their whole life Some neuer go their full time with their children and such women if peraduenture by helpe of physicke or other good means and choice keeping they ouercome this infirmitie bring daughters ordinarily and no other The Emperor Augustus among other singularities that he had by himselfe during his life saw ere he died the nephew of his neece that is to say his progenie to the fourth degree of lineall discent and that was M. Scyllanus who hapned to be borne the same yeare that he departed out of this world He hauing been Consull and afterward Lord Gouernor of Asia was poysoned by prince Nero to the end that he might thereby attaine to the empire Qu. Metellus Macedonicus left behind him six children and by them eleuen nephewes but daughters in law and sons in law and of all such as called him father seuen In the Chronicles of Augustus Caesars acts for his time we finde vpon record that in his twelfth Consulship when L. Sylla was his companion and collegue in gouernment vpon the eleuenth day of Aprill C. Crispinus Helarus a gentleman of Fesulae came with solemne pompe into the Capitoll attended vpon with his nine children seuen sons and two daughters with 27 Nephewes the sonnes of his children and 29 nephewes more once remoued who were his sons nephewes and twelue Neeces besides that were his childrens daughters and with all these solemnly sacrificed CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of the same matter more at large A Woman commonly is past childe-bearing after 50 yeares of her age And for the most part their monthly termes stay at forty As for men it is cleare and wel knowne that king Massinissa when he was aboue 86 yeres old begat a son whom he called Methymathmas Cato Censorius that famous Censor begat another vpon the daughter of Salonius his vassal when hee was past 80 yeares of age And hereof it commeth that the race which came of his other children were surnamed Liciniani but the off-spring of this last sonne Salonini from whom Cato Vticensis who slew himselfe at Vtica is lineally descended Moreouer it is not long since that dame Cornelia of the house and linage of the Scipio's bare vnto Lu. Saturninus her husband who died whiles he was Prouost of the city of Rome a son named Volusius Saturninus and who afterwards liued to be Consull who was begotten when his father was 62 yeares old with the better To conclude there haue beene amongst meaner persons very many knowne to haue gotten children after fourscore and fiue CHAP. XV. ¶ Of Womens monethly sicknesse OF all liuing creatures a woman hath a flux of bloud euery moneth and hereupon it is that in her wombe onely there are found a false conception called Mola i. a Moone-calfe that is to say a lump of flesh without shape without life and so hard withal that vneth a knife will enter and pierce it either with edge or point Howbeit a kinde of mouing it hath and staieth the course of her moneths and sometime after the manner of a childe indeed it costeth the woman her life otherwhiles it waxeth in her belly as she groweth and ageth with her now and then also it slippeth and falleth from her with a laske and loosenesse of the guts Such a thing breeds likewise in the bellies of men vpon the hardnesse of liuer or spleen which the Physitions call Scirrhus i. an hard wedge and cake vnder their short-ribs And such an one had Oppius Cato a nobleman of Rome late Pretour But to come againe to women hardly can there be found a thing more monstrous than is that flux course of theirs For if during the time of their sicknes they happen to approch or go ouer a vessel of wine be it neuer so new it wil presently soure if they touch any standing corne in the field it wil wither and come to no good Also let them in this estate handle graffes they will die vpon it the herbes and young buds in a garden if they do but passe by will catch a blast and burne away to nothing Sit they vpon or vnder trees whiles they are in this case the fruit which hangeth vpon them will fall Do they but see themselues in a looking glasse the cleare brightnesse thereof turneth into dimnesse vpon their very sight Look they vpon a sword knife or any edged toole bee it neuer so bright it waxeth duskish so doth also the liuely hue of yvorie The very bees in the hiue die Yron steele presently take rust yea and brasse likewise with a filthy strong and poisoned stink if they lay but hand thereupon If dogs chance to taste of womens fleures they run mad therewith and if they bite any thing afterwards they leaue behinde them such a venome that the wounds are incureable nay the very clammy slime Bitumen which at certaine times of the yere floteth and swimmeth vpon the lake of Sodom called Asphaltites in Iury which otherwise of the owne nature is pliable enough soft and gentle and ready to follow what way a man would haue it cannot be parted and diuided asunder for by reason of the viscositie it cleaueth