Aluka by most of the Iewes vnderstand a Horsleach Pro. 30. but Dauid Kimhi taketh and vseth it for a Crocodile For he sayth it is a great Worme abiding neere the Riuers sides and vpon a sudden setteth vpon men or cattell as they passe besides him Tisma and Alinsa are by Auicen expounded for a crocodile and Tenchea for that Crocodile that neuer moueth his neather or vnder chap. shipped by the inhabitants and kept tame by the Priestes in a certaine Lake this sacred Crocodile is called Suchus and this word commeth neere to Scincus which as wee haue said signifieth any Crocodile of the earth from which the Arabian Tinsa seemeth also to be deriued as the Egyptian Thampsai doth come neere to the Arabian Trenisa Herodotus calleth them Champsai and this was the old Ionian word for a Vulgar Crocodile in hedges Vppon occasion whereof Scaliger saith hee asked a Turke by what name they call a Crocodile at this day in Turky and he aunswered Kimpsai which is most euidently corrupted from Champsai The Egyptians vulgarly call the Crocodile of Nilus Cocatrix the Graecians Neilokrokadeilos generally Krocodeilos and sometimes Dendrites The Latines Crocodilus and Albertus Crocodillus and the same word is retayned in all languages of Europe About the Etymologie of this word I find two opinions not vnprofitable to be rehearsed the first that Crocodilus commeth of Crocus Saffron because this beast especially the Crocodile of the earth is afrayd of Saffron and therefore the country people to defend theyr Hiues of Bees and hony from them strow vpon the places Saffron But this is too farre fetched to name a beast from that which it feareth and beeing a secrete in nature it is not likelie that it was discouered at the first and therefore the name must haue some other inuestigation Isidorus saith that the name Crocodilus commeth of Croceus color the colour of Saffron because such is the colour of the Crocodile and this seemeth to be more reasonable◠For I haue seene a Crocodile in England brought out of Egypt dead and killed vvith a Musket the colour whereof was like to Saffron growing vpon the stalkes in fieldes Yet it is more likely that the deriuation of Varinus and Eustathius was the originall for they say that the shores of sands on the Riuers were called Croc◠and Croculae and because the Crocodiles haunt liue in those shores it might giue the name to the beasts because the water Crocodiles liue and delight in those sandes but the Land or earth Crocodiles abhorre and feare them It is reported that the famous Grammarian Artemidorus seeing a Crocodile lying vppon the sands he was so much touched and moued there-with that he fell into an opinion that his left legge and hand were eaten off by that Serpent and that thereby he lost the remembrance of all his great learning and knowledge of Artes. And thus much for the name of this Serpent In the next place we are to consider the Countries wherein Crocodiles are bred and keepe theyr habitation and those are especially Egypt for that onely hath Crocodiles of both kindes that is of the water and of the Land for the Crocodiles of Nilus are Amphibij liue in both elements they are not only in the riuer Nilus but also in all the pooles neere adioyning The Riuer Bambotus neere to Atlas in Affrica doth also bring foorth Crocodiles and Pliny saith that in Darat a Riuer of Mauritania there are Crocodiles ingendered Likewise Apollonius reporteth that when he passed by the Riuer Indus he met with many Sea-horses and Crocodiles such as are found in the Riuer Nilus and besides these countryes I doe not remember any other wherein are ingendered crocodiles of the water which are the greatest and most famous Crocodiles of all other The Crocodiles of the earth which are of lesser note and quantitie are more plentiful for they are found in Libia in Bithinia where they are called Azaritia in the Mountaine Syagrus in Arabia and in the vvoods of India as is well obserued by Arianus Dioscorides and Hermolaus and therefore I will not prosecute this matter any further The kindes being already declared it followeth that we should proceed to their quantitie and seuerall parts And it appeareth that the water Crocodile is much greater and more noble then the Crocodiles of the earth for they are not aboue two cubites long or some-times eyght at the most but the other are sixteene and sometimes more And besides these crocodiles if they lay their egges in the water saith Bellunensis thē their young ones are much greater but if on the Land then are they lesser and like the Crocodiles of the earth In the Riuer Ganges there are two kinds of Crocodiles one of them is harmelesse doth no hurt to any creature but the other is a deuouting vnsatiable beast killing snoute there groweth a bunch like a horne Now a Crocodile is like a Lyzard in all poynts excepting the tayle and the quantity of a Lyzard yet it layeth an egge no greater then a Gooses egge and from so small a beginning ariseth this monstrous Serpent growing all his life long vnto the length of fifteene or twenty cubits And as Phalareus witnesseth in the dayes of Psammitichus King of Egypt there was one found of fiue and twenty cubits long and before that in the dayes of Amasis one that was aboue sixe and twenty cubits long the reason whereof was theyr long life and continuall growth Wee haue shewed already that the colour of a Crocodile is like to Saffron that is betwixt yellow and redde more inclining to yellow then redde not vnlike to the blacker kind of Chamaeleon but Peter Martyr saith that their belly is somewhat whiter then the other parts Their body is rough all ouer beeing couered with a certaine barke or rinde so thicke firme and strong as it will not yeelde and especially about the backe vnto a cart-wheele when the cart is loaded and in all the vpper parts and the tayle it is impenitrable with any dart or speare yea scarcely to a pistoll or small gunne but the belly is softer whereon he receiueth wounds with more facility for as wee shall shew afterwardes there is a kind of Dolphine which commeth into Nilus and fighteth with them wounding them on the belly parts The couering of their backe is distinguished into diuers deuided shells standing vppe farre aboue the flesh and towardes the sides they are lesse emynent but on the belly they are more smooth white and very penitrable The eyes of a Crocodile of the vvater are reported to be like vnto a Swines and therefore in the vvater they see very dimlie but out of the water they are sharpe and quicke sighted like to all other foure-footed Serpents that lay egges They haue but one eye-lidde that groweth from the nether part of the cheeke which by reason of their eyes neuer twinckleth And the Egyptians say that onely the Crocodile among
or presence be of small stature yet heerein is theyr courage admired because at the suddaine sight of a Crocodile they are no whit daunted for one of these dare meete and prouoke him to runne away They will also leape into the Riuers and swimme after the Crocodile and meeting with it without feare cast themselues vppon the Beasts backe ryding on him as vppon a horse And if the Beast lift vppe his head to byte him when hee gapeth they put into his mouth a wedge holding it hard at both ends with both their hands so as it were with a bridle leade or rather driue them captiues to the Land vvhere with theyr noyse they so terrifie them that they make them cast vppe the bodies which they had swallowed into theyr bellies because of this antypathy in nature the Crocodiles dare not come neere to this Iland The like thing wee haue before in our generall discourse of Serpents shewed to be in the Indian Psylli against the greatest Serpents And Strabo also hath recorded that at what time crocodiles were brought to Rome these Tentyrites folowed droue thē For whom there was a certaine great poole or fish-pond assigned and walled about except one passage for the Beast to come out of the water into the sun-shine and when the people came to see them these Tentyrites with nettes would draw them to the Land put them backe againe into the water at theyr owne pleasure For they so hooke them by theyr eyes and bottome of theyr bellyes which are their tenderest partes that like as horses broken by theyr Riders they yeelde vnto them and forget theyr strength in the presence of these theyr Conquerours Peter Martyr in his third booke of his Babylonian Lagation saith that from the Cittie Cair to the Sea the Crocodiles are not so hurtfull and violent as they are vp the Riuer Nilus into the Land and against the streame For as you goe further vp the Riuer neere the mountanie and hilly places so shall you find them more fierce bloody and vnresistable whereof the inhabitants gaue him many reasons First because that part of the Riuer which is betwixt the Citty Cair and the Sea is very full of all sorts of fishes whereby the beasts are so filled with deuouring of them that they list not come out of the water on the Land to hunt after men or cattell and therefore they are the lesse hurtfull for euen the Lyon and Wolfe doe cease to kill deuoure when theyr bellyes are full But sometimes the Crocodiles beneath the Riuer follow the gales or troupes of fish vp the Riuer like so many Fisher-men and then the Country Fisher-men inclose them in Nettes and so destroy them For there is a very great reward proposed by the Law of the Country to him that killeth a Crocodile of any great quantitie and therefore they grow not great and by reason of their smalnes are lesse aduenturous For so soone as a great Crocodile is discouered there is such watch and care taken to interrupt and kill him for hope of the reward that he cannot long escape aliue Thirdly the Crocodiles vp the Riuer towards the Mountaines are more hurtfull because they are pressed with more hunger and famine and more sildome come within the terrour of men wherefore they forsake the waters and run vp and downe to seeke preyes to satisfie their hunger which when they meet withall they deuoure with an vnresistable desire forced and pressed forward by hunger which breaketh stone walls But most commonly when the Riuer Nilus is lowest and sunck downe into the channell then the Crocodiles in the waters doe growe most hungry because the fish are gone away with the floods and then the subtile beast will heale and couer himselfe ouer with sand or mudde and so lye in the banke of the Riuer where hee knoweth the women come to fetch water or the cattell to drinke and when he espieth his aduantage he suddainely taketh the woman by the hand that she taketh vp water withall and draweth her into the Riuer where he teareth her in peeces and eateth her In like sort dealeth he with Oxen Cowes Asses and other cattell If hunger force him to the Land and he meete with a Cammell horse Asse or such like beast then with the force and blowes of his tayle he breaketh his legges and so laying him flat on the earth killeth and eateth him for so great is the strength of a Crocodiles tayle that it hath beene seene that one stroke thereof hath broken all the foure legges of a beast at one blow There is also another perrill by Crocodiles for it is saide that when Nilus falleth and the water waxeth low the Barkes thorough want of wind are faine by the Marriners to to be tugged vp the streame with long lynes and cordes the subtile Crocodile seeing the same doth suddainely with his tayle smite the same line with such force that eyther hee breaketh it or by his forcible violence tumbleth the Marriner downe into the vvater whom he is ready to receiue with open mouth before he can recouer Yea many times by meanes thereof the Barke it selfe so tottereth and reeleth that the violent beast taketh a man out of it or else cleane ouer-turneth it to the destruction of all that are in it Aelianus saith that among the Ombitae which are in Arsinoe the Crocodiles are harmelesse and hauing seuerall names when they are called doe put their heads out of the vvater and take meate gently which meate is the head and garbage of such sacrifices as are brought thether But in another place hee writeth that among the Ombitae or Coptitae it is not safe for a man to fetch water from the Riuer or to wash theyr feete or walke on the Riuers side but with great caution and warines For euen those beastes which are most kindly vsed by men doe rage against their Benefactours as namely the Crocodile the Ichneumon the Wild-cats and such like And yet Plutarch in his booke Vtra animalium saith that the Priestes by the custome of meate-giuing haue made some of them so tame that they will suffer theyr mouthes and teeth to be clensed by men And it is further said that during the seauen Ceremoniall dayes of the natiuity of Apis there is none of thē that sheweth any wilde tricke or cruell part but as it were by compact betwixt them and the Priestes they lay aside all cruelty and rage during that time And therefore Cicero writeth most excellently saying Egyptiorum morem quis ignoret quorum imbutae mentes prauitatum erroribus quamvis carnificinam potius subierint quam ibim aut aspidem aut crocodilum violent That is to say Who is ignorant of the custome of the Egyptians whose mindes are so seasoned and indued with erronious wickednesse that they had rather vnder-goe any torment then offer violence to an Ibis an Aspe or a holy Crocodile For in diuers places all these and Cats also were worshipped
betwixt Frogs and Mise called Batrachomiomachia hath deuised many proper names for Frogs such as these are Lyninocharis Gracediet Peleus Dust-liuer Hidromedousa Water-haunter Phusignathos Nature-cryer Hypsiboas Loud-cryer Leuthaios Lowe-liuer Poluphonos great Labourer Krambophagos Brasile-eater Lymnesios Poole-keeper Kalaminthios Mint-eater Hidrocharis Water-child Borborokoïtes noise-maker Prassaphogos Grasse-eater Pelauseas dust-creeper Pelobates dust-leaper Krawgasides drought-hater Prassaios Grasse-greene and such other like according to the witty inuention of the Author all which I thought good to name in this place as belonging to this History In the next place wee are to consider the diuersity and kindes of Frogges as they are distinguished by the place of their abode for the greatest difference is drawn from thence some of them therefore are Water-Frogges and some are Frogges of the Land the Water-Frogges liue both in the water and on the Land in Marshes standing-pooles running streames and bankes of Ryuers but neuer in the Sea and therefore Rana Marina is to be vnderstood of a Fish and not a Frog as Massarius hath learnedly prooued against Marcellus The frogs of the land are distinguished by their liuing in gardens in Meddows in hollow Rockes and among fruites all which seuerall differences shall be afterward expressed with their pictures in their due places here onely I purpose to talke of the vulgar and common frogge whose picture with her young one is formerly expressed Besides these differ in generation for some of them are engendered by carnall copulation some of the slime and rottennesse of the earth Some are of a greene colour and those are eaten in Germany and in Flanders some againe are yellow and some of an Ashe-colour some spotted and some blacke and in outward forme and fashion they resemble a Toad but yet they are without venome and the female is alwaies greater then the male when the Aegyptians will signifie an impudent man and yet one that hath a good quicke sight they picture a frogge because he liueth continually in the Mire and hath no bloud in his body but about his eyes The tongue is proper to this kinde for the fore-part thereof cleaueth to the mouth as in a fish and the hinder part to the throat by which he sendeth forth his voyce and this is to bee vnderstood that all frogges are mute and drunke except the greene frogs and the frogs of the Water for these haue voyces And many times the voyces of frogs proceedeth from the nature of the Countreyes wherein they liue for once all the frogges in Macedonia and Cyrenia were drunke vntill there were some brought thither out of some other Countries as at this day the frogges of Seriphus are all drunke whereuppon came the Prouerb Batrachos ec Seriphou A frogge of Seriphus because the frogs of that Countrey doe neuer croake although you carry them into any other Country This Seriphus is one of the Islands of the Sporades in Greece wherein is the Lake called Pierius which doth not runne in the Summer but onely in the winter and all the frogs which are cast into that lake are perpetually silent and neuer vtter their voyce whereof there are assigned two causes one Fabulous and the other true and naturall The first the Seriphians say that when Perseus returned with the head of Medusa hauing gone very far till he was weary layd him downe beside that lake to sleep but the croaking frogs made such a noyse as he could take no rest Whereat Perseus was much offended and therefore prayed Iupiter to forbid the frogs from crying who instantly heard his prayer inioyned perpetuall silence to the frogs in that water and this is the Fabulous reason being a meere fiction of the Poets The second and more true reason is that of Theophrastus who saith that for the coldnesse of the water the frogs are not able to cry in that place The voyce of frogges is said by the Latinists to bee Corare and by the Graecians Ololugon peculiar words to set forth this crying now because their tongue cleaueth to the pallet of their mouth and theyr voyce proceedeth but from their throat to their mouth and the spirit is hindered by the tongue so as it cannot proceed directly therefore it hath two bladders vppon either side of the mouth one which it filleth with wind and from thence proceedeth the voyce Now when it croaketh it putteth his head out of the water holding the neather lip euen with the water and the vpper lip aboue the water and this is the voyce of the male prouoking the female to carnall copulation They haue but very small lungs those without bloud ful of froth like to al other creatures of the water which do lay egges and for this cause they do neuer thirst wherefore also Sea-calues and Frogges are able to liue long vnder the Water They haue a double Liuer and a very small Melt their Legges behind are long which maketh them apt to leape before they are shorter hauing deuided clawes which are ioyned together with a thinne broad skinne that maketh them more apt to swimme The most place of their abode is in fennes or in warme Waters or in fish-pooles but yellow and Ashe-coloured frogs abide in Riuers Lakes and standing pooles but in the Winter time they all hyde themselues in the earth And therefore it is not true that Pliny saith that in the VVinter time they are resolued into slyme and in Summer they resume againe their first bodyes for they are to be seene many times in the winter especially in those waters that are neuer frozen as Agrecolaana Mathiolus hath soundly obserued and they haue beene seene in certaine running streames holding small fishes in their mouths as it were sucking meat out of them Sometimes they enter into their holes in Autumne before winter and in the spring time come out againe When with their croaking voyces the Male prouoketh the femall to carnall copulatiō which he performeth not by the mouth as some haue thought but by couering her backe the instrument of geneneration meeting in the hinder parts and this they performe in the night season nature teaching them the modesty or shamefastnesse of this action And besides in that time they haue more security to giue themselues to mutuall imbraces because of a generall quietnesse for men and all other their aduersaries are then at sleepe and rest After their copulation in the waters there appeareth a thicke Ielly out of which the young one is found But the Land-frogges are ingendered out of Egges of whom wee discourse at this present and therefore they both suffer copulation lay their egges and bring forth young ones on the land When the Egge breaketh or is hatched there commeth forth a little black thing like a peece of flesh which the Latines call Gyrini from the Greeke word Gyrrinos hauing no visible part of a liuing creature vpon them besides their eyes and their tailes and within short space after their feet are formed and their taile deuided
the Trochilus doth awake the sleeping Crocodile when he seeth the Ichneumon lye in waite to enter into her I leaue it to the credite of Strabo the reporter and to the discretion of the indifferent Reader Monkeyes are also the haters of Crocodiles as is shewed in theyr story lye in waite to discouer and if it were in their power to destroy them The Scorpion also the crocodile are enemies one to the other and therefore when the Egyptians will describe the combat of two notable enimies they paint a crocodile and a Scorpion fighting together for euer one of them killeth another but if they will decypher a speedy ouerthrow to ones enemy then they picture a Crocodile if a slow and slacke victory they picture a Scorpion And as wee haue already shewed out of Philes that out of the egges of crocodiles many times come Scorpions which deuoure and destroy them that lay them Fishes also in their kinde are enemies to Crocodiles the first place whereof belongeth to the most noble Dolphin Of these Dolphins it is thought there be two kinds one bred in Nilus the other forraine and comming out of the Sea both of them professed enemies to the Crocodile for the first it hath vpon the backe of it sharp thorny prickles or finnes as sharp as any speares poynt which are well knowne to the fish that beareth them as her armour and weapons against all aduersaries In the trust and confidence of these prickles the Dolphin will allure and draw out the Crocodile from his denne or lodging place into the depth of the Riuer and there fight with him hand to hand For the Dolphin as it knoweth his owne armour and defence like other beasts and fishes so doth it knowe the weakest parts of his aduersary and where his aduantage of wounding lyeth Now as we haue said already the belly of the Crocodile is weake hauing but a thinne skin and penetrable with small force wherefore when the Dolphin hath the Crocodile in the midst of the deepe waters like one afrayd of the fight vnderneath him he goeth with his sharp finnes or prickles on his backe giueth his weake and tender belly mortall wounds whereby his vitall spirits with his guts entralls are quickly euacuated The other Dolphins of the Sea being greater are likewise armed with these prickles and of purpose come out of the Sea into Nilus to bid battell to the Crocodiles When Bibillus a worthy Romane was Gouernour of Egypt hee affirmed that on a season the Dolphins and the Crocodiles mette in the mouth of Nilus and bade battell the one to the other as it were for the soueraigntie of the waters and after that sharp combat it was seene how the Dolphins by diuing in the waters did auoyd the byting of the Crocodiles and the Crocodiles dyed by strokes receiued from the Dolphins vpon their bellyes And when many of them were by this meanes as it were cut asunder the residue betooke themselues to flight and ranne away giuing way to the Dolphins The Crocodiles doe also feare to meddle with the Sea-hogge or Hog-fish because of his bristles all about his head which hurt him also when he commeth nigh him or rather I suppose as it is a friend to the Swine of the earth and holdeth with them a sympathy in nature so it is vnto the Swine of the water and forbeareth one in the Sea as it doth the other on the Land There is likewise a certaine Wild-oxe or Bugill among the Parthians which is an enemie to the Crocodile for as Albertus writeth if he find or meete with a Crocodile out of the water he is not onely not afrayd of him but taketh hart and setteth vppon him and with the waight and violent agitation of his body treadeth him all to pectes no maruaile for all beasts are enemies to the Crocodiles on the Land euen as the Crocodile lyeth in waite to destroy all them in the water Hawkes are also enemies to Crocodiles especially the Ibis-bird so that if but a feather of the Ibis come vpoÌ„ the crocodile by chance or by direction of a mans hand it maketh it immoueable and cannot stirre For vvhich cause when the Egyptians will write or decypher a rauâ—ning greedy idle-fellowe they paynt a Crocodile hauing an Ibis feather sticking in his head And thus much for the enmitie betwixt the Crocodiles and other liuing creatures It hath beene sildome seene that Crocodiles were taken yet it is saide that men hunt them in the waters for Pliny saith that there is an assured perswasion that with the gall and fat of a Water-Adder men are wonderfully holpen as it were armed against Crocodiles and by it enabled to take and destroy them especially when they carry also about them the herbe Potamegeton There is also a kind of thorny Wilde-beane growing in Egypt which hath many sharpe prickles vpon the stalkes this is a great terrour to the Crocodile for he is in great dread of his eyes which are very tender easie to be wounded Therefore he auoydeth their sight being more vnwilling to aduenture vpon a man that beareth them or one of them then he is to aduenture vpon a man in compleate Armour and therefore all the people plant great store of these and also beare them in theyr hands when they trauaile There be many who in the hunting and prosecuting of these Crocodiles doe neither giue themselues to runne away from them nor once to turne aside out of theyr common path or roade but in a foolish hardinesse giue themselues to combat with the beast when they might very well auoyd the danger but many times it hapneth that they pay decrely for their rashnes and repent too late the too much reputation of their owne man-hoode for whiles with their speares and sharpe weapons they thinke to pierce his sides they are deceiued for there is no part of him penetrable except his belly and that he keepeth safe enough from his enemies blunting vpon his scales no lesse hard then plates ofyron all the violence of theyr blowes and sharpnesse of weapons but clubbes beetles and such like weapons are more irkesome to him when they be sette on with strength battering the scales to his body and giuing him such knocks as doth dismay and astonish him Indeede there is no great vse of the taking of this Serpent nor profit of merchandize commeth thereby his skinne and flesh yeelding no great respect in the world In auncient time they tooke them with hookes bayted with flesh or els inclosed them with nettes as they doe fishes and now and then with a strong yron instrument cast out a boat downe into the water vpon the head of the Crocodile And among all other there is this one worthy to be related The Hunter would take off the skin from a Swines backe and there-withall couer his hooke whereby hee allured and inticed the Serpent into the midst of the Riuer there
mouthes vppon euery iawe and with most bright and cleere-seeing eyes vvhich caused the Poets to faine in their writings that these dragons are the watchfull-keepers of Treasures They haue also two dewlappes grovving vnder their chinne and hanging downe like a beard which are of a redde colour theyr bodies are sette all ouer with very sharpe scales and ouer theyr eyes stand certaine flexible eye-liddes When they gape wide with their mouth and thrust foorth their tongue theyr teeth seeme very much to resemble the teeth of Wilde-Swine And theyr neckes haue many times grosse thicke hayre growing vpon them much like vnto the bristles of a VVilde-Boare Their mouth especially of the most tame-able Dragons is but little not much bigger then a pype through which they drawe in theyr breath for they wound not vvith theyr mouth but with theyr tayles onely beating with thē when they are angry But the Indian Ethiopian and Phrygian dragons haue very wide mouthes through which they often swallow in whole foules and beasts Theyr tongue is clouen as if it were double and the Investigators of nature doe say that they haue fifteene teeth of a side The males haue combes on their heads but the females haue none and they are likewise distinguished by their beards They haue most excellent sences both of seeing and hearing and for this cause theyr name Drakon cōmeth of Derkein and this was one cause why Iupiter the Heathens great God is said to be metamorphised into a Dragon whereof there flieth this tale vvhen he fell in loue with Proserpina he rauished her in the likenes of a dragon for hee came vnto her and couered her with the spires of his body and for this cause the people of Sabazij did obserue in their misteries or sacrifices the shape of a dragon rowled vp within the cōpasse of his spires so that as he begot Ceres with child in the likenes of a Bull he likewise deluded her daughter Proserpina in the likenes of a dragon but of these transmutations we shall speake more afterwards I thinke the vanity of these tooke first ground frō the Affricans who beleeue that the originall of dragons tooke beginning from the vnnaturall cōiunction of an Eagle a shee-Wolfe And so they say that the Wolfe growing great by this conception doth not bring forth as at other times but her belly breaketh and the dragon commeth out who in his beake and wings resembleth the dragon his father and in his feete and tayle the vvolfe his mother but in the skin neither of them both but this kind of fabulus generation is already sufficiently confuted Their meates are fruites and herbes or any venomous creature therfore they liue long without foode and when they eate they are not easily filled They grow most fat by eating of egs in deuouring wherof they vse this Art if it be a great dragon he swalloweth it vp whole and then rowleth him selfe whereby hee crusheth the egges to peeces in his belly and so nature casteth out the shells keepeth in the meate But if it be a young dragon as if it were a dragons whelp he taketh the egge within the spire of his tayle and so crusheth it hard holdeth it fast vntill his scales open the shell like a knife then sucketh hee out of the place opened all the meate of the egge In like sort do the young ones pull off the feathers frō the foules which they eate and the old ones swallow them whole casting the feathers out of theyr bellyes againe The dragons of Phrygia when they are hungry turne themselues toward the west gaping wide with the force of their breath doe draw the birdes that flie ouer their heads into their throats which some haue thought is but a voluntary lapse of the fowles to be drawne by the breath of the dragon as by a thing they loue but it is more probable that some vaporous and venomous breath is sent vp from the dragon to them that poysoneth and infecteth the ayre about them whereby their sences are taken from them and they astonished fall downe into his mouth But if it fortune the dragons find not foode enough to satisfie their hunger then they hide themselues vntill the people be returned from the market or the Heard-men bring home their flocks and vppon a suddaine they deuoure eyther men or beastes which come first to their mouthes then they goe againe and hide themselues in their dennes and hollow Caues of the earth for theyr bodies beeing exceeding hote they very sildome come out of the cold earth except to seeke meate and nourishment And because they liue onely in the hottest Countries therefore they commonlie make theyr lodgings neere vnto the waters or else in the coldest places among the Rocks and stones They greatlie preserue their health as Aristotle affirmeth by eating of Wild-lettice for that they make them to vomit and cast foorth of theyr stomacke what-soeuer meate offendeth them and they are most speciallie offended by eating of Apples for theyr bodies are much subiect to be filled with winde and therefore they neuer eate Apples but first they eate Wilde-lettice Theyr sight also as Plutarch sayth doth many times grow weake and feeble and therefore they renew and recouer the same againe by rubbing their eyes against Fennell or else by eating of it Their age could neuer yet be certainely knowne but it is coniectured that they liue long and in great health like to all other Serpents therefore they grow so great They doe not onely liue on the land as we haue said already but also swimme in the water for many times they take the Sea in Ethyopia foure or fiue of them together folding theyr tayles like hurdles and holding vp their heads so swim they ouer to seeke better foode in Arabia We haue said already that when they set vpon Elephants they are taken and killed of men now the manner how the Indians kill the Mountaine-dragons is thus they take a garment of Scarlet and picture vpon it a charme in golden letters this they lay vpon the mouth of the Dragons denne for with the redde colour and the gold the eyes of the dragon are ouer-come and he salleth asleepe the Indians in the meane-season watching muttering secretly words of Incantation when they perceiue he is fast asleepe suddainely they strike off his necke with an Axe and so take out the balls of his eyes wherein are lodged those rare precious stones which containe in them vertues vnvtterable as hath beene euidently prooued by one of them that was included in the Ring of Gyges Manie times it falleth out that the dragon draweth in the Indian both with his Axe and Instruments into his denne and there deuoureth him in the rage whereof hee so beateth the Mountaine that it shaketh When the dragon is killed they make vse of the skin eyes teeth and flesh as for the flesh it is of a vitriall or glassie colour and the Ethiopians doe eate it
