but not his substance wherin the whole life relieth as do the foure elements fire aire earth and water who not only yeeld to the party composed heat cold moisture and drinesse but also the substance which may maintain and preserue the same qualities during all the course of life Wherethrough that which most importeth in the engendring of children is to procure that the elements wherof they are compounded may partake the qualities which are requisite for the wit For these according to the waight and measure by which they enter into the composition must alwaies so indure in the mixture and not the alterations of heauen What these elements are and in what sort they enter into the womans wombe to forme the creature Galen declareth and affirmeth them to be the same which compound all other natural things but that the earth commeth lurking in the accustomed meates which we eate as are flesh bread fish and fruits the water in the liquors which we drinke The aire and fire he saith are mingled by order of nature and enter into the body by way of the pulse and of respiration Of these foure elements mingled and digested by our naturall heat are made the two necessarie principles of the infants generation to weet the seed and the monthly course But that whereof we must make greatest reckoning for the end which we enquire after are the accustomable meats whereon we feed for these shut vp the foure elements in themselues and from these the seed fetcheth more corpulencie and qualitie than from the water which we drinke or the fire and aire which we breath in VVhence Galen saith that the parents who would beget wise children should read three books which he wrot of the facultie of the alements for there they should find with what kinds of meat they may effect the same And he made no mention of the water nor of the other elements as materials and of like moment But herein he swarued from reason for the water altereth the body much more than the aire much lesse than the sound meats wheron we feed And as touching that which concerneth the engendring of the seed it carrieth as great importance as all the other elemēts togither The reason is as Galen himself affirmeth because the cods draw from the veines for their nourishment the wheyish part of the bloud and the greatest part of this whey which the veins receiue partaketh of the water which we drinke And that the water worketh more alteration in the bodie than the aire Aristotle prooueth where he demandeth what the cause is that by changing of waters we breed so great an alteration in our health wheras if we breath a contrarie aire we perceiue it not And to this he answereth that water yeeldeth nourishment to the body and so doth not the aire But he had little reason to answer after this maner for the aire also by Hippocrates opinion giueth nourishment and substance aswell as the water Wher-through Aristotle deuised a better answer saying that no place nor country hath his peculiar aire for that which is now in Flanders when the North wind bloweth passeth within two or three daies into Affricke and that in Affricke by the South is carried into the North and that which this day is in Hierusalem the East wind driueth into the VVest Indies The which cannot betide in the waters for they do not all issue out of the same soile wher-through euery people hath his particular water cōformable to the Mine of the earth where it springeth and whence it runneth And if a man be vsed to drinke one kind of water in tasting another he altereth more than by meat or aire In sort that the parents who haue a will to beget verie wise children must drinke waters delicat fresh and of good temperature otherwise they shall commit error in their procreation Aristotle saith that at the time of generation we must take heed of the South-west wind for the same is grosse and moistneth the seed so as a female and not a male is begotten But the west wind he highly commendeth and aduanceth it with names and titles very honourable He calleth the same temperat fatter of the earth and saith that it commeth from the Elisian fields But albeit it be true that it greatly importeth to breath an aire verie delicat and of good temperature and to drinke such waters yet it standeth much more vpon to vse fine meats appliable to the temperature of the wit for of these is engēdred the bloud and the seed and of the seed the creature And if the meat be delicat and of good temperature such is the bloud made and of such bloud such seed and of such seed such braine Now this member being temperat and compounded of a substance subtile and delicat Galen saith that the wit will be like therunto for our reasonable soule though the same be incorruptible yet goeth alwaies vnited with the dispositions of the brain which being not such as it is requisit they should be for discoursing and philosophizing a man saith and doth 1000 things which are verie vnfitting The meats then which the parents are to feed on that they may engender children of great vnderstanding which is the ordinarie wit for Spaine are first White bread made of the finest meale and seasoned with salt this is cold and dry and of parts verie subtile and delicat There is another sort made saith Galen of reddish graine which though it nourish much and make men big limmed and of great bodily forces yet for that the same is moist and of grosse parts it breedeth a losse in the vnderstanding I said seasoned with salt because none of all the aliments which a man vseth bettereth so much the vnderstanding as doth this minerall It is cold and of more drinesse than any other thing and if I remember well the sentence of Heraclitus he said after this maner A drie brightnesse a wisest minde Then seeing that salt is so drie and so appropriat to the wit the scripture had good reason to terme it by the name of Prudence and Sapience Partridges and Francolini haue a like substance and the selfe temperature with bread of white meale and Kid and Muskadel wine And if parents vse these meats as we haue aboue specified they shall breed children of great vnderstanding And if they would haue a child of great memorie let them eight or nine daies before they betake themselues to the act of generation eat Trouts Salmons Lampries and Eeles by which meat they shall make their seed verie moist and clammie These two qualities as I haue said before make the memorie easie to receaue and verie fast to preserue the figures a long time By Pigions Goats Garlicke Onions Leekes Rapes Pepper Vinegar White-wine Honny and al other sorts of spices the seed is made hot and drie and of parts verie subtile and delicat The child who is engendred of such meat shalbe of great imagination but not of
like vnderstanding by means of the much heat and he shall want memorie through his abundance of drinesse These are woont to be very preiudiciall to the common wealth for the heat enclineth them to many vices and euils and giueth them a wit and mind to put the same in execution howbeit if we do keepe them vnder the common-wealth shall receiue more seruice by these mens imagination than by the vnderstanding and memorie of the others Hens capons veale weathers of Spaine are all meats of moderat substance for they are neither delicat nor grosse I said weathers of Spain for Galen without making any distinctiō saith that their flesh is of a grosse and noisom substance which straieth from reason for put case that in Italie where he wrot it be the worst of all others yet in this our countrey through the goodnesse of the pastures we may reckon the same among the meats of moderat substance The children who are begotten on such food shall haue a reasonable discourse a reasonable memory and a reasonable imagination VVherethrough they wil not be verie profoundly seen in the Sciences nor deuise ought of new Of these we haue said heretofore that they are pleasant conceited and apt in whom may be imprinted all the rules and considerations of art cleere obscure easie and difficult but doctrine argument answering doubting and distinguishing are matters wherewith their braines can in no sort endure to be cloied Cowes flesh Manzo bread of red graine cheese oliues vineger and water alone will breed a grosse seed and of faultie temperature the sonne engendred vpon these shall haue strength like a bull but withall be furious and of a beastly wit Hence it proceedeth that amongst vpland people it is a miracle to find one quicke of capacitie or towardly for learning they are all borne dull and rude for that they are begotten on meats of grosse and euill substance The contrarie hereof befalleth in Citizens whose children we find to be endowed with more wit and sufficiencie But if the parents carrie in verie deed a will to beget a sonne prompt wise and of good conditions let them six or seuen daies before their companying feed on Goats milke for this aliment by the opinion of all phisitions is the best and most delicat that any man can vse prouided that they be sound and that it answer them in proportion But Galen saith it behooueth to eat the same with honny without which it is dangerous and easily corrupteth The reason hereof is for that the milke hath no more but three elements in his composition cheese whey and butter The cheese answereth the earth the whey the water