named Sipians The meruellous effectes of fire are most woonderous and most straungest ¶ Of the worlde and of the soule of man with diuers and sundrie opinions of the Philosophers about the same AMongst diuers Philosophers and learned men grewe a great controuersie of the beginning of the worlde some of the best affirming that it had no beginning nor can haue ende as Aristotle and and Plato applying incorruption and perpetuall reuolution to the same Some with Epicurus thought the world shoulde be consumed Of this opinion was Empedocles and Heraclitus Some of the other side did iudge with Pithagoras that so much of the worlde shoulde be destroyed as was of his owne nature Thus helde they seuerall opinions concerning the making the beginning the ending and the numbers of the worlde Thales sayde there was but one worlde agréeing with Empedocles Democritus affirmeth infinite worldes and so iudged Metrodorus the Philosopher worldes to be innumerable What child is of this age but smileth at their folly reasoning largly one against another in applying the cause and the effect of thinges vnto their owne inuentions And as they haue iudged diuersly of the worlde concerning the frame and nature thereof so were they as farre from the true vnderstanding of the creation of man Some grosly thought that mankinde had no beginning Some iudged that it had a beginning by the superiour bodyes And for the antiquity of mankind some iudge Egypt to be the first people some Scythia some Thracia some this countrey and some that countrey with such phantasticall inuentions as may well appeare vnto the most ignoraunt an errour And alas howe simple are they in finding out the substaunce of the soule what it shoulde bée where it shoulde be and by what it shoulde bée some say that there is no soule but a naturall moouing as Crates the Theban some iudge the soule to bée nothing else but fire or heate betwéene the vndeuidible partes Others thought it an ayre receyued into the mouth tempered in the heart boyled in the lights and dispersed through the body Of this opinion was Anaxagoras and also Anaximenes Hippias iudged the soule of man to be water Thales and Heliodorus affirme it to be earth Empedocles is of opinion that it is hote blood about the heart so that they varye in sundry opinions attributing the cause thereof eyther to the fire or else vnto water eyther vnto the earth or vnto the ayre and some vnto the complexion of the foure Elementes others of earth and fire others of water and fire Some againe reason that the substaunce of the soule is of fire and of the ayre And thus of approued Philosophers they shewe themselues simple innocentes How ignoraunt were they in defining the soule of man so far disagréeing one with an other that Zenocrates thinketh againe the soule to be but a number that mooues it selfe which all the Egyptians sometime consented vnto Aristotle himselfe the Prince of all Philosophers and his maister Plato shewed in this their shifting reason which both agrée that the soule is a substaunce which mooueth it selfe Some so rude and so farre from perfection in this poynt that they thought the heart to bée the soule some the braine Howe ridiculous and foolishe séemeth their assertion vnto this age concerning the soule and as childishly they dispute reason againe about the placing of the same where and in what place of the bodie the soule resteth For Democritus iudgeth the heade to be his seat Parmenides in the breast Herophilus in the ventricles of the braine Strato doth thinke that the soule was in the space betwéene the eie browe yea some were so foolishe to iudge it to be the eare as Zerxes king of Persea did Epicurus in all the breast Diogines supposed it to be in a hollowe vaine of the heart Empedocles in the bloode Plato Aristotle and other that were of the best and truest philosophers iudged the soule to be indifferent in all partes of the bodye Some supposed of the wisest that euery péece and parcell of the bodie hadde his proper soule In this againe they were much in séeking a proper seate for the soule deceyued euen as before they erred shamefully and lied manifesty about the essence and substaunce of the soule so now were they most simplye beguiled in placing the soule as you haue hearde And now after I haue opened their seuerall opinions concerning what the soule is and where the soule is you shall here likewise heare whither the soule shall go after death according vnto the Philosophers which as diuersly vary and disagrée in this as you before hearde their diuersitie of opinions concerning the substance the place And first to begin with Democritê° who iudgeth y e soule to be mortall that it shall perish with the body to this agrée Epicurê° Plini Pythagoras iudged that the soule is immortall and when the body dieth it fléeth vnto his kinde Aristotle is in this that some partes of the soule which haue corporall seates must dye with the body but that the vnderstanding of the soule which is no instrument of the body is perpetuall The people called Drynda were of this iudgement that soules should not discende vnto Hell but shoulde passe vnto another worlde as the Philosophers called Essei which suppose that the soules of the dead do liue in great felicity beyonde the Ocean Seas The Egyptians auntient people iudged with Pythagoras that the soules of men shoulde passe from one place vnto another and then to enter vnto another man againe The Stoicks are of that opinion that the soule forsaketh the body in such sort that the soule which is diseased in this life and aduaunced by so vertuous death together with the body but they iudge it if it bée adurned with noble and heroicall vertues that it bée accompanied with euerlasting natures Diuers of the Pagans holde that the soule is immortal but yet they suppose that reasonable soules enter into vnreasonable bodyes as into Plantes or Trées for a certen space There were againe some friuolous Philosophers as Euripides and Archelaus which say that men first grew out of the earth in maner of Hearbes lyke vnto the fables of Poets which faine that men grew of the sowen téeth of Serpentes Some againe very childishly affirme that there bée nine degrées of punishment or rather nine Mansions in Hell appointed and prepared for the soule The first seate is appointed for young Infantes The seconde for idiotes and fooles I feare that place wyll bée well filled The thirde for them that kyll them selues The fourth for them that bée tormented with loue The fift for those that were founde gyltie before Iudges The sixt appointed for strong men and champions The seuenth is a place where the soules bee purged The eight seate is where the soules beyng purged do rest The ninth and last is the pleasaunt fielde Elisâ—us And to
with simplicitie and slauerye The Carthaginean false and deceitfull The Babilonian wicked and corrupted The Persean a drunkarde and a glutton The Sycilian warye and trustye so the cruelnesse of the Caspians the filthinesse of the Lesbians the dronkennesse of the Scythians the fornication of the Corinthians the rudenesse of the Boetians the ignoraunce of the Symmerians the beastlinesse of the Sybarites the hardinesse of y e Lacedemonians the delicacie of the AtheniaÌ„s and y e pride glory of the Romanes Thus we reade that the Spaniards be the greatest trauellers the greatest despisers The Italian prowde and desirous to reuenge The Frenchman pollitike and rashe The Germain a warriour The Saxon a dissembler The Sweuian a light talkatiue person The Brytaine a busie bodie The Cimbrian sedicious and horrible The Boemian vngentle and desirous of newes The Vandall a mutable wrangler The Bauarian a flouter and a scoffer Thus much are incident vnto the aforesayd nations by nature But bicause in this place it were somewhat vnto the purpose to delare the glorie and state of Româ— which of al the world we estéemed feared And for that Rome had more enimies than all the whole worlde beside to shewe briefely how they florished how theyr fame spreade and their glorie grew I thinke it expedient not medling with the antiquitie thereof in the time of Ianus and Cameses but touching their fame by doing of wars in the time of Romulus which being begotten of Mars of Rhea a Uestall Uirgin was the first builder of that Citie also King thereof This king Romulus warred on the Sabins after he had elected a hundred Senatours to discerne and iudge causes of the Citie to defende Iustice and practise the same and to punish vice wronges according to the law of Plato who willed euery common welth to be gouerned with reward vnto the vertuous and punishement vnto the vicious Againe he appoynted certaine souldiers vnto the number of one M. to be in a redinesse alwaies to defend the Citie After Romulus succéeded Numa Pompilius the seconde King a man very religious and pitifull hée in his time made lawes to obserue rites sacrifices and ceremonies to worship their gods He made Bishops and Priestes he appointed the Uestal Uirgines and all that belong thervnto Thirdly came Tullius Hostilius to bée king in