterly abhorred it as her very enemie And vpon the obseruation of this secret in Nature Androcides the Physitian deuised a medicine against drunkennesse and prescribed his patients to eat Radish if they would not be ouercome with wine Neither can the Vine away with Coleworts or the Cabbage nay it hateth generally all worts or pot-hearbs it abhorreth also the Hazell and Filberd tree in such sort as a man shal sensibly perceiue it to looke heauily and mislike if those plants aforesaid grow not farther off from it And now to conclude and knit vp this discourse would you kill a Vine out of hand lay to the root thereof nitre or salt-petre and alumne drench it with hote sea-water or doe but apply vnto it Bean cods or the shales or husks of the pulse Eruile and you shall soone see the operation and effect of a most ranke and deadly poison CHAP. XXV ¶ Of many and sundry prodigies or strange tokens and accidents about trees Also of an Oliue plot which in times past was transported all and whole from one side of an high port way to another IN this Treatise of the faults and imperfections incident to Trees me thinks I should do wel to say somwhat of the supernatural occurrences in them obserued for we haue known some of them to grow vp and prosper without any leaues at all And as there haue bin Vines and Pomegranats seen to beare fruit springing immediately from the trunke and not from branch or boughs so there haue bin vines charged with grapes and not clad with leaues and Oliues likewise had their berries hanging vpon them whole and sound notwithstanding all their leaues were shed and gon Moreouer strange wonders and miracles haue hapned about trees by meere chance and fortune for there was an Oliue once which being burnt to the very stump reuiued came again and in Boeotia certain Fig Trees notwithstanding they were eaten and gnawn most piteously with Locusts yet budded anew and put forth a fresh spring Also it hath bin marked that trees haue changed their colour from black to white And yet this is not alwayes a monstrous thing beyond naturall reason and specially in such as come of seed as wee may obserue in the Aspe which eftsoones turneth to be a Poplar Some are of opinion That the Servise Tree if it bee transplanted and come into a hoter ground than is agreeable to the nature thereof will leaue bearing and be barren But it is taken for no lesse than a monster out of kind that sweet Apples and such like fruits should proue sowre or sowre fruit turne to be sweet as also that a wilde Fig Tree should become tame or contrariwise And it is counted for an vnluckie sign if any Tree change from the better to the worse to wit if a gentle garden Oliue degenerate into the wilde and sauage if a Vine that was wont to beare white grapes haue now black vpon it and so likewise if a Fig Tree which vsed to haue white Figs chaunce afterwards to beare black And here by the way I canot forget the strange accident that befell in Laodicea where vpon the arriuall of King Xerxes a Plane tree was turned into an Oliue But if any man be desirous to know more of these and such like miracles for as much as I loue not to runne on still and make no end I refer him ouer to Aristander a Greek writer who hath compiled a whole volume and stuffed it full of such like wonders let him haue recourse also to C. Epidius a Countryman of ours whose Commentaries are full of such stuffe where he shall find also that trees sometimes spake A little before the ciuil war brake out between Iulius Caesar and Pompey the Great there was reported an ominous and fearfull sight presaging no good from out of the territory of Cumes namely That a great Tree there sunke down into the earth so deep that a very little of the top boughs was to be seen Hereupon were the propheticall books of Sibylla perused wherin it was found that this prodegie portended some great carnage of men and that the neerer that this slaughter and execution should be to Rome the greater should the bloud shed be A prodigious signe and wonder it is reputed also when trees seem to grow in places where they were not wont to be and which are not agreeable to their natures as namely on the chapâ—…ers of pillars the heads of statues or vpon altars like as to see one tree of a diuers and contrary kinde growing vpon the top of another as it befell about the city Cyzicum hard before the streit siege that was laid vnto it by Mithridates both by sea and land where a Fig tree was seen to grow vpon a Lawrel Likewise at Tralleis about the time of the foresaid ciuill war a
he contained in long and flat according to the forme and figure of the seed which they hold Pease by themselues haue a long round cod in forme of a Cylinder The Pulse called Phasâ—…oli i. Kidney Beans vse to be eaten cod and al together These may be set or sowne in what ground you list from the Ides of October to the Calends of Nouember Finally all kinds of Pulse so soone as they begin to ripen are to be gathered or plucked hastily for stay neuer so little they leape out of their cods and shed and being once fallen they lie hidden in the ground like as the Lupine also CHAP. XIII ¶ Of Rapes or Neuewes of Amiternium Turneps NOw let vs proceed and passe to other matters and yet in this discourse it were meet to write somwhat as touching Rapes or Nauews The Latin writers our countreymen haue slightly passed by and touched them only by the way The Greeks haue treated of them somwhat more diligently and yet among pot-hearbes and worts growing in gardens whereas indeed according to good order they would be spoken of immediatly after Corne or Beanes at least wise considering there is not a plant of more or better vse than is the Rape or Nauew First and formost they grow not only for beasts of the earth and the Foules of the aire but also for men For all kinds of Pullen about a Farme-house in the countrey doe feed vpon the feed thereof as much as of any thing else especially if they be boiled first in water As for four-footed beasts they eat the leaues thereof with great delight and wax fat therewith Last of al men also take as great pleasure and delight in eating the leaues and heads of Rapes or Nauewes in their season as they do of young Coly-flories Cabbages or any tender crops of hearbs whatsoeuer yea when they are faded flaggie and dead in the Barn they are esteemed better than being fresh and green As for Rapes or Nauewes they will keep long and last al Winter both within the ground where they grew and being well wintered they will continue afterwards out of the earth lying abroad euen almost till new come so as they yeeld men great comfort to withstand hunger and famin In Piemont Lombardie those countries beyond the Po the people make the most account of gaine by gathering Rapes next to wine vintage and corne haruest It is not choise and daintie of the ground where it will grow for lightly it wil prosper where nothing els can be sowed In foggy mists hard frosts and other cold weather it thriues passing wel and grows to a wonderfull bignes I haue seene one of their roots weigh aboue fortie pounds As touching the handling and dressing of them for our table there be many waies and deuises to commend and set them out Preserued they may be till new come specially condite with sharp and biting Senuie or Mustard seed Moreouer our Cooks know how to giue them six other colours besides their owne which is pure and naturall they haue the cast to set euen a purple hew vpon them And to say a truth there is no kind of viands besides that being thus painted colored hath the like grace The Greeke writers haue diuided them by the sexe and therby made two principal kinds therof to wit the male and the female Nay more than that out of one and the same seed according as it is sowed they can make male or female whether they please For if they sow thicke and chuse therto a hard and churlish ground it will proue of the male kind Also the smaller that the seed is the better it is esteemed But of al Rapes male or female three especiall sorts there be no more For some roots spread flat and broad others are knit round like a ball the third sort that runs downe into the ground with a long root in manner of a Raddish they cal the wild Rape or Nauew this bears a rough lease and ful of angles or corners the juice that it yeelds is sharp hote and biting which being gathered in haruest time reserued mundisieth the eies and cleareth the sight especially being tempered with brest-milke If the weather be cold they are thought not only to thriue in bignesse of the root but also to prooue the sweeter whereas contrariwise in a warm season they run vp all to stalke and leafe The best simply are those that grow in the Nursine territory For they are sold by the weight and euery pound is worth a Roman Sesterce yea and otherwhiles twaine if there be any scarcity of them Next to these in goodnes be those that come out of Algidum Thus much of Rapes Navews As for the Turneps of Amiternum they be in a manner of the same nature that the Rapes aforesaid cold they loue as well Sown they are before the Calends of March foure quarts of their seed will take vp a whole acre of ground The best Husbandmen and such as are more exquisite in their practise of Agriculture giue order That the ground for Turneps should haue fiue tilthes whereas Rapes or Nauewes are content with foure but both the one and the other had need of a soile well inriched with dung or compost By their sayings also Rapes will prosper the better and come vp thicker if they be sowed in their huls chaffe and all together Moreouer they would haue the seeds-man to be naked when he sowes them and in sowing to protest that this which he doth is for himselfe and his neighbors and withall to pray as he goeth The proper season for the seednesse of them both is between the feasts of the two gods to wit Neptune and Vulcan To conclude there is a subtill and curious obseruation that many go by and do hold namely this To marke how many daies old the Moon was when the first snow sel the winter next before for if a man do sow Rapes or Turneps within the foresaid compasse of that time the moon being so many daies old they will come to be wondrous great and increase exceedingly Men vse to sow them also in the Spring but then they make choise of moist and hot grounds CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of Lupines AFter Rapes and Turneps the Lupines haue greatest vse and serue to be raunged next for that they indifferently serue both men and also all foure footed beasts that be houfed either whole or clouen Now for that the stalke is very shittle in mowing and therefore flyeth from the edge of the syth the onely remedie therefore that the mower may catch it is to goe to worke presently after a good shower And verily there is not a plant growing vpon the earth I meane of such as are sowne of seed more admirable than the Lupine in regard of the great amity and sympathie betweene the earth and it Looke how the Sun keepeth his course in our Horizon aboue so doth it turne and go withall insomuch as the
548. m E O Eone a tree 399. b E P Ephemerides who first deuised 188. g Epirus description 72. k Epimenides his sleepe 184. i Ephesus a famous citie of Asia 109. b Epilepsâ—…e whence it is 335. a Epiglossis a little tongue at the root of the other 339. b it is in no creature that layeth egs ibid. vse of it ibid. it is two fold ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it is 585. d Epipactis 398. i. the leaues medicinable ibid. Ephesus sometime it was so neere the sea that it did beat vpon the temple of Diana 39. e Epopos hill 40. h Epidaurus Island 40. k E R Eratosthenes measured the globe of the earth by what light and direstion 44. g Eratosthenes a most cunning clearke 49. b. 36. h Eratosthenes a writer his great praise 49. b Erithace Sandaracha Cerinthus food of bees 313. b Erithace effected of spring dew ibid. Erithace See Robin-redbrest Ericaeum a kinde of wild hony 317. d Eruile not chargeable in sowing 572. i Eruile medicinable by the testimony of Augustus Caesar. 572. k. when to be sowne ibid. Errour in numbring of yeares 181. a Erysinum what kinde of corne 565. b Erythini fishes altogether female 244. m Erythraea myrrhe 369. d Erysisceptron See Aspalathus Erythrocoma Pomegraâ—…ats 398. g. h E S Esculetum a groue neere Rome 462. g Esculus the mast thereof 458. m Esculus runneth as deep into the ground as it riseth aboue the ground 477. c Esseni people throughout the world most wonderfull 101. d carnall lust they know not ibid. keepe company onely with date trees ibid. continued many thousand yeares without generation ibid. E T Etesiae the name of winds 23. d Etesiae winds 97. f. 473. b E V Eumecos 376. l Euonimus a tree 399. b Eurotas riuer flowing ouer Peneus riuer like oile not mingled therewith 76. l Europe the measure thereof 89. d Euphorbia hearbe the wonderfull â—…rtue thereof 92. i Euphrates a famous riuer the description thereof 103. d Eupetalon 453. a Europe not the third part of the earth 51. a. but the one halfe ibid. Eutheristos 376. l Eutyche a woman of Tralleis deliuered in her life time of thirtie births 157. c. carried to her funerall by twentie of her children ibid. Euthiminâ—…s hiâ—… sonnes growth 165. c Euthemus a wrestler honored as a god 180. k E X Exacetus what â—…sh 247. b. 488. i Experience best proofe 502. k Excrâ—…ments of mans body best dung for ground 507. c 〈◊〉 pearles of commendation 255. f E Y Eyebrowes of man like the eaues of a house 333. d Eyebrowes the seats of pride ibid. e what liuing creatures haue no Eies 333. f one Eye in some Herons 334. g Eyes of sundry colours 334. g. h. i ball or apple of the Eye different from the other parts ibid. k Eyes shew the affection and disposition of the mind 334. k. l membranes of the Eye 335. a. b opticke nerues of the Eyes whether they reach to the braine or stomacke ibid. d Eyes why they be closed ceremoniously in the dead ibid. Eyes yeeld forth teares 334. k Eyes sometime why they see not and be well 335. a Eye sight how it is placed ibid. b Eyelids their vse 336. g. why they shed their haire ibid. h Eytooth of a wolfe on the right side worketh wonders 337. f of Eye-sight quicke wonderfull examples 167. b F A FAbaria 569. a Fabariae certaine Islands 596. d Face proper onely to mankinde 333. d Factus what it is 433. d Fall of leafe a good rule for husbandmen to direct them to seednesse 588. l Falcon helpeth the owle in fight 277. f Fallowing each other yeare 581. b Fagutalis Iupiter at Rome 461. f Farrago 572. b Farrage corne or dredge 573. a Farina whereof it is deriued 564. g Fabius a Senatour of Rome strangled with a haire 159. 〈◊〉 Fauonius the Westerne wind why so called 471. d. why called Chelidonius 23. c. why named Orinthius ibid. highly commended 569. a Fairies seen oftentimes in the desarts of Affricke 157. c they vanish away like illusions ibid. F E Feast Fornacalia instituted by Numa 549. c Faecatum what it is 417 f L. Sylla called Faelix yet vnhappy 177. c Felicitie diuersly vnderstood 276. h Feeling a sense common to all creatures 306. 〈◊〉 Femals may certainly turne to be males 158. b Femals haue smaller voices than males except kine 353. e Female sirrs taller than the male 563. h. i Fenigreeke to be sowne negligently 552. b Ferrets naturally hunt conies 232. b Ferula two kindes 399. d. root of Ferula dangerous 399. f Ferula maketh excellent finâ—… matches 400. h a Ferme house how to be purchased and chosen 553. b. c. d Ferne or brake how to be killed 556. m Fesant bastards 288. c Fesants of Colchis daintie birds 296. g Fesant will die of lyee 329. d Feuer a chappell dedicated to her 3. c F I Figtree beare fruit contrary to other trees and why 474. k Figtrees beare twice a yeare wild fig trees beare thrice a yeare ibid. l Figtree milke or sap serueth for rendles 486. g Figs Liuian 442. i. Pompeian ibid. Figs mariscae ibid. speckled figs. ibid. Herculanian 442. i. Albicerate ibid. Aratian ibid. Porphyrite 442. k. Popular ibid. Chelidonian ibid. Figs both early and lateward 442. k. Figs Duracinae ibid. Chalcidian figs beare three times in one yeare ibid. Tarentine figs called Oinae or Oenades ibid. Figs as big as peares 442. g Figs of Ida described ibid. Figtree Alexandrina ib. Figtrees of Hyrcania 442. h Figs Chalcidian 442. h. Chian ib. Lydian ib. Mamillane or teat figs. ib. Callistruthian ib. African 442. i. Alexandrine or delicat ib. Rhodian ib. Tyburtine ibid. Figdates when to be planted 442. l Figs African Saguntine Tellian ibid. winter figs. ibid. Figs fall from the tree if it thunder at the feast Uulcanalia 546. k Figs of Moesia ripen when other blossome by what deuise 442. m. a Fig the occasion of Carthage ouerthrow 443. b. c Figtree Nauia in Rome 443. d Figtrees Ruminalis ibid. Figtree in the Forum at Rome ibid. Figtree before the temple of Saturne in Rome 443. l Figs ripen altogether on the tree 444. h wild Figtrees ibid. Figs ripen the sooner by the meanes of wild figtrees ib. h. i. k Figs of the Isle Ebusus the best 444. l Figs how they be put vp and kept ibid. Figs good victuals ibid. m Figs Coctanae Caricae Cauniae ibid. Figtree made fruitfull by the sea onion Squilla 514. g. it is drier in the mids than at the head 517. c Figtree how it is made to beare oliues 524. g Figtree of all other ageth the soonest 526. m Figtree groweth best by the water side 544. i Figs how they are ripened by caprification 545. e Figs how they are made smooth and pleasant 547. b a Figtree of India 360. k. the description thereof ibid. it setteth it selfe ibid. Aegiptian figtree See Sycamore Syrian figtree 389. e. f Fields in Aethiopia about the hill Hesperis
and grapes good for courriours 420. k Vine props and railes which be best 525. b Vine tendrils and burgens how to be ordered for the table 423. c. Vines afford most plants of all other trees 527. a Vine tree how to be graffed 520. h Vines draw into them the tast of herbes and plants growing neere vnto them 422. g Vineyard how to be bounded 529. b. how to be ordred with smallest expense ibid. f. ought to be exposed to the Sun 527. c. Vineyards Statanae 414. h Vinegre how it is made and the vses thereof 424 k Vinegre of Cypresse figs. 412. a Vinegre of Alexandrine figs. ibid. L. Vitellius stores his ferme with fig trees 445. a Vis maior what it is 599. a V L Vlysses ship turned into a rocke 79. d V N Vnedo the fruit of the Arbute tree 447. e V O Voluox a worme hurtfull to Vines 547. c Volta the name of a monster 26. k Vopisci who be so called 160. h Vortex the name of a stormie blast 25. b V R Vrchins of the sea 253. a Vrinum what kinde of addle egge 300. k V T Vtorus or loci in a woman what part 344. h V V Vulcans temple built by Romulus 495. a Vulturnus what wind 22. l Of Voices a discourse 353. a. b. c W A VVAgons and chariots who first made 188 l Walwort a weed naught for ground 508. g Walnuts emploied at weddings 445. e. and why ibid. Walnut trees brought out of Persia by commandement of kings 445. f. Walnut why called Persicon and Basilicon ibid. Walnut named in Greeke Caryon and why ibid. Walnut huskes and the young nuts how to be vsed 446. g Walnuts differ onely in the shell ibid. Walnut shels diuided in twaine ibid. Walnuts called Inglandes and why ibid. i Walnuts brought first into Italy by L. Vitellius ibid. k Walnut tree wood cracketh before it breaketh 492. m Water an element 2. l. the roundnesse thereof 31. e. the benefit it hath by the earth and the earth by it 32. h Water of what tast 449. a Waters fresh run aloft the sea and why 44. m Watering cherisheth corne and killeth grasse about Sulmo in Italy 544. m Water bringeth forth greater liuing creatures and more plentie than the earth 134. m Water verie materiall for corne fields 581. f ouerflowing corne fields as good as a weeding in some place 545. a Warden peares 439. d Wax made of all hearbs saue Dockes and Goosefoot 313. d W E Weauing whose deuise 188. i Weeding of corne 580. l Weeds choking corne and pulse 545. a Weights and measures whose deuise 188. l Weapons and armour whose inuention 189. a. b Wesps how to be kept from preserued fruits 441. f Wesps feed greedily vpon serpents 355. e Westerne wind Fauonius a husband to all plants and to certaine mares 471. d Wezando what it is 339. c W H Whales and Whirlepoles 235. b. c. as long as foure acres of land 235. c Wheat sold at Rome for one As by the Modius 551. b. c Wheat how it is spiked eared and ioynted 558. k Wheat of Italie best 559. e. other countries compared with ibid. Wheat of Bâ—…otia commended 559. e Wheat of Italie praised by Sophocles the Poet. 560. h Wheat esteemed by weight and so compared 560. h. i Wheat different in the straw or stalke 560. i Wheat of Thrace a three moneths corne ibid. m Wheat of Thrace a two moneths corne 561. a Wheat subiect to the mieldew 562. k Wheat of sundry kindes different in name 562. k Wheat what proportion it should yeeld in meale and floure 563. e. f. common Wheat Triticum exceeding fruitfull 564. m. the wonderfull and incredible encrease of wheat in Africke 565. a. Wheeles a kinde of fishes 236. g W I Wilding apples 438. m a wedded Wife turned to he a man and a husband and contrariwise 158. h Willowes of many sorts 484. l. their manifold vses in pearches trailes props and bindings ibid. red-Willowes good both to wind and bind 484. m Willowes fit for wicker workes ibid. as gainefull to the master as corne fields medowes and oliue rows 485. b. See more in Withies Wings of Bâ—…ts diuided into ioints 347. a Winds raigne in the region of the aire 19 c. how they arise and whence 21. c. their natures and obseruations 22. 23. c. Windpipe what it is 339. c the obseruation of winds good in husbandrie 608. i Winds who first distinguished 189. d Winds how they may be knowne distinctly one from another 608. g Wine a most pleasant liquor to be vsed inwardly 428. i of Wines 195 sorts 428. i Wine who first delaied with water 189. m Wine congealed into yee 425. d Wine lees maintaineth fire ibid. e Wine how it is knowne to decay ibid. b Wines how to be seasoned and medicined 425. a. b. how to be ordered prepared and seasoned 425. d Wines allowable for sacrifice and the seruice of the gods 423. c. Greeke wines reiected in sacrifice ibid. Wines when they grew in request at Rome 418. h Wines turne sower and recouer of themselues 423. b Wines reduced into 80 kindes 418. g of Wines foure principall colours 416. l Wine how to be tunned and kept 425. c. d Wine-cellers how to be ordered ibid. e Wine vessels how to be placed in the cellar ibid. Wine vessels how to be made and chosen 427. d drinking Wine fasting ibid. Wine of strange and wonderfull effects 422. l Wine causing women to be fruitfull ibid. procuring madnesse ibid. driuing women to slip their birth 422. m disabling for the act of generation ibid. Wines spiced and compound forbidden by Themison 422. k Wines of trees and shrubs ibid. h Wines of sundry hearbes and roots ibid. g Wine Phorinean 416. k Wine Cicibeliâ—…es ibid. l Wine Halyntium ibid. Wines sweet of diuerse sorts 417. a. b. c. d Wine Aigleuces 417. b Wine Dulce ibid. Wine Diachyton ibid. Wine Melitites 417. d. how it is made ibid. Wines alter according to the climat and soile where the Vines grow 415. b Wine spared among the Romanes 418. k. l. Forbidden in sacrifice ibid. h Women in Rome not allowed to drinke wine 418. k Women punished for drinking wine 418. k. l Wines aromatized 419. a Wines Greeke 419. f Greeke wine giuen in a congiarie by L. Lucullus at Rome 420. g. Wine of Chios prescribed for the Cardiaca passio 420. g left by Hortensius to the quantitie of 10000 barrels when he died ibid. Wines giuen in a congiarie by Iul. Caesar Dictatour 420. h Wines artificiall 420. i Wine Omphacium ibid. Wine Oenanthinum ibid. Wine Adynamon 420. l. how it is made ibid. the vse thereof ibid. Wine of Millet 420. l Date wine 420. m. how it is made ibid. Fig wine Sycites 421. a. wine of Lotus ibid. Wine of Carobs ibid. Wine Rhoites of Pomegranats ibid. of Gorneil or wild cherries ibid. of Medlers ibid. of Cervoises ibâ—…d of Mulberies ibid. of Pen-nuts ibid. Wine of Myrtles how it is made 421.