and the butter the aire The fire which mingleth the other elements and preserueth them being mingled issuing out of the teats is exhaled for that it is verie subtile but adioyning thereunto a little honny which is hot and dry in lieu of fire the milke wil so partake of al the 4 elements Which being mingled and concocted by the operation of our naturall heat make a seed verie delicat and of good temperature The sonne thus engendred shall at leastwise possesse a great discourse and not be depriued of memorie and imagination In that Aristotle wanted this doctrine he came short to answer a probleme which himselfe propounded demanding what the cause is that the yong ones of brute beasts carry with them for the most part the properties and conditions of their sires and dammes And the children of men and women not so And we find this by experience to be true for of wise parents are borne foolish children and of foolish parents children very wise of vertuous parents lewd children and of vitious parents vertuous children of hard fauoured parents faire children and of faire parents foule children of white parents browne children and of brown parents white and well coloured children And amongst children of one selfe father and mother one prooueth simple and another wittie one foule and another faire one of good conditions and another of bad one vertuous and another vitious VVhereas if a mare of a good harrage be couered with a horse of the like the colt which is foaled resembleth them aswell in shape and colour as in their properties To this probleme Aristotle shaped a very vntowardly answer saying that a man is caried away with many imaginations during the carnall act and hence it proceedeth that the children prooue so diuers But brute beasts because in time of procreation they are not so distraughted neither possesse so forcible an imagination as man doth make alwaies their yong ones after one selfe sort and like to themselues This answer hath euer hitherto gone for currant amongst the vulgar philosophers and for confirmation hereof they alleage the history of Iacob which recounteth that he hauing placed certaine rods at the watering places of the beasts the lambes were yeaned party coloured But little auailes it them to handfast holy matters for this historie recounteth a miraculous action which God performed therein to hide some sacrament And the answer made by Aristotle sauoreth of great simplicitie And who so wil not yeeld me credit let him at this day cause some shepheards to try this experiment and they shall find it to be no naturall matter It is also reported in these our partes that a ladie was deliuered of a sonne more brown than was due because a blacke visage which was pictured fell into her imagination Which I hold for a iest and if perhaps it be true that she brought such a one to the world I say that the father who begat him had the like colour to that figure And because it may be the better known how fromshapen this philosophy is which Aristotle bringeth in togither with those that follow him it is requisit we hold it for a thing certaine that the worke of generation appertaineth to the vegetatiue soule and not to the sensitiue or reasonable for a horse engendreth without the reasonall and a plant without the sensitiue And if we do but marke a tree loden with fruit we shall find on the same a greater variety than in the children of any man One apple will be green another red one little another great one round another ill shaped one soūd another rotten one sweet and another bitter And if we compare the fruit of this yeare with that of the last the one will be very different and contrary to the other which cannot be attributed to the varietie of the imagination seeing the plantes do want this power The error of Aristotle is very manifest in his own doctrine for he saith that the seed of the man and not of the woman is that which maketh the generation and in the carnal act the man doth nought els but scatter his seed without forme or figure as the husbandman soweth his corne in the earth And as the graine of corne doth not by and by take root nor formeth a stalke and leaues vntill some daies been expired so saith Galen
knowne is a worke of the imagination as to write and returne to read it is a worke of the Scriuener and not of the paper Whereby it falleth out that the memorie remayneth a power passiue and not actiue euen as the blew and the white of the paper is none other than a commoditie whereby to write To the fourth doubt may be answered That it maketh little to the purpose as touching the wit whether the flesh be hard or tender if the braine partake not also the same qualitie the which we see many times hath a distinct temperature from al the other parts of the body But when they concur in one selfe tendernesse it is an euill token for the vnderstanding and no lesse for the imagination And if we consider the flesh of women and children we shall find that in tendernesse it excee deth that of men and this notwithstanding commonly men haue a better wit than women and the naturall reason heereof is For that the humours which make the flesh tender are fleagme and bloud because they are both moist as we haue aboue specified and of them Galen said That they make men simple dullards and contrariwise the humours which harden the flesh are choler and melancholie and hence grow the prudence and sapience which are found in man In sort that it is rather an ill token to haue the flesh tender than drie and hard And so in men who haue an equall temperature throughout their whole bodie it is an easie matter to gather the qualitie of their wit by the tendernesse or hardnes of their flesh For if it be hard rough it giueth token either of a good vnderstanding or a good imagination and if smooth and supple of the contrary namely of good memory and small vnderstanding and lesse imagination and to vnderstand whether the brain haue correspondence it behooueth to consider the haire which being big blacke rough and thicke yeeldeth token of a good imagination or a good vnderstanding and if soft and smooth they are a signe of much memorie and nothing els But who so will distinguish and know whether the same be vnderstanding or imagination when the haire is of this sort it must be considered of what forme the childe is in the act of laughter for this passion discouereth much of what qualitie he is in the imagination What the reason and cause of laughter should be many Philosophers haue laboured to conceiue and none of them hath deliuered ought that may well be vnderstood but all agree that the bloud is an humour which prouoketh a man to laugh albeit none expresse with what qualitie this humour is indewed more than the rest why it should make a man addicted to laughter The follies which are committed with laughing are lesse dangerous but those which are done with labour are more perillous as if he should say When the diseased become giddie and doting do laugh they rest in more safetie than if they were in toyle and anguish for the former commeth of bloud which is a most mild humour and the second of melancholie but we grounding vpon the doctrine whereof we intreat shall easily vnderstand all that which in this case may be desired to be knowen The cause of laughter in my iudgement is nought els but an approouing which is made by the imagination seeing or hearing somewhat done or said which accordeth very well and this power remaineth in the braine when any of these things giue it contentment sodainly it mooueth the same and after it all the muscles of the body and so manie times we do allow of wittie sayings by bowing downe of the head When then the imagination is verie good it contents not it selfe with euery speech but onely with those which please verie well and if they haue some litle correspondence and nothing els the same receiueth thereby rather paine than gladnesse Hence it groweth that men of great imagination laugh verie seldome and the point most worthie of noting is that ieasters and naturall counterfeiters neuer laugh at their own meriments nor at that which they heare others to vtter for they haue an imagination so delicat that not euen their own pleasanteries can yeeld that correspondence which they require Heereto may be added that merimentes besides that they must haue a good proportion and be vttered to the purpose must be new and not to fore heard or seene And this is the propertie not onely of the imagination but also of all the other powers which gouerne man for which cause we see that the stomacke when it hath twise fed vpon one kinde of meate straightwaies loatheth the same so doth the sight one selfe shape and colour the hearing one concordance how good soeuer and the vnderstanding one selfe contemplation Hence also it proceedeth that the pleasant conceited man laugheth not at the ieastes which himselfe vttereth for before he send them forth from his lips he knew what he would speake Whence I conclude that those who laugh much are all defectiue in their imagination where-through whatsoeuer merriment pleasanterie how cold soeuer with them carrieth a verie good correspondencie And because the bloud pertaketh much moisture wherof we said before that it breedeth dammage to the imagination those who are very sanguine are