as if they were but newly made considering the places where they be so ruinat and vncouered ouer head Semblably at Lanuvium there remaine yet two pictures of lady Atalanta and queen Helena close one to the other painted naked by one and the same hand both of them are for beauty incomparable and yet a man may discerne the one of them to be a maiden for her modest and chaste countenance which pictures notwithstanding the ruins of the temple where they stand are not a whit disfigured or defaced Of late daies Pontius lieutenant vnder C. Caligula the Emperor did what he could to haue remoued them out of the place and carried them away whole and entire vpon a wanton affection and lustfull fancy that he cast vnto them but the plastre or porget of the wall whereupon they were painted was of that temper that would not abide to be stirred At Caere there continue certaine pictures of greater antiquity than those which I haue named And verily whosoeuer shall well view and peruse the rare workemanship therein will confesse that no art in the world grew sooner to the height of absolute perfection than it considering that during the state of Troy no man knew what painting was CHAP. IIII. Of Romanes that were excellent Painters When the art of painting came first into credit and estimation at Rome What Romans they were that exhibited the pourtraits of their owne victories in pictures And about what time painted tables made by strangers in forreine parts were accepted and in great request at Rome AMongst the Romanes also this Art grew betimes into reputation as may appeare by the Fabij a most noble and honourable house in Rome who of this science were syrnamed Pictores i. Painters the first who was intituled with that addition painted with his own hand the temple of Salus and this was in the 450 yeare after the foundation of our city which painting continued in our age euen vnto the time of Claudius Caesar the Emperor in whose daies the temple it selfe with the painting was consumed with fire Next after this the workmanship of Pacuvius the Poet who likewise painted the chappell of Hercules in the beast-market at Rome was highly esteemed and gaue much credit to the art This Pacuvius was Ennius the Poets sisters sonne and being as he was a famous Tragaedian besides and of great name vpon the stage the excellency of his spirit that way much commended at Rome his handy-work and painting aforesaid After him I doe not finde that any person of worth and quality tooke pensill in hand and practised painting vnlesse haply a man would nominat Turpilius a gentleman of Rome in our time and a Venetian born of whose workemanship there be many faire parcels of paynting extant at this day in Verona and yet this Turpilius was altogether left-handed and painted therewith a thing that I doe not heare any man did before him As for Aterius Labeo a noble man of Rome late Lord Pretour and who otherwise had been vice-consull in Gallia Narbonensis or Languedoc who liued to a very great age and died not long since he practised painting and all his delight and glory that he tooke was in fine and smal works of a little compasse howbeit he was but laughed at and scorned for that quality and in his time the handicraft grew to be base and contemptible Yet I thinke it not amisse to put downe for the better credit of painters a notable consultation held by certaine right honourable personages as touching the Art and their resolution in the end And this was the case Q. Paedius the little nephew of Q. Paedius who had bin Consull in his time and entred Rome in triumph him I mean whom C. Caesar Dictator made co-heire with Augustus hapned to be born dumb and Messala the great Oratour out of whose house the grandmother of this child was descended being carefull how the boy should be brought vp after mature aduise and deliberation thought good that hee should by signes and imitation be trained vp in the art of painting which counsell of his was approoued also by Augustus Caesar. And in truth this yong gentleman being apt therto profited maruellous much therein and died in his youth But the principall credit that painters attained vnto at Rome was as I take it by the means of M. Valerius Maximus first syrnamed Messala who beeing one of the grand-seigmeurs of Rome was the first that proposed to the view of all the world and set vp at a side of the stately hall or court Hostilia one picture in a table wherein hee caused to be painted that battel in Sicily wherein himselfe had defeated the Carthaginians and K. Hiero which happened in the yeare from the foundation of Rome 490. The like also I must needs say did L. Scipio and hung vp a painted table in the Capitol temple containing his victory and conquest of Asia whereupon he was syrnamed Asiaticus But as it is said Africanus although hee were his owne brother was highly displeased therewith and good cause he had to be angry and offended because in that battell his own son was taken prisoner by the enemy The like offence was taken also by Scipio Aemilianus against Lucius Hostilius Mancinus who was the first that entred perforce the city of Carthage for that hee had caused to bee set vp in the market place of Rome a faire painted table wherein was liuely drawne the strong scituation of Carthage and the warlike means vsed in the assaulting and winning of it together with all the particulars and circumstances thereof which Mancinus himselfe in person sitting by the said picture desciphered from point to point vnto the people that came to behold it by which courtesie of his hee woon the hearts of the people insomuch as at the next election of Magistrates his popularitie gained him a Consulship In the publicke plaies which Claudius Pulcher exhibited at Rome the painted clothes about the stage and Theatre which represented building brought this art into great admiration for the workmanship was so artificiall and liuely that the very rauens in the aire deceiued with the likenesse of houses flew thither apace for to settle thereupon supposing verily there had been tiles and crests indeed And thus much concerning Painters craft exercised in Rome To come now to forrain pictures Lu. Mummius syrnamed Achaicus for his conquest of Asia was the first man at Rome who made open shew of painted tables wrought by strangers and caused them to be of price and estimation for when as in the port-sale of all the bootie and pillage gotten in that victorie king Attalus had brought one of them wrought by the hand of Aristides containing the picture only of god Bacchus which was to cost him six thousand Sesterces Mummius wondering at the price supposing that this table had some speciall and secret propertie in it more than himselfe knew of brake the bargain called for the picture again
pittifull groning of a man they are saddle-backed their snout is camoise and flat turning vp And this is the cause that all of them after a wonderfull sort know the name Simo and take great pleasure that men should so call them The Dolphin is a creature that carries a louing affection not only vnto man but also to musicke delighted he is with harmony in song but especially with the sound of the water instrument or such kind of pipes Of a man he is nothing affraid neither auoides from him as a stranger but of himselfe meeteth their ships plaieth and disportes himselfe and fetcheth a thousand friskes and gamboles before them He will swim along by the mariners as it were for a wager who should make way most speedily and alwaies outgoeth them saile they with neuer so good a fore-wind In the daies of Augustus Caesar the Emperour there was a Dolphin entred the gulfe or poole Lucrinus which loued wondrous well a certain boy a poore mans son who vsing to goe euery day to schoole from Baianum to Puteoli was woont also about noone-tide to stay at the water side and to call vnto the Dolphin Simo Simo and many times would giue him fragments of bread which of purpose he euer brought with him and by this meanes allured the Dolphin to come ordinarily vnto him at his call I would make scruple and bash to insert this tale in my storie and to tell it out but that Mecenas Fabianus Flauius Alfius and many others haue set it downe for a truth in their chronicles Well in processe of time at what houre soeuer of the day this boy lured for him called Simo were the Dolphin neuer so close hidden in any secret and blind corner out he would and come abroad yea and skud amaine to this lad and taking bread and other victuals at his hand would gently offer him his back to mount vpon and then downe went the sharpe pointed prickles of his fins which he would put vp as it were within a sheath for fear of hurting the boy Thus when he had him once on his back he would carry him ouer the broad arme of the sea as farre as Puteoli to schoole and in like manner conuey him backe again home and thus he continued for many yeeres rogether so long as the child liued But when the boy was fallen sicke dead yet the Dolphin gaue not ouer his haunt but vsually came to the wonted place missing the lad seemed to be heauie and mourne againe vntill for very griefe sorrow as it is doubtles to be presumed he also was found dead vpon the shore Another Dolphin there was not many yeeres since vpon the coast of Affricke neere to the citie Hippo called also Diarrhytus which in like manner would take meat at a mans hand suffer himselfe gently to be handled play with them that swom and bathed in the sea and carrie on his backe whosoeuer would get vpon it Now it fell out so that Flauianus the Proconsull or lieutenant Generall in Affrick vnder the Romans perfumed and besmeered this Dolphin vpon a time with a sweet ointment but the fish as it should seem smelling this new strange smel fell to be drow sie and sleepie and hulled to and fro with the waues as if it had bin halfe dead and as though some iniurie had bin offered vnto him went his way and kept aloufe and would not conuerse any more for certaine moneths with men as before-time Howbeit in the end he came again to Hippo to the great wonder astonishment of all that saw him But the wrongs that some great persons and lords did vnto the citizens of Hippo such I mean as vsed to come for to see this sight and namely the hard measure offered to those townesmen who to their great cost gaue them entertainement caused the men of Hippo to kill the poore Dolphin The like is reported in the citie Iassos long before this time for there was seene a Dolphin many a day to affect a certaine boy so as he would come vnto him wheresoeuer he chanced to espy him But whiles at one time aboue the rest he followed egerly after the lad going toward the towne he shot himselfe vpon the dry sands before he was aware and died forthwith In regard hereof Alexander