An apologie of the povver and prouidence of God in the gouernment of the world. Or An examination and censure of the common errour touching natures perpetuall and vniuersall decay diuided into foure bookes: whereof the first treates of this pretended decay in generall, together with some preparatiues thereunto. The second of the pretended decay of the heauens and elements, together with that of the elementary bodies, man only excepted. The third of the pretended decay of mankinde in regard of age and duration, of strength and stature, of arts and wits. The fourth of this pretended decay in matter of manners, together with a large proofe of the future consummation of the world from the testimony of the gentiles, and the vses which we are to draw from the consideration thereof. By G.H. D.D.

LIB. III. Of the pretended decay of mankind in regard of age and duration of strength and sta∣ture, of arts and witts. (Book 3)

CAP. I. Touching the pretended decay of men in regard of their age, and first by way of comparison betweene the ages of the Ancients, and those of latter times.

SECT. 1. Of the short life of man in regard of the duration of many other Creatures and that he was Created Mortall, but had he not falne, should haue beene preserued to immortality.

SInce vpon exammination wee haue found that there is no such perpetuall and vniversall decay as is pretended in the Hea∣•…•…ens, in the Earth, in the Ayre, in the Water, the fishes, the plants, the Beastes, the Mineralls: I see no reason but that from thence wee might safely and sufficiently conclude that neither is there any such decay in man. But because this discourse was principally vndertaken and intended for the sake of mankind, I will consider and compare them of former ages with those of latter, first in regard of age, secondly in regard of Strength and stature, thirdly in regard of wits and inventions: fourthly and lastly in regard of manners and conditions. And if vpon due consideration and comparison it shall appeare that there is no such decay in any of these as is supposed, the Question I trust touch∣the worlds decay in generall will soone be at at end.

The ordinary age of man being compared with that of the heavens, the stones, the mettalls, some beasts & trees is very short, but the longest being cōpared with God and Eternity is but as a span, a shadow, a dreame of a shadow, nay meere nothing, which the Romane Oratour hath both truly observed, and eligantly expressed. Apud Hypanim fluuium qui ab Europae * 1.1 parte in pontum influit, Aristoteles ait bestiolas quasdam nasci quae vnum di∣em viuant; ex ijs igitur hora octaua quae mortua est, provecta aetate mortua est, quae vero occidente sole decrepita, eo magis si etiam Solstitiali die. Confer no∣stram longissimam aetatem cum aeternitate, in eadem propemodum brevitate qua istae bestiolae reperiemur. Aristole writes that by the river Hypanis which on the side of Europe fals into Pontus, certaine little animals are bred, which liue but a day at most: Amongst them then, such as dye the eight houre, dy old; such as dye at sun set, dye in their decrepit age spe∣cially

if it be vpon the day of the Sūmer Solstice. Now cōpare our age with eternity, and we shall be found in regard of duration almost in the same state of shortnesse that those Creatures are.

The body of man even before the fall was doubtlesse in it selfe by rea∣of contrary Elements, contrary humours, and members of contrary temper whereof it was composed, dissoluble and morrall: As also by reason of outward accidents, the dayly wasting of his natiue heate, and the disproportionable supply of his radicall moisture: But these defects his Creator supplyed, arming him against outward accidents by divine providence, the guard of Angels and his owne excellent wisedome, against the contrarieties fighting in his body, by the harmony of his soule: against the wasting of his natiue heat and radicall moysture by that su∣pernaturall vertue & efficacy which he gaue to the fruit of the tree of life: He was then Naturally Mortall: (for otherwise even after his fall should he haue continued immortall, as the Apostate Angells did) but by speciall priviledge and dispensation immortall. mortalis erat, saith S. Au∣gustine, * 1.2 conditione corporis animalis, immortalis autem beneficio-conditoris: He was mortall in respect of his naturall body, but immortall by the favour of his Creator: Yet doubtles had he not sinned, he had not still liued here vpon earth, though in likelihood his age might be extended to some thousands of yeares, but should haue beene at length translated from hence to heaven where he could neither haue sinned nor dyed•…•… Sic est immortalis conditus, Sayth Gregory, vt tamen si peccaret, & mori * 1.3 possit, & sic mortalis est conditus, vt si non peccaret etiam non mori possit, at∣que ex merito liberi arbitrij beatitudinem illius regionis attingeret, in qua vel peccare vel mori non possit. He was so created immortall that if he sinned he might dye, and againe so was he created mortall that, he could not dye: But by the merit of his freewill should haue beene translated to that place of blisse where he could neither sinne nor dye.

SECT. 2. Of the long liues of the Patriarchs, and of the manner of Computing there yeares, and that Almighty God drew out the lines of their liues to that length for reasons proper to those first times.

THough vpon the fall of man the duration of his continuance here vpon the earth was much shortned, yet certaine it is that many of the Ancient Patriarches before the floud liued aboue nine hundred, and some to allmost a thousand yeares, Neither ought this to seeme incredible, though Plyny mentioning some who were re∣ported to haue liued fiue sixe or eight hundred yeares, at length con∣cludes * 1.4

that all these strange reports arise from the ignorance of times past, and for want of knowledg how they made their account. For some, saith he, reckoned the Summer for one yeare and the Winter for another. There were also that reckoned every quarter for a yeare, as the Arcadians whose yeare was but three moneths, and some againe

you haue, as namely the Egyptians, who count every chaunge or New moone for a yeare, and therefore no marvell if some of them are repor∣ted to haue liued a thousand yeares.

Thus Pliny. But Iosephus to justi∣fie the trueth of Moses his history touching the age of the first Patriar∣ches, * 1.5 vouches the authority of Manathon the writer of the Egyptian story, Berosus of the Chaldean, Moschus and Esthieus of the Phenician, as al∣so Hesiodus, Hecataeus, Elamius, Acuselaus, Ephorus and others, all af∣firming that those of the first age liued to a thousand yeares, but how they made their computation Iosephus doth not expresse: Wherevpon some haue beene so bold as to tell vs, that the yeares Mo∣ses there speakes of, are not to be computed as ours, but were some∣what aboue the monethly yeare contayning in them thirty six dayes which is a number quadrat, being made vp of six times six: So that one of our yeares containes tenne of them, and those yeares being divided into twelue moneths, there could not aboue three dayes bee attributed to each of them. But this opinion (for I will not spare it though it make for mee,) how not onely false it is, but manifestly repugnant to the sacred Scriptures, any man may of himselfe easily discerne. For if we embrace this computation, it will from thence follow that Caynan and Enoch begat children when they were but six yeares old and an * 1.6 halfe, or seaven at most, for the Scripture tells vs, that the one begat them when he was but sixty fiue yeares old, and the other at seventie: so that if tenne of their yeares made but one of ours, it would conse∣quently follow, that they begat children when they were yet but seven yeares of age: Besides, since none of those Ancient Patriarches attained to a thousand yeares, if their yeares were so to be accounted, as these men would haue it, none of them should haue arrived to ninety seaven yeares; and yet many we know are now found to passe an hundred. A∣gaine, the Scripture testifies, that Abraham died in a good old age full of * 1.7 dayes, being one hundred seaventy fiue yeares old, which number according to their computation, makes but seaventeene yeares and an halfe; a ri∣diculous old age. Lastly, in the seaventh and eight of Genesis in that one yeare alone, in which the flood lasted, mention is made of the first, se∣cond, * 1.8 and tenth moneth, & least any should imagine, that those moneths lasted onely three dayes, wee haue there named the seaventeenth day of the second, and the twenty seaventh of the seaventh moneth. * 1.9

To take it then as graunted that Moses his computation of the yeare was the same with ours, and that those first Patriarches liued much lon∣ger then any of latter times; yet from thence cannot any sufficient proofe be brought, that there hath beene & still continues, a constant and perpetuall decrease in mans age, since for speciall Reasons and by speciall priviledge Almighty God graunted that to them, which to their succes∣sours was denyed: which I will rather choose to expresse in Iosephus his words then in mine owne. Where hauing assigned some other causes thereof, peculiar to those times & persons, at length he concludes. Deinde propter virtutes & gloriosas vtilitates quas iugiter perscrutabantur, * 1.10 id est astrologiam & Geometriam, Deus ijs ampliora viuendi spatia condona∣uit, quae non ediscere potuissent, nisi sexcentis viuerent annis, per tot enim an

norum curricula magnus annus impletur. Againe in regard of the excel∣lent and profitable vse of Astronomy and Geometry, which they daily searched into, Almighty God graunted them a longer space of life, in as much as they could not well finde out the depth of those Arts, vnlesse they liued six hundred yeares, for in that reuolution of time, the great yeare comes about. Where what hee meanes by the great yeare, since the most learned make a great doubt, I for my part will not vndertake po∣sitiuely to determine. But to this reason of losephus may well be added another principall one, which is, that God spared them of this first age the longer for the multiplying of the race of mankind, and replenishing the Earth with Inhabitants. And as hee graunted them for these reasons a longer space of life by speciall priuiledge: so likewise he fitted their foode, their bodies, and all other necessaries proportionable therevnto; as ex∣traordinary carefulnes and skilfulnes in the moderation and choice of their diet together with a singular knowledge in the vertues of plants, and stones, and mineralls, and the like, as well for the preservation of their health, as the curing of all kinde of diseases; which well agrees with that of Roger Bacon, speaking of the Patriarches in his booke de sci∣entia experimentali. Quum fuerunt magna sapientia praediti, excogitaverunt omne regimen sanitatis & medicinas secretas quibus senectus retardabatur & quibus cum venit potuit mitigari & filij eorum hoc regimen habebant & ex∣perimenta contra senectutem, nam Deus illustravit in omni sapientia, & ergo diu vivere potuerunt. They being indued with singular wisedome, found out the whole course of the regiment of health and secret medicines, whereby the pace of old age was slackned, and when it arived the ri∣gour of it was abated, and from them their sonnes as by a tradition de∣rived this skill, and these experiments against old age, for God enlight∣ned them with all kinde of wisedome; and from hence it came to passe that they lived long. Yet euen among them before the floud, wee finde that the first man, who in case of a decrease should in reason haue liued longest, was notwithstanding in number of yeares exceeded not onely by Methusalath, and Iered before, but by Noah after the flood, except wee will adde vnto Adams age threescore yeares, as some diuines doe, vpon a supposition that hee was created in the flower of mans age, agreeablely to those times.

SECT. 3. That since Moses his time, the length of mans age is no∣thing abated, as appeares by the testimony of Mo∣ses himselfe, and other graue authours, compared with the experience of these times.

HOwsoever it fared with the Patriarches, sure we are that since Moses his time; who was borne in the yeare of the world 2434, or thereabout, aboue three thousand yeares agoe, when the world was now well replenished, and the most necessary sciences de∣pending vpon observation and experience, in a manner perfected, the

length of mans age is nothing abated, as cleerely it appeares by that most famous and euident testimony of his: the time of our life, (saith hee) is three score yeares and tenne, and though men bee so strong that they come to foure score yeares, yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow, so soone pas∣seth it away, and wee are gone. And that these are indeede the words of * 1.11 Moses, appeares by the very Title of the Psalme prefixed to it. A Psalme of Moses the man of God. For though S. Augustine seeme to make some doubt of it, because hee findes it not recorded in his history: And A∣ben Ezra a Iewish Rabbin, thinke the Authour to haue beene one of Da∣vids singers so named, yet S. Hierome doubts not constantly to auerre it to be that same Moses, who was the penman of holy writ, and the Captaine of the Hebrewes, & that we might not call it into question, the Holy Ghost seemes purposely to haue annexed that Epithete, The man of God, that is, not only a godly religious and excellent man, but a man endued with a propheticall spirit, and so is it taken, 1 Sam. 2. 27. & 1. Kings. 13. 1. In which regard Moses himselfe giues himselfe this same Title, Deuter: 33. 1. This is the blessing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. And for S. Augustines obje∣ction, hee would leaue very few Psalmes to David himselfe, were his argument of any force. Yet some Expositours there are, who referre it to that story of the Israelites, written in the 32 of Exodus, Others in the 14 of Numbers, which I the rather am induced to beleeue, for that of all those six hundred thousand Israelites, which vnder the conduct of Moses came out of Aegypt, onely two, Caleb and Iosua entred into the land of promise, all the rest, men, women, & children, young & old, leauing their carkases in the Wildernes within the space of forty yeares. True indeede it is, that both Moses. himselfe and his brother Aa∣ron outliued the number of yeares set downe in that Psalme; yet saith judicious Calvin, de communi ratione loquitur, hee speakes of the ordinary course, how it commonly fared with men in that respect even in those times. And thus doe I take Herodotus to be vnder∣stood * 1.12 jumping in the same number with Moses, spatium vivendi lon∣gissimum propositum esse octoginta annos, that the vtmost space of mans life is foure score yeares: Though Solon come a degree shorter, making the age of man threescore and ten, as both Laertius and Censorinus in his booke De die natali testifie of him. Plato who had (as Seneca witnesseth) * 1.13 a strong and able body, borrowing his name from his broad brest, not without much care & diligence arrived to the age of eighty one yeares. * 1.14 And Barzillai who liued in Dauids time, is said to haue beene Senex val∣dè, a very aged man, yet was he by his owne confession, but foure score * 1.15 yeares old. Nay Dauid himself is said to haue beene old, striken in yeares, & Satur dierum, full of dayes, insomuch as they covered him with clothes, * 1.16 but he got no heate: yet was he but threescore and ten when he died, thirty when he began to raigne, and forty yeares he raigned, being naturally of a sound and healthfull constitution. Solomons age we cannot by Scrip∣ture certainly determine: some Divines conjecture, that he little excee∣ded forty, but the most learned, that hee passed not fifty or threescore at most, yet is it noted of him, that cùm senex esset, when hee was old, his

wiues turned away his heart after other Gods: Of all the Kings of Iu∣dah * 1.17 and Ierusalem which followed after, the greatest part came not to fifty, very few to threescore, and none full home to threescore and tenne. In the whole Catalogue of Romane, Greeke, French, and Germane Emperours, onely foure are found which attained to fourescore, and those not among the first of that ranke. In the bed-roll of Popes, fiue only liued to see those yeares, and those of latter dayes in comparison, namely Iohn 23. Grego∣ry 12 & 13. Paulus 3 and 4. and which is more remarkeable, our Queene Elizabeth of fresh and blessed memory out-liued all her predecessours since the conquest, raigning the yeares of Augustus, and liuing the age of Dauid.

SECT. 4. The same confirmed by the testimony of other ancient and learned Writers.

HEsiodus the first Writer as I take it (saith Pliny) who hath treated of this argument, in his fabulous discourse touching the age of * 1.18 man, affirmeth, (but vpon what ground I know not) that a crow liueth nine times as long as wee, and the Harts or Staggs foure times as long as the crow, but the ravens thrice as long as they: And if we should consult with Astrologers, Epigines saith, that it is not possible to liue an hundred and two and twenty yeares: and Berosus is of opinion, that one can∣not passe an hundred and seuenteene. In the Oracle of Sybilla Erithraea by the testimony of Phlegon Trallianus are found these verses.

Viginti & centum revolutis protinus annis, Quae sunt humanae longissima tempora vitae. When sixe score winters are expir'd, which fate Of humane life hath made the longest date.

Moreouer Trebellius Pollio in his booke to Constantius thus writeth, Do∣ctissimi Mathematicorum centum viginti annos homini ad vivendum da∣tos judicant, neque amplius cuiquam concessum dicunt, illud etiam adijcientes, Mosen ipsum, (vt Iudaeorum libri testantur) Dei familiarem viginti quinque ac centum annos vixisse, qui cùm interitum hunc vt immutatum fortè quere∣retur, ferunt illi ab incerto Numine responsum, neminem deinceps amplius esse victurum. The most learned Mathematicians are of opinion, that a man can liue but an hundred and twenty yeares, and that none can goe beyond that period, yet they adde, that Moses himselfe, as the writings of the Iewes testifie, being familiar with God, liued to the age of one hundred twenty fiue yeares, who when he complained of this change, they report this answere to haue beene giuen him by some divine power, that no man after that should passe those bounds. Thus Pollio: ignorantly mistaking the age of Moses, but alluding as it seemes to that speech of God in the sixth of Genesis, his dayes shall be an hundred & twenty yeares. Which words * 1.19 notwithstanding I should rather choose to referre to the continuance of the world till the comming of the floud, then to the duration of the age of particular men. For it is certaine that after this, not onely Noah, but Sem and Arphaxad, and Salah, and Eber, and Peleg, and Nahor, and Te∣rah,

and Abraham, and Isaac, and Iacob, some of them by much; and all of them by some number of yeares exceeded this proportion.

Crinitus in his seuenth booke de honesta disciplina reports out of Teren∣tius Varro from the authority of Dioscorides a great Astrologer, that the Egyptians; (who tooke speciall care about the imbalming of dead bo∣dies) by a subtill and witty kinde of reasoning found out, within what bounds of space to the very vtmost the age of man is confined, taking their estimate from the weight of the heart, they affirmed then that the life of man is limited to one hundred yeares, so that it could not passe that tearme, which the heart of those, say they, who dye not vntimely, doth manifest; in as much as together with age, if it be examined, it either re∣ceiues increase or decrease; It receiuing the increase of two drams euery yeare till a man come to fifty, and then again the decrease of two yearely till he arriue to an hundred, and so returning to its originall weight, it can then make no farther progresse. Now this observation though it be doubtlesse more curious then true, yet doth it shew that the common o∣pinion of the Ancients was, that men did seldome passe one hundred years. Seculum centum annorum spatium vocârunt, dictum à sene, quòd longissimum spatium•…•…id putârint senescendorum hominum, saith Varro, Seculum was the * 1.20 space of an hundred yeares, so called à sene, because they held that to be the vtmost point of growing old. And with Varro herein accords the son of Syrach, The nūber of a mans dayes at the most are an hundred yeares. So as that * 1.21 prerogatiue extraordinary of Longevity was as I take it, specially anne∣xed, as to those first ages of the world, so to the Church and people cho∣sen by God in those times. For had men in all places and in all ages arri∣ued to the liues of the Patriarches, the Earth by this time had not beene able to sustaine them with food, nor hardly to contain their multitude; yet can it not be denied but that in all times, and in all Nations some haue beene alwayes found who haue exceeded that number of yeares which many of the Ancients (as we haue heard) accounted the vtmost period of mans life.

SECT. 5. That in all times and nations some haue beene found who haue exceeded that number of yeares which the wisest of the ancients accounted the vtmost period of mans life, and that often those of latter ages haue exceeded the former in num∣ber of yeares, as is made to ap∣peare as well from sacred as prophane story.

TO let goe fabulous and vncertaine reports of the Arcadian kings and such like, certaine it is, that Marcus Valerius Corvinus, liued * 1.22 one hundred yeares compleate, Metellus the Pontife or Supreame Priest liued full as long. Epimenides the Cretian liued one hundred & fif∣ty, whereof the last fifty he spent vnder ground in a Caue. Zenophanes the Colophonian one hundred and two at the least: for he travelled at

twenty fiue, and returned at seuenty seuen after his setting forth, but af∣ter his returne how long he liued it is vncertaine. Gorgias the Sicilian a famous Rhetorician in his time, liued to one hundred and eight. Hippo∣crates the renowned Physitian to one hundred and fowre, both appro∣ving and honouring the excellency of his Art by his age. Asinius Pollio inward with Augustus, though of a luxurious life, surmounted an hun∣dred. And for women Ciceroes wife Terentia liued till she was one hun∣dred and three. Clodia wife to Ofilius went beyond her, and saw one hundred & fifteene years, & yet had she in her youth fifteene children: Luceia a common vice in playes followed the stage and acted thereon an hundred yeares, such another vice that played the fooles part, and made sporte betweene whiles in interludes, named Galeria Copiola was brought aga•…•… act her feates vpon the stage when Cn. Pompeius and Q. Sulpitius were consulls, at the solemne playes vowed for the health of Augustus Caesar, when she was in the hundred and fourth yeare of her age. The first time that ever she entred the stage to shew proofe of her skill in that profession, was ninety one yeares before, and then was she brought thither by M. Pomponius an Edile of the Commons in the yeare that C. Marius and Carbo were Consuls. And once againe Pom∣peius the great, at the solemne dedication of his stately Theater, trained the old woman to the stage, thereby to make a shew of her to the won∣der of the world.

And if from prophane stories wee should come to the sacred, we shall there likwise find that some in all ages haue reached to that number of yeares, and that often (which I desire to be observed) those of latter times haue exceeded the former. To let goe the Patriarchs of whome as far as Iaacob I haue in part allready spoken, Ioseph attained to an hun∣and tenne, his brother Leui to one hundred thirty seaven, and Moses & * 1.23 Aron were each of them one hundred and twenty at the least. Phineas Arons nephew, it may be by speciall favour for his great Zeale, is supposed to haue liued three hundred yeares: and justly no doubt, if the warre of the Israelites against the tribe of Beiamin, (in which expedition Phineas was * 1.24 consulted with) were acted in the same series of time, in which the histo∣ry is recorded. Iosua liued one hundred and tenne. Iob after his resti∣tution * 1.25 liued one hundred and forty yeares, notwithstanding that before his affliction he had children of the age of men and women. Elizeus seemes to haue beene aboue an hundred, inasmuch as he lived three∣skore yeares after the assumption of Elias; and such he was at that as∣sumption as the children taunted him for his bald pate. Tobias the el∣der liued to one hundred fifty and eight, the yonger to one hundred * 1.26 twenty seaven. Long after this Anna the Prophetesse mentioned by S. Luke seemes to haue out pitched an hundred, as our common translation * 1.27 reads it, she being a widdow fowerskore and fowre years, married sea∣uen, and by common account no lesse then fourteene or fifteene when she was married, which being put together make vp an hundred and six yeares or there about: though I am not ignorant that Iunius and our last translation agreably to the originall render it thus, & erat vidua an∣norum quasi octoginta & quatuor, she was a widdow of about fowreskore

and fower yeares that is according to an vsuall Hebraisme, about fouer∣score and fower yeares old, as Noah is said to haue beene filius quingen∣torum * 1.28 annorum, the sonne of fiue hundred yeares, that is, natus quingentos annos, fiue hundred yeares old. Iohn the divine and beloued desciple an apostle a prophet and an evangelist, who of all the apostles onely died in his bed, all the rest suffering martyrdome for the name of Christ, was doubt∣lesse very aged when he resigned his spirit for as witnesseth Eusebius * 1.29 out of Irenaeus he deceased in the 2 yeare of Traian which was the 101 frō the nativity, the 68 frō the passion of Christ; Cedrenus affirms that he liued to 106, but surely considering he wrote his Gospell after he was 90 * 1.30 by the testimony of Epiphanius, it is more then probable that he drew * 1.31 nere vppon 100 if he exceeded it not.

After this againe Plyny to shew the errour of some •…•…athematitians, who thought that the life of man could not even then be extended be∣yond * 1.32 an hundred yeares, produceth a taxation or review of the severall ages of men betweene Apennine and the Poo made vnder the emperours Vespatian, the father and the sonne, in which vpon examination were found at Parma three men that had liued each of them one hundred and twenty yeares, at Brixels one that was one hundred twenty fiue years old: Moreover at Parma two, one hundred and thirty yeares of age; at Plaisance one elder by an yeare: at Faventia there was one woman one hundred thirty two yeares old: at Bononia L. Taurentius the son of Marcus & at Ariminium M. Aponius reckoned each of them one hundred and fifty yeares. About Playsance, is a towne situate vpon the hills named Vellei∣acum wherein six men brought a certificate that they had liued one hun∣dred and ten yeares a peice, foure likewise came in with a note of an hun∣dred and twenty yeares, & one of an hundred and forty: But because we will not dwell (sayth he) vpon a matter so evident and commonly confessed in the review taken of the eight Region of Italy, there were found in the role fifty foure of one hundred yeares of age, fifty seaven of one hundred & tenne, two of one hundred twenty fiue, fowre of one hundred and thirty, as many that were an hundred thirty fiue, or one hundred thirty seaven, and last of all three men of one hundeed and forty.

Now had Plyny vir vnus apud Latinos in observandis investigandisque Naturae arcanis diligens & accuratus, the only man among the Latines who is a diligent and curious tracer of the prints of Natures footsteps, * 1.33 had this man I say obserued any such decrease as is pretended in mens ages in regard of former times, he would doubtlesse haue noted it, ei∣ther in that chapter where so fare an oportunity was offered him, or some where else through his history: which I presume cannot be found, & I doubt not but if the like review and list were made in those parts at this day, as many of like ages would be found within the like compasse; or if there were found defect in that place, it may happily be supplied in another; or if a generall defect in this age by reason of some accidentall occasion, yet may it be repaired & recompenced againe in future times by their remoueall: The defect then (if any be) is not in the course of Nature, but in our wronging it; and yet I make no doubt but a number in succeeding ages haue equalled and some exceeded those recounted by Plyny in number of years.

SECT. 6 The same assertion farther proved and inlarged by many instances, both at home & abroad.

ARchapius the Philosopher boasted, as witnesseth Roger Bacon in his booke de erroribus medicorum, that he had liued 1029 yeares: and farther adds that himselfe had spoken with many eye-wit∣nesses worthy Credit who knew a man qui magnifico medicamine sump∣to vixerat nongentis et multis alijs annis & habuit litteras Papales in testimo∣nium huius rei, who having vsed a princely preservatiue liued nine hun∣dred yeares, and had the Popes letters testimoniall to shew for it.

To say nothing of the wandring Iew, by some named Iohannes Butta∣deus, of whom about six yeares since, being seene and conferred with at Antwerpe, & againe about sixteene before that, in France was every where in those times so much talke, as if he had beene present at our Sauiours passion, and had liued in this wandring manner euer since; I will onely referre the curious Reader, who desires to be farther infor∣med in that point to the relations of Guido Bonatus, (who liued about 400 yeares since) in the first part, 5 tract & 141 consideration of his Iu∣diciarie Astrologie, & to the seaventh booke of the Historie of the peace betwixt the Kings of France & Spaine in the yeare 1604, where the sto∣rie is not onely related but learnedly disputed; & to an old manuscript Chronicle de gestis Regis Iohannis lately in the keeping of the euer renow∣ned S^r Henry Savill, where report is made that in the yeare of Grace 1228, an Archbishop of Armenia arriuing as a pilgrime in this king∣dome to visite the reliques of our Saints, and being demaunded if hee could say any thing touching the wandring Iew, of whom at that very time was much rumour; a certaine Knight in his traine made answere for him in french, that he knew him well, and had often conuersed with him; and therevpon describes him both for his person, and manners, & the occasion of his liuing in that fashion, Much like as doth Paule of Eitsen, Bishop of Sleswing, who is sayed to haue met & conferred with him at Hamborough, in the yeare 1542, in the French history before al∣leaged, but leauing him to his wandring life, I returne to more certaine Relations.

Paul the Hermite liued to one hundred & thirty, S. Anthony to one hundred & fiue, one Cornarius a Venetian by weighing his meate and drinke which hee tooke euery meale (as himselfe in his medicinall ob∣servations testifies) suruiued an hundred in perfect sense and sound health. Gartius Aretinus great Granfather to Petrarch, arriued to one hundred & foure. Gulielmus Postellus, a french man in our age held out to almost an hundred & twenty; the tops of his beard in his higher lip being then somewhat blackish & not altogether white. But aboue all, most memorable is the age of Iohannes de Temporibus, which Verstigan out of the Dutch Authours thus reports:

Heere by the way, saith he, I must note to the Reader that Iohannes de Temporibus, that is to say, Iohn of times so called for the sundry times or ages he liued, was shield-knaue,

or Armour bearer to Charles the great, of whom he was also made Knight. This man being of great temperance, sobriety, & content∣ment of minde in his condition of life, but aboue all, of a most excel∣lent constitution of body, residing partly in Germany where hee was borne, & partly in France, liued vnto the ninth yeare of the reigne of the Emperour Conrade, & died at the age of three hundred sixty oney eares, seeming thereby a very miracle of Nature, & one in whom it plea∣sed God to represent vnto latter ages the long yeares & temperate liues of the ancient Patriarches. Mine Authour goeth on; 'tis said that there hath a man lately liued in the East Indies, of some thought to bee yet liuing, of greater age then this Iohn of Times: The certainety heereof I cannot affirme, but it is crediblely reported, that a wo•…•… lately li∣ued at Segouia in Spaine of an hundred & threescore yeares of age.

And Franciscus Alvarez saith, that he saw Albuna Marc: chiefe Bi∣shop of Ethiopia being of the age of an hundred & fifty yeares. Antho∣ny Fume an Historiographer of good account, reporteth that in the yeare one thousand fiue hundred & seaventy, there was an Indian presented to Solyman Generall of the Turkes army, who had outliued three hundred yeares. And S^r Walter Rawleigh tels vs, that himselfe knew the old Countesse of Desmond of Inchiquin in Munster, who liued in the yeare 1589 & many yeares since, & yet was married in Edward the fourths time, & held her joynter from all the Earles of Desmond till then: And that this is true (sayth he) all the Noblemen & Gentlemen of Munster can witnesse. My Lord of S. Albans casting her age, brings her to one hundred & forty at least, adding withall, ter per vices dentijsse, that shee recouered her teeth after casting them three severall times. The same Authour reports that a while since in Hereford-shire at their Maygames there was a Morice daunce of eight men, whose yeares put together made vp eight hundred, that which was wanting of an hundred in some superabounding in others. M^r Carew in his survey of Cornwall, assures vs vpon his own knowledge that fourescore, & fourescore and ten yeares of age is ordinary there in every place, & in most persons accompanied with an able vse of the body and their sences. One Polezew, saith he) lately liuing reached to one hundred & thirty, a kinsman of his to one hundred & twelue. One Beauchamp to one hundred and six, and in the parish where himselfe dwelt hee professed to haue remembred the de∣cease of foure within fourteene weekes space, whose yeares added to∣gether made vp the summe of three hundred & forty. The same Gen∣tleman made this merrie Epigram or Epitaph vpon one Brawne an Irish man, but Cornish begger.

Heere Brawne the quondam begger lies Who counted by his tale, Some six score winters and aboue; Such vertue is in ale. Ale was his meate, his drinke, his cloth, Ale did his death repriue, And could hee still haue drunke his ale, Hee had beene still aliue.

And I make no doubt but the like observation might be made in other countryes vnder his Majesties dominions, aswell as in those two sheires, if the like particular survey, & search were made.

And if wee please a little to cast our eyes abroad, wee shall likewise finde that euen at this day the Indians, a barbarous people and liuing ac∣cording to Nature, reach to a marveilous great age, matchable to any that wee reade of since the flood, either in sacred or prophane story. S^r Walter Rawleigh in his discouery of Guiana reports that the king of A∣•…•…omaia, being one hundred and tenne yeares old, came in a morning on foot to him from his house which was fourteene English miles, and re•…•…urned on foote the same way: But that which is written by Mon∣s•…•…r Besanneera a french Gentleman in the relation of Captaine Laudon∣r•…•… reis second voyage to Florida, is much more strange, and not vnwor∣thy to be set downe at large. Our men, saith he, regarding the age of their Paracoussy or Lord of the countrey, began to question with him thereabouts, wherevnto he made answere that he was the first liuing Originall from whence fiue generations were descended, shewing them withall another old man which farre exceeded him in age, and this man was his father, who seemed rather an Anatomy then a liuing bo∣dy: for his sinewes, his veines, his arteries, his bones, & other parts appeared so cleerely thorow his skin, that a man might easily tell them, & discerne them one from another. Also his age was so great that the good man had lost his sight, & could not speake one onely word but with exceeding great paine. Monsieur d' Ottigni hauing seene so strange a sight, turned to the younger of these two old men, praying him to vouchsafe to answere to that which he demaunded touching his age: then called he a company of Indians, & striking twice vpon his thigh & laying his hand vpon two of them, he shewed by signes that these two were his sonnes; againe smiting vpon their thighes, hee shewed him others not so old, which were the children of the two first, and thus continued he in the same manner vntill the fift generation: But though this old man had his father aliue more old then himselfe, and that both their haire was as white as was possible, yet it was told them that they might yet liue thirty or forty yeares more by the course of na∣ture, although the younger of them both, was not lesse then two hundred & fifty yeares old.

Torquemado in the first journey of his discourse tels vs, that being at Rome about the yeare 1531: it was bruted thorow all Italy that at Ta∣rentum there liued an old man, who at the age of an hundred yeares was growne young againe, he had changed his skin like vnto the snake & had recouered a new, beeing withall become so young & fresh, as those which had seene him & knowne him before, could then scarce beleiue their owne eyes; and hauing continued aboue fifty yeares in this estate, he grew at length to be so old, as he seemed to be made of barkes of trees; wherevnto he further adds (and that the aboue written relation, saith he, may not seeme impossible, we haue a more admirable thing in the same kinde, recorded by Fernand Lopez of Castegnede, historiogra∣pher to the King of Portugall in the eigth booke of his Chronicle, where

he saith, that Nonnio de Cugne, being Viceroy at the Indies in the yeare 1536, there was a man brought vnto him as a thing worthy of admira∣tion, for that it was auerred by good proofes & sufficient testimony, that he was three hundred and forty yeares old, he remembred he had seene that Citty wherein he dwelt vnpeopled, being then when hee spake it one of the chiefe of all the East Indies; hee had growne young againe foure times, changing his white haire & recouering new teeth. When the Viceroy did see him, hee then had the haire of his head & of his beard blacke, although he had not much, & there being by chaunce a Physitian at that time present, the Viceroy willed him to feele the old mans pulse, which he found as good & as strong as a young mans in the prime of his age. This man was borne in the Realme of Bengala, & did affirme that he had hadd at times neere seaven hundred wiues, whereof some were dead and some he had put away. The King of Por∣tugall advertised of this wonder, did often enquire, and had yearely newes of him by the fleete which came from thence: He liued aboue three hundred and seuenty yeares. The same Castegnede adds, that in the time of the same Vice-roy, there was also found in the Citty of Bengala another man, a Moore or Mahometane called Xequepeer borne in a Pro∣vince named Xeque, who was three hundred yeares old, as he said: all those that did know him did also certifie it, hauing great presumption so to doe. This Moore was reputed among them an holy man by reason of his austerenesse and abstinence: The Portugals did converse familiar∣ly with him. Now besides that the histories of Portugall touching the Indies are faithfully collected and certified by very authenticall wit∣nesses, there were in my time, saith Torquemado, both in Portugall and Castile many which had seene these old men.

SECT. 7. That if our liues be shortened in regard of our Ance∣stours, we should rather lay the burden of the fault vpon our intemperance, then vpon a decay in Nature.

THe High-landers likewise in Scotland, and the wild Irish common∣ly liue longer then those of softer education, of nice and tender bringing vp, (which often fals out in the more civill times and countreyes) being no doubt a great enemy to Longevity, as also the first feeding and nourishing of the Infant with the milke of a strange dug; an vnnaturall curiosity, hauing taught all women but the beggar to find out nurses, which necessity only ought to commend vnto them. Wherevn∣to may be added hasty marriages in tender yeares, wherein nature being but yet greene and growing, wee rent from her, and replant her bran∣ches, while her selfe hath not yet any root sufficient to maintaine her own top. And such halfe-ripe seedes for the most part wither in the bud, and waxe olde euen in their infancy. But aboue all things the pres∣sing of Nature with over-weighty burdens, and when we find her strength defectiue, the help of strong waters, hot spices and provoking sauces, is

it which impaires our health, and shortens our life.

—Simul assis * 1.34 Miscueris elixa; simul conchylia turdis Dulcia se in bilem vertent, stomachoque tumultum Lenta feret pituita; vides ut pallidus omnis Coena desurgat dubia?

Mixe sod with rost, and fish with flesh, straightwayes The sweet will turne it selfe to bitter gall: Tough flegme will in the stomacke tumults raise. Seest not how doubtfull suppers make men pale?

But elegant to this purpose are those verses of Lucan,

—O prodiga rerum Luxuries nunquam parvo contenta paratu, Et quaesitorum terra pelagoque ciborum Ambitiosa fames, & lautae gloria mensae. Discite quàm parvo liceat producere vitam, Et quantum natura petat. Non auro myrrhaque bibunt, sed gurgite puro Vita redit, satis est populis fluviusque Ceresque.

O wastfull riot neuer well content, With low-priz'd fare, hunger ambitious Of Cates by land and sea far fetcht and sent, Vaine-glory of a table sumptuous: Learne with how little life may be preseru'd, In gold and myrrhe they need not to carroufe, But with the brook the peoples thirst is seru'd, Who fed with bread and water are not steru'd.

Multos morbos multa fercula fecerunt, saith Seneca, our variety of dainty * 1.35 dishes hath bred variety of diseases. And againe, Maximus ille medico∣rum, & hujus scientiae Conditor, foeminis nec capillos defluere dixit, nec pedes laborare: atqui haejam & capillis destituuntur, & pedibus aegrae sunt, non mu∣tata foeminarum natura, sed vita est. The greatest of Physitians & the foun∣der of that Science affirmes that women neither loose their haire, nor grow diseased in their feete: but now we see they are both bald and gowty, not because their nature is chaung'd, but the course of their life. Beneficium sexus sui vitijs perdiderunt, & quia foeminam exuerunt, damnatae sunt morbis virilibus. They haue forfeited the priviledge of their sexe by their owne vitiousnesse, and hauing together with their modesty put off their womanhood, they are deservedly plagued with mens dis∣eases.

Besides, our Ancestors vsed some things now growne out of vse with vs, which were no doubt speciall meanes to preserue their health and prolong their liues, as the annointing of their bodies, their frequent vse of saffron and hony, their wearing of warmer clothes, and dwelling in closer houses with little doores and windowes, choosing rather to ad∣mit lesse aire then much light, preferring their health before their plea∣sure, as also for the most part they vsed lesse Physick and more exercise: so that if our liues be shortned in regard of them, we haue reason to ac∣quit

and discharge nature, and to lay the whole burden of the fault v∣pon our selues.

—Natura beatis Omnibus esse dedit, si quis cognoverit vti. Nature allowes that all should blessed be, Knew they to vse her bounty prudentlie.

And doubtlesse through our owne ignorance or negligence it is, if wee make not that vse of Natures bounty which we might and should: and herewith that of Roger Bacon accords in his booke de retardatione acci∣dentium senectutis: Mundo senescente senescunt homines, non propter mundi senectutem, sed multiplicationem viventium inficientium ipsum aerem qui nos circundat, & negligentiam regiminis & ignorantiam illarum rerum, illarum∣ve proprietatum quae regiminis defectum supplent. The world waxing old, men likewise waxe old, not so much by reason of the worlds old age, as the multiplication of liuing creatures infecting the aire which environs vs, and our negligence in the governement of our health, and our igno∣rance in the vertue of those things which should supply the defect of that government; and againe in his booke de scientia experimentali. Cau∣sa autem hujusmodi prolongationis & abbreviationis existimaverunt multi à parte coeli, nam existimaverunt quod coeli dispositio fuit optima à principio, & mundo senescente omnia tabescunt, aestimantes stellas fuisse creatas in locis con∣venientioribus, & in meliori proportione earum ad invicem secundùm diversi∣tatem aspectuum, & proiectionem radiorum invisibilem, & quod ab illo statu paulatim recesserunt, & secundùm hunc recessum ponunt vitae decurtationem vsque ad aliquem terminum fixum in quo est status, sed hoc habet multas con∣tradictiones & difficultates de quibus non est modo dicendum. The cause of this prolonging and shortning our liues; many conjectured to be in re∣gard of the Heauens, for they thought that the Heauens were best dis∣posed at the first, and that as the world waxeth old, all things decayed, supposing that the Starres were created in more convenient places, & in a fitter proportion each to other according to the diversities of their aspects, and the invisible projection of their beames, and that by degrees they are fallen off from that estate, and according therevnto they pro∣portiō the decrease of life vntill it come to some settled period, beyond which there is no farther progresse; but this assertion includes many contradictions and difficulties of which I cannot now speake.

Yet me thinkes it may be demonstrated by evident reason, besides the arguments already alleadged, that at the least for these last thousand or two thousand yeares, the age of mankinde is little or nothing abated, which I will indeavour to make good in the next Chapter.

CAP. 2. Farther Reasons alleaged that the age of man for these last thousand or two thousand yeares is little or nothing abated.

SECT. 1. The first reason taken from the severall stops and pawses of nature in the course of mans life, as the time of birth after our conception, our infancie, childhood, youth, mans estate, and old age, being assigned to the same compasse of yeares as they were by the Anci∣ents; which could not possible bee, were there a vniversall decay in mankind in re∣gard of age; And the like rea∣son there is in making the same Clymactericall yeares and the same danger in them.

THat the age of mankinde for these last thousand or two thousand yeares is nothing shortned, will farther appeare by the severall stages and stops which the Ancients haue marked out, aswell in the growth of the infant in the mothers wombe, and time of birth, as in the distribution of mans age after the birth, agreeable vnto that which is generally receiued by the learned, and for the most part wee finde to be verified by experience at this day. As among Plants, those which last longest haue likewise their seedes longest buried vnder the earth before their springing aboue ground: so likewise among beasts, those which liue longest, are carried longest in the wombe of their dammes; the bitch carries her young but foure moneths, the mare nine, the ele∣phant two yeares (not ten as some haue vainely written) and looke what proportion is found betwixt their conception and birth, the like is com∣monly found betwixt their birth and death. Nature then in her procee∣dings in naturall actions beeing alike, aswell to them as to mankind, it should in reason seeme, that as their time is the same which the Anci∣ents, (namely Hippocrates and Aristotle) haue left vpon record, from their conception to their birth, and againe ordinarily (or caeteris paribus, as in Schooles we speake) from their birth to their death; so it should fare with mankind too: If then it shall appeare that the Ancients assigned the same space of time for the deliuerie of a woman with child, which wee now doe, me thinkes the consequent from hence deduced should bee more thē probable, that as the space of their abode in the womb of the mother, and comming from thence into the world, is the same as then it was, so likewise ordinarily, and in the course of nature (if shee bee not wronged or interrupted, nor on the otherside by a superna∣turall power advanced aboue herselfe) it should bee the same

during their abode heere in the world, and their returne to the wombe of their common mother the earth: Now though it be true that the space of time from the conception to the birth of man is more variable then that of any other Creature (perchaunce because his foode & fan∣cie are more variable, or because nature is more sollicitous of him, as being her darling) yet most certaine it is, the same periods which by Hip∣pocrates were assigned for his first comming into the light, are now also by Physitians observed, & that so precisely as they exactly agree with him, not only in the number of moneths but of dayes; the moneths assigned by him were the seaventh, the ninth, the tenth, & sometimes the * 1.36 eleuenth, & so they still remaine; and as the eight was by him held dan∣gerous & deadly, so is it now; & as the tenth moneth is our vsuall com∣putation, so was it likewise theirs, as appeares by that of Neptune in Homer speaking to a Nimph.

Anno circummacto speciosum partum edes nimirum decimo mense. * 1.37 The yeare ended thou wilt be deliuered of a faire child, that is to say, in the 10^th moneth.

From whence it may be obserued that the Aeolians (of whom was Ho∣mer) counted their yeare from thence, as did also the Romanes till Nu∣ma's raigne, I meane from the vsuall time of a womans going with child.

Quod satis est vtero matris dum prodeat infans, Hoc anno statuit temporis esse satis.

Sayeth the Poet speaking of Romulus.

That space which is vnto our birth assign'd, * 1.38 The same by him was to the yeare confin'd.

And to the end we may fully know what space is there by him vnder∣stood, hee presently adds.

Annus erat decimum cum luna receperat orbem, Hic numerus magno tunc in honore fuit, Seu quia tot digiti per quos numer are solemus, Seu quia bis quino famina mense parit.

Our yeare tenne full moones did containe This number then was honoured For that a woman going in paine So long, was then disburdened.

But I proccede from the time of the birth to the Ancients distribution of mans age after the birth.

Some of them divided the age of man into three, some into foure, some into five, some into six, some into seaven parts: which they resem∣bled to the seaven Planets; comparing our infancie to the Moone, in which wee seeme only to liue & grow as plants; the second age or childhood to Mercury, wherein wee are taught and instructed; the third age or youth to Venus, the dayes of loue, desire, & vanity: the fourth to * 1.39 the Sunne, the strong flourishing and beautifull age of mans life; the fifth to Mars, in which wee seeke honour and victory, and in which our thoughts travell to ambitious ends; the sixth to Iupiter, in which

we begin to take account of our times, judge of our selues, & grow to the perfection of our vnderstanding: The last & seaventh to Saturne, wherein our dayes are sad and overcast, & in which we finde by deere & lamentable experience, & by the losse which neuer can be repaired, that of all our vaine passions and affections past, the sorrow only abi∣deth.

Philo Iudaeus in that excellent booke of the workemanshippe of the world, discoursing of the admirable properties of the sacred number of seaven, among many other things alleaged to that purpose, he affirmes that at the end of euery seaventh yeare, there is some notable chaunge in the body of man, and for better proofe thereof, hee produceth the authority of Hippocrates, and an Elegie of Solons which thus begins.

Impubes pueri septem voluentibus annis Claudunt enatis dentibus eloquium Post alios totidem Diuorum numine dextro Occultum pubis nascitur indicium. Annus ter septem primâ lanugine malas Vestiet aetatis robore conspicuus. &c.

When children once to seaven yeares haue aspired, The tale of all their teeth they haue acquired. By that the next seaven ended haue their date Pubertie comes and power to generate. The third seaven perfect's growth, and then the chin With youthly downe to blossome doth begin.

