drie things the twelfth part of a setarius which was twenty ounces whereby it appeareth that a cyath was one ounce one half ounce one dram and one scruple it may goe with vs for foure ordinarie spoonfulls Cubit a measure from the elbow to the middle finger stretched out at length which went ordinarily for 24 fingers bredth or 18 inches which is one foot and a halfe yet Pliny in one place maketh mention of a shorter cubit namely from the elbow to the end of the fist or knuckles when the fingers be drawn in close to the hand Cutanean eruptions be such wheales pushes or scabs as do breake out of the skin and disfigure it D DEbilitie i. weaknesse or feeblenesse Decoction a liquor wherin things haue bin sodden Decretorie daies be such as in a sicknesse shew some chaunge or alteration in the patient either for good or bad Defensatiue in medicines taken inwardly are such as resist venom or pestilent humor in outward applications such as defend the sore or place affected from the flux or fall of humors thither Denarius a coin of siluer in Rome and in other countries of gold the same that Drachma Attica i. a dram in weight which is vij d. ob of our mony and the piece in gold answereth neere to a full French Crowne in poise it goeth for a dram Dentifrices are meanes in Physicke to preserue the teeth and make them white and faire Depilatorie are those medicines which either fetch off the haire or hinder it from comming vp againe at all or at leastwise from growing thicke They were called in Greek and Latine both Psâ—…lothra Desiccatiue i. drying Digestiues be those medicines which taken inwardly helpe concoction of meate or humors or applied without vnto a sore doe comfort the place and make way for speedie healing Dislocations when the bones be either out of ioynt or else displaced to Disopilate i. to open to Dissipate i. to scatter and dispatch Distortion crookednesse or turning awry vnnaturally Diureticall such things as prouoke vrine Dose i. that weight or quantitie of any medicine that may be giuen either conueniently or without danger to the patient Dram the eight part of an ounce which is the weight of a Roman denier or Denarius Dysenterie is properly the exulceration or sore in the guts whereupon ensueth besides the painefull wrings of the belly a flux also of bloud at the siege and therefore it is vsually taken for the bloudy flix E EClogues See Eidyls Electuaries be medicinable compositions or confections to be taken inwardly made of choise drugs either to purge humors to strengthen the principall parts or to withstand any infirmitie for which they are made The substance is betweene a syrrup and a Conserue but more inclining to the consistence of conserues Eidylls or Eidyllia be small poemes or pamphlets written by Poets such as Theocritus in Greeke compiled and much like vnto the Pastorals or Eclogues of Virgill in Latine Embrochation is a deuise that physitians haue for to foment the head or any other part with a liquor falling from aloft vpon it in maner of rain whereupon it took the name in Greeke Embroche and hath found none yet in Latine vnlesse we should vse Superfusio Emollitiues medicines that do soften any hard swelling Empiricks were those physitians who without any regard either of the cause in a disease or the constitution and nature of the Patient went to worke with those medicines whereof they had experience in others fall it out as it would Empirick books of Diodorus contained receits approoued and found effectuall by experience Emunctories be those kernelly places in the body by which the principall and noble parts doe void their superfluities or such things as offend to wit vnder the ears for the brain the arm-pits for the heart and the share for the liuer c. Emplastration in the Hortyard is grafting by inocelation with a scutcheon in Physicke the applying of a salue or plastre Epilepsie i. the falling sicknesse Errhines be deuises made like tents sharper at one end than the other to bee put vp into the nose either to cure some vlcer there or to draw downe and void humors out of the head or to prouoke sneesing c. Eschare is that crust which ariseth vpon a cauterie either actuall or potentiall as also the roufe or scab that groweth vpon a sore Euacuation i. Voidance and riddance of any thing out of the bodie by vomite purging bleeding sweating c. Excalfactorie i. Heating or chaufing Excoriation i. fretting the skin off when a part is made raw a way to exulceration Excresence i. ouergrowing vnnaturally of any thing in mans bodie Exoticall i. forraine and brought from other countries Exorcismes i. coniurations by certain charmes and spels Exorcists they that practised such Exorcisms To Expectorat i. to rid and discharge out of the breast by coughing or reaching Expiatorie were sacrifices or oblations for to make satisfaction and atonement Exiccatiue See Desiccatiue Extenuat i. to make thin Exulceration i. a sorenesse of any part inward or outward when not onely the skin is off but the humor doth fret deeper still Exulceratiue be such things as are apt to eat into the flesh and make an vlcer F Fermentation i. an equall mixture of things working as it were together a tearme borrowed from the leuaine which disperseth it selfe into the whole masse or lumpe of dough Filaments bee the small strings that hang to a root like threads or haires which some call the beard of the root and in resemblance thereof other things growing likewise bee so called Fissures clifts or chaps whether it bee in the hands feet lips or fundament Flatuosities i. windinesse gathered within the bodie Flora the goddesse of floures among the Painims Fomentations properly be deuises for to be applied vnto any affected part either to comfort and cherish it or allay the paine or els to open the poores to make way for ointments and plastres If they be liquid things they are laid too by the means of bladders spunges or such like if drie within bags or quilts Fractures i. bones broken Frictions or Frications rubbings of the bodie vpward or downeward gently or otherwise as the cause requireth Frontall the forme of an outward medicine applied vnto the forehead to allay paine to procure sleepe c. Fukes i. paintings to beautify the face in outward appearance They are called at this day complexions whereas they bee cleane contrarie for the complexion is naturall and these altogether artificiall Fumosities bee vapours steaming vp into the head troubling the braine Fungous i. of an hollow and light substance like to Fusses or Mushromes G GArga rismes bee collutions of the mouth and parts toward the throat either to draw downe and purge humours out of the head or to represse and restraine their flux or to mundifie and heale any sore there growing Gargarising or Gargling is the action of vsing a liquor to the said purpose Gestation an exercise of
in their seed and mould or couer it afterwards with yron-toothed harrows drawn aloft Lands in this manner sown need no other raking or weeding for commonly they make not past two or three bouts in a land and as many ridges Finally it is thought that in this manner there may be sown in one yere by the help of one yoke of oxen 40 arpens or acres of land ordinarily if the ground be gentle and easie to be eared but if it be stiffe and stubborne they shall haue worke enough to go through thirty CHAP. XIX ¶ The seasons that be proper for tilling the ground also the manner of coupling oxen in yoke IN this operation of ploughing ground I am of mind to follow that Oracle or Aphorisme of Cato who being asked which was the first and principall point of Agriculture answered thus Euen to husband order and tend ground well being demanded againe what was the second hee made answer To plough well And when the question was propounded concerning the third point of husbandry he said That it consisted in manuring and dunging it well There be other necessarie rules besides set downe by him as touching this matter namely Make no vnequall furrowes in ploughing but lay them alike with one and the same plough Passe not the kindly season but care the ground in due time In the warmer countries lands would be broken vp and fallowes made immediatly after the Winter Solstice or Sun-stead In colder regions touch them not before the spring Aequinox or Mid-march In a drie quarter plough more early than in a moist sooner also in a fast and compact soile than in a loose and light ground in a fat and rich field than in a leane and poore land Looke in what climat the Summer is ordinarily drie and hot it is thought more profitable to eare vp a chalky or a light and leane ground between the Summer Sunstead and the Aequinoctiall in the fall of the leafe If the climat be such as yeeldeth but little heat in Summer and therewith many showers of raine where the soile also is fat and beareth a thick green-sourd it were better to break vp ground and fallow in the hotest season where the soile is heauie grosse and fat and wherein a man may tread deepe I like well that it should be tilled and stirred in winter but in case it be very light and drie withall it would not be medled with but a little before seednes Here also be other proper rules set down by Cato pertinent to Agriculture Touch not qd he in any hand a piece of ground that soon will turne to dust and mire When thou doest plough indeed for to sow imploy thy whole strength thereto but before thou take a deep stitch for all giue it a pin-fallow before this commodity commeth therof that by turning vp the turfe with the bottom vpward the roots of weeds are killed Some are of this opinion that howsoeuer we do els a ground should haue the first brâ—…aking vp about the springe â—…inox a land that thus haâ—…h bin once plowed in the spring is called in Latin Vervactum hath that name of the foresaid time Ver i. spring Indeed ley grounds such as rest each other yere must be in this wise followed Now if you would know what the Latines mean by Nouale they take it for a field sowed euerysecond yere And thus much of the land To come now vnto our draught oxen that must labour at the plough they ought to be coupled in yoke as close together as streight as is possible to the end that whilst they be at work and ploughing they may beare vp their heads for by that meanes they least doe gall or bruise their necks If they chance to goe to plough among trees and vines they must be muzled with some frailes or deuises made of twigs to the end they should not brouse and crop off the yong springs and soft tendrils Moreouer there ought a little hatchet to hang euermore fast to the plough beame before therewith to cut through roots within the ground that might breake or stay the plough for better is it so to do than to put the plough to it to keep a plucking at them or to force the poore oxen to lie tugging wrestling with them Also in ploughing this order is to be kept That when the oxen are gone down with one furrow to the lands end they turne and goe vp againe with another so that in ploughing of a land they rest betweene whiles as little as may be but euermore go forward in their labour vntill they haue made an end of their halfe acre or halfe daies worke and verily it is thought sufficient for a teem of oxen to breake vp at the first tilth in one day of restie or ley ground one acre taking a furrow or stitch of nine inches but at the second tilth or stirring an acre and a halfe which is to be vnderstood of an easie and mellow soile to be wrought for if it be tough and churlish it is wel if they eare vp at the first halfe an acre and at the next time they may go through with one whole acre how hard soeuer the ground be for thus haue poore beasts their taske set and their labour limited by Natures lore and appointment Euery field to be sown must be eared at first with streight direct furrows but those that follow after ought to go byas and winding If a ground vpon the pendant or hanging of the hil be to be broken vp the furrowes must go crosse and ouerthwart howbeit the point and beak of the plough-share must be so guided that one while it beare hard aboue on the one side and another while beneath on the other side and verily in this mountaine worke the ploughman that holdeth the plough hath toile enough and laboreth at it as hard as the oxen do Certes there be some mountaines that haue no vse at all of this beast but they eare their ground with raking and scraping hooks only The ploughman vnlesse he bend and stoope forward with his body must needs make sleight worke and leaue much vndon as it ought to be a fault which in Latine we call Preuarication and this terme appropriate vnto husbandrie is borrowed from thence by Lawyers and translated by them into their courts and halls of pleas if it be then a reprochfull crime for Lawyers to abuse their clients by way of collusion wee ought to take heed how we deceiue and mocke the ground where this fault was first found and discouered To proceed the plough-man euer and anone had need to cleanse the culter and the share with his staffe tipped and pointed at the end like a thistle-spade he must beware that between two furrowes he leaue no naked balks raw and vntilled also that the clots ride not one vpon anothers back Badly is that land ploughed which after the corn is sowed
