vnto hir who had so greuously tormented hym wherin she shewed hir selfe very liberall and bountifull seing that the Historians write that all the treasures which she had gathered by little and little duryng all hir life of those whiche loued hir was melted and put into that Chaine whiche was of monstrous greatnesse and also kept of hir with great care for the only relief of hir in hir old age if fortune suffred hir to be pinched with pouertie The yong man hauyng thus caught the praie he moste desired went to fynde out Plangon to whome he offered the chaine making hir to vnderstande the liberalitie of his auÌ„cient friend betwéene whoÌ„ neither time nor distance of place nor other sinister accident coulde extinguishe their friendship wherewith Plangon maruelling of the loue and liberalitie of hir companion hauyng a noble heart and not willing to giue place to Bacchide neither in good wil nor bountie sent to hir again hir chaine louyng then more feruently the yong man thaÌ„ she had done at any tyme before and that which is moste wonderfull imparted hir loue to Bacchide being contente the yong man shoulde be common to them bothe Whiche made the Greekes with great admiration to name hir after Pasiphyle Wherin being now so ancred in maters of woÌ„derfull loues we must search the most rare maruellous histories amongst whome I do not remember there haue bene any dames in all the worlde whiche haue demeaned their loue with more greate wonder neither which haue â—â—te a more eternall witnesse to their posteritie of their wanton and lasciuious liues than Lamie Flora and Lays of whome I will write the life according as Pausanias the Greeke and Manilius the Latin haue writen in their bookes entreating of noble louing women But aboue all others I will folow Anthonius of Gueuare Bishop of Monâ—demo in a learned treatise which he hath made of this matter These three Dames haue bene thrée of y e most faire most famous women of the worlde whiche at any time were either borne in Asia or nourished in Europe and of whome the Historiographers haue moste talked and by whome moste Princes haue come to ruine and perdition It is written of them for a wonder that they so well charmed those which loued them that they were neuer lefte of any Prince whiche loued them nor denied at any time anye thing they required further it is written that these .iij. women as they neuer mocked any man so they were not mocked of any The Historians write that these .iij. Courtizans during their life were .iij. of the moste riche Courtizans of the worlde after their decease lefte most great memorie of them for euery of them where they dyed did erecte a great pillour of stones to continue a remembraÌ„ce of them and besides that euery one of them were by Nature beautiful yet had they a further particular gyfte to allure entice their louers to loue theÌ„ The engin wherewith Lamie entrapped hir louers procéeded of regarde for by the drawing of hir eyes she enflamed the beholders Flora wanne hirs by hir wonderful eloquence And Lays allured by hir swéete pleasant hermonie Wherefore the King Demetrius sodainely receiuing y e glaunce of the eye of Lamie was taken in the net and that newe fire in processe of time gained so much ouer him y t he liued not but in hir not only gaue hir all he had but also abandoned his wife Euxonie to followe his Lamie Wherefore Plutarke reciteth in the life of Demetrius that the Athenians hauing gyuen vnto him .xj. talents of siluer to ayde and paye his great armie he made a present of all the saide suÌ„me to his Lamie wherat y e Athenians wer maruellously greued to sée their mony so euil imployed This miserable King Demetrius doated so extremely in the loue of his Lamie that he honored hir as a God swering by hir as he accustomed to do by his Gods till death fortune which cuts asunder the fillet of those delites sends ende to all such enterprises suffred Lamie to die whereupon that poore King felt himself so griped that as some write of him he kissed hir and embraced hir after hir death and not content with this Idolatrie he made hir be buried before one of y e windowes of his house and when any of his friends asked the occasion wherefore he buried hir in that place he aunswered them sighing dipely the law of friendship of Lamie is so stroÌ„gly graffed in my heart that I knowe not wherein to satisfie the loue she bare me the bonde which I owe to hir for y e same if not to put hir in such a place that by viewe therof my poore eyes may bewaile dayly the death of hir and my sorowful harte continually thinke thereof Whereby the dolor sorow that Demetrius had for y e death of Lamie was so great and extreme that all the Philosophers of Athens were to dispute thereof whether of these twoo things were most to be estéemed either the teares sorow which he suffred for hir or the riches which he spent in the obsequies pomps of hir burial Within a yere .ij. monethes after the death of Lamie died King Demetrius The second amorous Dame named Lays spoken of before was the daughter of a great Sacrificatour of the TeÌ„ple of Apollo a maÌ„ so expert in the arte Magicall that he prophecied the perdition of his daughter incontinent after hir natiuitie This Lays as hir companion had a King for hir friende who was the renoumed Pirrhus with whome she went into Italie in the expedition and warres he made against the Romains remaining there a long time in his campe after returned with him from the warres notwithstanding it is written of hir that she neuer gaue hir selfe to one man alone This Lays was so sufficiently furnished with al perfections of beautie and ornaments of Nature that if she would haue bene continent and not common in hir loue there had not bene so constant a Prince in y e world which woulde not haue desired hyr and not denied to perfourme what she had demaunded of him Being returned from Italie into Grece â–ª she remained at Corinthe as Aulus Gelius writeth and there was soughte vnto of many Kings and noble men whome she courted and dandled with such dissimuled sleightes in loue that if hir louers were vnfainedly passioned and burned extremely in the desire of hir beautie she tooke a singular pleasure to smile and ieste at their simplicitie and folly being besides noted for one of the women of the worlde who excéeded the reste in making gayne proffit of hir loue I haue red one wonder of hyr whiche I neuer hearde of in any but in hir that is that she neuer shewed affection to any man neither was she in loue with anye man whiche coulde be knowen This Lays died in y e Citie of Corinthe being of the age of lxxij yeares the death of whome as it
.vij. Emperour proued during his life such an impediment to the state of his health as the cruell and subtill disposition of an abhominable Monk who gaue ende to his dayes by the impoisoning of an hoste he ministred to him Iohn the .xj. Pope ended not his days by the painful reading of the holy scripture or preaching Gods worde to his flock and charge but he finished his terme in a cruell prison smoothered with a pillow Pope Benet the sixte died not in pāpering himself with sundry delicious and daintie banquets as the moste part of those Romishe prelates do at this day but he ended his dayes in prison by the pinching and gnawing pain of extreme famine Pope Victor the thirde deceased not from this vaine and transitorie life as sommoned by the messanger of olde age but celebrating the Masse was cōpelled to yelde vp his vitall breath by an infectious poyson giuen him in the Chalice Then if so many Monarchs and renoumed princes haue ended their liues by so sundry and straunge kindes of death it is nedeful for those which folow exactly to consider of the warnings iudgements of God and especially such by whose vile and detestable order of liuing may be sene as in a glasse the due reward appointed for the same for as y e noble Marcus Aurelius sayth that after euery euil fortune foloweth a good hap and after euery ignominie ensueth great glory euen so I assure you sayth he that for my self I had rather my lyfe were lesse glorious and my death more honorable for as by an vnfortunate death groweth greate suspition of a good life so a good death often times excuseth an euill life Wherein if so many kindes of deathes bothe of Kings and Emperours by vs written séeme strange and feareful vnto you then those folowing wil deserue more admiratiō the same agreeing with our intent for they be wonders by y ◠which we are instructed that when the Iustice of God is inflamed against vs and that hée shootes his arowes as a sharpe punishment for our offences he maketh his ministers and executers of his iust anger the litle and insensible worms of the earth neither doth his wrathe fall altogether vpon the vulgar or people of meane condition but hath also like force vpon Princes and degrées of greate callings whereof appeares a familiar experience in the monstrous death of a King Bishop recorded alreadie vnder the seale and authoritie of 40. or 50. Historians of no lesse credite than vndoubted truthe all whiche agrée in one that King Popeil raigning in Poloniae 246. yeres after Christ was wont amongst his particular curssyngs to vse this blasphemous othe If this be not true I would the Ratts might gnaw me wherin he receiued the iust hier of so execrable an oth for in the ende he was deuoured as you shall reade hereafter The father of King Popeill féeling himselfe to decline from the vanities of this miserable and vncertain pilgrimage lefte the gouernement and state of the Realme to the disposition of the two vncles of his sonne men no lesse honored of al the cuntrie for the noblenesse of their hearts than wel liked for their sinceritie of life towards God Popeill being come to his full age his father deceassed and the yong man hauing caught betwixte his téeth the bitte of the bridell beganne to gyue hym selfe vnto all wantonnesse and riottous lyuyng in suche sorte that in fewe dayes he became so shamelesse in euill and abhominable doinges that hée lefte no kynde of vice vnassayed in so much that in the ende he cruelly poisoned his two vncles