Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	egypt_n	hand_n	stretch_v	1,308	5	10.4202	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13821	The historie of serpents. Or, The second booke of liuing creatures wherein is contained their diuine, naturall, and morall descriptions, with their liuely figures, names, conditions, kindes and natures of all venemous beasts: with their seuerall poysons and antidotes; their deepe hatred to mankind, and the wonderfull worke of God in their creation, and destruction. Necessary and profitable to all sorts of men: collected out of diuine scriptures, fathers, phylosophers, physitians, and poets: amplified with sundry accidentall histories, hierogliphicks, epigrams, emblems, and ænigmaticall obseruations. By Edvvard Topsell.	Topsell, Edward, 1572-1625?	1608 (1608)	STC 24124; ESTC S122051	444,728	331

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

seemeth to affirme the contrary Mercuriall decideth this controuersie and proueth that Serpents are extreamely cold their bodies outwardly moist First because those which are stunge poysoned by Serpents are oppressed with an vnnaturall cold which ouercommeth naturall heate and distendeth all their parts vexing them intollerably Secondly there can be assigned no other reason why these Creatures hide themselues 4. moneths in the yere but onely their naturall cold making thē so tender as they are altogether vnfit to endure any externall frigiditie Thirdly if a Man take a Snake or a Serpent into his handling in the midst of Sommer warmest part of the yeere yet shall he perceiue that they are cold in a palpable manner being aliue which is not a qualitie competible to any other creature Fourthly seeing that blood is the proper and natiue seate of all heate in naturall liuing bodies Serpents hauing a very small quantitie of blood must also haue a smaller proportion of heate and therfore it followeth vnauoidably that the eminencie of their temperament is cold in the highest degree aboue all other liuing Creatures And that their bodies be outwardlie moyst it appeareth saith Isidorus by this that when they slide along vpon the Earth which way soeuer they goe they leaue behind them in their traine or path a slymie humour By this therefore it is confirmed that they are of the Earth and of the Water as afterward we shall shew in the description of their kindes But yet there are prodigious beginnings of Serpents whereof some seeme to be true other to be fabulous The first sort are those which Plinie affirmeth to be engendred of the marrowe in the backe-bone of a man and that indifferently out of the dead bodies of good euill men Yet some more modest thinking it vnreasonable that the remnants of a good meeke man should beget or be turned into so barbarous venomous cruell a nature rather taking it for granted that peace and quietnes is the reward of such persons attribute these beginnings or alterations to the bodies of wicked men as a iust deserued punishment of their former euills that the reuersion of their bodies should after death turne into Serpents whom they resembled being aliue in the venemous fraude of their spirits Of this Ouid speaketh Sunt quae cum clauso putrefacta est Spina sepulchro Mutari credunt humanas angue medullas Which may be thus englished Some thinke the putride backe-bone in the graue rack'd Or marrow changd the shape of Snakes to take In Egypt as Frogges and Mice are engendred by showers of raine so also are Serpents And Autcen saith that the longest haires of women are easily turned into Serpents Nicander dreameth that all venomous beastes are engendred of the blood of the Tytans or Gyants Acusilaus of the blood of Typhon Apollonius Rhodius of the drops of blood which doe distill from Gorgons Virgilius saith that dung beeing laid in a hollow place subiect to receiue moysture engendereth Serpents Of the Gorgons drops Ouid writeth thus Cumque super Lybicas victor penderet arenas Gorgonei capitis guttae cecidere cruentae Quas humus exceptas varios animauit in angues Vnde frequens illa est infestaque cerra colubris Which may thus be Englished And as he ouer-flew The Lybicke sandes the drops of bloud that from the head did sewe Of Gorgon being new cut off vpon the ground did fall Which taking them and as it were conceiuing them withall Engendred sundry Snakes and wormes by meanes whereof that Clyme Did swarme with Serpents euer since to this same present time But most strange of all other are the succeeding Narrations For it is reported that when L. Scipio and C. Norbanus were Consuls that the mother of Clusius in Hetruria brought foorth a liuing Serpent in stead of a childe and the sayde Serpent by the commaund of the Wisardes was cast into a Ryuer neuerthelesse it woulde not drowne but swimmed against the streame And Pliny sayth that at the beginning of the Marsycke warre there was a mayd-seruaunt that brought foorth another