printed again I dare say the Original Copy may be procured of that most courteous Gentleman to make the Edition thereby more compleat These things I had to say Renowned Sir touching Peireskius which supposing they would not be to you unpleasing I have therefore more willingly published under your name because I knew you to be a very great Referencer of Persons rarely learned in whose foot steps gloriously treading you daily search into the deepest mysteries furthered by your Genius so desirous to learn and what you search into you examine with a piercing Judgement what you finde out you commit to writing from whence the rich Treasures of Nature will one day advance into the World compleatly written by your eloquent Pen. Which God grant for the common good and your own immortal prayse In the mean while most loving friend as I now present this pledge of my Devotion to you so shall I daily God willing prepare some better and more worthy presents viz. the third and fourth Centuries of wonderful observations one Century of such as belong to our Microcosme a second part of Bibliotheca Chymica the Life Philosophy of Democritus a Treatise of an Universal Language and touching the way to expound the foure-square Venetian Cypher with a Key all which will I hope be acceptable to the curious Dated at Paris the Kalends of July 1654. To Petrus Borellus Dr. of Physick his loving friend F. H. P. L. YOu are an happy man friend Borellus whom good Fortune has made after so many years an Amplifier of the Dignity of Peireskius Happy man am I to whom you have directed your commendations of a man so heroically vertuous And we are both happy whom Gassendus has thought fit to propagate the memory of that renowned Man himself being the most worthy praiser of the Vertues of Peireskius and the perfect writer of his life By whose meanes Posterity will abundantly honour the most glorious name of that great Heroe which all learned men ought to admire and commend the same to eternity What was the habit of his Body what the manners of his minde and what his Studies have bin so punctually set down by Gassendus and in a style so sublime that no man well advised can pretend to add a tittle thereunto For he has given us a most perfect Picture of that brave Man expressed his rare works and in a pure style graphically painted forth his manners and inclination to all excellent Learning He has set forth to Posterity a genuine example of polite Literature and plentiful grounds of emulation to the learned World For by his most happy undertakings the Muses have recovered their spirit life and Countrey whom the Barbarisme of the former Age had banished out of the World To whom therefore must the Muses acknowledge their liberty when they shall reflourish to whom shall Studies and Arts acknowledge their recovery to whom shall learned men attribute the increase of Sciences and those helps tending to unlock the most abstruse points of knowledge To whom but to Peireskius and in the next place to Gassendus who was the first that did what no body else could do in painting out to the Life that worthy Heroe in a Picture which shall last to eternity I shall not go about ambitiously to praise the one or the other for they need no prayses who are above all Commendation and greater then any Titles can be given them whose renown will be immortal I shall only resume his Studies which Gassendus has most accurately prosecuted in his sixth Book and contract them into a small handful propounding his Manuscripts at large for the common good of those who desire the same But I need not explain these things to the learned I conceive it may suffice to say that this most unwearied Gentleman laboured all his life in gathering the same to this only end that he might be as a Midwife to Posterity Give me leave here to set down the very words of Gassendus and therein to admire the lowly modesty of that most eminent Man whose words touching himself are these in Gassendus viz. that he was unable to produce a mature and elegant birth or to lick the same into any shape as if he could be thought insufficient for such a burthen who left at his death fourscore and two Books of his own hand-writing of all most exquisite Arguments considerable for their Bulk but more for the variety and excellency of the subject matter in which he sets open to all men a Treasury of most choyse Learning by assistance whereof they who like him are wont to search into the depths of Erudition may be inabled to support the decaying Arts and save them from perishing Now what chance this great treasure of his has undergone which has bin hitherto hid from the learned I shall here briefly hint yea and ingenuously intimate who it is which hides the same that such as are disposed particularly to examine these great Riches by him heaped up or if possible to publish the same so as to satisfie the great thirst of those that earnestly enquire after them they may have the opportunity to search into the very bowels of these Books and bring forth the Treasure they meet with for the common good that the victorious labours of that rare man may be admired and that others being enriched with his spoiles may prosecute and perfect what has bin by him begun and deliver the same as an Inheritance to Posterity through the munificence of that great Maecenas Ten years after his Death his Heires caused his Library to be brought to Paris vvhich in the year 1647 I saw there consisting of a great Company of Books most curiously bound But alas what a miserable fate it underwent vvhen it came to sale they know vvho grieve for such a losse never to be repaired For this most rich Library might yea and ought to have bin reserved for the Muses or at least those precious Books vvhich by infinite Labour vvere procured from all the choisest Libraries in the World should have bin sold all together but the renowned Genius of this Librarie being extinct so fate ordered the matter that being torn into piece-meales it miserably perished vvhich is so ordered I conceive by the eternal providence of God that all men may remember in the midst of their most eager Collections of Books vvho are apt with too much confidence to brood over their learned Treasures that such things as are collected in time will likewise after certain revolutions passe away with time His Manuscripts doubtles had better fortune For that excellent and learned Man Petrus Puteanus when he was living caused very providently his said Manuscripts to be separated from the rest of the Books both to preserve the Labours of his friend from perishing and to satisfie the learned Common-wealth which is extream thirsty after abstruse knowledge Having therefore put all the sheets being in certain bundles according to the accurateness
concealed provided there be a divine soul within you are alwayes ready to express your Reverence thereunto A great example whereof you have given and to be reckoned among the worthy deeds of great Captains and Commanders in that you have already by your Commendation elevated a Man of the Senatorian Rank for the rare endowments of his minde unto the Dignity of Princes and take care that his Fame may never be extinguished nor can this affection of yours ever be forgotten the Commendations whereof Vertue her self will trumpet forth to the dayes of Eternity In the next place as to the Man himself I should be unthankful in refusing to do that which his rare love to me and bountiful Inclination to all do require at my hands For his love truly to me was so great that it is easier for me to conceive it in my mind then to express the same in words and it may suffice to say that I account it a great happiness that he prized me so dearly and that it was his pleasure to have me so frequently with him and to make me privy to all his thoughts and intentions and besides other matters to utter his last words and breathe out his very soul it self into my bosome In consideration whereof since no man ought to prize the memory of that dear person more then my self truly you do but spur a free Horse when by vertue of your Authority you require that of me whereunto out of gratitude and by the Rights of friendship I am already very much inclined For seeing that as oft as I think speak or hear of that man I feel my minde filled with a most intimate and sweet passion of joy and pleasure how can it choose but delight me upon such termes to recount the Series of his life as that it may be communicated to all the World Shall I not thus employed seem still to enjoy his most courteous and civil Converse and so to passe away the sweet and pleasant houres and shall I not then exceedingly satisfie my own minde when I have contributed all that in me lies to the reflourishing glory of so great a friend And as for that good will which he bore to all men I never read or heard of a man that was more earnestly sollicitous or made it more his constant business to benefit Man-kind For though he might have given way to many in respect of Estate and Fortune yet no man could exceed him in the prudent mannage of what he had and in willingness to do good Well therefore did he merit that Kingdom which he held and deserves for the future to hold in the mindes of Men especially Students whom he never ceased to excite