somtime called Pedasus where the Parliament and Terme is holden and whereof the gulfe is named Adramitteos Other riuers be there besides to wit Astron Cormalos Eryannos Alabastros and Hieros out of Ida. Within-forth be Gargara a towne and â—…ill both And then again toward the sea side Antandros before-time called Edonis then Cymeris and Assos which also is Apollonia Long since also there was a towne called Palamedium After all these you come vpon the cape Leolon the middle frontier between Aeolus and Troas And there had bin in antient time the city Polymedia and Cryssa with another Laryssa also As for the Temple Smintheum it remaineth still But farther within the towne Colone that was is now decayed and gon and the traffique and negotiation in all affaires turned from thence to Adramytteum Now as touching the territorie of the Apolloniates after you be past the riuer Rhyndicus you finde these States the Eresians Miletopolites Poemanenes Macedonians Aschilacae Polychnaei Pionites Cilices and Mandagandenes In Mysia the Abrettines and those called Hellespontij besides those of base account and estimation The first city you encounter in Troas is Amaxitus then Cebrenia and Troas it selfe named also Antigonia now Alexandria and is entituled a Roman Colony Beyond Troas standeth the towne Nee there runneth also Scamander a riuer nauigable and Sigaeum a Towne sometime vpon the cape so called At length you come to the hauen of the Greeks into which Xanthus and Somoe is runne ioyntly together as also Palae-Scamander but first it maketh a lake The rest that Homer so much speaks of namely Rhaesius Heptaporus Caresus and Rhodius there is no mention or token remaining of them as for the riuer Granicus it runneth from diuers parts into the chanel of Propontis Yet there is at this day a little city called Scamandria and one mile and a halfe from the port or sea the free city Ilium that enioyeth many immunties and liberties of which towne goeth all that great name Without this gulfe lieth the coast Rhoetea inhabited with these townes vpon it namely Rhoeteum Dardanium and Arisbe There stood sometimes also Acheleum a towne neere vnto the tombe of Achilles founded first by the Mityleneans and afterwards re-edified by the Athenians vpon the Bay Sigaeum vnder which his fleet rode at anchor There also was Acantium built by the Rhodians in another coine or canton of that coast where Aiax was interred a place thirty stadia distant from Sigaeum and the very Bay wherein his fleet also lay at harbour Aboue Aeolis and one part of Troas within the Continent and firme land there is the towne called Teuthrania which the Mysians in old time held And there springeth Caicus the riuer aboue said A large countrey this is of it selfe and especially when it was vnited to Mysia and all so called containing in it Pioniae Andera Caâ—…e Stabulum Conisium Tegium Balcea Tiare Teuthrane Sarnaca Haliserne Lycide Parthenium Thymbrum Oxiopum Lygdanum Apollonia and Pergamus the goodliest city of them all by many degrees through it passeth the riuer Selinus and Caetius runneth hard vnder it issuing out of the mountain Pindasus And not far from thence is Elea which as we said standeth vpon the strond And verily all that tract and iurisdiction is of that city named Perganena To the Parliament and judiciall Assises there resort the Thyatyrenes Mygdones Mossines Bregmenteni Hieracomitae Perpereni Tyareni Hierapolenses Harmatapolites Attalenses Pantaenses Apollonidenses and other pety cities of no name and account As for Dardanium a pretty towne it is threescore and ten stadia from Rhoeteum Eighteene miles from thence is the cape Trapeza where the sea beginneth to rush roughly into the streight Hellespont Eratosthenes mine Authour saith That the cities of the Solymi Leleges Bebrices Colycantij and Trepsedores somtime flourished but now are vtterly perished Isidorus reporteth as much of the Arymeos and Capretae the very place where Apamia was built by Seleucus betweene Cilicia Cappadocia Cataonia and Armenia and for that he had vanquished most fierce and cruell nations at the first he named it Damea CHAP. XXXI ¶ The Islands lying before little Asia and in the Pamphylian sea Also Rhodus Samus and Chios THe first Island of Asia is iust against the mouth or channell of Nilus called Canopicus of Canopus asmen say the Pilot of K. Menelaus The second is Pharus which is ioined to Alexandria by a bridge in old time it was a daies sailing from Aegypt to it and now by fires from a watch-tower sailers are directed in the night along the coast of Egypt Caesar Dictator erected therein a colony And in truth it serueth in right good stead as a Lanthorne for the hauens about Alexandriâ—… bevery dangerous and deceitfull by reason of the barres and shelues in the sea and there are but three chanels and no more by which a man may passe safely to Alexandria to wit Tegamum Posideum and Taurus Next to that Isle in the Phoenician sea before Ioppa lies Paria an Isle of no great compasse for it is all one town This is the place folke say where lady Andromeda was exposed and cast out to a monster Moreouer Aredos the Isle before named between which and the Continent there is a fountaine as Mutianus writeth in the sea where it is fifty cubits deep out of which fresh water is drawne and conueighed from the very bottome of the sea through pipes made of leather As for the Pamphylian sea it hath some smal Islands of little or no reckoning In the Cicilian sea there is Cyprus one of the fiue greatest in those parts and it lieth East and West full against Cilicia and Syria The Seate it was in times past whereunto nine Kingdomes did homage and of which they held Timosthenes saith That it contained in circuit foure hundred and nineteene miles and an halfe but Isidorus is of opinion that it is but three hundred seuenty fiue miles about The ful length thereof betweene the two capes Dinaretas and Acamas which is Southward Artemidorus reporteth to be a hundred and sixtie miles and a halfe and Timosthenes two hundred who saith besides that sometime it was called Acamantis according to Philonides Cerastis after Xenagoras Aspelia Amathusia and Macatia Astynomus calleth it Cryptos and Colinia Townes there be in it fifteene Paphos and Palepaphos that is Paphos the new and Paphos the old Curias Citium Corineum Salamis Amathus Lepathos Soloe Tamaseus Epidarum Chytri Arsinoe Carpasium and Golgi There were in it besides Cinirya Marium and Idalium but now are they come to nothing And from the cape Anemurium in Cilicia it is fifty miles distant All that sea which lieth betweene it and Cilicia they call Aulon Cilicium that is to say The plaine of Cilicia In this tract is the Island Elaeusa and foure others besides euen before the cape named Clides ouer-against Syria Likewise one more named Stiria at the other cape or point of Cilicia Moreouer against Neampaphos i. new Paphos
water at command and good cause why prouided alwaies that they lie vnder a good towne side In the third place he rangeth the Oâ—…r plots and after them Oliue rewes then he counteth of medows which our ancestors called Parata as a man would say Ready and prouided The same Cato being asked What was the most assured profit rising out of land made this answer To feed Cattell well beeing asked againe VVhat was the next Marie quâ—…th hee to feed in a meane By which answers he would seeme to conclude That the most certain and sure reuenue was that which would cost least Howbeit this is not so generall a rule but it may alter according to the diuersitie of places sundry occasions occurrent Herunto also is to be referred another speech of his That a good husbandman ought to be a seller and not a buyer as also That a man should make speed in his youth and not delay to plant and stocke his ground but not to build thereupon before it be well and throughly stored that way and euen then also he should not be forward thereto but take leisure ere he be a builder for it is the best thing in the world according to the common prouerbe To make vse and reap profit of other mens follies prouided alwaies that a mans land be not ouer-built lest the expence of keeping all in good repaire be chargeable and burdensome Now when there is a sufficient and competent house builded thereupon a good husband will vse to repaire often thereunto and take pleasure so to do and verily a true saying it is That the lords eie is far better for the land than his heele CHAP. VI. ¶ How to chuse a conuenient place for to build a manour house in the country Also certain rules obserued in antient time as touching Husbandrie and tilling ground IN building vpon a mans land this mean and moderation is commended That the house be answerable in proportion to the ground for as it is a bad sight to see a large domain and circuit of ground without a sufficient graunge or home-stal to it so it is as great a folly to ouer-build the same to make a faire house where there is not land enough lying to it Like as there were two men at one time liuing who faulted diuersly in this behalfe to wit L. Lucullus and Q. Scaeuola for the one was possessed of faire lands without competent building thereto whereas Lucullus contrariwise built a goodly house in the country with little or no liuing adjoyning to it in which regard checked he was by the Censors for sweeping more floures than he ploughed lands Now in building there would be art and cunning shewed for euen of late daies C. Marius who had bin seuen times Consull of Rome was the last man that built an house within the territory of the cape Misenum and he seated it so as if he had pitched fortified a camp right skilfully in such sort that when Sylla syrnamed Foelix i. Happy saw his manner of building he gaue out and said That all the rest in comparison of him were blind beetles and knew neither how to build nor to encamp Well then a house in the country would be set neither neere vnto a fenny and dormant water ne yet ouer-against the course and stream of a running riuer and yet what saith Homer besides to this purpose The aire and mists quoth he and that right truly arising from a great riuer betimes in a morning before day-light cannot chuse but be euer cold and vnholesome How then mary if the country or climat be hot an house must stand into the North but in case the quarter be cold it ought to affront the South if the tract be temperate between both it should lie open vpon the East point where the Sun riseth at the Aequinoxes As touching the goodnesse of the soile and namely what signes and marks there be of it although I may seem to haue sufficiently spoken already in the discourse which I had of the best kind of ground yet I am content to subscribe to other tokens thereof deliuered by other men and especially by Cato in these words following When you see quoth hee growing vpon any land store of Walwort Skeg trees Brambles the little wild Bulbous Crow-toes called otherwise our Ladies Cowslips Clauer-grasse or Trifoâ—…le Melilote Oke wilde Pyrries and Crab-trees know yee that these doe shew a ground good for Wheat and such like white-corne So doth also the blacke mould and that of ashes colour testifie no lesse Where there is store of chalke or plaister the ground is not so fit for corne for all kinde of chalke doth heat ouermuch vnlesse the same be very leane The like doth sand also if it be not passing fine and small And the effects abouesaid are much more seen in the plaines and champaine vallies than vpon the hills and mountaines Our ancestours in old time thought it a principall point of Husbandry not to haue ouermuch ground about one graunge for they supposed more profit grew by sowing lesse and tilling it better of which mind I perceiue Virgil was And to say a truth confesse we must needs That these large enclosures and great domains held by priuat persons haue long since bin the ruine of Italie and of late daies haue vndone the prouinces also thereto belonging Six Land-lords there were and no more that possessed the one moitie of all Africke at what time as the Emperour Nero defeated and put them to death Where by the way I may not defraud Cn. Pompeius of the due glory answerable to that greatnesse of his who neuer in all his life would purchase any ground that butted or bordered vpon his owne land Mago thought it no reason but a very vngentle and vnkind part for the buying of land to sell a mansion house and in his conceit it preiudiced much the weale-publick And verily this was the principall point that he recommended in the entrance of his treatise and rules set downe for Husbandry so as a man might perceiue very euidently that hee required continuall residence vpon the land Next to these principles aboue named great regard would be had in chusing of good skilful bayliffs of the husbandry concerning whom Cato hath giuen many rules For mine own part it shal suffice to say thus much only that the lord ought to loue his bayliffe very well set him next to his heart but himself should not let him know so much Moreouer I hold it the worst thing that is to set slaues condemned persons in their gyues chains about tilling and husbanding of a ferm neither do I like of any thing don by such forlorne and hopelesse persons for lightly nothing thriues vnder their hand I would put down one saying more of our antient forefathers but that haply it may seeme a fond rash speech yea and altogether incredible that is this Nothing is lesse profitable expedient
vpon the tumour that beareth aloft aboue the edges theymust needs glide off and run by The same is the reason why the land cannot be seen by them that stand vpon the hatches of the ship but very plainly at the same time from the top of the masts Also as a ship goeth a far off from the land if any thing that shineth and giueth light be fastened to the top-gallant it seemeth from the land side to goe downe and sinke into the sea by little and little vntill at last it be hidden clean Last of all the very Ocean which we confesse to be the vtmost and farthest bound enuironing the whole globe by what other figure else could it hold together and not fall downe since there is no other banke beyond it to keepe it in And euen this also is as great a wonder how it commeth to passe although the sea grow to be round that the vtmost edge thereof falleth not downe Against which if the seas were euen flat and plaine and of that forme as they seem to be the Greeke Philosophers to their own great ioy and glory do conclude and proue by Geometricall subtill demonstration that it cannot possibly be that the waters should fall For seeing that waters run naturally from aloft to the lower parts and that all men confesse that this is their nature and no man doubteth that the water of the sea came euer in any shore so far as the deuexitie would haue suffered doubtlesse it appeares that the lower a thing is the neerer it is to the centre and that all the lines which from thence are sent out to the next waters are shorter than those which from the first waters reach to the vtmost extremitie of the sea Hereupon the whole water from euery part thereof bends to the centre and therfore falls not away because it inclines naturally to the inner parts And this we must beleeue that Nature the work-mistresse framed and ordained so to the end that the earth being dry could not by it selfe alone without some moisture keepe any consistence and the water likewise could not abide and stay vnlesse the earth vpheld it in which regard they were mutually to embrace one another and so be vnited whiles the one opened all the creeks and nouks and the other ran wholly into the other by means of secret veins within without and aboue like ligaments to claspe it yea and so break out at the vtmost tops of hils whether being partly caried by a spirit and partly expressed forth by the ponderositie of the earth it mounteth as it were in pipes and so far is it from danger of falling away that it leapeth vp to the highest and loftiest things that be By which reason it is euident also why the seas swell not and grow notwithstanding so many riuers daily run into them CHAP. LXXVj ¶ How the matter is vnited and knit to the earth THe earth therefore in his whole globe is in the midst thereof hemmed in by the sea running round about it And this need not to be sought out by reason and argument for it is knowne already by good proofe and experience CHAP. LXXVij ¶ Nauigation vpon the sea and great Riuers FRom Gades and Hercules pillars the West sea is at this day nauigable and sailed all ouer euen the whole compasse of Spaine and France But the North Ocean was for the most part disconered vnder the conduct of Augustus Caesar of famous memorie who with a fleet compassed all Germanie and brought it about as far as to the cape of the Cimbrians and so from thence hauing kenned and viewed the vast and wide sea or else taken notice thereof by report he passed to the Scythian Clymat and those cold coasts frozen and abounding with too much moisture For which cause there is no likelihood that in those parts the seas are at an end whereas there is such excessiue wet that all stands with water And neere vnto it from the East out of the Indian sea that whole part vnder the same clyme of the world which bendeth vnder the Caspian sea was sailed throughout by the Macedonian armies when Seleuchus and Antiochus reigned who would needs haue it so that Seleuchus and Antiochus should beare their names About the Caspian sea also many coasts and shores of the Ocean haue bin discouered and by piece-meale rather than all whole at once the North of one side or other hath been sailed or rowed ouer But yet to put all out of coniecture there is a great argument collected out of the Mere Maeotis whether it be a gulfe and arme of that Ocean as I know many haue beleeued or an ouerflowing of the same and diuided from it by a narrow piece of the continent In another side of Gades from the same West a great part of the South or Meridian gulfe round about Mauritania is at this day sailed And the greater part verily of it like as of the East also the victories of Alexander the Great viewed and compassed on euery side euen as farre as vnto the Arabian Gulfe Wherein when Caius Caesar the sonne of Augustus warred in those parts the marks and tokens by report were seen remaining after the Spaniards shipwracke Hanno likewise in the time that Carthage flourished in puissance sailed round about from Gades to the vtmost bounds and lands end of Arabia and set downe that his voyage in writing Like as also Himilco was at the same time sent out in a voyage to discouer the vtter coasts of Europe Moreouer Cornelius Nepos writeth that in his time one Eudoxius a great sailer at what time he fled from King Lathyrus departed out of the Arabian gulfe and held on his course as far as Gades Yea and Coelius Antipater long before him reporteth that he saw the man who had sailed out of Spain to Aethiopia for traffique of merchandise The same Nepos maketh report as touching the compassing about of the North That vnto Qu. Metellus Celer Colleague to C. Afranius in the Consulship but at that time Proconsull in Gaule certain Indians were giuen by a King of the Sueuians who as they failed out of India for traffick as merchants were driuen by tempests and cast vpon Germanie Thus the seas flowing on all sides about this globe of the earth diuided and cut into parcels bereaue vs of a part of the world so as neither from thence hither nor from hence thither there is a thorow-faire and passage The contemplation whereof seruing fit to discouer and open the vanitie of men seemes to require and challenge of me that I should proiect to the view of the eye how great all this is whatsoeuer it be and wherein there is nothing sufficient to satisfie and content the seuerall appetite of each man CHAP. LXViij ¶ What portion of the earth is habitable NOw first and formost me thinks men make this reckoning of the earth as if it were the iust halfe of the globe and that no portion of it
and likewise from the plaines of Arabia It was sea also about Ilium and the flat of Teuthrania and all that leuell whereas the riuer Maeander now runneth by goodly medowes CHAP. LXXXVI ¶ The reason of Islands that newly appeare out of the sea THere be lands also that put forth after another manner and all at once shew on a sudden in some sea as if Nature cried quittance with her selfe and made euen paying one for another namely by giuing againe that in one place which those chawnes and gaping gulfes tooke away in another CHAP. LXXXVij ¶ What Islands haue sprung vp and when THose famous Islands long since to wit Delos and Rhodes are recorded to haue growne out of the sea and afterwards others that were lesse namely Anaphe beyond Melos and Nea betweene Lemnus and Hellespont Alone also betweene Lebedus and Teos Thera likewise and Therasia among the Cyclades which shewed in the fourth yere of the 135 Olympias Moreouer among the same Isles 130 yeres after Hiera which is the same that Automate And two furlongs from it after 110 yeares Thia euen in our time vpon the 8 day before the Ides of Iuly when M. Iunius Syllanus and L. Balbus were Consuls CHAP. LXXXViij ¶ What lands the Seas haue broken in betweene EVen within our kenning neere to Italy between the isles Aeoliae In like maner neer Creta there was one shewed itselfe with hot fountames out of the sea for a mile and halfe and another in the 3 yeare of the 143 Olympias within the Tuscan gulf and this burned with a violent winde Recorded it is also that when a great multitude of fishes floted ebbe about it those persons died presently that did feed thereof So they say that in the Campaine gulfe the Pithecusae Islands appeared And soon after the hill Epopos in them at what time as suddenly there burst forth a flaming fire out of it was laid leuell with the plain champion Within the same also there was a town swallowed vp by the sea and in one earthquake there appeared a standing poole but in another by the fall and tumbling downe of certain hills grew the Island Prochyta For after this maner also Nature hath made Islands thus she dis-ioyned Sicily from Italy Cyprus from Syria Euboea from Baeotia Atalante and Macris from Euboea Besbycus from Bithynia Leucostia from the promontorie and cape of the Syrenes CHAP. LXXXIX What Islands came to ioyne vnto the Maine AGaine shee hath taken Islands from the sea and ioyned them to the firme land namely Antissa to Lesbos Zephyria to Halicarnassus Aethusa to Myndus Dromiscos and Pern to Miletus and Narthecusa to the promontorie Parthenius Hybanda somtime an Isle of Ionia is now distant from the sea 200 stadia As for Syrie Ephesus hath it now in the midland parts far from the sea So Magnesia neighbouring to it hath Derasitas and Sophonia As for Epidaurus and Oricum they are no more Islands at this day CHAP. XC ¶ What lands haue been turned wholly into sea NAture hath altogether taken away certaine lands in the first place whereas now the sea Atlanticum is was sometime the continent for a mighty space of ground as Plato saith Likewise in our Mediterranean sea all men may see at this day how much hath beene drowned vp to wit Acarnania by the inward gulfe of Ambracia Achaia within that of Corinth Europ and Asia within Propontis and Pontus Ouer and besides the sea hath broken through Leucas Antirrhium Hellespont and the two Bosphori CHAP. XCI What lands haue swallowed vp themselues ANd now to passe ouer armes of the sea and lakes the very earth hath deuoured and buried her-selfe to wit that most high hill Cybotus with the towne Curites Sipylus in Magnesia and in the same place before time the most noble city called Tantalus the territories of Galanis and Gamale in Phoenice together with the very cities Phogium also a passing high hill in Ethiopia as if the very stronds and continent were not to be trusted but they also must worke hurt and mischiefe CHAP. XCII ¶ What Cities haue been drowned with the sea THe sea Pontus hath ouerwhelmed Pyrrha and Antyssa about Maeotis Elice and Bura in the gulfe of Corinth whereof the marks and tokens are to be seene in the Deep Out of the Island Cea more than 30 miles of ground was lost suddenly at once with many men In Sicily also the sea came in and bare away halfe the city Thindaris and all that Italy nurseth betweene it and Sicily The like it did in Baeotia and Eleusina CHAP. XCIII ¶ Of the strange wonders of the land FOr let vs speake no more of Earthquakes and whatsoeuer else of that kind as of graues and sepulchres of cities buried and extant to be seen but discourse we rather of the wonders than the mischiefes wrought by Nature in the earth And surely the story of coelestiall things was not more hard to be declared the wèalth is such of mettals and mines in such varietie so rich so fruitfull rising still one vnder another for so many ages notwithstanding daily there is so much wasted and consumed throughout the world with fires ruines shipwrecks wars and fraudulent practises yea and so much spent in ryot and superfluous vanities that it is infinite yet see how many sorts of jemmes there be still so painted and set out with colors in precious stones what varieties of sundry colours and how bespotted are they and amongst them behold the brightnesse and white hue of some excluding all else but onely light The vertue and power of medicinable fountaines the wonderfull burning so many hundred yeres together of fire issuing forth in so many places the deadly dampes and exhalations in some places either sent out of pits when they are sunke or else from the very natiue seat and position of the ground present death in one place to the birds and foules of the aire only as at Soracte in a quarter neere the city in other to all other liuing creatures saue only man yea and sometimes to men also as in the territories of Sinuessa and Puteoli Which damp holes breathing out a deadly aire some call Charoneae Scrobes i. Charons ditches Likewise in the Hirpines land that of Amsanctus a caue neere vnto the temple of Nephites wherinto as many as enter dy presently After the like manner at Hierapolis in Asia there is another such hurting all that come to it except the priest of Cybele the great mother of the gods In other places there be also caues and holes of a propheticall power by the exhalation of which men are intoxicate and as it were drunken and so foretell things to come as at Delphi that most renowned Oracle In all which things what other reason can any mortall man make than the diuine power of Nature diffused and spred through all which breaketh forth at times in sundry sorts CHAP. XCIV ¶ Of certaine Lands that alwaies quake SOme parts of the earth there be
with the liberties of old Latium Stipendiaries or Tributaries 36. Moreouer the Colonies be thus named Augusta Emerita and vpon the riuer Ana Metallinensis Pacensis Norbensis named also Caesariana To it are layed and inrolled Castra Iulia and Castra Caecilia The fift is Scalabis called Praesidium Iulium The free borough of Roman citises Olyssippo named also Felicitas Iulia. Townes of the old Latium liberty Ebora which likewise was called Liberalitas Iulia Myrtilis also and Salatia which we haue spoken Of Tributaries such as I am not loth to name beside the aboue said in the additions of Baetica August obrigenses Ammienses Aranditani Axabricenses Balsenses Caesarobricenses Caperenses Caurenses Colarni Cibilitani Concordienses the same that Bonori Interausenses Lancienses Mirobrigenses syrnamed Celtici Medubricenses the same that Plumbarij Ocelenses who also are Lancienses Turtuli named Barduli and Tapori M. Agrippa hath written that Lusitania together with Asturia and Gallaecia is in length 540 miles and in bredth 526. But all Spain from the two promontories of Pyrenaeus along the seas takes vp in circuit of the whole coast 2900 miles and by others 2700. Ouer against Celtiberia be very many Isles called of the Greekes Cassiterides for the plenty of lead which they yeeld and iust against the promontorie of the Arrotrebae six named Deorum i. of the gods which some haue called Fortunatae But in the very point or cape of Baetica from the mouth of the firth 75 miles lieth the Island Gades 12 miles long as Polybius writeth and three miles broad It is from the maine where it is neerest Iesse than 700 paces in other places aboue seuen miles The whole Isle it selfe containes the space of 15 miles in circuit It hath within it a towne of Roman citisens named Augusta Vrbs Iulia Gaditania On that side that regards Spain within 100 paces lieth another Island three miles long and one broad wherein formerly was the towne Gades The name of this Island after Ephorus and Thilistides is Erythia but according to Tymaeus and Silenus Aprodisias the naturall home-bred inhabitants call it Iunonis The bigger of these two Gades as saith Tymaeus was by them called Cotinusa our countrymen name it Tartessos the Carthaginians Gadir which in the Punicke language signifieth the number of seuen Erithia the other was called because the Tirians who were the first inhabitants were reported to haue had their first beginning out of the red sea Erythraeum Some thinke that Geryon here dwelt he whose droues of cattell Hercules had away Some againe thinke it is another ouer against Lusitania and there sometime so called CHAP. XXIII ¶ The measure of all Europe HAuing finished our circuit about Europ we must now yeeld the totall summe and complete measure of it in the whole that such as are desirous of knowledge be not to seek in any one thing Artemidorus and Isidore haue set downe the length thereof from Tanais to Gades 84014 miles Polybius hath put down the bredth thereof from Italy to the Ocean 1150 miles for as then the largenesse thereof was not knowne Now the very bredth of Italy alone by it selfe as we haue shewed is 1220 miles to the Alps from whence by Lyons to the Britaine part of the Morini which way Polybius seemeth to take his measure is 1168 miles But the more certaine measure and the longer is directed from the said Alps to the West and the mouth of the Rhine through the place called Castra Legionum Germaniae 1243 miles Now from hence forward we will describe Africke and Asia THE FIFTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The description of Africke AFricke the Greekes haue called Lybia euen all that tract from whence the Lybian sea before it beginneth and endeth in the Aegyptian No part of the earth receiueth fewer gulfes and armes of the sea in that long compasse of crooked coasts from the West The names as well of the Nations as towns there be of all others most hard to be pronounced vnlesse it be in their owne tongues and againe they be castles and forts for the most part that they dwell in CHAP. I. ¶ Mauritania AT the beginning the lands of Mauritania vntill the time of C. Caesar i. Caligula sonne of Germanicus were called kingdomes but by his cruelty diuided it was into two prouinces The vtmost promontorie of the Ocean is named of the Greeks Ampelusia the townes therein were Lissa and Cotes beyond Hercules pillars Now in it is Tingi sometime built by Antaeus and afterward by Claudius Caesar when he made a Colonie of it it was called Traducta Iulia. It is from Belone a towne in Baetica by the next and neerest passage ouer sea thirty miles Fiue and twenty miles from it in the Ocean coast standeth a Colonie erected by Augustus now Iulia Constantia exempt from the dominion and iurisdiction of the Kings of Zilis and commanded to go for law and iustice as far as Baetica And two and thirty miles from it Lixos made a Colony by Claudius Caesar whereof in old time there went many fabulous and loud lying tales For there stood they say the royall pallace of Antaeus there was the combat betweene him and Hercules there also were the gardens and hort-yards of the Hesperides Now there floweth thereinto out of the sea a certain creek or arme thereof and that by a winding channell wherein men now take it that there were Dragons seruing in good stead to keep and gard the same It incloseth an Island within it selfe which notwithstanding the Tract thereby be somewhat higher is onely not ouerflowed by the sea tides In it there standeth erected an altar of Hercules and setting aside certaine wilde Oliues nothing else is to be seen of that goodly groue reported to beare golden Apples And in good faith lesse may they wonder at the strange lies of Greece giuen out of these and the riuer Lixus who would but thinke how of late our countreymen haue deliuered some fables of the same things as monstrous well-neere to wit That this a most strong and mighty city and bigger than great Carthage moreouer that it is scituate right against it aad an infinite way well-neere from Tingi and other such like which Cornelius Nepos hath been most eager to beleeue From Lixus forty miles in the midland part of the main stands Babba another Colony of Augustus called by him Iulia in the field or champian also a third 75 miles off called Banasa but now it hath the addition of Valentia 35 miles from it is the towne Volubile iust in the mid way between both seas But in the coast and borders thereof fifty miles from Lixus runneth Subur a goodly plenteous riuer and nauigable neere to the Colony Banasa As many miles from it is the towne Sala standing vpon a riuer of the same name neere now vnto the wildernesse much infested and annoied with whole heards of Elephants but much more with the nation of the Autololes through
albeit a man made triall thereof in the winter season furthermore that the pesants who dwelt in the next forests were pestred with Elephants wilde beasts and serpents of all sorts and those people were called Canarij for that they and dogs feed together one with another and part among them the bowels of wild beasts For certaine it is knowne that a nation of the Aethyopians whom they cal Peroesi ioineth vpon them Iuba the father of Ptolomaeus who before-time ruled ouer both Mauritanes a man more memorable and renowned for his study and loue of good letters than for his kingdome and royall port hath written the like concerning Atlas and he saith moreouer that there is an herb growing there called Euphorbia of his Physitions name that first found it the milkie iuice whereof he praiseth wondrous much for to cleare the eies and to be a preseruatiue against all serpents and poisons whatsoeuer and thereof hath he written a treatise and made a book by it selfe thus much may suffice if it be not too much as touching Atlas CHAP. II. ¶ The prouince Tingitania THe length of the Prouince Tingitania taketh 170 miles The nations therin be these the Mauri which in times past was the principall and of whom the prouince took name and those most writers haue called Marusij Being by war weakened and diminished they came in the end to a few families only Next to them were the Massaesuli but in like manner were they consumed Now is the prouince inhabited by the Getulians Bannurri and the Autololes the most valiant and puissant of all the rest A member of these were somtime the Vesuni but being diuided from them they became a nation by themselues and bounded vpon the Aethiopians The prouince naturally full of mountains Eastward breedeth Elephants In the hill also Abila and in those which for their euen and equal height they cal The 7 brethren and these butt vpon Abila which looketh ouer into the sea From these beginneth the coast of the Inward sea The riuer Timuda nauigable and a town somtime of that name The riuer Land which also receiueth vessels The town Rusardie and the hauen The riuer Malvana nauigable The towne Siga iust against Malacha scituate in Spaine the Royall seat of Syphax and now the other Mauritania For a long time they kept the names of KK so as the vtmost was called Bogadiana and likewise Bocchi which now is Caesarienses Next vnto it is the hauen for the largenesse thereof called Magnus with a towne of Roman citizens The Riuer Muluca which is the limit of Bocchi and the Massaesuli Quiza Xenitana a towne of strangers Atsennaria a towne of Latines three miles from the Sea Carcenna a Colonie of Augustus erected for the second Legion likewise another Colonie of his planted with the Pretorian band Gunugi and the promontorie of Apollo And a most famous towne there Caesarea vsually before-time called Iol the Royall Seat of King Iuba endowed by Claudius the Emperour of happie memorie with the franchises and right of a Colonie at whose appointment the old souldiers were there bestowed A new towne Tipasa with the grant of the liberties of Latium Likewise Icosium endowed by Vespasian the Emperour with the same donations The colonie of Augustus Rusconiae and Ruscurium by Claudius honoured with the free burgeoisie of the citie Rusoezus a colonie of Augustus Salde a Colonie of the same man Igelgili also and Turca a towne seated vpon the sea and the riuer Amsaga Within the land the Colonie Augusta the same that Succubar and likewise Tubrisuptus Cities Timici Tigauae Riuers Sardabala and Nabar The people Macurebi the riuer Vsar and the nation of the Nabades The riuer Ampsaga is from Caesarea 233 miles The length of Mauritania both the one and the other together is 839 miles the breadth 467. CHAP. III. ¶ Numidia NExt to Ampsaga is Numidia renowned for the name of Masanissa called of the Greekes the land Metagonitis The Numidian Nomades so named of changing their pasture who carry their cottages or sheds and those are all their dwelling houses about with them vpon waines Their townes be Cullu and Rusicade from which 48 miles off within the Midland parts is the colonie Cirta surnamed of the Cirtanes another also within and a free borough town named Bulla Regia But in the vtmost coast Tacatua Hippo Regius and the riuer Armua The towne Trabacha of Roman citizens the riuer Tusca which boundeth Numidia and besides the Numidian marble and great breed of wilde beasts nothing is there else worth the noting CHAP. IV. ¶ Africa FRom Tusca forward you haue the region Zeugitana and the countrey properly called Africa Three promontories first the White then anon that of Apollo ouer-against Sardinia and a third of Mercurie opposite to Sicilie which running into the sea make two creekes the one Hipponensis next to the towne which they call Hippo rased the Greeks name it Diarrhyton for the little brooks and rils that water the grounds vpon this there bordereth Theudalis an exempt towne from tribute but somewhat farther from the sea side then the promontory of Apollo And in the other creek Vtica a towne of Roman citizens ennobled for the death of Cato and the riuer Bagrada A place called Castra Cornelia and the colony Carthago among the reliques and ruines of great Carthage and the colony Maxulla towns Carpi Misna and the free borough Clupea vpon the promontorie of Mercurie Item free townes Curubis and Neapolis Soone after ye shall meet with another distinction of Africke indeed Libyphoenices are rhey called who inhabit Byzacium for so is that region named containing in circuit 250 miles exceeding fertile and plenteous where the ground sowne yeeldeth again to the husband-man 100 fold increase In it are free townes Leptis Adrumetum Ruspina and Thapsus then Thenae Macomades Tacape Sabrata reaching to the lesse Syâ—…is to which the length of Numidia and Africa from Amphaga is 580 miles the breadth 〈◊〉 â—…ch there of as is knowne 200. Now this part which wee haue called Africke is diuided into prouinces twaine the old and the new separated one from the other by a fosse or ditch brought as farre as to Thenae within the Africane gulfe which towne is 217 miles from Carthage and that trench Scipio Africanus the second caused to be made bare halfe the charges together with the KK The third gulfe is parted into twaine cursed and horrible places both for the ebbing and flowing of the sea and the shelues betweene the two Syrtes From Carthage to the nearer of them which is the lesse is 300 miles by the account of Polybius who saith also that the said Syrte is for 100 miles forward dangerous and 300 about By land also thither the way is passeable by obseruation of the Stars at one time of the yeare onely and that lyeth through desert sands and places full of serpents And then you meet with Forrests replenished with numbers of wilde beasts And within-forth Wildernesses of
hapned in a lake of Thessaly named Sicendus In Italy the hardy shrews are venomous in their biting but passe ouer the Apennine once there are no more such to be found In what country soeuer they be let them go ouer the tract of a cart wheele they die presently In Olympus a mountaine of Macedony there are no wolues ne yet in the Isle of Candy and there verily are to be found no Foxes nor Beares and in one word no hurtfull or noisome beast vnlesse it be a kinde of spider called Phalangium whereof we will speake more in due time and place And that which is more wonderfull in the same Isle there are no stags or hinds saue only in the region and quarter of the Cydoniates no wild bores likewise nor the fowle called the Godwit or Attagene ne yet Vrchins To conclude in Africk ye shall find no wild bores no Stags and Hinds no roe-bucks and Does ne yet Beares CHAP. LIX ¶ What Creatures are hurtfull to strangers NOw some liuing creatures there be that do no harm at all to the inhabitants of the same countries but kill all strangers Namely certain serpents in Tirinthe which are supposed to breed of themselues out of the very earth Semblably in Syria there be snakes and specially along the banks of Euphrates that will not touch the Sirians lying along asleep nay if a man that leans vpon them be stung or bitten by them he shal find no hurt or mischief thereby But to men of all other nations whatsoeuer they are most spightfully bent them they will with great greedinesse eagerly assaile and fly vpon yea and kill them with extreme paine and anguish and therefore it is that the Sirians destroy them not Contrariwise Aristotle reporteth That in Latmos a mountain in Caria the Scorpions will do no harm to strangers marie the inhabitants of the same country they will sting to death Now let vs proceed to other liuing creatures besides those of the land and discourse of their sundry sorts and kinds THE NINTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS CHAP. I. ¶ The nature of water Creatures I Haue thus shewed the nature of those beasts that liue vpon the land and therein haue some societie fellowship with men And considering that of all others besides in the world they that flie be the least we will first treat of those fish that keep in the sea not forgetting those also either in running fresh riuers or standing lakes CHAP. II. ¶ What the reason is why the sea should breed the greatest liuing creatures THe waters bring forth more store of liuing creatures and the same greater than the land The cause wherof is euident euen the excessiue abundance of moisture As for the fouls birds who liue hanging as it were houering in the aire their case is otherwise Now in the sea being so wide so large and open readie to receiue from heauen aboue the genitall seeds and causes of generation being so soft and pliable so proper fit to yeeld nourishment and encrease assisted also by Nature which is nouer idle but alwaies framing one new creature or other no maruell it is if there are found so many strange and monstrous things as there be For the seeds and vniuersall elements of the world are so interlaced sundry waies and mingled one within another partly by the blowing of the winds and partly with the rolling and agation of the waues insomuch as it may truly be said according to the vulgar opinion that whatsoeuer is engendred and bred in any part of the world besides is to be found in the sea and many more things in it which no where else are to be seen For there shall ye meet with fishes resembling not onely the forme and shape of land creatures liuing but also the figure and fashion of many things without life there may one see bunches of grapes swords and sawes represented yea and also cowâ—…umbers which for colour smell and taste resembleth those growing vpon the earth And therefore we need the lesse to wonder if in so little shell fishes as are cockles there be somewhat standing out like horse-heads CHAP. III. ¶ Of the monstrous fishes in the Indian sea THe Indian sea breedeth the most and biggest fishes that are among which the Whales and Whirlepooles called Balaenae take vp in length as much as foure acres or arpens of land likewise the Pristes are two hundred cubits long and no maruell since Locusts are there to be found of foure cubits in length and yeeles within the riuer Ganges of thirtie foot in length But these monstrous fishes in the sea are most to be seen about the middest of Summer when the daies be at the longest with vs. For then by the means of whirlewinds storms winds and blustering tempests which come with violence down from the mountains and promontories the seas are troubled from the very bottome and turned vpside downe whereupon the surging billowes thereof raise these monsters out of the deep and roll them vp to be seen For in that manner so great a multitude of Tunnies were discouered and arose that the whole armada of king Alexander the great seeing them comming like to an armie of enemies in order of battell was driuen to range make head against them close vnited together for otherwise if they had sailed scattering asunder there had bin no way to escape but ouerturned they had bin with such a force and sway came these Tunnies in a skull vpon them And verily no voice crie hollaing and houting no nor any blowes and raps affrighted this kind of fish only at some cracke or crashing noise they be terrified and neuer are they troubled and disquieted so much as when they perceiue some huge thing ready to fall vpon them In the red sea there lies a great demie Island named Cadara so farre out into the sea that it maketh a huge gulfe vnder the wind which king Ptolomaeus was 12 daies and 12 nights a rowing through forasmuch as there is no wind at all vses to blow there In this creeke so close and quiet there be fish and Whales grow to that bignes that for their very weight and vnweldines of their bodie they are not able to stirre The Admirals and other captaines of the fleet of the foresaid Alexander the great made report That the Gedrosi a people dwelling vpon the riuer Arbis vse to make of such fishes chawes the dores of their houses also that they lay their bones ouerthwart from one side of the house to another in stead of beames joists and rafters to beare vp their floores and roufes and that some of them were found to be fortie cubits long In those parts there be found in the sea certaine strange beasts like sheep which goe forth to land feed vpon the roots of plants and herbes and then returne againe into the sea Others also which are headed like Horses Asses and Buls and those many times
