extremitie conioyned and knit togither Moreouer it is certaine that Nature hath not created any thing vnto which she hath not giuen a contrarie to withhold it and keepe it backe where hence proceede the Antipathies or contrarie affections in all things aswell animate as inanimate lyuing as without life In beasts as betweene the Cocke and the Foxe in fishes betweene the Mullet and the fish called Lupus which some take it to be the Pike in birdes betwixt the Crow and the Kite Amongst trees the Chestnut and Oliue amongst stones the Adamant and the Diamant What then shall we say of men which are so passionate and inconstant Truely that al in all ages and all kinds of life publike priuate solitarie contemplatiue actiue are inclined to contentions and partialities euen so farre as euery one to be at variance in him selfe hauing in his bodie and soule a perpetuall combate betweene reason and concupiscence And in this maner is the strife amongst children which yet haue no knowledge and amongst the Sauages which haue nothing proper or peculier There are Sectes in the schooles of Law Physicke Diuinitie Philosophie and in the conuents and monasteries amongst the Reclus and Recluses No maruaile is it therefore if there be seditions in Cities and Countries which make people of diuers estates euen to run hedlong as was sometimes in Rome that of the common people and the Nobility Yf there be warres betweene Lordship and Lordship kingdom and kingdom which respectiuely keeps them both in feare So were aunciently in Greece the Lacedemonians to the Athenians so to the Romaines the Carthaginians and afterward the Parthians So are at this day opposed the Scots to the English the English to the French the French to the Italians The Almaines to the Suitzers the Africans to the Spaniards the Turkes to the Christians the Persians to the Turkes the Zagathaines to the Persians being deuided amongst themselues by colours redd and greene and of that are called Caselbas and Cuselbas the Moscouites to the Polonians the Tartarians to them both In the Indies Cochim to Calecut in high Africk the Moores to the Abissins thorough out the countrey of the Arabians the inhabitants of the Mountaines to those that dwel in the Plaines The Black-moores amongst themselues And in Brasil the Sauluages euen to the eating of one another when they are taken in warre And it might seeme that these diuisions were in some sort necessarie thoroughout the world and such contrarieties as God hath giuen to euery estate almost to euery person profitable to keepe them in feare and humility for men will soone waxe proud and are easily puft vp with prosperity and riches and especially when they misconceaue from whence such grace proceedeth God is wont to send them aduersities for their chastisment Wheresore it is ordinarily seene that euery mighty estate hauing no forrain enemy findeth some within it selfe and when it is come to such greatnesse that it cannot be brought vnder or kept downe by any strange or foraine force then is it afflicted with partialities and oftentimes distroied or translated into some other nation with alteration both of Iustice and politike gouernment Moreouer when the Countries are to full of inhabitants and that the malice and subtilty of man is come to the highest then are they purged and empted by famines and pestilence to the end that the people which are in it being reduced to a lesse number and chastised may liue better But if herewith they amend not but waxe worse and worse then either are they exterminated by fire and water or by Earthquakes ouerwhelmed God vsing alwaies such rigours against those which perseuer in their wickednes as he is alwaies readie to receiue to mercie such as are truely penitent which turne to him and pray to him with their harts OF THE VARIETY AND INTER course of Shadowes Daies and seasons of the yeare and diuersitie of habitations on the Earth HItherto hath bin declared how the world is not onely conserned by the intercourse of the Heauens and Elements but also tempered by contraries Now to the end we may the better consider the difference which is found in respect of the diuersitie of places and aspectes of heauen aswell in plants trees fruits mettals sauours colours and tastes as in beasts fishes birds and euen in men themselues and all their affaires we will briefly touch as far foorth as shall belong to our present purpose the fiue Zones of the habitable earth the seauen Climats fower limits East West North and South the two sides or hemisphers longitude and latitude the three parts thereof Europe Asia and Africke vnto which is also added America the varietie of shadowes daies and seasons with the diuers maners of inhabiting because that all these considerations serue to the knowledge of the world and the chaunges which in times past haue happened therein and do euery day come to passe The Auncients diuided the Heauen consequently the earth into fiue Zones thinking that those two that are vttermost about the two Poles North and South did make those two parts of the earth which are subiect to them vnhabitable by their extreme continual cold Also that that part of the heauen which beholdeth the middle of the earth vnder the Equinoctiall made it likewise vnhabitable by reason that the Sunne hauing there his continuall course burneth with his beames beating on it so neere and perpendicularly all the countrie lying vnder that Zone That the two others which are betweene the burning Zone and the Poles were temperate as also those parts of the earth which are answerable vnto them But that one could not passe verie well from the one to the other because of the burning Zone being in the midst But by the latter voyages and nauigations the whole earth is found to be inhabited yea euen vnder the Poles themselues beeing both in the midst and in the vtmost parts frequented with men and with singuler commodities the heat of the middle-most accounted burning hoat being lesse vnder the Equinoctiall then the Tropicke not a whit hindering the passage from one of the temperate vnto the other For although that vnder the Equinoctiall the sunne-beames are perpendicular twice in a yeare yet do they but little harme by reason that they stay not long there the Zodiake being streight and not oblique or crooked in that place Then the nightes being there continually equall in length vnto the daies doe mitigate with their colde the heat of the dayes But vnder and neere vnto the Tropickes the Zodiacke beeing crooked the Sunne stayeth longer there and discendeth not so swiftlle vnder the Horizon makinge the dayes longer and the sunne hotter yet sufferable notwithstanding as wee see by innumerable people dwelling vnder the Equinoctial and betweene the Tropickes In the vttermost part of the North dwell the Liuonians Noruegians Lithuanians Swedens Moscouites Lapians and Brarmians last of all hauing in their depth of winter the aire full of foggs and great clouds