encourage and cherish by his Learning Counsel Authority Favour and Purse Witness all good and learned men who with one unanimous consent acknowledge that there never was a more generous Mecaenas and Patron of the Muses And therefore though it seem impossible that his renown should ever be extinguished yet must we at no hand give way that the same reproach should be fastened upon us which may justly be imputed to that Age of Mecaenas For seeing his History has not by any Writer of the same Age bin delivered over to Posterity it is come to passe that we have received hardly any notice of him save his Name so dearly esteemed by learned Men And because it may be feared lest the like may happen to this our Mecaenas it is all the reason in the World that those who familiarly converst with him should take care that future Generations may know who and what for a Man he was For the Fame and Memory of things resembles the evening Twi-light or shutting-in of the day which being at first exceeding clear does by little and little in such sort vanish away as to be swallowed up in darkness and therefore History is needful as a Torch to bring the same to light Moreover I acknowledge that this duty is incumbent upon none more then my self since no man could more fully and thoroughly know him in regard of my long and familiar living with him Whereunto may be added that after his death I had the opportunity and access to make such Queries and both from divers Letters and other Monuments to learn such things as every one could not so easily come to the knowledge of And this is indeed the very cause that whereas so many rare men might have performed this task they have nevertheless all conspired with you in solliciting me to set my hand to the work In the last place as to what concerns our Countrey this present Age and Posterity I were altogether injurious if I should refuse this Employment To our Countrey because it would seem a kind of Impiety and Unnaturalness if I should suffer that light to be covered wherewith as it hath hitherto shined and bin illustrated so may it for the future exceedingly glory and boast it self thereof if I should suffer that Ornament to be neglected than which I durst almost say there never was nor ever will be any more magnificent For not only whole Europe but Asia also and Africa and the very new-found World it self had their Eyes by meanes of him fixed upon this Province and there was not any where any learned man or lover of good things who affected not either to visit him or at least to correspond with him by Letters In the next place to this present Age also forasmuch as it is concerned that Posterity should understand that Nature was not therein worn out and barren but that she was able to produce a great and rare Man fit to be propounded for an Example to after-Ages She is indeed much to be magnified for having summed up in him aâ—one and drawn together all the vertues of all Ages and being able so to transcend her self as to express in him what ever excellency the Poetical Age fained in Pandora Finally to the succeeding Generations themselves who will be exceedingly delighted to know that Man to whose singular Affection they will acknowledge themselves very much indebted with Imitation of whom some peradventure will be so far possessed as to endeavour to raise themselves as Phoenixes out of his Ashes not without some benefit to Man-kind I shall therefore to come to an end make such a Description of his Life as shall approve it self to the Readers rather by the simplicity and plainness of the Narration then by any borrowed colours of forced Eloquence Others may if they please with a more elegant Pen polish and reduce into the form of an History such Commentaries as I shall only digest as loose materials after the way of Annals and according to the course of years For my intent is only to play the part of Damës and if any shall blame me for not having made any choice while I deliver so many petty businesses I shall answer with him that even the very crums which fall from the Tables of the
which were now grown worse then formerly A day could not suffice to hear what he had sound not to look upon what he had brought away nor to understand the Interpretations which he made of such things as seemed obscure I know not whether I should do well to relate how Peireskius being wont to boast among his Acquaintance of the happiness he had in making Baronius and Bellarmin his friends the good Pinellus was thereby moved to relate what had happened to himself touching those two Cardinals When quoth he the Popethree years ago came to Ferrara they vouchsafed to visit me but concealing their names and in a disguised habit saying that they were only a Couple of Priests I by their Pictures which I had knew presently who they were but making as if I knew them not I brought them into that part of my study where the Pictures of famous men hung and theirs amongst the rest And shewing to Baronius the Picture of Bellarmine Honest friend quo th I does not this Picture exceedingly resemble this companion of yours And shewing Bellarmin the picture of Baromus Does not this also quoth I excellently resemble that companion of yours Whereupon perceiving that they thinking to deceive were themselves deceived they discovered themselves and lovingly embraced me Furthermore Peireskius foreseeing that after a yeer was over he should be sent for home again into his own countrey therefore he set himself seriously to the study of Law which he had intermitted of late yet so ordering his time that he had leisure for many other things For besides divers kindnesses of which hereafter performed for learned men he made continuall progresse in the knowledge of abstruse Histories and remotest Antiquities Of which he gave a remarkable instance when a controversie arising among the curious touching the mount Argaeus he discoursed from a jasper and divers pieces of money coined at Caesarea and other places the originall and the various ceremonies wherewith that mount was anciently adored in Cappadocia Also he continually studied such languages as he thought might be usefull to him For he learnt so much of the Hebrew both in the vulgar and Samaritan character and of the Syrian Dialect and the Arabian Idiom as he thought necessary to interpret the inscriptions of shekels and other such like pieces being instructed by a certain Jew dwelling at Padua whose name was Rabbi Solomon As for the Greek tongue he took more pains in the study thereof both because of the divers Institutions of the Greek Emperours and the Originall of the Law it self which is reckoned to be from Greek fountains as also for the study of Philosophy or wisdome and the most ancient monuments of Poetry and History which remain in that language also for the explication of jewels marbles and coins whose inscriptions are in Greek in the illustration whereof it seemed to him a goodly thing and full of delight to spend his serious endeavours And therefore when he wrote unto any man that was a Lover of Greek as for example to Occo who was alwayes accustomed to strew his Epistles with Greek sentences he also was wont to testifie his learning in that kinde sometimes by putting a Greek verse in the front of his Letters otherwile interweaving some Greek sentence verse or prose in some convenient place of his Letters as to the foresaid Adolphus Occo when he wrote thus Fortunate senex te divae illius antiquae venerandae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filiae non jam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 duplici nomine Germanum dicent shat is Happy old man now will the daughters of that aneient and venerable Goddesse Mnemosyne call thee no longer Adolphos He alludes to his Nation because a German but Adelphos that is Brother or frater Germanus in a twofold respect Nor was he onely studious of Humanity but he took great pains also in the Mathematicks being from this time forward dearly beloved of Galileus whom he first grew acquainted with at the house of Pinellus and much admired him for the engin he invented to drain out the waters which then infested the city Also he was very industrious to search out the causes of wonderfull things in Nature For he both divers times asked divers Philosophers touching those three Suns and threefold Rainbowes which were seen the seventh day of February about the 21 hour of the day Also intending to Philosophize touching fishes and other things turned into stone he both procured great store of them and placed them in a corner of his study and likewise obtained a platform or description of that mount which at Vincentium abounds with such things And what any man knew touching things digged out of the earth minerals and metals either by rewards or by gentle intreaties he gained the communication thereof but especially at Venice where as he said he saw and observed many rarities in the Arsenall or Armoury there yet was there nothing which he more delighted to behold than the forming of Alum into an octahedricall figure so as to make a body that had eight sides Also he frequently visited the rarer sort of gardens to search out the severall siens and vertues both of homebred and sorrain plants intending to send some of them into