This bird so soon as she is taken prisoner loseth her voice and is mute for otherwise she is vocal and loud enough and in old time was reputed a rare and singular bird But now there be caught of them in France and Spain yea and among the Alps where also the Plungeons or bald Rauens be which heretofore were thought proper and peculiar to the Baleare Islands like as the Pyrrhocorax i. the red Rauen with the yellow bill was supposed to breed onely among the Alps and with it the Lagopus a daintie bird and most pleasant in the dish And this name it took in Greek because it is rough footed and haired like the haires foot otherwise all ouer white and as big as a pigeon Haue her out of the ground vnder which she breedeth you shall hardly get her to feed neither will shee be made tame liue she neuer so long kill her once the body presently wil rot and putrifie There is another besides of that name and differeth from Quailes onely in bignesse for it is greater than the Quaile and with a yellow sauce of saffron it is a most delicate piece of meat M. Egnatius Calvinus gouernor of the parts about the Alps reporteth that he hath seen there the Ibis a bird proper to the land of Aegypt CHAP. XLIX ¶ Of new Birds and such as are holden for fabulous DVring the ciuil wars between Otho and Vitellius and namely about the time of the journy or battell of Bebriacum beyond the Po there were these new birds for so they be called still at this day brought into Italy Like they be to Thrushes or Mavisses somewhat lesse than house doues pleasant in the eating The Baleare Isles send vs another Porphyrio better than that before named cap. 46. Where the Buzards also a kind of Hawk are held for excellent meat and serued vp at the table Likewise the Vipio for so they call the lesser Crane As for the fowles called Pegasi headed like horses and the Griffons which are supposed to haue long eares and a hooked bill I take them to be meere fables and yet they say that the Pegasi should be in Scythia and the Griffons in Ethyopia Moreouer I thinke the same of the Tragopanades which many men affirm to be greater than the Egle hauing crooked horns like a ram on either side of the head of the colour of iron and the head only red As touching the Birds Syrenes I wil neuer beleeue there be any such let Dino the father of Clitarchus that renowmed writer say what he wil who auoucheth for a truth that they be in India and that with their singing they wil bring folk asleep and then fly vpon them and teare them in pieces He that will giue credit to these fables may euen as well beleeue that dragons forsooth taught Melampus by licking his eares how to vnderstand the language of birds when they chaunt and sing vpon trees or cry and chirp in the aire Likewise the tales that Democritus telleth who nameth certain birds of whose bloud mingled together and suffered to corrupt there is ingendred a Serpent which whosoeuer eateth shall know what birds say one to another in their speech and namely the strange things he telleth of the Lark aboue the rest For verily without these fabulous lies mens heads be occupied enough and too much to about the Auguries onely and presages of birds that they haue no need to busie trouble their brains about those toies Homer makes mention of certain birds called Scopes but I canot conceiue those satyrical gesticulations of theirs like Antikes when they are perched which so many men talke of neither doe I think otherwise but that these birds are out of knowledge now a daies And therefore far better it is to write of those we know CHAP. L. ¶ Wâ—…o first deuised to cram Hens Wbo inuented Mues and Coupes to keepe foule in THey of the Island Delos began the cramming of Hens and Pullein first And from them arose that detestable gourmandise and gluttonie to eat Hens and Capons so fat enterlarded with their owne grease Among the old statutes ordained for to represse inordinate feasts I find in one act made by C. Fannius a Consul of Rome eleuen yeres before the third Punick war an expresse prohibition and restraint That no man should haue his table serued with any foule vnlesse it were one hen and no more and the same a runner only and not fed vp and crammed fat The branch of this one statute was afterwards taken forth and inserted in al other acts prouided in that behalfe went currant thorough all Howbeit for all the law so well set down there was a starting hole found to delude and escape the meaning therof namely to feed Cocks Capons also with a past soked in milk mead together for to make their flesh more tender delicate and of sweeter tast for that the letter of the statute reached no farther than to Hens or Pullets As for the Hens they only be thought good and well ynough cramm'd which are fat about the neck and haue their skin plumpe and soft there Howbeit afterwards our fine cookes began to looke to their hind-parts about the rumpe and chuse them thereby And that they should make a greater shew in the platter they slit rhem along the chine and lay their legs out at large that they might take vp the whole dresser bourd The Parthians also haue taught our cooks their own fashions And yet for all this fine dressing and setting out of meat there is nothing that pleaseth and contenteth the tooth of man in all respects while one loues nothing but the leg another likes and praises the white brawne alone about the breast bone The first that deuised a Barton Mue to keepe foule in was M. Lenius Strabo a gentleman of Rome who made such an one at Brindis where he had enclosed birds of all kinds And by his example we began to keepe foules within narrow coups and cages as prisoners to which creatures Natâ—…re had allowed the wide aire for their scope and habitation CHAP. LI. ¶ Of Aesopes proud platter BVt in the relation and report of this argument notorious aboue all the rest in our memorie is that platter of Clodius Aesopus the plaier of Tragedies which was esteemed worth six hundred Sestertia In this one charger he serued vp at the table all kind of birds that either could sing or say after a man and they cost him six hundred Sesterces apeece And surely it was no delight pleasure that he sought herein to content the tooth but only that he would haue the name to eat the resemblers of mans voice without any consideration regard that he had of all that great riches and reuenues of his owne which himselfe had gotten by his tongue and by counterfeiting the speech of others A father verily worthie such a sonne who as we said before deuoured those precious pearles And to speake a
by the meanes of the commerce we haue had with the vniuersall world by thâ—…â—…fick negotiation and societie I say that we haue entered into during the blessed time of peace whichwe haue inioyed considering that by such trade and entercourse all things heretofore vnknowne might haue come to light And yet for all this few or none beleeue me there are who haue attained to the knowledge of many matters which the old writers in times past haue taught and put in writing Whereby wee may easily see that our ancestours were either far more carefull and industrious or in their industrie more happie and fortunate Considering withall that aboue two hundred yeares past Hesiodus who liued in the very infancie of Learning and good letters began his worke of Agriculture and set downe rules and precepts for husbandmen to follow After whose good example many others hauing trauelled and taken like paines yet haue put vs now to greater labour For by this means we are not onely to search into the last inuentions of later writers but also to those of antient time which are forgotten and couered with obliuion through the supine negligence and generall idlenesse of all mankind And what reasons may a man alledge of this drowsinesse but that which hath lulled the world asleepe the cause in good faith of all is this and no other Wee are readie to forgoe all good customes of old and to embrace nouelties and change of fashions mens minds now a daies are amused and occupied about new fangles and their thoughts be rolling they wander and roue at randon their heads be euer running and no arts and professions are now set by and in request but such as bring pence into our purses Heretofore whilest Kings and Potentates contained themselues within the Dominion of their owne Nations and were not so ambitious as now they bee no maruell if their wits and spirits kept still at home and so for want of wealth and riches of Fortune were forced to employ and exercise the gifts of their minde in such sort as an infinite number of Princes were honoured and renowned for their singular knowledge and learning Yea they were more braue in port and carried a goodlier shew in the World for their skill in Liberall Sciences than others with all their pomp or riches beeing fully persuaded and assured that the way to attaine vnto immortalitie and euerlasting Fame was by literature and not by great possessions and large seignories And therefore as learning was much honoured and rewarded in those daies so arts sciences tending to the common good of this life daily increased But afterwards when the way was once made to inlarge their territories farther in the world when princes and states beg anne to make conquests and grow rich and mighty the posterity felt the smart and losse thereby Then began men to chuse a Senator for his wealth to make a judge for his riches and the election of a ciuill magistrate and martiall captain to haue an eie and regard only to goods and substance to land and liuing when rents and reuenues were the chiefe and onely ornaments that made men seeme wise iust politicke and valiant Since time that childlesse estate was a point looked into and aduanced men into high place of authoritie and power procuring them many fauorites in hope of succession since time I say that euery man aimed and reached at the readiest meanes of greatest lucre and gaine setting their whole mind and repâ—…sing their full content and ioy in laying land to land and heaping together possessions downe went the most precious things of this life and lost their reputation all those liberall arts which tooke their name of liberty and freedome the soueraigne good in this world which were meet for princes nobles gentlemen and persons of great state forwent that prerogatiue and fell a contrarie way yea and ran quite to wracke and ruine so as in stead thereof base slauerie and seruitude be the only waies to arise and thriue by whiles some practise it one way some another by flattering admiring courting crouching and adoring and all to gather good and get mony This is the onely marke they shoot at this is the end and accomplishment of all their vowes praiers and desires Insomuch as we may perceiue euery where how men of high spirit and great conceit are giuen rather to honor the vices and imperfections of others than to make the best of their owne vertues and commendable parts And therefore we may full truly say that life indeed is dead Voluptuousnesse and Pleasure alone is aliue yea and beginneth to beare all the sway Neuerthelesse for all these enormities and hinderances giue ouer will not I to search into those things that be perished and vtterly forgotten how small and base sceuer some of them be no more than I was affrighted in that regard from the treatise and discourse of liuing creatures Notwithstanding that I see Virgil a most excellent Poet for that cause only forbare to write of gardens and hortyards because he would not enter into such petty matters and of those so important things that he handled he gathered only the principall floures and put them downe in writing Who albeit that he hath made mention of no more than 15 sorts of grapes three kinds of Oliues and as many of Peares and setting aside the Citrons and Limons hath not said a word of any apples yet in this one thing happy and fortunate hee was For that his worke is highly esteemed and no imputation of negligence charged vpon him But where now shall we begin this treatise of ours What deserueth the chiefe and principall place but the vine in which respect Italy hath the name for the very soueraignty of Vine-yards insomuch that therein alone if there were nothing els it may well seeme to surpasse all other lands euen those that bring forth odoriferous spices and aroâ—…call drugs And yet to say a truth there is no smell so pleasant whatsoeuer that out-goeth Vines when they be in their fresh and flouring time CHAP. I. ¶ Of Vines their nature and manner of bearing VInes in old time were by good reason for their bignesse reckoned among trees For in Populonia a citie of Tuscan we see a statue of Iupiter made of the wood of one entire Vine and yet continued it hath a world of yeares vncorrupt and without worme Likewise at Massiles there is a great standing cup or boll to be seene of Vine-wood At Metapontum there stood a temple of Iuno bearing vpon pillars of Vine wood And euen at this day there is a ladder or paire of staires vp to the temple of Diana in Ephesus framed of one Vine-tree brought by report out of the Island Cypres for there indeed vines grow to an exceeding bignesse And to speake a truth there is no wood more dureable and lasting than is the vine Howbeit for my part I would thinke that these singular pieces of worke before-named were made of
to be fat the white is chiefe and thereof be many sorts The most mordant and sharpest of them all is that whereof wee spake before A second kind there is of chalkish clay which our gold-smiths vse called Tripela this lieth a great depth within the earth insomuch as many times men are driuen to sinke pits 100 foot deep for it and those haue a small and narrow mouth aboue but within-forth and vnder the ground they be digged wider by reason that the veine thereof runneth many waies in manner of other mettall mines This is the marle so much vsed in Britain the strength therof being cast vpon a land will last 80 yeres and neuer yet was the man known that herewith marled the same ground twice in all his life time The third kind of white marle is that which the Greekes call Glischromargon it is no other than the Fullers chalkie clay mixed with a viscous and fatty earth The nature of it is to breed grasse better than to beare corne for after one crop of corne is taken off the ground in haruest before seed time is come for winter grain the grasse wil be so high growne that a man may cut it down and haue a plentiful after-math for hay and yet al the while that it hath corn vpon it you shall not see it to beare any grasse besides This marle continueth good 30 yeres if it be laid ouer-thick vpon a land it choketh the ground in manner of Cumine The Columbine marle the Gauls call in their language by a name borrowed of the Greeks Pelias i. Doue or Pigeon marle it is fetched out of the ground in clots and lumpes like as stones be hewed out of quarries with Sunne and the frost together it will resolue and cleaue into most thin slates or flakes This marle is as good for corne as for herbage As for sandy marle it will serue the turn for want of other yea and if the ground be cold moist and weely the husbandman will make choice thereof before other The Vbians vpon my knowledge vse to inrich their ground and make itmore battle though their territory otherwise be most fertile with any earth whatsoeuer prouided alwaies that it be digged vp three foot deep at least and laid a foot thick a deuise that no other country doth practise howbeit this soile and manner of manuring continueth good not aboue ten yeres the Heduans and Pictones haue forced their grounds and made them most plentifull with lime-stone which is found also by experience to be passing profitable for vines and oliues To come now to the ordering of this piece of husbandry the ground ought to be ploughed first before marle of any sort be cast vpon it to the end that the medicinable vertue substance thereof might the sooner and more greedily be receiued into it Now forasmuch as marle is at the first ouer-rough and hard not so free in the beginning as to resolue and turne into blade or grasse it had need of some compost or dung to be mingled with it for otherwise be it neuer so rich it will rather do harm than good to the ground by reason that it is yet strange and not acquainted therewith and yet help it this way as wel as you can it will not bring forth any plenty the first yere after it is laid on Last of all it skilleth much to consider the nature of the ground which you mean to marle for the dry marle sorteth well with a moist soile and the fatty hitteth that which is dry and lean But when the ground is of a middle temperature between both it mattereth not whether you vse the white gold-smiths chalke or the Columbine marle for either of them will serue well enough CHAP. IX ¶ The vse of ashes vpon lands of Dung what graine or pulse sowne doth make the ground more plentifull and what burneth it THe people dwelling beyond the Po make such account of ashes for to inrich the grounds withall that they prefer it before hors-muck and such like which dung because they take it to be very light they burne also into ashes for that purpose Howbeit as we haue said before in one and the same corn-land they vse not asheâ—… and mucke both at once no more doe they cast ashes in hortyards for to nourish yong trees nor in fields for some kind of corn Some are of iudgement that grapes are fed with dust who also do cast dust vpon them when they begin to bloome yea and bestrew dust vpon the roots as well of Vines as other trees Certain it is that in the prouince of Narbon they vse so to do and they are assuredly persuaded that grapes ripen better and the vintage commeth the sooner thereby because in those parts dust doth more good than the Sun As for mucke there be diuers sorts thereof and in old time much vse there was of it for in Homer we read that long ago the good old king 〈◊〉 was found laying soile and dung vpon his land with his own hands The first that deuised mucking of grounds was by report Augeaâ—… a king in Greece but Hercules divulged the practise thereof among the Italians who in regard of that inuention immortalized their K. Stercutius the son of Faunus M. Varro esteemeth the dung of Blackbirds gathered out of their bartons where they be kept in mew aboue al others He highly magnifieth and extolleth it also for that it bringeth forth so good forage to feed kine oxen and swine withall auouching for certaine that they will become fat beefe and pork with no meat sooner We must thinke well therfore and hope the best of the world now adaies since that our ancestors and forefathers so long ago had so great bartons and pens that the dung of fouls there kept was sufficient to help their hard and hungry grounds In the second degree of goodnesse Columella rangeth Pigeons dung gathered out of Doue-cotes the third place hee giueth to that of Hens and other land pullen reiecting altogether the dung of water-foule Howbeit all other Authors setting these two aside attribute with one voice and consent vnto the excrements of mans body the greatest praise for this purpose Some of them prefer mans vrine and namely when the haires of beast-hides haue bin soked therewith and quicke-lime together in the Tanners pits Others vse vrine alone by it selfe only they mingle water with it againe but in greater quantitie a good deale than they whose vrine it was did put to the wine when they drank it and good reason too for more need there is now to correct and represse the malice thereof considering that besides the natiue malignitie of the wine it selfe mans bodie hath giuen and imprinted into it a strong and vnsauorie quality Thus you may see how men labour striue and try conclusions to seed and inrich the very ground the best way they can deuise Next vnto the ordure and vrine of mans â—…ody the filthy dung of swine
profit as that trauell in former times of great captains and LL. Generalls And in very truth euen among other forrein nations it was counted a princelike profession indeed to be able for to giue rules and directions about Husbandry for so we may see that both kings haue studied this argument as namely Hiero Philometor Attalus and Archelaus and also martiall captaines to wit Xenophon and Mago the Carthaginian As for Mago verily our Senate did him that honour after Carthage was woon that in sacking it and giuing away among diuers LL. of Affricke the Libraries there found they thought good to reserue only 28 volumes of his and penned by him as touching Agriculture and io haue them translated into the Latin tongue notwithstanding that M. Cato had already beforetime put out in writing and set forth certaine rules precepts therof giuing order for this translation to those that were well seene in the Punicke or Carthaginian language in which businesse D. Syllanus a Romane gentleman of a right worshipfull house went beyond all others As for great schollers and men of profound and deep learning a number there were besides that trauelled in this matter whom wee haue named already in the forefront and eftsoones shall mention in the discourse of this volume In which range we must nominate not vnthankfully among the meanest writers M. Varro who beeing fourescore yeares old and one thought it not amisse to compile a speciall booke and treatise of Husbandry CHAP. IIII. ¶ The manner of Husbandry in antient time LAte it was ere the Romans began to set their minds vpon Vines and Vineyards for at first they tilled only corne fields for very necessitie euen as much as might suffice to serue the city The order and manner whereof I will set in hand to treat of not after a vulgar and common sort but according to my vsuall manner hitherto more soundly as hauing sought out with all care and diligence not only the antient practise in times past but the inuentions also of late daies withal searched into the causes and reasons of euery thing and found them out My purpose is besides to speake in this treatise of the fixed Starres their rising and setting their apparition and occultation together with their influences as they are vndoubtedly obserued and seen here vpon earth And this my meaning is to do after a plain and familiar sort forasmuch as they who hitherto wrote of this argument haue handled the same so subtilly and penned it with so high a stile as they may seeme to any man for to haue written books for Oratours to reade rather than to the capacity of plaine husbandmen for to practice First and foremost therefore I will for the most part deale by Oracles that is to say sententious Sawes for to determine this question in hand concerning which there are as many to be found in number and those as true in effect as in any other part and profession of this our life whatsoeuer And least any man should think it strange that I cal these rules of Husbandrie Oracles who would take them for lesse considering how they proceed from Time a god most certaine and are deliuered and approoued by Experience the truest prophet of all others And beginne I will with Cato first CHAP. V. ¶ The praâ—…se and commendation of Husbandmen what things are to be required in the purchasing or taking to ferme of hoâ—…se and land THe children saith Cato that are begotten by husbandmen proue most valiant the hardiest souldiers and such as thinke least harme of all others In buying of land take heed you be not too hot and eager vpon the purchase In the husbanding of ground spare for no paine and trauell but in the purchasing therof be you nothing forward a thing ouer-bought hath euermore repentance and had I wist attending vpon it They that are about a purchase ought aboue all to see how the ground is watered what waies and auenues be about it and what neighbors be neare vnto it Out of euery one of these points matters of great importance and deepe conclusions may be picked and those most certaine and infallible Cato addeth moreouer and saith That there would be good regard had of the people confining and other grounds bounding thereupon whether they be well liking faire and trim to see vnto For these be his words It is a good signe quoth he that the ferm is well seated and in a commodious quarter if all about looke well Attilius Regulus hee who during the first Punicke warre was twise Consull of Rome was wont to say That a man should not purchase an vnwholesome piece of land were it neuer so rich and fruitfull nor make choice of a barren soile were it neuer so healthie Now as touching the healthfulnesse of a place a man may not alwaies conclude therof by the color and fresh hue of the inhabitants for many times it falleth out that those who be vsed to pestilent places hold out well and haue their health yea and by their lookes bewray no harme that they take Moreouer some quarters and coasts there be which at some times of the yeare stand sound and healthy enough but I will count none holesome but such as be healthfull all the yere long An ill piece of land is that which putteth the lord thereof to pain and with which he is forced to wrestle for to haue his health Cato would haue this point especially to be considered that the soile of a ferme scituat as hath bin said be good of it selfe and fertile also that neere vnto it there be store of laborers and that it bee not farre from a good and strong towne moreouer that it hath sufficient meanes for transporting of the commodities which it yeeldeth either by vessels vpon water or otherwise by waines vpon the land Furthermore that the manour house be well built and the land about it as well husbanded Howbeit herein I see many men to erre much and greatly to be deceiued for they hold opinion that the negligence and il husbandry of the former lord is good for him that shall purchase land and come after him But I say there is nothing more dangerous and disaduantageous to the buyer than land so left wast and out of heart and therefore Cato giueth good counsell to purchase land of a good husband and not rashly and hand ouer head to despise and set light by the skil and knowledge of another Who saith moreouer That as well land as men which are of great charge and expence how gaineful soeuer they may seeme to be yeeld not much profit in the end to the master declaro when all counts be cast and reckonings made He therfâ—…re judgeth that the Vine yeeldeth the best reuenue of all commodities belonging to a ferme and good reason he hath so to say because aboue all things he taketh order to cut off expence as much as may be Next to it he reckoneth Hortyards such especially as haue
As she therefore By Natures lore Doth fruit thrice yearely beare So thereby we Know seasons three Our land to duly eare Of which three seasons one is appropriate for the sowing both of Poppy and also of Lineseed But since I haue named Poppy I will tell you what Cato saith as touching the sowing thereof vpon that land quoth he where you mean to sow Poppy burn your winding rods the cuttings also and twigs of vines which remained and were left at the pruning time when you haue burned them sow wild Poppy seed in the place for it is a singular medicine being boiled vp to a syrrup in honey for to cure the maladies incident to the chawes and throat As for the garden Poppy it hath an excellent and effectuall vertue to procure sleep And thus much concerning Winter corne and the Seednes thereof CHAP. XXVI ¶ A summarie or recapitulation of all points of Husbandry and to what out-works in the field a husbandman should be imployed respectiuely to euerie moneth of the yeare BVt now to compasse vnder a certain briefe Abridgement or Breviarie all points of husbandrie together At the same time before named to wit at the falling of the leafe it is good also to lay dung vnto the roots of trees likewise to mold and bank vines and one workeman is sufficient for one acre Also where the nature of the ground will beare it the husbandman shall not do amisse to disbranch and lop his tree-groues to prune his vineyards to hollow the ground of his seminaries and nourse-plots with mattocke and spade and dresse the mould light to open his sluces and trenches for water-course to driue and drain it out of the fields and finally to wash his Wine-presses first and then to shut and lay them vp dry and safe Item after the Calends or first day of Nouember let him set no hens vpon egs vntill the winter Sunstead be past when that time is come and gon set Hens hardly and let them couve 13 egs marie better it were all Summer long to put so many vnder them for in winter fewer will serue howbeit neuer vnder nine Democritus giueth a guesse what Winter we shall haue by the very day of the Winter Sunstead for look what weather is then and for threedaies about it the like winter he supposeth will ensue Semblably for the Summer he goeth by the other Sunstead or longest day of the yeare and yet commonly for a fortnight about the shortest day in the yeare to wit during the time that the fowles Halcyones do lay couve and hatch their egs in the sea the windes lie and the weather is more mild and temperat But as well by these signes as all other whatsoeuer we must guesse the influences and effects of the stars according to the euent within some latitude of time and not so precisely to limit and tie them alwaies to certain daies prefixed as if they were bound to make their appearance peremptorily in court iust then and faile not Moreouer in mid-winter meddle not at all with vines touch them not in any hand but let them alone What then is the husbandman to do Mary then quoth Hyginus after seuen daies be once past from the Sunnestead he is to refine his wines from the lees and let them settle yea and to poure them out of one vessel into another prouided withall that the Moon be a quarter old Also about that season to wit when the Sun is in Capricorn it is not amisse to plant cherrie trees and set their stones then is it good also to giue oxen Mast to feed them and one Modius or pâ—…cke is sufficient to serue a yoke at one refection allow them more at once you glut them and fill them full of diseases but at what time soeuer you make them this allowance vnlesse you hold on thirty daies together folke say they will be scabbed and mangie when the Spring commeth that you will repent for cutting them so short As for felling timber trees this was the proper season which we appointed heretofore All other winter works for an husbandman to be busied in would be done in the night for the most part sit vp he must late and rise betimes by candle light and watch hardly about them for that the nights be so much longer than the daies let him a Gods name find himselfe occupied with making Wicker baskets and hampers winding of hurdles twisting of frailes and paniers let him thwite torch wood taperwise with links and lights and when he hath by day light made ready and prepared thirtie poles or railes for vines to run on and sixty stakes or props to support them hee may in the euening make fiue poles or perches and ten forks or supporters and likewise as many early in the morning before day light But now to come to Caesars reckoning of the times digestion of the coelestial signes these be the notable stars which are significant and do rule that quarter which is between the winter Sunstead and the rising of the Western wind Favonius Vpon the third day saith he before the Calends of Ianuarie which is the 30 day of December the Dog-starre goeth downe in the morning vpon which day in Attica and the whole tract thereto adioyning the star Aquila i. the Aegle setteth by report in the euening and loseth her light The euen before the Nones of Ianuarie i. the fourth day thereof by Caesars account I mean for the meridian of Italy the Dolphin star riseth in the morning and the morrow after the Harp-star Fidicula vpon which day in Aegypt the star Sagitta i. the Arrow setteth in the euening Item from that time to the sixt day before the Ides of Ianuarie i. the eighth day of that moneth when as the same Dolphin goeth down or retireth out of sight in the euening vsually we haue in Italy continual frost and winter weather as also when the Sun is perceiued to enter into Aquarius which ordinarily falleth out sixteen daies before the Calends of Februarie i. the seuenteenth of Ianuary As for the cleare and bright star called the star Royal appearing in the breast of the signe Leo Tubero mine Author saith that eight daies before the Calends of Februarie to wit the 25 day of Ianuarie it goeth out of our sight in the morning also ouer-night before the Nones of Februarie i. the fourth day of the same moneth the Harp-star Fidicula goeth down and is no more seene Toward the later end of this quarter it is good and necessarie to dig and turne vp fresh mould with mattock and spade against the time that roses or vines shal be set wheresoeuer the temperature of the climat will beare it and for an acre of such worke sixty labourers in a day are sufficient to doe it well At which time also old trenches and ditches would be scoured or new made For morning worke before day the Husbandman must look to his iron tooles that they be ground whetred and
the Elements 6. Of the seuen Planets 7. Concerning God 8. The nature of the fixed starres and Planets their course and reuolution 9. The nature of the Moone 10. The eclipse of Sun and Moone also of the night 11. The bignesse of starres 12. Diuerse inuentions of men and their obseruations touching the coelestiall bodies 13. Of Eclipses 14. The motion of the Moone 15. Generall rules or canons touching planets or lights 16. The reason why the same planets seeme higher or lower at sundry times 17. Generall rules concerning the planets or wandring stars 18. What is the cause that planets change their colours 19. The course of the Sunne his motion and from whence proceedeth the inequalitie of daies 20. Why lightenings be assigned to Iupiter 21. The distances betweene the planets 22. The harmonie of stars and planets 23. The geometrie and dimensions of the world 24. Of stars appearing sodainly 25. Of comets or blasing stars and other prodigious appearances in the skie their nature situation and sundry kinds 26. The opinion of Hipparchus the Philosopher as touching the stars fire-lights lamps pillars or beames of fire burning darts gapings of the skie and other such impressions by way of example 27. Strange colours appearing in the firmament 28. Flames and leams seene in the skie 29. Circles of guirlands shewing aboue 30. Of coelestiall circles and guirlands that continue not but soone passe 31. Of many Suns 32. Of many Moones 33. Of nights as light as day 34. Of meteors resembling fierie targuets 35. Astrange and wonderfull apparition in the skie 36. The extraordinarie shooting and motion of stars 37. Of the stars named Castor and Pollux 38. Of the Aire 39. Of certaine set times and seasons 40. The power of the Dog-star 41. The sundrie influences of stars according to the seasons and degrees of the signes 42. The causes of raine wind and clouds 43. Of thunder and lightning 44. Whereupon commeth the redoubling of the voice called Echo 45. Of winds againe 46. Diuerse considerations obserued in the nature of winds 37. Many sorts of winds 48. Of sodaine blasts and whirle-puffs 49. Other strange kinds of tempests storms 50. In what regions there fall thunderbolts 51. Diuers sorts of lightnings and wonderous accidents by them occasioned 52. The obseruations of the Tuscanes in old time as touching lightening 53. Conjuring for to raise lightning 54. Generall rules concerning leames and flashes of lightning 55. What things be exempt and secured from lightning and thunderbolts 56. Of monstrous and prodigious showres of raine namely of milke bloud flesh yron wooll bricke and tyle 57. The rattling of harnesse and armour the sóund also of trumpets heard from heauen 58. Of stones falling from heauen 59. Of the Rain-bow 60. Of Haile Snow frost Mists and Dew 61. Of diuers formes and shapes represented in clouds 62. The particular propertie of the skie in certaine places 63. The nature of the Earth 64. The forme and figure of the earth 65. Of the Antipodes and whether there bee any such Also as touching the roundnesse of the water 66. How the water resteth vpon the Earth 67. Of Seas and riuers nauigable 68. What parts of the earth be habitable 69. That the earth is in the mids of the world 70. From whence proceedeth the inequalitie obserued in the rising and eleuation of the stars Of the eclipse where it is wherfore 71. The reason of the day-light vpon earth 72. A discourse thereof according to the Gnomon also of the first Sun-dyall 73. In what places and at what times there are no shadows cast 74. Where the shadows fall opposite and contrary twice in the yeare 75. Where the dayes bee longest and where shortest 76. Likewise of Dyals and Quadrants 77. The diuers obseruations and acceptations of the day 78. The diuersities of regions and the reason thereof 79. Of Earthquakes 80. Of the chinks and openinst of the earth 81. Signes of earthquake toward 82. Remedies and helps againg eatthquakes comming 83. Strange and prodigious wonders seen one time in the earth 84. Miraculous accidents as touching earthquake 85. In what parts the seas went backe 86. Islands appearing new out of the sea 87. What Islands haue thus shewed and at what times 88. Into what lands the seas haue broken perforce 89. What Islands haue bin ioyned to the continent 90. What lands haue perished by water and become all sea 91. Of lands that haue settled and beene swallowed vp of themselues 92. What cities haue beene ouerflowed and drowned by the sea 93. Wonderfull strange things as touching some lands 94. Of certaine lands that alwaies suffer earthquake 95. Of Islands that flote continually 96. In what countries of the world it never raineth also of many miracles as well of the earth as other elements hudled vp pell mell together 97. The reason of the Sea-tides as well ebbing as flowing and where the sea floweth extraordinarily 98. Wonderfull things obserued in the sea 99. The power of the Moone ouer Sea and land 100. The power of the Sun and the reason why the sea is salt 101. Moreouer as touching the nature of the Moone 102. Where the sea is deepest 103. Admirable obseruations in fresh waters as well of fountaines as riuers 104. Admirable things as touching fire and water ioyntly together also of Maltha 105. Of Naphtha 106. Of certaine places that burne continually 107. Wonders of fire alone 108. The dimension of the earth as well in length as in breadth 109. The harmonicall circuit ond circumference of the world In sum there are tn this boooke of histories notable matters and worthy obseruations foure hundred and eighteene in number Latine Authours cited M. Varro Sulpitius Gallus Tiberius Caesar Emperour Q. Tubero Tullius Tiro L. Piso T. Livius Cornelius Nepos Statius Sebosus Casius Antipater Fabianus Antias Mutianus Cecina who wrote of the Tuscane learning Tarquitius L. Aquila and Sergius Paulus Forreine Authours cited Plato Hipparchus Timaeus Sosigenes Petosiris Necepsus the Pythagoreans Posidonius Anaximander Epigenes Gnomonicus Euclides Ceranus the Philosopher Eudoxus Democritus Crâ—…sodemus Thrasillus Serapion Dicearchus Archimedes Onesicritus Eratosthenes Pytheas Herodotus Aristotle Ctesius Artemidorus the Ephesian Isidorus Characenus and Theopompus ¶ IN THE THIRD BOOKE ARE COMPREHENded the Regions Nations Seas Townes Hauens Mountains Riuers with their measures and people either at this day known or in times past as followeth Chap. 1. Of Europe 2. The length and breadth of Boetica a part of Spaine containing Andalusia and the realme of Grenado 3. That hither part of Spaine called of the Romans Hispania Citerior 4. The Prouince Nerbonencis wherin is Dauphine Languedoc and Provance 5. Italie Tiberis Rome and Campaine 6. The Island Corsica 7. Sardinia 8. Sicilie 9. Lipara 10. Of Locri and the frontiers of Italie 11. The second gulfe of Europe 12. The fourth region of Italie 13. The fifth region 14. The sixth region 15. The eighth region 16. Of the riuer Po. 17. Of Italie beyond the Po counted the eleuenth
little lesse than 25000 stadia CHAP. CIX ¶ The Harmonicall measure and Circumference of the World DIonysidorus in another kind would be beleeued for I will not beguile you of the greatest example of Grecian vanitie This man was a Melian famous for his skill in Geometrie he dyed very aged in his owne countrey his neere kins-women who by right were his heires in remainder solemnized his funerals accompanied him to his graue These women as they came some few daies after to his sepulchre for to performe some solemne obsequies thereto belonging by report found in his monument an Epistle of this Dionysidorus written in his owne name To them aboue that is to say To the liuing and to this effect namely That he had made a step from his sepulchre to the bottome and centre of the earth and that it was thither 42000 stadia Neither wanted there Geometricians who made this interpretation that he signified that this Epistle was sent from the middle centre of the earth to which place downward from the vppermost aloft the way was longest and the same was iust halfe the diametre of the round globe whereupon followed this computation That they pronounced the circuit to be 255000 stadia Now the Harmonicall proportion which forceth this vniuersalitic and nature of the World to agree vnto it selfe addeth vnto this measure 7000 stadia and so maketh the earth to be the 96000 part of the whole world THE THIRD BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proeme or Preface HIt herto haue we written of the position and wonders of the Earth Waters and Starres also we haue treated in generall termes of the proportion and measure of the whole world Now it followeth to discourse of the parts thereof albeit this also be iudged an infinite piece of worke nor lightly can be handled without some reprehension and yet in no kinde of enterprise pardon is more due since it is no maruell at all if he who is borne a mortall man knoweth not all things belonging to man And therefore I will not follow one Author more than another but euery one as I shall thinke him most true in the description of each part Forasmuch as this hath been a thing common in manner to them all namely to learn or describe the scituations of those places most exactly where themselues were either borne or which they had discouered and seene and therefore neither will I blame nor reproue any man The bare names of places shall be simply set downe in this my Geographic and that with as great breuitie as I can the excellency as also the causes and occasions thereof shall be deferred to their seuer all and particular treatises for now the question is as touching the whole earth in generalitie which mine intent is to represent vnto your eies and therefore I would haue things thus to be taken as if the names of countries were put downe nâ—…ked and void of renowne and fame and such onely as they were in the beginning before any acts there done and as if they had indeed an indument of names but respectiue onely to the World and vniuersall Nature of all Now the whole globe of the earth is diuided into three parts Europe Asia and Africa The beginning we take from the West and the Firth of Gades euen whereas the Atlanticke Ocean breaking in is spred into the Inland and Mediterranean seas Make your entrance there I meane at the Streights of Gibralter and then Africa is on the right hand Europe on the left and Asia before you iust betweene The bounds confining these are the riuers Tanais and Nilus The mouth of the Ocean at Gades whereof I spake before lyeth out in length 15 miles and stretcheth forth in breadth but fiue from a village in Spaine called Mellaria to the promontorie of Africke called the VVhite as Turannius Graccula born thereby doth write T. Liuius and Nepos Cornelius haue reported that the breadth thereof where it is narrowest is seuen miles ouer but ten miles where it is broadest From so small amouth a wonder to consider spreadeth the sea so huge and so vast as we see and withall so exceeding deepe as the maruell is no lesse in that regard For why in the verie mouth thereof are to be seen many barres and shallow shelues of white sands so ebbe is the water to the great terrour of shippes and sailers passing that way And therefore many haue called those Streights of Gibralter The entrie of the Mediterranean Sea Of both sides of this gullet neere vnto it are two mountaines set as frontiers and rampiers to keepe all in namely Abila for Africke Calpe for Europe the vtmost end of Hercules Labours For which cause the inhabitants of those parts call them the two pillars of that God and doe verily beleeue that by certaine draines and ditches digged within the Continent the maine Ocean before excluded made way and was let in to make the Mediteranean seas where before was firme land and so by that meanes the very face of the whole earth is cleane altered CHAP. I. ¶ Of Europe ANd first as touching Europe the nource of that people which is the conqueror of all nations and besides of all lands by many degrees most beautifull which may for right good cause haue made not the third portion of the earth but the one halfe diuiding the whole globe of the earth into two parts to wit from the riuer Tanais vnto the Streights of Gades The Ocean then at this space abouesaid entreth into the Atlanticke sea and with a greedie current drowneth those lands which dread his comming like a tyrant but where he meeteth with any that are like to resist those he passeth iust by and with his winding turns and reaches he eateth and holloweth the shore continually to gaine ground making many noukes and creekes euery where but in Europe most of all wherein foure especiall great gulfes are to be seene Of which the first from Calpe the vtmost promontorie as is aboue said of Spain windeth and turneth with an exceeding great compasse to Locri and as far as the promontorie Brutium Within it lieth the first land of all others Spaine that part I meane which in regard of vs at Rome is the farther off and is named also Boetica And anon from the Firth Virgitanus the hither part otherwise called Tarraconensis as far as to the hils Pyrenaei That farther part of larger Spaine is diuided into two prouinces in the length thereof for on the North side of Boetica lyeth Lusitania afront diuided from it by the riuer Ana. This riuer beginneth in the territorie Laminitanus of the hither Spain one while spreading out it selfe into broad pooles or meeres otherwhiles gathering into narrow brooks or altogether hidden vnder the ground and taking pleasure to rise vp oftentimes in many places falleth into the Spanish Atlantick Ocean But the part named Tarraconensis lying fast vpon Pyrenaeus shooting along all