But among all the Ancients I haue mette with, Macrobius in his first booke of Scipio's dreame, extolling (as Plilo doth) the rare and singular * 1.40 effects of the septenary number, most cleerely and learnedly expresseth the remarkeable pawses and chaunges of Nature euery seaventh yeare in the course of mans age, as the casting of the teeth in the first seaven, the springing of the pubes in the second, of the beard in the third, the vt∣most period of growth in the fourth, of strength in the fifth, a consistence in the sixth, and a declination in the seaventh. Now that which these An∣cients obserued touching these secret stations and progresses of Nature in the state of mans body and course of his life, is still found to be true, aswell by the Verdict and judgement of learned men, as by the proofe and triall of Experience, which could not possiblely bee, were there a constant abatement in the length of our whole age, by such an vniuer∣sall & irreuocable decay of Nature as is pretented: for then should men doubtles grow to ripenes and perfection sooner, as they are supposed sooner to hasten to death and dissolution, which must needes draw on an alteration and confusion in all the noted changes thorow the course of mans life: And therefore the holy Scripture assigning the Patriarches a longer life, assignes them likewise proportionablely therevnto a lon∣ger * 1.41 time before they were ripened for generation, as Peter Martyr hath rightly noted.

It is true and euer was, which Galen in his sixth booke of the regi∣ment of health hath observed, that these chaunges cannot so be tyed to any such precise number of yeares, but that a variation of latitude is

to be admitted in them in regard of some particulars: some growing to their puberty at fourteen, others at fifteen: some declining at thirty, o∣thers at thirty fiue, according to their severall constitutions, educations, diet, situation of Clymates and countreyes and the like; The Poet pro∣fessed of himselfe aboue sixteene hundred yeare agoe, that his beard be∣gan to sprout and paint his cheekes before twenty.

Quamuis jam juvenile decus mihi pingere malas Caeperit, & nondum vicesima venerit aetas. * 1.42 Though now my beard began my cheekes to grace, Nor had I liued yet twice tenne yeares space.

But as all rules in Science, so theses are held sufficiently currant and warrantable, if they be found infallible in the greatest part, and vniforme, where all circumstances concurre in a like degree.

It is now commonly thought, that thirty three, or between that and 35 yeares, is the flower & perfection of mans age, (it being the mid way * 1.43 to sevēty, which both Moses & Solon held the Epilogue & cōclusiō there∣of: so as those who run beyōd that, are like Racers which run beyōd the goale.) And this was the age of our blessed Saviour, to the perfection whereof, the Apostle seems to allude in the 4 to the a 1.44 Ephesians: Till we meet together vnto a perfect man and vnto the measure of the age of the fullnes of Christ: which passage b 1.45 S. Augustin interpreting, is of opiniō, that we shall rise againe by reasō of the perfectiō thereof, iu ea aetane vsque quā Christū pervenisse cognovimus, as men of that age vnto which Christ himselfe the head of the Church arriued. I know there want not some, as namely d 1.46 Ire∣naeus & others, who by occasion of that speech of the Iewes, e 1.47 thou art not yet fifty yeare old, and hast thou seene Abraham? conjecture that he was a∣bout that age: but whether it were his cares & troubles that made him seeme elder then indeéde he was, or the Iewes would thereby signifie that though he had beene much elder then he was, yet was it not possi∣ble for him to haue seene Abrabam in the flesh; certaine it is that he came not to fourty: some late Divines being of opinion that he reached thirty fiue, but the most part, as also the most Ancient and most learned, f 1.48 that he little exceeded thirty three since then our infancie ends and child∣hood begins, our childhood ends and youth begins, our youth ends and manhood begins, and lastly our manhood ends & our declining estate begins where it did a thousand or two thousād yeare agoe, I see no reason, but we may safely conclude, that at leastwise since that time mankind is nothing decayed in regard of age. and the like reason there is in there obser∣ving anciently the same Clymactericall yeares and in them the same danger of sicknesse or death that we do, as appeares not only in Brodeus his Miscellanea lib. 6. cap. 26. and in a little discourse, which M. Wright hath written and annexed to his book of the passions of the mind, occasioned as he there professeth by the death of Queene Elizabeth) but much more fully in Baptista Codronchus a famous both Philosopher and Phisitian who hath purposely cōposed a large treatise de annis Climacte∣ricis, in which thus begins his preface to that worke Antiquissimi & peritissimi rerum naturalium observatores, nec vulgares homines vitae huma∣nae curriculum considerantes septimo quoque anno & presertim tertio supra se∣xagesimum

homines plerosque corporis & animi affectionibus conflictari, in discrimine versari, ac saepius interire pluribus observationibus ac periculis cog∣noverunt. The most ancient and skilfull searchers into naturall things, and those no meane men taking into consideration the course of mans life by many observations and tryals, they found that every seventh yeare, and specially in the 63 most men are sorely affected both in body and mind, are brought into great danger, and many times die outright; I will bring onely one instance from Antiquity to shew their agreement as in the other before mentioned, so likewise in this point with these latter ages; it is borrowed from Gellius in his fifteenth booke, and sea∣venth chapter of his Noctes Atticae, where he thus speaks of this matter, Observatum in multa hominum memoria, expertumque est in senioribus pleris∣que omnibus sexagesimum tertium vitae annum cum periculo & clade aliqua venire, aut corporis morbique gravioris aut vitae interitus, aut animi aegri∣tudinis. It hath been of a long time observed and experienced, in al∣most all old men, that the 63 yeare of their life, hath proued dangerous and hurtfull vnto them, either in regard of some greivous sicknesse of body or death or great greefe of mind: & going on, he alleags to this pur∣pose a part of a letter which Augustus Caesar wrote to Caius his Nephew. Aue mi Cai, meus ocellus iucundissimus: quē semper medius sidius desidero quum à me abes; sed precipue diebus talibus, qualis est hodiernus, oculi mei requirunt meum Caium; quem vbicunque hoc die fuisti, spero laetum & benevolentem ce∣lebrasse: quartum & sexagesimum natalem meum, nam vt vides 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 commnem seniorum omnium tertium & sexagesimum annum evasimus. I greet the well my Caius, mine owne deare heart, whom in truth I always find wanting as oft as thou art absent from me, but cheifely vppon such days as this is, mine eyes long to behold my Caius, which whereso∣everthou wert, I hope thou hast kept festivall, it being my sixty fourth birthday, for as thou seest I haue escaped my sixty third being the com∣mon climactericall of all old men.

SECT. 2. The second is drawne from the age, of Matri∣mony and Generation which among the Ancients was fully as forward as ours now is if not more timely.

FOR the better clearing of which poynt, it shall not be amisse somewhat farther to insist vpon the age of Generation and Mar∣riage, which among the Ancients was both in opinion held, and in practise proued to be the same or little different from that which amongst vs is in vse at this day. The third councell of Carthage or∣dained that publicke readers in the Church cum ad annos pubertatis vene∣rint aut cogantur vxores ducere aut continentiam profiteri, when they came * 1.49 to yeares of puberty, should be forced either to marry or vow chastity; and Quintilian of his owne wife professeth that hauing borne him two sonnes, she died, Nondum expleto aetatis vndevicesimo anno being not yet * 1.50 full one and twenty years of age. Mulieres statim ab anno decimo quarto, à

à viris Dominae vocantur, saith Epictetus: women no sooner passe foure∣teene, * 1.51 but presently they haue giuen them from men, or from their hus∣bands the title of Mistresses. The a 1.52 Civill Lawes allowed a woman marriage at twelue, so did the. b 1.53 Iewish Talmud and the c 1.54 Canons of the Church, d 1.55 Hesiod at fifteene, e 1.56 Xenophon and the f 1.57 Comaedian at sixteene, anni sedecem fios ipse, g 1.58 Aristotle at eighteene, h 1.59 Plato at twenty: The rea∣son of the difference I take to be this: The Lawes would not permit them to marrie sooner, & Plato held it not fitte they should stay longer. And as wee commonly are both ripe for marriage, and marrie about the same yeares the Ancients did, so men for the most part leaue beget∣ting, and women bearing of children about the same time as they did.

Tiberius made a Law, knowne by the name of Lex Papia, by which he forbad de such men as were past sixty, or women past fiftie to marrie, as being insufficient for generation. To which Lactantius out of Seneca seemes to allude, thus jesting at the Ethnickes touching their great God Iupiter. Quare apud Poetas salacissimus Iupiter desijt liberos tollere, vtrum * 1.60 sexagenarius factus, & ei Lex Papia fibulam imposuit? How comes it to passe that in your Poets the lecherous Iupiter begets no more children, is hee past sixtie, & restrained by the Papian Law? Yet this Law by the Emperour Claudius in part, but by Iustinian (almost fiue hundred yeares * 1.61 after) was fully repealed as insufficient, in asmuch as men after that age were, and still are found to be sufficient for that act; Seldome indeede it is that men beget after seaventy, or women beare after fiftie; and the same was long since both observed & recorded by the principall both Secretarie & great Register of Nature in his time, adding farther that men commonly left begetting at sixtie fiue, & women bearing at fortie fiue: * 1.62 When Abrahams body was now dead in regard of generation, he was short of 100. Indeede Plutarch reports of Cato Maior, that hee begat a sonne at eightie: & Pliny of Masinissa, after eightie six: but they both * 1.63 report it as a wonder, neither want there presidents in this age to pa∣rallell either of them.

I well know that the accusation is common, & perchaunce in part not vnjust, that men now a dayes generally marrie sooner then their Ancestours did, which is made to be one of the chiefe causes of our supposed shorter liues: but that many of them abstained not so long from marriage as wee now commonly doe, it may be euidenced by these following examples, drawn from the Oracles of sacred writ. There descended from Abraham in the space of foure hundred yeares and little more, & from Iaacob and his sonnes, within 200 or thereabout, aboue six hundred thousand men, beside children and those who died in the interim, and were slaine by the Egyptians: which wonderfull mul∣tiplication * 1.64 within the compasse of that time, should in reason argue that they married timely. In the forty sixth of Genesis, Moses descri∣bing old Iaacobs journey downe into Egypt, tells vs that the number of * 1.65 persons springing from his loynes, which accompanied him in that journey, were sixty six soules, and not content with the grosse summe hee specifies the particulars, among which the sonnes of Iudah are na∣med

to bee Er, & Onan, & Shelah, and Pharez, and Zerah; (but Er and Onan, saith the text, died in the land of Canaan) and the sonnes of Pha∣rez * 1.66 were Hezron, and Hamul; so that he begat Pharez vpon Thamar his daughter in law after the death of his eldest sonnes Er and Onan, who according to the Law had married her successiuely, and Pharez begat Hezron and Hamul, and yet at this time was Iudah himselfe but forty * 1.67 foure yeares of age at most, as appeares by this, that Ioseph was then but thirty nine, sixteene he was when he was sold by his brethren, & twen∣ty * 1.68 three yeares after, was his fathers journey into Egypt. Now it is e∣vident that Iudah was but foure yeares elder then Ioseph, the one being borne in the eleuenth yeare of their Fathers abode in Mesopotamia, and the other after the expiration of the fourteenth: In the compasse then of forty foure yeares or thereabout, had Iudah sonnes which were * 1.69 married, namely Er & Onan, after that himselfe by mistake begets ano∣ther sonne vpon their wife, viz: Pharez, who had likewise two sonnes at this time when Iaacob went downe into Egypt. S. Augustine is I con∣fesse much perplexed in the loosing of this knot; and so is Pererius trea∣ding in his steps: They both flying for the saluing of the Text to an * 1.70 Anticipation in the storie, as if some of those who are named by Moses to haue descended with Iaacob into Egypt, had beene both be∣gotten & borne long after his setling there: But this glosse seeming to Pareus somewhat hard, (as in truth it is) he resolues the doubt, by ma∣king both Iudah, & Er, & Onan, and Pharez to marrie all of them at the * 1.71 entrance of their fourteenth yeare, which in the ordinary course of na∣ture both then was, and still is the yeare of pubertie, and then thus con∣cludes hee: In his omnibus nihil coactum aut contortum, nihil quod non con∣sueto naturae ordine fieri potuerit, vt nec miracula fingere sit opus, nec filios Pharez qui in descensu numerantur in Aegypto demum natos asserere sit neces∣se: In all this there is nothing strained or wrested, nothing but may well be done in the ordinary course of nature, so as we need not either fly * 1.72 to miracles, or affirme that the sonnes of Pharez, who are ranked in the number of those who descended with Iaacob, were afterward borne in Egypt. And with Pareus heerein accords the learned a 1.73 Arnisaeus, (some small difference betweene them in the calculation of yeares set apart) wondering that two such great Clarkes, as Augustine & Pererius should trouble themselues so much about so slender a difficultie, not conside∣ring, as it seemes, the Examples of the like or more timely marriages, recorded in holy Scripture. Whereof we haue a notable one in the same Chapter of Benjamin, who at the same time is made the father of ten sonnes, and yet was he then but twenty three or twenty foure yeares of * 1.74 age; being borne in the hundred and sixth yeare of his father, which was the yeare before the selling of Ioseph. Dina by the testimony of * 1.75 Polyhistor, when shee was rauished and sued vnto for marriage by Si∣chem was but tenne yeares of age, and by the computation of Caietan but foureteene, of Pererius but fifteene or sixteene at vtmost. The bles∣sed Virgine when shee brought forth our Saviour, but fifteene. Some∣what more euident is that of Iosiah, who was but thirty nine yeares old when he died, eight he was when he began to reigne, and hee reigned

thirty one; yet was Eliakim his sonne twenty fiue yeares old when he be∣gan to reigne, being by Pharaoh Neco substituted in the place of his * 1.76 brother Iehoahaz, after he had reigned three moneths; so that Iosiah by just computation could not well exceede foureteene yeares of age, when he was first married: But that of Ahaz is yet more remarkeable, who liued but thirty six yeares in the whole, twenty yeares old was hee when he began to reigne, and he reigned sixteene yeares; yet was his * 1.77 sonne Hezekiah, who immediatly succeeded him, twenty fiue yeares old * 1.78 when he began to reigne: By which account Ahaz was married, and be∣gat Hezekiah at eleuen, or before. And though Functius in his Chrono∣nologie, moued with the strangenes heereof, would make Hezekiah the Legall, not the naturall sonne of Ahaz, by adoption, not by generation, and Iunius in his annotations referre those wordes; twenty yeares old was he when he began to reigne, to Iothan the father of Ahaz; yet heerein they both stand alone, aswell against reason, as the ordinary phrase of Scrip∣ture and streame of interpreters. S. Hierome in his epistle to Vitalis, to * 1.79 make it good, hath recourse to Gods Omnipotencie, Neque enim valet na∣tura, saith he, contra naturoe Dominum: And againe, Quòd pro miraculo fit; legem Naturae facere non potest: That which it pleaseth God to worke supernaturally as a miracle, may not be held for the ordinary law of Nature. Yet himselfe in the same Epistle alleages the example of Sa∣lomon to the same purpose: And another more strange then that; to the relation whereof he prefixes this solemne preface; Audiui, Domi∣no teste, non mentior, I haue heard, God knowes I faine it not, that a cer∣taine nurse, hauing the education of an exposed child committed to her charge, who lay with her, being now of the age of tenne yeares, and * 1.80 prouoked to incontinencie by the nurse, overcharged with wine, shee was found with child by him.

I will conclude this reason with the example of Solomon, who is com∣monly thought to come to the Crowne at twelue yeares of age, and the Scripture assures vs that he reigned but forty, by which account he died at the age of fifty two, which is the most receiued opinion aswell of the * 1.81 Iewish Rabbines, as the Christian Doctours: yet was Rehoboam his sonne and successour forty one yeares old when he began to raigne: so that but an ele•…•…en yeares at most, are left for Solomon when he begat him: Such * 1.82 matches as these in this age, I thinke can hardly be matched neither in truth doe I hold it fit they should.

SECT. 3. The third is borrowed from the age which the Ancients assigned for charge and imployment in publique affaires, Ecclesiasticall, Ci∣vill and Military, they were therevnto both sooner admit∣ted, and therefrom sooner discharged then men now adayes vsually are, which should in reason argue, that they likewise vsually fi∣nished the course of their life sooner.

ANother reason tending to the same purpose may not vnfitly bee drawne from the age which the Ancients assigned for charge and imployment in publique affaires. They were therevnto assoone ad∣mitted and sooner discharged then men now adayes vsually are, which should in reason argue that they likewise ran their race & finished their course sooner, in asmuch as quod citius crescit, citius finitur, that which * 1.83 sooner comes to ripenes and perfection, hastens sooner to rottennes & dissolution. Now publique charges may well be distributed into Ecclesia∣sticall, Civill, and Military, of the Church, of the State, and of the warres: I will begin with the Ministeriall offices of the Church, and therein with the Principall, which is that of the Bishop: Thomas Becket was chosen Archbishop of Canterbury at the age of forty foure yeares, as witnesseth Mathew Parker (who succeeded him in that See) in his booke of the liues of the Archbishops intituled Antiquitates Britannicae: Is qui ad Episco∣palem dignitatem promovendus est, annos natus esse debet non minus triginta, nam ea aetate Dominum & baptizatum, & concionatum fuisse legimus, saith Lancelot in his Institutions of the Canon Law. He who is to bee advanced to the dignity of a Bishop, ought not to be lesse then thirty yeares old, in∣asmuch * 1.84 as we read that our Lord was baptized and preached at that age. Whereas now adayes with vs seldome is any preferred to that place till he be past forty or fifty. Venerable Bede our famous Countreyman * 1.85 who liued about eight hundred yeares agoe, was by hisowne testimony made Deacon at nineteene. And Origen by the testimony of Eusebi∣us, Catechist in Alexandria at eighteene yeares of age. But that which to this point is most memorable in the exercise of sacred functions, is that by the commandement of God himselfe, the Levites after the age of * 1.86 fifty yeares were exempted from the execution of their office, which notwithstanding was nothing so painefull as that of the Ministery of the Gospell, if faithfully discharged. Where by Levites it may well be that not only those who serued in inferiour offices vnder the Priests, but the Priests themselues as being of the tribe of Levi are to be vnderstood, to which purpose M. Nettles in his answere to the Iewish part of M. Sel∣dens History of Tithes hath vouched the Rabbines, as named Aben Ezra on Leviticus 16. every Priest is a Levite, but euery Levite is not a Priest. And Ioshuah Ben Levi mentioning that text, Numb. 18: 26. Speake vnto the Le∣vites, doth vnder the name of Levites vnderstand also Priests, farther ad∣ding, that in foure and twenty places the Priests are called Levites, which be∣ing

so; I see no reason but that from thence we may safely inferre, that in likelyhood the same space of yeares was assigned to the Priest, aswell for his entrance vpon his office, as his discharge from it, specially consi∣dering that his place was of an higher nature.

Now for the warres. The Gaules put their sonnes in armes, and prepa∣red * 1.87 them to warre at foureteene. Cneius Pompeius at eighteene yeares of age, and Caesar Octavianus at nineteene sustained civill warres. The Iewes indeed ordinarily levied their souldiers from twenty yeares vpward, as plainly appeares in the first of Numbers and diverse other places. But * 1.88 the Romanes from seuenteene, which by Gellius out of Tubero is reported to haue beene the practise and prescript of Servius Tullius one of their * 1.89 Kings. The same was afterwards confirmed by the Gracchi, Gracchi lex iuniorem annis septendecem militem non legi. The Gracchian Law ordained * 1.90 that none should be levied vnder seuenteene. Yet in times of Necessity they came vnder those yeares, as in the second Punick warre, Tum decre∣tum, saith Livy, vt Tribuni plebis ad populum ferrent, vt qui minores annis 17. Sacramento dixissent, ijs perinde stipendia procederent: ac si 17 annorum * 1.91 aut maiores milites facti essent. It was then decreed that the Tribunes should tell the people that such as being vnder seuenteene had taken their military oath, should in like sort receiue their pay as if they had beene full seuenteene or past. The Graecians indeed entred vpon their military service somwhat latter, but were discharged from it sooner, they tooke vp souldiers for the warres at eighteene, but discharged them at forty or thereabout. We finde in Demosthenes, that the state being indangered, they were all commaunded to tugg at the oare, vsque ad eos qui 45 anno∣rum * 1.92 essent, euen to those that were forty fiue: vpon which Vlpian the Scholiast commenteth, that this was an vnusuall practice, quia Lex apud Athenienses ad annum quadragesimum duntaxat, iubet militare, exorsos à de∣cimo octavo, because the Lawes among the Athenians commaunds men to serue in the warres onely till forty, entring vpon the service at eigh∣teene. And it should seeme Macrobius aimes at this, discoursing of the efficacy of the Septenary number, Nonnullarum Rerumpub. is mos est, vt post * 1.93 sextam hebdomaden ad militiam nemo cogatur, in plurimis detur remissio post septimam, it is the custome of some states, that after the sixth weeke no man should be forced to serue in the warres, and in the most they are discharged after the seuenth: where by weekes he vnderstands weekes of yeares, and in the sixth weeke seemes to point at the practice of the Athe∣nian state, in the seuenth to that of the Romane. Neither the Romane nor the Graecian went commonly beyond forty fiue, as Dyonisius affirmeth, or * 1.94 forty sixe, as Polybius: And euen in dangerous times not beyond fifty, Lex à quinquagesimo anno militum non cogit, à sexagesimo Senatorem non citat, saith Seneca in his last Chapter de brevitate vitae, the Law doth not force a Souldier to serue after fifty, nor a Senatour after sixty.

By the testimony of Polyhistor, and the computation both of Caietan and Pererius, Symeon and Levi, when they so fiercely and desperatly set * 1.95 vpon the Sichemites, little or nothing surpassed the number of twenty yeares, in somuch that Pererius breakes out into this admiration: Subit animum meum vehementer admirari, praeferocem istorum animum, qui vix

dum adolescentiam egressitam atrox facinus & ani•…•…ò conceperint, & auda∣cissime exsèquentes perfecerint: I cannot but ex•…•…dingly marvell at their wonderfull fiercenes, that being scarce past their youth, they should in their mindes conceiue so bloody a fact, & put it in execution so boldly. King Edward the fourth hauing beene Conquerour in eight or nine se∣verall set battailes, died at the age of forty one, and our famous King Ar∣thur * 1.96 (if we may beleeue Ninnius) hauing victoriously fought 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 gaue vp the ghost at the same age. Iulian hauing been for diverse yeares a great Commaunder in the warres was slaine at one and thirty; and it * 1.97 is well knowne that the Great Alexander had conquered in a manner the knowne World at thirty three. Vpon the consideration whereof Iu∣lius * 1.98 Caesar beholding his statue in the Temple of Hercules at Cales, fetcht a deepe sigh, as being ashamed that at that age himselfe had atchieued no memorable act, yet was himselfe but 56 when he was slaine.

Lastly, for the administratiō of Ciuill affaires in the state, Romulus first King of the Romans hauing raigned (saith Plutarch in the very endof his life) 38 years dyed at fifty, by which accoūt he must begin his ragne at 12 somewhat too yong (a man would thinke) for a King that was to lay the foundation of such an Empire. Cicero by the testimony of Cornelius Nepos (who was his familiar freind, and wrote his life) pleaded publike∣ly for Sextus Roscius at 13, and by the testimony of Aulus Gellius Euripe∣des * 1.99 wrote one of his tragidies, Natus annos duo de viginti, at eighteene yeares of age. Iosephus witnesseth of him selfe annos novendecem natus ad Rempub: caepi me dare, I began to apply myselfe to the affaires of the * 1.100 weale publique, being but yet nineteene yeares of age. And Moses of Ioseph the Patriarch, that when he had in a manner the whole goverment of Egipt committed to his charge by Pharaoh, was but thirty yeares old; * 1.101 which was likewise Davids age▪ when he began to raigne. Augustus entred vpon the Consulship at twenty, and receiued virilem togam at six∣teene saith Suetouius in his life. But Aurelius Antoninus a yeare yonger as Spartianus affirmes, by which ornament or habit, they were judged fit * 1.102 for publique imployment in the common wealth. And Laevinus Tor∣rentius in his Annotations vpon that place, observeth that even the lawes themselues at that time reputed men fit for action in state affaires at sea∣uenteene, at which age Nero was chosen Emperour: Tertullian comes * 1.103 much lower, tempus etiam Ethnici observant, vt ex lege naturae jura suis aeta∣tibus reddant: Nam foeminas à duodecem annis, masculos à duobus amplius ad * 1.104 negotia mittunt. The Ethnicks so obserue their times, that from the law of Nature they dispose of their ages in Civill affaires: for women they imploy after twelue, and men two yeares after that. And as they were reputed sooner fit for action then wee: so likewise sooner vnfit: cum sexaginta annos habebant, tum erant à publicis negotijs liberi atque expe∣diti, * 1.105 & otiosi: when they once came to sixty then were they freed from all publique seruice, and left to their ease and rest. In somuch as it grew to a Proverbe amongst the Latins, Sexagenarios de ponte deijci oportere, that men of sixty deserued to be cast from the bridge, as being vnprofi∣table for the common-wealth after that age. And from thence were they commonly called Depontani which was vpon this ocasion taken

vp, as witnesseth Festus. Quo tempore primum per pontem coeperunt com•…•…∣iijs * 1.106 suffragiūferre, iunio•…•…es conclamavêre, ut de ponte deijcerentur sexagenarij; quia nullo publico munerefungerentur. at what time they held their assem∣blyes & gaue their suffrages vpon the bridge, the yonger sort cryed out with one voyce, that such as were sixty should be throwne from the bridge, in as much as they had no publique charge. To which outcry of theirs Ovid alludes.

Pars pi•…•…tat, vt ferrent juvenes suffragia Soli, Pontibus infirmos praecipitasse senes. * 1.107 That yonger men might voices giue alone, The elder were downe from the bridges throwne. * 1.108

This motion, the Barbiccians at seventy, in effect put in execution, •…•…∣nes septaagesimum annum egressos interficiunt, viros mactando, mulieres vero stangulando: they make away all that are past seaventy, sacrificing the men and strangling the women. Now then since the age assigned by the Ancients not onely for marriage, but likewife for their entrance vpon, & discharge from publique imployment, aswell in the Church and State as in the warres, was little or nothing different from that which is both allowed and practised at this day, (saue that they seemed to haue beene more indulgent and favourable to themselues then now we are) what reason haue wee to imagine that the length and duration of time which they vsually liued, was different from ours?

I will close vp this chapter with an observatiō or two taken frō the Municipall lawes of our own Land, which account prescription or custome by the practising of a thing time out of minde (as they call it) and that time they confine to the same number of 60 yeares, as formerly they haue done, which could not stand with reason or justice were there such a notable and sensible abatement in the age of man as is pretended. And againe: Our Ancestors for many revolutions of ages in their Leases or other instruments of conveyance commonly valued three liues but at one and twenty yeares in account in Law. Whereas now adayes they are valued by the ablest Lawyers at twenty sixe, twenty eight, yea thirty yeares: Whether it were that the warres and pestilentiall diseases then consu∣med more, I cannot determine, but me thinkes it should in reason argue thus much, that our liues at leastwise are not shortned in regard of theirs, which is asmuch as I desire to be graunted, and more then is commonly yeelded, though (as I conceiue) vpon no sufficient ground denyed; and so I passe from the age of men to the consideration of their strength and stature.

CAP. 3. Containing a comparison betwixt the Gyants mentioned in Scripture both among themselues, and with those of latter ages.

SECT. 1. Of the admirable composition of mans Body, and that it can not be sufficiently prooved that Adam as he was the first, so he was likewise the tallest of men, which in reason sholud be, were there in truth any such perpe¦tuall decrease in mans stature as is pretended,

AS the great power of Almighty God doth shine foorth and shew it selfe in the numberlesse variety of the parts of mans body: so doth his wonderfull goodnesse in their excellent vse, and his singu∣lar wisedome in their orderly disposition, sweet harmony and just sym∣metrie, aswell in regard of themselues, as in reference each to other, but chiefly in the resultance of the beautifull and admirable frame of the whole body. The consideration whereof made the Royall Prophet to cry * 1.109 out: I will praise thee, for I am fearefully and wonderfully made, in thy booke were all my members written, and curiously wrought, marvailous are thy works, and that my soule knoweth right well- This proportion is in all respects so euen and correspondent, that the measures of Temples, of dwelling * 1.110 houses, of Engins, of ships were by Architects taken from thence, and those of the Arke it selfe too, as it is probably thought. For as the Arke was three hundred Cubits in length, fifty in bredth, and thirty in heigth, * 1.111 so the body of man rightly shaped, answers therevnto. The length from the crowne of the head to the sole of the foot, and breadth from side to side, and thicknes from back to breast carrying the proportion of three hundred, and fifty, and thirty each to other: so that looke what propor∣tion fifty hath to three hundred, which is sixe to one, the same hath the breadth of mans body to his heigth or length. And what proportion thirty hath to three hundred, which is ten to one, the same hath the thicknes to his length and bredth. Nay some haue obserued 300 minu∣ta (which I take to be barley cornes, the fourth part of an inch or there∣about * 1.112) to make vp the length of a mans body of just stature, and conse∣quently, fifty in the bredth, and thirty the thicknes, answereable to the severall numbers of the Cubits in the severall measures of the Arke.

Now to our present purpose, as God and Nature, (or rather God by Nature, his instrument and handmaid) hath fashioned the body of Man in those proportions, so hath he limited the dimensions thereof, (as like∣wise those of all other both vegetable, sensitiue and vnsensible Crea∣tures) within certaine bounds,

Quos vltra citraque nequit consistere

So that though the dimensions of mens bodies be very different in re∣gard

of severall Climats & Races, yet was there neuer any race of men found to the bignesse of mountaines or whales, or the littlenesse of flies or aunts, because in that quantity, the members cannot vsefully and com∣modiously, either dispose of themselues, or exercise those functions, to which they were by their maker assigned, True indeede it is, that both history of former ages, and experience of latter times teach vs, that a great inequality there is, and hath beene: but that since the fi•…•… •…•…reati∣on of man there should be any such perpetuall, vniversall, an•…•… constant decrease and diminution, as is pretended, that shall I never beleeue.

For then in reason should the first Man haue beene a Gyant of Gyants, the hughest and most monstrous Gyant that euer the world beheld, and vpon this ground it seemes, (though faisely supposed) Iohannes Lucidus * 1.113 labours to proue him so indeede, from that passage in the fourteenth of Iosua, according to the Vulgar Translation: Nomen Hebron ante vocabatur Cariah-Arbe, Adam maximus ibi inter Enakim situs est, which may thus be rendred: Adam the greatest of Gyants lies there buried: And this fancie of Lucidus is countenanced by that fable of the Iewish Rabbies, re∣ported by Moses bar Cephas, who supposing Paradise to be di•…•…oyned * 1.114 from this world, by the interposition of the Ocean, tell vs that Adam being cast out of it, waded thorow the Ocean to come into this, by which account his stature should rather be measured by miles then by cubits: But as Lucidus by this opinion crosseth the streame of Antiquity (S. Ierome only, & some few others his followers excepted) holding that * 1.115 the first Adam was buried, not in Hebron, but in that place where the se∣cond Adam triumphed ouer death, so doth he likewise by following * 1.116 the Vulgar Translation corrupt the Hebrew originall, which is thus to be rendred: Nomen autem Hebronis nomen fuerat Kiriath-arbah, is fuerat ho∣mo inter Anakeos maximus: So that the word Adam or homo, is to bee referred not to the first man, but to Arbah, the first founder as is thought * 1.117 of that Cittie; and therevpon our last Translation reades it thus: The name of Hebron before was Kiriath-arbah, which Arbah was a great man among the Anakims. Besides, the word Adam euen in the Vulgar Translati∣on it selfe, is not alwayes vnderstood as proper to the first man, but com∣mon, as homo in Latine, or man in English: And yet to graunt the word in that place to be vnderstood of the first man, and that he was there buri∣ed; well might he be called the Greatest, yet notsomuch in regard of any excessiue vastnesse in the dimentions of his bodie, as because he was the headspring and fountaine of mankind, or in respect of that originall justice, with which before his fall hee stood invested. There is no ne∣cessitie then, to beleeue that the first man was the tallest of men, nay ra∣ther as he came short of many that followed after in age, and number of yeares, so it may safely be thought, that he exceeded them not in stature or dimentions of body; there being often found in the Crea∣tures a reciprocall corespondence, betwixt their durations and dimenti∣ons, as among the Graecians, the same word signifies both; whence some translate * 1.118 it age, and some stature: So that those Patriarches of the first age, who by speciall dispensation liued longest, may well be conceiued by vertue of the same dispensation, to haue had a stature and length of

body in some sort, sutable to the lasting and length of their liues.

SECT. 2. What those Gyants were which are mentioned in the 6 of Genesis, & that succeeding a∣ges till Davids time afforded the like.

YEt the first mention that holy Scripture makes of Gyants is in the sixth of Genesis, not long before the flood, but long after the Creati∣on, * 1.119 There were Gyants in the earth in those dayes, saith the text; and al∣so after that, when the sonnes of God came in vnto the daughters of men, and thy beare children vnto them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renowne. The Originall word is Nephelim, derived from Na∣phal, which signifies to fall, whence Iunius referres their name to their o 1.120 defection & apostacie from religion and the worship of the true God. Cal∣vin to the falling of others before them by reason of their a 1.121 excessiue pride, cruelty, and oppression. Philo in his booke, which he hath purpose∣ly composed de Gygantibus, to their owne falling from piety and godli∣nes to carnall thoughts and earthly desires. From which he fetcheth their name in Greeke: S. Cyrill about the beginning of his ninth booke against Iulian, discoursing of this very passage of Moses, thus com∣ments vpon it. Mos est divinae Scripturae Gigantes vocare agrestes & fero∣ces & robustos: Nam de Persis & Medis Iudaeam devastaturis, dixit Deus per Isayam, Gigantes venient vt impleant furorem meum. It is the phrase of holy writ to call such Gyants as are in behaviour rough and rude, wild, * 1.122 and barbarous: So speakes God by the Prophet Isayah, of the Medes and Persians, ordained for the laying wast of Iudea; Gyants shall come and execute my fury vpon you. So that if we rest in any of these interpretati∣ons, there is no necessity we should conceiue these Gyants to haue ex∣ceeded other men in stature. Nay, S. Chrysostome seemes to deny it, Gygantes à Scriptura dici opinor non invsitatum hominum genus aut insoli∣ta•…•… formam, sed Heroas & viros fortes & hellicosos: I thinke they are in Scripture called Gyants, not any vncouth kind of men for shape or feature, but such as were Heroycall and warlike: Which exposi∣tion of his, hath in trueth some ground in the latter part of the same verse, where Moses seemes to vnfold himselfe, thus describing those whom immediatly before he had called Gyants, the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renowne.

On the other-side Cassianus, Ambrose, and Theodoret are as express, * 1.123 that by Gyants, Moses there vnderstood men of an huge and vast pro∣portion of body: But for mine owne part, I see not but all these inter∣pretations, (Chrysostomes onely excepted) may well enough stand toge∣ther and be accorded. These Gyants being such as the Interlineary Glosse briefely but pithily describes, immanes corpore, superbos animo, viribus praevalidos & inconditos moribus: Gyants then they were not onely in re∣gard of their pride, their tyrannie, their incivility, and infidelity, but like wise and that doubtles most properly in respect of the monstrous enormi∣ty

of their bodies: most of the former being in likelihood occasioned by this latter.

Now as this is the first place that wee reade of Gyants not long be∣fore the flood, (which should argue they were taller and stronger then any that went before them) so it is not the last, but in all times wee may trace them thorow the history of succeeding ages. From whence Rea∣son collects, that euen in regard of these irregular prodigious birthes, for ought we finde in Scripture, Nature hath suffered no apparent or sensible decay. Of this stamp it seemes was Nymrod, who hath therefore this Character set vpon him, that he was Robustus Venator coram Domino, * 1.124 a mighty hunter before the Lord: There were some likewise found of this excessiue stature in the time of Abraham, of Moses, of Iosuah, and of David, whom wee haue registred vnder the names of Rephaims, Zu∣zims, * 1.125 Zanzummins, Emims, and Anakims. Also the Prophet Amos found among the Amorites men of Gyant-like stature, whose height he compareth to Cedars and their strength to Oakes. Particularly it is no∣ted in the third of Deuteronomy of Ogge King of Basan foure hundred yeares after Abraham, that his bedde of yron kept and shewed as a monument in Rabbah was nine cubits long and foure broad: And surely if * 1.126 his stature were answerable to the dimensions of his bed, hee was one of the greatest Gyants that wee any where reade of, not only in sacred but in any warrantable prophane story. For whereas nine cubits make vp thirteene foote and an halfe, if wee should allow a foote and halfe for the length of his bed-steed at both the ends beyond his body; yet there still remaines twelue foote, which is double to a iust stature. And though I am not ignorant that both the Chaldee Paraphrase, and Com∣plutensian Bible following it, render it, In cubito eiusdem Regis, as if the measure were to be taken by the Cubit of King Ogge himselfe; yet Arias Montanus and Tremellius following the originall, render it, in cubito vi∣ri, or virili; and Iunius giues this note vpon it, idest iustae & communis mensurae, qualem mensuram cubitalem quisque Artifex observare solet: that is, of the iust and common measure, such as Artificers vsually obserue in their cubits, and such as himselfe in the third of Iosuah translates, no∣tam mensuram, the ordinary knowne measure. And to say truth, the * 1.127 measuring of Ogge by his owne cubit had beene both to make his sta∣ture altogeter vncertaine, and the commensurations of his body most disproportionable, there being no man, whose body is justly framed, who is full foure of his owne cubits in length; neither had such a shape bin only disproportionable, but exceeding weake, aswell for offence, as defence, whereas he is described as a mighty man, and of wonderfull strength. Lastly, if we shall imagine him to haue beene a transcendent Gyant, and yet measure him by his owne cubit, double to the ordinary, his length will then arise to twenty foure foote at least, a stature most incredible. After this in Davids time we reade that Goliath the Philistin of Gath, * 1.128 was a Gyant of six cubits and a spanne long: Neither doe I remember that in sacred Scriptures we haue the measure of any precisely observed, saue of him onely: the armour which he wore weighed fiue thousand shekels of brasse, the sheft of his speare was like a weavers beame, and his speare

head weighed six hundred shekels of yron: Also in tho second of Samuell, * 1.129 there is mention of a brother to this 〈◊〉〈◊〉, a man of like stature and strength: And of two 〈◊〉〈◊〉, the one of which was slaine by Iehona∣than Davids Nephew, hee who had twelue fingers and as many toes, * 1.130 foure and twenty in number. And that before these, Sampson was of surpassing strength and of a stature answerable the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, no man need to doubt, considering he tore a Lyon as it had be•…•…o a kidde, slew thirty of the Philistins at once, and after that a thousand more of them with * 1.131 the iaw-bone of an asse: And lastly he tooke the gates of Assah, and the two postes, & lifted them away with the barres, and put them vpon his shoulders, and carried them to the toppe of the mountaine before He∣bron.

SEC. 3. That latter times haue also afforded the like both at home and abroad, speci∣ally in the Indies, where they liue more according to nature.

THE like may be said of all succeeding ages downe to the pre∣sent times; It is the confession of Cassanion in his booke of Gy∣ants; No•…•… vno tantum seculo aut altero visi sunt; sed fermè ab initio mundi ad Davidis vsque tempora propagatum id genus hominum magnitudi∣ne prorsus admiranda. They haue not beene seene in one onely or two a∣ges, but almost from the beginning of the world euen to Davids time hath that kinde of men of a monstrous bignesse beene deduced. S. Au∣gustine goes farther, Quasi vero Corpora hominum modum nostrum longe ex∣cedentia * 1.132 non etiam nostris temporibus nata sint: as if some bodies of men much exceeding our ordinary stature were not likewise borne in these our times. And yet more fully in the ninth Chapter of the same booke; Nunquam fermè defuerunt qui modum aliorum plurimum excederint; they haue almost at no time beene wanting who haue much exceeded the ordinary stature.

I will insist onely vpon the most signall instances drawne from the testimonies of the most approved Authours. In the Gospells or writings of the Apostles wee reade not of any, they intending, matters of grea∣ter, weight and consequence: But Pliny tells vs, that during the reigne of Claudius the Emperour, a mighty man one Gabbara by name was * 1.133 brought out of Arabia to Roome, nine foote hith was he, and as many inches. There were likewise in the time of Augustus Caesar two others, na∣med Pusio and Secondilla higher then Gabbara by halfe a foote, whose bo∣dies were preserved & kept for a wonder within the Salustian gardens. Maximinus the Emperour, as Iulius Capitolinus affirmes, exceeded eight foote; And Andronichus Comninus tenne, as Nicetas. In the dayes of Theodosius, there was one in Syria, (as Nicephorus reports) fiue cubits high and an hand-breadth. Eginhardus and Krantzius affirme that Charlemai∣gne * 1.134 was seven foot high: But in that they adde of his own feet, they both

leaue his heighth altogether vncertaine, (as was before said in the des∣cription of the stature of Ogge) and his body very disproportionable, there being no man whose body is rightly featured, who exceedes fix of his * 1.135 owne feete.

But to draw neerer to our owne times: Iulius Scaliger hath left it vp∣on record, that at his being at Millane, he there saw in a publique hos∣pitall * 1.136 a young man of so monstrous an heighth, that he could not stand vpright, he was therefore layd vpon two beds, the one ioyned long∣wise vnto the other, both which he filled with his length. Goropius Be∣canus Physitian to the Lady Mary, Queene of Hungary, regent of th * 1.137 Netherlands, and sister to the Emperour Charles the fifth, assures vs, thae himselfe saw a woman tenne foote high, and that within fiue miles of hit dwelling, there was then to be seene a man almost of the same lengths wherevpon his assertion is, Audacter affirmamus, wee boldly affirme: that men in former ages were commonly nothing taller then now they, are: Their Gyants were of six or seaven cubits high, & so are ours: nay hee goes farther, Considenter de philosophiae preceptis statuimus, nihil in hu∣mana statura ab inevnte mundi aetate immutatum esse: Wee confidently auerre out of the grounds of Philosophie, that since the Creation of the world nothing is altered in the stature of man-kind.

But to returne to the Gyants of latter ages, Iohn Cassanion, who seemes to haue vndertaken his treatise of Gyants purposely to censure and con∣fute Goropius, yet mentions one himselfe commonly called the Gyant of Burdeaux, whom King Francis passing that way beheld with admirati∣on, * 1.138 commaunding he should bee of his guard: but being a pesant of a grosse spirit, not able to apply himselfe to a Courtiers life, hee soone quited his halbard, and getting away by stealth, returned to the place whence he came. An honorable person, who had seene him archer of the guard, did assure me, saith Cassanion, that he was of such an heighth as any man of an ordinary stature might goe vpright betwixt his legges when hee did stride. There is at this present to bee seene heere in Eng∣land one Parsons, by trade a blacke-smith, now Porter at the Kings Court, who by iust measure is found to be no lesse then seaven foote & * 1.139 two inches. And I heere that a Welch-man is lately entertained by the Prince in the like place, who outstrips the Smith in heighth by fiue in∣ches, and yet is he still growing, so as in time he may well come vnto eight foote.

But it may well bee that in these parts of the world where luxury hath crept in together with Ciuility, there may be some diminution of strength and stature in regard of our Ancestours; yet if wee cast our eyes abroad vpon those nations which still liue according to nature, though in a fashion more rude and barbarous, we shall finde by the relation of those that haue liued among them, that they much exceede vs in sta∣ture, still retaining as it seemes the vigorous constitution of their Predecessours, which should argue, that if any decay be, it is not vni∣versall, and consequently not naturall, but rather adventitious and acci∣dentall. For proofe heereof, to let passe the stories of Olaus Magnus touching the Inhabitants of the Northerne Climate, I will content my

selfe with the Indies. Melchior Nunnez in his letters where he discour∣seth * 1.140 of the affaires of China reports that in the chiefe cittie called Pag∣•…•…, the Porters are fifteene foote high, and in other letters written in the yeare 1555, he doth auerre that the King entertaines and feedes fiue hundred such men for Archers of his Guard. In the West Indies in the region of Chica neere the mouth of his streights; Ortelius describes a people whom he tearmes Pentagones, from their huge stature, beeing ordinarily of fiue cubits long, which makes seaven foote & an halfe; whence their countrey is knowne by the name of the land of Gyants. M^r Pretty a Gentleman of Suffolke, in his discourse of M^r Candish his voyage about * 1.141 the world, beeing himselfe imployed in the same action, tells vs that measuring the print of an Indians foote in the sand, not farre from the coast of Brasil; he found it to be eighteene inches long, by which compu∣tation, the Indian himselfe in proportion could be no lesse then nine foote. Cassanion likewise acknowledgeth that in the Iland of Summatra & neere the Antarticke Pole, some are found of tenne or twelue foote high. Lastly, Antony Pigafet a great traveller in his time, as testifieth Goulart, * 1.142 affirmes that he had seene towards the same Pole so tall a Gyant, as o∣ther tall men did not reach with their heads aboue his navell; and others beyond the streights of Magellane, which had their necks a cubit long, and the rest of their bodies answerable therevnto.

CAP. 4. More pressing Reasons to proue that for these last two or three thousand yeares, the stature of the Ancients was little or nothing different from that of the present times.

SECT. 1. The first Reason taken from the measures of the Ancients, which were proportioned to the parts of mans bodie, and in the view of them wee are first to know that they were standards, that is, for publique contracts, certaine and constant; and consequently if the graines of our barley corne, the first principle of measure be the same with theirs, as hath already beene proved, it cannot be but our ordinary measures should bee the same with theirs, and so likewise our statures.

