an Island distant Northward from Britaine six daies sailing Yea and some affirme the same of Mona an Island distant from Camalodunum a towne of Britaine about 200 miles CHAP. LXXVI ¶ Of Dials and Quadrants THis cunning and skill of shadowes named Gnonomice Anaximines the Milesian the disciple of Anaximander aboue named inuented and hee was the first also that shewed in Lacedemon the Horologe or Dial which they call Sciotericon CHAP. LXXVII ¶ How the dayes are obserued THe very day it selfe men haue after diuers manners obserued The Babylonians count for day all the time betweene two Sun-risings the Athenians betweene the settings The Vmbrians from noone to noone But all the common sort euery where from day light vntill it be darke The Roman Priests and those that haue defined and set out a ciuil day likewise the Egyptians and Hipparchus from midnight to midnight That the spaces or lights are greater or lesse betwixt Sun risings neere the Sunsteds than the equinoctials it appeareth by this that the position of the Zodiake about the middle parts therof is more oblique and crooked but toward the Sunsted more streight and direct CHAP. LXXViij ¶ The reason of the varietie and difference of sundry Countries and Nations HEreunto we must ioyne such things as are linked to celestiall causes For doubtlesse it is that the Aethiopians by reason of the Sunnes vicinitie are scorched and tanned with the heate thereof like to them that be adust and burnt hauing their beards and bush of haire curled Also that in the contrarie Clime of the world to it in the frozen and icie regions the people haue white skins haire growing long downeward and yellow but are fierce and cruell by reason of the rigorous cold aire howbeit the one as well as the other in this mutabilitie are dull and grosse and the very legs do argue the temperature for in the Aethiopians the iuice or bloud is drawne vpward againe by the naturall heate But among the nations Septentrionall the same is driuen to the inferior parts by reason of moisture apt to fall downward Here breed noisome and hurtfull wilde beasts but there be ingendred creatures of sundry and diuers shapes especially birds Tall they are of bodily stature as well in one part as the other in the hot regions by the occasionall motion of fire in the other by the moist nourishment But in the midst of the earth there is an wholesome mixture from both sides the whole Tract is fertill and fruitfull for all things the habit of mens bodies of a mean and indifferent constitution the colour also shewing a great temperature The fashions and manners of the people are ciuill and gentle their sences cleare and lightsome their wits pregnant and capable of all things within the compasse of Nature they also beare soueraigne rule and sway empires and monarchies which those vttermost nations neuer had Yet true it is that euen they who are out of the temperate Zones may not abide to be subiect nor accomodate themselues to these for such is their sauage and brutish nature that it vrgeth them to liue solitarie by themselues CHAP. LXXiX ¶ Of Earthquakes THe Babylonians were of this opinion that earthquakes and gaping chinks and all other accidents of that nature are occasioned by the power and influence of the planets but of those three only to which they attribute lightnings and by this means namely as they keepe their course with the Sun or meet with him and especially when this concurrence is about the quadratures of the heauen And surely if it be true which is reported of Anaximander the Milesian naturall Philosopher his prescience and foreknowledge of things was excellent and worthy of immortalitie who as it is said forewarned the Lacedemonians to looke wel to their city and dwelling houses for that there was an earthquake toward which hapned accordingly when not only their whole city was shaken and fell downe but also a great part of the mountain Taygetus which bare out like to the poupe of a ship broken as it were from the rest came down too wholly couering the foresaid ruines There is reported another shrewd guesse of Pherecydes who was Pythagoras his master and the same likewise diuine and propheticall he by drawing water out of a pit both foresaw and also foretold an earthquake there Which if they be true how far off I pray you may such men seeme to be from God euen while they liue here on earth But as for these things verily I leaue it free for euery man to weigh and deeme of them according to their owne iudgement and for mine owne part I suppose that without all doubt the windes are the cause thereof For neuer beginneth the earth to quake but when the sea is still and the weather so calme withall that the birds in their flying cannot houer and hang in the aire by reason that all the spirit and winde which should beare them vp is withdrawne from them ne yet at any time but after the windes are laid namely when the blast is pent and hidden within the veines and hollow caues of the earth Neither is this shaking in the earth any other thing than is thunder in the cloud nor the gaping chinke thereof ought else but like the clift whereout the lightning breaketh when the spirit inclosed within strugleth and stirreth to go forth at libertie CHAP. LXXX ¶ Of the gaping chinks of the earth AFter many and sundry sorts the earth therefore is shaken and thereupon ensue wondrous effects in one place the walls of cities are laid along in another they be swallowed vp in a deepe and wide chawne here are cast vp mighty heaps of earth there are let out Riuers of water yea and somtimes fire doth breathe forth and hot springs issue abroad in another place the course and chanell of riuers is turned clean away and forced backward There goeth before and commeth with it a terrible noise one while a rumbling more like the loowing and bellowing of beasts otherwhiles it resembles a mans voice or else the clattering and rustling of armor and weapons beating one vpon another according to the qualitie of the matter that catcheth and receiueth the noise or the fashion either of the hollow cranes within or the cranny by which it passeth whiles in a narrow way it taketh on with a more slender and whistling noise and the same keepeth an hoarse din in winding and crooked caues rebounding againe in hard passages roaring in moist places wauing and floting in standing waters boiling and chasing against solid things And therefore a noise is often heard without any earthquake and neuer at any time shaketh it simply after one and the same manner but trembles and waggeth to and fro As for the gaping chink sometimes it remaineth wide open and sheweth what it hath swallowed vp otherwhiles it closeth vp the mouth and hideth all and the earth is knit together so againe as there remaine no marks and tokens to be
to a resolution not onely to enter vpon this new taske but also to breake through all difficulties vntill I had brought the same if not to a full and absolute perfection yet to an end and finall conclusion Besides this naturall inclination and hope which carried mee this way other motiues there were that made saile and set mee forward I saw how diuerse men before me had dealt with this authour whiles some laboured to reforme whatsoeuer by iniurie of time was growne out of frame others did their best to translate him into their own tongue and namely the Italian and French moreoover the Title prefixed therto so vniuersall as it is to wit The Historie of the World or Reports of Nature imported no doubt that hee first penned it for the generall good of mankind Ouer and besides the Argument ensuing full of varietie furnished with discourses of all matters not appropriate to the learned only but accommodat to the rude peisant of the countrey fitted for the painefull artizan in towne and citie pertinent to the bodily health of man woman and child and in one word suiting with all sorts of people liuing in a societie and common-weale To say nothing of the precedent giuen by the authour himselfe who endited the same not with any affected phrase but sorting well with the capacitie euen of the meanest and most vnlettered who also translated a good part thereof out of the Greeke What should I alledge the example of former times wherein the like hath euermore been approued and practised Why should any man therefore take offence hereat and enuie this good to his naturall countrey which was first meant for the whole world and yet some there be so grosse as to giue out That these and such like bookes ought not to bee published in the vulgar tongue It is a shame quoth one that Liuie speaketh English as hee doth Latinists onely are to bee acquainted with him as Who would say the souldiour were to haue recourse vnto the vniuersitie for militarie skill and knowledge or the scholler to put on armes and pitch a campe What should Plinie saith another bee read in English and the mysteries couched in his bookes divulged as if the husbandman the mason carpenter goldsmith painter lapidarie and engrauer with other artificers were bound to seeke vnto great clearkes or linguists for instructions in their seuerall arts Certes such Momi as these besides their blind and erronious opinion thinke not so honourably of their natiue countrey and mother tongue as they ought who if they were so well affected that way as they should be would wish rather and endeauour by all meanes to triumph now ouer the Romans in subduing their literature vnder the dent of the English pen in requitall so the conquest sometime ouer this Island atchieued by the edge of their sword As for our speech was not Latine as common and naturall in Italie as English here with vs. And if Plinie faulted not but deserued well of the Romane name in laying abroad the riches and hidden treasures of Nature in that Dialect or Idiome which was familiar to the basest clowne why should any man be blamed for enterprising the semblable to the commoditie of that countrey in which and for which he was borne Are wee the onely nation vnder heauen vnworthie to tast of such knowledge or is our language so barbarous that it will not admit in proper tearmes a forreine phrase I honor them in my heart who hauing of late daies troden the way before mee in Plutarch Tacitus and others haue made good proofe that as the tongue in an Englishmans head is framed so flexible and obsequent that it can pronounce naturally any other language so a pen in his hand is able sufficiently to expresse Greeke Latine and Hebrew And my hope is that after mee there will arise some industrious Flavij who may at length cornicum oculos configere For if my selfe a man by profession otherwise carried away for gifts farre inferiour to many and wanting such helps as others bee furnished with haue in some sort taught those to speake English who were supposed very vntoward to bee brought vnto it what may be expected at their hands who for leisure may attend better in wit are more pregnant and being graced with the opinion of men and fauour of the time may attempt what they will and effect whatsoever they attempt with greater felicitie A painfull and tedious travaile I confesse it is neither make I doubt but many doe note mee for much follie in spending time herein and neglecting some compendious course of gathering good and pursing vp pence But when I looke backe to the example of Plinie I must of necessitie condemne both mine owne sloth and also reproue the supine negligence of these daies A courtiour he was and great favourit of the Vespasians both father and sonne an oratour besides and pleaded many causes at the barre a martiall man withall and serued often times a leader and commander in the field within the citie of Rome hee mannaged civile affaires and bare honourable offices of State Who would not thinke but each one of these places would require a whole man and yet amid these occasions wherewith he was possessed he penned Chronicles wrate Commentaries compiled Grammaticall treatises and many other volumes which at this day are vtterly lost As for the Historie of Nature now in hand which sheweth him to be an excellent Philosopher and a man accomplished in all kinds of literature the onely monument of his that hath escaped all dangers and as another Palladium beene reserued entire vnto our time wherein hee hath discoursed of all things even from the starrie heauen to the centre of the earth a man would marveile how hee could possibly either write or doe any thing else But considering the agilitie of mans spirit alwaies in motion an ardent desire to benefit posteritie which in these volumes hee hath so often protested his indefatigable studie both day and night euen to the iniurie of nature and the same continued in euerie place as well abroad as within-house in his iourney vpon the high way where his manner was to read and to indite in his ordinarie passage through the streets betweene court and home where he gaue himselfe no rest but either read or else found his notarie worke to write and for that purpose rode vsually in an easie litter with the said Notarie close by his side lesse wonder it is that hee performed his service to Prince and state according to his calling and withall deliuered vnto posteritie so many fruits of wit and learning For what is not the head of man able to compasse especially making saile with a feruent desire and resolution to see an end and besides taking the vantage of all moments and losing no time whereof hee was unus omnium parcissimus Touching his affection to search into the secrets of Nature it was that and nothing else that shortened his daies and