the Great ordained that the said young boy should afterwards be the chiefe priest and sacrificer to Neptune in Babylon collecting by the singular fancie that this Dolphin cast vnto him That it was a great signe of the speciall loue of that god of the sea vnto him and that he would be good and gracious to men for his sake Egesidemus writeth that in the same Iassus there was another boy named Hermias who hauing vsed likewise to ride vpon a Dolphin ouer the sea chanced at the last in a sodaine storme to be ouer-whelmed with waues as he sat vpon his backe and so died and was brought backe dead by the Dolphin who confessing as it were that he was the cause of his death would neuer retire againe into the sea but launced himselfe vpon the sands and there died on the drie land The semblable happened at Naupactum by the report of Theophrastus But there is no end of examples in this kinde for the Amphilochians and Tarentines testifie as much as touching Dolphins which haue bin enamoured of little boies which induceth me the rather to beleeue the tale that goes of Arion This Arion being a notable musition plaier of the harpe chanced to fall into the hands of certain mariners in the ship where he was who supposing that he had good store of mony about him which he had gotten with his instrument were in hand to kill him and cast him ouer boord for the said monie and so to intercept all his gaines he seeing himselfe at their deuotion and mercie besought them in the best manner that he could deuise to suffer him yet before he died to play one fit of mirth with his harpe which they granted at his musicke and sound of harpe a number of Dolphins came flocking about him which done they turned him ouer shipbord into the sea where one of the Dolphins tooke him vpon his backe and carried him safe to the bay of Taenarus To conclude and knit vp this matter In Languedoc within the prouince of Narbon and in the territorie of Naemausium there is a standing poole or dead water called Laterra wherein men and Dolphins together vse to fish for at one certain time of the yeare an infinite number of fishes called Mullets taking the vantage of the tide when the water doth ebbe at câ—…tain narrow weares and passages with great force break forth of the said poole into the sea and by reason of that violence no nets can be set and pitched against them strong enough to abide and beare their huge weight and the streame of the water rogether if so be men were not cunning and craftie to wait and espie their
by the meanes of the commerce we haue had with the vniuersall world by thâ—…â—…fick negotiation and societie I say that we haue entered into during the blessed time of peace whichwe haue inioyed considering that by such trade and entercourse all things heretofore vnknowne might haue come to light And yet for all this few or none beleeue me there are who haue attained to the knowledge of many matters which the old writers in times past haue taught and put in writing Whereby wee may easily see that our ancestours were either far more carefull and industrious or in their industrie more happie and fortunate Considering withall that aboue two hundred yeares past Hesiodus who liued in the very infancie of Learning and good letters began his worke of Agriculture and set downe rules and precepts for husbandmen to follow After whose good example many others hauing trauelled and taken like paines yet haue put vs now to greater labour For by this means we are not onely to search into the last inuentions of later writers but also to those of antient time which are forgotten and couered with obliuion through the supine negligence and generall idlenesse of all mankind And what reasons may a man alledge of this drowsinesse but that which hath lulled the world asleepe the cause in good faith of all is this and no other Wee are readie to forgoe all good customes of old and to embrace nouelties and change of fashions mens minds now a daies are amused and occupied about new fangles and their thoughts be rolling they wander and roue at randon their heads be euer running and no arts and professions are now set by and in request but such as bring pence into our purses Heretofore whilest Kings and Potentates contained themselues within the Dominion of their owne Nations and were not so ambitious as now they bee no maruell if their wits and spirits kept still at home and so for want of wealth and riches of Fortune were forced to employ and exercise the gifts of their minde in such sort as an infinite number of Princes were honoured and renowned for their singular knowledge and learning Yea they were more braue in port and carried a goodlier shew in the World for their skill in Liberall Sciences than others with all their pomp or riches beeing fully persuaded and assured that the way to attaine vnto immortalitie and euerlasting Fame was by literature and not by great possessions and large seignories And therefore as learning was much honoured and rewarded in those daies so arts sciences tending to the common good of this life daily increased But afterwards when the way was once made to inlarge their territories farther in the world when princes and states beg anne to make conquests and grow rich and mighty the posterity felt the smart and losse thereby Then began men to chuse a Senator for his wealth to make a judge for his riches and the election of a ciuill magistrate and martiall captain to haue an eie and regard only to goods and substance to land and liuing when rents and reuenues were the chiefe and onely ornaments that made men seeme wise iust politicke and valiant Since time that childlesse estate was a point looked into and aduanced men into high place of authoritie and power procuring them many fauorites in hope of succession since time I say that euery man aimed and reached at the readiest meanes of greatest lucre and gaine setting their whole mind and repâ—…sing their full content and ioy in laying land to land and heaping together possessions downe went the most precious things of this life and lost their reputation all those liberall arts which tooke their name of liberty and freedome the soueraigne good in this world which were meet for princes nobles gentlemen and persons of great state forwent that prerogatiue and fell a contrarie way yea and ran quite to wracke and ruine so as in stead thereof base slauerie and seruitude be the only waies to arise and thriue by whiles some practise it one way some another by flattering admiring courting crouching and adoring and all to gather good and get mony This is the onely marke they shoot at this is the end and accomplishment of all their vowes praiers and desires Insomuch as we may perceiue euery where how men of high spirit and great conceit are giuen rather to honor the vices and imperfections of others than to make the best of their owne vertues and commendable parts And therefore we may full truly say that life indeed is dead Voluptuousnesse and Pleasure alone is aliue yea and beginneth to beare all the sway Neuerthelesse for all these enormities and hinderances giue ouer will not I to search into those things that be perished and vtterly forgotten how small and base sceuer some of them be no more than I was affrighted in that regard from the treatise and discourse of liuing creatures Notwithstanding that I see Virgil a most excellent Poet for that cause only forbare to write of gardens and hortyards because he would not enter into such petty matters and of those so important things that he handled he gathered only the principall floures and put them downe in writing Who albeit that he hath made mention of no more than 15 sorts of grapes three kinds of Oliues and as many of Peares and setting aside the Citrons and Limons hath not said a word of any apples yet in this one thing happy and fortunate hee was For that his worke is highly esteemed and no imputation of negligence charged vpon him But where now shall we begin this treatise of ours What deserueth the chiefe and principall place but the vine in which respect Italy hath the name for the very soueraignty of Vine-yards insomuch that therein alone if there were nothing els it may well seeme to surpasse all other lands euen those that bring forth odoriferous spices and aroâ—…call drugs And yet to say a truth there is no smell so pleasant whatsoeuer that out-goeth Vines when they be in their fresh and flouring time CHAP. I. ¶ Of Vines their nature and manner of bearing VInes in old time were by good reason for their bignesse reckoned among trees For in Populonia a citie of Tuscan we see a statue of Iupiter made of the wood of one entire Vine and yet continued it hath a world of yeares vncorrupt and without worme Likewise at Massiles there is a great standing cup or boll to be seene of Vine-wood At Metapontum there stood a temple of Iuno bearing vpon pillars of Vine wood And euen at this day there is a ladder or paire of staires vp to the temple of Diana in Ephesus framed of one Vine-tree brought by report out of the Island Cypres for there indeed vines grow to an exceeding bignesse And to speake a truth there is no wood more dureable and lasting than is the vine Howbeit for my part I would thinke that these singular pieces of worke before-named were made of
