had an Elephant for his rivall and this also did the Elephant manifest unto the man for on a day in the market he brought her certain Apples and put them into her bosom holding his trunk a great while therein handling and playing with her breasts Another likewise loved a Syrian woman with whose aspect he was suddenly taken and in admiration of her face stroked the same with his trunk with testification of farther love the Woman likewise failed not to frame for the Elephant amorous devices with Beads and Corrals Silver and such things as are grateful to these brute Beasts so she enjoyed his labour and dilgence to her great profit and he her love and kindeness without all offence to his contentment which caused Horat. to write this verse Quid tibi vis mulier nigris dignissima barris At last the woman dyed whom the Elephant missing like a lover distracted betwixt love and sorrow fell beside himself and so perished Neither ought any man to marvel at such a passion in this Beast who hath such a memory as is attributed unto him and understanding of his charge and business as may appear by manifold examples for Antipater affirmeth that he saw an Elephant that knew again and took acquaintaince of his Master which had nourished him in his youth after many years absence When they are hurt by any man they seldom forget a revenge and so also they remember on the contrary to recompense all benefits as it hath been manifested already They observe things done both in weight and measure especially in their own meat Agnon writeth that an Elephant was kept in a great mans house in Syria having a man appointed to be his Overseer who did dayly defraud the Beast of his allowance but on a day as his Master looked on he brought the whole measure and gave it to him the Beast seeing the same and remembring how he had served him in times times past in the presence of his Master exactly divided the Corn into two parts and so laid one of them aside by this fact shewing the fraud of the servant to his Master The like story is related by Plutarch and Aelianus of another Elephant discovering to his Master the falshood and privy theft of an unjust servant About Lycha in Africk there are certain springs of water which if at any time they dry up by the teeth of Elephants they are opened and recovered again They are most gentle and meek never fighting or striking Man or Beast except they be provoked and then being angred they will take up a man in their trunk and cast him into the air like an arrow so as many times he is dead before he come to the ground Plutarch affirmeth that in Rome a boy pricking the trunck of an Elephant with a goad the Beast caught him and lift him up into the air to shoot him away and kill him but the people and standers by seeing it made so great a noise and cry thereat that the Beast set him down again fair and softly without any harm to him at all as if he thought it sufficient to have put him in fear of such a death In the night time they seem to lament with sighs and tears their captivity and bondage but if any come to that speed like unto modest persons they refrain suddenly and are ashmed to be found either murmuring or sorrowing They live to a long age even to 200 or 300 years if sickness or wounds prevent not their life and some but to a 120 years they are in their best strength of body at threescore for then beginneth their youth Iuba King of Lybia writeth that he hath seen tame Elephants which have descended from the Father to the son by way of inheritance many generations and that Ptolemaeus Philadelphus had an Elephant which continued alive many Ages and another of Seleucus Nicanor which remained alive to the last overthrow of all the Antiochi The Inhabitants of Taxila in India affirm that they had an Elephant at the least three hundred and fifty years old for they said it was the same that fought so faithfully with Alexander for King Porus for which cause Alexander cald him Aiax and did afterward dedicate him to the Sun and put certain golden chains about his teeth with this inscription upon them Alexander filius Iovis Aiacem Soli Alexander the son of Iupiter consecrateth this Aiax to the Sun The like story is related by Iubo concrrning the age of an Elephant which had the impression of a Tower on his teeth and was taken in Atlas 400 years after the same was engraven There are certain people in the world which eat Elephants and are therefore called of the Nemades Elephantophagi Elephant-eaters as is already declared there are of these which dwell in Daraba neer the Wood Eumenes beyond the City Saba where there is a place called the hunting of Elephants The Troglodytae live also hereupon the people of Africk cald Asachae which live in Mountains do likewise eat the flesh of Elephants and the Adiabarae of Megabari The Nomades have Cities running upon Charriots and the people next under their Territory cut Elephants in pieces and both sell and eat them Some use the hard flesh of the back and other commend above all the delicates of the world the reins of the Elephants so that it is a wonder that Aelianus would write that there was nothing in an Elephant good for meat except the trunck the lips and the marrow of his horns or teeth The skin of this Beast is exceeding hard not to be pierced by any dart whereupon came the Proverb Culicem haud curat Elephas Indiâ—ns the Indian Elephant careth not for the biting of a Gnat to signifie a sufficient ability to resist all evill and Noble mindes must not revenge small injuries It cannot be but in such 〈◊〉 and vast bodies there should also be nourished some diseases and that many as Strabo saith wherefore first of all there is no creature in the world less able to endure cold or Winter for their impatiency of cold bringeth inflamation Also in Summer when the same is hottest they cool one another by casting durty and filthy water upon each other or else run into the roughest Woods of greatest shadow It hath been shewed already that they devour Chamaeleons and thereof perish except they eat a wilde Olive When they suffer inflamation and are bound in the belly either black Wine or nothing will cure them When they drink a Leach they are grievously pained for their wounds by darts or otherwise they are cured by Swines-flesh or Dittany or by Oyl or by the flower of the Olive They fall mad sometime for which I know no other cure but to tye them up fast in Iron chains When they are tyred for want of sleep they are recovered by rubbing their shoulders with Salt Oyl and Water Cows milk warmed and infused into their
from their Cattel and also to guide govern them in executing their masters pleasure upon signs given them to which of the stragling Beasts they ought to make force Neither is it requisite that this Dog be so large or nimble as is the Grey-hound which is appointed for Deer and Hares But yet that he be strong quick ready and understanding both for brauling and fighting so as he may fear away and also follow if need be the ravening Wolf and take away the prey out of his mouth wherefore a square proportion of body is requisite in these Beasts and a tolerable lightness of foot such as is the Village Dog used only to keep houses and hereof also they are the best who have the greatest or loudest barking voyces and are not apt to leap upon every stranger or beast they see but reserve their strength till the just time of imployment They approve also in this kinde above all other the white colour because in the night time they are the more easily discerned from the Wolf or other noisome beast for many times it falleth out that the Shepheard in the twy-light striketh his Dog instead of the Wolf these ought to be well faced black or dusky eyes and correspondent nostrils of the same colour with their eyes black ruddy lips a crooked camoyse nose a flat chap with two great broches or long straight sharp teeth growing out thereof covered with their lips a great head great ears a broad brest a thick neck broad and solid shoulders straight legs yet rather bending inward then standing outward great and thick feet hard crooked nails a thick tail which groweth lesser to the end thereof then at the first joint next the body and the body all rugged with hair for that maketh the Dog more terrible and then also it is requisite that he be provided of the best breed neither buy him of a Hunter for such an one will be gone at the sight of a Deer or Hare nor yet of a Butcher for it will be sluggish therefore take him young and bring him up continually to attend Sheep for so will he be most ready that is trained up among Shepherds They use also to cover their throat and neck with large broad collars pricked through with nails for else if the wilde beast bite them in those places the Dog is easily killed but being bitten at any other place he quickly avoideth the wound The love of such to the Cattel they keep is very great especially to Sheep for when Publius Aufidius Pontianus bought certain flocks of Sheep in the farthest part of Vmbria and brought Shepherds with him to drive them home with whom the dogs went along unto Heraclea and the Metapontine coasts where the drovers left the Cattel the Dogs for love of the Sheep yet continued and attended them without regard of any man and forraged in the fields for Rats and Mice to eat untill at length they grew weary and lean and so returned back again unto Vmbria alone without the conduct of men to their first Masters being many daies journey from them It is good to keep many of these together at the least two for every flock that so when one of them is hurt or sick the herd be not destitute and it is also good to have these male and female yet some use to geld these thinking that for this cause they will the more vigilantly attend the flock howbeit I cannot assent hereunto because they are too gentle and lesse eager when they want their stones They are to be taken from their Dam at two moneths old and not before and it is not good to give them hot meat for that wil encrease in them madness neither must they taste any of the dead carkasses of the Cattel lest that cause them to fall upon the living for when once they have taken a smatch of their bloud or flesh you shall seldom reclaime them from that devouring appetite The understanding of these Shepherds Dogs is very great especially in England for the Shepherds will there leave their Dogs alone with the flocks and they are taught by custom to keep the Sheep within the compass of their pasture and discern betwixt grasse and Corn for when they see the Sheep fall upon the Corn they run and drive them away from that forbidden fruit of their own accord and they likewise keep very safely their Masters garments and victuals from all annoyance untill their return There is in Xenophon a complaint of the Sheep to the Shepherds concerning these Dogs We marvel said the Sheep at thee that seeing we yeeld thee milk Lambs and Cheese whereupon thou feedest nevertheless thou givest unto us nothing but that which groweth out of the earth which we gather by our own industry and whereas the Dog doth none of all these him thou feedest with thine own hand and bread from thine own trencher The Dog hearing this complaint of the Sheep replyed That his reward at the Shepherds hand was just and no more then he deserved for said he I look unto you and watch you from the ravening Wolf and pilfering Theef so as if once I forsake you then it will not be safe for you to walke in your Pastures for perill of death whereunto the Sheep yeelded and not replyed to the reasonable answer of so unreasonable a beast and this complaint you must remember was uttered when Sheep could speak as well as men or else it noteth the foolish murmuring of some vulgar persons against the chief Ministers of state that are liberally rewarded by the Princes own hands for their watchful custody of the Common-wealth And thus much for the Shepherds Dog Of the VILLAGE-DOG or HOVSE-KEEPER THis Village Dog ought to be fatter and bigger then the Shepherds Dog of an elegant square and strong body being black coloured and great mouthed or barking bigly that so he may the more terrifie the Theef both by day and night for in the night the beast may seize upon the robber before he discern his black skin and therefore a spotted branded party coloured Dog is not approved His head ought to be the greatest part of his body having great ears hanging down and black eyes in his head a broad breast thick neck large shoulders strong legs a rough hair short tail and great nails his disposition must not be too fierce nor yet too familiar for so he will faun upon the Theef as well as his Masters friend Yet is it good that sometime he rise against the household servants and alway against strangers and such they must be as can wind a stranger afar off and descry him to his Master by barking as by a watch-word and setting upon him when he approcheth neer if he be provoked Blondus commendeth in this kinde such as sleep with one eye open and the other shut so as any small noise or stir wake and raise him It is not good to keep many
excellent great and swift Horses whose hoofs are so hard that they need no iron shooes although they travel over rocks and mountains The Arabians also have such Horses and in the Kingdom of Senega they have no breed of Horses at all by reason of the heat of their Countrey which doth not only burn up all pasture but also cause Horses to fall into the Strangury for which cause they do buy Horses very dear using in stead of Hay the stalkes of Pease dryed and cut asunder and Millet seed in stead of Oats wherewithal they grow exceeding fat and the love of that people is so great to Horses that they give for a Horse furnished nine bond-slaves or if it please them well fourteen but when they have bought their Horses they send for Witches and observe therein this ceremony They make a burning fire with stickes putting therein certain fuming herbs afterwards they take the Horse by the bridle and set him over the smoaking fire anointing him with a very thin ointment muttering secretly certain charmes and afterwards hanging other charmes about their Neck in a red skin shut them up close for fifteen dayes together then did they bring them forth affirming that by this means they are made more valiant and couragious in war The love and knowledge of Horses to men ANd to this discourse of Horses belongeth their nature either of loving or killing men Of the nature of Alexanders Horse before spoken of called Bucephalus is sufficently said except this may be added that so long as he was naked and without furniture he would suffer any man to come on his back but afterwards being sadled and furnished he could endure none but Alexander his Master For if any other had offered to come near him for to ride him he first of all terrified him with his neighing voice and afterwards trod him under foot if he ran not away When Alexander was in the Indian Wars and riding upon this Horse in a certain battle performed many valiant acts and through his own improvidence fell into an ambush of his foes from which he had never been delivered alive but for the puissancy of his Horse who seeing his Master beset with so many enemies received the Darts into his own body and so with violence pressed through the middest of his enemies having lost much bloud and received many wounds ready to die for pain not once stayed his course till he had brought his Master the King safe out of the battle and set him on the ground which being performed in the same place he gave up the ghost and dyed as it were comforting himself with this service that by his own death he had saved the life of such a King for which cause after Alexander had gotten victory in that very place where his Horse died he built a City and called it Bucephalon It is also reported that when Licinius the Emperour would have had his Horses to tear in pieces his Daughter because she was a Christian he himself was by one of them bitten to death Neocles the Son of Themistocles perished by the biting of a Horse neither herein only is the nature of Horses terrible because also they have been taught to tear men in pieces for it is said that Busiris and Diomedes did feed their Horses with mans flesh and therefore Hercules took the like revenge of Diomedes for he gave him to his Horses to be eaten of Diomedes were these Verses made Vt qui terribiles pro gramen habentibus herb is Impius humano viscere pavit equos The like also is reported of Glaucus the Son of Sysiphus who fed Horses with mans flesh at Poâ—nia a City of Boeotia and afterward when he could make no more provision for them they devoured their Master whereof Virgil writeth thus Et mentem Venus ipsa dedit quo tempore Glauci Pitniades malis membra absumpsere quadrigae But this is thought a fiction to expresse them which by feeding and keeping of Horses consume their wealth and substance And thus much for the natural inclination of Horses Of several kindes of Horses THere be several kinds of Horses which require a particular tractate by themselves and first of all the Martial or great warlike Horse which for profit the Poet coupleth with Sheep Laniferae pecudes equorum bellica proles The parts of this Horse are already described in the Stallion the residue may be supplyed out of Xenophon and Oppianus He must be of a singular courage and docibility without maime fear or other such infirmity He must be able to run up and down the steepest hils to leap and bite and fight in battle but with the direction of his Rider for by these is both the strength of his body and minde discovered and above all such a one as will never refuse to labour though the day be spent wherefore the Rider must first look to the institution and first instruction of his Horse for knowledge in martial affaires is not natural in Men or Horses and therefore except information and practice adorne nature it cannot be but either by fear or heady stubborness they will overthrow themselves and their Riders First of all they must not be Geldings because they are fearful but they must be such as will rejoyce and gather stomach at the voice of musick or Trumpets and at the ringing of Armour they must not be afraid of other Horses and refuse to combate but he able to leap high and far and rush into the battle fighting as is said with heels and mouth The principal things which he must learn are these first to have a lofty and flexible neck and also to be free not needing the spur for if he be sluggish and need often agitation to and fro by the hand of the Rider or else if he be full of stomach and sullen so as he will do nothing but by flattery and fair speeches he much troubleth the minde of the Rider but if he run into the battle with the same outward aspect of body as he doth unto a flock or company of Mares with loud voice high neck willing mind and great force so shall he be both terrible to look upon and valiantly puissant in his combate Wherefore the Rider must so carry his hand as the rains may draw in the Horses neck and not so easily as in a common travelling Gelding but rather sharply to his grievance a little by which he will be taught as it were by signes and tokens to fight stand still or run away The manner of his institution may be this after the dressing and surnishing of your Horse as aforesaid and likewise the backing first of all move stir or walk your Horse gently untill he be well acquainted with the cariage of your hand and whole body and afterward accustome him to greater and speedier pace or exercise use him also to run longer races and also by drawing in your hand to stay or
Asses are of very foolish conditions and slender capacity but yet very tame not refusing any manner of burthen although it break his back being loaded it will not out of the way for any man or beast and it only understandeth the voice of that man with whom it is laboured knowing also the way whereunto it is accustomed Ammonianus was in such love with an Asse and holdding him of so great a capacity that he had one continually to hear his Lectures of Philosophie Galen affirmeth that an Asse understandeth genus species individuum because if you shew him a Camell that never saw one before he is terrified and cannot indure his sight but if he have been accustomed to such a sight if you shew him never so many he is not moved at them In like sort he knoweth men in general being not affraid of them but if he see or hear his keeper he knoweth him for his keeper or master There was a cunning player in Africa in a City called Alcair who taught an Asse divers strange tricks or feats for in a publick spectacle turning to his Asse being on a scaffold to shew sport said The great Sultan purposeth to build him an house and shall need all the Asses of Alcair to fetch and carry wood stones lime and other necessaries for that business presently the Asse falleth down turneth up his heals into the air groneth and shutteth his eyes fast as if he had been dead while he lay thus the Player desired the beholders to consider his estate for his Asse was dead he was a poor man and therefore moved them to give him money to buy another Asse In the mean time having gotten as much money as he could he told the people he was not dead but knowing his masters poverty counterfeited in that manner whereby he might get money to buy him provender and therefore he turned again to his Asse and bid him arise but he stirred not at all Then did he strike and beat him sore as it seemed to make him arise but all in vain the Asse lay still Then said the player again our Sultan hath commanded that to morrow there be a great triumph without the City and that all the noble women shall ride thither upon the fairest Asses and this night they must be fed with Oates and have the best water of Nilus to drink At the hearing whereof up started the Asse snorting and leaping for joy then said the Player the Governor of this Town hath desired me to lend him this my Asse for his old deformed wife to ride upon at which words the Asse hangeth down his ears and understanding like a reasonable creature began to halt as if his leg had been out of joint why but said the Player had thou lifer carry a fair young Woman The Asse wagged his head in token of consent to that bargain go then said the player and among all these fair Women chuse one that thou mayest carry then the Asse looketh round about the Assembly and at last went to a sober woman and touched her with his nose whereat the residue wondered and laughed shutting up the sport with crying out An Asses Woman An Asses Woman and so the Player went unto another Town Such things do serve to teach us that Asses are not altogether indocible besides in their own nature they know how to refresh themselves in their weariness by wallowing on the ground and being overcome with melancholy humor they naturally look for the hearb Ceterach or Finger-fearne to cure them When the Asses of Maurusium are bound to a journey they set forward so fast that a man would think they rather flew then ran but being overwearyed they are so abased that they send forth tears and then are they drawn at Horses tails to their journeys end The Asse is never at peace with the Crow because it longeth for the Asses eyes likewise the bird Salem for when the Asse cometh to the thornes to rub himself where the said bird buildeth her nest the Asse spoileth it wherefore the said bird maketh continual assault upon him In like sort the Colota or Stellio for it sleepeth in the managers and creepeth up into the Asses nose to hinder him from eating The Wolf is also an enemy to the Asse for he loveth his flesh and with small force doth he compasse the destruction of an Asse for the blockish Asse when he seeth a Wolf layeth his head on his side that so he might not see thinking that because he seeth not the Wolfe the Wolfe cannot see him but the Wolfe upon this advantage setteth upon the beast on the blind side and easily destroyeth the courageless Asse Another argument of an Asses stupidity is that he careth not for his own life but will with quietness starve if meat be not laid before him Wherefore it is apparent that when a dull Scholar not apt to learn is bid to sell an Asse to signifie his blockishness is no vain sentence therefore they which resemble Asses in their head round forehead or great face are said to be blockish in their fleshie face fearful in broad or great eyes simple and like to be mad in thick lips and the upper hanging over the neather Fools and in their voice contumelious and disdainful To conclude the ancients have made many significations of Asses and their shapes making a man with an Asses head to signifie First one ignorant of manners histories and Countryes Secondly immoderate riot of stubborn persons in Scripture is deciphered in an Asse Thirdly impudency and shamelesness because an Asse will not for any stripes forsake his own wayes Fourthly the Jewish people who like Asses could not understand the evident truth of Christ in the plain text of Scripture wherefore our Saviour secretly upbraided their dulness when he rode upon an Asse Fiftly the Egyptians by an Asse noted a man without all divine knowledge wherefore they used to take an Asse and follow him with all despight beating him from place to place till he brake his own neck for they believed that an Asse was possessed of a Devil Sixtly Indocibility by an Asse bridled Seventhly the snares of flatterers for their Priests set an Asse between flowers and ointments neither of both partaining to an Asses skill teaching thereby how mighty men fall by treachery of flatterers Eightly a Woman dissembling her Pregnancy Ninthly by a man weaving a cord and an Asse behind him biting it asunder they signifie a painful husband and a prodigal wife Tenthly a good Vine-dresser for when an Asse did bite of the branch of a vine it was observed that the next year the Vine was more fruitful Finally base servisity trifling sluggishness good fortune Tyrants and fools are Hierogliphically comprized under the discourse of Asses Touching such medicinal vertues as have been tried and found to be in the several parts of Asses by learned and approved writers now in the conclusion of this History they shall
