because that is not an universal rule for when fruit is ripe towards the latitude of the North it is not so in the South but quite contrary And for this cause I will not help my self with their reasons that say the Epuinoxial in March which I approve of is the beginning of the Spring time and growth of flowers over all the earth and that all things then increase for if to us it be the beginning of Spring time it is Winter to them in the Southern parts Let our reasons then suffice and the authority of such great persons and let none be longer in doubt seeing that the Romane year which is in use begins likewise the first day of January for this came to passe by the superstitious devotion which the Gentiles had to their God Ianus and would have their year begin with his name as the Christians begin theirs at the birth of Jesus Christ although there the year begins not So the Romans began the yeer in March as Varro and Macrobius writes and divers others So God shewed his large bounty and infinite goodnesse in placing our first Parents Adam and Eve in the Northern parts of the earth when he banished them out of the Earthly Paradice for the first season that they saw in the world was the Spring time when they found the Earth green and flourishing and the Air sweet and temperate and this was for a consolation to their misery and nakednesse which they would not have found had it not been Spring time Now this being sufficiently proved let us know that there are other Planets and first the Moon as one of the principals which some say the first day that it was created God placed it in conjunction with the Sun Others say that it was in opposition and that it was at full Saint Augustiue recites both these two opinions upon Genesis the fifth Chapter And faith That those that maintain that it was in opposition and at full give for their reason That it was not convenient that at it's beginning God should create it defective in any thing Others say the contrary That it is rather to be believed that it was created in the first day of the Moon than otherwise But to make short I say according to my opinion That God when he created it made it entirely full and in opposition to the Sun and so it seems that this opinion is most received Saint Augustine in the place alledged and Raban upon the eleventh chapter of Exodus say the same and they agree with the holy Scripture where it is said God made two Lights one great to govern the day the other lesse to govern the night Now at the same instant that the Sun begins to shew his light he enlightens half the world so that in half the world it is day but the other half cannot have the light of the Sun because of the shadow of the Earth Neverthelesse it seems reasonable that in the other half of the Earth where it is night the Moon do her office of giving light because as they were both created at one and the same instant so do they both their office at one and the same instant and one rules the day and the other the night as the Text saith for then was verified the words of the holy Scripture And the world was enlightened throughout And on the contrary If the Moon had been in conjunction that could not be but fifteen days after and there would have been three or four days past before she could have given light to the Earth although this had been but little as we see when she is four or five days old Wherefore it is convenient that these two lights enlighten the Earth at one and the same time I say further That if the Moon had been in opposition of the Sun of necessity she must be found one the other side in the sign of Libra which being so she works that day the same effect of the Sun enlightening all the world in the measure that she makes her course that day which she could not do if she were in any other place by means whereof this opinion seems to be most likely Although Tulius Firmicus would say That the Moon when it was created had her first seat in the fifteenth Degree of the sign of Cancer where she loves best to be Of which opinion is Macrobius in his first book of Scipio's Dream As for other Planets It would be more difficult to avouch and lesse profitable to know therefore I mean not to employ much time about them Howsoever Iulius Firmicus in the second book before alledged hath the boldnesse to name the places where every one of them were seated saying Saturn was in Capricorn Iupiter in the sign of Sagittarius Mars in Scorpio Venus in Libra Mercury in Virgo which are the signs in which they have most force and so are they the signs denoted of these Planets Macrobius in the alledged book of Scipio's Dream agrees with Firmicus and names the same signs And so there are others which think that at this instant all the Planets are in conjunction with the Sun As for me I am of opinion that God placed then the Planets in such distant places one from the other and especially from the Sun that at that day every one of them might enlighten the earth with their Beams which could not be if they were in conjunction with the Sun because his presence in a certain distance and proportion hinders that their Raies and light cannot be seen upon the earth Neverthelesse having been created by the wil of God it is sufficient as St Augustine saith that they were made in a perfect estate by the hand of God whose works of what sort soever are perfect CHAP. XXXII Wherefore Sleep was given to man and how too much Sleep is hurtful and naught SLeep was given naturally to man for his preservation because there is no work of nature which hath not need of rest Aristotle saith that every living thing that hath bloud sleeps and from thence he proves by reason and experience also that fishes do sleep Sleep is a repose and rest of all the sences and proceeds from vapours and fumes which by reason of meat rise from the stomack to the Brain by the coldnesse of which these hot vapours are tempered and set to sleep the motion and exteriour sences Then the vitall spirits retire to the heart and all the members sleep and rest from travell even untill the vitall spirits which is the instrument by which the soul works governs and commands the body recover new force and that these vapours diminishing or ceasing the man begins to awake and then the sences and the powers return anew with a greater force to perform the operation Of these occasions of Sleep Aristotle treateth largely in his book of sleep and watching And Plutarch recites divers opinions of Philosophers But although this be rest and health to the body yet