and sticketh like glue and hangeth all together pluck as much as a man will at it but only by a thred that is stained with this venomous bloud euen the silly Pismires the least creatures of all others hath a perceiuance sence of this poison as they say for they cast aside will no more come to that corn which they haue found by tast to be infected with this poison This malady so venomous and hurtful as it is followeth a woman stil euery 30 daies and at 3 moneths end if it stay so long it commeth in great abundance And as there be some women that haue it oftner than once a month so there are others again that neuer see ought of it But such lightly are barren and never bring children For in very deed it is the materiall substance of generation and the mans seed serueth in stead of a runnet to gather it round into a curd which afterwards in processe of time quickneth and grows to the form of a body which is the cause that if women with childe haue this flux of the moneths their children are not long liued or else they proue feeble sickly and full of filthie humours as Nigidius writeth CHAP. XVI ¶ In like manner of births and infants in the mothers wombe THe same Nigidius is of opinion that a womans milke nource to her owne child giuing it sucke will not corrupt and be naught for the babe if she conceiue againe by the same man to whom she brought the former childe Also it is held that in the beginning end of the foresaid menstruall fleures a woman is very apt to conceiue Moreouer it is commonly receiued for an infallible argument in women that they are fruitfull and with childe if when they annoint their eies with their owne spittle as with a medicine the same appeare
many times is bigger than the Dolphin and put them to such pain that to auoid them they oftentimes are driuen to lance themselues and skip into the very ships Which propertie they haue also at other times for feare of the violence of other fishes most of all the Mullets haue this cast with them and this they doe with such exceeding swiftnesse and agilitie that they will fling themselues otherwhiles crosse ouer the ships CHAP. XVI ¶ Of presages and foretokenings by fishes and of their diuersitie NAture willing to endue this Element also of the water with some Auguries hath giuen to fishes likewise a kind of prescience and foreknowledge of things ro come And verily during the Sicilian war as Augustus Caesar walked along the shore vpon the sands there was a certain fish leapt forth of the sea and light at his very feet The Soothsaiers and wisards vpon this occurrent being sought vnto gaue this construction thereof and presaged thereby That they who at that time were lords of the sea and held it in subiection should be ranged vnder the obedience of Caesar and at his deuotion And yet at that present it is thought and said That god Neptune had adopted Sex Pompeius for his son so fortunate he was and such exploits had he atchieued vpon the sea The female kind of fishes are commonly bigger than the males And there are some sorts of them whereof there be no males at all but all females as the Erythini and the Chani For they be taken alwaies spawners and full of egs Fishes that be skaled for the most part swim in troups and sort together The best fishing is before the sun be vp for then fishes see least or not at all For if the nights be cleere and Moon-shine they see as well by night as day Moreouer they say that it is good fishing twise in one and the same hole for commonly vpon the second cast the draught is better than the first Fishes loue passing well to tast oile they ioy also and like well in soft gentle shewers therewith they wil feed and grow fat And good reason there is of it for why we see by experience that canes reeds although they breed in meers and standing waters yet they grow not to the purpose without rain Moreouer it is obserued that fish keeping euermore in one dead poole and neuer remoued wil die wheresoeuer it be vnlesse there fall rain water to refresh them All fishes feele the cold of a sharpe and hard winter but those especially who are thought to haue a stone in their head as the Pikes the Chromes Scienae Pagri If it be a bitter season in winter many of them are taken vp blind And therefore during those cold moneths they lurk hidden in holes and within rocks like as we haue said certain land creatures doe But aboue all others the Lobstars called Hippuri and the Coracini cannot abide extremity of cold therefore be neuer caught in winter vnles it be at certain times when they come forth of their holes which they keep duly and neuer stir but then In like sort the Lamproie the Orphe the Conger Perches and all Stone-fishes that loue rocks and grauell Men say verily that the crampefish the Plaice and the Sole lie hidden all winter in the ground that is to say in certain creuises and chinks which they make in the bottome of the sea Contrariwise some again be as