as return at their iust course from day to day euery third fourth or fifth day c. Peripneumony is the inflammation of the lungs Pessary is a deuise made like a finger or suppository to be put vp into the natural parts of a woman Phlebotomie i. bloud-letting or opening of a veine by incision or pricke Phthysicke to speak properly is the consumption of the body occasioned by the fault of exulcerat and putrified lungs But Pliny otherwhiles seemeth to take it for any other consumption Pomona a deuised goddesse amongst the Painims of apples and such fruits Prodigies bee strange sights and wonderfull tokens presaging some fearefull thing to come Propinquitie nearnesse or affinitie Proscription was a kind of outlawing and depriuing a man of the protection of the state with confiscation of his lands and goods Propagat to grow and increase after the manner of Vine branches which being drawne along in the ground from the motherstock do take root Propitious i. gracious and mercifull Proximitie neere neighbour-hood or resemblance Ptisane the decoction of husked Barley a grewell made therewith or the creame thereof Pulpous i. full of pulpe or resembling pulpe which is the soft substance in Apples or such fruits answerable to the flesh in liuing bodies Purulent yeelding filth and Attyr Putrefactiue such venomous medicines or humors as do corrupt and putrifie the part of the body which they possesse Q QVindecemvirs were certain officers fifteen in number ioined in one commission R REecptorie a vessell standing vnderneath ready to receiue that which droppeth and distilleth from something aboue it Reciproeall going and comming as the tides of the sea ebbing and flowing To Rectifie i. to set streight to reforme or amend Repercussiue i. driuing or smiting backe Residence i. the setling toward the bottome as in vrine Retentiue facultie i. the naturall power that ech part or member of the body hath to hold that which is committed vnto it the due time as the stomacke meat the bladder vrine c. Reuerberation i. rebounding or striking backe Rhagadies bee properly the chaps in the fundament or seat Rubified i. made red as when by application of mustard plastres called Sinapismes or beating a part that is benummed with nettles it recouereth a fresh colour againe whereupon such plastres be called Rubificatiue and the operation is named by the Greekes Phoenigmos Rupture the disease of bursting as when the guts or other parts fall downe into the bag of the cods S SAliuation is a drawing of humours to the mouth and a deliuerie of them from thence in manner of spittle Sarcling is the baring of roots by ridding away the earth and weeds from about them that did clog them Scarification is a kind of pouncing or opening of the skin by way of incision slightly with the fleame or launcet either to giue some issue for the bloud and humours to passe forth or prepare a place for the cupping-glasse to extract more Schirre is a hard swelling almost sencelesse Scriptule or Scruple is foure and twenty grains weight or the third part of a dram Scrophules See Kings euill Seat is the circumference or compasse about the tuill or fundament Secundine i. the afterbirth that infolded the infant within the mothers wombe Sege a stoole of easement whereupon wee sit to discharge the order and excrements of the guts Serosities or Serous humors be the thinner parts of the masse of bloud answering to the whey in milke such as we see to float vpon bloud that hath run out of a veine Sextarius a measure among the Romanes whereof six goe to their Congius wherupon it tooke that name it containes two hemines and is somewhat lesse than a wine quart with vs it beareth twentie ounces Sinapisme a practise by a plaster of mustard seed and such like to reuiue a place in manner mortified and to draw fresh humors colour to it Solstice i. the Sunnestead as well in winter as Summer when hee is come to his vtermost points North and South but vsually it is put for Mid-summer onely Sophisticated i. falsified made corrupt howbeit going for the right Thus drougs and gems are many times thrust vpon vs. Spasmes be painefull crampes or pluckings of the sinewes and cords of the Muscles Spasmaticke are such as be thus plucked Species be either the simple ingredients into a composition or else the bare pouders mingled together ready to be reduced into an electuarie liquid or Tables Speculatiue knowledge or Speculation is the insight into a thing by reading only contemplation without practise experience Sperme is naturall seed Spondyles be the turning ioints of the chine or backbone Stomachicall fluxe is the same that Coeliaca passio See Coeliaci Stomaticall medicines be such as are appropriat for the diseases incident to the mouth and the parts adioining Stypticke be such things as by a certain harsh tast doe shew that they bee astringent as medlars and alumne which thereupon is named Stypteria and such like Succedan that drug which may be vsed for default of another The Apothecaries call such Quid pro quo Suffusion See Cataract Suffumigation is the smoke that is receiued in to the body from vnder a stool for the diseases of the guts fundament or matrice Suppuration is when a bile or impostume gathereth to an head and must be broken Sympathie i. a fellow-feeling vsed in Pliny for the agreement or amitie naturall in diuers sencelesse things as betweene yron and the loadstone Symptome an accident accompanying sicknes as head-ach the ague stitch shortnesse of wind spitting bloud cough and ague the pleurisie Syringe an instrument in manner of a pipe to iniect a medicinable liquor into the blader T TEllus the earth Tenacitie clamminesse such as is in glew birdlime and Bitumen Theoricke or Theoretique contemplatiue knowledge without action and practise Tinesme an inordinat desire to the stool without doing any thing to the purpose Tonsils See Amygdals Transparent i. cleare and bright throughout as crystall amber aire and water Transvasation i. the pouring of liquor out of one vessell into another Triuial i. vulgar common and of base reckoning Triumvirat the Tripartite dominion of Antonie Octavius and Lepidus when they held all the world in their hands each one their third part Trochisques or Trosques be litle cakes or roundles into which diuers things medicinable are reduced for to be kept the better to be ready at hand when they shall be vsed Tuil the same that the Fundament or nethermost gut V VEgetatiue that power in nature which God hath giuen to creatures whereby they liue are nourished and grow Ventositie windinesse Vicinitie neernesse or neighborhood Victoriat a siluer coine in Rome Halfe a denarius so called because it had the image of victory stamped on the one side it is somwhat vnder our groat Vnction annointing Vnguent an ointment Vreters be the passages or conduits whereby the water or vrine passeth from the kidnies into the bladder Vulnerarie i. belonging to a
hearbs be not all commendable in one and the same respect For of some the goodnesse lieth only in their bulbous and round root of others contrariwise in their head aloft There be of them that haue no part good but their stem or maister stalk and there are for them againe the leaues wherof be only eaten Now a man shall haue amongst them those that are wholesome meat both leafe and stalke In some the seed or graine in other the outward pil or rind alone of the root is in request And as there be that tast well in the skin or cartilage and gristly substance without-forth so there are that haue either their pulpous carnosity within or else their fleshy coat aboue as daintie All the goodnes of many of them lieth hidden within the earth and of as many again aboue the ground and yet some there be that are al one as good within as without Some traine along and run by the ground growing on end stil as they creep as Gourds and Cucumbers And yet the same as well as they loue to be neere the earth yet are led lpon trailes and hang thereon yea and be knowne for to rampevpon trees How beit much weightier and better nourished be they that keepe beneath As for the Cucumber it is the cartilage substance of the fruit thereof that delighteth and pleaseth our tast for of all fruits this propertie it alone hath that the vtmost rind which it beareth groweth to a very wood when it is once ripe Within the earth lie hidden and are kept all Winter Raddishes Nauews Turneps or Rapes Elecampane also after another sort so doe Skirworts and Parseneps or Wypes Moreouer this I would aduertise the Reader that when I tearme some hearbes Ferulacea I meane such as resemble in stalke Dil or the great Mallowes For some writers doe report That in Arabia there be a kind of Mallowes which after they haue grown six or seuen months come to be in the nature of pretie trees insomuch as their stalks streightwaies serue in stead of walking staues But what should I stand vpon this In Mauritania by report of trauellers neer the frith or arme of the sea adjoining to Lixos the head citie of Fez where somtimes as folke say were the hort-yards and gardens of the Hesperides not aboue halfe a quarter of a mile from the maine ocean hard vnto the chappell of Hercules farre more ancient than that temple of his which is in the Island Calis there groweth a Mallow that is a very tree indeed in height it is twentie foot and in bodie bigger and thicker than any man can fadome In this kind I meane for the raunge the Hempe likewise And as I purpose to tearme such Ferulacea so there bee some others that I will call Carnosa such as resemble the riuer or fresh-water Spunges which commonly are seene vpon ouer-floten medowes where the water standeth For as touching the fungous substance or calliositie of some plants I haue alreadie spoken thereof in the Treatise of Wood and Trees and of their nature Likewise in our late discourse of another sort of Mushroomes and Toad-stooles CHAP. V. ¶ Garden plants their natures kinds and seuerall histories OF the cartilage and pulpous kind such I meane onely wherof there is nothing good but that which is aboue the ground I reckon the Cucumber a fruit that Tiberius the Emperor much loued and affected for he tooke such a wondrous delight and pleasure therein that there was not a day went ouer his head but he had them serued vp to his table The beds and gardens wherein they grew were such as went vpon frames to be remooued euery way with wheeles and in winter during the cold and frosty daies they could draw them backe into certaine high couert buildings exposed to the Sun and there house them vnder roufe Moreouer I find in some ancient Greek writers that their seed ought to lie 2 daies in steepe or infused in honied milke before they be prickt or set into the ground for by that meanes the Cucumbers will be the sweeter and more pleasant The nature of them is to grow in what forme and fashion soeuer that a man would haue them Throughout all Italy green they be of colour and least of any others in the out-prouinces they be as fair and great and those either of a yellow color like wax and citrons or els blacke In Affrick or Barbary men take delight to haue the greatest plenty of them wheras in Moesia they lay for to haue them passing big and huge Now when they exceed in greatnes they be called Pepones is Melons or Pompons Let a man eat them alone they will lie raw and greene in the stomacke a whole day and neuer be digested howbeit with meats they are not vnwholsom and yet for the most part swim they will aloft and ride vpon a mans stomacke A wonderfull thing in their nature they cannot abide oile in any wise but water they loue well insomuch as if they be cut off or fallen from the place where they grew they wind and creep therinto if it be but a little way off contrariwise flie they will as fast from oile if a man set it by them and in case any thing be in their way to let them or that they hang still vpon their plant a man shall perceiue how they wil turn vp and crook to shun auoid it This amitie to the one and enmity to the other may be seene euen in one nights space for if a man set vnder them 4 fingers off where they grow a vessel with water ouer-night he shal see by the morning that they wil come downe to it contrariwise let oile stand the like distance from them shrink they wil from it and hook vpward Marke another experiment in the cucumber If when it hath don flouring you enter the knot of the fruit into a long cane or trunk it will grow vo a wonderfull length But behold a very straunge and new fashion of them in Campaine for there you shall haue abundance of them come vp in forme of a Quince And as I heare say one of them chanced so to grow first at a very venture but after from the seed of it came a whol race and progeny of the like which therupon they cal Melopepones as a man would say the quince pompions or Cucumbers These neuer hang on high but go low by the ground and gather round in form of a globe A strange case it is of this kind for ouer and besides their shape their color and sauor different from the rest they are no sooner ripe but presently they fall from the stele or taile wherto they grew notwithstanding they hang not hollow from the ground where their owne poise might weigh them downe Columella tells of a pretie deuise that he hath of his own how to keep of them fresh all the yere long chuse quoth he the biggest bramble you can meet with among a thousand
of the stomack The Empresse Iulia Augusta passed not a day without eating the Elecampane root thus confected and condite and therupon came it to be in so great name and bruit as it is The seed therof is needlesse and good for nothing therefore to maintaine and increase this plant gardeners vse commonly to set the joints cut from the root after the order as they doe Reeds and Canes The manner is to plant them as well as Parsnips Skirwirts and Carrots at both times of seednes to wit the Spring and the Fall but there would be a good distance betweene euery seed or plant at least three foot because they spread and braunch very much and therewith take vp a deale of ground As for the Skirwirt or Parsnip Siser it will do the better if it be remoued and replanted It remaineth now to speak in the next place of plants with bulbous or onion roots and their nature which Cato recommendeth to Gardeners and he would haue them to be set and sowed aboue all others among which he most esteemeth them of Megara Howbeit of all this bulbous kind the Sea-onyon Squilla is reputed chiefe and principall notwithstanding there is no vse of it but in Physick and for to quicken vinegre As there is none that groweth with a bigger head at the root so there is not any more aegre and biting than it Of these Sea-onyons there be two kinds medicinable the male with the white leafe the female with the blacke There is a third sort also of Squillae which is good for to be eaten the leaues whereof be narrower and not so rough and sharp as the other and this they cal Epimenidium All the sort of these squilles are plentifull in seed howbeit they come vp sooner if they be set of cloues or bulbes which grow about their sides And if a man would haue the head of the root wax big the leaues which vsually be broad and large ought to be bended downe into the earth round about and so couered with mould for by this means all the sap and nourishment is diuerted from the leafe and runneth backe into the root These Squils or sea-onions grow in exceeding great abundance within the Baleare Islands and Ebusus as also throughout all Spaine Pythagoras the Philosopher wrote one entire volumne of these onions wherein he collected their medicinable vertues and properties which I meane to deliuer in the next booke As touching other bulbous plants there be sundry kinds of them differing all in colour quantity and sweetnesse of tast for some there bee of them good to be eaten raw as those of Cherrhonesus Taurica Next vnto them are they of Barbary and most commended for goodnesse and then those that grow in Apulia The Greeks haue set downe their distinct kindes in these terms Bulbine Setanios Pythios Acrocorios Aegylops and Sisyrinchios But strange it is of this Sisyrinchios last named how the foot and bottom of the root wil grow down stil in winter but in the Spring when the Violets appeare the same diminisheth and gathereth short vpward by which meanes the head indeed of the root seedeth and thriueth the better In this rank of bulbous plants is to be set that which in Egypt they call Aron i. Wake-Robin for bignesse of the head it commeth next to Squilla beforesaid the leaues resemble the herb Patience or garden Dock it riseth vp with a streight stem or stalke two cubits high as thicke as a good round cudgell As touching the root it is of a soft and tender substance and may be eaten raw If you would haue good of these bulbous roots you had need to dig them out of the ground before the spring for if you passe that time they will presently be the worse You shall know when they be ripe and in their perfection by the leaues for they will begin to wither at the bottom If they be elder or if their roots grow small and long they are reiected as nothing worth Contrariwise the ruddy root the rounder and the biggest withall are most commended know this moreouer That the bitternesse of the root in most of them lyeth in the crowne as it were or top of the head for the middle parts be sweet The antient writers held opinion That none of these bulbous plants would grow but of seed only howbeit both in the pastures and fields about Preneste they come vp of themselues and also among the corn lands and arable grounds of the Rhenians they grow beyond all measure CHAP. VI. ¶ Of the roots leaues floures and colours of Garden-herbes ALl Garden plants ordinarily put out but one single root apiece as for example the Radish Beet Parsley and Mallow howbeit the greatest and largest of all others is the root of the herb Patience or garden Docke which is knowne to run downe into the ground three cubits deep In the wild of this kind which is the common docke the roots be smaller yet plumpe and swelled whereby after they be digged vp and laied aboue ground they will liue a long time Some there be of them that haue hairy strings or beards hanging to the roots as namely Parsley or Ach and Mallows Others there be againe which haue branching roots as the Basill As the roots of some be carnous and flâ—…ie altogether and namely of the Beet but especially of Saffron so in others they consist of rind and carnositie both as we may see in Radishes and Rapes or Turneps And ye shall haue of them that be knotty and full of ioints as for example the root of the Quoich grasse or Dent-de-chien Such hearbs as haue no streight and direct root run immediatly into hairie threds as we may see plainly in the Orach and Bleet as for the sea Onion Squilla and such bulbous plants the garden Onions also and Garlicke they put forth their roots streight and neuer otherwise Many hearbes there be which spring of their own accord without setting or sowing and of such many there be that branch more cloue in root than in leafe as we may see in Aspalax Parietarie of the wall and Saffron Moreouer a man shall see these hearbes floure at once together with the Ash namely the running or creeping Thyme Southernewood Naphewes Radishes Mints and Rue and by that time as others begin to blow they are ready to shed their floures whereas Basill putteth forth floures by parcels one after another beginning first beneath and so going vpward by leisure which is the cause that of all others it is longest in the floure The same is to be seene in the herb Heliotropium i. Ruds or Turnsol In some the floures be white in others yellow and in others purple As touching the leaues of herbes some are apt to fall from their heads or tops as in Origan and Elecampane yea and otherwhiles in Rue if some iniurie be done vnto it Of all other herbes the blades of Onions and Chibbols be most hollow Where by