also great laughers Moisture holdeth this propertie that because the same is tender and gentle it abateth the force of heate and makes that it burne not ouermuch For which cause it partakes better agreement with drinesse because it sharpneth his operations Besides this where there is much moisture it is a signe that the heat is remisse seeing it cannot resolue nor consume the same and the imagination cannot performe his operations with a heate so weake Hence we gather also that men of great vnderstanding are much giuen to laughter for that they haue defect of imagination as we read of that great Philosopher Democritus and many others whom my selfe haue seene and noted Then by meanes of this laughter we shall know if that which men or boyes haue of flesh hard and tough and of haire blacke thicke hard and rough betoken either the imagination or the vnderstanding In sort that Aristotle in this doctrine was somwhat out of the way To the fifth argument we answer that there are two kindes of moisture in the braine one which groweth of the aire when this element predominateth in the mixture and another of the water with which the other elements are amassed If the braine be tender by the first moisture the memory shall be verie good easie to receiue and mightie to reteine the figures for a long time For the moisture of the aire is verie supple and full of fatnesse on which the shapes are tacked with sure hold-fast as we see in pictures which are lymned in oyle who being set against the sunne and the water receiue thereby no dammage at all and if we cast oyle vpon any writing it will neuer be wiped out but marreth the same
and that which cannot be read with oyle is made legible by yeelding thereto a brightnesse and transparence But if the difference of the braine spring from the second kinde of moisture the argument frameth verie well For if it receiue with facilitie with the same readinesse it turneth again to cancell the figure because the moisture of the water hath no fatnesse wherein the figures may fasten themselues These two moistures are knowen by the haire For that which springs from the aire maketh them to prooue vnctious and ful of oyle and fat and the water maketh them moyst and verie supple To the sixth argument may be answered that the figures of things are not printed in the braine as the figure of the seale is in waxe but they pearce thereinto to remaine there affixed in sort as the sparrowes are attached to birdlime or the flies sticke in honnie For these figures are bodilesse and cannot be mingled nor corrupt one the other To the seuenth difficultie we answer that the figures amasse and mollifie the substance of the braine in such sort as waxe groweth soft by plying the same betweene our fingers besides that the vitall spirites haue vertue to make tender and supple the hard and drie members as the outward heate doth the yron And that the vitall spirites ascend to the braine when any thing is learned by heart we haue prooued heeretofore And euery bodily and spirituall exercise doth not drie yea the Phisitions affirme that the moderate fatteneth To the eighth argument we answer that there are two spices of melancholy one naturall which is the drosse of the blood whose temperature is cold and drie accompanied with a substance very grosse this serues not of any value for the wit but maketh men blockish sluggards and grynnars because they want imagination There is another sort which is called choler ad-ust or atra bile of which Aristotle sayd That it made men exceeding wise whose temperature is diuers as that of vinegre Sometimes it performeth the effects of heat lightning the earth and sometimes it cooleth but alwaies it is drie and of a very delicat substance Cicero confesseth that he was slow witted because he was not melancholike adust and he sayd true for if he had bene such he should not haue possessed so rare a gift of eloquence For the melancholicke adust want memorie to which appertaineth the speaking with great preparation It hath another qualitie which much aideth the vnderstanding namely that it is cleere like the Agatstone with which cleerenesse it giueth light within to the braine and maketh the same to discerne well the figures And of this opinion was Heraclitus when he sayd A drie cleerenesse maketh a most wise mind with which cleerenesse naturall melancholy is not endowed but his blacke is deadly and that the reasonable soule there within the braine standeth in need of light to discern the figures the shapes we will prooue hereafter To the ninth argument we answer that the prudence and readinesse of the mind which Galen speaketh of appertaineth to the imagination whereby we know that which is to come whence Cicero sayd Memorie is of things passed and Prudence of those to come The readinesse of the mind is that which commonly they call a sharpenesse in imagining and by other names craftines subtiltie cauelling wilinesse wherefore Cicero sayd Prudence is a subtiltie which with a certaine reason can make choise of good things and of euill This sort of Prudence and readinesse men of great vnderstanding do want because they lack imagination For which reason we see by experience in great scholers in this sort of learning which appertaineth to the vnderstanding that taking them from their bookes they are not woorth a rush to yeeld or receiue in trafficke of worldly affaires This spice of Prudence Galen sayd very well that it came of choler for Hippocrates recounting to Damagetus his friend in what case he found Democritus when he went to visit him for curing him writeth that he lay in the field vnder a plane tree bare legged and without breeches leaning against a stone with a booke in his hand and compassed about with brute beasts dead and dismembred Whereat Hippocrates maruailing asked him whereto those beasts of that fashion serued and he then answered that he was about to search what humour it was which made a man to be headlong craftie readie double and cauillous had found by making an anotomie of those wild beasts that choler was the cause of so discommendable a propertie and that to reuenge himselfe of craftie persons he would handle them as he had done the fox the serpent and the ape This manner of Prudence is not only odious to men but also S. Paule sayth of it The wisedome of the flesh is enemie to God The cause is assigned by Plato who affirmeth that knowledge which is remooued from iustice ought rather to be tearmed subtiltie than prudence as if he should haue sayd It is no reason that a knowledge which is seuered from iustice should be called wisedome but rather craft or maliciousnesse Of this the diuell euermore serueth himselfe to do men dammage and S. Iames said that this wisedome came not from heauen but is earthly beastly and diuelish There is found another spice of wisedome conioyned with reason and simplicitie and by this men know the good and shun the euill the which Galen affirmeth doth appertaine to the vnderstanding for this power is not capable of maliciousnesse doublenesse nor subtilty nor hath the skill how to do naught but is wholly vpright iust gentle and plaine A man endowed with this sort of wit is called vpright and simple wherethrough when Demosthenes went about to creepe into the good liking of the iudges in an oration which he made against Eschines he tearmed them vpright and simple in respect of the simplicitie of their dutie concerning which Cicero sayth Dutie is simple and the only cause of all good things For this sort of wisedome the cold and drie of melancholie is a seruing instrument but it behooueth that the same be composed of parts very subtile and delicat To the last doubt may be answered that when a man setteth himselfe to contemplat some truth which he would faine know and cannot by and by find it out the same groweth for that the braine wanteth his conuenient temperature but when a man standeth rauished in a contemplation the naturall heat that is in the vitall spirits and the arteriall blood run foorthwith to the head and the temperature of the braine enhaunceth it selfe vntill the same arriue to the tearme behooffull True it is that much musing to some dooth good and to some harme for if the brain want but a little to arriue to that point of conuenient heat it is requisit that he make but small stay in the contemplation and if it passe that point straightwaies the vnderstanding is driuen into a garboile by the ouer plentifull presence of the vitall spirits and
