And safe enough had not the Dragon them espied Hee eate the young ones all the damme with sannes destroyde Well worthy such a death of life to be denied This is by Calchas said a type of labour long Whose fame eternall liues in euery tongue There be certaine beasts called Dracontopides very great and potent Serpents vvhose faces are like to the faces of Virgins and the residue of their body like to dragons It is thought that such a one was the Serpent that deceiued Eue for Beda saith it had a Virgins countenaunce and therfore the woman seeing the likenes of her owne face was the more easily drawne to belieue it into the which when the deuill had entred they say he taught it to couer the body with leaues and to shew nothing but the head and face But this fable is not worthy to be refuted because the Scripture it selfe dooth directly gaine-say euerie part of it For first of all it is called a Serpent and if it had beene a dragon Moses vvould haue said so and therefore for ordinary punishment God doth appoint it to creepe vpon the belly wherefore it is not likely that it had either winges or feete Secondly it was vnpossible and vnlikely that any part of the body was couered or conceited from the sight of the woman seeing she knew it directly to be a Serpent as afterward shee confessed before GOD and her husband There be also certaine little dragons called in Arabia Vesga and in Catalonia dragons of houses these when they bite leaue their teeth behind them so as the wound neuer ceaserh swelling as long as the teeth remaine therein and therefore for the better cure thereof the teeth are drawne forth and so the wound will soone be healed And thus much for the hatred betwixt men and dragons now we will proceede to other creatures The greatest discord is betwixt the Eagle and the Dragon for the Vultures Eagles Swannes and dragons are enemies one to another The Eagles when they shake theyr winges make the dragons afraide with their ratling noyse then the dragon hideth himselfe within his den so that he neuer fighteth but in the ayre eyther when the Eagle hath taken away his young ones and he to recouer them flieth aloft after her or else wheÌ„ the Eagle meeteth him in her nest destroying her egges and young ones for the Eagle deuoureth the dragons and little Serpents vpon earth and the dragons againe and Serpents doe the like against the Eagles in the ayre Yea many times the dragon attempteth to take away the prey out of the Eagles talants both on the ground and in the ayre so that there ariseth betwixt them a very hard and dangerous fight which is in this manner described by Niâ—ander Hunc petit invisum magni Iouis armiger hostem Cumque genis parat acre suis ex aethere bellum Pascentem in siluis quam primum viderit Quod totos ferus is nidos cum mitibus ouis Et simul ipsa terens et vastans pignora perdat Non timet hoc serpens imò quodam impete dumis Prosiliens ipsamque aquilam leporemque tenellum Ex trahit ex rapidis vifraudeque fortior vncis Cauta malum declinat auis fit ibi aspera pugna Vt queat extortam victor sibi tollere praedam Sed frustra elapsam et volitantem hinc inde volucrem Insequitur longos sinuum contractus in orbes Obliquoque leuans sursum sua lumina visu Which may be englished thus When as the Eagle Ioues great bird did see her enemy Sharpe warre in th' ayre with beake she did prepare Gainst Serpent feeding in the wood after espy Cause it her egges and young fiercely in peeces tare The Serpent not afraid of this leapes out of thornes With force vpon the Eagle holding tender Hare Out of her talants by fraude and force more strong That takes and snatches despight her enemies feare But wary Bird auoydes the force and so they fight amaine That Victor one of them might ioy the prey alone The flying fowle by winding Snake is hunted all in vaine Though vp and downe his nimble eyes this and that way be gone In the next place we are to consider the enmitie that is betwixt Dragons Elephants for so great is their hatred one to the other that in Ethyopia the greatest dragons haue no other name but Elephant-killers Among the Indians also the same hatred remaineth against whom the dragons haue many subtile inuentions for besides the great length of their bodies where-withall they claspe and begirt the body of the Elephant continually byting of him vntill he fall downe dead and in the which fall they are also bruzed to peeces for the safegard of themselues they haue this deuice They get and hide themselues in trees couering their head and letting the other part hang downe like a rope in those trees they watch vntill the Elephant come to eate and croppe of the branches then suddainly before he be aware they leape into his face and digge out his eyes then doe they claspe themselues about his necke and with their tayles or hinder parts beate and vexe the Elephant vntill they haue made him breathelesle for they strangle him with theyr fore-parts as they beate them with the hinder so that in this combat they both perrish and this is the disposition of the dragon that he neuer setteth vpon the Elephant but with the aduantage of the place and namely from some high tree or Rocke Sometimes againe a multitude of dragons doe together obserue the pathes of the Elephants and crosse those pathes they tye together their tailes as it were in knots so that when the Elephant commeth along in them they insnare his legges and suddainly leape vppe to his eyes for that is the part they ayme aboue all other which they speedily pull out and so not beeing able to doe him any more harme the poore beast deliuereth himselfe from present death by his owne strength and yet through his blindnesse receiued in that combat hee perrisheth by hunger because hee cannot choose his meate by smelling but by his eye-sight There is no man liuing that is able to giue a sufficient reason of this contrariety in nature betwixt the Elephant the Dragon although many men haue laboured their wits and strayned their inuentions to finde out the true causes thereof but all in vaine except this be one that followeth The Elephants blood is saide to be the coldest of all other Beasts and for this cause it is thought by most Writers that the dragons in the Sommer time doe hide themselues in great plenty in the waters where the Elephant commeth to drinke and then suddenly they leape vppe vppon his eares because those places cannot be defended with his truncke and there they hang fast and sucke out all the blood of his body vntill such time as hee poore beast through faintnesse fall downe and die and they beeing drunke with his blood doe likewise perrish in
vndoubted Antiquaries and also the euidence of all ages not excepting this wherein we liue wherein are and haue beene shewed publiquely many Serpents and Serpents skinnes I receiue warrant sufficient to expresse what they haue obserued and assured aunswere for all future Obiections of ignorant incredulous and vnexperienced Asses Wherefore as the life of Serpents is long so is the time of theyr groweth and as their kindes be many as wee shall manifest in the succeeding discourse so in their multitude some grow much greater and bigger then other Gellius writeth that when the Romanes were in the Carthagenian warre and Attilius Regulus the Consull had pitched his Tents neere vnto the riuer Bragrada there was a Serpent of monstrous quantitie which had beene lodged within the compasse of the Tents and therefore did cause to the whole Armie exceeding great calamitie vntill by casting of stones with slings and many other deuises they oppressed and slew that Serpent and afterward fleyed off the skinne and sent it to Rome which was in length one hundred and twentie feete And although this seemeth to be a Beast of vnmatchable stature yet Possidonius a Christian Writer relateth a storie of another which was much greater for hee writeth that he saw a Serpent dead of the length of an acre of Land and all the residue both of head and bodie were answerable in proportion for the bulke of his bodie was so great and lay so high that two Horsemen could not see one the other beeing at his two sides and the widenes of his mouth was so great that hee could receiue at one time within the compasse thereof a horse and a man on his backe both together The scales of his coate or skinne beeing euery one like a large buckler or target So that now there is no such cause to wonder at the Serpent which is said to be killed by S. George which was as is reported so great that eight Oxen were but strength enough to drawe him out of the Cittie Silena There is a Riuer called Rhyndacus neere the Coasts of Bythinia wherein are Snakes of exceeding monstrous quantitie for when thorough heate they are forced to take the water for their safegard against the sunne and birds come flying ouer the poole suddenlie they raise their heads and vpper parts out thereof and swallow them vp The Serpents of Megalauna are said by Pausanias to be thirtie cubits long and all their other part answerable But the greatest in the world are found in India for there they grow to such a quantitie that they swallow vp whole Bulls and great Stagges Wherefore I doe not maruell that Porus the King of India sent to Augustus Caesar very huge Vipers a Serpent of tenne cubits long a Torteise of three cubits and a Partridge greater then a Vulture For Alexander in his nauigation vpon the Red-Sea saith that hee saw Serpents fortie cubits long and all their other parts and members of the same quantity Among the Scyritae the Serpents come by great swarmes vppon their flocks of sheepe and cattell and some they eate vp all others they kill and sucke out the blood and some part they carry away But if euer there were any thing beyond credite it is the relation of Volateran in his twelfth booke of the New-found Lands wherein he writeth that there are Serpents of a myle long which at one certaine time of the yeere come abroad out of their holes and dennes of habitation and destroy both the Heards and Heard-men if they find them Much more fauourable are the Serpents of a Spanish Island who doe no harme to any liuing thing although they haue huge bodies and great strength to accomplish their desires In the kingdome of Senega their Serpents are so great that they deuoure whole beasts as Goates and such like without breaking any one of their bones In Calechute they are as great as their greatest Swine and not much vnlike them except in their head which doth farre exceede a Swines And because the King of that Country hath made a Lavv that no man kill a Serpent vnder paine of death they are as great in number as they are in quantitie for so great is his error that hee deemeth it as lawfull to kill a Man as a Serpent All kindes of Serpents are referred to their place of habitation which is eyther the earth or the waters of the earth and the serpents of the earth are moe in number then the serpents of the vvater except the serpents of the Sea And yet it is thought by the most learned Rabbines that the serpents of the Sea are fishes in the likenes of Dragons Nowe the places of Serpents abode beeing thus generally capitulated wee must enter into a farther narration of their habitations and regions of their natiue breeding In the first place India nourisheth many and diuers sorts of Serpents especially in the Kingdome of Morfilium and Alexander the Emperour found among other Beasts sundry kinds of serpentâ— in a long Desert which is on the North-side of India But all the Nations of the World may giue place to Ethiopia for multitude and varietie for there they gather together on heapes and lye in compasse like round hills visibly apparant to the eyes of them that behold them a farre off The like is said of all Affrica for in Numidia euery yeere there are many men women and children destroyed by Serpents The Island Pharus is also by the testimony of the Egyptians filled with serpents The Coastes of Elymais are annoyed by serpents and the Caspians are so annoyed by serpents which come swymming in the floods that men cannot sayle that waies but in the Winter-time For from the beginning of the Spring or aequinoctiall they seeme for their number to approch fauening like troupes and Armies There are also certaine Ilands called Ophiusae insulae named after Ophis a serpent for the multitude bred therein And there are serpents in Candy Ephesus and all hot Countries for this priuiledge hath GOD in nature giuen to the colder Countreys that they are lesse annoyed with serpents and their serpents also lesse nocent and hurtfull and therefore the serpents of Europe are fewer in number lesser in quantity and more resistable for their weakenes and strength There were a people in Campania called Osci because of the multitude of serpents bred among them Likewise there are great store in Lombardy and Ferrara And whereas we haue saide that the most nocent and harmfull serpents are breddâ— in the hotest Regions where they engender more speedily and also grow into greater proportions yet is it not to be vnderstood of any speciall propertie appertayning to them alone for I read in Olaus Magnus his description of the Northerne Regions of serpents of as great quantitie as in any other place of the World but yet their poyson is not halfe so venomous hurtfull as in the hoter Regions especially the Affrican serpents In Botina
and such is he disposition and naturall inclination of Poets and therefore in his Minoe strictly enioyneâ— that those who loue their owne quiet must take great heed that they make no wars â—ytheâ— with Poets or Bees Finally they haue so many vertues which we may imitate that 〈◊〉 Egyptians Chaldaeans Graecians haue taken diuers Hieroglyphicks from them Aâ—â— hee that will read ouer Pierius shall there finde store of Emblemes of them The Country people in like manner haue learned of them Aeromantie that is diuination of thinges by the ayre for they haue a fore-feeling and vnderstanding of raine and windes afore-hand and doe rightly prognosticate of stormes and foule weather So that then they flye not farre from their owne homes but sustaine themselues with their owne hony-suck alreadie prouided Which beeing true we must then thinke it no strange matter that Aristaeus Philistius Aristomachus Solensis Menus the Samnite and sixe hundred others that haue writ of the Nature of Bees bidding adue to all those pleasures and delicacies that are found in Citties for fyftie and eyght yeeres space together inhabited the woods and fieldes that they might more exactly come to the knowledge of their order of liuing and naturall dispositions leauing it as a monument for posteritie to imitate But what theyr bodies doe worke in ours I iudge woorth the labour and paines taking to let you vnderstand that we may be assured there is nothing in Bees but maketh to the furtherance of our health and good First therefore their bodies beeing taken newly from the hiues and bruised drunke with some diareticall wine cureth mightily the Dropsie breaketh the stone openeth the obstructed passages of the vrine and helpeth the suppression thereof Beeing bruised they cure the wringings and grypings of the belly if they be layd vpon the place affected and if any haue drunke any poysonous hony Bees being likewise drunke doe expell the same They mollifie hard vlcers in the lippes and beeing bound to the part they cure a carbuncle and the Bloody-flixe amending also the cruditie of the stomack and all spots flecks in the face beeing tempered with their owne made hony as both Hollerius Alexander Benedictus and Pliny haue written Galen affirmeth that if you take liue Bees out of their combes and mixe them with honie wherin Bees haue beene found dead you shall make an excellent oyntment to be vsed against the shedding and falling of the hayre in any place of the head causing it to growe againe and come afresh Pliny againe willeth vs to burne many Bees commixing the ashes with oyle and there-with to annoynt the bald places but wee must saith he take great heede that we touch no other place neere adioyning Yea he affirmeth that Honie wherein is found dead Bees is a very wholsome medicine seruing for all diseases Erotis cap 61. De morb muliebrib commendeth highly the ashes of Bees beaten and tempered with oyle for the dealbation of the hayre Bees also are very profitable because diuers liuing creatures are nourished by and doe feede full sauerly on their hony as the Beare the Badger or Brocke Lizards Frogges serpents the Woodpecker or Eate-bee Swallowes Lapwings the little Titmouse which of some is called a Nunne because his head is filletted as it were Nun-like the Robin-red-breast Spyders and Waspes as Bellonius hath well obserued But to what end you will say serueth their sting against whose poyson Pliny knew no remedie I must needes confesse truly that which cannot be denied that the stings of Bees are sometimes venomous but that is when eyther they are madde and raging and be exceedingly disquieted by meanes of anger or some vehement Feauer for otherwise they doe not sting but pricke but a little and therefore Dioscorides neuer made mention of the stinging of Bees supposing it very vnmeete for a man to complaine of so small a matter as the sting of a silly Bee But yet they that haue succeeded him haue obserued paine rednes and swellings as companions and effects of their malice especially if the sting doe sticke in the flesh which if it doe very deepe then death hath sometimes followed as Nicander writeth in his Theriacis In like manner the people of the old World that vvee may proue the sting of Bees to be conuerted to some good vse did as Suidas writeth punish those persons who were found guilty of coosenage and deceitfull counterfeiting of merchandise after this sort First they stripped the offender starke naked annointing his body all ouer with hony then setting him in the open sunne with his hands and feete fast bound that by this meanes beeing tormented with flyes Bees and scorching beames of the sunne he might endure punishment paine death due to his lewd and wicked life With which kind of punishment torture the Spanyards doe grieuously vex the poore naked Ilanders of America at this day now called the West Indies who are vnder their rule and gouernment not for iustice sake as those Auncients did but for satisfaction and fulfilling of their barbarous wills and beastly tyrannie that they might seeme to be more cruell then crueltie it selfe Noninus saith that if the herbe Balme called Apiastrum be beaten and annoynted with oyle vppon the stinged place that there will ensue no hurt thereby Florentius counselleth the gatherer of hony to annoynt himselfe with the iuyce of Marsh-mallowes for by that meanes he may safely and without feare take away the Combes But the iuyce of any Mallow vvill doe as much and especially if it be mixed with Oyle for it both preserueth from stinging and besides it remedieth the stinged But admit that Bees by theyr stinging doe vexe and disease vs yet notwithstanding the dead Bees so found in the hony doe speedily bring cure to that hurt if they be duly applyed abating and taking away all the paine and poyson What should I say No creature is so profitable none lesse sumptuous GOD hath created them and a little money and cost will maintaine them and small prouision will content them They liue almost in all places yea euen in Forrests Woods and Mountaines both rich and poore by their good husbandry do gather good customes and pensions by them they paying as all men know very large rents for their dwelling houses and yet for all their tribute they pay a man need neither keepe one seruaunt the more for the gathering of it nor set on pot the oftner Merula saith that Varro gathered yeerely fiue thousand pound weight of Hony and that in a small Village of Spaine not exceeding one Akre of ground he was wont to gaine by Honie there gathered tenne thousand Sesterties which is of our English coyne about fiftie pounds Wee are furnished also out of their vvork-houses or shops with vvaxe Sandaracha Bee-glevv combes and dregges of waxe which no Common-wealth can well spare To speake nothing of the examples of their vertues and noble properties being no lesse wholsome for the soule then these others are
destroyeth him Others say that the crocodile weepeth after he hath deuoured a man How-soeuer it be it noteth the wretched nature of hypocriticall harts which before-hand will with fayned teares endeuour to do mischiefe or els after they haue done it be outwardly sorry as Iudas was for the betraying of Christ before he went and hanged himselfe The males of this kind do loue their females aboue all measure yea euen to iealousie as may appeare by this one history of P. Martyr About the time that hee was in those countries there were certaine Marriners which saw two Crocodiles together in carnall copulation vpon the sands neere the Riuer from which the water was lately fallen into a certaine Iland of Nilus the greedy Marriners forsooke their ship and betooke themselues to a long boate and with great shouting hollowing crying made towards them in verie couragious manner the male at the first assault fell amazed greatly terrified ran away as fast as he could into the waters leauing his female lying vpon her backe for whē they ingender the male turneth her vpon her backe for by reason of the shortnes of her legges she cannot doe it her selfe so the Mariners finding her vpon her back not able to turne ouer her selfe they easily slew her and tooke her away with them Soone after the male returned to the place to seeke his female but not finding her and perceiuing blood vpon the sand coniectured truly that she was slaine wherefore hee presently cast himselfe into the Riuer of Nilus againe in his rage swam stoutly against the streame vntill hee ouertooke the ship wherein his dead femall was which he presently set vppon lifting vp himselfe and catching hold on the sides would certainly haue entered the same had not the Marriners with all their force battered his head and hands with clubs and staues vntill he was wearied and forced to giue ouer his enterprise so with great sighing and sobbing departed frō them By which relation it is most cleere what naturall affection they beare one to another and how they choose out theyr fellowes as it were fitte wiues and husbands for procreation And it is no wonder if they make much of one another for besides thēselues they haue few friends in the world except the bird Trochilus and Swine of whom I can say little except this that followeth As for the little bird Trochilus it affecteth and followeth them for the benefit of his owne belly for while the Crocodile greedilie eateth there sticketh fast in his teeth some part of his prey which troubleth him very much many times ingendereth wormes then the beast to helpe himselfe taketh land and lyeth gaping against the sunne-beames westward the bird perceiuing it flyeth to the iawes of the beast and there first with a kind of tickling-scratching procureth as it were licence of the Crocodile to pull foorth the wormes and so eateth them all out and clenseth the teeth thoroughly for which cause the Beast is content to permit the Bird to goe into his mouth But when all is clensed the ingratefull Crocodile endeuoureth suddainely to shut his chappes together vppon the Bird and to deuoure his friend like a cursed wretch which maketh no reckoning of friendship but the turne serued requiteth good with euill But Nature hath armed this little bird with sharpe thornes vpon her head so that while the Crocodile endeuoureth to shut his chaps and close his mouth vpon it those sharpe thornes pricke him into his palate so that full sore against his vnkind nature hee letteth her flye safe away But where as there be many kinds of Trochili which are greedy of these wormes or clensings of the Crocodiles some of them which haue not thornes on theyr heades pay for it for there beeing not offence to let the closing of the Crocodiles mouth they must needes be deuoured and therefore this enforced amity betwixt him and the Crocodile is onely to be vnderstoode of the Claedororynchus as it is called by Hermolaus There be some that affirme that he destroyeth all without exception that thus come into his mouth and other-some say he destroyeth none but when he feeleth his mouth sufficiently clensed he waggeth his vpper chappe as it were to giue warning of auoydance and in fauour of the good turne to let the bird flie away at his owne pleasure Howbeit the other and former narration is more likely to be true and more constantly affirmed by all good Authors except Plutarch And Leo Afric saith that it was the constant and confident report of all Affrica that the Crocodile deuoureth all for theyr loue and kindnesse except the Claedororynchi which they cannot by reason of the thornes vppon their head That there is an amitie and naturall concord betwixt Swine and Crocodiles is also gathered because they onely among all other liuing foure-footed beastes doe without danger dwell feede and inhabite vppon the banks of Nilus euen in the midst of the Crocodiles and therefore it is probable that they are friends in nature But oh how small a sum of friends hath this beast and how vnwoorthy of loue among all creatures that neuer in nature hath but two in heauen or earth ayre or water that will aduenture to come neere it and one of these also which is the best deseruing it deuoureth and destroyeth it it get it within his danger Seeing the friendes of it are so few the enemies of it must needes be many and therefore require a more large catalogue or story In the first ranke whereof commeth as worthy the first place the Ichneumon or Pharaohs-mouse who rageth against their egges and their persons for it is certaine that it hunteth with all sagacity of sence to finde out theyr nests and hauing found them it spoyleth scattereth breaketh emptieth all theyr egs They also watch the old ones asleepe and finding their mouthes open against the beames of the Sunne suddenly enter into them and being small creepe downe theyr vast large throates before they be aware and then putting the Crocodile to exquisite and intollerable torment by eating their guttes asunder and so their soft bellies while the Crocodile tumbleth to and fro sighing and weeping now in the depth of water now on the Land neuer resting till strength of nature fayleth For the incessant gnawing of the Ichneumon so prouoketh her to seek her rest in the vnrest of euery part herbe element throwes throbs rowlings tossings mournings but all in vaine for the enemy within her breatheth thorough her breath and sporteth her selfe in the consumption of those vitall parts vvhich wast and weare away by yeelding to her vnpacificable teeth one after other till shee that crept in by stealth at the mouth like a puny theefe come out at the belly like a Conquerour thorough a passage opened by her owne labour industry as we haue also shewed at large in the story of Ichneumon But whether it be true or no that
very greedily for they say it hath in it a refrigeratiue power And there be some which by certaine inchaunting verses doe tame Dragons and rydeth vpon their necks as a man would ride vpon a horse guiding and gouerning them with a bridle Now because we haue already shewed that some dragons haue winges least it should seeme vncredible as the foolish world is apt to beleeue no more then they see I haue therefore thought good to adde in this place a particuler relation of the testimonies of sundry Learned-men concerning these winged Serpents or dragons First of all Megastenes writeth that in India there be certaine flying Serpents which hurt not in the day but in the night time and these do render or make a kind of vrine by the touching whereof all the parts of mortall creatures doe rotte away And there is a Mountaine which deuideth asunder the Kingdome of Narsing a from Alabaris wherein be many winged-serpents sitting vpon trees which they say poyson men with their breath There be many pestilent winged-serpents which come out of Arabia euery yeere by troupes into Egypt these are destroyed by a certaine Black-bird called Ibis who fighteth with thē in the defence of that Country where she liueth so that there lye great heapes of them many times destroyed vpon the earth by these Birds whose bodies may be there visibly seene to haue both wings and legges and their bones beeing of great quantitie and stature remaine vnconsumed for many yeeres after These kinde of Serpents or Dragons couet to keepe about the Trees of Frankinsence which grow in Arabia and when they are driuen away frō thence with the fume or smoake of Stirax then they flie as is afore-said into Egypt and this is to be considered that if it were not for this Stirax all that Country would be consumed with Dragons Neither haue wee in Europe onely heard of Dragons and neuer seene them but also euen in our own Country there haue by the testimonie of sundry Writers diuers been discouered and killed And first of all there was a Dragon or Winged-serpent brought vnto Frauncis the French-King when hee lay at Sancton by a certaine Country-man who had slaine the same Serpent himselfe with a Spade when it sette vppon him in the fields to kill him And this thing was witnessed by many Learned credible men which saw the same and they thought it was not bredde in that Country but rather driuen by the winde thither from some forraine Nation For Fraunce was neuer knowne to breede any such Monsters Among the Pyrenes also there is a cruell kinde of Serpent not past foure foote long and as thicke as a mans arme out of whose sides growe winges much like vnto gristles Gesner also saith that in the yeere of our Lord 1543. there came many Serpents both with wings and legs into the parts of Germany neere Stiria who did bite wound many men incurably Cardan also describeth certaine serpents with wings which hee saw at Parris whose dead bodies were in the hands of Gulielmus Musicus hee saith that they had two legges and small winges so that they could scarce flie the head was little and like to the head of a Serpent their colour bright and without haire or feathers the quantitie of that which was greatest did not exceede the bignes of a Cony and it is saide they vvere brought out of India Besides a further confirmation of these beastes there haue beene noted in all ages for it is written in the Romaine Chronicles the times of their apparision and manifestation When the Riuer of Tiber ouer-flowed aboue the bankes then were many Serpents discouered and many Dragons as in the time of Mauritius the Emperour at what time a dragon came along by the Citty of Rome vpon the waters in the sight of all men and so passed to the Sea after which prodigie there followed a great mortall pestilence In the yeere 1499. the twenty sixe day of May there came a dragon to the Citty of Lucerne which came out of the Lake through Rusa downe along the Riuer many people of all sorts beholding the same There haue beene also Dragons many times seene in Germanie flying in the ayre at mid-day and signifying great and fearefull fiers to follow as it happened neere to the Cittie called Niderburge neere to the shore of the Rhyne in a maruailous cleere sun-shine day there came a dragon three times successiuely together in one day did hang in the ayre ouer a Towne called Sanctogoarin and shaking his tayle ouer that Towne euery time it appeared visibly in the sight of many of the inhabitants and afterwards it came to passe that the said towne was three times burned with fire to the great harme and vndooing of all the people dwelling in the same for they were not able to make any resistance to quench the fire with all the might Art and power that they could raise And it was further obserued that about that time there were many dragons seene washing themselues in a certaine Fountaine or Well neere the towne and if any of the people did by chaunce drinke of the water of that Well theyr bellyes did instantly begin to swell and they died as if they had beene poysoned Where-vpon it was publiquely decreed that the said well should be filled vp with stones to the intent that neuer any man should afterwards be poisoned with that water and so a memory thereof was continued and these thinges are written by Iustinus Goblerus in an Epistle to Gesner affirming that hee did not write fayned things but such things as were true and as he had learned from men of great honestly and credite whose eyes did see and behold both the dragons and the mishaps that followed by fire When the body of Cleomines was crucified and hung vpon the Crosse it is reported by them that were the watch-men about it that there came a dragon and did wind it selfe about his body and with his head couered the face of the dead King oftentimes licking the same and not suffering any bird to come neere and touch the carkasse For vvhich cause there began to be a reuerent opinion of diuinitie attributed to the King vntill such time as wise and prudent men studious of the truth found out the true cause hereof For they say that as Bees are generated out of the body of Oxen and Drones of horses and Hornets of Asses so doe the bodyes of men ingender out of their marrow a Serpent and for this cause the Auncients were moued to consecrate the dragon to noble-spirited men and therefore there was a monument kept of the first Affricanus because that vnder an Oliue planted with his owne hand a dragon was said to preserue his ghost But I will not mingle fables and truth together and therefore I will reserue the morrall discourse of this beast vnto another place and this which I haue written may be sufficient to satisfie