himselfe againe withall Then againe when as by reason of long continuance and length of time the webs haue lost their binding viscosity and tenacious substance either the Spyder vnweaueth them againe or else confirmeth and new strengthneth them afresh as it were with another new glutinosity or fast-bynding clamminesse This their worke being finished they either containe themselues in the center of it or keeping sentinell and warding in the vpper part they hold as it were in theyr hands a thred drawne from the middest or Center by which they haue easie accesse and recesse to and fro to their beguiling nets and withall this thred scrueth to another profitable vse for if any prey bee entangled by the light moouing and stirring of it they presently feele and perceiue it But yet to make sure worke least she should wind downe in vaine or take bootlesse labour about nothing she draweth backe the thred a little now then and by the motion and peize of it she putteth all out of doubt being fully ascertained of the truth Then first withall celerity possible shee hies her to the Center which thing the silly flyes being fast and hauing some sence and feeling as it should seeme that they are taken Tardie and fordeeming some hurt are as quiet as a Mouse in a trappe making no noyse at all least eyther they might bewray or betray themselues and so be further enfolden in danger But alasse in vayne doth hee auoyde warre that cannot enioy peace and bootlesse doth he shunne payne that hath no meanes to feele rest for this auayleth but little for they are not able withall these fetches to deceiue their sharp inquisitors for both with eyes and feet they finely and quickly run vnto them making a cleane riddance quicke dispatch of them euery one But yet it is more to consider what great iustice and equity is obserued to be in Spyders For there is not one of them so ill bent so malepartly sawcy and impudently shameles that can be seene to lay claime vnto or to take away anothers wife or mate there is none that entermedleth with anothers substance businesse or weauing euery one liueth contented by the sweate of his owne browes by their owne proper goods and industrious paynes taking procured by their owne bodily labour so that not one of them dare enter his Neighbors freehold but it is accounted a haynous matter and very vnlawfull not one dare be so knack-hardy as to breake into their friendes and fellowes fence and enclosure but it is euen detested as a wicked and cursed deede Non it a mortales quos proh doler vrget habendi Tantus amor domibus domus aruis additur aruum Monticulus monti maribus mare sique potessint Addiderint mundum mundo suaque omnia dixînt In English thus Then would not mortall men so farre engag'd in loue to haue A death it is to thinke house to house and land to land to lay Hyllocke to hill sea vnto sea to adde they craue And if they could world vnto world and all their owne would say Againe they spread not their ginnes and nets to entrap and deceiue good Creatures and such as serue for mans vse and benefit but for Waspes Horse-flyes or Gad-bees and Brimsees or Oxe-flyes that in Summer-time vexe Cattle for Drones Gnats and other Flyes which to vs are like to Theeues Parasites Bawdes Pandors and such Merchants that bring whoores and Knaues together being Telluris mutile pondus an vnprofitable burthen of the earth seruing to no good vse And besides being a vermine of singuler and incomporable courage she dare aduenture to giue the onset vpon those young Serpents that are called Lyzardes who if they offer to contend and striue against her fury she quickly enclaspeth them round about and very nimbly and eagerly seizeth vpon both their lips byting and holding them together so fast that she neuer giueth ouer till they be dead and at length hauing vanquished her enemies she like another Cacus carrieth them into her caue or some secret corner Now if it happen in this hot bickering that the nets be either broken entangled or platted together by and by without further delay shee fals to mending what was amisle to vnwind spred open to set them again in due order and frame very ingeniously What say you to this That the Spyder beareth a deadly feude and mortall haired to Serpents for if so be the serpent at any time lie in the shadow vnder any tree to coole himselfe wher Spyders do resort some one of thē leuelleth directly at him descending downe perpendicularly to the Serpents head and with such a violence striketh dasheth at his head with her beake or snout that her enemy withall making a whizzing noyse and beeing dryuen into a giddinesse turning round hisleth beeing neither able to breake asunder the thred that commeth from aboue nor yet hath force inough to escape it Neither is this spectacle or pageant ended vntill this our champion with her battering hath sent her life to Pluto the God of Hell for a present Let men therefore bee silent and cease wandering at the amphitheatriall fights of the Romans which were made with seats and Scaffoldes to behold playes and sightes and where were presented to the Spectators the bloudy fights of Elephants Beares and Lyons sithence a small Spyder dare challenge to the fielde fight hand to hand with a black and blew Serpent and not onely to come downe to him in daring-wise but also victoriously to tryumph ouer him entirely possessing all the spoyle Who would not maruaile that in so smal or in a maner no body at all which hath neither bones nor sinnewes nor flesh nor scarce any skinne there could be so great force such incredible audacity and courage such sharp and hard bytings and inuincible fury Surely we must conclude necessarily that this cannot proceede altogether from their valiant stomacks but rather from GOD himselfe In like sort they dare buckle with toads of all sortes both of the Land and Water and in a singuler combate ouerthrow and destroy them which thing not onely Pliny and Albertus doe recite and set downe for a certaine truth but Erasmus also in his Dialogue entituled De Amicitia maketh mention of reporting how a certaine Monke lying fast asleepe on whose mouth a foule Toade sat and yet by the Spyders meanes was freed from all hurt Yea they dare enter the combat with winged and stinged Hornets hauing not soft but stiffe bodies and almost as hard as horne who although she many times breaketh through theyr Cobwebbes with mayne strength as Rich men vndoe and make away through Lawes with Gold and by that meanes many times scape scot-free yet for all that at length beeing ouermastered hand to hand in single combat and entangled and ensnarled with the binding pastinesse and tenacious gluysh substance of the web she payeth a deere price for her breaking into anothers house and possession yeelding at length to the
voyces The explycation of this riddle will shew the whole nature of the beast and of the Harpe called Chelys For some things are related herein of the liuing Creature and some things againe of an Instrument of Musicke made vppon his shell and couer And thus much for the Tortoyce in generall the Medicines I will reserue vnto the end of this History OF THE TORTOYCE OF THE earth whose shell is onely figured THese Tortoyces which neuer come in water either sweet or Salt cleare or muddy are called by the Graecians Chelone Chersaie by the Latines Chersinae and Testudines Terrestres Syluestres and Montanae by Nicander Orine and the French peculiarly Tortue des Boys a Tortoyce of the wood These are found in the desarts of Affrica as in Lybia Mauritania in the open fieldes and likewise in Lidia in the Corne-fieldes for when the Plow-men come to plowe their Land their shares turne them out of the earth vpon the furtowes as big as great Glebes of land And the shels of these the Husbandmen burne on the land and dig them out with Spades and Mattocks euen as they doe Wormes among places full of such vermine The Hill Parthenius and Soron in Arcadia doe yeeld many of these Land-Tortoyces The Shell of this liuing Creature is very pleasantly distinguished with diuers colours as earthy blacke blewish and almost like a Salamanders The Liuer of it is small yet apt to be blowen or swell with winde and in all other parts they differ not from the common and vulgar generall prefixed discription These liue in Corne-fieldes vpon such fruits as they can finde and therefore also they may be kept in Chestes or Gardens and fed with Apples Meale or Bread without Leauen They eate also Cockles and Wormes of the earth and three-leaued-grasse They will also eate Vipers but presently after they eate Origan for that herbe is an antidote against Viperine poyson for them and vnlesse they can instantly finde it they dye of the poyson The like vse it is sayde to haue of Rue but the Tortoyces of the Sandy Sea in Affrique liue vpon the fat dew and moystnesse of those Sandes They are ingendered like other of their kind the Males are more venerous then the Females because the female must needes bee turned vppon her backe and she cannot rise againe without helpe wherefore many times the Male after his lust is satisfied goeth away leaueth the poore Female to be destroyed of Kytes or other aduersaries their naturall wisedome therefore hath taught them to preferre life and safety before lust and pleasure Yet Theocritus writeth of a certaine Hearb that the Male-Tortoyce getteth into his mouth and at the time of lust turneth the same to his Female who presently vpon the smell thereof is more enraged for copulation then is the Male and so giueth vp her selfe to his pleasure without all feare of euill or prouidence against future daunger but this Hearb neither he nor any other can name They lay Egges in the earth and do not hatch them except they breath on them with their mouth out of which at due time come their young ones All the winter-time they digge themselues into the earth and there liue without eating any thing insomuch as a man woulde thinke they could neuer liue againe but in the Summer and warme weather they dig themselues out againe without danger The Tortoyces of India in their old and full age change their shels and couers but all other in the World neuer change or cast them This Tortoyce of the earth is an enemy to Vipers and other Serpents and the Eagles againe are enemies to this not so much for hatred as desirous thereof for Physicke against their sicknesses diseases of Nature and therefore they are called in Greeke Chelonophagoi aetoi Tortoyce-eating-Eagles for although they cannot come by them out of their deepe and hard Shell yet they take them vp into the ayre and so let them fall downe vppon some hard stone or Rocke and there-vpon it is broken all to peeces and by this means died the famous Poet Aeschilus vvhich kind of fate was foretold him that such a day he should dye wherefore to auoyd his end in a fayre Sunne-shine cleare day he sat in the fields and suddenly an Eagle let a Tortoyce fall downe vpon his head which brake his scull and crushed out his braynes whereupon the Graecians wrote Aeschulographonti epipeptoke Chelone Which may be englished thus Eschilus writing vpon a rocke A Tortoyce falling his braines out knocke The vses of this Land Tortoyce are first for Gardens because they cleare the Gardens from Snayles and Wormes out of the Arcadian Tortoyces they make Harps for their shelles are very great and this kind of Harp is called in Latine Testudo the inuentor whereof is said to be Mercury for finding a Tortoyce after the falling in of the Riuer Nilus whose flesh was dryed vp because it was left vppon the Rockes hee strucke the sinnewes thereof which by the force of his hand made a musicall sound and thereupon he framed it into a Harp which caused other to imitate his action and continue that practise vnto this day These Tortoyces are better meate then the Sea or Water-Tortoyces and therefore they are preferred for the belly especially they are giuen to Horses for by them they are raysed in flesh and made much fatter And thus much shall suffice for the Tortoyce of the earth OF THE TORTOYCE OF THE sweete-water PLiny maketh foure kindes of Tortoyces one of the earth a second of the Sea a third called Lutaria and the fourth called Swyda lyuing in sweete-Sweete-waters and this is called by the Portugalls Cagado and Gagado the Spaniards Galapag and the Italians Gaiandre de aqua There are of this kinde found in Heluetia neere to Zuricke at a Towne called Andelfinge but the greatest are found in the Riuer Ganges in India where theyr shels are as great as tuns and Damascen writeth that he saw certaine Ambassadours of India present vnto Augustus Caesar at Antiochia a Sweete-water-Tortoyce vvhich was three cubits broad They breede theyr young ones in Nilus They haue but a small Melt and it wanteth both a Bladder and reines They breede their young ones and lay their Egges on the dry Land for in the water they dye without respiration therefore they digge a hole in the Earth wherein they lay their Egges as it were in a great ditch of the quantity of a Barrell and hauing couered them with earth depart away from them for thirty dayes afterwardes they come againe and vncouer theyr Egges which they finde formed into young ones those they take away with them into the water and these Tortoyces at the invndation of Nilus follow the Crocodiles and remoue their nests and egges from the violence of the flouds There was a magicall and superstitious vse of these Sweete-water-Tortoyces agaynst Hayle for if a man take one of these in his right hand and
haue wrote they haue conceiued at theyr mouth or that the Male perished at the time of engendering or the Female at the time of her deliuery Thus saith Amatus Theophrastus he likewise writeth in this manner The young Vipers doe not eate out their way or open with their teeth theyr Mothers belly nor if I may speake merrily make open their owne passage by breaking vp of the doores of their Mothers womb but the wombe being narrow cannot containe them and therefore breaketh of it owne accord and this I haue prooued by experience euen as the same falleth out with the Fish called Acus and therefore I must craue pardon of Herodotus if I affirme his relation of the generation of Vipers to be meerely fabulous Thus farre Theophrastus Apollonius also writeth that many haue seene the olde Vipers lycking theyr young ones like other Serpents Thus haue I expressed the different iudgements of sundry Authors both new olde touching the generation of Vipers out of which can be collected nothing but euident cōtradictions and vnreconcileable iudgements one mutually crossing another So as it is vnpossible that they should be both true and therefore it must be our labour to search out the truth both in their words and in the conference of other Authors Wherefore to beginne thus writeth Aristotle The Viper amongst other Serpents almost alone bringeth forth a liuing creature but first of all she conceiueth a soft egge of one colour aboue the egges lyeth the young ones folded vppe in a synnes skinne and some-times it falleth out that they gnaw in sunder that thinne skinne and so come out of their mothers belly all in one day for she bringeth forth more then twentie at a time Out of these words of Aristotle euilly vnderstood by Pliny and other auncient Wryters came that errour of the young Vipers eating their way out of their mothers belly for in stead of the little thinne skinne which Aristotle saith they eate thorough other Authors haue turned it to the belly which was cleane from Aristotles meaning And another error like vnto this is that wherein they affirme that the Viper doth euery day bring forth one young one so that if shee hath twentie young ones in her belly then also shee must be twenty dayes in bringing of them forth The words of Aristotle frō whence this errour is gathered are these Tectei de en mia emera kathon Tictei de pleio he ei kosni which are thus translated by Gaza Parit enim singulos diebus singulis plures quam viginti numero That is to say she bringeth forth euery day one more then twentie in number But this is an absurd translation and agreeth neither with the words of Aristotle nor yet with his mind for his words are these Parit autem vna die singulos parit autem plus quam viginti numero That is to say in English shee bringeth forth euery one in one day and shee bringeth foorth more then twentie so that the sence of these words shall be that the Viper bringeth forth her young ones seuerallie one at a time but yet all in a day But concerning her number neither the Phylosopher nor yet any man liuing is able to define and set it downe certaine for they varry being sometimes more and sometimes fewer according to the nature of other liuing creatures And although the Viper do conceiue eggos within her yet doth shee lay them after the manner of other Serpents but in her body they are turned into liuing Vipers and so the egges neuer see the sunne neither doth any mortall eye behold them except by accident in the dissection of a female Viper when she is with young I cannot also approue them that doe write that one namelie the Viper among all Serpents bringeth forth her young ones aliue and perfect into the world for Nicander and Greuinus doe truly affirme with the constant consent of all other Authors that the horned Serpent called Cerastes of which we haue spoken alreadie doth likewise bring forth her young ones aliue And besides Herodotus writeth of certaine winged-Serpents in Arabia which doe bring foorth young ones as well as Vipers and therefore it must not be concluded with apparant falsehood that onely the Viper bringeth her young ones perfect into the world The like fable vnto this is that generall conceit of the copulation together betwixt the Viper and the Lamprey for it is reported that when the Lamprey burneth in lust for copulation she forsaketh the waters and commeth to the Land seeking out the lodging of the male Viper and so ioyneth herselfe vnto him for copulation He againe on the other side is so tickled with desire hereof that forsaking his owne dwelling and his owne kind doth likewise betake himselfe vnto the waters and Riuers sides where in an amorous maner hee hysseth for the Lamprey like as when a young man goeth to meete and call his Loue so that these two creatures liuing in contrary elements the earth and the water yet meete together for the fulfilling of their lusts in one bed of fornication Vppon which Saint Basill writeth in this manner Vipera infestissimum animal eorurquae Serpunt cum murena congreditur c. That is to say the Viper a most pernitious enemy to all liuing creeping things yet admitteth copulation with the Lamprey for he forsaketh the Land and goeth to the water-side and there with his hyssing voyce giueth notice to the other of his presence which she hearing instantly forsaketh the deepe waters and comming to the Land suffereth herselfe to be embraced by that venomous beast Also Nicander wryteth thus thereof in his verses Fama est si modo vera quod haec suapascua linquat Atque eat in siccum cogente libidine littus Et cum Vipereo coiens serpente grauetur Which may be englished thus Fame saith if it be true that she her feede forsakes I meane the shore and goes vpon dry land Where for her lust the Viper-male she takes In fleshly coiture to be her husband But this opinion is vaine and fantasticall as Pliny and diuers others haue very learnedly prooued for the Lamprey cannot liue on the Land nor the viper in wet places besides the waters and therfore besides the impossibility in nature it is not reasonable that these will hazard their owne liues by forsaking their owne elements for the satisfaction of their lusts there beeing plenty of eyther kindes to worke vppon that is to say both of female Vipers in the Land to couple with the male and male Lampreys in the water to couple with the female Although I haue else-where confuted this errour yet I must heere againe remember that which is said already The occasion of this fable is this the male Lamprey is exceeding like a Viper for they want feete and haue long bodies which some one by chaunce seeing in copulation with his female did rashly iudge it to be a Serpent because of his likenesse as afore-said and
vndoubted Antiquaries and also the euidence of all ages not excepting this wherein we liue wherein are and haue beene shewed publiquely many Serpents and Serpents skinnes I receiue warrant sufficient to expresse what they haue obserued and assured aunswere for all future Obiections of ignorant incredulous and vnexperienced Asses Wherefore as the life of Serpents is long so is the time of theyr groweth and as their kindes be many as wee shall manifest in the succeeding discourse so in their multitude some grow much greater and bigger then other Gellius writeth that when the Romanes were in the Carthagenian warre and Attilius Regulus the Consull had pitched his Tents neere vnto the riuer Bragrada there was a Serpent of monstrous quantitie which had beene lodged within the compasse of the Tents and therefore did cause to the whole Armie exceeding great calamitie vntill by casting of stones with slings and many other deuises they oppressed and slew that Serpent and afterward fleyed off the skinne and sent it to Rome which was in length one hundred and twentie feete And although this seemeth to be a Beast of vnmatchable stature yet Possidonius a Christian Writer relateth a storie of another which was much greater for hee writeth that he saw a Serpent dead of the length of an acre of Land and all the residue both of head and bodie were answerable in proportion for the bulke of his bodie was so great and lay so high that two Horsemen could not see one the other beeing at his two sides and the widenes of his mouth was so great that hee could receiue at one time within the compasse thereof a horse and a man on his backe both together The scales of his coate or skinne beeing euery one like a large buckler or target So that now there is no such cause to wonder at the Serpent which is said to be killed by S. George which was as is reported so great that eight Oxen were but strength enough to drawe him out of the Cittie Silena There is a Riuer called Rhyndacus neere the Coasts of Bythinia wherein are Snakes of exceeding monstrous quantitie for when thorough heate they are forced to take the water for their safegard against the sunne and birds come flying ouer the poole suddenlie they raise their heads and vpper parts out thereof and swallow them vp The Serpents of Megalauna are said by Pausanias to be thirtie cubits long and all their other part answerable But the greatest in the world are found in India for there they grow to such a quantitie that they swallow vp whole Bulls and great Stagges Wherefore I doe not maruell that Porus the King of India sent to Augustus Caesar very huge Vipers a Serpent of tenne cubits long a Torteise of three cubits and a Partridge greater then a Vulture For Alexander in his nauigation vpon the Red-Sea saith that hee saw Serpents fortie cubits long and all their other parts and members of the same quantity Among the Scyritae the Serpents come by great swarmes vppon their flocks of sheepe and cattell and some they eate vp all others they kill and sucke out the blood and some part they carry away But if euer there were any thing beyond credite it is the relation of Volateran in his twelfth booke of the New-found Lands wherein he writeth that there are Serpents of a myle long which at one certaine time of the yeere come abroad out of their holes and dennes of habitation and destroy both the Heards and Heard-men if they find them Much more fauourable are the Serpents of a Spanish Island who doe no harme to any liuing thing although they haue huge bodies and great strength to accomplish their desires In the kingdome of Senega their Serpents are so great that they deuoure whole beasts as Goates and such like without breaking any one of their bones In Calechute they are as great as their greatest Swine and not much vnlike them except in their head which doth farre exceede a Swines And because the King of that Country hath made a Lavv that no man kill a Serpent vnder paine of death they are as great in number as they are in quantitie for so great is his error that hee deemeth it as lawfull to kill a Man as a Serpent All kindes of Serpents are referred to their place of habitation which is eyther the earth or the waters of the earth and the serpents of the earth are moe in number then the serpents of the vvater except the serpents of the Sea And yet it is thought by the most learned Rabbines that the serpents of the Sea are fishes in the likenes of Dragons Nowe the places of Serpents abode beeing thus generally capitulated wee must enter into a farther narration of their habitations and regions of their natiue breeding In the first place India nourisheth many and diuers sorts of Serpents especially in the Kingdome of Morfilium and Alexander the Emperour found among other Beasts sundry kinds of serpentâ— in a long Desert which is on the North-side of India But all the Nations of the World may giue place to Ethiopia for multitude and varietie for there they gather together on heapes and lye in compasse like round hills visibly apparant to the eyes of them that behold them a farre off The like is said of all Affrica for in Numidia euery yeere there are many men women and children destroyed by Serpents The Island Pharus is also by the testimony of the Egyptians filled with serpents The Coastes of Elymais are annoyed by serpents and the Caspians are so annoyed by serpents which come swymming in the floods that men cannot sayle that waies but in the Winter-time For from the beginning of the Spring or aequinoctiall they seeme for their number to approch fauening like troupes and Armies There are also certaine Ilands called Ophiusae insulae named after Ophis a serpent for the multitude bred therein And there are serpents in Candy Ephesus and all hot Countries for this priuiledge hath GOD in nature giuen to the colder Countreys that they are lesse annoyed with serpents and their serpents also lesse nocent and hurtfull and therefore the serpents of Europe are fewer in number lesser in quantity and more resistable for their weakenes and strength There were a people in Campania called Osci because of the multitude of serpents bred among them Likewise there are great store in Lombardy and Ferrara And whereas we haue saide that the most nocent and harmfull serpents are breddâ— in the hotest Regions where they engender more speedily and also grow into greater proportions yet is it not to be vnderstood of any speciall propertie appertayning to them alone for I read in Olaus Magnus his description of the Northerne Regions of serpents of as great quantitie as in any other place of the World but yet their poyson is not halfe so venomous hurtfull as in the hoter Regions especially the Affrican serpents In Botina
lost or left some poyson vppon the Cats skinne the Monkes by stroking of the Cat were infected there-with And the cause why the Catte was not harmed thereby was for that shee receiued the poyson from the sport and not from the anger of the serpent And this thing surely is not so maruailous seeing that little Mice and Rats doe also play with Serpents and heerein Politicians play the serpents vvho hold correspondence and peace both with the Catte and the Mouse that is with two sworne and naturall enemies together The like peace and league they are also saide to keepe with Eeles as may more plainely appeare by this following historie of a certaine Monke called Rodolphus a Will Monachus Capellensis There vvas as this Monke affirmeth one of his fellowe Monks which did often tell him that beeing a little boy and vsing to sport himselfe by the water side hee hapned to catch an Eele which he attempted for his owne pleasure to carry to another water and by the way as he went hee passed thorough a vvood at which time when hee was in the vvood the Eele began to hisse cry mainelie at the hearing wheteof there gathered together very many serpents round about him insomuch that he was afraid and set downe his basket fast pinned and ranne away afterward he came againe and sought for his basket but he found not the Eele therein wherefore it was supposed that the Serpents deliuered the same Eele out of the basket by some sleight of nature the onely doubt is whether Eeles doe hysse or not seeing they are fishes and Omnes pisces mâ—ti all fishes are mute or dumbe But for answer to this obiection it is most certaine that Ecles haue a voyce as all they knowe which vse fishing in the night for I my selfe haue not onely heard such a voyce in the night time in Riuers and other waters where Eeles abounded but haue had it confirmed by diuers other of greater practise experience in fishing The reason wherof may be their manner of generation for they engender not by spawne as other fishes but of the slyme of the earth or vvater and differ not froÌ„ serpents in their externall forme except in their colour and therefore may be said to partake with fishes serpents in both their natures that is hauing a voyce like a serpent a substance like a fish Such is theyr confederacie with liuing Creatures and with no more that I euer read or heard of But moreouer it is said that they loue some plants or herbes aboue measure as the Fenell and Iuy and for this latter both Pliny and Textor doe not without great cause wonder that euer there was any honour ascribed or giuen to the Iuy seeing that serpents the most vnreconcileable enemies of man-kind delight so much therein But herein the deuil blinded their reason as hee did the modest women that worshipped Priapus or the Tartars which at this day worship the deuill to the end that he should do theÌ„ no harme Thus much I can onely say of the friends and louers of Serpents by the multitude whereof wee may coniecture how among other parts of the curse of God vpon them they are held accursed both by man and beast Now then it followeth that we enter into a more particular description or rather a relation of that hatred which is betweene them and other creatures and first I will beginne with their arch enemie I meane Man-kind For vvhen GOD at the beginning did pronounce his sentence against the Serpent for deceiuing our first Parents among other things he said I will put enmity betwixt thee and the Woman betwixt thy seed the womans seede Whereby he did signifie that perpetuall warre and vnappeaseable discord vvhich should be for euer by his owne appoyntment betwixt them And the truth heereof is to be seene at this day for by a kind of secret instinct and naturall motion a man abhorreth the sight of a Serpent a serpent the sight of a man And as by the tongue of the serpent was wrought mans confusion so by the spettle of a mans tongue is wrought a serpents astonishment For indeed such is the ordinance of God that men Serpents should euer annoy and vexe each other And this Erasmus saith shall continue as long as meminerimus illius inauspicati pomi we shall remember that vnfortunate Apple Isidorus saith that serpents are afraid of a man naked but will leape vpon and deuoure a man clothed Which thing is also affirmed by Olaus Magnus for he saith that when he was a boy hee often tryed it that when hee was naked hee found little or no resistance in serpents and did safely without all danger combat with them hand to hand I my selfe also in my younger time when I was about tenne or twelue yeeres old vsed many times in the Spring and Sommer time to wash my selfe with other my colleagues in certaine fish-ponds wherein I haue seene and met with diuers water-snakes without all harme and I did neuer in my life heare of any harme they did to any of my fellowes beeing naked neither did I euer see any of them runne away so fast on the Land as they did fly from vs in the vvater and yet are not the vvater-snakes lesse hurtfull then the Land-Adders And this was well knowne to many About the beginning or Fountaine Springs of Euphrates it is said that there are certaine serpents which know strangers from the people of the Country wherefore they doe no harme to the naturall borne Country-men but with strangers men of other countryes they fight with might and maine And along the bankes of Euphrates in Syria they also do the like sauing that if they chaunce to be trode vpon by any of the people of those parts they bite like as a dogge doth without any great harme but if any other forrainer or stranger annoy them they also repay him with malice for they bite him and intollerably vexe him wherefore the Country-men nourish them and doe them no harme Such as these are also found in Tirinthus but they are very little ones and are thought to be engendered of the earth The first manifestation in nature of mans discord with serpents is their venom for as in a serpent there is a venome which poysoneth a man so in a man there is the venom of his spittle which poysoneth a serpent For if the fasting spittle of a man fall into the iawes of a serpent he certainly dieth thereof And of this thus writeth the Poet Lucretius Est vtique vt serpens hominis quae tacta saliuis Disperit ac sese mandendo conficit ipsa In English thus As serpent dyeth when spittle of man he tasteth Gnashing his teeth to eate himselfe he wasteth The cause of this the Philosophers which knew nothing of Adams fall or the forbidden Apple doe assigne to be in the contrarietie betwixt the liuing soules or spirits of these Creatures for
the sight of the serpent the hedge-hogge foldeth himselfe vp round so as nothing appeareth outwardly saue onelie his prickles and sharpe bristles the angry serpent setteth vpon him and biteth him with all her force the other againe straineth herselfe aboue measure to annoy the serpents teeth face eyes and whole body and thus when they meete they lie together afflicting one another till one or both of them fall downe dead in the place For some-time the serpent killeth the hedge-hogge and sometime the hedge-hogge killeth the serpent so that many times she caâ—rieth away the serpents flesh and skin vpon her backe The Wesills also fight with serpents with the like successe the cause is for that one other of them liue vpon iuyce and so for their pray or bootie they fall together in mortall warre Heerein the Wesill is too cunning for the Serpent because before she fighteth she seeketh Rue and by eating thereof quickly discomforteth her aduersarie But some say that shee eateth Rue afterward to the intent to auoyde all the poyson shee contracted in the combat The Lyon also and the Serpent are at variance for his rufling mane is discouraged by the extolled head of the Serpent to his breast And therefore as S. Ambrose saith this is an admirable thing that the snake should runne away from the Hurt the most fearefull of all other â—easts and yet ouer-come the Lyon King of all the residue The Ichneumon or Pharoes Mouse is an enemy to serpents eateth them and because he is too feeble to deale with a snake alone therefore when hee hath found one hee goeth and calleth as many of his fellowes as he can find so when they find themselues strong enough in companie they set vpon theyr pray eate it together for which cause when the Egyptians will signifie weakenes they paint an Ichneumon The Peacock is also a profested terrour and scourge to Snakes Adders and they will not endure neere those places where they heare their voyce The Sorex and Swine doe also hate and abhorre serpents and the little Sorex hath most aduantage against them in the Winter-time vvhen they are at the weakest To conclude the horse is wonderfully afraid of all kinds of Serpents if he see them and will not goe ouer but rather leape ouer a dead snake And thus I will end the warre betwixt serpents and foure-footed beastes and fowles Novv least their curse should not be hard enough vnto them God hath also ordained one of them to destroy another and therefore now it followeth to shewe in a word the mutuall discord betwixt themselues The Spider although a venomous creature yet is it an enemie to the serpent for when shee seeth a serpent lye vnder her tree in the shadow she weaueth or twisteth a thred downe from her vveb vppon the head of the serpent and suddenly byteth into his head a mortall wound so that he can do nothing but onely roule to and fro beeing strooken with a Megrim whereby hee hath not so much power as to breake the Spiders thred hanging ouer his head vntill he be dead and ouerthrowne The The Cockatrice is such an enemie to some kind of serpents that he killeth them vvith his breath or hyssing The Lyzard a kind of serpent is most friendly to man very irefull against serpents to the vttermost of his power whereof Erasmus in his booke of friendshippe telleth this storie I saw saith hee on a day a very great Lyzard fighting with a serpent in the verie mouth of a Caue at the first sight whereof I maruailed at the matter for the serpent was not visible our of the earth there was with me an Italian who said that surely the Lyzard had some enemy within the Caue After a little while the Lizard came vnto vs shewed vs his side all wounded as it were crauing helpe for the serpent had bitten him sore for of greene he made him appeare redde and this Lyzard did suffer himselfe to be touched of vs. Thus saith Erasmus Againe in the same place he saith that when a Lyzard saw a serpent lye in waite to set vpon a man beeing a sleepe the Lyzard ranne to the man and neuer ceased running vpon the mans face scratching his necke and face gentlie with his clawes vntill he had awaked the man and so discouered to him his great danger The Locust also fighteth with a serpent and killeth him when he lusteth for he getteth hold with his teeth vppon his lower chappe and so destroyeth him but this is not to be vnderstood of euery kinde of Locust but onely of one kind which for this cause is called Ophiomachum genus The Serpent is also an enemy to the Chamaeleon for in the extremitie of famine shee setteth vpon them and except the Chamaeleon can couer herselfe from his rage hee hath no defence but death Albertus calleth a certaine vvorme Spoliator colubri because as he saith it will take fast hold vpon a serpents necke vnder-neath his iawes and neuer giue ouer till he hath wearied and destroyed his aduersarie The Torteises are enemies to Serpents and will fight with them but before they enter combat they arme themselues with wild Marioram or Peniroyall But there is not any thing in the worlde that fighteth more earnestly against serpents then Sea-crabbes Creuises for when the Sunne is in Cancer serpents are naturally tormented with paines and feauers and therefore if swine be stunge or bitten with serpents they cure themselues by caâ—ing of Sea-crabs There is a great water neere Ephesus at the one side whereof there is a Caue full of many noysome irefull serpents whose bytings by often probation haue beene very deadly both to men and beastes These serpents doe oftentimes endenour to crawl ouer the poole now on the other side there are great store of Crabbes who when they see the serpents come crawling or swimming they instantly put out their crooked legges as it were with tonges or pynsars reach at the slyding serpent where-withall the serpents are so deterred that through their sight often remembrance of their vnhappy successe with them they turne backe againe and neuer dare any more aduenture to the other side Where wee may see the most wise prouidence of the Creator who hath set Sea crabs the enemies of serpents to guard both men and cattell which are on the opposite sides for otherwise the inhabitants would all perrish or els be droue away from their dwellings To conclude not onely liuing creatures but also some kind of earth and plants are enemies to serpents and therfore most famous are Ebusus Creete as some say although Bellonius say that there are Scolopendraes Vipers and Slow-wormes in Creete yet he saith they are without venome and there are very fewe in England Scotland but none at all in Ireland neither will they liue if they be brought in thether from any other Country This antipathy with Serpents
