vessels or glasse vessels and kept them in their houses for the space of a yeare during which time they reuerenced them very religiously offering vnto them the first fruits of their increase Some say that thee that did most excell others in comlinesse of body skill in breeding cattell strength and riches him they elected for their King And that they had an ancient lawe that the Priests of Memphis might when they pleased depriue the King of his life by sending vnto him the messenger that caryed the signe of death and ordaine an other to raigne in his steed They beleeued that there was one immortall God and that hee was maker of the world and gouernor of all things any other God they esteemed mortall who was their vncertaine King as is said And hee that best deserued of their citty him next vnto their King they reuerenced as God And such was the state of Aethiopia at the beginning and for a long continuance these their customes and manners of their nation But at this day as Marcus Antonius Sabellicus out of whose history wee haue taken most matters which wee treate of both in this and the bookes following saith that hee had intelligence from some that were borne in those countries that the King of Aethiopia whome wee call Pretoian or Presbiter Ioan or Ioan and they Gyam which in their language signifieth mighty is so potent a Prince that hee is sayd to haue vnder him as his vassalls three-score and two Kings And that all their great Bishops and states of all those kingdomes are wholy guided by him at whose hands the order of Priesthood is obtained which authority was by the Pope of Rome giuen and annexed to the Maiesty of their Kings and yet hee himselfe is no Priest nor neuer entred into any holy orders There be a great number of Archbishops and euery one of them who euer hath the least hath twenty Bishops vnder his iurisdiction The Princes and other Bishops of great dignity when they goe abroad haue carried before them a crosse and a golden vessell filled with earth that the sight of the one may put them in minde of their mortality and the other of our Sauiours passion Their Priests are suffered to mary for procreations sake but if they bury one wife it is vtterly vnlawfull for them to mary an other Their Temples are very large and farre richer then ours and for the most part builded vp to the topp arch-wise They haue many religious houses and families of holy orders as Antonians Dominicks Calaguritans Augustines and Macarians who be all arrayed by permission of their Archbishops with apparell of one coulour Next vnto Almighty God and his Mother the blessed Virgin Mary Saint Thomas surnamed Didimus is chiefly honoured in that country They hold an opinion that their great King whom they call Gyam was ingendred of King Dauid and that the race of that one family hath continued euer since hee is not black as most of the Aethiopians are but rather white The citty Garama is now the Kings seate which consisteth not of Bulwarkes and houses with strong wals but of tents or tabernacles made of fine flaxe or silke imbrodered with purple and placed in decent and seemely order The King according to his custome liueth for the most part abroade not contayning himselfe within the circuite of the Citty aboue two daies together ether because they account it absurde and effeminate or that they are prohibited by some lawe They haue in redinesse vpon any little occasion tenne hundred thousand men well instructed in feates of armes fiue hundred Elephants besides an infinit number of Horses and Camels There be also throughout the whole kingdome certaine stipendary families the issue whereof haue a gentle incision made in their skinne and bee marked with a hot iron with the signe of the Crosse In warres they vse bowes speares cotes of male and helmets the order of Priesthood is in greatest dignity next vnto whome are the sages or wizards whom they call Balsamati and Tenquati They esteeme much also of innocency and honesty accounting them the first step to wisdome the Nobility are the third in honor and dignity and the stipendary the last the Iudges discerne of causes of life and death but referre the decree to the Praefect of the citty who is called Licomagia who alwaies representes the person of the King written lawes they haue none but iudge according to equity and right If any man bee convicted of adultery hee shall pay for his punishment the fortith part of his goods but the adulteresse shal receiue a domesticall reuenge by her husband for he shall punish her whome it doth most concerne The husbands assigne dowers for their wiues requiring noe portion with them There women are attired with gold wherof that country doth much abound pearles also and silke both men and women weare garments downe to the feete with sleeues and not open in any place all colours are alike vnto them except blacke which is there vsed onely for mourning garments They bewaile the dead for the space of forty dayes The second courses in their greatest banquets consist of raw flesh which beeing finely minced into small peeces and strawed ouer with sweete spices they feed vpon most hungerly wollen cloath they haue none insteed wherof they are clothed either with silke or flax they vse not all one language but diuers and distinguished by diuers names They exercise them-selues eyther in husbandry or about cattle they haue euery yeare two haruests two summers All the people of Lybia from this Aethiopia or India to the vtmost part of the west honour the impiety of Mahomet and liue in the same kinde of religion that those Barbarians practise which are now in Aegipt and bee called Moores as it is thought of their wandring or straying abroad for that country of Libia also was no lesse hatefull than the Sarasins in those accursed times wherein was the greatest alteration in humaine matters the manners of people loue of deuotion and names of all Nations being for the most part changed Of Aegipt and the ancient customes of that country CAP. 5. EGipt a region in Affricke or as some will haue it next adioyning to Affricke was so called of Aegiptus the brother of Danaus King of Argyues before which time it was called Aeria This country as Plinie in his first booke witnesseth ioyneth Eastward to the red sea and to Palaestyne vpon the West it hath Cyrene and the residue of Affricke and extendeth from the South to Aethiopia and from the North to the Aegyptian sea The most famous citties of that country were Thebes Abydos Alexandria Babilon and Memphis now called Damiata and the great citty Cayrus or Alcir which is the Soldans seate In Egypt as Plato reporteth it doth neuer raine but the riuer of Nylus ouer-flowing the whole land once euery yeare after the summer Solstice maketh the whole
Porters Clerkes and Singers That amongst the Greekes were Captaines of thousands Captaines of hundreds Captaines of fifty Gouernours ouer ten and rulers ouer fiue and that besides these as wel amongst the Greeks as Latines there were diuers sorts of conuents and religious houses both for men and women as the Sadduces Esseyes and Pharisies amongst the Iewes the Salij Diales and Vestales amongst the Romanes All the holy Apostles as Peter and those which succeeded him in the chaire of Rome agreed established that the vniuersal Apostolike most holy and high Bishop of Rome should euer after be called the Pope that is to say the father of his countrie and that he should proceede and gouerne the Catholike Romane Church as the Emperour of Rome was Monarch ouer the whole world and that as the Consuls were next in office and authoritie to the Emperour and were euer two in number so should there bee foure Patriarkes in the Church of God that in degree and dignitie should be next vnto the Pope whereof one was seated at Constantinople another at Antioch the third at Alexandria and the fourth at Ierusalem That the Senators of Rome should be expressed by Cardinals that such Kings or Princes as gouerned three Dukedomes should be equalled with Primates that should gouerne theree Archbishops and that the Archb. or Metrapolitans shold be compared to Dukes that as the Dukes had Earles vnder them so should Bishops be vnder the Archbishops That Bishops likewise should be resembled vnto Eatles their Assistants and Suffragans vnto Praesidents and Provosts vnto Lieutenants Arch-priests should supply the place of Tribunes of the soldiers for Tribunes of the people were ordained Chancelors and Arch deacons were put in the place of Praetors for Centurions were placed Deanes parish Priests for Decurions and other Prelates and Ministers for Aduocates and Atturneys Deacons represented the Aediles sub-deacons the Quaternions Exorcists the Duumuiri hostiarii or dore-keepers the treasurers readers singers and Poets the Porters of the Court and Acolites and Priests Ministers the Secretaries Taper-bearers decreeing that all these sundry Orders of Church-officers should be called by one generall name Clerkes of the Greeke word Cleros a lotte or chance whereby at first they were elected out of the people for Gods part or portion of inheritance This done they ordained that seuen sorts of these Clerkes should be of more speciall name and note then the rest as hauing euery one his peculiar function habit and dignitie in the church and that they should be alreadie to attend vpon the altar when the Bishop of Rome doth sacrifice to wit the Pope himself Bish Priests Deacons Subd Priests and singing men The office of Bishops is to giue orders to veile virgins to consecrate Bishops to confirme children by imposition of hands to dedicate Temples to degrade Priests frō their functions and to put them in againe vpon their reformation to celebrate Councels to make Chrismes vnctiōs to hallow vestiments and Church vessels and to do any other things which meaner Priests may do as well as they as to cathechise and baptize to make and consecrate the Sacrament of the Altar and to communicate it to others to pronounce absolution to the penitent to restraine the stubborn and to preach and declare the Gospel of Christ The crownes of their heades must bee shauen round like the Nazareans and they ought neither to weare lockes nor long beards they are bound to perpetuall chastitie and they haue the command and preheminence ouer other priests their liuings and maintenance ought to be onely of first firuites tythes oblations nor may they meddle or busie themselues in worldly matters their apparell and conuersation should be decent comely honest and they are tyed onely to serue God and the Church and to occupy and employ themselues seriously in reading the holy Scriptures that thereby they may perfectly know al things which belong to Christian Religion wherin they are bound to instruct others There be diuers conuenticles and houses of religious persons both men women as Benedictines Friars preachers Franciscans Augustines Bernardines Antonians Ioannites Carthusians Praemonstratentians Carmelites Cistertians many others euery one of which Orders haue distinct habits and customes different one from another by the rules which they haue priuatly set downe and