Carion Melact Peucer Althamer Lazius Coropius and others But the Poet holdes that a simple resemblaunce of words is no good ground for a story His reasons are first that hils riuers and seas change their names as by Ortelius his treasure of Geography doth appeare comparing the bookes and tables of Ptolomie Strabo Mela other ancients with the maps of Gemma Frisius Vopelius Mercator Postel Theuet Cellarius and other late writers Secondly that cities and countreys are not alwayes called by the names of their founders and first inhabitants Thirdly that no stocke or nation hath sure hold of any place in the world because of the many chaunges that befall this life Fourthly that as in the sea one waue thrusteth on another so the people and chiefly those of old time haue driuen each other out of place and in a maner played In docke out nettle All stories proue these reasons to be true for the last the Author shewes three notable examples to confirme it 15 Th' old Bretton It is aboue 1200 yeares ago since Vortiger king of England then called great Brettaine or Albion that is a white-sand Isle hauing warre with his neighbors the Scots sent for ayd to the Saxon-English a people of Germany who after they had done him good seruice playd as the Turks did in Greece for they seated the selues in a part of the Island on the East where few yeares after they kept such a coyle that the old Bretton the naturall Inbred of the countrey was constrained to forsake it So with a great multitude passed the sea and landed in Armoricke now called litle Brittaine where they gathered more and more together and increased much by succession of tune See more hereof in the Chronicles of England Brittaine The riuer Loyre fals into the trench of Nantes and so voids into the Ocean 16 The Lombard About the yeare of Christ 568 Alboin king of Lombardes hauing heard of the fruitfulnesse of Italie left Pannonia or Hungarie where he dwelt in gard of certaine Huns vpon conditions and in few weekes after made a rode into Italy with a mightie armie and got many townes chiefly in Insubria now called Lombardy of those Lombards who raigned there aboue 200 yeares till they were ouercome and brought to thrall by the Emperour Charlemaine about the yeare 774. Looke the histories of France and the second part of the Librarie of N. Vignier I shall speake anon of their beginning more particularly 17 Th' Alaine About the yeare 412 when Ataulphe king of Gothes had driuen away the Alaines and Vandals froÌ„ Cordway and Seuill which they possessed as also most of the prouinces of Spaine the Vandals sate downe in Betica which after was of their name called first Vandolosie and then shorter Andalosie The Alaines in Lusitania and the prouince of Carthage or as some say betwixt the riuers Iberus and Rubricatus whereabouts in time past dwelt a people called Iacetani not vnlikely to be the men of Arragon afterward they ioyned and went both together into Affricke where they raigned a long time But in the yeare 534. the Emperour Iustinian who caused the Romane lawes to be gathered together into one bodie sent an armie against them vnder the command of Belissarius he regained Affricke tooke Carthage and led Gilimer king of Goths prisoner vnto Rome After all this the Romanes the Mores also were constrained to giue place in Affricke to the Arabians who preassed in there and encamped them selues in sundrie places 18 This hunger n'ere suffiz'd The Poet saith that desire of rule reuenge and vainglorie ambition and couetousnesse haue chiefly caused so many people to remoue change their dwellings As also manie stories of Scripture and others plainlie shew Seneca rekened diuerse other causes in his booke de CoÌ„solatione ad Elbiam where he saith The Carthaginians made a road into Spaine the Greekes into Fraunce and the Frenchmen into Greece neither could the Pyrene mountaines hinder the Germanes passage ouer wayes vnknowen and vntroad the light-headed people haue caried their wiues and childreÌ„ and ouer-aged parents some after long waÌ„dering vp down seated themselues not according to their free choise but where they first might when they waxed wearie of trauell some on other mens possessions seized by force of armes some as they sought vnknowen places were drowned in the sea some there sat downe where they first began to want prouision And all forsooke not their couÌ„treys or sought other for the same causes Many after their cities were destroyed by warre fled from their enemies and so bereft of their owne possessions were faine