the water Upon this accident there was an Insurrection of the Frisons the Hollanders were by them driven out or slain and the Body of King William was seised and laid in the forementioned Tomb according to the prediction Twenty seven years after his bones were removed by Earl Florence his Son and the fifth of that Name to a Nunnery in Middleburg in Zealand he was slain An. 1255. 31. Appius Claudius Proconsul of Achaia at the time of the difference betwixt Pompey and Caesar was desirous to know the event of so great a Commotion and thereupon consulted the Oracle of Apollo at Delphos when he was told on this manner Thou art not concerned in these things O Roman in Euboea thou shalt find Caesar he supposing he was warned by the Oracle to sit down there in quiet not interessing himself for either Party he retired thither where he fell into a disease whereof he dyed before such time as the matter was decided in the fields of Pharsalia 32. Walter Devoreux Earl of Essex having wasted his spirits with grief fell into a Dysentery whereof he dyed after he had requested of such as stood by him that they would admonish his Son who was then scarce ten years of age that he should always propound and set before him the thirty sixth year of his life as the utmost he should ever attain unto which neither he nor his father had gone beyond and his Son never reached unto for Robert Devereux his Son and also Earl of Essex was beheaded in the thirty fourth year of his age so that his dying Father seemed not in vain to have admonished him as he did but to speak by divine inspiration and suggestion 33. Guido Bonatus shewed the wonderful effects of Astrology when he foretold to Guido Count of Montsferat the day wherein if he would sally out of Forolivium and set upon his Enemies he should defeat them but withal himself should receive a wound in the Hip to shew how certain he was of the event he would also himself march out with him carrying along with him such things as were necessary for the wound not yet made The fight and victory was as he said and which is most wonderful the Count was also wounded in the very place predicted CHAP. IV. Of several illustrious persons abused and deceived by Predictions of Astrologers and the equivocal Responses of Oracles SUch is the inveterate envy and malice of the Devil which he bears to poor man that from the Creation to this day he never was without his engines and subtile contrivances whereby he might undo him or at the least dangerously deceive and delude him In subservience to these his designs he set up his places of Oracular residence and though it was a lower way of trading amused the World with Judicial Astrology by both which he continually mocked and abused the curiosity and credulity of over-inquisitive men and still doth which is no wonder notwithstanding all Ages by their experience have detected his falshood 1. Henry the Second to whom Cardan and Guuricus two Lights of Astrology had foretold verdant and happy old age was miserably slain in the flower of his youth in games and pleasures of a Turnament The Princes his Children whose Horoscopes were so curiously looked into and of whom wonders had been spoken were not much more prosperous as France well knew 2. Zica King of the Arabians to whom Astrology had promised long life to persecute Christians dyed in the year of the same prediction 3. Albumazar the Oracle of Astrology left in writing that he found Christian Religion according to the influence of the Stars should last but one thousand four hundred years he hath already bely'd more than two hundred and it will be a lye to the Worlds end 4. The year 1524. wherein happened the great Conjunction of Saturn Iupiter and Mars in the Sign Pisces Astrologers had foretold the World should perish by water which was the cause that many persons of Quality made Arks in imitation of Noah to save themselves from the Deluge all which turned into laughter 5. It was foretold a Constable of France well known that he would dye beyond the Alpes before a City besieged in the 83. year of his age and that if he escaped this time he was to live above an hundred years which was notoriously untrue this man deceasing in the 84. year of a natural death 6. Croesus King of Lydia having determined to war upon Cyrus consulted the Oracle of Apollo at Delphos touching the success whence he received this Answer Croesus Halyn penetrans magnam disperdet opum vim When Croesus has the Halys past A world of Treasure shall he wast He interpreted this of the riches of his Adversaries but the event shewed they were his own for he lost his Army Kingdom and Liberty in that Expedition 7. Cambyses King of Persia was told by the Oracle that he should dye at Ecbatana he therefore concluding that he should finish his life at Ecbatana in Media did studiously decline going thither but when by the falling of his Sword out of its Scabbard and his falling upon it he was deadly wounded in his Thigh being then in Syria he inquired the name of the place and being informed it was Ecbatana he acknowledged it was his Fate to dye there and that he had hitherto mistaken the name of the place 8. Anibal was told by the Oracle that the Earth of Libyssa should cover the Corps of Anibal while therefore he was in a foreign Country he was not very apprehensive of any danger as thinking he should dye in his own Country of Libya But there is a River in Bythinia called Libyssus and the fields adjoyning Libyssa in this Country he drank poyson and dying confessed that the Oracle had told him truth but in a different manner to what he had understood it 9. Pyrrhus King of Epirus had resolved a War against the Romans and consulting the Oracle of Apollo about the success had this Verse for his Answer Aio te Aeacida Romanos vincere posse Achilles Son the Romans may o'recome The sense was ambiguous and might be construed in favour of Pyrrhus or the Romans but he interpreted it to his own advantage though the event proved quite otherwise 10. There was an Oracle that e're long it should come to pass that the Athenians should be Masters of all the Syracusans They therefore equipped a great Navy and in favour of the Leontines warred upon them of Syracusa It so fell out that when their Navy drew near to Syracuse they seised a Ship of the Enemy which carried the Tables wherein were enrolled the names of all the Syracusans that were able to bear Arms by which means the Oracle was fulfilled but not agreeable to the hopes of the Athenians for they became not the Lords of the Syracusans as they supposed they should but were beaten