should be spoken of which is the nource of all lands She also is the mother chosen by the powerfull grace of the gods to make euen heauen it selfe more glorious to gather into one the scattered empires to soften and make ciuill the rude fashions of other countries and whereas the languages of so many nations were repugnant wilde sauage to draw them together by commerce of speech conference and parley to indue man with humanitie and briefely that of all nations in the world there should be one onely countrey But here what should I do so noble are all the places that a man shal come vnto so excellent is euery thing and each state so famous and renowned that I am fully possessed with them all and to seeke what to say Rome citie the only faire face therein worthy to stand vpon so stately a necke and pair of shoulders what worke would it aske thinke you to bee set out as it ought the very tract of Campaine by it selfe so pleasant and goodly so rich and happie in what sort should it be described So as it is plaine and manifest that in this one place there is the workmanship of Nature wherein she ioieth and taketh delight Now besides all this the whole temperature of the aire is euermore so vitall healthy and wholesome the fields so fertile the hills so open to the Sun the forrests so harmlesse the groues so coole and shadie the woods of all sorts so bounteous and fruitfull the mountaines yeelding so many breathing blasts of winde the corne the vines the oliues so plentifull the sheep so inriched with fleeces of the best wooll the bulls and oxen so fat and well fed in the necke so many lakes and pooles such store of riuers and springs watering it throughout so many seas and hauens that it is the very bosom lying open and ready to receiue the commerce of all lands from all parts and yet it selfe full willingly desireth to lie far into the sea to helpe all mankinde Neither do I speake now of the natures wits and fashions of the men ne yet of the nations abroad subdued with their eloquent tongue and strong hand Euen the Greekes a nation of all other most giuen to praise themselues beyond measure haue giuen their iudgement of her in that they called some small part thereof Great Greece But in good faith that which we did in the mention of the heauen namely to touch some knowne planets and a few stars the same must we likewise do in this one part only I would pray the Readers to remember and carry this away That I hasten to rehearse euery particular thing through the whole round globe of the earth Well then to begin Italy is fashioned like for all the world to an Oke leafe and much larger in length than breadth to the left side bending with the top and ending in the figure and fashion of an Amazonian shield and where that tract of Calabria lyeth which is called Cocinthos it putteth forth into those two promontories or capes like the moones two hornes the one Leucopetra on the right hand the other Lacinium on the left In length it reacheth from the foot of the Alps through Ostia or Praetoria Augusta directly to the citie of Rome and so forward to Capua with a direct course leading to Rhegium a towne scituate vpon the shoulder thereof from which beginneth the bending as it were of the necke and beareth 1000 and 20 miles And this measure would grow to be far more if it went as farre as Lacinium but that such an obliquitie and winding might seem to decline and beare out too much vnto one side The breadth thereof is diuersly taken namely 410 miles between the two seas the higher and the lower and the riuers Varus and Arsia The mids of which breadth and that is much about the citie of Rome from the mouth of the riuer Aternus running into the Adriaticke sea vnto the mouthes of Tiberis 136 miles and somewhat lesse from Novum Castrum by the Adriaticke sea to Alsium and so to the Tuscane sea and in no place exceedeth it in breadth 300 miles But the full compasse of the whole from Varus to Arsia is 20049 miles Distant it is by sea from the lands round about to wit from Istria and Liburnia in some places 100 miles from Epirus and Illyricum 50 miles from Africk lesse than 200 as Varro affirmeth from Sardinia an hundred and 20 miles from Sicilie a mile and a halfe from Corcyra lesse than 70 from Issa 50. It goeth along the seas to the Meridionall line verily of the heauen but if a man examine it exactly indeed it lyeth betweene the Sun rising in mid-winter and the point of the Noone-stead Now will we describe the compasse and circuit thereof and reck on the cities wherin I must needs protest by way of Preface that I will follow for mine Authour Augustus the Emperour of famous memorie and the description by him made of all Italy which be diuided into 11 Regionsor Cantons As for the maritime townes I will set them downe in that order as they stand according to their vicinity one to another But forasmuch as in so running a speech and hastie pen the rest cannot possibly be so orderly described therfore in the inland part thereof I will follow him as he hath digested them by the letters of the Alphabet but mentioning withall the colonies or chiefe cities by name which he hath deliuered in that number Neither is it an easie matter to know throughly their positions and foundations considering the Ingaune Ligurians to say nothing of all the rest were indowed with lands thirtie times and changed their seats To begin with the riuer Varus therfore there offereth to our eie first the towne Nicaea built by the Massilians the riuer Po the Alpes the people within the Alpes of many names but of most marke Capillati with long haire the towne Vediantiorum the Citie Cemelion or a towne belonging to the State of the Vediantians called Cemelion the port of Hercules and Monoechus and so the Ligurian coast Of the Ligurians the most renowned beyond the Alpes are the Sallij Deceates and Oxubij on this side the Veneni and descended from the Caturiges the Vagienni Statyelli Vibelli Magelli Euburiates Casmonates Veliates and those whose townes we will declare in the next coast The riuer Rutuba the towne Albium Intemelium the riuer Merula the towne Albium Ingaunum the port or hauen towne Vadum Sabatium the riuer Porcifera the towne Genua the riuer â—…eritor the Port Delphini Tigulia within Segesta Tiguliorum the riuer Macra which limiteth Liguria Now on the back side behind all these townes aboue named is Apenine the highest mountain of all Italy reaching from the Alpes with a continuall ridge of hils to the streights of Cicilie From the other side thereof to Padus the richest riuer in all Italy all the countrey shining with goodly faire townes to wit Liberna Dertona a Colonie Iria
dwelt iust by Padus for there is no riuer that runneth out of Danubius into the Adriaticke sea Deceiued I suppose they were because the ship Argos went downe a riuer into the Adriaticke sea not far from Tergeste but what riuer it was is yet vnknowne They that will seeme to be more curious than their fellowes say That it was carried vpon mens shoulders ouer the Alpes and that it was set into Ister and so into Saus and then Nauportus which vpon that occasion tooke his name which ariseth betweene Aemona and the Alpes CHAP. XIX ¶ Istria IStria runneth out like a demie Island Some haue deliuered in writing that it is 40 miles broad and 122 miles about The like they say of Liburnia adioyning vnto it and of the hollow gulfe Flanaticus But others say that the compasse of Liburnia is 180 miles And some there be againe who haue set out Iapidia as far as to the said creeke Flanaticus behind Istria 130 miles and so haue made Liburnia in circuit 150 miles Tuditanus who subdued the Istrians vpon his owne statue there set this inscription That from Aquileia to the riuer Titius were 200 stadia The townes in Istria of Romane citizens be Aegida and Parentium A Colony there is besides Pola now called Pietas Iulia built in old time by the Colchians It is from Tergeste 100 miles Soone after ye see the towne Nesactium and the riuer Arsia the vtmost bound now of Italy From Ancona to Pola there is a cut ouer the sea of 120 miles In the midland part of this tenth region are these Colonies Cremona and Brixia in the Cenomanes countrie but in the Venetians countrie Ateste Also the townes Acelum Patauium Opitergium Belunum Vicetia Mantua of the Tuscanes is only left beyond Padus That the Venetians were the off-spring of the Trojanes Cato hath set downe in writing also that the Cenomanes neere vnto Massiles dwell in the Volcians countrie Fertines Tridentines and Barnenses are townes of Rhetia As for Verona it is of Rhetians and Euganeans but Iulienses be of the Carnians Then follow these whom we need to vse no curiositie in naming Alutruenses Asseriates Flamonienses Vannienses others surnamed Gulici Foro Iulienses surnamed Transpadani Forelani Venidates Querqueni Taurisani Togienses Varuani In this tract there be perished in the borders Itaminum Pellaon Palsicium Of the Venetians Atina and Caelina of the Carnians Segeste and Ocra and of the Taurissi Noreia Also from Aquileia 12 miles there was a towne quite destroyed by M. Claudius Marcellus euen maugre the Senate as L. Piso hath recorded In this region there be also ten notable lakes and riuers either issuing forth of them as their children or else fed and maintained by them if so be they send them out againe when they haue once receiued them as Larius doth Aena Verbanus Ticinus Benacus Mincius Sebinus Ossius Eupilius Lamber al inhabiting and seated in Padus The Alpes reach in length ten miles from the vpper sea to the lower as Coelius saith Timogenes two and twenty but Cornelius Nepos draweth them out in breadth an hundred miles T. Liuius saith three thousand stadia both of them take measure in diuers places for sometime they exceed a hundred miles where they disioyne Germany from Italy and in other parts they are so thin that they make not full out threescore and ten miles and that by the prouidence as it were of Nature The breadth of Italy from Varus vnder the foot of them through the shallowes or plashes of Sabatia the Taurines Comus Brixia Verona Vicetia Opitergium Aquileia Tergeste Pola and Aristia maketh seuen hundred and two miles CHAP. XX. ¶ Of the Alpes and Alpine Nations MAny nations inhabit the Alps but those of speciall name from Pola to the tract of Tergestis are these the Secusses Subocrines Catili Menocaleni and neere to the Carnians those who in times past were called Taurisci but now Norici Vpon these there do confine the Rhetians and Vindelici all diuided into many States Men thinke that the Rheti are the Tuscans progenie driuen out by the Gaules with their leader Rhaetus But leauing these Rhoetians turning our breast and visage to Italy wee meet with the Euganean nations of the Alpes who inioyed the liberty and franchises of the Latines and whose townes Cato reckoneth to the number of 34. Of them the Triumpilines both people and lands were sold. After them the Camuni and many such were annexed to the next townships and did seruice as homagers to them The Lepontians and the Salassians the same Cato thinketh to be of the Taurick race But all others in manner suppose verily that the Lepontians were a residue left behinde of Hercules his traine and company grounding vpon the interpretation of the Greek name as hauing their bodies seaged with the Alpine snowes as they passed through that the Graij likewise were