the warres and Gouernors in time of peace They haue a mixt language borrowed of the Medes and Scythians and compounded of them both at the first their habites were answerable to their abilitie and after their owne country fashion but waxing richer they were as curiouslie clothed as the Medes their weapons were after the custome of theyr owne countrey and like vnto the Scythians Their armies consist not of free-men as in other nations but for the most part of slaues which sort of base people doe dayly increase for they bee all bondmen borne and no power of manumission permitted them yet bee they brought vp with as great care and industry as if they were free-men and taught both to ride and shoote and euery one as hee is in riches traineth vp and setteth forth with the King when hee goeth into the warres a great company of horse men according to his abilitie in so much as when Antonius made warres vpon the Parthians and the Parthians incountring him with fifty thousand horsemen there were not found in all that whole troupe aboue eight hundred free-men They cannot indure the single combate nor to remooue the assault from Citties besieged but their chiefest fight is with their horses running forward or turning backward and some-times also they faine them-selues to flye that thereby they may wound those which vnwarily pursue them The signe of battell is not giuen them with a trumpet but with a Timbrill or Drumme neither can they indure long fight for surely they were not to bee resisted if their courage and continuance were answerable to the assault and first brunt of the battell and often-times they will leaue the battaile in the very heate of the conflict and shortly after returne againe and begin a fresh so as when the enemy thinketh himselfe most secure he is oftentimes in greatest danger The munition for their horse-men are Brigandines or coates of maile imbrodered and with such bee their horses harnessed likewise In times past they had no other vse of siluer nor golde then in their weapons All of them haue many wiues being mooued therevnto with the pleasure of the variety of women nor is there a more greeuous punishment for any offence then for adultery and therefore they forbid their wiues not onely to banquet with other men but euen the very sight of them also There bee some of opinion whereof Strabo is one that if the Parthians cannot beget children of their wiues them-selues they will giue them in mariage to their friends thereby to raise them issue to succeed them They eate no other flesh but what they get by hunting and they be euer carryed on horse-back for they ride to their banquets they buy and sell conferre together and execute all publicke and priuate offices on hors-back And this difference in the dignities and degrees of the people is very singuler and worthy to bee noted that those which bee of a seruile and base condition goe euer on foote but the better sort of people and free-men ride continually The flesh of their dead bodyes insteed of buriall is commonly rent in peeces and deuoured eyther of byrds or dogges and they couer the bones when they be bare with earth They haue their gods in great reuerence and regarde they bee of a haughty and proud disposition sedicious deceitfull and malepart and very violent in all their actions but yet women bee somewhat more courteous then men they bee alwayes busied eyther in externall or ciuill broyles They bee naturally slowe of speach and farre more apt for action then vtterance They will neither bragge of their prosperity nor dispaire in aduersity they obey their Princes for feare not for shame they bee much giuen to lust and of a sparing dyet and there is no trust nor confidence to bee reposed in their words nor promises but so farre as is expedient and behouefull for themselues The manners and customes Of Persia and of the manners lawes and ordinances of the Persians CHAP. 7. PERSIA a country in the East is so called of Persis the sonne of Iupiter and Danaé of whom also Persepolis the Metrapolitan and chiefe Citty of that nation taketh his name and the people thereof be called Persians This country as Ptolomeus writeth in his fift booke is bounded on the North with Media on the West with Susiana on the East with the two Carmanias and on the South with the Persian sea Their chiefe townes were Aximia Persepolis and Diospolis The Persians beleeue in Heauen and in Iupiter they haue the Sunne also in great veneration whom they call Mitra and worship the Moone Venus the Fire Earth Water and windes as gods and goddesses They haue neither Temples Sanctuaries nor Idols but doe their sacrifices without doores in some high place with great reuerence and deuotion hauing the hoast for sacrifice brought to the Altar with a crowne or garland on his head they sacrifice to their gods nothing else but the heart of the oblation neither do the gods as they suppose require more at their hands and yet the custome of some in that countrie is to put the Intralls of the sacrifice into the fire also when they sacrifice they make a fyre of drye wood the barke or rinde being first pulled of and then casting vpon the wood some sweet tallow or suet and infusing a little oyle thereon set it on fire not blowing with their mouths but with bellowes for if any presume to blow the fire with his mouth or throw therin any dead carcasse or any other filthy thing hee dyeth for it The Persians neither wash themselues in water nor pisse nor spitte into it nor throw any dead carcasse into it nor prophane it any other kinde of way but worship it most religiously and that in this manner When they come to a lake riuer or brooke they make a little ditch or pond seuered from the other water and there they kill the sacrifice hauing speciall regarde that none of the other water bee touched with the bloud least all should be polluted this done and the flesh layde vpon a mirtell or lawrell tree the Priests or Magi make a fire with little twiggs and therewith burne the sacrifice till it be consumed and then sprinkling and infusing it with oyle mingled with milke and hony they pray for a long space together not to the fire nor water but to the earth holding in their hands all the while a bundle of Mirtle rods They create their Kings out of one family and hee which is not obedient vnto the King hath his head and armes cut off and is cast out without buriall Polycritus reporteth that al the Persian Kings haue their houses builded vpon hills and that there they hide all the treasure and tribute which they exact of their subiects for a monument of a well gouerned state And that of the people that dwell vpon the sea coast they exact siluer and from the inhabitants of the middle part of the
at any time their footing fayle them yet will they claspe theyr hands about the twiggs and so saue and defend them-selues from falling and though by some mischance they should fall yet receiue they no hurt by reason of the lightnesse of theyr bodyes These people goe alwayes naked and haue theyr wiues and children in common They fight one against another onely for places to liue in being weaponed with staues and domineere and exult greatly ouer those they vanquish They die for the most part by famine whem their sight faileth they are depriued of that sence wherewith they sought their food In an other part of the region dwell those Aethiopians which bee called Cyneci they bee few in number but of a different life from all the rest for they inhabit the wood-land and desolate countrie wherein be but few fountaines of water and they sleepe vpon the tops of trees for feare of wilde beasts Euery morning they goe downe armed to the riuer sides and their hide themselues in trees amongst the leaues and in the heate of the day when the Beefes and Libbards and diuers other kindes of wilde beasts goe downe to the riuers to drinke and that they bee full and heauie with water these Aethiopians descen'd from the trees and fall vppon them and kill them with staues baked at the fire and with stones and dartes and then deuide them amongst their companies and eate them By which cunning deuise they deuoure many of those beasts and sometimes though but seldome they are foyled and slaine themselues And if at any time their cunning faile them and that they want beasts to eate they take the hides of such beasts as they haue eaten before and plucking of the haires laie the hides in steepe and then drie them before a soft fire and so deuiding to euery one a share satisfie themselues with that Their young boyes vnder the age of foureteene yeeres practise throwings at markes and they giue meate to those onely which touch the marke and therefore beeing forced thereto by famine they become most excellent and fine darters The people called Acridophagi border vpon the desert the men bee something shorter or lower of stature then other Aethiopians beeing leane and marueilous blacke In the spring time the West and South-west windes blow an infinite number of slies called Locustes out of the deserts into their Country which bee exceeding great but the collour of their wings is foule and lothsome These Aethiopians as their custome is gather out of places there-abouts great store of wood and other sorts of fuell and laie it in a great large valley and when at their wonted time as it were a whole cloude of Locusts bee carried by the windes ouer the valley they set fire on the fuell and with smoke stiphle and smother to death the Locusts which flie ouer it so as they fal downe vnto the earth in such aboundance as are sufficient to serue the whole countrie for victualls and these beeing sprinckled with salt which that country plentifully yeeldeth they preserue for a long space beeing a meate very pleasant vnto they taste And so these Locusts bee their continuall sustenance at all seasons for they neither keepe cattell nor eate fish beeing farre remote from the sea nor haue any other maintenance whereof to liue They bee nimble of body swift of foote and shorte of life so as they which liue the longest exceede not aboue fortie yeeres their end is not onely miserable but also incredible for when old age creepeth and commeth vppon them there doth certaine lice with winges of a horrible and vglie shape ingendring in their bodies knaw out and deuour their bellies guts and intralls and in a small time their whole bodies and he which hath the disease doth so itch is so allured to scrach as he receiueth thereby at one and the same time both pleasure and paine and when the corruption cometh forth and the lyce appeare he is so stirred with the bitternesse and anguish of the disease as hee teareth his owne flesh in peeces with his nayles with great wayling and lamentation for so great is the number of those vermine issuing out of the wounds heape vppon heape running as it were out of a vessell full of holes as they cannot be ouercome and by this meanes they die a very miserable death the cause whereof is ether the meate they liue vpon or the vnholesomenesse of the aire Vpon the vtmost parts of Affricke towards the South dwell a people which the Greekes cal Cinnamimi but of their neighbouring Barbarians they bee called wild or vplandish people These haue very great beards and for the defence of their liues breed vp great number of Mastiues and wild dogs for from the Summer troppicke to the middle of winter an infinite number of Indian Beefes come into their country the cause of their comming is vncertaine whether it bee that they fly from other wild beasts which pursue them or for the want of feeding or that they doe it by instinct of nature all which are wonderfull but the true cause is vnknowne from these the people defend them-selues with their dogges their owne forces being insufficient to withstand them and kill many of them some whereof they eate fresh and some others they powder vp for their prouision afterwards and with these dogges they take many other beasts in like sort The last people and the vtmost towards the South bee the Ichthiophagi which inhabite in the gulph of Arabia vpon the frontiers of the Trogloditae these carry the shape of men but liue like beasts they be very barbarous and go naked all their liues long vsing both wiues and daughters common like beasts they be neither touched with any feeling of pleasure or griefe other then what is naturall Neido the discerne any difference betwixt good and bad honesty and dishonesty Their habitations are in rockes and hills not farre from the sea wherein they haue deepe dennes and holes the passages in and out being naturally very hard and crooked The entrances into these holes as if nature had framed them for their vse the Inhabitants damme vp with a heape of great stones wherewith they take fishes as it were with nets for the flowing of the sea which hapneth euery day twise about three of the cloke and nine of the Cloke surrownding the borders neere vnto the shore the water increasing very high and couering all places carrieth into the continent an innumerable company of diuers sorts of fishes which seeking abroad for sustenance at the ebbing of the sea are by those stones stayd vpon dry land those doe the inhabitants make hast to gather vp and taking them lay them vpon the rockes against the noone Sunne till they be scorched with the heate thereof and when one side is scorched inough they turne the other when they bee thus broyled against the Sunne they take all the meate from the bones and put it into a
