execute those offices of the court the women likewise by the commandement and decree of the same Maqueda be circumcised shee being induced therevnto by this reason that euen as men haue a fore-skinne that couereth their yards in like manner haue women a certaine kernelly flesh which is called Nympha arysing vp in the middle of their priuy partes which is very fit to take the character of circumcision and this is done both to males and females vpon the eight day and after circumcision the men children be baptised vpon the fortieth day and the women children vpon the eighteeth day vnlesse any sicknesse or infirmity hapneth which may cause it to bee done sooner but if any children be baptised before the time appointed it is not lawfull to giue them sucke of their mothers milke but onely of their nurses vntill their mothers bee purified and the water wherein they bee baptised is consecrated and blessed with exorcismes and that very same day wherein children bee baptised they receiue the blessed bodie of our Lord in a little forme of bread wee receiued baptisme almost before all other Christians from the Eunuch of Candace Queene of Aethiopia whose name was Indich as it is said in the Acts of the Apostles which together with circumcision which wee had at that time as before is sayd wee obserue most holily and Christian like and by Gods assistance euer shall obserue nor doe we obserue or admit of any thing but of those onely which are expressed in the law and the prophets and in the Gospell and in the bookes of the councels of the Apostles and if wee receiue any things besides those they bee onely obserued for the time for that they seeme to appertaine to the gouernment and peace of the Church and that without any bond of sinne Wherefore our circumcision is not vncleane but the law and grace is giuen to our father Abraham which hee receiued of God as a signe not that either he or his children should be saued through circumcision but that the children of Abraham should be known from other nations And that which is inwardly vnderstood by the signe or mistery of circumcision wee doe highly obserue that is that wee may bee circumcised in our hearts neither doe wee boast of circumcision nor therefore thinke our selues more noble then other Christians nor more acceptable vnto God with whom is no acception of persons as Paul saith who also sheweth vs that wee bee not saued through circumcision but by faith because in Christ Iesus neither circumcision nor the cutting off the foreskinne preualeth but the new creature but Paul preached not to destroy the law but to establish it who was also baptised and beeing of the seed of Beniamin hee also circumcised Tymothy who was become a Christian his mother beeing an Hebrew and his father a Gentile knowing that God doth iustifie circumcision by faith and the fore-skinne by faith and as he himselfe was made all to all that hee might saue all To the Iewes hee was as a Iew that thereby hee might winne the Iewes and to those which were vnder the law hee was as one vnder the law although hee was not vnder the law to the end hee might gaine those which were vnder the lawe and to those which were without the law hee was as one without the law although hee was not without the law of GOD but vnder the law of Christ that hee might get those which were without the law and hee became weake that hee might gaine those which were weake which he did to shew that we bee saued not by circumcision but by faith And therefore when he preached to the Hebrewes hee spake vnto them in diuers speeches like an Hebrew saying God heretofore spake many waies and in many manners to our fathers in the prophets shewing vnto them out of the same prophets that Christ was of the seed of Dauid after the flesh Moreouer he preached vnto them that Christ was with our fathers in the tents in the Desert and that he led them into the Land of promise by the hand of Iosua And Paul also testifieth in the same place that Christ was the chiefe of priests and that hee entred into a new tent which is the Sanctum sanctorum The holy of holies and that with the sacrifice of his bodie and bloud hee abolished the bloud of goates and bulles whereby none that killeth them shall bee iustified and so hee spake sundry waies to the Iewes and also suffering himselfe to bee worshipped of his people by many ceremonies in a holy and vncorrupted faith Moreouer those children with vs bee accounted halfe Christians which here I vnderstand in the Romane Church bee called Paganes who because they die without baptisme ought to bee called halfe Christians because they be children of the sanctified bloud of parents baptised and of the holy Ghost and of the bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ by which three Testimonies all Christians bee so reputed because there bee three things which giue testimony in earth the spirite water and bloud as Saint Iohn witnesseth in his first canonicall Epistle the Gospell also saith a good tree bringeth forth good fruite and an euill tree bringeth forth euill fruite and therefore the children of Christians are not like vnto the children of the Gentiles and of the Iewes and of the Moores which bee withered trees without any fruit but the Christians bee elected in their mothers wombes as holy Ieremias the prophet and Saint Iohn Baptist were Furthermore the children of Christian women are elected and consecrated by the communication and imparting of the body bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ for when women great with child do take the most blessed body of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ the infant in the wombe receiuing nutriment is thereby sanctified for euen as the child in the mothers wombe conceiueth either sorrow or ioy according as the mother is affected so also is it nourished by the mothers norishment and as our Lord saith in his holy Ghospell if any one eate my body and drinke my bloud hee shall not tast of eternall death and againe if any one eate of my body and drinke my bloud hee shall remaine with mee and Paul the teacher of the Gentiles saith the vnbeleeuing husband is iustified by the beleeuing wife the vnbeleeuing wife is sanctified by the beleeuing husband otherwise your children should be vncleane but now they bee sanctified which if it bee so that the children of an vnbeleeuing mother bee sanctified by the saithfulnesse of the father then be they much more holy that bee borne of faithfull fathers and mothers for which cause it is farre more holy to call children before they bee christned halfe Christians then Pagans and the Apostles also haue said in their bookes of councels that al which beleeue and be not baptised may iustly bee termed halfe Christians who also say in the said bookes if Iew Moore or Gentile will receiue the faith hee is
country fertill and fruitfull Egypt of many is accounted amongst the number of Ilands The riuer Nylus so deuiding it that it proportioneth the whole country into a triangular forme insomuch that of many it is called Delta for the resemblance it hath vnto that Greeke letter The Egiptians were the first that fained the names of twelue gods they erected Altars Idols and Temples and figured liuing creatures in stones all which things doe plainely argue that they had their originall from the Aethiopians who were the first Authors of all these things as Diodorus Siculus is of opinion Their women were wonte in times past to doe businesse abroad to keepe tauernes and victualling houses and to take charge of buying and selling and the men to knit within the walles of the citty they bearing burthens vpon their heads and the women vppon their shoulders the women to pisse standing and the men sitting all of them for the most part ryoting and banquetting abroad in open wayes and exonerating and disburdening their bellyes at home No woman there taketh vppon her the order of Priest-hood of any god or goddesse They enter not into religion to any of their gods one by one but in companies of whom one is their Bishoppe or head and hee beeing dead his sonne is elected in his steede The male children ayde and succour theyr parents by the custome of their country freely and willingly and daughters are forced to doe it if they bee vnwilling The fashion of most men in funerall exequies is to rend the hayres off theyr heads and to suffer their beards to growe vncutte but the Aegyptians did let their lockes growe long and shaue their beards short they kneaded theyr Dowe with theyr feete and made morter with their hands Theyr custome was as the Greekes were of opinion to circumcise them-selues and their children they write theyr letters from the right hand to the left and men wore two garments the women but one they had two sorts of letters the one prophane the other holy but both of them deriued from the Aethiopians The Priests shaued their bodyes euery third day least they should hap to bee polluted with any filthe when they did sacrifice they wore paper shooes and linnen vestiments euer new washed and alleagded that they were circumcised for no other cause but for cleanlinesse sake for that it is better to bee cleane then comely The Aegyptians sowed no Beanes nor would eate any that grew in other countries and their Priests were precisely prohibited the sight of them as beeing an vncleane kinde of graine The Priests washed them-selues in colde water thrise in the day time and twise in the night The heads of their oblations they eate not but cursing them with bitter execrations eyther sould them to strange Marchants factors or if none would buy them they would throw them into the riuer of Nylus their sacrifices were with oxen and calues that were very cleane It was not lawfull for the women to doe sacrifice no though they were consecrated to their God Isis They liued of meate made of a certaine corne which they call Wheate and drinke wine made of Barley for grapes there are none growing in that country They eate raw fish dried at the Sunne and some powdred in brine and birds also but altogether rawe but the richer sort feed vpon Quailes and Duckes When many are assembled together at meat and that they be arose from dinner or supper one of them caryeth about vpon a little Beere or Chest the picture of a dead body eyther made of wood or else much resembling a dead corpes in painting and workmanship of a cubite or two cubits long and shewing it vnto euery one of the guests saith vnto them In your drinkings and meriments behold this spectacle for such shall you bee when you are dead Yong people bow and giue place to their elders when they meete them in the way and arise from their seates to such as come to them wherein they agree with the Lacedemonians Those which incounter in the wayes salute one another with congee below the knee They are clothed as I haue said with linnen garments fringed about the legges which they call Cassilirae ouer which they we are a little short white garment like a cloake as it were cast ouer the other for wollen garments are so contemned as they are neither worne in temples nor serue for winding sheetes Now because all those famous men which haue heeretofore excelled in any one kinde of learning or mystery and which haue constituted