Selected quad for the lemma: reason_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
reason_n	body_n	soul_n	unite_v	2,430	5	9.9794	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13830	The Spanish Mandeuile of miracles. Or The garden of curious flowers VVherin are handled sundry points of humanity, philosophy, diuinitie, and geography, beautified with many strange and pleasant histories. First written in Spanish, by Anthonio De Torquemeda, and out of that tongue translated into English. It was dedicated by the author, to the right honourable and reuerent prelate, Don Diego Sarmento de soto Maior, Bishop of Astorga. &c. It is deuided into sixe treatises, composed in manner of a dialogue, as in the next page shall appeare.; Jardin de flores curiosas. English	Torquemada, Antonio de, fl. 1553-1570.; Lewkenor, Lewis, Sir, d. 1626.; Walker, Ferdinand.	1600 (1600)	STC 24135; ESTC S118471	275,568	332

may be gathered that put the case that Paradise stood towards any part of the East yet could not the same be far off frō the Citties of Ierusalem Tyre because he nameth iointly together Charam Heden being a thing most manifest that Charam is a Prouince in Chaldae or Mesopotamia which appeareth by the words of Genesis saying God took thē out of Vra Prouince of the Chaldaeans that they might go to Canaan they cam euen to Charam these are euident reasons to proue that Paradise stood in that Coūtry that if as yet it be it standeth there it maketh the better with this opinion because the two Riuers Tygris Euphrates bath and water that Prouince Besides we may suppose that the Arke of Noe during the 40. dayes of the flood while it floted vpō the water being so great huge built so monstrous as appeareth by the holy scripture to no other end then that it should not sink made no very long voyage which staying setling it selfe on the mountaines of Armenia is a token that Noes biding was not farre from thence of the other side it is certaine that his habitation was not far off from that part where Paradice was which by consequence could not be farre off from Armenia vpon which these prouinces before rehearsed doe border and that the Country where Paradice stood was enhabited appeareth by these words of S. Chrisostome Before the flood saith he men knew the place where Paradice stood the way to goe vnto the same But after the deluge they found thēselues out of the knowledge thereof neyther could Noe or any of his Successors remēber or find out the place where it had beene And seeing that Chrisostom saith that it was neuer afterwards knowne neither can we know if it still remained or if it were dissolued for standing in part where notice might haue been had thereof LV. Indeed if Paradice should be in a place so neere vnto vs how were it possible that no man should haue knowledge thereof or at the least of the place where it might stand AN. To this answereth Eugubinus that granting his former opiniō to be true or that Paradice was planted in a flat ground or at least not so high as other Doctors affirme then certainly it was destroyed by the waters of the flood God through our offences not permitting a thing so notable of so great perfection to remaine amongst vs in the world LV. It seemeth not vnto me that Eugubinus hath reason to gainsay the opinion of so many Doctors agreeing all in one Strabo being both a Historiographer and a Diuine writeth that the sword with which God placed the Seraphin at the gate of Paradice was called Versatilis which is as much to say as turning because it could turn back as it did when it gaue place of entry to Elias Enoch though the same be otherwise vnderstood of Nicolaus de Lyra who saith that Torrida Zona is the firy sword which the Seraphin held whose exceeding furious heate defended that passage frō all men liuing But this is out of date seeing the industry of this our age hath found the same to be passable BE. I dare not determinatly affirme whether Elias cam out of terestrial Paradice or any other place when he was speaking with Christ at his transfiguration for it is generally held as a thing most certain indubitable that Elias where so euer he be is in body and soule AN. Truly there are for the maintenance of each of these opinions so many reasons that it is best not to trouble our wits withall but to leaue the censure of thē to wiser men greater Doctors then we are only one thing remaineth the which truly if it were in my power I would not permit that so many fables shold be set forth divulged as there are as that which is written in the life of S. Amasus that hee stoode so many yeeres at the gates thereof and also in a treatise of S. Patricks Purgatory where it is written that a Gentleman entring in passed through the same into earthly Paradice for in such matters no man ought to be so hardy as to affirme any thing but that which is knowne to be true and approoued LV. In good sooth you haue great reason but now seeing you haue sayde as much as may be about the situation of Paradice goe forward with that of the Riuers which come from thence a matter vnlesse I be deceaued of no lesse difficulty then the before rehearsed