gather as it were a compleat hody of arts and sciences which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that are either altogether vnknowne or become doubtfull through the ouermuch curiositie of fine wits again other matters are deciphered in such long discourses that they are tedious to the readers insomuch as they loath and abhor them A difficult enterprise it is therfore to make old stuffe new to giue authoritie credit to nouelties to polish and smooth that which is worne and out of vse to set a glosse and lustre vpon that which is dim and darke to grace countenance things disdained to procure beleefe to matters doubtful in one word to reduce nature to all and al to their own nature And verily to giue the attempt only and shew a desire to effect such a desseigne as this although the same be not brought about and compassed were a braue and magnificent enterprise Certes of this spirit am I that those learned men and great students who making no stay but breaking through al difficulties haue preferred the profit of posteritie before the tickling and pleasure of itching eares in these daies which I may protest that I haue aimed at not in this worke only but also in other of my bookes alreadie and I professe that I wonder much at T. Livius otherwise a most renowned famous writer who in a preface to one of his books of the Roman history which hee cōpiled from the foundation of Rome thus protested That hee had gotten glorie ynough by his former writing and might sit still now take his ease but that his mind was so restlesse and so ill could abide repose that contrariwise it was fed and nourished with trauel nothing else But surely me thinks in finishing those Chronicles he should in dutie haue respected the glory of that people which had conquered the World and aduanced the honour of the Romane name rather than displaied his owne praise and commendation Ywis his demerit had beene the greater to haue continued his story as he did for loue of the subiect matter and not for his priuat pleasure to haue I say performed that peece of worke more to gratifie the state of Rome than to content his owne minde and affection As touching my selfe forasmuch as Domitius Piso saith That bookes ought to be treasuries store houses indeed and not bare and simple writings I may be bold to say and averre That in 36 bookes I haue comprised 20000 things all worthie of regard consideration which I haue recollected out of 2000 volumes or therabout that I haue diligently read and yet very few of them there be that men learned otherwise and studious dare meddle withall for the deepe matter and hidden secrets therein contained and those written by 100 seuerall elect and approued authors besides a world of other matters which either were vnknowne to our forefathers and former writers or else afterward inuented by their posteritie And yet I nothing doubt that many things there be which either surpasse our knowledge or else our memorie hath ouerslipt for men we are and men emploied in many affaires Moreouer considered it would be that these studies wee follow at vacant times and stolne houres that is to say by night season onely to the end that you may know how wee to accomplish this haue neglected no time which was due vnto your seruice The daies we wholly employ and spend in attendance about your person we sleepe onely to satisfie nature euen as much as our health requireth and no more contenting our selves with this reward That whiles wee study and muse as Varro saith vpon these things in our closet we gaine so many houres to our life for surely we liue then only when we watch and be awake Considering now those occasions those lets and hinderances aboue-named I had no reason to presume or promise much but in that you haue emboldened me to dedicate my bookes vnto you your selfe performeth whatsoeuer in me is wanting not that I trust vpon the goodnesse and worth of the worke so much as that by this means it will be better esteemed and shew more vendible for many things there be that seeme right deare and be holden for pretious only because they are consecrate to some sacred temples As for vs verily we haue written of you all your father Vespasian your selfe and your brother Domitian in a large volume which wee compiled touching the historie of our times beginning there where Aufidius Bassus ended Now if you demand and aske me Where that historie is I answer that finished it was long since and by this time is iustified and approued true by your deeds otherwise I was determined to leaue it vnto my heire and giue order that it should be published after my death lest in my life time I might haue bin thought to haue curried fauour of those whose acts I seemed to pen with flatterie beyond all truth And therfore in this action I do both them a great fauour who haply were minded before me to put forth the like Chronicle and the posteritie also which shall come after who I make reckning and know will enter into the lists with vs like as we haue done with our predecessors A sufficient argument of this my good mind frank hart that way you shal haue by this That in the front of these books now in hand I haue set down the very names of those writers whose help I haue vsed in the compiling of thē for I haue euer bin of this opinion That it is the part of an honest minded man one that is ful of grace modesty to confesse frank ly by whom he hath profited gottē any good not as many of those vnthankful persons haue done whom I haue alledged for my authors For to tell you a plain truth know thus much from me that in conferring thē together about this worke of mine I haue met with some of our moderne writers who word for word haue exemplified copied out whole books of old authors and neuer vouchsafed so much as the naming of them but haue taken their labors trauels to themselues And this they haue not done in that courage and spirit to imitate yea to match them as Virgil did Homer much lesse haue they shewed that simplicitie and apert proceeding of Cicero who in his bookes of Policie and Common-weale professeth himselfe to hold with Plato in his Consolatorie Epistle written to his daughter confesseth and saith plainely thus I follow Crantor and Panaetius likewise in his Treatise concerning Offices Which worthy monuments of his as you know well deserue not onely to be seene handled and read daily but also to be learned by heart euery word Certes I hold it for a point of a base and seruile mind and wherein there is no goodnesse at al to chuse rather to be surprised and taken in theft than to bring home borrowed good or to repay a due debt