Serpent And Faustina the Empresse dreamed that she brought foorth Serpents when shee was with childe of Commodus and Antoninus and one of these Serpents seemed more fierce then the other which proued allegorically true for afterward Commodus was so voluptuous and tyrannous that he seemed like a Serpent to be borne for nothing but for the destruction of mankinde In the yeare of the Lorde 1551. there was a little Latine booke printed at Vienna wherein was contained this History following In this Summer sayth the Booke about S. Margarites day there happened most rare and admyrable Accidents for neere a Village called Zichsa by the Riuer Theose in Hungaria there were many Serpents Lisards bred in the bodies of men very like to such as are bred in the earth whereupon they fell into exquisite torments and there dyed of that calamity about three thousand some of the bodyes being layde against the Sunne gaping the Serpents came foorth of theyr mouthes and suddenly entred into their bellies againe Amongst other there was a certaine Noble-mans daughter which dyed of that malady and when she was dissected or ripped there were found in her body two great Serpentes These thinges seeme to bee miraculous and aboue the order of Nature yet credible because in our experience in England there haue beene Wormes like Serpentes found in the bodies of men whereof some haue beene eiected the parties being aliue and other when as the parties were dead But that these beginnings of Serpents being vnnaturall are Diuine and sent from God as scourges it may appeare by another notable History recorded in the aforenamed booke both in the same yeare and in the same Countrey There was sayth mine Author found in a mowe or rycke of corne almost as many Snakes Adders and other Serpentes as there were sheafes so as no one sheafe could be remoued but there presently appeared a heape of ougly and fierce Serpents The countrey-men determined to set fire vpon the Barne and so attempted to doe but in vaine for the straw would take no fire although they laboured with all their wit and pollicye to burne them vp At last there appeared vnto them at the top of the heap a huge great Serpent which lifting vp his head spake with mans voyce to the countrey-men saying Cease to prosecute your deuise for you shall not be able to accomplish our burning for wee were not bredde by Nature neither came we hither of our owne accord but were sent by God to take vengeance on the sinnes of men And thus much for the true and naturall beginninges of Serpentes Now we reade in holy Scripture that the rod of Moses was turned into a Serpent by diuine myracle whereby he was assured of the power that God woulde giue him to deliuer his people Israell out of Egypt which land abounding with Serpentes both naturall bredde in the earth and

Aluka by most of the Iewes vnderstand a Horsleach Pro. 30. but Dauid Kimhi taketh and vseth it for a Crocodile For he sayth it is a great Worme abiding neere the Riuers sides and vpon a sudden setteth vpon men or cattell as they passe besides him Tisma and Alinsa are by Auicen expounded for a crocodile and Tenchea for that Crocodile that neuer moueth his neather or vnder chap. shipped by the inhabitants and kept tame by the Priestes in a certaine Lake this sacred Crocodile is called Suchus and this word commeth neere to Scincus which as wee haue said signifieth any Crocodile of the earth from which the Arabian Tinsa seemeth also to be deriued as the Egyptian Thampsai doth come neere to the Arabian Trenisa Herodotus calleth them Champsai and this was the old Ionian word for a Vulgar Crocodile in hedges Vppon occasion whereof Scaliger saith hee asked a Turke by what name they call a Crocodile at this day in Turky and he aunswered Kimpsai which is most euidently corrupted from Champsai The Egyptians vulgarly call the Crocodile of Nilus Cocatrix the Graecians Neilokrokadeilos generally Krocodeilos and sometimes Dendrites The Latines Crocodilus and Albertus Crocodillus and the same word is retayned in all languages of Europe About the Etymologie of this word I find two opinions not vnprofitable to be rehearsed the first that Crocodilus commeth of Crocus Saffron because this beast especially the Crocodile of the earth is afrayd of Saffron and therefore the country people to defend theyr Hiues of Bees and hony from them strow vpon the places Saffron But this is too farre fetched to name a beast from that which it feareth and beeing a secrete in nature it is not likelie that it was discouered at the first and therefore the name must haue some other inuestigation Isidorus saith that the name Crocodilus commeth of Croceus color the colour of Saffron because such is the colour of the Crocodile and this seemeth to be more reasonable● For I haue seene a Crocodile in England brought out of Egypt dead and killed vvith a Musket the colour whereof was like to Saffron growing vpon the