Hempe for goodnesse is that of Mylasium But if you goe to the talnesse there is about Rosea in the Sabines countrey Hempe as high as trees As touching the 2 kinds of Ferula I haue spoken of them in my discourse of forrain plants the seed of Ferula or Fennell-geant is counted good meat in Italie for it is put vp in pots of earth well stopped and will continue a whole yeare And of 2 sorts is this preserued Compost to wit the stalks and the Bunches whiles they be knit round and not broken spread abroad And as they cal these knobs which they doe condite and keep Corymbi so that Ferula which is suffered to rise vp in stem for to beare such heads they tearme Corymbias CHAP. X. ¶ The maladies incident to Garden hearbes The remedies against Pismires Canker-wormes and Gnats THe hearbes of the garden be subject to diuerse accidents and namely diseases as well as corne and other fruits of the earth For not onely Basill by age degenerats from the owne nature into wild creeping Thyme but Sisymbrium also into Calaminth The seed of an old Cole-wort will bring forth Turneps and contrariwise sow the seed of an old Rape Turnep you shall haue Coleworts come vp of it Cumin if it be not kept neat and trim with much cleansing wil begin to decay at one side of the stalk beneath and dy Now hath Cumin but one onely stalke and a root bulbous in manner of an Onion it groweth not but in a light and leane soile Otherwise the peculiar disease appropriat to Cumin is a kind of skurf or scab Also Basil toward the rising of the Dog-star waxeth wan and pale And generally there is not an hearb but will turne yellow if a woman come neere vnto it whiles she hath her monthly sicknesse vpon her Moreouer there be diuerse sorts of little beasts or vermine engendred in the garden among the good hearbs And namely vpon the Nauewes you shall haue gnats or flies in radish Roots cankerwormes and other little grubs likewise in Lectuce and beet leaues And as for these Beetworts last named you shal see them haunted with snails as well naked as in shels In Leeks moreouer or Porret there settle other speciall vermine that be noisome to them seuerally but such are very soone caught by throwing vpon those hearbes a little dung for it will they gather to shroud and hide themselues Furthermore Sabynus Tyro in his booke intituled Cepuricon which he dedicated to Mecoenas writeth That it is not good to touch with knife or hooke Rue Winter Sauerie Mint and Basill The same Author also hath taught vs a remedy against Emmets that do not the least mischiefe to gardens when they lie not to haue water at command and that is this to take sea mud or oose and ashes together to temper a morter of them both and therewith to stop their holes But the most forcible and effectuall thing to kill them is the hearb called Ruds or Turn-sol Some are of opinion that the onely meanes to chase these ants away is with water wherin the pouder of a semi-brick or halfe-baked tile is mingled And particularly for to preserue Nauewes it is a singular medicine for them to haue Feni-greek sowed among as also for Beets to do the like with Cich pease for this deuise wil driue away the Cankerworm Bvt say that this practise was forgotten that the foresaid hearbs be alreadie come vp what remedie then Mary euen to seeth Wormwood and Housleek which the Latines call Sedum the Greekes Aiezoon and sprinckle the decoction or broth therof among them Now what manner of hearbe this Housleeke is I haue shewed you alreadie It is a common speech that if a man take the seed of Beets and other pot-hearbes and wet them in the juice of Housleeke otherwise called Sea-green those hearbes shall be secured against al these hurtfull creatures whatsoeuer And generally no Cankerwormes shall do harme to any herbage in the garden if a man pitch vpon the pales about a garden the bones of a Mares head but he must bee sure it was of a Mare for a horse head will not serue It is a common saying also that if a riuer Crab or Craifish be hung vp in the mids of a garden it is singular for that purpose Some there be who make no more but touch those plants which they would preserue from the said vermin only with twigs of the Dogge berie tree and they hold them warished and safe ynough Gnats keep a foule stir in gardens where water runneth through especially and wherin there be some small trees growing but these are soone chased away by burning a little Galbanum CHAP. XI ¶ What garden seeds be stronger which be weaker than others Also what plants prosper better with salt water NOw as touching the change and alteration in seeds occasioned by age and long keeping some there be that are firme and fast which hold their owne wel as namely the seeds of Coriander Beets Leeks garden Cresses Senvie or Mustard seed Rocket Saverie and in one word all such as be hot and bite at the tongues end Contrariwise of a weaker nature are the seeds of Orach Basil Gourds and Cucumbers Generally all summer seeds last longer than winter and the Chibbol seed least of any other will abide age But take the strongest and hardiest that may be you shall haue none good after foure yeares I mean only for to sow And yet I must needs say â—…hat Saverie seed wil remain in force aboue that time Radishes Beets Rue and Saverie find much good by being watered with salt water for to these especially it is holsome physick against many infirmities and besides it is thought to giue them a pleasant and commendable tast yea and it causeth them to be more fruitfull As for all other hearbes they sind benefit rather by fresh water And since we are light vpon the mention of waters those are thought best for this purpose which are coldest and sweetest to be drunk Standing waters out of some pond such also as are conueyed into gardens by trenches and gutters are not good for a garden because they bring in with them the seeds of many a weed But aboue all other raine waters comming in white shoures from heauen be they that nourish a garden best for these shoures kill the vermin also which are breeding therein CHAP. XII ¶ The maner of watering Gardens What Herbs will proue the better by removing and replanting Of the juices and sauors that garden Herbes affourd THe best time of the day to water gardens is morning euening to the end that the water should not be ouerheat with the Sunne Basill only would be watered also at noon And moreouer some think that when it is new sown it will make hast to come vp very speedily if it be sprinkled at the first with hot water Generally all herbs proue better and grow to be greater when
mixe with Fenigreek a fourth part of the seed of garden cresses wel clensed to temper them in the strongest vineger that he could come by which he took to be an excellent medicine for the leprosie Damion ordained to make a drink with half an acetable of Fenigreek seed put into 9 cyaths of cuit or sheere water and so to giue it so prouoking of womens fleurs no man doubts but the decoction of Fenigreeke is most wholsome for the matrice and the exulceration of the guts like as the seed it self is excellent for the ioints precordial parts about the heart But in case it be boiled with Mallows it is good for the matrice guts so there be put to the said decoction some honied wine then giuen in drink for euen the very vapor or fume of the said decoction doth much good to those parts Also the decoction of Fenigreeke seed rectifieth the stinking rank smel of the arm-pits if they be washed therewith The floure made of Fenigreeke seed incorporat with nitre wine quickly clenseth the head of scurfe scales dandruffe But boiled in hydromell i. honyed water and brought into a liniment with hogs grease it cureth the swelling and inflammation of the members seruing to generation likewise it is singular for the broad and flat apostems called Pani the swelling kernels and inflammations behinde the ears the gout as well of the feet as of the hands and other ioints also the putrifaction of the flesh ready to depart from the bone and being incorporat in vineger it helpeth dislocations being boiled in vineger and hony only it serueth as a good liniment for the spleen and tempered with wine it clenseth or mundifieth cancerous sores but put thereto hony it healeth them throughly in a short time The said floure of Fenigreeke seed taken in a broth or supping is an approued remedy for an vlcer within the brest and any inueterat cough but it asketh long seething euen vntill it haue lost the bitternesse and afterwards hony is put thereto and then it is a singular grewell for the infirmities before said Thus you see what may be said of those hearbes which are in comparison but of a mean account it remaineth now to discourse of those which are of more account and estimation than the rest THE TVVENTY FIFTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS CHAP. I. ¶ The nature and properties of Hearbs growing wild and of their owne accord WHen I consider the excellency of such hearbes whereof now I am to treat and which the earth seemeth to haue brought forth onely for the vse of Physick I cannot chuse but grow withall into a wonderfull admiration of the great industry and careful diligence of our Antients before-time who haue made experiments of all things and left nothing vntried neither reserued they afterwards this hidden knowledge to themselues nor concealed ought but were willing to communicate the same vnto posteritie for their good and benefit but we contrariwise in these daies are desirous to keep secret and to suppresse the labors of other men yea and to defraud the world of those commodities which haue been purchased by the sweat of other mens browes for verily we see it is an ordinary course that such as haue attained to some knowledge envie that little skil vnto their neighbours and to keepe all forsooth to themselues and teach none their cunning they thinke the onely way to winne a great name and opinion of some deepe and profound learning And so far be we off from deuising new inuentions and imparting the same to the generall profit of mankinde that for this long time men of great wit and high conceit haue studied and practised to compasse this one point That the good deeds of their Ancestours might with themselues die and be buried for euer But certes wee see and know that the seueral inuentions of some one thing or other haue caused diuers men in old time to be canonized as gods in such sort as their memoriall hath beene eternized by the names euen of hearbes which they found out so thanke full was the age insuing as to recognize and acknowledge a benefit from them receiued and by this meanes in some measure to make recompence This care and industrie of theirs if it had beene imployed in Domesticall Plants neere home which either for pleasure and delight or else for the Kitchin and Table are set and sowed could not haue beene so rare and wonderfull but they spared not to climbe vp the top of high mountaines and to rocks vnaccessible to trauell through blind and vnpeopled desarts to search euery veine and corner of the earth all to find and know the vertues of herbs of what operation the root was for what diseases the leaues were to be vsed yea and to make wholsom medicines for mans health of those simples which the very four-footed beasts of the field neuer fed vpon nor once touched CHAP. II. ¶ The Latine Authors who haue written of herbs and their natures At what time the knowledge of Simples began to be practised and proffssed in Rome The first Greeke writers who trauelâ—…d â—…n this Argument The inuention of herbs The antient Physicke and the manner of curing diseasâ—…s in old time What is the cause that Simples are not now so much vsed for remedies of diseases as they haue bin Finally of the sweet Brier or Eglantine and the herb Dragons with their medicinable vertues WE Romans haue bin more slack and negligent in this behalfe than was beseeming vs considering how otherwise there was not a nation in the world more apprehenâ—… of all vertues and things profitable to this life than ours For to say a truth M. Caâ—…o that famous clerke and great professor so well seen in all good Arts and Sciences was the first and for a long time the only author who wrate of Simples and howsoeuer he handled that argument but briefly and summarily yet he omitted not the leech-craft belonging also to kine and oxen Long after him C. Valgius a noble gentleman of Rome a man of approued literature compiled a treatise of Simples which he left vnperfect howbeit he dedicated the book to â—…ugustus Caesar the Emperor as may appeare by a preface by him begun wherein after a religious and ceremonious manner of supplication he seemeth to beseech the said prince That it might please his Majesty especially to â—…ure all the maladies of mankind And before his time the only man among our Latines as far as euer I could find who wrot of Simples was Pomâ—… us â—…aeus the vassall or freed man of Pompey the Great And this was the first time that the knowledge of this kind of learning was set on foot and professed at Rome For Mithridates the most mightie and puissant king in that age whose fortune notwithstanding was to be vanquished and subdued by Pompey was well knowne vnto the world not only by the fame that went
juice of the root either after it hath lien a time infused or simply stamped without any such preparation yea and the substance of the root reduced into pouder and giuen in a draught of water made hot with a gad of steel quenched in it Some haue appointed in this kind of ague 3 of those roots and 3 cyaths of water precisely and the same Physitians for a Quartaine haue prescribed foure of either and by their saying if when Borage beginneth to fade vpon the ground one take out the pith or marow within the stem and whiles he is so doing name withal the sick party and say hee doth it for to rid him or her from the ague and withall bestow it in 7 leaues neither more nor lesse of the said herbe and hang all tied fast about the patient before the time that the sit should come the feuer wil neuer returne again Also a dram of Betony or Agaricke taken in three cyaths of mead driueth away any intermittent ague especially those that begin with quiuering and quaking Some are wont to giue of Cinquefoile three leaues in a tertian and foure in a quartan and so rise to more according to the period or type of the rest others ordain indifferently for all agues the weight of 3 oboli with some pepper in mead or honied water Veruaine verily giuen in wine as a drench to horses cureth them of their feauers but in Tertians it must be cut just aboue the third joint where it brancheth but for Quartanes at the fourth The seed of both kinds of Hypericon is good to be drunk in Quartans And the pouder of Betony dried is singular for the quaking fits and in very deed the herb it selfe represseth all shiuering and whatsoeuer proceeding of cold In like maner Panaces is of so hot a nature that Physitians giue direction to them who are to trauell ouer high mountains couered with snow for to drink it annoint their bodies all ouer with it Semblably Aristolochia doth withstand all chilling and through colds The best cure of those who be in a frensie is by sleepe and that may be procured easily by the juice of Peucedanum vineger together infused vpon the head by way of imbrocation or by rubbing the same with it likewise with the juice of both the Pimpernels Contrariwise there is more adoe with those that are in a lethargy to awaken them and keep them from drowsinesse and yet may that be affected some say by rubbing their nosthrils with the juice of the said * Harstrang in vineger For those that be out of their right wits or bestraught Betony is singular good to be giuen in drink Panaces breaks the Carbuncle also the pouder of Betony in water healeth it or the Colewort with Frankincense if the patient drinke often therof hot Some take a burning cole of fire and when it is extinguished or gon out in the presence of the patient with their finger gather vp the cindres or light ashes which settle therupon and apply them vnder the carbuncle others stamp Plantain and lay it to the sore the Tithymall called Characites cureth the dropsie Also Panaces and Plantaine taken as a meat in bole with this regard That the patient haue eaten some dry bread before without any drinke at all In which case Betony likewise is singular if two drams thereof be giuen in as many cyaths of wine simply or wine honied Moreouer Agaricke or the seed of Lonchitis drunke to the quantitie of two Ligulae or spoones full in water Flea-woort beeing vsed with wine the juice of Pimpernels both the red and the blew the root of Vmbilicus Veneris in honied wine the root of Walwoort newly drawne out of the ground so that the earth bee onely shaken off without any washing at all in case as much thereof as two fingers will comprehend be taken in one hemine of old wine hot the root of Clauer or Trefoile drunke in wine to the weight of two drams Tithymall named Platyphillon the seed of Hypericon and namely that which otherwise is called Coris Chamaeacte which some think to be Wall-wort if either the root be beaten to pouder and ministred in three cyaths of wine so the patient haue no feuer hanging vpon him or the seed giuen in thick red wine be appropriat remedies euery one for a dropsie In like maner Vervaine if a good hand full thereof be boiled in water vnto the consumption of the one halfe But principally the juice of Wall-wort is thought to be the meetest medicine for to fit this malady For the bleach or breaking out in wheales for small pocks swine pocks and such like eruptions of flegmatick humors Plantain is a proper remedy to rid them away so is the root of sowbread applied with hony The leaues of Walwort or ground Elder stamped incorporat in old wine and so laid too doe heale the meazels purples or red blisters which some call Boa The juice of Nightshade or pety Morell vsed as a liniment killeth the itch The shingles and such hot pimples called S. Anthonies fire are cured by nothing better than by Housleek by the leaues of Hemlock stamped into an vnguent or the root of Mandragoras Now the manner of prâ—…paring and ordering it thus take the said root drie it abroad in the open aire like as they do Cucumbers but principally let it hang first ouer new wine afterwards in the smoke this don stamp it and temper it with wine or vineger Good it is also in this case to make a fomentation with wine of Myrtles and therwith to bathe the grieued place Also take of Mints two ounces of sulphur-vif one ounce pouder them both and mingle them together with vineger vse this mixture for the said S. Anthonies fire And some take soot vineger tempred together for the same purpose Now of this disease which we terme * S. Anthonies fire there be many kindes whereof there is one more daungerous than the rest which is called * Zoster for that it coueteth to goe round about the middle of a man or woman in manner of a girdle and in case both ends meet together indeed it is deadly and incureable To meet with it therefore by the way to preuent this extremity Plantaine is thought to be a soueraign remedy if it be incorporate with Fullers earth Also Veruaine alone by it selfe and the root of the great Bur. Now for other corrosiue vlcers and tettars it is very good to vse the root of Vmbilicus veneris with honied wine Sengreen the juice of Mercurie also with vineger CHAP. XII ¶ For dislocations or members out of ioint Against the Iaundise Felons hollow sores called Fistula's Tumors Burnes and Scaldings Against other diseases For to comfort the sinewes and stanch bloud THe root of Polypodium brought into a liniment is a proper remedy for any dislocation The seed of Fleawort the leaues of Plantaine punned with some few cornes of salt put
their breath stopped For the gnawing in the stomack the same being either eaten or applied in a liniment are singular good impostumations likewise growing to suppuration if they be taken betimes may be resolued with a plaster made of the black berries and say they were of long continuance the red will do the deed But as well the black as the red are soueraigne for those who be stung with serpents as also for young children who haue the stone and be entring into the strangury and pisse drop-meale Cudwort or Cottonweed some there be who call Gnaphalion others Chamaezelon The white soft and delicat down of the leaues many vse in stead of flocks and surely it is not much vnlike This herb is good to be giuen in some austere and styptick wine for the bloudy flixe It staieth lasks and restraineth the immoderat flux of womens sleurs Being clysterized it is singular for the Tinesme that is to say the continual prouocations to the seege without any voidance of excrements Last of all in a liniment it serueth well to be applied in vlcers tending to putrifaction As touching Galedragon an herb so called by Xenocrates it resembleth the Thistle named Leucacanthe i. S. Mary thystle and groweth full of sharp pricks in moory grounds The stem riseth vp tall in maner of Ferula or Fennell geant in the very head and top whereof it beaâ—…eth a thing resembling an egge in which there breed they say in processe of time certain grubs or litle worms which are excellent for to ease the tooth-ach if they be kept in a box with bread and as need requireth tied fast vnto the arm of the patient on that side where they ake for it is wonderfull how soon the paine wil by this means cease Mary they ought to be changed euery yere for after one yeare they be of no vertue in this case and in any wise they must at no time touch the ground As for Holcus it groweth vpon stony grounds and those that be dry It riseth vp with a stem like vnto the straw of that Barly which springeth euery yere without sowing in the top whereof it beareth slender spikes or eares This herb bound about the head or the arme draweth forth of the body any spils what soeuer whereupon some name it Aristida Hyoseris resembleth Cichory or Endive but that it is lesse and in handling more rough a soueraigne vulnerary herb so it be stamped and laid to a wound Holosteon which the Greeks so call by the contrary is an herbe without any hardnesse at all as if we should terme Gall by the name of Sweet So small and slender it groweth that a man would take it to be all hairs soure fingers long in manner of quich-grasse or stitchwort The leaues be narrow and haue an a stringent tast It commeth vp ordinarily vpon banks hillocks which be all earth and nothing stony Being drunke in wine there is great vse thereof for convulsions spreins and ruptures It is a great healer besides and skinneth greene wounds and experience hereof may be soone seene for if it be put among pieces of flesh in the pot whilest they boile it will cause them to grow together and vnite Hippophae ston is a certain pricky bush growing by the sea-side wherewith Fullers and Diers fil their leads coppers without stem without floure it bringeth forth certain little knobs or buttons only those hollow leaues also it hath smal and many in number of a grasse green colour the roots be white and tender out of which there is a juice drawne by way of expression in Summer time which is singular good for to purge the belly if it be taken to the weight of three oboli and principally helpeth those that be subject to the falling sicknesse trembling of the members and the dropsie it cureth also those that be giuen to the swimming and dizzines of the braine to straitnesse of winde and who cannot breath but vpright and last of all to such as be entering into a palsie CHAP. XI ¶ Of Hypoglossa and Hypecoon Idaea Isopyron Lathyris Leontopetalon Lycopsis Lithospermon The vulgar stone Of Limeum Leuce and Leucographis HYpoglossa hath leaues fashioned like vnto Butchers broome and those turning hollow and pricky within which concauities there come forth certaine little leaues resembling tongues A garland or chaplet made of these leaues and set vpon the head easeth the pain thereof Hypecoon groweth amongst corne and is leafed like vnto Rue It hath the same nature and properties that Opium or the juice of Poppie As for the herb Idaea the leaues therof resemble those of ground-Myrtle or Butchers broom vnto which there grow close certaine tendrils and those carry floures It stoppeth a lask staieth the immoderat flux of womens moneths and stancheth all vnmeasurable bleeding for by nature a stringent it is and repercussiue Isopyron some there be who call it Phasiolum because the leaf otherwise like vnto Annise doth turne and writh like vnto the tendrils of Phasils In the top of the stemme it beareth small heads or buttons full of seed resembling Nigella Romana A soueraigne hearbe taken either in hony or mead against the cough and other infirmities of the breast likewise for the accidents of the liuer Spurge hath many leaues resembling Lectuce besides which it putteth forth as many other slender and small branches containing in little tunicles or husks certain seeds in manner of capers which being dried and taken forth resemble for bignesse corns of Pepper white in colour sweet in tast easie to be clensed from their husk Twenty of these seeds drunk either in cleare water or mead do cure the dropsie besides watersh humors they euacuat choler They that desire to be throughly purged would haue them to work strongly vse to take them husk and all but certainly so taken they hurt the stomack and therfore there is a deuise of late found out to giue them either with fish or els in some broth of a cock or capon Leontopetalon which some cal Rhapeion carieth leaues like to Coleworts and a stalk halfe a foot high garnished with many branches resembling wings and seed it beareth in the head contained within cods after the maner of ciches The root is made much after the fashion of a rape or turnep big and black withall This herb groweth in corne grounds The root is a singular counterpoison to be giuen in wine against the sting or venome of any serpents and verily there is not in the world a more speedy remedy Very good it is for the Sciatica Lycopsis hath leaues like to Lectuce but that they be longer and thicker it riseth vp with a long stem and the same hairv with many branches growing thereto of a cubit in length and beareth little Purple floures It loueth to grow vpon champion plaines A liniment made with it and barly meale is good for the shingles and S.