and left behinde them lawes and ordinances for other nations to liue by went first vnto the Aegyptians to learne their manners lawes and wisdome in which they excelled all nations of the earth as Orpheus and after him Homer Musaeus Melampodes Dedalus Licurgus the Spartane Solon the Athenian Plato the Philosopher Pythagoras of Samos and Zamolzis his disciple Eudoxus also the Mathematitian Democritus of the cittie of Abdera Inopides of Chios Moses the Hebrew and many others as the Aegiptian Priests make bragges are contained in their sacred bookes I thinke it very conuenient to spend some little time further in describing the manner of liuing of the Aegiptians that it may bee knowne what one or more things euery one of those worthy men haue taken from the Aegyptians and transported into other countries for as Phillippus Beroaldus writeth vpon Apuleus Asse there be many things translated from the religion of the Aegiptians into the Christian religion as the linnen vestments the shauing of Priests crownes the turning about in the Altar the sacrificiall pompe the pleasant tuning notes of musick adorations prayers and many other more like ceremonies The Egiptian Kings as Diodorus Siculus writeth in his second booke were not so licencious as other Kings whose will standeth for a law but followed the institutions and lawes of the country both in gathering money and in their life and conuersations There was none of any seruile condition whether hee were bought with money or borne in that country that was admitted to waite and attend vpon the King nor any other but onely the sonnes of the worthiest Priests and those aboue the age of twenty yeares and excelling others in learning to the end that the King beeing mooued at the sight of his seruants both day and night attending vpon his person should commit nothing vnfit to be done by a King for seldome doe the rich and mighty men become euill if they want ministers to foster them in their euill desires There were certaine howers appointed euery day and night wherein by the permission of their lawe the King might confer with others The King at his rising receaueth all the letters and supplications that bee sent or brought vnto him and then pausing and considering a while what is to be don he giueth answer to euery suter in order as they came so as all things bee done in their due
losse of both their hands for they thought it fit that that part of the body should suffer punishment during life that was cheefe instrument in the offence and that others also being warned by their miseries and calamities might abstaine from the like lewdnesse There were very sharpe punishments inflicted vpon those that had abused any woman for he which defloured a free woman had his members cut off for that vnder one fault hee had comitted three hanous offences which were iniury corruption of bloud and confusion of children he that was taken in wilfull adultery had a thousand stripes with rods and the adulterous woman had her nose cut off by which disgrace her beauty was blemished and shee punished in that part of her face which did most addorne it It is reported that Bocchoris was the maker of those lawes which partaind to ciuill conuersation amongst men which lawes allow that if one lend mony without specialty and the debitor deny that hee borrowed any the creditor must stand to the debiters oath for an oath is held of great moment as being a religious act and certaine it is that those which often sweare doe abrogate their faith and credits and therfore they will sweare but seldome least they loose their reputations and names of honest men moreouer the same lawe-maker concluding all faithfulnesse in vertue iudged that men ought by good meanes to accustome themselues to honesty that they may not bee thought vnworthy of trust for hee thought it wrong to those to whome mony was lent with-out oath not to performe their faith by swearing whether the goods be their owne or noe The vsury which was agreed vpon by writing forbad that the double forfeture of the thing lent should be exacted and all payments were satisfied by the debitors goods but his body might not be deliuered to the creditor for they thought fit that onely their goods should be subiect and lyable to their debts and their bodies addicted to the Citties whose ayde and assistance they had neede of both in warres and peace neither was it thought fit that the souldiors which ventured their liues for their countries safty should bee thrust in prison for interest which law is supposed to bee translated by Solon to the Athenians and by him called Sisachthia prouiding that men should not loose their liues for the Cittizens vsury more-ouer the particular law and toleration for theeues amongst the Aegiptians was that those that did steale should bring their names in writing to the cheefe Preest and instantly disclose the theft or robbery vnto him In like sort they which had their goods taken from them must write vnto the cheefe Priest the time day and houre that hee was robbed by which meanes the theft being easily found out and discouered he which was robbed should loose the fourth part of that which was stolne which fourth part shall bee giuen to the theefe and the rest restored to the owner For the lawgiuers opinion was that seeing it was vnpossible that theft should altogether bee prohibited men should loose rather some portion of their substance then all that was taken from them The manner of their marriages is not all alike with the Aegiptians for it is lawfull for the Preests to marry but once but the rest may marry as oft as they will according to their desire and ability and there are no children accounted bastards noe though they be begotten of such bond-seruants as be bought with mony for they hold that the father is the onely author of their childrens birth and the mother to be but the receptacle and to yeeld norrishment to the infant It is most incredible to see with what small and easie cost the Aegiptians bring vp their children for the norish them with the roots of bulrushes other like roots raked and roasted in hotte embers and with hearbes growing in fennes and moorish grounds some-times boyld sometimes broyld on the coales and some-times rawe They neuer wore shooes but goe for the most part naked by reason of the temperature of the country so as all the cost that a father bestoweth vpon his childe till hee bee of full age exceedeth not twenty Drachmas The Priests instruct children both in that learning which they call holy and in the other which appertained to knowledge and common instruction and they bee very intentiue and exceedingly bent to the study of Geometry and Arithmatick They suffer them not to vse eyther wrestling or musick supposing the dayly vse of wrestling to be vnsure and dangerous and that thereby their bodyes are made more feeble and weake and musicke they condemned as vtterly vnprofitable and hurtfull in making their mindes effeminate They cure their diseases eyther by fasting or vomitting which they vse eyther dayly or euery third day or fourth day for they are of opinion that all diseases had theyr beginning from surfetting and that therefore that is the best physicke to recouer health which taketh away the cause of the disease Souldiers and trauellers are cured for nothing for the Phisitians liue of the reuenews of the common-wealth and therefore are forced by the law to cure the diseased after the strict forme set downe by the best Phisitians and most approoued writers And the Physition that followeth the rule of that sacred booke though hee cannot cure his patient yet is hee blamelesse but if he cure him by any other meanes then is set downe in that booke hee shall dye for it for the maker of that law was of opinion that there could not a better course of curing bee found out then that which was inuented and obserued for long time by ancient Physitions The Aegiptians worship diuerse creatures beyond all measure not onely while they be liuing but when they be dead also as Cattes Rattes Dogges Hawkes the birds called Ibis Wolues and Crocadiles and many more of like kinde neither be they ashamed to professe open honour vnto them but account it as commendable and lawdable for them to doe it as to doe their seruice to the gods in so much as they will goe about into citties and other places carrying with them Images of those beasts vaunting and glorying what creatures they haue adored at the sight whereof all men in manner of supplyants doe reuerence vnto the Images When any of these beasts die they wrappe the carcase in linnen cloth and annoynt it with Salt beating their brests with bitter exclamations and annoynting it againe with the Iuise of Cedar tree and other odoriferus oyntments that it may keepe the longer they bury it in their hallowed places Hee that willingly killeth any of those creatures shall haue iudgment of death for it but if a man kill the Ibis or the Cat either willingly or at vnawares the whole multitude fall vpon him tormenting and killing him without mercy or iudgment The terror whereof inforceth the beholders to lament his death and to auerre that the beast
hollow stone and mingling there-with the seede of holly tree bake it therein and make them a most pleasant meate for the meate beeing so mingled they fashion it into Cakes like long Tyles and drying them a little against the Sunne sitte downe and eate them with great pleasure and not a proportioned quantity thereof but euery one as much as they can eate This meate they haue alwayes in a readinesse as it were out of a store-house the sea affoording it in aboundance in steed of bread whereof the land is barren But when by the raging of the sea those places which bee neere vnto the shore bee drowned for diuerse dayes together so as they fayle in theyr faculty of fishing at which time they suffer great penury of victualls then they gather certaine great shell-fishes and bruising their shells in peeces with stones feede vppon the meate which is within beeing very like vnto Oysters And when this raging of the sea by force of the windes is of so long continuance as that they can finde none of those shel-fishes then they betake them-selues to fishe bones and sharpe finnes which are reserued for a time of neede the tenderer and newest sorte whereof they knaw with their teeth and bruise the harder with stones and so eate them like vnto brute beasts they eate commonly a great company together as I haue sayd and cheere one another with an vntuneable song and after that the men accompany with women each one with her hee first lighteth vppon and beeing voyde of all care by reason of the aboundance of meate which they haue in readinesse bestowe themselues in this manner foure dayes together and vppon the fift day they flocke together in troupes to the riuers to drinke making a disordered and confused noyce as they goe This their gooing to drinke is not much vnlike the going of neate to water when their bellyes are so full of water as they are scarse able to returne backe they eate no more that day but euery one beeing full of water and strouting out as though hee would burst lyeth downe like a drunken man to sleepe Vpon the last day they returne againe to their