headlong on all daunger with such furye that none was able to abide them And being borne to do all great things and his hart being by nature desirous of great honour the prosperities of his passed prowesses and conquestes did not inuite him to be desirous to enioy in peace the fruict of his labours but rather kindeled him and encouraged him to bee willing to vndertake others engendring alwaies more and more an ymagination in him of greater enterprises and a desire of newe glory as if that which he had already had bin wasted and worne out Which passion was nothing else but a iealousie and emulation of himselfe as if hee had bin some other man and an obstinate desire alwaies to ouercome himselfe the hope of that which was to come fighting still with the glory of what was passed and the ambition of that which hee desired to doe with that which hee had all ready done For hee had purposed and already made preparation to goe fight against the Parthians and after he had subdued them to passe thorough Hircania and to enuiron the Caspian sea and the mountaine Caucasus and returning to win the kingdome of Pontus that hee might afterwarde go into Scythia and hauing ouerrun all the Countrey and bordering prouinces of great Germany and Germanie it selfe to retourne in the end thorough Gaule into Italy and so to spread the Romaine Empire round about in such fort that it should on eche side be bounded with the great Ocean That great fortune and fauour of heauen that had accompanied him all his life long continued in the auengement of his death pursuing by land and by sea all those which had conspired against him insomuch that there remained not one vnpunished of all those which either in deed or in counsaile were partakers of the conspiracy of his death But of all things which haue happened to men on earth the most wonderful was that of Cassius who after he had bin defeated lost the day in the battaile of Philippi slue himselfe with that very sword wherewith he had stricken Caesar. And of those which happened in heauen the great comet which appeared was euident for seuen nights continually after his death and shortly after also the darkening of the light of the Sunne the which in sight of all that army arose alwaies pale and neuer with his sparkling and shyning brightnesse whereby his heate was also very feeble annd weake and the aire consequently all the yeare long very darke and thicke by reason of the imbecillitie of the heate which could not resolue and clarifie it which was the cause that the fruictes on the earth remayned vnripe and vnperfect perishing before they were rypened by reason of the coldnes of the aire But aboue all the vision which appeared to Brutus shewed euidently that the slaughter was not acceptable to the Gods Suetonius also witnesseth that at Capua was found in the sepulcher of Capys a Tablet of brasse signifying the death of Iulius the maner howe he shoulde die and be slaine which sepulcher and tablet had bin made a thousand yeres before The people sorowed much for him after his death because he was most skilfull and experienced how to rule and caused his body to be brought into the midst of the market place building a Temple for him neere vnto the place where hee was buried and worshipped him as a God OCTAVIAN his nephew and successour had such hap that of a simple Citizen or Knight of Rome hee obtained the Empire of the whole worlde which hee ruled about fiftie and sixe yeares being whiles heeliued and after his death honoured as a God by consecrating of Temples vnto him erecting of statues and ordayning of Priestes with great foundations to doe seruice there Before he was borne it was foretolde by Iulius Marathus vnto the Senate and people of Rome that nature shortly would bring them forth a King And P. Nigidius a very learned Astrologer and Philosopher hauing knowen his natiuity affirmed that there was a Lorde of the worlde borne Which Cicero foresawe in a dreame seeming vnto him that the children of the Senatours were called vnto the Capitoll because Iupiter had appointed to shewe which was he that should one day bee head and Prince of Rome And that all the Romaines of a great desire which they had to know who he should be were all come round about the Temple and that all the children were likewise attending there in their purple garments vntill that sodainly the gates of the Temple were opened and then the children arose one after another and passed along before the statue of Iupiter who looked vpon them all sauing the young Caesar to whom when he passed before him hee reached out his hand and said Ye Romaine Lordes this child here is he that shall make an end of your ciuill warres when he commeth to be your head It is said that Cicero had this vision while he slept and that he imprinted firmely in his memory the forme of the childs countenance but that he knew him not And that on the morow he went of purpose into the field of Mars whither the yong folke were wont to goe to play and sport themselues where he found that the childdren hauing ended their exercises were retourning home-ward and that amongest them the first which he perceiued was he whom he had seen in his dreame and he remembred his fauour well Whereof being yet more astonished he asked him whose child he was who aunswered that he was the sonne of one Octauian a man not much renowmed and of Actia the sister of Iulius Caesar which Iulius Caesar hauing no children made him by testament his heire leauing him his goods and his house It is told of him that soone after he began to speake being not farre from the citie in a house of his fathers where the froggs did nothing but crie and trouble men with their noise he commaunded them to cease and be still which they did and neuer afterwards were heard in that place He was a gentle gracious and ciuil personage proper comely and faire throughout all his body But especially his eyes which shined as faire starres when hee moued them In such sort that they which looked on him winked as at the sun-beames And when a certaine Souldiour tourning away from his face was asked why he did so hee aunswered because hee coulde not abide the shyning of his eyes and wee doe yet doubt that there bee from aboue certaine personages ordained to rule and commaund ouer mankinde and to do great and strange maruailes But IVLIVS CESAR hauing ouercome his Citizens made himselfe the first Monarck of the Romain empire to whom Augustus succeeded who gouerned it most happely after he was absolute Lorde thereof In such sort that there is not found any time wherein it hath bin so wealthy and well ordered and established in peace and obedience as it was in his time And according to the forme of gouernment which he brought