for carbuncles take the brains of a tame sow rost the same and apply it vnto the sores it is a soueraigne remedy Touching the scabs that men be subject vnto there is not the like medicine for killing the same to the marow of an asse a liniment made with the vrin of the said beast together with the earth vpon which he hath staled Butâ—…r likewise is very good in that case as also for the farcins sullanders and mallanders in horses if it be applied therto with rosin made hot so is strong buls gluedissolued in vineger with quick lime put thereto also goats gall tempered with the ashes of alume calcined For the red blisters and meazils likewise there is not a better medicine than the dung of a cow or oxe and therupon they tooke the name of Boae The mange in dogs is healed with beasts bloud so they be bathed therewith whiles it is fresh and warm and after the same is dried vpon the body to follow it a second time the same day the morrow after to wash them throughly with lie made of strong ashes If thorns spills bones and such like things haue gotten into the flesh and there sticke cars durg is very good to draw the same forth likewise the treddles of a goat with wine Any rendles also but especially that which is found in an hares maw serue in that case reduced into a salue with the pouder of frankincense and oile or else with the like quantity of birdlime or the cereous matter in the Bee-hiue called Propolis Furthermore the grease of an asse is singular to reduce any swe rt sploches and black skars to a fresh and natiue colour which if they ouergrow the skin about them are brought downe and made more euen and subtill by an inunction of calues gall but the Physitians prepare the sayd gall with an addition of myrrh hony and safron and then put it vp in a brasen box for their vse yet some there be who mingle with the rest verdegris or the rust of brasse CHAP. XIX ¶ Receits appropriat to the maladies of women and the diseases of sucking babes also remedies for them that are vnable to performe the act of generation TO begin with the naturall course of womens purgation the gall of a bul or oxe applied to their secâ—…et parts in vnwashed greasie wooll is very effectuall to bring the same down The skilfull midwife of Thebes Olympias vsed to put thereto hyssope and sal-nitre For this purpose harts horne burnt to ashes is very good to be taken in drinke But if the matrice be out of order and vnsetled it is not amisse to apply the same ashes vnto the naturall parts yea and buls gall together with Opium to the weigh of two oboli or else perfume their secret parts with a suffumigation of deers hair Moreouer it is said that the hinds when they perceiuethemselues to be in calf swallow down a little stone which is singular good for women with child to carry about them that they may go out their full time and therefore much seeking there is after this stone which is commonly found among their excrements at such a time or else in their womb if haply they be killed with calfe for then it is to be had there also Moreouer there are found certain little bones in the heart and matrice of an hinde and those bee passing good for great bellied women and such as be in â—…auel of child-birth As for that stony substance resembling a pumish which in like manner is found in the wombe of kine I haue spoken already in my discourse or Kine and their nature If the matrice of a woman be growne hard and haue a scirrhe in it the fat of a wolfe will mollifie it if it be grieued with paine the liuer of a wolfe assuageth the same When women be neare their time and ready to cry out it is good for them to eat wolues flesh or if when they fall first to trauell there be but one by them who hath eaten therof this is such an effectuall thing that if they were forespoken or indirectly dealt withall by sorcery witchcraft this is thought to ease them of paine and procure them speedy deliuerance But in case such a one as hath eaten wolues flesh chance to come into the chamber when a woman is in the mids of their trauell she shall surely haue a hard bargaine and die of it Moreouer great vse there is of the hare in all womens infirmities for the lungs of an hare dried made into pouder and taken in drinke is comfortable to the matrice and helpeth it in many accidents thereof the liuer drunk with Samian earth in water staieth the excessiue flux of their fleurs the rennet of their maw fetcheth away the after-birth when it staieth behind but then in any wise the woman must not bathe or sweat in bain theday before the same rennet appliedas a cataplasme vpon a quilt of wooll with Safron the juice of porret forceth the dead infant within the mothers wombe to come forth Many are of opinion that if a woman eat with her meat the matrice of an hare she shall thereupon conceiue a man child if she company with her husband And some say that the genetoirs of the male hare yea the rendles are good for that purpose And it is thought that if a woman who hath giuen ouer bearing children doe eat the young leueret taken forth of the dams belly when she is newly bagd she wil find the way again to conceiue breed freshly as before but the magitians do prescribe the husband also to drink the bloud of an hare for so say they he shall sooner get his wife with child And they affirme moreouer that if a maiden be desirous her brests or paps should not grow any more but stand alwaies at one stay knit vp round and small she is to drink 9 treddles or grains of hares dung and for the same intent they aduise a virgin to rub her bosom with a hares rennet hony together also to anoint the place with hares bloud where the haire is plucked off if they be desirous that it should not grow again As touching the ventosities and inflation of the matrice it is good to vse thereto a liniment made of bores or swines dung incorporat with oile but in this disease it were better for to represse the said windines flatuosity to spice a cup with the pouder of the same dung dried giue it to the woman to drink for whether she be vexed with wrings whiles she is with child or pained with afterthrows in childbed she shall find much ease by that potion Furthermore it is said that sows milk giuen with honied wine to a woman that is in labour helps her to speedy deliuerance Let a woman newly brought to bed drink the same milk alone she will proue a good milch nource and haue her brests strut with milke but
or wine The bloud of the fouls abouenamed helpeth those that cannot see toward a night the liuer also of a sheep doth the same but if the said sheep be of a russet or browne colour the medicine will do the better for as I obserued before in Goats those that carry such a coat bee alwaies esteemed best Many giue counsell to foment and wash the eies with the decoction of the said liuer and if they be in pain and swollen withall they aduise to annoint them with the marrow of a Mutton They promise also That the ashes of scrich-owles eyes put into a collyrie wil clarifie the sight Indeed the dung of Turtles consumeth the white pearles in the eyes so doth the ashes of shell-snailes or hoddidods as also the meuting of the kestrell Cenchris which the Greeke writers wil haue to be a kind of Hawke As for the spot or pearle in the eie called Argema it may be cured by all those medicines aboue rehearsed so that they be applied thereto with hony But the best hony simply for the eies is that wherein a number of Bees were forced to die Whosoeuer hath eaten a young storke out of the nest he shall they say continue many yeares together and neuer be troubled with inflamed or bleared eies like as they that carrie about them a Dragons head It is said moreouer That the Dragons grease incorporat in honey and old oile dispatcheth and scattereth the filmes and webs that trouble the sight if they bee taken betimes before they be grown too thicke Some there be who at the full of a Moone put out the eies of yong swallowes marking the time when they haue recouered their sight againe for then they pluck off their heads and burne them to ashes which being tempered with hony they vse for to cleare their owne sight to ease the pains and discusse the blearednesse of eies yea and to heale them if they haue caught a blow or rush As for Lizards they vse to prepare them many and sundry waies for the infirmities incident to the eies Some take the green Lizard and put her close within a new earthen pot that neuer was occupied and therewith 9 of those little stones which the Greeks call Cinaedia and these are vsually applied vnto the share for the swelling glandules and tumors that many times rise there marking euery one of them respectively by themselues which being done they take forth of the pot euery day one when the ninth day is come they let out the Lizard and then they keepe the said stones thus ordered and prepared as soueraigne remedies to allay the pain and griefe of the eies Others get a green Lizard and put out her eies and bestow her in a glasse with a bed of earth vnder her in the bottome thereof and withall inclose within the said glasse certaine rings either of solid yron or massie gold and so soon as they perceiue through the glasse that the Lizard hath recouered her sight againe they let her forth but the said rings they keep with great care and regard as a speciall meanes for to helpe any bleared eies There be moreouer who vse the ashes of a Lizards head in stead of Stibium or Antimonium for to make smooth the roughnesse of the eye-lids Some hunt after green Lizards with long neckes which breed in sandy and gravelly grounds and when they be gotten burne them to ashes with which they vse to represse the flux of waterish humors which begin to fall into the eies yea and therewith consume the red pearls growing therein It is said moreouer That if a Weasels eies be pecked or plucked out of the head they will come againe and shee will recouer her sight and therefore they practise the like with rings and them together as I obserued before in Lizards Furthermore it is said That as many as carry about them the right eie of a serpent tied vnto any part it is very good for to stay the violent rheumes that haue taken to the eies but then in any wise the serpent must be let goe aliue after that she hath lost her eie As touching those eies which be euermore weeping and do stand ful of water continually the ashes of the star-lizards head called Stellio together with Antimonium helpeth them exceeding much The copweb which the common Spider maketh that vseth to catch flies but especially that which shee hath wouen for her nest or hole wherein she lieth her selfe is soueraigne good for the flux of humours into the eyes if the same be applied all ouer the forehead so as it meet with the temples on both sides but wot you what none must haue the doing hereof either to get the said copwebs or to lay it vnto the place but a young lad not as yet vndergrowne nor foureteene yeares of age neither must he be seene of the partie whom hee cureth in three daies after ne yet during the space of those three dayes must either hee or his Patient touch the ground with their bare feet Which circumstances and ceremonies being duely obserued it is wonderfull to see what a cure will follow thereupon Furthermore it is said That these white spiders with the long and slender legs being punned and incorporat in old oile be singular for to consume the white pearle in the eie if the same be dressed with that composition Also those spiders that worke ordinarily vnder roofes rafters and boorded floores of houses and weaue the thickest webs if any of them be inwrapped within a piece of cloth and kept bound to the eies or forehead do restraine for euer the said rheumes and catarrhes that haue found a way to the eies The greene Beetle hath a property naturally to quicken their sight who do but behold them and therefore these lapidaries and cutters or grauers in precious stones if they may haue an eie of them once looke vpon them take no more care for their eie-sight how it should serue their turnes when they are at their worke Thus much of eies As concerning the ears and the infirmities incident vn them there is not a better thing to mundifie and cleanse them than a sheepes gall with hony and a bitches milke if it be dropped into them easeth their paine Dogs grease tempered with Wormewood and old oile helpeth those that be hard of hearing so doth Goose grease howbeit some put thereto the juice of an Onion Garlick of each a like quantity In this case also there is much vse of Ants egs alone without any thing els for as little and silly a creature as it is yet she is not without some medicinable vertues insomuch as Beares when they feele themselues sickish or not well at ease cure themselues with eating Pismires As for the manner of preparing as well the grease of a goose as of all other fouls this it is first the fat ought to be clensed and rid from all the skins veines and strings that are among it and
then to be laid abroad to the Sun in an earthen pan couered ouer with a new lid of earth likewise which had neuer bin vsed this done the foresaid pan must be set ouer seething water that the said grease may melt and then it is to passe through linnen bags that it may be tried from all the grosse cratchens and so they put it vp in a new earthen pot set it in some cold place against the time that it is to be vsed howbeit this is wel known That if some hony be put therto it is lesse subject to corruption or putrifaction Moreouer the ashes of burnt mice incorporat in hony or els sodden with oile of Roses allaieth the pain in the eares if it be instilled into them But in case some earwig or such like vermine be crept into the ears there is not the like means to cause it to come forth again as is the gall of mice dissolued in vineger dropped into them Also when water is gotten into the head by the eares Goose grease together with the juice of an Onion is singular good to draw it out Moreouer there is a notable medicine made of dormice for all infirmities of the ears which otherwise could not be cured but were giuen ouer by all Physitians for the making whereof they take a dormouse and flea it and after the guts and entrails be taken forth they seeth the same with hony in a new earthen vessell Howbeit some Physitians there bee who thinke it better to boile the same with Spikenard vntill a third part be consumed and so reserue it for their vse and whensoeuer after there is need of it the manner is to infuse the said liquour warme into the eare by a pipe or instrument called an Otenchyte This is knowne by experience to heale all the accidents of the ears though otherwise incurable Also the decoction of earth worms boiled with Goose grease is singular good likewise to be poured into the ears But if the ears be exulcerat broken out and do run matter the red worms ingendred about trees stamped in a morter with oile are very proper to heale the same if they be applied therto Lizards that haue hanged vp a long time a drying with their mouths downward if they be punned with salt serue to heale the eares that haue caught some hurt either by bruise crush or stripe But aboue all other the Lizards that haue brown spots vpon them like rusty yron and are straked along the taile with lines are most effectual for these infirmities As touching the Wool beads or Caterpillers which some cal Millepedae others Multipedae or Centipedae which are a kind of earth-wormeskeeping vpon the ground all hairy hauing many feet courbing arch wise as they creep and if you touch them they wil gather round together the Greekes some call them Oniscos others Tylos these worms I say are very effectual to assuage the pain of the ears if they be sodden with the juice of Porret in the rind of a pomgranat some put therro oile of Roses giue aduise to poure this medicine into the contrary eare that is not pained As for that worm or vermin which riseth not archwise with some part of the body in creeping the Greeks some cal it Seps others Scolopendra which though it be lesse than the former described yet mischievous enough venomous The snails that carry shels vpon their backe and are vsually dressed for good meat applied with Myrrhe or the pouder of Frankincense are very good for the eares that be crackt so are the little and broad snailes brought into the forme of a liniment with hony and laid too accordingly The sloughs or skins that serpents cast calcined upon a tile or potshard red hot and so reduced into ashes and incorporat with hony are very medicinable for all the accidentsof the eares if the same be dropped into them but principally when they stink or yeeld from them a strong savour but if they be full of purulent matter and run withall it were better to mingle the same with vineger in stead of hony but best of all with the gall of a Goat a Boeufe or a sea-Tortois The foresaid sloughs or skins if they be above one yere old or have caught much wet by raine and water haue lost their vertue do no good as some are of opinion Moreover the bloudie humour that commeth from a spider either tempered with the oile of Roses or els alone by it selfe vpon a locke of wooll or with a little Saffron is very good for the eares so is the Cricket digged vp and applied to the place earth and all where it lay Nigidius attributeth many properties to this poore creature and esteemeth it not a little but the Magitians much more a fair deale and why so Forsooth because it goeth as it were reculing backward it pierceth and boreth an hole into the ground and neuer ceaseth all night long to creake very shrill The manner of hunting and catching them is this â—…hey take a flie and tie it about the midst at the end of a long haire of ones head and so put the said flie into the mouth of the Crickets hole but first they blow the dust away with their mouth for feare lest the flie should hold her selfe therein the Cricket spies the silly flie seaseth vpon her presently and claspeth her round and so they are both drawne forth together by the said haire The inner skin of a Hens gisier which the cook vseth to cast away if it be kept and dried and so beaten to pouder and mingled with wine is good to be dropped or poured hot into the eares that runne with matter so is the fat also of an Hen. There is a certaine kind of fattinesse to be found in the flie or insect called Blatta when the head is plucked off which if it be punned mixed with oile of Roses is as they say wonderfull good for the eares but the wooll wherein this medicine is inwrapped and which is put into the eares must not long tarry there but within a little while be drawne forth againe for the said fat will very soone get life and proue a gâ—…ub or little worm Some writers there be who affirm That two or three of these flies called Blattae sodden in oile make a soueraigne medicine to cure the eares and that if they be stamped and spread upon a linnen rag and so applied they will heale the eares if they be hurt by any bruise or contusion Certes this is but a nastie and ill favoured vermine howbeit in regard of the manifold and admirable properties which naturally it hath as also of the industrie of our Ancestors in searching out the nature of it I am moved to write thereof at large and to the full in this place For they have described many kindes of them In the first place some of them be soft and tender which being sodden in oile they haue proued
of their illusions whereby they mocke and abuse the world But aboue all the course that they take in the cure of Feuers sauoreth nothing at all of Physick which indeed is opposite to all their rules and proceedings for they haue diuided and digested the same into all the 12. signes in the Zodiack according as the Sun or Moone passeth through any of them All which is nothing els but a meere mockerie to be rejected and vtterly condemned as I will plainely prooue and shew to the view of the eye by some few examples and instances gathered out of many For in the first place they ordain that when the Sun is in Gemini the combs the ears the nailes and clawes of cocks should be burned and the ashes thereof tempered with oile wherewith the sicke persons are to be annointed all ouer but if the moon do passe through the said sign the same cure they say is to be done with the ashes that come of their barbs spurs whiles either Sun or Moone be in Virgo the cure doth alter and is to be wrought with barly corns in the same manner vsed But how if either of these 2 planets bee in Sagittarius then the wings of a Bat must serue the turne In case the moone be entred into Leo they imploy the leaues and branches of the Tamariske mary it must be the tame and garden Tamarisk in any case Lastly if she be in Aquarius they prescribe the coles made of box wood punned and puluerized Certes I purpose not to run through all their receits such onely as are found and approued good or at leastwaies carry some shew and probability thereof I am content to set downe as namely when they giue order for strong odours and perfumes to be applied vnto patients lying of a lethargy for to awaken and raise them out of their dead sleepe among which peraduenture the stones of a weazill dried and long kept or their liuer burnt may doe some good And whereas they thinke it conuenient to apply hot vnto their heads all about the lungs of a Mutton they speake not altogether besides sense and reason As for quartane agues forasmuch as it is often seen that all the physicke that is vsed about them doth little good or none at all be a Physitian neuer so Methodical Rational Diligent yea though he visits such patients ordinarily be present with them by their bed sides in that regard I wil not stick to relate many of their medicines and receits for this disease beginning first with those that are locall and outwardly to be applied hanged or worne about any part of the body Imprimis they say that the dust or sand wherein any hawke or bird of prey hath basked or bathed her selfe is singular good for the quartane ague if the patient weare it in a linnen cloth tied with a red thred Item the longest tooth in the head of a cole-black dog is very proper for this purpose There is a kind of bastard wesps which the Greeks thereupon cal Pseudospheces and ordinarily they do flie alone and not in troupes as others doe which if they be caught with the left hand and hanged about the neck vnder the chin do cure quartans as some Magitians say howbeit others attribute this effect to one of these wespes which a man saw first the same yeare Cut the head of a Viper off or take out the heart aliue and wrap the one or the other within a little linnen rag and carry it about you the quartane ague will be gone anon by their saying Some of them take only the little pretty snouts end of a mouse or the very tips of the ears and injoin the patient to lap the same in a red carnation coloured cloth and so to carry it about him but then the mouse must in any case be let go again and not killed Others pluck out the right eie of a green lizard aliue which done within a while after they chop off the head then they infold them both in a piece of goats skin and giue the patient in charge to haue the same about him and many there be who by the direction of magitians carry about them in like manner for the same purpose one of these flies or Beetles that vse to roll vp little bals of earth and in very truth in regard of this kind of beetle the greater part of Aegypt honour all beetles and adore them as gods or at leastwise hauing some diuine power in them which cerimoniall deuotion of theirs Appion giueth a subtill and curious reason of for he doth collect that there is some resemblance between the operations and works of the Sun and this flie and this hee setteth abroad for to colour and excuse the superstitious rites of his countrymen Howbeit the Magitians imploy in the cure of a quartan ague another kind of them which hath little horns turning backward but they must be gotten likewise with the left hand or els they will doe no good As for the third sort spotted with white and called in Latine by the name of Fullo they appoint one of them to be slit through in two and the 2 pieces to bee tied to both armes of the patient whereas those of other kinds they bind to the left arme only Semblably they say that the heart of a snake taken out of her body aliue with the left hand cureth the quartan if the patient carry it about him as also that whosoeuer taketh foure of the knots or joints of a scorpions taile together with the sting and carrieth the same about him inwrapped within a piece of black cloth with this charge That for 3 daies space hee doe not see either the scorpion which was let go nor the party who tied the said cloth and that which is within it about him he shal be deliuered from the quartan ague but after the returne of the third fit the patient must hide this clout and the joints aforesaid bury them in the ground some there be who lap a caterpiller in a little piece of linnen cloth bind the same thrice about with linnen thred making three knots thereof saying at the knitting of euery knot that this they do to cure him or her of a Quartane feuer Others carry about them a naked snaile in a little piece of fine leather or else foure heads of snails cut off and inclosed within a small reed Many thinke it better to infold one of these sows or Cheeslips within a locke of wooll and so to carry it about them against the quartane or els the little grubs or worms whereof come the oxe-flies before their wings bee grown And there be that for this purpose fit themselues with those smal worms couered al ouer with a kind of down or Cotton which are found in thickets among bushes or shrubs Some of these Magitians giue direction otherwhiles to take 4 of the said wormes inclosed within a wal-nut shel to bind