Provence and others likewise from Provence sometimes to the garden of Pinellus otherwhiles to other friends And he was wont to be present not onely at the publike dissections of the Anatomists but also at the private ones of Hieronymus Fabricius ab Aqua Pendente who out of the singular good will he bare to Peireskius did admit him to be present when of a parcell of eggs upon which an Hen did sit he took out every day one that he might thereby make observation of the formation of the Chick all along from the very beginning to theend And so much as touching his studies It sollows that we now shew how from this time forward learned and studious men did acknowledge that Peireskius had taken the helm of learning in his hand and began to guide the Common-wealth of Letters I mentioned before how that when he came from Rome the most excellent Pinellus began to be worse than ordinary in point of sicknesse and to tend towards the grave He therefore not long after viz. about the beginning of August departed this world neer seventy yeers old to the great grief truly of all good and learned men but of Peireskius more especially who accounted him as another father and did reverence him accordingly But though he left the whole learned world sensible of its losse occasioned by his death yet was it a comfort that he seemed to have delivered his Lampe to Peireskius leaving him the successour of his virtues and studies For he had so moulded himself according to the manners of Pinellus he became so animated with the studie of noble and brave things and advancing of good Arts that he might justly be thought to have inherited his
in other places the first was Mr. William Camden who has merited so much of his Country Britannia with whom falling once into a discourse of the Antiquity of the British Language to which the Language of Bretagne in France does belong after he had asked him about many words used in severall Countries of France he demanded among the rest what Arelate or Arles and Tolo or Tolon might signifie to which Camden answered that Arelate in the Brittish tongue did signifie a City standing on moist or marish ground and that Tolon signified an Harpe peradventure by reason of a neighbouring Promontory called Citharistes or Harpers Hill He learned also of Camden other such like Interpretations by which he was brought almost to be of the mind of Strabo Tacitus and other who write that the French-men and the Britaines had at first but one and the same Language The next was Sr. Robert Cotton eminent amongst the honestly curious fort of men Also Jacobus Collius and his Father in Law Matthias Lobellus the Kings Herbalist both whom he was desirous to oblige Also Albericus Gentilis Sr. Henry Savill Johannes Nordenus and many more Nor must I passe over the then Learned young Man John Barclay whom how much he affected shall be shewn hereafter But he was wont to greive that he was not acquainted neither with Dr. Gilbert who wrote the Book touching the Nature of the Load-stone nor with Thomas Lydiate a a famous Mathematician I shall not here recount the many Libraries wherein he observed such books as were most rare nor the studies which he saw and out of which he procured all precious rarities he could But above all others he made great account of a precious stone which cost an hundred and fifty pounds Tours by reason that Aetio was graven thereupon with a Phrygian Tiara or Turbant upon his head being supposed to be the father of Andromache the wife of Hector I shall only tell you how that because he would depart sooner than was hoped he left a great misse of himself both in the Family of the Embassadour and among his learned friends who making afterwards sundry times mention of him it shall suffice here to extract a saying of the foresaid Camden in his description of Britain where speaking of certain coins belonging to this matter in hand he sayes Such as these were never dug up any where else that ever I heard of till of late the most noble Nicolas Faber Petriscius excellently skilled and most acute in judging of ancient Coins shewed me some of the same kind which were found in France And he had stayed indeed somewhat longer in England but because he had promised to be absent but three moneths therefore a moneth after he went into Holland which from the first he was resolved to take a full view of though he kept his intent secret When he was to depart a company of young Gentlemen would needs bear him company who came from France with Boderius But they were taken up with the exercise of Arms and other studies whereas he proceeded to make it his chief businesse to find out learned men And in the first place he saluted such as he understood to be most renowned at Middleburg Dort Roterdam Delft and the Hague but this he did only in passing and cursorily because his chief care was to visit Scaliger whole abode was at Leiden His resolution was to speak with him first under the notion of a stranger wherefore he changed his name and presented him with a Letter commendatory as written by Peireskius When Scaliger had read it he embraced him exceeding courteously for Peireskius his sake After much discourse divers books being occasionally brought forth Peireskius desired to write a few sines out of one of them whereupon having given him pen ink and paper and reading unto him that which he desired to write out he had no sooner writ a line or two but Scaliger knew his hand whereupon he fell to embrace him in most amiable manner complaining how he had beguiled him And falling afterwards into a most delicious discourse of divers matters Scaliger among other things declared that he intended to make a second Edition of Eusebius for the first Edition did not altogether please him and of his Fathers Commentary upon Aristotle de Animalibus but that afterwards neverthelesse he was intended to return into France and to lay his bones by the bones of his Father Julius And when Peireskius replied That he would not then die in a false beleef that is a Protestant Scaliger wept but gave him no answer Peireskius having expounded to him divers coins and especially shekels he bestowed upon him though against his will a rare Semi-shekel whose interpretation he admired above all the rest He also gave him again by way of requital many things which was most delightfull to him he gave him the desired and expected draught of the sepulchres of the Scaligers with the verses written upon the said sepulchres which he brought along with him to that end For he had received the said draught but the March before from Verona nor could he get it before though he writ often about it because Nichezola had been sundry times sick and because Sylvius Donius who first began the work died while he was about it One thing there was about which Peireskius would fain have asked Scaliger but he never durst do it lest he should trouble him that was his book touching the Quadrature of a Circle which he had printed twelve yeers ago and which was presently by Franciscus Vieta and Adrianus Romanus aud afterwards by Christofer Clavius the best Geometrician among the Jesuites and other learned and expert Mathematicians convicted to be erroneous For he had been forewarned that if he should harp upon that string it would stir his choler And as concerning his pedigree he would not make shew of the least doubt whether he were indeed descended from the Princes of Verona whose stock he said did end in him yet with a little more freedom and as desirous to know how he should answer others he laid before him what was objected by Scioppius Guillandinus and others After Scaliger his care was to visit Carolus Clusius who being over fourscore yeers old began to be troubled with the gout as also Scaliger had begun to be troubled therewith a few months before He found him taking care that the figure of the Fungus Coralloïdes or Corall-fashioned-Mushromp which he had sent him out of Provence with almost an innumerable company of other kinds of Plants Roots and Seeds might be printed in the second Appendix to his History of Outlandish Plants And he seasonably advertized him touching some Indian Plants in the description whereof he had erred and some which he had never heard of before producing withall the descriptions of them according to the Fruits shewed him at Paris by Vespasianus Robinus After Clusius he visited the chief Lights of the University and particularly