to preasse vpon other mens manie left their dwellings to auoide the disquiet of ciuill warres and manie to emptie Cities of their ouercreasing multitude some by pestilence or the earthes often gulfing or like vnsufferable faultes of a bad soile were cast forth and some were entised from home by report of a larger and more fruitfull ground some for one cause and some for another c. 19 I doe not speake-of here The Poet hath Scoenites which I translate Arabes because they were a people of Arabia great robbers harriers of Aegypt and the coast of Affrike the shepheardes Nomades are as I take them the Numidians Moores or as some think a kind of Scythians The Hordies are the TartariaÌ„s who liue in the field in chariots tents Now the Poet leauing the vncertaine course of these roguing nations who haue had no more staie in them then swallowes and other wandring birds intendeth to speake of a more warlike people whereof he alledgeth some notable examples 20 Right such that Lombard was He setteth downe much matter in few wordes concerning the Lombardes There are diuerse opinions of their pedegree Melancthon and Peucer in the third fourth booke of Carions Chron. hold they dwelt in Saxonie by the riuer Albis about where now are the Byshoprickes of Meidburg and Halberstad and a part of the Marquessie of Brandburg from thence vnder the conduct of Alboin entred Italie and in the time of the Emperour Iustin the 2. seated themselues betweene the Appenine hilles and the Alpes where they begaÌ„ a kingdome They were called Lombards either because of their long Iauelines for thence it seemes are come the names of Halbards and Iauelines de barde or because they dwelt in a countrey slat and fruitfull as the Dutch word Bord may signine Som other Authors couÌ„t theÌ„ far-northerne people yet shew not their ancieÌ„t aboad Ptolomee in the 4. table of Lurope deriues them from the couÌ„trey of Swaube as also he noteth in the 2. booke and 11. chap of his Geogr. with whom agreeth C. T acituâ—â— in his Histories But Lazius in the 12. booke of his â—â—grationes of the Northern people Vignier in the first part of his Labratie pag. 905. and our Poet here followes the opinion of Paulus Diaconus they differ not much but onelie about the time of their staie and place of their first aboad
Egypt had Chus Aethiopia 8 Cham. The share of Cham was Affrick which the Poet boundeth out as followeth It hath on the Southside the Aethiopicke Ocean or the sea of Guinea the land of Negres the realmes of Cefala which commeth neere the South Tropicke and 〈◊〉 right ouer against Madagascar or as the Spanish call it the Isle of S. Laurence Botongas lower and hard by the Cape of good hope Guagamet about the lake of Zembre from whence the riuer Nile springeth as Daniell Cellarius noteth in his Mappe of Affricke and Benin that lies aboue the Equator neere the great bay betwixt Meleget and Manicongo As for Concritan that is a great wildernesse betweene Cefala and Botongas which by reason of extreame heate brings forth great store of poisonous things Now the Northbound of Affricke is the Midland sea and on the West it shooteth out three capes or promontories named in the text all toward the Atlanticke Ocean but the greene cape which is more southward and pointeth more toward the Sea called in respect of the Antarticke pole the North Sea though it lie very neere the Equator on the east of Affricke plaies the Arabian Gulfe and the great red sea now called the Indicke Ocean and beyond these bounds the Poet saieth Cham also possest Arabia which is distinguished into three parts the Happy the Desert and the Stony all enclosed by the Mount Libanus and the Red and Persian Gulfes 9 Canan He setteth downe breefly and in foure verses the seuerall abodes of Chams foure sonnes according as they are named of Moses in the tenth chapter of Genesis Chus the eldest brother had Aethiopia which some take for that vnder Aegypt others for the land of Chus which is a part of Arabia the Happy as may bee gathered by many places of the old Testament well noted of M. Beroald in the sixt chapter of his fourth booke of Chronicles Mizraim peopled Aâ—gypt that of the Hebrewes was commonly called Mitzraym and long after Aegypt of the name of King Aegyptus who succeeded Belus in that kingdome and was brother to Danaue who came into Greece and was Author of that name generall to the Grecians which as Saint Augustine thinkes De Cus Dei the eighteenth booke and the tenth chapter happened about the time of Iosua Phut the third sonne of Cham gaue