coagulum of a Fawne killd and cut out of the bellie of his damme Coagulum is nothing els but that part in the belly which is vsed to thicken the Milke Proderit et caulem cum vino haurire sambuci Qu. Serenus Which may be englished thus In drinke the powder of an Elder-stalke Gainst poyson profiteth as some men talke That vertue which Serenus here giueth to the stalke of Dwarfe-Elder for that is meant in this place the same effect Dioscorides attributeth to the roote in his fourth booke and Pliny to the leaues The herbe called Betony is excellent against these fore-said affects by good reason for the greatest part of poysons doe kill through their excesse of coldnes and therefore to ouer-come and resist them such meanes are necessarie by which naturall and liuely heate is stirred vp and quickned and so the poyson hindered from growing thick together and from coagulation Againe all men doe agree that those medicines are profitable which do extenuate as all those doe which haue a propertie to prouoke vrine and Betonie is of this qualitie and therefore beeing taken with Wine it must needes doe good in venomous bytings and that not onely in the bytings of men and Apes but in Serpents also Radish also hath the same qualitie beeing taken with vineger and water boyled together or els outwardly applyed as Serenus affirmeth Siue homo seu similis turpissima bestia nobis Vulnera dente dedit virus simul intulit atrum Vetonicam ex duro prodest assumere Baccho Nec non et raphani cortex decocta medetur Si trita admorsis fuerit circumlitor membris In English thus If man or Ape a filthy beast most like to vs By byting wound and therein poyson thrust Then Betony in hard wine steeped long Or rinde of Radish sod as soft as pappe Doe heale applyed to the member strong There be certaine herbes and simples as Wild-lettice Veruen the roote called Rhubarb Agarick oyle of Oleander and the leaues of the same the seedes of Peonie with a great number a little before described that beeing taken either inwardly or outwardly in iuyce or powder doe cure poyson yea though it be receiued by hurt from enuenomed arrowes shafts or other war-like engines weapons for the Arabians Indians the Galles now termed French-men and Scythians were wont to poyson theyr arrowes as Paulus Orosius in his third booke testifieth of the Indians where hee writeth howe Alexander the Great in his conquering and winning of a certaine Cittie vnder the gouernment of king Ambira lost the greatest part there of his whole Armie with envenomed Darts and quarrells And Celsus in his fifth Booke saith that the auncient Galles were wont to annoynt their arrowes with the iuyce of white Hellebor with which they did great mischiefe Pliny affirmeth the same to be vsed of the Scythian Nation The Scythians saith hee doe annoynt their arrow-heads with the corrupt poysonous and filthy stained dreggie blood of Vipers and with mans blood mixed together so that the wounde seemeth to be incurable And to this alludeth Quintus Serenus Cuspide non quisquam longa neque caede sarissae Fulmine non gladij volueris nec felle sagittae Quà m cito Vipereo potis est affligier ictu Quare aptam dicamus opem succosque manentes Which may be thus englished There is no man with speare or launces poynt Sharpe edge of sword or swift arrowes might To kill so soone as Vipers force doth dint Then fit is the ayde and meanes that it acquite There is a certaine kind of people to whom it is naturally giuen either by touching or sucking to cure the wounding of venomous Serpents called Psylli a people of Libia Marsi people of Italie bordering vppon the Samnites and Aequiculania and those that were called by the auncient Writers Ophiogenes which dwelt about Hellespont as both Pliny Elianus and Aeneas Siluius doe witnesse Callias in the tenth Booke of the history which hee wrote of Agathocles the Syracusan saith that if any man were bytten of a Serpent if eyther a Lybian by birth or any Psyllus whose body was accounted venom to serpents was either purposely sent for or came that way by chaunce and saw the wound but indifferently and not very sore tormenting the patient that if he did lay but a little of his spettle vpon the byting or stroke that presently the aking and paine would be mittigated But if he found the sick patient in great and intollerable anguish and paine he tooke this course in his curation that first he would sucke and draw vp into his mouth a great deale of water and first rinse wash his own mouth there-with and after this pouring it all out of his owne mouth into a cup he would giue it to the poore wounded person to suppe of Lastly if the malignity and strength of the venome had crept and spred it selfe very farre and deepe into the body so that there vvas danger of death then would he strippe himselfe starke naked and so lie and spread his bodie vppon the naked body of the sicke person and so by this way of touching breake the malice and qualitie of the poyson and giue perfect cure to the man For more confirmation heereof Nicander Colophonius is sufficient authority whose verses I will here describe Audiui Libycos Psyllos quos aspera Syrtis Serpentumque ferax patria alit populos Non ictu inflictum diro morsuue venenum Laedere quin laesis ferre et opem reliquis Non viradicum proprio sed corpore juncto Which is in English thus The people Psylli bred in Lybia Land Neere Syrtes where all serpents doe abound Are neuer stunge nor bitten by that band Vnto their harme or any bodyes wound But straight one naked man anothers hurt doth heale No rootes but bodies vertue danger doth repeale Some of the Greekes haue left in writing that the Idolatrous Priests and Prelats of the God Vulcan that dwelt in the I le Lemnos had a speciall vertue giuen them to cure those who were wounded by Serpents wherevpon it is said that Philoctetes beeing wounded by a serpent before the Altar of Apollo went thither to be remedied of his hurt Cornelius Celsus saith flatly that the people called Psylli had no such peculiar gift in healing thē that were hurt of serpents either by sucking or touching the place but beeing boldly aduenturous had presumed thereby to attempt and do that which others of lesse courage had no stomack to doe for whosoeuer durst be so confident as to follow their example should be himselfe out of danger and assure the other safe and free from feare of further hurt Galen in his booke De Theriaca ad Pisonem manifestly sheweth that the Marsi who liued in his dayes had no such speciall qualitie against the poyson of Serpents but that with their crafty dealing and knauish tricks they beguiled the common people For saith he those Iuglers and Deceiuers do neuer hunt Vipers at any
reason whereof they can receiue no poyson from them The poyson of Aspes saith Moses Deut. 32. is crudele venenum a cruell poyson and Iob. 20. Cap. expressing the wicked mans delight in euill sayth That he shall sucke the poison of Aspes For which cause as we haue shewed already the harme of this is not easily cured VVe read that Canopus the Maister of Menelaus ship to bee bitten to death by an Aspe at Canopus in Egypt So also was Demetrius Phalareus a Scholler of Theophrastus keeper of the famous library of Ptolomaeus Soter Cleopatra likewise to auoyde the tryumph that Augustus would haue made of her suffered her selfe willingly to bee bitten to death by an Aspe VVhereupon Properitius writeth thus Brachia spect aui sacris admorsa colubris Et trachere occultum membra soporis iter In English thus Thus I haue seene those wounded armes VVith sacred Snakes bitten deepe And members draw their poysoned harmes Treading the way of deaths sound sleepe We read also of certaine Mountebankes and cunning Iuglers in Italy called Circulatores to perish by their owne deuises thorough the eating of Serpents and Aspes which they carried about in Boxes as tame vsing them for ostentation to get Money or to sell away their antidotes When pompeius Rufus was the great Maister of the Temple-works at Rome there was a certaine circulator or Quacksaluer to shew his great cunning in the presence of many other of his owne trade which set to his arme an Aspe presently he sucked out the poyson out of the wound with his mouth but when he came to looke for his preseruatiue water or antidote he could not finde it by meanes whereof the poyson fell dovvne into his body his mouth and gummes rotted presently by little and little and so vvithin two dayes he was found dead The like story vnto this is related by Amb Paraeus of another vvhich at Florence vvould faine sell much of his medicine against poyson and for that purpose suffered an aspe to bite his flesh or finger but vvithin foure houres after he perished notwithstanding all his antidoticall preseruatiues Now therefore it remaineth that wee adde in the conclusion of this history a particuler discourse of the bytings and venom of this serpent and also of such remedies as are appointed for the same Therefore we are to consider that they byte and doe not sting the femalls byte with foure teeth the males but with two and when they haue opened the flesh by byting then they infuse their poyson into the wound Onely the Aspe Ptyas killeth by spetting venom thorough her teeth and as Auicen saith the sauour or smell therof will kill but at the least the touching infecteth mortally When an Aspe hath bitten it is a very difficult thing to espie the place bitten or wounded euē with most excellent eyes as was apparent vppon Cleopatra aforesayd and the reason hereof is giuen to be this because the poyson of Aspes is very sharpe and penetrateth suddenly and forcibly vnder the skinne euen to the inmost parts not staying outwardly or making any great visible externall appearante Yet Gallen writing to Piso affirmeth otherwise of the wound of Cleopatra but because drowsinesse and sleepe followeth that poyson I rather beleeue the former opinion and therefore Lucan calleth the Aspe Somnifera that is a sleepe-bringing serpent And Pictorius also subscribeth herevnto Aspidis et morsu laesum dormire fatentur In mortem antidotum nec valuisse ferunt Which may be englished thus Hee that by rage of Aspes tooth is bitten or is wounded They say doth sleepe vntill his death curelesse he is confounded The pricks of the Aspes teeth are in apparance not much greater then the prickings of a needle without all swelling and very little blood issueth forth and that is black in colour straight way the eyes grow darke heauy and a manifold paine ariseth all ouer the body yet such as is mixed with some sence of pleasure which caused Nicander to cry out perimitque virum absque dolore it kills a man without paine His colour is all changed appeareth greenish like grasse His face or forehead is bent continually frowning and his eyes or eye-liddes moouing vp and downe in drowsines without sence according to these verses following Nec tamen vlla vides impressi vlnera morsus Nec dignus fatu tumor ictum corpus adurit Sed qui laesus homo est citra omnem fata dolorem Claudit ignano moriens torpore fatiscit Which I translate thus Wounds of impressed teeth none canst thou see Nor tumour worth the naming smitten body burning But yet the hurt man painlesse taketh destiny And sleeping dyeth sluggishly him turning The true signes then of an Aspes biting is stupour or astonishment heauinesse of the head and slothfulnes wrinking the forehead often gaping and gnawing and nodding bending the necke and convulsion but those which are hurt by the Ptyas haue blindnes paine at the hart deafenesse and swelling of the face And the signes of such as are hurt by the Chalidonian or Chersaean Aspe the Terrestrian are all one or of very little difference except that I may adde the Crampe and the often beating of the pulse frigiditie of the members or parts or paine in the stomack but all of them in generall deepe sleepe and sometimes vomitting But by this that the blood of the place by thē bitten turneth black it is apparant and manifest that the poyson of the Aspe mortifieth or killeth the naturall heate which is ouercome by the heate of the poyson outwardly the darknes or blindnesse of the eyes proceedeth of certaine vapours which are infected and ascend vp to the disturbance of the braine and when the humours are troubled in the stomacke then followeth vomiting or else the crampe and sometimes a loosnesse when the knuckles are drawen in by the venomous byting or the infected humours falling downe into the intrals To conclude so great is the tabificall effect of this poyson of Aspes that it is worthily accounted the greatest venom and most dangerous of all other for Aelianus sayth Serpentum venenum cum pestiferum sit tum multò aspidis pestilentius the poyson of all serpents is pestiferous but the venom of the aspe most of all For if it touch a greene wound it killeth speedily but an old wound receiueth harme thereby more hardly In Alexandria when they would put a man to a sudden death they would set an aspe to his bosome or breast and then after the wound or byting bid the partie walke vp and downe and so immediatly within two or three turnes hee would fall downe dead Yet it is reported by Pliny that the poyson of Aspes drunke into the body doth no harme at all yet if a man eate of the flesh of any beast slaine by an Aspe he dyeth immediatly But concerning the cure of such as haue beene or may be hurt by Aspes I will nowe
the greater multitude of Drones But this to me seemeth rather the deuise and inuention of some curious braine then any true grounded reason For because that many Drones breede as it commeth alwaies to passe in good and plentifull yeares therefore there should be greater Swarmes is no good consequent but contrariwise because the multitude of Bees do greatly increase through the moderatenes of the pure aire and the plenty of the Hony-dropping dew and through the aboundance of this millifluous moysture there must needs follow a greater foison and store of drones as the Philosopher hath well obserued But admit that this be true that whereas there is the greater encrease of drones there should yearly ensue the more swarmings yet must we not thervpon conclude that Bees do owe and ought to ascribe their first originall from Drones but rather that they are indebted and bound in honesty to the drones because in time of breeding they giue much warmth and comfort to their young as Pliny lib. 11. c. 11. saith conferring vppon them a liuely heat fit for their encrease and prospering Some deuide them into male and female and that by coupling together they make a propagation of their kind although as Athenaeus writeth neither drones nor Bees were euer yet seen of any one to couple together But whereas Waspes Hornets and other Cut-wasted creatures that make any combs and breed in the same haue beene sometimes though seldome seene both by vs and Aristotle to ioyne together I can surely see no cause why we should vtterly take from them the vse of Venus though in that respect they be very modest and moderate I haue before in the discourse of their generation said that the Bees do make the male kind and the Drones to be but the female but sith that in the time of Hony-making they punnish them so sharply after they haue eiected them from possession first so that afterwards they put them to death I can hardly be enduced to beleeue that the drones are but the female kind considering that one thing would ecclipse and ouercast all those resplendant vertues which all men know to be in Bees to deale thus cruelly with their Parents To what vse therefore serue they in hiues Seeing Virgill in the fourth booke of his Georgiks thus describeth them Immunisque sedens aliena ad pabula fucus That is to say The Drone as free and bold doth sit And wast of others food commit Where Festus taketh Immunis for lazy idle vnseruiceable vnprofitable and such as are nothing worth except perchance after the guise of wicked men they so serue theyr owne turnes as to liue by the sweat of other mens labours and to bring out of order or vtterly seeke to ouerthrow the whole frame of the common wealth But the most approoued Authors set downe diuers good vses of drones For if there be but a few of them among the Bees they make them the more carefull about their affaires and to looke more duely to their taske not by their good example for they liue in continuall idlenesse but because they might continue their liberality towardes strangers they worke the more carefully in their Honnie-shoppe And if Bartholemaeus doe not deceiue vs these Drones bee not altogether idle but they imploie themselues about the building of the Kings House which they make large stately and very sumptuous in the higher and middle part of the Combes being very faire to see too in respect of their couering So then they are but lazie in respect of Hony-making and gathering but if you looke toward their Art or science of building they are to be accounted excellent deuisers of the frame and chiefe Maisters of the whole worke For as the Bees do fashion out the combs of the Drones nigh the Kings Pallace so againe for the like counterchange of kindnes the Drones are the sole inuentors and principall work-maisters of the Kinges Court for which cause both they and their of-spring kinsfolkes and friends if they haue any are bountifully rewarded of the whole stocke of Bees by giuing them franckly freely their diet and maintenance which costeth them nothing The Lockers or holes of the vp-growne Bees are somewhat to large if you respect the quantity of their bodies but their combes lesser for those they build themselues these other are made by the Bees because it was not thought cōuenient and indifferent so great a portion of meat to be giuen to such vile labourers and hirelings as was due to their own Sons and Daughters and those that are naturally subiects Tzetzes and some other Greekes doe besides affirme that the Drones are the Bees Butlers or Porters to carry them water ascribing moreouer to them a gentle and kindly heat with which they are said to keepe warme cherish and nourish the young breede of the Bees by this meanes as it were quickning them and adding to them both life and strength The same affirmeth Columella in these wordes The Drones further much the Bees for the procreation of their issue for they sitting vpon their kind or generation the Bees are shaped and attaine to their figure and therefore for the maintenaunce education and defence of a new yssue they receiue the more friendly entertainement And Pliny lib. 11. c. 11. differeth not from him For not onely they are great helpers to the Bees in any architectonicall or cunning deuised frame as hee saith but also they doe good in helping and succouring their young by giuing them much warmth and kindly heat vvhich the greater it is vnlesse there be some lacke of Hony in the meane space the greater will the swarme be In summe except they should stand the Bees in some good stead the Almighty would neuer haue enclosed them both in one house and as it were made them freemen of the same Citty Neither doubtlesse would the Bees by maine force violently breake in vpon them as being the Sworne and professed enemies of their common-wealth except when their slauish multitude being to much encreased they might feare some violence or rebellion or for lacke of prouision at which time who seeth not that it were farre better the Maister Worke-men free Masons and Carpenters might bee spared then the true labouring Husbandman and tiller of the Eearth Especially since that missing these our life is endangered for lacke of meate and other necessaries and those other for a time we may very well spare without our vndoing and for a need euery one may build his ovvne lodging But as they be profitable members not exceeding a stinted and certaine number so if they be to many they bring a sicknesse called the Hiue-euill as well because they consume the food of the hony-making Bees as for that in regard of their extreame heat they choke and suffocate them This disease is by the Authour of Geoponicon thus remedyed Moysten with Water inwardly the lidde or couering of their Hiue and earely in the Morning opening it you shall finde Drones
doe liue in more hazard lye open to diuers iniuries and so more subiect to shortnes of life The brouity of their life is after a sort recompenced and some part of amends made by the rare clammy glewishnes of the same for if you seperate their bulkes from the head the head from the breast they will liue a long while after and thrust out their sting almost as strongly as if they were vndeuidable and free from hurt and deathes harme Apollonius calleth waspes Omoboroi and Aristotle Meloboroi although they doe not onely feede on rawe flesh but also on peares plummes grapes reysins and on diuers and sundry sorts of flowers and fruites of the iuyce of Elmes Suger Hony and in a manner of all things that are seasoned tempered made pleasant or prepared with eyther of these two last rehearsed Pliny in his 11. booke capit 53. is of opinion that some waspes especially those of the wilder feller kind do eate the flesh of Serpents which is the cause that death hath some-times ensued of their poysonous stinging They also hunt after great flyes not one vvhit sparing the harmelesse Bees who by their good deedes haue so well deserued According to the nature of the soyle place they do much differ in their outward forme fashion of their body and in the manner of their qualities and dispositions of their mind for the common waspes beeing acquainted familiarly vsed to the company of men beasts are the gentler but the Hermites and solitary waspes are more rude churlish and tempestuous yea Nicander termeth them Olaus that is pernicious They are also more vnhappy dangerous and deadly in very hote countries as Ouidius reporteth and namelie in the West-Indies where both in their magnitude and figure there is great difference betwixt theirs and ours so that they are accounted farre more poysonous deadly then either the English French Spanish or Barbarian waspes Some of these dangerous generation doe also abound in exceeding cold Countries as Olaus Magnus in his 22. booke telleth vs. Their vse is great and singuler for besides that they serue for foode to those kinde of Hawkes which are called Kaistrells or Fleingalls Martinets Swallowes Owles to Brocks or Badgers and to the Cameleon they also doe great pleasure and seruice to men sundry wayes for they kill the Phalangium which is a kind of venomous Spyder that hath in all his legges three knots or ioynts whose poyson is perilous and deadly and yet waspes do cure their wounds Raynard the Foxe likewise who is so full of his wiles and craftie shifting is reported to lye in waite to betray waspes after this sort The wilie thiefe thrusteth his bushie tayle into the waspes nest there holding it so long vntill hee perceiue it be full of them then drawing it slylie forth he beateth and smyteth his tayle-full of waspes against the next stone or tree neuer resting so long as hee seeth any of them aliue and thus playing his Foxe-like parts many times together at last hee setteth vppon their combes deuouring all that he can find Pliny greatly commendeth the solitary wasp to be very effectuall against a Quartaine-Ague if you catch her with your left hand tyeor fasten her to any part of your body alwayes prouided that it must be the first waspe that you lay hold on that yeere Mizaldus memor Cent. 7. attributeth great vertue to the distilled water and likewise to the decoction of common waspes affirming expresly that if any part be there-with annoynted it straightwayes causeth it to swell monsterously and to be puffed vp that you would imagine them to be sicke of a Dropsie and this course craftie-drabbes queanes vse to perswade their sweet harts that they are forsooth with child by them thus many times beguiling and blinding the eyes of vvarie and expert Midwiues Wherevpon we may very confidently conclude that their poyson is very hote flatuous or windie Some do prole after waspes and kill them by other sleights deuises For when the Labourers do much vse and frequent elmes which they doe very often about the Summer solftice to gather from them some gummy and clammy matter their Dukes and Princes beeing at home not standing still but setling themselues to their busines or trade and helping to hatch vp their young they are suddenly choked with the fume of Brimstone Garlicke the branches of Coleworts or other pot-herbes or els by breaking downe onerthrowing their combes they die through famine VVhen you are minded to defend the Bees from the inuasion and spoyle of waspes you must sette a potte with some peeces of flesh in it neere the Hiue and when the waspes in hope of some prey are entered suddenly clappe ouer the couer and so destroy them or else by pouring in some hot water at the toppe you may scald them all to death in the pot In like sort some doe gently breath vppon Raisins fruites Suger Hony Oyle by which eyther the waspes are chased away or by tasting the oyle doe die And againe some doe mixe corrosiues with Honie as for example Sublimate Vitrioll Auripigmentum c. that they by taking this venomous or poyson-infected drinke may suffer condigne punishment for their intemperate and insatiable gluttony Of the stinging of vvaspes there doe proceede diuers and sundry accidents passions and effects as payne disquieting vexation swelling rednesse heate sweatings disposition or will to vomit loathing and abhorring of all thinges exceeding thirstinesse now and then fainting or swounding especially when after the maner of venomous creatures they haue infected their stings eyther by tasting the flesh of some Serpents or by gathering their foode from venomous plants I will nowe sette before your eyes and eares one late and memorable example of the danger that is in VVaspes of one Allens vvife dwelling not manie yeeres since at Lowick in Northamptonshire vvhich poore woman resorting after her vsuall manner in the heate of the Sommer to Drayton the Lord Mordants house beeing extreamely thirstie and impatient of delay finding by chaunce a blacke Iacke or Tankerd on the table in the Hall she very inconsiderately and rashly sette it to her mouth neuer suspecting or looking what might be in it and suddainly a Waspe in her greedinesse passed downe with the drinke and stinging her there immediatly came a greaâ—tumour in her throate with a rednes puffing and swelling of all the parts adiacent so that her breath beeing intercepted the miserable vvretch whirling herselfe twise or thrise round as though shee had had some vertiginie in her braine presently fell downe and dyed And this is knowne for a truth not onely to me but to most of the inhabitants there abouts being as yet fresh in their memories and therefore their authorities as I take it is vnreproueable Now for feare least I should loose my selfe in this troublesome and vast Ocean of Natures admirable fabricature I wil now discourse of such medicinall meanes as will defend
will I proceede to tell you of their ill name naughty venemous and pernitious properties They are reckoned and scored vppe in the number of most deadly and hurtfull poysons not onely because they cause erosion and inflammation but more in regard of their putrifactiue quality and making rotten wherein they exceede Their iuyce beeing taken into the stomacke and so piercing into the veines or layd vppon the skinne outwardly so long till it hath entred the veines is a most strong poyson whereupon Ouid when he wished ill vnto or cursed his enemy writ this Cantharidum succos dante parente bibas lib. Trist Cicero ad Parum in the ninth Booke of his familiar Epistles hath these wordes Caâ—â—s accusante L. Crasso Cantharidas sumpsisse dicitur as if he purposed by that way to make an end of himselfe by death Galen in his third booke De Simplic medicam facult writeth thus If they bee taken inwardly into the body though but in small quantity and mixed with other conuenient correctories they doe mightily prouoke vrine and sometimes corrode and fret the bladder so that it is as cleare as the noone-day that what thinges soeuer do ouerthrow nature by reason of their extreame frigiditie if they be taken but in a very small quantity yet will nourish the body so on the other side whatsoeuer is contrary repugneth or goeth against humaine Nature by meanes of corrupting or any putrifactiue quality like vnto Cantharides can neuer do so Bartholomeus Montegnana a learned Physition assureth vs that he once knewe one Francis Bracca a Cittizen of Paduay in Italy who hauing but outwardly applyed Cantharides to his knee yet their poyson spreading to other inward parts he voyded fiue pintes of bloud by way of vrine and this may any man see if he will take the paines to read ouer Montegnana Consil 182. Cap. 10. The same accident hath also befalne them who to be remedyed of rough hard mangy or lepros-like nailes haue aduentured to apply them to their great toe So that Cantharides must not rashly be applyed and vsed as common deceiuers blind-empiricks and cousening Land-lopers would make plaine countrey people beleeue Pliny relareth a story of one Cossinus a Romaine Knight who was deerely beloued of Nero the Emperour who hauing a very dangerous Tettar a disease in times past was peculiar to the people of Aegypt a Physition of that countrey in stead of curing did kill him by giuing him Cantharides to drinke But I should rather thinke that Cossinus dyed by the outward applycation of Cantharides because by their burning and causticke quality they cleane eate and consume away filthy Tetters or Ringwormes Manginesse scuruinesse Lepries and all hard Callous warts Cornes or peeces of flesh that grow in the handes or feete for I can see no reason why any would bee so wilfully blinde as to giue them inwardly for the curation of any Tetters or such like griefes or at leastwise I must thinke that the right vse of Cantharides was vnknowne to the ancient Physitions of the old world as by Galen it may appeare in his eleuenth booke de Simplic Med. fac and in his fourth booke de victa Acut. The same Pliny in his twenty nine booke and fortith Chapter witnesseth that Cantharides were reprochfully layd to Cato vticensis charge and that hee was sorely blamed for offering to make a price of poysons and to sell them openly as in port-saile to any that would giue most so that their price rose to threescore sesterties Being drunke in too large a quantity or else apply outwardly to any part eyther too long or too deepe they produce these or the like symptomes accidents and effects The party to whom they are any way giuen feeleth apricking paine and torment in his bowelles and inward partes extending from the mouth downe to the lower partes about the Bladder Raines and the places about the Wast and short ribbes they doc also vlcerate the bladder very dangerously inflaming the yard and all other partes neere the same with a vehement apostimation after this they pisse bloud and little peeces of flesh Otherwhiles there will follow a great laske and a bloudy-flyxe fainting and swounding a numnesse or dulnesse of moouing or feeling debilitation our feeblenesse of the mind with alicnation of the wit as though they were bestraught likewise lothing or abhorring of meate with a disposition to vomiting and often an ordinary desire to make water and to exonerate nature but all in vaine He that taketh them findeth in his mouth the tast or tallage of pitch and all these symptomes passions or effectes that they work haue I with much labour faithfully collected out of the sixth booke of Dioscorides the first Chapter And out of Galen Lib. de Theriaca ad Pisonem Cap. 4. and lib. 3. de Temperam cap. 3. And out of ancient Rhazes who practised Physicke one hundreth yeares if truth be truely related Tit. 8. Chap. 17. If any one be either affected or infected with any accydents by meanes of Cantharides Dioscorides doth thus cure them as you may readily find in the booke and chapter before cited First of all hee causeth them to vomit often and much and after that hee prescribeth Glysters to bee made for the scouring of the belly with Niter and to presâ—rue the bladder inwardly to take Milke and Psyllum and then hee would haue the matter of Glysters to be somewhat different from those which were taken in the beginning as namely to bee made of Barley Water Marsh-Mallowes the white of an Egge the Musciling of Line-seedes Water of Ryce the decoction of Fennigreeke Hydromell satte Broathes Oyle of Almonds the fat of a Goose and the yelkes of Egges And inwardly to take at the mouth hee biddeth them to vse Cowes Milke Hydromell the Graines or fruite of the Pitch-tree both the greater and the lesser sort Wine sodde to the halfe Duckes fatte a decoction with some diureticall seedes namely with the foure greater cold seeds which are Cucumbers Guords Citruls and Melons and likewise some decoction made of Figges with sirup of Violets Oyle of Quinces is hyely commended of some as a proper and speciall Antidote in this case and so is Oyle of Lillies and Terra Samia Rhazes counsell is after the taking of some Glysters made of any fat broathes to make an iniection into the yarde with Oyle of Roses and the sicke person to sit in a warme Bath Tit. 8. Chapter 17. The Writers and Authours of Physicke and Phylosophy cannot agree in what part of the Cantharides theyr poyson cheefely lurketh for some will haue it to bee principally in the head and feete and others againe will none of that And yet they all agree vppon this poynt that in what part of the body soeuer their poison is seated that their winges are a soueraigne remedy and preseruatiue and if they bee wanting that their poyson is deadly so that although they be neuer so poysonous yet haue they their owne remedy which in
