Rare verities.: The cabinet of Venus unlocked, and her secrets laid open. : Being a translation of part of Sinibaldus, his Geneanthropeia, and a collection of some things out of other Latin authors, never before in English.

The signes and marks of lustfulness from a mans temperament, age, disposition of body, and his Coun∣trey.

Temperament.

IN the first place, the sanguine complexion is that which hath the greatest proclivity to Ve∣nus; for in this temperament hath calidity and humidity almost the sole predominancy; such was the complexion of a man of Arragon, of whom it is reported, that he— his wife ten times a day. In the second rank is to be ac∣counted the melancholick, whose flatuous hu∣mour much whets the edge of lust. In the third place the Cholerick, which though it abounds

not with seed, yet there are sharp spirits, which cause prurition. Whence Plato gathers that concupiscence and anger are cousin-germans, for the seat of both these passions is the Liver. The last temperament is the Phlegmatick, which being cold and moist, the edge of lust is thereby supprest.

Age.

THe youthful age is the time of Venus her har∣vest. In old men there is not so much vi∣gor and heat as to prick them on to lust, where∣as youth is all spirit and life. Hence the Poet,

Prima Cupidine is aetas manet apta triumphis; Non gaudet veteri sanguine mollis amor.

The youthful age lies ope to Cupids dart, But the old man is valued not a —

Sick men want seed by reason of their weakness; old men want it, because they have no strength to concoct their aliment; young lads have it not because its converted into increment: And youths though they have it, yet by a small mat∣ter they lose it; accordingly Seneca saith,

Juvenilis ardor impetu primo furit, Languescet idem facilè, nec durat diu In Venere turpi, ceu levis flammae vapor.

Disposition of body.

A Thin body both gives and receives far more delight then a fat corpulent one. For fat men are destitute of much bloud, and there∣fore are inclined to cold; your fat women are commonly barren. Ovid affirmes what I say to be true in saying that,

Thy leanness argues love; seem sparely fed, And sometimes wear a night-cap on thy head.

Countrey.

THose which inhabit cold Countreys are both hot and strong, it must needs be then that they are inclined to venery. The Thracians (a war-like people) loved venery so well, that they gloried in the multitude of their wives. Thus Ovid sings of Tereus King of the Thracians, be∣ing in love with Progne:

Progne in Tereus such a burning breeds, As when we fire a heap of hoary reeds; Or catching flames to sun-burnt stubble thrust. Her face was excellent, but inbred lust Inrag'd his bloud, to which those climes are prone, &c.

The Egyptians so much devote themselvs to this kind of life, as that few among them are found chaste. Americus reports, that in his voyage to East-India, he found an Island, whose inha∣bitants were so extremely given to lechery, that his Mariners were hadly ashore, before ten wo∣men were about one man, every one desiring him to appease and qualifie their burning itch: these people have among them an herb which hath such a mysterious quality, as that it will dilate girles privy members, and magnifie and longifie their boys members; to both which they use to administer it, that they may the sooner be capable for to exercise them.