of the same retinue planted in the very passage and inhabiting the Alps Graiae also that the Euganei were noblest of birth whereupon they took their name The head city of them is Stonos Of those Rhoetians the Vennonetes and Sarunetes inhabit neere the heads of the river Rhenus And of the Lepontians those who are called Viberi dwel by the Spring of Rhodanus in the same quarter of the Alpes There be also inhabitants within the Alps endowed with the liberty of Latium namely the Octodurenses and their neighbor borderers the Centrones as also the Cottian States The Caturiges and those from them descended to wit the Vagienni Ligures and such as be called the Mountainers and many kindes of the Capillati confining vpon the Ligurian sea It seemeth not amisse in this place to set down an inscription out of a triumphant Trophie erected in the Alps which runneth in this forme Vnto the Emperour Caesar son of Augustus of famous memorie Arch-Bishop Generall foure times and inuested in the sacred authoritie of the Tribunes the Senate and people of Rome For that by his conduct and happie fortune all the Alpine nations which reached from the vpper sea to the nether were reduced and brought vnder the Empire of the people of Rome The Alpine nations subdued are these Triumpilini Camuni Vennonetes Isarci Breuni Naunes Focunales Of the Vindelici foure nations to wit the Consuanetes Virucina tes Licates and Catenates The Abisontes Suanetes Calucones Brixentes and Lepontij Viberi Nantuates Seduni Veragri Salaci Acitauones Medulli Vceni Caturiges Brigiani Sogiontij Ebroduntij Nemaloni Edenates Esubiani Veamini Gallitae Triulatti Ectini Vergunium Eguituri Nementuri Oratelli Nerusivelauni Suetri Now there were not reckoned among these the twelue Cottian States which were not vp in any hostility ne yet those which were assigned to the free townes to enioy the burgeoisie of Rome by vertue of the law Pompeia Behold this is that Italy consecrated to the gods these are her nations and these be the townes of her seuerall States And more than all this that Italy which when L. Aemylius Paulus and Caius
which parteth Bithynia from Galatia Beyond Chalcedon stood Chrysopolis then Nicopolis of which the gulfe still retaines the name wherein is the hauen of Amycus the cape Naulocum Estia wherein is the temple of Neptune and the Bosphorus a streight halfe a mile ouer which now once again parteth Asia and Europe From Chalcedon it is 12 miles and an halfe There beginneth the sea to open wider where it is 8 miles a quarter ouer in that place where stood once the towne Philopolis All the maritime coasts are inhabited by the Thyni but the inland parts by the Bithynians Lo here an end of Asia and of 282 nations which are reckoned from the limits and gulf of Lycia vnto the streights of Constantinople The space of the streights of Hellespont and Propontis together vntill you come to Bosphorus in Thracia containeth in length 188 miles as we haue before said From Chalcedon to Sigeum by the computation of Isidor are 372 miles and a halfe Islands lying in Propontis before Cyzicum are these Elaphonnesus from whence commeth the Cyzicen marble and the same Isle was called Neuris and Proconnesus Then follow Ophyusa Acanthus Phoebe Scopelos Porphyrione and Halone with a towne Moreouer Delphacia and Polydora also Artacaeon with the towne Furthermore ouer against Nicomedia is Demonnesos likewise beyond Heraclea iust against Bithynia is Thynias which the Barbarians call Bithynia Ouer and besides Antiochia and against the fosse or riuer Rhyndacus Besbicos 18 miles about Last of all Elaea two Rhodussae Erebinthus Magale Chalcitis and Pityodes THE SIXTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS CHAP. 1. ¶ Pontus Euxinus THe sea called Pontus Euxinus and named by the Greeks in old time Axenos for the hard vsage that passengers found at the hands of those sauage Nations vpon the coasts thereof is spred also betwixt Europ and Asia vpon a very spite and speciall enuy of Nature as it seems to the earth and a wilfull desire to maintaine the sea still in his greatnesse and to fulfill his greedy and endlesse appetite For shee was not contented to haue inuironed the whole earth with the main Ocean yea and taken from it a great part thereof with exceeding rage ouerflowing the same and laying all empty and naked it sufficed not I say to haue broken through the mountaines and so to rush in and after the sea had dismembred * Caspe from Affricke to haue swallowed vp much more by far than is left behind to be seen no nor to haue let Propontis gush through Hellespont and so to encroach again vpon the earth and gaine more ground vnlesse from the streights of Bosphorus also he enlarge himselfe into another huge and vast sea and yet is neuer content vntill the lake Moeotis also with his streight meet with him as he thus spreadeth abroad and floweth at liberty and so ioine together and part as it were their stolne good betweene them And verily that all this is happened maugre the earth and that it made all resistance that it could appeareth euidently by so many streights and narrow passages lying between these two elements of so contrary nature considering that in Hellespont the space is not aboue 875 paces from land to land and at the two Bosphori the sea is so passeable that oxen or kine may swim at ease from the one side to the other and hereupon they both tooke their name the which vicinitie serueth very wel to entertaine and nourish amity among nations separated by nature one from another and in this disunion as it were appeareth yet a brothely fellowship and vnitie For the cocks may be heard to crow and the dogs to bark from the one side to the other yea and men out of these two worlds may parly one to another with audible voice and haue commerce of speech together if the weather be calme and that the windes doe not carry away the sound thereof Well the measure some haue taken of the sea from Bosphorus Thracius to the lake of Moeotis and haue accounted it to be 1438 miles and a halfe But Eratosthenes reckoneth it lesse by one hundred Agrippa saith that from Chalcedon to Phacis is a thousand miles and so to Bosphorus Cimmerius 360 miles As for vs we will set downe summarily and in generall the distances of places according to the moderne knowledge of our nation in these daies forasmuch as our armies haue warred in the very streight and mouth of this Cimmerian streight Being passed then from the streight of Bosphorus Thracius we meet with the riuer Rhebas which some haue called Rhoesus and beyond it Psillis another riuer then come we to the port of Calpas and Sangarius one of the principall riuers of Asia it ariseth in Phrygia it receiueth other huge riuers into it and among the rest Tembrogius and Gallus The same Sangarius was called also Coralius After this riuer begin the gulfes Mariandini vpon which is to be seen the towne Heraclea scituate vpon the riuer Lycus It is from the mouth of Pontus 200 miles Beyond it is the port Acone cursed for the venomous herbe and poisonous Aconitum which taketh name thereof Also the hole or caue Acherusia Riuers also there be Pedopiles Callichorum and Sonantes One towne Tium eight and thirty miles from Heraclea and last of all the riuer Bilis CHAP. II. ¶ The nation of the Paphlagonians and Cappadocians BEyond this riuer Bilis is the countrey Paphlagonia which some haue named Pylemerina and it is inclosed with Galatia behinde it The first towne ye meet in it is Mastya built by the Milesians and next to it is Cromna In this quarter the Heneti inhabit as Cornelius Nepos saith Moreouer from thence the Venetians in Italy who beare their name are descended as he would haue vs beleeue Neere to the said towne Cromna is another called Sesamum in times past and now Amastris Also the mountaine Cytorus 64 miles from Tium When you are gone past this mountain you shall come to Cimolus and Stephane two townes and likewise to the riuer Parthenius and so forward to the cape and promontory Corambis which reacheth forth a mighty way into the sea and it is from the mouth of the sea Pontus 315 miles or as others rather thinke 350. As far also it is from the streight Cimmerius or as some would rather haue it 312 miles and a halfe A towne there was also in times past of that name and another likewise beyond it called Arminum but now there is to be seen the colony Sinope 164 miles from Citorum Being past it you fall vpon the riuer Varetum the people of Cappadocia the townes Gazima and Gazelum and the riuer Halyto which issuing out of the foot of the hill Taurus passeth through Cataonia and Cappadocia Then meet you with these towns following Gangre Carissa and the free city Amisum which is from Sinope 130 miles As you 〈◊〉 farther you shall see a gulfe carrying the name of the said towne
they called Graucasus that is to say white with snow The principal nations of Scythia be the Sarae Massagetae Dahae Essedones Ariacae Rhymnici Pesici Amordi Histi Edones Camae Camacae Euchatae Cotieri Antariani Pialae Arim aspi besoretime called Cacidiri Asaei Oetei As for the Napaeans Apellaeans who sometime dwelt there they be vtterly extinct and gone The riuers there of name be Mandagraeus and Caspasius And surely there is not a region wherein Geographers doe varie and disagree more than in this and as I take it this commeth of the infinit number of those nations wandring to fro and abiding neuer in one place Alexander the Great and M. Varro make report that the water of the Scythian sea is fresh in taste potable And in truth Pompey the great had such water brought vnto him from thence to drink when he waged war thereby against Mithridates by reason no doubt of the great riuers that fall into it which ouercome the saltnesse of the water Varro saith moreouer That during this expedition and iourny of Pompeius it was for certain knowne that it is but seuen daies iourney from out of India to the Bactrians countrey euen as far as to the riuer Icarus which runneth into Oxus and that the merchandise of India transported by the Caspian sea and so to the riuer Cyrus may be brought in fiue daies by land as far as to Phasis in Pontus Many Islands there lie all ouer that sea but one aboue the rest and most renowned is Tazata for thither all the shipping from out of the Caspian sea and the Scythian Ocean do bend their course there arriue for that all the sea coasts do affront the Leuant and turn into the East The frontiers of Scythia from the first cape therof is vnhabitable by reason of the snow that lies continually neither are the next regions therto frequented and tilled for the barbarous crueltie of those nations that border vpon it such as the Anthropophagi who liue of mans flesh and haunt those parts Hereupon it commeth that you shall find nothing there but huge desart forests with a number of wild beasts lying in wait for men as sauage as themselues When you are past this region you enter againe amongst the Scythians where you shal find likewise a wildernes ful of wild beasts euen as far as to the promontory mountain called Tabis which regardeth the sea In such sort as one moitie in manner of that coast all along which looketh toward the East lieth wast and is not inhabited The first people of any knowledge and acquaintance be the Seres famous for the fine silk that their woods do yeeld They kemb from the leaues of their trees the hoary downe thereof and when it is steeped in water they card and spin it yea and after their manner make therof a sey or web whereupon the dames here with vs haue a double labour both of vndoing and also of weauing again this kind of yearn See what ado there is about it what labour and toile it costeth how far fet it is and all for this that our ladies and wiues when they go abroad in the street may cast a lustre from them and shine again in their silks and veluets As for the Seres a mild and gentle kind of people they are by nature howbeit in this one point they resemble the bruit and wild beasts for that they cannot away in the commerce with other nations with the fellowship and society of men but shun and auoid their company notwithstanding they desire to trafficke with them The first riuer known among them is Psitaras the next to it Carabi the third Lanos and then you come to a cape of that name Beyond it is the gulfe Chryse the riuer Attanos and another bay or creeke called Attanos By it lyeth the region of the Attaci a kind of people secluded from all noisome wind aire keeping vpon hils