impatient of heat and can as ill away with hot weather and therefore about Mid-summer for 60 daies they lie hidden and are not to be seen as the fish Glaucus the Cod and the Gilthead Of riuer fishes the Silurus or Sturgeon in the beginning of the dog-daies is blasted and stricken with a planet at other times also in a thunder lightening he is smitten so as therewith he is astonied and lieth for dead And some thinke that the like accident befalleth to the sea Bream Cyprinus And verily all quarters of the sea throughout feele the rising of the dog-starre but most of all the influence and power thereof is to be seen in the streight of Bosphorus for then may a man perceiue ordinarily the reits of the sea and the fishes flote aloft and the sea so troubled that euery thing is cast vp from the bottome to the vpper part of the water CHAP. XVII ¶ Of the Mullet and other fishes and that the same in all places are not of like request THe Mullets haue a naturall ridiculous qualitie by themselues to be laughed at for when they be afraid to be caught they wil hide their head and then they think they be sure enough weening that all their body is likewise hidden These Mullets neuerthelesse are so lecherous that in the season when they vse to ingender in the coasts of Phoenice Languedock if they take a milter out of their stews or pooles where they vse to keep them and draw a long string or line through the mouth and gils and so tie it fast and then put him into the sea holding the other end of the line still in their hands if they pul him again vnto them they shal haue a number of spawners or femals follow him hard at taile to the bank side Semblably if a man do the same with a female in spawning time hee shall haue as many milters follow after her And in this manner they take an infinit number of Mullets In old time our ancestors set more store by the Sturgeon it carried the name aboue all other fishes He is the only sish that hath the scales growing ouer the head hee swims against the streame But now adaies there is no such reckoning account made of him wherat I maruell much considering he is so hard and seldome to be found Some call him Elops afterwards Cornelius Nepos and Laberius the Poet and maker of mery rimes haue written that the sea Pikes and the cods got away all the credit from the Sturgeon were of greatest request As for the Pikes aforesaid the best and most commendable of all others be they which are called Lanati as a man would say cotton Pikes for the whitenesse tendernesse of their flesh Of cods there be two sorts Callariae or Haddocks which be the lesse and Bacchi which are neuer taken but in the deep and therfore they are preferred before the former But the Pikes that are caught in the riuer be better than all others The fish called Scarus now carrieth the price praise of all others this fish alone is said to chew cud to liue of grasse and weeds and not to prey vpon other fishes In the Carpathian sea great store of them is found by their good will they neuer passe the cape or promontorie Lectos in Troas In the daies of Tiberius Claudius the Emperor Optatius his freed man who sometime had bin a slaue of his and then Admiral and Lieutenant generall of a fleet vnder him brought them
workmen in this kinde Of Sthenis making are the images of Ceres Iupiter and Minerva which at Rome are within the temple of Concord The same man took pleasure in counterfeiting ancient dames and matrons weeping praying aad offering sacrifice Simon of Aegina was very good at the making of a dog and an archer Stratonicus that famous cutter and engrauer was neuer well but when he pourtraied some Philosopher or other no more than Scopas both the one and the other As for wrestlers and champions armed men hunters and sacrificers they were the onely workes that these artificers following delighted most in to wit Batten Eucher Glaucides Heliodorus Hicanus Leophon Lyson Leon Menodorus Myagrius Polycrates Polydorus Pythocritus and Protogenes who also was a most excellent renowned painter as I will hereafter shew more at large also Patrocles Polis Posidonius born at Ephesus who likewise chased and engraued in siluer most finely Periclimenus Philon Simenus Timotheus Theomnestus Timarchides Timon Tisias and Thrason But aboue all other Callimachus is the workeman of greatest note in regard of a by name giuen vnto him and that was Cacizotechnos and well he might be so called for hee would alwaies be finding fault with his own workmanship neuer could see when to make an end thinking still that he had not bestowed art ynough vpon that he had vnder his hand And so he brought forth little or nothing perfect in the end A notable and memorable example to teach all men not to be ouer curious and exquisit in any thing but to hold a measure in all And there is a daunce of Lacedemonian women of his making a piece of work which he went about also to amend and when he thought to