otherwhiles of sparkles running to fro Enhydros is euermore absolutely smooth and white containing within a certain liquor that moueth too and fro if a man shake it as he may perceiue in egges Polytrix is a greene stone bedecked with fine veines in manner of the haire of ones head but by report it will make the haire to shed off as many as carry it about them Of a Lions skin Leontios beareth the name like as Pardalios of a Panther The golden color in the Topaze gaue it the name Chrysolith so the grasse green of a Leeke was occasion of the name Chrysoprasos and of hony was deuised the colour and name Melichrus although there be many kinds of it As for Melichloros it is of two colours partly yellow and partly resembling hony Crocias is yellow as Saffron and Polia sheweth a certaine greynesse in manner of Spart As for Spartopolios the blacke it sheweth like gtistly veins to the other but much harder Rhodites took name of the Rose Melites of the apple the colour wherof it shews Chalcites of brasse and Sycites of a fig. I see no proportion or reason at all between the stone Borsycites and that name this stone is blacke and branching and the leaues are whiâ—…e or red like bloud no more than I do in Gemites which representeth as it were engrauen in the stone white hands clasped one within another As for Ananchitis it is said That spirits may be raised by it in the skill of Hydromantie like as by Synochitis the ghosts which are raised may be kept aboue still What should I speake of the white Dendritis which if it be buried in the ground vnder a tree that is to be fallen the edge of the axe that heweth it will not turne or wax blunt There be a number of other and those in nature more prodigious than the rest for which the Barbarians haue deuised strange names professing to vs that they were stones indeed for mine owne part it shall suffice that I haue disproued their lies in these abouenamed CHAP. XII ¶ Of new stones and those naturall Of such as be counterfeit and artificiall Of diuers formes and shapes of gems THere grow still precious stones vnlooked for euery day that bee new and haue no names such as that in Lampsacus where one was found in the gold mines so faire and beautifull that it was thought a present worth sending to K. Alexander the Great as Theophrastus writeth As touching the stones Cochlides which now are most common they seeme rather artificial than natural and verily it is said That in Arabia there be found of them huge masses which are sodden in hony 7 daies and nights together continually by which means after that all the earthy and grosse refuse of this stone is taken away the stone it selfe remaineth pure and fine and then comming vnder the lapidaries hand they be diuided into sundry veines and reduced into drawne or inlaid worke of Marquetage as he will himselfe And herein is seen the cunning of the cutter for that it is so vendible euery mans mony In old time they were made of that bignesse that the KK of the East had their horses set out therewith not only in their front stals but also in the pendants of their caparisons And verily al other precious stones being decocted in hony look faire and neat with a pleasant lustre but principally the Corsicks which abhor all things els that are more eager than hony Moreouer this is to be noted that our lapidaries haue a tearme for those stones which are of diuers colors and they call them Physes as if they had not another vsuall name for them this they do in the subtilty of their wit to make them seem more wonderful by these strange words of art as if they would venditat them for their very wonders of Natures worke whereas indeed there be an infinit number of names deuised all by the vain Greeks who knew not how to make an end which I purpose not to rehearse and verily after I had discoursed of the noble and rich stones I contented my selfe in some sort to specifie those of a baser degree such I mean as were more rare than others to distinguish them that were most worthy to be treated of But this eft soons would be remembred that one the self-same stone changeth the name according to the sundry spots marks werts that arise in them according also to the manifold lines drawn in them the diuers veins running between and the variety of colors therein obserued It remains now to set downe some generall obseruations indifferent to all sorts of gems and that after the opinion of the best approoued and experienced authors in this kind Any stones that be either hollow sunk in or bearing out in bosse or belly be nothing so good as those which cary an euen and leuell table The long fashioned gems are most esteemed next to them such as be formed like to lintil seed after them those that be round in manner of a targuet and as for such as be made with many faces angled they be of al other least accounted of To discern a fine true stone from a false and counterfeit is very difficult forasmuch as there is an inuention io transform true gems into the counterfeit of another kind And in truth men haue deuised to make Sardonches by setting and glewing together the gems named Ceraunia that so artificially that it is vnpossible to see therein mans hand so handsomly are couched the black taken from this the white from that the vermilion red from another according as the richnes of the stone doth require all those in their kind most approued Moreouer there be in my hands certain books of authors extant whom I wil not nominate for all the good in the world wherein is deciphered the manner and means how to giue the tincture of an Emeraud to a Crystall how to sophisticat other transparent gems namely how to make a Sardonyx of a Cornalline in one word to transform one stone into another to say a truth there is not any fraud or deceit in the world turneth to greater gain and profit than this CHAP. XIII ¶ The way how to make proofe of fine precious stones LEt other writers teach how to deceiue the world by counterfeiting gems for mine own part I will take a contrary course and shew the means how to find out false stones that be thus sophisticat for surely wanton and prodigall though men and women bee in the excessiue wearing of these jewels yet meet it is they should be armed and instructed against such cousiners And albeit I haue already touched somwhat respectiuely as I treated of the chiefe principall gems yet I wil adde somwhat more to the rest first and formost therfore this is obserued That all stones which be transparent ought to haue their triall in a morning betimes or at the farthest if