fishing and so passing ouer their whole liues with such simple and slender dyet they sildome fall into any disease yet they bee shorter liued then wee for their vncorrupted nature accounteth it their chiefest felicity and summum bonum to appease hunger expecting pleasure from no other thing and this is the manner of liuing of those people which dwell within the gulph But those which dwell without the gulph liue farre more strangely for they neuer drinke and are naturally voyde of all passions of the minde And beeing as it were reiected by fortune from all places fitte for habitation and cast into deserte and desolate countries indeuour themselues wholy to fishing They desire nothing that is moyst and eate their fishes halfe rawe not that they would thereby auoyde thirst but in a sauage manner contented with such foode as fortune affoordes them supposing their greatest happinesse to consist in wanting nothing they desire or is fitte for them They bee sayde also to bee indued with such extraordinary patience as if one should drawe his sworde and strike them they would not seeke to auoyde the stroke but willingly suffering themselues to bee iniured and beaten they doe nothing but onely looke backe vppon him that strooke them without shewing the least signe of anger or compassion of their owne misery Speach they haue none but in liew thereof make signes with their fingers and by nodding their heads what things they want and what they would haue These people doe generally loue peace not dooing any thing to annoy others which kinde of life though it bee strange and admirable yet hath that nation for a long time retained it beeing eyther therevnto accustomed by continuance of time or else compeld by necessity Their places of abode be not like the Ichthiophagi which dwell within the gulph but in diuerse fashions for some haue theyr lodgings in hoales situate to the North pole wherein they bee defended from the heate of the Sunne both by the shade and the soft winde and coole murmuring ayre for those places which lye opposite to the South are for heate like vnto fornaces therefore vnpossible to be dwelt in Those which dwell against the North pole make them houses to auoyde the heate of Whales crooked ribbes whereof there bee many in that sea set hollow one against an other and couered ouer with rett or sea-weed necessity compelling Nature to finde out Arte for her owne defence and this is reported to bee the life of the Ichthiophagi which dwell without the gulphe It remaineth to say somewhat of the Amazons which in former time were sayd to dwell in Libia their women were hardy strong and valiant and liued not after the manner of other women for their custome was for a certaine space to exercise them-selues in feates of armes for preseruation of theyr Virginity and the time of warre-fare once ended then to couple themselues with men in mariage for cause of procreation the women onely did gouerne and exercise all publicke offices and the men tooke charge of things within doores like our women making themselues vassals and slaues vnto women as being very expert in the warres in gouernment and in all publicke businesses whereof the men themselues were ignorant When an infint is borne he is giuen to the father to bee nourished and brought vp with milke and other things answerable to his age and if it be a man child they eyther banish him or kill him forthwith or else breake his right arme so soone as he is borne thereby to make him vnfit for the warres But if it be a woman childe they singe off her brests in her infancie alledging that great brests would hinder them in the warres and therefore of the Greekes they be called Amazons because they want their brests they bee said to inhabite the Isle Hesper which is so called as being scituated towards the West this Isle is in the Moore called Triton which ioyning to the sea is also called Tritonia of a riuer that floweth into it It bordereth vpon Aethiopia and the hill Atlas the greatest mountaine of all that country It is very large and produceth diuerse sorts of trees vpon the fruit whereof the Inhabitants liue There bee many Goates also and other cattell whose Milke and flesh they feed vpon They bee altogether destitute of Corne nor doe they know the vse thereof if they had it FINIS Lib. 1. THE SECOND BOOKE Of Asia and the most famous Nations thereof CAP. 1. ASIA an other part of the tripartite world is so called of Asia the daughter of Oceanus and Tethis wife of Iapetus and mother to Prometheus or according to the opinion of others of Asius the sonne of Manaeus Lidus It is situated in the East part of the world and is bounded vpon the West with
to marry whom he pleased That they should bewaile and lament for the dead for the space of thirty daies and no more which time he thought sufficient for a wise man to lament the losse of his friends That the sonne which was iniurious to his parents should be hanged without the Cittie That the enemy that was slaine in battaile should not want buriall That if a creditor receiue a pledge or pawne of a poore man hee should restore it againe before night That if one buy one of his kindred as a slaue the bond-seruant shold be free the sixth yeere after That hee that found gold or siluer should make proclamation thereof by the mouth of the Crier That if cattell went astray they should either be brought backe to the right owner or else kept till the right owner were knowne That no Israelite should make or temper any poyson nor buy any that was made elsewhere And that he which mingled poyson to the end to poyson an other beeing conuicted of the offence should drinke the same poison himselfe That he which wilfully and wrongfully pulleth out an other mans eye should bee punished with the losse of an eye That if a bull kill a man with his horne he should bee stoned to death and his flesh cast a-away and not eaten That a thing committed to an other to keepe should be kept warily as a thing holy That the sonne should not bee punished for the fathers offence nor the sonnes offence be imputed as a fault in the father And these were the domesticall lawes ordained by Moses and in warfare these following That before warre were offerred the goods wrongfully taken away should be demanded againe by Ambassadors and Heralds and if they were not restored that then if they pleased they might warre lawfully That the whole charge and gouernment of the warres should be committed to him that most excelled others in strength and wisdome that the strongest souldier of all the campe should be sent as Ambassador That if the enemie were besieged their fruite trees should be spared for the trees themselues if they could speake would certainely reprehend and reproue him that destroied them That the conqueror might kill all such as were rebels but the rest which he ouercame vanquished should be made tributary and pay yeerely pensions That during the time of war no woman should touch her husbands priuities nor no man his wiues that it should be vtterly prohibited for the Israelites to eate bloud That those which were either infected with leaprosie or which had caused any fluxure of their natural seed should be expelled the city Menstruous women in like manner were kept out of the city for seauen daies after the beginning of their disease and might returne in the eight and so many daies were they forced to absent themselues that had their houses defiled and polluted with any dead body That the Priest should sacrifice tow evve Lambs for him whose naturall seed flovved from him in his sheepe and that the party should be washed in cold water and by the same sacrifice was he purged and hallowed that had laine with his wife at vnlawfull and prohibited times That a woman after she was deliuered of a child if it were a man child should be restrained from comming to the Church for the space of forty daies and if it were a woman child for the space of eighty daies That he that supposed his wife to be vnchast should for a certaine measure of barley meale called assarim and that then the wife being placed at the postes of the temple should sweare after the Priest whether shee had defiled her chastitie or no and if she swore false shee should dye for it hauing her right hamme disioynted and her wombe putrified but if shee were chaste and swore truly she should bee deliuered of her childe in the tenth month without harme of her wombe and that then the Priest of God blotting out her name from out the scedule should giue her drinke out of a potte with a wide mouth That the paines of death should bee inflicted for adultery incest and the sinne of Sodome That the Priest that was lame or weakned in his body should be forbidden to ascend the Altar and that hee should be maintained notwithstanding with the holy oblations That if the Iewes attained to the land of Chanaan they should suffer their grounds to lye lea and vnplowed euery seuenth yeare that such fruites as the earth did naturally produce should euery fortith yeare which was called the yeare of Iubily be common as well to strangers and forreners as to their owne kindred and that in that yeare money which was owing should be released and forgiuen slaues and bondmen made free and infranchised and possessions gotten with small cost restored to their first owners With these institutions and ordinances both for home and abroade did Morses instruct the Israelites not long before his death adding more-ouer a solemne prayer for the good successe of those that obserued and fulfilled his lawes and ordinances rightly and as they ought and bitter execrations and curses against the transgressors and offenders thereof And last of all hee bound the people with an oath that they should for euer obserue and keepe those diuine and humaine lawes which he had instituted and ordained and that if any one did violate them they should not suffer him to goe vnpunished And now seeing it is manifest that there was neuer any people more ceremonious and religious then the Israelites I thinke it worth while briefly to expresse the manner of their sacrificing as it was first ordained The Iewes had two sorts of sacrificing from the beginning the one whereof was done by the better sort of people and that they called Holocaustus that is a sacrifice layde whole on the Altar and was done in this manner hee which intended to doe sacrifice eyther with Oxe or Lambe or what thing else hee meant to offer for the beast which hee sacrificed must bee a male beast and of one yeare old brought the beast to the Altar and then the Priest powring forth and sprinkling the bloud of the sacrifice vppon the Altar and cutting the oblation in peeces burned it whole vpon the Altar The other sort of sacrificing was for the common people wherein they offered beasts of aboue a yeare old the bloud whereof beeing shedde and the kidnees fatte and suet set on fire on the Altar the hearts and right legges were giuen to the Priests and the residue they for whom the sacrifice was solemnized did eate within two dayes after Those which were poore might offer two Pigions or two Turtle Doues whereof the one serued for a whole burnt sacrifice and for the other the Priests did cast lottes Hee which offended vnawares did sacrifice for satisfaction of that sinne a Yew Lambe of an yeare old or else a Kidde and those which were guilty of any secret fault in them-selues were by the very letter of the