runneth into the water wherein he covereth himself all over except his mouth to cool the heat of his blood for this beast can neither endure outward cold nor inward heat for which cause they breed not but in hot Countries and being at liberty are seldom from the waters They are very tame so that children may ride on their backs but on a sodain they will run into the waters and so many times indanger the childrens lives Their love to their young ones is very great they alway give milk from their copulation to their Calving neither will they suffer a Calf of another kinde whom they discern by their smell to suck their milk but beat it away if it be put unto them wherefore their keepers do in such case anoynt the Calf with Bugils excrement and then she will admit her suckling They are very strong and will draw more at once then two Horses wheresore they are tamed for service and will draw Waggons and Plows and carry burdens also but they are not very fit for Carts yet when they do draw they carry also great burthens or loads tyed to their backs with ropes and wantyghtes At the first setting forward they bend their legs very much but afterward they go upright and being over-loden they will fall to the earth from which they cannot be raised by any stripes untill their load or carriage be lessened There is no great account made of their hides although they be very thick Solinus reporteth that the old Britons made Boats of Osier twigs or reeds covering them round with Bugils skins and sayled in them and the Inhabitants of the Kingdom of Caraiani make them bucklers and shields of Bugils skins which they use in Wars the flesh is not good for meat which caused Baptista Fiera to make this Poem Bubalus hine abeat neve intret prandia nostra Non edat hunc quisquam sub juga semper eat For they ingender melancholy and have no good taste being raw they are not unpleasant to behold but sod or rosted they shew a deformed substance The milk of this beast maketh very hard Cheese which tasteth like earth The medicines made of this beast are not many with the horns or hoofs they make rings to wear against the Cramp and it hath been believed but without reason that if a man or woman wear rings made of the horns or hoofs of a Bugil in the time of carnal copulation that they will naturally fly off from their fingers whereas this secret was wont to be attributed to rings of Chrysolytes or Smaragde stones To conclude some teach husbandmen to burn the horns or dung of their Bugils on the windy side of their corn and plants to keep them from Cankers and blasting and thus much of the vulgar Bugil called Bubalus Recentiorum whose beginning in this part of the world is unknown although in Italy and other parts of Europe they are now bred and fostered Of the African BUGIL This creature of African Bugil must be understood to be a wilde beast and not of a tame kinde although Bellonius expresseth not so much Leo in his description of Asrick relateth a discourse of a certain beast called Laut or Daut who is less then an Oxe but of more elegant feature in his legs white horns and black nails which is so swift that no beast can out-run it except a Barbary Horse it is taken most easily in the Summer time with the skin whereof they make targets and shields which cannot be pierced by any weapon except Gunshot for which cause they sell them very dear which is conjectured to be the Bugil that Bellonius describeth although it be not just of the same colour which may vary in this beast as well as in any other and I have a certain Manuscript without the Authors name that affirmeth there be Bugils in Lybia in likeness resembling a Hart and an Oxe but much lesser and that these beasts are never taken asleep which causeth an opinion that they never sleep and that there is another Bugil beyond the Aâ—pes neer the River Rhene which is very fierce and of a white colour There is a horn in the Town-house of Argentine four Roman cubits long which is conjectured to be the horn of some Vrus or rather as I think of some Bugil it hath hung there at the least two or three generations and by scraping it I found it to be a horn although I forgat to measure the compass thereof yet because antiquity thought it worthy to be reserved in so honourable a place for a monument of some strange beast I have also thought good to mention it in this discourse as when Philip King of Macedon did with a dart kill a wilde Bull at the foot of the Mountain Orbelus and consecrated the horns thereof in the Temple of Hercules which were fifteen yards or paces long for posterity to behold Of the BULL ABull is the husband of a Cow and ring-leader of the herd for which cause Homâ—r compareth Agamemnon the great Emperor of the Graecian Army to a Bull reserved only for procreation and is sometimes indifferently called an Oxe as Oxen are likewise of Authors taken for Bulls Virg. Pingue Jolum primis extemplo mensibus anni Fortes invertant boves The Hebrews call him Tor or Taur which the Chaldes call Abir for a strong Oxe so the Arabians Taur the Graecians Tauros the Latines Taurus the Italians Tauro the French Taureau the Germans ein Stier ein Vuucherstier das Vucher ein Mummelstier ein Hogen and ein Bollen the Illyrians Vul and Iunecz by all which several appellations it is evident that the name Taurus in Latine is not derived from Tanouros the stretching out the tayl nor from Gauros signifying proud but from the Hebrew Tor which signifieth great upon which occasion the Graecians called all large great and violent things by the name of Taurol and that word Taurus among the Latines hath given denomination to Men Stars Mountains Rivers Trees Ships and many other things which caused Ioachimus Camerarius to make thereof this aenigmatical riddle Moechus eram regis sed lignea membra sequebar Et Cilicum mens sum sed mons sum nomine solo Et vehor in coelo sed in ipsis ambulo terris That is in divers senses Taurus was a Kings Pander the root of a tree a Mountain in Cilicia a Bull a Mountain in name a Star or sign in heaven and a River upon the earth so also we read of Statilius Taurus and Pomponius Vitulus two Romans It was the custom in those days to give the names of beasts to their children especially among the Troglodytae and that Adulterer which ravished Europa was Taurus the King of Crete or as some say a King that came in a Ship whose Ensign and name was the Bull and other affirm that it was Iupiter in the likeness of a Bull because he had so defloured Ceres
reporteth another story to the building of this City namely that it was called Carthage of one of the daughters of Hercules and that when Elisa and the other companions of Dido came thither for the foundation of the City they found an Oxes head whereupon they were discouraged to build there any more supposing that Omen betokened evill unto them and a perpetual slavery in labour and misery such as Oxen live in but afterward they tryed in another corner of that ground wherein they found a Horses head which they accepted as a good signification of riches honour magnanimity and pleasure because Horses have all food and maintenance provided for them Among the Egyptians they paint a Lion for strength an Ox for labor and a Horse for magnanimity and courage and the Image of Mithra which among the Persians signifieth the Sun is pictured in the face of a Lyon holding the horns of a striving Ox in both hands whereby they signifie that the Moon doth receive light from the Sun when she beginneth to be separated from her beams There is in the Coasts of Babylon a Gem or precious stone like the heart of an Ox and there is another called Sarcites which representeth the flesh of an Ox. The ancients had likewise so great regard of this beast that they would neither sacrifice nor eat of a labouring Oxe wherefore Hercules was condemned when he had desired meat of Theodomantis in Dyâ—pia for his hungry companion the Son of Hyla because by violence he took from him one of his Oxen and slew him A crowned Oxe was also among the Romans a sign of peace for the Souldiers which kept the Castle of Anathon neer the river Euphrates against Julianus and his Army when they yeelded themselves to mercy they descended from the Castle driving before them a crowned Oxe from this manifold necessity and dignity of this beast came the Idolatrous custom of the Heathens and especially the Egyptians for they worshipped him instead of God calling him Apis and Epaphus whose choyce was on this sort He had on his right side an exceeding splendent white spot and his horns crooking together like the new Moon having a great bunch on his tongue which they call Cantharus neither do they suffer him to exceed a certain number of years or grow very big for these causes they give him not of the water of Nilus to drink but of another consecrated well which hindereth his growth and also when he is come to his full age they kill him by drowning him in another consecrated well of the Priests which being done they seek with mourning another having shaved their heads to substitute in his place wherein they are never very long but they finde one and then in a holy Ship sacred for that purpose they transport and convey him to Memphis And the Egyptians did account him a blessed and happy man out of whose fold the Priest had taken that Oxe-God He hath two Temples erected for him which they call his Chambers where he giveth forth his Augurisms answering none but children and youths playing before his Temples and refusing aged persons especially women and if any not sacred happen to enter into one of his Temples he dyeth for it and if into the other it fore-sheweth some monstrous cursed event as they fondly imagine The manner of his answers is privately to them that give him meat taking it at their hands and they observe with great religion that when Germanicus the Emperour came to ask counsel of him he turned from him and would not take meat at his hand for presently after he was slain Once in a year they shew him a Cow with such marks as he hath and alway they put him to death upon the same day of the week that he was found and in Nilus neer Memphis there was a place called Phiala where were preserved a Golden and a Silver-dish which upon the birth or Calving days of Apis they threw down into the river and those days were seaven wherein they affirm that never man was hurt by Crocodiles The Egyptians do also consecrate an Oxe to the Moon and a Cow to Vrania It is reported that Mycerinus King of Egypt fell in love with his own Daughter and by violence did ravish her she not able to endure the conscience of such a fact hanged herself whereupon the King her impure father did bury her in a wooden Oxe and so placed her in a secret place or chamber to whom daily they offer many odours but the mother of the maiden did cut off the hands of those Virgins or Women that attended on her Daughter and would not rescue her from so vile a contempt There were also many other pictures of Oxen as in Corcyra and Eretria and most famous was that of Perillus which he made and presented to Phalaris the Tyrant of Agrigent shewing him that if he would torment a man he should put him into that Oxe set over a fire and his voyce of crying should be like the loughing of a Heifer which thing being heard of the Tyrant to shew his detestation of more strange invented torments then he had formerly used he caused Perillus that presented it unto him to be put into it alive and so setting it over a fire made experiment of the work upon the workman who bellowed like a Cow and was so tormented to death for that damnable and dangerous invention which caused Ovid to write thus Et Phalaris tauro violentus membra Perilli Torruit infoelix imbuit author opus When an Oxe or Cow in ancient time did dye of themselves Viz. if it were an Oxe they buried him under the walls of some City leaving his horn sticking visibly out of the earth to signifie the place of his burial for when his flesh was consumed they took it up again and buryed the bones in the Temples of Venus in other places but the body of a dead Cow they cast into some great River neer adjoyning The Poets have faigned a certain Monster called Minotaurus having in part the form of a man and in part the form of a Bull and they say that Pasiphae the Daughter of the Sun and wife of Minos King of Crete fell in love with a Bull and by the help of Dedalus she was included in a wooden Heifer covered with a Cows hide and so had copulation with the Bull and so came that monster Minos included in a labyrinth and constrained the Athenians who had slain his son Androgeus to send every year seven young men and seven maids to be given to that Monsters to feed upon for he would eat mans flesh At last Theseus son of Aegeus King of Athens came into that labyrinth and slew that Minotaure and by the help of Ariadne escaped out of the labyrinth Other relate the story in this manner that when the Cretenstans would have expelled Minos from his Kingdom he vowed that whatsoever likeness first
out of Athens by reason of the Persians war in Greece and so they sailed with him to Salamine and as they sailed by the way he commanded one of them to be cast into the Sea who continued swimming after the Ship untill he dyed for which cause his Master buryed him When Gelon the Syracusan in his sleep had a fearful dream that he was strucken with fire from Heaven and with impression of fear cryed out very lamentably his Dog lying beside him and thinking that some peril or theef was doing violence to his Master he presently leaped up to the bed and with scratching and barking awaked him and so was he delivered from a horrible fear by the barking of his Dog The Tyrians which have the best and the first purple in the world are said in History to have it by the first occasion of Hercules Dog Hercules falling in love with a Nymph called Tyro and travelling toward her with his Dog he saw the purple fish creeping upon a stone the hungry Dog caught the fish to eat it and having devoured it his lips were all dyed or coloured with the same when the Virgin Nymph saw that colour upon the Dogs lips she denyed the love of Hercules except he could bring her a garment of that colour whereupon the valiant man knowing by what occasion the Dogs lips received such a tincture went and gathered all the purple fishes and worms he could finde and pressing their blood out of them therewithal coloured a garment and gave it to the Nymph for reward whereof he possessed the Virgin being by this means the first inventor of the Phoenician tincture Among these are to be remembred those loving Dogs who either have fought for their Masters and so defended them or else declared them that murdered their keepers or that which is more admirable leaped into the burning fires which consumed the dead bodies of their nourishers Such an one was the Dog of Calvus who being slain in a certain civil War at Rome and his enemies coming about him to cut off his head his poor Dog interposed his body betwixt the blows and would not suffer any foe once to touch his Masters carcass untill by more then six hundred souldiers the Dog was cut in pieces so living and dying a most faithful companion and thankful friend to him that fed him The like was in a Dog of Darius the last King of the Persians after he was slain by Besus and Narbazanes in the battel against Alexander so did the Dog of Silanien fight for his Master against theeves and when he was slain he departed not from the body but kept it warily from Dogs Birds or wilde Beasts sitting upon his privy parts and covering them untill the Roman Captains came and buryed it But most admirable was the love of a certain Dog to his Master punished with death for the fact against Germanicus Among other this Dog would never go from the prison and afterward when his Masters dead body was brought in the presence of many Romans the Cur uttered most lamentable and sorrowful cryes for which cause one of the company threw unto him some meat to see if that would stop his mouth and procure silence but the poor Dog took up the meat and carryed to his masters mouth not without the singular passion of the beholders at last the body was taken up and cast into the river Tiber the poor Dog leaped in after it and endeavoured by all the means his weakness could afford to keep it from sinking in the presence of an innumerable multitude which without tears could not look upon the loving care of this brute beast The Dogs of Gelon Hieron Lysimachus Pyrrhus King of Epirus Polus the Tragoedian and Theodorus leaped into the burning fires which consumed their masters dead bodies Nicias a certain Hunter going abroad in the Woods chanced to fall into a heap of burning coals having no help about him but his Dogs there he perished yet they ran to the high ways and ceased not with barking and apprehending the garments of passengers to shew unto them some direful event and at last one of the travellers followed the Dogs and came to the place where they saw the man consumed and by that conjectured the whole story The like did the Dogs of Marius Caesarinus for by howling they procured company to draw him out of a deep Cave whereinto he was fallen on Horse-hack and had there perished being alone except his Hounds had released him But that Dogs will also bewray the murtherers of their friends and masters these stories following may evidently manifest As King Pyrrhus by chance travelled in his Countrey he found a Dog keeping a dead corps and he perceived that the Dog was almost pined by tarrying about the body without all food wherefore taking pity on the beast he caused the body to be interred and by giving the Dog his belly full of meat he drew him to love him and so led him away afterward as Pyrrhus mustered his souldiers and every one appeared in his presence the Dog also being beside him he saw the murtherers of his master and so not containing himself with voyce tooth and nail he set upon them the King suspecting that which followed examined them if ever they had seen or known that Dog they denyed it but the King not satisfied charged them that surely they were the murtherers of the Dogs Master for the Dog all this while remained fierce against them and never barked before their appearance at the last their guilty consciences brake forth at their mouths and tongues end and so confessed the whole matter The like was of two French Merchants which travelled together and when they came into a certain Wood one of them rose against the other for desire of his money and so slew him and buryed him His Dog would not depart from the place but filled the Wood with howlings and cries the murtherer went forward in his journey the people and Inhabitants neer the said Wood came and sound both the murdered corps and also the Dog which they took up and nourished till the Fair was done and the Merchants returned at which time they watched the high wayes having the Dog with them who seeing the murtherer instantly made force at him without all provocation as a man would do at his mortal enemy which thing caused the people to apprehend him who being examined confessed the fact and received condign punishment for so foul a deed To conclude this discourse with one memorable story more out of Blondus who relateth that there was a certain woman neer Paris who was beloved of two young men one of them on a day took his staffe and his Dog and went abroad as it was thought of purpose to go to his love but it happened that by the way he was murthered and buryed and the Dog would not depart from the grave of his Master at the last he
into a basket if their keeper have any which being filled like dainty and neat men they also desire to wash and so will go and seek out water to wash themselves and of their own accord return back again to the basket of flowers which if they find not they will bray and call for them Afterward being led into their stable they will not eat meat untill they take of their flowers and dresse the brims of their mangers therewith and likewise strew their room or standing place pleasing themselves with their meat because of the savour of the flowers stuck about their cratch like dainty fed persons which set their dishes with green herbs and put them into their cups of wine Their pace is very slow for a childe may overtake them by reason of their high and large bodies except in their feare and for that cause cannot swim as also by reason that the toes of their feet are very short and smally divided When they are brought into a Ship they have a bridge made of wood and covered with earth and green boughs are set on either side so that they imagine they go upon the land untill they enter into the Ship because the boughs keep them from sight of the Sea They are most chast and keep true unto their males without all inconstant love or separation admitting no adulteries amongst them and like men which tast of Venus not for any corporal lust but for desire of heirs and successors in their families so do Elephants without all unchast and unlawful lust take their venereal complements for the continuation of their kinde and never above thrice in all their dayes either male or female suffer carnall copulation but the female only twice Yet is their rage great when the female provoketh them and although they fight not among themselves for their females except very seldom yet do they so burn in this fury that many times they overthrow trees and houses in India by their tuskes and running their head like a Ram against them wherefore then they keep them low and down by subtraction of their meat and also bring some stranger to beat them There was a certain cunning Hunter sent into Mauritania by the Roman Emperor to hunt and take Elephants on a day he saw a goodly young Elephant in copulation with another and instantly a third approached with a direful braying as if he would have eaten up all the company and as it afterward appeared he was an arrival to the female which we saw in copulation with the other male when he approached neer both of them set themselves to combat which they performed like some unresistable waves of the Sea or as the hils which are shaken together by an earthquake wherein each one charged the other most furiously for their love to the terror and admiration of all the beholders and so at last became both disarmed of their teeth and horns by their often blowes before one had overcome the other and so at last by the hunters were parted asunder being ever afterward quiet from such contentions about their females for copulation The Indians separate the stables of the females far asunder from the males because at that time they overthrow their houses They are modest and shamefast in this action for they seek the Deserts Woods and secret places for procreation and sometimes the waters because the waters do support the male in that action whereby he ascendeth and descendeth from the back of the female with more ease and once it was seen that in Virgea a Countrey of the Corascens two Elephants did engender out of India otherwise they couple not out of their own Countries When they go to copulation they turn their heads towards the East but whether in remembrance of Paradise or for the Mandragoras or for any other cause I cannot tell the female sitteth while she is covered They begin to engender the male at six ten twelve fifteen or twenty year old the female not before ten years old They couple but five dayes in two years and never after the female is filled till she have been clear one whole year and after the second copulation he never more toucheth his female At that time the male breatheth forth at his nose a certain fat humour like a menstruous thing but the female hath them not till her place of conception be opened and alway the day after her filling she washeth herself before she return to the flock The time of their going with young is according to some two years and according to other three the occasion of this diversity is because their time of copulation cannot certainly be known because of their secrecy for the greater bodies that beasts have they are the lesse fruitful She is delivered in great pain leaning upon her hinder legs They never bring forth but one at a time and that is not much greater then a great Cow-calfe of three monthes old which she nourisheth six or eight year As soon as it is Calved it seeth and goeth and sucketh with the mouth not with the trunck and so groweth to a great stature The females when they have calved are most fierce for fear of their young ones but if a man come and touch them they are not angry for it seemeth they understand that he toucheth them not for any desire to take or harm them but rather to stroke and admire them Sometimes they go into the water to the belly and there calve for fear of the Dragon the male never forsaketh her but keepeth with her for the like fear of the Dragon and feed and defend their young ones with singular love and constancy unto death as appeareth by the example of one that heard the braying of her calf fallen into a ditch and not able to arise the female ran unto it and for hast fell down upon it so crushing it to death and breaking her own neck with one and the same violent love As they live in herds so when they are to passe over a river or water they send over the least or youngest first because their great bodies together should not cause the deep water to swell or rise above their height the other stand on the bank and observe how deep he wadeth and so make account that the greater may with more assurance follow after the younger and smaller then they the elder and taller and the females carry over their Calves upon their snowts and long eminent teeth binding them fast with their truncks like as with ropes or male girts that they may not fall being sometime holpen by the male wherein appeareth an admirable point of natural wisdom both in the cariage of their young and in sending of the lesser foremost not only for the reason aforesaid but also because they being hunted and prosecuted it is requisite that the greatest and strongest come in the rear and hindmost part for the safegard of