I will not dwell vpon these lighter skirmishes, but proceede on to a more serious fight, and downeright stroakes drawne from the demon∣strations of more weighty reasons, whereof the first shall be taken from the comparison of the measures of the Ancients and ours, vsed in this present age, borrowed from the body of man. It was a memora∣ble saying of Protagoras, reported and repeated by Plato, that man was rerum omnium mensura, the measure of all things; he is the measure of * 1.143

measures, the yard, the ell, the pace, the furlong, the mile, they are all mea∣sured by the body of man and the parts thereof, which likewise serue for the measuring each of other. So that if they hold that Symmetrie & commodulation, (as Vitruvius calls it) which they ought from the propor∣tion * 1.144 of the head, the hand, the cubit, the foote, the finger, nay the tooth or the least bone, may the dimēsions of the whole body be infalliblely col∣lected. As Pythagoras gathered the heigth of Hercules from the propor∣tion of his foote; and Pulcher a skilfull Geometrician the heigth of a Gy∣ant * 1.145 (discouered in Sicily by an earth-quake) at the commaund of Tibe∣rius from the proportion of his tooth, sent from thence to the Emperour * 1.146 for a tast and triall of the whole. To lay a ground then to that which I am to say, that the building which I am to raise vpon it may stand the surer, first I take it to be an vndeniable truth, that the cubit, the foote, the inch, the digit were all of them standards, that is, certaine and con∣stant measures, it being not lawfull for euery man to make or take his measures in publique contracts by his owne cubit or foote, or of any whom himselfe would make choyce of, but by that which was com∣mon and indifferent to all, legally & publiquely allowed: And this much not onely stands with right reason, but appeares to be true, by that Amphora Capitolina amongst the Romanes, a standing stable mea∣sure, kept in the Capitoll, (with which all other measures were to ac∣cord) mentioned by Iulius Capitolinus in the life of Maximinus, as also by the Romane Congius, whereof one was lately in the keeping of Cardi∣nall Farnese, & is exquisitely effigiated by Vyllalpandus in the latter end of his third tome vpon the Prophet Ezekiel. Among the Iewes likewise the Law required that they should not vse or haue a double weight or measure, which could not well be avoided, except they had a common measure by which all particulars were to be regulated.

Secondly, this standard of cubits or feete was taken from the propor∣tion of a man, mediae or mediocris staturae, of a middle stature, and consi∣dering that both the Romane and Graecian foote consisteth of twelue in∣ches, and withall that a foote is the sixth part of a mans body, it must needes follow that a man of a middle stature consisted of six foote by the standard or assise. But because it was obserued that in diuerse Cli∣mates, or it may be in the same Climate in diuerse ages men varied in their stature; and consequently that the middle stature was not alway & in all places the same, they measured the digit, which is the least & last principall of measures in mans body, by barley cornes, allowing foure bar∣ley cornes laid athwart for the digit, as Lucas Gauricus a great & fa∣mous Mathematician in his booke of Geometrie & the parts thereof, hath truely and wisely observed, Nam etsi, saith he, ab humanis membris di∣mensionu•…•… partes deno•…•…inari Veteres voluere placuit tamen propter humano∣rum corporum inaequalitatem, à certo quodam principio exordiri, ex quo men∣surae reliquae velut ex certis partibus constituerentur. Statuerunt ergo Geome∣trae granum hordei transuersum, id est secundum latitudinem positum, mensu∣rarum minimam. Though the Ancients haue pleased to denominate the severall parts of measures from the severall parts of mans body; yet by reason of the inequality of mens bodies, they thought it reasonable

to take their rise from some certaine and vnvariable beginning, from whence other measures might likewise be made vp of euen and certain parts. And to this purpose did the Geometricians make the barly corne layd athwart, or according to its breadth the least and first of all other measures. And that foure of these make vp a digit, appeares by these old verses which I find in the same Author,

Quatuor ex granis digitus componitur unus Est quater in palmo digitus quater in pede palmus. One foot foure palmes, one palme containes Foure digits, and one digit foure graines.

Now that the barley-corne, the (Grownsell as it were, and simplest prin∣ciple of Measures) or at leastwise the fairest thereof which is vsed to that end, is the same with vs as with the Ancients, it cannot well be de∣nied, if the goodnesse and fruitfulnesse of the Earth be not decayed, as I haue sufficiently prooued in a former Chapter, aswell by reason as the testimony of Columella and other graue Writers. And besides if we still * 1.147 vse the graines of barley for the weight of gold and siluer, as the An∣cients did; I see no reason why wee should except against them in this case. Well then, foure graines now concurring to the making vp of a di∣git, as it did in former ages, it must of necessity follow that our digit is the same with theirs, and consequently our inch, and hand-bredth, and foote, and cubit, from whence we collect that a body of sixe foot heigth according to those measures, being now accounted but a middle stature, as anciently it was, our account is still the same, and our stature at least∣wise for the generall the same, as among the Ancients. And except it were so, their rules of proportion in Architecture, in lymming, in carving and the statuary Art left vs by them could availe vs little. For howbeit from them we might vnderstand what proportion each part should beare to other, yet can we not know what proportion the whole should beare, vnlesse their measures were the same with ours. But their workes in those kindes yet remaining, shew that the measure which they al∣lowed for an horse or a man of a just and euen stature, are the same for proportion both with their owne rules and our standing measures vsed at this day: And at this day doe the best Architects obserue Vitruvius his measures, finding them to agree with, or very little to disagree from ours.

SECT. 2. That in particular the ordinary Hebrew Graecian and Roman measures were the same with ours or very little different.

THose Nations which haue left vs any notable Records of their se∣verall sorts of measures, are to my remembrance but three: the Hebrewes, the Graecians, and the Romanes. For the first it is cleere that as they had some weights sacred or of the Sanctuary, which were the begger, and others of ordinary and common vse, which were the lesser: so were their measures; there was a speciall Cubit which con∣tained an handbredth more then the vulgar, (borrowed it seemes from * 1.148

the Persians during the Captivity of Babylon) and an ordinary, which I take to be the same with, or very little differing from ours. And this in holy writ is tearmed the Cubit of a man, and the measure of a man, that is, of a man growne vp to ripe age and perfect stature. And both Iunius (as * 1.149 before I observed) in his annotations on that of Deuteronomy and Ribe∣ra in his Commentaries on the Revelation, seeme both of them to refer it to the ordinary measures which Artificers commonly vse in taking their distances, and making their dimensions. The first measures to my remembrance that we read of in the sacred Oracles of Scripture are those * 1.150 of the Arke; which S. Augnstine lead by Origen held to be Geometricall, containing six common Cubits: but it is certaine, that casting the big∣nesse of it by the vulgar Cubit now in vse, it was a vessell of so ample & huge capacity, that it was fully sufficient for the preseruing of all sorts of creatures together with their food by God appointed to be reserued in it. The length of it was three hundred Cubits, which multiplied by the bredth, namely fifty cubits, and the product by the heigth of thirty cubits, sheweth the whole concavity to haue beene foure hundred and fif∣ty thousand cubits, large enough for stoage for Noah and his company, the beasts, and birds, and their provision, and somewhat to spare, as Bu∣teo hath learnedly demonstrated.

Of Solomons Temple it is noted that it was sixty cubits long, twenty broade, and thirty high, which Ribera likewise makes to be vulgar and v∣suall * 1.151 cubits. And though the building may seeme to haue beene very scant after that proportion, yet if wee consider that none might come within this space but the Priests that then serued, and that both the Al∣tar of Houlocausts, and the Court of the Priests who serued not, was with∣out, it will seem needlesse to require a longer or larger roome for those services to which it was assigned; Yet since these cubits in the second booke of Chronicles, are said to be ex primariâ mensurâ, after the primary or chiefe measure, it should seeme they were no ordinary cubits, but ra∣ther * 1.152 sacred, which contained the common and vulgar cubit double, as may appeare by this, in that the pillars of brasse Iachin and Boaz set vp before the porch of the Temple in the first of Kings, are said to bee eigh∣teene Cubits high: but in the second of Chronicles, thirty fiue, which toge∣ther * 1.153 with the basis being one Cubit high, make thirty sixe, double to eigh∣teene, as the shekell of the Sanctuary was double to the vulgar: yet can it not be gathered that the vulgar exceeded ours, nay the pillars with their Chapiters & basis being by this computation aboue sixtie foot in heigth, it may well be conjectured, that their foot and Cubit either came short of ours, or was at most but equall vnto it. And for Solomons owne house which was one hundred Cubits long, fifty broad, and thirty high, general∣ly receiued it is, that they were of the Common measure. We read that * 1.154 some of the stones laid in the foundation of the house built for his wife Pharaohs daughter, were of ten Cubits, which allowing a foot and a halfe to the cubit, make vp fifteene foot, a very large proportion, euen by the * 1.155 length of the vulgar foot now in vse: But those in Herods Temple, twen∣ty fiue Cubits long (as witnesseth Iosephus who saw it himselfe) if the cu∣bit by which he reckoned exceed our ordinary, were of a length alto∣gether * 1.156

incredible. And for mine own part, I know not how we should compute either the heigth of Goliah, or the length of Oggs bed, and the like, but by the vulgar and ordinary cubit, now commonly in vse a∣mongst vs, as most of the learned doe, and if in so doing they erre not, then are our measures, and consequently our present stature vndoub∣tedly equall with, or at leastwise not much inferiour to theirs that liued in Moses time, who as it may well be thought, borrowed this Art of measuring from the Egyptians, in whose learning he was so perfectly skilled.

Now for the measures of the Graecians, howbeit Causabon in his com∣mentaries * 1.157 vpon Suetonius, seeme to make the Grecian foot, as likewise that of other Nations, of lesse extent then the Romane; yet Georgius A∣gricola, who studied this point more thorowly, and hath of set purpose composed a large volume of the Graecian and Romane weights and mea∣sures, affirmes the Grecian to exceed the Romane by halfe an inch, & for proofe thereof doth he mention a pillar to be seene in the Chappell of the twelue Apostles in the Vatican, which seemed to him to haue beene brought out of Greece, with this inscription graven in the higher part * 1.158 thereof, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that is, nine foot, and from the measure and proportion of this would he prooue it to exceed the Romane by the quantity afore∣named, yet by his owne confession Marlianus who hath written the Topography of Rome, & exactly described whatsoeuer therein was worth the observing, hath marked no such difference: And for the Cubit, though Herodotus in one place speake of Regius Cubitus, that contained twenty seuen digits, which is three more then the ordinary, yet that * 1.159 their ordinary either digit or cubit exceeded ours, I no-where finde it expressely obserued. And for their stature it is precisely noted by the same Author, that Phya the wife of Pisistratus was held so tall, that shee * 1.160 was exhibited and applauded as another Minerva, and yet wanted shee three fingers of foure cubits. Neither adds he, Cubitorum Regiorum, of Regall cubits, as in the other passage, which makes me conceiue that he might rather meane the vulgar. And for the Persians; from whom the Graecians borrowed their Regall Cubit, he tels vs that one Artaches a prin∣cipall * 1.161 Commander in Xerxes his army, was statura inter Persas procerissi∣ma, the tallest among all the Persians, and yet wanted he foure digits of the measure of fiue Regall Cubits, so that his heigth according to the vulgar Cubit was about eight foote: And I thinke at this day there are few Kingdomes, though much inferiour to that of Persia, which cannot shew one at least not much inferiour to that proportion.

In the third and last place come the ancient Romane measures to bee compared with ours: neither haue I met with any who either affirme or so much as conjecture that they exceeded ours: but many that they rather came short of them. S^r Henry Savill a severe and exact man in the * 1.162 search of Antiquity, speaking of the quadrantall, a measure of a Cubicall Romane foote, sets this note in the margent, The Romane foote lesse then ours by halfe an inch. In like manner Agricola censures Budaeus for ma∣king * 1.163 vp the Romane quadrantall, by the measure of the french foote, whereas, saith he, it exceedes the Romane duobus digitis, by two fingers:

and farther adds, that the standing measure of the ancient Romane foote is yet at this day to be seene cut in stone or marble in diverse places of Rome; and namely in the gardens of Angelo Colocci: Some of these, it seemes, Goropius Becanus mette with & measured, & by his owne testi∣mony, found them short of foure of his palmes or hand-breadths; & yet, * 1.164 saith he, statura mea mediocritate brevior, my selfe come short of a mid∣dle stature. The mile we know was measured by the pace, and the pace by the foote, now that the Romane mile came short of ours, appeares by the great stones set vp at every miles end in the Appian way; and the I∣talian mile in vse at this day, taken, as it seemes, from the ancient Ro∣mane, is shorter then ours, neere about the same proportion, as is the Ro∣mane foote sayd to be shorter then our foote. To bring it home then to our present purpose; It is by Suetonius reported of Augustus, that he was indeede * 1.165 somewhat short, neuertheles of a comely stature: Which from the testimony of Iulius Marathus, he notes to haue beene fiue foote and nine inches, the just measure of our late famous Queene Elizabeth, who as shee matched that renowned Emperour in happines and duration of reigne, so did shee likewise in the stature of her body, nay if we admit the mentioned difference betweene the Romane foote and ours, shee ex∣ceeded him in heigth by more then two inches: And I see no reason why Suetonius should tearme Augustus short, comming so neere the middle stature, except onely because he came somewhat short of that. The same Authour writes that Nero leuied a new legion of Italians of * 1.166 six foote-men, which he called the Phalanx of the great Alexander, by which it should seeme that very few exceeded that stature. And of Tiberius, he obserues that he was statura quae justam excederet, somewhat, as it seemes, aboue sixe foote. Valentinian and Valens gaue order that for * 1.167 the common souldier fiue foote and seauen inches should suffice; And Ve∣getius * 1.168 witnesseth of Marius the Consull, that such as were six foote high, or siue & tenne inches should be ranked inter Alares Equites vel in primis legionum cohortibus, among the principall troupes that served either on horfe-backe or on foote. From whence Causabon collecteth that such as were seauen foote high were counted Gyants, & to that purpose vouch∣eth * 1.169 he the authority of Sidonius Apollinaris who flourished about the yeare foure hundred and forty. * 1.170

—Spernit senipedem stylum Thalia Ex quo septipedes vidit Patronos: Six footed rimes Thalia doth defie Ere since she seaven foot Patrons did espie,

whom a little after hee tearmeth Gyants:

Tot tantique petunt simul Gigantes, Quot vix Alcinoi culina ferret Gyants so many & so hugely maine, As scarce Alcinous Kitchen can sustaine.

By all which passages it cleerely appeares, thar our ordinary stature at this day, if it exceede not that of the Ancient Romanes, yet doth it e∣quall it at least.

Now before I conclude this Reason & Section, it shall not be amisse

by the way to remember that Nicephorus makes the stature of Christ by * 1.171 tradition to haue beene, (if Langus render him right) ad palmos prorsus septem, full seaven hand breadths. Which length allowing foure hand breadths to the foote, according to the vsuall account, wants one hand breadth of two foote; The stature of a dwarfe of the least sise: but if by palmos he meanes spannes, whereof about three make vp two foote, so likewise could he bee but foure foote & a spanne long, too short a sta∣ture for a comely body, such as wee may well and piously conceiue he had, and all ancient Christian writers confesse; and Lentulus the Procon∣sull in that Epistle to the Romane Senate, which goes vnder his name, con∣firmes as much: And it should seeme by that of the Apostle, till wee come to a perfect man, vnto the measure of the stature of the fullnes of Christ: * 1.172 that his stature was compleate and perfect, not excessiue in height, for then Zaccheus needed not to haue gone vp to a tree to haue seene him, nor yet very defectiue, that hauing beene apt to expose him to scorne & derision. And in likelihood we should haue found it somewhere, by some one or other among so many and malitious Adversaries, obiected vnto him. It is true that none of the Evangelists, (most particular and precise in setting downe other Circumstances) haue expressed any thing at all touching his complexion, or feature, or stature: Happily to this end, that no picture or statue might be made of him, as well know∣ing how inclinable by nature wee are to turne the very resemblances & memorialls of those, whom wee most honour and reuerence into I∣dolls. Another thing which I would note is this, that when I call six foote a middle stature, my meaning is not that there are as many found to be aboue it, as below it (which is the vulgar vnderstanding of that word) but because it is, and euer hath beene held by the Learned, the most competent and comely stature; so as he who is vnder that, is somewhat too short, and he who is aboue it, somewhat too tall in re∣gard of the most euen, just, and exact proportion. It was so held among the Romans, as appeares by Vitruvius, & by the Commentatours on Sueto∣nius in the life of Tiberius: And yet their ranking of six foote men among * 1.173 their principall troupes, & Nero his making vp a legion of the leuied from all the parts of Italy, which in a kinde of pride and glory he named the Phalanx of Alexander the great, shew that then very few exceeded that stature: And yet, (which may not be forgotten) was their foote short of ours three inches in the measure of six feete. And surely, now among vs to raise a Legion of fiue foote & nine inches in any of his Maiesties king∣domes, or perchaunce in some one of our sheires, would proue, I dare say, no very hard taske, or such as wee should hold a matter worth the glorying in.

SECT. 3. The second reason taken from the ordinary allowance of diet to souldiers and servants, which appeares to be of like quantity with vs, as was that among the Ancient Graecians and Romans, together with a doubt touching Gods al∣lowance to the Israelites, answered.

BVt I passe from this first Reason drawne from the comparison of ancient and moderne Measures, to a second no lesse weighty and pressing in my judgement, borrowed from the allowance of diet, ta∣king this for my ground, that caeteris paribus, men for the most part feed according to the proportion of their bodies; and withall that their pub∣lique allowance was made according to their customary feeding. To Hercu∣les, being a man supposed of a mighty stature, is allowed by Homer an oxe at a meale when he was hungry. Of Maximinus the Emperour a∣boue-named, Capitolinus reports, that he often ate in a day forty pound weight of flesh, and sometimes sixty, as he addeth out of Cordus. Athe∣naeus alleages Theodorus Hieropolis in his bookes of the games of Greece, that the ordinary fare of Milo the Crotonian, was twenty pound of flesh & three Congij, or six gallons of wine. In the yeare one thousand fiue hun∣dred & eleuen, the Emperour Maximilian the first, being at Ausburge * 1.174 at an assembly of the states of Germany; there was presented him a man of an vnreasonable heigth and greatnes, who at a few mouth-fulls and without any stay, would devour a whole sheepe, or a calfe, not caring whe∣ther it were rost or raw, saying that it did but sharpen his appetite. Chil∣dren for the most part are not allowed the like quantily as men of riper yeares, though they be growing, nor among men dwarfes the like as Gyants: And it stands with great reason that the portion of diet appoin∣ted for the nourishing of the body, should in some sort be answerable to the proportion of the body nourished. If then it shall appeare that the daily bread allowed by the Ancients to their servants & souldiers, was no more then is by vs allowed at this day to ours, it will, as I take it, from thence be more then probablely inferred, that the common stature & strength of our bodies, is not somuch inferiour to theirs, as is common∣ly supposed.

The ordinary allowance in corne among the Graecians, was the mea∣sure of a Choenix a day, as witnesseth Suidas; & fromhence, as it seemes, was borrowed that Motto of Pythagoras, remembred by Plutarch super Choenicem•…•… ne si•…•…as, sit not vpon a Choenix, that is, hauing gotten foode * 1.175 for a day, doe not grow secure, as if that would never be spent. And Athenaeus tels vs, that Clearchus a great Coyner of new words, was wont vpon this occasion to call a Choenix Hemerotrophidem sustenance * 1.176 for a day. At least-wise in the Campe it was so, if wee credit Herodotus in his Polymnia, where he vittaileth the common souldier in Xerxes ar∣my at a Ch•…•…nix a day: The quantity of which allowance wee shall finde anon very neere to agree both with the Romane, & that which is in vse at this day. The measure then to a Romane foote-man for a

moneth, saith Polybius, was two thirds of a Medimnus of wheate, which made vp foure Modij, the whole Medimnus by a generall consent of all the best Authours containing six Modij in all. With which rate of Po∣lybius precisely agreeth Donate vpon Terence, where he limiteth dimen∣sum * 1.177 serui, (in the Gospell called, a servants portion of meate) to be foure Modij the moneth; the same portion which both Cato & Columella allow * 1.178 for countrey •…•…indes. Now that it may appeare what this allowance was according to our measures, wee are to know that the Romane Modius, howbeit it be vsually in our language rendred a Bushell, & be so commō∣ly construed in Schooles; yet is it about a pint lesse then a pecke, as is right∣ly observed, not onely by S^r Henry Savill in his view of military matters, but by our last Translatours of the Bible, who though they haue set bu∣shell * 1.179 in the Text, yet in the Margin haue they affixed this note, The word in the originall signisieth a measure contayning about a pint lesse then a p•…•…ke.

First then to compare the Graecian and the Romane allowance. The Medimnus containing forty eight Choenices, as witnesseth Budaeus out of Pollux, and six Modij, as Tully, & Suidas, & Nepos, and others; the Ro∣mane * 1.180 being allowed foure Modij by the Moneth, and the Graecian a Choenix by the day, their allowances were equall, or not much different, saue that the Romane seemes to be somewhat larger: foure Modij containing after that reckoning thirty two Choenices, which amongst them was a moneths allowance. With which if we compare our owne measures, it will weekely amount to a pint lesse then a pecke, & allowing two gallons to the pecke, it will arise to about a quart by the day, which is but a competent allowance for a souldier or labour-man (liuing most vpon bread) at this day; as Budaeus by conference with his Baker, hath fully cleered the * 1.181 point. And heere it may not be forgotten that our last Translatours (to cleare the whole businesse more fully) in their marginall notes on the sixth of the Reuelation at the sixth verse, giue vs to vnderstand, that the word Choenix there vsed signifieth a measure containing one wine quart, and the twelth part of a quart. Now I am not ignorant that the Gomer of Man∣na, being the daily allowance of the •…•…ewes during their abode in the wil∣dernes, by Gods owne appointment, is by Rabanus valued at three Choeni∣ces, and by Iunius two and an halfe, bating one fifth. But I should rather ascribe so large an allowance to Gods speciall bounty, then to their necessi∣ty; and so much hath Iunius himselfe in his annotations vpon that place confessed: inde colligitur, quàm largiter Deus Israelitas aluerit tam longo tempore: We may from thence collect, how bountifully God dealt with the Israelites making them so large an allowance for so long a time. And this marueilous great plenty, in likelihood was it that gaue them occa∣sion to distast it, to grow weary of it, & cast out those murmuring speeches against God & Moses his servant & their leader, Animam no∣stram taed•…•…t huius pa•…•…is vilis•…•…imi, our soule loatheth this light bread; & to * 1.182 fall a longing after the cucumbers and leekes, the onyons and garlicke * 1.183 of Egypt: Though the Manna, aswell in regard of the delicacie thereof, as the raining of it downe from heaven, bee by the Psalmist tearmed * 1.184 Angels foode; & in the booke of Wisedome be commended for hauing in it a certaine contentfull delight agreeable to euery mans •…•…ast. It is likewise * 1.185

true that the Romane allowance to a horse-man by the testimony of Po∣lybius, seemed to be larger then that of the foote-man, there being alot∣ted * 1.186 him monethly seaven Medimni of oates or barley for his horse, and two of wheate for himselfe: But it may very well be, as Lypsius conje∣ctureth, that he had a spare horse and an attendant or two allowed him, and then his two Medimni for himselfe, & his two servants agrees justly * 1.187 with the two thirds of a Medimnus to a foote-man.

SECT. 4. Diverse other reasons drawne from experience added as from the armour, the bed-steeds, the seats, the doores, the pulpits, the Altars of the An∣cients, & other doubts cleered.

TO proceed, that which seemes to make the matter more euident, because it strikes more vpon the sense, is the view of the roofes, the doores, the tables, the seates, the robes, the bed-steeds, the weapons, the armour, the pulpits, the Altars, the tombes of the Ancients, yet remay∣ning to be seene; all which argue that they were of the same stature, or very little differing from vs. Aristotle in his Mechanicks giues vs to vn∣derstand, that the bed-steeds in his time, did not commonly exceede six * 1.188 foote: Nay Magius himselfe, who hath written a large discourse in de∣fence of the contrary & common opinion; yet at last confesseth, * 1.189 that taking an exact measure of the Tombes at Pisa and other citties in I∣taly, though some of them were made a thousand yeares since, some more; yet found he them in dimensions parum aut nihil, little or nothing differing from those of our times, and withall ingenuously acknowled∣geth, that being at Pisaurum in the Duke of Vrbines armory, hee there saw certaine brasse helmets digged vp in the fields neere Metaurum, where Asdruball was overthrowne by the Romane forces, and were ve∣rily thought to haue layne there since that time: Quae tamen ab ijs quas modo milites nostri gestare solent ad magnitudinem quod attinet, non discrepa∣bant: which notwithstanding, saith he, in regard of bignesse, differed not from those which our souldiers now a dayes vsually weare.

I know that the sword of Edward the third, the armour of Iohn of Gaunt, the tilting staffe of Charles Brandon, the walking staues and riding staues of Henry the eight shewed in the Tower and other places farre ex∣ceed the ordinary of our times: but perchaunce some of them like Si∣nesius Grandio in Seneca delighted in great things, or I should thinke that sometimes they were rather for shew then for vse; and for the rest, it on∣ly argues the strength & stature of those that vsed them, not for others, who liued in the same age with them: Nay if we compare the common armour of the age wherein Iohn of Gaunt liued, or the most ancient in the Tower or otherwhere, with that which is now in vse, we shall finde no such sensible difference as should argue a decay in stature. Indeed their arrowes generally exceeded ours both in bignesse and length; but this I should rather impute to their continuall practise in shooting from their very infancie, then to their strength and stature. The truth where∣of

appeares by this, that so long as that practise was continued, (which was till the invention and ordinary vse of Gunnes) so long the like di∣mentions of their shafts were likewise continued without any diminu∣tion, as may be seene by comparing the arrowes commonly vsed in Henry the seaventh & Henry the eights time, with those in vse many yeares before, few of which are full a yard by measure; yet my Lord of S. Albans witnesseth, that the rebellious Cornish in the reigne of King Henry the seaventh, not much aboue one hundred yeare agoe shotte an arrow of a full Cloth-yard long.

The doubt which may be made touching the Altar of the Taberna∣cle * 1.190 seemes to be of greater consequence, which by Gods appointment was to be three cubits high, that is, foure foote and an halfe, whereas those of latter times are not aboue three foote or three & an halfe at most; which seemes to inferre the difference in succeeding ages of the stature of those that were to serue at the Altar: But I would demaund whether the Cubit, Moses there speakes of, were according to the ordinary sta∣ture of men then liuing; if so, then a man rightly proportioned, being at most but foure of his owne Cubits, there was left but one cubit for the Priest aboue the Altar, which was much too little for him to minister with ease: And what then shall wee say to Salomons Altar, which was ten cu∣bits * 1.191 high, surely it must in reason so be vnderstood, that the height bee accounted from the lowest floore of the temple or tabernacle where the people stood; but the Priest went vp by certaine slope degrees, certaine easy ascents to the Altar, so that the height of those ascents from the floore together with the Altar it selfe made vp the full measure there spoken of. It will be replied, that it was expressely forbidden to goe vp by steps to the Altar: True indeed, but the reason is there added, that * 1.192 thy nakednes be not discovered thereon, so as such degrees of ascent as occa∣sioned not any danger or doubt of discouering his nakednesse, who mi∣nistred at the Altar, seeeme there not to be forbidden; which is the in∣terpretation both of Iunius & Abulensis, allowing then an Altar of three foote & halfe high, & arising to it from the lower floore of a foot high; the height of the altar frō the lower floore will be four foot & an halfe, or three cubits, which is the measure required in the Leuiticall Law, & differs little in height from the Altars in forraine parts, or those which are yet standing with vs; if we likewise take their height from the low∣er floore, which by reason of the continued and easie degrees of ascent to them may not vnfitly be counted their basis or foote And most cer∣taine it is, that the Altars which amongst Christians were built for fiue or six hundred yeares since, & yet remaine, whereof there are in France, & Spaine, & Italy not a few to be seene; serue as commodiously for the stature of the men of this presentage, as they did of those, in whose times they were built: whereas, were there such a decay as is supposed, we now liuing should hardly reach their tops, much lesse bee able to serue at them with any tolerable conveniencie.

SEC. 5. The same farther proued, first for that the sonne often proues taller then the father. Secondly, for that age and stature holding for the most part correspondence, it being already proued that the age of mankind is not decreased, from thence it followes that neither is their stature. Thirdly, for that if man∣kinde decreased in stature by the course of na∣ture, so must of necessity all other creatures, they being all alike subiect to the same law of nature. Fourthly, for that if men had still declined since the Cre∣ation, by this time they would haue beene no bigger then rats or mice if they had at all beene.

BEsides were there such a generall and continuall decay of men in stature as is supposed, either the Child would alwayes com short of the Parents in stature, or very seldome would it fall out other∣wise, whereas now wee finde it by dayly experience that the sonne ve∣ry often not only equalls but exceedes the father, and the daughter the mother. Nicephorus Calistus in the twelfth booke of his Ecclesiasticall hi∣story tells vs of one whom himselfe saw, of such an excessiue heigth, that * 1.193 he was held for a monster; Quem tamen brevis admodum staturae mulier in lucem protulit, saith he, whom notwithstanding a woman of a very short stature brought forth. In the like manner S. Augustine reports of a wo∣man * 1.194 who in his time a little before the sacking of Rome by the Gothes, came thither with her Father and Mother, she was, saith he, of a Gyant-like stature far beyond all that saw her, though infinite troopes came to behold that spectacle, Et hoc erat maximae admirationi, this was matter of greatest amazement, that both her Parents were but of ordinary stature. I haue seene, saith Marcellus Donatus a learned Physitian, a young maiden * 1.195 of a Gyant-like stature whom they carried from towne to towne to shew her as a prodigious thing, for the sight of whom euery man gaue some thing, wherewith her mother that conducted her and her selfe were maintained. She was in an hired Chamber by her selfe, and there suffe∣red her selfe to be seene with admiration; going as others did, I enqui∣red carefully of euery point, and did learne both from her selfe and her mother, who was a woman of a meane stature, that the maidens father was not tall, that in all their stocke there was not any one that excee∣ded the height of other persons. It is likewise reported in the History of the Netherlands, that in the yeare 1323, was to be seene in Holland a wo∣man Gyantesse, to whom the tallest men seemed children, yet her parents of meane stature. So then, if Gyants be sometime borne or begotten of such parents, no marvell that the sonne as often proues taller then the father, as he comes short of him. But it commonly fals out in this kinde, though not in that extremity, as with the Samogitheans, a people lying

betwixt Prussia and Livonia, of whom Scaliger writes, that per vices tum * 1.196 proceros, tum penè nanos generant, by turnes they bring forth Gyants and Dwarfes, like some trees, saith he, which beare very plentifully one yeare, and are the next altogether barren: Nature so disposing that what was deficient in the Dwarfc, is abundantly repayed in the Gy∣ant.

Againe, there is for the most part a mutuall connexion betweene age and stature, (whence it may be in the Greeke, the same word signifieth both) so as that race of men which is tallest and strongest, commonly hold out longest; vpon which ground, as it seemes, they who invented the fable of the Pigmies withall affirmed, that their women vsually brought forth at fiue yeares, and died at eight: But certaine it is, that in those barbarous countreyes which are not weakened by luxury, as they much exceed vs in duration, so doe they likewise in dimensions, both which haue beene fully shewed by sundry examples already alleadged, and generally we see that in the severall kinds of beasts, of birds, of fishes, of trees, of plants, the bigger they are in quantity, the longer they last, & the lesser they are, the shorter space they continue: Since then it hath beene, as I take it, sufficiently proued in the precedent chapters, that the age of men is not so sensibly impaired in regard of former times, as is commonly conceiued, it will from thence consequently follow, that neither is the stature of man, at least wise by any defect in the course of Nature, so manifestly abated, as is imagined.

I say, by any defect in the Course of Nature, for then doubtlesse, all o∣ther naturall bodies should suffer the like defect, euen the Elements and the Heauens themselues, all which, (if I flatter not my selfe too much) I haue in my former discourse cleerely freed from any such vniversall & perpetuall declination. And in truth, reason it selfe will easily teach vs, that if men were generally in former ages taller and larger then now they are, so must the horses too vpon which they rode; and if horses, other kindes of beasts too, and if beasts, birds too; and if birds, fishes too; and if all these, trees too; there being no warrantable reason, as I con∣ceiue, to be yeelded, why among those kindes of Creatures, (which wanting reason, are guided meerely by instinct of Nature) some should stand at a stay, continuing their ancient perfection, and others in tract of time decay by degrees. Indeed Man among them all by meanes of the abuse of his Reason and free choice, (which was giuen him to helpe him, and not to hurt him, (had he the grace to make vse of it) is most subject to variation, and so to declination: yet as all men doe not alwayes abuse their reason, at leastwise in a greater degree then their Predecessors, (as shall God assisting be hereafter made good) so doe they not alwayes decline in strength and stature, for then should they by this time scarcely haue exceeded the quantity of Rats or Mice, or at most haue but equalled that Dwarfe of whom Nicephorus reports, (how truly I cannot say) that he had the shape, the voice and reason of * 1.197 a man, yet was in body no bigger then a Partridge; or that other menti∣ned * 1.198 by Sabinus in his Commentaries vpon the Metamorphosis: Vidit Ita∣lia nuper virum iusta aetate non maiorem cubito circumferri in cavea psyttaci,

cujus viri meminit in suis scriptis Hieronymus Cardanus, There was lately to be seene in Italy a man of a ripe age not aboue a cubit high, carried a∣bout in a Parrets cage, of whom Hierome Cardan in his writings makes mention: But me thinkes it being the forme which giues bounds to the matter (of it selfe vnlimited and boundlesse) and the forme of man be∣ing still for essence and naturall functions the same which was from the beginning, the bounds of his quantity cannot vary in any great or no∣torious difference, but through some exorbitancie and aberration in na∣ture, which as they haue beene in all ages, so haue monsters too, not on∣ly in figure and shape, but also both, in excesse and defect.

CAP. 5. Wherein the principall objections drawne aswell from Reason as from authority and experience are fully answered.

SECT. 1. Of sundry fabulous narrations of the bones of Gianlike bodies digged vp, or found in Caues.

THe Truth being thus settled, it remaines that wee now dispell those mists and cloudes with which the brightnes of it is some∣times ouercast: whereof the chiefe is, the huge bodies and bones that at sundry times haue beene digged vp, and yet are kept in many places as monuments of Antiquity to be seene. Such are they which are shewen at Puteoli or Putzole in the Kingdome of Naples, vpon which Pomponius Laetus hath bestowod verses, which he thus concludes,

Hinc bona posteritas immania corpora servat, Et tales mundo testificatur avos. Their huge corpes good posterity keepes here, To witnesse to the World that once such were.

The like haue I seene at Wormes in Germany and other Citties standing vpon the Rheine hung vp in Chaines, or laid vp in Megazines and other publique places; but saith Philippus Camerarius, I haue heard many dis∣pute and make doubt whether they were the bones of men, or of fishes. * 1.199 Infinite are the stories which to this purpose are recorded, it would re∣quire a iust volume to collect them into one body, and in truth it shall not need, inasmuch as I finde it already done by the same Camerarius, by Gassanion in his booke of Gyants; and Fazelus in his first booke and first Decade of the affaires of Sicily; as also by our Hollenshed in the fourth * 1.200 chap. of his first volume, but with this Caution; For my part saith he, I will touch rare things, and such as to my selfe doe seeme almost incredible; wherefore I will onely point at a few of the most memorable, lest on the one side I should seeme purposely to baulke that rubbe which is commonly thought most of all to thwart my way, or on the other side should cloy the Reader with too many vnsavory tales.

It is reported by Plutarch out of Gabinius, (which I confesse, I some∣what * 1.201

marvell at in so graue an Authour) that Sertorius being in Lybia neere the streights of Morocco, found the body of Antaeus there buried, sixty cubits, to which Fazelus adds ten more, and makes it vp scaventy: But Strabo in the seaventeenth of his Geography, mentioning the same thing, layes this censure vpon Gabinius the Authour of it: Sed nec Ga∣binius Romanarum rerum Scriptor in describenda Mauritania fabulis prodi∣giosis abstinet: neither doth Gabinius in his description of Mauritania ab∣staine from the relation of monstrous fables. In the fourteenth yeare of * 1.202 Henry the second Emperour was the body of Pallas, (as 'twas thought,) companion to Aeneas, taken vp at Rome, and found in height to equall the walles of that cittie: But as Galeotus Martius hath well obserued, his * 1.203 body was said to haue beene burned,

Arsurasque comas obnubit amictu, The locks that shortly should consume in fire He couered with his Robe.

Which I suppose to be likewise true of many of those bodies, which notwithstanding are reported to haue beene found intire for their pro∣portions long after their deaths, though turned into ashes many yeares before: It being the custome of those countries to burne, as it is ours to burie our dead. Our Malmesburiensis likewise in his second booke & thirteenth chapter de gestis Rerum Anglorum mentioneth the same, story shall I call it, or fable, telling vs that in the yeare of grace 1042, & in the reigne of S. Edward, the body of Pallas the sonne of Euander, of whom Virgill speakes, Romae repertum est illibatum ingenti stupore omnium quod tot saecula incorruptionem sui superavit, was found at Rome intire and sound, to the great astonishment of all men, that by the space of so many ages it had triumphed ouer corruption; and farther to confirme the trueth thereof, he assures vs that the gaping widenesse of the wound which Turnus made in the midst of his breast, was found by measure to be foure foote & an halfe, a large wound, and the weapon which made it, we cannot but conceiue as large; and by the appearance of it at full, not onely the bones and skinne and sinewes, but the flesh to remaine incor∣rupt; a matter altogether incredible. Besides he sets vs downe his Epi∣tath found at the same time,

Filius Evandri Pallans quem lancea Turni Militis occidit more suo iacet hic,

Which himselfe knowes not well how to giue credit too, quod non tunc crediderim factum, (sayth he, which I cannot beleeue was then made, but by Ennius, or some other of latter ages: But I proceede.

Herodotus in his first booke tels vs, that the body of Orestes being taken vp, was found to be seaven cubits; but Gellius is bold to * 1.204 bestow vpon him for his labour the title of Homo Fabulator, a forger of fables, rather inclining to the opinion of Varro, who held the vtmost pe∣riod of a mans growth to be seaven foote. What would he then haue said to the body of Oryon, which Pliny makes forty six cubits, or of Ma∣crosyris which Trallianus makes an hundred cubits, or of that body disco∣uered * 1.205 in a vast caue neere Drepanum in Sicilie, three of whose teeth, if wee may beleeue Boccace, weighed an hundred ounces, and the leadde of

his staffe, a thousand and fiue hundred pounds. And the body it selfe by * 1.206 proportion of some of the bones was estimated to no lesse then two hundred cubits, which makes three hundred feete, somewhat I thinke be∣yond Pauls steeple. The more I wonder at S. Augustine, who confi∣dently assures vs, that himselfe with others being on the sea shore at * 1.207 Vtica, he there saw a mans iaw-tooth so bigge, that being cut into small peeces, it would haue made an hundred such as the men liuing in his age commonly had, by which computation the body it selfe must likewise in reason haue exceeded the bodies of his age an hundred times; so that being compared with a body of six foote, & exceeding it one hundred times, it will be found six hundred foote high, which is the just double to Boccace his Gyant. Yet Ralph the Munke of Cogshall, who wrote 350 yeares agoe (as witnesseth Camden) it may be in imitation of S. Augu∣stine, * 1.208 auerres; that himselfe saw the like, which in a Munke is I confesse more tollerable then that which Lodovicus Viues, deservedly reputed a graue and learned Authour, vpon that passage of S. Augustines affirmes, that going to the Church on S. Christophers day (the place he names not, but it seemes to be Louaine, because from thence he dates his Epistle de∣dicatorie to King Henrie the 8: He was there shewed a tooth belonging, as it was thought to that S^t bigger then a mans fist, the patterne where∣of belike was taken from that huge Colossus made to represent him at the entrance of Nostre-dame in Paris more like a mountaine then a man; whereas notwithstanding Baronius professeth in plaine tearmes, se non habere quid dicat de Gigantea statura qua pingi consuevit, that he knowes * 1.209 not what to say to that Gyantlike stature, in which they commonly set him forth: But Villauincentius goes farther, dubium nemini esse picturam hanc à sanctis Patribus in hunc vsum propriè excogitatum, vt Evangelij pre∣conem * 1.210 adumbret, that no man neede doubt but that picture was deuised of holy men to shadow forth the preacher of the Gospell, who whiles hee lifts vp Christ by his preaching and carries him about to be seene and knowne, is indangered in the waues of this world, and yet vpheld by the staffe of hope. The like tooth is to be seene in the Netherlands, pretended to belong to the Gyant of Antwerpe, but Goropius Becanus ra∣ther * 1.211 thinkes it to be the tooth of an Elephant, whose conjecture is there∣in the more probable, for that, (as witnesseth Verstegan) at such time * 1.212 as the famous water passage was digged from Brussells vnto the river of Rupell at Willibrooke, there was found the bones of an Elephant, the head whereof, (which is yet reserued) himselfe had seene. Of latter times it hath beene written, and by some strongly auerred, that the body of William the Conquerour was found vncorrupt more then foure hundred * 1.213 yeares after it was buried, and in length eight foote; the former of which could not well be, since his tombe being too narrow for the vnbowel∣led body, (so say our stories) it brake in the laying of it downe; & for the latter there is as litle shew, since they who haue written his life all agree, that he was a man of a meane or middle stature, though for his limmes actiue & strong: And for a full confutation of the said fable, (saith Stow) when his restlesse bones, which so hardly had obtained in∣tombing, * 1.214 did afterwards as vnluckily againe lose it in the yeare of Christ

1562, viz: when Chastillion conducting the remnant of those that es∣caped at the battell of Dreux, tooke the citie of Cane, certaine sauage souldiers aswell English as others, did beat downe, & vtterly deface the noble Monument of that victorious King, pulling out all his bones, which some of them spitefully threw away, (when they could not finde the treasure they falsely surmised had beene laid vp there) and others, spe∣cially the English, snatched euery one to haue some peece of them, not making any wonder of them, as they would haue done if they had ex∣ceeded the length & bignesse of mens bones of latter yeares, whereas indeede there was no such thing noted in them, as I haue beene cer∣tainely informed,) saith the same Authour) by English men of good cre∣dit, who were then present eye-witnesses at the spoyle of that Monu∣ment & bones, and brought some part of them into this Realme. Theuet likewise in the second Tome of his Cosmographie, describing the city of Cane, mentioneth the rifling of his Monument, but of any such mon∣strous * 1.215 bones or body there found, hee speakes not a word. And besides it is most vnreasonable to conceiue, that within the compasse of fiue hundred yeares or little more, there should be such a wonderfull abatement; neither in truth if our measures be the same as then they were, is it at all possible.

SECT. 2. Diverse reasons alleadged why such bones might be found in former ages and not now, and yet the ordinary stature of mankind remaine the same.

NOtwithstanding all this, I am not so incredulous & diffident, or so peremptory and daring in this case, as is Becanus, Non credam illud Orionis apud Plynium, licet Lucius Flaccus & Metellus qui visum iuisse dicuntur per capita sua iurarent: I will not credit that story of Orion reported by Pliny, though Flaccus and Metellus who are sayd to see it, should sweare by their heads it was true. Let vs not wrong An∣tiquity so farre, but deale with them as we desire our posterity should deale with vs: Let vs not conceiue they were all either so vaine as to affirme they saw that which they saw not, or so weake as not able to di∣stinguish betwixt the figure of the bones of men and those of beasts & fishes: specially when they found the Sceleton whole and intire. Much I graunt might be and no doubt was fained, much mistaken, much added to truth thorow errour, or an itching desire of Hyperbolicall amplifica∣tions; yet I cannot but beleeue that many of their relations touching this point were true: howbeit a diminution of the stature of mankind in generall cannot from thence be sufficiently inforced.

To let goe then the conceite of Theophrastus & Paracelsus, that by the * 1.216 influence of the heavens such bones might be bred in certaine tracts & veines of the earth, I should rather choose to ascribe these superlatiue prodigious shapes to artificiall or supernaturall then to naturall & ordi∣nary causes. For the former it may be that either great princes out of ambition and desire of honour in succeeding ages, or cunning woorke∣men

out of curiosity haue framed and composed such peeces which po∣sterity discouering might behold with astonishment, & the infernall spirits thereby to delude men, and the sooner to draw them from the know∣ledge and worship of the true God to Idolatry and superstition, haue con∣curred with them heerein, & yeelded them their assistance; who being able to raise wonderfull tempests in the aire & stormes in the sea, I see not but they might be as able to compose such frames vnder the earth; The wit and art of man may goe farre, but being assisted by the Devils helpe, it produceth effects, almost incredible. That insana substructio, that huge monstrous peece of worke, knowne by the name of Stone-henge neere Amesbery, though it be by the Ancients tearmed Chorea Gigan∣tum, the Gyants daunce; yet shall I neuer thinke that it was performed by the strength of men, but rather by some sleights or Engines now vnknowne, or by some artificiall composition, they being no naturall stones hewen out of the rocke, but artificially made of pure sand by some glewy and vnctuous matter knit and incorporated together, as Camden seemes to conjecture; or whether Merlin (as the common saying is) brought them thither, reared & disposed them in that order by Magicke and the helpe of Deuills; I will not take vpon me to deter∣mine▪ howsoeuer it were, it is doubtles a worke for admiration nothing inferiour to the greatest Sceleton or frame of bones that was euer yet discouered. And for teeth, I make no question but they may by meere art be made so liuely to resemble the naturall teeth of men, that the wisest will hardly be able to distinguish the counterfeite from the natu∣rall.