of their bodyes they weare such garments as their abilities bee able to affoord them the richer sort of women goe in Purple and silke and their husbands likewise their coates bee of a very strange fashion for the slitte or hole whereby they put them off and on is vppon the left side and buttoned with foure or fiue buttons In the Summer they weare black garments and in Winter and rainy wether white and their clothes come downe no lower then their knees they weare garments also made of skinnes but not as wee doe with the hayrie side inwards but with the flesh sides towards their bodyes and the hayrie sides outwards shewing the hayre for comlinesse and decencie maides by their apparell can hardly bee discerned from marryed women nor the marryed women be distinguished from the men for there is no great difference betwixt them eyther in habite or behauiour for all weare breeches alike When they prepare themselues to the warres some of them couer their armes which otherwise bee naked with yron plates lincked together with Letherne thongs and some with diuerse foldes of Lether with which also they make defences for their heads shields they haue none and but few of them eyther launces or long swords yet they haue swords but not aboue the length of ones arme and made with an edge vpon the one side like back-swords wherwith when they fight they strike with that side which is sharpe they be very light and perfect horse-men and maruelous good archers and he is accounted of the greatest courage and valour which is most obedient vnto gouernment They serue in the warres without wages and bee very subtil and cunning both in the warres and other businesses and ready to take vpon them any charge or to vndergoe any matter of importance whatsoeuer the Captaines and gouernors enter not into the battell them-selues but standing aloofe incourrage exhort their souldiers diligently foreseeing and considering what is necessary to bee done and to the end their army may seeme the greater and more terrible to the enemy they bring their wiues and children into the army with them and sometimes the images of men set fast vpon horses nor do they thinke it a disgrace for them to fly if it bee either behouefull or necessary when they shoote they disarme their right armes and then their darts fly with such vehement forces as they will perce any kind of armor they begin the battell in order and keepe their aray in retyring euen then destroying and slaying with their darts their enimies which pursue them and if they perceiue the number of those which pursue them to bee but small they sodainly returne into the battell wounding with their darts both men and horse and euen then they get the greatest conquest when they were thought to haue beene conquered When they intend to inuade or make warre vpon any country they deuide their army into sundry companies and giue the assaulte on euery side so as they can hardly bee incountred or resisted nor any of the inhabitants escape and by this policie they haue alwaies the victory in their owne owne hands And they vse their victory very proudly and cruelly sparing neither old men women nor children but put all to the sword without difference artificers onely excepted which they reserue to worke for them They deuide them to bee slaine by the Centurions assigning to euery seruant for his part of the slaughter tenne or more or lesse as the number of the Captiues bee which when they haue butchered with Axes like Swine for a greater terror to others they take euery thousand Captiue and turning his head downe-wards hang him vp by the heeles vppon a stake made fast in the ground in the middle of those which bee slaine as if hee should then admonish and aduise his friends whilst the most of those murtherers approching to the slaine bodyes doe with their mouthes swill vp the bloud which springeth from their greene wounds They keepe their faith and promise with none how euer they bee obliged vnto them but rage towards their owne subiects in this manner and farre more greeuously It is lawfull for them to deflowre as many young Virgins as they will or can get and those which bee any thing beautifull bee carryed away with them and constrained to serue continually in extreame penurie of all things The Tartarians of all men be most incontinent for although they may marry as many wiues as they will or as they bee able to keepe and that they bee not forbidden mariage with any degree of affinitie or consanguinity mothers daughters and sisters onely excepted yet bee they exceedingly giuen to the sinne of Sodome accompanying both with their owne sex and with beasts as vilely as the Sarrasins without eyther difference or punishment They account not the woman which they marry for their wife nor yet receiue her dower before shee hath had a childe and if shee bee barren it is lawfull for them to put her a way and to marry another And this is strange that although many women haue but one husband yet they neuer fall out for him amongst them-selues although one bee preferred before another and hee sleepeth now with one and by and by with another and euery one of these wiues haue their abyding place by them-selues and euery one keepeth her owne family They liue most chast from other mens wiues for as well the men as women which bee taken in adultery suffer death by their lawe those men which bee not trayned vp in the warres keepe Cattell in the fields practise hunting and wrestling without doing any other domesticall businesse but commit all to women vpon whose care it resteth to prouide all things necessary both for victualls and clothing This nation obserueth many superstitions for to put a knife into the fire or at the least to let it touch the fire or to pull flesh out of a potte with a knife is held a great offence moreouer they cut nothing with a hatchet neere vnto the fire least they should hurt it any manner of way for they honour the fire most religiously perswading them-selues that there-with all things ought to bee purified and clensed They greatly abhore to lay either their body or armes when they sleepe or take their rest vpon a whippe where-with they driue their horses for spurres they vse none or to tuch their darts with a whip and yong men doe not onely auoyd the killing of birds but the taking of them also they will not beate a horse with his brydle nor breake one bone with an other nor yet spend ether meate or drinke out of measure and especially milke noe one dare pisse within his pauillion or mansion house for if any one doe it abstinately he is put to death without mercy but if necessity constraine one to doe it as oftentimes it happeneth then the tent or pauilion wherein it was done and all things within it ought to bee purged and clensed on
of Isthmus and extending north and south lyeth opposite to that part of the Mediterranean sea which is called Aegeum on the East and on the West to the sea Ionium as the hill Apennyne deuideth Italy in the middle so is Greece seperated and deuided with Mountaines called Thermopilae the toppes of the hills stretching in length from Leucas and the Weasterne sea towards the other sea which is Eastward The vtmost hills towards the west bee called Oeta the highest whereof is named Callidromus in whose valley there is a way or passage into the Maliacan gulfe not aboue threescore paces broad through which way if no resistance bee made a whole hoste of men may bee safely conducted but the other parts of those hills bee so steepe craggy and intrycate as it is not possible for the nimblest foote-man that is to passe ouer them there hills bee called Thermopilae of the piles or bankes that stand like gates at the entrance of the hills and of the hot waters that spring out of them by the sea side of Greece ly these regions Acarnania Aetolia Locris Phocis Baeotia and Eubaea which are almost annexed to the land Attica and Peloponesus runne further into the sea than these other countries do varying from the other in proportion of hills and vpon that part which is towards the North it is included with Epirus Phirrhaebia Magnesia Thessalia Phithiotae and the Malican gulfe The most famous and renowned citty of Athens the nurse of all liberall sciences and Philosophers than the which there is no one thing in all Greece of more excellency and estimation is scituated betwixt Achaia and Macedonia in a country there called Attica of Atthis the Kings daughter of Athens who succeeded Cecrops in the kingdome and builded Athens Of this Cecrops it was called Secropia and after Mopsopia of Mopsus And of Ian the sonne of Xutus or as Iosephus writeth of Ianus the sonne of Iaphet it was called Ionia and lastly Athens of Minerua for the Greekes call Minerua Athenae Draco was the first that made lawes for the Athenians many of which lawes were afterwards abrogated by Solon of Salamin for the too seuere punishment inflicted vpon offenders for by all the laws which Draco ordained death was due for euery little offence in such sort as if one were conuicted but of sloth or Idlenesse hee should die for it and he which gathered rootes or fruits out of an others mans grounds was as deepely punished as those which had murdered their parents Solon deuided the citty into societies trybes or wards according to the estimation and valuation of euery ones substance and reueneus In the first rancke were those whose substance was supposed to consist of five hundred medimni those which were worth three hundred medimni and were able to breed and keepe horses were counted in the second order and those of the third degree were equall in substance to the second the charge of keeping horses onely excepted And of these orders were all magistrates and high officers for the most part ordained and those which were vnder these degrees were in the fourth rancke and were called mercenary and were excluded from all offices sauing that they might haue the charge of pleading and decyding causes This institution of ciuill gouernment Seruius Tullius is supposed to haue followed and imitated at Rome Moreouer Solon appointed a Senate or Councell consisting of yearely Magistrates in Areopagus though some haue reported that Draco was the founder of that assembly And to the end that hee might take away all occasion of ciuill dissention that might happen at any time afterwards and that the inconsiderate multitude should not trouble the iudiciall sentences by their doubtfull acclamations as vsually they did out of those foure trybes that were then in Athens hee made choyse of foure hundred men an hundred out of euery trybe giuing them power to approue the acts and decrees of the Arreopagites if they were agreeable to equity if other-wise to councell them and annihilate their doings by which meanes the state of the citty stayde as it were by two sure anchors seemed secure vnmoueable and of likelyhood to continue if any were condemned for parricide or for affection and vsurping the cheefe gouernment they were excluded by Solons lawe from bearing rule and not there onely but all those also were