which wicked and vnnaturall facte performed caused himself to be crouned with a cap of floures perfumed with precious ointments the more to solemnize the first entrie of his reigne he caused to be prepared a sūptuous delicate banquet wherunto all the Princes and nobles of his Realme were somoned And as they were banquetting beholde an infinite multitude of Ratts risyng from the dead and putrified corpses of his two vncles the which he with his wife had impoysoned began to assaile that cruell tyrāt amidst his delites the Archers of hys Garde offering to resist the same with maine hande trauailed in vaine for they encountred hym day and nyghte that the poore men cried alas being altogether vnable to defend their maister from the rage of these beastes by reason whereof it was thought good by the aduise of his counsell to enuiron the Prince with fire not knowing that the power of man is any way able to resist Gods appointment they performed their deuise which was no impediment or let to the ratts who passing the hotte flames of fire without any let to the admiration of al men ceassed not to gnaw deuoure this miserable murtherer of his vncles His counsel seing their first intent frustrate of none effecte caused him to be caried in a boate into the middst of a riuer But these beasts not fearyng the rage of the water assailed the boate on euery syde with such rage and impetuositie that the boate-men defending the same in vaine vnderstanding it to procede of some diuine furie were constrayned to thrust the boate to lande committing the king to the mercy of these beasts and he seing himself abandoned of al humaine succour not knowing what to do he and his wife fled into a tower where in the ende by the furie of these little creatures they receyued the iust guerdon of their vnnaturall malicious murder In like maner the Almain◠in al their Chronicles and reportes make mention of the like hystorie of one Hato the .xxxij. Archbishop of Magence at what time there was a cruell famine in the land this Bishop or rauening Woulfe seing the poore people surpressed wyth the gnawing rage of famine and especially those of hys prouince determined I can not tell by what instincte of the diuel to gather together a great number of them into a graunge where in stede of reliefe in this their great and miserable dearth and hunger he committed them to the mercie of the furious and raging flames of fyre whervpon he being asked why he had shewed so vile and execrable tirannie on these miserable and innocent creatures he answered That he burned them for that they differed litle or nothing from Ratts which serued for no other vse than to consume corne Albeit God as witnesseth the Prophet hauing care of the litle sparow wold not suffer this great tyrannie vnpunished for immediately he stirred vp an infinite numbre of Ratts to the vtter destruction and ruine of this vile murderer who fléeing for his more safegarde into a towre builte in a water was by the expresse commaundement of God eaten by these ratts to the very bones which remaine at this day enterred in the monasterie of S. Albyn in Magence and the Towre where this abhominable pastor ended his dayes is yet in being and is called Ratts towre Wherof Munster amongst many others makes mention in
was broiled it could not be consumed by the fire mennes teeth and the diamont cannot be executed by fire And there springs a certain gumme of the Pine male the which as Theophrastus writeth being rubbed vpon the tables of woodde defendes them from the force of the fire whereof there was sufficient proofe made by Silla with his armie brought against Archelaus who hauing enuironed on all sides a tower of woodde of the sayd Archelaus with the burning flames of fire was not thereby hable to endomage the same which Silla much maruelled at Isidorus and manie others writeth that there was brought into the presence of Pope Alexander a white linnen shirte the which for pleasure admiration he caused to be caste into the fire at such time as the strange Embassadours came to sée hym sometimes leauing the sayd shirte in the fire the space of a daye without any hurte to it but that the same taken from the fire was become thereby more fairer whereof some affirme that the cloth of this shirte was made of the worme which men name Salemander who as Aristotle teacheth liueth in the fire but whether it be true or no I leaue that to the iudgement of those which haue waded further in searching the hidde misteries secretes of nature than I. Albeit I knowe that S. Augustin hath made mentiō in his .xxj. booke named the Citie of God in the .v. chapter of a Lampe which was in the Temple of Venus the which although it were exposed and brought into the winde raine or other weather comming from heauen yet it burned with so muche the more efficacie without consuming hauing neither ayde of oyle or matche But after the saide S. Augustin had by diligent searche sought the maruellous cause of that fire which did not consume he resolued in the ende in this sorte either it must be sayeth he that there is in the saide Lampe some peice of the stone called Abseste growing in Arcadie the which being lighted cannot be quenched or it muste be sayth he that the same Lampe was forged by magicall arte or els that this wonder was deuised by some diuel vnder the name of Venus to the ende not onely thereby to make him selfe worshipped but still to keepe and entertaine the people in the same error wherof as Ludouicus Viues vpon the expositiō of the same chapter which hath heretofore added learned commentes to S. Augustins bookes De ciuitate Dei affirmeth in the same to haue séene in the time of his studie at Paris matches which the fire could not cōsume And for a more proufe thereof it hath bene told recounted in the time of our fathers y t there was opened a sepulcher enclosed in the earth wherin was found a burning Lāpe which had remained lighte without going out y ◠space of foure or v. hundreth yeares as it appeared by inscription or authoritie of time ingraued vpon the stone the same dissoluing into pouder assone as it was toutched which I could confirme by diuers like examples and authorities of proufe aswell auncient as familiar who haue lefte sundrie experiences of diuers things of vertue and force able to resiste the fire like as who dippes or rubbes his hands in the iuyce of Mauue or Mercurial shal neuer be endomaged with the furie of any flame or fire ¶ Wonderfull Histories of the Iewes CHAP. x. THis wicked secte of the Iewes hath from time to time so much disquieted and molested our Christian publike weale that the Historians of our time haue attainted thē in their writing of sondrie misdemeanours and abuses in lyuing that whosoeuer shall reade their cruell blasphemies abhominable execrations which they continually publishe and set forth againste Iesus Christ the Sauiour of all the worlde in a certaine booke common in their Sinagoges which they cal Talmud will iudge the same a cause sufficient to exile abandon them out of all the Prouinces and places where Christe is to be honored For like as these poore people blinded and led in the myst of errour haue not only gone about to defame the name of our Sauiour by their writings but also that whiche is worse they haue moste shamefully trauailed to extirpe and blot out the remembrance of him for euer Euen so in the yeare a thousand a hundred and foure score and in the raigne of king Philip these wicked people in the despite of the passion of Iesus Christe vpon good Friday when they iudged that the Christians were most occupied in celebrating that day they inclosed them selues yearely in a caue where hauing stolne a yong chylde they whipte him crounyng him with thornes makyng him to drinke gall and in the end crucified him vpon a crosse continuing in this sort of cruel doings till the Lorde grudging greatly with the death of so many poore innocents suffred them as thieues to be taken with the déede and after he had caused them to be examined and tormented for the same they confessed that they had vsed this many yeres before murdring a great number of infantes in this sort wherof king Philip being ascertained caused them not only to be chased from his realme but also broiled of them to the number of .lxxx. in a hot burning caudron After that king Philip seing him selfe oppressed with warres and wantyng money to maintaine the same for a better supplie of hys necessitie he for a summe of money payd to him in hande by the said Iewes for their outragious liuing licenced them to return trauail into France But euen as vices be chained togither drawing one another so these wicked people yet smellyng of this first iniurie which they had receyued determined and fully resolued amongst them selues to extirp at one instant the name of Christians destroying thē all by poyson And for a further helpe in these their wicked practises they allied them selues in consorte wyth diuers Lepres by whose succoures and meanes they made an oyntment with a confection of the blood of mans vrine composed with certaine venemous herbes wrapped within a little lynnen cloth tying a stone to the same to make it sinke to the bottome they nightly cast in the sayd infection into all the fountaines and welles of the Christians Whervpon this corruption engendred such cōtagious diseases in all Europe that there died wel nigh the thirde person throughout the same for this plague passing sodainly from citie to citie by the contagiousnesse therof destroyed and smoothered al things bearing life encountring it But after the Lorde had suffred to raigne for a time the tyrannie of these wicked and euil disposed persons he stopped so their cruel enterprises that they passed no further therin And like as in tyme diuers of those welles and fountains became drie by which meanes the impoisoned bags were founde in the bottom of the water Euen so by coniecture and suspition diuers of these malefactors were apprehended and being grieuously tormented confessed the facte whervpon grew such sharp