make it better he marred it clean so that it lost all the grace it had before Some say that this Callimachus had bin in former time a painter And since I haue entred so far into this Treatise of statues images I may not passe ouer in silence but note as it were by the way one thing of Cato although haply it may be thought but a meere vanity In that expedition or voiage wherein Cyprus was conquered and reduced vnder the dominion of Rome hee made port-saile of al the pillage taken there saue only one statue of Zeno not for the excellencie of the matter for it was but brasse nor yet for the art and curious workmanship thereof but for that it was the image of a Philosopher In this discourse of statues and images I must not passe by one although it is not certainely known who was the maker of it and this is Hercules in his shirt and other habit thathe wore vpon the mount Oete standing now at Rome neere vnto the publicke pulpit called Rostra Made he is whosoeuer did it with a grim sterne and sower countenance and such indeed as doth bewray and feel those intollerable torments which the body sustained by that poisoned shirt sent to him from Deianira Vpon this statue there stand 3 titles or inscriptions the first is this L. Luculli Imperatoris de Manubius i. L. Lucullus Lord Generall erected this statue out of the spoile of the enemies the second Pupillus Luculli filius ex S. C. dedicauit i. The son of L. Lucullus being orphan or ward dedicated this by an order or act from the Senat the third T. Septimius Sabinus Aedilis Curulis ex priuato in publicum restituit i. T. Septimius Sabinus Aedile Curule for the time being hath from a priuat house caused it to stand againe in publick place This is the image of that worthy Hercules that fought so many battels indured such hard conflicts and labors and was so highly honored Now is it time to return to the different kinds and sundry temperatures of brasse from which I haue digressed first and foremost therefore this is to be noted That in Cyprian brasse or copper there is to be considered one sort which is named Coronarium and the other that they call Regulare and both the one and the other will abide the hammer be brought into thin plates As for the Coronarium or Laton when it is reduced into thin leaues or plates and then coloured or rubbed ouer with the gal of an oxe it looketh like gold and maketh a faire shew in those coronets that plaiers weare whereupon it tooke the name Coronarium the same after that to euery ounce of it there be put six scruples of gold and be reduced into a very thin foile resembleth the color of fire like a rubie or carbuncle stone As touching this brasse it is found also in other mines of mettal like as the pot brasse Caldarium this only is the difference that this Caldarium wil melt only for vnder the hammer it will break whereas the other sort of copper named Regulare yeeldeth to the hammer and will be drawne out whereupon some there be who call it Ductile i. battable and such is all the kind of copper or Cyprian brasse That also which is found in the mines of other mettalls by art refined differeth from the foresaid pot-mettal for out of what mine soeuer it commeth after that the drosse imperfections therof be throughly purged by the fire being thus I say clensed it becommeth Regulare and wil abide the hammer As for all other sorts besides the Cyprian brasse aboue named the Campane brasse is counted best like to which there is much in other parts also of Italy and in the prouinces but to euery hundred pound of brasse they put 8 pound of lead then they boile it as it were and melt it again with a soft fire for want and scarsitie of wood and fuell And what difference there may be in that regard it is most of all seen in the heart of France where it is commonly melted for lack of other fuel among stones made red hot for by reason that this is a swift scorching fire it becommeth black and brittle withall besides they melt it but once but surely to doe so oftner maketh very much for the goodnesse thereof CHAP. IX ¶ The difference in Brasse the diuers mixtures thereof and how Brasse should be kept MOreouer it were not amisse to note thus much also that all kind of brasse melteth best in coldest weather Now there is another temperature of brasse which serueth for founders imageurs and brasen tables called thereupon in Latine Statuaria and Tabularis which is made in this manner following first the masse ore or stone as it commeth out of the mine is melted in the bloome-smithie and so soone as it is melted they put thereto a third part of the brasse Collectaneum that is to say broken pieces of old vessels that haue bin vsed and bought vp here and there In the choice whereof this care would be had that for to giue vnto this temperature the kind seasoning as it were which peculiarly it requireth there would be gottensuch pottain or old mettall which is ouerworne and by ordinary