exposed to the pleasant sun-shine where they inioy the same temperature of aire that the Hiperboreans liue in Of this country and people Amonetus hath written a seuerall booke of purpose like as Herataeus hath compiled such another treatise of the Hyperboreans Beyond the Attaci or Attacores the Thyrians and Tocharians do inhabit yea and the Casirians who now by this time belong to the Indians are a part of them But they within-forth that lie toward the Scithians feed of mans flesh As for the Nomades of India they likewise wander to fro and keep no resting place Some write that they confine vpon the very Ciconians and Brysanians on the North side But there as all Geographers do agree the mountains Emodi arise and shoot vp and there entereth the country of the East Indians and extendeth not only to that sea but also to the Southerne which we haue named the Indian sea And this part of the Orientall Indians which lieth directly streight forth as far as to that place where India beginneth to twine and bend toward the Indian sea containeth 1875 miles And all that tract which windeth and turneth along the South taketh 2475 miles as Eratosthenes hath collected set downe euen vnto the riuer Indus which is the vtmost limit of India West-ward But many other writers haue set downe the whole length of India in this maner namely that it requireth 40 daies and nights sailing with a good gale of a forewind also that from the North to the South coast thereof is 2750 miles Howbeit Agrippa hath put down in writing that it is 3003 miles long and 2003 broad Posidonius took measure of it from the Northeast to the Southeast that by this means it is directly opposit vnto Gaule which he likewise measured along the West coast euen from the North west point where the Sun goeth down at Mid-summer to the South-west where it setteth in in the midst of Winter He addeth moreouer and saith That this West wind which from behind Gaule bloweth vpon India is very healthsome wholsome for that country and this he proued by very good reason demonstration and verily the Indians haue a far different aspect of the sky from vs. Other stars rise in their Hemisphaere which we see not Two Summers they haue in one yere and as many haruests and their winter between hath the Etesian winds blowing in our dog-daies in stead of the Northern blasts with vs. The winds are kind and mild with them the sea alwaies nauigable the nations there dwelling the cities and towns there built innumerable if a man would take in hand to reckon them al for India hath bin discouered not only by Alexander the great his mighty and puissant army and by other kings his successors namely Seleucus and Antiochus and their Admirall Patrocles who sailed about it euen to the Hircane and Caspian seas but also by diuers other Greek Authors who making abode sojourning with the kings of India like as Megasthenes and
Gedrosians Persians Carmanes and Elimaeans Parthyene Aria Susiane Mesopotomia Seleucia syrnamed Babylonia Arabia so far as Petrae inclusiuely Coele-Syria Pelusium in Egypt the low Low-countries which are called the tract of Alexandria the maritine coasts of Africk all the towns of Cyrenaica Thapsus Adrumetum Clupea Carthage Vtica both Hippoes Numidia both realmes of Mauritania the Atlanticke sea and Hercules pillars In all the circumference of this climat and parellele at noon tide vpon an Equinoctiall day the stile in the diall which they call Gnomon 7 foot long casteth a shadow not aboue 4 foot The longest night or day in this climate is 14 houres and contrariwise the shortest ten The second circle or parallele line beginneth at the Indians Occidentall and passeth through the mids of Parthia Persepolis the hithermost parts of Persis in respect of Rome the hither coast of Arabia Iudaea and the borders neere vnto the mountaine Libanus Vnder the same are contained also Babylon Idumaea Samaria Hierusalem Ascalon Ioppe Caesarea Phoenice Ptolemais Sydon Tyrus Berytrus Botrys Tripolis Byblus Antiochia Laodicea Seleucia the Sea coasts of Cilicia Cyprus the South part of Candy Lilyboeum in Sicilia the North parts of Africke and Numidia The Gnomon in a diall vpon the Equinoctiall day 35 foot of length maketh a shadow 24 foot long The longest day or night is 14 houres Equinoctial and the fift part of an houre The third circle beginneth at the Indians next vnto the mountaine Imaus and goeth by the Caspian gates or streights hard by Media Cataonia Cappadocia Taurus Amanus Issus the Cilician straits Soli Tarsus Cyprus Pisidia Syde in Pamphilia Lycaonia Patara in Lycia Xanthus Caunus Rhodus Cous Halicarnassus Gnidus Doris Chius Delus the mids of the Cyclades Gytthium Malea Argos Laconia Elis Olympia Messene Peloponnesus Syracusa Catine the mids of Sicily the South part of Sardinia Cardei and Gades In this clime the Gnomon of 100 inches yeeldeth a shadow of 77 inches The longest day hath Equinoctiall houres 14 an halfe with a 30 part ouer Vnder the fourth circle or parallele lye they that are on the other side of Imaus the South parts of Cappadocia Galatia Mysia Sardis Smyrna Sipylus the mountaine Tmolus in Lydia Caria Ionia Trallis Colophon Ephesus Miletus Samos Chios the Icarian sea the Isles Cyclades lying Northward Athens Megara Corinth Sicyon Achaea Patrae Isthmos Epirus the North parts of Sicily Narbonensis Gallia toward the East the maritime parts of Spaine beyond new Carthage and so into the West To a Gnomon of 21 foot the shadowes answer of 17 foot The longest day is fourteen Aequinoctiall houres and two third parts of an houre The 5 diuision containeth vnder it from the entrance of the Caspian sea Bactra Iberia Armenia Mysia Phrygia Hellespontus Troas Tenedus Abydus Scepsis Ilium the hill Ida Cyzicum Lampsacum Sinope Anisum Heraclea in Pontus Paphlagonia Lemnus Imbrus Thasus Cassandria Thessalia Macedonia Larissa Amphipolis Thessalonice Pella Edessa Beraea Pharsaliae Carystum Euboea Boeotia Chalcis Delphi Acarnania Aetolia Apollonia Brundisium Tarentum Thurij Locri Rhegium Lucani Naples Puteoli the Tuscan sea Corsica the Baleare Isles the middle of Spain A Gnomon of 7 foot giueth shadow six foot The longest day is 15 Aequinoctiall houres The sixt paralell compriseth the city of Rome and containeth withall the Caspian nations Caucasus the North parts of Armenia Apollonia vpon Rhindacus Nicomedia Nicaea Chalcedon Bizantium Lysimachia Cherrhonesus the gulfe Melane Abdera Samothracia Maronea Aenus Bessica the midland parts of Thracia Poeonia the Illyrians Dyrrhachium Canusium the vtmost coasts of Apulia Campania Hetruria Pisae Luna Luca Genua Liguria Antipolis Massilia Narbon Tarracon the middle of Spain called Tarraconensis so through Lusitania To a Gnomon of 9 foot the shadow is answerable 8 foot The longest day hath 15 Aequinoctiall houres and the 9 part of an houre or the fift as Nigidius is of opinion The 7 diuision begins at the other coast of the Caspian sea and falls vpon Callatis Bosphorus Borysthenes Tomos the backe parts of Thracia the Tribals country the rest of Illyricum the Adriaticke sea Aquileia Altinum Venice Viceria Patavium Verona Cremona Ravenna Ancona Picenum Marsi Peligni Sabini Vmbria Ariminium Bononia Placentia Mediolanum and all beyond Apenninum also ouer the Alps Aquitane in Gaule Vienna Pyraeneum and Celtiberia The Gnomon of 35 foot casteth a shadow 36 foot in length yet so as in some part of the Venetian territorie the shadow is equall to the Gnomon The longest day is 15 Aequinoctiall houres and three fift parts of an houre Hitherto haue we reported the labors in this point of antient Geographers and what they haue reported But the most diligent and exactest modern Writers that followed haue assigned the rest of the earth not yet specified to three other sections or climats The first from Tanais through the lake Moetis and the Sarmatians vnto Borysthenes and so by the Dakes and a part of Germany containing therein France and the coasts of the Ocean where the day is 16 houres long A second through the Hyperboreans and Britain where the day is 17 houres long Last of all is the Scythian paralell from the Rhiphaean hills into Thule wherein as we said it is day and night continually by turnes for sixe moneths The same writers haue set downe two paralell circles before those points where the other began and which we set downe The one through the Islands Meroe and Ptolemais vpon the red sea built for the hunting of Elephants where the longest daies are but 12 houres and an halfe the second passing through Syrene in Aegypt where the day hath 13 houres And the same authors haue put to euery one of the other circles euen to the very last half an houre more to the daies length than the old Geographers Thus much of the Earth THE SEVENTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proeme THus as you see we haue in the former books sufficiently treated of the vniuersall world of the Lands Regions Nations Seas Islands and renowned Cities therein contained It remaines now to discourse of the liuing creatures comprised within the same and their natures a point doubtlesse that would require as deepe a speculation as any part else thereof whatsoeuer if so be the spirit and minde of man were able to comprehend and compasse all things in the world And to make a good entrance into this treatise and history me thinkes of right we ought to begin at Man for whose sake it should seeme that Nature made and produced all other creatures besides though this great fauour of hers so bountifull and beneficiall in that respect hath cost them full deare Insomuch as it is hard to iudge whether in so doing she hath done the part of a kinde mother or a hard and cruell step-Dame For first and formost of all other liuing creatures man she hath brought forth all naked and cloathed him with the good and riches of others To all the
infected and to change the colour thereupon Furthermore doubtlesse it is that children breed their fore teeth in the seuenth moneth after they are borne and first those in the vpper chaw for the most part likewise that they shed the same teeth about the seuenth yere of their age others come vp new in the place Certaine it is also that some children are borne into the world with teeth as M. Curius who thereupon was surnamed Dentatus and Cn. Papyrius Carbo both of them very great men and right honourable personages In women the same was counted but an vnlucky thing presaged some misfortune especially in the daies of the KK regiment in Rome for when Valeria was borne toothed the wizards and Soothsayers being consulted thereabout answered out of their learning by way of Prophesie That look into what citie she was caried to nource she should be the cause of the ruine and subuersion thereof whereupon had away shee was and conueied to Suessa Pometia a city at that time most flourishing in wealth and riches and it proued most true in the end for that city was vtterly destroied Cornelia the mother of the Gracchi is sufficient to proue by her own example that women are neuer borne for good whose genitall parts for procreation are growne together and yeeld no entrance Some children are borne with an entire whole bone that taketh vp all the gum instead of a row of distinct teeth as a son of Prusias king of the Bythinians who had such a bone in his vpper chaw This is to be obserued about teeth that they onely check the fire and burn not to ashes with other parts of the body and yet as inuincible as they are and able to resist the violence of the flame they rot and become hollow with a little catarrhe or waterish rheume that droppeth and distilleth vpon them white they may be made with certaine mixtures and medicines called Dentifices Some weare their teeth to the very stumps onely with vse of chawing others againe loose them first out of their head they serue not onely to grind our meat for our daily food and nourishment but necessary also they be for the framing of our speech The fore-teeth stand in good stead to rule and moderate the voice by a certaine consent and tuneable accord answering as it were to the stroke of the tongue and according to that row and ranke of theirs wherein they are set as they are broader or narrower greater or smaller they yeeld a distinction and varietie in our words cutting and hewing them thicke and short framing them pleasant plaine and ready drawing them out at length or smuddering and drowning them in the end but when they bee once falne out of the head man is bereaued of all means of good