barred and prohibited to beare offices that if any sedition were set a foote in the citty stood neuter and tooke nether part for hee thought it an argument of a bad Cittyzen not to bee carefull of the common good and peace of others when hee him-selfe hath setled his owne estate and designes in safety Amongst the rest of Solons acts this is most admirable whereby he graunted liberty that if any woman had married a man vnable to beeget children shee might lawfully and without controulement depart from him and take vnto her any one of her husbands kindred whome shee liked best Hee tooke away all vse of mony-dowries from amongst them so as a woman might take nothing with her from her fathers but a few clothes and other trinkets of small worth signifying thereby that marriages should not bee made for mony but for loue and procreation of children least their euill life might bee a blotte and skandall vnto them after their deaths If any man slaundered his neighbour ether at the solemnization of their diuine ceremonies or at their sessions and publike assemblies hee was fined at foure drachmas Hee graunted power and authority vnto Testators to dispose and bequeath legacies of mony and goods amongst whome they pleased whereas before by the custome of the country they were not to bequeath any thing from their owne families and by this meanes friendshippe was preferred before kindred and fauour before allyances Neuerthelesse this was done with such caution and prouision that noe one could graunt such legacies beeing mooued there-vnto either through their owne franticke madnesse or by the subtill and vndermyning perswasions of other but meerely of his owne accord and good discretion Hee forbad all mournings and lamentations at other mens funeralls and enacted that the sonne should not bee bound to releeue his father if his father had not brought him vp in some arte or profitable occupation nor that bastards should nourish or releeue their parents and his reason was this that hee which forbeareth not to couple with a strumpet giueth euident demonstration that he hath more care of his owne sensuall pleasures then of the procreation of children and thereby hee becommeth vnworthy of reward or releefe of such children if the fall into pouerty Besides these Solon iudged it meete that the adulterer apprehended in the deed doing might lawfully be slaine and that he that forced and rauished a free-borne Virgin should be fined at ten Drachmas He abrogated and tooke away their ancient custome of selling their daughters and sisters vnlesse they were conuinced of whoredome and amongst
others of his acts and decrees these are likewise to be found that whosoeuer was victor in the games of Istmos was rewarded with an hundred Drachmas and he that got the best in the games of Olimpus had fiue hundred He that killed a Dogge-wolfe had fiue Drachmas out of the common treasury but hee that killed a Bitch-wolfe had but one for the rewarde due for slaying the Dogge-wolfe was the worth of an Oxe and the price of a sheepe for killing the shee-Wolfe and their ancient manner was to persecute these kinde of beasts as enimies to their cattell and grounds He ordained that the children of such as were slaine in the warres should be brought vp at the common charge that men by that meanes beeing assured that their children should bee cared for though themselues miscarry might bee more throughly incouraged to fight and behaue themselues valiantly and venterously commanding also that those which lost their eyes in the warres should euer after be sustained by the common purse and withall he very worthily prouided that the ouersee-ers or they that had the ward of Orphanes should not keepe together in the same house with the childrens mothers and that none should be gardians that might by possibility inherite the Orphanes goods if they should hap to die during their nonage and wardship Furthermore he forbad all Iewellers to reserue in their custody the stampe or seale of any ring after they had sold it And that hee which putteth out an others eye should loose both his owne eyes adiudging it also a capitall offence for any one to take vp that which is none of his owne and keepe it to himselfe Furthermore hee established that Princes or rulers being found drunke should be punished with present death aduising the Athenians likewise to reckon and account their daies according to the course of the Moone Of all fruites and commodities he only permitted wax and honey to bee transported out of Attica into other countries and he esteemed no man meete or worthy to be made free of the Cittie vnlesse he were an artificer and would with his whole familie come dwell at Athens or such as were doomed from their natiue soile to perpetuall exile and banishment These lawes being ingrauen and recorded in woodden tables were by Solon established to continue for a hundred yeeres presuming that if the City were so long inured with them they would euer after remaine without alteration but Herodotus is of opinion that these lawes which Solon made for the Athenians were enacted but for ten yeeres continuance Now that these lawes might be esteemed more sacred and bee more carefully obserued and kept Solon after the manner of other law-giuers which fathered their statutes and decrees vpon some one god or other as Draco had done before him auouched that Minerua was the author and inuentor of his lawes and so caused both the Senatours and people to sweare themselues to the performance therof at a stone which stood in the Senate-house The Athenians were not strangers at the beginning nor was their City first inhabited by any rabble of wandring people but in the same soile they now inhabite their were they borne and the selfe same place which is now their seat and habitation was also their original and foundation The Athenians were the first that taught the vse of clothing and of oyle and of wine instructing those which formerly fed vpon acornes how to plow plant sow and gather fruites In a word Athens may iustly bee termed the temple and sanctuary of learning eloquence and ciuil conuersation The three lawes which Secrops enacted against women for the appeasing of god Neptunes wrath for that by womens suffrages Neptune was scorned and Minerua preferred before him were then in force and obserued which were these First that no woman should enter into the Senate-house Secondly that no child should be called after his mothers name and the third that no one should call women Athenians or women of Athens but women of Africa Those which were slaine in the warres according to Thucydides were buried in this manner following First they pitched vp a tent or pauillion three daies before the funerals wherein were put the bones of those which were slaine euery one laying some thing what he thinketh fittest vpon his dead friends relikes thereby to know him againe then were the bones of al those which were slaine of each seuerall tribe inclosed in chestes or coffins made of cypres tree and euery coffin carried by a seueral coach or carre belonging to the tribe whereof the dead parties were after this there was an empty bed or herse brought with them purposely for such as were missing and could not be found amongst the slaine bodies which done all those which were present as well Citizens as strangers indifferently conueied them forth and interred them in a publike monument or sepulcher neere vnto Calistus tombe in the suburbes of the City the women all the while weeping and lamenting the losse of their friends which is the vsuall place for buriall of all such as perish in battaile vnlesse they were of the Citie of Marathron who for their singular and extraordinary valor and prowesse were intombed in their owne City When they were thus interred some one choyse Cittizen esteemed for his wisdome and by reason of his dignity and worth fit for such an imployment was elected and assigned to pronounce a funerall oration or sermon in the due commendation of those which were slaine which being ended euery one departed to his seuerall home And this was there vsuall forme of buriall of such as were slaine in the warres Of Laconia and of the customes and ordinances of the Laconians or Lacedemonians CAP. 3. LACONIA a Prouince in Peloponesus is also called Ocbalia and Lacedemonia of Lacedemon the sonne of Iupiter and Taygete by whom a famous and mighty City was builded in that country and called after his name Lacedemon This Citty was likewise called Sparta of Spartus the sonne of Phoroneus and was the Palace or Court of Agamemnon When Lycurgus that famous Philosopher brother vnto King Polydictes gouerned in Laconia as tutor or protector vnto his brother Polydictes sonne hee altered the state of that City and Country and adorned them with wholesome lawes and good ordinances the people wherof before his time were the worst mannered and had the least gouernment both in their owne cariages towards strangers almost of al the people of Greece as vsing no commerce custome nor conuersation with other people Lycurgus therefore couragiously taking the matter vpon him abrogated and disanulled all their auncient lawes ordinances and customes and in their steed instituted lawes more ciuill and much more lawdable And first he elected certain of the most ancientest wisest sagest men of al the common-wealth to consult and aduise with the Kings whereof there were euer two created of all matters of state and gouernment which
pearles and precious stones which in men is not so commendable but onelie while they bee children and then it is decent inough a woman that hath had two husbands may bee thought chaste but shee that hath beene thrice married is condemned as lewde and lasciuious and yet it is no impeachment to mens credits though they haue had three wiues Maides before mariage suffer there haire to hange down behinde them but when they bee married they couer it carefully and men cut theirs short rounde about their eares esteeming all trimming of there haires to be a reproach vnto them This Nation is generally addicted to venery and drunkennesse for to bee drunke they hold a glory vnto them and esteeme of lust and lasciuiousnesse as of a thing lawfull and commendable so as the marriage bed be not defiled Vsury also is there very common and vsuall and not held to bee deceite in any one not so much as in the Clergie A great part of the Russians be bond-men and seruile and that willingly for many of them and those sometimes of the better sort set to sale themselues their wiues and children other for because they may thereby liue more idlely or enioy greater pleasure The inferior priests weare blacke copes after the manner of the Gretians and the better sort of them weare white hauing hanging at their breasts tablets or bullions wherein bee written the decalogue or precepts of the law diuine The holy Virgins or Nunnes whereof there is but one family or order which is the order of Saint Anthonie the Abbot by the ordinance of the same Saint Anthonie their author and first founder bee apparelled in blacke stoles The Russians haue a speech peculiar to themselues but whether it bee the Scythian tongue or no I am not able for to Iudge their letters are not much