in their Histories that write of it I find written more that in that street upon the ground there is an Image of stone that represents the Birth of a Child and the Death of that impudent and brazen faced woman Whence we must know though that did come to pass as is before recited during the time this woman held the world in abuse the Church was not maimed in Faith because in it could not be wanting the Head Christ from whom proceeds the influence of all Grace and the utmost effects of the Sacraments by means of which Head the Sacraments have not been wanting to them that received them holily and by a lively faith for Christ supplied this want in them by his Grace And put the case that this woman nor no other could be capable to receive or give any one onely Character of Orders nor absolve any person and that therefore they that have been made Ministers by her hands must be ordained a new yet it is so that Christ supplying that default in them by his grace as we have said there is no further need to do it over again the truth is she was for her wisedome to be admired in that she could for so many years cover her estate and live after that close manner But that which made Theodosia Empress of Constanninople is not lesse to be admired because the wit the one used to counterfeit her self a man the other used to make known to all that she was a woman for in the vacancy of the Empire by the death of her brother Zoe and of her husband Constantine then made a Monk she knew so well how to behave her self in the carrying through of affairs she became Empress and for the same was feared and obeyed For without the help either of father or brother or husband she governed the Empire excellently in peace and prosperity for the space of two years and no more because she lived no longer and died to the grief of all her subjects in the time of Pope Leo the ninth in the year of grace one thousand and fifty CHAP. VIII Why man goes upright why he weigheth more fasting than when he hath eaten and the cause why he weighteth more dead than alive with other pretty discourses THe contemplative matters concerning the composition of man are infinite Lactantius Firmian writes a book of them apart And so have other learned men In truth there is one thing amongst many others that deserves particular consideration to be known that is why God hath made all other creatures except man who is born the chief whose eyes for the most part look downwards towards the earth and not onely reasonable creatures but also vegitables as we see of Trees who have their head and foundation in the earth and their boughs and branches above as for man he hath created him onely with his eys towards heaven his face upwards and his body streight up And although by all reason for these things it were sufficient to alledge the will of God yet it seems this was done by a Mystery and therefore worthy of contemplation so in truth our disposing or making manifestly shews us that we were not born for the earth but we were created to contemplate high and heavenly things which are not communicated to other creatures not being capable of them and there is none but man onely that is worthy of them God hath created all beasts with their head downward to shew that man onely reigns over them One of these reasons is eloquently noted by Lactantius saying that God having determined to make man for heaven and other creatures for earth he made man streight and upright and disposed to heavenly contemplation that he might admire the effects and have in reverence the place of his originall and his native Country making all other creatures low and bowing towards the earth because they have no participation in heaven Aristotle that had no light of faith saith That man onely amongst all creatures goes up-right in respect that his substance and his parts are Celestiall and not Terrestial And the Office of the spirits is knowledge and understanding in which man could not well know how to exercise if his body were great and weighty because the charge of his body would make his understanding dull Learned St. Thomas who forgot not to discuss and to examine any thing leaves not this question undetermined for in the exposition of youth and age he saith that for two causes man was formed upright towards heaven The one that he might be the most perfect of all creatures and he which participates and comes nearest to the quality of heaven The other because in the proportion of his body he is more hot then any other creature and that the nature of heat is to advance upward other creatures keep the mean as less participating of the heavenly quality and having lesse of this heat which raiseth up For this cause they are not of the same work and disposition as man It seems in this St. Thomas would follow the opinion of the Platonists maintaining that the heat and the spirit of man in which be abounds more than any other creature considering the proportion of his body is the cause that man goeth upright and streight as he doth because by the force and vigour of the spirits the bloud he lifts himself