1541. she was of the age of .xxvj. yeres That learned Philosopher Licostenes writeth one maruellous thing of that monster for reseruing the duplication of the head nature otherwyse had left nothing in hir vnperfect These two heades as he writeth had desire in like to drinke to eate to slepe and to talke together as also dyd all hir other affections Wherefore thys mayde wente from dore to dore searchyng hir liuyng to whome they gaue more willingly for the noueltie of so strange a creature so newe a spectacle Albeit she was chased thorough the Duchie of Bauiere to the ende she myght marre the frute of women with childe for the apprehension whiche remayneth in the imagination of the figure of this monstrous Woman ¶ A Monster on liue whose intrailes and interiour parts were to be seene naked and vncouered CHAP. xxviij IN the tyme that Seruius Galba and Marcus Scaurus were Consules a noble and famous woman in Nursiue brought forthe a son on liue which had the vppermost part of his bely so open that men might sée hys intrails naked and vncouered and it was so harde and entier in the nethermost part that I beleue if you haue red al the Authors Grekes and Latins which haue written of the wonders of nature you shal scarcely fynde his like And although the Romains were alway superstitious in those things yet was this monster a certain Augure and soothsayer of the victorie whiche they obtained against Iugurth as Iules Obsequent writeth in the hundreth Chapter of his book of the wonders of the Romains Wherfore if the Grekes and Arabes whiche were so fine in serching out the secretes within the shop of mans body that they demaunded of the king the bodies of the condemned to open them aliue had had that litle monster at their cōmaundement they néede not haue exercised such butchery tirānie and crueltie on the behalfe on liuing creatures as they did for casting their eyes only vpon that little monster without makyng further openyng or incision they myght haue séene and discerned the substance the greatnesse number figure situation commoditie and action of all the principall partes of mans bodie the liuely spirites being within the which is not of small consideration in nature seing that by the ignorance of those things if that a sinew or muscle be cut for the most parte the féelyng is lost sometimes the mouing and sometimes bothe the one and the other and very oftentimes death therby foloweth Wherfore the ancient kings and princes as Marcus Anthonius Flauius and Boetius as Galene witnesseth tooke so great pleasure in Anotomies and cuttyng of bodies that they themselues vsed that arte who as they obserued not the same carefully so they made erre the most renoumed Philosophers in the time past as Aristotle in his first and thirde boke of Histories treatyng of Creatures the .vij. chapter where he writeth that the seames of the head by the which the moyst matters of the braine doe euapour be not like but differ in men and women notwithstandyng we sée by common experience the contrary whereby the same author is also deceiued in that he writeth that the heades of Dogs haue no sinews although in anotomysing of them wée fynde they haue seames so well as in the heade of man In lyke maner Cornelius Celsus one of the most excellent which hath written of physike in Latin is beguyled in the same matter of seames in hys eyghte boke and fyrst chapter where he writeth that those heads which haue no seames be the moste sounde and least subiect to sicknesse though the same be vtterly false as wytnesseth Hipocrates in his first boke of men where he writeth that the heads which haue the gretest number of seames be the most healthfull wherin as I haue shewed the mistakyng of the two matters of the cutting of the body Euen so coulde I discouer vnto you a numbre of other errours whiche be founde in Mundinus Carpus and others who in their writyngs haue ben often beguiled in the opening of the shoppe of mans bodie But for that we are to entreate of wonders we will therfore make an ende of that matter without settyng before you the falts gathered in the Haruest of Physike ¶ An historie of a prodigious Dogge which engendred of a Beare and a Mastife bitche in England sene by the Author at London with the discourses of the nature of this Beaste CHAP. xxix LIke as mine Author in the beginning of thys Chapter séemeth to preferre in sort of a Frenche flourishe or commendation to hym selfe hys being in Englande wyth sundry honours that were done to hym by the Quéenes Maiestie and certaine nobilitie at what tyme he was brought to the viewe of thys Dogge so for certayne respects I accompt it as necessarie to leaue it oute as to fyll or cloye the Reader with suche vaine follie In Englande then accordyng to mine Authour was bredde thys monstrous Dogge whose figure séemeth to resemble indifferently a Dog and a Beare whiche argueth him to participate bothe of the one and the others nature the same not séemyng very straunge to suche as haue obserued theyr conditions at London where the Dogges and the Beares doe lie in little Cabinets or vaultes of wood one fast by an other and being in theyr heates those that do gouerne them wyll not stycke oftentymes to putte a Beare and a Dogge in one house together when beyng prycked wyth theyr naturall impressyons they conuerte theyr crueltie into loue of whyche coniunctions are engendred oftentymes creatures lyke vnto thys although very seldome amongst which myne Author hath obserued two Whiche as they were gyuen to the Marquesse of Trans so he made a present of the one of them to the Countie of Alphestan the Emperors Embassador and the other he made to be caried wyth hym into Fraunce where myne Author caused thys portraict to be drawen omitting nothing that was necessary to be séene In whom albeit maye appeare some cause of wonder by the strange effecte of Nature yet the attestation of sundry famous authors maketh it neyther rare nor newe Lyke as Aristotle who is of opinyon that diuerse beastes may haue Coitum and ioyne togyther so that theyr natures do not muche differ as doe the Dogge the Woulfe and the Foxe He wryteth in an other place that the Indian dogs be ingendred of a Dogge and a Tyger whiche is also approued by Polux and Plinie Patritius and Senes in theyr thirde boke of theyr common Wealthe haue affirmed that the Indians haue not onely made couer their bitches wyth beastes of an other kynde but also the auncient Frenchemen vsed to haue them engender with Woulues to the ende that the fruite of suche fierce commixture and séede myghte bée of the more strengthe and furie the same being also confirmed by Augustus Nyphus in a Historie assisted with his owne eyes and not gathered by any reporte On a time sayth he that the Lorde Federike of Montforce and I returned
1. ¶ In the second the woÌ„ders and aduertisements of God sent vpon the Citie of Ierusalem to prouoke them to repentaunce 4. ¶ In the thirde mention is made of the deathe of sundry Kings Bishoppes Emperours and Monarques with the wonderfull death of a king of Poloigne and an Archebishop of Maience 5. ¶ In the fourth is described the history of Nabuchodonozer wherin is sheed in what perill they be which coÌ„maunde and haue the gouernement of publike weales 10 ¶ In the fifthe is declared the causes of the bringing forth of monsters and other histories to that purpose 12. ¶ In the sixth is recouÌ„ted a notable history of two maidens engendred in our time the which were knit togither by the forheads 14 ¶ In the seuenth a wonderful and horrible monster of our time vpon the discourse of whom the question is asked whether Diuels can engender and vse the workes of nature 16. ¶ In the eight sundry sortes of Lightnings with wonderful thunders and teÌ„pests happening in our time with the peril harmes proceding of the same and certaine defensible meanes against their furie 19. ¶ In the ninth a wonderful history of a man in our time which washed his hands face in scalding lead 24. ¶ In the tenth wonderfull and straunge histories of the Iewes 26. ¶ In theleuenth Flouds and wonderful inundations of waters which 〈◊〉 happened in our time 29. ¶ In the twelfth the wonderfull deathe of Plinie with a briefe description of the causes of fire which come of certaine openings of the earth 30 ¶ In the thirtenth wonders of certaine horrible Earthquakes chauncing in diuers prouinces with a deceit of Sathan who by his crafte and subteltie made a Romaine knight to throwe himself headlong into a gulffe 33 ¶ In the fourtenth wonders of two bodies knit togethers like two graffes in the trunke of a tree 35 ¶ In the fiftenth a history of a monster who appeared to S. Anthonye in the desert 37 ¶ In the sixtenth a wonderful discourse of precious stones their nature and propertie which reasoneth of their procreation and other strange things breding in the bowels of the erth 38 ¶ In the seuententh a wonderful history of two Princesses being committed to the flames vniustly accused who were deliuered by the vertue of their innocencie 45 ¶ In the eightenth a wonderful history of sundry straunge fishes Monsterâ— Mermaids and other huge creatures found and bred in the Sea 47 ¶ In the ninetenth wonders of Dogges which did eate Christians 54 ¶ In the twentith a wonderfull history of diuers figures Comets Dragones and flames which appeared in heauen to the terrour of the people and whereunto the causes and reasons of them be assigned 56. ¶ In the .21 Flames of fire which haue spronge out of the heades of diuers 〈◊〉 61. 