Catterpillers gnattes and small creeping things it imitateth the Camaelion for it putteth out the tongue and licketh in his meate by the space of three fingers in the toppe whereof there is a soft place hauing in it viscous humour which causeth all thinges to cleaue fast vnto it which it toucheth by vertue whereof it deuoureth great flyes And therefore the said tongue is said to haue two little bones growing at the roote thereof which by the wonderfull worke of Nature doth guide fortifie strengthen it And thus much may serue as a sufficient relation vnto the Reader 〈◊〉 â—…uersitie of Toades Nowe wee will proceede to the common description of both kindes together This Toade is in all outward parts like vnto a Frogge the fore-feete beeing short and the hinder feete long but the bodie more heauy and swelling the colour of a blackish colour the skinne rough viscous and very hard so as it is not easie to be broken with the blowe of a staffe It hath many deformed spottes vppon it especially blacke on the sides the bellâ— exceeding all other parts of the body standing out in such manner that beeing smitten vvith a staffe it yeeldeth a sound as it were from a vault or hollow place The head is broade and thicke and the colour thereof on the nether part about the necke is white that is some-what pale the backe plaine without bunches and it is saide that there is a little bone growing in theyr sides that hath a vertue to driue away doggeâ— from him that beareth it about him and is therefore called Apocynon The whole aspect of this Toade is vglie and vnpleasant Some Authours affirme that it carrieth the hart in the necke and therefore it cannot easily be killed except the throate thereof be cutte in the middle Theyr liuer is very vitious and causeth the whole body to be of ill temperament And some say they haue two liuers Theyr melt is very small and as for theyr copulation and egges they differ nothing from Frogges There be many late Writers which doe affirme that there is a precious stone in the head of a Toade whose opinions because they attribute 〈◊〉 the veâ—… of this stone it is good to examine in this place that so the Reader may be satisfied whether to hold it as a fable or as a true matter exemplâ—fying the powerfull working of Almightie God in nature for there be many that weâ—re these stones in Ringes beeing verily 〈◊〉 aded that they keepe them from all manner of grypings and paines of the belly and the small guttes But the Art as they terme it is in taking of it out for they sayâ— must be taken out of the head aliue before the Toade be dead with a peece of cloth of the colour of redde Skarlet where-withall they aro much delighted so that while they stretch out theÌ„selues is it were in sport vpon that cloth they cast out the stone of their head but instantly they sâ—p it vp againe vnlesse it be taken from them through some secrete hole in the said cloth whereby it falleth into a cesterne or vessell of water into the which the Toade lateth not enter by reason of the coldnes of the water These things writeth â—assarius Brasauolus saith that he found such a thing in the head of a Toade but he rather tooke it to be a bone then a stone the colour wherof was browne inclyning to blacknes Some say it is double namely outwardly a hollow bone and inwardly a stone contained 〈◊〉 in the vertue whereof is said to breake preuent or cure the stone in the bladder now how this stone should be there ingendered there are diuers opinions also they say that stones are ingendered in liuing creatures two manner of wayes either through heate or extreame cold as in the Snaile Pearch Crabbe Indian Tortizes and Toades so that by extremitie of cold this stone should be gotten Against this opinion the colour of the stone is obiected which is some-times white sometimes browne or blackish hauing a cittrine or blew spot in the middle sometimes all greene wher-vpon is naturally engrauen the figure of a Toade and this stone is somtimes called Borax sometimes Crapodinae and sometimes Nisae or Nusae and Chelonites Others doe make two kindes of these stones one resembling a great deale of Milke mixed with a little blood so that the white exceedeth the Redde and yet both are apparant and visible the other all blacke wherein they say is the picture of a Toade with her legges spredde before and behind And it is further affirmed that if both these stones be held in ones hand in the presence of poyson it will burne him The probation of this stone is by laying of it to a liue Toade and if she lift vp her head against it it is good but if shee run away from it it is a counterfeyte Geor Agricola calleth the greater kind of these stones Brontia and the lesser smoother sort of stones Cerauniae although some coÌ„trary this opinion saying that these stones Brantia Cerauniae are bred on the earth by thundering and lightning Whereas it is said before that the generation of this stone in the Toade proceedeth of colde that is vtterly vnpossible for it is described to be so solide and firme as nothing can be more hard and therefore I cannot assent vnto that opinion for vnto hard and solide things is required abundance of heate and againe it is vnlikely that whatsoeuer this Toade-stone be that there should be any store of them in the world as are euery where visible if they were to be taken out of the Toades aliue and therefore I rather agree with Salueldensis a Spaniard who thinketh that it is begotten by a certaine viscous spume breathed out vppon the head of some Toade by her fellowes in the Spring-time This stone is that which in auncient time was called Batrachites and they attribute vnto it a vertue besides the former namely for the breaking of the stone in the bladder and against the Falling-sicknes And they further write that it is a discouerer of present poyson for in the presence of poyson it will change the colour And this is the substaunce of that which is written about this stone Now for my part I dare not conclude either with it or against it for Hermolaus Massarius Albertus Syluaticus and others are directlie for this stone ingendered in the braine or head of the Toade on the other side Cardan and Gesner confesse such a stone by name and nature but they make doubt of the generation of it as others haue deliuered and therefore they beeing in sundry opinions the hearing were of might confound the Reader I will referre him for his satisfaction vnto a Toade which hee may easily euery day kill For although when the Toade is dead the vertue thereof be lost which consisted in the eye or blew spot in the middle yet the substaunce remaineth and if the stone be found there in substance
we shall shew at large in their particular hystory The serpent hauing layd her egge sitteth vpon them to hatch them at seuerall times and in a yeare they are perfected into young ones But concerning the supposed copulation of serpents and Lampreys I will not meddle in this place reseruing that discourse to the historic of fishes and now only it sufficeth in this place to name it as a feigned invention although saint Ambrose and other anncient Writers haue beleeued the same yet Athaeneus and of late dayes P. Iouius haue learnedly and sufficientlie declared by vnanswearable arguments the cleane contrarie The serpents loue their egges most tenderly and doe euerie one of them know their owne euen among confused heapes of the multitude and no lesse is their loue to their young ones whom for their safeguard sometime they receiue into their mouthes and suffer them to runne into their bellies And thus much for the generation of serpents Of the Names of Serpents and their seuerall parts or Anatomie BY Serpents we vnderstand in this discourse all venomous Beasts whether creeping without legges as Adders and Snakes or with legges as Crocodiles and Lizards or more neerely compacted bodies as Toades Spiders and Bees following heerein the warrant of the best ancient Latinists as namely Cornelius Celsus Pliny Apuleius doe call Lyce Serpents in that their relation of the death of Pherecydes the Sirian who was the Praeceptor of Pythagoras of whom it is said Serpentibus perijsse to haue perrished by Serpents when on the contrary it is manifested he was killed by Lyce Aristotle and Galen define a Serpent to be animal sanguineū pedibus orbatum ouiparum that is a bloody Beast without feere yet laying egges and so properly is a Serpent to be vnderstood The Haebrewes call a Serpent Nachasch Darcon and Cheueia by the Chaldees so also Thaninim Schephiphon by the Hebrewes as Rabbi Salomon Munster Pagnine write The Graecians Ophidi and Ophis although this word doe also signifie a Viper in particular euen as the Latine Serpens or serpula doe sometime a Snake and sometime an Adder The Arabians Haie and Hadaie for all manner of serpents And Testuh or Tenstu or Agestim for serpents of the wood likewise Apartias Atussi The Germans Ein schlang which word seemeth to be deriued from Anguis by an vsuall figure and after the German fashion proposing Sch. The French call it Vn serpent the Italians Serpe serpente and Massarius saith that Scorzo and Scorzone are generall wordes for all manner of Serpents in Italy which strike with their teeth The Spanyards call them Sierpe The Graecians call the young ones in the Dammes belly Embrua and the Latines Catuli And thus much for their Names in generall which in holy Scripture is englished a Creeping thing Now it followeth that I should sette downe a particular description of all the outward parts of Serpents and first of all their colour is for the most part like the place of their habitation or abode I meane like the Earth wherein they liue and therefore I haue seene some blacke liuing in dung some yellow liuing in sandy rocks some of other colour as greene liuing in trees and fieldes but generally they haue spots on their sides and bellie like the scales of fish which are both white black greene yellow browne of other colours also of which Ouid writeth Longo caput extulit antro Caeruleus serpens horrendaque sibila misit that is The greenish Serpent extolld her head from denne so steepe And fearefull hyssing did send forth from throate so deepe The frame of their bodies doth not much varry in any except in the feete length so that with a reseruation of them we may expresse their vniuersall Anatomy in one viewe for almost all of them are of the same proportion that is seene in Lyzards if the feete be excepted and they made to haue longer bodies For they are inclosed in a kinde of shell or crustie skinne hauing their vpper parts on their backe and the nether parts on the bellie like a Lizard but they want stones haue such manner of places for copulation as fishes haue their place of conception beeing long and clouen All their bowels by reason of the length and narrownes of their bodies are also long and narrow and hard to be discerned because of the dissimilitude of their figures and shapes Their arterie is long their throate longer then that the ground or roote of the artery is neere the mouth so as a man would iudge it to be vnder the tongue so as it seemeth to hang out aboue the tongue especially when the tongue is contracted and drawne backward The head long like a Fishes and flatte neuer much bigger then the bodie except in monstrous and great shaped Serpents as the Boas Yea Aristotle maketh mention of a Serpent that had 2. heads and Arnoldus of a Serpent in the Piraeney Mountaines slaine by a souldier that had three heads in whose belly vvere found two sonnes of the said souldier deuoured by him and the back-bone thereof was as great as a mans skull or a Rammes head And such an one we read in our English story was found in England in the yeere 1349. And the 23 yeere of Edward the third there was a serpent found in Oxfordshire neere Chippingnorton that had two heads and faces like women one beeing shaped after the new attire of that time and another after the manner of the old attyre and it had great winges after the manner of a Bat. The Tongue of a Serpent is peculiar for besides the length narrownesse thereof it is also clouen at the tippe beeing deuided as it were with very little or small nailes points It is also thinne long and black of colour voluble neither is there any beast that moueth the tongue so speedily wherefore some haue thought that a Serpent hath three tongues but in vaine as Isidorus sheweth for they deceiue by the nimblenes thereof Their ventricle is large like their maw and like vnto a dogs also thinne and vniforme at the end The Hart is very small and cleaueth to the end of their artery but yet it is long sheweth like the reynes of a Man vvherefore sometimes it may be seene to bend the tippe or lappe thereof to the breast ward After this followeth the Lights but farre seperate from it being simple full of fibres and open holes like pipes and very long The Liuer long and simple the Melt small and round as in Lizards The Gall is for the most part as in fishes but in Water-snakes it is ioyned to the Liuer in other Serpents to the stomacke or maw All their teeth stand out of their mouth and they haue thirtie ribbes euen as there were among the Haebrewes and Egyptians thirtie daies to euery month Aristotle saith that as their eyes be small so also they haue the same good hap that befalleth young Swallowes for if by
Winter as well as in Sommer and yet the serpents which run wild in the fieldes eate nothing at all during the time of their Chias or Ehiaus that is their lying hid Greuinus that learned man proponeth this question Si serpentes calidi sunt qui fit vt in regros tres aut quatuor menses id est toto illo tempore quâ— delitescunt absque cibo vivunt If saith he Serpents be hot how commeth it to passe that they can liue three or 4. months without all foode that is all the time of their lying secret He maketh in my opinion a sufficient aunswere to this question which for me shall conclude the cause saying Doth it not fall out with Serpents as it doth with some women who beeing full of humor and thicke phlegmaticke matter haue but a little and weake naturall heate yet proportionable to the said humour doe liue a great time by reason thereof without foode or nourishment And for this cause all the hoasts of Philosophers doe define that serpents doe also abstaine from eating a long season For Nature hath clothed them with a more solide skinne and liued them with a more thicke and substantiall flesh to the intent that theyr naturall heate should not easily vanish away and decay in their bodies but remaine therein permanent for the feeding and preseruing of life When they sleepe they seeme to sleepe with open eyes which is elegantly described by Philes in these Greeke verses OpoÌ„s kathéude kai dokeiÌ„ palin blepin Ophis te kai ptox kai thumou pleres león Epipetatai gar he chlamys ton ommaton Allou tinos Chitonos apaloterou Phrorountos autois os dioptras task-óras Which may be englished thus How can the Hare the Serpent and the Lyon bold Both sleepe and see together at one time Within theyr eye-lids a soft skinne their sight doth fold Shielding their apples as glasse doth weakened eyne The foode of Serpents that is permitted them by God is the dust of the earth as may appeare by that first and iust sentence which GOD himselfe gaue vpon them for seducing our first Parents Adam and Eue Gene 3. 14. Because thou hast doone this thing thou art accursed aboue all the Beasts of the field for thou shalt goe vppon thy belly and eate dust all the dayes of thy life And againe Esay 65. 25. Dust shall be meate to the Serpent And least that we should thinke that this curse hath not taken hold vpon the Serpent we may finde the expresse practise heereof Michae 7. 17. Where it is said of Gods enemies that They shall licke the dust like the Serpent Yet Aristotle affirmeth truly that Serpents are Omninori that is deuourers of flesh fish herbes or any other thinges howbeit heerein they passe their kind or else the curse of God reacheth not to any other kinds theÌ„ to that alone which deceiued our first Parents We haue shewed already how they eate and deuour men women children oxen sheepe and goates but whatsoeuer they eate they retaine nothing but the moysture of it and the residue they eiect whole and vndigested VVhatsoeuer is offered them that they take either a bird or a small chicken or an egge hauing it they take hold but of one end as of the head of a chicke or small end of an egge and so set it directly before them then doe they gather themselues together in as short a compasse as may be that so their bodies which seeme long and small beeing extended may appeare great and wide reduced into a short and compacted frame And surely heereby they open and make wider their passage or swallow for then they suddenly goble in the beast or meate before them without any great adoe hauing kept it in their body till it be dryed from all moisture they cast it out againe as they swallowed it vp at another ordinary place But for birds chickens they striue with them till they haue gotten off their feathers or els if they swallowe them whole they eiect the feathers as they doe egge-shells The Serpents of the North doe in the Sommer time eate the flesh of birds herbes and after the eating of them they tast of a little water or milke if they can attaine it or els vvine For this cause they will suck the vdders of Kine or Goates or sheepe as hath been seene in England Yet is their appetite to drinke but smally as is in all other Creatures whose liuers are fungous and soft like Spunges and so are all beastes and creatures which lay egges Aboue all kindes of drinke they loue vvine and thereof they be drunke wherfore in Italy they set pottles of vvine to entrappe Vipers for if once they smell the vvine they enter the vessell gladly and speedily and the vvine or milke whereof they drinke is poysoned by them But in those places of Affrick where it neuer raineth they eate a kinde of black moyst vvorme which hath many legges as is said by Theophrastus And to conclude their meate and drinke is so small that it is receiued for truth Nullum venenatum perit fame vel siti that no venomous beast perrisheth by hunger or thirst The voyce of Serpents is called Sibilus a hyssing and theyr voyce differeth from all other beasts hyssing in the length thereof for the hyssing of a Torreise is shorter and more abrupt Of this hyssing voyce speaketh Lucan saying Quod strident vlulant que ferae quòd sibilat anguis In English thus Gnashing and howling is the voyce of wild beastes Long hyssing in Snakes and Serpents doth rest Among other things notable in a Serpent this is one because it easteth off his old age euery yeere whereof the Graecians tell this fabulous reason Once Man-kinde stroue earnestly with the Gods by supplication for a perpetuall youth that they might neuer waxe old and obtayning their desire they layd the same to be carried vpon an Asse The sillie beast waxing sore athirst in his trauaile at last came vnto a water and thereof endeuoured earnestly to drinke but the keeper of the same water beeing a Serpent denied leaue to the Asse to drinke thereof except he would grant him his carriage which was Perpetuall youth The poore Asse ready to perrish for thirst easily condiscended therevnto Whervppon the Serpent changeth her age for youth and men their youth for old age and the Asse for his punishment is more tormented with thirst then any other beast But to leaue fables and to come more neere the marke the Latines call the casting of their skin Anguina senectus spolium serpentis vernatio the Graecians Opheos derma suphar lebâ—ris geras the Arabeans Geluc Genlut Fulcalhaileb the Italians Spoglia delle serpi and the Spanyards Pelle de la culebra About this Snakes skinne there is great difference among Authors some affirming it to be the very skinne Other that it is nothing but a kind of hard Leprosie growne vpon them during the Winter time vvhile they lye
breasts some on his sides and backe some on his legges and some hanging vpon his priuie partes byting him with mortall rage to end and ouerthrow him The poore Hart beeing thus oppressed with multitude and assailed without any warning to the battell in vaine attempteth to runne away for their cold earthy bodies winding tayles and pinching teeth hinder his wonted pace and ouer-charge his strength whereat beeing forced to quite himselfe in the best manner he can enraged with teeth feete and hornes assaileth his enemies whose speares and arrowes of teeth and stinges sticke so fast in his body tearing them in peeces which he can touch with his teeth beating others asunder where he can reach theÌ„ with his hornes and trampling vnder his feete those which cleaue to his lower parts and yet such is the rage and dauntlesse courage or rather hatred of these enemies not willing to die alone but like Champions to end their liues vppon and with their aduersarie doe still hold fast and euen when their bodies are beaten in peeces their heads sticke close and hang sharpe vpon the Harts skinne as though they would grow with him and neuer fall off till he should also fall downe dead But the Hart feeling some ease and hauing by the slaughter of their bodies deliuered his feete from thraldome by a diuine naturall instinct flyeth and runneth fast to some adioyning fountaine where hee seeketh for Sea-crabbes whereof he maketh a medicine that shaketh off their heads which cleaue so fast vnto him and also cureth all their wounds and poyson This valiant courage is in Harts against serpents neuer yeelding tyring or giuing ouer and yet otherwise are afraid of Hares and Connyes by nature But what is the cause of this hostilitie betwixt Harts and serpents is it for meate or for medicine and cure Surely they would abhorre to eate them if it were not for health and naturall medicine for sometimes the pores of their body are dulled and shut vp somtimes the wormes of their belly doe ascend vp into the roofe of their mouthes while they chew the cudde and there cleaue fast for remedie whereof the Hart thus afflicted runneth about to seeke for serpents for the eating of a serpent cureth this maladie Pliny saith that when the Hart waxeth old and perceiueth that his strength decayeth haire changeth his bodie beginnes to be feeble then for the renewing of his strength he first deuoureth a serpent and afterward runneth to some fountaine of water wherof when he hath drunk he findeth a sensible alteration both in horne haire and whole bodie And this thing is also deliuered by the Writer of the Glosse vpon the 42 Psalme which beginneth Like as the Hart desireth the water springs so longeth my soule after my GOD. But for the ending of this question we must consider and remember that there are two kinds of Harts one eateth serpents and feeling the poyson to worke straight-way by drinking casteth vp the poyson againe or else cureth himselfe by couering all his body ouer in water The other kind onely by nature killeth a serpent but after victorie forbeareth to eate it and returneth againe to feede in the Mountaines And thus much for the discorde betwixt Harts and Serpents In the next place great is the variance betwixt Serpents Dragons Elephants wherof Pliny Solinus write as followeth When the Elephants called Serpent-killers meete with the Dragons they easily tread them in peeces and ouer-come them wherefore the Dragons and greater serpents vse subtiltie in stead of might for when they haue found the path and common way of an Elephant they make such deuises therein to intrap him as a man would thinke they had the deuise of men to helpe them for with their tayles they so ensnare the way that when the beast commeth they entangle his legges as it were in knots of ropes now when the beast stoopeth downe with his trunke to loose and vntie them one of them suddenly thrusteth his poysoned head into his trunke whereby hee is strangled The other also for there are euer many which lye in ambush set vpon his face byting out his eyes and some at his tender belly some wind themselues about his throat and all of them together sting bite teare vex hang vpon him vntill the poore beast emptied of his blood and swollen with poyson in euery part fall downe dead vppon his aduersaries and so by his death kill them at his fall and ouerthrow whom hee could not ouer-come beeing aliue And whereas Elephants for the most part goe together in flocks and troupes the subtile serpents doe let passe the formost of euery rancke and sette onely vpon the hindermost that so one of the Elephants may not helpe another these serpents are said to be thirtie yardes long Likewise forasmuch as these Dragons know that the Elephants come and feede vpon the leaues of trees their manner is to conuay themselues into the trees and lye hid among the boughes couering their fore-parts with leaues and letting their hinder partes hang downe like dead parts and members and when the Elephant commeth to brouze vpon the Tree-toppes then suddenlie they leape into his face and pull out his eyes and because that reuenge doth not satisfie her thirsting onely after death she twyneth her gable-long bodie about his necke and so strangleth him It is reported that the blood of Elephants is the coldest blood in the world that the Dragons in the scorching heate of Summer cannot get any thing to coole theÌ„ except this blood for which cause they hide themselues in Riuers Brookes whether the Elephants come to drinke and when he putteth downe his trunck they take hold thereof instantlie in great numbers leape vp into his eares which onely of all his vpper parts are most naked and vnarmed out of which they suck his blood neuer giuing ouer their holde till hee fall downe dead so in the fall kill them which were the procurers of his death So that his and their blood is mingled both together whereof the Auncients made their Cinnabaris which was the best thing in the world to represent blood in painting Neither can any deuise or arte of man euer come neere it and beside it hath in it a rare vertue against poyson And thus much for the enmâ—tie betwixt Serpents and Elephants The Cat also by Albertus is said to be an enemie to serpents for hee saith shee will kill them but not eate thereof howbeit in her killing of them except she drinke incontinently she dieth by poyson This relation of Albertus cannot agree with the Monks of Mesven their relation about their Abbey-cat But it may be that Albertus speaketh of vvildcats in the woods and mountaines who may in â—auine for their pray kill a serpent which followeth with them the same common game The Roes or Roe-bucks do also kill serpents the Hedge-hogge is enemy vnto them for sometimes they meete both together in one hole and then at
Pliny saith that if you take out the right eye of a serpent and so bind it about any part of you that it is of great force against the watering or dropping of the eyes by meanes of a rhume issuing out thereat if the serpent be againe let goe aliue And so hee saith that a serpents or snakes hart if either it be bitten or tyed to any part of you that it is a present remedie for the tooth-ach and hee addeth further that if any man doe â—ast of the snakes hart that he shall neuer after be hurt of any serpent Paulus Venetus in his second booke chap. 40 writeth howe that in the Prouince of Caraiam there be serpents of exceeding greatnes which beeing killed the inhabitants of the Country doe pull out their gall which they vse to prize at a verie high rate when they sell any of it for it is very medicinall so that they which are byt of a madde dogge if they take inwardlie in any drinke but the quantitie of a penny weight of this gall they are presently cured And if a woman be in her trauaile of child-birth if shee tast neuer so little of this gall the birth will be the more speedie So if any be troubled either with the Pyles or Haemerrhoides in the fundament if that the place be annoynted with this gall after a few dayes he is set free from his disease Hippocrates giueth the seede of serpents as a remedie against the suffocation of the belly Nicholaus Myrepsus preseribeth this medicine against straines hardnesses Take a dead serpent put him into a new pot luting it very well with Gypsum then set it in a furnace that it may be burnt after that commixe the ashes of a serpent with an equall portion of the seedes of Fennegreke so being wrought vp with Attick-hony throughly disgested annoynt the place affected And with him agreeth Pliny who expresly affirmeth that the ashes of snakes and serpents beeing annoynted vpon Strumes eyther with oyle or waxe is a singuler medicine And likewise to drinke the ashes of a serpent that is burrit to powder in new earthen potte is very good but it will be the more effectuall if the serpents be killed betweene two tracks or forrowes that are made with Cart-wheeles The ashes of a serpent burnt with salt in a pot beeing put with oyle of Roses into the contrary eare helpeth the tooth-ach An vnguent against the Morphue prescribed by Olaus Magnus Take of the ashes of a serpent burnt in a newe pot and well couered two ounces Lytarge Galbanum Ammoniacum and Opponax dissolued in Vineger three ounces boyle them vntill the Vineger be consumed then straine them putting to them of Turpentine three ounces Frankinsence Masticke and Sarcocolla three ounces Saffron two ounces working them with a Spathulor till they be cold The powder of a burnt serpent is likewise good against Fistuloes The fat of a snake or serpent mixt with oyle is good against Strumes as Pliny saith The fat of snakes mixt with Verdegrease healeth the parts about the eyes that haue any rupture To which agreeth the Poet when he saith Anguibus ereptos adipes â—rugine misce Hipoterant ruptos oculorum iungere partes Which may be thus englished The fat of snakes mingled with yron-rust The parts of eyes doth mend which erst were burst It is certaine that barrennesse commeth by meanes of that grieuous torment and paine in child-birth and yet Olympias of Thebes is of opinion that this is remedied with a Bulls gall the fat of serpents and Verdegrease with some honie added to them the place beeing there with annointed before the comming together of both parts When a Woman is not able to conceiue by meanes of weakenesse in the retentiue vertue then there is no doubt but there must needes growe some membrane in the bellies entrance for which it is not amisse to make a Pessarie of the fat of a serpent verdegrease the fat of a Bull mixt together c. and to be applied Hippocrates in lib. de Sterilibus Gesner had a friend who signified to him by his Letters that the fat of a Serpent vvas sent to him from those sulphureous Bathes which were neere vnto Cameriacum and was sold at a very deere rate namely twelue poundes for euery ounce and sometimes deerer They vse to mixe it with the emplaister of Iohn de Vigo that famous Chirurgeon for all hardnesses nodes and other priuie vnseene though not vnfelt torments proceeding of the Spanish-poxe They vse it yet further against leprous swellings and pimples and to smooth and thinne the skinne Matthiolus saith that the fat of a black Serpent is mixt to good purpose with those oyntments that are prepared against the French or Spanishpox And Pliny mixeth their fat with other conuenient medicines to cause haire to grow againe The suffumigation of an old serpent helpeth the monthlie course Michaell Aloisius saith that oyle of Serpents decocted with the flowers of Cowsleps euer remembring to gather and take that which swimmeth at the toppe is singuler to annoynt podagricall persons there-with NOvv followeth the preparing of Serpents Take a Mountaine-Serpent that hath a blacke backe and a vvhite bellie cut off his taile euen hard to the place where he sendeth forth his excrements and take away his head with the breadth of foure fingers then take the residue squise out the blood into some vessell keeping it in a glasse carefully then fley him as you doe an Eele beginning from the vpper grosser part and hang the skinne vpon a stick and dry it then deuide it in the middle and referue all diligently You must wash the flesh and put it in a pot boyling it in two parts of Wine and beeing well and throughly boyled you must season the broth with good spices and Aromaticall or cordiall powders and so eate it But if you haue a mind to rost it it must be so rosted as it may not be burnt and yet that it may be brought into powder and the powder thereof must be eaten together with other meat because of the loathing and dreadfull name and conceit of a serpent for beeing thus burned it preserueth a man from all feare of any future Lepry and expelleth that which is present It keepeth youth causing a good colour aboue all other Medicines in the vvorld it cleereth the eye-sight gardeth surelie from gray haires and keepeth from the Falling-sicknes It purgeth the head from all infirmitie and beeing eaten as before is said it expelleth scabbines the like infirmities with a great number of other diseases But yet such a kind of Serpent as before wee haue described and not any other beeing also eaten freeth one from deafenes You may also finelie mince the heads and tayles of Serpents feede there-with chickins or geese beeing mingled with crummes of bread or Oates and these Geese or Chickins beeing eaten they helpe to take away the Leprosie and all other foulenesse in mans