Cheese which the Writers call Tyropoeia and Virgil celebrateth the singular commendation both of the Wool and of the Milke in these Verses Haec quoque non cura nobis leviore tuenda Nec minor usus erit quamvis Milesia magno Vellera mutent ur Tyrios incocta rubores Densior hinc soboles hinc largi copia lactis Quo magis exhausto sâ—umauerit â—ubere mulctra Laeta magis pressis manabunt flumina mammis Nec minus interea barbas incanaque menta Cyniphii tondent hirci setasque comantes Vsum in Castrorum miseris velamina nautis Therefore their Milk is profitable for Butter although inferior to a Cows yet equal to a Sheeps and the herdsmen give their Goats salt before they be delivered of their young for this maketh them to abound in milk Others with Goats milk preserve their Wine from corruption by sowreness first they put into their Wine the twentyeth part so much as is of the Wine and so let it stand in the same vessell covered three or four dayes afterward they turn it into a sweet and fresh vessel and so it remaineth preserved from all annoyance of sowreness Cheeses made of Goats milk were wont to be called Velabrenses Casei because amongst the Romans they were made at Velabrum and that with smoak whereupon Martial made this Disttchon Non quemcunque focum nec fumum caseus omnem Sed Velabrensem qui bibit ipse sapit Aristotle and Julius Pollux do commend the Sicillan Cheese which was made of Sheep and Goats milke together and by Athenaeus it is called Caseus Tromilicus and by Simonides Stromilius In Khaetia of Helvetia there are excelent Cheeses made of Goats milk and Cow milk mixed together The milk also of a Goat mixed to a Womans milk is best for the nourishment of man because it is not too fat yet Galen saith if it be eaten without Hony Water and Salt it curdleth in the belly of a man like a Cheese and strangleth him and being so used it purgeth the belly from thence came the fiction of the Poets that Jupiter was noursed by a Goat and that afterward in his War against the Titanes or Giants he slew that Goat by the counsel of Themis and wore her skin for an armor and so having obtained victory placed the Goat among the Stars whereupon she was called Aix ourania a heavenly Goat and so Germanicus Caesar made this Verse upon him and Jupiter himself was called Aigiochus Illa putatur Nutrix esse Jovis si verè Jupiter infans Vbera Cretaeae suxit fidissima Caprae Sydere quae claro gratum testatur alumnum The flesh of male Goats is not wholesome for mans body but the flesh of a female in the Spring and Fall of the leaf by reason of the good nourishment may be eaten without danger They are worse then Bull-beef because they are sharper in concoction and hotter wherefore if they digest not well they increase melancholy The liver of a Goat being eaten doth bring the Falling sickness yet being salted a good space and then sod with Vine-branches or other such broad leaves to keep them asunder and some Wine poured into the Water when they almost sod they become are very which and delicate meat and theresore the Athenians praised the Lacaede 〈…〉 ans that in their feast sweet they called Copidae they slew a Goat and held it for a divine meat Also C 〈…〉 omachus an Academick of Carthage relateth of a certain Thebane Champion which excelled in strength all the Champions of his time and that he did eat continually Goats flesh for it is very strong and remaineth a long season in the body and doth much good being digested notwithstanding the strong and rank smell thereof otherwise it is dangerous as is already said therefore Fiera having commended the Kyd when he cometh to speak of the Goat he writeth thus Cum male olet siccat fit jam caper improbus absit Et cadat ante focos victima Bacche tuos But Pliny affirmeth that if a male Goat eat Barley bread or Parsneps washed the same day that he is killed then there is no poyson in his flesh the stones of a Buck goat resist concoction and beget evill humors in the body wherefore such a banquet is called in Greek Tragos Hulibertas for Goats after their copulation have an evill flesh not fat but dry and the remedy to make their flesh sweeter is to geld the male when he is young and tender for so his temperature is amended by a cold and moist constitution The Inhabitants of Portugal eat Goats flesh and account it delicate meat especially such as dwell in the Mountains In Germany they make of it a kinde of meat which is called Klobuusst and is prepared on this manner they take a Goats heart newly taken out of the body and slit it into small pieces and break six Egges upon it and the crums of white bread seasoned with spices and Saffron and so put into a bag and sod or roasted afterward they are served upon the table and strewed over with Kitchin Sugar The guts being salted are called Hilla which the French stuffe like puddings and call them Saulcisses from whence cometh our English Sawsadge of this sewet and fat of Goats are the best candles made because it is hard and not over liquid The bloud of a Goat hath an unspeakable property for it scoureth rusty iron better then a file it also softneth an Adamant stone and that which no fire is able to melt nor iron to break being of such an invincible nature that it contemneth all violent things yet is it dissolved by the warm bloud of a Goat The Load-stone draweth iron and the same being rubbed with garlick dyeth and loseth that property but being dipped again in Goats-bloud reviveth and recovereth the former nature Osthanes prescribeth for a remedy of love the urine of a Goat to be mingled with Spikenard and so drunk by him which is overcome with that passion assuring him thereby that they shall fall in as great loathing as ever before they were in loving With the hoofs of a Goat they drive away Serpents and also with the hairs by burning and perfuming them in the place where the Serpents lodge With the horns of Goats they make bows for in Delos there was dedicated the horn of a Goat which was two cubits long and a span and hereat ought no man to wonder for that noble Bow of Pandarus which Homer commendeth was made of a horn of a female Goat Affricanus declareth that in ancient time they made fruitful their Vine-yards by this means they took three horns of a female Goat and buryed them in the earth with their points or tops downward to the root of the Vine-stocks leaving the hollow tops standing a little out of the ground and so when the rain descended it filled the horns and soked to the root of the Vine
perswading themselves thereby that they received no small advantage in their Grapes The gall of a female Goat put into a vessel and set in the earth is said by Albertus to have a natural power to draw Goats unto it as though they received great commodity thereby Likewise if you would have white hairs to grow in any part of a Horse shave off the hair and anoint the place with a gall of a Goat so shall you have your desire The Sabaeans by reason of continual use of Myrrhe and Frankincense grow to a loathing of that savour for remedy of which annoyance they perfume their houses by burning storax in Goats-skins And thus much for the several parts of a Goat There were in ancient time three kindes of Heards-men which received dignity one above another the first were called Bucolici Neat-heard because they keep the greater Cattel the second were Opiliones Shepheards of their attendance upon Sheep the third last and lowest kinde were termed Aepoli and Caprarii that is Goat-heards or Keepers of Goats and such were the Locrensians who were called Ozolae because of their filthy smell for they had the most part of their conversation among other Beasts A Goat-heard or Keeper of these Cattel must be sharp stern hard laborious patient bold and chearful and such a one as can easily run over the Rocks through the Wilderness and among the bushes without fear or grief so that he must not follow his flock like other heards but go before them they must also be light and nimble to follow the wandering Goats that run away from their fellows and so bring them back again for Goats are nimble moveable and inconstant and therefore apt to depart away except they be restrained by the herd and his Dog Neither have Goats a Captain or Bell-bearer like unto Sheep whom they follow but every one is directed after his own will and herein appeareth the pride of this Beast that he scorneth to come behinde either Cattel or Sheep but always goeth before and also in their own herds among themselves the Buck goeth before the female for the reverence of his beard as Aelianus saith the labour of the Goat-herd must be to see his Cattel well fed abroad in the day time and well soulded at night the first rule therefore in this husbandry is to divide the flocks and not to put any great number of them together for herein they differ from Sheep who love to live together in multitudes as it were affecting society by which they thrive better and mourn not so much as when they are alone but Goats love singularity and may well be called Schismaticks among Cattel and therefore they thrive best lying together in small numbers otherwise in great flocks they are soon infected with the pestilence and therefore in France they care not to have Magnos Greges sed plures not great flocks but many The number of their flock ought not to exceed fifty whereupon Varro writeth this story of Gab 〈…〉 us a Roman Knight who had a field under the Suburbs containing a thousand Akers of pasture ground who seeing a poor Goat-herd bring his Goats every day to the City and received for their milk a peny a peece he being led with covetousness proponed to himself this gain that if he stored his said field with a thousand Milch-female-goats he also should receive for their milk a thousand pence a day whereupon he added action to his intent and filled his field with a thousand Goats but the event fell out otherways then he expected sor in short time the multitude insected one another and so he lost both milk and flesh whereby it is apparent that it is not safe to feed great flocks of these Cattel together In India in the Region Coitha the Inhabitants give their Milch-goats dryed fishes to eat but their ordinary food is leaves tender branches and boughs of trees and also bushes or brambles where-upon Virgil wrote in this manner Pascuntur verò silvas summa Lycaei Horrenfesque rubos amantes ardua dumos They love to feed on the Mountains better then in the Vallies and green Fields always striving to lick up the Ivie or green plants or to climbe upon trees cropping off with their teeth all manner wilde herbs and if they be restrained and enclosed in fields then they do the like to the plants that they finde there wherefore there was an ancient law among the Romans when a man let out his ground to farm he should always condition and except with the Farmer that he should not breed any Goat in his ground for their teeth are enemies to all tender plants their teeth are also exitiable to a tree and Pliny and Varro affirm that the Goat by licking the Olive-tree maketh it barren for which cause in ancient time a Goat was not sacrificed to Minerva to whom the Olive was sacred There is no creature that feedeth upon such diversity of meat as Goats for which cause they are elegantly brought in by Eupolis the old Poet bragging of their belly chear wherein they number up above five and twenty several things different in name nature and taste and for this cause Eustathius defended by strong argument against Disarius that men and cattel which feed upon divers things have less health then those Beasts which eat one kinde of fruit alone They love Tamerisk Aldern Elm-tree Assaraback and a tree called Alaternus which never beareth fruit but only leaves also three-leaved-grass Ivie the herb Lada which groweth no where but in Arabia whereby it cometh to pass that many times the hair of Goats is found in the gumb called Ladanum for the peoples greedy desire of the gumb causeth them to wipe the juyce from the Goats beard For the increase of milk in them give them Cinquefoyl five days together before they drink or else binde Dittany to their bellies or as Lacuna translateth the words out of Alrieanus you may lay milk to their bellies belike by rubbing it thereupon The wilde Goats of Creet eat Dittany aforesaid against the strokes of Darts and Serapion avoucheth by the experience of Galen that Goats by licking the leaves of Tamarisk lose their gall and likewise that he saw them licking Serpents which had newly lost their skins and the event thereof was that their age never turned or changed into whiteness or other external signes thereof Also it is delivered by good observation that if they eat or drink out of vessels of Tamarisk they shall never have any Spleen if any one of them eat Sea-holly the residue of the flock stand still and will not go forward till the meat be out of his mouth The Grammarians say that 〈…〉 ara was killed by Bellerophon the son of Glaucus in the Mountain Lyoius and the reason hereof is that the Poets faigned Chimera to be composed of a Lyon a Dragon and a Goat and in that Mountain all those three were kept and fell for
with a false appearance as the flattering love of Harlots doe simple mindes by fained protestations Of the GVLON THis Beast was not known by the Ancients but hath been since discovered in the Northern parts of the World and because of the great voracity thereof it is called Gulo that is a devourer in imitation of the Germans who call such devouring creatures Vilsiuss and the Swedians Gerff in Lituania and Muscovia it is called Rossomokal It is thought to be engendered by a Hyaena and a Lioness for in quality it resembleth a Hiaena and it is the same which is called Crocuta it is a devouring and an unprofitable creature having sharper teeth then other creatures Some think it is derived of a Wolf and a Dog for it is about the bigness of a Dog it hath the face of a Cat the body and tail of a Fox being black of colour his feet and nails be most sharp his skin rusty the hair very sharp and it feedeth upon dead carkases When it hath found a dead carkass he eateth thereof so violently that his belly standeth out like a bell then he seeketh for some narrow passage betwixt two trees and there draweth through his body by pressing whereof he driveth out the meat which he had eaten and being so emptied returneth and devoureth as much as he did before and goeth again and emptieth himself as in former manner and so continueth eating and emptying till all be eaten It may be that God hath ordained such a creature in those Countries to express the abominable gluttony of the men of that Countrey that they may know their true deformed nature and lively ugly figure represented in this Monster eatingbeast for it is the fashion of the Noble men in those parts to sit from noon till midnight eating and drinking and never rise from the table but to disgorge their stomachs or ease their bellies and then return with refreshed appetites to ingurgitate and consume more of Gods creatures wherein they grow to such a heighth of beastliness that they lose both sense and reason and know no difference between head and tail Such they are in Muscovia in Lituania and most shameful of all in Tartaria These things are reported by Olaus Magnus and Mathias Michou But I would to God that this same more then beastly intemperate gluttony had been circumscribed and confined within the limits of those unchristian or heretical-apostatical countries and had not spread it self and infected our more civil and Christian parts of the World so should not Nobility Society Amity good fellowship neighbourhood and honesty be ever placed upon drunken or gluttonous companions or any man be commended for bibbing and sucking in Wine and Beer like a Swine When in the mean season no spark of grace or Christianity appeareth in them which notwithstanding they take upon them being herein worse then Beasts who still reserve the notes of their nature and preserve their lives but these lose the markes of humanity reason memory and sense with the conditions of their families applying themselves to consume both patrimony and pence in this voracity and forget the Badges of Christians offering sacrifice to nothing but their bellies The Church forsaketh them the spirit accurseth them the civil world abhorreth them the Lord condemneth them the Devil expecteth them and the fire of Hell it self is prepared for them and all such devourers of Gods good creature To help their digestion for although the Hiena and Gulon and some other monsters are subject to this gluttony yet are there many creatures more in the world who although they be Beasts and lack reason yet can they not by any famine stripes or provocations be drawn to exceed their natural appetites or measure in eating or drinking There are of these Beasts two kindes distinguished by colour one black and the other like a Wolf they seldom kill a Man or any live Beasts but feed upon carrion and dead carkasses as is before said yet sometimes when they are hungry they prey upon Beasts as Horses and such like and then they subtilly ascend up into a tree and when they see a Beast under the same they leap down upon him and destroy him A Bear is afraid to meet them and unable to match them by reason of their sharp teeth This Beast is tamed and nourished in the Courts of Princes for no other cause then for an example of incredible voracity When he hath filled his belly if he can finde no trees growing so near together as by sliding betwixt them he may expel his excrements then taketh he an Alder-tree and with his fore-feet rendeth the same asunder and passeth through the midst of it for the cause aforesaid When they are wilde men kill them with bows and gins for no other cause than for their skins which are precious and profitable for they are white spotted changeably interlined like divers flowers for which cause the greatest Princes and richest Nobles use them in garments in the Winter time such are the Kings of Polonia Sweveland Goatland and the Princes of Germany neither is their any skin which will sooner take a colour or more constantly retain it The outward appearance of the said skin is like to a damaskt garment and besides this outward part there is no other memorable thing worthy observation in this ravenous Beast and therefore in Germany it is called a four-footed Vulture Of the GORGON or strange Lybian Beast AMong the manifold and divers sorts of Beasts which are bred in Africk it is thought that the Gorgon is brought forth in that Countrey It is a fearful and terrible beast to behold it it hath high and thick eye-lids eyes not very great but much like an Oxes or Bugils but all flery-bloudy which neither look directly forward nor yet upwards but continually down to the earth and therefore are called in Greek Catobleponta From the crown of their head down to their nose they have a long hanging mane which make them to look fearfully It eateth deadly and poysonful herbs and if at any time he see a Bull or other creature whereof he is afraid he presently causeth his mane to stand upright and being so lifted up opening his lips and gaping wide sendeth forth of his throat a certain sharp and horrible breath which infecteth and poysoneth the air above his head so that all living creatures which draw in the breath of that air are grievously afflicted thereby losing both voyce and sight they fall into lethal and deadly Convulsions It is bred in Hesperia and Lybia The Poets have a fiction that the Gorgones were the daughters of Midusa and Phoroynis and are called Stringo and by Hesiodus Sthenp and Euryale inhabiting the Gorgadian Islands in the Aethiopick Ocean over against the gardens of Hesperia Medusa is said to have the hairs of her head to be living Serpents against whom Perseus fought and cut off her head for which cause he was placed in