prescribed for themselues to liue vnder And all of these professe perpetuall chastity obedience and wilfull pouertie liue for the most part a solitary life for which cause they were called Monkes as men liuing a monasticall kind of life Some of these Orders haue for their heads and gouernors of their houses and societies Abbots some Prouosts and some Priors but the Bishops be onely subiect to the Bishop of Rome most of these Orders we are hoodes or cowles though not all of one colour and abstaine wholy from flesh Bishops when they offer vp the sacrifice of the Masse were cōmanded by that sacred Synod to bee attired in holy vestures which for their perfection are borrowed out of the law of Moses of these garments be 15. to wit the Sandals the Amice the long Albe that reacheth down to their anckles the Girdle the Stole the Maniple the purple Coate with wide sleeues the Gloues the Ring the Linnen garment called Castula the Napkin or Sudary the Pall or Cope the Myter the Crozier staffe a chaire standing nere the altar for him to sit in of these 15. church-ornaments six were made common as well to other inferiour Priests as to Bishops that is to say the Amice the long Albe the Girdle the Stole the Manuple the Castula besides these 15. sundry sorts of garments the Pope by the donation of the Emperor Constantine the Great weareth in the celebration of the Masse all the Robes vsed by the Emperors of Rome as the scarlet coate the short purple cloake the scepter and the triple Diadem and with these he is arrayed in the Vestry when he saith Masse vppon any sollemne festiuall dayes and from thence goeth to the Altar attended with a priest on his right side and a Deacon on his left before him goeth a sub-Deacon with a book in his hand shut two taper-bearers one with a censor burning incense when he approcheth nere to the Altar hee puts off his myter and kneeling down with his attendants vpon the lowest step pronounceth the Confitcor or publike confession of sinners and then ascending vp to the altar he openeth the booke and kisseth it and so proceedeth to the celebration of all the ceremonies belonging to that sacrifice the sub-deacon reading the Epistle and the deacon the Gospell Bishopps and all other eminent Priests bee likewise bound to prayse God euery day seuen times and to vse one certaine order and forme of prayer and not onely to do so themselues but to giue commandement to all inferior Priests whatsoeuer vnder their charge and iurisdiction to do the like as to say Euensong in the afternoone Compline in the
soules were incorruptible that onely the soules of the good did flitte and remoue into other bodies vntill the resurrection and last iudgement and that the soules of the wicked were detained and imprisoned in euerlasting dungeons and these were called Pharises because in their habits and liuings they differed from the common disposition of other men The Saduces denied fortune and destiny saying that God saw all thinges and that it was in the will of man to do either good or euill they denied that the soules after this life suffered eyther punishment or pleasure they denied also the resurrection of the dead supposing their soules and bodies to perish together nor did they hold that there were any Angels and yet they receiued the fiue bookes of Moses they were seuere without measure and nothing sociable amongst themselues for which seuerity they named themselues Saduces that is to say iust But the Esseians liued altogether a monasticall life vtterly despising wedlocke and the company of all women not because they thought it fitte by forbidding carnall copulation to destroy the succession of mankind but that they should beware of womens intemperance suppo sing no womā to be faithfull true to her husband They had all thinges in common oyntments and bathes they accounted a reproach and esteemed a deformity in their trimming to bee an ornament vnto them so as they were alwayes arrayed in white garments they had no certaine citty but dwellings in euery place They spake no prophane words before the sunne rising but praied for his rising and after that workt vnto the fift houre then washing their bodies in water they eate together with few words They accounted an oath as periury and allowed none to be of their sect vnder a yeares probation and after the first yeares tryall when they were admitted they tryed their manners other two yeares also in which time if they were found in any sinne they would driue them away from them that eating grasse like beasts they might repent till their deaths When ten of them sat together no one would speake if nine of them were vnwilling they would not spit in the middle nor on the right side They obserued their sabboth so religiously that vpon that day they would not so much as purge their bellyes They carryed with them a wodden Pickax where-with they digged a hoale in the earth in some secret place to ease them-selues in and couered themselues diligently with their long garments least they should doe iniury to the diuine lights for which cause also they filled the hole againe presently They were long of life by reason of the simplenesse of their dyet for they liued for the most part with Dates they had no vse of money and they adiudged that death the best which happened to a man for Iustice sake They hold that all soules were created from the beginning and incorporated for a time in mens bodies and that the good soules after they departed from the bodyes liued beyond the Ocean where ioy is reserued for them and that the euill soules are assigned boystrous and stormie places towards the East Some of them could foretell things to come and some vsed the company of wiues but very moderatly for they supposed that if they should altogether abstaine from women the whole stocke of humaine kinde would perish There dwell in Syria at this day Greekes which bee called Gryphoni Iacobites Nestorians and Sarasins and two people of the Christian Religion which bee the Syriani and the Marouini the Syrians sacrifice as the Greekes doe and were some times obedient to the Church of Rome but the Marouini agree with the Iacobites and vse the same language and writing the Arabians doe These sundry sorts of holy men inhabite the hill Libanus the Sarrasins dwell about Ierusalem they be valiant in warre and expert in husbandry The Syrians bee vnprofitable people and the Marouines most valiant men though they be few in number Of Media and of the manners of the Medes CHAP. 5. MEDIA a region in Asia is so called as Solinus reporteth of Medus the sonne of Medea and Aegeus King of Athens and the people thereof be called Medi But Iosephus is of opinion that they be called Medes of Medeus the sonne of Iaphet This Region according to Ptolomeus is bounded vpon the North with the Hyrcan sea vpon the West with the great Armenia and Assyria with Persia vpon the South and on the East with Hircania and Parthia Their chiefest exercise and which is almost peculiar to that nation is shooting and riding Their Kings in ancient time were of great authority their head attires their round caps and their garments with sleeues remooued with the Empire and gouernment vnto the Persians It was proper to the Median Kings to haue many wiues which custome was shortly put in practise amongst priuate men in so much as it was not lawfull to haue lesse then seuen wiues In like manner it was thought fitting for women to haue many husbands and to haue lesse then fiue they deemed a miserie The Medes make leagues and confirme friendship after the maner of the Greekes and also by striking their armes about the shoulder blade and then to lick vp each others bloud That part of Media which is towards the North is barren and therefore they make them a kinde of paste of Apples dryed and brused in morters bread of rosted Almonds and wine of the rootes of hearbes and liue for the most part vpon the flesh of wilde beasts Of Parthia and the manner of liuing of the Parthians CAP. 6. THe Parthians which were banished out of Scythia and obtained this country by deceit called it after their names Parthia It hath vpon the South Carmania on the North Hyrcania on the West Media and Aria on the East The countrie is full of woods and hills and very barren of fruites The people during the time the Medes and Assyrians possessed the Empire were accounted base and of no credit nor estimation but when the kindome of Media was translated to the Persians this people also as a barbarous nation without name was a prey vnto the vanquishers and lastly became subiect to the Macedonians but in tract of time they grew of such vertue and valour and were so prosperous and successfull in their designements that they gouerned not onely the countries neere adioyning but making warre against the Romaines which then were conquerors of all Countries ouerthrew them with great destruction and slaughter of their men Plinie reckoneth foureteene kingdomes vnder the gouernment of the Parthians Trogus attributeth vnto them the Empire of the East as if they had made diuision of the whole world with the Romaines This people after their reuolting from the Macedonian Empire were gouerned by Kings which were all called Arsaces of Arsax their first King next vnto the Maiestie of their Kings was the order and gouernment of the people out of which were elected both Captaines for
bee often-times dipped it will bee turned into Copper The men weare garments that bee made hollow about the shoulders and linnen coates or shirts vnder them the collers whereof appeare about their necks higher then their vppermost garments and bee wrought with silke and gold They bee indifferent what manner of stockings they weare for that they euer haue buskins ouer them They be very curious in annointing and trimming of their haire and they euer go in linnen hatts which they sildome put of or once remooue from their heads vnlesse when they sit still and bee idle but womens peticotes bee made more straiter to their bodyes then mens coates bee and reach higher towards their chinnes to couer their neckes and breasts ouer which they weare gownes and their faces bee masked with linnen Veales richly wrought and imbrodered so as you can see no part of them but their noses and eyes Their heads be couered with linnen kerchers or coyfes set with pearls and precious stones and they as well as men weare buskins that come vp to the calues of their legges Their time of mourning in Hungary is for some a yeare and for some two and they shaue of their beards all but the vpper lippe They iudge of matters concerning the true religion according to their law but in disciding of other matters their course is if the matter in question be difficult or doubtfull and cannot other wise be determined that the plaintife or defendant shall fight it out by combat in the presence of the King or his deputy who is to iudge of the victory for of his tryall by batell death doth not alwaies follow for it is conquest sufficient for one if his enimy ether faint or fight vnwillingly or fly out of the lists appointed for the combat The horsemens fight in Hungary is first with