stalkes in fieldes Yet it is more likely that the deriuation of Varinus and Eustathius was the originall for they say that the shores of sands on the Riuers were called Croc● and Croculae and because the Crocodiles haunt liue in those shores it might giue the name to the beasts because the water Crocodiles liue and delight in those sandes but the Land or earth Crocodiles abhorre and feare them It is reported that the famous Grammarian Artemidorus seeing a Crocodile lying vppon the sands he was so much touched and moued there-with that he fell into an opinion that his left legge and hand were eaten off by that Serpent and that thereby he lost the remembrance of all his great learning and knowledge of Artes. And thus much for the name of this Serpent In the next place we are to consider the Countries wherein Crocodiles are bred and keepe theyr habitation and those are especially Egypt for that onely hath Crocodiles of both kindes that is of the water and of the Land for the Crocodiles of Nilus are Amphibij liue in both elements they are not only in the riuer Nilus but also in all the pooles neere adioyning The Riuer Bambotus neere to Atlas in Affrica doth also bring foorth Crocodiles and Pliny saith that in Darat a Riuer of Mauritania there are Crocodiles ingendered Likewise Apollonius reporteth that when he passed by the Riuer Indus he met with many Sea-horses and Crocodiles such as are found in the Riuer Nilus and besides these countryes I doe not remember any other wherein are ingendered crocodiles of the water which are the greatest and most famous Crocodiles of all other The Crocodiles of the earth which are of lesser note and quantitie are more plentiful for they are found in Libia in Bithinia where they are called Azaritia in the Mountaine Syagrus in Arabia and in the vvoods of India as is well obserued by Arianus Dioscorides and Hermolaus and therefore I will not prosecute this matter any further The kindes being already declared it followeth that we should proceed to their quantitie and seuerall parts And it appeareth that the water Crocodile is much greater and more noble then the Crocodiles of the earth for they are not aboue two cubites long or some-times eyght at the most but the other are sixteene and sometimes more And besides these crocodiles if they lay their egges in the water saith Bellunensis thē their young ones are much greater but if on the Land then are they lesser and like the Crocodiles of the earth In the Riuer Ganges there are two kinds of Crocodiles one of them is harmelesse doth no hurt to any creature but the other is a deuouting vnsatiable beast killing snoute there groweth a bunch like a horne Now a Crocodile is like a Lyzard in all poynts excepting the tayle and the quantity of a Lyzard yet it layeth an egge no greater then a Gooses egge and from so small a beginning ariseth this monstrous Serpent growing all his life long vnto the length of fifteene or twenty cubits And as Phalareus witnesseth in the dayes of Psammitichus King of Egypt there was one found of fiue and twenty cubits long and before that in the dayes of Amasis one that was aboue sixe and twenty cubits long the reason whereof was theyr long life and continuall growth Wee haue shewed already that the colour of a Crocodile is like to Saffron that is betwixt yellow and redde more inclining to yellow then redde not vnlike to the blacker kind of Chamaeleon but Peter Martyr saith that their belly is somewhat whiter then the other parts Their body is rough all ouer beeing couered with a certaine barke or rinde so thicke firme and strong as it will not yeelde and especially about the backe vnto a cart-wheele when the cart is loaded and in all the vpper parts and the tayle it is impenitrable with any dart or speare yea scarcely to a pistoll or small gunne but the belly is softer whereon he receiueth wounds with more facility for as wee shall shew afterwardes there is a kind of Dolphine which commeth into Nilus and fighteth with them wounding them on the belly parts The couering of their backe is distinguished into diuers deuided shells standing vppe farre aboue the flesh and towardes the sides they are lesse emynent but on the belly they are more smooth white and very penitrable The eyes of a Crocodile of the vvater are reported to be like vnto a Swines and therefore in the vvater they see very dimlie but out of the water they are sharpe and quicke sighted like to all other foure-footed Serpents that lay egges They haue but one eye-lidde that groweth from the nether part of the cheeke which by reason of their eyes neuer twinckleth And the Egyptians say that onely the Crocodile among

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 Gellius●…th ●…th that among the multitude of Sea-serpents some are like Congers and I cannot te●…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 àmelgein 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