with a thousand creekes and gulfes penetrateth far within the very Prouince Next that The countrie is for the most part plaine and of nature very apt to produce not onely things necessarie for the vse and sustenance of the life of man but also all sorts of daintie things for mans delight and pleasure The Hilles and Mountaines are perpetually arrayed with trees of all sorts some wilde and some fruitfull The plaines manured tilled and sowen with rise barley wheate peaze and beanes The Gardens besides our common sortes of fruites doe yeald most sweet Mellons most delicat Plommes most excellent Figges Pomecitrons and Orenges of diuers formes and excellent taste They haue also an herbe out of which they presse a delicate iuyce which serues them for drincke in stead of wyne It also preserues their health and frees them from all those euills that the immoderat vse of wyne doth breed vnto vs. They also abound in cattell in sheepe in fowle in deere in wooll in rich Skinnes Cotton Linnen and in infinit store of Sylke There are Mines of Gold and Siluer and of excellent iron There are most pretious pearles There is abundance of Suger Honny Rewbarbe Camphire red Leade Woad Muske and Aloes and the Porcelan earth is knowen no where but there More then this The Riuers and the waters of all sorts runne gallantly through all those countries with an vnspeakeable profit and commoditie for nauigation and for tillage And the waters are as plentifull of fish as the land is of fruites For the Riuers and the Seas yeild thereof an infinite abundance Vnto this so great a fertilitie and yeild both of the land water there is ioyned an incredible cultùre of both these elements And that proceedeth out of two causes whereof the one dependeth vpon the inestimable multitude of the inhabitants for it is thought that China doth conteyne more then threescore Millions of Soules and the other consisteth in the extreame diligence and paines that is taken aswell of priuat persons in the tillage of their grouÌ„ds and well husbanding their farmes as also of Magistrates that suffer not a man to leade an idle life at home So that there is not a little scratt of ground that is not husbandly and very well manured Now for their Mechanicall Artes should I commit them heere to Silence When as there is not a countrie in the world where they do more florish both for varietie and for excellencie of skill and workmanship Which proceedeth also out of two causes whereof the one I haue commended before in that idlenes is euery where forbidden there and euery man compeld to worke no man suffered to be idle no not the blinde nor the lame nor the maimed if they bee not altogether impotent and weake And the women also by a law of Vitei King of China are bound to exercise their fathers trades and Artes and how noble or how great soeuer they be they must at least attend their distaffe and their needell The other cause is that the sonnes must of necessity follow their fathers mysteries So that hereupon it comes that Artificers are infinit and that children aswell boyes as gyrles euen in their infancy can skill to worke and that Artes are brought vnto most excellent and hygh perfection They suffer not any thing to goe to losse With the dong of the busâ—…es and oxen and other cattell they vse to feed fishe and of the bones of dogges aud other beasts they make many and diuers carued and engrauen workes as we doe make of Iuory Of ragges and cloutes they make paper To be short such is the plentie and varietie of the fruites of the earth and of mans industrie and labor as they haue no need of forreine helpe to bring them any thinge For they giue away a great quantite of their owne to forreine countreys And to speake of no things else the quantitie of Silke that is caried out of China is almost not credible A thousand quintals of silke are yerely caried thence for the Portugalls Indies for the Philippinaes they lade out fifteene shippes There are carried out to Giapan an inestimable summe and vnto Câ—…taia as great a quantitie as you may gesse by that we haue before declared is yearly carryed thence to Chiambalù And they sell their works and their labors by reason of the infinit stoare that is made so cheape and at so easy price as the Marchants of Noua Hispania that trade vnto the Philippinaes to make their martes vnto which place the Chinaes themselues doe traffique do wonder at it much By meanes whereof the traffique with the Philippinaes fals out to bee rather hurtfull then profitable vnto the King of Spaine For the benefit of the cheapnes of things is it that makes the people of Mexico who heretofore haue vsde to fetch their commodities from Spaine to fetch them at the Philippinaes But the King of Spaine for the desire