name sayeth Iosephus to the Phutaeans after called Lybians of one of the sonnes of Mesren or Mizrain named Lybis Hee addeth also that in Mauritania there is a certaine riuer and countrey called Phute Ezechiel 30.5 numbreth Phut among those that were in league with Chus and Lud which the Latine interpreter translateth Ethiopia Lydia and the Lydians so also did the 70. Interp. This I say to mooue the Reader that is so delighted vnto a further and more diligent search I thinke Phut was seated neere Arabia and Aegypt although Arias Montanus and others place him in the coast of Affricke now called Barbary about Tunis â—ugie Algeri and the Mountaines of Maroco Now of Canan or Chanaan the fourth sonne of Cham was called that Land of Promise which the twelue Tribes of Israell vnder the conduct of Iosua in due time entered and possessed The bounds thereof are plainly set down in the book of Exodus chap. 23 verse 31 and elsewhere I need not here discourse of them except I were to write a longer Commentary Japhet to the North and West 10 Now Iaphet spred along from th' Ellesponticke waters Th' Euxine and Tanais vnto the mount Gibratars Renoumed double top and that sune-setting Maine Which with his ebbe and flow plaies on the shore of Spaine And from that other sea vpon whose frozen allies Glide swiftly-teemed Carres instead of winged Gallies Vnto the sea Tyrrhene Ligusticke Prouençall Moreas waters and the learned Atticall Against the goodly coast of Asâ—a the lesse The second Paradise the worlds cheife happines And that great peece of ground that reacheth from Amane Vnto the springs of Rha and pleasant bankes of Tane Aâ—â— those braue men of war that France haue ouerspred How and what natiâ—ns came of Iaphet 11 Of Gomers fruitfull seed themselues professe are bred So are the Germaneseke once called Gomerites Of Tuball Spaniards came of Mosoch Muscouites Of Madai sprong the Medes of Magog Scythians Of Iauan rose the Greekes of Thyras Thracians 10 Now Iaphet Moses reciting Genesis 9.27 how Noe blessed his two children sets downe two notable points the one concerning the great and many countries which Iaphet and his posterity should possesse the other of the fauour that God should shew them by lodging them in the tents of Sem that is by receiuing them at length into his church which hath beene fulfilled in the calling of the Gentiles For the first poynt whereas hee sayth God enlarge Iaphet For so the Hebrew word signifieth although some translate it Persuade it is as much as if hee had said Let Iaphet and his race possesse the countries round about him farre and neere And this hath also beene accomplished in that so infinite a multitude of people hath issued out of the stocke of Iaphet and peopled Europe which though it appeare lesser then the other parts hath alwaies had more inhabitants and fewer void countries The Poet hath set downe so parfite a description thereof as it needs no further to bee opened if the Reader haue neuer so little beheld the Mappes On the East it is parted from the greater Asia by the Maior Sea the Meotis Lake called by Ortelius the Zabach sea the Riuer Tane or Don which voids into the Lake and the Spring-heads of Rha Edel or Volga running by Tartarie into the Caspian Sea and from Asia the lesse sometime the honour of the world and exceeding rich as still it hath sufficient it is deuided by the Straight of Gallipoli sometime called Hellespent On the West it hath the Straight of Gibraltar the Spanish and Brittish Oceans on the North the Frozen sea and on the South the Midland sea which is diuersly called to wit the Sea of Marseil by the coast of Genes the Adriaticke about Athens and Morea and otherwise according to the places adioyning This goodly part of the world beside the Romaine Empyre hath many great kingdomes full of people well set foorth by the Card-men Daniell Cellarius accounts it in length from Lisbon to Constantinople about sixe hundred leagues Almaine and very neere as much in breadth from Scrifinie to Sicily 11 Gomer Moses reckeneth seuen sonnes of Iaphet Genesis 10.2 So doth here the Poet notstanding much vpon the order of them to follow the verse of Gomer are come the Gomerites whom the Greekes called Galates Gaules of them came the people that spoiled Delphos and then sate downe about Troas in Asia and were called Gaule-Greekes or Asian Galates who afterward seized a good part of Phrygia The Lord threatning by Exechiel 38. chapter Gog cheife of the Princes of Mesech and Tubal sayth he will destroy him with this