aboue the earth and the six other vnderneath Againe the inhabitants of the earth compared one to the other are called Periecians Antecians and Antipodes Periecians may be called collateral and are they which dwell vnder the selfe same climate paralelle and Meridian drawen through the Poles They haue this common with vs First that they inhabite the same temperate Zone secondly that at the same time they haue winter and summer and the other seasons the increasing of daies and nights but differ in this that they haue not the same East and West and that when it is high noone with vs it is midnight with them Such are the inhabitants of the Canaries with the people of China Antecians are they which inhabit thother temperate zone towards the South turning their backes towards vs distant equally from the Equinoctial on their side as we are on ours Hauing then a contrarie latitude they haue also the seasons of the yere contrarie The Autumne in Aries when the Spring is with vs The winter in Cancer when we haue summer the spring in Libra when haruest is here the summer in capricorn which to vs is winter But because they are in the same longitude they haue at the same instant with vs midday and midnight Such are the Egiptians with the farthest Africans The Antipodes so called because they go with their feet opposite to ours hauing the Horizon Hemisphers opposed vnto whom al things are cōtrary winter sommer day and night East west OF THE VARIETY OF THINGS AC cording to the difference of places HEnceforward following our purposed order we will speake of the diuersitie of thinges according to the difference of places Where then the heat is neither to extreme and feruent nor the cold to excessiue and sharpe where there are neither vnmeasurable raines nor too violent windes but the seasons of the yere continue in moderate disposition there is found a conuenient temperature of the aire holsomnes of waters and fertility of groundes by meanes whereof the Countrey is made pleasant healthsome apt to bring forth corne and pulse to norishe all kinde of plants as well others as wilde bearing fruite abundantly in their seasons The beastes birdes and fishes are better formed more fruitfull and of better tast then elswhere But where as hot or cold drie or moist doe exceede they hurt euery thing and make it worse The Ethiopians being neere vnto the Sunne which burneth them with his beames are blacke hauing their heare and beard frisled or curled On the contrary they which inhabite the colde and ycie countries haue their skinne white and soft their heare yellow and vnited both the one and the other being naturally cruell by reason of their excessiue cold and heat They are in both countries of high stature which proceedeth of the abundance of heat in respect of the Ethiopians and of the abundant moisture in regard of those which inhabite the cold countries But the regions of the meane temperature are very good and fertile the people which inhabite there of meane stature quicke witted and well tempered of colour They are delicate in their maner of liuing and haue a good sharpe and quick witt readie to comprehend any thing And cōmonly the great Empires and famous monarchies are in their hands which are not foūd amongst people remoued from this temperature by reason of their beastly sauagenes and brutish immanity Likewise the beasts which are bred in the cold coūtries are lumpish and heauy And on the contrary they are light that are in the hoate regions the one sort very much differing from the other both in forme shape colours and properties The fishes from sea to sea the birds from countrey to countrey do differ much one frō thother as may be knowen by the sight of thē vnderstood by the books which are writtē of thē There is no lesse differēce amongst herbs trees according to the place where they are brought forth For they which grow in the hāgings of hils cold dry exposed to the wind are of greater vertu thē the others on the cōtrary such as grow on plains and shadowed places and waterie being hid from the wind are not of such efficacy Also the soile and season maketh them oft times to shoot forward or to be backward We see better trees fuller of leaues and better stored with fruit in one territory then in another because they like the place better Those trees which loue the hils are very great and faire as Cedars Firre trees pynetrees boxetrees and plaintrees In the Forests the okes beeches corketrees lotetrees elmes ashes and haseltrees do grow The alders poplars willowes and reedes on the riuers sides and in watrie places Some come not any where but in the South Countries as the orange tree the citron or lemmon tree palme or date tree and the sicamore Others in the cold Countries as appletrees and pearetrees The same difference is found both in herbes and lesser plants th one not growing but in hot countries the other in cold others in those that are meanely temperate Some grow in marishes others in standing waters There are some which are found ordinarily in moist places and some in drie others loue the fieldes others the vines and others the meadowes Some do better in the vallies then on the sides of hils others loue the high places exposed to the winde There are that finde norishment along the walles of Townes and Castels and betwixt the closures and ruines of houses Corne coms better in one place the vine in another and cattel in an other The aire is so temperate in Calecut that there is neuer any plague but continuall greenenes in the herbes and trees and there are euery moneth new fruits differing altogether from ours yet good neuerthelesse and maruelous pleasant The countrie of Syria chiefely about Damasco aboundeth with all sort of corne flesh and fruit especially with newe grapes all the yere long Also pomgranats quinces almonds oliues and roses of diuers colours very faire and odoriferous But their apples peares and peaches are of an euil tast In the west Indies as well throughout the Islands as in the Maine there are wilde vines that beare good grapes without industry or care of man But the kernels of the peaches plums cherries sowen in diuers places there do take no roote Oliue trees being planted there bring nothing but leaues without fruit The countrey of Babilon is most fertile in corne but the vine and figg-tree wil not grow there In Moscouia there is great abundance of hony and waxe riche skinnes and exquisite furres but not any fruit worth the reckoning The Tartarians and Arabians haue nothing but cattell The Moluccaes yeeld the aromaticall druggs of spicery and in all thinges else are barren In one place are the Emerauds Rubies Turkoises and Pearles In another is Corrall Ambor and Christall in one place there is gold found in another lead tinne and siluer Plinie esteeming the wheate of
with much snow and frost In such sort that both by water and by land they make their traficke and warres on yce But when summer returneth the countrie is vncouered and made more temperate by the light which the Sunne giueth there longer in one place then in another according as it is neerer or farther remoued from the Pole Euen as in the hoat quarter some places by the presence of the Sunne are disinhabited or at least incommodiously inhabited which by his departure do recouer an habitable temperature The superficies or vpper face of the Earth hath bin also otherwise distinguished for by how much any countrie declineth on one side or other from the Equinoctial so much is their day the longer in Summer and their night in Winter In such sort that according to the diuers increase of the daies the spaces of the earth haue bin distinguished attributing to euery Climate halfe an howers increase And the places subiect vnto these Climates haue bin noted out either by famous Cities or riuers or mountaines as by Meroe Sienna Alexandria Rhodes Rome Borysthenes and the mountaine Ripheus fabulously inuented where the longest day is of 16. howers and a quarter and the Pole is eleuated 50. degrees The Auncients staied at this seauenth not knowing the Regions Countries Seas and Isles that are beyond it At this day by the same reason there may others be added The fower limitts or boundes of the worlde are the East West South and North differing in this that the South and the North are stable and immoueable But the East and West do neuer remaine in one estate by reason of the ascent and descent which the Sunne maketh in the signes of the Zodiacke Wherefore Eratosthenes following nature diuideth the world chiefly into two