But that which I rather choose to insist vpon, is, that the bodies of such men were begotten by Devills, who that they haue had carnall fa∣miliarity with women, is the consent of all Antiquity. Creberrima fama est, sayth S. Augustine, multique se exper•…•…os vel ab ijs qui experti es∣sent, de quorum fide dubitandum non est, audisse confirmant, Sylvanos & Fau∣nos, * 1.217 quos vulgo Incubos vocant, improbos saepe extitisse mulieribus, ac earum appetisse & peregisse concubitum, & quosdam Daemones quos Dusios Galli nuncupa•…•…t hanc assidue immunditiam & tentare & efficere plures talesque as∣seuerant, vt hoc negare impudentiae videatur. It is commonly reported & many affirme, that either themselues haue found it by experience, or heard it from those of whose credit there was no doubt to be made, who had themselues experienced it, that Satires and Fayres, whom they call Incubi, haue beene often lewd with women lusting after them, & satisfying their lust with them: and that certaine Devils, whom the Gaules call Dusij, daily both attempt & performe the samefilthines such & so many affirme, as to deny this were a point of impudence: nay there are yet many nations, saith Viues in his commentaries on that place, which count it an honour to draw their pedegree from Devils, who had the company of women in the shape of men. Thus not a few of the An∣cients imagined those Gyants mentioned in the sixth of Genesis, to haue beene begotten, as the Heathen likewise for the most part deriue their Heroes and mighty men from the like originall. And that the birthes of such monstrous mixtures must needes be monstrous, Tostatus truely

observeth: Talibus conceptibus robustissimi homines & procerissimi nasci * 1.218 solent, of such conceptions are wont to be borne the strongest & tallest of men. And Vallesius hauing giuen the reason heereof at large, (which for feare of offending chast eares, I list not heere to repeate) at last con∣cludes, * 1.219 Robusti ergo & grandes vt nascerentur, poterant ita Daemones procu∣rare: Thus then the Devills might procure that mighty huge Gyants should be borne, whose both opinion & reasons heerein are both ap∣proued and farther proued by Delrio in his Magicall disquisitions. The * 1.220 euidence heereof will yet farther appeare, if wee consider that where God was least known & the Devill most powerfully reigned, there these impure Acts were most frequently practised, which is the reason, as I conceiue, that among the Hebrewes, the chosen people of God, wee reade of no such matter: nay those Gyants we find mentioned in holy writ, were for the most part of other Nations: But since the incarnation of the Sonne of God our blessed Saviour, who came to dissolue the workes of the Devill, the delusions of these spirits haue vanished as a mist be∣fore * 1.221 the Sun: though their kingdome be not at an end, yet is their ma∣lice much restrained and their power abated. Which Plutarch him∣selfe ingeniously confesseth in that excellent discourse of his, Cur O∣racula edi desijrint, why the Oracles ceased; and to this purpose relates a memorable story, which he reports from the mouth of one Epitherses, sometimes his schoole-master, that he imbarking for Italy, and being one euening becalmed before the Paxe, (too litle Ilands that lie between Cor•…•…yra & Leucadia) they suddainely heard a voyce from the shore, most of the Passengers being yet awake, calling to one Thamus a Pilot, by birth an Egyptian, who till the third call would not answere: then quoth the voyce, when thou art come to the Palodes proclaime it alowd, that the great Pan is dead, all in the ship that heard this were amased, when drawing neere to the foresaid place, Thamus standing on the pup of the shippe, did vtter what was formerly commaunded, forthwith there was, heard a great lamentation, accompanied with groanes and schree∣ches: This comming to the knowledge of Tiberius Caesar, he sent for Thamus, who avouched the truth thereof: And hereby was declared, as we may well conceiue, the subjection of Sathan by the death of Christ: so that now he had no longer power to abuse the illuminated world with his impostures. By this then appeares both the reason of such vast enormous bodies, as were in former times, and withall the Cause why they haue ceased since in succeeding ages. To which we may adde, that if wee should ascribe these effects to God himselfe and his ex∣traordinary power, for the manifestation of his greatnes; yet as other miracles, so likewise these are now growne out of date and vse: hee ma∣nifesting himselfe to vs in a cleerer manner, rather by the gratious power of his word, then the miraculous greatnes of his power, and so our Con∣clusion still remaines firme, that the stature of mankinde is not generally im∣paired in regard of any such vniversall decay in the course of Nature as is pre∣tended.

SECT. 3. An answere to the argument drawne from the testimonies on behalfe of the adverse opinion.

THe second maine rubbe, which to many giues occasion of stum∣bling, and comes now to be remoued, is the authority of diverse graue writers, and those not onely of latter stampe, but such as haue beene, and still are accounted Venerable aswell for learning as An∣tiquity. Among which, the most Eminent that I finde named by the ad∣verse part, are Gellius, Pliny, Iuvenall, Virgill, and Homer, and that I may neither wrong the Authours nor Vouchers, I will produce them spea∣king in their owne words Gellius hauing alleadged the opinion of Var∣ro, that the vtmost point of mans growth in the course of nature is seaven foote, and hauing stiled Herodotus a Fabler for saying the body of Ore∣stes was seaven cubits, presently adds, Nisi si vt Homerus opinatus est, va∣stiora * 1.222 prolixioraque fuerint corpora hominum Antiquorum, & nunc quasi jam mundo senescente, rerum atque hominum decrementa sint. Vnles as Ho∣mer thought, men were anciently bigger & taller, and now as if the world waxed old, there be a decrease both of things and men. But this Nisi si of Gellius is too weake thereby to draw him to their side, speci∣ally considering what he had said immediatly before out of Varro. Which testimony of his prevailes somuch with Peter Martyr, that hee * 1.223 cannot yeeld any decrease since the floud, si rogarer) sayth he) an exi∣stimem corpora humana, quae postea fuerunt ab ijs immin•…•…ta esse quae ante di∣luvium producebantur, fortassis annuerem: sed quod à diluvio vsque ad hanc nostram aetatem perpetuo decrescant, id non facile concederem, verbis praeser∣tim annotatis quae Aulos Gellius, 3: libr: scripsit vbi ait modum adolescendi humani corporis esse septem pedum: quae mensura hodie quo{que} videtur esse sta∣turae procerioris. In Apocryphis tamen Esdrae legimus, lib. 4. ad finem 5. cap. ne quid dissimulem, & nunc minora esse corpora nostra, ac indies imminuenda, quod natura semper magis effoeta reddatur. Idem{que} vt paulo ante dixi Cypria∣nus videtur statuere. Sed quare •…•…on tam facile assentiar▪ causam attuli quia de mensurâ quam Gellius definivit, hodie nihil propemodum videam immuta∣tum. If I were demaunded whether I thinke that mens bodies since the floud are decreased in regard of those before the floud, happily I should grant it: but that since the floud downward to this our present age they should still decrease, that would I not easily yeeld, specially observing those words which Aulus Gellius hath in his third booke, where hee sayth, that the measure of growth in mans body, is to seaven foote, which at this day seemes to be the heigth of those of the tallest stature; yet to conceale nothing, wee read indeede in the fourth booke, and toward the end of the fifth chapter in the apocryphall Esdras, that our bodies are lesse then they were; and that still they shall be lessened more & more, in asmuch as nature is euery day weakened more then other, and the same opinion (as I said before) seemes to be approved by Cyprian; but why I cannot easily yeeld assent therevnto, I haue giuen my reason, be∣cause I find litle or nothing abated of that measure which Gelli•…•… defined

Plinyes words I must confesse are more round and resolute, In plenum autem cuncto mortalium generi minorem staturam indies fieri, propemodum * 1.224 observatur: rarosque patribus proceriores, consumente vbertatem seminum exu∣stione, in cuius vices nunc vergat aevum, which is thus rendred by Philemon Holland, Doctor in Physicke, whose Latin Copy differed it seemes some∣what from mine: or he added somewhat of his owne. This is obserued for an vndoubted truth, that generally all men come short of the full stature in times past, & decrease every day more then other, & seldome shall we see the sonne taller then his father, for the ardent heate of the Elementary fire (wherevnto the world inclineth already now toward the latter end, as sometimes it stood much vpon the watery Element) devoureth & consumeth that plentifull humor and moisture of naturall seede that ingen•…•…eth all things, and this appeareth by these examples following.

And then hauing brought the examples of Orion and Orestes, he adds, Iam verò ante annos prope mille vates ille Homerus non cessavit minora corpo∣ra mortalium, quàm prisca, conqueri. And verily that great and famous Poet Homer, who liued almost a thousand yeares agoe, complained and gaue not ouer, that mens bodies were lesse of stature euen then, then in old time.

But if I bee not mistaken, this assertion of Plinyes directly crosseth himselfe in the very entrance of his Naturall History, where he thus be∣gins Mundum, & hoc quod nomine alio calum appella•…•…e libuit, cuius circum∣flexu teg•…•…ntur cuncta, numen esse credi par est, aeternum, immensum, neque ge∣nitum, neque interiturum vnquam. The world, and this which by another name men haue thought good to call Heaven, beleeue we ought in all reason to be a God without beginning & likewise Endlesse. If the world be Endlesse, how doth it suffer a perpetuall decrease, and if it suffer any such decrease, how is it endlesse. Againo, holding a decrease in stature, I see not how he can well avoide a diminution likewise in age which not∣withstanding in other places he seemes to deny, or at leastwise hauing in sundry seuerall Chapters faire occasion offered, doth not maintaine, but rather chuseth to passe it ouer in silence, as being thereof some what doubtfull. Besides how the ardent heate of the Elementary fire should cause any such decay, I cannot for my part conceiue, since that heat for any thing we find is not increased since the first Creation, and this sup∣posed decay is commonly attributed rather to a deficiencie then an ex∣cesse of heat. But Pliny who held that the Sun and Starres were nourish∣ed by an Elementary moisture, must of necessity vpon that supposed, though false ground, likewise hold a sensible decay in the World, inas∣much as that moisture cannot possibly suffice those bodies for food. And thus we see how in this assertion he both plainly crosseth himself, and builds it vpon a sandy foundation. He was doubtlesse an admirable Man in that which he vndertooke, the Historicall part of Nature: but whether he deserued the like commendation in that which we call the Philosophicall part thereof, I leaue it to others to judge, and passe to the examination of the testimonies of the Poets. But before I descend to the particulars, it shall not be amisse a little to consider of the Vanity of their

fictions and fables about the Gyants which doubtlesse in part gaue occa∣sion to this common Error touching Mans and the Worlds decay, though I verily beleeue that the Poets themselues had a mysticall meaning there∣in. They faigned them to be borne of the Earth, to haue a thousand hands and snakes for haires, and to wage warre with the Gods.

Terra feros partus immania monstra Gygantes, Edidit ausuros in Iovis ire domum. * 1.225 Mille manus illis dedit & pro crinibus angues, Atque ait, in magnos arma movete Deos.

Giants wild monsters earth great mother bare, Who durst assaile the sacred seat of Iove, With thousand hands. and snakes insteed of haire, Arm'd, armes she charg'd them gainst the gods to moue.

Which warre of the Gyants, Cornelius Severus thus elegantly de∣scribes.

Tentavêre nefas olim detrudere mundo Sydera, captivique Iovis transferre Gygantes Imperium, & victo leges imponere Coelo.

The Gyants did advance their wicked hand Against the stars to thrust them headlong down, And robbing Ioue of his Imperiall crowne, On conquer'd heauens to lay their proud command.

But Macrobius his interpretation of this fable is worth the observing: * 1.226 Gygantes autem quid aliud fuisse credendum est quàm hominum quandam im∣piam gentem Deos negantem, et ideo existimatam deos è coelesti sede pellere volu∣isse. What otherthing should we imagine those Gyants to haue been, but an impious race of men denying the Gods, and were therefore said to haue attempted the chasing of them out of Heauen. Yet these fables no doubt infected the vulgar, as those of Guy of Warwick, Bevis of Hampton, Corineus and Gog-Magog, Robin Hood and little Iohn, Amadis of Gaule, Pontagruel, Gargantua, and the like haue since done: And therefore Pla∣to banished Poets from his common-wealth; and Moses, (as Philo in his booke of Gyants witnesseth) both painting and the statuary Art, cosen Germans to Poetry, Quod veritatem mendacijs vitient, credulis animis per o∣culos illudentes. saith he, because they corrupt the truth with lies, & de∣ceiue credulous mindes by those representations which are presented to their eyes. Yet will we not deny them the fauour to heare what they can say for themselues. Let Iuvenall then first speake.

Saxa inclinatis per humum quaesita lacertis Incipiunt torquere, domestica, seditione * 1.227 Tela, nec hunc lapidem quali se Turnus & Aiax, Et quo Tydides percussit pondere coxam Aeneae, sed quam valeant emittere dextrae. Illis dissimiles, & nostro tempore natae. Nam genus hoc vivo iam decrescebat Homero Terra malos homines nunc educat atque pusillos, Ergo Deus quicunque aspexit, ridet & odit.

Stooping for stones them (in brawles alway The readiest weapon) they commence their fray Not that of Turne or Aiax, or whereby The sonne of Tydeus brake Aeneas thigh, But such as hands vnlike to theirs, and now Bred in our dayes well able are to throw. For euen while Homer liv'd this race decreased And mother earth hath euer since beene pleased Cowardly dwarfes to breed: those deities That them behold, deride them and despise.

Now for asmuch as it is euident that Invenall heerein followed Virgill and Homer, as will cleerely appeare when we come to the examining of their testimonies, I will likewise referre the answere heerevnto, to that place. For Virgill then, he speaking of Turnus and his great strengh, thus poetizes: * 1.228

Saxum antiquum ingens campo qui forte iacebat Limes agro positus litem vt discerneret aruis (Vix illum lecti bis sex ce•…•…vice subirent Qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus) Ille manu raptum valida toquebat in hostem.

A huge old stone which then by chaunce lay in the field To bound out severall grounds, and quarrells to prevent, Scarce twelue choyce men such as now mother earth doth yeeld Could beare it on their necks, yet he incontinent Caught it with puissant arme, and to his foe it sent.

With which accords that in the first of his Georgickes touching the plowing vp of the Emathean and Emonean fields, where many bloody battels had beene fought.

Scilicet & tempus veniet cum finibus illis Agricola incurvo terram molitus aratro Exesa inveniet scabra rubigine pila. Aut gravibus rastris galeas pulsabit inanes Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris. The time will one day come when in those feilds

The painefull husband plowing vp his ground, Shall finde all fret with rust both pikes and sheilds, And emptie helmes vnder his harrow sound; Wondring at those great bones those graues doe yeeld.

But what credit shall wee giue to Virgill in these things who tels vs of Enceladus.

Fessum quoties motat latus intremere omnem Trinacriam.— As oft as wearied he from side to side doth turne Trinacria trembles.

And of Titius,

—Per tota novem cui i•…•…gera corpus Porrigitur. Whose bodie stretches to nine akers length.

And besides he was doubtles heerein as in many other passages thorow the Aeneads Homers ape, who thus brings in Hector,

Hector autem rapiens lapidem portabat, qui portas * 1.229 Stetit ante, deorsum crassus, sed superne Acutus erat, hunc neque duo viri è populo optimi Facile ad plaustrum è terra perducerent, Quales nunc sunt homines.

Hector caught vp a stone before the gate that lay, The vpper pointed was, blunt was the nether part: Two of the better sort such as liue now a day Could scarce with all their force mount it into a cart.

To like purpose, and very neere in the same words is that which hee hath in another place of Diomedes, throwing a stone at Aeneas. * 1.230

Saxum accepit manu Tytides magni ponderis quod non duo viri ferrent Quales nunc homines sunt.

Into his hand Tydides tooke A stone of wondrous weight, Two men such as the world now yeelds To bear't haue not the might

From whence it is manifest that all the alleadged Authours herein fol∣lowed Homer, he being named by Gellius, Pliny, & Iuvenall, & so plaine∣ly imitated by Virgill, that wee neede not doubt from whom hee bor∣rowed it, rendring Homers

Quales nunc sunt homines—into Qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus;

But heerein he exceedes Homer that he turnes two into twelue, more tol∣lerablely I confesse, because more Poetically, that a man may know it at the first blush to be but a fiction.

And as for Homer himselfe, the founder and spring-head of this o∣pinion, as he was the Authour of many excellent inventions, so as it was truely written of him,

Hic ille est cuius de gurgite sacro Combibit arcanos vatum omnis turba furores.

This is the man whose sacred streame hath served all the Crew

Of Poets, thence they dranke their fill, thence they their furies drew. And therefore was hee painted vomiting, and the Poets round about licking vp his vomit; yet as a ranke and battell soyle that abounds both in corne and weedes, so was he likewise the fruitfull parent of many errours and fables, which were afterwards taken vp and imbraced with like greedines as were his best and choisest inventions. Such is natu∣rally our affection, that whom in great things wee mightily admire, in them we are not perswaded willingly that any thing should be amisse: The reason whereof is for that as dead flies putrifie the oyntment of the A∣pothecarie: * 1.231 so a little folly him that is in estimation for wissdome. And this in euery profession hath too much authorised the judgement of a few. I will not stand to make a Catalogue of Homers mistakes and fictions, which his admirers in succeeding ages haue entertained as certaine

truths. That fable of the Pigmies (because it hath some affinitie with our present matter) and their manner of fighting with Cranes shall suf∣fice for all: which many not onely Poets but great Philosophers, and a∣mong them Aristotle himselfe relying vpon his authority haue taken vp vpon trust: whereas all the parts of the world being now in a manner discouered there is no such countrey or people to be found in it. And for this particular opinion, it is not onely objected by Goropius, but by Magius freely acknowledged that Homer, by Plutarches computation, (who composed a treatise purposely of his life) liuing but one hundred yeares or a little more after the Troian warres, made such a difference in mens strength and stature, as was altogether incredible within the compasse of so short a space: nay himselfe makes Hectors speare to bee * 1.232 but tenne Cubits long, the ordinary length they are at euen at this day: & brings Telemachus Vlysses his sonne thus speaking to his nurce Euriclea.

Haud equidem quenquam longinquus sit licet hospes * 1.233 Absque labore feram contingere Chanica nostram: No guest though come from farre I thee assure To touch my Choenix will I Choenix endure.

From which Budaeus inferres that euen then a Choenix was the daily al∣lowance * 1.234 for a man, as it likewise was many hundred yeares after Ho∣mers times among the Graecians. For conclusion, though tenne persons be brought to giue testimony in any cause, yet if the knowledge they haue of the thing wherevnto they come as witnesses, appeare to haue growne from some one among them, and to haue spread it selfe from hand to hand, they are all in force but as one testimony; and if it ap∣peare that the fountaine, from which either immediatly or mediatly they all draw, be corrupted, if the testimony of the first man vpon whom they depend, proue invalide, then is this one vpon the matter no testimony, which is in truth the case of the counter-witnesses pro∣duced in this businesse.

SECT. 4. Of the wonderfull strength of diuerse in latter ages, not in∣feriour to those of former times.

BVt to graunt that Hector, and Ajax, and Diomedes, and Hercules, and the like excelled in strength, yet can it not be denied, but some such haue likewise beene recorded in succeeding ages, as C: Marius by Trebellius Pollio, Maximinus by Capitolinus, Aurelian by Vopiscus, Scanderbeg by Barlet, Galiot Bardesin a Gentleman of Catana, by Fazell, Tamerlane, Ziska, Hunniades, by others; George Le Feure a learned Germane writes, that in his time in the yeare 1529 liued at Mis•…•…a in Thuring one called Nicholas Klunher Prouost of the Great Church that was so strong, as without Cable or Pulley or any other helpe he setch vp out of a Cellar a pipe of wine, carried it out of dores and laid it vpon a cart. I haue seene a man, saith Mayolus an Italian Bishop, in the * 1.235 towne of Aste, who in the presence of the Marquesse of Pescara handed a pillar of marble three foote long, and one foote in diameter, the

which he cast high in the aire, then receiued it againe in his armes, then lasht it vp againe, sometime after one fashion, sometime after ano∣ther, as easily as if he had beene playing with a ball or some such little thing. There was, sayth the same Authour, at Mantua, one named Rodamas, a man of a little stature, but so strong that he brake a Cable as bigge as a mans arme, as easily as it had beene a small twine thread: mounted vpon an horse and leading another by the bridle, he would runne a full Cariere and stop in the midst of his course, or when it li∣ked him best. Froissard a man much esteemed for the truth and fideli∣ty of his history, reports that about two hundred yeares since, one Er∣naudo Burg a Spaniard, and companion to the Earle of Foix, when as at∣tending the Earle, he accompanied him to an higher roome, to which they ascended by twenty foure steps, the weather cold; and the fire not answerable, and withall espying out at the window certaine asses in the lower court loaden with wood, he goes downe thither, lifts vp the greatest of them with his burden on his shoulder, and carrying it to the roome from whence he came, cast both as he found them into the fire together. Lebelski a Polander in his description of the things done at Constantinople in the yeare 1582, at the circumcision of Mahumet the sonne of Amurath Emperour of the Turkes, writes that amongst many actiue men which there shewed their strength, one was most memora∣ble, who for proofe thereof lifted vp a peece of wood that twelue men had much adoe to raise from the earth, and afterwards lying downe flat vpon his backe, he bore vpon his breast, a weighty stone, which tenne men had with much a doe rolled thither, making but a iest of it. Many are yet aliue, saith Camerarius, that know how strong and migh∣ty * 1.236 George of Fronsberg, Baron of Mindlehaim of late memory was. There is a booke printed & published in the Germane tongue contayning his memorable acts, & howbeit Paulus Iouius handleth him but roughly, as being an enemy to the Pope; yet extolleth hee highly his wonderfull great force, being able by the acknowledgment of Iouius with the mid∣dle finger of his right hand to remoue a very strong man out of his place, sate he neuer so fast: He stopp'd a horse suddainely, that ranne with a maine Carriere, by onely touching the bridle, and with his shoulder would hee easily shoue a Canon whither hee listed. Cardan writes that himselfe saw one dauncing with two in his armes, two vpon * 1.237 his shoulders, and one hanging about his necke. Potocoua a Polonian and Captaine of the Cosakes, during the reigne of Stephen Batore, was so strong, as witnesseth Leonclauius, that he would teare in peeces new horse shoes, as it had beene paper. The history of the Netherlands re∣ports, * 1.238 that the woman Gyantesse before mentioned was so strong, that shee would lift vp in either hand a barrell full of Hamborough beere, and would easilie carrie more then eight men could.

Before these, but long since those ancient Heroes, was the Gyant Ae∣nother borne in Turgaw, a village in Sweuia, who bore armes vnder Char∣lemaigne, * 1.239 he felled men as one would mow hay, & sometimes broach∣ed a great number of them vpon his pike, and so carried them all vpon his shoulder, as one would carrie little birds spitted vpon a sticke. Hinc

apparet (saith Camerarius) quòd nostra aetas & natio tales viros produxerit quos fortitudine & robore cum veteribus conferre licet. From hence it ap∣peares that our age and nation hath brought forth such men, as euery way are matchable with the Ancients in actiuity & strength. Oflatter dayes and here at home, M^r Richard Carew a worthy Gentleman in his survey of Cornewall assures vs that one Iohn Bray (well known to himselfe, as being his tenaunt) carried vpon his backe at one time by the space well neare of a But-length six bushels of wheaten meale, reckoning 15 gallons to the bushell, and the miller a lubber of 24 yeares age vpon the whole: wherevnto he addeth that Iohn Roman of the same sheire, a short clownish grub would beare the whole carkasse of an oxe, though he neuer tugged with it, when he was a calfe, as Milo did. To these might be added diuerse other domesticall examples of latter times, saue that such kinde of relations seeme as vnsauory and incredible to the most part of Readers, as they are certaine, admirable, and delight∣full to the beholders.

It is most true that the great workes our noble Predecessours haue left vs, our Cathedrall Churches, our ruines of Castles and Monasteries, our bridges, our high-wayes, and Cauce-wayes, and in forraine parts their Ar∣ches, Obelisks, Pyramids, Vawtes, Aqueducts, Theaters, and Amphitheaters seeme to proclaime, as the greatnesse of their mindes, so likewise of their bodies: But I should rather ascribe this to their industry, their deuotion, their charity, vniting, their forces and purses in publique workes and for the publique good, then to the bodily strength of par∣ticular men.

SECT. 5. Two doubtes cleered, the first touching the strong physicke which the Ancients vsed, the second touching the great quantity of blood which they are sayed vsually to haue drawne at the opening of a veine.

A greater doubt arises touching the litle, but strong physicke which the Ancients vsed, and the great quantity of blood which they vsu∣ally drew at the opening of a veine: For the first of these, I should thinke that it rather argued the strength of our bodies, who notwith∣standing our disuse of exercise and more frequent vse of Physicke, and that many times from the hands of vnskilfull Empericks, we ordinari∣ly hold out as long as they did: And for the strength of their Physicke, let vs heere Goropius a famous Physitian, and doubtles a very learned man, as his workes testifie, and his greatest adversaries cannot but con∣fesse. Dicunt olim medicamenta multò vehementiora data fuiss•…•… quàm nunc hominum natura ferre possit: They say that the Physicke which the An∣cients administred was much stronger then the nature of man is now capable of; to which he replies, eos qui sic arbitrantur insigniter falli con∣tendo, ferunt enim corpora aequè nunc helleborum atque olim eodem vel majo∣ri pondere, vt ipse in alijs & meipso sum expertus: Verùm inscitia eorum qui nihil Medici habent praeter titulum & vestem longam, & impudentem arro∣gantiam

in causa est vt sic opinentur. I am confident that those who thus thinke are notablely deceiued, in asmuch as our bodies can now aswell endure the like or greater quantity of Elleborum, as I haue made triall in my selfe & others: But the ignorance of such as haue indeed nothing in them of the Physitian but the bare title, a long gowne, and impudent arrogancie, is the cause that men so thinke. And with him heerein plainely accords Leonardus Giachinus of the same profession, who ha∣uing composed a Treatise purposely to shew what damage arises to learning by preferring Authority before reason, makes this the title of his first Chapter, Corpora nostra eadem ferre posse auxilia quibus Veteres vsi sunt, idque cum ratione tum experientia comprobari: That our bodies now a dayes may well enough suffer the same helpes of Physicke which the Ancients vsed, & that this may be made euident aswell by reason as experience. And I suppose skilfull Physitians will not deny, but that the Physicke of former times agrees with ours as in the receites, so for the dosis and quantity; and for them who hold a generall decay in the course of Nature, they are likewise forced to hold this. For if plants, and drugges, and minerals, decay in their vertue proportionablely to the bo∣dy of man, (as is the common opinion) then must it consequently fol∣low, that the same quantity hauing a lesse vertue may without daunger and with good successe be administred to our bodies though inferiour in strength: Roger Bacon in his booke de erroribus medicorum, tells vs, that the disposition of the heavens is changed euery Centenary or therea∣bout; and consequently that all things growing from the earth change their complexions, as also doth the body of man; and therevpon infers that eaedem proportiones medicinarum non sunt semper continuandae sed exigi∣tur observantia certa secundum temporis discensum: The same proportions of medicines are not still to be continued, but there is required a cer∣tain quantity according to the variation of time. Where, by the change of the disposition of the heavens, I cannot conceiue that he intends it alwayes for the worst, for so should he crosse himselfe in the same booke, neither for any thing I know haue we any certainty of any such change as he speakes of, but this am I sure of, that if together with the heauens, the plants change their tempers, and with the plants the body of man, then needs there no alteration in the proportion of medicines; in asmuch as what art should therein supply, nature her selfe preuents & performes: But for mine own part holding a naturall decay in neither, vpon that ground, as I conceiue, may more safely be warranted the con∣tinuance of the ancient proportions.

Now touching the drawing of blood, I know it is said that Galen vsu∣ally drew six pounds at the opening of a veine, whereas we for the most part stoppe at six ounces, which is in truth a great difference if true, spe∣cially in so short a time, he liuing three hundred yeares or thereabout since Christ. For decision then of this point, we must haue recourse to Galen himselfe, who in that booke which he purposely composed of cures by letting of blood, thus writes: Memini quibusdam ad sex vsque libras sanguinem detractum fuisse, ita vt febris extingueretur. I remember that * 1.240 from some I haue drawne six pounds of blood, which hath ridde them

of their feuer: yet from others he tooke but a pound and a halfe, or one pound, and sometimes lesse, as he saw occasion: neither in old time, nor in these present times was the quantity euer definite or certaine, but both then and now variable more or lesse according to strength, the dis∣ease, age, or other indications; and in pestilent fevers his advise is, vbi valida virtus subest, & aetas permittit, vsque ad animae defectum sanguinem mittere * 1.241 expedit: where the strength and age of the patient will beare it, it will doe well to take blood euen to a fainting or sounding; and such was the case (as by his owne words it appeares) in which he drew so great a quantity: Neither is this without example in our age: Ambrose Par a French Surgeon, (& a man expert in his profession, as his bookes shew) reports that he drew from a patient of his in foure dayes twenty seven pal∣lets, * 1.242 euery pallet of Paris containing three ounces & more, so that he drew from him about seven pounds, allowing twelue ounces to the pound, which was the account that Galen followed, as appeares in his owne Treatise of weights and measures, and so continues it in vse among Physitians and Apothecaries vnto this day. The whole quantity of blood in a mans body of a sound constitution and middle stature was anciently estima∣ted, and so is it still at about three gallons: and I haue beene informed by a Doctour of Physicke of good credit and eminent place in this Vniversi∣ty, that a patient of his hath bled a gallon at nose in one day, and hath * 1.243 done well after it; which (as I conceiue) could not be so little as seuen or eight pounds, allowing somewhat lesse then a pound to a pint, in asmuch as I haue found a pint of water to weigh sixteene ounces. Now what Na∣ture hath done with tollerance of life, Art may come neere vnto vpon just cause without danger. And if any desire to be farther informed in this point, he need goe no further then the Medicinall observations of Io∣hannes Shenkius de capite Humano, where to his 333 observation hee pre∣fixes this title, Prodigiosae narium haemorragiae, quae interdum 18, interdum 20, nonnunquam etiam 40 sanguinis librae profluxere. Prodigious bleedings at the nose, in which sometimes 18, sometimes 20, sometimes 40 poūds of blood haue issued. The Authors from whom he borroweth his ob∣servations are Matheus de Gradi in his commentaries vpon the 35 chap∣ter of Rasis ad Almans Brasauolus comment. ad Aphor. 23. lib. 5. Dona∣tus lib. de variolis & morbillis cap. 23. Lusitanus Curat. 100. Cent. 2. And a∣gaine Curat. 60, Cent. 7, his instances are of a Nunne who voided by di∣verse passages 18 pounds of bloud, of Diana a noble Lady of Est, who bled onely at the nostrils 18 pounds besides what was spilt on the ground, vpon her apparell, in napkins and other linnens about her; of one Andrew, Cooke to Fredericke Gonzaga Cardinall, who bled in one day and two nights 20 pounds. And lastly of a yong man named Berda∣vid, from whom there issued at the nose within the space of sixe dayes 40 pounds, and yet they all liued after it, and did well penes Authores fi∣des esto▪

SEC. 6. A third doubt cleered touching the length of the Duodenum or first gut, as also of the severall opinions of Iacobus Ca∣pellus, and Iohannes Temporarius, touching the decrease of humane strength and stature.

ANother doubt tending to the same end, I receiued from an other * 1.244 Doctour of Physicke of speciall note, & of mine ancient acquain∣tance, well knowne in London for his sufficiencie in his professiō, and from him likewise I must acknowledge the best part of the answere which I shall frame thereunto. The objection, because, of any I haue met with, it is most fully opened & seriously vrged by Archangelus Piccolhomi∣ni in his Anatomicall Lectures, I wil expresse in his words, where speaking of the first gut, he thus goes on, Dicitur etiam graecis dodecadactylos, nobis du∣odenū, * 1.245 quod duodecem digitos longum illis temporibus videretur: nam his nostris temporibus vix 9 digitorum apices aequat, fortassèquod hâc nostrâ aetate homines minores, illis saeculis grandiores essent, idcirco longiora mēbra proportione respon∣dētia. Dicitur quo{que} pyloros, id est ianitor portonarius translato nomine inferio∣ris orificij ventriculi ad superiorem duodeni partem quae ex eo proximè enasci∣tur. It is called of the Graecians dodecadactylos, & of vs duodenum, because it seemes in those times to haue beene 12 inches long, whereas in this age it hardly equals the toppes of nine fingers, perchance because now adayes men being lesse and then bigger, they had likewise bigger parts of the body answereable therevnto. It is also called pyloros or the porter, which name is borrowed from the nether orifice of the stomacke, and applyed to the higher part of the duodenum which growes out of it. Thus he; where what he meanes by the apices or toppes of nine fingers, I doe not well apprehend, but Riolanus I am sure in the 2 booke and 12 Chapter of his Anthropographia tells vs plainely that ab Herophylo duo∣denum dicitur quoniam olim duodecem transversos digitos longum erat, vbi hodie vix quatuor digitos aequat. It was by Herophylus called duodenum be∣cause anciently it was 12 inches long, whereas now it is scarce full foure. How long since this Herophilus liued I cannot certainely determine, nor well coniecture, his name I finde not in Gesners Bibliotheca, indeed Ter∣tullian in his booke de anima mentioneth him, by which it appeares that he liued before him, but how long it appeares not; suppose it to bee 5, 6, or 8 hundred yeares (which is as much as in reason can well bee de∣manded, and vpon that supposition allow him to haue liued two thou∣sand yeares agoe, which being granted, and withall that all the other parts of mans body are decayed proportionably to the duodenum, (which Piccolomini himselfe confesseth, and thereof I thinke no wise or learned man will once offer to make any doubt) this I say being granted, it must of necessitie follow that in the space of 2000 yeares, two thirds of humane stature are lost, for that is the proportiō of 4 to 12; so as if men now be fiue foote high, they were then 15, & 2000 yeares before that againe (if we shall allow the like proportion of decrease to the like space of time (45 foot high, and so vpward, which how vnrea∣sonable

it is to affirme or conceiue, I leaue to the Authors and Patrons of that fancie to imagine. Againe I would willingly knowe whether in Herophilus time the inch were the same with ours or no, if so, then be∣like there is no such notorious diminution in stature as from him is col∣lected▪ and if it be varied according to the diminution of stature, then should our duodenum be aswell 12 of our inches now, as was their duode∣num 12 of their inches then, for to say that theirs was 12 of their inches & ours but 4 of our inches, is both an irregular cōparison, & a matter al∣together incredible. And I wonder that Galen or Hippocrates, or some o∣ther of those ancient Physitians had not found the variation thereof in their time in regard of former ages, aswell as wee in ours in regard of theirs; or that finding it, they haue left no record or mention of so nota∣ble an observation in any of their writings, which me thinks is a strong presumption that indeed either in their practise or reading they obser∣ved no such matter. But to make a plaine and full answere to this ob∣jection, we need go no farther then that of Riolanus immediatly annex∣ed to the passage before alleadged. Nec mensuram antiquam deprehendes nisi graciliorem & angustiorem ventriculi partem à fundo inferne exporre∣ctam vsque ad anfractuum principium addideris quam saepè 12 digitos aequare vidi. Neither shall you finde the ancient measure, vnlesse you adde to the duodenum the lower and narrower part of the stomack, and extend it to that place where the guts begin their pleats and windings, and this haue I often seene to equall 12 inches: out of which words I make mine answere thus, that if we take duodenum strictly, onely for so much as is from the lowest orifice of the stomacke to the winding guts, then I say it is scantly foure inches long, but if we take in that thinner part and end of the ventricle which the Greekes call pyloros, and the Latines from thence ianitor or portonarius the porter, then by Riolans observation it hath, and no doubt may be found fully as long as the ancient measure. Now that the pyloros hath beene by ancient Writers taken into the du∣odenum, and accounted as one with it, not onely Riolan in the place be∣fore alleadged, and Laurentius lib. 6. cap, 13. but Piccolhomini himselfe confesseth in the latter part of the passage already quoted, and Leonar∣dus Fuchsius in the third booke and 1 chapter of his Paradoxes brings to that purpose. Celsus lib. 4, cap. 1. Avicen fen. 6. can. 3. tract. 1. cap. 1. Valescus 4. 22. Iohannes Matthaeus de Gradi in his Commentaries vpon the ninth booke of Razis cap. 11: and lastly Alexander Benedictus in his second booke of Anatomie chapt. 8. and though he there make Galen to speake in a different language, yet are Riolan and others of another o∣pinion therein.

Whiles this part was even vpon going to the Presse, there came to mine hands two bookes written by two learned French men, Iacobus Ca∣pellus and Iohannes Temporarius, the one intituled de mensuris, the other Chronologicae demonstrationes; in both which the point in hand is touched to the quicke: The former, Capellus I meane, in his very preface sharpe∣ly censures the Poets, Homer & Virgill & Iuvenall for their hyperbolicall amplifications, in speaking of the enormous stature of the Ancients, and so doth he Pliny, Solinus, S. Augustine, and Ludouicus Vives for following

them therein, and then alleadging that passage of Iulius Scaligers, where he affirmes that the Samogithians, a people seated betwixt Prussia & Li∣uonia, by turnes beget dwarfes & gyants; he graunts that this vicissitude, though not in that degree, yet in some sort may be obserued in all nati∣ons: yet this man after all this flourish tells vs, that it cannot be but some kinde of truth there should be in those complaints of the Poets, & that the world waxes old, though not in post-hast as they would haue it: yet sensim & sine sensu, as he tearmes it, soft & faire, & by degrees insen∣sible. The onely reason he buildes vpon being this, that the mea∣sures of all Nations being proportioned (as he imagineth) to their sta∣tures, and withall that as the Nations rise in antiquitie one aboue ano∣ther, so doe their measures: from whence he inferres, that as the mea∣sures of the Ancients were longer, so were likewise their statures. Wherein he manifestly crosseth both himselfe, and as many as I haue read of that subiect, either occasionally or of set purpose; for himselfe he freely acknowledgeth in another place of the same discourse, that both the present Parisian foote in France & the Picen in Italy are bigger then the Ancient Romane; for the latter of which, he both vouches and well approues the testimony of Cardan de subtil: lib. 11: Adducor autho∣ritate scribentium olim de re militari qui tyronum mediocrem magnitudinem quinque pedum esse statuerunt, vt quarta parte pes antiquus mensura pedis no∣stri minor sit. I am induced by the authority of those who writing of military matters, set down fiue foote for the ordinary stature of a com∣mon souldier, to beleeue that the ancient foote was by measure a quar∣ter lesse then ours. Againe himselfe confesseth (neither without mani∣fest follie can it bee denyed) that some nations in regard of their Cly∣mate much exceed others in stature, as for the most part do the Westerne, the Easterne, & the Northerne, the Southerne, so as if his comparison had beene made betwixt the ancient and moderne measures of the same nati∣on, it might well haue carried at leastwise some semblance of truth, but to make it betwixt different nations though in different ages, as he doth, carries with it in my iudgment no colour at all: Lastly, he holds not the like decrease in age, & wits, & manners, that he doth in stature, nor in the heavens, the earth, the beasts, the plants, that he doth in men; which though it stand with his purpose; yet how it can stand with the course of na∣ture, for mine own part I cannot imagine, as neither can I conceiue how there should bee any such alternatiue vicissitude of stature in all nations as he holdes, and yet withall an vniversall and perpetuall decrease: all which himselfe it seemes foreseeing modestly, concludes the point: Nos igitur haec, ea potius mente in medium adduximus, vt haec vere nobilis questio ab eruditis viris luculentius & accuratius pertractetur, quàm quod veluti de inventa veritate gloriemur & nobis ipsi suffeni simus: We then haue pro∣duced these things to this purpose, that this question truly noble, may by learned men be more cleerely and exactly handled, not that I would glory in the finding out of a truth, or as if I were onely pleased with mine owne conceite. Now for Iohannes Temporarius he doth not mince the matter as Capellus, but in his Chronologicall demonstrations Anno mundi 410, and fourth Chapter, strikes downe-right

right blowes, telling vs roundly and plainely that nothing is altered in the stature of man since the Creation, and that eadem est hominum & primi saeculi & insecutorum magnitudo, that the stature of the men of the first age and those which afterward ensued is the •…•…ame: and that as there were Gyants then, so haue there since beene in all ages downeward, and some euery way as tall, if not taller then they: and afterward discour∣sing of the Arke & the capability thereof out of Buteo (though indeed hee name him not) he makes Moses his cubit to be the same with ours, & the beasts then to be of the same bignesse as now they are, & to spend no more quantitie of foode then now they doe; herein likewise treading in Buteo his steps, though in some other things touching the fabrique of the Arke he dissent from him.

SECT. 7. Another rubbe remoued taken from the impurity of the seede, contracted by the succession of propagation, as also touching some late memorable exam∣ples of parents famously fertile, in the linage issuing from their bodies, be∣yond any examples in that kinde in former ages.

THE last, but in the opinion of many not the least rubbe to bee remoued, is drawne from the impuritie of the seede, contracted by the succession of propagation, from whence there must needes in reason succeed, as a diminution in the continuance and duration, so likewise an imparing both in the strength and stature of mankinde. This argument I find thus expressed in a treatise published in M^r C•…•…ffs name, and intitled, The differences of the ages of mans life;

As is nutrition, saith he, to the particular, so is generation to the species, in the case of their continuance and preservation: Wherefore as by the nourishment wee take for our naturall moisture, there being supplied not so pure humi∣ditie as was lost, the particulars decaying by little and little, are at last cleane consumed: so by procreation, (the mainetenance of our species) the purity of our complexion being by degrees & time diminished, at length there followes euen of necessity an absolute corruption: but for answere herevnto, though it be graunted that generation be as requisite to the continuance of the species, as is nutrition for the preseruation of the particular, & withall that our foode doth not so kindely and fully supply our radicall moisture, which is daily wasted by our vitall heate feeding vpon it, whence finally ensueth the Individuals extinguishing

: Yet that every individuall should necessarily yeeld weaker and wors•…•…r seede for the propagation of the species then it selfe was generated of, that I constantly beleeue can neuer be proued: Nay the contrary there∣vnto is manifested by daily experience, in asmuch as wee often see fee∣ble & sickely parents to beget strong & healthy, short to beget tall, & such as haue dyed young, long-liued children: And vndoubtedly if this were so indeede as is pretended, mankind had long since beene vtterly extinguished, & with it had this controuersie beene at an end; & not only mankind, but the severall kindes of fowles, & fishes, & beasts, & plants, since they are all maintained by their seed as man is, whose decay not∣withstanding

is questioned but by few.

Before I conclude this discourse touching the comparison of the strength of the Ancients with ours, it shall not be amisse to remember a moderne example or two of Parents famously fertile in the linage issued from their bodies, such as I doe not remember any where to be paral∣lelled by antiquity. In the memory of our Fathers, saith Vives in his commentary vpon the eight chapter of the fifteenth booke of the Citty of God, there was seene a village in Spaine of about an hundred houses, whereof: all the inhabitants were issued from one certaine old man who then liued, when as that village was so peopled, so as the name of propinquity how the youngest of the children should call him could not be giuen: Lingua enim nostra supra Abav•…•…m non ascen•…•…t: For our lan∣guage, saith hee, meaning the Spanish, affords not a name aboue the great Grandfathers father. Likewise in S. Innocents Church-yard, in the citty of Paris, is to be seene the Epitaph of Yelland •…•…aeily, widow to M^r Dennis Capell, a Proctour at the Chastellet, which doth shew that she had liued eighty foure yeares, and might haue seene 288 of her children and childrens children; shee dyed the 17 of Aprill 1514. Now imagine, saith Pasquier, how much she had beene troubled to call them by a pro∣per * 1.246 denomination that were distant from he•…•… the fourth and fifth de∣gree. Wherevnto wee may adde, that which Theodore Zwinger, a Phy∣sitian of Basill, in the third volume of the Theatre of mans life, recites of * 1.247 a noble Lady, of the family of the Dalburgs, who saw of her race euen to the sixth degree, whereof the Germanes haue made this distich.

¹ Mater ² ait natae ³ dic natae filia ⁴ natam ⁵ Vt moneat natae ⁶ plangere filiolam.

That is to say, The mother said to her daughter, daughter bid thy daughter tell her daughter that her daughters daughter cries. The more I wonder at Pliny that he should report it as a wonder, & worthy the Chronicle, that Crispinus Hilarus praelata pompa, with open ostentation * 1.248 sacrificed in the Capitoll, 74 of his children & childrens children, atten∣ding on him. And so I passe from the consideration & comparison of the stature & strength of mens bodies, to that of their mindes, consi∣sting in the more noble faculties of the reasonable soule, and the beau∣tifull effects thereof.

CAP. 6. Containing a discourse in generall, that there is no such vniversall and perpetuall decay in the powers of the minde, or in the Arts & Sciences as is pretended.

SECT. 1. The excellencie of the Ancients in the powers of the mind compared with those of the present, as also their helpes and hinderances in matter of learning, ballanced.

SInce it is a received conclusion of the choisest, both Divines & Phi∣losophers, that the reasonable soule of man is not conveied vnto him from his Parents, but infused immediatly by the hand of the Crea∣tor; & withall, that the soules of all men at their first Creation & infusion, are equall & perfect alike, endued with the same essence & abilities; it must needes bee, that the inequality & disparity of actions, which they produce, arise from the diverse temper of the matter which they in∣forme, and by which, as by an instrument they worke. Now the matter being tempered by the disposition of the bodies of our parents, the in∣fluence of the heavens, the quality of the elements, diet, exercise, & the like; it remaines, that as there is a variety & vicissitude of these in regard of goodnes, so is there likewise in the temper of the matter whereof wee consist, & the actions which by it our soules produce: Yea where both the agents & the instruments are alike, yet by the diversity of edu∣cation or industry, their workes are many times infinitely diversified.