of Isthmus and extending north and south lyeth opposite to that part of the Mediterranean sea which is called Aegeum on the East and on the West to the sea Ionium as the hill Apennyne deuideth Italy in the middle so is Greece seperated and deuided with Mountaines called Thermopilae the toppes of the hills stretching in length from Leucas and the Weasterne sea towards the other sea which is Eastward The vtmost hills towards the west bee called Oeta the highest whereof is named Callidromus in whose valley there is a way or passage into the Maliacan gulfe not aboue threescore paces broad through which way if no resistance bee made a whole hoste of men may bee safely conducted but the other parts of those hills bee so steepe craggy and intrycate as it is not possible for the nimblest foote-man that is to passe ouer them there hills bee called Thermopilae of the piles or bankes that stand like gates at the entrance of the hills and of the hot waters that spring out of them by the sea side of Greece ly these regions Acarnania Aetolia Locris Phocis Baeotia and Eubaea which are almost annexed to the land Attica and Peloponesus runne further into the sea than these other countries do varying from the other in proportion of hills and vpon that part which is towards the North it is included with Epirus Phirrhaebia Magnesia Thessalia Phithiotae and the Malican gulfe The most famous and renowned citty of Athens the nurse of all liberall sciences and Philosophers than the which there is no one thing in all Greece of more excellency and estimation is scituated betwixt Achaia and Macedonia in a country there called Attica of Atthis the Kings daughter of Athens who succeeded Cecrops in the kingdome and builded Athens Of this Cecrops it was called Secropia and after Mopsopia of Mopsus And of Ian the sonne of Xutus or as Iosephus writeth of Ianus the sonne of Iaphet it was called Ionia and lastly Athens of Minerua for the Greekes call Minerua Athenae Draco was the first that made lawes for the Athenians many of which lawes were afterwards abrogated by Solon of Salamin for the too seuere punishment inflicted vpon offenders for by all the laws which Draco ordained death was due for euery little offence in such sort as if one were conuicted but of sloth or Idlenesse hee should die for it and he which gathered rootes or fruits out of an others mans grounds was as deepely punished as those which had murdered their parents Solon deuided the citty into societies trybes or wards according to the estimation and valuation of euery ones substance and reueneus In the first rancke were those whose substance was supposed to consist of five hundred medimni those which were worth three hundred medimni and were able to breed and keepe horses were counted in the second order and those of the third degree were equall in substance to the second the charge of keeping horses onely excepted And of these orders were all magistrates and high officers for the most part ordained and those which were vnder these degrees were in the fourth rancke and were called mercenary and were excluded from all offices sauing that they might haue the charge of pleading and decyding causes This institution of ciuill gouernment Seruius Tullius is supposed to haue followed and imitated at Rome Moreouer Solon appointed a Senate or Councell consisting of yearely Magistrates in Areopagus though some haue reported that Draco was the founder of that assembly And to the end that hee might take away all occasion of ciuill dissention that might happen at any time afterwards and that the inconsiderate multitude should not trouble the iudiciall sentences by their doubtfull acclamations as vsually they did out of those foure trybes that were then in Athens hee made choyse of foure hundred men an hundred out of euery trybe giuing them power to approue the acts and decrees of the Arreopagites if they were agreeable to equity if other-wise to councell them and annihilate their doings by which meanes the state of the citty stayde as it were by two sure anchors seemed secure vnmoueable and of likelyhood to continue if any were condemned for parricide or for affection and vsurping the cheefe gouernment they were excluded by Solons lawe from bearing rule and not there onely but all those also were barred and prohibited to beare offices that if any sedition were set a foote in the citty stood neuter and tooke nether part for hee thought it an argument of a bad Cittyzen not to bee carefull of the common good and peace of others when hee him-selfe hath setled his owne estate and designes in safety Amongst the rest of Solons acts this is most admirable whereby he graunted liberty that if any woman had married a man vnable to beeget children shee might lawfully and without controulement depart from him and take vnto her any one of her husbands kindred whome shee liked best Hee tooke away all vse of mony-dowries from amongst them so as a woman might take nothing with her from her fathers but a few clothes and other trinkets of small worth signifying thereby that marriages should not bee made for mony but for loue and procreation of children least their euill life might bee a blotte and skandall vnto them after their deaths If any man slaundered his neighbour ether at the solemnization of their diuine ceremonies or at their sessions and publike assemblies hee was fined at foure drachmas Hee graunted power and authority vnto Testators to dispose and bequeath legacies of mony and goods amongst whome they pleased whereas before by the custome of the country they were not to bequeath any thing from their owne families and by this meanes friendshippe was preferred before kindred and fauour before allyances Neuerthelesse this was done with such caution and prouision that noe one could graunt such legacies beeing mooued there-vnto either through their owne franticke madnesse or by the subtill and vndermyning perswasions of other but meerely of his owne accord and good discretion Hee forbad all mournings and lamentations at other mens funeralls and enacted that the sonne should not bee bound to releeue his father if his father had not brought him vp in some arte or profitable occupation nor that bastards should nourish or releeue their parents and his reason was this that hee which forbeareth not to couple with a strumpet giueth euident demonstration that he hath more care of his owne sensuall pleasures then of the procreation of children and thereby hee becommeth vnworthy of reward or releefe of such children if the fall into pouerty Besides these Solon iudged it meete that the adulterer apprehended in the deed doing might lawfully be slaine and that he that forced and rauished a free-borne Virgin should be fined at ten Drachmas He abrogated and tooke away their ancient custome of selling their daughters and sisters vnlesse they were conuinced of whoredome and amongst
execute those offices of the court the women likewise by the commandement and decree of the same Maqueda be circumcised shee being induced therevnto by this reason that euen as men haue a fore-skinne that couereth their yards in like manner haue women a certaine kernelly flesh which is called Nympha arysing vp in the middle of their priuy partes which is very fit to take the character of circumcision and this is done both to males and females vpon the eight day and after circumcision the men children be baptised vpon the fortieth day and the women children vpon the eighteeth day vnlesse any sicknesse or infirmity hapneth which may cause it to bee done sooner but if any children be baptised before the time appointed it is not lawfull to giue them sucke of their mothers milke but onely of their nurses vntill their mothers bee purified and the water wherein they bee baptised is consecrated and blessed with exorcismes and that very same day wherein children bee baptised they receiue the blessed bodie of our Lord in a little forme of bread wee receiued baptisme almost before all other Christians from the Eunuch of Candace Queene of Aethiopia whose name was Indich as it is said in the Acts of the Apostles which together with circumcision which wee had at that time as before is sayd wee obserue most holily and Christian like and by Gods assistance euer shall obserue nor doe we obserue or admit of any thing but of those onely which are expressed in the law and the prophets and in the Gospell and in the bookes of the councels of the Apostles and if wee receiue any things besides those they bee onely obserued for the time for that they seeme to appertaine to the gouernment and peace of the Church and that without any bond of sinne Wherefore our circumcision is not vncleane but the law and grace is giuen to our father Abraham which hee receiued of God as a signe not that either he or his children should be saued through circumcision but that the children of Abraham should be known from other nations And that which is inwardly vnderstood by the signe or mistery of circumcision wee doe highly obserue that is that wee may bee circumcised in our hearts neither doe wee boast of circumcision nor therefore thinke our selues more noble then other Christians nor more acceptable vnto God with whom is no acception of persons as Paul saith who also sheweth vs that wee bee not saued through circumcision but by faith because in Christ Iesus neither circumcision nor the cutting off the foreskinne preualeth but the new creature but Paul preached not to destroy the law but to establish it who was also baptised and beeing of the seed of Beniamin hee also circumcised Tymothy who was become a Christian his mother beeing an Hebrew and his father a Gentile knowing that God doth iustifie circumcision by faith and the fore-skinne by faith and as he himselfe was made all to all that hee might saue all To the Iewes hee was as a Iew that thereby hee might winne the Iewes and to those which were vnder the law hee was as one vnder the law although hee was not vnder the law to the end hee might gaine those which were vnder the lawe and to those which were without the law hee was as one without the law although hee was not without the law of GOD but vnder the law of Christ that hee might get those which were without the law and hee became weake that hee might gaine those