for many labor more to come nere Noes Arke and to finde there the foundation of their townes and names of their first Princes then about other more certaine and sure grounds And they had rather forge names and deuise matter of their owne head then leaue to packe huge volumes full of tales witnessing the strange vanitie of mans braine The Poet condemnes this foolish ambition and by good right all the matter when it is at the best being verie doubtfull and vnprofitable for man was placed on the earth to thinke rather on the seruice of God then so to trouble his head with curious out-search of his auncestors names 13 Of that suppos'd Berose Who so desires to know that the Berose late printed is false supposed and plaine contrary to the right Chaldean cited often by Ioseph in his Antiquities against Apton let him reade the fourth booke of Goropious his Origines Antuerpiaenae And so let him thinke also of Manetho Metasthenes Fabius Pictor Sempronius Myrsilus Lesbius others packt as they are into one volume by some one that thought to do great matters by abusing so the readers holding them in a muse by fals deuises from further search of the truth I will not here set downe the wordes of Goropius who at large discouers the forgednesse of this new Beros and his followers let it suffise to haue pointed at the place The true Berose was one of the Priests of Bel and at the commandement of Antiachus the third who succeeded Seleucus wrote three bookes of the Chaldean historie so saith Tatianus Ioseph and ClemeÌ„s Alexandrinus Some fragments of his we reade in Ioseph against Apion and they make flat against that other Berose published in our time 13 Why it is a hard matter to search Antiquities 14 Th' Allusion of words is not a suer ground For any man thereon a steddy worke to found Sith greatest hils and seas and most-renoumed riuers Though they continue still among long-after liuers Are often diuerse-nanâ—'d as eke the generation Of him that built a wall or laid a townes foundation Inherits not the same nor any mortal race Hath an eternall state in this same earthly place But holds for tearme of life in fee-farme or at will Possession of a field a forest or an hill And like as when the wind amids the maine sea rustles One waue another driues and billow billow iustles So are the people at oddes eachone for others rome One thrusts another out scarse is the second come Vnto that houses dore whereas he meanes to keepe But comes a third and makes him forth at window leep A fit Example So from great Albion 15 th' old Bretton being chas'd By Saxon-English force the Gaules forthwith displac'd That wond in Armoricke and call'd the land Brettains Where Loyre his glyding charge vnloadeth on the maine So when 16 the Lombard left with mind to rome at large Vnto the skotched Huns the diuerse-furrow'd marge Of lster double-nam'd he made the French to flie By force of warly rage out of rich Insubrie But vnder-fell againe the French reuenging heate And was to bondage brought by sword of Charles the great And so 17 th' Alaine and so the Northen-borne Vandall Dislodged by the Goth from Cordube and Hispall In Carthage harboured then by the conquering stroake Of him that fram'd the lawes sustain'd the Romane yoake The Roman aft'r and all the land Barbarian What causeth people often to remoue and change their dwelling Of frizel-headed Moores obayd th' Arabian 18 This hunger neare-suffiz'd of gold and great Empire This thirst of sharpe reuenge and further this desire Of honour in-conceit all builded on rapines On slaughters cruelties towne-burnings and ruines Dishabiteth a land and diuerse-wayes and farre To waue and wander makes the people sonnes of warre Diuerse examples of waÌ„dting people 19 I do not speake-of here the spoiling Arabes The Hordies proper Scythes or Sheppardes Nomades Who grazing on in troopes despised eu'ry fence And pitched where they list their bristel-hairie tents Like as with wing are vvont blacke swarmes of Swallovves swift Acrosse the sayled sea their bodies light to lift And chaunging their aboade as'twere on prograce go For loue of sweeter aire twince yearely too and fro But other peoples feirce who for Bellones renowne With often losse of bloud haue romed vp and downe And weeting better how to ouercome them vveild To conquer then to keepe to pull dovvne them to build And choosing rather warre then iâ—st and holy rest Haue boldly diuerse lands one after other prest The naturall countrie of the Lombaâ—des their diuerse remoones conquests 20 Right such that Lombard was