such black and evil cogitations In the mean time he prepares an infusion of Antimony and delivers it to his Chamber-fellow to be drank off in the Morning he upon the sight of the infusion immediately found such a loathing arise that he besought him to take away the Medicine and soon after such abundance of humours were voided by him upward and downwards that in a short time after he was sound and safe and with a chearful and lively countenance gave thanks to his Physician 21. Rondeletius saith he knew a Bishop of France who when he was by no means able to take any Physick as oft as he had neeâ— he us'd to have it prepar'd for him in a great quantity that done he caus'd it to be pour'd hot into a clean bason where he us'd to stir it to and fro with a small stick and to hold his Mouth and Nostrils over the steam of it by which he was purg'd as plentifully as if he had taken any convenient Mâ—diâ—ine for that purpose 22. When I was at Pisa saith Fallopius and was Physician to the Nuns of St. Pauls in the East I often prescrib'd Pills to the Abbess of that place who never swallow'd them but crush'd them â—lat with her â—ingers forming them as it were into little Cakes then she moistned them on the one side with her Spittle and so apply'd them outwardly to the Region of the Ventricle binding them on with a swathing band and in the space of four or five hours she would be as well purg'd as if she had swallow'd down the Pills themselves this I observ'd in her for two years together and it seemed wonderful to me 23. That is wonderful saith Donatus which was observ'd in a Boy the Son of a Count that if at any time he eat of an Egg his Lips would swell in his Face would rise purple and black spots and he would froth at moâ—th after the same manner as if he had swallow'd poyson 24. Schenckius tells of a Norman Rustick who had never tasted Bread Flesh or Fish but fed only upon Eggs by reason of which he was commonly call'd the Weasell that Creature being so very desirous of that Food 25. I knew saith Bruyerinus a Maid born at Chauniacum in Flanders who being sixteen years of Age or more had been brought up only with Milk without any other kind of Food for she was not able to endure so much as the smell of bread and if the smallest particle of it was put into her Milk even at a distance she would discover it by the smell a wonderful thing the truth of which notwithstanding I am able to confirm as being an eye-witness of it 26. Iacobus Foroliviensis the most excellent Physitian of his Age hath left it witnessed of himself that if at any time he eat Garlick he was no lesâ— tormented then if he had drank Poyson the very same symptoms appearing in him as are usual in those that are poyson'd and was hurt by the smell of it as if it had been something Pestilential 27. I know one saith Amatus Lusitanus who had never tasted of any sort of Fish and when once a Friend of his had invited him to a Supper and on purpose given him Fish well prepar'd and wrapt up in Eggs he immediately fâ—ll into sainting pressures of the heart accompanied with Vomitings and seige so that little wanted but that he had dy'd upon it His Name was Stephanus Surdaster a Spaniard of Toledo 28. Germanicus could not endure the sight or voice of a Cock and the Persian Magi were possess'd with an extream hatred to Mice 29. There was saith Weinrichus a Person of a noble Family who was not able to bear that an old Woman should look upon him and being once drawn out by force from his Supper to look upon one such that which was only intended for merriment as to him cnded in death for he fell down and dy'd upon it 30. There is in Hafnia a Man in other respects strong healthful and of a good courage who yet as oft as he sees a dog though it be never so small a one is not only afâ—righted but also seiz'd with Convulsions in his left hand 31. Ten years since I was call'd to Namurcum to the young Daughter of a Noble-man who as often as she heard the sound of a bell or any loud voice speaking or singing so often was she cast into a swound so as that she differed not from one that was dead this Person was cur'd by me by purgation the Waters of the Spa and Anti-Epileptical Medicines 32. I know a Nun in the Monastery of St. Clare yet living who at the sight of that insect we call a Beetle is strangely affected It fell out that some young Girls knowing this disposition of hers cast a Beetle into her bosom betwixt her breasts which when she perceiv'd she presently fell into a swound to the Earth depriv'd of all sense and remain'd â—our hours in cold sweats when she came to her self and that her Spirits were recreated by degrees yet she recover'd not her former strength in many days after but continu'd trembling and pale 33. Marcellus Donatus speaks of a Noble man of Mantua that could not endure the sight of a Hedge-hog without falling into a Syncope and cold sweats immediately upon it 34. Mathiolus tells of a German who coming in Winter-time into an Inn to sup with him and some other of his Friends the Woman of the House being acquainted with his temper lest he should depart angry at the sight of a young Cat which she kept to breed up had before hand hid her kitling in a Chest in the same room where we sate at Supper But though he had neither seen nor heard it yet after some time that he had suck'd in the Air infected by the Cats breath that quality of his temperament that had antipathy to that creature being provok'd he sweat and a sudden paleness came over his â—ace and to the wonder of all us that were present he cry'd out that in some corner or other of the room there was a Cat that lay hid 35. There liv'd amongst us a young Lady who as oâ—t as she tasted any Raisins or Sugar or any other sweet thing was afflicted with intollerable pain in her teeth nor was she freed from it before she had eaten something that is bitter or sharp and yet it is the common opinion that we are nourish'd only by sweet things This very Summer at the Spa eating Anniseed Comsits in my presence she was taken both with pain in her Teeth and a swelling of the Jaws which the day following was discuss'd by Cathartick Pills administred to her CHAP. X. Of the marvelous recompence of Nature in some Persons IN a Game at Tables when the cast of the Dice does not answer the desire and hope of him that playes the discreet Gamester mannages