Heaven on the North side of the Zodiack above the Waggon and on the left hand holding the Gorgons head The truth is that that there were certain Amazonian women in Africk divers from the Scythians against whom Perseus made war and the Captain of those Women was call Medusa whom Perfeus overthrew and cut off her head and from thence came the Poets fiction describing it with Snakes growing out of it as is aforesaid These Gorgons are bred in that Countrey and have such hair about their heads as not only exceedeth all other Beasts but also poysoneth when she standeth upright Pliny called this Catablepon because it continually looketh downward and saith that all the parts of it are but small excepting the head which is very heavy and exceedeth the proportion of his body which is never lifted up but all living creatures dy that see his eyes By which there ariseth a question whether the poyson which he sendeth forth proceed from his breath or from his eyes Whereupon it is more probable that like the Cockatrice he killeth by seeing then by the breath of his mouth which is not competible to any other Beasts in the world Besides when the Souldiers of Marius followed Jugurtha they saw one of these Gorgons and supposing it was some Sheep bending the head continually to the earth and moving slowly they set upon him with their swords whereat the Beast disdaining suddenly discovered his eyes setting his hair upright at the sight whereof the Souldiers fell down dead Marius hearing thereof sent other Souldiers to kill the Beast but they likewise dyed as the former At last the Inhabitants of the Countrey told the Captain the poyson of this Beasts nature and that if he were not killed upon a sudden with the only sight of his eyes he sent death into his hunters then did the Captain lay an ambush of Soldiers for him who slew him suddenly with their spears and brought him to the Emperour whereupon Marius sent his skin to Rome which was hung up in the Temple of Hercules wherein the people were feasted after the triumphs by which it is apparent that they kill with their eyes and not with their breath So that the fable of Serviut which reporteth that in the furthest place of Atlas these Gorgons are bred and that they have but one eye a piece is not to be believed except he mean as else-where he confesseth that there were certain maids which were sisters call Gorgons and were so beautiful that all young men were amazed to behold them Whereupon it was said that they were turned into stones meaning that their love bereft them of their wit and sense They were called the daughters of Cetus and three of them were made Nymphs which were called Pephredo Enyo and the third Dinon so called as Geraldus saith because they were old women so soon as they were born whereunto was assigned one eye and one tooth But to omit these fables it is certain that sharp poysoned sights are called Gorgon Blepen and therefore we will follow the authority of Pliny and Atheneus It is a Beast all set over with scales like a Dragon having no hair except on his head great teeth like Swine having wings to fly and hands to handle in stature betwixt a Bull and a Calf There be Islands called Gorgonies wherein these Monster Gorgons were bred and unto the days of Pliny the people of that Countrey retained some part of their prodigious nature It is reported by Xenophon that Hanno King of Carthage ranged with his Army in that Region and found there certain women of incredible swiftness and pernicity of foot Whereof he took two only of all that appeared in sight which had such rough and sharp bodies as never before were seen Wherefore when they were dead he hung up their skins in the Temple of Juno for a monument of their strange natures which remained there untill the destruction of Carthage By the consideration of this Beast there appeareth one manifest argument of the Creators divine wisdom and Providence who hath turned the eyes of this Beast downward to the earth as it were thereby burying his poyson from the hurt of man and shadowing them with rough long and strong hair that their poysoned beams should not reflect upwards untill the Beast were provoked by fear or danger the heaviness of his head being like a clog to restrain the liberty of his poysonful nature but what other parts vertues or vices are contained in the compass of this Monster God only knoweth who peradventure hath permitted it to live upon the face of the earth for no other cause but to be a punishment and scourge unto mankinde and an evident example of his own wrathful power to everlasting destruction And thus much may serve for a description of this Beast untill by Gods Providence more can be known thereof Of the HARE A Hare is a four-footed Beast of the earth which the Hebrews call Arnebet in the feminine gender which word gave an occasion to an opinion that all Hares were females or at the least that the males bring forth young as well as females whereof we shall see more in the sequell of this story And the Jews say that it signifieth nothing else in Hebrew but a Hare for which word Deut. 14. the Chaldee translateth Arneba the Arabians Ernab the Persians Kargos Avicenna calleth it Arneberri Silvaticus Arnaberri Arnebus and Arnaben the Saracens Arneph the Graecians Lagoos Lagos Lageoos because of his immoderate lust It is called Ptoox for his fear and in Latine Lepus of Levipes signifying swiftness of feet and that it is not heard when it goeth howsoever some men derive it from Leporis the Greek word others derive Lagos from La betokening elevation and Oos signifying an ear because she pricketh up one of her ears when she runneth The Italians call it Livora the French Lieure and Leurault Leureteau the Spaniards Liebre the Germans Hass or Haas the Ilyrians Zagicz There be four sorts of Hares some live in the Mountains some in the Fields some in the Marishes and some every where without any certain place of abode They of the Mountains are most swift they of the fields less nimble they of the marshes most slow and the wandring Hares are most dangerous to follow for they are so cunning in the ways and muses of the field running up the hils and rocks because by custom they know the nearest way and forbearing down hils sometime making heads upon the plain ground to the confusion of the Dogs and the dismaying of the Hunter Pollux saith that there be certain Hares called Elymaei almost as big as Foxes being blackish of long bodies and large white spots upon the top of their tails these are so called of their countrey like the Elymaan Dogs There be also Hares called Moschiae so called because of their sweet smell or else that they leave in their foot-steps such a strong savour whereunto when
battle with the Cardian Horses for all the force of the Cardians lay in their Horses he commanded his Piping Bisaltans to sound their musick which the Horses understood who presently stood up upon their hinder-legs and would not fight any more or go any further so as they were overthrown by their adversaries They have also a singular pleasure in publick spectacles and therefore have been observed to be provoked not only by pipes or such instrumentall musick but also by Songs or vocall harmony by variety of colours and by burning Torches Dion also writeth that he saw a Horse taught to know and to do reverence to a King And Textor affirmeth that he saw a Horse at Paris at the trumphs Tilt and Turnaments made for the mariage of Lewis the twelfth to Mary a Lady of Britain which being commanded by his Rider to salute the Queen presently did bend both his knees unto her and then rose again running away as fast as a bird could flie Homer seemeth also to affirm that there are in Horses divine qualities understanding things to come for being tyed to their mangers they mourned for the death of Patroclus and also fore shewed Achilles what should happen unto him for which cause Pliny saith of them that they lament their lost Masters with tears and foreknow battles Virgil writeth thus of the Horse of Pallas Post bellator equus positis insignibus Aethon It lachtymans guttisque humectat grandibus â—ra Accursius affirmeth that Caesar three dayes before he died found his ambling Nag weeping in the stable which was a token of his ensuing death which thing I should not believe except Tranquillus in the life of Caesar had related the same thing and he addeth moreover that the Horses which were consecrated to Mars for passing over Rubicon being let to run wilde abroad without their Masters because no man might meddle with the Horses of the Gods were found to weep aboundantly and to abstain from all meat Whereof there could be no cause given but the love of their former Masters It is also reported of Rodatus a Captain to Charles the great who after the death of the Emperour was made a Monk his Horse would never suffer any to come on his back except his Master who likewise had abstained from riding many years But it happened that certain Pagans brake in upon the said Monastery whereupon poor Rodatus went unto his Horse who after many years discontinuance willingly took up his aged Master upon his back and so carryed him untill he triumphed over his adversaries and no marvel for Dogs and Horses are most loving to men if they be brought up carefully and liberally they recompense the good turns of their benefactors It is observed in the nature of Horses that they seldom hurt a man or childe except in their madness yet are there malicious Horses as well as men It is reported by Pliny and Tzetzes that when a foal hath lost his dam the residue of the Mares which give suck bring it up and that they are seldom found at variance except the barren Mares pull away the foals from the natural dams For there is no creature so loving to their young ones as are Mares neither any so desirous of young for which cause when they are barren themselves they labour to steal them away from others They which were wont to races would perform it upon Mares newly delivered of foals they tyed up the foals at home and led the Mares to the beginning of the race making the end thereof at the foals stable and so putting the Beast forward she runneth homewards more speedily for the remembrance of her foal Of the fear of Horses and their enemies in nature HOrses are afraid of Elephants in battle and likewise of a Camel for which cause when Cyrus sought against Croesus he overthrew his Horse by the sight of Camels for a Horse cannot abide to look upon a Camel If a Horse tread in the foot-path of a Wolfe he presently falleth to be astonished Likewise if two or more drawing a Chariot come into the place where a Wolf hath trod they stand so still as if the Chariot and they were frozen to the earth saith Aelianus and Pliny Aesculapius also affirmeth the same thing of a Horse treading in a Bears footsteps and assigneth the reason to be in some secret betwixt the feet of both Beasts We have shewed already that if a Mare strike a Wolf or tread in the foot-steps thereof she presently casteth her Foal and therefore the Egyptians when they signifie a Woman suffering abortment picture a Mare kicking a Wolf The Dextanian Horses being not Gelded dare fight with Lions but being gelded like all other Horses they are so afraid of Lions that no stripes or spurs is able to bring them in their presence the Caropian Horses excepted All kinde of Swine are enemies to Horses the Estridge also is so feared of a Horse that the Horse dares not appear in his presence The like difference also is betwixt a Horse and a Bear There is a Bird which is called Anclorus which neyeth like a Horse flying about the Horse doth many times drive it away but because it is somewhat blind and cannot see perfectly therefore the Horse doth oftentimes catch it and devour it hating his own voice in a creature so unlike himself It is reported by Aristotle that the Bustard loveth a Horse exceedingly for seeing other Beasts feeding in the Pastures despiseth and abhorreth them but as soon as ever it seeth a Horse it flyeth unto him for joy although the Horse run away from it and therefore the Egyptians when they see a weak man driving away a stronger they picture a Bustard flying to a Horse Horses are also taught to leap if a Man take him by the rains and go over the ditch before him holding him fast and pulling him to him But if he be unwilling then let another come behind him and strike him with a whip or with a rod so will he leap over without delay and thus when you have used him to leap empty likewise accustome him loaded First over smaller and then over greater hedges But at the beginning let him leap in soft ground and being well practised in harder and when he beginneth to leap let the Rider put spurs unto him for so will he performe his leap with more safety to himself and the Rider and by custome he may leap and run as well down the hill as up hill and therefore the Persians and Nodrisians use and accustome their Horses to run both down hill and up hill These Epithets following do serve and expresse the nature of Horses full of stomach generous magnanimous strong ardent sharp covetous fierce bolde threatning terrible foaming such were the Horses of Acarnania Argos Mycena Aria Elis Epid Spain Thessali Farsalis of which Countrey was Bucephalus the Horse of Alexander Ballasia a Province addicted to Mahomet hath many of these
up that milk spilt on the ground and afterwards the King drinketh up the residue and besides him no body that day except it be of the Kings linage or of the Countrey of Horiach for the people of that Countrey have liberty to tast thereof that day because of a battle which once they obtained for the great Cam. The property of this milk is to loosen the belly and because it is thin and hath no fat in it therefore it easily descendeth and doth not curdle in the stomach and it is said that the Scythians can keep it twelve dayes together therewithal satisfying their hunger and quenching their thirst And thus much shall satisfie for the natural discourses of Horses hereafter followeth the moral The moral discourse of Horses concerning Fictions Pictures and other devises ANd first of all for the moral dignity of Horses there is a celestial constellation called Hippos according to these Verses of Aratus thus translated Huic Equus ille jubam quatiens fulgore micanti Summum contingit caput alvo stellaque jungens Vna The Latins call this star Pegasus and they say that he is the Son of Neptune and Medusa who with striking his foot upon a Rock in Helicon a mountain of Boeotia opened a Fountain which after his name was called Hippocrene Others tell the tale in this sort at what time Bellerophon came to Praetus the Son of Abas the King of the Argives Antia the Kings wife fell in love with her guest and making it known unto him promised him half her husbands Kingdom if he would lie with her but he like an honest man abhorring so foul a fact utterly refused to accomplish the desire and dishonesty of the lustful Queen whereupon she being afraid lest he should disclose it unto the King prevented him by her own complaint informing the King that he would have ravished her when the King heard this accusation because he loved Bellerophon well would not give punishment himself but sent him to Schenobeus the Father of Queen Antia that he in defence of his Daughters chastity might take revenge upon him who presently cast him to Chimaera which at that time depopulated all the coast of Lycia but Bellerophon by the help of the Horse Pegasus did both overcome and avoid the monster and being weary of his life perceiving that there was no good nor truth upon the earth determined to forsake the world and flie to heaven who coming neer to heaven casting down his eyes to the earth trembled to see how far he was distant from it and so his heart fainting for fear fell down backward and perished but his Horse kept on his flight to heaven and was there placed among the Stars by Jupiter Euripedes telleth the tale otherwise for he saith that Chiron the Centaure had a Daughter nourished in the mountain Pelius which was called Theas and afterward Hippe because of her exceeding hunting on horse-back she was perswaded by Aeolus the Son of Hellen a Nephew of Jupiters to let him lie with her whereupon she conceived with childe and when the time of her deliverance came she fled from her Father into the woods for fear the loss of her Virginity should be known unto him but he followed her to see what was the cause of his Daughters departure whereupon she desired of the Gods that her father might not see her in travel her prayer was granted and she after her delivery was turned into a Mare and placed among the Stars Others say that she was a Prophetesse and because she revealed the counsels of the Gods was therefore metamorphozed in that shape in the place aforesaid Others say that because she gave over to worship Diana she lost her first presence But to return to the first tale of Bellerophon who after the death of Chimaera growing proud for his valor attempted to flie to heaven but Jupiter troubled his Horse with a Fury and so he shooke off his Rider who perished in the field Alecus apo tese alese because of his errour and Pegasus was placed in heaven But to come nearer to the description of the Poeticall Horse Albertus Magnus and some others say that it is a Beast bred in Ethiopia having the head and feet of a Horse but horned and wings much greater then the wings of an Eagle which he doth not lift up into the air like a bird but only stretcheth them out when he runneth whereby his only presence is terrible to all creatures unto whom he is enemy but especially to Men. But for the truth hereof although Pliny and some others seem to affirm as much yet will I set down nothing for truth and certainty because as the Poets call every swift Horse Volucres and Alipedes so the errour of that figure hath rather given occasion to the framing of this new Monster Pegasus then any other reasonable Allegory Likewise I know no cause why the Poets should fain that Ceres was turned into a Mare and hid her self in the herds of Oncius Neptune falling in love with her followed her to those fields and perceiving that he was deceived turned himself also into a Horse and so had to do with her whereat Ceres was grievously offended and fell into a great fury for which cause she was called Erinnys yet afterwards she washed her self in the River Ladon laying aside all her rage and fury at the fulness of time she brought forth Ation And the Arcodians also had a certain Den wherein they had a great remembrance of this ravishment of Ceres sitting in a Den wherein they say she hid her self from all creatures and whereunto they offer divine worship They picture her in a Colts skin sitting like a woman in all parts with a long garment down to her ancles but the head of a Horse with the pictures of many Dragons and other such wilde beasts holding in one of her hands a Dolphin and in the other a Dove By all which it is not uneasie for every man to know conceive their meaning that plenty of food signified by Ceres doth not only maintain Men Fowls Beasts and Fishes but also the immoderate use thereof draweth men to inordinate lust and concupiscence and that the Gods of the Heathen were more rather to be accounted Beasts then Men. Diana also among the Arcadians was called Eurippa for the finding out of those Mares which Vlysses had lost which Vlysses erected a statue for Neptune the great Rider and they say that Hippolytus being torn in pieces by Horses through the love of Diana and skill of Aesculapius by the vertue of certain herbs he was restored unto life again Whereupon Jupiter being sore vexed and angry with Aesculapius for such an invention deluding as it were the fury of the Gods killed him with lightning and thrust him down into hell because no wretched man would fear death if such devises might take place which fact Virgil describeth in these Verses At Trivia Hippolytum secret is alma recondit Sedibus
sandy and fat and being bruised or eaten tasteth like earth both kindes are covered with little white skins and there is apparent in them a spungy tenacious substance and this I take to be the Mushrom whereof Hermolaus speaketh And by the little stones and small skins it may be conjectured to be Corpus heterogenes in terra coalescens A Hetrogenean body encreasing in the earth wherewithal it hath no affinity There was another stone of the urine of a Linx to be seen in Savoy the substance whereof was clearly crystal the form of it was triangular the hardness so as you might strike fire with it and the colour partly white and partly like Wine mingled with water so that I will conclude that the urine of a Linx may engender a stone though not in such manner as is beforesaid For the Arabian Jâ—rath affirmeth that within seven dayes after the rendring it turneth into a stone but it is not the Lyncurium properly so called for that is the Amber or Gum before spoken of although catachrestically so called And if it be true that there be certain Mushroms neer the Red-sea which by the heat of the Sun are hardned into stones then also it may follow very naturally that those stones may produce Mushroms again for both the dissolution and the constitution of things are thought to be grounded upon the same principles And thus much shall suffice for the urine of the Linx and the stone made thereof The skins of Linxes are most pretious and used in the garments of the greatest estates both Lords Kings and Emperors as we have shewed before and for that cause are sold very dear The claws of this Beast especially of the right foot which he useth in stead of a hand are encluded in silver and sold for Nobles a piece and for Amulets to be worn against the falling sickness The love of these beasts to their young ones is very great like as the Pardals Lions and Tygers The King of Tartaria hath tame Linxes which he useth in hunting in stead of Dogs The antient Pagans dedicated this Beast to Bacchus feigning that when he triumphed in his chariot of Vine branches he was drawn by Tygers and Linxes And therefore Virgil saith Quid Lynces Bacchi variae And Ovid Dicta racemisero Lyncas dedit India Baccho All the nails of a Linx being burned with the skin beaten into powder and given in drink will very much cohibite and restrain abominable Lechery in men it will also restrain the lust in women being sprinkled upon them and also very effectually and speedily take away either itch or scurf in man or womans body The urine of this Beast is accounted very medicinable for those which are troubled with the Strangury and running of the reins The same is also very good and wholesome for the curing of any pain or grief in the winde-pipe or throat Bonarus Baro doth a affirm that the nails of Linxes which are in their Countrey are had in great estimation and price amongst their Peers and Noble men for there is a very certain opinion amongst them that those nails being put upon the yard of either Horse or Beast whose urine is kept back or restrained will in very short space cause them to void it without any grief at all He reporteth also that their nails do there wax white and that they include them all in silver and do commend them for an excellent remedy against the Cramp if they be worn peradventure because they are bending and crooked by which perswasion there are some superstitious men which hang certain roots which are crooked and knotty about them against the Cramp There are some which do ascertain that these nails are good and ready helps for the soreness of the Uvula which is in the Horses mouthes and for that cause there are many Horsemen which carry them continually about them The Linx or Wolf which is begotten of a Wolf and a Hinde the Musk-cat the Weasill and all such other like Beasts do more hurt men by their biting teeth-wounds then by poison There was a certain Hunter as Collinus reporteth which told him that the flesh of a Linx being sod in some hot pottage or broath and afterwards eaten would be a very good and wholesome medicine for the expelling of the Ague or Quartan Fever and that the bones of the same Beast being burnt and pounded into powder would be a very excellent remedy for the curing of wounds which are old and stale and full of putrifaction as also the Fistulaes which grow in the thighes or hips of men Of the Marder Martel or Marten And therefore the French call the word Martin by the name of Foines And the skins of the Fir-martin or House-martin are far more beautiful to look upon then those that live wilde in the trees or Woods Agricola calleth the Wood-martin Baummarder because it liveth for the most part in trees and saith that it never forsaketh the Woods or very seldom and therefore in that thing differeth from the Fir-martin But herein he seemeth to be deceived that he ascribeth to the Beech-martin a loamy or red throat and also a continual abode among the Woods For they come some-times to houses and to Rocks for which as we have said already it is called a Housemarder and Rock-marder And all these multitude of names do but express the two kindes afore-named whereof the Fir-Martin is most excellent for Princes and great Nobles are clothed therewith every skin being worth a French crown or four shillings at the least And they are so much the better when there are more white hairs aspersed among the yellow For their ordinary colour is a deep brown yellow and these that are clean white are four times worse then the former and therefore are not sold for above three or four groats a piece howsoever the saying of Martial Venator capta Marte superbus adest Here cometh the proud Hunter that hath killed a Martin may very well be applyed unto them which take any of these beasts for they cannot chuse but be very joyful which get a good sum of money for a little labour as they have for a Martins skin By inspection of the Foins that is the Martins of the beech for the French men called a Beâ—ch Fau from whence cometh the word Foines you may see that their skins are more dusky having a tail both greater and blacker then the Martins of the Firs And therefore you must understand that they of the Firs are by way of excellency called Martins and the other of the woods called Foines There is no great difference betwixt their bigness and if by their skins at any time there seem any inequality in breadth or length it must be attributed to their age and difference of years and not to any proportion in nature or distinction of kinde And as we have said that the Fir-Martins are absolutely the best yet that is