he hath to winne vnto familiarity and loue and by that meanes to draw to our christian faith and to the bosome of the catholique church those people that are wrapt in the horrible darkenes of idolatrie esteemeth not a whit of his losse so he may gayne their soules to God By these things I haue declared it appeareth plaine that China hath the meanes partly by the benefit of Nature and partly by the industry and Art of man to susteine an infinit sight of people And that for that cause it is credible ynough that it becometh so populous a countrie as hath been said And I affirme this much more vnto it that it is necessarie it should be so for two reasons the one for that it is not lawfull for the King of China to make warre to get new countries but onely to defend his owne and thereupon it must ensue that he enioyeth in a manner a perpetuall peace And what is there more to be desired or wisht than peace VVhat thing can be more profitable than peace My other reason is for that it is not lawfull for any of the Chinaes to goe out of their country without leaue or lycence of the Magistrates So that the nomber of persons continually encreasing and abyding still at home it is of necessity that the nomber of people do become inestimable and of consequence the Cities exceeding great the townes infinit and that China it selfe should rather in a manner be but one bodie and but one Citie To say the truth wee Italians do flatter our selues too much and do admire too partially those things that do concerne our selues especially when we will preferre Italy and her Cities beyond all therest in the world The shape and figure of Italy is long and streyte deuided withall in the middest with the Apenine Hills And the pancitie and rarenes of Nauigable Riuers doth not beare it that there can be very great and populous Cities in it I will not spare to say that her riuers are but little brookes in comparison of Ganges Menan
art belongeth the strayte and fayre streetes of a cittye the magnificent gorgious buildings therein eyther for Art or matter the theaters Porches Circles Rases for running horses Fountaines Images Pictures and such other excellent and wonderfull things as delight and feede the eyes of the people with an admiration and wonder at them The citty of Thespis was frequeÌ„ted for the excellent workmanship sake of the Image of Cupid Samos for the merualous greatnes of the temple Alexandria for the tower of Pharo Menisis for the Pyramides Rhodes for the Colossus And how many shall we thinke haue gon to Babilon to see the wonderrous wailes that 〈◊〉 had made about it The Romans many times willingly went for their recreation sake to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Smyrna Rhodes and 〈◊〉 euen to take the benyfit of the ayre and to behold the bewty of those same cittyes To conclude all that euer feedeth the eye and delighteth the sense of man and hath any exquitite and curious workmanship in it all that euer is rare strange new vnwonted extraordinary admirable magnificent great or singular by cunning apperteyneth to this head And amongest all the cittyes of Europes Rome and 〈◊〉 are the most frequented for the pleasures and delightes they minister to all the beholders of them Rome for the exceeding wonderfull reliques of her ancient greatnes And 〈◊〉 for the gloriousnes of her present and magnificent 〈◊〉 Rome filleth the eye with wonder and delight at the greatnes of her 〈◊〉 the rarenes of her â—…athes and â—…enes of her oâ—…ossi aâ—… also at the Art of her admirable works both in Marble and in â—…rasse wrought by excellent 〈◊〉 â—…t the heiâ—…th and â—…enes of her Obelisâ—…es at the 〈◊〉 and variety of pillers at the diversity and 〈◊〉 of strange marble the exquisite curious cutting of it Theâ—… orâ—…ery Alablaster Marble White Black Grey Yellow and mixt and Serpentyne The great ruines the hel-gates and a number of other sorts and kinds besides which were too hard to recount and impossible to distinguishe What shall I say of the triumphall arches of the seauen Zoanes or circles of the Temples and what of a number of other wonders else And what shall we imagyne that Citty was when she floryshed and triumphed if now while shelyeth thus defaced is none other then a Sepulture of her selfe she allureth vs to see her and feedeth vs vnsatiably with the ruynes of her selfe On the other side Venice with the wonder of her incomparable Scituation which seemeth the Act of nature by giuing lawes to the waters and setting a bridell on the Sea ministreth vnto vs no lesse admiration and wonder at it The greatnes also of her inestimable Arsenall the multitude of ships both of warre of trafique and of Passage The incredible number of warlike instruments ordinance and munition