we thinking it not sufficient to take wine our selues giue it also to our Horses Mules and labouring beasts and force them against Nature to drink it Besides such pains so much labor so great cost and charges we are at to haue it such delight and pleasure we take in it that many of vs think they are borne to nothing else can skill of no other contentment in this life notwithstanding when all is don it transports carries away the right wit mind of man it causes fury and rage and induces nay it casts headlong as many as are giuen thereto into a thousand vices and misdemeanors And yet forsooth to the end that we might take the more cups and poure it downe the throat more lustily we let it run thorough a strainer for to abate and gueld as it were the force thereof yea and other deuises there be to whet our appetite thereto and cause vs to quaffe more freely Nay to draw on their drinke men are not afraid to make poisons whiles some take hemlocke before they sit downe because they must drinke perforce then or els die for it others the powder of the pumish stone such like stuff which I am abashed to rehearse and teach those that be ignorant of such leaudnesse And yet wee see these that be stoutest and most redoubted drinkers euen those that take themselues most secured of danger to lie sweating so long in the baines and brothel-houses for to concoct their surfet of wine that otherwhiles they are carried forth dead for their labour Ye shall haue some of them again when they haue been in the hot house not to stay so long as they may recouer their beds no not so much as to put on their shirts but presently in the place all naked as they are puffing laboring still for wind catch vp great cans and huge tankards of wine to shew what lustie and valiant champions they be set them one after another to their mouth pour the wine downe the throat without more adoe that they might cast it vp againe and so take more in the place vomiting or revomiting twice or thrice together that which they haue drunke and still make quarrell to the pot as if they had been borne into this world for no other end but to spill and mar good wine or as if there were no way els to spend and wast the same but thorow mans body And to this purpose were taken vp at Rome these forreine exercises of vaulting and dancing the Morisk from hence came the tumbling of wrastlers in the dust and mire together for this they shew their broad breasts beare vp their heads and carrie their neckes far backe In all which gesticulations what do they else but professe that they seek means to procure thirst and take occasion to drink But come now to their pots that they vse to quaffe and drink out of are there not grauen in them faire pourtrais think you of adulteries as if drunkennesse it self were not sufficient to kindle the heart of lust to pricke the flesh and to teach them wantonnes Thus is wine drunke out of libidinous cups and more than that he that can quaffe best and play the drunkard most shal haue the greatest reward But what shal we say to those would a man think it that hire one to eat also as much as he can drink and vpon that condition couenant to yeeld him the price for his wine drinking and not otherwise Ye shall haue another that will inioine himselfe to drinke euery denier that he hath won at dice. Now when they are come to that once and be throughly whitled then shall yee haue them cast their wanton eies vpon mens wiues then fall they to court faire dames and ladies and openly bewray their folly euen before their jealous and sterne husbands then I say the secrets of the heart are opened and layed abroad Some ye shal haue in the mids of their cups make their wils euen at the very board as they sit others againe cast out bloudy and deadly speeches at randon and cannot hold but blurt out those words which afterwards they eat againe with the swords point for thus many a man by a lauish tongue in his wine hath come by his death and had his throat cut And verily the world is now growne to this passe That whatsoeuer a man saith in his cups it is held for sooth as if Truth were the daughter of Wine But say they escape these dangers certes speed they neuer so well the best of them all neuer seeth the Sun-rising so drowsie and sleepy they are in bed euery morning neither liue they to bee old men but die in the strength of their youth Hence comes it that some of them looke pale with a paire of flaggie blabd-cheekes others haue bleared and sore eies and there be of them that shake so with their hands that they cannot hold a full cup but shed and poure it downe the floore Generally they all dreame fearfully which is the very beginning of their hell in this life or els haue restlesse nights finally if they chance to sleep for a due guerdon and reward of their drunkennesse they are deluded with imaginary conceits of Venus delights defiled with filthy and abominable pollutions and thus both sleeping and waking they sin with pleasure Well what becomes of them the morrow after they belch soure their breath stinketh of the barrell and telleth them what they did ouer night otherwise they forget what either they did or said they remember no more than if their memory were vtterly extinct and dead And yet our iolly drunkards giue out and say That they alone inioy this life and rob other men of it But who seeth not that ordinarily they lose not onely the yesterday past but the morrow to come In the time of Tiberius Claudius the Emperor about 40 years since certaine out-landish Physitians and Monte-banks who would seem to set themselues out by some strange nouelties of their own so get a name brought vp at Rome a new deuise and order to drink fasting and prescribed folk to take a good hearty draught of wine before meat and to lay that foundation of their dinner Of all nations the Parthians would haue the glory for this goodly vertue of wine-bibbing and among the Greeks Alcibiades indeed deserued the best game for this worthy feat But here with vs at Rome Nouellius Torquatus a Millanois wan the name from all Romans Italians both This Lombard had gone through all honourable degrees of dignity in Rome he had bin Pretor and attained to the place of a Proconsull In all these offices of state he woon no great name but for drinking in the presence of Tiberius three gallons of wine at one draught and before he tooke his breath again he was dubbed knight by the syrname of Tricongius as one would say The three gallon knight and the Emperor sterne seuere and
or earthen vessels and so they will continue good till new come As for all other plums as they be soon ripe so they are as soone gone It is not long since that in the realm of Granado and Andalusia they began to graffe plums vpon apple-tree stocks and those brought forth plums named Apple-plums as also others called Almond-plums graffed vpon Almond-stocks these haue within their stone a kernel like an Almond and verily there is not a fruit again wherein is seene a wittier deuise to conioine and represent in one and the same subiect two diuers sorts As for the Damascene-plums taking name of Damasco in Syria we haue sufficiently spoken thereof in our treatise of strange trees and yet long since they haue bin knowne to grow in Italy which although they haue a large stone and little carnosity about them yet they neuer wither into wrinkles and riuels when they be dry for that they want the ful strength of the kind Sun which they had in Syria We should do wel to write together with them of the fruit Sebesten which also come from the same Syria albeit now of late they begin to grow at Rome being graffed vpon Soruices As touching peaches in generall the very name in Latine whereby they are called Persica doth euidently shew that they were brought out of Persis first and that it is a fruit not ordinary either in Greece or Natolia but a meere stranger there Contrariwise wilde plums as it is well knowne grow euery where I maruell therefore so much the more that Cato made no mention thereof considering that of purpose he shewed the maner how to preserue and keep diuers wild fruits till new came for long it was first ere Peach trees came into these parts and much adoe there was before they could be brought for to prosper with vs seeing that in the Island Rhodes which was their place of habitation next to Aegypt they beare not at all but are altogether barren And whereas it is said That Peaches be venomous in Persia do cause great torments in them who do eat therof as also that the KK of Persia in old time caused them to be transported ouer into Aegypt by way of reuenge to plague that country and notwithstanding their poisonous nature yet through the goodnes of that soile they became good and holesom all this is nothing but a meere fable a loud lie True it is indeed that the best writers who haue been painful aboue others to search out the truth haue reported so much concerning the tree Persea which is far different from the Peach tree Persica beareth fruit like to Sebesten of color red and willingly would not grow in any country without the East parts and yet the wiser more learned Clerkes do hold That it was not the tree Persea which was brought out of Persis into Egypt for to annoy and plague the country but that it was planted first by K. Perseus at Memphis Whereupon it came that Alexander the Great ordained That all victors who had won the prize at any game there should be crowned with a chaplet of that tree to honor the memoriall of his great grandsires father But how euer it be certaine it is that this tree continueth greene all the yere long and beareth euermore fruit one vnder another new and old together And to returne again to our Plum-trees euident it is that in Cato's time they were not knowne in Italy but all the Plum-trees which we now haue are come since he died CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of nine and twenty kinds of Fruits contained vnder the names of Apples OF Apples that is to say of fruits that haue tender skins to be pared off there bee many sorts For as touching Pome-citrons together with their tree we haue already written The Greekes call them Medica according to the name of the country from whence they first came in old time As for Iujubes as also the fruit Tuberes they bee likewise strangers as well as the rest and long it is not since they arriued first in Italy the one sort out of Africk the other namely Iujubes out of Syria Sextus Papinius whom my self in my time saw Consul of Rome was the first man that brought them both into these parts namely in the later end of Augustus Caesar the Emperor and planted them about the rampiers of his campe for to beautifie the same Howbeit to say a truth their fruit resembled rather berries than apples yet they make a goodly shew vpon the rampiers and no maruell since that now adayes whole groues of trees begin to ouertop and surmount the houses of priuat persons Concerning the fruit Tuberes there be two sorts thereof to wit the white and the reddish called also Sericum of the colour of silke The Apples named Lanata are held in manner for strangers in Italy and are knowne to grow but in one place thereof and namely within the territory of Verona Couered they be all ouer with a kind of down or fine cotton which albeit both quince and peach be clad and ouergrown with in great plenty yet these alone cary the name thereof for otherwise no special propertie are they known by to commend them A number of apples there are besides that haue immortalised their first founders and inventers who brought them into name caused them to be known abroad in the world as if therin they had performed some worthy deed beneficiall to all mankinde In which regard why should I think much to rehearse reckon them vp particularly by name for if I be not much deceiued thereby will appeare the singular wit that some men imployed in graffing trees and how there is not so small a matter so it be wel and cunningly done but is able to get honor to the first author yea and to eternise his name for euer From hence it comes that our best apples take their denominations of Matius Cestius Manlius Claudius As for the quince-apples that come of a quince graffed vpon an apple stock they are called Appiana of one Appius who was of the Claudian house and first deuised and practised that feat These apples cary the smel with them of quinces they beare in quantitie the bignesse of the Claudian apples and are in color red Now lest any man should think that this fruit came into credit by reason only of partiall fauor for that the first inuentor was a man descended from so antient noble a family let him but think of the apples Sceptiana which are in as great request as they for their passing roundnesse and they beare the name of one Sceptius their first inuentor who was no better than the son of a slaue lately infranchised Cato maketh mention of apples called Quiriana as also of Scantiana which he saith the maner is to put vp in vessels and so keep them But of all others the last that were adopted and tooke name of their patrons and inuentors be Petisia