that sort it taketh downe all tumors or swelling bunches A collution or fomentation therewith allayeth the tooth-ache and a liniment also made with it and Rosin worketh the same effect For all these accidents beforenamed the some of salt found sticking to rockes or floting vpon the sea water is thought to be more conuenient than any other salt But to conclude any salt whatsoeuer it is serueth well for those medicines that be ordained either to take away lassitudes or to enter into those sope balls that are to polish the skin and to rid it from wrinkles If either a boeufe or mutton be rubbed with salt it will kill the skab or mange in them for which purpose also they giue it vnto the sayd beasts for to lick and more particularly it is spurted out of ones mouth into horses eies Thus you see what may be said as touching salt CHAP. X. ¶ Of Nitre and the sundry kindes thereof The manner of making Nitre The medicines and obseruations to it belonging I May not put off the treatise concerning the nature of Salnitre approching so neer as it doth to the nature of salt and the rather am I to discourse of it more exactly because it appeares euidently that the physitians who haue written thereof were altogether ignorant of the nature and vertues of it neither is there any one of them who in that point wrote more aduisedly than Theophrastus In the first place this is to be noted That among the Medians there is a little Nitre ingendred in certain vallies which in time of drought became all hoary grey therwith and this they call Halmirrhaga There is found also some of it in Thracia neere vnto the Citie Philippi but in lesse quantitie and the same all fouled and bewraied with the earth this they name Agrion In times past men haue practised to make Nitre of oke wood burnt but neuer was there any great store of it made by that deuise and long it is since that feat was altogether giuen ouer As for waters fountains of nitre there be enow of them in many places howbeit the same haue no astringent vertue at all But the best Nitre is found about Clytae in the marches of Macedonie where there is most plenty thereof and they call it Chalastricum White and pure it is and commeth neerest to the nature of salt And verily a lake or meer there is standing altogether vpon nitre and yet out of the midst thereof there springeth vp a little fountain of fresh water In this lake there is ingendred Nitre about the rising of the Dog-star for 9 dayes together then it stayeth as long and beginneth fresh againe to flote aloft and afterward giues ouer Whereby it appeareth that it is the very nature of the soile that breedeth it for knowne it is by experience That if it cease once neither heat of Sun nor shoures of rain wil serue or do any good Besides there is another wonderful propertie obserued in this lake that notwithstanding the foresaid spring or source do seeth and boile vp continually yet the lake neither riseth nor ouerfloweth But during those nine daies wherein it is giuen to yeeld Nitre if there chance to fall any shoures they make the nitre to taste the more of salt And say that the North-East winds do blow the while the Nitre is nothing so good and cleere by reason of the mud mingled withall which those winds do raise Thus much of Nitre naturall As for artificiall Nitre great aboundance there is made of it in Egypt but far inferiour in goodnesse to the other for brown and duskish it is and besides full of grit and stones The order of making it is all one in manner with that of salt sauing onely that in the salt houses they let in sea water wheras into the boiling houses of Nitre they conuey the water of the riuer Nilus Whiles Nilus doth rise and flow you shal haue the said nitre-pits or workhouses dry but as it falleth and returneth again toward the channel they are seen to yeeld a certaine moisture which is the humor of nitre and that for the space of forty daies together with no rest or intermission between as there is about Clytae in Macedonie abouesaid Moreouer if the weather be disposed to rain during that time they imploy not so much of Nilus water to the making of Nitre Now so soon as the said humor beginneth to thicken presently they gather it in all hast for feare it should resolue again and melt in the nitre pits In this nitre as well as in salt there is to be found between whiles a certaine oleous substance which is held to be singular good for the farcin and scab of beasts The nitre it selfe is laid vp and piled in heaps where it hardeneth and continueth a long time But admirable is the nature of the lake Ascanius and of certaine fountaines about Chalcis where the water aboue and which floteth vppermost is fresh and potable but all beneath and vnder it toward the bottome is nitrous The lightest of the Nitre and the finest is reputed alwaies the best and therefore the some and froth therof is better than any other part And yet for some vses the grosse and foule substance is very good and namely for the setting of any colour vpon cloth and especially the purple die As touching the vertues of nitre it selfe how it is imploied many wayes I wil write in place conuenient But to return againe to our nitre pits and their boiling houses there be of them very faire and goodly in Aegypt In old time they were wont to be about Naucratis and Memphis only but those at Memphis were nothing so good as the other for there the nitre lying vpon heapes groweth to the hardnes of a stone insomuch as by this means you shall see mountaines thereof like rockes Of this nitre they vse to make certain vessels to vse in the house and many times they melt it with sulphur boyle it ouer the coles for to giue a tincture vnto the said vessels look also when they would keep any thing long they vse this stone-nitre Moreouer there be in Aegypt other nitre pits also out of which there issueth a reddish kind of nitre resembling the color of the earth from which it sweateth and ooseth out As for the fome of nitre which is commended for the best of all the antient writers were of opinion that it could not be made but when the dew fell at what time as the nitre pits were if I may so say great bellied and ful of nitre within but not ready to be deliuered thereof and therefore if they be neare as it were to their time there can no such froth be gathered notwithstanding the dew do fall Others there be of this minde that the said vppermost coat or crust aloft is ingendred by reason of the fermentation of the sayd nitre but the modern Physitians of late daies haue thought and
it they haue a good guesse and aim that directeth them to gold whether it lie deep or shallow And by this conjecture otherwhiles their hap is so good as to find that which they desire aloft euen ebbe vnder the vpmost coat of the earth but I must needs say a rare felicity is this yet of late daies during the Empire of Nero there was found in Dalmatia a vaine of gold ore within one spades griffe in the first turfe of the ground which yeelded euery day the weight of fifty pound This manner of earth if it be found also vnder a vaine of gold they call Alutatio Moreouer this is to be noted That ordinarily the dry and barren mountains in Spaine which beare and bring forth nothing else are forced as it were by Nature to furnish the world with this treasure and doe yeeld mines of gold As for that gold ore which is digged forth of pits some call it in Latine Canalitium others Canaliense And verily this is found sticking to the grit and vtmost crust of hard rocks of marble not after the manner of drops or sparkes glittering in orient Saphire or The Thebaick marble and in many other pretious stones which are marked here and there with specks of gold but this ore or mettall doth clasp and embrace whole pieces of marble such like found in rocks And commonly these canales as I may so say of gold ore follow the veins of such marble and stone in the quarry diuiding and spreading as they do here and there wherupon the gold tooke the foresaid name of Canalitium they wander also along the sides of the pits as they are digged so that the earth had need to be borne vp and supported with posts and pillars for the getting of it lest by hollow vndermining it fall vpon the pioners This mine or vein of gold ore when it is once digged vp and landed aboue ground the manner is to bray and stamp to wash burn and melt yea and otherwhiles to grind into pouder As for that which as they pun thus and beat in mortars is knocked from it they call Apilascus but the mettall which sweateth out and commeth forth by the violent heate of the furnace where the foresayd ore is melted they name Argentum i. Siluer The grosse substance cast vp from the pot or vessel and swimming aloft whether it be the drosse comming of gold thus tried or any other mettal is named Scoria Howbeit this drosse that gold doth yeeld from it in the trying is set ouer the fire again to take a new melting is stamped in maner aforesaid As for the pans or vessels wherin gold is thus tried and refined they be made of a certain earth named Tasconium and the same is white like vnto a kinde of potters clay For surely there is no other earth or matter whatsoeuer will abide either the heate of the fire vnderneath plied continually with the bellows or the matter with in it when it is melted And thus much of the two first waies of finding out gold The third manner of searching for this mettal is so painfull and toilesome that it surpasseth the wonderfull works of the Geants in old time For necessary it is in this enterprise busines to vndermine a great way by candlelight to make hollow vaults vnder the mountains In which labor the pioners work by turns successiuely after the maner of the reliefe in a set watch keeping euery man his houres in iust measure and in many a moneths space they neuer see the Sun or day light This kind of work and mines thus made they call Arrugiae wherin it falleth out many times that the earth aboue head chinketh and all at once without giuing any warning setleth and falleth so as the poore pioners are ouerwhelmed buried quick insomuch as considering these perils it seemes that those who diue vnder the water into the bottom of the Leuant seas for to get pearls hasard themselues nothing so much as these pioners a strange thing that by our rashnesse and folly wee should make the earth so much more hurtfull to vs than the water Wel then to preuent as much as possibly may be these mischiefes and dangerous accidents they vnderprop the hils and leaue pillars and arches as they go set thick one by another to support the same And yet say they worke safe enough and be not in jeopardy of their liues by the fall of the earth yet there be other difficulties that impeach their work for otherwhiles they meet with rocks of flint and rags as wel in vndermining forward as in sinking pits downe-right which they are driuen to pierce and cleaue through with fire and vineger But for that the vapor and smoke that ariseth from thence by the means may stifle and choke them within those narrow pits and mines they are forced to giue ouer such fire-work and betake themselues to great mattocks and pickaxes yea and to other engines of iron weighing 150 pounds apiece wherewith they hew such rocks in pieces and so sinke deeper or make way before them The earth and stones which with so much ado they haue thus loosed they are fain to cary from vnder their feet in scuttles and baskets vpon their shoulders which passe from hand to hand euermore to the next fellow Thus they moile in the dark both day and night in these infernal dungeons and none of them see the light of the day but those that are last and next vnto the pits mouth or entry of the caue If the flint or rock that they work into seem to run in a long grain it will cleaue in length and come away by the sides in broad flakes and therefore the pioners with ease make way trenching and cutting round about it Howbeit be the rock as ragged as it will they count not that their hardest work for there is a certaine earth resembling a kinde of tough clay which they call white Lome and the same intermingled with gritty sand so hard baked together that there is no dealing with it it so scorneth and checketh all their ordinary tooles and labour about it that it seemeth impenetrable What doe the poore labourers then They set vpon it lustily with iron wedges they lay on lode vncessantly with mighty beetles and verily they thinke that there is nothing in the world harder than this labour vnlesse it bee this vnsatiable hunger after gold which surpasseth all the hardnesse and difficulty that is Wel when the work is brought to an end within the ground that they haue vndermined hollowed the ground as far as they think good down they go with their arch-work abouesaid which they builded as they went they begin first at those props which are farthest off cutting the heads of the stancheons still as they return backward to the entrance of the work Which don the sentinel only which of purpose keeps good watch without vpon the top of the same
mountain that is thus vndermined perceiues the earth when it begins to chink and cleaue menacing by that token a ruin thereof anon Whereupon presently he giues a signe either by a loud cry or some great knock that the pioners vnderneath may haue warning thereby to get them speedily out of the mines and runneth himselfe apacedown from the hil as fast as his legs will giue him leaue Then all at once on a sudden the mountain cleaueth in sunder and making a long chink fals downe with such a noise and crack as is beyond the conceit of mans vnderstanding with so mighty a puf and blast of wind besides as it is incredible Wherat these miners pioners are nothing troubled but as if they had done some doughty deed and atchieued a noble victorie they stand with ioy to behold the ruin of Natures workes which they haue thus forced And when they haue all don yet are they not sure of gold neither knew they all the whiles that they labored and vndermined that there was any at all within the hill the hope only that they conceiued of the thing which they so greatly desired was a sufficient motiue to induce them to enterprise and endure so great dangers yea to go through withall and see an end And yet I cannot wel say that here is all for there is another labor behind as painfull euery way as the other and withall of greater cost and charges than the rest namely to wash the breach of this mountaine that is thus clouen rent and laid open with a currant for which purpose they are driuen many times to seek for water a hundred miles off from the crests of some other hils and to bring the same in a continued channel and stream all the way along vnto it These Riuers or furrows thus deuised and conueyed the Latines expresse by the name of Corrugi a word as I take it deriued à Corrivando i. of drawing many springs and rils together into one head chanel And herein consisteth a new piece of worke as laborious as any that belongs to mines For the leuel of the ground must be so taken aforehand that the water may haue the due descent currant when it is to run and therefore it ought to be drawn from the sources springing out of the highest mountains in which conueiance regard would be had as well of the vallies as the rising of the ground between which requireth otherwhiles that the waters be commanded by canels and pipes to ascend that the carriage thereof be not interrupted but one piece of the work answer to another Otherwhiles it falleth out that they meet with hard rockes and crags by the way which do impeach the course of the water and those are hewed through and forced by strength of mans hand to make room for the hollow troughs of wood to lie in that carrie the foresaid water But a strange sight it is to see the fellow that hath the cutting of these rockes how he hangeth by cables and ropes between heauen and earth a man that beheld him afar off would say it were some flying spirit or winged diuell of the aire These that thus hang for the most part take the leuel forward and set out by lines the way by which they would haue the water to passe for no treading out is there of the ground nor so much as a place for a mans foot to rest vpon Thus you see what ado there is And these good fellowes whiles they bee aloft search with the hands and pluck forth the earth before them to see whether it be firme and fast able to beare the trunks or troughs for the water or otherwise loose and brittle which defect of the earth they call Vrium for the auoiding whereof the fountainers feare neither rocks nor stones to make passage for their pipes or trunks aforesaid Now when they haue thus brought the water to the edge brow of the hils where these mines of gold should be from whence as from an head there is to be a fall thereof to serue their purpose they dig certaine square pooles to receiue the water 200 foot euery way and the same ten foot deep in which they leaue fiue seuerall sluces or passages for the deliuerie of water into the mines and those commonly three foot square When the said pools stand full as high as their banks they draw vp the floud-gates and no sooner are the stopples driuen and shaken out but the water gusheth forth amaine with such a force and carrieth so violent a streame therewith that it rolleth downe with it any stones be they neuer so big lying in the way And yet are we not come to an end of the toile for there remaineth a new piece of work to do in the plaine beneath Certain hollow ditches are to bee digged for to receiue the fall of the water both from the pooles that are aboue and the mines also These trenches the Greekes tearme Agogae as a man would say Conduits and those are to be paued by degrees one vnder another Besides there is a kinde of shrub or bush named Vlex like to Rosemarie but that it is more rough and prickely and the same is there planted because it is apt to catch and hold whatsoeuer pieces of gold do passe beside The sides moreouer of these canals or trenches are kept in with planks and bourds and the same borne vpon arches pendant through steep places that by this means the canale may haue passage and void away at length out of the land into the sea Lowhat a worke it is to search out and meet with gold and verily by this means Spaine is grown mightily in wealth and ful of treasure In the former work also of sinking pits for gold an infinit deale of labour there is to lade out the water that riseth vpon the workemen for feare it choke vp the pits for to preuent which inconuenience they deriue it by other drains As touching the gold gotten by cleauing and opening mountains which kind of work I called Artugia it needeth no trying by the bloome-smithie for fine it is naturally pure of it selfe and found there be whole lumps and masses of this kind and in this manner In pits likewise ve shal haue such pieces weying otherwhiles ten pounds and more These grosse and massie pieces of gold the Spaniards call Palacrae or Palacranae but if they be but small they haue a prety name for them and that is Baluces But to come again to the shrub or plant Vlex whereof I spake before after it is once dried they burn it and the ashes that come thereof they wash ouer turfs of greene grasse that the substance of gold may rest and settle therupon Some writers haue reported that the countries of Asturia Gallaecia and Lusitania were wont to yeeld euery yere 20000 pound weight of good gold gotten after this sort yet so as they all doe attribute the
vpon siluer and is therefore called Argentosum This kind of gold may be known thus namely if it will look bright and cleare vpon the putting of Santerna to it whereas contrariwise if it hold much vpon brasse and such gold is named Aerosum it will haue no lustre at all but looke dim and duskish vpon the laying of Borax vpon it and besides will hardly be sodred But to soder such gold there is a proper glue or soder made with an addition of gold and the seuenth part of siluer to the rest abouenamed and all the same stamped and vnited together And since I am entred into the feat of sodring it were very meet and conuenient to annex vnto this present discourse all things els concerning it that we may vnder one view behold the admirable works of Nature in this kind The soder of gold then is Borax which I haue shewed already Iron is sodred with the stiffe potters cley Argilla Brasse ore or Chalamine called Cadmia serues to vnite and knit pieces of brasse together in masse Alume is good to hold plates of brasse one to another Rosin doth soder lead and besides is the proper cement of marble but black lead will joine well by the means of the white and one piece of tin with another with the helpe of oile In like manner tin will hold sure with a soder of brasse file-dust and siluer with tin Both brasse or copper also yron ore melt best with an yron made of Pine-wood as also with the Papyr reed in Aegypt but contrariwise gold soonest melts with a fire of chaffe and huls Quickelime will catch an heat and burne if water be cast vpon it and so doth the Thracian stone but the same oile doth quench Fire is most of all extinguished and put out with vinegre with bird lime and the white of an egg No kind of right earth will burn light or flame Finally charcole which hath beene once one fire then quenched and afterwards set a burning againe is of more force and giueth a greater heat than that which commeth new from the earth CHAP. VI. ¶ Of Siluer Quick-siluer naturall Stibium or Alabastrum The drosse or refuse of siluer and litharge of siluer IT followeth by good order to write in the next place of siluer mines from whence proceedeth the second rage that hath set men a madding where first and formost this is to be noted that there is but one means to find siluer and that is in pits sunke of purpose for it neither is there any shew at all of siluer to giue light thereof and to put vs in hope of finding no sparkes shining like as there be in gold mines which direct vs to it The earth that engendreth the veine of siluer is in one place reddish in another of a dead ash color But this is a generall rule that it is not possible to melt and trie our siluer ore but either with lead or the veine and ore of lead This minerall or mettall they call Galena found for the most part neer to the veins and mines of siluer Now by the means of fire when these are melted together part of the siluer ore setleth downeward and turneth to be lead the pure siluer floteth aloft like as oile vpon water In al our prouinces yea and parts of the world to speake of there be mines of siluer to be found howbeit the fairest be in Spaine and yeeld the finest and most beautifull siluer and the same also like as gold is engendred in a barraine soile otherwise and fruitlesse and euen with in mountains look also where one vein is discouered there is another alwaies found not farre off which is a rule obserued not in mines of siluer only but also in all others of what mettals soeuer and hereupon it seemeth that the Greekes doe call them Metalla And verily strange it is and wonderfull that the mines of siluer in Spaine which were so long agoe begun by Anniball should continue still as they do and retaine the names of those Carthaginians who first found discouered and brought them to light of which one named then Bebelo so called at this day yeelded vnto Anniball daily 300 pound weight which mine euen at that time had gone vnder the ground and hollowed the mountain a good mile and a halfe and all that way the Aquitans at this day standing iu water lade the same vp labouring night and day by the candle or lampe-light euery man in his turne and during the burning of a certaine measure of oile in such wise as they diuert the water from thence and make a good big riuer thereof to passe and run another way A veine of siluer which lieth but ebb within the ground and is there discouered the miners call Crudaria as it were a raw vein In old time those that digged for siluer if they met once with allum were wont to giue ouer their worke and seeke no farther but of late daies it happened that vnder alume there was found a veine of white brasse or laton which fed mens hopes still and cause them now to sink lower and neuer rest so far as they can dig And yet there is a damp or vapor breathing out of siluer mines hurtfull to all liuing creatures and to dogs especially Moreouer this point is well to be marked that gold and siluer both the softer that they be and tender the better they are esteemed and siluer being white as it is most men maruell how it commeth to passe that if one rule paper or any thing therewith it will draw black lines sully as it doth Furthermore within these veines and mines aboue said there is a certaine stone found which yeelds from it an humor continually the same continues alwaies liquid men cal it Quick-siluer howbeit being the bane and poison of all things whatsoeuer it might be called Death-siluer well enough so penetrant is this liquor that there is no vessel in the world but it wil eat and breake through it piercing and passing on stil consuming and wasting as it goes it supports any thing that is cast into it and wil not suffer it to settle downward but swim aloft vnlesse it be gold only that is the only thing which it loueth to draw vnto it and embrace very proper it is therefore to affine gold for if gold and it be put together into earthen pots and after often shaking be poured out of one into another it mightily purifies the gold casts forth al the filthy excrements thereof and when it hath rid away all the impurities and grosse refuse it selfe ought then to be separated from the gold for which purpose poured forth the one the other ought to be vpon certaine skinnes of leather well tewed and dressed vntill they be soft through which the quick-siluer may passe and then shall you see it stand in drops vpon the other side like sweat sent out by the pores of