which were weake which he did to shew that we bee saued not by circumcision but by faith And therefore when he preached to the Hebrewes hee spake vnto them in diuers speeches like an Hebrew saying God heretofore spake many waies and in many manners to our fathers in the prophets shewing vnto them out of the same prophets that Christ was of the seed of Dauid after the flesh Moreouer he preached vnto them that Christ was with our fathers in the tents in the Desert and that he led them into the Land of promise by the hand of Iosua And Paul also testifieth in the same place that Christ was the chiefe of priests and that hee entred into a new tent which is the Sanctum sanctorum The holy of holies and that with the sacrifice of his bodie and bloud hee abolished the bloud of goates and bulles whereby none that killeth them shall bee iustified and so hee spake sundry waies to the Iewes and also suffering himselfe to bee worshipped of his people by many ceremonies in a holy and vncorrupted faith Moreouer those children with vs bee accounted halfe Christians which here I vnderstand in the Romane Church bee called Paganes who because they die without baptisme ought to bee called halfe Christians because they be children of the sanctified bloud of parents baptised and of the holy Ghost and of the bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ by which three Testimonies all Christians bee so reputed because there bee three things which giue testimony in earth the spirite water and bloud as Saint Iohn witnesseth in his first canonicall Epistle the Gospell also saith a good tree bringeth forth good fruite and an euill tree bringeth forth euill fruite and therefore the children of Christians are not like vnto the children of the Gentiles and of the Iewes and of the Moores which bee withered trees without any fruit but the Christians bee elected in their mothers wombes as holy Ieremias the prophet and Saint Iohn Baptist were Furthermore the children of Christian women are elected and consecrated by the communication and imparting of the body bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ for when women great with child do take the most blessed body of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ the infant in the wombe receiuing nutriment is thereby sanctified for euen as the child in the mothers wombe conceiueth either sorrow or ioy according as the mother is affected so also is it nourished by the mothers norishment and as our Lord saith in his holy Ghospell if any one eate my body and drinke my bloud hee shall not tast of eternall death and againe if any one eate of my body and drinke my bloud hee shall remaine with mee and Paul the teacher of the Gentiles saith the vnbeleeuing husband is iustified by the beleeuing wife the vnbeleeuing wife is sanctified by the beleeuing husband otherwise your children should be vncleane but now they bee sanctified which if it bee so that the children of an vnbeleeuing mother bee sanctified by the saithfulnesse of the father then be they much more holy that bee borne of faithfull fathers and mothers for which cause it is farre more holy to call children before they bee christned halfe Christians then Pagans and the Apostles also haue said in their bookes of councels that al which beleeue and be not baptised may iustly bee termed halfe Christians who also say in the said bookes if Iew Moore or Gentile will receiue the faith hee is
long obseruation the course of the stars by whose speculatiō they prophesied of mens future fortunes They imagined the planets to be of great power and especially Saturne supposing the sunne to be of most beauty and of greatest vertue and that Mars Venus Mercury and Iupiter were to be obserued more then the rest for that they hauing each one his proper and peculiar motion foreshewed things to come and were the true interpreters of the gods And of this they were so fully perswaded as they called these foure stars al by the name of Mercury They foretold many things to come both hole-some and hurtful by winds shewers heate comets eclipse of Sunne Moone earthquakes and by sundry other signes and prodigies besides And they imagined that there were other stars subiect inferior to these planets of which some wandred in our Hemisphere and some in that which is vnder vs besides this they held the like error that the Aegiptians did and fained to themselues twelue gods attributing vnto each of them a month a signe in the Zodiake They prophesied of many things that should happen to their Kings as foreshewing to Alexander the victory he should haue in the fight with Darius to Hircanor Seleucus and to other successors of Alexander and many things after that to the Romaine successors whose euents proued true They write also of foure and twenty other stars whereof twelue be beyond the Zodiake towards the North and the other twelue towards the South of which those which appeare to our view they suppose to haue dominion ouer the liuing and the other to pertaine to those which be dead These things other circumstances haue those Chaldeans set forth to mens sight as they haue noted by long obseruation alleaging that this their doctrine hath continued for the space of three and forty thousand yeers from the first inuentiō therof to the reigne of Alexander which allegation of theirs were a very grosse impudent fable vnlesse we should interprete that the time of each yeere were but a month as was amongst the Aegiptians Of Iudaea and of the customs lawes and institutions of the Iewes CAP. 4. PAlestine which is also called Iudaea is a perticular Prouince of Syria sytuated betwixt Caelosiria and Arabia Petrea vpon the West it is washed with the Aegiptian sea and vpon the East with the riuer of Iordan This land the bookes of holy Bible and Iosephus their imitator called Canaan a land abounding with many riches as hauing plenty of fruites famous waters and being well furnished with balme It is scituated in the very middle of the world and is therefore very temperate neither to hot nor to cold which for the temperature of the elements the Israelites or Hebreues being a very ancient people and with whom alone from the first Creation of mankinde the knowledge and worship of the Heauenly and true God and the first forme of speech remained esteemed to be that which was promised by God to their fathers Abraham Isaac and Iacob a land flowing with milke and hony And therefore in the fortith yeere after the children of Israells departure out of Aegipt vnder the conduct of their valiant captaine Iosua they obtained the dominion thereof by force of their armes vanquishing and expelling one and thirty Kings which raigned in that Contry The Israelites retaine and liue vnder those laws which they receiued frō Moses their first captain althogh for many ages before Moses daies they liued without written law with great deuotion sanctity obtayning the truth by diuine Oracles and by the acutenesse magnanimity of their mindes and vnderstandings yet that great diuine Moses thought that no City could long continue in safety without the practise of law and equity And therefore when by rewarding the good punishing the wicked he had sufficiently exhorted his people to imbrace vertue and eschew vice he proposed vnto them other lawes and ciuel ordinances founded vpon those ten chiefe heads and grounds of lawes pronounced by God himselfe in mount Sina written in two Tables of which lawes being so many as they alone wold be sufficiēt matter to fill a whole volume I will onely touch those which be most worthy of remēbrance they that desire to know the rest let them read Iosephus the bookes of the Bible First Moses ordained that young children as soone as they were able to conceiue should bee instructed in the lawes seeing they contained in them the best kind of discipline That whosoeuer blasphemed the name of God should hang all a whole day be cast out at night without burial That no sacrifice should be solemnized vvith money gotten by whoredome That there should be 7. chiefe gouernors in euery city which were most noted for Iustice vvisdom that two of the leuitical Priests shold sit in iudgment with them if in discerning cōtrouersies the Iudges would not condiscēd to that which vvas right the vvhole matter should be decided by the discretion of the Priest Elder That the testimony of one man should not be currant to conuince an other of any crime nor yet of tvvo vnlesse their honesties vvere approued but the testimonie of three should stand and yet neither slaue nor woman should be sufficient witnesse because in one the basenesse of his fortune in the other the weaknesse and lightnesse of her sexe might rightly bee suspected that the fruite of trees new set or planted should not bee medled withall before the fourth yeere and that then they should pay for tithes the tenth part of the increase That neighbours and strangers should haue some part also and that the residue should remaine to him that planted them That they should sow cleane seed vpon their grounds and not mingled because the land would not like with seed of two sorts That trauellers should not bee restrained and interdicted from fruites but that they might gather as much as they pleased and their present necessity required and that if they were ashamed to take it the owners should offer it vnto them That the woman that gained vnlawfully or married her selfe to an other besides her lawfull husband should not bee regarded as a wife That shee that was supposed to bee a Virgine and was found defiled in her bodie with any man and conuicted of the crime should either bee stoned to death or burned aliue If one deflowred a Virgin espoused to an other man though she consented yet both parties should suffer extreame punishment and if he rauished her forcibly that then onely the author of the iniury should bee punished That if a man die and leaue no children behinde him his widdow should marry the brother of her deceased husband and by that matrimony bring forth issue to succeed them in their stocke but if the brother refused to marry her hee should shew the cause of his refusall before the elders and if his cause were approued good hee should haue liberty
