armes now into Spaine against Sertorius now against the Pyrates vnder colour of pacifying the sea He pretended these causes to th end he might continue his power What led him into Africk and into the North against Mithridates and into Armenia and against all the kings of Asia but onely an infinite desire of increasing in greatnes seeming only to himselfe that he was not great enough What did put Iulius so far forward into these publike euils glorie and ambition and a desire which he had without measure to excell aboue others He could not suffer one to be before him where the common wealth endured two What think you that Marius being once Consul indeed hauing taken away by force the six other Consulships when he defeated the Theutons and the Cymbrians and when he pursued Iugurtha thorough the deserts of Africa did aduenture these dangers by the instinct of vertue These men mouing all things were also moued themselues after the maner of whirle-winds which carrie away whatsoeuer they catch and thereby become more impetuous and can not be stil. Hauing then bin mischieuous vnto many they finally feele in themselues their pernicious mischiefe whereby they haue bin hurtfull vnto many The same Seneca It is all one saith he whether Cato ouercome or be ouercome in the battaile of Pharsalia The good being in him which could not be vanquished when his partie was ouercome was equall with the good which he should haue caried victorious into his Countrie haue pacified the affairs Wherefore should it not be equall seeing that by the same vertue euill fortune is ouercome and good fortune well ordered The vertue can not be greater nor lesser It is alwaies after one sort But Pompey shal lose his armie but the honest pretence of the common wealth and the Senate with the chiefest Lords of Rome following the part of Pompey being placed in the first rank of the battaile shall be ouerthrowen in one onely battaile and the ruines of so great an Empire shall be dispersed ouer all the world one part shall fall into Egipt an other into Africk an other into Spaine This miserable common wealth can not all fall at one time Let them do all they can The knowledge of the places doth not help the king Iuba in his kingdom nor the obstinate vertue of his subiects and the fidelitie of the Vticians being broken with so many euils faileth And should Scipio be abandoned in Africk of the fortune of his name It was already prouided that Cato should receiue no harme And yet he was ouercome Certainly the calamities were verie great in that conuersion of the world and there were strange aduersities mingled with the prosperities There was neither Countrie Citie Lordship or personage any whit renowmed but endured much The ruine of Carthage first presenteth it selfe which Citie seuen hundred yeares after it was founded had bin so flourishing and excellent in all things had borne rule ouer so many seas and lands and Islands and ships and so much riches and so many armes as nâ—ne more and had courage more then any other Fourteene yeares after the Numantines being besieged by Scipio AEmilian seeing that for want of victuals they were not able any longer to endure the siege themselues burned theiâ— Citie of Numantia and killed themselues part by the sword part by fire part by poison Cicero nameth Carthage and Numantia the two astonishments of the people of Rome Shal I tel how Syracusa was spoiled Corinth rased Antioch and Hierusalem taken Athens besieged and sacked Marsâ—illes borne in triumph how Rome saw her Senate flying her treasures taken away Alexandria found Cesar fighting in her and her king the yong Ptolomey dead how Thebes in Egipt was destroied Thirteen towns in Peloponesus swalowed vp with an earthquak wherwith Caria Rhodes also were shaken How ther came extraordinary inundations of the sea of riuers and of raines of tempestuous winds Monsters hideous in all nature signes in the aire comets eclipses of the sun and of the moone and other horrible things in the celestiall motions whereof ensued famins plagues and other diseases which were before vnknowen Cicero writeth that there appeared then not onely fierie impressions by night in the heauen flashes of of lightning and tremblings of the earth but moreouer that the thunder fell on the high towers of the Temples many Images of the Gods were remoued out of their places many statues of famous men throwen downe the tables of brasse wherein the Lawes were ingrauen were melted The Image also of Romulus the founder of Rome who was made as he were sucking and waiting at the tears of the wolfe striken with thunder Shall I tell of fower-score thousand Romains and their allies defeated by the Cymbrians and a hundred fortie thousand Cymbrians slaine by the Romains the armies of the Heluetians and Germains ouerthrowen the bondmen vp in armes and allies mutining And not onely the good townes and mightie armies did suffer but also the rich seignories and noble kingdomes were distroied the free nations either trauailed with warres or were brought vnder subiection As the Spanish French British Germain Pannonian Illyrian Armenian and Thracian Italie it selfe after it had about some fiue hundred yeares valiantly defended it selfe was in the end subdued Moreouer there were scarce any famous men either in armes or learning but either receiued notable iniuries or suffered violent death Scipio Africanus being returned out of the Senate was found the next day stifled in his bed which was thought to haue bin done by his neerest kinred Hannibal being driuen out of Italie and banished Africa poisoned himselfe in the Court of king Prusias The king Mithridates being besieged by his sonne