The principall faculties of the soule, are imagination, iudgement, and memory. One of the most famous for memory among the Ancients, to my remembrance, was Seneca the Father, who reports of himselfe, that * 1.249 hee could repeate two thousand names, or two hundred verses, brought to his Master by his Schoole-fellowes backeward or forward: But that which Muretus reports of a young man of Corsica, a student in the Ci∣vill * 1.250 Law, whom himselfe saw at Padua, farre exceedes it; he could, saith he•…•…, recite thirty six thousand names in the same order as they were de∣liuered, without any stay or staggering, as readily, as if he had read them out of a booke: His conclusion is, Huic ego ne ex antiquitate quidam quem opponam habeo, nis•…•… forte Cyrum quem Plinius, Quintilianus, & alij La∣tini Scriptores tradiderunt tenuisse omnium militum nomina. I find none among the Ancients, whom I may set against him, vnlesse Cyrus per∣chaunce, whom Plini•…•…, Quintilian, and other Latine writers, report to haue remembred the names of all his souldiers, which yet Muretus himselfe doubts was mistaken of them: Zenophon, of whom onely or principally they could learne it, affirming onely that hee remembred the names, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, of his Captaines or cheife commanders▪ And Aeneas Sylvius in his history of the Councill of Basill (at which him∣selfe was present) tels vs of one Ludovicus Pontanus of Spoleto, a Lawyer likewise by profession, (who dyed of the Pestilence at that Councill, at thirty yeares of age) that he could recite not the titles onely, but the in∣tire

bodies of the Lawes, being for vastnes and fastnes of memory, nemi∣ni Antiquorum inferior, as he speakes, nothing inferiour to any of the Ancients. It is to this purpose very memorable, which Famianus Sra∣da, in the first booke of his Academicall P•…•…olusions, relates of Francis Sua∣rez, who hath, sayeth he, so strong a memory, that he hath S. Augustine (the most copious & various of the Fathers) readie by heart, alleadging euery where (as occasion presents it selfe) fully & faithfully, his senten∣ces, & which is very strange, his very wordes; nay if he be demaunded any thing touching any passage in any of his volumes (which of them∣selues are almost enough to fill a Librarie,) Statim quo loco, quaque pagi∣na disseruerit ea super re expedite docentem ac digito commonstrantem saepe vi∣dimus; I my selfe haue often seene him instantly shewing and pointing with his finger, to the place & page in which he disputed of that mat∣ter; This is I confesse the testimonie of one Iesuite, touching another. But of D^r Rainolds, it is most certaine that he excelled this way, to the astonishment of all that were inwardly acquainted with him, not only for S. Augustines workes, but almost all Classike Authours: so as in this respect it might truely be said of him, which hath beene applyed to some others, that he was a liuing librarie, or third vniuersitie: I haue heard it very crediblely reported, that vpon occasion of some writings, which passed to & fro, betwixt him & Doctour Gentilis, then our Pro∣fessour in the Civill Lawes, he publiquely professed, that he thought D^r Rainolds had read, and did remember more of those Lawes then him∣selfe, though it were his profession.

And for the excellency of the other faculties of the mind, together with that of the memory It is wonderfull the testimony that Viues (himselfe a man of eminent parts) in his Commentaries on the second booke, and 17 Chapter de civitate Dei, giues Budaeus; Qu•…•… viro, (saith he) Gallia acutiore ingenio, acriore iudicio, exactiore diligentia, maiore eruditione nullum vnquam produxit, hac vero aetate nec Italia quidem; then which man, France never brought forth a sharper wit, or more peircing judgement, of more exact diligence, and greater learning, nor in this age Italy it selfe. And then going on, tells vs, that there was nothing written in Greeke or Latine, which he had not turned ouer, read, examined; Greeke & Latine were both alike to him, yet was he in both most excellent, speaking either of them as readily, & perchaunce with more ease then the french, his mother tongue; he would reade out of a Greeke booke in Latine, & out of a Latine booke in Greeke. These things which wee see so exquisitely written by him, flowed from him ex tempore; hee writes more easily both in Greeke & Latine, then the most skilfull in those lan∣guages vnderstand. Nothing in those tongues is so abstruse & difficult, which he hath not ransacked, entred vpon, looked into, & brought as it were another Cerberus from darkenesse to light. Infinite are the signifi∣cations of words, the figures, & properties of speech, which vnknown to former ages, by the only help of Budaeus, studious men are now acquain∣ted with. And these so great & admirable things, he without the dire∣ctions of any teacher, learned meerely by his owne industry; Foelix & foecundum ingenium, quod in se vno invenit, & doctorem, & discipulum, &

docendi viam rationem{que}, & cuius decimam partem, alij sub magnis magistris vix discunt, ipse id totum à se magistro ed•…•…ctus est: An happy & fruitefull wit, which in it selfe alone found both a master, a scholler, & a methode of teaching; and the tenth part of that which others can hardly attaine vnto vnder famous teachers, all that learned he of himselfe, being his owne reader; and yet (sayth he) hitherto haue I spoken nothing of his knowledge in the lawes, which being in a manner ruined, seeme by him to haue beene restored, nothing of his Philosophy, whereof he hath giuen vs such a triall in his bookes d•…•… Asse, that no man could com∣pose them, but such a one as was assiduously versed in the bookes of all the Philosophers; & then having highly commended him for his piety, his sweet behaviour, & many other rare & singular vertues added to his great wit; hee farther adds, that notwithstanding all this, hee was continually conversant in domesticke & state affaires at home, & am∣bassages abroad; so as it might truely be said of him, as Plinius Caecilius speakes of his vncle Secundus, when I consider his state affaires, & the happy dispatch of so many businesses, I wonder at the multiplicitie of his reading & writing; & againe, when I consider this, I wonder at that, & so leaue him with that happy Distich of Buchanan:

Gallia quod Graeca est quod Graecia barbara non est Vtra{que} Budaeo debet vtrumque suo:

That France is turn'd to Greece, that Greece is not turn'd rud•…•…

Both owe them both to thee, their deare great learned Bude.

And if wee looke ouer the Perynees, Metamorus, in his Treatise of the Vniversities & learned men of Spaine, spares not to write of Tostatus, Bi∣shop of Abulum, si alio quam suo seculo viuere contigisset, neque Hipponi Augustinum, ne{que} Stridoni Hieronymum, nec quempian•…•… ex illis proceribus Ecclesiae antiquis nunc invideremus. Had he lived in any other age saue his owne, wee should not haue needed now to enuy either Hippo for Augustine, or Stride•…•… for Hierom; nor any other of those ancient noble worthies of the Church. To which Posseuin in his Apparatus adds, that at the age of two & twenty yeares, hee attained the knowledge of al∣most all Arts & Sciences. For beside Phylosophy & Divinity, the Ca∣non & the Civill Lawes, history & the Mathematiques, he was well skil∣led in the Greeke & Hebrew tongues: so as it was written of him,

Hic stupor est mundi, qui scibile discutit omne, * 1.251 The worlds wonder for that hee Knowes whatsoeuer knowne may bee:

Hee was so true a student, & so constant in sitting to it; that with Didy∣mus of Alexandria, aenea habuisse intestina putaretur, he was thought to haue a body of brasse, & somuch he wrote & published, that a part of the epitaph ingraven on his tombe was;

Primae natalis luci folia omnia adaptans Nondum sic fuerit pagina trina satis;

The meaning is, that if of his published writings, wee should allow three leafes to euery day of his life, from his very birth, there would be yet some to spare; & yet withall hee wrote so exactly, that Ximines his scholler, attempting to contract his Commentaries vpon Matthew,

could not well bring it to lesse then a thousand leafes in folio, and that in a very small print, and others haue attempted the like in his other workes with like successe. But that which Pasquier hath obserued out of Monstrelet, is yet more memorable, touching a young man who being * 1.252 not aboue 20 yeares old, came to Paris in the yeare 1445, and shewed himselfe so admirably excellent in all Arts, Sciences, & Languages, that if a man of an ordinary good wit and found constitution should liue one hundred yeares, and during that time study incessantly with∣out eating, drinking, sleeping, or any recreation, he could hardly attaine to that perfection: insomuch that some were of opinion, that hee was Antichrist begotten of the Devill, or somewhat at leastwise aboue hu∣mane condition: Which gaue occasion to these verses of Castellanus. who liued at the same time, and himselfe saw this miracle of wit.

I'ay veu par excellence Vn jeune de vingt ans Auoir toute science & les degrez montans Soy sevantant scauoir dire Ce qu' onques fut escrit Par seule fois le lire Comme vn jeune Antichrist.

A young man haue I seene At twenty yeares so skill'd, That euery Art he had, and all In all degrees excell'd. What euer yet was writ He vaunted to pronounce Like a young Antichrist, if he Did read the same but once.

Not to insist vpon supernaturals, were there among vs that industry, & that vnion of forces, & contribution of helpes as was in the Ancients, I see no sufficient reason but the wits of this present age might produce as great effects as theirs did, nay greater, inasmuch as we haue the light of their writings to guide and assist vs: wee haue bookes by reason of the Art of Printing more familiar, and at a cheaper rate: most men be∣ing now vnwilling to giue three hundred pound for three bookes, as Plato * 1.253 did for those of Phylolaus the Pythagorean. And by this meanes are wee freed from a number of grosse errors, which by the ignorance or negli∣gence of vnskilfull Writers crept into the text: yet on the other side it is as true that wee are forced to spend much time in the learning of Languages, specially the Latin, Greeke, and Hebrew, which the Ancients spent in the study of things, their learning being commonly written in their owne Language. Beside the infinite & bitter controversies among Christians in matter of Religion since the infancie thereof euen to these present times, hath doubtlesse not a little hindered the advancement & progresse of other Sciences, together with a vaine opinion, that all Arts were already fully perfected, so as nothing could be added therevnto, and that the Founders of them were Gyants, more then men for their wits in regard of vs, and we very dwarfes, sunke below our species in re∣gard

of them. Sed non est ita, saith Lodovicus Vives, nec nos sumus nani, nec * 1.254 illi homines Gygantes, sed omnes eiusdem staturae, & qnidem nos altius evecti eorum beneficio, maneat modò in nobis quod in illis, studium, attentio animi, vi∣gilantia & amor veri; quae si absint, jam non sumus nani, sed homines justae magnitudinis humi prostrati. It is not so, neither are we Dwarfes, nor they Cyants, but all of equall stature, or rather we somewhat higher, being lifted vp by their meanes, conditionally there be in vs an equall Inte•…•…∣tion of spirit, watchfulnesse of minde, and loue of truth: for if these bee wanting, then are we not so much dwarfes as men of a perfect growth lying on the ground.

Likewise it cannot be denied, but that the incouragements for study & Learning were in former times greater: what liberall bountifull al∣lowance did Alexander afford Aristotle for the entertainement of Fi∣shers, * 1.255 Faukeners and Hunters to bring him in b•…•…asts, fowles, & fishes of all kindes for the discovery of their severall natures & dispositions: Nay the dayly wages of Roscius the stage-player, as witnesseth Macrobius, * 1.256 was a thousand denarij, which amounteth to thirty pound of our coyne. And Aesope the Tragoedian grew so rich by the onely exercise of the same trade, if we may credit the same Author, as he left to his sonne a∣boue one hundred and fifty thousand pound sterling: Wherevnto may bee added, that the Ancients coppying out their bookes for the most part with their own hands, it could not but worke in them a deeper impres∣sion of the matter therein contained, and being thereby forced to con∣tent themselues with fewer bookes, of necessity they held themselues more closely to them. And it is most true which Seneca hath aswell in reading as eating, in bookes as dyet, Varietas delectat, certitudo prodest, * 1.257 Variety is delightfull, but certainty more vsefull and profitable.

So that vpon the matter, all reckonings being on all sides cast vp, and one thing being set against another, as wee want some helpes which the Ancients had, so are we freed from some hinderances wherewith they were incumbred, as againe it is certaine that they both wanted some of our helpes, and were freed from some of our hinderances: if then wee come short of their perfections, it is not because Nature is generally de∣fectiue in vs, but because we are wanting to our selues, & doe not striue to make vse of, and improoue those abilities wherewith God & Nature hath endowed vs. Malè de Natura censet quicun{que} vno illam aut altero par∣tu effaetam esse arbitratur, saith Vives; He thinkes vnworthily and irreve∣rently of Nature who conceiues her to be barren after one or two births; no, no, that which the same Author speakes of places, is likewise vndoubtedly true of times, Vbi{que} bona nascuntur ingenia, excolantur modo, alibi fortassis frequentiora, sed vbi{que} nonnulla. Euery-where & in all ages good wits spring vp, were they dressed & manured as they ought, though happily more frequently in some places & ages then in others. Scythia it selfe anciently yeelded one Anacharsis, and no doubt had they taken the same course as he did, more of the same mettall would haue beene found there.

SECT. 2. That there is both in wits and Arts as in all things besides, a kinde of circular progresse aswell in regard of places as times.

THere is (it seemes) both in wits & Arts, as in all things besides, a kinde of circular progresse: they haue their birth, their growth, their flourishing, their fayling, their fading, and within a while af∣ter, their resurrection, and reflourishing againe. The Arts flourished for a long time among the Persians, the Chaldeans, the Aegyptians, and there∣fore is Moses said to bee learned in all the wisedome of the Aegyptians, * 1.258 who well knowing their owne strength, were bold to object to the Grae∣cians, that they were still children, as neither hauing the knowledge of An∣tiquity, nor the antiquity of knowledge: But afterwards the Graecians got the start of them, & grew so excellent in all kinde of learning, that the rest of the world in regard of them were reputed Barbarians, which re∣putation of wisedome they held euen to the Apostles time, I am debter, saith S. Paul, both to the Graecians and to the Barbarians, both to the wise and to * 1.259 the vnwise. And againe, the Iewes require a signe, and the Graecians seeke after * 1.260 wisedome. By reason whereof they rellished not the simplicity of the Gospell, it seeming foolishnesse vnto them: And in the 17 of the Acts the Philosophers of Athens; (sometimes held the most famous Vniversity in the World) out of an opinion of their owne great learning scorned S. Paul and his doctrine, tearming him a sower of words, a very Babler or tri fler: yet not long after this, these very Graecians declined much, & them∣selues (whether thorow their owne inclination, or by reason of their bondage vnder the Turke, the common enemy both of Religion and Learning, I cannot determine) are now become so strangely barbarous, that their knowledge is converted into a kinde of affected ignorance, as is their liberty into contented slauery: yet after the losse both of their Empire and Learning, they still retained some sparke of their former wit and industry.

Ingenium velox, audacia perdita, sermo Promptus, & Isaeo torrentior, ede quid illum * 1.261 Esse put as quemvis hominem secum attulit ad nos Grammaticus, Rhetor, Geometres, Pictor, Aliptes, Augur, Schaenobates, Medicus, Magus, omnia novit Graeculus esuriens, in coelum iusseris is, ibit.

Quickwitted, wonderous bold, well spoken, then Isaeus fluenter, tell who all men Brought with himselfe: a Southsayer, a Physitian, Magician, Rhetorician, Geometrician, Grammarian, Painter, Ropewalker, all knowes The needy Greeke; bid goe to heauen, he goes.

But now they wholly delight in ease, in shades, in dancing, in drinking, and for the most part no farther endeavour the inriching either of their mindes or purses then their bellies compell them.

The lampe of Learning being thus neere extinguished in Greece,

In Latium spret is Academia migrat Athenis. Athens forsaken by Philosophie, She forthwith •…•…avell'd into Italie.

〈◊〉〈◊〉 beganne to shine afresh Italy neere about the time of the birth of Christ, there being a generall peace thorow the world & the Roman Em∣pire being fully settled: & established, Poets, Oratours, Philosophers, Histori∣•…•…s▪ neuer more excellent. From thence this light spread it selfe ouer Christendome, & continued bright till the invndation of the Gothes and H•…•…nnes, & V•…•…ndals, who ransacked Libraries, and defaced almost all the monuments of Antiq•…•…y, insomuch as that lampe seemed againe to be put out hy the space of almost a thousand yeares, & had longer so con∣tinued, had not first Mensor King of Africa & Spaine raised vp & spurred forward the Arabian wits to the rest•…•…raton of good letters by propo∣sing great rewards & encouragements vnto them. And afterwards Pe∣trarch a man of a singular wit & rare naturall endowments, opened such Libraries as were left vndemolished, beat off the dust from the moth∣eaten bookes, & drew into the light the best Authors. He was seconded by Boccace & Iohn of Raven•…•…; & soone after by Areline, Phil•…•…lphus, Valla, Poggius, Omnibonus, Vergerius, Blondus, & others. And those againe were followed by Aeneas Sylvius, Angelus Politianus, Hermolaus Barbarus, Mar∣silius Ficinus, & that Phaenix of Learning Iohannes Picus Earle of Miran∣dula, who as appeares in the entrance of his Apologie proposed openly at Rome nine hundred questions in all kinde of faculties to be disputed, in∣viting all strangers thither, from any part of the knowne world, and of∣fering himselfe to beare the charge of their travell both comming and going, and during their abode there: so as he deservedly receiued that Epitaph which after his death was bestowed on him.

Iohannes iacet hic Mirandula, caetera norunt Et Tagus, & Ganges, forsan & Antipodes. Heere lies Mirandula, Tagus the rest doth know, And Ganges, and perhaps th' Antipodes also.

And rightly might that be verified of him which Lucretius sometimes wrote of Epicurus his Master.

Hic genus humanum ingenio superavit, & omnes Praestrinxit stellas exortus vt aethereus sol. In wit all men he farre hath overgone, Eclipsing them like to the rising Sunne.

This path being thus beaten out by these Heroicall spirits, they were backed by Rodulphus Agricola, Reucline, Melancthon, Ioachimus Camerari∣us, Wolphangus Lazius, Beatus Rhenanus, Almaines, the great Erasmus a Netherlander, Ludovicus Vives a Spanyard, Bembus, Sadoletus, Eugubinus I∣talians, Turnebus, Muretus, Ramus, Pithaeus, Budaeus, Amiot, Scaliger, Frenchmen, Sir Thomas More, and Li•…•…aker Englishmen; And it is worth the observing, that about this time the slumbering drowzie spirit of the Graecians began againe to be revived and awakened; in Bessarion, Gem∣mistius, Trapezontius, Gaza, Argyropilus, Calcondilas, and others: nay,, those very Northerne Nations which before had giuen the greatest

wound to learning, began now as by way of recompence to advance the honour of it by the same of their studies, as Olaus Magnus, Holsterus, Tycho Braye, Hemingius, Danes: H•…•…sius, Frixius, Crummerus, Polonians: But the number of those worthies, who like somany sparkling starres haue si•…•…ce thorow Christendome succeeded, and some of them exceeded these in learning & knowledge▪ is so infinite, that the very recitall of their names were enough to fill whole volumes: And if we descend to a particular examination of the severall professions, Arts, Sciences and Manufactures, we shall surely finde that praediction of the Divine Seneca accomplished, Mu•…•…venientis aev•…•…populus ign•…•… nobis sciet, the people of * 1.262 future ages shall come to the knowledge of many things vnknowne to vs: And that of Tac•…•…us most true, Nec omnia apud priores meliora, sed no∣stra quoque aetas multa laudis & ar•…•…um imitanda posteris 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Neither * 1.263 were all things in ancient times better then ours, but our age hath left vnto posterity many things worthy praise and imitation. Ramus goes further, and perchance warrantably enough: Maiorem doctorum homi∣num * 1.264 & oper•…•… proventum saeculo vno vidim•…•…, quam totis antea 14. maiores nostri viderant. We haue seene within the space of one age, a more plen∣tifull crop of learned men & works, then our Predecessors saw in fourteen, next going before.

CAP. 7. Touching the three principall professions, Divinity; Law, and Physicke.

SEC. 1. Of the Divinity of the Gentiles and Iewes before Christ, and the next ages after Christ.

WE will begin with the high and noble profession of Divinity, this among the Gentiles was partly prophane and fabulous in their vaine discourses touching the Genealogie, the number & nature of their Gods, & partly mixed with much errour and weaknesse in their Metaphysicks, professing themselues to be wise, they became vaine in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkned. Ante Christum quam * 1.265 molestae disputationes, saith Lodovicus Vives in his 5 booke & 9 chapter de veritate fidei Christianae, how irkesome where the disputes? how tedious their deliberations in comparing honesty with profit? because they knew not what was honesty, nor in very truth what was truly pro•…•…ta∣ble. How diverse and vncertaine were their ends of goodnesse? which held mens mindes in suspense, but Christ hath now fully cleered & ope∣ned all points, we are now well acquainted with the true end and the meanes that conduce to that end, what is honest, what profitable, what hurtfull, the resolutions are now easie and perspicuous; and in the fourth chapter of the same booke, nunc r•…•…onditissima mysteria scitu digna & necessaria, melius nostrae mulier•…•…le intelligunt, quàm maximi olim philosophi, Our silliest women now better vnderstand the dee∣pest Mysteries worthie or needefull to be knowne, then the

profoundest Philosophers then did. They were (as the Apostle speakes in another case) euer learning, but neuer came, nor indeed could euer come to the knowledge of truth, in asmuch as the meere naturall man perceiueth not, nor can perceiue the hidde things of God, the mysteries of the kingdome of heauen, which made them to bee, as Minutius Foelix in his Octauius hath truely obserued, Semper adversus sua vitia facundi, alwaies eloquent in declayming against their owne vi∣ces; but wee (saith he) qui non habitu sapientiam sed mente praeferimus, who doe not place, or weare wisedome in the robe but in the mind: non elo∣quimur magna sed viuimus, we speake not bigge but liue well, & glory in this, that wee haue found that, which they with all eagernesse sought, but could not finde. His conclusion is: Quid ingrati sumus? quid nobis invidemus, si veritas divinitatis nostri temporis aetate maturuit? fruamur bo∣no nostro: Why are wee ingrate? why doe we envy our selues, if the true knowledge of the deitie haue beene brought to ripenesse and full perfection in our age? In Gods name let vs enioy our owne blessing. Among the Iewes, the onely visible Church, the sacred Oracles of God, containing the revelation of supernaturall truths, were indeede preser∣ued: But heerevnto, their Talmudists & Cabalists, their Scribes & Phari∣ses, their Sadduces atd Essens added such traditions, such fictions, such corrupt glosses and malicious interpretations, as the fruite of their do∣ctrine lay hidde vnder the leaues; and as the learned in their language well knowe, very little vse can be made of their best Commentaries vp∣on Scripture; howbeit they presumed, that their chiefes kill lay that way: So that wee neede not doubt, but the most excellent Diuines, haue all beene since the comming of Christ. It is to mee very strange, that not onely the Pharisees should be infected with ths opinion of the Pytha∣goreans, * 1.266 touching the dwelling of the same soule in diverse bodies suc∣cessiuely, & in diverse ages; but that Herod, and the whole nation of the Iewes, should bee tainted with that grosse errour, as appeares in that they held our Saviour to be Iohn the Baptst, or Elias, or one of the Pro∣phets; * 1.267 all which they knew to be dead, and some of them long before: Their meaning being, that the soule of the Baptist, or of Elias, or of one of the Prophets, was by traduction passed into our Saviours bodie; as Py∣thagoras writes of himselfe, that he was first Euphorbus, and then Calli∣das, then Hermotimus, then Pyrrhus, and lastly Pythagoras: But yet farre more strange it is, that the Apostles of our Saviour themselues should be thus misled; and yet it should seeme by that their demaund touching him that was borne blinde, Master, who did sinne this man, or his parents, * 1.268 that he was borne blind; that they were indeede possessed with that opi∣nion, for how could they conceiue that he should sinne before he was borne, but in some other bodie which his soule actuated before? and in truth Saint Cyrill vpon that occasion, is induced to thinke, that they were swayed with the common errour of that nation and those times; * 1.269 and Calvin confidently cries our Prodigij sane instar hoc fuit quod in electo Dei populo, in quo coelestis sapientiae per Legem & Prophetas lux accensa fuerat, * 1.270 tam crasso figmento fuerit datus locus. Truely, this is a prodigious kind of wonder, that among the elect people of God, who were inlightned by

the heavenly wisedome of the Law and the Prophets, way should bee giuen to so palpable a fiction. Yet I know not whether their stupiditie, were greater in this, or in that other demaund of theirs, at our Saviours ascension, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdome to Israell? where * 1.271 Calvin againe stands amazed, that they should all with one consent (for somuch doth the text imply) ioyne together in such a foolish question as hee tearmes it, mira profecto illorum fuit ruditas, quod tam absolute tanta{que} cura per triennium edocti non minorem inscitiam produnt, quam si nullum vn∣quam verbum audissent, totidem in hac interrogatione sunt errores quot verba: wonderfull in truth was their rawnesse & rudenesse, that hauing beene so exquisitely and diligently taught by three yeares space, they not∣withstanding bewray asmuch ignorance, as if they had neuer heard so∣much as one word of instruction, as many errours are in their question as words: But this likewise of restoring them a temporall kingdome, then was, and at this day continues to be, the common errour of that whole na∣tion, neither by any meanes will they be beaten from it: That which to mee seemeth more admirable, is, that S. Peter himselfe, euen after the descending of the holy Ghost, was ignorant of the calling of the Gentiles, of whom together with the Iewes, the Catholique Church was to bee made vp: whereby it should seeme, that then likewise he was ignorant, that himselfe was the head of the Catholique Church, as by those who hold themselues the only Catholiques, hee is now made; yet may it not be denyed, or somuch as doubted, that the holy and blessed Apostles were all indowed with singular gifts and graces, aswell for knowledge and wisedome, as all kind of morall vertues, fitting for so high a cal∣ling; and that in their writings, they were the pen-men of God, inspired by the holy Ghost: but leauing them, let vs descend a little lower in the Church of Christ. As then the three first Centuries are commended for Pietie, Deuotion, & Martyrdome, so is the fourth for learned and fa∣mous Diuines. Habuit haec aetas si quae vnquam alia plurimos praestantes & illustres Doctores, say the Magdeburgians: This age if euer any abounded in excellent and famous Doctours, as namely Arnobius, Lactantius, Eu∣sebius, * 1.272 Athanasius, Hilarius, Victorinus, Basilius, Nazianzenus, Ambrosi∣us, Prudentius, Epiphanius, Theophilus, Hieronymus, Faustinus, Didymus, E∣phraim, Optatus, to which number, they might well haue added, (for that hee began to shew his worth in the same Centurie) that renowned pillar of trueth & hammer of heresies S. Augustine. These and the like great Diuines of those ages I much honour, & eorum nominibus sem∣per assurgo, I confesse I reuerence their very names; yet most certaine, it is they had all their slips and blemishes in matter of doctrine: But before this age, Tertullian, and Origen, and Cyprian, are specially bran∣ded for notorious errours, and Vincentius Li•…•…inensis giues this rare com∣mendation of the Fathers, assembled in the Councill of Nice, that they were tantae eruditionis, tantaeque doctrinae, of so profound learning and singular knowledge, vt propè omnes possent de dogmatibus disputare, that al∣most all of them could reason of matters of faith: Yet in those very * 1.273 times, was the Church so rent and torne in sunder with Capitall heresies, trenching vpon the very vitall parts and fundamentall principles of

Christian Religion, touching the sacred Trinitie, and incarnation of our blessed Saviour. vt illis temporibus ingeniosares fuit esse Christianum, so as * 1.274 in those times it was a matter of wit to be a Christian: Such were the ni∣cities, wherein their Teachers differed, and such their subtilties, they bound their schollers to maintaine.

But that which to mee seemeth most strange, is, that so many of them were infected with the errour of the Millenaries, that so many, spe∣cially of the Greeke Fathers, held that the Angells were created long be∣fore the creation of the visible world, that a number both of the Greeke and Latine maintained, that the soules of men departed this life, goe neither to heaven nor hell, till the resurrection of the bodie, but remai∣ned in certaine hidden receptacles they knew not whree, that Anti∣christ was to come of the tribe of Dan, that the sonnes of God, who in the sixth of Genesis, are said to haue fallen in loue with the daughters of men. were the blessed Angells: vpon which occasion, Pererius a learned Ie∣suite hath these memorable words, Pudet dicere quae de optimis Scriptori∣bus hoc loco dicturus sum: I euen blush to vtter those things which heere * 1.275 I am to speake of most excellent writers, they being not only false, but absurd and shamefull, vnworthy the wit & learning of so famous men, as also of the puritie and holynesse of the blessed Angells; yet truth in∣forceth me to speake, partly, least that should seeme probable to any man, by reason of the countenance of so graue Authours, which is no way to be approved; and partly, that from hence it may appeare how much the Church of Christ, from that time to this hath profited in the knowledge of holy Scriptures & divine mysteries: Nam multa quondam vel doctissimis viris, aut obscura & dubia, aut etiam incognita, nunc vel me∣diocriter eruditis perspicua indubitata, exploratèque percepta sunt: for many things anciently either obscure or doubtfull, or altogether vnknowne to the most learned among them, are now become euen to meane Clarkes cleere & certaine. And with him fully accords Andradius in * 1.276 his defence of the Tridentine Councill, God hath revealed many things to vs that they never saw. And Dominicus Bannes a famous schoole-man: It * 1.277 is not necessary, that by how much the more the Church is remote from the A∣postles times, by somuch there should be the lesse perfect knowledge of the myste∣ries of faith therein, because after the Apostles times, there were not the most learned men in the Church, which had dexterity in vnderstanding and expoun∣ding matters of faith Roffensis likewise, our Countrey-man strikes vpon the same string: It cannot be vnknowne to any, but that many things are more * 1.278 narrowly sifted & cleerely vnderstood by the helpes of latter wits, aswell in the Gospells, as other parts of the Scriptures, then formerly they haue beene; and lastly, to make vp the musicke full, Cardinall Caietan beares a part, Let * 1.279 no man thinke it strange, if sometimes wee bring a new sence of holy writ, diffe∣rent from the auncient Doctours, but let him diligently examine the Text & context, and if he find it to agree therewith, let him praise God, who hath not tyed the exposition of the sacred Scriptures, to the sences giuen by the auncient Doctours. These testimonies, I the rather vouch for that the Authours of them being professed Champions of the Romane Church, withall pro∣fesse themselues to bee the greatest friends to the ancient Fathers.

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SECT. 2. Of ensuing ages.

YEt not to conceale a truth, these were lightsome times in regard of those succeeding ages that followed after, when Divinity was wouen into distinctions, which like Cobwebbs were fine and cu∣rious in working, but not much vsefull. And in the meane time for the most part in the Scriptures and holy Languages there was so great igno∣rance, vt Graecè nosse suspectum fuerit, Hebraicè propè Haereticum, that, as witnesseth Espencaeus himselfe a Doctour of the Sorbon, to bee skilled in * 1.280 Greeke was suspitious, in the Hebrew almost haereticall, which suspition Rhemigius an Interpreter of S. Pauls Epistles, surely was not guilty of: for commenting vpon these words, à vobis diffamatus est sermo, hee tells vs, * 1.281 that diffamatus, was somewhat improperly put for divulgatus, S. Paul being not very sollicitous of the propriety of words: wherevpon Ludo∣vicus Vives demaunds, Quid facias principibus istis Scholarum qui nondum sciunt Paulum non Latinè, sed Graecè scripsisse: What shall we say to these * 1.282 Masters in Israel, who know not that S. Paul wrote not in Latine, but in Greeke. It appeares by the rescript of Pope Zacharie to Boniface a Ger∣man Bishop, that a Priest in those parts baptized in this forme, Baptizo te * 1.283 in nomine Patria, & Filia, & Spiritua sancta: And by Erasmus, that some Divines in his time would take vpon them to prooue, that Heretiques were to be put to death, because the Apostle saith, Haereticum hominem de∣vita, which it seemes they vnderstood as if he had said, de vita tolle. I haue somewhere read, that two Fryars disputing whether God made a∣ny more worlds then one, the one wisely alleadging that passage of the Gospell touching the ten Lepers which were cleansed, Annon decem facti sunt mundi, as if God had made tenne worlds, the other looking into the text, replies as wisely, with the words immediatly following, Sed vbi sunt novem? but what is become of the nine? so as from thence hee would prooue but one to be left. He that is disposed to make himselfe merry in this kinde; may finde in Henry Stevens his Apologie of Herodo∣tus, a number of like stuffe, I will only touch one or two of the choisest. Du Prat a Bishop and Chauncellour of France, hauing receiued a letter from Henry the eight King of England, to Francis the first of France, wherein among other things he wrote, mitto tibi duodecem Molossos, I send you twelue mastife dogs, the Chauncellour taking Molossos to sig∣nifie Mules, made a journey of purpose to the Court to begge them of the King; who wondring at such a present to be sent him from England, demaunded the sight of the letter, and smiling thereat, the Chauncellour finding himselfe to be deceiued, told him that hee mis∣tooke Molossos for Muletos, and so hoping to mend the matter, made it worse. Another tale he tels of a Parish Priest in Artois, who had his Parishioners in sute for not paving the Church, and that the charge thereof lay vpon them and not vpon him he would proue out of the 17 of the Prophet Ieremie, Paveant illi, non paveam ego. I remember Arch-Bishop

Parker somewhere in his Antiquitates Britannicae, makes relation of a French Bishop, who being to take his oath to the Archbishop of Canterburie, & finding the word Metropoliticae therein, being not able to pronounce it, he passed it ouer with Soit pour dict, let it be as spoken; & when they had most grossely broken Priscians head, being taken in the fact, their common defence was, those words of S. Gregorie, non debent verba coelestis Oraculi subesse regulis Donati, the wordes of the heavenly Oracles ought not to be subiect to the rules of Donatus.

But about 200 yeares since, together with the Arts, the languages like∣wise began to reuiue, in somuch as Hebrew & Greeke are now as commō as true Latine then was, & for the true sence of holy Scripture, neuer had the Church more judicious & faithfull Interpreters, then by the Diuine prouidence it hath injoyed these last 100 yeares: besides, the Ser∣mons of this latter age, specially in this land, haue doubtles bin more ex∣quisite & effectuall, then ordinarily they haue bin in any precedent age; insomuch, as it is obserued, that if there were a choice collection made of the most accurate, since the entrance of Queen Elizabeth, to these pre∣sent times, (leauing out the largenesse of applications therevpon) it would proue one of the rarest peeces that hath beene published since the Apostles times. Heerevnto might be added for practicall divinitie, the decisions of cases of conscience, which the Ancients did not handle professedly, but onely vpon the Bye, and the many singular treatises tending to deuotion, which I wish they were aswell practised as they are written. And no doubt but the great agitation of controuersies, which these latter times haue produced, hath not only sharpned the spirits of Diuines, but made the grounds of Christian religion to be better vnder∣stood. For, as S. Augustine speakes of the Fathers writings before Pela∣gius, ante exortum Pelagium securius loquebantur Patres, before the rising of Pelagius the Fathers spoke more securely: so may wee truely say, be∣fore Luther arose and awakened the world, Diuines spoke & wrote more loosely then since they haue done: The sparkes of trueth being forced out of contention, as the sparkes of fire arc out of the collision of the flint & steele.

To conclude this Section, touching Diuinitie, it is most true which alearned Diuine of our owne times & Church hath rightly obserued, * 1.284 that whosoeuer shall pervse the Church storie digested into Centuries or Annales, or cast but a glance of his eye vpon the Catalogues of writers, made by S. Hierome, Suidas, Photius, Gennadius, Abbas Tritemius, Illy∣ricus, Ball, & Bellarmine, shall finde the ages of the Church to resemble the starres of the skie: In some parts wee see many glorious and emi∣nent starres, in others few of any remarkeable greatnes, and in some none but blinkards and obscure ones: In like manner, in some ages of the Church, we may behold many worthy & glorious lights like stars of the first or second magnitude, in others few of any note or bright lustre, and in some none but obscure and vnknowne Authours, resem∣bling the least and obscurest starres in the skie. After wee haue passed the eight age of the Church, we fall into Cymerian darkenesse. Bellar∣mine cannot speake of the ninth age with patience. Seculo hoc nullum ex∣titit * 1.285

indoctius aut infoelicius, quo qui mathematicae aut Philosophiae operam dabat vulgo Magus putabatur: neuer was there any age more vnlearned or vnhappy then this, in which he that studied the Mathematikes or Philosophy was commonly held a Magician. Sabellicus is at a stand in admiring the palpable Egyptian darkenesse thereof: mirum est quanta * 1.286 omnium bonarum artium obliuio per id tempus mortalium animos obrepserit, vt ne in Pontificibus quidem vllis siue Principibus quicquam illuceret quod vi∣tam iuvare possit: A wonder it is, how strange a forgetfullnes of all good arts about this time crept vpon the mindes of men: so as neither in Pre∣lates nor Princes appeared any thing which might farther ciuilitie. Ge∣nebrard after a sort blesseth himselfe from it, Infoelix dicitur hoc seculum, * 1.287 exhaustum hominibus doctrina, & ingenio claris, sine etiam claris Principibus atque Pontificibus: This is called the vnhappie age, void of men renow∣ned either for wit or learning, as also without any famous, either Prin∣ces or Prelates: So great an alteration there is in the studies and en∣deavours of men in diverse ages, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, and then by Gods blessing for the better againe.

SECT. 3. The Lawyers of this last age, preferred before those of former times.

NExt Gods Lawes, those of the Empire seeme to challenge their place, howbeit with vs, hauing neither that reward nor imploy∣ment as they deserue, they haue lost both their ranke and digni∣tie, but in forraine parts where they are cherished and honoured, they maruellously flourish, in somuch as in some transmarine kingdomes their Lawyers are held, and for the most part vndoubtedly are, more sufficient Schollers then their Diuines; and within this last Centenarie, much more sufficient then the writers and professours of the same fa∣cultie in many precedent ages, aswell in that part which is professed in Schooles, as the practique expressed in judgements and pleadings. He that shall judiciously compare Baldus and Bartolus, Iason and Accursius, with Cuijacius, Alciatus, Ottomannus, Duarenus all french men, shall ea∣sily finde these latter, not only for their phrase more polite, & for their methode more exact, but for the marrow & true sence of the law more profound. I will instance onely in the two first. For Cuijacius, it is a memorable testimonie which is yeelded him by Massonius; Iacobus Cuijacius juris Romani radices tanta cura effossas in lucem protulit, vt caeteri ante eum ignorasse illas ipse solus post multos & quaesiuisse diligentius, & pe∣nitius invenisse videatur: Iames Cujace with so great industry digged vp and brought to light, the very rootes of the Imperiall Law, that both o∣thers before him seemed to be ignorant of them, and he alone after o∣thers to haue sought them more diligently, and discouered them more fully: But that of Pithaeus outuies this of Massonius, where in an Epitaph erected to him, he doubts not to stile him, Romani iuris à primis Condito∣ribus interpretem primum & vltimum, the first and the last interpreter of the Romane Law since the first founders thereof: adding withall, that

what cleere and natiue light soeuer is at all brought to that science, this present age hath deriued it from him, and to him posterity must owe it, which he hath well expressed in this Distich:

Cuijacij Themidisque vides commune sepulchrum, Conduntur simul hic quae periere simul. Cuias and Themis here lie in one common graue, They di'd together and one sepulchre they haue.

Wherevnto may be added the graue testimony which Arias Montanus giues Alciat.

Eloquio ius Romanum lucabat & arte Turba obscurarunt barbara legulei. Andreas prisco reddit sua iura nitori Consultosque facit doctius inde toqui.

The Ciuill Law with art and eloquence did shine, But barbarous pettifoggers did the same obscure In season Alciat came and did the Lawes refine, And taught the Lawyer thence to speake more pure.

Yet Cuijacius himselfe, whether out of judgement or modesty I cannot affirme, was content to yeeld the bucklers to Gouianus, touching whom Thuanus witnesseth that himselfe heard him thus protesting, Gouianum * 1.288 ex omnibus iuris Iustinianaei interpretibus, quotquot sunt vel fuere, vnum esse, cui, si quaeratur quis excellat, palma deferenda sit: that of all the Interpreters of the Lawes of Iustinian, which either are, or haue bin, if the question should bee, who amongst them most excelled, Gouianus was the onely man, to whom the price was of right to be adiudged. Now for the latter part, which is the practique, it may easily be euidenced to any who will be pleased to looke into it, that by the obseruations, experi∣ence, paines, and learning of the Lawyers of these latter ages, it is grown to much more exactnesse and perfection, then former ages had. Which appeares by the iudgements, decisions, arrests, and pleadings of the highest Courts of the greatest part of the Christian Nations, which are extant in great numbers, as the decisions of the seuerall Rotes of Italy at Rome, at Naples, at Florence, at Genoa, at Bononia, at Mantua, at Perusium, and the rest. The iudgements of the Imperiall chamber at Spire, which is the last ressort of the Germane Nation, and the arrests of the seuerall Courtes of Parliament in France, as Paris, Aix, Burdeaux, Gren•…•…ble, and the rest: to which may be added the pleadings of Monsieur Seruin, the french Kings aduocate, and others of that nature, which are all published and extant, partly in Latine, and partly in their owne languages, with that variety and learning as much exceedes the former ages.

SECT. 4. Ancient and moderne Physitians compared especially in the knowledge of Anatomy and Herbary, the two legges of that Science.

THE third great Profession is Physicke, in which besides the vn∣certaine and fabulous reports of Apollo and Esculapius, we read not of any excellent till Hippocrates, & after him being much de∣cayed, it was revived by Galen, vt sub eo rursum nata medicina videatur, so * 1.289 as it seemed vnder him to bee borne againe. Two speciall parts thereof are the knowledge of the body of man, and the knowledge of simples: touching the former, the opening and anatomizing of mens bodies. It was doubt∣lesse among the Ancients in very little vse, I meane the Aegyptians, the Hebrewes, the Graecians, the Romans, & the Primitiue Christians. First then I know the Aegyptians are by some said to haue beene this way most skilfull, but considering how excessiuely curious & ceremonious, or ra∣ther superstitious they were in preseruing their bodies intire & vnputri∣fied, I cōceiue their opening them to haue beene rather for the imbow∣elling & imbaulming, then the anatomizing of them: and for the Grae∣cians they could not well practise it, in as much as they vsually burnt their dead bodies, by the testimony not onely of Homer & Herodotus, (whose authorities yet in this case might passe as sufficient) but likewise of Thucidides & Plutarch, witnesses beyond all exception, whereof the latter in the 3 booke and 4 question of his Symposiaques giues vs to vn∣derstand, that their custome was with the bodies of ten men to burne one of an woman, because they supposed their flesh to be more vnctu∣ous, and thereby to helpe forward the burning of the rest more easily & speedily; & surely had Anatomy beene in vse among the Graecians, me thinkes Physitians & Anatomists should somewhere discouer it in the works of Hippocrates yet extant, which I presume cannot be showne, once I am sure, that when at the instance of the Abderites he came to visite Democritus, hee found him (as may bee seene in his Epistle to Damogetus) cutting vp seuerall beasts, who being by him demaunded the reason thereof, Democritus returnes him this answere, Haec animalia quae vides proptereà seco, non dei opera perosus, sed fellis, bilisque naturam dis∣quirens, these beasts which thou seestI cut vp, not because I hate the workes of God, but to search into the nature of gall & choller: now if hee feared lest the cutting vp of beasts might be censured as an ha∣ting of Gods workes, he must needes much more haue feared that cen∣sure, had he cut vp the bodies of men.

But among the Iewes it is evident, that this Art could not be in vse, for that their executed malefactours were put to death either by bur∣ning or stoning, (whom they buried vnder an heape of stones) or by crucifying them vpon a crosse, & for these they had expresse charge, Deut. 21. at the last verse, that they should no•…•… suffer them to hang all night vpon the tree, but in any wise must they bury them the very day they wer•…•… crucified: and besides it was most precisely injoyned them Number, 〈◊〉〈◊〉

11 that they might not so much as touch the dead body of any that was either executed, or died otherwise, & he that touched it was by the law of Moses so farre held vncleane, that if he presumed to enter into the ta∣bernacle before he was purified, he was to be cut off from Israel for defi∣ling it; nay, if in this case he but touched bread or pottage, or wine, or oyle, or any meate, he thereby made it vncleane, as appeares Aggai 2. 13.

Some more doubt seemes to be touching the ancient Romanes, but I thinke it may easily bee shewed, that from the Graecians they likewise tooke vp & practised the burning of dead bodies, the places which they commonly vsed to this purpose were by them called puticuli or culinae, & the pots or vessels in which they preserued the bones & ashes of the burnt bodies, Vrnae, whereof I haue seen one in M. Chambers his keeping at Bath: but all the difficultie seems to consist in this, when this custome began among them, and when it ceased, for the former it is commonly held, that it was not in vse among the Romans before Sylla the Dictator, who hauing himselfe cruelly tyrannized vpon the dead bodie of Ma∣rius, & fearing lest the same measure might be shewed to himselfe, com∣manded that his body instantly vpō his death should be burned, wheras Pli- 7. 54. only sayes, that he was thefirst of the Cornelian family that had his body burnt: & Tully 2 de legibus restrains it more narrowly, Primus è patritijs Cornelijs igni voluit cremari, he was the first of the Cornelian no∣bility that commanded it, and he that attentiuely reads the Roman story will easily finde, that this custome was practised among them long be∣fore Sylla, euen from the first foundation of Rome, so witnesseth Ovid in his 4 de Fastis, speaking of Remus the brother of Romulus.

Arsarosque artus vnxit. The limbes that now were to be burnt His brother did annoint.

And againe.

Vltima plorato subdita flamma rogo est, The last fire now was set vnto his hearse.

After this Numa being by sect a Pythagorean, forbade his owne body to be burnt, as witnesseth Plutarch in his life, which he needed not haue done had not the custome then beene vsuall, & Tullus Hostilius his suc∣cessour had not his body therefore burnt because he was stricken dead with lightning, for so was the Law After this againe Tully in his second de legibus telsvs, that the Law of the 12 Tables commaunded, Hominem mortuum in vrbe ne sepelito, neve vrito, let no dead body be buried or bur∣ned in the Citie, which (as he there addes) was for feare their buil∣dings might from thence take fire: now the Lawes of the 12 Tables were composed, as witnesseth Gellius 20. 1. in the 300 yeare after the foundation of the City, which was almost 400 yeares before Sylla; & if any desire further satisfaction in this point, I referre him to the learned and copious Annotations of Blasius Vigenerus in French vpon the first Decade of Livie, which Author himselfe hath excellently translated in∣to that language; among other examples produced by him to this pur∣pose, he makes it plaine ou•…•… of Livie lib. 8, that the body of the sonne of

Manlius the Consull, (who contrary to his fathers commaund fought out of his ranke & was therefore by a commaund from the same mouth put to death) was presently carried out of the campe and burned with all military pompe, and this he assignes to the yeare 412 by his compu∣tation aboue 270 yeares before the death of Sylla.

