the means to these ends are exquisitely disposed and being disposed are most wisely directed This Providence was so often and forcibly maintain'd by the Stoicks that they became a sport and a jest to their adversaries who call'd this The fatall old Wife of the Stoicks that foretold future things Epictetus in Arrianus speaks admirably What concerns the gods some deny there is any God Some say there is but an idle carelesse Deity that provides for nothing There is a third sort that maintain there is a God and that his Providence governs yet onely in great and heavenly matters but in no earthly thing A fourth sort say That he takes care for heavenly and earthly things but in generall onely not for particulars and for every one severally But there are a fifth sort wherein Ulysses and Socrates who affirm That I cannot O God be hid or deceive thee in the smallest motion There is here no place for fortune nor for casual and needless violence That Eternal Light spreads his beams every way and at the same instant he pierceth into all the windings and depths of the Heavens Earth and Seas nor is his Divine Nature onely President over all these things but is in them all CHAP. II. Of Heaven THe Wisemen ascribed the first place amongst bodies to the Heavens both because it is simple and also is set in the highest place as principall Some write that it is of the same nature with sublunary things and not amisse for the Scripture writes Psal. 102. that it shall wax old like a garment Also the generation of new Stars seems to intimate as much All the space in these that reacheth to the fixt Stars is filled with ayr and it is so much the more pure light and hot as it comes nearer unto them c. If you consider the magnitude the Heavens are the greatest body the Earth is but a point in comparison to it The number is but one yet Astronomers have distinguished it into divers orbs Eudoxus into 23. Calippus into 30. Aristotle 47. Ptolomy 31 Regiomontanus 33. The common opinion is that there be Ten to which if you adde the Heaven of heavens Aquiba call'd it the marble Table of the World Maimon l. 1. perplex they will be eleven The consideration of the Tenth amongst them is wonderfull For they say it is ten times greater than the eighth sphere and than the earth 1960 and they say that in 24 hours it goes 469562845 miles Bodin l. 5. Theatr. The Miracles of the 9th are not small The Antients say it proceeded one degree in one hundred years the Neotericks have observed 44 minutes The period of its motion is 49000 years if we credit Alphonsus but Copernicus saith 25816. This period is call'd the great and Platonick year It is a wonderfull Engine and all the great works of men compared with it are lesse than nothing Plato l. 10. de Repub. imagined a certain spindle as bright as a Diamond contain'd in 8 wheels and he makes the Heaven to hang by that lest it should fall But alas poor man why so There is a God that supports it who gave it a power to stand fast at first when he made it yet this shall go into smoke and shews us that nothing is stable contain'd in this World CHAP. III. Of the Stars Artic. 1. Of the Force of the Stars and Nutriment of them MAhomet said That the Stars hang in the Ayr by golden chains That the Workmaster set them in the Heavens bright round we religiously acknowledge that they were made for signs and seasons All men know that they shine and communicate their vertue to sublunary things which is done by sending forth their beams the will of man and works of Artificers are out of this account There is in these no mixture of new qualities but onely an accidentall species is induced to a body ready made The mind is free from the Elements if it suffer any thing it is by the mediation of the Instruments of the body the temperament whereof Mens manners easily follow Hence you may see an errour That the characters were formed by a certain position of the Heavens and are moved by a stronger power from the Heavens Plato saith false That the Souls before they come into the bodies were made subject to some Star These are toyes That Stars are appointed for every one of us bright Stars for rich men little ones for poor men dark ones for defects and some for every mans condition Pliny l. 2. Histor. Natur. c. 8. There is not so great Society between Heaven and us that for our destiny the brightnesse of the Stars should be mortal Our chance is in Gods hand It is false That Jacob read his sons destinies in the Tables of the Heavens More writes elegantly of one White in an Epigram White in the Stars did oft his Wife behold That she was chaste and good he all men told He look't to find her in the Stars once more And then he did proclaim her for a Whore But that thy Wife was common though thou see Through all the Stars not one declares to thee Cleomedes in lib. de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaks something of the nutriment of the Stars as Dalechampius cites it and the Stoicks observed the same Laertius in Lipsius in Manuduct ad Physiol Stoicam saith That these fiery Stars are fed and nourished the Sun and Moon and the rest the Sun by the great Sea as being the great Torch and a kind of burning endued with understanding But the Moon by fresh waters and such as may be drunk because it is mingled with the Ayr and is near to the Earth Wherefore Macrobius in Somnium Scipionis ascribes it to providence that the Ocean was placed under the torrid Zone That all that space which the Sun and the rest of the Planets and the Moon wander up and down in on this side and that side of the Eccliptick may have moysture for their nourishment The opinion seems absurd at first yet Ambrosius l. 2. Hex c. 3. thought so nor doth Libavius l. 5. de origin rerum seem to deny it Lucianus saith there shall be a common bone-fire for the world Whence shall this burning be but that moysture must fail and that cannot fail but for nutriment Yet see that you make not a combustion amongst the Stars by assuming an aetherial spirit into the nature of the Stars Artic. 2. Of the light of the fixt Starrs with their magnitude and motion THe 8th sphere contains the fixt Starrs and those in number numberlesse Alongtime men observed 1022 which the Phoenicians reduced to constellations Braheus added 74 Houtmannus 14 about the Antartick pole Bartholin de Coelo c. 3. Also they are of divers magnitudes yet all greater than the Earth except the sixt magnitude The magnitude will give you the vast distance we see them like sparks of fire yet Astronomers reckon 14000 diameters of the earth They have their own natural