〈…〉 22. A history very notable of 〈…〉 loues with a description of the dissolute life of three renoumed Curtisanes 62 ¶ In the .23 A wonderfull history of a monster out of whose belly issued an other man all whole reseruing the head 69. ¶ In the .24 Notable histories of many plants with their properties and vertues together with a wonderful rote of Baata written of by Iosephus the Hebrew author 70. ¶ In the .25 Wonderfull and excessiue Bankets 76. ¶ In the .26 Certaine wonderfull discourses worthy of memory touching Visions Figures and Illusions appearing as wel in the day as in the night and sleeping as waking 82. ¶ In the .27 A wonderfull history of a monster seene by Celius Rhodigenus 98 ¶ In the .28 A monster on liue whose intrailes and interiour parts were to be sene naked and vncouered 100 ¶ In the .29 Of a prodigeous Dogge which engendred of a Beare and a mastiffe bitche in England seene by the Author at London with the discourses of the nature of this beaste 101. ¶ In the .29 A wonderfull historye of certain women which haue brought forthe a greate number of children and an other which bare hir fruite v. yeares dead within hir belly 108 ¶ In the .31 A wonderfull history of a moÌ„ster hauing the shape of the face of a man who was taken in the Forest of Haueberg in the yeare .1531 whose purtraicte Georgius Fabritius sent to Gesnerus naturally drawne 110 ¶ In the .32 Of wonderfull and strange famines 112 ¶ In the .33 Of a Bird which hath no fete and liues continually in the air being neuer founde vpon the earthe or in the sea but dead 114 ¶ In the .34 Of a certaine monstrous Serpent hauing .vij. heads bought by the Venetians and sent into Fraunce embalmed 117. ¶ In the .35 A straunge and wonderfull historie of two maids knit and conioyned backe to backe sene in diuers places the one at Rome the other at Verona 123 ¶ In the .36 Of wonderfull crueltie in the which is a discourse of Asâ—iages who caused Arpalus to eate the flesh of his owne sonne 125 ¶ In the .37 Of a moÌ„ster brought forth into the worlde aliue hauyng the shape of a man from the nauell vpward and the rest like a dogge 128 ¶ In the .38 A notable complaint made by a monstrous man to the Senate of Rome against the tyrannies of a CeÌ„sour which oppressed the pore people of the riuer of Danubie with rigorous exactions 130 ¶ In the .39 Of a monstrous childe hauing .iiij. fete and .iiij. armes brought into the world the same day that the Geneuois and Venetians were recoÌ„ciled 136 ¶ In the .40 A wonderful discourse of couetousnesse with many examples touching that matter worthy of memory 137 ¶ In the .41 A monster hauing the. wings fete of a bird brought forth at Rauenna in the time of Pope Iuly the seconde and king Lewes the twelfth 139 ¶ Of a straunge monster takeÌ„ vp in the riuer of Tybre in the yeare .1496 Fol. 140 ¶ Of a straunge child borne in Almain in the yeare .1548 hauing but one legge and no armes with a creuise or chinke where his mouth should be 140 ¶ Of a childe borne in Englande in the yere 155â— which had two bodies two heads four hands and thre legs and but one belly 141. ¶ Of a wonderfull and strange monster borne in the yere .1554 eod ¶ Of two woÌ„derfull monsters brought forthe into the worlde in the yeare 1555. the one in Germanie the other in Sauoye 142 ¶ Of a monstrous Calfe brought forthe in Germanie in the yeare .1556 143 ¶ A monstrous child borne in Germanie in the yere .1556 144 ¶ Of a moÌ„strous calfe hauing the head beard and brest of a man eod ¶ Of thre Sunnes sene at one time 145 ¶ Of a shining Crosse with a starre at the toppe and a Mone at the lower ende seene in the yere .1567 eod ¶ Of two monsters 146 ¶ A wonderfull Daunce 147 ¶ The ende of the Table SVNDRY ABVSES and wonders of Sathan CHAPITER j. ALbeit Sathan since the creation of the world hath performed his tirannous raigne in most
but to euery blowe of the whip which they gaue him he exclaimed the more euil Fortune euil Fortune vpon Ierusalem and being asked of Albyn which was Iudge where he was borne and wherefore he so lamented he made no answere not ceassing to bewaile according to his accustomed manner the desolation of that miserable Citie Which was the cause that Albyn iudging him madde suffered him to passe And that which is most straunge he continued in this sort the space of seauen yeares and fiue monethes vntil the very destruction of y e sayd Citie without ceassing to vse his accustomed cries or making himselfe hoarce not yelding thankes to those whiche gaue him meate or drinke But rehearsing this dolefull song to al such as came vnto him vntil the very time the Citie was besieged and that Titus had giuen the assault encamped before it and then turning himselfe to the walles began a fresh his noise crying with a horrible voice Euill Fortune vpon the Citie temple and all the people after he had made an ende of these words and euil hap vpon my selfe a greate stone caste by the enimies sodainely slew him and incontinent the Emperor Titus sacked and burnt the Citie where y e slaughter was so great as Ioseph writeth that during that siege there died eleauen hundred thousand persons And the ire of God was so feruent vpon the poore Iewish people that after they had eaten al the filthy sluttish and vncleane meates they could get in the ende they were constrained not onely to eate the latchets of their shoes but also their shoe soles dipped and stieped in water and also the filthy Rattes haue serued them for meate and that which was most horrible the mothers forced to make meate of the flesh of their children so much was the furie of God kindled agaynst this miserable Citie ¶ The wonderful death of sundry Kinges Princes Byshops Emperoures and Monarques CHAP. iij. AS amongest all the dignities of the world there is not any to be found more excellent or wonderfull than the magnificence of Kings nor wherin is figured in more perfect forme the very Image of diuinitie Euen so there is no state more perillous and subiect to eclipse or mutation nor that findes more sharpe thâ—â—rrowes and iudgementes of God than those which degenerate from the excellent degrée of honor whereunto the voice of God hath called them The which is sufficiently verified by a number of examples both sacred and prophane Wherein Croesus that great King of Lydie if he were risen from death knew wel what to say the which publishing himself in all places to be the most fortunate King of the worlde was in the ende vanquished ouercome and burned by Cirus Policrates the renoumed King of the Samiens as Valerius witnesseth did not feele at any time so much the prickes of Fortune being vanquished by Darius as when he was betrayed and killed by his owne Prouost vpon the height of a mountaine Valerius Emperour of the Romains ouercome by Sapor king of the Perses ended his life in such seruitude that the sayd Sapor made him not only his fotâ—stoole but also vsed hym as a stiroppe to alighte vpon hys horsse Also the Emperor Diocletian hauing lefte the Empire died of the poyson which he himselfe had prepared But where is now that great King Xerxes whose Nauies and Sailes of warre ouerspread the whole Occean Or where is that inuincible Hannibal who by his extreme labor trenching the mountains and making great hils equal with the valleyes of the earth and forced also the frozen Alpes to yelde passage to his armie In like sorte Paulus Emilius Iulius Cesar Pompey with others of infinite number amongst the Greekes and Romaines what is become of them or what other pomp remaines of their auÌ„cient glorie and former Maiestie if not a simple fame to féede the succession of their age yea what other remembraunce haue we of them and their doings if not a monumente or register of report for the which also they are bound to the Historians in leauing to their posteritie so large a pawne witnesse of their painfull life Their bodies alas clothed with Purple their Diademes Perfumes and other such vanities be 〈◊〉 coÌ„sumed to bones ashes leauing worms as heires to the rest of their glorie the which in the ende shewes hir self so vaine slippery that those which accoÌ„pted their liues most fortunate iudged euen now to haue raught the height of their prosperitie do féele them selues most sharply wounded by their malice Hercules albeit he passed so many perils bothe by sea and land with the mortall encounters of huge monsters yet did he embrace his bane in the armes of his delicate Deianyra Alexander the great who was of force to make a general conquest of the whole East worlde passing eche straighte and daunger of warre without any mortall hurte to his person was not able to shunne the fatall cuppe of poyson presented vnto him After Iulius Caesar had triumphed in .52 batailes with intent to sounde the last retreate of warre with expectation to retire his bones froÌ„ further toile was killed in the Senate Zeno the .xij. Emperor of Constantinople albeit the sundry famous victories which he obtained died not in his bedde but by the cruell and vnnaturall commaundement of his wife was buried quicke not able to be succoured of any Asclepius the brother of Pompey hauing ben a continuall pyrate on the seas the space of .22 yeares and escaping the surging waues and terrible tempests of the same was in the ende drowned by drawyng water at a Well Mempricius a King of Englande being on huntyng and lost of his company was by the cruel fate of Fortune denied other harbor of princely sepulture than the bellies of the rauening Wolues Drusus hauing vanquished by valiant courage the Perthes albeit he died not by any woundes gotten in those conflicts but receiued with great poÌ„pe and triumph vpon a Chariot at Rome was in the ende killed with a tyle stone Bazileus the .xxv. Emperor of Constantinople did not ende his life in the cruell warres he had with the Sarazins but hauing taken truce wyth worldly vanities â–ª was in hunting killed by a Hart. Charles king of Nauerre albeit he died not in performing sundry noble and valiant actes yet being troubled and tormented with the paine of the gowte for whose helpe it was deuised by the counsell of all his Physitions to wrap the sayde King in a linnen cloth dipped in Aqua vitae which being kindled in stede of present succour of his disease he receiued his fatall bane by being burned quicke in the same Otho the third Emperor of that name not so well able to forsée the subtill deceipts of the wife of Crescentius as to withstand the force and cruell assaults of warre he endured at Rome against CresceÌ„tius was poisoned by a paire of gloues which he receiued of hir Neither was the fearefull and daungerous stormes of warres which Henry the
