winde from the oriental part vnder the equinoctiall line called East the three other cold and drie raising the Southern wind comming from vnder the Pole antarticke the other three hot and moist the West winde being also vnder the equinoctiall line the other which are colde and moist the North winde comming from vnder the pole articke which windes haue their different properties according to the places from whence they proceed and where they blow mouing about the water and the earth euen as the starres by which they are raised The foure principall windes haue foure other collaterall all which eight together are called entier or whole windes betwixt whom are placed eight halfe windes and sixteene other quarters of windes and by these is all nauigation ordered But the water on which they saile being contiguous or ioyning to the aire receiueth no lesse varietie than it and maketh but one globe with the earth For as the earth being drie of his owne nature cannot endure without moisture neither should the water haue any where to abide without resting it selfe on the earth they haue therefore bin thus by nature ioyned together the one opening the vaines and conduites of the earth the other passing through it both within and without to serue instead of à bande vnto it All water of his proper motion descendeth downe from on high but in the Ocean sea which enuironeth the earth are found three motions th one from East to West another from the North towards the South the third of the daily ebbing flowing for from six houres to six it aduaunceth and enlargeth it selfe then it abateth and retyreth The which motions are seene also in the Mediterranean sea towards the bankes The cause of the first motion from East to West is the daily mouing of the firm ament by whose impetuositie all the Spheres are moued with a good part of the fire and the aire The other from the North towards the South is because that the Sea is higher in the North parts then in the South in respect that the Northren cold ingendreth more water then the Sea can containe within the space distance and heigth of his bankes and the water which is in the South part is consumed and diminished by the heat of the same So one part of the water in the North forceth downe an other on that side which is lowest and moueth accidentally from the place of his generation The third followeth the reuolution of the Moone which alwaies increasing and decreasing appeareth sometimes horned sometmes half round some times almost round and sometimes spotted then by and by cleere great when she is at full and anon she is not seen at all Sometimes she shineth all night sometimes ariseth late sometimes she shineth all day supplying the brightnes of the sunne and comming to Eclipsie yet appeareth notwithstanding and at the monethes end hideth her selfe when she is said to trauaile Sometimes also she is low and sometimes high which neuer happeneth after one sort for sometimes one would say that she were fixed to the firmament other whiles that she touched the top of the mountaines so low she is abased she is sometimes found in the South side of the heauens and sometimes we must seeke her in the North. Since then that she is so variable it is no meruaile if the ebbings and flowings of the Tydes in the sea which are caused chiefely by her are also variable First in the daily motion which the Moone maketh with the heauen in twentie fower howers there are two tydes ebbing and two flowing the sea increasing by the space of six howers and diminishing six others which are twelue And it doth asmuch in other twelue howers which are twentie fower Their augmentations are not alwaies alike in all times and places for by the space of seauen daies the waters do increase when they call them liue waters and seauen other daies they decrease when they are called dead waters In such sort that from the first day of the change of the Moone vntil the eight which is the first quarter the waters are diminished and from the said quarter vntill the fifteenth which is full Moone they are still augmented and from thence till the third quarter they goe still decreasing and from that to the coniunction they are increased againe So the first day of the Moone is chiefe of the waters and the second day the waters are yet verie great and the third in like sort but the fourth day they begin to waxe lesse and so go diminishing from day to day vntil they come to the eight for then are the low waters and on the ninth likewise and the tenth almost the same then on the eleuenth is the rising of the waters when they begin a little to augment And from that time forwarde they increase euery day vntill the fifteenth when it is full moone and then it beginneth againe to be head water and on the sixteenth it increaseth likewise and almost vnto the ende of the seuenteenth But on the eighteenth it decreaseth and goeth so diminishing euery day vntill the thirtieth when as she is in coniunction And so on the first day it beginneth againe to behead water and proceedeth thus increasing and decreasing as hath bin said Yet in these increasings the waters are not so high at one time as at another but greater at one time and lesse at another Also the ebbing and flowing of tides are not equal in all places Neuertheles when the moone is at Northeast it is full sea and when she is at Southeast it is low water Also there is nothing perpetuall in the earth sometime the sea or some other water enclosed within it breaking out forceably doth couer a part thereof sometimes againe it retireth The Riuers and fountaines are dryed vp and there arise new in other places Some Countries are turned into standing pooles and marishes others into sandie deserts others into woodes then being husbanded and laboured they become fertile of barrain and againe on the contrarie barrain of fruitful The Mountaines are made plain and the plaines are lifted vp some places are swallowed by Earthquakes or scorched by exceeding heats When it hath long bin manured it waxeth wearie then by rest and cherishing it recouereth vigour In tract of time it waxeth old if not wholie yet at the least in his parts then is renewed and becommeth young againe We see euery yeare at the spring time and beginning of Summer how being watered with small rayne caused by soft windes and moderately heated it openeth the seedes of all things which before were shut vp and putteth some of them into herbes stalkes and eares others into stems and husks others into budds others into tender tops the garden trees yeeld buds flowers leaues and fruit the forestes and woods are clothed with greene bearing on their branches and bougâ—es the birdes pricked with a desire of engendring which record by themselues their melodious songs The Fishes leape and the
straight Concerning the dayes and nightes they are alwayes alike vnder the Equinoctiall but thence they goe continually increasing and diminishing either by the opposition of the earth which maketh the night or by the roundnesse thereof which bringeth the daye They then which inhabite Northward from the Equinoctial haue their dayes increasing when the Sunne returneth from the Tropicke of Capricorne to that of Cancer and those which inhabite the South haue the contrarie namely their nights increasing in length and their daies decreasing by reason that the sunne goeth euery day farther farther from them towards the North. Also when he commeth into Aries on the eleuenth of March hee treadeth the Equinoctial line and maketh the dayes equall with the nightes on euery side but when hee hath passed the first point of Aries the dayes become longer then the nightes to those on the North and shorter to those on the South And the eleuenth of Iune when the Sunne enters into Cancer is the longest day and the shortest night and on the other side the contrarie for the Sunne is then neerest to the one and farthest from the other Also from thence forward he beginneth to discend and returning by little and little maketh the dayes shorter and the nightes longer to them which inhabite Northward and contrarywise to the inhabitantes of the South Moreouer when he is in Libra the thirteenth of September he traceth againe the Equinoctiall line and then are the nights and the daies equall But from thence he discendeth towards the signe of Capricorne and the nights become longer then the daies to them that dwel in the North and the daies longer and shorter nights to those of the South Finally being come to the Tropick of Capricorne he maketh to vs heere the shortest day and the longest night and in the South the longest day and shortest night For this is also a place wher the sunne is neerest to the one and farthest from the other And by how much the Pole is eleuated aboue the Horizon of euery habitation the daies and nights are so much the longer In somuch that they which haue their Zenith vnder the Circle articke and to whom the Pole is raised aboue their Horizon 66. degrees and a halfe when the sunne commeth into the first point of Cancer on the eleuenth of Iune they haue a day of 24. howers and their night is almost as an instant because the sunne toucheth their Horizon but a moment for that day And on the thirteenth of December when the Sunne is in the first degree of Capricorne they haue then a night of 24. howers and in a maner but a moment of day by reason that the sunne toucheth their Horizon in an instant and by and by setteth and they account this small touch for a day They which are vnder the Antarticke circle haue the cleane contrarie And those which haue their Zenith betweene the Circle and the Pole of the world while the Sunne is going towards the North that which their Horizon discouereth of the Equinoctiall shal be vnto them for one day And if it be the quantitie of one signe their day shall endure one Moneth and if of two signes it shal be of two Monethes and so for the rest And he which shal be vnder one of the Poles shall haue all the yeare long but one day and one night In such sort that if he were vnder the Pole Artick those sixe Monethes in which the sunne is going towards the North shal be a day vnto him without night and the other sixe Monethes while the Sunne is going towards the South should be a night vnto him without any day And on the contrarie to those which are vnder the Pole Antartick In so much that halfe the yeare shal be vnto them a day and the other halfe a night by reason of the roundnes of the world which waxeth lesse and lesse toward the Poles So their Horizon which are neerest to the Poles discouereth the greatest part of the day which the sunne maketh when he goeth on their side the earth and water not hindering them of the sight of the sunne all the time that he ascendeth and discendeth vntil he commeth to that place where their Horizon doth not discouer any thing of the Circle or course which he maketh about the world and also by how much that part is greater so much shall the day be longer Manie do erre thinking the increasing and decreasing of daies to proceede equally throughout the yeare because that in deede they increase as much in the one onely moneth of March as they did in the monethes of Ianuarie and Februarie together And on thother side they are shortned as much in the one onely moneth of September as they were afore in Iuly and August The cause is for that the Sunne on the twelfth of March parting from out the Equinoctiall and returning towardes the North vntill the twelfth of Aprill maketh twelue degrees and from the twelfth of Aprill vntill the twelfth of May eight and from the twelfth of May to the eleuenth of Iune that he commeth into the Tropicke three and a halfe which are together 23. degrees and a halfe which is the greatest declyning of the sunne In such sort that he separateth himselfe the first moneth by th one halfe of his declining and the second moneth a third part and the third a sixth part And so the length of the day is equall with the night on the eleuenth of March and from thence vnto the eleuenth of Aprill the day increaseth th one halfe of his whole increase and from the twelfth of Aprill vntill the twelfth of May it increaseth a third part and from the twelfth of May to the eleuenth of Iune it increaseth a sixth part In the vttermost North of Moscouia the day and the night are each of them three monethes in the time of the Solstices During the Summer time in May Iune and Iuly there is day continually In the Winter time in Nouember December and Ianuarie continuall night In Februarie March and Aprill first the day is short the night long and on the contrarie in August the night short in October long Of the diuersitie of Shadowes there fall out three sorts of habitations which we are constrained to expresse in Greeke words because we haue no other They are the Amphiscians Eteroscians and Periscians Amphiscians are they which haue their shadowes on both sides of them Northward and Southward such as are the inhabitants betweene the two Tropickes and vnder the Equinoctial as the Ethiopians Arabians and Indians Eteroscians which haue their shadowes turned on th one side inhabiting the temperate zones betweene the Polarie and Tropick circles such are towards the North the Spaniards Frenchmen Englishmen Italians and Greekes Periscians are they which haue their shadowes round about them in forme of milstones such are they which dwell vnder the Poles hauing but one day and one night in the whole yeare and alway the same six signes
they killed one an other with their presse and disorder And when the greatest part of such as had escaped this ouerthrow were passed ouer the bridge which was made with boates on the riuer Indus Semiramis caused it to be broken and the king being warned by prodigious apparitions not to go beyond the bridge ceased the pursuit Such was the proofe of the Indian power Touching their wisdom the Brachmans made profession therof amongst them naked and austere being holiemen liuing according to their Lawes intending altogether the contemplation of God without making any prouision of vittailes for the earth furnished them alwaies with new and fresh the riuers gaue them drink and the leaues â—â—lling of the trees and the grasse yeelded them lodging And there was not onâ— amongst them reputed a holie or happie man if while he was yet liuing of perfect memorie and vnderstanding he did not separate his soule from his bodie with fire and did not go pure and cleane out of the flesh hauing consumed whatsoeuer was mortall in him And whereas the people were diuided into seauen sortes and degrees they were the first in dignitie being exempted from all charges not subiect vnto any man nor ruling ouer any but as men acceptable vnto the Gods and reputed to knowe all that is done in Hell they receyued of euery one his oblation made for sacrifices and tooke the care and charge of the dead receiuing great guists by occasion thereof Assembling and gathering themselues togither at beginning of the yere they fortold of drouths raines windes diseases and other things the knowledge whereof brought great profit to the people Their Artisans were very good as being brought vp in a pure and cleane aire drinking nothing but good and wholsomewaters The gouermeÌ„ts of the Indians being diuided into many parts it was not permitted vnto any to change his maner of liuing not seeming reasonable vnto them that a man of warre should till the earth nor that a Philopher should become an Artisan On the other part the ETHIOPIANS vaunted them selues to bee the first created of al the men in the world that they were brought sorth by the earth for considering that the heate of the sunne in drying the earth when it was moist had giuen life to all things it was also coÌ„sequent that in places neerest vnto the suÌ„ne there were procreated from the beginning al kind of liuing creatures They said that religion adoration of the gods was first sound out amongst them and the sacrifices processions pompes solemnities and al such things by the which honour was giuen them of men of the which they had such recoÌ„pense that they were neuer vanquished nor ouercom by any strange king that alwaies they had remained in liberty And howbeit diuers princes had assaied with great armies to bring them in subiection yet none of theÌ„ had enioyed their Empire Moreouer that they were the first that had inuented the formes and vse of letters and giuen themselues to the study of Astrology as well by reason of their quick wits and sharpnes of vnderstanding whereby they exceed all other nations as by the oportunitie of the Countrey which they inhabite and that therfore they haue continual serenity and tranquility of the aire and haue not the seasons of the yere disordered and variable but liue alwaies in one temperature Moreouer that the Egyptians were discended of them the Priests of both nations obseruing the same order and maner of doing their sacrifices vsing the like vestures and ornaments For the prerogatiue of antiquity there was in times past great contention between the Egyptians and the Scythians For the EGYPTIANS sayde that from the beginning when the world was created where other lands burned on the one side by ouergreat heate of the sunne others on thother side were frozen thorough the extremity of the colde in such sort that they could neither bring forth new men nor receiue straungers if any had come thither and especially before garments were inuented to keepe men from colde and heate and the artificiall remedies to correct the ill disposition of places Egypt hath alwaies bin so temperate that the inhabitants thereof are not molested with the great cold of winter nor with the heat of Sommer Also the land is so fruitfull there of all thing necessary for the life of man that not any where els is found a land so plentifull Wherefore reason would haue it that men should be first borne in that Countrey where they might best and with most ease be nourished On the contrary the SCYTHIANS saide that the temperatnes serued to no purpose to proue the antiquitie for when nature parted and deuided extreme heat extreme cold into diuers regions it is to be thought that the land which first remained vncouered vnclothed of theis two extreme qualities did incontinently bring forth men and beasts which might there bee nourished And concerning trees and other fruits they were varied according to the estate of the Countries And for as much as the Scythians haue a sharper aire then the Egyptians so are there bodies and their vnderstandings harder also then theirs Neuerthelesse if the frame of the world which is now diuided into two partes hath bin sometime all one whether the whole earth were inclosed and inuironed with water or that the fire which hath engendred all things held and possessed the whole world in both cases the Scythians were the first For if the fire possessed al it must needs be that by little little it was quenched to make place for the habitable earth In which case it is to be thought that it was first quenched on the north side because it is the coldest region and the Scythians are seated there whence it cometh to passe that euen at this present it is the coldest countrey that is knowen And in regard of Egypt and all the East we must thinke that the heate was there but lately remitted For yet at this day they haue meruailous heate there when the sunne is at highest Also if the whole earth were at the first enuironed with water it is to bee thought that the places that are hyghest were first discouered and that where the earth is lowest there the water remained longest and by consequent that there where the earth was first discouered and dryed there began first all liuing things to be ingendred But the countrey of the Scythians is higher then all other lands as appeareth by this that all the riuers which do arise there discend to the poole Meotis and from thence do take their course into the Ponticke Sea and into Egypt which Countrey of Egypt is so lowe and so subiéct to waters that although so many Kings thoroughout so many ages haue with great diligence and expence made so many rampyers so many bankes and dyches to keepe the land from being ouerflowen by the impetuosity of riuers because that when they held them in on oneside they ran out on the