described by Nicander with whose words I will conclude this Historie of the Cockatrice writing as followeth Quod ferit hic multo corpus succenditur igne A membris resoluta suis caro defluit fit Lurida obscuro nigrescit opaca colore Nullae etiam volucres quae faeda cadauera pascunt Sic occisum hominem tangunt vt vultur omnes Huic similes alia pluuiae quoque nuncius aura Coruus nec quaecunque fera per deuia lustra Degunt étali capiunt sibi tabula carne Tum teter vacuas odor hinc exhalat in auras Atque propinquantes penetrant non segniter artus Sin cogente fame ventens aproximet ales Tristia fata refert certamque ex aëre mortem Which may be englished thus When he doth strike the body hurt is set on fire And from the members falleth off the flesh withall It rotten is and in the colour blacke as any myre Refus'd of carrion-feeding-birds both great and small Are all men so destroyed No Vulture or Bitter fierce Or weather-telling-Crow or deserts wildest beast Which liue in dennes sustaining greatest famines force But at their tables doe this flesh detest Then is the ayre repleate with 's lothsome smell Piercing vitall parts of them approaching neere And if a bird it tast to fill his hunger fell It dyes assured death none neede it feare OF THE CORDYLL ALthough I finde some difference about the nature of this lyuing creature and namely whether it bee a Serpent or a Fishe yet because the greater and better part make it a Serpent I will also bring it in his due order in this place for a venomous beast Gesner is of opinion that it is no other but a Lizard of the Water but this cannont agree with the description of Aristotle Bellonius who affirme the Cordill to haue Gilles like a Fish and these are not found in any Lizard The Graecians call this Serpent Kordule and Kordulos whereof the Latines deriue or rather borrow their Cordulus and Cordyla Numenius maketh this a kind of Salamander which the Apothecaryes do in many Countryes falsely sell for the Scincus or Corcodile of the Earth and yet it exceedeth the quantity of a Salamander being much lesse then the crocodile of the earth hauing gils and wanting fins on the sides also a long taile and according to the proportion of the body like a Squirrels although nothing so big vvithout scabs the back being bald and some what black horrible rough thorow some bunches growing therupon which being pressed do yeald a certain humor like milk which being sayd to the Nosthrils doth smell like poyson euen as it is in a Salamander The beake or snout is very blunt or dull yet armed with very sharp teeth The clawes of his forelegges are diuided into foure and on his hinderlegges into fiue there is also a certaine fleshy fin growing all along from the crowne of his head vnto his tayle vppon the backe which when he swimmeth hee erecteth by it is his body sustained in the water from sinking for his body is mooued with crooked winding euen as an Eele or a Lamprey The inward parts of this Serpent are also thus described The tongue is soft and spungy like as is the tongue of a Water-Frogge wherewith as it were with Glew he draweth to his mouth both Leches and Wormes of the earth whereupon it feedeth At the roote of his tongue there is a certaine bunch of flesh which as I thinke supplieth the place of the lightes for when it breatheth that part is especially mooued and it panteth too fro so that thereby I gather either it hath the Lights in that place or else in some other place neere the iawes It wanteth ribs as doth the Salamander and it hath certain bones in the backe but not like the ordinary back-bone of other such Serpents The heart is also all spungy cleaueth to the right side not to the left the left care whereof supplyeth the place of the Pericadium The liuer is very blacke and somewhat clouen at the bending or sloape side the melt somewhat red cleauing to the very bottome of the ventricle The reynes are also very spungy ioyned almost to the Legges in which parts it is most fleshy but in other places especially in the belly and breast it is all skinne and bone It also beareth Egges in her place of conception which is forked or double which are there disposed in order as in other liuing gristly creatures Those Egges are nourished with a kinde of red fatte out of which in due time come the young ones aliue in as great plenty and number as the Salamanders And these thinges are reported by Bellonius besides whom I finde nothing more said that is worthy to be related of this Serpent and therefore I will here conclude the History thereof OF THE CROCODILE BEcause there be many kinds of Crocodiles it is no maruaile although some haue taken the word Crocodilus for the Genus and the seuerall Species they distinguish into the Crocodile of the Earth and the water Of the earth are sub-diuided into the Crocodiles of Bresilia and the Scincus the Crocodiles of the water into this here described which is the vulgar one and that of Nilus of all which we shall entreat in order one successiuely following another But I will not contend about the Genus or Species of this word for my purpose is to open their seuerall natures so far as I haue learned wherein the works of almighty God may be knowne and will leaue the strife of wordes to them that spend their wittes about tearmes sillables only Thus much I find that the auncients had three generall tearmes for all Egge-breeding Serpentes Namely Rana Testudo Lacerta And therefore I may forbear to intreate of Crocodilus as a Genus handle it as a species or particular kinde The Hebreus haue many words which they vse for a Crocodile Koah Leuit. 11. which the Arabians render Hardun and the Persiâ—ds Sanga which word commeth neere the Latine worde Scincus for a Crocodile of the earth and yet that word Koah by Saint Ierom and the Septuagints is translated a Chamaeleon In the same place of Leuiticus the word Zab is interpreted a kinde of Crocodile where-withall Dauid Kimhi confoundeth Gereschint and Rabbi Salomon Faget The Chaldes translate in Zaba The Persians An Rasu The Septuagints a Crocodile of the earth but it is better to follow Saint Hierom in the same because the Text addeth according to his kinde wherefore it is superfluous to adde the distinction of the crocodile of the Earth except it were lawful to eate the Crocodiles of the water In Exod. 8. there is a Fish called Zephardea which commeth out of the waters and eateth men this cannot agree to any Fish in Nilus saue onely the Crocodile and therefore this word is by the Arabians rendered Al Timasch Some do hereby vnderstand Pagulera Grenelera Batrichoi that is great frogs
all the liuing creatures in the water draweth a certaine thin bright skinne from his fore-head ouer his eyes where-withall hee couereth his sight and this I take to be the onely cause of his dimme sight in the waters The head of this beast is very broade and his snoute like a Swynes When hee eateth or byteth he neuer mooueth his neather or vnder chappe Whereof Aristotle giueth this reason that seeing Nature hath giuen him so short feete as that they are not able to hold or to take the prey therefore the mouth is framed instead of feete so as it may more vehemently strike and wound and also more speedily mooue and turne after the prey and this is better done by the vpper thē the nether chap. But it is likely that hee was not deceiued although he speaketh of Crocodilus Marinus a crocodile of the sea vvheras there is no Crocodile of the Sea but rather some other monster like a Crocodile in the sea and such peraduenture Albertus saw and there-vpon inconsideratly affirmed that all Crocodiles moue theyr vnder-chapps except the Tenchea But the learned Vessalius prooueth it to be otherwise because that the nether chappe is so conioyned and fastned to the bones of the temples that it is not possible for to be moued And therfore the Crocodile onely among all other liuing creatures moueth the vpper-chap and holdeth the vnder-chap vnmoueable The second wonder vnto this is that the Crocodile hath no tongue nor so much as any appearance of a tongue But then the question is how it commeth to distinguish the sapours and tast of his meate Where-vnto Aristotle aunswereth that this Crocodile is such a rauening beast that his meate tarrieth not in his mouth but is carryed into his stomacke like as other water-beasts and therefore they discerne sapours and rellish theyr meate more speedily thē other for the water or humour falleth so fast into their mouthes that they cannot stand long vppon the tast or distaste of their meate But yet some make question of this and they aunswere that most men are deceiued heerein for whiles they looke for his tongue vpon his nether-chap as it is in all other beasts and find none they conclude him to want that part but they should consider that the tongue cleaueth to the moueable part and as in other beasts the nether-chap is the seate of the tongue because of the motion so in this the tongue cleaueth to the vpper-chappe because that it is moueable and yet not visible as in other and therefore is very hardly discerned For all this I rather conclude with the former Authours that seeing it liueth both in the waters and on the land and therefore it resembleth a fish and a beast as it resembleth a beast locum obtinet lingua it hath a place for a tongue but as it resembleth a fish Elinguis est it is without a tongue It hath great teeth standing out all of them stand out before visibly when the mouth is shut and fewer behind And whereas Aristotle writeth that there is no liuing creature which hath both dentes prominentes serratos that is standing out and deuided like a saw yet the Crocodile hath both These teeth are white long sharpe a little crooked and hollow their quantity well resembling the residue of the proportion of the body and some say that a crocodile hath three rowes of teeth like the Lion of Chius like the Whale but this is not an approoued opinion because they haue no more then 60. teeth They haue also 60. ioynts or bones in the back which are also tied together with so many nerues The opening of his mouth reacheth to the place of his eares and there be some Crocodiles in Ganges which haue a kind of little horne vpō their noses or snout The melt is very small this somesay is onely in them that bring forth egges their stones are inward cleaue to their loynes The taile is of the same length that the whole body hath and the same is also rough armed with hard skin vpon the vpper part the sides but beneath it is smooth tender It hath finnes vpō the tayle by the benefit wherof it swimmeth as also by the help of the feete The feet are like a Beares except that they are couered with scales in stead of haire their nailes are very sharp strong for if it had a thumbe as well as it hath feet the strength thereof would ouer-turne a ship It is doubtful whether it hath any place of excrement except the mouth And thus much for the seuerall parts of the Crocodile The knowledge also of the naturall actions inclinations of Crocodiles is requisite to be handled in the next place because that actions folow the members as sounds do instruments First therfore although Aristotle for the most part speaking of a Crocodile calleth it aquatilis fluuiatilis yet it is not to confine it to the waters riuers as though it neuer came out of thē like fishes but onely to note that particuler kind which differeth frō them of the earth for it is certaine that it liueth in both elements namely earth water for the time that it abideth in the water it also taketh ayre not the humour or moistnes of the water yet can they not want either humor of the water or respiration of the ayre and for the day time it abideth on the land in the night in the water because in the day the earth is hoter then the water in the night the water warmer then the earth while it liueth on the land it is so delighted with the sun-shine lieth therein so immoueable that a man would take it to be stark dead The eyes of a Crocodile as we haue said are dull blind in the water yet they appeare bright to others for this cause whē the Egyptians wil signifie the sun-rising they picture a Crocodile in the water looking vpward to the earth when they will signifie the west they picture a Crocodile diuing into the water and so for the most part the crocodile lyeth vpon the banks that he may either diue into the water with speed or ascend to the earth to take his prey By reason of the shortnes of his feet his pace is very slow therefore it is not only easie to escape from him by flight but also if a man do but turne aside wind out of the direct way his body is so vnable to bend it selfe that hee can neither wind nor turne after it Whē they go vnder the earth into their caues like to all other foure-footed egge-breeding serpents as namely Lizards Stellions Torteises they haue all their legs ioyned to their sides which are so retorted as they may bend to either side for the necessity of couering their egges but when they are abroad and goe bearing vp all their bodies then they bend only outward
making their thighes more visible It is som-what questionable whether they lye hid within their caues 4. months or 60. daies for some Authors affirme one thing some another but the reason of the difference is taken from the condition of the cold weather for which cause they lye hid in the winter-time Now forasmuch as the winter in Egypt is not vsually aboue foure months therfore it is taken that they lye but foure months but if it be by accidēt of cold wether prolonged longer thē for the same cause the crocodile is the longer time in the earth During the time they lye hid they eate nothing but sleepe as it is thought immoueably when they come out againe they do not cast their skinnes as other Serpents doe The tayle of a Crocodile is his strongest part and they neuer kill any beast or man but first of all they strike him downe and astonish him with their tailes and for this cause the Egyptians by a Crocodiles tayle doe signifie death darknes They deuoure both men and beasts if they find them in theyr way or neere the bankes of Nilus wherein they abide taking sometimes a calfe from the cow his damme and carrying it whole into the waters And it appeareth by the portraiture of Nealces that a Crocodile drew in an Asse into Nilus as he was drinking and therefore the dogges of Egypt by a kind of naturall instinct do not drinke but as they runne for feare of the Crocodiles wherevpon came the prouerbe Vt canis é Nilo bibit fugit as a dogge at one time drinketh and runneth by Nilus When they desire fishes they put their heads out of the water as it were to sleepe and then suddenly when they espy a booty they leape into the waters vppon them and take them After that they haue eaten and are satisfied then they turne to the land againe and as they lye gaping vpon the earth the little bird Trochilus maketh cleane their teeth and is satisfied by the remainders of the flesh sticking vppon them It is also affirmed by Arnoldus that it is fedde with mud but the holy Crocodile in the Prouince of Arsinoe is fedde with bread flesh wine sweet and hard sodde flesh and cakes and such like thinges as the poore people bring vnto it when they come to see it VVhen the Egyptians will write a man eating or at dinner they paynt a Crocodile gaping They are exceeding fruitefull and prolificall and therfore also in Hieroglyphicks they are made to signifie fruitfulnes They bring forth euery yeere and lay their egges in the earth or dry land For during the space of three-score dayes they lay euery day an egge within the like space they are hatched into young ones by sitting or lying vpon them by course the male one while the female another The time of their hatching is in a moderate and temperate time otherwise they perrish and come to nothing for extremity of heate spoyleth the egge as the buds of some trees are burned and scorched off by the like occasion The egge is not much greater then the egge of a Goose and the young one out of the shell is of the same proportion And so from such a small beginning doth this huge and monstrous Serpent grow to his great stature the reason whereof saith Aristotle is because it groweth all his life long euen to the length of ten or moe cubits When it hath layd the egges it carryeth them to the place where they shall be hatched for by a naturall prouidence and fore-sight it auoydeth the waters of Nilus and therefore euer layeth her egges beyond the compasse of her floods by obseruation whereof the people of Egypt know euery yeere the inundation of Nilus before it happen And in the measure of this place it is apparent that this beast is not indued onely with a spirit of reason but also with a fatidicall or propheticall geographicall delineation for so shee placeth her egges in the brimme or banke of the flood before the flood commeth that the water may couer the nest but not herselfe that sitteth vpon the egges And the like to this is the building of the Beauer as we haue shewed in due place before in the History of Foure-footed beastes So soone as the young ones are hatched they instantly fall into the depth of the vvater but if they meete with frogge snayle or any other such thing fit for their meate they doe presently teare it in peeces the damme byteth it with her mouth as it were punishing the pusillanimity thereof but if it hunt greater things and be greedy rauening industrious and bloody that she maketh much of and killing the other nourisheth and tendereth this aboue measure after the example of the wisest men who loue their childrē in iudgement fore-seeing their industrious inclination and not in affection without regard of worth vertue or merrit It is said by Philes that after the egge is layd by the Crocodile many times there is a cruell stinging Scorpion which commeth out thereof and woundeth the Crocodile that layde it To conclude they neuer prosper but neere the waters and they liue threescore yeeres or the age of a mans life The nature of this beast is to be fearefull rauening malitious and trecherous in getting of his prey the subtiltie of whose spirit is by some attributed to the thinnesse of his blood and by other to the hardnes of his skin and hide How it dealeth with her young ones we haue shewed already as it were trying their nature whether they will degenerate or no and the like things are reported of the Aspes Cancers Torteyses of Egypt From hence came the conceit of Pietas Crocodili the pietie of the Crocodile But as we haue said it is a fearefull Serpent abhorring all manner of noyse especially from the strained voyce of a man and where hee findeth himselfe valiantly assaulted there also hee is discouraged and therefore Marcellinus saith of him Audax Monstrum fugacibus at vbi audacem senserit timidissimum An audacious Monster to them that runne away but most fearefull where he findeth resistance Some haue written that the Crocodile runneth away from a man if he winke with his left eye and looke stedfastly vppon him with his right eye but if this bee true it is not to be attributed to the vertue of the right eye but onely to the rarenesse of sight vvhich is conspicuous to the Serpent from one eye The greatest terrour vnto Crocodiles as both Seneca and Pliny affirme are the inhabitants of the Ile Tentyrus within Nilus for those people make them runne away with their voyces and many times pursue and take them in snares Of these people speaketh Solinus in this manner There is a generation of men in the Ile Tentyrus within the waters of Nilus which are of a most aduerse nature to the Crocodile dwelling also in the same place And although their persons
by the people according to the saying of Iuuenall Crocodilon aderat parshaec Egypti Illa pauit saturam serpentibus Ibim Which may be englished thus This part of Egypt Crocodiles adore That the Ibis fed with Serpents store But the reasons of diuine worshippe or honour giuen to the Crocodiles are worth noting that the diligent Reader may the better haue some taste of that auncient blindnes whereby our fore-fathers were misleddge and seduced to forsake the most glorious and euer-blessed principles of Diuinitie for arguments of no waight First therefore the Idolatrous Priestes thought there was some diuine power in the Crocodile because it wanted a tongue for the Deitie or Diuine speech hath no neede of a voyce to expresse his meaning according to the saying of the Graecians Kai di apsophoa bainoon keleuthon kai dikes ta thueta agrikata diken For by a mute and silent way it ascendeth and bringeth all things mortall to a vocall iustice which speaketh in action though not in voyce euen as all that is in the Crocodile is action and not voyce Secondlie by reason of a certaine thinne smooth skinne comming from the midst of his fore-head where-withall it couereth his eyes so that when it is thought to be blind yet it seeth euen so is it with the Diuine power for euen then when it is not seene yet doth it see perfectly all mortall things Againe by theyr egges nests they vsually fore-shew the ouer-flowing of Nilus to the infinite benefit of their country wherein they liue for thereby the husband-men know when to till their Land and when not when to sow and plant and leade foorth theyr flockes and when not vvhich benefite is also ascribed to Diuinitie and therefore the Crocodile is honoured with diuine power Againe it layeth threescore egges layeth threescore yeeres which number of three-score was in auncient time the first dimension of heauen and heauenly things Cicero also speaking against this Egyptian vanitie saith that they neuer consecrated a beast for a God but for some apparant vtilitie as the Ibis for deuouring of Serpents and the Crocodile for beeing a terrour to theeues and therefore the Arabian and Lybian theeues durst not come ouer the Riuer Nilus to robbe the Egyptians for feare of the Crocodiles There is a tale in Diodorus Siculus of the originall of a Crocodiles diuine worshippe which although it cannot be but fabulous yet I haue thought good to insert it in this place to shew the vanitie of superstition and Idolatry There was a King of Egypt called Minas or as Herodotus calleth him Menes who following his houndes in hunting into a certaine marish of Moeris fell in with his horse and there stucke fast none of his follovvers daring to come after him to release him so that he had there perrished had not a crocodile come and taken him vp vppon his backe and sette him safe vppon the dry Land For which miracle the said King there built a Citty and caused a Crocodile to be vvorshipped which was called Sychus by all the inhabitants of that Citty and also gaue all the said Marish of Moeris for the sustenance of the same It was nourished with bread flesh wine cakes sodde flesh and sweete new wine so that when any man came to the Lake wherein it was kept the Priests would presently call the Beast out of the water and being come to the Land one of them opened his mouth and the other put in meate delicacies and VVine This Crocodile of Moeris is the same that is called Arsinoe and like to that at Thebes about which they did hang iewels of gold siluer and iemmes of earings bracelets and such other thinges of price When it dyed they did season the body thereof with salt buried it in the holy Tombes or burying Pots The same also are called Ombitae I meane the people of that Egypt which dwell in Arsinoe and for the loue of the Crocodiles they abandon all manner of Hawkes their enemies insomuch that many times they take them and hang them vp in publique vpon gallowes for that purpose erected And further they keepe certaine dayes of tryumphes like the Olympiades and games of honour and so farre they were blinded with that superstition that they thought themselues exceedingly blessed if they lost their children by them and thought themselues much honoured if they saw them with their eyes fetched out of the streetes and playing places by Crocodiles Againe all the Egyptians holde opinion that the Crocodile is a Diuinatour vvhich they prooue by the testimonie of Ptolomeus who calling one of these sacred Crocodiles which was the oldest and best of all he would not aunswere him and afterward offering him meate he also refused it whereat many wondered and some of the Priests sayde it was some prognosticall signe either of the Kings death or his owne so it fell out shortly after for the same Crocodile dyed As though a Swine might not as well be accounted diuine seeing it also refuseth all meate and prouocation at the time of theyr sicknes and before death There is a citty in Egypt called Apollinopolis the citty of Apollo where the inhabitants abhor condemne the worship of crocodiles for when they take any of them they hang thē vp and beate them to death notwithstanding their teares cryings and afterward they eate them but the reason of their hatred is because Typhon their auncient enemy vvas clothed with a Crocodiles shape Others also say the reason of their hatred is because a Crocodile tooke away and deuoured the daughter of Psamnites and therfore they enioyned all their posteritie to hate Crocodiles To conclude this discourse of Crocodiles inclination euen the Egyptians themselues account a Crocodile a sauage and cruell murthering beast as may appeare by their Hieroglyphicks for when they will decypher a mad man they picture a crocodile who beeing put from his desired prey by forcible resistance hee presently rageth against himselfe And they are often taught by lamentable experience what fraude malice to man-kind liueth in these beasts for they couer themselues vnder willowes greene hollow bankes till some people come to the waters side to draw and fetch water and then suddenly or euer they be aware they are taken and drawne into the water And also for this purpose because he knoweth that he is not able to ouer-take a man in his course or chase he taketh a great deale of water in his mouth casteth it in the path-waies so that when they endeuour to run from the crocodile they fall downe in the slippery path and are ouer-taken destroyed by him The common prouerbe also Crocodili lachrimae the crocodiles teares iustifieth the treacherous nature of this beast for there are not many bruite beasts that can weepe but such is the nature of the Crocodile that to get a man within his danger he will sob sigh weepe as though he were in extremitie but suddenly he
destroyeth him Others say that the crocodile weepeth after he hath deuoured a man How-soeuer it be it noteth the wretched nature of hypocriticall harts which before-hand will with fayned teares endeuour to do mischiefe or els after they haue done it be outwardly sorry as Iudas was for the betraying of Christ before he went and hanged himselfe The males of this kind do loue their females aboue all measure yea euen to iealousie as may appeare by this one history of P. Martyr About the time that hee was in those countries there were certaine Marriners which saw two Crocodiles together in carnall copulation vpon the sands neere the Riuer from which the water was lately fallen into a certaine Iland of Nilus the greedy Marriners forsooke their ship and betooke themselues to a long boate and with great shouting hollowing crying made towards them in verie couragious manner the male at the first assault fell amazed greatly terrified ran away as fast as he could into the waters leauing his female lying vpon her backe for whē they ingender the male turneth her vpon her backe for by reason of the shortnes of her legges she cannot doe it her selfe so the Mariners finding her vpon her back not able to turne ouer her selfe they easily slew her and tooke her away with them Soone after the male returned to the place to seeke his female but not finding her and perceiuing blood vpon the sand coniectured truly that she was slaine wherefore hee presently cast himselfe into the Riuer of Nilus againe in his rage swam stoutly against the streame vntill hee ouertooke the ship wherein his dead femall was which he presently set vppon lifting vp himselfe and catching hold on the sides would certainly haue entered the same had not the Marriners with all their force battered his head and hands with clubs and staues vntill he was wearied and forced to giue ouer his enterprise so with great sighing and sobbing departed frō them By which relation it is most cleere what naturall affection they beare one to another and how they choose out theyr fellowes as it were fitte wiues and husbands for procreation And it is no wonder if they make much of one another for besides thēselues they haue few friends in the world except the bird Trochilus and Swine of whom I can say little except this that followeth As for the little bird Trochilus it affecteth and followeth them for the benefit of his owne belly for while the Crocodile greedilie eateth there sticketh fast in his teeth some part of his prey which troubleth him very much many times ingendereth wormes then the beast to helpe himselfe taketh land and lyeth gaping against the sunne-beames westward the bird perceiuing it flyeth to the iawes of the beast and there first with a kind of tickling-scratching procureth as it were licence of the Crocodile to pull foorth the wormes and so eateth them all out and clenseth the teeth thoroughly for which cause the Beast is content to permit the Bird to goe into his mouth But when all is clensed the ingratefull Crocodile endeuoureth suddainely to shut his chappes together vppon the Bird and to deuoure his friend like a cursed wretch which maketh no reckoning of friendship but the turne serued requiteth good with euill But Nature hath armed this little bird with sharpe thornes vpon her head so that while the Crocodile endeuoureth to shut his chaps and close his mouth vpon it those sharpe thornes pricke him into his palate so that full sore against his vnkind nature hee letteth her flye safe away But where as there be many kinds of Trochili which are greedy of these wormes or clensings of the Crocodiles some of them which haue not thornes on theyr heades pay for it for there beeing not offence to let the closing of the Crocodiles mouth they must needes be deuoured and therefore this enforced amity betwixt him and the Crocodile is onely to be vnderstoode of the Claedororynchus as it is called by Hermolaus There be some that affirme that he destroyeth all without exception that thus come into his mouth and other-some say he destroyeth none but when he feeleth his mouth sufficiently clensed he waggeth his vpper chappe as it were to giue warning of auoydance and in fauour of the good turne to let the bird flie away at his owne pleasure Howbeit the other and former narration is more likely to be true and more constantly affirmed by all good Authors except Plutarch And Leo Afric saith that it was the constant and confident report of all Affrica that the Crocodile deuoureth all for theyr loue and kindnesse except the Claedororynchi which they cannot by reason of the thornes vppon their head That there is an amitie and naturall concord betwixt Swine and Crocodiles is also gathered because they onely among all other liuing foure-footed beastes doe without danger dwell feede and inhabite vppon the banks of Nilus euen in the midst of the Crocodiles and therefore it is probable that they are friends in nature But oh how small a sum of friends hath this beast and how vnwoorthy of loue among all creatures that neuer in nature hath but two in heauen or earth ayre or water that will aduenture to come neere it and one of these also which is the best deseruing it deuoureth and destroyeth it it get it within his danger Seeing the friendes of it are so few the enemies of it must needes be many and therefore require a more large catalogue or story In the first ranke whereof commeth as worthy the first place the Ichneumon or Pharaohs-mouse who rageth against their egges and their persons for it is certaine that it hunteth with all sagacity of sence to finde out theyr nests and hauing found them it spoyleth scattereth breaketh emptieth all theyr egs They also watch the old ones asleepe and finding their mouthes open against the beames of the Sunne suddenly enter into them and being small creepe downe theyr vast large throates before they be aware and then putting the Crocodile to exquisite and intollerable torment by eating their guttes asunder and so their soft bellies while the Crocodile tumbleth to and fro sighing and weeping now in the depth of water now on the Land neuer resting till strength of nature fayleth For the incessant gnawing of the Ichneumon so prouoketh her to seek her rest in the vnrest of euery part herbe element throwes throbs rowlings tossings mournings but all in vaine for the enemy within her breatheth thorough her breath and sporteth her selfe in the consumption of those vitall parts vvhich wast and weare away by yeelding to her vnpacificable teeth one after other till shee that crept in by stealth at the mouth like a puny theefe come out at the belly like a Conquerour thorough a passage opened by her owne labour industry as we haue also shewed at large in the story of Ichneumon But whether it be true or no that