place there-with annoynted it is of great vertue And if it bee boyled in a Tinne vessell with some oyle of Roses it remedieth the the Bloody-flixe and such as be troubled with Tenesmas which is a great desire in going to stoole and yet can doe nothing Arnoldus de villa noua in his Breuiarie saith that if you take the cast-skin of a serpent Opopanax Myrrhe Galbanum Castoreum yellow Sulphur Madder Pidgeons or Hawkes doung and incorporate them with the gall of a Cow they beeing first puluerised and the fume thereof receiued through a tunnell at the lower parts it bringeth foorth either the dead or liuing birth Cardan lib. de Subtil saith that the cast-skin of a serpent burned in the full of the Moone entring into the first degree of Aries if the ashes thereof be sprinkled on the head that thereby terrible and fearefull dreames will follow And if the face be annointed or washed there-with being first layd in water that it will cause one to looke very fearefully and horribly and if it be held vnder the tongue it will make one very wise and eloquent and if it be kept vnder the soles of the feete it maketh one very gratious among Princes Magistrates and great men And another saith that this cast-off-skin beeing puluerised when the Moone is in her increase and in the first degree of Aries if the powder thereof be set on the Table in a woodden or metalline dish if any poyson be therin it will be dispersed and doe no hurt and yet the powder will remaine safe and whole and if giuen to a Leaprous-person his disease will spreade no further And if you put a little of this powder into any wound it will cure it within three dayes I haue seene fayth Galen Goates that haue eaten of the boughes and leaues of Tamariske and I haue found them without a spleene also I haue seene other Goates that haue lickt vppe serpents after they had cast their skinne and I haue prooued that after that they haue growne verie white and to haue kept their young yeeres a great while so that it was long before they waxed old Of the way to driue away Serpents Of their poison and bytings A certaine and sure way to cure those who either haue beene poysoned envenomed or bitten by them TO expell and driue farre away any venomous Creatures wee vse to make fumigations of the roote of Lyllies Harts-horne and the hornes and hoofes of such beasts as be clouen-footed likewise of Bay-leaues and berries Calamint Water-cresses and the ashes of the Pine-tree The leaues of Vitex Bitumen Castorium Melanthium Goates-hornes CardamomuÌ„ Galbanum Propolis which may be called Bee-glew the herbe called Horstrange Panax Opopanax Fleabane the shauings or scrapings of the Cipres or Ceder tree beeing steeped in oyle the Iet-stone Sagapinum the herbe called Poley Ferne and all other things that haue a strong or vehement ill sauour beeing cast on the coales for a fumigation doe with theyr vapour chase away venomous beastes For whereas all venomous creatures haue the passages or pores of theyr bodies wery straight and narrow they are very easily filled and stuffed and are quickly stopped and suffocated by such like sents and smells Aetius in his 13. Booke setteth downe an excellent fume after this manner Take of Galbanum of Sandaracha Butter and of Goates-fat of euery one a like much make them into Pills and vse them for a Fumigation Nicander in Theriacis setteth downe some for the same intentions in these verses Ceruinique graui cornu nidore fugabis Et sic cum accendens Gagatae quandoque lapillum Quem consumentis non exedit impetus ignis Multifidam filicem crepitantibus inijce flammis Aut imas viridis libanotidos accipe fibras Tantundemque acris nasturci his junge duobus Aequali capreâ— iam jactum pondere cornu Aut exicâ—ant em nares cerebrumque nigellam Interdum Sulphur faedum quandoque Bitumen Vt-suâ—pta aequali pendantur singula parte Praeterea graveolens candentibus indit a prauis Galbana et ignitum faciens vetica dolorem Dentatisque cedrum maxillis sectile lignum Omnibus invisum serpentibus effâ—at odorem In English thus By Hart-horne-fuâ—â— doe serpents slide away When stone Gagates burning's put thereto Which heate of fire doth not cleane destroy Then in t ' those flames cast many-leaued Ferne also Of greene hogs-â—…ll take the lowest by aâ—ches Of Nosewort sharpe so much 〈◊〉 to them ioyne A like proportion of Roes horne in â—aight kantches Or els Nigella drying nose and braine Or Brimstone called filâ—â—y Sulphure So all be equall in waight and parts to cure Besides Galbanum ranck layde on burning coales Or Nettles which doe cause a fierie paine And Cedar cut all burn'd d'bout serpents holes Them ouer-come and make them flie amaine The breath or vapour that issueth from Serpents is so pestilent that it killeth all young chickins as Columella saith for preuenting of this mischiefe it is good to burne Harts-horne Womens baire or Galbanum Vis et mirificos cautus perdiscere odores Accensis quibus arcetur teterrima serpens Aut Styracem vras aut atri vulturis alam Vel nepetam aut frondem rigidae stirpemque myricae In English thus If thou wouldst learne what odours for thy skill Were best to scarre the serpent fierce away Burne Styrax or blacke Vultures winged quill Or Neppe greene leaues or stock of Tamariske assay And Pliny and Sextus agreeing with him doe say that if you burne the feathers of a Vultar all Serpents will quickly avoyde the strong sent thereof There is a certaine Riuer in the countries of Media Paeonia as Aristotle testifieth wherin there is a stone found with whose fume serpents are chased away whose propertie is such that if any man cast water on it it will burne and burning if with any Fan you goe about to make it to flame it is straight-way quenched and thus beeing extinguished it sendeth forth a sauour stronger then any Brimstone And to this subscribeth Niâ—ander in these words Vel tu Threicium flamma succende lapillum Qui licet irriguis mersus tamen ardet in vndis Expressaque statim restinguitur vnctus oliua Hanc quem fluçtisoni mittant de littore Ponti Qui rude vulgus ibi vescentes carne magistri Pascendi pecoris suapost armenta sequntur In English thus Or take the Thracian stone which set on fire Will burne in water yet quenched is with oyle This cast from Pontus shore Heard-men desire The better to feede their flocks serpents foyle The povvder of a Cedar tree putteth to flight venomous Serpents as Virgil in the third of his Georgicks witnesseth Disce et odoratum stabulis accendere Cedrum Galbaneoque agitare graues nidore chelydros Which may be englished thus Learne how of Cedar fire in thy foldes to make And with Galbanums sauour put to flight the snak Things that are strewed or layd vnder vs both in our houses and in
this serpent is hissing although it be verie seldome heard And it is said that when Craesus vndertooke to wage vvarre with Cyrus the suburbes of Sardis vvere all filled with Adders which vvere deuoured aftervvard by horses in the pastures Whereat the King and people vvere not a little moued But the Priestes after consultation with the Oracle tolde them that it signified howe strangers should deuoite the people of that Cittie because that Adders were bred in those coastes therefore they tooke them to signifie naturall inhabitants and because horses came from other Countries therefore strangers as Cyrus and his souldiours should be thereby signified And this is to be noted that the enemies of this serpent are the same that are common to other and the Hart aboue all other beasts of the earth Yet this Serpent saith S. Ambrose will kill a Lyon runne away from a Hart. ¶ The Medicines arising out of this beast are briefely these The water wherein an Adder is preserued aliue is a remedy against the poyson of a Toade Also Adders or Vipers included in a pot with the scrapings of Vines and therein burnt to ashes do help the vvennes or Kings-euill And Pliny also affirmeth that if a man which hunteth Crocodils beate about him any part of the fatte of an Adder or the gall mixed vvith the herbe Potamigiton he cannot be hurt by that beast Serpents and Adders especially deafe Adders signifie vntepentant wicked men and also discord as the Poet describeth it vvhen Alecto sent a Serpent Snake or Adder to moue cōtention in the familie of Amata Libro 7. Aenead And thus much for the Adder OF THE AMMODYTE THis Serpent I call after the Greeke name Ammodytes an Ammodyte It is also found to be called Ammodyta and Cenchrias or rather Centrias or Centrites because of the hardnes of their tayles vvhich are also clouen on the vpper side The Italians call it Aspido del corno because it hath vpon the vpper chap a hard warte like a horne The head of this Serpent is longer greater then a Vipers head and her chappes vvider besides the late expressed difference vpon the vpper lippe and yet it may well be termed a kind of Viper It is Immanis fera a fierce wilde beast in length not aboue a cubite hauing diuers blacke spots vpon the skinne and certaine appearances of strakes or small lines vpon the backe The colour of the other parts is euer like the sand wherin it keepeth maketh abode according to these verses of Lucan Concolor exustis atque indiscretus arenis Ammodytes In English thus The Ammodyte indiscreete on the Land Doth hold the colour of the burning sand The Countries most of all annoyed with these Serpents are Lybia Italy and Illiria especially about Gortinium and the Mountaines of Lampidia Their harmes are not inferiour to the stinging and poyson of Aspes for Matthiolus writeth that hee hath knovvne some to die thereof vvithin three houres after the wound receiued And if they doe not dye within short time then doth the blood issue forth in abundant maner out of the hurt and the wound swelleth Afterward all is turned into matter and then followeth dulnes in the head and distraction in the mind they liue long which endure it three dayes and it was neuer knowne that any liued aboue seauen dayes this also beeing obserued that those that be hurt by a femall doe dye soonest For together with their byting they infuse a vehement payne which causeth swelling and the sore to runne I find the cure hereof in Aetius to be thus first of all Triacle must be giuen to the sicke person to drinke and also layd vpon the wound also drawing or attractiue playsters and such poultesses which are fit for running vlcers But first before the playsters scarifie all the places about the hurt and bind the vpper parts hard then launce the sore a little with a Pen-knife and let him drinke sweete water with Rungwort Gourdes Castoreum and Cassia Auicen prescribeth in the cure of these Serpents venorn Castoreum Cinnamon the roote of Centory of each two ounces with Wine and the roote of long Hartwort of Assoasier the iuyce of the roote Gentian And for emplaister Hony sod and dryed and so pounded the rootes of Pomgranats and Centory the seede of Flaxe and Lettuce and wilde Rew And so I conclude with Doctor Gesner Percussus ab Ammodyte festinet ad remedium sine quo nemo affugere He which is hurt by an Ammodyte let him make hast for a remedy without which neuer man escaped death OF THE ARGES AND ARGOLAE THere is mention in Galen and Hippocrates of a Serpent called Arges Now Arges signifieth in Greeke white swift idle ill mannered of this Serpent Hippocrates telleth this story There was saith he a young man drunke which lay asleepe vpon his backe in a certain house gaping Into this mans mouth entered a serpent called Arges the young man perceiuing it in his mouth striued to speake and cry but could not and so suddenly gnashing his teeth deuoured and swallowed downe the Serpent After which he was put to intollerable paines his hands stretching quiuering like as a mans that is hanged or strangled and in this sort he cast himselfe vp and downe and dyed It seemeth therefore that this Serpent hath his name from the sudden destruction he bringeth to the creatures it smiteth and therefore in auncient time we read that Mercury was called Argiphon for killing of Serpents THe Argolae are onely mentioned by Suidas for he saith that Alexander brought them to Alexandria from Arges cast them into the riuer to expell and deuour the Aspes where they continued a long time till the bones of the Prophet Ieremy were brought out of Egypt vnto Alexandria which slew them as the same Author writeth And thus much of these two kindes of Serpents OF ASPES IN Hebrewe as appeareth Deut. 32. the Aspe is called Pethen in Psal 58. Akschub in Isa 59. and Ier. 8. Zipheoni an Aspe or a Cockatrice worse then a Serpent The Arabians Hasyos and Hascos the Greekes Aspis the Italians Aspe and Aspide the Spaniardes Biuora the French Vnaspic the Germans Ein sclang genannt and the Latines Aspis About the notation or deriuation of this word there is some difference among Writers Aristophanes deriueth it from Alpha an intensiue Particle and Spizo which signifieth to extend either by reason of his sharpe-shrill hissing or for the length of his body Others deriue Aspis from Hios which signifieth venome or poyson therefore saith the Scripture The poyson of Aspes because that is a predominant poison The Latines call it Aspis quod venenum aspergit morsu bycause it sprinkleth abroad his poyson when it biteth Besides we read of Aspis a Buckler an Island in the Lycian Sea a Mountaine in Affrike and there is fashion of camping Souldiours in the fielde called Aspides The Epithets declaring the nature of this pestiferous Serpent are
warme doth play vpon the sandes Oh what a shame of wicked gaine must we then vndergoe Which Libian deathes and aspish wares haue brought into our lands Their abode is for the most part in dryest soyles except the Chelidonian or water Aspe which liue in the bankes of Nylus all the yeare long as in a house safe Castle but when they perceiue that the water will ouer flow they forsake the bankes sides for safegard of their liues betake them to the Mountaines Sometimes also they will ascend and climbe trees as appeareth by an Epigram of Anthologius It is a horrible fearefull and terrible Serpent going slovvly hauing a vveake sight alvvayes sleepy and drowzy but a shrill and quicke sence of hearing whereby shee is vvarned and aduertised of all noyse which when she heareth presently she gathereth her selfe round into a circle and in the middest lifteth vp her terrible head Wherein a man may note the gratious prouidence of almighty GOD which hath giuen as many remedies against euill as there are euils in the world For the dulnesse of this Serpents sight and slownes of her pace doth keepe her from many mischiefes These properties are thus expressed by Nicander Formidabile cui corpus tardumque volumen Quandoquidem transuer sa via est prolixaque ventris Spira veternosique niuere videntur ocelli At simul ac facili forte abseruarit aure Vel minimum strepitum segnes è corpore somnos Exoutit teretem sinuat mox aspera tractum Horrendumque caput porrectaque pectora tollit In English thus This feared Aspe hath slow and winding pace When as her way on belly she doth trauerse Her eyes shrunke in her head winking appeare in face Till that some noyse her watchfull eare doth rauish Then sleepe shak't off round is her body gathered With dreadfull head on mounted necke vp lifted The voyce of the Aspe is hissing like all other Serpents and seldome is it heard to vtter any voyce or sound at all except when she is endangered or ready to set vpon her enemy Whereupon saith Nicander Graue sibilat ipsa Bestia dum certam vomit ira concita mortem In English thus This beast doth hisse with great and lowdest breath VVhen in her moode she threateneth certaine death That place of Dauid Psalme 58. which is vulgarly read a death Adder is more truely translated A deafe Aspe which when she is enchanted to auoyde the voyce of the Charmer she stoppeth one of her eares with her taile and the other she holdeth hard to the earth And of this incantation thus writeth Vincentius Belluacensis Virtute quorundā verborum incantatum aspis ne veneno interinat vel vt quidam dicunt vt quieta capi possit gemma de fronte eius auferri quae naturaliter in eo nascitur that is to say The Aspe is enchanted by vertue of certaine vvords so as she cannot kill with her poyson or as some say be taken quietly without resistance and so the Gemme or pretious stone be taken out of her forehead which naturally groweth therein And from the wordes of the Psalme a foresaid not onely the certaintie and effectuall vse of charming is gathered by Pierius but also by many iustified in the case of Serpents Whereof I haue already giuen mine opinion in the former generall Treatise vnto the which I will onely adde thus much in conclusion which I haue found in a certaine vnnamed Authour Daemones discurrunt cum verbis ad serpentes infectione interiori hoc faciunt vt serpentes ad nutum eorum moueantur ac sine laesione tractabiles exhibeantur Which is thus much in effect Deuils runne vp downe with words of enchauntment to Serpents and by an inward or secrete infection they bring to passe that the Serpents dispose thēselues after their pleasure and so are handled without all harme And indeed that it may appeare to be manifest that this incantation of Serpents is from the deuill and not from God this onely may suffice any reasonable man because the Psalmist plainely expresseth that the serpent shifteth it off auoideth Peritissimos mussitantium incantationes the most skilfull Charmers Now if it came from the vnresistable power of almighty God it should passe the resistance of them or deuills but beeing a fallacie of the deuill the serpent wiser in this poynt then men that beleeue it easily turneth tayle against it and in this thing we may learne to be wise as Serpents against the inchaunting temptations of the deuill or men which would beguile vs with shadowes of words and promises of no valuable pleasures If we may belieue Pliny Elianus and Philarchus the Egyptians liued familiarly vvith Aspes and with continued kindnes wanne them to be tame For indeede among other parts of their sauage beastlines they worshipped Aspes euen as houshold Gods by meanes whereof the subtill serpent grewe to a sensible conceit of his owne honour and freedome and therefore would walke vp and downe and play with their children doing no harme except they were wronged and would come and licke meate from the table when they were called by a certaine significant noyse made by knacking of the fingers For the guests after theyr dinner would mixe together hony wine and meale and then giue the signe at the hearing whereof they would all of them come foorth of their holes and creeping vp or lifting their heads to the table leauing their lower parts on the ground there licked they the said prepared meate in great temperance by little little without any rauening and then afterward departed when they were filled And so great is the reuerence they beare to Aspes that if any in the house haue neede to rise in the night time out of theyr beds they first of all giue out the signe or token least they should harme the Aspe and so prouoke it against them at the hearing whereof all the Aspes get them to their holes and lodgings till the person stirring be layd againe in his bed The holy kind of Aspes they call Thermusis and this is vsed and fedde in all their temples of Isis with the fat of Oxen or Kine Once in the yeere they crowne with them the Image of Isis and they say that this kind is not an enemy to men except to such as are very euill wherevpon it is death to kill one of them willingly It is reported of a certaine Gardiner making a ditch or trench in his Vineyarde by chaunce and ignorantly he set his spade vpon one of these Thermusis Aspes and so cut it asunder and when he turnd vp the earth he found the hinder-part dead and the fore-part bleeding and stirring at which sight his superstitious hart ouercome with a vaine feare became so passionately distressed that he fell into a vehement and lamentable frenzie So as all the day time he was not his owne man and in the night in his madde fits leapt out of his bed crying out with pittifull eager
their Clutches you may chance haue somewhat more flying about your eares then you would It is good therefore if you haue a Wife that is Calcata immitior hydra vnquiet and contentious to let her alone not to wake an angry Dogge and when a mischiefe is well quieted and brought asleepe to go your waies and say neuer a word Whereas among Bees their Drones and Kinges do want stinges yea and some Waspes too as before I haue writ yet notwithstanding all Hornets in generall as well the greater sort of them that builde their houses in trees as the lesser sort that dwell in the earth are prouided of stinges neither doth their Ring-leader seeme to bee vnarmed For Waspes haue theyr presidents of their owne society and their Captaines generall as well as Bees waspes whatsoeuer Pliny lib. 11. cap. 21. dreame to the contrary which in proportion and quantity are farre greater if you respect the bodies of other Hornets then either the captaines of the Bees or Waspes are in comparison of their subiects These also spend their time within doores as the captaines of Waspes do not hauing many but one head to guid rule ouer them least by banding into parties and factions some ciuill warre wherein all things are miserable as Tully saith or other mutinie might arise to their finall destruction They are great vexers and troublers and euen like such as had sworne the death of their enemies Robbers and Thieues And yet at home they nourish peace excelling euen the very Bees themselues in their painefull earnest and willing desire to maintaine their stocke and common society For neither do they chide braule or contend nor yet make any stir or rustling when any is promoted to any office or place of preferment in their corporation neither are they distracted into diuers mindes with their businesses neither yet doe they raise any tumult make any vprore or keepe a coyle or ruffling at the election of their Prince or captaine generall but with common consent they vse but one Table taking their commons together like good friends and fellowes and whatsoeuer they kill they carry some part of it home frankly imparting it to their neighbors children and companions Neither do they yearely driue and expell forth of the doores to seeke new habitations where they can as some Bees deale very churlishly and vnnaturall with their young but they contrarywise cherish in their bosome defend and keepe warme their new springed vp progeny and race building for them greater Houses and raysing of moe Sellers and flores bording and planking the same in case of necessity neuer ceasing till they be fully reard and made fit for their defence and safety But as for their King and captaine whom they exceedingly honor and highly esteeme they make choyce of such a one as neyther seemeth to be a King without a kingdome nor a Prince without people and possessions and yet he so behaueth himselfe and carryeth himselfe so euenly as though hee had but little to do in this his Empire And yet in largenesse of body and greatnes of his hart in stoutnesse and statelinesse of stomacke and person he staineth all the rest carrying away the prize from them all and when there is proclamation of warre to be made against any forraine foes and that their flags and ancients bee displayed by sounding his deadly blast he giueth the defiance to his enemies most couragiously bestirring himselfe more then any of his followers shewing himselfe both most vehement warlike and skilfull in fight and yet againe at home towardes his subiects like a true noble spirit he is very gratious gentle and temperate tractable easie to bee intreated and most ready to forgiue They make for themselues certaine holes or dwelling places vnder the ground casting forth the earth much after the fashion Pismires for you must vnderstand that neither Waspes nor Hornets do send forth any Swarmes as Bees doe but those young Hornets which spring from them now and then do there remaine among their breeders making their beds or hiues much greater by meanes of the earth formerly cast out They enlarge their Combes exceedingly by adding more and more vnto them so that of a strong and healthy stocke of Hornets it hath beene knowne they haue gathered three or foure Treyes or baskets full of Combes If any Hornets stray from their owne home they repayre to some tree l there in the top of it makes their Combs so that one many times may very easily and painely perceiue them in these they breede one captaine generall or great commaunder who when he is growne to be great he carryeth away the whole company placing them with him in some conuenient lodging Wilde Hornets as Pliny saith do liue in the hollow trunkes and cauities of trees there keeping themselues close all the winter long as other Cut-wasts do Their life is but short for they neuer exceede the age of two yeares Their combs are wrought with greater cunning more exquisite Art and curious conceit then those either of Waspes or Bees and these excellent deuisers doe make them one while in the trunkes of trees and sometimes againe in the earth encreasing them at their pleasure with more floores and buildings according to the encrease of their issue making them smooth and bright decking and trimming them with a certaine tough or binding slime or Gelly gathered from the gummy leaues of plantes Neither do any of the little mouths or entries of their Cells looke vpwardes but euery one bendeth downewardes and the bottome is placed vpwards least either the raine might soke thorough them in long shewers or the head of them being built vpwardes they might lye open and be the more subiect and exposed to the vnruly rage and furious blasts of winds and stormes If you eye well their nestes you shall finde them all for the most part exactly sex angular or sixe cornered the outward forme and fashion whereof is diuided with a murry coloured pertitions and their membranous substance is much like vnto the rinde or bark of Byrch which in the patching heat of Sommer cleaueth and openeth it selfe into chaps The stinging of Waspes is for the most part accompanied with a Feuer causing withall a carbuncle swelling and intollerable paine I my selfe beeing at Duckworth in Huntingtonshire my natiue soyle I saw on a time a great Waspe or Hornet making after and fiercely pursuing a Sparrow in the open street of the Towne who at length beeing wounded with her sting was presently cast to the ground the Hornet satisfieng her selfe with the sucked bloud of her quelled prey to the exceeding admiration of al the beholders and considerers of this seldome seene combate Aristotle whom I so greatly reuerence and at whose name I doe euen rise and make curtesie knowes not of a surety how Hornets do engender nor after what manner they bring forth their young breede But since we are assured of this that they bring forth their young