moisture and drouth For if fire bring in heate to the wood it is because they both possesse a body a quantitie wherof they are the subiect the which faileth in spirituall substances and admit as a thing yet impossible that bodily qualities might alter a spirituall substance what eies hath the diuell or the reasonable soule wherwith to see the colours and shapes of things or what smelling to receiue sauours or what hearing for musicke or what feeling to rest offended with much heat seeing that for all these bodily instruments are behooffull And if the reasonable soule being seuered from the bodie remaine agreeued and receiue anguish and sadnesse it is not possible that his nature should rest free from alteration or not come to corruption These difficulties and argumentes perplexed Galen and the other Philosophers of our times but with me they conclude nothing For when Aristotle affirmed that the chiefest propertie which substance had was to be subiect to accidents he restrained the same neither to bodily nor to spirituall for the propertie of the generall is equally partaked by the special and so he said that the accidentes of the bodie passe to the substance of the reasonable soule and those of the soule to the body on which principle he grounded himselfe to write all that which he vttered as touching Phisnomy especially that the accidents by which the powers receiue alteration are all spirituall without body and without quantitie or matter and so they grow to multiplie in a moment through their mean and passe through a glasse window without breaking the same And two contrarie accidents may be extended in one selfe subiect asmuch as possibly they can be In respect of which selfe qualitie Galen tearmeth them vndiuidable and the vulgar Philosophers intentionall and the matter being in this sort they may be verie well proportioned with the spirituall substance I cannot forgoe to thinke that the reasonable soule seuered from the body as also the diuell hath a power sightfull smelling hearing and feeling The which me seemeth is easie to be prooued For if it be true that their powers be known by meanes of their actions it is a thing certain that the diuell had a smelling power when he smelled that roote which Salomon commaunded should be applied to the nosthrils of the possessed And likewise that he had a hearing power seeing he heard the musicke which Dauid made to Saul To say then that the diuell receiued these qualities by his vnderstanding it is a matter not auouchable in the doctrine of the vulgar Philosophers For this power is spiritual and the obiects of the fiue senses are material and so it behooueth to seeke out some other powers in the reasonable soule and in the diuell to which they may carrie proportion And if not put case that the soule of the rich Glutton had obtained at the handes of Abraham that the soule of Lazarus should returne to the world to preach to his brethren and persuade them that they should become honest men to the end they might not passe to that place of torments where himselfe abode I demand now in what maner the soule of Lazarus should haue knowen to go to the citie and to those mens houses and if the same had met them by the way in company with others whether it could haue known them by sight and been able to diuersifie them from those who came with them and if those brethren of the rich glutton had inquired of the same who it was and who had sent it whether the same did partake anie power to heare their words The same may be demāded of the diuel when he folowed after Christ our redeemer hearing him to preach seeing the myracles which he did and in that disputation which they had togither in the wildernesse with what eares the diuell receiued the words and the answeres which Christ gaue vnto him Verily it betokens a want of vnderstanding to think that the diuell or the reasonable soule sundered from the bodie cannot know the obiects of the fiue senses albeit they want the bodily instruments For by the same reason I will prooue vnto them that the reasonable soule seuered from the bodie cannot vnderstand imagine nor performe the actions of memorie For if whilest the same abideth in the body it cannot see being depriued of eies neither can it discourse or remember if the braine be inflamed To say then that the reasonable soule seuered from the body cannot discourse because it hath no braine is a follie verie great the which is proued by the selfe history of Abraham Sonne remember that thou hast enioyed good things in thy life time and Lazarus likewise euill but now he is comforted and thou art tormented And besides all this there is placed betwixt you and vs a great Chaos in sort that those who would passe from hence to you cannot nor from you to vs. And he said I pray thee then O father that thou wilt send to my fathers house for I haue fiue brothers that he may yeeld testimony vnto them so as they come not also to this place of tormentes Whence I conclude that as these two soules discoursed betweene themselues and the rich glutton remembred that he had fiue brothers in his fathers house and Abraham brought to his remembrance the delicious life which he had liued in the world togither with Lazarus penance and this without vse of the braine so also the soules can see without bodily eyes heare without eares taste without a tongue smell without nosthrils and touch without sinewes and without flesh and that much better beyond comparison The like may be vnderstoode of the diuell for he partaketh the same nature with the reasonable soule All these doubts the soule of the rich glutton will very well resolue of whom S. Luke recounteth that being in hell he lifted vp his eies and beheld Lazarus who was in Abrahams bosome and with a loud voice sayd Father Abraham haue mercie on me send Lazarus that he may dip the point of his finger in water and coole my tongue for I am tormented in this flame Out of the passed doctrine and out of that which is there red we gather that the fire of hell burneth the soules and is materiall as this of ours and that the same annoied the rich glutton and the other soules by Gods ordinance with his heat and that if Lazarus had carried to him a pitcher of fresh water he should haue taken great refreshment thereof and the reason is verie plaine for if that soule could not endure to abide in the bodie through excessiue heate of the Feuer and when the same dranke fresh water the soule felt refreshment why may not we conceiue the like when the soule is vnited with the flames of the fire infernall The rich Gluttons lifting vp of his eies his thirstie tongue Lazarus finger are all names of the powers of the soule that so the scriptures might expresse them Those who
walke not in this path and ground not themselues on naturall philosophie vtter a thousand follies but yet hence it cannot be concluded that if the reasonable soule partake griefe and sorrow for that his nature is altered by contrarie qualities therefore the same is corruptible or mortall For ashes though they be compounded of the foure elementes and of action and power yet there is no naturall agent in the world which can corrupt thē or take from them the qualities that are agreeable to their nature The naturall temperature of ashes we all know to be cold and drie but though we cast them neuer so much into the fire they will not leese their radicall coldnesse which they enioy and albeit they remaine 100000. yeeres in the water it is impossible that being taken thence they hold any naturall moisture of their owne and yet for all this we cannot but grant that by fire they receiue heat and by water moisture But these two qualities are superficial in the ashes and endure a small time in the subiect for taken from the fire forthwith they become cold and from the water they abide not moyst an houre But there is offered a doubt in this discourse and reasoning of the rich Glutton with Abraham and that is How the soule of Abraham was indowed with better reason than that of the rich man it being alleaged before that all reasonable soules issued out of the bodie are of equall perfection and knowledge whereto we may answere in one of these two manners The first is that the Science and knowledge which the soule purchaseth whilest it remaineth in the bodie is not lost when a man dieth but rather groweth more perfect for he is freed from some errors The soule of Abraham departed out of this life replenished with wisedome and with many reuelations and secrets which God communicated vnto him as his very friend but that of the rich glutton it behooued that of necessitie it should depart away ignorant first by reason of his sinne which createth ignorance in a man and next for that riches heerein worke a contrarie effect vnto pouertie this giueth a man wit as heereafter we may well prooue and prosperitie reaueth it away There may also another answere be giuen after our doctrine and it is this that the matter of which these two soules disputed was schoole diuinitie For to know whether abiding in hell there were place for mercie and whether Lazarus might passe vnto hell and whether it were conuenient to send a deceased person to the world who should giue notice to the liuing of the torments which the damned there indured are all schoole-points whose decision appertaineth to the vnderstanding as heereafter I will make proofe and amongst the first qualities there is none which so much garboileth this power as excessiue heat with which the rich Glutton was so tormented But the soule of Abraham made his abode in a place most temperate where it inioyed great delight and refreshment and therefore it bred no great woonder that the same was better able to dispute I concluding then that the reasonable soule and the diuell in their operations vse the seruice of materiall qualities and that by some they rest agreeued and by other some they receiue contentment And for this reason they couet to make abode in some places and flie from some other and yet notwithstanding are not corruptible CHAP. VIII How there may be assigned to euerie difference of wit his