thereon it wil bee founde by true reason of Cosmography that they neuer possessed the twelfth part of the earth ZENON the first authour of the secte of the Stoickes ymagined an vniuersall forme of gouernement tending to this that all men should not liue by townes peoples and nations being separated by particular lawes rightes and customes but that they should account themselues fellow citizens and that there was but one sorte of life as there is but one world no otherwise then as if it were but one flocke feeding vnder one shepheard in common pastures PLATO also wished that there were on earth but one king as there is in heauen but one God to th end that the humaine gouernement might therein resemble the diuine which Lord of the world as a true shepheard of mankind should loue al men indifferently as his naturall subiectes maintayning them with good maners lawes iudgements and assured entercourse both by sea and lande so great a prince not bearing enuy to any person and hauing no occasion to enlarge his frontiers by ambition which would be the cause of ceasing so many enmities warres slaughters spoiles and robberies happening amongst men through the pluralitie and dissentions of gouernements Which matters being by them grauely and magnificently propounded are much more easie to bee wished then effected considering the diuersity of tongues dissimilitude of maners and customes varietie of sects and vanity of opinions that raigne amongest men and make them to lose that loue which is wished amongest them hindering the establishing of one vniuersall common wealth of all and consequently a Monarchie of people so much differing in estimation of diuine and humaine right and the religion and seruice of God One man alone can not possesse all the earth the greatest part of it being drowned by the sea and in some places where it is vncouered of waters being vnhabitable thorough excessiue heate or cold And if he should possesse it hee would straight forget himselfe in so great authoritie and libertie and become proud beyond measure waxing tyrannicall and insupportable as it happened to Cambyses to Nero to Sesostris to Attila to Tamberlan and to Alexander the great who thorough extreeme ouerweening would be accounted and called the sonne of God and for his insolencie was poisoned by his most familiar friends and as it happened to OCTAVIAN AVGVSTVS who suffered Temples to be consecrated to him and diuine honours to be giuen him in his life time Considering also that there is a certaine measure and proportion of greatnes in Townes Cities and States euen as in liuing creatures plantes and instruments which when it exceedeth loseth his nature and vse As it befell vnto this ROMAINE EMPIRE which being clymed vp to an incomparable greatnesse and inestimable wealth did fall est soones into great calamities and was finally ouerthrowen as others had bin before it which we wil compare togither setting downe their similitudes and differences A COMPARISON OF THE ROMAIN Empire with the Assyrian Median Persian Macedonian and Parthian AMongest the great auncient kingdomes the ASSYRIAN was excellent in nobility mighty in armes large in compasse of land and in continuance admirable which being augmented by Belus Ninus and Semiramis and enlarged by the spacious countries of Asia was the first that amongest all other Empires which it farre exceeded obtayned the name of an established Monarchie and for the space of a thousand three hundred and threescore yeres vnder thirtie eight kinges florished greatly After followed that of the MEDES which vnder nine kings continued CClxj yeres well gouerned in peace and warre Then raigned the PERSIANS who hauing added Egypt vnto their dominion and increased their strength and riches when they had prospered two hundred and thirtie yeres they lost their state vnder Darius their fourteenth king From that time forwarde the MACEDONIANS by the successe and conduct of Alexander obtained the rule ouer Asia which they lost one hundred and twenty yeres after giuing occasion by their ciuill dissentions to the Parthians in the East and to the Romaines in the West to increase and grow great Then the Romaines towardes the West seasing the Macedonian Seigniorie which though it were great indeed yet was but weake by the diuision of the princes who had parted it betweene them established the greatest and fairest Empire that euer was For if all the famous Monarckes amongest the straungers bee compared vnto the Romaine Emperours there will not bee founde any amongest them that haue done greater thinges either in peace or warre or that haue more enlarged their Empire and longer maintained it The AssyriaÌ„s went not out of Asia The Medians endured only cclx yeres the Persians hauing ouercome the Medes obtained almost al Asia but when they assailed Europe they little preuailed And the Persians being ouerthrowen the Macedonian Empire was greater then al the former but it endured but a whiles For incontinently after the death of Alexander being deuided into many Lordships it was easily supplanted by the Romaines And although it were very â—arge yet it went not into spacious Africk sauing where it reacheth vnto Egypt neither possessed all Europe being bounded on the north with the countrey of Thrace and towards the West with the Adriaticke sea But the ROMAIN EMPIRE extended into Europe Asia and Africk from the Orcades and Thule on the one side Spaine and Mauritania on the other euen to the hill Caucasus and the riuer Euphrates and the higher Ethiopia trauersing the countrey of Egypt and of Arabia euen to the East sea being the first and only which to this present hath made the East and West his limits and hath endured longer then any other excepting the Assyrian Touching the PARTHIAN which was at the same time when the Romain opposed against it being encreased with the ruines of the Macedonian in the East as the Romain was also in the west albeit it was very great and terrible vnto all the East as comprehending eighteene kingdomes betweene the Caspian and the red sea and being far stretched out towarde the Indies and famous by many ouerthrowes which it had giuen to the Romaines as namely by the death of Crassus and shameful retreat of Antonius yet obtained it but one part of Asia and receaued some kings from Rome which being begon by Arsaces endured only cccclxiij yeres vnder twenty and seanâ—n kings And the second PERSIAN also was of no greater circuit which was set vp by the Persian Artaxerxes hauing ouercome in three battailes and in the end slaine Artabanus the last king of the Parthians and ended cccxiij yeres after it was restored being ouerthrowen vnder Hormisdas the xxviij king by the Arabians THE BIRTH OF ROME AND CONTI nuance thereof compared to the foure Ages of mans life AS the Astrologers say that cities haue their reuolutions and prefixed times of continuance which is knowen by the situation of starres at the day of their natiuities For this cause Tarucius a Romaine in the time of Cicero and of
by the mediation of the first qualities hot and cold drie and moist being duely tempered for generation and vnproportionably distempered for corruption Secondly the Moone euery moneth increasing decreasing or at ful doth diuersly dispose those humors ouer which she is predominant shewing amongst other meruailes her manifest power ouer the ebbing and flowing of the tydes in the Ocean Then the other starres both wandring and fixed do breed in the aire changes of heat and cold winds thunder raine haile snow and by their aspectes eclipses oppositions coniunctions distances apparences obscurities greatnesse swiftnesse slownesse do bring foorth great and diuers generall and particuler euents of warres dearthes famines plagues of inundations of drouthes and heates according to the correspondency of the parts of heauen and earth the disposition of the matter which they meete with all and diuersity of the time in which they worke their effects So the causes both of these cotidian menstruall annuall and other the rarest mutations happening here below are attributed to the celestiall motions and to the quality of the matter whereon they worke Considering that in the world the elements and their compounds are as the matter the celestial bodies superior intelligences as efficient causes which by their heat light in proceeding giue motion to all inferiour things First the daily motion which the firmament maketh is cause both of liuing and of dying and the annuall course of the Sunne assisted with the Moone other starres of the continuation and successiue change But the most rare and admirable mutations in states sectes and arts ought to bee referred to the ninth and eight sphere the diuersity which is found in them proceeding of the variable motion of that sphere somtimes to the East somtimes to the West now to the South then to the North which is called the motion of trepidation The Arabians also haue diuided this longe space of time by the great coniunctions of the Plannets namely of the three superiour Saturne Iupiter and Mars which they maintayne to haue more power ouer the principall alterations of this inferiour worlde according to the qualities of the triplicities in the which they happen as fiery ayrie watery or earthly That there haue already beene seuen in the space of fiue thousand fiue hundred and thirty yeares for so many the Hebrewes reckon from the beginning of the worlde and that the eigth shal be in the yeare of Christ 1604. The Chaldees Persians Egyptians and auncient Grecians iudged of the notable euents of the worlde by the Eclipses of the Sunne and Moone and by those Starres which haue their aspectes towarde the places of the Eclipse or which arise togither or which are in the midst of heauen Belus the Babylonian as Seneca alledgeth appointed the times both of the deluge and conflagration of the world affirming that then all earthly substaunces should be burnt when all the starres hauing now diuers courses should meete togither in the signe of Cancer vnder the same place in such a position as a straight line might passe through all their circles And then should all be drowned when the same starres in the like sort should meet in Capricorne both signes of great efficacy power in chāging of the yere The ancient Poetes vnder the fables of Phaeton of Deucalion and Pyrrha haue represented these two ruines of the world the one by fire the other by water Also the Egiptiā priest in Plato his Timaeus discoursing with Solon saith that many ruines haue come vnto the world shal come hereafter the greatest by fire and water the lesser by earthquakes wars famine pestilence And that the tale of Phaeton the sonne of the Sunne is not altogether estraunged from truth that is that being mounted on his fathers chariot not able to guide it aright he burnt things on earth and was slaine himselfe with lightning for as much as in long space of time do happen many such destructions by fire by reason of the disorder happening about the earth in the celestiall motions That then those which inhabite in the mountaines in drie places are sooner destroyed then such as dwell by the seaside or neare the riuers But contrarywise when it pleaseth God to cleanse the earth by inundations then the dwellers on plaines and valleys to be forceably caried into the sea by the impetuositie of riuers while the inhabitauntes of the hils remaine in safety That those which remaine after such tempests are ignorant of that which is past and vnfurnished of learning which by little and little they recouer afterward Others say that in long space of time there are certaine periods appointed for the world which while they endure all thinges do come to their vigour and which being ended they do al perish but that al of them end their course within the reuolution of the great yere And that when the one commeth to end and the other is ready to begin there are many strange signes seene both in earth and in heauen Wherefore many are of opinion that some great alteration doth approch considering the signes which within these fewe yeres haue appeared in heauen in the starrs in the elements and in al nature Neuer were the Sunne and Moone eclipsed more apparantly neuer were seene so many Comets and other impressions in the aire neuer did the Sea and the riuers so violently ouerflowe their bankes neuer haue bin heard such earthquakes neuer were borne so many and so hydeous monsters Neither hath there euer bin seene since the memory of man so many and so often changes to come to passe in Countries Nations Maners Lawes Estates and Religions The course of the sunne is no more such as it was wont to be in old time neither are there the same points of the Solstices and Equinoxes but within this fourteene hundred yeres since Ptolomey liued who was a most diligent obseruer of the course of the world it is come neerer vnto the earth then at that time it was about twelue degrees Moreouer they say that al the parts of the Zodiacke and the whole signes haue chaunged their places and that the earth is remoued from his first scituation being not entierly absolutely as afore it was the center of the world Some also as Hipparchus a famous Astrologer amongst the Grecians haue giuen out that the celestial motions in time to come shall go a contrary course and that the course of the starrs shal be changed the East becomming West and the South North. In the meane time the continuation of the successiue alteration which we see here belowe consisteth in the mouing cause and in the first matter The cause that moueth is of two sorts th one being the first and chiefe mouer immoueable thother the first mouer moueable by whose vertue and influence gouerned by the diuine prouidence the corruptible things in this sensible world are incessantly restored renewed through the meanes of generation while the first matter
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
ignorant of till age they nourished them selues with flesh and with milke their land which was plaine and vnited being fit for such maner of liuing and being holpen by sundry great riuers which running ouerthwart and watering the ground made it fat and fertill Vnto which Scythians the Tartarians haue succeeded liuing at this day as is said in the same manner Out of this quarter and this kind of people neuer came but two Philosophers Anacharsis and Zamolsis both of them brought vp elswhere how be it that in Greece there haue bin innumerable ON THE other part towards the south were the Numidians liuing in the open aire without houses alwaies in labour and trauaile not drinking any wine and faring simply and poorely seeking onely to satisfie nature and not to serue pleasure Who by reason here of were very strong whole lusty and able men and long liued The Arabians or Alarbians liue nowe in such manner sithence the comming of Mahomet leading with them their houses villages and townes which they carry on Chariots or on the backe of Camels following the commoditie of pasturage from Arabie and the riuer Euphrates euen to the Atlanticke sea being very hurtfull to the bordering plaines of Suria Egipt and all the neerer Africke especially about the time of gathering corne and fruits for they goe downe then by troupes close and thicke Then hauing taken what they can they retire with such swiftnesse that they seeme rather to flie then to run and it is not possible to ouertake them or to follow them thorough places destitute of waters It is a vagabond people and innumerable yet diurded by Nations and Lordes called Schez euil agreeing togither and hauing no firme habitation They dwel commonly vnder tents and pauilions made of course bad wool They liue with flesh and milke especially of Camels putting thereunto a little rice hony dates raisins drie figgs oliues and Venison when they can catch it going often with doggs and haukes to hunt red deare fallow deare Ostriches and all other sort of wild game They are commonly mishapen maigre and leane of small stature of tawny and duskish colour blacke eyed with a weake and feminine voice wearing no other garments but shirts sauing some chief of thē They ride the most part without sadles spurs or shoes on their horses Their armes are great India canes of x. or xij cubits long with a little yron at the end and a little taffeta in manner of a banderoll Notwithstanding liuing in this pouertie and miserie they glory that they are first nations and chiefe of the world in that they were neuer mingled with others and haue still preserued and kept entier the nobility of their blood Ioannes Leo an Affrican historiographer writeth that they haue many goodly obseruations of Astrology which by tradition they deliuer from hand to hand to their successours and increase them daily BVT those nations which are in the meane habitatio of the world are well disposed and instructed both in armes and learning hauing by nature both courage and vnderstanding togither They liue in good policy inhabiting houses hamlets parishes villages townes cities common weales kingdomes and Empires they haue vniuersities and publicke schooles in which all sciences are taught they haue variety of trads and occupations seruing not only for necessity but also for pleasure ornament and magnificence of buildings victuals habits and armes they haue iudgement reuenew warfare and religion wel appointed and maintained AMONGST these of the meane they which dwell neerest the South being naturally melancolick do giue themselues willingly to solytarines and contemplation being sharpe witted and ingenious as the Egiptians Lybians Hebrewes Arabians Phaenicians Assyrians Persians and Indians Wherfore they haue inuented many goodly sciences vnfolded the secrets of nature found out the Mathematickes obserued the celestial motions first knowen religion Amongst them haue bin found learned Philosophers diuine Prophets and famous Lawmakers THEY which drawe towards the North as the Almains thorough the abundance of humour and blood which doth hinder speculation do apply themselues more to sensible things and to Mechanical arts that is to say to the finding of mettals and conduct of mines to melt and forge workes in yron steele copper brasse in which they are admirable hauing inuented the vse of Ordinance Artillery and Printing THOSE which dwel in the very midst are not so naturally fit for the speculatiue sciences as the Southern nations nor so apt for the mechanicall workes as the Northern people are but are best seene in handling publicke affaires and from them are come many good institutions Lawes maners the art of gouernment or Imperial military discipline and politicke ordering of a common wealth the regiment of a Shipp or Pilots art Logike and Rhetoricke And as the Meridional nations haue not bin much exercised in armes nor the Septentrional in learning th one excelling in vnderstanding thother in force they of the meane being both ingenious and courageous embracing both letters and armes together and ioyning force with wisedome haue established flourishing and durable Empires which the other could not do for although the Gothes Hunnes and Vandales more hardie then wise haue by armes inuaded Europe Asia and Africke neuertheles for want of Counsell they established not any power of continuance Contrarywise the Romains being both valiant and prudent haue surmounted all nations by the glory of their decdes establishing the greatest Empire and of longest continuance that euer was And yet haue not been depriued of the excellency of disciplines or of mechanicall workes Amongst whom haue florished famous Captaines good Lawmakers learned Lawiers iust Iudges seuere Censors graue Senatours ingenious and pleasant Poets eloquent Oratours true and elegant Historiographers wary Marchants and exquisite Artificers CONCERNING the East and West all doe agree that the Oriental or Easterly situation in the same aspect of heauen and seated in the like place is better then the Westerly or Occidentall and that all thinges growe fairer and greater in th one then thother Notwithstanding we see the Westerne people to excell in force of body and the others in vigour and sharpnes of vnderstanding In so much that the West seemeth to haue some affinitie with the North and the East with the South The Gaules or Frenchmen haue often sent great armies into Italy Greece and Asia The Italians neuer ouercame France till they brought their Empire to his full heigth and force and that vnder Iulius Caesar who founde them deuided into factions The Italians ouercame the Grecians without great difficulty The Grecians who by their armes had penetrated into the farther Asia came not farre into Italy but vnder King Pyrrhus who was shamfully beaten back Xerxes came downe into Greece with an innumerable armie yet neuerthelesse was ouercome by a fewe Grecians and driuen backe againe with a reprochful and ignominious losse INREGARD of the parts of the habitable earth many excellent men of war haue ben renowmed in Europe few in Africk