by the sides of their Cells as Waspes and Bees we need not doubt but that they doe all other matter after their manner and if they couple together they doe it by night as Cats do or else in some secret corner that Argus with his hundreth eyes can neuer espye it Hornets gather meate not from floures but for the most part they liue vppon flesh whereby it commeth to passe that you shall often finde them euen in the very dunghills or other ordure They also proule after great Flyes and hunt after small Byrdes which when they haue caught into their clutches after the manner of hungry Hawkes they first wound them in the head then cutting it asunder or parting it from the shoulders carrying the rest of the body with them they betake themselues to their accustomed flyght The greater sort of them dye in the hard winter because they store not themselues sufficiently aforehand with any sustenaunce as Bees doe but make their prouision but from hand to mouth as hunger enforceth them as Aristotle enformeth vs. In like sort Landius hath well obserued that Hornets both day and night keepe watch and Ward besides the Hiues of Bees and so getting vpon the poore Bees backs they vse them in stead of a waggon or carry age for when the silly Bee laboureth to be discharged of his cruell Sytter the Hornet when he hath sucked out all his iuyce and cleane bereft him of all his moysture vigour and strength like an vnthankefull Guest and the most ingratefull of all winged creatures he spareth not to kill and to eate vp his fosterate and chiefe maintainer They feede also vppon all sweete delicious and pleasant thinges and such as are not vntoothsome and bitter and the Indian Hornets are so rauenous and of such an insasiate gluttony as Ouidius reporteth that they fly vpon Oyle Butter greasie Cookes all sorts of sharpe sawce vsed with meates and all moyst and liquid thinges not sparing the very Napkins and Table clothes and other linnen that is any way soyled which they do filthily contaminate with the excrements of their belly with their Viscous laying of their egges But as they get their liuing by robbery and purloining of that which others by the sweat of their browes by their owne proper wits and inuention and without the ayde helpe of any do take great paines for so againe they want not a reuenge to punish a prouost Marshall to execute them for their wrongfull dealings tearmed of some a Gray Broch or Badger who in the full of the Moone maketh forcible entrance into their holes or lurking places destroying and turning topsie-turuy in a trice their whole stocke famile and linage with all their houshold stuffe and possessions Neither do they onely minister foode to this passing profitable and fat beast but they serue in stead of good Almanackes to country people to foretell tempests and change of weather as Hayle Raine and Snow for if they flye about in greater numbers and bee oftner seene about any place then vsually they are wont it is a signe of heate and fayre weather the next day But if about twilight they are obserued to enter often their nestes as though they would hide themselues you must the next day expect raine wind or some stormy troublesome or boysterous season whereupon Auienus hath these verses Sic crabronum rauca agmina si volitare Fine sub Autumni conspexeris athere longo Iam vespertinos primos cum commouet ortus Virgilius pelago dices instare procellam In English thus So if the buzzing troupes of Hornets hoarse to flye In spatious ayre bout Autumnes end you see When Virgill starre the euenings lampe espie Then from the Sea some stormy tempest sure shall be Furthermore since it is most certaine that those remedies which do heale the stingings of Waspes do also help those wounds and griefes which hornets by their cruell stinging cause yet notwithwanding as Aggregator hath pronounced the Zabor is the Bezoar or proper antidote of his owne hurt if he be oftentimes applyed with Vineger and Water Oyle and Cow-dung tempered together In like sort all manner of soiles and earths that are myry and muddy are much commended in this case such as Bacchus applyed to bald Selenus who was wounded with Hornets when longing for a little Hony he iogged shaked their nests thinking he had lighted vpon some Bees Hony which Ouid most elegantly 3. Fastocum hath described in these verses Millia crabronum coëunt vertice nud◠Spicula defigunt oraque prima notant Ille cadit praeceps calce feritur aselli Inclamatque socios anxiliumque vocat Concurrunt Satyri turgentiaque ora parentis Rident percusso claudicat ille genu Ridet ipse Deus limumque inducere monstras Hic paret monitis linit ora luto In English thus Of Hornets thousands on his head full bare And on his face their poysond speares sticke fast Then headlong downe he fell and Asses foot him smote Whiles he for help his voyce to fellowes cast The Satyres flocke came runne apace and did deride Their sires swellen mouth whiles Asse had made him lame The God himselfe did laugh yet shewed an earth to hide The wound which he receiued and so did heale the same If any one be desirous of moe medicines against the perillous and transpeircing stinging of these horne-mad Hornets he shall finde store of them digested together in the History of Waspes for their remedies are common belonging as well to the one as to the other there being no other difference but this that here they must be giuen in a greater measure or quantity and their vse ought longer to be continued And let this suffice to to haue spoken thus much of such insectes or Cut-wasted vermine as are winged and liue in companies and routes together Now will I make choyce to describe such as are winged and liue solitarily least I should seem to lose my selfe in this troublesome and vast Ocean of Physicall contemplation ⧠OF CANTHARIDES or Spanish Flyes THis kinde of Cut-wast is called of the Graecians Kantharis and among the Latines it changeth not his name Of the Frenchmen Cantaride Of the Italians Cantarella Of the Spaniards Cubillo Of the Germans Grüne Kefer Goldkaefer Amongst the Belgies or Netherlanders it is tearmed Spaensche Vlieghe and of vs English-men Cantharides and Spanish Flyes I haue seene two sorts of Cantharides the one great and the other small Of the greater sort some are thicke and long bodyed which are found among wheat and these are thicke grosse and vnwieldy like vnto Beetles they are also of sundry colours and changeable hew with Golden streekes or lines crossing their winges and these are best to bee vsed in Physicke They of the other lesser kind are leane and thinne scragges and staruelings broad hairy heauy and sluggish and for physicall vses little worth The greater sort also are not alwaies of a glistering green
the former sauing that this is altogether of a greene colour wanting those ouerthwarting crosse white markes or spots and the other small white pricks which we described in the former There is also a third sort of greene Catterpillers which when Autumne or the fall of leafe draweth on are turned into a certaine sheath or case beeing of a very hard and hornie substance of colour very browne and this feedeth altogether vpon pot-herbes especially those that be soft as Lettuce wherevpon it may not vnfitly be termed Eruca Laotucaria Lastly there is to be seene another sort of a greene colour which is the least of them all and this kind liueth and feedeth vpon trees especiall in the Oke there drawing out theyr webbe by meanes of which beeing styrred and shaken they easily fall downe vpon the heads of trauaylers and passengers by the way side cleauing to their hats garments And this kind of Catterpiller is too well knowne and found in the Sommer-time and when cold weather approacheth they fold themselues into a rude plaine nothing curious web And thus beeing included in a greenish scabbard or case tending to redde they all die in Winter and all these haue tenne feete as all they haue that goe bending themselues vpwards But to leaue the greene and come to them that are yellow there is to be found a certaine Catterpiller called Vinula being as the word soundeth a very elegant fine insect to looke vpon and passing beautifull this kind haue I often found amongst Willowes full sauourly feeding vpon theyr leaues His lyps and mouth are some-what yellow his eyes blacke as a cole his fore-head purple coloured the feete and hinder part of the body of a greene grassie hue his tayle two-forked and some-what blacke The whole body is as it were stained and dyed with thicke Red-wine which runneth alongst the necke and shoulders blades as it were in forme of a Burgonian crosse or of the Letter X made crosse-wise downe vnto the tayle with a white line addeth no small grace to the other parts There is yet another Catter-piller of yellow-blackish colour called Porcellus we may in English call it Pigges-snoute in respect of the fashion of the head especially the greater sort of these for the lesser haue round white specks vpon their sides and these liue and are altogether to be found amongst the leaues of the Marsh Trifolie which they consume deuoure with an incredible celeritie In the wilde Night-shade which the Italians call Belladona there is found a smooth Catterpiller of a yellow-greenish colour hauing a horne in his fore-head the length of a finger which Hierom Cardan the learned Phisitian reporteth that he had often seene The hayrie Catterpillers are most mischieuous and dangerous amongst them all and these are eyther thicke or thinne hayred and the most venomous is that which is called Pityocampe whose byting is poyson and this is euer found in the Pine-apple-tree beeing as thicke as three little fingers and three fingers long beeing layd a-crosse They consist of eleuen slyts or cuts betwixt the head and the tayle and they haue sixteene feete according as all other hayrie Palmer-wormes haue That is to say neere the head on both sides three in the middest of their body on both sides foure and at the end of the tayle on both sides one Their former feete are crooked and small with which they feele try and assay the way whether it be passable or no theyr other feete are broader with many iagges and notches like a savve to take the faster hold and stay with surer footing vppon smooth and slippery leaues Their head is much like a Pismires and the rest of their bodies like other common Catter-pillers They are rough full of bristly standing vp hayres on all sides and those in theyr sides are white but those on their backes doe shine beeing very bright and glistering the midst whereof is garnished with many spots as though it were full of eyes Their skinne is blacke which is soone seene their hayres beeing cut or taken cleane away All their hayres are but small and yet they sting more vehemently then any nettle whereby is caused intollerable paine burning itching a feauer and much disquietnesse when as their poyson is suddenly in a moment sent and conueighed without any manifest apparance or sence of any wound to be iudged by the eye vnto those parts that are next to the entralls as the harr liuer and the rest They weaue their webs after a fine and exquisite manner as Spyders do drawing out in length framing and trimming in good order their hayrie small threads And vnder these when night draweth on they lye as in their own proper tent and pauillion aswell to auoyde cold as the discōmodities of futious blasts stormes for the matter substance of this their tent is so handsomely wrought so firme stiffe clammy sure that they neither care for furious winds nor yet any raine or storme will euer soke thorow Besides the largenes of this house is such and of so great receit as it will easily receiue and lodge many thousands of Caterpillers They make their nests or buildings in the highest branches of the Pitch and Pine-trees where they liue not solitarily as other Palmer-wormes do but in flocks or cōpanies together Which way soeuer they take their iourny they are still spinning drawing out their threds for theyr web and early in the morning if it be likely to proue faire the younger sort by heapes attend the elder hauing first bared robbed the trees of all their boughes leaues for they make cleane riddance of all where-soeuer they come they afterwardes dexterouslie bend thēselues to their weauing craft They are the only plague destruction of pitch Pine-trees for vnto any other roziny or gummy trees they neuer doe harme There is great plentie of them to be found in the Mountaine of Athos scituate betwixt Macedonia and Thrace in the woods of Trident and in diuers valleyes beyond the Alpes in which places there is store of these fore-named Trees as Matthiolus saith They are doubtlesse most poysonous and venomous vermine whether they be crushed outwardlie with the hands or taken inwardly into the body yea they are so knowne manifest and so neuer fayling a poyson so esteemed of in times past as that Vlpian the famous Lawyer interpreting the Law Cornelia De Sicarijs or priuie murtherers that he in that place calleth and esteemeth the giuer of any Pityocampie in drinke or otherwise to any one to be doomed a murtherer and their punishment to be equalized Sect. Alium ff ad Leg. Corn. de sie As soone as this kind of Catterpiller is receiued into the body there followeth immediatly a great paine extreamely tormenting the mouth and palate the tongue belly and stomacke are grieuously inflamed by their corroding and gnawing poysonous qualitie besides the intollerable payne the receiuer feeleth although at first the partie seemeth
De radice cobibij egredietur regulus semen eius absorbens volucrem That is to say Out of the Serpents rootes shall come a Cockatrice and the fruite thereof shall bee a fiery flying Serpent as wee translate it in English but Tremellius the best Interpreter doth render the Hebrew in this maner De radice Serpentis prodit haemorrhus fructus illius prester volans That is to say VVord for word Out of the roote of the Serpent shall come the Haemorrhe and the fruite thereof a flying Prester Now we know that the Haemorrhe and the Prester are two other different kindes of Serpentes from the Cockatrice and therefore these Interpreters beeing the more faithfull and learned wee will rather followe the Holy Scripture in theyr translation then the vulgar Latine which is corrupted in very many places as it is also Esay the 30. verse sixe For Praester there is againe in the vulgar translation the Cockatrice and for this cause vvee haue not described the Cockatrice vvith winges as not finding sufficient authority to warrant the same The eyes of the Cockatrice are redde or somewhat inclyning to blackenesse the skinne and carkase of this beast haue beene accounted precious for wee doe read that the Pergameni did buy but certaine peeces of a Cockatrice and gaue for it two pound and a halfe of Syluer and because there is an opinion that no Byrd Spyder or venomous Beast will indure the sight of this Serpent they did hang vppe the skinne thereof stuffed in the Temples of Apollo and Dinna in a certaine thinne Net made of Gold and therefore it is sayde that neuer any Swallow Spider or other Serpent durst come within those Temples And not onely the skinne or the sight of the Cockatrice worketh this effect but also the flesh thereof being rubbed vppon the pauement postes or Walles of any House And moreouer if Siluer bee rubbed ouer with the powder of the Cockatrices flesh it is likewise sayde that it giueth it a tincture like vnto Golde and besides these qualities I remember not any other in the flesh or skinne of this serpent The hissing of the Cockatrice which is his naturall voyce is terrible to other serpents and therefore as soone as they heare the same they prepare themselues to fly away according to these verses of Nicander Illius auditos expectant nulla susurrâ—s Quantumuis magnas sinuent animalia spiras Quando vel in pastum vel opacae deuiae siluae Irriguósue locos mediae sub luce diei Excandescenti succensa furore feruntur Sed turpi coÌ„uersa fugae dant terga retrorsum Which may be englished thus When as the greatest winding Serpents heare Feeding in woods or pasture all abroad Although inclos'd in many spiers yet feare Or in mid-day the shaddowes neare brookes road The fearefull hissing of this angry beast They runne away as fast as feete can lead them Flying his rage vnto some other rest Turning their backes whereby they do escape him We read also that many times in Affrica the Mules fall downe dead for thirst or elsely dead on the ground for some other causes vnto whose Carkase innumerable troupes of Serpentes gather themselues to feede thereuppon but when the Bazeliske windeth the sayd dead body he giueth forth his voyce at the first hearing whereof all the Serpents hide themselues in the neare adioyning sandes or else runne into theyr holes not daring to come forth againe vntill the Cockatrice haue well dyned and satisfied himselfe At which time he giueth another signall by his voyce of his departure theÌ„ come they forth but neuer dare meddle with the remnants of the dead beast but go away to seek some other prey And if it happen that any other pestiferous beast come vnto the waters to drink neare the place wherein the Cockatrice is lodged so soone as it perceiueth the presence thereof although it be not heard nor seene yet it deaparteth back againe without drinking neglecting his owne nutriment to saue itselfe from further danger whereupon Lucanus saith Latè sibi submouet omne Vulgus in vacua regnat Basiliscus árena Which may be thus englished He makes the vulgar farre from him to stand While Cockatrice alone raignes on the sand So then it beeing euident that the hissing of a Cockatrice is terrible to all Serpentes and his breath and poyson mortall to all manner of Beastes yet hath GOD in nature not left this vilde Serpent without an enemie for the Weasell and the Cocke are his tryumphant Victors and therefore Pliny sayth well Huic tali monstre quod saepe enectum concupiuere reges videre mustelarum virus exitio est adeò naturae nihil placuit esse sinae pari That is to say This monster which euen Kinges haue desired to see when it was dead yet is destroyed by the poyson of Weasels for so it hath pleased nature that no beast should be without his match The people therefore when they take Weasells after they haue found the Caues and lodging places of the Cockatrices vvhich are easily discerned by the vpper face of the earth vvhich is burned with theyr hotte poyson they put the Weasell in vnto her at the sight whereof the Cockatrice flyeth like a weakeling ouermatched with too strong an aduersary but the Weasell followeth after and killeth her Yet this is to bee noted that the Weasell both before the fight and after the slaughter armeth her selfe by eating of Rue or else she would bee poysoned with the contagious ayre about the Cockatrice and besides this Weasell there is no other beast in the World which is able to stand in contention against the Cockatrice saith Lemnius Againe euen as a Lyon is afrayd of a cock so is the Bazeliske for he is not onely afrayd at his sight but almost dead when hee heareth him crow which thing is notoriously knowne throughout all Affrica And therefore all Trauellers which goe through the Desertes take with them a Cocke for theyr safe conduct against the poyson of the Bazeliske and thus the crowing of the Cocke is a terror to Lyons a death to Cockatrices yet he himselfe is afraid of a Kite There are certaine learned Writers in Saxonie which affirme that there are many kindes of Serpentes in theyr Woods whereof one is not vnlike to a Cockatrice for they say it hath a very sharpe head a yellow colour in length not exceeding three Palmes of a great thickenesse his belly spotted and adorned with many white prickes the backe blew and the tayle crooked and turned vppe but the opening of his mouth is farre wyder then the proportion of his body may seeme to beare These Serpentes may well bee referred to Cockatrices for howsoeuer theyr poyson is not so great as the Bazeliskes of Affrica euen as all other Serpentes of the hotte Countryes are farre more pestiferous then those which are bred in the cold Countries the very same reason perswadeth mee that there is a difference among the Cockatrices
and that those of Saxonia may differ in poyson from those in Affrica and yet bee true Cockatrices Besides this there is another reason in Lemnius which perswadeth the Reader they are no Cockatrices because when the Country-men set vppon them to kill them with Clubs Billes or Forkes they receiue no hurt at all by them neither is there any apparant contagion of the Ayre but this is aunswered already that the Poyson in the colde Countrey is nothing to great as in the hot and therefore in Saxony they neede feare the byting and not the ayres infection Gardan relateth another story of a certaine Serpent which was found in the walles of an olde decayed House in Millan the head of it sayth he was as bigge as an Egge too bigge for the body which in quantity and shape resembled a Stellion There vvere teeth on eyther chappe such as are in Vipers It hadde two Legges and those very short but great and their feete had clavves like a Cats so that vvhen it stood it vvas like a Cocke for it hadde a bunch on the toppe of the head and yet it vvanted both Fethers and Winges The tayle was as long as the body in the top whereof there was a round bunch as big as the head of an Italian Stellian It is very likely that this beast is of the kind of Cockatrices Now we are to intreate of the poyson of this serpent for it is a hot and venomous poison infecting the Ayre round about so as no other Creature can liue neare him for it killeth not onely by his hissing and by his sight as is sayd of the Gorgons but also by his touching both immediately and mediately that is to say not onely vvhen a man toucheth the body it selfe but also by touching a Weapon wherewith the body was slayne or any other dead beast slaine by it and there is a common fame that a Horse-man taking a Speare in his hand which had beene thrust through a Cockatrice did not onely draw the poyson of it into his owne body and so dyed but also killed his Horse thereby Lucan writeth Quid prodest miseri Basiliscus cuspide Mauri Transactus velox currit per tela venenum Inuadit manumque equumque In English thus What had the Moore to kill The Cockatrice with speare Sith the swift poyson him did spill And horse that did him beare The question is in what part of this Serpent the poyson doth lye Some say in the head alone and that therefore the Bazeliske is deafe bycause the Ayre which serueth the Organe of hearing is resolued by the intensiue calidity but this seemeth not to bee true that the poyson shoulde bee in the head onely because it killeth by the fume of the whole body and besides when it is dead it killeth by onely touching it and the Man or Beast so slayne doth also by touching kill another Some agayne say that the poyson is in the breast and that therefore it breatheth at the sides and at many other places of the body through and betwixt the scales which is also true that it doth so breath for otherwise the burning fume that proceedeth from this poysonfull beast would burne vppe the Intrals thereof if it came out of the ordinary place and therefore Almighty GOD hath so ordained that it should haue spiraments and breathing places in euery part of the body to vent away the heate least that in very short time by the iuclusion thereof the whole compage and iuncture of the body should be vtterly dissolued and separated one part from another But to omit inquiry in what part of his body the poyson lyeth seeing it is most manifest that it is vniuersall we will leaue the seate thereof and dispute of the instruments and effectes First of all therefore it killeth his owne kinde by sight hearing and touching By his owne kinde I meane other Serpentes and not other Cockatrices for they can liue one beside another for if it were true which I doe not beleeue that the Arabian Harmene were any other Serpent then a Cockatrice the very same reason that Ardoynus giueth of the fellowshippe of these two Serpents together because of the similitudes of their natures may very vvell prooue that no diuers kindes can liue so well together in safety without harming one or other as doe one and the same kind together And therefore there is more agreement in nature betwixt a Cockatrice and a Cockatrice then a Cockatrice and Harmene and it is more likely that a Cockatrice dooth not kill a Cockatrice then that a Cockatrice doth not kill an Harmene And againe Cockatrices are ingendered by Egges according to the Holy Scripture and therefore one of them killeth not another by touching hissing or seeing because one of them hatcheth another But it is a question whether the Cockatrice dye by the sight of himselfe some haue affirmed so much but I dare not subscribe therevnto because in reason it is vnpossible that any thing should hurt it selfe that hurteth not another of his owne kinde yet if in the secret of nature GOD haue ordayned such a thing I will not striue against them that can shew it And therefore I cannot without laughing remember the olde Wiues tales of the Vulgar Cockatrices that haue bin in England for I haue oftentimes heard it related confidently that once our Nation was full of Cockatrices and that a certaine man did destroy them by going vppe and downe in Glasse whereby their owne shapes were reflected vpon their owne faces and so they dyed But this fable is not worth refuting for it is more likely that the man should first haue dyed by the corruption of the ayre from the Cockatrice then the Cockatrice to die by the reflection of his owne similitude from the glasse except it can be shewed that the poysoned ayre could not enter into the glasse wherein the man did breathe Among all liuing creatures there is none that perrisheth sooner then dooth a man by the poyson of a Cockatrice for with his sight he killeth him because the beames of the Cockatrices eyes doe corrupt the visible spirit of a man which visible spirit corrupted all the other spirits comming from the braine and life of the hart are thereby corrupted so the man dyeth euen as women in their monthly courses doe vitiat their looking-glasses or as a Wolfe suddainly meeting a man taketh from him his voyce or at the least-wise maketh him hoarse To conclude this poyson infecteth the ayre and the ayre so infected killeth all liuing things and likewise all greene things fruites and plants of the earth it burneth vp the grasse where-vppon it goeth or creepeth the fowles of the ayre fall downe dead when they come neere his denne or lodging Some-times hee byteth a man or a beast and by that wound the blood turneth into choller and so the whole body becommeth yellow as gold presently killing all that touch it or come neere it The symptomes are thus
or presence be of small stature yet heerein is theyr courage admired because at the suddaine sight of a Crocodile they are no whit daunted for one of these dare meete and prouoke him to runne away They will also leape into the Riuers and swimme after the Crocodile and meeting with it without feare cast themselues vppon the Beasts backe ryding on him as vppon a horse And if the Beast lift vppe his head to byte him when hee gapeth they put into his mouth a wedge holding it hard at both ends with both their hands so as it were with a bridle leade or rather driue them captiues to the Land vvhere with theyr noyse they so terrifie them that they make them cast vppe the bodies which they had swallowed into theyr bellies because of this antypathy in nature the Crocodiles dare not come neere to this Iland The like thing wee haue before in our generall discourse of Serpents shewed to be in the Indian Psylli against the greatest Serpents And Strabo also hath recorded that at what time crocodiles were brought to Rome these Tentyrites folowed droue thē For whom there was a certaine great poole or fish-pond assigned and walled about except one passage for the Beast to come out of the water into the sun-shine and when the people came to see them these Tentyrites with nettes would draw them to the Land put them backe againe into the water at theyr owne pleasure For they so hooke them by theyr eyes and bottome of theyr bellyes which are their tenderest partes that like as horses broken by theyr Riders they yeelde vnto them and forget theyr strength in the presence of these theyr Conquerours Peter Martyr in his third booke of his Babylonian Lagation saith that from the Cittie Cair to the Sea the Crocodiles are not so hurtfull and violent as they are vp the Riuer Nilus into the Land and against the streame For as you goe further vp the Riuer neere the mountanie and hilly places so shall you find them more fierce bloody and vnresistable whereof the inhabitants gaue him many reasons First because that part of the Riuer which is betwixt the Citty Cair and the Sea is very full of all sorts of fishes whereby the beasts are so filled with deuouring of them that they list not come out of the water on the Land to hunt after men or cattell and therefore they are the lesse hurtfull for euen the Lyon and Wolfe doe cease to kill deuoure when theyr bellyes are full But sometimes the Crocodiles beneath the Riuer follow the gales or troupes of fish vp the Riuer like so many Fisher-men and then the Country Fisher-men inclose them in Nettes and so destroy them For there is a very great reward proposed by the Law of the Country to him that killeth a Crocodile of any great quantitie and therefore they grow not great and by reason of their smalnes are lesse aduenturous For so soone as a great Crocodile is discouered there is such watch and care taken to interrupt and kill him for hope of the reward that he cannot long escape aliue Thirdly the Crocodiles vp the Riuer towards the Mountaines are more hurtfull because they are pressed with more hunger and famine and more sildome come within the terrour of men wherefore they forsake the waters and run vp and downe to seeke preyes to satisfie their hunger which when they meet withall they deuoure with an vnresistable desire forced and pressed forward by hunger which breaketh stone walls But most commonly when the Riuer Nilus is lowest and sunck downe into the channell then the Crocodiles in the waters doe growe most hungry because the fish are gone away with the floods and then the subtile beast will heale and couer himselfe ouer with sand or mudde and so lye in the banke of the Riuer where hee knoweth the women come to fetch water or the cattell to drinke and when he espieth his aduantage he suddainely taketh the woman by the hand that she taketh vp water withall and draweth her into the Riuer where he teareth her in peeces and eateth her In like sort dealeth he with Oxen Cowes Asses and other cattell If hunger force him to the Land and he meete with a Cammell horse Asse or such like beast then with the force and blowes of his tayle he breaketh his legges and so laying him flat on the earth killeth and eateth him for so great is the strength of a Crocodiles tayle that it hath beene seene that one stroke thereof hath broken all the foure legges of a beast at one blow There is also another perrill by Crocodiles for it is saide that when Nilus falleth and the water waxeth low the Barkes thorough want of wind are faine by the Marriners to to be tugged vp the streame with long lynes and cordes the subtile Crocodile seeing the same doth suddainely with his tayle smite the same line with such force that eyther hee breaketh it or by his forcible violence tumbleth the Marriner downe into the vvater whom he is ready to receiue with open mouth before he can recouer Yea many times by meanes thereof the Barke it selfe so tottereth and reeleth that the violent beast taketh a man out of it or else cleane ouer-turneth it to the destruction of all that are in it Aelianus saith that among the Ombitae which are in Arsinoe the Crocodiles are harmelesse and hauing seuerall names when they are called doe put their heads out of the vvater and take meate gently which meate is the head and garbage of such sacrifices as are brought thether But in another place hee writeth that among the Ombitae or Coptitae it is not safe for a man to fetch water from the Riuer or to wash theyr feete or walke on the Riuers side but with great caution and warines For euen those beastes which are most kindly vsed by men doe rage against their Benefactours as namely the Crocodile the Ichneumon the Wild-cats and such like And yet Plutarch in his booke Vtra animalium saith that the Priestes by the custome of meate-giuing haue made some of them so tame that they will suffer theyr mouthes and teeth to be clensed by men And it is further said that during the seauen Ceremoniall dayes of the natiuity of Apis there is none of thē that sheweth any wilde tricke or cruell part but as it were by compact betwixt them and the Priestes they lay aside all cruelty and rage during that time And therefore Cicero writeth most excellently saying Egyptiorum morem quis ignoret quorum imbutae mentes prauitatum erroribus quamvis carnificinam potius subierint quam ibim aut aspidem aut crocodilum violent That is to say Who is ignorant of the custome of the Egyptians whose mindes are so seasoned and indued with erronious wickednesse that they had rather vnder-goe any torment then offer violence to an Ibis an Aspe or a holy Crocodile For in diuers places all these and Cats also were worshipped