upon them in the open fields for they are so mightily delighted with his spotted skin and fragrant smell that they will alwayes come running unto him from all parts striving who shall come nearest him to be satisfied with the sight but when once they look upon his fierce and grim face they all are terrified and turn away for which cause the subtle Beast turneth away his head and keepeth that from their sight offering the more beautiful parts of his body as an alluring bait to a Mouse and destroy them and from hence there are some which are of opinion that he receiveth his name Panthera of congregating together all kinde of Beasts to look on him for Pan signifieth all and Theria signifieth Beasts Albertus is of opinion that the report of the Panthers savour or sweet smell is but a fable because he saith it is written as a Maxim among Philosophers that Caetera animalia praeter hominem neque suaviter neque moleste odoribus affici that is That no creatures man excepted can be said to smell either sweetly or sowrely and Theophractus writeth Animal nullum penitus odoratum est nisi quiâ— dixerit Pardalin belluarum censui bene olere that is There is no creature that can be said to be so odoriferous except the Pardal seem to smell well to the scents of other Beasts for it is certain that there be some savours and smels which Beasts do follow and refuse being led thereunto onely for the choise of their meat for by their noses they choose that which is the convenient and agreeable to their natures but that they should be drawn by any smells or savours meerly and for no other cause but the pleasure of the scents as it is a reasonable part in man so it is unreasonable to attribute the very same unto a Beast Yet herein by the favour of Albertus I dissent from him for it being granted which all men yeeld unto that either the spots of his skin which seem to be as many eyes as colours or else the sweet favour which cometh from him is the occasion of the Beasts assembling about him then it followeth that when he is from the earth and lodged in a tree and so not visible to the eyes of the beasts if then I say they assemble about the tree wherein he is lodged there is no cause to draw the Beasts unto him but the attractive power of his sweet savour and what want of reason can it be justly deemed to say that Beasts love sweet savours seeing both Albertus and all other learned men that I know do confidently affirm that many wilde Beasts do forsake their meat to hear musick and also the Badger doth forsake his own den when he perceiveth the Fox hath emptied his belly therein Therefore I will conclude this point with admiration of the work of the Creator to consider how wisely he hath disposed his goodness and how powerfully he communicateth the affections of his divinity even unto brute Beasts who doth not distinguish them asunder only by their outsides and exterior parts nor yet by their insides and qualities of their mindes but also by the air they draw in and the savour they send forth Among all kindes of Beasts the male is most couragious and fierce except in Bears and Panthers for the female Panther is more generous then the male At the time of their lust they have very peculiar voices which caused the Poet to write thus Panther caurit amans Pardus hiando felit At the sound of those voices other Beasts come about them as both Lions Lionesses Wolves and Thoes They never bear above once because when the young ones begin to stir in the dams belly and gather strength for birth they cannnot tarry the just time of their delivery but tear out the womb or bag wherein they lie with the sharpness of their nails and therefore their dam is forced for the avoiding of pain to cast them forth of the womb both blinde and deformed which yet she nourisheth tenderly but afterwards can never conceive again by reason that her womb is so torn with the claws of her first whelps that it is not able to retain to perfection the received seed of the male Panthers live together in flocks or heards and greatly delight in their own kinde but in no other that I know and therefore I wonder from what Author Isidorus wrote Panther omnium animaltum 〈…〉 icus est excepto Dracone That the Panther is friendly to all Beasts except the Dragon It was not in vain that the Poets feigned the Nurses of Bacchus to be turned into Panthers and that they devoured Pentheus because he railed upon Bacchus for as a Lion doth in most things imitate and resemble the very nature of Man so after the very self same manner doth the Panther of a Woman for it is a fraudulent though a beautiful Beast or as Adamantius writeth antherâ— ingenium molle est effâ—â—minatum iracundum insidiosum fraudulentum timidum s 〈…〉 l audax his moribus corporis etiam forma respâ—â—dit that is The disposition of the Panther is wanton effeminaco outragious treacherous deceitful fearful and yet bold and for this occasion in holy Scriptures it is joyned with the the Lion and the Wolf to make up the triplicity of ravening Beasts and therefore also we read that the wisest among the Egyptians when they will signifie a cunning man covering the secret corruption and evil disposition of his minde pretending good and yet intending evil they picture a Panther for we have shewed already how he doth cover both his head and his body to take his prey This Beast is never so tamed but that he falleth into his wilde fits again Their love to their young ones is exceeding great for if at any time while they are abroad to forage they meet with Hunters that would take them away they fight for them unto death and to save them from blows interpose their own bodies receiving mortal wounds but if they finde their young ones taken out of their den in their absence they bewail their loss with loud and miserable howling Demetrius the Philosopher relateth this story of a Panther that say in the high way to meet with a man to help her young ones out of a ditch or deep pit wherein they were fallen at length there appeared in her sight the father of Philinus a Philosopher who presently began to run away assoon as he saw the Beast but the poor distressed Panther rowled after him in humble manner as though she had some sute unto him and took him lightly by the skirt of his garment with one of her claws the man perceiving that she gave suck by the greatness of her Udders hanging under her belly began to take pity upon her and layed away fear thinking that indeed which happened that her young ones were taken from her by one means or other therefore he followed her she
wormwood dryed and beaten to powder given unto Sheep with Salt doth asswage all inward diseases and pains and also purge them throughly The juice of Centory is very profitable for the inward diseases of Sheep and likewise the flowers of Ivy the Hoom tree hath four kinds of fruit two proper the Nut and the Grain two improper the Line and Hiphear this Hiphear is very profitable for Sheep and it is nothing else but a confection made out of the barks of the Hoom tree the word it self is an Arcadian word signifying no other thing then viscus and stelis Sheep also delight in the branches of Maiden-hair and generally the Wool of Sheep burned to powder and given them to drink is very profitable for all their inward diseases And thus much shall suffice to have spoken of the several infirmities and sicknesses of Sheep which I desire the English Reader to take in good part wondering very much at the manifold wits and stirring pens of these dayes wherein I think our times may be compared to the most flourishing times that ever were since the worlds beginning yet none have adventured to apply their times and wits for the explication of the several sicknesses of Sheep and Cattle I know there are many Noblemen Knights and Gentlemen of the Land and those also which are very learned that are great masters of Sheep and Cattle and I may say of them as the Prophet David saith Their Oxen are strong to labour and their Sheep bringeth forth thousands and ten thousands in their fields Whereby they are greatly inriched and yet not one of them have had so much commiseration either towards the poor Cattle in whose garments they are warmed or Charity to the World For the better direction to maintain the health of these creatures as to publish any thing in writing for the benefit of Adams children but such knowledge must rest in the breasts of silly Shepherds and for the masters either they know nothing or else in strange visitation and mortality of their Cattle they ascribe that to Witchcraft and the Devill which is peculiar to the work of nature Horses Dogs and almost every creaâ—â—re have gotten favour in Gentlemens wits to have their natures described but the silly Sheep better every way then they and more necessary for life could never attain such kindnesse as once to get one page written or indited for the safegard of their natures I do therefore by these presents from my soul and spirit invite all Gentlemen and men of learning not only to give their mindes to know the defects of this beast but also to invent the best remedies that nature can afford for it is a token of highest mercy unto brute beasts to feed them when they are hungry and to recover them when they are sick Columella and Varro two great Romane and such as had attained to some of the greatest place of the Common-wealth being men of excellent wits and capacity yet had their names been forgotten and they never remembred if they had not written of rustick and countrey matters and it is no little honour unto them to have left that behind them in Print or writing which themselves had observed from following the Plough Therefore it shall be no disgrace for any man of what worth soever to bestow his wits upon the Sheep for certainly it is no lesse worthy of his wit then it is of his teeth and how necessary it is for the nourishment of man we all know to this day and besides there is nothing that so magnifyeth our English Nation as the price of our Wool in all the kingdoms of the World But what account the antients made of Sheep I will now tell you for their greatest men both Kings and Lords were Shepherds and therefore you which succeed in their places shall bestow much lesse labour in writing of Sheep then they did in keeping with the picture of a Sheep they stamped their antient money and it is reported of Mandrabulus that having found a great treasure in the earth in token of his blind thankfulness to God did dedicate three pictures of Sheep to Juno one of Gold another of Silver and a third of Brasse and besides the antient Romans made the penalties of the lawes to be Oxen and Sheep and no Man might name an Ox untill he had named a Sheep Among the Troglodytes they had their Wives common yet their Tyrants had lawes to keep their wives to themselves and they thought it a great penalty for the Adultery of their wife if the Adulterer payed them a Sheep The Poets have a pretty fiction that Endymion the Son of Mercury fell in love with the Moon who despised him and that therefore he went and kept Sheep afterward the Moon fell in love with his white Sheep and desired some of them promising to grant his request if he would gratifie her choice whereupon the wise-man as Probus writeth divided his flock into two parts the whiter on the one side which had the courser Wool and the blacker on the other side which had the finer Wool so the Moon chose the white ones and granted him her love whereupon Virgil thus writeth Pan munere niveo lunae captum te Luna fefellit It may appear also in what great regard Sheep were in antient time for that their Priests made holy Water and sacrifices for their sanctification whereof I finde these relations in Gyraldus Virgil and others At the lustration of Sheep there was another manner of sanctifying then at other times for the Shepherd rose betimes in the morning and sprinkled his Sheep all over with Water making a perfume round about the fold with Sulphur Sav 〈…〉 e Lawrell Wine and fire singing holy verses and making sacrifice to the God Pan for they did believe that by this lustration the health of their Sheep was procured and all consuming diseases driven away It is reported that when Sheep of strange colours were sprinkled with this water signified great happiness to the Princes of the people and they were gifts for the Emperor whereupon Virgil made these Verses Ipse sed in pratis aries jam suave rubenti Muricâ— jam crâ—ceo mutabit vellena luto When men went to receive answers of the Oracles they slept all night in the skins of Sheep There was a Noble sacrifice among the Pagans called Hecatombe wherein were sacrificed at one time a hundred Sheep at a hundred several Altars It is reported of King Josias that he sacrificed at one time twelve hundred Oxen and eight and thirty hundred Sheep so great was the dignity of this Beast that God himself placed in the death thereof one part of his worship and whereas it was lawful among the Heathens to make their sacrifices of Sheep Goats Swine Oxen Hens and Geese they made reckoning that the Lamb and the Kid was best of all for that God was not pleased with the quantity but with the quality of the sacrifice The antient Egyptians
banished her into the Island of Pharus which was full of all manner of Serpents and yet taking pity on her for her simplicity gave her a certain herb whereby she drove away all Serpents For it is said when the Serpents and venomous Beasts do but smell the same herb they instantly hide their heads in the earth Helen coming into that Island planted the same there and was therefore called by the Inhabitants after her own name Helenium which the skilful Herborists at this day affirm to grow in Pharus Unto this discourse of the taming of Serpents I may add yet more strange things if any thing be strange in the nature of this world And those are some Histories of the familiarity of Men Women and Serpents Alexander was thought to be begotten of a Serpent for it is said that on a time there was found a great Serpent upon his Mother Olympia as she was sleeping and some say for the honour both of the Mother and the Son that this Serpent was Jupiter turned into the likeness of a Serpent as we read he changed himself into many other shapes And the like story unto this is alledged of Soipio Africanus his mother who long time remained barren without the fruit of the womb insomuch as P. Scipio her husband utterly despaired of posterity It hapned one day as she was in her bed her husband being absent there came a great Snake and lay beside her even in the presence of the servants and family who being mightily astonished thereat cryed out with loud voyces for fear whereat the woman awaked and the Snake slid away invisibly P. Scipio hearing this report at his return home went to the Wizards to understand the secret or signification of this prodigie who making a sacrifice gave answer that it betokened prolification or birth of children and thereupon followed the birth of Scipio Africanus We read also in Plutarch of certain Serpents lovers of young Virgins who after they were taken and insnared shewed all manner of lustful vitious and amorous gestures of uncleanness and carnality and by name there was one that was in love with one Aetolia a Virgin who did accustom to come unto her in the night time sliding gently all over her body never harming her but 〈…〉 one glad of such acquaintance tarryed with her in that dalliance till the morning and then would depart away of his own accord the which thing being made manifest unto the Guardians and Tutors of the Virgin they removed her unto another Town The Serpent missing his love sought her up and down three or four days and at last met her by chance and then he saluted her not as he was wont with fawning and gentle sliding but fierce assaulted her with grim and austere countenance flying to her hands and binding them with the spire of his body fast to her sides did softly with his tail beat upon her backer parts Whereby was collected some token of his chastisement unto her who had wronged such a Lover with her wilful absence and disappointment It is also reported by Aelianus that Egemon in his verses writeth of one Aleva a Thessalian who feeding his Oxen in Thessaly near the Fountain Haemonius there fell in love with him a Serpent of exceeding bigness and quantity and the same would come unto him and softly lick his face and golden hair without doing him any manner of hurt at all These and such like things do evidently prove that Serpents are not only involuntarily tamed by Men but also willingly keep quarter with them yeelding to the first Ordinance of the Creator that made them subjects and vassals to men And thus much shall suffice to have spoken in this place concerning the first cteation of Serpents Of the natural Generation of SERPENTS and their several Originals IT being thus cleared that Serpents were at the beginning created by GOD and are ruled by men it now followeth that we should in the next place talk of the matter of their beginning and the means of their continuance ever since their Creation First therefore it is most plain in Genesis that the Earth by the vertue of the Word of GOD did produce all Creeping things and among them Serpents but since that time they have engendered both naturally and also prodigiously As concerning their constitution it is held to be most cold above all other living Creatures and therefore Pliny writeth that they have neither heat nor bloud nor sweat Hereunto subscribeth Galen and Rasis yet Avicen seemeth to affirm the contrary Mercurial decideth this controversie and proveth that Serpents are extreamly cold and their bodies outwardly moist First because those which are stung and poysoned by Serpents are oppressed with an unnatural cold which overcometh natural heat and distendeth all their parts vexing them intolerably Secondly there can be assigned no other reason why these Creatures hide themselves four moneths in the year but only their natural cold making them so tender as they are altogether unfit to endure any external frigidity Thirdly if a man take a Snake or a Serpent into his handling in the midst of Summer and warmest part of the year yet shall he perceive that they are cold in a palpable manner being alive which is not a quality competible to any other creature Fourthly seeing that bloud is the proper and native seat of all heat in natural living bodies Serpents having a very small quantity of bloud must also have a smaller proportion of heat and therefore it followeth unavoidably that the eminency of their temperament is cold in the highest degree above all other living Creatures And that their bodies be outwardly moist it appeareth saith Isidorus by this that when they slide along upon the Earth which way soever they go they leave behinde them in their train or path a slimy 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 seem to be true and other to be fabulous The first sort are those which Pliny affirmeth to be engendred of the marrow in the back-bone of a man and that indifferently out of the dead bodies of good and evill men Yet some more modest thinking it unreasonable that the remnants of a good meek man should beget or be turned into so barbarous venomous and cruel a nature rather taking it for granted that peace and quietness is the reward of such persons attribute these beginnings or alterations to the bodies of wicked men as a just deserved punishment of their former evils that the reversions of their bodies should after death turn into Serpents whom they resembled being alive in the venomous fraud of their spirits Of this Ovid speaketh Sunt quae cum clauso putrefacta est Spina sepulchro Mutari credunt humanas angue medullas Which may be thus Englished Some think
will greedily follow out the path of the Serpent and finding it lodged in his den or hole by the vertue of his nose draweth it out of the Earth and thereof some have derived Elaphos a Hart of Elaunein tous opheis that is driving away of Serpents And herein I think it not reason to follow the opinion of Aelianus who intreating of Harts drawing Serpents out of the earth saith that the Serpent is inticed and allured out of her hole by the breath of the Hart as by a Philtre or Cup of love for seeing that there is so great an hostility and antipathy in nature betwixt their whole disposition how can it come from any secret sympathy that the Serpent which is the subtillest of of all beasts should be bewitched with the love of his enemies breath But if it be said that Serpents which are by nature very cold can easily be drawn forth by a warmer breath as it were by the sweet beams of the hot Sun how then falleth it not out that when any other Beast breatheth upon their lodging and into their dens they are not removed But let it be granted that the warmness of the Harts breath maketh him for sake his den yet it cannot be ascribed to any secret in nature as if there were a fire of love in the Harts throat or bones but only from the natural concomitant quality of heat with exspiration respiration and inspiration and therefore I cannot but conclude that there is not any possibility or probability in nature that where the spirits which take and make the breath are at such variance there the breath proceeding from the one adversary should so inchant and beguile the other But the true cause of this extraction of Serpents out of their lodgings is as I conjecture not her warm breath that allureth nor yet scorcheth and burneth her adversary but that when the Hart hath found the den of the Serpent by her violent attraction of the air out from the Serpent she enforceth it for the safegard of life to follow it out of the den As when a vessel is broched or vented the Wine followeth the flying air or as a Cupping-glass draweth bloud out of a scarified place of the body and so is a Serpent against her will drawn to follow the breath of her destroyer Oribasius and Gunterius do subscribe unto this opinion and take it for most consonant to reason and truth and therefore I will not follow it any further for by the self same manner do the Sea-Rams draw the Sea-calfs out of their lodgings among the Rocks under the earth for when they have found the Calf they keep it from air and prevent their refrigeration When the Serpent seeth himself so drawn forth by his adversary he being above measure incensed to rage flyeth away and maketh his poyson more noisome violent and powerful for which cause there was wont to be a Proverbial caveat or warning Cave ne incider is in Serpentem quum extracta à latebr is anhelitu cervi effugerit tum enim propter iracundiam vehementius ei venenum ust Take heed lest you meet with a Serpent flying away from the Hart after she is drawn out of her den by her breath for then by reason of her rage her poyson is more for cible But I will proceed to the more strange and wonderful combate betwixt Serpents and Harts For when the Serpent perceiveth the unavoidable danger and that she must needs fight for her life she hisseth strongly lifting up her head from the earth even to the throat of the Hart and thereat catcheth and gnasheth with her teeth but on the other side the valiant Hart if such a word may be given to a fearful Beast as it were deriding his adversaries weak endevours to harm suffereth the Serpent to winde about his breast and belly and to embrace both neck and legs with his long and weak body that so he may have the more power upon it for he teareth it into an hundred pieces But the most strange combats are betwixt the Harts and Serpents of Lybia where hatred hath his deepest footing for there the Serpents watch the Hart when he lyeth down to sleep upon the ground and being a multitude of them set upon him all together fastning their poysonfull teeth in every part of his skin some on his neck and breasts some on his sides and back some on his legs and some hanging upon his privy parts biting him with mortall rage to end and overthrow him The poor Hart being thus oppressed with multitude and assailed without any warning to the battle in vain attempteth to run away for their cold earthy bodies winding tayls and pinching teeth hinder his wonted pace and overcharge his strength whereat being forced to quit himself in the best manner he can enraged with teeth feet and horns assaileth his enemies whose spears and arrowes of teeth and stings stick so fast in his body tearing them in pieces which he can touch with his teeth beating others asunder where he can reach them with his horns and trampling under his feet those which cleave 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 lives upon and with their adversary do still hold fast and even when their bodies are beaten in pieces their heads stick close and hang sharp upon the Harts skin as though they would grow with him and never fall off till he should also fall down dead But the Hart feeling some ease and having by the slaughter of their bodies delivered his feet from thraldome by a divine naturall instinct flyeth and runneth fast to some adjoyning fountain where he seeketh for Sea-crabs whereof he maketh a medicine that shaketh off their heads which cleave so fast unto him and also cureth all their wounds and poyson This valiant courage is in Harts against Serpents never yeelding tyring or giving over and yet otherwise are afraid of Hares and Conies by nature But what is the cause of this hostility betwixt Harts and Serpents Is it for meat or for medicine and cure Surely they would abhorre to eat them if it were not for health and naturall medicine for sometimes the pores of their body are dulled and shut up sometimes the worms of their belly do ascend up into the roof of their mouths while they chew the cud and there cleave fast for remedy whereof the Hart thus afflicted runneth about to seek for Serpents for the eating of a Serpent cureth this malady Pliny saith that when the Hart waxeth old and perceiveth that his strength decayeth hair changeth and his body begins to be feeble then for the renewing of his strength he first devoureth a Serpent and afterward runneth to some fountain of water whereof when he hath drunk he findeth a sensible alteration both in horn hair and whole body And this thing is also delivered by the Writer of