of Holly The leaues of the Oliue tree and the Mast-Holme hang by a short stele the Vine leaues by a long The Poplar or Aspen leaues doe shake and tremble and they alone keep a whistling and rustling noise one with another Moreouer in the very fruit it selfe and namely in a certain kind of Apples ye shall haue small leaues breake out of the very sides in the mids in some single in others double and two together Furthermore there be trees that haue their leaues comming forth about their boughs and branches others at the very end and shoot of the twig as for the wild Oke Robur it putteth leaues forth of the trunk and maine stock Ouer and besides the leaues grow thicker or thinner in some than in others but alwlies the broad and large leaues are more thinne than others In the Myrtle tree the leaues grow in order by ranks those of the Box tree turn hollow but in the Apple trees they are set in no order at al. In Pyrries Apple trees both ye shal see ordinarily many leaues put forth at one bud hanging at one and the same taile The Elme and the Tree-trifolie are full of small and little branches Cato addeth moreouer and saith That such as fall from the Poplar or the Oke may bee giuen as fodder to beasts but he wils that they be not ouer drie and he saith expressely that for kine and oxen Fig-leaues mast Holm leaues and Iuie are good fodder yea and such kind of beasts may well brouse and feed of Reed leaues and Bay leaues Finally the Seruise tree looseth her leaues al at once others shed them by little and little one after another And thus much for the leaues of trees CHAP. XXV ¶ The order and course obserued in Nature as touching plants and trees in their conception flouring budding knotting and fructifying Also in what order they put forth their blossomes THe manner and order of Nature yeare by yeare holdeth in this wise first trees and plants do conceiue by the meanes of the Westerne wind Fauonius which commonly beginneth to blow about sixe daies before the Ides of Februarie for this wind is in stead of an husband to all things that grow out of the earth and of it they desire naturally to be conceiued like as the Mares in Spaine of which we haue written heretofore This wind is that spirit of generation which breathes life into all the world which the Latines call thereupon Fauonius à fauendo i. of cherishing and nourishing euery thing as some haue thought It blowes directly from the Aequinoctiall Sun-setting and euermore beginneth the Spring This time out rusticall peasants call the Seasoning when as Nature seemeth to goe proud or assaut and is in the rut and furious rage of loue desirous to conceiue by this wind which indeed doth viuifie and quicken all plants and seeds sowne in the ground Now of all them conceiue not at once but in sundry daies for some are presently sped in a moment like as liuing creatures others are not so hastie to conceiue but long it is first ere they retaine and as long againe before their vitall seed putteth forth and this is therupon called their budding time Now are they said to bring forth and be deliuered when in the Spring they bloome and that blossome breaketh forth of certain matrices or ventricles After this they become nources all the while they cherish and bring vp the fruit and this time also the Latines call Germinatio i. the breeding season When trees are full of blossomes it is a signe that the Spring is at the height and the yeare become new againe The blossom is the very ioy of trees and therein standeth their chiefe felicitie then they shew themselues fresh and new as if they were not the same then be they in their gay coats then it seemeth they striue avie one with another in varietie of colours which of them should excell and exceed in beautifull hew But this is not generall for many of them are denied this pleasure and enjoy not this delight for all trees blossome not some are of an heauie and sad countenance neither cheare they at the comming of this new season and gladsome Spring for the mast-Holme the Pitch tree the Larch and the Pine doe not bloome at all they are not arrayed in their robes they haue not their liueries of diuers colors to fore-signifie as messengers and vantcourriers the arriuall of the new yeare or to welcome and solemnize the birth of new fruits The Figge trees likewise both tame and wild make no shew of floures for they are not too soon bloomed if they bloom at all but they bring forth their fruit And a wonderful thing it is to see what abortiue fruit these Figge-trees haue and how it neuer commeth to ripenesse Neither doe the Iunipers bloome at all And yet some writers there be who make two kinds thereof and they say that the one flowreth and bears no fruit as for the other which doth not blossome it brings forth fruit vpon fruit and berrie vpon berrie which hang two yeres vpon the tree before they come to maturitie But this is false for in very truth all Iunipers without exception haue euermore a sad looke and at no time shew merie And this is the case and condition verily of many a man whose fortune is neuer in the floure nor maketh any outward shew to the world Howbeit there is not a tree but it buddeth euen those that neuer blossome And herein the diuersitie of the soile is of great power for in one and the same kind such as grow in marish grounds do shoot and spring first next to them those of the plaines and last of all they of the woods and forrests And generally the wilde Pyrries growing in woods doe bud later than any other At the first comming of the western wind Fauonius the Corneil tree buddeth next to it the Bay and somewhat before mid-march or the spring Aequinoctiall the Tillet or Linden and the Maple the Poplar Elme Willow Alder and Filberds or Hazell nut trees bud with the first The Palme also maketh hast and is loth to come behind All the rest at the point and prime of the spring namely the Holly the Terebinth the Paliurus the Cheston and the Walnut-trees or Mast-trees Apple trees are late ere they bud but the Corke tree longest of any other Trees there be that put forth bud vpon bud by reason that either the soile is exceeding battill and fat or else the weather faire and pleasant and this happeneth more to be seene in the blades of corne But trees if they happen to be ouer rancke in new shoots and buds they waxe wearie and grow out of heart Moreouer some trees there be that naturally do sprout at other seasons besides the spring according to the influence of certaine starres whereof the reason shall be rendred more conueniently in the third booke next ensuing after this Meane time this would
vnsauorie and foolish Woorts hauing no tast nor quicknesse at all whereupon Menander the comicall Poet bringeth in a husband vpon the stage who to reproch his wife for her sottishnesse and want of sense giueth her the terme of Bleet And in very truth good it is for little or nothing and altogether hurtfull vnto the stomacke It troubleth and disquieteth the belly insomuch as it driueth some that vse to eat it into the dangerous disease Cholera working both vpward and downward without any stay And yet some say that if it be drunk in wine it is good against Scorpions and serueth for a prety liniment to be applied vnto the agnels or corners of the feet yea and maketh a reasonable good cataplasm with oile for the spleen and pain of the temples Finally Hippocrates is of opinion that much feeding of Bleets staieth the monethly course of womens tearmes CHAP. XXIII ¶ Of Meu and Fenell as well Gentle named Foeniculum as Wild which is called Hippomar at hrum or Myrsineum of Hempe and Fenell-geant and of Thistles and Artichoux MEu or Spicknell is not found in Italy vnlesse it be in some Physitians garden and those are very few that sow or set it Howbeit there be two kinds thereof the one which is the better is commonly called Athamanticum of Prince Athamas the first inventer of this herbe as some thinke but according to other because the best Meu is found vpon Athamas a mountaine in Thessaly Leafed it is like to Annise rising vp with a stem otherwhile two cubits high putting forth many roots and those blackish whereof some run very deepe into the ground neither is this Meu so red altogether as the other If the root therofbe beaten into pouder or otherwise sodden and so drunk in water it causeth vrine to passe abundantly in that order also it doth resolue wonderfully the ventosities gathered in the stomack It assuageth mightily the wrings and torments of the guts it openeth the obstructions and cureth other infirmities of the bladder and the matrice Applied with honey it is very good for the joints Beeing laid as a cataplasme with Parsley to the bottome of the belly of little children it causeth them to make water As for Fenell the Serpents haue woon it much credit and brought it into name in this regard That by tasting thereof as I haue already noted they cast their old skin and by the juice that it yeeldeth do cleare their eies whereby we also are come to know that this herbe hath a singular property to mundifie our sight and take away the filme or web that ouercasteth and dimmeth our eyes Now the only time to gather and draw the said juice out of Fennel is when the stalke beginneth to swell and wax big which after it is receiued they vse to dry in the Sun and as need requireth make an iniunction with it and honey together There is of this juice to be had in all places howbeit the best is made in Iberia partly of the gum that issueth or frieth rather out of the stalk being brought neere to the fire or els drawn from the seed whiles it is fresh and green There is another making thereof out of the roots by way of incision presently after that Fennell beginneth to spring and put forth out of the ground when Winter is done There is another kind of wild Fenell named by some Hippomarathrum by others Myrsineum Larger leaues this hath than that other of the Garden and those more