he was in his gate slow and heauy and in his wit as dull and blockish howbeit in his time vndergrowne he was and his voice changed to be great and at three yeares end died suddenly of a generall crampe or contraction of all the parts of his body It is not long since I saw my selfe the like in all respects sauing that vndergoing aforesaid in a son of one Cornelius Tacitus a Roman knight and a procurator or general receiuer and Treasurer for the State in Gaule Belgique such the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Ectirapelos wee in Latine haue no name for them CHAP. XVI ¶ Certaine notable obseruations in bodies of men and women WE see tried by experience that take measure of a man from the sole of the foot vp to the crowne of the head so far it is between the ends of his two middle and longest fingers when he stretcheth out his armes and hands to the full As also that some men and women be stronger of the right side than of the left others againe that be as strong of one as the other and there be that are altogether left handed and best with that hand but that is seldome or neuer seen in women Moreouer men weigh heauier than women and in euerie kind of creature dead bodies be more heauy than the quicke and the same parties sleeping weigh more than waking Finally obserued it is that the dead corps of a man floteth on the water with the face vpward but contrariwise women swim groueling as if Nature had prouided to saue their honesty and couer their shame euen when they are dead CHAP. XVIII ¶ Examples of diuers extraordinarie cases in mans body WE haue heard that some mens bones are sollid and massie and so do liue without any marrow in them you may know them by these signes they neuer feele thirst nor put forth any sweat and yet we know that a man may conquer and master his thirst if hee list for so a gentleman of Rome one Iulius Viator descended from the race of the Vocontians our allies being falne into a kind of dropsie between the skin and the flesh during his minority and nonage and forbidden by the Physicions to drink so accustomed himselfe to obserue their direction that naturally he could abide it insomuch that all his old age euen to his dying day he forbare his drink Others also haue bin able to command and ouer-rule their nature in many cases and breake themselues of diuers things CHAP. XIX ¶ Strange natures and properties of diuers persons IT is said that Crassus grand father to that Crassus who was slaine in Parthia was neuer known to laugh all his life time and thereupon was called Agelastus and contrariwise many haue bin found that neuer wept Also that sage and renowned wise man Socrates was seene alwaies to carry one and the self-same countenance neuer more merry and cheerefull nor more solemne and vnquiet at one time than at another But this obstinate constancy and firm cariage of the mind turneth now and then in the end into a certain rigour and austerity of nature so hard and inflexible that it cannot be ruled and in very truth despoileth men of all affections and such are called of the Greekes Apathes who had the experience of many such and that which is a maruellous matter those especially that were the great pillars of philosophy and deep learned Clerks namely Diogenes the Cinicke Pyrrho Heraclitus and Timo and as for him he was so far gone in his humor that he seemed professedly to hate all mankind But these were examples of a corrupt peruerse froward nature As for other things there be sundry notable obseruations in many as in Antonia the wife of Drusus who as it was well knowne neuer spit in Pomponius the poet one that had sometimes bin Consull who neuer belched But as for such as naturally haue their bones not hollow but whole and solid they be very rare and seldom seene and called they are in Latine Cornei i. hard as horne CHAP. XX. ¶ Of bodily strength and swiftnesse VArro in his treatise of prodigious and extraordinary strength maketh report of one Tritanus a man that of body was but little and lean withall how beit of incomparable strength much renowned in the fence schoole and namely in handling the Samnites weapons wearing their manner of armor and performing their feats and masteries of great name He maketh mention also of a sonne of his a souldier that serued vnder Pompeius the Great who had all ouer his body yea and throughout his armes and hands some sinewes running streight out in length others crossing ouerthwart lattise-wise and he saith moreouer of him that when an enemie out of the camp gaue him defiance and challenged him to a combat he would neither put on defensiue harnesse ne yet arme his right hand with offensiue weapon but with naked hand made meanes to foile and ouercome him and in the end when hee had caught hold of him brought him away perforce into his own camp with one finger Iunius Valens a captaine pensioner or centurion of the gard-souldiers about Augustus Caesar was woont alone to beare vp a charriot laden with certain hogsheads or a butt of wine vntill it was discharged thereof the wine drawne out also his manner was with one hand to stay a coach against all the force of the horses striuing and straining to the contrary and to perform other wonderfull masteries which are to be seen engrauen vpon his tombe and therefore qd Varro being called Hercules Rusticellus he tooke vp his mule vpon his back and carried him away Fusius Saluius hauing two hundred pound weights at his feet and as many in his hands and twise as much vpon his shoulders went withall vp a paire of staires or a ladder My selfe haue seene one named Athanatus do wonderfull strange matters in the open shew and face of the world namely to walke his stations vpon the stage with a cuirace of lead weighing 500 pound booted besides with a pair of buskins or greiues about his legges that came to as much in weight As for Milo the great wrestler of Crotone when he stood firm vpon his feet there was not a man could make him stir one foot if he held a pomegranat fast within his hand no man was able to stretch a finger of his and force it out at length It was counted a great matter that Philippides ran 1140 stadia to wit from Athens to Lacedaemon in two daies vntill Lanisis a courtier of Lacedaemon and Philonides footman to Alexander the great ran between Sicyone and Olis in one day 1200 stadia But now verily at this day we see some in the grand cirque able to indure in one day the running of 160 miles And but a while agoe we are not ignorant that when Fonteius Vipsanus were Consuls a yong boy but 9 yeres old between noon and euening ran 75 miles And verily a man
wonderfull The Mullet and the sea-Pike hate one another and be euer at deadly war likewise the Congre the Lamprey insomuch as they gnaw off one anothers taile The Lobster is so afraid of the Polype or Pourcuttell that if he spie him neere he euermore dieth for very woe The Lobsters are ready to scratch and teare the Congre the Congres again do as much for the Polype Nigidius writeth That the sea-Pike biteth off the Mullets taile and yet the same fishes in certaine set moneths are good friends and agree well enough He saith moreouer that those Mullets liue all notwithstanding their tails be so curtold On the other side there be examples of friendship among fishes besides those of whose societie and fellowship I haue already written and namely between the great whale Balaena and the little Musculus For whereas the Whale aforesaid hath no vse of his eies by reason of the heauy weight of his eie-browes that couer them the other swimmeth before him serueth him in stead of eies and lights to shew when he is neere the shelues and shallowes wherein he may be soone grounded so big and huge he is Thus much of fish Hence forward will we write of Foules THE TENTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS CHAP. I. ¶ The nature of Birds and Foules IT followeth now that we should discourse of the nature of Foules And first to begin with Ostriches They are the greatest of all other foules and in manner of the nature of foure footed beasts namely those in Africke and Aethiopia for higher they be than a man sitting on horsebacke is from the ground and as they be taller than the man so are they swifter on foot than the very horse for to this end only hath Nature giuen them wings euen to help and set them forward in their running for otherwise neither flie they in the aire ne yet so much as rise mount from the ground Clouen houfs they haue like red deere and with them they fight for good they be to catch vp stones withall with their legs they whurle them back as they run away against those that chase them A wonder this is in their nature that whatsoeuer they eat and great deuourers they be of all things without difference and choise they concoct and digest it But the veriest fooles they be of all others For as high as the rest of their body is yet if they thrust their head and necke once into any shrub or bush and get it hidden they thinke then they are safe enough and that no man seeth them Now two things they doe affoord in recompence of mens pains that they take in hunting and chasing them to wit their egs which are so big that some vse them for vessels in the house and their feathers so faire that they serue for pennaches to adorne and set out their crests and morions of souldiers in the wars CHAP. II. ¶ Of the Phoenix THe birds of Aethiopia and India are for the most parr of diuerse colours and such as a man is hardly able to decipher and describe But the Phoenix of Arabia passes all others How beit I cannot tell what to make of him and first of all whether it be a tale or no that that there is neuer but one of them in all the world the same not commonly seen By report he is as big as an Aegle for colour as yellow and bright as gold namely all about the necke the rest of the bodie a deep red purple the taile azure blew intermingled with feathers among of rose carnation color and the head brauely adorned with a crest and penach finely wrought hauing a tuft and plume thereupon right faire and goodly to be seen Manilius the noble Romane Senatour right excellently seene in the best kind of learning and litterature and yet neuer taught by any was the first man of the long Robe who wrot of this bird at large most exquisitely He reporteth that neuer man was known to see him feeding that in Arabia he is held a sacred bird dedicated vnto the Sun that he liueth 660 yeares and when he groweth old and begins to decay he builds himselfe with the twigs and branches of the Canell or Cinamon and Frankincense trees and when he hath filled it with all sort of sweet Aromaticall spices yeeldeth vp his life thereupon He saith moreouer that of his bones and marrow there breedes at first as it were a little worme which afterwards prooueth to be a prettie bird And the first thing that this yong new Phoenix doth is to perform the obsequies of the former Phoenix late de ceased to translate and cary away his whole nest into the citie of the Sun neere Panchea and to bestow it full deuoutly there vpon the altar The same Manilius affirmeth that the reuolution of the great yeare so much spoken of agreeth just with the life of this bird in which yeare the stars returne againe to their first points and giue significations of times and seasons as at the beginning and withall that this yeare should begin at high noone that very day when the Sun entreth the signe Aries And by his saying the yeare of that reuolution was by him shewed when P. Licinius and M. Cornelius were consuls Cornelius Valerianus writeth That whiles Q. Plautius and Sex Papinius were Consuls the Phoenix flew into Aegypt Brought he was hither also to Rome in the time that Claudius Caesar was Censor to wit in the eight hundreth yeare from the foundation of Rome and shewed openly to be seen in a full hall and generall assembly of the people as appeareth vpon the publick records how beit no man euer made any doubt but he was a counterfeit Phoenix and no better CHAP. III. ¶ Of Aegles OFall the birds which we know the Aegles carie the price both for honor strength Six kinds there be of them The first named of the Greeks Melaenaetos and in Latin Valeria the least it is of all others and strongest withall blacke also of colour In all the whole race of the Aegles she alone nourisheth her yong birds for the rest as we shall hereafter declare doe beat them away she only crieth not nor keepeth a grumbling and huzzing as others doe and euermore converseth vpon the mountaines Of the second sort is Pygargus It keepes about townes and plaines and hath a whitish taile The third is Morphnos which Homer cals also Perâ—…nos some name it Plancus and * Anataria and she is for bignesse and strength of a second degree louing to liue about lakes and meeres Ladie Phoemonoe who was supposed said to be the daughter of Apollo hath reported that this Aegle is toothed otherwise mute as not hauing any tongue also that of all other she is the blackest and hath the longest tail With her accorcordeth Boethus likewise Subtle she is and wittie for when she hath seazed vpon Tortoises and caught them
and so with that liuerie as it were let them flie to his friends for to carry tidings vnto them of the good successe which hee had obtained knowing right well that euery one would home to the same nest from whence they came And thus in small space could hee enforme his consorts and well-willers of his good speed Also Fabius Pictor reporteth in his Annales That when a fort which the Roman garrison held was besieged by the Ligustines there was a shee Swallow newly taken out of her nest within that fort from her little ones as shee sat ouer them and brought to him with this watchword That by a linnen thred tied to her foot in stead of a letter he should aduertise them within the fort by so many knots tied in the said thred as there would daies passe before aid could come from him vnto them to the end that they also might be ready vpon that day to fallie forth Ousles Throstles Blackbirds and Stares after the same manner depart aside from vs but go not far Howbeit these cast not their feathers nor lie altogether hidden but are seen oftentimes in places from whence they fetch meat to serue them in the Winter And therefore it is that Blackbirds are common in Germany and specially in Winter time The Turtle more properly and truly is said to hide her self and to shed her plume moult Stockdoues likewise depart from vs but whether they go no man knoweth As touching Sterlings it is the property of the whole kind of them to flie by troups and in their flight to gather round into a ring or bal whiles euery one of them hath a desire to be in the middest Of all birds the Swallow alone flieth bias and windeth in and out in his flight he is most swift of wing and flieth with ease and therefore not so ready to be surprised and taken by other birds To conclude he neuer feedeth but flying and so doth no other bird besides CHAP. XXV ¶ What birds continue with vs all the yeare long which be halfe yeares birds and which be but for three moneths GReat difference there is in the seasons and times of birds Some abide the whole yeare as house-doues others halfe the yere as Swallows and some again but a quarter as black-birds and Turtle-doues And there be againe that are gone so soone as they haue hatched and trained their young abroad into the open aire Such be the Hu-holes and Houpes or Lapwings as some thinke CHAP. XXVI ¶ Strange stories of birds WRiters there be who affirme That euery yeare certain birds come flying out of Ethyopia to Ilium and there about the tombe or sepulchre of Memnon skirmish and fight a battell For which cause men call them Memnonides And Cremutius auoucheth vpon his owne knowledge That euery fifth yere the same birds do the like in Aethyopia euen before the roiall palace somtime of the said king Memnon Semblably the birds named Maleagrides do fight a field in Boeotia Now are these Meleagrides a kind of Turky-cocks and hens of Africk hauing a bunch on their back and bespotted with feathers of sundry colours Of all strange birds comming out of forreine parts these are last receiued and admitted to