should be spoken of which is the nource of all lands She also is the mother chosen by the powerfull grace of the gods to make euen heauen it selfe more glorious to gather into one the scattered empires to soften and make ciuill the rude fashions of other countries and whereas the languages of so many nations were repugnant wilde sauage to draw them together by commerce of speech conference and parley to indue man with humanitie and briefely that of all nations in the world there should be one onely countrey But here what should I do so noble are all the places that a man shal come vnto so excellent is euery thing and each state so famous and renowned that I am fully possessed with them all and to seeke what to say Rome citie the only faire face therein worthy to stand vpon so stately a necke and pair of shoulders what worke would it aske thinke you to bee set out as it ought the very tract of Campaine by it selfe so pleasant and goodly so rich and happie in what sort should it be described So as it is plaine and manifest that in this one place there is the workmanship of Nature wherein she ioieth and taketh delight Now besides all this the whole temperature of the aire is euermore so vitall healthy and wholesome the fields so fertile the hills so open to the Sun the forrests so harmlesse the groues so coole and shadie the woods of all sorts so bounteous and fruitfull the mountaines yeelding so many breathing blasts of winde the corne the vines the oliues so plentifull the sheep so inriched with fleeces of the best wooll the bulls and oxen so fat and well fed in the necke so many lakes and pooles such store of riuers and springs watering it throughout so many seas and hauens that it is the very bosom lying open and ready to receiue the commerce of all lands from all parts and yet it selfe full willingly desireth to lie far into the sea to helpe all mankinde Neither do I speake now of the natures wits and fashions of the men ne yet of the nations abroad subdued with their eloquent tongue and strong hand Euen the Greekes a nation of all other most giuen to praise themselues beyond measure haue giuen their iudgement of her in that they called some small part thereof Great Greece But in good faith that which we did in the mention of the heauen namely to touch some knowne planets and a few stars the same must we likewise do in this one part only I would pray the Readers to remember and carry this away That I hasten to rehearse euery particular thing through the whole round globe of the earth Well then to begin Italy is fashioned like for all the world to an Oke leafe and much larger in length than breadth to the left side bending with the top and ending in the figure and fashion of an Amazonian shield and where that tract of Calabria lyeth which is called Cocinthos it putteth forth into those two promontories or capes like the moones two hornes the one Leucopetra on the right hand the other Lacinium on the left In length it reacheth from the foot of the Alps through Ostia or Praetoria Augusta directly to the citie of Rome and so forward to Capua with a direct course leading to Rhegium a towne scituate vpon the shoulder thereof from which beginneth the bending as it were of the necke and beareth 1000 and 20 miles And this measure would grow to be far more if it went as farre as Lacinium but that such an obliquitie and winding might seem to decline and beare out too much vnto one side The breadth thereof is diuersly taken namely 410 miles between the two seas the higher and the lower and the riuers Varus and Arsia The mids of which breadth and that is much about the citie of Rome from the mouth of the riuer Aternus running into the Adriaticke sea vnto the mouthes of Tiberis 136 miles and somewhat lesse from Novum Castrum by the Adriaticke sea to Alsium and so to the Tuscane sea and in no place exceedeth it in breadth 300 miles But the full compasse of the whole from Varus to Arsia is 20049 miles Distant it is by sea from the lands round about to wit from Istria and Liburnia in some places 100 miles from Epirus and Illyricum 50 miles from Africk lesse than 200 as Varro affirmeth from Sardinia an hundred and 20 miles from Sicilie a mile and a halfe from Corcyra lesse than 70 from Issa 50. It goeth along the seas to the Meridionall line verily of the heauen but if a man examine it exactly indeed it lyeth betweene the Sun rising in mid-winter and the point of the Noone-stead Now will we describe the compasse and circuit thereof and reck on the cities wherin I must needs protest by way of Preface that I will follow for mine Authour Augustus the Emperour of famous memorie and the description by him made of all Italy which be diuided into 11 Regionsor Cantons As for the maritime townes I will set them downe in that order as they stand according to their vicinity one to another But forasmuch as in so running a speech and hastie pen the rest cannot possibly be so orderly described therfore in the inland part thereof I will follow him as he hath digested them by the letters of the Alphabet but mentioning withall the colonies or chiefe cities by name which he hath deliuered in that number Neither is it an easie matter to know throughly their positions and foundations considering the Ingaune Ligurians to say nothing of all the rest were indowed with lands thirtie times and changed their seats To begin with the riuer Varus therfore there offereth to our eie first the towne Nicaea built by the Massilians the riuer Po the Alpes the people within the Alpes of many names but of most marke Capillati with long haire the towne Vediantiorum the Citie Cemelion or a towne belonging to the State of the Vediantians called Cemelion the port of Hercules and Monoechus and so the Ligurian coast Of the Ligurians the most renowned beyond the Alpes are the Sallij Deceates and Oxubij on this side the Veneni and descended from the Caturiges the Vagienni Statyelli Vibelli Magelli Euburiates Casmonates Veliates and those whose townes we will declare in the next coast The riuer Rutuba the towne Albium Intemelium the riuer Merula the towne Albium Ingaunum the port or hauen towne Vadum Sabatium the riuer Porcifera the towne Genua the riuer â—…eritor the Port Delphini Tigulia within Segesta Tiguliorum the riuer Macra which limiteth Liguria Now on the back side behind all these townes aboue named is Apenine the highest mountain of all Italy reaching from the Alpes with a continuall ridge of hils to the streights of Cicilie From the other side thereof to Padus the richest riuer in all Italy all the countrey shining with goodly faire townes to wit Liberna Dertona a Colonie Iria
call Hercules his town Two Arsinoites there be they and Memphites reach as farre as two the head of Delta Vpon it there do bound out of Affrica the two Ouafitae There be that change some names of these and set down for them other iurisdictions to wit Heroopolites and Crocodilopolites Between Arsinoites and Memphites there was a lake 250 miles about or as Mutianus saith 450 fifty paces deep i. 150 foot the same made by mans hand called the Lake Maeridis of a king who made it 72 miles from thence is Memphis the castle in old time of the Aegyptian kings From which to the Oracle of Hammon is twelue daies iournie so to the diuision of Nilus which is called Delta fifteen miles The riuer Nilus rising from vnknowne springs passeth thorow desarts and hot burning countries and going thus a mighty way in length is known by fame onely without armes without wars which haue discouered and found out all other lands It hath his beginning so far forth as Iabâ—… was able to search and find out in a hil of the lower Mauritania not far from the Ocean where a lake presently is seen to stand with water which they call Nilides In it are found these fishes called Alabetae Coracini Siluri and the Crocodile Vpon this argument presumption Nilus is thought to spring from hence for that the pourtract of this source is consecrated by the said prince at Caesaria in Iseum and is there at this day seene Moreouer obserued it is that as the Snow or rain do satisfie the countrie in Mauritania so Nilus doth encrease When it is run out of this lake it scorneth to run through the sandy and ouergrown places and hides himself for certaine daies iourny And then soone after out of a greater lake it breaketh forth in the country of the Massaesyli with Mauritania Caesarienses and lookes about viewing mens company carrying the same arguments still of liuing creatures bred within it Then once again being receiued within the sands it is hidden a second time for twenty daies iourny in the desarts as farre as to the next Aethiopes and so soone as hee hath once againe espied a man forth hee startes as it should seem out of that spring which they called Nigris And then diuiding Affrick from Aethiopia being acquainted if not presently with people yet with the frequent company of wild and sauage beasts and making shade of woods as he goes he cuts through the middest of the Aethiopians there surnamed Astapus which in the language of those nations signifieth a water flowing out of darkenesse Thus dasheth he vpon such an infinite number of Islands and some of them so mighty great that albeit he bare a swift streame yet is he not able to passe beyond them in lesse space than 5 daies About the goodliest and fairest of them Meroe the chanell going on the left hand is called Astabores that is the branch of a water comming forth of darkenesse but that on the right hand Astusapes which is as much as lying hid to the former signification And neuer taketh the name of Nilus before his waters meet again accord all whole together And euen so was he aforetime named Siris for many miles space and of Homer altogether Aegyptis and of others Triton here and there and euer and anon hitting vpon Islands and stirred as it were with so many prouocations and at the last enclosed and shut within mountaines and in no place he caries a rougher and swifter stream whiles the water that he beareth hastens to a place of the Aethiopians called Catadupi where in the last fall among the rockes that stand in his way he is supposed not to runne but to rush downe with a mighty noise But afterwards he becomes more milde and gentle as the course of his streame is broken and his violence tamed and abated yea and partly wearied with his long way and so though with many mouths of his he dischargeth himselfe into the Aegyptian sea Howbeit at certaine set daies he swelleth to a great height and when he hath trauelled all ouer Aegypt hee ouerfloweth the land to the great fertility and plenty thereof Many and diuers causes of this rising and increase of his men haue giuen but those which carry the most probabilitie are either the rebounding of the water driuen back by the winds Etesiae at that time blowing against it and driuing the sea withall vpon the mouths of Nilus or else the Summer rain in Aethiopia by reason that the same Etesiae bring clouds thither from other parts of the world Timaeus the Mathematician alledged an hidden reason therof to wit that the head and source of Nilus is named Phyala and the riuer it selfe is hidden as it were drowned within certain secret trenches within the ground breathing forth vapors out of reeking rockes where it thus lieth in secret But so soone as the sunne during those daies commeth neere drawne vp it is by force of heate and so all the while he hangeth aloft ouerfloweth and then againe for feare he should be wholly deuoured and consumed putteth in his head againe and lieth hid And this happeneth from the rising of the dog starre Sicinus in the Sunnes entrance into Leo while the planet standeth plumbe ouer the fountaine aforesaid for as much as in that climate there are no shadows to be seene Many againe were of a different opinion that a riuer Howeth more abundantly when the Sunne is departed toward the North pole which happeneth in Cancer and Leo and therefore at that time is not so easily dried but when he is returned once againe back toward Capricorn and the South pole it is drunke vp and therefore floweth more sparely But if according to Timaus a man would thinke it possible that the water should be drawne vp the want of shadowes during those daies and in those quarters continueth still without end For the riuer begins to rise and swell at the next change of the Moone after the Sun-steed by little and little gently so long as he passes through the signe Cancer but most abundantly when he is in Leo. And when he is entred Virgo he falleth and settleth low again in the same measure as he rose before And is cleane brought within his bankes in Libia which is as Herodotus thinketh by the hundreth day All the whiles it riseth it hath been thought vnlawfull for kings or gouernours to saile or passe in any vessell vpon it and they make conscrence so to do How high it riseth is known by markes and measures taken of certaine pits The ordinary height of it is sixteen cubits Vnder that gage the waters ouerflow not all Aboue that stint there are a let and hinderance by reason that the later it is ere they be fallen and downe again By these the seed time is much of it spent for that the earth is too wet By the other there is none at all by reason that the ground is dry and thirsty
The prouince taketh good keep and reckoning of both the one as well as the other For when it is no higher than 12 cubits it findeth extream famine yea and at 13 it feeleth hunger still 14 cubits comforts their hearts 15 bids them take no care but 16 affoordeth them plenty and delicious dainties The greatest floud that euer was knowne vntill thisse daies was 18 cubits in the time of Prince Claudius Emperor and the least in the Pharsalian warre against the death of Pompey as if the very riuer by that prodigious token lothed to see the same When at any time the waters seeme to stand and couer the ground still they are let out at certaine sluces or floud-gates drawne vp and set open And so soon as any part of the land is freed from the water straight waies it is sowed This is the only riuer of all others that breatheth out no wind from it The Seignory dominion of Aegypt beginneth at Syene the frontier rowne of Aethiopia For that is the name of a demy Island 100 miles in compasse wherein are the Cerastae vpon the side of Arabia and ouer against it the 4 Islands Philae 600 miles from the partition of Nilus where it began to be called Delta as wee haue said This space of ground hath Artemidorus deliuered and withall that within it were 250 townes Iuba seteth down 400 miles Aristocreon saith that from Elephantis to the sea is 750 miles This Elephantis being an Island is inhabited beneath the lowest cataract or fal of water 3 miles and aboue Syene 16 and it is the vtmost point that the Aegyptians saile vnto is from Alexandria 586 miles See how far the Authors aboue written haue erred and gone out of the way there meet the Aethiopian ships for they are made to fold vp together and carry them vpon their shoulders so often as they come to those cataracts or downefals afore-said Aegypt ouer and aboue all other their boast and glory of antiquitie brags that in the raigne of king Amasis there were inhabited in it and peopled twenty thousand cities And euen at this day full it is of them such as they be and of base account Howbeit that of Apollo is much renowmed as also neere vnto it another of Leucathea and Diospolis the great the very same that Thebes famous for the 100 gates in it Also Captos a great mart towne next to Nilus much frequented for merchandise and commodities out of India and Arabia Moreouer the towne of Venus and another of Iupiter Tentyris beneath which standeth Abydus the royall seate of Memnon and Osiris renowmed for the temple there seuen miles and an halfe distant from the riuer toward Lybia Then Ptolemais Panopolis and another yet of Venus Also in the Lybian coast Lycon where the hils doe bound Thebais Soone after these townes of Mercurie Alabaston Canum and that of Hercules spoken of before After these Arsinoe and the aboue-said Memphis betweene which and the diocesse Arsinoetis in the Lybian coast the towers called Pyramides the Labyrinth built vp in the lake of Moeris without any iot of timber to it and the town Crialon One more besides standing within-forth and bounding vpon Arabia called the towne of the Sunne of great account and importance CHAP. X. ¶ Alexandria BVt right worthy of praise is Alexandria standing vpon the coast of the Egyptian sea built by Alexander the Great on Africke side 12 miles from the mouth of Canopus neere to the lake Mareotis which was before-time called Arapotes Danochares the Architect a man renowned for his singular wit many waiesl aid the modell and platforme therof by a subtil and witty deuise for hauing taken vp a circuit of 15 miles for the city he made it round like to a Macedonian cloke ful in the skirts bearing out into angles and corners as wel on the right hand as the left so as it seemed to lie in folds and plaits and yet euen then he set out one fifth part of all this plot for the kings palace The lake Mareotis from the South side meeteth with an arme of the riuer Nilus brought from out of the mouth of the said riuer called Canopicus for the more commodious trafficke and commerce out of the firme ground and inland Continent This lake containeth within it sundry Islands and according to Claudius Caesar it is thirty miles ouer Others say that it lieth in length 40 Schoeni and so whereas euery Schoene is 30 stadia it commeth by that account to be 150 miles long and as many broad Ouer and besides there be many goodly faire towns of great importance standing vpon the riuer Nilus where he runneth and those especially which haue giuen name to the mouthes of the riuer and yet not to all those neither for there be 11 of them in all ouer and besides foure more which they themselues call bastard mouthes but to 7 of the principall to wit vpon that of Canopus next vnto Alexandria then Bolbitinum and so foorth to Sebenniticum Phatuiticum Mendesicum Taniticum and last of all Pelusiacum Other cities there be besides to wit Buros Pharboetos Leontopolis Achribris I sis towne Busiris Cynophis Aphrodites Sais Naucratis of which some thinke the mouth Naucraticum tooke the name which they be that cal Heracleoticum preferring it before Canopicum next vnto which it standeth CHAP. XI ¶ Arabia the Desart or Petraea BEing once past that arme of the riuer Nilus which entereth into the sea at Pelusium you come into Arabia confining vpon the red sea and that other Arabia so rich odoriferous and therefore renowned with the syrname of Happie As for this desart Arabia possessed it is by the Catabanes Esbonites and Screnite Arabians all barren and fruitlesse saue whereas it meeteth with the confines of Syria and setting aside the mountaine Casius nothing memorable This region confronteth the Arabians Canchlei on the East-side and the Cedraei Southward and they both confine together afterwards vpon the Nabathaees Moreouer 2 Baies there bee the one called the gulfe of Heroopolis and the other of Elani both in the red sea on the coast of Egypt 150 miles distant betweene two townes Elana and Gaza which is in our Mediteranean sea Agrippa counteth from Pelusium to Arsinoe a towne scituate vpon the red sea an hundred and fiue and twenty miles See how small a way lyeth betweene two Climates so different in Nature CHAP. XII ¶ Syria Palestine Phoenice VPon the coast of the said Arabia confineth Syria a Region in times past the chiefe and most renowned vpon earth and the same distinguished by sundry names For where it confineth vpon the Arabians called it was Palestina Iurie Coele-Svria and afterward Phoenice But go farther within the firme land Damascene Turne more still Southwards it is named Babylonia And the same between the riuers Euphrates and Tygris carrieth the name of Mesopotamia Beyond the mountaine Taurus it is Sophene but on this side the hill they call
Wherein all men obserue not the same nor make like account howbeit most men speake of Damascus and Opotos watered with the riuer Chrysorrhora Also Philadelphia renowned for the fruitfull territory about it Moreouer of Scythopolis taking name of the Scythians there planted and before-time Mysa so named of Prince or Father Bacchus by reason that his nource there was buried Also Gadara scituate on the riuer Hieromiax running euen before it Besides the aboue-named Hippos Dios. Likewise Pella enriched with the good fountains and last of all Galaza and Canatha There lie betweene and about these cities certaine Royalties called Triarchies containing euery one of them as much as an whole countrey and reduced they be as it were into seuerall countries namely Trachonitis Panias wherein standeth Caesarea with the fountain aboue-said Abiâ—a Arca Ampeloessa and Gabe CHAP. XIX ¶ Tyre and Sidon REturne now we must to the sea-coast of Phoenice A riuer runneth there called Crocodilon whereupon stood a towne in times past bearing the name Also there remain in those parts the bare reliques still of cities to wit Dorum Sycaminum the cape or promontory Carmelum and a towne vpon the hill so named but in old time called Ecbatana Neere therto Getta and Iebba the riuer Pagida or Pelus carrying chrystall glasse with his sands vpon the shore This riuer commeth out of the meere Ceudeuia from the foot of mount Carmel Neere vnto it is the city Ptolemais erected in forme of a colony by Claudius Caesar in ancient time called Are. The towne Ecdippa and the cape Album Then followes the noble citie Tyrus in old time an Island lying almost 3 quarters of a mile within the deepe sea but now by the great trauell and deuises wrought by Alexander the Great at the siege thereof ioyned to the firme ground renowmed for that out of it haue beene three other cities of ancient name to wit Leptis Vtica and that great Carthage which so long stroue with the Empire of Rome for the monarchy and dominion of al the whole world yea and Gades diuided as it were from the rest of the earth were peopled from hence But now at this day all the reputation and glory thereof stands vpon the die of purple crimson colors The compasse of it is 19 miles so ye comprise Palaetyrus within it The very towne it selfe alone taketh vp 22 stadia Neere vnto it are these townes Luhydra Sarepta and Ornython also Sydon where the faire and cleer glasses be made and which is the mother of the great citie Thebes in Boeotia CHAP. XX. ¶ The mount Libanon BEhind it beginneth the mount Libanus and for 1500 stadia reacheth as farre as to Smyrna whereas Coele-Syria takes the name Another promontory there is as big ouer-against it called Antilibanus with a vallie lying betweene which in old time ioyned to the other Libanus with a wall Being past this hill the region Decapolis sheweth it selfe to you within-forth called Decapolis and the aboue-named Tetrachies or Realmes with it and the whole largenesse that Palestine hath But in that coast and tract still along the foot of the mount Libanus there is the riuer Magoras also the colonie Berytus called Foelix Iulia. The towne Leontos the riuer Lycos also Palaebyblos i. Byblos the old Then ye come vpon the riuer Adonis and so to these townes Byblos the new Botrys Gigarta Trieris Calamos and Tripolis vnder the Tyrians Sydonians and Aradians Then meet you with Orthosia and the riuer Eleutheros Also these townes Simyra Marathos and ouer-against Aradus a towne of seuen stadia and an Island lesse than a quarter of a mile from the Continent When you are once past the countrie where the said mountaines doe end and the plaines lying betweene then beginneth the mount Bargylis and there as Phoenice endeth so begins Syria againe In which countrie are Carne Balanea Paltos and Gabale also the Promontorie whereupon standeth the free city Laodicea together with Diospolis Heraclea Charadrus and Posidium CHAP. XXI ¶ Syria Antiochena GO forward in this tract and you shall come to the cape of Syria Atiochena within-forth is seated the noble and free citie it selfe Antiochena surnamed Epidaphne through the mids whereof runneth the riuer Orontes But vpon the very cape is the free citie Seleucia named also Pieria CHAP. XXII ¶ The mount Casius ABoue the citie Seleucia there is another mountaine named Casius as well as that other which confronterh Arabia This hill is of that heigth that if a man be vpon the top of it in the darke night season at the reliefe of the fourth watch he may behold the Sunne arising So that with a little turning of his face and body hee may at one time see both day and night To get vp by the ordinary high-way to the very pitch of it a man might fetch a compas of 19 miles but climbe directly vpright it is but 4 miles In the borders of this country runs the riuer Orontes which ariseth between Libanus and Antilibanus neere to Heliopolis Then the towne Rhosos appeares and behind it the streight passages and gullets betwixt the mountaines Rhotij and Taurus which are called Portae Syriae In this tract or coast stands the town Myriandros the hill Avanus where is the towne Bomilae which separateth Cilicia from the Syrians CHAP. XXIII ¶ Coele-Syria or high Syria IT remaineth now to speake of the townes and cities in the midland parts within the firme land and to begin with Coele Syria it hath in it Apamia separated from the Nazerines tetrarchy by the riuer Marsia likewise Bambyce otherwise called Hierapolis but of the Syrians Magog There is honored the monstrous idoll of the Meermaid Atargatis called of the Greeks Decreto Also Chalcis with this addition Vpon Belus from which the region Chalcidene most fertile of all Syria taketh name Then haue you the quarter Cyrrhistica with Cirrhus Gazatae Gindarenes and Gabenes Moreouer two Tetrarchies called Granucomatae Moreouer the Hemisenes Hylates the Ituraeans country and principally those of them who are named Betarrani and the Mariammitanes The Tetrarchie or Principalitie named Mammisea the city Paradisus Pagrae Pinarites and two Seleuciae besides the aboue named one called Vpon Euphrates and the other Vpon Belus and last of all the Carditenses The rest of Syria hath these States besides those which shall be spoken of with the riuer Euphrates the Arethusians Beraeenses and Epiphanenses and Eastward the Laodicenes namely those who are entituled Vpon Libanus the Leucadians and Larissaeans besides 17 Tetrarchies reduced into the forme of realmes but their names are barbarous CHAP. XXIV ¶ Euphrates ANd here me-thinks is the fittest and meetest place to speake of Euphrates The source of it by report of them that saw it last and neerest is in Caranitis a state vnder the gouernment of Armenia the greater and those are Domitius and Corbulo who say that it springeth in the mountaine Aba But Licinius Mutianus affirmeth that it issueth from vnder the foot of the mountaine
it fetcheth such windings to and fro that oftentimes it is taken for to run back againe from whence it came The first countrie that it passeth through is Apamia and from thence it proceedeth to Eumenitica and so forward through the plaines Bergylletici Last of all hee commeth gently into Caria and when hee hath watered and ouerflowed all that land with a most fat and fruitful mud that he leaueth behind him about ten stadia from Miletus he dischargeth himselfe into the sea Neer to that riuer is the hill Latmus the citie Heraclea surnamed Caryca of a hill of that name also Myus which as the report goeth was the first citie founded by the Ionians after their arriuall from Athens Naulochum and Pyrene Also vpon the sea coast the towne called Trogilia and the riuer Gessus Moreouer this quarter all the Ionians resort vnto in their deuotion and therefore named it is Panionia Neere vnto it was built a priueledged place for all fugitiues as appeareth by the name Phygela as also the town Marathesium stood there sometime and aboue it the renowmed citie Magnesia surnamed Vpon Maeander of the foundation of that other Magnesia in Thessalie From Ephesus it is 15 miles and from Trallais thither it is three miles farther Beforetime called it was Thessaloce Androlitia and being otherwise situate vpon the strond it tooke away with it other Islands called Derasides and ioine them to the firme land from out of the sea More within the maine standeth Thyatira in old time called Pelopia and Euhippa vpon the riuer Lycus But vpon the sea coast yee haue Manteium and Ephesus founded in times past by the Amazones But many names it had gone through before for in time of the Troiane war Alopes it was called soone after Ortygia and Morges yea and it took name Smyrne with addition of Trachaea i. rough Samornium and Ptelea Mounted it is vpon the hill Pione and hath the riuer Caystrus vnder it which commeth out of the Cilbian hills and bringeth downe with it many other riuers and principally is maintained and enriched with the lake Pegaseum which dischargeth it selfe by reason of the riuer Phyrites that runneth into it With these riuers he bringeth downe a good quantitie of mud whereby he increaseth the land for now already a good way within the land is the Island Syrie ioined to the continent A fountain there is within the citie called Callipia and two riuers height both Selinus comming from diuers parts enuiron the temple of Diana After you haue been at Ephesus you come to another Manteium inhabited by the Colophonians and within the country Colophon it selfe with the riuer Halesus vnder it Then meet you with the noble temple of Apollo Clarius and Lebedos And in this quarter somtime was to be seen the towne Notium The promontory also Coryceon is in this coast and the mountaine Mimas which reaches out 250 miles and endeth at length in the plaines within the continent that ioyne vnto it This is the place wherein Alexander the Great commanded a trench seuen miles long and an halfe to be cut through the plain for to ioyne two gulfes in one and to bring Erythree and Mimas together for to be enuironed round therewith Neere this city Erythree were sometimes the townes Pteleon Helos and Dorion now there is the riuer Aleon and the cape Corineum vpon the mount Mimas Clazomene Partheniae and Hippi called Chytophoria hauing beene sometime Islands the same Alexander caused to be vnited to the firme land for the space of two stadia There haue perished within-forth and beene drowned Daphnus Hermesia and Sipylum called before-time Tantalis notwithstanding it had beene the chiefe citie of Moeonia situate in that place where now is the meere or lake Sale And for that cause Archaeopolis succeeded in that preeminence and after it Colpe and in stead thereof Lebade As you returne from thence toward the sea side about twelue miles off you come vpon the citie Smyrna built by an Amazonite but repaired and fortified by Alexander the Great Situat it is pleasantly vpon the riuer Melis which hath his head and source not far off The most renowned hils in Asia for the most part spred themselues at large in this tract to wit Mastusia on the back side of Smyrna and Termetis that meets close to the foot of Olympus This hil Olympus endeth at the mountain Tmolus Tmolus at Cadmus and Cadmus at Taurus When you are past Smyrna you come into certain plains occasioned by the riuer Hermus and therefore adopted in his name This riuer hath his beginning neer to Doryleus a city of Phrygia and takes into it many other cities principally Phryge which giues name to the whole nation and diuides Phrygia and Caria asunder Moreouer Lyllus Crios which also are big and great by reason of other riuers of Phrygia Mysia and Lydia which enter into them In the very mouth of this riuer stood somtime the towne Temnos but now in the very vtmost nouke of the gulfe certain stony rocks called Myrmeces Also the towne Leuce vpon the cape so called somtime an Island it was and last of all Phocaea which limiteth and boundeth Ionia But to returne to Smyrna the most part of Aeolia whereof we will speake anon repaires commonly thither to their Parliament and Assises Likewise the Macedonians syrnamed Hircani as also the Magnetes from Sipylum But vnto Ephesus which is another principal and famous city of Asia resort those that dwell farther off to wit the Caesarians Metropolites Cylbianes the Myso-Macedonians as well the higher as the lower the Mastaurians Brullites Hyppepoenians and Dios-Hieriteae CHAP. XXX ¶ Aeolis Troas and Pergamus Aeolis in old time Mysia confronts vpon Ionia so doth Troas which bounds on the coast of Hellespontus Being then past Phocaea you meet with the port Ascanius the place where sometime Larissa stood and now Cyme and Myrina which loueth to be called Sebastopolis Within the firme land Aegae Attalia Posidea Neon-tichos and Temnos But vpon the coast the riuer Titanus and a city taking name thereof The time was when a man might haue seen there the city Grynia but now there is but an hauen and the bare ground by reason that the Island is taken into it and ioyned thereto The towne Elaea is not farre from thence and the riuer Caicus comming out of Mysia Moreouer the towne Pytane and the Riuer Canaius Other townes there were in old time but they are lost and perished namely Canae Lysimachia Atarnaea Carenae Cisthene Cilla Cocillum Thebae Astyre Chrysa Paloestepsis Gergithos and Neandros Yet at this day are to be seen the city Perperene beyond it the tract and territory Heracleotes the towne Coryphas the riuer Gryliosolius the quarter called Aphrodisias before-time Politice Orgas the country and Scepsis the new The riuer Evenus vpon the banke whereof stood once Lyrmessos and Miletos but now they are gon In this tract is the mountain Ida. Moreouer in the sea coast Adramytteos
miles There are besides in this coast Phellusa Pedua Now without Hellespont ouer-against the bay and cape Sigeum lieth the Isle Tenedus called sometimes Leucophrys Phaenice and Lyrnessos From Lesbos it is six and fifty miles and from Sigaeum twelue miles and a halfe CHAP. XXXII ¶ Hellespontus Mysia Phrygia Gallatia Bithynia Bosphorus LEt vs now leaue the Isles in the sea Aegeum and come to Hellespont now called the streights of Callipolis whereinto the maine sea gushes with a mighty force and violence with his gulfes and whirlepooles digging before him a way vntil he haue limited and diuided Asia from Europe The promontory first appearing there we named Trapeza From which tenne miles off standeth the towne Abidum where the streights are but seuen stadia ouer Beyond it is Percote the towne and Lampsacum called before-time Pityusa Moreouer the Colonie Parium which Homer named Adrastia Moreouer the towne Priapos the riuer Aesepus and the cape Zelia Then come ye to Propontus for so is the place called where the sea begins to enlarge it selfe Into this channell runneth the riuer Granicum which maketh the hauen Artace where once stood a towne Beyond it there is an Island which Alexander the Great ioined to the Continent by two bridges according to Strabo in which standeth the towne Cyzicum founded by the Milesians called heretofore Arconnesos Dolionis Dindymis neere the top whereof is the mountaine Dindymus When ye are beyond Cizycum you meet with these townes besides Placia Ariacos Scylacum behind them the hill Olympus called somtime Maesius Also the city Olympena The riuers Horisius and Rhyndacus named heretofore Lycus This riuer taketh his beginning in the marish or meere Artynia neere to Miletopolis It receiueth into it Marestos and many others and parteth Asia from Bithynia This region in antient time was called Cronia after Thessalis then Malianda and Strymonis All this nation of these quarters Homer named Halizones for that they be enuironed with the sea Therein stood in old time a mighty great city named Attusa At this day it hath 15 cities amongst which is Gordiu-come now called Iuliopolis and in the very coast vpon the sea Dascylos Go further on and ye meet with the riuer Gebes and within the main the towne Helgas the same that Germanicopolis knowne also by another name Booscoete as also Apamea now called Myrtea of the Colophonians Being past it you come to the riuer Etheleum the antient limit of Troas where Mysia beginneth Afterwards you enter into the gulfe of Bryllion whereinto runneth the riuer Ascanium vpon which standeth the towne Bryllion and beyond it you shall see the riuers Helas and Cios together with a town of that name A mart town this was wherto resorted the Phrygians that border neere to it for to traffique and furnish themselues with merchandise built verily it was by the Milesians but the place whereon it stood was called Ascania of Phrygia And therefore me-thinks we cannot do bâ—…er than euen here to speake of that country Phrygia then spreadeth out aboue Troas and the nâ—…ions before-named from the cape Lectus vnto the riuer Etheleus It confronteth on the North side vpon part of Galatia Southward it boundeth hard to Lycaonia Pisidia and Mygdonia And on the East part it reacheth to Cappadocia The townes of greatest name besides those before rehearsed be Ancyra Andria Celaenae Colossae Carina Cotiaion Ceranae Iconium and Midaion Certain Authors I haue who write that out of Europe there come to inhabit these parts the Mysi Brvges and Thyni of whom are descended and likewise named the Mysians Phrygians and Bithynians And euen here I think it good to write also of Galatia which lying higher than Phrygia yet possesseth a greater part of the plaine countrey thereof yea and the capitall place of it sometime called Gordium They that inhabited and held that quarter of Phrygia were Gaules called Tolistobogi Voturi and Ambitui but they that occupied the countreys of Maeonia and Paphlagonia were named Trochmi This region confronteth Cappadocia on the North and East side and the most fruitfull part thereof the Tectosages and Teutobodiaci kept in their possession And so much for the principall nations of this countrey As for the States Tetrarchies and regiments there be in all 195. The townes are these of the Tectosages Ancvra of the Trochmi Tavium of the Tolistobogians Pesinus Besides these there be States of good account Attalenses Arasenses Comenses Dios hieronitae Lystreni Neapolitani Oeandenses Seleucenses Sebasteni Timmoniacenses and Tebaseni This Galatia extendeth euen as far as to Gabalia and Milyae in Pamphylia which are scituate about Baris also Cyllaâ—…ticum and Oroadicum the marches of Pisidia likewise Obigene part of Lycaonia Riuers there be in it beside those before named Sangarium and Gallus of which riuer the gelded priests of dame Cybelae mother of the gods were named Galli Now it resteth to speake of the towns vpon the sea coast Yet I cannot ouerpasse Prusa neere to Cios which lieth farre within the countrey of Bithynia which Anniball founded at the foot of the hill Olympus from Prusa to Nicaea are counted 25 miles in which way lieth the lake Ascanius betweene Then come you to Nicâ—…a in the very vtmost part of the gulf Ascanium which before was called Olbia also to another Prusa built vnder the mountaine Hippius Once there were in this coast Pythopolis Partheâ—…opolis and Coryphanta And now there be vpon the sea side these riuers Aesius Bryazon Plataneus Areus Siros Gendos named also Chrysorrhoas The promontory also vpon which stood the towne Megaricum Then the gulfe or arme of the sea which was called Craspedites for that that towne before named stood as it were in a fold plait or nouke thereof Sometimes also there was the towne Astacum whereupon the Creeke tooke the name of Astacenus Moreouer in antient time the Towne Libyssa by report was planted there But now there remaineth nothing else to be seen but the tombe of Anniball But in the inmost part of the Gulfe where it endeth there standeth the goodly faire City of Bithynia called Nicomedia The cape Leucatas which incloseth the gulfe Astarenus is from Nicomedia 42 miles and halfe Being past this gulfe the sea begins to streighten again and the land to meet neer together and these streights reach as far as Bosphorus in Thracia Vpon these streights stands the free city Chalcedon 72 miles and a halfe from Nicomedia Before-time it was called Procerastis then Compusa afterwards the city of the Blind for that they who founded it being in a place but 7 stadia from Bizantium where was a seat in all respects more commodious and fit for a city were so blind as not to chuse it for the plot of Chalcedon But within the firme land of Bithynia is the colony Apamena and there inhabit also the Agrippenses Iuliopolites and they of Bithynium Moreouer for riuers ye haue Syrium Lapsias Pharmicas Alces Crynis Lylaeus Scopius Hieras