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
extremitie conioyned and knit togither Moreouer it is certaine that Nature hath not created any thing vnto which she hath not giuen a contrarie to withhold it and keepe it backe where hence proceede the Antipathies or contrarie affections in all things aswell animate as inanimate lyuing as without life In beasts as betweene the Cocke and the Foxe in fishes betweene the Mullet and the fish called Lupus which some take it to be the Pike in birdes betwixt the Crow and the Kite Amongst trees the Chestnut and Oliue amongst stones the Adamant and the Diamant What then shall we say of men which are so passionate and inconstant Truely that al in all ages and all kinds of life publike priuate solitarie contemplatiue actiue are inclined to contentions and partialities euen so farre as euery one to be at variance in him selfe hauing in his bodie and soule a perpetuall combate betweene reason and concupiscence And in this maner is the strife amongst children which yet haue no knowledge and amongst the Sauages which haue nothing proper or peculier There are Sectes in the schooles of Law Physicke Diuinitie Philosophie and in the conuents and monasteries amongst the Reclus and Recluses No maruaile is it therefore if there be seditions in Cities and Countries which make people of diuers estates euen to run hedlong as was sometimes in Rome that of the common people and the Nobility Yf there be warres betweene Lordship and Lordship kingdom and kingdom which respectiuely keeps them both in feare So were aunciently in Greece the Lacedemonians to the Athenians so to the Romaines the Carthaginians and afterward the Parthians So are at this day opposed the Scots to the English the English to the French the French to the Italians The Almaines to the Suitzers the Africans to the Spaniards the Turkes to the Christians the Persians to the Turkes the Zagathaines to the Persians being deuided amongst themselues by colours redd and greene and of that are called Caselbas and Cuselbas the Moscouites to the Polonians the Tartarians to them both In the Indies Cochim to Calecut in high Africk the Moores to the Abissins thorough out the countrey of the Arabians the inhabitants of the Mountaines to those that dwel in the Plaines The Black-moores amongst themselues And in Brasil the Sauluages euen to the eating of one another when they are taken in warre And it might seeme that these diuisions were in some sort necessarie thoroughout the world and such contrarieties as God hath giuen to euery estate almost to euery person profitable to keepe them in feare and humility for men will soone waxe proud and are easily puft vp with prosperity and riches and especially when they misconceaue from whence such grace proceedeth God is wont to send them aduersities for their chastisment Wheresore it is ordinarily seene that euery mighty estate hauing no forrain enemy findeth some within it selfe and when it is come to such greatnesse that it cannot be brought vnder or kept downe by any strange or foraine force then is it afflicted with partialities and oftentimes distroied or translated into some other nation with alteration both of Iustice and politike gouernment Moreouer when the Countries are to full of inhabitants and that the malice and subtilty of man is come to the highest then are they purged and empted by famines and pestilence to the end that the people which are in it being reduced to a lesse number and chastised may liue better But if herewith they amend not but waxe worse and worse then either are they exterminated by fire and water or by Earthquakes ouerwhelmed God vsing alwaies such rigours against those which perseuer in their wickednes as he is alwaies readie to receiue to mercie such as are truely penitent which turne to him and pray to him with their harts OF THE VARIETY AND INTER course of Shadowes Daies and seasons of the yeare and diuersitie of habitations on the Earth HItherto hath bin declared how the world is not onely conserned by the intercourse of the Heauens and Elements but also tempered by contraries Now to the end we may the better consider the difference which is found in respect of the diuersitie of places and aspectes of heauen aswell in plants trees fruits mettals sauours colours and tastes as in beasts fishes birds and euen in men themselues and all their affaires we will briefly touch as far foorth as shall belong to our present purpose the fiue Zones of the habitable earth the seauen Climats fower limits East West North and South the two sides or hemisphers longitude and latitude the three parts thereof Europe Asia and Africke vnto which is also added America the varietie of shadowes daies and seasons with the diuers maners of inhabiting because that all these considerations serue to the knowledge of the world and the chaunges which in times past haue happened therein and do euery day come to passe The Auncients diuided the Heauen consequently the earth into fiue Zones thinking that those two that are vttermost about the two Poles North and South did make those two parts of the earth which are subiect to them vnhabitable by their extreme continual cold Also that that part of the heauen which beholdeth the middle of the earth vnder the