serue the table by reason of a certain harsh and vnpleasant strong taste that they haue But it is the monument and tombe of Meleager which hath giuen them that name and credit which they haue CHAP. XXVII ¶ Of birds syrnamed Seleucides THe birds called Seleucides come to succour the inhabitants of the mountaine Casius against the Locusts For when they make great waste in their corne and other fruits Iupiter at the instant praiers and supplications of the people sendeth these fouls among them to destroy the said Locusts But from whence they come or whether they go again no man knoweth for neuer are they seene but vpon this occasion namely when there is such need of their helpe CHAP. XXVIII ¶ Of the bird Ibis THe Aegyptians likewise haue recourse in their prayers inuocations to their birds named Ibis what time as they be troubled and annoied with serpents comming among them and in like case the Eleans seeke vnto their god Myiagros for to be rid of a multitude of flies which pester them so that they breed a pestilence among them But looke vpon what day they find that Idoll appeased and pacified by their sacrifice all the flies die forth-with CHAP. XXIX ¶ What birds they be which will not abide some places also which be they that change colour and voice and then of the Nightingale BVt that which wee should haue said when wee wrote of the departure and going aside of birds the How lets also are reported to lie hidden some few daies Moreouer this is known for a truth That in the Island Candy there be none at all of them and in case that any one be thither brought it will die there A wonderful thing that nature should make difference of birds and other creatures in that respect But sure it is she hath not brought forth all creatures in al places but hath priuiledged this country more than that denied that to one which she hath giuen vnto another And thus hath shee dealt not onely by fruits of the earth trees and plants but also by liuing creatures That in some parts this or that should not grow or breed is a thing commonly seen known but that those things should die so soon as they are brought thither is very strange wonderfull What should that be which is so contrary vnto one kind and no more as that it will not suffer it to liue What enuie is this of Nature thus to hinder the breeding or life of any creature or why should birds be restrained within any limits and bounds in the whole earth And yet see In all the Island of Rhodes a man shall not find one Airie of Aegles In that tract of Italy beyond the Po and neere vnto the Alpes there is a lake which they call there Larius the place about it is right pleasant and delectable enriched with goodly trees that beare fruit and faire fields for pasturage and yet a man shall neuer see any Stork to come thither no nor within 8 miles of it And yet in the neighbor quarters of the Insubrians neer adioyning ye shall haue infinite and innumerable flocks and flights of choughes and jack-dawes the veriest theeues nay the only theeues of all other birds especially for siluer and gold that it is a wonder to see what meanes they will make to steale and filtch it Men say that in the territory of Tarentum there be no wood-pecks or tree-jobbers It is but of late daies since that from the mountaine Apennine toward the city of Rome there haue been seen Pyannets with long tailes party coloured and flacked wherupon they be called Variae and yet such are not common but very geason to be sound Their property is to be bald euery yeare what time
a great delight to inueagle others and to steale away some pigeons from 〈◊〉 owne flocks and euermore to come home better accompanied than they went forth Moreouer Doues haue serued for posts and courriers between and bin imploied in great affairs and namely at the siege of Modenna Decimus Brutus sent out of the town letters tyed â—…o their feet as far as to the camp where the Consuls lay and thereby acquainted them with newes and in what estate they were within What good then did the rampier and trench which Antonius cast before the towne To what purpose serued the streight siege the narrow watch and ward that he kept wherefore serued the riuer Po betweene where all passages are stopped vp as it were with net and toile so long as Brutus had his posts to flie in the aire ouer all their heads To be short many men are growne now to cast a speciall affection and loue to these birds they build Turrets aboue the tops of their houses for doue-coats Nay they are come to this passe that they can reckon vp their pedigree and race yea they can tel the very places from whence this or that pigeon first came And indeed one old example they follow of L. Axius a Gentleman somtiâ—…e of Rome who before the ciuill war with Pompey sold euery paire of pigeons for 400 deniâ—…s as M. Varro doth report True it is that there goeth a great name of certaine countries where some of these pigeons are bred for Campanie is voiced to yeeld the greatest and fairest bodied of all other places To conclude their manner of flying induceth and traineth me to thinke and write of the flight of other soules CHAP. XXXVIII ¶ Of the gate and flight of birds ALl other liuing creatures haue one certaine manner of marching and going according to their seuerall kind vnto which they keep and alter not Birds only vary their course whether they go vpon the ground or flie in the aire Some walke their stations as Crowes and Choughs others hop and skip as Sparrows and Ousels some run as Partridges Woodcocks and Snites others again cast out their feet before them staulk and jet as they go as Storks and cranes now for flying some spread their wings abroad stirring or shaking them but now then hanging and houering with them all the while as Kites others again ply them as fast but the ends only of their wings or the vtmost feathers are seen to moue as the Chaffinch Yee shall haue some birds to stretch out their whole wings sides mouing them as they flie as Rauens and others a man shal see in their flight to keep them in for the most part close as the Woodpeckers Some of them are known to giue one or two claps with their wings at first and then glide smoothly away as if they were carried and born vp with the aire as Linnets and others are seen as if they kept stil the aire within their wings to shoot vp aloft mount on high to flie streight forward to fal down again flat as Swallows Ye would think and say that some were hurled out of a mans hand with violence as the Partridge and others again to fal down plumbe from on high as Larks or els to leap jump as the Quailes Ducks Mallards and such like spring presently from the ground vp aloft and suddenly mount vp into the skie euen out of the very water which is the cause that if any chance to fall into those pits wherein wee take wild beasts they alone wil make good shift to get forth and escape The Geirs or Vulturs and for the most part all weightie and heauy foules cannot take their flight flie vnlesse they fetch their run and biere before or els rise from some steepe place with the vantage And such are directed in the aire by their tails Some looke about them euery way others bend and turne their necks in flying and some fly with their prey within their talons eat it as they fly Most birds cry and sing as they flie yet some there be contrariwise that in their flight are euer silent In one word some flying carry their brests and bellies halfe vpright others again beare them as much downward Some flie side-long and bias others directly forward and follow their bills and last of all there be that bend backward as they flie or els bolt vpright In such sort that if a man saw them all together he would take them not to be one kind of creature so diuers different are they in their motions CHAP. XXXIX ¶ Of Martinets MArtinets which the Greeks call Apodes because they haue little or no vse of their feet and others Cypseli are very good of wing and flie most of all others without rest And in very truth a kind of Swallows they be They build in rocks stony cliffes And these be they and no other that are seen euermore in the sea for be the ships neuer so remote from the land saile they neuer so fast and far off ye shall haue these Martinets alwaies flying about them All kinds els of Swallowes and other birds do somtime light settle and perch these neuer rest but when they be in their nest For either they seem to hang or els lie along and a number of shifts and deuises by themselues they haue besides and namely when they feed CHAP. XL. ¶ Of the bird Caprimulgus and the Shouelar THe Caprimulgi so called of milking goats are like the bigger kind of Owsels They bee night-theeues for all the day long they see not Their manner is to come into the sheepheards coats and goat-pens and to the goats vdders presently they go and suck the milke at their teats And looke what vdder is so milked it giueth no more milke but misliketh and falleth away afterwards and the goats become blind withall There be other birds named Plateae i. Shouelars Their manner is to flie at those foule that vse to diue vnder the water for fish and so long will they peck and bite them by the heads vntil they let go their hold of the fish they haue gotten and so they wring it perforce from them This bird when his belly is â—…ull of shell fishes that he hath greedily deuou red and hath by the naturall heat of his craw and gorge in some sort concocted them casteth vp all vp again and at leasure picketh out the meat and eateth it again leauing the shels behind CHAP. XLI ¶ The uaturall wit of some birds THe Hens of country houses haue a certaine ceremonious religion When they haue laied an egge they fall a trembling quaking and all to shake themselues They turne about also as in procession to be purified with some festue or such like thing they keep a ceremonie of hallowing as well themselues as their egs CHAP. XLII ¶ Of the Linnet Poppinjay or Parrat and other birds that can speake THe Linnets be in manner the
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 pray
keepe in medowes yea and Creckets that haunt the earth and stocke of chimnies where they make many holes and lie cricking aloud in the night The Glo-wormes are named by the Greeks Lampyrides because they shine in the night like a sparke of fire and it is no more but the brightnes of their sides and taile for one while as they hold open their wings they glitter another while when they keep them close together they be shadowed and make no shew These Glowbards neuer appeare before hay is ripe vpon the ground ne yet after it is cut downe Contrariwise the flies called Blattae liue and be nourished in darknesse light is an enemie vnto them and from it they flie They breed commonly in baines and stouves of the moist vapors that be there Of the same kind there be other great Beetles red in color which work themselues holes in the drie earth where they frame certaine receptacles like vnto Bees combs little and small ful of pipes resembling hollow spunges and all for a kind of bastard honey whereof yet there is some vse in Physicke In Thrace neare to Olynthus there is a little territorie or plot of ground where this one creature among all other cannot liue whereupon the place is called Cantharolethus The wings generally of all Insects be whole without any slit and none of them hath a taile but the Scorpion Hee alone hath not only armes but also a sting in the taile As for the rest some of them haue a sharp pricked weapon in their muzzle as namely the Breese or great Horse-flie called in Latine Asilus or Tabanus whether you will Likewise Gnats also and some kind of flies And these prickes serue them in good stead both for mouth and tongue Some of these are but blunt not good for to pricke but only handsome to sucke withall as flies which haue all of them a tongue beeing euidently fistulous and like a pipe And none of all these haue any teeth There bee Insects with little hornes proaking out before their eyes but weake and tender they bee and good for nothing as the Butterflies And there be againe that are not winged and such be the Scolopendres All Insects that haue legges and feet goe not directly but bias and crooked Of which some haue the hinder legges longer than the former and such bend hooked outward as the Locusts CHAP. XXIX ¶ Of Locusts THe Locusts lay egges in Autumne by thrusting downe into the ground the fistule or end of their chine and those come forth in great abundance These eggs lie all winter long in the earth and at the end of the spring the yere following they put out little Locusts black of coloâ—…r without legs and creeping vpon their wings Hereupon it commeth that if it be a wet spring and rainie those egs perish and come to no good but in a drie season there will be greater increase and store of Locusts the Summer ensuing Some writers hold opinion that they lay and breed twice a yeare likewise that they perish and die as often For they say that when the star Vergiliae doth arise they breed and those afterwards about the beginning of the Dogdaies die and others come in their place Others say that they engender and breed againe their second litter at the full or setting of Arcturus True it is indeed that the mothers die so soone as they haue brought forth their little ones by reason of a small worme that presently breedes about their throat which chokes them And at the same time the males likewise miscarrie See what a little matter to speake of bringes them to their death and yet a wonder it is to consider how one of them when it list will kill a serpent for it will take him fast by the chaws and neuer lin biting till she hath dispatched him These little beasts breed no where but in plain and champion countries namely such as be full of chinks and creuises in the ground It is reported that there be of them in India three foot long where the people of the country vse their legs and thighes for sawes when they be thoroughly dried These Locusts come by their death another way besides that aboue-named for when the wind takes them vp by whole troupes together they fall down either into the sea or some great standing pooles And this many a time happens by meer chance and fortune and not as many haue supposed in old time because their wings are wet with the night dew For euen the same Authors haue written that they flie not in the night for cold But little know they that it is ordinarie with them to passe ouer wide and broad seas and to continue their flight many daies together without rest And the greater wonder is this that they know also when a famine is toward in regard wherof they seek for food into far countries in such sort as their comming is euer held for a plague of the gods procâ—…eding from their heauie wrath and displeasure For then commonly they are bigger to be seen than at other times and in their flight they keepe such a noise with their wings that men take them for some strange fowles They shade and darken the very Sunne as they flie like vnto a great cloud insomuch as the people of euery country behold them with much feare least they should light in their territorie and ouer-spread the whole countrey And verily their strength is such that they hold out still in their flight and as if they had not enough of it to haue flowne ouer seas they giue not ouer to trauerse mightie great countries in the continent And lookâ—… in what place soeuer they settle they couer whole fields of corne with a fearefull and terrible cloud much they burne with their very blast and no part is free but they eat and gnaw euen the very dores of mens dwelling housâ—… Many a time they haue been known to take their flight out of Affrick and with whole armies to infest Italie many a time haue the people of Rome fearing a great famine and scarsitie toward been forced to haue recourse vnto Sybils books for remedie and to auert the ire of the gods In the Cyrenaicke region within Barbarie ordained it is by law euery three yeares to wage war against them and so to conquer them that is to say first to seeke out their neasts and to squash their eggs secondly to kill all their yong and last of all to proceed euen to the greater ones and vtterly to destroy them yea and a greeuous punishment lieth vpon him that is negligent in this behalfe as if he were a traitor to his prince and countrey Moreouer within the Island Lemnos there is a certaine proportion and measure set down how many and what quantitie euery man shall kill and they are to exhibit vnto the magistrate a just and true account thereof and namely to shew that measure full of dead Locusts And for this