vtterance and explanation of his words Moreouer there are some presages of good or bad fortune gathered by the teeth men ordinarily haue giuen them by nature 32 in all except the nation of the Turduli They that haue aboue this number may make account as it is thought to liue the longer As for women they haue not so many they that haue on the right side in the vpper iaw two eie-teeth which the Latines call Dogs-teeth may promise themselues the flattering fauors of Fortune as it is well seene in Agrippina the mother of Domitius Nero but contrariwise the same teeth double in the left side aboue is a signe of euill lucke It is not the custome in any countrey to burne in a funerall fire the dead corps of any infant before his teeth be come vp but hereof will we write more at large in the Anatomie of man when wee shall discourse purposely of euerie member and part of the body Zoroastres was the onely man that euer wee could heare of who laughed the same day that he was borne his brain did so euidently pant and beat that it would beare vp their hands that laid them vpon his head a most certain presage fore-token of that great learning that afterward he attained vnto This also is held for certain and resolued vpon that a man at three yeares of age is come to one moitie of his growth and height As also this is obserued for an vndoubted truth that generally all men come short of the ful stature in time past and decrease stil euery day more than other and seldome shall you see the son taller than his father for the ardent heat of the elementarie fire whereunto the world enclineth already now toward the later end as somtimes it stood much vpon the waterie element deuoureth and consumeth that plentifull humor and moisture of naturall seed that engendreth all things and this appeareth more euidently by these examples following In Crete it chanced that an hill claue asunder in an earth-quake and in the chink thereof was found a body standing 46 cubits high some say it was the body of Orion others of Otus We find in chronicles records of good credit that the body of Orestes being taken vp by direction from the Oracles was seuen cubits long And verily that great and famous poet Homer who liued almost 1000 yeres ago complained and gaue not ouer That mens bodies were lesse of stature euen then than in old time The Annales set not downe the stature and bignesse of Naevius Pollio but that he was a mighty gyant appeareth by this that is written of him namely that it was taken for a wonderfull strange thing that in a great rout presse of people that came running together vpon him he had like to haue bin killed The tallest man that hath bin seen in our age was one named Gabbara who in the daies of prince Claudius late Emperor was brought out of Arabia nine foot high was hee and as many inches There were in the time of Augustus Caesar 2 others named Pusio and Secundilla higher than Gabbara by halfe a foot whose bodies were preserued and kept for a wonder in a charnell house or sepulchre within the gardens of the Salustians Whiles the same Augustus sate as president his niece Iulia had a little dwarfish fellow not aboue 2 foot and a hand bredth high called Conopas whom she set great store by and made much of as also another she dwarfe named Andromeda who somtime had been the slaue of Iulia the princesse and by her made free M. Varro reporteth that Manius Maximus and M. Tullius were but two cubits high yet they gentlemen and knights of Rome and in truth we our selues haue seen their bodies how they lie embalmed and chested which testifieth no lesse It is well knowne that there be some that naturally are neuer but a foot and a halfe high others again somwhat longer and to this heigth they came in three yeres which is the full course of their age and then they die Wee reade moreouer in the Chronicles that in Salamis one Euthimenes had a son who in three yeres grew to be three cubits high
can asswage and appease their hunger yea and slack and extinguish their thirst with a very little and yet preserue maintain the naturall strength of their body namely with tasting butter cheese made of Mares or Asses milk and Licorice But to conclude and knit vp this discourse the worst and most dangerous thing euery way that can be in all the course of our life is Excesse and Superfluity but to the health of our bodies most of all and therefore the best course is to cut off by all meanes that which is offensiue and heauy to the body Thus much shall suffice as touching liuing and sensible creatures Let vs therefore now proceed to the rest of Natures workes THE TVVELFTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proeme THus you see by that which hath bin written before what are the natures as well in generall as particularly in parts of all liuing and sensitiue creatures within the compasse of our knowledge It remaineth now to discourse of those which the earth yeeldeth and euen they likewise are not without a soule in their kind for nothing liues which wanteth it that from thence we may passe to those things that lie hidden within the earth and are to be digged out of it to the end that no worke and benefit of Nature might ouerpasse our hands and be omitted And in truth these treasures of hers lay long couered vnder the ground insomuch as men were persuaded that Woods Trees were the last only goods left vnto vs and bestowed vpon vs by Nature For of the fruit of trees had wee our first food their leaues and branches serued to make vs soft pallats and couches within the caues and with their rinds and bark we clad and couered our nakednesse And euen at this day some Nations there be that liue still in that sort and no otherwise A wonderfull thing therefore it is that from so small ond base beginnings wee should grow to that passe in pride that wee must needs cut through great mountaines for to meet with marble send out as far as to the Seres for silk stuffe to apparell vs diue downe into the bottome of the red sea for pearls and last of all sinke deepe pits euen to the bottom of the earth for the precious Hemerauld For this pride and vanitie of ours we haue deuised means to pierce and wound our eares because forsooth it would not serue our turns to we are costly pearles and rich stones in carkanets about our necke borders vpon the haire of our head bracelets about our arms and rings on our fingers vnlesse they were ingrauen also and cut into the very flâ—…sh of our bodies Well then to follow the course of Nature and the order of our life as meet it is we should wee will treat in the first place of Trees and lay before mens faces the life of the old world and what was their behauior and demeanure at the first in their maner of liuing CHAP. I. ¶ The honour donâ—… in old time to Trees When the Plane-trees were first knowne in Italy and of their nature IN old time Trees were the very temples of the gods and according to that antient manner the plaine and simple peasants of the country sauoring still of antiquity do at this day consecrate to one god or other the goodliest and fairest Trees that they can meet withal And verily we our selues adore not with more reuerence deuotion the stately Images of the gods within our temples made tbough they be of glittering gold and beautifull yuorie than the very groues and tufts of trees wherein we worship the same gods in all religious silence First and formost the antient ceremonie of dedicating this and that kind of Tree to seuerall gods as proper and peculiar vnto them was alwaies obserued and continueth yet to this day For the mighty great Oke named Aesculus is consecrated to Iupiter the Laurell to Apollo the Oliue tree to Minerua the Myrtle to Venus and the Poplar to Hercules Moreouer it is receiued and beleeued generally That the Syluanes and Faunes yea and certaine goddesses are appropriate and assigned to woods and sorrests yea there is attributed vnto those places a certain diuine power and godhead there to inhabit as well as vnto heauen the proper seate for other gods and goddesses Afterwards in processe of time men began to taste also the fruit of Trees and found therein a juice without all comparison more lenitiue and pleasant to the contentment of their nature than that which came of corn and grain for therof made they Oile a singular liquor to refresh and comfort the outward members and parts of the body out of it they pressed wine the onely drinke that giueth strength within and fortifieth the vitall powers From thence gather wee so many fruits yerely growing and comming of themselues without the labour and industry of man And albeit to serue our belly please our tooth we stick not to maintain fight and deale in combat with wild beasts in the forrests although we hazard our selues in the sea to meet with monstrous fishes which are fed with the dead bodies of men cast away by shipwracke and all to furnish and set out the table yet is not the cheare thought good enough vnlesse fruits also be sent vp at the later end that they may haue the honor in al feasts of the second seruice and the banket Besides all this Trees serue our turns for a thousand necessary vses without which our life could not be well maintained With Trees we saile ouer seas into strange lands and by transporting commodities and merchandise too fro we make lands meet together of Trees we build our houses wherein we dwell Trees were the matter in times past whereof were made the images of the gods For as yet no man thought of the costly Anatomy of the elephant neither was their tooth in any account wheras now adaies we make the tressels frames and feet of our tables euen of the same yuory that we see the faces of gods are portraied of as if we had our warrant from them to begin maintain our riot and superfluity in this behalf We find in old Chronicles That the Frenchmen and Gaules took occasion first to come down into Italy to ouerspread the whole country notwithstanding they were beforetime debarred from thence by the impregnable fort as it were and the vnpasseable bulwark of the Alps between because one Elico a Swisser or Heluetian who had made long abode at Rome where he was entertained for his skil in Smiths worke and Carpentry at his return home again into his country brought ouer with him dry figs and Raisons the first fruits also as it were of oile wine for a tast to set their teeth a watering And therefore the French had good reason and might wel be born withall and pardoned for seeking to conquer euen by force of armes those countries where
so late of growth were those trees in his time and so slowly came they forward But now adaies they come vp of kernels and stones set in plots of ground for the purpose and being transplanted againe they beare Oliues the second yeare after Fabianus saith That Oliues loue not to grow either in the coldest or the hottest grounds Virgill hath set downe 3 kind of Oliues to wit Orchitae i. the great round Oliues Radij i. the long Oliues and those which are called Pausiae He saith moreouer That the Oliue trees require no tending or dressing at all and need neither the hooke to be pruned nor the rake and harrow to be moulded ne yet the spade to be digged about Doubtlesse the goodnesse of the soile and the temperature of the climat especially are very requisit and much materiall alone without farther helpe howbeit they vse to be cut and pruned yea they loue also to be scraped polished and clensed between where the branches grow ouer-thicke euen as well as vines and at the same season The time of gathering Oliues ensueth presently vpon the vintage of grapes but greater industry and skil is required to the making and tempering of good oile than about new wine for ye shall haue one and the self same kind of oliue to yeeld a different juice and diuers oiles first and formost of the greene oliue and altogether vnripe there is drawne the Oile oliue which hath of all other the best verdure and in tast excelleth the rest and of this oile the first running that commeth from the presse is most commended and so by degrees better or worse as the oile is drawn before or after out of the presse or according to a late inuention by treading them with mens feet in little panniers and vpon hardles made of small and fine oziers This is a rule The riper that the oliue is the fatter will the oile be and more plentifull but nothing so pleasant in tast And therefore the best season to gather Oliues both for goodnesse and abundance of oile is when they begin to shew