partes the South and North imagining that from them proceeded the diuersitie of all inferiour thinges according to their neerenesse or distance from the sunne True it is that thereby ariseth some difference but all consisteth not therein as hereafter shall be declared Moreouer nature hath indewed euery one of these extremities or vtmost partes with some singuler excellencie For toward the East there India brings forth Rubies Emeraulds Pearles and many other precious stones both out of the earth and the sea the great and mightie Elephants the high palme-trees full of wine and loden with nuts And Serica in that quarter hath first giuen vs the Silke which is had of wormes bred in Mulberie-trees Arabia in the South yeelds incense ebony and cotton Iewrie next vnto it the balsme and the cedar Ethiopia Cassia and Ciuet The Moluccaes in the farthest partes of the West Pepper spice cloues cinnamon ginger nutmeggs and other druggs The North the Alces Beares Ounces and other beastes which are not seen elswhere hony and waxe without the industrie of man throughout the large forestes exquisite skinnes of Martins Sables and others of great accompt in the other parts of the world to make furres for great Lordes Cornelius Tacitus saith that Amber groweth onely in Borussia and is fished there as in the South comes incense and balsme Also the earth being spherical or round is parted into two equall sides called Hemispheres and by the roundnesse of it from East to West it commeth to passe that there it is sooner day and night and by the roundnesse of it from South to North that there are alwaies seen some starres about the Pole Articke not about the Antarticke which remayneth hidden from vs which are one this side the earth as ours is also vnseen of those on the other side The longitude or length of the earth is taken from the West to East the latitude or bredth from the South to the North. The auncients as Isocrates diuided the earth onely into two parts Europe and Asia afterwards they added Africke for the third this diuision taking his beginning at the straight of Gibraltar where the Atlanticke sea engulfeth it selfe within the land making the Mediterranean or midland sea by which these three are diuided Africke remayning on the right hand Europe on the left and Asia in the midst On the other side the riuers Nilus and Tanais made these diuisions long agone But as for Tanais it cannot now stand for a bound so many innumerable people and countries beeing knowen now on this side which heretofore were vnknowen to the Auncients To these three also it is necessarie to add a fowerth taken of America and other landes newly discouered towardes the West and the South of which it is not yet knowen whether they be ioyned or no to Asia that is to say whether they ought to bee reputed maine land or Isles These thinges premised as necessarie to the vnderstanding of this discourse that followeth wee will intreat henceforward of the varietie of shadowes inequalitie of dayes and nightes intercourse of the seasons of the yeare according to the diuers habitations and will propose the diuersitie of thinges according to the difference of places Then comming to the shadowes wee find that they chaunge with the Sunne and from Countrie to Countrie for by how much the Sunne is higher the shadow is the lesse and by how much he is the lower the shadow is greater in such sort that alwaies it is greater in the morning and euening then at noonetyde Vnder the two Tropickes there is no shadowe at noone on the daies of the Solstices nor vnder the Equinoctiall in the daies of the Equinoxes The inhabitants on the one side and the other haue their shadowes opposite the one on the right hande the other on the left To those that dwell vnder the Poles they are round about them in manner of roundels or milstones The Sunne then going alwaies either towardes the North or on the Equinoctiall or towardes the South maketh fiue sortes of shadowes through out the world that is to the East to the West to the North to the South and one straight shadowe Towardes the East it maketh shadow when it setteth to the West when it riseth towardes the North when it comes from the South and when hee whose shadowe is made is neerer to the North then is the Sunne and towardes the South when hee that makes the shadowe is neerer then the sunne is to the South Also the straight shadow is when the Sunne is on our Zenith All these fiue sortes of shadowes happen onelie to those which dwell betweene the Tropickes and they which inhabite vnder the Equinoctiall haue but fower towardes East and West They that are vnder the Tropicke of Cancer haue their shadowe towardes the North and those that are vnder the Tropicke of Capricorne towardes the South And once in the yeare direct when the Sunne entreth into that Tropicke Those which dwell wythout the Tropickes haue but three shadowes towardes East and West and those which dwell in the North haue their shadow towardes the North and such as inhabite the South part haue their shadow towardes the South and neuer haue it direct or
plenty of all good things without pain or trauaile aud were driuen from thence for their disobedience and that of them two ioyned in mariage haue proceeded all men dispersed ouer all the habitable earth But Saint Augustine considering that of the fiue zones set downe by the auncient Astrologers and Cosmographers there were but two esteemed temperate and inhabited and that from the one it was thought they could not passe to the other by reason of the heate which was in the midst called the burning zone and that if it were so it must follow necessarily that the Antipodes came not of Adam he chose rather to deny that there were any Antipodes then to fall into any absurd impietie or to gainesay learned antiquity in this point But it is certaine both by the auncient and modern nauigations that there are Antipodes as those of Taprobana are to the Spanyards which is knowen by the aspect of heauen appearance of the starres hyding of our pole and eleuation of theirs hauing as hath bin said euery thing contrary vnto vs Sommer and Winter day and night East and West THE GREEKS in their fables said that Vulcan being amorous of Minerua shed his seed on the land of Athens from whence spong the Athenians who therefore vaunted themselues that they were borne of their owne land without taking any original elswhere vnderstanding by the earth al matter and by Vulcan the fire which moueth the earth and quickeneth it and that Ceres after the rauishment of her daughter Proserpina hauing wandered long throughout the world came into their Countrey where she showed them the vse of wheate wherehence afterward it was manifested to all men that their City hath not onely communicated such meanes of liuing to the indigent but also was the first that established lawes and set downe gouernment and that in part it inuented the arts seruing for necessity and pleasure and in part hath approued them or made them better and more exquisite obtaining the honour of Philosophy by which all theis things haue bin either inuented or amended and of eloquence which first tooke beginning in Athens and hath there bin brought to perfection that City hauing gotten by wisedome and eloquence such excellency and reputation that her Scholers were Maisters of others and that the name of Greeks was no more a name of a people or nation but of reason and vnderstanding and that the partakers of their learning were more esteemed Greekes then those which participated of the same nature with them At this day the wandring ARABIANS boast themselues to be the first of the world hauing neuer bin mingled with other nations and hauing kept entier as they say the nobility of their bloud BVT