Rome whose felicitie was onely to teache the youth of Rome the discipline of warfare stirred them woonderfully to exercise and practise the same Then fourthly succéeded An. Martius with the like industry and care for the further and surer state of the City in raising the hie walles of Rome in a Bridge vpon the riuer Tiber in amending and beautifiyng all the stréetes in Rome The fift King was Torquinius Priscus which though hée was a straunger borne of Corinth yet hée encreased the pollicy of the Romanes with the wit of Gréece hée triumphed ouer the people of Tusk and enlarged the fame of Rome much more then it was To this came next Seruius Tullius which was the sixt and Torquinius superbus the seuenth and last King of Rome who for his misgouernment and lust in the Citie against the chaste matrones for the pride and infringement of the libertie hauing withall rauished Lucrecia Collatinus wife was at length after long rule and gouernment banished Rome The first alteration and chaunge of state was then after these seauen Kinges gouerned Rome two hundred yeres and a halfe which was the first infancie of Rome Then Collatinê° and Brutus after these kings were exiled a iust reuengement of their libertie and honest life were the first Consuls in Rome they I say altering the gouernment of the Citie from a Monarchy vnto a kinde of gouernment called Aristocratia which continued in Rome from the time of Brutus and Collatinus vntyll the time of Appius Claudius and Quintus Fuluius which was two hundred yeres In this season during this two hundred yeres was Rome most assailed of all kinde of enimies stirred vnto wars of all nations for the space of two hundred yeres and a halfe Then Appius Claudius forgetting the law that he him selfe made in Rome against fornication forgetting the rauishment of Lucrecia and the banishment of Torquinius for breaking of the same against all right and reason willyngly and wilfully rauished Virginia the daughter of Virginius which after that hir owne father slue hir in the open sight of Rome the cause being knowen vnto all the Citie the power of Virginius and the populer state which alwayes had the gouernment of Rome vnder them with straight in armes to reuenge the wronges and iniuries against lawes committed and to defende likewise the lawes Euen as the Kinges before named were exiled and banished Rome for the rauishment of Lucretia so now the tenne Commissioners called Decemviri were likewise excluded and reiected for the rauishement of Virginia ¶ Of the straunge natures of vvaters earth and fire IN diuers learned Histories wée reade and specially in Plini of the woonders of waters and of the secrete and vnknowen nature of fire which for the rare sight therof and for that it doth degenerate from things knowen therein are noted thinges to bée marueyled at as certen water in the countrey of Campania where if any mankinde wyll enter therein it is written that he shall incontinent bée reft of his sences And if any womankinde happen to go vnto that water she shall alwayes afterwarde bée barren In the same countrey of Campania there is a lake called Auernus where all fléeing Fowles of the ayre that flée ouer that lake fall presentlye therein and die A Well there is in Caria called Salmacis whose water if any man drinke therof he becommeth chaste and neuer desireth the company of a woman The riuer Maeander doth bréede such a kinde of stone that being put cloase vnto a mans heart it doth straight make him mad There are two ryuers in Boetia the one named Melas whose water causeth staight any beast that drinketh therof if it be white to alter colour vnto blacke the other Cephisus whiche doth change the black beast vnto a white beast by drinking of the water Againe there is in India a standing water where nothing may swimme beast birde man or any liuing creature else drowneth this water is called Silia In Affrica on the contrary part there is the water named Apustidamus where nothing bée it neuer so heauy or vnapt to swimme that drowneth but all kinde of thinges doth swimme leade or any heauy mettall doth swimme in that lake as it is in the Well of Phinitia in Sicilia Infinite waters shoulde I recite if I in this woulde be tedious in repeating their names whose strange natures whose secrete and hidden operation whose force and vertue were such as healed diuers diseases as in the Isle of Auaria there was a water that healed the collicke and the stone By Rome there was
benifite my countrie to pleasure my friendes and to shewe my selfe more willing than able in performing the same and though I in my rashenesse presume to write of the liues of Princes yet I trust in gathering the fragments broken sentences as a beginning vnto others that are better stored it vvill be of the vvise and learned considered though of others defamed and taunted For there is no booke sayth Plini so simple but it profiteth some body for in bookes sayde Chilo the Philosopher are the fame of vvorthie men eternized and the veritie of thinges etere vnknovvne wvritten vvhich tvvo thinges neyther time can consume nor fortune destroy and for this cause were the bones of Homer sought and contended for of seuen Cities in Greece to be buried and kept as a monument of so great a vvriter and for this vvas Euripides dying in Macedonia sent for by embassadors of Athens to bee hadde in memorie as a prayse vnto Athens by his buriall For the Greekes supposed the greatest honour of all to haue educated such men as vvere studious and carefull for their countrie For greater is the attempt of any simple booke writer to hazarde himselfe to present perill to encounter with diuers men with a pen in his hande then that that valiaunt Perithus with Cerberus or Theseus vvith Minotaurus yea or Hercules with Antheús iollie champions vvith swordes drawne for that they fought vvith one a peece and that before their faces the simple writer with thousandes and they behinde his backe slaunder him Architas the Philosopher whome the Tarentines made a general in their warres sixe seueral times he I saye vvas in no such daungers in his vvarres as hee was resisted for his rules and lawes in Tarentum Plato vvas not in such perill at the besieging of Tanagra and Corinth amongst all his enimies as he vvas enuied in Greece by Zenophon and Aristotle his ovvne schollers by his Philosophie Neyther vvas Socrates in such hazarde of life being in armes in Delphos as he vvas in Athens by vvriting of bookes put to death by the Greekes Zeno the poore Philosopher coulde resist the violence of the great king Antigonus Demosthenes could vvithstand the force of Philip and yet neyther of them coulde auoyde the snares of those that defamed their labour enuied their diligence in vvriting and making of bookes Simple men must not therefore be discomfited to vvrite bicause the vvise and learned vvere herein euill spoken For the Gimnosophistes in India the Prophetes in Egypt the Sages in Persea the Ephori in Lacedemonia the Chaldeans in Babilon and the Philosophers in Greece are novv more famous and renovvmed being deade then they being a liue vvere enuied and slaundered their vvritinges and bookes more read novve than alovved or knovvne then they rtrauell novve is commended though their liues then vvere despised And therefore I vvish all learned Claâ—kes vvere as vvilling to vvrite as the most part of ignoraunt are studious and carefull to finde faultes VVherfore crauing the good vvill of the learned reader as a bovvlster and defence to my simple trauell I ende vvishing that both the Printers faultes and mine might lesse mooue occasions of offence ¶ CHRISTOFORVS CARLILVS IN FLODVM GEstiunt Musae Charites triumphant Gestit insignis lituis Apollo Pallas ac Orpheus monumenta Flode Cernere tanta Ipse ne ditem videar beare Aureis nummis Calabrosue pomis Vel redundantem Bromeum racemis Dicere cesso Est opus dignum solido Cupresso Et Cedro suaui simul atque laude Maxima Flodi celebrate famam Anglica pubes Si legis librum furiosa philtra Non tâ—bi possunt nâ—camara Circes Vasa non atrox rabies Megerae Vlla nocere ED. GRANT IN LOD. FLO. QVae a tûere difuruis immersa tenebris aeduntur patrijs condecorata sonis Quae prius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fuerint bene cognita paucis nunc venient cunctis percipienda viris Postera Floyde tuam nascentia secula laudem cantabunt praesens nomen in astra feret Quicquid est in mellis quicquid liberiste lepôris continet omne tuum laus tribuenda tibi Liuide mendaces compescito Zoile voces tela licet vibres non violabis opus Inclita mordaci non laedes facta libello florescit Floydus docta perora virum ¶ IN LIBRVMDE PRINCIPVM periginatione Iohannis Coci scholae Paulinae magistri hendecastichon cum versu quodum Homerico ad lectorem STato domi nullis terre iactatus in oris quem patrium subijt noscendi sola libido Sin mores hominum varios tibi nosse voluptas ingenijque vagas ediscere nobilis artes Non perigrinanti deerunt monimenta laboris que memtemque manumque parent ad talia promptas Quod liber hic regum referens quae facta priorum tuta