land such other commodities as the country affoordeth as colour medicines wooll or such like and somtimes cattel also It is not lawfull for the King to put any man to death for one onely cause nor for one Persian to commit any heynous offence against another of his owne family or kindered The Persians haue many wiues a peece and keepe diuerse concubines besides for increase of issue and the Kings reward those most liberally that haue begot most children in a yeare nor bee their children once brought into their fathers sight before they bee fiue yeares of age but all that while are brought vp with their mothers chiefly for this cause that if any of them in those yeares of education should miscarry and dye their losse should be no greefe or molestation to the father They celebrate their mariages all at one time of the yeare that is in the vernall Aequinoctium and the Brides-groome eateth nothing the first night he lieth with his wife but an Apple or the marrow of a Cammell The Persian children from the first yeare of their age to the foure and twentith practise nothing but riding shooting throwing the dart and chiefly to learne to speake the truth Their schoole-maisters are men of great continencie and seuerity and such as sometimes in rime some-times in prose rehearse vnto them for their instructions tales and histories containing the commendations of their gods and the deeds of worthy men They haue a place appointed them to practise in whether they are summoned by the sound of some winde instrument at vsuall houres and their teachers are often demanded and examined by others how their children do profit They practise running also choosing one of the Princes sonnes to be their Captaine and guide the field wherein they run their races is at the least thirty stadia in length and that they may the better indure both heate and cold they often exercise themselues in swimming and wading ouer great waters insomuch as they will eate their meate and go about their husbandry and other businesse with weapons in their hands and wet garments on their backs their meate is the gumme or turpentine that issueth out of Firre trees Acornes and wilde Peares but that which they vsually eat after their runing other exercises of their bodies is a kinde of heard bread and salt herbes called garden Cresses and flesh either broyled or boyled and their vsual drinke is water They hunt alwaies on horsbacke with darts bowes and slings In the fore-noone they either plant trees dig vp rootes make weapons or practise fishing their children be addorned with gold and many other dainties The stone Pyropus which is a kind of Carbuncle stone of a firy rednesse is with them in great estimation therefore they apply it not to any dead bodie nor yet the fire for the great honor reuerence they yeeld vnto it from the twentith yeere vnto the fiftith they be souldiours and follow the warres they haue no vse of pleading neither doe they buy or sell any thing They bee armed in the warres with a kinde of target in form of a wheele and besides their quiuer of arrowes they haue weapons called sangars and short swords caps with high crowns and on their breasts rough brest-plates ful of skales The Princes weare a kind of garment that is three double about their shoulders and cotes with sleeues hanging downe to their knees the out-side whereof is of diuers collours and the lyning white In the Sommer time the Persians be clothed in purple and in winter in changeable collours The head attires for their Priests or Magi be like vnto Bishops miters The common people bee clothed with two coates hanging downe to the middle of their legs and a great bundel of linnen cloath bound about their heads Their beds and pots be trimmed with gold siluer They consult of no serious matter but when they be halfe drunke esteeming that consultation to be more firme thē that which is with sobriety deliberatiō kinsmen equals salute one an other with a kisse the baser sort of people reuerence their betters by bowing their bodies vnto them They bury their dead bodies in the earth annoynting them first with wax but their Priests or wise-men they cast out without burial to be deuoured of birds their custome was also for sonnes to lie with their owne mothers and these in times past were the manners and customes of the Persians Herodotus also reciteth more of their maners very worthy of remembrance as that it was held a horrible and heynous offence to laugh or spit before the King That they scoffed at the Greekes who were of opinion that the gods tooke their original from men That whatsoeuer was vnlawful to be done was by them thought vnfitting to be spoken That it was a vile thing to bee in debt but to lie was most abhominable That they did not bury their dead bodies before they were pulled in peeces by dogges and which in the opinion of other nations was thought most absurde that parents being brought to pouertie might get money by being Pandars to their owne daughters which custome was alowed amongst the Babylonians also The Persians at this day being ouercome by the Sarrasins and infected with the madnesse of Mahomet liue altogether in darkenesse It was once a warlike nation and had for a long space the gouernment of the East but now for want of excercise in armes it fayleth much of his ancient glory Of India and of the monstrous and prodigious customes and manner of liuing of the people of India CAP. 8. INDIA a Country in the East and the vtmost bound of all Asia is so vast and large a country as it is thoght to be the third part of the whole world Pomponius writeth that it is as much in compasse by the sea shore as a ship will saile in forty daies and forty nights with a full winde It is called India of the riuer Inde where it finisheth his course vpon the West part and beginning at the meridionall sea stretcheth out vnto the vttermost part of the East extending Northward to the hill Caucasus It containeth sundry sorts of people and hath such great aboundance of Cities and walled townes therein as some are of opinion that there is no fewer then fiue thousand nor may it seeme strange that it hath so great numbers of people and Cities considering that the Indians of all other people neuer departed from their natiue soile The most famous riuers in that Country are Ganges Indus and Hypanis but the greatest of them is the riuer Ganges The Country by reason of the Westerne windes is most holsome they haue two haruests in the yeere and the wind bloweth Easterly all winter wine they haue none although there be that affirme that the Musican soile yeeldeth some wine in the South part of India is great store of Narde Cynamon Pepper and Sugar-cane as in Arabia and Aethiopia It produceth Ebon-trees
custome when any man had his father deceased all his kinsfolke presented him with beasts which when they had killed and cut in small peeces they chopped his dead father that inuited them to the banket in peeces also and mingling all the flesh together made thereof a solemne feast then would they take the dead mans head and flea it and put out all the braines within the skull and couering it with gold vse it as an Idoll doing vnto him yeerely ceremonies and sacrifices these things did the sonne to the father and the father would doe to his sonne as the Greekes celebrate the daies of their natiuitie These people also bee accounted iust and that the wiues bee of equall strength with their husbands And such heretofore were the manners of the Scythians but afterwards being subdued by the Tartarians they followed their fashions and liue now like vnto them and bee all called by one name Tartarians Of Tartaria and of the customes and power of that people CAP. 10. TARTARIA which according to Vincentius is also called Mongal is scituated in the North-east part of the world and hath vpon the East the land of the Cathaians and Solangans vpon the South the Sarrasins the Naymans vpon the West and is compassed on the North with the Ocean sea it is called Tartaria of the Riuer Tartar which runeth through it and the Country for the most part is verie mountanous and full of hilles as much of it as is Champion is so mingled with sand and grauell as it is very barren but onelie where it is watered with running waters which bee very rare and geason And for this cause it is much of it desert and vn-inhabited with people There be no Cities or great townes in the whole country but onely one called Cracuris and wood is so scarce in most places there as the inhabitants be constrained to burne and boile their meate with horsdung beasts dung The weather there is very intemperate and most strange for in the Summer-time they haue such horrible and terrible thunders and lightnings as many men die for very feare it is euen now maruellous hot and by and by there will be extreame cold and snowes and the stormes and winds oftentimes bee so boysterous as people bee not able to ride against them but that they blow men downe from their horses pull trees vp by the rootes and doe the people many and great dammages It neuer raineth there in Winter and but seldome times in Sommer and then so small a raine as it scarce moystneth the earth The Country otherwise aboundeth with all kinds of beasts as Camels Oxen and such like and laboring beasts and Horses in such aboundance as it is thought that all the residue of the world hath scarce so many besides Tartaria was first inhabited of foure sundry sorts of people one sort whereof were called Iecchamongall that is to say great Mongals the second Sumongall which is watry Mongals and those called themselues also Tartars of the riuer Tartar neere which they dwelled the third were called Merchat and the fouth Metrit they had all like forme and lineaments of body and spake all one language The ancient Tartarians were of a rude behauiour and liued without manners lawes or other ornamentes of life and beeing of an obscure name and very basely esteemed of amongst all the Scythians followed their cattaile and paide tribute vnto them for their dwellings Shortly after this people being deuided as it were into certaine tribes or kindreds were first ruled by captaines who had the sole gouernment ouer them they paying tribute notwithstanding to their next bordering neighbours the Naymans But when by a certaine Oracle they had elected and created Canguista their first King hee taking vpon him the Empire did first abolish the worship of all euill spirits and false gods and made an Edict that all the Nation should worship the true God by whose prouidence hee would haue all men thinke that hee receiued his Kingdome Hee commanded likewise that all that by their age were able to beare armes should bee ready to attend the King at a certaine daie where when they were assembled the army was distributed in this manner First that the Decurions which were captaines ouer tenne souldiours should obey the centurions which were captaines ouer an hundred foote-men the centurions should be obedient to those which were Captaines and Coronels of a thousand men and those againe should be at the command of those which were gouernors of tenne thousand and then to trie the strength of his Empire and to haue experience of his subiects hearts hee commaunded that seuen of those Princes or Gouernours sonnes which ruled the people before hee was ordained King should bee slaine by the hands of their owne fathers This command of the King the father 's fulfilled although it seemed very bitter and cruel both for feare of the multitude and also for religions sake for they verily beleeued that the God of Heauen was first author and instituor of their Kingdome and that if they should not performe his command they should not onely transgresse and violate the law of a King but the law of God also Canguista being thus fortified and putting confidence in his power first subdued by battaile the Scythians which were next vnto him and made them tributary and with them all those to whom the Tartarians themselues before that time paide tribute from thence going forward to people more remote he had such prosperous and happy successe in the warres as hee subdued with his forces all Kingdomes Countries and Nations from Scythia to the Sunne rysing and from thence to the mediterranean sea and beyond so as now he may iustly be said to bee Lord and Emperour of all the East The Tartarians of all men be most deformed in body they bee for the most part little men hauing great eyes standing farre out of their heads and so much couered with eye-lids as the sight or opening of the eye is maruellous little their faces be broad and without beards except that they haue some few stragling haires vpon their vpper lips and chinnes they be all of them commonly slender in the waste and shaue all the hinder partes of their heades from one eare to the other and vppe to the crowne they weare the rest of their haires long like vnto our women of which long haire they make two strings or cords bynding or winding them ouer both their eares and in this manner be all Tartarians shaued and all those people also which liue amongst them Moreouer they be very nimble and actiue of bodie good horse-men but bad footemen and they neuer goe afoote but the poorest of them whither euer he hath occasion to goe rydeth either on horse or oxe-backe their women ride also vpon geldings and such as will not strike or kicke their bridles bee richly decked with gold siluer and precious stones They hold it a glorious thing to