because it is needfull for them to remoue their cattaile from place to place for pasture they are constrained to follow exercising as it were a liuely kind of husbandry Some liue on hunting in diuers sorts as some on their pray others on fishing as they which liue neere vnto lakes pondes and riuers and such as border on the sea others on birds and wild beasts which inhabite neere vnto the woodes The poore thoroughout the wide forests and high mountaines liue on roots akornes and wildfruits notwithstanding the greatest part of men liue of the earth and of such fruits as they finde at home So that the manners of liuing vsed amongst them are pasturage tillage hunting hauking fishing and fouling Others by mingling of these do liue better at ease helping their life which hath need of many things with that which it wanteth to thend to haue sufficient As some vse pasturage and hauking others ioyne tillage with hunting and so the other kinds of liuing according as necessitie constraineth them or delight and pleasure prouoketh them The Canibals euen at this day do eate mans flesh rosted likewise the other Sauages eate their enimies which they haue taken in wars The Arabians feed on Camels and Ostriches bread of Millet and rapeseed pilled The Tartarians on raw flesh indifferently of dogs horses cats snakes and such other beasts which they do only presse betweene two stones to draw out the bloud thereof or els do mortifie it on the backe of a horse when a man is on him They drinke mares milke preparing it in such sort that it resembleth white-wine it is not much vnsauoury nor of ill tast The Cathayans also eate raw flesh cutting it first in small peeces then they conserue it in odoriferous oyles with good spices and then do eate if so prepared Their drink is made of rice with diuers spices which hath a tast more delicious pleasant then wine and they which drink more then enough thereof are sooner drunk then with wine The Medites hauing neither corne nor wine vse great hunting in the summer time taking both of wild beasts and birds wherof they make their prouision to liue in winter And in some places they make bisket of fishes dried and cut in smal peeces which they beate and bray into powder or flower then they temper it with water make past thereof mould it and make it into loaues of bread which they dry in the sunne liue thereof all the yere The people of Calecut liue on rice fishes spices fruits altogether different from ours They drinke wine of palmes and of dates mingled with rice and sugar Throughout al the western Islands they make bread of a kind of wheat called Mahiz and of a roote named Iuca which are ordinary feeding aswel in the Islands as in the maine land They make drinke of certain Pine apples which the call Ya yama which is holsome but because it is to sweet it is not so pleasant to drinke as the drinke of our countries It would be too long tedious to recite here and set downe seuerally all the kinds of liuing receiued of men either for necessitie or for superfluitie and delights Therfore these already rehearsed as the most strange and most different from ours shal suffice at this time But besides the commodities and discommodities of liuing which men haue in their seuerall Countries some abstain from certaine meates either by opinion as the Pythagoreans did from a cow and from a beane or els by religion and that either for a time as from flesh in Lent and on fasting daies amongst the Christians or alwaies as the Charterhouse Monkes and Carthusian Friers On the contrary the auncient priests of Egipt thought it a great sin to eate fishe as Herodotus hath wrtiten The Egiptians abstained also from swines-flesh as the Iews do at this day and the Mahometans who moreouer wil drinke no wine The Malharbians and Guzeras do eate nothing that hath blood neither kil they any thing that hath life Therefore they neither eate greene herbes nor newe fruit thinking that there is life in them and that it is a great offence to make them die They worship Oxen and abstaine from eating them as the Iewes do from swine The others being not so scrupulous do vse indifferently all kind of meates which they can comeby OF THE VARIETY of People IT seemeth that there is in men some natural desire to chaunge their habitations and dwellings hauing a mutable mind impacient of rest and desirous of nouelties By reason whereof they cease not from going one to an other changing of maners tongues letters lordships and religions Few countries are inhabited by the true originaries almost all Nations are mingled In auncient time the Egyptians dwelt in Babylon Cholchis Syria and Greece The Grecians in that part of Italie which is next the lower sea the Tyrians in Afrike the Africans in Spaine the Phocians in Gaule the Gaules in Greece and Asia the Macedonians in Syria and Egipt So haue the Arabians past into Persia Syria Afrike Italie and Spaine So the Tartarians into Scythia So the Spaniards into America to Peru and into the East and West India The excessiue heates and coldes the deepe seas and large riuers the high mountaines the great woodes and deserts can not let them from changing their dwellinges Notwithstanding they remoue commonly out of cold Regions into temperate as the Parthians and Turks haue done on the side of Asia and in Europe the Cymbrians Sicambrians Saxons Gothes Lombards Burgundians Frenchmen Vandales Normans Alanes Hunnes Hungarians and Slauonians which at diuers times going out of the North haue possessed the principall regions of Europe Others hauing long straied and wandered do not make choise of their habitation but stay at the first place where they find themselues wearle being not able to go any farther Others get it by force of armes Some straiers perish bythe way others dwell where their pouertie leaueth them and they haue not all the same necessitie to abandon their Countrie and to seek a new Some by strange armies being beaten out of their owne inuade some other others being oppressed with ciuil sedition others being increased to an ouergreat multitude others by pestilence or by barrennes of their land and others hoping to recouer a better Howsoeuer all vsurpers haue accustomed to abolysh as much as lay in them the dignitie and memorie of their predecessors aswell for enuie hatred and contempt as for ambition to thend to make their name onely from that time forward to flourish as the Medians did vsurping the Lordship ouer the Assyrians the Persians ouer the Medes and Egiptians the Romains ouer the Gaules Spaniards and Africans the Gothes and Vandales ouer the Romains the Arabians ouer the Persians Egiptians Africans which at this day also the Spaniards do in the new found Lands and the Turks in those places which they get on the Christians destroying their buildings titles letters bookes histories
trauayling in diuers exercises do obtaine alike excellencie and reputation they thinke that mens wits are nourished by emulation and that sometimes enuie sometimes admiration doth stir them vp and maketh them mount by little and little to the highest where it is hard to remaine since euery thing that can not go forward or vpward doth naturally discend and retire yea commonly much faster then it ascended And as they are prouoked to follow or imitate the first so after they dispaire of going beyond them or attayning to them they lose their courage of trauayling and labouring with their hope leauing the matter as alreadie possessed which falleth after by negligence and commeth to contempt Aristotle who affirmeth the world to be eternall and Plato who said that it had a beginning but that it should haue no end do both affirme that infinite things haue bin in one and the same kind and should bee infinitely that there is nothing whose like hath not bin that there should be nothing which had not bin and that nothing hath bin but should be againe That in this maner the Arts and sciences and other humaine inuentions cannot be perpetual those Nations being distroied where they flourished by reason of extreme heats and inundations which must needes happen at certaine times by the mouing and progresse of the starres either by the fire and water discending from aboue in exceeding quantitie or fire breaking out of the earth or the sea forcibly ouerflowing his bankes or by the increase and swelling of riuers which can not runne into the sea or that the earth trembling and quaking open it selfe and violently cast forth the water before inclosed in his entrailes But howbeit the Starres haue some power towards the disposing of inferiour things the situation of places and temperature of the seasons of the yeare do helpe concerning vnderstandings and maners the reward and honour proposed vnto mans industrie the learned ages and liberall Princes giue great aduancement vnto Arts and emulation serueth for a spur therevnto Notwithstanding for my part I thinke that God being carefull of all the parts of the world doth grant the excellencie of Armes and of Learning sometimes vnto Asia sometimes vnto Africk sometimes vnto Europe establishing the soueraign Empire of the world once in the East another time in the West another time in the South another in the North and suffering vertue and vice valiancie and cowardize sobrietie and delicacie knowledge and ignorance to go from countrie to countrie honouring and diffaming the Nations at diuers times to th end that euery one in his turne might haue part of good hap and ill and that none should waxe proude by ouerlong prosperitie as it will appeare to haue fallen out vnto this present by particuler recitall of the Nations accounted the first or chiefest of the world The end of the third Booke OF THE VICISSITVDE OF ARMES AND OF LETTERS concurring in the Coniunction of Power and wisdom through the most renowmed Nations of the world and who haue bin the first and most auncient of all that haue excelled in them both The fourth Booke INtending to begin our discourse by the most auncient Nations of the world I find my selfe hindered by the different which hath bin betweene some of them touching the honour of antiquitie and of precedence THE INDIANS inhabiting Countries of maruailous largenesse did boast that they were the true Originaries hauing neuer receiued any strangers among them neither sent any of theirs to dwell elswhere But that the first amongst them vsed such victuals as the earth brought forth of it selfe and skinns of beasts for their garments and then found out by little and little the Arts sciences and other things necessarie to liue well That their land is so fertile that they neuer found want of victuals For whereas it bringeth forth twice in a yeare all maner of Corne they gather one Haruest in winter at such time as they plant rootes and thother in summer when they sow Rice sesame and millet wherof there commeth great aboundance from thence for asmuch as the graines and fruits grow there without any help of man and that the rootes growing in the marishes of singuler sweetnes serue men in steed of other victuals verie sufficiently and that the customes do helpe that fertilitie much which they obserue in time of warres not to hurt the husbandmen nor endamage the laborers in any thing but to leaue them in peace as ministers of the common profit and not to burne the farmes and villages of their aduersaries themselues nor to cut their trees or corne which they had sowen THE strength of the Indians appeared then when they were assayled by Semiramis Queene of Assyria for being a woman exceeding couetous of honour and of glorie after she had conquered Egipt and Ethiopia she thought yet to make one warre more the memorie whereof should last foreuer Vnderstanding then that the people of the Indies was the greatest of the world and their Countrie aboue all others excellent in beautie and fertilitie where the earth as is said caried twice in a yeare fruits and seeds and where there was great quantitie of gold siluer brasse precious stones and all other thinges both for profit and pleasure she imployed all her forces against the Indians ouer whom raigned Staurobates and assembled her Armie in the which there were three Millions of foote fiue hundred thousand horsemen a hundred thousand chariots and as manie fighters on camels-backs with swordes of sixe foote in length two thousand barkes or shipps and made or fained Elephants in great number whose counterfaits were caried on Camels Which militarie preparation being vnderstood by the King of the Indians he assayed to exceed her forces and hauing ordained all things in a readines for the resisting of her he sent his Ambassadours before reprehending her of great ambition that without being prouoked by any wrong or iniurie of them she made warre against them blaming her besides in many and diuers respects and calling the Gods to witnesse he threatned her that if she were ouer come in battaile he would cause her to be hanged and crucified Whereunto Semiramis answered smyling that they must fight with prowesse and not with words The battailes then approching one against the other Semiramis had the better in the first encounter and in the second was ouerthrowen with her counterfait Elephants in such sort that almost all the Assyrians being put to flight Staurobates by chaunce meeting with Semiramis hurt her first with an arrow iâ— the arme and then with a dart in the shoulder and as she was getting to horse she was almost taken the Kings Elephant pursuing her The Assyrians in this maner ouercome tooke the way to their ships and the Indians pursuing their victorie slew many of them at the straights and narrow waies in the which the footemen and horsemen being intermingled hindred one an other in so much that there was no meanes to flie nor to saue themselues but
other they haue so little preuailed that yet at this present they are not able there to till the land except the riuer Nilus be held in by Causwais and bankes And it is not possible that this countrey did first of all bring foorth men which notwithstanding the bankes and causies yet by meanes of the mudde and dreggs which the riuer Nilus bringeth in and leaueth there appeareth yet all waterie By these reasons both th one and thother nation maintained their antiquitie But as concerning Egypt it is certaine that a part thereof was somtimes couered with water All that which is aboue Memphis towardes the mountaines of Ethiopia hath bin Sea by the opinion of Herodotus And Strabo thinketh all the land which is from Siena vnto the Sea watered with the riuer Nilus to haue bin at the beginning called Egypt which was much increased as one may see by the verse of Homer sauing that the Isle of Pharos was a daies iourney distant from firme land which is now euen almost ioyning to Alexandria If these things be true they show sufficiently that this land is not auncient Neither can the Scythians proue their antiquity If it be true that Herodotus sayth that they began but a thousand yeeres before the raigne of king Darius ouer the Persians But as both regions by the reasons debated haue not bin very apt for habitation of men so is it better to beleeue that land to haue bin first inhabited which hath the aire most temperate by which meanes the Egyptians said that they were most auncient But as they by reason of the waters cannot alleage any auncient habitation so neither can the Scythians because they dwell in a quarter which is afflicted with continuall colde Wherefore it is more conformable vnto trueth to say that the middle region betweene them both where the territory of Damasco is situated hath borne the first men as the holy Scripture witnesseth which is exempted from the discommodities of Egypt and of Scythia and by reason of the situation is naturally more temperate then either of them both Otherwise it is hard by humaine knowledge to know in what place what people or what nation hath bin the first by how much space or how many yeres it was afore the rest Yet the opinion in times past touching the beginning of people was such that at the beginning of all things the heauen and earth had one onely essence and forme but that afterwarde the Elements being separated one from the other the world tooke that order in which we see it now Amongst which elements there befell into the aire that continuall motion which it hath and to the fire for his lightnes that place which it hath aboue the aire and for the same reason to the Sunne stars the course which they naturally keep That which was mixed with moisture by reason of his heauines remained in the same masse Wherhence was created of the moistest the sea of the hardest the earth being soft in it selfe and myrie Which when it was first dried and made thicker by the heate of the sunne after by force of the heate lifted vp made to swell vpwards there grew together in many diuers places therof certaine humours ingendring rottenes couered and hid with thinne and tender skinnes As generation then is made in moist thinges by adding heate vnto it and the aire blowen abroade by night feedeth it with moisture which is strengthened in the day time by the power of the sunne finally these rotten things being come as it were to their extremity brought forth as if the time of their childbirth had bin come the figures of all sorts of creatures and liuing things after those little skinnes were broken Of which liuing creatures such as had receiued most heate were made flying birds and mounted into the higher regions those which had most earth remained as serpents and such other beasts below they which retained the nature of water were put in the element of their complexion and called fishes Then the earth being made dryer from thence forward as well by the heate of the sunne as by the winds left bringing forth any more such creatures But those which were already made begot others by continual commixtion Men being thus formed sought their liuing in the fields leading a sauage life without any order vnto whō the hearbs trees brought forth of thēselues that which was necessarie for their life But the wild beastes became against them and their enemies in such sort that to resist them and for their common profit they began to assemble togither giuing aide one to the other and seeking here and there safe places for their habitation And these first assemblies were the true beginning of euery people and nation THE CHALDEES very skilfull in Astrologie held opinion that the world had alwaies bin that it had no beginning nor should haue no end Aristotle hath bin of the same opinion and that all liuing creatures were sempiternall Plato in his third and twelfth booke of lawes doubteth of the world and of mankind whether they were from the beginning or no saying that the generation of men either had no beginning or that it began an inestimable length of time before vs. The same authour in his Timaeus Critias Menexemus and his Politick is of opinion that by long tracte of time the vigour of mens minds and fertility of their bodies diminisheth by little and little in such sort that our vnderstandings find themselues as it were depriued of their diuinity the bodies void of their accustomed fertility Thē God meaning to restore mankind into his former dignity drowneth or burneth the earth tempering in such sort the celestiall motions by himselfe which is their mouer that the heauenly destiny giueth place and concurreth alwaies with his diuine prouidence And that the earth being abundantly watered with fresh humour and made fruitfull by the heat ensuing doth bring forth or els that the rayne falling more plentifully after excessiue heates drouths there are engendred or regenerated not only little creatures but great ones also being borne of the earth as of their mother Of which opinion also were many Egyptians Greekes and Arabians namely Algazel and Auicen with whom Aristotle agreeth in his Problemes when he sayth that in little mutations of times little creatures are brought foorth and so in the great greater and very great in the greatest mutations THE IEWES CHRISTIANS AND SAR AZENS following the diuine prophet and Lawgiuer Moyses beleeue that God hath made the world of nothing and created Adam the first man after his owne likenes of the dust of the earth and breathed in his face that spirit of life and that he was made with a liuing soule afterwards meaning to giue him helpe and company made a profound sleepe to fall on him and being a sleepe took one of his ribbes and made Eue there of the first woman That they were placed in an earthly paradise where was