making it fast hee went afterward to the next watering place and there holding another Hogge did beate and smyte him till he cryed ardentlie vvith which voyce or cry the Crocodile beeing mooued goeth presently to the bayte swalloweth it vppe and maketh after the noyse at last comming to the Land the Hunter with valiant courage and diligence casteth mudde and durt into his eyes and so blindeth him that he may oppresse and kill him with ease Leo Afric relateth also this meanes or way to take Crocodiles There be many Trees planted vpon the bankes of Nilus vnto one of these there is a long and strong rope tyed and at the end of the same there is fastened a hooke of a cubite long and a finger in quantitie vnto this hooke for a bayte is tyed a Ramme or a Goate which beeing sette close to the Riuer and tormented with the hooke vppon which it is fastened cryeth out amaine by hearing of whose voyce the hunger-greedy Crocodile is raysed out of his denne and inuited as he thinketh to a rich prey so hee commeth although it selfe of a trecherous nature yet suspecteth not any other and swalloweth the bayte in which he findeth a hooke not to be disgested Then away he striueth to goe but the strength of the rope stayeth his iourney for as fast as the bayte was to the rope and hooke so fast is he also ensnared and tyed vnto it which while hee waueth and strayneth to vnloose and breake hee wearieth himselfe in vaine And to the intent that all his strength may be spent against the tree and the rope the Hunters are at one end thereof and cause it to be cast to and fro pulling it in and now letting it goe againe now terrifying the beast with one noyse and feare and anone with another so long as they perceiue in him any spirit of moouing or resistance so beeing quieted to him they come and with clubbes speares beetles staues and such manner of instruments pierce thorough the most tenderest partes of his body and so destroy him Peter Martyr hath also other meanes of taking Crocodiles Their nature is that when they goe to the Land to forrage and seeke after a prey they cannot returne backe againe but by the same footsteps of their own which they left imprinted in the sand whervpon when the country people perceiue these footesteppes instantly with all the hast they can make they come with Spades and Mattocks and make a great ditch and with boughes couer the same so as the Serpent may not espy it and vpon the boughes they also againe lay sand to auoyde all occasion of deceit or suspition of fraude at his returne then vvhen all thinges are thus prepared they hunt the Crocodile by the foote vntill they finde him then with noyses of bells pannes kettles and such like thinges they terrifie and make him returne as fast as feare can make him runne towardes the waters againe and they folow him as neere as they can vntill hee falleth into the ditch where they come all about him and kill him with such instruments or weapons as they haue prepared for him and so beeing slayne they carry him to the great Cittie Caire where for theyr reward they receiue ten peeces of gold which amounteth to the value of ten nobles of our English coine There haue beene some brought into that Citty aliue as P. Martyr affirmeth whereof one was as much as two Oxen two Cammels could beare and draw and at the same time there was one taken by this deuise before expressed which had entered into a village in Saetum neere Nilus and swallowed vp aliue three young Infantes sleeping in one cradle the said Infants scarcely dead were taken againe out of his belly and soone after when no more tokens of life appeared they were all three buried in a better more proper graue of the earth Then also there was another slaine and out of his belly was taken a whole Ramme not disgested nor any part of him consumed and the hand of a woman which was bitten or torne off from her body aboue the wrist for there was vppon the same a Bracelet of Brasse We doe read that Crocodiles haue beene taken and brought aliue to Rome The first that euer brought them thither was Marcus Scaurus who in the games of his aedility brought fiue forth and shewed thē to the people in a great pond of water which he had prouided onely for that time afterward to Heliogabalus and Antoninus Pius The Indians haue a kinde of Crocodile in Ganges which hath a horne growing out of his nose like a Rhinocerot vnto this beast they cast condemned men to be deuoured for in all their executions they want not the helpe of men seeing they are prouided of beastes to doe the office of Hang-men Aurelius Festiuus writeth that Firmus a Tyrant of Aegypt beeing condemned to Nilus to be deuoured by Crocodiles before hand bought a great quantity of the fat of Crocodiles and so stripping himselfe starke naked layde the same all ouer his body so hee went among the Crocodiles and escaped death for this sauage beast beeing deceiued with the sauour of it owne nature spared the man that had but so cunningly carryed it And this is a wonderfull worke of almighty GOD that so ordereth his actions in the nature of this beast that he beguileth the cruell nature of the liuing by the tast and sauour of the dead how beit some thinke that the Water-Crocodile is daunted with the sauour of the fat from the Land Crocodile and the Land-Crocodile by the water againe And some againe say that all venomous beastes runne away from the sauour of the fat heereof and therefore no maruaile if it also be afraide being venomous as well as any other Wherefore the saying of Firmus was not to bee attributed to any indulgence of the Crocodile toward their owne kinde but rather to a deadly antipathy reflecting themselues vppon themselues though not in shape and figure as the Cockatrice yet in sence sauour and ranknesse of their pestiferous humour The vse of crocodiles taken is for their skinne flesh caule and medicine arysing out of it Their skinne as it is exceeding hard vppon their backes while they are aliue so is it also when they are dead for with that the common people make them better armour then coats of Mayle against Darts Speare or Shielde as is well knowne in all Aegypt at this day For the flesh of crocodiles it is also eaten among those people that do not worship it as namely the people about Elephantina Apollinopolis Notwithstanding by the Law of God Leuit. 11. it is accounted an vncleane beast yet the tast thereof being found pleasant and the rellish good without respect of GOD or health the common people make vse thereof The medicines arising out of it are also many The first place belongeth to the caule which hath moe benefits or vertues
in it then can be expressed The bloud of a crocodile is held profitable for many thinges and among other it is thought to cure the bitings of any Serpent Also by annoynting the eyes it cureth both the dregs or spots of bloud in them and also restoreth soundnesse and clearenesse to the sight taking away all dulnesse or deadnesse from the eyes And it is said that if a man take the liquor which commeth from a peece of a crocodile fryed and annoynte therewithall his wound or harmed part that then he shall bee presently rid of all paine and torment The skinne both of the Land water crocodile dryed into powder and the same powder with Vineger or Oyle layd vpon a part or member of the body to be feared cut off or lanced taketh away all sence and feeling of paine from the instrument in the action All the Aegyptians doe with the fat or sewet of a crocodile annoynt all them that be sick of Feauers for it hath the same operation which the fat of a Sea-dogge or Dog-fish hath and if those parts of men and beasts which are hurt or wounded with crocodiles teeth be annoynted with this fat it also cureth them Being concocted with water and Vineger and so rowled vppe and downe in the mouth it cureth the tooth-ach and also it is outvvardly applyed agaynst the byting of Flyes Spyders Wormes and such like for this cause as also because it is thought to cure Wennes bunches in the flesh and olde woundes It is solde deare and held pretious in Alcair Scaliger writeth that it cureth the Gangren The canyne teeth which are hollow filled with Frankinsence and tyed to a man or woman which hath the tooth-ach cureth them if the party know not of the carrying them about And so they write that if the little stones which are in their belly be taken forth and so vsed they work the same effect against Feauers The dung is profitable against the falling off of the hayre and many such other things The biting of a Crocodile is very sharp deepe and deadly so that wheresoeuer he layeth his teeth seldome or neuer followeth any cure But yet the counsell of Physitions is that so soone as the patyent is wounded he must be brought into a close Chamber wher are no windowes and there bee kept without change of ayre or admission of light for the poyson of the Crocodile worketh by cold Ayre and light and therefore by the want of both is to be cured But for remedy if any bee they prescribe the same which is giuen for the cure of the biting of a mad Dog or as Auicen the byting of a Dogge not madde But most proper is the dung of a man the Fish Garum and Mysy pounded together and so applyed or else the broth of salt-sod-flesh such other things as are vulgarly knowne to euery Physition and therefore seeing we liue in a country far from the annoyance of this Serpent I shall not neede to blot any Paper to expresse the cure of this poyson The Crocodile of Nilus onely liueth on Land and water all other are contented with one element the picture of the Crocodile was wont to be stamped vpon coyne and the skinne hanged vp in many famous Citties of the world for the admiration of the people and there is one at this day at Paris in France OF THE ARABIAN OR AEGYPTIAN Land-Crocodile THe figure of this Crocodile sheweth euidently the difference betwixt him and the other of Nilus and beside it is neither so tall or long as is the other the which proportioned beast is onely particular to Aegypt and Arabia and some because of his scaly head legges articles and clawes haue obserued another difference in it from the former yet in his nature māner of liuing preying vpon other cattel it differeth not from that of the Water The tayle of this Crocodile is very sharpe and standeth vp like the edges of wedges in bunches aboue the ground wherewithall when he hath mounted himselfe vp vpon the backe of a beast he beateth and striketh the beast most cruelly to make him go with his Rider to the place of his most fit execution free from all rescue of his Heard-man or Pastor or annoyance of Passengers where in most cruell and sauage manner he teareth the Limbes and parts one from another till he be deuoured The Apothecaries of Italy haue this beast in their shops to be seene and they call it Caudiuerbera that is a Tayle-bearer for the reason aforesaid And thus there being nothing in this beastes nature different from the former besides his figure and that which I haue already expressed I will not trouble the Reader with any more Narration about it OF THE LAND CROCODIE of Bresilia THe figure and proportion of this serpent was altogether vnknowne in this part of the world till of late our discouerers and nauigatours brought one of them out of Bresilia The length of it is about a fathom the breadth as much as ten fingers broad the forelegges haue tenne clawes fiue vppon a foote the hinder legges eight and both before and behind they are of equall length The tayle exceeding long farre exceeding the quantity proportion of his body being marked all ouer with certaine white and yellowish spots The skinne all couered with an equall smooth and fine coloured scale which in the middest of the belly are white and greater then in other parts It can abide no water for a little poured into the mouth killed it and after it had beene two or three dayes dead being brought to the fire it mooued and stirred againe faintly euen as thinges doth that lyeth a dying It is not venomous nor hurtfull to eate and therefore is digged out of his caue by any body safely without danger OF THE CROCODILE OF THE earth called Scincus a Scinke The Graecians call this beast Skigkos and some vnlearned Apothecaries Stincus and Myrepsus Sigk. It is also called Kikeros and the Haebrew Koach doth more properly signifie this beast then any other Crocodile or Chamaeleon or Lizard Some of the Haebrewes doe expound Zab for a Scinke and from thence the Chaldaes and the Arabians haue their Dad and Aldab turning Z into D So we read Guaril and Adhaya for a Scinke or Crocodile of the earth Alarbian is also for the same serpent among the Arabians Balecola and Ballecara Schanchur and Aschanchur and Askincor and Scerantum Nudalep and Nudalepi are all of thē Synonymaes or rather corrupted words for this crocodile of the earth But there are at this day certain Pseudoscinkes set out to be seen sold by Apothecaries that are nothing else but a kind of Water-Lizzard but the true difference is betwixt them that these water-Lizards are venomous but this is not and neither liuing in the Northerne partes of the world nor yet in the water and so much shall suffice for the name and first enterance into
slyme of the earth after the flood of Ducalion and slaine afterwards by Apollo whereof there lieth this tale That when Latona was with childe by Iupiter of Apollo and Diana Iuno resisted their birth but when they were borne and layde in the cradle she sent the dragon Python to deuoure them Apollo beeing but a young Infant did kill the dragon with a darte But this tale seemeth too fabulous and incredible and therefore they haue mended the matter with another deuice For they say that Python by the commaundement of Iuno did persecute Latona throughout all the world seeking to deuoure her so as she had no rest vntill shee came vnto her sister Asteria who receiued her into Delos where she was safely deliuered of Apollo and Diana Afterward when the child was growne vp he slew the dragon in remembrance reuenge of the wrong done to his mother But the true cause of this history is deliuered by Pausanias Macrobius to be thus That Apollo killed one Python a very wicked man in Delphos that the Poets in excuse of the fact did faine him to be a dragon as afore-said And so I shall not neede to say any more of Python except these verses following out of Ouid about his generation Sed te quoque maxime Python Tum genuit populisque nouis incognite serpens Terror eras tantum spatij de monte tenebras Hunc Deus arcitenens nunquam talibus armis Antè nici in damis caprisque fugacibus vsus Mille grauem telis exhausta penepharetra Perdidit effuso per vulnera nigra veneno Neue operis famam posset delere vetustas Inflituit sacros celebri certamine ludos Pithia per domitae serpentis nominem dictor Caeruleus tali prostratus Apolline Python Which may be englished thus But yet thou vgly Python wert engendered by her tho A terrour to the new-made-folke which neuer erst had knowne So foule a Dragon in their life so monstrously fore-growne So great a ground thy poysond paunch did vnderneath thee hyde The God of shooting who no where before that present tyde Those kind of weapons put in vre but at the speckled Deere Or at the Roes so light of foote a thousand shafts well neere Did on that hydeous Serpent spend of which there was not one But forced forth the venomd-blood along his sides to gone So that his quiuer almost void he nayld him to the ground And did him nobly at the last by force of shot confound And least that time should of this worke deface the worthy fame He did ordaine in mind thereof a great and solemne game Which of the Serpent that he slew of Pythions bare the name Of the Indian Dragons there are also said to be two kindes one of them fenny and liuing in the Marshes which are slow of pace and without combes on their heades like females the other in the Mountaines which are more sharpe and great and haue combes vpon their head their backs beeing some-what browne and all their bodies lesse scalie then the other When they come downe from the mountaines into the plaine to hunt they are neither afraid of Marshes nor violent waters but thrust themselues greedily into all hazards and dangers and because they are of longer and stronger bodies then the dragons of the Fennes they beguile them of their meate take away from them their prepared booties Some of them are of a yellowish fieric-colour hauing also sharpe backs like sawes these also haue beardes and when they sette vppe their scales they shine like siluer The apples of their eyes are precious stones and as bright as fire in which there is affirmed to be much vertue against many diseases and therefore they bring vnto the Hunters and killers of dragons no small gaine besides the profit of theyr skinne and theyr teeth and they are taken when they descend from the mountaines into the valleyes to hunt the Elephants so as both of them are kild together by the Hunters Their members are very great like vnto the members of the greatest Swine but theyr bodies are leaner flexibly turning to euery side according to the necessitie of motion Their snoutes are very strong resembling the greatest rauening fishes they haue beardes of a yellowe golden colour being full of bristles and the Mountaine-dragons commonly haue more deepe eye-liddes then the dragons of the Fennes Their aspect is very fierce and grimme and whensoeuer they mooue vppon the earth their eyes giue a sound from theyr eye-liddes much like vnto the tinckling of Brasse and some-times they boldly venture into the Sea and take Fishes OF THE WINGED DRAGON THere be some Dragons which haue winges and no feete some againe haue both feete and wings and some neither feete nor wings but are onely distinguished from the common sort of Serpents by the combe growing vppon their heads and the beard vnder their cheekes Saint Augustine saith that dragons doe abide in deepe Caues and hollow places of the earth and that some-times when they perceiue moistnes in the ayre they come out of theyr holes and beating the ayre with their winges as it were with the strokes of oares they forsake the earth and flie aloft which wings of theirs are of a skinny substance and very voluble and spreading themselues wide according to the quantitie and largenesse of the dragons bodie which caused Lucan the Poet in his verses to write in this maner following Vos quoque qui cunctis innoxia numina terris Serpitis aurato nitidifulgore Dracones Pestiferos ardens facit Affrica ducitis altum Aëra cum pennis c. In English thus You shining Dragons creeping on the earth Which fiery Affrick holds with skinnes like gold Yet pestilent by hot infecting breath Mounted with wings in th' ayre we doe behold The inhabitants of the kingdome of Georgia once called Media doe say that in theyr Valleyes there are diuers Dragons which haue both wings and feete and that their feete are like vnto the feete of Geese Besides there are dragons of sundry colours for some of them are blacke some redde some of an Ashe-colour some yellow and their shape and outward appearance verie beautifull according to the verses of Nicander Formosa apparet species pulchro illius orae Triplici conspicui se produnt ordine dentes Magna sub egregia scintillant lumina fronte Tinctaque felle tegunt imum paleariamentum Which may be englished thus Their forme of presence outwardly appeares All beautifull and in their goodly mouth Their teeth stand double all one within another Conspicuous order so doth bewray the truth Vnder their browes which are both great and wide Stand twinckling eyes as bright as any starre With redde-galls tincture are their dewlaps dyed Their chinne or vnder-chappe to couer farre Gyllius Pierius and Greuinus following the authoritie of this Poet doe affirme that a Dragon is of a blacke colour the bellie some-what greene very beautifull to behold hauing a treble rowe of teeth in theyr
And safe enough had not the Dragon them espied Hee eate the young ones all the damme with sannes destroyde Well worthy such a death of life to be denied This is by Calchas said a type of labour long Whose fame eternall liues in euery tongue There be certaine beasts called Dracontopides very great and potent Serpents vvhose faces are like to the faces of Virgins and the residue of their body like to dragons It is thought that such a one was the Serpent that deceiued Eue for Beda saith it had a Virgins countenaunce and therfore the woman seeing the likenes of her owne face was the more easily drawne to belieue it into the which when the deuill had entred they say he taught it to couer the body with leaues and to shew nothing but the head and face But this fable is not worthy to be refuted because the Scripture it selfe dooth directly gaine-say euerie part of it For first of all it is called a Serpent and if it had beene a dragon Moses vvould haue said so and therefore for ordinary punishment God doth appoint it to creepe vpon the belly wherefore it is not likely that it had either winges or feete Secondly it was vnpossible and vnlikely that any part of the body was couered or conceited from the sight of the woman seeing she knew it directly to be a Serpent as afterward shee confessed before GOD and her husband There be also certaine little dragons called in Arabia Vesga and in Catalonia dragons of houses these when they bite leaue their teeth behind them so as the wound neuer ceaserh swelling as long as the teeth remaine therein and therefore for the better cure thereof the teeth are drawne forth and so the wound will soone be healed And thus much for the hatred betwixt men and dragons now we will proceede to other creatures The greatest discord is betwixt the Eagle and the Dragon for the Vultures Eagles Swannes and dragons are enemies one to another The Eagles when they shake theyr winges make the dragons afraide with their ratling noyse then the dragon hideth himselfe within his den so that he neuer fighteth but in the ayre eyther when the Eagle hath taken away his young ones and he to recouer them flieth aloft after her or else wheÌ„ the Eagle meeteth him in her nest destroying her egges and young ones for the Eagle deuoureth the dragons and little Serpents vpon earth and the dragons againe and Serpents doe the like against the Eagles in the ayre Yea many times the dragon attempteth to take away the prey out of the Eagles talants both on the ground and in the ayre so that there ariseth betwixt them a very hard and dangerous fight which is in this manner described by Niâ—ander Hunc petit invisum magni Iouis armiger hostem Cumque genis parat acre suis ex aethere bellum Pascentem in siluis quam primum viderit Quod totos ferus is nidos cum mitibus ouis Et simul ipsa terens et vastans pignora perdat Non timet hoc serpens imò quodam impete dumis Prosiliens ipsamque aquilam leporemque tenellum Ex trahit ex rapidis vifraudeque fortior vncis Cauta malum declinat auis fit ibi aspera pugna Vt queat extortam victor sibi tollere praedam Sed frustra elapsam et volitantem hinc inde volucrem Insequitur longos sinuum contractus in orbes Obliquoque leuans sursum sua lumina visu Which may be englished thus When as the Eagle Ioues great bird did see her enemy Sharpe warre in th' ayre with beake she did prepare Gainst Serpent feeding in the wood after espy Cause it her egges and young fiercely in peeces tare The Serpent not afraid of this leapes out of thornes With force vpon the Eagle holding tender Hare Out of her talants by fraude and force more strong That takes and snatches despight her enemies feare But wary Bird auoydes the force and so they fight amaine That Victor one of them might ioy the prey alone The flying fowle by winding Snake is hunted all in vaine Though vp and downe his nimble eyes this and that way be gone In the next place we are to consider the enmitie that is betwixt Dragons Elephants for so great is their hatred one to the other that in Ethyopia the greatest dragons haue no other name but Elephant-killers Among the Indians also the same hatred remaineth against whom the dragons haue many subtile inuentions for besides the great length of their bodies where-withall they claspe and begirt the body of the Elephant continually byting of him vntill he fall downe dead and in the which fall they are also bruzed to peeces for the safegard of themselues they haue this deuice They get and hide themselues in trees couering their head and letting the other part hang downe like a rope in those trees they watch vntill the Elephant come to eate and croppe of the branches then suddainly before he be aware they leape into his face and digge out his eyes then doe they claspe themselues about his necke and with their tayles or hinder parts beate and vexe the Elephant vntill they haue made him breathelesle for they strangle him with theyr fore-parts as they beate them with the hinder so that in this combat they both perrish and this is the disposition of the dragon that he neuer setteth vpon the Elephant but with the aduantage of the place and namely from some high tree or Rocke Sometimes againe a multitude of dragons doe together obserue the pathes of the Elephants and crosse those pathes they tye together their tailes as it were in knots so that when the Elephant commeth along in them they insnare his legges and suddainly leape vppe to his eyes for that is the part they ayme aboue all other which they speedily pull out and so not beeing able to doe him any more harme the poore beast deliuereth himselfe from present death by his owne strength and yet through his blindnesse receiued in that combat hee perrisheth by hunger because hee cannot choose his meate by smelling but by his eye-sight There is no man liuing that is able to giue a sufficient reason of this contrariety in nature betwixt the Elephant the Dragon although many men haue laboured their wits and strayned their inuentions to finde out the true causes thereof but all in vaine except this be one that followeth The Elephants blood is saide to be the coldest of all other Beasts and for this cause it is thought by most Writers that the dragons in the Sommer time doe hide themselues in great plenty in the waters where the Elephant commeth to drinke and then suddenly they leape vppe vppon his eares because those places cannot be defended with his truncke and there they hang fast and sucke out all the blood of his body vntill such time as hee poore beast through faintnesse fall downe and die and they beeing drunke with his blood doe likewise perrish in
into two parts which taile becommeth their hinder Legs wherefore the Aegyptians when they would describe a man that cannot moue himselfe and afterwardes recouereth his motion they decypher him by a frog hauing his hinder legges The heads of these young Gyrini which we call in English Horse-nailes because they resemble a Horse-naile in their similitude whose head is great and the other part small for with his taile he swimmeth After May they grow to haue feete and if before that time they bee taken out of the water they dye then they beginne to haue foure feete And first of all they are of a blacke colour and round and heereof came the Prouetbe Rana Gyrina sapientior wiser then a Horse-naile because through the roudndnesse and rolubility of his body it turneth it selfe with wonderfull celerity which way soeuer it pleaseth These young ones are also called by the Graecians Moluridae Brutichoi and Batrachida but the Latines haue no name for it except Ranunculus or Rana Nascens And it is to be remembred that one frogge layeth an innumerable company of Egges which cleaue together in the water in the middle whereof she her selfe lodgeth And thus much may suffice for the ordinary procreation of frogges by generation out of Egges In the next place I must also shew how they are likewise ingendered out of the dust of the earth by warme aestiue and Summer shevvers whose life is short and there is no vse of them Aelianus saith that as he trauailed out of Italy into Naples he saw diuers frogges by the way neere Putoli whose forepart and head did mooue and creepe but their hinder part was vnformed and like to the slyme of the earth which caused Ouid to write thus Semina limus habet virides generantia Ranas Et generat truncas pedibus eodem corpore saepe Altera pars viuit rudis est pars altera tellus That is to say Durt hath his seede ingendring Frogs full greene Yet so as feetlesse without Legs on earth they lye So as a wonder vnto Passengers is seene One part hath life the other earth full dead is nye And of these Frogs it is that Pliny was to be vnderstood when he saith that Frogs in the Winter time are resolued into slyme and in the Summer they recouer their life and substaunce againe It is certaine also that sometime it raineth frogs as may appeare by Philarchus and Lembus for Lembus writeth thus Once about Dardania and Paeonia it rained frogs in such plentifull measure or rather prodigious manner that all the houses and high-waies were filled with them and the inhabitants did first of all kill them but afterwards perceiuing no benifit thereby they shut their doores against them and stopped vp all their lights to exclude thē out of their houses leauing no passage open so much as a frog might creepe into and yet notwithstanding all this diligence their meat seething on the fire or set on the table could not be free from thē but continually they found frogs in it so as at last they were inforced to forsake that Countrey It was likewise reported that certaine Indians people of Arabia were inforced to forsake their countries through the multitude of frogs Cardan seemeth to find a reason in nature for this raining of frogges the which for the better satisfaction of the Reader I will here expresse as followeth Fiunt haec omnia ventorum ira and so forward in his 16. booke De subtilitate that is to say these prodigious raines of frogs and Mice little Fishes and stones and such like thinges is not to be wondered at for it commeth to passe by the rage of the winds in the tops of the Mountaines or the vppermost part of the Seas which many times taketh vp the dust of the earth congealeth them into stones in the ayre which afterwards fall downe in raine so also doth it take vp frogs and fishes who beeing aboue in theayre must needes fall downe againe Sometimes also it taketh vp the egges of frogs and fishes which beeing kept aloft in the ayre among the Whirle-windes and stormes of shewers doe there engender and bring forth young ones which afterwards fall downe vpon the earth there being no poole for them in the ayre These and such like reasons are approued among the learned for naturall causes of the prodigious raining of frogs But we read in holy Scripture among the plagues of Aegypt that frogges were sent by GOD to annoy them and therefore whatsoeuer is the materiall cause it is most certaine that the wrath of GOD and his almighty hand is the making or efficient cause and for the worthinesse of that deuine story how God maketh and taketh away frogs I will expresse it as it is left by the Holy-ghost in Cap. 8. Exod. verse 5. Also the Lord saide vnto Moses say thou vnto Aaron stretch out thy hand with thy rodde vpon the streames vpon the Riuers and vpon the ponds and cause frogs to come vpon the land of Egypt ver 6. Then Aaron stretched out his hand vpon the waters of Egypt and the frogs came vp couered the land of Egypt verse 7. And the Sorcerers did likewise with their Sorceries and brought frogs vp vpon the land of Aegypt Verse 8. Then Pharao called for Moses Aaron and said pray ye vnto the Lord that he may take away the frogs from mee and from my people and I will let the people goe that they may doe sacrifice to the Lord verse 9. And Moses saide vnto Pharao concerning me commaund when I shall pray for thee and thy seruants and for thy people to destroy the frogges from thee and from thy houses that they may remaine in the Riuer onely verse 10. Then he said tomorrow he answered be it as thou hast said that thou mayst know that there is none like the Lord our GOD. verse 11. So the frogges shall depart from thee and from thy houses from thy people and from thy Seruants onely they shall remaine in the Riuer verse 12. Then Moses Aaron went out from Pharao Moses cryed vnto the Lord concerning the frogs which he had sent vnto Pharao ver 13. And the Lord did according to the saying of Moses so the frogs dyed in the houses and in the Townes and in the fieldes ver 14. And they gathered them together by heapes and the land stanke of them c. And this was the second plague of Aegypt wherein the Lord turned all the fishes into Frogges as the booke of wisedome saith and the Frogs abounded in the Kinges chamber and notwithstanding this great iudgement of God for the present Pharao would not let the people goe and afterwardes that blind superstitious Nation became worshippers of Frogges as Philastrias writeth thinking by this deuotion or rather wickodnesse in this obseruant manner to pacifie the wrath of God choosing their owne wayes before the word of Almighty God But vain is that worship which is inuented without
heauenly warrant and better it is to bee obedient to the will of God then goe about to please him with the cogitations of men although in their pretended holinesse wee spend much time wealth and bloud There was one Cypselus the Father of Periander who by his Mother was hidde in a Chest called Kypsele to be preserued from the handes of certaine murtherers which were sent to kill him Wherefore afterwards the said Cypselus consecrated a house at Delphos to Apollo because he heard his crying when he was hidde in a Chest and preserued him In the bottome of that house was the trunke of a palme-tree and certaine Frogges pictured running out of the same but what was meant thereby is not certainely knowne for neither Plutarke which vvriteth the story nor Chersias which relateth it giueth any signification thereof but in another place where he inquireth the reason why the Oracle of Pithias gaue no answer hee coniectured because it was that the accursed thing brought out of the Temple of Apollo from Delphos into the Corinthian house hadde ingrauen vnderneath the brazen Palme Snakes and Frogs or else for the signification of the Sunne rising The meat of Frogges thus brought foorth are greene Hearbes and Humble-Bees or shorâ—e-bugs which they deuour oâ— catch when they come to the water to drinke some-time also they are said to eate earth but as well Frogges as Toads doe eate the dead mole for the Mole deuoureth them beeing aliue In the month of August they neuer open their mouthes either to take in meate or drinke or to vtter any voyce and their chaps are so fast ioyned or closed together that you can hardly open them with your finger or with a sticke The young ones of this kinde are killed by casting Long-wort or the leaues of Sea-Lettice as Elianus and Suidus write and thus much for the description of their parts generation and sustentation of these common Frogs The wisedome or disposition of the Aegyptian frogs is much commended for they saue themselues from their enemies with singular dexterity If they fall at any time vpon a water-Snake which they knowe is their mortall enimy they take in their mouthes a round Reede which with an inuincible strength they hold fast neuer letting goe although the Snake haue gotten her into her mouth for by this meanes the Snake cannot swallow hir and so she is preserued aliue There is a pretty fable of a great Bull which came to the water to quench his thirst and whilest the beast came running greedily into the Water hee trod in peeces two or three young Frogs then one of them which escaped with life went and told his mother the miserable misfortune and chance of his fellowes she asked who it was that had so killed her young ones to whom he answered It was a great one but how great he could not tell the foolish mother-frog desirous to haue seene some body in the eyes of her Sonne began to swell with holding in of her breath and then asked the young one if the beast were as bigge as she And he answered much greater at which words she beganne to swell more And asked him againe if the beast were so bigge To whom the young one aunswered Mother leaue your swelling for though you breake your selfe you will neuer be so bigge as he and I thinke from this same fable came the Prouerbe Rana Gyrina sapientia wiser then the young Frogge This is excellently described by Horace in his third Satyre as followeth Absentis ranaepullis vituli pede pressis Vnus vbi effugit matri denarrat vt ingens Bellua cognatos eliserit illa rogare Quantanè Num tandem se inflans sic magnafuisset Maior dimidio Num tanto Cum magis atque Se magis inflaret non si te ruperis inquit Par eris haec à te non multum abludit imago Which may be englished thus In old Frogs absence the young were prest to death By feete of a great Calfe drinking in the water To tell the dam one ran that scapt with life and breath How a great beast his young to death did scatter How great sayd she so bigge and then did swell Greater by halfe said he then she swoll more and said Thus bigge but he cease swelling dam for I thee tell Though breake thy selfe like him thou neuer canst be made There is another pretty fable in Esop tasking discontented persons vnder the name of Frogs according to the old verse Et veterem in limoranae cecinsere quaerelam Nam neque siccaplacet nec quae stagnata palude Perpetitur querulae semper conuitia ranae Which may be englished in this manner The Frogs amid'st the earthy slime Their old complaints do dayly sing Not pleas'd with pooles nor land that drine But new displeasures dayly bring When Ceres went about seeking Proserpina she came to a certaine Fountaine in Lisia to quench her thirst the vnciuill Li sians hindered her from drinking both by troubling the water with their feet and also by sending into the water a great company of croaking Frogs whereat the Goddesse being angry turned all those Country-people into Frogs But Ouid doth ascribe this transmutation of the Lisians to the prayer of Latona when she came to drinke of the fountaine to increase the Milke in her breasts at such time as she nursed Apollo and Diana which Metamorphosis or transmutation is thus excellently described by Ouid Aeternum stagno dixit viuatis in isto Eueniunt optata deae iuuat esse sub vâ—dis Et modo tota caua summergere membra palude Nunc proferre caput summo modo gurgite nare Sâ—pe super ripam stagni consistere saepe In gelidos resilire lacus sed nunc quoque turpes Litibus exercent linguas pulsoque pudore Quamuis sint sub aqua sub aqua maledicere tentant Vox quoque iam rauca est inflataque colla tumescunt Ipsaque dilatant patulos conuitia rictus Terga caput tangunt colla intercepta videntur Spina viret venter pars maxima corporis albet Limosoque nouae saliunt in gurgite ranae In English thus For euer mought you dwell In this same pond she said her wish did take effect with speed For vnderneath the water they delight to be indeed Now diuethey to the bottome downe now vp their heads they pop Another while with spraulling legs they swim vpon the top And oftentimes vpon the bankes they haue a mind to stond And oftentimes from thence againe to leape into the pond And there they now doe practise still their filthy tongues to scold And shamelesly though vnderneath the water they do hold Their former wont of brauling still auoyd the water cold Their voyces still are hoarse and harsh their throats haue puffed goawles Their chaps with brawling widened are their hammer-headed ioawles Are ioyned to their shoulders iust the neckes of them do seeme Cut off the ridgebone of their backe sticke vp with colour greene