sharpe and biting at the tongues end it groweth taller also and ariseth with a maine stem as big as a mans arm hath a white root It groweth in hot grounds and those that be stony Diocles maketh mention of another kind yet of wild Fennell with a long narrow leafe bearing seed resembling Coriander As touching the garden Fenell and the medicinable vertues that it hath it is holden That the seed if it be taken inwardly in wine is a soueragne drinke for the prick of Scorpions or sting of other Serpents The juice thereof if it be instilled by drops into the eares killeth the wormes there The herb it selfe carrieth such sway in the kitchin that lightly there is no meat seasoned nor any vineger sauce serued vp without it Moreouer for to giue a commendable and pleasant tast vnto bread it is ordinarily put vnder the bottome crust of our loues when they be set into the ouen The seed doth bind and corroborat a weake and feeble stomack yea if it be taken in a very ague Being beaten into pouder drunk in cold water it staieth the inordinat heauing of the stomack and the vain proffers to vomit for the lights and the liuer it is the most soueraign medicine of all other Being taken moderatly it staieth the loosenesse of the belly and yet prouoketh vrine The decoction thereof appeaseth the wrings of the guts and taken in drink it silleth womens brests and maketh them to strout again with milk when it is gone vpon some occasion The root taken in a Ptisane of husked barly purgeth the reins so doth the syrrup made with the juice or decoction therof yea and the seed The root sodden in wine is singular good for the dropsie and the cramp A liniment made with the leaues and vineger and so applied assuageth hot swellings and inflammations and the said leaues haue vertue to expel the stone of the bladder Fennell taken inwardly any way increaseth sperme or natural seed A most friendly and comfortable herb it is to the priuie parts whether it be by somenting them with a decoction of the roots boyled in wine or by applying a liniment to them made with the said roots stamped incorporate with oile Many do make a cerote thereofwith wax for ta lay vnto tumours to places bruised made black and blew with stripes Also they vse the root either prepared with the juice of the herb or otherwise incorporat with hony against the biting of dogs and taken in wine against the worm called Milleped But for all these purposes beforesaid the wild Fennell is of greater operation than the garden Fennell but this principal vertue it hath mightily to expell the stone and grauell If it be taken with any mild and small wine it is very good for the bladder and namely the Strangury also it prouoketh womens tearmes that be either suppressed or come not kindly away to which purpose the seed is more effectuall than the root But whether it be root or seed it would be vsed in a mean measure for it is thought sufficient to put into drink at once as much as two fingers wil take vp Petridius who wrote the booke intituled Ophiaca and Myction likewise in his Treatise named Rhizotomumena were of opinion That there is not a better counterpoyson against the venome of Serpents than wild Fennell And certes Nicander himselfe hath raunged it not in the lowest place of such medicines Concerning Hemp at first
it came vp without sowing euen in the very woods and carried a more duskish green leafe and the same rougher It is said that if men eat the seed it wil extinguish vtterly their own seed The juice of green Hemp-seed being dropped into the eares driueth out any wormes or vermin there ingendred yea and what ear-wigs or such like creatures that are gotten into them but it will cause head-ach withall So forcible is this plant that by report if it be put into water it will make it to gather and coagulat Which is the reason that if horses haue the gurry they shall find help by drinking the said water The root if it be boiled in water doth mollifie and softenioints that be shrunk vp it assuageth the pains likewise of the Gout and such like wicked humors that fall down vpon any part Being yet green and reduced into a liniment and so applied it is good for burnes or scaldings but it must be often remoued and changed before it be drie As for Ferula or Fennel geant it carrieth a seed like to Dill. That kind which riseth vp in one stem and then diuideth it self and brancheth forth in the head is supposed to be the female The stalks are good to be eaten boyled and the right sauce wherein they be serued vp to giue them a more commendable tast is new wine and hony tempered accordingly and so prepared they be good for the stomack Howbeit if one eat ouer-liberally of them they cause head-ach Take the weight of one denier Roman of the root beat it to pouder and drinke it in two cyaths of wine you shall find it a soueraigne medicine against the stinging of serpents but you must not forget mean while to apply the root it self stamped into a cataplasme vnto the hurt place After this manner it helpeth the wringing torments of the guts Make a liniment or vnguent thereof and vineger together annoint the body therewith it restraineth the immoderate sweats that burst out although the Patient be sick of a feuer The juice of Ferula if it be eaten to the quantity of a Beane doth loosen the belly The small tendrils or branches of greene Ferula is good for all the infirmities abouenamed Take ten grains of Ferula seed in pouder with wine or so much of the pith within the stalk it stancheth bloud Some hold it good to giue a spoonful thereof euery fourth sixth and seuenth day after the change of the Moon to preuent the fits of the falling sicknes The nature of all these Fennel-geants is most aduerse to Lampreies for if they be touched neuer so little therewith they will die vpon it Castor was of opinion That the juice is excellent good to cleare the eye-sight And forasmuch as I haue spoken somewhat of Thistles and Artichoux how they should be ordered in my treatise of other garden plants I will put off no longer to discourse also of their properties and vertues in Physick Of the wild Thistles there be two kinds the one more ful of branches shooting out immediatly from the root the other riseth vp in one intire stem and the same is thicker withall Both of them haue but few leaues and those beset with prickles they beare heads pointed with sharp pricks round about in manner of caltrops Howbeit there is one kind which is the Artichoke which putteth forth a purple floure amidst those sharpe pointed prickes which very quickly turns into an hoarie downe readie to flie away with euery puffe of wind and this thistle the Greeks cal Scolymos The juice of the Artichoke stamped pressed out before it bloome bringeth haire again thicke if the naked place be annointed therewith The root either of Thistle or Artichoke sodden in water and so eaten is as good as a shooing-horne to draw on pot after pot for these great bibbers that desire nothing more than to be thirsty and to make quarrell to the cup. It strengtheneth the stomacke and if we may beleeue it is so appropriate vnto the matrice of women that it disposeth and prepareth it to conceiue men children In good faith Chaereas the Athenian and Glaucias especially who seemeth to be most curious in describing the nature and properties of these Thistles or Artichokes giue out no lesse To conclude if one chew them in his mouth hee shall finde that they will cause a sweet breath CHAP. XXIV ¶ The composition of a Treacle which was the ordinarie and familiar medicine of King Antiochus BVt before that we go out of the garden and leaue the herbes there growing I think it good to set down one confection made of them thought to be a most excellent and soueraigne antidote or preseruatiue against the poison of all venomous beasts whatsoeuer and which for the excellency thereof was ingrauen in stone vpon the forefront of the temple dedicated to Aesculapius in this maner following Take of wild running Thyme the weight of two deniers of Opopanax and Meu of each the like quantitie the seed of Dil Fennel Ameos and Parsly of each the weight of six deniers of Ervil floure twelue deniers or drams Let these be beaten into pouder and finely searced and when they be incorporat in the best wine that may be had they ought to be reduced into the form of Trosches euery one weighing a victoriat or half denier When occasion is to vse this composition dissolue one of these Trosches in three cyaths of wine and drinke it This is that famous Treacle or countrepoyson which great Antiochus the King was wont by report to take against all venoms or poysons whatsoeuer THE TVVENTY FIRST BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The nature of Floures and namely those of Chaplets and Guirlands CHAP. I. ¶ The wonderfull varietie of Floures CAto in his Treatise of Gardens ordained as a necessary point That they should be planted and inriched with such herbs as might bring forth floures for Coronets and Garlands And in very truth their diuersitie is such that vnpossible it is to decipher and expresse them accordingly Whereby wee may see that more easie it was for dame Nature to depaint adorn the earth with sundrie pictures to beautifie the fields I say with all maner of colours by her handy-worke especially where she hath met with a ground to her minde and when she is in a merrie humour and disposed to play and disport her selfe than for any man in the world to vtter the same by word of mouth Wherin certes her admirable prouidence she hath shewed principally in this That whereas she hath giuen vnto those fruits of the earth which serue for necessities the sustentation of man long life and a kind of perpetuitie euen to last yeares and hundreds of yeres these floures of pleasure and delight good only to content the eye or please the sence of smelling she would haue to liue and die in one day A great document and lesson for vs men in generall to