upright being helped by the composition and harmony of the Elements whereof man is composed with such equality weight that he may lift up himself Now something is in it seeing that by that part of the soul this of the body men are put forward to the love and contemplation of heaven they ought then to consider and think of high spirituall and good things and on the contrary to despise and shun low base and earthly things And yet neverthelesse we leave our selves so to be overcome with the cares of this life and earthly considerations that most of our time we lift up our eys to heaven but our spirits and thoughts are on the earth As for the propriety of the spirit of man whereof we have spoken Plinie alledges one thing more which though it be not of such importance as the rest yet it may give a tast of satisfaction to him that knows it not or would not have thought so much though experience manifests it daily He saith that a man when he is dead weigheth more than when he was alive and that it is so in all kind of creatures and that he that hath eaten his break-fast weighs lesse than when he was fasting Erasmus in one of his Problemes saith as much and other things of note giving the same reasons that Plinie doth which are founded in the essence of thespirits and the air which doth lighten them as we said before So likewise a man that is fasting weighs more than a man that hath eaten something although one would think he should weigh less forasmuch as he that hath eaten
thousand a hundred ninety nine years According to Orozine five thousand twenty years According to Isiodorus one lesse And according to Alfonsus six thousand nine hundred eighty four which is much more then any of the rest At this birth of our Lord begins the sixth age which hath lasted to this hour and shall last even to the end of the world And during the which a great party of men are governed by one man onely the Emperour of the Romans These Emperours have maintained themselves in prosperity for some time from one succession to another but aftewards came the Goths and other Nations and then Mahomet who have given so many traversings to this Empire that it is much deminished in such sort that in many quarters of it there are perticular Kingdomes and Signiories taken out By which discords and coldnesse of faith the enemies of the Church of Christ hath found means to molest the faithfull Christians casting many of them out of their Teretories and Provinces These computations of the times of the ages which I have recited are taken out of the Authors alledged St. Augustine Isiodorus Beda Eusebius Filo Orasine singular Historians And for Modern Pierre d' Aliaque and above all John Driodon in his Ecclesiasticks The Poets gives the world four ages and no more The first of Gold The second of Silver The third of Brasse And the fourth of Iron shewing thereby that the malice of men beginning to encrease the excellency of mettals decreased to which they compared the world As Ovid speaks in his first book of Metamorphosis CHAP. VIII Of the distinction of the age of man according to the Doctrine of the Astrologers BY the common division of Astrologers Arabes Caldeans Greeks and Latines and particularly Procleus a Greek Authour Ptolomeus and Aliben Rasellus the life of man is divided into seven ages upon every of which hath dominion and reigns one of the seven Planets The first Age is named the infancy continuing the time of 4 years in which domineers the nearest Planet to the earth which is the moon Because the qualities of infancy compels us to say that the influence of that Planet is of all others agreeable to that Age in which the body is moist delicate tender weak and moveable and in al things like to the moon for a smal thing alters it Its members for a little smal thing is weakned and the members are perceived to grow in a smal time even to ones eie These things hapned in general to all because of the moon that governs then Neverthelesse more to one than to another and not equally for as much as the other particular qualities which hold nothing of the Moon takes effect as the child is brought into the world according to the state and disposition of the other Planets The second Age lasteth ten years Age. 2 while it comes to fourteen Which the Latines call Pueritia Childhood wherein ends infancy and begins youth In this age reigns another Planet called Mercury placed in the second Heaven this is a Celestiall body easie to change being good with the good and nought in the aspect with the nought Lasting this time then nature composeth it self to the quality of this Planet for then young children begin to shew some principle of their spirit be it in reading writing or musick and are then tractable and docile yet light in their purposes inconstant and changeable The third Age is eight years more Age. 3 called by the Ancients Adolescentia youthfull age and continues from fourteen to two and twenty during which raigns the third Planet called Venus for man then begins to prompt by nature able and strong to engender being enclined to love and Ladies addicted to sports voluptuous banquets and worldly pleasures and this we must search into whether nature provokes the man to do this For we must believe that man keeps still his own free will either to take or leave these inclinations or influences and understand that neither the force of the Planets nor the power of the Stars can but nible at such liberty although they encline the sensative appetite and the members and organs of a humane body The fourth age pursues it self till a man hath accomplished forty two years Age. 4 and is called Iuventus youth the course of which lasts nineteen years and hath for its Governour and Master the Sun which is in the fourth heaven called by the most ancient Astrologers