who borne in Schonerland Seiz'd on Liuonia thence went to Rugiland And hauing wrought reuenge vpon the Bulgar-men Of Agilmond his death he boldly ventur'd then Vpon Polonia so march'd on braue and fine To bath his golden haire in siluer flote of Rine Thence turning him about he setled in Morauie And so to Buda went and after flew to Pauie There rain'd two hundred yeares and honour'd Tesin so He princely dares compare streames with his neighbour Po. Of the Goths 21 Such was the Goth who left the freizing-cold Finland Scanzie and Scrifiaie Norway and Gotterland To sit on Wixel-banks and for that aire did please In temper keeping neare that of the Baltik seas With his victorious hoast entring Sclauonia Surprized Zipserland and all Valachia And then set foote in Thrace but scorning long to toile Among the beggar Greekes for hope of richer spoile Four times the Roman tryde God Mars his elder Sonne To robbe him of the crowne that he from all had wonne Once led by Radaguise once led by Alarick Once vnder Vidimer once vnder Theodricke And after dwelt in France then chased from Gascoine Aboade in Portugal Castile and Cataloine Of the auncient Gaules 22 Such was the French of old who roaming out as farre As darted are the beames of Titans firie carre Inuaded Italie and would in rage haue spilt The tow'rs that Roinulus or Mars himselfe had built Went thence to Hungarie then with his conquering plough He fallowes vp the ground cold Strimon runneth through The faire Emathick fields doth altospoile and fleece And spareth not at all the greatest Gods of Greece At length with Europe Cloy'd he passeth Hellâ—spont And wasteth as he goes of Dindyma the Front Pisidia ruineth surprizeth Mysia And plantes another Gaule in midst of Asia 23 Of people most renownd the darke antiquitie Is like a forest wide where Hardy-foolery Shall stumble at eu'ry step the learned Souenance It selfe intangled is and blind foldignorance Blundring athwart the thick of her dark-nighty wits Is ouer-throwne in Caues in Quagmiers and Pitts 14 Th' Allusion They that in our time haue entreated of the Nations pedegrees haue much stood vpon the resemblance that one word or proper name hath to another and haue aptly framed coniectures of good import likelyhood as a man may note in
or bad-eyed because he lost an eye by ouer-watching himselfe in the passage of certaine great marrish-grounds into Hetruria Liuie 22. He it was that enlarged the Empire of Carthage by meanes of the great ouerthrowes hee gaue the Romanes but was after driuen out of Italie and in Affrick quite vanquished at Zama field where the Carthagineans were forced to yeeld themselues wholy to the Romanes mercie so had their Citie rased and their State vtterly destroyed The other Armie of the South was of Sarasens no lesse then foure hundred thousand strong led by their king and Captaine Abderame they set out of Affrick into Spaine from thence marched forward into Aquitaine and came wasting all the way as farre as the Citie of Tours there three hundred thousand of them with the king himselfe were slaine by the French who had for Generall the Duke or Prince Charles that for this great and happie victorie was after surnamed Martel the Maul because he broke and battered the force of that Southerne people as a great maul or hammer doth Iron Looke the Histories and Chronicles of France in the life of Charles Martel 58 A fine discourse vpon the 〈…〉 peoâ—le O world of sundry kindes O nature full of wonders For eu'ry part thereof as from the rest it sunders It hath not only men of diuers haire and hew Of stature humour force but of behauiour new Be 't that a custome held at length a nature makes Or that the younger sort still after th' elder takes Or that the proper Lawes of diuers-coasted Realmes Doe so much disagree or these enflowing beames Of th'vmour-altring Lights that whirling neuer stint Here in our mindes below their heau'nly force emprint 59 The Northen man is faire the Southern fauor'd-hard One strong another weake one white another sward Ones haire is fine and smooth anothers grosse and twinde One loues the bodies paine another toyles the minde Some men are hoat and moist some others hoat and dry Some merry and other sad He thunders out on hye This other speaketh small he dudgen is and spightfull This other gentle and plaine he slow this other slightfull Some are vnconstant so they often change their thought And others ne're let goe conceits they once haue caught He typples day and night and he loues abstinence One is a scatter-good