and of all manner of preparacions for the Seas The heygth of the towers the ryches of the Churches the magnificeÌ„cy of the â—…allaces the beautifullnes of the Streetes the variety of Artes the order of her gouernment the beauty of the one and other sexe doth dazell and amaze the eyes of the beholders of them CAP. VII Of Profite THis Profit is of such power to vnite and tye men fast vnto one place as the other causes aforesayd without this accompany them with all are not sufficient to make any city great Not Authority alone For if the place whereto men are drawen thorough the Authority of any afford them no commodityes they will not abyde nor tarry there Neyther yet necessity For such a congregation and collection of people encreaseth multiplieth and lasâ—…eth for many yeares And necessity is violent And violence cannot produce any durable effect So that it comes to passe that not only citties do not encrease but also States Principalityes gotten with meere strength and violence cannot be long mainteyned They are much like Land floodes that haue no head nor spring as Riuers haue that minister perpetually plenty of waters to them But casually and in a moment ryse and swell and by and by asswage and fall againe So that as they are to trauaylers fearefull in their swellings so do they fall againe wthin a while to fast as trauailers may soone passe away on soote againe drye Such were the conquests of the Tarters that haue so vast inuaded 〈◊〉 and put it to the sword Of Alexandâ—… the great of Attâ—…la of great 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 the eight and of 〈◊〉 the twelueth King of france And the reason therof is that our nature is so great alouer longeth after commoditye so much as that it is not possible to quiet content her with that which is no more but necessary For as Plants although they be set deepe ynough within the ground cannot for all that last and be long kept without the fauour of the heauens and the benefyt of raine Euen so the habitacions of men enforst at first by meere necessity are not maynteyned long if profit and commodity go not companions with it much lesse then is pleasure and delyght of any moment For man is borne to labor and most men attend their businesse and the ideler sort are of no account nor reckoning and their idlenesse is built and founded vpon the labours and the industrie of those that worke And pleasure cannot stand without profit and commoditie whereof she is as it were the verie fruit Now suppose that profite is the verie thing from whence as from the principall cause the greatnesse of citties groweth For the same profite is not simple and of one sort but of diuers formes and kindes It resteth therefore now that we see what manner of commodity and profit is most fit for the end wherof we haue disputed all this while We say then that to make a cittie great and famous the commoditie of the scite the fertilitie of the soyle and easinesse of conduct helpeth sufficiently ynough CAP. VIII Of the commoditie of the Scite I Call that a commodious Scite that serues in such sort as many people haue thereof neede for their traffique and transportation of their goods whereof they haue more plenty than they need or for receiuing of things wherof they haue scarsitie so that this scite standing thus betweene both partaketh with both and groweth rich with the extreames I say partaketh with the extreames because it cannot otherwise increase the greatnesse of a cittie â—…or asmuch as it must either remaine desert or else not serue but for a simple passage Derbentum a Towne seated in the Ports of the Caspian Seas is a verie necessarie place to goe from Persia into â—…artary or from â—…artary into Persia yet notwithstanding it neuer grew great nor no famous cittie and in these our dayes there is no reckoning made of it and the reason is for that it partaketh not of these extreames but serueth for passage onely and receiueth those that ttauaile too and fro not as marchants and men of commerce and
traffique but as passengers and trauailers and to speake in a word it is seated sure in a verie necessarie place as the case standeth but not profitably vnto it selfe For the selfe same cause in the streyts of the Alpes which for the most part doe compasse Italy although the Frenchmen Swyzers Dutch men Italians coÌ„tinually do passe by them there neuer yet was found a meane cittie much lesse any great and stately one The like may be sayd of many other good citties and places For Sues is a verie necessarie place for them that came out of the Indies by the red Sea to Câ—…yrus The Ilands of Saint Iames and the Palme and Terzeras are necessarie for the Portugals and Spaniards to sayle to the 〈◊〉 Brasill and to the new World