The Fountain of Light The principall eye of the universe King of Planets And Heart of all the World And like to it this Age is the Prince of all the rest And the flower of the life During which the sences and the powers of the body and the spirits maintain and hold their ful force And then being a man of full understanding and courage is made to know and chuse the best things He desires to purchase wealth and to get himself a good name alwaies inclining to do well briefly in all things generally he evidently shews that the sun raigns over him The fifth Age is called Viril manly Age. 5 and according to the said Authors dures fifteen years so goes on in pursuit to fifty six years subject to the Planet Mars which in it self is nought dangerous and hot inclining men to covetousnesse and making them chollerick sickly temperate in eating and drinking and constant in their actions Then joining twelve to fifty six Age. 6 you shall find Three-score and eight years which makes an end of the sixth Age called old Age whereof Iupiter is the great Governour which is a noble Planet betokening Equity Religion Piety Temperance and Chastity provoking men to put an end to all labour and hazard and to seek rest Men in this Age do all holy works Love Temperance and Charity seeking after credit accompanied with commendation are honest and scaring shame and disgrace The seventh and last Age Age. 7 hath been limitted from threescore and eight to fourscore and eight and few are found that atteins unto it It is called feeble and decrepit Because Saturn commands-over it as the most flow and highest Planet and environs all the others abovesaid His complexion is cold dry and melancholy angry and envious By which means he draws these old people to a solitarinesse choller pensivenesse despite and anger He weakens their memory and their strength and loads them with anguish sorrow languishing sicknesse deep thoughts and with a great desire to undertake secret and hidden things and which is more they would be superiors and masters above all and be obeyed And if we ever find any that goes beyond this age at which in these daies we may wonder he will return and grow again to be as in his infancy and will have one touch again of the moon for his Planet which was the Governour as is said before of his first years By reason whereof people do the same to them as you see them do to little children following their humours
was born it hapned in Rome that in a publick Inne was discovered and broke forth a Fountain of pure oil which for the space of a whole day incessantly issued out in great abundance and it seemed that such a sudden spring of oil would signifie the comming of Christ That is to say anointed by which all Christians are so And the publick Inne in which all are indisterently received and lodged signifies our Mother Church the great Hostlery of Christians from whence should issue and proceed incessantly all good people Eutropius adds further That in Rome and adjacent places at high noon in a clear and fair day was seen a circle about the Sun as shining and resplendant as the Sun which shewed as much brightnesse or more than the Sun Paul Horatius writes also that at the same time the Senate and people of Rome offred to Octavus Augustus the title of Lord which he refused and would not accept of Prognosticating unknowing that a greater Lord than he was upon the earth to whom that title belonged Commestor in his scholastick history affirms That the same day the Temple in Rome dedicated by the Romans to the Goddesse Paix fell to the earth ruined And he saith that from the time it was built by the Romans they addressed to the Oracle of Apollo to know how long time it should endure Who made them answer even till a Virgin should bring forth a child which they judged impossible and by that means their Temple should last eternally nevertheless at the Virgins bearing a child the King of heaven it fell to the earth Luoas de Tuy in his Chronicle of Spain writes that he hath found in ancient histories of the Country having conferred and computed the time that the same night in which our Saviour was born there appeared in Spain at the hour of midnight a cloud which gave so great light that it seemed as midday I remember also that I have read in St. Ierom. That when the Virgin fled with her son into Egypt all the Idols and Images of the Gods which were there tombled to the ground from above their Altars And that the Oracles which hese Gods or to say better these Devils gave them ceased and never after gave them any answers This miracle alledged by Saint Jerom seems to be approved by the excellent Plutarch although he were a Pagan Who not believing any thing of these things nor knowing wherefore they were come to passe hath writ a particular Treatise of the defects of Oracles for already in his time which was a little after the death of Christ men perceived that such Oracles were wanting And in that Treaâ—â—s e could alledge no other reason but that there were some Demons dead But he said it as a man without faith because he did not understand that the spirits were immortall Neverthelesse this thing was wonderfull and truly worthy of great consideration to see so apparently that the Devil should demonstrate himself incontinently beaten down and discomfited and that after the death of our Saviour he remained so vanquâ—shed that never since he could give an answer And that the Gentiles without understanding the cause had knowledge of this defect by means whereof Plutarch writ this Treatise in which are these words whereof Eusebius makes mention writing to Theodoras as a thing of note I remember saith he to have heard say upon the death of the Demons to Emilius the Orator a prudent and an humble man That his father comming one time by Sea towards Italy