of Rome Noted it hath bin that the shortest time of theit appearance is a seuen-night and the longest eighty daies some of them moue like the wandering planets others are fixed fast and stir not All in maner are seen vnder the very North star called Charlemaignes Wain some in no certain part thereof but especially in that white which hath taken the name of the Milk circle Aristotle saith that many are seene together a thing that no man else hath found out so far as I can learne Mary boisterous windes and much heate of weather are foretokened by them There are of them seene also in Winter season and about the Antarticke South pole but in that place without any beames A terrible one likewise was seene of the people in Ethiopia and Egypt which the King who reigned in that age named Typhon It resembled fire and was pleited and twisted in manner of a wreath grim and hideous to be looked on and no more truly to be counted a star than some knot of fire Sometimes it falleth out that rhe planets and other stars are bespred all ouer with haires but a Comet lightly is neuer seen in the west part of the heauen A fearefull star for the most part this Comet is and not easily expiated as it appeared by the late ciuill troubles when Octauius was Consul as also a second time by the intestine war of Pompey and Caesar. And in our dayes about the time that Claudius Caesar was poysoned and left the Empire to Domitius Nero in the time of whose reigne and gouernment there was another in manner continually seen and euer terrible Men hold opinion that it is materiall for presage to obserue into what quarters it shooteth or what stars power and influence it receiueth also what similitudes it resembleth and in what parts it shineth out and first ariseth For if it be like vnto flutes or hautboies it portendeth somewhat to Musitians if it appeare in the priuy parts of any signe then let ruffians whore-masters and such filthy persons take heed It is respectiue to fine wits and learned men if it put forth a triangular or foure-square figure with euen angles to any scituations of the perpetuall fixed stars And it it is thought to presage yea to sprinkle and put forth poison if seen in the head of the Dragon either North or South In one only place of the whole world namely in a Temple at Rome a Comet is worshipped and adored euen that which by Augustus Caesar himselfe of happy memorie was iudged verie lucky and happy to him who when it began to appeare gaue attendance in person as ouerseer of those playes and games which he made to Venus genetrix not long after the death of his father Caesar in the colledge by him instituted and erected testifying his ioy in these words In those very daies during the solemnities of my Plaies there was seen a blasing star for seuen daies together in that region of the sky which is vnder the North star Septentriones It arose about the 11 houre of the day bright it was and cleare and euidently seene in all lands by that star it was signified as the common sort belceued that the soule of Iulius Caesar was receiued among the diuine powers of the immortal gods In which regard that marke or ensigne of a slar was set to the head of that statue of Iulius Caesar which soone after we dedicated in the Forum Romanum These words published he abroad but in a more inward ioy to himselfe he interpreted and conceiued thus of the thing That this Comet was made for him and that himselfe was in it borne And verily if we wil confesse a truth a healthfull good and happy presage that was to the whole world Some there be who beleeue that these be perpetuall stars and go their course round but are not seen vnlesse they be left by the Sun Others againe are of opinion that they are ingendred casually by some humour and the power of fire together and thereby do melt away and consume CHAP. XXVI ¶ Hipparchus his opinion of the Stars Also historicall examples of Torches Lamps Beames Fiery Darts opening of the Firmnment and other such impressions HIppaachus the foresaid Philosopher a man neuer sufficiently praised as who proued the affinitie of stars with men and none more than he affirming also that our soules were parcell of heauen found out and obserued another new star ingendred in his time and by the motion thereof on what day it first shone he grew presently into a doubt Whether it hapned not very often that new stars should arise and whether those starres also moued not which we imagined to be fixed The same man went so farre that he attempted a thing euen hard for God to performe to deliuer to posteritie the iust number of starres He brought the same stars within the compasse of rule and art deuising certaine instruments to take their seueral places and set out their magnitudes that thereby it might be easily discerned not only whether the old died and new were borne but also whether they moued and which way they tooke their course likewise whether they increased or decreased Thus he left the inheritance of heauen vnto all men if haply any one could be found able to enter vpon it as lawfull heire There be also certaine flaming torches shining out in the sky how be it neuer seene but when they fall Such a one was that which at the time that Germ. Caesar exhibited a shew of Sword-fencers at vtterance ran at noontide in sight of all the people And two sorts there be of them namely Lampades which they call plaine torches and Bolides i. Lances such as thé Mutinians saw in their calamitie when their city was sacked Herein they differ for that those lampes or torches make long traines whiles the forepart only is on a light fire but Bolis burnes all ouer and draweth a longer taile There appeare and shine out after the same manner certain beams which the Greekes call Docus like as when the Lacedemonians being vanquished at sea lost the empire and dominion of Greece The firmament also is seene to chinke and open and this they name Chasma CHAP. XXVij ¶ Of the strange colours of the Sky THere appeareth in the Sky also a resemblance of bloud and than which nothing is more dread and feared of men a fiery impression falling from out of heauen to earth like as it hapned in the 3 yeare of the 107 Olympias at what time King Philip made all Greece to shake with fire and sword And these things verily I suppose to come at certaine times by course of nature like as other things and not as the most part thinke of sundry causes which the subtill wit and head of man is able to deuise They haue indeed been fore-runners of exceeding great miseries but I suppose those calamities hapned not because these impressions were but these therefore