had the principall charge vnder him who put him in a golden cage and cast him on a chariot meaning to carry him to Bactria then seeing that Alexander approached caused him to bee killed with darts and Iauelins and left him dead in the midst of the way Such was the end of a king so mighty in people in possessions and reuenews who called him selfe Lord of all the world from the East vnto the West hauing raigned onely sixe yeres in all delicacies exceeding the common magnificence of Princes Which luxurious maner of liuing was cause of his vtter ouerthrow as humane things being variable haue their fatall inclination so ordained by the diuine prouidence to fall then when they are mounted highest and that the Lords thinke themselues to be most assured sleeping therefore in carelesnes and ouerweening conceits For he suffered himselfe to slide so farre into deliciousnes and superfluous riches that he slept alwaies in a chamber betweene two great chambers most richly furnished in such sort that the Kings bed being sumptuously spred in his chamber and couered with a vine of gold in manner of a grate or lettis enriched with precious stones gathered togither in manner of hanging clusters of grapes the beds head was placed towards the wal of one of the great chambers in which ther was fiue thousand talents of gold and this great roome was called the kings beds head whereunto right opposite was the wall of the other great chamber against his beds foote in the which there was alwaies three thousand talents of siluer and was called the kings beds foote which summes are esteemed after our maner to be worth thirty millions of Crownes Going to war he caried with him in his host for his pastime and delight cccxxxix women as Concubines singers dauncers and such as were skilfull in all kinde of Musicke xlvj workmen to set flowers in order and to make garlands nosegaies chapelets and other sweete smelling things cclxxvij cookes xxix potters making euery day vessels of earth to serue the kitchin xiij bakers of tarts and such other licorous and delicate bakemeates Cellerers cupbearers bruers and minglers of wines makers of spiced cupps and of all artificiall lycours and drinkes xvij of th one sort and lxx of the other Perfumers and makers of sweete smelling sauours and odours both wet and dry xl If then the king of Persia vsed so much delicacy being in warr and nourished himself with so many delights in the field what did he wheÌ„ he remained in peace at Persepoli or in Babylon a city abounding in all superfluities and in all vices that proceed of great plenty Yet notwithstanding in the flower of his fortune he being dronken with prosperity and aboundance of goods was spoyled of his riches which had bin heaped togither by many kings his predecessours losing his life and his kingdome which was clymed to the top of the worldy power and felicity where ariseth the spring of pride arrogancy ouerweening and extreme insolency And there is the slippery path whereon standeth the enuy of fortune and where soueraigne felicity falleth headlong into great calamity By this so magnificent victory ouer him ALEXANDER brought vnder his obedience almost al the countries of the East and transported the Monarchy out of Asia into Europe So the Macedonians tooke away the Empire of the East from the Persians and the Parthians from the Macedonians by the conduct of Arsaces a Captaine of an vncertaine birth but of a most approued vertue and no lesse memorable amongst them then Cyrus among the Persians and Alexander among the Macedonians by whose name they called the succeeding Kings because of the reuerence which they bare vnto him They became so mighty that for a time they ruled ouer all Asia possessing not onely the vnmeasurable plaines but also the abrupt dounfals of the mountaines and placing the bounds of their Empire where either the heate or the cold staied them with snowes or immoderate and burning heates They possessed eighteene kingdomes deuiding in this maner their prouinces as hauing respect to the two Seas that is the red Sea towards the South and the Caspian toward the North where of eleuen which were called the superiour or higher began at the confines of Armenia and at the bankes of the Caspian Sea extending euen to the Scythians Thother seauen were termed the inferiour or lower They seemed to diuide the world with the Romaines th one ruling in the East and thother the West Their dominion from ARSACES to ARTABANVS endured cccc yeres which was brought backe againe into Persia by ARTAXERXES and after cccxviij yeres was taken againe from the Persians by the Arabians or Sarazens Amongest whom the CALIPHES residing at Bagdet raigned in the East ccccxviij yeres after them the first TVRKS from the yere of Christ M.L.I. vntill M.cc.xj when the Tartarians came out of their countrey who in a little time seised on the greatest part of the north the East the south of whoÌ„ came the inuincible TAMBERLAN who made the whol habitable earth afraid And since they being retired the Persians who are reputed the ciuâ—lest people of the East being ingenious valiant and there are amongst them excelleÌ„t Philosophers Physitions Astrologers very good Artisans in all misteries occupations Their king is called SOPHI which is as much to say as wise and the Interpreter of God because that ISMAEL the first that was so named vnder the colour of expositions new ceremonies brought in by him into the religion of Mahomet got no longe time since a great Empire in the East hauing driuen away the race of Vsun-Cassanus king of Persia to whom he was allied by his mothers side and made many Princes and Lords of the East his vassals or tributaries The chiefe prouinces vnder his obedience were Armenia the great Persia Media Assyria with iiij capital or head Cities Tauris in Armenia Samach in Persia Scyras in Media Bagdet which was somtimes Babylon in Assyria There are gentlemen amongst them after the maner of Italy France Spaine which vse barded horses in the wars vnto which they go welarmed bearing great lances and good cymeters being also very good archers The Sophi is opposite on the one side to the Ottoman to the Zagathain on thother Thus haue the kingdoms of Asia of the East varied But before we go out of this quarter we must speak of the MAGES which were far different from other natioÌ„s in their religion wisdom They had no temples Images nor altars neither was it permitted by their law to make any esteeming them fools which had them accounting it impiety to inclose the Gods within wals which ought to haue al open free whose temple and house was the whol world For this cause they perswaded Xerxes warring in Greece to burne al the Temples which he should find there And when they would sacrifice they went vp into high mountaines where it was not lawful for him that
went vnto the house of praier he perceiued a great light to lighten from his house vp towardes heauen and by and by he dyed leauing his wife with childe And within twelue daies after Mahomet was borne Then all Idoles fel and became blacke All kingdomes were destroied from the East vnto the West and not one stood vpright Lucifer was cast into the bottome of the sea where he remained fortie daies and with much a doe came out therehence then calling all his fellowes he shewed them that Mahomet was borne who would take away all their power and therefore they should determine to corrupt the worlde with hypocrisie riotousnes and pleasure At the same hower God made it to bee vnderstood thoroughout heauen and earth that hee had a faithfull and happy friend borne vnto him His mother witnessed that in bearing and bringing him forth in her child-birth she felt not any paine at all and that from aboue there were sent to nourish him flockes of birdes with beakes of Emerauldes and winges of hyacinth who lifting vp their eies from the East toward the West and looking towards the child perceiued that he was almost fledged and helde out his handes as it were to pray vnto God There came also a man clothed in white rayment presenting him with three keies like vnto pearles which hee tooke namely the key of victory the key of the lawes and the key of prophecy And afterwarde came three persons with their faces shyning of whome the first caried a cawderon of Emeraudes with foure handles of pearles well appropriated and offering it vnto him said This is the world and his foure corners East West North and South Mahomet accepting it all it was foretolde him that hee should commaund ouer all the worlde And when this man had washed him thrice hee kissed his forehead speaking thus Be glad O Mahomet for that is reserued for thee which hath bin denyed vnto the prophets which surmountest all in wisedome and magnanimity And the key of victorie being especially giuen thee thou shalt be without feare and there shall bee none remayning in the worlde but shall tell of thy name And then assembled all sorts of birdes the cloudes and the windes and finally the companies of Angels striuing for the nourishment of the child The birdes said that they were fittest considering that they could gather fruites from diuers places The windes that they could fill him with odours The cloudes that they would nourish him most conueniently hauing meanes to imparte vnto him the sweetenesse of waters The Angels being angred said that there remained nothing for them But a voice from aboue appeased the debate declaring that he should not be taken out of the handes of men and that happie shoulde bee those brestes which shoulde giue him sucke happie the handes which should handle him and happie should be his house and his bed An asse being almost famished with honger kneeled downe to worship him and hauing him on her backe lift vp her head and went beyond the others which had gotten before her And when as euery one meruailed thereat the asse answered for her selfe speaking in the voice of man Thus hath God restored me as I perished and hath raised me from death to life O if you knew what I beare It is the seale of the prophets the Lord of the messengers better then all the former friends of God Three men caried him vp to a mountaine and ript vp his belly without griefe or harme The first opened him from the brest vnto the nauell and washed his entrailes with snowe The seconde cleaued his harte in the midst and tooke out thereof a blacke graine saying it was the portion of the deuill The third clensing the place made him whole againe Hee was then thus nourished according to their fabulous saying and grewe in such sorte that hee neuer gaue any cause of trouble or griefe to those which nourished him Seraphin kept him three yeares and Gabriel ninteene who gaue vnto him the Lawe in the fortieth yeare of his age and caried him to heauen Wherehence being descended and associated with Eubocara Haly and Zaid hee calleth him selfe the prophet of God preaching publicklie And not onely maketh himselfe beleeued by his worde but also by force considering that the sworde preuaileth more with people then reason fighting often against his aduersaries in so much that they reckon twentie and two expeditions of his hauing bin present in person at nyne and in his life time giuen eighteene battailes in which hee obtayned victorie conquered Mecha with the places rounde about and possessed the rest of Arabia Then seeing himselfe fortified hee wrote to the Princes of other languages as to the King of Persia the Emperour of the Romaines the king of Ethiopia and others that they would willingly receaue his Law They haue forged many other lies of him like vnto these which I wil purposely omitt fearing tedious prolixity and least in reciting of scandalous blasphemies I should offend Christian eares As touching his death they say he died of a Plurisie or of the falling euill the Lxiij yeare of his age and that hauing foretold in his sicknesse that the third day after his death he should be caried into Heauen the people expecting it kept him so long that by the stinch of his carion they were constrayned to burie him at Medina surnamed since of the Prophet Such then was the beginning of the Algier of MAHOMET that is to say of his raigne which endured ten yeares after the which his followers do recken their yeares as we do ours after the Natiuitie of Christ. His parents and successours continuing the enterprise haue persisted till this present in the publication of that Lawe by preaching and by force making their power verie great and spreading with their Empire the Arabian religion and language almost in all parts of the habitable earth Then the Mahometists made at the beginning great conquests vnder the gouernment of one only Lord called the Caliphe which was king priest together hauing the superintendence and conduct of all their affaires concerning not onely pietie and iustice but also armes and reuenewes all possessions sacred or prophane libertie and bondage life and death But as they increased in countries so they entred into partialities and while this schisme endured they created in Egipt an other Caliphe leauing him of Bagdet as too superstitious and rigorous who excommunicated them and declared them Hereticks The Caliphe of Bagdet commaunded in all the East And thother of Egipt who diminished his authoritie had but little lands at the first But he conquered in proces of time all Barbary and a great part of Spaine For the Saracens vnder his obedience passed into Africk where they tooke Carthage Maiorca Minorca and following their good fortune marched as far as Mauritania And still endeuouring to increase they passed into Europe at the perswasion of an Earle a western Gothe called Iulian who beeing much moued with the
imitantia fulmen Corripiunt Vulcane tuum dum Theutonas armas Inuentum dum tela Jouis mortalibus affers Nec mora signantes certam sibi quisque volucrem Inclusam salicum cineris sulphúrque nitrumque Materiam accendunt seruata in veste fauilla Fomite correpta diffusa repente furit vis Ignea circumsepta simulque cita obice rupto Intrusam impellit glandem volat illa per auras Stridula exanimes passim per prata iacebant Deiectae volucres magno micat ignibus aer Cum tonitru quo sylua omnis ripaeque recuruae Et percussa imo sonuerunt aequora fundo This age hath brough forth many great and notable inuentions on which notwithstanding I will not stand because they are rather accessarie to the auncient things then exceeding the vnderstanding of our forfathers all antiquitie hauing not any thing to compare vnto these three But amongst the meruailes of our age there haue bin manifested new and strange maladies vnknowen of the Auncients and not treated of by any Greek Arabian or Romain Phisitian as if there were not enough alreadie dispersed ouer the world to the number of three hundred and more without speaking of the inconueniencies hapning euery day by the excesses which men do vse Moreouer there are risen Sects in many Countries which haue much troubled the publicke peace and cooled the mutuall charitie of men Whereof some more curious will attribute the cause to the celestiall motions For as we haue obserued in times past in the notable mutations of mankind where nature hath showed her greatest forces that extreme euill and wickednes hath met with excellent vertue and extraordinarie calamities haue accompanied great felicitie so could not one imagin any kind of vnhappinesse or â—ice which is not found in this age so happie in the restitution of good learning and restoring of sciences Neither is there any amongst all men either Christians or barbarous Nations but hath suffered much No part of the habitable earth no person is exempted from affections which increase from day to day and are too much knowen to our damage and confusion Euery where the publike estates haue â—in afflicted changed or destroied and euery where the Religion troubled with heresies Not only all Europe but also the farthest regions of Asia and Africk the inhabitants of the new found lands and of the East and West Indies being innumerable in multitude and dispersed into infinite places haue bin troubled with foreine and ciuile warres long continued wherehence hath followed the excessiue price of all things with often famines and pestilences We must think that God being angrie with men sendeth such calamities generally and particularly to correct our vices and to bring vs to a greater knowledge and reuerence of him For there was neuer in the world more wickednes more impietie or more disloialtie Deuocion is quenched simplicitie and innocencie mocked at and there remayneth but a shadow of Iustice. All is turned vpside downe nothing goeth as it ought But the most notable aduersities and prosperities of this age are elegantly represented by Fracastorius in these goodly Verses Credo equidem quaedam nobis diuinitus esse Inuenta ignaros fatis ducentibus ipsis Nam quanquam fera tempestas iniqua fuerunt Sydera non tamen omnino praesentia diuûm Abfuit à nobis placidi clementia coeli Si morbum insolitum si dura tristia bella Vidimus sparsos dominorum caede penates Oppidaque incensasque vrbes subuersáque regna Et templa captis temerata altaria sacris Elumina deiectas si perrumpentia ripas Euertere sata medijs nemora eruta in vndis Et pecora domini correptaque rura natarunt Obseditque inimica ipsas penuria terras Haec eadem tamen haec aetas quod