black And such halfe-ripe Oliues we in Latine call Drupae and the Greekes Drypetae To conclude it skilleth very much whether the berries be ripe vpon the tree or mellow within their presse also whether the tree be watered that is to say the oliues hanging thereupon be drenched and refreshed with sprinkling water or haue no other moisture than their owne and that which they receiue by dews and raine from heauen CHAP. II. ¶ Of Oyle OIle-Oliue commeth to haue a rank and vnpleasant tast if it be old kept and stale contrary to the nature of wine which is the better for age And the longest time that oile will continue good is but one yere Wherein surely if a man would well consider he may obserue the great prouidence of Nature For seeing that wines are made to seruefor intemperance and drunkennesse there is not that necessitie to drinke much thereof and to spend them out of hand and more than so the daintie tast that they haue when they be stale induceth men to lay them vp and keep them long But contrariwise she would not haue vs make such spare of oile and therefore by reason of the generall vse and need thereof she hath made it vulgar and common to all As touching this benefit and gift of Nature bestowed vpon mankind Italy of all other nations in the world carrieth the name for the goodnesse thereof but principally the territory or county of Venafrum and namely that quarter lying toward Licinia which yeelds the oile called Licinianum wherupon there be no oliues comparable to them of Licinia both for to serue the perfumers in regard of the pleasant smel which that oile doth giue so appropriat vnto their ointments as also to furnish the kitchin and the table as they say that be fine-toothed haue a delicate taste which is the cause I say that this oile carrieth the only name And yet these oliues of Licinia haue this priuiledge besides that birds loue not to come neere them Next to these Licinian oliues the question is between them of Istria Baetica whether of them should go away with the price for their goodnesse and hard it is to say which is the better of the two A third degree there is vnder these twoaboue named namely of the Oliues that come from all other prouinces setting aside the fertile soile of that tract in Africke which yeeldeth so great increase of corn For it should seeme that Nature hath set it apart for graine onely seeing it so fruitfull that way and hath not so much enuied it the benefit of wine and oile which she hath denied those parts as thought it sufficient that they might glory and haue the name for their haruests As for other points belonging to oliues men haue erred and bin deceiued very much neither is there in any part concerning our life to be found more confusion than is therein as we will shew and declare hereafter CHAP. III. ¶ The nature of the Oliue berries also of yong Oliue Plants THis fruit called the Oliue consists of a stone or kernell of oile a fleshy substance and the lees or dregs now by these lees called in Latine Amurca I mean the bitter liquor of the grounds that the oile yeelds It comes of abundance of water and therefore as in time of drought there is least thereof so in a rainy and watery constitution you shall haue store and plenty As for the proper juice of the oliue it is their oile and the chiefe is that which comes of those that are vnripe like as we haue shewed before when we treated of Ompharium or the Oliue verjuice This oilie substance doth increase and augment within the Oliue vntill the rising of the star Arcturus to wit 16 daies before the Calends of October after which time their stones and carnous matter about them do rather thriue But marke when there followes a glut of raine and wet weather presently vpon a dry season the oile in them doth corrupt and turn all well neare into the lees aboue said which may easily be perceiued by the colour for it causeth the Oliue berrie to looke blacke And therefore when this blacknesse begins to appeare it is a sign that they haue somwhat although very little of the lees but before that they had non at all And herein men are foulely dceiued taking this marke for the beginning of their ripenesse which blacke hew indeed is a signe of their corruption and betokens that then they are in the way to be stark naught They erre also in this that they suppose an Oliue the more grown it is in carnositie to be the fuller of oile whereas in very truth all the good juice â—…n them is converted then into the grosse and corpulent substance thereof and thereby also the stone and kernell come to be big and massie which is the cause that they had need of watering at that
naturally into the world with their heads forward 304. i Querquetulana a gate in Rome 462. g Quinces why called Cydonia 436. g Quinces of diuers kindes ibid. h. how to be kept and preserued 440. i Quincius Cincinnatus sent for from the plough to be Dictatour of Rome 552. g Quintiana Prata 552. g Quisquilium See Cusculeum R A RAdij what oliues 429. c Radish keepeth away drunkennesse 242. l Ragged apples 438. l Raine food of trees 500. i Raine in midsummer nought for vines ibid. k Raine in Winter most in season for plants 501. b Raine at the same time helpeth not all trees ibid. Raine by night better than by day 501. e Raine how it is caused 20. k Raine strange and prodigious of milke bloud brickes tyles c. 27. f. 28. g Raine not at all in some lands 42. h Raine water saued for ordinary vse to drinke 146. m Raine-bow sheweth what weather 612. m Rainebow the nature and reason thereof 28. l. m Ram-fish his manners 262. h Rams and their nature 226. m Rams generally armed with crooked hornes 331. c Ranke corne how to beremedied 576. Rankenesse hurtfull to corne 482. g Rapes and their vse 570. i. k. their plentifull commoditie they grow euery where ibid. k Rapes male and female 570. l Rapes of three sorts 570. m wilde Rapes medicinable 571. a Rapes with what ceremonie to be sowne ibid. b Raspis described 485. f the floures of Raspis medicinable ibid. Ratumena the gate of Rome and whence it tooke that name 222. g Rats of Pontus their nature 216. m a Rat sold for two hundred sesterces 233. a Rauens taught to speake 293. f Rauens their properties 276. i. how they conceiue with young ibid. k a Rauen saluted the Emperour 294. g. solemnely interred ibid. h. his death reuenged by the people of Rome ibid. Rauens employed by an hawker 294. k a Rauen made shift to drinke at a bucket ibid. l Ray killeth wheat 575. a R E Red Deere See Stags Red sea why so called 134. g Reeds of strange bignesse 155. e Reeds where they grow 524. m. they multiplie and encrease of themselues 515. a Reeds and Canes to be set before the Calends of March. ib. Reeds cease to grow at mid-winter ibid. alwaies to be cut in the wane of the Moone 525. b Reeds employed to many vses 482. g Reeds vsed to calfret ships ibid. h Reeds serue Easterlings for arrowes ibid. f Reeds of Italie compared with those of Candie and Picardie for making of shafts ibid. k. l Reeds differ in leafe 483. c what part of the Reed sittest for euery pipe 484. i Reeds for Faulconers poles ibid. Reeds for angle-rods ibid. Reeds for vine pearches ibid. Reeds and canes how to be planted ibid. k Reeds how to be killed 557. a Reremice See Bats Refrivae or Refrinae 569. b Region in Thessalia how it grew to be cold 503. d Attilius Regulus slew a monstrous serpent 199. d Religious reuerence in the knees of men 350. h Remedie against stinging of scorpions 325. c Remedies of trees common and proper 546. l Remedies against sundry maladies in corne 575. c Rennet of a Rabbet medicinable for the flux of the belly 346. k. Report of Hercules and Pyrene or of Laturne is fabulous 51. f Residence vpon land 555. a R H Rhaphanus a venomous shrub 362. l Rhododendron a beast 205. e Rhododendron See Oleander Rhemnius Palaemon an excellent good husband 411. d Rhinoceros what beast it is 205. e his fight with the Elephant ibid. horned in the nose 133. e Rhododaphnis See Oleander Rhodes Island 40. g R I Ricinis 433. f. why so called ibid. Rice corne described 561. b. c. and the vse thereof ibid. Rie 572. l Riuer-horse in some sort his owne physitian 346. l Riuers of a wonderfull and strange nature 45 a. b a Riuer warme in Winter and exceeding cold in Summer 545. a R O Robin Redbreast 287. a Rocke of stone of a strong and wondrous nature 42. h Rockes in Syria burne corne 503. e Royall ointment what it is 383. b Roiot and excesse of Romane Senatours 91. f Romanes kinde and good one to another in old time 4. g Romanes trafficke into India 133. b Romanes excell all nations in all kinde of vertues 176. h Rome diuided into quarters according to woods adioyning 461. f Rooke See Crow Root of an oke taking an acre in compasse 477. e a Root of a rape weighing foure hundred and one pound 570. l. how dressed for the table ibid. how preserued coloured artificially ibid. Roratio a blasting of vines after their blouming 540. i Rosat oile in great request 382. g Rosin trees of six kindes 462. h R V Rubigo in corne what it is 598. i Rubigalia a festiuall holiday 600. g Rue discouered by the Weasill 210. m Rumbotinus a tree 405. b S A SAba Sabota the proper place for frankincense 366 g Sabis a god 368. g Sabines called Sevini and why â—…65 a Sacrifice young beasts when they be in their season 230. g Sagunt a child being borne presently returned into his mothers wombe againe 158. g Saltpeter earth good for plants 503. c Salt cannot be made without mingling of fresh water 46. k Salamander his description and nature 305. e Salamander not distinguished by sex 305. d the Salmon fish 247. a Sallowes See Willowes Samara what it is 468. g Samosatis a citie in Comagene 46. m Sambri people where fourfooted beasts haue no ears 146. k Sandalum what corne 559. d Sandalides Dates 387. d Sangualis what bird 274. h Sapa what it is 416. l Sapa in Aethiopia what it signifieth 147. b Sap of trees See Alburnum Sapium what it is 465. d Sapinus what it is ibid. Sapinus in trees what it is 488. l Sarcocolla a tree and gum 391. d Sarcling what it is and of what vse 580. k Sardis the capitall citie of Tydia 107. e Sardane a shel-fish 244. i Sargus what fish 246. h Sari a shrub 400. k Sarpedon his letters written in papyr 394. l Saturne what he is and nature and motion thereof 5. f Saturne causeth raine c. 19. e Saturne colour 13. c Satyres their shape 96. i Satyres haunt mountaines in India 156. g Satyres what they are 156 g Sauces how they be dangerous 355. e Sauine how it is helped in growing 516. i Sauorie or Cumlabubula found in the land Tortoise 210. l Sauromates eat but one meale of meat in three daies 154. i Sauours different in fruit 449 d Sauce called Garum Sociorum 246. k S C. Scallops 253. d Scallop fish like to the sea vrchin 256 h Scarus a kinde of fish 245. f Scaurus Consuil found out a vaine obseruation of lightening 27. c Scenitae people why so called 139. f Sceptrum See Erysisceptrum Schoenus what measure it is 366. h Sciotericon a diall and the finder out thereof 36. k Scienae fishes 244. h Scincus bred in Nilus 209. b. the vertues thereof in Physicke ibid. in sundry