the name of Miltos and yet some terme it Cinnabari and hereof arose the error occasioned by the Indian name Cinnabari For so the Indians call the bloudy substance of a dragon crushed and squeesed with the weight of the Elephants lying vpon them ready to die to wit when the said dragons are full with sucking out the Elephants bloud before and now their owne and it are mingled together according as I haue shewed before in the story of those beasts And verily there is not a color besides which expresseth the liuely colour of bloud in pictures so properly as Minium As for that other Cinnabaris of India it is most wholsom to be put into antidots preseruatiues and countrepoisons yea and other souerain medicines to be taken inwardly But our physitians beleeue me for that by an error Minium or vermilion is called Cinnabaris vse in stead of Sanguis draconis the said Minium which in very truth is no better than a meere poison as I will shew anon Wel in old time they vsed to draw those pictures and pourtraits which consist of one single colour and bee called Monochromata with this colour Cinnabaâ—…s They painted also with the Minium of Ephesus but they gaue it ouer in processe of time because such colors were so costly required such pains ere they were prepared and made perfect Besides both the one and the other were thought to be ouer-quick and stinging in hand and therfore they betook themselues to the red earth Rubrica and Sinopis of which colours I will speak more in their proper places But to returne again to Cinnabaris or Sangdragon it is sophisticated and corrupted either with Goats bloud or else with the fruit of Seruoises punned But the true Cinnabaris or Sangdragon is worth fifty Sesterces by the pound As for Minium or Vermilion aforesaid K. Iuba saith that it groweth plentifully also in Carmania And Hermogenes affirmeth that Aethiopia likewise is not without good store of it But from neither of those two countries is it brought vnto vs nor to say a truth out of any other place but Spain The best and most excellent is that which comes out of the territory of Sisapone in the Realm of Granada or Boetica a part of Spain euen from a Mine of Vermilion there which payeth a great custome and yeelds much reuenue to the people of Rome and there is nothing looked to more streightly for feare of fraud and imposture for lawfull it is not there to dresse and refine it but vncocted and crude is it brought to Rome in the masse as it lay within the vein sealed by the sworn masters of the mine which yeelds one yeare with another 10000 pound weight or much thereabout At Rome it is washed and a price there is set vpon it by an expresse Act namely That it should not be sold aboue seuentie deniers the pound But many wayes is it sophisticated whereby the societie and fellowship of the Publicanes who had the ordering of it at Rome robbed the Commonweale and gained themselues For a second kind there is of Minium found almost in euerie mine of siluer lead the which is made of a certain stone intermingled in the veins of those mettals after the same is burnt and not of that red stone which yeeldeth forth the humor that I named before Quicke-siluer for this stone may it selfe by boiling be brought to siluer but of other red pieces of earth found together with the said true Vermilion which are knowne to be barraine and void of the right Vermilion onely by the leaden hue which they haue for vnlesse it be in the furnace they neuer wax red and then being fully burnt and calcined they are beaten to pouder This is that Minium of a second sort and much inferiour vnto those naturall pouders and sands of the true Minium notwithstanding very few there bee that know it Well this is that Minium wherewith the true Vermilion is sophisticated in the Worke-houses and shops of those Publicanes whose Companie and Fellowship had the ordering of it like as it is corrupted also with Scyricum But how this colour Scyricum is made I will in due place write hereafter Certes our painters to giue the better lustre vnto Minium yea and to saue charges haue deuised to lay the first ground vnder it of this Scyricum Besides this they haue another cast to gain or steale rather by Minium for by reason that it sticketh to their pensils euer and anon they wash it off when they be full this setleth down to the bottom of the water where it remaines and the painters take it for their auailes but they were as good pick their masters purse who setteth them aworke But if a man would know the true and sincere Vermilion indeed it ought to haue the rich and fresh colour of skarlet As for the brightnesse that is in the second sort if a wall bee painted therewith the naturall moisture and dankenesse that commeth from thence will abate the lustre soon And yet this Minium is taken to be but a kind of rust in mettals either siluer or lead as they lie in the mines Moreouer the minerall Vermilion found naturally in the foresaid Minium mines of Sisapona haue no siluer mixed therwith boyle and trie it in the fire as much as you will Also the way to find true Minium from false is by the means of gold for touch the sophisticat Minium with a piece of gold red hot it will wax blacke whereas the true Minium keepeth colour still Where by the way note That I read it may be falsified with Quicklime And after the same maner if there be no gold at hand to trie it by you shal soon see the proofe and find the falsehood by a plate of yron red hot and vsed accordingly Furthermore this hath beene obserued That the shining beams either of Sun or Moone do much hurt to the lustre of Vermillion or any thing painted therewith But what meanes to preuent this inconuenience Euen to vernish the wall after the colour is dried vpon it in this manner Take white Punicke wax melt it with oyle and while it is hot wash the said painting all ouer with pensils or fine brushes of bristles wet in the said vernish But when this vermish is laid on it must be well chafed heat again with red hot coales made of Gall-nuts held close to it that the wall may sweat and frie again which done it ought afterwards to be rubbed ouer well with cerecloths and last of all with cleane linnen cloths that it may shine again and be slicke as statues of marble be Moreouer the workemen that are emploied in their shops about the making of Vermillion doe bind vnto their faces in manner of Maskes large bladders that they may take and deliuer their wind at libertie and yet not be in danger of drawing in with their breath that pernicious and deadly pouder which is no better than poyson yet so as they may
it be guilded all ouer semblably there standeth in the courtly pallace of Octauia the image of Cupid holding a thunderbolt or lightning in his hand ready to shoot but it is a question who was the maker of him And yet this is affirmed That the same Cupid was made by the liuely patterne of Alcibiades who at that age was held to be the fairest youth that the earth did beare In the same place and namely in the schoole or gallerie of learned men there be many more images highly commended and yet no man knoweth who wrought them As for example four that resemble Satyres of which one seemeth to carry on his shoulders prince Bacchus arraied like a girle in a side coat or gown another likewise beareth yong Bacchus in the same order clad in the robe of his mother Semelle the third maketh as though he would stil the one Bacchus crying like a childe the fourth offereth the other a cup of drink to allay his thirst furthermore there be two images in habit and form foeminine representing gales of wind these seem to make sail with their owne clothes As doubtfull also it is who made the images within the railed inclosure in Mars field named Septa which do represent Olympus Pan Chiron and Achilles and yet so excellent pieces they be that men esteeme them worthy to be kept safe satisfaction to be made with no lesse than their death vnder whose hands and custody they should miscarrie But to returne againe vnto Scopas he had concurrents in his time and those that thought themselues as good workmen as himselfe to wit Bryaxis Timotheus and Leochares of whom I must write jointly together because they joined all foure in the grauing and cutting of the stately monument Mausoleum This Mausoleum was the renowned tombe or sepulchre of Mausolus a petty king of Caria which the worthy lady Artemisia somtime his queene and now his widow caused to be erected for the said prince her husband who died in the second yeare of the hundredth Olympias and verily so sumptuous a thing it was so curiously wrought by these artificers especially that it is reckoned one of those matchlesse monuments which are called the seuen Wonders of the world from North to South it carrieth in length 63 foot the two fronts East and West make the bredth which is not all out so large so as the whole circuit about may containe foure hundred and eleuen foot it is raised in heigth fiue and twenty cubits and inuironed with sixe and thirty columnes on the East side Scopas did cut Bryaxes chose the North end that front which regardeth the South fell to Timotheus and Leochares engraued at the west side but Queene Artemisia who caused this rich sepulchre to be made for the honour and in the memoriall of her husband late deceased hapned her selfe to depart this life before it was fully finished howbeit these noble artificers whom she had set aworke would not giue ouer when she was dead and gone but followed on still and brought it to a finall end as making this account that it would be a glorious monument to all posterity both of themselues and also of their cunning and in truth at this day it is hard to judge by their handyworke who did best There was a fifth workman also came in to them for aboue the side wall or wing of the tombe there was a Pyramis founded which from the very battlements of the said wal was carried to the heigth of the building vnderneath it the same grew smaller still as the worke arose higher and from that heigth at euery degree which in the whole were 24 was narrowed and taken in vntill at last it ended in a pointed broch in the top whereof there is pitched a coach with foure horse swrought curiously in marble and this was the worke of Pythis for his part So that reckoning this charriot with the sharp spire the Pyramis vnder it vnto the battlements and the body of the sepulchre founded vpon the bare ground the whole worke arose to an 140 foot in heigth But to come to some particular works of Timotheus beforesaid his hand wrought that statue of Diana in marble which standeth at Rome in the chappell of Apollo scituate in mount Palatine and yet the head belonging thereto which now this image carrieth Aulanius Evander set vnto it in place of the former As touching Menestratus men haue in high admiration Hercules of his making as also Hecate which standeth in a chappell at Ephesus behinde the great temple of Diana the sextons or wardens of which chappell giue warning vnto those that come to see it that they looke not too long vpon it for dazling and hurting their eyes the lustre of the Marble is so radiant and resplendent I cannot range in a lower degree vnto these the three Charites or Graces which are to bee seen in the Basse court before the Citadell of Athens the which Socrates made I meane not that Socrates whom I reckoned among painters although some thinke he was the same man As for Myro whom I commended for a singular imageur in brasse there is in marble of his portraying and ingrauing an old woman drunken which he made for them of Smyrna a piece of worke as much esteemed