doth deliuer him from his cough and being bound in a Cranes skinne vnto a mans thigh procureth venerious desires but these are but magicall deuices and such as haue no apparant reason in nature wherefore I vvill omit them and proceede to them that are more reasonable naturall First for the Oyle of Frogs that is the best which is made out of the Greene-Frogs as it is obserued by Siluius and if they are held betwixt a mans handes in the fit of hot burning Ague do much refresh nature and ease the paine For Feauer-heptickes they prepare theÌ„ thus they take such frogs as haue white bellies then cut off their heads and pull out their bowels afterwards they seeth them in water vntill the flesh fall from the bones theÌ„ they mingle the said flesh with Barly Meale made into Paste wherewithall they cram feed Pullen with that paste vpon which the sicke man must be fed and in default of Frogs they do the like with Eeles and other like Fishes But there is no part of the Frog so medicinable as is the bloud called also the matter or the iuyce and the humour of the Frogge although some of them write that there is no bloud but in the eyes of a Frogge first therefore with this they kill haire for vpon the place where the haire was puld off they poure this bloud and then it neuer groweth more And this as I haue said already is an Argument of the venome of this Frogge and it hath beene proued by experience that a man holding one of these Frogges in his hand his hands haue begunne to swell and to break out into blisters Of this vertue Serenus the Poet writeth Praeterea quascunque voles auertere setas Atque in perpetuum rediuiua occludere tela Corporibus vulsis saniem perducito ranae Sed quae parua situ est rauco garula questu That is to say Besides from whatsoeuer bodyes haires thou will Be cleane destroyed and neuer grow againe On them the mattery bloud of Frogs all spread and spill I meane the little Frog questing hoarse voyce amaine The same also being made into a Verdigreace drunke the weight of a Crowne stoppeth the continuall running of the vrine The humour which commeth out of this Frog being aliue when the skinne is scraped off from her backe cleareth the eyes by annoyntment and the flesh laid vpon them easeth their paines the flesh and fat pulleth out teeth The povvder made of this Frogge beeing drunke stayeth bleeding and also expelleth spots of bloud dryed in the body The same being mingled with Pitch cureth the falling off of the haire And thus much shall suffice for the demonstration of the nature of this little Greene-Frogge OF THE PADDCKE OR CROOKED backe Frogge IT is apparent that there be three kinds of Frogs of the earth the first is the little greene Frog the second is this Padocke hauing a crooke back called in Latine Rubeta Gibbosa and the third is the Toade commonly called Rube tax Bufo This second kind is mute or dumbe as there be many kind of mire Frogges such as is that which the Germans call Feurkrott and our late Alchymists Puriphrunon that is a Fire-frogge because it is of the coloure of fire This is found deepe in the earth in the midst of Rocks and stones when they are cleft asunder and amongst mettalls where-into there is no hole or passage and therefore the wit of man cannot deuise how it should enter therein onely there they find them when they cleaue those stones in sunder with their wedges other instruments Such as these are are found neere Towers in Fraunce among a redde sandy stone whereof they make Milstones and therfore they breake that stone all in peeces before they make the Milstone vp least while the Paddock is included in the middle and the Mill-stone going in the Mill the heate should make the Paddocke swell and so the Mill-stone breaking the corne should be poysoned As soone as these Paddocks come once into the ayre out of their close places of generation and habitation they swell and so die This crooke-backed Paddocke is called by the Germans Gartenfrosch that is a Frog of the Garden and Grasfrosch that is a Frogge of the grasse It is not altogether mute for in time of perrill when they are chaced by men or by Snakes they haue a crying voyce which I haue oftentimes prooued by experience and all Snakes and Serpents doe verie much hunt and desire to destroy these also I haue seene a Snake hold one of them by the legge for because it was great she could not easily deuoure it during that time it made a pittifull lamentation These Paddocks haue as it were two little hornes or bunches in the middle of the back and their colour is betweene greene and yellow on the sides they haue redde spots and the feete are of the same colour their belly is white and that part of their backe which is directly ouer their breast is distinguished with a few blacke spots And thus much may serue for the particuler description of the Paddocke not differing in any other thing that I can reade of from the former Frogges it being venomous as they are and therefore the cure is to be expaected heereafter in the next history of the Toade OF THE TOADE TO conclude the story of Frogges we are now to make description and narration of the Toade which is the most noble kinde of Frogge most venomous and remarquable for courage and strength This is called in Hebrew by some Coah the Graecians call it Phrunon the Arabians Mysoxus the Germans Krott the Saxons Quap the Flemings Padde the Illirians Zaba the French â—rapault the Italians Rospo Botta Boffa Chiatto Zatta Buffo Buffa Buffone and ramarro the Spanyards Sapo escu erco the Latines Rubeta because it liueth among bushes and Bufu because it swelleth when it is angry Like vnto this there is a Toade in Fraunce called Bufo cornutus a horned Toade not because it hath hornes for that is most apparantly false but for that the voyce thereof is like to the sound of a Cornet or rather as I thinke like to a Rauen called Cornix and by a kind of barbarisme called Bufo cornutus The colour of this Toade is like Saffron on the one part and like filthy durt on the other besides there are other venomous Toades liuing in sinckes priuies and vnder the rootes of plants There is another kind also like to the Toade of the water but in steed of bones it hath onely grissels and it is bigger then the Toade of the Fenne liuing in hot places There is another also which although it be a Toade of the water yet hath it beene eaten for meate not many yeeres since the mouth of it is very great but yet without teeth which he doth many times put out of the water like a Torteyse to take breath and in taking of his meate which are flyes Locustes
And as when Saffron by Corycians skeeth Is prest and in his colour on them all appeare So all his parts sent forth a poyson redde In steed of blood Nay all in blood went round Blood was his teares all passages of it were spedde For out of mouth and eares did blood abound Blood was his sweat each part his veyne out-bleedes And all the body blood that one wound feedes The cure of this Serpent in the opinion of the Auncients was thought impossible as writeth Dioscorides and thereof they complaine very much vsing onely common remedies as scarification vstions sharpe meates and such thinges as are already remembered in the cure of the Dipsas But besides these they vse Vine-leaues first brused and then sod with Hony they take also the head of this Serpent and burne it to powder and so drinke it or els Garlicke with oyle of Flower-deluce they giue them also to eate Reisins of the Sunne And besides they resist the eruption of the blood with plaisters layde to the place bitten made of Vine-leaues and hony or the leaues of Purslaine and Barley-meale But before theyr vrine turne bloody let them eate much Garlick stamped mixed with oyle to cause them to vomit and drinke wine delayed with water then let the wound be washed with cold water and the bladder continually fomented with hot Spunges Some doe make the cure of it like the cure of the Viper and they prescribe them to eate hardegges with Salt-fish and besides the seed of Radish the iuyce of Poppy with the rootes of Lilly also Daffadill and Rew Trefolie Cassia Oponax Cinamon in potion and to conclude the flowers and buds of the bush are very profitable against the byting of the Haemorrhe and so I end the history of this Serpent OF THE HORNED SERPENT THis Serpent because of his hornes although it be a kinde of Viper is called in Greeke Kerastes and from thence commeth the Latine word Cerastes and the Arabian Cerust and Cerustes It is called also in Latine Ceristalis Cristalis Sirtalis and Tristalis All which are corrupted wordes deriued from Cerastes or else from one another and therefore I thinke it not fit to stand vpon them The Hebrewes call it Schephiphon the Italians Cerastes the Germans Engehurnte schlang the French Vn Ceraste vn serpent cornu that is a horned Serpent and therefore I haue so called it in English imitating herein both the French and Germans I will not stand about the difference of Authors whether this Serpent be to be referred to the Aspes or to the Vipers for it is not a poynt materiall and therefore I will proceede to the description of his nature that by his whole history the Reader may choose whether he wil account him a subordinate kind vnto others or els a principall of himselfe It is an Affrican Serpent bredde in the Lybian sandie-seas places not inhabited by men for the huge mountaines of sands are so often mooued by the windes that it is not onelie impossible for men to dwell there but also very dangerous perrillous to trauell through them for that many times whole troopes of men and cattell are in an instant ouerwhelmed and buried in those sands And this is a wonderfull worke of God that those places which are least habitable for man are most of all anoyed with the most dangerous byting Serpents It is also said that once these Horned-serpents departed out of Lybia into Egppt where they depopulated all the Country Their habitation is neere the high-waies in the sands and vnder Cart-wheeles and when they goe they make both a sound with their motion and also a furrow in the earth according to the saying of Nicander Ex ijs alter echis velocibus obuia spinis Recto terga tibi prolixus tramite ducit Sed medio diffusius hic cerastes se corpore voluit Curuum errans per iter resonantibus aspera squamis Qualiter aequoreo longissima gurgite nauis Quam violentus agit nunc huc nunc Aphricus illuc Pellitur et laterum gemebunda fragore suorum Extra sulcandas sinuose fluctuat vndas Which may be englished thus Of these the Viper with swift bones thee meetes Trayling her backe in path direct and straite The Cerast more diffused in way thee greets With crooked turning on scales make sounds full great Like as a ship tossed by the Westerne wind Sounds a far off mooued now here now there So that by noyse of shrilling sides we find His furrowes turned in Seas and water sphere The quantity of this horned-serpent is not great it exceedeth not two cubits in lengthe the colour of the body is branded like sande yet mingled with another pale white colour as is to be seene in a Hares skinne Vpon the head there are two Hornes and sometimes 4. for which occasion it hath receiued the name Cerastes with these hornes they deceiue Birdes for when they are an hungry they couer their bodies in Sand and onely leaue their hornes vncouered to moue aboue the earth which when the Birds see taking them to be Wormes they light vpon them and so are deuoured by the Serpent The teeth of this Serpent are like the teeth of a Viper they stand equall and not crooked In stead of a back-bone they haue a gristle throughout their body which maketh them more flexible apt to bend euery way for indeed they are more flexible then any other serpent They haue certaine red strakes crosse theyr backe like a Crocodile of the earth and the skins of such as are bred in Aegypt are very soft stretching like a Cheuerell-gloue both in length breadth as it did appeare by a certaine skinne taken off from one being dead for beeing stuffed with Hay it shewed much greater then it was being aliue but in other Countries the skins are not so I haue heard this History of three of these Serpents brought out of Turky and giuen to a Noble man of Venice aliue who preserued them aliue in a great glasse made of purpose vpon sand in that glasse nere the fire The description as it here followeth was takē by Iohn Faltoner an English traueller saying They were three in number whereof one was thrice so bigge as the other two and that was a Female and she was said to be theyr Mother she had layd at that time in the sandes foure or fiue egges about the bignesse of Pigeons egges She was in length three foote but in breadth or quantity almost so big as a mans Arme her head was flat and broad as two fingers the apple of the eye blacke all the other part being white Out of her eye-lids grew two hornes but they were short ones and those were truely Hornes and not flesh The necke compared with the body was very long and small all the vpper part of the skinne was couered with scales of ash-colour and yet mixed vvith blacke The tayle is as it were brown whē it was stretched out And this was the
like Brasse yet darke and dusky and their belly partly white and partly of an earthy colour but vpon either side they had certaine little prickes or spottes like printed Starres their length was not past foure fingers their eyes looked backward and the holes and passages of their â—ares were round the fingers of their feet were very small beeing fiue in number both before and behinde vvith small nailes and behind that was the longest which standeth in the place of a mans fore-finger and one of them standeth different from the other as the Thumbe doth vppon a mans hand but on the forefeete all of them stand equall not one behinde or before another Now concerning the different kinds of Lizards I must speake as breefely as I can in this place wherein I shall comprehend both the Countries wherein they breâ—de and also their seuerall kinds with some other accidents necessary to be knowne There is a kind of Lizard called Guarell or Vrell and Alguarill with the dung whereof the Physitions do cure little pimples and spots in the face and yet Bellunensis maketh a question whether this be to be referred to the Lizards or not because Lizards are not found but in the couÌ„trey out of Citties and these are found euery where There is also another kind of Lizard called Lacertus Martensis which being sâ—â—ted with the head and purple Wooll Oyle of Cedar and the powder of burnt Paper so put into a linnen-cloth and rubbed vpon a bald place doe cause the haire that is falne off to come againe There be other Lyzards called by the Graecians Arurae and by the Latines Lacertae Pissininae which continually abide in greene corne these burned to powder and the same mixed with the best wine and hony doe cure blind eyes by an oyntment The picture of the Lyzard with the belly vpward Albertus writeth that a friend of his worthy of credit did tell him that he had seene in Prouence a part of Fraunce and also in Spaine Lyzards as bigge as a mans legge is thick but not very long and these did inhabit hollow places of the earth and that many times when they perceiued a man or a beast passe by them they would suddainly leape vppe to his face at one blow pull off his cheek The like also is reported of Piemont in France where there be Lyzards as great as little puppies and that the people of the Country do seeke after their dunge or excrements for the sweetnes and other vertues thereof In Lybia there are Lyzards two cubits long and in one of the Fortunate-Ilands called Capraria there are also exceeding great Lyzards In the Iland of Dioscorides neere to Arabia the lesser there are very great Lyzards the flesh whereof the people eate and the satte they seeth and vse in steede of oyle these are two cubits long and I know not whether they be the same which the Affricans call Dubh and liue in the desarts of Lybia They drinke nothing at all for water is present death vnto them so that a man would thinke that this Serpent were made all of fire because it is so presently destroyed with water Beeing killed there commeth no blood out of it neither hath it any poyson but in the head tayle This the people hunt after to eate for the tast of the flesh is like the tast of Frogges flesh and when it is in the hole or denne it is very hardly drawne forth except with spades and Mattocks whereby the passages are opened and beeing abroad it is swift of foote The Lyzards of India especially about the Mountaine Nisa are 24. foote in length their colour variable for their skin seemeth to be flourished with certaine pictures soft tender to be handled I haue heard that there hangeth a Lyzard in the Kinges house at Paris whose body is as thicke as a mans body and his length or stature little lesse it is said it was taken in a prison or common Gaole beeing found sucking the legges of prisoners and I doe the rather beleeue this because I remember such a thing recorded in the Chronicles of Fraunce and also of another some-what lesser preserued in the same Cittie in a Church called Saint Anthonies And to the intent that this may seeme no strange nor incredible thing it is reported by Volatteran that when the King of Portugall had conquered certaine Ilands in Ethiopia in one of them they slew a Lyzard which had deuoured or swallowed downe a whole infant so great wide was the mouth thereof it was eight cubits long and for a rare miracle it was hanged vppe at the gate Flumentana in Rome in the roofe dedicated to the virgin Mary Besides these there are other kind of Lyzards as that called Lacerta vermicularis because it liueth vpon wormes Spyders in the narrow walls of old buildings Also a siluer-coloured Lyzard called Liacome liuing in dry and sunne-shining places Another kind called Senabras and Adare and Sennekie Scen is a redde Lyzard as Siluaticus writeth but I rather take it to be the Scincke or Crocodile of the earth which abound neere the Red-Sea There is also another kinde of Lyzard called Lacertus Solaris a Lyzard of the Sunne to whom Epiphanius compareth certaine Heretickes called Sapmsaei because they perceiue their eye-sight to bee dimme and dull They turne themselues fasting in theyr Caues to the East or Sunne-rysing whereby they recouer their eye-sight againe In Sarmatia a Countrey of the Rutenes there is a Prouince called Samogithia wherein the Lyzards are very thicke blacke and great which the foolish Countrey people do worshippe very familiarly as the Gods of good fortune for vvhen any good befalleth them they intertaine them with plentifull banquets and liberall cheare but if any harme or mischaunce happen vnto them then they vvith-dravv that liberality and intreate them more coursely and so these dizzardly people thinke to make these Lizards by this meanes more attentiue and vigilant for theyr welfare and prosperity In the Prouince of Caraia Subiect to the Tartars there are very great Lizards or at least wise Serpents like Lizard sbred containing in length ten yards with an answerable and correspondent compasse and thicknesse Some of these want their fore-Legges in place whereof they haue clawes like the clavves of a Lyon or talants of a Falcon. Their head is great and their eyes like two great Loaues Their mouth and the opening thereof so wide as it may swallow downe a whole man armed with great long and sharp teeth so as neuer any man or other creature durst without terror looke vpon that Serpent Wherefore they haue inuented this art or way to take them The Serpent vseth in the day time to lye in the Caues of the Earth or else in hollovv plaees of Rockes and Mountaines In the night time it commeth forth to feede ranging vp and and down seeking what it may deuour neither sparing Lyon Beare nor Bull or smaller beast but
colour It is likewise barbarously called Famusus Aracis and Faliuisus The Germans of all other haue a name for it for they call Punter-Schlang and Berg-schlang Other Nations not knowing it cannot haue any name for it and therefore I cannot fayne any thereof except I should lye grosly in the beginning of the History This Serpent is onely bred in Lemnus Samothracia and it is there called a Lyon eyther because it is of very great quantity and bignesse or else bycause the scales thereof are spotted and speckled like the Lybian Lyons or bycause when it fighteth the tayle is turned vpward like a Lyons tayle and as a Lion doth But it is agreed at al hands that it is called Milliaris a Millet because in the spots of his skinne and colour it resembleth a Millet-seede which caused the Poet to write on this manner Pluribus ille notis variatam tingitur aluum Quà m paruis tinctus maculis Thebanus Ophites In english thus With many notes and spots his belly is bodyed Like Thebane herbe Ophtes sightly tryed But not onely his belly for his backe and whole skinne is of the same fashion and colour The length of this Serpent is about two cubits and the thicke body is attenuated toward the end being sharpe at the taile The colour is dusky and darke like the Millet and it is then most irefull and full of wrath or courage when this Herbe or seed is at the highest The pace of this Serpent is not winding or trauailing but straight and directed without bending to and fro and therefore saith Lucan Et semper recto lapsurus limite Cenchris That is And the Millet alway standing in a straight and right line and for this cause when a man flyeth away from it he must not runne directly forward but wind too and fro crooking like an indenture for by reason thereof this Serpents large body cannot so easily and with the like speede turne to followe and pursue as it can directly forward It is a very dangerous Serpent to meete withall and therefore not onely the valiantest man but also the strongest beast is and ought iustly to be afraide thereof for his treacherous deceits and strength of body for when it hath gotten the prey or booty he beclaspeth it with his taile and giueth it fearefull blowes in the meane time fasteneth his iawes or chaps to the man or beast and sucketh out all the bloud till it be fully satisfied and like a Lyon he beateth also his owne sides setting vp the spires of his body when he assaulteth any aduersary or taketh any resisting booty I take this to bee the same called in Scicilia Serpa serena which is sometimes as long as a man as great as the arme about the wrist In the heate of summer they get themselues to the Mountaine and there seize vpon cattel of all sortes as often as anger or wrath enforceth them The nature of it is very hot and therefore venomous in the second degree wherefore when it hath bitten any there followeth putrifaction and rottennesse as flesh where water lyeth betwixt the skinne like as in the Dropsie for besides the common affections it hath with the Viper and the byting thereof alike in all thinges more deadly and vnresistable euils followeth as drouzy sleepinesse and lethargy paine in the belly especially the collicke paine in the Liuer and stomacke killing within two daies if remedy bee not prouided The cure is like the cure of the Vipers byting take the seed of Lettice and Flax-seede Sauory beaten or stamped and wilde Rew wilde Betony and Daffadill two drams in three cups of Wine and drinke the same immediatly after the drinking heereof drinke also two drammes of the roote of Centaury or Hartwort Nosewort or Gentian or Sesamine And thus much for a description of this venomous Serpent one of the greatest plagues to man and beast in all those Countries or places wherein it is engendered and it is not the least part of English happinesse to be freed by God Nature from such noysome virulent and dangerous neighbours OF THE NEVTE OR WATER Lizard THis is a little blacke Lyzard called Wassermoll and Wasseraddex that is a Lizard of the Water In French Tassot and in Italian Marasandola which word is deriued frō Marasso a Viper because the poyson heereof is like the poyson of Vipers and in Greeke it may be termed Enudros Sauros They liue in standing waters or pooles as in ditches of Townes and Hedges The colour as we haue saide is blacke and the length about two fingers or scarce so long Vnder the belly it is white or at least hath some white small spots on the sides and belly yet sometimes there are of them that are of a dusty earthy colour and towards the tayle yellowish The skinne is strong and hard so as a knyfe can scarse cut the same and beeing cut there issueth out a kind of white mattery liquour like as is in Salamanders Beeing taken it shutteth the mouth so hard as it cannot be easily opened neither doth it endeuour to byte although it be plucked and prouoked The tongue is very short and broade and the teeth so short and small as they are scarcely visible within the lippes Vppon the fore-feete it hath foure fingers or clawes but vppon the hinder feete it hath fiue The tayle standeth out betwixt the hinder legges in the midle like the figure of a wheelewhirle or rather so contracted as if many of them were conioyned together the voyd or empty places in the coniunctions were filled vp The tayle beeing cutte off liveth longer then the body as may be seene in euery dayes experience that is by motion giueth longer signes and token of lyfe This Serpent is bredde in fatte waters and soyles and sometimes in the ruines of olde walls especially they delight in white muddy waters hiding themselues vnder stones in the same water if there be any and if not then vnder the banks sides of the earth for they sildome come to the Land They swymme vnderneath the water and are rarely seene at the toppe Theyr egges are not past so bigge as pease and they are found hanging together in clusters One of these beeing put aliue into a glasse of water did continually hold his head aboue the water like as Frogges doe so that therby it may be coniectured it doth often neede respiration and keepeth not vnder water except in feare and seeking after meate There is nothing in nature that so much offendeth it as salt for so soone as it is layde vppon salt it endeuoureth with all might maine to runne away for it byteth stingeth the little beast aboue measure so that it dyeth sooner by lying in salt where it cannot auoyde then it would by suffering many stripes for beeing beaten it liueth long dieth very hardly It doth not like to be without water for if you try one of them and keepe it out of water but one day it
Canaria also are many Scorpions and those most pestilent which the Turkes gather as often as they may to make oyle of Scorpions In Italy especially in the Mount Testaceus in Rome are also Scorpions although not so hurtfull as in Affrica and other places and it is thought that Psylli whose nature cureth all kind of venomous Serpents harmes did onely for lucers sake bring Serpents and Scorpions into Italy and there they left them whereby they encrease to that number multitude which now we see them haue And thus much may suffice to haue spoken of the Countries of Scorpions The kindes of Scorpions I finde also to be many but generally they may be referred vnto twayne whereof one is called the Scorpion of the earth and the other the Scorpion of the water or of the Sea whose discourse or history is to be found among the fishes for we in this place doe onely write of the Scorpion of the earth which is also called by Auicen a wild Scorpion Of this kind there are many differences First they differ in sex for there are males and females and the female is greater then the male beeing also fatte hauing a grosser body and a greater sharper sting but the male is more fierce then the female Againe some of these haue wings and some are without wings and some are in quantitie greater then a Beane as in Heluetia neere Rapirsnill by Zuricke The Scorpions called Vinulae are of reddish colour as it were rose-rose-water and wine mixed together and from thence it is probable that they tooke their name and from their colour the Authours haue obserued seauen seuerall kinds The first is white and the byting of this is not deadly The second is reddish like fire flamant and this when it hath wounded causeth thirst The third is of a pale colour and therefore called by the Graecians Zophorides these when they haue wounded a man cause him to liue in continuall motion and agitation of his body so as he cannot stand still but remaineth distract without wit alway laughing like a foole The fourth kind is greenish and therefore termed Chloaos which hauing wounded causeth intollerable trembling shaking and quiuering and also cold so that if the patient be layd in the hot sunne yet he thinketh that he freezeth like hayle or rather feeleth hayle to fall vpon him The fift kind is blackish-pale and it is called Empelios it hath a great belly and broade whereof the poyson is great and causeth after stinging an admirable heauinesse and sorrowfull spirit This kind is called by Gesner Ventricosum because of the large belly by the Arabians Algetarat and by Ponzettus Geptaria It eateth herbes and the bodyes of men and yet remaineth insatiable it hath a bunch on the backe and a tayle longer then other Scorpions The sixt is like a Crabbe this is called by Elianus a flamant Scorpion it is of a great body and hath tonges and takers very solide and strong like the Gramuell or Creuish is therefore thought to take the beginning from that fish The seauenth is called Mellichlorus because of the honny-colour thereof or rather waxe-colour and the wings it hath on the backe are like the wings of a Locust Also Scorpions do differ among themselues in regard of their outward parts for some of them haue wings as those in India which are spoken of by Strabo Nicander others and therefore many times when they settle themselues to flie they are transported by the wind from one country to another There is also another difference obserued in their tayles and in their stings for some of them haue sixe knots on their tayles and some of them seauen and those which haue seauen are more hardy fierce but this falleth out very sildome that the Scorpions haue seauen knots in their tayle and therefore much sildomer to haue nine as writeth Apollodorus For if any haue seauen then is there likewise in them a double sting for there is also another difference some of them hauing a single and some a double sting yea some-times a treble one and the sting of the male is more thicke and strong then the sting of the female And to conclude there is also a difference in motion for some of them holde vp theyr tayles from the earth and these are not much venomous others againe draw them along vpon the earth a little rowled together and these are most deadly and poysonfull some of them also flye from one Region to another as we haue shewed already Againe there is nothing that giueth a man a more liuely difference then the consideration of their poyson for the Scorpions of Pharus and that part of the Alpes neere Noricum doe neuer harme any liuing creature and therfore are they suffered to abound so as they liue vnder euery stone In like sort in the I le Sanguola the Scorpions are like vnto those that are in Castilia or Spayne for there the sting of the Scorpion dooth not bring death yet they cause a smarting paine like the paine that commeth by the stinging of a Waspe differing heerein that the Scorpions stinging is more lasting continueth longer then the stinging of a Waspe for it tarrieth about a quarter of an houre and by the byting thereof all are not payned alike for some feele more and some lesser paine Contrary to these are the Scorpions of Pescara in Affrick who euer with theyr tayles vvound mortally And those in Scythia which are great and hurtfull vnto men and beastes kylling swyne who doe not much care for any other serpent especially the blacke swyne who doe also dye the sooner if they drinke immediatly after the wound receiued The like may be said of the Scorpions of Egypt And thus much for the different kinds of Scorpions wherein nature produceth a notable varietie as may appeare by all that hath been said Now it followeth that wee likewise make some relation of theyr congruity one with another They are all little liuing creatures not much differing in proportion from the great Scarabee or Horse-flie except in the fashion of theyr tailes Their backe is broad and flat distinguished by certaine knots of seames such as may be seene in Sea-crabbes yet theyr head differeth and hath no resemblance with the Crabbe because it is longer and hangeth farre out from the body the countenaunce whereof is fawning and virgin-like and all the colour a bright browne Notwithstanding the fayre face it beareth a sharpe sting in the tayle which tayle is full of knots where-withall it pricketh and hurteth that which it toucheth And this Pliny affirmeth to be proper to this insect to haue a sting in the tayle and to haue armes For by armes hee meaneth the two crosse sorkes or tonges which come from it one both sides in the toppes whereof are little thinges like pynsons to detaine and hold fast that which it apprehendeth whiles it woundeth with the â—â—ing in the tayle