Now this practise of the Romans I haue the longer insisted vpon, partly for the checking of a common errour, holding that before Sylla the Romans burnt not their dead bodies, and partly to shew that many of those monstrous giantlike bodies, which aswell among the Romans as Graecians are said to haue beene digged vp, were vndoubtedly burnt, but chiefly that hereby it may appeare, that the noble and vsefull pra∣ctise of anatomizing mens bodies, was not in vse among them, neither indeed could it be, considering they held it vnlawfull, aspicere humana exta, as Pliny speakes in his proeme to his 28 booke, to looke vpon the entrals of mens bodies, and Dion in his 55 tels vs, that it was graunted to Tiberius to touch the body of Augustus, quod nefas alias erat, which was otherwise vnlawfull, and from hence it was that their Vespillones, Co∣riarij, Pollinctores, Libitinarij, and other officers of that kinde imployed a∣bout the washing, the annointing, the carrying foorth, the burning and providing things necessary about the dead, were not suffered to liue in the Citty, and the bodies themselues were burnt without the Citty, & few there were that went foorth of the citty gates to wait on the fune∣rals of their nearest and dearest friends: * 1.290

Now the Antiquity of this cvstome being cleared, a second doubt there is, when it ceased, manifest then it is that it continued in vse till the Antonins, and tben began it by degrees to be disvsed, Macrobius witnessing in the seuenth booke and seuenth chapter of his Saturnals, that in his time it was in a manner growne out of vse, yet certaine it is that the bodies of Pertinax and Severus fifty yeares after were both bur∣ned, as reporteth Dion of the one, and Herodian in his fourth book of the other, and neere about this time it was that Galen liued, so as I verily beleeue he neuer or very seldome opened the bodies of men, I know that Riolan and Laurentius haue both of them zealously defended him against the Neotericks, who charge him with much weaknesse and ig∣norance in this Art, but I cannot obserue that either of them hath pro∣duced so much as one cleere passage out of any part of his workes, to proue that he euer so much as once opened the body of a man, dogges indeed, & swine, & apes it appeares he opened, & once an Elephant, but for his vsuall opening of mens bodies, in my minde they bring no suffi∣cient proofes, which Laurentius himselfe well perceiuing, modestly concludes his answere to the first instance brought against Galen with a verisimile est, it is likely that he cut vp the bodies of men.

But let vs passe on from the Iewes and Gentiles, to the Primitiue Chri∣stians who were (as their workes shew) professed adversaries to this pra∣ctise. Tertullian in the fourth chapt. of his booke de anima, speaking of Herophilus, doubts whether he may call him medicum or lanium, a Phy∣sitian or a butcher, qui hominem odijt vt nosset saith he, who hated man∣kinde that he might know it, & S, Augustine de Civit. dei 22. 24. harpes

much vpon the same string, Etsi medicorum diligentia nonnulla Crudelis quos anatomicos appellant lani•…•…uit corpora mortuorum: howbeit the ouer∣diligent crueltie of some Physitians whom they call Anatomists hath butchered the bodies of the dead: And to like purpose is that of Boni∣face, the eigth extrauag. commun. lib. 3. tit. 6. cap. 1. where he seuerely threatens such with the thunderbold of excommunication irreuocable, but onely by the sea Apostolique, who exenterate dead bodies, and cut the flesh from the bones, mangling it into gobbets, quod non solum (saith hee) diuinae maiestatis conspectui abominabile plurimum redditur, sed etiam humanae considerationis obtutibus occurrit vehementius abhorrendum which is a practise abominable in the eyes both of God & men. Out of all which it appeares that this practise of anatomizing the dead bodies of men, so profitable to bring vs to the knowledge of our selues, and consequently of our maker, so necessarie to Physitians & Surgeans was neuer brought into the bodie of a perfect art, till this latter age. Nos multa quotidie prioribus seculis incognita obseruamus: wee obserue ma∣ny * 1.291 things vtterly vnknowne to former ages: And this last age in truth hath yeelded men singular in this art▪ Vesalius, Vassaeus, Varolius, Sylvi∣us, Fallopius, Piceolhominaeus, Columbus, Riolanus, Laurentius, who fol∣lowed Henry the fourth of France in his civill wars, and gained much experience by cutting vp the bodies of such as were slaine in the field, vt videatur haec Ars nunc summum perfectionis fastigium attigisse, they be his owne words, so as this Art now, & neuer before seemes to haue reached the very toppe of perfection. Neuer was it in any age so illu∣strated with liuely & exquisite pictures, so encouraged with stipends, so furnished with schooles, fitting instruments & all manner of helpes, and generally so honoured as it is at this day. And truely I haue often not a little wondred with my selfe, that an Vniversitie so famous in for∣raine parts as this of Oxford, was neuer to my knowledge provided of a publique Lecture in this kind, till now; as neither was it for a garden of simples, now in good forwardnes by the noble munificence of the He∣roicall Earle of Danbie, nor of a History Lecture, nor of an Arabique, though it were long since solemnly decreed in the Councill of Vienna, that this Vniversity, as likewise Paris, Bononia, Salamanca, & Rome (which were vndoubtedly then accounted the principall Vniversities in Chri∣stendome) should each of them haue maintained two professours in that language, as also in Chalde & Hebrew, Clementinarum, lib. 5. Tit. 1. cap. 1.

Now for the knowledge of Simples, the other legge, as it were, vpon which Physicke stands, as Theophraestus was in many things amended by Plynie, & Plynie by Dioscorides, so hath Dioscorides himselfe by the hap∣py travells of Ruellius, & Rouillius, & Leonardus Fuchsius, who in his E∣pistle to Ioachimus Marquis of Brandenburg, tels vs, that this part of Phy∣sicke was a while since so vtterly neglected & defaced, that, had not God raysed vp industrious and learned men to restore it, actum plane de Me∣dicina Herbaria fuisset, it had beene vtterly lost: But Hermolaus Barbarus was hee, who by translating Dioscorides out of Greeke into Latine, & by adding his Corrolarium therevnto touching the same subject, first reco∣uered the ancient lustre thereof. And since, by reason of the discoue∣rie

of many parts of the world vnknowne to the Ancients, many plants, gummes, drugges, & mineralls, are by Monaedus & others knowne to vs, which they neuer heard of.

SECT. 5. Of the profitable vse of extractions, and the Paracelsian Physicke, either wholy vnknowne to the Ancients, or little practised by them

TO the perfiting of the Anatomicall and reuiuing of the Botanicall art in this latter age; may be added a new kinde of physicke pro∣fessed by a new sect of Physitians, neuer heard of in the world be∣fore; and altogether differing from the Ancients, as in name, in tearmes of art, so likewise in rules, in matter, in methode & manner of proceeding, aswell for doctrine as practise▪ a founder it had (if wee may credit him∣selfe) descended of a noble and ancient familie among the Heluetians, the name which he giues himselfe Philippus, Theophrastus, Bombastus, ab Hoenhaim, or Paracelsus, by which name he is now commonly known; borne hee was in or about the yeare 1494, & died at Salisburge in Ger∣manie in the yeare 1541, being then but forty seaven; a man strangely composed, as Bullinger, & Gesner, and Operinus, a citizen of Basile (his bosome-friend & indiuiduall companion from some yeares) haue cha∣racterized him: without learning, without civilitie, without religion, being neuer heard to pray, a great hater of women, and yet an excessiue louer of wine, exceedingly vaineglorious in his wordes & writings, & yet sordide in his apparell, & base in the company hee willingly made choise of, which for the most part were coach-men and carters, or bores of the countrey, & with these would hee sit vp drinking all night, and (then seldome shifting himselfe) cast himselfe downe on a bed to sleepe, prodigall he was in his expenses, yet seldome wanted money, & sometimes hauing not a pennie in his purse ouer night, hee would draw forth handfulls of gold in the morning, which made men beleeue hee had indeed the art of transmutation of mettals, & that hee carried with him the philosophers stone in the pommell of his sword, which hee al∣wayes wore: he spent sometime in most of the Vniversities in Christen∣dome, consulting in matters of physicke with Doctours, Surgeans, keepers of bathes, wise women, Magitians, Alchimists, Monkes, and of all kind of people: And lastly, passing into Arabia, he there likewise spent tenne yeares more in the same studies, (if wee may credit Bickerus in Hermete rediuiuo) and so returning (as hee there speakes) loaden with the spoiles of the East; he brought to light in these parts of the world the vse of Hermeticall, Spagyricall, or Chymicall physicke, (as they tearme it.) So as where Galen mentions in his time but three sects of physitians, Emperi∣kes, Methodists, and Dogmatiques; we haue now a fourth that goe vnder the name of Chymiques, Hermetiques, or Paracelsiaus, & a branch of them (as I conceiue, is the order Roseae Crusis) who treading in the steppes of their master, haue changed Aristotles 3 principles of naturall bodies, matter, forme, and priuation into Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury; and from

the seuerall temper of these three, they affirme all sicknesses and health to arise. I will not in all things vndertake the defence of them, neither can I if I would; the trueth is, they magnifie themselnes too much, and ouervaluing themselues & their owne wits, & worth; they too much disesteeme the precepts & practise of the Ancients; yet it cannot be de∣nied, but by reason of their artificiall extractions, seperations, and prepa∣rations of their medicines; they haue had happy successe in the curing of some desperate diseases, which in former ages haue bin thought incu∣rable; and Paracelsus himselfe, euen by the acknowledgment of his ad∣uersaries, wrought wonders in the speedie healing of inveterate & feste∣red vlcers, for that hee was able by meere art to make Homunculos little men, or to raise the dead to life, or to prolong the life of a man to some thousands of yeares, (as he vainely boasteth of himselfe) is I confesse no part of my Creede. Well then, leauing their vanities to themselues, I doubt not but the most learned Physitians of this age who sticke most to Galen, (if they be not led with faction or fancie, but with iudgement, reason, & experience) will easily confesse at times a profitable vse of the Paracelsian extractions in their practise, as being lesse loathsome, & cum∣bersome, & withall more actiue & vigorous, more spiritfull & opera∣tiue; as on the other side it must be graunted, that being applied with∣out good aduise and moderation, they cannot but proue dangerous, by reason of their peircing & searching nature; so as the joyning of the Ga∣lenicall & Paracelsian Physicke together, making vse of thē both as occa∣sion serues, is by 1 1.292 Audernacus, 2 1.293 Sennertus, 3 1.294 Quercitan, & some others of best note, held the best and safest course. I cannot heere omit Quer∣citanes words to this purpose: Si Hiprocrates, vel Aristoteles, vel ipse etiam Galenus nunc reuiuisceret, obstupesceret certe tot ornamentis artem hanc adau∣ctam atque illustratam, tot novis inventis ditatam, tot mirificis operationibus confirmatam: If Hippocrates, or Aristotle•…•… or Galel himselfe were now a∣liue, they would wonder to see this art inlarged & beautified with so many ornaments, enriched with so many new inventions, confirmed by so many strange practises & experiments. Wherevpon he infers, ve∣rissimum itaque est quod sapientum quidam medicorum nostri seculi ait, creu∣runt cum ingenijs & ipsae scientiae artesque magna & incredibilia incrementa sumpserunt: It is most true, which one of the wisest Physitians of our age affirmes, together with good wits the sciences sprang vp, and the Arts are incrediblely inproued.

CAP. 8. Touching History, Poetry, and the Art Military.

SECT. 1. That the modernes farre exceeded the Ancients in Chronologie and Cosmographie the two eyes of History.

AS the two legges of Physicke are Anatomie and Herbarie, so the two eyes of History are Chronologie and Topographie, computation of times, and description of places: in both which it is certaine, that the Modernes haue so farre exceeded the Ancients, as these seeme to haue seene nothing in a manner in regard of them. First then for Chro∣nologie, how dimsighted are the Ancients in the computation of times, how miserably doe they wander vp and downe in the darke, and knock their heads each against other, and how excellently haue latter Writers, and specially Ioseph Scaliger in that most elaborate worke of his de emendati∣one Temporum, cleered those mists, and chaced away that darknesse. It is to this purpose a notable speech of Causabons, Scientia temporum quanto∣perè * 1.295 fuerit post renatas liter as exculta, quàm admiranda acceperit incrementa, asinus est qui ignorat inter literatos, malignus & beneficiorū dei ingratus aesti∣mator qui dissimulat, stupenda enim sunt quae summi viri in nostra praesertim Gallia & Germania praestiterunt. He that knows not how much the know∣ledge of times hath beene laboured since the new birth of good letters, among the learned, can be held but an asse, and he who dissembles it, envious and an ingratefull vnder-valuer of Gods blessings towards this age: admirable things they are which in this kinde men of note haue atchieued, specially in our France and Germany. The learned workes in Chronologie of Funccius, Buntingius, Bucholcerus, Helvicus, Calvisius, Gene∣brardus, Gordonus, Salianus, Torniellus, and our English Lively (of whose skill in Chronologie the same Causabon makes honorable mention cont. Bar. Exer. 16. n. 13. their workes, I say, published to the world, make his words good, and fully testifie what he there affirmes▪

Now for Topographie, the other eye of History, Strabo often, and that deservedly censures Eratostenes, Hipparchus, Polybius, Possidonius, the gra∣vest Authors among the Ancients, and Ptolomie sharply takes vp Mari∣nus Tyrius, though otherwise a diligent Writer: yet both Strabo & Ptolo∣my themselues, if they be compared with our latter Geographers, Hon∣dius, Mercator, Thevet, Merula, Ortelius, Maginus, how defectiue, how imperfect will they be found. The ignorance of former ages in this point was so grosse, that what time Pope Clement the sixth, as we read in Robert of Auesbury, had elected Lewis of Spaine to be Prince of the For∣tunate Ilands, & for to aide & assist him, mustered Souldiers in France & * 1.296 Italy, our Countrey-men were verily perswaded that he was chosen Prince of Brittaine, as one (sayth he) of the Fortunate Ilands: yea and our very Ligier Embassadors there with the Pope, were so deepely settled in

this opinion, that forthwith they with-drew themselues from Rome, & hasted with all speed into England, there to certifie their Countreymen and friends of the matter: Yet that which to me seemeth more strange, is that those two learned Clearkes Lactantius and Augustine, should with that earnestnesse deny the being of any Antipodes. Their words are worth the noting, thereby to see their confidence and eagernesse in the maintenance of so evident a mistake. Quid illi, saith Lactantius, qui esse * 1.297 contrarios vestigijs nostris Antipodes putant, num aliquid loquuntur? aut est quisquam tam ineptus qui credat esse homines quorum vestigia sunt superiora quam capita? aut ibi quae apud nos jacent inversa pendere? fruges & arbores deorsum versus crescere, pluvias, & nives, & grandinem sursum versus cadere in terram? & miratur aliquis hortos pensiles inter septem mira narrari, quam Philosophi & agros, & maria, & vrbes, & montes pensiles faciunt? What shall we thinke of them who giue out there are Antipodes, that walke opposite to vs, doe they speake any thing to the purpose, or is there any so blockish as to beleeue there are men whose feet are higher then their heads, or that those things there hang, which with vs lye on the ground? that the plants and trees spring downeward, that the snow and raine, and haile fall vpward vpon the earth? & need any man mar∣vell that hanging gardens are counted in the number of the seuen won∣ders of the world, since the Philosophers haue made both fields and seas, cities and mountaines all hanging. Lactantius is herein seconded by Augustine: Quod verò & Antipodes esse fabulantur, id est homines à con∣traria * 1.298 parte terrae vbi sol oritur quandò occidit nobis, adversa pedibus nostris calcare vestigia, nullâ ratione credendum est. Their fable of the Antipodes, that is, men dwelling in the opposite part of the earth where the Sunne rises when it sets to vs, hauing their feete opposite to ours, is a matter al∣together incredible, & by no meanes to be beleeued. But Zachary Bi∣shop of Rome, and Boniface Bishop of Mentz, led (as it seemes) by the au∣thority of these Fathers, went farther herein, condemning one Virgilius * 1.299 a Bishop of Saltzburg as an Heretique onely for holding that there were Antipodes. But time and travell haue now discovered the contrary so e∣vidently, that we may aswell doubt the being of a Sun in the firmament as the experimentall cleerenes of this truth.

And as evident it is now likewise found to bee by certaine experi∣ence, that vnder the middle or burning Zone) which the Ancients by means of excessiue heate, held altogether inhabitable) there is as health∣full, temperate, and pleasant dwelling as any-where in the world, as ap∣peares by the relations of Benzo, Acosta, and others. Besides the Anci∣ents (as it seemes) were altogether ignorant of the new World disco∣vered in the yeare 1492 by Columbus, now knowne by the name of A∣merica or the West-Indies, whatsoeuer from Platoes Atlantis, or Salomons Ophir be slightly pretended to the contrary: yet I confesse I haue often wondred not a little at Senecaes bold prepheticall spirit touching that Discovery. * 1.300

Venient annis Secula seris, Quibus Oceanus Vincula rerum Laxet, & ingens Pateat tellus,

Typhisque novos Detegat orbes, Nec sit terris Vltima Thule,

In latter times an age shall rise Wherein the Ocean shall the bands Of things enlarge: there shall likewise New Worlds appeare, and mighty Lands Typhis discouer, then Thule The Worlds end shall no longer be.

This prophesie wee haue found fulfilled not onely in the discovery of those vast Regions before vnknowne, but in opening by meanes of Na∣vigation, and the helpe of the Compasse euery creeke and corner of the habitable World, worth the knowing: so that now it hath, & neuer be∣fore had it thorow lights made in it. Nay particular countreyes haue bin of late yeares most exactly described by several Writers. The Nether∣lands by Lewis Guicciardine, Great Brittaine by the renowned Camden, & the like by others. Neither haue there wanted some who haue descen∣ded to Provinces and Shires, Master Carew to the survay of Cornewall, & Master Lambert to the perambulation of Kent, and Master Burton to the description of Lecestershire: yea particular Cities, Rome, Venice, Paris, Lon∣don, & the Houses of great Princes haue found their particular Maps & delineations so fully & perfectly expressed, that a man who neuer saw them but in representation, may now speake as particularly of them, as if he had beene borne and bred in them.

SECT. 2. That the defect of the Ancients in Naturall & Ecclesiasticall history is iustly corrected by the moderns, & in Civill history the moderns are matched with the Ancients: And of the knowledge of weights and measures, and the true valuation of coinès recove∣red and restored by latter Writers, which thorow the neglect of former ages had well nigh perished.

THe bodie of History branches it selfe into History Naturall, Ec∣clesistasticall, & Civill. For the first it is most certaine, that euen Aristotle himselfe and Pliay were ignorant of many things, and wrote many not onely vncertaine, but now convinced of manifest er∣rour and absurdity, Conradus Gesnerus hath laboured this part of Histo∣ry most industriously: but others who haue vndertaken severall peeces of this burden more exactly, Some of birds, de animalibus insectis, crusta∣ceis, testaceis, Zoophytis, as Aldrouandinus. Some of fishes, as Rondoletius, some of Bathes as Baccius, and Blanthellus, some of Mettals, as Georgius Agricola, and some of plants and vegetables, as Mathiolus, Ruellius, Fuchi∣us, to whom may be added the commendable paines of Gerrard in our owne language. And some others againe purposely of some one parti∣cular kinde of beasts, or birdes, or fishes, or plants, or bathes, or met∣tals.

History Ecclesiasticall hath likewise beene shamefully abused by thru∣sting

into it many fabulous narrations of the liues of Saints and deaths of Martyrs. Baronius, and before him the Magdeburgians, haue both very diligently, though with different purposes travelled heerein; in somuch that now betweene them both, we haue made vp a compleate history of the Church, which former ages neuer saw.

Civill history indeed the Graecians & Romans excelled in, but with much partiality on both sides, & many speches they haue put into the mouths of Commanders & others meerely fained, & besides they lay in darkenes & obscurity, for the space of many hūdred yeares together, till this lat∣ter age, in which they were not only drawn into the light, but aemulated & equalled. Cornelius Tacitus somuch magnified, S^r Henry Savill sharply censures for his stile, taking occasion frō those words in the life of Agri cola, bonum virum facile crederes, magnum libenter: at te (saith hee) Corneli Tacite bonum historicum facile credimus, bonum oratorem crederemus libēter, * 1.301 were it not for this & some other sayings of the like making: Fuit illi viro, sayth Tacitus (iudging of Seneca as we may of him) ingenium amae∣num, * 1.302 & temporis illius auribus accommodatum: How that age was eared long or round I cannot define, but sure I am it yeelded a kinde of so∣phisticate eloquence & riming harmonie of words, where-vnder was small matter in sense; when there seemed to be most in appearance, and diverse instances he brings out of Tacitus; and as S^r Henry Savill taxes him for his phrase, so doth Strada for his history, in that not content * 1.303 with bare relations he adds of his owne coniectures, animadversions, in∣terpretations of actions, sometimes savouring of detraction, sometimes of flatterie, and for the most part, as it best serued his turne, to make way for the displaying of his wit in his politicall obseruations and precepts, as he shewes by diverse passages taken out of him, accusing him likewise of irreligion: and with Strada heerein accords Lipsius, who calls Tacitus * 1.304 immemorem, secumque pugnantem, vnmindfull of what he had said, and crossing himselfe: Bonamicus, sectantem veri speciem relicta veritate, a fol∣lower * 1.305 of the shadow of trueth, leauing the truth it selfe: Caesar Baronius who convinces him of envie, & lying: Tom. 1. Annal. lib. 21. cap. 24 as likewise d•…•…th Marsilius Ficinus de Christiana religione, cap. 35. and Dion nepos in vita probi Imperatoris. And to passe by others, Tertullian, who * 1.306 liued in the next age after him, stiles him mendaciorum loquacissimum, a lowd lyar; and in trueth his vaine and fabulous narration touching the Iewes, in the last booke of his historie, together with his virulency a∣gainst the Christians, annal. 15. 10. shew him to haue bin none other, whatsoeuer he pretend to the contrary: But I leaue him and descend to moderne Historiographers.

S^r Walter Rawleigh, for so farre as he hath gone in the history of the world, is matchable with the best of the Ancients. Francis Guicciardine, Comines, Thuanus not inferiour to any: and the particular histories of most countreys, haue receiued, as it were, new light & fresh colours in this latter age. The Spanish from Mariana, & Turquet; the French from Peter Mathew, & Du Serres, the high Dutch from Paulus Iouius & Sleidan the low Dutch from Meteranus, the Scottish from Buchanan, the Irish from Stannihurst, the Sicilian from Fazelus, the Turkish from Knoles, and for

our owne storie, it lay dispersed in the narrations of seuerall writers, & those for the most part Monkes, till Polidor Virgill collected it into one bodie: but in my iudgement S^r Henry Savill and M^r Camden haue better deserued, by presenting vs the Authours themselues in two seuerall vo∣lumes: Some peeces heereof wee haue very well done in our owne lan∣guage, as the three Norman Kings, & Henry the fourth by D^r Hayward: Edward the fifth, or rather Richard the 3 by S^r Thomas More; Henry the seventh by my Lord of S. Albanes; the life of Q. Elizabeth by M. Cam∣den since translated. Neither haue there beene wanting such as haue written, and that very commendablely the liues of particular men, e∣minent for vertue, or learning, or place. Onuphrius & Cicarella come no∣thing short of Anastasius and Platina in the liues of the Popes. The liues of the Emperours, Petrus Mexias hath well performed. Serrarius of the Archbishops of Mentz, and Mathew Parker Archbishop of Canterbu∣ry of his predecessours. Barlet hath with good approbation published the life of Scanderbegge, and Catena of Pius Quintus, Doctour Humphreys of Bishop Iewell, and Sir George Paule of Archbishop Whitegift: and it were to be wished that this kinde of history were more in vse, aswell for the honour of the deceased, as the incitement of the liuing; in which kinde Theuet, and Paulus Iouius, and the right Reverend father in God Doctour Godwin, now Bishop of Hereford, deserue both praise and imitation.

An appendix of historie is the right valuation of weights, and measures, and coynes, which though they were doubtles knowen to the Ancients who vsed them; yet since for many ages past, the knowledge of them hath much growne out of vse, and was in a manner lost; which bred a marveilous great mistake and confusion in historie, vntill by the worthy paines of Budaeus, Gesnerus, Alciatus, Glarianus, Agricola, Villalpandus, Mariana, and our learned Countrey-man Edward Brierwood, late profes∣sour of Astronomie in Gresham Colledge, it was againe regained and restored: And if any desire to see all that haue written of this subiect, I referre him to Gaspar Wolphius his treatise, intituled Virorum illustrium alphabetica enumeratio qui de ponderibus ac mensurarum doctrina scripse∣runt.

SECT. 3. A Comparison betweene the Greeke & Latine, as also be∣tweene the ancienter & latter Latine Poets, and those that haue written in other languages, and that poetry as other arts hath fallen and risen againe in this latter age.

TOuching Poetrie for the inventiue part thereof, Sir Phillip Syd∣neyes Arcadia is in my judgement nothing inferiour to the choi∣sest peece among the Ancients, & for the Poets themselues it is true of the most ancient, both among the Greekes & Latines which Bar∣tas hath of Marrot.

Thee Marrot I esteeme euen as an old Colosse All soyled, broken, ouergrowen with mosse,

Worne picture, Tombe defac'd, not for fine worke I see, But in deuoute regard of their antiquity.

Volcatius Sedigitus hauing named nine of the Romane Comedians, adds in * 1.307 the close of all.

—Decimum addo antiquitatis causà Ennium. Ennius as tenth I add Because he ancient'st is.

This controuersie being, it seemes on foote in Horace his time, (as in all ages it hath bin) he wittily demaunds this question.

Si meliora dies vt vina poemata reddat, Scire velim pretium chartis quotus arroget annus. If as time betters wine it betters Poems too, Tell me how many yeares doth giue them price enough.

And in the end concludes,

Qui veteres ita miratur laudatque Poetas Vt nihil anteferat, nihil illis comparet, errat. Who prayses & admires old Poets much doth erre, If nought he dare compare, or nought to them preferre.

Hercules Ciophanus witnesseth, that Planudes well knowing that Grecce had not a Poeme so abounding with delight & beauty, as Ovids Meta∣morphosis translated it into that language. And generally the Lattine Poets, who came after the Greeke in time, are notwithstanding by Scali∣ger * 1.308 preferred before them; And by name Virgill before Homer, Virgili∣us artem ab eo rudem acceptam lectioris naturae studijs at{que} iudicio ad sum∣mum extulit fastigium perfectionis: Virgill receiuing from him an vnpo∣lisht art by the studie & judgement or a choiser temper, raysed it to the vtmost point of perfection. And againe, Equidem vnum illum censeo sci∣uisse quid esset non ineptire, vnum esse inter omnes vnicum, singulis autem in∣star * 1.309 omnium. Truely I thinke hee onely knew what it was not to trifle, that he was the only one amongst them all, and insteed of all beeing compared with any one. To which I know not what can bee added, except that of Macrobius exceed it: Haec est Maronis gloria vt nullius laudi∣bus crescat, nullius vituperatione minuatur: This is Virgills commendati∣on, that a man can neither adde to him by praysing him, nor take from him by dispraysing him: Yet if I should match him with Ariosto or Tor∣quato Tasso in Italian, Bartas in French, or Spencer in English, I thinke I should not much wrong htm. Of the latter of which, our great Anti∣quary in the life of Q. Elizabeth anno 1598, giues this testimony, Musis adeo arridentibus natus, vt omnes Anglicos superioris aeui poetas (ne Chau∣cero quidem conciue excepto) superaret, he was borne so farre in favour of the Muses, that he excelled all the English Poets of former ages, not ex∣cepting Chaucer himselfe his fellow citizen. And among the Latine Po∣ets, as they began their infancie or child-hood in Liuius Andronicus, En∣nius, * 1.310 Accius, Pacuvius, Neuius, Plautus; so they came to their full strength in Terence, Catullus, Tibullus, Ouid, Horace, Virgill, plus est exacti iudicij in vna Comaedia Terēttana quam in Plautinis omnibus, there is more * 1.311 exa•…•… judgement in one of Terence his Comedies, then in all those of Pla•…•…s. They declined in Martiall, Iuvenall, Silius, Statius: grew old

in Serenus, Sidonius, Severinus, Ausonius; but sprang vp and reflourished againe in Palingenius, Aonius, Politianus, Cerratus, Vida, Pontanus, Sana∣zarus, Fracastorius; Quos cum quovis veterum compares, multis & non igno∣bilibus anteponas, saith the same Scaliger, whom a man may safely com∣pare with any of the Ancients, and preferre before many of them, and those not of the lowest ranke. Crinitus his censure of the Latin Poets differs not much from this of Scaligers: and Famianus Strada hath so * 1.312 well both censured & imitated the chiefe of them, that hee comes no∣thing short of the Authors themselues, which is the more to bee won∣dred at; in that therein he is to act so different parts, & to apply himself to so different vaines; nay his imitation of Claudian in expressing a con∣troversie between a Lutist and a Nightingale for quicknes and life, may without prejudice be equalled with any thing that Antiquity can boast of in that kinde.

It is true that (Mantuan excepted) few of the Monkes or Fryars, (who were counted the onely Schollers for a while) excelled in Poetry, for the most part they only delighted in rhyming, without either sharp∣nesse of wit, or neatnesse of stile, and sometimes they wanted all three: witnesse those poore verses vpon Venerable Bede.

Presbyter hic Beda requiescit carne sepultus, Dona Christe animam in coelis gaudere per aevum, Daque illi Sophiae d'ebriari fonte cui jam Suspiravit ovans intentus semper amore.

Presbyter Bedes corse rests buried in this graue; Grant Christ his soule in Heauen eternall joyes may haue: Giue him of to be drunke the well of wisedome, to Which with such joy and loue he striu'd and breathed so.

Which verses William of Malmesburie, though himselfe a Monke, bit∣terly * 1.313 censures, as being shamefull ones, vnworthy the monument of so worthy a man: Neither can the shame, saith he, be lessned by any kinde of excuse, that in the Monasterie, which whiles he liued, flourished as a Schoole of good letters, not a man could be found to commend his me∣mory to posterity, but in so barren & slender a stile: Yet were these tol∣lerable verses in regard of those which passed with applause in succee∣ding ages, the famous King Ethelbert had this Epitaph set vpon him.

Rex Ethelbertus hic clauditur in poliandro, Fana pians certus Christo meat absque Meandro.

King Ethelbert lyeth here Clos'd in this Polyander, For building Churches sure he goes To CHRIST without Maeander.

Gervasius de Blois, son to King Stephen, and Abbot of Westminster, was there buried with this,

De Regum genere pater hic Gervasius ecce Est & defunctus, mors rapit omne genus. Even father Gervase borne of Kings race, Loe is dead, thus death all sorts doth deface.

Vpon the Great Seale of Edward the Confessor was this verse ing•…•…en,

Sigillum Eaduuardi, Anglorum Basilei.

But I most pity the mishap of Francis Petrarch a man of singular learning & himselfe an excellent Poet as those times afforded, that his bones could finde no better an Epitaph then this at Arqua in Italy.

Frigida Francisci lapis hic tegit ossa Petrarchae Suscipe virgo parens animam, sate virg•…•…ne parce Fessa{que} jam terris coeli requiesc•…•…t in 〈◊〉〈◊〉▪

This stone doth couer the cold bones of •…•…anc. Petrarch, Thou Virgin Mother take his soule, thou Christ pardon grant, Now weary of the earth he rests in Heauens Arke.

But when together with the regeneration of other kindes of learning Poetrie likewise grew in request, among an infinite number which ex∣celled in this kinde, I will onely instance in two, Ronsard & Buchanan: of the former of which Pasquier hath written this singular Epigram.

Seu tibi numeri Maroniani, * 1.314 Seu placent Veneres Catulli•…•…, Sive tu lepidum velis Petrarcham, Siue Pindaricos modos referre, Ronsardus numeros Maronianos, Ronsardus Veneres Catullianas, Neonon Italicum refert Petrarcham, Neonon Pindari•…•…um refert leporem. Quin & tam benè Pinda•…•… •…•…mulatur, Quin & tam variè expr•…•…mit Petrarcham, Atque Virgilium, & meum Catullum Hunc ipsum vt magis aemulentur illi: Rursus tam graviter refert Maronem, Vt nullus putet hunc Catullianum. Rursus tam lepidè refert Catullum, Vt nullus putet hunc Maronianum, Et cùm sit Maro totus & Catullus, Totus Pindarus, & Petrarcha totus, Ronsardus tamen est sibi perennis, Quod si nunc redivivus extet vnus Catullus, Maro, Pindarus, Petrarcha, Et quotquot veteres fuere vates, Ronsardum nequeant simul referre Vnus qui reliquos refert Poetas.

Whether thee Maro's number please, Or elegant Catullus vaine, Or Petrarchs Thuscan gracefulnesse, Or Theban Pindars lofty straine: Ronsard doth Maro's rimes expresse; And elegant Catullus vaine, And Petrarchs Thuscan gracefulnesse, And Theban Pindars lofty straine. He so expresseth Pindars stile,

So doth Catullus emulate, Virgil and Petrarch, that the while They all seeme him to imitate. Graue Maro he resembles so, None would him thinke Catullian: So elegant Catullus too; None would him thinke Maronian, Though all Catullus, all Virgill, All Pindar he and Petrarch be, Yet the same Ronsard is he still. Maro, Catullus might we see, Pindar or Petrarch liue againe, And all th'old Poets more or lesse All joyntly hit not Ronsards vaine, Who onely doth them all expresse.

To which we may adde Pithaeus his Epitaph vpon the same Ronsard.

Summe poetarum quos prisca & nostra tulerunt Quos{que} ferent Galli•…•… posthuma saecla tuis: Parce nec ista tibi veluti data justa putato Sed tanquam summis manibus inferias.

Greatest of Poets whom old or present times, Or future to thy French shall ere bring forth, Pardon, these are not rights fitting thy worth. But to thy great ghost like some sprinkling rimes.

Of the latter Ioseph Scaliger giues this testimonie,

Namque ad supremum perducta poetica culmen In te stat, nec quo progrediatur habet: Bomani imperij fuit olim Scotia limes, Romani eloquij-Scotia limes erit.

Vnto the highest pitch hast thou advanced Poetrie, Rais'd to the height in thee it stands, and higher cannot flie. Scotland sometime the limit was of Roman Empirie, By thee of Roman eloquence Scotland the bound shall be.

SECT. 4. In military matters the Romans exceeded the Graecians, and haue themselues beene matched, if not surpassed in latter ages, in weapons, in fortifications, in stratagems, but specially in sea-fights.

THough Mars and the Muses haue little affinity, and seldome lodge together, yet will I not feare to joyne the Art Military next to Poetrie. And though the knowledge hereof belong not to my Profession, yet I dare say, it will not be gainsaid, but as A∣lexander herein exceeded his Predecessours, so did Iulius Caesar him: & * 1.315 generally the Romans the Graecians; yet a worthy Knight and expert Captaine himselfe demaunding the question, whether was the better Souldier, the Graecian or Roman, makes answere the Englishman. And

truly I thinke, he who well considers what noble acts Edward the third, the blacke Prince his son, and Henry the fifth performed in France, and vpon what tearmes & conditions, with what numbers, and against what enimies, will easily beleeue, that he spake not somuch out of af∣fection as judgement: The Grecian built his glory and erected his tri∣umphs of victorie & trophies of honour, vpon the delicacie of the Per∣sian and nakednes of the Indian, and the Romane for the most part, vpon the diuision & rudenesse of poore barbarous nations; but the English his; vpon the ruines of a stout warlike, & every way accomplished Nation: And for Caesar himselfe, if I should parallell him with Charlemaigne, Hnnniades, Tamerlane, Castriot, Ziska, or the great Henry of France, I thinke I should not disparage him. Of which latter Pythaeus, comparing him with the great Alexander, hath composed his Epigram.

Cui palma vestrum deferatur bellica Certavit orbis, resque stetit anceps diu, Sed mors secundum; Henrice, te litem dedit Fe•…•…itque primum & vltimum simul ducem.

Which of you twaine the warlike palme should weare Hath the world stroue, and long bin at a pause, But death O Harry gaue to thee the cause Both first & last of captaines name to beare.

The armour & weapons now vsed in the warres, aswell for offence as defence, are nothing inferiour to the Ancient, nay many of them are doubtles more commodious, & some much more terrible: what chil∣dish weapons were the long-bow & crosse-bow, if we regard annoyance of the enimie, in comparison of the Gunne & great Ordinance: and yet nothing so many are now slaine in the warres as then: so as the present are both of more readie dispatch, and for the most part in conclusion of the warre lesse bloodie. I am not ignorant that discourses haue beene written by souldiers on both sides, some preferring the bow before the gunne, others the gunne before the bow, but the latter haue beene by the most judicious preferred before the former, and time & experience haue found their judgement true.

But for the matter of Fortification, there is no question, but this age exceedes any that hath gone before it, as far as we can trace the prints and footsteps of Antiquity. It being now brought into Art, the profes∣sours whereof we name Ingeners, a word vnknowne to our Ancestours, at least in that sence: But the Italians are they who in this Art haue shewed themselues most skilfull, aswell in the precepts as practise there∣of, and haue carried away the Bell from all other Nations, as may appeare both by their bookes and workes.

And for Stratagems of warre, whether we take them in their projects or effects, I conceiue those of latter ages to be nothing inferiour to those of auncient times; howsoeuer Policaenus & Iulius Frontinus in their seuerall bookes of that subiect be pleased to admire them: What a blunt invention was that of the Trojane horse, in comparison of the sur∣prise of Amiens by the Spaniard; or of Breda by the states of the vnited Provinces, in the Netherlands; or the disordering of the Spanish fleate, by

Sir Francis Drake in 88: But that recorded by Sir Walter Rawleigh in the fourth booke of his first part of the History of the world, and acted in * 1.316 Queen Maries time, is in my judgement matchable to any that euer yet I heard or read of. He thus relates it: The Iland of Sarke joyning to Garnesay, and of that gouernment, was surprised by the French, & could neuer haue beene recouered againe by strong hand, hauing corne and cattell enough vpon the place, to feede so many men as would serue to defend it; and being every way so vnaccessable, as it might bee held a∣gainst the great Turke; yet by the industry of a Gentleman of the Ne∣therlands, it was in this sort regained: He anchored in the roade with one ship of small burden, & pretending the death of his Merchant, be∣sought the French, being some thirty in number, that they might burie their Merchant in hallowed ground, & in the Chappell of that Isle; of∣fering a present to the French of such commodities as they had aboard: Whereto (with condition that they should not come a shore with any weapon, no not somuch as with a knife) the French men yeelded: Then did the Flemings put a coffin into their boate, not filled with a dead carkasse, but with swords, Targets, and Harquebushes. The French re∣ceiued them at their landing, & searching every of them so narrowly, as they could not hide a penknife, gaue them leaue to draw their coffin vp the rocks with great difficultie; some part of the French tooke the Flemish boate and rowed aboard the shippe to fetch the commodities promised, & what else they pleased; but being entred, they were taken and bound. The Flemings on the land, when they had carried their coffin into the Chappell, shut the doore to them, and taking their wea∣pons out of the coffin, set vpon the French: they runne to the cliffe and crie to their company aboard the Fleming to come to succour, but fin∣ding the boate charged with Flemings, yeelded themselues and the place.

Lastly, for Sea-fight, this age vndoubtedly surpasseth the Ancient, theirs being but boyes play in comparison of ours. What poore things were their Gallies to our ships, their pikes and stone-bowes & slings, to our Canon & musket-shot; how vntowardly the managing of their ves∣sels, in regard of that skill, which latter ages haue found out & practi∣sed: And heerein I dare match our owne Nation (if perchaunce the Hollander haue not gotten the start of vs) with any in the world: only it were to be wished, that some worthy pen would vndertake the redu∣cing of these kindes of fights into an Art, as many haue done the land∣seruice, by setting downe rules and precepts for it, gathered out of ob∣seruation: Sir Richard Hawkins hath done somewhat in this kinde, but brokenly and glancingly, intending chiefely a discourse of his owne voyages: Sir Walter Rawleigh tels vs in his history of the world, that himselfe had entred vpon such a worke, at the commaund of Prince * 1.317 Henry, but vpon his death put it by: The intendment was noble, and the writer doubtles very able; so as it were to be wished, that those peeces & fragments which he left behind him, touching that subiect, were sought vp & brought to light, that they might serue, if not for sufficient directions in matter of practise; yet for patterns & delineati∣ons

to such as would farther advance & perfect so worthy a businesse; there being no one thing (as I conceiue) which can be more impor∣tant for the state, or more concerne the safety and wellfare of this I∣land.

CAP. 9. Touching Grammar, Rhetorique, Logicke, the Mathema∣tiques, Philosop, by Architecture, the Arts of Painting and Navigation.

SEC. 1. Touching Grammar, Rhetorique, and Logicke.

BVt leauing these considerations to Souldiers, let vs returne to our owne Element, taking a view of the liberall sciences, among which Grammar deseruedly challenges the first ranke, as being indeede the key that opens the doore to the rest. This latter age hath heerein ex∣celled so farre, that all the great learned Schollers, who haue of late ri∣sen, specially if they adhered to the reformed Churches, haue beene by the Fryers, & such like people, in a kind of scorne tearmed Grammari∣ans: But these Grammarians are they, who by the helpe of Phylologie, & the languages haue discouered so many forgeries & supposititious wri∣tings, now by all acknowledged so to be, which before passed as cur∣rant, aswell in the workes of the Fathers of the Church, as prophane Au∣thours. These are they, who haue presented vs with so many exact Translations out of Greeke & Hebrew into Latine, and againe out of Latine into other languages. And howsoeuer Albericus Gentilis, & some o∣thers haue written in defence of the Latinity of that translation of the Bible, which goes vnder the name of the Vulgar; yet can it not be de∣nyed, but it is justly accused of much incongruity & barbarisme, which by latter Translations haue beene reformed. These are they, who haue vindicated infinite Authours from a number of foule corruptions, which by tract of time had crept vpon them, thorow the ignorance or negligence of Transcribers or Printers or both: So that they haue herein in a manner restored the Authours to themselues, making them speake in their owne words & sence; and besides by annotations, animadver∣sions, commentaries & expositions, by the search & helpe of coynes, old Epitaphs, inscriptions, & such like remainders of Antiquity, haue further added a marveilous great light vnto them.

In the next place, Rhetorique presents it selfe, which in trueth was brought to the height amongst the Graecians & Romans, specially whiles their states remained popular: But in the generall declination & decay of Arts which followed after, this likewise was well neere extingui∣shed, that little life of it which remained, being reserued onely in the predicancie of Postillers, or the patheticall sermons of Fryers, till Sadole∣tus, Bembus, Muretus, & others reuiued & reduced it to its auncient lustre.

Logicke indeed is it, wherein we are thought to be most defectiue in

regard of former ages; and it is true, that the Schoole-men had set their stocke, the vtmost of their endeavours vpon this part of learning, their whole life being in a manner little else but a perpetuall wrangling and altercation, & that many times rather for victory & ostentation of wit, then a sober & serious search of truth: so as their entrance being vaine, their end was likewise fruitlesse. What huge volumes haue they com∣piled of the Predicables & Predicaments? as if in them consisted the very spirit & soule of Logicke; whereas in truth they are rather an Appendix or preparatiue vnto it, then part of it. By which meanes they kept men so long in the porch, that they entred not into the house till it was more then time to goe out of it. Latter ages finding this intollerable incon∣venience haue well compacted the body of this Art into a lesser com∣passe, (yet so as Aristotles Text is not to be neglected) and to this body haue they not improperly added the doctrine of Methods as a necessary limbe thereof: whereas we doe not find that anciently, it was so held either by the Founders or principall Masters of this science, or at least∣wise they haue left vs no sufficient Rules and precepts touching this most vsefull part. Euen Hooker himselfe (though otherwise no friend to Ramystry) acknowledgeth that it is of marvellous quicke dispatch, * 1.318 shewing them that haue it as much almost in three dayes, as if it dwelt three score yeares with them: and againe, that the mind of man is thereby restrained, which through curiositie, doth many times with perill wade farther in the search of truth then were convenient. And for Raymundus Lullius (a man it seemes of a strong braine) some great wits are of opinion, that by his ars breuis greater matters may in the sci∣ences be more speedily effected, then by any helpes of the ancients that went before him.

SECT. 2. Touching Astronomie and Geometrie, as also the Physicks and Metaphysicks.