Equinoctiall made it likewise vnhabitable by reason that the Sunne hauing there his continuall course burneth with his beames beating on it so neere and perpendicularly all the countrie lying vnder that Zone That the two others which are betweene the burning Zone and the Poles were temperate as also those parts of the earth which are answerable vnto them But that one could not passe verie well from the one to the other because of the burning Zone being in the midst But by the latter voyages and nauigations the whole earth is found to be inhabited yea euen vnder the Poles themselues beeing both in the midst and in the vtmost parts frequented with men and with singuler commodities the heat of the middle-most accounted burning hoat being lesse vnder the Equinoctiall then the Tropicke not a whit hindering the passage from one of the temperate vnto the other For although that vnder the Equinoctiall the sunne-beames are perpendicular twice in a yeare yet do they but little harme by reason that they stay not long there the Zodiake being streight and not oblique or crooked in that place Then the nightes being there continually equall in length vnto the daies doe mitigate with their colde the heat of the dayes But vnder and neere vnto the Tropickes the Zodiacke beeing crooked the Sunne stayeth longer there and discendeth not so swiftlle vnder the Horizon makinge the dayes longer and the sunne hotter yet sufferable notwithstanding as wee see by innumerable people dwelling vnder the Equinoctial and betweene the Tropickes In the vttermost part of the North dwell the Liuonians Noruegians Lithuanians Swedens Moscouites Lapians and Brarmians last of all hauing in their depth of winter the aire full of foggs and great clouds
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
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
aboundance of oliues that was to come wherin he might haue gained much showing that it were easy for Philosophers to enriche themselues if they would but it is not their study and profession And Plato in his Theaetetus telleth that as he beheld the starres and looked vpwards he fell into a diche whereof he was reprehended by his maide who was pleasant and witty that he woulde endeuour to know what was in heauen being ignorant of that which was in earth and before his feete DEMOCRITVS is called by Seneca in the seuenth of his naturall questions the most subtill of the auncients and in his booke of the shortnes of life he reckoneth him amongst the chiefe and most excellent masters of the sciences Cicero in his first Booke of the ends of good and euill calleth him a man learned and perfect in Geometrie and recommendeth his stile or maner of writing vnto Brutus in his Oratour saying that albeit it be estraunged from verse yet because it is eleuated and enriched with most cleare lights of words that it seemeth rather to be a poeme then the verses of Comick Poets Plinie telleth howe that hee and Pythagoras trauailed into Persia Arabia Egypt and Ethiopia to the end to learne Magicke and that they two were the first that did celebrate it in these parts And in an other place it is manifest saith hee that DEMOCRITVS a wise man otherwise profitable vnto life hath erred through too much desire which he had to be helpful vnto mē And in his vij Book he promised saith he to reuiue others which hath not raised vp himselfe He was so exceedingly giuen to cōtemplation that his citizens the Abderites counted him franticke and sent for Hippocrates to heale him who when he came to Abdera found him only wise amongst them all Seneca writing of the diuine prouidence saith that he abandoned riches thinking them to be burden som to a good wit Some say that willingly with a burning glasse he depriued himselfe of his sight that he might see more clerly with his vnderstanding Tully in his fifth Tusculane DEMOCRITVS saith he hauing lost the sight of his eies could not discerne white black but wel could he the good and euil iust and vniust honest and dishonest profitable and vnprofitable And could liue wel and happely without the sight of colours but not without the knowledge of things This mā thought the sight of the mind to be hindred by the sight of the eies And as others did not see oft-times that which was before their feet so he wandered throughout al infinity without consisting in any extremity Plutarch in his treatise of curiosity affirmeth it to be false Seneca in his second Booke of Anger saith that HERACLITVS going out of his house and seeing about him so many liuing euil or rather dying in euil he had pity of them all and wept on the contrary DEMOCRITVS was neuer seene but laughing HIPPOCRATES had his honor to haue bin the first that did write perspicuously of Physick of the rules therof Plutarch witnesseth of him that hauing written touching the seames or ioinings of mans head in Anatomy and afterwards finding that he had failed in somwhat he did publickly declare his fault for feare lest others might fall into the like errour Saint Augustin after him hath bin the only man that hath publickly corrected himselfe by setting forth his retractations Others are commonly so ouergon with glory and so opinatiue that they had rather dye then yeld in any thing EMPEDOCLES the Agrigentine a famous natural Philosopher wrote in verse vj books of the knowledg of nature wherof Aristotle maketh often mētion especially in his Poetry where he saith that Homer Empedocles had nothing one like thother but their verses and that the one is a right Poet and thother ought rather to be called a naturall Philosopher then a Poet. And in his Metaphysicks speaking of him and of Anaxagoras he witnesseth that Anaxagoras was superior in age to Empedocles but inferior to him in works And he saith in his problemes that he was of melancholick cōplexion Plinie saith that he trauailed far to learne Magick as did Pithagoras Democritus And Horace in his art of Poetry that being desirous to leaue an opinion of himselfe that he was a God and was