it forth Verse 5. So she brought forth a man-child which should rule all Nations with a rodde of yron And her Sonne was taken vp vnto God and to his throne Verse 6. And the Woman fledde into the Wildernes where she hath a place prepared of God that they should feede her there 1260. dayes Verse 7. And there was a battaile in heauen Michaell and his Angels fought against the Dragon and the Dragon fought and his Angels Verse 8. But they preuailed not neither was theyr place found any more in heauen Verse 9. And the great Dragon that old Serpent called the deuill and Satan was cast out which deceiueth all the world he was euen cast vnto the earth and his Angels were cast out with him Verse 13. And when the dragon saw that he was cast vnto the earth he persecuted the VVoman which had brought forth a man-child and so forth as it followeth in the Text. Where-vppon S. Augustine writeth Diabolus draco dicitur propter insidias quia occulte insidiatur that is the deuill is called a dragon because of his treachery for he doth treacherously set vpon men to destroy them It was wont to be said because dragons are the greatest Serpents that except a Serpent eate a serpent he shall neuer be a dragon for theyr opinion was that they grew so great by deuouring others of their kind and indeede in Ethiopia they grow to be thirtie yardes long neither haue they any other name for those dragons but Elephant-killers they liue very long Onesicritus writeth that one Aposisares an Indian did nourish two Serpents dragons whereof one was sixe and forty cubits long and the other fourescore and for the more famous verification of the fact he was a very earnest suter to Alexander the great when he was in India to come and see them but the King beeing afraid refused The Chroniclers of the affayres of Chius doe write that in a certaine valley neere to the foote of the mountaine Pellenaus was a valley full of straite tall Trees wherein was bred a dragon of wonderfull magnitude or greatnes whose onely voyce or hissing did terrifie all the Inhabitants of Chius and therefore there was no man that durst come nigh vnto him to consider or to take a perfect view of his quantitie suspecting onely his greatnesse by the loudenesse of his voyce vntill at length they knewe him better by a singuler accident worthy of eternall memory For it hapned on a time that such a violent wind did arise as did beate together all the Trees in the wood by which violent collision the branches fell to be on fire and so all the wood was burned suddainely compassing in the dragon whereby he had no meanes to escape aliue and so trees fell downe vpon him burned him Afterward when the fire had made the place bare of wood the inhabitants might see the quantity of the dragon for they found diuers of his bones his head which were of such vnusuall greatnes as did sufficiently confirme them in their former opinion and thus by diuine miracle was this monster consumed who neuer any man durst behold beeing aliue and the inhabitants of the Country safely deliuered from their iust conceiued feare It is also reported that Alexander among many other beastes which hee saw in India did there finde in a certaine denne a dragon of seauentie cubites long which the Indians accounted a sacred beast and therefore intreated Alexander to doe it no harme When it vttered the voyce with full breath it terrified his whole Armie they could neuer see the proportion of his body but onely the head and by that they gessed the quantitie of the whole body for one of his eyes in their appearance seemed as great as a Macedonian buckler Maximus Tyrius writeth that in the dayes of Alexander there was likewise seene a dragon in India as long as fiue roodes of land are broade which is incredible For hee likewise saith that the Indians did feede him euery day with many seuerall Oxen and sheepe It may be that it was the same spoken of before which some ignorant men and such as were giuen to sette forth fables amplified beyond measure and credite Whereas dragons are bredde in India and Affrica the greatest of all are in India for in Ethiopia Nubia and Hesperia the dragons are confined within the length of fiue cubits twenty cubits for in the time of Euergetes there were three brought into Egypt one was nine cubits long which with great care was nourished in the Temple of Esculapius the other two were seauen cubits long About the place where once the Tower of Babell was builded are dragons of great quantitie and vnder the Equinoctiall as Nicephorus Callistus writeth there are Serpents as thicke as beames in testimony wherof their skinnes haue been brought to Rome And therefore it is no maruell although S. Austine writing vpon the 148. Psalme doth say Draconis magna quedam sunt animantia maiora non sunt super terram dragons are certaine great beasts and there are none greater vpon the earth Neither is it to be thought incredible that the souldiours of Attilius Regulus did kill a dragon which was a hundred and twenty foote long or that the dragons in the dennes of the Mountaine Atlas should grow so great that they can scarce moue the fore-parts of their bodie I am yet therefore to speake of the dragons in the Montaines Emodij or of Arigia or of Dachinabades or the Regions of the East or of that which Augustus shewed publiquely to the people of Rome beeing fiftie cubits long or of those which be in the Alpes which are found in certaine Caues of the South-sides of the hills so that this which hath beene said shall suffise for the quantitie and Countries of dragons Besides there are other kindes of dragons which I must speake of in order and first of all of the Epidaurian dragons which is bred no where but in that Country beeing tame and of yellow golden-colour wherefore they were dedicated to Aesculapius of whom Nicander writeth in this manner Nunc veridem et nigrem post dicta venena Drachonem Aspice quem patulafago Phoebia proles Ingelido peli nutriuit culmine iuxta Letae pelethuniae quondam decliuia vallis In English thus After these venoms now behold the dragon blacke and greene Nourished by Apollos sonne vnder a Beech full broade On top of the cold Pelus as often hath beene seene By fertill vale of Pelethun his slyding roade There are likewise other kindes of Tame-dragons in Macedonia vvhere they are so meeke that women feede them and suffer them to sucke their breasts like little children their Infants also play with them riding vppon them and pinching them as they would doe with dogges without any harme and sleeping with them in their beds But among all dragons there was none more famous then the dragon Python or Pithias as the Poets faine which was bred of the
slyme of the earth after the flood of Ducalion and slaine afterwards by Apollo whereof there lieth this tale That when Latona was with childe by Iupiter of Apollo and Diana Iuno resisted their birth but when they were borne and layde in the cradle she sent the dragon Python to deuoure them Apollo beeing but a young Infant did kill the dragon with a darte But this tale seemeth too fabulous and incredible and therefore they haue mended the matter with another deuice For they say that Python by the commaundement of Iuno did persecute Latona throughout all the world seeking to deuoure her so as she had no rest vntill shee came vnto her sister Asteria who receiued her into Delos where she was safely deliuered of Apollo and Diana Afterward when the child was growne vp he slew the dragon in remembrance reuenge of the wrong done to his mother But the true cause of this history is deliuered by Pausanias Macrobius to be thus That Apollo killed one Python a very wicked man in Delphos that the Poets in excuse of the fact did faine him to be a dragon as afore-said And so I shall not neede to say any more of Python except these verses following out of Ouid about his generation Sed te quoque maxime Python Tum genuit populisque nouis incognite serpens Terror eras tantum spatij de monte tenebras Hunc Deus arcitenens nunquam talibus armis Antè nici in damis caprisque fugacibus vsus Mille grauem telis exhausta penepharetra Perdidit effuso per vulnera nigra veneno Neue operis famam posset delere vetustas Inflituit sacros celebri certamine ludos Pithia per domitae serpentis nominem dictor Caeruleus tali prostratus Apolline Python Which may be englished thus But yet thou vgly Python wert engendered by her tho A terrour to the new-made-folke which neuer erst had knowne So foule a Dragon in their life so monstrously fore-growne So great a ground thy poysond paunch did vnderneath thee hyde The God of shooting who no where before that present tyde Those kind of weapons put in vre but at the speckled Deere Or at the Roes so light of foote a thousand shafts well neere Did on that hydeous Serpent spend of which there was not one But forced forth the venomd-blood along his sides to gone So that his quiuer almost void he nayld him to the ground And did him nobly at the last by force of shot confound And least that time should of this worke deface the worthy fame He did ordaine in mind thereof a great and solemne game Which of the Serpent that he slew of Pythions bare the name Of the Indian Dragons there are also said to be two kindes one of them fenny and liuing in the Marshes which are slow of pace and without combes on their heades like females the other in the Mountaines which are more sharpe and great and haue combes vpon their head their backs beeing some-what browne and all their bodies lesse scalie then the other When they come downe from the mountaines into the plaine to hunt they are neither afraid of Marshes nor violent waters but thrust themselues greedily into all hazards and dangers and because they are of longer and stronger bodies then the dragons of the Fennes they beguile them of their meate take away from them their prepared booties Some of them are of a yellowish fieric-colour hauing also sharpe backs like sawes these also haue beardes and when they sette vppe their scales they shine like siluer The apples of their eyes are precious stones and as bright as fire in which there is affirmed to be much vertue against many diseases and therefore they bring vnto the Hunters and killers of dragons no small gaine besides the profit of theyr skinne and theyr teeth and they are taken when they descend from the mountaines into the valleyes to hunt the Elephants so as both of them are kild together by the Hunters Their members are very great like vnto the members of the greatest Swine but theyr bodies are leaner flexibly turning to euery side according to the necessitie of motion Their snoutes are very strong resembling the greatest rauening fishes they haue beardes of a yellowe golden colour being full of bristles and the Mountaine-dragons commonly haue more deepe eye-liddes then the dragons of the Fennes Their aspect is very fierce and grimme and whensoeuer they mooue vppon the earth their eyes giue a sound from theyr eye-liddes much like vnto the tinckling of Brasse and some-times they boldly venture into the Sea and take Fishes OF THE WINGED DRAGON THere be some Dragons which haue winges and no feete some againe haue both feete and wings and some neither feete nor wings but are onely distinguished from the common sort of Serpents by the combe growing vppon their heads and the beard vnder their cheekes Saint Augustine saith that dragons doe abide in deepe Caues and hollow places of the earth and that some-times when they perceiue moistnes in the ayre they come out of theyr holes and beating the ayre with their winges as it were with the strokes of oares they forsake the earth and flie aloft which wings of theirs are of a skinny substance and very voluble and spreading themselues wide according to the quantitie and largenesse of the dragons bodie which caused Lucan the Poet in his verses to write in this maner following Vos quoque qui cunctis innoxia numina terris Serpitis aurato nitidifulgore Dracones Pestiferos ardens facit Affrica ducitis altum Aëra cum pennis c. In English thus You shining Dragons creeping on the earth Which fiery Affrick holds with skinnes like gold Yet pestilent by hot infecting breath Mounted with wings in th' ayre we doe behold The inhabitants of the kingdome of Georgia once called Media doe say that in theyr Valleyes there are diuers Dragons which haue both wings and feete and that their feete are like vnto the feete of Geese Besides there are dragons of sundry colours for some of them are blacke some redde some of an Ashe-colour some yellow and their shape and outward appearance verie beautifull according to the verses of Nicander Formosa apparet species pulchro illius orae Triplici conspicui se produnt ordine dentes Magna sub egregia scintillant lumina fronte Tinctaque felle tegunt imum paleariamentum Which may be englished thus Their forme of presence outwardly appeares All beautifull and in their goodly mouth Their teeth stand double all one within another Conspicuous order so doth bewray the truth Vnder their browes which are both great and wide Stand twinckling eyes as bright as any starre With redde-galls tincture are their dewlaps dyed Their chinne or vnder-chappe to couer farre Gyllius Pierius and Greuinus following the authoritie of this Poet doe affirme that a Dragon is of a blacke colour the bellie some-what greene very beautifull to behold hauing a treble rowe of teeth in theyr
mouthes vppon euery iawe and with most bright and cleere-seeing eyes vvhich caused the Poets to faine in their writings that these dragons are the watchfull-keepers of Treasures They haue also two dewlappes grovving vnder their chinne and hanging downe like a beard which are of a redde colour theyr bodies are sette all ouer with very sharpe scales and ouer theyr eyes stand certaine flexible eye-liddes When they gape wide with their mouth and thrust foorth their tongue theyr teeth seeme very much to resemble the teeth of Wilde-Swine And theyr neckes haue many times grosse thicke hayre growing vpon them much like vnto the bristles of a VVilde-Boare Their mouth especially of the most tame-able Dragons is but little not much bigger then a pype through which they drawe in theyr breath for they wound not vvith theyr mouth but with theyr tayles onely beating with thē when they are angry But the Indian Ethiopian and Phrygian dragons haue very wide mouthes through which they often swallow in whole foules and beasts Theyr tongue is clouen as if it were double and the Investigators of nature doe say that they haue fifteene teeth of a side The males haue combes on their heads but the females haue none and they are likewise distinguished by their beards They haue most excellent sences both of seeing and hearing and for this cause theyr name Drakon cōmeth of Derkein and this was one cause why Iupiter the Heathens great God is said to be metamorphised into a Dragon whereof there flieth this tale vvhen he fell in loue with Proserpina he rauished her in the likenes of a dragon for hee came vnto her and couered her with the spires of his body and for this cause the people of Sabazij did obserue in their misteries or sacrifices the shape of a dragon rowled vp within the cōpasse of his spires so that as he begot Ceres with child in the likenes of a Bull he likewise deluded her daughter Proserpina in the likenes of a dragon but of these transmutations we shall speake more afterwards I thinke the vanity of these tooke first ground frō the Affricans who beleeue that the originall of dragons tooke beginning from the vnnaturall cōiunction of an Eagle a shee-Wolfe And so they say that the Wolfe growing great by this conception doth not bring forth as at other times but her belly breaketh and the dragon commeth out who in his beake and wings resembleth the dragon his father and in his feete and tayle the vvolfe his mother but in the skin neither of them both but this kind of fabulus generation is already sufficiently confuted Their meates are fruites and herbes or any venomous creature therfore they liue long without foode and when they eate they are not easily filled They grow most fat by eating of egs in deuouring wherof they vse this Art if it be a great dragon he swalloweth it vp whole and then rowleth him selfe whereby hee crusheth the egges to peeces in his belly and so nature casteth out the shells keepeth in the meate But if it be a young dragon as if it were a dragons whelp he taketh the egge within the spire of his tayle and so crusheth it hard holdeth it fast vntill his scales open the shell like a knife then sucketh hee out of the place opened all the meate of the egge In like sort do the young ones pull off the feathers frō the foules which they eate and the old ones swallow them whole casting the feathers out of theyr bellyes againe The dragons of Phrygia when they are hungry turne themselues toward the west gaping wide with the force of their breath doe draw the birdes that flie ouer their heads into their throats which some haue thought is but a voluntary lapse of the fowles to be drawne by the breath of the dragon as by a thing they loue but it is more probable that some vaporous and venomous breath is sent vp from the dragon to them that poysoneth and infecteth the ayre about them whereby their sences are taken from them and they astonished fall downe into his mouth But if it fortune the dragons find not foode enough to satisfie their hunger then they hide themselues vntill the people be returned from the market or the Heard-men bring home their flocks and vppon a suddaine they deuoure eyther men or beastes which come first to their mouthes then they goe againe and hide themselues in their dennes and hollow Caues of the earth for theyr bodies beeing exceeding hote they very sildome come out of the cold earth except to seeke meate and nourishment And because they liue onely in the hottest Countries therefore they commonlie make theyr lodgings neere vnto the waters or else in the coldest places among the Rocks and stones They greatlie preserue their health as Aristotle affirmeth by eating of Wild-lettice for that they make them to vomit and cast foorth of theyr stomacke what-soeuer meate offendeth them and they are most speciallie offended by eating of Apples for theyr bodies are much subiect to be filled with winde and therefore they neuer eate Apples but first they eate Wilde-lettice Theyr sight also as Plutarch sayth doth many times grow weake and feeble and therefore they renew and recouer the same againe by rubbing their eyes against Fennell or else by eating of it Their age could neuer yet be certainely knowne but it is coniectured that they liue long and in great health like to all other Serpents therefore they grow so great They doe not onely liue on the land as we haue said already but also swimme in the water for many times they take the Sea in Ethyopia foure or fiue of them together folding theyr tayles like hurdles and holding vp their heads so swim they ouer to seeke better foode in Arabia We haue said already that when they set vpon Elephants they are taken and killed of men now the manner how the Indians kill the Mountaine-dragons is thus they take a garment of Scarlet and picture vpon it a charme in golden letters this they lay vpon the mouth of the Dragons denne for with the redde colour and the gold the eyes of the dragon are ouer-come and he salleth asleepe the Indians in the meane-season watching muttering secretly words of Incantation when they perceiue he is fast asleepe suddainely they strike off his necke with an Axe and so take out the balls of his eyes wherein are lodged those rare precious stones which containe in them vertues vnvtterable as hath beene euidently prooued by one of them that was included in the Ring of Gyges Manie times it falleth out that the dragon draweth in the Indian both with his Axe and Instruments into his denne and there deuoureth him in the rage whereof hee so beateth the Mountaine that it shaketh When the dragon is killed they make vse of the skin eyes teeth and flesh as for the flesh it is of a vitriall or glassie colour and the Ethiopians doe eate it
liue in the bottome or rootes of Oakes where they make their nestes for which cause they be called Querculi as if they were deriued from an Oake which caused the Countrey-people to call it Dendrogailla which signifieth the Male and Female in this kind being bred onely in one part of Affricke and in Helâ—spont and there be of them two kinds one of the length of two cubits being very fat round and very sharp scales ouer the backe and they are called Druinae of Drus that signifieth an Oake because they liue in bottome of Oakes they are also called Chelydri because of their sharp skinnes or scales for it is the manner of the Latins and the Graecians to call the hard and rough skinne of the body of man and beast by the name of Chellydra and I take the serpents Cylmdri to be the same that the dryines be Within the scales of this serpent there are bred certaine Flyes with yellow winges as yellow as any Brasse the which Flyes at length do cate and destroy the serpent that breedeth them The colour of theyr backe is blackish and not white as some haue thought and the sauour or smell comming from them like to the smell of a Horses hide wet as it commeth out of the pit to be shauen by the hand of the Tawyer or Glouer And Bellonius writeth that he neuer saw any serpent greater then this Dryine which hee calleth Dendrozailla nor any that hisseth stronger for he affirmeth that one of these put into a sacke was more then a strong Country-man could carry two Miles together without setting it downe and resting And likewise he saith that he saw a skinne of one of these stuffed with hayre which did equall in quantity the legge of a great man The head of this beast is broad and flat and Olaus Magnus writeth that many times and in many places of the North about the beginning of summer these Serpents are found in great companies vnder Oakes one of them beeing their head or Captaine who is known by a white crest or comb on the top of his crowne whom all the residue do follow as the Bees doe their King and Captaine And these by the relation of old men are thought to beget a certaine stone by their mutable breathing vpon some venomous matter found in the trees leaues or earth where they abide For they abide not onely in the rootes but in the hollow bodies of the trees and sometimes for their meate and foode they leaue their habitation and discend into the Fennes and Marshes to hunt Frogges and if at any time they bee assaulted with the Horse-flye they instantly returne backe againe into their former habitation When they goe vppon the earth they go directly or straight for if they should wind themselues to run they would make an offensiue noyse or rather yeeld a more offensiue smell according to these verses of the Poet Lucan Natrix ambiguae coleret qui syrtidos arua Chersidros tractique via fumante Chellidri In English thus The Snake which haunt the doubtfull Syrtes sands And Chelyders by slyding fume on lands Georgius Fabricius writeth that he saw in the Temple of Bacchus at Rome a company of druÌ„ken men dancing leading a male Goat for sacrifice hauing Snakes in their mouths which Snakes Prudentius the Christian Poet calleth Chellidri that is Dryines in these verses following Baccho caper omnibus aris Craeditur virides discindunt ore Chellydros Qui Bromium placare volunt quod et ebria iam tuâ—… Ante occulos regis Satyrorum insania fecit In English thus A Goat to Bacchus on euery alter lyes While sacrificers teare Dryines in peeces small By force of teeth and that before the eyes Of Satyres King mad-drunke they fall The nature of this Serpent is very venemous and hot and therefore it is worthily placed among the first degree or ranke of Serpentes for the smell thereof dooth so stupifie a man as it doth near strangle him for nature refuseth to breath rather theÌ„ to draw in such a filthy ayre And so pestilent is the nature of this beast that it maketh the skin of the body of a man hurt by it loose stinking and rotten the eyes to be blind and full of paine it restraineth the vrine and if it come vpon a man sleeping it causeth often neezing and maketh to vomit bloudy matter If a man tread vpon it at vnawares although it neither sting nor bite him yet it causeth his Legges to swell and his foote to loose the skinne thereof and that which is more strange it is reported that when a Physition cured the hand of one bitten by this Serpent the skinne of his hand also came off and whosoeuer killeth one of these if once he smell the sauour of it whatsoeuer he smelleth afterwardes he still thinketh it smelleth of the Dryine And therefore most pestilent must this Serpent needs be which killeth both by touching and smelling When it hath wounded or bitten there followeth a blacke or redde swelling about the sore also a vehement pain ouer all the body through the speedy dispâ—rsing of the poyson also Pustules or little Wheales madnes drinesse of the body and intollerable thirst trembling and mortification of the members wounded whereof many dye The â—nre is like to the cure of Vipers and besides it is good to take Hart-wort drunke in Wine or Triffolly or the rootes of Daffadill Acornes of all kind of Oakes are profitable against this poyson being beaten to powder and drunke And thus much shall suffice for this Serpent OF THE SERPENTS CALLED Elephants THere be also Serpents called Elephants because whomsoeuer they bite they infect with a kind of a leprosie and I know not whether the Serpent Elops Elopis and Laphiati be the same but because I find no matter worthy in them to be spoken of and they are strangers in our Country the Reader must bee contented with their bare names without further description OF FROGGES FRogges are called by the Hebrewes Zab Zephardea Vrdeana Vrdea Akruka Maskar By the Arabians Hardun Difdah Disphoa Difdapha Altahaul By the Graecians Batrachos whereof commeth the corrupted word Brackatas and Garazum Lalages and Kemberoie signifieth greene Frogges The Italians and Spaniards call it Rana by the Latine word The French Grenouille The Germans Frosch and Frosche and Grassfrosch for a greene Frog The Flemmings Vrosch and Vruesch and Piuit The Illirians Polonians Zaba by a word deriued from the Haebrew It it some question from whence the word Rana is deriued because of much controuersie whether it hath receiued name because it liueth on the land in the water or froÌ„ the croaking voyce which it vseth I will not trouble the English Reader with that discourse onely I am assured that the word Frog in English is deriued from the German word Frosch as many other English wordes are deriued besides the common name of many Frogs Homer in his Commedy of the fight
into two parts which taile becommeth their hinder Legs wherefore the Aegyptians when they would describe a man that cannot moue himselfe and afterwardes recouereth his motion they decypher him by a frog hauing his hinder legges The heads of these young Gyrini which we call in English Horse-nailes because they resemble a Horse-naile in their similitude whose head is great and the other part small for with his taile he swimmeth After May they grow to haue feete and if before that time they bee taken out of the water they dye then they beginne to haue foure feete And first of all they are of a blacke colour and round and heereof came the Prouetbe Rana Gyrina sapientior wiser then a Horse-naile because through the roudndnesse and rolubility of his body it turneth it selfe with wonderfull celerity which way soeuer it pleaseth These young ones are also called by the Graecians Moluridae Brutichoi and Batrachida but the Latines haue no name for it except Ranunculus or Rana Nascens And it is to be remembred that one frogge layeth an innumerable company of Egges which cleaue together in the water in the middle whereof she her selfe lodgeth And thus much may suffice for the ordinary procreation of frogges by generation out of Egges In the next place I must also shew how they are likewise ingendered out of the dust of the earth by warme aestiue and Summer shevvers whose life is short and there is no vse of them Aelianus saith that as he trauailed out of Italy into Naples he saw diuers frogges by the way neere Putoli whose forepart and head did mooue and creepe but their hinder part was vnformed and like to the slyme of the earth which caused Ouid to write thus Semina limus habet virides generantia Ranas Et generat truncas pedibus eodem corpore saepe Altera pars viuit rudis est pars altera tellus That is to say Durt hath his seede ingendring Frogs full greene Yet so as feetlesse without Legs on earth they lye So as a wonder vnto Passengers is seene One part hath life the other earth full dead is nye And of these Frogs it is that Pliny was to be vnderstood when he saith that Frogs in the Winter time are resolued into slyme and in the Summer they recouer their life and substaunce againe It is certaine also that sometime it raineth frogs as may appeare by Philarchus and Lembus for Lembus writeth thus Once about Dardania and Paeonia it rained frogs in such plentifull measure or rather prodigious manner that all the houses and high-waies were filled with them and the inhabitants did first of all kill them but afterwards perceiuing no benifit thereby they shut their doores against them and stopped vp all their lights to exclude thē out of their houses leauing no passage open so much as a frog might creepe into and yet notwithstanding all this diligence their meat seething on the fire or set on the table could not be free from thē but continually they found frogs in it so as at last they were inforced to forsake that Countrey It was likewise reported that certaine Indians people of Arabia were inforced to forsake their countries through the multitude of frogs Cardan seemeth to find a reason in nature for this raining of frogges the which for the better satisfaction of the Reader I will here expresse as followeth Fiunt haec omnia ventorum ira and so forward in his 16. booke De subtilitate that is to say these prodigious raines of frogs and Mice little Fishes and stones and such like thinges is not to be wondered at for it commeth to passe by the rage of the winds in the tops of the Mountaines or the vppermost part of the Seas which many times taketh vp the dust of the earth congealeth them into stones in the ayre which afterwards fall downe in raine so also doth it take vp frogs and fishes who beeing aboue in theayre must needes fall downe againe Sometimes also it taketh vp the egges of frogs and fishes which beeing kept aloft in the ayre among the Whirle-windes and stormes of shewers doe there engender and bring forth young ones which afterwards fall downe vpon the earth there being no poole for them in the ayre These and such like reasons are approued among the learned for naturall causes of the prodigious raining of frogs But we read in holy Scripture among the plagues of Aegypt that frogges were sent by GOD to annoy them and therefore whatsoeuer is the materiall cause it is most certaine that the wrath of GOD and his almighty hand is the making or efficient cause and for the worthinesse of that deuine story how God maketh and taketh away frogs I will expresse it as it is left by the Holy-ghost in Cap. 8. Exod. verse 5. Also the Lord saide vnto Moses say thou vnto Aaron stretch out thy hand with thy rodde vpon the streames vpon the Riuers and vpon the ponds and cause frogs to come vpon the land of Egypt ver 6. Then Aaron stretched out his hand vpon the waters of Egypt and the frogs came vp couered the land of Egypt verse 7. And the Sorcerers did likewise with their Sorceries and brought frogs vp vpon the land of Aegypt Verse 8. Then Pharao called for Moses Aaron and said pray ye vnto the Lord that he may take away the frogs from mee and from my people and I will let the people goe that they may doe sacrifice to the Lord verse 9. And Moses saide vnto Pharao concerning me commaund when I shall pray for thee and thy seruants and for thy people to destroy the frogges from thee and from thy houses that they may remaine in the Riuer onely verse 10. Then he said tomorrow he answered be it as thou hast said that thou mayst know that there is none like the Lord our GOD. verse 11. So the frogges shall depart from thee and from thy houses from thy people and from thy Seruants onely they shall remaine in the Riuer verse 12. Then Moses Aaron went out from Pharao Moses cryed vnto the Lord concerning the frogs which he had sent vnto Pharao ver 13. And the Lord did according to the saying of Moses so the frogs dyed in the houses and in the Townes and in the fieldes ver 14. And they gathered them together by heapes and the land stanke of them c. And this was the second plague of Aegypt wherein the Lord turned all the fishes into Frogges as the booke of wisedome saith and the Frogs abounded in the Kinges chamber and notwithstanding this great iudgement of God for the present Pharao would not let the people goe and afterwardes that blind superstitious Nation became worshippers of Frogges as Philastrias writeth thinking by this deuotion or rather wickodnesse in this obseruant manner to pacifie the wrath of God choosing their owne wayes before the word of Almighty God But vain is that worship which is inuented without