lances and then with swords and foote soldiars fight naked on all parts but their priuities They haue a proper speach but not much differing from the Boemian language and though they haue a forme of letters of their owne yet vse they altogether the Roman character They be a cruell kind of people very hardy valiant in war much more fit to fight on foote than on horsebacke They be vnder the gouernment of a King or rather a Duke that hath Kingly authority They vse barbed horses in the wars but weare light armor themselues and they fight one after another and not all together And surely there is no one Christian country in the world that hath held warres so long against the Turke as the Hungarians haue don the other Hungary in Scithia which is the mother of this Hungary is almost like vnto this in language and manners sauing that the people bee more barbarous and liue still in Idolatry Of Boemia and of the manners of the Boemians CAP. 11. BOHEMIA is a country on the North side of Germanie and included in the limits of Germany it hath vpon the East Hungaria Bauaria on the South Noricum on the west and Poland on the North It is in a manner as broad as it is long too and about three dayes iourney either way beeing on all sides compassed and inuironed with the Hircanian wood as with a naturall wall Through the middle thereof runneth the riuer Albis and an other riuer called Multauia vpon the banckes whereof standeth that goodly Citty Praga the chiefe and Metropolitan City of the whole nation The country affoordeth great store of Wheate and Barley and aboundeth with all kinde of victualls both flesh and fish Oyle there is none neither there nor in any other part of Germany nor doth it yeeld much Wine but great store of Beere and that of the best of any other country which for the goodnesse is carryed thence as farre as Vienna in Austria The Boemians notwithstanding they bee hemmed and compassed round about with Germaines yet doe they not speake the Germaine language it beeing expelled thence by the comming of the Dalmatae for their Chronicles report as Volateranus affirmeth that two brethren borne in Croatia departing thence and seating themselues one in Boemia the other in Poland altered the countries both in their names and languages and yet there bee many in Boemia at this day that obserue and retaine both the language and ancient customes of the Germaines for in their Sermons the Germaine tongue is spoken and the Boemian in their funerals And Friars Mendicant of all others onely had power heretofore when there was any Friars there to preach instruct the people in what language they listed The people be very licencious as hauing no strict lawes nor statutes to restraine them but euery one doth what best pleaseth himselfe without controulement for they haue reiected the authority and rites of the Romaine Church and receiued the Waldensian doctrine which they defend tooth and naile This doctrine not many yeares since was first preached by one Hus and by him generally receiued whereby the traditions of the Romaine Church are at this day there vtterly neclected and derided for this is now their practise of religion First they esteeme of the Bishop of Rome no otherwise then of other Bishops denying him to be of any more reuerence and authoritie than other Bishoppes are holding also that there is no difference among Priests and that it is not the dignity of Priesthood that maketh one better but his deserts and well liuing That soules as soone as they bee departed out of the bodyes goe instantly eyther to perpetuall paines or eternall pleasures And that there is no Purgatory at all to purge and purifie them of their sinnes after this life To pray for the dead they account foolish and absurde and a thing inuented onely for the profit of Priests The Images of our Sauiour Christ and of his Saints they vtterly abandon and contemne and deride and scoffe at the Benedictions and hollowings of Water Palmes or any other things whatsoeuer They hold that the religion and practise of Fryers mendicant was inuented by the Diuell and that the Priests ought to bee poore and not to possesse mony nor substance but to liue onely of the almes of the people that euery one hath free power and liberty to preach and expound the word of God That no mortall sinne is in any sort to bee tollerated although by the committing of that sinne a greater inconuenience may bee avoyded and that hee that is conuinced of deadly sinne is not worthy to possesse and inioy any secular office nor Church dignity nor is fit to be obeied confirmation and extreame vnction they exclude from the number of the Sacraments and esteeme of auricular consession as friuolous and vayne and that it is sufficient to acknowledge their sinnes vnto GOD secretly in their chambers That Baptisme is to be ministred with water onely without any commixtion of holy oyle That Church-yards are vayne and superfluous inuented onely for coueteousnesse and that no one place is fitter for buryall than
them and vpon this day in Herbipolis and in diuerse other places besides is much wine giuen to the poore for charity then haue they their publike shewes and pastimes as to haue two or three Boares put into a place together and to behold them fight and teare one another with their tuskes till their guttes traile about their heeles deuiding the flesh when the Boares bee dead some to the common people and some to the Magistrates But vpon Saint Nicholas day all the yong fry and Schollers choose out three amongst them one to represent the person of a Bishop and the other two Deacons he which is elected in the place of a Bishop is solemnly vpon that day conducted into the Church by all his Schoole-fellowes decked and trimmed with a Bishops Miter and all his other ornaments and so sitteth in place of authority as Lord and Protector ouer them all the while Masse is in saying and when the sacrifice is finished hee chooseth out a few of them from amongst the rest and hee and they goe singing vp and downe the towne from house to house collecting and gathering money and alleadging that the money they gotte by this meanes is not taken as an almes or beneuolence but giuen franckly for the maintenance of the Bishop Vpon Saint Nicholas Eeue Parents will aduise their children to fast and the more to incite them there vnto they perswade them that if they set their shooes vnder the table ouer night what so euer they shall finde in them in the morning is sent them from that bountifull Bishop Saint Nicholas which causeth the children to fast so truly and so long as their parents bee faine to compell them to eate for being sick with ouer long fasting and these bee the most vsuall customes of the Franconians these their annuall ceremonies Of Sueuia and how the people of that country liued heretofore and how they now liue CAP. 16. SVEVIA a Prouince of Germany is at this day limitted and bounded vpon the East with Baioaria vpon the West with Alsatia and the riuer of Rhene it hath the Alpes vpon the South and Franconia on the North. Sueuia as Antonius Sabellicus is of opinion was so called of a certaine people called Sueui who departing from that part of Scythia which is now called Liuonia Prussia obtained this country to dwell in which opinion of Sabellicus Lucan seemeth to confirme where he saith He brought the yellow Sueuians from the vtmost Northern coast Before it was named Sueuia it was called Alemannia of the lake Lemannus which is also called Lausanensis Sueuia is the vtmost part of all Germany and is watered with two notable riuers Rheine and Danubius whereof the one running slowly falleth into the sea Westward the other running a contrary course passeth by many regions and falleth at length into the sea called Pontus The country is some part of it plaine and euen and some part cragged and mountanous and all of it fertile and fruitfull sauing lakes mountaines and woods There be great store of woods and therefore very good hunting and especiall good fowling by reason of the multitude of riuers and lakes Of cattell there bee great abondance and plenty of all kinde of graine it is also full of gallant and flourishing valleis watered and manured with brookes riuers and running waters some running one way some an other ouer-flowing and fatting the soyle all which disburthen themselues either into Rhine or Danubius The land is very wholsome and healthfull and well replenished with stately cities townes and castels aspiring towers likewise walled and fortified both by arte and nature and for the aduancement of Christian religion it is sufficiently furnished with beautifull and rich temples parish Churches and Chappels Bishops Pallaces Colledges and monasteries containing sundry orders of religious persons both men and women vpon the hills bee mines of Siluer Yron and diuerse other mettals it is very populus and the people very hardy strong valerous they be tall of stature yellow haird faire and welfauoured and marueilous ingenious so as Plutarch concludeth them in a word for the most famous people of all Germany The glory and fame of this people grew once to that height as they obtained the Empire and gouernment of the world and in that honour and renowne continued for one age but afterwards beeing destitute and depriued of their Princes I know not how it came to passe whether by the ficklenesse and variety of fortune or by their owne folly and sloth but their gouernment ceased and their power and strength in short time became so weake and feeble as they could hardly hold their owne and defend themselues much lesse extend their fame to her former greatnesse in such sort as noe one considering their present estate would thinke that euer they had beene Lords and Gouernors of the world Iulius Caesar in the fourth booke of his commentaries writeth of this people thus The Sueuians sayth hee the worthiest and warlikst people of all Germany are sayd to haue a hundred Citties great Burrowes or townes out of euery of which hundred citties townes yearely is furnished and set forth to the warres a hundred thousand armed men well appoynted These hundred thousand men wage warrs abroad and be maintayned by those which remaine at home and at the yeares end returne home againe to husbandry and send forth as many more of those which were at home so as going to the warres and remayning at home in course they bee all well excercised is husbandry and skilfull in feats of armes and hauing noe grounds nor possessions priuat to them-selues they yeeld reciprocall Maintaynance one to another for it is not lawfull for them to remayne and abyde in one place longer than one yeare Their vsuall foode is bread milke and flesh they bee much giuen to hunting as well for their dayly excercise and liberty of life which they much regard for they bee neuer from their infancy vnder the rule and correction of any or constrayned to doe any thing against their wills the practise of hunting also maketh them more feerce and couragious and their bodies more strong able to indure all extremities as although they dwell in a very cold clymate they will wash and bath them-selues in cold riuers and weare no other garments but skins and those so little as the most part of there bodies bee starke naked if any marchants trafficke thether it is more to buy such things of them as they haue got by the warres than for any great desire the Sueuians haue of their commodities besides they haue great store of laboring beasts more than they haue vse for which the French men much desire and pay deere for them and those beasts which with them bee naturally froward ilfauored and almost good for nothing by much vse and handling bee made fit and able both to draw and carry or to be imployed in the warres for their horses be so well mand and taught