OMITTING all these disputings and boastings of nations all fantasies and humaine reasons of Philosophers we will rest our selues on the certainty of holy scripture touching the creation of the world and of mankinde And concerning the discourse of armes and of letters which are here in question we wil begin it by the Egyptians who being ingenious and valiant seeme to haue bin the first that haue excelled in wisedome and power from whom the Greekes drew almost all their knowledge which we vse at this day hauing not onely in estimation but also in admiration both Egypt and the Egyptians OF THE POWER LEARNING AND other excellency of the Egyptians AMongst others Isocrates that most excellent oratour praysing Busiris who made choise of that Countrey to raigne in as the most commodious of all the world writeth thus for considering other places not to be conueniently situated in respect of the nature of the whole world but that some are too much subiect to raine and others otherwaies molested and that region to be in the fairest seat of the earth and most abounding in all sorts of good things and enuironed with the riuer Nilus as with a naturall wall which not onely keepeth but fatneth it being inexpugnable to straungers that assaile it and much profitable to those which dwell neere it by the waterings and other commodities which they receiue of it whose industry also he hath made almost diuine in matter of tillage For by his meanes they haue both raines and drouthes in their disposition which are bestowed by Iupiter elswhere Their felicity is so great that if one consider the excellency and goodnes of the Countrey and their spacious fields he will thinke they inhabite the maine land if the commodities wherewith it aboundeth which are caryed out and those which not growing there are brought in thither from other places he will think that they dwell in an Island For the riuer running here there and watering it thoroughly doth furnish them with two meruailous commodities Busiris then began where wise men ought to begin choosing a faire place which supplied all things needfull for the inhabitants aboundantly Then diuiding them by orders and estates he appointed some for sacrifices others for handy crafts and others for warfare thinking that ordinary necessities and commodities ought to be furnished by tillage and by trades but that the protection of them was most assured by the exercise of armes and deuotion towards the Gods Accomplishing then all the perfection required in a good law maker he ordained that euery of them should alwaies exercise one trade knowing that they which change oft cannot vnderstand any thing well nor do any thing perfectly but those which are alwaies conuersant about the same things do commonly excell Whence it is come to passe that the Egyptians in euery art do excell so much all other Artisans as good workmen are wont to excel the vnskilful and ignorant Moreouer they obserue so good order in administration of their kingdome and al other publicke gouernment that the most famous philosophers disputing of such affaires prefer the gouernment of Egypt aboue all theirs Also to him we must refer as to the principal authour the study and exercise of wisedom for he so aduantaged the priestes first that they might maintaine themselues in chiefe place with the holy reuenues that afterwards great holynes being by their lawes required of them they might liue temperatly and being exempted from warfare and other charges they might rest in quiet THEY enioying then this commoditie haue inuented Physicke to helpe the body not that which vseth dangerous medicamēts but those which may as safely be taken as the daily meates and neuerthelesse are so profitable that they which vse them are seene to be lusty and able of body and to liue long And for medicine of the minde they haue proposed the exercise of Phylosophy which can make lawes and search out the nature of thinges Hee committed to the auncienter sort the best charges and perswaded the yonger leauing pleasures to giue themselues to Astrologye Arithmetick and Geometry which faculties are thought by some to be profitable in many things The others indeuour to show that they follow vertue earnestly Their piety and deuotion towards the Gods is worthy of great
sacrificed to pray onely for himselfe but hee must also pray for the prosperity of the king and generally of all the Persians being himselfe by this means comprised in the praier Euery one of thē when they would sacrifice brought his offering into a place that was not contaminated then hauing his attire on his head made for the most part of mirtle he called on that God to whom he sacrificed They would neither pisse spit nor void their noses into the riuers but reuerenced them aboue all things They suffered their dead bodies to be bitten praied on by doggs and birds before they would bury them others anointed them ouer with waxe then put them into the earth They and the Egyptians did not burne them because the Persians said it was not fit that a God should feed on a dead man the Egyptians thought the fire to be a liuing creature eating cōsuming whatsoeuer he seased on dying with his meat whē he was ful in their Law it was not permitted to cast the dead bodies to birds and beasts to deuoure them or to any liuing Creatures and therefore they embalmed them with salt that they should not be eaten of wormes The Egyptians would neuer kill any thing that had life The Mages killed with their handes euery liuing creature sauing man whom also the DRVIDES of Gaule did not spare to kill and sacrifice diuining by southsayings as the MAGES whom they resembled in many thinges shewing themselues so cerimonious in obseruing of Magick that they seemed to haue taught it to the Persians and not to haue learned it of them as Pliny sayth These Mages gaue out that the Gods appeared vnto them and foretold them of things to come affirming that the aire was full of spirits which did subtilly insinuate themselues into mens eyes that there were two princes namely one good God which they called Herosmades and the other euill whom they termed Arinan They clothed themselues with white garments liued of herbes cheese and course bread slept on the ground caried canes or reades in steed of staues They assembled in a holy place to communicate and talke togither Their authority was so great that Cambises when he went out of Persia left the gouernment of his house to one of them who in the absence of the king conspired with a brother of his against him and went about to make himselfe king Their Magicke consisted wholy in the religion and seruice of the Gods To whom they offered praiers vowes and sacrifices as if they onely were exalted beleeuing the resurrection of men and that they should be immortall Aristotle witnesseth that they were auncienter then the PROPHETS of Egypt Clearehus affirmeth that the BRACHMANES or GYMNOSOPHISTS of India came from thē ZOROASTER without doubt was the first inuentor whom somethinke by the etimologie of his name to haue bin an obseruer of the starres and to haue vnderstood natural things Plato in his first Alcibiades saith that the Magick of ZOROASTER is a knowledge of diuine mysteries which was wont to bee taught vnto the children of the kings of Persia to th end they might learne by example of the whole worlds common wealth to gouerne their owne And in his Charmides he sayth that the Magick of ZAMOLSIS was the physick of the minde causing it to vse temperance as the other is cause of bodily health Pithagoras Empedocles Democritus and the same Plato sayled and went far to learne it and hauing learned it did celebrate it at their retourne and kept it secret and many other vertuous amongest the auncients haue