the Second â—irst Emperour of the Turks was no sooner possessed of his Father's Throne but as a young Tyrant forgetting the Laws of Nature was presently in person himself about to have murdered with his own hands his youngest Brother then but eighteen months old begotten on the fair Daughter of Sponderbeius which unnatural part Moses one of his Bassas and a man greatly in his savour perceiving requested him not to embrue his own hands in the blood of his Brother but rather to commit the execution thereof to some other which thing Mahomet commanded him the author of that counsel forthwith to do so Moses taking the Child from the Nurse strangled it with pouring water down the throat thereof The young Lady understanding of the death of her child as a woman whom fury had made past fear came and in her rage reviled the Tyrant to his House shamefully upbraiding him for his inhumane cruelty when Mahomet to appease her fury requested her to be content for that it stood with the policy of his State and willed her for her better contentment to ask whatsoever she pleased and she should forthwith have it But she desiring nothing more but in some sort to be revenged desired to have Moses the Executioner of her Son delivered unto her bound which when she had obtained she presently struck him into the Brest with a knife crying in vain upon his unthankful Master for help and proceeding in her cruel execution cut an hole in his right side and by piece-meal cut out his Liver and cast it to the Dogs to eat to that extremity did she resent the death of her beloved Son 12. Scilunus had eighty Sons and when he lay upon his Death-bed he called them all before him and presented them with a Bundle or Sheaf of Arrows and bade each of them try whether with all his strength he was able to break that Sheaf they all of them having attempted it in vain he then drew out a single arrow and bade one of them break that which he easily did intimating to them thereby that unity and compacted strength is the bond which preserves Families and Kingdoms which bond if it be once broken all runs quickly into ruines 13. Monica the Mother of S. Austin while her Son was a Manichee and addicted over-much to a life of sensuality and voluptuousness out of her dear and tender affection to him ceased not to make continual prayers with abundance of tears in his behalf which occasioned S. Ambrose one time to comfort her with these words Impossibile est ut filius tantarum Lachrymarum periret It's impossible that a Son of so many prayers and tears should miscarry 14. Octavius Balbus was proscribed by the Triumvirate whereupon he fled away and was now got out of danger when hearing that his Son was slain by them he returned of his own accord and offered his Throat to the Executioners 15. Cesetius was importun'd by Caesar to renounce and expel from his House one of his Sons who in the time of his Tribuneship had given him matter of offence the old man was so great a lover of his children that he boldly told him that he should sooner deprive him of all his children at once by violence than he should perswade him to send one of them away with any mark of his displeasure 16. Pericles though he had buried his Sister and divers others of his near Relations yet bare all this with great constancy and an unbroken mind But when his Son Paraclus died though he endeavoured with all his might to digest so great a grief and to suppress any appearance thereof yet he was not able to do it but burst out into tears and lamentations crying out The Gods preserve to me the poor and little Camillus the only Son I have now left unto me 17. Aegeus stood upon a high Rock whence he might see a great way upon the Sea in expectation of the return of his Son Theseus from Creet having made him promise at his departure that if all things went well with him at his return his Ship should be set forth with Sails and Streamers of white colour to express the joyfulness of his return The old man after his long watching at last did discern the Ship making homewards but it seems they had forgot to advance the White Colours as they had promised when therefore Aegeus saw nothing but black concluding that his Son had miscarried in his journey and was dead not able to endure the grief he had conceived hereof he threw himself headlong into the Sea from the top of the Rock whereon he stood and so died 18. Gordianus the Elder the Proconsul of Africa was made choice of by them of Africa and the Soldiers in his Army to be their Emperour against the cruelty of the Maximini but as soon as he understood that his Son was slain by the Maximines he was not able to support himself under the great weight of his grief but hanged himself in his own Bed-chamber 19. Socrates one day was surprised by Alcibiades childishly sporting with his Son Lamproclus and when he was sufficiently derided by Alcibiades upon that account You have not said he such reason as you imagine to laugh so profusely at a Father playing with his child seeing you know nothing of that affection which Parents have to their children contain your self then till you come to be a Father your self when perhaps you will be found as ridiculous as I now seem to you to be CHAP. X. Of the Reverence and Piety of some Children to their Parents UPon a Marble Chair in Scone where the Kings of Scotland were used to be Crowned and which King Edward the First caused to be carried to Westminster was written this Distich Ni fallat fatum Scoti quocunque locatum Inveniant lapidem regnare tenentur ibidem Vnless unalterable fate do feign Where e're they find this Stone the Scots shall reign We may say it and perhaps with more assurance that where ever we find that Piety and Reverence that is due to Parents there is a kind of earnest given of a worthy and prosperous person for having this way entituled himself to the promise of God whatsoever become of the Fates it shall be surely perform'd to him as may be seen in divers of the following examples 1 Boleslaus the fourth King of Poland had the picture of his Father which he carried hanging about his Neck in a Plate of Gold and when he was to speak or do any thing of importance he took this picture and kissing it used to say Dear Father I wish I may not do any thing remisly or unworthy of thy name 2. Pomponius Atticus making the Funeral Oration at the death of his Mother protested that having lived with her sixty and seven years he was never reconciled to her because added he in all that time there never happened the least jar