vanished secretly out of the sight of men he cast himselfe into the burning and smoking hole of the hil Etna and that this deed was afterwardes discouered by one of his slippers which being made of bras was cast vp by the vehemency of the fire and wind ANAXAGORAS a Clazomenian gentleman became a very excellent Philosopher and was called by those of his time Nous which signifieth the minde or vnderstanding were it for admiration which they had of his knowledge and vnderstanding which appeared to be great especially in naturall Philosophy or els because he was the first which added the intelligence vnto the matter and appointed vnto naturall things for their beginning and first cause of their distinction and ordinance the intelligence Plinie writeth of him that by knowledge of the starres hee foretolde that within certaine daies after there would fall a stone from heauen which happened in the parts of Thrace in the day time He was the first that published books written by him and liued in the time of Democritus In auncient time in Greece they which did write first of diuine celestial naturall morall politicke and military matters were the Poets and they were commonly Priests Theologians Musicians Astrologians and Physicians as Linus Musaeus Orpheus and Amphion LINVS the sonne of Apollo and of Terpsichore being very skilfull in Musick was the master of Hercules of Tamyras and of Orpheus They say that he brought the knowledge thereof out of Phenicia into Greece as did Atlas the Astrology out of Lybia Museus was reputed as a Prophet hauing deliuered many Cerimonies to the Grecians of whom Virgill giueth a very honourable testimony in the sixth Booke of his Aneids calling him an excellent Poet in great perfection and making him to seeme in the Elysian fields the most eminent amongst all the men of honour and learning that were there which haue had a memorable name in all ages ORPHEVS and AMPHION were such excellent musicions that they were said by their sweete Songes to moue trees and stones to stop the course of riuers and to tame the fiercenes of wild beasts ORPHEVS first instituted in Greece the Initiatiōs of the Gods the purgation of sinnes remedies of diseases by charmes and Inchauntmentes and meanes to appease the wrath of the Gods They say that of him and of Zoroaster as fathers and authors came al the ancient wisedome Iamblicus affirmeth that Pythagoras followed Orpheus his diuinity as a paterne on the which he framed formed his Philosophy which is more that the words of Pythagoras had not bin esteemed holy or sacred but for being deriued from the precept of Orpheus That from thence came the secret doctrine
had done who seeing the yong yeres of Remus and considering well the markes of his countenance togither with the time when his daughters children were cast out began to suspect that he was one of them by his age so well agreeing thereto And being in this doubt Romulus and Faustulus came vnto him by whom he was aduertised of the trueth of all Then being auenged of Amulius whom they slew they placed Numitor in the kingdom and afterwards founded the citie of Rome ROMVLVS then the first Prince authour and founder thereof hauing composed it of Countrey people and neaâ—heards had many trauailes in doing thereof and found himselfe intangled with many wars and many daungers being constrained to fight with those that opposed themselues to the rising and foundation of this City and to the increase of this people newly planted Then afterwards as his natiuity preseruation and nourishment had bin maruailous his end was no lesse For as he spake vnto the people sodainly the weather was ouer cast and the aire was horribly chaunged The sunne lost entierly his light and there were terrible thunders impetuous winds stormes and tempests on euery side which made the coÌ„mon people to hide themselues here and there in corners But the Senatours kept themselues togither Then when the storme was past the day cleared and the weather become faire the people assembled againe as before and went to seeke their king and to aske what was become of him But the Lords would not suffer them to enquire any farther but admonished them to honour and reuerence him as one that had bin taken vp into heauen and who thence forward insteed of a good king would be a propicious and fauourable God vnto them Moreouer Iulius Proculus one of the Patricians accounted a very honest man who also had bin a great familiar friende of Romulus affirmed that as he came from Alba he met him on his way greater and fairer then euer he had seen him armed all in white armour bright shyning as fire and that being afrighted to see him in such sort he asked him wherefore he had abandoned his orphane city in such infinite sorowe To whoÌ„ Romulus answered It pleased the Gods from whoÌ„ I came that I should remain among men as long as I haue remained that after I had built a city which in glory and greatnes of Empire shall one day be the chiefe in the world I shoulde returne to dwell in heauen as before Wherefore be of good cheere and say vnto the Romains that in exercising of prowes and temperance they shall attaine to the height of humaine power and as for me I will be henceforth a God Protector and Patron of them whom they shall call QVIRINVS The auncients recited many such meruailes in the which there is no apparance of trueth endeuouring to deifie the nature of man and to associate him with the Gods It is is very true saith Plutarch that it were euil and wickedly done to deny the diuinity of vertue but yet to mingle earth with heauen were great foolishnes being a thing most certaine that after death the soule which is the ymage of eternity remaineth only aliue and retourneth to heauen wherhence it came not with the body but rather when it is farthest remoued and seperated from the body and when it is cleane and holy and holdeth nothing any longer oft he flesh Therefore it is not necessary to go about to sende against nature the bodies of vertuous men