Pharnaces slew himselfe and Pharnaces was in a moment ouercome by Cesar. Antiochus the great was depriued of the greatest part of Asia whereof he thanked the Romains And the king Prusias cald himselfe their slaue Perseus the last king of Macedonia was ouercome led in triumphe and died in captiuitie and one of his sonnes was the scribe of the magistrates Tigranes king of Armenia prostrated himselfe before Pompey and asking pardon he lifted him vp and put the Diademe on his head which he had throwen downe Ptolemey king of Cypres threw himselfe head-long into the sea knowing that by the instance of Clodius the Tribune Cato was sent thitherto carie away his treasures Syphax Iugurtha and Iuba being great kings in Africke ended vnhappely Sertorius was slaine by treason Marius flying from Rome in extreme danger of his life hid himselfe in the marish about Minturnes and went to sea in a squiffe without victuals to the fortune of the windes and the waues afterwards being returned he died being three score and ten yeares olde and almost mad His sonne slew himselfe at Preneste Sylla died eaten with wormes and lyce Crassus being ouercome beyond Euphrates by the Parthians was slaine as he parlied on safeguard Pompey was beheaded in the shore of Alexandria Cesar
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
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
to haue light from the top This being done he made his wife and his Concubines and the women of his Court which he loued best to enter into it not knowing nor doubting any thing what he meant to do then went he in himselfe and there caused himselfe to be shut in without hope of euer going out But before he had caused to be brought thither a thousand myriades of gold and a myriade of myriades of siluer and a great number of royal vestures and precious stones Then his Chamberlaines and Eunuches in whom he put all his trust and of whom he had taken oathes to do it put fire in this pile which endured fifteene daies So Sardanapalus burned himselfe with all his riches doing in that thing onely the act of a man Budeus valuing it all after our maner accounteth that he spoyled the earth or would haue spoyled it of the value of fiftie Milions of gold These two Lieutenants diuided afterwards the Monarchie betwixt them Beloch was king of Babylon and Arbaces of the Medians Aristotle in his politicks doubting of the end of Sardanapalus and of the Kingdom of Assyria saith that if that had not hapned vnto him which is reported yet that it might befall to any other king gouerning himselfe after that sort Moreouer the Chaldees in Assyria were appointed to haue care of holie things and did nothing but studie all the time of their life being reputed verie skilfull in Astrologie Many among them did prognosticate things to come as if they were Prophets and were wont to know how to diuert euill fortune comming towards men and to bring them good by sacrifices and praiers Besides they expounded dreames soothsayings and prophecies wherein they were verie expert as hauing bin brought vp therein and taught by their fathers still continuing and perseuering in the same for dwelling in plaine countries where the aire is commonly without clouds or raine and where there are no hills to hinder the sight of the heauens they had meanes to applie themselues wholieto contemplation of the Starres obseruing their mutual concursions how they approach or recoile th one from thother what are their conjunctions and oppositions and what becommeth of them in what seasons and how they are hid and then appeare againe the signes of good or ill fortune to come which they bring in particular to euery person and in generall to townes and to peoples In which obseruations they affirmed that they had imploied CCCC lxxiij thousand yeares from the time when they began them vntill Alexander the great went vp into Asia which space is incredible Neuertheles all agree in this that the Chaldees were most skilfull in the doctrine of the heauens because they had continued the studie thereof longest Plato in his Epinomides acknowledgeth Astrologie to haue bin begun in Syria and Egipt where by the serenitie of the summer season almost all the starres are cleerely seen and that time out of mind the obseruation of starres had bin there continued and there hence brought ouer to the Greeks Notwithstanding Simplicius a Greek Cōmentator on Aristotle witnesseth that Aristotle did write vnto Calisthenes being in the armie of Alexander that while others were busied about the spoile and pillage of Babylon he should diligently inquire of the antiquitie of the Chaldees and that Calisthenes answered that after hauing imploied all diligence therein he found their historie not to exccede the terme of one thousand nine hundred and three yeares Others do not onely attribute to the Chaldees the praise of Astrologie but also of many other Arts and that Prometheus of that nation for hauing showed the mouings of the Planets and opened the misteries of nature was accounted vnder the couerture of a fable to haue stolne out of heauen the sacred fire of Pallas and to haue giuen a soule vnto man which he had fashioned before of earth After that in reuenge herof and punishment of this boldnes he was had by Mercurie to the high mountain Caucasus and fastned to a great rock signifying his great assiduitie in contemplation of Heauen and of nature Now the Chaldees held opinion that the world had alwaies bin that it had no beginning and should haue no end the order and forme of all things being made by the diuine prouidence and that the celestial affaires are not casually or naturally guided but by the firme and determinate