obliege me seeing even now you show your self in good earnest sensible of my losses and as when I was present I found you a Patron so in absence I feel you a Comforter I for my part am for your only sake so obliged to France that I had rather undergo the utmost extremity then leave this place And again I sent you a letter which contained in it nothing which concerned you to know but was only a testimony of that gratitude which I do and shall owe to you for so many exceeding benefits wherewith I have been by you assisted and adorned Now that same work de Jure Gentium of which Grotâ—us makes mention in this place seems to have bin no other then that famous Book de Jure Bâ—lli Pacis which he printed a year after Sure I am when he sent Peireskius one of his said Books he sent a letter with it out of which take these following passages Accipe jussis Carmina caepta tuis sayes the Poet Accept these Verses made at your Command But I most worthy Peireskius do send to you not a Verse but a Book begun by your Exhortation and your Advice I might add that my present dwelling in France is not a little indebted to you by whose meanes I have bin brought acquainted with most excellent men so that in this respect also if any fruit come thereby you may justly challenge the same If I shall say that it is a great grief to me that I cannot enjoy your presence nor discourses I shall say no more then is the very truth but your noble Brother affords me some solace in this my losse vour Brother I say not only by Nature but Humanity who c. I passe over his great care to get the Picture of Grotius drawn by the hand of Duvricius and the happiness he accounted it to have withall the Pictures of Salmasius Petrus Puteanus Hieronymus Bignonus that great light of learning in general the Lawes in special and of justice in the Parliament and other of his friends He had sent first to the Puteans the Copies of such as he had viz. of Vincentius Pinellus and Julius Caesar Scaliger intending to send likewise those of Paschalinus Portaeus Pacius Cambden Lobellius Barclaius Maranus and many more And because I have fallen to speak of Pictures I may well add those which he obtained about this time of the Pope and the Cardinals Cobellutius and Barberinus Also he desired to have at the same time the Picture of Virginius Caesarinus but death prevented the Painter much about the time when Peireskius returned thanks for a Copy of the Sagiator of Galilaeus that is to say a Book of his touching Comets which Galilaeus had made against the Libra Astronomica a Book so called of Lothnrius Sarsius or by transposition of Letters Horatius Grassius which dedicated to Virginius himself Moreover he was not forgetful of a promise long since made to the Pope to procure him some Reliques of St. Magddalen For seeing the people some few years before at San-Maximitan hindred the same by an Insurrection which they made he went now with the Command of the King the Authority of the Parliament and in company of the chief President making use of the Marshal and his men to guard him and so he obtained at length that which the Pope piously desired Whereupon the Cardinal gave him very great thanks in the Popes name who testified likewise how acceptable his recommendation was as of other French Gentlemen so especially of the foresaid Thuanus who after he had viewed the Western parts of the World was thinking also to visit the Eastern Countries Moreover He was very busie in ordering the affairs of the Bishoprick of Regium wherewith the most excellent Cardinal Guido Bentivolus was endowed at the Kings Request Which he did out of that great love and friendship which he had maintained with the said Cardinal ever since he came the Popes Nuncio into France in which place he succeeded Cardinal Robertus Ubaldinus who likewise had bin a great Lover of Peireskius Nor must it be forgotten that in the mean while Cardinal Bentivolus was a most earnest Interceder to gain out of the rich Treasury of Rarities belonging to Scipio Cardinal Burghesius divers Models of Weights measures and other things to send to Peireskius At the same time there was at Rome Claudius Menetrius aforesaid who also sent them and added divers ancient Weights with Models and Seals nor did he afterward cease from sending Coines and what ever other Monuments of antiquity which Rome could afford at what price soever Furthermore He was in a manner wholly taken up in ministring unto his sick Father But when his pains seemed to be somewhat allayed in the Summer he went to his Countrey house at Beaugensier whence ere that he returned he would needs go to Tolon to fish for Coral For it growes but in few places of our Seas but especially in a narrow passage which is distant from the Promontoty called Citharistes but two Provence vence-miles And because he was informed that it was an excellent season to pluck the same therefore he hired a small Vessel and chose fitting persons by whom he was carried till such time as the tops of certain Hills and Mountains meeting to the Eye in a right line were a token of the place he was told of Then they let down by a Rope a woodden Crosse with Nets fastned to it and as soon as they perceived it was upon the ground they drew it all about to and fro this way and that way that the Coral Plants might be intangled in the Net When they had done so long enough the Engine was pulled up and he observed how the Nets had broken off and brought away many Plants of Coral with very many dry and rotten fragments which had at some other time bin pluckt up and left at the bottom or had fallen out as the Nets were drawn up Moreover the Plants which were then pluckt up and drawn out were neither red nor handsome till their Bark was pulled off in some parts they were soft and would give way to the hand as towards the tops which being broken and squeesed they sent forth milk like that of Figs and when the compression ceased we might see them pricked with little holes which seemed to be the empty veins wherein the milk had bin contained Which milk because he was informed to be very caustick or burning therefore he was exceeding careful that none of it might come upon his Skin And because by enquiry he had learnt that it was as the seed of the Coral so that if it touched any solid thing as a shell of a Fish a Stone or the like it would engender a Coral Plant that would grow thereupon therefore he conjectured how Coral might come to grow upon the Scull forementioned There were in the Nets many other Plants besides the Corals also very many living things were intangled therein particularly a
navel or thick Cake as it were These and such things as these he spent his thoughts about when he enjoyed any rest from the frequent pains of the Hemorrhoids and Strangury And whereas in the moneth of September to recreate himself he went to Beaugensier he returned time enough on the last day of the moneth to be present at a Town-meeting and to give beginning thereto by an excellent Oration at which meeting the Consuls of Aix who were also Proctors of Provence were wont to be chosen Not long after he was informed of the death of Malherbius his very good friend which he took very sadly And though he conceived that not only himself but all the French Muses were called upon to mourn yet was he comforted because he saw one to succeed him who was both his loving friend and umpire of the French language and Poetry the excellent Johannes Capellanius in whom he alwaies admired to see learning joyned with the study of Wisdom and gentlenesse of manners with candour of mind Afterwards he received a Copy of the Genealogical History of the Royal Family of France which the San-Marthani had set forth and wherein they had mentioned him with praise by reason of a Manuscript of Matthaeus Giovanazzius touching the Kings of Sicily of the house of Anjou which he had furnished them with And whereas at the same time a good and learned man Dominicus à Jesu Maria a Carmelite Friar being about to write of the Saints which had been of the Royal Family did desire some Monuments of him there was nothing of which he was more desirous to inform him then of Charles the second King of Sicilie and Earl of Provence For being dead he is had in veneration his whole Body being kept even to this day at Aix and in his life time he was so happy as to see his son Lewis designed Bishop of Tolouse and dying before him in repute for holinesse he saw him put into the Catalogue of Saints and consequently made prayers to him and left money in his will to build the Minories Church at Marseilles to his honour Afterwards he laboured not a little that a Channel might be made through Druentia or the river Verdun which runs through Druentia to Aix For he conceived that the City would then flourish and grow rich when by help of such a Channel it might traffick for all necessary Commodities both with the upper part of Provence and with the Sea Seventy years agoe Adamus Craponus Salonensis had brought a Channel from Druentia into the stony Feilds so called or whole Crautia and designed this to Aix and because there was now need of another Architect or designer of the Works therefore he wrote into the Low-Countries to get one of those men that designed the Channels which were made in that Countrey and that were newly endeavouring to unite the Scaldis and Mosa waters so called And it seemed that what he had generously propounded might be happily effected but that the Plague which hapned the year following 1629. and the disturbance thereby occasioned with his diversion to Beaugensier did quite frustrate his intentions But before we speak of these matters we must touch upon some things that he endeavoured in the mean season In the first place therefore by occasion of the aforesaid Edition of the Bible newly begun he was not content to have given notice of and procured from Rome to be sent to Paris a Samaritan Bible 1629. which was in the custody of that learned man and advancer of all good literature Petrus Valleus a Senator of Rome but he sent himself into the East a sagacious person Theophilus Minutius of the Order of Minims to