with their soules vnto heauen but we ought to thinke and firmely beleeue that their vertues and soules according to nature and diuine Iustice become saincts of men and of saints demy-Gods and of demy-gods after they are perfectly as in sacrifices of purgation cleansed purified being deliuered of al passibility and mortality they become not by any ciuile ordinance but in trueth reason liklyhood entier perfect Gods receiuing a most happy glorious end But NVMA the second king succeeding vnto Romulus had time and leasure to establish Rome and to ensure the increase thereof by meanes of the long peace which hee had with all his enemies which was to Rome as a store-house of all munition for the wars which folowed after and the people of Rome hauing exercised themselues at leasure and in quiet and rest by the space of xliij yeres after the wars which they had vnder Romulus they made themselues strong enough sufficient to make head against those which afterwards opposed themselues against them Considering that in all that time there was neither plague nor famine nor barrennes of the earth nor intemperatenes of winter or sommer that offended them as if all these yeres had bin gouerned not by humane wisdome but by the diuine prouidence For he gaue out that the goddesse Egeria was in loue with him that lying with him she taught him how to rule and gouerne his common wealth Numa then taking the city of Rome as in a turbulent tempest and in a sea tormented troubled with the enmity enuy and euil wil of all the neighbor nations and bordering peoples and moreouer exercised in it selfe with infinite troubles and partialities he extinquished and asswaged all angers and all the enuies as euil and contrary windes giuing meanes to the people being but newly planted and scarcely yet established to take roote and to fasten their footing by augmenting leasurely in al safety without wars without sicknes without peril without feare or any other hinderance whatsoeuer For in all his raigne there was neither war nor ciuil sedition nor attempt of nouelty in gouernment of the common wealth yet lesse enmity or enuy perticularly against him or conspiracy against his person forgreedines of rule And not only at Rome was the people softned reformed after the example of the Iustice clemency goodnes of the king but in all the Citieâ— also round about began a meruailous change of maners no otherwise then if it had bin a sweete breath of some wholsome and gracious winde that had breathed on them from the side of Rome to refresh them and there stole sweetly into the harts of men a desire to liue in peace to labour the earth and to bring vp their children in rest and tranquility and to serue and honour the Gods After these two raigned fiue kings at Rome and in TARQVIN the last for hate of his pride and not of the royall authority was the gouernement chaunged Rome being from that time foorth gouerned by two annuall CONSVLS and by the SENATE vnder the authoritie of the people Then from the Consuls it came to the rule of TEN MEN from whom it retourned back againe to the CONSVLS And whereas there were opposed vnto them two military TRIBVNES of equall power they were within the yere deposed and gaue place to the CONSVLS And albeit they vsed in the great affaires of the common wealth to create a DICTATOVR with absolute authority for the time neuerthelesse the Consulary
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
deceiued by a false opinion which they haue of things they think there is no faith nor friendship nor honestie remayning among men telling to the yonger sort many wonders of their former age To whom it hapneth no otherwise then it doth vnto those that embarke themselues on the sea and beginning to saile according to the measure as they are distant from land it seemeth vnto them that the bank or shore the hills trees and houses do leaue them thinking in like maner that in their old age both pleasure humanitie and iustice do forsake them and vanish away Moreouer those which are extremely vicious being not able to go any farther nor yet to stand at a stay wherethey be are constrained to returne by little and little either for shame which is naturally in men or els for necessitie because that in such manifest wickednes they are eschewed of all men or els by the diuine prouidence which bringeth them back againe For in the auncient histories are found such execrable vices as there can not be more which haue raigned for a time and haue afterwards bin detested in whose place haue suoceeded most commendable vertues Whereon we will resolue with Seneca speaking thus to this purpose Hoc maiores nostri questi sunt ait hoc nos querimur hoc posteri nostri queruntur euersos esse mores regnare nequitiam in deterius res humanas et in omne nefas labi At ista stant loco eodem stabunt que paululum duntaxat vltro citroque mota vt fluctus quos aestus accedens longius extulit recedens maiore littorum vestigio tenuit Nunc in adulterio magis quam in alio peccabitur abrumpetque fraenos pudicitia nunc conuiuiorum vigebit furor et foedissimum patrimoniorum exitium culina nunc cultus corporum nimius formae cura praeseferens animi deformitatem Nunc in petulantiam audaciam erumpet male dispensata libertas nunc in crudelitatem priuatam ac publicam ibitur bellorumque ciuilium insaniam qua omne sanctum et sacrum profanetur Habebitur aliquando ebrietati honor et plurimum meri cepisse virtus erit Non expectant vno loco vitia sed mobilia inter se dissentientia tumultuantur pellunt inuicem fuganturque Ceterum idem semper de nobis pronunciare debemus malos esse nos malos fuisse Inuitus adiiciam futuros esse A COMPARISON OF THE LEARNING of theis daies with the Auncient in Philosophie Eloquence Law Policie Phisick Poetry Astrologie Cosmographie and the other Mathematicks ALwaies the great vnderstandings and good wits fit for Learning haue bin rare yea euen in the learned ages and amongst the most ingenious Nations Consequently the excellencie of learning hath bin