AN. I assure you it is such that I should haue been glad if you had ouerslipped it doubting least I shall be vnable to satisfie your expectation for as Eugubinus sayeth there is so great and so intricate a difficulty heerein that he is hardly able to vnwinde him selfe there out whom of force in this matter I must follow for as for the other Authors which write heereof it seemeth that they stay at the halfe carere without reaching to the end of the course To begin therefore it is sayd in Genesis that there issued a Riuer out of Paradice deuiding it selfe into foure parts the which were Gion Fison Tygris and Euphrates But seeing the difficulty of the seate and place of paradice cannot clearely be determined much lesse can this be of the foure Riuers which issue thence especially knowing at this present that their Springs and risings are in diuers different parts of the world yet for all this sifting and bolting out the truth we will approach as neere it as we may This Riuer which deuided it selfe into foure first issued out of the place of delights which was according to Eugubinus the Prouince of Heden and from thence entered to inundate Paradice whence comming forth it made this deuision It is manifest that the first part therof called Gion is the same which we now call Ganges for this is it which watreth the land of Heuylath The second Riuer Fyson is without all doubt that which wee now call Nilus seeing there is no other which watereth and compasseth about the Land of Aethiopia as the text it selfe sayeth As for Tygris Euphrates they retaine yet their selfe same first names and runne along the Country of the Assirians and of these two last it may be sayde that they rise or at the least that the first Land which they water is the same which according to that before alleaged may be called the prouince of Heden BER These two Riuers are by all Cosmographers described to haue their risings in the Mountaine Taurus in Armenia and it is true that they vvater the prouince of the Assirians but theyr rysing and beginning is farre from thence as saith Strabo by these words Euphrates and Tygris rise in the Mountaine Taurus and compassing about Mesapotamia ioyne themselues together by Babylon and from thence goe to enter into the Persian Sea the spring of Euphrates is on the North side of

Garden into which the vision entred and Ayola after him but because there was in the midst thereof a great deepe Well Ayola stayed feating least the vision shold turne vpon him doe him some outrage vvhich the vision perceauing made signes that he shold not be afraid as it were requesting him to goe with him to a certaine place of the garden towards which he pointed whether they were no sooner come but the vision vanished sodainly away Ayola beeing alone began to call and coniure him making great protestations that if there were any thing in vvhich he might stand him in sted he was there ready to performe the same and that there should be in him no fault at all but staying there awhile and seeing not hearing any thing more he aduised to pull vp foure or fiue handfuls of grasse herbes in the selfe same place where himselfe thought that the vision vanished hauing done which hee returned and awaked his companions whom he found both soundly sleeping They looking vp vpon him sawe him so altered and his colour so changed that they verily thought he would there haue ended his life whereupon they rose vp and forced him to eate of a conserue which they had and to drinke a little wine then laying him downe on his bedde they asked him what was the cause of this his deadly alteration of looke wherupon he told them all that had happened beseeching them to keepe it secret because in reuealing it to others they shoulde neuer be beleeued But as these things are hard to be kept secret so one of them told it in a place whence it was knowne throughout the whole Citty and came at last to the hearing of the chiefe Magistrate who endeuouring to sound out the truth therof commaunded Ayola by solemne oath to declare the particularitie of each thing which he had seene who did so making this former relation The Gouernour hearing him tell the same with such assurance went with others of the Towne to the same place of the Garden where according as hee had told them they founde a great heape of withered grasse in which commaunding certaine men to digge with spytters they founde and that not very deepe vnder the grounde a graue and in the same a carkas with all the markes declared by Ayola which was the cause that his whole report was credited to be true but seeking to enquire and learne what body the same so buried should be so encheyned and exceeding in greatnes the ordinary stature of other men they founde no man that could expresly satisfie them therein though there were diuers old tales told of the predicessours of the owner of that house The Gouernour caused incontinently the carkas to be taken vp and buried in a Church from which time forward there were neuer any fearefull visions or noyses seen or heard more in that house Ayola returned afterwardes into Spayne and was prouided through