vnlike the Greeke caracters they doe for the most part learne musicke and gammer after the Greeke manner and haue all other arts in contempt Touching matters of faith they beleeue as the Greekes doe vse like ceremonies in their seruice and like honour to the Saints There bee twelue men chosen and elected for to doe Iustice and determine controuersies whereof one first searcheth out the quality of the crime and then maketh report thereof to his fellowes and sometimes to the Duke himselfe And if the matter bee of greater weight or difficulty then can well bee discerned and decided by that councell or that it rests doubtfull so as the accused cannot bee conuicted then the defendant is inforced to try the matter with the plaintife by combat and hee which is vanquisher shall haue double the value in money of the vanquished as the wronge supposed to be done was valued at They bee very much giuen to husbandry they plow with horses and their soile is very fruitfull of all things but wine there drinke is a kinde of beere or ale made of millet and barley boyled together which kinde of liquor is most commonly drunke in all the Northerne partes They make oyle of hempe-seed poppie and nuts oliue trees they haue none nor is the iuse or liquor thereof brought thither from other countries Russia breedeth many sorts of wilde beasts whereof diuers bee of rich furres and highly commended of ancient writers there is great store of fish amongst which is a most excellent one called Seldis which is taken in a lake called Pareslacus and is very like the fishes that bee caught in the lake Benacus which is a lake neere Betrona in Italie In Ruthenia be seuen famous lakes and nine great riuers one of which is by some coniectured to bee the riuer Borysthenes by reason of the wonderfull things they report of the bignesse and nature thereof Of Lithuania and of the manner of liuing of those people CAP. 7. LITHVANIA ioyneth vpon the East vnto Poland it is nine hundreth miles about and the greatest part thereof is either moores fennes or woods which is the cause that it is very hard and difficult to come vnto and in a manner inaccessible all the whole country being ouerflowed with moorish waters There is no other fit or conuenient time for merchants strangers to trade and trafficke in this Country but in winter onely then the fennes beeing all congealed and frozen together and the ice of an exceeding thicknesse and couered with snow euery place is passable and all the whole country beeing of a sea they can finde no more certaine way to any place but as they be guided by the starres In Lithuania bee very few townes citties or villages the inhabitantes chiefest wealth is cattaile and skinnes of diuers kindes of wilde beasts as of the Harmoline and Zobelline whereof there bee great plentie in that country Of waxe and honey there is great aboundance but they haue no vse of money The women haue their chamber-mates friends by their husbands permission those they cal helpers or furtherers of matrimony but for a husband to commit adultery is held disgracefull and abhominable Marriages there bee very easily dissolued by consent of both parties and they marry as oft as they please This people is so different from all other nations in their manner of liuing as they hold with the absurde opinion of Aristippus which is that honestie consisteth not by nature but by custome Wine is very scarce and geason amongst them the want whereof is supplied with milke by reason of the great aboundance of beasts and there bread is browne beeing neither sifted nor boulted they speake the Slauonian language as the Polonians doe which language is common to many other nations besides whereof some follow the rites and ceremonies of the Romaine Church as the Polonians the Dalmatians the Croatij and the Carni some others the Greeke Church as the Bulgarians Ruthenians and most of the Lituanians and some againe hold certaine opinions differring from both Churches as the Bohemians Morauians and Bosnienses of which some follow the opinion of Iohn Husse and many others the sect of the Manachies and there bee some which as yet continue still in their paganisme and superstitious blindnesse by worshiping of Idols and such bee many of the Lithuanians Ierom of Prage who in the time of Pope Eugenius the forth of that name preached the gospel in the country was the first that acquainted vs with the manners and ceremonies of that people before that time vtterly vnknowne vnto vs reported that diuers of the Lithuanians amongst whom hee first arriued had certaine serpents euery house-hold one to whom they sacrificed as to their house-hold-gods and that hee wrought so farre with the worshippers of them that they destroyed and killed them all one onely excepted which could not bee burned some others worshipped the fire and from it receiued their diuinations and many others the Sunne in the forme of a huge iron mallet accounting that to bee there guide and giuing it to name Magnus These people bee oftentimes subiect to the King of Poland the chiefe
restore what euer hee violently tooke away and forfeited forty shillings besides If any one lay with another mans wife that was a free-woman he payed vnto her husband 7. pounds for amends and if he were taken in the deed doing and slaine his death was not to be reuenged He that committed fornication with a free-woman by her consent and refused to take her to his wife payed 12. shillings If a seruant offered violence to a free-woman his master deliuered him to the womans father to be punished who might iustly kill him if he pleased He that rauished or stoale away a free-woman without her parents consent and her owne forfeited 11. shillings and if shee that was stoln away were manumitted he forfeited 8-shillings but if she were a seruant the forfeiture was but 4. shillings If a free-man put away his wife being a free-woman without iust cause he paid vnto her parents 40. shillings and duly repayed vnto the woman her dower and full portion she brought with her according to the family out of which she came If a freeman were troth-plight to a freewoman and afterwards forsooke her and married another he paid vnto the wenches parents 24. shillings brought twelue men to sweare with him that he forsooke her not for any fault of hers nor for any malice he bore to his parents but onely for the great loue and affection he bore vnto the other He which stole away another mans wife restored her againe and payed eight pounds vnto her husband for amends If a bond-woman gaue a potion to a woman that was with child to procure an abortiue shee had two hundred lashes with a whippe and if she were a free-woman that tempered the poyson shee lost her freedome and became a slaue for euer If a woman with child were strucken and brought forth an abortiue and died her selfe of the blow he or she that strucke her was reputed and taken as an homicide and if the woman liued and the abortiue not liuing at the time of the stroke giuen the partie that gaue the blow payd her twenty shillings but if the abortiue had life the forfeiture then was fiftie Weregelds three shillings and a Tremissis If a Free-man stole any thing out of the Dukes Court Churches shoppes worke-houses or Mils which be publike places of resort he was constrained to sweare what the value of that was which he stole and was forced to restore nine times the worth or else to fight hand to hand with the party grieued or his champion If a theefe were taken stealing in the night and slaine his death was not reuenged and hee that allured perswaded or inticed another mans seruant to steale from his master or otherwise to wrong him and was thereof detected was condemned as a theefe and paid nine times as much as the master was damnified the seruant also restored what he tooke away and was openly whipped besides with two hundred stripes but the master suffered no preiudice And all felons for all thefts whatsoeuer were brought before the Iudge and suffered such punishment as the law ordained in such cases but they first made composition and satisfaction out of their owne goods vnto those they had wronged sundry times before they were adiudged to die for stealing He that bought any thing in the Prouince was first diligently to enquire whether it was stolen or no for he which bought stolne goods was bound to restitution and forfeited twelue shillings into the Dukes Exchequer The same penaltie was inflicted vppon him that took any stolne goods committed to the charge or custodie of another And no man could make composition with a theefe but before the Iudge for he which did it in hugger mugger of purpose to conceale the theft from the Iudge was accounted and punished as a theef himselfe As oft as any contention arose amongst them about the bounds or limits of their grounds there were certaine surveiors appointed to view and find out the auncient meares and markes betwixt land and land against which prescription or long continuance of possession was of no force and if no markes could be found then he that sold the land shewed the meare-stones to the Surveyors but if the controuersie were such as it could not otherwise be decided and the parties appeased they then fought it out hand to hand And no one partie might set downe a new meare stone or marke without the consent of the other and that in the presence of the Surveior for if a free-man offended herin he was fined at sixe shillings and a slaue was openly whipped with two hundred lashes If one free-man pulled down the wall or ditch of another free-man he forfeited 3. shillings and vnto the party grieued as much as he was damnified and he which pulled downe either post pillar beam or rafter forfeited 3. shillings likewise and 12. pence for either shingle or tyle or any other part of the house besides restitution for the losse sustained It was not lawfull for any one to take a pledge or distresse without the Dukes permission for hee which did was forced safely to restore the pledge or morgage so taken to the owner and payd vnto the Duke 40. shillings for a fine and if the thing so morgaged or distrained happned to miscarrie in his hands hee then made satisfaction to the owner at the discretion of the Iudge He which cut downe another mans standing corne that was ripe paid for composition sixe shillings and if he denied the fact he was deposed himselfe and produced sixe men to bee sworne with him that hee tooke a true oath Hee which destroyed another mans corne or graine by inchantment or sorcery and was thereof conuicted forfeited 12 shillings and was forced to prouide food for his whole family that had his corn so destroyed for all the yeare following and restored vnto him ouer aboue the value of that which was destroyed but if he denied the fact he then either purged himselfe by the oath of 12. men or by battell If any man either by his meanes or abetment inticed another mans seruant to run away from his master he was inforced to bring him again and forfeited for a man seruant 12. shillings and six shillings for a maid but if he denied it he purged himselfe either by the oath of a full Iury or by combat No one might either kill or hurt another mans cattell though he found them in his owne grounds dammagefesant but he might impound and detaine them vntil he had made it knowne vnto the owner or vnto his neighbours what losse he had sustained and then the owner of the cattell was to set him foorth as much other ground as that which was eaten In gathering in of their haruest euery one that was damnified by an others cattaile was recompenced by the owner of the cattaile who ought not to make the offence greater then it was but he which killed an other mans cattaile in breach of this law tooke the dead