also rare and therefore the more admirable To the attayning whereof there is requisite a happie nature a laborious diligence a constant perseuerance which must be aduaunced honoured and rewarded by the Princes who notwithstanding commonly haue small care of learning and fauour it slenderly The students if they be poore they applie themselues to questuarie or gainfull arts wherby to haue meanes to liue when they haue reasonably profited in them The rich giue themselues to pleasure seeking the easie and superficial apparance and not the painfull profoundnes and depth of knowledge The greatest part of Teachers vse but rehersings and repetitions by rote acquiting themselues lightly of their charges They which write for the most part do nothing but tye together and all heape one on another Grammars Rhetoricks Logicks Institutions Introductions Abridgements Annotations Corrections Translations Epistles Orations Eclogues Dialogues Common places Elegyes Odes Vulgar rymes and such other versifications Moreouer we must learne out of bookes in the schooles the Latin Greek Hebrew Chaldiack and Arabian which were mother tongues amongst the Auncients they learned them from their cradle when they began to speak In which we must now consume much time and the best of our age which were better emploied in the knowledge of things and vnderstanding of the sciences Besides there is one inconuenience in learning which is not smal that they are all their life time brought vp in the shadow of schooles without knowing of their behauiour amongst men and without hauing experience of matters although knowledge without practize be vnperfect Which is the cause that we haue not at this day such eminent persons in Philosophie as Pythagoras Thales Plato Aristotle and Theophrastus In Eloquence as Demosthenes and Cicero In Phisick as Hippocrates Galene and Auicen In Law as Seruius Sulpicius Papinian and Vlpian In Historie as Herodotus Thucydides Polybius Salust Liuie and Tacitus In the Mathematicks as Euclide Eudoxus Archimedes and Ptolomeus albeit there haue bin in them verie excellent men of this age For sithence they were extinguished in Egipt and left off by the Greeks and Arabians they were neuer more famous then they are at this present especially Astrologie and Cosmographie for the Auncients scarcely vnderstood th one halfe of heauen of the earth and of the sea knowing nothing in the West beyond the Canaries and in the East beyond Catygare At this day all lands and seas are knowen and sayled Thales Pythagoras Aristotle Hipparchus Artemidorus Eratosthenes Strabo Plinie Macrobius Capella Virgill and generally all the auncient Authours saue Ptolomey Auicen and Albertus magnus thought that of the fiue Zones of heauen there were but two inhabited and that the three others by excessiue heat or extreme cold remained desert At this day there is nothing more certain then that they all are inhabited Plinie Lactantius and S. Augustin thought there were no Antipodes But now we rule ouer them and trafick with them ordinarily They which in times past beheld the heauens found but few mouings and could scarce perceiue ten But now as if the knowledge both of the one and the other world had bin by some destinie reserued for our age they haue bin obserued in greater number and more admirable and two other principall ones added vnto them to serue for a certaine demonstration of many things appearing in the starres and to discouer the hidden misteries of nature Cosmographie and Astrologie are so beautified that if Ptolomey the father of them both were aliue againe he would scarce know them being increased in such sort by the late obseruations and nauigations REGIOMONTANVS is reputed the best Mathematician this age and thought to be little inferiour to Anaximander the Milesian or Archimedes the Syracusan His Master Purbachius the Cardinal of CVSA and COPER NICVS being Germains al of them haue excelled in these sciences Also IOVIANVS PONTANVS hath taken great paines in Astrologie being no lesse happie in prose then in verse and apt for any kind of writing Volateran said that he made verses with more art then nature But yet so laboured after the imitation of the Auncients that he hath not had his peere in this age Crinitus speaking of him and of MARVLLVS his disciple affirmeth that both the
former famous ages The world is such as it was before The heauen and the time keepe the same order which they did The Sunne and thother Planets haue not changed their courses and there is no starre remoued out of his place The Elements haue the same power men are made of the same matter in the same sort disposed as they were in old time And were not the maner of lyuing corrupted which we vse preferring idlenesse before diligence pleasure before profit and riches before vertue nothing would let but this age might bring foorth as eminent personages in Philosophie as were Plato and Aristotle in Physick as Hippocrates and Galen or in the Mathematicks as Euclide Archimedes and Ptolomey Considering the help which we receiue of their books the examples wherwith antiquitie hath instructed vs so many obseruations and inuentions sithence their time and so long experience of all things In such sort that if we consider it well there was neuer age more happie for the aduancement of learning then this present if weying the shortnes of mans life we resolue to employ our whole endeuour industrie on the studie of true knowlege Wisdom hath not fulfilled her work much remaineth and will alwaies remaine and there will neuer be wanting occasion to add therunto Trueth doth offer her selfe to all those that wil seek her and are of capacitie to receiue her albeit Democritus complayneth that she is hid in a place as deep as a well wherhence in his opinion it is not possible to draw her foorth Whosoeuer giueth himself to it in good earnest shall find alway somewhat to do therin All the mysteries of God and secrets of nature are not discouered at one time The greatest things are difficult