domi cupido praestabit vota manendi Hinc licet ingenij praesignes discere cultus quos aditu regum prouisa pericula monstrent Nam liber hic peragrans tibi quae viscenda fuissent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ¶ IN LAVDEM LODOVICI FLODI Thomas Dranta Archdiachonis Leuuicensis PRincipibus placuisse viris non vltima laus est sic ais summis placuisti leuis horati Principibus placuisse viris si tam bona laus sit Principibus fuisse viris precepta quid hoc est Atque ipsos mutos ipsos formare loquentes consilium totis sanumque adscribere vitis Hoc tu Flode facis quedam tua dogmata vidi caetera cum visis si quadrant congrua membra â–ª Quod facile credo quid tmultis te tibi tollam es bonus ingenioque bis bonus argumento ¶ THOMAS CHVRCHYARD Gent. of Lodo. Fl. IF learning had no laude mans lyking vvoulde decaye avvay And fevv vvould vvrite or knovvledge seke if praise vvere pluckt The laborer hath his hier to quite his carefull paines The noble minde for vvorthie vvorkes a crovvne of glorie gaines The horse toyles all the daye at night some rest to finde The havvke in hope of vvished praye full hie doth beare the vvinde Than hee vvho made this booke of right must reape renoume Sith through the trumpet he hath blovvne a famous fact doth soune He shevves by learned lines our painefull pilgrimes state And hovve the Prince and people both driues out their dreery date A pilgrimage vve goe in pathes of perilles great And through the shades of suerties shoe vve passe to burning heate That all consumes by flame of deepe desire in brest VVhose kindled cooales like Aethna smokes in sulphur voyde of rest VVhose sparkes doe flee so farre they cannot quenched bee Except that vvisdome vvater cast vvhen fier most hote vve see VVhat humour leades me thus I meant to prayse this man As farre as penne and skill may stretch that first this vvorke began And though the svvelling svvannes that svvimes in povvting pride By skovvling brovves tels vvorld that they this vvorke cannot abide I carelesse stande of that and vvishe those birdes so vvell In greatest glorie
hir father and from present death Plutarch writeth of these two maydes that theyr fames hereby may not be forgotteÌ„ To speak here of them that deliuered men from death from captiuitie from perpetuall prison it were necessarie howbeit short histories are swéete and fewe wordes are pleasaunt therefor I will not speake of Lucullus which being in warres with Mithridates King of Pontus deliuered Cotta from thousandes about him I will not write of Lucilius a Romane souldiour which when he sawe that Brutus at Phillippos was compassed rounde about with enimies he himselfe ranne with fewe souldiours with him amongst the enimies bicause Brutus in the meane while might saue himselfe Neyther will I make muche mention of Quintius Concinnatus being then Dictator in Rome which deliuered Quintus Minutius from the handes of the Sabins and Vulscans but according vnto promise I will touche partlye those that deserued fame an otherwaye for fame is not bound vnto one kinde of qualitie or chaunces but vnto diuers and sundrie vertues Therefore to ioyne with these renowmed conquerers and defenders of countries most excellent and expert Archers which likewise haue done noble actes worthye feates and merueylous thinges as Ilerdes was such an Archer that he woulde kill the flying birdes in the ayre And likewise Catenes coulde doe the like appoynt the flying fowles to dye this doth Curtius in his sixt booke affirme Alexander the sonne of King Priamus when neyther his brother Hector with his courage nor Troilus with force nor all the strength of Phrigia coulde resist that noble Gréeke Achilles hée I saye with his arrowe slue him Acastus wonne immortall renowne for killing of the wilde huge Boare that spoyled Calidonia with his dart Toco a fine souldiour and an excellent Archer is muche commended for that he coulde doe with his bowe Princes in times past were taught to doe feates with archerye for Hercules himselfe was taught of Euritus the science of shooting that he coulde kill any flying foule or swift beast as sometime he killed the birdes called Harpeis and slue the swift Centaure Nessus We reade in the firste of Herodotus that Commodus the sonne of Marcus surnamed Aurelius Emperour sometime of Rome begotten of the Empresse Faustina was so skilfull in shoting that what soeuer he sawe with his eyes the same woulde he kill with his bowe insomuch that vpon a time Herodotus doth witnesse that he slue a hundred wilde beastes with a hundred shot missing nothing at any time euen so the Emperor Domitianus was so expert in his bowe that he coulde shoote when any heald vp his hande betwixt his fingers a great way of The people of Créete passed all men in this facultie The Perseans were so cunning in shooting and throwing of dartes that backewarde as they fledde they woulde spoyle and destroy theyr enimies The Arimaspians excelled the Perseans Againe the Scithians Getes were most famous for thys poynt And thus hauing occasion to trauaile as pilgrimes some slue great wilde Tigers huge Beares terrible Lions and such monstrous beastes that aduaunced the fame of such that attempt the perill ¶ Of diligence and labours AS Horace that auncient Poete affirmeth that the worthyest and greatest vertue is to auoide vice so is it I iudge the greatest commendacion vnto anye man to embrace diligence to eschewe ydlenesse for suche is the vertue of mans minde that rare giftes and excellent talents which God and nature bestowed on man that to sée the excellencie and vertue thereof with externall sight if 〈◊〉 coulde be séene it woulde sayth that deuine and noble Philosopher Plato enflame great desire vncredible loâ—e vnto vertue and woulde on the contrarie kindle such a hatred vnto vice that the sight thereof would feare any beholder thereon When yet sayth Cicero the world was rawe and nothing ripe no lawes made no Citties builded no order set no common welth framed but all thinges confusedly on a heape without deuicions and limittes most like to Poetical Chaos before the elementes were diâ—euered water from earth â–ª and the fire from the ayre then I say we liued brutishlye and beastly without ciuilitie and maner without learning and knowledge but when reason began to rule when Ladye prudence began to practise with pollicie when witte began to search and to séeke by diligence and trauayle the nature of thinges Theâ— diuers men in sundrie countries sought meanes by diligence to profite their countries as Moyses first founde by diligence lettters amongst the Hebrues Menno first founde letters amongst the Egyptians Rhadamanthus amonst the Assirians Nicostrata amongst the Romans Phaenices amongst the Grecians that by diligence and studie of men from time to time raw things waxed rype straunge thinges became familiar and harde and difficult things waxed facill and easie Then Solon made lawes in Athens Licurgus in Lacedemonia Zaleucus in Locresia Ninus in Creete and so orderly all the whole worlde was bewtified with lawes exornated with witte and learning Then began Philo to make lawes vnto the Corinthians Then Zalmosis began to reforme the rude and barbarâ—us Scythians Then Phaleas amongst the Carthaginneans practized pollicie limitted lawes Then I say lawes began to order thinges and reason began to rule that learning and knowledge was sought farre and néere witte exercized pollicie practized and vertue so honoured that well might Tullie saye O Philosophie the searcher of all good vertues and the expeller of all vices Then was that common wealth noted happie that enioyed such a prince to rule as a Philosopher that woulde extoll vertue and suppresse vice rewarde the good and punishe the euill estéeme the wise and learned and neglect the foolish and ignoraunt I will omitte to speak of mightie and famous Princes whose care diligence studie and industrie were such whose numbers were so infinite that I might well séeme to tedious to molest the reader therewith I will recyte the diligence and trauayle of poore men which by theyr studie and labor became lampes and lantornes of the worlde And to begin with Plato and Socrates two base men of birth whose diligence in life time made them most famous now being deade the one the sonne of a poore Citizen of Athens named Ariston the other the sonne of a poore Marbler surnamed Sophroniscus Might not poore Perictione the mother of Plato be glad of such a sonne that the greatest tyraunt in the worlde that prowde prince Dionisius woulde honour and reuerence Plato for hys and knowledge and take him into his Chariote as a Prince and not as a poore Philosopher Might not that poore Midwife named Phanaerata reioyce to haue suche a sonne as Socrates who being prooued of all men best learned counted of all men most auncient taken of all men most modest and grauest and iudged by the Oracle of Apollo to be wisest in all the worlde Howe happie was Elbia How famous was Creithes that noursed two