his learning of many offices vnder the Crowne and his sonne after him in our time was a man of great sway and authoritie in this Country LV. It seemeth that Ayolas courage was farre better then Costillas seeing the one dyed through feare and the other remayned liuing but I would faine vnderstande in what sort thys Vision might appeare which seemeth not to be a matter of so great misterie AN. At least the Phylosophers and Physitions cannot attribute it to the abundance of melancholie because it appeared by the carkas which they found buried that the same vision was truly and substancially seene by Ayola and not represented in his fancie And if there were here any Diuines I dare vndertake there would not want diuersity of opinions for some would say that it was the worke of the deuill to no other end then to mocke the people in forming to himselfe a body of ayre or earth of the same figure like the carkas that lay buried Others woulde rather maintaine the same to be a good Angell dooing so to the intent that the same body whose soule was perchaunce in heauen might enioy sacred buriall neither woulde they want reasons for maintenaunce of their opinions euery man may therfore beleeue herein as pleaseth him without offending but howsoeuer it vvere by a good or euill Angell it was by the wil and sufferaunce of God and for my part I take it to be the surest to iudge alwayes the best BE. Your reason is good trulie this matter is not without some great mistery which vvee vnderstand not and therefore let vs spend no more time in altercation about it AN. Many thinges haue hapned and happen daily in the world to search the depth and bottom of whose secrets were great presumption at which though som times by signes and tokens we may giue a gesse yet we must alwayes thinke that there is some thing hidden from vs and of this sort is that which hapned to a Gentleman in thys our Spayne whose name for the foulenes of his endeuour and many respects beside I wil conceale and the name also of the towne where it hapned This Gentleman being very rich noble delt in matters of dishonest loue with a Nun the which to th' end shee might enioy his abhominable embracements willed him to make a key like vnto that of the Church doore and shee would finde time and meanes through her turne which shee had about the seruice of the Sachristie and other such occasions to meete him there where they both might satiate theyr filthy lusts and incestuous desires The Gentleman exceedingly reioycing at this match caused two keyes to be made the one for the doore of the Church Portall and an other of the Church doore it selfe which beeing doone because it was somewhat farre from his house hee tooke one night his horse and for the more secrecie of the matter rode thither alone being come thither about midnight leaping of his horse and tying him by the reynes of the bridle to a conuenient place he went towards the Monastery of which opening the first doore of the Portall hee founde that of the Church open of it selfe and in the Church a great light and brightnes of Torches and Wax candels and withall he heard voyces as it were of men singing and doing the funerall seruice of some one that was deceased at which being amazed he drew neerer better to behold the manner therof where he might see the Church to be full of Fryers and Priests singing these obsequies hauing in the midst of them a coffin couered with blacke about which were many light tapers burning each of the Friers Priestes and many other men besides that seemed to assist at these funerals hauing also a waxcandle burning in their hands but his greatest astonishment of all vvas that he knew not one of thē after hee had remained a while beholding thē he approched neere one of the Friers asked him for whom those honorable solemnities were done vvho answered him that such a gentleman naming his

leaue by turne one alwaies waking as their Sentinel or watchman the which to auoyde sleeping standeth vpon one foote only lifting vp the other holding therin a stone the fall of which awaketh her if she should chance to sleep so that surely in my iudgement this warie and prouident carefulnesse of theirs to preserue themselues from such dangers as might otherwise at vnawares fal vpon them while they sleepe can by no meanes be without some vse of reason or vnderstanding AN. I confesse that all these things alleadged in your replycation are true but not that they do them with vnderstanding election of good from euil or of that which is hurtfull and noisom from that which is wholsom profitable as for reason it is more then manifest that they haue thereof no vse at al for only man is a creature resonable neither can that of theirs by any means be called vnderstanding though they seeme in these operations which you haue said to haue vse thereof for vnderstanding is so conioyned vnited with reason that the one cannot be without the other Nothing I say can vnderstand but that which hath the vse of reason nor any thing haue reason but that which vnderstandeth This therefore in those beasts which seemeth to be reason vnderstanding is a liuely instinct