FOr the Mathematiques, Regio-Montanus might in Ramus his iudge∣ment safely enough compare with the best of the Ancients: No∣riberga * 1.319 tum Regiomontano fruebatur, Mathematici inde & studij & operis gloriam tantam adepta, vt Tarentum Archyta, Syracusae Archimedi Bizantium Proclo, Alexandria Ctesybio non justius quam Noriberga Regio-Montano gloriari possit: Then did Norinberg injoy Regio-Montanus, and from thence purchased so great honour both of the study & practice of the Mathematiques, that Tarentum could not more justly glory in Archy∣tas, nor Syracuse in Archimedes, nor Bizantium in Proclus, nor Alexandria in Ctesybius, then might Norinberg in Regio-Montanus. I will onely touch the two most noble parts thereof, Astronomy & Geometry. It was the opinion of the greatest part of the Ancients, not only Grecians, Egyptians, Arabians, & Hebrewes, but many Doctours of the Christian Church, as appeares by Espencaeus in his Treatise de Coelorum animatione, that the Heavens, or at least the stars were liuing bodies, informed with quicke∣ning soules. It was likewise the opinion of Origen, & Chrysostome, & his

Master Eusebius Emissenus, that the stars were not fixed in the Heauens, as nailes in a Cart wheele, or knots in a peece of timber, but moued in it as fishes in the Sea, or birdes in the Aire. Nay Philastrius goes so farre, as to condemne the opinion of their fixednesse for an heresie: * 1.320 Multi scriptores Ecclesiastici coeli rotunditatem non modo negârunt, sed eti∣am sacris literis adversari existimârunt, saith Pererius in his second booke and third question vpon Genesis; many of the Ecclesiasticall Writers not onely denyed the sphaericall or circular figure of the Heauens, but were of opinion that it crossed the holy Scriptures. S. Augustine himselfe in diverse places seemes to make a doubt of it; but Chrysostome in his Homilies vpon the epistle to the Hebrewes dare challenge any that should defend it, & herein is hee followed by Theodoret and Theophilact. But these fancies are now so generally cryed downe, that to reviue them would be counted no lesse then folly, and to defend them absurdity. In how many things are Aratus & Eudoxus corrected by Ptolomy, & Ptolomy himself by Regiomontanus, Alphonsus, Purbachius, Copernicus: & they again by Clavius, Tycho-Braye, Galilaeus, Kepler, and others. It was the errour of Aristotle; that via lactea was a meteor, & not only of Aristotle, but al∣most all before him that there were but eight Celestiall Spheares; after this Timocaris about 330 yeares before Christ found out nine, but about the yeare of Christ 1250, Alphonsus discovered ten, and the receiued opini∣on now is, that there are eleuen, the highest of all being held immoveable, the seat of Angels & blessed spirits. And thus we see how Truth is the daughter of Time, how one day teacheth another, and one night certi∣fieth another; which is likewise verified in the admirable invention of composing the Ephemerides, vnknowne to Ptolomy & the Ancients, who for want of the vse of it were forced by Tables to make their supputa∣tions in a most toylesome manner, who was the first inventor thereof I am not certaine, saith Cardan de rerum varietate lib. 11. cap. 59: but Pur∣bachius was the first who seemes to haue brought it to light, after whom Regiomontanus inlarged it, but Zelandinus and others to haue perfected it, ita vt jam nihil desiderari posse videatur, nothing seemes to bee wan∣ting to it.

The like may be said of Geometry, I will instance onely in one demon∣stration, which is the Quadrature of a Circle. This Aristotle in diverse places calls scibile but not scitum, a thing that might be knowne, but as then not knowne, in asmuch as the meanes of finding it out, though much laboured, yet was it in his time vnknowne among the Ancients: Antiphon, Bryse, Hippocrates, Euclide, Archimede, Apollonius, Porus travel∣led long & earnestly in the discovery hereof, but Buteo in a book writ∣ten of purpose, hath accurately discovered their errours herein. And Pancirollus in his nova reperta tels vs, that annis abhinc plus minus triginta * 1.321 Ars ista fuit inventa, quae mirabile quoddam secretum in se continet: about thirty yeares since was that Art found out, which containes in it won∣derfull secrets; & to shew that it is indeed found out, he there makes de∣monstration of it, approoued & farther explicated by Salmuth, who hath both translated him, & written learned commentaries vpon him. Not∣withstanding Ioseph Scaliger in an Epistle of his to the States of the Vnited * 1.322

Provinces, challenge this Invention to himselfe: Nos tandem in conspe∣ctum post tot secula sistimus, wee at last after so many ages haue brought it to light, & exposed it to publique view.

I will close vp this consideration of the Arts and Sciences with a view of Philosophie, which braunches it selfe into the Metaphysickes, Physicks, E∣thickes, & Politickes: the two latter of which I will reserue to the next Booke, contenting my self at this time with the 2 former: First then for the Metaphysicks that part of it which consists in the knowledge of imma∣teriall substances was vndoubtedly neither so well studied nor vnder∣stood of the ancient Philosophers, as now it is of Christian Divines. They knew little what belonged to the attributes of God, which of them were communicable to the Creature, which incommunicable, so as they might truly graue that inscription vpon their Altars, Ignoto Deo, to the vnknown God; Their ignorance was likewise no lesse touching the nature & of∣fice of Angels, the mansion or function of separated soules, nay not a few of the most ancient Christian Divines held the Angels corporeal, though invisible substances, and that the reasonable soule of man was deriued from his Parents, whereas the contrary opinions are now commonly held both more divine and more reasonable.

The Physicks or Naturall Philosophy is it which the ancients, & special∣ly the Graecians, and among them Aristotle hath with singular commen∣dation much inriched, yet can it not be denyed, but he is by the experi∣ence of latter ages found very defectiue in the historicall part thereof: And for the speculatiue, both himselfe & his followers seeme to referre it rather to profession & disputation, matter of wit and credit, then vse & practice: It is therefore a noble and worthy endeavour of my Lord of S. Albanes so to mixe and temper practice & speculation together, that they may march hand in hand, and mutually embrace and assist each other. Speculation by precepts and infallible conclusions preparing a way to Practice, and Practice againe perfecting Speculation. Now among those practicall or actiue parts of Naturall Philosophie which latter ages haue produced-Pancirollus names Alchymie for a chiefe one: And * 1.323 it is true that we finde little mention thereof in Antiquity, not suspected of forgery: But for mine own part I much doubt whether any such ex∣periment be yet really found or no: And if it be whether the operation of it be not more dangerous & difficult then the effect arising from it, is or can be advantagious. But of this am I well assured, that as he who digged in his Vineyard for gold missed it, but by opening the rootes of the Vines thereby, found their fruite the next yeare more worth vnto him then gold: so whiles men haue laboured by transmutation of met∣tals from one species to another to make gold, they haue fallen vpon the distillations of waters, extractions of oyles, and such like rare experi∣ments vnknowne to the Ancients, which are vndoubtedly more preti∣ous for the vse of man then all the gold of both the Indies.

SECT. 3. Of the Arts of Painting and Architecture revived in this latter age.

HErevnto may be added the Arts of Horsmanship, and Herauldry, Agriculture, & Architecture, Painting and Navigation, all which haue beene not a little both inlarged and perfected in these latter ages: yet with this difference, that some of them together with the o∣ther Arts decayed, and againe revived with greater perfection: Others were neuer in their perfection till now: I will instance onely in the three latter. To begin then with the Art of painting. When the Romans arrived to the height of their Empire, they equalled, nay excelled the Graecians heerein, who before were esteemed the best in the world.

Venimus ad summum fortunae, pingimus-atque * 1.324 Psallimus, & luctamur Achivis doctius vnctis. To Fortunes height we are aspir'd, we paint, we sing, The skilfull Greekes we passe in wrestling.

Quintilian in the last chapter saue one of his last booke, shewes how much this Art was accounted of among the Ancients, and how by de∣grees it grew to perfection, and so doth Pliny in his 35 booke, & 9 & 10 chapters. Some inventing colours, others shadowes & landskips, and o∣thers rules of proportion, but in tract of time, it so farre againe decay∣ed, that Aeneas Sylvius who liued about 200 yeares since, tels vs in one Epistle, videmus picturas ducentorum annorum nulla prorsus arte politas, We * 1.325 see the pictures madu 200 years since polished with no kind of art: And in another immediatly following, Si ducentorum, trecentorumve annorum, aut sculpturas intueberis, aut picturas, invenies non hominum, sed monstrorum portentor umque facies, If we looke vpon the sculptures or pictures made about 200 or 300 yeares since, we shall finde faces rather of monsters then men. And to like purpose is that of Durerus himselfe an excellent * 1.326 Painter, Penitus deperdita vltra mille annos latuit, ac tandem ante ducentos hos annos per Italos rursum in lucem prodijt: This Art lay hid in obscurity as it had bin vtterly lost aboue a thousand years; til at length about 200 yeares agoe it againe brake forth into light by helpe of the Italian wits. The most famous Italians in this Art were Michael Angelo, & Raphael Vrbin. Some of our owne Nation, as namely Master Heliard an Exeter man borne, & many Netherlanders, whose names & Icones are published by Hondius, haue herein deserued good commendation: But Durerus of Norinberg is indeed the Man, who aswell for practice as precepts in this Art, is by the most judicious most commended. He was commonly sti∣led whiles he liued, the Apelles of Germany, nay Erasmus in his Dialogue of the right pronunciation of the Greeke & Latin Tongues, seemes to preferre him before Apelles: Equidem arbitror (saith he) si nunc viveret Apelles, vt erat ingenuus & candidus, Alberto nostro cessurum huius palmae gloriam. Truly I am of opinion, that did Apelles now liue, being as hee was of an ingenuous disposition, hee would in this Art yeeld the Buck∣lers to our Albertus. But for singular rules in this kinde, Lomatius may

not be forgotten, whom M^r Richard Haydocke hath translated out of Ita∣lian into English, & dedicated to the euer honoured Sir Thomas Bodley.

Such is the affinitie betwixt the arts of painting & building, by reason they both stand chiefely vpon proportions & iust dimentions, that Vassari, who was both himselfe, hath likewise written the liues of the most fa∣mous & best skilled in both. Vitruvius who liued but in the reigne of Augustus, is the only man in a manner among the Ancients, either in Greeke or Latine, who is renowned for the rules of Architecture: Among those of latter times, Sir Henry Wotton in his preface to his Elements of Architecture, reputes Leon Baptista Alberti the Florentine, the first lear∣ned Architect beyond the Alpes: To whom Angelus Politianus in an E∣pistle of his to Laurentius Medices, Duke of Florence, yeelds this testimo∣ny. Ita perscrutatus antiquitatis vestigia est, vt veterem Architectandi ratio∣nem & deprehenderit & in exemplum reuocauerit: He so narrowly traced the prints & foote-steps of Antiquity, that he both fully comprehended the manner of the ancient building & reduced it into patterne; and in the end concludes touching his worth as Salust of Carthage, Tacere satius puto quam pauca dicere, I hold it safer to be silent then to speake in few wordes now as the most sufficient moderne Architects in most things fol∣low the ancients, so in many things they varie from thē, & that vpō just reason. The ancient Grecians & the Romanes by their example in their buildings abroad where the seate was free, did almost religiously scitu∣ate the front of their houses towards the South: But from this the mo∣derne Italians doe justly varie. Againe, the Ancients did determine the longitude of all roomes which were longer then broad by the double of the latitude, and the height by the halfe of the breadth & length sum∣med * 1.327 together: But when the roome was precisely square, they made the heigth halfe as much more as the latitude: from which dimensions, the moderne Architects haue likewise taken leaue to vary and that vpon good discretion.

The publique buildings of the Grecians and Romans were doubtles very artificiall & magnificent, and so were likewise many of those of the ancient Christians, I meane their Churches, Monasteries, Castles, brid∣ges, and the like: But the houses of priuate men were in the memorie of our Fathers, for the most part very homely, till the Princes of Italy began to bestow more art & cost vpon them. Cosmo Medices Duke of Florence being one of the first who set vpon this worke; the Italians were soone followed by the French after the victorious returne of Charles the eight from Naples, and they againe by vs euer since the vni∣ting of the two roses in King Henry the seaventh, who at his comming to the Crowne, had spent the greatest part of his time in France: Before his entrance we had indeede some huge vast buildings; but his house at Richmond & his Chappell at Westminster (except perchaunce some would preferre Kings College Chappell in Cambridge began by Henry the sixth) were the two first neate curious peeces that this kingdome had seene: The latter of which may well enough compare, not onely with any peece this day in Christendome, but for the bignes of it, with any thing in antiquity of that kinde. But for a stately dainty house, that of

None-such excells, which King Henry the eight, saith our great Antiqua∣rie, * 1.328 built with so great sumptuousnes, and rare workemanshippe, that it aspireth to the very toppe of ostentation for shew: So as a man may thinke, that all the skill of Architecture is in this one peece bestowed and heaped vp together. So many statues & liuely images there are in euery place: so many wonders of absolute workemanshippe & workes seeming to contend with Romane Antiquities, that most worthily it may haue and maintaine still this name that it hath of None-Such, ac∣cording as Leland hath written of it.

Huic quia non habeant similem laudare Britanni Saepe solent; nullique parem cognomine dicunt.

The Brittaines oft were wont to praise this place for that through all

The Realme they cannot shew the like, & None-Such they it call.

So as what Sebastianus Serlius a skilfull Architect spake of the Pantheon at Rome, may not vnfitly be applied to this pile of building, that it is v∣nicum exemplar consummatae Architecturae, the only patterne we haue of perfect Architecture; whether we cast our eyes abroad into the coun∣trey vpon the houses of Noblemen & Gentlemen, or vpon the Colle∣ges & Schooles in the Vniversities, or vpon the dwellings of the Mer∣chant & Artificer in the towne & citty, specially in the Metropolis; wee shall generally find a wonderfull great change in building within these last hundred yeares, this latter as much exceeding the former, as Au∣gustus his marble Rome did that of bricke. And if we looke into forraine parts, the Escuriall in Spaine & the Gallery in France, will yeeld to no∣thing Antiquity can boast of in that kinde: Yet if we may beleeue re∣ports, the King of Chinaes pallaces, at least-wise for riches & state, put downe any thing which is to be seene in Europe at this day.

Now I know the Pyramides raysed by the Egyptian Kings, & the O∣beliskes by the Grecian & Romane Emperours are much spoken of, as being vnparaleld by any thing in these latter ages, and they were indeede insanae substructiones, as Pliny speakes, mad kinde of buildings, only for shew & ostentation, nothing at all for vse: yet that Obeliske, which in the yeare 1586 was raised by the direction of Dominicus Fontana, & at the charge of Sixtus Quintus (which Thuanus tearmes, inter opera eius primum & praecipuum, the first & the principall among all the great * 1.329 workes which he did) may well be counted little inferiour to the chief∣est of them. It was one solide stone 107 foote in heigth, weighing 956148 pounds: It was traslated from the Vatican, where it lay in an obscure & durtie place, almost couered ouer with filth, and erected in a more eminent place neere S. Peters Church. There were disbursed about this worke (as Fontana himselfe hath written) 37975 Crownes; there being imployed therein from the beginning of May to the middle of September 900 men and 70 horses.

SECT. 4. Of the art of Navigation, brought to perfection in this latter age, and vpon that occasion of the situation of Ophir.

THe last, but the chiefe & most vsefull of the three Arts which I last named is Navigation, in which those of former ages were so ignorant, that they ingraued Non vltra vpon Hercules pillars, that the Nations about Pontus thought no sea in the world like their owne, and doubted whether there were any other sea but that only; whereof it came that Pontus was a word vsed for the sea in generall. That the E∣gyptians, held otherwise a wittie people, vsed to coast the shores of the red Sea vpon Raffs, diuised by King Erythrus: And in the time of the Romanes, the Brittaines our Ancestours had a kind of boate (with which they crost the Seas) made of small twigs and couered with leather, of which Lucan the Poet.

Primum cana salix madefacto vimine paruam Texitur in puppim, caesoque induta juvenco Vectoris patiens, tumidum superenatat amnem. Sic Venetus stagnante pado fuscque Britannus Nauigat Oceano:

The moistned osyre of the hoarie willow Is woouen first into a little boate Then cloath'd in bullocks hide vpon the billow Of a proud riuer lightly doth it floate Vnder the water-man. So on the Lakes of ouer-swelling Poe Sayles the Venetian, & the Brittaines so On the out-spread Ocean.

And to like purpose is that of Festus Auienus:

Navigiaiunctis semper aptant pellibus, Corioque vastum saepe percurrunt salum. Of stitched hides they all their vessels had, And oft thorow sea in leather voyage made.

But that which is more obseruable is, that the Iewes were so vnskilfull in this art, as they commonly called the Mediterranean sea the great sea; not being in those times, as it seemes, much acquainted with the O∣cean: * 1.330 And though the Phoenicians & Carthaginians, the Tyrians & Sydo∣nians, are much renowned in histories for great Navigatours; yet it is thought by the learned that those voyages they performed, was onely by coasting and not by crossing the Ocean.

—Haec aetas quod fata negarunt Antiquis totum potuit sulcare carinis Id pelagi immensum quod circuit Amphitrite. This age what fates to former times deni'd Through the vast Ocean now in ships doth ride

Sayth Fracastorius, and Acosta, Equidem navigationem altissimo Oceano commissam neque apud Veteres lego, neque ab illis aliter Oceanum navigatum * 1.331

puto quam à nostris Mediterraneum: That the Ancients adventured them∣selues into the maine Ocean, neither doe I reade it in any of their Wri∣ters, nor doe I beleeue they otherwise sayled ouer the Ocean, then wee doe now ouer the Mediterranean Sea. And it should seeme they vnder∣tooke not their longest voyages without Oares, which the Scripture im∣plies in that vndertaken by Ionas, where the Marriners vpon the rising * 1.332 of a violent tempest were constrained to vse their Oares.

I am not ignorant, that as Vatablus and Arias Montanus would make Ophir, whither Salomon sent his Nauie (by reason of the affinitie of the * 1.333 name) to be Peru in the West Indies, so Pineda spends no lesse then twelue leaues in the largest folio, to proue Tharsis, to which it is likewise com∣monly * 1.334 thought to haue gone to be Tartessus in Spaine: But for the first of these opinions, Cornelius Wytfliet, Secretary of state in the Counsell of Brabrant, in his booke intituled Descriptionis Ptolomaicae argumentum, or Occidentis notitia, hath strongly confuted it; and so hath Pererius in his third booke vpon Genesis treating of Hauilah. But Sir Walter Rawleigh is confident that himselfe hath so knockt it in the head, as it were idle to make any more question thereof:

That this question, saith he, bee a subiect of no farther dispute. It is very true that there is no Region in the world of that name, (meaning Peru) sure I am that at least Ame∣rica hath none, no not any citty, village, or mountaine so named: But when Francis Pizarro first discouered the lands to the South of Panama, arriuing in that Region which Attabaliba commaunded, (a Prince of Magnificence, riches and dominion, inferiour to none) some of the Spaniards vtterly ignorant of that language, demaunding by signes as they could, and pointing with their hand athwart the riuer or brooke that ran by, the Indians answered Peru, which was either the name of that brooke or of water in generall: The Spaniards therevpon concei∣uing that the people had rightly vnderstood them, set it downe in the iournall of their enterprise, and in the first description made and sent ouer to Charles the Emperour, all that West part of America to the South of Pannama had the name of Peru, which hath continued euer since, as diverse Spaniards in the Indies assured me. Which also A∣costa the Iesuite in his naturall & morall History of the Indies confir∣meth. And whereas Montanus also findeth that a part of the Indies called Iucatan tooke the name of Iocktan, who as he supposeth, naui∣gated from the vtmost East of India to America: It is most true that Iu∣catan is nothing else in the language of that countrey, but, What is that, or What say you? For when the Spaniards asked the name of that place, no man conceiuing their meaning, one of the Saluages answered Iuca∣tan, which is, What aske you? or what say you.

Thus farre Sir Walter Raw∣leigh, yeelding the reason of his dissent from Montanus & Vatablus, hol∣ding that Ophir, to which Salomons Navy sayled for gold, was Peru in the West Indies, Wherevnto may be added out of Salmuth in his Com∣mentary vpon Pancirollus, that in all likelihood, this land of Ophir tooke * 1.335 its name from Ophir the sonne of Ioctan, (as the land of Hauilah likewise did from another sonne of his, mentioned in the same place) who as * 1.336 Iosephus witnesseth, fixed his seate in the E•…•…st, placing the countrey of * 1.337

Ophir about Chersonesus, with whom accords Gaspar Varrerius in his Commentaries purposely written de Ophyra Regione, where he plainely proues Ophir to be that Aurea Chersonesus in the East Indies, which is now called Malaca Moreouer one of the principall commodities which Solomons fleete brought home was yvory, of which in the West Indies there is none to be found, it being knowne to want Elephants: And last∣ly out of the Text it appeares▪ that Salomon prepared his Navy for a voyage into the East, inasmuch as his ships set forth at Ezion-Geber bor∣dering * 1.338 vpon the Red sea, & thither as to the Rendevouz came the Tyri∣ans & Sydonians, Hirams men to joyne with them: which had beene a most indirect course, had they intended their voyage toward the West.

Now for Pineda his making of Tharshis; to bee Tartessus in his owne Countrey of Spaine, though herein he follow Goropius Becanus, yet in the judgment I suppose of most men, recitasse est refutasse, the very recitall * 1.339 of it, is refutation sufficient. For if I should demaund Pineda where those Spanish mines are now to be seene, from whence Salomons shippes brought so much treasure, he must tell me, that either they are dryed vp, or transported to the Indies, from whence in fleetes they are yearely brought back into Spaine, as Sarrarius sports with him, in nov•…•…m orbem translata magnis classibus revehuntur: So as had not Spaine it selfe an O∣phir or Tarshis to furnish it with gold, the poverty of it would doubtlesse soone appeere to the world. Besides Pineda heerein dissents from Acosta his owne countryman & brother of the same societie, who thinkes that by Tarshis the Hebrewes indefinitely vnderstand some remote, strange, and * 1.340 rich place, as we, saith he, doe by the Indies. And if we should say, that Sa∣lomons Tarshis by a little chaunge of letters was Paules Tarsus a famous citty in Silicia (which seemes likewise to haue its name from Tarsis the * 1.341 2 son of Iavan) we therein should I thinke, shoot neerer the mark then * 1.342 Pineda: but I must confesse for mine own priuate judgment, I rather in∣cline to their opinion who by Tarshis vnderstand none other then the Sea. The Israelites & Phenicians, because they knew no other Sea then the Mediterranean in the beginning, & that the people of Tarshis had the greatest shippes, and were the first Navigators in those parts with such vessels, they were therefore called Men of the Sea, & the word Tharshis vsed often for the Sea. Thus S. Hierome in his commentaries on Daniel, * 1.343 Ionas fugere cupiebat non in Thars•…•… Siliciae, sed absolutè in pelagus. Ionas de∣sired to flye not to Tars•…•…s in Silic•…•…a but to the Sea. But Iunius and Treme∣lius goe farther, translating Tharshis by Oceanus, thus: Nam classis Oceani * 1.344 pro Rege cum classe Chir•…•… erat, semel ternis annis veniebat classis ex Oceà∣no; afferens aurum & argentum &c. which we thus render in our last En∣glish Translation: For the King had at Sea a navy of Tharshis with the navy of Hiram▪ once-in-three yeares came the navy of Hiram, bringing gold and sil∣ver. And from this opinion, that by Tarshis is or may be vnderstood the sea, the learned Drusius in his sacred observations dissents not; onely hee affirmes that not Tharshis, but Iam is the commo•…•… •…•…ame for the sea, and * 1.345 that not in Syriack as S. Hierome would haue it, but in Hebrew. Whereas then it is said or vnderstood, that the shippes of Salomon went euery

three yeares to Tharshis, if by Tharshis we vnderstand the Sea, the phrase is not improper or strange at all: for we vse it ordinarily wheresoeuer we navigate, namely, that the Kings shippes are gone to the Sea or retur∣ned from the Sea, by which it appeares, (not to touch their opinion who deceiued by the Chalde Paraphrast, by Tharshis vnderstand Carthage) that the voyage of Salomons Navy was neither to Peru in the West Indies, n•…•…r Tartessus in Spaine, but to Ophir in the East Indies, which being per∣formed by coasting, needed perchaunce more time, but lesse skill in na∣vigation.

The perfection then of this Art seemes by Gods providence to haue beene reserued to these latter times, of which Pedro de Medina, & Bap∣tista Ramusio haue giuen excellent precepts. But the Art it selfe hath bin happily practised by the Portugals, the Spanyards, the Hollanders, & our owne Nation, whose voyages and discoveries, Master Hackluit hath col∣lected & reported in three several volumes, lately inlarged & perfected by Master Purchas, and it were to be wished aswell for the honour of the English name, as the benefite that might thereby redound to other Nations, that his collections and relations had beene written in Latin, or that some learned pen would be pleased to turne them into that Lan∣guage. Among many other famous in this kinde, the noble spirited Drake may not be forgotten, who, God being his Guide, wit, skill, valour and fortune his attendants, was the next after Magellanus that sayled round about the world, wherevpon one wrote these verses vnto him.

Drake peragrati novit quem terminus orbis * 1.346 Quemque semel mundi vidit vterque polus: Si taceant homines facient Te sydera notum Sol nescit comitis immemor esse sui.

Sir Drake whom well the worlds end knew, Which thou didst compasse round: And whom both Poles of Heau'n once saw, Which North and South doe bound. The starres aboue will make thee knowne If men here silent were: The Sun himselfe cannot forget His fellow traveller.

And for the better breeding, continuance, and increase of such expert Pilots amongst vs, it would doubtlesse bee a good & profitable worke, (according to Master Hakcluits honest motion in his Epistle Dedicatory to the Lord Admirall, then being) if any who hath the meanes had like∣wise the minde to giue allowance for the reading of a Lecture of Navi∣gation in London, in imitation of the late Emperour Charles the fift, who wisely considering the rawnesse of his Seamen; and the manifold ship∣wracks which they sustained in passing & repassing betweene Spain and the West Indies, established not only a Pilot Maior for the examination of such as were to tak•…•… charge of shippes in that voyage, but also foun∣ded a Lecture for the Art of Navigation, which to this day is read in the Contractation house at Sivill. The Readers of which Lecture haue not

only carefully taught and instructed the Spanish Marriners by word of mouth, but haue also published sundry exact & worthy Treatises con∣cerning Marine Causes, for the direction & incouragement of posterity: and namely these three, Alonzo de Chauez, Hieronymo de Chauez, & Rodo∣rigo Zamerano, & to this purpose it is a commendable work of Master Hues, who for the instruction of Navigators in the principles of Geome∣try & Astronomy, & thereby for the improuement & advancement of the Art of Navigation, hath written & twice published in two seuerall edi∣tions a learned Treatise of the Celestiall & terrestriall Globes, and their vse, which for the better vse of such as are ignorant of the Latin tongue, and desirous to learne, I could wish were translated into our owne Lan∣guage.

CAP. 10. Touching diverse artificiall workes and vsefull inventions, at leastwise matchable with those of the ancients, namely & chiefly the invention of Printing, Gunnes, and the Sea-Card or Mariners Compasse.

SECT. 1. Of some rare inventions and artificiall workes of this latter age, comparable both for vse and skill to the best of the Ancients.

AS the Arts & Sciences haue all of them in these latter ages either beene reviued from decay or reduced to vse, or brought forward to perfection: so many secrets of Nature & rare conclusions haue beene found out & imparted to the World by Albertus Magnus, Levinus Lemnius, Fernelius, Fracastorius, Baptista Porta, Cornelius Agrippa, Cardanus, Trithemius, Delrio, and others, and many singular artificiall inventions, for the vse, ease, delight, or ornament of mankinde, as a number of Mechanicall, Mathematicall, & Musicall Instruments, Chimneyes, stirrups, paper, specta∣cles, Porcellan, perspectiue glasses, fining of sugars, hand-mils, gloues, hats, bands, watches, besides diverse excellent workes in stuffs, in silkes, in lin∣nens, in hangings, in carpets, and the like, particularly set downe by Poli∣dore Virgill de Inventoribus Rerum, and Pancirollus in his Nova-reperta, & Cardanus in his 17 booke de artibus, artificiosisque rebus, to whom not∣withstanding much more might easily be added, For as truth is the daughter of time, so are vsefull Inventions too, as rightly Manilius, lib. 1.

Sed cùm long a dies acuit mortalia corda Et labor ingenium miseris dedit, & sua quen{que} Advigilare sibi jussit fortuna premendo, Seducta in varias certârunt pectora curas, Et quodcunque sag•…•…x tentando repperit •…•…sus, In commune bonum commentum laeta dedere.

But when that tract of time had whet mens wits, And industry had moulded them, by fits Fortune pressing each man to endeavour To free himselfe from miserie, together They bend their minds to search out sundry things And what is found by observation sage, They cheerefully impart from age to age.

I will onely specifie some of the rarest artificiall workes of this latter age, comparable for the workemanship with the best of the ancient.

Peter Ramus tels vs of a wooden Eagle, & an iron flie made by Regiomon∣tanus * 1.347 a famous Mathematician of Norinberg, whereof the first (in imita∣tion and emulation of Architas his doue) flew forth of the citty aloft in the aire, met the Emperour a good way off comming towards it, & ha∣uing * 1.348 saluted him, returned againe, waiting on him to the citty gates. The second at a feast whereto he had invited his familiar friends, flew forth of his hands, & taking a round, returned thither again to the great astonishment of the beholders: Both which the divine pen of the noble Du Bartas hath excellently expressed.

Why should I not that wooden Eagle mention, * 1.349 A learned Germans late admir'd invention, Which mounting from his fist that framed her Flew farre to meet an Almaine Emperour. And hauing met him with her nimble traine And weary wings, turning about againe Followed him close vnto the Castle gate Of Norinberg, whom all their shewes of state, Streetes hang'd with Arras, arches curious built, Gray-headed Senate, and youths gallantise, Grac't not so much as only this devise.

He goes on and thus describes the flye,

Once as this Artist more with mirth then meat Feasted some friends whom he esteemed great, From vnder's hand an iron flye flew out, Which hauing flowne a perfit round about, With weary wings return'd vnto her Master, And as judicious on his arme he plac't her. O divine wit, that in the narrow wombe Of a small flye could finde sufficient roome For all those springs, wheeles, counterpoise and chaines, Which stood insteed of life, and spurre, and raines.

Desinamus itaque Archytae columbam mirari, cum muscam, cum aquilam geo∣metricis alis alatam Noriberga exhibeat, saith Ramus, let vs giue ouer to wonder at Archytas his doue, sithence Norinberg hath exhibited both a Fly and an Eagle winged with Geometricall wings. Bartas likewise re∣members the curious Diall & clock at Strausburgh, which my selfe haue beheld not without admiration,

But who would thinke that mortall hands could mould New heauens, new starres whose whirling courses should

With constant windings though contrary wayes Marke the true monds of yeares & months & dayes, Yet 'tis a story that hath oft beene heard And by an hundred witnesses auer'd.

Neither doth he forget that most exquisite silver spheare (matchable with Archimedes, or that of Zapores King of Persia) which was sent as a present from the Emperour Ferdinand to Solyman the great Turke, & is mentioned by Paulus Iouius & Sabellicus: It was carried as they write, by twelue men, vnframed & reframed in the Grand Signiours presence by the maker, who likewise deliuered him a booke contayning the my∣stery of vsing it.

Nor may we smoother nor forget ingratelie The Heauen of siluer, that was sent but lately From Ferdinando as a famous worke Vnto Bizantium to the greatest Turke: Wherein a spirit still mouing too & fro, Made all the Engine orderlie to goe; And though the one spheare did alwayes slowly slide, And contrary the other swiftly glide; Yet still their stars kept all their courses euen With the true courses of the stars of heaven. The Sun there shifting in the Zodiaque His shining houses, neuer did forsake His pointed path, there in a moneth his sister Fulfil'd her course & changing oft her lustre And forme of face, (now larger, lesser soone) Followed the changes of the other moone.

SECT. 2. Of the benefits and Inventour of the most vsefull Art of Printing.

BVt leauing these,

Magna nec ingenijs investigata priorum Quaeque diu latuere canam: I'le speake of greater things which long lay hid Neither were found by search of former wits.

These spoken of, are in truth but toyes & tryfles in regard of those three most vsefull inventions, which these latter ages challenge as due & proper to themselues, Printing, Gunnes, and the Marriners compasse; of which Cardane comparatiuely speakes in high tearmes. His tribus tota * 1.350 Antiquitas nihil par habet, All Antiquity can boast of nothing equall to these three. Vpon these then will I insist, & with these conclude this comparison of Arts & Wits; the rather for that there is none of them but some haue excepted against, as being not moderne but ancient inven∣tions. I will begin with Printing, touching which Bodin outvies Car∣dane, Vna typographia cum omnibus omnium veterum inventis certare facile * 1.351 potest: Printing alone may easily contend for the prize with all the in∣ventions

of the Ancients. And Polidore Virgill hauing spoken of the famous Libraries erected by the Ancients, presently adds, Fuit illud omnino magnum mortalibus munus, sed nequaquam conferendum cum hoc * 1.352 quod nostro tempore adepti sumus, reperto novo scribendi genere: tantum enim vno die ab vno homine literarum imprimitur, quantum vix toto anno à pluri∣ribus scribi possit. That was indeede a great benefit to mankinde, but not to be compared with this which our age hath found out & injoyed, since a new kinde of writing was brought to light and practised, by meanes whereof, as much may be printed by one man in one day, as could be written by many in a whole yeare; or as Sabellicus, as much as the readi∣est * 1.353 pen-man could well dispatch in two yeares. And by this meanes, bookes which were before in a manner confined to the Libraries of Monaste∣ries, as their onely Magazines, were redeemed from bondage, obtained their inlargement, & freely walked abroad in the light; so as now they present themselues familiarly to the eyes & hands of all men, and he that hath but slender meanes, may notwithstanding furnish himselfe in a competent manner, there being now more good Authours to bee bought for twenty shillings then could then be purchased for twenty pounds. And besides, they then spake such languages as it pleased the Monkes to put into their mouths, who many times thorow ignorance, or negligence, or wilfulnes mistooke words and sentences, and some∣times thrust that into the Text which they found in the Margine. From whence arose such a confusion in most Authours, that it much puzled the best wits how to restore them to the right sense, as Lodouicus Viues * 1.354 complaines, it befell him in the setting forth of S. Augustines workes de Civitate Dei, & diuinandum saepeuumero fuit, & coniecturis vera restitu∣enda Lectio: I was often forced to guesse at the sense & none otherwise then by conjectures could the text be restored to the true reading: And Erasmus in his preface to the workes of the same father, vix in alterius tam impie quam in huius sacri Doctoris voluminibus lusit otiosorum temeri∣•…•…as, hardly hath the rashnes of idle braines so impiously played its part in the volumes of any other, as of this holy Doctour: Yet that other complaint of his in his preface before S. Hieromes workes, touching the many and grosse corruptions which therein he found, farre exceedes this, Vnum illud & vere dicam & audacter minoris arbitror Hieronymo suos constitisse libros conditos quam nobis restitutos: This one thing may I truly and boldly affirme, that in mine opinion, S. Hieromes bookes cost him lesse paines the making, then me the mending. Againe, it cannot be de∣nied but the fairenes of the letter beyond that of ordinary writing, addes no small grace to this invention. Mira certè Ars, sayth Cardane, quâ mille chartarum vna die conficiuntur, nec facile est iudicare an in tanta fa∣cilitate * 1.355 ac celeritate pulchritudo, an in tanta pulchritudine celeritas & facili∣tas sit admirabilior: An admirable Art sure it is, by which a thousand sheetes may be dispatcht in a day, neither is it easie to judge whether in so great easinesse and quickenesse of dispatch the fairenes of the let∣ter, or in the fairenesse of the letter the quickenesse of dispatch and ea∣sinesse thereof, be more to be wondered at. Lastly, it is not the least benefit of printing, that by dispersing a number of Copies into particu∣lar

mens hands, there is now hope that good letters shall neuer againe suffer so vniuersall a decay as in forrmer ages they haue done, by the burning and spoyling of publique Libraries, in which the whole trea∣sure of learning was in a manner stored vp. Since then by this meanes; bookes are become both fairer, and cheaper, and truer, and lesse subiect to a totall perishing: and since by this Art the preseruer of Arts, the Acts & writings of worthy men are made famous and commended to poste∣rity; it were a point of haynous ingratitude to suffer the Inventor there∣of to be buried in obliuion.

Some difference I confesse there is about his name, yet not such but may be reconciled without any great difficulty. Peter Ramus seemes to attribute it to one Iohn Fust a Moguntine, and in trueth shewes good * 1.356 cardes for it, telling vs, that he had in his keeping a copie of Tullies Of∣fices printed vpon parchment with this inscription added in the end thereof: Praesens Marci Tullij clarissimum opus Iohannes Fust Moguntinus ciuis non atramento, plumali canna, neque aerea, sed arte quadam perpulchra ma∣nu Petri de Gerneshem pueri mei faeliciter effeci, finitum an. 1466, 4 die men∣sis Februarij. This excellent worke of Marcus Tullius I Iohn Fust a citizen of Mentz happily imprinted, not with writing ynke, quill, or brasse pen, but with an excellent Art by the helpe of Peter Gerneshem my servant: finished it was in the yeare 1466, the 4^th of Februarie. Pasquier averres * 1.357 that the like had come to his hands, and Salmuth that one of the same impression was to be seene in the publique Librarie at Ausburg, and a∣nother (as others) in Emanuell College in Cambridge, and my selfe haue seene a fifth in the publique Librarie at Oxford, though with some little difference in the inscription. Yet Pollidore Virgill from the report of the Moguntines themselues affirmes, that Iohn Gutenberg a Knight, and dwel∣ling * 1.358 in Mentz, was the first Inventor thereof, & therein with him ac∣cord Palmerius in his Chronicle, Melchior Guilandinus in the 26 Chap∣ter of his Treatise touching paper & parchment; Chasaneus in his Catalogue of the Glory of the world, the second part and 39^th Consideration, Veig∣nier in his Bibliotheque, Bibliander de communi ratione omnium linguarum, in his chapter of printing (professing that therein he follows Wymphilin∣gius in his Epitomie of the affaires of Germany) Iohannes Arnoldus in his booke of the Invention of Printing; And lastly, Munster in his Cos∣mographie, who addes this particular, that he smoothered it a long time, labouring to conceale it all that he might. For the reconciling then of this difference, it may well be that Gutenberg was indeed the first happy inventour of this invalueable Art: But Fust the first, who taking it from him, made proofe thereof in printing a booke: They both then deserue their commendation, but in different degrees: Gutenberg in the highest, Fust in a second or third; & no doubt, but many since haue added much to the speede, grace and perfection thereof, whose names, though wee know not, yet perchance, haue they as well deserued of the common∣wealth of learning as hee: Sure we are, that Manutius Operinus, Raphe∣lengius, Plantin, and both the Stephens; the Father & the Sonne, are not to be forgotten, but remembred with honour, for the furthering and perfecting of this Art.

Yet some there are who writing of the affaires of the Indies, as Petrus * 1.359 Maffaius, Garzias ab Horto, & Paulus Iovius assure vs, that either the Ger∣manes borrowed this Inventiō frō the 1 Chineses, or at leastwise the Chi∣neses had the practise & vse of it long before them. Wherevnto I answer * 1.360 (not to question the credit of the Authors) though in truth (as is well knowne) no great friends to the German nation, that though it were long since in vse with the Chineses, yet, for ought appeareth, was it neuer, nor yet is with them brought to that perfection as it is with vs at this day: Si à veteribus tale quiddam excogitatum sit, vt nemo debita laude srau∣dandus, fateri quisque debeat omnia minus fuisse exculta, nitida, subtilia, eli∣mata, nec tam spectabili literarum varietate exornata atque expolita, saith Le∣vinus Lemnius. If any such thing were discovered by the Ancients (ei∣ther * 1.361 by the Chineses or otherwhere) as they are not to be robbed of their due praise, so ought we to confesse, that all things are now more exact and perfect, and better polished with a faire variety of letters. But that the Germans should borrow it from the Chineses, as is pretended by the Spanyards, is more I thinke then is true, I am sure then is yet pro∣ued, or in likelyhood doth appeare: And the Germans themselues will neuer with patience endure such a wrong. Germania certè nunquam sibi hanc laudem patietur extorqueri, saith Salmuth, Germany will neuer suffer the praise of this Invention to bee wrested from her, And Bero∣aldus.

O Germania muneris repertrix, Quo nil vtilius dedit vetustas Libros scribere. Quae doces premendo.

Thou Germany this blessing didst invent, Then which the world more vsefull neuer saw, To write on bookes thou teachest thus by print.

And with him accords Laurentius Valla, though himselfe an Italian, if those verses bee his which are ascribed vnto him in the front of his Workes.

Abstulerat Latio multos Germania libros, Nunc multo plures reddidit ingenio. Etquod vix toto quisquam perscriberet anno, Munere Germano conficit vna dies.

Germania drew great store of bookes from Italy, But now much more she doth. then she receiv'd, repay: What erewhile in one yeare could scarcely written bee; Now by Germania's helpe is finisht in one day.

SEC. 1. Of the vse and invention of Gunnes.

AS the Invention of Printing is chiefely in vse in time of Peace, so is that of Gunnes in time of warre, with which the Aries, Onagri, Catapulta, or Balistae, Engines of the Ancients, (which I know not well how to English, they being growne for the most part out of vse) are no way comparable, Nec vlla ex parte huic conferendus est antiquus Aries, vires inferiores habebat, & difficilius admuros adigebatur, saith Patricius, The Ramme anciently for batterie, is in no sort to be compared with * 1.362 this Engine, it had lesse strength, & more difficulty there was in bring∣ing it, and applying it to the walls. And Bodine to like purpose, (though * 1.363 herein perchance he jumpe not with Lipsius in his Poliorcetica) omitto Catapulta Veterum & antiqua belli tormenta, quae si cum nostris conferantur sanè puerilia quaedam ludicra videri possint: I passe ouer the Engines of the Ancients, which being compared with ours, are rather childish toyes then instruments for warre. And Lipsius himselfe cals it, Geniorum, non hominum inventum▪ an invention of spirits, and not of men. Such is the * 1.364 force of these moderne Engines, that they not only destroy men, but cast downe walls, rampiers, towres, castles, citties, and shake the tallest shippes into shiuers, there being nothing that comes within their reach that can stand against them. It was a peece of almost incredible big∣nesse which by Mahomets commaund was imployed against Constanti∣nople, ad quam trahendam adhibebantur septuaginta juga boum, & bis mille viri, as witnesseth Chalcondilas in his eight booke de rebus Turcicis, for the drawing of which were imployed seuenty yoke of oxen, and two thousand men. It is true that there is nothing more mischievous to be∣sieged cities, and so is there nothing that helpes them more for the cha∣sing away of the befiegers, it being so for the most part in all things, which either the Art or wit of man, or God & Nature hath framed, that the more helpefull they are being well vsed, the more hurtfull are they being abused: then fire and water there is nothing more commodious to the life of man, yet is the Proverbe true, that when they are once inra∣ged, & passe their bounds, they become merciles: The tongue is said by Esope to be both the best and the worst meat that comes to the market: for with it we both blesse God & curse men, saith S. Iames. And yron by Pliny is rightly tearmed, optimum, pessimum{que} vitae instrumentum, the best & worst instrument belonging to man, But sure it seemes that God in his providence had reserued this Engine for these times, that by the cruell force & terrible roaring of it, men might the rather be deterred from assaulting one another in hostile and warlike manner; And I verily be∣leeue, that since the invention and vse thereof, fewer haue beene slaine in the warres then before. Neither doth it serue, (as is commonly obje∣cted,) to make men cowards, but rather hardens them. For hee that dares present himselfe to the mouth of a Cannon, cannot feare the face of death in what shape soeuer it present it selfe.

Howsoeuer some haue not beene wanting, who would beare vs in hand that this Invention is not of latter times, but ancient; among whom Sir Walter Rawleigh is one, who in his History of the World, referres not * 1.365 only the Invention of Printing, but of Gunnes too, and Ordinance of bat∣tery to the Indians, grounding himselfe heerein vpon the report of the Portugals: And hereby, saith he, we are now made to vnderstand, that the place of Philostratus in vita Apollonij Tianei, is no fable, though ex∣prest * 1.366 in fabulous words, when he saith, that the wise men which dwell betweene Hyphesis and Ganges vse not themselues to goe forth to battle, but that they driue away their enemies with thunder and lightning. But hereof I can say nothing, choosing with Camerarius, potius credere quàm * 1.367 cum molestia experiri, rather to beleeue it, then to endure the hazard and trouble to make tryall of it. Others referre it to Salmoneus, as witnesseth Levinus Lemnius, induced therevnto by those verses of Virgill * 1.368

Vidi & crudeles dantem Salmonea poenas, Dum flammas Iovis & sonitus imitatur Olympi. Quatuor hic invectus equis ac lampada quaessans Per Graium populos mediaeque per Elidis vrbem Ibat ovans, Divumque sibi poscebat honores Demens qui nimbos & non imitabile fulmen, Aere & cornipedum cursu fimulabat equorum.

I saw Salmoneus there endure Most cruell paines and great, For that he dar'd the flames of Ioue, And thunder counterfeit. In Chariot drawne with horses foure, Shaking a fiery brand Through mids of Elis towne he rode, And through all Graecian land Triumphing wise: and to himselfe Audaciously did take Honours divine. Mad franticke man That did not inlie quake: With horne-foot horses, and brasse-wheeles, Ioves stormes to emulate, And lightenings impossible For man to imitate.

But Servius in his Commentaries conceiues, that this imitation of thun∣der was by driuing his Chariot ouer a brasen bridge: And if hee vsed any Engine, it seemes to haue beene rather for rattling and terrour, then for any reall effect: And whereas great Ordinance exceed thunder, this was such that it came farre short of it: And therefore as' Rota hath well obserued, the Poet calls it.

—non imitabile fulmen.