son despoiled hir not only of all hir goodes but in processe of time as one synne draweth another he so continuyng his wicked enterprise would not be satisfied with hir goodes but sought to deuest hir of hir honor accusing hir a freshe that she had cōmitted adulterie with the bishop of Winchester whereof king Edward storming out of measure to heare hir accused of such execrable vices who had giuen him suck within hir intrailes resolued to put hir to death and in the meane tyme whilest all the court was molested with the inquisition of this offence he cōmitted hir and the bishop into seuerall prisons where she being grieued demaunded one day amongst others to talke with the kyng hir sonne in whose presence she cast hir selfe headlong into the burnyng flames crying with a loude voyce y t those hote burning flames myght consume hir body ▪ if she were culpable of the faults wherof she was wrongfully accused and hauyng ended this talke she issued oute of the fyre in good safetie without diminishing any part of hir body Wherat y e king was much astonished Crantius in his chronicles of Almayn and many others whiche haue written of their Histories report the like of lame Henry the .xv. Emperor of the Romains a mā very religious who maried with the daughter of Sigeroy Palatin of Rheyn called Gunegonde a woman chast and of good life if euer there were any with whō the emperour lyued in maruellous continencie and chastitie louing hir onely Albeit a certain Gentlewoman of hys house persuaded by some wicked spirite repinyng to see their cōtinēcies determyned to sow some ielousy betwixt them who findyng the Emperoure at conuenient leysure tolde hym that she dyd beholde the Empresse vsing the company of a knyght in vnhonest manner Whereof the Quéene being aduertised commaunded there shoulde be made ready secretely six greate Culters of yron and to bring them into the presence of the Emperour who ignorant of the occasion was sodainely amazed to sée hys wyfe marche so hardly barefooted and without any feare at all and stande vpon those burning yrons Whome she beholdyng attentiuely sayde vnto hym Behold Emperour as I am not hurt with this fire euen so am I clere from all immundicitie Whereof the Emperor was astonished and began to thinke of the vaine superstition the whiche he had beléeued prostrating hym selfe sodainly vpon the earth and required pardon at Gods handes for his rashe iudgement in the same Wherin as these innocent doings proued by those flames séeme straunge so doe the liues of these two persons wherof the Historians wryte seeme to me no lesse wonderfull for that they liued togethers like maydes withoute knowyng one the other duryng al theyr lyues in such sort that the Emperor feeling death to approch caused hir parents to be sent for sayd to them Like as y e first day ye gaue me your daughter in mariage she was a maid euē so I render hir vnto you again a maide with cōmaundement to vse hir in faithfull trusty maner The Emperor with his maidēlike wife were buried in the cathedral church of Bambergh which heretofore was subiect to the archbishop of Maiencey Preferring further as of good right into y e nūber of .ij. vertuous princesses y e history recited by Eusebius Cesariēsis in his ecclesiasticall history of Policarpus which during the great butchery and persecution of the christians which they made vnder y e emperor Verus wer brought to y e fire to be burned quick and after they had lifted their eyes to heauen and made their prayers to god they wer cast hedlong into a great hot burning fire albeit in the place where y e flame ought to haue cōsumed thē brought thē to cinders it began with great maruel to reuolt flying far off frō the bodies of y e martirs in maner like the sayle of a shippe whiche is tossed and caried by the windes in the middest of the sea which appeared as euidently as the golde or siluer which they melte in the fornace And when these wicked monsters sawe that their bodies consumed not they commaunded the tormentor or hangman to thrust them thorough wyth a sworde when beholde sayth he there issued out of their bodies suche quantitie of bloode in suche greate abundance that the fire was cleane extincte giuing to the lookers on suche a grieuous remorse of conscience that they fledde altogethers wherof you may reade more at large in the fourth booke of the Historie Ecclesiasticall of Eusebius and the .xlj. chapter ¶ A wonderfull historie of sundry straunge Fishes monsters Mermaydes and other huge creatures founde and bredde in the sea CHAP. xviij AMongest most of those things which merit Philosophicall contemplation touching the vniuersall subiect of creatures without reason I thinke such are moste wonderful whose nature is furthest from our vnderstanding and iudgemēt as especially huge fishes and other monsters of the water who being shrined in the bottome and bellye of the Sea and buried in the depth of diuerse lakes do excéede moste commonly the opinion and iudgemeat of suche as be most curious to searche and fifte their maners and conditions the same being so rare and strange and specially in the exercise of their naturall actions that I thinke they be of force to moue equall delite desire to many men to participate for a time with their societie in the Elament where they dwell to the ende they mighte come to a more frée and perfect knowledge of their vertues whiche was plentifully approued by the Emperour Antonine who hauing receiued a certaine worke of Opian treating of the order of fishing and disposition of fyshe gaue hym as manie Crownes as there were verses in his bookes Conradus Celtis and after hym Gesnerus shewing the desire and affection that the Aunciente Emperours had to bée priuie to the propertie age maners and condicion of fishes write that in the yeare .1497 was taken in a poole neare to Haelyprum the Imperiall Citie of Sweura a Brochet whiche had a hoope or ring of leather tyed to his eares wherein was written in Carracters of Greeke this whiche foloweth I am the firste fyshe that was put into this Riuer by the handes of Federike seconde Emperour of the Worlde the fifte of October a thousande twoo hundred and thirty which proued by the witnesse of those letters that the saide Brochet had lyued in that water 297. yeares Wherein also it séemes that this good Emperour Federik obserued in fishes that which Alexander vsed in Hartes or déere who according to Plinie woulde cause very often chaines of golde with inscriptions to be tied about theyr neckes then gaue them the libertie of the wilde forestes the same being founde a hundred or twoo hundred yeares after kéeping the same coller letters about their neckes The Romains for the estimation they had of fishes pleasure to behold them would sometime caste cōdemned men all quicke into their riuers Lakes to the
the whiche meanes we iudge to sée diuers sunnes We maye also sée the lyke in a table wel painted and polished which when we behold there appeareth to vs the shape of two or .iij. being but one in dede and as much we may say of y e Moone Thus haue we declared the very true causes wherfore appere so often .ij. or .iij Sunnes Moones let vs therfore now from henceforth search in nature the cause and beings of these things and stay no more at these fripperies deceiptes and dreames of the Astrologians iudicials who therby haue so oftentimes deceiued begiled vs that they oughte and deserue to be banished exiled from all cōmon wealths well gouerned for what trouble perplexitie and terrour haue they engendred in the consciences of a numbre of poore people As for example in the yere 1514. when they feared not with obstination to publishe openly in all places that there shoulde be in the moneth of February well nigh an vniuersall floud for that the coniunction of all the planets were in the signe of Pisces and notwithstandyng the day which should haue brought forth these waters was one of the moste faire and temperate days of the yere albeit many great personages fearefull of their prophecies made prouision of bisket flower ships and other like things propre to sayle withall fearyng to be surprised and drowned wyth the greate abundance of water whiche they before had tolde of Lette vs further from henceforth learne with Henry the .vij. king of Englande who reigned in oure tyme makyng no accompt of theyr deceytes but chastised their dreame who vpon the sodaine beyng made to vnderstande that one of the moste famous Astrologians of Englande had published in all places that he had found amongst the most hidden secretes of Astrologie that the King shoulde die before the next feast of Christmas commaunded that he should be brought before hym who after he had asked hym whether this talke were true and that the prognosticator had answered him that it was certaine and that he had founde this infallible in his constellation and natiuitie I pray thée then sayde the King tell me where the starres tell thée thou shalte kéepe thy Christmas this yeare To whom he answered he shoulde be in hys owne house with hys familie but I knowe very wel sayd the King that thy starres be lyers for thou shalt neither sée Moone Sunne Starres heauen nor thy familie this Christmasse putting hym presentely in the moste straight darke prison in the great tower of London where he continued till the feast was past Here you may sée how this true Astrologian was vsed remayning prisoner in extreme misery vntil after the feast kept of the natiuitie of Iesus Christe ¶ A wonderfull Historie of Flames of fyre which haue sprong out of the heades of diuers men CHAP. xxj IF there were but one onely Authour which had made mention of the Historie followyng although the truthe therof be sufficiently proued for whiche cause I haue the rather at this time placed it in these my wōders as a chiefe argument or coniecture in nature whereupon may be founded the cause notwithstanding seing so many learned men haue busied themselues to write therof together with so greate a number of faithfull authors witnessing the same in their works we ought the rather vpon their credite to beleue that whiche they haue sayd therin Titus Liuius in his thirde booke and thirde Decade Cicero in his seconde boke De diuinatione Valerius the great in