with which nature hath created them more thē others that are more brutish haue the power of phantasie more grosse dark which is the vertue that worketh in them with that imaginatiō by the which they are guided to put the same in effect and this proceedeth as saith Albertꝰ Magnꝰ in his eyght chapter De animalibus not that the wilines sagacity and craft of brute beastes is more in one then in another because they haue reason or vnderstanding in those thinges which they do but because their complexion is purer better and theyr sences of more perfection and because also the Caelestiall bodies haue better influence into them through which theyr appetite is better guided by instinct and Nature So that we may heereupon inferre that all theyr workes are done by onely appetite fancie and the vertue imaginatiue which mooueth them so that seeing all this is doone without reason or vnderstanding or purpose or intention directed to any ende it cannot bee saide that this definiton of Fortune is competent or appliable to brute beastes Though many other reasons and arguments might be alleaged about this matter yet this that is already sayd shall suffise seeing we pretende no farder then to knowe the difference betweene Chaunce and Fortune the rest we will leaue to be debated of by the Phylosophers LVD I throughly vnderstand all that which you haue sayd and the Phylosophers opinion also concerning the same but I see that that these words are dailie vsed farre wide from theyr definition and opinion for in naming Fortune we neuer marke whether the thing be done with any purpose or to any end but rather the contrary for we vse this worde so generally attributing thereunto all accidents whatsoeuer that we make no difference of one from an other and therefore Tully in his Offices Great sayth hee is the sway of Fortune in prosperity in aduersitie who knoweth not her force Whiles wee enioy her fauourable prosperous winde wee attaine vnto the fruition of our desires when otherwise we are afflicted and full of miseries so that he maketh no difference what is an accidentall cause vvhat is not neyther bindeth he her to things onely done contrarie to the purpose and pretended ende as for example when a Prince with a little Army presenteth battel to another whose Army and force is farre in number more puissant it is manifest that his meaning is to doe the best he can and his intention firme to obtayne victory otherwise he would neuer put himselfe in so apparant a danger which if hee according to his hope obtayne nothing hapneth therein vnto him contrarie to the purpose and meaning which he had but hee attayneth the end for which hee hazarded the battaile yet for all this we let not to say that hee had good fortune to ouercome so mighty an Army with so slender forces if one should goe to Rome with purpose to be made a Bishoppe beeing of so small merrite that there were no reason at all why hee should hope to obtaine so great a dignity yet in comming to be one we may well say that Fortune was fauourable vnto him therin and so when Iulius Caesar in his warres against Pompey being in Durazo where he attended a supply of Souldiours without the which his party was not strong enough to encounter with Pompey seeing that they came not without trusting any man else determined himselfe in person disguised and vnknowne to goe fetch them according to which resolution putting himselfe into a Fisher-mans boate thrust off from the shore and began to passe the straight but the water being rough and the tempest violent his Pilot the poore Fisher-man feared drowning would faine haue turned back againe and was therein very obstinate which Caesar by no meanes permitting him to doe after many perswasions and threatnings seeing him still perseuer in his feare at last be of good courage man quoth he and passe on without feare for thou carriest with thee the good Fortune of Caesar. It is manifest that his chiefe purpose and meaning in this ciuill warre was as the sequel shewed to obtaine alone the Empire which he afterwards did and yet in common course of speech wee let not to say that his good Fortune aduaunced him to that estate What shall we say of Caesar Augustus who from that very instant that Iulius Caesar was slaine had presently a meaning to succeed him in the Empire employing al his thought care and imagination about the compassing thereof and at last obtayned it indeede according to his pretence from the first without any contrary accident vnexpected Lucke or sodaine Chaunce and yet for all that neither was he forgetfull to giue thankes vnto Fortune neither erre we in calling him Fortunate for they were wont to say in an old Prouerb that there was neuer any Emperour more vertuous then Traiane nor more Fortunate then Octauian which was the same Augustus Caesar of whom we speake And now daily wee see this name of Fortune so commonly vsed that in a manner the rule and signeury of all worldly thinges seemeth to be attributed vnto her as though it were in her power to guide direct them at her pleasure and so saith Salust that Fortune dominateth ouer all thinges and Ouid that Fortune giueth and taketh away whatsoeuer pleaseth her and Virgil attributeth vnto her authority ouer all humaine matters bee they wrought by accidentall causes or fall they out aunswerable to our desire according to that which we procure and seeke AN. That which Aristotle saith is in true Philosophy which though we vnderstand yet we apply not well for Fortune is not