yet neither is there nor neuer will bee in those same places cittie of good importance As neither also is there in the Ilands between Denmark and Suetia nor yet betweene Mare Germanicum and Mare Balticum And Flushing although it be scituated in a passage of incredible necessity for the commerce and traffique that is between the Flemings Englishmen and other Nations yet neuer grewe it great but still remaines a verie little towne But contrarywise Geneua is a great cittie and so is Venice because they partake of the extreames and serue onely for passages but much more for Store houses Cellerage and Ware houses of marchandize most plentifully brought vnto them And so is likewise Lysborne Anâ—…werpe and some other It sufficeth not inough therefore to the making of a cittie magnificent and great that the scite thereof be necessarie but it must withall be commodious to other countreys that are borderers or neere vnto it CAP. IX Of the fruitfulnes of the Soyle THe second cause of the greatnes of a city is the fruitfulnes of the country For the Sustenance of the life of man consisting on Foode and Cloaâ—…hing and both of them gotten out of those things the Earth doth produce the fruitfulnes of the country cannot but be a mighty helpe vnto it And if it fall out to be so great as it not only well sufficeth to mantaine the Inhabitants thereof but also to supply the wants of their bordering neighbours It serueth our purpose so much the better And forasmuch as all Soyles produce not all things How much more rich and more able a country shal be to produce diuers and sundry things of profit and commoditie So much the more sufficient and fyt it will be found to rayse a great citty For by that meanes it shall haue the lesse need of others which enforceth people other while to leaue their habitations and be able to afford the more to others which draweth our neighbors the sooner to our country But the fruitfulnes of the Land sufficeth not simply of it selfe alone to rayse a citty vnto greatnes For many Prouinces there are and they very rich that haue neuer a good citty in them As for Example Premont is one And there is not a country through out all Italy that hath more plenty of Corne Cattell Wine and of excellent fruits of all sorts than it hath And it hath mainteined for many yeares the Armies and forces both of Spaine and Fraunce And in England London excepted although the country do abound in plenty of all good things yet is there not a city in it that deserues to be called great As also in Fraunce Paris excepted which notwithstanding is not seated in the fruitfullest country of that great kingdome For in pleasantnes it giueth place to Turen in abundaÌ„ce of all things to Xanton and Poitiers In varyety of Fruites to Languedock in coÌ„modiousnes of the Seas to Normandie In store of wine to Burgundie in abundance of Corne to Campagna In eyther of both to the country of Orliens in Cattell to Brittaine and the territorie of Burges By all which it doth appeare that to the aduancing of a city vnto greatnes it sufficeth not simply of it selfe alone that the territorie be fruitfull And the reason thereof is plaine For where a countrie doth plentifullie abound with all maner of good things the Inhabitants finding all those things at home that are fit necessary and profitable for their vse neyther care nor haue cause to goe any where else to seeke them but take the benefit and vse of theÌ„ with ease where they grow For euery man loues to procure his coÌ„moditie with the most ease he may and when they finde them with ease at home to what end should they trauaile to fetch them elsewhere And this reason prooues the more stronge where the people affect and long least after vaine and idle delights and pleasures It sufficeth not therefore to the gathering of a Societie of people together to haue abundance of wealth and substance alone But there must be besides that some other forme matter to vnite and hold them in one place together And that is the easines and commodiousnes of conduct the carying out and bringing in I meane of coÌ„modities of wares too and froe CAP. X. Of the Commoditie of Conduct THis commoditie is lent vnto vs partly of the land and partly of the water Of the Land if it be plaine For by that meanes it conduceth easely the marchaÌ„dize and goods of all sorts and kinds vpon Carts Horses Mules other beasts of burden And men make their iorneys the more commodious you foote on Horse in Chariot and in other such like sort and maner The Portugalls do write that in some large and spacious plaines of China they vse Coaches with failes Which some assaid not many yeares since in Spaine Of the water this commoditie is lent vs if it be nauigable And without comparison the