his first boke and .vj. chapiter Frontinus in his secōd boke and .x. chapiter write that after the Scipions were surprised by their enimies and ouerthrowē and killed by the Spanyards and that Lucius Martius a Romaine knight making an oration to his souldiers exhorting to reuēgement they became astonished to see a great flame of fire issuing from his heade without doing to him any hurt which caused the armed men being moued with the sight of thys wonderfull flame to take heart and run so furiously vpon their enimies that they not onely killed xxvij thousande but also had a praie of a great number of captiues besides an inestimable riches they toke from the Carthaginiens Neither haue such fantasticall fyres sprong from the bodies of certaine men or appeared in one only but in many Wherof the same author Titus Liuius writeth in his first boke of things worthy of memory sithens the foundation of Rome the like to happen to Seruius Tullius who succéeded in the imperial seate Tarquinius Priscus from whose heade being yet but yong and as he slepte they sawe issue a flame of fyre whervpon the Quéene Tanaquil wife to the foresayd Priscus affirmed to hir husbād that this flame promised to hym greate good honour and prosperitie whiche afterwards chaunced for he maried not onely hir daughter but after the death of hir husband hée was Kyng of the Romaines And Plutarche and others haue written the lyke of Alexander when he foughte against the Barbariens being in the moste heate of the skirmish they sawe him all on fyre whiche caused a maruellous feare and terrour to his ennimies Euen so I knowe a certaine Physition at this day who writeth of the lyke in diuers of his histories chauncing in our time to a nere friende of his in Italy not onely at one time but at many Whereof as Plinius not onely in an other place maketh mention of the ryuer Trasimenus whyche was seene all on fyre but also maketh a certain discourse of these wonderfull flames whyche be seene aboute the bodies of men Also Aristotle in hys fyrst boke of Metheores treateth in lyke maner But to tell you myne opinion therein I can not any wayes gather the cause or foundation eyther of the one or other althoughe I haue promised to shewe the causes and reasons whervpon these wonders procede and take their beginnyng For if we wyll saye they be made by Arte As we haue séene very often in oure tyme certaine Ruffians vomite and caste forth of theyr mouthes certayne flames of burnyng Fyre whiche Atheneus in the fyrst boke of the Dipnosophistes and fouretenth Chapiter doth witnesse whiche coulde not happen as I thinke to the Histories before mentioned for that it hath chanced to greate lordes vpon whome these wonders haue bene moste proued by which meanes they being attended vpon wyth a greate numbre and multitude of persones the fraude thereof was easlyer discouered Wherefore it is moste expediente then to beléeue that they be wonders and deceytes of Sathan who was so familiar in the worlde passed that he inuented dayly newe wonders as is wytnessed in Exodus of the Magitiens of Pharao whiche conuerted Maydes into Serpentes and floudes of water into bloud whyche be matters as difficulte as to make flames of fyre issue or come from the bodies of men ¶ A Historie very notable of Prodigeous Loues CHAP. xxij I Am ashamed and almoste confused in my self that I must declare the wonderfull loue
notwithstanding his memorie perfecte and sounde and yet sometime with the mortall assaultes of his passions he became immouable as a tronke or blocke hauing his eyes open with perfect knowledge of all the assistaunts his féeling albeit so far withdrawen that he would not stirre or moue what pricking or pinching so euer was offred him but the pange being retired and his bodie retourned to his former state of health quiet he would tell of many wonders in that qualme but most of al of .ij. men appearing afore him as in aâ—â—ision whereof the one bare the figure of a childe the other séemed to haue a more perfect age who also in the beginning of Lent appeared eftesoones vnto him with these wordes in order of speciall charge that if he woulde cause to be cut the prepuce he shoulde not féele any paine for .xl. dayes which he did and accordingly was deliuered of griefe for that time in the iust ende whereof his sorows began to returne in sorte as they did before and likewise the same .ij. men presented themselues afore him inuisible sauing to himselfe counsailyng him to caste hymselfe into the Sea vnto the nauell where tarying a certaine time his griefe shoulde ceasse and onely shoulde remaine a certaine slymie humour whiche woulde passe awaye whiche he did and founde an effecte of their aduise what wonderfull Philosophie is this of Sainct Augustine and what straunge apparaunce in visions But what more cause of wounder can be than to sée them priuie to the secretes of Phisicke all whiche sure as they bréede indifferent doubte and feare in suche as reade or heare of them and yet for my parte I haue not hearde nor redde eyther in prophane or sacred reporte anye thing more maruellous that waye than the vision of Cataldo Bishop of Tarento the same appearing in our time not without infecting many mens consciences with greate scrupule and doubte séeing that that vision hath lefte sufficient matter to trouble the most Theologians and Philosophers of the worlde This Cataldo a man holy in life being buried a thousande yeares past within the Bishoprike of Taronto appeared notwithstanding after â–ª the ende of such time in a nighte to a yong infante giuen altogether to God with expresse charge to vncouer a certaine vaulte in a place in the earth whiche he assigned hym wherein he had hidden whilest he was in the worlde a booke written with his owne hande whiche assoone as he had taken oute of the grounde he shoulde offer it immediatly to Ferdinando firste Kyng of Aragon and Naples raigning at that tyme. This childe for the small faith he gaue to the vision perfourmed not the charge giue him Whereunto albeit he was eftesones sollicited at sundry times yet he neuer vsed regarde to the persuasâ—â—n vntill one morning afore daye as he was in his prayers in the Churche he behelde Cataldo in his Byshoppes wéede and countenaunce of threatning seueritie who appeared sayd vnto him as thou haste gyuen slender credit to my wordes with lesse regarde to searche the booke and deliuer it to Ferdinando so assure thy selfe this time for all if thou refuse to perfourme the charge or once staie to attende an other sommonce thy punishement wil be to greate for thée to endure whiche laste threate stirred suche feare in the childe that the nexte morning he imparted the vision to the multitude who according to the strayte and too straunge tearmes of the same assembled very curiously to accompanie the childe to the place of charge where being arriued and vncouering the earth they founde a little coffer of leade so close and curiouslye wrought that the ayre or sounde had no place to enter in the bottome whereof they tooke vp a booke wherein were writen in forme of a prophecie the miseries plages and curses whiche should happen to the kingdome of Naples to the King Ferdinando and his children the same hauing so directly happened and succeded since as it may séeme the byshop did not erre or write false in one syllable For such was y e infortune of this miserable King Ferdinando to fall so déepe and desperatly into the ire of God that he was killed in the firste conflicte the like happening not long after to his eldest sonne Alfonsus who afore he coulde settle himselfe within the state Royall was put to flight by his enimies and dyed in miserable exile Suche was also the chaunce of Ferdinando his yonger sonne to whome as the kingdome was due by inheritaunce so death preuented his vse and possession of it and that in the floure of his age being so enuironed with warres that he had skarce leasure to take breath What otâ—â—r good was reserued to Federike sonnes sonne to the said Ferdinando than that he sawe sacked and burned afore his eyes his countrey his people bathing in the suddes of their owne bloud and his owne lyfe in the ende committed to the mercy of his mortall enimies And lastly if we well consider what fortune hath gouerned this kingdome of Naples withall giue faith to the authoritie of suche as haue written truly of it we shall finde that of al the kingdoms of the earth only this state of Naples hath excéeded in reuolution mutation persecution and losse of bloud the same making it séeme in déed and as it is and may be most properly termed the very but and marke whereat fortune hath delited to vnloase hir cursed and sharpe arrowe a very gulphe and sinke out of the whiche were drawne all the miseries whiche infected the whole bodie of Italy this was in effect the Prophecie and vision of the Prelate Cataldo according to the witnesse of Alexander ab Alexandro in his booke of the generall dayes which with the other afore recited as me thinke may suffise for the examples of our visions appearing to men both by day and nighte sléeping and waking aswell in sicknesse as health So there restes nowe according to our general intent touching all other matters in this booke to searche oute the cause of theâ—â— fantasticall illusions and of what substaunce they are founded or do procéede whiche bycause it doth not include an indifferent or equall respect to all men I thinke it most sure and best to follow and marche vnder the enseigne of S. Augustine who aboue any other hath vsed a more learned diligence to discouer this matter and yet is it necessary afore we passe further herein for y e better exposition of the circumstaunce to make an vniuersall partition in the deduction wherof we wil followe that which he hath written against Adamantum where he procéedeth in this sorte There be saith he diuerse kindes of visions auouched by the holye Histories whereof some do make themselues appeare afore the eyes of the bodye as the thrée men whiche appeared to AbrahaÌ„ that whiche Moyses sawe burning in the bushe and lastly that of Moyses and Elyas to the Apostles at suche time as Christe was transfigured vpon the mountaine The