Science which shalbe correspondent to him in particular and that which is repugnant and contrarie be abandoned ALl artes saith Cicero are placed vnder certaine vniuersall principles which being learned with studie and trauaile finally we so grow to attaine vnto them but the art of poesie is in this so speciall as if God or nature make not a man a Poet little auailes it to deliuer him the precepts and rules of versifieng For which cause he said thus The studying and learning of other matters consisteth in precepts and in artes but a Poet taketh the course of nature it selfe and is stirred vp by the forces of the minde and as it were inflamed by a certaine diuine spirit But heerein Cicero swarued from reason for verily there is no Science or Art deuised in the common-wealth which if a man wanting capacitie for himselfe to apply he shall reape anie profit thereof albeit he toyle all the daies of his life in the precepts and rules of the same But if he applie himselfe to that which is agreeable with his naturall abilitie we see that he will learne in two daies The like we say of Poesie without any difference that if hee who hath anie answerable nature giue himselfe to make verses he performeth the same with great perfection and if otherwise he shall neuer be good Poet. This being so it seemeth now high time to learne by way of Art what difference of Science is answerable in particular to what difference of wit to the end that euerie one may vnderstand with distinction after he is acquainted with his owne nature to what Art he hath a naturall disposition The Arts and Sciences which are gotten by the memorie are these following Latine Grammer or of whatsoeuer other language the Theoricke of the lawes Diuinitie positiue Cosmography and Arithmeticke Those which appertaine to the vnderstanding are Schoole diuinitie the Theoricke of Phisicke logicke natural and morall Philosophy and the practicke of the lawes which we tearme pleading From a good imagination spring all the Arts and Sciences which consist in figure correspondence harmonie and proportion such are Poetrie Eloquence Musicke and the skill of preaching the practise of Phisicke the Mathematicals Astrologie and the gouerning of a Common-wealth the art of Warfare Paynting drawing writing reading to be a man gratious pleasant neat wittie in managing all the engins deuises which artificers make besides a certain speciall gift whereat the vulgar maruelleth and that is to endite diuers matters vnto foure who write togither and yet all to be penned in good sort Of all this we cannot make euident demonstration nor proue euerie point by it selfe For it were an infinite peece of worke notwithstanding by making proofe thereof in three or foure Sciences the same reason will afterwardes preuaile for the rest In the catalogue of Sciences which we said appertained to the memorie we placed the latine tongue and such other as all the nations in the world do speake the which no wise man wil denie for tongues were deuised by men that they might communicate amongst themselues and expresse one to another their conceits without that in them there lie hid any other mistery or naturall principles for that the first deuisers agreed togither and after their best liking as Aristotle saith framed the words and gaue to euerie ech his signification From hence arose so great a number of wordes and so manie maners of speech so farre besides rule and reason that if a man had not a good
towardly to make clocks pictures poppets other ribaldries which are impertinent for mans seruice Aegypt alone is the region which ingendereth in his inhabitants this differēce of imagination wherthrough the Historiens neuer make an end of telling how great enchaunters the Aegyptians are and how readie for obtaining things and finding remedies to their necessities Ioseph to exaggerat the wisedome of Salomon sayd in this manner So great was the knowledge and wisedome which Salomon receiued of God that he outpassed al the ancients and euen the very Egyptians who were reputed the wisest of all others And Plato also sayd that the Aegyptians exceeded all the men of the world in skill how to get their liuing which abilitie appertaineth to the imagination And that this is true may plainly appeare for that all the sciences belonging to the imagination were first deuised in Aegypt as the Mathematicks Astrologie Arithmeticke Perspectiue Iudiciarie and the rest But the argument which most ouer-ruleth me in this behalfe is that whē Francis of Valois king of France was molested by a long infirmitie and saw that the Phisitions of his houshold and court could yeeld him no remedy he would say euery time when his feuer increased It was not possible that any Christiā Phisition could cure him neither at their hands did he euer hope for recouerie wherethrough one time agreeued to see himselfe thus vexed with this feuer he dispatched a post into Spaine praieng the emperour Charles the fifth that he would send him a Iew Phisition the best of his court touching whom he had vnderstood that he was able to yeeld him remedie for his sicknesse if by art it might be effected At this request the Spaniards made much game and all of them concluded it was an humorous conceit of a man whose brains were turmoiled with the feuer But for all this the Emperour gaue commandement that such a Phisition should be sought out if anie there were though to find him they should be driuen to send out of his dominions and whē none could be met withall he sent a Phisition newly made a Christian supposing that he might serue to satisfie the kings humour But the Phisition being arriued in France and brought to the kings presence there passed between them a gratious discourse in which it appeared that the Phisition was a Christian and therefore the king would receiue no phisicke at his hands The king with opinion which he had conceiued of the phisition that he was an Hebrue by way of passing the time asked him whether he were not as yet weary in looking for the Messias promised in the law The phisition answered Sir I expect not any Messias promised in the Iews law You are verie wise in that replied the king for the tokens which were deliuered in the diuine scripture whereby to know his comming are all fulfilled many daies ago This number of daies reioyned the phisition we Christians do well reckon for there are now finished 1542 yeares that he came and conuersed in the world 33 yeares in the end of which he died on the crosse and the third day rose again and afterwards ascended into heauen where he now remaineth Why then quoth the king you are a Christian yea Sir by the grace of God I am a Christian quoth the phisition then answered the king return you home to your own dwelling in good time for in mine owne house and court I haue Christian phisitions very excellent and I held you for a Iew who in mine opinion are those that haue best naturall abilitie to cure my disease After this maner he licenced him without once suffering him to feele his pulse or see his state or telling him one word of his griefe And forthwith he sent to Constantinople for a Iew who healed him with the onely milke of a she Asse This imagination of king Francis as I think was verie true and I haue so conceiued it to be for that in the great hot distemperatures of the brain I haue prooued tofore how the imagination findeth out that which the partie being sound could neuer haue done And because it shall not seem that I haue spoken in iest and without relying herein vpon a materiall ground you shall vnderstand that the varieties of men aswell in the compositions of the body as of the wit and conditions of the soule spring from their inhabiting countries of different temperature from drinking diuers waters and from not vsing all of them one kind of food Wherein Plato said Some through variable windes and heats are amongst themselues diuers in maners and kinds others through the waters and food which spring of the earth who not only in their bodies but in their minds also can skill to do things better and woorse as if he should say some men are different from others either by reason of the contrarie aire or through drinking seuerall waters or for that they feed not all vpon one kind of meat and this difference is discerned not only in the countenaunce and demeanure of the body but also in the wit of the soule If I then shall now prooue that the people of Israell dwelt many yeares in Aegypt and that departing from thence they did eat drinke waters meats which are appropriat to make this difference of imagination I shal then yeeld a demonstration for the opinion of the king of France and by consequence we shall vnderstand what wits of men are in Spaine to be made choice of for studieng the art of Phisicke As touching the first we must know that Abraham asking tokens whereby to be assured that he or his descendents should possesse the land of promise the text sayth that whilest he slept God made him answer saying Know that thy seed shall bee a stranger in a countrie not his owne and they shall make them vnderlings in bondage and afflict them for 400 yeares notwithstanding I will iudge that nation whom they serue and after this they shall depart from thence with great substance which Prophesie was accomplished albeit God for certaine respects added therevnto 30 yeares more for which cause the scripture sayth But the aboad of the children of Israell in Aegypt was 430 yeares which being finished that very day the whole armie of the Lord departed out of the land of Aegypt But although this text say manifestly that the people of Israell abode in Aegypt 400 yeares a glosse declareth that thefe yeares were the whole time which Israell went on pilgrimage vntill he possessed his own countrie In as much as he remained in Aegypt but 210 yeates which declaration agreeth not well with that which S. Stephen the Prothomartyr made in his discourse to the Iewes namely that the people of Israell was 430 yeares in the bondage of Aegypt And albeit the abode of 210 yeares suffised that the qualities of Aegypt might take hold in the people of Israell yet the time whiles they liued abroad was no lost season in respect of that which