bee a bondslaue and such a one mee thinkes may with reason say that his Destenie placed him in that seruitude and bondage because hee came not there-vnto by his owne will neyther could hee by any meanes auoy de the same but would by any meanes seeke and procure his freedome if there were anie possibility thereof AN. This obiection may many wayes be aunswered the one is that it was no Accident or Chaunce that happened to this man to serue as a bondslaue because hee was begotten and borne in seruitude and besides there is no impossibility of recouering his liberty for euery day wee see happen sondry newe occasions whereby a slaue may be manumitted and sette free if then it be possible it followeth that there is no forcible Desteny if you will say that it was an accident in his Auncestors to fall into bondage to the end that this man should be borne a slaue I aunswere that it was in their choise and free-will because they might haue gone some whether else and haue refrained that place in which they stood in danger hazard to be made Captiues so that he cannot lay the fault vpon his Destenie but vpon those that might haue remedied the same and did not LU. You leaue me not well satisfied heerein for if I loose perforce my liberty neyther euer was it neyther now is it in my hand to remedy the same neyther am I hee that was any way the occasion thereof I may well say it vvas my Destenie and consequently vvith reason complayne of the same considering that it vvas not in my povver to auoy de it ANT. All that vvhich is not vnpossible may bee sayde auoy dable and if at anie tyme while one remaineth in bondage occasions may happen to recouer his freedome he can by no meanes say that his Destenie forcibly with-holdeth his liberty for though he want it against his will yet hee wanteth it not with impossibility of euer hauing it if he vse such meanes and industry as is requisite for the obtaining thereof For example we see daily manie slaues runne from their Maisters and set themselues at liberty not onely heere with vs but also such as are in captiuitie vnder the Mores and Turkes and if the enterprize which any such one vndertaketh for his liberty succeede not according to his intent it is because hee procured it not in such as was requisite or because it pleased not God to permit his deliuerie for his sinnes and demerrites or some other cause to vs hidden and vnknowne BER Thinke not that you haue here made an end for the principall poynt as yet remaineth If you remember you said that many of the Auncients held opinion that the causes of Desteny working with such necessity proceeded from the second superior caelestiall causes as the influence of the Planets and starres I pray you therefore make vs to vnderstand what is the force of the constellations and in what sort theyr influence worketh as well in vs as in other things for the cōmon opinion is that all things on the earth are gouerned maintained by the Caelestiall bodies whence it commeth that the Astronomers by calculating Natiuities casting figures and other obseruations come to foreknowe and vnderstand many thinges not onely concerning men but also tempests earth-quakes plagues inundations and other such like future calamities AN. It is a thing notorious that the starres haue their influences but not in such sort as the common opinion maintaineth first therfore you must vnderstand that their influence hath no power or force to worke any operation in the soules of men but onely in their bodies the reason whereof is that the soules are farre more noble and of more excellent perfection then the planets and starres so that the constellations being vnto them inferiour in beeing and substance are vnable to worke in them any effect at all That the soules are more noble then the caelestiall bodies S. Thomas proueth in this sort in his Booke against the Gentiles So much more noble saith hee is euery effect as it is neerer in likenes to the cause whence it proceedeth so our soules being liker vnto God then the caelestiall bodies are in beeing Spirits as is the first cause which is God must needs be more excellent then they so that they can haue no influence vnto them nor domination ouer thē the soules remaining alwaies free For though Dionisius sayd that God hath so disposed the whole order of the Vniuerse that all inferior thinges beneath should be gouerned by those that are superior and aboue yet he presently addeth and those that are lesse noble by those that are more noble and though by this reason the soules remaine free yet the bodies doe not so because they are lesse noble then the Sunne the Moone the other heauenly lights and so are subiect to their influences working in them diuers and contrary inclinations some good and some euill which they that