They love the Sea exceedingly For when their skins are tanned if there be any hair left they will turn as the Sea lies by a naturall instinct For if the Sea be troubled and tosse they will stand upright but if the Sea be quiet they lye flat down When Pliny would not credit this he made tryall of it in the Indian Sea and about the Island Hispaniola he found it to be no fable as Cardan saith Rondeletius saith That by their skin changes are foreshew'd for when the South winds blow their hair sticks up but when the wind is in the North they fall so flat that you would think they had none Aldrovandus saw one Calf taught by a Mountebank who would rejoyce at the name of any Christian Prince and would seem to mutter some words but he was silent when the Turk or an Heretick was named CHAP. XVI Of the Scales and the Indian Reversus like an Eele THe Scales do bring forth two or three young ones at one time but at many times they bring forth more Their eggs are first seen without a shell in the upper part of their matrix Some of them are as big as Hen egs some lesse some scarce so big as chiâ—h-peasen Aldrovandus counted above a hundred in one of them those that are next to be laid are put into the lower part of the matrix and are covered with a shell wherein there is contain'd both the white and the yelk When he much admired at this and sought for the cause of it he boyl'd hen-eggs in which appeared no white at all being but newly formed and he observed the white severed from the yelk by the heat of the fire Hence he found that at first they lye confused but are separated by degrees by heat and the shell that compasseth them is made of the grosser part grown hard Olaus in tabula Septentrionali pictures forth a Scale in the Sea defending a man from a kennel of Dog-fish in a place a little beyond the borders of Denmark The Indian Reversus like an Eel is a Fish of an unusuall figure like to a great Eel in body and it hath on the hinder part of the head a capacious skin like to a great purse The Inhabitants hold this fish bound at the side of the ship with a cord and onely let it down so far as the fish may stick by the keel of the ship for it cannot any wayes endure the ayr and when it sees any fish or Tortoise which are there greater than a great Target they let loose the fish he so soon as he is loose flies swifter than an arrow on the other fish or Tortoise and casting that skin purse upon them layes hold of his prey so fast that no force can unloose it unlesse they draw up the cord a little and pull him to the brink of the water For so soon as he sees the light of the ayr he forsakes his prey Martyr Rondeletius ascribes to him the understanding of an Elephant for he will be tame and know what is said to him CHAP. XVII Of the Remora and the Sea-Scarus THe Antients believed that the Remora would stay Ships and it hath been found true by examples of late Petrus Melaras of Bononia reports that the ship of Francis Cardinal of Troas when he went by Sea out of France was held fast in the swiftnesse of its course Many have sought for the cause but no man hath certainly found it Some things are alwayes immoveable to do their office as the Poles some things in respect of their place as the Center of the Earth which naturally never moves Contrarily some things are to move alwaies to do their office as the Heavens some things in regard of their place as Rivers So some things have a faculty of moving as the Loadstone some to stop motion as the Remora But since no reason can be given why cold is an enemy to heat so not for these things why such things that have efficient principles in them of motion do cause motion and those that have principles of resting should cause rest Keckermannus seems to ascribe this to a cold humour that the Remora sends forth that he freezeth the water about the rudder In Disput. Physica Aristotle l. 2. Hist. c. 17. saith That of all Fishes the Scarus onely chews the cud Ovid testifieth that when it is caught in a net it breaks not forth with the head foremost but turns his tail and breaks his way forth with that often striking the net They roast them in Candie thrusting a spit through their mouth and there the Fishermen eat greedily their maws stuft with more delicate meat They mash their Livers that are very great and without any gall and their excrements also together adding to them salt and vinegar Bellonius CHAP. XVIII Of the Sea-Serpent and the Sturgeon IT is most certain that there are Serpents in the Sea and Histories shew that they are of divers magnitudes Aristotle reports that in Africa they will overthrow their Galleys and kill Men. Olaus Magnus writes that about Norwey when the Sea is calm Serpents will shew themselves that are 100 or 200 foot long and sometimes they will catch men from the Ships Schiltbergerus a Hollander hath described the Combat between the Sea and Land-Serpents His words are In the Kingdom of Genyck there is a City call'd Sampson at what time I resided with Ureiasita King of the Turks Water-Snakes and Land-Serpents innumerable did surround that City for a mile on all sides These came forth of the Woods that are many in the Countries adjoyning and those forth of the Sea Whilest these met for 9. dayes no man for fear durst stirre forth yet they hurt neither man nor any other living Creature On the tenth day these two kinds of Serpents began to fight early in the morning and continued till Sun-set and the Water-Serpents yielded to the Land-Serpents and the next day 8000 of them were found dead Many suppose that the Sturgion will pine away in the Albis Gesner writes that Johannes Fredericus Elector of Saxony bought a Sturgion that weighed above 260 pound weight for so many Franks He is so strong with his tail that he will cut wood in sunder strike down a strong man and strike fire out of hard stones and the same is done by the rubbing of those little bones that are prickly all his body over CHAP. XIX Of the Salmon and the Turdus A Salmon about Colen is two cubits long and they are greater amongst the Miseni and at Dessavia neere the River Albis from 24 to 36 pounds weight In Helvetia neere Tigurus they are taken somtimes above 36 pound weight Albertus saith the intestine of it is divided into many parts like to fingers Gesner writes that he observed two passages from the very throat of one that he dissected they stretched downward one to the Maw by the Wezand and the other was namelesse In the River Mulda neere to Dessavia if the