In the knees of men there is generally reposed a certaine religious reuerence obserued euen in all nations of the world for humble suppliants creep and crouch to the knees of their superiors their knees they touch to their knees they reach forth their hands their knees I say they worship and adore as religiously as the very altars of the gods and for good reason haply they do so because it is commonly receiued That in them there lies much vital strength For in the very ioint and knitting of both knees on either side thereof before there are two emptie bladders as it were like a paire of cheeks which hollownesse and concauitie if it be wounded and pierced through causeth as present death as if the throat were cut In other parts likewise of the body we vse a certain religious ceremonie for as our maner is to offer the backe part of the right hand to be kissed so we put it forth and giue it as well in testimonie of faith and fidelitie It was an antient fashion in Greece when they would make court and with great respect tender a supplication to some great personage to touch the chin In the tender lappet of the eare is supposed to rest the seat of remembrance which we vse to touch when we mean to take one to beare witnesse of an arrest or other thing done and to depose the same in the face of the court Moreouer behind the right eare likewise is the proper place of Nemesis which goddesse could neuer yet find a Latine name so much as in the very Capitol and that place are we wont to touch with the fourth finger which is next the least in token of repentance when we haue let fal some word rashly and would craue pardon of the gods therefore The crooked and swelling veins in the legs man alone hath and women very seldome Oppius writes that C. Marius who had bin Consul of Rome 7 times endured without sitting down for the matter to haue those veins taken forth of his legs a thing that neuer any was known to abide before him All foure-footed beasts begin to go ordinarily on the right hand and vse to ly downe on the right side others go as they list Lions and Camels only haue this propertie by themselues to keep pace in their march foot by foot that is to say they neuer set their left foot before their right nor ouer-reach with it but let it gently come short of it and follow after Men women haue the greatest feet in proportion of all creatures but females vsually in euery kind haue lesse slenderer feet than males Men and women only haue calues in their legs and their legs full of flesh Howbeit we reade in some writers That there was one man in Aegypt had no calfe at all to his legs but was legged like a crane Man alone hath palmes of his hands broad flat soles to his feet and yet some there be who that way are deformed and disfigured And thereupon it came that diuers came to be sirnamed Planci i. flat footed Plauti i. splay footed Scauri i. with their ancles standing ouermuch out Pausi i. broad footed Like as of their mis-shapen legs some haue bin named Vari i. wry legged others Vatiae and Vatinij i. bow-legged which imperfections beasts also are subiect vnto Whole hoofed are all they that beare not horns in regard wherof they be armed with houfe in stead of that offensiue weapon and such as they be haue no ancle bones but all clouen footed haue those bones Howbeit all that haue toes want ancles and in a word there is not one hath them in the fore-feet Camels haue ancles like to Kine and Oxen but somewhat lesse for indeed they be clouen footed although the partition be very little and hardy discerned vnder the foot but seemeth flesh all ouer the sole as Beares also which is the cause that if they trauaile farre vnshod their feet are surbated and the beasts will tire CHAP. XLVI ¶ A discourse of beasts houfes THe Houfes of Horses Mules Asses and such like beasts of carriage onely if they be pared and cut will grow againe In some parts of Sclauonia the Swine are not clouen-footed but whole hoofed All horned beasts in manner be clouen-footed but no beast beares two hornes and hath withall the houfe of one entire peece The Indian Asse hath onely one horne The wild Goat also called Oryx is clouen houfed and yet hath but one horne The Indian Asse moreouer of all the whole houfed beasts alone hath the pasterne or ankle-bones As for Swine a mungreâ—…l kind they are thought to be of both in regard of those bones and thereupon are reputed filthy and acursed They that haue thought that a man had such are soon conuinced As for the Once he indeed alone of all those whose feet are diuided into toes hath that which somewhat resembles a pasterne bone So hath a Lion also but that it is more crooked and winding As for the streight pasterne bone indeed it beareth out with a bellie in the joynt of the foot and in that hollow concauitie wherein the said bone turnes it is tied by ligaments CHAP. XLVII ¶ Of Birds feet and their Clawes or Tallons OF Fowles some haue their feet diuided into clees and toes others be broad and flat footed and some are betweene both which haue indeed their toes parted and distinct and yet their feet be broad between But of all them that haue foure toes to a foot to wit 3 in the forepart and one behind at the heele in manner of a spurre howbeit this one is wanting in some that are long legged The Wrinecke or Hickway with some few others haue two before and other two behind The same bird putteth out a tongue of great length like to serpents It turneth the necke about and looketh backward great clawes it hath like those of Choughes Some bigger birds haue in their legs one other shanke-bone more than ordinarie None that haue crooked tallons be long legged All that staulke with long shankes as they fly stretch out their legges in length to their tailes but such as be short legged draw them vp to the midst of their belly They that say No bird is without feet affirme also That Martinets haue feet like as also the swift Swallow called Oce and the sea Swallow Drepanis And yet such birds come so little abroad that they be seldome seen To conclude there haue been now os late Serpents knowne flat-footed like Geese CHAP. XLVIII ¶ Of the feet of Insects ALl Insects hauing hard eies haue their fore-legges longer than the rest to the end that otherwhiles they might with them scoure their eies as we see some flies doe but those whose hinder-legs are longest vse to skip and hop as Locusts Howbeit all of them haue six legs apeece Some Spiders there be that haue two ouer and aboue the ordinarie and those be very long and euery leg hath
of timber like as in marble also there be found certaine knurs like kernils as hard they be as naile heads and they plague sawes wheresoeuer they light vpon them Otherwhiles they fall out to be in trees by some accidental occasion as namely when a stone is got into the wood and enclosed within it or in case the bough of some other tree be incorporat or vnited to the foresaid wood There stood a long time a wild Oliue in the market place of Megara vpon which the hardie and valiant warriors of that citie vsed to hang and fasten their armor after some worthy exploit performed which in tract and continuance of time were ouergrown with the bark of the said tree and quite hid Now was this a fatal tree vnto the same city and the inhabitants thereof who by way of Oracle were forewarned of their wofull destiny and vtter ruin which was to happen When that a tree should be with yong and deliuered of harneis which Oracle was fulfilled when this tree was cut downe for within the wombe thereof were found the mourrions jambriers or grieues of braue men in times past To conclude it is said That such stones so found in trees be singular good for a woman with child to carie about her that she may goe her full time CHAP. XL. ¶ Of diuers sorts of timber Of â—…aine trees of extraordinarie bignesse What trees they be that neuer be worme-eaten nor decay and fall What wood doth endure and continue alwaies good THe greatest tree that to this day had euer been knowne or seene at Rome was that which being brought with other timber for the rebuilding of the foresaid bridge called Naumachiaria Tiberius Caesar commanded to be landed and laid abroad in view for a singular and miraculous monument to all posteritie and it remained entire and whole vntill the time that Nero the Emperour built stis stately Amphitheatre This peece of timber was of a Larch tree it contained in length 120 foot and caried in thickenesse euery way two foot from one end to the other Whereby a man may guesse and judge the incredible height of the whole tree besides to the very top Such another tree there was to be seen in our daies which M. Agrippa left for the like singularity and wonder of men in those stately porches and cloisters that hee made in Mars field and it continued still after the building of the muster place and treasurers haâ—…l named Diribitorium Shorter it was than the former by 20 foot and caried a foot and half in thickenesse As for the Fir tree which serued for a mast in that huge ship which by the commandement and direction of C. Caligula the Emperour transported and brought out of Aegypt that Obelisk which was erected and set vp in the Vatican hil within the cirque there together with the foure entire stones which bare vp the said Obelisk as supporters it was seen of a wonderfull and inestimable height aboue all others and certaine it is that there was neuer knowne to flâ—…te vpon the sea a more wonderful ship than it was She receiued 120000 Modij of Lentils for the very ballaist she tooke vp in length the greater part of the left side of Hostia harbour for Claudius the Emperor caused it there to be sunk together with three mighty great piles or dams founded vpon it and mounted to the height of towers for which purpose there was brought a huge quantity of earth or sand from Puteoli The maine bodie of this mast contained in compasse 4 fadom full And a common by-word it is currant in euery mans mouth that Fir mast for that purpose are vsually sold for eight hundred Sesterces apeece and more monie whereas for the most part planks which are set together and serue in stead of boats ordinarily cost but forty Howbeit the kings of Egypt and Syria for default and want of Fir haue vsed by report in stead thereof Cedar wood about their shipping And verily the voice goes of an exceeding big one which grew in Cyprus and was cut downe for a mast to serue that mighty galleace of king Demetrius that had eleuen bankes of oares to a side a hundred and thirtie foot it was high and three fatham thicke And no maruell since that the pyrats and rouers who haunt the coasts of Germanie make their punts or troughs of one entire peece of wood and no more wrought hollow in manner of a boat and some one of them will hold thirtie men To proceed now vnto the sundry natures of wood The most massie and fast wood and therfore the weightest of all other by judgment of men is that of the Ebene and the Boxe both small trees by nature Neither of them twaine swims aboue the water no more will the Corke wood if it be barked nor the Larch Of all the rest the saddest wood is that of Lotus I meane that which at Rome is so called Next to it is the heart of Oke namely when it is rid of the white sappie wood the heart I say which comes neare to a black color and yet the Cytisus or Tetrifolie is blacker and seemeth most to resemble the Ebene Howbeit you shall haue some who affirme that the Terebinths of Syria be blacker than it There was one Thericles a famous Turner who was wont to make drinking cups mazers and bowles of the Terebinth which is a sufficient proofe that the wood is fine and hard This wood alone of all others loueth to be oiled and surely the better it is for the oile But a maruellous prety deuice there is to set a passing faire blacke color and a shining glosse vpon it with Walnuts and wild Peares namely boiling these together and making thereof a mixture and composition to giue the said tincture All these trees abouenamed haue a sad and fast wood Next to them in that respect is the Cornell tree and yet I cannot properly range it in the order of timber trees so small and slender it is Neither is the wood thereof in manner good for nought else but for spokes in cartwheeles also to make wedges to cleaue wood and tough pins that wil hold as fast well neer as yron spikes In like sort the Mast-holm the Oliue both wild and tame the Chestnut tree the Hornbeame and the Poplar be of an hard substance and meet for this purpose The wood hereof hath a curled graine like the Maple and surely would be as good timber as any but for often lopping the boughs which gueldeth and deminisheth the strength Moreouer many of them there bee and the Oke especially so hard that vnlesse they be soked first in water it is impossible to bore a hole into them with an augoer or to pluck forth a nail if it be once set fast water them as much as you will Contrariwise the Cedar will not hold a naile The wood of the Linden tree seemes of all other to bee most soft and hotest withal for proofe whereof this