seeke to excuse theyr vices and vvicked life call Destenies as though it were not in their power to flie and auoyde them through the libertie of free-will For if we say that Mars doth praedominate in men that are strong and valiant we see that many borne vnder his Planet are timorous and of small courage All those which are borne vnder Venus are not luxurious nor all vnder Iupiter Kings great Princes nor all vnder Mercurie cautelous and craftie neither are all those which are borne vnder the signe of Piscis fishermen and so forth of all the other Signes and Planets in manner that theyr effects are not of force and necessitie but only causing an inclination to those things the which by many wayes and meanes may be disturned altered auoyded chiefely by the disposition and will of the first cause which is God who addeth altereth taketh away at his pleasure the force vigor and influence of those Planets and starres restraining theyr vertue and force or els mouing directing and lightning our minds not to follow those naturall inclinations if they tend to euill and sinister effects The Angels deuils also may doe the same as beeing creatures more noble then the soule the one moouing to good and the other to euill for oftentimes our good Angell is the cause that we refraine those vices to which by the constellation of those heauenly bodies we are inclined and that we follow for our soules profit such waies as are vertuous and good and that wee auoyde those dangers which these influences doe threaten vnto vs. These also may a man of himselfe beware and eschew by discretion and reason for as saith Ptolomie The wise prudent man shall gouerne the starres LVD I confesse all this which you haue said to be true but yet besides the inclinations appetites of men the starres and Planets worke also in another manner as in aduauncing some men and abating others making some prosperous and rich yea

the rest they may sometimes fall out according as by the vertue and property of the signes and planets may be coniectured and iudged yea and sometimes also otherwise because it may please the first cause which imparted vnto them that vertue to change or alter their property or that there may be diuers other causes in the way which may hinder the effect of their influence AN. You haue in few wordes briefly knit vp the very pith and substance of the whole BER Well then let vs leaue this and come to Palmestrers which are they that tell Fortunes by seeing the lines of the inside of the hand whose diuinations they say prooue oftentimes true I would faine therefore know what credite we may giue them AN. I haue great suspition of those who confidently affirme their diuinations by Palmestry that they deale also in Negromancy that the deuill being farre craftier and subtiler then man and through his long experience and by certaine coniectures being able to knowe certaine thinges that are to come doth reueale vnto them the most part of those things for otherwise by the lines of the hand onely it were not possible to diuine so right though somtimes also the things simply thereby coniectured may proue true neyther can the Phisiognomers affirme that the same must needs be true which by their Science appeareth likely to happen For Aristotle which wrote a booke of Phisiognomy entreating of all the signes marks by which the conditions of men may be knowne sayeth that they are but casuall and by Chaunce As for those that seeing the Phisiognomy of a man doe iudge that he must come to be rich or that his end must be the Gallowes or that hee must be drowned and such like such must thinke that they be deceaued and ought therefore to reserue the successes of all thinges to the will of God whereby they may couer their error and remaine excused if the sequell fall otherwise out then they coniectured it should LU. This matter seemeth sufficiently debated of onely out of the former discourse resulteth one doubt which mee thinks were against reason that it should remaine so smothered vp and that is of the speech of Signior Anthonios where he sayd that of the influence of the signes planets and starres are engendered pestilences and new diseases inundations destroying vvhole Countries long drinesse vvhich causeth dearths infirmities scarsity of corne fruit with diuers other the like AN. This is a question in which the Astronomers and Philosophers doe disagree eyther holding of them their seuerall opinions For the Astronomers in community doe hold and affirme that all this which you haue said proceedeth from the constellations and that through their causes these domages do happen vnto men all the other euils also with the which we are afflicted alleadging for the proofe thereof the authority of Ptolome in his Centiloquium The man sayth he that is skilfull in the Science of Astronomy may fore see and auoide many euils to happen according to that which the starres doe shew portend and also they alleadge Gallen in his third book of Iudiciall daies whose words are these Let vs saith hee imagine that a man is borne the good Planets being in Aries and the euill in Taurus there is no doubt to be made