appertaineth to the wit for those who liue in bondage in miserie in affliction and in strange countries engender much choler adust because they want libertie of speech and of reuenging their iniuries and this humour when the same is grown drie becommeth the instrument of subtiltie of craft and of malice whence we see by experience that if a man rake hell for bad maners and conditions he cannot find woorse than in a slaue whose imagination alwaies occupieth itselfe in deuising how to procure dammage to his maister and freedome to himselfe Moreouer the land which the people of Israell walked through was not much estranged nor different from the qualities of Aegypt for in respect of the miserie thereof God promised Abraham to giue him another much more aboundant and fruitfull And this is a matter greatly verefied as well in good naturall Philosophie as in experience that barraine and beggerly regions not fat nor plentifull of fruit engender men of very sharpe wit And contrariwise abundant and fertile soils bring foorth persons big limmed couragious and of great bodily forces but very slow of wit Touching Greece the Historiens neuer make an end to recount how appropriat that region is to breed men of great habilitie and particularly Galen auoucheth that it is held a miracle for a man to find a foole in Athens And we must note that this was a citie the most miserable and most barren of all the rest in Greece Whence we collect that through the qualities of Egipt and of the Prouinces where the Hebrue people liued they grew verie quick of capacitie But it behooueth likewise to vnderstand for what cause the temperature of Aegypt produceth this difference of imagination And this wil fall out a plain matter when you are done to ware that in this region the sunne yeeldeth a feruent heat and therfore the inhabitants haue their brain dried and choler adust the instrument of wilinesse and aptnesse In which sense Aristotle demandeth why the men of Aethiopia Aegypt haue their feet crooked are commonly curlpated and flat nosed to which probleme he answereth that the much heat of the countrey rosteth the substance of these members and wrieth them as it draweth togither a peece of leather set by the fire and for the same cause their haire curleth and themselues also are wily And that such as inhabit hot countries are wiser than those who are born in cold regions we haue alreadie prooued by the opinion of Aristotle who demandeth whence it grows that men are wiser in hot climats than in cold But he wist not to answer this probleme nor make distinction of wisdome for we haue prooued heretofore that in man there rest two sorts of wisdome one whereof Plato said Knowledge which is seuered from Iustice ought rather to be termed craft than wisdome another there is found accompanied with iustice and simplicity without doublenesse and without wiles and this is properly called Wisdome for it goeth alwaies guided by iustice and dutie They who inhabit very hot countries are wise in the first kind of wisedom and such are those of Aegypt Now let vs see when the people of Israel was departed out of Aegypt and come into the desart what meat they did eat what water they dranke and of what temperature the aire was where they trauailed that we may know whether vpon this occasion the wit with which they issued out of bondage took exchange or whether the same were more confirmed in them Fortie yeares saith the text God maintaind this people with Manna a meat so delicat and sauoury as any might be that euer men tasted in the world In sort that Moses seeing the delicacie and goodnesse therof commanded his brother Aaron to fill a vessell and place the same in the Arke of confederacie to the end the descendents of this people when they were setled in the land of promise might see the bread with which God had fed their fathers whiles they liued in the wildernesse and how bad paiment they yeelded him in exchange of such cherishments And to the end that we who haue notseen this meat may know of what maner the same was it will do well that we describe the Manna which nature maketh and so adioining therunto the conceit of a great delicacie we may wholly imagine his goodnesse The materiall cause of which Manna is engendred is a very delicat vapour which the sunne with the force of his heat draweth vp from the earth the which taking stay aloft is concocted and made perfect and then the cold of the night cōming on it congealeth and through his waightinesse turneth to fall vpon the trees and stones where men gather the same and preserue it in vessels to serue for food It is called Deawy and Airy honny through the resemblance which it beareth to the deaw and for that it is made in the aire His colour is white his sauour sweet as honny his figure like that of Coriander which signes the holy Scripture placeth also in the Manna which the people of Israel did eat and therfore I carry an imagination that both were semblable in nature But if that which God created were of more delicat substance so much the better shall we confirme our opinion But I am euer of opinion that God applied himself to naturall means when with them he could performe what he meant and where nature wanted his omnipotencie supplied This I say because to giue them Manna to eat in the desart besides that which heerby he would signifie me seemeth was founded in the selfe disposition of the earth which euen at this day produceth the best Manna in the world through which Galen affirmeth that on Mount Libanus which is not far distant frō this place there is great and very choice abundance in sort that the countrie people are wont to sing in their pastimes That Iupiter raineth honny in that region And though it be true that God miraculously created that Manna in such quantitie at such time and on speciall daies yet it may be that it partaked the same nature with ours as had also the water which Moses drew forth of the rocke and the fire which Elias with his word caused to rain from heauen all of them naturall things though miraculously brought to passe The Manna described by the holy Scripture it saith was as deaw as the seed of Coriander white in tast like honny which conditions are also in the Manna produced by nature The temperature of this meat the Phisitions say is hot and consisting of subtile and verie delicat parts which composition the Manna eaten by the Iews should also seeme to haue whereon complaining of his tendernesse they said in this maner Our soule hath a fulsomnesse at this slight meat as if they should say that they could no longer endure nor brook so light a meat in their stomacke and the Philosophie of this was that their stomacks had been made strong by onions chibals and leeks and
comming to eat a meat of so small resistance it wholly with them turned into choler And for this cause Galen gaue the charge that men endowed with much naturall heat should forbeare to eat honny or other light meats for they would turne to corruption and in steed of digestion would partch vp like soot The like heereof befell to the Hebrues as touching Manna which with them wholly turned into choler adust and therefore they were altogither drie and thin for this meat had no corpulencie to fatten them Our soule said they is drie and our eies see nothing but Manna The water which they dranke after this meat was such as they would desire and if they could not find any such God shewed to Moses a wood of so diuine vertue that dipping the same in grosse and salt waters it made them to become delicat and of good sauor and when they had no sort of water at all Moses took the rod with which he had parted the red Sea and striking therewith the rocks there issued springs of waters so delicat and sauourie as their tast could desire In sort that S. Paul saith The rocke followed them as if he should say The water of the rocke seconded their tast issuing delicat sweet and sauourie And they had accustomed their stomacks before to drinke waters thicke and brinish for in Aegypt saith Galen they boiled them ere they could serue for drinke for that they were naughty and corrupt so as afterwards drinking waters so delicat it could not fall out otherwise but that they should turn into choler for that they found small resistance Water requireth the same qualities to digest well in our stomacke saith Galen not to corrupt that the meat hath wheron