of mine unto your Honour who is so well versed in the Originall and which cannot be parallel'd when it is made to speak any other Language But I hope your Honour will excuse this Attempt because the Authour was a great Lover of our Countrey and therefore it was held convenient to make him a free Denizon and to speak English for the publick Good which your Honour hath alwaies labour'd to advance by your honourable Actions and I fear not but your Noblenesse will tenderly Embrace what is undertaken for that end though this Translation can adde nothing to your Honour but seeks for honour from your noble Patronage Yet since it pleased God to afford me this opportunity to put your Honour in remembrance of me who was formerly a Schollar at Eaton Colledge and contemporary with your Honour and that I once had the happinesse to be domestick Servant unto your Honour◠Noble Father who now rests in God and who was then pleased to honour me so much as to have the review and commit to the publick view his Immortall and Pious Work entituled Contemplatio Mortis et Immortalitatis the fruits whereof he now enjoyes And that his Honour for above 40 years accepted my Father to attend so near his Person to do him Service for his bodily health I knowing also how much I owe to the Memory of your noble Uncles to that Reverend Prelate of the Garter James Lord Bishop of Winchester and Sir Sidney Mountague who were both my Honoured Patrons I might be taxed with high ingratitude if having nothing better to present your Honour with than this Famous Authours Work though in a meaner dresse I had unadvisedly dedicated it to any other Person and overpast so fair an occasion whereby I now expresse my due Respects unto your Honoured Father's Memory and to all your Family and in particular to your Honour to whom I and my Fathers house stand so much obliged My humble Suit is that your Honour will let passe all other Considerations herein and to regard onely the gratefull Mind of him who shall alwayes pray God to blesse your Honour and your Noble Family with all blessings Temporall and Eternal in Him who is the Fountain of all blessednesse the Lord Jesus Christ and shall remain Your Honours in all obedience John Rowland OF THE DESCRIPTION Of Naturall VVonders The First Classis Wherein are contain'd the Wonders of the Heavens ABove there are vast spaces and the mind is admitted into the possession of them But so if it bring no corporeall thing with it if it scour off all sordid matter and be quick agil and seem content with what is moderate Seneca natur quaest l. 1. Praefat. CHAP. I. Of the World Article 1. Of the Creation of the World PYthagoras calls this whole Consistence of bodies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latines from its beauty call it Mundus Ocellus saith it was from eternity de universo Aristotel l. 8. Phys. and some others We affirm that it was created at the beginning by the glorious Trinity and by faith we understand that the world was Made The History is in the Scripture but the perfect description in Moses's Works Gen. 1. Nor can the censorious rod of Galen or of the memory of the Apostles whereof mention is made by Bishop Turribius detract any thing from it The dictates of the Holy Ghost cannot be false the knowledge of God is free from errour The eternity of Cardan drawn from the salt of the Sea lib. de subtil is as easily rejected as propounded It is a weak proof that all pure things were made at first I adde and a false one Chrysippus apud Laertium amongst the Stoicks speaks boldly If there be any thing that can do that which a man with his reason cannot do that thing is greater stronger and wiser than man but a man cannot make heavenly things Therefore he that made them excells man in Art Counsel Prudence and Power What therefore can that be but God All that is was made of nothing and by the Word let it be made Empedocles is false concerning the concourse of Atoms of matter and quantity co-eternal also that is false in Plutarch That the essence and matter whereof the World was made was not first created but was alwayes ready for the Workmaster and was fit to be compounded and digested and made as far as possible it might be to his own likenesse But nothing was with God before he made it that was not God himself He it is that calls things that are not as though they were Hermes in Pimander The Workmaster made the whole World not by hands but by his Word Moses writes that all things were made in six dayes Some think this was onely for order sake and for our instruction Augustine thinks all things were made together in a moment Philo writes acutely of the making of the World Moses saith The World was made in six dayes not that God the Maker of it needed time to do it for God is not onely thought to work by commanding but by contemplating but because it was needfull that things should be created in some order and this is a proper number for order and six amongst all numbers is fittest for generation for it is the first perfect number after a Unite consisting of parts whereof it is made of three that is one half of it and two a third part and one a sixth part being of a masculine and feminine nature As for the time it is supposed to be Autumn as it is collected from the Feast of gathering in of fruits in the end of the year and from the moneth Tisri which answers to September Bartolin c. ult gener Phys. Some say the Spring Ambrosius in Hexametro Thence it behoved the World to begin where there was a Spring-like temper fit for all things Whence it is that the year sets forth the Image of the World at first beginning and after winter cold and frost and mists the clearer brightnesse of the Spring shines forth more than ordinary Macianus Scotus puts the Lords Day on the 15th of the Calends of April Macrobius describes the Generation His words are In the making of the World Aries was in the middle of the Heavens the Moon in Cancer the Sun rose with Leo Virgo with Mercury Libra with Venus Mars with Scorpio Jupiter was in Sagittarius Saturn in Capricorn We shall say with Firmicus The Day it was made upon is uncertain For the time is different in places nor was there any then For all secular things began with the World If you look at the end it is the glory of God and the good of Man Look which way I will I see exquisite marks of Gods Wisdome Goodnesse and Power Contraries are here parted and yet coupled by bands in the mediums Hence his wisdom appears The actions have recourse in order hence appears unity there is neither old age nor change nor wearinesse thence his power is manifest