and fruit This is a generall thing obserued That al trees will thriue and prosper better yea and grow sooner to perfection if the shoots and suckers that put out at the root as also other water twigs be rid away so that al the nourishment may be turned to the principall stocke only The work of Nature in sending out these sprigs taught vs the feat to couch and lay sets in the ground by way of propagation and euen after the same manner briers and brambles doe of themselues put forth a new off-spring for growing as they do smal and slender and withal running vp to be very tall they cannot chuse but bend and lean to the ground where they lay their heads againe and take fresh root of their owne accord without mans hands and no doubt ouergrow they would and couer the whole face of the earth were they not repressed and withstood by good husbandrie The consideration whereof maketh me to enter into this conceit That men were made by Nature for no other end but to tend and look vnto the earth See yet what a commodious deuice we haue learned by so wicked and detestable a thing as this bramble is namely to lay slips in the ground and quick-sets with the root Of the same nature is the Yuie also euen to grow and get new root as it creepeth and climbeth And by Catoes saying not onely the Vine but Fig trees Oliues also wil grow increase of cuttings couched in the ground likewise Pomegranate trees all kinds of Apple-trees Baies Plum-trees Myrtles Filberds Hazels of Praeneste yea Plane-trees Now be there two waies to increase trees by way of propagation or enterring their twigs The first is to force a branch of a tree as it grows downe to the ground so to couch it within a trench foure foot square euery way after two yeares to cut it atow where it bent from the tree and after three yeares end to transplant it But if a man list to haue such plants or young trees to beare longer the best way were to burie the said branches at the first within would either in paniers or earthen vessels that when they are once rooted they might be remoued all whole and entire in them and so replanted The second is a more curious and wanton deuise than this namely to procure roots to grow on the very tree by carrying and conveighing branches either through earthen pots or oisier baskets full of earth thrust close to the said branches and by this means the branches feeling comfort of the warme earth enclosing them on euery side are easily intreated to take root euen among Apples and other fruits in the head of the tree for surely by this meanes we desire to haue roots to chuse growing vpon the very top So audacious are men and of such monstrous spirits to make one tree grow vpon another far from the ground beneath Thus in like manner as before at 2 yeares end the said impes or branches that haue taken root be cut off and carried away in the foresaid pots or paniers thither where they shall grow As for the Sauine an hearb or plant it is that wil take if it bee in this sort couched in the ground also a sprig if it be slipped off cleane from the stocke will come again and root Folke say that if a man take wine lees or an old bricke out of the wal broken small and either pour the one or lay the other about the root it wil prosper and come forward wonderfully In like manner may Rosemarie be set as the Sauine either by couching it or slipping off a branch from it for neither of them both hath any seed To conclude the hearb or shrub Oleander may be set of any impe and so grow or else come of seed CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of encreasing trees by seed the manner of graffing one in another how the fine deuise of inoculation by way of scutcheon and emplaister was deuised NAture not willing to conceal any thing from man hath also taught him to engraffe trees with their seed and graine For oftentimes it happeneth that birds being hungrie haue greedily gobled vp seed and fruit whole and sound which after they haue moistened in their gorge and tempered it also with the warmth and natural heat of their stomack they send forth and squirt out again when they meute together with their dung that giueth vnto it a vertue of fecunditie and so lay it vpon the soft beds of tree leaues which many a time the winds catch and driue into some clifts and cranies of the barke by meanes whereof wee haue seene a Cherrie tree vpon a Willow a Plane tree vpon a Lawrell a Lawrell vpon a Cherrie trre and at one time Berries and fruits of diuerse sorts and sundry colors hanging at one and the same tree It is said moreouer that the Chough or Daw hath giuen occasion herof by laying vp for store seeds and other fruit in creuises and holes of trees which afterwards sprouted and grew From hence came the manner of inoculation or graffing in the scutcheon namely to cut out a parcel of the barke of that tree which is to be graffed with a sharp knife made in manner of a shomakers nall blade and then to enclose within the said concauity the eie or seed taken out of another tree with the said instrument And in old time verily this was the only maner of inoculation vsed in fig-trees and apple trees Virgil teaches vs to open a concauity in the knot or joint of a bud that driueth out the barke and within it to enclose the gem or bud taken out of another tree And thus much for the graffing that Nature hath shewed But there is another way of graffing which casualtie and chance hath taught And to say a truth this Maister hath shewed well neer more experiments now daily practised than Nature her selfe Now the manner of it came by this occasion A certain diligent painfull husbandman minding to mound and empale his cottage round about with a fence of an hedge to the end that the stakes should nor rot laid a sill vnder them of Iuie wood but such was the vitall force of the said Iuie that it took hold fast of the stakes and clasped them hard insomuch as by the life therof they also came to liue and euident it was to the eye that the log of Iuie vnderneath was as good as the earth to giue life and nourishment vnto the stakes afore-said To come then vnto our graffing which we haue learned by this occasion first the head or vpper part of the stock must be sawed off very euen and then pared smooth with a sharp gardenhook or cutting-knife which don there offers vnto vs a two-fold way to perform the rest of the worke The first is to set the graffe or Sion between the barke and the wood for in old time truly men were afraid at first to cleaue the stocke but soon
branches but the hole first ought to be made easie and large with a strong stake or crow of iron In sum all these boughs ought to be 3 foot long smaller in compasse than a mans arme sharpned at the one end and with the barke saued whole and sound with great care As for the Myrtle tree it wil come also of a cutting the Mulberry will not otherwise grow for to couch and plant them with their branches we are forbidden for feare of the lightnings And forasmuch as we are fallen into the mention of such cuttings I must now shew the manner of planting them also aboue all things therefore regard would be had that they be taken from such trees as be fruitfull that they be not crooked rough and rugged nor yet sorked ne yet slenderer than such as would fil a mans hand or shorter than a foot in length Item That the barke be not broken or rased that the nether end of the cut be set into the ground and namely that part alwaies which grew next the root and last of al that they be banked wel with earth about the place where they spring and bud forth vntil such time as the plant haue gotten strength CHAP. XVIII ¶ The manner of planting ordering and dâ—…essing Olive trees Also which be the conuenient times for graffing WHat rules by the iudgment of Cato are to be obserued in the dressing and husbanding of Oliues I think it best to set down here word for word as he hath deliuered them Thus he saith therefore The trunches or sets of Oliue trees which thou meanest to lay in trenches make them 3 foot long handle them gently and with great care that in cutting sharpning or squaring them the bark take no harm nor pill from the wood As for such as thou dost purpose to plant in a nourse-garden for to remoue again see they be a foot in length and in this manner set them Let the place be first digged throughly with a spade vntill it be well wrought lie light and brought into temper when thou puttest the said truncheon into the ground beare it downe with thy foot if it goe not willingly deepe enough by that means driue it lower with a little beetle or mallet but take heed withall that thou riue not the barke in so doing A better way there is To make a hole first with a stake or crow before thou set it into the ground and therein maist thou put it at ease and so will it liue also and take root the sooner when they be three yeares old haue then a carefull eye to them in any case and marke where and when the bark turneth If thou plant either in ditches or furrowes lay three plants together in the earth but so as their heads may stand a good way asunder aboue the ground also that there be no more seen of them than the bredth of foure fingers or els if thou thinke good set the buds or eyes only of the Oliue Moreouer when thou art about to take vp an oliue plant for to set again be wary and carefull that thou break not the root get as many spurres or strings called the beard as thou canst earth and all about them and when thou hast sufficiently couered those roots with mould in the replanting be sure thou tread it down close with thy foot that nothing hurt the same Now if a man demand and would gladly know what is the fittest time for planting oliues in one word I will tell him Let him chuse a dry ground in seed time i. in Autumne and a fat or battle ground in the spring furthermore begin to prune thy Oliue tree 15 daies before the Aequinox in the spring and from that time forward for the space of sorty daies thou canst not do amisse The maner of pruning or disbranching them shall be thus Looke where thou seest a place fertile if thou spy any dry or withered twigs or broken boughs that the wind hath met withall be sure thou cut them away euerie one but if the plot of ground be barren eare it vp better with the plough take pains I say to till it well to breake all clots and make it euen to clense the trees likewise of knurs and knots and to discharge them of all superfluous wood also about Autumne bate the earth from about the roots of Oliues and lay them bare but in stead thereof put good mucke thereto Howbeit if a man do very often labor the ground of an olive plot and take a deep stitch he shall now and then plough vp the smallest roots thereof so ebbe they will run within the ground which is not good for the trees for in case they spread aloft they will wax the thicker and so by that means the strength and vertue of the Oliue will turne all into the root As touching all the kinds of Olive trees how may they be also in what ground they ought to be set and wherein they will like liue best likewise what coast of the heauen they should regard we haue shewed sufficiently in our discourse and treatise of Oile Mago hath giuen order in his books of husbandry that in planting them vpon high grounds in dry places and in a vein of clay the season should be between Autumne and mid-Winter but in case you haue a fat moist or waterish soile he sets down a longer time namely from haruest to mid-winter But this rule of his you must take to be respectiue to the clymat of Africk only for in Italy at this day verily men vse to plant most in the Spring howbeit if a man hath a mind to be doing also in Autumne he may be bold to begin after the Equinox for during the space of 40 dayes together euen to the setting of the Brood-hen star there are no more but 14 days ill for planting In Barbarie the people haue this practise peculiar to themselues For to graffe in a wilde Oliue stock whereby they continue a certain perpetuity for euer as the boughs that were graffed and as I may say adopted first wax old and grow to decay a second quickly putteth forth afresh taken new from another tree and in the same old stock sneweth yong and liuely and after it a third successiuely and as many as need so as by this meanes they take order to eternise their Oliues insomuch as one Oliue plant hath bin known to haue prospered in good estate a world of yeares This wilde Oliue aforesaid may be graffed either with sions set in a cliffe or els by way of inoculation with the scutcheon aforesaid But in planting of Oliues this heed must be taken that they be not set in a hole where an Oke hath been stocked vp by the root for there be certain canker-wormes called Erucae in Latine or Raucae breeding in the root of an Oke which eat the same and no doubt will do as much by the Oliue tree Moreouer it is found by experience better