be amongst them song when he heard them crow beat him self with his armes as they do with their wings As also some other that persuaded them to be transfigured into a vessel of earth who kéeping cōtinually vpon the plaines champaines dare not come neare houses or trees for feare to bruse or breake them in pieces There was a certaine Damsel ▪ whereof Alexander Trallianus writeth this history that by a corruption of the imagination she persuaded hir selfe to haue deuoured a Serpente sleeping neither coulde she be deliuered from the disease of suche thought vntill being prouoked to an extreme vomite there was secretly conueyed into the basin a quicke Serpent immediatly after the which she was deliuered of hir disease persuading that she had vomited the Serpent that stirred in the basyn There be yet visions whiche procéede by eating certaine poisons as Plinie and Edwardus witnesse of him of those whiche did eate the braines of a Beare whiche being deuoured they imagined that they were turned into a Beare The like happening in oure time to a Spanishe Gentleman who hauing eaten of a Beare wente wandring by the desertes and mountaines thinking to be trāsformed into a Beare Yet ther be other sortes of visions which according to y e opiniōs of certaine Phisitions proceede vpon certaine Naturall causes as when any man is killed and buried not very deepe in the earth there come as they saye from the dead bodye certaine exhalations and vapours whiche ascende into the ayre do séeme to represente the figure or fourme of hym that was put in the earth Wee haue also many other things whiche vnder the coloure of illusions abuse oure vnderstanding as when the ayre is troubled with contrary winds by whose agitations is engendred a bruite or murmure resembling properly the lowing or noise of beastes or not much vnlike to the complaintes of women and little children sometimes also the ayre pierceth within the creuisses and vaultes of rocks and olde walls and being sent backe againe by his owne violence giueth out so distincte a sounde that it séemes a precise or set voice as we proue oftentimes in that whiche we call Eccho the same pronouncing for the most parte v. or .vj. wordes with so greate maruell that it easely persuades suche as knowe not the cause but specially in the nighte that they be some spirites or Diuels the like hapning in our time to a counseller secretary of a certaine Prince the which by reason of his ignoraunce in the cause of his Eccho was in daunger to be drowned according to Cardanus in his booke of maruellous inuentions who writeth of one Augustinus Lauisarius Counseller to a certain Prince who being in the countrey and out of his waye and lastly ouertaken with night founde himselfe greatly passioned and riding all along a Riuer side began to lamente his distresse and after the Italian maner cried Oh the Eccho which came from a certaine rocke thereby replyed vnto him incontinent with Oh Lauisarius somewhat comforted with the voice thinking it was some man whiche spake demaūded in his language vnde debo passa the Eccho aunswered Passa then the poore secretary being in greater paine than before demaunded Chi which asmuch to say as heare the Eccho replied chi but being yet not well assured he asked him again debo passa chi passa chi saith the Eccho whiche wordes fedde him with suche comfort of his waye that he tooke the riuer being astonied notwithstanding that his horse at his firste entry lost the bottome and begā to swimme and had it not bene the goodnesse of his horse and mercye of the waues that séemed to take compassion vpon his distresse he had taken a moyste lodging in the bottome of the riuer from the whiche albeit he escaped so hardely yet being broughte with muche ado to the other side he passed the reste of the night in colde and prayers withoute comforte sauinge for the pleasure he tooke in the remembrance of his peril past wherof certaine dayes after being come to Millan he made discourse to his deare frende Cardanus in sorte as if it had bene the malice of an euill sprite that wente aboute to drowne him telling the place euery circunstance in order Cardanus smelled forthwith the ignorance and simplicity of the secretary knowing that in that place was a wonderfull Eccho whiche yelded suche a plaine and perfect voice that it séemed to be formed oute of the mouth of some creature for a more assuraunce and proofe whereof he led him eftesones to the same place where they founde that his Passa that guided hym was none other thing than a reuerberation of the Eccho wherein séeing we are nowe so déeply fallen I will not forget to inferre the authoritie of mine authour in an example whilest he write this booke at Paris I haue saith he heard a sound in the borough of Chalenton neare Paris whiche yeldes and returnes the wordes that are spoken whole entier distinctly and plainly and that .vij. times one after an other like to the Eccho septuplex of the Auncients and specially commended of Plinie I haue also oftē marueled y t those which haue written the Antiquities and things worthie of memorie in Paris haue lefte suche a straunge thing without remembraunce in their writings seeing I haue neither heard nor séene so rare a thing in all the voyages I haue made ouer the highe Alpes of Italye and Germanie But now there resteth to put a laste seale to our difference and diffinition of visions to make some discourse of artificiall illusions the which being wroughte by sundry secret and Sophisticall sleightes of men moue no small terror to suche as beholde them as that whereof Hector Boetius in his Histories of Scotlande maketh mention wherein as there was a helpe and furtheraunce by art so the effecte was no lesse maruellous and straunge and at laste the onely cause of conseruation of a whole Kingdome in sorte as foloweth The Pictes according to the Histories haue alwayes borne a mortall hate to the Scots killing after sundry battails and skirmishes the first King of that countrey with the ouerthrowe of most of the nobilitie of that countrey Cenethus second King of the Scots and sonne to him whome the Pictes had murdered desirous to reuenge the death of his father vsed many persuasions to incense the nobilitie to fall into armes againste them who in respecte of their late infortune in the warre and their lacke of power to maintaine the quarell would not agrée to the persuasions of the King in whome as there remained a more grudge againste the death of his father than in the reste so finding him insufficient to worke it by wordes or incitation he reposed a laste helpe and refuge in arte and to giue a beginning to his deuise he fained a cause of conscience and consultation for the which the nobilitie were sente for to assiste the counsell where being lodged
suche prouysion for this byrde in the ayre It séemeth not that she shoulde be nouryshed of pure Aire onely bicause it is too subtile and it is not likely that she shoulde be nourished of small Beastes and Flies bycause the substaunce wherevppon these Creatures bée fourmed is not engendred in the aire neither hath there ben founde any such digestion in the bellie of thys Birde as they haue written of hir that haue séene hir deade she hath not hir relief of the vapour which ascendeth from the earth bicause she was neuer sene to discend so lowe besides there is often perill in vapours and this birde is not consumed but by olde age all which proue that she is only fedde and preserued vpon the dewe that falleth in the night Wherwith ende the opinions of Galene and other late writers touching the properties of this bird Neither can it much disagrée from our purpose of straunge birdes to auouche in this place the authoritie of Hector Boetius and Saxo who write that they founde certaine Trées in Scotlande whose frute being lapped within the leaues and the same fallyng into the water in some conuenient time take life and turne into a liuing birde whiche they call a Trée bird This trée groweth in the yle of Pomonne which is not farre from Scotlande towards the north the which is verified in some sort by Aeneas Siluius affirmyng that he hath heard that in Scotlande is a trée growing for the most part vpon the banke of a ryuer which brought forth frute of forme likenesse to a de Caunes réede which being ripe fall off themselues some into the water and some vpon the lande and those whiche take the water are séene to haue life and swymme vpon the waues and after certain time to take wings and flie into the aire which notwithstanding by diligent inquisition hath not ben founde in Scotlande but rather in the Iles of Orchades ¶ A Monstrous Serpent bought by the Venetians in Affrica and sent afterward into Fraunce embalmed as our late writers affirme CHAP. xxxiiij ACcordyng to the testimonie of Conradus Licostenes of whome I haue borowed the portraict of this horrible Serpent with vij hâ—â—â—es this monster was sente out of Turkey to the VenetiaÌ„s embalmed who not long after made a presente of it to Francis de Valoys the Frenche King by whome for the rarenesse of it it was valued at six thousande ducates Wherein like as for a more certaintie and truth of the matter I haue ben curious to searche whether there hath ben any such monstrous thing within the courte or not so if it be true as it is to be presumed in respect of the authoritie of him that wryt it I think nature hath neuer brought out or formed any thing more maruellous amongest all the monsters that euer were for besydes the monstrous and fearefull figure of thys Serpent there is yet a further consideration and regarde touchyng the faces which bothe in view and iudgement séeme more humaine than brutal but touchyng the multitude of hir heades me thinketh it oughte to argue no great strangenesse to fynde serpents with two or .iij. heades seing we haue and meane to make mention of bothe men and women that haue hadde no lesse the same being also witnessed by certaine of our late writers who trauailyng into India haue séene the same Ludouicus Vertomanus in his