trauailed carefully therein getting great authority and reputation thereby For obseruing by it the meruailes hidden in the secretes of the world in the bosome of Nature and mysteries of God they haue discouered the concords of the world and agreement of the heauen with the earth accommodating the superiour thinges to the inferiour after they had once knowen their vertues howe they agree in doing and suffering which the Greekes call Sympathies and Antipathies which hath moued Plotinus to call such MAGES making profession of naturall MAGICKE the ministers of Nature It is at this day much vsed in CHINA and CATHAY which are Countries inhabited by most ingenious and industrious people where they are not permitted to come to Offices and Honours in the Common wealth without being learned namely in this MAGICKE which signifieth to speak simply according to the auncient Persian language perfect and soueraigne wisedome and MAGVS an expounder and obseruer of the diuinity Sithence that men haue abusiuely transferred this name to inchaunters who do wickedly abuse the simple making them beleeue that they know the secret and future things by strange words by signes and characters by diuelish deceits and impostures and other superstitious obseruations of Necromantie Geomantie Hydromantie Aeromantie Pyromantie such other of long time reproued both by diuine and humane lawes Wherhence may be vnderstood that there are two sorts of MAGICK th one natural thother superstitious The natural in contemplating the vertues of celestial and terrestiall things considering the conuenances contrarieties discouereth the powers which are hidden in nature mingling th one with thother in due proportion vnder certain constellation and applying the actiue to the passiue draweth them one to another by the similitude of nature So the elements do draw th one the other so the loadstone draweth the yron to it amber the chaffe and brimstone fire the sunne many flowers leaues the Moone waters Mars the winds many herbes drawe vnto them many liuing creatures and haue meruailous secret properties by the which this Magicke naturally worketh great miracles The other superstitious Magick is by inuocation of euil spirits which is a manifest Idolatry and hath alwaies bin forbidden by wel ordered common weales Such were the MAGICIANS of PHARAO which counterfeited diuelishly whatsoeuer MOSES ARON diuinely had wrought til such time as the rod of MOSES turned into a serpent did eate vp theirs which they had tourned also into serpents Such was SIMON MAGVS and such the Pythonisse was that called vp the soule of Samuel the prophet such also was Circe such a one was Medea Plutarch writeth that the spirit of Antony being bound by magicall verses and loue drenches that his liberty being lost he was fixed in the face of Cleopatra The Euthydemus of Plato compareth Oratorie and Magicke or Enchauntery togither and sayth that as Oratory is a delighting and appeasing of the Iudges and assemblies of men so that Enchanting is an asswaging of vipers spiders scorpions other venimous and cruel beastes as also of diseases The vanity of this superstitious Magick appeared especially in the Emperour Nero who gaue him selfe to it as much as euer any man did hauing neither want of goods of power nor of vnderstanding and desiring nothing more then to command the Gods and the dead Notwithstanding after he had called vnto him Tyridates king of Armenia
of the race of Charlemaigne and shortly vpon the comming of Hugh Capet Then such Lords as held the great fees of the kings they subdiuided them to other persons of whom they expected seruice and both th one and thother gaue their lands to the peasants with dueties of rents and with condition to receiue iustice of them Wherehence are come the termes of fees and vnderfees of vassals and vndervassals for a difference from them which relieue directly and without any meane of the king Consequently of Ban arriereban and of liege or bond men who without exception do promise all duetie of fidelitie to their Lords and of those which are not bond or liege which do onely promise a duetie by reason of superiour estate or fee of which theirs which is inferiour dependeth And although at the beginning it was not lawfull for any Roturier or common person to possesse any fee simple but to meddle onely with his traficke tillage or husbandrie and to pay his Lords dueties notwithstanding by succession of time the fees contrarie to their first and auncient institution fell without any difference or distinction into the hands of men of armes and such as were estranged from the exercise of armes of noble and vnnoble of gentlemen and vngentle as merchants practicioners and other rich commoners that had meanes to buy them Moreouer whereas many fees with their dueties were giuen by Kings Princes Lords and Gentlemen to Bishoprickes Abbeies monasteries couents priories chanonries commaunderies hospitals spittels and to other Ecclesiasticall persons which are people of Mortmaine and altogether estraunged from armes the Ban arriereban hath bin much weakned thereby and at length is so low brought and so dispised that euen they which are bound therevnto thinke themselues dishonoured if they appeare there and so send thither their seruants or other mercenarie folkes the most part so euill appointed and in such poore equippage that it is a mockerie to see them whereas in times past the chiefest of Fraunce accounted it a great honour to be there themselues in person So farre haue these sees and vnder fees straied or so ill bin imployed which were erected and ordained for the safetie of the Countrie to the end that such as held them should in all occurrents of businesse be readily furnished with armes men and horses in such number and order as is requisite either to resist the approches of the enemie or to set vpon him if need were By reason whereof the forces of the kingdom are lessned and the Lawes militarie by little and little brought to naught in such sort that the Kings haue bin constrained to ordainè those companies of waged men of armes called ordinances and for their intertainment to impose on the people taxe and tallage Moreouer it is seuen or eight hundred yeres since the Nobilitie hath taken vp the vse of Armes and scutchions with figures of beastes and other things blazoned with diuers colours with termes fitting therunto to th end to discerne and make difference betweene them of their Nobilitie and the antiquities thereof their alliancies and kinreds Which maner was not in vse before CHARLEMAIGNE and hath not gon out of EVROPE being yet vnknowen throughout AFRICKE and ASIA where their Religion forbiddeth them to make the pourtraitures of beastes The Armes in the which ther are Lyons Leopards Tygers Eagles Kytes Faulcons and other rauenous beastes are accounted more noble then those which haue but trees flowers starres barres files or which are onely distinguished with colour or taken from the names of families because they seeme not to haue bin gotten by militarie prowesse or any other vertue To make them correct and expound them are appointed the Herauldes and kings of Armes curiously discoursing of the figures and colours which are in them euen to the mingling and accomodating according to the measure of their vnderstanding and knowledge both Physicke Astrologie and Diuinitie THE ARTISANS AND EXQVI site workes of the Auncients IN EGIPT INDIA and elswhere the gouernment being diuided into many orders or estates it was not lawfull for any to take a wife of other estate but his owne nor to change his vocation because it seemed not reasonable vnto them that a man of armes should labour the earth or that a learned man should become an Artisan Then the Artisans there