or 4. cubits long hauing a rounder belly then an Eele but a head like a Conger the vpper chap is longer and standeth out further then the neather chap the teeth grovv therein as they doe in Lampreys but they are not so thicke and it hath two small finnes neere the gills like an Eele The colour of it is yellow but the beake and belly is of Ash-colour the eyes yellow and in all the inward parts it doth not differ from a Lamprey and there is no man of any vnderstanding as writeth Rondeletius but at the very first sight will iudge the same to be a Serpent although the flesh thereof be no more harmefull then the Conger or Lamprey yet for similitude with other Serpents I could not chuse but expresse the same in this place There be also in the Sueuian-Ocean or Balthicke-sea Serpents of thirty or forty foote in length whose picture is thus described as it was taken by Olaus Magnus and hee further writeth that these doe neuer harme any man vntill they be prouoked The same Authour also expresseth likewise the figure of another Serpent of a hundred and twenty foote long appearing now and then vpon the coasts of Norway very dangerous and hurtfull to the Sea-men in calmes and still weather for they lift vp themselues aboue the hatches and suddainely catch a man in their mouthes and so draw him into the Sea out of the Shippe and many times they ouer-throw in the waters a laden vessell of great quantitie with all the wares therein contained And sometimes also they sette vp such a Spire aboue the water that a boate or little Barke without sayles may passe thorow the same And thus much for the Sea-Serpents OF THE SEPS OR SEPEDON ALthough I am not ignorant that there be some which make two kindes of these Serpents because of the two names rehearsed in the title yet when they haue laboured to describe them seuerally they can bring nothing or very little wherein their story doth not agree so as to make twaine of them or to handle them asunder were but to take occasion to tautologize or to speake one thing twice Wherefore Gesner wisely pondering both parts and after him Carronus deliuer their opinions that both these names doe shew but one Serpent yet according to theyr manner they expresse them as if they were two For all their writings doe but minister occasion to the Readers to collect the truth out of their labours wherefore I will follow their opinion and not their example Sepedon and Seps commeth of Sepein because it rotteth the body that it byteth in colour it neerely resembleth the Haemorrhe yet it vsually goeth by spyres and halfe-hoopes for which cause as it goeth the quantitie cannot be well discerned the pace of it beeing much swifter then the Haemorrhe The wound that it giueth is smarting entering deepe and bringing putrefaction for by an inexplicable celeritie the poyson passeth ouer all the body the hayre rotteth and falleth from all parts darknes and dimnesse is in the eyes spots vpon the body like as if a man had beene burned in the sunne And this Serpent is thus described vnto vs by Nicander Iam quae Sepedonis species sit qualeque corpus Accipe diuersa tractum ratione figurat Quin etiam mutilae nulla insunt cornua fronti Et color hir suti qualem est spect are tapetis Grande caput breuior dum currit cauda videtur Quam tamen obliquo maiorem tramite ducit Quod fit ab hoc vulnus magnos nocuosque dolores Excitat interimens quia fundit ipse venenum Quo sata marcentes tabes depascitur artus Indeque siccata resolutus pelle capillus Spargitur volitans candentis pappus achantae Praeterea foedum turpi vitiligine corpus Et veluti vrenti maculas á sole videre est Which may be englished thus Sepedons shape now take and what his forme of body is It doth not goe as Haemorrhe doth but trayleth diuersly His powled head of Haemorrhs hornes full happily doth misse And colours are as manifold as works of Tapestry Great is his head but running seemes the tayle but small Which winding it in greater path drawes after to and fro But where it wounds by paines and torments great it doth appall Killing the wounded infusing poyson so Whereby consumed are the leane and slender sinewes And dryed skinne lets hayre fall off apace Like as the windes driue whites from top of thistle Cardus Besides the body filth as with sunne parched looseth grace Thus doth Nicander describe the Sepedon now also we wil likewise relate that which another Poet saith of the Seps that both compared together may appeare but one therefore thus writeth Lucan vpon occasion of one Sabellus wounded by this Serpent Miserique in crure Sabelli Seps stetit exiguus quem flexo dente tenacem Auulsitque manu piloque affixit arenis Parua modò serpens sed qua non vlla cruentae Tantum mortis habet nam plagae proxima circum Fugit rapta cutis pallentiaque ossa retexit Iamque sinu laxo nudum est sine corpore vulnus Membra natant sanie surae fluxere sine vllo Tegmine poples erat femorum quoque musculus omnis Liquitur nigra distillant inguina tabe Dissiluit stringens vterum membrana fluuntque Viscera nec quantum toto de corpore debet Effluit in terras saeuum sed membra venenum Decoquit in minimum mors contrahit omnia virus Vincula neruorum laterum textura cauumque Pectus abstrusum fibris vitalibus omne Quicquid homo est aperit pestis natura profana Morte patet manant humeri fortesque lacerti Colla caput fluunt calido non ocyus Austro Nix resoluta cadit nec solem cera sequetur Parua loquor corpus sanie stillasse perustum Hoc flamma potest sed quis rogus abstulit ossa Haec quoque discedunt putresque secuta medullas Nulla manere sinunt rapidi vestigia fati Cynphias inter pestes tibi palma nocendi est Eripiunt omnes animam tu sola cadauer Mole breuis seps peste ingens nec viscera solum Sed simul ossa vorans tabificus Seps Which is to be englished thus On wretched Sabells legge a little Seps hung fast Which with his hand from hold of teeth he pluckt away From wounded place and on a pyle the Serpent all agast He staked in sands to him ô wofull wretched day To kill this Serpent is but small yet none more power hath For after wound falls off the skinne and bones appeare full bare As in an open bosome the hart whole body gnaweth Then all his members swamme in filth corruption did prepare To make his shankes fall off vncouered were knee bones And euery muscle of his thigh resolued no more did hold His secrets blacke to looke vpon distilled all consumptions The rym of belly brake out fierce which bowels did infold Out fell his guts on earth and
necke thereof are two blanches and betwixt them a hollow place the backe part whereof is attenuated into a thinne and sharpe tayle and vppon eyther chappe they haue many teeth which are sharpe and without poyson for when they byte they doe no more harme then fetch blood onely and these men for ostentation sake weare about their necks and women are much terrified by them in the hands of wanton young boyes The backe of this Snake as writeth Erastus is blackish and the other parts greene like vnto Leekes yet mixed with some whitenesse for by reason it feedeth vppon herbs it beareth that colour They are also carried in mens bosoms and with them they will make knots For the same Erastus affirmeth that he sawe a Fryer knit one of them vp together like a garter but when hee pulled it harder then the Snake could beare it turned the head about bytte him by the hand so as the blood followed yet there came no more harme for it was cured without any medicine and therefore is not venomous In the mountaine of Mauritania called Ziz the Snakes are so familiar with men that they waite vpon them at dinner-time like cats and little dogges and they neuer offer any harme to any liuing thing except they be first of all prouoked Among the Bygerons inhabyting the Pyrenes there be Snakes 4. foote long and as thicke as a mans arme which likewise liue continually in the houses and not onely come peaceably to their tables but also sleepe in their beds without any harme in the night-time they hisse but sildom in the day time and picke vp the crummes which fall from their tables Among the Northerne people they haue household-Snakes as it were houshold-gods and they suffer them both to eate and to play with their Infants lodging them in the cradles with them as if they were faythfull Keepers about them and if they harme any body at any time they account it Pium piaculum a very diuine and happy mischaunce But after they had receiued the Christian-fayth they put away all these superstitions and did no more foster the Serpents broode in detestation of the deuill who beguiled our first Parents in the similitude of a Serpent Yet if it happen at any time that a house be burned all the Snakes hide themselues in their holes in the earth and there in short space they so encrease that when the people come to reedifie they can very hardly displant their number Plautus in his Amphitryo maketh mention of two-maned-Snakes which descended from the clowdes in a shower but this opinion grew from the fiction of the Epidaurian-Snake which onely by the Poets is described with a mane and a combe and therefore I will not expresse the Snake to haue a mane There is no cause why we should thinke all Snakes to be without poyson for the Poet hath not warned vs in vaine where he saith Frigidus ô puèri fugite hinc latet Anguis sub herba Which may be englished thus Fly hence you boyes as farre as feete can beare Vnder this herbe a Snake full cold doth leare For this cause we will leaue the discourse of the harmelesse Snake and come to those which are no way inferiour to any other Serpent their quantitie and spirit beeing considered wherefore we are to consider that of Snakes which are venomous and hurtfull there are two kinds one called the Water-Snake the other the Land-Snake The Water-Snake is called in Greeke Hydra hydros hydrales karouros Enhydris in Latine Natrix and Lutrix Munster calleth it in Hebrew Zepha and Auicen relateth certaine barbe rous names of it as Handrius Andrius and Abides and Kedasuderus Echydrus and Aspistichon The Germans call it Nater Wasser-nater and Wasser-schlange and they describe it in the manner as it is found in their Country which doth not very farre differ from them of our Country heere in England It is as they say in thicknes like the arme of a man or child the bellie thereof yellow and of a golden colour and the backe blackish-greene the very breath of it is so venomous that if a man hold to it a rodde newly cutte off from the Tree it will so infect it that vppon it shall appeare certaine little bagges of gall or poyâ—on And the like effect it worketh vppon a bright naked sword if it doe but touch it with the tongue for the poyson runneth from one end to the other as if it were quicke and leaueth behind a lyne or scorched path as if it had beene burned in the fire And if this Serpent fortune to byte a man in the foote then is the poyson presently dispersed all ouer the body for it hath a fiery qualitie and therefore it continually ascendeth but when once it commeth to the hart the man falleth downe and dyeth And therefore the meetest cure is to hang the party so wounded vppe by the heeles or else speedilie to cut off the member that is bitten And that which is heere said of the vvater-Snake doth also as properly belong to the Land-snake seeing there is no difference betwixt these but that at certaine times of the yeere they forsake the water when it draweth or falleth lowe and so betake themselues to the Land They liue in the water and in the earth but they lay their egges on the land in hedges or in dunghills and especially in those waters which are most corrupt as in pooles where there is store of Frogs Leaches Newtes and but few fishes as in the Lakes about Puteoli and Naples and in England all ouer the Fennes as in Ramsey Holland Ely and oâ—… such like places and when they swymme they beare their breast aboue the water They abound also in Corcyra and about Taracina in Italy and in the Lake Nyclea and especially in Calabria as the Poet writeth Est etiam illa malus Calabris in saltibus Anguis Squammea conuoluens sublato pectore terga Atque notis longam maculosus grandibus aluum Qui dum amnes vlli rumpuntur fontibus dum Vere madent vdo terrae ac pluuialibus austris Stagna colit ripisque habitans hic piscibus atram Improbus ingluuiem ranisque loquacibus explet Postquam exhausta palus terraeque ardore dehiscunt Exilit in siccum flammantia lumnia torquens Saeuit agris asperque siti atque exterritus â—stâ— Which may be thus englished That euill Snake in the Calabrian coasts abides Rowling his scaly backe by holding vp the brest And with great spots vpon large belly glydes When as the Riuers streames in fountaines all are ceast For whiles the moystened spring with raine from Southwind falls It haunts the pooles andin the water all blaoke it feedes In rauening wise both fish and frogs doe fill his gall For why when Sommers drought enforce then must in needes Fly to dry Land rowling his flaming eye Rage in the fields to quench his thirstfull dry There be some Writers that affirme that there is
them Firdinandus Ponzettus imagineth that it hath but onely sixe feete and Ardoynus is of the same iudgment further faineth that it hath a stretched out tayle Rasis calleth a Tarantula by the name of Sypta Albucasis Alsari Rabbi Moses Aggonsarpa Auicen Sebigi Doctor Gilbert Taranta therein following Ardoynus which maketh two sorts of Tarantulaes the one of a browne the other of a yellow colour and cleere shyning such as are to be found in Egypt Pliny as you read a little before sayd that the PhalangiuÌ„ was not knowne in Italy but in these dayes they are found throughout all the Southerne parts of that Country especially â—â—e the Sea-shore as both Haruest-men and Hunters can well testifie by their owne wofull experience Ponzettus was much deceiued when in his third booke and xv chapter entreating of the Scorpion he expresly affirmeth the Phalanx to be such a venomous flye It is a vengible and cruell creature as Alexander ab Alexandro saith and to be touched horrible venomous and pestilent and most especially theyr byting is exceeding venomous in the parching heate of the Sommer but at other seasons of the yeere not so great There be many sorts of Spyders found in very cold Countries but no Phalangies at all or if there be any yet haue they very little poyson in them and nothing comparable to them of hoter Clymates All the sorts of Phalangies doe lay theyr egges in a nette or webbe which for the purpose they make very strong and thicke and sitte vpon them in very great number and when their broode is increased to some growth they kill theyr damme by theyr hard embracements and fling her cleane away and further casting off all fatherly affection they many times serue the male with the same sauce if they can come handsomely by him for he is a helper to the female in sitting ouer their egges They hatch at one time three hundred as hath been seene by the testimony of Bellonius in his Booke Singul obseruat chap. 68. The Tarantulaes commonly lye lurking in holes chincks and chappes of the earth and with theyr teeth they bite and wound at vnawares incircumspect Mowers Haruest-folkes and rash Huntsmen who thinke of no such matter and therefore they that are acquainted with theyr sleights doe weare bootes and gloues on theyr hands legges for their further defence so often as they goe foorth eyther to hawking hunting or to reaping and mowing or any such like labour in the common fields All these Spyders are venomous euen naturally for that is so setled and deepely fastened in them as it can by no meanes be eradicated or taken away Neither suck they this venom and poysonous qualitie from plants or herbes as many men thinke which in very truth they neuer so much as taste of neither do they purchase this venomous complexion and nature from any naughty hurtfull and malignant qualitie that is in their meate by reason their chiefe foode and sustenaunce is flyes gnats and Bees and without question they can sucke and draw no such cacochymicall iuyce from theyr bodies If the formicarian which I call the Pismire-like Phalangie doe byte any man there will presentlie follow most fearefull accidents for it bringeth an exceeding great tumor vpon the wounded place the knees are loose and feeble trembling of the hart and decay of strength doe succeede and some-times it induceth death it selfe Nicander saith that they who are bytten of this kind of Spyder doe fall into such a profound sleepe as that they will neuer be awaked for they haue and suffer that which Histories report of Cleopatra Queene of Egypt who to escape the fingers of Pompey because she would not be brought to Rome in tryumph caused two Serpents called Aspes to be sette to her breasts which did sting her to death whose nature is to giue a heauinesse and sleepe without any shrinking or marke in the skinne onely putting foorth a gentle sweat out of the face as if one were in a traunce and hard to be awaked The Spyder called Agrostis maketh but a small wound with her byting and in a manner without any paine at all and no wayes deadly vnlesse it be but slightly regarded or that no care be had for the cure in the beginning The Phalangie that is called Dusderus which is fashioned like a Waspe if he hurt any one by his byting it causeth the same accidents that the azure or blewish-coloured Spyder doth but yet not altogether so terrible and vehement And besides the Dusder-Spyder with her poyson bringeth a wasting and pyning away of the whole body by degrees without any great sence If a man be poysoned with that kind of Spyder which is found among pulse and is as I said before like vnto Spanish-flyes there will presently arise certaine pustules risings or swellings much like vnto blisters as if one were scalded with hot water in which swellings there will commonly be much yellowish matter besides the patient is much disquieted vexed too much out of order the eyes seeme to be writhed deformed looking asquint on the one side the tongue faltereth and stammereth not beeing able to sound their words or to pronounce directly their talke is idle they wander and roue vppe and downe in great perplexitie their hart beeing tormented tossed turmoyled with an extraordinarie kind of furious passion The Spyder that is found in the pulse called Ervum which is very like to Tares or Vetches produceth by his venom the same euill effects that the former doth and if horses or other beasts doe by chaunce deuoure any of them their bodies are so inflamed by meanes of the vnquenchable thirstines the poyson causeth that many times they burst asunder in the midst If the Cranacalaptes wound any man as Pliny assureth vs it is not long before death it selfe doe succeede And yet Nicander and Aetius hold the contrarie and would make vs beleeue that his hurt is soone remedied without any great adoe yet heerein they doe consent that if any be hurt with any Spyder of this kinde there will follow a great paine of the head coldnes swymming and gyddines of the braine much disquietnes of the whole body and pricking paines of the stomack But notwithstanding all this saith Nicander the patient is soone remedied and all these aboue rehearsed passions quickly appeased and brought to an end The Sclerocephalus as it much resembleth the Cranocalaptes-Spyder in forme and proportion so in his force effect and violence they are much alike causing the same symptomes accidents and passions as the former The wound that the Spyder called Ragion inflicteth is very small so that a man can hardly discerne it with his eyes but yet if one be hurt there-with the lowerparts of the eyes and the eye-liddes waxe very redde Besides the patient feeleth a shyuering cold or chyldnes in his loynes with weakenes and feeblenesse in the knees yea the whole body is taken with a great quaking cold the sinewes by
S. Roch the pestilence notwithstanding that S. Sebastian hath some skill in it also Saint Cosmus and Damian are good for all byles and swelling diseases S. Iob for the pocks S. Appolin for the tooth-ach S. Petronella can driue away all manner of Agues And S. Vitus or Vitulus we may well call him S. Calfe that in times past excelled in the musicall Art doth direct all Dauncers or such as will leap or vault So that if this Saint be invocated and pacified with musicall harmonie and melodious sound of instruments he will be an excellent Apothecarie Doctor for the curation of any that are wounded with a Tarantula Supersticious people fondly imputing that to the Patron and Proctor some-times of Musick which ought rather to be attributed to Musicke it selfe and motion of the body Dioscorides concerning the common bytings of hurtfull Spyders or Phalangies vvriteth thus The accidents saith he that doe accompany the bytings of Spyders are these that follow The wounded place waxeth red yet doth it not swell nor grow very hot but it is some-what moyst If the body become cold there will follow trembling and shaking the groyne and hammes doe much stroute out are exceeding distended there is great prouocation to make water and striuing to exonerate nature they sweat with much difficultie labour and paine Besides the hurt persons are all of a cold sweat and teares destill from their eyes that they grow dym-sighted there-with Aetius further addeth that they can take no rest or sleepe sometimes they haue erection of the yarde and the heade itcheth other-whiles the eyes and calfes of the legges grow hollow and lanke the bellie is stretched out by meanes of wind the whole body is puffed vppe but in especiall the face they make a maffeling with theyr mouth and stammer so that they cannot distinctly be vnderstood Some-times they can hardly voyd vrine they haue great paine in the lower parts the vrine that they make is waterish and as it were full of Spyders-webbes the part affected hath a great pricking and swelling which Dioscorides as you reade a little before will by no meanes yeeld to and it is a little red Thus farre Aetius from whom Paulus Aegineta Actuarius Ardoynus and some others differ but a little In Zacynthus an I le in the Ionian-Sea on the West of Peloponesus if any there be hurt of a Phalangium they are otherwise and more grieuously tormented then in any other place for there the body groweth stiffe and benummed besides it is very weake trembling and exceeding cold They suffer also vomiting with a spasme or crampe and inflamation of the virge besides an intollerable paine in their eares and soales of their feete The people there doe cure themselues by bathes into which if any sound man after that doe enter to wash himselfe or be drawne into the same by any guile or deceitfull meanes hee will foorth-with fall into the same greefes passions that the other sicke patient endured before he receiued remedie And the like to this writeth Dioscorides in his Chapter of Trifolium asphaltites in these words following The decoction saith he of the whole plant beeing vsed by way of fomentation bathing or soking the body ceaseth all those paines which are caused by the byting or stinging of any venomous Serpent and with the same bathing or fomenting whatsoeuer vlcerous persons shall vse or wash himselfe withall he will be affected and haue the same accidents as he that hath beene bitten of a Serpent Galen in his booke De Theciaca ad Pisonem ascribeth this to miracle accounting it a thing exceeding common reason and nature but I stand in doubt that that Booke vvas neuer Galens but rather fathered vpon him by some other man And yet Aelianus writeth more miraculously whē he affirmeth that this hapneth to some helthy persons such as be in good plight state of body neuer so much as making any mention of vlcer or sore Thus much of the symptomes accidents passions or effects which sticke and waite vpon those that are hurt by Spyders And now come I to the cure The generall cure according to the opinion of Dioscorides is that first there must be scarification made vpon the wounded place and that often and cupping-glasses must as often be applyed and fastened with much flame to the part affected Absyrtus counsell is to make a fumigation with egge-shells first steeped in water and then beeing cast on the coales with Harts-horne or Galbanum to perfume the venomed part there-with After that to vse sacrifications to let bloud or to sucke the place or to draw out the venom with cupping-glasses or which is the safest course of them all to apply an actuall cautery except the place affected be full of sinnewes Lastly to prouoke sweat well either in bed couering the patient well with cloathes or it is better by long and easie walking to procure sweating In some to attaine to the perfect curation you must worke both with inward outward meanes such as here shall be prescribed and set before your eyes whereof the most choyce and approued I haue set downe for the benefit of the Reader and first I wil beginne with Dioscorides Inward Medicines out of Dioscorides TAke of the seedes of Sothern-wood Annise Dill the wilde Cicer of the fruite of the Cedar-tree Plantine and Trifolie of each a like quantity beate them to powder by themselues before you doe mixe them The dose is two drammes to be taken in Wine Likewise one dramme of the seedes of Tamariske drunke in Wine is very effectuall Some vse a decoction of Chamaepytis and the greene Nuts of the Cipres-tree in Wine There be some which prayse the iuyce of Croy-fishes to be taken with Ashes Milke and Smallage-seede and this Medicine experience hath approoued and confirmed for the ceasing of all paynes Lye made of Figge-leaues is drunke with good successe against all bytings of Spyders It is good also to take the fruite of the Turpentine-tree Bay-berries leaues of the Balme and the seedes of all sorts of Carrets or to drinke the iuyce of Mirtle-berries of the berries of Iuy or Mull-berries the iuyce of Colewort-leaues and of Cliues or Goose-grease with Wine or Vineger A dramme of the leaues of Beane-Trifoly drunke in wine the decoction of the rootes of a Sparagus Iuyce of Sen-greene or any opening iuyce is good for the same Some vse with very good successe the leaues of the Hearbe called Balme with Niter and Mallowes boyled both leafe and roote and so taken often in a potion The leaues of the Hearbe called Phalangium with his floures and seedes The seedes of Nigella also serue to the same end Medicines out of Galen TAke of Aristolochia of Opium of eyther alike much foure drammes of the roots of Pelletorie of Spayne three drams Make thereof Trochisces to the quantitie of a Beane The dose is two Trochisces with three ounces of pure wine The Ashes of a Ramms hoofe tempored with Hony
her least peraduenture he might be infected by her poysonous breath or by the venome euaporated by her sweating Albertus likewise hath recorded in his writings that there vvas a certaine noble young Virgine dwelling at Colen in Germany who from her tender yeeres was fedde onely with Spyders And thus much we English-men haue knowne that there was one Henry Lilgraue liuing not many yeeres since beeing Clarke of the Kitchen to the right noble Ambrose Dudley Earle of Warwicke who would search euery corner for Spyders and if a man had brought him thirtie or fortie at one time he would haue eaten them all vp very greedily such was his desirous longing after them OF THE STELLION THey are much deceiued that confound the greene Lyzard or any other vulgar Lyzard for because the Stellion hath a rustie colour and yet as Matthiolus writeth seeing Aristotle hath left recorded that there are venomous Stellions in Italy he thinketh that the little white beast with starres on the backe found about the Cittie ofRome in the vvalls and ruines of old houses and is there called Tarentula is the Stellion of which Aristotle speaketh and there it liueth vpon Spyders Yet that there is another and more noble kind of Stellion aunciently so called of the Learned shall afterward appeare in the succeeding discourse This Beast or Serpent is called by the Graecians Colottes Ascalobotes Galeotes and such an one was that which Aristophanes faineth from the side of a house eased her belly into the mouth of Socrates as hee gaped when in a Moone-shine night hee obserued the course of the starres and motion of the Moone The reason of this Greeke name Ascalabotes is taken from Ascalos a circle because it appeareth on the backe full of such circles like starres as writeth Perottus Howbeit that seemeth to be a fayned Etymologie and therefore I rather take it that Ascala signifieth impuritie and that by reason of the vncleanenesse of this beast it was called Ascalabetes or as Suidas deriueth it of Colobates because by the helpe and dexteritie of the fingers it clymbeth vppe the walls euen as Rats and myce or as Kiramides will haue it from Calos signifying a peece of wood because it clymbeth vppon wood and Trees And for the same reason it is called Galeotes because it clymbeth like a Weasill but at this day it is vulgarly called among the Graecians Liakoni although some are also of opinion that it is also knowne among them by the words Thamiamithos and Psammamythe Among the vulgar Haebrewes it is sometimes called Letaah and sometimes Semmamit as Munster vvriteth The Arrabians call it Sarnabraus and Senabras a Stellion of the Gardens And peraduenture Guarill Guasemabras Alurel and Gnases And Syluaticus also vseth Epithetes for a Stellion And the generall Arabian word for such creeping byting things is Vasga which is also rendered a dragon of the house Insteed of Colotes Albertus hath Arcolus The Germaines English and French haue no words for this Serpent except the Latine word and therefore I was iustly constrained to call it a Stellion in imitation of the Latine word As I haue shewed some difference about the name so it now ensueth that I should doe the like about the nature and place of their abode First of all therefore I must put a difference betwixt the Italian Stellion or Tarentula and the Thracian or Graecian for the Stellion of the Ancients is propper to Gracia For they say this Stellion is full of Lentile spots or speckles making a sharpe or shrill shrieking noyse and is good to be eaten but the other in Italy are not so Also they say in Sicilia that their Stellions inflict a deadly byting but those in Italy cause no great harme by their teeth They are couered with a skin like a shell or thicke barke and about their backes there are many little shining spots like eyes from whence they haue their names streaming like starres or droppes of bright cleare water according to this verse of Ouid. Aptumque colori Nomen habet varijs Stellatus corpor a guttis Which may be englished thus And like his spotted hiew so is his name The body starred ouer like drops of rayne It mooueth but slowly the backe and tayle beeing much broader then is the backe and tayle of a Lyzard but the Italian Tarentulaes are white and in quantitie like the smallest Lyzards and the other Graecian Lyzards called at this day among them Haconi is of bright siluer colour and are very harmefull and angry whereas the other are not so but so meeke and gentle as a man may put his fingers into the mouth of it without danger One reason of their white bright shining colour is because they want blood and therefore it was an errour in Syluaticus to say that they had blood The teeth of this Serpent are very small and crooked and whensoeuer they byte they sticke fast in the wound and are not pulled forth againe except with violence The tayle is not very long yet when by any chaunce it is broken bytten or cut off then it groweth againe They liue in houses and neere vnto the doores and windowes thereof make their lodgings and some-times in dead-mens graues and Sepulchres but most commonly they clymbe and creepe aloft so as they fall downe againe some-times into the meate as it is in dressing and sometimes into other things as we haue already said into Socrates mouth when they descend of their owne accord they creepe side-long They eate Hony and for that cause creepe into the hiues of Bees except they be very carefully stopped as Virgill writeth Nam saepe fauos ignotus adedit Stellio Many times the Stellion at vnawares meeteth with the Hony combes They also of Italy many times eate Spyders They all lye hidde foure monthes of the yeere in vvhich time they eate nothing and twice in the yeere that is to say both in the Spring-time and Autumne they cast theyr skinne which they greedily eate so soone as they haue stripped it off Which Theophrastus and other Authors write is an enuious part in this Serpent or creeping creature because they vnderstand that it is a noble remedy against the Falling-sicknesse vvherefore to keepe men from the benefit and good which might come there-by they speedily deuoure it And from this enuious and subtile part of the Stellion commeth the cryme in Vlpianus called Crimen Stellionatus that is when one man fraudulently preuenteth another of his money or wares or bargaine euen as the Stellion dooth man-kind of the remedy which commeth vnto them by and from his skinne This cryme is also called Extortion and among the Romans when the Tribunes did with-draw from the Souldiours their prouision of victuall and Corne it is said Tribunos qui per Stellatur as Militibus aliquid abstulissent capitali poena affecit And therefore Budaeus relateth a history of two Tribunes who for this stellature were worthilie stoned to death by the commaundement of the
his owne belly But the colour going and comming is often changed now like pale lead then like blacke and anon as greene as the rust of brasse the gumbes flow with blood and the Liuer it selfe falleth to be inflamed sleepinesse and trembling possesseth the body and seuerall parts and difficultie of making vrine with Feauers neezing and shortnesse of breath These are related by Aetius Aegineta Greuinus and others which worke not alwaies in euery body generallie but some in one and some in another as the humours and temperament of nature doth leade and guide their operation But I maruaile from whence Plato in his Symposium had that opinion that a man bytten and poysoned by a Viper will tell it to none but onely to those that haue formerly tasted of that misery for although among other effects of this poyson it is said that madnes or a distracted mind also followeth yet I think in nature there can be no reason giuen of Platoes opinion except he meane that the patient will neuer manifest his griefe at all And this how-soeuer also is confuted by this one story of Greuinus There was as he writeth a certaine Apothecarie vvhich did keepe Vipers and it happened one day as hee was medling about them that one of them caught him by his finger and did byte him a little so as the prints of his teeth appeared as the poynts of needles The Apothecary onely looked on it and beeing busied either forgot or as hee said afterward felt no paine for an howres space but after the howre first his finger smarted and began to burne and afterward his arme and vvhole body fell to be suddenly distempered there-with so as necessity constrayning him and opportunitie offering it selfe he sent for a Phisitian at hand and by his good aduise thorough Gods mercy was recouered but with great difficultie for he suffered many of the former passions and symptomes before he was cured Therefore by this story eyther Plato was in a wrong opinion or else Greuinus telleth a fable which I cannot graunt because he wrote of his owne experience knowne then to many in the world who would quicklie haue contradicted it or else if he had consented to the opinion of Plato no doubt but in the relation of that matter he would haue expressed also that circumstance Thus then we haue as briefely and plainly as we can deliuered the paines torments which are caused by the poyson of Vipers now therefore it followeth that we also briefely declare the vertue of such Medicines as we find to be applyed by diligent and carefull obseruations of many learned Phisitians against the venom of Vipers First of all they write that the generall rule must be obserued in the curing of the poyson of Vipers which is already declared against other Serpents namely that the force of theyr poyson be kept from spreading and that may be done eyther by the present extraction of the poyson or else by bynding the wounded member hard or else by cutting it off if it be in finger hand or foote Galen reporteth that when he was in Alexandria there came to the Citty a Country-man which had his finger bytten by a Viper but before he came hee had bound his finger close to the palme of his hand and then hee shewed the same to a Phisitian who immediatly cut off his finger and so he was cured And besides he telleth of another country-man who reaping of Corne by chaunce with his sickle did hurt a Viper who returned and did raze all his finger with her poysonfull teeth The man presently conceiuing his owne pertill cut off his owne finger with the same sickle before the poyson was spred too farre and so was cured without any other Medicine Sometime it hapneth that the byte is in such a part that it cannot be cutte off and then they apply a Henne cut insunder aliue layd to as hot as can be also one must first wash and annoynt his mouth with oyle and so sucke out the poyson Likewise the place must be scarified and the partie fedde and dieted with old Butter and bathed in milke or Sea-water and be kept waking and made to walke vp and downe It were too long also needlesse to expresse all the medicines which by naturall means are prepared against the poyson of Vipers whereof seeing no reasonable man will expect that at my hands I will onely touch two or three cures by way of history and for others refer my Reader to Phisitians or to the Latine discourse of Caronus In Norcheria the country of that great and famous Gentilis who translated Auiten there is a fountaine into which if any man be put that is stung or bytten by a Serpent hee is thereof immediatly cured which Amatus Lusitanus approoueth to be very naturall because the continuall cold water killeth the hot poyson The same Authour writeth that when a little maid of the age of thirteene yeeres was bytten in the heele by a Viper the legge beeing first of all bound at the knee very hard then because the maid fell destract first he caused a Surgeon to make two or three deeper holes then the Viper had made that so the poyson might be the more easily extracted then he scarified the place and drawed it with cupping-glasses whereby was exhausted all the blacke blood and then also the whole legge ouer was scarified and blood drawne out of it as long as it would run of it owne accord Then was a plaister made of Garlicke and the sharpest Onyons rosted which being mixed with Triacle was layde to the bytten place Also the maide dranke three dayes of Triacle in wine and foure houres after a little broth made with Garlicke The second day after the abatement of the paine he gaue her the iuyce of Yew-leaues fasting which he commendeth as the most notable Antidote in this kind and so made a second plaister which lay on three dayes more and in the meane time she dranke fasting euery day that iuyce of Yew-leaues whereby her trembling and distracted estate was abated but from the wounded place still flowed matter and it looked blacke Then the foure next dayes the said matter was drawne out by a linnen cloth wherein was Goatesdunge powder of Lawrell and Euphorbium in Wine all mixed together and afterward he made this oyntment which did perfectly cure her Rec of long Aristolochij two ounces of Briony and Daffadill one ounce of Galbanum and Myrrhe of each one ounce with a conuenient quantitie of oyle of Bayes and Waxe This applyed to the bytten place in a â—…en cloth and tentures twice a day did perfectly recouer her health within a month Ambrosius Paraeus cured himselfe with binding his finger hard that was bytten applying to it Triacle dissolued in Aquavitae and drunke vp in lynt or bumbast and he aduiseth in stead of old Triacle to take Mithridate Gesner saith that he saw a mayd cured of the eating of Vâ—pers flesh by beeing constrained