but all thinges shall goe prosperously with this man while the Moone shall be in Aries Cancer Libra or Capricornus but when she shall possesse any signe in Quadrat aspect or in Diameter to the signe of Taurus he shall be molested with many troubles and vexations and hee goeth farther and sayth that this man shall begin to be perplexed with many infirmities when so euer the Moone shall be in the signes of Taurus Leo Scorpio or Aquarius and contrarily shall enioy perfect good health while the Moone shall be in the signes of Aries Libra Cancer or Capricornus They recite besides another authority of Auicenna in his fourth booke where he saith the configuration of the caelestiall bodies to be sometimes the cause of pestilentiall infirmities as when Saturne and Mars are in coniunction And so doth Gentil exemplifie it alleaging the selfe same place but what should I trouble my selfe in reciting their authorities when finally there is no Astronomer or Phisition which holdeth not the same but the Philosophers as I haue said maintaine a contrary opinion affirming that no domage or euil can proceede from the Planets signes or starres into the inferiour bodies and so diuine Plato in his Epynomide I surely thinke saith he the starres and all the caelestiall bodies to be a kinde of diuine creatures of a very beautifull body and constituted with a soule most perfect and blessed and to these creatures as farre as I vnderstand must be attributed one of these two things eyther that they and their motions are eternall and without any domageable preiudice or if not yet at the least that their life is so long that it is not necessary for them to haue any longer These are the words of Plato by the which is vnderstood that if the Caelestiall bodies haue no euill in them as beeing diuine pure cleane and sempiternall without any preiudiciall domage and free from all corruption and euill they can then by no means be causers of those domages euils which happen in the world to the inferior bodies Going on farther in the same booke This is sayth he the nature of the stars in sight most beautiful goodly in their moouings obseruing a most magnificent order imparting to inferiour creatures such things as are profitable for them By these authorities they inferre that seeing the starres are of such excellencie and that from them are imparted to creatures things profitable and wholesome they can by no meanes be the occasion of harme or mischiefe theyr nature office which they continuallie vse being contrarie thereunto But farther the same Author goeth on declaring the same more plainly Finally saith hee of all these thinges we may inferre this as a true and conclusiue opinion that it were vnpossible for the heauen the Planets the starres and the caelestiall bodies which appeare therein vnlesse they had a soule or vnlesse they dyd it through God by some exquisite reason to be able to reuolue the yeeres monthes dayes beeing the cause of all our good and so being of our good they cannot be of our euill And this explaneth Calcidiꝰ vpon the same Plato in his Tymaeus by these words Either sayth he all the starres are diuine and good without doing any euill or some of thē onely are euill and domageable But howe can this agree or howe can it be said that in a place so holy and so full of all bounty and goodnes there can be any euill And the starres beeing replenished with caelestiall wisedome euilnes and malice proceeding of the contrary which is folly howe can wee then terme the starres to be malicious or causers of any euill

she willingly condiscending he led her into his Caue whether all the other Apes resorted prouiding her such victuals as they vsed where-with with the water of a Spring neere therevnto she maintained her life a certaine time during the which not being able to make resistance vnlesse she would haue presently been slaine she suffered the Ape to haue the vse of her body in such sort that she grew great and at two seuerall times was deliuered of two Sonnes the which as she her selfe saide and as it was by those that saw them afterwards affirmed spake and had the vse of reason These little boyes being the one of two the other of three yeeres aged it happened that a ship returning out of India passing thereby and being vnfurnished of fresh water the Marriners hauing notice of the Fountaine which was in that Iland and determining thereof to make their prouision set them selues a shore in a Cockbote which the apes perceauing fled into the thickest of the mountaine hiding themselues wherewith the woman emboldened and determining to forsake that abhominable life in the which she had so long time against her will continued ranne forth crying as loud as shee could vnto the Marriners who perceauing her to be a woman attended her and carried her with them to their ship which the Apes discouering gathered presently to the shore in so great a multitude that they seemed to be a whole Army the greater of which through the brutish loue and affection which he beare waded so farre into the Sea after her that hee was almost drowned manifesting by his shrikes and howling how greeuously