boke of the peregrinations of the Indians sayth that he hath séen in Calycut fourfooted serpents bréeding within certain marshes which contain for the height of their body the bygnesse of a Hog but of an vgly foule and deformed head he maketh also mention of an other kinde of serpents which be so venomous that as soone as they touche or pierce the blood of a man he falleth forthwith dead to the ground He sayth that if the King of that countrey coulde discouer the place of habitation of these serpents he woulde buylde them little caues or cabinets to defende them from the violence and inundation of waters when there hapned any such besides he helde them so deare that if any of them were oppressed or killed by any of his people such as coÌ„mitted the fact were sure to passe the same way the same mouing of a fonde superstitious opinion of the king inhabitants there that these serpeÌ„ts were certain spirites of God which if they were not such in dede they persuaded that their biting or poisoning could not worke such spedy death and destruction to man which maketh that those venomous beastes walke and passe thorowe their townes without perill or hurte and albeit in some one night there hath perished about nine persons of their venomous biting yet can they lose no credit or estimation wyth the Kyng or hys people who besides all these vanities if they meete any of these vgly creatures in the beginnyng of any voyage or enterpryse they doe accompte it a speciall good speede in theyr busynesse such is theyr blyndnesse and such is their mserable superstitioÌ„ Iambol a notable Merchant of Greece affirmeth y t in his trafike to the Indians he founde certain flying Serpentes of the lengthe of two cubites wyth wyngs in theyr foreparte the whiche flie by nyghte and be of so mortall a poyson that yf they lette fall or distill but one droppe of theyr vrine it kylleth forthwyth the creature wherupon it falleth Certaine late Embassadours of Portingale haue broughte from thence to theyr Prince one of these Serpentes embalmed the same carying suche a terrour with it that albeit he were not to be feared and without cause of feare yet very fewe durst approche hym The Auncient Histories enlarge very farre touching the wonders of the monstrous Serpent which appered in Affrica to Attylius Regulus whose feare and force of venom was such that notwithstanding any strength torment of warre engine or other policie whiche he or his people coulde deuise he coulde not be vanquished tyll he had torne in pieces and murdered the moste parte of his armie They agrée all that the skinne of that Serpent contained .xxvj. foote in length whose iawes were hong vp and remayned there for a miracle vntill the warre of Muancya Diodorus Siculus in his .iij. boke treateth of a serpent y t was caried on liue into Alexandria to y e king Ptolomeus Philadelphus no lesse woÌ„derful thaÌ„ true which I wil describe particularly according to the text the rather bicause it coÌ„firmeth in many respects the circumstaÌ„ce effect of our purpose Seing sayth he the noble and bountiful coÌ„sideration of the King to suche as broughte to hym any straunge or monstrous Beastes certaine Hunters determined to present hym in his owne countrey with a quicke serpent wherin although the enterprise imported almoste an impossibilitie yet fortune so fauored their inteÌ„t that within certain dayes after by diligence they brought their purpose to effect for they came to the knowledge of a greate Serpent neare the water of the length of .vij. toises and an halfe who being
wombe to straight which is y e cause that she is found to wante in suche sorte that the wombe is congealed and gathered in one whereupon groweth this forme and superfluitie of members in this little male moÌ„ster whom thou seest héere figured hauing four armes four legges and but one head with all the rest of his body well proportioned who was engendred in Italie the same day that the Venetians and Geneuois after the sheading of much bloud both of the one side the other coÌ„firmed their peace and wer reconciled togither and which was baptised and liued a certaine time after as writeth Iacobus Fincelius in his booke de miraculis post renatum Euangelium And in the same yeare that Leopolde Duke of Austrich vanquished of the Swizers died And Galea was created Uicount of Millain after the death of Barnabone ¶ A wonderfull Historie of Couetousnesse with many examples touching that matter worthy of memory CHAP. L. DIogines Laerce writeth that there was a Rhodian iesting one day with the philosoper Eschines saying to him I sweare by the immortal gods Eschines that I haue great pitie and compassioÌ„ of thy pouertie To whom he replied sodainly and by the same gods do I make y e like othe that I more bewaile thée to sée thée so rich seing that riches once gotten bréede not onely paine torment care with heauinesse to kéepe them but also a more great displeasure to spend them perill to preserue them occasion of great inconueniences and dangers to defend them And that which yet séemes to me more grieuous and horrible is that where for the most parte thou hidest thy riches in the same place thou leauest thy heart buried And lyke as Herodotus writeth that the inhabitants of the Isles Baleares watch and defend wyth great care that no maÌ„ entring into their Countrey bring or leaue behinde them either golde siluer silke or precious stones which hapned so wel vnto them y t during the space of .400 yeres wherein there was most cruel warres not only amongst the Romains and Carthaginois but also the French Spaniards neuer any of the said nations were once moued to inuade their landes for that they could not finde either golde siluer or other thing of price or value to robbe pilfer or take away euen so there is yet one other thing more straunge that is that Phalaris Agringetin Dionyseus Siracusan Catilmus Romanê° Iugurth Numidien being .iiij. famous tiraÌ„ts neuer maintained their estates realms by any vertue whych they vsed but only by their great gifts presents which they bestowed on their adhereÌ„ts wherfore I wold wish y t al such as be fauored of Princes should note wel this saying y t it is impossible for one being in great fauor to continue long therin being ouerwhelmed accompanyed w t the wicked vice of couetousnesse Neither am I out of my matter hauing touched y e same in the Historyes before for y t in these our dayes y e world is so coâ—rupted therwith as there is no other talke in our coÌ„mon weales of any thing but only of the burning rage of couetousnesse whych raigneth in all y e estates of y e world namely amoÌ„gst y e Ecclesiastical persoÌ„s as our high father w t his Cardinals a thyng much to be lameÌ„ted coÌ„sidering that they ought to be rather distributers of the goods of the Lord thaÌ„ affectionated burning as we sée w t this gréedie desire of riches y t it seemes y t they would drain al the welth of y e world into theyr gulphs in y e end burie the same w t their bodies in the graue wherof I haue written more largely in my other works making mention of the cardinal Angelot But now I wil returne to my matter for sithens that y e pestileÌ„t venom of couetousnesse hath sprinkled hir poison through y e world y t the most part of the prouinces remain be so much infected therwith y t they by that meanes stick not to make marchaÌ„dise of meÌ„s bodies to obtaine mony wherof Celius Rhodiginus in his iij. boke of auÌ„cient lessons .lvj. chapter is a sufficient witnesse who declareth y t in his time diuers wicked persons sold the flesh of men so well seasoned y t is séemed to be the flesh of Porke in which wickednesse as they continued til God by his almighty power discouered the same by suffering them to finde the finger of a man mingled amongest their meats which was the cause that they were taken cruelly punished euen so this néedes not séeme straunge or a fable to those which haue red Galenes .xiij. boke of Elements who sheweth y e mannes flesh is so like vnto porke hauing the very tast and sauor of it that those which haue eaten therof iudged it to be the flesh of a Porke Wherefore in the Historie of Caelius Rhodiginus it is not strauÌ„ge but most apparant that couetousnesse hath so blinded maÌ„ and rageth euen to the very tippe of iniquitie that they cannot adde any thing more thereunto Albeit Conradus Licostenes recompteth yet one other wonderfull Historie of couetousnesse which is nothing inferior to this before who wryteth that in the Dukedome of Wittemberge there was a wicked hoste who presented at supper all his gests lodged in his house with the fleshe of a Porke bitten of a madde dogge which was so greatly infected with the venim of that beast that all those which eate therof became not only madde but also pressed in such sort with the furie and rage of their euill that they eat and tare in pieces one an other ¶ A Monster brought forth at Rauenna in the tyme of Pope Iule the secâ—nde and king Lewes the .xij. CHAP. xlj REader this monster which thou seest here depainted is so brutall and farre differing from humaine kinde that I feare I shal not be beleued in that I shal write ther of hereafter notwithstanding if thou wilt but conferre this with those hauing faces like Doggs and Apes wherof I haue written in the Histories before thou shalt then fynde the other farre more monstrous Iaques Ruell in his bokes of the conception and generation of meÌ„ from wheÌ„ce I haue this figure Conradus Licostenes in his treatie of wonders IohaÌ„nes Multiuallis Gasparus Hedio affirme write y t in the yere 1512. at what time pope Iule y e second stirde vp caused so many bloody tragedies in Italy that he had made warre with king Lewis euen at the iorney of Rauenna this monster was engendred borne at Rauenna aforesayd a citie most auncient in Italy hauyng one horne in his head two wings and one foote like to the foote of a ramping bird with an eye in the knee it was double in kind participating both of the man womaÌ„ hauing in y e stomack y t figure of a Greke Y y e form of a crosse no armes And like as this moÌ„ster was brought into y e world in y