commoditie is much better and more worth far which the water doth assord vs than which the earth doth giue vs both for ease and speedines for as much as in lesse time and with lesse charge and labor without proporcion in it greater cariages are brought from countries most remote by water than by land Now your nauigabl water is either of the Sea or of the riuer or of the lake which are naturall helps and means or of Chanells or of Pooles as that of Miâ—… 〈◊〉 which was 45â—… miles about made by art and mans industrie and labor It seemes in very truth that God created the water not only for a necessarie Element to the perfection of nature But more than so for a most readie meanes to conduct and bring goods from one countrie to another For his diuine maiestie willing that men should mutually embrace each other as members of one body diuided in such sort his blessings as to no nation did he giue all things to the end that others hauing need of vs and contrarywise we hauing need of others there might growa * CoÌ„munitie and from a Communitie Loue and from Loue an vnitie betweene vs. And to worke this coÌ„munity the easier he produced the
water Which of nature is such a substance that through the grossenes thereof it is apt to beare great burdens And through the liquidnes holpen with the windes or the oares fit to carry them to what place they list So that by such a good meane the West is ioyned with the East and the South with the North. And a man might say that what so growes in one place growes in all places by the easie meanes prouided to come by them Now without doubt the Sea for her infinit greatnes and grosnesse of the water is much more profitable than the Lakes or the Riuers But the Sea serues you to little purpose if you haue not a large and safe Port to ride into I say large either for the greatnes or for the depth in the entrie thereat the middest and the extreames And I say safe either from all or from many windes or at least from the most blustering and most tempestuous It is held that amongst all windes the Northerne is most tollerable and that the Seas that are troubled on the Greekish coast cease their rage and wax quiet assoone as the winde is laide But the Southern windes trouble them and beate them so sore wherof the Gulfe of Venice is an vndoubted witn esthar euen after the winde is laid they swell and rage a great while after Now the Port shal be safe either by nature as that of Messina and Marsiles or else by art the Imitato◅ of nature as that of Genoua and of Palermo Lakes are as it were little Seas So that also they for the proporcion of the place and other respects besides gaue a great helpe to appopulate townes and citties As it is found in Noua Hispania where as is the Lake of Mexico which extendeth nine hundred miles in compasse and conteineth 50. faire aud goodly townes in it Amongst the which there is the Towne Themistitan the Metropolitan seate of that great and large Kingdome The Riuers also import much and most of all they that runne the longest course especially through the richest and most merchantable Regions such as is Po in Italie Scaldis in Flanders Ligeris Sona in France Danubius and the Rhene in Germanie And as Lakes are certaine seuerall remembrances of the bosomes of the Gulphes of the Seas formed and made by nature Euen so Chanells whereinto the water of the Lake or the Riuer runneth are certaine Imitations and as it were shadowes of the same Riuers made by skill and cunning The ancient Kings of Egipt made a ditch that from Nilus ranne to the city Heroum they assaid to draw a Chanell from the Red Sea to Mare Mediterraneū to knit our Seas with the Indian Seas and so to make the easier transportation too and fro of all kindes of merchandize and by that meanes withall to enritch their owne Kingdome And it is a thing well knowē how ost it hath been attempted to breake vp Isthmus to vnite the Sea Ionium with Mare Aegeum A Souldier of Cayro drewe a Chanell from Eufrates to the cittie of Alepo In Flanders you may see both at Gant and at Bruges and in other places else besides many Chanels made by art and with an inestimable expence and charge but yet of much more profit for the ease they bring to merchandizing and to the trafique of other nations And in Lombardy many cities haue wisely procured this ease vnto them But none more then Milan that with one Chanell worthy of the Romaines glorie draweth the waters to it of Thesinum and of the Lake called Lago Maggiore and by such meanes enricheth it selfe with infinit store of merchandizes and with an other Chanell also benefiteth much by the Riuer Adda through the opportunitie and meanes it hath thereby to bring in the fruites and the goods of their exceeding plentifull countrie