nostrils with earth moystened with his spittle thirdly giuing him his name after which he shall be called he marketh him with the signe of the crosse vpon his breast and backe with hallowed oyle fourthly inuocating the name of the blessed Trinitie the Father Sonne and holy Ghost in whose name all other Sacraments are ministred three times he dippeth or ducketh him into the water or else powreth water vpon him three times in forme of a crosse fiftly dipping his thomb into the holy Chrysme he signeth his fore-head with the signe of the crosse sixtly hee couereth him with a white garment and seuenthly and lastly putteth into his hands a burning candle It was ordained by the Agathon Councell that Iewes before they were baptized shold be instructed in the Christian faith nine moneths and fast forty daies and that they should refuse all their substance make free their bond-seruants and put from them their children if they had any such as were circumcized after the lawe of Moses and fo◠those causes it is no maruell that the Iewes bee so hardly induced to receiue the Sacrament of Baptisme 2. The second Sacrament is Confirmation which is giuen onely by the Bishop in the Church before the altar to children of fourteene yeares of age or vpwards and if it may be while they be fasting in this manner All the children which come to be confirmed beeing there present with their god-fathers the bishop hauing said a prayer ouer each of them dips his thombe into moist Chrisme signing euery one of their foreheads with the signe of the crosse In the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost and for their better remembrance and to the end they should not require this Sacrament againe he giueth euery one a blow vpon his right cheeke and then the Godfathers for feare least the moist vnction should runne off or be wiped away through negligence or carelessenesse bind their foreheads with a linnen cloth which they bring with them for that purpose and that cloth they may not put off vntill the seuenth day after And such force haue the holy fathers attributed to this Sacrament as if a man dislike of his name he tooke in his Baptisme in taking of this Sacramēt he may haue it changed into an other name by the Bishop 3. The third Sacrament is the Sacrament of holy orders which in the primitiue Church was likewise ministred by the Eishop and that only in the month of December but now it is ministred at six times in the yeer appointed for that purpose that is to say vpon the Saterdaies of al those 4. feasts called Ember weekes which were ordained for that end vpon the Saterday called Sitientes which is the Saterday before passion Sunday vpon the eue of the blessed Passouer and then to men only and to such whose condition of life bability of body quality of minde is sufficiently knowne and approued There be seuen orders of Priests or according to some nine all of which as the holy fathers haue euer bin of opinion haue imprinted in their hearts by their holy orders such special caracters of grace as they be euer after held holy sanctified which be singing men or organists doorekeepers readers Exorcists Priests Ministers or Acolits Subdecōs Deacons Priests Bishops yet it is held to be but one Sacrament not many by reason of the finall office which is to consecrate the Lords body Euery one of these nine orders of Priests hath his peculiar office in the Church ornaments allowed him by the Toletan councel to distinguish him from the rest for the doore keepers or sextons are to defend and keepe the Churches and to open shut them and therefore a key is giuen vnto them when they be ordained to the readers that haue power to read the old Testament and holy histories is giuen a booke the office of Exorcists is to dispossesse such as bee possessed with euil spirits and haue a booke giuen vnto them wherein be contained those exorcismes for a marke to signifie that office The office of the Acolites is to set the candlesticks vpon the Altar and to light the tapers as also to set in redinesse the vyoles or pots of water to carry them away when masse is done and therefore be they manifested by carrying a candlesticke with a taper in it and an empty vial or cruet The Subdeacons are to take the oblations to handle the chalice and patin and make them ready for the sacrifice and to administer wine and water to the Deacons in the vials and therefore the Bishop giueth them a chalice and a patin and the Archdeacon cruets ful of wine water and a towel The Deacons proper function is to preach the word of God to the people and to be assistant to the priests in the holy misteries of the Church and to them is giuen the booke of the New-Testament a stole cast crosse ouer one shoulder like a yoake The power of the priests is to consecrate the Lords body to pray for sinners and by enioyning them penance to reconcile them againe vnto God and therefore is he honored with a chalice ful of wine a patin with the hoast vpō it a stole hanging on both shoulders and the linnen garment called Castula What is giuen to Bishops at their consecrations you haue heard before and they be euer ordained consecrated about three of the clocke on the Lords day at the celebration of the office of the masse before the reading of the Gospel by three other Bishops whereof the Metrapolitan to be one who doe it by laying there hands and a booke vpon his head In the primitiue Church there was little difference betwixt Bishops and other priests for al of them by common consent did ioyne together in the gouernment of the Church til such dissentions grew among them as euery one would call himselfe not of Christ but rather of him by whom he was baptised as one of Paule an other of Apollo a third of Cephas And therefore for the auoiding of schismes maintayning an vniformity in the Church the holy fathers though it necessary to establish a decree that al which should euer after be baptised shold he called by one general appellation Christians of Christ and that euery Prouince should bee gouerned by one Priest or more according to the quantity bignesse who for their grauity and reuerence should be called Bishops and they should gouerne and instruct both lay people clergy that were vnder their charge not after their owne wils and pleasures as was vsed before but according to the prescript rules canons and ordinances of the Church of Rome and holy Councels and then by the permission furtherance of good and holy Princes all Kingdomes throughout the Christian world were deuided into Diocesses the Diocesse into Shires and Counties and they againe into seueral parrishes which good and godly ordinance both for clergy and laytie is
of increase and procreation to bring some young man that was honest and well thought of to lye with his wife and if she conceiued with child by the stranger he would repute it as his owne child and bring it vp as his owne nor was it accounted a shame for any to perswade such old men that had chast wiues and fit to bring foorth children that they might bee with them to bring foorth seed out of so good a soyle for they laughed at the folly of some people that would put their mares and bitches to couple with the best makes they could get of their kind sometimes for hire and somtimes for loue and fauour and to keepe their wiues so warily vnder watch and ward that none might lie with them but themselues whereby their issue be either mad and distracted or otherwise very weake and feeble vnfit for any exercise Parents might not bee allowed to educate and bring vp their owne children themselues but so soone as they were borne they were brought into the streetes amongst the people vnto a certaine place there called Ieschen where they were nourished vntill they were of some stature and then the formes and lincaments of their bodies were perused by certaine ouer-seers and whosoeuer was allowed by these ouer-seers had assigned vnto him one of those 9000. portions of ground into which the soile belōging to the city was diuided but those which were weake and deformed weare brought vnto a steepe rocke not far from Taygetum called Apotheca where they were throwne down headlong as vnprofitable for the common-wealth The women vsed not to wash their children with water but with wine by the application of which liquour it is most certaine that their bodies would be weakned and made feeble if they were any wise subiect to the falling euil nor would they apply any thing to them to strengthen and keepe their naturall heate nor wrap them in swathing clothes or vse them to whittles or rattles but brought them vp in solitarie and darke places and therfore by reason of this seuere education many people of other nations would haue their children nourished and brought vp by Lacedemonian nurses These children when they accomplished the age of seuen yeares began to exercise themselues in the companie of their equals and to get such learning as was necessarie for them attaining to all other disciplines by their owne industrie and indeauor they were shorne and shauen to the skin and went bare-footed and bare legged and when they were twelue yeares of age they allowed them one cote but they were prohibited bathes and all things else that might nourish their naturall heate the beds whereuppon they tooke their rest were made of reedes wherein in the winter time they accustomed to put a kind of thistles which they called Licophona's There was one created and ordained to be gouernor and tutor ouer the children whom they called Iren this Iren taught them of the bigger sort to get and prouide wood and fuell and the lesser sort to steale and carry it away to intrude themselues into the company of their betters when they were at their bankets and from thence to filtch and purloine what they could get and those which were apprehended and taken in the deed doing were whipt and driuen away not for because it was an offence to steale but for that they did it not warily and aduisedly Some he would command to sing some other to propose subtill and witty questions the answerers whereof must be both sharpe and sudden and if any were found negligent in performing their exercise the Iren would bite them hard by the thombe in the way of correction Moreouer they were taught to vse graue speeches but such as were mixed with some mirth and in few words to comprehend whole sentences in such manner as it was an vsuall prouerb to say That it is more easie to play the Philosopher then to imitate the concise manner of speaking of the Lacedemonians It is worth the labour to expresse and set downe the exercises of each seuerall age and what contention and emulation was amongst them who should most excell in vertue The whole people were distinguished into three companies or quires according to their ages and first the troupe or assembly of old men when in their solemne sacrifices they began to sing pronounced with a shrill voice these words following We were once young and lustie to whom the young men following after make this answer And we now are young and lustie and thereof you shall make trial if you please And lastly the Quire of children comming hindermost pronounce and say We shall once be as good as you and better Plutarch reports that a certaine modulation and measure in musicke which was obserued and practised by the Laconians continued vntill his time and which they were accustomed to sing to their fluites or pipes when they set vpon their enemies Thucidides also the reporter of this Laconian institution hath written that those musicall songs and harmonie set vnto their flutes were vsed in the wars but hee denyeth that they were vsed in any ceremonies of Religion or for the performance of diuine seruice nor yet thereby to encourage mens minds or to incite and prouoke them to fight as the hornes and trumpets were wont to do amongst the Romaines but that at their meeting together they might enter into the battell by little and little as it were with equall and measured paces and not to suffer their orders and ranckes to be broken or scattered There is a verse extant of the Lacedemonian Poet whereby it appeareth that the Spartans vsed not onely the fluite and pipe in the on set of their battels but the musicall sound and consent of the harpe also Which custome may seeme to be deriued from the Cretans Herodotus writeth that Haliattes King of Lydia in the warres hee made against the Milesians had not onely pipers and minstrels in his campe to delight his eare but a thing vnfit to be reported because it seemes somewhat incredulous the daintiest fare that could be gotten by any possible meanes whatsoeuer The Romaines besides the noyse of hornes and trumpets beganne their battell with exceeding great clamor and showting of souldiers which is farre different from that which Homer writeth of the people of Achaia For they saith hee guarding and defending their forces enter into the battell with quietnesse and silence The French-men as Polybius and Liuie report vse dancing tripping of the toe and shaking their sheelds ouer their heades and there be some barbarous people that enter into battell with howling and crying by which variety of customes wee may gather that but few other nations follow and imitate the Spartans in their consorts and symphony in musicke which they vse in their wars Moreouer the Spartans fashion was to keepe their haire and beards long from their youth according to that memorable and worthie saying of the Law-giuer himself which was That mens bodies bee