sent thither of purpose from Philadelphus haue made relation of the forces which those nations are able to raise and maintain And yet further diligence is to be imploied stil in this behalfe considering they wrote of things there so diuers one from another and incredible withall They that accompanied Alexander the great in his Indian voiage haue testified in their writings that in one quarter of India which he conquered there were of towns 500 in number and not one lesse than the city Cos of seuerall nations nine Also that India was a third part of the whole earth the same so wel inhabited that the people in it were innumerable And this they said beleeue mee not without good apparance of reason for the Indians were in manner the onely men of all others that neuer went out of their own country Moreouer it is said That from the time of Bacchus vnto Alexander the Great there reigned ouer them sucessiuely 154 kings for the space of 5402 yeres between and 3 moneths ouer As for the riuers in that country they be of a wonderfull bignes And reported it is that Alexander sailed euery day at the least 600 stadia vpon the riuer Indus and yet in lesse than fiue moneths and some few daies ouer he could not come vnto the end of that riuer and lesse it is than Ganges by the confession of all men Furthermore Seneca a Latine writer assaied to write certain commentaries of India wherein he hath made report of 60 Riuers therein and of nations 120 lacking twaine As great a labour it were to reckon vp number the mountains that be in it As for the hils Imaus Emodisus Paropamisus as parts all and members of Caucasus but one vpon another and conioine together And being past them yee go downe into a mighty large plain country like to Aegypt It remaineth now to shew the continent and firm land of this great country and for the more euident demonstration let vs follow the steps of Alexander the great and his Historiographers Diogneus and Beton who set down all the geasts and iournies of that prince haue left in writing That from the Caspian ports vnto the city Hecatompylos which is in Parthia there are as many miles as we haue set down already From thence to Alexandria in the Ariane country which city the same king founded 562 miles from whence to Prophthasia in the Dranganes land 199 miles so forward to the capitoll towne of the Arachosians 515 miles From thence to Orthospanum 250 miles last of all from it to the city of Alexandria in Opianum 50 miles In some copies these numbers are found to vary and differ But to return to this foresaid city scituat it is at the very foot of Caucasus From which to the riuer Chepta and Pencolaitis a town of the Indians are counted 227 miles From thence to the riuer Indus the towne Tapila 60 miles and so onward to the noble and famous riuer Hidaspes 120 miles from which to Hypasis a riuer of no lesse account than the other 4900 or 3900. And there an end of Alexanders voiage howbeit he passed ouer the riuer and on the other side of the bank he erected certaine altars and pillers and there dedicated them The letters also of the king himselfe sent back into Greece do cary the like certificate of his iournies and agree iust herewith The other parts of the country were discouered surueied by Seleucus Nicator namely from thence to Hesudrus 168 miles to the riuer Ioames as much some copies adde 5 miles more therto from thence to Ganges 112 miles to Rhodapha 119 some say that between them two it is no lesse than 325 miles From it to Calinipaxa a great town 167 miles an half others say 265. And so the confluent of the riuers Iomanes Ganges where both meet together 225 miles many put therto 13 miles more from thence to the town Palibotta 425 miles so to the mouth of Ganges where he falleth into the sea 638 miles As for the nations which it pains me not to name from the mountains Emodi the principal cape of them Imaus which signifies in that country language ful of snow they be these the Isari Cosyri Izgi and vpon the very mountains the Ghisiotosagi also the Brachmanae a name common to many nations among whom are the Maccocalingae Of riuers besides there are Pinnas Cainas the later of which twain runneth into Ganges both are nauigable The people called Calingae coast hard vpon the sea But the Mandei Malli among whom is the mountain Mallus are aboue them higher in the country And to conclude then you come to Ganges the farthest bound and point of all that tract India CHAP. XVIII ¶ The riuer Ganges MAny haue bin of opinion so haue written that the spring of Ganges is vncertain like as that also of Nilus and that he swelleth ouerfloweth and watereth all the countries whereby he passeth in the same sort that Nilus doth Others again haue said that it issueth out of the mountains of Scythia how into it there run 19 other great riuers of which ouer and aboue those beforenamed certain are nauigable namely Canucha Vama Erranoboa Cosaogus and Sonus There be also that report that Ganges presently ariseth to a great bignesse of his owne sources and springs and so breaketh forth with great noise and violence as running downe with a fal ouer craggy and stony rocks and when he is once come into the flat plains and euen country that he taketh vp his lodging in a certain lake and then out of it carrieth a mild and gentle stream 8 miles broad where it is narrowest and 100 stadia ouer for the most part but 160 where he is largest but in no place vnder 20 paces deep i. a 100 foot CHAP. XIX ¶ The nation of India beyond the riuer Nilus WHen ye are ouer Ganges the first region vpon the coast that you set foot into is that of the Gandaridae and the Calingae called Parthalis The king of this countrey hath in ordinance for his wars 80000 foot 1000 horse and 700 Elephants ready vpon an houres warning to march As for the other nations of the Indians that liue in the champion plaine countries there be diuers states of them of more ciuility than the mountainers Some apply themselues to tillage and husbandry others set their minds vpon martiall feats one sort of them practise merchants trade transporting their owne commodities into other countries and bringing in forrein merchandise into their own As for the nobility and gentry those also that are the richest and mightiest among them they manage the affaires of State and Commonweale and sit in place of justice or els follow the court and sit in counsell with the king A fit estate there is besides in great request namely of Philosophers Religions giuen wholly to the study of wisdom learning and these make profession
of voluntary death and verily when they are disposed to die at any time they make a great funerall fire cast themselues into it and so end their daies Besides all these one thing there is among them halfe brutish and of exceeding toile and trauell and yet it is that which partly maintaineth all the other estates abouesaid namely the practise of hunting chasing and taming Elephants And in very truth with them they plow their ground vpon them they ride vp down with these beasts are they best acquainted they serue in the wars for maintenance of their liberty and defence of their frontiers against all inuasion of enemies In the choise of them for war-seruice they regard and consider their strength their age and bignesse of body But to leaue them An Island there is within the riuer Ganges between two arms thereof of great largenesse and capacity which receiueth one nation by it selfe apart from others named it is Modogalica Beyond it are seated the Modubians and Molindians where standeth the stately city Molinda scituat in a plentiful and rich soile-Moreouer the Galmodroesians Pretians Calissae Sasuri Fassalae Colubae Orxulae Abali and Taluctae The king of these countries hath in ordinary for his wars 50000 foot 3000 horse and 400 Elephants Then you enter into a country of a more puissant valiant nation to wit the Andarians planted with many villages well peopled and moreouer with 30 great townes fortified with strong walls towers and bastiles These find and maintain prest ready to serue the king in his wars an Infantery of 100000 foot a Cauallery of 2000 horse and 100 Elephants besides wel appointed Of all the regions of India the Dardanian country is most rich in gold mines and the Selian in siluer But aboue all the nations of India thorowout and not of this tract and quarter only the Prasij far exceed in puissance wealth and reputation where the most famous rich and magnificent city Palibotria stands whereof some haue named the people about it yea and all the nation generally beyond Ganges Palibotrians their king keeps continually in pay 600000 foot men and 30000 horsemen and 9000 Elephants euery day in the yere whereby you may soon guesse the mighty power wealth of this prince Beyond Palibotria more within the firme land inhabit the Monedes and Suari where standeth the mountain Maleus and there for six moneths space the shadowes in winter time fal Northward and in summer season go into the South The pole Arcticke starres in all that tract are seen but once in the yere and that no longer than for 15 daies as Beton reporteth But Megasthenes writeth that this is vsuall in other parts of India The Antarctique or South pole the Indians call Dromosa As for the riuer Iomanes which runs into Ganges it trauerseth through the Palibotrians country and passeth between the townes Methora and Cyrisoborca Beyond the riuer Ganges in that quarter and clymate which lieth Southward the people are caught with the Sun and begin to be blackish but yet not all out so sun-burnt and blacke indeed as the Aethyopians and Moores And it seemeth that the neerer they approch to the riuer Indus the deeper coloured they are and tanned with the Sun for you are not so soone past the Prasians country but presently you are vpon Indus and among the mountaines of this tract the Pygmaeans by report do keepe Artemidorus writeth that betweene these two riuers there is a distance of 21 miles CHAP. XX. ¶ The riuer Indus THe great riuer Indus which the natiue people call Sandus issueth out of a part or dependance of the hill Caucasus which is called Paropamisus hee takes his course and runs full against the Sun rising and makes 19 riuers more to lose their names which he takes in vnto him among which the principall are these Hydaspis one bringing with him 4 more and Cantabra another accompanied with 3 besides Moreouer of such as are of themselues nauigable without the help of others Acesines and Hypasis And yet for all their additions the riuer of Indus such a sober and modest course as it were his waters keepe is in no place either aboue 50 stadia ouer or 15 paces i. 75 foot or 12 fathom and halfe deep This riuer incloseth within two branches of it a right great Island named Prasiane and another that is lesse called Patale As for himselfe they that haue written the least of him say he beareth vessels for 1240 miles and turning with the course of the Sun keepeth him company Westward vntill hee is discharged into the Ocean The measure of the sea coast from Ganges vnto him I wil expresse generally and in grosse as I find it written albeit there is no agreement at all of Authors touching this point From the mouth of Ganges where he entreth into the sea vnto the cape Caliugon and the towne Dandagula are counted 725 miles from thence to Tropina 1225 miles Then to the promontorie Perimula where stands the chiefe mart or towne of merchandise in all India they reckon 750 miles from which to the towne aboue-said Patale within the Isle 620 miles The mountainers inhabiting betwixt it and Iomanes are the Cesti and Celiboni wilde and sauage people next to them the Megallae whose king hath in ordinary prest for seruice 500 Elephants of foot and horse a great number but vncertaine it is how many sometime more somtime fewer As for the Chryseans Parasangians and Asangians they are full of the wilde and cruell Tygers they are able to arme 30000 foot and 800 horse and to set out with furniture 300 Elephants This country is on three sides enuironed and inclosed with a raunge of high mountaines all desart and full of wildernesse for 625 miles and of one side confined with the riuer Indus Beneath those wilde hills you enter among the Dari Surae then you come againe to waste desarts for 188 miles compassed about for the most part with great bars and banks of sand like as the Islands with the sea Vnder these desart forrests you shall meet with the Maltecores Cingians Marobians Rarungians Moruntes Masuae and Pangungae Now for those who inhabit the mountains which in a continuall raunge without interruption stand vpon the coasts of the Ocean they are free States and subiect to no Prince and many fair townes and cities they hold among these cliffes and craggy hills Then come you to the Naraeans inclosed within the highest mountaine of all the Indian hills Capitalia On the other side of this mountaine great store there is all ouer it of gold and siluer mines wherein the Inhabitants do dig Then you enter vpon the kingdom of Oratura whose king indeed hath but ten Elephants in all howbeit a great power of footmen And so forward to the Varetates who vnder their King keepe no Elephants at all for his seruice trusting vpon their Cauallery and Fanterie wherein they are strong Next to them the Odomboerians
no more than 5 fathom deepe howbeit in certain chanels that it hath it is so deep that it canot be sounded neither wil any anchors reach the bottom and there rest and withall so streight narrow these chanels are that a ship cannot turne within them and therefore to auoid the necessitie of turning about in these seas the ships haue prows at both ends and are pointed each way in sailing they obserue no star at all As for the North pole they neuer see it but they carry euer with them certaine birds in their ships which they send out oft times when they seeke for land euer obseruing their flight for knowing well that they wil fly to land they accompany them bending their course accordingly neither vse they to saile more than one quarter of a yeare and for 100 daies after the Sun is entred into Cancer they take most heed and neuer make saile for during that time it is winter with them And thus much we come to knowledge of by relation of antient Writers But we came to far better intelligence and more notable information by certain Embassadors that came out of that Island in the time of Claudius Gaesar the Emperor which happened vpon this occasion and after this manner It fortuned that a free slaue of Annius Plocamus who had farmed of the Exchequer the customs for impost of the red sea as he made saile about the coasts of Arabia was in such wise driuen by the North windes besides the realme of Carmania and that for the space of 15 daies that in the end he fell with an harbour thereof called Hippuros and there arriued When he was set on land he found the King of that Countrey so curteous that hee gaue him entertainment for six moneths and entreated him with all kindenesse that could be deuised And as he vsed to discourse and question with him about the Romanes and their Emperour he recounted vnto him at large of all things But amongst many other reports that he heard he wondred most of all at their iustice in all their dealings was much in loue therewith and namely that their Deniers of the money which was taken were alwaies of like weight notwithstanding that the sundry stamps and images vpon the pieces shewed plainly that they were made by diuers persons And hereupon especially was he mooued sollicited to seeke for the alliance and amitie of the people of Rome and so dispatched 4 Embassadours of purpose of whom one Rachias was the chiefe and principall personage By these Embassadours we are informed of the state of that Island namely that it contained fiue hundred great townes in it that there was a hauen therin regarding the South coast lying hard vnder Palesimundum the principall citie of all that realme and the kings seat and pallace that there were by iust account 200000 of commoners citizens moreouer that within this island there was a lake 270 miles in circuit containing in it certain Islands good for nothing else but pasturage wherein they were fruitfull out of which lake there issued 2 riuers the one Palesimundas passing neere to the citie abouesaid of that name and running into the hauen with three streames whereof the narrowest is fiue stadia broad and the largest 15 the other Northward on India side named Cydara also that the next cape of this country to India is called Colaicum from which to the neerest port of India is counted foure daies sailing in the midst of which passage there lieth in the way the Island of the Sunne They said moreouer that the water of this sea was all of a deepe greene colour and more than that full of trees growing within it insomuch as the pilots with their helmes many times brake off the heads and tops of those trees The stars about the North-pole called Septentriones the Waines or Beares they wondred to see here among vs in our Hemisphere as also the Brood-hen called Vergiliae in Latine as if it had been another heauen They confessed also they neuer saw with them the Moone aboue the ground before it was 8 daies old nor after the 16 day That the Canopus a goodly great and bright star about the pole Antarcticke vsed to shine all night with them But the thing that they maruelled and were most astonied at was this that they obserued the shadow of their own bodies fell to our Hemisphere and not to theirs and that the Sun arose on their left hand and set on their right rather than contrariwise Furthermore they related that the front of that Island of theirs which looked toward India contained 10000 stadia reached from the South-East beyond the mountains Enodi Also that the Seres were within their kenning whom they might easily discouer from out of this their Island with whom they had acquaintance by the meanes of trafficke and merchandise and that Rachias his father vsed many times to trauell thither Affirming moreouer that if any strangers came thither they were encountred and assailed by wild sauage beasts and that the inhabitants themselues were gyants of stature exceeding the ordinary stature of men hauing red haire eies of colour blewish their voice for sound horrible for speech not distinct nor intelligible for any vse of traffick and commerce In all things else their practise is the same that our merchants and occupiers do vse for on the farther side of the riuer when wares and commodities are laid downe if they list to make exchange they haue them away and leaue other merchandise in lieu thereof to content the forrein merchant And verily no greater cause haue we otherwise to hate abhor this excessiue superfluitie than to cast our eie so far and consider with our selues what it is that we seeke for from what remote parts we fetch it and to what end we so much desire al this vanitie But euen this Island Taprobane as farre off as it is seeming as it were cast out of the way by Nature and diuided from all this world wherein we liue is not without those vices and imperfections wherwith we are tainted and infected For euen gold siluer also is there in great requestand highly esteemed and marble especially if it be fashioned like a tortois shell Iemmes and pretious stones pearles also such as be orient and of the better sort are highly prised with them and herein consisteth the very height of our superfluous delights Moreouer these Embassadors would say that they had more riches in their Island than we at Rome but we more vse thereof than they They affirmed also that no man with them had any slaues to command neither slept they in the morning after day-light ne yet at all in the day time That the maner of building their houses was low somewhat raised aboue the ground and no more adoe that their markets were neuer deare nor price of victuals raised As for courts pleading of causes and going to law they knew not what it meant
saith there is no more discouered vpon this sea of that side by reason of the dangerous rockes therein And I maruell much that he hath made no mention at all of the towne Batrasabe in the Omanians countrey ne yet of Omana which the antient Geographers haue held to be an hauen of great importance in the kingdome of Carmania Item he saith not a word of Omne and Athanae which our merchants report to be at this day 2 famous mart towns much frequented by those that trafficke from the Persian gulfe Beyond the riuer Caius as K. Iuba writeth there is an hill which seemeth all scortched and burnt Past which you enter into the countrie of the Epimaranites and anon after into the region af the Ichthyophagi and past them there is discouered a desart Island and the Bathymians country and so forward the mountaines Eblitaei are discouered and the Island Omoenus the hauen Machorbae the Islands Etaxalos Onchobrice and the people called Chadaei Many other Islands also of no account and namelesse but of importance Isura Rhinnea and one other verie neere thereto wherein are standing certaine Columnes or pillers of stone engrauen with vnknowne Characters and Letters A little beyond the port towne Goboea and the desart vnpeopled Islands Bragae The Nation of the Thaludaeans the region Dabanegoris the mountaine Orsa with an hauen vnder it the gulfe or arme of the sea called Duatus with many Islands therein Also the mountaine Tricoryphus the countrey Cardalena the Islands Solanidae and Capina Soone after you fall vpon other Islands of the Ichthyophagi and after them the people called Glarians The strond called Hammaeum wherein are golden mines The region Canauna The people Apitami and Gasani The Island Deuadae with the fountaine Goralus Then come you to the Garphets country the Islands Aleu Amnamethu Beyond which are the people called Darrae the Island Chelonitis many other of the Ichthyophagi The Isle Eodanda which lieth desart Basage besides many other that belong to the Sabaeans For riuers you haue Thamar Amnon in the the Islands Dolicae wherein be the fountaines Daulotes and Dora Ilands besides to wit Pteros Labaris Covoris and Sambracate with a towne so named also in the firme land On the South side many Islands there be but the greatest of them all is Camari Then haue you the riuer Mysecros the hauen Leupas the Sabaeans called Scenitae for that they liue vnder tabernacles rents Moreouer many other Islands The chiefest mart or town of merchandise in those parts is Acila where the merchants vse to imbarke for their voiage into India Then followeth the region Amithoscutia and Damnia The Mizians both the greater and the lesse the Drimutians and Macae A promontory of theirs is ouer-against Carmania and distant from it 50 miles A wondrous thing is reported to haue bin there done that is this that Numenus lord deputy vnder K. Antiochus ouer Mesena general of his army defeated the nauy of the Persians in sea-fight and the same day with the opportunity of the tide returned to land againe gaue their horsemen an ouerthrow to it whereupon in memoriall of a twofold victory in one day atchieued he erected 2 triumphant trophies the one in honor of Iupiter the other of Neptune Farre within the deep sea there lieth another Island called Ogyris distant from the continent 125 miles and containing in circuit 112 much renowned for the sepulchre of K. Erythra who there was enterred Another likewise there is of no lesse account called Dioscoridu lying in the sea Azanium and is from Syagrum the vtmost point or cape of the main 280 miles But to returne to the Continent there remaine yet not spoken of the Antarides toward the South as you turn to the mountains which continue for 7 daies iourny ouer then these nations Larendanes Catabanes and Gebanites who haue many townes but the greatest are Nagia and Tamna with 65 churches or temples within it whereby a man may know how great it is From thence you come to a promontory from which to the continent of the Troglodites it is 50 miles And in those quarters remaine the Toanes Acchitae Chatramotitae Tomabei Antidalei Lexianae Agrei Cerbani and Sabaei of all the Arabians for their store of frankincense most famous as also for the largenesse of their country reaching from sea to sea Their townes scituate vpon the coast of the red sea are Marane Marma Cocolia and Sabatra Within the firme land are these townes Nascus Cardaua Carnus and Tomala where the Sabaeans keep their faires and markets for to vent and sel their commodities of incense myrrhe and such drugs and spices One part of them are the Atramites whose capitall city Sobotale hath within the wals thereof 60 temples But the roiall city and chiefe seat of the whole kingdome is Nariaba scituat vpon a gulfe or arm of the sea that reacheth into the land 94 miles ful of Islands beautified with sweet odoriferous trees Vpon the Atramites within the main land joine the Minaei but the Elamites inhabit the maritine coast where there standeth a city also called Elamitum To them the Cagulates lye close and their head towne is Siby which the Greekes name Apate Then come you to the Arsicodani and Vadei with a great towne and the Barasei beyond whom is Lichemia and the Island Sygaros into which no dogs will come willingly and if any be put there they will neuer lin wandring about the shore vntill they die In the farthest part of the aboue-said gulfe are the Leanites whereof the gulfe tooke the name Leanites Their head seat and roiall seat is Agra but the city Leana or as others would haue it Aelana is scituate vpon the verie gulfe And he reupon our writers haue called that arme of the sea Aelaniticum others Aelenaticum Artemidorus Aleniticum and king Iuba Laeniticum Arabia is reported to take in circuit from Charax to Leana 4870 miles But Iuba thinketh it somewhat lesse than 4000. Widest it is in the North parts betweene the townes Herous and Chrace Now it remaineth that wee speake of other parts within the Mid-land thereof Vpon the Nabataei the Thimaneans doe border after the description of the old Geographers but at this day the Tauenes Suâ—…llenes and Saracenes their principall Towne is Arra wherein is the greatest trafficke and resort of merchants Moreouer the Hemnates and Analites whose townes are Domada and Erage also the Thamusians with their towne Badanatha the Carreans and their towne Chariati the Achoali and a city of theirs Phoda Furthermore the Minaei descended as some thinke from Minos king of Crete whose citie Charmaei hath 14 miles in compasse Other towns likewise be there standing a far off and namely Mariaba Baramalacum a town ywis of no mean account likewise Carnon and Ramei who are thought to come from Rhadamanthus the brother of Minos Ouer and besides the Homerites with their towne Massala the Hamirei
cal Medoe wherein standeth the town Asel and a fourth named Garode like as the towne also Then along the banks of Nilus are many townes to wit Navos Modunda Andabis Setundum Colligat Secande Navectabe Cumi Agrospi Aegipa Candrogari Araba and Summara The region aboue Sirbithim where the mountains do end is reported to haue vpon the sea coast certaine Aethyopians called Nisicastes and Nisites that is to say men with three or foure eies apiece not for that they are so eied indeed but because they are excellent archers haue a speciall good eie in aiming at their marke which lightly they wil not misse Bion affirmeth moreouer That from that clime of the heauen which beares aboue the greater Syrtes bendeth toward the South Ocean sea they be called Dalion to wit the Cisorians and Longopores who drinke and vse rain water only And beyond Oecalices for fiue daies iournie the Vsibalks Isuelians Pharuseans Valians and Cispians All the rest are nothing but desarts not inhabited But then he telleth fabulous and incredible tales of those countries Namely that Westward there are people called Nigroe whose king hath but one eie and that in the mids of his forehead Also he talketh of the Agriophagi who liue most of panthers and lions flesh Likewise of the Pomphagi who eat all things whatsoeuer Moreouer of the Anthropophagi that feed on mans flesh Furthermore of the Cynamolgi who haue heads like dogs Ouer and besides the Artabatites who wander and go vp and downe in the forests like fourefooted sauage beasts Beyond whom as he saith be the Hesperij Peroesi who as we said before were planted in the confines of Mauritania In certain parts also of Ethyopia the people liue of Locusts only which they pouder with salt and hang vp in smoke to harden for their yerely prouision and these liue not aboue 40 yeares at the most Finally Agrippa saith that all Ethiopia and take the land with it of Prester Iehan bordering vpon the red sea containeth in length 2170 miles in bredth together with the higher Egypt 1291. Some Geographers haue taken the bredth in this manner From Miroe to Sirbitum 12 daies iournie vpon Nilus from thence to the country of the Dauillians another 12 and from them to the Ethyopian Ocean 6 daies But in general all writers in a manner do resolue vpon this that betweene Ocean and Meroe it is 725 miles and from thence to Syene as much as we haue set downe before As for the positure and scituation of Ethyopia it lies Southeast Southwest In the meridian South parts thereof there be great woods of Ebene especially alwaies greene Toward the mids of this region there is a mighty high mountain looking ouer the sea that burns continually which the Greeks cal Theon ochema i. The chariot of the gods from the which it is counted foure daies iourny by sea to the promontory or cape called Hesperion-Ceras which confines vpon Africk neere to the Hesperian Ethyopians Some writers hold that this tract is beautified with pretty little hils and those pleasantly clad garnished with shadowie groues wherein the Aegipanes and Satyres do conuerse CHAP. XXXI The Islands in the Aethyopian Sea EPhorus Eudoxus and Timosthenes do all agree in this that there be very many Islands in all that sea Clitarchus witnesseth that report was made to Alexander the Great of one aboue the rest which was so rich and well monied that for an ordinary horse the inhabitants would not stick to giue a talent of gold also of another wherein was found a sacred hill adorned with a goodly wood vpon it where the trees distilled and dropped sweet water of a wonderfull odoriferous smell Moreouer full against the Persian gulf lieth the Isle named Cerne opposite vnto Aethiopia but how large it is or how far off it beareth into the sea from the continent is not certainly knowne this only is reported that the Ethyopians and none but they are the inhabitants therof Ephorus writeth that they who would saile thither from the red sea are not able for extreme heate to passe beyond certain columnes or pillars for so they call the little Isles there Howbeit Polybius auoucheth that this Island Cerne where it lieth in the vtmost coast of the Mauritanian sea ouer-against the mountaine Atlas is but 8 stadia from the land And Cornelius Nepos affirmeth that likewise it is not aboue a mile from the land ouer against Carthage besides that it is not aboue two miles in circuit There is mention made also by authors of another Isle before the said mountain Atlas named also therupon Atlantis And fiue daies sailing from it appeare the desarts of the Ethyopian Hesperians together with the foresaid cape which we named Hesperion-Ceras where the coasts of the land begin first to turn about their forefront to wind Westward and regard the Atlanticke sea Iust ouer-against this cape as Xenophon Lampsacenus reporteth lye the Islands called Gorgates where sometimes the Gorgones kept their habitation and 2 daies sailing they are thought to be from the firme land Hanno a great commander and generall of the Carthaginians landed there with an army who made this report from thence That the women were all ouer their bodies hairy as for the men he could not catch one of them so swift they were of foot that they escaped out of all sight but he flead two of these Gorgone women and brought away their skins which for a testimoniall of his being there and for a wonder to posteritie he hung vp in Iunoes temple where they were seen vntill Carthage was won and sacked Beyond these Isles there are by report two more discouered by the name of Hesperides But so vncertaine are all the intelligences deliuered concerning these parts that Statius Sebosus affirmeth that it is 40 good daies sailing from the Islands of these Gorgones along the coast of Atlas vnto the Isles of the Hesperides and from thence to Hesperion-Ceras but one As little resolution and certaintie there is as touching the Islands of Mauritania In this only they all jumpe and accord that K. Iuba discouered some few of them ouer-against the Autolotes in which he meant and purposed to die Gaetulian purple CHAP. XXXII ¶ Of the Islands Fortunatae or Canarie SOme Authors there be who thinke that the Islands Fortunatae and certaine others besides them are beyond the Antolotes among whom the same Sebosus aboue rehearsed was so bold as to speake of their distances and namely that the Island Iunonia is from Gades 750 miles and that from it Westward the Isles Pluvialia and Capraria are as much Also that in the Island Pluvialia there is no fresh water but only that which they haue by showrs of rain He saith moreouer that from them to the Fortunate Islands are 250 miles which lie 8 miles from the coast of Mauritania to the left hand called the coast of the Sun or Valley of the sun for that it is like a valley or
make another fire hard by of dry vine cuttings and such like sticks and so he was burnt bare and naked as he was CHAP. LIIII ¶ Of Buriall or Sepulture TO burne the bodies of the dead hath bin no antient custome among the Romans the maner was in old time to inter them But after they were giuen once to vnderstand that the corses of men slain in the wars afar off and buried in those parts were taken forth of the earth again ordained it was to burne them And yet many families kept them still to the old guise and ceremonie of committing their dead to the earth as namely the house of the Cornelij whereof there was not one by report burned before L. Sylla the Dictator and he willed it expressely and prouided for it before hand for feare himselfe should be so serued as C. Marius was whose corps he caused to be digged vp after it was buried Now in Latine he is said to be Sepultus that is bestowed or buried any way it makes no matter how but humatus properly who is interred only or committed to the earth CHAP. LV. ¶ Of the Ghosts or spirits of men departed AFter men are buried great diuersitie there is in opinion what is become of their souls ghosts wandering some this way and others that But this is generally held that in what estate they were before men were born in the same they remain when they are dead For neither body nor soule hath any more sence after our dying day than they had before the day of our natiuitie But such is the folly vanitie of men that it extendeth stil euen to the future time yea and in the very time of death flattereth it selfe with fond imaginations and dreaming of I know not what life after this for some attribute immortality to the soule others deuise a certain transfiguration therof there be again who suppose that the ghosts sequestred from the body haue sense whereupon they do them honour and worship making a god of him that is not so much as a man As if the maner of mens breathing differed from that in other liuing creatures or as if there were not to be found many other things in the World that liue much longer than men and yet no man iudgeth in them the like immortality But shew me what is the substance and body as it were of the soule by it selfe what kind of matter is it apart from the body where lieth her cogitation that she hath how is her seeing how is her hearing performed what toucheth she nay what doth she at al How is she emploied or if there be in her none of all this what goodnesse can there be without the same But I would know where shee setleth and hath her abiding place after her departure from the body and what an infinit multitude of souls like shadows would there be in so many ages as well past as to come now surely these be but fantastical foolish and childish toies deuised by men that would faâ—…ne liue alwaies and neuer make an end The like foolery there is in preseruing the bodies of dead men the vanity of Democritus is no lesse who promised a resurrection thereof and yet himself could neuer rise again And what a folly is this of all follies to think in a mischief that death should be the way to a second life what repose and rest should euer men haue that are borne of a woman if their soules should remain in heauen aboue with sence whiles their shadows tarried beneath among the infernall wights Certes these sweet inducements and pleasing persuasions this foolish credulitie and light beliefe marreth the benefit of the best gift of Nature to wit Death it doubleth besides the paine of a man that is to die if he happen to thinke and consider what shall betide him the time to come For if it be sweet and pleasant to liue what pleasure and contentment can one haue that hath once liued and now doth not But how much more ease and greater securitie were it for each man to beleeue himselfe in this point to gather reasons and to ground his resolution and assurance vpon the experience that he had before hee was borne CHAP. LVI ¶ The first inuenters of diuers things BEfore we depart from this discourse of mens nature me thinks it were meet and conuenient to shew their sundry inuentions and what each man hath deuised in this world In the first place prince Bacchus brought vp buying and selling he it was also that deuised the diadem that royall ensigne and ornament and the manner of triumph Dame Ceres was the first that shewed the way of sowing corne whereas before-time men liued of mast She taught also how to grind corne to knead dough and make bread thereof in the land of Attica Italy and Sicily for which benefit to mankind reputed she was a goddesse She it was that beganne to make lawes howsoeuer others haue thought that Rhadamanthus was the first law giuer As for Letters I am of opinion that they were in Assyria from the beginning time out of mind but some thinke and namely Gellius that they were deuised by Mercurie in Aegypt but others say they came first from Syria True it is that Cadmus brought with him into Greece from Phoenice to the number of sixteen vnto which Palamedes in the time of the Troian war added foure more in these characters following 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And after him Simonides Melicus came with other foure to wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the force of all which letters we acknowledge and see euidently expressed in our Latine Alphabet Aristotle is rather of mind that there were 18 letters in the Greeke Alphabet from the beginning namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that the other two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and and X. were set to by Epicharmus and not by Palamedes Anticlides writeth That one in Egypt named Menon was the inuentor of letters fifteene yeares before the time of Phoroneus the most antient king of Greece and he goeth about to proue the same by antient records and monuments out of histories Contrariwise Epigenes an author as renowned and of as good credit as any other sheweth That among the Babylonians there were found Ephemerides containing the obseruation of the stars for 720 yeares written in bricks and tiles and they that speake of least to wit Berosus and Critodemus report the like for 480 yeares Whereby it appeareth euidently that letters were alwaies in vse time out of mind The first that brought the Alphabet into Latium or Italy were the Pelasgians Euryalus and Hyperbius two brethren at Athens caused the first bricke and tile-kils yea and houses thereof to be made whereas before their time men dwelt in holes and caues within the ground Gellius is of opinion that Doxius the sonne of Coelus deuised the first houses that were made of earth and cley taking his patterne from Swallowes and Martins nests Cecrops founded
haifer approach neere vnto them they will stand gazing at 〈◊〉 and neuer regard the hunters neere by or if they happen to spie him they will looke at his very bow and sheiâ—…e of arrows as at strange and wondrous things They passe the seas swimming by flocks and whole heards in a long row each one resting his head vpon the buttockes of his fellow next before him and this they do in course so as the foremost retireth behinde to the hindmost by turnes one after another and this is ordinarily obserued by those saylers that passe from Cilicia to Cypres And yet in their swimming they descry no land by the eye but only by their smelling haue an aime thereat The males of this kind are horned and they aboue all other liuing creatures cast them euery yeare once at a certaine time of the Spring and to that purpose a little before the very day of their mewing they seek the most secret corners and most out of the way in the whole forrest When they are pollards they keep close hidden as if they were disarmed and all this they do as if they enuied that men should haue good of any thing that they had And in very truth the right horn they say can neuer be found as if it had some rare and singular vertue in Physicke A strange and maruellous thing considering that in the parks they change them euery yere insomuch as it is thought verily that they hide them within the earth But burne whether of them ye will the left as well as the right this is certain That the smell and perfume thereof driueth serpents away and discouereth them that are subiect to the fits of the falling disease A man may also know their age by their heads for euery yeare they haue one knag or branch more in their horns than before vntill they come to six after which time they come new euer alike so as their age cannot be discerned any more by the head but the marke is taken by their mouth and teeth for as they grow in age they haue few or no teeth at all ne yet grow the branches out at the root whereas all the while they were yonger they vsed to haue them breake forth and standing out at the very forehead After they be guelded once neither cast they their hornes which they had before neither grow there any if they had none when they were libbed At the first when they breake out againe like they be to the glandules or kernels of dry skin that new put forth then grow they with tender stalks into certain round and long knobs of the reed mace couered all ouer with a certaine soft plume downe like veluet So long as they be destitute of their hornes and perceiue their heads naked they go forth to reliefe by night and as they grow bigger and bigger they harden them in the hot sun estsoons making proofe of them against trees and when they perceiue once that they be tough and strong enough then they go abroad boldly And certainly some of them haue been taken with green Iuie sticking fast and growing in their hornes remaining there since the time that they ran them when they were but tender against some trees for triall whether they were good or no and so chanced to race the Iuie from the wood of the tree You shall haue them somtime white of colour and such an one was the hind that Q. Sertorius had about which he persuaded the people of Spaine to be his Sooth-sayer to tel him of things to come This kind of Deere maintaine fight with serpents and are their mortall enemies they will follow them to their very holes and there by the strength of drawing and snuffing vp their wind at the nostrils force them out whether they wil or no and therfore there is not so good a thing again to chase away serpents as is the smoke and smel of an Harts horn burnt But against their sting or biting there is a singular remedy with the runnet in the maw of a fawne or Hind-calfe killed in the dams belly It is generally held and confessed that the Stag or hind liues long for an hundred yeres after Alexander the great some were taken with golden collars about their necks ouergrowne now with haire and growne within the skin which collars the said king had done vpon them This creature of all diseases is not subiect to the feuer but he is good to cure it I haue known great ladies and dames of state vse euery morning to eat the venison of red Deere and thereby to haue liued a great age and neuer had the ague but it is thought this is a certain remedy and neuer faileth in case the stag be strucken starke dead at once with one wound and no more CHAP. XXXIII ¶ Of the shag-haired and bearded Stagge like to a Goat as also of the Chameleon OF the same kind is the Goat hart and differing only in the beard and long shag about the shoulders which they call Tragelaphis and this breedeth no where but about the riuer Phasis Africke in a manner is the onely countrey that breedeth no stags and hinds but contrariwise it bringeth Chamaeleons although India hath them ordinarily in greater number In shape and quantitie it is made like a Lisard but that it standeth higher and streighter than the Lisards do vpon his legs The sides flank and belly meet together as in fishes it hath likewise sharp prickles bearing out vpon the back as they haue snouted it is for the bignesse not vnlike to a swine with a very long taile thin and pointed at the end winding round and entangled like to vipers hooked clawes it hath and goeth slow as doth the Tortoise his body and skin is rough and scaly as the crocodiles his eies standing hollow within his head those be exceeding great one neere vnto the other with a very small portion betweene of the same colour that the rest of the body is he is alwaies open eied and neuer closeth them he looketh about him not by mouing the ball of his eie but by turning the whole body thereof he gapes euermore aloft into the aire and is the onely creature aliue that feedeth neither of meat nor drinke but hath his nourishment of aire onely about wilde fig-trees he is fell and dangerous otherwise harmlesse But his colour naturally is very strange and wonderful for euer and anon he changeth it as well in his eie as taile and whole body besides and looke what colour he toucheth next the same alwaies he resembleth vnlesse it be red and white When he is dead hee looketh pale and wan very little flesh he hath in head and chawes and about the ioint where his taile is graffed to his rump but in all the body besides none at all All his bloud is in his heart and about his eies among other his bowels he is without a spleen Hidden hee lieth all winter long as Lisards do CHAP.