like Brasse yet darke and dusky and their belly partly white and partly of an earthy colour but vpon either side they had certaine little prickes or spottes like printed Starres their length was not past foure fingers their eyes looked backward and the holes and passages of their â—ares were round the fingers of their feet were very small beeing fiue in number both before and behinde vvith small nailes and behind that was the longest which standeth in the place of a mans fore-finger and one of them standeth different from the other as the Thumbe doth vppon a mans hand but on the forefeete all of them stand equall not one behinde or before another Now concerning the different kinds of Lizards I must speake as breefely as I can in this place wherein I shall comprehend both the Countries wherein they breâ—de and also their seuerall kinds with some other accidents necessary to be knowne There is a kind of Lizard called Guarell or Vrell and Alguarill with the dung whereof the Physitions do cure little pimples and spots in the face and yet Bellunensis maketh a question whether this be to be referred to the Lizards or not because Lizards are not found but in the couÌ„trey out of Citties and these are found euery where There is also another kind of Lizard called Lacertus Martensis which being sâ—â—ted with the head and purple Wooll Oyle of Cedar and the powder of burnt Paper so put into a linnen-cloth and rubbed vpon a bald place doe cause the haire that is falne off to come againe There be other Lyzards called by the Graecians Arurae and by the Latines Lacertae Pissininae which continually abide in greene corne these burned to powder and the same mixed with the best wine and hony doe cure blind eyes by an oyntment The picture of the Lyzard with the belly vpward Albertus writeth that a friend of his worthy of credit did tell him that he had seene in Prouence a part of Fraunce and also in Spaine Lyzards as bigge as a mans legge is thick but not very long and these did inhabit hollow places of the earth and that many times when they perceiued a man or a beast passe by them they would suddainly leape vppe to his face at one blow pull off his cheek The like also is reported of Piemont in France where there be Lyzards as great as little puppies and that the people of the Country do seeke after their dunge or excrements for the sweetnes and other vertues thereof In Lybia there are Lyzards two cubits long and in one of the Fortunate-Ilands called Capraria there are also exceeding great Lyzards In the Iland of Dioscorides neere to Arabia the lesser there are very great Lyzards the flesh whereof the people eate and the satte they seeth and vse in steede of oyle these are two cubits long and I know not whether they be the same which the Affricans call Dubh and liue in the desarts of Lybia They drinke nothing at all for water is present death vnto them so that a man would thinke that this Serpent were made all of fire because it is so presently destroyed with water Beeing killed there commeth no blood out of it neither hath it any poyson but in the head tayle This the people hunt after to eate for the tast of the flesh is like the tast of Frogges flesh and when it is in the hole or denne it is very hardly drawne forth except with spades and Mattocks whereby the passages are opened and beeing abroad it is swift of foote The Lyzards of India especially about the Mountaine Nisa are 24. foote in length their colour variable for their skin seemeth to be flourished with certaine pictures soft tender to be handled I haue heard that there hangeth a Lyzard in the Kinges house at Paris whose body is as thicke as a mans body and his length or stature little lesse it is said it was taken in a prison or common Gaole beeing found sucking the legges of prisoners and I doe the rather beleeue this because I remember such a thing recorded in the Chronicles of Fraunce and also of another some-what lesser preserued in the same Cittie in a Church called Saint Anthonies And to the intent that this may seeme no strange nor incredible thing it is reported by Volatteran that when the King of Portugall had conquered certaine Ilands in Ethiopia in one of them they slew a Lyzard which had deuoured or swallowed downe a whole infant so great wide was the mouth thereof it was eight cubits long and for a rare miracle it was hanged vppe at the gate Flumentana in Rome in the roofe dedicated to the virgin Mary Besides these there are other kind of Lyzards as that called Lacerta vermicularis because it liueth vpon wormes Spyders in the narrow walls of old buildings Also a siluer-coloured Lyzard called Liacome liuing in dry and sunne-shining places Another kind called Senabras and Adare and Sennekie Scen is a redde Lyzard as Siluaticus writeth but I rather take it to be the Scincke or Crocodile of the earth which abound neere the Red-Sea There is also another kinde of Lyzard called Lacertus Solaris a Lyzard of the Sunne to whom Epiphanius compareth certaine Heretickes called Sapmsaei because they perceiue their eye-sight to bee dimme and dull They turne themselues fasting in theyr Caues to the East or Sunne-rysing whereby they recouer their eye-sight againe In Sarmatia a Countrey of the Rutenes there is a Prouince called Samogithia wherein the Lyzards are very thicke blacke and great which the foolish Countrey people do worshippe very familiarly as the Gods of good fortune for vvhen any good befalleth them they intertaine them with plentifull banquets and liberall cheare but if any harme or mischaunce happen vnto them then they vvith-dravv that liberality and intreate them more coursely and so these dizzardly people thinke to make these Lizards by this meanes more attentiue and vigilant for theyr welfare and prosperity In the Prouince of Caraia Subiect to the Tartars there are very great Lizards or at least wise Serpents like Lizard sbred containing in length ten yards with an answerable and correspondent compasse and thicknesse Some of these want their fore-Legges in place whereof they haue clawes like the clavves of a Lyon or talants of a Falcon. Their head is great and their eyes like two great Loaues Their mouth and the opening thereof so wide as it may swallow downe a whole man armed with great long and sharp teeth so as neuer any man or other creature durst without terror looke vpon that Serpent Wherefore they haue inuented this art or way to take them The Serpent vseth in the day time to lye in the Caues of the Earth or else in hollovv plaees of Rockes and Mountaines In the night time it commeth forth to feede ranging vp and and down seeking what it may deuour neither sparing Lyon Beare nor Bull or smaller beast but
eateth all he meeteth with vntill he be satisfied and so returneth againe to his den Now for as much as that Countrie is very soft and myery the great and heauy bulke of this Serpent maketh as it were a Ditch by his weight in the sand or mire so as where you see the traling of his body you would thinke there had beene rowled some great vessell full of VVine because of the round and deepe impression it leaueth in the earth Now the Hunters which watch to destroy this Beast doe in the day time fasten sharpe stakes in the earth in the path and passage of the Serpent especially neere to his hole or lodging and these stakes are pointed vvith sharpe Iron and so couered in the Earth or Sand whereby it commeth to passe that when in his wonted manner he commeth forth in the night season to feede hee vnawares fastneth his breast or else mortally woundeth his belly vppon one of those sharpe-pointed stakes Which thing the Hunters lying in waite obseruing do presently vpon the first noyse with their swords kill him if he be aliue and so take out his Gall which they sell for a great price for therewithall the biting of a madde Dogge is cured and a Woman in trauell tasting but a little of it is quickely disdischarged of her burthen It is good also against the Emerods and Pyles Furthermore the flesh of this Serpent is good to be eaten and these things are reported by Paulus Venetus and this story following As Americus Vesputius sayled in his iourney from the fortunate Islands hee came vnto a Countrey where hee found the people to feede vppon sodde flesh like the flesh of a Serpent and afterwardes they found this beast to bee in all thinges like a Serpent vvithout wings for they savv diuers of them aliue taken and kept by the people to kill at their owne pleasure The mouthes whereof were fast tyed with ropes so as they could not open them to bite either man or beast and their bodies were tyed by the Legges The aspect of these beastes was fearefull to his company and the strangers which did behold it for they tooke them to bee Serpents beeing in quantity as bigge as Roe-Buckes hauing long feete and stronge clawes a speckeled skinne and a face like a Serpent from the Nose to the tippe of his taile all along the backe there grew a bristle as it were the bristle of a Boare and yet the saide Nation feedeth vppon them and because of their similitude with Lizards I haue thought good to insert their relation among the Lyzards in this place leauing it to the further iudgement of the Reader whether they be of this kind or not In Calechut there are Serpents also or rather beasts remaining in the fenny places of the Country whose bodies are all pild without haire like Serpents also in their mouth eies and taile they resemble them and in their feete Lizards being as great as Boares and although they want poyson yet are their teeth very hurtfull where they fasten them Like vnto these are certaine others bred in Hispaniola in an Island called Hyuana hauing prickles on their backe and a combe on their head but without voyce hauing foure feete a taile like Lizards with very sharpe teeth They are not much greater then Hares or Conies yet they liue indifferently in trees and on the earth being very patient and induring famme many daies Their skinne smooth and speckled like a Serpents they haue a crap on the belly from the chin to the breast like the crap of a Bird. Besides these there are also some called Bardati about the bignesse of Conyes and of a White-ash-colour yet theyr skinne and taile like a Snakes and they resemble trapped Horses They haue foure feet and with the formost they dig them holes in the earth our of which they are drawne againe like Conies to be eaten of men for they haue a pleasant tast To conclude wee doe read that in the yeare 1543. there came many winged Serpents and Lizards into Germany neere Syria and did bite many mortally And in the yeare 1551. there were such bred in the bodyes of men and women as wee haue shewed already in the generall discourse of Serpents first of all recited in the beginning In all the nature of Lizards there is nothing more admirable then that which is reported of them by Aelianus of his owne knowledge When a certaine man had taken a great fat Lizard he did put out her eyes with an Instrument of Brasse and so put her into a new earthen pot which hadde in it two small holes or passages bigge inough to take breath at but too little to creepe out at and with her moyst earth and a certaine Hearbe the name wherof he doth not expresse and furthermore he tooke an Iron Ring wherein was set an Engagataes Stone with the Picture of a Lizard ingrauen vpon it And besides vpon the Ring he made 9. seuerall marks whereof he put out euery day one vntill at the last hee came at the ninth and then hee opened the pot againe and the Lizard did see as perfectly as euer he did before the eyes were put out whereof Albertus enquiring the reason could giue none but hauing read in Isidorus that when the Lizards grow olde and their sight dimme or thicke then they enter into some narrow hole of a Wall and so set their heads therein directly looking towards the East or Sunne rysing and so they recouer their sight againe Of this Albertus giueth good reason because he saith the occasion of their blindnesse commeth from frigidity congealing the humor in their eyes which is afterward attenuated and dissolued by the helpe and heate of the Sun The voice of the Lizard is like the voyce of other Serpents and if it happen that any man by chance doe cut the body of the Lizard asunder so as one part falleth from another yet neither part dyeth but goeth away vppon the two Legges that are left and liue apart for a little season and if it happen that they meete againe they are so firmely and naturally conioyned by the secret operation of nature as if they had neuer beene seuered onely the scatre remaineth They liue in caues of the earth and in graues and the greene Lizards in the fields and Gardens but the yellowish or earthy browne Lizard among hedges and Thornes They deuoure any thing that comes to their mouth especially Bees Emmets Palmer-wormes Grassehoppers Locusts and such like thinges and foure months of the yeare they lie in the earth and eate nothing In the beginning of the yeare about March they come out againe of their holes and giue themselues to generation which they performe by ioyning their bellies together wreathing their tailes together other parts of their bodies afterwards the female bringeth forth egges which she committeth to the earth neuer sitting vpō them but forgetteth in what place they were laid for she hath no memory The
are named and yet sometimes in the Summer they are also found pale They are twice so bigge as the former Lizard and come not neare houses but keep in Meddowes and greene fieldes They onely abound in Italy and it is a beast very louing and friendly vnto man and an enemy to all other Serpentes For if at any time they see a man they instantly gather about him and laying their heads at the one side with great admiration behold his face and if it chance a man doe spet they licke vp the spettle ioyfully and it hath beene seene that they haue done the like to the vrine of chyldren and they are also handled of children without danger gently licking moysture from their mouthes And if at any time three or foure of them be taken and so sette together to fight it is a wonder to see how eagerly they wound one another and yet neuer set vppon the man that put them together If one walke in the fieldes by hollow wayes bushes and greene places hee shall heare a noyse and see a motion as if Serpents were about him but when hee looketh earnestly vppon them they are Lyzards wagging their heads and beholding his person and so if he goe forward they follow him if he stand still they play about him One day as Erasmus writeth there was a Lyzard seene to fight with a Serpent in the mouth of his owne Caue and whilst certaine men beheld the same the Lyzard receiued a wound vppon her cheeke by the Serpent who of greene made it all redde and had almost torne it all off and so hid herselfe againe in her denne The poore Lizard came running vnto the beholders and shewed he bloodie side as it were desiring helpe and commizeration standing still when they stood still and following when they went forward so that it acknowledged the soueraigntie of man appealing vnto him as the chiefe Iustice against all his enemies and oppressours It is reported by the Italians that many times while men fall asleepe in the fieldes serpents come creeping vnto them and finding their mouthes open doe slyde downe into their stomacks Wherfore when the Lizard seeth a Serpent comming toward a man so sleeping she waketh him by gently scratching his hands and face whereby hee escapeth death and deadly poyson The vse of these Greene-Lizards is by their skinne and gall to keepe apples from rotting and also to driue away Catterpillers by hanging vp the skinne on the tops of trees and by touching the apples with the said gall also when the head feete or intralls are taken away the flesh of the Greene-Lyzard is giuen in meate to one that hath the Sciatica and thus much for the naturall vses of the Greene-Lyzard The remedies arising out of this Lyzard are briefely these first it is vsed to be giuen to Hawkes and to be eaten in small peeces prouided so as it be not touched vvith theyr tallants for it will hurt their feete draw their clawes together also they seeth it in water then beate it in a morter Lastly when they haue powred warme water vppon it they let the Hawke wash her feete in it and so it causeth her to cast her old feathers and coate and bringeth a new in the roome thereof This Lyzard eaten with sauces to take avvay the loathing thereof is good for the Falling-euill and beeing sod in three pynts of vvine vntill it be but one cup-full and thereof taken euery day a spoonefull is good for them that haue a disease in the lunges It is also profitable for thē that haue paine in the loynes And there are many wayes to prepare it for the eyes which I will not stand to relate in this place because they are superstitious and therefore likely to doe more harme then good to the English Reader There is an oyle made of Lyzards which is very precious and therfore I will describe it as I find it in Brasauolus Take seauen greene Lyzards and strangle them in two pound of common oyle therein let them soke three dayes and then take them out afterwards vse this oyle to annoynt your face euery day but one little drop at once and it shall wonderfully amend the same The reason hereof seemeth to be taken from the operation of the dunge or excrements because that hath vertue to make the face white and to take away the spots If the vpper part in the pastorne of a horse be broken put thereinto this oyle with a little vineger then rub the hoofe about there-with so shall it increase and grow again all the paine thereof shall passe away The making of the medicine is this Take a newe earthen pot put there-into three pints of oyle wherein you must drowne your Lyzards so seeth them till they are burned away then take out the bones and put in soft lyme halfe a pound liquid pitch a pint of Swines-greace two pound then let them be all sod together againe and afterwards preserued and vsed vpon the hoofe as need shall require for it shall fasten and harden the horses hoofe there is nothing better for this purpose then this oyle The ashes of a greene Lizard do reduce skars in the body to their owne colour The bones of a Greene-Lyzard are good against the falling euill if they bee prepared on this manner following put your Greene-Lizard aliue into a vessell full of Salt and there shut it in safe so in few daies it vvill consume all the flesh and Intrals from the bones and so the bones may bee taken and vsed in this case like the hoofe of an Elke which are very precious for this sicknesse and no lesse precious are these bones The bloud dooth cure the beating bruizinges and thicke skinnes in the feet of men and beasts beeing applyed in flockes of wooll The eye is superstitiously giuen to be bound to ones arme on a Quartane-Ague and the eyes pressed out aliue and so included in golden buttons or Bullets carryed about do also help the paine of the eyes and in default hereof the bloud taken out of the eyes in a peece of purple wooll hath the same operation The hart of a Lizard is also very good against the exulcerations of the Kings euill if it bee but carryed about in the boosome in some small Siluer vessell The gall taketh away the hayres vpon the eye-liddes that are vnseemely if it be dryed in the same to the thickesse of Hony especially in the Dog-daies mixed with white-wine thē being annoynted vpon the place it neuer suffereth the haires to grow againe And thus much for the historie of the greene Lizard OF THE MYLLETT OR Cenchrine THis Serpent called by the Graecians Cenchros Cenchrines Cenchridion and Cenchrites is by the Latines called Cenchria Cenchrus and Milliaris because it commeth abroad at the time that Myllet-seed flowreth is ready to ripe or else because it hath certaine litle spots vpon it like Myllet-seede and is also of the same
with rage of sandy flankes Nor sayles bend downe to blustering Corus wayne Now can it not the swelling sinewes keepe in hold Deformed globe it is and truncke ore-come with waight Vntoucht of flying foules no beakes of young or old Doe him dare eate or beasts full wilde vpon the body bayte But that they dye No man to bury in earth or fire Durst once come nigh nor stand to tooke vpon that haplesse case For neuer ceased the heat of corps though dead to swell Therefore afrayde they ranne away with speedie pace The cure of the poyson of this Serpent is by the Phisitians found out to be wild Purslaine also the flowers and stalke of the bush the Beauers stones called Castoreum drunke with Opponax and Rew in wine and the little Sprat-fish in dyet And thus much of this fire-burning venomous Serpent OF THE RED SERPENT THis kinde of Serpent beeing a serpent of the Sea was first of all found out by Pelicerius Bishoppe of Montpelier as Rondoletus writeth and although some haue taken the same for the Myrus or Berus of which we haue spoken already yet is it manifest that they are deceiued for it hath gills couered with a bony couering and also sinnes to swym withall much greater then those of the Myrus which wee haue shewed already to bee the male Lamprey This Serpent therefore for the outward proportion thereof is like to the Serpents of the Land but of a redde or purplish colour beeing full of crooked or oblique lines descending from the backe to the belly and deuiding or breaking that long line of the backe which beginneth at the head and so stretcheth foorth to the tayle The opening of his mouth is not very great his teeth are very sharpe and like a saw his gills like scalie fishes and vppon the ridge of his backe all along to the tayle and vnder-neath vppon the ryne or brimme of his belly are certaine haires growing or at the least thinne small things like hayres the tayle beeing shut vp in one vndeuided finne Of this kind no doubt are those which Bellonius saith hee sawe by the Lake Abydus which liue in the waters and come not to the Land but for sleepe for hee affirmeth that they are like Land-serpents but in theyr colour they are redde-spotted with some small and duskie spots Gelliusâ—…th â—…th that among the multitude of Sea-serpents some are like Congers and I cannot teâ—…ether that of Vergill be of this kind or not spoken of by Laocoon the Priest of Neptune Solennes taurum ingentum mactabat ad aras Ecce autem gemini á Tenedo tranqulla per alta Horresco referens immensis orbibus angues Incumbunt pelago pariterque ad littora tendunt Pectora quorum inter fluctus arecta iubaeque Sanguineae exuperant vndas pars caetera pontum Pone legit sinuatque immensa volumine terga Fit sonitus spumante saelo c. Which may be englished thus Whilst he a Bull at Altars solemne sacrifice Behold I feare to tell two monstrous snakes appeared Out of Tenedus shore both calme and deepe did rise One part in Sea the other on Land was reared Their breasts and redde-blood manes on waters mounted But backe and tayle on Land from foaming sea thus sounded OF THE SALAMANDER I Will not contrary their opinion which reckon the Salamander among the kinds of Lyzards but leaue the assertion as somewhat tollerable yet they are not to be followed or to be beleeued which would make it a kinde of Worme for there is not in that opinion eyther reason or resemblance What this beast is called among the Hebrewes I cannot learne and therfore I iudge that the Iewes like many other Nations did not acknowledge that there was any such kinde of creature for ignorance bringeth infidelitie in strange things and propositions The Graecians call it Salamandra which word or terme is retained almost in all Languages especially in the Latine and therefore Isidore had more boldnesse and wit then reason to deriue the Latine Salamandra quasi valincendram resisting burning for beeing a Greeke word it needeth not a Latine notation The Arabians call it Saambras and Samabras which may wel be thought to be deriued or rather corrupted from the former word Salamandra or else from the Hebrew word Semamit which signifieth a Stellion Among the Italians and Rhaetians it retaineth the Latine vvord and sometimes in Rhaetia it is called Rosada In the dukedome of Sauoy Pluuina In Fraunce Sourd Blande Albrenne and Arrassade according to the diuers Prouinces in that Kingdome In Spayne it is called Salamantegna In Germany it is called by diuers names as Maall and Punter maall Olm Moll and Molch because of a kinde of liquour in it like milke as the Greeke word Molge from à melgein to sucke milke Some in the Country of Heluetia doe call it Quattertetesh And in Albertus it is likewise called Rimatrix And thus much may suffise for the name thereof The description of theyr seuerall parts followeth which as Auicen and other Authours write is very like a small and vulgar Lyzard except in their quantitie which is greater theyr legges taller and their tayle longer They are also thicker and fuller then a Lyzard hauing a pale white belly and one part of their skinne exceeding blacke the other yellow like Verdigreace both of them very splendent and glistering with a blacke line going all along their backe hauing vppon it many little spots like eyes And from hence it commeth to be called a Stellion or Animal stellatum a creature full of starres and the skinne is rough and balde especially vpon the backe where those spots are out of which as writeth the Scholiast issueth a certaine liquour or humour which quencheth the heate of the fire when it is in the same This Salamander is also foure-footed like a Lyzard and all the body ouer it is set with spots of blacke and yellow yet is the sight of it abhominable and fearefull to man The head of it is great and sometimes they haue yellowish bellyes and tayles and some-times earthy It is some question among the Learned whether there be any discretion of sexe as whether there be in this kinde a male and a female Pliny affirmeth that they neuer engender and that there is not among them eyther male or female no more then there are among Eeles But this thing is iustly crossed both by Bellonius and Agricola for they affirme vpon their owne knowledge that the Salamander engendereth her young ones in her belly like vnto the Viper but first conceiueth egges and she bringeth forth fortie and fiftie at a time which are fully perfected in her wombe and are able to runne or goe so soone as euer they be littered and therefore there must be among them both male and female The Countries wherein are found Salamanders are the Region about Trent and in the Alpes and some-time also in Germany The most commonly frequent the coldest and moystest places as in the shaddow
sibi pabula terra Nec licet id magno cupiat studeatqque labore Arescente sitim potis est depellere fauce Which may be englished thus The Scytall like the Double-head thou shalt in feature find Yet is it fatter and tayle that hath no end much thicker is As bigge as crooked hand is wonted for to wind The haft and helue of digging-spade the earth that rifts As long it is as that thinne crawling worme which heauens rayne Begets on fruitefull earth when bowells warmely moystened are And when the mother-Goddesse great sends forth her creepine traine Which is Yeeres-youth fresh time of Spring both calme and fayre Then leaues it off his wonted bed in rocke obscure And in what sunne he stretches out his limbes and sinnewes all Eating the new spring-blades of Fennell-herbe so putting teeth in vre In holes of the declining hills so keepes both great and small Where time in deepest sleepe of buried nature it doth passe And beeing hungry the earth in toppe of hole it eates Quenching the thirst by force of dryest chappes as grasse Though without payne desirelesse it seekes these drinkes and meates The byting of this Serpent is like the byting of the Double-head and therefore the cure is in the same manner wherefore I shall not neede to repeate the signes thereof or the cure in this place And so I will conclude the story of this Serpent OF THE SEA-SERPENTS AMong the manifold kinds of Sea-serpents as well knowne as vnknown wherof some are like the Lamprey some like the Myrus and many other like the Serpents of the earth except in their head as Aristotle writeth for that is more like the head of a Conger then a serpent it peculiarly hath one kind in colour forme not vnlike an Eeele in length about three cubits in the gylls finnes resembling a Conger but it hath a longer snout or beake which is also fortified inwardly with very many small sharpe teeth the eyes not so great a smooth or pield skinne and hanging ouer at the backe hauing no scales so as it may easily be fleyed The belly of it is betwixt redde and white and all the body ouer is set with spires so as beeing aliue it is not handled without danger And this is by Pliny called the Dragon of the Sea which commeth out of the Sea into the Sands and therein with an admirable celerity and dexteritie maketh his lodging place For the snout thereof is sharper then the Serpents of the earth therefore there-with it diggeth and hideth it selfe in the hole or hollow place which it hath made This is also called by Pliny Ophidion but I thinke it better to follow Aristotle who doth call it Ophis thalattios a Sea-serpent the colour whereof is blacker or dymmer then the Conger There be also Vipers of the Sea which are in shew little fishes about a cubit long hauing a little horne in their fore-head the byting or sting whereof is very deadly therefore when the Fisher-men haue taken any one of these they instantly cut off the head and bury it in the sand but the body they eate for good meate yet these Serpents are thought to be none other then the Fishes called Aranei or Spyder-fishes sauing that they are said to haue a sharpe sting in their head and this a horne for all Water or Sea-Serpents haue harder and lesse heads then the Serpents of the Land In the Germaine-Ocean there is found a Serpent about the bignesse of a mans legge which in the tayle carryeth a sting as hard as any horne this haunteth onely the deepest part of the Sea yet is it some-time taken by the Fishermen and then they cut off the tayle and cate the residue of the body Yet I will not expresly define whether this may be called a Sea-Serpent or a Serpentine-fish it may be it is the same that is a Forke-fish or Ray which by reason of the tayle thereof it might giue occasion to Albertus to call it a serpent of the Sea There be also Snakes or Hyders in the Sea for although all water-serpents as well of the fresh salt sweet waters may be called Hyders or Snakes yet there be some peculiar Snakes such are those in the Indian-Sea where they haue broade tayles and they harme more by byting with the sharpnes of their teeth then by any venome that is contained in them and therefore in this they some-what resemble the Snakes of the earth And Plinie vvriteth that once before Persis vppon the coasts of certaine Ilands there were seene of these Sea Hyders very many of the length of twenty cubits where-withall a whole Nauy or fleet of ships were mightily affrighted And the like is reported of three other Ilands lying betwixt the promontory of Carmania and Arabia and such were those also in the Affrican-sea who are said by Aristotle not to be affraid of a Gally but will set vppon the men therein and ouer-turne it And he himselfe saw many bones of great wild-oxen who had beene destroyed by these kind of Sea-snakes or Hyders The greatest Riuer that falleth into the Red-sea is called Sinthus the fall whereof a far off seemeth to the beholders to be like winding Snakes as though they were comming against the passengers to stay them from enterance into that Land and there is not onely a sight or resemblance of Serpents there but also the very truth of them for all the Sea-men know when they are vpon these coasts by the multitude of Serpents that meet them And so do the Serpents called Graae about Persis And the Coast of Barace hath the same noysome premonstration by occurrence of many odious blacke and very great Sea-serpents But about Barygaza they are lesse and of yellow earthy colour their eyes bloody or fierie red and their heads like Dragons Keranides writeth of a Sea-dragon in this maner saying The Dragon of the Sea is a fish without scales and when this is growne to a great and large proportion whereby it doth great harme to other creatures the winds or clowdes take him vp suddenly into the ayre and there by violent agitation shake his bodie to peeces the parcels whereof so mangled and torne asunder haue beene often sound in the tops of the mountaines And if this be true as it may well be I cannot tell whether there be in the world a more noble part of Diuine prouidence signe of the loue of God to his creatures who armeth the clowdes of heauen to take vengeane of their destroyers The tongue of this Sea-dragon saith hee is like a horses tayle two foote in length the which tongue preserued in oyle and carried about by a man safegardeth him from languishing infirmities and the fat thereof with the Herbe-Dragon annoynted on the head or sick-parts cureth the head-ache and driueth away the Leprosie and all kind of scabs in the skinne Heere is also the picture of another Sea-serpent very like to the serpent of the earth being 3.