to hang downe about their shoulders dangling like women and they fight with Myters vpon their heades in stead of helmets Their daintiest meate is bucke goates which they also sacrifice to Mars as they do captiues and horses They haue also in imitation of the Greekes their Hecatombes which are sacrifices made with an hundred beasts of all sorts and as Pindarus is of opinion they sacrifice and offer euery hundreth thing likewise They haue their Gymnick playes which are so called for that they be done by naked men and these playes are exercised with weapons horses plummets of Leade called the Whirle-about running and disordered fighting and sometimes they diuide themselues into parts and fight one side against another These mountainous Lusitanians feede two parts of the yeare vppon Acornes which when they haue dried and ground into meale they make bread thereof and so eat it In stead of wine wherof those parts are barren they haue drinke made of barley and that they euer drinke new assoone as it is brewed When kinsfolke and friends are assembled together to banquet in stead of oyle they vse butter and haue seates made in the walles for them to sit in where euery one taketh his seate according to his worth or grauitie and euer in their drinking they vse to sing and dance after musicke leaping and capering for ioy as the women in Boetica do when they ioyne all their hands together and so fall a dauncing Their apparell for the most part is black cassockes which they will wrap about them and so lye themselues downe to sleepe vppon straw or litter They eate their meate in earthen platters as the French men do and women weare for the most part red garments In steade of money they vse thinne plates of siluer or else exchange and barter one commoditie for another Those which are condemned to dye are stoned to death and Parricides are carried from out the confines of their hilles or beyond some riuer and there couered and ouer-whelmed with stones They contract matrimonie after the manner of the Greekes and according to the custome of the Aegyptians bring those which are sick into the streets to the end that those which haue beene troubled with the like griefes themselues may shew them how they were cured And these be the customs vsed in those mountainous and northerne countries of Spaine It is reported that those Spaniards which inhabite the vtmost parts of Portingall when they be taken prisoners by their enemies and readie to bee hanged they will sing for ioy That the men there giue dowers to their wiues and make their sisters their heires who do also marrv their own brothers And that they be so barbarous and bloudy-minded that mothers will murther their owne children and children their parents rather then that they should fall into the hands of their enemies They do sacrifice to a god whose name is vnknowne when the Moone is in the full they will watch all night euery one at his owne dore dancing and skipping all the night long The women haue as good part of all profits and increase as men haue for they practise husbandry and be obedient and seruiceable to men when they themselues are with child The Spaniards make poyson of a kind of herbe much like vnto Persley which offendeth not vppon a sodaine but by litle and litle and this they alwaies haue in readinesse for any one that wrongs them in so much as it is sayd to be proper to the Spaniards to be great poysoners and that their custome is also to offer themselues to bee slaine and sacrificed for those to whome they are newly reconciled Of England Scotland and Ireland and of many other Ilands and of the manners and customes of the Inhabitants CAP. 25. ENGLAND otherwise called great Brittaine is the greatest Iland contained within the bosome of the Ocean It is in the forme of a triangle much like vnto the I le of Sicily and is wholly imbraced and infolded within the armes of the Ocean in no part touching but altogether diuided frō the continent It was first called Albion of the white cliffes or rockes that shew the country a far off vnto passengers Some are of opinion that after the destruction of Troy by the Greekes the Troianes guided by the Oracle of Pallas rigged a nauie betooke them to the seas and arriuing in this Island fought many battels with the Gyants which then inhabited the country destroyed some expelled the rest and possessed the soyle themselues These also continuing their possession many yeares together were afterwards driuen thence by the Saxons a warlike people of Germany vnder the conduct of Angla their Queene The Inhabitants wholly vanquished and expelled and their soyle and substance shared amongst souldiers vtterly to extinguish and roote out all memorie of the former name and nation they called the country Anglia after the name of Angla their guide and gouernesse Some others are of opinion that it was called Anglia as beeing an angle or corner of the world Vpon the North it lieth opposite to France and Spaine and the circuit or vtmost bounds of the whole Island is about 1836. English miles Their longest day consisteth of seuenteene houres their nights are light in the Sommer season the eyes of the Inhabitants are gray their stature tall and their naturall complexions so comely so faire and so beautifull as Saint Gregory seeing by chance certaine English boies in Rome and demaunding of what Country they were said that they might well bee called Angli their faces and countenances resembling the Angels and lamenting that such diuilish Idolatry should harbor in such diuine features he shortly after effected that the faith of Christ was planted in the Country In warre they are vndaunted and most expert Archers their women bee maruelous comely and beautifull their common sort of people rude barbarous and base their nobility and gentrie curteous ciuill and of singular humanity They salute one an other with cappe and knee and incounter the women with kisses leade them into Tauernes and there drinke together which they deeme no touch to their reputations if therein bee discouered no lasciuious intent If they haue warres they delight not in subuerting citties destroying burning and consuming corne cattaile or country but bend their forces wholy to the destruction of their enemies and he that is vanquisher hath command of all England of al other prouinces was the first that imbraced the Christian religion The country aboundeth with cattaile and wool wolues it breedeth none nor norisheth any that are brought thither in so much that their flockes may feed at liberty without feare or guide The country is rich in mettals as lead copper especially and some siluer there is also the Magerite or pearle and the stone Gagates there called Iette which burnoth in water and is extinguished with oyle In steed of wine whereof the land is barren they vse a kinde of licor which they
with great honor and religion it would seeme to be done directly against the will and commandement of him who had rather that heauen and earth should perish then his word especially seeing Christ himselfe came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it wherfore we obserue that day not in imitation of the Iewes but at the bidding of our Lord Iesus Christ his holy Apostles the grace of which Iewes is translated vnto vs Christians And vpon this sabbath day Lent excepted wee euer eate flesh which vse is not obserued in the kingdome of Bernagues and Tygri Mahon the naturall people of which two kingdomes by an ancient custome eat flesh vpon the sabbath daies and Sundaies in Lent now wee celebrate the Lords day as other Christians do in memory of Christs resurrection but we know that the Sabbath day is to be obserued and kept holy by the books of the law and not by the Gospell and yet notwithstanding we be not ignorant that the Gospel is the end of the Law and of the Prophets And vpon these two daies we beleeue that the soules of the godly departed which remaine in Purgatorie bee not there tormented which rest God hath granted vnto those soules vpon these most holy daies vntill the end of their punishments due for their offences in this world being determined they be deliuered thence for the diminishing of which paines and to extenuate shorten the time of their punishments we beleeue that almes deedes done for the dead be very profitable vnto those souls which liue in purgatory To the remission of which soules the Patriarke giueth no Indulgence for that we beleeue doth belong vnto God only and to the constitution of the time of their punishment neither doth the Patriark allow any daies for Indulgēces By the reading of the Gospel we be only bound to keep 6. precepts which Christ explaned with his owne mouth I was an hungred saith he and you gaue me to eate I was thirstie and you gaue me to drink I was a stranger you tooke me in naked and you clothed me sicke and you visited me I was in prison and you came vnto me Which words Christ will onely pronounce in the day of Iudgement because the law as Paul witnesseth sheweth vnto vs our sins which law Christ Iesus excepted no one can keepe And Paul also saith that we be all borne in sinne for the transgression of our mother Eua and for her curse and malediction and the same Paul further saith that wee die through Adam and liue through Christ which Christ of his aboundant mercy hath giuē vnto vs these six precepts to the end that we might be saued when hee shall come in his Maiesty to Iudge both the quick the dead by which words and commandements in that fearefull and terrible day of Iudgment hee will pronounce and shew vnto the good euerlasting glory and to the wicked fire and eternall damnation And wee reckon but only fiue deadly sinnes as they terme them which wee gather out of the last Chapter of the Reuelation where it is sayd For without shal be dogs and inchanters and whoremongers and murtherers and idolaters and whosoeuer loueth or maketh lies It is ordained by the holy Apostles in their bookes of councels that it is lawful for the Clergy to mary after they haue attained to some knowledge in diuinity and being once maried they be receiued into the order of priests into the which order none is admitted before hee accomplish the age of 30. yeeres neithey bee any bastards by any meanes allowed to enter into that most holy order these orders be giuen by no other but by the Patriarch onely where the first wife of a Bishop or Clercke or Deacon is dead it is not lawful for them to mary an other vnlesse the Patriarch dispence therewith which sometimes for a publike good is granted to great men nor is it lawful for them to keepe a concubine vnlesse they wil refuse and put themselues frō saying seruice which if they once do they may neuer after meddle in ministring diuine