time to lay for them and to entrap them In like manner the Mullets for their part immediately make speed to recouer the deepe which they do very soon by reason that the channell is neere at hand and their onely hast is for this to escape and passe that narrow place which affordeth opportunitie to the fishers to stretch out and spread their nets The fisher-men being ware thereof and all the people besides for the multitude knowing when fishing time is come run thither and the rather for to see the pleasant sport crie as lowd â—…s euer they can to the Dolphins for aid call Simo Simo to help to make an end of this their game and pastime of fishing The Dolphins soon get the eare of their crie and know what they would haue and the better if the North-winds blow and carrie the sound vnto them for if it be a Southerne wind it is later ere the voice be heard because it is against them Howbeit be the wind in what corner soeuer the Dolphins resort thither flock-meale sooner than a man would thinke for to assist them in their fishing And a wondrous pleasant sight it is to behold the squadrons as it were of those Dolphins how quickly they take their places and be araunged in battell array euen against the very mouth of the said poole where the Mullets vse to shoot into the sea to see I say how from the sea they oppose themselues and fight against them and driue the Mullets once affrighted and skared from the deep vpon the shelues Then come the fishers and beset them with net and toile which they beare vp and fortifie with strong forkes howbeit for all that the Mullets are so quicke nimble that a number of them whip ouer get away and escape the nets But the Dolphins then are readie to receiue them who contenting themselues for the present to kill only make foule worke and hauocke among them put off the time of preying and feeding vpon vntil they haue ended the battel atchieued the victorie And now the skirmish is hot for the Dolphins also perceiuing also the men at worke are the more egre and couragious in fight taking pleasure to be enclosed within the nets and so most valiantly charge vpon the Mullets but for feare lest the same should giue an occasion vnto the enemies prouoke them to retire and slie backe between the boats the nets and the men there swimming they glide by so gently and easily that it cannot be seen where they gat out And albeit they take great delight in leaping haue the cast of it yet none assaieth to get forth but where the nets lie vnder them but no sooner are they out but presently a man shall see braue pastime between them as they scuffle skirmish as it were vnder the rampier And so the conflict being ended and all the fishing sport done the Dolphins fal to spoile and eat those which they killed in the first shock and encounter But after this seruice performed the Dolphins retire not presently into the deep againe from whence they were called but stay vntil the morrow as if they knew very well that they had so carried themselues as that they deserued a better reward than one daies refection and victuals and therefore contented they are not and satisfied vnlesse to their fish they haue some sops and crums of bread giuen them soaked in wine that their bellies ful Mutianus makes mention of the semblable maner of fishing in the gulfe of Iassos but herein is the difference for that the Dolphins come of their own accord without calling take their part of the bootie at the fishers hands and euery boat hath a Dolphin attending vpon it as a companion although it be in the night season at torch light Ouer and besides the Dolphins haue a kind of common-wealth and publick society among themselues for it chanced vpon a time that a king of Caria had taken a Dolphin and kept him fast as a prisoner within the harbor whereupon a mighty multitude of other Dolphins resorted thither and by certain signes of sorrow and mourning that they made euident to be perceiued and vnderstood seemed to craue pardon and mercie for the prisoner and neuer gaue ouer vntill the king had giuen commandement that he should be enlarged and let goe Also the little ones are euermore accompanied with some one of the bigger sort as a guide to guard keep him To conclude they haue beene seene to carry one of their fellowes when he is dead into some place of securitie that he should not be deuoured and torne of other sea-monsters CHAP. IX ¶ Of Porpuisses THe Porpuisses which the Latines cal Tursiones are made like the Dolphins howbeit they differ in that they haue a more sad and heauie countenance for they are nothing so gamesome playfull and wanton as be the Dolphins but especially they are snouted like dogges when they snarle grin and are readie to doe a shewd turne CHAP. X. ¶ Of sea Tortoises and how they are taken THere be found Tortoises in the Indian sea so great that one only shel of them is sufficient for the roufe of a dwelling house And among the Islands principally in the red sea they vse Tortoise shells ordinarily for boats and wherries vpon the water Many waies the fisher-men haue to catch them but especially in this manner They vse in the mornings when the weather is calm and still to flote aloft vpon the water with their backs to be seen all ouer and then they take such pleasure in breathing freely at libertie that they forget themselues altogether insomuch as their shell in this time is so hardened and baked with the sun that when they would they cannot diue and sinke vnder the water againe but are forced against their wills to flote aboue and by that meanes are exposed as a prey vnto the fishermen Some say that they go forth in the night to land for to feed where with eating greedily they qe wearie so that in the morning when they are returned again they fall soon asleep aboue the water and keepe such a snorting and routing in their sleepe that they bewray where they be and so are easily taken and yet there must be three men about euery one of them and when they haue swom vnto the Tortoise two of them turne him vpon his backe the third casts acord or halter about him as hee lyeth with his belly vpward and then is he haled by many more together to the land In the Phoenician sea they make no great ado to take them for why at a certaine time of the yeere they resort of themselues by great multitudes in skulls vp into the riuer Eleutherius The Tortoise hath no teeth but the sides and brimmes of his neb or becke are sharpe and keene where of the vpper part or chaw shutteth close vpon the nether like to the lid of a boxe In the sea they liue
times is bigger than the Dolphin and put them to such pain that to auoid them they oftentimes are driuen to lance themselues and skip into the very ships Which propertie they haue also at other times for feare of the violence of other fishes most of all the Mullets haue this cast with them and this they doe with such exceeding swiftnesse and agilitie that they will fling themselues otherwhiles crosse ouer the ships CHAP. XVI ¶ Of presages and foretokenings by fishes and of their diuersitie NAture willing to endue this Element also of the water with some Auguries hath giuen to fishes likewise a kind of prescience and foreknowledge of things ro come And verily during the Sicilian war as Augustus Caesar walked along the shore vpon the sands there was a certain fish leapt forth of the sea and light at his very feet The Soothsaiers and wisards vpon this occurrent being sought vnto gaue this construction thereof and presaged thereby That they who at that time were lords of the sea and held it in subiection should be ranged vnder the obedience of Caesar and at his deuotion And yet at that present it is thought and said That god Neptune had adopted Sex Pompeius for his son so fortunate he was and such exploits had he atchieued vpon the sea The female kind of fishes are commonly bigger than the males And there are some sorts of them whereof there be no males at all but all females as the Erythini and the Chani For they be taken alwaies spawners and full of egs Fishes that be skaled for the most part swim in troups and sort together The best fishing is before the sun be vp for then fishes see least or not at all For if the nights be cleere and Moon-shine they see as well by night as day Moreouer they say that it is good fishing twise in one and the same hole for commonly vpon the second cast the draught is better than the first Fishes loue passing well to tast oile they ioy also and like well in soft gentle shewers therewith they wil feed and grow fat And good reason there is of it for why we see by experience that canes reeds although they breed in meers and standing waters yet they grow not to the purpose without rain Moreouer it is obserued that fish keeping euermore in one dead poole and neuer remoued wil die wheresoeuer it be vnlesse there fall rain water to refresh them All fishes feele the cold of a sharpe and hard winter but those especially who are thought to haue a stone in their head as the Pikes the Chromes Scienae Pagri If it be a bitter season in winter many of them are taken vp blind And therefore during those cold moneths they lurk hidden in holes and within rocks like as we haue said certain land creatures doe But aboue all others the Lobstars called Hippuri and the Coracini cannot abide extremity of cold therefore be neuer caught in winter vnles it be at certain times when they come forth of their holes which they keep duly and neuer stir but then In like sort the Lamproie the Orphe the Conger Perches and all Stone-fishes that loue rocks and grauell Men say verily that the crampefish the Plaice and the Sole lie hidden all winter in the ground that is to say in certain creuises and chinks which they make in the bottome of the sea Contrariwise some again be as impatient of heat and can as ill away with hot weather and therefore about Mid-summer for 60 daies they lie hidden and are not to be seen as the fish Glaucus the Cod and the Gilthead Of riuer fishes the Silurus or Sturgeon in the beginning of the dog-daies is blasted and stricken with a planet at other times also in a thunder lightening he is smitten so as therewith he is astonied and lieth for dead And some thinke that the like accident befalleth to the sea Bream Cyprinus And verily all quarters of the sea throughout feele the rising of the dog-starre but most of all the influence and power thereof is to be seen in the streight of Bosphorus for then may a man perceiue ordinarily the reits of the sea and the fishes flote aloft and the sea so troubled that euery thing is cast vp from the bottome to the vpper part of the water CHAP. XVII ¶ Of the Mullet and other fishes and that the same in all places are not of like request THe Mullets haue a naturall ridiculous qualitie by themselues to be laughed at for when they be afraid to be caught they wil hide their head and then they think they be sure enough weening that all their body is likewise hidden These Mullets neuerthelesse are so lecherous that in the season when they vse to ingender in the coasts of Phoenice Languedock if they take a milter out of their stews or pooles where they vse to keep them and draw a long string or line through the mouth and gils and so tie it fast and then put him into the sea holding the other end of the line still in their hands if they pul him again vnto them they shal haue a number of spawners or femals follow him hard at taile to the bank side Semblably if a man do the same with a female in spawning time hee shall haue as many milters follow after her And in this manner they take an infinit number of Mullets In old time our ancestors set more store by the Sturgeon it carried the name aboue all other fishes He is the only sish that hath the scales growing ouer the head hee swims against the streame But now adaies there is no such reckoning account made of him wherat I maruell much considering he is so hard and seldome to be found Some call him Elops afterwards Cornelius Nepos and Laberius the Poet and maker of mery rimes haue written that the sea Pikes and the cods got away all the credit from the Sturgeon were of greatest request As for the Pikes aforesaid the best and most commendable of all others be they which are called Lanati as a man would say cotton Pikes for the whitenesse tendernesse of their flesh Of cods there be two sorts Callariae or Haddocks which be the lesse and Bacchi which are neuer taken but in the deep and therfore they are preferred before the former But the Pikes that are caught in the riuer be better than all others The fish called Scarus now carrieth the price praise of all others this fish alone is said to chew cud to liue of grasse and weeds and not to prey vpon other fishes In the Carpathian sea great store of them is found by their good will they neuer passe the cape or promontorie Lectos in Troas In the daies of Tiberius Claudius the Emperor Optatius his freed man who sometime had bin a slaue of his and then Admiral and Lieutenant generall of a fleet vnder him brought them first
for if it were a calme sea and the winds downe the Nauplius afore-said that went as a passenger in this shell would put downe his feet into the water like ores and row therewith but if a gale of wind were aloft he would stretch the same alength make them serue in stead of an helme to steere withall and then the Coquil or shel-fish would spread and display it selfe like sailes to gather wind so as the one of them tooke a pleasure to carrie in manner of the vessell the other had his delight to labour as a mariner and to direct withall like a pilot Thus these two fishes otherwise senselesse blockish take their pleasure together vnles peraduenture it fall out vnhappily for certain it is that such a sight as this presages no good to sailers that men marre their sport and either part them asunder or force them to sinke vnder water The Lobsters beeing of that kinde which wanteth bloud haue a tender and brittle crust to couer and defend them For fiue months they lie hidden The Crabs likewise who at the same time keep close secret and both of them in the beginning of euery spring cast their old coats or shels as snakes do their skins take them that be new fresh Al others of this kind swim within the water but the Lobsters flote aloft and creepe as it were vpon the water So long as they are secure of any feare and danger they go directly straight letting downe their hornes at length along their sides which naturally by themselues haue a round point or bob at the end but if they be in any feare go vp those hornes straight and then they creepe byas and goe sidelong With these horns they oftentimes maintaine battaile one with another Of all creatures this only hath a tender and short kind of flesh which in the seething will not hang togerher vnlesse it be sodden aliue in scalding water and then it will be stiffe and callous as brawne CHAP. XXXI Of Sea-crabs Vrchins of the sea and great Vrchins called Echinometra AS for the Lobsters they loue rocks and stonie places but Crabs delight in soft and delicate places In winter they seeke after the warme or sun-shine shore but when summer is come they retire into the coole and deepe holes in the shade All the sort of them take harme and paire by winter in autumne and spring they battle and wax fat and especially when the moon is at the full because that planet is comfortable in the night time with her warme light mitigateth the cold of the night Of these Crab-fishes there be many kinds to wit Lobsters Creyfishes of the sea crabs of Barbarie called Maiae Grampels Grits or Pungiers Crabs of Heraclea yellow riuer Creyfishes and diuers others of more base account As for the Lobsters they differ from the rest in taile In Phoenicia there is a kind of Crabs called Hippoee or rather Hippeis that is to say Horses or Horsmen which are so swift that it is impossible to ouertake them Crabs liue long eight clees or feet they haue apeece all crooked and hooked the female hath the fore clee double the male but single Moreouer two of the legs or arms are forked and toothed like pincers The vpper part of these foreclawes doth stir the nether part moueth not The right leg in them al is bigger than the left When they come in skuls all together as somtimes they doe they are not able to passe one by another the streights of the sea Pontus about Constantinople whereupon they are forced to returne back againe and fetch a compasse about and the beaten way with their tracks may be seene The least of all these kind of Crabs is called Pinnnotheres or Pinnoteres and for his smalnesse most subiect and exposed to iniurie But as subtill and crafty he is as he is little for his maner is to shroud and hide himself within the shels of empty oisters and euer as he growes bigger and bigger to go into those that be wider Crabs when they be afraid will recule backward as fast as they went forward They will fight one with another and then ye shall see them jur and butt with their horns like rams Singular good they are against the bitings and stingings of serpents It is reported that while the Sun is in the signe Cancer the bodies within of dead crabs that lie without the water vpon drie land wil turne to be scorpions Of the same sort that the crabs be are the vrchins of the sea called Echini and these in stead of feet haue certain pointed prickles Their maner of going is to roll themselues and tumble round and therefore many times shall yee finde them with their pricks worne And of this sort be they that are called Echinometrae The longest prickles they haue of all others and the least shels or cases wherein they are Neither are they all of the same colour of glasse for about Torone they are found to be white hauing small pricks They haue all of them fiue egs when they lay but they are bitter Their mouths stand in the mids of their bodies bending down toward the earth It is said they haue a sore-knowledge of a sea tempest for by reason that they are so round and therefore soone whirled and caried here and there they fall then to labor and gather stones wherewith they charge and peise their bodies as with ballast that they may abide more stedfast for that they are not willing to weare their pricks with rolling and turning ouer and ouer which when the mariners and sailers perceiue once they presently cast many anchors and stay their ships CHAP. XXXII ¶ Of Winckles and sea Snailes IN the same ranke are to be reckoned the Winkles as well of land as water When they put themselues out of their shels they thrust out two hornes that they haue and wil pluck them in again when they list Eyes they haue none to see withall and therefore these little hornes serue them in good stead to sound as it were and try the way as they go CHAP. XXXIII ¶ Of Scallops of the greatest Winkle called Murex and other kinds of shell-fishes THe great Scallops in the sea are counted for the same race which lie hid also in the time as well of great heat as cold They haue certaine nailes as it were shining like fire in the night season yea in their very mouthes that eat them As for the Pourcelanes or Murices they haue a stronger skaled shell as also all the kind of Winkles great and small Wherin a man may see the wonderfull varietie of Nature in this play and pastime of hers giuing them so many and sundry colours with such diuersitie of formes and figures for of them yee shall haue flat and plain hollow long horned like the moon croissant full round halfe round cut as it were iust through the mids bow-backt and rising vp smooth rough toothed and indented like
That which is ingendred and brought forth is as it were some little mites of blackish â—…esh which they call Tadpoles or Polwigs shewing no good form but that they haue some shew of eies only and a taile Some few daies after their feet are framed then parts their taile in twain which serueth for their feet behind And a strange thing it is of them after they haue liued some 6 months they resolue into a slime or mud no man seeth how afterward with the first rains in the Spring returne again to their former state as they were first shapen no man knows after what sort by a secret and vnknown way incomprehensible notwithstanding it fals out ordinarily so euery yere As for the Limpins Muskles and Scallops they breed of themselues in the mud and sands of the sea Those which are of an harder coat as the Pourcelanes and Purples of a certain viscous and slimy substance like a muscilage As for that little fry resembling small gnats and flies of the sea they come of a certaine putrifaction and sowernesse of the water as the Apuae which are the groundlings and Smies of the some of the sea set in an heat chafed after some good shewer They that are couered with a stony shell as Oisters breed of the rotten and putrified slime mud of the sea or of the some that hath stood long about ships or stakes and posts set fast in the water and especially if they bee of Holme wood Howbeit it hath bin found of late in Oister pits that there passeth from them in stead of Sperm a certain whitish humor like milk As for Yeels they rub themselues against rocks and stones and those scrapings as it were which are fretted from them in time come to take life and proue snigs and no other generation haue they Fishes of diuers kinds engender not one with another vnlesse it be the Skate and the Raifish and of them there commeth a fish which in the forepart resembleth a Ray in Greek hath a name compounded of both Rhinobatos Other fishes there be that breed indifferently on land and sea according to the warme season of the yeare In Spring time Scallops Snailes and Horsleeches do engender and by the same warmth quicken and come to life but in Autumne they turn to nothing The Pike Sardane breed twice a yere like as al stone fish the Barbels thrice as also a kind of Turbit called Chalcis i. the Shad the Carp 6 times the Scorpenes and Sargi twice namely in Spring and Autumne Of flat broad Fishes the Skate only twice in the yere to wit in Autumne and at the setting or occultation of the star Vergiliae The greatest number of Fishes ingender for 3 moneths April May Iune The Cods or Stockfishes in Autumne The Sargi Crampfishes Squali about the equinoctiall Soft skinned Fishes in the spring and the Cuttel in euery month The spawn of this Fish which hangeth together like a cluster of grapes by the means of a certaine blacke glew or viscositie like inke the Milter doth blow and breath vpon before it can bee good for otherwise it commeth to no proofe The Pour-cuttles engender in Winter and in the Spring and then bring forth a spawne crisped and curled as it were like the wreathing branches and tendrils of a vine branch and that in such plenty that when they are killed they are not able to receiue and containe the multitude of their egs in the concauitie or ventricle of their head and belly which they bare when they were great They hatch them in fifty daies but many of them proue addle and neuer come to good there is such a number of them The Lobsters and the rest with thin shels lay egge after egge and sit vpon them in that manner The female Pourcuttle one while sitteth ouer her egs another while she couereth the cranie or gutter where she hath laid them with her clawes and arms enfolded crosse one ouer another lattise wise The Cuttle laieth also vpon the dry land among the reeds or els wheresoeuer she can find any sea-weeds or reits to grow by the 15 day hatcheth The Calamaries lay egs in the deep which hang close and thick together as the Cuttles do The Purples Burrets and such like do lay in the Spring The sea Vrchins are with egge euery full moone in the winter time and the winkles or cocles are bred in the winter likewise The Crampfish is found to haue 80 young at once within her and hatcheth her tender and soft egs within her bodie shifting them from one place of the wombe to another In like manner do all they which are called Cartilagineus or gristly By which it commeth to passe that fish alone both conceiue with egge and yet bring forth a liuing creature The male sheath-fish or riuer whale Silurus of al others only is so kind as to keep and looke to the egs of the female after they be laid many times for fifty daies after for feare they should be deuoured of others Other females hatch in three daies if the male touch them The Horne-beaks or Needle-fishes Belonae are the only fishes which haue within them so great egs that their wombe cleaueth and openeth when they should lay them but after that they be discharged of them it groweth together and vniteth againe A thing vsuall as they say in Blind-wormes The fish called Mus-Marinus diggeth a gutter or ditch within the ground and there laieth her egs and the same she couereth ouer with earth and so lets them alone for 30 daies then she commeth and openeth the place again findeth her egs hatched and leadeth her little ones to the water CHAP. LII ¶ Of fishes wombes THe shel-fishes Erythini Chanae haue their wombs or matrices As for that fish which in Greeke is called Trochos i. the top is thought to get it selfe with yong The frie of all water creatures at the first see not CHAP. LIII Of the exceeding long life of fishes IT is not long since that we heard of one fishes memorable example which proued the long life of fishes There is a faire house of retreat and pleasure called Pausilupum in Campaine not far from Naples where as Anneus Seneca writeth there died a fish in the fish-pooles of Caesar 60 yeres after that it had bin put in by Pollio Vedius and there remained two more of that age and of the same kind which liued still And since wee are come to make mention of fish-ponds me thinks I should do well to write somwhat more thereof before I giue ouer this discourse of fishes and water creatures CHAP. LIV. ¶ Of Oyster pits and who first deuised them THe first that inuented stewes and pits to keep oysters in was Sergius Orata who made such about his house in Baianum in the daies of L. Crassus that famous oratour before the Marsians war And this the man did not for his belly and to maintain gourmandise but
is accounted a capitall crime to kill a Storke and by law he is punished as a Fellon in the case of manslaughter After the same maner wild Geese and Swans do sort together when they be passengers from countrey to countrey but all these are seen when they flie They make way forcibly in a pointed squadron like as it were the stem of a foist at sea armed with a sharp beakehead for by this meanes they breake and cut the aire better than if they draue it before with a streight euen and square front And thus wedg-wise by little and little they spread broader and broader behind and beare a great length besides with them by which meanes also they gather more wind to heaue them vp and set them forward In this their flight they rest their heads vpon the former and euer as one that leadeah the way is wearie with bearing his head he retires behind to ease himself vpon him that flieth next before Storks keep one nest stil from yeare to yeare and neuer chang and of this kind nature they are that the yong will keep and feed their parents when they be old as they themselues were by them nourished in the beginning Some say that the Swans sing lamentably a little before their death but vntruly I suppose for experience in many hath shewed the contrarie Howbeit these foules vse to eat and deuour one another But since we are entred into this discourse of those foules that make voiages by whole flocks ouer sea and land to see strange countries I canot put off to speak of lesser birds also which are of the like nature For those beforenamed may seeme in some sort to be induced to such great trauell so bigge they are of bodie and so strong withall As touching Quailes therefore they alwaies come before the Cranes depart A little bird it is and whiles she is among vs here mounteth not aloft in the aire but rather flieth below neere the ground The manner of their flying is like the former in troupes but not without some danger of the sailers when they approch neer to land For oftentimes they settle in great number on their sailes and there perch which they doe euermore in the night and with their poise beare downe barkes and small vessels and finally sinke them These Quailes haue their set gists to wit ordinarie resting and baiting places When the Southwind blowes they neuer flie for why it is a moist heauy and cloggie wind that they know well ynough And yet they willingly chuse a gale whensoeuer they flie by reason that their bodies are too weightie in comparison of their wings to beare them vp and besides their strength is but small And hereupon it is that as they flie they seem by their manner of crie to complaine as though they flew with paine Commonly therefore they chuse a Northerne wind to flie with and they haue one mighty great Quaile called Ortygometra to lead the way and conduct them as their captain The formost of them as he approcheth neere to land paieth toll for the rest vnto the Hauke who presently for his welcome preieth vpon him Whensoeuer at any time they are vpon their remooue and departure out of these parts they persuade other birds to beare them company and by their inducements there go in their train the Glottis Otis and the Cychramus As for the Glottis he putteth forth a long tongue wherupon he hath that name This bird is very forward at the first setting out as being desirous to be a traueller to see far countries and to change the aire and the first daies journy he vndertaketh with pleasure but soone finding the tediousnesse and paines in flying he repents that euer he enterprised the voiage To go backe again without company hee is ashamed and to come lag behind he is as loth howbeit for that day he holdeth out so so and neuer goeth farther for at the next resting place that they come vnto hee faire leaueth the company and staieth there where lightly he meeteth with such another as himselfe who the yere before was left behind And thus they do from time to time yere by yere As for the Cychramus he is more staid and resolute to indure the trauel he maketh hast and hath an earnest longing to come into those parts which he so much desires therfore in the night season he is as good as a trumpet to awake the rest put them in mind of their iourny The Otis is a bird lesse than the Like-Owle bigger than the Howlet hauing two plumed ears standing vp aloft whereupon he took that name Otis in Greek But in Latine some haue called him Asio This bird besidēs hath certain qualities by her self is skilful to counterfeit and make gestures like a flattering parasite she can foot it turn and trip mount and capre as if she were a professed dauncer easie she is to be taken like as the Howlet for whiles she is amused and looking wistly vpon one that goeth about her another commeth behind and soon catcheth her But to return to our Quailes aforesaid If a contrarie wind should chance to arise and begin to driue against them and hinder their flight to preuent this inconuenience they be well prouided For they flie well ballaised either with small weightie stones within their feet or els with sand stuffed in their craw the seed or grain of the white Elebore a very poison they loue passing wel it is their best meat But hereupon it is that they are not serued vp as a dish to the table Moreouer they are wont to some and slauer at the mouth by reason of the falling sicknesse vnto which they onely of all other creatures but man again are subiect CHAP. XXIV Of Swallowes Ousles or Merles Thrushes Stares or Sterlings Turkies and Stockedoues THe Swallows likewise the birds alone of all those that haue not crooked claws which feed vpon flesh are gone from vs all Winter time Howbeit they depart not far off but seeke only the Sun-shine noukes betweene hils neere at hand and follow the warmth Where many times they are found naked and without feathers altogether as if they had moulted It is said that they wil neuer build their nests vnder any house in Thebes because that city had bin many times forced and taken by the enemy Neither in Bizia a city of Thrace by reason of the detestable parts practised by Taereus there Cecina of Volaterrae a Gentleman of Rome by calling gouernour and master of the coaches and coach-horses that vsed to runne for the prise and best game was wont to bring with him into the city a number of these Swallowes which he had gotten in diuers places where he came out of his friends houses wherin they were bred And when the horses which hee had in charge obtained at any time victorie in the race hee would take the birds and paint them with that colour which betokened victorie
but only sing plain song and keep them to one tune And more than so they change their colour in processe of time and last of all when winter comes be no more seene Tongued they are not like other birds with a thin tip before They begin to breed with the first in the prime of the Spring and commonly lay six egs The Gnatsnapper Ficedula a bird somwhat like vnto the Nightingale doth otherwise for at one time it changeth both colour form and song They haue not that name Ficedulae properly but in the Autumne as one would say fig-feeders for when that season is once past they be called Melancoryphi i. Black-heads In like sort the bird which is named Erithacus i. Robin or Redbrest in winter the same is Phoenicurus i. Red-taile all summer long The Houpe or Vpupa as Aeschilus the Poet saith changeth also her hew voice and shape This is a nasty and filthy bird otherwise both in the manner of feeding and also in nestling but a goodly faire crest or comb it hath that will easily fold and be plaited for one while shee will draw it in another while set it stiffe vpright along the head As for the bird Oenanthe it also for certain daies lieth close and vnseen namely when the Dog-star ariseth it is hidden but after the occultation therof commeth abroad sheweth her selfe a strange thing that in those daies it should do both Last of all the Witwall or Lariot which is all ouer yellow being not seen all winter time appeareth about the Sun-steads CHAP. XXX ¶ Of the Merles ABout Cyllene in Arcadia and no where els ye shall find white Merles or Ousles And Ibis about Pelusium only in Egypt is blacke in all places else of Aegypt white CHAP. XXXI ¶ The kind of birds breeding and hatching ALl singing birds saue only those that are excepted before lightly breed not nor lay their egs before the spring Aequinoctiall in mid-March or after the Autumnall in mid-September And those that they hatch before the Summer Sunstead i. Mid-Iune hardly come to any perfection but after that time they do well enough and liue CHAP. XXXII ¶ Of the Halcyones or Kings-fishers and the daies good for nauigation which they shew Of the Sea-guls and Cormorants ANd in this regard especially namely for breeding after the summer Sunstead the Halcy ones are of great name and much marked The very seas and they that saile thereupon know well when they sit and breed This very bird so notable is little bigger than a sparrow for the more part of her pennage blew intermingled yet among with white and purple feathers hauing a thin smal neck and long withall There is a second kind of them breeding about the sea side differing both in quantitie and also in voice for it singeth not as the former doe which are lesser for they haunt riuers sing among the flags reeds It is a very great chance to see one of these Halcyones neuer are they seen but about the setting of the star Virgiliae i. the Brood-hen or els neere Mid-summer or Mid-winter for otherwhiles they will flie about a ship but soone are they gone againe and hidden They lay and sit about Mid-winter when daies be shortest the time whiles they are broody is called the Halcyon daies for during that season the sea is calme and nauigable especially in the coast of Sicilie In other ports also the sea is not so boisterous but more quiet than at other times but surely the Sicilian sea is very gentle both in the Streights and also in the open Ocean Now about seuen daies before Mid-winter that is to say in the beginning of December they build and within as many after they haue hatched Their nests are wonderously made in fashion of a round ball the mouth or entrie thereof standeth somwhat out and is very narrow much like vnto great spunges A man cannot cut and pierce their nest with sword or hatchet but breake they wil with some strong knock like as the dry some of the sea and no man could euer find of what they be made Some thinke they are framed of the sharpe pointed prickes of some fishes for of fish these birds liue They come vp also into fresh riuers within-within-land and there do lay ordinarily fiue egges As touching the Guls or Sea-cobs they build in rocks and the Cormorants both in them and also in trees They vsually lay foure egs apiece The Guls in summer time but the Cormorants in the beginning of the spring CHAP. XXXIII ¶ The industrie and wit of birds in building their nests Of the Swallow the Argatilis Cinnamologi and Partridges THe Architecture and building of the Halcyones nest hath put me in mind of other birds dexteritie in that behalfe and surely in no one thing is the wit of silly birds more admirable The swallows frame their nests of clay earth but they strengthen and make them fast with straw In case at any time they cannot meet with soft and tough clay for want thereof they drench and wet their feathers with good store of water and then bestrew them ouer with dust Now when they haue made and trimmed their bare nest they floore it in the bottom within and dresse it all ouer with downe feathers or fine flox as well to keep their egs warm as also that their yong birds should lie soft In feeding of their little ones they keepe a very good order and euen hand giuing them their pittance and allowance by course one after another Notable is their care in keeping them neat and cleane for euer as they meut they turne the excrements out of the nest but be they once growne to any strength and bignesse they teach them to turne about and lay their tailes without Another kinde there is of Swallowes that keep in the country villages and the fields which seldom nestle vnder mens houses and they likewise build of the same matter as the former do namely of clay and straw but after another fashion for their nests are made turning all vpward with the hole or mouth that leadeth vnto it stretched out in length streight and narrow but the capacitie within is very large in such sort as it is a wonder to see how prouident skilful they should be to frame them in this manner so handsome conuenient to couer their yong ones so soft again for their couch and bed In the mouth of Nilus neere Heraclea in Aegypt there is a mightie banke or causey raised only of a continuall ranke and course of Swallows nests piled one vpon and by another thicke for the length almost of halfe a quarter of a mile which is so firme and strong that being opposed against the inundations of Nilus it is able to breake the force of that riuer when it swelleth and is it selfe inexpugnable a piece of work that no man is able to turne his hand vnto In the same Egypt neere vnto the towne
in our Latine story that they had hornes I take them to be meer fables and no better Certes in nothing more hath Nature taken her pleasure than in this as if she had meant to delight and sport her selfe in these armes and weapons of beasts For in some she hath made them knagged and branched as in Deere both red and fallow in others plain and vniforme without tines as in the Spitters a kind of Stag which thereupon be called Subulones in Latin for that their horns be like a shoomakers * Nall blade There be againe which haue broad hornes and plaited like a mans hand with fingers standing out of them whereupon the beasts that beare them be called Platycerotes i. broad horned Roe bucks haue by nature branched heads but they are small and these do not mew and cast them yearely as the stag and bucke All the sort of rams be armed with crooked horns turning and winding with certain revolutions as if they were gantlets or whorlebats giuen them by nature to thumpe and jurre withall Buls hornes be strait and vpright ready alwaies to do a mischiefe The females of this kind to wit Cowes are horned as wel as Buls whereas in many others the males only be in that wise armed The wild Goats called Roch-goats haue their hornes turning backeward whereas in fallow Deere they bend rather forward There is a kind of Roe-buck called in Africke Addace which the Greeks haue named Strepsiceros and they haue vpright hornes but they are furrowed and wreathed round about as if they were ribbed like the backe of a lute or rather chamfered like the ridge of a land and alwaies sharp pointed with a tip Ye shall haue droues and herds of beasts namely Kine and Oxen in Phrygia which wil stir and wag their horns like eares and those in the kingdome of the Troglodites cary their hornes pendant directly to the ground which is the cause that as they eat they are forced to beare their necks awry and looke atone side Some haue but one horne apiece and that either in the midst of the forehead as the Oryx or else in the nose and muffle as the Rhinoceros wherof we haue written before In sum there be that haue strong and hard horns to butt with others to strike and gore withall some crooking forward others bending backward In some they are good only to tosse and fling and that in diuers manners For there be of them that giue back others turn one against another and some euen ioyne and meet together but all run vp sharp pointed in the end A kind of beasts there is that vse their horns in stead of hands to scratch their body when it itches and others serue the turn to sound the way before them as certain shel-Snails and Winkles And these horns giuen for this purpose are some of them of a fleshy substance as those of the serpents called Cerastâ—… and otherwhiles one alone without a fellow As for the Periwinckles and Snailes a foresaid they are neuer without twain apiece and at this passe they haue them to put out and draw in as they list In Buffles horns the barbarous people of the North parts vse to drinke and ye shall haue the hornes of one Buffles head to hold full two measures called Vrnae which is about 8 gallons In some countries men head their speares and jauelins with horne With vs in Italy they be cut into thin plates and serue for lanterns and surely they are so transparent and cleare that they make the candle within inclosed to cast the greater light and farther off Nay they are good for many other toies of delight and pleasure insomuch as some paint and die them with sundry colours others vernish and anneile them and ye shal haue men to make thereof their fine inlaid works in Marquetrie of diuers colours called thereupon Cerostrata All horns in manner be hollow saue that as they grow toward the pointed tip they be solid and massie onely Deers both red and fallow are sound and entire throughout and euery yere they fal off Husbandmen in the countrey when they see their Oxe hoofes surbatted and worne too neere the quick with ouermuch trauell anoint their hornes with sweet grease that is the way to make them grow again And in very truth the hornes of these beasts are of so pliable a substance and easie to be wrought that as they grow vpon their heads euen whiles the beasts are liuing they may with boiling wax be bended and turned euery way as a man will yea and if they be cut when they break new forth out of the skin they may be easily writhed to grow seueraly in sundry parts so as euery head may seem to haue foure hornes For the most part the hornes of Cowes are more tender and thinner than the other like as we see it is in the females of smaller beasts Ewes haue none at all ne yet Hinds and Does no more than the beasts that haue feet clouen diuided into many toes or those that be whole hoofed except the Indian asse who is armed with one horne and no more Beasts clouen footed in twaine haue likewise two hornes but none at all haue they which are toothed in the vpper mandible They that make this reason because the matter of their teeth runs al into the horn and so contrariwise are deceiued and soon conuinced by this That Hinds Does are toothed no more than Stags and Bucks and yet are not horned In other beasts the hornes grow to the very bone of the head in Deere only they come out of the skin and are graffed no deeper Fishes of all liuing creatures haue the biggest heads for the proportion of their bodies haply because they might the better diue vnder water and sink to the bottom No kind of Oisters haue any head at all no more than Spunges or any other in manner which want al their sences but only feeling Some haue heads indeed but within their body and not diuided apart from it as Crabs and Creifishes Mankind of all liuing creatures hath most haire on the head euen men as much as women as we may see in those countries where they neuer cut their haire but let it grow And namely in Sauoy Dauphine and Languedoc about the Alps where men and women both weare long haire and thereupon that part of France is called Comata And yet this is not so general but that the nature of some land and soile may make some alteration and varietie For the Myconians naturally haue no haire at all like as the Caunians be all subiect to the disease of hard and swelling spleens euen from their mothers womb Some reasonlesse creatures likewise are by nature bald as Ostriches and certain water Rauens which of the Greeks are named thereupon Phalacro-coraces Seldom do women shed their haire clean and become bald but neuer was any guelded man knowne to be bald nor any others that be pure
asswage and appease their hunger yea and slack and extinguish their thirst with a very little and yet preserue maintain the naturall strength of their body namely with tasting butter cheese made of Mares or Asses milk and Licorice But to conclude and knit vp this discourse the worst and most dangerous thing euery way that can be in all the course of our life is Excesse and Superfluity but to the health of our bodies most of all and therefore the best course is to cut off by all meanes that which is offensiue and heauy to the body Thus much shall suffice as touching liuing and sensible creatures Let vs therefore now proceed to the rest of Natures workes THE TVVELFTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proeme THus you see by that which hath bin written before what are the natures as well in generall as particularly in parts of all liuing and sensitiue creatures within the compasse of our knowledge It remaineth now to discourse of those which the earth yeeldeth and euen they likewise are not without a soule in their kind for nothing liues which wanteth it that from thence we may passe to those things that lie hidden within the earth and are to be digged out of it to the end that no worke and benefit of Nature might ouerpasse our hands and be omitted And in truth these treasures of hers lay long couered vnder the ground insomuch as men were persuaded that Woods Trees were the last only goods left vnto vs and bestowed vpon vs by Nature For of the fruit of trees had wee our first food their leaues and branches serued to make vs soft pallats and couches within the caues and with their rinds and bark we clad and couered our nakednesse And euen at this day some Nations there be that liue still in that sort and no otherwise A wonderfull thing therefore it is that from so small ond base beginnings wee should grow to that passe in pride that wee must needs cut through great mountaines for to meet with marble send out as far as to the Seres for silk stuffe to apparell vs diue downe into the bottome of the red sea for pearls and last of all sinke deepe pits euen to the bottom of the earth for the precious Hemerauld For this pride and vanitie of ours we haue deuised means to pierce and wound our eares because forsooth it would not serue our turns to we are costly pearles and rich stones in carkanets about our necke borders vpon the haire of our head bracelets about our arms and rings on our fingers vnlesse they were ingrauen also and cut into the very flâ—…sh of our bodies Well then to follow the course of Nature and the order of our life as meet it is we should wee will treat in the first place of Trees and lay before mens faces the life of the old world and what was their behauior and demeanure at the first in their maner of liuing CHAP. I. ¶ The honour donâ—… in old time to Trees When the Plane-trees were first knowne in Italy and of their nature IN old time Trees were the very temples of the gods and according to that antient manner the plaine and simple peasants of the country sauoring still of antiquity do at this day consecrate to one god or other the goodliest and fairest Trees that they can meet withal And verily we our selues adore not with more reuerence deuotion the stately Images of the gods within our temples made tbough they be of glittering gold and beautifull yuorie than the very groues and tufts of trees wherein we worship the same gods in all religious silence First and formost the antient ceremonie of dedicating this and that kind of Tree to seuerall gods as proper and peculiar vnto them was alwaies obserued and continueth yet to this day For the mighty great Oke named Aesculus is consecrated to Iupiter the Laurell to Apollo the Oliue tree to Minerua the Myrtle to Venus and the Poplar to Hercules Moreouer it is receiued and beleeued generally That the Syluanes and Faunes yea and certaine goddesses are appropriate and assigned to woods and sorrests yea there is attributed vnto those places a certain diuine power and godhead there to inhabit as well as vnto heauen the proper seate for other gods and goddesses Afterwards in processe of time men began to taste also the fruit of Trees and found therein a juice without all comparison more lenitiue and pleasant to the contentment of their nature than that which came of corn and grain for therof made they Oile a singular liquor to refresh and comfort the outward members and parts of the body out of it they pressed wine the onely drinke that giueth strength within and fortifieth the vitall powers From thence gather wee so many fruits yerely growing and comming of themselues without the labour and industry of man And albeit to serue our belly please our tooth we stick not to maintain fight and deale in combat with wild beasts in the forrests although we hazard our selues in the sea to meet with monstrous fishes which are fed with the dead bodies of men cast away by shipwracke and all to furnish and set out the table yet is not the cheare thought good enough vnlesse fruits also be sent vp at the later end that they may haue the honor in al feasts of the second seruice and the banket Besides all this Trees serue our turns for a thousand necessary vses without which our life could not be well maintained With Trees we saile ouer seas into strange lands and by transporting commodities and merchandise too fro we make lands meet together of Trees we build our houses wherein we dwell Trees were the matter in times past whereof were made the images of the gods For as yet no man thought of the costly Anatomy of the elephant neither was their tooth in any account wheras now adaies we make the tressels frames and feet of our tables euen of the same yuory that we see the faces of gods are portraied of as if we had our warrant from them to begin maintain our riot and superfluity in this behalf We find in old Chronicles That the Frenchmen and Gaules took occasion first to come down into Italy to ouerspread the whole country notwithstanding they were beforetime debarred from thence by the impregnable fort as it were and the vnpasseable bulwark of the Alps between because one Elico a Swisser or Heluetian who had made long abode at Rome where he was entertained for his skil in Smiths worke and Carpentry at his return home again into his country brought ouer with him dry figs and Raisons the first fruits also as it were of oile wine for a tast to set their teeth a watering And therefore the French had good reason and might wel be born withall and pardoned for seeking to conquer euen by force of armes those countries where such