this property it hath moreouer to stir vp and quicken the Bees and make them more liuely and nimble about their businesse As for the Spiders aforesaid they verily are not so harmful be soon destroied but the Butterflies do the more mischiefe are not so easily rid away Howbeit there is a way to chase them also namely to wait the time when the Mallow doth begin to blossome to take the change of the Moone and chuse a faire and cleare night and then to set vp certaine burning lights just before the Bee-hiues for these Butterflies will couet to flie into the flame But what is to be done when you perceiue that the bees do want victuals then it wil be good to take dry Raisins of the Sun and Figs to stamp them together into a masse and lay it at the entry of the hiue Item It were not amisse to haue certain locks of wool well touzed and carded and those wet drenched in cuit either sodden to the thirds or to two thirds or els seked in honied wine for them to settle vpon and suck Also to set before them in their way the raw carkases of Hens naked and pulled to the bare flesh Moreouer there be certain Summers so dry and continually without raine that the fields want floures to yeeld them food and then must they be serued with the foresaid viands as well as in Winter season When hony is to be taken forth of the hiues the holes and passages for the ingresse and egresse of the bees ought to be well rubbed and besmeared with the herb Melissophyllon and Genista brused and stamped or else the hiues must be compassed about in the middest with branches of the White Vine for feare lest the Bees depart and flie away The vessels whereout hony hath been imploied yea and honey combes would be well rinced and washed in water which being throughly sodden maketh a most wholesome and excellent vineger As touching wax it is made of the combes after the hony is pressed and wrong out of them But first they must be purified and clensed with water and for three daies dried in some darke place vpon the fourth day they are to be dissolued and melted vpon the fire in a new earthen pot neuer occupied before with so much water as will couer the combs and then it should bee strained through a panier of reeds or rushes which done the wax is to be set ouer the fire a second time in the said pot and with the self-same water and sodden again and then it ought to run out of it into other vessels of cold water but those first should be al about within annointed and besmeared with honey The best wax is that which is called Punica i. of Barbary and is white The next in goodnesse is the yellowest and smelleth of hony pure and clean without sophistication such commeth from the country of Pontus and verily I wonder much how this wax should hold good considering the venomous hony whereof it is made In the third place is to be ranged the wax of Candy for this standeth much vpon that matter which they cal Propolis wherof I haue already spoken in the Treatise of Bees and their nature After all these the wax of the Isle Corsyca may be reckoned in the fourth rank which because it is made much of the Box tree is thought to haue a vertue medicinable Now the making working of the first and best Punick white wax is after this manner They take yellow wax and turne it often in the wind without the house in the open aire then they let it seeth in sea-water and namely such as hath bin fet far from the shore out of the very deep putting thereto Niter this done they scum off the floure that is to say the whitest of it with spoons this cream as it wer they change into another vessell which hath a little cold water in it Then once againe they boyle it in sea-water by it selfe alone and set the vessel by for to coole After they haue done thus three times they let it dry in the open aire vpon an hurdle of rushes in the Sun and Moon both night and day and this ordering bringeth it to be faire and white Now in the drying for feare that it should melt they couer it all ouer with a fine Linnen cloth But if they would haue it to be exceeding white indeed they seeth it yet once more after it hath bin thus sunned and mooned In truth this Punick white wax is simply the best to be vsed about medicines If one be disposed to make wax black let him put therto the ashes of paper like as with an addition or Orchanet it will be red Moreouer wax may be brought into all manner of colours for painters limners and enamellers and such curious artificers to represent the forme and similitude of any thing they list And for a thousand other purposes men haue vse thereof but principally to preserue their walls and armors withall All other things as touching Hony and Bees haue bin handled already in the peculiar Treatise to them and their nature belonging Here an end therefore of Gardens and Gardinage CHAP. XV. ¶ Of hearbs which come vp of themselues and such especially as be armed with prickes IT remaineth now to speake of certain wild herbs growing of their own accord which in many nations serue for the kitchin and principally in Aegypt for this countrey although it bee most plentifull in corne yet may seem to haue least need thereof and of all nations vnder heauen best able to liue without the same so well stored it is with hearbs wherof the people doth ordinarily feed whereas in Italy here we know as few of that kind good to be eaten namely Strawberries Tanus Ruscus Crestemarine or Sampire as also Batis Hortensiana which some call French Sperage we haue also the wild Parsnep of the medowes and the Hop but wee vse them rather for pleasure and delight and to giue contentment to ourtast than for any necessary food to maintain life But to come again to Egypt there is to be found the noblest plant of all others Colocasia which some name Cyamos i. the Egyptian beane this herbe they gather and cut downe out of the riuer Nilus it putteth forth a main stem which being sodden yeeldeth in the eating and chewing a certaine threddy matter or woolly substance drawing out in manner of a cob-web but the stalk as it groweth vp amid the leaues maketh a faire and goodly shew for indeed the said leaues be exceeding large and comparable to the broadest that any tree beareth resembling those for all the world of the Clote or great Burr he growing in our rivers which we cal Personata A wonderful thing it is to see what store they in Aegypt set by the commodities that their riuer Nilus doth afford for of the leaues of this Colocasia plaited infolded naturally one within another they
euery place But other Writers who had not sought so far into the matter nor aduisedly considered of it gaue it the name of Manicon But those that of a naughty mind cared not secretly to impoison the whole world haue hidden the danger thereof and term it by a name pretending no harm some calling it Neuris others Perisson But as I protested before I think it not good to be too curious and busie about the description of this herb notwithstanding I might seem to giue a good caueat of it by further particularizing thereof Well the very second kind which they cal Halicacabus is bad enough for it is more soporiferous than Opium and sooner casteth a man into a dead sleep that he shal neuer rise again Some name it Morion others Moly and yet it hath not wanted those that haue thought it praise-worthy for Diocles and Euenor haue highly commended it and Tamaristus verily hath not stuck to write verses in the commendation of it A wonderfull thing that men should so far ouerpasse themselues and forget all honesty and plaine dealing for they say forsooth that a collusion made of this herbe confirmeth the teeth that be loose in the head if the mouth be washed therewith And one onely fault they found in Halicacabus otherwise it might be praised without exception that if the said collution were long continued it would trouble the brain bring them that vsed it to foolerie idlenesse of head But for mine own part my meaning is not to set down any such receits and remedies which may bring a further danger with them than the very discase it selfe for which they were deuised The third kind also is commended for to be eaten as meate although the garden Morell is preferred before it in pleasantnesse of 〈◊〉 Moreouer Xenocrates auoucheth That there is no maladie incident to our bodâ—… but the â—…id Morâ—… is good for it Howbeit I make not so great reckoning and account of all the helâ—… that these and such like herbes may afford as I doe make conscience to deliuer them in writing especially seeing we haue so great store of safe and harmlesse medicines which we may be sure can do no hurt Indeed the root of Halicacabus they vse to drinke and make no bones at it who would be known for great Prophets to foretell future things and therefore it is alone for them to be seen furious and raging the better to colour their knauerie and lead the world by the nose in a superstitious conceit and persuasion of their diuine gift of prophesie and so to feed men still in their folly But what is the remedie when a man is thus ouertaken for surely I am better content to deliuer that Euen to giue the party thus intoxicate a great quantity of Mede or honied water and to cause him to drink it off as hot as he can Neither wil I ouerpasse this one thing besides That Halicacabus is so aduerse vnto the nature of the Aspis that if the root thereof be held any thing neere vnto the said serpent it will bring asleepe and mortifie that venomous creature which by a soporiferòus power that it hath also of the own casteth a man into a deadly sleep and killeth him therewith And therefore to conclude hereupon it commeth that the same root bruised and applied with oile is a soueraigne and present remedie to them who are stung by the foresaid Aspis CHAP. XXXII ¶ Of Corchorum and Cnicus THey of Alexandria in Egypt vse to eat ordinarily of Corchorum This herb hath leaues inwrapped and infolded one within another after the maner of the Mulberry Good it is as they say for the midriffe and the parts about the heart also to recouer haire that is fallen away by some infirmitie and likewise for the red pimples or fauce-flegme in the face I reade moreouer that the skab or mange in kine and oxen is most speedily cured thereby And Nicander verily doth report that it helpeth the stinging of serpents if it be vsed before it be in the floure As touching Cnicus otherwise called Atractylis an herb appropriate to the land of Egypt I would thinke it meet not to vse many words about it but that it yeeldeth a soueraigne remedie against the poison of venomous beasts yea and the dangerous Mushroms if a man haue eaten them This is certain and an approued experiment That whosoeuer are wounded by the sting of Scorpions shall neuer feele smart or paine so long as they hold that herb in their hand CHAP. XXXIII ¶ Of Persoluta THe Chaplet-makers in Egypt set great store by Persoluta also which they sow and plant in their gardens onely for to make Coronets and Guirlands Two kindes there be of it the male and the female It is said That the one as well as the other if it bee put vnder man or woman in bed they shal haue no minde nor power at all to play at Venus game and specially the man CHAP. XXXIV ¶ Of Measures and Weights ANd forasmuch as we shall haue occasion oftentimes in setting downe weights and measures to vse Greeke vocables I care not much euen in this place to interpret those words once for all First and foremost the Atticke Drachma for all Physitians in manner go by the poise of Athens doth peise iust a Roman siluer denier and the same weigheth also six Oboli now one Obulus is as much in weight as ten Chalci A Cyathus of it selfe alone commeth to ten drams in weight When you shal reade the measure of Acetabulum take it for the fourth part of Hemina that is to say fifteen drams To conclude Mna which we in Latine call Mina amounteth iust to an hundred drams Atticke THE TVVENTY SECOND BOOK OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proeme A Man would thinke who did but reade the former Booke That dame Nature and the Earth both had done their parts and shewed their wonderfull perfection sufficiently if he considered withall the admirable vertues of so many herbes which they haue brought forth and bestowed vpon mankinde as well for pleasure as profit But see what a deale of riches more is yet behind and how the same as it is harder to be found so it is in effect more miraculous As for those Simples whereof wee haue already written for the most part they are such as haue serued our turne at the bourd or else in regard of their beauty odor and smell haue enduced vs to search farther into them and to make triall of their manifold vertues and operations in Physick But yet there remain behind many more and those so powerfull that they proue euidently vnto vs how Nature hath produced nothing in vaine and without some cause although the same be occult and hidden many times from vs and reserued only in her closet and secret counsell CHAP. I. ¶ Of certaine Nations which vse herbs for procuring and preseruing of beauty CEertes I do find and obserue that