matters and this is obserued so strictly that those priests which haue beene twise married dare neuer take in their hands so much as a candle that is consecrated to the Church and if any Bishop or Deacon be found to haue any bastard child hee is depriued from all his benefices and from his holy orders his gods if he decease without lawful heires come vnto Prestor Iohn and not to the Patriarch and the warrant that we haue that our priests may marry is taken out of Saint Paul who had rather that both Clergy and Laity should marry then burne And he also saith that a bishop ought to be the husband of one wife and that he should be sober and irreprehensible and in like manner would he haue Deacons and further that Ecclesiasticall persons should haue their proper wiues by lawfull marriage euen as secular people haue but Munckes mary not at all and both Lay men and Clergy haue but one wife a peece and matrimony is not contracted before the gates of the holy Church but in the priuate houses of those that beare most sway at the bridall wee haue haue also receiued from the ordinance of the Apostles that if a priest bee found in addultery or committing manslaughter or theft or bearing false witnesse he shal be depriued and put from his holy orders and punished like other malefactors againe by the institution of those Apostles if any person either Ecclesiastical or Lay doe lie with his wife or bee polluted in sleepe hee commeth not into the Church for the space of foure and twenty houres after nor is it lawfull for menstruous women to come into the Church vnlesse vpon the seuenth day after their sicknesse and then to haue all their garments throughly washed which they wore during the time of their monthly disease and they themselues purged from all filth A woman also that bringeth forth a man child must not come into the Church till after the fortith day and if she brought forth a woman child then shee must not come into the Church till after the eighteeth day This is our custome founded vpon the ancient law and also vpon the Apostolicke law which lawes ordinances and precepts wee obserue as diligently in al points as possible may bee Moreouer we bee prohibited that neither swine nor dogs nor other such beasts shall enter into our Churches Also wee may not goe to the Church but bare footed neither is it lawfull for vs to laugh walke or talke of prophane matters in the Church nor once there to spit hawke or him because the Churches of Aethiopia bee not like vnto that land where the people of Israell did eate the Paschall lambe departing from Egipt in which place God commanded them to eate it with their shooes on and girded with their girdles by reason of the pollution of the earth but they bee like vnto Mount
Abraham and his seed The Israclites lawes ordained by Moses Moses lawes The manner of the Iewes oblations The opinion of Heathen writers concerning the Iewes Three sectes of the Iewes The Pharises The Saduces The Esseians Media why so called The confines of Parthia Foureteene kingdomes vnder the Parthians The Confines of Persia and why so called The Persian gods The Persians create their Kings all of one family The discription and bignesse of India Fiue thousand Cities and 〈◊〉 walled townes in India The long liues of the Jndians The Jndians haue neither written lawes nor learning Their Kings are committed to the keeping of women The people of India once deuided into seauen orders The first was the order of Philosophers The second order of husbandmen The third order is of sheepheards Artificers the fourth order The fifth of of soudiers Tribunes in the sixth order The common Councell the seuenth order No slaues amongst the Jndians The Padae kill their friends when they be sicke The Cymnosophists The people called Cathiae Monstrous and prodigious people The Cathaeians Scythia why so called The Scythians delight in humane slaughter The Scythian gods How the Scythians bury their kings The Massagetae The Seres in Scythia The Tauro-Scythians The Agathirsi The Neuri The Anthropophagi The Melanchlaeni The Budini The Lyrcae The Argyphaei The Issedones The scituation of Tartaria Tartaria why it is so called Tartaria aboundeth with cattaile Foure sorts of Tartarians Canguista first King of Tartaria How the Tartarians are apparrelled Some Tartarians are Christians but very bad ones How the Tartarlans elect their Kings The Georgians a kinde of Christians The Armenians were Christians likewise till they were vanquished by the Tartarians The limits of Turkie Turkie inhabited by people of sundry nations Mahomet his parentage Sergius the Munck a helper of Mahomet Mahomets lawes compounded of diuerse sects The manner of the Turkes warfare Three sorts of footmen Friday a solemne holy day with the Turkes VVhereof the Clergie be so called The Creed The 10. Commandements The seuen Sacraments The festiuall dayes throughout the yeare Europe why so called The limits of Europe The commendations of Evrope The discription of Greece Thermopilae The Region of Greece Athens and why so called Dracoes lawes to the Atheninians The citty of Athens diuided into societies by Solon The councellin Areopagus A strange law for women Mony dowries forbidden Against slaunderers The punishment for adultery A law for the maintenance of souldiers children A law for the benefit of Orphanes and VVards The original of the Athenians Their inuentions The three lawes made by Cecrops against women How the Athenians bury those which are slaine in the warres Marathron is a city not far from Athens Lycurgus law giuen to the Lacedemonians Eight and twenty Elders elected Democratia Olygarchia or gouernment of the Tribunes The diuision of their land by the Olygarthy The vse of money prohibited and iron money made Men called their wiues their mistresses Maides exercises Old men that had young wiues permitted young men to lye with theÌ„ The manner of electing officers Lycurgus exild himself voluntarily The discipline of Creete No venimous creatures in Creete No King admitted that hath children because their Kingdome shal not be hereditary The King that offendeth is famished to death The diuision and bounds of Russia One seed time yeeldeth three haruests Russia aboundeth with Bees VVood turned â—nto stone The Russians cannot indure to call their Gouernor a King but a Duke as a name more popular Many Russians make themselues bondmen Lithuania is full of moores and fennes Samogithia The limits of Hungaria The limits of Boemia The ancient limits of Germany Germany deuided into superior and inferior Germany why so called The punishmeÌ„t for murder Drunkennesse a commendation amongst the Germaines The Germains were great dicers The later manners of the Germanes The Germains diuided into foure sorts of people whereof the first is the Clergie The second order is of the Nobilitie The third order is of cittizens Citizens deuided into two sects The fourth order is of husbandmen The limits of Spaine Saxony why so called The Saxons deuided into noble-men free-men libertines and slaues Merccury obserued as a god by the Saxons A Temple in Alberstade de dicated to our Lady The Saxons immoderate drinkers The bounds of VVestphalia Secrete Judges ordained by Charles the Great ouer the VVestphalians Franconia why so called The bounds of Franconia The fertility of Franconia The Princes of Franconia The Bishop of Herbipolis one of the Princes of Franconia The limits of Sueuia Sueuia why so called There may no wines bee brought into Suevia Much cloth made in Sueuia Bauaria why so called The bounds of Bauaria Bauaria heretofore gouerned by Kings but now by Dukes The lawes vsed in Bauaria which they receiued when they receiued Christianity The manner how the Carinthians elect their Duke A seuere punishment against theeues The discription of Stiria Italy first called Hesperià and then Ocnotria Italy why so called The length of Jtaly Jtaly deuided into many Prouinces The hill Apenine deuideth Italy into two parts The praise of Jealy Italy the nurse of all nations The commendations of Rome The stature and complexion of the Italians and how they differ Three sorts of Cittizens Three orders of Free-men The Dictator their chiefest officer Three sorts of Citties How Romulus disposed the cittizens of Rome into sundry orders and degrees The ground deuided into thirty equall parts The office of the Patritij How the Patritians and Plebeians behaued themselues one towards another The Centumviri elected which were after called Senators of Rome The election of three hundred yong men called Celeres The office of the King The office of Senators The priuileges of the Plebeians The office of Celeres The Milites elected The lictores ordayned â—â—wes made by Romulus VViues made equall to their husbands Jt was Death for a woman to drincke wine VVhat power parents had ouer their children Numa Pompilius and his lawes The Feciales ordained The people deuided into sunday bands called Classes and centuries The first Classis The second Classis The third order or Classis The fourth Classis The fift and last degree The Kings put downe and Senators ordained The Dictator elected Tribunes of the people ordained The Decemviri created and Consuls put downe The two Censors created A Praetor ordained The manner of celebration of the games called Ludi Circenses Jnterludes how they began How the Romanes deified their Emperors The apparel of the Italians Galatia why so called The bounds of Gallia Gallia why so called The diuision of France The seuerall prouinces of Gallia Belgica The French men a factions people The office of the Druides The Equites an other sort of people Husbands had power to kil their wiues The latter customes of the French Capricorne ruleth in France The Parlament of France The 12. Peeres of France The commendations and riches of Spain and her bounds Spaine why so called The bounds of Portugall England also called great Brittaine England once called Albion The Saxons once Lords of England Anglia why so called The compasse of England England the first Christian Island London the chiefe city The auncient manners of the Britans Scotland denided from England Of Scotland Stowes Annal Anno Eliz. primo Syllura The Jsles called Eubudes The Island called Thyle now called Jsland The Gymnesiae or Baleares Of the Jsland found out by Iambolus They haue a time prefixed how long to liue An admirable herbe A rare beast Seuen other Jslands Of Taprobane The conclusion of the booke Of the Thyni Of the Aritonâ— Of the Dardani Of the Gelactophagi Of the Iberi Of the Vmbrici Of the Celtae Of the Pedalij Of the Telchines Of the Tartessij Of the Lucani Of the Samnites Of the Limyrnij Of the Sauromatae Of the Cercetae Of the Mosyni Of the Phryges Of the Lycij Of the Pisidae Of the Ethiopians Of the Buaei Of the Basuliei Of the Dapsolybies Of the Ialchleueians Of the Sardolibies Of the Alitemij Of the Nomades Of the Apharantes Of the Baeoti Of the Assirij Of the Persae Of the Indi Of the Lacedemonij Of the Cretenses Of the Autariatae Of the Triballi Of the Cusiani Of the Cij Of the Tauri Of the Sindi Of the Colchi Of the Panebi The stature and disposition of the Barbarians The age of the Barbarians The Barbarians neglect all worldâ—y things All Barbarians go naked