or 4. cubits long hauing a rounder belly then an Eele but a head like a Conger the vpper chap is longer and standeth out further then the neather chap the teeth grovv therein as they doe in Lampreys but they are not so thicke and it hath two small finnes neere the gills like an Eele The colour of it is yellow but the beake and belly is of Ash-colour the eyes yellow and in all the inward parts it doth not differ from a Lamprey and there is no man of any vnderstanding as writeth Rondeletius but at the very first sight will iudge the same to be a Serpent although the flesh thereof be no more harmefull then the Conger or Lamprey yet for similitude with other Serpents I could not chuse but expresse the same in this place There be also in the Sueuian-Ocean or Balthicke-sea Serpents of thirty or forty foote in length whose picture is thus described as it was taken by Olaus Magnus and hee further writeth that these doe neuer harme any man vntill they be prouoked The same Authour also expresseth likewise the figure of another Serpent of a hundred and twenty foote long appearing now and then vpon the coasts of Norway very dangerous and hurtfull to the Sea-men in calmes and still weather for they lift vp themselues aboue the hatches and suddainely catch a man in their mouthes and so draw him into the Sea out of the Shippe and many times they ouer-throw in the waters a laden vessell of great quantitie with all the wares therein contained And sometimes also they sette vp such a Spire aboue the water that a boate or little Barke without sayles may passe thorow the same And thus much for the Sea-Serpents OF THE SEPS OR SEPEDON ALthough I am not ignorant that there be some which make two kindes of these Serpents because of the two names rehearsed in the title yet when they haue laboured to describe them seuerally they can bring nothing or very little wherein their story doth not agree so as to make twaine of them or to handle them asunder were but to take occasion to tautologize or to speake one thing twice Wherefore Gesner wisely pondering both parts and after him Carronus deliuer their opinions that both these names doe shew but one Serpent yet according to theyr manner they expresse them as if they were two For all their writings doe but minister occasion to the Readers to collect the truth out of their labours wherefore I will follow their opinion and not their example Sepedon and Seps commeth of Sepein because it rotteth the body that it byteth in colour it neerely resembleth the Haemorrhe yet it vsually goeth by spyres and halfe-hoopes for which cause as it goeth the quantitie cannot be well discerned the pace of it beeing much swifter then the Haemorrhe The wound that it giueth is smarting entering deepe and bringing putrefaction for by an inexplicable celeritie the poyson passeth ouer all the body the hayre rotteth and falleth from all parts darknes and dimnesse is in the eyes spots vpon the body like as if a man had beene burned in the sunne And this Serpent is thus described vnto vs by Nicander Iam quae Sepedonis species sit qualeque corpus Accipe diuersa tractum ratione figurat Quin etiam mutilae nulla insunt cornua fronti Et color hir suti qualem est spect are tapetis Grande caput breuior dum currit cauda videtur Quam tamen obliquo maiorem tramite ducit Quod fit ab hoc vulnus magnos nocuosque dolores Excitat interimens quia fundit ipse venenum Quo sata marcentes tabes depascitur artus Indeque siccata resolutus pelle capillus Spargitur volitans candentis pappus achantae Praeterea foedum turpi vitiligine corpus Et veluti vrenti maculas á sole videre est Which may be englished thus Sepedons shape now take and what his forme of body is It doth not goe as Haemorrhe doth but trayleth diuersly His powled head of Haemorrhs hornes full happily doth misse And colours are as manifold as works of Tapestry Great is his head but running seemes the tayle but small Which winding it in greater path drawes after to and fro But where it wounds by paines and torments great it doth appall Killing the wounded infusing poyson so Whereby consumed are the leane and slender sinewes And dryed skinne lets hayre fall off apace Like as the windes driue whites from top of thistle Cardus Besides the body filth as with sunne parched looseth grace Thus doth Nicander describe the Sepedon now also we wil likewise relate that which another Poet saith of the Seps that both compared together may appeare but one therefore thus writeth Lucan vpon occasion of one Sabellus wounded by this Serpent Miserique in crure Sabelli Seps stetit exiguus quem flexo dente tenacem Auulsitque manu piloque affixit arenis Parua modò serpens sed qua non vlla cruentae Tantum mortis habet nam plagae proxima circum Fugit rapta cutis pallentiaque ossa retexit Iamque sinu laxo nudum est sine corpore vulnus Membra natant sanie surae fluxere sine vllo Tegmine poples erat femorum quoque musculus omnis Liquitur nigra distillant inguina tabe Dissiluit stringens vterum membrana fluuntque Viscera nec quantum toto de corpore debet Effluit in terras saeuum sed membra venenum Decoquit in minimum mors contrahit omnia virus Vincula neruorum laterum textura cauumque Pectus abstrusum fibris vitalibus omne Quicquid homo est aperit pestis natura profana Morte patet manant humeri fortesque lacerti Colla caput fluunt calido non ocyus Austro Nix resoluta cadit nec solem cera sequetur Parua loquor corpus sanie stillasse perustum Hoc flamma potest sed quis rogus abstulit ossa Haec quoque discedunt putresque secuta medullas Nulla manere sinunt rapidi vestigia fati Cynphias inter pestes tibi palma nocendi est Eripiunt omnes animam tu sola cadauer Mole breuis seps peste ingens nec viscera solum Sed simul ossa vorans tabificus Seps Which is to be englished thus On wretched Sabells legge a little Seps hung fast Which with his hand from hold of teeth he pluckt away From wounded place and on a pyle the Serpent all agast He staked in sands to him ô wofull wretched day To kill this Serpent is but small yet none more power hath For after wound falls off the skinne and bones appeare full bare As in an open bosome the hart whole body gnaweth Then all his members swamme in filth corruption did prepare To make his shankes fall off vncouered were knee bones And euery muscle of his thigh resolued no more did hold His secrets blacke to looke vpon distilled all consumptions The rym of belly brake out fierce which bowels did infold Out fell his guts on earth and
starres on it Nicander calleth it Agrostes and Aetius Lucos The Latines terme it Venator that is the Hunter This stingeth but weakely without any paine at all but yet it is some-what venomous though not very much This kind of Phalanx is often found among Spyders-webbes where after the fashion of some Hunters they beguile and intrap flyes gnats and Bees gad-flyes and Waspes And if Lonicerus write no more then may be warranted for truth those great horse-flyes or oxe-flyes and Brimsees that in Sommer-season vexe cattle and what-soeuer they lay their clowtches on that they hold fast and destroy and thus liue they by taking of booties and preyes There is no man I thinke so ill aduised that will confesse this to be the same creature which Aristotle calleth Pulex for the body of that by his description is broade rowling round and the parts about the necke haue certaine lines or cuts and besides about the mouth there appeare and seeme to bud forth three eminenties or standings out There is another sort of Phalangiū called by Nican Rox of Aetius Ragion of Aelianus Rhax because it is so like the kernell or stone that is found in Grapes and this kinde of Spyder is of a round figure blacke in colour the body glistering and round as a ball with very short stumped feete yet neuerthelesse of a very swift pace They haue teeth and their mouth is nigh their belly and when they stirre they gather vp their feete very round In the description of this Spyder Aetius Aelianus and Pliny doe wholy consent and agree in opinion and yet Aelianus was a little besides the way when he set downe podas macrous for microus long feete for short feete and that this kind of Spyder was onely found in Lybia and not els where That kind of Spyder termed of Pliny Asterion seemeth to be all one with the former sauing that this is more knowne by his little white spots made starre-wise the glistering stripes or rayes where-with his body seemeth to be ouer-sprinckled Pliny onely mentioneth this as if Aristotle Galen Aetius and Auicen had neuer heard of it The most venomous and hurtfull of all these is that which Nicander calleth Pedeoros of colour azure or bright blew which hath long high and loftie feete on both sides of the body The Scholiast addeth Dasu and meteoron that is lanugiosum and sublime soft like cotten or wooll and loftie or high and not sublime lanuginosum as Lonicerus translateth it Pliny saith that this Spyder hath a black mossines or soft downe although it will scarce sinke into my head that any Spyder that is of an azure or blew colour hath any soft hayres or woollie substance of a blacke colour There is another kind of Phalangium Spyder called of Nicander Dysderi which name is neither to be found in Aristotle Pliny nor Aetius nor yet in any other auncient Author that euer I could reade which some others call and that very properly Sphekion quasi vesparium because it is so like a redde Waspe sauing that it lacketh wings this waspelike Spyder is of a passing deepe redde colour and counted far worser then the blew-Spyder although the azure or blew-spyder onely by touching doth infect with poyson and will breake any Christall glasse if it runne ouer it though neuer so speedily or doe but touch it in glauncing wise as Scaliger beareth witnesse There are two sorts of Phalangie-Spyders called Tetragnatha and the worser is that which hath halfe of his dead deuided with one white line and another white line running crosse-wise There is another of these not so hurtfull as the former and this is of an ashe-colour and very white in the hinder-parts There is also a Spyder coloured as this is that maketh her webbe by walls sides for the taking of flyes which as some affirme hath little or no venome in it at all Aetius saith that the Tetragnathus is a kinde of Phalangium hauing a broade and a whitish body rough footed with two swelling or little bunches standing out in the head the one some-what broad the other standing right foorth so that at the first one would imagine that it had two mouthes and foure iawes Aelianus in his xvij booke chap. 40. saith that there is great store of these to be found in India about the Riuer Arrhata where their multitude is so dangerous and mischiuous as that they bring death and destruction to the Cittizens and people bordering nie those places And Strabo the Geographer in his xvj booke telleth vs that beyond the Lybians and on the westerne-side of Affricke there is a Country left destitute of inhabitants hauing goodly large fieldes and pastures beeing vnhabitable by reason of the multitude of Scorpions there bred and of the Spyders called Tetragnathoi There is to be found in Haruest-time amongst Pease Beanes and other sorts of pulse when they are gathered and reaped by the hand certaine small Spyders called Kantharidessi Eikela in shew like vnto Cantharides or Spanish-flyes of a very redde and fiery colour such as we Englishmen call Twinges by eating or licking vp of which both oxen other beasts doe many times dye There is another kinde of phalangium that breedeth altogether in the pulse called Ervum which is like vnto Tares and likewise in the Peach-tree which Nicander and Aetius terme Cranocalaptes and Dioscorides nameth it Kephalokroustes because it is so presumptious bolde as to strike at the hands of trauailers by the high-wayes when as eyther it passeth downe in glyding manner by her fine thredde or that she tumbleth downe without any stay of thred or other support It is a small creature to see to keeping on the pace very fearefully nodding with the head reeling and as it were staggering beeing great and heauie in the belly some-what long of body and of a greenish colour It carryeth a sting in the toppe of her necke and striking at any she commonly aymeth at those parts which are about the head And as Aetius saith En tois phullois tes perseias trepheteis kai taptera echei homoia tais en tais kustais psuchais That is they are nourished in Peach-tree-leaues and they haue wings like vnto Butter-flyes that are found amongst Barly Where-vpon the Scholiast seemeth to insinuate to vs that this kind of Spyder is winged which no man as I iudge hath hetherto obserued Ponzettus and Ardoynus do take the Cranocalaptes to be a Tarantula but herein they are both mistaken as was Rabbi Moses before them The Spyder called Sclerocephalus in forme differeth but little from the former It hath a head as hard as a stone and the lineaments and proportion of the body do much resemble those small creatures which are seene about Lamps-lights or candles in the night time There commeth in the last place to be described the Phalangie-Spyder of Apulia commonly knowne by the name of Tarantula taking his denomination from the Countrey of Tarentum where there are found great store and plenty of
to heare any reason for her iust defence they made no more adoe but gaue her Iack-drummes entertainement thrusting her out of doores by the head and shoulders to seeke her lodging where she could find it so that she lay abroad without doores a whole Winters-night in the raine and cold and all this happened about Saint Nicholas time when dayes are at the shortest Now in the meane space Podagra hauing none of the best feete but indeede beeing some-what lame when she could trauaile no further shee by chaunce light into a poore Cottage or cabbin of turffes builded with Elder-poles at the Townes end and yet in this poore shed she could hardly be receiued but yet at length through her incessant sollicitation beeing admitted she sate downe to rest her weary bones so at length supper beeing prepared the tender-harted Lady found course fare and commons farre shorter more homely then euer Lipsius found in Westphalia she indured all the miseries in the World that pittie it was to see There was no infelicitie no distresse misfortune and aduersity to be compared vnto hers for there was nothing but a little browne Barly-bread sette on the boorde to suppe withall which this nice peece so much misliked and abhorred as that at the very sight thereof shee was ready to disgorge her queasie stomacke then was there brought some cock-crowne keale hauing no good relish for they were not seasoned with salt so that they were in taste very vntoothsome when they should drinke they fetcht a little cold water out of a pitte or pond neere adioyning to the house in a wodden-dish whereof if Mistresse Podagra had fetched but one sound carouse it would haue made her runne through an Alphabet of faces but there was no remedy hunger breaketh stone-walls and hard neede makes the old wife trotte shee must either quench her thirst vvith that or fast Hauing thus thinlie supped shee called for her Chamber where they shewed her to clymbe vp a Ladder you would haue taken it to haue beene the fleas ladder behind a corner there was prouided a bed stuffed with good Wheate-chaffe in steed of Downe to harden her hyde and vnder her head a hard Oken-logge with the Winnow-cloth and the one end of an old Hop-bagge cast ouer in steed of a Couerlet for the poore man and his wife thought that none but the Lord of the Towne women in child-bed vsed pillowes But Podagra not knowing how to mend the matter groned made a lamentable noyse and fetching a thousand sighes she couched herselfe downe But alas what ill rest she poore hart tooke that night and how ill her soft and tender limmes agreed vvith such cold cheere and entertainement I referre my selfe to your secrete thought So soone therefore as the day began to breake she started vp and the Spyder and she met together againe at the appointed time and place and first of all the Spyder beganne much to complaine of the inciuilitie of the rich chuffe his host the Citizen Podagra cōtrariwise found as much or more fault with the short and sharpe commons thinne dyet miserable pouertie and indigencie of his poore bare and leane host shewing her blacke and blew markes and prints into whose tender skinne the bordes and plancks had made a deepe impression For which cause beeing both much discontented after the matter was thoroughlie debated betwixt them two they determined and resolued with themselues that the night following they would change hostes and Innes that is that the Spyder should enter into some poore Cottages or houses of poore men and Podagra should bend her course vnto Noble and great mens houses to Kings courts princely Pallaces to see what good was to be done there So Podraga not beeing vnmindfull of her word went with a fine and Snayle-like pace to the house of a certaine fat rich and well-monied man quietly laid herselfe downe at the feete of this corsie sire which as soone as the gentle host cast an eye vpon it is strange to tell with what mildnesse with what alurement and gentle entreatie with what promptitude and alacritie shee was welcommed they prepared soft pallats of Downe for her to lye vpon the Bedsteds and the Settles whereon shee should rest were couered with pillowes soft cushions and carpets of Persia the kitchen smokes and all things are in a readines to giue her a most friendlie welcome According to the wordes of the Poet where he saith Iam dapibus mensas onerant et pocula ponunt In English thus Spred are the tables and laded with store Of delicates the cups filled could receiue no more Briefely hee was in all poynts for person and prouision such a one as Chaucer in his workes describeth his Franklin to be White was his beard as the Daisie And of complexion he was sanguine Well loued he by the morrow a soppe in wine To liuen in delight was euer his won For he was Epicures owne sonne That held opinion that plaine delight Was very felicitie parfite An housholder and that a great was hee Saint Iulian he was in his Countree His bread his ale was alway after one A better viended man was neuer none Without bake-meate was neuer his house Of fish and flesh and that so plenteouse It snewed in his house of meate and drinke Of all dainties that men could thinke After the sundry seasons of the yeere So changed he his meate and his suppere Full many a fat Partrich had he in mue And many a Breame many a Luce in stue Woe was his Cooke but his sawce euer were Poynant and sharpe and ready all his gere His table dormaunt in his Hall alway Stoode ready couered all the long day Nay hether thy brought fat and crammed Capons Phesants Quailes Turtle-doues Larkes and Nitingales I passe ouer Turbot or Byrt gilt-Gilt-heads Sturgion Salmonds Soales and the like for they were not vnfurnished of all these and of other store of shell-fish as Lobsters Creuishes Oysters and whatsoeuer the Sea yeelded that might by loue or money be purchased for I will not speake of a great number of Riuer-fish and Foules that are to be had about Peterborow Wittlesey-mare and those Fennish-countries for thither he sent his people to puruay for him all that was rare and daintie Here was Redde-wine White Claret Muscadell Rhenish sweet-wines harsh-wines wine of Falernum of the Ilands of Creta Chio Madera those that are called Baleares lying neere vnto the coast of Spayne To speake nothing of their reare-suppers their fine Marchpanes and curious confections made with sundry deuises and exquisite skill of the Apothecarie And to conclude there was no wanton fare vnsought for no delicate iuncate no curious trimming and pickednes that might gratifie no fayre words and pleasant enticements fitte to draw and allure nor no delectation whatsoeuer omitted that might seeme to please this great Lady Podaga for you must vnderstand shee was none of the coursest sort of Ladies whereof there be
oyle of Stellions which are sod in Oyle-oliue with Lyzards do cure all boyles and wennes consuming them without launcing or breaking And the ashes of the Stellion are most principally commended against the Falling-sicknes like as also is the skinne or truncke as we haue said before The head burned and dryed and afterward mixed with Honny-attick is very good against the continuall dropping or running of the eyes and in the dayes of Pliny he writeth that they mixed Stibum here-withall The hart is of so great force that it being eaten bringeth a most deepe and dangerous sleepe as may appeare by these verses Mande cor tantus prosternet corpora somnus Vt scindi possunt absque dolore manus Which may be englished thus Eate you the hart and then such sleepe the body will possesse That hands may from the same be cut away painelesse To conclude the Phisitians haue carefully obserued sundry medicines out of the egs gall and dunge of Stellions but because I write for the benefit of the English Reader I will spare their relation seeing we shall not neede to feare the byting of Stellions in England or expect any drugges among our Apothecaries out of them and therefore I vvill heere end the history of the Stellion OF THE TYRE THere be some which haue confounded this Serpent vvith the Viper taken them both to be but one kind or at least the Tyre to be a kind of Viper because the Arabians call a Viper Thiron of the Greeke word Therion which signifieth a wild beast whatsoeuer the Graecians write of their Echidna that is their Viper the same things the Arabians write of the Tyre and Leonicenus compiled a whole booke in the defence of that matter and from hence commeth that noble name or cōposition antidotary called Theriaca that is Triacle But Auicen in the mention of the Triacle of Andromachus distinguisheth the Triacle of the Viper from that of the Tyre and calleth one of them Trohiscos Tyri and the other Trohiscos Viperae So Gentilis and Florentinus do likewise put a manifest difference betwixt the Tyre and the Viper although in many thinges they are alike and agree together This Tyre is called in Latine Tyrus and Tyria and also among the Arabians as Syluaticus wryteth Eosmari and Alpfahex Rabbi Moses in his Aphorismes writeth that when the Hunters goe to seeke these Serpents they carry with them bread which they cast vnto them and while the Tyre doth eate it hee closeth his mouth so fast that his teeth cannot suddainely open againe to doe his hunting aduersary any harme and this thing as hee writeth is very admirable at the first to them that are ignorant of the secrete in nature Galen also writeth so much to Piso of Vipers and he saith that the Circulators Iuglers or Quacksaluers did cast certaine mazes or small cakes to them which whē they had tasted they had no power to harme any body This Tyrus is said to be a Serpent about the coasts of Iericho in the Wildernes where it hunteth Birds and liueth by deuouring of them and their egges And a confection of the flesh of this Serpent with the admixture of some few other things taketh away all intoxicate poyson which confection is called Triacle It is also reported that whereas the Dragons haue no poyson of themselues they take it away from this Serpent and so poyson with a borrowed venom For this poyson is very deadly and there is a tale which I will not tell for truth that before the comming and death of our Sauiour Iesus Christ the same was vnremediable and they died thereof whosoeuer they were that had been poysoned by a Tyre but on the day of Christ his passion one of them was found by chaunce in Ierusalem which was taken aliue and brought to the side of our Sauiour hanging vppon the Crosse where it also fastened the teeth and from that time euer since all the kind haue receiued a qualified and remediable poyson and also their flesh made apt to cure it selfe or other venoms It is reported that when the Tyrus is old he casteth or rather wresteth off his coate in this manner following First it getteth off the skinne which groweth betwixt the eyes by which it looketh as if it were blind and if it be strange to a man I meane the first time that euer he saw it he will verily take it to be blind afterward it also fleyeth off the skin of from the head and so at last by little and little the whole body at which sight it appeareth as though it were an Embryon or skinlesse Serpent They keepe theyr egges in their belly and in them breede theyr young ones as the Vipers doe for before they come out of the dammes belly they are in all parts according to theyr kind perfect creatures and so euery one generateth his like as doe foure footed-beastes I take it by the relation of Gesner that the Dypsas in Italy is called Tyrus Also Cardan writeth that there is a supposed and false conceit that with the flesh of this Tyre mixed with Hellebore and water is made a confection to restore youth but the truth is it rather weakeneth and destroyeth bodies then helpeth them and maketh a counterfeite or varnished false youth but no true youth at all Thus farre Cardan and thus much of this Serpent the other things written of it are the same that are written of the Viper OF THE TORTEYSE THe last foure-footed egge-breeding beast commeth now to bee handeled in due order and place namely the Torteyse which I haue thought good to insert also in this place although I cannot finde by reading or experience that it is venomous yet seeing other before me haue ranged the same in the number and Catalogue of these Serpents and creeping creatures I will also follow them and therefore I will first expresse that of the Torteyse which is general and common to both kindes and then that which is speciall and propper to the Land and Sea Torteyses The name of this Beast is not certaine among the Hebrewes some call it Schabhul some Kipod and some Homet whereas euery one of these doe also signifie another thing as Schabhul a Snayle Kipod a Hedge-hogge and Homet a Lyzard The Chaldeans call this Beast Thiblela The Arabians terme it Sisemat Also Kauden salabhafe and Halachalie The Italians call this Testuma testudine vel testugire tartuca enfuruma tartocha cosorona And in Ferraria Gallanae tartugellae biscae scut llariae The inhabitants of Taurinu Cupparia The Portugalls Gagado The Spanyards Galapago and Tartuga The French Tortue and Tartue And in Sauoy Boug coupe The Germaines Schiltkrot and Tallerkrot The Flemings Schilt padde which aunswereth our English word Shell-crab The Graecians call it Chelone and the Latines Testudo which wordes in their seuerall Languages haue other significations as are to be found in euery vocabular Dictionary and therefore I omit them as not pertinent to