from Romulus Now Romulus after he had finished and perfected the walls ditches forts of defence and all other necessary buildings of the Citty of Rome ordered and disposed the state of the citty in manner following First hee deuided the whole multitude of people into three parts or ranckes selecting out of euery of those orders or degrees the chiefest and worthiest men to gouerne and rule the rest After this he made a subdiuision distributing each of those three seuerall parts into ten equall and indifferent portions and setting as gouernours ouer euery portion the best and most substantialest men amongst them hee called the three greater parts Tribes and the lesser Curiae or wardes the gouernors of the Tribes hee likewise called Tribunes and the Presidents of the wardes Centurions The Curiae or wardes were lastly deuided into lesser bands called Decuriae and their wardens or leaders he named Decurions All the people beeing thus deuided into Tribes and wardes he then made like partition of the land deuiding it into thirty equall parts or portions and allotting vnto euery ward their part thereof he reserued onely so much for himselfe as was sufficient for him wherein to build Temples and places for sacrifices leauing also some little in common to them all And thus this first partition both of the people and ground wrought a common equalitie amongst them This done he made a second diuision of the people onely giuing vnto euery one stipends and honors according to the worthinesse and dignity of their persons and seuerring those which were honorably descended and of approued vertues and that were wealthy withall and had issue to inherit after them from those which were poore needy and ignoble hee named those men of basest and meanest condition Plebeians and the Nobility he called Patres or fathers whereof insued that the whole discent and posterity of the Patres were euer after them called Patritians When Romulus had thus seperated the better sort of people from the worse the rich from the poore the noble from the ignoble he then ordained them lawes to liue vnder allotting vnto euery of them their proper offices and functions according to their degrees and calling To the Patritij he gaue power to doe sacrifice to beare offices to decide controuersies and to see that euery one had his right to participate with him in the gouernment of the common-weale and to haue a vigilant regard and prouident respect of the safty of the citty the Plebeians or comminalty both for that they were poore and wanted experience were eased from bearing offices and onely imploied some in husbandry some in feeding of cattell and some in handy-crafts or other profitable trades And to the end that all these seuerall sorts of people should liue peaceably and free from contention one with an other and neither the poore iniured by the rich nor the rich enuied by the poore hee committed the Plebeians to the care of the Patritians permitting euery one of the comminalty to choose one of the Patritij whom hee pleased for his Aduocate and defendor calling that a Patronage or protection And thus the poore being taken into the protection of the Patritians he instituted for them both their proper duties one towards an other which was that the Plebeians should reuerence their patrons and the patrons defend their clients whom they had taken into protection and so he vnited them together in friendly affection and ciuill coniunction making it vnhonest and vtterly vnlawfull for either of them to accuse the other or for the one to giue testimony against the other or that there should be any hatred or enmity betwixt them by which meanes vnity and mutuall concord was most firmly setled and established amongst the Romaines After this hee elected an hundred Councellors out of the Patritians the maner of their election was this First hee himselfe assigned and nominated one to bee his viceroy or Lieutenant in the gouernment of the common-wealth when he went to the warres out of the confines of his owne country then hee commanded the Tribes to choose out of euery Tribe three of the best esteeme amongst them for grauity wealth and honor after which nine so elected by the tribes he likewise commanded the Curiae or wards that euery warde should choose three of the Patritians whom they thought most fit for that purpose which done adding to the ninety elected by the thirty wards the nine that were chosen by the three Tribes and that one chiefe Captaine or Commander assigned by himselfe they all of them made vp the compleat number of a hundred Councellors which number of Councellors were by the Romaines in short time after their institution called the Senate of Rome and they themselues for their reuerence and authority called Fathers and for theit age and grauity Senators Moreouer after all this hee elected out of the most generous and renowned families three hundred yong men of the choysest and strongest amongst them which were first prickt and nominated by the suffrages of the Curiae or wards euery warde nominating ten as in the former election of the Senators and this their election was afterwards by him confirmed And those three hundred young men stood euer in readinesse about him as a Court of garde to defend his person and were all of them called by this generall name Celeres for their speedinesse and readinesse at all assayes to execute the Kings command Furthermore the offices and duty of the King were prescribed as followeth First by his authority regall hee was chiefe head and principall gouernor of sacrifices sepulchers and temples consecrated to diuine seruice wherin he ought not doe any thing that redounded not to the glory of their gods next hee was in duty bound to obserue and keepe the lawes and customes of his country he had also power to sommon a Senate to assemble the commons and in military affaires hee had chiefe Empire and command ouer all To the Senate was giuen power and commission to heare and determine all complaints and controuersies that were brought before them which was done by voyces of the Senators and the sentence was euer giuen on his side that had the most voyces The Plebeians or cominalty had also these three priuileges to create Magistrates to make lawes and determine of warres when the King was so pleased nor was this power absolute in themselues but it must euer bee approued and allowed by the Senate neither yet had euery person his perticular voyce but euery warde was called seuerally and that which was agreed vpon by the maior part of the words was referred to the consideration of the Senate But now this manner of giuing voyces is changed and altered in most places for neither hath the Senate power to discerne and giue allowance of the ordinances and decrees of the commons but rather the commons haue authority to alter or allow the statutes established by the Senate
By this diuision of Romulus the three hundred yong men of his garde called Celeres did not onely accomplish his commands in matters concerning the ciuill estate and gouernement of the Citty but they had also the managing of military affaires so as when the King intended to rayse an army it was needelesse for him to create Tribunes oner the Tribes decurions ouer the wards or gouernors and praefects of his horse men but it was inough for him to commande the Tribunes and they the centurions and then the Decurious by their instructions were to bring forth such souldiors as they thought fittest for that purpose by which meanes they would be altogether in redinesse at an instant He elected also a thousand fighting-men which as some write he called Milites because they were a thousand in number And then the more to shew his Maiesty and to bee thought more honorable in the eyes of his people hee ascribed and tooke vnto him-selfe tytles markes and ornaments of Empire and honour as to goe in sumpteous attyre and to haue euer going before him twelue Sergeants or Ministers of execution which hee called Lictores carying euery one a bunch of rods in their hand In ordering these Sergeants or executioners to march before him it may seeme his intent was by them being in number twelue to represent the twelue Augures or south sayers which told him by diuination and coniectures of things to come which manner of diuiners he called Vultures though some bee of opinion that in that ceremony he immitated the Hetrussi or Tuscans who being Twelue sorts of people in number when by generall consent they elected a cheefe Magistrate that should haue the soueraigntie ouer them euery one of those twelue Trybes or sorts of people would present vnto their gouernor such a Sergant Bedell ot apparytor to make way before him and to bee euer in redinesse for execution of any project from whence likewise were vndoubtedly deryued the little Chariots with chaires of estate in them wherein the Romaine Kings vsed to ride their kirtles or robes which they wore vnder their mantles of estate and all their other ensignes and ornaments of honour Now Romulus the better to settle secure and strengthen the state of this Citty invented and deuised this honest pretence and stratagem following intending it wholy to the honour of his Gods for he erected and builded vp a Temple or Church in a darke and shadowed place into which if any stranger did fly and take sanctuary hee would vndertake and secure them in argument of the awe and reuerence he bore vnvnto his Gods that their enemies should not wronge molest or disturbe them promising further that if they would stay with him hee would make them partakers of the priuileges of his Citty and giue them a portion of the ground which hee had gotten by the warrs to liue vpon Then did hee make an institution that no citty gotten by the sword should bee vtterly ruinated and destroyed or brought into bondage and slavery but that there should bee colonies and competent companies of people sent thither from Rome answerable to the quantity of ground so gotten there to inhabite and dwell and that those conquered Citties should bee accounted as vnder Citties vnto Rome and within the compasse of the common-weale But after the death of Titus Tatius which whome Romulus raigned fiue yeares both ouer the Sabinians and the Romaines who were then vnited together into one people hee began to bee more religious and instituted diuers new statutes and decrees as well priuat as publike first hee made a law concerning Matrimony that the wife should