search for further helps having first obtained for him a License both from the Pope and from the General of his Order and providing that he should neither want money to bear his charges nor to purchase such Books as were necessary for the design in hand And truly he failed not of his Exspectation for he by very good luck soon found and obrained a Samaritan Bible with the Hebrew Arabick joyned therewith howbeit in the Samaritan Character and two Syriack Testaments besides and many Arabick Books Nor must it be forgotten That Daniel Dayminius one of those Franciscans whom they call Recollects took great pains that these and other Books with divers Coines might come into the hands of Minutius Also he gave order to search in Cyprus for those Books in the company of which the Collections of Porphyrogenita aforesaid were found but they were so scattered that they could not be found by any search though never so diligent which grieved him exceedingly because he judged by one of the rest as of the Lion by his claw and was in great hopes And therefore that learned Men might at least not be frustrated of the benefit thereof he thought good to send it to Paris that Grotius Salmasius and other learned Men every man in his way might peruse the same and collect there-from what he thought most useful Moreover Hugo Grotius was a prime man that made use thereof who at his request presently set himself to write out and explain the illustrious fragments of Nicolaus Damascenus which he also with an Epistle dedicatory sent to him And while there was another that was doing the like by the rest of the Work he was desirous in the mean while to procure a second Edition of the Pharmacopeia of Antonius Constantinus a Physician of Protence who about thirty years before had endeavoured to shew That there was no need of exotick Plants and outlandish Medicaments since by the benignity of Nature the same Countrey which gives men their Birth does provide both meats sufficient to nourish and Medicaments able to cure them Therefore he sent that Copy which he had of the said Book to Renatus Moreus a great light of the Faculty of Physick in Paris who was very well contented to undergo that charge About this time he received a Golden Book of the learned Selden De Arrundellianis Marmocoribus or Stones with Greek Inscriptions which that most renowned Earl of Arundel had caused to be brought out of Asia into England and placed in his Gardens And it is indeed fit you should know that those Marbles were first discovered by the industry of Peireskius and dug up fifty Crowns being paid therefore by one Samson who was his Factor at Smyrna and when they were to be sent over Samson was by some trick or other of the Sellers cast into Prison and the Marbles in the mean while made away Nor must it be forgotten how exceedingly Peireskius rejoyced when he heard that those rare Monuments of antiquity were fallen into the hands of so eminent an Hero and the rather because he knew his old friend Selden had happily illustrated the same For his utmost end being publick profit he thought it mattered not whether he or some other had the glory provided that what was for the good of
he knew or foresaw were born to honour their Countrey continually admonishing and animating them and affording them if need were Books and all other requisites And as he was wont to commend them who by their Writings and Inventions and especially by describing the Country and such things as had bin therein acted did render the same famous so did he most of all esteem the studies of Polycarpus Riviera the glory of the Carthusian Order who besides his immense Learning had rare knowledge of all the Affaires of Provence which he intended to relate in a particular volume of that Herculean work which he had in hand Also he was very much contented that by his exhortations he had perswaded Jacobus Morguesius a Senator of the Parliament of Aix and a great honour to that Court who had obtained a Writ of Ease that he would set himself to illustrate the Statutes of Aix by which means great light would be afforded to all the Tribunals of Provence And how often did he wish that Petrus Decormius the Advocate General a man of most rare learning would surrender his Office to his worthy and learned Sonne that he might wholly give himself to the Collection Disposition and Justification of the Decrees of Parliament especially such as himself had propounded How often did he defire that Scipio Pererius whose wit judgement and eloquence he could never enough admire would publish those Court-pleadings of his so learned and elegant And these few Instances among many others may suffice to shew his affection to his Country for it is to small purpose to say how much he grieved in troublesome times when there was no remedy but prayers It should now follow that I speak of his Religion towards Almighty God but it is in the first place confessed by all that he so defended the faith of his Ancestors that is to say the Roman Catholique Profession that he also took pains to draw as many of the Heterodoxe thereunto especially such as were learned as he was able Moreover his religious worship of the Deity was apparent by his rigid observance of all publick Ceremonies as far as his Health would permit For he was present at Masses Sermons and Processions and there was no remarkable Holyday in which he did not Confess himself to the Priest and receive the Encharist Moreover he had constantly a sincere faith and love towards God having high thoughts of so sublime a Majesty and exceedingly confiding in his goodness I say nothing of the Reverence he bare to the Pope Cardinals Legates Nuncio's for he omitted no occasion to testifie to them his Reverence Affection and Obedience so that it is no wonder that they had no business in Provence but they desired that he might have the mannagement thereof In which respect also he obliged the rest of the Praelates Generals and Provincials of Religious orders whom it would be redious particularly to recount being acknowledged fora Patron of all religious orders especially the Reformates who when they had any business in the Court of Rome the Kings Court in Provence or the Parliament there they presently implored his help And now that I may come to speak more partieularly of his studies I must premise in the first place that Peireskius was of a ready wit or if he were any way deficient he made it up with Art and Labour For things of most difficulty to understand he comprehended for the most part at the first hearing and by continual enquiry and exercise of his mind he fitted the same to understand any thing Moreover his wit was so naturally disposed to all studies that there was no kind of Learning with which he was not in love and whereof he delighted not to discourse with learned men Being moderate in all other things he seemed only immoderate in his desire of knowledge and never man was more desirous then he to run through the famous Encyclopedia or whole Circle of Arts. Yea and not only so but he was studious of Mechanicks or Handi-Crafts for which cause there was never any famous Workman that went that way but he entertained him at his House and learnt of him many works or mysteries of his Craft for he would keep him with Diet wages and gifts and make much of him for moneths and years together Moreover his sagacity vvas vvonderful by reason of his constancy vvhich rendred him indefatigable in his inquiries In which regard he was frequently happy in his conjectures because from such circumstances as were obvious he would smell out and happily divine such things as were hereupon dependent There never came any thing to his hands but he would attain all the knowledge thereof which was possible to be acquired so that he was justly reputed all the world over a kinde of Judge of abstruse and mysterious things For if any thing was any where found out whose Original Nature Use was unknown presently he was appealed to as if the true knowledge thereof could not be attained without his help Yea and he dived into the condition of such things as were not but were only imagined to be and considered whether it were possible that such things could be in Nature Of his Industry and quicknesse of wit we have all ready frequently spoken by reason of which he never deipaired to attain any thing which the wit of man could attain or bring about provided he had a mind thereto and would do his uttermost endeavour to accomplish the same And verily he accomplished and obtained many things which see ned above his condition and beyond his strength because he could easily foresee whatever might help or hinder and was indefatigable in improving the one and declining the other and would try a thousand waies till he had accomplisht his designs Moreover he made friends in all places and freely obliged them with courtesies that whether he had at present any design in his Head or might hereafter have they might be ready to serve him Wherefore having propounded unto himself his End what it was he would have effected he first considered whether he was to attain it by mony or entreaties through love or fear by command or free consent also who was able to contribute any thing thereto also what where when and which way and then without delay he set his hand dextrously to the work In like manner he was very acute and quick in his invention of the causes of any admirable works of Art or Nature for he conjectured with great facility and when he had a little digested his thoughts he would confirm his conjectures with reasons of all sorts Moreover he had a happy memory and which seldome failed him For though he complained that his memory was slippery and weak yet it cannot be expressed what a variety of things he remembred even from his young years and that not in general only but also with the particular circumstances of places actions words and persons Whence it was that he allwaies wonderfully