and long in comming How many are there not yet reduced into art How many haue bin first knowen and found out in this age I say new lands new seas new formes of men maners lawes and customes new diseases and new remedies new waies of the Heauen and of the Ocean neuer before found out and new starres seen yea and how many remaine to be knowen by our posteritie That which is now hidden with time will come to light and our successours will wonder that wee were ignorant of them M. Varro witnesseth that in the space of a thousand yeares the Arts were inuented and augmented which yet vntill this time are not perfected and accomplished But if the perfection of them hath not hitherto bin found it followeth not therof that it cannot be found For those things which at this day are held to be the greatest and most admirable had a time of beginning and that which is now verie good was not so at the first but is increased by little and little amending from time to time Certainly the excellencie in all thinges is slow difficult and rare seing that there is scarcely found in many hundreds and thousands of yeares amongst an infinite number of Students one man worthie of admiration beeing learned and eloquent indeed that with a good naturall wit liuelynes and sharpnes of vnderstanding experience and vse of things hath the constancie and pacience to perseuere which are requisite to such an interprise This notwithstanding we ought not to faint or to dispaire for if there be but small hope to excell and go beyond the best yet is it an honour to follow them and if there be no meanes to reach them yet is it commendable to be second or third vnto them It is therefore conuenient to applie our industrie to the searching out of the trueth as they haue done and to endeuour to augment the doctrine of the Auncients without so much subiecting our selues to antiquitie that we do nothing for our age and haue no care of our posteritie Moreouer many things inuented by the Auncients are lost The wisdome of the Egiptians Persians Indians and Bactrians hath not come vnto vs many good Greek and Latine Authours are not found And amongst those that remayne there are few agreable to the present maners and affaires We do not build now adaies after the fashion of Vitruuius neither tyl the ground nor plant according to Varro or Columella nor take foode or physick after the ordinance of Hippocrates and Galen We iudge not according to the Ciuil Law of the Romaines neither plead we as did Demosthenes and Cicero or gouerne our common wealthes by the Lawes of Solon and Lycurgus or following the politicke precepts of Plato and Aristotle We sing not as did the Auncients neither warre we according to Vegetius the art militarie being changed and all kind of armes both offensiue and defensiue Ptolomey in his Cosmographie doth aduertize men to beleeue the latest trauaylers touching the longitude and latitude of places Aristotle saith that the Quadrature of the Circle may be knowen but that it is not yet found out Plato affirmeth that Geometrie was vnperfect in his time and that Stereometrie and the Cubike wanted The Calculations of the Heauens are not all found true Vesalius curiously obseruing Anatomie hath found manie pointes therein omitted by Aristotle and Galen Plinie boasteth that he hath added in the Historie of liuing Creatures that which Aristotle was ignorant of Leonicenus reproueth Plinie of lyes and errours in manie places Auenreis hath written agaynst Galene Galene against Aristotle and Aristotle against Plato There is no Authour so accomplished or perfected in whom one may not finde somewhat wanting or worthie of reproofe And that which is worse there are some men so giuen and so affectionate to antiquitie that they are ignorant or haue very smal knowledge of the Countrie and time wherein they liue They know in euery point how Athens Lacedemon Carthage Persia Egipt were gouerned not knowing the affaires of their owne Countrie wherin they are strangers As there are found many among vs discoursing of the assembly of the Ariopagites of the Comices of the Romains vnderstanding nothing of the counsaile of France the handling of the reuenewes and the order of the Parliaments Is it not then an abusing of studie and of learning to dwell continually among the Auncients and not to endeuour to bring foorth new inuentions agreeable to the maners and affaires of this time When wil we leaue taking of grasse for corne the flower for the fruit and the rind for the wood doing nothing but translate correct expound or abridge the bookes of the Auncients who if they had bin also of this mind not setting themselues to write or to say any thing but that which had bin written or said before no Art should haue bin inuented or at least they had all remained in their beginnings without receiuing any increase The perpetuall Imitatours or alwaies Translatours or Commentatours hyding themselues vnder the shadow of others are verie slaues and haue no generous courage in them if they dare not once to do that which they haue so long time learned They alwaies distrust themselues and follow the first in those things