Apothecaries call the flower of it and that Calamus is counted better which hath more in it of these floures There is another mark also of good Calamus namely if it be black and yet in some place they make no reckoning of the blacke Calamus But in a word the shorter and thicker that the reed is the better is the Calamus and the same is more supple and pliable when a man would breake it As for Calamus it is worth eleuen deniers the pound but Squinanth is sold for fifteen Moreouer some say that there is a sweet rush or Squinanth found in Campania And now are we gone from those lands that coast vpon the deep ocean and come to those that confront and lie vpon our Mediteranean seas CHAP. XXIII ¶ Of Hammoniacum and Spagnum TO begin withall in the sands of those parts of Affrick which lie vnder Aethiopia there is a liquor distilleth called in Greeke Hammoniacum of Hammon which signifieth Sand and the Oracle of Iupiter Hammon for neare vnto the temple where the said Oracle returnes Answers there grow certaine trees within the sands which they call Metopia from which Hammoniacum droppeth in manner of a rosin or gum and of it there be two kinds the one is named Thrauston like vnto the male or better Frankincense and is most esteemed the other is fat and full of rosin and they cal it Phyrama The manner to sophisticate Hammoniacum is with sand to make men beleeue that it grew among the sands and gathered it in the growing and comming vp and therefore the good Ammoniacum is known when it is in least morcels and those very cleare The price of the best is after fortie asses the pound Beneath these quarters and within the prouince Cyrenaica there is found a passing sweet Mosse called Sphagnos and of some Bryon aromaticum Of all such Mosses this is thought to be the best Next vnto it is that of Cyprus and in a third ranke the mosse which groweth in Phoenicia There is such Mosse by report in Aegypt and likewise in France whereof for my part I make no doubt for they be nothing else but the grey and whitish haires that we see hang to trees and about the oke especially called commonly Mosse but only that these be sweet and odoriferous The cheife praise is of the whitest and lightest a second commendation belongs to that which is red but the blacke is worth nothing neither is any reckoning made of that which groweth in Islands and rockes and to conclude all those that smell not as Mosse should bur rather like to Dates or the plants whereof they come CHAP. XXIIII ¶ Of Cyprus Aspalathus and Marum THere is a tree in Aegypt called Cypros bearing leaues like to Ziziphus or the Iujube tree and a grain resembling Coriander seed with a white floure very pleasant and sweet These floures be steeped and sodden in common oile out of which is afterwards pressed medicinable oile called Cyprus or Cyprinum A pound of it will cost fiue Roman deniers The best comes from that tree which growes vpon the bankes of that riuer Nilus about Canopus which is the first mouth where it discharges it selfe into the sea The second in goodnesse groweth about Ascalon a citie of Iudaea The third in worth for smell and sweetnes is had from the Isle Cyprus Some take this Cyprus to be the plant which in Italy is called Ligustrum i. Priuet In the same tract groweth Aspalathus a white thornie shrub it is of the bignesse of a small tree and beareth a floure resembling a rose The root of it is in request for the making of sweet perfumes and ointments There goes a common speech That euery plant ouer which the rainbow is seen bent will cast the same sent that Aspalathus doth but if it chance that the rainbow settle ouer Aspalathus then it wil yeeld a sweet sauor incomparable and such as cannot be expressed Some call it Erysiceptrum others Sceptrum simply The good Aspalathus is red or rather of a fierie colour massie and heauie in hand with a smell of Castoreum It is sold for fifteene deniers the pound In Aegypt likewise there groweth Marum but it is not so good as that of Lydia for it hath greater leaues and those spotted with sundry colours wheras the other hath little short leaues but they smell passing sweet CHAP. XXV ¶ Of Baulme as well the liquor thereof called Opobalsamum as the wood named Xylobalsamum Also of Storax Calamita and Galbanum BVt the Baulme is that sweet and odoriferous liquor that goes beyond all others The tree that yeelds it Nature hath bestowed only vpon the land of Iurie In old time it was not to be found but in two parkes or hortyards belonging both to the kings of Iurie whereof the one contained not aboue twentie jugera or acres the other not so much The Emperors Vespasians both father and son brought one of those little Balm trees to Rome and shewed it openly to the whole citie Pompey the Great likewise made proud boast and vaunted much when hee said That trees also by him were borne in triumph Now this Balme tree serueth and doth homage yea is tributarie with the whole nation where it groweth but it is of a nature far different from that which both our Latine writers those also of forrain countries haue described for more like it is to a vine than a Myrtle It is planted by slips and branches as the vine and of lâte bound and tied also like a young vine It spreadeth and filleth the hills where it is set after the manner of those vines in vineyards which without any helpe of props support and beare vp themselues Cut likewise it is pruned and cleansed from those superfluous shoots that it puts out It loueth to be well husbanded digged about raked and trimmed and with this ordering growes apace so as within three yeres it is fruitfull It beares a leafe much like to Rue and continueth with a greene head all the yeare long At the sacking and destructon of Ierusalem the Iewes in a furious rage both against their owne persons their goods would needs haue wreaked their anger and been reuenged on the poore Baulme trees and haue spoiled them for euer but the Romans on the other side stood in their defence so as about this very plant there was a cruell battell fought But now these trees are vnited vnto the domaine of our Empire and by order from the state are set and maintained so as neuer at any time before were they more in number or taller of growth how beit the highest exceeds not two cubits And three sorts there be of them The first hath small branches and small like haires whereupon it is called Eutheristos i. easie to be cut or lopt The second rough and rugged to see to bowing and bending forward full of twigs and branches sweeter also than the other to smell to and this they name Trachy in Greeke which is as much
other the thinnest hauing but one kernel within which they call Gigarton and the same very small and a man shall not find a bunch without one or two passing great grapes aboue the rest there is also a kind of black Aminean grape which some name Syriaca likewise the grape of Spain which of the base and common kinds carries the greatest credit and is most commended As touching both vines and grapes that run and traile vpon frames there be those which are called Escariae good only for to eat and namely those which haue grains or stones like to Ivie berries as well white as black Grapes resembling great dugs named therupon Bumasti both black and white are carried vpon frames in like sort But al this while we haue not spoken of the Aegyptian and Rhodian grapes ne yet of the Ounce-grapes whereof euery one weighes a good ounce and thereupon tooke that name Item the grape Pucina the blackest of all others the Stephanitis also wherein Nature hath seemed to disport her selfe for the leaues run among the grapes in manner of a garland plaited with them Moreouer the market-grapes called Forenses they grow and are ripe with the soonest vendible at the very first sight and sold with the best and most easie to be carried from market to market But contrariwise the ash-coloured grape Cinerea the silk-russet grape Ravuscula the asse-hued grape Asinisca please not the eie but are presently reiected and yet the Fox-tailed grape Alopecis for that it resembles Rainards taile is not so displeasant nor so much discommended as the former About a cape or crest of the hill Ida which they call Phalacra there is a vine named Alexandrina smal of growth and puts forth branches of a cubit in length the grapes be black as big as beans the pepin or kernell within soft tender and exceeding small the bunches are crooked full of grapes passing sweet and finally the leaues little round and not cut or iagged at all Within these seuen yeres last past about Alba Eluia a city in Languedock or the prouince of Narbon there was found a vine which in one day both floured and shed her floures by which meanes most secured it was from all dangers of the weather They call it Narbonica or the vine of Languedock and now it is commonly planted all that prouince ouer and euery man desireth to store his vineyard therewith CHAP. IIII. ¶ Notable considerations about the husbandrie and ordering of Vineyards THat noble and worthy Cato the first of that name renowned among other dignities for his honorable triumph and the incorrupt administration of his Censorship and yet more famous and renowned to posterity for his singular knowledge and learning and namely for the good precepts and ordinances tending to all vertues and commendable parts which he left in memory for the people of Rome principally touching agriculture as he was by the common voice and generall accord of that age wherein he liued reputed for an excellent husbandman and one who in that profession had neither peere nor second that came neere vnto him This Cato I say hath in his workes made mention but of a few kinds of vines and yet some of them already be growne out of knowledge so as their verie names are quite forgotten Yet neuerthelesse his opinion and judgement would be set downe in particular as it may be gathered out of his whole treatise to the end that we might both know in euery kind of vine which were of most account in his daies to wit in the 600 yere after the foundation of Rome about the time that Carthage and Corinth were forced and woon when he departed this life and also learn how much we haue profited and proceeded in good husbandry and agriculture from his death vnto this present day namely for the space of 230 yeares As concerning vines and grapes therefore thus much hath Cato deliuered in writing and in this manner following All places or grounds quoth he exposed to the Sun-shine and which in other regards shall be found good for to plant vineyards in see they bee employed for the lesse Aminean for both the Eugenian Vines and the smaller Heluine Item In euery tract that is more grosse thicke and mistie looke that you set the greater Aminean or the Murgentine the Apician also and the Lucane Vine All other vines and the common mingled sort especially will agree well enough with any ground The right keeping of grapes is in a small thinne wine of the second running The grapes Duracinae and the greater Amineans are good to be hanged or else dried before a blacke-smithes forge and so they may be well preserued and goe for Raisins of the Sun Loe what the precepts of Cato be neither are there any of this argument more antient left vnto vs written in the Latine tongue Whereby we may see that we liue not long after the very first rudiments and beginnings of knowledge in these matters But by the way the Amineans last named Varro calleth Scantians And in very truth few there be euen in this our age who haue left any rules in forme of Art as touching the absolute skill in this behalfe Yet such as they be and how few soeuer we must not leaue them behinde but so much the rather take them with vs to the end it may be knowne what reward profit they met with who trauelled in this point of husbandry reward I say and profit which in euery thing is all in all To begin therefore with Acilius Sihenelus or Stelenus a mean commoner of Rome descended from the race of Libertines or Slaues newly infranchised he attained to the highest glory and greatest name of all others for hauing in the whole world not aboue 60 acres of land lâ—…ing all in vineyards within the territory of Nomentum he plaied the good husband so well therâ—…n that he sold them again at the price of 400000 Sesterces There went a great bruit and fame likewise of one Verulenus Aegialus in his time a man but of base condition by birth and no better than the former namely come of the stocke of freed-men who by his labor husbandry greatly inriched a domain or liuing at Liternum in Campaine and the more renowned he was by occasion of the fauour of so many men affectionate vnto Africanus whose very place of exile he held in his hands and occupied so well for vnto Scipio the aboue said Liternum appertained But the greatest voice and speech of men was of Rhemnius Palaemon who otherwise by profession was a famous and renowned Grammarian for that he by the means and helpe of the foresaid Sthenelus bought a ferme within these twenty yeares for 600000 Sesterces in the same territorie of Nomentum about ten miles distant from Rome lying somewhat out of the high way Now is it well knowne farre and neare of what price and account all such fermes are and how cheape such ware is lying so neere to the city
side but amongst the rest this of Palaemons in that place was esteemed most cheap and lowest prised in this regard especially That he had purchased those lands which through the carelesnesse bad husbandry of the former owners lay neglected and fore-let were not of themselues thought to be of the best soile chosen and piked from among the worst But being entred once vpon those grounds as his owne liuelode and possession he set in hand to husband and manure them not so much of any good mind and affection that he had to improue and better any thing that he held but vpon a vaine glory of his own at the first whereunto he was wonderously giuen for he makes fallows of his vine-plots anew and delueth them all ouer again as he had seen Sthenelus to do with his before but what with digging stirring and medling therewith following the good example and husbandry of Sthenelus hee brought his vineyards to so good a passe within one eight yeares that the fruit of one yeares vintage was held at 400000 Sesterces and yeelded so much rent to the lord a wonderfull and miraculous thing that a ground should be so much improoued in so small a time And in very truth it was strange to see what numbers of people would run thither onely to see the huge and mighty heaps of grapes gathered in those vineyards of his and ill idle neighbors about him whose grounds yeelded no such increase attributed all to his deepe learning and that he went to it by his book had some hidden speculation aboue other men obiecting against him that he practised Art Magicke and the blacke Science But last of all Annaeas Seneca esteemed in those daies a singular clerke and a mighty great man whose ouermuch Learning and exceeding power cost him his ouerthrowing in the end one who had good skill and judgement in the world and vsed least of all others to esteeme toies and vanities brought this ferm into a greater name and credit for so far in loue was he of this possession that hee bought out Palaemon and was not ashamed to let him go away with the pricke and praise for good husbandry and to remoue him into other parts where he might shew the like cunning and in one word paid for these foresaid vineyards of his fourfold as much as they cost not aboue ten yeres before this good husbandry was bestowed vpon them Certes great pity it is that the like industry was not shewed and imploied in the territories about the hils Cecubus Setinus where no doubt it would haue well quit all the cost considering that many a time afterwards euery acre of vineyard there yeelded seuen Culei that is to say 140 Amphores of new wine one yere with another But lest any man should thinke that wee in these daies haue surpassed our ancestors in diligence as touching good husbandrie know he that the aboue named Cato hath left in writing How of an acre of vineyard there hath arisen ordinarily ten Culei of wine by the yeare Certainly these be effectuall examples and pregnant proofes that the hardy and aduenturous voiages by sea are not more aduantageous ne yet the commodities and merchandise and namely Pearls which be fet as far as the red sea and the Indian Ocean are more gainefull to the merchant than a good ferm and homestall in the countrey well tilled and carefully husbanded As touching the wines in old time Homer writes that the Maronean wine made of the grapes growing vpon the sea coasts of Africk was the best most excellent in his daies But my meaning is not to ground vpon fabulous tales variable reports as touching the excellency or antiquitie of wine True it is that Aristaeus was the first who in that very nation mingled honey with wine which must needs be a passing sweet and pleasant liquor made of two natures so singular as they be of themselues And yet to come againe to the foresaid Maronean wine the same Homer saith That to one part therof there would be but 20 parts of water and euen at this day that kind of wine continues in the said land of the same force and the strength thereof will not be conquered nor allaied For Mutianus who had bin thrice consul of Rome one of those that latest wrote of this matter found by experience being himselfe personally in that tract that euery sextar or quart of that wine would beare 8 of water who reports moreouer that the wine is of colour blacke of a fragrant sweet smell and by age comes to be fat and vnctious Moreouer the Pramnian wine which the same Homer hath so highly commended continueth yet in credit and holds the name still it comes from a vineyard in the countrey about Smyrna neere to the temple of Cybele the mother of the gods As for other wines no one kind apart excelled other One yere there was when all wines proued passing good to wit when L. Opimius was Consul at what time as C. Gracchus a Tribune of the Commons practising to sow sedition within the city among the common people was slaine for then such seasonable weather happened and so fauorable for ill fruit that they called it Coctura as a man would say the ripening time so beneficiall was the Sun to the earth and this fell out in the yere after the natiuity and foundation of the city of Rome 634. Moreouer there be some wines so durable that they haue beene knowne to last two hundred yeares and are come now by this time to the qualitie and consistence of a rough sharpe and austere kind of hony and this is the nature of all when they bee old neither are they potable alone by themselues vnlesse the water be predominant so tart they are of the lees and so musty withall that they are bitter againe Howbeit a certaine mixture there is of them in a very small quantity with other wines that giues a prety commendable tast vnto them Suppose now that according to the price of wine in those daies of Opimius euery Amphore were set but at an hundred Sesterces yet after the vsurie of six in the hundred yearly which is the ordinary proportion and a reasonable interest among citizens for the principall that lieth dead and dormant in stock by the hundred and sixtieth yere after the said Amphor was bought which fell out in the time that C. Caligula Caesar the son of Germanicus was Emperor no maruell if an ounce in measure of the same wine to wit the twelfth part of a Sextarius cost so many Sesterces for as we haue shewed by a notable example when we did set downe the life of Pomponius Secundus the Poet and the feast that he made to the sayd Prince Caligula there was not a Cyathus of that wine drawne but so much was paied for it Loe what a deale of mony lieth in these wine-cellars for keeping of wine And in very truth there is nothing
Rome were wont to go before all others as also the Fundane vines had their time as well those that are planted in vineyards as they which runne vpon trees like as those of the other side neere also to the city of Rome namely from Veliternum and Priuernum For as touching the wine of Signia it is held for a medicine only and by reason of an astringent verdure that it hath it is excellent good to stay the flux of the belly In the fourth place of this race of vines Iulius Caesar late Emperor of famous memory hath raunged for to serue the publick and solemne feasts of the city the Mamertine wines from about Messana in Sicily for he was the first as appears by his letters missiue that gaue credit and authority vnto them And of those the Potulane wines so called of them who first planted the vines whereof they came are most commended and namely those that are vpon the next coast of Italy Within the same Sicily the Taurominitane vines are highly esteemed insomuch as many times they go for Messana wine and are so sold by whole pottles Now for all other wines from about the coast of the Tuscane sea Northward good reckoning is made of the Praetutian and such as come from Ancone also of the Palmesian wines which haply tooke that name for that the first plant of that vine came from a palme or Date tree But in the midland parts of Italie within the firme land good regard there is of the Cesenatian and Mecaenatian wines Within the territory of Verona the Rhetian wine carrieth the price which Virgill ranged next after the Falerne wines Anon you come to the wines Adriane and those that grow far within the tract of the Venice gulfe Now from the nether sea about Lions ye haue the Latiniensian the Grauiscane and the Statonian wines Throughout all Tuscane the wines about Luna beare the name like as those of Genes for Liguria Betweene the Pyrenean hills and the Alpes Massiles hath the commendation for wines of a double taste for the vines there do yeeld a certain thick and grosse wine which they call Succosum i. full of juice and liquor good to season other wines and to giue them a prety tast When ye are passed once into France or Gaule the wine of Beterrae is in chiefe request As for the rest within Languedoc and the Prouince of Narbon I am not able to auouch any thing for certainty such a brewing and sophistication of them they make what with fuming perfuming and colouring them and would God they put not in some herbes and drugs among that be not good for mans body For certaine it is that they commonly buy Aloe togiue the wine both another tast and also a counterfeit color Moreouer in the farther and more remote coasts of Italy toward the Ausonian sea there be wines which are not without their praise and commendation and namely those of Tarentum Seruitium and Consentia likewise of Tempsa Bauia and Lucania howbeit the Thurine wine goeth before them all As for the wines of Lagaria which be made of the grapes not farre from Grumeritum there goes a right great name of them by reason that Messala vsed ordinarily to drink thereof and thereby was supposed to preserue his health so well Of late daies there be certaine wines in Campaine growne into credit like as they haue gotten new names by good ordering and husbandrie or by chance I know not whether namely those of Tribellia foure miles from Naples of Caulium neare to Capua and last of all the Trebulaine wines within theirown territorie for before time they were euer counted no better than common wines for euery man to drink no more than the Trifolines from whence they vaunt of their descent As for the wine of Pompeij a towne in the kingdome or Naples neither it nor the vine wherof it commeth will last aboue ten yeres at the most after which tearme the elder they both be the worse they are Besides they are found by experience to cause the head-ach insomuch as if a man drinke thereof ouer-night he shall be sure not to haue his head in good tune vntill noone the morrow after By which examples aboue rehearsed it is plaine in my conceit that the goodnesse of the wine standeth much vpon the soile and the climate and not in the grape so as a needlesse and endlesse matter it is to reduce all kind of wines to a certaine number considering that one and the selfe same Vine planted in diuerse places hath sundrie operations and maketh varietie of wines Now as concerning the wines of Spaine the Laletane vineyards are much spoken of for the plentie and abundance of wine that they yeeld but those of Tarracon Arragon and Laurone are much praised and renowned for the fine and neat wines which they make As for the wines that come out of the Islands and namely the Baleares they are comparable to the very best in Italie I am not ignorant that most men who shall read this Treatise will thinke that I haue omitted and ouerpassed many wines for euery man likes his own and as ones fancie leadeth so goes the voice and the cry and there runs the Hare away It is reported that one of Augustus Caesars freed men reputed for the finest taster that he had about his court and who knew best what would content his pallat and please his tooth vpon a time when he tasted the wine that was for the Emperors bourd at what time as he made a feast said to one of the guests at the table That the said new wine indeed had a new and strange tast and was none of the best and those that were inname howbeit quoth he this is for the Emperors cup and willingly wil he drink of no other notwithstanding it be but a homely wine made hereby in the countrey and not far fetched And now for a finall conclusion of this matter I cannot denie but that there bee other wines which deserue to be numbred among those that are right good and commendable howbeit suffice it shall to haue written of these which by the common opinion and consent of the world are held for the better CHAP. VII ¶ Of Wines beyond-sea IT remaineth now to speake of outlandish Wines beyond the sea First and formost therfore next to those wines renowned by the Poet Homer and whereof we haue written before best esteemed alwaies were the wines of the Islands Thasos and Chios and namely that of Chios which they call Arusium or Aruisium Erasistratus the most famous Physician of his time matched with these the Lesbian wine and his authoritie gaue credite vnto it and this was much about the six hundred yeare after the foundation of Rome But in these daies there is nowine to that of Clazomene euer since that they began to put therto lesse sea-water for to season it than their custome was As for the wine of Lesbos it hath a sent and
old wine or vinegre Oftentimes also they make sliber-sauces of it selfe without any other mixture namely when they boile new wine sufficiently to the proportion of the strength vntill the hardnesse do euaporate and that it wax mild and sweet but being thus ordered it will not last they say aboue one yere In some countries they vse to seeth their new wine to the consumption of a third-part and make it Cuit with which they are wont to delay the sharpnes and strength of other wines make them pleasant But both in this kind of wine and in all other the vessels ought to be prepared for the purpose seasoned with pitch the treatise of which we will put off vnto the next booke where we purpose to treat thereof and the manner of making it CHAP. XX. ¶ Of diuers kinds of Pitch and Rosins the manner of the seasoning and confecture of new Wines Also of Vineger and salt AMong trees that yeeld from them a liquid substance some there be in the East countries and others in Europ which ingender Pitch and Rosin Asia likewise between both hath of either side it some such trees As for the East the Terebinths put out Turpentine the best and cleerest Rosin of all others next to them the Lentiskes also haue their Rosin which they call Mastick After which the Cipres brings forth a third rosin but it is of a most sharpe and biting taste All these trees I say carry rosin only and the same thin and liquid but the Cedar sendeth forth a thick substance and good to make pitch tar As for the rosin or gum Arabick it is white in colour strong of smell vntoward and troublesom to him that shall boile it That of Iury is harder yea and of a stronger sauor than Turpentine The Siriack gum resembleth the hony of Athens The Cyprian excelleth all others of a fleshy substance it is like in colour to hony The Colophonian is deeper of colour and reddish beat it to pouder in a mortar it proueth white but it carieth a strong smel with it which is the reason that the perfumers and makers of ointments haue no vse thereof As for that which the pitch trees of Asia do yeeld it is passing white and the Greeks call it Spagas All rosins generally will dissolue in oile Some think verily that Potters clay will likewise do the same But I am abashed ashamed to report how in these daies the same pitch whereof we speake should be in so great account as it is for making of pitch plaisters to fetch off the haire of mens bodies all to make them more smooth and effeminat Howbeit the maner of seasoning new Must therewith that when it is perfect wine it may smell of pitch and bite at the tongues end is to bestrew it with the pouder of pitch at the first working the heate whereof is commonly past and gone in nine daies And some think that the wine will be the stronger if the raw and green floure of the Rosin as it issueth fresh out of the tree be put therein for it will quicken a small and weak wine Now this mixture and medicine of wine called Crapula made thus of rosin hath contrary effects for if the wine be ouer-heady and strong it allaieth mortifieth the hurtful force therof but if it be too weak or drink dead flat it reuiueth againe and giueth it a strong taste In Liguria and principally along the Po they vse to season their wines and bring them al to their seuerall perfections in this maner If the wine when it is new be mighty and strong they put in the more of this medicine or confection called Crapula if it be mild and small then the lesse goes into it and keeping this gage with their hand they make both good Some would haue one wine brued with another the weaker with the stronger and so forsooth there must needs arise a good temperature of both together and verily there is not a thing in the world againe which hath in the nature thereof so great varietie In some countries if new wine worke of it selfe a second time it is thought to be a fault and means to corrupt it and indeed vpon such a chance vnhappy accident it loseth the verdure and quick tast whereupon it gets the name of Vappa and is clean turned to be dead or soure in which regard also we giue a man that name by way of scorne and reproch calling him Vappa when he is heartlesse void of reason and vnderstanding If it were vineger indeed it were another matter for surely though wine degenerate into it by way of corruption and putrefaction yet a vertue and force it hath good for many speciall vses and without which it were not possible to liue so delicatly at our table as we do Moreouer the world is so much giuen to keepe a bruing tempering and medicining of wines that in some places they sophisticate them with ashes as it were with plaister in other they fortifie recouer and make them againe by such deuises as are before specified But to this purpose they take the ashes to chuse of vine cuttings or of the oke wood before any other And forsooth if there be occasion to occupie sea water for this purpose they prescribe them to fetch ir far from land in the deep sea kept also from mid-March or the Spring Equinox or at leastwise from mid-Iune or summer Sunne-stead and drawn in the night when the North wind blowes but if it be got neere the time of vintage then it ought to be wel boiled before it wil serue the turn As for the pitch in Italy that of Brutium or Calabria is reputed for the best to trim those vessels which are to keep wine There is made of the rosin of the tree Picea as also in Spain there comes from the wild Pines a certain pitch which is the very worst for the rosin of those trees is bitter dry of a strong sauor The difference and sundry kinds of pitch as also the manner of making the same we will declare in the book next following in the treatise of wild and sauage trees The faults and imperfections of pitch ouer and besides those euen now rehearsed to wit bitternes drynes strong sent are known by the sournesse stinking smoke and the very adustion thereof But ye shall know good pitch by these experiments if the pieces broken from it do shine if between the teeth it relent and be clammy like glew and haue a pleasant sharpnes and soure tast withall of the vineger In Asia the pitch is thought best which comes of the trees in mount Ida. The Greeks esteem the trees of the hil Pieria chief for this purpose and Virgil commends that of Narycia before all But to returne againe to our brewing and sophistication of wines they that would seeme to be cunninger or at leastwise more curious than their fellowes do mingle therwith blacke
cherished mankind in that rude wild age and poore infancie of the world but that I am forced to break the course of mine history and preuented with a deep study and admiration arising from the truth and ground of experience to consider What maner of life it might be to liue without any trees or shrubs at all growing out of the earth CHAP. I. ¶ Of Nations that haue no Trees nor Plants among them Of wonderfull trees in the Northerly regions WEe haue shewed heretofore that in the East parts verily toward the maine Ocean there be many countries in that estate to wit altogether destitute of trees In the North also I my selfe haue seene the people called Cauchi as well the greater as the lesse for so they be distinguished where there is no shew or mention at all of any tree whatsoeuer For a mightie great compasse their Country lieth so vnder the Ocean and subiect to the tide that twice in a day night by turns the sea ouer floweth a mighty deale of ground when it is floud and leaues all dry again at the ebbe return of the water insomuch as a man can hardly tell what to make of the outward face of the earth in those parts so doubtfull it is between sea and land The poore silly people that inhabit those parts either keep together on such high hils as Nature hath afforded here and there in the plain or els raise mounts with their own labor and handy work like to Tribunals cast vp and reared with turf in a camp aboue the height of the sea at any spring tide when the floud is highest and thereupon they set their cabbins and cottages Thus dwelling as they do they seeme when it is high water that all the plain is ouerspread with the sea round about as if they were in little barks floting in the midst of the sea againe at a low water when the sea is gone looke vpon them you would take them for such as had suffered shipwracke hauing their vessels cast away and left lying ato-side amid the sands for ye shall see the poore wretches fishing about their cottages and following after the fishes as they go away with the water they haue not a four-footed beast among them neither inioy they any benefit of milk as their neighbour nations do nay they are destitute of all means to chase wild beasts and hunt for venison in as much as there is neither tree nor bush to giue them harbor nor any neare vnto them by a great way Sea-weeds or Reike rushes and reeds growing vpon the washes and meers serue them to twist for cords to make their fishing nets with These poore souls and silly creatures are faine to gather a slimy kinde of fatty mud or oase with their very hands which they drie against the wind rather than the Sun and with that earth for want of other fuell they make fire to seeth their meat such as it is and heat the inward parts of their body ready to be starke and stiffe againe with the chilling North winde No other drink haue they but rain water which they saue in certain ditches after a shower and those they dig at the very entry of their cottages And yet see this people ss wretched and miserable a case as they be in if they were subdued at this day by the people of Rome would say and none sooner than they that they liued in slauerie But true it is that Fortune spareth many men to let them liue still in paine and misery Thus much as touching want of woods and trees On the other side as wonderfull it is to see the mighty forrests at hand thereby which ouerspread all the rest of Germany and are so big that they yeeld both cooling and shade to the whole countrey yea the very tallest woods of all the rest are a little way vp higher in the countrey and not farre from the Cauchi abouesaid and especially those that grow about the two great loughes or lakes in that tract Vpon the banks wherof as also vpon the sea-coasts there are to be seene thick rows of big Okes that loue their seat passing wel and thriue vpon it in growth exceeding much which trees happening to be either vndermined by the waues and billowes of the sea vnder them eating within their roots or chased with tempestuous winds beating from aboue carry away with them into the sea in manner of Islands a great part of the Continent which their roots doe claspe and embrace wherewith being counterpoised and ballaised they stand vpright floting and making saile as it were amid the waues by the means of their mighty armes which serue in stead of tackling And many a time verily such Okes haue frighted our fleets and armadoes at sea and especially in the night season when as they seemed to come directly against their proes standing at anker as if of purpose they were driuen vpon them by the waues of the sea insomuch as the sailers passengers within hauing no other means to escape them were put to their shifts and forced for to addresse themselues and range a nauall battell in order and all against trees as their very enemies CHAP. II. ¶ Of the huge and great Forest Hercynia IN the same North climat is the mighty forrest Hercynia A huge and large wood this is stored with tall and big Okes that neuer to this day were topt or lopt It is supposed they haue been euer since the creation of the world and in regard of their eternall immortality surmounting all miracles besides whatsoeuer And to let passe all other reports which happely would be thought incredible this is knowne for certain That the roots of the trees there run and spread so far within the ground that they encounter and meet one another in which resistance they swell and rise vpward yea and raise vp mounts of earth with them to a good height in many places or where as the earth followes not a man shal see the bare roots embowed arch-wise and mounting aloft as high as the very boughes which roots are so interlaced or els rub one against the other striuing as it were not to giue place that they make a shew of great portailes or gates standing open so wide that a whole troupe or squadron of horsmen may ride vpright vnder them in ordinance of battell CHAP. III. ¶ Of trees bearing Mast. MAst tres they were all for the most part which the Romanes euer so highly honoured and held in best account CHAP. IV. ¶ Of the Ciuicke garland and who were honoured with chaplets of Tree-leaues FRom Mast trees and the Oke especially came the Ciuicke coronets And in very truth these were the most honorable badges and ornaments that could possibly be giuen vnto souldiers and men of war in regard of their vertue and man-hood yea and now for a good while our Emperors haue had this chaplet granted vnto them in token and testimony of clemency euer since
who can looke for better when they are thus pined and famished He then whosoeuer he was that said Husbandmen were to wish for faire winters surely he was no friend therein to trees nor neuer praied for them neither are wet Mid-summers good for Vines But in truth That winter dust should cause plentiful haruest was a word spoken in a bravery and proceeding from a pregnant wit and jolly spirit for otherwise who knoweth not that euery man wishing well to trees and corn indifferently praieth that snow might lie long vpon the ground The reason is for that not only it keepeth in encloseth theâ—… vitall breath soule if I may so say of the earth ready to exhale out and vanish away yea and driueth it back again into the blade and root of corn redoubling therby the force and vigor thereof but also because it both yeeldeth moisture and liquor thereunto gently by little and little and the same withall fine pure and passing light considering that snow is nothing els but the fome or froth of rain-water from heauen This humor therefore not falling forcibly all at once to drown the root ne yet washing away the earth from it but distiling drop-meale a little at once in that proportion and measure as thirst requireth and calleth for it nourisheth all things as from a teat or pap nourisheth I say and neither drencheth nor ouerfloweth them The earth also for her part by this means wel soked swelleth and houeth as it were with a leauen and lieth thereby more light and mellow thus being full of juice and moisture it selfe not barren but well replenisht with seeds sown and plants suckled thus continually in her womb when the open time of the spring is once come to discharge her she sheweth her selfe fresh and gay and willingly entertaineth the warme weather of that season By this meanes especially we see how corne liketh well vpon the ground and thriueth apace euery where vnlesse it be in climates where the aire is alwaies hot as in Aegypt For continuance and ordinarie custome alone effecteth the same there which the season of the time moderat temperature of the aire elswhere And in one word be the place whatsoeuer passing good it is to keep away the thing that is hurtfull For in the most parts of the world it happeneth That when either corn is winter-proud or other plants put forth and bud too earely by reason of the mild and warm aire if there follow any cold weather vpon it all is nipped blasted and burnt away Which is the cause that late winters do harme vnto the wild trees also in the forrest The more paine and sorrow likewise such trees abide by reason of their owne thicke branches shading one another and not easily admitting the warme Sun and destitute they are besides of mans helping hand to cute them for growing as they do in wild and desart forrests impossible it is to lap and wrap them about with wreaths and thumb-ropes of straw and so to cherish and defend them when they be yong and tender Wel then to conclude this matter Winter raine principally is seasonable and good for all plants and next to it the dewes and showers that fal immediatly before their sprouting time a third sort also there be of showers that come when fruits hang on the tree and are in their growth yet not too soon namely before they bee strong and able to abide some hardnesse As touching trees which be late-ward and keep their fruit long ere they ripen such also as require store of nourishment and more food still as namely the Vine the Oliue Pomgranat trees it is good for them to be watered with raine in the later end of the yeare And to say a truth euery kind of tree requireth a seuerall rain by it selfe in due season sor that some ripen their fruit at one time and some at another so as a man shall see ordinarily the selfe same showers to hurt one sort and to help another yea and that diuers effect is to be seen in trees fruits of the same kind as for example in Pyrries for the late-ward of them call for raine at one time and the hasty or forward at another and yet indifferently all doe require alike the seasonable showers of winter as also those before budding time In which regard the winds Northeast are better than the Southern and such winters be most kindly Semblably by the same reason the Mediterranean or mid-land parts of any country are for this purpose preferred before the maritime or sea-coasts as being for most part colder the high hilly regions before the plaines and vallies and last of all the night rains are held to be more profitable than those that fall by day time for lands new sowne and any yong plants inioy more benefit by such shoures in the night for that the Sun commeth not so presently vpon them againe to dry and drink vp all the moisture Hereunto onght to be annexed the consideration of Vine-yards hort-yards and Groues as touching their scituation and namely what part of the heauen they should regard Virgil condemned altogether the planting of any trees respectiue to the West some haue chosen that quarter before the East And this haue I obserued that in most mens opinion the South is best But if I should speak what is mine own conceit indeed there can no generall and infallible rule be giuen concerning this point for to hold alwaies All our skil and art herein must be directed by the nature of the soile the disposition of the climat and temperature of the aire In Africke although it be nothing profitable for Vine-yards to be planted so as they look into the South yet kind it is wholesome for the Vine-planter and husband man by reason that all Africke lieth vnder the Meridionall oâ—… South climat And therefore he that shall set vines there either into the West or North howsoeuer Virgil alloweth not of the West shall make an excellent medley between the temperature of that aire and the nature of soile together As for the North no man seemeth to make any doubt or question but that vines so planted wil proue right well And verily there are not found any vines to prosper better or to beare more fruit in all Italy tha nin that tract which lieth on this side and vnder the Alpes and there for the most part the Vineyards are so planted Moreouer in this case the winds would be much considered for in Languedoc or the prouince of Narbone in Liguria and part of Tuscane they are reputed vnskilfull husbandmen that plant any vine-yards directly vpon the Northwest wind but it is counted contrariwise a special point of prouidence and good husbandry to cast it so as the said wind may flanke it on the side For this is the wind which in those quarters qualifies and tempereth the excessiue heat of the summer howbeit many times so violent and blusterous he
the roots only of the vines and lay dung thereto The second deluing they would haue to be from the Ides of Aprill and six daies before the Ides of May that is before they begin to conceiue and bud and thirdly before they fall to blossome also when they haue done flouring and also at the time when the grapes alter their hew But the more skilfull and expert husbands affirme constantly That if the ground be ouermuch laboured and digged too often the grapes will be so tender skinned that they will burst againe Moreouer these rules following are to bee obserued That when any vines do require such deluing and digging the laborers ought to goe to worke betimes before the heat of the day mary if the vineyard stand vpon a mirie clay it is not good then either to eare or dig it but rather to wait for the hot season for the dust that riseth by digging is very good by their saying both to preserue the vine and grapes from the partching Sun and also to defend them against the dropping mists As for disburgening of vines and clensing them of their superfluous leaues all men accord that it should be done once in the Spring to wit after the Ides of May for the space of eleuen daies following and in any hand before they begin to put forth floure And how much thereof must be thus diffoiled for the first time euen all that is vnder the traile or frame no more As for the second men be not all of one minde some would haue the leaues to be disbranched when the vine hath done flouring others expect vntill the grapes begin to be ripe But as touching these points the rules that Cato giueth wil resolue vs for we are now also to shew the maner of cutting and pruning vines Many men begin this worke immediatly after vintage when the weather is warm and temperat but indeed by course of Nature this should neuer be done before the rising of the Aegle star as we will more at large declare in the next booke where we are to treat of the rising and fall of the fixed stars and of their influences or rather in truth when the Westerne wind Fauonius beginneth to blow forasmuch as there might be danger in going ouer soon to work considering that hast commonly maketh wast For this is certain that if there come an after-winter and chance to bite the vines newly medicined as it were or rather fore with this pruning if it happen I say that when euery man makes reckoning that winter is gon it come vpon them againe and whiske with his taile their buds pinched with cold will lose their vigor their wounds will cleaue and make rifts in such sort that when the humidity is distilled and dropped forth the oilets wil be nipt and burnt away with the bitternesse of the vnseasonable weather for who knoweth not that in frost it is ticklish medling with vines and that they be in danger soon to breake and knap asunder To say therefore a truth by order of Nature there would not be such hast made But here is the matter they that haue a large domaine and much lands to look vnto they that must go through a great deale of work cannot wil nor chuse but begin betimes and make this computation and reckoning aforesaid And in one word the sooner that vines be pruned if the time wil serue commodiously the more they run into wood and leaues and contrariwise the later you go to work the more plenty of grapes they wil yeeld and therefore it is meet and expedient to prune vines that be poore and feeble very timely but such as be strong and hardy last of all As for the manner and fashion of the cut it ought alwaies to be aslant like a goats foot that no drops of raine may settle and rest thereupon but that euery shower may soon shoot off also that it turn downeward to the ground that it be euen and smooth made with a keen and sharpe edged bill or cutting hook Furthermore this heed would be taken that the cut be iust between two buds for feare of wounding any of the oylets neere vnto that part which is cut off and commonly this is supposed to be blacke and duskish and so long as it is so seen it ought to be cut and cut again vntill you come to that which is sound and cleare indeed for neuer shall yee haue out of a faulty and corrupt wood any thing come forth that will bee worth ought If the vine be so poore and lean that it affordeth no branches meet and sufficient to beare cut it down to the verie ground for best it is then to fetch new from the root and to see whether they will be more liuely Ouer and beside in disburgening and desoiling a vine you must beware how you pluck off those burgeons that are like to beare the grape or to go with it for that were the next way to supplant as it were the grapes â—…ea and kill the vine vnlesse it were a new and yong plant Will you then know which are vnprofitable and may be spared euen all those are deemed superfluous which are come not directly from the knot or neere oilet but grow out of the side and no maruell since that the verie branches of grapes which hang in this manner out of the hard wood are so stiffe and tough also that vnneth a man may plucke them off with his fingers but had need of a knife or hook to cut them away As for the pitching of props into the ground some are of opinion that the best way is to set them between two vines and indeed that were the easier way to come about the vines for to lay their roots bare when time serueth Also better it is far so to doe in a vineyard where the vines run vpon one single traile in case the said traile be strong enough and the vineyard not subiect to the danger of winds but where a vine runneth foure waies it must be relieued with prop and stayes as neer as may be to support the burden yet so as they be no hinderance when as men should come about the foot to lay the root bare and therefore they would be a cubit off and no more Moreouer this is a general rule that a vine be clensed about the root beneath before that it be pruned aboue Cato treating generally of all maters concerning vines writeth thus by way of rule and precept Let your vine quoth he be as high as possibly you can fasten it to the frame decently but take heed you bind it not too hard Dresse and order it after this manner After you haue cut away the tips and tops therof dig round about the roots and be in then to eare vp plow the vineyard draw furrowes and ridges too and fro throughout Whiles vines be yong tender couch the branches within the ground for propagation with al speed as for old vines
will be but the worse for it and such are the Almond trees for where before they did beare sweet Almonds they will euer after bring bitter Moreouer you shall haue some trees that wil thriue do the better after this hard dealing namely a kind of peare tree called Phocis in the Island Chios for you haue heard by me already which trees they be that lopping and shredding is good for Most trees and in manner all except the Vine Apple tree Fig tree and Pomegranate tree will die if their stocke or bodie be clouen and some be so tender that vpon euery little wound or race that is giuen them yee shall see them to die howbeit the Figge tree and generally all such trees as breed Rosin defie all such wrongs and injuries and will abide any wound or bruse whatsoeuer That trees should die when their roots are cut away it is no maruell and yet many there bee of them that wi liue and prosper well neuerthelesse in case they be not all cut off nor the greatest master roots ne yet any of the heart or vitall roots among the rest Moreouer it is often seene that trees kill one another when they grow too thicke and that either by ouershadowing or else by robbing one another of their food and nourishment The Iuie also that with clipping and clasping bindeth trees too hard hastneth their death Misselto likewise doth them no good no more than Cytisus or the hearbe Auro which the Greekes name Alimus growing about them The nature of some plants is not to kill and destroy trees out of hand but to hurt and offend them only either with their smell or else with the mixture and intermingling of their owne iuice with their sap Thus the Radish and the Lawrell doe harme to the Vine if they grow neare vnto it for surely the Vine is thought to haue the sense of smelling and wonderfully to sent any odours and therefore it is obserued in her by experience That if shee be neare vnto Radish or Lawrell shee will turne away and withdraw her selfe backeward from them as if shee could not abide their strong breath but vtterly abhorred it as her very enemie And vpon the obseruation of this secret in Nature Androcides the Physitian deuised a medicine against drunkennesse and prescribed his patients to eat Radish if they would not be ouercome with wine Neither can the Vine away with Coleworts or the Cabbage nay it hateth generally all worts or pot-hearbs it abhorreth also the Hazell and Filberd tree in such sort as a man shal sensibly perceiue it to looke heauily and mislike if those plants aforesaid grow not farther off from it And now to conclude and knit vp this discourse would you kill a Vine out of hand lay to the root thereof nitre or salt-petre and alumne drench it with hote sea-water or doe but apply vnto it Bean cods or the shales or husks of the pulse Eruile and you shall soone see the operation and effect of a most ranke and deadly poison CHAP. XXV ¶ Of many and sundry prodigies or strange tokens and accidents about trees Also of an Oliue plot which in times past was transported all and whole from one side of an high port way to another IN this Treatise of the faults and imperfections incident to Trees me thinks I should do wel to say somwhat of the supernatural occurrences in them obserued for we haue known some of them to grow vp and prosper without any leaues at all And as there haue bin Vines and Pomegranats seen to beare fruit springing immediately from the trunke and not from branch or boughs so there haue bin vines charged with grapes and not clad with leaues and Oliues likewise had their berries hanging vpon them whole and sound notwithstanding all their leaues were shed and gon Moreouer strange wonders and miracles haue hapned about trees by meere chance and fortune for there was an Oliue once which being burnt to the very stump reuiued came again and in Boeotia certain Fig Trees notwithstanding they were eaten and gnawn most piteously with Locusts yet budded anew and put forth a fresh spring Also it hath bin marked that trees haue changed their colour from black to white And yet this is not alwayes a monstrous thing beyond naturall reason and specially in such as come of seed as wee may obserue in the Aspe which eftsoones turneth to be a Poplar Some are of opinion That the Servise Tree if it bee transplanted and come into a hoter ground than is agreeable to the nature thereof will leaue bearing and be barren But it is taken for no lesse than a monster out of kind that sweet Apples and such like fruits should proue sowre or sowre fruit turne to be sweet as also that a wilde Fig Tree should become tame or contrariwise And it is counted for an vnluckie sign if any Tree change from the better to the worse to wit if a gentle garden Oliue degenerate into the wilde and sauage if a Vine that was wont to beare white grapes haue now black vpon it and so likewise if a Fig Tree which vsed to haue white Figs chaunce afterwards to beare black And here by the way I canot forget the strange accident that befell in Laodicea where vpon the arriuall of King Xerxes a Plane tree was turned into an Oliue But if any man be desirous to know more of these and such like miracles for as much as I loue not to runne on still and make no end I refer him ouer to Aristander a Greek writer who hath compiled a whole volume and stuffed it full of such like wonders let him haue recourse also to C. Epidius a Countryman of ours whose Commentaries are full of such stuffe where he shall find also that trees sometimes spake A little before the ciuil war brake out between Iulius Caesar and Pompey the Great there was reported an ominous and fearfull sight presaging no good from out of the territory of Cumes namely That a great Tree there sunke down into the earth so deep that a very little of the top boughs was to be seen Hereupon were the propheticall books of Sibylla perused wherin it was found that this prodegie portended some great carnage of men and that the neerer that this slaughter and execution should be to Rome the greater should the bloud shed be A prodigious signe and wonder it is reputed also when trees seem to grow in places where they were not wont to be and which are not agreeable to their natures as namely on the chapâ—…ers of pillars the heads of statues or vpon altars like as to see one tree of a diuers and contrary kinde growing vpon the top of another as it befell about the city Cyzicum hard before the streit siege that was laid vnto it by Mithridates both by sea and land where a Fig tree was seen to grow vpon a Lawrel Likewise at Tralleis about the time of the foresaid ciuill war a Date