lees beneath and as the one is an excrement cast vp from a matter whiles it is purging it selfe so the other is the refuse or grounds thereof after it is purged and setled Howbeit many there bee who make but two kindes of this fome or litharge the one * Steresitis as it were solid and massiue the other * Peumene as one would say puffed vp and full of wind As for the third named Molybdaena they reckon as a thing by it selfe to be treated of in the discourse or chapter of lead Now the litharge abouesaid ought for the vse that it is emploied about for to be prepared in this manner first the lumps aforesaid are to be broken into small pieces as big as Hasel nuts and set ouer the fire againe thus when it is once red hot by the blast of bellows to the end that the coles and cinders might be separated one from another there is wine or vineger cast vpon it both to wash also withall to quench the same Now if it be Argyritis to the end it may look the whiter they vse to break it to the bignes of beans and giue order to seeth it in water within an earthen pot putting thereto wheat and barly lapped within pieces of new linnen cloth and suffer them to boil therwith till they burst which done for six dayes together they put it in mortars washing it thrice euery day in cold water and in the end with hot and so at length put to euery pound of the said Litharge the weight of one Obolus of Sal-gem The last day of all they put it vp into a pot or vessel of lead Some there be who seeth it with blanched beans and husked barly and after that dry it in the sun others think it better to seeth it with beans and white wool vntill such time as it colour the wooll no more black then they put thereto Sal-gem changing eft soones the water and dry it for the space of forty daies together in the hottest season of the Summer There be again who think it best to seeth it in water within a swines belly and when they haue taken it forth rub it wel with sal-nitre and pun it in mortars as before with salt Ye shall haue them that neuer bestow seething of it but only beat it with salt and then put water thereto and wash it Well thus prepared as is beforesaid it serueth for collyries and eie-salues in a liniment also to take away the foule cicatrices or scars the pimples and specks likewise that mar the beauty of women yea our dames wash the haire of their head withall to make it clean and pure And in very truth Litharge is of power to dry mollifie coole and attemper to clense also to incarnat vlcers and to asswage or mitigate any tumors Being reduced into the vnguents or plaisters aforesaid and namely with an addition of rue myrtles and vineger it is singular for S. Anthonies fire Semblably being incorporat with oile of myrtles and wax into a cerot it healeth kibed heeles CHAP. VII ¶ Of Vermilion and of what estimation it was among the old Romans the first inuention thereof Of Cinnabaris the vse thereof in Pictures and in Physicke The sundry sorts of Minium or Vermilion and how it is to be ordered to serue painters THere is found also in siluer mines a mineral called Minium i. Vermilion which is a colour at this day of great price and estimation like as it was in old time for the antient Romans made exceeding great acount of it not only for pictures but also for diuers sacred holy vses And verily Verrius alledgeth and rehearseth many authors whose credit ought not to be disproued who affirm That the maner was in times past to paint the very face of Iupiters image on high and festiual daies with Vermilion as also that the valiant captains who rode in triumphant maner into Rome had in former times their bodies coloured all ouer therewith after which manner they say noble Camillus entred the city in triumph And euen to this day according to that antient and religious custom ordinary it is to colour all the vnguents that are vseâ—… in a festiuall supper at a solemne triumph with Vermilion And no one thing doe the Censors giue charge and order for to be done at their entrance into office before the painting of Iupiters visage with Minium The cause and motiue that should induce our ancestors to this ceremony I maruel much at and canot imagin what it should be True it is and well known that in these daies the Aethiopians in generall set much store by this colour and haue it in great request insomuch as not onely the Princes and great Lords of those countries haue their bodies stained throughout therewith but also the images of their gods are â—…ainted with no other colour in which regard I am moued to discourse more curiously and at large of all particulars that may concerne it Thcophrastus saith that 90 years before Praxibulus was established chiefe ruler of the Athenians which falls out iust vpon the 249 yere after the foundation of our city of Rome Callias the Athenian was the first that deuised the vse of Vermilion and brought the liâ—…ely colour thereof into name for finding a kinde of red earth or sandy grit in the mines of siluer and hoping that by circulation there might be gold extracted out of it he tried what he could do by fire and so by that means brought it vnto that fresh and pleasant â—…e that it hath which was the first original of Vermilion Hee saith moreouer That euen in those daies there was found Minium in Spain but the same was hard and full of gritty sand Likewise among the Colchi in a certaine â—…ock inaccessible by reason whereof the people of the country were constrained by shooting at it to shake and driue it down howbeit the same was but a bastard Minium But the best simply saith he was gotten in the territorie of the Cilbians somewhat higher in the country than Ephesus in sum That the said Minium or Vermilion is a certaine sandy earth of a deepe scarlet colour which was prepared in this order first they pun and beat it into pouder and then washed it being thus puluerised Afterwards that which setled in the bottom they washed a second time In which artificiall handling of Minium this difference there is that some make perfect Vermilion of it with the first washing others thinke the Vermilion of that making to be too pale and weake in colour and therefore hold that of the second washing to be best And verily I wonder not that this colour was so highly esteemed for euen beforetime during the state of Troy the red earth called Rubrica was in great request as appeareth by the testimony of Homer who being otherwise spary enough in speaking of pictures colours yet commends the ships painted therwith The Greeks call our
wit Sil and Azur As for Sil to speake properly it is a kind of muddy slime the best of this kind is called Atticum and euery pound of it is worth 32 deniers The next in goodnesse is hard as stone or marble and carieth hardly halfe the price of the other named Atticum there is a third sort of a fast compact substance which because it is brought out of the Island Scyros some call Scyricum and yet of late verily we haue it out of Achaia also and this is the Sil that painters vse for their shadows this is sold after two sesterces the pound As for the Sil which commeth out of France called the Bright Sil it is sold in euery pound two asses lesse than that of Achaia This Sil and the first called Atticum painters vse to giue a lustre and light withall but the second kinde which standeth vpon marble is not imploied but in tablements and chapters of pillers for that the marble grit within it doth withstand the bitternesse of the lime This Sil is digged likewise out of certain hils not past 20 miles from the city of Rome afterwards they burne it and by that means do sophisticate and sell it for the fast or flat kinde named Pressum but that it is not true and natural but calcined appeareth euidently by the bitternesse that it hath and for that it is resolued into pouder CHAP. XIII ¶ Of Sil Caeruleum Nestorianum and Coelum Also that all these kindes keep not the same price euerie yeare POlygnotus and Mycon were the first Painters who wrought with Sil or Ochre but they vsed onely that of Athens in their pictures The age insuing imploied it much in giuing light vnto their colours but that of Scyros and Lydia for shadowes As for the Lydian ochre it was commonly bought at Sardis the capitall city of Lydia but now it is growne out of all remembrance As touching Caeruleum or Azur it is a certaine sandy grit or pouder of which in old time there were knowne 3 kinds to wit the Aegyptian most commended aboue the rest the Scythian which is easie to be dissolued and tempered and in the grinding turneth into foure colours namely the Azur which is of a pallet colour called therefore the whiter the blacker Azur of a deeper blew there is the Azur also of a grosser substance and the fourth of a finer The Cyprian Azur is preferred before that of Scythia Ouer and aboue those Azures before-named wee haue some from Puteoli and Spaine where they be artificiall and they haue taken to making it of a kind of sand All the sorts of these Azurs receiue first a dye and are boiled with a certain hearbe appropriat to it called Oad the colour and juice whereof Azur is apt to drinke in and receiue As for all the preparation and making of it otherwise it is the same that belongeth to Chrysocolla or Borax Of Azur there is made that powder which wee call in Latine Lomentum for which purpose it must be first punned puluerized and washed and this is whiter indeed than the Azur it selfe sold it is after three and twentie deniers the pound whereas Azur may bee bought for eighteene Herewith they vse to paint walls that be ouercast with plastres for lime it will not abide Of late daies there is a kinde of Azur growne into request called Nestorianum taking that name of him who first deuised it made it is of the lightest part of the Aegyptian Azur and it costeth 40 deniers the pound Of the same vse also is the Azur of Puteoli saue only in windows and this some call Coelon It is not long since another kind of Azur or blew named Indico began to be brought ouer vnto vs out of India which is prized at 17 deniers the pound It serueth painters wel for the lines called Incisurae that is to say for to diuide shadows from lights in their workes To conclude there is another kinde of Lomentum or blew powder of the basest account of all other some call it Tritum and it is not esteemed worth aboue fiue asses the pound But to try the right and perfect Azur indeed the best experiment is to see whether it will flame vpon a burning cole As for the false and sophisticat Azur it is thus made they take the floures of violets dried and boile them in water the juice they presse forth through a linnen cloth and mix the same with the chaulky earth called Eretria vntill such time as it be well incorporat with it To proceed vnto the medicinable vertues of Azur It is holden to be a great clenser therfore it mundifieth vlcers in which regard it entreth into plasters as also into potentiall cauteries As touching Ochre or Sil it is exceeding hard to be reduced into pouder and this also serueth in Physicke for it hath a mild kind of mordacity astringent it is besides incarnatiue in which respect soueraigne to heale vlcers but before that it will doe any good it ought to be burnt and calcined vpon an earthen pan To conclude with the prices of all those things named heretofore howsoeuer hitherto I haue set them downe yet I am not ignorant how they vary according to the place yea and alter in manner euery yeare and well I wot that as shipping and nauigation speeds well or ill as the Merchant buyeth cheap or deare the price may rise and fall Againe it falleth out that sometime one rich munger or other buying vp a commodity and bringing it wholly into his owne hands for to haue the Monopoly of it raiseth the market and inhaunceth the price for I remember well how in the daies of Nero late Emperor all the spicers druggers and Apothecaries preferred a Bill of complaint vnto the Consuls against one Demetrius a regrater Yet notwithstanding I thought it necessarie to put downe the prices of things as they are ordinarie valued at Rome one yeare with another to shew in some sort by a generall aestimat the worth of such wares and commodities whereof I haue written THE XXXIV BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proem CHAP. I. ¶ The Mines of Brasse IT is now time to go in hand with Mines of Brasse a mettall esteemed most of all other next to Gold and Siluer in regard of the vses about which it is imployed nay if I should say truly preferred it is especially that which is called the laton of Corinth in diuers respects before siluer yea and gold it selfe for brasse I may tell you is of great authority in the campe and carrieth no small stroke among souldiers in regard of their pay which as I haue said before was weighed them out in brasse and hereupon their wages-money is vsually called by the name of Aera militum From this mettall likewise the generall Receiuers and Treasurers take their title of credit and place for at Rome they be called Tribuni aerarij as a man
but also by the strange manner of charge laid vpon them that had the keeping and custodie thereof for no reall caution of mony was thought sufficient to be pledged and pawned for the warrantise or to counteruaile the worth thereof Order therefore was giuen by the state and the same obserued from time to time that the sextons or wardens of the said chappell should performe the safety and forth-comming of it vnder paine of death As touching the bold and venturous pieces of worke that haue been performed and finished by this art we haue an infinite number of such examples for we see what huge and gyant-like images they haue deuised to make in brasse resembling high towers more like that personages and such they called Colossi Of this kind is the image of Apollo within the Capitoll transported by M. Lucullus out of Apollonia a city within the kingdome of Pontus which in height was thirtie cubits and cost a hundred and fifty talents the making Such another is that of Iupiter within Mars field dedicated by Claudius Caesar the Emperour which because it standeth so neere vnto Pompeys theatre men commonly call Iupiter Pompeianus and full as big he is as Apollo abouenamed Like vnto these is the colosse or stately image of Hercules at Tarentum the handiwork of the said Lysippus but he is forty cubits high and miraculous is the deuise of this colosse if it be true which is commonly reported thereof namely that a man may mooue and stirre it easily with his hand so truly ballanced it stands and equally counterpoised by Geometry and yet no wind no storme or tempest is able to shake it Certes it is said that the workeman himselfe Lysippus prouided well for this danger in that a pretty way off he reared a columne or pillar or stone full opposit to the winds mouth for to breake the force and rage thereof from that side where it was like to blow and beat most vpon the colosse and verily so huge it was to weld and so hard to bee remoued that Fabius surnamed Verrucosus durst not meddle withall but was forced to let it alone leaue it behind him notwithstanding be brought with him from thence another Hercules which now standeth within the Capitoll But the Colosse of the Sun which stood at Rhodes and was wrought by Chares of Lyndus apprentice to the abouenamed Lysippus was aboue all others most admirable for it carried seuenty cubits in height well as mighty an image as it was it stood not on end aboue threescore yeares and six for in an earth quake that then happened it was ouerthrowne but lying as it doth along a wonderfull and prodigious thing it is to view and behold for first and foremost the thumbs of the hand and great toes of the foot are so big as few men are able to fadome one of them about the fingers and toes are bigger than the most part of other whole statues and images and looke where any of the members or lims were broken with the fall a man that saw them would say they were broad holes and huge caues in the ground for within these fractures and breaches you shall see monstrous big stones which the workemen at the first rearing and setting of it had couched artificially within for to strengthen the colosse that standing firme and vpright so ballaised it might checke the violence of wind and weather Twelue yeares they say Chares was in making of it before he could fully finish it the bare workemanship cost three hundred talents This mony was raised out of K. Demetrius his prouision which he had set by for that purpose paid from time to time by his officers for that he would not himselfe endure to stay so long for the workemanship thereof Other images there are besides of the nature of colosses in the same citie of Rhodes to the number of one hundred lesser indeed than the foresaid colosse of the Sun yet there is not one of them but for the bignesse were sufficient to giue a name to the place and ennoble it wheresoeuer it should stand Ouer and aboue there be in the said citie fiue other gyant-like images or colosses representing some gods and those of an huge bignesse which were of Bryaxes his making Thus much of workemen strangers And to come somewhat nearer home we Italians also haue practised to make such colosses forsurely we may see and go no further than to the librarie belonging to the temple of Augustus Caesar here in Rome a Tuscan colosse made for Apollo and the same is fiftie foot high from the great toe vpward but the bignesse thereof is not so much as the matter and workemanship for hard it is to say whether is more admirable the beautifull feature of the body or the exquisit temperature of the mettall Moreouer Sp. Carvilius long agoe made the great image of Iupiter which standeth in the Capitoll hill after the Samnites were vanquished in that dangerous war wherein they bound themselues by a sacred lay and oth to fight it out to the last man vnder paine of death to as many as seemed to turne backe or once recule to the making whereof he tooke the brasen cuiraces grieues and morions of the enemies that lay dead and slaine vpon the ground which is so exceeding bigg and large that hee may very plainely and euidently bee discouered and seene from the other Iupiter in Latium called therefore Latiarius The pouder dust which the filme made in the workmanship polishing of this colosse Carvilius himselfe cast again and thereof made his own image and pourtraiture and the same standeth as you may see at the foot of the other Within the said Capitoll there be two brasen heads worthy of admiration which P. Lentulus when he was Consull thought good to dedicat to that place The one was made by Chares the foresaid founder the other wrought by Decius but this of Decius his making compared with the other commeth so farre short that one would not take it to be the doing of an artificer that was his crafts-master but rather of some bungler prentice or learner But to speake indeed of a great image and that which surpasseth in bignes all the rest of that kinde looke but vpon the huge and prodigious colosse of Mercurie which Zenodorus in our age and within our remembrance made in France at Auvergne ten yeares he was about it and the workmanship came to foure hundred thousand sesterces Now when hee had made sufficient proofe of his Art there Nero the Emperour sent for him to come to Rome where he cast indeed and finished a colosse a hundred and ten foot long to the similitude and likenesse of the said Emperor according as it was first appointed and as he began it but the said prince being dead and his head laid dedicated is was to the honour and worship of the Sun in detestation of that most wicked monster whose vngratious acts the city condemned and
Roset The rest be sad or duskish and as wel the one as the other be all either naturall or artificiall Among the naturall of this sort to wit the sad colours I reckon the common bole Armin Ruddel or red stone Paretonium Melinum Eretria and Orpin The rest of these kinds be artificial principally those which I haue already spoken of in the treatise of mines Moreouer of the baser sort are Ocre and Ruddel burnt Cerusse or Spanish white Sandix mineral and Scyricum Sandaracha Vitriol or Black As for Sinopis or common bole Armin found out first it was at Sinope a maritine town in the kingdom of Pontus wherof it took that name it groweth also in Egypt the Baleare Islands and Africk but the best is found in the Isle Lemnos and in Cappadocia digged out of certain caues and holes That which stucke fast vnto the rocks excelleth all the rest The pieces of this earth if a man do breake shew the owne natural colour which is not mixed without-forth they be spotted And this earth in old time was vsed for to giue a lustre vnto other colours Of this Sinopis or Bole Armin common there be three kindes the deepe red the pale or weake red and the meane between both The best Sinopis is esteemed worth thirteene denarij Roman by the pound this may serue the painters pensill yea or in grosser work if a man list to colour posts beams or wood as for that which commeth out of Africk it is worth eight asses euery pound and this they call Cicirculum that which is redder than the rest serueth better for painting of tablements as for that which is most brown and duskish called in Latine Pressior it is of the same price that the other and employed in the bases and feet of such tablements And thus much for the vse in painting Touching Physicke and the medicinable properties thereof milde it is of nature and in that regard of gentle operation whether it enter into hard emplaistres of a dry composition or into immolitiue plaisters that are more liquid and principally such as are deuised for vlcers in any moist part as the mouth or fundament This earth if it be injected by a clistre stoppeth a laske and being giuen to women in drinke to the weight of one denarius i. a dram it stayeth their immoderate fluxes of the matrice The same burnt or calcined drieth vp the fretting roughnesse of the eies principally if it be applied with vineger This kinde of red earth some would haue to be counted in a second degree of Rubrica for goodnesse for they alwaies reckoned that of Leâ—…nos to be the chiefe simply best as comming next in price to Minium i. Vermilion And in truth this Terra Sigillata or Lemnia was highly accounted of in old time like as the Island Lemnos from whence it comes neither was it lawfull to sel any of it before it was marked or sealed therupon they vsed to cal it Sphragis The painters ordinarily lay a ground of this vnder their vermillion and sophisticate it many waies In physick it is holden to be a soueraigne thing for if the eies be annointed round about therewith in manner of a liniment it represseth the flux of rheumatick humors and doth mitigat the pains incident to them the fistulous sores likewise about the angles or corners of the eies it drieth vp that they shall not run as they vse to doe Inwardly also it is commonly giuen in vineger to such as cast vp bloud at the mouth It is taken also in drink for the opilations and other accidents as wel of the spleen as kidnies and besides to stop the excessiue fluxes that be incident to women Singular it is against any poison or venomous sting of serpents either vpon land or sea and therefore is a familiar ingredient into all antidots or counterpoisons Of all other sorts of red earth the ruddle of Egypt and Africke is fittest for Carpenters for if they strike their line vpon timber with it they shall be sure that it wil take colour and be marked very well Moreouer another sort there is of this red earth minerall found with yron ore and the same is good also for painters There is a kind of ruddle also made of ochre burnt and calcined in new earthen pots well luted all ouer and the greater fire that it meeteth withall in the furnace the better it is In generall any ruddle whatsoeuer is exiccatiue in which regard it agreeth wel with salues and healing plasters and is very proper for to represse shingles such cutanean wild-fires that wil stand in drops Take of Sinopis or Bolearmin common that commeth out of Pontus halfe a pound of bright Sil or ochre 10 pound of the Greek white earth Melinum 2 pound pun them al together and mix them wel so as they may ferment 12 daies together and hereof is made Leucophorum i. a kind of gum or size to lay vnder goldfoile for to guild timber Touching the white earth Paraetonium it carieth the name of a place in Egypt from whence it commeth and many say that it is nothing but the some of the sea incorporat and hardened together with the slime mud of the shore and therfore there be winkles and such shell-fishes found therwith It is ingendred also in the Isle Candy and the country of Cyrenae At Rome they haue a deuise to sophisticat it namely by boiling fullers earth vntil it be of a fast massie consistence the price of the best is after 6 denier the pound Of al white colors it is the fattest and for that it runs out smooth in the working it is the fastest parget to ouercast walls withall As for the earth Melinum white it is likewise but the best is that which the Isle Melos doth yeeld whereupon it took that name In Samos also it is to be found but painters vse it not because it is ouer clammy and vnctuous The Islanders are wont to creep on all foure and to lie along at their work when they dig it forth of the rocks for search it they must among the veines that run therein The same operation it hath in physicke that the earth Eretria also if a man touch it with the tongue he shal find it a stringent and drying howbeit a depilatory it is in some sort and fetcheth away haire or els causeth it to grow thin A pound of it is worth a Sesterce There is of white colors a third kind and that is Cerussa or white lead the reason making whereof I haue shewed in my discourse of minerals and yet there was found of it in the nature of a very earth by it selfe at Smyrna within the land belonging to one Theodotus wherewith in old time they vsed to color and paint ships But in these daies we haue no other cerusse or Spanish white but that which is artificial made of lead
king Tarquinius Priscus sent for one Turianus to no other purpose in the world but to agree with him for to make the image of Iupiter in earth to set it vp in the capitoll for surely no better he was than made of clay and that by the hand of a porter which was the reason that they vsed to colour him ouer with vermillon yea and the charriots with foure horses which stood vpon the lanterne of the said temple were of no other stuffe concerning which I haue spoken in many places The same Turianus also made the image of Hercules which at this day retaineth still in the city that name which testifieth what matter he is made of Lo what kind of images there were in those daies made in the honour of the gods by our ancestors for the most excellent neither haue we cause to be ashamed of those our noble progenitors who worshipped such and no other As for siluer and gold they made no reckoning therof either about themselues or the very gods whom they worshipped and verily euen at this day there continue still in most places such images of earth As for the festiers and lanterns of temples there be many of them both within the city of Rome and also in diuers burrough townes vnder the Empire which for curious workmanship as it were chased and ingrauen are admirable and for continuance of time more lasting and durable than our louvers of gold and for any harme they do lesse subject I am sure to injurie Certes in these daies notwithstanding the infinit wealth and riches that we are growne vnto yet in all our diuine seruice and solemne sacrifices there is no assay giuen or tast made to the gods out of Cassidoine or cristallbols but only in earthen cups If a man consider those things aright weigh them duly in particular he shall find the bounty and goodnesse of the earth to be inenarrable though he should not reckon her benefits that she hath bestowed vpon mankind in yeelding vs so many sorts of corne wine apples and such like fruits herbs shrubs bushes trees medicinable drugs mettals and mineralls which I haue already treated of for euen in these works of earth and pottery which we are glutted with they be so vsuall and ordinary how beneficiall is the earth vnto vs in yeelding vs conduit pipes for to conuey water into our bains tyles flat yet hooked and made with crochets at one end to hang vpon the sides of the roofe chamfered for to lie in gutters to shoot off water curbed for crests to clasp the ridge on both sides brickes to lie in wals afront for building and those otherwhiles to serue as binders in parpine-worke with a face on both sides to say nothing of the vessels that be turned with the wheele and wrought round yea and great tuns and pipes of earth deuised to contain wine and water also In regard of which stone and earthen vessels K. Numa ordained at Rome a seuenth confraternitie of potters Ouer and besides many men there haue bin of good worth and reputation who would not be burnt to ashes in a funerall fire after they were dead but chose rather to haue their bodies bestowed entire within coffins of earth lying among leaues of myrtle oliue and blacke poplar after the Pythagorean fashion in which manner M. Varro tooke order for to be interred And if we looke abroad into the world most Nations vnder heauen do vse these earthen vessels and euen still those that be made of Samian earth and come from that Isle are much commended for to eat our meats out of and to be serued to the bourd and Eretum here in Italy retaineth yet the name for such vessell but for drinking-cups onely Surrentum Asia and Pollentia within Italy Saguntum in Spaine and Pergamus in Asia be in credit at Tralleis also a city in Sclauonia and Modenna to goe no farther than Lombardie in Italy there is made much faire vessell of earth appropriat vnto those places for euen in this respect some nations are innobled and growne into name This earthen ware is of that price besides that it is thought a commodity worth the transporting too and fro ouer land sea by way of merchandise But if we speak of that kind that is wrought by turners craft with the wheele the daintiest vessels come from Erythrae And in very truth such may the earth be that much art and fine workmanship is shewed therein in testimony whereof there be two stone vessels or earthen call them whether you wil within the principal temple of that city to be seen at this day thought worthy to be consecrated there in regard of their clean worke and their thinnesse besides which a master and his prentise wrought in a strife and contention whether of them could driue his earth thinnest howeuer it be they of the Island Cos are most commended for the fairest vessels of earth and yet those of Hadria beare the name to be more durable and of a more fast and firme constitution And since I am entred thus far I will obserue vnto you some examples of seueritie not impertinent to this discourse I find vpon record That Q. Ceponius was condemned and fined for an ambitious man onely for this because hee had sent an earth amphor of wine as a present vnto one who was to giue him his voice when he stood for an office And that you may certainly know that vessels of earth haue in some sort been in request among riotous gluttons and wastfull spend thrists listen what Fenestella saith as touching this point the greatest exceeding quoth he and gaudiest fare at a feast was serued vp in three platters and was called Tripatinum the one was of Lampreys the second of Pikes the third of the fish Myxon whereby it may appeare that euen in those daies men began at Rome to grow out of order and to giue themselues to riot and superfluity yet were not they so bad but we may prefer them euen before the Philosophers of Greece for it is written that in the sale of Aristotles goods which his heirs made after his decease there were sold 60 platters which were wont ordinarily to go about the house As for that one platter of Aesop the plaier in tragoedies which cost six hundred thousand sesterces I doubt not but their stomackes rise thereat when they reade thereof in my treatise as touching birds But this is nothing I assure you to that charger of Vitellius who whiles he was Emperor caused one to be made and finished that cost a million of sesterces for the making wherof there was a furnace built of purpose in the field the which I rather note because they should see the monstrous excesse in these daies that vessels of earth should be more costly than of Cassidonie Alluding to this monstrous platter Mutianus in his second Consulship when he ripped vp in a publicke speech the whole life of Vitellius now dead vpbraided