another spares expense One is for company another in his moodes Is like a Bugger-bo and strayes amids the woodes One goes in leathern peltch another richly dight On 's a Philosopher another borne to fight 60 The middle man takes part of all the qualities Of people dwelling neere the two extremities His body stronger is but not his minde so franke As theirs who till the gleabes of Nilus fruitfull banke Again he 's not so strong but many wayes more fine Then they that drinke the streames of Donaw and of Rhine 61 For in the sacred close of th' vniuersall Town The southern men that ofte with ouer-musing sown And fall int'extasies and vse to dreame and poue That measure how the heau'ns by rules appoynted moue And are so curious none other knowledge base Mâ—y satisfie their mindes they hold the preest his place The Northen whose conceit in hand and finger lurkes That all what ere he liâ—t in wood and mettall workes And like Salmoneus with thunder-sound compares Hee 's for the man of warre and makes all cunning wares The Meane as knowing well to gouerne an Estate Sits with a grauer grace in throne of Magistrate And to be short the first seekes knowledge wondrously The second handy-crafts the third good policy Though some skore yeares agone Themis that mendes abuses Apollo Mercurie Minerua with her Muses Haue taught their holy schooles as neer the Northen coast As Vulcaneurs forg'd or Mars encamp'd his Oast Hâ—â—â— the FreÌ„ch Dâ—â—ch 〈◊〉 and â—â—anâ—sh nations dâ—â—â—er in many poynts 62 But eu'n among our-selues that altogether mell And haue of all the world no more whereon to dwell Then as it were a clot how diuers are the fashions How great varietie the Dutch of all our Nations Is stout but hir'd in Warre the Spaniard soft and neat Th' Italian merciles the Frenchman soone on heat The Dutch in counsaile colde th' Italian althing weeting The Spaniard full of guile the Frenchman euer fleeting Th' Italian finely feedes the Spaniard doth but minse The Dutch fares like a clowne the Frenchman like a Prince The Frenchman gently speakes the Spaniard fierce and braue The German plaine and grosse the Roman wise and graue The Dutch attire is strange the Spanish is their owne Th' Italian sumptuous and owers neuer knowne We braue an Enimie th' Italian friendly lookes him The Dutchman strikes him straight the Spaniard neuer brookes him We sing a cheerfull note the Tuscan like a sheepe The German seemes to howle the Lusitan to weepe The French pase thicke and short the Dutch like battel-coeks The Spaniards Fencer-like the Romans like an Oxe The Dutch in Loue is proud th' Italian enuious The Frenchman full of mirth the Spaniard furious Why it pleased God the worlde should be inhabited of so 〈…〉 63 Yet would th' Immortall God appoynt so strange a race Of this great carthie bowle to couer all the face To th' end he clensing all his children from the foile Of sinne which had as'twere bestain'd their natiue soile Might his great mercy shew and how the heauenly Sines A little only moue but not oresway our mindes That in the furthest partes his seruants eu'rychone A sacrifice of praise might offer to his throne And that his holy name from Isie Scythia Might sound vnto the sandes of red-hoat Africa Nor should his treasures hid in far-asunder land Created seeme in vaine and neuer come to hand But that all cuntry coasts where Thetis enter-lies Should trafficke one with oth'r and chaunge commodities The world compared to a great Citie 64 For as a Citie large containes within her wall Here th'Vniuersitie and there the Princes hall Here men of handy-craftes there marchant-venterers This lane all full of ware and shops of shoomakers That other chaunging coyne that other working gould Here silke there pots and cups here leather to be sould There cloth here hats and caps there doublets redy-made And each among themselues haue vse of others trade So from the Canar Isles our pleasant Sugar comes And from Chaldeaa Spice and from Arabia gummes That stand vs much instead both for parfume and plaster And Peru sends vs golde and Damask alabaster Our Saffern comes from Spaine our Iuory from Inde And out of Germany our Horse of largest kinde The skorched land of Chus yeelds Heben for our Chamber The Northen Baltike Sound emparts her bleakish Amber The frosty coast of Russe her Ermins white as milke And albion her Tinne and Italy her Silke Thus eu'ry country payes her diuers tribute-rate Vnto the treasury of th' vniuersall State Man Lord of the world And as the Persian Queene this prouince call'd her