crier pronounced noon when standing at the hall or chamber of the councell he beheld the Sun in that wise betweene the pulpit called Rostra and the Grecostasis which was a place where forrein embassadours gaue their attendance but when that the same sun inclined downeward from the columne named Moenia to the common gaole or prison then he gaue warning of the last quarter of the day and so pronounced But this obseruation would serue but vpon cleere daies when the sun shined and yet there was no other means to know how the day went vntill the first Punicke war Fabius Vestalis writeth that L. Papyrius Cursor 12 yeres before the war with Pyrrhus was the first that for to do the Romans a pleasure set vp a sun-dyall to know what it was a clocke vpon the temple of Quirinus at the dedication thereof when his father had vowed it before him Howbeit mine aurhor sheweth not either the reason of the making of that diall or the workman ne yet from whence it was brought nor in what writer he found it so written M. Varro reporteth that the first diall was set vp in the common market place vpon a columne neere the foresaid Rostra in the time of the first Punicke war by M. Valerius Messala the Consull presently after the taking of Catana in Sicily from whence it was brought thirty yeares after the report that goeth of the foresaid quadrant and diall of Papyrius namely in the yeare after the foundation of the city 477. And albeit the strokes and lines of this Horologe or diall agreed not fit with the houres yet were the people ruled and went by it for an hundred yeares saue one euen vntill Q. Martius Philippus who together with L. Paulus was Censor set another by it framed made more exquisitly according to Art And this piece of work among other good acts done by the Censor during his office was highly accepted of the people as a singular gift of his Yet for all this if it were a close and cloudy day wherein the Sun shone not out men knew not what it was a clocke certainly and thus it continued fiue yeres more Then at last Scipio Nasica being Censor with Laenas made the deuise first to diuide the houres both of day and night equally by water distilling and dropping out one vessell into another And this manner of Horologe or water-clocke he dedicated in the end within house and that was in the 595 yere from the building of Rome Thus you see how long it was that the people of Rome could not certainly tell how the day passed Thus much concerning the Nature of man let vs returne now to discourse of other liuing creatures and first of land-beasts THE EIGHTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS CHAP. I. ¶ Of landbeasts The praise of Elephants their wit and vnderstanding PAsse we now to treat of other liuing creatures and first of land-beasts among which the Elephant is the greatest and commeth neerest in wit and capacitie to men for they vnderstand the language of that country wherin they are bred they do whatsoeuer they are commanded they remember what duties they be taught and withall take a pleasure and delight both in loue and also in glory nay more than all this they embrace goodnesse honestie prudence and equitie rare qualities I may tel you to be found in men and withal haue in religious reuerence with a kinde of deuotion not only the stars and planets but the sun and moon they also worship And in very truth writers there be who report thus much of them That when the new moon beginneth to appeare fresh and bright they come downe by whole heards to a certaine riuer named Amelus in the desarts and forests of Mauritania where after that they are washed and solemnly purified by sprinckling and dashing themselues all ouer with the water haue saluted and adored after their manner that planet they returne again into the woods chases carrying before them their yong calues that be wearied and tired Moreouer they are thought to haue a sense and vnderstanding of religion conscience in others for when they are to passe the seas into another country they wil not embarke before they be induced thereto by anoath of their gouernors and rulers That they shall returne again and seene there haue bin diuers of them being enfeebled by sicknesse for as big and huge as they be subject they are to grievous maladies to lie vpon their backs casting and flinging herbes vp toward heauen as if they had procured and set the earth to pray for them Now for their docility and aptnesse to learne any thing the king they adore they kneele before him and offer vnto him garlands and chaplets of floures and green herbes To conclude the lesser sort of them which they call Bastards serue the Indians in good stead to eare and plough their ground CHAP. II. ¶ When Elephants were put to draw first THe first time that euer they were knowne to draw at Rome was in the triumph of Pompey the Great after he had subdued Africke for then were two of them put in geeres to his triumphant chariot But long before that it is said that Father Bacchus hauing conquered India did the like when he triumphed for his conquest Howbeit in that triumph of Pompey Procilius affirmeth That coupled as they were two in one yoke they could not possibly go in at the gates of Rome In the late solemnity of tournois sword-fight at the sharp which Germanicus Caesar exhibited to gratifie the people the elephants were seen to shew pastime with leaping keeping a stir as if they danced after a rude and disorderly manner A common thing it was among them to fling weapons darts in the aire so strongly that the winds had no power against them to flourish also before hand yea and to encounter and meet together in fight like sword-fencers and to make good sport in a kinde of Moriske dance and afterwards to go on ropes and cords to carry foure together one of them laid at ease in a litter resembling the maner of women newly brought a bed last of all some of them were so nimble and well practised that they would enter into an hall or dining place where the tables were set full of guests and passe among them so gently and daintily weighing as it were their feet in their going so as they would not hurt or touch any of the company as they were drinking CHAP. III. ¶ The docilitie of Elephants THis is knowne for certaine that vpon a time there was an Elephant among the rest not so good of capacity to take out his lessons and learn that which was taught him and being beaten and beaten again for that blockish and dull head of his was found studying and conning those feats in the night which he had bin learning in the day time But one of the greatest wonders of them was