we accustomably feed If the stomack be strong it behooueth to giue the same strong meat which may answer in proportion if the same be weake and delicat such also the meat ought to be The like regard is to be held as touching the water where-through we see by experience that if a man vse to drinke grosse water he neuer quencheth his thirst with the purer neither feeleth it in his stomacke Rather the same encreaseth his thirst for the excessiue heat of the stomacke burneth and resolueth it so soon as it is receiued because therein is no resistance The aire which they enioyed in the desert we may also say that it was subtile and delicat for iournieng ouer mountains and through vninhabited places they had the same alwaies fresh clensed and without anie corruption for they neuer made long stay in any one place So did it alwaies carrie a temperature for by day a cloud was set before the sunne which suffered him not to scorch ouer vehemently and by night a piller of fire which moderated the same And to enioy an aire of this maner Aristotle affirmeth doth much quicken the wit VVe may consider then that the men of this folke must needs haue a seed verie delicat and adust eating such meat as Manna was and drinking the waters before specified and breathing and enioying an aire so clensed and pleasant as also that the Hebrue women bred flowers very subtile and delicat Againe let vs call to mind that which Aristotle said that the flowres being subtile and delicat the child who is bred of them shalbe a man of great capacitie How much it importeth that for begetting children of great sufficiencie the fathers do feed on delicat meats we wil prooue at large in the last chapter of this worke And because all the Hebrues did eat of one selfe so spirituall and delicat meat and dranke of one selfe water all their children and posteritie prooued sharp and great of wit in matters appertaining to this world Now then when the people of Israel came into the land of promise with so great a wit as we haue expressed there befell vnto them afterwards so many trauails dearths siedges of enimies subiections bondages and ill intreatings that though they had not brought from Aegypt and the wildernesse that temperature hot drie and adust before specified they would yet haue made it so by this dismall life for continuall sadnesse and toil vniteth the vitall spirits and the arteriall bloud in the brain in the liuer and in the heart and there staying one aboue another they grow to drinesse and adustion Where-through oft times they procure the feuer and their ordinarie is to make melancholie by adustiō wherof they in maner do all partake euen to this day in respect of that which Hippocrates saith Feare and sadnesse continuing a long time signifieth melancholie This choler adust we said before to be the instrument of promptnesse craftinesse sharpnesse subtiltie and maliciousnesse And this is applied to the coniectures of Phisicke and by the same a man getteth notice of the diseases their causes and remedies Wherfore king Francis vnderstood this maruellous well and it was no lightnesse of the brain or inuention of the diuell which he vttered But through his great feuer lasting so manie daies and with the sadnesse to find himselfe sicke and without remedy his brain grew dry and his imagination rose to such a point of which we made proofe tofore that if it haue the temperature behooffull a man will on a sodain deliuer that which he neuer learned But there presents it selfe a dufficultie very great against all these things rehearsed by vs and that is that if the children or nephews of those who were in Aegypt and enioyed the Manna the waters and the subtle aire of the wildernesse had been made choice of for phisitions it might seeme that king Francis opinion were in some part probable for the reasons by vs reported But that their posteritie should preserue till our daies those dispositions of the Manna the water the aire the afflictions and the trauails which their ancestors endured in the prison of Babilon it is a matter hard to be conceiued for if in 430 yeares during which the people of Israel liued in Aegypt and 40 in the desart their seed could purchase those dispositions of abilitie better and with more facilitie could they leese it again in 2000 yeares whilest they haue been absent And specially sithence their comming into Spain a region so contrarie to Aegypt and where they haue fed vpon different meats and druncke waters of nothing so good temperature and substance as those other This is agreeable to the nature of man and whatsoother liuing creature and plant which forthwith partaketh the conditions of the earth where they liue and leese those which they brought with thē from elswhere And whatsoeuer instance they can alleage the like will betide it within few daies beyond all gainsaying Hippocrates recounteth of a certain sort of men who to be different from the vulgar chose for a token of their nobilitie to haue their head like a sugar-loafe And to shape this figure by art when the child was born the mid-wiues tooke care to bind their heads with sweaths and bands vntill
Besides this meat children did eat cracknels of white bread of very delicat water with honny and a little salt but in steed of vinegar for that the same is very noisome and dammageable to the vnderstanding they shall adde thereunto butter of Goats-milke whose temperature substance is appropriat for the wit But in this regiment grows an inconuenience verie great namely that children vsing so delicat meats shall not possesse sufficient strength to resist the iniuries of the aire neither can defend themselues from other occasions which are woont to breed maladies So by making thē become wise they will fall out to be vnhealthful and liue a small time This difficulty demandeth in what sort children may be brought vp witty and wise and yet the matter so handled as it may no way gainsay their healthfulnes VVhich shall easily be effected if the parentes dare to put in practise some rules and precepts which I wil prescribe And because deinty people are deceiued in bringing vp their childrē and they treat stil of this matter I wil first assigne them the cause why their children though they haue Schoolemaisters and tutors and themselues take such pains at their booke yet they come away so meanly with the sciences as also in what sort they may remedy this without that they abridge their life or hazard their health Eight things saith Hippocrates make mans flesh moist fat The 1 to be merry and to liue at hearts ease the 2 to sleepe much the 3 to lie in a soft bed the 4 to fare well the fifth to be well apparelled and furnished the sixth to ride alwaies on horsebacke the seuenth to haue our will the eighth to be occupied in plaies and pastimes and in things which yeeld contentment and pleasure All which is a veritie so manifest as if Hippocrates had not affirmed it none durst denie the same Only we may doubt whether delicious people doe alwaies obserue this maner of life but if it be true that they do so we may well conclude that their seed is very moist and that the children which they beget will of necessitie ouer-abound in superfluous moisture which it behooueth first to be consumed for this qualitie sendeth to ruine the operations of the reasonable soule And moreouer the Phisitions say that it maketh them to liue a short space and vnhealthfull By this it should seeme that a good wit and a sound bodily health require one selfe qualitie Namely drouth wherethrough the precepts and rules which we are to lay downe for making children wise will serue likewise to yeeld them much health and long life It behooueth them so soone as a childe is borne of delicious parents inasmuch as their constitution consisteth of more cold and moist than is conuenient for childhood to wash him with salt hote water which by the opinion of all phisitions soketh vp and drieth the flesh giueth soundnesse to the sinews and maketh the child strong and manly and by consuming the ouermuch moisture of his braine enableth him with wit and freeth-him from many deadly infirmities Contrariwise the bath being of water fresh and hot in that the same moisteneth the flesh saith Hippocrates it breedeth fiue annoiances Namely effeminating of the flesh weaknesse of sinews dulnesse of spirits fluxes of bloud and basenesse of stomacke But if the child issue out of his mothers belly with excessiue drinesse it is requisit to washe the same with hote fresh water Therfore Hippocrates said children are to be washed a long time with hote water to the end they may receiue the lesse annoiance by the crampe and that they may grow and be well coloured but for certaine this must be vnderstood of those who come forth drie out of their mothers belly in whom it behooueth to amend their euill temperature by applying vnto them contrarie qualities The Almains saith Galen haue a custome to wash their children in a riuer so soon as they are born them seeming that as the iron which commeth burning hot out of the forge is made the stronger if it be dipped in cold water so when the hot child is taken out of the mothers wombe it yeeldeth him of greater force and vigour if he be washed in fresh water This thing is condemned by Galen for a beastly practise and that with