wrought their workes seuerally euery one by himselfe and not indifferently mingling one occupation amongst the other The like did the husbandmen fishermen and huntsmen and it was not lawfull for one to exercise many trades As then they applied not themselues but vnto such workes as were permitted by the law and which they had learned of their fathers continuing the same all their life they became excellent therein Especially the EGIPTIANS whose workes were meruailously well wrought and euen come to their perfection The great and magnificent buildings made at that time both in ASSIRIA EGIPT and elswhere do euidently show the abilitie of their architects masons statuaries imagers grauers painters caruers carpenters and smithes The same distinction of the multitude by diuers orders and kindes of exercise is vsed at this day at CAIR FEZ MARROCCO and in many other great Cities of Asia and Africk Others account the maner of PARIS more commodious where the Artificers dwel intermingled one amongst the other At this day the Artisans of CATHAY and of CAIR and of PERSIA are found verie exquisite making works so neere approching vnto those of nature that they seeme to be naturall The end of the fowerth Booke OF THE LEARNING POESY Eloquence Power and other excellencie of the Grecians The fifth Booke AT the same time that the Persians swaied by their armes in Asia and that Cyrus founded the Persian Monarchie good letters and Learning were raised vp in Greece and the Countries there about aswell in the Isles as in the maine land and by the learned and renowmed Pythagoras began Philosophie First of all men considering the admirable ornament of the whole world the continuall and peâ—durable motion of the Heauen the varietie and distinction of the starres the intercourse of daies and nights of monethes and yeares continually succeeding the vital power of fire diffused thorough out the whole world the variable aire sustayning with spiration and respiration all liuing creatures the sea beating the bankes with his reciprocal waues receiuing and casting out the other waters without ouerflowing or diminishing the earth which is heaped together on each side thereof for a bound vnto it The vicissitude and order of things both simple and compounded contayned in the circuit of the world being innumerable in multitude and meruailous in beautie They indeuored to search out their properties conueniences and contrarieties as to know whereof they were made and engendred how long they indured what became of them when and how they perished what in them was mortall and corruptible what diuine and perpetual They obserued the course of the starres and the power which they haue heer
had done who seeing the yong yeres of Remus and considering well the markes of his countenance togither with the time when his daughters children were cast out began to suspect that he was one of them by his age so well agreeing thereto And being in this doubt Romulus and Faustulus came vnto him by whom he was aduertised of the trueth of all Then being auenged of Amulius whom they slew they placed Numitor in the kingdom and afterwards founded the citie of Rome ROMVLVS then the first Prince authour and founder thereof hauing composed it of Countrey people and neaâ—heards had many trauailes in doing thereof and found himselfe intangled with many wars and many daungers being constrained to fight with those that opposed themselues to the rising and foundation of this City and to the increase of this people newly planted Then afterwards as his natiuity preseruation and nourishment had bin maruailous his end was no lesse For as he spake vnto the people sodainly the weather was ouer cast and the aire was horribly chaunged The sunne lost entierly his light and there were terrible thunders impetuous winds stormes and tempests on euery side which made the coÌ„mon people to hide themselues here and there in corners But the Senatours kept themselues togither Then when the storme was past the day cleared and the weather become faire the people assembled againe as before and went to seeke their king and to aske what was become of him But the Lords would not suffer them to enquire any farther but admonished them to honour and reuerence him as one that had bin taken vp into heauen and who thence forward insteed of a good king would be a propicious and fauourable God vnto them Moreouer Iulius Proculus one of the Patricians accounted a very honest man who also had bin a great familiar friende of Romulus affirmed that as he came from Alba he met him on his way greater and fairer then euer he had seen him armed all in white armour bright shyning as fire and that being afrighted to see him in such sort he asked him wherefore he had abandoned his orphane city in such infinite sorowe To whoÌ„ Romulus answered It pleased the Gods from whoÌ„ I came that I should remain among men as long as I haue remained that after I had built a city which in glory and greatnes of Empire shall one day be the chiefe in the world I shoulde returne to dwell in heauen as before Wherefore be of good cheere and say vnto the Romains that in exercising of prowes and temperance they shall attaine to the height of humaine power and as for me I will be henceforth a God Protector and Patron of them whom they shall call QVIRINVS The auncients recited many such meruailes in the which there is no apparance of trueth endeuouring to deifie the nature of man and to associate him with the Gods It is is very true saith Plutarch that it were euil and wickedly done to deny the diuinity of vertue but yet to mingle earth with heauen were great foolishnes being a thing most certaine that after death the soule which is the ymage of eternity remaineth only aliue and retourneth to heauen wherhence it came not with the body but rather when it is farthest remoued and seperated from the body and when it is cleane and holy and holdeth nothing any longer oft he flesh Therefore it is not necessary to go about to sende against nature the bodies of vertuous men with their soules vnto heauen but we ought to thinke and firmely beleeue that their vertues and soules according to nature and diuine Iustice become saincts of men and of saints demy-Gods and of demy-gods after they are perfectly as in sacrifices of purgation cleansed purified being deliuered of al passibility and mortality they become not by any ciuile ordinance but in trueth reason liklyhood entier perfect Gods receiuing a most happy glorious end But NVMA the second king succeeding vnto Romulus had time and leasure to establish Rome and to ensure the increase thereof by meanes of the long peace which hee had with all his enemies which was to Rome as a store-house of all munition for the wars which folowed after and the people of Rome hauing exercised themselues at leasure and in quiet and rest by the space of xliij yeres after the wars which they had vnder Romulus they made themselues strong enough sufficient to make head against those which afterwards opposed themselues against them Considering that in all that time there was neither plague nor famine nor barrennes of the earth nor intemperatenes of winter or sommer that offended them as if all these yeres had bin gouerned not by humane wisdome but by the diuine prouidence For he gaue out that the goddesse Egeria was in loue with him that lying with him she taught him how to rule and gouerne his common wealth Numa then taking the city of Rome as in a turbulent tempest and in a sea tormented troubled with the enmity enuy and euil wil of all the neighbor nations and bordering peoples and moreouer exercised in it selfe with infinite troubles and partialities he extinquished and asswaged all angers and all the enuies as euil and