Testament that Adam our first father liued nine hundred and thirtie yeres and Eua his wife as many Seth nine hundred and twelue yeres Seth his sonne called Enos nine hundred and fiue Cainan the sonne of Enos nine hundred and tenne Malalehell the sonne of Cainan right hundred fourscore and fiftéene So Enoch the son of Iared liued nine hundred théescore and fiue yeres Enoch his sonne named Mathusalem liued nine hundred thréescore and nine with diuers of the first age I meane vntill Noahs time which began the seconde world after the floode and liued as we reade nine hundred and fiue yeres His sonne Sem sixe hundred yeres and so lineally from father vnto son as from Sem vnto Arphaxad froÌ„ Arphaxad vnto Sala from Sala vnto Heber the least liued aboue thrée hundred yeres This I thought for better credite and greater proofe of olde age to drawe out of the olde testameÌ„t that other prophane autorities might be beléeued as Tithonius whom the Poetes faine that he was so oulde that he desired to become a Grashopper But bicause age hath no pleasure in the worlde frequenteth no banquets abhorreth lust loueth no wantonnes which sayth Plato is the only bayte that deceyue young men so much the happier age is that age doth loath that in tyme which young men neyther with knowledge with wit nor yet with councell can auoyde What harme hath happened from time to time by young men ouer whom lust so ruled that euersion of common wealthes treason of Princes friends betrayed countries ouerthrowne kingdomes vanquished all y e world almost through pleasure perished Therfore Cicero sayth in his booke entituled of olde age at what time he was in the citie of Tarâ—ntuÌ„ being a young man with F. Maximê° that hée bare one lesson from TarentuÌ„ vnto the youth of Rome where Architas the Tarentine saide that nature bestowed nothing vpon man so hurtfull vnto him selfe so dangerous vnto his countrie as luste or pleasure For when C. Fabritius was sent as an Embassador from Rome vnto Pirrhê° king of Epire being then the Gouerner of the citie Tarentum a certaine man named Cineas a ThessaliaÌ„ borne being in disputation with Fabritius about pleasure saying that he heard a Philosopher of Athens affirming that all which we doe is to be referred vnto pleasure which when M. Curius and Titus Coruncanus hearde they desired Cineas to perswade the King Pirrhus in that to yéelde vnto pleasure and make the Samnits beléeue that pleasure ought to be estéemed whereby they knew if that King Pirrhus or the Samnites being then great enimies vnto the Romanes were adicted vnto lust or pleasure that then soone they myght be subdued and destroyed For that nothing hindereth magnanimitie or resisteth vertuous enterprises so much as pleasure as in the treatise of pleasure it shall at large more appeare Why then how happie is olde age to dispise and contemne that which youth by no meanes can auoyde yea to loath and abhor that which is most hurtfull vnto it selfe For Cecellius contemned Caesar with all his force saying vnto the Emperour that two thinges made him nothing to estéeme the power of the Emperour Age and witte Castritius wayed nothing at al the threatning of C. Carbo being then Consull at Rome which though hée sayd hée had many friendes at commaundement yet Castritius aunswered and sayde that he had likewise many yeres which his friendes might not feare Therfore a wiseman sometime wept for that man dieth within fewe yeres and hauing but little experience in his olde age he is then depriued thereof For the Crowe liueth thrise as long as the man doth The Harte liueth foure times longer than the Crow The Rauen thrise againe liueth longer than the Hart. The Phaenix nine times longer than the Rauen And therefore bicause birdes doe liue longer time than man doth in whome there is no vnderstanding of their yeres But man vnto whom reason is ioyned before he commeth vnto any grounde of experience when hée beginneth to haue knowledge in thinges hée dieth and thus endeth hée his toyling pilgrimages and trauayle in fewer yeres than diuers beastes or birdes doe ¶ Of the maners of sundrie people and of their strange life THe sundrie fashion and varitie of maners the straunge lyfe of people euerye where through the worlde dispersed are so depainted and set foorth amongst the writers that in shewing the same by naming eche countrey and the people therof orderly their custome their maners their kinde of liuing something to signifie howe diuers the maners of men bée Therefore I thought briefely to touch and to note euery countrey in their due order of liuing and to beginne with the Egyptians people most auncient and most expert in all sciences that Macrobius the writer calleth the countrey of Egypt the nourse and mother of all Artes for all the learned Gréekes haue had their beginning from Egypt euen as Rome had from Gréece This people obserue their dayes by accouÌ„t of houres from midnight vnto midnight They honour the Sunne and the moone for theyr Goddes for they name the Sunne Osiris and the Moone Isis Their féeding was of fishe broyled in the heate of the Sunne with hearbes and with certaine foules of the ayre They lyue a thousande yeares but it is to be vnderstanded that they number their yeares by the Moone The men beare burthens vppon theyr heades and the women vpon their breastes and shoulders The men make water sitting the women standing The Crocodill is that beast which they moste estéeme that being deade they burie him A Sowe is that beast which they most detest that if anye part of their clothes touche a Sowe they straight will pull of their clothes and washe them ouer They are blacke people most commonly slender and very hastie Curtius call them sedicious vaine very subtill in inuention of thinges and much giuen to wine The Aethiopians people that liue without lawes and reason seruauntes and slaues vnto al men selling their children vnto merchauntes for corne their héere long with knottes and curled The Indians people of two muche libertie as Herodot sayth accompanying their women in open sight neyther sowe they nor builde neyther kill they any liuing beast but féede of barly breade and hearbes They hange at their eares small pearles and they decke their armes wrestes and neckes with golde Kinges of India are much honoured when they come abroade their wayes set and deckt with fresh flowers swéete odours and men in armes folowing their Chariots made of Margarits stones and men méeting with frankinsence And when their king goeth to bed their harlottes bring them with songues and mirth making their prayers vnto their Goddes of darckenesse for the good rising of their King Againe the children kill theyr parentes when they waxe olde Their maydes and young damoselles of India are brought abroade amongst the young men to choose them their husbandes When any man dieth his wife wil dresse hir selfe most brauest for
also a water called Albula that healed gréene woundes In Sicilia the riuer called Cydnus was a present remedy vnto any swelling of the legges Not farre from Neapolis there was a Well whose water healed any sicknesses of the eyes The lake Amphion taketh all scurâ—es and sores from the body of any man What shoulde I declare the natures of the foure famous floods that issue out of Paradice the one named Euphrates whom the Babylonians and Mesopotamians haue iust occasion to commende The seconde is called Ganges which the Indians haue great cause to praise The thirde called Nilus which the countrey of Egypt can best speake of And the fourth is called Tigris which the Assyrians haue most commodity by Here might I be long occupied if I shoulde orderly but touch the natures of all waters The alteration of the Seas and the woonders that therof appeare as ebbing and flowing as saltenesse swéetenesse and all things incident by nature vnto the Seas which were it not that men sée it dayly practiseth the same hourelye and marke thinges therein continuallye more woonders woulde appeare by the seas then skant reason might be aleaged for sauing that God as the Prophet sayth is woonderfull in all his workes The fiue golden Riuers which learned and auncient writers affirme that the sandes thereof are all glistering gemmes of golde as Tagus in Ispaigne Hermus in Lydia Pactolus in Asia Idaspes in India and Arimaspus in Scythia these I say are no lesse famous through their golden Sandes which their weltering waues bring vnto lande in these foresayde countreys then Permessus in Boetia where the Muses long were honoured or Simois in Phrygia where Venus was conceyued by Anchises To coequat the number of these fiue last and pleasaunt riuers there are fiue as ougly and painfull as Styx in Arcadia whose property is to kil any that will touch it and therfore founde of the Poets to be consecrated vnto Pluto for there is nothing so harde but this water wyll consume so colde is the water thereof Againe the riuer of Phlegeton is contrary vnto this for the one is not so colde but the other is as whâ—t and therfore called Phlegeton which is in English fiery or smoky for the Poets faine likewise that it burneth out in flashing flames of fire Lethes and Acheron two riuers the one