coals and they make great plenty specially near to the River Vasses and of Plate The Bees called Chalcoides which are of the colour of brass and somewhat long which are said to live in the Island of Creta are implacable great fighters and quarrellers excelling all others in their stings and more cruel then any others so that with their stings they have chased the Inhabitants out of their Cities the remainder of which Bees do remain and make their Honey-combes as Aelianus saith in the Mountain Ida. Thus much of the differences of Bees now it remaineth to discourse of the Politick Ethical and Oeconomick vertues and properties of them Bees are governed and do live under a Monarchy and not under a tyrannical State admitting and receiving their King not by succession or casting of lots but by respective advice considerate judgement and prudent election and although they willingly submit their necks under a Kingly government yet notwithstanding they still keep their ancient liberties and priviledges because of a certain Prerogative they maintain in giving their voices and opinions and their King being deeply bound to them by an oath they exceedingly honour and love The King as he is of a more eminent stature and goodly corporature as before we have touched then the rest so likewise which is singular in a King he excelleth in mildness and temperateness of behaviour For he hath a sting but maketh it not an instrument of revenge which is the cause that many have thought their King never to have had any For these are the laws of nature not written with Letters but even imprinted and engraven in their conditions and manners and they are very slow to punish offenders because they have the greatest and Soveraign power in their hands And although they seem to be slack in revenging and punishing private injuries yet for all that they never suffer rebellious persons refractorious obstinate and such as will not be ruled to escape without punishment but with their pricking stings they grievously wound and torment so dispatching them quickly They are so studious of peace that neither willingly nor unwillingly they will give any cause of offence or displeasure Who therefore would not greatly be displeased with and hate extreamly those Dionysian Tyrants in Sicilia Clearchus in Heraclea and Apollodorus the Theef Pieler and spoiler of the Cassandrines And who would not detest the ungratiousness of those lewd claw-backs and Trencher-parasites and flatterers of Kings which dare impudently maintain that a Monarchy is nothing else but a certain way and rule for the accomplishing of the will in using their authority as they list and a science or skilful trade to have wherewith to live pleasantly in all sensual and worldly pleasure which ought to be far from a good Prince who whilest be would seem to be a Man he shew himself to be far worser then these little poor winged creatures And as their order and course of life is far different from the vulgar sort so also is their birth for they of the Kingly race are not born after the manner of a little Worm as all the Comminalty are but is forthwith winged and amongst all his younglings if he finde any of his sons to be either a fool unhandsome that none can take pleasure in rugged rough soon angry furnish or too teasty ill shaped not beautiful or Gentleman-like him by a common consent and by a Parliamentary authority they destroy for fear lest the whole Swarm should be divided and distracted into many mindes and so at length the Subjects undone by factions and banding into parts The King prescribeth laws and orders to all the rest and appointeth them their rules and measrues for some he straightly chargeth and commandeth as they tender his favour and will avoid his displeasure to fetch and provide water for the whole Camp He enjoyneth others to make the Honey-combes to build to garnish and trim up the house well and cleanly to finish perfectly the work to finde and allow to promote and shew others what to do Some he sendeth forth to seek their living but being worn with years they are maintained at the common stock at home The younger and stronger being appointed to labour and take their turns as they fall And although being a King he be discharged and exempt from any mechanical business yet for all tliat in case of necessity he will buckle himself to his task never at any time taking the field or air abroad but either for his healths sake or when he cannot otherwise chuse by means of some urgent business If in respect of his years he be lusty and strong then like a Noble Captain he marcheth before his whole winged-army exposing himself first to all perils neither with his good will will he be carryed of his Souldiers unless he be wearied and weakened by means of crooked age or mastered and clean put out of heart by any violent sickness so that he can neither stand on his legs nor flie When night approacheth the sign and token being given by his Honey-pipe or Cornet if you will so call it a general Proclamation is made through the whole Hive that every one shall betake himself to rest so the watch being appointed and all things set in order they all make themselves ready and go to bed So long as the King liveth so long the whole swarm enjoy the benefit of peace leading their lives without any disquieting disturbance vexation or fear of future wars For the Drones do willingly contain themselves in their own cells the elder living contented with their own homes and the younger not daring for their ears to break into their fathers Lands or to make any inrodes or invasion into the houses of their predecessors The King keepeth his Court by himself in the highest and largest part of the whole Palace his lodging being workmanlike and very cunningly made of a fine round or enclosure of Wax being thus as it were fenced and paled about as with a defensible wall A little from him dwell all the Kings children being very obedient to their parents beck Their King being dead all his subjects in an uprore Drones bring forth their young in the cells of the true Bees all are in a hurly burly all being out of season and order Aristotle saith that Bees have many Kings which I would rather tearm Viceroys or Deputies sithence it is certain as Antigonus affirmeth that as well the swarms do die and come to nought by having of many Kings as none at all And thus to have spoken of good Kings let this suffice Evill Kings are more rough rugged browner blacker and of more sundry colours whose natures and dispositions you will condemn in respect of their habit and manner of body and minde the one and other are thus Physiognomically described by the Poet Namque duae regum facies duo corpora gentis Alter erit maculis auro squallentibus ardens Et rutilis clarus squamis
the skill and power of mellification it being uncertain whether this comes to pass either through their grosseness and big-bellied fatness or through their setled and natural laziness And if through the weightiness of the Honey the combes begin to shake and wag and to lean and bend as though they were ready to fall then do they rear them up and under-prop them with pillars made Arch-wise that they may the more readily dispatch their business and execute their charges for it is necessary that to every combe there be a ready way In some places as in Pontus and in the City of Amisus Bees make white Honey without any combes at all but this is seldom seen And if a man would consider the rare and admirable contexture and fabrick of their Honey-combes far excelling all humane Art and conceit who would not subscribe with the Poet Esse Apibus partem divinae mentis haustus aethereos who will deny them I say either imagination fantasie judgement memory and some certain glimpse of reason But I will not dispute of this neither am I of Pythagoras minde who conceited that the souls of wise men and of other ingenious creatures departed into Bees But whosoever will diligently examine how they divide their labours as some to make up the combes some to gather Honey to heap together their meat to trim and dress up the houses to cleanse the common draught to under-shore the ruinous walls to cover those places wherein any thing is to be kept to draw out the very strength of the Honey to digest it to carry it to their cells to bring water to the thirsty labourers to give food at set and appointed hours to the old Bees that sit to defend their King with such over-sight and painful regard to drive away Spiders and all other enemies to carry forth the dead that no stink or ill savour hurt every one to know and go to his own proper cell and generally all of them not to stray far from home to seek their living and when the flowers are spent neer their lodgings to send out their espials to look for more in places further distant to lie with their faces upward under the leaves when they have set forth any voyage by night lest their wings being much moistened by the dew they should come tardy home the next day to ballance and poyse their light bodies with carrying a stone in stormy weather and when there is any whirl-winde to flie on the further side of the hedge for fear lest either they might be disturbed or beaten down by the boysterous violence thereof Whosoever I say will duly consider all this must needs confess that they observe a wonderful order and form in their Common-wealth and government and that they are of a very strange nature and spirit I had almost omitted to speak of that natural love which they bear to their young a great vertue and seldom seen in the parents of this age For Bees do sit upon their combes when they have laid their increase almost like unto birds neither will they stir from thence but in case of pinching hunger returning out of hand to their breeding place again as though they were afraid lest that by any long stay and absence the work of their little cell might be covered over by some Spiders web which often happeneth or the young by taking cold might be endangered Their young ones be not very nice or tender nor cockeringly brought up for being but bare three days old as soon as ever they begin to have wings they enjoyn them their task and have an eye to them that they be not idle though never so little They are so excellent in divination that they even feel aforehand and have a sense of rain and cold that is to come for then even by Natures instinct they flie not far from home and when they take their journey to seek for their repast which is never done at any set and ordinary time but only in fair weather they take pains continually and diligently without any stay being laden with such plenty of Honey that oftentimes being over-wearied they faint in their return to their own private cottages not being able to attain them And because some of them in regard of their roughness are unfit to labour by rubbing their bodies against stones and other hard matter they are smoothed afterwards addressing themselves most stoutly to their business The younger sort bestir them right doubtely without dores bringing to the hive all that is needful The elder look to the family placing in due order that Honey which is gathered and wrought by the middle aged Bees In the morning they be all very silent till one of them awaken all the rest with his thrice humming noise every one bustling himself about his own propet office and charge Returning at night they are as it were in an uproar at the first and after that they make a little muttering or murmuring among themselves until the principal Officer appointed for the setting of the watch by his flying round about and his soft and gentle noise doth as it were covertly and privily charge them in their Kings name to prepare themselves to rest and so this token being given they are as silent as fishes so that laying ones ear to the mouth of the hive you shall hardly perceive any the least noise at all so dutiful they are to their King Officers and Rulers reposing themselves wholly in his books favour and pleasure And now I will intreat of their excellency and use Whereas the Almighty hath created all things for the use and service of Man so especially among the rest hath he made Bees not only that they should be unto us patterns and presidents of political and oeconomical vertues of the which before I have discoursed but even Teachers and School-masters instructing us in certain divine knowledge and like extraordinary Prophets premonstrating the success and event of things to come For in the years 90. 98. 113. 208. before the birth of our blessed Saviour when as great swarms of Bees lighted in the publique and Ox-market upon the houses of private Citizens and the Chappel of Mars many conspiracies and treasons were intended against the State at Rome with which the Common-wealth was welnigh deceived insnared yea and overthrown In the days of Severus the Emperour Bees made their combes in the Ensignes banners and standards of the Souldiers and most of all in the camp of Niger after which ensued divers conflicts betwixt the Armies of Severus and Niger Fortune for a time impartting her favours equally to them both but at length Severus side carryed away the bucklers Swarms of Bees also filled the Statuaes which were set up in all Hetruria representing Antonius Pius and after that they fell in the camp of Cassius and what hurly but lies after that followed Julius Capitolinus will resolve you At which time also a great number of Romans were intrapped
Harsel Of the Gothes Bool Getingth The common people of Italy tearm it Vespa and some of them do usually call it Muscone and the Bononians Vrespa The French Guespe The Spaniards Abispa and Vespa imitating the Latines who call it Vespa The Polonians Ossa The Sclavonians Woss The Hungarians Daras Calepine saith that it is called Vespa quia vesperi muscas venatur in cibum The Greeks do also name them diversly for commonly they are called Sphekes The Scholiast of Nicander calleth them Lucospades and Suidas Dellides and Delithes Of Hesychius Auletai and Passaleres and Gaza nicknameth them Anthrenai for these ought rather to be called Bees Eustathius deriveth Tous spekas apo tes diasphagon because they seem to be so much cut asunder in the waste or middle as that they seem to gape and to be clean cloven asunder as by the figure here set before your eyes you may plainly perceive A Wasp is a kinde of insect that is swift living in routs and companies together having somewhat a long body encircled with four membranous wings where of the two former are the greatest without bloud stinged inwardly having also six feet and a yellow colour somewhat glistering like gold garnished with divers black spots all over the body in form of a triangle Whereupon peradventure Pollio would needs have it called Diachrusos The body of a Wasp seemeth to be fastened and tyed together to the midst of the breast with a certain thin fine thread or line so that by means of this disjoyned and not well compacted composition they seem very feeble in their loins or rather to have none at all Whereupon Aristophanes the Greek Poet in his Comedy entituled Spheces or Wasps tearmoth all those Maids which are fine slender and pretty small in the waste Sphecodeis resembling them to Wasps as if one should call them Wasp-wasted-wenches whom Terence very quaintly and elegantly tearmeth Junceas that is slender long and small like to a Bulrush I think that all the whole pack of them have stings in general although I am not ignorant that some Authors hold the contrary affirming that the breeding female Wasps do want them but thus much I can say of my own knowledge that on a time finding a Wasps nest and killing them every one by pouring hot scalding liquor into their holes because I would bolt out the truth I plainly perceived by long viewing of their bodies that there was not one of them all but had a sting either thrust out evidently or closely and secretly kept and covered So that Quid nobis certius ipsis Sensibus esse potest quo vera ac falsa notemus In English thus What can more certain be then sense Discerning truth from false pretence They make a sound as Bees do but more fearful hideous terrible and whisteling especially when they are provoked to wrath from whence Theocritus fetcheth this proverb Sphex bomboom tettigos enantion that is Scilicet obstrepitans argutae vespa cicadae and this old said Saw may well be applyed to those who being themselves unlearned will not stick to cry out exclaim and procure trouble to those that be more learned or to such as be weak feeble and impotent persons able to do nothing that will offer to contend with their betters and Superiors with their brawling speeches and spiteful raylings And this Latine proverb carryeth the same sense Catulus leonem adlatrans If you will have the gifts and ornaments of their mindes described you must consider that a Wasp is a creature that liveth in companies together one with another subject to a civil government under one King or Ruler industrious mutual friends one to another ingenious crafty subtle quick and cunning of a very quarrelsome nature and much subject to anger and testinesse This is a good Argument of their Civil and Political manner of life in that they live not solitarily in a Desert or Wildernesse where no man keepeth but they build for themselves a City both excellent and admirable for the notable buildings and houses in it where they spend their time for the most part according to the mutable and never-failing laws of Nature observing and keeping ever the Golden mean as well in their daily tasks as in their dispositions and affections of minde Besides they are governed with a Kingly not with a tyrannical government as Aelianus saith although by nature they are great fighters eager boysterous and vehemently tempestuous and he is led to say this because their Dukes or Generals are stinglesse or rather having stings as their subjects they will not use the same to the hurt of their inferiors by thrusting it forth or striking in passion Now although they be twice so great and harder and rougher then the other Wasps yet are they not unfurnished of the vertue of patience and clemency or gentle and debonair behaviour by which means they keep in order and contain in their lists as it were by gentle language their unruly rout and mutinous companies There is no man but will confesse that this is an evident token and argument of their mutual love and great good liking which they bear one to another for whosoever dare be so knack-hardy as to come neer their houses or dwelling places where they have to do and to offer any violence or hurt to the same at the noyse of some one of them all the whole swarm rusheth out being put into an amazed fear to help their fellow-Citizen and do so busily bestirre themselves about the ears of their molesters as that they send them away packing with more then an ordinary pace and if we will credit Aelianus the Phaselites in times past were constrained to forsake their City for all their defence munition and Armour only through the multitude and cruel fiercenesse of the Wasps wherewith they were annoyed Again this manifestly proveth that they want not a hearty and fatherly affection because with more then heroicall courage and invincible fury they set upon all persons of what degree or quality soever that dare attempt to lye in wait to hurt or destroy their young breed no whit at all dreading Neoptolemus Pyrrhus Hector Achilles or Agamemnon himself the Captain generall of all the whole Grecians if he were present Yea the Divine Poet Homer in 12. lib. of his Illades when he would expresse the haughty and generous spirits of the Greekish Chieftains he likeneth them to Wasps in these words Spekessin ajolois cradien kai Thumon echousais that is having the hearts and stomacks of Wasps when they are to fight for their private dwellings their dear Progeny and off-spring The love that Bees carry to their issue is great but it cannot be greater then that of Wasps neither can they have a greater promptitude alacrity or desire to defend their young ones if they be any way offended by passengers Which thing Homer in his Iliads lib. 12. insinuateth by the example of the chafing god Jupiter who took it marvellous
advice required lest at any time by their caustick faculty they exulcerate too deep into the flesh Cantharides mingled with Lime serve in stead of a Pen-knife to eradicate and take away those little hard and red swellings rising chiefly in the crown of the head armpits or privy parts called of some Physitians Pani and some there be again that will adventure a little of them in powder to give with such Medicines whose property is to provoke Urine But yet there is hard hold and tough reasoning on both sides whether they ought to be given inwardly with Diuretikes or no considering that being so drunk they are accounted amongst strong poysons tormenting the bladder without any ceasing othersome again hold the contrary assuring us upon their own experience that not exceeding their due quantity they may be taken with other Correctories to serve as a Retricle to transport them to the place affected so that you see either side hath his strength and reasons Justa pari premitur veluti cum pondere libra Prona nec hac plus parte sedet nec surgit ab isla That is to say As when an even scale with equal weight is prized Nor falls it down this way or is it that way raised But being mingled and wrought up with the juyce of Vna Taminea which is a kinde of Berry growing on the herb called Ampelos angria a kinde of Briony Sheeps or Goats sewet there is no doubt but that they do great good Some of my Masters sâ—ith Galen the Prince of all Physitians next to Hippocrates did use to put Cantharides amongst such medicines as they prepared to move urine taking only their wings with the feet but I saith he am wont to take Cantharides wholly as well as some parts of them and so I judge them the more safe to be used and prepared this way especially I misse not to make choyce of such are found among Corn and have as it were a yellow circle or enclosure crossing overthwart their wings lib. 3. lib. 11. de Simplie facult Being applyed rightly they do also provoke the monthly terms and that very eff 〈…〉 ually and put into Antidotes they are thought of many to help Hydropical persons as not only Hippecrates and Dioscorides but also Galen Avicenna Rhazes Pliny and other Physitians of best note and worth have witnessed I cannot here sufficiently enough commend their assured tryed and approved use being commixed with Leaven Salt and Gum Ammoniacum for the diversion of Rhumes or Catarrhs the taking away of all Goutish pains out of the hanch or hip called the Sciatica of the popular sort whilest they draw forth and consume from the center of the body being there throughly and deeply impacted to the surface the matter or offending humours causing these griefs above said They are also good against the venom of a Salamandra as Pliny in his 29. Book and 24. Chapter assureth us They are also highly esteemed of some being duly prepared and orderly mixed with certain other medicines to take away and correct the remisse negligence falling-faintnesse and heartlesse casting down of the Virile part yea they do as they say very much provoke to venerous incitements But here I would counsel each one not to be knack-hardy bold in medling with them for these or the like intentions for as they bring both health and help being duly commixed and orderly tempered not exceeding their dose and first quantity so again if you fail in their due and skilful application or propination they induce and drive men into most intolerable grievous symptomes and accidents and otherwhiles to death it self John Langius setteth down a true and very pleasant story which in this place because it maketh greatly for our matter in hand I will not refuse briefly to describe it There was saith he at Bonony in Italy a certain rich and Noble young man of France which Gallus to use his own words was Gallo quovis gallinaceo salacior who falling extreamly in love with a certain Maid in the same City prevailed so far at length through his earnest importunities and incessant sollicitations that at length they appointed and agreed upon the time and place of their meeting to keep their Revels for one night So this lusty Gallant being thus insnared in the inextricable labyrinth of her beauteous Phisnomy fearing deadly lest his heart should turn into Liver or that he might faint and lose his courage before he should attain to his journeys end in this his doubtful coaping and dangerous skirmishing conflict like a wise man fearing the worst casting all dangers afore-hand what might ensue would needs know of a fellow-souldier and Countreyman of his who had as one may guesse born a standard in the Camp of Venus what were best to be done to move him to a more vigorous courage and to keep his credit for that time lest either he should turn Craven like an overtyred Jade or else be utterly non-suited which was worst of all who presently wished him to take some Cantharides in his Broath which the other at all adventures forth-with did But it was not long before this jolly Yonker felt an itching about his lower parts then being frolike above measure supposed it to be the operation of his medicine that caused this Colt-evil he without any more ado hyed him to his Love minding there indeed to draw the matter to a set battel and to end all controversies by dint of sword Tunc animis opus Acnea tunc pectore firmo In English thus Of courage then indeed Then of stout breast is need But yet for all this in the still of the night when every one besides were at rest my restlesse Frank felt his whole body to be pockily torn and miserably rent with sundry cruel prickings and stingings feeling moreover a strange tast in his mouth like the juyce or liquor that issueth from the Cedar tree stamping and staring raging and faring like a furious mad frantike Bedlam being almost besides himself through the extremity of his pain virtiginy and giddinesse of his brain with inclination to fainting or swounding so being troubled tost and perplexed all sad melancholike and male-content destitute of counsel and comfort like a silly Miser and an impotent Suiter and not like a couragious hot-spur he let his action fall turning hâ—â— back like a Novice and fresh-water Souldier full sore against his will you may be sure but there was no remedy and so with as much speed as he could bidding his Love adiew he trudged home to his own lodging whither being come and finding no relief but rather an encrease of his torments with a continual burning of his Urine and Strangury he lamentably besought and with weeping and tears most humbly craved and cryed out for help requiring the favour and furtherance both of my self and of another Physitian for the cure so I being admitted to visit this poor patient I first gave him some Oyl to drink thereby to provoke vomiting