And Peireskius entertained him and his Noble Retinue so plentifully and with so much splendor that he seemed to contend even with Kings in point of magnificence admiring and adoring in that young Prince as well the mature prudence and sanctity of the Pope his Unkle as his singular love to Learning and good will to learned men And in regard of his so rare vertues he bore him such Reverence and was so officious to him all his life long that hardly any one went out of France into Italy by whom he did not send him Letters full of dutiful respect and Learning as also Books Plants and rare outlandish Creatures to adorn the study and Gardens of Cardinal Barberino To whom that most courteous Prince alwayes returned the greatest thanks possible with like frequency of Letters and tokens With no lesse observance did Peireskius honour and respect those most learned and rarely-qualified persons which were in the Legats most renowned Retinue but most especially Cassianus Putealis a Man for the famousness of his Family Vertues and Learning worthy of the greatest prayses and Honours imaginable with whom being most closely united in Affection by reason of the likeness of their natures in excellency of manners and love to learning and learned men he held afterwards constant correspondency familiarly acquainting him with the whole course of his Studies Also with Johannes Baptista Donius who by reason of his Ingenuity and a wit fit for the knowledge of all great things was most dearly respected by him These friends he then and there procured as others afterward at Rome by the mediation of Hieronymus Aleander a Man endued with most excellent Arts and Ornaments and a Lover of Peireskius from his youth up who then so admired his Noble House full of Dignity and Wisdom that he afterwards openly pronounced that Peireskius was the greatest and most happy man in the World and was often thinking to remove from the Court and City of Rome to Aix that he might enjoy his sweet Company and that precious Treasury of Literature which he had there hoarded up Thither came afterwards all those brave men who about affaires of State went out of Italy into France or from thence to Provence to his House they came to see that Man who had the Commentaries Acts and secret Records of Kingdoms who perfectly knew the Scituations of Countries Counts of Times Originals of Peoples their Lawes Confederacies and Warrs and the Families Kindreds and Successions of Kings and Princes so that no man knew the condition of his own House and Land better then he was acquainted with the state of this World of ours Also all men of what ever Rank or Nation that were studious of great and rare things came thither to see him and his most renowned Study where they might at one view behold a Collection of what ever was rare and excellent to get a sight of which men were formerly wont to travel all the World over All which Peireskius and his Brother Valavesius a most courteous Gentleman brought home with them from their Travess which two Brothers lived together even to old Age in such a Community of Studies Cohabitation and Revenues without any falling out that there was never any need that one of them should be reconciled to the other Also new things were continually brought him not only from all parts of Europe but from Asia Africa India and the new World since this old World of ours would not content his greedy desire of knowledge so that no man came from the remote parts of the World to these Coasts of ours that did not bring with him whole Cart-loads of Rarities of Art and Nature to the House of Peireskius For these kind of things were daily sent him from choyse men dwelling in the principal Cities and Haven-Towns of those Provinces who were by him imployed with all their diligence to procure such things to his infinite charge and expence And because those Men with all their Art and Industry cou'd not fully satisfie Peireskius he oftentimes sent others from his own House into all the Islands of the Aegean Sea to the Mountain Atho to Constantinople Alexandria and those miserable Reliques of Memphis and Carthage who for him and with his money should seek to procure besides other Rarities chiefly the ancientest Books in the Greek Hebrew Arabick Persian Coptick and Aethiopian Languages finally besides other Monuments of Asiatick and African Antiquity the Bodies of the ancient Kings and Princes of Aegypt embalmed with most precious Spices Gums and odours In which practise of his verily he seems with a mind truly royal to have imitated the care of those ancient Kings of Pergamus and Alexandria as also of our France in the magnificent setting forth of their Libraries And to this his Shop and Store-house of wisdom and vertue Peireskius did not only courteously admit all Travellers studious of Art and Learning opening to them all the Treasures of his Library but he would keep them there a long time with free and liberal entertainment and at their departure would give them Books Coins and other things which seemed most suitable to their studies also he freely gave them at his own expence what ever things they wanted most liberally even as to all other learned men well near which were absent and whose names he had only heard of what ever he had among his Books or Relicks of Antiquity which he thought might assist them in their writings he would send it to them of his own accord not only without their desiring the same but many times when they were ignorant of such things If there were any thing which he had not himself but lay somewhere concealed he would spare neither pains nor cost to procure that also for them that the works which they were writing might come into the World perfect and polite And such as he heard were about to travail to search after Antiquities and Rarities of nature he would procure them letters commendatory horses and money to bear their charges out of his own purse and he invited many to take upon them such journies by offering them the like conditions of his own accord And all men whom he knew to be in a calamitous condition only by meanes of their love of learning and vertue and the injury of Fortune he assisted with such things as they stood in need of helpt to pay their debts for them or he carefully commended them to some great personages and obtained many things from them in their behalf having gained great favour and Authority with all the more courteous Princes of Europe especially with the most eminent Grandees who at this day steere the State-affaires of France as who out of their singular knowledge and love to learning have learned men continually in their Eyes Eares and Embraces and which is their royal magnificence and magnanimity do in the conferring of Benefits and Honours prefer them before all men of what Order soever Out of
which Order I can cite plenty of Eye-witnesses of the beneficent and most liberal nature of Piereskius not only out of this City and present Assembly but even out of the farthest parts of Syria and the immense Altitude of Mount Libanus I can bring the most learned Amira Bishop of the Maronites out of Magna Graecia that great Philosopher Campanella out of France the learned Petitus and an infinite multitude more out of other Provinces Also I could relate unto you an innumerable Examples of Liberality and Magnificence scarce credible of a King much lesse of a man only of a Senatorian Dignity Rank and Estate Whereas nevertheless which sounds more like a miracle than a thing credible he laid out in this City alone every year three thousand pounds-Tours that is to say a twelfth part of his whole Revenue which we may well think he did in other renowned Cities of Europe partly in sending Books and other such like tokens to his friends partly upon Books Statue Brazen Monuments and Marbles which were daily here discovered or at least upon Patterns of them and Images painted carved or molded in Wax Plaister or moystened Paper But consideration of the time most learned Academicks advises me now to take-in my Sails and look towards the Haven Yet verily that same ardency of your Countenances and Intention of your mindes does call upon me to perform the rest of my Promise which was that I would prove Peireskius to have far exceeded all other men not only in a rare love and Liberality towards Learning but which is the greatest matter of all in unwearied labour and incredible Industry in commenting and writing touching almost excellent Arts no part of which verily he left untouched He wrote the History of Provence which was his own Countrey in many large Volumes with so much diligence