was neuer wont to go to bed and sleepe without a standing cup of gold vnder his pillow also That Agnon Teius a great captain vnder Alexander the Great was giuen to such wastfull prodigality as to fasten his shooes and pantophles with buckles of gold But Antony aboue named to the contumelie and contempt of Nature abused gold and imploied it to the basest seruice that is an act as much as any other deseruing proscription and outlawing indeed But among diuers things besides I wonder much at this That the people of Rome vpon the conquest of so many Nations imposed vpon them a tribute to be paied alwaies in siluer neuer made mention of gold as for example when Carthage was subdued Annibal vanquished the Carthaginians were injoined for 50 yeres together to make paiment yerely of 12000 pound of siluer only and no gold at all Neither can it be thought that there was little gold at that time to be had abroad in the world for Midas and Croesus both were possest of infinit sums and huge masses of gold and Cyrus vpon his conquest of Asia met with 34000 pound weight of gold besides the golden plate and vessell and other gold which he found ready wrought and among the rest certain leaues a Plane and a vine-tree both of beaten gold In the pillage also of this victory he gaue away 500000 talents of siluer and one standing cup that he tooke from Semiramis that weighed 15 talents And Varro mine Author saith That the poise of the Aegyptian talent ariseth to So pound Besides there had raigned before time ouer the Colchians Salauces and one Esubopes who hauing newly broken vp a piece of ground in the Samnians country is reported to haue gotten out thereof great store of siluer and gold notwithstanding that the whole kingdome is renowned for the golden fleeces there And verily this prince had the arched and embowed roufes of his pallace made of siluer and gold the beames and pillars also sustaining the said building yea the jambes posts principals and standards all of the same mettall namely after he had vanquished Sesostres K. of Aegypt so proud a prince that as Chronicles make mention he was wont euery yere to haue one or other as the lot fell out of those kings who were his tributaries and did homage to him for to draw in his charriot like horses when he was disposed to ride in triumph These and such like things haue bin thought fabulous tales but haue not our Romans done semblable acts which the age and posterity hereafter wil think incredible Caesar afterwards Dictatour was the first that in his Aedileship when hee exhibited a solemne memoriall in the honour of his father departed did furnish the whole Cirque and shew-place with all things meet for such a solemnity of cleane siluer insomuch as the chasing staues and bore-speares were of siluer wherewith the wild beasts were assaulted a spectacle neuer seene before And not long after C. Antonius set forth his plaies when he was Aedile vpon a stage or scaffold of siluer after whose example diuers free cities and townes of the empire haue don the like Semblably L. Muraena and C. Caligula the Emperor erected a frame or pageant to go and rise vp of it selfe with vices supporting images and jewels in the place of publick pastimes which was thought to haue in it 124000 pound of siluer Claudius Caesar who succeeded Emperor after him when he rode in triumph for the conquest of Brittaine among other crownes of beaten gold shewed two that were principall the one of 7 pound weight which high Spaine had giuen to him the other weighing 9 pounds sent vnto him as a Present from that part of Gaule which is called Comata as appeared by the inscriptions and titles which they bare Nero his successour to shew vnto Tyridates king of Armenia what abundance of treasure he had kept the great Theatre of Pompeius for one whole day couered all ouer with gold But what was that furniture in comparison of his golden house which tooke vp a great part of the city and seemed as it were to compasse it about In that yeare when Sex Iulius and Lucius Aurelius were Consuls which fell out to be 7 yeares before the third Punicke warre there was found in the treasury or chamber of Rome 700026 pound weight of gold in Masse or Ingots of siluer likewise in Bullion 92000 pound weight besides the coine and ready money which amounted to 375000 Sesterces The yeare wherein Sex Iulius and L. Marcius were Consuls to wit in the beginning of the sociall warre against the Marcians and other Romane allies the treasure of Rome arose to 846 pounds of gold in Bullion C. Caesar at his first entrance into the city of Rome when the ciuill war between him and Pompey was begun took out of the citie chamber 15000 wedges or ingots of gold 35000 lumps or masses of siluer and in ready money 40000 Sesterces And to say a truth neuer was the city of Rome wealthier than at this time Moreouer Aemylius Paulus after he had defeated and vanquished Perseus the Macedonian King brought into the Treasurie of the Citie a bootie of 3000 pound of gold in weight After which time the common people of Rome had neuer any tributes or taxes leuied of them by the State Moreouer this is to be obserued That after the ouerthrow and destruction of Carthage the beames began first to be guilded within the temple of the Capitoll whiles Lu. Mummius was Censor And now adaies you shall not see any good house of a priuat man but it is laid thicke and couered ouer with gold Nay the brauery of men hath not staid so but they haue proceeded to the arched and embowed roufs to the walls likewise of their houses which we may see euery where as wel and throughly guisded as the siluer plate vpon their cupbourds And yet Catulus was diuersly thought of in the age wherein he liued because he was the first that gilded the brasen tiles of the Capitoll Touching the first inuentors as well of gold as also of all other mettals to speake of I haue already written in my seuenth booke As for the estimation of this mettall that it should bee chiefe as it is I suppose it proceedeth not from the colour for siluer hath a brighter lustre more like to the day and in this respect more agreeable to the ensignes of war than that of gold because it glittereth and shineth farther off and hereby is their errour manifestly conuinced who commend the colour of gold in this regard that it resembleth the starres for well it is knowne that their colour is not reputed richest either in precious stones or in many things besides Neither is gold preferred before other mettals because the matter is more weighty or pliable than the rest for lead surmounterh it both in the one and the other But I hold that the reputation which it hath
than wine Calcine the same or torrifie it you shal find it more effectuall in all operations aforesaid As for Sory that which is brought out of Aegypt is counted best and farre better than the Cyprian Spanish or African neuerthelesse some hold that which commeth from Cypresse to bemore appropriat to the cure of the eies But of what country soeuer it be the principall is that which to smell vnto is of the rankest and most stinking sauour the same also in the bruising will grow black and be vncteous or fatty and such lightly is hollow in manner of a spunge A minerall this is altogether hurtfull to the stomack and so contrary vnto the nature of it that to some the very smell thereof is enough to ouerturne it and to cause vomit and especially the Aegyptian Sory is of this operation That which commeth from other nations when it is broken or braied shineth againe Touching Mysy it is of a more hard and stony nature than Sory but good it is for the tooth ache if either it be held in the mouth or a collution be made therewith to wash the teeth and gums also it healeth the grieuous and irke some sores of the mouth yea though they grow to be cancerous and corrosiue The manner is to burne and calcine it vpon coles of fire as Chalcitis Some neuerthelesse haue written that Mysy is engendred by the means of a fire made with pine wood in the hollow veins or mines of brasse ore and they hold that the cinders or ashes of this pine fewell being mingled with the yellow greines or floure of the said mettall is that which begetteth Mysy But the truth is of the foresaid stone or ore it is ingendered naturally howbeit a thing it is by it selfe gathered distinct and separat from it apart and the best is that which is found in the mines and forges of Cypresse You shall know it by these signes break it for crumble it will there appeare within it certain sparks shining like gold and in the braying or stamping it runneth into the nature of a sand or earth like vnto Chalcitis This Mysy is the Minerall that they put to gold ore when it is to be tried and purified To come vnto the medicinable vertues thereof being infused or powred into the eares with oile of roses it cureth the running with matter the same being applied in a frontal within wool to the head easeth the ach thereof it doth extenuat also and subtiliat the asperities of the eies such especially as be inueterat and haue continued long but soueraigne it is found to bee for the inflammation or swelling of the tonsils for the squinancy and all impostumat sores growne to suppuration For which purpose prepared it would be in this wise and after this proportion Take of it 16 drams seeth the same in one hemin of vineger with some addition of hony vntil it begin to yeeld and relent and in this manner ordred it serueth in cases aforesaid but whensoeuer need requireth to mollifie the violence thereof and make it more mild it were good to wet it with some sprinckling of hony If there be a lotion or fomentation made with it in vineger it doth consume and eat away the hard callositie in fistuloes and fortifieth greatly the collyries or tents to be made thereof and put it into the concauity of the sore it serueth also for the colyries that be eie-salues it stancheth bloud represseth the malice of fretting humors in corrosiue vlcers and such as do putrifie the excrescence of proud or ranke flesh it taketh downe and consumeth a peculiar property it hath to cure the accidents of the members of generation in men and withall stoppeth the immoderat flux of the moneths in women As concerning Vitrioll which wee call in Latine Atramentum Sutorium â—…i Shooe-makers blacke the Greeks haue fitted it with a name respectiue vnto brasse and by a neere affinity therunto call it Chalcanthum and verily there is not a mineral throughout all the mines of so admirable a nature as it is There haue been found in Spaine certaine pits or standing pooles containing a water of the nature of Vitrioll they vsed to seeth the same putting thereto of other fresh water a like quantitie and poure it into certaine troughs or broad keelers of wood ouer these vessels there be certaine barres of yron or transoms ouerthwart lying fast that they cannot stirre at which there hang downe cords or ropes with stones at the end stretching them outright that they reach to the bottome of the sayd decoction within those keelers to the end that the viscous substance of the water may gather about those cords which you shall see sticking fast thereto in drops congealed in manner of a glasse and it doth represent as it were the forme of grapes and that is Vitrioll Being taken forth and separated from the cords aforesaid they let it dry for the space of thirtie dayes In colour it is blew and carrieth with it a most pleasant and liuely lustre so cleare as a man would take it to bee transparent glasse Of this being infused in water is made that blacke tincture which Curriers and Coruiners occupie in colouring of their leather This Vitrioll is ingendred many waies of the copperesse vein within the mine being hollowed into certaine trenches out of the sides whereof you shal see in the middest of Winter when it is a frost certaine ysickles depending as the drops destilled and grew one to another whereupon this kind of Vitrioll they call Stalagmias and a purer or clearer thing there is not But look what part thereof is whitish of colour but not transparent and the same inclining to the wall floure or white violet the same they call Leucoion There is a Vitrioll likewise made artificially in receits and concauities digged of purpose in the stonie mines of Coperose by occasion of raine water there congealed which had been conueighed into them and gathered a viscous slime or mud in the passage Also there is a cast to make it in maner of salt by letting fresh water into such hollow receptacles and permitting the same to ferment in the sun when he is at the height and full strength of his heat in the summer vntil it be gathered and hardened as salt And therefore some there be who make two sorts of Vitrioll to wit the Naturall or Minerall and the Artificiall this that is made by the industry and art of man is paler than the other and looke how much the colour is abated so much inferior it is in goodnesse The Cyprian Vitrioll is thought best to be imploied in Physicke For to expell the wormes out of the belly it is giuen vnto the patient to the weight of one dram in honey after the manner of an electuary If the same be dissolued and conueyed vp into the nosthrils it purgeth the head In like manner it purgeth the stomacke in case it be taken in hony or honied water