and coasting by night an Island not inhabited named Paraxis as all in the ship were silent and at rest they heard a great and fearful voice which came from that Island The which voice called Ataman who was the Pilot of the ship an Egyptian born And although this voice was heard once or twice by Ataman and others yet had they not the hardinesse to answer till the third time he answered Who is there who is it that cals me what would you have Then the voice spake more high and loud and said to him Ataman I will that when you passe by near the Gulf called Laguna you remember to cry aloud and mâ—ke them understand that the great God Pan is dead At which all that were in the ship were in great fear and consulted all that the Pilot of the ship should not mind it nor speak a word of it nor stay in that Gulf at least if they could passe beyond it but go forward on their voyage but comming to the place where the voice had designed them the ship arrested and the sea was calm without wind so that they could not sail by means whereof they all concluded that Ataman should do his Ambassage and so he placed himself in the Poop of the ship and cried as loud as he could saying I do make you know that the great Pan is dead But as soon as he had spoke these words they heard so many voices cry and complain that all the air resounded again and this complaint lasted for a space of time so that those in the ship being astonied and having a prosperous wind followed on their course and being arrived at Rome told of this adventure and what happened Which being come to the ears of the Emperour Tyberius would be truly informed and found that it was truth wherefore it is evident that through all parts the Divels complained at the birth of our Saviour because it was their destruction For by the supputation of time we shall find that these things happened at the time that he suffered for us or a little before then when he chased and banished them from the world It is to be supposed that this great Pan as to the restriction of great Pan God of the Shepheards which they said was dead was some great Master Divel which then lost his Empire and power as the others had Besides these things Josephus writes in those very daies there was heard in the Temple of Jerusalem a voice though there was no living creature in the Temple which said let us abandon and go out of this Country speedily which was to say they perceived the persecution that they were to suffer and that it drew near by the death of him who was the giver of life In the Gospel of the Nazarites it is found that the day of the passion that gate of the Temple fell which was of a sumptuous and perpetual structure Behold how we find these wonderfull things which happened in that time though the Evangelists makes no mention of them as things unnecessary We must needs know that this great Eclipse of the Sun which lasted three hours whilest Christ was on the Crosse was not naturall as that which we see sometimes by the conjunction of the Sun and the Moon the Moon being interposed between the Sun and the earth And nevertheless the Eclipse which happened then at the passion was in opposition the Moon being then at full and distant from
the Sun a hundred and eighty degrees in the other Hemisphere inferiour to the Town of Jerusalem to shew that it was true beyond that which Authors write The Text of holy Scripture proves it for it is certain that they never offered up the Lamb in sacrifice but upon the fourteenth day of the Moon Which Lamb was eaten by Jesus Christ and his disciples the day before his death As it was commanded in Exodus the twelfth Chapter and Leviticus the three and twentieth The next day was the feast of unlevened bread Christ the immaculate Lamb was crucified the Moon of necessity being at ful and opposite to the Sun which could not possibly make an Eclipse neither could any of the other Planets do it therefore it was miraculous and contrary to the order of nature and onely in the power of God who deprived the Sun of its light for that space of time By means whereof St. Denn is the Areopagite being that day in Athens and seeing the Sun so darkned and also knowing as a man learned in Astrologie and the course of the heavens that such an Eclipse must needs be contrary to the rule of nature spake with a loud voice saying Either the world would end or the God of nature suffer For this cause saith one that the Sages of Athens being astonied hereat caused an Alter incontinently to be built to the unknown God since which time St. Paul arriving there declared unto them who was the unknown God which was Christ our Redeemer God and Man which then had suffered by means whereof he converted many to the faith Some have been in doubt to know of this Eclipse and darknesse of the Sun were universal through all the world and grounded their argument upon that which the Evangelists saith over all the earth which is to say by a manner of speaking all the Country round about And Origen was of this opinion But what We see that in Greece even at Athens this tenebrosity was seen which makes me believe that this Eclipse was universal over all our Hemisphere and over all where the Sun might be seen I say so because over all the other Hemesphere where it was then night it could not be seen the sight of the Sun for that time being not there for it cannot illuminate at one instant but one half of the earth because of the shadow it makes Nevertheless we ought to know that the Moon being then at full and having no light but what she hath from the splendor of the Sun and again being in the Hemesphere which is under us she came to be violently eclipsed and darkenned by the onely cause and for default of the light of the Sun and so the darkness was universall over all the world because the Moon and the