oftentimes to fits of Frenzy and because he wisheth him well he had tried divers means to cure him but all world not do therefore he would try whether keeping him close in Bedlam for some days would do him any good The next day the Duke came with a rusâ—ling Train of Captains after him amongst whom was the said Provost very shining brave being entred into the house about the Duke's Person Captain Bolea told the Warden pointing at the Provost that 's the man so he took him aside into a dark Lobby where he had placed some of his men who muffled him in his Cloak seized upon his Sword and so hurried him down into a Dungeon My Provost had lain there two nights and a day and afterwards it hapned that a Gentleman comming out of curiosity to see the house peep'd into a small grate where the Provost was The Provost conjured him as he was a Christian to go and tell the Duke of Alva his Provost was there clap'd up nor could he imagine why The Gentleman did his Errand and the Duke being astonished sent for the Warden with his Prisoner So he brought the Provost in cuerpo full of Straws and Feathers mad-man like before the Duke Who at the sight of him breaking into laughter asked the Warden why he had made him Prisoner Sir said the Warden it was by vertue of your Excellencies Commission brought me by Captain Bolea Bolea step'd forth and told the Duke Sir you have asked me oft how these hairs of mine grew so suddenly grey I have not revealed it to any soul breathing but now I 'll tell your Excellency and so fell a relating the passage in Flanders and Sir I have been ever since beating my brains how to get an equal revenge of him for making me old before my time The Duke was so well pleased with the Story and the wittiness of the revenge that he made them both Friends and the Gentleman who told me this Passage said that the said Captain Bolea is now alive so that he could not be lesâ— than ninety years of Age. 14. Thrasippus was present at a great Feast in the house of Pisistratus the Athenian Tyrant where he fell into intemperate Speeches and not only reviled Pisistratus but spit in his face Yet went he the next Morning betimes to the house of Thrasippus and contenting himself to let him know what he had done he not only entreated him not to kill himself but forgave and still used him as his Friend The Pope that he might congratulate Charles Cardinal of Lorrain for the great zeal against the Lutherans sent him his Letters of Thanks and withal the Picture of the Virgin with Christ in her Arms being Michael Angelo his most curious Master-piece The Messenger in his Journey fell sick and lighting upon a Merchant of Lucca who pretended himself a retainer to the Cardinal delivers the Pope's Letter and Present to him to convey to the Cardinal who undertook it This Merchant was a bitter Enemy to the Cardinal for divers injuries from him received and therefore determined at this time to have upon him at least a moderate and bloodless revenge Being therefore arrived at Paris he gets a Limner who also owed ill will to the Cardinal to draw a Picture of equal bigness in which in stead of the Virgin Mary were portracted the Cardinal the Queen his Neece the Queen Mother and the Duke of Guise his Wife all stark naked their Arms about his Neck and their Legs twisted in his This being put in the Case of the other with the Pope's Letters were delivered to one of the Cardinal's Secretaries while he was with the King in Council At his return the Cardinal having read the Letter reserved the opening of the Case till the next day where having invited those Ladies and many Nobles and Cardinals they found themselves miserably deceived disappointed and exceedingly confounded and ashamed An Astrologer predicted the death of King Henry the Seventh such a Year the King sent for him and asked if he could tell Fortunes He said yes The King then asked if he did not forsee some eminent danger that much about that time should hang over his own head He said no. Then said the King thou art a foolish Figure-caster and I ammore skilful than thou for as soon as I saw thee I instantly prophecied thou shouldst be in prison before night which thou shalt find true and sent him thither He had not been long in custody but the King sent for him again to know if he could cast a Figure to know how long he should be in prison He still answered no. Then said the King thou art an illiterate fellow that canst not foretell either good or bad that shall befall thy self therefore I will conclude thou canst not tell of mine and so set him at liberty CHAP. XXIII Of the Sobriety and Temperance of some Men in their Meat and Drink and other things WHen Leotychidas was asked the reason why the Spartans did use to eat and drink most sparingly It is said he because we had rather consult for others than that others should do so for us Tartly implying that luxurious and intemperate men were utterly indisposed and unfit for Counsel and that Temperance and Sobriety are wont to be the proper Parents of the most wholesom advice Indeed all other Virtues are obscured by the want of this as both the body and mind are wonderfully improved by it which is the reason why so many great persons have made choice of it for their Achates 1. Carus the Roman Emperour was upon his expedition into Persia who being arrived upon the Consines of Armenia there came Ambassadors to him from the enemy they expected not a speedy admittance to his presence but after a day or two to be presented to him by some of the Nobles about him But he informed of their coming caused them to be brought before him When they came they found this great Emperour at his dinner in the open field lying upon the grass with a number of Soldiers about him nothing of Gold or Silver to be seen Carus himself was in a plain purple Cloak and the feast that was prepared for him was only a kind of ancient black broth and therein a piece of salted Hogsslesh to which he also invited the Embassadors 2. Augustus Caesar the Master of the World was a person of a very sparing dyet and as abstemious in his drinking he would feed of course bread and small fishes Cheese made of Cows milk and the same pressed with the hand green Figgs and the like He drank not above a Sextant at once and but thrice at one Supper his Supper consisted mostly of three and when he desired to exceed but of six dishes he delighted most in Rhetian Wine and seldom drunk he in the day time but instead of drink he took a sop of bread soaked in cold water or a slice of Cucumber or a young
