Batman vppon Bartholome his booke De proprietatibus rerum, newly corrected, enlarged and amended: with such additions as are requisite, vnto euery seuerall booke: taken foorth of the most approued authors, the like heretofore not translated in English. Profitable for all estates, as well for the benefite of the mind as the bodie. 1582.

De Simea. cap. 96.

THe Ape is called Simea in Gréeke, & hath that name of a flat nose. And so we call Apes Simie, for they bée flat in the nose, and foule and riueled in the face. Or we call them Simeas, and giue them that name for lykenesse of reason. For that he in many things counterfei∣teth the déeds of men, but this is false, as Isi. saith, li. 12. And there he sayth, that Apes haue knowledge of elements, & be sory in the full of the Moone, & be merie and glad in the new of the Moone. And when y^e Ape hath two whelps, she bea∣reth y^t that she loueth best in hir armes, and that other on her shoulder, & when she is beset, then she must néeds flie, and may not beare both the whelps: then she is compelled to throw away y^t that she bare in her armes, and is charged with that other that sitteth on her shoulder, &

is the more slow to run and to flye, and is therfore y^e sooner taken with y^e hunter. Of Apes be 5. manner kinds, as he saith, of whom some haue tailes: and ther is an Ape with a taile,* 1.1 & that Ape is called Cluna amōg some men: and some be cal∣led Cenophe, and be like to an hound in the face, & in the body like to an Ape. Al∣so some be called Spinge, and be rough & hairie, with strouting paps and teats, and forgetteth soone wildnesse: and some be Sati••••, pleasing in face, and merrye mouings and playengs, and resteth but little. And some bée called Calatrices, & be vnlike to y^e other, nigh in all manner points, for in the face is a long beard, & haue a broad taile, as Isidore saith. And Plin. saith the same, li. 8. cap. 54. There he saith, y^t kinde of Apes is next to mans shape, & be diuerse, and distinguished by tailes, & labour wanderfully & busily to do all thing that they see: and so oft they sh•• themselues with shooes that hunters leaue in certeine places slily, & be so ta∣ken the sooner: for while they would fa∣sten the thong of the shooe, & wold put y^e shooe on their féete, as they sée y^e hunters doe, they bée oft taken with hunters ere they may vnloose the shooes, & be deliue∣red of them. Also Plinius saith ther, that the kind of Apes loue wel their whelps, for tame Apes that be in an house, she∣weth her whelpes that she whelpeth, to all men that he therein, & haue liking to be stroked, and knoweth them that com∣forteth and pleaseth him, and maketh them good chéere, Huc vs{que} Plinius. But eod. li. cap. 22. he saith, that in Indie bée Apes white in all y^e body and those Apes be hunted & taken with Beares of Inde. Aud li. 2. Auicen saith, that the Ape ac∣cordeth in shape with a man, & in haire with a wolfes & some apes haue euil ma∣ners, & tatches, & their teeth be as it were hounds teeth, & haue malitious biting, and namely those that haue tailes, and some be rough and all hairie before, ex∣cept the face, & such haue teeth as a man, & haue other things as a man, and red∣dish eyen & sharpe, and paps and teats, in the breast, and handes, feete, and fing∣ers, and toes, and may goe and steppe on two feete, for they haue soles in theyr féet as a man hath, & so hath few beasts except a man, and namelye foure footed beasts, as Aristotle saith. And y^e female Ape is like to a woman in the priuye chose, and the males yarde is like to an hounds yarde, & his entrailes be like to a mans entrailes Huc vsque Auicenne. And Aristotle saith, y^t some foure foo∣ted beasts commeth to mans kinde, as the Ape. There he rehearseth all y^e fore∣said likenesse. The Ape is a beast won∣derfully shapen, but he hath some likenes of mankind, and is learned and taught, and so he is taught to leape and play in diuers manner wise, and is an vntamed beast, and malitious by kinde, and is ta∣med and chastised by violence w^t bea∣ting, and with cheines, and is refrained with a clogge, so that he may not runne about freely at his owne will, to abate his fiercenesse and outrage. And the Ape safeth all manner of meats & vncleane things, and therefore he séeketh and loo∣keth wormes in mens heads, and thro∣weth them into his mouth, and eateth thē. The Lion loueth Apes flesh, for by eating therof he recouereth, as it is said when he is sore sicke, as Isido. and Pli∣nius meaneth. Looke before de Leone in littera L.

Notes

• * 1.1

  A Munky A Babicu A Marme se••.