ripeneth sooner or later For in Aegypt Barley is readie to be reaped in the sixt moneth after it was sowne and Wheat in seuen but in the region of Hellas in Greece the Barley tarieth seuen moneths and in Peloponnesus or Morea eight As for wheat and such like hard corne longer it is ere it be ripe and ready for the sycle All Corne that groweth aloft vpon a stalke or straw beareth the graines arranged spikewise and as if they were plaited and braided like a border of haire In Bean stalks and other such like pulse the cods grow in alternatiue course some on the right side others on the left in order Wheat and such like spiked corne withstand the winter cold better than Pulse but these yeeld a stronger food and fill the belly sooner Wheat Rie and such like grain are well wrapped within many tunicles Barley for the most part lieth bare and naked so doth Arinca i. a kind of Rice or Amel corn and Oats especially The straw of wheat and Rie is commonly taller than that of Barly But the eiles of Barley are more rough and prickie than those of the other Pol-wheat both red and white yea and Barley also is threshed and driuen out of the husk vpon a floore and being thus threshed clean and pure it is either ground or sowne againe without any parching or drying in a furnace Contrariwise the Beare corne of Bearded wheat Far Millet and Panick cannot possibly be made clean vnlesse they be first sendged and so dried These sorts of graine therefore vse to be sowed raw and rude with their very huls like as the Beare corn or bearded Far men are wont to keep still inclosed within the husk against seed time and neuer parch or dry it at the fire Of all the sorts of grain before rehearsed Barley is the lightest for a Modius or pecke thereof seldome weigheth aboue 15 pounds whereas the like measure of Beans poiseth 22. The bearded corne Far is yet more ponderous than it and Wheat more than all the rest In Aegypt they vse to make certain frumenty meat or naked grotes of a kind of Rice or white Amel-corn called Olyra which is among them holden for the third sort of Spike-corne In Gaule likewise they haue a kinde of frumentie corne or gurts by themselues named in their language Brance and with vs in Italy and about Rome Sandalum this grain is of all others most neat and faire and this singular propertie it hath besides different from the rest That ordinarily in euery measure called Modius it yeeldeth more bread by foure pound weight than any other corne husked and dressed in maner aforesaid Verrius reporteth That the people of Rome for 300 yeares together vsed no other meat than the grotes made of common Wheat And as touching Wheat there be many sorts therof distinguished by the names of the Regions and countries where they be found growing Howbeit for my part I thinke verily that there is no wheat in the world comparable to ours here in Italy for it surpasseth all others both in whitenesse and also in weight by which two marks especially as it is knowne from the rest so it is reputed for the very best And if you take the wheat growing in the mountain countries of Italy the best haply of forrein regions may match it and that is the wheat of Boeotia the principall of all others next to it is that which growes in Sicily and then that of Africk may be ranged in the last place in a third rank is to be reckoned the Thracian and Syrian Wheat and after them the Aegyptian in regard of the weight that it carieth Now these degrees of weight we gather by the proportion assigned to champions and wrestlers whose allowance was much like to the liurie giuen to laboring horses and as much in maner would their paunches both require and receiue for according as they could eare of the one sort more measures than of the other so arose these distinct degrees in the weight aboue said The Greeks make great account of the Wheat growing by Pontus and highly commend it but this neuer came into Italy neither know wee what it is The same Grecians preferred before all other grain these three sorts to wit Dracontias Strangias and Selinusium esteeming the goodnesse of the corn by the thicknesse and bignes of the straw and attributing these three kinds by that signe and argument to the goodnesse and riches of the soile and therefore they prescribed to sow this corn in a fat and battle ground But the lightest in weight and poorest in substance because it required much nutriment they appointed to be sowed in moist places Of this opinion and iudgment were the antient Greeks during the reign of Alexander the Great at what time as Greece was in the floure and height of her glory as hauing the monarchie and soueraigntie ouer the whole world Howbeit before his death 145 yeares or thereabout Sophocles the Poet in a Tragedie entituled Triptolemus praised the Italian wheat aboue all other for in effect thus he saith word forword Et fortunatam Italiam frumento canére candido And Italy a land I say so happy and so blest Where stand the fields all hoare and gray with white Wheat of the best And in very truth our Italian wheat at this day carieth the name alone in that regard I wonder therefore so much the more at the modern Greeks of late time who made no mention at all of this ourwheat Now at this present of all those kinds of outlandish wheat which are transported by sea into Italy the lightest is that which commeth out of France and Chersonesus i. the streits of Callipolis for a Modius or peck thereof containeth not aboue 20 pound weight weigh the very graine it selfe as it groweth vncleansed huske and all The Sardinian wheat is more weighty than it by halfe a pound in a Modius And that of Alexandria exceedeth the French halfe a pound and one third part in euery measure before named And this is the very poise also of the Sicilian wheat The Boeotian is yet a full pound heauier and that of Africk as much and three fourth parts of a pound more In Lombardy that tract of Italy beyond the riuer Po I know ful wel that a Modius of their wheat weighed 25 pounds and about Clusium 26. But be the corne whatsoeuer it will this is the ordinarie proportion by the course of Nature that being made into down-right houshold bread for soldiers and to serue the campe it ought to weigh as much as it did in corne and one third part ouer and aboue As also this is a rule That the best Wheat is that which to euerie Modius will take and drink vp a gallon of water ere it be made dough And yet some kindes of Wheat there be that will yeeld the full weight aforesaid in bread and neuer count the water going thereto namely that which commeth