gods with an oblation of corne yea and to offer prayers and supplications vnto them by no other means than cakes made of salt and meal yea and as Hemina mine author saith for to induce the people of Rome the better vnto it he allowed them to parch their corne in their sacrifices for that corne thus partched was supposed to be a more wholsome food by which meanes this one thing insued in the end that no corne was counted pure and good nor fit to be vsed in diuine seruice but that which was thus baked or partched He also instituted the feast Fornacalia to wit certaine holy-daies for the parching and baking of corne as also another as religiously obserued called Terminalia namely for the bounds and limits of lands for these and such like gods as then they worshipped most as also the goddesse Seia so called a serendo i. of sowing corne and setting plants and Segesta which name they gaue her a segetibus i. of corn fields whose images we at this day do see in the grand Cirque or Shew-place at Rome A third goddesse there is among them whom to name and inuocate within-house they might not with safe conscience Lastly so religious and ceremonious they were in old time that they would not so much as taste of new corne or wine before the Priests had taken a sey of the first fruits CHAP. III. ¶ Of Iugerum and Actus Of the antient Lawes ordained for Cattell in old time How often and at what time Corne and victuals were exceeding cheape at Rome What noble and famous persons addicted themselues wholly to Husbandrie and Tillage AN Acre or Arpen of ground called in Latine Iugerum was as much as might be eared vp or ploughed in one day with a yoke of Oxen. And Actus in Latine is a Land or so much just as two Oxen are driuen and occupied in whiles they plough in one tract without any rest This contained by the old time 120 foot in length and being doubled in length made the Acre or Iugerum abouesaid In antient time of the old Romans the greatest Present that could be giuen to captains and souldiers who had borne themselues valiantly in the seruice of their countrey was as much ground as they could haue eared or broken vp in one day And it was thought a great reward to receiue at the hands of the people of Rome halfe a pint or a pint at the vtmost of corn Moreouer in so great request was corn and Husbandry that the first and chiefe houses in Rome took their syrnames from thence and namely the Pilumni who deuised first the pestill to bray corne withall in their mils and backhouses also the family of the Pisenes who tooke their name a pisendo i. of stamping or pounding corne in a mortar The Fabij in like manner the Lentuli and the Ciceroes each one according to the seuerall pulse that they skilled best to set or sow Moreouer to the house of the Iunij they gaue the syrname of Bubulcus by occasion of one of their ancestors who knew passing well how to vse and order oxen Ouer besides all this that you may know what regard was had of corn among other sacred and holy ceremonies there was nothing reputed more religious than the bond of Confarration in knitting vp of mariages assurance making of the chiefe priests yea the manner of the new wedded brides was to carry openly before them a wheaten cake In times past the Magistrates called Censors iudged it a trespasse worthy of great rebuke to be an il husband that is to say to be carelesse and negligent in tilling the ground And as Cato reporteth if men called one by the name of a good husbandman they were thought to haue praised commended him in the highest degree hereupon also it came that rich and substantiall men were termed in Latine Locupletes as one would say Loci-pleni i. wel landed And as for the very word Pecunia in Latine which signifieth money it took the name of Pecus i. cattell And euen at this day as appeareth in the Registers of the Censors and the accounts of the city Chamber all their rents reuenues and customes growing vnto the people of Rome are called Pascua for that a long time the whole domaine of Rome stood vpon pasturage and nothing els The penalties and fines also which offendants were put to pay were raised of nothing else but of Kine Oxen and Sheep where by the way I cannot conceale from you the fauorable regard that the antient lawes and ordinances of Rome had whereby it was expressely forbidden That no Iudge who had power to enioine or impose any paine and amercement should name the fine of an Oxe vnlesse he had passed that of a Sheep first The solemne games and plaies also in the honour of Kine and oxen they who frequented them called Bubetij Moreouer king Seruius at the first when hee made brazen coine stamped the peeces with the portraiture of Sheepe Kine and Oxen. By the lawes of the twelue Tables all persons whatsoeuer aboue foureteen yeares of age were forbidden vnder pain of death either by stealth to feed their cattell in the night time vpon any corn-field of another mans ploughed and sown or to cut the same downe by syth or sickle at such a time and in that manner By the same laws also ordained it was That whosoeuer was attaint or conuicted thereupon should be hanged by the head and strangled for satisfaction of the goddesse Ceres and in one word to be more grieuously punished than in case of man-slaughter But if the offender were vnder that age beforesaid the same law prouided that hee should be whipped at the discretion of the Pretor or Lord chiefe Iustice for the time beeing or if this punishment were remitted by the partie who sustained the domage then hee should satisfie vnto him for the trespasse as a slaue and pay double for the losse according as honest and indifferent men valued it Furthermore in antient time the distinction of States and degrees in the city of Rome both for wealth and worship was according to their lands and not otherwise Insomuch as those citizens were reputed for chiefe and principall who were possessed of Land and liuing in the Countrey and these made the State called the Rusticke Tribes in Rome whereas contrariwise the other estate reputed the meaner in degree was named the Vrbane Tribes consisting of Artisans and such like as were not landed persons into which if a man were transferred from any of the rest it was thought a great shame and disgrace as if he were reproched for idlenesse negligence in husbandry And hereupon these foure Tribes alone took name of those foure principall parts or quarters of the city wherein they were seated to wit Suburrana Palatina Collina and Exquilina Ouer and besides vpon faires and market daies the Rustick Tribes vsually visited the city vpon which daies therefore no publick assemblies of the people
than to labor a ground exceeding much and to ouer-til it L. Rarius Rufus a man of very base and low parentage descended yet aduanced to the Consular dignity for his prowesse in feats of arms was otherwise very thrifty and sparing after the maner of the old world insomuch as partly by his niggardise and partly through the liberality of Augustus Caesar he had gathered good together amounting to the sum of an hundred millions of Sesterces all which masse of money what with purchasing land to land in the Picene country and what with bestowing such a deale of husbandry vpon it more ywis of a vain glory and ostentation than for any profit that he reaped thereby he laid forth and spent euery whit of that stock insomuch as hardly he could finde any man that would take vpon him to be his executor or to accept simply of the inheritance What shall we say then or what good commeth of such houses or lands so chargeable as that they are like to cost a man his life and that by famine I hold therfore that in all things a mean is best and bringeth greatest profit in the end To till and husband ground well is necessary to ouer-do the same and to exceed turneth more to the damage than the profit of the lord vnlesse it were done by his own children or to maintain the charge of keeping such hinds as otherwise must be found if they sat still and did nothing for setting that cause aside it falleth out oftentimes that the gathering and inning of some haruest if a man count all the pains emploied and the mony of the purse is nothing beneficial to the master In like maner Oliues would not alwaies be tended and looked vnto ouermuch neither do some grounds require much diligence but are the worse for such attendance as may be seen by report in Sicily which is the cause that new commers thither for to be tenants and to occupy those lands are many times deceiued and put besides their reckoning After what manner then shall we proceed in the husbandry of our land to most benefit and behoofe Learn a rule out of the Oracle or sententious riddle which goeth in this forme Malis bonis i. Cheapest Best But herein me thinks good reason it is that our old great grandfathers should be defended and excused for holding these strange and obscure paradoxes they I say who by such rules and precepts tooke great care and paines to instruct vs how to liue Would you know then what they meant by this word Malis surely they vnderstood those that were cheapest and stood them in least The chiefe point of all their prouidence and forecast was to goe the nearest way to worke and to be at the smallest cost and no maruell for who were they that gaue out these thriftie precepts euen those who reproched a victorious General and one who triumphed ouer the enemy for hauing a cupboord of siluer plate weighing but ten pound those I say who if their bayliffes of husbandrie chanced to die whereby their lands in the countrey stood void would make suit to be gone themselues thither and to return to their own fermes leauing behind them the glory of all their victories by them atchieued and to conclude euen those who whiles they were imploied in the conduct of armies had their grounds looked vnto and tilled at the charges of the common-weale and had no other for their bayliffs than the noble Senators of Rome From their mouths came these other oracles and wise sentences following An ill husband is he who is forced to buy that which his ferme might affoord him As bad is that housholder master of a family who doth that in the day which might be don by night vnlesse vnseasonable weather driue him to it worse than either of these is he who doth that vpon work-daies which should haue bin done on play daies or idle holidaies but the worst of all other is he who when the weather is fair wil chuse to work rather within close house than abroad in the open field here I cannot hold and rule my selfe but I must needs alledge one example out of antient histories whereby it may be vnderstood How it was an ordinary matter to commense actions and to maintaine pleas in open court before the body of the people in the case of Husbandry as also in what sort those good Husbandmen of old time were wont to defend their owne cause when they were brought into question And this was the case There was one C. Furius Cresinus late a bond-slaue and newly infranchised who after that hee was set at liberty purchased a very little piece of ground out of which he gathered much more commodity than all his neighbors about him out of their great and large possessions whereupon he grew to be greatly enuied and hated insomuch as they charged him with indirect means as if he had vsed sorcery and by charmes and witch-craft drawne into his owne ground that increase of fruits which should otherwise haue growne in his neighbors fields Thus vpon complaint and information giuen he was presented and indited by Spurius Albinus an Aedile Curule for the time being and a day was set him down peremptorily for his personal appearance to answer the matter He therfore fearing the worst and doubting that he should be cast to pay some grieuous fine at what time as the Tribes were ready to giue their voices either to acquit or condemne him brought into the common place his plough with other instruments and furniture belonging to husbandry he presented likewise in the open face of the court his owne daughter a lusty strong lasse and big of bone yea and as Piso telleth the tale well fed and as well clad he shewed there I say his tooles and plough yrons of the best making and kept in as good order maine and heauy coulters strong and tough spades massie and weighty plough-shares and withall his draught Oxen ful and faire Now when his course came to plead his own cause before the people and to answer for himselfe thus he began and said My masters quoth he you that are citizens of Rome behold these are the sorceries charms and all the inchantments that I vse pointing to his daughter his oxen furniture abouenamed I might besides quoth he alledge mine owne trauell and toile that I take the early rising and late sitting vp so ordinary with me the carefull watching that I vsually abide and the painefull sweats which I daily indure but I am not able to represent these to your view nor to bring them hither with me into this assembly The people no sooner hard this plea of his but with one voice they all acquit him and declared him vnguilty without any contradiction By which example verily a man may soone see that good husbandrie goeth not all by much expence but it is pains taking and careful diligence that doth the deed And hereupon came the old sayd
ripeneth sooner or later For in Aegypt Barley is readie to be reaped in the sixt moneth after it was sowne and Wheat in seuen but in the region of Hellas in Greece the Barley tarieth seuen moneths and in Peloponnesus or Morea eight As for wheat and such like hard corne longer it is ere it be ripe and ready for the sycle All Corne that groweth aloft vpon a stalke or straw beareth the graines arranged spikewise and as if they were plaited and braided like a border of haire In Bean stalks and other such like pulse the cods grow in alternatiue course some on the right side others on the left in order Wheat and such like spiked corne withstand the winter cold better than Pulse but these yeeld a stronger food and fill the belly sooner Wheat Rie and such like grain are well wrapped within many tunicles Barley for the most part lieth bare and naked so doth Arinca i. a kind of Rice or Amel corn and Oats especially The straw of wheat and Rie is commonly taller than that of Barly But the eiles of Barley are more rough and prickie than those of the other Pol-wheat both red and white yea and Barley also is threshed and driuen out of the husk vpon a floore and being thus threshed clean and pure it is either ground or sowne againe without any parching or drying in a furnace Contrariwise the Beare corne of Bearded wheat Far Millet and Panick cannot possibly be made clean vnlesse they be first sendged and so dried These sorts of graine therefore vse to be sowed raw and rude with their very huls like as the Beare corn or bearded Far men are wont to keep still inclosed within the husk against seed time and neuer parch or dry it at the fire Of all the sorts of grain before rehearsed Barley is the lightest for a Modius or pecke thereof seldome weigheth aboue 15 pounds whereas the like measure of Beans poiseth 22. The bearded corne Far is yet more ponderous than it and Wheat more than all the rest In Aegypt they vse to make certain frumenty meat or naked grotes of a kind of Rice or white Amel-corn called Olyra which is among them holden for the third sort of Spike-corne In Gaule likewise they haue a kinde of frumentie corne or gurts by themselues named in their language Brance and with vs in Italy and about Rome Sandalum this grain is of all others most neat and faire and this singular propertie it hath besides different from the rest That ordinarily in euery measure called Modius it yeeldeth more bread by foure pound weight than any other corne husked and dressed in maner aforesaid Verrius reporteth That the people of Rome for 300 yeares together vsed no other meat than the grotes made of common Wheat And as touching Wheat there be many sorts therof distinguished by the names of the Regions and countries where they be found growing Howbeit for my part I thinke verily that there is no wheat in the world comparable to ours here in Italy for it surpasseth all others both in whitenesse and also in weight by which two marks especially as it is knowne from the rest so it is reputed for the very best And if you take the wheat growing in the mountain countries of Italy the best haply of forrein regions may match it and that is the wheat of Boeotia the principall of all others next to it is that which growes in Sicily and then that of Africk may be ranged in the last place in a third rank is to be reckoned the Thracian and Syrian Wheat and after them the Aegyptian in regard of the weight that it carieth Now these degrees of weight we gather by the proportion assigned to champions and wrestlers whose allowance was much like to the liurie giuen to laboring horses and as much in maner would their paunches both require and receiue for according as they could eare of the one sort more measures than of the other so arose these distinct degrees in the weight aboue said The Greeks make great account of the Wheat growing by Pontus and highly commend it but this neuer came into Italy neither know wee what it is The same Grecians preferred before all other grain these three sorts to wit Dracontias Strangias and Selinusium esteeming the goodnesse of the corn by the thicknesse and bignes of the straw and attributing these three kinds by that signe and argument to the goodnesse and riches of the soile and therefore they prescribed to sow this corn in a fat and battle ground But the lightest in weight and poorest in substance because it required much nutriment they appointed to be sowed in moist places Of this opinion and iudgment were the antient Greeks during the reign of Alexander the Great at what time as Greece was in the floure and height of her glory as hauing the monarchie and soueraigntie ouer the whole world Howbeit before his death 145 yeares or thereabout Sophocles the Poet in a Tragedie entituled Triptolemus praised the Italian wheat aboue all other for in effect thus he saith word forword Et fortunatam Italiam frumento canére candido And Italy a land I say so happy and so blest Where stand the fields all hoare and gray with white Wheat of the best And in very truth our Italian wheat at this day carieth the name alone in that regard I wonder therefore so much the more at the modern Greeks of late time who made no mention at all of this ourwheat Now at this present of all those kinds of outlandish wheat which are transported by sea into Italy the lightest is that which commeth out of France and Chersonesus i. the streits of Callipolis for a Modius or peck thereof containeth not aboue 20 pound weight weigh the very graine it selfe as it groweth vncleansed huske and all The Sardinian wheat is more weighty than it by halfe a pound in a Modius And that of Alexandria exceedeth the French halfe a pound and one third part in euery measure before named And this is the very poise also of the Sicilian wheat The Boeotian is yet a full pound heauier and that of Africk as much and three fourth parts of a pound more In Lombardy that tract of Italy beyond the riuer Po I know ful wel that a Modius of their wheat weighed 25 pounds and about Clusium 26. But be the corne whatsoeuer it will this is the ordinarie proportion by the course of Nature that being made into down-right houshold bread for soldiers and to serue the campe it ought to weigh as much as it did in corne and one third part ouer and aboue As also this is a rule That the best Wheat is that which to euerie Modius will take and drink vp a gallon of water ere it be made dough And yet some kindes of Wheat there be that will yeeld the full weight aforesaid in bread and neuer count the water going thereto namely that which commeth
better to grind and withal yeeldeth better and is more fruitfull The Red-wheat called Far is polled wheat in Aegypt and carieth no beard or eiles about it So is the white winter Wheat Siligo saue onely that which is named Laconica To these may be adioyned other kinds also to wit * Bromos the poll wheat Siligo differing from all the other of that name and Tragos strangers all brought from the Levant or East parts and resembling Rice euerie one Typhe likewise is of the same kind whereof in Italy and this part of the world is made that husked corne which goeth among vs for Rice for it turneth into it The Greeks haue a kind of wheat called Zea or Spelt it is commonly said that both it and Typhae considering that they vse to degenerate and proue bastard will turne to their kinde again and become wheat if they be husked before a man sow them howbeit this change will not be seen presently nor before the third yeare As touching our common wheat there is no grain more fruitfull than it this gift hath Nature endued it withall because she meant thereby to nourish mankinde most for one Modius thereof sowne if the soile be good and agreeable thereto such as lieth about Biâ—…acium the champian countrey of Africke will yeeld an hundred and fiftie fold againe The procurator generall of that prouince vnder Augustus Caesar sent from thence vnto him one plant thereof a wondrous thing and incredible to be reported which had little vnder 400 straws springing from one grain meeting all in one and the same root as it appeareth vpon records by the letters sent testifying no lesse Likewise to the Emperour Nero he sent 340 strawes out of the same country rising all from one onely corne But to goe no farther than to Sicilie within the territorie about Leontium there haue beene certaine fields knowne wherein one graine putteth forth no fewer than a hundred stalks with ears vpon them and not there onely but also in many other parts of that Island And this is ordinarie throughout all the kingdome of Granade and Andalusia in Spaine But aboue all the land of Aegypt may make boast in rendring such interest to the husbandmen Moreouer of all those kinds of wheat which are so plentiful there is principal account made of that which branches as also of another which men call Centigranum i. the wheat that beareth 100 graines To leaue this kind of graine and to come to Pulse there hath been found in Italie and goe no farther one beane stalke laden with an hundred beanes Touching Summer corne to wit Sesama Millet and Panicke we haue alreadie spoken As for Sesama it commeth from the Indians whereof they make a certaine kind of oile The color of this graine is white Like vnto it there is another grain called Erysinum which is rife in Asia Greece and I would say it were the very same that with vs in Latine is named Irio but that it is more oileous and fatty and indeed to be counted a medicinable or Physicall plant rather than a kind of corne Of the same nature is that which the Greekes call Hormium it resembleth Cumin aed is vsually sowed with Sesama how beit no beast will eat thereof while it is greene no more than they do of Irio a foresaid To come now to the manner of husking and cleansing of corne the feat is not so easily done in all as in some for in Tuscane they take the eares of their red wheat called Far when they be parched and dried at the fire they pound or bray them with a pestill headed at the nether end with yron or els fistulous and hollow within yet bound about with a hoop or ring of yron and the same within forth toothed in manner of a star so as if they be not heed full in the stamping the yron-work at the pestill end will either cut the cornes in two or else bruise and break them clean In Italy for the most part they vse a reed or plain pestill not headed with yron to huske and dresse their corn or els certain wheeles that are turned and driuen apace with water which going very swift doe also grind the said corne But since we are fallen into this treatise concerning husking and grinding of corn it shall not be amisse for to set down the opinion and resolution of Mago in this behalfe First for common wheat he giueth order that it be well steeped and soked in good store of water afterwards to berid from the hulls and eiles that it hath in a mortar which done it ought to be dried in the sunne and followed a second time with a pestil In like maner saith he should barley be vsed how beit two Sextars or quarts of water will be sufficient to besprinckle and wet twentie Sextars of barly As for Lentils he would haue them first parched and dried and then lightly punned or stamped together with brans or els to put vnto twentie Sextars thereof a fragment or peece of a broken semeld brick and half a Modius or peck of sand Eruile would be cleansed or husked as Lentils be but Sesama after it hath bin infused or soked in hot water he saith ought to be laid abroad a sunning then to be rubbed hard together and afterwards to be put into cold water and therewith couered so as the huls or chaffes do flote and swim aloft which done to be laid forth a second time in the sun vpon linnen clothes for to drie Now if all this be not don one thing after another and dispatched with the more speed and hast it wil soone vinew or catch a mouldinesse and besides lose the bright natiue hew and looke wan and of a leaden colour Now say that corn be cleansed and husked some one way and some another it is ground afterwards in diuers sorts If the ears be bolted by themselues alone for goldsmiths worke the chaffe comming thereof is called in Latine Acus but if it be threshed and beaten vpon a paued floor eare straw and altogether as in most parts of the world they vse to doe for to fodder cattell and to giue in prouender to horses then it is tearmed Palâ—…a but the refuse or chaffe remaining after that Panick or Sesama be clensed they call in Latine Appluda how soeuer in other countries it be otherwise named To speake more particularly of Millet there is great store thereof in Campaine and there they set much by it for of it they make a kind of white grewel or pottage also the bread therof is passing sauorie and sweet The Tartarians also nations in Sarmatia feed most of this water gruell made with Millet as also with the crude and raw meale thereof vnsodden and vnbaked tempered with mares milk or els with horse-bloud that runneth out of their master leg-vains by way of incision made for the purpose with the phleame As for the Aethiopians they know no other corne but Millet and
in their seed and mould or couer it afterwards with yron-toothed harrows drawn aloft Lands in this manner sown need no other raking or weeding for commonly they make not past two or three bouts in a land and as many ridges Finally it is thought that in this manner there may be sown in one yere by the help of one yoke of oxen 40 arpens or acres of land ordinarily if the ground be gentle and easie to be eared but if it be stiffe and stubborne they shall haue worke enough to go through thirty CHAP. XIX ¶ The seasons that be proper for tilling the ground also the manner of coupling oxen in yoke IN this operation of ploughing ground I am of mind to follow that Oracle or Aphorisme of Cato who being asked which was the first and principall point of Agriculture answered thus Euen to husband order and tend ground well being demanded againe what was the second hee made answer To plough well And when the question was propounded concerning the third point of husbandry he said That it consisted in manuring and dunging it well There be other necessarie rules besides set downe by him as touching this matter namely Make no vnequall furrowes in ploughing but lay them alike with one and the same plough Passe not the kindly season but care the ground in due time In the warmer countries lands would be broken vp and fallowes made immediatly after the Winter Solstice or Sun-stead In colder regions touch them not before the spring Aequinox or Mid-march In a drie quarter plough more early than in a moist sooner also in a fast and compact soile than in a loose and light ground in a fat and rich field than in a leane and poore land Looke in what climat the Summer is ordinarily drie and hot it is thought more profitable to eare vp a chalky or a light and leane ground between the Summer Sunstead and the Aequinoctiall in the fall of the leafe If the climat be such as yeeldeth but little heat in Summer and therewith many showers of raine where the soile also is fat and beareth a thick green-sourd it were better to break vp ground and fallow in the hotest season where the soile is heauie grosse and fat and wherein a man may tread deepe I like well that it should be tilled and stirred in winter but in case it be very light and drie withall it would not be medled with but a little before seednes Here also be other proper rules set down by Cato pertinent to Agriculture Touch not qd he in any hand a piece of ground that soon will turne to dust and mire When thou doest plough indeed for to sow imploy thy whole strength thereto but before thou take a deep stitch for all giue it a pin-fallow before this commodity commeth therof that by turning vp the turfe with the bottom vpward the roots of weeds are killed Some are of this opinion that howsoeuer we do els a ground should haue the first brâ—…aking vp about the springe â—…inox a land that thus haâ—…h bin once plowed in the spring is called in Latin Vervactum hath that name of the foresaid time Ver i. spring Indeed ley grounds such as rest each other yere must be in this wise followed Now if you would know what the Latines mean by Nouale they take it for a field sowed euerysecond yere And thus much of the land To come now vnto our draught oxen that must labour at the plough they ought to be coupled in yoke as close together as streight as is possible to the end that whilst they be at work and ploughing they may beare vp their heads for by that meanes they least doe gall or bruise their necks If they chance to goe to plough among trees and vines they must be muzled with some frailes or deuises made of twigs to the end they should not brouse and crop off the yong springs and soft tendrils Moreouer there ought a little hatchet to hang euermore fast to the plough beame before therewith to cut through roots within the ground that might breake or stay the plough for better is it so to do than to put the plough to it to keep a plucking at them or to force the poore oxen to lie tugging wrestling with them Also in ploughing this order is to be kept That when the oxen are gone down with one furrow to the lands end they turne and goe vp againe with another so that in ploughing of a land they rest betweene whiles as little as may be but euermore go forward in their labour vntill they haue made an end of their halfe acre or halfe daies worke and verily it is thought sufficient for a teem of oxen to breake vp at the first tilth in one day of restie or ley ground one acre taking a furrow or stitch of nine inches but at the second tilth or stirring an acre and a halfe which is to be vnderstood of an easie and mellow soile to be wrought for if it be tough and churlish it is wel if they eare vp at the first halfe an acre and at the next time they may go through with one whole acre how hard soeuer the ground be for thus haue poore beasts their taske set and their labour limited by Natures lore and appointment Euery field to be sown must be eared at first with streight direct furrows but those that follow after ought to go byas and winding If a ground vpon the pendant or hanging of the hil be to be broken vp the furrowes must go crosse and ouerthwart howbeit the point and beak of the plough-share must be so guided that one while it beare hard aboue on the one side and another while beneath on the other side and verily in this mountaine worke the ploughman that holdeth the plough hath toile enough and laboreth at it as hard as the oxen do Certes there be some mountaines that haue no vse at all of this beast but they eare their ground with raking and scraping hooks only The ploughman vnlesse he bend and stoope forward with his body must needs make sleight worke and leaue much vndon as it ought to be a fault which in Latine we call Preuarication and this terme appropriate vnto husbandrie is borrowed from thence by Lawyers and translated by them into their courts and halls of pleas if it be then a reprochfull crime for Lawyers to abuse their clients by way of collusion wee ought to take heed how we deceiue and mocke the ground where this fault was first found and discouered To proceed the plough-man euer and anone had need to cleanse the culter and the share with his staffe tipped and pointed at the end like a thistle-spade he must beware that between two furrowes he leaue no naked balks raw and vntilled also that the clots ride not one vpon anothers back Badly is that land ploughed which after the corn is sowed
needs the great harrows and clotting Contrariwise a man may know where there is good worke namely if the turfe be so close couched that there be no seams to be seen where the plough-share went finally it is a profitable point of husbandry and much practised where the ground doth both beare and require it For to draw here and there broad gutters or furrows to drain away the water into ditches and trenches cast for the nones betweene the lands that otherwise would stand within and drowne the corne CHAP. XX. ¶ Of harrowing and breaking clods Of a certaine kind of ploughing vsed in old time Of the second tilth or fallow called Stirring and of cutting AFter the second fallow called Stirring done with crosse and ouerthwart furrow to the first then followeth clodding if need be either with rakes or great harrowes vpon which insueth sowing and when the seed is in the ground harrowing a second time with the smal harrow In some places where the manner of the country doth so require this is performed with a tined or toothed harrow or els with a broad planke fastened vnto the plough taile which doth hide and couer the seed newly sown and in this maner to rake or harrow is called in Latine Lirare from whence came first the word Delirare which is to leaue bare balks vncouered and by a Metaphore and borrowed speech to raue and speake idlely It should seem that Virgil prescribed that the ground should haue foure tilthes in all by these words when he said That the corne was best which had two Summers and two Winters But if the ground be strong and tough as in most parts of Italy there needs a fift tilth before sowing and in Tuscan verily they giue their ground otherwhiles no fewer than nine fallowes before it be brought into tillage As for Beans and Vetches they may be sowed vnder furrow without breaking vp the ground before for this is a ready way gaining time sauing charges sparing labour And here I cannot ouerpasse one inuention more as touching earing and ploughing the ground deuised in Piemont and those parts beyond the Po by occasion of some hard measure and wrong offered to the people and peisants of that country during the wars And thus stood the case The Salassians making rodes into the vale lying vnder the Alpes as they forraied and harried the country all ouer assaied also to ouerrun their fields of Panick and Millet being now come vp and wel growne meaning thereby to destroy it but seeing the nature of that graine to be such as to rise againe and to check this iniury they set ploughs into it and turned all vnder furrow imagining by that means to spoil it for euer But see what insued therupon those fields thus misused in their conceit bare a twofold crop in proportion to other yeres yeelded so plentifull an haruest as that thereby the peisants aforesaid learned the deuise of turning corn in the blade into the ground which I suppose in those days when it new came vp they called Aratrare And this point of husbandry they put in practise when the corne beginnes to gather and shew the stem or straw to wit so soone as it hath put forth two or three leaues and no more Neither will I conceale from you another new deuise practised and inuented first not aboue three yeres past in the territory of Treuiers neer to Ferrara For at what time as their corn fields by reason of an extreme cold winter seemed to be frost-bitten and spoiled they sowed the same again in the month of March raking and scraping the vpper coat of the ground onely without more ado and neuer in their liues had they the like increase when haruest came Now as touching all other tillage and husbandry meet for the ground I will write thereof respectiuely to the seuerall kinds of corne CHAP. XXI ¶ Of the tillage and ordering of the ground THe fine Wheat Siligo the red bearded Wheat Far and the common Wheat Triticum Spelt or Zea generally called Seed and Barly when they be new sown would be wel clotted and couered first harrowed afterwards weeded at the last to the very root al at such seasons as shall be shewed hereafter And to say a truth euery one of these is a sufficient worke for one man to do in a day throughout an acre As for the Sarcling or second harrowing it doth much good to corn for by loosening the ground about it which by the winter cold was hardened clunged and as it were hide bound it is somwhat inlarged and at libertie against the Spring tide and full gladly admitteth and receiueth the benefit of the fresh and new come Sun-shine daies let him take heed who thus sarcles or rakes the ground that he neither vndermine the roots of the corn nor yet race or disquiet loosen them The common wheat Barley the Seed Zea i. Spelt and Beans would do the better if they were thus sarcled and the earth laied loose about them twice the grubbing vp of weeds by the root at what time as the corne is iointed namely when the vnprofitable and hurtful hearbs are plucked forth and rid out of the way much helpeth the root of the corn discharging it from noisom weeds procuring it more nutriment and seuering it apart from the other green sourd of common grasse Of all Pulse the cich pease asketh the same dressing and ordering as the red wheat Far. As for beans they passe not at all for weeding and why they ouergrow all the weeds about and choke them The Lupines require nought els to be done to them but only weeding Millet and Panick must be clotted and once harrowed vntill they be couered they call not for a second raking scraping about them for to loosen the earth and to lay fresh mould vnto them much lesse to be weeded As for Silicia or Siliqua i. Fenigreeke and Fasels i. Kidney-beans they care onely for clodding there an end Moreouer there be certain grounds so fertile that the corn comming vp so thick ranke in the blade ought then to be kembed as it were raked with a kind of harrow set with teeth or spikes of yron and yet for all this they must be grased or eaten down besides neuerthelesse with sheep Now we must remember that after such cattel hath gon ouer it with their teeth the same corne thus eaten downe must of necessity be sarcled and the earth lightly raked and raised vp fresh againe Howbeit in Bactriana Africke and Cyrene there needs no such hand at all for the climate is so good so kinde and beneficiall that none of all this paines is required for after the seed is once sowne they neuer visit it but once for all at nine months end at what time they returne to cut it down and lay it vpon their thrashing floores the reason is because the drought keepeth downe all weeds and the dewes that fall by night
soone as the seede is in the ground that it may be harrowed in with the corne But in case this manner of dunging be neglected it followeth then before that you do harrow to strew the short small dung in manner of dust gathered out of Coupes Mues and Bartons where foule are fed or els to cast Goats treddles vpon the land as if you would sow seed and then with rakes and harrowes to mingle it with the soile To the end now that we may determine fully as touching this care also belonging to dung euery sheep or goat and such small cattell should by right yeeld ordinarily in dung one load in ten daies and euery head of bigger beasts ten load for vnlesse this proportion and quantity of muck be gathered plain it is that the granger or master of husbandry hath not don his part but failed in litering of his cattell Some hold opinion that the best way of mucking a land is to fold sheep and such like small cattell thereupon euen in the broad open field and to this purpose they inclose or impark them within hurdles In a word a ground not dunged at al groweth to be cold and again if it be ouermuch dunged the heart thereof is burned away And therefore the better and safer way is to muck by little at once and often rather than to ouerdo it at once The hotter that a soile is it stands by good reason that the lesse compost it requireth CHAP. XXIIII ¶ Of good seed-corne The manner of sowing ground well How much seed of euery kind of graine an acre will take The due seasons of Seednesse THe best corne or Zea for seede is of one yeares age two yeares old is not so good that of three is worst of all for beyond that time the heart is dead and such corne wil neuer spurt And verily this that is said of one sort may be verified of all kindes The corne that setleth to the bottome of the mowgh in a barn toward the floore is euer to be reserued for seed And that must needs be best because it is weightiest for therein lieth the goodnesse neither is there a better way to discern and distinguish good corn from other If you see an eare of corn hauing grains in it here and there staring distant asunder be sure the corn is not good for this purpose and therefore it must be cast aside The best graine looketh reddish and being broken between ones teeth retaineth stil the same colour within the worse corn for seed is that which sheweth more of the white flower within Furthermore this is certain that some grounds take more seed and some lesse And hereby verily do husband men gather their first presage religiously of a good or bad haruest for when they see the ground swallow more seed than ordinary they haue a ceremonie to say beleeue that it is hungry and hath greedily eaten the seed When a man is to sow a moist ground good reason there is to make the quicker dispatch and to do it betimes for fear lest rain come to rot it But contrariwise in dry places it is not amisse to stay the later and attend till raine follow lest by lying long in the earth and not conceiuing for want of moisture it lose the heart turn to nothing Semblably when a man soweth early he must bestow the more seed and sow thick because it is long ere it swel and be ready to chit But if he be late in his seednes he should cast it thin into the ground for thick sowing will choke and kill the seed Moreouer in this feat of sowing there is a pretty skil and cunning namely to cary an euen hand and cast the seed equally thorowout the whole field The hand in any case of the seeds-man must agree with his gate and march it ought alwaies to go iust with his right foot Herein also this would not be forgotten that one is more fortunate and hath a more lucky hand than another and the seed will prosper better and yeeld more encrease that such a one soweth an hidden secret surely in Nature and whereof we can yeeld no sound reason Ouer and besides this is to be considered that corn comming from a cold soile must not be sowne in a hot ground nor that which grew in a forward and hasty field ought to be transferred into lateward lands Howsoeuer some there be that haue giuen rule clean contrary howbeit they haue deceiued themselues with al their foolish curiositie Now as touching the quantitie of seed that must be giuen according to the varietie both of ground and grain these principles following are to be obserued in a reasonable good ground of a mean temperature an acre in ordinarie proportion wil ask of common wheat Triticum or of the fine wheat Siligo 5 modij of the red wheat Far or of seed for so we cal a kind of bread corn ten Modij of Barly six of Beans as much as of common wheat and a fift part or one Modius ouer of Vetches 12 of Cich pease the greater Cichlings the lesse and of pease three of Lupines ten of Lentils 3 as for these folk would haue them sowed together with dry dung of Ervile six of Silicia or Feni-greek six of Phaseols or Kidny beans foure of Dradge or Balimong for horse prouender 20 but of Millet and Panick 4 Sextars Howbeit herein can be set down no iust proportion for the soile may alter all And in one word a fat ground will receiue more and a lean lesse Besides there ariseth a difference another way in this manner if it be a massie fast chalky and moist ground you may bestow in one acre thereof six Modij either of common wheat or of fine Siligo but in case it be loose and light naked dry and yet in good heart and free it will aske but foure For the leaner that a ground is vnlesse it be sown scant and the straw come vp also thinne the shorter eare will the corne haue and the same light in the head and nothing therein Be the ground rich and fat ye shall see out of one root a number of stems to spring so that although the grain be thin sown yet will it come vp thick and beare a faire and full eare And therefore in an acre of ground you shall not do amisse to keep a meane between foure and six Modij hauing respect to the nature of the soile And yet some there be who would haue of wheat fiue Modij sown at all aduenture and neither more not lesse whatsoeuer the ground be To conclude if the ground be set with trees or lying on the side of an 〈◊〉 all is one as if it were lean hungry and out of heart And hereto may be reduced that notable Aphorisme worthy to be kept and obserued as a diuine Oracle Take not too much of a land weare not out all the fatnesse but leaue it in some heart Ouer and aboue
the same region and yet wrot contrarie I canot tel what to make of them howbeit I care not much to set downe one example of their discord disagreement Hesiodus the Poet for vnder his name also there goeth a Treatise of Astrologie hath put down in writing the matutine setting of the star Vergiliae which is the occultation thereof by the raies and beames of the Sunne toward morning to begin ordinarily vpon the day of the Aequinox in Autumne Thales the Milesian saith That it falleth out vpon the fiue and twentieth after the said Aequinox Anaximander writeth That it is nine and twenty daies after and finally Euctemon hath noted the 48 day following the said Aequinox for the retrait or occultation of the forenamed Brood-hen star Vergiliae Loe what varietie there is among these deepe clearkes and great Astrologers For mine owne part I hold well with Caesars calculation and wil keep me to his obseruations as neere as I can for that the same wil fit best with our meridian here in al Italie Yet neuerthelesse I will not sticke to set downe the opinions of others because my desseigne tendeth not to one particular place alone but I purpose and professe to represent vnto the reader the vniuersall history of Nature and the whole world But my meaning is not to rehearse the names of euery Author one by one for that were a tedious peece of work and would require a long train of superfluous words but only to put down the regions of euery climate and that as succinctly and briefely as I can Where by the way I must aduertise the Readers that they remember wel this one thing how when for breuities sake I name the land or region Attica they must withall vnderstand the Islands Cyclades when I name Macedonie I comprehend therewith Magnesia and Thracia vnder Aegypt I comprise Phoenice Cyprus and Cilicia vnder Boeotia the regions of Locris and Phocis and in one word alwaies the tracts and Countries adâ—…acent and confining together Item In making mention of Hellespontus onely I take together with it Chersonesus and all the continent or main firme land as far as to the mountaine Athos in naming Ionia I reckon also Asia the lesse or Natolia and the Isles thereto adioyning vnder the name of Peloponnesus I count Achaia and other lands in that climat lying to the West Finally the Chaldaeans shall make demonstration as in a map of Assyria and Babylonia As for Africke or Barbary Spaine and France maruell not if I passe them ouer in silence for there is not a writer in all these Nations one or other who hath either obserued or penned downe the time when these fixed stars rise or fall Howbeit it were no hard matter to come to the knowledge thereof in those climats and countries also by the meridionall lines and conformitie of the Parallele circles which I digested orderly in the sixt book of this work For thereby a man may vnderstand the vniforme agreement in the position of the heauen not only for whole Climats and countries but also for euery seueral city by it selfe vnder the same meridian or Parallel following stil the known paralels of these regions which we haue named and taking withall the eleuation of any circle pertaining to euery such land as a man wil seeke and respectiue to the rising of the stars according to the equal shadowes throughout all those paralel circles Moreouer it ought to be shewed and declared that ordinarily the times and seasons haue their temperature and influence euery foure yeres together and those lightly return the same without any great alteration from yeare to yeare duly according to the course and recourse of the Sun during that term mary in eight yeares they sensibly do increase namely by what time as the Moon is in her hundreth reuolution Now all the knowledge of the heauens pertinent to Agriculture standeth principally vpon three sorts of obseruations to wit the rising of the fixed stars the setting of the same and the four cardinal points to wit of the two Tropicks or Sunsteads and the double Aequinox which diuide the whole yeare into foure quarters and notable seasons Where note that the rise and fall of those stars beforesaid is to be considered and taken two waies For first when the Sun approcheth vnto them with his beams they be hidden and no more seen likewise after his departure they shew themselues again and as the one me thinks might haue bin more aptly called an Apparition than a Rising so we should haue framed our tongue in common speech to haue termed the other Occultation rather than Setting Secondly according as the said stars begin either to shine out or be hidden in the morning before the Sunne be vp or at euening after the Sun is set they be said to rise and go downe and thereupon are named Matutine or Vespertine Orientall or Occidental according as the one or the other hapneth vnto them in the twi-light morning or euening Certes when they are to be seene Matutine or Vespertine it must be at the least three quarters of an houre either before the Sun is vp or after he is downe for within that space there is no looking after them Moreouer some stars there be that rise and fal twice But take this with you ere I proceed further that all this speech of mine is to be vnderstood of the fixed stars which being setled fast in the sky moue not of themselues and in no wise of the planets As touching the foure cardinal seasons of the yeare whereby it is diuided into foure quarters limited they be according to the light more or lesse and as the daies be longer or shorter for so soon as the winter Sunsted is past the daies do lengthen and by that time that 90 daies and three houres be gon and past they be iust as long as the night and this is called the spring Aequinox From which very day for ninety three days together and twelue houres namely vnto the summer Sun-stead the daies be longer than the night and so continue vntill the Autumne Aequinox at what time the daies and nights be equall againe from which time they shorten and decrease as they grew in length and increased before for eighty nine daies together and three houres vntill the foresaid winter Sunstead when as the daies be shortest And here you must note that in all these additions of houres at this present I mean those only that be Aequinoctiall which diuide the day and night equally in foure and twenty parts and not the common houres of any other day artificiall whatsoeuer Also take this with you that all these distinctions and diuisions of the foure seasons begin alwaies in the eight degree of those signes vnder which the Sunne is at those times as for example The winter Sunstead or shortest day of the yeare called in Latine Bruma falleth out in the eight degree of Capricorn which lightly is vpon the 18