in Affrica the other in Epire the one called the riuer of forgetfulnesse the other the riuer of sadnesse The fift called Cocytus a place where mourning neuer ceaseth These fiue riuers for their horror and terrour that procéeded from them for the straunge and woonderous effectes therof are called infernall lakes consecrated and attributed vnto King Pluto which Virgil at large describeth Diuers welles for the straungenesse of the waters and for the pleasauntnesse thereof were sacrificed vnto the gods as Cissusa a Well where the nources of Bacchus vsed to wash him and therfore consecrated vnto Bacchus so Melas vnto Pallas Aganippe vnto the Muses so foorth not molesting the reader further with natures of water but briefely I meane to touch the straunge nature of the earth Plini affirmeth that there was neuer man sicke in Locris nor in Croton neyther any earthquake euer hearde in Licia after an earthquake they had fourtie fayre dayes By Rome in the fieldes called Gabiensis a certaine plotte of ground almost two hundred akers would tremble and quake as men rode vpon him There are two hilles of straunge natures by the floudde called Indus the nature of the one is to drawe any yron vnto it insomuch as Plini saith that if nailes be in any shooes the ground of that place draweth the sole of There is a piece of grounde in the Citie Characena in the countrey of Taurica where if anye come wounded hée shall bée straight healed And if any enter vnto diuers places as in a place called Hirpinis where the temple of Mephis is builded or in Asia by Iheropolis they shall incontinently die Againe there are places by the vertue of grounde in that place that men may prophesie Diuers where we reade that one péece of grounde deuoured another as the hill Ciborus and the Citie harde by called Curites were choked vp of the earth Phaegium a great mountaine in Aethiopia and Sipilis a hie hill in Magnesia with the Cities named Tantalis and Galanis There is a great rocke by the Citie Harpasa in Asia which may be moued easie with one finger and yet if any man put all his strength therevnto it will not stirre To speake of mount Aetna in Sicilia of Lypara in Aeolia of Chimaera in Lycia of Vesbius and Aenocauma fiue fierie mountaines which daye and night bourne so terrible that the flame therof neuer reasteth If anye man will sée more of these merueylous and woonderous effectes of Elementes let him reade the seconde booke of Plini where he shall haue aboundance of the like examples There he shall sée that in some places it neuer rayned as in Paphos vpon the temple of Venus In Nea a towne in Phrigia vpon the Temple of Minerua and in diuers places else which is the nature of the grounde About Babilon a fielde burneth daye and night In Aethiopia certaine fieldes about mount Hesperius shine all night like stars as for earthquakes and woonders that thereby happened I will not speake for that it is forced of matter but of those strange groundes that neuer alter from such effectes afore mentioned beside the mettalles the stones the hearbes the trées and all other thinges are so miraculous and straunge that Plini in diuers places doth speake of And as for fire it is to great a woonder that the whole worlde is not burned thereby sith the Sunne the Starres the Elementarie fire excell all miracles in kéeping the same from damage and hurt vnto manne if God had not preuented yea appoynted that the heate of the Sunne should not kindle strawes stubbles trées and such like which the heate thereof as we dayly sée burneth stones leade and the moste hardest substaunce out sith speciallye that fire is in all places and is able to kindle all thinges insomuch that the water Thrasimenos burneth out in flames which is vnnaturall and straunge that fire kindleth in water And likewise in Egnatia a Cittie of Salentine there is a stone which if any woode touche it will kindle fire In the Well called Nympheus there is a stone likewise whence flames of fire from the stone it selfe burneth the water A greater woonder it is that the fire should be kindled by water and extinguished by winde Fire flashed about the heade of Seruius Tullius being then a boye in sléepe which did prognosticate that hée shoulde be a king of the Romanes Fire shined about the head of L. Marcius in Spaine when he encouraged his souldiours to reuenge manfullye the deathes of those noble and famous Romanes
ioyne these Legendes of lyes of olde women with friuolous figmentes of Poets which likewise affirme the like folly of fiery Phlegeton of frostye Cocytus of the water of Stygia of the flood Lethes and of Acheronta with other such when all Paganicall rites and fonde foolishe obseruations first grewe I meane of fables of the Poets and not by the reading of the holy Scriptures O blinde baiardes in séeking that which they coulde neuer finde so And as they coulde prooue and say that the body came out of the earth the moysture out of the water â—he breath of man by the ayre and the heate of man by the fire so coulde they not know the worker thereof how wit and wisedome came from God how all things was made by him of nothing This knew they not not that they wanted learnyng but that they wanted grace They could appoint planets in their seuerall places in their due seates and iust Mansions as Iupiter in the liuer Saturne in the splene Mars in blood Sol in the heart the Moone in the stomacke and Venus in the reynes but they coulde not agrée in appointing a place for the soule They coulde likewise appoint seates for the bodies superiour in man as the Ramme in the head the Bull in the necke and the Crab in the heart the Lion in the breast and the fishe in the foote and so of others but they coulde in no wise find a seate for the soule True is it saide that God reuealeth wisedome vnto babes and hideth the same vnto the sages of the worlde â–ª Hence groweth the beginning of all heresies according vnto the prouerb The greatest Philosophers the greatest Heretickes Hereby I say grewe almost the inuention of Philosophie coequall vnto the veritie of the gospell from the which Paule the Apostle crieth vpon all men to take héede of flattering Philosophers If in this place I shoulde shewe their opinions concerning our God and Creatour I should séeme tedious For Diagoras and Theodorus affirme that there is no God Epicurus iudged that there is a God but that he had no care ouer earthly things Thales sayd that God was a minde which made all things of water Cleanthes supposed God to be the ayre onely Alcineon iudged the Sunne the Moone and the stars to be onely God Parmenides maketh God to be a continuall circle of light which is called Stephanen Crisippus nameth God a deuine necessitie Anaxagoras supposeth God to be an infinite minde mooueable by it selfe so doth Pythagoras likewise iudge Yea Aristotle imagined God to be of proper nature as the worlde or the heate of the Heauens or the diuinitie of the minde which eyther of these three he nameth God and so infinite are they that so simply conceaue the maiesty of Godhead that farre wiser had they séemd vnto vs by silence therin then by vttering of suche fonde phantasticall opinions where too much errour and folly are vnto all men euident ¶ Of vvorshipping of gods and religion of Gentyles NVma Pompilius the seconde king of Rome being studious to drawe the ignoraunt and rude people to some profession of religion was the first that appointed sacrifices vnto Iupiter and vnto Mars In Rome euen hée elected viâ—gines vnto Vesta and appointed certen orders in choosing of the same None by the lawe of Numa might bée taken vnder sixe-yeres olde and none aboue terme to bée a Vestal virgin which virgines should bée thirty â—eâ—eâ— religious and vowed vnto Vesta of the which thirtâ— yeres the first tenne yeres â–ª they shoulde learne the orâ—â—der and fashion of the sacrifices and religion of the goddesse Vesta The seconde tenne yeres they shoulde sacrifice and employ the ceremonies with rites and â—onours belonging vnto Vesta â–ª The thirde tenne yeres they shoulde as graue Matrones learne the others 〈◊〉 chosen to bée perfect in the rites ceremonies of Vesta â–ª Then if any of them woulde marry they might after thirty yeres continuaunce so do If any of these Vestal virgines were conuicted of whordome the law was â–ª in open sight of the City of Rome she shoulde bée brought vnto the gate called Collina and there aliue be burned Againe if the fire at any time in the Temple had gone out by any meanes their kepers with scurges shoulde whip and scurge them almost vnto death The same Numa to make the people more religious appointed twelue men called Salij with painted garmentes singing verses in the praise commendations of God Mars with solempne dauncing and playing rounde about the City Amongst other sacred orders hée made certen Priestes called Feciales these punished offendours these reuenged the wronges of Legates these redressed all iniuries offered and committed within the City of Rome these Priestes appointed rites and ceremonies made sacrifices vnto the goddesse Bona Dea in a Temple