he contained in long and flat according to the forme and figure of the seed which they hold Pease by themselues haue a long round cod in forme of a Cylinder The Pulse called Phasâ—…oli i. Kidney Beans vse to be eaten cod and al together These may be set or sowne in what ground you list from the Ides of October to the Calends of Nouember Finally all kinds of Pulse so soone as they begin to ripen are to be gathered or plucked hastily for stay neuer so little they leape out of their cods and shed and being once fallen they lie hidden in the ground like as the Lupine also CHAP. XIII ¶ Of Rapes or Neuewes of Amiternium Turneps NOw let vs proceed and passe to other matters and yet in this discourse it were meet to write somwhat as touching Rapes or Nauews The Latin writers our countreymen haue slightly passed by and touched them only by the way The Greeks haue treated of them somwhat more diligently and yet among pot-hearbes and worts growing in gardens whereas indeed according to good order they would be spoken of immediatly after Corne or Beanes at least wise considering there is not a plant of more or better vse than is the Rape or Nauew First and formost they grow not only for beasts of the earth and the Foules of the aire but also for men For all kinds of Pullen about a Farme-house in the countrey doe feed vpon the feed thereof as much as of any thing else especially if they be boiled first in water As for four-footed beasts they eat the leaues thereof with great delight and wax fat therewith Last of al men also take as great pleasure and delight in eating the leaues and heads of Rapes or Nauewes in their season as they do of young Coly-flories Cabbages or any tender crops of hearbs whatsoeuer yea when they are faded flaggie and dead in the Barn they are esteemed better than being fresh and green As for Rapes or Nauewes they will keep long and last al Winter both within the ground where they grew and being well wintered they will continue afterwards out of the earth lying abroad euen almost till new come so as they yeeld men great comfort to withstand hunger and famin In Piemont Lombardie those countries beyond the Po the people make the most account of gaine by gathering Rapes next to wine vintage and corne haruest It is not choise and daintie of the ground where it will grow for lightly it wil prosper where nothing els can be sowed In foggy mists hard frosts and other cold weather it thriues passing wel and grows to a wonderfull bignes I haue seene one of their roots weigh aboue fortie pounds As touching the handling and dressing of them for our table there be many waies and deuises to commend and set them out Preserued they may be till new come specially condite with sharp and biting Senuie or Mustard seed Moreouer our Cooks know how to giue them six other colours besides their owne which is pure and naturall they haue the cast to set euen a purple hew vpon them And to say a truth there is no kind of viands besides that being thus painted colored hath the like grace The Greeke writers haue diuided them by the sexe and therby made two principal kinds therof to wit the male and the female Nay more than that out of one and the same seed according as it is sowed they can make male or female whether they please For if they sow thicke and chuse therto a hard and churlish ground it will proue of the male kind Also the smaller that the seed is the better it is esteemed But of al Rapes male or female three especiall sorts there be no more For some roots spread flat and broad others are knit round like a ball the third sort that runs downe into the ground with a long root in manner of a Raddish they cal the wild Rape or Nauew this bears a rough lease and ful of angles or corners the juice that it yeelds is sharp hote and biting which being gathered in haruest time reserued mundisieth the eies and cleareth the sight especially being tempered with brest-milke If the weather be cold they are thought not only to thriue in bignesse of the root but also to prooue the sweeter whereas contrariwise in a warm season they run vp all to stalke and leafe The best simply are those that grow in the Nursine territory For they are sold by the weight and euery pound is worth a Roman Sesterce yea and otherwhiles twaine if there be any scarcity of them Next to these in goodnes be those that come out of Algidum Thus much of Rapes Navews As for the Turneps of Amiternum they be in a manner of the same nature that the Rapes aforesaid cold they loue as well Sown they are before the Calends of March foure quarts of their seed will take vp a whole acre of ground The best Husbandmen and such as are more exquisite in their practise of Agriculture giue order That the ground for Turneps should haue fiue tilthes whereas Rapes or Nauewes are content with foure but both the one and the other had need of a soile well inriched with dung or compost By their sayings also Rapes will prosper the better and come vp thicker if they be sowed in their huls chaffe and all together Moreouer they would haue the seeds-man to be naked when he sowes them and in sowing to protest that this which he doth is for himselfe and his neighbors and withall to pray as he goeth The proper season for the seednesse of them both is between the feasts of the two gods to wit Neptune and Vulcan To conclude there is a subtill and curious obseruation that many go by and do hold namely this To marke how many daies old the Moon was when the first snow sel the winter next before for if a man do sow Rapes or Turneps within the foresaid compasse of that time the moon being so many daies old they will come to be wondrous great and increase exceedingly Men vse to sow them also in the Spring but then they make choise of moist and hot grounds CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of Lupines AFter Rapes and Turneps the Lupines haue greatest vse and serue to be raunged next for that they indifferently serue both men and also all foure footed beasts that be houfed either whole or clouen Now for that the stalke is very shittle in mowing and therefore flyeth from the edge of the syth the onely remedie therefore that the mower may catch it is to goe to worke presently after a good shower And verily there is not a plant growing vpon the earth I meane of such as are sowne of seed more admirable than the Lupine in regard of the great amity and sympathie betweene the earth and it Looke how the Sun keepeth his course in our Horizon aboue so doth it turne and go withall insomuch as the