contrary windes giuing meanes to the people being but newly planted and scarcely yet established to take roote and to fasten their footing by augmenting leasurely in al safety without wars without sicknes without peril without feare or any other hinderance whatsoeuer For in all his raigne there was neither war nor ciuil sedition nor attempt of nouelty in gouernment of the common wealth yet lesse enmity or enuy perticularly against him or conspiracy against his person forgreedines of rule And not only at Rome was the people softned reformed after the example of the Iustice clemency goodnes of the king but in all the Citieâ— also round about began a meruailous change of maners no otherwise then if it had bin a sweete breath of some wholsome and gracious winde that had breathed on them from the side of Rome to refresh them and there stole sweetly into the harts of men a desire to liue in peace to labour the earth and to bring vp their children in rest and tranquility and to serue and honour the Gods After these two raigned fiue kings at Rome and in TARQVIN the last for hate of his pride and not of the royall authority was the gouernement chaunged Rome being from that time foorth gouerned by two annuall CONSVLS and by the SENATE vnder the authoritie of the people Then from the Consuls it came to the rule of TEN MEN from whom it retourned back againe to the CONSVLS And whereas there were opposed vnto them two military TRIBVNES of equall power they were within the yere deposed and gaue place to the CONSVLS And albeit they vsed in the great affaires of the common wealth to create a DICTATOVR with absolute authority for the time neuerthelesse the Consulary
rather then true warres if we beleeue Blondus Flauius the Historiographer militarie discipline being all obserued in these partes and men effeminated by delightes and blynded by their mutual and friuolous dissentions diminishing from day to day their valiancy and reputation As touching battailes Herodotus affirmeth that of all those which were euer fought by the Barbarians the sharpest and most furious was betweene TOMYRIS the Queene of the Massagetes and CYRVS where was ouerthrowen a great part of the Persian armie and Cyrus himselfe slaine Xenophon reckoneth for great battailes those two which Cyrus obtained against the Assyrians and the Lydians in which th one King was slaine and thother taken We may also put amongst the principal battailes those three which ALEXANDER wan of DARIVS King of Persia Those which were betweene SCIPIO and HANNIBAL and betweene POMPEY and CESAR at Pharsalia Between ATTILA king of the Hunnes on the one part and the Romaines Frenchmen and Gothes on thother in the playne of Chaalons where remained a hundred and fourescore thousand parsons in the place That which CHARLES MARTEL had at Tours against the Sarazens where were slaine three hundred and threescore thousand Vnto which wee may compare that which TAMBERLAN gaue to BAIAZET OTTOMAN where were slaine two hundred thousand Turkes AMVRATH to LANCELOT King of Poland and Hongary at Varne where he was slaine The two which SELIM got on the SOPHI at Calderan and on the SOVLDAN in Suria the most renowmed that were fought these thousand yeres The most memorable auncient sieges of places are that of TROY by the Greekes where they continued ten yeres and in the end tooke it in the night time by deuice of BABYLON by Cyrus and by Darius of MESSENE by the Lacedemonians where they remained likewise ten yeres hauing bound themselues by oath not to depart til they had taken it Herodotus writeth that Psamneticus king of Egypt held AZOTVS a citie of Suria be sieged for the space of ninteene yeres and was so obstinate in his purpose that he would not depart til he had taken it The same Authour saying that of all the townes that he had euer knowen it had endured the longest siege Moreouer Alexander besieged Tyre Marcellus Syracusa Hannibal Sagunt Scipio Carthage and Numantia Numantius Corinth Iulius Cesar Vxellodun Alexia Auaric Gergobie and Marseilles Vespasian and his sonne Titus Ierusalem Alaricus Attila and Gensericus Rome Wee may put amongst the new sieges which we will compare with the auncients that of CONSTANTINOPLE by Mahomet accompained with two hundred thousand Turkes who tooke it by assault when hee was but two and twentie yeres old of GRANADO by king Ferdinand and Queene Isabel where they continued seauen yeres before they could take it on the Moores of RHODES by Sultan Soliman compassing it with three hundred thousand men who finally obtained it by composition of BELGRADO at the entrance of Hongary a very strong citie and of MALTA also by him which he coulde not take although his men did their vttermost but conquered Signet in Hongarie when he died It is not long sithence Florence sustained a siege a whole yeare togither before the common wealth was brought into a Dukedome But the sieges of Rhodes and Malta were more by sea then by land and may be compared to the sieges of Tyre Syracusa Carthage Numantia and Marseilles which in like maner were rather on sea then on land The battaile by sea which the VENETIANS got not long sithence of the Turkes doth not yeld any whit to the most renowmed of the auncients as that of the ROMAINS against the ARMORICANS that of DEMETRIVS the sonne of Antiochus king of Suria and PTOLOMEY king of Egypt Betweene PHILIP king of Macedonia and ATTALVS king of Pergamus betweene OCTAVIVS CESAR and MARCVS ANTONIVS before Actium It is true that the ancients were more mighty by sea then wee but for want of vnderstanding and skill in nauigation they made infinite shipwrackes and receiued inestimable losses The onely citie of Athens kept somtimes three hundred gallies And nowe the Turke who is so riche and so mighty cannot rig forth set to sea and maintaine so many Xerxes when hee went into Greece had three thousand vessels Alexander when he died caused a thousand to be prepared to go into Africk and to assaile Carthage The Romaines and Carthaginians in the warres which they had long time togither lost an infinite number of ships Dionise the tyrant of Syracuse had foure hundred vessels with oares Moreouer the auncients made gallies of v. vj. vij viij ix x. oares in a seate yea euen to xxx Those of this time are but of iij. and at Venice it hath bin a difficult thing to build one of fiue oares These fiue hundred yeres the Venetians and Genuoises haue bin Maisters of the Mediterranean sea and haue fought sharpely thereon one against the other for the chiefe superintendance thereof The Venetians at length haue had the better and are mighty theron at this day In the Ocean the Portugales Castilians and Englishmen by dexteritie knowledge and skill of nauigating hold the chiefe commendation in this exercise hauing excelled the Tyrians Egyptians Phenicians Rhodians Romaines Carthaginians Marsilians Armoricians and all others that euer medled with long voiages and discoueries of landes that were before vnknowen hauing gon round about the world by their nauigations which the auncients neuer did nor could or durst vndertake to doe A COMPARISON OF NAVIGATIONS and discoueries of Countries Peregrinations and voyages by land HOmer and Orpheus haue songe in their verses how all the habitable earth is enuironed with the Ocean as an Isle And the Cosmographers affirme that the earth and water make but one globe which hath bin wholly compassed in our time in three yeres by the nauigation of MAGELLAN and his fellowes In ancient time the North was sailed by the commandement of AVGVSTVS as far as the Baltick sea and Borussia where the Amber groweth Now the ENGLISHMEN and the NORMANS go easily into Moscouia passing the sea of Y ce at such time as it is vnfrozen Touching the innermost and farthest part of the North the Auncients knew no farther then the riuer of Tanais diuiding Asia from Europe At this day all is knowen euen to the Pole and the most part reduced to the Christian religion by the SVEVIANS and MOSCOVITES Which on the other side was knowen by the MACEDONIAN armes during the raigne of Seleucus and Antiochus from the Indian sea vnto the Caspian And about the Caspian sea were discouered many bankes as towardes the East was visited a great part of the south sea by the victories of ALEXANDER the great HANNO also a riche Carthaginian Lord sayled from Gibraltar into the Arabian sea behinde Africke hauing set downe his voyage in writing In our time the Castilians haue sayled beyonde the Canaries and bearing towardes the West passed vnto our Perieces which they haue subdued to the Crowne of Spaine with many Cities and large countries full