erected vnto their goddesse vppon mount Auentine here might no men come to do sacrifice but all women Of this goddesse Bona Dea doth Cicero make oft mention in diuers of his orations and inuectiuos made against diuers pernicious and wicked of the City as Cutelin Clodius and others There was in Rome another kinde of religion dedicated vnto Flora the sacrifice whereof was called Floralia This Flora as both Liuius and Dionisius do report was a common strumpet which for that she made the whole citie of Rome her hâ—yre â–ª being wealthy at her death she was therefore thought to bée of the Romanes the goddesse of fruites and was honoured of all the lewde women in braue garlandes decked with all of flowres in gorgeous apparell and this was done in the moneth of May. The goddesse Ceres began then to bée famous for she had hir feasâ—es and sacrifices named Cerealia by the Priestes appointed she was thus honored the Priestes in white garments and with lanternes and firebrands in the night time woulde come vnto the Temple they abstayned from Wine and auoyded venery for a certen time they had appointed euery fift yere a great fasting Minerua likewise began to haue such honour in Rome that she had thrée seueral kindes of sacrifices one of a Bull the seconde of a Crane the thirde of a Weather The Romanes did celebrate in the beginning of the spring such feastes and sacrifices vnto Berecynthia called the mother of the goddesse that euery man did offer of the chiefest thing that hée did possesse to pleasure their goddesse There were diuers other kindes of sacrifices and vaine supersticious ceremonies obserued then in Rome whose beginninges procéeded from the inuention of deuyls which of long time were honoured as gods for then men sought no helpe but of their gods which were rather deuyls as Polidorus in his fourth booke affirmeth of a certen rich man in Rome which had thrée of his sonnes sore sicke of the plague this man was named Valesius who euerye night at whome in his house besought his housholde goddes called Penates to saue his children
hir wine and in eating of his hart vnto hir body saying though bodies be departed yet our hartes shall neuer be a sunder That noble Gréeke Laodamia looued hir husbande so well that when shée hearde that hir husbande Prothesilaus was slaine by Hector at the siege of Troye shée desired onely of God that shée might sée his shadowe or likenesse once before shée died which when shée sawe embrasing the lykenes of Prothesilaus as shée thought in hir husbandes armes shée then presently dyed We reade that Quene Ipsicratea loued hir husbande king Mythridates so entirely that shée shaued all the heares of hir heade and ware mans apparell and followed him like a Lacky for that hée shoulde not know hir to be his wife shée had rather go vnto the wars with hir husbande like a lackie than tary from hir husbande in Pontus lyke a Quéene Paulina when shée hearde that hir husbande Seneca was put to death by that cruell Emperor and Tyraunt Nero whome Seneca sometime taught him in his youth Philosophie and at the length requited him with death which when I say Paulina harde thereof she enquired what kinde of death hir husbande suffred which béeing knowne shée ministred the like playster vnto hir selfe as was appoynted for Seneca hir husbande Likewise that noble Portia daughter vnto Cato and wife vnto Brutus hearing that hir husbande was slaine at Philippos for that she might not spéede of a knife shée choked her selfe with coales The like historie is reade of Triata which when she knewe by letters that hir husbande Vitellius was so enuironed of his enimies and no waye able to escape his wife rushed into the Campe and prest néere hir husbande readie to die or to liue in fielde with him What can be so harde to take in hande but loue will hazarde it what can be so perillous but loue will venture it neyther water can stay it nor fire stop it Sulpitia the wife of Lentulus the daughter of that worthy Romane Paterculus when shée perceyued that hir husband was appointed by the Magistrates of Rome to passe vnto Sicilia as an Embassador and there to continue for a season though hir mother had great charge ouer hir very carefull studious she was to comfort hir daughter in the absence of hir husbande yet she deceyued hir mother shée chaunged hir apparell caused hir two maides likewise to be disguised toke two men in the like apparell and went all by night from Rome vnto Sicilia Aemilia the wife of Affricanus and mother vnto that noble Cornelia which was mother vnto those famous Romances called Gracchi shée perceauyng her husbande to bée in loue with one of her maydes in the house and often to vse the mayde as his wife though Aemilia knew wel of it yet she neuer hated the maide nor opened it to her husbande but after that her husbande died she gaue to this maide a great summe of money and maryed her wealthyly in Rome A rare thing in a woman founde To speake of Penelopes loue in Gréece towardes her husbande Vlisses or to shewe the constancie of Lucrecia in Rome towarde her husbande Collatinus the one twentie yeres was prooued of diuers noble Gréekes and yet remayned she true vnto Vlisses the other through force being rauished by proud Torquinius sonne named Aruntiê° would not be false vnto Collatinus but opened the same reuenged it with hir owne death Now againe to prooue how well did Quéene Tomiris loue hir sonne Mesgapites the death of great Cirus King of Persea with two hundred thousande of his souldiours beside can testifie or howe Ageus loued his sonne Theseus which when he hadde perceyued the black sayle contrary vnto promise made before when Theseus went vnto Créete to the monster Minotaurus that his as he supposed was slaine in Labirinthus he threw him ouer a high rocke into the sea What shoulde I molest the reader herein sith an ende can scant be founde but onelye recite one worthy hystorie out of Valerius of a seruaunt vnto one named Panopion that hearing that certaine souldiours came vnto the City of Reatina in purpose to kill his Mayster he chaunged apparell with his mayster and conueyed his Mayster first a waye safe and sounde from the enimies and he went vnto his Maysters bedde as though he had béene Panopion and suffred himselfe to be slaine in stéede of his Mayster A man woulde thinke that greater loue coulde be founde in no man then a man to die for his friende and truth it is But to finde such loue in beastes towardes men a meruell great it were Insomuch that in Leucadia a Peacock loued a young Uirgin so well that when shée dyed the Peacock also dyed And Plini sayth that in the Citie of Seston an Eagle being brought vppe by a young mayde loued the mayde so well that it woulde flée a broade and kill foules and bring them whome to the young mayde and when the Uirgine died the Eagle flewe vnto that same fire where the mayde was appoynted to die and also died with hir The Perseans were woont for fauour and affection they had vnto their Horses to burye them and the people named Molossi made braue sepulchres for their dogges Alexander the great made a tombe for his horse Bucephalus So did Antiochus and Caesar likewise Such tryed loue and faythfull trust was found in Dogges that the great King Masinissa of Numidia neuer went to bedde but had a dosen dogges in his great chamber as his garde to kéepe and watch him from his enimies for sure he was that money might not corrupt them friendshippe might not alure them threatnings might not feare them There was a Dogge in Athens named Caparus vnto whome the tuition of the temple Aesculapius was committed with all the wealth and treasure therin which being in a night trayned vnto a snare the temple was robbed the substaunce and the richesse thence was stolne but in the morning the dogge founde out the falshoode thereof and made all Athens priuie of the théeues by reueng and running towardes them Wée reade in Plini that Vlisses Dog which Vlisses left at home when he went with Agamemnon vnto Phrigia to the wars of Troye and being twentie yeares absent he founde Penelope his wife and his dog faithfull and louing at his returne That noble Gréeke Lismacê° had a dog named Durides that loued him so well that euen at Lismachus death the Dogge died also Hiero had another Dogge that died euen so ran willingly vnto that flame of fire where his mayster did burne to die with him I might well speake of Alcibiades Dogge which where so euer hée came no man might or durst speake any euill of Alcibiades in presence of his Dogge Titus Sabinus Dogge neuer forsooke his mayster in prison and when anye man gaue him breade or meate hée brought it vnto his Mayster in prison and when he was throwne into the riuer