every thing had a sufficient perfection given to it and is content with it thence we see his goodnesse They are all from God and they tend unto God thence is glory Article 2. Of the Parts of the World and the disposing of them WEe need not be over-curious for the matter of it It contains the Heaven with the Stars the Elements Meteors in the Ayr Fishes in the Waters Minerals in the secrets of the Earth Plants Animals and Man are in the upper surface They are all materiall and corporeal things which wise men include in it and they are all realities Heaven is thought to be uncompounded the Elements serve for composition Meteors are imperfectly mixt Minerals perfectly but without life Plants with life but without sense Beasts with life and sense but without reason Man with life sense and reason is the compendium of all a little world in the great world The perfection is as great as the matter could bear the Workmaster could give more but the Matter was not capable of it Scalig. Exerc. 243. s. 3. The goodnesse is confirmed by the decree of God Gen. 1. vers ult He saw and behold all things were good The manner of ordering them in this great Engine Zeno in Laertius amongst the Philosophers hath declared That God at first whilest he was alone changed all essence by Ayr into Water and as in the birth the seed is contain'd so God who is the seminal cause of the World left such a seed in the moysture that should afford an easie and fit matter for this work for the generation of things afterwards Then he first produced the four Elements Fire Water Ayr Earth c. Trismegistus in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaks true There was saith he infinite darknesse in the deep and the water and an intelligible spirit were by Divine vertue existing in the Chaos wherefore the holy light was taken away and the Elements were congealed and fastned beneath of a moyst substance and all these embraced and were in love with a seminall nature And when all things were undivided and not set in order they were parted and things that were leight chose the uppermost place heavy the lowest moyst the dry Land all of them being divided by the Fire and hanging in the Ayr and carried by it And the Heaven appeared in 7. circles and the gods appearing in the Aspects of the Stars with all their signs and the whole circumference was distinguished and with the gods that are in it was circumscribed with the circumambient Ayr and carried by a moving Divine spirit And every God by his own vertue produced what he was commanded and there were brought forth four-footed beasts creeping things Fishes Birds and every seminall plant and grasse and flowers and every herb contain'd in themselves seeds of regeneration and the Generations of men were for the knowledge of Divine things c. But Moses sets it down most truly Gen. Chap. 1. Heaven and Earth and Light the first day are The Firmament dividing Waters second were The third the waters parted Plants the Earth The fourth to Sun and Moon and Stars gives birth The fifth gives Fishes and all kind of Birds The sixth brought Cattell all made by Gods Words Then Man was made the seventh rest affords Danaeus in Phys. Christiana Artic. 3. Of Unity Figure and Soul of the World DEmocritus and Empedocles supposed that other worlds were made successively of some indivisible small seeds Hence Alexander complain'd that he had not yet conquered one Origines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said they were infinite successively that the Elementary world was made every 7 thousand years and the heavenly once in 4900 years For the Sabbath for the earth and the yeare of Jubilee was wont to return every 7th year and every 49 yeares Leo Hebraeus toucheth upon this opinion Dialog de Amore where he saith The inferior world by the opinion of the old divines is generated corrupted and renewd once in 7000 years But because we see nothing moved in it confusedly nor any thing set without it whither shall we go out of it Our desire is answered For in the end of our cogitations the same question alwaies returns Wherefore we say that there is but one world and the figure of it is plain like to a skin stretched forth very large saith Basilius But Plato held that it was like a Circumvex pointed with many Angles Sanchumates Berytius the most ancient writer of the affaires of Phoenicia said it was like to an Egge wherefore at the feasts of Bacchus they religiously adored an egg as the emblem of the world Some compare it to the greek letter Ω in which the outward lineament represents the Ocean Dalecham P. ad l. 2. Plin. hist. c. 3. But that it is made like a Globe not only the name and consent amongst men that call it so but every mans eyes can tell him for it is convex and one half look upon it which way we will Plato Of which living creatures he would have all other living creatures contain'd he framed that of such a forme that in that one all the rest might be contain'd The Stoâ—cks would have it to be a living creature endued with sense and reason Hence grew that description by its parts The Starr saith Plutarch of the face of the Moon are shining eyes in the face of the world they run their race the Sun is in place of the Heart as this affords blood and spirit so that sends forth heat and light the world useth the Earth and the Sea as a living creature doth its belly and bladder The Moon between the Sun and the Earth is as the Liver between the heart and belly or some soft bowel and attenuating its respirations by some concoction and purgation scatters them about Elegantly but not true For the world hath no known soul if we ascribe any thing to it all will be but a diffused force common to all and in proportion we may call it a soul. For what the soul is in bodies the same is force diffused in the universe Combach in Phys. cap. de Mundo Artic. 4. Of the Duration of the World past and to come THe duration of the World both past and to come is sought out by many but no certainty is proved The Aegyptians formerly boasted of 48000 years past in their History the Chaldaeans 470000 The East-Indies 700000. The Aegyptians are disproved by their disagreement one of them reported 20000 to Solon that asked him another 1300 to Herodotus The Chaldaeans alleage that in 48863 there have been only 832 luminaries But the doctrine of Astronomy shewes these to be trifles If this were not it might be yet Diodorus in Augustus his time searched for the greatest antiquity of the Aegyptians and found scarce 4000. Calisthenes Nephew to Aristotle by his sister found the Chaldaeans not to be 2000 Simplicius reports it Amongst our Chronologers the Christian Epoche is uncertain nor is there any beam so