haue equall power with her husband ouer all their mony and goods and as much authority in their sacrifices and that shee should liue in as good sort as her husband and be called Mistris ouer the house as well as he Maister and that if hee dyed without Issue his wife should succeed him and inherite all his goods and possessions and if hee left children behinde him yet shee should haue an equall share with them That if shee were conuicted of adultery it should bee lawfull for her husband or his kinsfolke to kill her and that if she drinke any wine at her owne house shee should bee punished as an adultresse by meanes of which institution arose this custome amongst the Romaines that the husbands when they had beene a broade and came home to their houses should imbrace and kisse their wiues and daughters of purpose as Fortius Cato interpreteth it to smell whether they had drunke any wine thereby approuing that as corruption is the beginning of madnesse and frenzie so is drunkennesse the forerunner of rottennesse and corruption Then hee ordayned that parents should haue full power ouer their children to dispose of them as they pleased to restrayne and keepe them vnder to beate them and bynde them and set them to all drudgery yea it was lawfull for them to slay them or sell them for slaues and if any were sold by his father and of him selfe regained his liberty his father might sell him againe and againe after that if hee were so disposed The contents of this law was three hundred yeares after the institution thereof written in twelue tables but yet the rigor and authority was first mitigated and abridged by Numa Pompilius next King to Romulus for he ordained that if the sonne did marry by his fathers consent all the authority his father had ouer him before was then extinct from this seuere law Romulus proceeded to other ordinances establishing that no free-man should exercise any arte or occupation wherein his worke was done sitting as Taylers Shoomakers Scriueners c. and that the Cittizens should practise themselues in husbandry as well as in martiall discipline whereby in after-times it was a great commendation for one to be accounted both a good souldier and a good husbandman for the King thought it a point of great imperfection in any man to be ignorant in either of these exercises but that to be skilfull in manuring and tilling the ground and expert in feats of armes should inseperably go together according to the law of the Lacedemonians and in time of peace his will was that they should wholy giue themselues to husbandry permitting them notwithstanding to buy and make prouision of such things they wanted when necessity constrained them therevnto And in argument that hee was not vnmindfull of matters of religion hee ordained and made Temples Altars and Images of the gods adding there-vnto festiuall dayes and times of solemnity oblations sacrifices holydayes fayres and martes wherein as well to buy any thing they wanted as also to vnderstand their lawes and many other things pertaining to the honor of their gods excluding notwithstanding out of the cittie all forraine and out-landish sacrifices and especially those which were solemnized after the ceremonies of the Greekes those onely excepted which were dedicated and celebrated
in honour of Heroules and were long since instituted in the dayes of Euander Dionysius Halicarnasseus following the opinion of Varro herein saith that Romulus ordained three score priests to make publike sacrifices through euery tribe and euery ward annexing vnto them as their assistants the diuiners and southsaiers euery ward likewise had his proper Genius or spirit which they supposed did defend them and their proper ministers to doe sacrifice vnto them but the goddesse Vesta was generally worshipped of all And lastly hee deuided and digested the yeere into tenne monthes by all which ordinances and decrees it may easily bee gathered and plainely perceiued that Romulus was most skilfull and expert in all matters both diuine and humaine and that they detract much from his glory and wisdome which report that the people of Rome liued without morality amongst themselues or religion towards their gods vntill the raigne of Numa Pompilius And these were the ciuil institutions ordained by Romulus But Numa Pompilius that afterwards succeeded him in the Kingdome in some part altered and in some part added vnto his Statutes and first in following the course of the Moone hee disposed the yeere into twelue monthes whereas before Romulus made it to consist but of tenne and altering the order of the monethes hee set Ianuary and February before March whereas till that time March was the first month and the beginning of the yeere and so hee made March for to bee the third in order and ranke Next hee appointed some daies to bee festiuall and holy and some other as dismal ominous and vnluckie wherein he would not any way meddle with the people or beginne any businesse After this hee created one chiefe Flamin or Priest to doe sacrifice to Iupiter whom he called Dialis and honored him with a roabe of dignity and chaire of state hee then created two other priests one to sacrifice to Mars and the other to Romulus and these were also called Flamines for the caps of honour which they wore vpon their heads moreouer he elected the Virgine Vestals which for the first ten yeeres did nothing but learne the rites and manner of sacrifising the next ten yeeres they spent in doing sacrifice themselues and the third ten yeeres they taught and instructed nouisses and fresh commers into that profession and then at the thirtith yeeres end it was in their choise whether they would mary or continue still in that course of life And those Virgin Vestals were maintained at the common cost of the City and reuerenced with titles of perpetual virginity and other ceremonies but if any of them were conuicted of incest her sentence was sorrowfully pronounced by the Cittizens that shee should bee set quicke in the ground at the gate called Collina which is in the hill Quirinalis and there couered with earth till shee were dead Hee dedicated also vnto Mars twelue other priests which hee called Salij whose office was vpon certaine daies in the month of March which tooke his name of the god Mars to lead a solemne dance in some of the principall places of the City they were cloathed with coates of diuers collours and their vppermost garments were red and changeable they had swords by their sides hanging in brazen belts in their right hand they caried launces and rods and brazen bucklers in their left and vpon their heads they wore high hats waxing sharpe towards the crowne These priests which for their solemne dancing the Romaines called Sallij according to the opinion of Dionysius did little differ from the Coribantes or Sibilles priests which the Greekes called Curetes finally he created a Bishop or high priest to whom he gaue supreme authority ouer all infreior priests and in him it lay to appoint what oblations should bee offred vpon what daies and in what Temples Besides all these holy orders of priests and religious persons hee ordained the Feciales or herraulds to denounce warre or peace and they were to haue a speciall regard that the Romanes should not make warres against any vniustly and if the Romaines were iniured or robbed by any others these Feciales were to require restitution of the goods wrongfully taken and detained but if they denied to make restitution then were they to denounce open war against them Their power was likewise to deliuer offenders to bee punished to those whose goods they had iniuriously taken if wronge were offered to Legats or Ambassadors they were to correct it and if the causes were honest and iust they might conclude a peace and breake it againe if it appeared that the League was vnlawfully established And if either the captaine or chiefe conductor of the army or the whole army in generall had done any thing contrary to their oths and alleagance in them it rested wholy to punish the offence This done he limitted their times of mourning commanding that the death of infants vnder three yeeres old should not bee lamented at all and that for elder children they should bewaile them as many monthes as they were yeeres old so as it exceeded not ten monthes which was the vttermost time prescribed for mourning for any ones death When Numa Pompilius had established these lawes for the gouernment of the common-wealth he then seuered and distributed the people into sundry companies and societies according to their arts and profession as minstrels crafts-men head-carpenters dyers shoomakers tanners masons potters c. making of diuers of those arts one fraternitie or bodie politicke Seruius Tullius deuided the whole multitude of citizens into sundry orders ranckes or armies which he called Classes and into centuries or bands consisting of a hundred men the manner of his disposition of them was thus In the first order or degree he inroled those who were taxed in their subsidie bookes at a hundred thousand Asses and of this order there was fourescore centuries consisting indifferently of young men and old so as the old men should euer remaine at home to saue and defend the city and the youth were to try the fortune of warres abroad he then commanded them both to weare armor and weapons both of defence of offence as helmets shields priuie-coates and bootes to defend themselues and speares and swords to offend the enemy to this first ranke or degree hee added two centuries of workemen or pioners which were to cast trenches build rampiers and to make all their engines and instruments of warre and they euer went vnarmed to bee alwaies in redinesse for any labor The second order or degree consisted of twentie centuries and were such as were taxed betwixt seuentie fiue and a hundred thousand Asses they were deuided into young and old as the former order and tollerated to weare the same armor and weapons the other did saue onely the coate of fence which they might not weare The third order was of such as were taxed at fifty thousand Asses they consisted of as many centuries as the other and did nothing