my hands in whose cure when generous medicines auailed nothing at last with consent of her husband I purposed to try her with Vipers flesh where-vpon a female Viper beeing cleansed and prepared after that sort as Galen prescribeth in his booke De Theriaca mingling the flesh of the Viper with Galangall Saffron c. I sod her very well Then I tooke a chicken which I commaunded well to be sod in the iuyce and broth of the Viper And least shee should take any harme there-by I first ministred vnto her Methridate then the Chicken with the broth by eating whereof she said she felt herselfe better Which when I saw I tooke another male viper whom I sod alone without adding any other thing and the broth thereof I ministred to her three dayes where-vpon she began to sweat extreamely the sweat I restrained by syrop of Violets and pure water After sixe dayes scales fell from her and shee was healed Moreouer shee soone after conceiued a man-child hauing beene barren before the space of forty yeeres Antonius Musa a Phisitian when he met with an incurable Vlcer he gaue his patients Vipers to eate and cured them with maruailous celeritie When the scruaunt of Craterus the Phisitian fell into a strange and vnusuall disease that his flesh fell from his bones and that he had prooued many medicines which profited him nothing he was healed by eating a Viper dressed as a fish Vipers flesh if it be sod and eaten cleareth the eyes helpeth the defects of the sinewes and represseth swellings They say they that eate vipers become lousie which is not so though Galen affirme it Some adde them to liue long who eate that meate to wit Vipers Isogonus affirmeth the Cirni a kind of Indians to liue an hundred and forty yeeres Also he thinketh the Ethyopians and Seres and the inhabitants of Mount Athos to be long liued because they eate Vipers flesh The Scythians cleaue the head of the viper betwixt the eares to take out a stone which they say she deuoureth when she is affrighted The heads of Vipers burnt in a pot to ashes and after beaten together with the grosest decoction of bitter Lupines and spred as an oyntment on the temples of the head stayeth the continuall rhume of the eyes Their ashes lightly beaten alone and applyed as a dry medicine for the eyes greatly amendeth a dimme sight The head of a viper kept dry and burned and after beeing dipped in Vineger and applyed cureth wild fire The gall of the viper doth wonderfully cleanse the eye and offendeth not by poyson It is manifest against the stinging of all Serpents though incurable that the bowels of the very Serpents doe helpe and auaile and yet they who at any time haue drunke the liuer of a sod Viper are neuer stung of Serpents The fat of a viper is effectuall against the dimnesse and suffusions of the eyes mixed with Rosin Honny-attick and a like quantity of old oyle For the Gowte they sayâ—t auaileth much to annoynt the feete with the fatte of Vipers Vipers fatte healeth them that are burned The slough of the Viper cureth the Ring-worme The skinne of the viper beaten to powder and layd vpon the places where the hayre is fallen it dooth wonderfully restore hayre againe Some extend and dry whole Vipers and after beate them to powder and minister theÌ„ in drinke against the Gowte Others about the rising of the Dog-star cut off the head tayle of Vipers and burne the middle then they giue those ashes to be drunke 21. dayes so much at a time as may be taken vp with three fingers and so cure the swelling in the neeke Ioynts payned with the Gowte are profitably annoynted with oyle wherein a Viper hath beene sodden for this cureth perfectly The making of oyle of Vipers is described in these words Take three or foure Vipers cut off their extreame parts the head and the tayle in length foure fingers deuide the rest into foure gobbets and put them in a pot open aboue and below which pot must be put into another greater pot then the mouth of them must be well shutte with clay that they breathe not forth then put them into a caldron full of seething water and there let them continue boyling two houres in those pots then will distill a liquour from the Vipers which were in the pot open aboue and below with that oylie liquour annoynt the members of the partie molested with the Palsey for by a secret propertie it cureth the greefe of that disease Of Triacle and Trochuks of Uipers THeriace or Triacle not onely because it cureth the venomous byting of Serpents but also because the Serpents themselues are vsually mingled in the making thereof fitly is so named of both significations Heere also we will insert something concerning Trochuks of Vipers vvhich are mingled in the making of Triacle Triacle is very auncient and hath alwaies very carefully and not without ambition beene refined by the Phisitians till Andromochus Nero his Phisitian added the flesh of Vipers as the full accomplishment of this drugge The flesh of Vipers alone is mingled in Triacle and not the flesh of other Serpents because all the rest haue some-thing malignant more then Vipers Vipers are thought to haue lesse poyson in them then other Serpents Vipers for Triacle must not be taken at any time but chiefely in the beginning of the Spring when hauing left their dennes they come forth into the sunne-shine and as yet haue not poyson much offensiue Take female Vipers for we must take heede how we take male vipers for the confection of Antidotes For Trochuks all vipers are not conuenient but those which be yellow and of the yellow the females onely Vipers great with young you must refuse for being pregnant they are more exasperate then themselues at other times Of Vipers be made Trochisches which of the Graecians are called Therâ—acy foure fingers beeing cut off at either end and the inwards taken out and the pale matter cleauing to the backe-bone the rest of the body must be boyled in a dish in water with the herbe Dill the back-bone must be taken out and fine floure must be added Thus these Trochuks being made they must be dryed in the shade apart from the Sunne-beames and beeing so prepared they be of very great vse for many medicines The vse of Triacle is profitable for many things for not onely by his owne nature it auayleth against the byting of venomous creatures and poysons but also it is found by experience to helpe many other great infirmities For it caseth the Gowte and payne in the ioynts it dryeth fluxes it very much profiteth men molested with the Dropsie leaprous and melancholicke persons those that haue Quartane-Agues or the Iaundise those that haue a weake voyce or that spet blood those that are troubled with aking of the reynes with disentery with the stone
thrusting forwards for we cannot properly say that they doe eyther role or tumble Olympio in Plautus would goe about to make a simple plaine fellow beleeue that Wormes did eate noting but very earth because he vsed these words to Chalinus Post autem nisi ruri tu eruum comederis for thus Lambine readeth Aut quasi Lumbcicus terram In English thus And afterward thou naught but Tares shalt eate Or else like VVormes the earth shall be thy meate But by earth here in this place he vnderstandeth not pure earth and such as is without any other mixture but rather the fat iuyce and moysture of the same And this is the reason that Earth-wormes are not to be found in all soyles alike as in barren sandy stony hard and bare grounds but onely in fat grauilly moyst clammy and fertile And for this respect England hath many Wormes because both Countrey and soyle are very moyst and this moysture whereon they feed must not bee salt sower tart or bitter but sweete and tooth-some and therefore it is that Lutretius in his second booke writeth that Wormes are bred most when it showreth as in rainy seasons and moyst weather Quatenus in pullos animaleis vertier oua Lerminus alitum vermesque efferuare terram Intempestiuos cùm putror coepit ob imbres In english thus Euen as in time of raine we see Birds Egges their young forth hatch And wormes in heat of gendering be When they clouds rot do catch And to this opinion of Lucretius Nicander seemeth to leane when he affirmeth that these Wormes are nourished altogether of the earth that is moystned with long Raine or with some smoaking shewer for making a difference betweene the Serpent Scytale the Amphisbaena he thus wtiteth Steileies pachetos tes elminthos pelei ogros He cai enterages oia trephei ombrimos aia Id est Manubrij ligonis latitudo longitudo verò ei quae Lumbrico Aut terrae intestinis quae imbribus irrigata terra alit That is to say As broad as haft of Spade his length like little Worme And fed with dreary earth moyst by clouds rainy forme The greater sort of Earth-Wormes liue in the bowels of the Earth and most of all in an open free ayre and where there is some repaire and confluence of people Euery morning they with-draw themselues into their secret holes corners within the ground fencing the entrance of them with their excrements they haue voyded foorth in a fayre and Sunshine weather but in rainy weather they vse to stop the mouthes of their holes with some stalke or leaues of herbs or trees being drawne a little inwardly into the earth They feede vpon the roots of those Plantes which haue any sweete iuyce or moysture in them and therefore one may many times find them amongest the roots of common Meddow-Grasse and they do liue for the most part by the fat moysture of the earth yet will they also greedily deuour crummes of white Bread vnleauened as I haue often seene In the Spring time they first appeare to come foorth from the bowels of the earth and all the Winter they lye hidde in the ground but yet if it bee a very sharpe and pintching colde Winter and a dry Sommer follow for lacke of moysture they doe all-most all dye Besides if you digge into the earth or make a great motion trampling or hard treading vpon the same pouring in any strange liquor or moysture into the same wherewithall they are vnaquainted as for example the iuyce of Wall-nut-trees the water wherein Hemp eyther seedes or leaues are soked or bin layd to rottein common Lye and the like they will issue out of the earth speedily and by this meanes Fisher-men and Anglers do take them In like manner they cannot endure Salt or aromaticall things nor by their good wil come neere them for but touching any of these they will draw themselues on a heape so dye Wormes are found to bee very venomous in the Kingdome of Mogor and the Inhabitants there doe stand in so great feare of them that they bee destroyed and slaine by them when they trauell any iourney and therefore there they vse ordinarily to carry Besomes with them to sweepe the playne wayes for feare of further hurt Georgius Agricola saith that the little Wormes called Ascarides are not all of one colour for some are white some yellow as I remembred a little before and others againe are very blacke and many of these in tilling the earth are cast vppe by the plough and many found in dyuers places all on a heape together These be they that destroy corne-field for by sharing or byting the roots the fruit dyeth Some say that those wormes do most mischiefe to corne-grounds which in some places of Italy the people terme Zaccarolae these are thick almost a finger long being natural of a very cold constitution of body and therefore they neuer vse to come foorth of the earth but when the weather is passing hot for then will they come forth euen to the surface of the ground as it is notably set downe by the famous Poet Ouid à quo ceu fonte perenni Vatum Pierijs labra rigantur aquis In english thus By whom as by an euerlasting filling Spring VVith Muses liquor Poets lips are bath'd to singe Homer very fitly compareth Harpalion when he fell downe dead amongst his Companions to a silly worm when as seeking to escape by flight out of the battel he was wounded to death by Meriones shooting an arrow or steele-dart into his hanch or hip his verses be these Meriones d'apiontos iei chalkere oiston Kai r'ebale glouton kata dexion autar oistos Antikron kata kustin vp'osteon exeperesen Ezomenos de cat ' authi philon en chersin etairon Thumon apopneion oste scolex epi gai Keito tatheis ecd ' aima melan ree dene de gaian Id est Meriones autem in abeuntem misit aream sagittam Et vulnerauit coxam ad dextram ac sagitta é regione per vesticam sub as penetrauit Restidens autem illic chararum inter manus sociorum Animam efflans tanquam vermis super terram Iacebat extensus sanguisque effluebat tingebat erutem terram That is to say But as he went away behold Meriones VVith brazen dart did his right hip-bone wound VVhich neere the bladder did the bone thorough pierce In friends deere hands he dyed vpon the ground So stretcht vpon the earth he lyed Blacke bloud out flowing the same bedyed Marke well the slendernesse of this comparison whereby hee would giue vs to vnderstand the base estate and faynt hart of Harpalion For in other places hauing to write of Noble valiant and magnanimious persons when they were ready to giue vp the ghost he vseth the words Sphadazein Bruchein and the like to these secretly insinuating to vs that they fell not downe dead like impotent Cowards or timerous abiects but that they raged like Lyons with
of the iuyce of Raddish l. j. mixe them together for Iron beeing often quenched in this water will grow exceeding hard Another Take of Earth-wormes l. ij destill them in a Limbecke with an easie and gentle fire temper your yron in this destilled water Another Take of Goates blood so much as you please adding to it a little common salt then bury them in the earth in a pot well glased and luted for thirtie dayes together Then destill after this the same blood in Balneo to this destilled liquor adde so much of the destilled water of Earth-worms Another Take of Earth-wormes of the rootes of Apple-trees of Rapes of each a like-much destill them apart by themselues and in equall portions of this water so destilled and afterwards equally mixed quench your yron in it as is said before Antonynus Gallus It shall not be impertinent to our matter we handle to adde a word or two concerning those wormes that are found and doe breede in the snow which Theophanes in Strabo calleth Oripas but because it may seeme very strange incredible to think that any wormes breede and liue onely in the snow you shall heare what the Auncients haue committed to writing and especially Strabo his opinion concerning this poynt It is saith hee receiued amongst the greater number of men that in the snow there are certaine clots or hard lumpes that are very hollow which waxing hard and thicke doe containe the best vvater as it were in a certaine coate and that in this case or purse there doe breede vvormes Theophanes calleth them Oripas and Apollonides Vermes Aristotle saith that liuing creatures will breede also euen in those things that are not subiect to putrefaction as for example in the fire and snow which of all thinges in the world one would take neuer to be apt to putrefie and yet in old snowe Wormes will be bred Old snow that hath lyen long will looke some-what dunne or of a dullish white colour and therefore the snow-wormes are of the same hiew and likewise rough hairie But those snow-wormes which are found to breed when the ayre is somwhat warme are great and white in colour and all these snow-wormes will hardly stirre or mooue from place to place And Pliny is of the same iudgement and the Authour of that booke which is intituled De Plantis falsely fathered vpon Aristotle Yet some there be that denying all these authorities and reiecting whatsoeuer can be obiected for confirmation thereof to the contrarie doe stoutly maintaine by diuers reasons that creatures can breede in the snow because that in snow there is no heate and where no quickning heate is there can be no production of any liuing thing Againe Aristotle writeth that nothing will come of Ise because it is as hee saith most cold and heere-vpon they inferre that in all reason nothing likewise can take his beginning from snow neither is it credible that husbandmen would so often wish for snow in Winter to destroy and consume wormes and other little vermine that els would prooue so hurtfull to their corne and other fruites of the earth And if any wormes be found in the snow it followeth not straightwaies that therein they first receiue theyr beginning but rather that they first come out of the earth and are afterwards seene to be wrapped vp and lye on heapes in the snow But by their leaues these reasons are very weake and may readily be aunswered thus that whereas they maintaine that nothing can breede in the snow because it is voyd of any heate at all herein they build vpon a false ground For if wee will adhibite credite to Auerrhoes there is nothing compounded and made of the three Elements that is absolutely without heate And Aristotle in his fift booke De Generatione Animalium telleth vs precisely that there is no moysture without heate His wordes are Ouden hugron aneu thermou Now snow is a compact and fast congealed substance and some-what moyst for although it proceedeth by congelation which is nothing els but a kind of exsiccation yet notwithstanding the matter whereof it first commeth is a vapour whose nature is moyst and with little adoe may be turned into water I must needes say that congelation is a kind of exsiccation but yet not simply for exsiccation is when as humidity goeth away it putteth forth any matter but in snovv there is no humiditie that is drawne out but it is rather wrapped in and enclosed more strongly and as it were bounded round Furthermore Aristotle in his first booke of his Meteors saith that Snow is Nubes congelata a clowde congelated or thickned together and that in snow there is much heate And in his fift booke De Generatione Animalium he further addeth that the whitenes of the snow is caused by the ayre that the ayre is hot and moist and the snow is white where-vpon we conclude that snow is not so cold as some would beare vs in hand I well hold that nothing will take his originall from Ise inregard of his excessiue coldnes but yet snow is nothing nie so cold as that So then all the hinderance and let is found to exceede of cold which is nothing so effectuall or forceable as in Ise the cold beeing prooued to be farre lesser there can nothing be alleadged to the contrary but that it may putrefie Now in that snow is such an enemie to wormes and many other small creatures as that for the most part it destroyeth them yet it followeth not that the reason of Aristotle is quite ouer-throwne because as wee daily see that those creatures which liue in the ayre will for the most part be suffocate and dye in the water and contrariwise those that liue in the water cannot endure the ayre Yet here-vppon it followeth not that if they be choked in the water that none at all will liue in the water and the same reason is to be alleadged concerning the ayre Therefore it is no maruell if those wormes that first breede in the earth and liue in the earth be killed by the snow yet it necessarily followeth not that no liuing creature can take his first beeing either from or in the snow But if it can as Aristotle witnesseth it is so farre vnlikely that the same snow should be the destroyer of that it first was bred of as I thinke rather it cannot liue seperately but of necessitie in the same snow no otherwise then fishes can liue without water from which they first sprung and had theyr beginning And to this opinion leaneth Theophrastus in his first booke De Causis Plantarū whose words be these Apanta gar phainet ai ta zoa kai ta phuta kai diamenonta kai genomena en tois oikeiois capois For all creatures saith he whatsoeuer seeme both plants to remaine and to be generated and bred in their owne due and proper places And after this he addeth and vrgeth a little further Aparthe men hupo
and therefore I will conclude for my opinion that these Serpents as the highest poyson in nature were sent by GOD to afflict the sinning Israelites whose poyson was vncurable except by Diuine miracle Matthiolus also telleth a story of a Shepheard which was slaine in Italy by one of these as hee was sleeping in the heate of the day vnder the shaddow of a tree his fellow Shepheardes beeing not farre off looking to theyr flockes soddainely there came one of these Dart-Serpentes out of the tree and wounded him vppon his left pappe at the byting whereof the man awaked and cryed out aad so dyed incontinently his fellow Shepheards hearing this noyse came vnto him to see what he ayled and found him dead with a Serpent vpon his breast now knowing what kind of Serpent this was they forsooke their flockes and ran away for feare The cure of this Serpentes byting if there bee any at all is the same vvhich cureth the Viper as Aetius and Auicen writeth and therefore I will not relate it in this place The gall of this beast mixed with the Sythian Stone yealdeth a very good Eye-salue The which Gall lyeth betwixt the backe and the Lyuer And thus much shall suffice for this Serpent OF THE DIPSAS THis Dipsas hath many names for many occasions First Dipsas in Greeke signyfieth thirst as Sitis dooth in Latine and thereof also it is called Situla because whosoeuer is vvounded by this Serpent dyeth It is also called by some Prester and by some Causon because it setteth the whole body on fire but wee shall shew afterwardes that the Prester is a different Serpent from this It is called likewise Milanurus because of his black taile and Ammoâ—tis because it lyeth in the sand and there hurteth a man It is not therefore vnfitly defined by Auicen to bee Vipera sitem faciens That is A Viper causing thirst and therfore Ouid sporting at an old drunken woman named Lena calleth her Dipsas in these verses Est quaedam nomine Dipsas anus Ex re nomen habit nigri non illa parentem Memnonis in roseis sobria vidit equis In English thus There is a woman old which Dipsas may be hight And not without some cause thirsty she euer is For neuer Memnous sire all blacke and sildome bright Did she in water sweete behold in sobernesse They liue for the most part neere the Waters and in salt Marishy places whereupon Lucan saide Stant in margine siccae Aspides Et medijs sitiebant Dipsades vndis That is to say Vpon pits brinke dry Aspes there stood And Dipsads thirst in middest of water floud It is called Torrida Dipsas and Arida Dipsas because of the perpetuall thirst and therefore the Aegyptians when they will signifie thirst doe picture a Dipsas wherevpon Lucianus relateth this story there is saith hee a statue or monument vppon a Graue right ouer against the great Syrtes betwixt Sillya and Aegypt with this Epigram Talia passus erat quoque Tantalus Aethiope cretus Qui nullo potuit fonte leuare sitim Tale nec è Danao nat as implere puellas Assiduis vndis vas potuisse reor That is to say Such Tantalus indured in Aethiope bred Which neuer could by Water quench his thirst Nor could the Graecian maids with water sped That with dayly pourings till the vessell curst The statue was the picture of a man like vnto Tantalus standing in the middest of a Water ready to drinke by drawing in of the Water about whose foote was foulded a Dipsas close by stood certaine women bringing water and pouring it into him to make it runne into his mouth besides there was certaine Egges as it were of Estriches lay pictured beside them such as the Garamants in Lybia seeke after For it is reported by Lucianus that the people of that Country doe earnestly seeke after the Fstryges Egges vppon the sandes not onely to eate the meate that is in them but also to make sundry vessels or instruments of the shell and among other things they make Cappes of them Neare vnto these Egges doe these trecherous Serpentes lie in waight and so while the poore Country-man commeth to seeke for meate suddenly he leapeth vppon him and giueth him a mortall wound Aelianus hath an Embleme which hee seemeth to haue translated out of Greeke from Antipiter Sidonius of a Falconer which while he was looking vppe after Birdes for meate for his Hawke suddainely a Dipsas came behind him and stung him to death The title of his Embleme is Qui alta contemplatur cadere he that looketh hie may fall and the Embleme it selfe is this that solloweth Dum turdos visco pedica dum fallit alaudas Et iacta altiuolam figit arundo gruem Dipsada non prudens auceps pede perculit vltrix Illa mali emissum virus ab ore tacit Sic obit extento qui sidera respicit arcu Securus fati quod ia cit ante pedes Which may be thus Englished Whiles Thrush with line and Larke deceiued with net And Crane high flying pierced with force of reede By Falconer was behold a Dipsas on the foote did set As if it would reuenge his bloudy foule misdeed For poyson out of mouth it cast and bit his foote Whereof he dyed like Birds by him deceiued Whiles bending bow aloft vnto the stars did looke Saw not his fate below which him of life bereaued This Dipsas is inferior in quantity vnto a Viper but yet killeth by poyson much more speedily according to these verses Exiguae similis spectatur Dipsas echidnae Sed festina magis morsictus occupat aegros Parua lurida cui circa vltima cauda nigrescit That is to say This Dipsas like vnto the Viper small But kils by stroke with greater paine and speede whose taile at end is soft and blacke withall That as your death auoyd with carefull heede It is but a short Serpent and so small as Arnoldus writeth it killeth before it be espyed the length of it not past a cubit the fore part being very thick except the head which is small and so backward it groweth smaller and smaller the taile being exceeding little the colour of the forepart somewhat white but set ouer with blacke and yellow spots the taile very blacke Galen writeth that the ancient Marsi which were appointed for hunting Serpentes and Vipers about Rome did tell him that there was no meanes outwardly to distinguish betwixt the Viper and the Dipsas except in the place of their abode for the Dipsas he saith keepeth in the salt places and therefore the nature thereof is more fiery but the Vipers keepe in the dryer Crountries wherfore there are not many of the Dipsades in Italy because of the moystnes of that Country but in Lybia where there are great store of salt Marshes As we haue said already a man or beast wounded with this serpent is afflicted with intollerable thirst insomuch as it is easier for him to breake his belly then to quench his
thirst with drinking alwaies gaping like a Bull casteth himselfe downe into the water maketh no spare of the cold liquor but continually sucketh it in till either the belly breake or the poyson driue out the life by ouer-comming the vitall Spirites To conclude beside all the symptomes which follow the biting of Vipers which are coÌ„moÌ„ to this scrpent this also followeth theÌ„ that the party afflicted can neither make water vomit nor sweat so that they perish by one of these two waies first either they are burned vp by the heat of the poyson if they come not at water to drinke or else if they come by water they are so vnsatiable that their bellies first swell aboue measure and soone breake about their prâ—â—y partes To conclude all the affections which follow the thicke poyson of this Serpent are excellently described by Lucan in these verses following Signiferum iuuenem Tyrrheni sanguinis Aulum Torta caput retrò Dipsas calcata momordit Vix dolor aut sensus dentis fuit ipsaque leti Frons caret inuidia nec quicquam plaga minatur Ecce subit virus tacitum carpitque medullas Ignis edax calidaque incendit visceratabe Ebibit humorem circum vitalia fusum Pestis in sicco linguam torrere palato Coepit defessos iret qui sudor in artus Non fuit atque occulos lachrymarum venarefugit Non decus imperij non moesti iura Catonis Ardentem tenuere virum quin spargere signa Auderet totisque furens exquireret agris Quas poscebat aquas sitiens in corde venenum Ille vel in Tanaim missus Rhodanumque Padumque Arderet Nilumque bibens per rura vagantem Accessit morti Libyae fatique minorem Famam Dipsas habet terris adiuta perustis Scrutatur venas penitus squallentis arenae Nunc redit ad Syrtes fluct us accipit ore Aequoreusque placet sed non sufficit humor Nec sentit fatique genus mortemque veneni Sed putat esse sitim ferroque apertre tumentes Sustinuit venas atque osimplere cruore Lucanus lib. 9. In English thus Tyrrhenian Aulus the auncient-bearer young Was bit by Dipsas turning head to heele No paine or sence of 's teeth appear'd though poyson strong Death doth not frowne the man no harme did feele But loe slye poyson takes the marrow and eating fire Burning the bowels warme till all consumed Drinking vp the humour about the vitall spire And in dry palate was the tongue vp burned There was no sweat the sinnewes to refresh And teares fled from the veine that feedes the eyes Then Catoes lawes nor Empiers honor fresh This fiery youth could hold but downe the streamer flyes And like a mad man about the fieldes he runs Poysons force in heart did waters craue Though vnto Tanas Rhodanus Padus he comes Or Nilus yet all to little for his heate to haue But dry was death as though the Dipsas force Were not inough but holpe by heate of earth Then doth he search the sands but no remorse To Syrtes floud he hies his mouth of them he filleth Salt water pleaseth but it cannot suffice Nor knew he fate or this kind venoms death But thought it thirst and seeing his veines arise Them cut which bloud stopt mouth and breath The signes of death following the byting of this Serpent are extreame drought and inflamation both of the inward and outward partes so that outwardly the partes are as dry as Parchment or as a skinne set against the fire which commeth to passe by adustion and commutation of the bloud into the nature of the poyson For this cause many of the auncients haue thought it to be incurable and therefore were ignorant of the proper medicines practising onely common medicines prescribed against Vipers but this is generally obserued that if once the belly beginne to breake there can bee no cure but death First therefore they vse scarification and make vstion in the body cutting of the member wounded If it be in the extremity they lay also playsters vnto it as Treacle liquid pitch with oyle Hennes cut asunder aliue and so layde to hote or else the leaues of Purslaine beaten in Vineger Barley-meale Bramble-leaues pounded with Hony also Plantine Isope White-garlicke Leekes Rue Nettles Then must the gouernement of their bodies be no lesse looked vnto first that they be kept from all sharpe and salt meates then that they be made continually to drinke oyle to procure vomit and vvith theyr vomits which they cast out of their stomacke to giue them glysters that so the waters may be drawne to the lower parts Besides some take medicines out of Fishes especially such as are salt and the leaues barke or sprigges of Laurill and to conclude there is nothing better then Treacle compounded of Vipers fleshe And thus much for the Dipsas OF THE DOVBLE-HEAD BEcause the Graecians call this Serpent Amphisbaina and the Latines from thence Amphisbenae because it goeth both waies as if it had two heads no taile and for this purpose it is neuer seene to turne his body as it were to turne about his head When it hath a purpose to auoyde that thing which it feareth or where-withall it is offended hee doth but onely change his course backward as he went forward so that it is as happy a Lyntius whom the Poets faine to be very quick-sighted or as those Monsters which are said to haue eyes in their backs or rather like to Ianus which is sayde to haue two faces one forward and another backward and therefore I haue called it Double-head I trust fitly enough to expresse the Greeke word although compounded of two words together for so is the Greeke word also which the French doe expresse by a like compounded word Double-marcheur that is going two waies It is likewise called Ankesime Alchismus Amphisilenem And thus much may suffice for the name It is said that this Serpent is found in the Iland Lemnus but among the Germans it is vnknowne There is some question whether it may be said to haue two heads or no. Galen affirmeth that it is like a shippe hauing two fore-parts that is one behind another before Pliny also subscribeth here-vnto and maketh it a very pestilent Serpent Geminum habet caput Amphisbena tanquam parum esset vno ore fundi venenum saith hee It hath a double-head as though one mouth were not enough to vtter his poyson according to the saying of the Poet Est grauis in geminum surgitis caput Amphis-benae Serpens qui visu necat et sibilo Which may be englished thus This Serpent Double-head is grieuous to be seene Whose clouen-head doth kill with sight and hissing keene Vnto this also Elianus subscribeth that it is a true Serpent and hath two heads so that whensoeuer it is to goe forward one of them standeth in the place of the tayle but when it is to goe backward then the head becommeth the tayle and the tayle the head So also Mantuan sayth