will of the Gods saying that the greatest force and influence of heauen doth consist in the planets and that the knowledge of such euents is knowen aswell by their ascendents as by their colours Sometimes they showed visiblie to peoples and countries to kings and priuate persons such things as might helpe them or harme them gathering the certaintie therof by the windes or by the raines sometimes by the heats and by the Comets by the Eclipses of the Sunne and Moone and by many other signes seruing greatly for the birth of men to haue good fortune or bad and that by their nature and proprietie especially by their aspect one might easily know things to come hauing told vnto Alexander that he should fight with Darius and after to Antigonus Nicanor Seleucus and other Kings and likewise to priuate persons so euidently that which was to happen vnto them that it seemed a miraculous thing and aboue the vnderstanding of man But when the raigne of the Assyrians failed the Medes on the one side and the Babylonians on the other ruled in Asia who followed the maners and customes of those which were their Lords before hauing no peculiar singularitie either in armes or letters and therefore I will dwell thereon no longer Besides that these affaires are so auncient and so far from vs that many esteeme as fabulous whatsoeuer is written thereof Wherefore I will come to the Persians who are better knowen and to the raigne of Cyrus being the founder of their Monarchie where beginneth the historie of the Greekes and in whose time also philosophie was first manifested OF THE POWER OF THE Persians the learning and Religion of their Mages THE PERSIANS were first shepheards bornin a hard countrie which made them strong inabling them to remain in the open field to watch and trauaile in the warres They did eate nothing ordinarily but bread and herbes with some venison hauing neither figgs nor any other fruit by reason of the rudenes and barrennes of their countrie They drank no wine but contented themselues with water euery one carrying his dish to drink it in when thirst came vpon him They took no refection nor repast without doing of some exercise before which was principally hunting Their children went to schoole to learne Iustice as they do in other Countries to learne Letters All their habit or rayment was of skinns aswel for their leggs as for the rest of the bodie HERODOTVS bringeth in ARTEMBARES speaking thus to the Persians Seeing that Iupiter hath giuen you the Monarchie and to thee CYRVS power to distroy Astyages go yet further for the
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
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
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
Italie aboue al others both for whitenesse and waight saith that nature hath shewed her selfe so friendly towards the Italians that she hath not onely made them excellent in lawes gouerment of states and maners of life customes and fashions but also hath giuen them corne and many other thinges more excelent then they are in other countries In such maner hath euery countrey his particuler gifts and singularities so distributed by the diuine prouidence which is carefull of the vniuersall good of the world that it cannot perseuer in his perfection without such variety to the end that the one hauing neede of the other they might communicate togither succour ech other OF THE VARIETY AND AL teration in Man BVt the Varietie and alteration is greater in man then in any other thing as soone as he is borne he beginneth to dye and his end dependeth of his beginning During the time while he liueth from his infancy euen til his old age he hath neuer the same things in him neither is the same but is stil renewed subiect to change as wel in his body his heare flesh bloud bones as in his minde changing his maners customes opinions appetites pleasures sorrowes feares and hopes Wee learne forget and remember the sciences Wee receaue food into our bodies and cast out the excrement by the waies and conueiances prepared for that purpose alwaies repairing the incommodities of such egestion by new norishment and by respiration or breathing of the aire The little children are foolish and old men are dotards others are either alwaies foolish or now and then at the least Others become madd either in continual feuers or by some other accident others with too much drinking lose the vse of their reason Some are naturally more heauy and dull others more quicke and ingenious others wiser better conditioned But seeing that they do al participate of one reasonable soule haue their bodies made of the selfe same matter it is a maruel from whence should come such variety as we see particulerly in euery one from his birth and generally thoroughout the nations Wherein it seemeth that nature taketh pleasure to supply the indigence of man not only producing euery one more apt for one thing then another as learning armes and the other liberal and mechanicall Arts but also making the people borne in diuers parts of the habitable earth to differ in inclinations and complexions MANY learned men haue assaied to render a reason of this so admirable a diuersitie First the natural Philosophers are of opinion that it proceedeth of the mingling of the fower humours of which mens bodies are compounded the which according as they agree or disagree one with another do change the cōplexions in disposing the natures diuersly according to their predominant qualities But principally according to the proportion of the hart being the fountaine of the vitall spirits and of the bloud and gouernor of the affections as it is diuersly affected or altered