differ from them in their weapons sauing that they wore no bootes The fourth order was taxed at fiue and twenty thousand asses and they wore no other weapons but little Iauelins or darts And the fift and last degree consisted of thirty centuries their warlike weapons were slings and stones and they were valued at forty thousand and with these were cessed and taxed the cornetters and trumperters which were three centuries in number the rest whose substance was but small hee both spared from the wars by reason of their pouerty and remitted their tribute After this diuision he ministred an oth to the Citizens that they should make a iust estimation of their goods and declare out of what family stocke they were descended what children they had and of what age and by what names they were called and whether any of them had wiues and where euery of them dwelt and if any of them dealt doubly with him and falsifyed their othes and fidelity all their goods were ipso facto confiscate and taken from them and they themselues first whipped and then sold for slaues The companies of footmen being thus distributed hee elected out of the chiefest of the Citizens nine orders of horsmen so as the whole number of horseme reckoning those that were ordained by Romulus and those which were afterwards added by Tarquinius were now two and twenty centuries to euery centuary hee allowed ten thousand peeces of money out of the common treasury to buy them horses and two thousand peeces a yeere to keepe them besides all the widdowes of the city paide vnto the horsemen yeerely pensions towards their better maintainance euery one according to her ability And so all the whole number of horsmen and footemen were a hundred ninty and three centuries and euery century kept their place and dignity in giuing their voices they that were best able bore the greatest charge in the warres and gaue their voices first For Seruius thought it fitter that the centuries should pay tribute according as they were valued and not perticularly by the pole as they did before The centuries of horsemen were to mingle their voices amongst the centuries of the first ranke of footemen which were fourescore centuries as is saide before and so Dionysius reckoneth that there were fourescore and eighteene centuries that had the first place in giuing their voices which were more then all the centuries of the other orders whereof insues that what euer was concluded by the suffrages of the first order was immutable but if the voices of the first degree were deuided which happened but seldome then the centuries of the second order were called and if they could not agree then the others after them in their course but it was very rare that euer it should come to the centuries of the last order And thus by the wisdome of King Tullius all the orders seemed to haue an equality of voices but yet the priority was granted to those which were at greatest charge and though none were excluded yet was all in a manner done by the centuries of the first order and the equites or horsmen For they created magistrates whom they pleased they established lawes and denounced wars which three priuiledges and prerogatiues were before by Romulus giuen to the Plebeians or communalty But when Taquin the last Romaine King was deposed and banished Rome the forme of this gouernment was cleane altered and changed for in steed of Kings they created Consuls who had all the types and ornaments of honour giuen vnto them that the Kings had before sauing onely the crowne and the gowne wrought with palmes which the Kings vsed to weare after they had atchiued any conquest And when Brutus the defender of their liberties was by the voices of the centuries made fellow Consul with Collatinus hee bound the Citizens by an oth that they should neuer after that suffer any one man to raigne ouer them as their King Then hee ordained three hundred Senators and one chiefe ruler ouer the sacrifices whose office was to performe all things belonging to sacrifices that the King before was wont to doe Valerius who was the third Consul permitted it lawfull to appeale from the Consuls to the comminalty forbidding vnder paine of death that no one should accept of any office without the consent of the commons and that the Citizens should bee eased of tribute which made men more willing to fall to trading and other labours adding therevnto an other law whereby it was present death for any one to affect any kinde of gouernment for his owne priuate profit Hee then appointed the Temple of Saturne to bee the common treasury wherein to keepe the reuenewes of the City and suffered the people to create two Treasurers or Chamberlanes to see the disposing thereof Not longe after this they agreed to haue such a magistrate as from whom they might not appeale and him they called a Dictator a dictando by reason of the authority hee had to command or rather a dicende because he was not elected by the voices of the people but by him onely that bore the chiefest sway in the city In ordayning this high office of Dictatorship the Romanes may seeme to haue imitated the Greekes who as Theophrastus writeth in his booke Deregno were wont to make certaine chiefe officers whom they called Esimnetes to rule ouer them for a time limited For the Dictator of Rome continued in his place and dignity but halfe a yeere and was neuer created but in time of warre or other imminent danger of the Citie and then hee had power to elect new magistrates and officers vnder him as the maister or captaine of the horsmen who in authority was next vnto him especially ouer the horsemen and best souldiors and was assistant to the Dictator as the Tribune was to the King And when Spurius Cassius and Posthumius Cominius were Consuls they gaue the people commission to choose them magistrates of great reuerence and authority to bee their protectors against the violence of the Consuls expresly forbidding that no Patritian should take that office vpon him and these high officers were called the Tribunes of the people These Tribunes grew in short time so proude and insolent as they would cassire and make voide the decrees of the Consuls and Senate at their pleasure vnlesse they agreed with their humors and of them at the first whether it were by general consent or foreshewed by diuination or whether religion mooued them were but two in number created shortly after there was an other added to them and in the end they came to bee fiue There was in Rome three sorts of Parliaments or societies of people to chuse officers the first called Curiata or assembly of the wards which was euer summoned by the Lictors or Sergeants the second Centuriata which was of such as were diuided into sundry Centuries or degrees according to their age and abilitie as is said before
and to this they were called by a trumpeter or cornetter And the third was of such as dwelt in diuers parts of the country payd tribute vnto the cittie By the Parliament or conuocation-house of the Centuries where the Consuls put downe and the Decemviri created to whom all the power and Empirie of the Senate descended euen as the authority of the Consuls was first deriued from the Kings nor was it lawfull in any case to appeale from them These Decemviri when they went about to make any new lawes would do it in this manner first one of them had a whole day allowed him to consider what was fitting to be don in which day he bore the greatest authority and when hee had set downe his opinion in writing the next day was allowed for another and to haue the like prime place in gouernement and so likewise the rest euery one his seuerall day and when euery one had had his day and their opinions and doings written in seuerall tables and layd before them altogether they then collected and confirmed what they thought good out of euery ones sentence and so calling them the lawes of the ten tables they published them to the people And there went euer before him that had the chiefest Iurisdiction twelue men carrying bundels of roddes and the other nine had euery one his Vsher going before him But this kind of gouernement continued not long for euen as the power and authority of the Tribunes was vtterly banished out of the citie by the Decemviri so vppon mature consideration it seemed good to the Patricians that the Tribunes in requitall should extinguish and put downe theirs And then was there a law ordained that whatsoeuer was decreed by the Plebeians should go currant through all the people and if any one hindred or impeached the Tribunes or Aediles in their iudgements his head should be sacrificed to Iupiter and his whole family that were free should be sold for slaues at the Temple of Ceres After this there was another Councell created out of the Plebeians and then was it made lawfull and tolerable for the Plebeians to marry and enter into consanguinitie with the Patricians Besides these there were created two Censors who had the charge ouer the Scribes the keeping of the tables and the order and forme of taxing and leuying of money and mustering souldiers committed vnto them This pettie office beeing but meane at the first institution grew in processe of time to an incredible height in so much as the whole raines of correction and ciuill discipline were in conclusion let loose into their hands for the gouernement of the Senate the Equites and Centurians were so curbed and restrained as they had power only to decide controuersies touching honour and reproch and in the Censors consisted the chiefest soueraignty as to view and ouersee publike places to giue pensions to the people and againe to taxe them with exactions and tribute to consecrate sacrifices euery fift yeare for the purgation of the cittie to displace and thrust the Senators out of the cittie or to defame them and these continued in their office for fiue yeares and then new were created in their roomes Then was there another Magistrate created to heare and determine matters whom they called a Praetor and to him was committed power and authoritie ouer all publike and priuate dealings and to constitute and ordaine new lawes and statutes and to abrogate and repeale the old Of these Praetors there was first but one created and he was called Vrbanus Praetor because he had the gouernement of the cittizens to whome he alone beeing not able to vndergo so great a burthen by reason of the great accesse of strangers that daily resorted thither to dwell there was afterwards another Praetor added and him they called Praetor peregrinus as hauing the charge ouer aliens and strangers and this kind of gouernement was called Ius honorarium for the great honour and dignitie that belonged to the Magistrates for they had all the ensignes and ornaments attributed vnto them that before belonged to the Kings and their apparel and furniture was almost equall to the Consuls In this state did the cittie of Rome continue vntil Iulius Caesars time who reduced the gouernement into a Monarchie againe by taking vppon him the name of Imperator which kind of gouernement by Emperors did long after continue and then began to be celebrated at Rome the playes called Ludi Circenses the solemnitie whereof was thus The whole traine of Players issuing orderly from out the Capitoll passed by the forum into a great circle or rundle of ground like a theater made for the Spectators to behold the games And first went the sonnes of the Equites that for age strength and agilitie were most fit for exercises both on foote and horsebacke riding vppon horses and distinguished by their companies and Centuries to shew vnto strangers and forrainers the great hope the citty conceiued of her future happinesse by the exceeding aptnes and towardnes of their youth after them followed the wagoners with chariots some drawn with foure horses and some with two and some others leading little low horses that would stand without the bridle And after them followed the champions that were to try the masteries as wrastling running and the whirleabout called Caestus which was done with plummets of lead beeing all of them naked sauing their priuities then followed the troupe of dancers leapers and vaulters in their companies the men first the young striplings after and then the children in the next ranke vnto these followed the trumpetters and minstrels some playing vpon flutes some vpon pipes and some with a kind of Iuory harpes with 7. strings called Dulcimers the leapers and vaulters were apparelled in red coates girded in the wast with brazen belts and swords at their sides and the mens swords were shorter then the others they had also brazen helmets great plumes of fethers before euery company went men that were skilfull in those kind of exercises to shew them the maner of that dancing and skipping and other more violent and warlike motions by words in meeter consisting of foure syllables They practised also the Enoplian dancing otherwise called the Pyrrhichian dauncing inuented as is supposed by Pallas though some of a contrarie opinion thinke that the Curetes were the first authors of that kind of dancing Then followed the troupe of the Satyrisci with an Enoplian dance these Satyrisci were figured into Sileni and Satyres and they vsed taunting and scoffing motions in their dancing had also a consort of musick following after them Then went there a company with censors in their hands casting round about them sweet odors amongst whom were diuers that carried vpon their shoulders the images of their gods all guilded with gold and siluer and last of all followed the chiefe Magistrates of the city attended with great troups making shew by their easie pace and demure