this busines or History There be of Torteyses three kinds one that liueth on the Land the second in the sweet waters and the third in the Sea or salt-waters There are found great store of these in India especially of the Wateâ— Torteyses and therefore the people of that part of the Country are called Chelonophagi that is Eaters of Torteyses for they liue vpon them and these people are sayd to be in the East-part of India And in Carmania the people are likewise so called And they do not onely eare the flesh of them but also couer their houses with their shells and of their abundance doe make them all manner of vessels And Pliny and Solinus write that the Sea Torteyses of India are so bigge that with one of them they couer a dwelling Cottage And Strabo sayth they also row in them on the waters as in a Boate. The Islands of Serapis in the Redde-Sea and the farthest Ocean Islands towardes the East of the Red Sea hath also very great Torteyses in it and euery where in the Red-Sea they so abound that the people there doe take them and carry them to their greatest Marts and Fayres to sell them as to Rhaphtis to Ptolemais and the Island of Dioscorides whereof some haue white and small shels In Lybia also they are found and in the night time they come out of their lodgings to feede but very softly so as one can scarcely perceiue their motion And of one of these Scaliger telleth this story One night saith he as I was trauayling being ouer-taken with darkenesse and want of light I cast about mine eyes to seeke some place for my lodging safe and secure from Wild-beasts and as I looked about I saw as I thought a little â—ill or heape of earth but in truth it was a Torteyse couered all ouer with mosse vpon that I ascended and saâ—e downe to rest where-vppon after a little watching I feâ—l asleepe and so ended that nights rest vppon the backe of the Torteyse In the morning when light approched I perceiued that I was remooued farre from the place whereon I first chose to lodge all night and therefore rising vp I beheld with great admiration the face and countenaunce of this Beast in the knowledge whereof as in a new nature I went foreward much comforted in my wearisome iourney The description of the Torteyse and the seuerall partes thereof now followeth to bee handled Those creatures saith Pliny which bring forth or lay egs eyther haue feathers as Fowles or haue scales as Serpents or thicke hides as the Scorpion or else a shell like the Torteyse It is not without great cause that this shell is called Scutrem and the Beast Scutellaria for there is no buckler and shield so hard and strong as this is And Palladius was not deceiued when he wrote thereof that vppon the same might safelie passe ouer a Cart-wheele the Cart being loadâ—d And therefore in this the Torteyse is more happy then the Crocodile or any other such Beast Albertus writeth that it hath two shellâ—s one vppon the backe the other on the belly which are conioyned together in foure places and by reason of this so firme a couer and shell the flesh thereof is dry and firme also long lasting and not very easie or apt to putrefaction This shell or couer is smooth except some-times when it is growne old it hath mosse vppon it and it neuer casteth his coate in old age as other creeping thinges do In the head and tayle it resembleth a Serpent and the great Torteyses haue also shelles vpon thâ—ir heads like a shield yet is the head but short and the espect of it very fearefull vntil a man â—e well acquainted there with And by reason of the hardnesse of their eyes they mooue none but the neather eye lidde and that without often winking The Liuer of it is great yet without any blood It hath but one belly without diuision and the Liueris alwaâ—es foule by reason of the vitious temperature of the body The Melt is exceeding small comming far short of the bodies proportion Beâ—…e the common nature of other thicke-hided-creatures It hath also reynes except that kind of Tortoyce called Lutaria for that wanteth both Reynes and bladder for by reason of the softnesse of the couer thereof the humour is ouer fluent but the Tortoyâ—e that bringeth foorth Egges hath all inward partes like a perfect Creature and the Females haue a singular passage for theyr excrementes which is not in the Males The Egges are in the body of their belly which are of a party-colour like the Egges of Birds Theyr stones cleaue to theyr loynes and the tayle is short but like the tayle of a Serpent They haue foure Legges in proportion like the Legges of Lizards euery foot haâ—ing fiue fingers or diuisions vpon them with nayles vpon euery one And thus much for the seuerall parts They are not vniustly called Amphibia because they liue both in the water and on the Land and in this thing they are by Pliny resembled to Beauers but this must bee vnderstood of the general otherwise the Tortoyces of the Land doe neuer dare come into the Water and those of the Water can breath in the water but want respiration and likewise they lay theyr Egges and sleepe vppon the dry Land They haue a very slowe and easie pace and thereupon Pauuiuâ— calleth it Tardigrada and also there is a Prouerbe Testudineus incessus for a slow and soft pace when such a motion is to be expressed The Tortoyce neuer casteth his coate no not in his old age The voyce is an abrupt and broken hissing not like to the Serpents but much more loud and diffused The Male is very salacious and giuen to carnall copulation but the Female is not so for when shee is attempted by the Male they fight it out by the teeth and at last the Male ouercommeth whereat he reioyceth as much as one that in a hard conflict fight or battaile hath won a fayre Woman the reason of this vnwillingnesse is because it is exceeding paynefull to the Female They engender by riding or couering one another When they haue layde theyr Egges they doe not sit vpon them to hatch them but lay them in the Earth couered and there by the heat of the Sun is the young one formed and commeth foorth at due time without any further help from his parents They are accounted crafty and suâ—tle in theâ—r kinde for subtlenesse is not onely ascribed to thinges that haue a thinne bloud but also to those that haue thicke skinnes hides and Couers such as the Tortoyce and Crocodile haue The Tortoyce is an enemy to the Bariridge as Philes and Aelianus write Also the Ape is as frayde thereof as it is of the Snayle and to conclude whatsoeuer enemy it hath it is safe inough as long as it is couered with his Shell and clyngeth fast to the Earth beneath and therefore came the Prouerbe Oikos philos
therefore they deuised a name for it calling it Myrus which some haue made a kind of Viper and others a Snake but Andreas hath notably proued against Archelaus that this Myrus neither is nor can be any other then the male Lamprey and so I will conclude that neither Vipers ingender with Lampreys nor yet the femall Vipers kill the male in copulation or that the young ones come into the world by the destruction of their dammes In the next place wee are to consider the antipathy and contrarietie that it obserueth with other creatures and the amitie also betwixt it and others First of all therefore it is certaine and well knowne what great enmity is betwixt man-kind Vipers for the one alwayes hateth and feareth the other wherefore if a man take a Viper by the necke and spet in his mouth if the spettle slide downe into his belly it dyeth thereof and rotteth as it were in a consumption Vipers also are enemies to Oxen as Virgill writeth Pestis acerba boum peccorique aspergere vinus that is a sharpe plague of Oxen casting his poyson vppon all other Cattell They are also enemies to Hennes and Geese as Columella vvriteth wherefore in auncient time they were wont to make sure walls for the custody of theyr pullen'against Vipers They are likewise enemies to the Dormouse and they hunt very greedily after their young ones whereof Epiphanius in a discourse against Origen writeth thus When the Viper commeth to the nest of a Dormouse and findeth there her young ones shee putteth out all theyr eyes and afterwards feedeth them very fat yet killeth euery day one as occasion of hunger serueth but if in the meane time a man or any other creature doe chaunce to eate of those Dormise whose eyes are so put out by the Viper they are poysoned thereby And this is a wonderfull worke in nature that neither the little Dormise receiue harme by the poyson but grow fat thereby nor yet the Viper be poysoned herselfe while she eateth them and yet a man or beast which is a stranger vnto it dyeth thereof All kind of Mice are as much afraid of Vipers as they be of Cats and therefore whensoeuer they heare the hyssing of a Viger instantly they looke to themselues and theyr young ones There is a kind of harmelesse Serpent called Parea whereof I haue spoken before in his proper place which is an enemy vnto Vipers and that same which is harmlesse vnto men killeth them Albertus also telleth a story of a Viper that climbed vp into a tree to the nest of a Megpye where-vppon the old one was sitting this poore Pye did fight with the Viper vntill the Viper tooke her fast by the thigh so as shee could fight no more yet she ceased not to chatter and cry out to her fellowes to come and helpe her wherevpon the male Pye came and seeing his female so gryped by the Viper hee ceased not to pecke vpon his head vntill the braines came out and so the Viper fell downe dead This story is also alledged by Cardan The Scorpions and the Vipers are enemies one to another for at Padua a Viper and a Scorpion for the tryall of this matter were both included in a viall where they continued fighting a little while but at last they both dyed by one anothers poyson The Torteyse of the earth is also an enemy to the Viper and the Viper to it wherefore if it can get Origan or wild-Sauorie or Rue it eateth thereof then is nothing afraid to fight with the Viper but if the Torteyse can find none of these then they die incontinentlie by the poyson of the Viper and of this there hath beene tryall as both Aristotle and other Authours affirme And as there is this contrarietie betwixt Vipers and other liuing creatures so there is betwixt them and Plants of the earth and this blessing God in nature hath bestowed vppon many beasts that when they feele themselues to be hurt by one herbe they know another to cure them as for example Garlicke is poyson to the Viper and therefore hauing tasted thereof she dieth except she eate some Rue A Viper beeing strooke with a Reede once it amazeth her and maketh her sencelesse but beeing strooke the second time she recouereth and runneth away and the like is reported of the Beech-tree sauing that it stayeth the viper and she is not able to goe from it But most maruailous is the antipathy betwixt the viper and the Yew-tree for it is reported by Mercuriall that if you lay fire on the one side and a peece of Yew on the other side and then place a viper in the middle betwixt them both she will rather chuse to runne thorow the fire then to goe ouer the branches of Yew The Viper is also afraid of Mustard-seede for it beeing layd in her path she flieth from it and if she taste of it she dyeth There is an herbe called Arum if the hands or body of a man be annoynted with the iuyce of the roote therof the viper will neuer byte him the like is reported of the iuyce of Dragons expressed out of the leaues fruite or roote It is also said that if a viper do behold a good Smaradge her eyes will melt and fall out of her head But aboue all other plants in the world the Viper is most delighted with Vetches and the Sauyne tree for in Italy as Cardan writeth there was once seene a great number of Vipers about a Sauyne-Tree and many of them did climbe vp and downe vppon that Tree There is no loue betweene this Serpent and other creatures saue onely to his ovvne kind and therefore there are two things memorable in the nature of this sauage Serpent the one is the loue of the male to the female the other of the female to her young ones It is reported by Saint Ambrose and Saint Basill that when the male misseth the female he seeketh her out very diligently and with a pleasing and flattering noyse calleth for her and when he perceiueth she approcheth he casteth vp all his venome as it were in reuerence of matrymoniall dignitie The female on the other side maketh much of her young ones licking and adorning their skinnes fighting for them vnto death both against men and beasts For this occasion and some medicinall vses the Arabians counted Vipers holy Serpents for by reason as we haue said already that the vipers do haunt the Baulsom-trees whereof there be plentie in that country they hold them for holy keepers of that precious fruite wherefore they neuer kill them but at the time of yeere when the Baulsome is ripe they come vnto the trees bearing in their hands two woodden rules which they smyte one against another by the noyse whereof the vipers are terrified and driuen away and so the Trees are freed for the Inhabitants to take the fruite thereof at their pleasure Now forasmuch as we read that Porus
the Scorpion to be of a cold nature and his poyson to be cold therfore by reason of the antipathy whereby one dyed by the malice of another it must needes follovv that the Viper is hot and her poyson likewise of the same nature For a Serpent of a cold nature killeth not another of the same nature nor a hot Serpent one of his owne kind but rather it falleth out cleane contrarie that the hot kill those that are colde and the cold Serpents the hoter All the Vipers that liue neere the vvaters are of more mild and meeke poyson then others If there be any such but I rather beleeue there be none but that the same Authour which wrote of the vipers of the water did intend Serpents of the water But concerning the poyson of vipers there is nothing reported more strange then that of Vincentius Belluacensis who writeth that if a man chaunce to tread vpon the reynes of a Viper vnawares it paineth him more then any venome for it spreadeth it selfe ouer all the body incurably Also it is written that if a woman with childe chaunce to passe ouer a viper it causeth her to suffer abortment and the Mushroms or Toade-stooles which grow neere the dennes and lodgings of vipers are also found to be venomous The Scythians also do draw an incurable and vnresistable poyson out of vipers where-withall they annoynt the sharpe ends of their darts and arrowes when they goe to vvarre to the end that if it chaunce to light vppon their aduersary hee may neuer any more doe them harme They make this poyson in this manner They obserued the lyttering places and time of the vipers and then with strength and Art did take the old young ones together which they presently killed and afterward suffered them to lye and rot or soake in some moyst thing for a season then they tooke them and put them into an earthen pot filled with the blood of some one man this potte of mans blood and vipers they stopped very close so as nothing might issue out at the mouth and then buried or couered it all ouer in a dunghill where it rotted and consumed a few dayes after which they vncouered it againe and opening it found at the toppe a kind of watery substance swymming that they take off and mixe it with the rotten matter of the Viper heereof make this deadly poyson Wee haue shewed already that there is outwardly a difference betwixt the byting wound of the Male and the Female viper for after the male hath bitten there appeareth but two holes but after the female hath bytten there appeareth foure and this is also a great deale more deadly then is the byting of the male according to the verses of Nicander where he saith Porrò ex Vipereo quod noris germine peior Foemina quae veluti maiori accenditur ira Sic vehemente magis fert noxia vulner a morsu Et plus glicenti se cauda corpore voluit Vnde citatior hac ict as mors occupat artus Which may be englished thus But of the Vipers broode the female is the worst Which as it were with greater wrath doth burne And therefore when she bytes makes bodies more accurst Inflicting hurtfull wounds to vehemency turnd Rowling her bulke and tayle more oft about Whereby a speedier death doth life rydde out But Auicen is directly contrary to this opinion and saith that as the bytings of male-Dragons are more exitiall and harmefull then are the females so is it betwixt the byting of the male and female Viper This contrarietie is thus reconciled by Mercuriall namely that it is true that the wounds which the female maketh by her byting beeing well considered is more deadly then the wounds which the male giueth yet for the proportion of the poyson which the male venteth into the wound he maketh it is more deadly then is the females so that with respect of quantitie they both say true which affirme eyther the one or the other But which soeuer is the greatest it skilleth not much for both are deadly enough as may appeare by the common symptomes and signes which follow and also death Matthiolus reporteth a history of a Country-man who as hee was mowing of grasse chaunced to cut a Viper cleane asunder about the middle or some-what neerer the head which beeing done hee stoode still and looked vppon the dying disseuered parts a little while at last eyther presuming that it had no power left to hurt or thinking it was dead he tooke that part in his hand where-vpon the head was the angry viper feeling his aduersaries warme hand turned the head about and bitte his finger with all the rage force and venome that it had left so that the blood issued out The man thus bitten for his boldnesse did hastily cast it away began to sucke the wound putting his hand to his mouth which when he had done but a little while he suddenly fell downe dead The like story vnto this is related by Amatus Lusitanas of another which more boldly then wisely did aduenture to take a liue viper into his hand vppon a wager of money but as the other so this payd for his rashnes for the angry Viper did byte him as did the former and hee sucked his wound as did the Country-man and in like maner fell downe dead By both which examples wee may well see the danger of the Vipers poyson so that if once it come into the stomacke and touch the open passage where the vitall parts goe in and out it neuer stayeth long but death followeth Wherefore Aetius saith well that sometimes it killeth within the space of seauen houres and sometimes againe within the space of three dayes and that respite of time seemeth to be the longest if remedie be not had with more effectuall speede The signes or effects of the Vipers byting are briefely these first there issueth foorth a rotten matter some-times bloody and some-times like liquid or molten fatnesse some-times againe with no colour at all but all the flesh about the sore swelleth sometimes hauing a redde and some-time a pale hiew or colour vppon it issuing also foorth a corrupted mattery matter Also it causeth diuers little blysters to arise vppon the flesh as though the body were all scorched ouer with fire and speedily after this followeth putrefaction and death The paine that commeth by this Serpents wounding is so vniuersall that all the body seemeth to be set on fire many pittifull noyses are forced out of the parties throat by sence of that paine turning and crackling of the necke also twinckling and wrying of the eyes wih darknesse and heauinesse of the head imbecility of the loynes some-times thirsting intollerably crying out vpon his dry throate and againe some-times freezing at the fingers ends at least so as hee feeleth such a payne Moreouer the body sweating a sweat more cold then snow it selfe and many times vomiting forth the bilious tumours of
to drinke Wine abundantly Theophrastus and Asclepiades doe write that many are cured by the sound of good Musicke as the like is already shewed in the cure of the poyson of the Phalangium and no maruaile for Ismenias the Theban affirmeth that he knew many in Baeotia that were cured of the Sciatica by hearing of the musicall sound of a good pype Of the Medicines which may be made of the Uiper THe eating of Vipers is an admirable remedie against the Leprosie And beeing prepared after that sort as was mentioned immediatly before in the former Section they are ministred to the sicke person sitting in the sunne yet his head must be well couered or shadowed Neither indeed to eate Vipers once alone or twice is sufficient but it must be done often sith it is without danger and moreouer bringeth great commoditie And let the Vipers be new and taken out of moist places for those which are bred neere the Sea are very thirstie and dry The broth also of sod Vipers is for such persons good supping meate The flesh of Vipers is in temperature apparantly hot and dry and purgeth the whole body by sweat here-vppon many sore tormented with Leprosie by eating and drinking them haue beene cured Auerroes saith the flesh of Tyrus clenseth Leprosie because it driueth the matter thereof to the skinne and therefore they that drinke it fall first into the passion of Tyria that is the pilling of the skinne and after are cured of it Chuse the Vipers of the Mountaine especially beeing white and cut off their heads tayles at once very speedily and then if the issue of blood be plentifull and they continue aliue and wallow to and fro a long time these are good After their beheading let them be made cleane and sod and let the diseased party eate of them and of their broath And by the drinking of wine wherein a Viper dyeth or liueth certaine haue beene cured accidentally or by an intent to kill them The Leaper must first drinke the broth of Vipers decocted in manner as afore-saide then let him eate the flesh no otherwise then as mutton or fowles which daily men dine with but fasting and in the morning this flesh must be eaten halfe a Viper at once and some-time a whole viper according to the strength of the partie diseased After the eating whereof hee must not eate or drinke in the space of sixe houres but if hee doe sweat it is most expedient that in his sweat hee looke to himselfe very carefully And the skinne is wont to flca off from the Leaper as it vsually befalleth Serpents A man may easily see the flesh of Viders to be hot and dry when they are dressed as Eâ—les And that they purge the whole body thorow the skinne thou mayest learne euen by those things which my selfe beeing a young man had experience of in our Countrey of Asia which things seuerally and in order I shall relate A certaine man infected with the disease which men call Elephas that is Leprosie for a time conuersed still with his companions till by his company conuersation some of them were infected with the contagion of the disease and hee now became lothsome to smell and filthy to sight Building therefore a cottage for him neere the Village on the top of a banke hard by a fountaine there they place this man and daily bring to him so much meate as was sufficient to sustaine life But at the rising of the Dog-starre when by good hap Reapers reaped not farre from that place very fragrant wine was brought for them in an earthen vessell he that brought it set it downe neere the Reapers and departed but when the time was come that they should drinke it a young man taking vp the vessell that according to their maner hauing filled a boule hee might mingle the Wine with a competent measure of water hee poured the Wine into the boule and together with the Wine fell out a dead Viper Wherefore the Reapers amazed thereat and fearing least if they dranke it they should receiue some harme thereby chose rather indeed to quench their thirst by drinking vvater but when they departed thence of humanitie in pietie gaue the wine to this Leper supposing it to be better for him to die then to liue in that misery Yet hee when hee had drunke it in a wonderfull manner was restored to his health for all the scurfe of his skinne fell off as the shalles of tender shelled creatures and that which remained appeared very tender as the skinne of Crabs or Locusts when their outward shell is taken away Another example by a chaunce not much vnlike hapned in Mysia a Country of Asia not farre from our Cittie A certaine Leper went to wash himselfe in Spring-water hoping thereby to receiue some benefit Hee had a maid-seruaunt a very fayre young woman importuned by diuers suters to her the sicke man committed both certaine other things pertaining to the house also the store-house When they therefore were gone into the roome to which a filthy place and full of Vipers adioyned by chaunce one of theÌ„ fell into a vessell of Wine there negligently left and was drowned The mayd esteeming that a benefit which Fortune offered filled that Wine to her maister and hee dranke it and there-by in like sort as he that liued in the cottage was cured These are two examples of experiment by casuall occasion Moreouer I will adde also a third which proceeded from our imitation When one was sicke of this disease in mind more then the common sort philosophicall and despising death tooke it exceeding grieuously and said it were better once to suffer death then to liue so miserable a life and drinking wine so mingled with poyson he became a Leper and afterward wee cured his Leprosie by our accustomed medicines Also a fourth man tooke Vipers aliue but that man had onely the beginning of this disease therefore our care and industry was very speedily to restore him to health wherfore hauing let him blood and by a medicine taken away melancholy wee bad him vse the Vipers he had taken beeing prepared in a pot after the manner of Eeles And he was thus cured the infection euaporating thorow the skinne Lastly also a certaine other man very rich not our Country-man but of the middle of Thracia admonished by a dreame came to Pergamus where God commaunded him by a dreame that hee should daily drinke the medicine which was made of Vipers and outwardly he should annoynt his body and not many dayes after his disease became the Leprosie And againe also this infirmitie was afterward cured by the medicines which God commaunded Matthew Grady fedde Chickins and Capons with the broth and flesh of Vipers mingled with bread till they cast theyr feathers purposing by them to cure the Leprosie A certaine Noble-woman in this Citty infected with this malady the Leprosie after diuers infortunate attempts of many came to
my hands in whose cure when generous medicines auailed nothing at last with consent of her husband I purposed to try her with Vipers flesh where-vpon a female Viper beeing cleansed and prepared after that sort as Galen prescribeth in his booke De Theriaca mingling the flesh of the Viper with Galangall Saffron c. I sod her very well Then I tooke a chicken which I commaunded well to be sod in the iuyce and broth of the Viper And least shee should take any harme there-by I first ministred vnto her Methridate then the Chicken with the broth by eating whereof she said she felt herselfe better Which when I saw I tooke another male viper whom I sod alone without adding any other thing and the broth thereof I ministred to her three dayes where-vpon she began to sweat extreamely the sweat I restrained by syrop of Violets and pure water After sixe dayes scales fell from her and shee was healed Moreouer shee soone after conceiued a man-child hauing beene barren before the space of forty yeeres Antonius Musa a Phisitian when he met with an incurable Vlcer he gaue his patients Vipers to eate and cured them with maruailous celeritie When the scruaunt of Craterus the Phisitian fell into a strange and vnusuall disease that his flesh fell from his bones and that he had prooued many medicines which profited him nothing he was healed by eating a Viper dressed as a fish Vipers flesh if it be sod and eaten cleareth the eyes helpeth the defects of the sinewes and represseth swellings They say they that eate vipers become lousie which is not so though Galen affirme it Some adde them to liue long who eate that meate to wit Vipers Isogonus affirmeth the Cirni a kind of Indians to liue an hundred and forty yeeres Also he thinketh the Ethyopians and Seres and the inhabitants of Mount Athos to be long liued because they eate Vipers flesh The Scythians cleaue the head of the viper betwixt the eares to take out a stone which they say she deuoureth when she is affrighted The heads of Vipers burnt in a pot to ashes and after beaten together with the grosest decoction of bitter Lupines and spred as an oyntment on the temples of the head stayeth the continuall rhume of the eyes Their ashes lightly beaten alone and applyed as a dry medicine for the eyes greatly amendeth a dimme sight The head of a viper kept dry and burned and after beeing dipped in Vineger and applyed cureth wild fire The gall of the viper doth wonderfully cleanse the eye and offendeth not by poyson It is manifest against the stinging of all Serpents though incurable that the bowels of the very Serpents doe helpe and auaile and yet they who at any time haue drunke the liuer of a sod Viper are neuer stung of Serpents The fat of a viper is effectuall against the dimnesse and suffusions of the eyes mixed with Rosin Honny-attick and a like quantity of old oyle For the Gowte they sayâ—t auaileth much to annoynt the feete with the fatte of Vipers Vipers fatte healeth them that are burned The slough of the Viper cureth the Ring-worme The skinne of the viper beaten to powder and layd vpon the places where the hayre is fallen it dooth wonderfully restore hayre againe Some extend and dry whole Vipers and after beate them to powder and minister theÌ„ in drinke against the Gowte Others about the rising of the Dog-star cut off the head tayle of Vipers and burne the middle then they giue those ashes to be drunke 21. dayes so much at a time as may be taken vp with three fingers and so cure the swelling in the neeke Ioynts payned with the Gowte are profitably annoynted with oyle wherein a Viper hath beene sodden for this cureth perfectly The making of oyle of Vipers is described in these words Take three or foure Vipers cut off their extreame parts the head and the tayle in length foure fingers deuide the rest into foure gobbets and put them in a pot open aboue and below which pot must be put into another greater pot then the mouth of them must be well shutte with clay that they breathe not forth then put them into a caldron full of seething water and there let them continue boyling two houres in those pots then will distill a liquour from the Vipers which were in the pot open aboue and below with that oylie liquour annoynt the members of the partie molested with the Palsey for by a secret propertie it cureth the greefe of that disease Of Triacle and Trochuks of Uipers THeriace or Triacle not onely because it cureth the venomous byting of Serpents but also because the Serpents themselues are vsually mingled in the making thereof fitly is so named of both significations Heere also we will insert something concerning Trochuks of Vipers vvhich are mingled in the making of Triacle Triacle is very auncient and hath alwaies very carefully and not without ambition beene refined by the Phisitians till Andromochus Nero his Phisitian added the flesh of Vipers as the full accomplishment of this drugge The flesh of Vipers alone is mingled in Triacle and not the flesh of other Serpents because all the rest haue some-thing malignant more then Vipers Vipers are thought to haue lesse poyson in them then other Serpents Vipers for Triacle must not be taken at any time but chiefely in the beginning of the Spring when hauing left their dennes they come forth into the sunne-shine and as yet haue not poyson much offensiue Take female Vipers for we must take heede how we take male vipers for the confection of Antidotes For Trochuks all vipers are not conuenient but those which be yellow and of the yellow the females onely Vipers great with young you must refuse for being pregnant they are more exasperate then themselues at other times Of Vipers be made Trochisches which of the Graecians are called Therâ—acy foure fingers beeing cut off at either end and the inwards taken out and the pale matter cleauing to the backe-bone the rest of the body must be boyled in a dish in water with the herbe Dill the back-bone must be taken out and fine floure must be added Thus these Trochuks being made they must be dryed in the shade apart from the Sunne-beames and beeing so prepared they be of very great vse for many medicines The vse of Triacle is profitable for many things for not onely by his owne nature it auayleth against the byting of venomous creatures and poysons but also it is found by experience to helpe many other great infirmities For it caseth the Gowte and payne in the ioynts it dryeth fluxes it very much profiteth men molested with the Dropsie leaprous and melancholicke persons those that haue Quartane-Agues or the Iaundise those that haue a weake voyce or that spet blood those that are troubled with aking of the reynes with disentery with the stone