But this I leaue as a very vncertaine ground for the ancient inventi∣on of this Engine. Petrarch and Valturius vpon better shew of reason (as * 1.369 they conceiue) referre it to Archimede, found out (as they pretend) by him for the ouer-throw of Marcellus his shipps at the siege of Syracuse. * 1.370

But it were strange that both Plutarch & Liuie, who haue written large∣ly of his admirable wit & wonderfull Engines, and particularly of the siege of that citie, should among the rest forget this rare invention; and yet more strange that the Romanes vpon the taking of the citie should not take it vp and make vse of it: Nay, as Magius (who hath written a chapter of purpose, to refute them who referre this invention to the * 1.371 Ancients) hath obserued; neither Heron, nor Pappus, nor Athenaeus, nor Biton in their manuscrips of the Mechanniques, (for printed they are not) haue described any such Engine: nor Aegidius Romanus, (who li∣ued * 1.372 & wrote in the reigne of Philip the faire King of France about the yeare 1285,) where he treates purposely of warlike Engines & instru∣ments, remembers any such thing. Brightman in his exposition on the Revelation of S. Iohn, tels vs that by the fire, & smoake, & brimstone which in that place are said to haue issued out of the mouths of the horses, are to be vnderstood our powder & gunnes now in vse, & that of them S. Iohn prophesied, but how these can be said to issue out of the mouthes of horses, he doth not well expresse, nor I thinke well vnderstood.

The common opinion then is, that this diuise was first found out by a Monke of Germanie, whose name many writers affirme to be deser∣uedly lost: But Forcatulus in his fourth booke of the Empire & Phyloso∣phy of France, names him Berthold Swarts of Cullē, & Salmuth, Constantine * 1.373 AnklitZen of Friburg: Howsoeuer they all agree that he was a German Monke, and that by chaunce a sparke of fire falling into a pot of Niter, which he had prepared for Physicke or Alchimy, and causing it to fly vp, he therevpon made a composition of powder, with an instrument of brasse & yron, and putting fire to it, found the conclusion to answere his expectation. The first publique vse of Gunnes that we reade of, was thought to be about the yeare 1380 as Magius, or 400 as Ramus, in a battle betwixt the Venetians & the Genowayes fought at Clodia-Fossa, in which the Venetian hauing from this Monke belike, gotten the vse of Gunnes, so galled their enimies, that they saw themselues wounded & slaine, and yet knew not by what meanes, or how to prevent it, as wit∣nesseth Platina in the life of Vrbane the sixth. And Laurentius Valla in the second booke & 34 Chapter of his Elegancies, (which as himselfe testifies, he wrote in the yeare 1438) affirmes that the Gunne grew in * 1.374 vse not long before his time. His words are, Nuper inventa est machina quam Bombardam vocant, the Engine which they call the Gunne was lately found out. And Petrarch who liued somewhat before him to like purpose in his 99 dialogue of the Remedies of both fortunes, though therein I confesse he seeme to crosse himselfe, Erat haec pestis nuper rara, vt cum ingenti miraculo cerneretur: This pestilent deuise was lately so rare, that it was beheld with marueilous great astonishment. Yet I haue seene the copie of a record, that great ordinance were brought by the French to the batterie of a Castle or fort called Outhwyke, neere to Cal∣lis, and then in possession of the English, the first yeare of Richard the se∣cond; of which fort, one William Weston was Captaine, and being que∣stioned in Parliament for yeelding vp the fort, he doth in his excuse al∣alleage, that the enimies brought to the batterie thereof nine peeces de

grosses Canons par les quelles les mures & les measons da dit Chastel furent ren∣tes & percussez en plusiears lieux, of great Canons, by meanes whereof the wals and houses of the sayed Castell were in diuerse places rent in sunder and sorely battered; and in another place, he tearmeth them huge, most greivous, & admirable Ordinance: nay more then so, I am cre∣dibly informed, that a commission is to be seene for the making of Salt∣peter in Edward the thirds time, and another record of Ordinance vsed in that time some twēty yeares before his death: by all which it should appeare, that either the invention of Gunnes was sooner then is common∣ly conceiued, or that our Nation and the French had the vse of it with the first, howsoeuer, it is most cleare, that at least-wise in these parts of the world this invention was not knowen till in latter ages in compa∣rison of the worlds duration.

SECT. 4. Of the vse and invention of the Martiners Compasse or sea-card, as also of another excellent invention sayd to be lately found out vpon the Load-stone, together with a conclusion of this comparison touch∣ing Arts & Wits, with a saying of Bodins, and another very notable one of Lactantius.

TO these inventions of Printing & Gunnes, may be added in the last place that of the Marriners compasse, of which Bodin thus * 1.375 confidently speakes, Cum Magnete nihil sit admirabilius in tota re∣rum natura, vsum tamen eius plane diuinum Antiqui ignorarunt: Though there be nothing more admirable then the Load-stone in the whole course of Nature, yet of the Diuine vse thereof were the Ancients igno∣rant: And Blondus, Certum est id navigandi auxilium Priscis omnino fuisse * 1.376 incognitum: It is certaine that helpe of sayling was altogether vnknown to the Ancients. And Cardan, a man much versed in the Rarities of Na∣ture, * 1.377 inter caetera rerum inventa admiratione primum digna est ratio Nauticae pyxidis: Among other rare Inventions, that of the Marriners compasse is most worthy of admiration. By meanes of it, was Navigation perfect∣ed, the liues and goods of many thousand haue bin, and daily are pre∣serued: It findes out a way thorow the vast Ocean, in the greatest stormes and darkest nights, where is neither path to follow, nor inha∣bitant or passinger to inquire; It points out the way to the skillfull Mar∣riner when all other helpes faile him, and that more certainely though it be without reason, sense, and life, then without the helpe thereof all the Wisards & learned Clearks in the world, vsing the vnited strength of their wits & cunning can possiblely doe: By meanes of it are the commodities of all countreys discouered, trade, & traffique, & humane societie maintained, their seuerall formes of gouernment, and religion obserued, & the whole world made as it were one Common-wealth, and the most distant Nations fellowes citizens of the same bodie politique.

This wonderfull instrument we haue amply described by Cieze in his second tombe & ninth chapter de Rebus Indicis, and Bellonus in his se∣cond booke & sixteenth chapter de Singularitatibus: But for the reason

thereof, I say with Acosta, Causas huius tanti prodigij alij rimentur, & Sym∣pathiam * 1.378 nescio quam conentur inducere, ego summi Opificis potentiam provi∣dentiamque quoties intueor, & vehementer admiror & iucundissimè celebro. Let others search out the causes of this so wonderfull an instrument, & pretend therein I know not what Sympathie, I for my part as oft as I looke vpon it, cannot but exceedingly admire, & most willingly praise the power and providence of God.

Whether it were knowne to the Ancients or no, some doubt is mo∣ued, as of all things else there is: But herein, in my judgement, without any sufficient reason. For can we conceiue that so rare a deuise & of so singular vse could be knowne to Aristotle, Theophrastus, Pliny, Diosco∣rides, Galen, and that we should no where in any of their workes finde the least mention thereof? Surely, I for my part shall neuer beleeue it; neither can I bee perswaded that so pretious and vsefull an invention could possiblely be entertained & commonly practised, and yet lost againe out of the world as if it had neuer beene. But that indeed it was not practised appeares by this, that the Ancients, when by reason of a storme or mist they had lost the sight of the lights of heauen, they had no remedy to fly vnto; Nullum coelo nubibus obscurato à magnete aut alio instrumento petebatur auxilium, when the heauen was darkened with * 1.379 clouds, they had no assistance from the Load-stone or any other instru∣ment.

—Clauumque affixus & haerens Nunquam amittebat oculosque sub astra tenebat. * 1.380 The helme he held & neuer it forsooke •…•…ut on the stars his eyes did euer looke.

Saith the Poet, as long as the starres appeared; but when they were be misted, they then wandred they knew not whither.

Tres adeo incertos caeca caligine soles, Erramus pelago, totidem sine fidere noctes. * 1.381 On Sea we rou'd three dayes as darke as night, Three nights likewise not feeing starrie light.

And in S. Pauls coasting voyage by sea, when they had lost the sight of the Sunne and Starres all hope that they should be saued was then ta∣ken * 1.382 away.

Some notwithstanding haue beene found, who haue thought this in∣vention ancient. Levinus Lemnius in his third booke and fourth chapter de Occultis naturae miraculis seemes to doubt of it. An hoc instramentum Nauticum superioribus seculis extitit, an nostro idaevo excogitatum, non ausi•…•… certo pronunciare: whether this instrument of Navigation were in being in former ages, or found out in latter times, I cannot certainely define. Now that which chiefly causes him to make a doubt thereof, is those words of Plautus, Hic ventus nunc secundus est, cape modò versoriam: * 1.383 where by versoriam, Lemnius would haue vs vnderstand the Marriners Compasse, and then addes, Quanqùam ut opinor haec pixidicula nostro jam tempore magis exculta sit, elimata, expolita, omniaque exactius demonstret, as in the same chapter he speakes of printing: Yet I beleeue that this in∣strument was in latter ages brought to exact perfection: But for Plautus

I dare say he was neuer guilty of such a meaning: Turnebus by Versoriam * 1.384 vnderstanding the rope with which the sayle, others the rudder, with which the ship is turned: Neither of which are impertinent or impro∣per, so as there is no necessity of applying it to the Marriners Compasse. Stephen Pasquier in his 4 Booke & 23 chapter of his Recherches of France brings it vp as high as the times of S. Lewis by the verses of one Hugh * 1.385 de Bercy, who liued in his raigne, and as he pretends plainely describes it: but whether the words be so plaine as he makes them, or whether they were published by some other since Bercy, but in his name, is very vncertaine, specially since no Poet or Historiographer contemporary with him, or more ancient then he, are found to make mention thereof: and yet S. Lewis died not much aboue 300 yeare since. Pineda for the more * 1.386 commodious placing of Tharshis in Spaine, is confident that it was in vse in Solomons time, making his vniversall wisedome, and deepe insight in the nature of all things, the principall ground of his opinion: But So∣lomons wisedome though it were vniversall, and deepe beyond all the children of the East, inasmuch as God gaue him latitudinem cordis, a large heart as the sand on the sea shore, yet was it finite and limited aswell in things naturall as supernaturall. I doubt not but Adam in the state of integrity knew more then Solomon, and yet I dare not pronounce him omniscious, that being an attribute, (as is likewise Omnipotencie, vbiquity & eternity) individually proper to the Godhead, & incommunicable to any created substance, though meerely incorporeall, whether they bee the damned or the blessed spirits. If then the holy Angels, if Adam in Pa∣radice knew not all things, nay if the Sonne of God himselfe, as he was man confesse himselfe to be ignorant of some things, why should wee thinke it strange to affirme, that Solomon knew not all things. If there be such a secret as the artificiall transmutation of other mettals into gold, (which by the experiments of many is confidently avouched) it is more then probable he was ignorant of it: for had he known it, he nee∣ded not to haue sent his Navy to Ophir or Tharshis for gold; as likewise had he knowne this secret of the Load-stone, it needed not to haue spent three yeares in going and comming, neither should his Marriners haue needed to craue the assistance of the Tyrians and Sydonians, as Pilots for the better conducting of them in their voyage. I conclude then that ei∣ther Solomon knew not this secret, or if he knew it, he put it not in pra∣ctise, or if he put it in practise, it was since lost and recouered againe, which to me seemeth the most vnlikely of all.

Now to the authority of these three, who plead for the antiquity of this Invention, may be opposed thirteene, and those in learning nothing inferiour who pleade against it, maintaining it to haue beene an Inven∣tion of latter ages vnknowne to the Ancients, as Acosta lib. 1. histor. Ind. cap. 17. Mariana lib. 1. de rebus Hispaniae cap. 22. Maluenda lib. 3. de Antichri∣sto cap. 24. Gomara tomo 1. Indicae Historiae cap. 10. Turnebus lib. 20. advers. cap. 4. Pancirollus in his Nova reperta tit. 11. Salmuth in his Commenta∣ries on that place. Philander in his Comment. vpon Vitruvius lib. 10. cap. 14. Lilius Giraldus. lib. de Navig. cap. 1. Cardan de subtilitate lib. 17. Bozius de signis Ecclesiae lib. 2. Bodin in his methode of History cap. 7. Ramus in

Schol. Mathemat. lib. 2. and to those may be added many more, were I ambitious in mustering vp of names, or did the cause require it. Since the writing hereof I finde that our Fuller Miscell. 4. 19. thinkes it like∣wise very probable, that the Tyrians anciently had the vse of the Com∣passe, and that Solomon might bee the Inventor thereof, but against him may be produced the reasons before pressed against Pineda, & not onely the authorities already alleadged, but vnto them we may farther adde that of Gaspar Varrerius in his Commentary De Ophyra Regione, Cujus vim nativamque lapidis in Arctos semper respectantis antiquis ignotam fuisse manifestum est It is cleere that the natiue propertie of this stone of tur∣ning alwayes to the North, was to the ancients vnknowne.

But a greater doubt presents it selfe about the time and Author of this Invention, when & by whom it should first be found out & set on foot. Doctour Gilbert our Countreyman (who hath written in Latin a large & learned Discourse of the properties of this stone) seemes to be of o∣pinion that Paulus Venetus brought the Invention of the vse thereof frō the Chineses. Osorius in his discourse of the acts of King Emanuel, referres it to Gama and his Countreymen the Portugals, who as he pretends took it from certaine barbarous Pirats roauing vpon the Sea about the Cape of good hope. Goropius Becanus likewise thinkes hee hath great reason to intitle it vpon his Countreymen the Germans, in as much as the 32. * 1.387 points of the winde vpon the Compasse borrow the names from the Dutch in all Languages. But Blondus, who is therein followed by Panci∣rollus, * 1.388 both Italians, will not haue Italy loose the praise thereof, telling vs that about 300 yeares agoe it was found out at Malphis or Melpbis a Citty in the Kingdome of Naples in the Province of Campania, now cal∣led Terra di Lavorador; But for the Author of it, the one names him not, & the other assures vs, he is not knowne: yet Salmuth out of Ciezus and Gomara confidently christens him with the name of Flavius, and so doth Du Bartas in those excellent verses of his touching this subject.

W'are not to Ceres so much bound for bread, Neither to Bacchus for his clusters red, As Signior Flavio to thy witty tryall, For first inventing of the Sea-mans dyall, Th'vse of the needle turning in the same, Divine device, O admirable frame Whereby thorow th'Ocean in the darkest night Our hugest Carracks are conducted right, Whereby w'are stor'd with trou•…•…h-man, guide and Lampe, To search all corners of the watery Campe. Whereby a ship that stormy heau'ns haue whorld Neere in one night into another world Knowes where she is, and in the Card descries What degrees thence the Aequinoctiall lies.

It may well be then that Flavius the Meluitan was the first Inventor of guiding the ship by the turning of the needle to the North: but some German afterwards added to the Compasse the 32 points of the wind in his owne language, whence other Nations haue since borrowed it. But

surely a pitty it is that the Author of such an Invention is not both more certainlie knowne & honourably esteemed: He better deserving in my judgment to be inrolled and ranked among the great benefactors of the world, then many who for their supposed merits, of mankind were deified among the Heathen.

Another excellent and secret conclusion vpon this stone, pretended to be found out in these latter times, is, that by touching two needles with the same stone, they being severally set so as they may turne vpon two round tables, hauing on their borders the Alphabet written circle∣wise, if two friends agreeing vpon the time, the one in Paris, the other in London, (hauing each of them their table thus equally fitted) be dis∣posed vpon certaine dayes & at certaine houres to conferre, it is to bee done by turning the needle in one of the tables to the Alphabet, & the other by Sympathie will turne it selfe in the same manner in the other table, though neuer so farre distant: which conclusion if infallibly true, may likewise prooue of good and great consequence: howsoeuer I will set it downe as I finde it described by Famianus Strada in imitation of the stile and vaine of Lucretius.

Magnesi genus est lapidis mirabile, cui si * 1.389 Corpora ferri plura stylosve admoveris, inde Non modo vim motumque trahent quo semper ad vrsam Quae lucet vicina polo se vertere tentent, Verumetiam mira inter se ratione, modoque Quotquot eum lapidem tetigere styli, simul omnes Conspirare situm motumque videbis in vnum. Vt si fortè ex his altquis Romae moveatur Alter ad hunc motum quamvis sit dissitus longè Arcano se naturai foedere vertat. Ergò age si quid scire voles qui distat amicum Ad quem nulla accedere possit epistola, sume Planum orbem patulumque notas, elementa{que} prima, Ordine quo discunt pueri, describe per or as Extremas orbis, medio{que} repone jacentem Qui tetigit magneta stylum, vt versatilis inde Litterulam quamcun{que} velis contingerepossit. Hujus ad exemplum simili fabricaveris orbem Margine descriptum, munitum{que} indice ferri, Ferri quod motum Magnete accepit ab illo, Hunc orbem dissessurus sibi portet amicus; Conveniat{que} prius quo tempore, queisve diebus Exploret stylus an trepidet quidve indice signes. His ita compositis si clam cupis alloqui amicum Quem procul à Te Te terrai distinet ora Orbi adjunge manum, ferrum versatile tracta, Hic disposta vides elementa in margine toto Queis opus est ad verba notis hunc dirige ferrum Litterulas{que} modo hano modo & illam cuspide tange Dum ferrum per eas iterum{que} iterum{que} rotando

Componas singillatim sensa omnia mentis. Mira fides longe qui distat cernit amicus Nullius impulsu trepidare volubile ferrum Nunc huc, nunc illuc discurrere conscius haeret Obseruatque styli ductum sequiturque legendo Hinc at{que} hinc elementa quibus in verba coactis Quid sit opus sentit ferroque interprete discit. Quin etiam cum stare stylum videt, ipse vicissim Si quae respondenda putat simili ratione Litterulis varie tactis rescribit amico: O vtinam haec ratio scribendi prodeat vsu Cautior & citior properaret epistola, nullas Latronum verita insidias fluviosque morantes, Ipse suis princeps manibus conficeret rem Nos soboles scribarum emersi ex aequore nigro Consecraremus calamum Magnetis ad aras.

The Loade aboue all other stones hath this strange propertie, If sundry steels thereto, or needles yee applie, Such force & motion thence they draw, that they incline To turne them to the beare which neere the Pole doth shine. Nay more, as many steels as touch that vertuous stone, In strange & wondrous sort conspiring all in one, Together moue themselues, and situate together: As if one of those steels at Rome bestir'd, the other The selfe-same way will stirre though they far distant be, And all through Natures force & secret Sympathie: Well then if you of ought would faine advise your friend That dwels far off, to whom no letter you can send; A large smooth round table make, write down the Christcrosse row In order on the verge thereof, and then bestow The needle in the mid'st which toucht the Load, that so What note soe're you list it straight may turne vnto: Then frame another orbe in all respects like this, Describe the edge, and lay the steele thereon likewise, The steele which from the selfe-same Magnes motion drew; This orbe send with thy friend what time he bids adeu: But on the dayes agree first, when you meane to proue, If the steele stir, and to what letters it doth moue. This done, if with thy friend thou closely would'st advise, Who in a countrey off far distant from thee lies, Take thou the orbe & steele which on the orbe was set, The christcrosse on the edge thou seest in order writ, What notes will frame thy words to them direct thy steele, And it sometime to this, sometime to that note wheele, Turning it round about so often till you finde You haue compounded all the meaning of your minde; Thy friend that dwels far off, ô strange! doth plainely see The steele to stir, though it by no man stirred bee,

Running now heere now there: He conscious of the plot As the steele guides pursues, & reades from note to note; Then gathering into words those notes, he clearely sees What's needefull to be done, the needle truchman is: Now when the steele doth cease its motion; if thy friend Thinke it convenient answere backe to send, The same course he may take, and with his needle write Touching the seuerall notes what so he list indite. Would God men would be pleas'd to put this course in vre, Their letters would arriue more speedy and more sure, Nor Riuers would them stoppe, nor theeues them intercept; Princes with their owne hands their businesse might effect: Wee Scribes from blacke sea scaped, at length with hearty wils At th'altar of the Loade would consecrate our quils.

Of this devise, how two absent friends might confer at great distance, Viginerius in his Annotations vpon T. Liuius, speaketh somewhat in the 1316 columne of his first volume; as namely that a letter might be read through a stone wall of three foote thicke, by guiding and mouing the needle of a compasse ouer the letters of the Alphabet, written in the cir∣cumference: but the certainety of this conclusion, I leaue to the expe∣riment of such as list to make tryall of it, and so conclude this compa∣rison touching Wits & Arts with the words of Bodi•…•…: Non minus pec∣cant * 1.390 qui à veteribus aiunt omnia comprehensa, quam qui illos de veteri multa∣rum artium possessione deturbant, habet Natura scientiarum thesauros numi∣rabiles qui nullis aetatibus exhauriri possunt. They are no lesse to blame who affirme all things to haue been found out by the ancients, then they who would thrust them out of the possession of many Arts found out by them: For the Nature of sciences includes in it infinite treasure which can neuer be exhausted Or rather with those of Lactantius wor∣thy to be written in letters of gold, as being no lesse true and pertinent, * 1.391 then witty and elegant: Dedit omnibus Deus pro virili portione sapientiam, vt & inaudita investigare possent, & audita perpendere; nec quia nos illi tem∣poribus antecesserunt, sapientia quoque antecesserunt, quae si omnibus aequaliter datur, occupari ab antecedentibus non potest. Illibabili•…•…est 〈◊〉〈◊〉 lux & claritas solis, quia vt sol oculorum, sit sapientia 〈◊〉〈◊〉 est cordis humani. Qua∣re cum sapere, id est veritatem quaerere omnibus sit innatum, sapientiam sibi adimunt qui sine vllo judicio inventa maiorum probant▪ & 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 more ducuntur. Sed hoc eos fallit quod Maiorum nomine posi•…•… non patant fie∣ri posse, vt aut ipsi plus sapiant quia Minores vocantur, aut illi de•…•…rint quia Maiores nominantur. God hath giuen wisedome vnto all according to a competent measure, that they might both finde out things vnheard of before, and weigh things already •…•…ound out▪ Neither because they had the start of vs in time, doth it likewise follow that they haue it also in wisedome, which if it be indifferently graunted to all, it cannot bee forestalled by them which went before. It is vnimpaireable like the light and brightnes of the sunne, it being the light of mans heart as the sunne is of his eyes. Sithence then to be wise, that is, •…•…search the truth, is a disposition inbred in euery man, they debarre themselues of

wisedome, who without any examination approue the inventions of their Ancestours, & like vnreasonable creatures, are wholy led by o∣thers. But this is it which deceiues them, the name of Ancestours being once set in the front, they thinke it cannot be that either themselues should be wiser, because they are called Punies, or the others should in any thing be mistaken, because they are called their Ancestours. And thus haue we seene that there is in mankind no such vniversall & perpetu∣all decay in regard of age & life, of strength & stature, of arts & wits, as is commonly pretended: It now remaines, that in the last place wee exa∣mine their manners & conditions, vertues & vices, whether it be so that men alwayes grow worse & worse, as it is likewise generally and confi∣dently both held and beleeved.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Psal. 39. 5. 1. Tusculan.
• * 1.2

  Lib. 7. de Gen. ad Lit. c. 25.
• * 1.3

  Moral. lib. 4. cap. 26.
• * 1.4

  Lib. 7. cap. 48.
• * 1.5

  Lib. 1. Antiq. cap. 4.
• * 1.6

  Gen. 5. 12. Gen. 5. 21.
• * 1.7

  Gen. 25. 7. 8.
• * 1.8

  Gen. 7. 11 & 8. 4: 5: 13: 14.
• * 1.9

  Gen: 7. 11: & 4. 5.
• * 1.10

  Lib. 1. Antiq. c: 4:
• * 1.11

  Psal. 90. 10.
• * 1.12

  In Thalia.
• * 1.13

  Laert. l. 1. c. 14.
• * 1.14

  Epist. 51.
• * 1.15

  2. Sam. 19. 32. v. 35.
• * 1.16

  1. King. 1. 1. 1 Chro: 19. 28. 2. Sam. 5. 4.
• * 1.17

  1 King. 11. 4.
• * 1.18

  Lib. 7. c. 48 49.
• * 1.19

  V. 3.
• * 1.20

  Lib. 5. de delingua latina.
• * 1.21

  Ecclus 18. 8.
• * 1.22

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 7. c. 48:
• * 1.23

  Gen. 50. 26. Exo. 6. 16. Deut. 34. 7. Num. 33. 39.
• * 1.24

  Iud. 28.
• * 1.25

  Ios. 24. 29. Iob. 42. 16.
• * 1.26

  Tob. 14. 13. & 16.
• * 1.27

  2 cap. v. 37.
• * 1.28

  Gen. 5. 32.
• * 1.29

  In Chron:
• * 1.30

  In Comp.
• * 1.31

  Haer. 51
• * 1.32

  Lib. 7. c 49.
• * 1.33

  Cri•…•…itus.
• * 1.34

  Horat. lib. 2. Sat. 2.
• * 1.35

  Epist. 95.
• * 1.36

  Lauren. hist. A∣nat. l. 8.
• * 1.37

  Odis. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.38

  Fast. lib 1.
• * 1.39

  Rodog. 10. 61. 62.
• * 1.40

  Cap: 6:
• * 1.41

  Loc, Con: c: 12, Classis. 1
• * 1.42

  Ovid.
• * 1.43

  S^t. Augustine makes it soo∣ner. Circa 30 quippe annos de∣finierunt esse e∣tiam huius Sae∣culi doctissimi homines iuven∣tulem, quae cum fuerit spatio pro∣prio terminata inde iam homi∣nē in detrimēta pergere gravio∣ris & saenilis ae∣tatis, Civi. dei. 22. 15.
• a 1.44

  v. 13.
• b 1.45

  De Civit. Dei. Lib. 22. c. 15.
• d 1.46

  Lib. 2. Cap. 39.
• e 1.47

  Iohn 8. 57.
• f 1.48

  Decherius de anno ortus & mortis Christi.
• * 1.49

  Cap. 19.
• * 1.50

  Proem. Lib. 6.
• * 1.51

  En•…•…irid. c. 55.
• a 1.52

  Digest. l. 9. de Spons.
• b 1.53

  Burdorf. Sy∣nag. Iud 3.
• c 1.54

  Lancelot. l. 2. tit. 11.
• d 1.55

  2 Oper, & Dierum.
• e 1.56

  De Spartana Re•…•…up.
• f 1.57

  E•…•…ucho. Act 2: sc: 3:
• g 1.58

  Polit: 7: 16:
• h 1.59

  5 de Repub: & 6 de Legibus Tranquillus in Claudio, c. 23:
• * 1.60

  Lib: 1: diuin: in∣stit. cap. 16.
• * 1.61

  L: Sa•…•…inus 27: c: de •…•…upt.
• * 1.62

  Aristrt: bist: A∣ni•…•… l: 5: c. 14. Rom: 4: 19.
• * 1.63

  7. 14.
• * 1.64

  Exod. 12. 37.
• * 1.65

  Gen. 46. 26.
• * 1.66

  v. 12.
• * 1.67

  Gen. 38. v. 18.
• * 1.68

  Gen. c. 37. 41. 45.
• * 1.69

  Gen. c. 29. 30.
• * 1.70

  Quest: 128: in Genes: Comment: in 38: g•…•…n: quest: 1:
• * 1.71

  Comment: in 38 g•…•…n. pa•…•…e 1.
• * 1.72

  As doe the Iewe. in the Sederolam, making Er to marry at 8, & Perez to beget a son at 9.
• a 1.73

  D•…•…iure Connu∣biorum, c: 20: Sect. 3.
• * 1.74

  v. 21.
• * 1.75

  Apud Eusebeum l. 9 de praeparat. Euangel. c. vlt. commentar. in 34. Gen. Nicephorus ex Euodio, 2. 3. 2▪ Kings. 22. 1.
• * 1.76

  Cap. 23. 36.
• * 1.77

  2. King. 16. 2.
• * 1.78

  Cap. 18. 2.
• * 1.79

  Epist. 132.
• * 1.80

  The like story hath Gregory in his Dialo∣gues, touching a child of nine yeares old
• * 1.81

  1 King. 11. 42.
• * 1.82

  1 King. 14. 21.
• * 1.83

  Baldus.
• * 1.84

  Lib. 1. tit. 7.
• * 1.85

  Malmesberien∣sis de gestis An∣gli, Reg. lib. 1. Histor. Eccles. l. 6. c. 2.
• * 1.86

  Numb. 8. 25
• * 1.87

  Des estals & emp•…•…res. Tac. annal. 13 2
• * 1.88

  V. 3
• * 1.89

  Lib. 10. 28
• * 1.90

  Plut. in Gracchis
• * 1.91

  Lib. 25
• * 1.92

  3. Oly•…•…th.
• * 1.93

  Lib. 1. in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.94

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 de Mi∣•…•… 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉: 1 〈◊〉〈◊〉: 2 Sir Henry Sa∣•…•… in his view of military m•…•…ters
• * 1.95

  〈◊〉〈◊〉: 34
• * 1.96

  Comines.
• * 1.97

  Socrates in hist. 〈◊〉〈◊〉: 6. 47.
• * 1.98

  Cicero. S. Philip. Suctotonius. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. cap. 7. Cap. 88.
• * 1.99

  15. 20.
• * 1.100

  In vita s•…•…a.
• * 1.101

  Gen. 41. 46. 2 Sam. 5. 4.
• * 1.102

  Cap. 8 & 26.
• * 1.103

  Suct. cap. 8.
• * 1.104

  De vela•…•… virginibus.
• * 1.105

  Varro de vita. Pop. Romani, teste 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.106

  Ad verbum Sexagenarij.
• * 1.107

  5 Fastorum▪
• * 1.108

  Aelianus lib. 4. c. 1.
• * 1.109

  Psal. 139. 13
• * 1.110

  Vitruvius l. 3. c. 1
• * 1.111

  August. l. 15. de Ciu. Dei c. 26. & ad Faus•…•…um man. 12. 14. & Amb. de Noe & arca. cap. 6
• * 1.112

  Laurentius A∣na•…•…. l. 1, c. 20 Lomatius l. 1. c. 7
• * 1.113

  Lib. 1. de emen∣datione Tempo∣rum cap. 4. v. vit.
• * 1.114

  Lib. de Paradi∣so.
• * 1.115

  In mat. 27. & in Ephes 5.
• * 1.116

  Origenes, A∣thanasius, Basili∣us. Epiphanius Chrisostomus ex Graecis: ex La∣t•…•…is
• * 1.117

  Tertullianus, Cy∣prianus siue qui scripsit de operi∣bus Cardinali∣bus, Ambrosius Augustinus at∣que alibi eti•…•…m▪ ipse Hicronimus nempe epist. 17: ad Paul & E∣ustoch:
• * 1.118

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Ephes: 4: 13: Luc: 2. 52:
• * 1.119

  v: 4:
• o 1.120

  Eccles: 16: 7:
• a 1.121

  Eccles: 23: 4
• * 1.122

  cap: 13:
• * 1.123

  Cass: Coll: S: c: 21 Am•…•…. de Noe & Arca c: 4: Theod. in Gen: qu: 48:
• * 1.124

  Gen: 10: 9:
• * 1.125

  Gen: 14: 5: Num: 13: 33 Deut: 2: 20: 21 Ios: 11: •…•…1: Amos: 2: 9:
• * 1.126

  v: 11:
• * 1.127

  v: 4:
• * 1.128

  1: Sam: 17: 4
• * 1.129

  Cap: 21: 19:
• * 1.130

  v: 20: 21.
• * 1.131

  Iud: 14: & 16.
• * 1.132

  De Civit: Dei, 15. 23.
• * 1.133

  Lib. 7. c. 16.
• * 1.134

  Lib. 12. c 37.
• * 1.135

  Vitruvius, l. 3 c: 1.
• * 1.136

  Exercit. 263.
• * 1.137

  De Gygante∣•…•….
• * 1.138

  Cap. 6.
• * 1.139

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 1614.
• * 1.140

  Symon Mai•…•… dierum Canicul: colloq: 2:
• * 1.141

  Hackluit in his English voy∣age.
• * 1.142

  Memorables Hi stoires de nostre temps.
• * 1.143

  In 〈◊〉〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉〈◊〉:
• * 1.144

  Lib. 3. c. 1:
• * 1.145

  Gellius out of Plutarch: l: 1: c: 1
• * 1.146

  Trallianus out of Apolloniu•…•… de mirabilibus & l•…•…ngaevis.
• * 1.147

  Lib▪ 2: c. 9.
• * 1.148

  Ezek. 40. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 43. 13.
• * 1.149

  Deut. 3. 11. Revel. 21. 17.
• * 1.150

  Gen. 6. 15. Aug. de 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Dei l: 15: c: 27.
• * 1.151

  1: Kings. 6. 2. De fabrica tem∣pli: c: 5:
• * 1.152

  Cap. 3. v. 3.
• * 1.153

  Cap. 7. v. 15. Cap. 3. 15.
• * 1.154

  1. King 7. 2.
• * 1.155

  v: 10:
• * 1.156

  Antiquit: l: 15: c: 3.
• * 1.157

  In Tyberio. c: 6•…•…
• * 1.158

  Libro dei Men suris, quibus in∣tervalla 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.159

  Lib: 1:
• * 1.160

  Lib: 1.
• * 1.161

  Lib: 7:
• * 1.162

  In his view of Military mat∣ters.
• * 1.163

  De restit. Pond: & Mensur:
• * 1.164

  Gigantomachiae.
• * 1.165

  Cap: 79.
• * 1.166

  Cap: 19.
• * 1.167

  Cap: 68. Cod.
• * 1.168

  Theodo•…•…: titulo de Tyranibus: Lib: 1: c, 5.
• * 1.169

  In Suet: Tyb: c: 68:
• * 1.170

  In Carmine ad Catuli•…•…um.
• * 1.171

  Lib. 1: c: 40:
• * 1.172

  Ephes. 4. 13.
• * 1.173

  Cap, 68.
• * 1.174

  S•…•…ius in his Commenta∣ries of the me∣morable things of our time.
• * 1.175

  Symps. 7. prob. 4.
• * 1.176

  Lib: 3:
• * 1.177

  Ia 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.178

  Luc. 12: 42. So 〈◊〉〈◊〉 & Beza 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.179

  Mat. 5. 15. Ma•…•…. 4. 21.
• * 1.180

  Lib. 5. de Asse.
• * 1.181

  Lib: 5: de Asse:
• * 1.182

  Num. 21: 5:
• * 1.183

  Cap. 11. 5:
• * 1.184

  Psal 78. 25:
• * 1.185

  Cap: 16: 20:
• * 1.186

  Lil: 6:
• * 1.187

  De militia Ro∣mana. l. 5: 16: c.
• * 1.188

  Quest. 26.
• * 1.189

  Miscellan: c. 4.
• * 1.190

  Exod. 27. v. 1.
• * 1.191

  2. Chron. 4. 1.
• * 1.192

  Exod. 20. 26.
• * 1.193

  Cap. 37.
• * 1.194

  De Ctvit. Dei lib. 15. c. 25.
• * 1.195

  Lib. 3. c. 14
• * 1.196

  Exercit. 263
• * 1.197

  Lib. 12. c. 37
• * 1.198

  Lib. 6. Fab. 19.
• * 1.199

  Meditat. histor. c. 82. sivc libro 3 c. 2.
• * 1.200

  Cassan. c. 11. Fazelus c. 6.
• * 1.201

  In vita Scrtorij
• * 1.202

  Fulgosus, l: c. 6:
• * 1.203

  De doctrina promiscua: cap. 36: Virgil: Aen: 11:
• * 1.204

  Lib. 3. c. 10.
• * 1.205

  Lib. 7. c. 16. De Mirabi•…•…bus & longaeuis. De Genealog. Deorum, l: 4:
• * 1.206

  Cap: 63:
• * 1.207

  De Civit Dei Lib: 15: c: 9:
• * 1.208

  Camden in Es∣sex:
• * 1.209

  Not in Marty∣r•…•…l: Jul. 25.
• * 1.210

  De ratione con∣conc o•…•…audi li. 3. c. 7 ex Hyper•…•…:
• * 1.211

  Gygantomacbi•…•…
• * 1.212

  Cap: 4:
• * 1.213

  Hollenshed, vol. 1. lib 1: c: 4.
• * 1.214

  Toward the latter end of his life.
• * 1.215

  Lib. 15. Cap. 10:
• * 1.216

  Pliny, 36: 13: vide Agricolam de natura fossi∣•…•…ium.
• * 1.217

  De Civit. Deil. 15: c: 23:
• * 1.218

  In 6. Gen. quas•…•… 6.
• * 1.219

  De sacra Phylo∣sophia, c. 8.
• * 1.220

  Lib: 2. c. 15.
• * 1.221

  1. Iohn. 3. 8.
• * 1.222

  Lib. 3. c. 10.
• * 1.223

  Lo•…•…orum com. c: 12: clas. 1:
• * 1.224

  Lib. 7. cap. 16.
• * 1.225

  Ovid, Fast. 5
• * 1.226

  Sat•…•…al. lib. 1. cap: 20.
• * 1.227

  Satyr. 15.
• * 1.228

  Aenead: 12:
• * 1.229

  Iliad, 12:
• * 1.230

  Iliad. 5:
• * 1.231

  Eccles. 1. 10.
• * 1.232

  Iliad, 12:
• * 1.233

  Odyss 19.
• * 1.234

  5. de Asse.
• * 1.235

  In diebus 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Co•…•…o 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 4.
• * 1.236

  Meditat: Hist: 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 82.
• * 1.237

  De subtilitate lib: 11.
• * 1.238

  Insupplem: An∣n•…•…l. Turcicor:
• * 1.239

  A•…•…entinus, hist. B•…•…iorum, l: 4:
• * 1.240

  Ca•…•…: 14:
• * 1.241

  De me•…•…hodoi m•…•…dendi l 9. c. 4
• * 1.242

  Lib. 9. c. 14.
• * 1.243

  D. C.
• * 1.244

  D. B.
• * 1.245

  Lib. 2. lect. 11
• * 1.246

  Lib: 6: c: 46.
• * 1.247

  Lib. 11:
• * 1.248

  Lib: 7: c. 13.
• * 1.249

  〈◊〉〈◊〉, lib: 1. Controvers,
• * 1.250

  V•…•…ierum L•…•…∣ctionum, l. 3.
• * 1.251

  Bellarm: de Ec∣cles: script:
• * 1.252

  Lib. 5: c. 38.
• * 1.253

  Gellius l. 3. c. 17
• * 1.254

  De Causi. cor∣rupt. A•…•…m l. 1.
• * 1.255

  800 Talents.
• * 1.256

  Sa•…•…al. li•…•… 3. c. 14.
• * 1.257

  2.
• * 1.258

  Act. 7. 22.
• * 1.259

  Rom. 1. 14.
• * 1.260

  1: Cor. 1. 22
• * 1.261

  •…•…ven. Sat. 7
• * 1.262

  Natural. quaest. l. 7. c. 31.
• * 1.263

  Annal. l. 3. c. 12.
• * 1.264

  P•…•…aefat. Scho•…•…l. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.265

  Rom. 1. 21. 22.
• * 1.266

  Iosephus de bel∣lo Jud. 2. 7.
• * 1.267

  Mat. 14. 2. Mar: 18: 28: Luk: 9. 19:
• * 1.268

  Iohn. 9: 〈◊〉〈◊〉
• * 1.269

  In Graeca Ca•…•…∣na.
• * 1.270

  Comment. in lo∣cum.
• * 1.271

  Act. 1. 6.
• * 1.272

  Centur. 4: c. 4:
• * 1.273

  Contra haereses, cap: 41.
• * 1.274

  Erasmus.
• * 1.275

  Comment. in lo∣cum:
• * 1.276

  Lib. 2:
• * 1.277

  2^a. 2ae pag. 58.
• * 1.278

  Confut. assert. Luth: art. 8.
• * 1.279

  In 1 Gene.
• * 1.280

  2 Tim. 3. di∣gressione 17.
• * 1.281

  1 Thess. 1. 8
• * 1.282

  Comment. de Civ Dei l. 2. c. 21.
• * 1.283

  3. part. Decret, deconsecr. d•…•…∣stinct. 4. Can, 84
• * 1.284

  〈◊〉〈◊〉:
• * 1.285

  De Romane Pon∣tifice, l: 4: c. 12:
• * 1.286

  Eneead: 9:
• * 1.287

  Chron. lib: 4:
• * 1.288

  Bibliot. hist. 99.
• * 1.289

  〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.290

  Sen. nat. quest. 3 18
• * 1.291

  Laurentius.
• 1 1.292

  De velere & nova medicina.
• 2 1.293

  de Chymicorū cum Galeni•…•… consensis.
• 3 1.294

  Phrarmac•…•…∣paea dogmatico∣rum restituta.
• * 1.295

  Ex. 1. in Baron, p. 150.
• * 1.296

  Anno 1344.
• * 1.297

  Divi•…•…arum In∣st•…•…▪ 1. l. 3. c. 24.
• * 1.298

  De Civit. Dei l. 16. c. 9.
• * 1.299

  Aventinus in hist. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 an. 745.
• * 1.300

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.301

  In his annot.
• * 1.302

  13 Annal.
• * 1.303

  Lib. 1. prol. 2.
• * 1.304

  in notis.
• * 1.305

  In sermo: Poet: ser: 5 de verissim
• * 1.306

  in Apolog. c. 16.
• * 1.307

  Gellius, 15. 24.
• * 1.308

  Poetices, l. 5. c. 2.
• * 1.309

  Ibid.
• * 1.310

  Idem Scalig. Ib.
• * 1.311

  Eras•…•…us.
• * 1.312

  In 5. libris de Poetis Latinis.
• * 1.313

  De rebus gestis Anglorum l. 1.
• * 1.314

  Lib. 1.
• * 1.315

  Sir Walter Rawleigh in his history of the World part. 1. lib. 5. cap. 1. §. 1.
• * 1.316

  Cap. 2. parag. 18
• * 1.317

  Lib. 5. c. 1. p. 6.
• * 1.318

  1. 6.
• * 1.319

  Schol: Math. l. 2
• * 1.320

  Hae•…•…esi 82.
• * 1.321

  Titulo 17.
• * 1.322

  Cyclomet. Ele∣ment.
• * 1.323

  Nova reperta tit. 7.
• * 1.324

  Horat Ep. 1. l. 2
• * 1.325

  Ep. 119.
• * 1.326

  Eipstola ae•…•…te Geometria•…•….
• * 1.327

  Vitruvius, l. 6. c. 5.
• * 1.328

  Camd•…•…n in Su•…•…∣rey.
• * 1.329

  Histor. l. 85. tom 4.
• * 1.330

  Numb. 34. v. 6.
• * 1.331

  Lib. 1, de natura noviorbis, c. 1. 8
• * 1.332

  Ionas, 1. 13.
• * 1.333

  1 King 9. 28.
• * 1.334

  De •…•…bus Salo∣mo•…•…is, l, 4: c: 14:
• * 1.335

  Titulo de novo orbe.
• * 1.336

  Gen. 10. 19.
• * 1.337

  Lib. 1. Antiq. c,
• * 1.338

  1 King. 9. 26. 27.
• * 1.339

  Hispanicorum l. 7.
• * 1.340

  De Natura no∣vi Orbis l 1. c. 13.
• * 1.341

  Act. 21. 39.
• * 1.342

  Gen. 10. 4,
• * 1.343

  Cap. 10
• * 1.344

  1 King. 10. 22.
• * 1.345

  Lib. 9. c. 1•…•….
• * 1.346

  Camden in Devonshire.
• * 1.347

  Schol. Math. l. 2
• * 1.348

  Gellius l. 10. & cap. 12
• * 1.349

  The 6 day of the first week.
• * 1.350

  De subtil. l, 17.
• * 1.351

  De •…•…eth: hist. lib: 7:
• * 1.352

  De Jnventor: rerum, l: 2: c: 7:
• * 1.353

  Enead. 10: 6:
• * 1.354

  In prefa•…•…ioae:
• * 1.355

  De varietate re∣rum, l: 13: c: 64:
• * 1.356

  Schol. Mathem. lib: 2:
• * 1.357

  Lib: 4: c: 22: Titul. 12:
• * 1.358

  Lib. 2. c: 7:
• * 1.359

  Hist. Ind. l. 6 Lib. 2. A•…•…cm. apud Indos c. 38.
• * 1.360

  Lib. 14. Hist.
• * 1.361

  De occultis re∣rum mi•…•…ac. l. 3. c. 4.
• * 1.362

  De reg•…•… l. 7. tit. 6.
• * 1.363

  Method. hist. c. 7.
• * 1.364

  De Machinis •…•…alogo 11.
• * 1.365

  Lib. 1. c. 7. sect. 4
• * 1.366

  Lib. 2. c. 14.
• * 1.367

  Meditat. histor. c•…•…ntur. 2. c. 28 De occult. re∣rum miraculis
• * 1.368

  l. 3. c. 4. Aenead. l 5.
• * 1.369

  De remed. v•…•…i∣vsque fort. dial. 99.
• * 1.370

  Dere Militar.
• * 1.371

  Miscel: l: 1: c: 1:
• * 1.372

  De regimine Principum. l. 3. parte 3: c: 18:
• * 1.373

  Nova Reperta, tit. 11:
• * 1.374

  Lib: 3: c: 14:
• * 1.375

  Methodo hist: cap: 7:
• * 1.376

  Italia Illustrata regi•…•… 13:
• * 1.377

  de 〈◊〉〈◊〉: c: 17.
• * 1.378

  De Natura no∣viorbis: l. 1:
• * 1.379

  Blondus Italia illustrata Regio∣ne 13:
• * 1.380

  Aenead, 5:
• * 1.381

  Aenead. 3:
• * 1.382

  Act. 27: 20:
• * 1.383

  In Mercatore S•…•…na 5:
• * 1.384

  Lib. 20 advers. cap. 4.
• * 1.385

  En sabible guyo•…•….
• * 1.386

  Lib. 4. de r•…•…bus Solomonis c. 4.
• * 1.387

  Hispanicorum l. 3.
• * 1.388

  Italia illustrata Regione 13.
• * 1.389

  Lib. 2. Prolusio∣ne 6.
• * 1.390

  Method. hist. cap. 7.
• * 1.391

  Lib 2. c 8. Di∣uin. Inst.