CHAP. LII.
¶ Of such as were carried forth vpon the Biers to be buried, and reuiued againe.
AViola, one that had bin Consull, came again to himselfe when he was cast or put into the [unspec H] funerall fire to be burnt: but because the flame was so strong that no man could come neere to recouer him, he was burnt quicke. The like accident befell to Lu. Lamia, Pretor lately before. As for C. Aelius Tubero, that he was brought aliue again from the like fire, after he had bin Pretor of Rome, both Messala Rufus and many besides constantly affirme. See how it goeth with mortall men: see, I say, our vncertaine state and condition, and how we are born, ex∣posed, and subiect to these and such like occasions of fortune: insomueh as in the case of man there is no assurance at all, no not in his death. We reade in Chronicles, that the ghost of Her∣motimus Clazomenius was woont vsually to abandon his body for a time, and wandering vp and downe into far countries, vsed to bring him newes from remote places, of such things as could not possibly be knowne vnlesse it had bin present there: and all the while his body lay as halfe [unspec I] dead, in a trance. This manner it continued so long, vntill the Cantharidae, who were his mor∣tall enemies, tooke his body vpon a time in that extasie, and burnt it to ashes; and by that means disappointed his poore soule when it came backe againe, of that sheath, as it were, or •…•…ase where she meant to bestow her selfe. Moreouer, we finde in records, that the spirit or ghost of Aristaeas in the Island Proconnesus, was seen euidently to fly out of his mouth in forme of a Rauen; and many a like tale followeth thereupon. For surely I take it to be no better than a fable, which is in like manner reported of Epimenides the Gnosian, namely, that when he was a boy, he being for heate and trauell in his iourney all wearie, laid him downe in a certain caue, where he slept 57 yeares. At length he wakened as it were vpon the next morning, and wondred at such a sudden change of euery thing he saw in the world, as if hee had taken but one nights [unspec K] sleepe. Hereupon, forsooth, in as many daies after as he slept yeares, he waxed old. Howbeit he liued in all 175 yeares. But to returne to our former discourse, women of all others by reason of their sex are most subiect to this danger, to be reputed for dead when there is life in them: and namely because of the disease of the matrice called the rising of the Mother: which if it be brought againe, and setled streight in the place, they soone recouer and take breath againe. Not impertinent to this treatise is that notable and elegant booke among the Greeks compi∣led by Heraclides, where he writeth of a woman that for a seuen-night lay for dead, and fetched not her breath sensibly, who in the end was raised againe to life. Moreouer Varro reporteth, that vpon a time when the twenty deputy Commissioners were diuiding lands in the territory of Capua, there was one there carried forth vpon his bier to be burnt, and came home again vpon [unspec L] his feet. Also, that the like hapned at Aquinum. Likewise, that in Rome one Corfidius, who had maried his owne Aunt by the mothers side, after he had taken order for his funeralls, and set out a certaine allowance therefore, seemed to yeeld vp his ghost and die: howbeit hee reuiued againe, and it was his chance to carry him forth indeed vnto buriall, who had prouided the fur∣niture before for his funerall. This Varro writeth besides of other miraculous matters, which verily are worth the rehearsall at large. One of them is this: Two brethren there were, by birth and calling gentlemen of Rome; whereof the elder, named Corfidius, hapned in all appearance to die: and when his last will and testament was once opened and published, the yonger bro∣ther (who was his heire) was very busie and ready to set forward his funerall. In the mean time [unspec M] the man who seemed dead fell to clap one hand against another, and therewith raised the ser∣uants in the house: when they were come about him, he recounted vnto them, that he was come from his yonger brother, who had recommended his daughter to his tuition and guardenage: and moreouer, had shewed and declared vnto him, in what place he had secretly hidden certain