and to go away with him Pindus also being no less glad of the company of the Dragon did daily give unto him the greatest part of his hunting as a deserved price and ransome of his life and conquest of such a Beast Neither was he unrequited for it for Fortuâ—e so favoured his game that whether he hunted fowls of the air or beasts of the earth he still obtained and never missed So that his fame for hunting procured him more love and honor then ever could the Imperial Crown of his Countrey For all young men desired to follow him admiring his goodly personage and strength the Virgins and Maids falling in love contended among themselves who should marry him the wives forsaking their husbands contrary to all womanly modesty rather desired his company then the society of their husbands or to be preferred among the number of the Goddesses Only his Brethren inraged against him sought all means to kill and destroy him Therefore they watched all opportunities lying in continual ambush where he hunted to accomplish their accursed enterprise which at last they obtained for as he followed the game they enclosed him in a narrow straight neer to a Rivers side where he had no means to avoid their hands they and their company being many and he alone wherefore they drew out their swords and slew him When he saw no remedy but death he cryed out aloud for help whose voyce soon came to the ears of the watchful Dragon for no Beast heareth or seeth better out he cometh from his den and finding the murtherers standing about the dead body he presently surprized and killed them so revenging the quarrel of Pindus and then fell upon the dead body of his friend never forsaking the custody thereof until the neighbours adjoyning to the place taking knowledge of the fact came to bury the bodies But when they came and saw the Dragon among them they were afraid and durst not come neer but stood afar off consulting what to do till at last they perceived that the Dragon began to take knowledge of their fear who with an admirable curtesie of nature perceiving their mourning and lamentation for their dead friend and withall their abstinence from approaching to execute his exequies or funerals began to think that he might be the cause of this their terror and far standing off from the dead bodies wherefore he departed taking his farewell of the body which he loved and so gave them leave by his absence to bestow upon him an honourable burial which they performed accordingly and the River adjoyning was named by the name of Pindus-death By which story may appear that these savage Dragons are made loving and tame to men by good turns and benefits bestowed upon them for there is no nature which may not be overcome by kindenesse And yet I may not leave this matter thus nor from these two examples alone conclude the practise and possibility of love betwixt Men and Dragons I will therefore add some three or four examples more There was a Dragon the lover of Aetholis as Plutarch writeth who came unto her every night and did her body no harm but gently sliding over her played with her till morning then also would he depart away assoon as light appeared that he might not be espyed The Maidens friends came to the knowledge hereof and so removed her far away to the intent the Dragon might come no more at her and thus they remained asunder a great while the Dragon earnestly seeking for the Maiden wandered far and neer to finde her out At last he met with her and not saluting her gently as he was wont flew upon her binding her hands down with the spire of his body hissing softly in her face and beating gently with his tail her back-parts as it were taking a moderate revenge upon her for the neglect of his love by her long absence Another like story unto this is reported by Aelianus of a great Dragon which loved a fair Woman beloved also of a fair Man the Woman oftentimes did sleep with this Dragon but not so willingly as with the Man wherefore she forsook the habitation of her place for a month and went away where the Dragon could not find her thinking that her absence might quench his desire But he came often to the place where he was wont to meet with the woman and not finding her returned quietly back again and came again another time at last he grew suspicious and like a lover failing in his expectation grew very sorrowful and so continued till the month was exspired every night visiting the accustomed place At last the woman returned and the Dragon presently met with her and in an amorous fashion full of suspicion and jealousie winding about her body did beat her as you have heard in the former story and this saith Aelianus happened in Judea in the days of Hered the King There was a little Dragon-whelp bred in Arcadia and brought up familiarly with a little boy from his infancy until the Boy became a young Man and the Dragon also became of great stature so that one of them loved another so well as Man and Beast could love together or rather two play-fellows from the Cradle At last the friends of the Boy seeing the Dragon grow so great in so short a space began to be suspicious of him whereupon they took the bed wherein the Boy and the Dragon were lodged and carryed the same into a far remote place of Woods and Wildernesse and there set down the bed with the Boy and the Dragon together The boy after a little while returned and came home again to his friends the Dragon wandered up and down in the Woods feeding upon herbs and poyson according to his nature and never more cared for the habitation of men but rested contented with a solitary life In the length of time it came to passe that the boy grew to be a perfect man and the Dragon also remained in the Wood and although absent one from the other yet mutually loving as well as ever It hapned that this young man travelled through that place where the Dragon was lodged and fell among theeves when the young man saw their swords about his ears he cryed out and the Dragons den being not far off his cry came to the Dragons ears who instantly knowing the voyce of his play-fellow answered the same with another at whose hissing the theeves grew afraid and began to run away but their legs could not carry them so fast as to escape the Dragons teeth and claws for he came speedily to release his friend and all the theeves that he could find he put to cruel death then did he accompany his friend out of the place of peril and returned back again to his den neither remembering wrath for that he was exposed to the Wildernesse and there left by his play-fellow nor yet like perverse men forsaking their old friend in danger They
that desire to read more of this subject shall finde store of examples in Aelianus his sixt and thirteen Books To conclude when Messalina the wife of Claudius did send certain men to take away the life of Nero who was a rival of Britannicus it is said that when they had him in their hands to strangle him a Dragon appeared out of the earth or floor of the chamber and did so terrifie these hangmen that they ran away and spared Neroes life By which example another example of piety in Dragons is observed Again Telephus ignorantly lying with his mother had committed incest with her had not a Dragon by divine providence come and parted them asunder therefore Draconi similis est virtus indagatrix quae diligenter omnia perscrutatur rimaturque studiosissimè the vertue of discretion or perfect knowledge is like a Dragon which diligently searcheth all things and studiously looketh into every chink so did this Dragon preserve the chastity of the mother and the son when they ignorantly and in the dark had defiled each other but for his appearance and demonstration I will add but this one example more of their love of chastity in men and women In Lavinium there was a great holy Wood neer unto which stood a Temple of Juno in that wood there was a great deep den of a Dragon unto the which Dragon the Virgins came every year being blinde-folded with clowts and carrying Marchpanes in their hands When they entred the Wood there was a certain spirit as it was said without offence did lead them to the den of the Dragon and so every one of the Virgins did severally offer up their Marchpanes to the Dragon the Dragon received the Marchpane at the hand of every pure Virgin and unspotted but if they were defiled and held only the name of Virgins then the Dragon refused the Marchpane and therefore they were all examined at their coming forth that those which had lost their Virginity might be punished by the Law And by this story although none but Heathens will believe it to be true because it is a fable meerly invented to defend Idolatry which with my soul and spirit I do detest yet I may collect thus much as a moral out of a fable that Dragons in ancient time did honor Virginity And thus seeing they neither love nor are beloved of any other creature I will here leave to talk of their love and friendship and passe on to their hatred and adversaries The examples before expressed being all extraordinary and beside nature do not conclude but that there is an ordinary hatred betwixt Men and Dragons and therefore in the discourse of their enemies Men must have the first place as their most worthy adversary for both Dragons have perished by Men and Men by Dragons as may appear by these stories following When the Region of Helvetia began first to be purged from noysome Beasts there was a horrible Dragon found neer a Countrey Town called Wilser who did destroy all men and beasts that came within his danger in the time of his hunger insomuch that that Town and the fields there to adjoyning was called Dedwiler that is a Village of the Wildernesse for all the people and Inhabitants had forsaken the same and fled to other places There was a man of that Town whose name was Winckelriedt who was banished for man-slaughter this man promised if he might have his pardon and be restored again to his former Inheritance that he would combate with that Dragon and by Gods help destroy him which thing was granted unto him with great joyfulnesse Wherefore he was recalled home and in the presence of many people went forth to fight with the Dragon whom he slew and overcame whereat for joy he lifted up his sword imbrued in the Dragons bloud in token of victory but the bloud distilled down from his sword upon his body and caused him instantly to fall down dead And thus this noble Conqueror a man worthy to be remembred in all ages and Nations who had strength to kill the Dragon being alive yet had no power to resist the venom of his bloud he being dead But had it not been that his hand had been before imbrewed in the bloud of a man I do not believe that the bloud of a Dragon could have fallen so heavy upon him But this is the judgement of GOD either to punish murder in the same kinde or elso to teach us that we should not rejoyce in our own merits left God see it and be angry For our Saviour Christ forbade his Disciples that they should rejoyce that the Devils were subject to them and therefore much lesse may we poor creatures rejoyce for overcoming men or beasts And yet one thing more is to be considered in the death of this man who was banished for killing a man and was pardoned for killing a Dragon and yet killed by the Dragon after the Dragon was slain Thus bloud was the sin because it brought death death again brought bloud to be the revenger of the first that the bloud of man might be washed away with the bloud of man and the bloud of a Serpent coming betwixt And thus I may truly say as the Christian Poet saith in another case Sanguine succrevit sanguine finis erit as it grew so shall it end in bloud In the days of Philip King of Macedon there was a way into a Mountain of Armenia over which the King had prayed that never man might go but he might die wherefore Socrates to try the effect of the Kings prayer set his Optick Philosophical glasse that he might see what was in that way and presently he perceived two great Dragons who coming out of their dens did infect the air there abouts with a pestilent evaporation of their own breath This he declared to the King who for the revocation of his own prayer armed divers men to go out against them and kill them who likewise performed the same and so cleared the way from that annoyance And thus we see another story of Dragons slain by men Hereunto may be added how Hercules when he was a childe in his cradle slew two Dragons as Pindarus relateth And the Corcyreans did worship Diomedes for killing of a Dragon Donatus a holy Bishop in Germany finding a Dragon to lie secretly hid beside a bridge killing Men Oxen Horse Sheep and Goats he came boldly unto him in the name of Christ and when the Dragon opened his mouth to devour him the holy Bishop spitting into his mouth killed him When Orpheus was in hawking and while he intended his sport suddenly a Dragon set upon him but his hawking Spaniels or Dogs released him of that Danger for they tore the Dragon in pieces Many such other stories I could relate but I spare them here because I have handled them in the beginning of this story and so I passe over the slaughter of Dragons by Men and come to the
ale was alway after one A better viâ—â—ded man was never none Without bake-meat was never his house Of fish and flesh and that so plenteouse It snewed in his house of meat and drink Of all dainties that men could think After the sundry seasons of the yeer So changed he his meat and his suppere Full many a fat Patrich had he in mâ—â— And many a Bream and many a Luce in flue Woe was his Cooke but his sawce ever were Poynant and sharp and ready all his gere His table d 〈…〉 aunt in his Hall alway Stood ready covered all the long day Nay hither they brought fat and crammed Capons Pheasants Quails Turtle-doves Larks and Nightingals I passe over Turbot or Byrt Gilt-heads Sturgion Salmonds Soals and the like for they were not unfurnished of all these and of other store of shell-fish as Lobsters Crevishes Oysters and whatsoever the Sea yeelded that might by love or money be purchased for I will not speak of a great number of River-fish and Fouls that are to be had about Peterborow Wittlesey-mare and those Fennish Countreys for thither he sent his people to purvay for him all that was rare and dainty Here was Red-wine White Claret Muscadell Rhenish sweet-wines harsh-wines wine of Falernum of the Islands of Creta Chio Madera and those that are called Baleares lying neer unto the Coast of Spain To speak nothing of their rear-suppers their fine Marchpanes and curious Confections made with sundry devises and exquisite skill of the Apothecary And to conclude there was no wanton fare unsought for no delicate Juncate no curious trimming and pickednesse that might gratifie no fair words and pleasant enticements fit to draw and allure nor no delectation whatsoever omitted that might seem to please this great Lady Podagra for you must understand she was none of the coursest sort of Ladies whereof there be many now adaies for all men know she was a Gentlewoman born both by the fathers and mothers side as being the daughter of Bacchus and Venus and all this I say was done to please both her and her two sweet Sisters Chiragra and Congra a pox take them all three and so I will let them go and come to the Spider who likewise being directed by some favourable Planet boldly and luckily trudged to the poor mans house Atque ibi miro Dogmate quidvâ— marem deceat deceatque marit am Addocet atque suo sese sudore saginat Which may be Englished thus And there by strange instructions and documents She teacheth male and female how to live That is both man and wife how to increase their rents Whilst she on her own sweat and fat doth thrive But some man may here object and say I see here no such great blessings of Lady Fortune more then besides a bare commendation and good hap in this their exchange of lodging and lodgers Yes surely very much not only because she spendeth her dayes more freely and safely from danger but also because as out of a high watch-tower she no longer beholdeth in the houses of poor persons lavish and needlesse prodigality banquettings quaffings rioting playes dancing dicing and whoring and a thousand vanities and villanies besides whereof she knew her self conscious and a privy witnesse unto whilst she lived in the Halls and Bowers of the rich and wealthier sort who when they had thrust clean from house and home and for ever banished the Spider the true School-mistresse of industry and frugality straightwayes the lazie Gowt called Podagra arrested them Had it not been better for them think you to have granted a dwelling place to a saving wise prudent and harmlesse little creature then to have given entertainment to such a base blockish companion and guest as the Gowt is Let not therefore rich covetous men wonder if many times they be tormented with this sore grief sith they will neither admit true Physitian nor physick I mean travail diligence industry moderation and pains-taking with the like Now to touch the rich and rare gifts and graces of the minde and other noble qualities and dispositions of Spiders I know not whether I should first begin with the commendation of their prudence justice fortitude temperance their Philanthropia Philoponia Autarkeia their humanity and love towards men their studious industry and love of labour their contentation as having sufficient and coveting no more then is allotted unto them Their wittinesse policy quickness and sharpnesse of sense their cleanly neatnesse with many other vertues or else her admirable cunning and skilfulnesse in their weaving trade Their prudence sagacity and wittinesse to conjecture things future appeareth in this one thing that when great abundance of rain flouds swelling and overflowings of Rivers are like shortly to come to passe and thereby to threaten houses they then begin to build their Webs higher by a great deal then their usuall custome heretofore hath been And this is another proof of the same in that they weave not at all in a clear Sun-shine-day or when it is fair and calm weather when Flies are most busie in flying about to and fro that they may be the better at leasure to give themselves to hunting and watching after them to take advantage and if any chance to light into their nets forthwith to seize upon them for their repast Again when houses are ready to drop down they with their Cobwebs first of all fall and get them away packing alter their climate to some other surer place and dwelling to rest in If any thing touch her body that is hard or painfull she immediately draweth up her legs round on a heap for this end as I think to feel the lesse pain and the better to provide for the health and safety of her head the directer and governer of the whole body for if any other part be hurt she can easily cure it Who hath manifested and made known this unto them Hath any Chaldean Star-gazer or figure-flinger by the sight and position of the starres shewed it unto them No certainly But a divine prudence and forefeeling knowledge originally inbred by Nature to eschew that which is hurtfull which is diffused into the Spider and as that famous Poet Virgilius hath excellently described Spirit us intus alit totesque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem In English thus Minde bred within infused in all limbs Minde moves the bodies lump and skins Furthermore so soon as they espy their enemy to be caught in their nets they do not first of all bite and prick him to death in any hostile manner but they seem with their feet gently and softly to stroke him yea even to intreat and allure him with tickling and as it were clipping and colling untill they have throughly insnarled him within their clammy and viscous gins and being at length wearied turmoiled and tired with strugling and striving in vain the silly Flie is made unable either to get away stir or resist So having made sure work with one