parts Myrrhis which some call Smyrrhiza others Myrrha is passing like vnto Hemlocke in stalke leaues and floure only it is smaller and slenderer and hath no ill grace and vnpleasant tast to be eaten with meats Taken in wine it hasteneth the monthly course of womens fleurs if they bee too slow and helpeth them in labour to speedy deliuerance It is said moreouer that in time of a plague it is wholsom to drink it for feare of infection A supping or broth made of it helpeth those who are in a Phthysicke or consumption This good property it hath besides to stir vp a quick appetite to meat It doth extinguish and kill the venome inflicted by the sting or pricke of the venomous spiders Phalangia The juice drawn out of this herb after it hath lien infused or soked three daies together in water healeth any sore breaking out either in face or head Finally Onobrychis carieth leaues resembling Lentils but that they are somewhat longer it beareth also a red floure but resteth vpon a small and slender root It groweth about springs and fountains Being dried and reduced into a floure or pouder it maketh an end of the strangury so it be drunk in a cup of white wine well strewed and spiced therwith It stoppeth a lask To conclude the juice therof causeth them to sweat freely who are annointed all ouer with it CHAP. XVII ¶ The medicinable vertues of Coriacesia Callicia and Menais with three and twentie other herbes which some hold to be Magicall Moreouer of Considia and Aproxis besides some other which are reuiued and in request againe hauing been long time out of vse TO discharge and acquit my selfe of the promise which I made of strange and wonderfull herbs I cannot chuse but in this place write a little of those which the Magitians make such reckoning of For can there be any more admirable than they And in very truth Democritus and Pythagoras following the tracts of the said wise men and Magitians were the first Philosophers who in this part of the world set those herbs on foot and brought them into a name And to begin with Coriacesia and Callicia Pythagoras affirmeth That these two herbes will cause water to gather into an yce I find no mention at all in any other authors of these hearbes neither doth he report more properties of them The same author writes of an herb called Menais known also by the name of Corinthas the juice whereof by his saying if it be sodden in water presently cureth the sting of serpents if the place be fomented with the said decoction He affirmeth moreouer that if the said juice or liquor be poured vpon the grasse whosoeuer fortuneth to go thereupon and touch it with the sole of the foot or otherwise chance to be but dashed or sprinkled therewith shall die therupon remedilesse and no way there is to escape the mischiefe A monstrous thing to report that this juice should be so rank a venome as it is vnlesse it be vsed against poison The felfe same Pythagoras speaketh yet of another herb which hee calleth Aproxis the root whereof is of this nature to catch fire a farre off like for all the world to Naphtha concerning which I haue written somwhat already in my discourse as touching the wonders of Nature and he reporteth moreouer That if a man or woman happen to be sicke of any disease at what time as this Aproxis is in the floure although he or she be throughly cured of it yet shall they haue a grudging or minding thereof as often as it falleth to floure again yeare by yeare And of this opinion he is besides That Frumenty corne Hemlock and Violets are of the same nature and property I am not ignorant that this booke of his wherein these strange reports are recorded some haue ascribed vnto Cleomporus a renowned Physitian but the currant fame or speech holdeth stil so constantly time out of mind that we must needs beleeue Pythagoras to be the author of the said booke True it is indeed that the name of Pythagoras might giue authority and credit vnto other mens books attributed to him if haply any other had laboured and trauelled in compiling some worke which himselfe judged worthy of such a man as he was but that Cleomporus should so do who had set forth other books in his owne name who would euer beleeue No man doubteth verily but that the book intituled Chirocineta was of Democritus his making and yet therein be found more monstrous things by a hundred fold than those which Pythagoras hath deliuered in that worke of his And to say a truth setting Pythagoras aside there was not a Philosopher so much addicted to the schoole and profession of these Magitians as was Democritus In the first place he telleth vs of an herb called Aglaophotis worthy to be admired wondred of men by reason of that most beautifull colour which it had and for that it grew among the quarries of marble in Arabia confining vpon the coasts of the realme of Persia therefore it was also named Marmaritis And he affirmeth that the Sages or VVise men of Persia called Magi vsed this herb when they were minded to coniure and raise vp spirits He writeth moreouer That in a country of India inhabited by the Tardistiles there is another herb named Achâ—…menis growing without leafe and in colour resembling Amber of the root of which herb there be certain Trochisks made whereof they cause malefactors and suspected persons to drink some quantity with wine in the day time to the end they should confesse the truth for in the night following they shall be so haunted with spirits and tormented with sundry fansies and horrible visions that they shal be driuen perforce to tel all and acknowledge the fact for which they are troubled brought in question The same writer calleth this plant Hippophobas because Mares of all other creatures are most fearfull and wary of it Furthermore he reporteth That 30 Schoenes from the riuer Choaspes in Persia there groweth an herb named Theombrotion which for the manifold and sundry colours that it hath resembleth the painted taile of a Peacocke and it casteth withall a most sweet and odoriferous sent This herb saith he the Kings of Persia vse in their meats drinks and this opinion they haue of it That it preserueth their bodies from all infirmities and diseases yea and keepeth their head so staied and setled that they shall neuer be troubled in mind and out of their right wits in such sort that for the powerfull maiestie of this plant it is also called Semnion He proceedeth moreouer to another knowne by the name Adamantis growing onely in Armenia and Cappadocia which if it be brought neare vnto Lions they will lie all along vpon their backs and yawne with their mouths as wide as euer they can The reason of the name is this because it cannot possibly be beaten into pouder He goeth on still