Stars can give no light unless they receive it first from the Sun CHAP. XXIII Of many passages quoted by divers Authors whâ—h have made mention of Christ. I Have divers times heard many learned and curious men which would ask a reason why and whence it proceeds that the Gentiles and Ethnicks have made so little mention in their writings of the life of Jesus Christ and of his miracles which were in so great a number and so publickly manifested even by his Disciples seeing that these Ethnicks have not failed to make mention in their books of other things particularly hapning in their times and yet not of so great importance To which I answer First that it is against truth to say that the prophane Historiographers have not spoken of them For there is an infinite whereof I will bring some examples for those that have no great knowledge in ancient histories My second reason is that we must consider upon this that saving faith and the law of grace given by Christ begun by him and his Apostles to be published through all the world was accepted by some which determined to live and die in it Others obstinate in their vices and sins did not onely refuse it but persecute it There was again others that kept the middle for although this seemed good unto them yet for fear of Tyrants and persecutors and other worldly considerations which made this holy profession disesteemed they would neither embrace it nor accept it The world being thus divided in three opinions those which confessed Christ did notable and marvellous things whereof many bear witnesse of their truth of which number are St. Dennis Tertullian Lactantius Firmian Eusebins and many others too long to recite The other wicked sort which persecuted it as a strange thing and utterly disagreeing to their law did eagerly pursue totally to ruine it and to hide the miracles life and doctrine of Christ For this cause they speak not of them or those among them which did speak any thing of them was but to make them contemned and to cloud them as did the wicked Porfice Iulian Vincent Celsus African Lucian and others such divellish men Against whom Ciprian Origen St. Augustine and others have written learnedly The other which either for fear or worldly considerations refused to be Christians or to love and to know the truth for the same reasons abandoned to speak of it and if some of them have touched any thing it hath been with jests and lies and that succinctly enough And neverthelesse even as when one would hide the truth under the vail of some colorable truth It often happens by a certain hidden propriety in the truth that he which would hide it disguiseth it and palliates it in such sort that by his own drift or discourse he discovereth his lies and the truth is discovered openly and manifestly So it hapned in this sort to these two kind of people For although they strove to put to an end and destroy the miracles and doctrine of Christ yet every time they spake of them they spake something by which they discovered their malice and the sincerity of that doctrine I could speak of many things that the Sibils have said and written but because that which they spake proceeded not from their own proper judgement but from the spirit of prophesie and as God had communicated it to them although they were Heathens I will leave them to come to other authorities The first and most evident testimony though it be the most common is that of our greatest enemies in the number of which is Iosephus by linage and nation a Jew and also by his life and profession He saith these words In these very times lived Jesus a very wise man if it be lawful to call him man because in truth he doth marvellous things and was master and Tutor to them that loved him and sought the truth The Jews and Gentiles assembled unto him and followed him in great troups And he was the Christ And although he were afterwards accused by the principals of our faith and crucified yet was he not cast off by them which had followed him before And three days after his death
by the labor of their hands and that they all worshipped one God which was also worshipped by the Jews We also read in the History of these times that this Emperour beginning to persecute the Christians by the perswasion of their chief Bishops there was one of his Embassadors called Serene Eramy an Ethnick like himself which writ a letter unto him in which he said in his opinion it was cruelty to oppress the Christians being accused for no other thing than observing their Religion seeing that he found them not charged with any other crime or trespasse By means of which letter The Emperour Adrian forbade Minus Fondan Proconful in Asia to condemn any Christian if he were not convicted of any other crime than that of Christian Religion CHAP. XXIIII What opinions the ancient Emperours have had of the person of Christ by the Testimony which Ethnick Historiagraphers give of them TO this Emperour Adrian of whom we have spoken in the last Chapter succeeded Antoninus Debonair who although he had that name was perverse and wicked he favoured ill the belief of Christ and persecuted the Christians But his Successour Marcus Aurelius was more moderate to them for instead of persecuting them he led them along with him in his army by whose prayers he was delivered from the danger wherein he was for want of water which his enemies had cut from him because he sent them water and to his enemies Thunder-bolts and Thunder Of these things are made mention in one of his leters and Julius Capitoline also speaks of it although he doth not attribute it all to the Christians These hapned about the forty and five years after the Passion of our Saviour The fifteenth or twentieth year following Severus being chosen Emperor Elius Spartine an Ethnick like himself writ that he should