that live under the Pole are 't is probable in perpetual cold and they are more hot that live under the Equinoctiall They under the Equinoctiall have a double most pleasant winter and a double Spring He that would know more of this may read Mayolus Colloqu de proprietat locor Artic. 6. Of the Sun's shadow TWo things chiefly are observable concerning the Suns shadow the operation and the diversity It can hardly be said how great it is Men skill'd in the Opticks have described it more acurately It shews the reason of Eclipses the Suns magnitude the variety of Eccentricks the condition of time hath been demonstrated by it Men are taught thereby to define the climates and parallells to prove the Earth to be round and that the Earths Globe stands exactly in the midst of the Universe to know the Earths magnitude c. Examples shew the diversity Those that dwell Northward between the Tropick of Cancer and the Arctick Circle their Noon-shadowes are cast Northward and to the Southern people Southward They of Finmarch and Groenland and that passe the degree of elevation 66 see the shadows run round about them Gauricus in Geograph In Syene a Town above Alexandria 5000 furlongs at noon-day on the solstice there is no shadow at all and a pit was made to make experiment of it and the Sun shined to every part in it Pliny l. 2. c. 73. And in India above the River Hispasis the same falls out aâ— the same time as Onesicritus hath recorded In the Island of Merce which is the chief of the Ethiopian Country the shadows fail twice a year and in Summer they are cast Southwards in winter toward the North. In the same in the most famous Haven of Patales the Sun riseth on the right hand the shadowes fly Southward It is lastly manifest that in Berenice a City of the Troglodytes and from thence for 4820 furlongs in the same Country in the Town of Ptolemais which is built on the brink of the red Sea at the first hunting of Elephants the same thing falls out 45. dayes before the Solstice and as many after it and during those 90 dayes the shadowes are cast into the South Plin. l. 1. Art 7. Of the Suns Influence on the Inferiour World IT was easie to observe how powerfully this Eye of the World would work upon Inferiour bodies by his lighter and publique motion There is nothing in the parts of the year or dayes or nights or variety of shadowes but must be ascribed to it When the Sun ariseth all things are enlightened when it sets all are in the dark Things flourish when he approacheth fade when he departeth These are generals and if we respect particulars are not much lesse It is certain that tempests and seasonable weather are from the Sun About the middle of Sagittarius and the constellation of Pisces by the help of Stars that are in them and rise it blowes warm to those that are under it and the humours that were frozen being melted and the earth being watered with them it produceth the fruitful Western blasts and stirs up the force of the Pleiades and Hyades in Taurus and of the Kids from the North from the South or Orient that is near unto it and of Arcturus that lyes opposite to it which raise up Southern winds and for some dayes do water the seed sown with continual rain Peucer in Astrol. When the Herbs are grown and want moisture again for their just magnitude it affords it and drawes it forth by it coming up toward the Stars of Cancer Pliny takes the signs of Tempests from it l. 18. c. 35. It belongs to motion for Scaliger saith That men sail faster with the Sun Exerc. 86. And Pliny l. 2. Histor. c. 71 writes That the Currior Philonides ran from Sicyon to Elis 1200 furlongs in 9. hours of the day and came back again oft-times though it were down hill at 3. a clock at night The reason was because he ran out with the Sun but returned against the course of the Sun CHAP. VI. Of the Moon Artic. 1. Of the Figures and light of the Moon THe Stoicks thought the Moon to be a dark and hairy light Cleomedes supposed it was a ball white on one side and blew on the other We acknowledge it to be a heavenly body one of the two great Lights that God made Sometimes there have been two sometimes 3. seen as when Cn. Domitius and C. Fannius were Consuls whom they called the Night-Suns Pliny l. 2. c. 82. She is lesse than the Earth thirty times 9 or 3. times 40 if we follow Copernicus She is distant from it 44916 German miles or if we credit Schrechenfuchsius whom most follow it is 28359 She borrowes her light from the Sun Whence it comes that she hath so many Aspects she is alwaies increasing or decaying and sometimes she is crook'd with horns sometimes she is equally divided sometimes she is crooked sometimes full sometimes she is suddenly wane and the same appears suddenly again Pliny l. 2. c. 9. The Ancients adored the full Moon as a type of beauty There is a merry Tale in Plutarch in his Symposiacks of Wiseman concerning the Moon decreasing That the Moon asked of her Mother a Coat fit for her and she answered How can I do that for sometimes thou art a full Moon sometime a half Moon and sometimes with two horns In Biarmia she is never seen but with a full circle toward the surface of the Earth of a fiery colour and like a cole Olaus l. 1. Artic. 2. Of the Spots and Eclipse of the Moon THe substance of the Moon is spotted if you ask the reason wise men have said that the parts of the Moon are unequally compacted The Poets thought she carryed a Boy with her whom she loved who covered his face for shame When she is deprived of the Suns light she is Eclipsed But that is only in a diametricall opposition when the Moon hath no declination from the Ecliptick or that which is lesse then 67 minuts and so it either enters the shadow of the Earth or cannot avoid it The antients thought she might be drawn from Heaven by Charms and being thrust down she might be compelled That she powereth forth her venome and force into the hearbs that are subject to her which may be more succesfully used in Magick arts Hence it was that they tinkled in Cymballs that the Charms might not be heard There are no Eclipses of Sun or Moon but there follow some changes in sublunary things There was one in the yeare 3459. And Darius at Marathon was overthrown by the Athenians with wonderfull ruine another was 3782. and Perseus King of the Macedonians was conquered by consul Aemilius and an end was put to the Kingdom of Macedonia Alsted in thesauro Chronolog Some observe them superstitiously for example Niceas of Athens Ubbo Emmius Tom. 2. vet Graec. being beaten at Epipolas in Sicilia when his Country was in danger