fata negarunt Antiquis totum potuit sulcare carinis Id pelagi immensum quod circuit Amphitrite Nec visum satis extremo ex Atlante repostos Hesperidum penetrare sinus praxumque sub Arcto Inspectare alia praeruptaque littora rapti Atque Arabo aduehere Carmano ex aequore merces Aurorae sed itum in populos Titanidis vsque est Supta Indum Gangémque supra qua terminus olim Calygare noti orbis erat superata Cyambe Et dites Ebeno foelices macere syluae Denique à nostro diuersum gentibus orbem Diuersum coelo clarum maioribus astris Remigio audaci aâ—â—igimus ducentibus dijs The end of the tenth Booke A COMPARISON OF THIS AGE with the most famous former Ages to know wherein it is superiour inferiour or equall vnto them and first touching the warfare of these dayes with the auncient Greek and Romain The Eleuenth Booke THE excellencie of this age being briefly declared we will hence forward compare it with the most famous of the former in matter of Armes Artillerie Captaines Armies Battailes Sieges Empires and other States voiages by sea and by land discoueries of Countries riches maners and sciences to know wherein it is superiour or inferiour or equall vnto them beginning with the comparison of the warfare of these daies with the auncient Greeke and Romaine It is said that CYAXARES king of the Medians was the first that distributed the men of warre of Asia into Bandes Squadrons and Companies and ordayned that the horsemen and footmen should haue their quarters apart and should no more march confusedly as they were wont to do The ROMAINS accounting more of their Infanterie then of their Caualerie and founding on it all the desseignes of their power diuided their footmen into those that were heauily and such as were lightly armed whom they called Velites vnder which word were vnderstood all such as vsed slings darts and bowes the greatest part of whom as Polybius saith were armed with a caske and to couer themselues had a shield or target on their arme and fought without keeping any rank or order a good way from the heaule or maine armie The men that were heauily armed had a salade which couered their head and came downe as far as their shoulders There bodie was armed with cuirasses which with the tases couered their â—highes as far as their knees They had moreouer their leggs and their armes couered with greues and vantbrasses and caried also a shield of fower foote long and two and a halfe broad which had a circle or plate of yron aboue to sustaine the blowes the better and to keepe it from cleauing and an other plate of yron vnderneath which kept the shield from being wasted and worne with leaning it on the ground which might be compared to a pauois prouided that the pauois had in the verie midst thereof a bosse of yron well set on and close ioyned as their shieldes had the better thereby to endure the blowes and strokes which should fall thereon Besides they had a sword girt on their left side and on their right side a short dagger They had a dart in their hand
the Sciences doing that for Posteritie which Antiquitie hath done for vs to the end that Learning be not lost but from day to day may receiue some increase OF THE VARIETY OF THINGS The first Booke INtending to represent according to my ability the interchangeable course and alteration of all things in the worlde together with the causes of the principall chaunges and varieties to be perceiued as well in the superiour as in the inferiour part thereof sithence the time that the first memory of man began euen to this present I most humbly acknowledge the diuine prouidēce of God to be aboue all beleeuing assuredly that God almighty maker and gouernour of this great worke so excellent in beauty so admirable in varietie and so singular in continuance to whome I pray to aydeme in this so high so long so difficult an enterprise hytherto neuer attempted of any is carefull of all affaires happening therein euen to the least contayning in himselfe the beginning the end and the meanes of them all and pursuing the order which he hath giuen to the world from the beginning in creating it will that it be tempered by alternatiue chaunges and maintayned by contraries his eternall essence remayning alwaies one and vnchangeable First of all then the heauen notwithstanding it hath receyued of God the maker thereof many excellencies amongst other creatures beyng round and hauing throughout his extremities or vtmost partes distant or remoued from the middle or inmost parte which is the most perfect figure and most like vnto it selfe on which he hath also bestowed conuenient circular motion exempted from the wandring and inconstancie of others turning it by the same and in the same and to him selfe wherein he doth perseuer yet neuerthelesse since it hath a body it can not wholy warrant or preserue it selfe from alteration chaunge The Auncients made eight spheres in it of the firmament and of the seauen Planets but since haue beene obserued the ninth and the tenth our later Astrologers affirming that the tenth doth turne round about the world in 24. houres goyng by the right side from East to West and by this so swift and impetous motion doth force and cary with it all the other inferiour spheres and doth make them make the same turne in the selfe same space of time although that their proper motions be contrary vnto it drawing on the left side from West to East namely the ninth being the slowest in 49. thousand yeares The eighth to haue two th one of 36. thousand yeres thother of seuen thousand The sphere of Saturne in 30. yeres of Iupiter in 12 of Mars in two of the Sunne Venus Mercury in one yere of the Moone in 28. daies Time also was made with heauen and with the starrs so that hauing had the selfe same beginning they shall also haue the same end when the world shall be dissolued returning into their auncient Chaos and former darknes For the daies moneths yeres and ages which were not before that the heauen and the starres were created incontinently began with them and number was distinguished and obserued by their course That is the entercourse of daies and nights by the daily motion of the firmament The moneth after that the Moone hath gone ouer her whole circle and attained to the sunne The ordinarie yere when the sunne hath accomplished his course The great yere when the seauen Planets and thother fixed starrs returne to their first places representing the same nature which was at the beginning The liues of all things and the prefixed time of their continuance being determined by lesser or greater numbers according to the disposition of the matter whereof they are made springing growing florishing diminishing perishing in certainetimes and by vnequall spaces being reduced to the selfe same end euery one seeling his corruption to be the cause of another generation Insomuch that it seemed vnto Plato that the world was nourished by the consumption and decay of it selfe producing alwaies new creatures vnto the old and raising vp of others like vnto them in the places of those that were perished without suffering the kinds to faile or surcease which by this meanes do alwaies remaine as it were immortall But howbeit the world is round and hath not in it either high or low considering that the place which is in the midst ought not to be termed high or low nor that which compasseth about be called the midst neither hath in it any part differing from the other if regard be had vnto the midst and euery other opposite thing notwithstanding in respect of our selues we say that it hath high low right and left That Pole which we see being termed low according to Aristotle thother which is hidden from vs high And the East whence the first motion proceedeth is the right side The West is the left whence commeth a motion contrary to the former Then the Astrologers and Philosophers affirme that from the superiour part of the world there discendeth a certaine vertue accompained with light and heat which some of them do call the spirit or soule of the world others say it is nature which mingleth it selfe with the masse of this great body penetrating quickening norishing and moderating al these variable thinges vnder the Moone which being of such efficacy beginneth first with the fire and the aire which being moued by the celestial mouings doe afterwardes moue the water and the earth and consequently the natures compounded of these fower Elements as wel men beasts birds and fishes as plants trees herbes and mettals That there is the first mouing whereof do depend all other inferious motions and al essence whatsoeuer That there hence do proceede diuers temperatures of bodies inclinations of mindes manners of men properties of nations vices and vertues health and sicknes force and feeblenes shortnes and length of life mortality riches and pouertie prosperitie and aduersity That there hence al estates and sects do take their beginnings their course continuance and their ends In briefe that al this inferiour world doth obey the superiour is gouerned by it Especially that all humaine affaires do depend thereon and yet are to be preuented by deeds not that such effects doe necessarily come to passe and inuiolably by a fatall Law but that they may be auoided by wisedome or turned from vs by diuine praiers or augmented or diminished or moderated by nurture custome and instruction First that the Sunne lightning all thinges with his beames doth giue euident proofe therof who rising and setting maketh the day and the night by comming towards vs and going from vs causeth the yeres continually to be renewed and by the obliquity or crookednes of the Zodiacke with the helpe of the twelue signes which are in it doth distinguishe by his Solstices and Equinoxes the fower seasons of the sommer and winter of the spring and haruest In the which consisteth the vicissitude of life and death and the change of all thinges
subiecteth it selfe cōtinually to al mouings changings in the same perpetuity that the first mouer moueth formeth neuer faileth to produce these transitory things OF THE VICISSITVDE WHICH THE fower Elements haue amongst them selues and euery one by it selfe THat successiue alteration which is in the inferiour part of the world consisteth principally in the fower Elements of which it is compounded which doe receiue continual change both amongst themselues togither and eche of them seuerally First when the water is thickned it seemes to become a stone or a peece of earth when it vapours away to be breath or aire Also the aire enlightened is conuerted into fire the fire extinguished and thickned is turned into aire againe the aire thickned into mists and clouds whence proceedeth water Also we see of water earth and stones to be ingendred in such sort that they giue one to another by turne and course a continual generation Seeing then they neuer remaine in the same estate it is hard to discerne th one from the other But that which we see to be now of one forme then of another and like vnto fire we must not call it fire but like vnto fire neither water but such a thing as water and so likewise in the rest as thinges which haue not any stability Wee ought not to signifye them by names such as wee vse to demonstrate any thing as when wee say this or that for they flie and will neuer abide this demonstration being onely applyable to thinges which are stable but eche of them ought to bee called such and such according to his similitude as the fire and whatsoeuer else hath generation But that wherein they seeme to bee formed and fashioned agayne ought onely to bee designed by this or that remaining alwaie the same without diminishing either power or faculty and continually receyuing all without retayning euer any semblable forme It is the first matter exposed to all nature to receiue any forme and beyng stirred and formed by those thinges which happen on it sometimes it seemeth to be of one sorte and sometimes of another But the matter that is subiect to such à formation should not be well prepared or ordered if it were not of it selfe without forme and naturally despoyled of all the formes which it is to receiue for if it were like to any of these thinges when his contrary or any other nature should come it could not well represent it hauing the other already wherfore it behoueth it to be exempted of all shapes figures and formes which must receyue into it selfe all kindes Wee will not say than that the mother and receptacle of this inferiour world is the earth the ayre the fire the water or anything which is made of them or whereof they are made but that it is an inuisible nature without forme yet capable of any to be comprehended onely by the vnderstanding with reason and not to be perceiued by the senses that the fire seemeth to be somewhat that is heated and the water somewhat that is moistned likewise the aire and the earth according as it receiueth their formes suffering the other passions which depend of them by meanes whereof it seemeth to be of all formes But because it hath not forces or faculties neyther of the like qualitie nor of the same waight it keepeth not any equalitie but is vnequally moued or stirred of these kindes which againe are moued of it by which motion they are caried hither thither and discerned the one from the other by kinds qualities obseruing the order which is giuē them to the end that by the coherence of different bodies there should not remayne that confusion which was before the constitution of the world These foure Elements so different in natures and qualities and contrary one to another are assembled by such à proportion that those which are light are held downe by waight least they should mount higher and contrariwise the heauy least they should fall are hāged on the light ones which tend alwaies vpward remaining all by à like force cōstrained kept in their places by the perpetual circuit of the world which turning alwaies in it selfe holdeth the earth balanced in the midst as the lowest of al which againe in counterchange doth ballaunce the other Elements themselues which holde it as it were ballaunced and hanged in the midst of them The water is diffused rounde about it And the ayre is caried ouer them both making but one globe The fire is seated highest which beyng placed betweene the heauen and the aire is pure on that parte which toucheth the celestiall bodie and impure in that which is next to the ayre receyuing many chaunges in diuers formes And although in that parte next vnto heauen it haue no contrarie to corrupt it remayning in his naturall place apt for the conseruation thereof neuerthelesse the partes of it doe not alwaies perseuer in their puritie by reason of the difformitie or diuersitie of the motion which turneth it and shaketh them and forceth them downwards towards the aire euen to the earth where they perish are consumed Likewise the ayre is diuersly altered by the others which are next vnto it for being diuided into three partes the highest the middle and the lowest the highest parte next vnto the fire to the celestiall mouings and the starres is thinnest and purest the lowest next vnto the earth is thickest and grossest the meane or middlemost is temperate betwixt both yet colder notwithstanding then either of them both for the highest doth participate with the heate of the starres the inferior is warmed by the vapours proceeding from the earth and then againe by the repercussion of the Sun beams and also by the artificiall fires vsed amongst men and the naturall which are hid in the earth But the meane being secluded from both extremities doth continue in his coldnes The aire then being thus diuided is for the most part variable inconstant and changeable especially neere vnto the earth where it doth and suffereth much according to the diuers scituation of the places and according to the aspects and different course of the starres which by their contrary rising and falling doe raise exhalations and vapours from whence proceede the windes clowdes showers tempestes lightninges thunders haile frost snow and other calamities of the earth with great strife of natural things amongst themselues some striuing vpwards which are forceably kept downe by resistance of the starres others being violently caried away the raine descendeth the cloudes ascend the waters are dried the haile and snowe do fall the Sun beames reflexed doe heate the windes whirling about blow vnequally th one against thother being sometimes calme and sometimes stormie And the Northren windes are raised by Iupiter the Easterne windes by the sun the Southren by Mars the VVesterne by the Moon Or els by the foure triplicities of the twelue signes of the Zodiacke those three which are of qualitie hot and drie mouing
beasts amidst the greene pastures skip vp and downe being inflamed with loue In briefe euery thing springeth groweth embelisheth florisheth and fructifieth all things are renewed On the contrarie when Autumne and Winter do returne all is full of horror and of sadnes cold raine dirt sleete hayle snow frost yce foggy mists long nights and almost continuall darknes We trauaile the earth day and night more to satisfie our pleasures then for our necessarie norishment And notwithstanding that which it endureth superficially might seeme tollerable if we did not pierce it so farre as to seeke gold and siluer brasse copper lead tinne yron stones to build and others accounted precious in the entrailes therof Neither is it onely thus vexed by men but it seemeth that the three other Elements haue conspired the ruin of this one alone without speaking of the heauen it selfe which by his vntemperate disposition hath cut off a great part therof Might it not haue sufficed the Sea to haue compassed it and to haue cut off a great part therof without stretching it selfe into it in so many gulfes little distant the one from the other breaking through mountaines and making violent ruptures as though it would spread it selfe ouer all Then so many riuers lakes marishes so many standing pooles as are throughout so many springs and little brooks so many swift and raging streames The aire shaketh it causing it to lose that naturall propertie of beeing immoueable ouerwhelming not onely fieldes houses townes cities but whole nations and countries oftentimes not leauing any appearance whereby one may see that there haue bin such Then the fire being so fertile that it ingendreth of it selfe and groweth of little sparks becomming in an instant great and impetous burneth it in many places both without and within beeing dispersed about the chimnies arysing out of billets and sticks-ends beaten together appearing thorough the cloudes or comming of lightning kindled by burning glasses opposed to the sunne which also with the other starres doth drie and scorch it excessiuely in some seasons and countries It is a meruaile that being so vexed on all parts it is not already consumed but so farre are these great and violent calamities from distroying it that they rather helpe to the conseruation thereof For the Earthquakes by the openings which they make draw out the corrupted windes which were kept in the entrailes of it and caused within such disordered noise the inundations do clense the filth the heats digest those humors which they find too grosse as the colds and frosts do moderate that which is inflamed HOW ALL THINGS IN THE WORLD are tempered and conserued by vnlike and contrarie things IN like maner is the Earth and euery other thing in the world tempered and conserued by things of dislike and contrarie qualitie It is not then without cause that nature is so desirous of contraries making of them all decency and beautie not of things which are of like nature This kind of tempering is the cause that such things as before were