betwene the Aegiptians and the Assirians betwene Ptholomeo and Alexander the one kyng of Aegipte the other kyng of Assiria and all for one woman Cleopatra ▪ Augustus the Emperour kepte longe warres for Octauia his sister whiche Anthonius through luste defiled to the spoyle and murther of manie Romaines had Ixiona Kynge Priamus sister not lusted to go with Thelamonius frō Troie vnto Gréece had likewise Helē Menelaus wife not lusted to come with Paris from Gréece vnto Troy the bloody warres and ten yeares siedge betwene the Greekes and the Troians had neuer been written of Homer Had not lust ruled the fiue cities called Pentapolis where Sodome and Gomer were the earth had not swallowed theym vp to the destruction of all the people sauyng Lot and his children If lust had not ruled all the worlde the deluge of Noach had not drouned the whole yearth and all liuyng creatures sauyng Noach his wife and his children Thus lust from tyme to tyme was the onely Monster and Scourge of the worlde And in this oure age luste is nothyng diminished but muche encreased and though not to bee plagued with water accordyng vnto promise yet to bee punished with fire most sure we be vnlesse we detest and abhorre this vice There is a historie worthy to be noted of Princes in Iustine that will not punishe these offences Pausanias a noble gentleman of Macedonia beyng a verie faire yong man whiche Attalus for lust muche abused and not contented wickedly and vngodly to handle the yong man so brought hym vnto a banquet where in his winkyng Attalus would haue vsed hym as before makyng all men priuie how Pausanias was kynge Attalus paramour as a woman thus the young manne beyng ashamed often complained vnto Philip kyng of Macedonia whiche Philip had maried then of late the suster of Attalus and had diuorsed and put awaie Olimpias the mother of Alexander the greate for some suspicion Pausanias I saie after many and diuers complaintes made vnto kyng Philippe hauyng no redresse thereof but rather was flouted and scoft at Philippes hand Pausanias tooke it so greuously that Attalus was so estemed with the kyng beyng the cause of his complaintes and he so neglected that was so mynded he after this sorte requited his shame and iniuries At the mariage of Cleopatra kyng Philippes doughter and Alexander Kyng of Epire in greate triumphes and pompes Kyng Philippe in the middeste of ioyes walkyng betwene his owne sonne Alexander the Greate who then was but younge and Alexander kyng of Epire his soonne in lawe beyng married then vnto his daughter Cleopatra Pausanias thruste hym vnto the harte saiyng minister Iustice and punishe luste Thus died that mightie Prince as well for the bearyng of Attalus faulte as also for his owne wickednesse vsyng the same somtyme with a brother in lawe of his naturall brother vnto his firste wife Olimpias Luste and intemperancie are neuer escaped without iuste punishemente and due vengeaunce Ammon the soonne of kyng Dauid for that he misused his owne sister Thamar was afterwarde slaine Absalon for that he did lye with his fathers Concubine died for it Dauid was plagued for Urias wife The twoo Elders that would rauishe Susanna were put to death This synne is the onely enemie of man For all synnes saith sainct Paule is without the bodie but vncleanesse and luste synneth againste the bodie Therefore to auoide sight oftentimes is to auoide lust Had not Holofernus seen the beautie of Iudith yea marked the comlines of her slepeares he had not loste his heade by it Had not Herode seen Herodias daughter dauncyng he had not so rashely graunted her Ihon Baptiste heade Had not Eua seen the beautie of the Aple she had not eaten thereof We reade in the Genesis that when the sonnes of men viewed the beautie of women many euils happened thereby By sight was Pharaos wife moued in lust toward Ioseph her seruaunt By sight and beautie was Salomon allured to committe Idolatrie with false Gods By sight was Dina the doughter of Iacob rauished of Sichem These euills procede from sodaine sightes Therefore doeth the Prophete saie tourne awaie thine eyes lest thei se vanities The Philosopher likewise saieth that the firste offer or motion is in the eye from sight proceadeth motions from motion election from election consent from consente synne from synne death Wherefore with the Poet I saie resiste the violence of the first assaulte I meane the eyes the euill that happened thereby too long it were to write Luste againe hath an entraunce by hearyng as Iustine in his .xij. booke dooeth testifie of Thalestris Queene sometyme of the Amazones whiche hauyng heard the greate commendations the fame and renowme of Alexander the Greate ventered her life to hazarde to come from Scithia vnto Hircania whiche was as Iustine saieth xxv daies iourneis in greate daunger and perill of life as well by wilde beastes waters as also by forein foes She had thrée hundred thousandes women of Scithia in companie with her I saie for the fame she heard of this great Prince she came from her countrey where she was a Quene to lie with a stranger by luste And whē she had accomplished her minde and satisfied her luste after thirtie nightes liyng with hym she thought she was spead of some ofspryng of Alexander she returned vnto her owne countrie again For as Cicero doeth write we are more moued by reporte oftentymes to loue then by sighte For as by reporte Quéene Thalestris came to lye with Alexander for children sake from Scitha vnto Hercania for his magnanimitie victories and courage So by report came Quéene Saba from Ethiope vnto Salomon to heare and to learne wisedome O golden worlde Oh happie age when either for simplicitie men could not speake or for temperauncie menne would not speake the innocencie of thē then and the subtiltie of vs now the temperancie of their age and the luste of our age beyng well waighed and throughly examined it is easily to be seen how vertuously thei liued in ignorauncie and how viciously wee liue in knowledge For before Aruntius proude Torquinius soonne was by luste moued toward Collatinus wife There was no alteration of states nor chaunge of Common wealthes no banishement of princes in Rome and beyng chaunged for that purpose onely from a Monarchie vnto an other state called Aristocratia it continued so longe in that forme whiche was the firste chaunge vntill Appius rauished Virginius doughter which banished the order called Decemuiri whiche was the second change And thus the popular state whiche had chief rule alwaies of Rome chaunged states of the Citie diuers times for that luste so raigned Thus might I speake of diuers other countries whiche luste was the iust cause of the subuersion therof For of one Venus a strūpet in Cipres al Cipria was full of hores Of one Semiramis in Babilon all Persia lengthe grewe
king Philip of Macedonia of whom Philocrates and Aeschines after they had retourned vnto Athens from their Legacie saide that king Philip was a beastlie quaffer then saide Demosthenes vertue hath hir proper spung I saie no more but that vice hath some Bulwarkes and defences euerie where ¶ Of Magike and witcherie THE aduenturous searchers and priuie prudent Philosophers haue sought by influences of the heuens to bring thinges fourth like vnto the workes of nature as beastes to speake dead bodies to goe In this facultie some of the best in euerie Countrie trauailed as Buda amongest the Babilonians Hermes amongest the Egiptians Zamolxides amongest the Thracians and Numa Pompilius amongest the Romaines and amongest the Perseans was this Magick exteemed that their Kynges therein were instructed as an arte necessarie to be knowem for Princes For that wise and learned Socrates went vnto Gobrias an excellent Magician to bee taught in this Arte and to learne the punishment of soules and their restyng places after death which was instructed as Crinitus saith in .5 lib. and Cap. 2. in all thinges accordyng vnto his expectation Plinie saieth that Moises vsed a kinde of Magicke whiche was likewise graunted by God vnto Salamon as Iosephus in his eight booke of antiquitie affirmeth Likewise Pithagoras Empedocles Democritus and diuers other Philosophers trauailed vnto the furthest parte of the world to be acquainted with this facultie and after forsakyng of their Countrey at their returne practized the same and opened the hiddē and secrete nature of the same vnto others Straunge thinges maie bee brought to passe by ioinyng inferiour thynges with superiour qualities whiche by curious searche of naturall and celestiall bodies their hidden secret powers are knowen by practisyng of the same marueilous effectes somtyme appeare as by this meanes Architas the Tarentine made a wodden Doue to flee And Albertus the Greate made a brasen heade to speake Lactantius saith that Appolonius was so excellent in this art that when Domitianus the Emperour would haue had him punished he sodainly being before the Emperours face to auoide the threatenynges and appoincted punishmēt vanished out of sight by this art Arnuphus an Aegiptian Philosopher vsed to flie in the aire and made suche a wonder in Rome in the tyme of Marcus Antonius when the Souldiours wanted water to drinke he caused Lightnynges and Thonders to prouide raine to satisfie the thurst of the Romaine soldiers By this likewise doeth Plinie report of a kyng sometime in Armenia which allured more the Emperour Nero being at supper with him to be in loue with the enticement of