silent and cease wondering at the amphitheatricall fights of the Romans which were made with seats and scaffolds to behold Playes and sights and where were presented to the Spectators the bloudy fights of Elephants Bears and Lions sithence a small Spider dare challenge to the field and fight hand to hand with a black and blew Serpent and not only to come down to him in daring wise but also victoriously to triumph over him entirely possessing all the spoyl Who would not marvail that in so small or in a manner no body at all which hath neither bones nor sinnewes nor flesh nor scarce any skin there could be so great force such incredible audacity and courage such sharp and hard bitings and invincible fury Surely we must conclude necessarily that this cannot proceed altogether from their valiant stomacks but rather from GOD himself In like sort they dare buckle with Toads of all sorts both of the land and water and in a singular combate overthrow and destroy them which thing not only Pliny and Albertus do recite and set down for a certain truth but Erasmus also in his Dialogue entituled De Amicitia maketh mention of reporting how a certain Monk lying fast asleep on whose mouth a foul Toad sate and yet by the Spiders means was freed from all hurt Yea they dare enter the combat with winged and stinged Hornets having not soft but stiffe bodies and almost as hard as horn who although she many times breaketh through their Cobwebs with main strength as rich men undoe and make a way through Lawes with Gold and by that means many times scape scot-free yet for all that at length being over-mastered hand to hand in single combat and intangled and insnarled with the binding pastinesse and tenacious glewish substance of the Web she payeth a deer price for her breaking into anothers house and possession yeelding at length to the Spiders mercy I will not omit their temperance a vertue in former ages proper only to men but now it should seem peculiar to Spiders For who almost is there found if age and strength permit that contenteth himself with the love of one as he ought but rather applyeth his minde body and wandering affections to strange loves But yet Spiders so soon as they grow to ripenesse of age do choose them Mates never parting till death it self make the separation And as they cannot abide Corrivalls if any Wedlock-breakers and Cuckold-makers dare be so snappish to enter or so insolently proud as to presse into anothers house or Cottage they reward him justly with condigne punishment for his temerarious enterprize and flagitious fact First by their cruell bitings then with banishment or exile and oftentimes with death it self So that there is not any one of them that dare offer villany or violence to anothers Mate or seek by any means unlawfully to abuse her There is such restraint such strict orders such faithfull dealing uprightnesse of conscience and Turtle love amongst them Further if you look into their house-keeping you shall finde there is nothing more frugall then a Spider more laborious cleanly and fine For she cannot abide that even the least end or piece of her thred to be lost or to be placed and set to no use or profit and they ease and relieve themselves by substitutes that supply their rooms and take pains for them for whilest the Female weaveth the Male applyeth himself to hunting if either of them fall sick and be weak then one of them doth the work of both that their merits and deserts may be alike So sometimes the Female hunteth whilest the Male is busie about Net-making if the one stand in need of the others help and furtherance But yet commonly the Female-Spider being instructed of her Parents when she was young and docible the art of spinning and weaving which custome was amongst us also in times past beginneth the Cobweb and her belly is sufficient to minister matter enough for such a piece of work whether it be that the nature or substance of the belly groweth to corruption at sun-set and appointed time as Democritus thought or whether there be within them a certain lanigerous fertility naturally as in Silk-worms Aristotle is of opinion that the matter is outward as it were a certain Shell or pill and that it is unwound loosened and drawn out by their fine weaving and spinning But howsoever it be certain it is they will not by their good wills lose the least jot of a threds end but very providently see to all though never so little The love they bear to their young breed is singular both in the care they have for their fashioning and framing to good orders and for their education otherwise for the avoidance of idlenesse For the Male and Female do by turns sit upon their Egges and so by this way interchangeably taking courses they do stirre up quicken move and encrease naturall and lively heat in them and although it hath been sundry times observed that they have brought forth three hundred young ones at once yet do they train them up all alike without exception to labour parsimony and pains-taking and inure them in good order to fashion and frame all things fit for the weaving craft I have often wondred at their cleanlinesse when to keep all things from nastinesse or stinking I have beheld with mine eyes those that were lean ill-favoured and sickly to come glyding down from the upper to the lower part of their buildings and there to exonerate nature at some hole in the Web lest either their shop work-house or frame might be distained or annoyed And this is sufficient to have spoken of their politicall civil and domesticall vertues Now will I proceed to discourse of their skill in weaving wherewith Pallas was so much offended for the Scholar excelled her Mistres and in fine cunning and curious workmanship did farre surpasse hers First then let us consider the matter of the Web whose substance is tough binding and glutinous pliant and will stick to ones fingers like Bird-lime and of such a matter it is compounded as it neither loseth his clamminesse and fast-holding quality either by siccity or moysture The matter whereof it is made is such as can never be consumed wasted or spent whilest they live and being so endlesse we must needs here admire and honour the never ending and infinite power of the great God for to seek out some naturall reason for it or to ascribe it to naturall causes were in my minde meer madnesse and folly The Autumnall Spiders called Lupi or Hâ—lci Wolves or Hunters are thought to be the most artificiall and ingenious For these draw out a thred finer and thinner then any Silk and of such a subtilty that their whole Web being folded together will scarce be so heavy as one fine thred of Linnen being weighed together Edovardus Monimius hath very finely and eloquently described both the Males and Females Heptam lib. 7. in these words
suffer me to have the next place to our President I farther add that thou didst never oppose thy self to the many petitions or commendations that were offered by me to our most excellent Colleagues but thou didst alwaies afford me thy ear to hear me and thy hands to help me Lastly thou didst alwaies praise me being absent and as far as it was in thy power of thy own accord from the imbred motion of thy noble minde thou didst defend my good name privately wounded by the calumnies of envious men and torn by malice which is the condition of good and of the greatest Princes by that authority which thou hast amongst thy own Countreymen of what condition soever and thou wouldst not suffer this scab of backbiting to proceed any farther O most excellent Man what shall I repay unto thee who as a true Philosopher hast no desire of vain glory and such things as make a great shew and are vulgarly praised sought for and desired by other men are now esteemed base with thee My grateful minde and most full of love towards thee commands me to offer this small token to thee in testimony thereof which accept freely and willingly and suffer that by this sincere gift that wicked saying may be disanulled that men of one profession cannot endure one the other God the best and the greatest hath granted unto thee long life by a prosperous aspect of the Stars for the good of thy Citizens whose health thou hast preserved and restored by thy care for very many years effectually hitherto that posterity must justly acknowledge that thou hast lived long worthy not only of a Garland of oak but a Statue of gold also if our times would afford such honour Now thou well deserving Captain discharged by age thou Champion freed by reason of years with a token of honour thou conqueror of monsters that daily spring up with too fruitful an increase for the destruction of mankinde dwellest with thy self thy soul yet sustaining thy dry body yeelding to wasting time by degrees very easily which being defiled with no conditions of her prison sees the Hav 〈…〉 and is almost come into it thy minde being abstracted from the sad vexations of humane life and what time thou hast to spare from divine Meditations penetrating into all Nature and the secrets of things thou dost expatiate into the pleasant green Gardens of various natural Philosophy Behold here is a most exquisite Garland for thee gathered out of the most secret Orchard of our great Parent which will not only feed the eyes but will lead the singular acuteness of thy wit which thou aboundest with into her most hidden places Thou being an excellent Anatomist I beseech thee try if thou canst dissect Insects the great Stagyrite being thy guide who did not disdain to search into the parts of Animals Thou shalt finde in the little body of Bees a bottle which is the receptacle of Honey sucked from flowers and their legs loaded with Bitumen which sticks fast to make wax Also in the tail there is a horny sting full of revenging poyson that is ready to draw forth as soon as the Bee please but the King of the swarm is said to want one for there naturally belongs to the supreme power who can overthrow all when he will at his pleasure and there ought to be an imbred gentleness whence it is that Kings by their proper attribute are called Fathers and Pastors of the people In Gnats you shall observe their sounding trumpet that will suck bloud out of Animals and will draw out moisture through the joynts of the most solid wood and wine-vessels How wilt thou be pleased to see the small proboscis of Butter-flies wreathed alwaies into a spiral line after they have drawn forth nutriment from flowers their extended large wings painted by natures artificial pencil with paints cannot be imitated to which the very Rain-bow is scarse comparable Which right against the Sun a thousand colours shewes What a pleasant spectacle will this be when the artificial hands carefully and curiously guide the most sharp pen-knife and very fine instrument by direction of the sight To behold the pipe of the Grashoppers that live upon dew and the organs of the shril sound they make that in the heat of the Dog-daâ—es importunately beats upon the ears of travellers which are so framed that their concave belly is made vaulted under the Diaphragm over which is extended a cover of a thin and dry membrane like to a Drum which lets in the air by an oblique turning which being beaten by the regular and successive motion of their wings and stomach coming in at a straâ—t passage and presently dilated beating against the rough-cast wals of the hollow place and refracted makes a sound To see the horns of the great Beetles that are like to Stags horns and with sharpest points are able to make wounds and the muscles that move them and tye them on exceeding fast The Rhinoceros is of the kinde of great Beetles The swelling purse which is the matter of the silk and is wound back again into many turnings by Silk-worms which are chief of all Caterpillers of divers forms and colours in which after the time destinated for the concoction of their food which is gathered chiefly from Mulberry-leaves a tenacious glew or jelly is reserved untill such time as their ventricle swelling and nature affecting to attain her end the Worm by degrees belcheth forth her spittle the thred whereof growing firm by the air which is provided to make garments for great men this little creature dispenseth through her very narrow claws and spinning with the motion of her head and of half her body with the kembing of it by the help of her forefeet she first disposeth it for the strengthning of her clew of yarn and after that upon her own sepulchre where she must receive her transmutation How the Spider thrusts out her excrements by her lower parts of her body which is drawn forth into a web of which she poor creature frames-nets with great labour which are necessary to sustain her life and with her long legs that end in sharp clawes she knits them into knots being continually obnoxious to repair her work In the uppermost cases of the green Locusts which feed upon hedges there are two scales that are hard as horn the mutual rubbing together whereof by the ministration of the air beaten with their softer wings make a very sharp sound The head of all of this kinde is armed their hinder legs are hard dry long by the vehement thrusting whereof against some firm object with the help of their most strong tendons they will cast their body a great way being equally ballanced and is heavy enough for the proportion of it like an arrow coming forth of a bow as it happens to Fleas that leap with a huge force But which is yet more besides their pincers which are as sharp as keen rasors where is a direct
one colour The kindes of common Bees as Columella observes out of Aristotle are thus distinguished some are great round black hairy others are lesse round of a dark colour rough hair there are yet others lesse than they and not so round but more fat of a straw colour on their sides there are some least of all very slender sharp whose bellies are various coloured from yellow and very small But the blackish are most to be approved of that are very little round lively shining gentle having if we credit Virgil Their bodies shine with equall spots of gold The greater Bees are and fatter or longer the worse they are and if they be fierce and waspish they are worst of all But their anger is pacified by the daily company of their keeper and they are made more tame with the only tinckling of brasse The Bees called Chalcoides in Crete are of a brazen colour and something long and are said to be very implacable and given to fighting exceeding all others in their stings and pricking more fiercely so that they have driven the Citizens out of the Towns by their stings And Aelian out of Antenor relates that in the Mount Ida the remainder of that race dwell and make their combs Such are also the Bees at Carthagena like to Muskitos Pausanias writes in Atticis that Bees are so gentle in Halizomus that they go forth to feed amongst men and wander where they please for they are shut up in no hives wherefore they make their works every where and that so fast that you cannot part the honey from the wax They are smooth shining of variable colours and not unlike to our good Bees Lastly since all Bees are by nature void of poyson yet the place causeth the long Bees and the distaffe fashioned about Carthagena in America to make venomous honey where they collect honey that is infected with the contagion of trees winds air and earth it self and be it what it will be they lay it up in their cellars Also Bees subterrestrial have another form and nature For those that work in hives and trees are greater longer softer better wing'd more yellow on their backs and bellies But they that are under the earth build in little holes and are short compacted with black heads and foresails hairy almost on their whole body a yellow down colour on their sides and rump and that doth much adorn them Of Bees some finde themselves houses in woods some are received into houses made of straw or horn some civil and well nurtured Bees who will not refuse the care of the Bee-master who hath skill but will much love and delight in it The prince of Philosophers confounds the sex of Bees but most writers distinguish it some say the females are the greater and without stings others say they are lesse and have stings The sounder Philosophers whose opinion I follow acknowledge no males but their chief leaders which are more strong greater more able and alwaies stay at home for propagation and seldome go forth but with the whole swarm whom nature hath commanded to be frequent in Venus occasions and ordained them to stay alwaies at home with their females Experience witnesseth that these do foster their young as birds do very diligently and sit upon them and thrust forth their young Bees when the membrane is broken The differences of their Ages are known by the habit of their body for those that are new come forth have most thin and trembling wings those that are a year old as also of two or three years old are very bright neat and are of the likenesse and colour of oyl but at seven years old they lay aside all fatnesse and smoothnesse nor can any one tell certainly by their figure and quality of their skin and body as it useth to be with horses how old they are The elder of them are hairy hard full of wrinkles lean rough to your â—ight and feeling long starveling and noted by a venerable kinde of hoarinesse And this was shewed to the Dutchesse of Somerset when I was a youth under whose chamber window there was the very same hive of Bees that had been there 30 years and this justifies Aelians relation of the same kinde But as they appear more ugly in form so are they before the rest in industry and experience for years have taught them skill and by length of time and practise they know better how to gather and make honey CHAP. II. Of the Politick Ethick and Oeconomick virtues of Bees BEES are swayed by soverainty not tyranny neither do they admit of a King properly so called by succession or by lot but by due advice and circumspect choice and though they willingly submit to regall authority yet so as they retain their liberty because they still keep their Prerogative of Election and when their King is once made sure to them by oath they do in a principal manner love him He as he doth excell all the rest in portliness and feature of body as is above said so likewise which is the chief thing in a Prince in gentlenesse of behaviour For although he hath a sting as others yet he never useth it to punish withall insomuch that some have thought that the King is without a sting For their law is the law of nature not written but imprinted in their manners and they are yet more gentle in punishing because they have the greater power and although they seem somewhat slow in revenging private wrongs yet suffer they not the refractory and rebels to go unpunished but wound and stab them with their stings So desirous they are of peace that neither with their wills nor against do they offer any annoyance Who would not then utterly abhorre the Diobysian Tyrants in Sicily Clearchus in Heraclea Apollodorus the Cassandrian Robber Who would not detest the villany of those close Parasites to Kings who affirm that Monarchy is no other but the means how to accomplish or satisfie the will and a device how to maintain lust that which ought to be far from a vertuous Prince lest while he would seem to be a man he betray himself to be worse then these little winged beasts And as their manner of life is not pedantick or according to the vulgar sort so neither is their birth For the royal Race is not begotten a little worm at the first as the Bees are but presently able to fly And if he chance to finde amongst his young ones any one that is a fool unhandsome hairy of an angry disposition ill shapen or naturally ill conditioned by the unanimous consent of the rest he gives order to put him to death lest his souldiery should be disordered and his subjects being drawn into faction should be destroyed He sets down a way to the rest gives order what they shall do some commands to fetch water others to make honey-combs within to build them up and garnish them othersome to go and get in
dusky dark coloured both these kindes of Butterflies are wonderfull swift and dare for flight to contend with the Eagle 13. This is the swiftest of all and hath shoulders seeming of a yellow moss colour the wings are white as milk in the extremities of them they are marked with five or six dusky feathers the middle of the yellowish back is adorned with a cole black spot of both sides two downy extuberances are thrust forth the rump is compassed about with a certain black down it will-fly as fast as any Swallow and indeed is swifter than any Bird. We have seen but eight of the smaller kinde 1. The first parts of the inner wings are of a full bright shining scarlet colour and delicate red but the outward wings represent a light purple mingled of black and red and drawn over with some snow white spots the rest of the body is black even the branched horns also 2. This is silver colour at the roots of the wings which afterwards are purple coloured from blue the uppermost wings are graced inwardly with two black white studs the body is full of dusky spots it hath six purple feet three put forth on each side it hath a crooked bill out of the head four small horns break forth besides the two long ones 3. If you should see this fly you would say that the wings are of a decayed purple colour passing to a lively blue and all plighted severally but inwardly there are round eyes they seem more gray and cankered the head is blue from green the body is deckt with dusky and white laces the eyes seem very black and the apples of them very white 4. It comes in a pleasant habit with wings set with eyes that are of a most heavenly incomparable blew The most perfect artificer Nature it self made it all eyes that you would say directly that Argus eyes were not set into the Peacocks tail but into the wings of this Butterfly which she doth stretch out against the Sun with no lesse pride than the Peacock doth and by the heavenly colour which she excels in she is almost able to shame the Peacock 5. The body is of a Crane colour the upper wings are green in a white stalk in the middle they are yellow and ash-colour the inferior wings are at the root of a dark green otherwise whole but inwardly they are sprinkled often with spots of an unpleasant green the eyes are black as are the heads of their horns 6. It hath round buncht smooth shoulders which are of the colour of ashes mingled with ink the body is full of cuts and is of an ash kinde of colour it hath narrow wings and the utmost are of a Crane colour shining with some exceeding bloud red drops the little head the feet the horns are like the body in colour 7. You would say that this is kin to that is bred of Ginny pepper and setting aside that it is lesse and more black in body â—nd the silver colour of his upper wings it hardly differs from that 8. All the wings are faint clay colour or rather shining with a pale yellow with some brown spots and others that represent old cankered colours the little eyes are black as a raven otherwise it is all yellow 9. All the wings are painted with white and gray like sea shell-fish the borders are rounded and deckt with white sines running through the middle with indentures 10. This hath wings like Perwinkle shels set with studs it is mingled colour of a white and obscure red and doth set forth to us the unspeakable power of God in the diversity of its colours Of the use of Butterflies He that beholds the forms clothing elegancy and rich habits of the Butterflies how canhe choose but admire the bountisul God who is the Author and giver of so rich treasure wherefore art thou proud in decking thy self and takest so much delight in thy own beauty possess thy temporary fading goods without envie for know that there is no Butterfly but is as beautiful and pleasing and for the length of their life they have a more constanâ— comeliness than thou hast thou hast it may be an incredible agility of body and numbleness in running but yet O man if thou shouldest exceed all men thou canst not equall a Butterfly But you will reply that your cloathing is incomparable and that you can boast of the Persian and Tyrian silk of the best purple dyes brought unto you by shipping truly should you but see the rich robes of any Butter-fly besides their purple dyes and the rowes of pearls and the borders set with diamonds rubies the pyropus opals emrods if you did but see and consider seriously the elaborate composition of their futures and joynts and the imbroidered work here and there of fine divers coloured twine silk set with studs and eyes of gold and silver thou wouldst let fall thy painted tail like the Peacock and casting thy eyes down to the ground from whence thou wert made thou wouldst learn to be more wise It may be thou wert born at first in a house of clay and mud walls or else in a palace built of polished stones but some Butterflies are born in their houses that are the Aureliae like to pure gold and exceed Attalus for the excellency of their birth and delicacy of their apparel Learn therefore O mortal Man who ever thou art that God that is best and greatest of all made the butterfly to pull down thy pride and by the shorrness of their life which is of no great continuance be thou mindful of thy own failing condition Weâ—t thou as strong as Milo or Hercules and wert fenced or guarded about with an host of Giants for force and valour remember that such an Army was put to the worst by an army of Butterflies flying in Troops in the air in the year 1104. and they hid the light of the Sun like a cloud Licosthenes relates that on the third day of August 1543. that no heaâ—b was left by reason of their multitudes and they had cevoured all the sweet dew and natural moisture and they had burn'd up the very grasle that was consumed with their dry dung Also in the year 1553. as Sleidanus reports a little before the death of Mauritius the Duke of Saxony an infinite Army of Butterflies flew through great part of Germany and did infect the grasse herbs trees houses and garments of men with bloudy drops as though it had rained bloud But it may be thou art in love with some female beauty and desirest to please her O fool remember the fate of the Phalena Butterfly which being invited by the light of the candle as by a fair beauty is consumed by the flame it fell in love withall and rejoycing like the Pyrausta bred in the fire removing but a little from it is presently dead And thou great Astrologer who makest Aries to be the forerunner of the Spring rather adore the Butterfly