home vnto their houses And they should make it much the better if they would clense and scower the Chanell of Pauia and Iurea Now in Chanells and in Riuers for their better ease of conduct and of trafique besides the length of their courses we haue before spoken the depth the pleasantnes the thicknes of the water and the largnes thereof is of much moment to them The depth bycause deepe waters beare and susteine the greater burdens and the nauigation is the more safe without perill The Pleasantnes bycause it makes the nauigation easie vp and downe which way soeuer you bend your course Wherein it seemes to some they haue been much mistaken that had the ordering of the Chanell that comes from Thesinum to Milan Forasmuch as by the great fall of the water and the great aduantage giuen to the water it hath so strong a currant and is so violent that with infinit toyle and labor and losse of time they haue much a do to saile vpward But as towching Riuers nature hath shewed her selfe very kinde to Gallia Celtica and Belgica for asmuch as in Gallia Celtica the riuers for the most part are most calme and still and therefore they saile vp and downe with incredible facilitie because many of them come forth as it were in the plaines euen grounds By the meanes where of their course is not violent and they runne not between the mountaines nor yet a short and little way but many hundred miles through goodly and euen plaines Where for their recreation and their pleasure otherwhile men take their course one way another while another now go on forwardes and then turne back againe and so by this winding and turning too and fro they helpe diuers cities and prouinces with water and victualls or other such things as they need But there is not a country in Europe better furnished and prouided of Riuers than that part of Gallia Belgica that cōmonly we call Flanders The Meuse the Schelde the Mosella Tevora Ruer and Rhene deuided into three great Armes or branches runne pleasantly and gallantly forthright and ouerthwart the Prouince mightely enritch it by the cōmoditie of nauigation trafique of infinit treasure which certainly wants in Italie For Italie being long and strait and parted in the middest with the Apenine Hills the Riuers of Italie through the shortnes of their cou◅se cannot neither much encrease nor yet abate the violence of their Streames The Riuers of Lombardy come all as it were either out of the Alpes as Thesinum Adda Lambro Seruo A◅liga or out of the Apenine hills as Tarro Lenza Panarus Rhene and but a short way neither wherein they rather deserue to be called land floods than Riuers For they soone find out the Po which takes his course between the Appenine hils the Alpes So that he only resteth nauigable For washing this Prouince ouer by all his whole length he hath time to growe great and enrich himselfe with the helpe of many Riuers and to moderate his naturall swiftnesse by the long way he maketh But this
take withall that forasmuch as the sayd Riuers thorough the shortnesse of their course enter and meet together with a mightie rage and violence they wax great otherwhile and swell and runne with such a raging course as they make the strongest Citties afraide of them much more the Country thereabout But the Riuers of Romagna and of other parts of Italy falling like raging Land-flouds partly on this side and partly on that side of the Appenine hils soone find out the Adriaticke or the Tyrrhenian or the Ionian Seas So that the most of them haue no time to slake their rage nor none of them haue so much time to grow great as might make them nauigable For that little that is nauigable in Arn◅ or in Tiber it is not worth the speaking The thickenesse of the water is also a verie good helpe in this case For it cannot be denied that the water of one Riuer beareth great and waighty burdens much better than the water of some other And in particuler when the Obelisk set vp in the time of Sextus the fift which is to be seene at this day in Saint Peters street was brought to Rome It is well knowen by good experience the water of Tiber was of more strength and of more force and firmenesse than the water of Nilus And Seina a meane riuer in France beareth ships of such bulke and carieth burdens so gr◅ the that sees it not will not beleeue it And the◅e is not a riuer in the world that for proportion is able to beare the like burden So that although it exceede not a mediocritie and be but a small riuer yet notwithstanding it suplieth wonderfully all the necessities and wants of Paris a citie that in people and in abundance of all things exreedeth far all other cities whatsoeuer within the scope of Christendome Here a man might aske me how it comes to passe that one water should