their bosomes Fire is not unknown to us So great is the variety of it and it is so manifold that I know not what order to deliver it in Pliny saith it is from it self steel rubb'd against steel causeth fire Also the stones we call fire-stones stricken against steel or other stones send forth sparkles Therefore the Laplanders begin their Contracts of Marriage with the fire and flint Scalig. Exerc. 16. s. 1. For fire with them is the Authour of life and the flint is eternal wherein the treasure never fails It is in vain to try that in a brittle stone for the piece falling away that which should draw forth the Ayr is lost The rubbing of sticks one against another will fetch fire The Indians do so They make two sticks fast together and put another stick between them turning it swift like a wimble and so they make them take fire Ovetan l. 6. c. 5. In Apulia they wrap a Caâ—â—â— iâ— cords and draw them as fast as they can forward and backward till they fire it by motion Mayolus Colloq 2â— The Vestal Nuns did the same when their eternall fire went out if we credit Festus In Nympheus a flame goes out of a Rock which is kindled by rain Aristotle saith in Admirand it is not perceived untill you cast oyl upon it and then the flame flyes upward We find also in Authours that in the Country of the Sabins and Apulia there is a stone that will fire if you annoint it Plin. l. 2. c. 207. In Aricia if a live cole fall on arable ground the ground will burn In a Town of Picenum Egnatia if wood be laid on a certain stone that they account holy there it will flame presently Also a flame goes forth at the waters of Scantia but it is very weak at the going forth and will not last long in any other matter Also at Gratianopolis in Dauphin flame shines out when you stir the burning Fountain with a staff so that straw may be kindled by it Dalechamp ad l. c. The fire of the Mountain Chimerâ— is kindled by water Plin. l. 2. c. 106. If you hold a glasse Globe full of water in the Sun fire will rise from the repercussion of the light from the water in the coldest frost Lactan. de ira Dei c. 10. Sometimes also fire ariseth so suddenly in houses that it may be thought wonderful Cardan l. 10. de varietate c. 49. ascribes the cause to the salt and Salt-Peter that sticks to the walls of the houses Which Valerius reports concerning the Schollar of the vestall Nun Maxima Aemilia l. 1. c. 1. that she adoring Vesta when she had laid her fine linnen veil upon the hearth the fire that was out shined forth again an old wall being scraped down he writes that it might take fire onely by hot Ashes If you look in the Bible you shall find a wonderfull originall of fire in it 1 King c. 18. Elias when he offered sacrifice brought fire down from heaven which consumed the sacrifice wood stones dust and water In the Book of Judges Ch. 6. when Gideon at the command of the Angel had laid flesh and bread upon a stone and poured Frankincense upon them fire came forth of the stone and consumed them Artic. 2. Of Fires in the Waters IF we will credit Histories it is most certain that fires have been seen in the waters Pliny saith lib. 2. c. 107. That the whole Lake Thrasimenus was on fire That the Sea did burn Liv. lib. 33. when Alaricus wasted Italy and John Chrysostome was driven from his Bishoprick the Earth quaked fire fell from Heaven and a wind took it and cast it into the Sea which took fire by it and at last went out again Niceph. l. 13. c. 36. In the fields of Babylon there is a Fish-pond that burns which is about an Acre of ground Plin. lib. 2. c. 106. A stone cast into a Lake near to Denstadium of Thuringia when it sinks to the bottom it hath the form of a burning arrow Agricol lib. 4. de nat affluent c. 22. In a City of Comagena called Samosata there is a Lake that sends forth burning mud Plin. l. 2. c. 104. Posidonius saith that in his time about the Summer Solstice in the morning that between Suda and the Sea of Evonymus fire was seen lifted up to a wonderfull height and to have continued so a pretty while carried up with a continued blast and at length it sunk down Many dayes after Slime appeared that it swam on the top of the waters and that flames brake forth in many places and smoaks and soot and at length that Slime grew hard and that the lumps grown hard were like unto Milstones Julius Obsequens adds that it dispersed a great multitude of fish which the Liparenses much feeding on were spoiled by them so that the Islands were made wast with a new plague Strabo l. 6. Between Ther and Therasia which are in the Cyclades flames went out of the Sea in such abundance that is was extreme hot and seemed to burn and when it had swelled by degrees of the peices cast out that were like to Iron an Island was made which was called Hiera and Automate now it is called Vulcanellus by a very small arme of the Sea it is parted from Vulcanellus Plin. l. 2. c. 87. Artic. 3. Of Fire under the Earth I Said that fire was also in the waters now I will shew that in the bowells of the earth fire is generated When Claudius Nero was Emperour fire was seen to come forth of the Earth in the land of the Town of Colein and it burnt the Fields Villages Houses now because the matter of it was bituminous and could be quenched neither by raine nor River waters nor by any other moisture it was extinguished by Stones and old Garments In Misena a Country of Germany a Mountain of Coles burns continually the trenches falling down by degrees in the superficies which if any man behold they appear to be burning Furnaces The fire kindles any thing neere to it at four foot distance but not put close to it Agricol de natur effluent ex terr Vesuvius also a Mountain in Campania burned when Titus Vespasianus and Flavius Domitianus the seventh were Consuls First it cast out Stones from the top broken open after that it cast forth such Flames that two Towns Herculaneum and Pompeti were set on fire and it sent forth such thick smoak that it obscured the Sun and lastly it blew forth such a quantity of Ashes that like snow it covered the Neighbour Country which by force of winds was carryed into Africa Aegypt Syria Dion Cass. in Histor. When the Elder Pliny beheld this Fire the Younger in Epistol ad Tacitum the smoak so stopped his sharp artery that his breath being intercepted he was choaked There is also a mountain of late in Campania full of rises from the time the fire was bred there which burns and rores