the stomack The Empresse Iulia Augusta passed not a day without eating the Elecampane root thus confected and condite and therupon came it to be in so great name and bruit as it is The seed therof is needlesse and good for nothing therefore to maintaine and increase this plant gardeners vse commonly to set the joints cut from the root after the order as they doe Reeds and Canes The manner is to plant them as well as Parsnips Skirwirts and Carrots at both times of seednes to wit the Spring and the Fall but there would be a good distance betweene euery seed or plant at least three foot because they spread and braunch very much and therewith take vp a deale of ground As for the Skirwirt or Parsnip Siser it will do the better if it be remoued and replanted It remaineth now to speak in the next place of plants with bulbous or onion roots and their nature which Cato recommendeth to Gardeners and he would haue them to be set and sowed aboue all others among which he most esteemeth them of Megara Howbeit of all this bulbous kind the Sea-onyon Squilla is reputed chiefe and principall notwithstanding there is no vse of it but in Physick and for to quicken vinegre As there is none that groweth with a bigger head at the root so there is not any more aegre and biting than it Of these Sea-onyons there be two kinds medicinable the male with the white leafe the female with the blacke There is a third sort also of Squillae which is good for to be eaten the leaues whereof be narrower and not so rough and sharp as the other and this they cal Epimenidium All the sort of these squilles are plentifull in seed howbeit they come vp sooner if they be set of cloues or bulbes which grow about their sides And if a man would haue the head of the root wax big the leaues which vsually be broad and large ought to be bended downe into the earth round about and so couered with mould for by this means all the sap and nourishment is diuerted from the leafe and runneth backe into the root These Squils or sea-onions grow in exceeding great abundance within the Baleare Islands and Ebusus as also throughout all Spaine Pythagoras the Philosopher wrote one entire volumne of these onions wherein he collected their medicinable vertues and properties which I meane to deliuer in the next booke As touching other bulbous plants there be sundry kinds of them differing all in colour quantity and sweetnesse of tast for some there bee of them good to be eaten raw as those of Cherrhonesus Taurica Next vnto them are they of Barbary and most commended for goodnesse and then those that grow in Apulia The Greeks haue set downe their distinct kindes in these terms Bulbine Setanios Pythios Acrocorios Aegylops and Sisyrinchios But strange it is of this Sisyrinchios last named how the foot and bottom of the root wil grow down stil in winter but in the Spring when the Violets appeare the same diminisheth and gathereth short vpward by which meanes the head indeed of the root seedeth and thriueth the better In this rank of bulbous plants is to be set that which in Egypt they call Aron i. Wake-Robin for bignesse of the head it commeth next to Squilla beforesaid the leaues resemble the herb Patience or garden Dock it riseth vp with a streight stem or stalke two cubits high as thicke as a good round cudgell As touching the root it is of a soft and tender substance and may be eaten raw If you would haue good of these bulbous roots you had need to dig them out of the ground before the spring for if you passe that time they will presently be the worse You shall know when they be ripe and in their perfection by the leaues for they will begin to wither at the bottom If they be elder or if their roots grow small and long they are reiected as nothing worth Contrariwise the ruddy root the rounder and the biggest withall are most commended know this moreouer That the bitternesse of the root in most of them lyeth in the crowne as it were or top of the head for the middle parts be sweet The antient writers held opinion That none of these bulbous plants would grow but of seed only howbeit both in the pastures and fields about Preneste they come vp of themselues and also among the corn lands and arable grounds of the Rhenians they grow beyond all measure CHAP. VI. ¶ Of the roots leaues floures and colours of Garden-herbes ALl Garden plants ordinarily put out but one single root apiece as for example the Radish Beet Parsley and Mallow howbeit the greatest and largest of all others is the root of the herb Patience or garden Docke which is knowne to run downe into the ground three cubits deep In the wild of this kind which is the common docke the roots be smaller yet plumpe and swelled whereby after they be digged vp and laied aboue ground they will liue a long time Some there be of them that haue hairy strings or beards hanging to the roots as namely Parsley or Ach and Mallows Others there be againe which haue branching roots as the Basill As the roots of some be carnous and flâ—…ie altogether and namely of the Beet but especially of Saffron so in others they consist of rind and carnositie both as we may see in Radishes and Rapes or Turneps And ye shall haue of them that be knotty and full of ioints as for example the root of the Quoich grasse or Dent-de-chien Such hearbs as haue no streight and direct root run immediatly into hairie threds as we may see plainly in the Orach and Bleet as for the sea Onion Squilla and such bulbous plants the garden Onions also and Garlicke they put forth their roots streight and neuer otherwise Many hearbes there be which spring of their own accord without setting or sowing and of such many there be that branch more cloue in root than in leafe as we may see in Aspalax Parietarie of the wall and Saffron Moreouer a man shall see these hearbes floure at once together with the Ash namely the running or creeping Thyme Southernewood Naphewes Radishes Mints and Rue and by that time as others begin to blow they are ready to shed their floures whereas Basill putteth forth floures by parcels one after another beginning first beneath and so going vpward by leisure which is the cause that of all others it is longest in the floure The same is to be seene in the herb Heliotropium i. Ruds or Turnsol In some the floures be white in others yellow and in others purple As touching the leaues of herbes some are apt to fall from their heads or tops as in Origan and Elecampane yea and otherwhiles in Rue if some iniurie be done vnto it Of all other herbes the blades of Onions and Chibbols be most hollow Where by the
the face and to scoure away other spots and pimples arising vpon the skin Gentian and Nymphaea called Heraclea the root also of Cyclamin riddeth all such cutanean specks and blemishes The graines of wild Carawaies called Cacalia incorporate in wax melted and made liquid lay the skin of the face plain and euen and smooth all wrinkles The root of Acorum serueth likewise to purifie the skin from all outward deformities Herb Willow giueth the hair of the head a yellow colour Hypericon which also is named Corion dieth it black likewise doth Ophrys an herbe growing with two leaues and no more like vnto jagged Beets or Colewoorts Also Polemonia setteth a black colour vpon haire if it be boiled in oile As for depilatorie medicines which are to take away the haire from any part the proper place to treat of them is indeed among those that pertain especially to women but now adaies men also are come to it and vse such deuises as well as women The most effectuall of all others be they accepted that are made of the herbe Archezostis The juice of Tithymall is likewise very good to fetch off haires and yet there be some who pluck them out first with pinsers and then with the said iuice incorporat with oile rub the place often in the hot sun Finally Hyssop tempered with oile into a liniment is excellent to heale the mange or scab in four-footed beasts and Sideritis hath a peculiar vertue for to cure swine of their squinsies or strangles Now is it time to pursue all other kindes of hearbes which remaine behind THE TVVENTY SEVENTH BOOK OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proeme CHAP. I. CErtes the farther that I proceed in this discourse history of mine the more am I forced to admire our forefathers and men of old time for considering as I do what a number of simples there yet remain behind to be written of I cannot sufficiently adore either their carefull industry in searching and finding them out or their liberal bounty in imparting them so friendly to posterity And verily if this knowledge of Herbes had proceeded from mans inuention doubtlesse I must needs haue thought that the munificence of those our ancestors had surpassed the goodnesse of Nature her selfe But now apparent and well knowne it is That the gods were authors of that skil and cunning or at leastwise there was some diuinitie and heauenly instinct therein euen when it seemed to come from the braine and head of man and to say a truth confesse we must That Nature the mother and nource of all things both in bringing forth those simples and also in reuealing them with their vertues to mankind hath shewed her admirable power as much as in any other work of hers whatsoeuer The herbe Scythica is brought hither at this day out of the great fens meers of Moeotis where it groweth Euphorbia commeth from the mountain Atlas far beyond Hercules pillars the straits of Gibralter and those are the very vtmost bounds of the earth from another coast also the herbe Britannica we haue transported vnto vs out of Britaine and the Islands lying without the continent and diuided from the rest of the world like as Aethiopis out as far as Aethyopia a climat directly vnder the Sun and burnt with continuall heat thereof besides other plants and drugs necessary for the life and health of man for which merchants passe from all parts too and fro and by reciprocall commerce impart them to the whole world and all by the meanes of that happy peace which through the infinite maiesty of the Roman Empire the earth inioieth in such sort as not only people of sundry lands and nations haue recourse onevnto another in their traffick mutual trade but high mountains also the cliffes surpassing the very clouds meet as it were together haue means to communicat the commodities euen the very herbs which they yeeld one to the benefit of another long may this blessing hold I pray the gods yea and continue world without end for surely it is their heauenly gifts that the Romans as a second Sun should giue light and shine to the whole world CHAP. II. ¶ Of the poison Aconite and the Panther which is killed thereby AConite alone if there were nothing els is sufficient to induce any man to an endlesse admiration and reuerence of that infinit care and diligence which our antients imployed in searching out the secrets of Nature considering how by their means we know there is no poison in the world so quicke in operation as it insomuch as if the shap or nature of any liuing creature of female sex be but touched therewith it will not liue after it one day to an end This was that poison wherewith Calphurnius Bestia killed two of his wiues lying asleep by his side as appeareth by that challenge and declaration which M. Caecilius his accuser framed against him And hereupon it was that in the end of his accusatory inuectiue he concluded with this bitter speech That his wiues died vpon his finger The Poets haue feined a tale That this herb should be ingendered first of the fome that the dog Cerberus let fall vpon the ground frothing so as he did at the mouth for anger when Hercules pluckt him out of hell and therefore it is forsooth that about Heraclea in Pontus wher is to be seen that hole which leadeth into hel there groweth Aconit in great plenty howbeit as deadly a bane as it is our forefathers haue deuised means to vse it for good and euen to saue the life of man found they haue by experience that being giuen in hot wine it is a counterpoison against the sting of scorpions for of this nature it is that if it meet not with some poison or other in mens bodies for to kill it presently sets vpon them and soon brings them to their end but if it incounter any such it wrestleth with it alone as hauing found within a fit match to deale with neither entreth it into this fight vnlesse it find this enemy possessed already of some noble and principall part of the body and then beginneth the combat a wonderfull thing to obserue that two poisons both of them deadly of themselues and their own nature should die one vpon another within the body and the man by that mean only escape with life Our ancestors in times past staied not thus but found out and deliuered vnto vs proper remedies also for wilde beasts and not so contented haue shewed meanes how those creatures should be healed which are venomous to other for who knoweth not that scorpions if they be but touched with Aconite presently become pale benummed astonied and bound confessing as it were themselues to be vanquished and prisoners contrariwise let them but touch the white Ellebore they are vnbound and at liberty again they recouer I say their former vigor and vertue whereby we may see that the
in salt giuen in wine to drinke do stir and prouoke the appetite vnto venerie Moreouer to feed vpon the fishes called Erythrines ordinarily at the table to hang about the necke the liuer of the frog called Diopetes or Calamita within a little piece of a cranes skin or the jaw tooth of a Crocodile fastened to any arme either els the Sea-horse or the sinewes of a Toad bound to the right arme incite greatly to wantonnesse and lecherie Put a toad within a piece of a sheeps skin newly flaied and let one weare it tied fast about him he shall forget all loue and amitie for euer The broth of froggs boiled in water do extenuat the scuruie thicke roufe in the farcins or mange of horses and make way that they may be bathed and anointed and verily it is credibly affirmed that if they be cured after this manner the scab will neuer returne againe The expert midwife Salpe affirmeth for certain That doggs will not barke if there be giuen vnto them in a morcell of bread or gobbet of flesh a liue frog In this discourse of Water and the things concerning it somwhat ought to be said as touching Calamochnus which otherwise in Latine is named Adarca it groweth about small canes or reeds and is engendred of the froth of sea water and fresh water together where they both meet and are intermingled a causticke qualitie it hath in regard whereof it entreth into the compositions called Acopa which serue for lassitude and those that are benummed with cold It is emploied also in taking away the pimples or spots in womens faces like to lentils As for Reeds and Canes this is their very proper place also wherein they should be treated of And to begin with that reed or cane called Phragmitis which is so good for mounds hedges the root thereof greene gathered and punned is singular for dislocations and the paine of the backebone if the place affected be annointed with it incorporat in vinegre But the rind of the Cyprian cane which also is named Donax burnt into ashes is singular for to recouer haire againe where it was shed by occasion of sicknesse and to heale old vlcers The leaues also serue very well to draw forth any spills pricks or arrow heads that sticke within the flesh yea and to extinguish S. Anthonies fire As for the floure or downe of their catkins if it chance to enter into the eares it causeth deafenesse The blacke liquor resembling inke which is found in the cuttle-fish is of that force that if it be put to the oile of a lamp burning Anaxilaus saith it will drown and put out the former cleare light and make all those in the room to looke like blackamores or Aethiopians The hedge frog otherwise called a toad boiled in water and giuen to swine among other draffe to drinke cureth all their diseases and of the same effect are the ashes of any other frogs besides Rub a piece of wood with the fish called Pulmo Marinus it will seem as though it were on a light fire in so much as a staffe so rubbed or besmeared with it may serue in stead of a torch to giue light before one CHAP. XI ¶ That there be of fishes and other creatures liuing in the Sea one hundred seuentie and six seuerall and distinct kinds HAuing thus treated before sufficiently of the natures and properties of Fishes and such creatures as the water doth yeeld it remaineth now for a finall conclusion to present vnder one view all those fishes name by name which are engendred and nourished not only in those mediterranean and inland arms of the sea which for many a mile take vp a great part of the continent and firme land but also in that vast and wide ocean without the main bounded as it were limited onely by the compasse and circumference of the heauen and those namely as many as be knowne may be reduced all into 176 kinds a thing which cannot be done either in the beasts of the land or foules of the aire For how is it possible to decipher particularize the wild beasts and foules of India Aethyopia of the desarts and of Scythia which we are not come to the knowledge of seeing we haue found so many different sorts in men of whom wee haue some notice and intelligence to say nothing of Ta probane and other Islands lying within the Ocean whereof so many fabulous reports are deliuered certes there is no man but hee must needs confesse and agree to this that it was not possible in this historie of Nature to comprise all sorts of creatures which the earth aire do yeeld Howbeit those that are bred in the Ocean as huge and vast as it is may be comprehended vnder a certaine number a wonderfull matter that we should be better acquainted with those considering how Nature hath plunged and hidden them in the deepe gulfes of the maine sea To begin then with the greatest monsters and beasts that this vnruly Element of the water doth breed we find therin the sea-Trees Whirlepooles greater Whales Priests Tritons i. sea Trumpetters Nereides i. Meremaids Elephants sea Men and Women Wheeles sea Tuns or Pipes Rams and smaller Whales accompanying the bigger Besides other Rams that resemble the ordinary shape of fishes Dolphins and the sea Calues or Seales whereof the Poët Homer writeth so much Furthermore the sea Tortoises which serue for roiot wantonnesse and excesse the Beuers which are so much in request among Physicians As for the Otters albeit a kind of Beuers they are yet because I neuer heard that they came into the salt water I make no great reckoning of them for my purpose is to rehearse those only which inhabit or haunt the sea moreouer the sea Dogs the Curriors Posts or Lacquies of the sea the horned fishes the Swordfish or Emperour of the sea and the Sawfish Ouer and besides those which liue indifferently in the sea the land the riuer to wit the water Horses and the Crocodiles others again that ordinarily keepe in the sea and yet come vp into the riuers but neuer land to wit the Tunies as well the growne Thunnies as the yonger sort Thunnides or Pelamides The Siluri the blacke Coracini and Perches As touching those that neuer came forth of the sea the Sturgeon the Guilthead the cod the Acarne Aphya Alopecias the Yeels and Araneus The billowing fish Box Batis Banchus Barrachus and Belone with all the kind of those which wee call Needle fishes and also Balanus The sea Rauen Corvus and Cytharus all the sorts of the Chrombi the Carpe Chalcis and Cobio Callarius of the Cods kind but that it is lesse Colias whether it be Parianus of Parium the Colony or Sexitanus so called of a city in Granado or Baetica a fish resembling Lizards of which and of the young Tunie Pelamis both bred in Moeotis being chopped and cut into pieces
The rest be sad or duskish and as wel the one as the other be all either naturall or artificiall Among the naturall of this sort to wit the sad colours I reckon the common bole Armin Ruddel or red stone Paretonium Melinum Eretria and Orpin The rest of these kinds be artificial principally those which I haue already spoken of in the treatise of mines Moreouer of the baser sort are Ocre and Ruddel burnt Cerusse or Spanish white Sandix mineral and Scyricum Sandaracha Vitriol or Black As for Sinopis or common bole Armin found out first it was at Sinope a maritine town in the kingdom of Pontus wherof it took that name it groweth also in Egypt the Baleare Islands and Africk but the best is found in the Isle Lemnos and in Cappadocia digged out of certain caues and holes That which stucke fast vnto the rocks excelleth all the rest The pieces of this earth if a man do breake shew the owne natural colour which is not mixed without-forth they be spotted And this earth in old time was vsed for to giue a lustre vnto other colours Of this Sinopis or Bole Armin common there be three kindes the deepe red the pale or weake red and the meane between both The best Sinopis is esteemed worth thirteene denarij Roman by the pound this may serue the painters pensill yea or in grosser work if a man list to colour posts beams or wood as for that which commeth out of Africk it is worth eight asses euery pound and this they call Cicirculum that which is redder than the rest serueth better for painting of tablements as for that which is most brown and duskish called in Latine Pressior it is of the same price that the other and employed in the bases and feet of such tablements And thus much for the vse in painting Touching Physicke and the medicinable properties thereof milde it is of nature and in that regard of gentle operation whether it enter into hard emplaistres of a dry composition or into immolitiue plaisters that are more liquid and principally such as are deuised for vlcers in any moist part as the mouth or fundament This earth if it be injected by a clistre stoppeth a laske and being giuen to women in drinke to the weight of one denarius i. a dram it stayeth their immoderate fluxes of the matrice The same burnt or calcined drieth vp the fretting roughnesse of the eies principally if it be applied with vineger This kinde of red earth some would haue to be counted in a second degree of Rubrica for goodnesse for they alwaies reckoned that of Leâ—…nos to be the chiefe simply best as comming next in price to Minium i. Vermilion And in truth this Terra Sigillata or Lemnia was highly accounted of in old time like as the Island Lemnos from whence it comes neither was it lawfull to sel any of it before it was marked or sealed therupon they vsed to cal it Sphragis The painters ordinarily lay a ground of this vnder their vermillion and sophisticate it many waies In physick it is holden to be a soueraigne thing for if the eies be annointed round about therewith in manner of a liniment it represseth the flux of rheumatick humors and doth mitigat the pains incident to them the fistulous sores likewise about the angles or corners of the eies it drieth vp that they shall not run as they vse to doe Inwardly also it is commonly giuen in vineger to such as cast vp bloud at the mouth It is taken also in drink for the opilations and other accidents as wel of the spleen as kidnies and besides to stop the excessiue fluxes that be incident to women Singular it is against any poison or venomous sting of serpents either vpon land or sea and therefore is a familiar ingredient into all antidots or counterpoisons Of all other sorts of red earth the ruddle of Egypt and Africke is fittest for Carpenters for if they strike their line vpon timber with it they shall be sure that it wil take colour and be marked very well Moreouer another sort there is of this red earth minerall found with yron ore and the same is good also for painters There is a kind of ruddle also made of ochre burnt and calcined in new earthen pots well luted all ouer and the greater fire that it meeteth withall in the furnace the better it is In generall any ruddle whatsoeuer is exiccatiue in which regard it agreeth wel with salues and healing plasters and is very proper for to represse shingles such cutanean wild-fires that wil stand in drops Take of Sinopis or Bolearmin common that commeth out of Pontus halfe a pound of bright Sil or ochre 10 pound of the Greek white earth Melinum 2 pound pun them al together and mix them wel so as they may ferment 12 daies together and hereof is made Leucophorum i. a kind of gum or size to lay vnder goldfoile for to guild timber Touching the white earth Paraetonium it carieth the name of a place in Egypt from whence it commeth and many say that it is nothing but the some of the sea incorporat and hardened together with the slime mud of the shore and therfore there be winkles and such shell-fishes found therwith It is ingendred also in the Isle Candy and the country of Cyrenae At Rome they haue a deuise to sophisticat it namely by boiling fullers earth vntil it be of a fast massie consistence the price of the best is after 6 denier the pound Of al white colors it is the fattest and for that it runs out smooth in the working it is the fastest parget to ouercast walls withall As for the earth Melinum white it is likewise but the best is that which the Isle Melos doth yeeld whereupon it took that name In Samos also it is to be found but painters vse it not because it is ouer clammy and vnctuous The Islanders are wont to creep on all foure and to lie along at their work when they dig it forth of the rocks for search it they must among the veines that run therein The same operation it hath in physicke that the earth Eretria also if a man touch it with the tongue he shal find it a stringent and drying howbeit a depilatory it is in some sort and fetcheth away haire or els causeth it to grow thin A pound of it is worth a Sesterce There is of white colors a third kind and that is Cerussa or white lead the reason making whereof I haue shewed in my discourse of minerals and yet there was found of it in the nature of a very earth by it selfe at Smyrna within the land belonging to one Theodotus wherewith in old time they vsed to color and paint ships But in these daies we haue no other cerusse or Spanish white but that which is artificial made of lead vineger
Rome for his owne vsâ—… pillars of Marble brought from forraine Lands NEither can it be alledged for excuse of this tolleration in Scaurus that hee tooke the vantage and spied his time when the city of Rome was not ware of any such matter toward as hauing not been acquainted beforetime with the like and therefore he stale vpon them with these superfluous pompes as doubting nothing lesse than such new deuises and therefore hauing no time to preuent and stay them for long before this L. Crassus that great Orator who was the first that inriched his house within the same Palatium with pillars of outlandish marble although they were but of the Quarry in Hymettus hill and neither more in number than six nor carying in length aboue 12 foot apiece was reproued and reproched for this pride and vanity by M. Brutus who among other hot words and biting terms that passed interchangeably between them taunted him by the name of Venus Palatina Certes considering how all good orders and customs otherwise were trodden vnder foot weare to presume thus of our predecessors That when they saw other injunctions and prohibitions as touching diuers abuses crept in take no effect but daily broken they thought it better policy to make no lawes at all for restraint of such columns than to haue them infringed or at leastwise not obserued when they were made yet are we in these daies in better order than so and I doubt not but the age and generation following will justifie and approue of vs in comparison of them for where is there one in Rome at this day who hath in the portaile or entrie of his house any columns that for bignesse and pride come near to those of Scaurus But before that I enter farther into this discourse of marbles and other rich stones it shal be good to speak somwhat of the men that haue excelled in the cutting thereof and whose workmanship hath carried the greatest price First therfore I wil go through with the artificers themselues CHAP. IIII. ¶ The first Imageurs that were in name for cutting in Marble and in what ages they flourished THe first that we reade renowned for grauing and caruing in marble were Dipoenus and Scyllis both Candiots borne who during the Empire and Monarchie of the Medes and before that Cyrus began his reigne in Persia liued in great fame and that was in the fiftieth Olympias or thereabout These men went together vnto Sicyone a city which I may truly say was for a long time the very natiue country that brought forth the excellent workemen in all kinds of mettals and minerals It fortuned at the same time that the magistrates of Sicyone had bargained with them for certaine images of the gods to be made at the publicke charges of the city but these artificers who had vndertaken the thing agriued at some wrongs offered to them departed in Aetolia before they had finished the said images and so left them vnperfect Presently vpon this there insued a great famine amongst the Sicyonians by occasion that the earth failed to yeeld increase the citizens therefore full of sorrow and heauinesse fearing vtter desolation had recourse to the Oracle of Apollo Pythius to know what remedy for this calamity and this answer was deliuered vnto them from the said god That according to their petition they should finde meanes for to be eased of this plague in case Dipoenus and Scyllis had once finished the images of the gods which they begun and this was performed accordingly but with much difficulty for they were faine to pay whatsoeuer they would demand they were glad also to pray vnto them with cap in hand And what images mought these be Euen Apollo Diana Hercules and Minerva and this last named was afterwards smitten and blasted with fire from heauen CHAP. V. ¶ Of singular pieces of worke and excellent artificers in cutting and grauing Marble to the number of 126. Of the white Marble of Paros and of the stately sepulchre called Mausoleum LOng time before Dipoenus and Scyllis there had been in the Island Chios one Melas a cutter and grauer in marble after whom his son Micciades succeeded and he likewise left a sonne behind him named Anthermus of the said Isle a cunning workman whose two sons Bupalus and Anthermus proued also most skilfull Imageurs These flourished in the daies of Hipponax the Poet who as it is well knowne liued in the 60 Olympias Now if a man will calculate the times according to the genealogie of these two last named and count backeward in ascent no higher than to their great grandsire he shall find by the ordinary course of Nature that the art of cutting and grauing in stone is equall in antiquity to the originall and beginning of the Olympiades But to proue that these two Bupalus and Anthermus liued in the daies of Hipponax aboue named recorded it is That the said Poet had a passing soule ill-fauored face of his own and these Imageurs could find no better sport than to counterfeit both him and his visage as liuely as possibly might be in stone and in a knauery to set the same vp in open place where mery youths met in knots together and so to propose him as a laughing stock to the whole world Hipponax could not indure this indignitie but for to be reuenged vpon these companions sharpened his style or pen against them and so coursed them with bitter rimes biting libels that as some do thinke and verily beleeue being weary of their liues they knit their necks in halters and so hanged themselues But sure this canot be true for they liued many a faire day after yea and wrought a number of Images in the Islands adiacent to Chios and namely in Delos vnder which pieces of their worke they subscribed certain arrogant verses to this effect That the Island of Chios was not only enobled for the vines there growing which yeelded so good wine but renowned as well for Anthermus his two sons who made so many fine â—…nd curious images The Islanders also of Iasus haue to shew the image of Diana their handiworke within the Isle of Chios their natiue country there was likewise another Diana of their making whereof there goeth much talke and which standeth aloft in a temple there the visage of which Diana is so disposed that to as many as enter into the place it seemes sad and heauy but to them that goe forth it appeareth pleasant and merry And in very truth there be certaine statue at Rome of these mens doing to wit those which stand vpon the lanterne of Apollo's Temple 〈◊〉 the mount Palatine and almost generally in all those chappels which Agustus Caesar Emperor â—…f glorious memory erected Moreouer their father Anthermus left behind him certain images both in Delos and also in the Island Lesbos As for Dipoenus his workes were rife in Ambracia Arâ—…os and Cleone in which cities a man should not see a corner without them But all
his Aedileship after he had been Consull caused seuen riuers to meet together vnder the city in one main channell and to run with such a swift streame and current that they take all afore them whatsoeuer is in the way and carry it downe into Tyber and being otherwhiles encreased with sodaine shoures land-flouds they shake the pauing vnder them they flank the sides of the wals about them sometimes also they receiue the Tyber water into them when he riseth extraordinarily so as a man shall perceiue the streame of two contrary waters affront and charge one another with great force and violence within vnder the ground And yet for all this these water-workes aforesaid yeeld not a jot but abide firme fast without any sensible decay occasioned therby Moreouer these streames carrie downe eftsoons huge and heauie pieces of stones within them mighty loads are drawne ouer them continually yet these arched conduits neither settle and stoup vnder the one nor be once shaken with the other down many an house falls of it selfe and the ruins beat against these vaults to say nothing of those that tumble vpon them with the violent force of skarefires ne yet of the terrible earthquakes which shake the whole earth about them yet for all these injuries they haue continued since Tarquinius Priscus almost eight hundred yeres inexpugnable And here by the way I will not conceale from you a memorable example which is come into my mind by occasion of this discourse and the rather for that euen the best most renowned Chroniclers who haue taken vpon them to pen our Romane history haue passed it ouer in silence When this K. Tarquinius surnamed Priscus caused their vaults vnder the ground to be made and forced the common people to labour hard therat with their own hands it happened that many a good Roman citizen being now ouer-toiled in this kind of work which whether it were more dangerous or tedious was hard to say chose rather to kill themselues for to be rid of their irkesome and painfull life in such sort that daily there were people missing and their bodies found after they were perished This king therefore to preueut farther mischiefe and to prouide that his works begun might be brought to an end deuised a remedy which neuer was inuented before nor practised afterwards and that was this That the bodies of as many as were thus found dead should be hung vpon jebbets exposed not onely to the view of all their fellow citizens to be despised as cursed creatures but also to the wild and rauenous foules of the aire to be torne and deuoured The Romans as they are the only nation vnder heauen impatient of any dishonor seeing this obiect presented before their eies were mightily abashed and as this mind of theirs had gained them victory many a time in desperat battels so at this present also it guided directed them and being as they were dismaied at this disgrace they made account no lesse to be ashamed of such an ignominie after death than they now blushed thereat in their life But to return again vnto these sinks and water-works of ours vnder the ground K. Tarquine aboue-named caused them to be made so large and of such capacitie that a good wain load of hay might passe within them But al that euer I haue said already is nothing or at leastwise very little in comparison of one wonderful thing which I am content to set down before I come to our new and moderne buildings In that yeare when M. Lepidus and Q. Catulus were Consuls at Rome according as I find all the best writers to agree there was not a fairer and more sumptuous house in all Rome than that wherein Lepidus himselfe dwelt but verily before fiue and thirty yeres were come and gone there were a hundred houses and more brauer than it by many degrees Now if a man list by this reckoning to make an estimat of the infinite masse of marble as well in pillars as square Ashler the rich and curious pictures besides other sumptuous furniture meet indeed for a king which must of necessitie be emploied in a hundred such houses as might not onely compare with that most beautifull and gorgeous house of Lepidus but also exceed the same as also the infinit number of other houses afterwards euen vntil this day which haue gone beyond those hundred in sumptuosities What would he say and to what an vnmeasurable proportion will all this arise Certes it cannot be denied but fire which burneth many a stately pallace doth say well to the plucking down of mans pride punishing such wastfull superfluities and yet these such like examples will not reforme the abuses that reign in the world neither wil this lesson enter into our heads That there is ought vnder heauen more fraile mortall and transitory than man himselfe But what do I stand vpon those glorious edifices when two pallaces only haue surpassed them all in costlines and magnificence Twice in our time we haue seen the whole pourprise of Rome to be taken vp for to make the pallaces of two Emperours C. Caligula and Nero and as for that of Nero because there might bee nothing wanting of superfluitie in the highest degree he caused it to be all guilded and called it was The golden pallace For why those noble Romans who were the founders of this our Empire dwelt no doubt in such glorious and stately houses those I mean who went from the very plough taile or els out of their country cabines where they were found at repast by the fire side to manage the wars to atcheeue braue feats of armes to conquer mighty nations and to return with victory triumphant into the citie such I say as had not so much free land in the whole world as would serue for one of the cellars of these prodigals And here I cannot but think with my selfe how little in proportion to the magnificent buildings of these daies were those plots of grounds which in old time the whole state gaue vnto those inuincible captaines by publick degree for to build them houses vpon and how many of such places would go to one of these in out time and yet this was the greatest honour that they could deuise to bestow vpon those valiant and hardy knights as it may appeare by L. Valcrius Publicola the first consull that euer was at Rome and had companion with him in that gouernment L. Brutus who had no other reward in recompence of his good seruice to the Commonweale and so many demerits as also by his brother who in the same Consulship defeated the Samnites twice where it is worth the noting that in the patent this branch went withall That they were allowed to open the gates of their houses outward so as the doores might be cast to the street side this was in those daies the most glorious and honourable shew that such mens houses made euen those who had
them behinde for the hunters seeing themselues in danger of death for them In the Opall there be obserued also diuers blemishes and imperfections as wel as in other stones namely if the colour resemble the floure of that herb which is called Heliotropium i. Turnsole also if it look like crystal or haile likewise if there be a spot comming between in maner of a grain or kernel of salt if it be rough in handling or if there be certain small pricks or spots represented to the eies neither is there any pretious stone that the Indians can counterfeit so well by the meanes of glasse as this insomuch as hardly a man shall discerne the naturall Opal from the false when they haue done withall But the only triall is by the Sun for if a man hold an Opall betwixt his thumbe and finger against the beams of the Sun if it be a counterfeit he shall find those diuers colours which shewed therein to run all into one and the same transparent colour and so to rest in the body of the stone whereas the brightnesse of the true Opal eftsoons changeth and sends forth the lustre to and fro more and lesse yea and the glittering of the light shineth also vpon the fingers This gem for the rare and incomparable beauty and grace that is in it most Writers haue called Paederos There is also another kind of Opalos apart by it self according to the opinion of some who say it is called by the Indians Sangenon It is said that that there be Opals in Egypt and in Arabia like as in the kingdom also of Pontus but such of all other beare the lowest price In Galatia likewise and in the Isles Thrasos and Cyprus for albeit they haue the louely beautie of the Opalus yet their lustre is nothing so liuely and lightsome and seldome shal you meet with any of them that is not rugged their chief colours stand much vpon brasse and purple the fresh verdure of the green Emeraud is away which the true Opal doth participate This is generally held that they are more commendable which be shadowed as it were with the colour of wine than delaied with the clearnesse of water Thus far forth haue I written of gemmes and pretious stones which be esteemed principall and most rich according to the decree generally set downe and pronounced by our nice and costly dames for we may conclude vpon this point more certainely going by their sentence than grounding vpon the iudgement of men for men kings especially and great men make the price of each gem according to their seuerall fancies Claudius Caesar the Emperour made no reckoning of any but the Emeraud and the Sardonyx and these ordinarily he wore vpon his fingers but Scipio Africanus as saith Demostratus tooke a liking to the Sardonyx before him and was the first Roman that vsed it and euer since this gem hath bin in great request at Rome in regard of which credit I will raunge it next to the Opall In old time the Sardonyx as may appeare by the very name was taken for the pretious stone which seemed to be a Cornalline vpon white that is to say as if the ground vnder a mans naile were flesh and both together transparent and cleare and in very truth the Sardonyx of India is such according to Ismentas Demostratus Zenathemis and Sotacus As for these two last named they verily doe name all the rest that are not cleare and shew not through them Blind Sardonyches such as the Arabian be and these haue carried away the name of Onyx without any mention or apparence at all of the Sarda or Cornalline and these stones haue begun of late to be knowne and distinguished by their sundry colours for some of them haue their ground blacke or much vpon azure and the naile of a mans hand for it hath bin generally thought and beleeued that such hath a tincture of white and yet not without a shew of purple as if the said white enclined to a vermillion or Amethyst Zenathemis writeth that these stones were not set by among the Indians notwithstanding otherwise they were so large and bigg as thereof they made ordinarily sword handles and dagger hafts and no maruaile for certaine it is that in those parts land flouds comming downe with a streame from the hils haue discouered such and brought them to light He saith also that they were at the beginning highly accepted of in those parts for that there is not in maner a stone engrauen that will imprint the seale vpon wax cleanly without plucking the wax away but it and through our persuasions the Indians also grew into a good conceit of them and tooke pleasure in wearing the same and verily the common people of India make holes through them and so weare them enfiled as carkans and collars about their neckes only And hereupon it commeth that those are taken to be Indian Sardonyches or Cornallines which be thus bored through As for the Arabicke excellent they are thought to be which are environed with a white circle and the same very bright and most slender neither doth this circle shine in the concauitie or in the fall of the gem but glittereth onely in the very bosses and besides the very ground thereof is most blacke True it is that the ground of these Sardoins is found in the Indian stones to resemble wax or horne yea within the white circle in so much as there is a resemblace in some some sort of a rainbow by means of certain cloudie vapors seeming to proceed from them and verily the superficiall face of this stone is redder than the shels of Lobsters As touching those that be in colour like to hony or lees for this is taken to be an imperfection and fault in Cornallies they be all rejected likewise if the white circle that girdeth it about spread and do not gather round and compact together semblably it is counted a great blemish in this gem if it haue a veine of any other colour but that which is naturall growing out of square for the nature of this stone is such like as of al things els not to abide any strange thing to disturbe the seat therof There be also Armeniacke Cornallines which in all respects else are to be liked but for the pale circle that claspeth them By occasion of this stone Sardonyx I am put in mind for the names sake to write of the gem Onyx also for notwithstanding there be a stone so called in Carmania which is the Cassidoin yet there goeth also a gem vnder that name Sudines saith that the pretious stone Onyx hath a white in it resembling the naile of a mans finger it hath likewise quoth hee the colour of a Chrysolith otherwise called a Topase of a Cornalline also and a Iasper Zenathemis affirmeth that the Indian Onyx is of diuers and sundry colours to wit of a fiery red a blacke a horne grey hauing also otherwhiles certaine white
cannot agree together 176. g. Couleworts may not abide either Origan or Cyclamine ib. Countercharmes or preseruatiues against sorcerie witchcraft enchantment and Magicke 149 c. 195 e. 229 d 300 k. 306 m. 310 h. 313 b. f. 320 k. 322 m. 357 a 364 g. 387 a b. 430 g. 431 e. 433 f. 370 i. 515 e f 589 a. 609 a. 619 e. Counterpoisons 38 k. 39 a c. 45 e. 56 l. 59 b. 71 e. 107 c 144 i. 160 k. 164 i. 169 c. 172 h k. 174 m. 186 i 190 m. 192 g. 193 c. 200 l. 202 l. 215 c. 227 b 233 b. 246 g. 270 i. k 288 i. 306 m. 314 g. 316 l. 321 c 323 a b c d. 356 g. 364. g. 631 a c e. 433 e. 434 g i l 435 b. 437 d. 529 b. 610 m. poisons how they become Counterpoisons and the manner of their working 270. h C R Crabfishes 435 d. their vertues medicinable ibid. enemies they be to serpents 435 e. 436 i Crambe the best kinde of Couleworts 48 k for Crampe in feet or legs a remedie 305 b for Cramps in generall conuenient medicines 40 k. 41. d. e 44 k. 46 i. 48 g. 49 e. 50 h k. 52 k. 50 e. 60 l. 61 a 63 a. 64 k. 67 d. 72 l. 74 i. 75 b. 77 〈◊〉 102 g. 104 h 108 k. 119 d. 123 a. 128 i m. 129 b c f. 134 l. 150 g 154 g. 191 c. 162 h. 167 f. 168 g. 179 f. 180 g. 182 l 183 e. 186 k. 191 c. 193 c. 194 k. 198 i. 199 c. 219 d 226 l. 248 h. 259 c. 262 l. 264 g. 275 e. 283 a e 289 c e. 290 i. 312 i. 313 c. 320 g. 354 l. 422 m. 431 a 432 i. 442 g. 599 c. Crapula a mixture in headie wine 153. f. why so called ibid. M. Crassus the richest Romane that euer was but onely Sylla Dictatour 479 d. his apothâ—…gme ibid. his lands what they were ibid. surnamed Optimus for his wealth 479 e. his couetousnesse ibid. Crataegon an hearbe 279. e Crataeogonum what hearbe 257. d Crataeogonos an hearbe 279. b. the description and vertues ibid. e second kinde caelled Thelygonos ibid. Craterites a pretious stone 625. d Craterus a cunning painter and Comaedian both 549. e Crateuas a renowmed Physician 129 b. hee wrot of hearbs and set them forth in colours 210. g Crathis a riuer 403 c. the water of strange operation ibid. Creifishes of the riuer how medicinable they be 435. c Creifish head drieth vermine out of a garden 32. l Cresses an hearbe 29. a. why called Nasturtium ibid. it helpeth the wit and vnderstanding ibid. 56. g. two kindes of it and their properties ibid. which be best ibid. k Crestmarine an hearbe See Sampier Crickets much esteemed by Magicians 370 h. the reason wherefore ibid. the manner of hunting and catching them ibid. Cricke in the nape or pole of the necke how to be eased 70. g See more in Crampe Criers publicke at Rome warerich coats embrodered and studded with purple like as Senatours 459. d Crinas of Marsiles a famous Physician 345. a. by what meanes he woon credit 345. a. b. a great Mathematician and Astrologer ibid. a ceremonious obseruer of daies and houres 345 b. a man of exceeding wealth ibid. Crista Galli what hearbe 275. c Crocallis a pretious stone 625. d Crocias a pretious stone 630. m Crocinum a sweet ointment 105. b Crocis a magicall hearbe 204. k. the strange qualities thereof ibid. Crocodiles skared away by the voice onely of the Tentyrians 299. a against the Crocodiles bitt what remedies 158 h. 315. a 418 k. 419 e. 434 h. Crocodiles affourd medicines from sundry parts of their bodie ibid. two kindes of them ibid. one kinde liuing both in land and water ibid. a second liueth onely vpon the land ibid. i. his dung is sweet and medicinable ibid. the reason why ibid. Crocodile good meat all saue head and feet ibid. m Crocodilea what it is ibid. k how to be chosen ibid. how it is sopâ—…isticated ibid. l. the vertues thereof ibid. k. l Crocodilian an hearbe 279 c. the description and vertue ibid. Crocomagma what it is and the vse thereof 105 b Crâ—…sus rich in gold 464. h Cronius a cutter in pretious stones 501. d Crow-foot what hearbe 239. c. the sundry kindes ib. their description ibid. d. why it is called Sâ—…rumea ibid. e Crudana what veine it is of siluer 472. m Crudities in the stomack how to be digested 64 h. 66 i. 67 e See Indigistion and Digestion Crushes how to be cured 350. i. See Bruses Chrystall 454. i. how it is engendred 604 i. why so called ibid. whereupon found ibid. how to be vsed ibid. l. it groweth naturally six cornered ibid. one peece of Crystall weighing fiftie pound 604. l Crystall vessels of what capacitie ibid m the imperfâ—…ctions and blemishes in Crystall 605. a a Crystall glasse once broken cannot be reunited ibid. c Crystalls without fault and blemish be called 〈◊〉 ib. b Crystallion See 〈◊〉 C T Ctesias a writer 404. i. his opinion as touching Amber 906. l Ctesidamus a painter 549. d Ctesilas a fine Imageur 501. c. his curious workemanship ibid. Ctesilaus a famous Imageur 501. e. his workes ibid. Ctesilochus a painter 549. d. his picture of Iupiter in trauell with Bacchus c. ibid. C V Cuckowes meat an hearbe See Oxys Cucubalum an hearbe 280. g. sundry names that it hath ibid. the vertues ibid. Cucumbers of the garden a commendable meat 13. d much affected by Tiberius the Emperour 14. g. how preserued growing vpon the ground all Winter ibid. Cucumbers without seed 14. l. how to be preserued 15. f Cucumber seed how to be prepared and set in the ground 14. h. when to be sowne or set 15. a Cucumbers how they grow and in what forme 14. h. they loue water and hate oyle ibid. h. i how Cucumber plants may be kept fresh all the yeare long 14. l. Cucumbers a delicate sallad 37. d of Cucumbers three kindes 14 l. how they bloume or floure 15. c Cucumbers wild 35. e. f. the fruit ibid. where they best do grow 36. k root of wild Cucumber for what it is good ibid. g Cucumber Serpentine or wandring Cucumber 36 m. the decoction thereof and the vertue ibid. Cudwort an hearbe 258. l. 283. b Cuit what medicinable properties it hath 148. k Cuit called Sapa the nature thereof 157. c Cumfrie of the rooke an hearbe 275. d Cumin an hearbe 61. c. the description and vertues ibid. where it loueth to grow and when to be sowne 29. f. good to procure appetite ibid. Cumin seed how to be sowne 23. d what Cumin is best 30. g Cumin causeth palenesse of colour 61. d Cumin Ethiopicke ibid. f. the properties of it ibid. Cumin of Affricke 62. g. the vertues thereof ibid. Cumin wild and the vertues 248. h Cunila what hearbe 30. i Cunila Bubula 63. b. why called Panax ibid. c vsed by Tortoises as a defensitiue against serpents