make a law by which he should forbid upon pain of great punishment that none should turn Christian nor Jew After which Severus Antoninus Heliogabolus was Emperor who as Lampridius recites that writ his life caused a Temple to be built in Rome dedicated to his God onely to which he would have the Christians resort to perform their sacrifices which the Christians would not do After this Heliogabolus succeeded the Emperour Alexander Severus in the year of our Saviour one hundred ninety two and was in great doubt whether or no he should become a Christian Also we find by the history that is written of him that he had a good opinion of that belief and that he much esteemed of the Christians and gave them places and plots for buildings in Rome to make their Temples and places for prayer He kept the picture of our Saviour in his closset This is written by Elius Lampridius besides what the Christians write And he saith further that divers Victuallers and Pastry-Cooks went to the Emperour with a complaint against the Christians that they had taken away their harbours and their houses to make places for their superstitious hypocrisie and that they observed a Religion contrary to that of the Romans To which complaint the Emperour made answer that he had rather God should be worshipped in those places than to imploy them in the affairs of their vocations This Severus being dead Maximinian succeeded him an enemy and persecutor of the Christians but he lived not long and died an ill death Since whom and two others more which lived but a short while the Empire fell into the hands of Philip who was baptized as some say and was the first that received the Christians Eusebius affirmeth it yet the Heathen Historiographers write nothing of it Every day God enlightned more and more the hearts of men and a great number were converted to the Christian faith in spight of Decius and Dioclesian and others such like and even till they being weary of persecuting them they connived at them and suffered them for a time as appears clearly by a letter of Maximinian the Emperour a companion to Dioclesian which was two hundred years after our Redemption Which letter saith as followeth Caesar Maximinian invincible great Bishop of Germany Egypt Thebes Sarmacia Persia Armenia and victorious over the Medes and for his victories named nineteen times Emperour and eight times Consul and father of his Country At the beginning of our Empire Amongst other things which we determined to do for the publick good we do ordain that the order which was kept in all things strengthened by our ancient Laws be conserved and kept And for the same reason we command that those men which call themselves Christians and have forsaken our ancient Religion be pressed constrained and forced to forsake the new Religion which they have taken up and that they observe our ancient Religion established by our predecessors But being it is come to our knowledge notwithstanding this commandment and rigour used against them to make them observe it they have not left to follow their own wils and are so firm and constant to their purposes that there is neither force nor punishment so grievous which can make them draw back from their Religion or make them observe ours but will rather expose themselves to grievous torments and death it self and that they are still at this day in the same constancie and will not reverence or worship any of the gods in Rome our often remembring of our accustomed clemencie and pity determined to be used towards the Christians for that cause we do from hence-forward permit and suffer that all persons may make and call themselves Christians have places for their meetings and build themselves Temples where they may pray and sacrifice Which licence and leave we grant unto them upon condition they shall not do any thing contrary to our Common-wealth and Religion and that in other things they shall observe our Laws and Constitutions and that in acknowledgement of this permission they shall be bound to pray to their God for our life and health and also for the estate of the Common-wealth of Rome that the Town being prosperous and entire they themselves may live of their labour in rest and safety O truly unfortunate Emperour if thou shouldest force the Christians to leave and renounce their Faith as wicked how wouldest thou have them pray for thee and force them to have remembrance of thee in their prayers At the least this Letter will serve us in that thou thy self doest testifie of the Constancy Virtue and Spirit that the Martyrs and holy Christians had in suffering patiently for a long space of time the torment and punishments that were inflicted upon them for the love of Christ Now sometime after Maximinian there came to succeed in the Empire Constantine which was surnamed The great son of that good Dame Hellen which found the true crosse which was about two hundred and ninety years after the Redemption of Mankind He was a good Christian and did so many good deeds for the honour of God and the holy Church and the Ministers thereof that