diuers and different do accord and agree together to establish intertain and embellish one an other the contrarietie becomming vnitie and the discord concord the enmitie amitie and contention couenant Wherefore Heraclitus said that discord and concord were the father and mother of all things And Homer that whosoeuer spake euill of contention did blame nature Empedocles maintayned not of discord by it selfe but that with concord it was the beginning of all things meaning by discord the varietie of things that are assembled and by concord the vnion of them But the vnion in this assemblie ought to exceede the contrarietie Otherwise the thing should be dissolued the principles diuiding themselues So we see in the Heauen contrarie mouings to preserue the world Venus placed in the midst neere vnto Mars to asswage his fircenes which of his owne nature is corruptiue And Iupiter next vnto Saturne to mitigate his malice The inferiour world composed of contrarie elements to maintaine it selfe by the proportion which they haue together and the natures made of them to preserue themselues by the temperature of different qualities which being simple in their nature without any maner of mixtion or composition and contrarie one to the other when they are compared in their qualities in the highest degree yet of them are all thinges compounded and by their commixtion is the beginning of all generation There are found in the bodie of the world Earth Water Aire Fire Sunne Moone and other starres There is matter forme priuation simplicitie mixtion substance quantitie qualitie action and passion In mans bodie bloud flegme choler melancholie flesh bones sinewes vaines arteries head eies nose eares hands feete braine hart liuer and splene In the oeconomical bodie husband wife children Lord slaue master and seruant In the politike bodie Iustice Fortitude Prudence Temperance Religion warfare iudgement counsaile magistrates and priuate men noble and base rich and poore young and olde weake and stronge good and euill labourers artificers merchants retaylers and cariers which are all dislike parts and the most of them contrarie conioyned together by due conueniency Art imitating nature in the painting of blacke white greene blew yellow red and other mingled colours representeth the portraitures conuenient to those things for the which they are made And in Musick of high and low long and short is made an accord Grammer consisteth of letters vowels and mutes The Sciences can not well be taught without comparing of contraries th one being considered principally and in regard of that one thother accidentally that it may be auoyded As Physicke doth accidentally treat of sicknes to the end to be the better able to preserue health and to auoyd the other The Ethicke and Politicke science doe not onelie shew what is honest iust and profitable but also that which is dishonest vniust and domageable Insomuch that we may say in all cases that contraries when they are put neere one to the other they appeare the more cleerely Euen as want maketh riches to be the more esteemed and the obscuritie of darkenesse commendeth the cleerenesse of light The sweetnesse of the Springtime is more esteemed by the sharpenesse of Winter the happinesse of peace by the calamities of warre and faire weather after long rayne So it seemeth that the good can not be knowen without the euill and although they be contrarie yet haue they such a coniunction that in taking of one both are tane away For the good can not be vnderstood nor esteemed but by conferring of it with euill to auoid it neither the euill shunned and eschewed except that which is good be throughlie knowen Plato sayth the like of pleasure and sorrow that although they be two thinges contrarie and repugnant betweene them selues and can not bee together in one person yet neuerthelesse if any one follow and receiue the one he is for the most part euer constrained to take the other as if they were both in one point and
to the inconstancy of fortune but reiecting all such dedestiny fatall necessitie hazardous chance acknowledging truly the world to be gouerned by the diuine prouidence and reducing al thereunto do firmly beleeue that God according to his good pleasure and one onely Spirite which doth all thinges in all men distributeth to diuers persons distinct and different graces respecting still the common good and preseruation of humane society which cannot endure without many and diuers estates charges administrations offices callings and workes in such sort preseruing it selfe by mutuall succour and reciprocall aide But that the true vertue ought chiefly to be required hoped for of him without reiecting either natural inclination or good education And that therefore it behoueth that this natural instinct of which we haue spoken should be prouoked and stirred vp by vertuous institution which correcteth the ill if there be any and augmenteth the good in such as are of a good naturall disposition guiding by wise precepts and counsels this natural aptnes and inclination vnto true perfection Since that nothing in the beginning is perfect but that there goeth alwaies before some toward disposition and after followeth the accomplishment As at the point of day breake there is first a certaine glimmering before the light appeareth In trees the bud and the flower come before the fruit In corne that is sowen the blade and the eare come before the graine The goodnes of nature alone without discipline is not wel assured and discipline without nature altogether vnprofitable Euen as in tilling of the land to haue good profit therof it is not enough to haue good groūd but it behoueth also that the husbandman be skilful in his trade haue good seed After to confirme thē both and to take a good custome which may alwaies remain perseuerance continual exercise are requisite in such workes and actions as concerne that vocation whereunto one is called As the dyer being desirous to giue some fine dye vnto a cloth which shal long time keepe his colour doth first wash it and prepare it carefully and after dyeth it againe and againe So to the obtaining of perdurable praise in any calling wee must vse necessarie preparatiues and euen from our youth imprint vertue in our hartes and our manners by diligent instruction that it may long remaine with vs. These meanes are seldome found altogether but where they meete fitly and agreably they make men accomplished and admirable such as those haue ben in times past which at this day wee so highly commend and esteeme Such are the opinions concerning the varietie which is amongst men hauing all of them a great apparance of trueth But heere wee will followe the celestiall and naturall as the most common and that which Ptolomey writeth thereof in these wordes The properties of people sayth hee haue vsually been distinguished either by all Parallels and all Angles or by their scituation towardes the Ecliptique and the sunne For the inhabitants of our land situated in an aquilonarie quadrant which are subiect to Souther parellels that is to say which are described by the equinoctial vnto the tropique of Sommer as the sunne goeth ouer them their bodies are blacke and in a manner burnt therewith their heire thicke and curled their faces scorched they are slender of stature hot of nature and cruel of disposition by reason of the great heat which raigneth in their coūtrey We cal thē Ethiopians being so disposed as we haue said and hauing such constitution of aire wherein do agree with them all the liuing creatures and things growing of that Countrey But those which are vnder Aquilonarie Parallels that is to say which inhabite such places as are vnder the North because their vertical point is farre remoued from the Zodiack and from the heat of the sunne they abound in cold and moisture in which there is much nourishment which is not drawen vp by the said heat By meanes whereof the men there are white of colour with long haire great of stature and well made but of cold nature and cruel maners through the vehement cold of those places The sharpnes of winter is agreable hereunto and the greatnes of all thinges which growe out of the earth and the wildnes of their beasts we call them generally Scythians Touching them which inhabite betweene the Tropique of Sommer and the North because the sunne goeth not on their Zenith nor yet to farr towards the South they liue in a very temperate aire ioyning their houses together being of gentle and sweete maners And such of them as are neerest the South are most ingenious and wise and haue accustomed to be best skilled in heauenly matters for asmuch as their vertical point is nearer the Zodiacke and the wandering starres which are vnder it by the familiaritie of which they haue their minds prompt readie for the comprehending and vnderstanding of affaires of arts especially of the Mathematickes Also such of them as are toward the East are more vigorous and firme of vnderstanding concealing nothing For by right wee say that the East is of the nature of the sunne and therefore that part of the day ought to be esteemed as the right side the better and more manlike as we see in liuing creatures the right side to be stronger and harder then the left On the contrarie they which are towards the west are more effeminate soft and secret for that part belongeth vnto the Moone which is seene alwaies towards the west betweene the interlunary spaces And therfore as the nocturnal worst and left side is reputed opposite vnto the East Aristotle affirmeth that those nations are barbarous which dwel vnder excessiue cold or heat for as much as the good temperature of the aire doth better both the manners and vnderstandings For the extreme Northern or Southern people are not ciuil by nature nor gouerned by discipline nor conioyned in habitations neither do they sowe nor plant helpe themselues little or nothing with manuary trades exchange in their bargaining one thing for another not knowing the vse of money but liuing without houses townes and cities wandering continually by great troupes representing great walking Cities guyded by diuers heads and Lords and trailing or drawing after them their little lodges or houels couered with leather mattes canes or course wooll to defend them selues against heat cold and raine And without long abode in any place they follow the commodities of the herbage and water for their beasts and cattel which they bring with them innumerable of diuers sortes as Horses Camels Sheepe and Kine wherewith they sustayne them selues and with venyson being destitute of Corne herbes and fruits Such were of auncient time in the Northern Countries the Scythians and Sarmatians or Sauromatians dwelling in fields or Champaignes infinitely large and spacious open without wood trees or bushes without waies or bounds on Chariots whereon they placed their wiues and children which were therhence called Nomades and Hamaxobites Being
giuing to some force without lightnesse to others lightnesse without force he armed some and for those which were without armes he inuented other succour Those which he had inclosed in a little body he lifted them vp into the aire with feathers or commaunded them to craule on the earth He fortifyed such as were growen into a great Masse with their Masse it selfe And likewise he proceeded with the rest giuing to euery one his vertues After he had so furnished them to th end they should not distroy one another he gaue them meanes to defend them th one from the other and to remaine abroad without couert Clothing some of them with thicke heare little houses or shells and skales of diuers sorts with feathers or hard skinnes against the vntemperatenes of Winter Sommer and of the same things made them beds and natural couches ioining to their feet clawes nailes and callosites to their heads hornes teeth and tronks then distributed to them food making some to eate grasse on the earth others to feed on fruits roots of trees others more greedy to deuoure one another Prouided that they which liued on pray should be in some sort barren and the others that were subiect to be deuoured more fruitful to th end that the kind should continue For the diuine prouidence hath bin wise therin making al fearful beasts and such as are good to â—eed on very fruitful lest by being often eaten there should faile of the kind euen as hurtfull and harmeful beasts are of small increase Therefore the hare is very fruitfull and alone of al kind of venison surchargeth the burden in his belly because that men beasts and birds do prosecute him to death Likewise the Cony is sound so ful of rabets that some of them are yet without heare others somewhat riper and others going out of the belly But the Lyonesse which is the strongest and hardiest of all beastes neuer bringeth but one and but once in her life But Epimetheus being not very wise he gaue all to the brute beastes reseruing nothing for man whom he left alone without force without power without propertie starke naked without armour without clothing vnhosed and vnshood without conuenient food and wanting all things In such sort that he could not resist other creatures being then more excellent then himselfe For the staggs ran swifter the beares and Lions were stronger the Peacock was fairer the fox was craftier the Emmet more diligent and the snayle better lodged then he Euery beast found a medicine fit for his malady and hurt whereof man was ignorant Of this came such a confusion that men perished by little and little thorough diuers sorts of crueltâ—e In such sort that their kind had soone bin consumed without the aduise of prudent Prometheus who seeing so great a fault to redresse it stole from Vulcan and Minerua the artificial wisedom togither with the fire being not possible to obtaine it or to vse it without fire and so did distribute it to mankinde by meanes whereof men began for their common commoditie to assemble togither for feare of the be astes and to th end to resist them helping one another and seeking here and there after safe places for their habitation they learned to make houses and garments to auoid the sharpnes of cold and the force of heate to reserue fruits for their necessitie to prepare armes for their defence and to finde out other commodities for their life Which finally necessity it selfe being inuentour of all things maketh knowen particularly to the vnderstanding of men vnto whom were giuen for helpes their hands speach and reason Reason to inuent speach to coÌ„municate the hands to accomplish that which they should either inuent themselues by reason or learne of others by speach for no other creature doth speak in deed for as much as speach proceedeth of reason nor hath hands though peraduenture somewhat like vnto handes Wherefore man hath first found out by reason the most necessary thinges as food clothing and armes and afterward such as serue for pleasure ornament and magnificence he hath imposed names on euery thing inuented letters of diuers sorts and sundry kinds of writing made all arts both mechanical and liberall proceeding so farr as to measure the earth and the sea to reduce by instruments the mighty masse of heauen scarse to be comprehended by vnderstanding and to propose it before our eyes Moreouer the same Plato affirmeth that before men liued in company and spake togither or that they had begun to inuent and exercise arts for as much as they alone of al other creatures did participate of the diuine nature being indewed with an immortall soule that they by reason of this diuine affinitie did thinke first that there were Gods and so honoured them and prayed to them from thence had religion her beginning publicke gouernment iudgement negotiation and traficke by Sea and by land lawes were established magistrates created innumerable trades inuented houses villages and townes builded consequently cities castles and fortresses and then kingdoms and Empires erected Wherehence hath succeeded the greatnes and excellency of mankind such as we see it at this day From thence I say began religion which is more natural to men then all their other arts and inuentions no nation in the world hauing bin found so rude so cruel barbarous but that it had some appearance of religion For howbeit that the greater part is ignorant what God how they ought to worship him yet al notwithstanding do agree that we ought to honour pray and feare one God the authour of all things which is confirmed not only in the first and most auncient nations as the Ethiopians Indians Armenians Chaldees Hebrewes Assyrians Egyptians Greekes Romains and Gaules but also in the Goths Vandales Sarazens Tartarians Turkes Persians Cathayans or Chinoys And not onely in our hemisphere but also amongst the Antipodes and Sauages of the new found lands of whom heretofore we neuer had any knowledge They which haue nauigated thither haue found many people liuing yet as the first men without letters without Lawes without Kings without common wealthes without arts but yet not without religion who beleeue that the soules of the dead go into other places according to such workes as they haue done in this life To intertaine it haue bin appointed cerimonies praiers ordained temples edifyed oratories chapels hospitals almeshouses cloisters and couents Sacrificers or priests haue bin instituted and much respected in all Countries And if it pleased God that hee woulde be worshipped thoroughout all the world in one selfe same maner men shoulde be deliuered of great hatred and cruel discorde happening amongst them thorough the diuersitie of Religions AT THE beginning men were very simple and rude in all thinges little differing from beastes They did eate in the fieldes and mountaines the rawe fleshe of beastes or herbes with their rootes stalkes and leaues which the earth brought foorth of his owne accorde and in