the very memoriall of him in these very terms calling his excesse that way Patinarum paludes i. platters as broad as pools And verily saith he that platter of Vitellius came nothing behind another which Cassius Seuerus reproched Asprenas withall whom he accused bitterly and said that the poison of that one platter had killed an 130 persons who had tasted thereof Furthermore there are certaine townes that are in good account by reason onely of this vessell made therein and namely Rhegium and Cumae The priests of Cybele the mother of the gods who are called Galli vse to gueld themselues with a sheard of Samian earth and they be of opinion that if it be done with any thing els they shall die thereof if we may beleeue M. Caelius who whetted that tongue of his which shortly after was in that sort to be cut out against Vitellius which turned to his great reproch and infamie for that himselfe euen then railed vpon Vitellius in so bad termes and lost his tongue for his labour But to conclude what is it that Art and the wit of man hath not deuised for there is a means found to make a strong kind of mortar or cement by the broken sheards of potters vessell if the same be ground into powder and tempered with lime and the ordering of it in this manner causeth it to be more firme and last the longer and such they call Signina And hereby also men haue found out certain durable pauements of that kind CHAP. XIII ¶ The varietie of sundry kinds of earth of the dust or sand of Puteoli and of other sorts of earth which will harden as a stone OVer besides the cement aboue named there be other percels that the earth it self doth affoord fit to be laid in pauing worke for who can sufficiently wonder at this namely That the worst part of it which thereupon is callled dust and sand as it were the very excrement thereof should be of that nature vpon the side of the hills of Puteoli as being opposed against the waues of the sea and continually drenched drowned therwith should become a stone so compact and vnited together as it were into a rock that it scorneth all the violence of the surging billows which are not able to vndermine and pierce the same but hardeneth euery day more than other euen as if it were tempered with the strong cement of Cumes Of the same property is the earth within the country about Cyzicum onely this is the difference that not the dust or sand there but the earth it selfe cut out into what parcels you will in case it be drenched in the sea water a certaine time is taken forth againe a very hard stone The same by report happeneth about the citie Cassandria as also about Gnidos in a fountaine of fresh water wherein if earth do lye within the space of eight moneths it will turne to be a stone Certes all the way as a man goeth from Oropus as farre as to Aulis what ground soeuer is beaten vpon by the water changeth into rockes and stones There is found also in Nilus a certaine sand whereof the finest part differeth not much from that of Puteoli before said not in regard that it is so strong as to breake the force of the sea-water to beat back the waues but to subdue and crush the bodies of our yong gentlemen and therefore serueth well in the publicke place of wrestling for those that be giuen to such exercises and for this purpose verily was it brought from thence by sea to Patrobius a slaue lately infranchised by Nero the Emperor I reade also that Leonatus Cratus and Meleager who were great captains vnder Alexander the Great and followed his court were wont to haue this sand carried with them with other baggage belonging to the camp But I mean not to write any more of this argument no more verily than of the vse of earth in those places where our youth annoint their bodies against they should wrestle wherein our youths addict themselues so much to the exercise of the body that they haue spoiled themselues otherwise and lost the vigor of the mind CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of mudwalls of Bricke walls and the order and manner of making them WHat shall we say See we not in Africke and Spaine both certain walls of earth which they cal Formacei of the forme and frame that is made of planks and boords of each side between which a man may say they are rather infarced stuffed vp than otherwise laid and reared orderly but I assure you the earth thus infarced continueth a world of yeres and perisheth not checking the violence of raine winde and fire no mortar and cement so stiffe and strong There are yet to be seene in diuers parts of Spaine the watch-towers of Anniball the high turrets and sconces also reared vpon the tops of hils made all of earth and hereof we haue our turfes which naturally are so proper not only for the rampiers and fortifications of a camp but also for wharfs banks and buttresses to breake the violence and inundation of riuers As for the manner of making walls by dawbing windings and hurdles with mud and clay also of rearing them otherwhiles with vnbaked bricke who is so ignorant that he knoweth it not howbeit for to make good brickes they ought not to be made of any soile that is full of sand and grauell much lesse then of that which standeth much vpon grit stones but of a greyish marle or whitish chalkie clay or at leastwise a reddish earth but in case wee bee forced to vse that which is giuen to be sandy yet we must chuse that kind of sand which is tough and strong The best season to make these bricks or tyles is in the spring time for in the mids of Summer they will cleaue and be full of chinkes but if you would haue good brickes for building they ought to be two yeares old at the least Now the batter or lome that goeth to the making of them ought to be well steeped and soked in water before it be fashioned into bricke or tyle Brickes are made of three sizes the ordinarie bricke that we vse is called Didoron which carrieth in length one foot and a halfe and in breadth a foot a second sort is named Tetradoron i. three foot long and the third Pentadoron of three foot and nine inches in length for the Greeks in old time called the span or space of the hand from the thumbe to the little fingers end stretched out Doron which is the reason that gifts and rewards be called in their language Dora for that they were presented by the hand You see therefore how according to the length that they carrie either of foure or fiue spans they haue their denomination of Tetradora or Pentadora for the breadth is one and the same in them all to wit one foot ouer Now there beeing this difference in the size in Greece
the sorts of earth that be medicinable there is reckoned that which commeth from Chios the same is white hauing the same effects that the earth of Samos but our dames vse it most for to embellish beautifie the skin To which purpose the earth of Selenus likewise is emploied White this earth is as milke and of all others will soonest resolue in water which if it be tempered with milke serues to whiten and refresh the pargetting and painting of wals The earth called Pignitis is very like vnto Eretria beforenamed only it is found in greater clots or pieces otherwise is glutinous The same effects it hath that Cimolia howbeit somewhat weaker in operation There is an earth called Ampelitis which resembleth Bitumen as neer as may be The triall of that which is good indeed is if in oile it be gentle to be wrought as wax and if when it is torrified it continue still of a blacke colour It entreth into medicines and compositions which are made to mollifie and discusse but principally it serueth to beautifie the eie-browes and to colour the haire of the head blacke CHAP. XVII ¶ Sundry sorts of chaulkes for to scoure clothes and namely the Tuckers earth Cimolia Sarda and Vmbrica Of the common chaulke and of Tripolium OF Chaulks there be many kinds of which Cimolia doth affoord two sorts and both pertinent to Physick the one is white the other inclineth to the colour of Roset Both the one and the other is of power to discusse tumors and to stay distillations if they be vsed with vineger They do keep downe biles and emunctories and swellings behind the eares the foule tettars also and other offensiue pimples and pushes they represse applied in the forme of a liniment incorporat therewith salt-petre salnitre and put vineger thereto it is an excellent medicine to allay the swellings of the feet with this charge that this cure be done in the Sun and that after six houres the medicine be washed off with salt water Put thereto the cerot Cyprinum it is singular good for the swelling of the genetoirs This Fullers earth Cimolia is of a cooling nature and being vsed in the forme of a liniment it staieth immoderat sweats the same taken inwardly with wine in the baine or hot-house restraineth the breaking forth of pimples The best of this kind is that which commeth out of Thessalie It is to be found also in Lycia about Bubon There is ouer and besides another vse of this Cimolia or Tuckers cley towit in scouring clothes As for the chaulke Sarda so called because it is brought out of Sardinia it is employed only about white clothes for if they be moteley or pied coloured it is of no vse Of al kinds of Cimolia it is the cheapest and of basest account yet that of Vmbria is of more price and that which they call Saxum in Latine and is our ordinary white chaulke this property it hath that with lying in water it groweth this is commonly bought therefore by weight whereas the other is sold by measure As for the foresaid earth of Vmbria it serueth only for to polish and giue a glosse to clothes for why should I scorne or thinke much to handle this matter also seeing there is the expresse law or act Metella prouided for Fullers the which C. Flaminius and Lu. Aemylius when they were Censors proposed vnto the people for to be enacted so carefull were our predecessors to take order for all things To come then to the mysterie of Fullers craft First they wash and scour a piece of cloth with the earth of Sardinia then they perfume it with the smoke of brimstone which done they fall anone to burling of it with Cimolia prouided alwaies that it be the right and haue the natiue colour for if it be sophisticat it is soone knowne by this that it waxeth blacke and wil chaune and cleaue if it come after sulphur and if it be the true Cimolia it doth refresh and giue a cheerefull hew to precious and rich colors yea it setteth a certain glosse and lustre vpon them if they were made duskish sad by the smoake of sulphur But in case the clothes be white then the common chaulke is better to be vsed presently after the brimstone for hurtfull it is to other colors In Greece they vse in stead of Cimolia a certaine plastre which they haue from Tymphe Yet is there another kind of chalke or white cley named* Argentaria for that it giueth a glistering siluer color to clothes Howbeit one sort more there is of chalk which of all others is most base and least esteemed this is that chalke wherwith our auncestours in old time ordained to whiten the cirque in token of victory wherewith also they vse to marke the feet of those slaues which were brought ouer from beyond sea to be bought and sold in the markets such an one somtime was that Publius the deuiser of riming and wanton jestures vpon a stage such another was his cousin germaine Manilius Antiochus the Astrologer yea and Taberius Erotes the excellent Grammarian whom all three our great grandfathers saw in that manner brought ouer in one and the same ship CHAP. XVIII ¶ Who they were in Rome and of whom enfranchised that of slaues rise to be mightie and of exceeding wealth BVt what meane I to stand vpon those who had learning to commend and bring them into some state of credit and honour Haue not the same forefathers of ours seene in the like plight standing within a cage with a marke of chaulke vpon their feet and a locke about their heeles Chrysogonus the slaue to Sylla Amphion to Qu. Catulus Hero to Lu. Lucullus Demetrius to Pompey Auge the bondmaid to Demetrius though she was thought to be the base daughter of Pompey Hipparchus the slaue of Antonius Menas and Menecrates of Sex Pompeius and an infinite sort of others whom I cannot reckon vp and yet they all being by their masters enfranchised became wonderfull rich by the bloudshed and goods of Romane citizens in that licentious time of proscriptions Well this was the marke of slaues set out by companies in the market to be sold and this is the opprobrious and reprochful note to twit those by that in their fortunes are growne insolent And yet we in our daies haue knowne the same persons to climbe vnto the place of highest honour and authority insomuch as we haue seene with our owne eies the Senat by commandement from Agrippina the Empresse wife to Claudius Caesar to decree vnto enfranchised slaues the robes of Pretours with the badges and ornaments to that dignity belonging yea and such to bee sent againe as it were with the axes and knitches of rods decked with Lawrell into those countries to gouerne from whence they came at first poore slaues with their feet chalked and marked for the market CHAP. XIX ¶ Of the earth of Galata and Clupea of the Baleare earth and Ebusitana OVer and
m Epinyctides accidents to the eyes how to be helped 438. l. m Epinyctides how Plinie taketh it 42. l. what is meant thereby mother writers ibid. Epithymum what hearbe 250. l. the true description ibid. m. E Q Equisetum an hearbe 263. b E R Eranthemon what hearb 125. d why so called ibid. Erasistratus a Physician 68. g. he condemned Opium ibid. he altered the course of the former Physicke 344. h. how much mony he receiued for one cure ibid. Eretria a white earth seruing for painters colour 518. k why so called 329. f. the vse in Physicke ibid. two kindes thereof 559. e. how the good is knowne ibid. Erigonus a painter 550. k. how he came by knowledge ibid. Erineos the name of the wild figtree in Greeke 169. b. the name also of an hearbe ib. the description of the hearbe ibid. c. the vertues ib. Eriphia a strange hearbe 204. l. the description ibid. how it tooke that name ibid. the vse thereof in Physicke ib. Eristalis a pretious stone 626. k Erith an hearbe 274. i. the sundry names it hath ibid. why called Philanthropos ib. the vertues medicinable ib. Erithales one of the names of the lesse Housleeke 237. c Erotylos a pretious stone 626. k. called likewise Amphicome and Hieromnemon ibid. what Earth is like by the leere to haue water within 409. b what not ibid. c. d in what place Earth turneth in time to be a stone 554. l. m the bountie of the Earth inenarrable 553. b Erthen workes and vessels both in diuine and ciuile vses also infinit 553. b. c. of great price ibid. d. e Erth pure will not flame 472. b Erth medicinable how to washed and prepared 559. e Erthquakes as they discouer springs so they swallow them vp 411. a Erth-wormes medicinable and therefore preserued 361. d Eruile the Pulse what vertues in Physicke it hath 143. b the discommodities thereof ibid. d Erynge a soueraigne hearbe against all poysons and serpents 118. m. the description 119. a. b Erysisceptron what plant 195. b. the sundry names of 〈◊〉 ib. the medicinable vertxes wherewith it is endued ibid. c Erythini fishes hauing a propertie to stay the Laske 443. e E S Esopus what hearbe 45. b Esubopes a kinde of the Colchians rich and sumptuous both in siluer and gold 464. i E T E the what they be 541. d E V Euax a K. of Arabia who wrote of hearbes 210. g Euclia what hearbe 231. f. the effects thereof according to the Magicians ibid. Eucnemos Amazon an image 503. a. why so called ib. why esteemed so much by Nero the Emperour ibid. Eudemus a Physician 347. e. ouer familiar with Liuia the princesse wife to Drusus Caesar ibid. Eudoxus a painter and Imageur in brasse 549. e Euenor a writer in Physicke 112. l Euenor a Painter 534. g. father and master to noble Parasius the Painter ibid. Eugalacton an hearbe See Glaux Eulaeus a riuer out of which the kings of Persia vse to drinke 406. l Eumarus a famous Painter 533. a. he first distinguished male from female ibid. Eumeces a pretious stone 626. k Eumetres a pretious stone 626 l. called also Belus gem ibid. Eunicus an excellent grauer 483. e Eunuchion a kinde of Lectuce 24. k. why so called ibid. Eupatoria the hearbe otherwise called Agrimonie 220. k the reason of the name ibid. the description and vertues ibid. k. l Eupetalos a pretious stone 626. l Euphorbia an hearbe 222. k. why so called ibid. commended by king Iuba in one entire booke ibid. l. the description ibid. where it groweth naturally 269. d Euphorbium the iuice of the hearbe Euphorbia 222. l. the manner of gathering it ibid. how it is sophisticated 223. a. Euphorbus a Physician brother to Antonius Musa the Physician 222. k Euphranor an excellent Imageur 502. g. his workes ibid. he was besides a cunning Painter 547. c. he excelled in Symetries whereof he wrote bookes ibid. his imperfection ibid. his workes ibid. Euphrosynon an hearbe See Buglossos Eupompus a cunning Painter 537. a. his workes ibid. of great authoritie ibid. Eureos a pretious stone 626. l Euripice a kinde of rish 101. e. the properties which it hath ibid. Eurotas the riuer represented in brasse 502. h. the praise of the workeman thereof ibid. Eurotias a pretious stone 626. l Eusebes a pretious stone ibid. Euthycrates sonne to Lysippus a singular Imageur 499. f wherein he excelled ibid. his workes ibid. Eutomon what hearbe 217. e Eutychides an imageur famous for the riuer Eurotus of his pourtraying 502. h Eutichides a painter 549. f E X Exacos an hearbe See Centaurie the lesse Exagon one of the Ophiagenes 299. a. not hurt by serpents but licked by them ibid. Exchange and bartering ware for ware the old manner of merchandise 454. l Excrements of mans bodie medicinable 302. m Excrements of mans bellie a counterpoyson 270. k Excrements of a sheepe baliered about their tailes 351. b the medicinable properties thereof ibid. Excrescence of proud and ranke flesh how to be taken away and repressed 146. l. 158. k. 165. a. d. 167. a. 177. f. 264 k 265. a. 273. e. 338. i. 447. e. 474. i. Execrations bannings and cursings in a forme of words thought to be of force 296. i Exedum what hearbe 206. g. the effects that it hath ibid. Exercise of the bodie maketh much for health 303. d Extrebenus a pretious stone 626. k Exorcismes beleeued to be auaileable 294. l Exorcismes and praiers interrupted by vnluckie birds Dicae 295. a Exorcisme of the Decij ibid. Expensa what the word signifieth 462. g Experience the first ground and foundation of Physicke 242 m. Exsiccatiue medicines 178 h k. 249 d f. 264 m. 286 k 320 m. 418 k. l. 421. e. 423 e. 471 e. 475 a. 506 m 511. f. 516 h. 529 b d. f. 558 l. 559 d. 588 m. 591. c See more in Desiccatiue Extractiue medicines 595. c. See more in Drawing Exulceration by extreame cold or burning how cured 432. g. Exulceration of the bellie how to be helped 168 h. 318. g See Dysenterie Exulceratiue medicines and raising blisters 149 d. See Causticke F A FAbianus a writer in Physicke 303. e Fabius Cunctator honoured with a grasse Coronet and why 116. m. saluted by the name of Father by the regiment of Minutius 117. a Fabricius a patron of frugalitie 483. c Faco rough and blistered with Sunne-burning how to be cured 366. k Face broken out by what meanes healed 422. k. how to be cleansed from freckles and pimples 440. m. how to looke full faire and plumbe 440. m. 441. a. b. how to be rid from spots and Lentils ibid. b Faint cold sweats how to be remedied 48. h. 49. f. 52. k 58. g. 313. d. See more in sweats Diaphoreticall Faintings about the heart how to be helped 134. l. 155. d See Swouning Falernum a kinde of Amber 608. i. why so called ibid. Falling sickenesse detected by the fume of Brimstone 556. k by a perfume of Bitumen 557. e. by the fume of
kinds 19. d Roots lying hidden all winter season 13. d Root of an herbe broken within the ground thirty foot long 214. g. Roots lesse effectuall if the herbes be suffered to seed 291. f Ropes made of rushes and other matter 7. a Rose bushes how to be set or planted 84. h Roses graffed ibid. the Rose bush and the Rose described 83. a vse of Roses 83 b the medicinable vertues of Roses ib. Roses serued vp with viands ibid. the best Rose 83. d Roses their seuerall parts and names to them 102. h their distinct vertues ibid. Rose of Praeneste 83. 6. of Capua Miletum Trachiniae and Alabanda ibid. Rose Spineola 83. c Rose Centifolie why so called 83. d Rose Campion 83. c Greeke Rose ibid. the Rose Graecula ib. Rose Mosceuton ibid. Rose Coroneola 83. f where the best Roses grow ib. Rose of Campaine 84. g Rose bushes how to be ordered 84. h Rose leaues how to be dried 162. l. m. their vertues ibid. hastie Roses flouring all winter long 84. g Roset oile odoriferous 83. b Roset wine 102. h Roset oyle ibid. Rose juice medicinable 102. i. k Rose of Iericho See Amomum water Rose See Nenuphar Rosemary called Libanotis 34. g Rosemary of two kinds 193. a in Rosemarie what Cachrys is ibid. Rosat a rich painters colour 528. i how it is made of Tripoly or goldsmiths earth died 530. l. m Roset of Puteoli the best and why 531. a the price of Roset ibid. Rosins of sundry kinds 182. h Rosins dry of Pine and Pitch trees 182. h the medicinable vertues of all Rosins ibid. i. l of what trees the Rosins be best 182. k. l of what countries and places the Rosin is best 182. k Rosins how to be dissolued for plaisters and outward medecins 182. k. how for potions ibid. Rostra the publicke place of orations at Rome why so called 491. a Rowing vpon the water for what diseases good 303. d R V Rue killed with the touch of a menstruous woman 308. m Rue a medicinable herbe 56. k the juice of Rue taken in great quantitie is poyson ib. what is the remedy ibid. Rue stolne thriueth best 23. e when and where to be sowne 29. a. b Rue giuen in a largesse at Rome 29. b Rue and the Fig-tree sort well together ibid. Rue doth propagat and set it selfe 29. c the weeding of Rue is trouble some ib. how that may be helped 56. i Rue a counterpoyson for Libard-baine ibid. Rue male and female 57. b Rue killeth the infant newly conceiued 58. k. l Rubbing of the body maketh for health 303. d hard and sost worke diuers effects ib. See more in Frictions Rubie a pretious stone 616. h why Rubies be called Apyroty ibid. Rubies of diuers sorts ibid. Rubies of India ib. of the Garamants or Carchedonij ibid. Rubies of Aethiopia and Alexandria 616. i Rubies Alabandines or Almandines why so called ibid. Rubies male and female with their descriptions 616. i. k Rubies Amethystizontes which they be 616. i Rubies Syrtitae what they are ibid. Rubies of India called Lithizontes 616. k Rubies Orchomenian ibid. m Rubies Troezenian ib. Corinthian 617. a Rubies of Marsils and Lisbon 617. a Rubies are much sophisticated 617. a. how the fraud is discouered 617. b Rubie minerall called Anthracites ibid. b Rubies of other sorts ibid. f Rubrica a red earth or ruddle in great request in Homers time 476. g Ruddle or Rubrica a painters colour 528. i Rubrica of Lemnos counted the best and most medicinable 528. m. Ruddle for carpenters which is best 529. b Rumax what herbe 73. b Running of the reins how it may be staied 72. i. 130. k Ruptures inward spasmes and convulsions how to be helped 167. f. 272. l. 385. a. 444. h Rupture when the guts be falne downe how cured 444. h. i Rupture waterish called Hydrocele how to be healed 385. c Ruptures in young children bursten what remedies 397. e. f 398. h. against all Ruptures in generall good medecins 39. e. 41. d 44 k. 48 g. 58. i. 64 k. 72 l. 75 b. 103 b. 108 k. 123 a d 128 i m. 129 c. f. 130 l. 138 h. 142 h. 150 g. 154 g 162 h. 178 m. 179 a f. 180 g. 186 k. 198 i. 199 c. 248 h 254 g h i. 263 d. 264 g. 275 c. 283 e. 286 m. 289 c 290 i. 313 c d. 320. g. 332 h. 398 g. Ruscus an hearb 111. a. the vertues thereof ibid. bow it is to be prepared for medicins ibid. of Rushes or Rishes diuers kinds and their vses 100. k Rust of yron how it is soonest scoured away 413. c Rust of yron medicinable 516. g S A SAbine stone how it will burne of a light fire 588. l Sacall the same that Ambre 606. k Sacopenum a physicall herbe 30. l. called Sagapenum 67. d the vertues which it hath ibid. Sacrificing mans flesh when forbidden at Rome 373. f Saffron a medicinable spice 104. m Saffron the hearb and floure 86. g how to be set ib. where is the best ibid. the manner of choosing Saffron 86. h. i how it is vsed 86. k the manner of the growing 99. c Sagda a pretious stone 629. d Sagitta what herbe 110. h Sagmina what they are 115. d Salin Crystall what it is 605. a Salads of herbs commended 12. i. k Salamanders poyson with what medecins repressed 56. m 121. c. 150. l. 157. c. 160. k. 318. h. 358. m. 432. h. k 434. i. Salamander of all serpents most dangerous 358. k. l he destroieth whole nations at once ibid. by what meanes ibid. his venome is Narcoticke and extreame cold ibid. of Salamanders swine feed without danger 385. l whether his body do extinguish fire or no 359. a Salicastrum what plant and why so called 149. c. the vertues thereof ibid. Salij the priests what chaplets of floures they wore 82. g Siliunca an herbe described 82. h the vse thereof ibid. 105. f Salâ—…gem 415. d Salow See Willow Sal Theriacus or Theriacalis a kind of medicinable salt 366. l. m. Salpe a learned and expert midwife who wrote of Physicke 300. k Sal-petre 421. b. how the best is knowne ibid. c Salsugo or Salsilago what it is 417. d Salt seasoneth viands 176. i Salt be it naturall or artificiall proceedeth of two causes 414. i. Salt in what places made by drying in the Sun ibid. k Salt an houshold gruell 417. b Salt Spanish for what infirmities it is most medicinable 419. a. Salt compounded for to get an appetite 416. l Salt mountains 415. a Salt minerall ib. walls and houses built of Salt ibid. Salt for Physicke which is best 416. k Salt growing sensibly in the night season 415. b Salt best for poudring or seasoning meat 416. l Salt Ammoniacke 415. b. why so called ib. the description ibid. it is medicinable 415. c light within earth heauie aboue ground and the reason why ib. how it is sophisticat ib. pit or poole Salt 415. c the manifold vses of Salt in Physicke