One may gather as much out of the words of Aristotle which saith The Viper onely amongst other Serpents makes her young ones for first she forms them in her body of egs as fishes spawn then having formed them they remain three days wrapped up in a tender thâ—â— skin which in due time breaks and sets the little ones at liberty because of which Apuleus in his apologie calls them Oviperes and not Vipers that is bred of egs And many times it comes to passe that this tender skin breaking in the belly of the Viper they come forth every day one even to the number of above twenty these are the words of Aristotle In another place in the third book of beasts he saith speaking of the bringing forth of Serpents The Viper before she brings forth little ones forms the egs within her And I think from thence proceeds this opinion who say that the little ones eat themselves out of the belly of the Viper For it hath seemed to them which maintain it that when Aristotle spoke of this first coming forth they would have it that they brake and gnawed the belly of the Viper Now leaving this discourse I say the Viper as venemous as she is gives succour and help to man Diascorides saith that the flesh of a Viper sodden or dressed may be eaten safely and that it is very medicinable for the Nerves and for the fight And to dress him to eat you must cut off the head the tail then the skin being taken off and well prepared boil him in oil and wine with good store of Aniseeds He saith also that of this flesh is made a kind of salt or pouder which gives a good appetite and is prepared in this manner Take a new earthen pot and put the flesh of the Viper in it dressed as before then put in salt and figs stamped with a competent quantity of Hony and the pot being well covered set it to bake a long time in an oven till it may be beaten and brought to a powder And whosoever afterwards would use it with other meats will find it very profitable and savoury Paul Egenetta saith that the flesh of the Viper is singular good for Lepers and Lazers and for that purpose esteems much of the salt forespoken of Plinie saith there is a certain nation in the Indies that eat Vipers Diascorides saith also that those that use to eat of the flesh of Vipers live long and in health Against the biting of this beast there are many remedies But Theophrastus names one saying that to him which is bit with a Viper melodie and musick help much Galen saith that the beast eats not all the time of winter and that she keeps her self as dead hid in the earth and then if you find her touch her or handle her she bites not and when Summer comes she recovers her force again So much Plinie reports of Lisards Snakes and all other sorts of creeping Serpents Aristotle saith they keep themselves so hidden in the earth three or four moneths without eating any thing Elian saith that the Vipers which breed in the Province of Arabia although they bite their teeth are not venemous because they eat Baum and lie under the shade of it And Aristotle saith they are very desirous to drink wine and that many people take them by putting vessels of wine in places where they haunt and so they make themselves drunk then they take them sleeping There are other things to be said of the quality and property of the Viper which I leave for brevities sake CHAP. XXVII Of the admirable property of a little beast whose biting is cured by the sound of musick and also of some ather infirmities that are cured by the same means THat which is said in the former Chapter by the authority of Theophrastus that the biting of the Viper may be cured with the sound of musick will make that which we shall speak now more credible Alexander of Alexandria and Piere Gilie a modern Author affirm and say that in Poville a country in Italy therâ— is a kind of Spider which those of that country call Tatantola and some Phalange which in the beginning of Summer are so venemous that whosoever is bitten of them if he have not help presently he looses his sences and dies and if any escape death they are sencelesse and totally not themselves For which evil experience hath a remedie which is musick that which these Authors say is as a testimony of their own experience as eye-witnesses who say that as soon as any one is bitten they send presently for one that can play upon the Vian or Flute or some other instrument which play and sing divers lessons which being heard by him that is strucken by the venemous Spider he begins to dance and stir as if all his life time he had been accustomed to dancing in which sury and force of dancing he continues till the venome be dissipated and wasted And this Alexander saies that he hath seen that one that hath been wounded with this beast hath continued so long in dancing till the Musitians have been all weary and ceased and the poor dancer fall to the ground as dead having lost his strength but as soon as they began to play again he saw the poor sick man raise himself anew and begin to dance with as much force as before even untill the wound was entirely cured He saith yet further that if it happen that one that had not been well cured by Musick a short time after hearing instruments of Musick began to stir their feet and were forced to dance even till they were cured which truly is wonderfull in nature A sclepiades writes that singing and a soft sound of musick is a great help to those that are Frantick We read also that Esmineas the Thebean hath cured divers diseases and maladies by a sweet soft noise of Flutes Theophrastus and Aulus Gelius say that musick appeaseth the pain of the Sciatica and the Gout Again we find in the holy Scripture that David with musick cast out the evill spirit out of Saul Such is the great effect that proceeds from the cause of the great amity that the nature of man bears to musick And if we well consider we shal not find it strange that divers infirmities are cured by the means of musick forasmuch as we see that there are some beasts that kill laughing others weeping and others sleeping As Plutarch writes to Cleopatre CHAP. XXVIII Of a strange medicine wherewith Faustina was cured of dishonest love And of divers other remedies against that passion THat the affection and prison of the mind which is ordinarily called Love is a strong passion and of great effect in the soul let us ask of such men which by experience have known it and of such of whom examples are notorious namely of very excellent personages that have suffered their wills to have been transported even so far that some of