inward parts of the brain by a locall motion yet without any changing of the place only by calling to remembrance things at the greatest distance which were seen long before or were done or thought of So in the Sun the Heavens the fixed Starrs there is a kind of imaginative vertue not passive as in animals but purely active which by locall motion comes thence into sublutary bodies and is communicated to certaine subjects as to seeds of individualls And this is the form that first begins and increaseth all generation communicating the essence to every thing that it shall be such a thing and not another This force is the first moveable frameing its subject as an Architect and one that frames her self a house where to dwell that she governs to that end that Nature the artificer assigns it That is the spermatick faculty that resides in the body of the seed without which this is barren and vain nor doth promote any generation If this by time vanish or by breaking the Container of it there follows no fructification as appeares in Corn which if it grow old or be ground to meale it can propagate no more Or why doth this power reside in that body rather than in another and perisheth presently afterwards I answer there is no other reason to be given than that Nature rejoyceth in such means and hath included that vertue that it cannot flye away if it be obedient unto nature vvhich if she would she could have put into other subjects It is admirable that the animal spirits in men are contained in the nerves 〈…〉 do they flye out of them into the Ayre and when those nerves are pressed their passage is stopped whence astonishment or a palsey for a time sâ—aseth on the foot or arme which is by and by removed by the Spirits succeeding into the nerves After the same manner that imaginative vertue of the heavenly bodies especially of the Sun if it passe into the individual subjects or seeds of things it naturally remaines in them at the will and pleasure of nature But where there are no seeds there the same vertue of the Heavens is communicated to some certaine matter immediately as in this generation to this fat and clammy subject of which we spake before as to the material cause For there are two things in all seeds the Elementary matter and the celestiall forme the latter whereof may perish the matter and externall forme remaining entire but nothing of that was generated out of the matter when the celestial forme is lost Matter in this generation is in time before the forme and receives it by influence though it be not deprived of any forme it had I speak of the first matter but the subsequent forme if it do not take away the first forme yet it perfects it But it is a question Wherefore this formal force as for example in making a bird is not sent into every matter or into any whatsomever when as it is received without certaine vessells or bodies of seeds I answer that matter so prepared in such wood and not in another and in such a place and not in another supplies the place of a seminal body whose qualities not being in another therefore noe other subject is capable of that formal and determinate vertue There are examples every where of this Imagination or celestiall Influence namely in some places of the County of Mansfield where Mines of Brasse in a stone that may be cut do shew forth all kinds of Fishes and the forms of such as are in the next Lake as we may see Teeth Horns and Lyons to perfection formed by nature under ground in hollow Caves and other places In Amber also which by the Sea Waves is cast on the shores of the Island now call'd Sudovia in Borussa divers forms of flyes gnats spiders butterflies frogs lizards and other Creatures appear not really but only from the imaginative faculty of the Heavens imprinted in it For if you should cut the Amber or break it to find them the places would be empty which nature hath so sported her selfe upon yet are all their parts and particles so shadowed to the life that a man would sweare that such Creatures are really included in that matter perchance wrapt in when the gum was moyst But it is no such matter for there is no earthly matter and which is not transparent that is contain'd in those concave figures which yet ought to be otherwise since a corporal substance cannot vanish away and only the forme of it remaine Moreover if any such living Creatures had fallen into the gummy substance of it as into Rosin or Turpentine their wings or feet that are besmeer'd would be seen so and not extended entire and direct which is not so here but all seem entire as through a Crystall glasse Farther if that should fall from Trees into the water those Trees would be known Pliny l. 37. c. 2. 3 writes of Amber thus Pitheus saith he discovered to the Guttones borderers on Germany an arme of the Sea called Mentonomon for the space of 6000 furlongs from this the Island Abulus is a days sailing from thence Amber is carried by the Waves of the Sea and it is the purging of the Sea congealed The inhabitants use it for wood to burn and sell it to the Germanes their neighbours Timoeus beleived this but he called the Island Baltia Mithridates saith there is an Island in the shores of Germany and it is called Osericta that is full of a kind of Cedar Trees from thence it runs to the Rocks But certaine it is that it breeds in some Islands of the North Sea and the Germans call it Glessum and therefore our Country men call one of those Islands Glessaria When Germanicus Caesar was there with his Navy the Barbarians called it Austravia It is brought by the Germans especially into the Country of Pannonia Thence the Venetians first whom the Geeeks call Heneti spread the fame of it they receiving that from Pannonia about the Adriatick Sea That shore of Germany is about 600 miles from Carnuntum of Panonia from whence it is brought being but lately discovered A Roman Knight sent by Julian to trafique for this who took care of the fencing sports of Nero Caesar passed over all those shores where these Merchandises were and saw such abundance brought in that the nets that were set to keep off wild beasts from the Galleries were full of knots of Amber but the weapons and biers and the whole provision for one day was made of Amber He brought a great weight or clot of it that weighed 13 pounds Pliny In Amber as it is transparent that incorporeal figure doth easily appeare but not so in other dark bodies Nor yet in the matter of the wood we speak of In which not only the figure of a bird but also a spermatick natural force to forme it nourish and augment it and to preserve it in its vital functions is implanted as
