CHAP. XXVIII.
THat the earth containeth many things both pestilent and mortall,* 1.1 thou maist know, because so many poisons issue from it, not scat∣tered by the hand, but of their owne accord, the ground contay∣ning in it the seedes both of good and euill. And why? are there not diuers places in Italie wherein by secret pores certaine veno∣mous vapors are exhaled, that kill both man and beasts if they draw near them. The birds also if they light vpon it before it be tempered with a better aire, fall downe in their very flight, and their bodies become blew and swolne, euen as these humane bodies are, that are strangled. This spirit as long as it is contay∣ned in the earth, flowing through a small and slender passage, hath no more power to kill any, but those that looke into that, or willingly offer themselues vnto it. But when as for many ages it hath beene hidden in darknesse, and tho∣row the malignitie and vice of the place hath gather••d more corruption, the longer it stayeth there the more heauie it waxeth, and consequently the more pernicious is it. But when it hath gotten an issue, it spreadeth that eternall ve∣nome; of shadie cold and infernall night, and infecteth the aire of our Region. For the best are ouer-come by the worst. Then likewise that purer aire is trans∣lated and changed into euill: whence proceede sodaine and continuall deaths, and monstrous sicknesses, as proceeding from new causes. The contagion con∣tinueth more or lesse, according to the continuance and vehemencie of the earthquake, and ceaseth not vntill the spacious extent of the heauens, and the agitation of the windes hath dissipated those venemous vapours.