tree hath gotten some strength and is growne to sufficient bignesse for to beare a graffe which ordinarily is at three yeares end or at the vtmost when it is fiue yeares old the head thereof must be cut or sawed off and then the branch or bough of the Oliue beforesaid being well clensed and made neat and the head end thereof as is beforesaid thwited and scraped sharpe howbeit not yet cut from the mother stocke must bee set fast in the shanke of the Figge-tree where it must bee kept well and surely tied with bands for feare that thus beeing forced and graffed arch-wise it start and flurt not out againe and returne vnto the owne Thus beeing of a mixt and meane nature betweene a branch or bough growing still vnto the Tree and yet laied in the ground to take new root and an Impe or Sion graffed for the space of three yeares it is suffered to feed and grow indifferently betweene two mothers or rather by the meanes thereof two motherstocks are growne and vnited together But in the fourth yeare it is cut wholly from the owne mother and is become altogether an adopted child to the Fig-tree wherein it is incorporat A pretty deuise I assure you to make a Fig tree beare Oliues the secret whereof is not knowne to euery man but I my selfe do conceiue and see the reason of it well enough Moreouer the same regard and consideration aboue rehearsed as touching the nature of grounds whether they be hot cold moist or dry hath shewed vs also the manner of digging furrows and ditches For in watery places it will not be good to make them either deep or large whereas contrariwise in a hot and dry soile they would be of great capacity both to receiue and also to hold store of water And verily this is a good point of husbandry for to preserue not only yong plants but old trees also for in hot countries men vse in Summer time to raise hillocks and banks about their roots and couer them all therewith for feare lest the extreme heat of the Sun should scoreh and burne them But in other parts the manner is to dig away the earth and to lay the roots bare and let in the wind to blow vpon them The same men also in winter doe banke the roots about and thereby preserue them from the frost Contrariwise others in the winter open the ground for to admit moisture to quench their thirst But in what ground soeuer it be where such husbandry is requisit the way of clensing tree roots and ridding the earth from them is to dig a trench three foot round about And yet this must not be don in medows forasmuch as for the loue of the Sun and of moisture the roots of trees run ebbe vnder the face of the earth And thus much verily may suffice in generall for the planting and graffing of all those trees that are to beare fruit CHAP. XX. ¶ Of Willow and Osier plots of places where reeds and Canes are nourished also of other trees that be vsually cut for poles props and stakes IT remaineth now to speake of those trees which are planted and nourished for others and for Vines especially to which purpose their wood is vsually lopped to serue the turne Among which Willowes and Oisiers are the chiefe and to be placed in the formost rank and ordinarily they loue to grow in moist and watery grounds Now for the better ordering of the Oisier the place would be well digged before and laid soft two foot and a halfe deep and then planted with little twigs or cuttings of a foot and a halfe in length and those prickt in or else stored with good big sets which the fuller and rounder they be in hand so much better they are for to grow and sooner will they proue to be trees Betweene the one and the other there ought to be a space of six foot When they are come to three yeares growth the manner is to keepe them downe with cutting that they stand not aboue ground more than two foot to the end that they might spread the better in bredth when time serues be lopped shred more easily without the help of ladder for the Withie or Osier is of this nature that the nearer it groweth to the ground the better head it beareth These trees also as wel as others require as men say to haue the ground digged laid light about them euery yere in the month of April And thus much for the planting and ordering of Oisier willowes which must be emploied in binding and winding As for the other willow which affoordeth big boughs for poles perches and props those may be set likewise of twigs and cuttings and trenched in the ground after the same manner These lightly euery fourth yere will yeeld good poles or staues for that purpose would they then be ordinarily cut and lopped If these trees become old their boughs by propagation may still maintain and replenish the place to wit by couching them within the ground after they haue lien soone yeare and taken root by cutting them clean from the stocke-father An Oisier plat of one acre stored thus will yeeld twigs sufficient for windings and bindings to serue a vineyard of fiue and twenty acres To the same purpose men are wont to plant the white poplar or Aspe in manner following First a piece of ground or a quarter must be digged and made hollow two foot deep and therin ought to be laid cuttings of a foot and a half in length after they haue had two daies drying but so as they stand one from another a foot and a handbreadth be couered ouer with mould two cubits thick As touching canes and reeds they loue to grow in places more wet and waterish than either the Willows and Oisiers aboue said oâ—… the Poplars Men vse to plant their bulbous roots which some call their oilets or eies in a trench of a span depth and those two foot and an halfe asunder These reeds do multiplie and increase of themselues if a plot be once planted with them after the old plants be extirped destroied And surely this is found now adaies to be the better and the more profitable way euen to commit all to Nature rather than to gueld and weed them out where they seem to grow ouer thick as the practise was in old time for the maner of their roots is to creepe one within another and to be so interlaced continually as if they were twisted together The fit and proper time to plant and set these canes or reeds is a little before the calends of March to wit before the oilets or eies aboue said begin to swell They grow vntill mid-winter at which time they wax hard which is a signe that they haue done growing and this is the only season also for to cut them Likewise the ground would be digged about them as often as vines The order of planting them is two
raised vp well with earth and bedded from the brims and edges on the lower ground As for such which shall be made longer and able to receiue two vine-plants growing contrary one to the other they shall be called in Latine Alvei Aboue al the root of the vine ought to stand just in the midst of the hole or ditch but the head and wood thereof which resteth vpon the sound and firme ground as neere as possible is must beare directly into the point of the Aequinoctiall Sun-rising and withall the first props that it leaneth vpon would be of Reeds and Canes As touching the bounding and limitation of a vineyard the principall way which runneth streight East and West ought to carry 18 foot in breadth to the end that two carts may passe easily one by another when they meet the other crosse allies diuiding euery acre just into the mids must be ten foot broad but if the plot or modell of the vineyard wil beare it these allies also which lie North and South would be as largeful as the foresaid principal high way Moreouer this would be alwaies considered That vines bee planted by fiues i. that at euery fifth perch or pole that shoreth them vp there be a path diuiding euery range and course and one bed or quarter from another If the ground be stiffe and hard it must of necessitie bee twice digged ouer and therein quick-sets only that haue taken root must be replanted marie in case it be a loose mould light and gentle you may set very cuttings and sions from the stock either in furrow or in trench chuse you whether But say it be a high ground and vpon the hill better is it to cast it into furrowes ouerthwart than to dig it that by this meanes the perches or props may keep vp the ground better which by occasion of raine water would settle downeward When the weather is disposed to raine or the ground by nature drie it is good planting vine-sets or sions at the fall of the leafe vnlesse the constitution of the tract and qualitie of a country require the contrary for a dry and hot soile would be planted in Autumne or the fal of the leafe wheras a moist and cold coast may tarry euen vntill the end of Spring Let the soile be dry and hard bootlesse it will be to plant yea though it were a very quick-set root and all Neither will it do well to venter the setting of imps cut from the tree in a drie place vnlesse it be immediatly vpon a good ground shower but in low grounds where a man may haue water at will there is no danger at all to set vine branches euen with leaues on the head for they will take well enough at any time before the Mid-summer Sun-stead as we may see by experience in Spaine When you will plant a vine chuse a faire day and if possibly you can let it be when there is no wind stirring abroad for such a calme season is best and yet many are of opinion that Southern winds be good and they wish for them which is cleane contrarie vnto Cato his mind who expressely excepteth and reiecteth them If the ground be of a middle temperature there ought to be a space of fiue foot distance between euery vine and in case it be a rich and fertile soile there would bee foure foot at least from one to another but in a leane hungrie piece of light ground there should be eight foot at the most for whereas the Vmbrians and Marsians leaue twenty foot void betweene euery range of vines they doe it for to plough and sow in the place and therein they haue quarters beds and ridges called Porculeta If the place where you plant a vineyard be subiect to thicke and darke mists or to a rainie disposition of the weather vines ought to bee set the thinner but in a drie quarter it is meet they should bee planted thicke Moreouer the wit and industrie of man hath found out meanes to saue charges and in setting a nource-garden with vine-sions to goe a nearer way with small expence and no losse of ground for in replanting a vineyard with quicke-sets vpon a leuell plot onely digged and laied euen they haue with one and the same labour as it were by the way replenished the ground between euery such rooted plants with vine cuttings for store so as the quicksets may grow in his owne place appointed and the sion or cutting which another day is to be transplanted in the mean time take root between euery course and range of the said vine quick-sets before they be ready to take vp much ground Thus within the compasse of one acre by iust proportion a man may haue about 16000 quick-sets This is the difference only that such beare not fruit so soon by two yere so much later are they that be set of sions than those that were transplanted and remain stil on foot When a quick-set of a vine is planted in a vineyard and hath grown one yere it is vsually cut downe close to the earth so as but one eie or button be left aboue ground and one shore or stake must be stickt close to it for to rest vpon and dung laid well about the root In like manner ought it to be cut the second yeare By this means it gathereth strength inwardly and maintaineth the same in such wise as it may be sufficient another day to beare and sustain the burden both of branch and bunch when it shall be charged with them for otherwise if it be let alone and suffered to make hast for to beare it would prooue to be slender vinewed leane and poore for surely this is the nature of a vine That she groweth most willingly in such sort that vnlesse she be kept vnder chastised and bridled in this manner her inordinat appetite is such she will run her selfe out of heart and go all to branch and leafe As touching props and shores to support vines the best as we haue said are those of the Oke or Oliue tree for default whereof ye may take good stakes and forks of Iuniper Cypresse Laburnium and the Elder As for those perches that be of other kinds they ought to be cut and renewed euery yeare Howbeit to lay ouer a frame for vines to â—…un vpon the best poles are of Reeds and Canes for they will continue good fiue yeares being bound many of them together When the shorter branches of a vine are twisted one within another in manner of cording or ropes and strengthened with the wood of vine cuttings amongst thereof arch-worke is made which in Latine they call Funeta Now by the time that a vine hath growne three yeares in the vineyard it putteth forth apace strong branches which in time may make vines themselues these mount quickly vp to the frame and then some good husbands there be who put out their eies that is to say with a cutting hook turning the edge
Romane Eloquence loe here thy Groue in place How greene it is where planted first it was to grow apace And Vetus now who holds thy house Faire Academie hight Spares for no cost but it maintains and keeps in better plight Of late also fresh fountains here brake forth out of the ground Most wholesome for to bath sore eies which earst were neuer found These helpfull springs the Soile no doubt presenting to our view To Cicero her ancient lord hath done this honour due That since his books throughout the world are read by many a wight More waters still may cleare their eyes and cure decaying sight In the same tract of Campaine and namely toward Sinuessa there be other fountains called Sinuessan waters which haue the name not only to cure men of lunacie and madnes but also to make barrain women fruitfull and apt to conceiue In the Island Aenaria there is a spring which helpeth those that be troubled with the stone and grauell like as another water which they call Acidula within 4 miles of Teanum in the Sidicins country and the same is actually cold also there is another of that kind about Stabij called by the name of Dimidia like as in the territory of Venafrum that which proceeded from the source Acidulus and gaue name to the foresaid water Acidula The same effect they find who drink of the lake Velinus for it breakes the stone Moreouer M. Varro maketh mention of such another fountain in Syria at the foot of the mountaine Taurus So doth Callimachus report the foresaid operation of the riuer Gallus in Phrygia howbeit they that take of this water must keep a measure for otherwise it distracts their vnderstanding driues them besides their right wits which accident hapneth to those saith Ctesias who drink of the red fountain for so it is called in Aethiopia as touching the waters neer Rome called Albulae they are known to heale wounds these waters are neither hot nor cold but those which go vnder the name of Cutiliae in the Sabins country are exceeding cold by a certain mordication that they haue seem to suck out the humors superfluous excrements of the body being otherwise most agreeable for the stomacke sinewes and generally for all parts There is a fountain at Thespiae a city in Boeotia which doth great pleasure to women that would fain haue children for no sooner drinke they of the water but they are ready to conceiue and of this propertie is the riuer Elatus in Arcadia In which region also the Spring Linus yeeldeth water which if a woman with child do drink she shall go out her full time not be in danger to slip an vnperfect birth Contrariwise the riuer Aphrodisium in Pyrrhaea causeth barrennesse The lake or meere Alphion is medicinable and cures the foule Morphew Varro mine author makes mention of one Titius a man of good worth and sometime lord Praetour who was so bewraied painted all ouer his face with spots of Morphew that he looked like an image made of spotted marble Cydnus a riuer of Cilicia hath a vertue to cure the gout as appeareth by a letter written from Cassius the Parmezan vnto M. Antonius Contrariwise the waters about Troezen are so bad that all the inhabitants are thereby subject to the gout and other diseases of the feet There is a citie in Gaule named Tungri much renowned for a noble fountaine which runneth at many pipes a smacke it hath resembling the rust of yron howbeit this tast is not perceiued but