tells of one Cresin who manured a piece of ground which yielded him fruit in abundance while his neighbours Lands were extremely poor and barren for which cause he was accused to have inchanted them otherwise said his accuser his inheritance could not raise such a revenue while others stand in so wretched a condition But he pleading his cause did nothing else but bring forth a lusty Daughter of his well fed and well bred who took pains in his Garden also he shewed his strong Carts and stout Oxen which ploughed his Land his various implements of Husbandry and the whole equipage of his tillage in very good order He then cryed out aloud before the Judges Behold the Art Magick and Charms of Cresin The Judges did acquit him and doubted not but that his Lands fertility was the effect of his Industry and good Husbandry 2. There was one Mises who presented the great King Artaxerxes as he rode through Persia with a Pomegranate of a wonderful bigness which the King admiring demanded out of what Paradise he had gotten it who answered that he gathered it from his own Garden The King was exceedingly pleased with it and gracing him with Royal gifts swore by the Sun that the same man with like diligence and care might as well of a little City make a great one 3. The Emperour Theodosius the younger devoted the day to the Senate to military judicial and other affairs but a considerable part of the night to his studies and Books having his Lamp so made that it would pour in oyl of it self to renew the light that so he might neither lose time nor occasion an unseasonable disturbance to his Servants 4. Cleanthes was a young man and being extremely desirous to be a hearer of Chrysippus the Philosopher but wanting the necessary provisions for humane life he drew water and carried it from place to place in the night to maintain himself with the price of his labour and then all day he was attending upon the doctrines of Chrysippus where he so profited and withal so retained that industry he had while young that he read constantly to his Auditors to the ninety and ninth year of his Age others say Zeno was his Master and that wanting wherewith to buy paper he wrote memorials from him upon the bones of Cattel and the broken pieces of Pots Thus fighting in the night against poverty and in the day against ignorance he became at last an excellent person 5. St. Ierome saith that he himself had read six thousand books that were written by Origen who daily wearied seven Notaries and as many boys in writing after him 5. Demosthenes that afterwards most famous Orator of all Greece in his youth was not able to pronounce the first letter of that Art which he so affected but he took such pains in the correction of that defect in his pronunciation that afterwards no man could do it with a greater plainness his voice was naturally so slender and squeaking that it was unpleasant to the Auditory this also he so amended by continual exercise that he brought it to a just maturity and gratefulness the natural weakness of his lungs he rectified by labour striving to speak many verses in one breath and pronouncing them as he ran up some steep place he used to declaim upon the shores where the waters with greatest noise beat upon the Rocks that he might acquaint his Ears with the noise of a tumultuating people and to speak much and long with little stones in his mouth that he might speak the more freely when it was empty Thus he combated with nature it self and went away Victor overcoming the malignity of it by the pertinacious strength of his mind so that his Mother brought forth one and his own industry another Demosthenes 7. Iohannes Fernandas of Flanders though born blind and pressed with poverty yet by his sole industry attained to rare skill in Poetry Logick Philosophy and such a sufficiency in the Art of Musick that he was able to compose a song of four parts memoriter which others can difficultly do by setting all down in writing 8. Elfred a King of the West Saxons here in England designed the day and night equally divided into three parts to three especial uses and observed them by the burning of a Taper set in his Chappel eight hours he spent in meditation reading and prayers eight hours in provision for himself his repose and health and the other eight about the affairs of his Kingdom 9. Almost incredible was the painfulness of Baronius the compiler of the voluminous Annals of the Church who for thirty years together preached three or four times a week to the people 10. A Gentleman in Surry that had Land worth two hundred pounds per Annum which he kept in his own hands but running out every year he was necessitated to sell half to pay his debts and let the rest to a Farmer for one and twenty years Before that term was expired the Farmer one day bringing his Rent asked him if he would sell his Land Why said he will you buy it If it please you saith the Farmer How said he that 's strange tell me how this comes to pass that I could not live upon twice as much being my own and you upon one half thereof though you have payed rent for it or able to buy it Oh saith the Farmer but two words made the difference you said go and I said come Whaâ—'s the meaning of that said the Gentleman You lay in bed replyed the Farmer or took your pleasure and sent others about your business and I rose betimes and saw my business done my self 11. Marcus Antoninus the Emperour as he was a person of great industry himself so did he also bear so great a hatred unto idleness that he withdrew the salaries of such men as he found to be slothful and lazy in their imployments saying that there was nothing more cruel then that the common wealth should be gnawn and fed upon by such as procured no advantage thereunto by their labours 12. Ioanes Vischerus Rector of the University of Tubing when in the sixty third year of his age so dangerous a year to humane life though weak in body and thereby at liberty in respect of the statutes of the University from his office of teaching yet as alwayes before so then in the last act of his life he so followed his business that so long as he had any strength or ability so long as his voice and spirits permitted he was constant in his meditations comments and teaching And when by reason of the inclemence of the air he could not perform his part in the publick auditory of Physitians he strenuously continued to profess in private at his own house When his wife oftentimes advised and besought him that he would not do it but have some regard to his own health as a man that could