that whether you regard Antiquity or the Lawes Peace or Warre and the Changes happening in the Common-wealth you shall therein finde nothing wanting In other Volumes he set down the Originals of the Noble Families of the same Country and of his own by it self and seeing the Family of the Fabricii had its Original from Pisa from whence after the space of four hundred years flourishing in Chivalry it was propagated into France he did in the same Book excellently illustrate the Antiquity of Pisa and consequently of Italy of which he was alwayes an exceeding great Lover setting down many unknown passages touching the Gothick Kings who bore sway in Italy which he collected from ancient Coines as also touching the French Kings whose Originals and Pedigrees being obscured through length of time he much illustrated Finally he wrote most elegant and full Commentaries of all great and memorable things which were transacted in his time Also he adorned Philosophy by his writings and amplified the same especially the natural part thereof to which he was wonderfully addicted For he had made an elegant Book touching those sporting works of Nature which in some Countries are digged out of the ground viz. concerning wood and other things degenerating into the Nature of stone or some other different substance also touching huge and vast bones of Gyants as is commonly conceived a great quantity whereof he caused to be brought to him from far Countries touching which being of a discerning spirit he discovered many Impostures And as for Plants especially such as were of Indian growth he wrote a peculiar History of every one well near which he illustrated with experiments never before practised for he engrafted Trees with happy success not only upon Trees quite of another kind but upon the Horns Heads and other parts of living Creatures Of which live Creatures yea even of Elephants he diligently sought out the Nature manner and weight and dissected all their members as also of the Body of Man with his own hand especially the Eyes of huge Beasts and of Whales for the finding out of which he sent men as far as Herenles Pillars By which means he wrote new things never before heard of as of other parts of the Body so especially concerning the admirable frame of the Eye Nor was he lesse industrious in illustrating the Mathematical Arts giving himself up in his latter years to the study of Astronomy so as to build a most high Tower furnished with plenty of Instruments belonging to that Art where he watched all night long when the Skie was clear in Contemplation of the Starres not only diligently observing their Altitudes Magnitudes and Motions but penetrating by the quickness of his wit into their very matter and Nature assisted by that new and admirable Invention of the Telescope which makes the most remote and obscure Species and Representations of things clearly to be seen whose name and use was invented by Galilaeus the Prince doubtless of Mathematicians and a very loving friend of our Peireskius By the help of which Instrument Peireskius caused the several faces and appearances both of the other Planets and also of the Moon with the smallest marks and spots as it were which appeared therein to be diligently viewed and engraven in Copper Plates committing to writing his own perpetual observations thereof so that no man was better acquainted with this World of ours then Peireskius was with the Heavenly Orbs especially the Moon which the ancient Sages of Italy were wont to call Antichthôn the other Earth Whose Eclipses he did both observe himself and caused them by all Mathematicians to be more diligently observed then formerly not that he might assist the labouring Goddess whose shape like another Endymion he beheld and admired but that thereby he might finde out and set down the sure and certain distances of Cities Havens and Islands both from the four Coasts of Heaven and one from another and so take away the received Errors of Travellers and Seafaring-men A thing before not so much as endeavoured by any except one or two and they great Kings which it was hoped that Peireskius would at last happily accomplish For he caused most accurate observations of the Eclipses to be made in the most renowned Cities of the old and new World of which observations the most excellent he said was that which he received from Naples from his good friend Johannes Camillus Gloriosus an excellent Mathematician And herein he used the continual Assistance of Petrus Gassendus the most excellent Astronomer and Philosopher in France intimately acquainted with Peireskius so that he lived with him many years together in his own House as a bosom friend where he was assistant at his death and now out of the dear memory he beares to his Name and Vertues he is intended to write an History of his Life which makes me rejoyce that the work which I had long since designed is now taken out of my hands by a most learned man and my very loving friend yea and I congratulate the Memory of Peireskius in that behalf The excellent pains he took in describing your Antiquities O
Roman Academicks I cannot passe over in silence seeing there came no Vtensils nor Ornaments of the ancient Romans to his hands of which he had very many in his house of which he left not something or other in writing but most copiously and diligently touching the Weights Measures and Tripodes of the Ancients I omit the rest of his works in other parts of Learning I shall only add his Letters and Epistles to increase the admiration Which were so many and so learned as if he had writ nothing besides he might neverthelesse have been said to have gone through the whole Encyclopaedia or perfect Orbe of all Learning and liberal Arts. For you cannot think of any rare and excellent Argument in all the Arts and Sciences of which Peireskius did not write to all learned men either asking their judgment or returning his own being asked learnedly frequently and very largely so that he seems to have filled all Cities in all Countreys with his Letters shall I say or volums rather And that you may know I speak no more than the truth in this point consider I pray you with me how many and what for Epistles he sent to this very City for examples sake There are extant an almost innumerable company written to Pope Urbanus the 8th and to Cardinal Franciscus Barberinus comprehending that knowledge of good Arts which we all admire in those two most excellent and learned Princes There are extant Letters to Caesar Baronius and to Johannes Franciscus Vidius Balneus Cardinals to Josephus Maria Suaresius a Prelate to Christophorus Puteanus and Constantinus Cajetanus all of them persons renowned for the Science of great Arts touching Religion and matters Divine as also of humane affairs and history to Cardinal Vidus Bentivolus and Augustinus Mascardus persons best seen in that Art of any not only in this City but in all Italy and touching the abstruse and hidden things of Nature to Cassianus Putealis and Petrus Vallensis both of them renowned as well for their knowledge in natural Philosophy as other great endowments There are extant Letters of his touching Humanity as they call it and the ancient Tongues of Europe Asia and Africk as also concerning the latter Languages as the Gothick Cantabrick Provincian Italian to Lucas Holstenius Gabriel Naudaeus Leo Allatius Vincentius Noguera and Fredericus Ubaldinus men excellently and perfectly skilled in the said Languages also to Cardinal Franciscus Boncompagnus Vincentius Justinianus Maria Felix Zachus and Alexander Rondaninus her husband Stephanus Gnaldus and Claudius Menetrius men most diligent in searching out and preserving the Reliques of Antiquity touching Statues Coins ancient Jewels also touching Books anciently written and Manuscripts to those rare men Cardinal Scipio Cobellutius and Nicolaus Alemannus whom Peireskius intirely loved and whose benignity in opening to him the treasures of the Vatican Library he exceedingly wanted when he was dead These men ô Academicks 〈◊〉 know to have been most excellent in all Arts which I have therefore the more willingly reckoned up as it were mustered out because all of them in a manner as well Peireskius himself having bin long since chosen into this Academy have illustrated the splendor and glory of your order and daily illustrate the same Moreover he sent the like or a greater quantity of Letters not only to other Cities in Italy especially to Padua to Licetus Rolius Argolius and Thomasmus samous men in the Arts by them professed but also to Mantua Paris Oxford Leyden Lovane Augsburge Vindobona and other renowned Cities of the new old world flourishing with famous and learned men With which Letters truly of his he linked and united in a way of learned Commerce and correspondency not only the Nations on this and the the other side of the Alpes but all other Nations also of Europe and the barbarous people to boot so that in conclusion he made common to all those Nations those good Arts and all their Instruments which for the good of all he had treasured up in his own study and mind So that we must not judge of the excellency of Peireskius his learning nor of the worth and greatness of his study by his writings and other Monuments of the