also by the disposition of the melancholick humour which is mother of the arts and of al good inuentions vnto whom they attribute all the dexterity perseuerance and perfection in them From thence comes it according to this opinion that men are merry sad diligēt slouthful tractable opiniatiue gratious merciful enuious fearful audatious foolish light wise true false lyers quarelours deceauers with the other like and ordinary affections of men more or lesse according as one humor exceedeth another To this healpeth much the corrupted estate of cōmon weales the talke which is held both openly secretly and that from their youth few do think on remedying of it by good noriture disciplin and studies Whereunto the Physitians do adde eating and drinking with exercise shewing that they are sufficiently seruiceable to the disposition of maners Besides the waters windes and aire enuironing and that there is great difference in the places which are inhabited So that commonly the Spaniards are proud and haughty Egiptians light Africans disloyal Englishmen and Scots couragious Greekes crafty and subtill Italians wise and warie Frenchmen bold and hardy And thence is it that amongst the Scithians there was neuer but one Philosopher and in Athens haue ben many THE ASTROLOGERS affirme all these inferiour natures to be gouerned and disposed by the superiors And that by the mouing of heauen all things here below are engendred and distroyed or enter changed one into another Moreouer that by the reuolutions and influences of the Plannets assisted with the other starres there commeth such a diuersitie of bodies and mindes vnto men some being stirred vp to one action others moued to another euen as shippes in the sea by the windes so that they cannot of them selues either moue or stirre any waies Likewise the humors of the bodies to be moued by the irradiations of the starres of whom they receiue diuers dispositions which the soule representeth afterward in her actions Insomuch that in their opinion none can learne any art or disiplin whatsoeuer nor become excellent therein if he haue not the original and cause of his excellency from the heauen and constellations They say moreouer that howsoeuer the pouertie situation nature and customes of countries lawes and statutes of gouernment religions and maners of people do often contrarie their fatall destiny neuerthelesse that the destiny bee it to good or euill doth ordinarilye returne to his course and accommodate it selfe as neere as is possible to his first order not denying notwithstanding but that by good education and laudable exercises it may greatly be holpen euen as it commeth to passe in grounds which by care and diligence are made more fertile but being left wast do soone returne to their first nature SOME auncient Philosophers considering that in the minds of men do appeare the seeds of al disciplines with some knowledge of God of vertue and of vice without any former teaching or institution haue thought that the reasonable soules were taken and extracted from the Godhead And that before they came downe from heauen to the earth which place is contrary to their diuine and immortall nature they were full of vniuersall intelligences and of sciences which they forgot by the contagion of the body as soone as they came to dwell therein But that afterwards by care study and exercise they recouered the remembrance of them Thinking these first sparkes and faculties of the minde to be quickned and reuiued againe by learning and vse which for that respect they called remembrance That discoursing teaching learning prouiding numbring inuenting iudging and other actions of the vnderstanding soule did not proceed of any elementarie matter in any sort disposed affected or ordered by the heauenly bodies but of a more noble and sempiternall coming from without and being separable from the bodie as the eternall from the corruptible THE CHRISTIANS being better instructed in the trueth haue not sought the cause of this variety either in complexions or constellations nor yet posted it ouer
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
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
of numbers and whatsoeuer is admirable in the Philosophy of the Greeks which secrets he folded vp in fables and hid them vnder a poeticall couerture Demosthenes in his oration against Aristogiton calleth Orpheus the authour of the sacred cerimonies which the Grecians vsed He was accounted holy after his death and euery yere there was a solemne feast dedicated vnto him as to the most learned which was euer in Greece as wel in the religion and diuinity of those daies as in Poetry Vnto these succeeded HOMER and HESIOD who were of the same time or neer one to another got by different vertues very great durable praises Homer wrote the Iliads and Odyssees Hesiodus left precepts of husbandry and Astrology entermingled with aduertisments of good life and the fabulous genealogie of the Gods Homer without controuersie hath gotten the first and chiefe place amongst all the Poets of al Nations and ages which euer were And Plinie giueth him the chiefe praise of humaine vnderstanding in so great diuersity of natures multitude of disciplines variety of actions and of exercises and workes hauing deserued it as well by the excellency of his poesie as by the good happ of his argument so luckely handled First that which he writeth he seemeth not to say it but to represent it before our eyes Such is the dexterity in him not onely to expresse the bodies but euen the hidden motions of the mindes in such sort that his poesie seemeth as an Image of the life of man He is so conformable to common