Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	word_n	write_v	young_a	121	3	6.1746	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13821	The historie of serpents. Or, The second booke of liuing creatures wherein is contained their diuine, naturall, and morall descriptions, with their liuely figures, names, conditions, kindes and natures of all venemous beasts: with their seuerall poysons and antidotes; their deepe hatred to mankind, and the wonderfull worke of God in their creation, and destruction. Necessary and profitable to all sorts of men: collected out of diuine scriptures, fathers, phylosophers, physitians, and poets: amplified with sundry accidentall histories, hierogliphicks, epigrams, emblems, and ænigmaticall obseruations. By Edvvard Topsell.	Topsell, Edward, 1572-1625?	1608 (1608)	STC 24124; ESTC S122051	444,728	331

haue wrote they haue conceiued at theyr mouth or that the Male perished at the time of engendering or the Female at the time of her deliuery Thus saith Amatus Theophrastus he likewise writeth in this manner The young Vipers doe not eate out their way or open with their teeth theyr Mothers belly nor if I may speake merrily make open their owne passage by breaking vp of the doores of their Mothers womb but the wombe being narrow cannot containe them and therefore breaketh of it owne accord and this I haue prooued by experience euen as the same falleth out with the Fish called Acus and therefore I must craue pardon of Herodotus if I affirme his relation of the generation of Vipers to be meerely fabulous Thus farre Theophrastus Apollonius also writeth that many haue seene the olde Vipers lycking theyr young ones like other Serpents Thus haue I expressed the different iudgements of sundry Authors both new olde touching the generation of Vipers out of which can be collected nothing but euident cōtradictions and vnreconcileable iudgements one mutually crossing another So as it is vnpossible that they should be both true and therefore it must be our labour to search out the truth both in their words and in the conference of other Authors Wherefore to beginne thus writeth Aristotle The Viper amongst other Serpents almost alone bringeth forth a liuing creature but first of all she conceiueth a soft egge of one colour aboue the egges lyeth the young ones folded vppe in a synnes skinne and some-times it falleth out that they gnaw in sunder that thinne skinne and so come out of their mothers belly all in one day for she bringeth forth more then twentie at a time Out of these words of Aristotle euilly vnderstood by Pliny and other auncient Wryters came that errour of the young Vipers eating their way out of their mothers belly for in stead of the little thinne skinne which Aristotle saith they eate thorough other Authors haue turned it to the belly which was cleane from Aristotles meaning And another error like vnto this is that wherein they affirme that the Viper doth euery day bring forth one young one so that if shee hath twentie young ones in her belly then also shee must be twenty dayes in bringing of them forth The words of Aristotle frō whence this errour is gathered are these Tectei de en mia emera kathon Tictei de pleio he ei kosni which are thus translated by Gaza Parit enim singulos diebus singulis plures quam viginti numero That is to say she bringeth forth euery day one more then twentie in number But this is an absurd translation and agreeth neither with the words of Aristotle nor yet with his mind for his words are these Parit autem vna die singulos parit autem plus quam viginti numero That is to say in English shee bringeth forth euery one in one day and shee bringeth foorth more then twentie so that the sence of these words shall be that the Viper bringeth forth her young ones seuerallie one at a time but yet all in a day But concerning her number neither the Phylosopher nor yet any man liuing is able to define and set it downe certaine for they varry being sometimes more and sometimes fewer according to the nature of other liuing creatures And although the Viper do conceiue eggos within her yet doth shee lay them after the manner of other Serpents but in her body they are turned into liuing Vipers and so the egges neuer see the sunne neither doth any mortall eye behold them except by accident in the dissection of a female Viper when she is with young I cannot also approue them that doe write that one namelie the Viper among all Serpents bringeth forth her young ones aliue and perfect into the world for Nicander and Greuinus doe truly affirme with the constant consent of all other Authors that the horned Serpent called Cerastes of which we haue spoken alreadie doth likewise bring forth her young ones aliue And besides Herodotus writeth of certaine winged-Serpents in Arabia which doe bring foorth young ones as well as Vipers and therefore it must not be concluded with apparant falsehood that onely the Viper bringeth her young ones perfect into the world The like fable vnto this is that generall conceit of the copulation together betwixt the Viper and the Lamprey for it is reported that when the Lamprey burneth in lust for copulation she forsaketh the waters and commeth to the Land seeking out the lodging of the male Viper and so ioyneth herselfe vnto him for copulation He againe on the other side is so tickled with desire hereof that forsaking his owne dwelling and his owne kind doth likewise betake himselfe vnto the waters and Riuers sides where in an amorous maner hee hysseth for the Lamprey like as when a young man goeth to meete and call his Loue so that these two creatures liuing in contrary elements the earth and the water yet meete together for the fulfilling of their lusts in one bed of fornication Vppon which Saint Basill writeth in this manner Vipera infestissimum animal eorurquae Serpunt cum murena congreditur c. That is to say the Viper a most pernitious enemy to all liuing creeping things yet admitteth copulation with the Lamprey for he forsaketh the Land and goeth to the water-side and there with his hyssing voyce giueth notice to the other of his presence which she hearing instantly forsaketh the deepe waters and comming to the Land suffereth herselfe to be embraced by that venomous beast Also Nicander wryteth thus thereof in his verses Fama est si modo vera quod haec suapascua linquat Atque eat in siccum cogente libidine littus Et cum Vipereo coiens serpente grauetur Which may be englished thus Fame saith if it be true that she her feede forsakes I meane the shore and goes vpon dry land Where for her lust the Viper-male she takes In fleshly coiture to be her husband But this opinion is vaine and fantasticall as Pliny and diuers others haue very learnedly prooued for the Lamprey cannot liue on the Land nor the viper in wet places besides the waters and therfore besides the impossibility in nature it is not reasonable that these will hazard their owne liues by forsaking their owne elements for the satisfaction of their lusts there beeing plenty of eyther kindes to worke vppon that is to say both of female Vipers in the Land to couple with the male and male Lampreys in the water to couple with the female Although I haue else-where confuted this errour yet I must heere againe remember that which is said already The occasion of this fable is this the male Lamprey is exceeding like a Viper for they want feete and haue long bodies which some one by chaunce seeing in copulation with his female did rashly iudge it to be a Serpent because of his likenesse as afore-said and