in other birds But since it is not propagated ex traduce from an egg or seed it neither leaves egg nor seed nor gives more to another than nature gave to it For if it lay'd eggs that chickens might proceed from the Barnacle had been so bred her self but neither of these is so For as a Mule is not bred of a Mule but from the mingling of an Asse and Mare together so it doth not generate a Mule but continues alwaies Barren as this bird doth Bees are bred of Worms the Worms in the honey combs from honey by a wonderfull operation of nature though without any sensible body of seed yet not without virtuall seed imprinted on the Honey-Combs by the Bees which they first had from Heaven Nor is it possible that these effectual and spiritual qualities should proceed from the pure Elements or onely by propagation since the matter of the seed which is made of nutriment and blood could be extended in infinitum without diminution of it self For we observe that the Elements are but like dead and materiall receptacles of the formal vertues and that the matter of the seed is dayly supplyed and heaped up by the Elements And therefore it is necessary that the formative force should daily flow into the formed seeds or where they are wanting into a matter prepared by Nature from corruption or other operations From whence the form of this wonderfull Creature is easily drawn namely that it is an imaginative vertue of the Heavens or of the Sun actively infused into a viscous matter of that wood in those places so disposed by corruption that it may enliven it and promote it to be a new kind of living plant or bird included in a shell which so soon as it falls into the waters may swim and when the wings are grown fly about The final cause is the common ornament of the World the variety and wonderfull works of Nature the profit of those that dwell near and especially the providence omnipotence and clemency of our good and great God all whose attributes do appear to mankind as well from this creature as from the rest whilest he crowns the year with his free gifts and the whole earth with variety of Creatures So that he is far more mighty in creating and making different kinds of living Creatures than we are able to expresse them to nominate or to know them Let it suffice us that we have seen some part of the wonderfull works of God and taken a view of them for it is not possible for a mortall Man to be capable to apprehend them all yet to consider of none of them were brutish and we should so be more like unto Beasts than Men. OF Naturall VVonders The Seventh Classis Wherein are set down the Wonders of Four-footed Creatures Seneca l. 3. de ira c. 30. WE are troubled with frivolous and vain matters A red colour makes a Bull angry and a viper is stirred by a shadow A picture will make Bears and Lions fiercer All things that are cruell and ravening by nature are moved with vain things The same things happen to unquiet and foolish spirits they are stricken with jealousie and suspition of things CHAP. I. Of the Elk and the Ram. THe Elk is a four-footed beast commonly found in Scandinavia in Summer of an Ash-colour almost in Winter it turns toward black The horns are fit for footstools each of them is 12 pound weight and two foot long His upper lip hangs out so long that he cannot eat but going backwards Men write that he is subject to the falling sicknesse and that the remedy he hath is to lift up the right claw of the hinder foot and put it to his left Ear. It holds the same vertue if you cut it off when he goes to rut in August or September He is commended for his swiftnesse for he will run as much ground in one day as a horse shall in three He is very strong for a strong blow with his foot will kill the hunter The Ram for six Winter moneths sleeps on his left side but after the vernal equinoctiall he rests on his right Aelianus hath discovered this but the Butchers deny it In Camandu a Country of Tartary they are as big as Asses their tails weigh 30 pound weight One was seen in the Court of the King of the Arabians whose tail weighed 40 pound Vartom Cardanus ascribes that to its cold temperament when the rest of the bones will no more be extended Lest he should be choked with his own fat he sends down the humour unto his tail CHAP. II. Of the Asse IN the Kingdom of Persia Asses are so esteemed that one of them is sold for 30 pound of gold amongst the Pigmies they are as big as our Râ—ms Paul Venet. In Egypt they ambâ—e so swiftly that one will go 40 miles a day without any hurt Scalig. Exerc. 217. s. 1. She doth sparingly dip-in her mouth when she drinks She is afraid saith Cardanus For when she beholds the great shadow of her ears in the water she is fearfull they will be wet There are some found in Africa that do not drink She staleth when she seeth another stale or upon a dunghill For Nature doth stirre them up being slothfull by the acrimony of the smell Cardan l. 10. subtil Observation proves that where an Asse hath cropt a vine branch the vine will grow more fruitfull The monument of this matter was seen at Nauplia where an Asse of stone was set up in thankfull remembrance for posterity Vadimonius writes that there is a fruitfull Orchard in the middle whereof she was buried Aldrovand l. 1. de quadr c. 2. In Hetruria when they have eaten Hemlock they fall asleep that they seem to be dead The Countrey-men are deceived by it for oft-times they rise up and fright them when they have pull'd off their skins almost Mathiol in Dioscorid Sheep will run into the fold if you pen them in an Asses stall If one be stung by a Scorpion if he sit upon on Asse with his face toward the tayl the Asse will endure the pain and not he It is a sign of it because she will dye farting Merula Asses milk is commended Poppaea the Wife of Domitius Nero that conceived in all 500 times did wash her body in a Bath of Asses milk thinking to stretch her skin thereby Plin. l. 15. c. 40. 〈…〉 of crete being in a Consumption recovered by feeding on Asses flesh Moreover there are some in Scythia whose horn contains Stygian water for it will pierce through iron vessels Some in 〈…〉 have one horn in their forehead Who drinks out of that is preserved from a disease but if any venomous matter be drank it is caâ—t forth They are so strong that they will kill a horse to travell with them Also that was a wonderfull one that was sent as a present with other gifts by the King of Assyria to Ferdinand of Naples for the hair was