and spoken of as any other And here I cannot but thinke of Pollio Asinius who as he was a man of a stirring spirit and quick conceit delighted to haue his librarie and monuments to be inriched with such antiquities as these for among them a man shall see the Centaurs carry behind them vpon their croup the Nymphs which Archesitas wrought the Muses named Thespiades of Cleomenes his cutting Oceanus and Iupiter done by the hand of Eutochus the statues on horse back resembling women called Hippiades which Stephanus wrought joint Images of Mercurie and Cupid called Hermerotes the workmanship of Tauriscus I meane not the grauer of whom I spake before but another Tauriscus of Tralleis Iupiter syrnamed Xenius or Hospitalis which came out of the hands of Pamphilus an apprentice to Praxiteles as for the braue piece of worke to wit Zetus Amphion Dirce the Bull and the bond wherewith Dirce was tied all in one entier stone which was brought from Rhodes to Rome it was done by Apollonius and Tauriscus these men made question of themselues who should be their fathers professing in plaine termes that Menocrates was taken and supposed their father but indeed Artemidorus begat them and was their father by nature in the same place among other monuments the statue of father Bacchus made by Eutychides is much commended Moreouer neare vnto the gallerie of Octauia there is the Image of Apollo wrought by Phyliscus the Rhodian and hee standeth in a chappell of his owne Item Latona Diana the nine Muâ—…es and another Apollo naked As for that Apollo who in the same temple holdeth in his hand a harp Timarchides was the workman of it but in
diuers and sundry colors Moreouer this would be noted That if glasse and sulphur be melted together they will souder and vnite into a hard stone To conclude hauing thus discoursed of all things that are knowne to be done by wit or art according to the direction of Nature I cannot chuse but maruell at fire and the operations thereof seeing that nothing in a manner is brought to perfection but by fire and thereby any thing may be done CHAP. XXVII ¶ The wonderfull operations of fire the medicinable properties that it hath and the prodigious significations obserued thereby FIre receiueth sundry sorts of sand earth out of which it doth extract and melt one while glasse another while siluer in this place vermilion in that diuers sorts of lead and tin somtime Painters colours and another while matters medicinable By fire stones are resolued into brasse by fire iron is made and the same is tamed likewise therewith fire burneth and calcineth stone whereof is made that mortar which bindeth all worke in masonry As for some things the more they be burnt the better they are and of one and the same matter a man shall see one substance ingendred in the first fire another in the second and another also in the third As for the coles that go to these fires when they be quenched they begin to haue their strength and after they are thought extinct and dead they are of greatest vertue This element of Fire is infinit and neuer ceaseth working insomuch as it is hard to say whether it consume more than it ingendreth The very fire also is of great effect in physick for this is known for certain by experience there is not a better thing in the world against the pestilence occasioned by the darknesse of the Sun and the want of cleare light from him than to make fires and perfumes in diuers sorts either to clarifie or to correct the aire according as Empedocles and Hippocrates haue testified in diuers places M. Varro writeth that fire is good for convulsions cramps and contusions of the inward parts and for this purpose I will alledge the very words he vseth the Latine word Lix quoth he is nothing else but the ashes of the hearth and hereupon comes Lixivus cinis i. Lie ashes which being drunk is medicinable as we may see by fencers and sword-plaiers who after they haue done their flourishing and be ready to enter into fight at sharpe refresh themselues with this potion Furthermore it is said That a cole of oke wood being reduced into ashes and incorporat with hony cureth the carbuncle which is a pestilent disease whereof two noblemen at Rome both Consuls in their time died of late according as I haue shewed already See the wonderfull power in nature that things despised and of no account as ashes and coles should afford remedies for the health of man But before I make an end of fire and the hearth where it burneth I will not passe one admirable example commended vnto vs by the Roman Chronicles in which we reade That during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus king of Rome there appeared all on the sudden vpon the hearth where hee kept fire out of the very ashes the genital member of a man by vertue whereof a wench belonging vnto Tanaquil the queen as she sate before the said fire conceiued and arose from the fire with childe and of this conception came Servius Tullus who succeeded Tarquin in the kingdome And afterwards while hee was a yong childe and lay asleep within the court his head was seen on a light fire whereupon he was taken to be the son of the domestical spirits of the chimney Which was the reason that when he was come to the crown he first instituted the Compitalia and the solemne games in honour of such house-gods or familiar spirits THE XXXVII BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proem TO the end that nothing might be wanting to this historie of mine concerning Natures works there remaine behind nothing but pretious stones wherein appeareth her Maiesty brought into a narrow and streight roome and to say a truth in no part of the world is she more wonderfull in many respects whether you regard their varietie colours matter or beauty which are so rich and pretious that many make conscience to seale with them thinking it vnlawfull to engraue any print in them or to diminish their honour and estimation by that means Some of them are reckoned inestimable or valued at all the goods of the world besides insomuch as many men thinke some one pretious stone or gem sufficient to behold therein the very perfection of Nature and her absolute worke Touching the first inuention of wearing such stones in jewels and how it tooke first root and grew afterwards to that height as all the world is in admiration thereof I haue alreadie shewed in some sort in my treatise of Gold and Rings And yet I will not conceale from you that which poets do fable of this matter who would beare vs in hand that all beg an at the rocke Caucasus whereunto Prometheus was bound fast who was the first that set a little fragment of this rocke within a peece of iron which being done about his finger was the ring and the foresaid stone the gemme whereof the Poets make much foolish moralization CHAP. I. ¶ Of ihe rich precious stones of Polycrates the Tyrant and King Pyrrhus The first Lapidaries or Cutters in pretious stones And who was the first that had a case of rings and gems at Rome PRometheus hauing giuen this precedent brought other stones into great price and credit insomuch as men were mightily inamoured vpon them and Polycrates of Samos the puissant prince and mighty monarch ouer all the Islands and coasts thereabout in the height of his felicitie and happy estate which himself confessed to be excessiue being troubled in his mind that he had tasted of no misfortune and willing after a sort to play at Fortunes game one while to win and another while to lose and in some measure to satisfie her inconstancie was persuaded in his minde that he should content her sufficiently in the voluntarie losse of one gem that he had and which he set so great store by thinking verily that this one hearts griefe for parting from so pretious a jewell was sufficient to excuse and redeeme him from the spightful enuy of that mutable goddesse Seeing therefore the world to come vpon him still and no foure sorrowes intermingled with his sweet delights in a wearinesse of his continual blessednesse he imbarked himselfe and sailed into the deep where wilfully he flung into the sea a ring from his finger together with the said stone so pretious set therein But see what ensued A mighty fish euen made as a man would say for the king chanced to swallow it down as if it had bin some bait which being afterwards caught by fishers thought to
be of an extraordinary bignes was brought as a present into the kings pallace and so sent into the kitchen where the cook found within the belly therof the foresaid ring of his lords masters Oh the subtiltie of slie Fortune who all this while twisted the cord that another day should hang Polycrates This stone as it is wel known was a Sardonyx if we may beleeue it the very same it is which at Rome is shewed in the temple of Concord where Augusta the Empresse dedicated it as an oblation enchased within a golden horne and verily if it be the same one of the least Sardonyches it is among many other there which be preferred before it Next to this stone of Polycrates there goeth a royall name of the gem which Pyrrhus K. of Albanie had him I mean who warred against the Romans for by report an Agath he had wherein a man might see the nine Muses and Apollo with his harpe liuely represented not by art and mans hand but euen naturally imprinted for the veins and streaks of the stone were so disposed that a man might distinguish euery one of the Muses asunder ech one distinguished by their seueral marks and ornaments Setting aside these two gems aboue-named we do not read in authors of any great reckoning made of such iewels vnlesse wee speake of one Ismenias a famous minstrell who had the name to weare many of them ordinarily about him and those very gay and glittering and surely his vanity that way was such that there goeth a notable tale of him for meeting vpon a time in a merchants hand with an Emeraud in the Island Cyprus wherin ladie Amymone was engrauen and wherof the price was at first held at six deniers in gold he made no more ado but caused the mony to be paid presently but the merchant being a man of some conscience and thinking indeed the price to high gaue two of them back again vnto Ismenias whereat being ill apaid I beshrew you qd he for this bating of the mony hath much empaired the worth of the stone This Ismenias as it is thought was the first who brought vp the order that all such musicians and minstrels as himselfe should be known by their gems and esteemed skilfull in that art according as they were set out therwith more or lesse And in very truth Dionysodorus a great minstrell who liued in those daies with him vsed likewise to be in his change and variety of pretious stones because he would not seeme any way to come behind Ismenias There was a third also as vaine as