sense and hath so aptly accomodated his wordes to the things that after so great mutation come to passe in the maners and customes of men from the time wherein he liued vntill this present ke keepeth still from age to age and from countrey to countrey the same grace as if he came from being newly made retayning not only the authority of antiquitie but also the pleasure of nouelty as if there were in him some spirit continually renewing and waxing yong and a soule neuer waxing old which kept him alwaies in this vigour Such force haue the writings which come neere vnto nature that they neuer decay but so much farther as they go so much more grace they gaine and so much more authority they obtaine Amongst his singuler praises this of all other is most veritable that he is alone in the world who hath neuer glutted or cloyed his readers shewing himselfe alwaies altogither of an other sort vnto them and still florishing in newe delectation for as much as he leadeth them from one tale to another and by his variety keepeth them from being weary at any time to heare his fine verses flowing from him of their owne accord without paine or constraint euen almost with a diuine felicity and naturall facility which notwithstandieg he hath so conducted that he obserueth grauity in great affaires and propriety in small matters and a tempered decency in those of the middle sort with a delectable variety thoroughout in his narrations similitudes orations amplifications arguments examples and digressions in wordes sentences figures and in the continuation of his purpose such disposition that one may well say there was neuer his like Aristotle and Cicero thinke that he could not possibly come incontinently to such perfection and that therefore there were others before him seeing that nothing is perfect at his birth and first beginning The Greeks had him in such admiration that they attributed to him the knowledge of all things and thought that all Artes and all sects which were amongest them were issued from his fountaine The most renowmed Captaines red him finding in him the best that belongeth to art military The most eminent Philosophers alleaged him prouing their reasons by his verses others founded in him the state politicke and oeconomicke the art of husbandry the contempt of humaine vanities and the deuotion due vnto religion For this cause whereas he being far from ambition had concealed his original many nations claimed him to be their Citizen as the Colophonians Rhodians Chiotins Salaminians and Smirnians who erected a temple vnto him in their City and many others contended for him amongst themselues But he iudged best who considering so many vertues and graces in him thought it not possible that he could be ingendred of man but that the heauen was his father and Calliope the chiefe of the Muses his mother Touching HESIODVS which holdeth among the Greek Poets the second place after Homer he gaue men to vnderstand that he became such without study and that in his yong yeres being sent by his father to keepe the beastes he fell a sleepe on the hill Parnassus During which sleepe the Muses appeared vnto him and inspired him diuinely with Poesie Afterward he was the Priest and Curate of the Muses in Helicon and wrote of Astrology and Husbandry Plutarch telleth how he being wrongfully slaine and murthered and then cast into the sea was taken vp by a flote of Dolphins which caried him to the head of Rhion neere the towne of Molicria where being knowen by reason that he was but newly killed the Molycrians because of his great renowme buried him honourably and nothing in more recommendation then to send presently euery where to enquire of this murther which they did with such diligence that the murderers were found out whom they cast quicke into the botome of the sea and razed their houses But the wise men and religious of that time did blame the impertinent fables which Homer and Hesiod and thother Poets had written of the Gods proposing their formes ages sexes transformations vestments ornaments banquets laughters desires complaints lamentations displeasures angers hatreds differents discords combates warres and battailes not onely when diuers Gods defended contrary armies of th one side and thother but also when they warred themselues against the Titans and Gyants their whoredomes adulteries incests bonds companies with mankinde and mortal ingendred of the immortall and many other such things transferd to the similitude of humaine fragility and contrary to good maners and to pietie Pythagoras said that he had discended into hell and had seen there the soule of Hesiodus hard bound to a piller of bras and that of Homer hanged on a tree both of them bearing the punishment of that which they had foolishly fayned and inuented of the Gods Isocrates affirmed that although they had not yet bin sufficiently chastised for these impieties yet not withstanding that they remained not altogither vnpunished some of them hauing bin vagabounds and beggers others of them blinde and others banished their countrey and that Orpheus the chiefe authour of such fables was slaine and rent in pieces and his members dispersed here and there thoroughout the fields Plato allowed them no place in his common wealth by reason of such absurd impieties but woulde haue those onely receaued there which made diuine hymnes or moral aduertisments And therefore I meruail at the Poets of these times who that they may
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
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
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
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