he took this iniury done him but seeing that it booted not because the Marriners beganne to hoise their sailes and to depart he returned fetching the lesser of the two Boyes in his armes the which entring againe into the water as farre as he could he held a great while aloft aboue water and at last threw into the Sea where it was presently drowned which done he returned backe fetching the other and bringing it to the same place the which in like sort he held a great while aloft as it were threatning to drowne that as hee had done the other The Mariners moued with the Mothers compassion and taking pitty of the seely Boy which in cleare and perfect words cryed after her returned back to take him but the Ape daring not attend them letting the Boy fall into the water returned and fled towards the mountaines with the rest The Boy was drowned before the Marriners could succour him though they vsed their greatest diligence At their returne to the ship the vvoman made relation vnto them of all that happened to her in manner aboue rehearsed which hearing with great amazement they departed thence and at their arriuall in Portugall made report of all that they had seene or vnderstoode in this matter The woman was taken and examined who in each poynt confessing this fore-saide history to be true was condemned to be burnt aliue aswell for breaking the commaundement of her banishment as also for the committing of a sinne so enorme lothsome and detestable But Hieronimo capo de ferro who was afterwards made Cardinall beeing at that instant the Popes Nuncio in Portugall considering that the one of her faults was to saue her life and the other to deliuer her selfe out of the captiuity of these brute beastes and from a sinne so repugnant to her nature conscience humbly beseeched the King to pardon her which was graunted him on condition that shee should spende the rest of her life in a Cloyster seruing God and repenting her former offences AN. I haue hearde this history often and truelie in my iudgement it is no lesse strange then any of those before rehearsed or any other that euer hapned BER That which Iohn de Banos Chronicler of the King of Portugall writeth is no lesse meruailous but of as great or greater admiration then any of these if there were thereof so sufficient witnesses to proue it true Writing certaine memorable thinges of the Kingdomes of Pegu and Sian which are on the other side of the Riuer Ganges hee sayth that the people of those Kingdoms hold and affirme for a matter assured and indubitable that of long time that Country was vninhabited and so wild and desert and possessed of so many fierce and cruell beasts that if a whole Armie of men had come they could not haue preuailed against theyr multitude It hapned on a time that a ship comming from the Kingdome of Chinay was through a violent tempest driuen on that Coast among the Rocks so that all those that were therein perrished sauing onely one woman and a mighty great mastiue the which defended her from the furie of wilde beastes vsing daily with her fleshlie copulation in such sort that she became great and in proces of time was deliuered of a sonne she being at that present verie young the boy in space of time had also acquaintance with her and begat vpon her other children of whose multiplications those two kingdoms became to be inhabited and as yet at this day they haue dogs in great veneration as deriuing from them theyr originall beginning LV. If that of the Triton with the woman and that of the Beare with the mayden and that of the Ape be true there is no impossibilitie of this but let vs leaue heerein euery man to thinke as it pleaseth him without constraining him to beleeue or not to beleeue any thing but that whereto his iudgement shal most encline and though wee haue vsed a large digression yet let vs not so giue ouer the matter which we handled concerning Tritons or Seamen for I haue heard that there is a kinde of fish also called Mermaids resembling in theyr faces fayre and beautifull women the truth whereof I would be glad to vnderstand AN. It is true there is indeede much talke of the Mermaydes whom they say from the middle vpward to haue the shape of women and of a fish from thence downeward They are painted with a combe in one hand and a Looking-glasse in the other some say that they sing in so sweet melodious and delectable a tune that charming there-with the Shipmen asleepe they enter into their ship and bereaue them of their liues but to say the truth I haue neuer seen any Author worthy of credit that maketh mention hereof Onelie Pedro Mexias sayth that in a certaine strange and terrible tempest there was one of them amongst a number of other Fishes driuen a shoare on the Sea-coast hauing the visage of a vvoman most beautifull expressing in lamentable sort such sorrowe and griefe that shee mooued the beholders to compassion vvho gently turned her backe againe into the water vvhereinto shee willingly entred and swamme away vvithout being seene any more And though it may be that there is in the Sea such a kind of fish yet I account the sweetnes of their singing with