Magicke then to delite in the Harmonie and melodie of musike and other shewes prouided for the encrease of mirth for natural Magick was so exteemed that it was thought onely to bee the profoundnes and perfection of naturall Philosophie makyng open the actiue parte thereof with the aide and helpe of other naturall vertues The Indians and the Egiptians because there was aboundaunce of herbes Stones and suche necessaries as might serue this purpose excelled in this facultie And because Astrologie hath some affinitie and greate conferēce with Magick it is conueniente in some poincte to touche what thei haue dooen from tyme to tyme. How straunge was it that Anaxogoras saied that a greate stone should fall from the Sunne the seconde yere after 78. Olimpiade in Egos a Riuer in Thracia whiche came to passe as Plini reporte in his seconde booke and sixte Chapiter Pherecides was so skilfull in Astrologie that when he sawe water drawen out of a walle he saied then that in that place should bee greate yearth quake Sulla hearyng muche of the enormitie and luste of Caligula the Emperour sometime in Rome sende hym in writing how and after what sort he should within sewe daies die This by iudiciall Astrologie did Meson foreshewe to the Athenians sailing then vnto Sicilia the tempest that was to come vpon the Seas whereby he feigned hym self madde to auoide the daunger thereof By this Sulpitius Gallus opened the effecte of Eclipse of the Moone vnto the fearfull souldiers of P. Aemilius whiche feared and doubted to méete Kyng Perseus and his armie vntill thei were certified of the cause thereof The iudgemente likewise that thei haue of menne by their faces and contemplations of the proportions of Nature iudgyng some to bee Saturnist others to bee Marcialist some to bee Iouialist others Mercurians appliyng some vnto the Sunne others vnto the Moon It is written that the auncient Philosopher Pithagoras would take no scholer or admitte any to come vnto his schoole without he iudged hym apte and meete by sight to receiue learnyng The Kingly Philosopher Socrates was iudged by Zopirus to bee by Nature a drounkarde a whoremonger and moste vicious in diuers thynges to the whiche Socrates by feelyng of the prouocation of Nature agreed and saied that he was naturally giuen vnto those vices that Zopirus iudged hym Atlas was so excellente in Astrologie that the Poetes do faigne that he vpholdeth the heauens with his shulders Berosus had his Image in Athens erected and put vp of the common people for the skill he had in Astrologie Mirandula doth write of a famous Magiciā in Pathmos named Cinges which was wōt to reise ded bodies and to woorke wonders in the tyme that Ihon the Euangeliste preached the Gospell of Christe The Egiptians beleued that Amphion was so connyng in Magique that the Poetes faigne that he made stones and Trees to followe hym These coniectures whiche bothe Magiciens and Augurers dooe gather from the heauenly bodies vpon all inferiour liuyng thynges by certaine signes and tokens placed in their mouynges standyng gesture and goynges are nothyng els but to searche the hidden force and secrete woorkyng of naturall bodies whiche was so estemed in tymes past that the Lacedemonians did assigne an Augurer to sit in roiall seate in iudgemente with their kynges and to bee euery where presente at the Counsaill of the Citie to decerne thynges and to instructe theim therein The Romaines had a whole companie of these readie to teache them thynges to come The Grekes flowed of these for thei tooke nothyng in hande without consultation either with Amphiraus Tiresias or Mopsus The Phrigians had suche cōfidence in diuinations that Ascanius the sonne of Aeneas asked counsaile of Augurers before he went vnto the fielde against Mezentius In fine the Cicilians the Arabians and the Vmbrians folowed Augurers deuise and coūsailes in all their doynges and attemptes Therefore from age to age Astrologers were the Keyes of the Augurers to practise their secretes by erection of their figures and coniectures of similitudes to shew the very waie vnto diuination There is an other kinde of Magick belōgyng to Witchyng that is doen with charmed drinkes and medecines where hearbes are moste estemed As Virgill of a certaine hearbe called Pontus maketh mention how he sawe a man named Moeris chaunged hereby vnto the
slack to serue ech reader to suffice And as Vlixes mates were changde to shiftyng shapes of hoggs So like Actaeon thou shalt be deuoured of some doggs Some will finde in vearse thy fault some will defame thy sence Some thy stile and some thy state will finde in thee offence The learned loth I am to lose of right their frendship craue Sith thou and thei wer taught in place true frendship seke to haue A Crowe sometime in Rome was taught to speake to Caesar so Aue Caesar loude with voice as Caesar by did go An Aegle was in Seston toune eche daie would neuer ceasse But mount to skey in flight to slee some foules his frend to please The Pecock proude the swellyng Swan the Feasaunt gaie the Cocke Do brag and bost themselues so braue and other birds do mocke Though these like Gorgons grim with eies thy trēbling face behold Yet tell that others see in theim whiche they of thee haue toulde No force saie thou if that may chaunce Antimachus lot maie craue In steede of sondrie diuers heads one Plato frend to haue FINIS ¶ A Table of the moste principall and chief partes conteined within this booke OF the slipperie state of Fortune and what Princes and where thei were aduaunced one waie and how thei were oppressed an other waie Fol. 1. pag. 1. Of magnanimitie of Princes and fortitude of minde when and where it was moste estemed Fol. 6. pa. 1. Of Marshall triumphes and the solempnitie thereof in diuers countries Fol. 14. pag. 2. Of the first findyng out of lawes and orders and of all mention of thinges generall and of fame fol. 17. pa. 2. Of sumptuous and wonderfull buildynges fol. 20. pa. 1. Of Paintyng Fol. 23. pag. 1. Of eloquence Fol 25. pagi 1. Of those that had their Pictures and Images for a shewe of their deserued fame erected Fol ▪ 28. pag. 1. Of those that defended diuers from deathes from serpentes dragons and of cunnyng archers fol. 30. pa. 2. Of diligence and labours Fol. 32. pag. 2. Of the first inuentours of artes and of the vse of sothsaiyng Fol. 35. pag. 1. Of pacients Fol. 39. pag. 2. Of humanitie and clemencie of Princes Fol. 41. pag. 2. Of sober and temperate Princes and where temperance and sobrietie was moste vsed Fol 49. pag. 2. Of taciturnitie and silence and of the vertue and commendation thereof Fol. 57. pag. 1. Of liberalitie and liberall princes Fol. 62. pag. 2. Of age and the praise thereof Fol. 68. pag. 1. Of the maners of sundrie people and of their straunge life Fol. 74. pag. 1. Of the straunge natures of waters yearth and Fire Folio 80. page 1. Of the worlde and of the foule of manne with diuers and sonderie opinions of Philosophers aboute the same Fol. 82. pag. 2. Of worshippyng of Goddes and Religion of Gentiles Folio 85. pag. 1. Of the first beginnyng of shauyng and the vse thereof with muche makyng of heares of the head fol. 92. p. 2 Of diuers kindes and sondery fashions of burial emongest the gentiles Fol. 95. pag. 1. Of Spirites and visions Fol. 97. pag. 2. Of dreames and warnynges Fol. 102. pag. 2. Of the beginnyng of Mariages and of the soundrie vse of the same Fol. 107. pag. 2. Of likenes and similitudes Fol. 110. pag. 1. Of Musick and mirth Fol 112. pag. 2. A comparison betwene the loue of menne and beastes Fol. 118. pag. 1. Certain Ethicall Arithmologies drawen out of deuine and prophane auctours Fol. 122. pag. 2. Examples of Iustice. Fol. 125. Examples of Usurie eodem Examples of honour Fol. 26. pag. 1. Examples of enuie Fol. 127. pag. 1. Examples of coueitousnes Fol. 127. pag 2. Examples of hearyng Fol. 129. Examples of discorde eodem Examples of frendship eodem Examples of flatterie Fol. 130. Examples of glotonie eodem Examples of rape and spoile Fol. 13. pag. 1. Examples of mercie eodem Examples of loue eodem Examples of death Fol. 131. The deathes of certaine Noble Princes in Englishe verse Fol. 133. pag. 1 Of memorie and obliuiousnes Fol. 137. pag. 1. Of the Pilgrimages of Princes and miserie of mortalitie Fol. 140. pag. 1. Of Dissimulation and Craft of Subtiltie and deceipt Fol. 146 ▪ pag. 2. Of famine 150. pag. 1. Of warines Fol. 253. pag. Of reuengement Fol. 155 ▪ pag. 1. Of Theft and Sacriledge Fol. 158. pag. 2. Of lust Fol. 161 pag. 1. Of Ielowsie Fol. 165. pag. 2. Of Idlenes Fol. 167. pag. 2. Of wrath and anger Fol. 166. pag. 2. Of periurie and faith and where either of these were honored and estéemed fol. 169. pag. 1. Of enuie and malice and so of tyrannie Fol. 177. pag. 2. Of flatterie Fol. 183. pag. 1. Of Pride Fol. 185. pag. 1. Of couetuousnes Fol. 190. pag. 1. Of prodigalitie and drunkennesse Fol. 198. pag. 1. Of Magicke and witcherie Fol. 200 ▪ pag. 1. A comparison betwene wealth and pouertie f. 203. p. 2. Of death Fol. 210. pag. 1. Of the pilgrimage of Quéenes in verse Fol. 215. pa. 1. FINIS