cal Ale and Beare and they haue much wines brought them out of other countries There bee many villages borrowes and cities whereof London is the chiefest of the nation the Kings seat and the most famous for trafficke and trading These are their customes and manners they vse in this age which are much differing from their customes they vsed the time of Iulius Caesar for at that time it was not lawfull for them to eate Hare Hen or Goose and yet would they norish and keepe them for their pleasures The people that inhabited the middle part of the country liued for the most part vpon milke and flesh beeing vtterly destitute of corne and cloathed themselues with skinnes Their faces they would die with woad to the end that in battaile they might breed a great terror to their enemies They wore long haire hanging downe about their shoulders and shaued all parts of their bodies but their heads one woman would haue tenne or more husbands at one time and it was lawfull for the brother to enioy his brothers wife the father the sonnes and the sonne the fathers and the children were accounted children to them all Strabo dissenting from the opinion of Caesar saith that the English are farre taller then the Frenchmen and of a shorter haire Thicke woods serued them in steed of cities wherein they builded them cabbines and cottages harboring themselues and their cattaile vnder one roofe The country is more subiect to raine then snow and when the weather is faire the earth is couered sometimes with a blacke clowde that for the space of foure houres together you shall see no Sunne at high noone Scotland the vttermost part of Britan towards the North is deuided from the other part of the Island onely with a riuer or small arme of the sea Not farre distant from Scotland lieth Ireland the people whereof vse one kinde of habite in no point differing one from an other They speake all one language and vse the selfe same customes They haue nimble wits and are very apt to reuenge vsing great cruelty in the warres though otherwise they bee sober and can indure all manner of wants with great facility They are naturally faire but nothing curious in their apparel The Scots of whom I spake before as some are of opinion were so called of the paynting of their bodies for it was an vsual and auncient custome there and especially amongst the rudest and barbarous kinde of people to paint and die their bodies armes and legs with varnish or vermillion which custome if all bee true as is written by ancient authors was practised by the Britans especially in time of warre the more to terrifie the enemy as before is said Aeneas Siluius saith that the shortest day in winter there is not aboue three houres long and it is a thing worthy the noting to see how poore folkes there stand about the Temples of their gods begging stones of passengers for them to burne for the country affoordeth but small store of fuell and the stones which they craue and get together in this manner are of a fat and sulphery condition and wil burne like coles Aeneas saith that hee heard there was a tree in Scotland that in Antumne whē the leaues were withered they fell of the tree into a riuer by vertue of the water were turned into birds This tree he saith hee sought for in Scotland but could not find it and that lastly it was told him by some that knew the Country well that this strange miracle was to be seene in one of the Isles of Orcades And thus farre mine Author concerning the estate of this Island by which appeareth the little acquaintance both hee and those writers out of which hee frameth this collection had with it for else would they not so sleightly haue slipt ouer the commendation of so worthy a Country and therefore I thought it not amisse in this place to supply their defects with this short addition of mine owne wherein happely you may perceiue a more liuely description of this our Realme of Great Britany and the condition of the inhabitants then could well bee expected from meere strangers BRITANNIA sometimes called Albion the worthiest and renownedst Island of all the world is in compasse as is said before according to the opinion of the best writers about 1836. English miles It is sytuated in a most milde temperate clymate the ayre beeing neither too hot in Sommer nor too cold in winter through which temperature it aboundeth with all sorts of graine fruits and cattaile that be either necessary or behoueful for mans life for besides that the Country is wholesome pleasant and delightsome there bee such store of ponds riuers and running waters for fish and foule such aboundance of forrests and chases for timber and fuel such large fields champion grounds for corne and graine such pastures and meadowes for sheepe and cattaile such orchards and gardens for pleasure and profit such hunting and hawking in fields fluds and forrests such strong castles such stately buildings such goodly cities and walled townes such beautifull houses of the Nobility disperced in all parts of the country such large territories such renowned vniuersities for the aduancement of learning and good letters such practise of religiō such places for pleading such trafficke and trading such maintainance of Iustice such generous dispositions in the nobles such ciuility amongst citizens such intercourse amongst the commons in a word such is the pompe riches florishing state of this Realme vnder the gouernment of our most gratious Prince King Iames that England at this day is so amply stored with natures richest guifts that she is not onely furnished with things sufficient to serue her selfe but sendeth forth sundry of her superfluous commodities into other countries also and for al things may iustly bee compared if not preferred to any country in Christendome who were the first inhabitants of this Island and why it was so called I finde it so diuersly reported that I rather leaue euery man to his opinion then by setting downe mine owne incurre the censure of ignorance and indiscretion but howsoeuer although it hath bin inhabited by sundry nations and deuided into seuerall Kingdoms yet doe I not finde that euer it admitted any other forme of gouernment but the Kingly authority only no not when it was dismembered into many Kingdomes but that then euery King had a perfect and absolute command ouer his subiects nor that any King of England either then or since it grew into a Monarchy did euer receiue his authority from any other Prince as his supreme but that euery King within the limits of his Kingdome was next vnto God sole and absolute gouernor the idle example of King Iohn onely excepted who without consent of his commons or establishment by act of parliament forced therevnto by the rebellion of his Nobles aided by the Dolphin of France resigned his crowne to the Popes Legate
many languages into Portugale to King Emanuell and that his Embassage might carry more credit and authority she sent with him a noble yong man called Abesynus which two I haue often met in our Court and haue had familiar conference with them This Mathew came by diuers iournies to Goa vnto Alphonsus Albuquercus viceroy there of whome hee being receiued very curteously and dispached thence liberally rewarded he arriued in our nauy at Vlispone in the yeare of Christ 1513. who shewing to the King the cause of his Ambassage presented him with a crosse finely wrought made of that tree whereof our Sauiour Christ was Crucified which crosse I haue oftentimes seene and worshipped while my brother Fructus a Goes was the Kings chamberlaine and had it in his custody the Queenes letters which hee brought vnto King Emanuell purported thus much A letter of Helena the grand-mother of Dauid Precious Iohn Emperor of Aethiopia written vnto Emanuell King of Portugall in the yeare of our Lord. 1509. IN the name of God the Father the Sonne and Holy Ghost one God in three presons the health grace and benediction of our Lord and Redeemer Iesus Christ Sonne of the blessed Virgin Mary borne in Bethlem bee vpon our deere brother the most Christian King Emanuell gouernor of the sea and conqueror of the Barbarous and incredulous Moores Our Lord God prosper thee and giue thee victory ouer all thine enimies and that your Kingdomes and dominions by the deuout prayers of the Messengers of our Sauiour Christ to witte the foure Euangelists S. Iohn Luke Marke and Mathew whose sanctity and prayers be euer thy defence may extend and stretch them-selues wide and broad These are to certyfie you most deere brother that there came vnto vs from your great and famous Court two Messengers whereof one was called Iohn who affirmed him-selfe to be a Preest and the other Iohn Gomez and desired of vs souldiors and prouision for the warres wherefore wee haue sent vnto you our Embassador Mathew the Brother of our seruice with the lycence of Marke the Patriarch who giueth vs his benediction sending vs Preests from Ierusalem hee is our father and father of all our dominions the piller of the faith of Christ and of the Holy Trynitie hee at our request sent vnto your great Captaine and leader of those Souldiers which make warres in India for the faith of our Sauiour Iesus Christ to signifie vnto him that wee were ready and willing to send vnto him Souldiers and prouision for the warres if neede required and because wee haue heard it reported that the Prince of Caire hath sent forth a great Nauy against your Forces to be reuenged as we be well assured of the losses and dammages which hee hath often