sciences begin grow are changed and preserued by care diligence remembrance meditation and are lost by negligēce slouth forgetfulnes and ignorance it being a thing most requisite that trueth should remain amongst men It behoueth of necessity that the first being abolished others should come in their places and that the old bookes being lost there should be made new For as other things being subiect to mutatiō haue need of continuall generation to renew themselues and to maintaine eche of them his kinde So must learning also be prouided for by seeking of new inuentions in steede of those that are lost by changing that which is not well and by supplying that which is wanting to the end that it be not decayed but amended from day to day For the worlde being made of two things whereof the one are perpetuall and others mutable and corruptible It is certaine that those which are perpetuall as the heauen the sunne the moone and thother starres remain constantly alwaies in one selfe same estate But they that are moueable doe begin and end are borne and die do increase diminish vncessantly endeuouring notwithstanding as much as they may to come neere and participate of eternity not by remaining alwaies one and the same as doethe superiour and diuine thinges but by continuing their kindes by the meanes of generation which is an immortall worke in this mortalitie So the plants and all liuing creatures which cannot endure long by the necessity of the matter whereof they are made renew themselues continually procreating by budds and seeds their like In such sort that by the order of nature the yong do alwaies succeed vnto the old and the liuing to those that are deceased their kinds by this meanes remayning immortall But men being indewed with a diuine and immortal soule do aspire more to such perpetuity and immortality endeuouring to remedy that infirmity which they know in themselues Namely such as haue their bodies most fruitful by begetting of children by whom they hope to perpetuate their name and lynage Others that haue their minde better instructed by bringing forth such fruits as are proper thereunto as vertues sciences learned and elegant writinges and other such fruits more noble more admirable and more durable then those of the body which they prefer before children and for which they voluntarily expose themselues to all labours and dangers neither sparing their parsons nor their goods Therhence ariseth in good wits the insatiable desire of honor stirring them vp day and night not to content themselues with base and casual things but to seeke by vertuous deeds to recompence the shortnes of this life by the memory of all posterity Therehence proceedeth the wonderfull desire of making themselues knowne of leauing a good opinion of them and getting an immortal renowne And by how much the better they are the more they striue to come to this point of immortalitie which they do so long for For those most excellent personages woulde not haue trauailed as they haue done in times passed without the hope which they had to be praised and renowmed as now they are Such were the auncient Poets Oratours Historiographers Physicians Philosophers and Diuines who haue brought forth so many bookes which bring them immortall glory as they themselues being immortall do teach vnto others pietie iustice equitie declare the secrets of nature both in heauen in earth teach the disciplines containe Histories ful of examples giue remedies against maladies and other innumerable helpes and meanes without which we should liue worse then beastes hauing neither religion learning nor ciuility Such were the LAWMAKERS who begat LAWES and maners of gouernment giuing to people honest and durable maners of liuing Such were the LAWIERS who haue ordered the busines contracts and Cases of particular parsons expounded the Satutes and ordinances showing the reason of them aduertising how they ought to be kept renewed or abrogated Such were the valiant CAPTAINES who did heroycall deedes for the defence and libertie of their countrey founded Empires and monarchies and builded cities forgetting all other pleasures to the end to leaue an immortall memory for the time to come Such were many notable parsonages who for hauing showed excellent inuentions and exercised al vertues haue bin greatly admired euen to the deifying of some of them And if we mislike barennes in the body with greater reason ought we to detest it in the minde and aspire to the like immortality and renowme the desire whereof is naturally giuen to all parsons to serue for a spur to prick them forward vnto honest actions The husbandman hateth the fruitles ground and the husband a wife that is barren And all doe commende him more that by husbandry augmenteth his good then him wich maintaineth it only in that estate which is falne to him by succession So in like maner it suffiseth not to know by the book without bringing forth something of our selues whereby to helpe the truth Plato saith that the Greekes haue bettered that which they receiued from the Barbarians Cicero is of opinion that the Italians haue of themselues better inuented then the Grecians or made that better which they borowed of them And why should not we endeuour to do the like amending that which the Barbarians Greekes Romaines haue left vnto vs There is no want of good wittes so that they be wel instructed Peraduenture there are more in one place then in another but there are found some euery where as in this countrey of ours where nature hath shewed her selfe as fauorable as any where els creating vs not inferiour to any others in situation fertilitie commodity of countrey goodnes of wits ciuility of maners equity of Laws gouernment and continuance of Monarchie dexterity both in liberall and mechanical sciences variety of all things either growing within the countrey or brought from other places multitude of publicke schooles well priuiledged and richly founded for the institution of youth and intertainment of Professours and Teachers Wherefore if all men do thinke that the future belongeth vnto them they that are Learned must not be negligēt in obtaining of that by the durable monuments of Learning which others do pretend and seeke by workes of small continuance But they ought to trauaile to their power if not in respect of men who show themselues oftentimes ingrateful towards their benefactors and enuious of the present vertue yet at the least for the honour of God Whose wil is that we should carefully preserue the arts and sciences as also all other things necessary for life and deliuer them ouer from time to time to our posterity by learned and elegant writings in good matters giuing light to the obscure credit to the doubtful order to the confused elegancy to the vnpolished grace to such as are left of noueltie to the old and authoritie to the new FINIS