deceiued by a false opinion which they haue of things they think there is no faith nor friendship nor honestie remayning among men telling to the yonger sort many wonders of their former age To whom it hapneth no otherwise then it doth vnto those that embarke themselues on the sea and beginning to saile according to the measure as they are distant from land it seemeth vnto them that the bank or shore the hills trees and houses do leaue them thinking in like maner that in their old age both pleasure humanitie and iustice do forsake them and vanish away Moreouer those which are extremely vicious being not able to go any farther nor yet to stand at a stay wherethey be are constrained to returne by little and little either for shame which is naturally in men or els for necessitie because that in such manifest wickednes they are eschewed of all men or els by the diuine prouidence which bringeth them back againe For in the auncient histories are found such execrable vices as there can not be more which haue raigned for a time and haue afterwards bin detested in whose place haue suoceeded most commendable vertues Whereon we will resolue with Seneca speaking thus to this purpose Hoc maiores nostri questi sunt ait hoc nos querimur hoc posteri nostri queruntur euersos esse mores regnare nequitiam in deterius res humanas et in omne nefas labi At ista stant loco eodem stabunt que paululum duntaxat vltro citroque mota vt fluctus quos aestus accedens longius extulit recedens maiore littorum vestigio tenuit Nunc in adulterio magis quam in alio peccabitur abrumpetque fraenos pudicitia nunc conuiuiorum vigebit furor et foedissimum patrimoniorum exitium culina nunc cultus corporum nimius formae cura praeseferens animi deformitatem Nunc in petulantiam audaciam erumpet male dispensata libertas nunc in crudelitatem priuatam ac publicam ibitur bellorumque ciuilium insaniam qua omne sanctum et sacrum profanetur Habebitur aliquando ebrietati honor et plurimum meri cepisse virtus erit Non expectant vno loco vitia sed mobilia inter se dissentientia tumultuantur pellunt inuicem fuganturque Ceterum idem semper de nobis pronunciare debemus malos esse nos malos fuisse Inuitus adiiciam futuros esse A COMPARISON OF THE LEARNING of theis daies with the Auncient in Philosophie Eloquence Law Policie Phisick Poetry Astrologie Cosmographie and the other Mathematicks ALwaies the great vnderstandings and good wits fit for Learning haue bin rare yea euen in the learned ages and amongst the most ingenious Nations Consequently the excellencie of learning hath bin also rare and therefore the more admirable To the attayning whereof there is requisite a happie nature a laborious diligence a constant perseuerance which must be aduaunced honoured and rewarded by the Princes who notwithstanding commonly haue small care of learning and fauour it slenderly The students if they be poore they applie themselues to questuarie or gainfull arts wherby to haue meanes to liue when they haue reasonably profited in them The rich giue themselues to pleasure seeking the easie and superficial apparance and not the painfull profoundnes and depth of knowledge The greatest part of Teachers vse but rehersings and repetitions by rote acquiting themselues lightly of their charges They which write for the most part do nothing but tye together and all heape one on another Grammars Rhetoricks Logicks Institutions Introductions Abridgements Annotations Corrections Translations Epistles Orations Eclogues Dialogues Common places Elegyes Odes Vulgar rymes and such other versifications Moreouer we must learne out of bookes in the schooles the Latin Greek Hebrew Chaldiack and Arabian which were mother tongues amongst the Auncients they learned them from their cradle when they began to speak In which we must now consume much time and the best of our age which were better emploied in the knowledge of things and vnderstanding of the sciences Besides there is one inconuenience in learning which is not smal that they are all their life time brought vp in the shadow of schooles without knowing of their behauiour amongst men and without hauing experience of matters although knowledge without practize be vnperfect Which is the cause that we haue not at this day such eminent persons in Philosophie as Pythagoras Thales Plato Aristotle and Theophrastus In Eloquence as Demosthenes and Cicero In Phisick as Hippocrates Galene and Auicen In Law as Seruius Sulpicius Papinian and Vlpian In Historie as Herodotus Thucydides Polybius Salust Liuie and Tacitus In the Mathematicks as Euclide Eudoxus Archimedes and Ptolomeus albeit there haue bin in them verie excellent men of this age For sithence they were extinguished in Egipt and left off by the Greeks and Arabians they were neuer more famous then they are at this present especially Astrologie and Cosmographie for the Auncients scarcely vnderstood th one halfe of heauen of the earth and of the sea knowing nothing in the West beyond the Canaries and in the East beyond Catygare At this day all lands and seas are knowen and sayled Thales Pythagoras Aristotle Hipparchus Artemidorus Eratosthenes Strabo Plinie Macrobius Capella Virgill and generally all the auncient Authours saue Ptolomey Auicen and Albertus magnus thought that of the fiue Zones of heauen there were but two inhabited and that the three others by excessiue heat or extreme cold remained desert At this day there is nothing more certain then that they all are inhabited Plinie Lactantius and S. Augustin thought there were no Antipodes But now we rule ouer them and trafick with them ordinarily They which in times past beheld the heauens found but few mouings and could scarce perceiue ten But now as if the knowledge both of the one and the other world had bin by some destinie reserued for our age they haue bin obserued in greater number and more admirable and two other principall ones added vnto them to serue for a certaine demonstration of many things appearing in the starres and to discouer the hidden misteries of nature Cosmographie and Astrologie are so beautified that if Ptolomey the father of them both were aliue againe he would scarce know them being increased in such sort by the late obseruations and nauigations REGIOMONTANVS is reputed the best Mathematician this age and thought to be little inferiour to Anaximander the Milesian or Archimedes the Syracusan His Master Purbachius the Cardinal of CVSA and COPER NICVS being Germains al of them haue excelled in these sciences Also IOVIANVS PONTANVS hath taken great paines in Astrologie being no lesse happie in prose then in verse and apt for any kind of writing Volateran said that he made verses with more art then nature But yet so laboured after the imitation of the Auncients that he hath not had his peere in this age Crinitus speaking of him and of MARVLLVS his disciple affirmeth that both the