receiued of the Captaines of your Armie which you haue in India whom God of his great goodnesse vouchsafe to assist and so to prosper their proceedings euery day more and more that all those vnbeleeuers may once become subiect to your gouernment We therefore to withstand their assaults will forthwith send an Armie which shall stay at the sea of Mecha that is to say at Babel mendell or if you thinke it more fitting at the hauen of Inda or Thor that so you may destroy and roote out all those Moores and miscreant vnbeleeuers from the face of the earth so as the gifts and obiations which be brought and offered at the holy Sepulcher be no more deuoured of dogges for now is come that time promised which as is said Christ and his mother Mary foretold to wit that in the latter daies a King should arise from out some Christian Region that should abolish and bring to nought the vniuersall stocke of the Barbarians and Moores And now certainely is that time come which Christ promised to his blessed Mother Moreouer what euer our Embassador Mathew shall say vnto you accept it and giue credit vnto it as that which proceedeth from our owne person for he is one of the chiefest of our Court and therefore haue wee sent him vnto you Wee would haue committed these things vnto your Messengers which you sent hither but that wee were afraide lest our businesses might bee taken otherwise then wee intended We haue sent vnto you by this Mathew our Embassador a Crosse made vndoubtedly of a peece of that Tree whereupon our Sauiour Christ was crucified at Ierusalem Which peece of sacred wood was brought to vs from Ierusalem and thereof wee made two Crosses whereof one remaineth with vs the other we haue deliuered to our Embassador to be presenred to you the wood is of a blacke colour and hangeth at a little siluer ring Furthermore if it shall seeme good vnto you either to giue your daughters in marriage to our sonnes or that we shall giue oue our sonnes to your daughters it shall be very acceptable vnto me and profitable to vs both and the beginning of a brotherly league betwixt vs which coniunction of matrimony we shall euer desire to enter into with you as well hereafter as for the present time And thus wee end with our praier vnto God that the saluation and grace of our redeemer Iesus Christ and of our blessed Lady the Virgin Mary may extend and remaine both vpon you your sonnes and your daughters and all your family Amen Moreouer these are to certifie you that if wee would make warres and ioyne our Armies together wee should by Gods helpe be strong inough vtterly to destroy and root out all the enemies of the faith of Christ But our kingdomes and dominions are so scituated in the middle of the land as by no meanes wee can haue passage into the sea In the sea therefore wee haue no power wherein praise be giuen to God you bee the strongest of all Princes Iesus Christ bee your guide for your affaires which you haue done and atchieued heere in India seeme rather to bee done by miracle then by man but if you would furnish a Nauy of a thousand shippes we will giue you prouision and aboundantly minister vnto you all things necessary for such a Nauy This letter with some other Articles of the Faith religion manners and state of the Ethiopians which Mathew expressed before King Emanuell and his Councell I haue by the intreaty of Iohn Magnus Gothus Archbishop of Vpsalia in the kingdome of Suetia with whom I had extraordinary familiarity and frindship in Prussia translated out of the Portingall language wherein I found it written into Lattine which letter together with the said articles were afterwards imprinted at Antwerp without my priuity These things vnderstood from the Aethiopian Embassadors King Emanuell as he was exceeding wise and most desirous to encrease the Christian religion instituted an Embassage sufficiently furnished with very graue and reuerend men the chiefest whereof were Edward Galuanus a man well stricken in yeares and of great wisedome and experience And Francis Aluarez a Priest and of very renowned authority with the King who was also old
chap. 19 Of Tuscia and of the ancient maners of the Tuscans ch 20 Of Galalia in Europe and of the old customes of that country chap. 21 Of Gallia and of the ancient customes and later â—â—nners of the Frenchmen chap. 22 Of Spaine and of the manners of the Spaniards chap. 28 Of Lusitania and of the manners of the Portugals chap. 24 Of England Scotland and Ireland and of many other Ilands and of the maners customes of the Inhabitants chap. 25 Of the I le of Taprohane and the customes of that people cha 26 FINIS Lib. 3. NIcholas Damascen of the manners and customes of sundry nations fol 472 Certaine things of America or Brasill gathered out of the writings of Iohannes Lerius fol. 483 The faith religion and manners of the Aethiopians and the deploration of the people of Lappia compiled by Damianus a Goes a Knight of Portugall wherein is contained A letter of Damianus a Goes a Knight of Portugall to Pope Paul the third fol. 503 A letter of Helena the grandmother of Prestor Iohn Emperor of Aethiopia to Emanuell King of Portugall written in the yeare 1509. fol. 512 The letters of the most renowned Dauid Emperor of Aethiopia to Emanuell King of Portugall written in the yeare 1521. Paulus Iouius beeing Interpretor fol. 517 The letters of the same Dauid Emperor of Aethiopia to Iohn the third of that name King of Portugall in the yeare 1524. fol. 526 The letters of the same Emperor to the Pope of Rome in the same yeare 1524. the same Paulus Iouius beeing Interpretor fol. 533 Other letters from the said Emperor to the Pope the same yeare fol. 540 The faith and religion that the Aethiopians hold and obserue fol. 546 The deplâ—ration of Lappia f. 581 The siâ—uation of Lapp a. fol. 585 A short discourse of the Aethiopians taken out of Scaligers seuenth booke De emendatione temporum fol. 588 FINIS The cause why he writ this booke The cause why people inhabited neere together The earth recouered from hir first rudenes and barren nesse and made fertile The earth compared to Paradise The true God forgotten Plurality of gods which god was worshipped in each seueral country Jesus Christ reduced the world from error The large Countries of the Mahometans The diuersitie of worshipinge is the seminarie of distention The Greeke Philosophers first glory The law-giuers first authority The Caldeanes the wisest men in the world VVhy the world is so called The originall and appellation of Adam Paradice The fertilnesse of the earth why iâ— was restrained Cain the first begotten of Adam The generall deluge and how long it continued Noah sent his children and kindred to inhabite other countries The cause of the variety of toungs and manners The exile of Cham. Men liued like beasts The Sunne and Moone worshipped The Moone called Isis the Sunne Osyris the Ayre Iupiter the Fyre Vulcan the Sky Pallas and the Earth Ceres Arabia the mother of many Colonies The issue of Sem and Japhet VVhy the worship of the true God remained with so few The two-fold opinion of the Philosophers concerning the world Light things tend vpwards and heauie things downewards The naturall creation of liuing creatures The barbarous manner of liuing of the first people The diuersitie of toungs how it came Men made wiser by danger Necessitie the the mistresse of labours The first men were the Aethiopians The earth deuided into three parts Affrick deuided from Asia Europ deuided from Affricke Asia deuided from Europe The scituation and qualitie of Affricke The incommodities of Affrick Affrick inhabited by home-bred people and strangers The people of Affrick made more ciuill by Hercules The qualitie of the soyle of Affrick The fruitfulnesse of the ground The wonders of Affrick VVhat kind of beasts are bred in Affrick Two Aethiopias One Aethiopia is now called India The qualitie of Aethiopia The Aethiopians were the first people The gods first worshipped in in Aethiopia VVhat letters the Aethiopians vsed The election of their Kings The obedience of the Ethiopians The apparell of the Ethiopians Their exercise Meroê was once the Kings seate Gold accounted baser then brasse The Aethiopian armor The religion of the Ethiopians The authority of the Priests Their gods The new customes of the Aethiopians or Indians Prestor Iohn King of that Aethiopia which is in Asia Their Priests marry once and no more Saint Thomas held in great reuerence The power of the Ethiopian Kings VVhat weapons be vsed in their wars The punishment for adultery Husbands assigne dowers for their wiues Mahomet worshipped in Libia The denomination and description of Aegipt The Aegiptians had their beginning from the Aethiopians The Aegiptian women do the offices of men and men the offices of women Their manner of funerals Circumcision vsed by the Egiptians The cleannesse of the Priests Beanes an vncleane graine with the Egiptians The Aegiptians wine The Aegiptians salutations VVollen garments contemned Many ceremonies vsed in Christian religion borrowed from the Egiptians VVhat seruants attended vpon their Kings The Priests prasied the good Kings dispraised the bad The Egyptians simple diet The Kings safety much regarded How the Egyptians be wayle their dead Kings that were good How their Kings be buried The auncient gouernment of the Egiptians Their common-wealth consisteth of three sorts of people husbandmen shepheards and labourers How their iudgments were giuen The chiefe Iudge weareth the signe of Truth about his neck The lawes of the Egiptians against periurd persons Against salse accusers A law against parents that murdered their children A law against Pariacides Offenders in the warres punished with shame A law against adultery and fornication Bocchoris their law maker Mens bodiesnot liable to their debts The law against theeues Their marriaages The small cost bestowed in bringing vpchildren Musick disalowd of the Egiptians How the Egiptians cure the diseased The Aegiptians worship diuers sorts of creatures The strange kind of burials amongst the Egiptians The bodies of dead parents giuen to their creditors The Adrimachidae The Nasamons The Masagetae The Nasomans and their marriages How the prophesy The Garamantes The Macae The Gnidanes The Machlyes and Auses The Atlantes The Pastoritij The Maxes The zabices The zigantes All these people of Libia be Sauadge people The Trogloditae The Rhisophagi The Ilophagi and Sparmatophagi The Cyneci The Acridophagi The Cinnamini The Ichthiophagi Men free from all passions of the minde Patient people The Amazons most warlike women Asia why so called Arabia deuided into three parts The Arabians lye with their owne mothers and daughters No horses in Arabia The Garraei The Nabathaei Panchaia aboundeth with Frankinsence Iupiter was banished into Panchaia The great Temple in Panchaia Hony wine made of dates The Assyrians botes Their apparell Virgins that be mariageable be sold to their husbands A law excluding Phisitions and how they cured the sick The officers amongst the Assyrians The limmits of Palestine Iudaea or Palestine called also Canaan Canaan promised to