the woodes the fruictes of wilde trees or venison on the bankes of the Sea Riuers Lakes Pooles and Marishes they fedd on fishes and birdes They clad them selues with skinnes in steede of garments to bee defended from heat and colde from winde raine and snow they withdrewe themselues into great holow trees or vnder their thick leaued branches or into low dyches hideous caues holow vautes cabins and lodges made of great logges of wood and lightly couered with boughes stalkes canes and reeds Then hauing strong bodies they nourished themselues with strong meates and also liued longer They abode euer almost in the open aire in continuall trauaile and lying on the hard ground wheresoeuer sleep ouertooke them When they waxed weaker and could not digest such meates nor dwell in the open aire naked and vncouered they were constrayned to seeke by little and little to soften this wild and sauage maner of lyuing which they could no longer endure learning to sow Corne which before grew vp vnknowen amongst herbes and weeds and to dresse the vines which likewise the earth brought forth amongst other plants to transplant and to graffe fruict-trees to thend to make the fruicts better and to dresse and season both flesh and fish and then to build and to assemble themselues in companies that they might liue the more safely and commodiously In such maner were they reduced from that brutish life which they led to this sweetnes and ciuilitie beginning from that time forward to feed cloath and lodge themselues in better sort and more commodiously Now whereas men haue taken nourishment first of tame beastes before either of graine or of fruits there is no doubt but that pasturage grasing shepheardrie were before husbandrie and tillage as it appeareth by the most auncient nations who hauing so liued from the beginning haue taken their names there hence as the Hebrewes and the Italians which is to say shepheards and that many Nations vse it euen at this day exercising as may be said a kind of liuelie tillage The tilling and planting of the earth haue bin both inuented after pasturage and vnto both haue bin added hunting fouling and fishing On the one side they haue found out the vse of Wheat which in these partes is found the best and most commodious nourishment as also Barley Millet Rye and all other knowen kind of graine On the other side they haue found Ryce Mahiz and Iuca the maner to sow and gather them to thresh fan and winnow to boult and sift flower to knead it and to make dowe to mould it and raise past to make loaues and to bake them in the ouen whereunto are appointed and doe serue the Millers and Bakers Then haue they added pease and beanes and other sortes of pulse both new and old Herbes of diuerse sorts and rootes as persley lettice spinage tyme pepperwort marioram buglosse maloes beetes endiue succorie purslain sage colworts melons cucombers gourds artichocks sperage mugwort onyons garlick leekes chibols carrets parsnebbs nauets radishes and turnepps mingling with them salt oiles butter and suet to giue them a better tast and make them the more sauorie Moreouer the fruits of trees cheries plums peares apples peaches apricocks mulberies medlers quinces raisins figgs oliues citrons orenges dates chestnuts and marrons And not content with graine fruits herbes and rootes they haue bin giuen to eat the flesh first of themselues which they haue left for the most part with horrour theÌ„ of other creatures both tame and wild of the land of the water and flying in the aire neither leauing inward nor outward part of them which they haue not fouÌ„d mean to season boile seeth roast frie or put in past bake with saulces and spices brought from the fardest parts of the earth making puddings saulciges haggasses tripes and chitterlings which they serue at the beginning of meales with potages broathes and sallets and at the end therof cheeses tarts and creames wafers iunkets and march-panes prepared and dressed by Cookes and pybakers Neither hath their pompe and riot bin any lesse with fishes both of the sea and of freshwater In somuch that Plutarch in his Symposiacke proposing this question whether that the Sea or the Earth brought forth most delicate and delicious meates findeth businesse and difficultie enough in the decision therof Moreouer being not pleased with milk nor faire water to drink they found out a way to brew Beere and Ale to draw and presse out Syder of apples and peares wyne out of grapes and palmes and to make sweet drinkes compounded with honie as bragget meath and metheglem which they call Medons in Moscouia and Polonia and infinite other artificial drinks which they haue dronk in cuppes of gold siluer cristall and glasse spicing them in diuers maners Besides to make their drink fresher they haue found meanes in some places to keepe snow and yâ—e all the yeare At the first sitting on the ground they tooke their repast on the grasse vnder the shadow of leaues after they made stooles formes benches tables and tressels Table clothes table napkins trenchers salt-sellers cupbords vessel and vtensiles of diuers sorts and fashions appointing officers fit for these charges as Stewards of the house pantlers cellerers caruers cupbearers cookes boylers and rosters Salust blameth the Romains which sought in his time by sea and by land after all sorts of delicacies not expecting hunger nor thirst nor cold nor wearinesse but preuenting all these things by disordinate appetite Liuie telleth how after the Conquest of Asia all sorts of superfluities and delicacies came vnto Rome and that then the Romains began to make banquets with more curiositie and cost And a Cooke which before was held amongst them for a seruile drudge began to come in reputation Seneca complaineth that the kitchins were more celebrated then the Schooles of Philosophers Rhetoricians Who would not wonder to heare tell of the excessiue feasts of Anthonius and Cleopatra or of the Emperour Caligula who consumed on one supper the reuenues of three prouinces of Heliogabalus of Lucullus or of the prodigalitie of Esope and Apicius who shortned his life fearing least goods would faile him to the maintayning of his sumptuousnes In one feast made to Vitellius by his brother were serued two thousand dainty fishes and seuen thousand birds Good God how much paine hath bin procured vnto men by their insatiable gluttonie and gurmandise how manie sorts of workmen and their seruants hath it set on work But their curiositie in apparell hath not bin lesse to the furnishing whereof many occupations haue bin applied as the spinner carder tucker weauer clothworker fuller sherman dyer taylor cutter hosier doubletmaker linnen draper semster capper and feltmaker feathermaker lacemaker embroderer felmonger skinner furrier leatherdresser tanner currier cordwayner and shoomaker They haue spon and wouen flaxe hempe woll cotton silke made of wormes and of it haue made Veluet Satin Damaske Taffeta and of goats haire and camels haire Grogram and
variable and to vnderstand the causes therof cherishing principally amongst all their senses their sight and hearing which do helpe them to haue knowledge but the sight most of all where hence hath begun this knowledge by admiration for seeing the Heauen the Sunne the Moone the Starres and hauing knowen by their eyes the difference of daies and nights the reuolutions of the monethes and the yeares they applied themselues to contemplate the disposition of the world and to seeke out the secrets of nature First necessitie as hath bin said taught them the arts necessarie vnto life after followed those which serue for pleasure ornament and magnificence And after they had gotten opportunitie and leasure they began to consider all things contayned in the world being innumerable in multitude and admirable in beautie inquiring after their properties agreements and differences whereof they were made what they became when and how they perished what in them was mortall and corruptible and what diuine and perpetual They were so desirous to learne that dwelling and liuing here on earth so little while they durst vndertake to know not onely what is aboue vnder and in the earth as the nature of all sortes of liuing creatures and qualities of mettals but also the nature of the Ocean and of all waters and fishes that liue therein Then mounting into the aire they inquired of the winds of the raines haile snow thunder lightning and other accidents appearing in the middle Region thereof they ascended by vnderstanding and by art euen into Heauen which they haue indeuoured to compasse round imagining two Poles and one Axeltree to sustain it distinguishing the planets from the fixed starres inuenting the Zodiack obseruing the Solstices and Equinoxes the causes of the equalitie shortnes and length of daies and nights the reasons of shadowes the maner of discribing and measuring the world of sayling out of one Countrie into an other guiding the way by the windes and starres whose mouings coniunctions and oppositions they haue diligently obserued their greatnes quicknes or slownes colours shinings serenities heats colds and the power which they haue on theis inferiour things and the good or ill which they signifie And wholie and altogether the agreement and sympathie of heauen and earth from whence as from a perpetuall spring floweth this vniuersall aboundance by which this world is vncessantly restored and renewed Their industrie hath pierced thorough all neither the thicknesse of the earth nor the depth of the Sea nor the varietie of the aier neither the heat and brightnes of the fire nor the spacious largenesse of Heauen could amaze their vnderstanding Moreouer they which were most speculatiue considering the feeblenes of the senses the multitude of sensible things so small that they can not be perceiued or so moueable that they are without certaintie that our life is short all full of opinions and customes and all enuironed with darknes and hidden haue thought that by humane discourse nothing could be certainly knowen nothing vnderstood and comprehended but that separating our selues from sight and hearing and from the whole bodie we ought to take the thought of the mind and by the vnderstanding which is in the Soule as the sight is in the bodie to endeuour to know the reason of euery thing and that which is in it pure and cleane alwaies simple and vniforme without euer being changed by generation and corruption These haue passed the vault of heauen so far distant from the earth and came to the place aboue with-drawing themselues by contemplation from the world towards God from darknes to light from corruption to eternitie from ignorance to wisdom satisfied as they say of all their desire and inioying the knowledge of the trueth which is of things that are alwaies alike not receiuing any mutation wherefore they haue called this inferiour part of the world where there is almost nothing certain and few things certainly knowen the region of falshod and opinion and the other superiour knowen by reason and intelligence where are the formes and exemplaries of things the seat of trueth In this progresse of knowledge they haue knowen some things by natural instinct without learning others by obseruation vse and experience others by reasonable discourse and demonstrations and others by diuine inspiration But there is such pleasure in this contemplation that they which with a good will giue themselues to it do easily forgo all other delights and are so constant and perseuerant that they admit them not at any time neither fearing domage nor losse of goods nor the blame of the people and ignominie but are readie to endure all kind of crosses and calamities euen to the suffering of voluntarie pouertie which gaue occasion to people in times past to say that Atlas sustained heauen on his shoulders and that Endymion had long time slept with the Moone and that Prometheus was tied to the high mountain Caucasus with a Vulture feeding on his liuer Meaning by such tales to signifie vnto vs the great and maruailous studie which these excellent persons bestowed in contemplation of celestiall and naturall things Democritus hauing begun to withdraw his mind from his senses put out his owne eies Anaxagoras forsook his patrimonie What exceeding pleasure had Aristotle teaching not onely Athens and all Greece but also the vniuersal world discouering the secrets of nature before vnknowen and hidden in profound obscuritie magnifying and boasting himselfe with good reason that he had attayned thither whereno other Greeke nor Egiptian had euer come What contentment receiued Plato who did write at 90. yeares of age and euen the verie day that he deceased who was for his excellent knowledge honoured in Greece Sicile and Italie aboue the common estimation of men esteemed by Kings admired of people and hath alwaies bin reuerenced by all such as desired to haue knowledge of diuine and humaine things So men moued by nature with a desire of knowledge and of the pleasure which is found therein haue inuented Grammer Rhetoricke and Logicke for speach Oration and disputation Poesie for composition of verses and rimes Arithmeticke to number Geometrie for measure and weight And passing farther haue come to Musicke consisting in concord of voices and sounds and in obseruation of due proportions Astrologie which serues for consideration of celestiall things Physicke of naturall things and Metaphysicke of supernaturall Theologie of diuine things Ethicke for institution of priuate maners Economicke for houshold Politicke for gouernments and states and Nomotechnicke for knowledge exposition or interpretation of Lawes Such hath bin their dexteritie in the inuenting of liberall and mechanicall sciences But although there are euery where found people capable of knowledge so that they be duely instructed yet notwithstanding there are some more ingenious and inuentiue then the rest and more apt to certaine sciences either by naturall inclination and influence of the heauens or by the situation of the Countrie wherein they are borne or by exercise which they vse
land which we hold is little hard and barren and we must go from it to win a better elswhere There are many neere about vs and many farther remoued from vs of the which if we once possesse but one we shall be admirable to many others And surely men that rule ought to think on these things for when shall we haue better occasion then when we are Lords ouer many men and ouer all Asia CYRVS hearing these words commaunded they should be put in execution but in commaunding warned them also to prepare themselues not to rule but to be ouerruled for it is so that soft Countries make soft people because it is not proper to one land to beare both delectable fruits and valiant warriours Then the Persians repented them chosing rather to rule dwelling in an vnfruitfull land then to serue others sowing and labouring of the faire fieldes The same CYRVS in Xenophon showeth his people that watching and trauayling enduring of labour and vsing of diligence had enriched them Wherfore saith he it behoueth also that hereafter you be vertuous holding for certaine that great goods and great contentments will come vnto you by obedience constancie vertue paines-taking and hardines in vertuous and perilous interprises CYRVS then is he which first put the Persians in reputation making them Lords ouer the Medes whose vassals and tributaries they were before But as in all the great effects of nature and notable mutations of mankind God raiseth vp ordinarily great and excellent Princes adorned with rare vertues lifted vp in great aucthoritie to found Kingdomes and Empiers to bring in good lawes and maners of liuing in Religion and politike gouernment and to further the arts and sciences whose birth and death are foretold long time before by oracles prophecies and signes in Heauen and earth and after their death reuerenced with diuine honours So GOD meaning then to establish in Asia a most mightie Monarchie and to bring Philosophie into the world at the same time he raised vp CYRVS as praise-worthie a Prince as any other hath bin either afore or after him It is he alone amongst all the great Lordes and Captaines of whom histories do make mencion that could obserue modestie in all his prosperities and victories and bridle his absolute power and aucthoritie with equitie and clemencie But from whence may wee haue a more certaine testimonie of his excellencie then from the Propher Esay where he was named two hundred yeares before he was borne and is called of GOD his king promising to hold his right hand that hee might take stronge Townes and subdue mightie Nations and humble the great Kings of the earth And he chose him amongst all the Princes of the Gentils to reedifie the Temple of Ierusalem and deliuer the Iewes from the Captiuitie of Babylon in the which they had long remayned restoring them to their full libertie and vse of the true Religion The words of Esay are these The Lord saith thus to CYRVS his anoynted I haue taken the right hand that I may subdue the Nations before his face and that I may weaken the raines of Kings that the dores may be opened before him and that the gates be not shut I will go before him and make the crooked waies straight I will breake the gates of brasse and will bruse the barres of yron and will giue the treasures laied vp and the thinges hid in secret places that thou maist know that I am thy Lord the God of Israell calling thee by thy name for my seruant Iacobs sake and for Israell my chosen I haue named thee by thy name though thou neuer knowest me But though fortune were verie contrarie to him at the beginning yet did GOD neuer forsake him but following the prophecie deliuered him from many dangers and inconueniences ASTYAGES king of the Medes had a daughter called Mandana of whom he dreamt in his sleepe and it seemed vnto him that he saw her make water in such abundance that she filled all the Citie of Ecbatane and from thence watered and ouerflowed all Asia He proposed this vision to some of his Mages expounders of dreames and was afraied with that which he learned of them Wherefore when Mandana was of yeares to be maried hee would not giue her to any Median Lord but gaue her to a Persian whom he found of a good house and of sweet and peaceable maners though he esteemed him lesse then a Median of meane estate Mandana beeing maried to this Persian called Cambyses the first yeare of their mariage Astyages had an other vision and dreamed that he saw a Vine comming out of the wombe of his daughter and spreading ouer all Asia which he proposed to the deuiners as before and hearing them sent into Persia for his daughter being alreadie with child who being come he commaunded she should be carefully kept purposing to put her child to death because the Mages had told him that the sonne of his daughter should one day raigne in his place Wherefore as soone as she brought forth a child who was called CYRVS he appointed Harpagus his greatest fauorite and trustiest seruant to put him to death who gaue him to a Shepheard to be exposed for a pray to wild beastes which the shepheard did and left him in the midst of a forest wrapped in a blanket of cloth of gold and a mantle of diuers colours whither retourning afterward he found a bytch by the child which gaue him suck and defended him from the beastes Wherefore beeing moued with the same pitie which moued the bitch he brought the cradle into his Cabin and nourished the child as his owne till he was ten yeares of age when he was chosen king amongst the children In which charge bearing himselfe more brauelier then the estate of a shepheards sonne yeelded in appointing to euery one their offices and estates some to buyld him houses and castles others to be of his gard one to be as the eye of the king another ordayned to make report vnto him of the gouernment of his affaires and chastising roughly such as disobeyed him he became knowen and was brought back againe to Astyages who brought him vp thinking his dreame to be accomplished in this childish royaltie But being woxen greater he became most warlike and hauing at the beginning of his conquests but thirtie thousand fighting men afterwards as he increased in Lordships he augmented his forces and gathered togither sixe hundred thousand footemen sixe score thousand horsemen and aboue two thousand chariots armed with hookes His Empire being the greatest and the fairest that euer king had in Asia bounded towards the East with the red sea towards the North with the sea Euxinus on the West with Cypres and Egipt and on the south with Ethiopia He conquered first the Countrie of the Medes and the Hircanians which yeelded themselues vnto him of their owne free will then subdued by force the Assyrians the Arabians and Capadocians the inhabitants of th one and
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