the Heavens those of the Spots and Dinettick motion of the Sun the mountainous protuberances and shadows of the body of the Moon about nineteen magnitudes more of fixed Stars the Lunulae of Iupiter their mutual Eclipsing one another and its turning round upon its own Axis the ring about Saturn and its shadow upon the body of that Star the Phases of Venus the increment and decrement of light amongst the Planets the appearing and disappearing of fixed Stars the altitude of Comets and nature of the Via Lactea In the Air its spring the more accurate History and nature of Winds and Meteors the probable height of the Atmosphere have been added by the Lord Bacon Des Cartes Mr. Boyle and others In the earth new Lands by Columbus Magellan and the rest of the discoverers and in these new Plants new Fruits new Animals new Minerals and a kind of other world of Nature from which this is supplyed with numerous conveniencies for life In the Waters the great motion of the Sea unknown in elder times and the particular Laws of flux and reflux in many places are discovered The History of Bathes augmented by Savonarola Baccius and Blanchellus Of Metals by Agricola and the whole Subterranean World described by the universally Learned Kircher The History of Plants much improved by Mathioluâ— Ruellius Bauhinus and Gerhard besides the late account of English Vegetables published by Dr. Merrett a worthy Member of the Royal Society and another excellent Virtuoso of the same Assembly Mr. Iohn Evelyn hath very considerably advanced the History of Fruit and Forest Trees by his Sylva and Pomona and greater things are expected from his preparations for Elysium Britannicum a noble design now under his hands The History of Animals hath been much enlarged by Gesner Rondeletius Aldrovandus and more accurately enquired into by the Micographers and the late Travellers who have given us accounts of those more remote parts of the Earth that have been less known to these amongst whom the ingenious Author of the Carribees deserves to be mentioned as an instance In our Bodies Natural History hath found a rich heap of Materials in the particulars of the Venae Lacteae the Vasa Lymphatica of the Valves and Sinus of the Veins the several new passages and Glandules the Ductus Chyliferus the Origination of the Nerves the Circulation of the Blood and the rest 15. Great men and Learned saith Pliny who know more in natural causes than others do feared the extinction of the Stars or some mischief to befall them in their Eclipses Pindaruâ— and Stesichorus were subject to this fear attributing the failing of their lights to the power of Witchcraft CHAP. XXIII Of the Sloathfulness and Idleness of some men IT is said of the Elder Cato That he used to inflame the minds of his fellow Souldiers to the love of Industry Labour and Vertue with such kind of Memorials as this Si cum labore quippiam rectè geris Labor recedit facta rectè permanent Quod si jocosè nequiter quid egeris Abit voluptas turpe factum permanet which because it pleased me in the reading and may possibly do the like to some others for the sake of the English Reader I will adventure thus to translate When what is good we do perform with pain The pains soon pass the good deeds still remain When slothfully or basely ought is done Those base deeds stay when all the pleasure 's gone Indeed all the Ancient Romans were such haters of Idleness that whereas Agenotia which was to stir up to action Stimula which was to put on further and Strenua which was to make men Strenuous were all three received as Goddesses to be worshipped in Temples within the City they would not receive Quies or rest as a Goddess in publick but built a Temple for her in the Lavicanian way which was without the City And thither may those unprofitable Members of the Common-wealth go with their Sacrifices who are like unto these that follow 1. Altades the twelfth King of Babylon an idle and slothful person laid down these two as his Maxims He is a vain and foolish man who with continual labour and misery makes War to the destruction of himself and others His other was this He is the most fool of all that with toyl and labour heaps up Treasure not for himself but his Posterity From this idle Philosophy he collected two things That no War was to be made because of the labour and a second That we should enjoy the riches and glory that was got by the sweat and miseries of others Accordingly he framed his life and spent his whole time amongst Whores and Catamites 2. There was saith Olaus Magnus a Stage-player who was grown to an unreasonable corpulency and well he might for he could eat as much as ten men and daâ—ly used so to do one of the Kings of Denmark being informed of him and that he lived a kind of idle liâ—e that he might no longer be a publick grievance and a devourer of that â—ood which was only due to them that laboured in their employments he caused him to be hanged up 3. Varia Servilius descended of a Pretorian Family was remarkable for no other thing save only his idleness in which he grew old insomuch as it was commonly said by such as passed by his house Varia hic situs est Here lies Varia speaking of him as of a person that was not only dead but buryed 4. Domiâ—ianus the Emperour the son of Vespatianus and Domicilla while he held the Empire was so given up to sloth and idleness that he spent most part of his time in pricking of flies to death with the point of a needle or bodkin so that when once it was demanded of one who was come out from him Who was with the Emperour His answer was Ne musca quidem Not so much as a flie 5. Alexander the son of Basilius Macedo was Emperour when he was a young man about twenty years of age at which time and after he was so devoted to sloth and idleness that laying aside the care of all matters of weight and Moment he minded nothing else but Hunting Horses and Dogs placing therein all his employment and delight 6. Romanus the Grandchild of Romanus Laucapenus was a man the most slothful of all other men he wholly resigned up himself to drinking of Wine to idleness and other pleasures so that the care of the Empire was intrusted in the hands of Iosephus Bringa the Praefect meerly upon the account of the extreme wretchlesness of the Emperour 7. Charles the son of Ludovicus Carolinus King of France when he succeeded his father in the Kingdom was so noted for his singular sluggisâ—ness that he was commonly called Charles the slothful for he minded nothing that was serious insomuch that he consumed and wasted away with meer idleness and dyed young leaving his Throne to be possessed by his