beare more burden than another Some will that this proceedeth from the nature of the earth that thickneth the water and maketh it stiffe and by consequence firme and solide This reason hath no other opposition but Nilus the water whereof is so earthie and so muddie that the Scripture calleth it the Troubled riuer And it is not to be dronke before it be purged and setled well in the Cesterne And it doth not only water mellow all Egipt ouer with its liquidnes but more than that maketh it fertile and mucketh as it were the ground with its satnes And yet it is not of the fittest nor the strongest to susteine and beare shipps boats or barks of any good burden wherevpon I should thinke that for such effect and purpose wee should not so much preferre the muddinesse of the water as the sliminesse thereof for that doth glew it as it were together and thicken it the better and maketh it more fit and more apt to beare good burden But some man might aske me here again frō whēce cometh this quality this diuersity I mean of waters I must answere it comes of 2. causes First frō the very breaking or bursting of it out and passage along thorough rich rank fat Countreys For riuers participating of the nature of the grounds that make them their beds banks become therby thēselues also fat and slimy of quality much like to oyle The next cause proceedeth frō the swiftnes the shortnes of the course Forasmuch as the lengh of a voiage the rage of the Riuers maketh thin subtileth the substance and breaks cuts in sunder the slimines of the water which happeneth in Nilus For running in a maner as it doth 2000. miles by a direct line for by an oblique crooked line it would be a great deale more and falling from places exceeding steepe and headlong where through the vehemency violent force of the course by the inestimable rage of the fall it breaketh dissolueth all into a very small and fine raine as it were it waxeth so fine and subtile and so tyreth his waters that they loose all their slimie properties which resteth all at the Riuers of Almaigne and of Fraunce For they grow and walke thorough most rich and pleasant Countreys and they be not ordinarily swift nor violent Now that this is the true reason thereof the water of Senna shall make a true proofe of it for if you wash your hands with it it scowreth like soape and clenseth you of all manner of spots But let vs now passe to the widenesse and that is necessarie to beginne withall in Riuers and in Chanels of which we speake of that they should be wide and large that Shippes may commodiouslly winde and turne heere and there at their will and pleasure and giue way each to other But the widenesse of a Riuer without depth serues not for our purpose for it dissipateth and disperseth the water in such sort that it maketh it vnfit for nauigation which happeneth to the riuer of Plate which through ouer much widenesse is for the most part lowe and of vneuen bottome and full of rocks and little Ilands And for the selfe same cause the riuers of Spaine are not gretly nauigable for they haue large bellies but they spread wide and vneuen they are and vncertaine And thus much sufficeth to haue sayd of Riuers Now forasmuch as the commodities and profits are such and so great which the water bringeth to aduance the greatnesse of a Cittie of consequent those citties must be the fa◅rest and the richest that haue the most store of nauigable Riuers And euen such are those citties that are seated vpon good Hauens of the Seas riuers or lakes that are commodious apt and fit for sundrie nauigations It may seeme to some that with the easinesse of conduct the foundation is now found out and full complement and perfection of the greatnesse of a cittie But it is not so for it behoues besides that that there be some matter of profite that may draw the people and cause them to repaire to one place more than to another For where there is no commoditie of conduct the multitude of people cannot bee great which the Hils and Mountaines teacheth vs on which wee may well see many Castles and little townes but no store of people that we might thereby call them great And the reason is because of the craggidnesse and steepnesse of their scites such things as are necessarie and commodious for a ciuile life cannot bee brought vnto them without an infinite toyle and labour And Fiesole became desert and Florence frequented vpon none other cause than that Fiesole standeth on too steepe and too high a place almost vnaccessible Florence in a verie plaine easie to haue accesse vnto it And in Rome we see the people haue forsaken the Auentine and other hils there drawne themselus altogether downe to the plaine and places neerest vnto Tyber for the commoditie which the plaine