Citie of the Region is called Vilna it is a Bishops seate and as bigge as all Cracouia with the suburbes the houses whereof ioyne not together but stand one a good distance from an other as they doe in the Countrie hauing orchardes and gardens betwixt them There bee in it two very stronge castles or holdes one scituated vpon a hill and the other lower vpon the plaine or champion ground This cittie of Vilna is distant from Cracouia the chiefe citie of Poland one hundred and twenty miles About the Citie there are certaine Tartarians haue places assigned them for to dwell in who tilling and manuring the ground after our manner doe labour and carry commodities from one place to an other They doe speake the Tartarian tongue and worship the Religion of Mahomet Of Liuonia Prussia and of the souldiors called Mariani in Spaine CAP. 8. LIVONIA now professing the true and sincere religion ioyneth Northward vnto Ruthenia and the borders of Sarmatia or Poland The Tartarians a people of Scythia haue made often incursions into that Country The people of Liuonia were first made pertakers of the Christian religion by souldiors of Spaine called Mariani of Marianus whereas before they acknowledged and adored no other god but euill spirits There hath beene very much controuersie and wars about the possession of that countrie sometimes one sometimes an other getting the vpper hand and gouernment It is inuironed vpon the West part thereof with the Sarmatian sea and with a gulph of an vnknowne bignesse the mouth whereof Westward is not very farre from Cimbrica Chersonesus the which is now called Dacia or Denmarke about this gulphe Northward there doth dwell or inhabite a sauadge and wilde kinde of people which beeing voide of any language vsed in other lands doe exchange there Merchandise by signes and beckes Prussia the inhabitantes whereof bee called Pruteni pertaketh now with Germania and Sarmatia which countries it incountreth vpon the West This land if Ptolomeus report a truth is washed with the famous Riuer Vistula from the Cittie Tornum to Gedanum where it falleth into the Baltean sea it lyeth beyond Germany and reacheth from the riuer Vistula to the Sarmaticke Ocean Vpon the East and South is the Prouince of the Massouitae the inhabitants whereof be Polanders and the Saxons vppon the West Prussia is an exceeding fruitefull countrey well watered and very populous It is pleasant withall and abounding with cattell there is very good fishing and much hunting Iornandes writeth that this land was inhabited by a people called Vlmerigi at such time as the Gothes remooued from the Iland of Scandinavia into the continent and maine land And Ptolomeus reporteth that the Amaxobij the Aulani the Venedes and the Gythones dwelt neere the riuer Vistula or Wixell The people of this Countrey were worshippers of euill Spirits vntill the time of the Emperour Fredericke the second and than our Ladies souldiers which bee also called Deiparini or Mariani after they had lost the towne of Ptolomais in Siria returned into Germanie and beeing men of haughtie and noble spirits and very expert in feats of armes and to the end their courages should not be danted and they out of vse by ouer-much idlenesse they came vnto the Emperor declaring vnto him that the people of Prussia which border vpon Germanie were vtterly ignorant of the Christian Religion and that they made often incursions vppon the Saxons and other their bordering neighbours stealing from them whole heards of cattell shewing him moreouer that they had a desire to suppresse that barbarous nation wherunto the Emperor consented and gaue the kingdom to his two brethren as their lawfull inheritance if they could conquer it by armes the Dukes Gouernors of Massouia which before had proclaimed themselues Lords of that land surrendred their estates and titles foorthwith to the Emperours brothers which gift was thankefully taken by the Emperour himselfe who commending his brothers intent gaue vnto them what letters and commission they desired signed with the golden seale These breethren prouiding themselues for the warres in a short time brought vnder their subiection all the Countries which were vnder the Prussian gouernement on each side the riuer Vistula who beeing conquered by battell willingly submitted themselues to their subiection and imbraced the true faith and Christian Religion therewithall exchanging their speech for the Almaine toung Nere vnto the riuer Vistula grew an Oke where the victors atchieued the conquest and there they first erected a Castell which shortly after as many things in time grow great of small beginnings grew vppe into a great towne and was called Maryburge it is now the chiefe cittie of the Countrey and his seate which hath the gouernement of that whole order of souldiers which holy order of warfare had his beginning from the Almaines and there is none but Almaines which enter into that order or bond and those too must be nobly or worshipfully descended at their entrance into that order they are enioyned to be alwayes in readines to fight against the enemies of the holy Crosse of Christ they be cloathed in white cassockes with blacke crosses sowed on them all of them suffering their beards grow long but onely such as be Priests and are employed in their seruices The souldiers in steade of the Canonicall houres repeate the Lords prayer for they bee altogether vnlearned yet bee they very rich and their power as great as if they were Kings They haue many conflicts with the Polonians for incroaching vppon the Confines of their countrey in which sometimes they haue the better and sometimes the worse and they will neuer refuse to submit all their forces to the hazard of the warres what euer the euent or successe be There is a little Region bordering vppon Prussia and Lithuania called Samogithia it is closed and enuironed round about with woods and waters and is fiftie myles in length the people thereof be very tall and of a comely stature and yet very vnciuill and of rude behauiour they marry as oft as they will and without respect of kindred or blooud for the father beeing dead the sonne may marry his step-mother and one brother deceased his other brother may marry his wife Money they haue none their buildings be base and low and their houses for the most part made of hempe stalkes and reedes and fashioned like boates or helmets vppon the ridge or toppes whereof is made a window to giue light to the whole house and in euery house is but one fire which is euer burning both to dresse their meate and drinke and other necessaries belonging to their bodies as also to expell the violence of cold which is there very vehement and extreame a binding frost continuing for the most part of the yeare These houses haue no chimneys in them for all the smoke goeth out at the window The people bee much inclined to diuination and witchcraft the god in whome they repose most confidence and trust and which they
able to brooke the sea willingly opposing thēselues to all dangers of the sea which be so many as they bee oftentimes in extreame hazard in stormes and tempestuous wether to be cast away This people as Sabellicus writeth in his first booke and 7. Aenead is yet so proud rebellious and reuengefull as they haue much exercised the Romanes in warres to their no little preiudice Their chiefe victuals at this day is flesh milke and drinke made of barley Of Tuscia and of the ancient manners of the Tuscans CAP. 20. TVSCIA a famous country in Italy was so called of their sacrifices as some suppose for the Greeke word Thuein doth signifie to sacrifice or else of the latine word Thus which signifieth Frankincense by reason that Frankincense is much vsed in sacrifices Other ancient Writers are of opinion that it was called Tuscia of Tusculus the sonne of Hercules It was once called Tyrrhenia but whether it was so called of Tyrrhenus the sonne of Atis or of the sonne of Hercules and Omphales or as some others affirme of the sonne of Telephus who conducted Colonies into that country it resteth doubtfull and vncertaine Dionysius will needes haue it to be called Tuscia of those circles made without the walles of citties for men to solace themselues in called Tyrses which is a manner of building the Tuscanes much vse The Romanes call the people of this nation sometimes Tuscans and sometimes Hetruscanes but the Greekes call them Tyrrheni The ancient wealth of this people is well declared by the name of their sea stretching all along by the side of Italie and also by the confines of their country extending from the Tuuscane to the Adriaticke sea and in a manner to the top of the Alpes so that it is manifest that all that compasse of ground that lyeth betwixt the Alpes and Appennine was once inhabited by the Vmbri who were thence eiected by the Tyrrheni and the Tyrrheni by the French the French were likewise displaced by the Romans and the Romaines by the Longobards who lastly left their name vnto that nation so as for as much as concerneth their name all those which were called Latini Vmbri and Ausones were once called by the Greekes by this generall name Tyrrheni There be some hold opinion that the citty Tyrrhena is that which is now called Rome These people of Tyrrhenia were of an exceeding strength of large dominions and erected many stately and rich citties they were also very strong by sea insomuch as they were lords thereof so long till the Italian sea had lost his name and was by them called the Tyrrhen sea They be able likewise to make an infinit army of footmen fit for the warres and they were the first that inuented the trumpet which is so necessarie an instrument for the wars and by them is called Tyrrhenum They giue and ascribe many honors and titles of dignity vnto their Captains conductors of their armies as Lictors or Sergeants to go before them to do execution vpon offendors litle drayes or carts made like chariots with chaires of estate which they called Praetextae and Officers called Fasces that carry bundels of rods before them an Iuorie scepter and many other things besides they may haue porches or galleries annexed to their horses for their seruants and attendants to sit and repose themselues in which kind of building was afterwards imitated by the Romanes and by them bettered translated into they