at the end loose only This water is purgatiue driues away tertian agues expels the stone and cureth the Symptomes attending thereupon Set this water ouer the fire or neare to it you shall see it thick and troubled but at the last it looketh red Between Puteoli and Naples there be certain wels called Leucogaei the water wherof cureth the infirmitie of the eies and healeth wounds Cicero in his booke entituled Admiranda i. Wonders among other admirable things hath ranged the moores or fens of Reate for that the water issuing from them hath naturally a propertie from all others to harden the houfes of horses feet Eudicus reporteth That in the territorie of Hestiaea a citie in Thessalie there be two springs the one named Ceron of which as many sheepe as drinke proue black the other Melas the water wherof maketh black sheep turn white let them drink of both waters mingled together they will proue flecked and of diues colours Theophrastus writeth That the riuer Crathis in the Thuriaus countrie causeth both kine and sheep as many as drink thereof to looke white whereas the water of Sybaris giueth them a black hew And by his saying this difference in operation is seene also vpon the people that vse to drink of them for as many as take to the riuer Sybaris become blacker harder and withall of a more curled hair than others contrariwise the drinking of Crathis causeth them to look white to be more soft skinned their bush of haire to grow at length Semblably in Macedony they that would haue any cattell to grow white bring them to drinke at Aliacmon the riuer but as many as desire they should be brown or black driue them to water at Axius The same Theophrastus hath left in writing That in some places there is no other thing bred or growing but brown and duskish insomuch as not only the cattel is all of that lere but also the corne on the ground other fruits of the earth as among the Messapians Also at Lusae a city of Arcadia there is a certain wel wherin there keep ordinarily land-mice As for the riuer Aleos which passes through Erythrae it makes them to grow hairie all their bodies ouer as many as drink therof In Boeotia likewise near to the temple of the god Trophonius hard by the riuer Orchomenas there be two fountains the one helps memory the other causeth obliuion wherupon they took their names In Cilicia hard at the town Crescum there runs a riuer called Nus by the saying of M. Varro whosoeuer drink therof shall find their wits more quicke and themselues of better conceit than before But in the Isle Chios there is a spring which causeth as many as vse the water to be dull and heauie of spirit At Zamae in Affrick the water of a certain fountain makes a cleare shrill voice Let a man drink of the lake Clitorius he shall take a misliking and loathing of wine saith M. Varro And yet Eudoxus Theopompus report That the water of the fountains beforesaid make them drunk that vse it Mutianus affirmes That out of the fountain vnder the temple of father Bacchus within the Isle Andros at certaine times of the yere for 7 daies together there runneth nothing but wine insomuch as they call it the wine of god Bacchus howbeit remoue the said water out of the prospect and view as it were
it be guilded all ouer semblably there standeth in the courtly pallace of Octauia the image of Cupid holding a thunderbolt or lightning in his hand ready to shoot but it is a question who was the maker of him And yet this is affirmed That the same Cupid was made by the liuely patterne of Alcibiades who at that age was held to be the fairest youth that the earth did beare In the same place and namely in the schoole or gallerie of learned men there be many more images highly commended and yet no man knoweth who wrought them As for example four that resemble Satyres of which one seemeth to carry on his shoulders prince Bacchus arraied like a girle in a side coat or gown another likewise beareth yong Bacchus in the same order clad in the robe of his mother Semelle the third maketh as though he would stil the one Bacchus crying like a childe the fourth offereth the other a cup of drink to allay his thirst furthermore there be two images in habit and form foeminine representing gales of wind these seem to make sail with their owne clothes As doubtfull also it is who made the images within the railed inclosure in Mars field named Septa which do represent Olympus Pan Chiron and Achilles and yet so excellent pieces they be that men esteeme them worthy to be kept safe satisfaction to be made with no lesse than their death vnder whose hands and custody they should miscarrie But to returne againe vnto Scopas he had concurrents in his time and those that thought themselues as good workmen as himselfe to wit Bryaxis Timotheus and Leochares of whom I must write jointly together because they joined all foure in the grauing and cutting of the stately monument Mausoleum This Mausoleum was the renowned tombe or sepulchre of Mausolus a petty king of Caria which the worthy lady Artemisia somtime his queene and now his widow caused to be erected for the said prince her husband who died in the second yeare of the hundredth Olympias and verily so sumptuous a thing it was so curiously wrought by these artificers especially that it is reckoned one of those matchlesse monuments which are called the seuen Wonders of the world from North to South it carrieth in length 63 foot the two fronts East and West make the bredth which is not all out so large so as the whole circuit about may containe foure hundred and eleuen foot it is raised in heigth fiue and twenty cubits and inuironed with sixe and thirty columnes on the East side Scopas did cut Bryaxes chose the North end that front which regardeth the South fell to Timotheus and Leochares engraued at the west side but Queene Artemisia who caused this rich sepulchre to be made for the honour and in the memoriall of her husband late deceased hapned her selfe to depart this life before it was fully finished howbeit these noble artificers whom she had set aworke would not giue ouer when she was dead and gone but followed on still and brought it to a finall end as making this account that it would be a glorious monument to all posterity both of themselues and also of their cunning and in truth at this day it is hard to judge by their handyworke who did best There was a fifth workman also came in to them for aboue the side wall or wing of the tombe there was a Pyramis founded which from the very battlements of the said wal was carried to the heigth of the building vnderneath it the same grew smaller still as the worke arose higher and from that heigth at euery degree which in the whole were 24 was narrowed and taken in vntill at last it ended in a pointed broch in the top whereof there is pitched a coach with foure horse swrought curiously in marble and this was the worke of Pythis for his part So that reckoning this charriot with the sharp spire the Pyramis vnder it vnto the battlements and the body of the sepulchre founded vpon the bare ground the whole worke arose to an 140 foot in heigth But to come to some particular works of Timotheus beforesaid his hand wrought that statue of Diana in marble which standeth at Rome in the chappell of Apollo scituate in mount Palatine and yet the head belonging thereto which now this image carrieth Aulanius Evander set vnto it in place of the former As touching Menestratus men haue in high admiration Hercules of his making as also Hecate which standeth in a chappell at Ephesus behinde the great temple of Diana the sextons or wardens of which chappell giue warning vnto those that come to see it that they looke not too long vpon it for dazling and hurting their eyes the lustre of the Marble is so radiant and resplendent I cannot range in a lower degree vnto these the three Charites or Graces which are to bee seen in the Basse court before the Citadell of Athens the which Socrates made I meane not that Socrates whom I reckoned among painters although some thinke he was the same man As for Myro whom I commended for a singular imageur in brasse there is in marble of his portraying and ingrauing an old woman drunken which he made for them of Smyrna a piece of worke as much esteemed and spoken of as any other And here I cannot but thinke of Pollio Asinius who as he was a man of a stirring spirit and quick conceit delighted to haue his librarie and monuments to be inriched with such antiquities as these for among them a man shall see the Centaurs carry behind them vpon their croup the Nymphs which Archesitas wrought the Muses named Thespiades of Cleomenes his cutting Oceanus and Iupiter done by the hand of Eutochus the statues on horse back resembling women called Hippiades which Stephanus wrought joint Images of Mercurie and Cupid called Hermerotes the workmanship of Tauriscus I meane not the grauer of whom I spake before but another Tauriscus of Tralleis Iupiter syrnamed Xenius or Hospitalis which came out of the hands of Pamphilus an apprentice to Praxiteles as for the braue piece of worke to wit Zetus Amphion Dirce the Bull and the bond wherewith Dirce was tied all in one entier stone which was brought from Rhodes to Rome it was done by Apollonius and Tauriscus these men made question of themselues who should be their fathers professing in plaine termes that Menocrates was taken and supposed their father but indeed Artemidorus begat them and was their father by nature in the same place among other monuments the statue of father Bacchus made by Eutychides is much commended Moreouer neare vnto the gallerie of Octauia there is the Image of Apollo wrought by Phyliscus the Rhodian and hee standeth in a chappell of his owne Item Latona Diana the nine Muâ—…es and another Apollo naked As for that Apollo who in the same temple holdeth in his hand a harp Timarchides was the workman of it but in
vndertooke the weighing vp this Obeliske ouer the young prince for feare of hurting him would induce them also to be the more heedfull to preserue the stone Certes this Obelisk was a piece of work so admirable that when Cambyses had woon the city where it stood by assault and put all within to fire and sword and burnt all before him as far as to the very foundation vnderpinning of the obelisk commanded expresly to quench the fire and so in a kind of reuerence yet vnto a masse and pile of stone spared it who had no regard at all of the city besides Other Obeliskes there be twaine the one erected by K. Smarres the other by Eâ—…aphius both without characters and the same are 48 cubits in height apiece At Alexandria K. Ptolomaeus syrnamed Philadelphus set vp another obelisk 80 cubits high the which king Nectabis had caused to be hewed out of the quarry plaine without any work but much more difficultie there was in carying it from the quarry setting it vpright than there had bin labor in the hewing some write that Satyrus a great architect enginer conueied it to Alexandria by means of flat bottoms or sleds But â—…alixenus saith that one Phaenix did the deed who caused a trench to be cut from the riuer Nilus and to be carried with water as far as to the place where the obelisk lay along then he deuised two broad barges prepared well fraught with smal squares of the same stone a foot euery way to the double poise or weight of the Obelisk it selfe in proportion by reason whereof the vessels hauing their full load might come vnder the Obelisk iust as it lay hollow ouerthwart the head of the fosse with either end resting vpon the banks which done he began to discharge the vessels vnderneath to throw out the stones were with they were laden by meanes whereof as they were lightened they rose vp higher and higher to the very Obelisk and receiued the charge ordained for them He writes moreouer that there were six other like to it hewed out of the same mountain the workmen who cut and squared them had fifty talents for a reward But the foresaid Obelisk was afterwards by the abouenamed king erected in the hauen of Arsinoë in testimonie of loue to Arsinoë his wife and sister both But for that it did hurt to the ship-docke there one Maximus a gouernor of Egypt vnder the Romans remoued it from thence into the market place of the said city cutting off the top of it intending to put a filiall thereupon gilded which afterwards was forelet and forgotten Two Obelisks more there were in the hauen of Alexandria neere to the temple of Caesar which were hewed out of the rocke by Mesphees king of Egypt being 42 cubits high But aboue all other difficulties it passeth what a do there was to transport them by sea to Rome and verily the ships prepared of purpose therefore were passing faire and wonderfull to see to As for one of the said ships which brought the former Obelisk Augustus Caesar the Emperor of famous memorie had dedicated it vnto the harbor or hauen of Puteoli there to remain for euer as a miracle to behold but it fortuned to be consumed with fire the other wherein C. Caesar had transported the second Obeliske into the riuer after it had bin kept safe for certaine yeares together to be seen for that it was the most admirable Carrick that euer had bin known to flote vpon the sea Claudius Caesar late Emperour of Rome caused it to be brought to Ostia where for the safetie and securitie of the hauen he sunk it and thereupon as a sure foundation he raised certaine piles or bastions like turrets or sconces with the sand of Puteoli which being done a new care and trouble there was to bring the Obeliske vp the riuer Tiberis to Rome Which being effected it appeared well by that experiment that vpon the riuer Tiberis a vessel draweth as much water full as Nilus As touching the said Obelisk which Augustus Caesar late Emperor erected in the great shew-place or cirque at Rome it was first â—…ut out of the rock by Semneserteus King of Egypt in the time of whose reign Pythagoras soiourned in Egypt the same contains 125 foot nine inches besides the foot or base of the said stone As for the other standing in Mars field being 9 foot lower than it hewed and squared it was by commandement from Sesostris K. of Egypt In the characters ingrauen in both of them a man may see all the philosophie and religion of the Egyptians for they contain the interpretation of nature CHAP. X. ¶ Of that Obelisk at Rome which standeth in Mars field and serueth for a Gnomon ANd as for that Obelisk which standeth in Mars field Augustus Caesar deuised a wonderfull means that it should serue to mark out the noontide with the length of day and night according to the shadowes that the Sun doth yeeld by it for hee placed vnderneath at the foot of the said Obelisk according to the bignes and length therof a pauement of broad stone wherein a man might know the sixt houre or mid-day at Rome when the shadow was equall to the Obelisk and how by little and little according to certain rules which are lines of brasse inlaid within the said stone the daies do increase or decrease A thing no doubt worth the knowledge and an inuention proceeding from a pregnant wit Manlius a renowned Mathematician Astronomer put vnto the top of the said Obelisk a gilded ball in such sort that all the shadow which it gaue fell vpon the Obeliske and this cast other shadowes more or lesse different from the head or top of the Obeliske aforesaid The reason whereof they say was vnderstood from the sundry shadowes that a mans head yeelds But surely for these thirty yeares past or thereabout the vse of this quadrant aforesaid hath not been found true and what the reason of it should be I know not whether the course of the Sun in it self be not the same that hertofore or be altered by some disposition of the heauens or whether the whole earth be somwhat remoued from the true centre in the midst of the world which I heare say is found to be so in other places or that it proceed by occasion of the earth quakes which haue shaken the city of Rome and so haply wrested the Gnomon from the old place or lastly whether by reason of many inundations of Tyber this huge and weighty Obelisk hath setled and sunk down lower and yet it is said the foundation was laid as deep vnder ground as the obelisk it selfe is aboue ground CHAP. XI ¶ Of the third Obelisk in the Vaticane THere is a third Obelisk at Rome standing within the cirque or shew-place of the two Emperors C. Caligula and Nero and this is the only Obeliske known to haue bin broken in the rearing This was hewn