Ancients which are extant in his house but we must rather conclude that there are no famous Libraries in the whole world in which some part of the Library of Peireskius is not to be found and that no Books have been set forth in this Age of ours exceeding fruitful of Writers which do not carry with them as well the Learning as Name of Peireskius Imagine with your selves O Academicks that all studious persons do make as it were one Body in the middest whereof Peireskius performs the office of that quiet part for the nutriment whereof all the other Members in their several places do all they do and whose ministry is no lesse industrious nourishing as much as it is nourished so that with an insatiable desire of reading and learning devouring all the food of study and erudition which all men every where gathered and heaped up for him he turned the same by his heat of meditation and writing into juyce and blood which in like manner he dispersed into all parts as a common nourishment of all Wits unless we should rather say that Peireskius was the Soul of that same illustrious and immortal Body which governed the whole and by his force and Divinity did preserve and augment all and every the parts thereof I said Divinity O Academicks for he who spent a great part of the short age of fifty seven years in peregrinations and the Kings Gourt another part in the Parliament of Aix where he twice a day attended his Senatorian office could nevertheless leave so many so illustrious Monuments of his love of Learning his liberality in the advancement thereof to the eternal memory of posterity more Books and Letters written with his own hand than other long-liv'd men abounding with leasure are wont to read both in Latine Italian and French he I say seems to me worthy to be accounted more than a man Moreover that this Divine soul of Peireskius being now free from the fetters of his earthly body is mounted aloft and entred into possession of that eternal and coelestial Mansion to lead there most happily among the holy Saints that life he happily liv'd amongst us you have ô Roman Academicks all the reason in the world to think to honor the same with all Honors which are wont to be conferred on the greatest Heroes For besides that he lived with the greatest integrity and innocency possible he was also a great houourer of the Romane Religion and the Ceremonies thereof wherein he persisted most constant to his very last breath He valiantly contended for the Catholick Faith so that he reduced many thereto even of those that had left that most ancient and holy Religion and obliged themselves to new and strange ones having not without hope of
at his glory or ignorant of those things wherein all good and learned men are agreed For was there ever a man I pray you better skilled in Antiquity Nature Chronologie History and Languages or more ready to assist the labours of studious men by Speech Letters Books Models Plants Animals Pictures Coins and the like Monuments of ancient and latter times Or in a word better fitted to do all this with Will Wealth Authority Knowledge Providence and other Virtues with a mutual consent of all which that man must be adorned that will undertake like the renowned Peireskius to govern the learned world by his beck and at his pleasure Which truly how hard a thing it is to do you may hereby friend Gassendus conjecture in that if you have recourse to all the Heroes of ancient times you shall not find any one that has done the like And though the times immediatly foregoing have afforded Vincentius Pinellus and Dominicus Molinus men peradventure not much inferiour to Peireskius for their endeavours and desire to assist learned men yet I know not how they wanted divers helps which Peireskius had by which he was enabled to hold on his course with full sail from his early youth to his very last age And verily with what facility he did all this no man can be ignorant save he that cannot see the Sun at Noon-day For who knows not that his mouth was not the mouth of a man but of Delphick Apollo out of which Oracles daily issued touching the most abstruse and hidden things and that his house was like a renowned Mart or Fair full of most precious Wares brought from both the Indies Aethiopia Graece Germany Italy Spain England and the nearer Provinces and that no Ship entred the Havens of France which did not bring some strange Beast rare out-landish Plants ancient Marbles engraven or inscribed Books in the Samaritan Coptick Arabick Hebrew China and Creek Tongues or Reliques of highest Antiquity from Peloponesus into the only Treasurie of Peireskius Finally who can be ignorant that he did not gather all this Treasure for his own delight or to adorn his study that they might ly there as in the Cellars of the Capitol or Sepulchres where it was unlawful to remove or take any thing out for the benefit of others but that Peireskius made this Law to himself that if he knew any learned men that might be assisted by his Counsels Wealth Books Statues or Marbles he would not stay till with importunate intreaties they should defire the same but he would offer the same of his own accord and cause it to be brought unto their houses so that I could almost say he did overwhelm all learned men with the greatnesse and frequency of his benefits But what need is there that I should write these things to you most excellent Gassendus who have with your own eys seen more of the brave actions of that rare man worthy to be remembred to the daies of Eternity than any other man is able to set down in writing that being a work fit for none but your self who in your love to him and the Elegancy of your style and expression give place to no man Verily seeing no part of his life was without a Miracle seeing there was never man in this world to whom learned men were so much and so greatly endebted since the greatest part of what for some decads of years last past has been beautifully elegantly and learnedly observed came from him for the most part nor should he be reckoned among mortal men were it not for his immature and bitter death ô grief to tell who ought alwaies to have lived I am very well convinced that every man is not fit to transmit his memory to posterity for that a vulgar mouth should do it were great wickednesse yet to find out words sutable to so great and incomparable merits seems to me a very hard thing To gather therefore together a Breviary of the Life of this great Patron of the Muses out of the whole world whereinto it was diffused into a small Volume this is such a work which unlesse you shall perform most learned Gassendus who have the command of a pure elegant proper style used to write of matters Divine Caelestial of which kind all good men account Peireskius to have bin and who art wont to reduce the supream Orbes and their Miracles which are not verily more large than the Fame merits of Peireskius most artificially into a small Globe I can hardly find any man man else who can so fitly and happily perform this work For though all that were friends to Peireskius are furnished with Wit and Eloquence and they are all as well as you concerned to celebrate that man whose memory ought to be to them most sacred and although many things which may be set down and alledged touching his most excellent disposition his industry and wonderful readiness to assist the endeavours of good men may be known to any man as well as your self by his most excellent actions and works yet can it not be denied that the greatest of his Praises are better known to you than any other by reason of the intimate acquaintance you had with him and your continual living in the house and dealing with him for many years together Come on therefore my Gassendus take that pen in hand which has bin accustomed to defend or praise gallant men as well as to explain the Miracles of Nature and the Heavens and think with your self that in so doing you shall profit all the learned honot his and your Countrey advance the glory and splendor of great Person ages and Princes whiles out of that great love you have alwaies borne to him living and dead you shall set forth the true Picture of Peireskius who did incite and assist all men to be vertuous nor only to be seen but imitated also by them As for me who have alwaies so accounted of Peireskius as one in whom Nature was chiefly intended to try her strength in producing such a man as might want nothing excellent and comely as far as mortal nature was capable so that I cannot set him forth with words as I ought because the riches of his Merits have impoverished my Rhetorick therefore I most earnestly beseech you to take this one task in hand and I shall then conceive the piety of my self and others satisfied who are bound to prosecute the memory of Peireskius with eternal honour and grateful veneration if by you both the present Age and future Generation shall be made to understand that Peireskius was not only most learned and most munificent which the whole world can witnesse but a man most great and good beyond comparison a prime Patron of learned men one for prudence and learning and all kind of virtues so excellent that he ought in that respect to be reckoned amongst the miracles of our Age and honored accordingly Farewel and read