began to spread about the beginning of Domitians Reign after Christ fifty two years 2. Corinthus was a Jew by birth and circumcised taught that all Christians ought to be so also he taught that it was Jesus that died and rose again but not Christ he denied the Article of eternal life and taught that the Saints should enjoy in Ierusalem carnal delights for one thousand years he denied the divinity of Christ he owned no other Gospel but that of St. Matthew rejected Paul as an Apostate from the Law of Moses and Worshipped Iudas the Traytor in most things they agreed with the Ebionites so called from Ebion a Samaritan St. Iohn would not enter the same bath with the pernicious Heretick Corinthus but against his and the Heresie of Ebion he wrote his Gospel he spread his Heresie in Domitian's time about sixty two years after Christ. 3. Carpocrates of whom came the Carpocratians was born at Alexandria in Aegypt he flourished about the year of Christ 109. in the time of Antoninus Pius Eusebius accounts him the father of the Gnosticks and saith That his followers gloried of charmed love-drinks of devilish and drunken dreams of assistant and associate Spirits and taught That he who would attain to perfection in their mysteries must commit the most filthy acts nor could they but by doing evil avoid the rage of evil Spirits They said that Christ was a meer man and that only his soul ascended into Heaven They held Pythagorean transmigration but denied the Resurrection They said not God but Satan made this World And that their Disciples should not publish their abominable mysteries they bored their right ear with a Bodkin 4. Valentinus an Aegyptian lived in the time of Antoninus Pius When Hyginus was Bishop of Rome he began to spread his Heresie He held that there were many gods and that he that made the World was the author of death That Christ took flesh from Heaven and passed through the Virgin as water through a Pipe or Conduit He said there were thirty Ages or Worlds the last of which produced the Heaven Earth and Sea Out of the imperfections of this Creator were procreated divers evils as darkness from his fear evil Spirits out of his ignorance out of his tears springs and rivers and out of his laughter light They have Wives in common and say that both Christ and the Angels have Wives They celebrated the heathenish Festivals were addicted to Magick and what not This Heretick was of great reputation in Rome from whence he went to Cyprus and thence into Aegypt 5. Marcion of whom came the Marcionites was of Sinope a City of Pontus or Paphlagonia being driven from Ephesus by S. Iohn he went to Rome he was the son of a Bishop in Pontus and by his father exiled for Fornication being not received by the Brethren in Rome he fell in with Cerdon maintained his Heresie and became his successour in the time of Marcus Antoninus Philosophus one hundred thirty three years after Christ. He held three gods a visible invisible and a middle one that the body of Christ was only a Phantasm that Christ by his descent into hell delivered thence Cain and the Sodomites and other Reprobates He condemned the eating of flesh and the married life he held that souls only were saved permitted women to baptize and condemned all War as unlawful Polycarpus called him the first begotten of the Devil Iustin Martyr wrote a Book against him 6. Tatianus whence come the Tatiani was a Syrian by birth an Orator and familiar with Iustin Martyr under whom he wrote a profitable Book against the Gentiles he flourished one hundred forty two years after Christ his Disciples were also called Encratit◠from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 temperance or continence for they abstain from Wine Flesh and Marriage When Iustin Martyr was dead he composed his Tenents out of divers others He held that Adam after his Fall was never restored to mercy that all men are damned besides his Disciples that women were made by the Devil he condemned the Law of Moses made use of water instead of wine in the Sacrament and denied that Christ was the seed of David he wrote a Gospel of his own which he called Diatessaron and spread his Heresie through Pisidia and Cilicia 7. Montanus Father of the Montanists his Heresie began about one hundred forty five years after Christ by Nation he was a Phrygian and carried about with him two Strumpets Prisca and Maximilla who sled from their husbands to follow him These took upon them to Prophesie and their dictate were held by Montanus for Oracles but at last he and they for company hanged themselves his Disciples ashamed either of his life or ignominious death called themselves Cataphrygians he confounded the Persons in the Trinity saying That the father suffered he held Christ to be meer man and gave out that he himself was the Holy Ghost his Disciples baptized the dead denied repentance and marriage yet allowed of Incest they trusted to Revelations and Enthusiasms and not to the Scripture In the Eucharist they mingled the bread with the blood of an Infant of a year old In Phrygia this Heresie began and spread it self over all Cappadocia 8. Origen gave name to the Origenists whose errours began to spread Anno Dom. 247. under Aurelian the Emperour and continued above three hundred thirty four years They were condemned first in the Council of Alexandria two hundred years after his death and again in the fifth General Council at Constantinople under Iustinian the first They held a revolution of souls from their estate and condition after death into the bodies again They held the Devils and Reprobates after one thousand years should be saved That Christ and the Holy Ghost do no more see the Father than we see the Angels That the son is co-essential with the Father but not co-eternal Because say they the Father created both Him and the Spirit That souls were created long before this World and for sinning in Heaven were sent down into their bodies as into prisons They did also overthrow the whole Historical truth of Scripture by their Allegories 9. Paulus Samosatenus so called from Samosata near Euphrates where he was born a man of infinite pride commanding himself to be received as an Angel his Heresie brake out two hundred thirty two years after Christ and hath continued in the Eastern parts ever since He held that Christ was meerly man and had no being till his Incarnation that the God-head dwelt not in Christ bodily but as in the Prophets of old by grace and efficacy and that he was only the external not the internal Word of God Therefore they did not baptize in his name for which the Council of Nice rejected their Baptism as none and ordered they should be rebaptized who were baptized by them he denied the divinity of the Holy Ghost allowed Circumcision took away such Psalms as