who excelled in Magick to learne it of him and had employed long time great labour infinite treasure theron not omitting also to do such abhominable superstition as was presciibed him yet in the end he found all false which had bin told him and so gaue it ouer This notwithstaÌ„ding it hath bin dispersed throughout the world which is so diuers in other things vnder the colour of faire but yet vaine and friuolous promises associating it self with religion Phisick and Mathematicks which three haue a meruailous power ouer the vnderstandings of men And thus being fortified with a threefolde vertue it could neuer yet be altogither exterminated rooted out but there remaine here and there stil some relicks and remainders thereof but in secret notwithstanding for feare of the punishment which is appointed for it and the shame which commeth vnto those that abuse themselues therein A COMPARISON OF THE INDIANS Ethtopians Egyptians scythians and Athenians in their Antiquities THE Indians Ethiopians Egyptians Scythians and Athenians did all boast that they were the first created of al the men in the world alleaging diuers and different reasons of their antiquities As the INDIANS the fertility of their countrey bearing twice a yere both fruits and graine where there was neuer any want of victuals The ETHIOPIANS alleage their neerenesse of situation to the south thinking it must needes bee that in places which are neerest the sunne and therefore hottest that all liuing creatures were first created which take their beginning of heate The EGYPTIANS the temperature of their aire which is neither excessiue hot or cold dry or moist and the goodnes of their territory which bringeth forth aboundantly whatsoeuer is necessary for the life of man The SCYTHIANS the heigth of their countrey which was the first freed from fire or discouered from water therefore soonest made apt before any other to produce both man and beast The ATHENIANS saying they are Autâ—cthones that is to say issued out of the earth without hauing any other beginning The Indians Ethiopians Egyptians and Athenians that they haue inuented all arts and meanes of liuing wel easily The Scythians dwelling vnder a sharper climate say that they haue alwaies exercised armes as hauing their bodies and mindes more hardned amongst whom were neuer found but two persons renowmed for learning Zamolsis and Anacharsis A COMPARISON OF THE GREAT monarchies the Egyptian Assyrian Median Persian and Parthian in their situations beginnings largenes reuenews riches and power and of those famous monarchs that founded them and others vnder whom they ended THE Monarchies of the Egyptians Assyrians Medians Persians Parthians agree in this that they haue bin established chiefely in the fertile and temperate countries of Asia where the men are gentle and tractable or naturally seruile as Hyppocrates and Aristotle affirme For the inhabitants which are remoued from al temperature wil not easily be brought vnder subiection and cannot well be gouerned not enduring any long or durable gouernment except it be altogither tyrannical as is that of the MOSCOVITE in the north and of the ABYSSINE in Ethiopia where the great KNES commaundeth th one and PRESBITER IOHN the other most rigoronsly to th end to keepe their subiects in obedience who are all generally of opinion that whatsoeuer their Princes do they do it by the vnchangeable wil of God The circuite and compas of their Monarchies were very great SESOSTRIS the Egyptian conquered all Arabia and a great part of Lybia Ethiopia with all the Isles of that countrey al the sea coasts euen to the Indies passed the riuer Ganges running hither and thither euen to the great Ocean and ouer came all the nations of the Scythians euen to the riuer Tanais comming into Europe went through the countrey of Thrace where he made an end of his enterprise retorned into Egypt NINVS brought vnder his obedience all the nations which inhabite on the sea-coast toward the East and their neighbors as the Egyptians Phenicians those of the inner Syria Cilicia Pamphilia Lycia Caria Phrygia Mysia Troada and the other Phrygia which is on Hellespont the countrey of Propontida Bythinia Cappadocia and other barbarous nations which inhabite on the greater sea euen to the riuer Tanais He added more ouer to his estate the Cadusians Tapyres Hircanians Dranges Deruices Caramanians Coronians Rombes Vuocarnians the Parthians Persians Susians Caspians and Bactrians SEMIRAMIS his wife the greatest part of Lybia and Ethiopia The limits of the Empire of CYRVS were on the East-side the red sea on the North the sea Euxinus towards the west Cyprus Egypt on the south Ethiopia CAMBYSES his sonne added Egypt Ethiopia And DARIVS the first of that name subdued no fewer countries then the two former had conquered consequently the others which came after augmented and enriched it from hand to hand making that kingdome one of the greatest most mighty most renowmed that was euer in the worlde The PARTHIANS possessed xviij kingdomes wherof the xj which were called the superiour began at the Confines of Armenia and bankes of the Caspian sea and reached vnto the Sythians the other seuen inferiour kingdomes stretched out euen to the red sea diuiding their Prouinces as respecting the two seas the red sea toward the south the CaspiaÌ„ on the north As the spaciousnes of these Monarchies was very large so the reuenew was also great the riches infinite and power incredible SESOSTRIS erected two square pillers of hard stone ech of them thirty sadom high in which he commaunded to be pourtrayed the greatnes of his Empire and the value of his demeine and reuenew engrauen adding thereto the number of the nations which he had ouer come He gathered an army of sixe hundred thousand foote foure and twenty thousand horse-men eight and twenty thousand chariots fit for war and foure hundred ships on the red sea The riches and power of the Assyrian Monarchy is knowen by the great and magnificent townes that were built by NINVS and SEMIRAMIS and by the wonderfull armies which they had namely NINVS going against the Bactrians with seuenteen hundred thousand foote two hundred thousand horsemen ten thousand and sixe hundred armed chariots SEMIRAMIS against the Indians with three Millions of foote fiue hundred thousand horsemen one hundred thousand chariots and two thousand ships vnto which STAVROBATES then King of India opposed like forces or greater Moreouer the vnreasonable riches of Assyria appeared in the end of Sardanapalus who would haue consumed with himselfe by fire a thousand Myriades of gold that is to say a thousand milions and a myriade of myriades of siluer which are a hundred milions endeuouring to spoile the earth of so great quantity of golde and siluer comming to forty Milions of Crownes in our money besides the beds and tables of golde precious stones garmentes of purple and other royall mouables and stuffe that was there and besides three thousand talents of Gold which he had sent before with his
oftentimes of the falling euil to excuse himselfe of this disease he affirmed that the Angell Gabriel spake vnto him and brought him the Law which he published as spoken by the mouth of God and reuealed from aboue albeit it be ful of iniquitie and of lies He gaue men to vnderstand that God first sent Moises vnto mankinde then IESVS CHRIST with miracles and because they had not obeyed him that he sent at that time Mahomet with strong hand to the end that such as were not moued by miracles should be constrained by armes And that the Mosaical and Christian law being to rigorous he was sent to soften them by the publication of more easie precepts That there should come no other messenger and that he was the last that was foretolde by Christ in the ghospel And so hath established a new sect and most pernicious mingled of the old and new testament whereof he hath peruerted many places endeuouring to subuert the holy Trinity and to abolish the diuinity of Iesus Christ and the misteries of his death passion and resurrection But those of his side which wil be called Musulmans doe speake much otherwise and do exalt him infinitely as the most excellent parsonage of the world hauing maliciously inuented many lies of his pretended excellency to make him the more admirable and to drawe the more people to his beliefe Amongst others they haue dreamed of a prophetical light which appeared first in Adam then was continued from prophet to prophet vntil Mahomet shyning in their faces euen as the sun in faire weather and the moone when it is full That as soone as a new prophet was conceiued it passed from the husband to the wife and the child borne of her and remained with him til being waxen great he had ingendred another As soon then saith he as Adam was created as he stood vp his braine shaked and made a noise as the leaues do which are shaken with the wind and that Adam wondring thereat God said vnto him The sound which thou hast heard and whereat thou meruailest is the signe of the prophets and messengers which shall preach my commandements and therefore thou shalt take heed that the same seed of light be not put but into a cleane wombe And when he had ingendred Seth who is the father of the prophets and the chiefe of the messengers of God at the instant that light passed from the face of Adam into the face of Eue who while she was with child shined in such sort that the birdes of the aire and beastes of the earth wondered at the beauty and brightnes of her face Adam himselfe was astonied therewith Euery day the Angels saluting her brought her odours of Paradice till such time as shee brought forth Seth alone because that afore shee alwaies had two at a burden male and female brother and sister Seth being borne caryed in his face the shyning of that light which before his mother bare which light remained straight betweene heauen and earth the Angels descending thereby vpon Seth and crying alwaies Reioyce thou earth worthy of the light of Mahomet on him bee the praier of God and the saluation When his father Adam drew neere to his end he declared vnto him by his Testament the mystery of the light and the genealogie of the prophetes Then descended Gabriel accompained with lxx thousand Angels bearing euerie one of them a white leafe and a pen which signed the writing saying that His voice was exalted and that the will of God was that the order of the propheticall generation should be continued So Seth receiued the writing signed and was clothed by the Lord with a doublered garment shyning as the sunne and soft as the violet floure They affirmed that this light passed after this maner from Adam to Seth from Seth to Enoch and from Enoch by continuall succession to Noe and Sem then to Abraham at whose birth two lights comming out of the East and the west met togither in the middest of the earth enlightning the whole world in one and the Angels were heard singing that it was the light of the Prophet Mahomet who should be borne of his seede whose word should be in the vertue of God This light passed from Abraham to Ismael and from Ismael to Amofre to whom it seemed that their grew forth of his loines a tree whose branches shyned and reached vnto heauen and that by the boughes thereof there went white men vp and downe He vnderstood of the deuinours that this high tree signified a great lignage which should lighten the earth and clime vp into heauen From Amofre it came to Abdamutalib the Graundfather of Mahomet a personage replenished with all vertue and when there was any drought as soone as this light shined on the earth it presently rained there An elephant prostrated himselfe before him speaking with the voice of a man said Saluation be on you and on the light that shineth out of your reines Dignity fame honour and victory be on you and that there shoulde proceede forth of him a king greater then al the kings of the earth An other time sleeping on the stone which was placed by Abraham in his Oratorie at Mecha he dreamed that there issued out of his reines a chain parted in foure on one side stretched toward the East on thother side towards the west vpwards as high as heauen and downewards to the botome of the depth and that sodainly it was all wound vp togither and then changed into a great herbe greene and florishing such as was neuer seene amongest men That in the meane time there stood by him two olde men towards whom tourning he asked them who they were and they confessed that the one of them was Noe and thother Abraham prophets of the most high God and tolde him that out of his reines should come a man by whome the heauen and earth should beleeue and all nations should be conuerted vnto Iustice and trueth The Magicians Sorcerers deuinours conspired against Abdalle the sonne of Abdamutalib and father of Mahomet for to kill him because that al their practise was to be ouerthrowen by his seed and to him was giuen a Tutour as a defender who seemed as a man but was none who perpetually watching ouer him tourned away al their mischieuous deuises Also the Iewes conspired against him and he was preserued from them by lxx Angels which seemed men and were not Leauing all other women he wedded Emina and when the time was come which God had foreseen and prescribed to put finally into the worlde the light of the prophet Mahomet the voice of the Lorde was heard saying The gates of Paradise should be opened and the innermost of his secret manifested for it pleaseth me this night to transport the light of my prophet from the reines of Abdalle into the wombe of Emina and that it come into the world This being done as Abdalle the Iudge and Lord of the Arabians
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
fewer in Asia which is come to passe by reason that these two last parts of the world haue had one or two soueraignties but few cōmon weales But Europe hath only had certain kingdoms but infinite cōmon weals Men become excellent make shew of their vertue according as they are employed aduanced by their Prince or cōmon wealth It is thē likly that where are many potentats there wil also be found many valiant men and fewe where there are but few potentats In Asia are found Ninus Cyrus Darius Artaxerxes Mithridates and a few others to beare them company In Africke are named leauing out the antiquitie of Egipt Masinissa Iugurtha and the Captains bred by the common wealth of Carthage the which yet in respect of Europe are but few For asmuch as there are excellent ones in Europe without number and more would be if those other were named which by the malignity of the time are forgotten For the world hath ben there most vertuous where there haue ben most great estates fauourers of vertue either for necessitie or some other humane passion There haue ben therefore few excellent men in Asia because that prouince was wholy vnder one kingdome which by the greatnes thereof remaining for the most part idle they could not there become excellent men for managing of affaires The same is also in Africk where likewise there haue bin few saue only in the common wealth of Carthage This being also obserued that there are more excellent personages found in common weales then in kingdoms in the which vertue is honoured and in kingdomes suppressed whence cometh to passe that in a common wealth the vertuous are cherished and in a kingdome not regarded Wherefore he that shall consider Europe shall finde it to haue bin full of common weales and principalities which for the feare they had one of the other were constrained to keepe in vigour the military orders and to honour and esteeme of such as were best skilled therin For in Greece besids the kingdome of Macedony there were many common weales in euery of thē were bred most excellent men In Italy were the Romains Samnites Toscans and Gaules Cisalpins France and Germany were ful of common weales princes likewise Spaine And although in comparison of the Romains there are few others named that coms to pas by the malignity of writers which follow fortune and honour none but the vanquishers But it seemeth not likely that amongst the Samnites and Toscans which maintained warres 150. yeres against the people of Rome before they were ouercome there were not many excellent men and likewise in France and Spaine But that vertue which the writers do not celebrate in particuler men they extoll generally in the whole nations exalting euen vnto heauen their obstinate defending of their liberty It being true then that where are most estates there arise most valiant men It followeth necessarily that where there are fewest there vertue from hand to hād diminisheth because there remaineth lest occasion to make mē vertuous Wherefore the Empire being since increased and hauing extinguished all the common weales and Seigniories of Europe and Africke and the greatest part of those of Asia it left no way nor meanes vnto vertue any where but at Rome so that there began to be few excellēt men in Europe as in Asia which vertue came since euen to his last ouerthrow forasmuch as all vertue being reduced vnto Rome when it was once corrupted euen almost all the world came to corruption therewith And the Northren nations were of power to come and spoile this Empire which had extinguished the light of others vertue and could not maintaine his owne Although then that by the inundation of these barbarous nations it was diuided into many parts yet the former vertue could not yet spring vp againe by reason of the difficulty which there is for a time to resume the former orders being ouerthrowen also because the maner of liuing at this day considering the christian religiō doth not imposethe same necessity of defending our selues which was in anciēt time For then those mē that were ouer come in war were either slain or els remained in perpetual bōdage leading a miserable life The conquered lāds were left desolate or els they draue the inhabitāts being spoiled of their goods like fugitiues throughout the world Insomuch that those which in wars were ouercome endured al extremity of misery Being moued with this fear mē alwaies held military exercise in vigour honored such as excelled therein But at this day this feare for the most part is taken away for there are few of the vanquished slaine they remaine not long prisoners the way being easy to deliuer them And although Cities should a thousand times reuolte yet are they not destroied but the men enioy their goods and the greatest euil they feare is an impost or taxe wherefore they will not submit themselues to the military orders and entirely beare the charges of the warre to preuent these dangers which they do not much feare since the prouinces of Europe are reduced to so fewe heads in respect of the time past All France being subiect to one king Spaine to another and Italy diuided into partes In such sort that the weake Cities are saued by associating them selues with the vanquishers and the other estates by the foresaid reasons do not feare their vtter ouerthrow Touching the Almaines and Switzers because there were amongst them many common wealths and Seigniories being iealous of their estates and constrained to maintain them by exercise of armes they haue brought forth whatsoeuer is good at this day in Military discipline in these parts Moreouer men in their food and norishment are no lesse different according to the diuersity of countries then in other things eche countrey hauing his peculiar meates and a seueral kinde of dressing preparing sauouring saulcing rosting and boyling them And in eche season of the yere nature yeldeth newe meates both by sea and land As then there are found diuers sorts of food so are there also diuers maners of liuing both of beasts and of men For being not possible for them to liue without nourishment the difference thereof maketh their maner of liuing to be diuers and different So that of beastes some liue in heards and flockes other seperated here and there as is most expedient for purchase of their liuing And some of thē feed on liuing creatures others on fruits others on euery thing so that nature hath seuered their liues according to the commodity and choice of these things But for as much as naturally euery creature hath not pleasure in the selfe same but some delight in one thing and some in another for this cause doe the liues of them differ which eate liuing creatures and which feed on fruits Likewise there is a great difference betweene the liues of men The Idler sort giue them selues to pasturage feeding on tame beasts without paines or trauaile but