Common-wealth The Tuscans be great schollers and much giuen to diuinity but more to the studie of naturall Philosophie wherein and in the interpretation of the thunder and lightning and in the art of Southsaying they excell all others so farre as at this day they be admired throughout all the world and their wise-men much sought vnto Moreouer they be very expert in their sacrifices insomuch as the Romaines which haue euer beene very studious and carefull not onely to maintaine and vphold but to increase and augment the true and sincere Religion did send yearely by the decree of the Senate vnto the Tuscanes ten of their chiefe Princes and Magistrates sons there to be instructed in their manner of sacrificing From thence came vnto the Romanes that vaine and idle talke of euill spirits And from thence likewise came the celebration of the Feasts of Bacchus which by the consent of all good men due punishmēt inflicted vpon the first authors and inuentors is now vtterly rooted out of Italy as a thing most pernitious and hurtfull The ground in this countrie is sufficient fruitfull yet by their studie or industrie it is much amended They eate vsually twise a day and then they fare very daintily and feed liberally vsing to couer their tables with curious carpets and fine table cloths distinguished and set with flowers cups of gold of sundrie fashions to drinke in and great store of ministers and seruants to attend vppon them which are not all slaues but many of them free-men and cittizens This people is generally more superstitious then warlike Of Galatia in Europe and of the old customes of that country CAP. 21. GALATIA a spatious countrie in Europe lyeth as Diodorus Siculus writeth beyond that part of France called Celtica and extendeth South-ward to the Ocean and the shore adioyning and to the hil of Hircinia in Germany and from the bounds of Ister or Danubius vp vnto Scythia It was so called of Galatis the sonne of Hercules and of a certaine woman of Celtica it is inhabited of many sorts of people and lyeth very farre Northward and therefore so cold in the winter as all their waters be frozen ouer and the ice so exceeding thicke as whole armies with horses chariots and munition may safely passe ouer the riuers without perill Galatia hath many great riuers running through it some taking their beginning from deepe standing pooles and some from springs issuing out of rockes and mountaines whereof some disburthen themselues into the Ocean as the Rhene and some into the sea called Pontus as Danubius and some others into the Adriaticke sea as Eridanus which is also called Padus or Po and all these riuers be so congealed and frozen ouer all winter as all passengers may securely go ouer them especially if chaffe or straw be throwne vpon the ice for slipping By reason of this violent coldnesse the countrey is vtterly and altogether destitute both of oyle and wine in stead whereof they make a certaine drinke of barley which they call Zitum they vse also to drinke a certaine water or meath wherein they wash or steepe their honey combes They take great delight in drinking wines buying it of merchants and drinking it without putting any water to it and they be so weake brainde that a little of it will ouercome them and make them drunke and then they be either lion drunke and fall a raging or swine drunke and goe to sleeping This their inordinate desire of wine maketh many Italians in hope of gaine to
to the first Court of Parliament which is there by them so ratified and confirmed as no one can appeale from it and he which is found guiltie before them must pay vnto the Courts three-score pounds of Tours weight and some are adiudged to pay more according to the quality of the offence but if the party so condemned thinke that his cause was not well vnderstood and discussed and that he had some iniurie done him thereby receiuing some losse or hinderance hee may bring the matter thus crazed by misinformation againe into question before the Iudges but it shall not be heard vnlesse he pawne and put into their hands an hundred and twenty pounds to stand to their censure The fourth Court in the Court of Requests and is kept by the Masters of the Kings pallace or Masters of requests and supplications and none shall haue their causes heard there but only the kings seruāts or such as haue some priuiledges from the King and they shall not be molested in other Courts of this Court there be onely sixe Iudges it is lawfull to appeale from them to the Parlament If in handling controuersies any great difficulty arise it must be decided by the assembly of all the Iudges and Councellors of euery Court together which happeneth oftentimes in matters proposed by the King touching the gouernment of the Commonwealth for no law can be throughly established without the consent of this Senate or Parlament-house In this Parlament the Peeres of France and other masters of Requests that be the kings fauorites may sit as assistants vnto the Iudges and their places be next vnto the Presidents of the first Court or Chamber but all matters touching the king or any of the Peeres be defined and determined by the Peeres themselues and the Iudges of the first Court. There be twelue chiefe Peers elected out of all the Nobility of France whereof sixe be spirituall men six temporall the spirituall Peeres be the Bishop of Rhemes the Bishop of Lavdunum and the Bishop of Langres which be called Episcopi Duces or chiefe Bishops the Bishop of Beuvois the Bishop of Noyon and the Bishop of Challons which be Episcopi Comites or secundarie Bishops The sixe secular Peeres be the Duke of Burgundie the D. of Normandie and the Duke of Aquitania which bee chiefe Princes or Arch-dukes the Duke of Flanders the Duke of Tholousa and the Duke of Campania which be secundary Princes These twelue according to the opinion of Robertus were first instituted by Charles the great who taking them with him into the warres called them his Peeres as hauing equall power in assisting of the King and they were euer present at his coronation and yeelded obedience to no other Court but onely to the King and his Court of Parliament And these be the ancient and later maners of the Gauls and French-men and their customes most worthie of memorie Of Spaine and of the manners of the Spaniards CAP. 23. SPAINE the greatest country in Europe is situated betwixt France and Affricke and bounded with the Ocean sea and the Pirenaean hils It is comparable to any other country both for fertilitie of soyle and aboundance of fruites and vines and so sufficiently stored with all kind of commodities that be either necessarie or behoofull as it affordeth great part of her superfluitie to the city of Rome and all Italy ouer If you require gold siluer or pretious stones there they are in aboundance if mynes of Iron and sundry other mettals you shall find no defect if wines it giueth place to none and as for oyles it excelleth all other nations of Europe besides that they haue such store of salt as they neuer boyle it but dig it out of the earth in full perfection Yea there is no part of their ground be it neuer so barren but it yeeldeth increase of one thing or other the heate of the Sunne is not there so violent as in Affricke nor be they tossed with such continuall stormes and tempestuous winds as France is but there is an equall temperature of the heauens and wholesomnes of the ayre ouer all the Region it beeing greatly wasted with marine winds without such foggie mists and infectious exhalations as proceed from fennes and moorish grounds There is great plenty of hempe flaxe and broome the pill or skin wherof serueth to tye vp their vines and it affordeth more vermilion then any other countrie besides The currents of their riuers be not so swift and violent as they thereby become hurtfull but gentle and mild to water and manure their fields and medowes and the armes of the Ocean sea which adioyne vnto them affoord great store of fish and yet for no one thing was Spaine more commended in times past then for the swiftnesse of their horses whereof grew this fiction That the Spanish horses were conceiued of the winds Spaine taketh her beginning at the Pyrenaean hilles and winding by Hercules pillars extendeth to the Northerne Ocean so as all places contained within that compasse may iustly be said to be of Spaine The breadth of Spaine as Appianus writeth is ten thousand stadia the length much answerable to the breadth it ioyneth vnto France only at the Pyrenaean hils and on al other sides it is inclosed with the sea it is distinguished and knowne by three names Tarragon Bethica and Lusitania Tarragon the chiefe citties whereof were called Pallantia and Numantia now called Soria at the one end ioyneth vnto France and vnto Bethica and Lusitania at the other The Mediterranean sea runneth by the South-side thereof and vpon the North it lyeth opposite to the Ocean the other two prouinces be diuided by the riuer Anas so as Bethica the chiefe citties whereof were Hispalis and Corduba looketh West-ward into the Atlanticke sea and into the Mediterranean vpon the South Lusitania lyeth opposite onely to the Ocean the side of it vnto the Northerne Ocean and vnto the Western at the end the city Emerita being once the chiefe Cittie of that Prouince Spaine was first called Iberia of the riuer Iberus and after that Hesperia of Hesperus the brother of Atlas and lastly it was named Hispania of Hispalis now called Sibilia Their bodies bee very apt to indure both hunger and labour and their minds euer prepared for death they bee very sparing and strict both in their diet and euery thing else and they be much more desirous of warres then of peace So much as if warres be wanting abroade they wil grow to ciuill dissention and home-bred garboiles among themselues They will suffer torments euen vnto death rather than reueile a thing committed to their secrecie hauing more care of their credits and trust reposed in them then of their liues They be maruellous nimble and swift of pace and of an vnquiet and turbulent disposition their horses be both speedie and warlike and their armes more deare vnto them then their bloud They furnish not their tables with daintie