child was able to weld the wheele that turned them the pins and poles wherby they hung were so artificially poysed The master deuisers and architects of this Labyrinth were Zmilus Rholus and a third vnto them one Theodorus who was borne in the same Island Of this there remaine some reliques to be seene at this day wheras a man shall not find one smal remnant either of the Italian or Candian Labyrinths for meet it is that I should write somewhat also of our Labyrinth here in Italy which Porsena K. of Tuscane caused to be made for his own sepulchre and the rather because you may know that forein KK were not so vain in expences but our princes in Italy surpassed them in vanity but for that there go so many tales and fables of it which are incredible I think it good in the description therof to vse the very words of my author M. Varro King Porsena quoth he was interred vnder the citie Clusinum in Tuscane in which very place he left a sumptuous monument or tombe built all of square stone thirty foot it carried in bredth on euery side and fifty in height within the base or foot whereof which likewise was fouresquare he made a Labyrinth so intricat that if a man were entred into it without a bottom or clue of thread in his hand and leauing the one end therof fastned to the entry or dore it was impossible that euer he should find the way out again Vpon this quadrant there stood fiue Pyramides or steeples foure at the foure corners and one in the mids which at the foot or foundation caried 75 foot euery way in bredth were brought vp to the height of 150 these grew sharpe spired toward the top but in the very head so contriued that they met all in one great roundle of brasse which wrought from one to the other couered them all in manner of a cap and the same rising vp in the mids with a crest most stately from this couer there hung round about at little chains a number of bels or cimbals which being shaken with the wind made a jangling noise that mought be heard a great way off much like to that ring of bels which was deuised in times past ouer the temple of Iupiter at Dodona yet are we not come to an end of this building mounted aloft in the aire for this couer ouer head serued but for a foundation of 4 other Pyramides and euery one of them arose a hundred soot high aboue the other worke vpon the tops whereof there was yet one terrace more to sustaine fiue Pyramides and those shot vp to such a monstrous height that Varro was ashamed to report it but if we may giue credit to the tales that go currant in Tuscane it was equall to the whole building vnderneath O the outragious madnesse of a foolish prince seeking thus in a vaineglorious mind to be immortalized by a superfluous expence which could bring no good at all to any creature but contrariwise weakened the state of the kingdome And when all was done the artificer that enterprised and finished the worke went away with the greater part of the praise and glory CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of a garden made vpon Terraces Of a citie standing all vpon vaults and arches from the ground And of the temple of Diana in Ephesus WE reade moreouer of gardens made in the aire nay it is recorded that a whole city and namely Thebes in Aegypt was built so hollow that the Aegyptian KK were wont to lead whole armies of men vnder the houses of the said city and in such sort as none of the inhabitants could beware thereof yea and sodainly appeare from vnder the ground a maruellous matter I assure you but much more wonderfull in case the riuer Nilus also ran thorow the mids of the said towne But surely of this opinion I am that if this be true Homer no doubt would haue written of it considering he hath spoken so much in the praise and commendation of this city and especially of the hundred gates that it had But to speake of a stately and magnificent work indeed the temple of Diana in Ephesus is admirable which at the common charges of all the princes in Asia was two hundred and twenty yeres a building First and foremost they chose a marish ground to set it vpon because it might not be subiect to the danger of earthquakes or feare the chinkes and opening of the ground againe to the end that so mighty and huge building of stone-worke should stand vpon a sure and firme foundation not withstanding the nature of the soile giuen to be slipperie and vnstead fast they laid the first couch and course of the ground-worke with charcole well rammed in manner of a pauement vpon it a bed of wool-packs this temple carried in length throughout four hundred twenty and fiue foot in breadth two hundred and twenty in it were a hundred and seuen and twenty pillars made by so many KK and euery one of them threescore foot high of which six and thirtie were curiously wrought and engrauen whereof one was the handiworke of Scopas Chersiphron the famous architect was the chiefe deuiser or master of the workes and who vndertooke the rearing thereof the greatest wonder belonging thereto was this How those huge chapters of pillars together with their frizes and architraues being brought vp and raised so high should be fitted to the sockets of their shafts but as it is said he compassed this enterprise and brought it to effect by the meanes of certaine bags or sacks filled with sand for of these he made a soft bed as it were raised aboue the heads of the pillers vpon which bed rested the chapters and euer as he emptied the nethermost the foresaid chapters settled downeward by little and little and so at his pleasure he might place them where they should stand but the greatest difficultie in this kind of worke was about the very frontispiece and maine lintle-tree which lay ouer the jambes or cheekes of the great dore of the said temple for so huge and mighty it was that hee could not weld it to lay bestow the same as it ought for when he had done what he could it was not to his mind nor couched and settled in the right place whereupon the workman Chersiphron was much perplexed in his mind and so wearie of his life that he purposed to make himself away but as he lay in bed in the night season and fell asleep all wearie vpon these dumpish and desperat cogitations the goddesse Diana in whose honor this temple was framed and now at the point to be reared appeared sensibly vnto him in person willing him to be of good cheare and resolue to liue still assuring him that she her self had laid the said stone of the frontispice and couched it accordingly which appeared true indeed the morrow morning for it seemed that the very weight thereof
182 h. 185 c. 186 h. 187 d. 188 g. 198 k. 216 h 250 k. l. 251 e. 252 l. 253 c. 267 e. 272 l m. 273 c 278 l. 283 c. 288 g. 291 b. 403 b. 412 g. 413 d. 442 l 443 a. Purgetiues in curing maladies condemned by Asclepiades and most Physicians in old time 243 f Purgatiues how they may lose their operation 298 h. Purgation how to be staied 432. m Pursiuenesse how to be helped 154 g Purple fishes medicinable 437 d. their shels medicinable 438 h how to colour a purple die 421 a Purple embroidered coats by whom worne in Rome 459. d Pushes or piles called Pani arising commonly in the emunctories how to be discussed or brought to maturitie 36. h 70 l. 72 m. 158 l. 178 g h. 180 k. 138 a. 183 d. 192 m 206 l. 208 g. 279 e. 282 h. 303 b. 307 c. 309 d. 316 k 320 g. 370 l. other Pushes or angry biles how to be repressed or resolued without suppuration and breaking 72 g. 140 l. 142 g 144 k. 166 i. 167 d 180 g. 560 h. Puteolana a kind of Lead litharge 474 k Putrefaction of flesh how to be cured 208 g P Y Pycnocomon what herbe 251 a the description ib 262 h. Pycton a Physician 370 k a Pyramis erected vpon Mausoleum by the hand of Pythis a famous workeman and architect 568 l Pyramides in Aegypt bewray the vaine glory of those princes 576 l. why they made such monuments 576. m where they were situat 577 a b Pyramides of Aegipt testified by many writers yet knowne it is not what prince built which Pyramis 577. c in building of one Pyramis the number of workemen and how many yeares were emploied 577 c how many talents of siluer expendedin radish garlicke and onions for the workemen about one Paramis 577 d the description and measure of the largest Pyramis ibid. the height of these Pyramides how it should be taken Thalis Milesius taught 577 f Pyreicus a famous painter 544 h. he practised to paint simple and base trifles 544 i. surnamed thereupon Rhyparographos ibid. Pyren a pretious stone 630 〈◊〉 Pyrgoteles a famous Lapidarie and cutter in pretious stone 601 d. he onely was allowed to engraue the image of K. Alexander the Great in a stone ibid. Pyrites the Marcasine stone why so called 588. l where it is found ibid how calcined ibid. for what vses in Physicke it serueth 588. m vncalcined how it is medicinable ibid. Pyrites a pretious stone 630. l Pyromachus a cunning imageur 402 l. his works ibid. Pyrrhus an imageur and his works 502 l Pyrrhopâ—…cilos a kind af marble See marble Syenites Pythagoras a Physitian 66. l Pythagoras superstitious in obseruing numbers and letters 299 d. Pythagoras the Philosopher honoured with a statue at Rome for being the wisest man 492 〈◊〉 Pythagoras of Rhegium a famous Imageur his works 498 k. Pythagoras of Samos an Imageur and his works 498 l m he resembled the other Pythagoras so neere that hardly he could be knowne from him ib. Pytheas a writer 428. 〈◊〉 Pythe as an admirable grauer 483. f. his workemanship exceeding costly ib. his works 483 f. 484. g Pytheus the rich Bithynian 480. g Pythiae Priestresses and Propheteesss 569 d Pythios a kinde of bulbe 19. b Pythis an excellent mason and architect 568. l Pyxicanthus a bush the berries whereof are medicinable 195 d. Q V QVadrans a small piece of brasse coine at Rome 463. b stamped with punts or small boats ibid. Quadrigati siluer pieces of coine at Rome why so called 463 c. Quaestoria what goldfoile 465. e Quaking chilling for cold how to be helped 136. g Quarrels and debate what causeth 342. i Querne-stones ready framed found naturally in the ground 588 i. turning about of the owne accord ibid. Quartane agues vntoward to be cured in old time by any good course of Physicke 390. h against the Quartan ague appropriat remedies 44 l. 67 a 109 e. 120 i. 122 k. 126 k. l. 151 d. 219 e. 223 d 260 i k. 298 c. 301 b. 302 h. 309 e. 310 i. 311 b c 312 i. 315 a d. 335 f. 336 g. 356 i. 390 t k l m 391 a b c. 413 a. 432 m. 435 a. 445 f. 446 g h i 557 c. Quotidian ague how cured 310 i. 311 b. 335 f Quicke brimstone See Brimstone and Sulphur-vif Quicke-siluer a poyson the remedies thereof 121 c. 153. b 318 h. 323 a. 364 h. Quick-siluer Naturall where it is found 473. a the power thereof ib. it loueth gold 473. b it purifieth it ib. the great affinitie betweene gold and it 473 c. it is rare ib. Quid pro Quo in Physicke dangerous and condemned 348 l. Quicke-fire stones what they be 589. a good for espials in a campe ibid. they mill strike fire ibid. Quinarius a piece of siluer coine at Rome of what value 463 a b. Quinces for what good 163 d oyle of Quinces called Melinum what vertues it hath 64 g Quindecemvirs at Rome and their colledge 295 b Quinquesolium See Cinquefoile Quinqucviri 347 c. delegats chosen with good circumspection ibid. Quich-grasse described 206 i. why called Gramen Pernassi 206 k. the vertues that it hath ibid. R A RAbirius a writer in Physicke 308 g Radicula what hearbe it is 9 e. where it groweth ib. what vse there is of it ib. what names it hath 219 l the medicinable vertues that it hath ib why it is called Aureum Poculum ib. Radishes described with their properties 16 i k Radishes of excessiue bignesse 17. a Radishes of three sorts 16 k. the Radish Agrion Armon or Armoracia which some call Leuce 16. m Radish seed where to be sowne 17. a Radish roots how to be ordered as the grow 17 a b best Radishes in Aegipt and why 17 c Radish medicinable ibid. Radish highly esteemed among the Greeks ibid. Radishes cure the phthisicke 17 d Radish presented in gold to Apollo ibid. in the praise of Radish a booke compiled 17 e Radishes marre teeth and polish yvorie ib. Radishes their medicinable vertues 39 b Radishes wild and their vertues 39 a Radishes corrected by Hyssope 40 g Ragwort an hearb See Orchis and Satyrion Rai-fish or Skate medicinable 439. d Raine water kept in cesterns whether it be wholesome or no 406 g. it altereth the nature of some riuer waters for the time 410 k. it soonest doth corrupt 406 k Raisins of what operation they are in Physicke 148 k especially cleansed from their stones ibid. Rams how they shall get none but ram-lambs 400 g Ramises a king of Aegypt erected an obeliske of one entire stone a hundred foot high wanting one 574. l his deuise to fasten his owne sonne to the top end of it at the rearing 573 a b Ranunculus an hearb See Crowfoot Rapes of two kinds 16 g a Rape of lead offered to Apollo 17. d a Rape rosted by Manius Curius for his refection at the table 38 k Rapes medicinable ibid. Raspir a fish and the nature