Dyrrhachium saith that for to make a mirror or looking glasse cleare againe which was dusked and dimmed by the aspect of a menstruous woman the next way is to cause her to cast her eies backward and to look ouer her shoulders vpon it again he saith moreouer that if women in that case haue about them the fish called a Barbill they shal not by that means infect or do hurt at all but the same menstruous bloud shall lose all the foresaid strength Well as hurtfull and mischieuous as it is otherwise yet many there be who affirm it to be in many diseases medicinable and namely for the gout if the place be annointed therwith as also if women while their monethly sicknesse is vpon them doe handle the wens named the Kings euil the swelling kernels behind the ears the broad tumors or biles called Pani shingles S. Anthonies fire felons or violent flux of humors to the eies or other parts there wil insue much ease therupon Lais and Salpe two notable strumpets haue left in writing That if the foresaid menstruous bloud bestowed within a little locke of wooll that came from a blacke Ram be worne inclosed within a siluer bracelet it is a soueraigne remedy against the biting of mad dogs and for Tertian and Quartan agues Diotimus of Thebes reporteth That any little peece or rag of cloth yea though it were but a thred stained therein and so set handsomly into a bracelet is sufficient to do as much Sotira the renowned midwife affirmed That there was not in the world so good a thing against the Tertian Quartan as to rub anoint therwith the soles of the patients feet but much more effectualy would it do the deed in case the woman her self had the doing of it with her own hand so as the sick party know not thereof in any hand And this quoth she is a soueraigne medicine to raise them out of a fit of the Epilepsie who are surprised and fallen therewith Icetidas a worthy Physitian among the Greeks assureth vs vpon his word That Quartane agues will make an end and go away by the act of generation at what time onely as a woman beginneth to enter into her fleurs But this is agreed vpon by all authors professed and seen in this theam that if one be bitten with a mad dog and so far gone that he is afraid of water so as he dare not see it or drink at all do but put a clout or shred of cloth dipped in the said menstruall bloud vnder the cup whereout hee is to drinke hee shall immediatly be deliuered from that feare And this commeth by that powerfull and predominant Sympathie whereof the Greeks write so much between mad dogs and the said bloud considering as I haue beforesaid that they begin first to run mad by tasting therof This is known for certain that the ashes of a burnt cloth infected therewith or of the bloud it self calcined is a singular pouder to heale the farcins or sores of horses and all such laboring beasts so it be mixed with the soot of chimny or furnace and al incorporat together with wax Now say there be any garment or cloth polluted therewith there is not any thing will take out the staine but the vrine onely of the same woman The ashes beforesaid tempered alone with oile of Roses into a liniment and so applied in maner of a frontal to the forehead allaieth the headach of women specially This also would be noted That for the first yeare after a woman hath known a man and so parted from her virginity her fleurs are most sharp mordant and fretting Furthermore this also is resolued clearly among all writers That there is no charme or enchantment whatsoeuer of any validity to doe harm to that house where the side posts or dore cheeks are striked lightly ouer with menstruous bloud an argument I assure you that convinceth notably the folly of these Magitians the vainest people vnder heauen and ouerthroweth all their art and a point that pleaseth me very wel which for mine own part I am right willing to beleeue and since I am light thus vpon them I care not much if to detect their vanities I set downe one of the most modest receits that they haue giuen their word for and which may seem to carry some shew of truth or probability For thus they prescribe with great warrantize To take al the nail-parings of toes and fingers of man or woman lying sick of an intermittent feuer and to mix or incorporat them with wax so as the party in the doing herof do say these words I am about a remedy for the Tertian Quotidian or Quartan ague according as the patient is troubled with the one or other of these feuers which done and said to stick vp the said wax vpon the dore of another man or womans house that is not sick at all and that before the Sun be risen which no doubt as they say wil cure the sick person and set the ague vpon another that was well before Now would I gladly know what greater vanitie and folly there can be if this medicine misse and do not the feat or what more villany and mischiefe than thus to transfer and remoue diseases from those that be sick already vnto such as be sound and think no harme To conclude some of these Magitians are so far gone that after all the foresaid nailes of fingers and toes be pared they ordaine them to be thrown into Ant-holes and to obserue that Emmet that first bigins to draw one of them into her nest to catch her vp quickly and hang her about the necke of any one that is sick of an ague and so the patient pro certo shall shake off the disease and be quite rid of it CHAP. VIII ¶ The medicines that are found in diuers strange and forrain beasts as namely the Elephant Lion Cammell Hyaena Crocodile Chamaeleon Skinke Water-horses and Ounces THese be the remedies which the bodies of men and women do affoord as many I meane as I may with some honesty relate and yet ywis many of them be such as are not to be read out and vttered but with leaue and patience first craued for the reuerence that we owe to chaste eares I know ful wel there is a great deale more behind that I haue not touched but such stuffe I assure you as is detestable and not fit to bee spoken or committed to writing which makes me rather to make hast and leaue the discourse of Man and Woman and so to proceed to the singular vertues and operations of bruit beasts And to begin with the Elephant The bloud of that beast especially the male staieth all fluxes of humors which the Greeks cal Rheumatismes The shauings of yvory which is the Elephants tooth incorporat with Attick hony scatter as folk say the duskish spots that appeare in the visage like as the dust thereof which the file or saw doth make