Portugals thought they had burned but that he had been there invisible and taken it away laying another in the place This the Heathens presently believed so that it came unto the King of Bisnagars ears who thereupon desired the Beniane to send it him with great joy he received it giving the Beniane a great sum of Gold for it Whereupon this Tooth was holden and kept in the same honour and estimation as the other that was burnt had been 15. Adad and Atergatis that is the Sun and the Earth were the chief Gods of the Assyrians and saith Macrobius they ascribe all power to these two The Image of Adad shined with rays or beams downwards designing the Suns force that of Atergatis with beams upwards as noting thereby the Earth ascribing to the heavenly influence all her plenty Lucian also saith That the Assyrians did sacrifice to a Dove the only touching of which Fowl required much Ceremony for Expiation 16. The Philistinis and all that Sea-coast are reckoned to the Phoenicians and they worshipped Dagon what Dagon was saith Martyr is not well known but by the derivation of his Name which signifieth a Fish it seemeth he was a Sea-God Above his belly he was of humane shape beneath like a fish When Cicero saith the Syrians worshipped a Fish it may be construed of this Dagon happily saith Martyr they intended Neptune or I know not what Devil Tremellius thinketh Triton Derceto's or Dagons Image Lucian saith he saw in Phoenicia not unlike to that of the Mermaid the upper half like a Woman the other like a fish in reverence of whom the Phoenicians were said to abstain from fish They offered unto her Fishes of Gold and Silver and the Priests all day long set before her true fishes roast and sodden which afterwards themselves did eat 17. At Ekron was worshipped Baalzebub that is the Lord of Flies â—o called either from the multitude of Flies that attended the multitude of his Sacrifices wherefrom the Sacrifices of the Temple of Ierusalem as some say were wholly free or for that he was their Larder God to drive away flies or for that form of a flye in which he was worshipped as Nazianzen against Iulian reporteth yet Scaliger saith the name of Baalzebub was in disgrace and contempt and that the Tyrians and Sydonians did not so call him Baal or Belus being the common sirname to their Gods which they distinguished by some addition as Baalsamen Lord of Heaven but the Hebrews and not the Phoenicians called him Baalzebub or Fly-Lord 18. Those of Peru worshipped the dead bodies of their Inguas that is Emperours preserving them with a kind of Rosin so that they seemed alive The body of Yupangui the Grandfather of Atabalipa was thus found having eyes made of a fine Cloth of Gold so artificially made and set as they seemed natural having lost no more hair than if he had died the same day and yet he had been dead threescore and eighteen years 19. Ptolomeus Philopater erected a Temple to Homer the Poet in which his Image was placed comely sitting environed with those Cities which challenged him for theirs and Strabo mentions a Temple and Image of Homer at Smyrna with a Coin called Homerium As for the Egyptians they worshipped not only Crocodiles and Goats and Hawks but even Frogs and Beetles and Onions and which is strangest of all as Ierome derides them they made a Deity of a stinking Fart Crepitus ventris inflati saith he quae Pelusiaca religio est which they worshipped at Pelusium 20. The old Irish at every change of the Moon worshipped her bowed their knees and made their supplications and with a loud voice thus spake unto the Planet We pray thee leave us in as good estate as thou findest us 21. Some leagues from the Town of Iunquileu in China we arrived at a place encompassed with great Iron Grates in the midst whereof stood two mighty Statues of Brass upright sustained by Pillars of cast Metal of the bigness of a Bushel and seven fathom high the one of a man and the other of a woman both of them seventy four spans in height having their hands in their mouths their cheeks horribly blown out and their eyes so staring that they affrighted all that looked upon them That which represented a man was called Quiay Xingatalor and the other in the form of a Woman was named Apancapatur Having demanded of the Chineses the explication of these Figures they told us that the male was he which with those mighty swollen cheeks blew the fire of Hell to torment all those miserable Wretches that would not liberally bestow alms in this life and for the other Monster that she was the Portress of Hell-gate where she would take notice of those that did her good in this World and letting them fly away into a River of very cold water called Ochilenday would keep them hid there from being tormented by the Devils as other damned were At such time as we arrived here we found twelve Bonzoes or Priests upon the place who with silver Censers full of Perfumes of Aloes and Benzoin censed those two devillish Monsters and chanted out aloud Help us even as we serve thee whereunto divers other Priests answered in the name of the Idol with a great noise So I promise to do like a good Lord. In this sort they went as it were in Procession round about the place singing with an ill-tuned voice to the sound of a great many Bells that were in Steeples thereabouts In the mean time there were others that with Drums and Basons made such a din as I may truly say put them all together was most horrible to hear 22. We arrived at the great Temple of Singuafatur in Tartary where we saw an Inclosure of above a league in circuit in which were builded an hundred threescore and four houses very long and broad after the fashion of Arsenals all full up to the very Tiles of dead mens skulls whereof there was so great a number that I am afraid to speak it for that it will hardly be credited Without each of these houses were also great piles of the bones belonging to these heads which were three fadom higher than the ridges of them so that the houses seemed to be buried no other part of them appearing but the Frontispiece where the Gate stood Not far from thence upon the South-side of them was a kind of Platform whereunto the ascent was by certain stairs of Iron winding about and through four several doors Upon this Platform was one of the tallest the most deformed and dreadful Monster that possibly can be imagined standing upon his feet and leaning against a mighty Tower of hewed stone he was made of cast Iron and of so great and prodigious a stature that by guess he seemed to be above thirty fathom high and more than six broad This Monster held in both his hands a Globe of the