short life As for diseases they are so innumerable that Pherecydes of the Island Syros died of a great quantity of Lice that came crawling out of his body Some are knowne to be neuer free from the Ague as C. Mecoenas The same man for three yeares before hee died neuer laid his eies together for sleepe a minute of an houre Antipater Sidonius the Poet once a yeare during his life had an ague fit vpon his birth day he liued for all that to be an old man and vpon the day of his natiuitie died in such a fit CHAP. LII ¶ Of such as were carried forth vpon the Biers to be buried and reuiued againe AViola one that had bin Consull came again to himselfe when he was cast or put into the funerall fire to be burnt but because the flame was so strong that no man could come neere to recouer him he was burnt quicke The like accident befell to Lu. Lamia Pretor lately before As for C. Aelius Tubero that he was brought aliue again from the like fire after he had bin Pretor of Rome both Messala Rufus and many besides constantly affirme See how it goeth with mortall men see I say our vncertaine state and condition and how we are born exposed and subiect to these and such like occasions of fortune insomueh as in the case of man there is no assurance at all no not in his death We reade in Chronicles that the ghost of Hermotimus Clazomenius was woont vsually to abandon his body for a time and wandering vp and downe into far countries vsed to bring him newes from remote places of such things as could not possibly be knowne vnlesse it had bin present there and all the while his body lay as halfe dead in a trance This manner it continued so long vntill the Cantharidae who were his mortall enemies tooke his body vpon a time in that extasie and burnt it to ashes and by that means disappointed his poore soule when it came backe againe of that sheath as it were or â—…ase where she meant to bestow her selfe Moreouer we finde in records that the spirit or ghost of Aristaeas in the Island Proconnesus was seen euidently to fly out of his mouth in forme of a Rauen and many a like tale followeth thereupon For surely I take it to be no better than a fable which is in like manner reported of Epimenides the Gnosian namely that when he was a boy he being for heate and trauell in his iourney all wearie laid him downe in a certain caue where he slept 57 yeares At length he wakened as it were vpon the next morning and wondred at such a sudden change of euery thing he saw in the world as if hee had taken but one nights sleepe Hereupon forsooth in as many daies after as he slept yeares he waxed old Howbeit he liued in all 175 yeares But to returne to our former discourse women of all others by reason of their sex are most subiect to this danger to be reputed for dead when there is life in them and namely because of the disease of the matrice called the rising of the Mother which if it be brought againe and setled streight in the place they soone recouer and take breath againe Not impertinent to this treatise is that notable and elegant booke among the Greeks compiled by Heraclides where he writeth of a woman that for a seuen-night lay for dead and fetched not her breath sensibly who in the end was raised againe to life Moreouer Varro reporteth that vpon a time when the twenty deputy Commissioners were diuiding lands in the territory of Capua there was one there carried forth vpon his bier to be burnt and came home again vpon his feet Also that the like hapned at Aquinum Likewise that in Rome one Corfidius who had maried his owne Aunt by the mothers side after he had taken order for his funeralls and set out a certaine allowance therefore seemed to yeeld vp his ghost and die howbeit hee reuiued againe and it was his chance to carry him forth indeed vnto buriall who had prouided the furniture before for his funerall This Varro writeth besides of other miraculous matters which verily are worth the rehearsall at large One of them is this Two brethren there were by birth and calling gentlemen of Rome whereof the elder named Corfidius hapned in all appearance to die and when his last will and testament was once opened and published the yonger brother who was his heire was very busie and ready to set forward his funerall In the mean time the man who seemed dead fell to clap one hand against another and therewith raised the seruants in the house when they were come about him he recounted vnto them that he was come from his yonger brother who had recommended his daughter to his tuition and guardenage and moreouer had shewed and declared vnto him in what place he had secretly hidden certain gold vnder the ground without the priuity of any man requesting him withal to imploy that funerall prouision which he had prepared for him about his own buriall and sepulture As he was relating this matter his brothers seruitors came in great hast to this elder brothers house and brought word their master was departed this life and the treasure before-said was found in the place accordingly And verily there is nothing more common in our daily speech than of these diuinations but they are not to be weighed in equall ballance with these nor to be reported or credited all so confidently forsomuch as for the most part they are meere lies as we will proue by one notable example In the Sicilian voiage it fortuned that Gabienus one of the brauest seruitors that Caesar had at sea was taken prisoner by Sex Pompeius and by commandement from him his head was stricken off in a maner and scarce hung to the neck by the skin and so lay he all day long vpon the sands in the shore When it grew toward euening and that a great companie were flocked about him he fetched a great groane and requested that Pompetus would come vnto him or at leastwise send some one of his deare familiars that were neere vnto him And why Come I am quoth he from the infernal spirits beneath and haue a message to deliuer vnto him Then Pompey sent diuers of his friends to the man vnto whom Gabienus related in this maner That the infernall gods were well pleased with the iust quarrell and cause of Pompey and therefore he should haue as good issue therof as he could wish This quoth he was I charged and commanded to deliuer And for a better proofe of the truth in effect so soon as I haue done mine errand I shall forthwith yeeld vp the ghost And so it hapned indeed Histories also make mention of them that haue appeared after they were committed to earth But our purpose is to write of Natures works and not to prosecute such miraculous end prodigious matters
CHAP. 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
the Salamander AS for example the Salamander made in fashion of a Lizard marked with spots like stars neuer comes abroad and sheweth it felfe but in great shewres for in faire weather he is not seen He is of so cold a complexion that if he do but touch the fire he wil quench it as presently as if ice were put vnto it The Salamander casteth vp at the mouth a certaine venomous matter like milke let it but once touch any bare part of a man or womans body all the haire will fall off and the part so touched will change the colour of the skinne to the white morphew CHAP. LXVIII ¶ Of those that breed of others which neuer were ingendred Also of those that being ingendred yet breed not SOme creatures there be that breed of those that neuer were ingendred themselues and yet not according to those naturall means as others which wee haue shewed before and such also as either the Summer or Spring or some certain season of the yeare do breed Among which some ingender not at all as the Salamander for there is no more distinction of sex in them than in Yeeles and in all those which neither lay egs ne yet bring forth any liuing creature Oisters likewise and all such creatures as cleaue fast either to rockes or to the shelues are neither male nor female As for such as come of themselues if there be seene in them any distinction of male and female somthing verily they ingender betweene them but an imperfect creature verily it is and not resembling them neither doth that generation breed ought any more as we see the flies that ingender certain little wormes The experience hereof is better to be obserued in those creatures called Insects whose nature is hard to be expressed and yet I haue appointed a seuerall treatise for them apart Wherefore I will go forward in the discourse begun already and namely as touching the sence and vnderstanding of the forenamed Creatures and then proceed to the rest CHAP. LXIX ¶ The outward sences of liuing Creatures MAn excelleth all other Creatures first in the sence of feeling and then of tasting In the rest many beasts go beyond him For the Aegles haue a clearer eie-sight the Geires a finer smell and the Moldwarps notwithstanding they be couered ouer with earth so heauie so thick and deafe an element as it is yet their eare is far better than ours Moreouer albeit the voice of all them that speake aboue ground doth ascend vpward still from them yet heare theâ—… when they talke yea and if a man chance to speake of them some hold that they vnderstand their speech and thereupon do fly from them A man who at first lacketh his hearing wanteth also the vse of his tongue neither are there any deafe borne but the same likewise be dumbe A man would not think neither is it likely that the Oisters in the sea do heare and yet vpon any noise and sound their manner is to sink down to the bottome And therefore when as men do fish for them in the sea they are as silent as they may be CHAP. LXX ¶ A discourse That fishes both heare and also smell FIshes verily haue no eares ne yet any holes to serue for hearing and yet plain it is that they doe heare as we may daily see in certaine fish ponds and stewes where fishes be kept for whâ—…n those that haue the charge of them make a noise with clapping of their hands as wild as they be otherwise they shall haue them come in great flocks to take their meat that is thrown in to them and this are they wont to do daily and that which more is in Caesars Fish-pooles a man may see whole skuls of fishes to repaire at their call yea and some wil part from the rest of their company and come alone to land when they be named Hereupon it is that the Mullet sea-Pike Stock-fish and Chronius are thought to heare best of all others and therfore liue very ebbe among the shelues and shallowes That fishes haue the sence of smelling it is manifest for they are not all taken ne yet delighted with one kinde of bait and this is obserued that before they bite they will smel to it Some also there be that lie in holes vnder rocks and no sooner hath the fisher besmeared and anointed the mouth and sides of the said rocks in the very entrance to their holes but he shall see them come forth as it were to auoid the sent of their own carion Let them lie in the very deep yet wil they resort to certain odors and smells namely to the Cuttill burnt and the Polype which for that purpose they vse to put into their nests And verily they cannot abide the smel of the sinke and pumpe of a ship neither wil they come neere vnto it but aboue all things they may not away with the bloud of fish The Pourcuttle hardly or not at all can be pulled from the rocks so fast cleaueth he howbeit come neer him with the herb Marjerome or Savorie he will presently leape from the rocke and away to auoid the sent thereof Purples also be caught by means of some stinking bait And for other creatures who doubteth but they haue a perfect smell Serpents are chased away with the smell and perfume of the Harts horn but aboue all with the odor of Styrax And Pismires are killed with the very fume of Origon Quick-lime or Brimstone Gnats loue all sour things and willingly will thither but to any sweet meats they come not neare CHAP. LXXI ¶ That the sence of feeling is common to all liuing creatures THere is not a liuing creature throughout the world but hath the sence of feeling though it haue none els for euen oisters and earth-wormes if a man touch them doe euidently feele I would think also that there is none but tasteth as wel as feeles For what should the reason else be hat some desire to tast this others that And verily herein is seene aboue all the singular workmanship of Nature in the frame of their bodies and the members thereof Some ye shall haue to seise vpon their prey with their teeth others snatch it with their talons and clawes some peck and pluck it with their hookt bils others pudder into their food with their broad nebs Some with the sharp point of their beaks worke holes into their meat others lie sucking at it Some lick others sup in to conclude some chew others swallow and deuoure whole as it is As touching their feet there is no lesse varietie in the vse thereof in snatching and carrying away in tearing and plucking a pieces in holding fast and in crushing their prey Some ye shall haue to hang by their feet and others neuer lin scraping and scratching the earth CHAP. LXXII ¶ What creatures liue of poison and what of earth ROe Bucks and Does yea and Quailes as we haue said before will feed fat with
poisons and yet they are the most meeke and gentle creatures liuing Serpents haue a great desire and loue to egs wherein the subtilty of Dragons is worthy to be considered For either they swallow them downe whole if their throat will receiue them and after they be within their body breake and squize them in pieces with rolling and winding themselues round together and then câ—…st vp the shels againe or if they be but young ones yet and not so strong as to gobble vp whole egs then they will winde about an egge with their taile by little and little bind it so hard that the wil cut off the crowne of it as it were with a knife and then sup off the rest which they clasâ—… and hold fast between In like manner deale they with birds For swallow they will them whole downe the gullet and afterwards straine and struggle so with themselues vntill they disgorge again the feathers and bones that were in their bellies Scorpions feed vpon earth And Serpents againe if they may come handsomly to wine will make means to drink their fil of it howsoeuer otherwise they haue but little need of any drink They eat no meat at all or very little when they be kept close within any thing like as the spiders also which otherwise naturally liue by sucking And therefore you shall not lightly see any venomous creature die either of hunger or thirst For neither haue they store of heat nor plenty of bloud ne yet of sweat all which naturally prouoke a stomack giue an edge to appetite And among these venomous creatures those be euer more dangerous which haue eaten some of their own kind before they bite or sting Apes Monkies and Marmosets bestow and treasure vp the meat that is giuen them or that they can come by within their cheeks as in a store-house And when they be hungry they get the same forth by little and little with their hands so fal to chew it Thus practise they in making their prouision for to serue them from day to day and from one houre to another which Pismires vsually do from yeare to yeare CHAP. LXXIII ¶ The meat and drinke of some creatures OF all liuing creatures that haue many toes in their feet the Hare alone feeds vpon grasse and greene corne in the blade As for those that be whole hoofed they liue both of the blade and also of the fruit thereof Also of such as be clouen footed Swine will eat all kind of food yea and liue of very roots It is the property of whole hoofed beasts alone to wallow and turn ouer and ouer All that haue teeth indented in like saws be naturally deuourers of flesh Bears wil feed of corn brouse trees eat grapes liue of apples and other fruits feed vpon bees creifishes and pismires Wolues as we said before if they be very hungr eat earth sheep seed the better grow fat if they may drink and therfore salt is very good for them because it makes them thirsty Draught beasts and such as are vsed for carriage albeit they liue of corne and grasse â—…et according to their drinking they do feed Besides those mentioned hertofore of wild beasts the red and fallow Deere both doe chew cud when they be made tame and fed by hand but all chuse rather in so doing to lie than to stand in winter more than in summer for seuen months ordinarily The rats and mice in the country of Pontus namely Hermins such like after the same maner do chew cud and go ouer their meat again What beasts soeuer are toothed like saw teeth lap as they drinke So do also our common mice and rats although they be of another kind and are not so toothed They that haue broad teeth plaine and vniforme as horses and kine drinke supping and taking their ful draught Bears in their drinking do neither the one nor the other but bite at the water and so let it down In Affrick the more part of wild beasts drink not all summer long for want of raine water which is the cause that the Rats and Mice of Ginnie which be taken if they drink afterwards vpon so long disuse die therewith In the desarts of Affrick where there is no water euer to be had there is ingendred a certain wilde goat named Oryx which as by the nature of the place it wanteth drink so it hath in her bodie a souerain and singular remedy against drought and thirst Which the common theeues robbers by the high way side in Getulia knowing well enough endure a long time with the helpe thereof without drinke for they vse to stanch and quench their own thirst with a certain moist holesome liquour found in the bladders of the said beast In the same Affricke the Leopards lie in await among the thickets of trees hidden within the branches and so seize vpon them that passe by and make spoile euen from the place where fouls vse to perch As for Cats marke I pray you how silent they be how soft they tread when they steale vpon the silly birds how secret lie they in espiall for the poore little mice to leap vpon them Their owne doung and excrements they will rake vp and hide in the earth knowing full well that the smell thereof will bewray where they are CHAP. LXXIIII ¶ What beasts accord together and which they be that disagree one from another BEsides these outward sences aboue named euident it is also that brute beasts haue other instincts of nature For they entertain friendship and enmity one with another which cannot be without affection and passion ouer and besides those other wars and amities which wee haue obserued in their seuerall places Swans and Aegles jar and war one with another so doth the Rauen and the Witwall or Loriot which seeke after one anothers egs in the night Likewise the Rauen aâ—…d Kite for the Rauen is euermore ready to catch the Kites meat from him Crowes and Owles are at mortall feaud one with another The roiall Aegle hateth the Wren and why because if we may beleeue it he is named Regulus i. the pettie king Howlets also cannot agree with other little birds Again foules make warre with foure-footed beasts The Weasell and the Crow be at deadly debate The Turtle with the Creckit Pyralis that liueth about the fire The Ichneumons with Waspes the Phalangia with other Spiders And among water foules Ducks and Drakes with the sea-guls The Seamews with the Buzzard Triorchis As for the field Rats or Mice and the dwarf-Herons they seeke to prey one vpon the others little ones The bird Aegithus the least in maner of all others waiteth the Asse a shrewd turn for when he rubbeth himself against the bushes to scratch where it itcheth he therewith breaketh and ouerthroweth her nest and therefore this silly bird is so much afraid of the Asse that if she heare him but bray she is ready to throw the egs out of
found to be fat the white is chiefe and thereof be many sorts The most mordant and sharpest of them all is that whereof wee spake before A second kind there is of chalkish clay which our gold-smiths vse called Tripela this lieth a great depth within the earth insomuch as many times men are driuen to sinke pits 100 foot deep for it and those haue a small and narrow mouth aboue but within-forth and vnder the ground they be digged wider by reason that the veine thereof runneth many waies in manner of other mettall mines This is the marle so much vsed in Britain the strength therof being cast vpon a land will last 80 yeres and neuer yet was the man known that herewith marled the same ground twice in all his life time The third kind of white marle is that which the Greekes call Glischromargon it is no other than the Fullers chalkie clay mixed with a viscous and fatty earth The nature of it is to breed grasse better than to beare corne for after one crop of corne is taken off the ground in haruest before seed time is come for winter grain the grasse wil be so high growne that a man may cut it down and haue a plentiful after-math for hay and yet al the while that it hath corn vpon it you shall not see it to beare any grasse besides This marle continueth good 30 yeres if it be laid ouer-thick vpon a land it choketh the ground in manner of Cumine The Columbine marle the Gauls call in their language by a name borrowed of the Greeks Pelias i. Doue or Pigeon marle it is fetched out of the ground in clots and lumpes like as stones be hewed out of quarries with Sunne and the frost together it will resolue and cleaue into most thin slates or flakes This marle is as good for corne as for herbage As for sandy marle it will serue the turn for want of other yea and if the ground be cold moist and weely the husbandman will make choice thereof before other The Vbians vpon my knowledge vse to inrich their ground and make itmore battle though their territory otherwise be most fertile with any earth whatsoeuer prouided alwaies that it be digged vp three foot deep at least and laid a foot thick a deuise that no other country doth practise howbeit this soile and manner of manuring continueth good not aboue ten yeres the Heduans and Pictones haue forced their grounds and made them most plentifull with lime-stone which is found also by experience to be passing profitable for vines and oliues To come now to the ordering of this piece of husbandry the ground ought to be ploughed first before marle of any sort be cast vpon it to the end that the medicinable vertue substance thereof might the sooner and more greedily be receiued into it Now forasmuch as marle is at the first ouer-rough and hard not so free in the beginning as to resolue and turne into blade or grasse it had need of some compost or dung to be mingled with it for otherwise be it neuer so rich it will rather do harm than good to the ground by reason that it is yet strange and not acquainted therewith and yet help it this way as wel as you can it will not bring forth any plenty the first yere after it is laid on Last of all it skilleth much to consider the nature of the ground which you mean to marle for the dry marle sorteth well with a moist soile and the fatty hitteth that which is dry and lean But when the ground is of a middle temperature between both it mattereth not whether you vse the white gold-smiths chalke or the Columbine marle for either of them will serue well enough CHAP. IX ¶ The vse of ashes vpon lands of Dung what graine or pulse sowne doth make the ground more plentifull and what burneth it THe people dwelling beyond the Po make such account of ashes for to inrich the grounds withall that they prefer it before hors-muck and such like which dung because they take it to be very light they burne also into ashes for that purpose Howbeit as we haue said before in one and the same corn-land they vse not asheâ—… and mucke both at once no more doe they cast ashes in hortyards for to nourish yong trees nor in fields for some kind of corn Some are of iudgement that grapes are fed with dust who also do cast dust vpon them when they begin to bloome yea and bestrew dust vpon the roots as well of Vines as other trees Certain it is that in the prouince of Narbon they vse so to do and they are assuredly persuaded that grapes ripen better and the vintage commeth the sooner thereby because in those parts dust doth more good than the Sun As for mucke there be diuers sorts thereof and in old time much vse there was of it for in Homer we read that long ago the good old king 〈◊〉 was found laying soile and dung vpon his land with his own hands The first that deuised mucking of grounds was by report Augeaâ—… a king in Greece but Hercules divulged the practise thereof among the Italians who in regard of that inuention immortalized their K. Stercutius the son of Faunus M. Varro esteemeth the dung of Blackbirds gathered out of their bartons where they be kept in mew aboue al others He highly magnifieth and extolleth it also for that it bringeth forth so good forage to feed kine oxen and swine withall auouching for certaine that they will become fat beefe and pork with no meat sooner We must thinke well therfore and hope the best of the world now adaies since that our ancestors and forefathers so long ago had so great bartons and pens that the dung of fouls there kept was sufficient to help their hard and hungry grounds In the second degree of goodnesse Columella rangeth Pigeons dung gathered out of Doue-cotes the third place hee giueth to that of Hens and other land pullen reiecting altogether the dung of water-foule Howbeit all other Authors setting these two aside attribute with one voice and consent vnto the excrements of mans body the greatest praise for this purpose Some of them prefer mans vrine and namely when the haires of beast-hides haue bin soked therewith and quicke-lime together in the Tanners pits Others vse vrine alone by it selfe only they mingle water with it againe but in greater quantitie a good deale than they whose vrine it was did put to the wine when they drank it and good reason too for more need there is now to correct and represse the malice thereof considering that besides the natiue malignitie of the wine it selfe mans bodie hath giuen and imprinted into it a strong and vnsauorie quality Thus you may see how men labour striue and try conclusions to seed and inrich the very ground the best way they can deuise Next vnto the ordure and vrine of mans â—…ody the filthy dung of