to hang downe about their shoulders dangling like women and they fight with Myters vpon their heades in stead of helmets Their daintiest meate is bucke goates which they also sacrifice to Mars as they do captiues and horses They haue also in imitation of the Greekes their Hecatombes which are sacrifices made with an hundred beasts of all sorts and as Pindarus is of opinion they sacrifice and offer euery hundreth thing likewise They haue their Gymnick playes which are so called for that they be done by naked men and these playes are exercised with weapons horses plummets of Leade called the Whirle-about running and disordered fighting and sometimes they diuide themselues into parts and fight one side against another These mountainous Lusitanians feede two parts of the yeare vppon Acornes which when they haue dried and ground into meale they make bread thereof and so eat it In stead of wine wherof those parts are barren they haue drinke made of barley and that they euer drinke new assoone as it is brewed When kinsfolke and friends are assembled together to banquet in stead of oyle they vse butter and haue seates made in the walles for them to sit in where euery one taketh his seate according to his worth or grauitie and euer in their drinking they vse to sing and dance after musicke leaping and capering for ioy as the women in Boetica do when they ioyne all their hands together and so fall a dauncing Their apparell for the most part is black cassockes which they will wrap about them and so lye themselues downe to sleepe vppon straw or litter They eate their meate in earthen platters as the French men do and women weare for the most part red garments In steade of money they vse thinne plates of siluer or else exchange and barter one commoditie for another Those which are condemned to dye are stoned to death and Parricides are carried from out the confines of their hilles or beyond some riuer and there couered and ouer-whelmed with stones They contract matrimonie after the manner of the Greekes and according to the custome of the Aegyptians bring those which are sick into the streets to the end that those which haue beene troubled with the like griefes themselues may shew them how they were cured And these be the customs vsed in those mountainous and northerne countries of Spaine It is reported that those Spaniards which inhabite the vtmost parts of Portingall when they be taken prisoners by their enemies and readie to bee hanged they will sing for ioy That the men there giue dowers to their wiues and make their sisters their heires who do also marrv their own brothers And that they be so barbarous and bloudy-minded that mothers will murther their owne children and children their parents rather then that they should fall into the hands of their enemies They do sacrifice to a god whose name is vnknowne when the Moone is in the full they will watch all night euery one at his owne dore dancing and skipping all the night long The women haue as good part of all profits and increase as men haue for they practise husbandry and be obedient and seruiceable to men when they themselues are with child The Spaniards make poyson of a kind of herbe much like vnto Persley which offendeth not vppon a sodaine but by litle and litle and this they alwaies haue in readinesse for any one that wrongs them in so much as it is sayd to be proper to the Spaniards to be great poysoners and that their custome is also to offer themselues to bee slaine and sacrificed for those to whome they are newly reconciled Of England Scotland and Ireland and of many other Ilands and of the manners and customes of the Inhabitants CAP. 25. ENGLAND otherwise called great Brittaine is the greatest Iland contained within the bosome of the Ocean It is in the forme of a triangle much like vnto the I le of Sicily and is wholly imbraced and infolded within the armes of the Ocean in no part touching but altogether diuided frō the continent It was first called Albion of the white cliffes or rockes that shew the country a far off vnto passengers Some are of opinion that after the destruction of Troy by the Greekes the Troianes guided by the Oracle of Pallas rigged a nauie betooke them to the seas and arriuing in this Island fought many battels with the Gyants which then inhabited the country destroyed some expelled the rest and possessed the soyle themselues These also continuing their possession many yeares together were afterwards driuen thence by the Saxons a warlike people of Germany vnder the conduct of Angla their Queene The Inhabitants wholly vanquished and expelled and their soyle and substance shared amongst souldiers vtterly to extinguish and roote out all memorie of the former name and nation they called the country Anglia after the name of Angla their guide and gouernesse Some others are of opinion that it was called Anglia as beeing an angle or corner of the world Vpon the North it lieth opposite to France and Spaine and the circuit or vtmost bounds of the whole Island is about 1836. English miles Their longest day consisteth of seuenteene houres their nights are light in the Sommer season the eyes of the Inhabitants are gray their stature tall and their naturall complexions so comely so faire and so beautifull as Saint Gregory seeing by chance certaine English boies in Rome and demaunding of what Country they were said that they might well bee called Angli their faces and countenances resembling the Angels and lamenting that such diuilish Idolatry should harbor in such diuine features he shortly after effected that the faith of Christ was planted in the Country In warre they are vndaunted and most expert Archers their women bee maruelous comely and beautifull their common sort of people rude barbarous and base their nobility and gentrie curteous ciuill and of singular humanity They salute one an other with cappe and knee and incounter the women with kisses leade them into Tauernes and there drinke together which they deeme no touch to their reputations if therein bee discouered no lasciuious intent If they haue warres they delight not in subuerting citties destroying burning and consuming corne cattaile or country but bend their forces wholy to the destruction of their enemies and he that is vanquisher hath command of all England of al other prouinces was the first that imbraced the Christian religion The country aboundeth with cattaile and wool wolues it breedeth none nor norisheth any that are brought thither in so much that their flockes may feed at liberty without feare or guide The country is rich in mettals as lead copper especially and some siluer there is also the Magerite or pearle and the stone Gagates there called Iette which burnoth in water and is extinguished with oyle In steed of wine whereof the land is barren they vse a kinde of licor which they
a foote and an halfe long and as thicke as a mans thigh these the women for men bee neuer troubled with the businesse plucke vppe and drye against the fire mingling them with that which they call Boucano some-times also they bruse and breake them in peeces when they bee greene and fresh with sharpe flint stones fastned to a beame as wee are wonte to grate Cheese and Nutmegs and make thereof a very fine white meale or flower so as that new meale beeing steeped in water the whole Iuise which is pressed out of it of which I will speake by and by doth taste and sauour like new and moyste Wafers made of Wheate insomuch as after my returne into France euery place where I came smelled thereof which renewed the memory of that where-with those barbarous and rude peoples houses or roomes bee vsually washed and sprinckled with so great hindrance and losse is that meale made of those kinde of rootes For the preparation of this meale the women of Brasilia deuise great earthen Vessels very fitte for that vse containing euery one a bushell or thereabout which beeing set vpon the fire they put there-vnto the meale and euer as it boyleth the gourd being cut in the middle they take out that which is within and vse the vtmost rinde in steed of dishes to eate pottage and this when it is boyled is like vnto little comfits Of this flower or dowe they make two sorts for one manner is throughly boyled and hard which they call Ouy-entan and this they carry into the warres with them because it will keepe longest the other sort is lesse boyld and softer and that they call Ouy-pov in this respect this is better then the former because it tasteth like the crummes of white bread but that first sauour whereof I spake before becommeth more pleasanter and sweeter by boyling And as this meate especially when it is new is of an excellent sauour and taste so is it very nourishing and easily concocted yet notwithstanding as I haue tryed they cannot by any meanes make bread thereof but they will make it into a lumpe which smelleth like a batch of wheat dowe and is maruellous faire to looke vpon and as white as fine wheate flower yet in boyling it is so dryed and crusted vpon the out-side that it beeing cut or broken the inner part thereof is maruelous drye and like as it was before it was boyled Whereby I am induced to thinke that hee was much deceiued which first reported not well regarding my speeches that those which dwell two or three degrees beyond the Aequinoctiall line which people bee certainly the Tououpinambaltij did eate bread made of rotten wood which is to be vnderstood of these rootes whereof wee spake And both sorts of meate in making a kinde of gruell which they call Myngant especially if it bee mingled with fat broth or liquor is then like vnto Ryce and beeing so seasoned it tasteth very well and delicately But the Tououpinambaltij both men women and children from theyr Cradles vpwards doe eate this kinde of drye meale or dowe insteed of bread wherevnto they are so apt by often vse that with the ends of their fingers they will take it out of their earthen vessels and throw it stedfastly into their mouthes without loosing the least crumme and therein we often-times assaide to imitate them but beeing little exercised wee spilled it vpon our faces and therefore vnlesse wee would bee ridiculous wee must needs vse spoones Moreouer those rootes called Aypi and Manyot be some-times chopped when they bee greene into little gobbets of the meale whereof being moyste the women make round balls which being pressed betwixt their hands they wring out of them a certaine liquid white Iuise like vnto milke and putting it into earthen vessels set it out in the sunne by the heate whereof it doth curde and creame ouer like milke and when they eate it they powre it into dishes made of shels wherein it is boyled as wee are wont to boyle egges Moreouer the roote Aypi is not onely accustomed to bee made into meale but it eateth also very well beeing roasted in the Ashes whereby it will waxe tender and cleaue and bee very like in taste vnto Chesnuts broyld vpon the coales and being so ordered it is very good to eate but the roote called Manyot is farre otherwise for vnlesse it bee made into dowe and boyled it is a very dangerous meate the stalkes of both those rootes be like one vnto an other and of the bignesse of lowe Iuniper and the leaues bee like vnto an herbe called Peony or Pyony But that which is most to bee wondred at in these rootes of Brasile called Aypi and Manyot is the great aboundance of them for the branches of them which be as brittle as hempe stalkes how many so euer of them be broken and put deepe into the earth without any husbandry at all within two or three moneths space will bring forth a great aboundance of rootes The women in like manner doe plant that great Millet whereof we spake before which we commonly call Sarrasins wheat or Arabian wheate and which those barbarous people call Anati and of that also they make a certaine meale which they boyle and eate in the same manner as I said they do the other And thus much sufficeth to say of the manners apparell and diet of the Americans and he which desireth to vnderstand more let him read the Indian history of Iohn Lerius out of whom wee haue gathered that which we haue here set downe FINIS The faith religion and manners of the Aethiopians Liuing within the dominion of Precious Ioan commonly called Prestor Iohn together with a declaration of the league and friendship established betwixt the Emperors of Aethiopia and the Kings of Portugall Damianus a Goes a Portugall Knight being Author and interpretor Herevnto is added certaine Epistles of Helena who was grandmother to Dauid Precious Joan and from the same Dauid to the Bishop of Rome and to Emanuell and Iohn Kings of Portugall very worthy the reading the same Damianus a Goes and Paulus Jouius being interpretors The deploration of the people of Lappia collected by the same Damianus a Goes Damianus a Goes a Knight of Portugall to Pope Paulus the third health THere is nothing wherein wee ought to be more carefull and vigilant and more diligently to indeuour our selues than that by our labour cost punishment of our bodies yea martirdome it selfe if by other meanes it cannot be effected all people of the world may bee brought and wonne to the faith of Christ and being once wonne may then be reduced to liue in an vniformity and one manner of liuing The care and regard whereof doth more especially belong to you right reuerent Pope Paulus than to all the rest of vs as being high Bishop ouer all the Vicar of Christ and head of the vniuersall Church vnder him Wherefore it is your part which with the great hope