great reason for put case that by this way the skinne is hardened and closed and not easie to be altered by the iniuries of the aire yet will it rest offended by the excrements which are engendred in the body for that the same is not of force nor open so as they may be exhaled and passe forth But the best and safest remedie is to wash the children who haue superfluous moisture with hot salt water for their excessiue moisture consuming they are the neerer to health and the way through the skinne being stopped in them they cannot receiue annoiance by any occasion Neither are the inward excrements therefore so shut vp that there are not waies left open for them where they may come out And nature is so forcible that if they haue taken from her a common way she will seeke out another to serue her turne And when all others faile she can skill to make new waies wherethrough to send out what doth her dammage VVherefore of two extreames it is more auaileable for health to haue a skinne hard and somewhat close than thinne and open The second thing requisit to be performed when the child shalbe born is that we make him acquainted with the winds and with change of aire not keep him still locked vp in a chamber for else it will become weake womanish peeuish of feeble strength and within three or foure daies giue vp the ghost Nothing saith Hippocrates so much weakeneth the flesh as to abide still in warme places and to keepe our selues from heate and cold Neither is there a better remedie for healthfull liuing than to accustome our body to al winds hot cold moist and dry Wherethrough Aristotle enquireth what the cause is that such as liue in the Gallies are more healthy better colored than those who inhabit a plashy soil And this difficulty groweth greater considering the hard life which they lead sleeping in their clothes in the open aire against the sun in the cold the water faring withall so coursly The like may be demanded as touching shepheards who of all other men enioy the soundest health it springeth because they haue made a league with al the seueral qualities of the aire and their nature dismaieth at nothing Cōtrariwise we plainly see that if a man giue himselfe to liue deliciously and to beware that the sun the cold the euening nor the wind offend him within 3 daies he shalbe dispatched with a post letter to another world Therfore it may well be said he that loueth his life in this world shal leese it for there is no man that can preserue himself from the alteration of the aire therfore it is
combers and therefore molested by that passion to driue the same from them doe marrie wiues Of such Galen saith that they haue the instruments of generation very hot and dry and for this cause breed seed verie pricking apt for procreation A man then who goeth seeking a woman not his owne is replenished with this fruitfull digested and well seasoned seed Whence it followeth of force that he make the generation for where both are equall the mans seed carrieth the greatest efficacie and if the son be shaped of the seed of such a father it ensueth of necessitie that he resemble him The contrarie betideth in lawfull children who for that married men haue their wiues euer couched by their sides neuer take regard to ripen the seed or to make it apt for procreation but rather vpon euery light enticement yeeld the same from them vsing great violence and stirring whereas women abiding quiet during the carnall act their seed vessels yeeld not their seed saue when it is well concoct and seasoned Therfore married women do alwaies make the engendring and their husbands seed serueth for aliment But somtimes it comes to passe that both the seeds are matched in equall perfection and cumbat in such sort as both the one and the other take effect in the forming and so is a child shaped who resembleth neither father nor mother Another time it seemeth that they agree vpon the matter part the likenesse between them the seed of the father maketh the nosthrils and the eies and that of the mother the mouth and the forehead And which carrieth most maruell it hath so fallen out that the sonne hath taken one eare of his father and another of his mother and so the like in his eies But if the fathers seed do altogither preuaile the childe retaineth his nature and his conditions and when the seed of the mother swaieth most the like reason taketh effect Therefore the father who coueteth that his child may be made of his owne seed ought to withdraw himselfe for some daies from his wife and stay till all his seed be concocted and ripened and then it will fall out certain that the forming shall proceed from him and the wifes seed shall serue for nourishment The second doubt by meanes of that we haue said already beareth little difficultie for bastard children are ordinarily made of seed hote and dry and from this temperature as we haue oftentimes prooued heretofore spring courage brauerie and a good imagination whereto this wisdome of the world appertaineth And because the seed is digested and well seasoned nature effecteth what she likes best and pourtraieth those children as with a pensill To the third doubt may be answered that the conceiuing of lewd women is most commonly wrought by the mans seed and because the same is drie and verie apt for issue it fasteneth it selfe in the woman with verie strong rootes but the childe breeding of married women being wrought by their own seed occasioneth that the creature easily vnlooseth because the same was moist and watry or as Hippocrates saith full of mustinesse What diligences are to be vsed for preseruing the childrens wit after they are formed §. 5. THe matter wherof man is compounded prooueth a thing so alterable and so subiect to corruption that at the instant when he beginneth to be shaped he like wise beginneth to be vntwined and to alter and therin can find no remedy For it was said so soon as we are born we faile to be Wherthrough nature prouided that in mans body there should be 4 natural faculties attractiue retētiue concoctiue expulsiue The which concocting altering the aliments which we eate returne to repaire the substance that was lost ech succeeding in his place By this we vnderstand that it little auaileth to haue engendred a child of delicat seed if we make no reckoning of the meates which afterwards we feed vpon For the creation being finished there remaineth not for the creature any part of the substance wherof it was first composed True it is that the first seed if the same be well concocted and seasoned possesseth such force that digesting altering the meats it maketh them though they be bad and grosse to turne to his good temperature and substance but we may so far forth vse contrary meats as the creature shall loose those good qualities which it receiued from the seed wherof it was made therefore Plato said that one of the things which most brought mans wit and his manners to ruine was his euill bringing vp in diet For which cause he counselled that we should giue vnto children meats and drinks delicat and of good temperature to the end that when they grow big they may know how to abandon the euil to embrace the good The reason hereof is very cleere For if at the bginning the braine was made of delicat seed and that this member goeth euerie day impairing and consuming and must be repaired with the meats which we eat it is certaine if these being grosse and of euill temperature that vsing them many daies togither the braine will become of the same nature Therefore it sufficeth not that the child be borne of good seed but also it behooueth that the meat which he eateth after he is formed and borne bee endowed with the same qualities What these be it carrieth no great difficultie to manifest if you presuppose that the Greekes were the most discreet men of the world and that enquiring after aliments and food to make their children witty and wise they found the best and most appropriat For if the subtile and delicate wit consist in causing that the braine be compounded of partes subtile and of good temperature that meate which aboue all others partaketh these two qualities shalbe the same which it behooueth vs to vse for obteining our end Galen and all the Greeke Phisitions say that Goats milke boiled with honny is the best meat which any man can eat for besides that it hath a moderate substance therein the heat exceedeth not the cold nor the moist the drie Therefore we said some few leaues past that the parentes whose will earnestly leadeth them to haue a childe wise prompt and of good conditions must eat much Goats milke boiled with honny 7 or 8 daies before the copulationut-Balbeit this aliment is so good as Galen speaketh of yet it falleth out a matter of importance for the wit that the meate consist of moderate substance and of subtile partes For how much the finer the matter becommeth in the nourishment of the braine so much the more is the wit sharpened For which cause the Greekes drew-out of the milke cheese and whey which are the two grosse aliments of his composition and left the butter which in nature resembleth the aire This they gaue in food to their children mingled with honny with intention to make them witty and wise And that this is the trueth is plainly seen by that which Homer recounteth