the best a musician in that age named Nicomachus who loued to haue a number of gems about him but no iudgement hee had in the world to chuse them These examples which offer themselues by fortune to me in the beginning of this my booke may serue to pull downe their plumes who stand so much vpon the vaine ostentation of these stones when they shal see how all the pride they take herein smelleth but of the vain humor of some odd minstrels But to return againe to Polycrates his gem at this day it is to be seen within the temple of Concord whole sound And not only in the time of Ismenias but also many yeres after it should seem that Emerauds were wont to be cut and engrauen This opinion also may be confirmed by the act edict of K. Alexander the Great which forbad expresly That no man should be so hardy as to engraue his image in pretious stone but Pyrgoteles who no doubt was simply the best in that art After him Apollonides and Cronius were of great fame principally one Dioscorides who counterfeited in stone the liuely forme of Augustus Caesar the which serued the Emperors his successors as a signet to seale withall Sylla Dictator was wont alwais to signe with a seale representing K. Iugurtha tied bound as he was yeelded to him We read in Chronicles also that a certaine Spaniard of Intercatia whose father Scipio Aemilianus slew in single fight vsed afterwards no other seale but that which represented this combat whereupon grew this merry conceit of Stilo Praeconinus who asked What this Spaniard would haue done if his father had killed Scipio Augustus late Emperour of worthy memory vsed at the beginning to seale with the image Sphinx vpon his signet and verily in the casket of his mothers jewels two of these he found so like one to the other that one could not be known and discerned from the other as he was wont to weare one of them about him whersoeuer he went so in his absence during the ciuile wars which he leuied against M. Antonius his friends who managed his affairs at Rome signed with the other Sphinx al those letters edicts which passed in his name for the performance of some demands which those times did require And from hence it came that those who receiued any such letters or edicts containing some matter of difficulty were wont pleasantly and merrily to say That the said Sphinx came euer with some hard riddle or other that could not be expounded Moreouer the frog wherwith Moecenas vsed to seale was alwaies terrible to those who receiued any letters signed therewith for euermore they were sure vpon the receit of it to make some paiment of impost or taxes leuied vpon them But Augustus Caesar to auoid the obloquie that arose by his Sphinx gaue ouer sealing therewith and signed euer after with the image of K. Alexander the Great As touching a cabinet or case for many rings and such jewels which they call by a sorreine Greeke name Dactyliotheca the first that euer was known to haue any such at Rome was Scaurus whose mother Sylla the Dictator married and for a long time there was no other besides vntill Pompeius the Great met with the jewel-casket of K. Mithridates which among many other rich oblations he presented in the Capitoll and by the relation of M. Varro and other approued authors of that time it was much preferred before that of Scaurus in imitation of whose example Caesar Dictator consecrated in the temple of Venus Genitrix six such like cabinets or caskets of rings and jewels and Marcellus sonne to Octauia dedicated one in the temple Palatine of Apollo Finally this is to be obserued that the said victorie of Pompeius which he atchieued ouer K. Mithridates set mens teeth at Rome a watering after pearls and precious stones like as the conquests obtained by L. Scipio and Cn. Manlius brought them into loue with siluer plate curiously enchased and imbossed also with rich hangings of cloth of gold siluer and tissue together with beds and tables of brasse euen as the brasen statues and vessels of Corinthian brasse and the curious painted tables came in request vpon the victorie that L. Mummius gained ouer Achaea CHAP. II. ¶ Of Iems and precious stones that Pompeius shewed in his triumph The nature of Crystall and the medicinable properties thereof
much for why there is some good vse thereof in Physicke But I must tell you againe our women regard not that one whit that is not it wherfore they take so great a liking to Ambre True it is that a collar of Ambre beads worne about the neck of yong infants is a singular preseruatiue to them against secret poyson a countercharme for witchcraft and sorcerie Callistratus saith That such collars are very good for all ages and namely to preserue as many as weare them against fantasticall illusions and frights that driue folke out of their wits yea and Amber whether it be taken in drinke or hung about one cures the difficulty of voiding vrin This Callistratus brought in a new name to distinguish yellow Ambre from the rest calling it Chryselectrum which is as much to say as gold Ambre And in very truth this Amber is of a most louely and beautifull colour in a morning This property it hath besides by it selfe that it will catch fire exceeding quickly for if it be neer it you shal see it will soon be of a light fire He saith of this yellow Amber that if it be worn about the neck in a collar it cures feauers and healeth the diseases of the mouth throat and jawes reduced into pouder and tempered with hony and oile of roses it is soueraign for the infirmities of the ears Stamped together with the best Attick hony it makes a singular eie-salue for to help a dim sight puluerized and the pouder thereof taken simply alone or els drunk in water with masticke is soueraign for the maladies of the stomacke Furthermore Amber is very proper to falsifie many pretious stones which are commended for their perspicuity and transparent clearenesse but specially to counterfeit Amethysts by reason that I haue already said it is capable of any tincture that a man would giue it The froward peeuishnes of some Authors who haue written of Lyncurium enforceth me to speak of it immediatly after Amber for say that it be not Electrum or Amber as some would haue it yet they stand stiffely in this that it is a pretious stone mary they hold that it commeth from the vrine of an Once by reason that this wild beast so soon as it hath pissed couereth it with earth vpon a spight and enuie to man that he should haue no good therby They affirme moreouer That the Once stone or Lyncurium is of the same colour that Ambre ardent which resembleth the fire that it serueth well to be engrauen neither by their saying doth it catch at leaues only and strawes but thin plates also of brasse and yron and of this opinion was Dimocles and Theophrastus For mine own part I hold all to be mee re vntruths neither do I think that in our age there hath been a man who euer saw any pretious stone of that name Whateuer also is written as touching the vertues medicinable of Lyncurium I take them to be no better than fables namely that if it be giuen in drink it wil send out the stone of the bladder if it be drunk in wine it will cure the jaundise presently or if it be but carried about one it wil do the deed but ynough of such fantasticall dreames and lying vanities and time it is now to treat of those precious stones wherof there is no doubt made at al and to begin with those that by al mens confession are most rich and of highest price In which discourse I wil not prosecute this theame only but also for to aduance the knowledge of posterity in those things that may profit this life I meane eftsoones to haue a fling at Magicians for their abhominable lies and monstrous vanities for in nothing so much haue they ouerpassed themselues as in the reports of gems pretious stones exceeding the tearms and limits of Physick whiles vnder a color of faire and pleasing medicines they hold vs with a tale of their prodigious effects and incredible CHAP. IIII. ¶ Of Diamants and their sundry kinds Their vertues and properties medicinable Of Pearles THe Diamant carieth the greatest price not only among pretious stones but also aboue aâ—… things els in the world neither was it knowne for a long time what a Diamant was vnlesse it were by some kings and princes and those but very few The only stone it is that we find in mines of mettal Very seldome it is and thought a miracle to meet with a diamant in a veine of gold yet it seemes as though it should grow no where but in gold The writers of antient time were of opinion that it was to be had in the mines only of Aethiopia and namely between the temple of Mercurie and the Island Meroë affirming moreouer that the fairest Diamant that euer was found exceeded not in bignesse a Cucumber seed whereunto also it was not vnlike in color But in these daies there be known six sorts of Diamants The Indian is not engendred in mines of gold but hath a great affinitie with Crystall and groweth much after that manner for in transparent and cleere color it differeth not at all neither yet otherwhiles in the smooth sides and faces which it carrieth between six angles pointed sharpe at one end in manner of a top or els two contrary waies lozengewise a wonderful thing to consider as if the flat ends of two tops were set and joined together and for bignesse it hath bin knowne of the quantity of an Hazel-nut or Filbard kernill The Diamants of Arabia be much like to the Indian only they are lesse they grow also after the same order As for the rest they are of a more pale and yellow color testifying out of what country and nation they come for they breed not but in mines of gold and those the most excellent of all others The triall of these Diamants is vpon a smiths Anuill for strike as hard as you will with an hammer vpon the point of a Diamant you shall see how it scorneth all blowes and rather than it will seeme to relent first flieth the hammer that smiteth in pieces and the very anuill it selfe vnderneath cleaueth in twaine Wonderful and inenarrable is the hardnesse of a Diamant besides it hath a nature to conquer the fury of fire nay you shall neuer make it hot doe what you can for this vntameable vertue that it hath the Greekes haue giuen it the name Adamas One of these kinds the said Greekes call Cenchron for that it is as big ordinarily as the millet seed a second sort they name Macedonicum found in the mine of gold neer Philippi and this is that Diamant which for quantity is compared to the Cucumber seed After these there is the Cyprian Diamant so called because it is found in the Isle Cyprus it enclineth much to the color of brasse but in cases of Physick as I will shew anon most effectual Next to which I must raunge the Diamant Sideritis which shines as bright as steele