this name was giuen vnto them, rather for their tyrannie and oppression of the people, then for their greatenesse of bodie, or whe∣ther the worde Gygas dooeth onelye signifie Indigenas, or homelinges, borne in the lande or not, neyther whether all men were of like quantitie in stature and farre more greater in olde tyme then at this present they be, and yet absolutely I denie neyther of these, sith very probable reasons may be brought for eche of thē, but especially the last rehearsed, whose confirmation dependeth vpon the au∣thorityes of sundrie auncient writers, who make diuers of Noble race, equall to the Gyauntes in strength, and manhoode, and yet doe not gyue the same name vnto them, by∣cause their quarels were iust, and commonly taken in hande, for defence of the oppressed. Example hereof, also we may take of Hercu∣les and Antheus, whose wrestling declareth that they were equall in stature & stomacke, such also was the courage of Antheus, that being often ouercome, and as it were vtter∣ly vanquished by the sayde Hercules, yet if he did eftsoones returne agayne into his king∣dome, he furthwt recouered his force, retur∣ned & helde Hercules tacke, till he gate at the last betwéene him & home, so cutting of the farder hope of the restoring of his army, and killing finally his aduersarie in the field. The like doe our histories report of Corineus and Gomagot, who fought a combate hande to hande, till one of them was slayne, & yet for all this no man reputeth Corineus for a Gy∣aunt. But sith I saye it is not my purpose to stande vppon these pointes, I passe ouer to speake any more of them, and where as also I might haue procéeded in such order, that I shoulde first set downe by many circumstan∣ces, whether any Gyauntes were, then whe∣ther they were of such huge & incredible sta∣ture, as the authours doe remember, and fi∣nally whether any of them haue béene in this our ylande or not, I protest playnly that my minde is not nowe bent to deale in any such maner, but rather generally to confirme and by sufficient authoritie that there haue bene mightye men of stature, and some of them also in Britaine, as by particular examples shalbe manifestly confirmed without ye obser∣uation of any methode, or such diuisiō in the rehearsal hereof as sound order doth require.
Moses the Prophet of the Lord, writing of the state of things before the flood hath these wordes in his booke of generations. In these daies saith he, there were Giaūts vpō ye erth, Berosus, also the Chalde, writeth that néere vnto Libanus there was a city called Denon (which I take to be Henoch, builded somtime by Cham) wherein Gyauntes dyd inhabit, who trusting to the strength and hugenesse of their bodies, dyd verye great oppression and mischiefe in the worlde. The Hebrues called them generally by the name of Enach per∣aduenture of Henoch the sonne of Cain, frō whom that pestilēt race at the first descēded.
And of these mōsters also some families re∣mained vnto the time of Moses, in compari∣son of whom the children of Israell confessed themselues to be but Grashoppers, which is one noble testimonie that the word Gygas or Enach is so well taken for a man of huge stature, as for an homeborne childe, wicked tyraunt, and oppressour of the people.
Furthermore, there is mention made also of Og, sometyme king of Basan, who was the last of the race of the Gyaunts, that was left in the lande of promise to be ouercome by the Israelites, whose bedde was afterwarde shewed for a woonder at Rabbath (a citie of the Ammonites) and conteyned 9. cubites in length and 4. in bredth, which cubites I take to be geometricall, that is, eache one sixe of the smaller▪ as dyd those also whereof the Arke was made, as our Diuines affirme.
In the first of Samuell you shall reade of Goliath a philistine, the weight of whose Ta∣berde or iacke was of fiue hundreth sicles, or so many ounces, that is, 312. pounde after the rate of a sicle to an ounce, his speare was like a weauers beame, the onelye head whereof weighed 600. ounces of yron, or 37. pounde and a halfe english, his height also was mea∣sured at 6. cubites and an hande bredth, all which do importe that he was a notable Gy∣aunt, and a man of great strength to weare such an armour & beweld so heauy a launce.
In the second of Samuell, I finde report of 4. Gyaunts borne in Geth, of which the third was like vnto Goliath, & the fourth had 24. fingers and toes, whereby it is euident, that the generation of Gyaunts were not extin∣guished in Palestine, vntill the tyme of Da∣uid, which was 2890. after the floude, nor vt∣terly consumed in Og, as some of our exposi∣tours woulde haue it.
Now to come vnto our christen writers, for although the authorities already alleged out of the worde, are sufficient to confirme my purpose at the full, yet will I not let to set downe such other notes as experience hath reuealed, onelye to the ende that the reader shall not thinke the name of Gyaunts, with their quantities, and other circumstaunces, mentioned in the scriptures, rather to haue some misticall interpretation, depending vp∣pon them, then that the sence of the text in this behalfe is to be taken simple as it lyeth